Hello fanfiction, my old friend, I've come to deny claim to Death Note again.

If you guys thought that the last chapter was angsty, then just WAIT for this one.

Thank to everyone who reviewed!

. . .

The next 50 days were hell.

When I came to, I found out what had happened to me in that hotel room. The police force had called backup to arrest me. Apparently, L had ordered them to, he thought that I was some sort of 'backup Kira', someone that was in on the entire workings of Kira's killings and would keep killing if Kira couldn't. Unfortunately for me, I had completely freaked out when they came to arrest me and this eventually resulted in them tasering me to keep me docile. I was tasered.

At first, I had been pretty out of it due to the voltage of the shock but, after a few days, the anger began to set in. It wasn't the police for that I had a problem with, no, it was L. I had trusted him and, not only did he lie to me, he used me for sex while he was at it. He probably knew days in advance that he was going to arrest me and he still slept with me. He got his case solved and got some action while he was at it.

I felt so dirty, so used, so cheap. I had trusted L, I had decided to give him my heart, and he had betrayed me, used me to fulfill his own needs, and then just thrown me to the side. Every time I thought about it, I got shivers. How could I be so stupid? So dumb? So naive? I had spent years in a human trafficking camp. I should know how the world works by now.

I heard the click of the speaker coming on and sighed, lying back down on the small cot in the corner of my cell. There wasn't much to do, wasn't much space to move. My arms were bound together which made every action uncomfortable and, while my ankles weren't chained together, I had a blindfold placed over my eyes that made moving around very, very dangerous. I had no idea where I was and had come to solely relying on my ears to tell my what was happening. I had gotten pretty good at it too, given that I'd spent more days than I could count in this stupid cell.

"Seraphine," The voice was computerized but I didn't need to hear the voice to know who it was. No one but L called me my full name, "I am going to attempt to question you once again. How does Kira kill the way he does?"

I was silent. That was the only response I had deemed appropriate for L. He didn't even deserve my insults.

"Seraphine, you have to understand that it will look bad when this is taken to trial if you don't answer. How does Kira kill the way he does?"

Silence, once again, as I willed tears not to brew beneath that blindfold.

"It would be better for you to answer."

You don't deserve it.

There was another moment of silence before I heard the click of the speaker turning off. I knew that it looked bad when I didn't answer but I couldn't answer, I wouldn't, not to L. Maybe if it were my uncle asking me the questions or even Light but I wouldn't talk to the man that had cheated me in many ways, not even if it sent me to my death.

. . .

"Chief Yagami," L said, rising from his seat as the man walked into the room, "Welcome back."

Sochiro stepped into the room, a haggard version of the man that had willingly subjected himself to confinement. There were more greys in his hair than L remembered seeing. There were uneven patches of facial hair all over his face and a slightly weary look in his eyes. It had only been two months but the Chief looked older than he had before he left.

"Ryuuzaki," Sochiro said, sliding into the chair across from L, "What is all this about? You said that you wanted to talk about the case? Is this about Light?"

"Yes, I did," L said, sliding a cup of tea towards Sochiro. He didn't take it, "There's been another development in the case. I neglected to tell you about this one because, frankly, I wasn't sure if your mental state was solid enough to handle the news. I'm still not sure but I do have an idea for how we can get Light, Misa, and Seraphine out of confinement."

Sochiro's eyes widened, another look of panic on his face, "Seraphine has been -"

"Yes," L said, dropping two sugar cubes into his coffee. He'd rather not address this topic, and perhaps there were personal reasons fueling that, but the Chief was her legal guardian and he had to find out sometime. It might as well be now, "When the Kira killings started again, I came to the conclusion that Seraphine was behind them. See, I have a theory," He took a sip of his tea before continuing, "Light is the original, first Kira. He's the brains behind the operation. Misa is the second Kira and possesses the power to kill by only seeing a face. Seraphine is a back up. Her purpose is to start killing should the First and Second Kira be confined or, worse, executed. It was logical and there's evidence behind it. I had to put her in jail."

"How long has she been in jail?"

He answered quickly, the growing number constantly on his mind, "50 days."

Sochiro's face quickly grew confused, "Haven't the killing continued since then?"

