A/N: For the Death Note Flash Bingo on the For Death Note Writers Forum (link in profile), 037 – Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still. ~ Chinese proverb
to take a class on patience
Light would have done to learn patience. Not that he had been remarkably impatient, but his moves had been aggressive and hasty, and he'd left too many avoidable holes behind.
Like that incident with Lind L. Taylor. If he had taken a moment to think, he would have realised that even if he did succeed in killing the infamous L, he would be incriminating the name of Kira in the process. And L had thought of that, had used that to his advantage, restricting the broadcast so that he could narrow down Kira's location.
Or the incident with Raye Penber, though he'd done a better job of covering his tracks then. He couldn't, after all, have anticipated the formidable woman that was Naomi Misora. But it wasn't thought or patience that saved him, but luck. Pure dumb luck that put him in her path before she'd been able to pass on the truth.
And then there was that trap of N's that he'd so neatly fallen in to – if only he could have waited instead of jumping at an opportunity that looked too perfect. That wound up being his ultimate downfall, one could say…but the truth was it had been building up for a while. Light's poor patience had chipped many a crack into the brick wall known as Kira; slowly, but surely, it had crumbled into nothing but dust blown in the wind.
And where had that started? Who knows, but before Kira, I think. Because even his first use of the Death Note had been a foolish, foolish thing. If only he had waited and thought things over properly, he might have avoided that first accidental murder that splattered his soul with blood. If only he hadn't tried to hard to change the world, he might have been able to do something smaller, yet more lasting.
After all, Kira is dead and only a few straggly followers dance at his grave, and Light has been completely forgotten.