Chapter Text
"If you can't win the game, if you can't solve the puzzle…then you're just a loser." Near's calm voice rang out into the warehouse, sending chills down Light's and the task forces spines.
Light's eyes narrowed, "What is this? What sort of game are you playing?" he looked around suspiciously, Mikami was just outside the door, he knew, waiting for his "God" to give him further orders.
Near's expression remained emotionless, "None at all." He lifted his fingers up, showing Light four figures attached to the tips of his fingers, one with the word "KIRA" on it, the other looked to be Near himself nearly all white, the other was Mello with blonde hair and the last...
"L?" Light thought, highly suspicious of Near's next moves, "So he made figures of all of us, of L too, probably back the from when he was still alive. But why is he showing them to me now? L and that Mello brat are dead." he shot a look at the door.
"It seems like you're expecting someone." Near noted, glancing briefly at the door.
Light didn't let his emotions show, opting to stay as calm as possible, "I'm not."
Near nodded, "I see." he himself looked in the opposite direction.
"Lidner..." Near shared a look with the tall woman and she complied nodding her head and walking in the direction where Near was previously looking to.
"We know that the man outside has been doing the killings in Kira's place, Teru Mikami, a devoted worshipper of Kira or "God" as they say." Near scoffed softly, "Now that he has written all our names in the Death Note, he will come after 40 seconds to see if we are dead. That's where we will restrain him and seize the notebook, whoever's name is not written down must be Kira,"
A pregnant silence followed, accompanied by resonating gasps of shock coming from the members of the police task force.
Near's voice rang loud and clear, "Teru Mikami, if it's not too much trouble for you, won't you please come in and join us?" he spoke loudly enough for the man outside to hear, "I already know that you've been the one judging and executing people for Kira. You've already written down our names in the notebook, so there shouldn't be anything for you to be afraid of, right?" silence followed and Near sensed the man's hesitancy behind the door.
What surprised him slightly though, was Light's sudden interference, "He's right Mikami, by writing down all our names there shouldn't be anything to be afraid of. You can come in if you like,"
Near observed how Mikami, not even two seconds later, opened the door, white nearly blinding light surging passed his frame.
"Interesting...Kira worshippers obey to no one but Kira himself." His gaze fixed itself onto Light, who kept his face carefully neutral, "He pretends not to know him personally, but there is no mistaking it, a Kira worshipper wouldn't just listen to anyone, just as he didn't listen to me...it must be," Near's gaze narrowed.
"How many seconds has it been since you wrote down the first names?" Light's voice carried over the quiet noise of the ventilator above.
Mikami immediately looked down at his watch, eyes red and a crazed look about them, "30...31...32...33...34...35..." he grinned maliciously, delusion written all over his contorted face.
Near chanced another glance at the door at the opposite end, wondering where Giovanni was.
"Looks like I won, Near," Light's lips curled into a bloodthirsty grin, his eyes betraying his true persona as they shone a ominous red just before Mikami counted down to 40 seconds.
The task force members cowered in on themselves in fright, wrapping their arms over their heads, as if that pathetic attempt could save their lives.
"W-we are still alive?" Aizawa's astonished voice was accompanied by Matsuda's relieved sigh.
"B-but how? It's been well over a minute and...nothing happened," he looked at his colleagues then at Light and the others.
Mikami's expression was one of despair, frantically looking back and forth between Light and the watch, no...he didn't miscalculate...well over 40 seconds had already passed...but why didn't the Death Note have any effect? Why didn't they die?
Mikami's loss of self control showed in his screams and the agonized expression on his face, "But why?! Why won't they die!?" his hand made a furious move to write their names down again, in the hopes of actually killing them this time, but Near was too fast.
"Rester! Gevanni! Take him down!" the minute Near's command was spoken the two men moved in to restrain the panicking male with handcuffs and the notebook fell from his hands, pages facing upwards, the names of everyone in the warehouse he had written were visible.
"The notebook, please," Gevanni handed the notebook to Near, who calmly gazed at its contents.
He turned it around so the pages were facing the police task force, " If you didn't believe me earlier then see for yourselves, the only name that hasn't been written down is Light Yagami,"
Light's gaze narrowed, sweat beading and sliding down his cheek, his heart beat accelerated but he quickly forced himself to calm down, no, he couldn't be nervous now. There was no solid proof, just like with L, this kid had no real proof he was Kira. So what if that moron Mikami hadn't written his name? He could justify that they were good companions and he didn't wish to kill him.
No...he already said he hadn't had any contact with Mikami, his previous statement of not knowing the man would be proven as false if he said this now. He had to come up with something, fast.
"Its settled," Near's voice shook something within Light's fragile web of emotions and schemes and careful planning, those fine strings of sanity left within him would soon fade into nothingness as he felt his Kira persona slowly resurface again, threatening to kill everyone with the Notebook as soon as he got his hands on it.
Not yet... "Not yet," he told himself, barely restraining his bloodlust.
He had to get out of this now!
"T-this is a setup," his hands started sweating, he was running out of options, he had to play the victim or he would lose this game!