"That doesn't necessarily disprove that she acts as a Backup Kira. We know that Kira can plan his killings out in advance. It's possible that she was instructed to start killing after a Light and Misa were in confinement for a certain amount of days and to plan it for a number of days after the killings started again. See, Light probably knew that Seraphine was going to be being watched closely so he planned ahead. Besides," There was another pause as L took a sip of tea, "It would be like Light to have a back up. Misa is his Plan B and Seraphine is his Plan C."

"First you take Light and then Seraphine. Is Sayu next?" He trailed off, arms gripping the sidearms of the seats tightly, "You said that there was a way to get them out of confinement? What was it?"

"It's very simple, actually," L set his tea down and looked the man in the eyes, "You pick each of them up individually and, during the ride, you tell them that they've been convicted and are on their way to their execution. Usually, the threat of death prompts any buried secrets to come to life. If my theory is correct and Light is Kira, he might confess right then and there. However, if he doesn't, I want you to take it further. Drive them off road and put a gun to his head. Tell him that you're executing him for personal reasons. The gun won't be loaded, of course, but don't give that away. Act like it's all real. Convince him that he's about to die, convince them all. If he doesn't confess to being Kira then, I suppose that I'll have to release them from confinement. However, they will remain suspects until I'm sure of their innocence."

Sochiro looked, once again, shocked, "I have to try to scare a confession out of my son?"

"Well . . . Yes."

"And there is no other way?"

"No," L said pointedly, "There isn't."

Sochiro was quiet for a moment, confliction written all over his face, before breaking the silence with, "Make sure the gun isn't loaded."

. . .

When the guards first pulled my blindfold off, it had taken my a full five minutes to adjust to the influx of light. For so long, my eyes had been solely exposed to the black fabric of the blindfold that they'd forgotten there was a world outside of it. I had still been adjusting the outside light when the bright, flashing lights of a sleek black car pulled up, effectively blinding me while the guards tugged me towards it.

"I've got it from here, thanks," I heard a familiar voice call. Despite my shitty mood, my hopes lifted. Uncle Sochiro!

"Sochiro, is that really you? Oh my God, this means that I'm leaving, right? Thank God that they sent you. It's been so long -"

"Seraphine, I'm not at liberty to discuss what is going on with the case," He answered, tone strangely solemn. I was caught off guard by it. Usually, Uncle Sochiro was so much more relaxed around me but I could hear how stiff he was, hear the formality in his voice, and it made me nervous. Something was wrong.

He walked me to the car and helped me in, my eyes finally beginning to readjust. I was seated next to the window with Misa Amane, Light's girlfriend, seated to the window opposite mine. Light was wedged in between us. I was glad to see him but my relief quickly dissipated when I heard his words.

"Sera, you were arrested too?"

I paled at his words. Too. Why had L arrested Light? Light was a part of the case?

Then it dawned on me. When L had revealed his theory about me, he had been careful when talking about Kira. He told me that he had apprehended Kira a long time ago and that the killings had stopped for a while afterwards but he never mentioned who he had apprehended as Kira.

Light looked exhausted and, now that I looked at her, so did Misa. They both had a weary look in their eyes, Misa a little more so. Had they been arrested under suspicion of being Kira or the Second Kira? Had we all been sucked into this nightmare?

"It feels good to get out of there, doesn't it?" Light said, giving me a tired but kind smile, "I was beginning to think that I'd never be cleared."

"Cleared for -"

I was cut off by Uncle Sochiro, "I'm afraid that you haven't been cleared. I'm driving you to your execution."

There was a tense silence in the car, all of our hearts racing at his words. Execution? How could they execute us? There hadn't even been a trial. I wasn't even involved in this!

No, no, this was wrong, this was all so wrong. I wasn't Kira. I wasn't a backup Kira. Light and Misa couldn't be involved in this either. Light was too smart to do something as dumb as become a serial killer and Misa . . . There was just no way!

"I wanted to be the one to escort you," Uncle Sochiro began again, "The execution site was secretly built in an underground facility not far from here."

With that, we all exploded.

"Execution?!"

"How could you? He didn't do anything!"

"Stop, please! You know that this isn't right!"

"L is convinced that you are Kira, Light," Sochiro stared straight ahead as he said it, eyes focused on the road, "That Misa Amane is the Second Kira and that Seraphine is a Backup Kira. He's convinced that the only way to prevent the murders is to execute the three of you."

"I-I don't understand," Light protested, "The killings have already stopped!"

"No, they never stopped," Uncle Sochiro said, prompting my concern. They had stopped, rom what I remembered.

