(AN) This chapter is a flashback to when L discovers that Light is Kira. It refers to this moment in the last chapter. The flashback ends after the next line break.
L placed his hands on the keyboard, fingers rapidly moving across the plastic surface. His hair was still wet from his venture outside, and now it stuck up in all directions.
" Ryuuzaki! Are you really going to do this?" Matsuda, loud as ever, franticly waved his arms around.
" Quiet. I have gotten authorization from another country to do this. But I need quiet. My handwriting isn't the best, so I have to concentrate and write neatly. Because if I mess up while writing this name, I could accidentally kill someone else." L swiveled around in his chair to the young man. " We wouldn't want that, now would we Matsuda?"
" U-um no, we wouldn't!"
" Good." L returned his attention to the notebook. " I have already deduced that the 13 day rule is fake. Well, deduced with a little help from an outside source," he muttered.
" Really! Thats great! Or wait... would that mean that Misa-Misa and Light are still under suspicion?" Matsuda inquired. He looked back at the said man, who hid in the shadows, arms crossed.
" Yes, it would. Now everyone, gather around. I am going to write the name of this man. He is scheduled to be executed today, so no harm done." L pointed to a screen in the left bottom corner as the members of the task force stood around his chair. The screen depicted a man, with straggly blond hair, handcuffed and on his knees in front of six armed police officers. One of them looked directly at the camera and said, " Okay, you can go now. His name is Roger Hayphel."
L opened the notebook to the next blank page, pen poised, as the man proceeded to spell out the name. L wrote each letter as the man recited them. When he finished, L leaned back in his chair, chewing nervously on his thumb. The task force sat in silence for the next forty seconds, eyes trained on the screen.
The man reached up, grasping at his neck, making choking noises, eyes rolling back into his head. For a moment, L could see him look at the screen, pupils glowing with hatred. With a final gasp, he collapsed backwards, as two men caught him from underneath his arms.
At this point, L was almost tearing off his nail.
That man was the first person he had directly killed.
The screen went black, just as the sound of laughter came bubbling up from behind him. Everyone turned around to look at Light, who for some reason was cackling with glee.
Between breaths, he spat out, " Th-that was the signal! You- you're all going to die!" He bent his head back, screaming with delight.
" What!" exclaimed Soichiro. He grabbed his son by the shoulders. " What do you mean!"
Light's laughter faded, but his lips were still pulled back over a smile. " Dad, out of all people, you should know what I mean. I mean-" His eyes narrowed, glowing red. "- I'm Kira."
Various reactions of alarm were displayed throughout the room. Mogi just stared, mouth agape. Matsuda gasped, hand clamped over his mouth. Aizawa stepped torwards Light, eyes shining. "What do you mean?" he yelled. Soichiro released his son, backing away to the wall. " No..." he mumbled, eyes wide. Sweat dripped down his brow. " That can't be right!"
" But it is." Light smirked. He turned to the crouching detective." And L, Watari will be the first to die. Then you. Then you, Matsuda. Then Mogi. And then dear father, you shall join the heap of bodies on the floor!" he giggled. Light pulled back the cuff of his sleeve, sinister eyes staring at second hand on his watch. " Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five..." he whispered.
Matsuda screamed, running to the door.
" Aha! It's no use! You're name is already written down!" Light screeched.
" By who?" L swiveled his chair around, facing the crazed young man. Considering the situation, he seemed pretty calm.
" Misa."
" NO! Not Misa-Misa! How could such a sweet and wonderful girl be a murderer!" Matsuda wailed.
" Matsuda, you're being a nuisance," L said flatly. He sighed, eyes returning to the computer screen. " How odd. It seems that Watari was supposed to die one minute ago. Is there a problem, Light?"
" What? Why do you automatically assume that he is alive? He hasn't said anything in the past few minutes!" Light breathed.
" Light Yagami. I am still here." The quavery old voice of Watari emitted from the speaker right by the screen with a W on it. He sighed. " What a pity. I thought that someone as intelligent as you would know not to spoil your plan like this."
" Its a lie! A hoax!" Light leaped forward, grabbing L by the collar of his shirt. They were almost nose to nose. "STOP PLAYING YOUR DAMN MIND GAMES WITH ME!"
L's face remained blank. " In fact, if Misa Amane were to write our names in such quick succession, shouldn't we all be dead too?"
" YOU!" For a moment, L thought that Light was going to throttle him. But instead, he backed away, head arched to the dark ceiling.
" WHAT DID YOU DO? WHY AREN'T THEY DEAD! ANSWER ME!" Light roared.
L assumed that he was screaming to Misa, who's room was on the next floor.
' Its no use... All of the walls in here are are soundproofed. The floor and ceiling as well... I can deduce that Misa will come down here, figuring that we are all dead, so it will be safe... But in truth, we will all be alive, and waiting for her.'
L smirked. ' It seems that Light-kun has forgotten that there are security cameras in here as well...'
" Seize him," he said, voice flat.