"You're mistaken," Near's voice brought him out of his reverie, "This was all thanks to Mello," Light's gaze narrowed, that brat? But how?
"What? Mello? But he's dead! How can a dead kid beat me?!" his gaze moved frantically around, suddenly hearing two pairs of footsteps that weren't supposed to be there.
His frantic eyes finally caught sight of two moving figures, one of the woman named Lidner and the other...
Light's eyes widened, his blood ran cold at the sight of the teen he thought he had already killed, "No..." another step, "N-no," a smirk, "This is...this isn't possible!" the teen bit off a chunk of chocolate, grin still in place, the scar around his eye seemed mocking now, "He's supposed to be dead! What the hell happened?!"
Mello's grin was unsettling at best, "It seems like things have been going just as you planned, Near," he smirked, standing there, mocking him, Light Yagami, Kira.
But he wasn't done yet, he could still kill him, he could kill Near too, he could kill all of them.
He just needed to find out where the real notebook was, then it would be easy...
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Mello's dark chuckle echoed through the warehouse and Light glared frostily at him, his fingers twitching to grab a pen and bestow upon him a most merciless death.
Near interrupted Light's intense glaring contest with Mello, "Light Yagami...you are Kira,"
He shivered, blood boiling like molten lava in his veins as he desperately tried to gain some semblance of control, it wasn't yet time, he couldn't let the police force find out for sure he was Kira, these were just all assumptions, vague assumptions that didn't prove anything!
He didn't know how Mello survived, but he would make sure to end this stupid game once and for all.
"Damn you!" he shouted to Mello and Near, mind racing a mile a minute on what to do until it suddenly dawned on him.
If he revealed his true identity now...it wouldn't change anything would it? He would still kill all of them, the knowledge of him being Kira would never get leaked to the public, he could continue creating a perfect world cleansed of evil...it didn't matter anymore.
His carefully built mask vanished, showing them the monster he truly was, a blood curling grin stretched over his handsome face, eyes which were usually so brown and trustworthy melted into burning irises of red, practically glowing with the intensity of his hatred and killer intent towards the two children.
He released a deep chuckle, "That's right..." shadows cast over his face only made his expression that much more demonic, giving him the appearance worse than the god of death as he gazed at the terrified expressions of his teammates and Nears entourage, "I'm Kira,"
And suddenly, his gaze was fixated on the four figures on Near's fingers. He noticed Near had removed the figure of Kira, himself and Mello. The only one left was...
"L? Why? Upon my exposure as Kira, he removed the Kira figure, when Mello entered he removed his figure and himself but why is he still keeping L? Perhaps symbolically?" he couldn't find any reasonable explanation to why he was still there, perhaps... "No...no, no! I killed him, I saw it with my own eyes, he died in my arms!"
"He who strikes first wins, doesn't he Kira?" his previously boiling blood that was singing with blood lust suddenly froze, his entire body locked down and the crazed scream that wanted to tear out of its throat died down as well.
It was like he couldn't move, his muscles went stiff with shock. It couldn't be...he hadn't heard this voice in years but he recognized it all the same...it couldn't possibly-
Light slowly turned his head in the direction toward where Mello and Near were and he saw it.
He released a scream, backtracking on wobbly, weak knees as he tried blinking rapidly, thinking of it as an illusion. It had to be!
"He was dead! Dead! Rem killed him! He isn't here! That's not him! His mind was playing tricks on him! Yes! That's it! He was starting to hallucinate from all of this!" Light's mind was a mess of words and sentences, trying to make the man he was seeing a few feet away from him go away, he tried pinching himself harshly, he didn't go away. He tried shutting his eyes and opening them again, but the figure remained standing there, hunched as it were.
No...
"I assure you Light, I'm no illusion," the calm, collected voice of none other than his supposed deceased rival sounded through the warehouse, echoing as if to haunt Light's fragile mind process even more.
"N-N-no...this...this is impossible! Y-you can't...you can't be-" Light's voice trailed off, frame shaking violently as he tried to gather his bearings, the nearly lifeless dark eyes of his rival staring at him, glaring.
"N-N-no way! Is this...R-Ryuzaki?! Is that really-?" Matsuda's own voice betrayed his emotions, shock and relief and disbelief written all over his face.
The man sighed softly, "Matsuda you idiot...of course it's me, I don't suppose many people look like I do now do they?" the tiniest hint of amusement was evident in his tone and Light wanted to tear at his hair.
Near smiled, "I believe you know who this is don't you Light?" he gestured to the tall man standing next to both Mello and Near himself.
"N-no..." flashbacks suddenly came rushing back to him like a current, threatening to drown him in despair, memories and him, "L..."
It was the same dark messy hair, the same dark eyes with bags under them, the same plain white shirt and jeans...
It couldn't be and yet...there he was...L...
"Light Yagami...Kira...it's over, you've lost the game," Near's voice penetrated his thoughts and Light shook with the desperate effort to remain calm, the very real presence of none other than L mocking him, haunting him, tearing into the deepest and darkest recesses of his mind and clawing at his very sanity.
