"Have you noticed that I only ever say depressing things in these? Where did the fun me go, the one who said things that were… less depressing? I think I'll start now. Fun fact: Misa Amane, without the death note given to her by a god, is still bat shit insane and would probably kill any woman who stepped close to Light Yagami by shoving their face into a blender and then pressing the on button. Goddammit."

It was somewhere between midnight and three a.m. and Light still hadn't gone home yet. This was becoming something of a routine, he was beginning to feel like he was the one imprisoned in this god forsaken building, because although he could technically leave at any time he always found himself working much later than any other task member besides L himself.

Although, it was difficult to tell whether or not L was truly working on anything.

L spent most of his time perching on his computer chair like some demented oversized bird, eating cheesecake, occasionally flicking through articles and reports, but mostly just staring straight ahead at nothing or worse at the giant screen that usually would display Misa Amane or else Anna Jones in their natural habitat.

Their natural habitat being the entire 20th floor of the building where they could pretend they were living in a hotel. (And God, would Anna hate that, Anna did hate that, he hadn't spoken to her in some time but just looking at her he knew she was seething at the very farce of it. A gilded bird cage, that's all it was.)

Misa appeared to be adjusting rather well, all things considered, this was probably because she was completely deranged to begin with. She spent her time painting her toenails, watching television, occasionally whining to the cameras that she'd like to see Light for a weekly date, but otherwise looking like she was just lounging in her own apartment.

Anna wasn't doing nearly as well, but then, Light could hardly blame her. She spent most of her time doing various exercises, jump roping, doing pushups, athletic activities she'd once avoided at all costs. She also spent an unnatural amount of time simply staring at the camera, not asking anything, just staring through it as if she could see through that black lens into your very soul.

(She didn't believe him, she didn't believe he could prove her innocent, or worse that for whatever reason he would choose not to. She didn't believe him, and God did that hurt.)

They needed to get out of this place.

He rubbed a hand through his hair, breathing out, the only trouble was that he had no idea where to look. A normal nine to five schedule, possibly (Kira could alter the time of deaths and he'd appeared as a student before so who was to say this new schedule was accurate), living in the Kanto region, kills via heart attacks but needs a name and a face…

There wasn't much that was concrete.

But he couldn't concentrate, not when he was working this late, on this little sleep, and not with that damned tapping pen in L's fingers.

"Would you please stop that."

The tapping paused, hesitated, before starting up again with the same rhythm as before a tap-tap-tappity-tap that had been incessant for the last thirty minutes.

Light grit his teeth, telling himself that this was one of the most brilliant men in the world, that he had once respected and admired this man. Hell, Light had once wanted to be this man, the great L who had never failed to solve a case.

That man wasn't gone, even if he had turned out to be an inconsiderate socially inept ass for whom proof was an afterthought and guilt was decided by hunches and made up statistics. That brilliant man must still be in there somewhere; Light would believe that.

"Would you please stop that, Ryuzaki!" Light said, turning from his work completely to stare L in the face and this time L did pause, the pen hovering midair just above the counter for another tap.

"Hm, my apologies Light, I am…" Here L trailed off, looking at the large monitor again, although it was dark, Anna and Misa both having long since gone to sleep and the lights having turned off. Of course, that probably meant Watari was monitoring them with the infrared cameras from another room, "Discouraged."

"Not distracted?" Light said, crossing his arms to which L smirked, or L's version of a smirk which was little more than a quirk of the lips.

"Discouraged. Of course, I would be outright depressed if I only had you and Misa Amane to work with." L mused his expression suddenly turning glum, "At the very least I am not completely in square one regarding Kira."

"What are you talking about?" Light asked, his eyes narrowing, and he noted that this was the first time that L was bringing this up. Bringing up him, Misa, and Anna all together as if they had one thing all in common.

L didn't answer, simply stared at Light for a moment, looking at him with those great dark eyes as if he was staring straight through to Light's very soul. Finally, he said in a casual nonchalant sort of tone, "Strange, isn't it? That she is the one who never breaks character when she has the most reason to. You, Misa Amane, all great changes in personality without any explanation but her… Always the same."

"What do you mean?" He asked and L continued to study him for a moment, spinning the pen in his fingertips.

"Are we being frank with each other, Light Yagami?" L asked, his lips doing that infuriating quirking thing again.

"Are we ever not frank with each other, Ryuzaki?" Light asked leaning forward and feeling all of his exhaustion drip away as he engaged in this strange and ominous conversation. This was the sort of conversation he knew, almost instinctively, would never be taking place if his father was in the room.

"Of course, for my own part I'm rarely frank with anyone. It takes away from the mystery, the prowess of the great anonymous detective, to be bluntly honest with my audience. As for you, well, sometimes I wonder if you've ever said an honest thing in your life." L said that in a way as if he wasn't expecting a response, as if this was just the way they were and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Like he knew Light, through and through, and thought he was just as awful as he himself was.

