A short little piece, sliver of shounen-ai. Enjoy!

xxx

A tongue clicked behind him. Light turned toward nothing. He frowned, turning back. Maybe he really was crazy. "Tisk, tisk, tisk…" Auburn hair whipped around as he tried to find the source of the noise. Nothing. He grunted. "Lo, how the mighty have fallen." Light jumped up from his cot, searching frantically. "Who is that?!" "Just me, Kira-kun." The young man turned around, and for a second, he feared that Ryuk had written his name down.

There, but for the grace of God, sat L, in all his deceased glory, on the cot that Light had just occupied. Pupils dilated; his heart stopped. "You don't look happy to see me… then again, why should you?" Those sharp, bottomless eyes bored into him. "You—you're—you're dead." As if that would make him disappear. L stared, unblinking. "Yes. I know." "So then you're not real." A moment passed. "No, I'm not." Light's brow furrowed. "So then…how are you here?" The false-L tapped a long finger to his not-real chin, humming lightly. "I believe… you have conjured this situation from your own mind." Light frowned. "So I'm crazy?" The pad of false-L's thumb fell into his teeth. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Why the hell would I imagine you?" "Oh, I don't know… perhaps you feel regret for killing me. "What? I'm not sorry I kil—" The man continued to stare, unblinking. "Okay, maybe a little. But you were in my way—sacrifices had to be made!" Bare toes wiggled a bit. "Ah, so, in Kira's eyes, the end justifies the means." "Yes," he affirmed, more to himself than anyone. "Even if said means are illegal?" Light looked at him stupidly. "You put cameras in my house." The detective gave no response. "You confined me, Misa, and my father for two months. You then handcuffed me to yourself for a subsequent three months."

"A notebook of death." He pulled back a bit. "What?" L cocked his head at the young man. "A notebook… that will kill the person whose name is written in it. You cheated, I cheated. Therefore, we're even. With exception to the fact that you killed Watari and myself, you also killed your own father—" "Hey, wait!" he protested. "—and both Mello and Matt, my successors. So you owe me five." Light stared at him, mouth agape. "Mello killed my dad!" The detective could only nod his assent. "Yes, but it was your fault." The brunette gesticulated almost desperately. "But if Mello wasn't a complete nut who used the Mafia to get the Death Note, he'd still be alive!" L looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, I suppose you're right on that one… so four. You owe me four."

He was slowly winning the battle. "And Mello also kidnapped my sister, which traumatized her. So that's three. And if it weren't for Near, I wouldn't be facing my execution right now. So that makes two. Grah! Why am I even arguing with you? You're not even real!" It infuriated him when the illusion chewed on his thumb so... casually. "Yes, why are you?" "Shut up!" The man was clearly at his wit's end. "The Warden's coming." Slightly panicked eyes darted over to the small window of his enclosed room.

For a moment, he was saddened. He was angry, yes, but he was really feeling the loss at this moment. Right now, he was almost welcoming his death. "Oh. Are you leaving?" And reliving the bit of sorrow he'd felt when they finally put L in the ground. When it really hit him that the only person in the world that he really could relate to was dead. "Yes." He chewed his lip. "Oh… Hey, Ryuzaki—" Deep, dark eyes held his image almost gently with his curiosity. "Hm?"

It was difficult to say, and it came out in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry." The false-L unfurled himself, stepping off of the cot and slinking over to the auburn haired man. Their eyes met, and they held the other's gaze for a few heavy seconds. "I know." For a moment, he felt that familiar pain in his chest. Had he been hoping for forgiveness? In all honesty, yes. But he supposed that the sentiment was better than nothing. He was startled, suddenly, when he felt terrifyingly warm hands on his shoulders. Barely-there, but not really there lips met his briefly, and in a blink, the "apparition" was gone.

It had felt so real, and a litany of emotions pulled at and overwhelmed him like a great wave. All he could do was stand there, stock-still, unmoving even as the heavily armed guards shackled him and hauled him off to the execution chamber. Maybe he was crazy, like everybody said. Maybe he wasn't as unapologetic as he had thought he was. If he could hurt this much...

He was still in a daze as he was strapped down. He ignored the two-way mirror that blocked his view of the few witnesses—his mother, his sister, the remaining members of the Kira Investigation Team. He ignored the trench coat-concealed man in the corner... and the glowing white screen on the laptop adjacent to him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear Ryuk laughing. Son of a bitch.

His hearing became painfully acute when he heard the garbled voice through the computer. "Light Yagami. You have been found guilty of murder in the First degree, murder in the Second degree, Proxy murder, Capital murder, Genocide, Crimes against humanity, Negligent homicide, International Terrorism, and Assassination, and have been convicted of these crimes by the International Criminal Court tribunal. You have been sentenced to death by lethal injection for your crimes. Is there anything you would like to say?" The young man could not think of anything. Neither apology nor testament. No defenses, no excuses. No final good-byes.

As the young man, genius, demagogue, manipulator, role model, revolutionary, friend, comrade, son, brother, killer... stared blankly at the ceiling, he began to feel the fear creep past his defenses. There was a bit of commotion as a guard readied the first drug, and suddenly the situation sank in. He felt his heart rate rise and his breath come in increasingly rapid paces. From the second that the first needle was inserted in the IV tube, everything seemed to happen in slow-motion. He knew that he would be unconscious in under a minute; and dead within minutes after that. These last few, precious seconds of awareness were the last few seconds of his life. He realized then that he wasn't ready to die. He never had been. Was this how his father had felt?

"It's alright, Light-kun." Shocked, blurring brown eyes stared up at the apparition of L slouching over him. He looked just as real as he had in his cell. "It's not so bad. And it will be over soon." The question bored into dark, calm eyes. "I'll stay with you until the end." The man thanked him silently, unable to speak. The lines of L's face began to blur, and he found himself weakly tugging at his bonds. He wanted so badly to reach out to L, to see if he could touch him; hold onto him. Like he had when the detective had closed his own eyes for the last time. Only L's face was gentle, and held no sign of triumph, of gloating, as his had. There was only a hint of a smile, sympathetic and comforting.

The last thing he felt, as his eyes slipped closed, was the warmth of lean fingers through his hair and an odd mix of regret and content. "Sleep now, Light-kun. My first real friend."

fin.

Something I'd written a while ago but decided to spruce up and post. I thought about making a story of it, but... I think it's better like this. Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!