And suddenly before another lie could slip out of his mouth, he remembered the very words that used to haunt him in his sleep after L's death, "Tell me Light, from the moment you were born, has there ever been a point where you actually told the truth?"
His body trembled, crazed laughter threatening to burst forth if he decided to let his restrains down.
There he saw them, all of them. The police task force, looking betrayed and horrified, the members of the SPK, Mello, Near and finally L...
He started to laugh, laughter of insanity echoing through the warehouse, unnerving the rest.
"What a pleasant surprise...I thought I killed you, L. I thought I killed that Mello brat too," he shot them both a crazed look. A growl was forming deep within Mello's chest but a sudden hand on his shoulder stopped him, it was L.
L didn't directly look at him, but the small squeeze on his shoulder was meant to calm him. Mello's growl died down in his throat, his hand itching to grab his gun and shoot the bastard.
It had come as a shock to him, finding out his mentor had been alive all along. Not him or Near would have found out he was alive had L himself not strolled into Near and Mello's hideouts respectively.
Mello had visited Near that day, following instructions on a letter he thought had come from Near, to meet up at HQ.
As it turned out, it was L who sent it. L had caught them both off guard with his sudden appearance and the fact that he was indeed alive.
He had told them everything, how he was revived with the help of the Shinigami King, who, presumably out of boredom, had erased L's name from the Death Note and brought him back to life that way, having been keeping track of Ryuk's movements as well as the human affairs he was tangled up in.
"How...how could...it's impossible! Once the person's name is written in the notebook that person will die! You can't cheat death! Not even L can cheat death!" Light tore at his hair, pupils dilated, teeth bared like an animal.
L remained calm, "As it turned out, your Shinigami hadn't been the only one that was bored," Light froze, thousands of thoughts running through his mind on what he could possibly mean.
"It's true," the voice of none other than Ryuk reached Light's ears and he sharply turned around to look at the Shinigami, levitating above the ground as usually.
"I thought it a joke, but it seems like the old man has been so bored as to revive the greatest detective known in the human world...it seems as if he revived him after hearing about you and your cat and mouse game," Ryuk seemed fascinated by that.
Something Light certainly didn't need now, "Ryuk! Why didn't you tell me anything about this?!" Light didn't care the others were listening, it was all over anyhow.
The Shinigami chuckled darkly, red eyes alight with mirth, "I told you Light, I'm neither with or against you," Light growled, feeling anger welling up inside of him.
L smirked slightly, "I assume your Shinigami already told you what happened?" Light glared at him, "The Shinigami King had erased my name with a powerful object from the Death Note and so I was revived. Contrary to what I believed, I had awoken in my own apartment, not inside the coffin used at my funeral," the members of the task force were speechless.
Shinigami King? There was a ruler of those demons?! And it was him that actually revived L?
"B-but why? Why would a Shinigami be helping humans?" Matsuda asked loudly, unable to comprehend this bizarre situation no matter how hard he tried.
L appeared to be thinking, nibbling on the tip of his finger, "Interesting question indeed...I have wondered that myself but I'm come to the conclusion that it had not been in his intentions to be helping me directly, rather my revival would have surely caused unpredictable turmoil in the human world, turmoil he supposedly missed in his own realm," L deduced upon his very brief talk with the Shinigami King, who had only informed him of his revival and to "entertain the human world" a bit more.
Light couldn't believe this, this must have been a joke!
"But that doesn't explain why he is alive!" Light pointed at Mello, who glared at him icily.
Mello started speaking a small grin settling on his face, "Actually, I can explain it perfectly." He grinned, "Your little girlfriend was stupid enough to try and fool me. After taking off all her clothes, she didn't remember me knocking her out and discovering the pages she had with her, she thought she had passed out from exhaustion in my truck. I had suspicions the pages were from the Death Note, so I replaced the pages with a regular notebook and slipped it back in her clothes so when she woke up she would still think it was in the original spot she hid it in," he smirked, "It's been fun playing dead for a while, had a nice rest too," he chuckled and Near rolled his eyes, typical Mello.
Light's breathing grew erratic, pulse beating frantically beneath his skin, hands clammy and sweaty, he was on edge, on the edge of insanity, his worst nightmare had come true.
No...from all the nightmares he had had until now, this hadn't been one of them. This was even worse than his nightmares. There were Near and Mello, two child prodigies and successors to L and then there was L himself, very much alive and out to expose him as Kira.
He clenched his fists, his smirk widening into a unnatural grin, eyes unfocused, "Hear this...I am not only Kira...I am the god of the new-"
"No," Near's firm and uncharacteristically sharp voice pierced the air and the words died in Light's throat abruptly, his head slowly lowered to face the crouching Near, whose gaze penetrated his very soul, those very same eyes that were just like his, "You're just a murderer Light Yagami, that's all you are. Nothing more and nothing less,"
If looks could only kill...Near would have already been sent to the darkest pits of hell. To his astonishment, his view of Near was partly obscured by jean-clad legs and when his gaze traveled up he spotted none other than L, his hands in his pockets with his usual slouching stance but something was different.
