Bloodstained Dreams

~~~~~~~~E~~~~~~~~

Catch me as I fall

Say you're here and it's all over now

Speaking to the atmosphere

No one's here and I fall into myself

This truth drives me into madness

I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away…

~Evanescence

The days pass. Five days chained together become nine, and slowly, Light can sense L's resolve weakening. Some nights, while Light sleeps, he stares blankly, his eyes vacant and haunted, and just as they slip shut, he jolts awake again, momentarily overcome with fright.

"Ryuzaki." Light bites his lip, looking concernedly at his friend, after one such occurrence. The detective looks, exhausted, at Light, letting out a long sigh.

"Yes, Light-kun?" his voice is slow with lack of rest, and even his hair looks limp and tired.

"What are they about? Your night terrors, I mean."

L closes his eyes, not wanting to meet Light's gaze, then snaps them open again, afraid of what lies on the other side. "My friend. His name was A."

"Oh?"

"He died. He killed himself."

"I'm sorry-."

"Don't be." L snaps, interrupting, Light's apology, glaring bitterly into the dark. "It was my fault, not yours."

"Ryuzaki, you shouldn't blame yourself. If he killed himself, then there's really nothing you could have done to prevent it."

"You don't get it! It was my fault! He couldn't live up to the pressure of trying to be L! He was my friend, and I didn't even see he was slipping!"

A long, impenetrable silence stretches between the two, and all of a sudden, L drops his head into his hands.

"I can still hear them…they're always there…"

"Ryuzaki, what're you talking about? You're not making sense anymore."

"The bells. There's always bells. The bells that tolled at his funeral." He pulls his head farther down into his arms, his hands clapped over his ears. "Make them stop, make them stop, please, make them…" his breathing escalates, his eyes taking on the same, glazed look as four night's ago. He whimpers, and writhes once, falling from the bed and groping on the floor.

"Nothing…nothing's…no one's here!" the sentence begins as a feeble mew, and ends in a keening, blood chilling wail. His eyes roll madly. "No…no one…"

"Ryuzaki!" Light pins the struggling man to the floor by his wrists, to keep him from hurting himself again. "Ryuzaki, I'm here! There's someone here! You're not alone!"

And with that, L's eyes snap to focus.

"Light-kun!"

"You're not alone, Ryuzaki."

"Th-thank you, Light-kun." He sits up, running a hand through his raven black hair, looking more exhausted than ever.

"Anytime."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Yes, I know. This chapter was…painfully short. Plz don't flame me. I tried, I really tried to make it longer, but I got writer's block and…well…here we are. All I really wanted to do with this chapter was explain some about The Bells (Like, why was he hearing bells right before he [sniffle] died??? Because of this!) And a bit more of L's history. And I accented some on one of his well-hidden fears. [Anyone else sensing possible fluff here???] ^_^ I promise I'll write more soon! Thank you all for the lovely reviews-[ And thanks, Kaye!]