Home at Last – Chapter 7
L took another bite of the cheesecake before continuing. "You may have guessed by now, Light, that Remara became the shinigami Rem. Her brother, whom you may not have heard of, became Gelus in this realm. It was they who escaped."
Baffled by this last statement, Ryuk chimed in. "But they both violated the shinigami code and used the death note to extend Misa Amane's life. They turned to sand and ceased to exist."
"That's right!" Light nearly shrieked, panic growing inside him once again. "Ceasing to exist isn't what I meant by escape!"
"It's not what I mean by it either," L replied placidly. He licked the plate to get the last crumbs of the graham cracker crust, then made the plate and fork disappear. "They were, in fact, at last admitted to Paradise, after 617 years as shinigami."
"Doesn't that bother you, L?" demanded Light in amazement.
L looked slightly perplexed. He held out his arms. "Of course not. The more the merrier. The happiness of every saint is increased by that of all the others."
"But it was Rem who killed you," Light persisted.
"I told you the saints don't carry grudges. Besides, Rem was merely an instrument." L glanced sideways at Light with a wry smile. "You're the one who really killed me—no hard feelings. And I can't hate her, since she's now among the blessed, having escaped the shinigami fate."
Light became desperately hopeful. "But how?"
"There are three conditions for escape, and they're rare. First, the shinigami must, like you, be a former hu—ah, must have used a death note in mortal life. Second, unlike you, he or she must have repented of it before death. And third, the shinigami must perform an act of pure selflessness."
"But, L," Light exclaimed in near hysterics, reaching up toward the ledge on which L sat, "I did repent, at the very end! In those last few seconds I wished I'd never seen a death note."
L regarded him sympathetically. "You regretted it, Light, because your plan failed and you were dying young. But you didn't repent of the evil…and you always knew deep down that it was evil. Besides, even if that condition could be waived, the fact is, you're incapable of a selfless act." He held up a hand to forestall Light's protest. "You can be thankful not to have been damned, but you'll never escape from here. Maybe in a few hundred years they'll let you haunt somebody."
"And by then," Ryuk interjected, you probably won't care all that much."
The shattering disappointment left Light completely weary, unable to argue anymore. But the conversation had gotten him thinking, and even a slight intellectual exercise made him feel more like his old self. He looked over at Ryuk.
"Didn't you say that a shinigami can die if he doesn't write a name in his death note for a long time?"
"Yeah," answered Ryuk. "I've seen it happen once or twice. Just like Rem and Gelus, they also turn to sand. I heard that Shidoh was only a couple of weeks away from dying when he got his death note back."
"Just out of curiosity," Light pursued, turning to L, "do those shinigami cease to exist?"
L put a fist to his chin and turned his head from side to side as he pondered the question. At length he answered, "Huh. I don't know. Do you, Ryuk?"
Ryuk shook his head. "I don't know either, and I have no intention of finding out the hard way. Not that that will be a concern any time soon." He aimed a thumb at Light. "I just got more than 50 years out of this guy here." He ended with another cackle.
Light gave him a dirty look. "You're welcome," he snapped.
An awkward silence ensued. Light felt hollow and utterly drained of emotion. He looked bitterly up at L. "Well, O Blessed One, do you have any more business here?"
"Nope, that's it for now. I should be getting back anyway. I want to catch my favorite TV show."
"Heaven's got TVs?"
"It's got everything you could want. And this show is great. It's an old American program about a brilliant but somewhat eccentric detective in Los Angeles. He's quite appealing even though he sort of slouches all the time and dresses like an unmade bed. And get this—the audience is never told his full name. Kind of preposterous, I guess, but hey, that's TV. Well, I'll be off, then. Sayonara, Light."
L stood up and stretched out his wings. One powerful beat of those wings sent him retracing his arcing path back up the glittering beam of light. Ryuk and Light watched as he passed through the somber overcast. The light beam narrowed and dimmed, finally disappearing altogether. The glitter on the ground nearby would continue to cast its multicolored glow for several days.
Light continued to stare at the spot for a moment. L had been getting on his nerves, and he'd been glad to see him go. But he now realized that he would probably miss the shining radiance after a very short time in this gloomy realm.
"OK, Light, we should get going too," Ryuk remarked at last. He put a hand on Light's shoulder and steered him away from the cliff. "The first procedure is an audience with the old man." He spread his wings and started to fly off. Light hesitated for a few seconds, glanced once more at the lifeless cliff face, and then unfurled his own wings, following his mentor deep into his new home.
— END —