As absurd as it sounded, his death had changed him. His gaze seemed clearer, sharper and his aura seemed more...dangerous. Oh, L had been a dangerous man long before Light had even discovered the Death Note, but here, standing so protectively in front of Mello and Near...
"Oh? Now you're protecting them are you, L?" the man in question chose not to respond, instead he looked straight at him.
Light snorted, "Useless fools... as if they could ever understand..." his gaze moved back to Near, the brat was still staring at him, "Near...I have to kill him..." his gaze moved downward to his wristwatch, time continued on despite the stillness of the facility.
He should have never let it come so far, he should have personally made sure L was dead, that Mello had been killed...he should have maybe even murdered the police task force...maybe he would have had it easier, not being forced to pretend for so many years...posing as the guy that cared so much for avenging Ryuzaki's death and capture Kira...where Kira had worked within their ranks all this time and none of them even noticed...
"Until they came along, that is..." he glared at Near and Mello before quickly retracting the small compartment of his watch where he had a piece of the notebook stored in.
"He has a piece of the notebook!" he didn't know who shouted, being far too lost in his frenzy to write down the names, but suddenly a shot rang out and all he felt was pain and all he saw was red.
A scream from the depths of his throat tore through the air, blood dripping in thick droplets to the ground, soaking his uniform, covering the entirety of his hand, which pulsed rapidly and strong bursts of pain kept shooting up and down the length of his arm.
He turned, movements uncoordinated and frantic, his heart was hammering against his ribcage threatening to burst from his chest, his blood was rushing through his veins and his lungs nearly burned from the force of his gasps and sharp intakes of breath at the searing pain he had just been introduced to.
The brief smoke coming from the barrel of the gun slowly vanished but Mello still kept his gun pointed at Light, not willing to give the bastard a chance to kill any of them.
L's eyes were wide and he looked at Mello, Mello's gaze remained calm, fixated on Light's agonized expression, his grip steady on his gun.
Mello's voice was threatening and clear, "You've got some nerve, thinking we would fall for the same trick twice, bastard," he spat the insult, "Tch, red looks good on you," his eyes shone ominously, a glint in them that L recognized as bloodlust.
He frowned, wondering just through what his two successors had gone through in life to make them so...hardened. He supposed his path hadn't been easy, but he never thought they would have to go through such things as well, at least not to the point of seeing that look in their eyes.
"Y-you...! Don't screw with me!" Light tightly clutched at his bleeding wound, trying to stop the rivulets of blood that flowed between his fingers like a river.
Near's gaze narrowed, looking at Mello and L, both were tense but L looked like he was waiting for something.
And then, he was running and before Near could register what happened, one of the members from the police force suddenly shouted, "His blood!"
When Near's head whipped about to witness the scene, he caught sight of his mentor bracing himself with his hands against the ground and kicking Light's jaw hard, causing the other man to shout in pain and be slammed against a standing wooden beam within the warehouse harshly.
Near would have winced in sympathy had he felt any toward the man, he knew L wasn't a pushover regardless concerning intellect or be it physical aspects, he could tell by the way Light had painfully clutched at his jaw that that kick must have done some damage.
"In that world you spoke of...the new world being cleansed from evil...in that world, there would be the biggest evil it has yet to see and that is you, Kira,"
L had just recovered from his offensive attack as he spoke before Light frantically tried righting himself, eyes looking a demonic red, his actions driven by the strong urge to kill L, to kill the man that was responsible for reducing him to this state, but two consistent gun shots suddenly pierced the air loudly and screams of pain and agony accompanied them seconds later.
"Mello," even Near seemed surprised by how quickly Mello had reacted to save L and shoot Light, one bullet met its target at the lower right part of Light's stomach, the other pierced his shoulder.
Blood immediately soaked through the white material of his dress shirt and through the gray of his suit, Mello's eyes were furious shades of blue and his words dripped with venom, "Don't fuck with me, loser," he cocked his gun, ready to shoot again should Light make any sudden movements towards L or any of the others.
L turned back around to look at Mello, before he slowly approached him, "I think he's had enough, wouldn't you say?" he looked to stare at the unnaturally writhing body of Light Yagami, looking so vulnerable and fragile, body shuddering with agony and strong bursts of pain. Broken and gurgled shouts of pain filled their ears and some of the police force members found themselves swallowing hard.
"What are you waiting for?! Their names! Their names! Write them down!" Mikami was too shell shocked to even move against the restraints, staring at the writhing form of the one he worshipped as "God".
Was this what a "God" could be reduced to? Wasn't Kira, his God, supposed to be immortal? Untouchable? How could such a powerful being be reduced to...this?
"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them NOW!" the foreign shouts of agony filled his ears but Mikami made no move to obey, standing shocked, watching how his God crumbled before his very eyes, reduced to nothing but...a mere human.
Everyone watched how Light Yagami writhed pathetically on the floor, pools of blood slowly forming beneath him.
And suddenly, smoke filled the air and everyone tried finding out what was the cause of it. Mikami had activated a smoke bomb and when the smoke cleared, Light was missing.
Matsuda looked around frantically, "W-what?! Where the-where did he go?!" everyone looked at the exit, immediately rushing towards it until L suddenly spoke.
