Back with the long chapters - to compensate for the previous chapter.

"His face distorts in the face of his new reality as he puts his hand inside his pocket."

"Do you get it now?"

"An ugly pause. Jason shivers."

L sat at the very end of a long table and oversaw the reading session of his brand new movie. The screenwriter of the movie - a twenty year old girl - was narrating the action elements while the actors spoke their respective lines. L's ears were completely tuned into the reading, while his hands mindlessly overloaded the cup of coffee under him with sugar.

There was a knock at the door. "Come in," L said. The door creaked open and it was Allie. She cleared her throat. L looked at her and sighed. He looked back at the readers and said, "I'll be right back. Take a break if you want."

Once he left the room, he swore he heard the people in the room cough and gasp for water.

"I can't act in your next movie apparently," Allie said, a tiny bit agitated. "Quillish's lawyers mentioned something about me being used as leverage by my father in order to force you to settle. If I act in your movie, or if I am seen having any form of a personal relationship with you, then it might force the judge to rule in my father's favor."

"Do you want it rule in your father's favor?"

"Lawliet, if I wanted that, I would have left your side the moment you realized what my father was doing."

"Why did you come all the way to tell me that, then?"

"Because Lawliet, I don't want to cease all personal relationships with you."

L stood still, looking outside the window while she talked. He didn't blink for a while. He knew something was fishy. He just couldn't put his finger on it. But something was, definitely, fishy.

"We'll resume our so called personal relationship after the case is over then. I have a movie to direct. I'll see you later."

That was the last time both of them had an amicable conversation.

Misa and Light were riding a taxi to L's new room.

"Did Sayu call?" Light asked.

"Sayu visited you when you were still asleep. She asked me what had happened. I just said you drank too much and passed out somewhere, and that there was nothing to worry about."

"Huh," Light shrugged. "Well that's mostly accurate."

"Light, both of us know that that was not accurate. Are you really okay? Is there really nothing to worry about?"

"Dude, trust me, I'm okay..." and his voice trailed off as he looked outside.

The taxi passed by the street where Takada's office was. He almost froze in horror. Misa repeated again, in the most comforting voice possible, "Are you really really, okay?"

Light lifted his knees and buried his face in them. The cabbie got a bit annoyed. Misa caught it quickly and shook her head and mouthed the words, "I'll pay for repairs."

Light started sobbing quietly.

Misa didn't know what to do. So she did what she thought she was really good at. She gave him a sideways hug.

"Where are Mello and Matt?" Matsuda asked.

"They've gone out to eat." Near replied.

"Why didn't you join them then?"

"Don't care."

Matsuda shrugged and resumed his rapid pacing across the living room.

"Surely there are better ways to tackle the gravity problem," Mello said. "I mean, it's in space, so you could just blow the set up in such a manner it doesn't form too much debris, and you could animate the debris using visual effects later on."

"You're forgetting that the director isn't L. The whole thing is visual effects." Matt replied.

"Huuuuuhhh?" Mello replied mockingly. "That's just insane. If people keep doing this, I'll be out of a job."

"Technically speaking, you are out of a job."

There was a long silence. Mello got restless. "When is that waiter going to come?"

A man in uniform ran towards him and asked him, "What's your order, sir?"

"Wait, why didn't you come earlier?" Mello asked.

"It's Japan, Mello. That's how things are done here. We'll have two standard lunches. Normal water. Thank you."

The waiter scurried away, leaving a frustrated Mello gashing his teeth.

"Hey, Mello?"

"Hm?"

"What's up with L?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Why isn't he as upset with Light as he usually is against his screenwriters?"

Mello scratched his head. "Actually, it's not only with Light. He's lightened up a lot. Remember what he did to the cinematographer for the movie he shot in Russia?"

"You're talking about the guy who got beaten nearly to a pulp and then fired, right?"

"Yeah, and in this movie, remember when the costume designer got fired?"

Matt sat in silence. The waiter reappeared with two glasses of water. Matt thanked him and sipped the glass.

"Is he voluntarily trying to calm down?"

"Well for regular people standards what he did was not 'calm' at all, but yeah, you could say that. When he slept last night, I heard him whispering a name. I couldn't really hear what the name was, but this was the first time I've heard him say that. The last time he seemed this emotionally vulnerable was when he didn't get his fix of oxy."

"Shit, he's still on oxy?"

