Author note

I do not own Death Note or any of the characters except for Serenity and the random pointless people I throw in.

I got this idea when I saw episode 25 and cried my eyes out and lets just say I didn't want a certain someone to die.

This is one of the longer chapters but I had to explain who Serenity was and how she knew L now didn't I.

Enjoy and review!

Serenity Karther had been brought to Wammy's House at a very young age after a terrible accident that had resulted in the death of her parents. Even when Quillsh Wammy had first met her it was obvious that she was different, she was incredibly bright for one so young and her photographic memory was incredible and no detail escaped her. That is why Quillsh had brought her to his orphanage for the gifted. It was there that she met a boy by the name of L Lawliet and her life changed forever.

The first days at the orphanage had been rough. She wasn't accepted very well by the other children, she was closed up and wouldn't let them in and they blocked her out as they did with all the new kids. But one person didn't shun her and in time they became the closest friends. It was just after lunch and the children were either outside playing games or inside solving some sort of puzzle or doing their home work early. That day Serenity did neither of these things. As usual she went to the main living room and pulled an extendible pen from her right pocket and a small note pad from her left and began to draw. Drawing was her way to escape, it helped her think better and she enjoyed capturing the details of what she saw on the worn out pad of paper. She felt the small wobble of the couch as someone sat down near her, but she paid no attention to that fact. She wasn't in the mood for being made fun of for being a loner or odd, she hated feeling disliked and like a freak, it wasn't fair.

"What are you doing?" She turned to the speaker who was sitting next to her on the couch. The first thing she noticed about him was the way he was sitting, she decided it was more of a crouch then a sit seeing as the boy's knees were to his chest and he was leaning over them towards her. His perfect midnight black hair hung around his pale face and spiked in various directions. He was wearing a plain long sleeved white shirt and blue jeans and a blank expression on his pale face. She had never seen him before but he seemed different then the others, she sensed that much. It seemed an innocent enough question and he sounded sincere but it could be some sort of mocking gesture, she was always suspicious of possible pain.

"What do you think I'm doing?" She asked with a flat emotionless tone, though deep down she was mentally bracing herself for an insult.

"Judging by the way your moving your pen and the intent concentration you have on your work I'd say that there is a ninety-eight percent possibility that you are drawing." He replied simply in a monotone voice. She looked at him in amazement.

"Wow that was incredible!" She praised. She hadn't met anyone at Wammy's that could deduce anything that quickly or accurately.

"I assume my guess was correct then?" Serenity nodded still impressed. "May I see it?"

"Uh yeah, sure, I guess." She managed to say. Few had asked to see her sketches and those who did had said she was wasting her time, but those who said that did so either out of spite or artistic jealousy. She flipped the pad around so that the boy could see. He leaned in close to it, examining every detail and his grey eyes widened in fascination.

"Incredible, you managed to capture every detail, very impressive." He was actually commending her piece of art! She was overwhelmed.

"Th-Thanks." She managed to stutter out. The boy cocked his head at her.

"Why so shocked?"

"Well nobody has ever commented on my work before, it's just…different to hear someone say something nice to me." She said sadly.

"Oh well that's a shame," The boy mumbled. "Anyway do you want to get something to eat from the kitchen? I really feel like having strawberries right now, maybe even cake." Serenity let out a small laugh.

"Sounds great! Oh and I'm Serenity by the way." She didn't bother using her alias. She didn't feel the need around her new found friend.

"Nice to meet you, I'm L." She smiled as they made their way to the kitchen, hoping to be able to sneak some cake.

As time passed, their friendship only deepened until the two were near inseparable. Because of this fact Serenity had been the target of many insults but L always found a way to get her out of trouble, he was respected to a degree by the other orphans and the chose not to cross the odd and intelligent boy. In their spare time the two would spar in self defense, have intellectual conversations, play mind games, or play chess which they did often though their games would take up to hours to finish. She would draw things that L pointed out and even drew a picture of L himself that was so accurate that if glanced at quickly looked like a black and white photograph. But as they grew older though their friendship was deep, they began to slowly drift apart. It wasn't by choice it was the fact that they excelled so much they were only hounded with more work, and soon the day came when the final chop had come down on the ties of their friendship.

The two friends were doing combat in a mentally rigorous game of chess. L was crouched on the chair across from Serenity, steadily observing the chessboard in front of him with his large and darkly bagged eyes. She had noticed how over time the bags had formed and deepened until she thought they could never go away. She knew why they had appeared in the first place but she knew L had his own way of doing things so she didn't see the right for her to say anything. He pressed his thumb to his lip trying to concentrate and then moved his white knight to corner her black king.