"Uncle Sochiro . . . They did stop," I turned towards Light and explained, "I've only been incarcerated recently. The guard said 50 days. While I was up there, for a time, there was a lull. The newspapers were all over it."

"That was a lie, Seraphine. L planted those newspapers in your room and around the suits. See, he had suspected for quite some time that you were involved in this and he wanted to see what your reaction would be, whether you would be surprised or nonchalant."

I was taken aback. Had anything with L been real? Or had it all been for his personal gain or the sake of the case?

"I don't understand . . . Why would L tell me that the killings had stopped?" Light asked, glancing sideways at me.

"L was trying to get a confession out of you," His father replied, "He would have told you anything. See, it's political now. L's suggestion that the killings would stop if the three of you were eliminated was unanimously accepted my top members of the UN and the Japanese government. They want Kira to disappear. No press, no trial, nothing."

"But that's completely insane!" Light begged, "Please, dad, I'm not Kira!"

"He's right! What kind of a father are you?" Misa interjected, looking just as panicked as Light.

I was silent, astounded at his words. Maybe it was because I had been a slave for so long and been so disconnected with the outside world but I had always imagined that the outside world was a righteous place, a fair and just planet. Never had I even considered that it was as crooked as it really was. Never had I imagined that the best detective in the world would use a suspect for sex, that the United Nations would condemn three young adults, that I would be executed without so much as a trial.

Maybe the human trafficking camps weren't as bad as this place. At least I had known what evil I was facing there. Here, I was clueless.

"L made this decision," Uncle Sochiro said, a note of finality in his voice, "Not me."

"You trust L. . ." Light said slowly, a note of anger in his voice, "More than you trust me? More than you trust Sera? More than you trust your family?"

"L went so far as to stake his own life on the theory," He replied, "If the killings don't stop then he too will be executed."

Light began talking but I couldn't hear it, I was too shocked by the news. L was so convinced that the three of us were involved in this that he was staking his own life on the case? No, no, that didn't sound like L. He wouldn't stake his own life without some hard evidence to show that he was right. I hadn't so much as uttered a word to him while I was in the cell. As far as I knew, he had no evidence on me, and I doubted that he had any more evidence on Misa and Light. There wouldn't have been this much of a struggle on Light's part if that was the case.

Would he really condemn me to death without visiting me one last time? Do I really mean that little to him?

I was jerked out of my thoughts when Uncle Sochiro took a sharp turn and pulled us off the side of the highway. The car bounced as it went down a gravel road, coming to a sharp stop underneath an overpass. My heart began speeding again. Was this it? Was this the sight of our execution?

"Dad . . . Why did you bring us out in the middle of nowhere?"

"Wait a sec, I bet he's planning to let us go."

"This will do," Uncle Sochiro said, staring ahead once again, "I decided to bring you here instead of the execution site. Listen to me . . ." He paused, finally taking his eyes off of the driving wheel and turning to regard all three of us, "I'm going to kill you here and then kill myself."

There was such a solid, steel resolution in his eyes. It was true, I could feel it. He was going to shoot all three of us here. This was it. This was the end.

Light and Misa instantly began arguing but, once again, I stayed quiet. I knew that there was no point. Sochiro had decided to do this and he would. Nothing we said or did would change his mind. He believed in L so much that he was convinced this was the only way.

My heart was pounding in my chest but I forced myself to stay still. I was never meant to have a long life. Death had come for me multiple times. It came for me during that plane crash, it came for me during my enslavement, and it had come for me now. There was no use in running anymore even though it had been a nice race.

"Either way, you will be executed. At least with this . . ." Uncle Sochiro paused and took out a gun, pointing it at the middle of Light's forehead, "I'll be the one to do it."

That sight, of a gun pointed at Light, got me struggling. Death had come for me but it sure as hell better leave my cousin alone. Light had a long life in front of him, a long and beautiful life, L couldn't take that away, I couldn't let him.

"Uncle Sochiro, stop! Please! You know that Light's not Kira, can't you feel it?" I protested, starting to press against the chains on my wrist, "You have to stop, please, stop!"

There was fear in Light's voice as he spoke, "Please stop this, I'm not Kira! If I die here, Kira wins. Can't you see?"

