11Author(s) Notes: HELLO! And welcome to the FIRST co-authored fic between Hoshiko13 and BeyondBirthday93. Can't really give too much away about this, other than this small summary and discliamer.
Disclaimer: Neither Hoshiko13 nor BeyondBirthday93 own Death Note: Another Note, Death Note, Beyond Birthday, or any of the other characters there in this story EXCEPT the parts they play as themselves (BeyondBirthday93 is BB, Hoshiko13 is Shiko). Other than that, we do not own, so no suing.
Summary: Two interviewers get a strange letter, signed only with the letter B. It's clear who sent this...and the words written on it will test their strength. Will the accept the challenge, or will they run from one of the world's most feared serial killers?
It was a dark day in Columbus, Ohio. The sky was black with storm clouds, black as my mood. Today my partner and I had failed, once again, to get a good interview. Why wouldn't the bosses give us a chance? Sure, we were both great writers, but we really wanted that one perfect interview. I stormed up to my office building, opening the mailbox just outside the door. I blinked when I found, not a pile of bills as I had expected, but a letter. A letter covered in...what looked to be blood.
Shiko sighed as she walked in, tossing her rain coat to the ground. "Alright, BB, our bosses are officially mess up jerks. Did you get the mail?" She asked, plopping down onto the couch in their shared office. "How are we expected to pay our bills if we don't have any money?" she questioned, before looking at the letter. "Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."
BB looked up at Shiko. "I don't know what it is. All I know is we don't have any bills today, we just got this. Ugh, and don't remind me of our bosses...I feel like they're running me over with a steam roller." BB sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Today was awful...I wish they'd just up and die sometimes..."
The girl on the couch chuckled. "Don't get my hopes up." She said, before standing and walking to the kitchen. "I'm getting some coffee. Want anything?" she called as an afterthought.
BB sighed and placed his crossed arms on the table, laying his forehead against them. His voice was a muffled yell as he said "Yeah, can you pour me a cup, too? I really need it."
"Alright!" Shiko called, grabbing two mugs and pouring coffee into each. She also added some milk, and was just about to put in sugar when she had a thought. Laughing softly, she grabbed brown sugar instead of regular sugar, and added that in. Then she carefully grabbed the two cups by the handle and carried them into the office placing one on the desk and sipping her own. She blinked in surprise; the coffee was better than she thought it would be. With a grin she said, "This tastes way better than normal coffee!"
BB blinked and looked up at Shiko's exclamination. "...I'll take your word for it...please put it down on the table?" When Shiko set the coffee cup onto the table, BB reached over for it and held it in one hand, the mysterious letter in the other. "Wonder where this came from..." he questioned, touching one of the red stains on the envelope.
Shiko looked at the letter. "Maybe it was a mistake? It could actually be meant for, um, a member of the mafia! If we open it we could get killed!" She said, her imagination and paranoia working together, as always.
BB looked up at Shiko. "I don't think so. Look, it has our names and address on it." And, indeed, the envelope was addressed to the both of them, with their office number and building right there in the upper left-hand corner. BB pulled his finger back from the red stain and stuck it in his mouth almost thoughtfully, tasting the red substance that had come off with it.
The girl tilted her head. "Are you sure that's safe?" She asked quietly. "I don't need my partner getting poisoned."
BB turned to face her. "I don't think the stuff on this is poisoned, Shiko," he said with a slight frown on his face. Then, he pulled his finger from his lips and tapped it on the letter. "This entire envelope is covered in strawberry jam."
"Well how was I supposed to know it was jam?" Shiko asked, sipping her coffee again. "BB, try the coffee. It's ridiculously good." With those words, Shiko finished her cup off, looking pointedly at BB's own full mug.
BB sighed slightly, "Alright, alright. Will you open up the letter first, though? I want to see what it says...maybe it'll give us a clue as to who sent this." BB picked up the cup of coffee in one hand and gave Shiko the letter with the other, watching with obvious interest as she slit open the top and pulled out a relatively jam-free piece of paper. "What's it say?" he asked.
The girl rolled her eyes.