"No, he stopped months ago. Said it was ruining him."

"Well that's... good news."

Because here's the paradox that Mello, Near and Matt faced when it came to L's newly found behavior. His ruthless, aggressive, destructive behavior defined him. The less he became of that, the better it was for everyone - and quite perhaps himself - but the question that really hung around was why. And if he is indeed toning down his violent mind, what's the impact it's going to have on his creative abilities.

That was the question that L was thinking about himself.

He stood on the balcony, breathing in the fresh air. Tokyo was a fairly polluted city decades ago, but they've really dialed it down in the last couple of years to such an extent that breathing on a skyscraper resembled inhaling air on a hilltop.

His phone buzzed. He looked at it. He then smiled subtly. He walked back into the apartment to find both Mello and Matt had returned. Perfect timing.

"I have some news," L said calmly. "We have our next producer."

The case ruined Barbara Smith's life and everything he had worked for. His production company went bankrupt after the case was over and the settlement was so huge that he had to sell five of seven houses. L wouldn't accept a non disclosure agreement, and for good reason too. In a ruthless industry like this, the image is everything, and when that image goes to the docks, everything that they are will be destroyed.

And that's exactly what happened to him. His reputation dropped down and producers stopped helping to fund his films. He used up most of his money (which included liquidating the last two houses and emptying his and his wife's bank account) to make one final movie - which bombed because that was simultaneously when L launched his next movie - which was his highest grossing movie till then. Allie was forced to drop out of film school and Barbara's wife divorced him.

And the entire time, L sat behind the television, maniacally laughing every time news about Barbara's misfortune popped up. It worried some people. But it did not deter his efforts to destroy him.

"Quillish?" L said, watching the TV while eating cereal.

"Yes, L?" the old man next to him replied.

"Get Allie on the phone. I want to talk to her."

Quillish obeyed, and dialled the number and gave the phone to him. Before handing it over, he asked, "Can I ask why?"

"Sure," L replied. "The whole family is dying, and I just want to help."

"You do realize you were the one who destroyed their family, right?"

"I'm just doing my part to help a fellow artisan in the industry," L said, grabbing the phone from Quillish's hands. "I'm only human."

Quillish smiled courteously and walked out of the room. "You're no human," he whispered under his breath.

"Ah, Allie. It's me, L. Do you have a minute?"

"Tada!" Matsuda said, waving his arms in the air like a maniac.

Everyone except the people who have already heard his idea, looked at him like he was indeed a maniac.

"There's no way this would work," Light sighed.

"Come on Light," L said. "Where did you lose your optimism?"

Near looked at him and shook his head. Not now. L shrugged.

"But wouldn't doing that sort of ruin the entire story?" Misa pointed out.

"It would, but we don't really have a choice anymore," L answered. "Takada's leaking has not only damaged the future of this movie, but also the future of the Yagami Production House. Your father isn't willing to pay anymore money, Light. And I wouldn't blame him for that." He then drew himself closer to Light and said, "I wouldn't blame anyone for that. It's no one's fault."

"Except Takada," Matsuda slammed his fist against his palm. "That - excuse me Yagami-san - BITCH!"

Light shook his head and walked out of the room to the balcony.

"It's alright," L said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "He just needs a minute. Anyway, I told you all about the alternative source of income right? It's ready."

"Who is funding us now?" Near asked.

"Does it matter?" said Mello.

"It might," Near said. "We have no idea what the conditions of our new source of money will be. Imagine if he finds out that our script was leaked. That dramatically decreases the financial gains for this movie. And if already knew that our script was leaked, what does he get out of paying for our movie? So yeah, it matters a lot, Mello."

"I'm going to go talk to Light," Misa said and left the table. L held her hand and shook his head. Misa frowned, but she sat back on her chair.

Light looked at the reflection of the sun on the skyscraper opposite to him. This was a new building. He ran his fingers over the railing of the balcony while thinking about what happened yesterday.

His phone buzzed. He opened it and saw that he had a message.

It was Takada.

Allie looked at her watch. 12 AM. No problem.

She continued reading the book, but her eyelids got the better of her and closed. She leaned forwards and backwards momentarily, but eventually fell face front towards the book.

BOONNNKKKK! the horn yelled.

The loud blast woke her up. The book fell from the steering wheel. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her. The roads were empty. She picked the book up and tucked it inside her backpack. She turned the car on and sped away before any cops caught her for disturbing the peace of the night.