"Let's be frank with each other, Light." L continued, "Just this once, since I'm so very discouraged as of late."

"Alright, Ryuzaki, let's be frank." Light said, using all the self-control he had not to spit the words out and add on a few more.

"Anna Jones, it's a strange name isn't it?" L asked, and with that name Light felt something plummet in his stomach. Because of course this was about Anna, because L might have let her out of imprisonment but that didn't mean he believed she was innocent.

Except she was, Light knew it, and he didn't see how L could possibly think that she was a murderer. Not only a murderer but Kira, who had killed thousands in only a few months.

"You would be hard pressed to pick a more boring, more common, and blander English name than Anna Jones." L said and then paused, waiting for Light to jump to some conclusion, but Light didn't jump for it.

"No, nothing?" L asked with raised eyebrows, cocking his head slightly and leaning forward in his perched position, "Alright, a bit about me first then. Tell me, Light, what is L?"

"A detective." Light answered, too tired and too irritated to play along with this game of twenty questions.

"Wrong," L said firmly his voice seeming to echo in the empty room, "L is more like a… corporation. There are successors." At the word successors something cold drips into his voice but is soon enough covered by his bland explanation, "If Kira should kill me then I am more or less easily replaced. Actually, I just realized, in that we are quite similar. Kira's doing the same thing after all."

"That's…" Light starts and trails off not entirely sure how to take this.

"Interesting, efficient, despicable?" L asked but again not giving Light enough time to make up his mind before moving on, "Tell me, Light, you're very clever. Have you put it together yet?"

"Put what together?" Light asked, his eyes narrowing, practically feeling the threat emanating from this man because this was the game something in here was the trap that would damn him.

L looked at him somewhat dully and then, in the tone he used when inflecting upon a person's guilt, began, "If you were to look for Anna Jones you would find a very impressive paper trail. She has a passport, high school transcripts, middle school transcripts, elementary school transcripts, letters of recommendation, certificates of participation in various events. If you start making phone calls, the first couple you make will reassure you of not only Anna Jones' existence but her personality and hobbies. But if you make enough phone calls, if you look through enough papers, if you truly look for her, then you will find that Anna Jones never existed in the first place."

L let the words hang in the air, waiting for Light to ask what he meant, but Light said nothing and would allow himself to say nothing though he dearly wanted to.

What had Anna said once, regarding L, that he enjoyed playing games with your head? This wasn't about Anna Jones, Light knew that, no it all centered around one thing and one thing only.

Kira.

This was… Not a test, but something, some way in. Something to turn him against Anna Jones, make him suspect her so that he could finally break her. Or perhaps, perhaps it was for something else. But whatever it was it was about Kira and nothing else.

At three a.m. when he couldn't think and think back to his own memories of her (because this didn't sound wrong, he wasn't surprised that Anna Jones might not be real, but it also didn't bother him like he had always known that) he wasn't going to let it distract him. Not from what was truly important.

"Ryuzaki, which of us do you really think is Kira?"

And L only smiled, "Ah, but Light, you aren't ready for that answer quite yet."

(Light, later, would not hold himself responsible for punching L in the face even if it did result in him getting kicked in the head.)

"What do you mean you can't put me on a different floor?!"

It was funny, how your feelings about dying could change in such a short amount of time. At the time of her mock execution, she had more or less made her peace with God. She wasn't entirely sure if she even preferred living because living was complicated, granted she knew what living was like but… But she also knew the consequences of her own death.

It would have been easy to die then.

She'd gotten used to the idea of living again, of waking up each morning and seeing a sunrise, of feeling sheets on your bare skin. And with it, her terror of dying had returned full force.

Which was how she had ended up in the bathroom with a telephone, glaring at the camera inside, while she listened to L hem-haw on the other end.

(And wasn't that just how you knew your life was effectively over? When there were cameras inside of your bathroom, and not only could you not think of a convincing argument against it you also couldn't bring yourself to care anymore.

Anna Jones no longer cared if L had video tapes of her naked in the shower.

That said so much about her life.)

"I'm afraid we just can't accommodate you like that, Miss Jones. There simply aren't enough floors."

"Bullshit, Ryuzaki, that is bullshit!" She whispered harshly into the phone despite knowing that the door was locked (but then Misa was probably listening through the wood), "There are forty floors in this building, you can spare one!"

"Perhaps." L mused.

"Perhaps?! Alright, I don't need a floor, just a bedroom and a bathroom." She said, sighing, clutching at her head and willing the sleep deprived headache away.

"Well, that's not all that different from a prison, is it?" L said to which she dearly wanted to respond that it was because she was in a goddamn prison. He was the only one who made any pretense at it being anything else.

"I don't care." She finally said, "I just need off this floor."

L didn't ask why, she guessed he knew when not to press it, because she knew that he was perfectly aware of why she needed out. Misa was trying to kill her.

