The BB case had been a nightmare, L thought to himself. Usually, L didn't rate cases in his mind. He never thought of them as easy or difficult. He just solved them. But the BB case… L shivered a little. It was so uncharacteristic of him to care. He had grown up with B. They had been at Wammy's together, and B had always been just two years younger. L had known the murderer personally.
B killed three people for me, L contemplated. Was it because he wanted to show his dedication to me? Was it so I would notice him? Was it so he could prove himself? No, it wasn't any of those things… A was supposed to replace me when I died. It drove A insane, and he killed himself in the end. Is it really that hard to be me? B changed for me. He changed his appearance and his habits, his speech and manners… But what was it all for?
B had hated what he had been destined to become. He had always loathed L, but idolized him at the same time. B had done his best to become better than the original, better than L, and it consumed him.
B had killed three people. He had mutilated three corpses. He had wiped each crime scene clean of fingerprints. Even the light bulb-sockets. He had left impossible, insignificant clues. He had left voodoo dolls at each scene to drive L beyond reason. He had made to murder himself, just to throw L off. It had turned B into a madman.
L opened his eyes. He was watching the Japanese news on his flight to Winchester. Something incredible had just happened. A man holding a preschool with hostages had just died of a heart attack, leaving the prisoners free to go… L was curious. How often did that happen?
L's phone rang. He answered it. "Watari?" he said.
"Yes, L, it's me. Are you far from Winchester?" Watari asked.
"No, I'm almost there," L replied. "We'll land in about an hour."
"Good. I can't wait to see you. Mello and Near are so nervous…well, Mello is, at least. I can never really tell what Near is thinking."
"They're nervous to meet me?" L wondered aloud.
"Yes. Ever since they had that videophone conversation with you and you chose them…" Watari trailed off. "They're just children, L. Think of what happened to A and B. I don't want any more of my boys dead because of this."
"Watari, I chose them because they're strong," L said, "not because they're the most like me, or because they have special talents. They're strong and they're smart. That's all it takes. B didn't do what he was supposed to because he has problems. He's an emotional and psychological wreck. Mello and Near are alright, unless you haven't told me something, of course."
"No, L," Watari sighed. "Everything is in order. Mello and Near will be fine." He hung up on L.
L put his phone away and closed his eyes again, burying his face in his knees. A had died for him. Ryuzaki, Beyond Birthday, B, had been prepared to kill for him. Eraldo Coil and Danvue had died by his hands. L didn't want more people to die. He didn't want to have to take on any more names.
L slouched through the front door of Wammy's. He saw his childhood. He heard it, felt it, and smelled it. Wammy's was the same as when he had left it. L wriggled his feet out of his sneakers, tiptoeing lightly down the hall into the foyer. Watari – a.k.a. Quillish Wammy – was waiting for him as promised. He smiled benignly and greeted his protégé, inviting him to sit down to tea with him. L did so, and the two walked into the parlor, which was more secluded than the rest of the house. L sat obligingly, curling up in his chair and stacking his tea high with sugar cubes.
"How was your flight?" Watari asked. "Comfortable, I trust?"
"Very," L said through a mouth full of pastry. "So…where are Mello and Near?" he asked, watching the stream of children in the hall outside the French doors.
"They'll be here soon," Watari assured him. L continued to eat, all the time observing the orphans. They were…unfamiliar to him. He remembered every single classmate he had ever had at Wammy's house. He had left for a few years, and the last time he visited, he found his younger friends nearly grown. Now they weren't here at all. Instead, a hundred darling, nameless children flew by. Mello and Near were in there somewhere.
Mello and Near were different. They were special. They would be given access to vast amounts of inheritance money, about £100 million each. They would command the investigative forces of a hundred different nations, and world leaders would beg them for an audience.
L stopped. Nobody would want M or N; no, that wasn't it… They would want L. Mello or Near would become L. That had crushed Beyond Birthday. He remembered what Watari had said, "They're just children, L. I don't want any more of my boys dead because of this."
"Watari?" L said.
"Yes?"
"Introduce me as L. Not B, not A, not Ryuzaki –"
Watari interrupted. "You took B's name?!" he asked, horrified.
L ignored him, "– not Coil nor Danvue. Not L Lawliet, either…just L. That is my name."
There they were. A young blond who appeared to be on the verge of his teenage years stood in front of L. He wore all black. His mane was long and beautiful. His eyes were unreadable. A tiny little boy with shocking white hair knelt down in front of Watari. He wore all white. His hair was wily and untidy. He clutched onto a plastic robot figurine.