Yes, Allison Smith lived off a car for the last seven months. So you could imagine her surprise when she saw that her phone rang and the caller ID said "Lollypop".

She picked the phone up and whispered, "Hello?"

"Ah, Allie. Are you free right now?" the phone said.

"It's in the middle of the night L," Allie sighed. "What do you want?"

"Middle of the night? The sun's barely setting now,"

"...where are you?"

"Las Vegas."

"...Vegas huh," she sighed.

"That's immaterial. Are you free right now?"

"What do you want?"

"I want to cast you for my next movie."

"Hello?" Light emitted a feeble sound.

"Light, it's Kiyomi."

"...what do you want Kiyomi?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Why would you do that?" Quillish asked, sitting opposite to L.

"I'm only human," L replied. "I recognize a former partner of mine suffering, and so I have a moral obligation to save her."

"I think you're lying,"

"I don't pay you for judging my actions. Just let me know when I can start shooting the movie."

"The process is almost done. The producers are happy with the script, so they said, and I quote, 'Just imagine our bank accounts to be an infinite well'".

"I doubt they'd say that. They're Americans."

"You think I'd lie to you?"

"Since you've pointed out to me that I'm a liar, why not?"

Quillish sat silently and looked at the caffeinated man in front of him. He stood up and put his hat on. "I don't know why you want Allison Smith to be in your movie, and I don't think I want to know why anymore. I shall call you the next time I hear word from the producers."

"Farewell," L waved.

"Until later."

"Why?" Light started pacing around the small balcony.

"Because I feel like I need to explain something to you."

"I don't understand what's left to explain. You stole and published my script for the world to see."

"I know what I did!" she yelled, and there was a long silence. Light couldn't hear what was going on, but he thought she was...

...crying?

"Why do you want me in your movie, L?" Allie said, after she finished reading the entire script. "I'm not cut out to be this character."

"But you are," L replied. "You just don't know it yet. How long have you been in acting school?"

"That is immaterial, and you yourself told me once that people who graduate from such schools know little to nothing about acting."

"Yes," L paused. "But none of them are my friends."

"Friends? Are you telling me we're still friends, L? Were we friends when you sued my father? Were we friends when his company ran out of money? Were we friends when we lost everything we owned?"

"Are you honestly blaming me for the "misfortune" that you people went through."

She looked at him, trying to come up with a reply. She couldn't.

"Look, your father screwed me over for a film that he only had half the rights to, and I sued him for that," L put the spoon of cake in his mouth, and mumbled for a while before swallowing it. "Everything that happened to him after that was completely unforeseeable. I sued him as a producer would sue another producer. And he was judged for being a bad one. Everything that happened to him, and you, and your mother, was because he was judged as a human being. He was a bad one, and he was judged harshly. I'm a friend who's trying to help you out. It's your option if you want to back out from this."

She scratched the end of the paper, while thinking about what he said. Almost immediately, the last couple of months flashed in front of her. She took a deep breath and said, "Okay."

L smiled. She was unsure whether it was a crooked smile, or a genuine heartfelt smile. She chose to delude herself, thinking it was a genuine one. The man standing in the shadows, observing the conversation however, knew exactly what was on L's mind at the moment.

"Takada," he whispered into the phone. "Are you crying?"

"I'm sorry," she replied, controlling her tears. Light heard the phone get placed on a table, as she disappeared for a while. She then came back (he heard her footsteps) and picked the phone up again. "Light we need to talk."

"What's there to talk about, Takada? You leaked a script that I painstakingly wrote for-"

"I KNOW!" she cried. "I know, but I didn't have a... have a..."

And for that moment, Light took the phone off his ear. His mind immediately fell into problem solving mode.

His mind immediately zoomed past all the things that happened when he was drunk. They weren't obvious, they weren't clear, but most of it made sense to him. But that was all he needed to realize what he had done. Tears appeared on his eyes. He looked inside the room and saw that while Misa was a part of the conversation with the group, she looked at the balcony from time to time. Light moved away once he realized Misa was looking at him.

Everything was starting to condense. Nothing was really that vague anymore. It all started making sense. Except he was missing one bit of crucial information. Information that he thought he knew.

No.

Information that he knew he knew.

But it was hidden away somewhere in the depths of his dark subconscious that the only way he'd find out...

