Hey everyone! Redfox here! :) So...this is my second Death Note fic and as I've said before, I would appreciate it a lot of you guys could tell me on what I have to improve, if my chars are too OOC and such.
I hope you enjoy this one!
NOTE: I wrote a "alternative" ending to how Death Note originally ended, with L surviving as well as Mello. I hope it's not too cliché and flawed! ^^
Death Note's Secret Ending
„If you can't win the game, if you can't solve the puzzle…then you're just a loser," Near's calm voice rang out into the warehouse, sending chills down Light's and the task forces spines.
Light's eyes narrowed, "What is this? What sort of game are you playing?" he looked around suspiciously, Mikami was just outside the door, he knew, waiting for his "God" to give him further orders.
Near's expression remained emotionless, "None at all." He lifted his fingers up, showing Light four figures attached to the tips of his fingers, one with the word "KIRA" on it, the other looked to be Near himself nearly all white, the other was Mello with blonde hair and the last...
"L?" Light thought, highly suspicious of Near's next moves, "So he made figures of all of us, of L too, probably back the from when he was still alive. But why is he showing them to me now? L and that Mello brat are dead," he shot a look at the door.
"It seems like you're expecting someone," Near noted, glancing briefly at the door.
Light didn't let his emotions show, opting to stay as calm as possible, "I'm not,"
Near nodded, "I see," he himself looked in the opposite direction.
"Lidner..." Near shared a look with the tall woman and she complied nodding her head and walking in the direction where Near was previously looking to.
"We know that the man outside has been doing the killings in Kira's place, Teru Mikami, a devoted worshipper of Kira or "God" as they say." Near scoffed softly, "Now that he has written all our names in the Death Note, he will come after 40 seconds to see if we are dead. That's where we will restrain him and seize the notebook, whoever's name is not written down must be Kira,"
A pregnant silence followed, accompanied by resonating gasps of shock coming from the members of the police task force.
Near's voice rang loud and clear, "Teru Mikami, if it's not too much trouble for you, won't you please come in and join us?" he spoke loudly enough for the man outside to hear, "I already know that you've been the one judging and executing people for Kira. You've already written down our names in the notebook, so there shouldn't be anything for you to be afraid of, right?" silence followed and Near sensed the man's hesitancy behind the door.
What surprised him slightly though, was Light's sudden interference, "He's right Mikami, by writing down all our names there shouldn't be anything to be afraid of. You can come in if you like,"
Near observed how Mikami, not even two seconds later, opened the door, white nearly blinding light surging passed his frame.
"Interesting...Kira worshippers obey to no one but Kira himself." His gaze fixed itself onto Light, who kept his face carefully neutral, "He pretends not to know him personally, but there is no mistaking it, a Kira worshipper wouldn't just listen to anyone, just as he didn't listen to me...it must be," Near's gaze narrowed.
"How many seconds has it been since you wrote down the first names?" Light's voice carried over the quiet noise of the ventilator above.
Mikami immediately looked down at his watch, eyes red and a crazed look about them, "30...31...32...33...34...35..." he grinned maliciously, delusion written all over his contorted face.
Near chanced another glance at the door at the opposite end, wondering where Giovanni was.
"Looks like I won, Near," Light's lips curled into a bloodthirsty grin, his eyes betraying his true persona as they shone a ominous red just before Mikami counted down to 40 seconds.
The task force members cowered in on themselves in fright, wrapping their arms over their heads, as if that pathetic attempt could save their lives.
"W-we are still alive?" Aizawa's astonished voice was accompanied by Matsuda's relieved sigh.
"B-but how? It's been well over a minute and...nothing happened," he looked at his colleagues then at Light and the others.
Mikami's expression was one of despair, frantically looking back and forth between Light and the watch, no...he didn't miscalculate...well over 40 seconds had already passed...but why didn't the Death Note have any effect? Why didn't they die?
Mikami's loss of self control showed in his screams and the agonized expression on his face, "But why?! Why won't they die!?" his hand made a furious move to write their names down again, in the hopes of actually killing them this time, but Near was too fast.
"Rester! Gevanni! Take him down!" the minute Near's command was spoken the two men moved in to restrain the panicking male with handcuffs and the notebook fell from his hands, pages facing upwards, the names of everyone in the warehouse he had written were visible.
