Ultimatum

As the world around him faded in, L's eyes slowly, carefully, began to part. His gaze met glaring white radiance as he blinked several times to adjust to the sudden light. Finally, his pupils had shrunk enough to be able to see his surroundings. He sat up to get a better look at the room around him. The area was clearly that of a hospital. The shining instruments, lights, and monitors would have given away if the medicinal smell hadn't already.

But what was he doing there? He couldn't remember sustaining any injuries, nor did he feel ill. He continued to gaze in confusion at his new environment for several seconds, until a small sound made him jump and spin toward the source.

A man in doctor's scrubs stood in the rear of the room with his back to L. He was wearing a surgical cap, but spiky black hair protruded from the bottom, eventually giving way to a ghostly pale neck. The doctor straightened at the sound of L's movement. "Hello, L," the man said, obviously speaking through a big grin.

L knew this voice. This voice haunted his dreams. It echoed through his head when he was awake. The few times he'd heard it in person drilled it into his head. This icy, creepy, maniacal voice was that of his successor, his teacher (in some ways), and, though he tried not to admit it, his friend. This was the voice of…

"B?" L asked in wonder.

The doctor finally turned to face L. His scarlet eyes met L's ashen ones, and he laughed behind his surgical mask. "Surprised?" L's only response was opening his mouth slightly in disbelief. B laughed again, pulling off his mask and revealing the rest of his cold, white features. "It's been a while, hasn't it, my old friend?"

With that, L finally found his tongue. "I am not your friend, nor will I ever be," he spat.

Beyond took a step forward. "But L, that's not what you said when we were at Wammy's…when we were studying together, competing against each other. We were all we had, no?"

L held back a string of uncharacteristic curse words. "That makes no difference. You are a monster, a homicidal maniac. When we were growing up you were, simply put, a different person than you are now. After what you've done to me, you do not-"

"What I've done to you?!" B interrupted. Without any apparent movement, he was by L's bedside, a scalpel in hand. The men's faces were mere inches apart, so close that B's spit flew into L's face as he continued to scream his tirade. "What about what you've done to me?! You don't think that part of the reason I am this 'monster' you consider me to be, this 'maniac', is because of my failure as a child?! You beat me effortlessly when I tried as hard as I could to prove myself to you! And when you became L and I was simply your backup, what did I get?! A pat on the head and a 'see you later'!! I'm sick of it!!" Finally, B took a deep breath and straightened, now towering above L. He continued his speech, calmly now. "We'll see who really is number one. Obviously LABB wasn't a challenge for you. You had Naomi Misora, anyway. Now, it's just us. One on one." He stared into L's terrified eyes. "We'll see who really deserves to be L."

He walked over to the door and twisted the lock. Without turning, he said "This is the only way in or out of this room. I picked this one especially for you. You have no idea of the trouble I went through to get this room, and that includes drugging you so they thought you were sick. God, what a pain…" He turned to L; his unique grin once again plastered on his face, as if his little freak out hadn't even happened. "You like it?"

L ignored the question. Instead, he asked one of his own. "What are you planning?"

B chuckled slightly. "What am I not planning?" He sighed and looked to the ceiling, still smiling. "First, I'm going to prove myself to you. I'm going to show you that I can overpower you. I'm going to kill you…and you won't be able to stop me." His gaze met L's once again. "Then, I'm probably going to take your place. No one would know the difference, just that L had suddenly gotten a lot better at what he did. Then, like all others, I'm going to die." His grin widened. "That's what I'm planning."

"And if you don't succeed?"

"I will."

"This is entirely hypothetical. I just want to know what you plan to do if you don't kill me, however impossible you may think it is."

"Ah, L, why must we worry about hypothetical situations? You should be worrying about reality."

"Humor me."

"You overestimate my patience, Lawliet."

L was taken aback. "How do you know my name?" He asked suspiciously.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

B sighed. "Your opinion doesn't matter so much now, does it?" He slid a little closer to L. "Enough of this back and forth.I came here for one reason and one reason alone." He began toying with the scalpel. "Shall we begin?"

L's lack of a response was answer enough. B's smirk broke into a full smile. His tongue caressed white teeth. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this…" L was glaring at the younger man. Almost pouting. "Come on, Lawli. Put up a fight. I want this to be fun."

L finally spoke. "You expect me to give you what you want?"

B was smiling again. His cockiness annoyed L. "Yes, L, I do."

Suddenly, B was on the table, lying on top of the detective. "Do I scare you?"

"No."