...was if he was in the Nu.

That's it.

Immediately, he tried to remember everything that happened to him in the last time he was stuck in the Nu. Some detail.

And there it appeared, in broad dayloght.

"I didn't have a choice," she said, in between tears. "That's why I need to talk to you."

Every single moment of their intimacy, starting from the moment they bumped into each other at the bookstore replayed itself like a cinematic record in front of him. And there was that crucial detail that he had always skipped over. His eyes widened as he caught that detail by the throat.

"Where?" Light said.

"My house?"

"I don't know where your house is."

"Your house?"

Light shuddered at the thought. The perfect location for reconciliation. If it comes to it, she might use him again. Use him again to get closer to L and achieve all of her ulterior goals. He was not going there vulnerable this time. This time, the power will be in his hands.

"Alright." he said and pocketed the phone without second thoughts.

He walked back into the hall and said, "Guys, I'm going to be gone for a while. Misa, care to join me?"

"What's it about?" Misa asked.

"I'll tell you on the way. And L," he looked at him, and L just smiled as he looked down. "We'll see you later," L sighed.

Light hailed a taxi and got into it along with Misa. He told the driver his address and closed the shutter in front of him so that he can't overhear.

"Okay, so Takada just called me - don't freak - and she told me that she needed to talk to me."

"Why?"

"That's what I asked, and she said that she had no choice in doing what she just did. What does that tell you?"

"She's trying to not claim any responsibility for the thing she did."

"That's one interpretation. I have another. She actually didn't have a choice. She was forced to do this. Or, she was paid to do this."

"Who would want to do that?"

"A person who wants to see my father's company become bankrupt."

"Why?"

"I don't know, but my father has made a lot of enemies over the years he has run this business. That's why L has been really, really reluctant in order to get this project funded by my father, because he knows who this enemy is, and worst of all, he knows that he might try and attack us."

"...who is this person?"

"I don't know...exactly."

"Okay, let me rephrase. How do you know L has been muddled up in this?"

"One time when we were drinking, L told me about one of the producers he worked with and how he screwed him out by taking over the entire production process. This pissed L off and he sued his pants off. What's even better is that one of the actresses he was working with? It was her father. It all fits. From day one he's been talking to me about personal relationships with people in power of the pre-production part of the movie to the actual sponsors of the movie could prove to be detrimental to the progress of the movie. That's why! He knew my father was the producer, and he knew that my father was probably one of the people who this producer who L sued defrauded. Misa, do you get what I'm saying?"

"Kinda," Misa replied, a bit overwhelmed. "...why bring me though?"

"Because all of the things I just said could be a huge steaming pile of baloney. In the end it could just be Takada using me again. I don't want to be vulnerable anymore, Misa. I want to be the guy in control of the situation. Just once. I have a chance to not fuck up anything - and I not going to fuck it up this time again."

Misa smiled. "Sure."

"To Barbara Gardner Smith."

"That is your father's name."

"That is correct."

"What were the contents of that letter?"

"The ruling of the case against my father."

"Would you say that the prosecutor's client, director L Lawliet had proper grounds against your father."

"...yes."

"Would you say that justice system has conducted its job properly in fining in your father?"

"...yes."

In the very end of the court room, a man whispered, "What the fuck is this? She has a legal obligation to say yes."

"Would you further go to accuse the prosecutor that he had single handedly ruined your life?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I think everything was staged. I think he just wants to torture me. I think he just wants to mess around with people who has had bad relations with."

The crowd started grumbling with a couple of gasps here and there.

Allison Gardner Smith sat at the defendant's stand, her eyes with no life in them, her wrist and chest heavily bandaged and still saturated with bright red blood.

"Objection!" yelled the prosecutor. "This line of questioning avoids the question that I posed - it doesn't matter how badly your delusions tell you that my client destroyed your life by "sexually harassing" you, which has no proof, and furthermore, you have no proof that my client has targeted you for mental assault. You have no proof that he did anything to ruin your life. Furthermore, it is illegal, by the law, to commit suicide, and yet, you have failed to commit suicide not once, not twice, but four times. The evidence is in your very pre-hearing deposition. Now tell me, is there any reason why my client should go to jail."

The judge looked at the chair next to the prosecutor's. It was empty.

L Lawliet was not there.

I hope you liked this chapter! Please review!