"The notebook, please," Gevanni handed the notebook to Near, who calmly gazed at its contents.
He turned it around so the pages were facing the police task force, " If you didn't believe me earlier then see for yourselves, the only name that hasn't been written down is Light Yagami,"
Light's gaze narrowed, sweat beading and sliding down his cheek, his heart beat accelerated but he quickly forced himself to calm down, no, he couldn't be nervous now. There was no solid proof, just like with L, this kid had no real proof he was Kira. So what if that moron Mikami hadn't written his name? He could justify that they were good companions and he didn't wish to kill him.
No...he already said he hadn't had any contact with Mikami, his previous statement of not knowing the man would be proven as false if he said this now. He had to come up with something, fast.
"Its settled," Near's voice shook something within Light's fragile web of emotions and schemes and careful planning, those fine strings of sanity left within him would soon fade into nothingness as he felt his Kira persona slowly resurface again, threatening to kill everyone with the Notebook as soon as he got his hands on it.
Not yet... "Not yet," he told himself, barely restraining his bloodlust.
He had to get out of this now!
"T-this is a setup," his hands started sweating, he was running out of options, he had to play the victim or he would lose this game!
"You're mistaken," Near's voice brought him out of his reverie, "This was all thanks to Mello," Light's gaze narrowed, that brat? But how?
"What? Mello? But he's dead! How can a dead kid beat me?!" his gaze moved frantically around, suddenly hearing two pairs of footsteps that weren't supposed to be there.
His frantic eyes finally caught sight of two moving figures, one of the woman named Lidner and the other...
Light's eyes widened, his blood ran cold at the sight of the teen he thought he had already killed, "No..." another step, "N-no," a smirk, "This is...this isn't possible!" the teen bit off a chunk of chocolate, grin still in place, the scar around his eye seemed mocking now, "He's supposed to be dead! What the hell happened?!"
Mello's grin was unsettling at best, "It seems like things have been going just as you planned, Near," he smirked, standing there, mocking him, Light Yagami, Kira.
But he wasn't done yet, he could still kill him, he could kill Near too, he could kill all of them.
He just needed to find out where the real notebook was, then it would be easy...
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Mello's dark chuckle echoed through the warehouse and Light glared frostily at him, his fingers twitching to grab a pen and bestow upon him a most merciless death.
Near interrupted Light's intense glaring contest with Mello, "Light Yagami...you are Kira,"
He shivered, blood boiling like molten lava in his veins as he desperately tried to gain some semblance of control, it wasn't yet time, he couldn't let the police force find out for sure he was Kira, these were just all assumptions, vague assumptions that didn't prove anything!
He didn't know how Mello survived, but he would make sure to end this stupid game once and for all.
"Damn you!" he shouted to Mello and Near, mind racing a mile a minute on what to do until it suddenly dawned on him.
If he revealed his true identity now...it wouldn't change anything would it? He would still kill all of them, the knowledge of him being Kira would never get leaked to the public, he could continue creating a perfect world cleansed of evil...it didn't matter anymore.
His carefully built mask vanished, showing them the monster he truly was, a blood curling grin stretched over his handsome face, eyes which were usually so brown and trustworthy melted into burning irises of red, practically glowing with the intensity of his hatred and killer intent towards the two children.
He released a deep chuckle, "That's right..." shadows cast over his face only made his expression that much more demonic, giving him the appearance worse than the god of death as he gazed at the terrified expressions of his teammates and Nears entourage, "I'm Kira,"
And suddenly, his gaze was fixated on the four figures on Near's fingers. He noticed Near had removed the figure of Kira, himself and Mello. The only one left was...
"L? Why? Upon my exposure as Kira, he removed the Kira figure, when Mello entered he removed his figure and himself but why is he still keeping L? Perhaps symbolically?" he couldn't find any reasonable explanation to why he was still there, perhaps... "No...no, no! I killed him, I saw it with my own eyes, he died in my arms!"
"He who strikes first wins, doesn't he Kira?" his previously boiling blood that was singing with blood lust suddenly froze, his entire body locked down and the crazed scream that wanted to tear out of its throat died down as well.
It was like he couldn't move, his muscles went stiff with shock. It couldn't be...he hadn't heard this voice in years but he recognized it all the same...it couldn't possibly-
Light slowly turned his head in the direction toward where Mello and Near were and he saw it.
