Part 2: The Looking Glass
Ever since young, L had been told that he had 'mirror eyes'.
He was suddenly reminded of that as he looked upon his reflection in the mirror and studied them.
His eyes were large, black and reflective, his own face was staring back at him from within the inky depths of his irises.
He didn't particularly like them, they made him look strange.
And dead.
His eyes were unblinking as the inevitable sight came to him.
Yes, undoubtedly dead.
L is nothing but a husk of his body, born and made for one purpose only, to serve Justice as his fate is bidden.
L Lawliet did not exist as a person.
He is simply a title, nothing more.
L grimaced at the blankness of his face, allowing just that once to see that he is indeed there, living and not just existing.
Not just someone has nothing more than a void for a soul.
He hated what his eyes saw.
As they said, 'through the looking glass lies the ugly truth.'
And the truth is ugly indeed.
He tore his eyes away from the offending vision of his existence.
Still, that would not help him escape the offending vision of humanity's true nature.
All that encompasses the world are beautiful lies and the ugly truth.
He was condemned to see them all.
L hated his eyes with a burning passion.
Hated them so, so much.
Once again L was called upon to look upon a case, one which has stretched the death toll beyond the phenomenal scale.
He held sparsely a sense of eagerness for it, simply staring down at it with his cursed eyes.
This occurrence came across him as an act of a vigilante.
Such acts, shrouded with the beauty of morals and liberation. No doubt it would be seen that way by the self-proclaimed savior of innocence.
But L could see, he saw very clearly.
It was done for nothing more than an gruesome quest for glory, for self-satisfaction.
That was the truth and unpleasant as it is, it was his job to stop it.
No matter how he had no desire to partake in this hunt.
It was his duty.
The jagged spikes of his chains wrapped ever further around him, allowing no escape.
There is none.
The moment L set his eyes upon a certain Light Yagami, he knew, that he was nothing more than a fraud.
Falseness permeated through every trace of his 'perfection' and L held the urge to reach out and peel away at it, revealing the ugly truth beneath.
He imagine Light's skin to be that of an outer covering and it would take nothing to rip at it.
Layer by layer, they are paper-thin and easily torn apart, piece by piece they flutter to the ground as L tore away at him, unearthing a dark creature underneath.
There, there it is.
The only truth that he needs to find.
The only truth that he needs to show and he would be done and over with this case.
And countless other would follow, an endless cycle of unsightly facts served up on his plate.
The sound of a door clicking shut snapped L out of his self-induced trance and he kept watching as Light sat down upon his desk through his cameras.
He acted as though nothing truly disturbing had went through his mind and continued to watch.
With his dark, cursed sight.
Layer by layer, the dark monster brewed beneath.
What do your eyes see?
L smirked down upon Light, who skillfully hid his uneasiness even under his unyielding gaze.
But it was futile.
Nothing escapes my sight.
L watched as the living mask on his face morphed into one of openness and innocence that the creature do not possess.
It was flawless and unblemished, made of pure, smooth marble.
Hiding the shadows within, not a trace peeked out from under his skin.
You do not delude me.
"It's an honor to meet you," Light said smilingly, "If you are actually L, of course."
The mask looked immovable, fixed into place.
L made to respond and faltered, tilting his head in wonder as he saw a gray fog slowly dissipating from Light's form.
He stopped himself before he could begin to speculate of something more than just a mask and the black soul hidden within.
Kira is a job and nothing more.
I will reveal the ugliness inside of you.
L fiddled with his lips as he ignored Light's greeting and caught a faint hint of well-suppressed annoyance, stinking of embers and ashes.
He smirked as the teen's mask slips very slightly and through the crack was pure darkness.
L was eager to uncover what hid within that void.
My sight will not fail me.
Layer by layer, I peel at his skin.
In hopes to reveal the monster within, I saw…
It was not long till Light was forced to remain under his constant observation.
It was easier now, to tug at the mask that Light had made for himself, the perfect, white unblemished mask that hid everything of a monster.
Still, he persevered, replacing his mask with an unnatural persistence before L could catch more than the empty void that shrouded his ugly soul in darkness.
You cannot hide from me forever.
