Author Notes

Light's personality change when he lost his memories of the Death Note really bothered me, so thought I'd write him my way and see what happens.

Every character in this story is OOC because I am not Tsugumi Ohba.

The One Behind It All

1st day of confinement

The first thing Light noticed about the cell upon entering was the security camera located at the ceiling just outside of the bars of the cell. He knew that Ryuzaki was already watching, and he stared into the lens for a moment, making sure that Ryuzaki was fully aware that he understood what it was there for, before turning his gaze away and continuing to examine his surroundings.

The cell they had prepared for him was a drab, bare thing. Gray concrete floor, walls tiled with gray concrete squares, a toilet in the back left corner and a thin cot in the back right. There were two lights, one that shone on the back wall and one that shone on the floor in front of the barred door. It was enough to keep him illuminated no matter where in the cell he was, but it wasn't enough to keep shadows from collecting like cobwebs in the corners of the room and underneath the cot.

The front of the cell was composed of many round vertical bars fortified every foot by thicker, rectangular bars that cut across horizontally. Beyond the bars lay the gray concrete wall of the corridor, but there didn't seem to be a draft.

It was not warm in the cell, but it was not cold, either. For the quarters of someone who was potentially a mass murderer, it was rather comfortable. It could certainly be worse.

Light sat on the edge of the cot with his back straight, and prepared to wait.

All that's left is to get rid of the Notebook, he thought, and fought the urge to smile. All the pieces are in place.

Check.

3rd day of confinement

"Ryuzaki, what's happening?" Light asked, turning his gaze up to the camera, making sure to add a hint of urgency to his voice. "Have any new criminals been broadcast that Kira would target in the last couple days? Did Kira kill anyone?"

"Quite a few criminals have been broadcast," came Ryuzaki's voice over the speaker, void of inflection, "but since you've been detained, none of them have been killed."

"No one's been killed?" Light said, making sure to sound surprised, scared, slightly desperate. "Really?"

"Yes."

"I see," Light said, and looked down, closing his eyes and curving his lips into a wry, mirthless smile, letting a bit of black humor seep into his voice. "Maybe I am Kira..."

'Oh man,' Ryuk complained beside him, 'I wanna eat an apple…'

Bet you thought the murders wouldn't stop, didn't you, Ryuzaki? Light though, even as he let the mirthless smile fall away, inhaling and exhaling slowly as if bracing himself for something. You're bound to be wondering why I would ask to be confined like this if the murders were going to stop and seem to confirm my guilt, and then you'll wonder if I think that I'd be able to get off by pretending to not have self-awareness of the murders.

You're good at telling whether or not people are lying, Ryuzaki. Just wait until I look you in the eyes and tell you, truthfully, that I'm not Kira. You'll have no choice but to believe I was being controlled—it's been proved that Kira can control people's actions, after all. And once you believe that…

Checkmate.

5th day of confinement

'I can't take it, Light,' complained Ryuk, twisting and lurching around at the edge of Light's field of vision. 'If I don't eat an apple soon…'

Anyway, I just have to get through it, Light thought, ignoring the Shinigami. Even if there's nothing to do.

The boredom was eating away at him, clawing at the edges of his mind, a vague urge to scream starting to congeal in his throat, resolutely swallowed back down each time it started to rise like bile.

He went over his plan again and again, running over all the pieces in his mind, the ways they were bound to move, checking and double-checking everything just to make sure.

The pieces are all set up perfectly, he thought. The only uncertainty is how I'll go about approaching solving the Kira case after I lose my memories, how much I'll be able to figure out, and what I'll do with that information.

Yes, the only person who could possibly ruin my plan is me… and if that happens, I may have to…

(Afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window, lazy and bronze, and something black was falling from the sky—)

He checked back over the elements of his plan.

7th day of confinement

Light was sitting on the floor with his arms pressed against the edge of the cot, knees pulled up to his chest and head down, staring at the blank concrete floor in front of him (the boredom was raking at his mind like nails on a chalkboard, ignore it, ignore it—) when the speakers crackled to life.

"Light-kun," came Ryuzaki's voice, as clinical as ever, "it's only been one week, but you're looking worn out. Are you all right?"

Now that I've come this far, I think it's about time… Light thought, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a silent, shallow breath. He then lifted his head, opening his eyes, but did not look at the camera, keeping his gaze straight ahead of him. "Yeah," he said, letting his voice shake a little bit (the pressure building in his chest, acid in his throat, swallow it back down, swallow it back down—), "I know I probably look pretty bad in here, but... this useless pride, I'll just have to… get rid it of it."

'Huh?' Ryuk said, grunting as he untwisted from his warped headstand, lurching to his feet and looming over Light. 'All right. Got it.'

Out of the corner of his eye Light saw him turn and lumber awkwardly away, heard his gravelly, 'See you later' as he disappeared through the wall.

The last piece has been set into motion, Light thought, not even having to fight back an urge to smile (the tedium had set in like a mold, creeping over his mind, mycelium of fluffy white threads over the surface, have to keep away the biodegradation, have to focus on something—). Don't mess this up for me—

The thoughts and memories slid away, soap in the shower, down the drain into an unrecoverable darkness.