"Check." He said bluntly still staring at the board. She smiled slightly to herself and moved her queen, capturing the knight. The game had been going on so long that they began to purposely get careless. L was about to make his next move when a familiar voice cut in.

"L the FBI has a strange case that they need to have solved as soon as possible, it's taken them three years and they haven't made much progress. Are you interested in helping them solve it? I'm confident that your deductive and intellectual skills would aid them incredibly. It could be an interesting first case would it not." An older man said as he stood near the table.

"They asked for a fifteen year old to solve the case? Hmm… interesting," He moved another one of his chess pieces.

"Well they asked for someone and I suggested a very bright "man" that I know could help them. I have a plan to keep your appearance and identity a secret and you would only be referred to as L, not seen and your real voice won't even be heard. They won't know how old you are."

"Sounds interesting enough, what is the case exactly?" Serenity moved one of her pieces in a weak counter move. L knew that she was more concentrated on the current conversation then the game, he knew her so well.

"A string of murders, its thought to be a single serial killer, but they can't seem to catch whoever it is but they told me that the have quite a lot of evidence and its odd that they are not able to find the killer or killers."

"Sounds interesting, I'd like to look into it Watari," He said using Wammy's alias. He moved his queen, cornering Serenity's king. "Check mate." He said but his usual monotone was gone from his voice, there was something there in his tone that only Serenity picked up on. He was saying goodbye. She looked at him sadly as she knocked over her king. She picked up his favorite piece, the white knight and held out her hand for him to take it. L knew the gesture was her own way of saying farewell, don't forget about me, and I'll miss you. He returned the gaze and slowly grasped the piece out of her hand, the second the feeling of his skin was gone her arm slumped. That was the last time she had seen L Lawliet, she had kept the black knight as a memoir of her own but still the lack of his absence left a hole in her heart. Her only friend was gone from her life.

Time passed an at eighteen Serenity Karther, or as she was known at the orphanage Saga left Wammy's house and became quite a well known detective herself who was known by the outside simply as S. Two years later she had visited Wammy's house for a trip down memory lane and had met L's heirs. To her it seemed strange to meet the future heirs of her old friend but the odd feeling seemed to pass when she met them. Near was a quiet and vastly inteligent boy who reminded her so much of L that they could have been related, Mello was a quick tempered chocolate fanatic who's jealousy of Near being number one was obvious and hateful, and the third most likely to succeed had been the boy Matt a carefree fellow who just went with the flow. Serenity had found them all interesting characters and had even had a group discussion with them. She had needed the intellectual conversation that her life now lacked. After spending a few days at the orphanage and getting to know some of the other children she left to return to her work as a detective. Then six years later the unexpected happened.

It had only been a few days after her twenty-fourth birthday, she had been walking out of the hotel that she had recently been staying in when it happened, the unpredictable. She was carrying a single shoulder slung suitcase that only held the bare necessities, the only thing she carried as she skipped from hotel to hotel as she tried to remain undercover. She wasn't exactly paying attention as she fiddled with the extendible pen and chess piece in the right pocket of her brown pants and the fresh note pad in her left. She didn't notice the man wearing the black hoodie.

"Hey you!" Serenity looked up at the man, trying to see his concealed face. "Remember me?" She looked at him oddly, the voice seemed familiar but she knew that there was a high possibility that she just thought se recognized the voice because of the question.

"No, I don't believe we've met." She said nervously taking a step back, she was frightened now and she had rarely been frightened in her life. The hood was pulled back but before she had time to react to what she saw the man's voice cut her off.

"Wrong answer." He grinned pulling a gun from somewhere in his clothes and pulling the trigger with expertise. The bullet was aimed well and did what the shooter had intended, it hit Serenity directly in the heart. The pain was unimaginable and unbearable. Her vision hazed over in pain, she thought that she heard voices but couldn't make them out through her agony. Is this really how it's going to end? She thought as she heard the screams. Am I really going to die now? She knew she had about a minute and thirty seconds if she didn't get immediate medical attention, but what could they do on an ambulance to save her? Chances were an ambulance wouldn't even get there in time, she knew that there was barely a forty percent chance that it would arrive before she bled to death. She had always been a fighter but this was too much. With every heart beat there came excruciating pain and a thought of her life as her last seconds drew close.

A painful beat. Wammy's house flashed in her mind.

Thump. She felt her heart slowing as she felt her life slipping away. Watari and the other care givers.

.Thump. Her work as the detective known as S.

..Thump. The orphans at Wammy's, the way she remembered each one of their faces.

…Thump, as her heart beat its last her mind thought of one last person, L. She saw images of her friend, their memories together, and their friendship. Her feelings toward him hadn't changed even after all of these years. Goodbye L. She said in her mind with the last of her strength as her eyes closed and she was wrapped in deaths cold embrace.