Hymns of a Broken Heart
"Thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven…" Mikami counted out, insanity creeping its way through his voice with each passing second, "thirty-eight, thirty-nine…"
Raito threw Near a malicious grin, "I win Near."
"Forty!" Mikami cried out elatedly while the SPK and Japanese Task Force members tensed as if to brace themselves from what seemed to be an imminent death.
Strained seconds passed as Near and Raito stared each other down; the other detectives almost willing the cold, cruel hand of Death to take their rather inadequate lives away.
After all, this was between them;
Separate sides of the scale known as Justice.
"We…We're not dead! It's already been about a minute and we're not dead!" Matsuda exclaimed while beside him, Ide desperately checked his pulse to confirm.
Raito looked around shaken, 'Why aren't they dying?!' he thought hurriedly in his panicking mind.
"I've been telling you that nobody would die," Near stated, staring at Raito the entire time, looking for his reaction.
"Why?" Mikami said shakily, a nervous sweat appearing on his face, "Why won't they die?" he looked down at the Death Note disbelievingly. "G-God I-I did as you told me," he whimpered as Raito scowled at him.
'Mikami…' Raito thought desperately to himself, 'B-But…' his thoughts stalled, 'This can't be happening…. What's going on?'
"Rester, Gevanni, get Mikami," Near said calmly all while keeping his intense, emotionless, L-like eyes trained on Raito's amber ones.
Raito's eyes widened at the thought of L. He could still see him in his mind's eye even after all those years: Those same, dark, emotionless eyes that seemed to have seen the worst of humanity. His long, thin, spider-like fingers usually occupied with some sort of diabetic poison, typing out a relentless rhythm on a keyboard or in more passionate moments with the buttons on Raito's shirt and the feel of his heart beat racing out of control from his delicate touch on Raito's smooth chest. His voice, quirky and slightly monotonous, turned husky and laden with lust after a blaze of passion. But most of all his lips smooth as silk, their mouths ravaging each others in a battle for dominance neither one cared who won. Heck, just the sight of them slightly swollen and a vague pink tinge was enough to send Raito over the edge sometimes.
Mikami's outburst made Raito come back to the reality –and intensity- of the present situation. If he wanted to win this particular battle, Raito would have to keep his mind from wandering and be more aware to what was going on around him.
"Gevanni, the note book," Near said emotionlessly again, making Raito's thoughts stray back to L.
He inwardly shook his head, 'Not now…Not now…' Raito angrily repeated inside his head like a mantra as Gevanni went to pick the Death Note off the floor by Mikami's feet. As he watched him, Raito noticed Rester holding a now handcuffed Mikami from escaping.
"See for yourselves," Near said, holding out the Death Note so that everyone could see the list of names written on it except for Mikami's and Raito's. "The first four names are unmistakably the real names of the SPK members and the only name that is missing from this list is Raito Yagami. Mikami called you 'God' and said he did as you told him to. This proves it," Near finished with a tiny smile.
Raito looked down at Near with a slight sweat starting to appear on his face. "A… A trap! This is a trap!" he yelled out, pointing an accusing finger down at him, "Near set this whole thing up to frame me! It's impossible that nobody's dead even after their names are written in the notebook. That proves that this is a trap!"
The Task Force members stood there shocked, "What?" Matsuda asked, perplexed.
Near continued to stare at Raito, "But I told you that nobody would die because I replaced the pages."
"W…Well… Y-you…" Raito spluttered out. 'You replaced the pages of the fake notebook, but the one Mikami wrote the names in is the real notebook!' he thought, his anxiety growing bigger every second. "It… It can't be… It's impossible…"
Near smirked a bit as he watched Raito squirm. 'Ok…' Raito thought, 'It's pretty much impossible that what Near is saying is true except for the fact that no one is dead…' He shut his eyes tightly in order to concentrate on the predicament at hand.
'Mind you…' Another voice within his head spoke up, 'What about that little mishap with Takada? Maybe Mikami thought that you couldn't do anything at the moment, so he decided to break the schedule of his life to go to the safety deposit box and take the Death Note out in order to kill Takada for you. Since it seems like that Gevanni guy was stalking him, it would make sense that he would notice this little detail and follow him even more carefully, thus seeing the real notebook.'
Raito's original –and more logical in Raito's opinion- voice took the second of silence to rebuttal. 'Well, if that is true… Then what will I do to get out of here alive?'
'I could get myself killed, letting me see L again… After all, we did promise that we would see each other in the afterlife….'