"L," Watari said, "These are Mello and Near." L already knew that Mello was the older one and that Near was younger. M comes before N, just like A comes before B. Mello stared blankly at L for a minute. Near focused all his attention on his robot.
"And children," Watari finished, "this is L." Nobody spoke.
"You're L?" Mello said finally, giving L a skeptical look. "You look like B."
Watari groaned. He had hoped that nobody would mention A or B.
L made a quick comeback, though, and explained, "Not really. It's the other way around. B looks like me."
"But B comes before L," Near said.
"And I come before A," L replied. "Have you ever noticed that there hasn't been an L living here since me?" Mello and Near didn't answer. Mello looked surly. Near just kept playing with his robot. "That's because I was the first one to live here. Sir Wammy made me his first orphan. So, L comes before A in this case. And since I am special, nobody else will be L until I die."
Mello shot out at Watari, "I thought you told me I was going to be L!"
Watari kept silent. L continued, though, "I am the only L. So when I die, and only when I die, you or Near will be the next L. Nobody else will be L." Mello still looked angry, as if he had been robbed.
Near spoke up. "So, which of us is – I mean: will be – the new L?"
"I don't know," L said contemplatively. "There have been quite a few lined up for 'new L', but you're the only two right now.
"What happened to the other ones?" Near asked.
"They died," L said gravely.
Mello's jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide. "Why?" he asked quietly.
"They couldn't be me," L answered.
"So that's what happened to B," Near said off to the side. "He went bonkers."
Watari stepped in, "Children, children, please. B did not 'go bonkers', for one thing, and what happened to the others is not your business."
"How come?" Mello pouted. "I thought L knows everything. And I'm gonna be L, so I want to know."
"It doesn't work that way," Watari explained. L looked at his mentor. The whole B thing was a touchy subject for Watari, and it showed, as the dear man's brow wrinkled with exasperation.
"B was young once," L said. Mello and Near looked at him. "You probably don't remember him, though, do you? No; you were too little. You probably just saw him in passing. But B was a child at one point in his life. He was an odd person. He was very shy and lonely, you see. He didn't like to play with other kids. He liked to read and watch. I knew him.
"Something went wrong, though. I'm not sure if he was pushed too hard to be like me, or if he couldn't handle the role of the detective…I know for a fact that he preferred the role of the criminal. He was a good criminal."
"L, what are you saying?" Watari murmured.
"I am L. I am the greatest detective in the world. I know everything, and what I don't know I will soon learn. There is no criminal alive or dead that is smarter than me. I can do anything. Nobody on the outside has seen my face. Nobody knows my real name. Not even Watari." L looked into the eyes of his two heirs. They were merely boys. "Do you think you can be me? Not just everything I am, but can you be L?"
Mello took a step backwards, and L could see the liquid fear in his eyes. "My God," he gasped. "You killed B."
"B is not dead," L said forcefully.
"Then where is he?!" Mello screamed. L kept silent. "I asked you where he is!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Near said. "Prison. B must be in prison."
Mello started to cry angrily. "You're crazy," he said to L. "When we talked over the videophone, I liked you. Now I know better. You're nuts! I don't want to die!"
"We don't have a choice," Near whispered.
"Yes we do!" Mello sobbed.
Watari interrupted. "Actually, Mello, you don't." Mello stopped and looked up at his mentor with puffy red eyes. "You will be the next L whether you want to be or not. Nobody wants to be L except L. And he's already L."
"You mean…?" Mello sniffed. Watari nodded solemnly.
"You might not die," L said gently. "I chose you two because I hoped you wouldn't die. You're not like A or B. You're both stronger and smarter than them. Mello," he said, extending a hand to the boy, "I know you're stronger than that." Mello wiped his nose and stood up straight. "And Near," he said, looking to him, "you understand what you need to do, don't you?" Near nodded slightly.
L knew what he needed to do. He stood up out of his chair, and opened his arms so there was room for two boys next to him. Mello was reluctant, his face still red with vulnerable sorrow, but he went to L, and L wrapped an arm around him. Near did not oblige him, but nodded again, more nobly and decisively than before.
"Neither of you are A or B," L said. "You are M and N, two entirely different letters altogether. I trust you two."
Watari said one more thing, "Why don't you two tell L your other names?"
"Nate River," Near said flatly.
"Mihael Keehl," Mello muttered, still stuck to L.
"We come after you," Near said. "L – M – N. Just like it's supposed to go."
"I assure you, L," Watari chuckled, "your successor is in this room, and it won't be me!"
Halfway around the world, L's successor was asleep, hiding under his covers, riding out the worst nightmare of his life, a Death Note under his pillow.