Summary: There was once a man upon a throne of poisonous thorns, but he didn't quite know the potency of the poison until it was too late.

Warnings: Slow moving yaoi, and mature scenes. Also, the Death Eraser has a gigantic role in this, so if that doesn't appeal to you…well please give this a read anyway.

A/N: I apologize for the extremely vague summary, but I don't really know what to tell you guys without giving stuff away. This is my first fanfic, for anything. So I'm really nervous and I'd very much appreciate some feedback in the form of reviews…. Hurtful critics, flames, I'll take them all just please let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I'm not clever enough to own Death Note, unfortunately. Also, the title and the chapter titles are from the album Shadow of the Raven by Nox Arcana.

Darkest Hour

It was done. All in one go.

And now, the task force was practically begging Light to take up L's title in order to bring down Kira. He almost had to manually suppress a snigger that rose in his throat by covering his mouth with his hand. It was so easy. Compared to what he had to deal with when Ryuzaki was alive…now everything was being handed to him on a silver platter.

As it should, Light declared wordlessly, I'm the one who's cleaning this world of those dirty, immoral cretins. All of you should be thanking me on your knees. Even as he thought this, he knew the importance of why he has to go through this. Now, as L, he has complete control of all the most powerful political leaders across the globe. Kira is now law.

And besides, when his utopia is achieved, when evil is a thing of the past, everyone will love and honor the very ground he walks on. His story of the hardships he went through for the sake of a better world, the story of a boy who threw away his humanity (the sacrificial lamb turned sacrificial God), in order to bring justice to those who he deemed unforgivably evil, will make the people appreciate him even more.

He was overjoyed, victorious, because he won. Not L.

Light stomped down anything that stemmed out of that fact. L was dead, because he killed him. Gone. Just as he needed him to be, in order for his beautiful utopia to blossom and grow into the perfect world that all the good people deserve. It was necessary.

He was going to do the same thing to me. Light told himself caustically, when the mysterious ach in his own heart screamed for his attention, if I didn't kill him, he would have had Misa and I executed.

So as he stood over L's grave the night the detective was buried, under that cold orange sky, the tears that slide down his cheeks were because he was happy. Nothing else…because it couldn't be anything of greater importance than his ultimate goal. His New World.

--

War's came to a grinding halt, criminal rates have taken a nosedive in percentages, and prisons weren't crammed full of people anymore. A new religion was born to worship and praise the efforts of the God of Justice, Kira, and thousands took part in it. They thanked him for all of the blessing's he bestowed upon the world in the form of divine judgment, by ridding every one of the rotten one's among them. For how could a mere human be capable of killing someone on the other side of the planet with no visible form of help? Only a handful of individuals know of the Death Note's existence, and that handful either had a duty to keep it a secret to avoid panic among the public, or was too scared to open their mouths in protest against this religion. Whichever was the case, it suited Light all the same.

Although, he was a little surprised at how fast everything came along, because he hadn't expected so many regular citizens to threaten others using the Kira name. It was easy enough; all they had to do was put up a picture with the person's name that made them angry and a reason why they were to be judged. Not that Light or Misa would pay any attention to them. So it wasn't just Kira that wrong-doers had to be wary of, but everyone around them also.

Everything…was going so smoothly. Better even.

"Liiight," Misa crooned softly, wrapping her arms around Light's shoulders from behind where he was sitting at his desk. "You've been working so hard for the investigation team, even though you don't have to. You should go to bed with Misa…." She whined as she delicately nipped at his ear lobe in an attempt to seduce him.

Light didn't respond for a long moment, and Misa mistook this as an invitation to continue. It was always a bother when his blond partner would try to entice him into sleeping with her, but he was grateful that she had finally stopped jumping him from all sides after he lost his self-control and started yelling at her a few months back. Save for the small number of times he gave in and bedded her, he hardly ever touched her if he could help it. Because whenever he did, he wouldn't see Misa.

It took awhile for him to accept that Ryuzaki hadn't left his mind completely. He used to wave it off as pride for bringing down his greatest enemy using his own intellect, but as a few years slowly rolled by, he couldn't deny it anymore.

Light cursed to himself, which came out as a small hiss, just as his girlfriend got bold enough to lick the base of his neck with her warm tongue. She also took this as a sign to continue, so she did with much held back enthusiasm.

This is ridiculous. But…ever since he died, everything's been so…boring. Light almost outwardly sighed, I admit, I do miss the challenges he put up. But it was a necessary sacrifice. I can't let my own selfish desire for fun override my ultimate goal.

"Light, you're so tense!" Misa said in a slightly breathless voice, "You poor thing…come on, let Misa help you forget about everything for a while…."