L briefly wondered, 'how is it that he is able to have such a meticulously crafted mask, that he is able to thwart all my attempts at breaking it when my advances would have made the most tenacious of all men to crack from the pressure?'
It was the first time that L cast a curious gaze at him, wondering.
Simply wondering.
At the exhausted form of Light slumped over the desk, the mask refusing to break even at L's tireless questioning, harassment and admittedly, unethical testing.
What made him weave a veil so thick?
What made him hide himself to this extent?
How long has he done this?
L could not help but ponder and for a brief moment all his hostility ceded.
Beneath the skin, I caught the sight.
Of a low and warm glow.
Layer by layer, I gently pull them away, a great many pieces gathered by my feet.
Still, he won't let go, even with all of them almost gone.
The weather report showed calm weather, with little clouds obscuring the bright sky.
It seemed to have affected the others, their actions slow and lazy.
Only he seethed, his emotions a riot of storms.
Why would you not show yourself?
His mind was hung up on the laughter that he heard.
It was so false that it hurt.
I allowed myself to feel because of you.
I revealed myself, I showed you a part of Lawliet, what L was not supposed to have.
L's ears stung as the words that were said are replayed over and over, stabbing deeper into the flesh of his heart as he glared at the computer screen.
Yet you still clung onto the safety of your masks, like a shield.
L stopped glowering as he considered his new thoughts.
A shield.
He glanced at Light, who looked nothing out of the ordinary after his statement and still caught the hint of desolation that brew underneath.
I start to reach out to the warm glow.
It shied away, retreated into the darkness and the endless layers returned.
The glow disappeared.
Still I carried on, pulling at the layers.
Seeking to see the light within.
L watched in silence.
The days go on as per normal and he could feel the game is coming to a close.
He could see a gloom fall over Light's visage, where no one else was able to.
He knew, he could feel it as well.
Light was prepared, so was he.
But what Light could not see clearly was his own desire.
L could see it, laid before him, clear as day.
He hated his mirror eyes now for a different reason.
As his friend now propelled the both of them towards the brink of doom, blind towards what he really wanted and couldn't get.
Through the layers, the light dimmed.
It reached back, a tentative hand upon the protective veil.
And then it was gone.
L stared back up at Light who held him in his arms, eyes wide and blank with pain unspoken of running through his veins as the heart attack ran its course.
He was aware of nothing else but the mask who stared down at him and a familiar warmth that cocooned him as he fades away.
It reminded him of the glow that Light hides away and protected and imagined with the remnants of his incoherent mind of a beautiful sight that lay hidden within the ugly falseness.
The mask kept staring down at him, taking in the sight of L's final breaths.
Uneasiness and torment seeped through the other's skin into his own, assaulting L's already acute awareness.
You can't see, but I could.
What you really want is not glory but a kindred spirit.
Too bad that the game has already gone too far.
Too late.
L sees a shimmering behind Light's eyes as he struggled to conjure a smile that he is suppose to face his enemy with.
L's dying eyes watched as the mask began to break, a small hairline crack appearing at the edge and breaking into its eye.
Darkness obscured his vision and he could see no more.
The beginning of a magnificent flash of light is the last vision that burnt itself into his eyes.
Then it was gone.
Just like him.
L had taken to following Light after his soul had broken free of his body.
That first night he stared down sadly upon the teen, the mask had the markings of cracks upon it.
He was alarmingly still for the hours that followed afterwards, his once amber gaze now blank.
The gray fog had returned, cloaking his form almost entirely that L could not quite see him clearly.
It made him look dead compared to the world around him.
Still, it moves on, whether they liked it or not.
Broken as it was, the mask remained firmly on his face and Light went back into his routine of pretense as if it were practiced tirelessly throughout his entire life.
The light that once glowed beneath all of the falseness is now faint, fluttering weakly much like L's own heart when Light had forced it to stop.
L was unable to reach out and prevent his descend into nothingness.
The afterlife had stripped his ability to influence the living, yet it kept him watching, the curse of his mirror eyes remained on.
So has the hate.
He hated that he can't do anything despite what he sees.
Despite his desires to save his one and only friend.
As he spirals even further down the path to Hell.