He released a scream, backtracking on wobbly, weak knees as he tried blinking rapidly, thinking of it as an illusion. It had to be!
"He was dead! Dead! Rem killed him! He isn't here! That's not him! His mind was playing tricks on him! Yes! That's it! He was starting to hallucinate from all of this!" Light's mind was a mess of words and sentences, trying to make the man he was seeing a few feet away from him go away, he tried pinching himself harshly, he didn't go away. He tried shutting his eyes and opening them again, but the figure remained standing there, hunched as it were.
No...
"I assure you Light, I'm no illusion," the calm, collected voice of none other than his supposed deceased rival sounded through the warehouse, echoing as if to haunt Light's fragile mind process even more.
"N-N-no...this...this is impossible! Y-you can't...you can't be-" Light's voice trailed off, frame shaking violently as he tried to gather his bearings, the nearly lifeless dark eyes of his rival staring at him, glaring.
"N-N-no way! Is this...R-Ryuzaki?! Is that really-?" Matsuda's own voice betrayed his emotions, shock and relief and disbelief written all over his face.
The man sighed softly, "Matsuda you idiot...of course it's me, I don't suppose many people look like I do now do they?" the tiniest hint of amusement was evident in his tone and Light wanted to tear at his hair.
Near smiled, "I believe you know who this is don't you Light?" he gestured to the tall man standing next to both Mello and Near himself.
"N-no..." flashbacks suddenly came rushing back to him like a current, threatening to drown him in despair, memories and him, "L..."
It was the same dark messy hair, the same dark eyes with bags under them, the same plain white shirt and jeans...
It couldn't be and yet...there he was...L...
"Light Yagami...Kira...it's over, you've lost the game," Near's voice penetrated his thoughts and Light shook with the desperate effort to remain calm, the very real presence of none other than L mocking him, haunting him, tearing into the deepest and darkest recesses of his mind and clawing at his very sanity.
And suddenly before another lie could slip out of his mouth, he remembered the very words that used to haunt him in his sleep after L's death, "Tell me Light, from the moment you were born, has there ever been a point where you actually told the truth?"
His body trembled, crazed laughter threatening to burst forth if he decided to let his restrains down.
There he saw them, all of them. The police task force, looking betrayed and horrified, the members of the SPK, Mello, Near and finally L...
He started to laugh, laughter of insanity echoing through the warehouse, unnerving the rest.
"What a pleasant surprise...I thought I killed you, L. I thought I killed that Mello brat too," he shot them both a crazed look. A growl was forming deep within Mello's chest but a sudden hand on his shoulder stopped him, it was L.
L didn't directly look at him, but the small squeeze on his shoulder was meant to calm him. Mello's growl died down in his throat, his hand itching to grab his gun and shoot the bastard.
It had come as a shock to him, finding out his mentor had been alive all along. Not him or Near would have found out he was alive had L himself not strolled into Near and Mello's hideouts respectively.
Mello had visited Near that day, following instructions on a letter he thought had come from Near, to meet up at HQ.
As it turned out, it was L who sent it. L had caught them both off guard with his sudden appearance and the fact that he was indeed alive.
He had told them everything, how he was revived with the help of the Shinigami King, who, presumably out of boredom, had erased L's name from the Death Note and brought him back to life that way, having been keeping track of Ryuk's movements as well as the human affairs he was tangled up in.
"How...how could...it's impossible! Once the person's name is written in the notebook that person will die! You can't cheat death! Not even L can cheat death!" Light tore at his hair, pupils dilated, teeth bared like an animal.
L remained calm, "As it turned out, your Shinigami hadn't been the only one that was bored," Light froze, thousands of thoughts running through his mind on what he could possibly mean.
"It's true," the voice of none other than Ryuk reached Light's ears and he sharply turned around to look at the Shinigami, levitating above the ground as usually.
"I thought it a joke, but it seems like the old man has been so bored as to revive the greatest detective known in the human world...it seems as if he revived him after hearing about you and your cat and mouse game," Ryuk seemed fascinated by that.
Something Light certainly didn't need now, "Ryuk! Why didn't you tell me anything about this?!" Light didn't care the others were listening, it was all over anyhow.
The Shinigami chuckled darkly, red eyes alight with mirth, "I told you Light, I'm neither with or against you," Light growled, feeling anger welling up inside of him.