Light backed torwards the door, hand extended behind him. He fingered the doorknob, eyes widening.
" Do not underestimate me. Any old fool could figure out that you would try to escape. The door is set up so it will only open to someone from the outside." L stated.
Light seemed to realize what this meant, and he sank to the ground, pulling his knees to his chest and cringing away from the members of the task force like a cornered animal.
" Th-this is just a glitch! You will a-all die!" he cried. His eyes bulged. " STAY AWAY FROM ME! I WILL KILL YOU!" Light fllipped open his watch, pulling open the secret hatch in the bottom. " I HAVE PART OF THE NOTE! AND IF NESECARY, I'LL WRITE YOUR NAMES IN MY OWN BLOOD!"
L pinched the bridge of his nose " You're still awfully cocky, aren't you?"
" What? Me? Cocky? If anything, you seem to be too sure of yourself, L!" Light rasped. " What could have you possibly done to prevent the power of the Death Note? DO YOU HONESTLY BELIVE THAT YOU HAVE THE POWER OF GOD! FOOLISH! FOOLISH! FOOLISH! THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE GOD IN THIS WORLD! AND ITS ME! ME, YOU HEAR!" he hollered.
Mogi jumped forward, grabbing the teenager by his shaking arm. " LET GO!" Light screeched. " LET GO LET GO LET GO!" He jerked and twisted around, but the large man kept a firm grip on him. Aizawa stepped to the other side, seizing his elbow. Together they restrained him, as he writhed around, attempting to pound their heads with his flailing fists. The slip of Death Note fluttered to the ground, and eyes grim, Soichiro picked it up, placing it on the computer table.
" Well, this has become quite interesting," L said, licking his spoon free of any remaining chocolate syrup. " Misa Amane should be coming any moment. Someone, get at the door."
" You heard him! Matsuda, go to the door!" Soichiro yelled.
" What? Why me?" It was obvious by the look in Matsuda's eyes that he still didn't believe that Misa was guilty.
" Matsuda, out of all times, why do you have to be so idiotic now? There is a criminal about to enter this room! NOW GO TO THE DOOR!"
" Sorry, sir." Matsuda said sadly. He went to the door, leaning against it.
Which of course meant that he totally fell on his face when it flew open, Misa skipping in. Her happy demeanor contrasted greatly with her red, sinister eyes.
" Light! We did it! They're all dead! We wo-MMPH!" Her sentence was cut off as Matsuda's hand was clamped over her mouth. He drew her hands behind her back with his free hand, an obviously pained expression on his face. L wasn't sure, but he thought he heard him mumble, " Sorry Misa."
Her screams were muffled, but Matsuda had to avoid all of the kicking sent in the general direction of his legs. At one point, she was looking straight at L, and he was sure she was attempting to spew out some words that weren't so nice. Eventually, she gave up, slumping against Matsuda, a defeated expression on her face.
Now Light was yelling. " I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU SO MUCH! YOU MESSED US UP! THE NEW WORLD HAS BEEN DESTROYED, YOU MORON!" he screamed.
Silent tears dripped from Misa's eyes, and she shook her head, hair flipping around. She must have bit Matsuda's hand or something, because he suddenly drew it back, wincing.
" NOOOOOOOO!" she wailed, voice cracked and agonized.
L got up, dusting off his jeans. He crossed the room to the two, hands clasped behind his back. Two sets of eyes, one moist and remorseful, one slitted and full of hatred, stared up at him from the shadows.
" I'm afraid it was you who was wrong, Light Yagami. You had already lost from the beginning."
" What exactly did you do?" Aizawa entered the room, a manila folder tucked underneath his arm. " I mean, why didn't we die when Misa wrote down our names?" It was a question that had been asked repeatedly, by both the media and the task force. It had never been answered, which was the reason that Aizawa was asking it in the first place.
For some reason, L felt different when Aizawa asked it. Unlike the others, who repeatedly questioned him, this was only the second time that Aizawa had asked.
He felt like he could trust Aizawa.
He would tell him this time.
L covered his eyes with his palm, groaning with exhaustion." I wrote down all of our names in the notebook."
" What! Are you insane or something?" His voice rose, panicked.
" There is no need to worry. I made a deal with Ryuk so I could find out your life spans." L took a delicate sip from his tea.
" You made the Shinigami eye deal!" Aizawa exclaimed.
" No. I just offered him free apples for life." L added another sugar cube to his tea.
" Uh... I won't ask..." Aizawa mumbled. " But what do you mean you wrote down our names in the notebook?"
" Because I wrote our names already in another notebook, I wrote down all of our names so we are set to die the day before our predestined death. So it won't affect you that much."
" But... isn't it against the shinigami's rules to tell the person who owns the notebook when they're going to die? How did you find out your life span?"
L lowered his teacup, hair shadowing his dark eyes. Aizawa couldn't read the expression on his face.
" Believe me, I've known when I'm going to die for a long time."
(AN) How did he know though...? *sinister laugh* You may never know!