"You don't need to follow him," his words were simple but there was a certain aura of command in it and the members reluctantly stilled.
Matsuda voiced his protest, "What?! B-but Ryuzaki! We have him! We can't let him escape now! Not when we-"
L's gaze was calm, "I believe his wounds will are more than enough to finish our work," he glanced at Mello and Near, "Do not follow me, I'll return shortly,"
With strides that were slightly faster than he usually walked, L walked towards the door, his intentions clear the moment he stepped out of them, this cat and mouse game was drawing to its conclusion it seemed.
Chapter 2: Justice Shall Prevail: L's Victory
Chapter Text
In a world filled with corruption and criminals, Kira a.k.a Light Yagami, has taken it upon himself to rid the world of evil. By causing the deaths of hundreds and thousands of criminals, Kira has made the world a better place. Crime rates have dropped by 70%, future would-be criminals have shied away from pursuing a life living in the shadows in fear of Kira finding and executing them. So, in reality, Kira had done good. Any and all opposed to Kira were viewed as "enemies" as the "rotten half of the world".
But was that a world we wanted to live in? A world ruled by "Kira"? Where any and all crimes, as small as they can be, negatively affect our lives and possibly end them through his hands? Was Kira all that good or were we the ones that made him appear to be good?
News flashes, autopsy reports, criminal files, everything swam in Light's mind as he took harsh, rapid breaths and ran on wobbly, adrenaline fueled legs.
He clutched at his bleeding shoulder, dark red, thick and warm liquid ran down his fingers, soaking into the material of his suit. It felt sticky on his skin, it hurt, but he felt alive.
So L was alive. Had been alive all this time!
Why hadn't he said anything? Light wouldn't have been so bored had L proclaimed his survival! He had to had make do with killing all those people, which had brought him closer to his goal of cleansing the world of evil, but ultimately, it hadn't brought him much enjoyment.
The following years after L's 'death', Light's game of cat and mouse had ended. Any who opposed him, who opposed Kira were executed and that was that. If it were high ranked officials, police forces from other countries, Kira had gotten rid of them and his followers had increased worldwide.
But it lacked. He missed the thrill, the feeling of tethering close to the edge and being exposed, before devising a plan of his own to counter any further movements to his exposure as Kira.
Since L, none had provided him with a challenge equal to that.
Near and Mello, L's successors, were nowhere near L's intellect and skill. They were mere abominations, puppets meant to mirror L, to surpass L, but they had failed.
In the end, Kira couldn't have been defeated. As soon as he escaped and treated his wounds, he would kill Mello and Near first. Then L, this time he wouldn't escape death again.
The Shinigami King couldn't possibly revive a human a second time, there's gotta be rules for that too. But where was Ryuk?
"No matter...I can handle this on my own...yes...victory shall be mine, L. You never had the chance to win," his thoughts were interrupted by his own burning lungs as he gasped for air and ran, ran on rapidly weakening legs as the warm blood soaked his clothes and smeared his hands.
An image of himself suddenly flashed before his mind, he was standing in the park, wondering about how a kid must have dropped the notebook in the grass and playing a stupid game called "Death Note".
Another image, this time it had been of the first person he killed and he had had doubt clouding his mind, fear gripping his heart and panic possessing his mind.
Another image and another, one where he started doubting himself and his actions with the Death Note, how killing people in order to persevere peace could in fact be insane and then how insanity finally took over his rational side and he started killing for the joy of it.
The moments where he had transformed into a full fledged, merciless, cold hearted killer.
Kira.
The public may have given him that name, but it was him that made that name for what it was. It was him that went well beyond anyone's wildest imaginations, killing hundreds, thousands of people, of his own volition.
Maybe that had been his mistake.
Letting himself get power hungry with the power of the Death Note, letting himself become what he once swore never to be. Let himself become something he swore to fight against once he stepped into his father's footsteps and became a detective of his own.
Maybe L had been right.
Maybe he was a monster.
L's death suddenly replayed in his mind, how the light faded from his shocked eyes as he gazed up at him, his own expression one of malicious triumph over his nemesis as he claimed victory for himself.
How he tore at his grave, screamed and shouted at it, insulted it, shamed L's name even in death.
He laughed, a insane, wobbly laugh, one some might call his "Kira laugh".
Yes...this wasn't over. He would get healed and the game would start all over again, Ryuk wouldn't be bored, he would entertain him for a while longer. He would kill L...or maybe not, maybe he would let the chase continue for a while before killing him.
He neared what appeared to be another warehouse and when Light heard another pair of footsteps trailing after him, he tried speeding up his wobbly pace, managing to slide open the door and stagger inside, the blood loss and the pain making him feel dizzy and unfocused.
Unbeknownst to his owner, Ryuk sat perched on top of a pole, normally yellow eyes now shining a menacing completely blood red as dawn began to set behind him, bathing his silhouette in warmer colors and casting ominous shadows across his frightening features, bringing out the truth of what he really was.
A death god.
" Well, Light, looks like you've lost. Remember how in the beginning, when we first met, I told you I would be the one writing your name in my notebook? That is part of the agreement between a Shinigami who brings a notebook to the human world and the first human who picks it up."
