Light Yagami died on January 28, 2013 from a sudden heart attack from his name being written in the Death Note of the Shinigami that gave him this ability. Nate River, also known as Near, defeated Kira. Near then took the place of L as the great detective.

Near wasn't alone while solving this case. His rival, and old school mate of his, Mello sacrificed his life to give Near the last bit of proof he needed to pin down that Kira was indeed Light Yagami. Near said at the time of Mello's death that he was the single most important person into proving who Kira was. Together Near and Mello were a force said to be stronger then L, apart they were just behind him.

However, L, Lawliet, was the true mastermind behind it all. He was the first to discover that the killer needed a name and a face. He was the first to discover that there were two killers. He was the first to suspect that Light Yagami and Misa Amane were the murders trying to play god.

Lawliet died November 5 2007 by Rem the Shinigami in attempts to save Misa as Light planned.

To kill a Shinigami the Shinigami will write the name of a human down that will purposely prolong another's life. This was not known till Gelous turned to dust saving a young girl's life in front of Rem. In turn, Rem turned to dust saving Misa once again. However, her plan didn't follow Light's at all by just a small miscalculation. Watari's name was written first. He gave the information to L that he has been killed. However, Light saw this coming. Moments later L fell to the ground with the same symptoms of a heart attack.

But he did not die.

Light did not check for Ryuzaki's death. He knew exactly what happened; his plan succeeded. While everyone went searching for the Shinigami that caused the deaths of the two he switched himself out with a fake body. Everyone believed L had died, even Kira. It was a fate that L wanted for himself after the lose of Watari.

He didn't know exactly how to unfold his plan, how to fake his death in time with Light's plan and be able to live to tell the tale. Watari passing first was the only for sure way he could tell. But why had they killed the old man as well?

L hid temporarily defeated by Light.

His successors, Near and Mello took the investigation. It was easy to survey what Near was doing. All of the data was backed up and relayed live to Wammy's House. It was quiet simple for L to watch the other half of his replacement as well. Together the two could be great, but separate L could out maneuver them. They were taught his same secrets.

Because of L most of Kira's secrets were out. Just pinning him was the only problem. He knew exactly how to finish the case. It was time for him to come out of hiding.

L approached Mello. His look had changed slightly. The darkness around his eyes were darker, his skin was paler, and he himself looked weaker. But his mind was as sharp as ever and his voice was full of confidence.

Helping Near. Mello was already planning on doing that.

"Together you two might be a force to be reckoned with," L said. "Maybe even better than me... That is if I didn't already see all of this coming. Though, you know, you might still die from doing this."

"It doesn't matter. Just remember, I thought of it first."

Mello, and Matt who was unaware of L's reappearance, kidnapped Takada. However, everything didn't go as planned. His emotions got the better of him and Mello made grave mistakes. He failed to get the scrap of Death Note from Takada and he showed her his face once he thought he won. That and Matt was shot down helping the cause, just as Watari was murdered. However, Mello too, did not die. Kira killed her before she wrote down the name. In flames again Mello escaped death.

What L would have done to have walked in when Light was finally caught. To see the look on his face to know that he had never died. But perhaps this was better. He wasn't sure if he could see the look on his friend's face.

Kill or be killed... one of them had to die no matter what.

It wasn't Near that took over being the Great Detective L. It was L himself that took back his name.

Detective L was on the case.