'How would that help? I want to stay alive so I rule the world as the new God, not die so I can see my lov…' The voices stopped as the more 'vivid' images of L started to play. More precise, the moment that L was lying in his arms, dying. Even though they had already made their deal to see each other, it still pained Raito to hold L in his last moments. Even thought he knew he would eventually see him again, it still hurt to know that it would be years till the day came.
Unless….
"Ok, so it is possible…" Raito stated calmly as Near's smile grew wider, "it doesn't change the fact though." He continued, slowly edging his way closer to Aizawa's right side.
"Change what fact?" Near asked, looking at Raito oddly.
"That I'm Kira!" Just as the words left his mouth, Raito quickly reached out and grabbed Aizawa's gun from its holster and swiftly shot each of the six rounds into Near, each thump of a bullet biting its way through the albino's skin making Raito's adrenaline and insanity spike. After a second's pause while watching Near fall to the ground, blood blossoming out of his wounds, the rest of the detectives in the room promptly drew their guns and fired only just after Raito had dropped to the floor to be out of the way of the gun fire.
Gasps of uncalled for pain echoed through the warehouse as the members of both the Japanese Task Force and the SPK fell on the ground, a few instantly dead, the rest in critical condition.
Raito got up from the dusty floor, laughing. Holding out his arms while sneering down at the now blood soaked Near, Raito laughed, "See Near? I win. You thought you tricked me into pushing myself into a corner, you thought that then I would admit to being Kira and just give up. You forgot just one little detail; I'm god of this world. Sorry to say Near but," Raito smirked, "You lost."
Still sneering, Raito pressed the button on his watch four times and produced a pen out of his pocket with a flourish. "Goodbye Near. It was fun while it lasted."
With uncharacteristically slowness, Raito spelled out Near's true name, saying each letter louder and more deliberate than the last, "N-A-T-E R-I-V…"
Bang. A gunshot reverberated throughout the warehouse. With a gasp, Raito fell to the floor, the bullet just barely missing his heart.
"I'm… So-sorry R-Raito…" Matsuda mumbled as he coughed up a bit of blood, "I c-can't believe that t-this whole time… You w-were…" he took a last shuddering breath as he died, the gun in his hand falling to the dusty floor with a clatter as Raito started to yell.
"I can't die! Not now! No! Not now! I can't!" he started to stand up as he was panicking, but the searing pain made him fall back down.
"How's it feel to be dying, Kira," Near murmured, coughing a bit from the dustiness of the floor.
"I'm not dying! I can't die! Not now! Not with the world still so rotten! Not yet! I don't want to die!"
"It's too late, Yagami-kun," an odd, strangely familiar voice said from the doorway.
Raito looked over to see who the mysterious person was, his eyes sparking from his frenzy. As soon as he saw the figure in the doorway, his eyes immediately dimmed, filling up with grief and despair instead. The man was all too familiar, but a stranger as well.
It was L.
"L…" Raito said shocked, his eyes growing wide. He quickly tried to get up, wincing from the pain.
L hastily made his way over to Raito, helping him lie back down, "It's ok Raito; you don't have to get up."
"L… Ryuzaki…" he started, gripping onto L's arm, "You don't know… How long… I've…" tears started forming in the corners of his eyes.
"Unfortunately I know all too well… I was waiting for you also…" L wrapped his other arm tenderly around Raito, making sure not to hurt him anymore than he was.
"Ryuzaki… I don't want to die… Not yet…" by now, the tears were flowing freely down his face. "I missed you… So much…" Raito tried pulling himself up in order to kiss L, his face tensed up to ignoring the throbbing coming from his chest.
L just smiled and placed a finger gently on Raito's lips, "Not now." He glanced over at Near who was now lying a in a small pool of his own blood.
Prying Raito's arm from around his own, Raito started muttering again, "Don't leaveme! Don't go!" L smiled again as he softly kissed his head, "I'm not leaving you." He got up and walked silently over to Near. When L reached Near's side, he started gnawing at the skin around his thumbnail.
Squatting down, L reached out with his other hand to brush the hair out of Near's eyes. He was greeted with a blank stare similar to his own.
"Hello L." he whispered.
"Hello Near… Or should I say Nate. It's rather unfortunate that this is our first time meeting face to face… Rather, soul to soul."
Near took a deep breath and winced at the pain it brought, "Why?"
"'Why' what Nate-kun?" L looked at him strangely.
"Why him? Why Kira?"
L smiled slightly, "I take it you haven't heard the expression 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'?"
In return, Near simply closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing.
With a slight sigh, L got back up and went over to Raito would was now muttering something incomprehensible.