He finally let out a loud sigh as he began to shut down his computer. "Misa," he started gently, as if speaking with a small child, "I'm sorry, but I'm really not in the mood for this."

Getting up from his swivel chair, he made his way to the kitchen, leaving his down-trodden roommate by herself in her unseen lingerie.

She didn't understand why he does this to himself sometimes, he's thinking about "that thing" again, Misa thought, as she despondently made her way to the bedroom. She had noticed that whenever Light would start thinking about a certain "thing", he wouldn't respond to any of her advances at all, preferring to brush her off and be left alone. She couldn't figure out what it was, but she knew that when he wasn't thinking about it, or at least forcing himself not to, he would go along with her.

Misa doesn't know what to make of it, but Misa can't ask him about it…Light got so angry last time. She sat on the edge of the bed distractedly as she gazed at the opposite wall with dull eyes. Then she murmured to herself, "What do I have to do to make him love me?"

--

"It wouldn't hurt to be a little nicer to her, ya know." Ryuk said while Light kneaded his eyebrows with his fingers at the kitchen table.

"Why do you care?" he shot back irritably, glaring at the shinigami through his umber colored bangs.

Ryuk cocked his head to the side, "I don't," he said simply, "but that doesn't mean that I like seeing her all down like this. Humans are much more interesting when they're excited and happy. More unpredictable and less boring."

Light ignored him and went back to moping, his face buried in his hands with his elbows holding him up from the table.

"Hey."

"…"

"Light, don't ignore me."

"…"

"Liiight." He imitated Misa's whine, but in a deeper and grainier tone.

Suddenly, when Light cracked his eyes open towards the table surface, he found that he was face to face with Ryuk's ever grinning façade. He had gone through the wood from underneath and was peering up at him in curiosity.

The young man jumped and hurriedly pushed himself away from the cackling shinigami and scowled. "What was that for?" he seethed loudly.

"I don't like being ignored, you know that." Ryuk chuckled, very pleased with the reaction that he received. Instead of standing up, he sat on his hunches from where he was, giving the appearance that only the shinigami's head was situated on the table while the rest of him was sweetly hidden from view.

"Okay fine then, what do you want?"

"Hmm, well I have all the apples I want right now…so what would I want, Light?" he answered inquiringly, snickering at the same time.

He glowered at the head from the other side of the kitchen. Yes, other than apples, all Ryuk really wants from anything is some fun, just to relieve his boredom. "You want to tell me something related to the investigation. Either good or bad."

The shinigami gave another throaty laugh, "Yeah, I guess you can say that." He lifted his bulging fluorescent eyes to the ceiling in thought. "But you're only about half right. Hm, maybe not even that"

Light crossed his arms in front of chest to give the appearance that he was waiting patiently, when in actuality he was irritated by the shinigami's evasiveness. "Alright. Do you plan on telling me, or are you waiting for me to figure it out myself?"

"Nah," Ryuk stood back up so that he was visible from the waist up. "I'll tell you because all this depression hanging about here is getting really old."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you, for one thing." Ryuk said simply, "Light, your bad mood rubs off on your girlfriend, so this apartment is almost getting as gloomy as my world." He pointed a long, boney finger at him, "If you cared about him so much, you could have just thought of a different solution to your problem. You're defiantly smart enough to do that."
Light stared at him, stunned. "What…are you talking about, Ryuk?"

"I'm talking about your detective."

It felt as though a heavy weight slammed into his chest. Detective? He isn't talking about anyone on the task force, because he's speaking in the past tense…. Is he that transparent? How does this simple-minded shinigami know what's going through Light's mind?

And as if to tease Light's already muddled thoughts, Ryuk merely glanced at his face and answered his unvoiced question. "You may be a good actor, Light, but even the best actors have to take a break. And when that happens, I can read you like a book. It's just a matter of presumption." his ever grinning countenance widened, "Your response just now cleared all doubt."

Light fought back an angry flush that threatened to show on his cheeks. "Where are you going with this, Ryuk?" he asked in a low voice.

"Hnn," Ryuk stuck out his jaw grotesquely, looking much like some kind of mutated fish, thinking. "'Once the victim's name has been written, that individual's death can never be averted.' " He quoted from the Death Note rules that he himself wrote down. " 'It is useless to try to erase names written in the Death Note with erasers or to white them out.' "

"Yes, I'm well aware of these rules, Ryuk." Light sighed, walking over to the counter to prepare himself some tea.

"I never said that you didn't." the shinigami replied, also moving toward the fruit basket that carried only a few more apples from a day's worth of his appetite, "But I'd wager that you don't know about the exception."

