An Enigmatic Man:
A mysterious man with piercing red eyes haunts L in his dreams. As if that was not enough, he starts to meet him in real life occassionally too. And there's also Kira. With two people stealing his sleep, what will L do when his nightmares become reality?
Raindrops continue to fall from the grey sky, hitting the cold ground below.
They get entangled in his hair, slowly sliding down his face. His ghostly skin seems to glow, the raindrops glittering on his body.
The clothes he wears, the usual plain white shirt and trousers are all soaked with water and feel heavy on him. He can hardly move. Still, he doesn't feel cold, for some reason, he rather feels very warm. Strangely separated from his body. L wonders why he is there, outside in the rain at this eerie, almost creepy place. Noone is there and he is alone. Loneliness is not a foreign emotion to L, not at all.
L can't see much of his surroundings, everything is consumed by the darkness caused by the rainclouds. The rain is intensifying now, big droplets are hitting him harder.
It's as if they were trying to pull him down to the ground.
He struggles, but falls on his knees, his hands on the ground. The pressure becomes too much for him, too hard to bear. It's strange how he's become immobile, completely unable to defend himself alone in the darkness. He wants to move, to explore the place, but he can't. Like some invisible bond was holding him back.
For some time, he just stays on the cold ground and feels, how the coldness grows inside his body.
He gathers his last bits of energy from all corners of his body and looks up. He feels he's not alone anymore.
There, somewhere in the distance, he can make out a dark figure. Neither does the figure show his face nor does he look anyhow familiar to L.
A complete stranger, menacingly approaching him. He is clothed in black and wears a robe, like death himself. L thinks he's even engulfed by some sort of dark aura.
He realizes that he can't escape. Whatever it is, it's coming closer. It moves effortlessly through the rain, closing the seemingly long distance between them with small steps.
Now, he's almost there. He stands some feet away, looking down at him. The sight causes L to shake in fear. He tries to crawl away from the figure, but trips over his feet on the slippery ground. L would like to scream for help, but is too shocked. No sound escapes from his mouth. The shadow reaches for him with his left hand and L's eyes widen in fear.
It smiles.
L awakes, almost falling off his chair. His eyes are wide and his breathing is erratic. He can feel the odd looks of the other task force members on him and his face grows hot. Now, the detective realizes he has just had a very realistic dream. The weakness he was experiencing in his dream, however, has not faded from him yet.
"Ryuuzaki, are you alright? You look extremely pale, er, I mean, more pale than usual." Matsuda stumbles. He looks surprised. He can't believe L has actually fallen asleep in front of the taskforce. He is not alone with his thoughts.
L nods. Everyone is looking at him with a worried expression on their faces. They are irritated because they have never seen L sleep. It's hard for them to believe that he would doze off, while working on a serious case, involving thousands of murders. That's something unheard of. Even L, someone, who is known for being irritating, must realise it's inappropriate, they think secretly.
" Do you need a break? We could go on working for some time, until you have fully recovered." Soichiro offers kindly.
"There is no need to worry." He says flatly.
L decides it's best to just pretend that everything is okay. He's actually tired of pretention, incredibly tired. For once, he wishes he could be alone for now. Just working all by himself. The detective cannot leave the case alone, just so he can recover from a dream. Even Matsuda should realize how ridiculous that is.
L has never had nightmares. When he sleeps, his sleep is dreamless. L remembers only darkness afterwards, nothing else. He keeps his periods of sleep short, he needs the time to work on his cases. They take up all of his attention. That is the reason why L drinks a lot of coffee with huge amounts of sugar, it's to make up for the lack of sleep. Sometimes, L suffers silently L is a restless ghost and even looks that way. A peculiar man who would immediately draw people's attention if he were to go out in public. He doesn't mind, his cases give his life a sense and also entertain him. The time passes fast and easily.
His body and mind can work without sleep. They always have.
L wants to stand up and go to the bathroom, so he can splash some water on his hot face. As he lifts himself slowly from the chair he had been crouching in all along, his body feels heavy.
Now L realizes why he's felt cold. His body is wet with sweat and his hair is matted to his forehead. His mind is dizzy, maybe he's caught a fever. Black dots are dancing in front of his eyes. The nightmare must've really gotten to him because he can't concentrate anymore. It seems he has to take more care of his own self. He can't stand upright and sits down again, holding a weak hand to his forehead. He has a terrible headache. It feels like his head is going to explode. He feels nauseous, too.
Light runs to him, gripping his shoulders tightly. He shakes L, as if trying to wake him up. The man looks pitiful.
