Chapter 21
Disclaimer: i do not own death note or a certain scene in this chapter.
"This is ridiculous Anna." L murmured, "You can't shoot me, put the gun down."
"Don't push your luck." Anna snapped in reply. "You know what I want."
L nodded, "Answers, of course." He calmly met Anna's eyes, "Please be reasonable. I never wanted this to happen."
A string of tension seemed to snap. "You tried to kill me!" Anna hissed furiously, standing up, her right arm gently supporting her on the desk.
"I'm sorry." His eyes were dark and sincere as he said the words.
Anna scoffed, "The gun you had in your hand stated otherwise, and the gun pointed at your head at the moment says that I don't forgive you."
"That's okay." L replied with a shrug, "Will you let me repay you?"
"It seemed like you came to finish me off to keep your name clean." Anna whispered, "You can't deny it L, you did know I was going to die."
The silence was almost unbearable as the detective took another step forward. "Yet here you are standing before me." His fingers curled around the barrel of the gun. Anna glared at him warningly. L eased away, his expression once again twisted in pain as he took a step back. "I did know it was a possibility." He answered, once again passive and toneless. "I wanted to trust you, as was your wishes. I didn't want to think of the fact that you might die. At the moment, it seemed really that nothing could kill you. I took your presence for granted, for that I am sorry."
Anna hesitated, "You…are driving me crazy." Her eyes were softened, but still angry. "You whole chain of thought…you entire logic…" her eyes closed momentarily, her fingers flexing around the grip of the gun. "Nothing about you makes sense."
"Please explain."
"It will just make so much sense…if you did try to kill me." Anna took long, deep breathes to steady herself, "You were raised in an orphanage when we first met. You knew nothing of the outside world that I struggled to survive in. That would work, because of your ignorance; you can plainly tell me that I'm normal. What do you know? You were a child." She paused, letting the words sink, "Then again, you rescued me from those crazy scientists, possibly because you thought I could help you, possibly because you felt that that was your 'justice'. I can understand that too, a young detective, a strong will for justice."
L shook his head, but Anna ignored him.
"All those years later, I was seventeen, and you nineteen. We met again, this time as enemies." Her eyes grew hard, "That was when I got confused. Just as your justice empowers you, you act on it and do whatever it takes to bring fairness. You should've let them kill me. Why did you stop their righteous judgment? Why did you spare me, simply making me take a vow never to kill? Why did you depend on me keeping my word?" she shook her head, "Perhaps you truly believed that I was innocent. Perhaps you wanted to use me like all the others. I don't care, it was a mistake and you realized it."
"I haven't regretted anything since the day I became L." the detective sighed. "Until now that is."
"Listen!" Anna's shout abruptly silenced everything in the room, "It makes sense this way, you were young, you made a mistake, and now you're here to correct it. At the same time of course, you set up Matt to protect me, thus cleaning your name from any fault in the case that I really had survived."
L frowned, "You have a dizzying logic." he admitted.
"It's the only way that this entire thing makes-" Anna's words trailed off as her eyes softened with surprise. Her muscles tensed.
L's pale fingers once again wrapped around the barrel of the gun, and he bent down ever so slightly, touching the metal barrel to his forehead, his eyes closed as if ready for death. Carefully he breathed out, and opened his eyes. L's hand slipped off the barrel and clasped around Anna's hands. "Is that how it felt?" he asked.
Anna nodded, remembering the touch of metal against her forehead, so close to death. She had been so helpless, completely at the opponent's mercy, so weak.
"It doesn't feel very good." L admitted, raising his other hand, he gently pried the gun from Anna's fingers. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"I said don't push your luck." Anna glared daggers at him, wrapping both her hands on the gun. L waited, unafraid.
"I really am sorry."