"Raito… I probably shouldn't tell you this, but you only have about an hour left if you don't get any medical help." L said and he 'sat' by him.
"I don't want to die! It hurts… Ryuzaki, make it stop hurting!" Raito's adrenaline was now wearing off, the pain tearing through his body now.
"I'm sorry Yagami-kun, that's impossible for me to do…"
Hissing, he pushed himself into a sitting position and then gasped from the searing pain. Taking the pen from beside him, he went back to writing on the piece of Death Note, his hand shaking uncontrollably.
"Hyukhyukhyuk… Sorry Raito, you can't kill yourself. That's my job, remember?" Ryuk stated from behind the couple, a wide grin plastered on his face.
With almost painful slowness, Ryuk took his personal Death Note out of its harness and produced a pen from the pocket near it. "It was fun while it lasted… Raito Yagami."
Time seemed to stand still as both L and Raito turned around to watch the shinigami seal Raito's fate. Each letter seemed to take a lifetime to write in their mind. Each letter brought Raito farther from his dream, but closer to the man he devoted the rest of his life to seeing again.
As the last letter was finished, Ryuk put the pen and notebook back in their spots, his smirk growing even wider. "You sure helped ease my boredom for quite some time, but I guess it's time for me to go back to the shinigami realm."
Panicking, Raito's eyes opened wide. Even though he was going to have died anyway, just the thought of dying the same way all the criminals he administered justice to was almost too much to bear.
His precious seconds ticked by, each one making him dread what was going to happen in thirty-five, thirty-four, thirty-three…"
With a slight cough, Near spoke up, "At last, the most rotten person will be destroyed."
Raito gave him a nervous glare as he started breathing faster, Death's footsteps becoming clearer.
"Yagami-kun, I think that you should calm down… Dying isn't nearly as bad as it's made out to be." L timidly smiled as if this piece of news would make his lover actually calm down.
Raito just whimpered as he grabbed L's arms and forced them to wrap around himself. L complied, making sure not to squeeze too hard. "I don't want to do this… I don't want to die…"
"It's ok Raito…" he whispered in the other man's ear, causing him to shudder. Laying a delicate kiss on his forehead, L gave a slight squeeze as he felt Raito's heart give its last beat, pounding out the name of the only person had ever loved; L.
--
Near watched the entire episode solemnly, seeing his idol and his enemy holding each other in the aforementioned one's death. He saw as Raito's body gave one last shudder as his heart stopped. He also saw the murder's soul slowly drift out of his body, shocked to see that we had actually crossed the threshold of death.
Raito's soul smiled as he saw L beside him, still intertwined with his now lifeless body. L grinned as well, letting go of the body in favour for grabbing the man's hand. The former Kira released his hand, opting to take the insomniac's face and give him a single, chaste kiss. Disgusted, Near shut his eyes, the bullet holes feeling like white hot points of pain.
He opened his eyes once more when he heard Raito's voice whisper, "I love you, Ryuzaki…"
Near saw L smile and reply, "I love you too, Raito," before both of their forms slowly started to disappear to nothingness.
Getting dizzy from the loss of blood, Near took a deep breath in order to steady his mind into what was going to come next. "You know shinigami… I have been able to see you this whole time."
Ryuk looked over at the albino, "I figured that, because you had touched the Death Note… I was starting to wonder if you were going to say anything."
"Actually," he started, taking another burning breath, "I was wondering if you could do a favour for me."
Ryuk cocked his head to the side, "Like what? I'm not going to get help for you if that's what you want."
Near cracked a tiny smile, "No, that's not what I want. Actually, I was going to ask if you would kill me."
Another wide smirk found its way onto the shinigami's face, "Hyukhyukhyuk….. Humans sure are interesting. Hope your fine with a heart attack because I don't do special orders." Ryuk commented as he once again drew out his Death Note and pen.
"That's fine, as long I end up dead." Near murmured. 'After all,' he thought, 'It's pretty fitting since Kira won...'
As soon as Ryuk was finished, he smiled again, "Thanks for helping Raito ease my boredom. It was quite interesting watching you two try to figure each other out."
Near's smile slid off his face as he waited patiently for Death to take him as well, "You're welcome shinigami."
With forty seconds left on his clock of life expectancy, Near closed his eyes and thought about his life and who he might see in the afterlife.
Mello, that was certain; probably Matt as well since they were always inseparable. He would also see Rester, Halle and Gevanni again. He made a quick mental note to sincerely apologize for them getting killed.
With the last wave of excruciating pain, Near's eyes opened wide at the voracious thump of Death taking his life away.
The world was never as clean as it was that day