Light paused ever so slightly before continuing to heat up the kettle. "Exception?"

"Well, you see, when you revoked your ownership of the note, I had nowhere else to go but to the shinigami realm." He started, "And when I was there, I managed to get a hold of another little treasure, but this one's very rare, so it's a real catch." He gave a little creepy laugh. "I've been holding onto it, until whenever I thought would be the most interesting time I'd give it you would be."

At this point, Light just stood facing the heating tea kettle, glowering at the shinigami at his right, a frown tugging at his lips. What an ass this death god is.

"Don't get all angry yet, I haven't even gotten to the best part!" he exclaimed mockingly.

"Then get on with it, Ryuk."

Instead of informing him of "the best part", he shuffled around the feathers seated on top of his shoulders and pulled out something very small from it. Then held it out between his boney index finger and thumb, before Light's face.

"An eraser?" Light wasn't sure what to make of it when it was gently placed in his palm. It was just a plain white, rectangular eraser with a black paper covering wrapped around it. There weren't any decorations on it, just a very plain, small…eraser.

"Is this a joke or are you serious?" he asked.

"It'll be more fun if you figure that one out for yourself." Ryuk chuckled cryptically, who then drifted out of the kitchen, purposely leaving Light hanging.

What was that about? Light looked at the little parcel in his hand in confusion, and absently stuffed it in his pocket when the kettle began to whistle.

He sat at the table, sipping at his tea until he noticed Rem's Death Note on the table. I don't recall that being there before… maybe Misa forgot to put it away and I was too preoccupied to notice it.

He dragged it over to himself so that it lay in front of him, flipping through the pages absentmindedly. It was filled with Misa's small, loopy handwriting, and Light's quick eyes skimmed over the names, not really caring what he was seeing, because he knew that Misa always did her best at following his instructions. Kill the unforgivable sinners.

But as he continued to scan through the pages, making his way to the front of the notebook, he suddenly came across a more coarse and rigid type of handwriting. Rem's. This peaked his curiosity, wondering what kind of names he would find. And Light wasn't disappointed. There were some really old sounding names, such as Branton of Vail, Alegra Doucettie, Morio Languani, Hue Xiang-Yu, Kang Jang-Geum…it made him contemplate on how old this shinigami was.

He kept leafing through the notebook until he came to the last few names Rem had written. Orion Galbria, Ginzo Kaneboshi, Quillish Wammy, L Lawliet….

Light stopped.

Quillish Wammy was Watari's real name. Aizawa had found an article in a newspaper concerning him, how he was an inventor who had set up orphanages with the wealth he had established. Light never looked at Rem's Death Note before now, not because he didn't have any time, but because he didn't feel the need to. And…the last name that shinigami wrote down was…L's.

His ultimate victory was right here. L's name. Lawliet.

It sounded strange, putting the letter and that surname together, but that was just how the guy was; strange. Maybe that's an understatement, not that it mattered. That was what made him so interesting, and entertaining; the weird way he did things, from how he crouched in his chair, how he held things, his sickening diet of sugar and his little mannerisms. But most of all, his unpredictability.

What would happen if L was still alive, not as a detective, but as something else? Light began to wonder, would he still oppose Kira? Would he still try to hinder him, or applaud him? As a detective, it's practically his duty to go after someone who takes away the lives of others, no matter how filthy they were, so without that obligation…would L accept Light's justice?

If L did approve, and helped him, then Light's utopia would have defiantly already been achieved. Against the pair of them, evil couldn't stand a chance, good people could reign in peace and there will be no more misery or poverty.

But that's all Light can do, think about the "could have"s and "would have"s. It could have been. If he had met L in different circumstances, then things would have turned out differently, but this isn't so. Light killed L, because if he didn't, L would have killed Light. But still, Light didn't expect everything to be so trite with him gone….

He stared dimly at the page before him, ignoring the hiccupping noise coming from the bedroom. His brown eyes traced the heavy set writing of the deceased shinigami, every detail coming to his attention. What if… Light paused a moment when he noticed a small pressure in his hip when he moved his legs, and remembered that he stuck that eraser into his pocket. He extracted it from its confinement, and stared at it, long and hard.

Ryuk had said that it was rare, but then again, juicy apples were apparently rare in the shinigami realm too. Was he supposed to believe that this little thing had special properties also? Like the death note? It could be possible, he thought to himself, with the way he was so secretive about it…if he wanted Light to erase someone's name?

He was now certain that the death note wasn't on the table before, Misa was very careful of where she left it, since this was the only physical evidence of the pair of them being Kira, so it had to have been Ryuk.