L was steadily making his way, following the blood trail leading him to his target and in the distance, he could see a open door to one of the warehouses.
" If they put you in prison who knows when you will die and I don't wanna lie around waiting,"
Light was trying to support himself along the metal beams, trying to reach the stairs he could see on the other end of the room.
" So, it's all over, you'll die here,"
Finally, Light reached the stairs, staring up at them, imagining that this was his ticket to freedom, to continue his plans of creating peace and changing the world for the better. If people saw how good his actions truly were, they would all worship him as a God.
What do you mean? I'm just a hardworking honors student.
He froze, contemplating the words.
The real evil is the power to kill people. Someone who finds himself with that power is cursed. No matter how you use it, anything obtained by killing people can never bring true happiness.
"Dad..." his father's words echoed through his mind but he shook them off, true happiness? He had true happiness! Killing bad people was all he ever wanted! It was good!
Shakily, he extended a hand to grab at the metal railing to steady himself and then a voice stopped him in his tracks, "Stop running away, it's useless," the voice of none other than L greeted him and it echoed within the empty warehouse like a mocking chant.
It made him sick.
"Y-you again huh? Just wait and see, I'll come for you too L! I'll beat you and nobody will stand in my way then! I'll finally be able to rule over the world-"
"No," L interrupted him, walking closer, "You can't expect a murderer to rule over an entire world, just as you can't expect an infant comprehending adult speech until its learned to speak." His gaze narrowed.
Light growled, bristling at his tone, "Tch, I've had enough of your stupid games L! Just die already!" Light made a move toward him, but the sudden rush of blood dripping out of his wound, the one on his stomach, caused him to freeze in pain and nearly collapse, keeping himself barely upright by the stairs as he vomited blood.
L watched silently.
"I-I'll kill you L, I-I'll k-kill you and end this once and for all!" he roared, like a furious lion looking for blood, knocking on death's door.
L remained silent, watching him, watching him the same way he had watched him when he died.
And it made Light furious.
"What? Not gonna say anything huh?! Fine! You don't need to! I don't care anymore!" he started to laugh, holding his side tightly, blood dripping from his lips, "I don't care you hear me?! I'll kill you with the Death Note and I'll make this world right again!"
He panted harshly, the stinging of his wounds growing worse like his frantic beating heart.
Light, my son, from one murderer to another, I'll see you in hell!
And then his world stopped. It was as if time stood still as he stared at L, who watched him with calm, collected eyes as opposed to his menacing triumphant glare when he had died.
Ryuk smiled, "It was good while it lasted...we eased each-other's boredom for quite a while,"
"Well Light, it's been interesting," pen scratched against paper as Ryuk wrote in his Death Note.
Light Yagami.
One last beat.
And Light was gone.
L silently watched how humanity's greatest adversary drew his last breath in the middle of the stairs, his heart pulsed with one last beat before it ceased to function.
Justice shall prevail...
L didn't smile, nor rejoice, nor cry or feel remorse. He just watched, watched the lifeless form that was once Light Yagami, mass murderer, Death Note owner and at one time or another, his friend.
L was well aware Light being his so called friend had had the advantage of getting closer to kill him and let his guard down, but, most certainly was his natural naivety all humans posses to blame, for the fact that even for a small moment, he had truly thought that maybe, just maybe...his assumptions about Light had been wrong and that he had made a friend aside from Watari.
Fortunately or not, he was always right.
L's gaze remained trained on the corpse even as he heard two pairs of footsteps enter from behind him and Mello's voice speak out, "Is he dead?"
"Yes," came the immediate reply.
Mello nodded, Near observed L quietly and tried to deduce the atmosphere.
"I suggest we call the SPK and let them do the rest," L announced, the light's casting shadows over his tall hunched form.
Mello frowned, "...What are you gonna do now?" he waited with baited breath, waited to hear the man he had idolized and admired for the longest of time speak.
And he did, "I suppose I'm going to return to my duties, there's much work to be done to fix everything Kira has done," there was a hint of a smile in his voice, "After all, it's been a few years,"
Mello nodded silently, even he didn't dare stepping quite out of line with his usual potty mouth.
Near's eyes narrowed, "I assume this means Mello and I-" before he could finish, L cut him off.
"-can continue to be my successors." He finally turned around, Mello almost expected to see hints of something, anything that could indicate Light's death has affected him but he saw none.
"What? But how? You're here now so you don't need-" L cut Mello off as well.
Dark, unruly bangs covered his face partly as he spoke, "Watari is gone now so I'm in dire need of assistants, as it is now I don't think I would be opposed to working together with other people," his gaze met theirs steadily, "Though I suppose I can go without Matsuda spilling idiotic phrases all the time..."
Both of the teenagers didn't react to the light hearted joke, Near spoke up, "Your old apartment had been already inhabited by someone else, however HQ seems to be reasonably well seized for the three of us," he met L's gaze, "If you so wish,"
L nodded wordlessly, walking passed them outside.
Mello and Near continued to stand there for several moments longer, looking at a lifeless Light Yagami, Kira.