The dense gray swirled around Light as he continued to breathe, the fog of dullness darkening with each day that passes.
The falseness of Light's pretense pervaded the air, seeping through his pores and deluding everyone including himself that he was unscathed, even though everywhere L looked there were cracks and scars marring all of his form.
They deepened as time progresses.
Occasionally, Light would hide himself from prying eyes and rip away the mask that had permanently fixed itself from his face, tossing it aside and mourned.
It was then that the darkness around him dissipate slightly and L could actually see him a little more clearly.
He could not help but feel the sight painfully stunning to behold.
Light in his true manifestation is dazzling and beautiful, unlike the stale and vile guise that he took as himself.
'Through the looking glass lies the ugly truth.'
How false was that statement as L was presented with the vision of the enchanting authenticity.
He reached out to touch it, despairing when his hand passed through Light's body.
The younger man was unaware of it and continued to grief.
Then comes the part that L hates.
He watches with deep dark eyes as Light collected himself, his features schooled into calmness that contrasted with the chaos in his eyes.
He walked over, picked up his mask that was discarded and replaced it upon his face, worn down and broken.
His eyes go dull and Light is once against the ugly falseness that continued to exist within the world.
L once again follows him out, where he happily greets Misa and plants a kiss on her lips, smiling a fake smile at her and contacting the others.
L would be lying if he said he was not weary of seeing that constantly.
But he will wait.
The warm light will return again and L will be the one to receive it once it crosses over.
He could only hope that it happened sooner.
It is better than having to live out a life of empty existence.
L was not surprised when he witnessed Light reach his breaking point, the mask looking to be in a worse condition than it had even been.
It was astonishing that he'd even managed to hold on for this long.
Then again, Light is a stubborn person.
The look on Light's face was one of a man who had given up hope and of a man who was determined not to let anything stand in his way.
L saw clearly that it was a determination to meet his end.
He felt bitter at that.
But his long wait is now coming to an end.
He looked forward to seeing him again.
L followed and watched as his successor and Light faced off in the middle of an abandoned warehouse, Light looked to be anything but a dying man, his Kira mask in the way, his lips contorted into a sickening smile.
A deranged laughter tore out from his throat and if it wasn't for his eyes, L might've believed in it.
It is in these displaced moments that he found Light's acting to be greatly impressive in its off-putting ways.
They watched as Matsuda shot him in a fit of rage, stared as he walked up to Light and aimed at his head.
L waited in anticipation at the blow that never came.
He had missed thanks to the meddling of the others and he saw in the confusion that Light's mask, broken and battered had fallen away from him.
Fear and pain were evident in his eyes, tears brimming as he fought them, as he cried out for help.
L's felt a twinge in his heart at the sight but he could do nothing but watch as Light's lips started to form his name.
Then it ceded and Light came back to himself.
He struggled, eyes sharp with resolve as he reached out for his fallen mask, now in fragmented pieces on the floor.
L understood, he didn't want them to see him.
He'd just managed to put it on when Mikami stabbed himself.
L watched as Light somehow managed to get to his feet, pushed open the rusted doors and fled.
He followed, as he always did, as Light ran down the empty path that was lit gold by the dying rays of the sun.
L was close behind as little pieces of what looked like glass fell to the ground.
A closer inspection made him realize that they were fragments of his mask, falling apart and striking the ground, the pieces evaporating in white bursts of light.
Light just kept running, desperate to get away from their eyes.
Layer by layer, the masks falls apart.
To reveal the dying light underneath.
It wasn't long before he began to slow, wandering aimlessly into a building and then collapsing painfully on the stairs.
L stared as he struggled to turn and lie on his back, his face and body covered in streaks of blood and sweat.
He was beautiful in L's eyes as the last of the mask fell away and the amber in his eyes shone through, revealing the fluttering, golden light that hid within them.
Light was panting, his hair stuck to his face, full of pain and fear.
It did not mar his appearance one bit.
L was glad that he was finally able to appreciate the sight of the beautiful truth.
He had waited too long.
A pained gasp told him that he didn't have too long left.
I let out a soft sigh, smiled.
And approached the dying Light.
A/N: And that was the end, hope you guys enjoyed!