L smirked slightly, "I assume your Shinigami already told you what happened?" Light glared at him, "The Shinigami King had erased my name with a powerful object from the Death Note and so I was revived. Contrary to what I believed, I had awoken in my own apartment, not inside the coffin used at my funeral," the members of the task force were speechless.
Shinigami King? There was a ruler of those demons?! And it was him that actually revived L?
"B-but why? Why would a Shinigami be helping humans?" Matsuda asked loudly, unable to comprehend this bizarre situation no matter how hard he tried.
L appeared to be thinking, nibbling on the tip of his finger, "Interesting question indeed...I have wondered that myself but I'm come to the conclusion that it had not been in his intentions to be helping me directly, rather my revival would have surely caused unpredictable turmoil in the human world, turmoil he supposedly missed in his own realm," L deduced upon his very brief talk with the Shinigami King, who had only informed him of his revival and to "entertain the human world" a bit more.
Light couldn't believe this, this must have been a joke!
"But that doesn't explain why he is alive!" Light pointed at Mello, who glared at him icily.
Mello started speaking a small grin settling on his face, "Actually, I can explain it perfectly." He grinned, "Your little girlfriend was stupid enough to try and fool me. After taking off all her clothes, she didn't remember me knocking her out and discovering the pages she had with her, she thought she had passed out from exhaustion in my truck. I had suspicions the pages were from the Death Note, so I replaced the pages with a regular notebook and slipped it back in her clothes so when she woke up she would still think it was in the original spot she hid it in," he smirked, "It's been fun playing dead for a while, had a nice rest too," he chuckled and Near rolled his eyes, typical Mello.
Light's breathing grew erratic, pulse beating frantically beneath his skin, hands clammy and sweaty, he was on edge, on the edge of insanity, his worst nightmare had come true.
No...from all the nightmares he had had until now, this hadn't been one of them. This was even worse than his nightmares. There were Near and Mello, two child prodigies and successors to L and then there was L himself, very much alive and out to expose him as Kira.
He clenched his fists, his smirk widening into a unnatural grin, eyes unfocused, "Hear this...I am not only Kira...I am the god of the new-"
"No," Near's firm and uncharacteristically sharp voice pierced the air and the words died in Light's throat abruptly, his head slowly lowered to face the crouching Near, whose gaze penetrated his very soul, those very same eyes that were just like his, "You're just a murderer Light Yagami, that's all you are. Nothing more and nothing less,"
If looks could only kill...Near would have already been sent to the darkest pits of hell. To his astonishment, his view of Near was partly obscured by jean-clad legs and when his gaze traveled up he spotted none other than L, his hands in his pockets with his usual slouching stance but something was different.
As absurd as it sounded, his death had changed him. His gaze seemed clearer, sharper and his aura seemed more...dangerous. Oh, L had been a dangerous man long before Light had even discovered the Death Note, but here, standing so protectively in front of Mello and Near...
"Oh? Now you're protecting them are you, L?" the man in question chose not to respond, instead he looked straight at him.
Light snorted, "Useless fools... as if they could ever understand..." his gaze moved back to Near, the brat was still staring at him, "Near...I have to kill him..." his gaze moved downward to his wristwatch, time continued on despite the stillness of the facility.
He should have never let it come so far, he should have personally made sure L was dead, that Mello had been killed...he should have maybe even murdered the police task force...maybe he would have had it easier, not being forced to pretend for so many years...posing as the guy that cared so much for avenging Ryuzaki's death and capture Kira...where Kira had worked within their ranks all this time and none of them even noticed...
"Until they came along, that is..." he glared at Near and Mello before quickly retracting the small compartment of his watch where he had a piece of the notebook stored in.
"He has a piece of the notebook!" he didn't know who shouted, being far too lost in his frenzy to write down the names, but suddenly a shot rang out and all he felt was pain and all he saw was red.
A scream from the depths of his throat tore through the air, blood dripping in thick droplets to the ground, soaking his uniform, covering the entirety of his hand, which pulsed rapidly and strong bursts of pain kept shooting up and down the length of his arm.
He turned, movements uncoordinated and frantic, his heart was hammering against his ribcage threatening to burst from his chest, his blood was rushing through his veins and his lungs nearly burned from the force of his gasps and sharp intakes of breath at the searing pain he had just been introduced to.