The assassin closed her eyes, and L smiled as he recognized the warm glow that emanated from them as Anna opened her eyes again. "The pain of hundreds of bullets thudding into your body is not something pleasant to experience." Anna's hands dropped to her sides. It was then that L got a good look at her. Her skin was pale, and she was so thin, the fright of the fall, the fear of the water, and anger of betrayal, it had all taken a toll on her. At the moment, it seemed like she would never recover.
Awkwardly, L pulled her into an embrace, relieved to find that Anna did not resist. "I truly beg your forgiveness. If it's not too much to ask, will you come back and work by my side?"
"We will see." Anna turned her head ever slightly, whispering in his ear, "It's not safe here. Someone works for Kira, he lives here."
"Who is he?" L whispered back, frowning.
"Mikami, Teru." Anna eased herself from his arms. "Let's get out of here."
The detective nodded, serious now that the situation has changed, "Can you walk?" he asked.
"With difficulty," Anna admitted as she still clung on to his arm for balance. "Even I can't heal in such a short amount of time."
"I can carry you if you want." L shrugged.
Anna smiled, "I'll manage. I haven't completely forgiven you yet."
L shrugged again, as they moved slowly towards the door and opened it with a gentle click, the door swung open. The two were astonished by the sight; L's four body guards lay unconscious on the ground, a dart at the back of their necks. "He's behind the corner of the hallway on the left." Anna whispered her eyes black and tense.
As if over hearing, Mikami Teru stepped out from under the shadows. "I'm quite disappointed." He glared at Anna, who met his gaze with just as much ferocity. "You should've killed him."
"That's my choice to make." Anna spat.
"And now you'll both die here." Mikami Teru pulled out a black note and a pen. "I can see your names, with these Shinigami's eyes."
"Kira's power." L realized breathlessly, "To kill with a name and a face."
A smug grin creased Mikami's face as he laughed crazily, gradually lowering his pen to the page. "None of you will leave this place alive." He mused, and laughed again, "Sheila Faust…and…"
"SORROW!!" Anna screamed, and L watched with shock as she seemed to be screaming at the empty space next to him.
Mikami's face froze, his hands hesitated, the pen stopped at the edge of the paper. With no warning, his hands began to quiver as he dropped the black notebook to the ground. His face was suddenly pale, as if drained of blood; he clutched his shirt, breathless. "You….have…" he choked, then pulled out something else from his pocket. "I thought this might happen…but I'll drag you all down to hell with me!!" He pushed down a big red button.
Steel panels slid across the windows and doors, sealing away every exit. The room was suddenly robbed of light. In the palpable darkness, a faint voice announced…
Beep…………………………Beep………………………Beep……………………
"That's a bomb." L whispered his expression hopeless, his mind blank.
"DIE!!!!!!!!" Mikami screamed, his chest heaving as he laughed our his last words. The sound broke through the darkness, echoing hauntingly throughout the building. Then gradually, his voice faded, and his corpse was still. Dead of a heart attack.
Anna quickly ran through the formulas through her head, counting. "We have roughly thirty seconds." She breathed, and then gazed hard at the empty space beside L again, the detective was dazed.
"Where is it?" she said to the empty air, then nodded to herself.
"L." she shook him, "L!! You're wasting time!"
The detective snapped back to reality. "Yes?"
"We have to get to the basement, under the stairs." She struggled to run down the stairs. Quickly, L grabbed her shoulders. "If Mikami was that confident, it's likely the bomb's magnitude is enough to blow down the entire house if not the basement as well." She explained, and faintly saw L nod, as if finally thinking clearly again.
Beep………………………Beep……………………
"Ten seconds."
The detective swung her easily into his arms and sprinted down the flight of stairs, pausing at Mikami's corpse as Anna picked the Death Note up from the ground and tucked in into her jacket pocket while sending him a deadly glare. "Please don't complain, it's for our lives." He said, still finding the humor to smile.
"Take the right hall; the stairs are at the end." Anna instructed, and L followed, "7 seconds." Anna calculated, and L ran faster.