"It says, 'I am someone you may have heard of. Are you ready? I am one of two writers of great renoun in publishing. Would you like to listen to this wonderful song you should hear? Here it is. The story is the story of a lifetime. I hope you will accept my offer. The story is known by few. If so, please come to Los Angeles. The house number is 4913. Good luck. Because of storms.' Probably some whack job who read our one and only published interview." she said, turning it over. "How is this thing so clean if the envelope was covered in jam?" she asked.
BB shrugged, taking a sip of the coffee in his cup. He wrinkled his nose a bit. "Um...Shiko?"
"What?" Shiko asked, setting the letter on the table.
BB sent the coffee cup down, a slightly strange look on his face. "What did you put in that coffee? It tastes...strange."
"I put brown sugar in it," she responded. "I think it tastes better if you ask me."
BB frowned. "UGH! BROWN sugar? I swear, you are the weirdest person I've ever met! EVERYBODY knows that coffee only tastes good with regular sugar. This tastes...way too sweet." Making a slightly disgusted face, he pushed the coffee mug further away from him, not noticing he was moving it closer to the letter.
Shiko blinked. "Well I think it tastes better!" she shouted, slamming a fist into the table. The vibrations caused the coffee cup to tip over, spilling the hot coffee onto the letter, completely covering most of the sentences. Shiko jumped back, then stared at the letter in shock.
BB glared angrily at Shiko. "Ah, great! Look what you did! Now the whole thing is ruined and..." BB trailed off as he looked at the letter, watching as some of the words disappeared from the page where the coffee had touched, leaving only a few words left to be seen on the page. "...what the...?"
Shiko picked up the paper, her hands trembling slightly. "N-n-now it says...'I have heard you are writers of great renoun. Would you like to hear the story...the story of a lifetime? My story? If so, come to Los Angeles. The house number is 4913. Good luck. B.'" The girl felt the blood draining from her face.
"Y-you don't think...?" She muttered quietly.
BB looked at the letter, his already pale face draining down to pure white. Slowly, his mouth formed two words, the most feared words in the US as of now: "Beyond Birthday."
Shiko felt her brain click into dictionary mode. "Beyond Birthday is the culprit of the Los Angeles murder case. After being arrested, he escaped from jail and nobody has heard from him since. Why would he send us a letter?"
"...He wants us to hear the story of a lifetime." BB said, quoting from the letter. He stood off the couch he'd been sitting on and paced around the room. "...But...if he was looking for someone to hear the story of a life...HIS story..."
BB frowned and looked over at Shiko. "Do you think...he...wants to be interviewed...by us?"
"Why would he pick us?" she asked. Then the imaginative paranoia came into play again. "Maybe he wants to kill you! You go by 'BB' and maybe he wants to start killing again and...and..." She trailed off, her mind coming to a blank. "Maybe you're right. If he wanted to kill us he wouldn't have sent a letter. Would he?
"I don't know. No one knows how his mind works...he could want to kill us, he could just want an interview. We won't know until we go." BB said thoughtfully.
With eyes narrowed, BB reached out a finger and traced the words on the letter, being careful of the coffee. "Shiko?"
"Please tell me you don't want to go." The girl said, staring at the letter.
BB looked up at her, eyes filled with anticipation and a slight bit of fear. "...We've got the chance of our lifetime right here. Beyond Birthday, asking us to interview him. It's like he said...the story of a life. One chance here, Shiko. What do you say?"
She sighed. "Fine, but if he tries to kill us, I'm blaming you." She sighed again, "We have a lot of stuff to get."
BB nodded once and traced over the letter one last time, letting his finger linger on the B at the very end. 'Beyond Birthday...and the story of a lifetime. I wonder...What will it be like?'
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, California...
I look out the window at the storming sky, watching a streak of lightning flash through the clouds. Those interviewers must have gotten my letter by now. I smile. Now everything can begin. My true story will be revealed to all.
End Notes:
The ink used on the letter (the one that disappears when heat touches it) does NOT exist. Let me repeat: this ink DOES NOT exist. It is the creation of BeyondBirthday93's mind. IT IS NOT REAL (at least, BB does not think it is).
About the POVs: The first part of this story (the italic paragraph) was BB's FIRST PERSON POV. After that, it went into third person. The LAST paragraph was in Beyond Birthday's POV. This is how we will be doing the first few chapters. We'll have the second one posted as soon as possible. PLEASE REVIEW!
~Hoshiko13 and BeyondBirthday93