A flash. Crimson liquid oozed out of L's forearm. B's tongue was grazing the wound, then the instrumentthat caused it. His eyes were closed and remained so as he whispered, "How about now?"

Trying to not show the pain, L replied "You're simply trying to intimidate me."

B opened his eyes and grinned down at his victim. "Spot on. Though I'm not surprised. And you know what? I think it's working." He removed L's shirt and nicked his bare chest with the knife. The red blood was a heavy contrast to the extremely pale skin it leaked out of.

L tried to keep his icy gaze steady through the sting. "You sure are taking a long time to begin if you've really been waiting to kill me for so many years." He unsuccessfully tried to hit a nerve. B didn't flinch.

"Foreplay, my dear Lawliet. I want to savor this. It'll only happen once. Don't be in such a hurry to die.Trust me, it'll happen. Soon." He caressed the gash on his mentor's arm again.

After several seconds of silence, B giggled. "You're right, you know. What you're thinking right now. You're helpless. Hopeless." He leaned in, uncomfortably close to the detective's face, especially given the fact that he was still on top of him. "That's exactly how I planned it." With that, B bounced off the table and to the other side of the room. He selected a new scalpel. "I think it's about that time…would you rather I slit your throat right away or cut you until you bleed to death?" As expected, L didn't reply. "I think I can go either way. It's very satisfying to simply draw a knife across the neck of the one you've wanted to kill for so very long, but the option of drawing out your death particularly is quite appealing." He turned around to face his teacher. "Which will it be?"

After seconds of silence, B's smirk fell slightly. "Don't make me choose for you." He absentmindedly removed all his doctors' attire, now wearing only a black T-shirt and faded jeans.

More silence. "Fine. Let's make this up as we go, shall we?" With that, he leapt toward L, brandishing the scalpel.

Where he'd meant to strike L's bare torso, the scalpel connected with the bottom of his foot, which L had kicked up in defense. But B didn't mind. Not only had L just immobilized himself, he'd started to lose more blood. He needed to hit the weapon in a way that wouldn't cut him, or he'd kill himself trying to save himself. Such irony…what a way to go out.

B tried to hit L again, this time successfully creating an inch-long gash across his belly. B gave in to instinct and adrenaline and ran his tongue over the wound, just as he had with the cut in his arm. "Mmm…" L shuddered in pain and abhorrence. He tried to shove his successor away, but B held his ground and laughed. "Hurts, does it, Lawli?"

Again, a lack of an answer was the answer. B's grin widened even more. How he'd dreamed of this…this victory, this proof of worth, this defiance of authority and respect. He and the baby blue walls around him would be the only witnesses to the fall of L, this pathetic excuse for a worldwide 'hero'.

And it felt great.

B continued to find new places to slice his mentor. All small cuts, never on the face. The wounds individually weren't killing him, the sum of them was. Soon, he'd lost enough blood to make an impression. He cried out every time the knife found its way across his skin, but he never fought back. For some reason, he accepted submissiveness.

After a quarter of an hour of blood, laughs, and tears, L was panting, covered in blood, and woozy from pain. He waited for the warm, wet blade to hurt him again. But instead, he felt a new sensation. Warmth on his lips. Pressure. Pleasure.

B was kissing him.

And L was kissing back.

B's tongue grazed L's lips, then the man leaned away.

B ran his arm over his mouth. "See, L? I can do whatever I want to you. I can bring you great pain. I can bring you amazing pleasure. Tell you what." He paced the room, his gaze never breaking from the other man's. "I think this is too easy. I know right now the pleasure of killing you won't be at its fullest if I were to continue like this. So choose. Should I leave you here, abandoned again when you know how affection feels," his lips brushed L's cheek so his point could be driven home, "or should I just kill you?" He stepped back, perched himself on an empty countertop and smiled again. "Emotional death or physical?"

L was still panting, his mind reeling. Such an ultimatum…he couldn't lie to himself and say he didn't want B's affection, but was that more important than his life? Why was he even considering that it wasn't?

"Leave me."

B smirked. "I thought you'd choose that…actually, I hoped you would." He slid from the countertop. "Now I can show you exactly how it feels when you get exactly what you didn't ask for…"

L felt the blade rest itself on his jugular. In a split-second, he accepted death. B applied pressure to the blade. Two thoughts crossed L's mind in his final moments. First, B was kissing him again, passionately. Like he really wanted nothing more than to feel the detective's mouth on his own. Second, warm liquid was splashing onto his bloodstained face.

Tears.

Before a question could pass through his mind, L's world faded away.