"Three." Anna breathed as L ignored the last five stairs and jumped to the bottom. "Two." He helped her crawl under the stairs quickly. "One." L threw himself in after her, his arms locked around her as he pushed her to the ground. They squeezed their eyes shut.
BeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeBOOM
The world seems to explode around them. Anna threw her arms around L's neck and clung on desperately as the bomb sent columns of fire throughout, the heat and gas breaking wood and metal with their destructive force. We're going to die. There's no way we can live through a bomb of this magnitude. Anna realized, even if we escape the blast, the remains from the house will bury us alive.
Dust and rubble poured around them, though the stairs above them held fast against the torrent of wood and metal. "We're going to die…" she whispered almost inaudibly in his ear, coughing as the dust entered her throat. Already the sound was beginning to soften, but the dust continued to pour through along with the remains of the house, as well as sand and dirt.
But the wood above them could hold no longer. With a loud crack, the stairs broke free of their bonds. Both Anna and L awaited its dreaded weight to plunge them into death, but nothing came, the wood stayed above them, miraculously. The sound of the bomb had silenced, though they were too far underground and too much separated them from the cries of the surprised people. Only the sound of continuous falling remained now, L breathed out, his eyes still closed. "Are you okay?" he asked, awkwardly getting up. But the space was very cramped, and both of them grinned at the awkward atmosphere. After settling in a semi sitting position side by side, the detective examined the staircase above them that saved their lives.
It was badly cracked, dust and dirt poured from the injury it received from the explosion, but it held firm. Around them was the little space under the staircase. Wood planks and frames blockaded their way out along with dust and dirt poured in from the side, leaving tiny cracks where light entered and dimly illuminated their surroundings. Anna sighed in relief, "Do I look like I'm okay…?" she whispered hoarsely.
"You're fine." L heaved a sigh, tucking his legs under him to form his unique sitting position. "Now does that prove that I treasure your life?"
Anna smiled faintly, "Are you okay?"
"A few scratches," L shrugged and avoided her gaze.
Anna frowned, her expression serious as she dragged herself closer to L. "L turn around." She commanded, "Let me see."
"It's nothing." L insisted.
"I said turn." Anna repeated, and wincing, L did so.
Anna was not surprised by the blood that splattered across the back of L's white shirt, the gashes that tore through fabric and skin. It was wood that fell from above no doubt, injuring him while he protected her. "God." She breathed, her brows knotting unhappily, "This is nothing?" she rolled her eyes, "We'll have to get it fixed after we get out of here."
"Hm." L shrugged, "There's nothing we can do about it until we get out of here." He turned back around, "If we get out of here."
"Anna closed her eyes for seemingly a long moment. "Will you stop acting so smug already?" she sighed, and to L's surprise, to the space above them. "Give it here." She held out her hand expectantly.
"Anna?" L was puzzled, then his eyes widened in surprise as she pulled a black notebook out of thin air. "Touch it." She said, and L hesitantly touched the black cover of the notebook.
"Oh." L murmured as he became aware of their surroundings. A Shinigami sat beside him, smiling, his large feathery black wings like a canopy around them, holding the broken staircase in place and keeping them alive.
"This one too." Anna handed him Mikami's notebook, and he took it, becoming aware of a second Shinigami perched next to Anna. This Shinigami, however, was not so pleased to help as he sat, his black bat-like wings shielding them from the sand and dirt that will no doubt pour in and consume them if not held in place. This Shinigami observed the conversation with obvious interest in his haunting yellow eyes. "Yo! My name is Ryuk!" he cackled.
"That's Sorrow." Anna gestured to the Shinigami sitting beside L, "he's the owner of my Death Note."
"Death Note?" L's black eyes regarded the Shinigami sitting beside him, "Hm, you have some explaining to do once we get out of here."
Sorrow merely gave a sadistic grin. L frowned, puzzled.
Anna rolled her eyes, "He thinks he knows something and he's being really smug about it."
"What?" L's attention turned to her.
"He thinks you're interested." Anna shrugged.