L is looking deep into his amber eyes, searching for the motivation behind the action. Light is the prime suspect in the Kira case, a mass murderer and the fiercest enemy L ever had to face. Light equals him in intelligence and L doesn't expect kindness from him. He is sure Light already scheming something, a plan to get rid of him while he is ill and defenseless. He pushes the boy away with his last strength. Then he falls off the chair, his eyes closing as he makes contact with the ground.
The taskforce members gather around him, examining L with shocked expressions on their faces. They also wonder why L refused to take Light's help and pushed him away, in front of everyone else. Then Watari rushes into the room he had previously been watching with the cameras. He carries a first aid kit.
" Ryuzaki fainted, but he's not seriously injured, as far as I can tell. But it seems he's caught a fever. Please continue your work, I will take care of him."
He says after some minutes.
They go back to their work, still a little worried. They had feared it might have been a heart attack caused by Kira.
When L awakes, he sees Watari kneeling beside him. He holds a cold and wet piece of cloth to his hot forehead and it feels like bliss to L. The old man puts his hand to L's wrist to feel for a pulse. L can barely keep his eyes open, his vision is slightly blurred.
"L, you passed out in front of the taskforce and you fell asleep during the research. Can you remember?"
"Yes. What time is it now?"
"It's 10pm and nobody is working anymore. I strongly recommend you go get some rest yourself, too. How do you feel, L?"
L feels thankful, for he knows Watari's sorrow is honest and sincere. He's sure Watari stayed by his side the entire time.
" It's okay, Watari. I'm already feeling better, I guess I just need some sleep."
He hears himself speaking and as soon as he's spoken the words he regrets them because the only thing he doesn't want to do now is sleep.
He fears the dream might come back, in all its frightening intensity, the man haunting him like a ghost. L had never felt fear, no matter how hard a case had been or how close someone had gotten to him. Never.
On the other hand, he's well aware he needs sleep. Everyone expects him to recover properly. And L, the world's greatest detective, has to live up to the expectations of other people, after all. If he were to leave the case to the taskforce alone, Kira would not only get away with his crimes, but probably take over the world in no time.
How could a dream possibly influence him? He has no idea. Now, that the fog is slowly lifting itself from his mind, he is really worried.
Watari decides it's better to go together with L and bring him to his sleeping chamber, where Light is already waiting for him. He is wide awake in their bed, although he's supposed to be asleep. But Watari doesn't know about that. If he knew, he would watch the chamber the whole night, to ensure L's safety. Since he does not, he will go to sleep, too.
Light watches fascinated, how L is almost being carried into the room by Watari. He is weak, panting and his eyes are closed. What is wrong with him? Is he ill, by chance? Maybe he doesn't have to take care of Ryuzaki.
He never seemed to be too healthy. Pale skin that probably never saw the sun and a skinny body, very likely he is underweight, too. Still, to Light it is unbelievable that L, who's been his rival and the only one able to compete with him is so human and vulnerable, right here, in front of him. If he launched an attack now, he could very likely overpower both, Watari and L.
No, how foolish of him. It would all be recorded and the taskforce would finally believe L, despite all the false leads Light had carefully prepared.
Ryuzaki is gently being lain down next to Light, who is still pretending to sleep.
They sleep, back to back and Watari leaves the room. Now it's dark again and Light turns around to get a glance at L. He places a hand on L's forehead to see if he's got a temperature. His forehead feels hot, but there are no traces of sweat on it. He is hovering above L and feels powerful, in a sort of way.
Probably, Watari wiped it off and gave him clean clothes so he doesn't have to wear wet ones in bed. The old man and L seem to have a bond of some sort because he never lets anyone that close to him. He's got the impression they trust each other blindly.
Somehow, he's interested in L's mysterious past, he realizes. What is it that made L become the person he is now? Was there something that shaped him? Where are his parents or relatives? Such thoughts are irrational and insignificant, he tells himself. L's fate is sealed, he poses a threat to Light's, no, Kira's dream of a perfect world, where only the pure and kindhearted are allowed to live in tranquility, guarded by him, their god.
"Light?" Ryuzaki asks, interrupting Light in his thoughts. The word sounds slurred.
Through slits he's been watching Light for some minutes now. Light had gazed at him, a serious expression plastered on his usually motionless face. Such an intense gaze that became a hateful stare. When L couldn't bear Light watching his weak form any longer, he decided to say something to somehow interrupt him. He really wants to know what Light thinks right now and how he will react.
Light is a charismatic person, a skillful actor, whose pretention can almost fool anyone into believing him.L just got a glimpse of who Light really is. He thought L wasn't looking and for a short moment, his carefully placed mask had slipped. He can read Light a little, but his true intentions will stay enigmatic.
For now, the only thing of importance is that L mistrusts Light. He himself knows best he will never be able to fully convince L. That is exactly why he wants him dead.
AN: I edited this chapter and hope it's free of mistakes now :) A review would be very kind!