"Do you think..." Mello began but didn't know how to word his question.
Near shook his head gently, "No...L is smarter than that. Light Yagami was a murderer and a murderer, no matter how bright he smiles at you, doesn't feel the slightest bit of kindness towards you, especially one who tries to kill you," Mello nodded, satisfied with Near's explanation.
Of course, L hadn't had many friends before and Watari was gone now...but that would change, he still had them, they would have to get reacquainted.
For some reason, it prompted Mello to smirk and Near picked up on it, "What caused you to have that kind of expression?"
Mello smiled and bit off a chuck of his chocolate as Near twirled a curly lock of stark white hair around his finger, "Nothin' much, I wonder how sharing living quarters with a child that plays with toys all day and a man that has a severe sweet tooth will play out for me..." Near followed him when Mello walked outside.
Near smiled beneath his bangs, "Let's not forget a child that suffers a high risk of getting cavities from his severe chocolate addiction," Mello frowned and Near smirked.
Yes...it would be indeed interesting to see how future living arrangements would look like for them.
An eye for an eye, my friend. – L Lawliet
Notes:
Thanks for reading! :3
Chapter 3: The New World: Kira's Victory
Chapter Text
Your own death is something that happens to everyone else, not just you. When you die, it's not you who'll miss yourself. Other people will miss you and that's the thing humans are ignorant of: of their surroundings, the people around them. Because once you take your own life, it will change the life of the ones left behind.
L's death had set in motion a number of things.
For one, Light has gained access to nearly everything and anything he's wished, sure L's database was erased, and his computer timely deleted all information that might have been useful to him, but he had access to the police database, to nearly everyone in the world thanks to his late father's line of work.
However, L's death has stirred something else. It hadn't been a grand opportunity for Kira to rise in power, it had been an opportunity for his future adversaries to rise as well.
One was N. Whom he later came to know as "Near", the true successor to L, a child, he learned, stemmed from the same orphanage L had been in: Wammy's House.
Another one to oppose him and foil his plans was M, Mello, whom he soon learned was appointed as second successor to L. Without him, he wasn't sure the Near brat would have quiet caught him.
Thankfully, though he had a plan. If those two kids were anything like L, they were bound to have triple prepared for any counter action on his part.
So he killed them all.
First came Mello through one of his subordinates, he had made the officers' deaths look like very believable accidents and each time span between them had a reasonably timed enough to not appear suspicious and lastly came Near. The kid had been smart, but not smart enough.
It had been something of a confrontation at the SPK HQ, Ryuk had been behind him, chuckling maniacally in glee at how much "fun" humans were. Near hadn't posed the question of why he did all this, instead he asked why L.
And Kira had laughed, laughed like he always did and he answered.
Because he was in the way.
And Near fell to the floor with his hearts last beat.
The spacious room of the SPK was quiet, eerily quiet and it reminded him of the briefest of moments where L had died in his arms, the silence that had taken over his mind, how he tuned out the panicked sounds from his surroundings only to solely focus on the fading look of recognition flashing in L's dark eyes before he was closing them in eternal defeat at the sneering face of Kira himself.
It had been an exhilarating victory.
It hadn't been his usual modus operandi, quite the opposite of his usual calculating self, but it had been a tactic his adversaries hadn't been prepared for and that had led to their demise. Normally, Light wouldn't end things this quickly, but he saw no harm in ending them as quickly as he had done. Perhaps he has gotten more reckless with years, as stated by Ryuk at one point or another, but in the end it did nothing but benefit him.
"What do you plan on doing next, Light? The brats are gone and now there's no one to stand in your way," Ryuk's tone suggested it wouldn't be as fun anymore with the genius adversaries as it once had been with L's cat and mouse game, but Light smiled.
"Don't worry Ryuk, it will continue to be fun. I have a lot of work to do to become God of the new world," with that he turned around, leaving the corpse of Nate River to lay motionless in the HQ of the SPK.
Years passed already but sometimes it felt like only short months to Light. It had been another successful day of killing for Kira and another where his followers grew, yes it had been a good day indeed.
Light smiled as he signed a number of papers on his desk, criminal records strewn on one side of his desk as he signed reports, occasionally glancing at the faces he had crossed out, the ones he had already rid of the world.
He remembered the time where he killed Mello, Near and the rest. Even poor Matsuda and the rest of the squad had to go as well, though he admitted, Matsuda had provided a source of entertainment in days of black and white. Despite being a bit on the dumb side, he had been a cop, a cop that had worked together with L and then him. Surely with time he may have connected the dots between L's murder and his own participation in it, so he killed him too.
It had been a very spontaneous act on his part, normally he would have never allowed himself such a straightforward action, but he did.
And that had been exactly why he had won.
Near and Mello, having anticipated the usual meticulous planning Kira was thought to take, hadn't expected the spontaneous and swift acting on his part. He had let Misa track down his targets, identify them with the help of Mikami and kill them. No planning, no over thinking, just doing.
Ryuk himself had been surprised of the way Light had handled things, but was pleased all the same, the fun could continue again. In truth, he had thought when Light had received instructions to come to a warehouse in order to meet with Near and the SPK, he had thought it would be the end of the line for Kira.