The brief smoke coming from the barrel of the gun slowly vanished but Mello still kept his gun pointed at Light, not willing to give the bastard a chance to kill any of them.
L's eyes were wide and he looked at Mello, Mello's gaze remained calm, fixated on Light's agonized expression, his grip steady on his gun.
Mello's voice was threatening and clear, "You've got some nerve, thinking we would fall for the same trick twice, bastard," he spat the insult, "Tch, red looks good on you," his eyes shone ominously, a glint in them that L recognized as bloodlust.
He frowned, wondering just through what his two successors had gone through in life to make them so...hardened. He supposed his path hadn't been easy, but he never thought they would have to go through such things as well, at least not to the point of seeing that look in their eyes.
"Y-you...! Don't screw with me!" Light tightly clutched at his bleeding wound, trying to stop the rivulets of blood that flowed between his fingers like a river.
Near's gaze narrowed, looking at Mello and L, both were tense but L looked like he was waiting for something.
And then, he was running and before Near could register what happened, one of the members from the police force suddenly shouted, "His blood!"
When Near's head whipped about to witness the scene, he caught sight of his mentor bracing himself with his hands against the ground and kicking Light's jaw hard, causing the other man to shout in pain and be slammed against a standing wooden beam within the warehouse harshly.
Near would have winced in sympathy had he felt any toward the man, he knew L wasn't a pushover regardless concerning intellect or be it physical aspects, he could tell by the way Light had painfully clutched at his jaw that that kick must have done some damage.
"In that world you spoke of...the new world being cleansed from evil...in that world, there would be the biggest evil it has yet to see and that is you, Kira,"
L had just recovered from his offensive attack as he spoke before Light frantically tried righting himself, eyes looking a demonic red, his actions driven by the strong urge to kill L, to kill the man that was responsible for reducing him to this state, but two consistent gun shots suddenly pierced the air loudly and screams of pain and agony accompanied them seconds later.
"Mello," even Near seemed surprised by how quickly Mello had reacted to save L and shoot Light, one bullet met its target at the lower right part of Light's stomach, the other pierced his shoulder.
Blood immediately soaked through the white material of his dress shirt and through the gray of his suit, Mello's eyes were furious shades of blue and his words dripped with venom, "Don't fuck with me, loser," he cocked his gun, ready to shoot again should Light make any sudden movements towards L or any of the others.
L turned back around to look at Mello, before he slowly approached him, "I think he's had enough, wouldn't you say?" he looked to stare at the unnaturally writhing body of Light Yagami, looking so vulnerable and fragile, body shuddering with agony and strong bursts of pain. Broken and gurgled shouts of pain filled their ears and some of the police force members found themselves swallowing hard.
"What are you waiting for?! Their names! Their names! Write them down!" Mikami was too shell shocked to even move against the restraints, staring at the writhing form of the one he worshipped as "God".
Was this what a "God" could be reduced to? Wasn't Kira, his God, supposed to be immortal? Untouchable? How could such a powerful being be reduced to...this?
"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them NOW!" the foreign shouts of agony filled his ears but Mikami made no move to obey, standing shocked, watching how his God crumbled before his very eyes, reduced to nothing but...a mere human.
Everyone watched how Light Yagami writhed pathetically on the floor, pools of blood slowly forming beneath him.
And suddenly, smoke filled the air and everyone tried finding out what was the cause of it. Mikami had activated a smoke bomb and when the smoke cleared, Light was missing.
Matsuda looked around frantically, "W-what?! Where the-where did he go?!" everyone looked at the exit, immediately rushing towards it until L suddenly spoke.
"You don't need to follow him," his words were simple but there was a certain aura of command in it and the members reluctantly stilled.
Matsuda voiced his protest, "What?! B-but Ryuzaki! We have him! We can't let him escape now! Not when we-"
L's gaze was calm, "I believe his wounds will are more than enough to finish our work," he glanced at Mello and Near, "Do not follow me, I'll return shortly,"
With strides that were slightly faster than he usually walked, L walked towards the door, his intentions clear the moment he stepped out of them, this cat and mouse game was drawing to its conclusion it seemed.
This is only the FIRST part, but I will ONLY continue if you guys think it's good! :) This is only my second Death Note fic, I'm still unsure if my characters are too OOC.