"In you?" L inquired, tilting his head to one side.
Anna responded with a nod, "He's being ridiculous…"
L smiled crookedly, a smile that reached his eyes "I might be interested." He said smugly. "In you." He added quickly as he saw her eyes spark not with surprise, but something else.
Sorrow smiled, "I told you so. But as your guardian and parent, I think we should take this step by step and not rush things and…."
Anna shifted her weight forward in the narrow space and pressed her lips against L's quickly, then sat back as soon as she felt L kiss her back. Amusement sparkled in her eyes as she observed L's reaction, then Sorrows. Blood crept up her neck, and she blushed, though without effort to hide it. The Shinigami was stupefied.
"Wow." L commented finally, a tad of admiration in his voice. "What was that for?"
"Two reasons." Anna explained, still unable to contain her smile, "One of them was to spite him." She pointed to Sorrow, who was still stupefied, his jaw hanging open as he sat like a rock, even without breathing. "The second reason is, well, I'm quite interested too, to put it simply."
Sorrow's trance finally wore off, and the Shinigami let out a hiss of anger, "You! Young lady, how could yo- in front of me-"
"Anyway." Anna cut him off abruptly, "I have a lot of information through this near death experience. As soon as we get out of here, I will help you send Kira to execution. I suppose I should tell you though, what I've learned."
"I don't want to hear it right now." L declined politely, "When we get out of here, I'll get back to Kira. But not right now, please. I don't want to worry about Kira right now."
"Can I ask you something?" Anna said quietly.
L turned his eyes to the girl beside him, curious, "You don't have to ask." He replied. "Go ahead."
Anna laughed lightly and leaned against him, "So now that we're officially interested in one another, are we in a relationship?"
L took her hand and brought it in front of his eyes, his eyes dark and deep in thought. Gently, he locked his fingers in hers, caressing her hand.
"I would understand if you say no." Anna looked up at him, squeezing his hand. "I mean, what with Kira and everything that's going on. And don't feel pressured by the presence of these Shinigami either, please."
L chuckled lightly, and kissed her fingers, "They have nothing to do with it, believe me. I was always interested in you, Anna, you intrigued me since the day we met, though, I'm quite sure that was quite different from the intensity of what I feel now." He added, smiling, and kissed her fingers again. "What I'm worried about is the danger you'll be exposed to if our relationship becomes official."
"I don't think you know the entire situation." Anna explained, "I understand everything I'm getting into now. I am fully aware of the entire situation and I can tell you this. I am not in any danger whatsoever. These Shinigami have made promise to protect me; they will take out any danger that dares threaten my life."
"Then I have no problem with it," the detective's eyes burned with a new excitement, "Though I still advise that we keep low." He turned to face her, and found that she was already there waiting for him. He drank in every detail of her face, the way she smiled; ignoring the burning pain on his back, for it was all worth it. All he's been through, everything, just to be here at this moment, to drop the dead weight that he carried inside his heart.
Unlocking her fingers from his, Anna's hand brushed away his hair, her fingers trailing down his face to the line of his jaw, tracing the soft line of his lips, down his neck, and came to rest at his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart. She felt the thrill he harbored as she met his dark ebony eyes, which has finally become transparent to her, letting her read him as she willed. "Nothing will ever be the same." Anna whispered, everything changes, I don't want to lose the friendship we share."
L stroked her cheek gently, "We both know the pressure of the world around us, and we both know that this type of relationship never works out like regular people's happy endings, but I don't care. If I thought even for a moment what others would've thought of me, I wouldn't have rescued you from the law, maybe Alexander, but not the law. I don't care what others think."
Anna frowned, "I am an assassin L, and nothing you do will ever change that. But you are the world's best detective; your duty is to the people, not me. We're so different, like black and white, I've killed so many, and you…"
"Please don't tell me Anna that you fear for my reputation?" L looked at her earnestly in the eye. "I will not lose you over my reputation, besides, we'll keep quiet. And anyway, I don't exactly think we have a choice in the matter."
