Story Title: Our Last Chance
Chapter: Life in Death
Disclaimer: Disclaimers are for morons.
Author's Note: Very sexy Light/L slash. My first Death Note fanfic...one I hope will please all our deepest desires for one of the greatest pairings of all time. I try to stay as true to the show as possible. Be warned...spoilers if you haven't seen the entire thing or read the manga. Read and review to help me continue! Thanks!
The clanging of metal against metal jolted Light down to his very bones.
It seemed to last for hours. He screamed in agony. Someone was punishing him, someone who had found out he was Kira, and he had failed-
The intervals of clanging slowed. He tried to identify it. It sounded vaguely familiar; he felt the click over as his logical brain took over, replacing the panicky, feverish thoughts of a moment ago. It sounded like metal bars.
Metal bars, like a jail cell.
The clanging stopped.
The punishment had ended.
Where was he?!
Was he dead? Was this the place of nothingness Ryuk promised would be his fate?
Someone was watching him. He could feel it. He sighed through his nose, preparing. Whoever awaited him would undoubtedly carry out his eternal judgment. With a sinking feeling, he gritted his teeth. It was time to face eternity.
He opened his eyes.
Above him was a dank, greenish-brown ceiling of metal.
He was alive.
He was…alive?!?!
Gathering his composure, he let his eyes roam around. Ceiling. Walls?
Finally, he turned his head.
Metal bars.
A cell. Just like one he remembered from…from when he forgot he was Kira.
A jail cell.
He swallowed; his throat was dry.
He shifted; his muscles were stiff and a little sore.
There was a terrible, searing pain in his collar bone, just below his neck and close to his shoulder. Had something happened to him there? Hadn't he been shot or something?!
A shadow seemed to fall across the barred room, upon the dank tiled floor.
Light squinted.
Someone was here.
Take it easy, Light. You didn't get out of this that easily. Ryuk told you. This is judgment. Some kind of hell or purgatory, designed to look and feel like something familiar, but actually a punishment all its own. Well. I won't be taken in so easily.
"Well? You're here to take me on to the next stage? I'm ready to go."
With some effort, Light sat up.
And gasped.
The shadow was too familiar a shape, right down to the shaggy mess of hair that enlarged the shape of his head.
Looking up, it was difficult to make out the face, but there was no question about it; the sillouette was-was-
"RYUZAKI!" Light wailed, his heart suddenly pounding. If he had doubted before that he was loosing his mind, now he was 100% certain. "Is that you?! Speak if it is, damn it!"
The shadow moved. Fists grabbed the bars. The face remained shadowed.
Light sprang to his feet, wincing. He ignored the pain, shaking with dread.
"SPEAK, damn you! If you are L, then answer me. If not, then go back to hell where you belong! I won't allow you to impersonate him! DAMN you!"
"Light…" L's voice spoke, calm, uncertain. Real. Too real.
Light rushed forward. It couldn't be; it just couldn't be.
In those few steps, if there had ever been a moment of judgment as he had always been told, it happened right then. As if on a train ride heading straight over a cliff, all Light's memories of the years as Kira, and his false friendship with Ryuzaki, flashed before his eyes.
His hands were upon the bars. They were cold, as real metal should be.
He saw L falling out of his chair, his eyes so wide the red veins strained in their whites…
His fingers closed over the hands from the person on the other side. The dim light of the hallway fell upon the face.
He saw L falling to the ground, saw his own arms catching him, saw his eyes slide closed, peacefully, as he died…
And the face was L's.
Something rose up in him, bubbled up from deep in his gut, up through his throat, and caught-he heard the sound of someone sobbing, and didn't realize it was coming from him.
"Ryuzaki…."
He gripped the long, thin fingers under his own-they were just what L's should feel like. The figure that looked and felt like L gave a small gasp. He might have been gripping too tightly, but he didn't notice.
"Tell me…is it really you? Are you taking me…on?"
"You shouldn't be exerting yourself. You have five shot wounds. You weren't expected to recover and it has been months already since the doctors brought you back from death's door."
"I-"
Light was completely bewildered. This felt like a dream. How could he still be alive?!
He remembered running for a long time, bleeding out onto the street, stumbling into the warehouse and falling on the steps…and dying. Alone. The last thing he'd thought he'd seen was a shadow of L, who was dead…he had thought it was his spirit looking at him from the other side, or, more logically, a memory of him, haunting him in death, because the truth was that the only thing he'd really regretted as Kira was-
"You-were there?!"
"Yes."
"I thought-I thought you were-"
"Dead? Yes. It's true. I was dead."
"Aahh!" Light collapsed, his legs weak. He quickly became aware that his body was in pain all over. He really did feel like he'd been shot five times, and more…
"Light!" L's voice was stern, but alarmed…
"Ryuzaki…tell me…you're real…" the room swam. Darkness closed on him. Light closed his eyes and forgot what he'd been about to say.