Not even he predicted Light to act completely out of character and quiet banally, just kill them in, literally, a heartbeat. Of course, he had made sure the officers were carefully disposed of by Mikami but otherwise, he let himself let loose.
He was at the head of the police force now, had access to all and any information he needed and wanted, he was at the top of his game and nobody stood in his way now.
It seemed like Light would get the perfect world he so desired.
And one day, a very twisted thought came to him, "Ryuk," he spoke and was met with the lazy Shinigami lounging on his leather couch, a basket of apples beside him, munching on one juicy delicacy.
"Hm?" he hummed, munching on his precious apple.
Light smiled beneath his bangs, "You told me long ago you got bored in your world...right?"
Ryuk wasn't bothered too much so he continued eating, "Yeah, had nothing much to do there. It was-"
Light interrupted him with a secretive smile, "-rotting," this time, Ryuk focused his attention on Light, who had that...look again.
"...What are you thinking?" he shifted on the couch, sprawled lazily like he was, half eaten apple in one hand as the other supported his head.
"I'm sure you understand how easily I changed this world to my whim, cleansed it of near any evil..." he began, standing up from his high chair to walk around his spacious desk, coming to stand in front of the large windows overlooking the peaceful city, his city, his world, "I've also been thinking that...my world isn't the only one out there," he locked gazes with his longtime Shinigami, "...is it?"
Ryuk looked interested, "I guess not," he swallowed what was leftover of the apple before chuckling giddily, "You're pretty ambitious kid,"
Light smirked.
Ryuk stared at him, considering, "So...how will a human plan to rule over the Shinigami world?" he scratched his head.
There was never a time Light failed to surprise him with one of his clever, well thought out but wicked plans, however he truly didn't know how he was going to do this.
"It's quite simple, really. I'll overthrow the Shinigami King," Light's words were so simple yet so absurd it made Ryuk howl with laughter, clutching at his stomach as if in pain.
Light didn't appreciate the sound of his maniacal laughter today, "I'm glad you're having your fun, but I'm serious," he turned away from his Shinigami, plans formulating in his mind.
Ryuk calmed down from his laughing fit, turning serious, "Well, Light, that won't be as simple as killing humans. Pops is a bit...touchy about that ya see," he shook his head, "Never seen him leave his post or neglect his duties as king, hell I've never seen anyone else on the throne for that matter," he chuckled.
Light's gaze narrowed and a small, secretive smile played on his lips, "So, you're his son Ryuk?"
Ryuk paused, "Huh?" he realized what his words must have sounded like to him, "If I were, I would be a real troublemaker, bit surprised the old fart didn't try to ban me or something," he scratched at his head.
Light sighed, "Ryuk..." his Shinigami looked back at him," What would I need to do in order to go to your world and speak to the Shinigami King?"
Ryuk suddenly smiled, almost viciously so as his eyes glowed red, "Die,"
Even his death had been planned.
All down to the flower arrangements and Ryuk thought it was one of the most hilarious things Light had come up with.
His death had been a tragic one to be sure, for his followers that is. And an occasion for celebration for those few that dared to defy his ideals for sure. For Light, it had been calm, a peaceful slumber never to wake from again and Ryuk had watched how his soul, he had almost thought he didn't posses anymore due to all the atrocities he had committed, descended into his rotting world. The Shinigami world.
Light had not been impressed of course, as he kicked a skull away from him, disturbed by the thick cloud of miasma and fog permeating the air, "So, this is your world," narrowed eyes scanned the dead earth, barren ground covered by bones and what appeared to be corpses.
Ryuk chuckled, "Yeah, it's a beauty isn't it?" Light had to snort.
"Well? Where is he?" ah, of course, Light rarely ever wasted time on pleasantries.
A sudden thought occurred to Ryuk then, "Wait…you're dead, so I'm not your Shinigami anymore," at that, Light's eyes lighted up in delight.
It almost scared the death god, if he already hadn't been used to them, "Remember our deal Ryuk…the Death Note says the dead may not be revived again…but who says I want to return to the world of the living?" he smirked, "I don't need you to be my Shinigami, because soon I just may become your king," he eyes scanned his surroundings again with a different expression; excitement, "This world…the world of the death gods…" he looked up at his former Shinigami, "I'll cleanse it of it's sorry state,"
Light moved forward, not caring if Ryuk followed him or not and the death god gazed blankly after him.
"Here we go again," Ryuk bit into the apple he had snatched from the human world, enjoying its juiciness. He made sure to remember the texture and taste of it, after all…
He was pretty sure he would be eating the rotten ones pretty soon again.
Light may have rid L of the world, but there were still those who opposed his justice, his perfect world. It the Shinigami world were to fall in his hands, he would get better access in controlling the human world as well. He knew the dangers, but it need be done for the sake of the world, to prevent it from plunging into darkness and straying from the path of light.
After all, a world without light would be really dark.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! :3
Taime_Riddle on Chapter 3 Mon 27 Nov 2023 12:34PM UTC
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