Summary: L falls into alligator-infested waters and Light has to decide whether or not to save him.
Pairing: Lawlight-ish
I have no idea what this fic is even about tbh.
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Alligator teeth
L watches the frogs positioned on lily pads to his right. Meanwhile, Light's eyes lazily glaze over the curve of his crooked back. He presses a cool glass of iced tea recently served by Watari to his forehead. The ice clinks against the glass, causing a few droplets of sweet liquid to splash on his face and roll down like sugary tears. In this sweltering Louisiana heat, the sticky but refreshing drops of tea are very much welcomed. Light momentarily considers pouring the whole glass onto himself but decides against it. He's wearing one of his favorite shirts and he spent quite a while on his hair that morning.
"L, I think we should go back to base. It's like a sauna out here."
L ignores Light's complaint and continues to stare out to the large swampy lake. He inches ever so slightly to the muddy banks, his ratty sneakers caked in clay. Light curses at the heat and L's idea to come to the area where Alice Woodruff's body was found. The detective had claimed that coming here would 'inspire' him. But Light believes L dragged him to the middle of a swamp as revenge for eating the last danish at the hotel's complimentary breakfast buffet that morning. The damn breakfast item was stale and Light doesn't know of a pastry sadder than a danish. He was doing the bastard a favor.
Light wearily glances over to a large, armored alligator a few meters from their position on the lake's edge. It glides lazily through the water and watches them with indifferent, dark eyes. In Light's head, a vision of the reptile disappearing below the water and appearing right in front of L's feet plays like a film on repeat. It would be like the nature documentary he watched last night on the hotel's television before he fell asleep. It featured a dainty, long-necked gazelle going to a river's edge for a drink of water to only be dragged asunder by a waiting crocodile.
L is the gazelle, Light thinks. He has the same doe-like eyes and skittish mannerisms of a prey animal. If L is prey, than what does that make him- a predator? Is he the crocodile gliding below the water's surface? If he was ever such a predator then he has been tamed and domesticated by his very prey. L has removed his teeth – the death note- and placed a collar around his neck. Light now follows the detective across the world like loyal dog. But just like any feral animal taken into captivity, the wild still lingers in him and that feral part of him merely sleeps. Light still feels Kira pacing around in the cage of his mind, just waiting to be freed. It is something fierce and terrible- eager to be set forth.
There is a gasp and the watery sound of something slipping into the water. Light's head automatically swivels toward the place L was standing just a moment before. To his horror, L has vanished. Unsure to what is happening, Light stares out at the lake, waiting for L to pop his head out of the water like a curious seal. But for what seems like the longest time, he doesn't. In those fear-fueled moments, Light realizes the alligator he had been so carefully watching is nowhere to be seen.
Unconsciously, Light inches closer to the water-his body tense, his heart pounding. 'He has him,' Light thinks, 'The alligator has L.' But there seems to be no movement under the water. There is no blood, no sound, no rippling of waves – as if L slipped into the water and out of existence.
Maybe the alligator will come up suddenly, breaching the quiet with a toothy mouthful of L's arm or leg. Or maybe L doesn't know how to swim and he's quietly drowning. If any of those are the case, then Light is free from his captor. The tight leash L had placed on him will dissolve. Light would be free once more.
The chance at freedom does not fill Light with joy as he expected, instead there is a sense of aching burden and dread. Light, despite all attempts not to, has become attached to the man he tried so hard to destroy. His mind goes back to the beginning of everything- before his capture, before the first meeting, before the death note- where he is a high school student with the drowning feeling of a life of white noise and nothingness stretched before him. He can't go back to that.
Going against the primal instinct of self-preservation, Light dives head-first into the deep alligator-infested waters. It isn't a brave act, but a selfish one.
L is black holes, abyssal oceans, the promise of no promises, but most importantly home. He is the anchor amongst a churning sea, the one to which Light clutches onto so dearly. Light will follow him until the end of time and whatever may lay beyond that.
Light doesn't feel the water when he enters, he just feels an overwhelming panic and fear. He searches blindly in the murky depths, groping the water for any touch of the detective. He attempts to open his eyes but being unused to swimming, the water irritates his eyes so he closes them. He feels something sleek and fluid move at his side. His heart seizes painfully in fear as he scrambles to the surface for a quick breath of air. Just as he is about to reach the sun-lit surface, something grips his ankle firmly and pulls him back under.
He almost screams but he realizes that doing so would lower his chances of surviving. Light prepares himself for the agony of being torn apart and eaten by a prehistoric underwater lizard. This is certainly not how he expected to die.
But whatever is clutching onto his leg, lets him go. He scrambles upward again and breaks the water's surface, gulping precious air to fill is deprived lungs. After his lungs no longer feel like they about to collapse and he can think clearly, does he realize that it was L who grabbed his leg and not an alligator.
With a moment of hesitance, he dives back under the water, searching once more for the lost detective. He is more successful this time. Light's hands immediately come to contact what he thinks is L's arm. He wraps his fingers around the slender appendage and pulls L back to the surface.
Fortunately for Light, L –soaked to the bone and covered in mud- still weighs less than the average person. However, it is still a struggle for Light to pull him up the inclined, slippery banks and onto flat land. When they reach safety, Light sets the detective on his back, kneels down, and prepares to perform CPR if necessary. As soon as he is set down, the detective sputters and coughs up freshwater. He opens his eyes, and moves his shaky hand towards Light, in it is a golden heart-shaped locket.
Light takes the shining locket into his hand and gives L a questioning look.
"I-it…belonged…to…her," L manages to wheeze out.
"You crazy bastard. You dived into alligator-infested water to save some dead girl's locket," Light practically growls at him. "I almost died trying to save you!"
L smiles and coughs a breathy laugh. He watches Light's contorted scowl as he shields his face from the sun behind the boy's from.
"I…saw it shining under the water. When I got closer to see what it was, I fell in. The banks were more slippery than I thought."
Light tilts his head back and closes his eyes, allowing the sun's rays to warm him. He sighs at the absurdity of it all. He just risked his life for this childish man a fucking alligator could have eaten him.
Light hates himself a bit for the immense relief he feels with having L safe by his side. Something unfamiliarly genial stirs in his chest as he watches L lounge with a soft expression on his usually vacant looking face. It's as if he wasn't drowning in alligator-infested waters just a moment ago and this is just some honeymoon vacation they decided to go on. Their wet, mud-slicked bodies are the only reminder of the short-lived chaos.
L rests on his elbows, bathing under the sun as the gentle breeze plays with a few wayward stands of hair. "Thank you, Light. For saving me."
Light just grunts in reply as he takes off his wet shirt and lays on the grass next to L. "I couldn't have let you drown even if I tried."
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You can probably tell I rushed through it at the end but this is probably as good as it gets. Wow, I haven't updated on here in such a long time. Sorry.
Please comment or fav! Thank you for reading! :)