The moon illuminated the sidewalk as I looked up at the Teito Hotel's sign and felt a wave of fresh anger rush through me. Misa Amane was here; the last person in the way of my heart's ability to be at peace. Cautiously, I reached down and made sure that the whalebone knife I had kept with me all along was still there.

Slowly, I walked into the hotel and up to the front desk. "What room is Miss Amane staying in? I'm a friend and I was worried about her. She's been acting strange lately and I know that she just lost her boyfriend. I don't want her to hurt herself." I explained. The man didn't say a word. He handed me a slip of paper and pointed me to the elevator.

Time seemed to move terribly slowly. My mind began to race wondering if I was doing the right thing. If Lawliet knew what I was about to do, he would have me locked up for the rest of my mortal life even if we were in love. Who was I kidding? He already knew… and I could hear his voice filling my very being. "Killing is never justified." And his death was never justified.

The door opened to the desired floor. I took a step out and a deep breath. My feet turned to the right and took me on a path that I could no longer afford to go back on. I was in this all the way… like Lawliet was… like he was all the way to his ironic end. No. There was no turning back now.

I knocked on the door whose number matched that of the one on the paper in my hand. "Who is it?" I heard Misa's annoyingly feeble voice call on the other side.

"Lencaira Lawliet" I answered. I no longer feared using my real name. As I expected, she came to the door out of curiosity. Upon seeing my face, her eyes filled with shock.

"You're a ghost. You're dead!" she screeched. She backed up and tripped, falling onto the floor with an audible thump. "You died in a fire."

"The girl who was killed was Lystra Lisendale. I am Lencaira Lawliet. Notice anything about the names?" I said coolly.

She seemed to be confused but only for a moment. Suddenly, her eyes opened wide with realization. "L" she said.

"Yes…L Lawliet… the world's greatest detective. Before he came along, I was nothing but a girl looking forward to another year of college…. a mind being honed by the system to be just another person… just another pawn. He took me under his wing and into his heart and gave my small existence meaning… in more ways than one." I said. Tears came to my eyes at the memory of my beloved Lawliet.

"The two of you were in love. I remember. All those times that the task force was kicked out so you could have a moment alone… your last night alive… but I saw what was left of you. I saw what the firemen pulled out of that fire. It looked like you. There was a funeral and everything" she said. She sounded truly afraid. Her voice shook and her hands trembled and for a moment, I felt almost sorry for her.

"Light knew what happened not long before he died" I said, my voice developing into a hateful sneer. "About two weeks before I 'died' we had this all planned out. He knew it was coming but he didn't tell me that he expected his own death soon. What he did tell me was that he needed to know I was safe" I stood and walked across the room. Gently, I tugged a Kleenex out of the box that was sitting on the dresser. "It was the most perfect two weeks of my life. He proposed and spent the entirety of it trying his best to get me pregnant. I couldn't walk for a week…" I laughed gently but loud enough for her to hear. I placed my foot up on the edge of the table and took the knife out of my boot. "When the test came back positive, we planned my exit from your lives. He still had sperm frozen in case it was a miscarriage. I don't think you can begin to imagine how bad that hurt." Slowly and carefully I wiped the fingerprints off of my knife. I meant to leave it here tonight. "The entire thing was staged. It was so perfect that I didn't have to act. I was hidden right under your noses in a hotel across the street. We had taken video of me going into that building in advance so that I didn't have to go anywhere. Lawliet had paid for the building and all of the media coverage in advance. He had paid doctors for a fake autopsy and the cemetery for the funeral. Even all of the people in the procession… of all of them, the task force were the only group who didn't know it was a fake." I pulled a pair of black gloves out of my pocket and slipped them onto my hands. "Two days after I 'died' we secretly got married… eliminating the name you knew altogether. Lystra was a fake name but my real last name was Lisendale. Lencaira is my real first name and Lawliet was the name I inherited from L." She was silent, staring at the floor in numb realization of what had happened. I pulled a picture of our son and placed it on the floor in front of her. "This is his son, Keyden. Do you realize now what you have done?" I held out the knife for her to take. She seemed in a trance as she reached out and gripped the handle. "This boy's father was killed so that you could live. My husband was killed so that you could continue your miserable existence."

"I don't deserve to live" she said. "What can my world be without Light?"

"I'm sorry it has to end this way" I said as I knelt down behind her and put my hand around the hand she had the knife in. "I'll help you so you can see the Light again" I whispered in her ear.

"Thank you" she said as she lifted the blade level with her own heart. "Light, I'm coming."

In one swift and thoughtless motion, she pressed the blade into her own chest. I barely had to help her do it. No scream of pain came from her… just a contented sigh. I let her fall limply to the floor and watched as the life left her eyes. All she had ever been was a puppet. She was built on the basis that she would be controlled by others. Her fate had been decided all too long ago… and she was as easy for me to manipulate as she must have been for Light to use. I let a few seconds pass so that blood could pool and she could go pale and truly lifeless and I slipped the gloves off of my hands and back into my pocket. When she looked good and dead, I let out a wail of terror and ran into the hall.

"Someone call the police!" I cried. Misa Amane was dead.

Five years later…

"Mommy, do you think Uncle Nate will have a pony for me?"

"No dear, I don't think he will."

"Will he at least have toys for us?"

"Yes, he should, Keyden."

I rang the doorbell of the small mansion. It took a little while but some shuffling was heard and the door creaked open. I smiled widely at the seemingly albino man who was on the other side. "Hello, Near" I said as my children pushed their way past me and attached themselves to his legs.

"Wow. They've gotten quite big haven't they" he stated.

"Yes. Keyden went through another growth spurt and Nyla is growing like a weed" I said.

"Let's all go sit down, you look exhausted and I think there are some toys in the den" said Near. Both of the children jumped up and ran to the next room screaming in joy.

"So, how have things been going? I hear you have some new and interesting cases" I stated in a small attempt to strike up conversation.

"I have a few new things but nothing that I cannot handle" he replied as we stepped into the den. It was a large room with a high ceiling and a fireplace, Near kept everything rather plain. Keyden and Nyla were both playing on the floor with some toy dinosaurs that Near put out for them. "They both look just like their father" Near said.

"I know. I always tell them that if they want to know what he looked like they should just look at each other" I sighed.

It was like L lived on in his children. They both had his dark hair and dark eyes. The only thing that they really got from me was that they weren't pale like he was and they both had good posture. They were both as smart as they come. I couldn't slip a single thing past Keyden. I guess I could have said that I was half the reason for their brains but the truth was that I didn't want to be. I wanted it to be all him.

Near took a seat in a small couch by the fireplace. I sat across from him on an identical one. He looked over at me, his eyes suddenly cold.

"What do you know about the death of Misa Amane?"