Light put two and two together. He gave him an eraser, left the death note on the kitchen table for Light to find after provoking him about "caring" for L, and complained how drab the atmosphere was getting around the place. Ryuk wants Light to erase L's name…but why? For fun, of course.

He stared at L's name again.

--

"M-Misa will do anything for Light," she sobbed on the bed, "But Misa doesn't kn-know what he wants…Light never tells Misa anything!" she said in a high pitched whine.

She's at the end of her rope, Ryuk sighed to himself, idly standing to the side as a silent spectator. I guess I'll be seeing more of these outbursts from now on.

He didn't say anything to comfort her, just loomed in front of the window with that wide grin on his face. Something alighted in his bulging eyes and a low chuckle rumbled in his throat. "Hey," he finally said, and the blond stopped her crying momentarily, surprised that he said anything. "I'm going out."

"H-uh? Where?" she hiccupped.

"If Light asks, tell him I just need to check on something. I'll be back." As he said this, the shinigami's wings unfolded themselves from his back and he turned to phase through the wall. With a last little wave of his huge hands, he flew into the dark sky and disappeared.

There was a bubble of excitement growing by the second inside of his long, skinny chest, and he wondered offhandedly if it might be for naught. But when he landed at his destination, his bulging eyes enlarged, his grin stretched even further, and he couldn't help but laugh. No, not laugh; cackle in pure delight and jubilation as a low keening moan sounded from below the ground at the shinigami's feet.

--

"Ryuk said that he'll be back," Misa whispered contently, nuzzling into Light's arm.

He sighed and threw a blanket over their naked bodies, still moist with sweat and other fluids from having sex. "That's all?"

"He said that he needs to check on something…" she yawned, and lifted her eyes to meet his. "Misa loves Light with all her heart…."

"Yes, me too." Light replied quietly, although not looking at her. Soon after Ryuk left Misa's crying had increased in volume, if by a little, and Light finally decided to do something about it. All of this acting was grating on his nerves since he can't stop pretending to be someone else, regardless of where he was, for a second. But it couldn't be helped; self-sacrifice is the price for being the God of the New World.

Settling himself under the covers, he contemplated Ryuk's odd behavior as of late, to take his mind off of himself. He noticed that the shinigami would stare at him longer then was necessary for the past few days, or stand around gazing at the ceiling in, what seemed to be, deep thought. When Light would ask him about this, Ryuk would carelessly answer that it was nothing "at least at the moment," he would add, and never expanded on the subject.

I already know that he's up to something, but whatever it is, I have to make sure that it won't interfere with my ultimate goal, somehow.

And speaking of odd behavior, what was up with Ryuk and that eraser?

The smell of freshly turned soil caught his attention and, as if he were summoned, Light spotted a tall shadow by the window when he opened his eyes. Only a sharp intake of breath indicated his surprise, and he surmised that his eyes slid closed when he was thinking to himself. At his side Misa had fallen asleep, so he hissed in a muffled voice, "Where the hell were you, Ryuk?"

"Somewhere." Was all he said.

Light closed his eyes again to hold in his irritation. It was no use trying to get anything out of the shinigami when he was like this, so he didn't bother pursuing the matter. Instead, he carefully detangled himself from his sleeping partner and began to put his clothes back on. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my plans, do whatever the hell you want." Light clipped, "Now I'm going out for bit."

"Hm?" Ryuk merely leaned in closer to the room in response.

"You can come if you want, Ryuk, but I doubt you'll enjoy yourself." He said simply as he pulled on a thin sweater.

Without hesitating, Ryuk followed his human out the door with an excited gleam in his bug eyes. "Going out in the middle of the night, Light?"

"Apparently so."

Despite the lack of information, Ryuk bared his pointed teeth in delight, looking expectant as he trailed along behind Light outside the apartment.

Despite it being so late, or early, Light held his head high as he walked. He knew where he was going, it wasn't terribly far. And besides, he hadn't had the chance to walk around outdoors for awhile, other than to the car and out.

He observed his surroundings in his peripheral vision, so as to look as if his eyes never wavered from straight ahead. He noticed a homeless man huddled on the side of the street to his left, a couple of drunk women trying to keep themselves upright and giggling madly on the other side of the road, and someone cursing very loudly in his car as he sped by, well over the speed limit. I suppose these kinds of people will always be around, Light sighed to himself. Well, it's not like drunks were necessarily evil, it's when they know that a certain action isn't right, but does it anyway that makes them so. But that guy that was speeding….

His destination came into view and his eyes softened.

