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“Everyone, the shinigami-”
And then, time seemed to stop.
Light’s heart skipped a beat of its own as he heard the words. His quote, from L’s mouth. That idiotic detective… his soulmate. His finger briefly grazed the spot on his wrist where the words of his soulmate had been tattooed over years ago. He’d had bigger things to worry about than an unfinished soulmate quote, obnoxious in its mention of shinigami and its short length. But now, Light wanted to laugh out loud. He couldn’t have predicted that his soulmate’s quote would be cut short by his own actions, that L would die before he could finish his sentence. The incompleteness that had always irked Light had been caused by his own hand.
It made vengeance only that much more sweet.
Leaping forward, Light caught L just before he hit the ground, tugging the boy’s head into his lap and immediately reaching to grab the detective’s wrist, finding no pulse hiding beneath L’s sallow skin. There was so much Light wanted to say to him, looking into L’s burning black eyes, reading the realization and hate embedded inside of them. L was no Raye Penber, no Naomi Misora. He already knew. Knew that his great genius mind had failed him, that he was dealing with supernatural powers beyond his control. The justice dealt out by an angry shinigami. Vengeance from a god who knew everyone’s name.
But Light himself didn’t have to know his name. He would never need to. Maybe later, when he picked up Rem’s notebook, he would read it and smile secretly, enjoying the words almost as much as if he had L still stretched out and helpless before him. The great detective finally exposed to the eyes of Kira. Of god.
Light leaned down and buried his face into L’s thick and matted hair, breathing in his soulmate’s final moments. He knew his father might suspect that L was his soulmate now, he was sure that Soichiro remembered his quote at least somewhat. and he would be expecting something like this out of him. Some sort of affectionate show of emotion, just before L was due to die. But Light felt nothing for L. Just a glowing heat deep inside of him, the hot warmth of victory. And with his mouth hidden from the others, the sirens blaring loud enough to cover anything up, Light couldn’t help one final moment of gloating.
“L,” he whispered quietly, dangerously, directly into the detective’s ear. “I am Kira.”
Then he pulled back, watching as L’s eyes lit up with a shaky burst of understanding. With realization of his own, Light tugged down L’s sleeve ever so slightly, to reveal the words imprinted on L’s wrist. I am Kira .
He wanted to laugh again, manically until he himself was choking, but he wouldn’t want to look suspicious. It was sweet enough just imagining L’s suffering over the past few weeks, knowing that his greatest enemy was also his intended lover. And L, for all his pretenses, was a sensitive person. It would have crushed him. It was, currently, crushing him.
The two stared at one another in silence as L’s eyes slowly slid closed. Light: sitting quietly because he knew there was nothing left he could say to the other boy. L: possibly trying to force some words out only to realize that nothing was coming. He would die thinking that he’d loved a soulmate who wasn’t meant for him. Light had never had a problem with flashing his empty wrists, and L would never get to know what had originally been written there.
Can you still hear your precious bells now? Light internally gloated as L’s eyes hovered open just a crack. They’re ringing your way to hell, L.
Then, L’s eyes slipped completely closed and he lay still. The alarms were silenced, and the room was coated in a deadly calm. And Light was left holding the broken body of his soulmate, feeling nothing at all.