Of course, this could be paranoia after being starved and drugged in prison but she doubted it. Those first few days, after Light's great proclamation of being her boyfriend (which she still hadn't gotten a chance to process or talk to him about because no, just no), Misa had taken to simply observing her and chatting to her.

And she had done her best to whole heartedly nod and agree with everything Misa was saying. That, yes, Light had jumped on board the crazy train and Misa was completely and utterly his only girlfriend.

"You're like a man, Anna." Misa said as they were painting toenails bright bubble-gum pink, "You wear sweat pants and don't flirt not to mention you have no breasts. Light wants a woman."

But Light didn't come up for his date with Misa, worse, Light would make phone calls to Anna to tell her about his minimal progress on the case and how he would try to get Ryuzaki to let him see her soon.

And Misa didn't like that.

Misa would invite herself over for slumber parties to watch her fall asleep with glittering brown eyes and then, one night, Misa had decided to start a pillow fight with her while she was asleep. Only, the pillow wasn't thrown, instead it was carefully placed over Anna's face so that Anna spluttered into awareness.

Only when she was sitting up, breathing heavily, did Misa actually throw the pillow.

So she decided to call it quits and finally man up and talk to L directly. Because she had been avoiding it, since that first day he'd told her he'd give her a floor with Misa to share, she had been avoiding it with all of her might.

And L was loving every minute of it.

"I'm sorry, but unless you choose to be an active member of society I simply can't grant your request." He said, as if he was an apologetic secretary who really was just waiting for his next lunch break.

"And how do I become an active member of society?" The words were like pulling teeth out of her head and watching them clatter to the floor.

She didn't think she hated anything quite as much as she hated L. She would have thought Light would tie, but no, strangely enough no. Perhaps it was because this newer version of Light always looked so vulnerable and hardworking, striking her that this was a Light who actually was a good human being and who cared about those around him. It was hard to hate someone like that.

But no, even before being imprisoned, while she'd had her moments she had never truly hated Light. Not like the way she did L.

There was a long pause on the other end as L gathered his thoughts, although considering he'd been the one directing the conversation Anna had no idea what he would need the time for, and then he said, "I suppose I shall put it in the simplest manner possible. You help me catch Kira."

For a moment she said nothing, just stared at the camera, her mouth hanging open and small chuckles escaping her without her consent.

"Ah, that's funny, because if I'm remembering right the last time I said yes to this little arrangement you threw me into solitary confinement and strung me up against a board for two months."

"I believe the phrase is 'been there, done that'. And besides, it's the only reason you could possibly need to change your current living arrangements."

She took in a deep breath, knowing that he probably wasn't lying about this, after all he hadn't done it in canon. He'd even let Misa have her acting career back at some point. Of course, too many people would notice she was missing otherwise and they couldn't have that. Still, point being, he probably wasn't going to do round two in the dungeon since it didn't work the first time.

She still had no qualifications to work on the case but if L didn't care about that then apparently she didn't either.

"Alright, yes, I will help you catch Kira." Anything, at this point, to get away from Misa trying to smother her in her sleep.

"Excellent, however, there's a few conditions."

At the word conditions she felt something in her stomach drop and everything seemed to grow cold, "What conditions?"

"The problem is, Anna, that I don't trust you." L said before adding, "There's still a relatively high chance that you are in fact Kira. Because of that I can't offer you the same freedoms as other members of my taskforce, freedoms you will unfortunately need to be of any help on the case."

She cut him off before he could get to the point, "If you suggest I handcuff myself to you I swear I will…"

"What an excellent idea, Anna!"

She dropped the phone, heard it clatter to the floor, and then fumbled to get it back up into her ear missing whatever else it was that L had to say. She knew it, she knew it, she had somehow turned into Light. Well, not Light as in killing people, but Light as in his role in life.

First, she'd taken his place as L's creepy stalker victim then she'd gone on to take his place in prison and now… Handcuffs, the handcuffs, the one thing that everyone remembered from Death Note because of how goddamn ridiculous it was. The handcuffs.

Only, it wasn't really so funny anymore. The idea of being that close to L, of being close enough to touch him, to feel his breath on her neck…

But Anna had always been fond of choosing lesser evils. And somehow, even though something burned inside her at the thought of him, of her being chained to him, the idea of being alone with Misa where she could be murdered in her sleep was worse.

Life was full of difficult decisions.

She had made many before, she had made it this far, she could do it again.

Even if she had to be handcuffed to L to do it she would make it out of this alive and after that… Well, she would have to wait and see.

"Fine. Fine, Ryuzaki, we'll do this. Just get me off this goddamn floor."

Author's Note: A lot of L this chapter, and handcuffs, because you can't do the Yotsuba arc without the handcuffs. Although, this isn't really the Yotsuba arc, but it's close enough to count.

Thank you to readers and reviewers, you are wonderful. Reviews are much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.