"Our feelings." Anna nodded.
"Yes, our emotions, they have broken free from their bonds. We can suppress them no longer." L answered, his hand tracing again and again over her eyes, her cheek, her lips.
Anna smiled, catching his hand with her own, "Let the world change, I'm ready to face a new challenge. Right now, I just want satisfaction."
Electricity seemed to whiz through the air around them as their lips eagerly met. L's fingers slid into her dusty hair tenderly, pulling her closer in the darkened space. She let her eyes close, and felt the gentle pressure of his lips moving with hers, she tangled her fingers in his messy hair, feeling for the smooth, flawless skin of his neck. Then their lips parted just as gently and suddenly, and they looked into each other's eyes, their feelings unrecognizable.
"This satisfies me." Anna breathed, laughing.
"Hm." L breathed against her lips, not objecting as they remained still, captivated by each other's presence. "Whatever satisfies you." He said, and kissed her again.
After all the effort that she put into suppressing her desires, Anna found that her heart was ignited at just a simple contact between them. L felt the weight of his emotions crash over him, knowing their consequence as his hands traced over every line of her features, memorizing every shape and curve of her skin and letting her feel the feelings he harbored since her miraculous appearance back into his life. She in turn, clasped her hand around his neck and pulled him tightly against her, feeling her heart beat with his in unison. She felt the release of his constantly masked emotions for her through his touch, yet also his careful restraint as he controlled his hands to be gentle on her, as if she was fragile, made of glass. She realized the tense control that he had always established when he was in her presence, and in return, poured out the feelings she had bottled up, kept under lock and key since the day she joined him in this endeavor. Their emotions were fully free of the bonds that have rigidly kept them under control, and L was right, nothing would ever suppress them back into the dark chasm they have created.
Good thing I didn't shoot him. She thought stupidly as she tried to draw him closer still, breathing in his hot breath as their lips parted for a fraction of a moment. But L's hands restrained her suddenly as he pulled himself away, disengaging himself from her hands. "Patience." He said, "Please."
"Sorry," Anna laughed, "That fine line between love and lust."
"Yes, we still need to keep ourselves in check." L grinned lopsidedly.
Sorrow smiled above them, "I'm glad to see you demonstrate control." He complimented the detective, "Something my daughter seems to lack."
"Daughter?" L puzzled.
"The Shinigami's promise was something my dad made for me before his death." Anna explained, "He paid for it with his own afterlife."
"So I suppose you found your real name?"
Anna nodded, "Yeah, I'm Sheila Faust, distant descendent of the guy who made a deal with the devil."
"Would you like to know my name?" L asked; his face expressionless.
Anna shook her head, "Only if it's absolutely necessary. I don't want to spill your name if I'm being tortured one day."
L grimaced, "Hm." He said. "Well, if we get out of here alive anyway."
In the small space, the Shinigami's eyes were tense as they observed each other's careful movement. Ryuk remained still, his yellow eyes haunting Sorrows as the other Shinigami did the same. They both knew the ending to this story. When L and Anna were found by Watari and the others, who knew nothing of the Shinigami's presence, the two escaped into the sky.
"The girl is safe." Ryuk laughed, "But I am deeply amused by the turn of events."
Sorrow's eyes were deeply burdened with misery as they flew towards a storm brewing in the distance. Lightning flashed, illuminating the Shinigami's dark forms as they flew on.
Ryuk laughed again, a ghastly cackling sound that send Sorrow deeper into his depression, "So this is what caused…the downfall of them both." The Shinigami grinned.
Author's Note: Right. Here i go again. Um yea, i got help from Torchy on this romance scene. Hope you enjoyed it. I also have a kind of survey question to ask, not that we have uncovered Anna's real name, should i just keep calling her anna for the heck of it or change her name?
And no...the story is not ending yet unfortunately, i have many other ideas to put into action! MUHAHAHA!!
ok i'll leave you guys alone now, please review!