Light blinked. He hadn't showered in a week, and he felt disgusting, and he was bored and sick and tired of sitting there in a cell on the hard floor with his ankles cuffed together and his arms cuffed behind his back, not doing anything.

What have I been doing? he wondered, looking up at the security camera. That's the answer, isn't it? I need to let go of my pride and figure out what's actually going on here.

"Ryuzaki," he said, a determination surging within him (the nails grew quieter, the pressure lessened, the mold charred at the edges and flaked away, the soap was—), "could you go over the evidence against me again?"

Light was no longer sitting straight-backed on the cot but on the floor in front of it, knees drawn up to his chest and head down, hair covering his face. He'd barely moved in hours.

Ryuzaki reached forward and pressed the button to active the speaker in Light's cell. "Light-kun," he said, "it's only been one week, but you're looking worn out. Are you all right?"

There was a long pause in which Light still did not move nor speak. Ryuzaki was about to ask again when Light finally lifted his head, staring straight ahead of him. "Yeah," he said, voice shaking a little bit. "I know I probably look pretty bad in here, but... this useless pride, I'll just have to… get rid it of it."

There was an edge to his voice that made Ryuzaki pause, watching.

After a moment, Light blinked, as if a thought had just struck him, and looked up at the camera. "Ryuzaki," he said, the edge still in his voice, "could you go over the evidence against me again?"

Ryuzaki's thumb, which had been rubbing over his lower lip, stopped moving. What are you thinking, Light? Ryuzaki wondered. There's no way you can slip out of this at this point.

He reached out his hand, pressing the button to activate the microphone again. "You're fully aware of the evidence against you, Light-kun."

"Ryuzaki," Light said, staring hard at the camera lens, "I've been locked in here for a week with nothing to do but watch my mind turn on itself. I don't think it wise to trust my memory of certain details at this point."

It was a fair point (Ryuzaki knew full well the way boredom could tear through coherent thoughts like raccoons through a trashcan; the way it made the glinting edge of a knife pressed up against skin look innocent; the way it set into the mind like the inescapable, deafening toll of church bells—) and he saw no reason not to acquiesce.

"You were the one that the FBI Agent Raye Penber was investigating in Japan when he died," he said, leaning forward to speak into the mic. "You were also the one who went to Aoyama on May 22nd, and the first person that Misa, the alleged second Kira, approached in the Kanto region. On top of that, as soon as you were detained, all the murders stopped."

"I see," said Light, lowering his gaze, sounding pensive.

"Well, whatever anyone says… can't we just decide that Light Yagami is Kira, and that the case is solved?" asked Aizawa from where he was standing behind Ryuzaki's chair.

Ryuzaki rubbed his thumb over his lip.

"Ryuzaki," Light said, looking back up at the camera, "if that's the case, then why haven't you just decided that I'm Kira, and declared this case solved? It seems to me that you might as well just execute me at this point. There's nobody else Kira could possibly be, right? It all adds up."

"Ah," Aizawa said uncomfortably, shifting his weight.

"We can't do that!" Matsuda blurted. "Ah," there was the soft sound of him scratching at his head, tussling his hair, "I mean, we obviously can't release him now that the murders have stopped. Even I know that. But wouldn't executing him now just be… wrong?"

"I can't do that, Light," Ryuzaki said. "It's only been seven days. That's not enough to determine for certain something as significant as guilt for mass murder."

Light laughed slightly. "How long then, Ryuzaki? How long would you keep me here for, waiting to make sure? A month? Six months? A year?"

"You could always confess," Ryuzaki pointed out. Aizawa and Matsuda were fidgeting behind him.

"A year?" Matsuda was murmuring. "But the Chief…"

"Ryuzaki," Light said, staring straight at the camera—straight at them through the monitor. "I'm not going to confess to something I don't remember doing. While I admit that all the evidence points to me, I have no memories of being Kira. And I know that I asked to be detained because of the possibility that I'm Kira but am just not aware of it, but it seems more and more unlikely to me that Kira would be able to operate without being conscious of it."

"I also don't believe that Kira has been acting without self-awareness all this time," Ryuzaki said. "But if you are him everything matches up." What's wrong, Light Yagami? What you're saying doesn't make any sense… After all, it's not that you may be Kira, but that you are Kira... If you wanted to be detained to try to get off by saying that you were Kira but weren't aware of it, then why would you say this now and go back on that?

His thumb rubbed over his lip, pressing the corner of his mouth upwards. But, for some reason, what you're saying now feels like the truth…

"It's possible," said Light slowly, seriously, "that I've been framed."

Ryuzaki's eyes widened.

"What's going on?" demanded Aizawa. "This isn't like Light… he's taking back what he said earlier. It makes no logical sense..."

"What are you talking about, Light-kun?" Ryuzaki asked.

"There are only two options here," said Light, not looking away from the security camera. "Either I'm Kira, and I'm just not aware of it…" he narrowed his eyes, as if he could actually see them through the lens, through the monitor. "Or else you've been framing me, Ryuzaki."

Ryuzaki froze (the clamor of silence when the church bells stopped ringing—). Light Yagami, what are you…?