It looked like a small, European style house with large windows and an ankle high wire fence extending in front of it. Through the big windows, wide arrays of flowers were visible, most of them sleeping, the petals curled up into themselves. But that wasn't what Light was gazing at. The archway leading into the fancy flower shop was lathered in beautiful white flowers, stretching out to their fullest in the moon beams.

He was extremely lucky that there was any flower shop in Tokyo that was open at twelve in the morning, but that was just the way he was. Lucky. Otherwise he wouldn't have picked up the Death Note in the first place. He purchased a small packet of moonflower seeds from the elderly cashier.

"What are you gonna do with those?" Ryuk inquired.

Light didn't answer. He always liked moonflowers, not just because of their unique beauty. It was just very ironic that moonflowers, which bloom at night with the moon, were closely related to morning glories, which bloom in the bright sun that comes with morning. Seemingly opposites, but in the same genus.

He continued walking, but not from where he came. Light had no idea why he was making these pit stops and not simply taking a normal early morning stroll. He felt the strange need to get out and go somewhere. At first, he wanted to look at the moonflowers, since he was up already and hadn't seen a fully bloomed one for a very long time. But as he went on his way, he realized that it wasn't the flower shop that he actually wanted to go to.

He came before another fence, but this was much taller than the previous one and made of thick, black iron. Light entered with a straight face, though unsettled by Ryuk's insane chuckles that he let out without shame. He wasn't sure whether or not to tell him to shut the hell up or not.

He hated not knowing why he was even here in the first place. It was just…a tugging feeling he had in his chest. Light already admitted to himself that he missed Ryukazi's company, wasn't that enough? He walked at a steady pace down the neat rows of tall, narrow headstones, marked with names and dates.

Then he paused mid-step.

"?!"

Light stood rooted in place. Ahead, illuminated by the moonlight, was a huddled figure lying on top of Ryuzaki's grave in front of the nameless cross-shaped headstone. At first, he got the impression that someone was praying in a humbled manner before the cross, but when Light slowly began making his way toward the grave again he realized with a jolt…it looked more like a skeleton tinted a pale, fleshy color than a person. It was breathing.

Light stopped several feet away from the figure. The skeleton was male, that much was certain, because he had no clothes to hide his pasty, sunken skin stretching over his frame. Long, matted black hair draped over his shoulder bones and concealed his face, which seemed to be pressed into the churned up earth. He shivered with every breath his lungs dragged in, and twitched when it was let out. Light wasn't sure if this was because he was cold or if he was in pain. Possibly both.

After taking this unusual sight in, Light acknowledged the shinigami's hysterical laughter that echoed around the dark cemetery, and couldn't help but feel dread clawing at his insides.

Stop overreacting, he chided himself, this guy's probably just paying his respects to the dead in his own weird way.

Light didn't want anything to do with the man, because quite frankly, he was giving him the creeps. But if the other hadn't been on the very grave that the young man intended to visit, avoiding him wouldn't have been an issue.

"You should go help him, Light." Ryuk hummed gleefully behind him.

Damn shinigami. He might as well hold up a shining neon pink sign proclaiming: "I'm a scheming douchbag! And you'll find out why in just a moment!"

This little trip to the cemetery was becoming very grim.

Nonetheless, Light slowly walked over to the skeletal man's side, and not sure of what else to do, he asked gently "Sir? Would you like some assistance?"

The figure's whole body flinched at the question, and seemed to curl more into himself. He slowly turned his head in a jerky motion (as if he was remembering how to) in the general direction of Light's shins, but his hair made an effective veil to hide from view. This action weakened Light's resolve, even more so when the mysterious man suddenly started making a horrible hacking sound, as if he was trying to cough out everything from the inside, and Light was taken aback. Intertwined with the hacking were groans of pain.

The young man was at a loss of what to do. Here was a strangely familiar figure, looking to be on the verge of death and he felt obligated to aide him in some way. Why was that? Light gazed down on a man that was still amazingly alive, crouched down and gently placed his thin sweater on his skeletal back. This kindness went unnoticed as the man slumped, worn and tired. He had passed out.

Light decided the least he could do was to take him to the hospital, the man looked like the epitome of sickness. He turned him around, so that his face was finally revealed. The moon accentuated the shadows on his face, so there were what seemed to be black hollows for his large eyes, and sunken cheeks making him look like a dead man. But nonetheless, he looked familiar…the pointed nose, chin, European features with a tiny bit of Asian mixed in, colorless thin lips…large eyes.

Light seized up. Just as he had when L had breathed his last, so young Yagami held him now as he slept before the cross.

Ryuk continued his hysterical laughter.

_______________________________________________________________________

A/N: *cower* I know that this chapter is kind of dry and went by really fast, but please review! And thank you for reading!