But Uncle Sochiro didn't respond. He kept the gun pointed and looked at Misa, "Amane, I'm going to die here with my son and my sister's daughter but I have no reason to kill you. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's only a matter of time before the police locate this car then they'll transport you to the original execution sight and kill you there," His eyes, dark and tired, shifted back to Light, "Light, my son, from one murderer to another, I'll see you in hell."

I squirmed and struggled as much as I could but it didn't work and I could only watch, through panicked eyed, as Uncle Sochiro cocked the gun, and then pulled the trigger.

I braced myself for Light's death, closed my eyes and held my breath, but there was nothing. After a minute of silence, I opened my eyes and looked at the sight before me.

Light was still alive, watching his father in shock. Misa looked at Light and then locked panicked eyes with me, confusion written all over them. Uncle Sochiro bowed his head and let out a breath, smoke filtering from the gun.

"You used . . a blank?" Light asked, fear clear in his eyes.

"Thank Goodness. . ." Uncle Sochiro bowed his head once again, "Please, forgive me, you three. I know how hard that must have been on you but it was the only way I could get you out of prison. You must understand . . ." There was a weary note in his voice, a tiredness that hadn't been there before, "I believe in your innocence, Light," He paused once again before looking at the rearview mirror, "Were you watching, Ryuuzaki? I did exactly as you said and I am still alive."

"Yes, it was a convincing performance," L's monotone voice filtered over the car speakers, furthering my confusion. What did he mean by a convincing performance?

"If Amane were the second Kira, where she only needs to see a person's face to kill, she would have killed you before you had a chance to fire the trigger. Seraphine, acting as the backup Kira, would have tried to find any way to get out of the car, to stay alive, to preserve the legacy of Kira and if Light were Kira, there is no doubt that he would have killed even his own father to stay alive," I heard L's words but I couldn't quite process them. Second Kira? Backup Kira? What was going on? "With Light, in particular, I can't rule out that he saw through our act at some point but, as promised, I will end their confinement. As discussed, Amane and Seraphine will remain under surveillance. Even if they deny their involvement, the evidence we have on them suggests otherwise."

I suddenly understood. This was all a test, something that L and Uncle Sochiro had thought up to determine whether or not the three of us were involved in this. They had put us at the very brink of death to try and get a confession out of us and, now that they couldn't, they had to release us from confinement. Although, it didn't look like we were totally free just yet. Apparently, Misa and I would be watched very closely, even if we were completely innocent or, at least, I was . . .

. . .

"Are you sure this is necessary, Ryuuzaki?" Light asked, holding up the chain in between them.

"Believe me, this is as hard for me as it is for you," L answered.

"Is this what you meant by spending 24 hours a day with him?" Misa asked, "Looking at you, I never would have guessed. Are you on that side of the fence, Ryuuzaki?"

From across the room, I snickered. No, no Misa, he most certainly is not.

I glanced over at the three of them, standing at the front of the room and arguing and caught Light's gaze. He was looking at me, concern written all over his gaze. I knew that he was worried. I had been acting strange since we'd arrived to the hotel room. I was quietly angry with L, answering all of his questions with an annoyed eyeroll of scoff. I couldn't help it, I was pissed. I mean, how could I not be? The man had basically just manipulated me for his own gain and stuck me in jail afterwards. I was not okay, things were not okay.

I did feel a little bad for worrying Light. He had just gotten out of jail and I was sure that he had been in there longer than I had. He shouldn't have to worry about me, not when the case and proving his own innocence were probably the first things on his mind.

I gave him a genuine, small smile: a promise that I wasn't okay now but that I would be.

But before he could return my smile, hoever, we were distracted by Misa's ranting, "Light belongs to me, I don't want to share him with you! If you're with him 24/7 then how are we supposed to go on dates?"

"Well, you can still go on dates," L responded, "But it would have to be the four of us."

"Four of us?" Misa responded, suddenly alarmed, "What do you mean the four of us?"

"Do you remember how I mentioned that you and Seraphine would be under constant surveillance?" At that very moment, Watari walked in and presented two bracelets. They were thin, rose gold, and stiff. There was an inch between the ends of the bracelet, where the metal grew thicker. They were plain but gorgeous in their own right.

Watari took one and put it around Misa's wrist before walking over to me and sliding my own bracelet on. It felt . . . heavy, the way all expensive jewelry does.

"For the sake of convenience, you and Seraphine will be together constantly as well although the circumstances won't be as intense for you two as they will for Light and I," L explained. I avoided his gaze, "The bracelets that you have been presented with are programmed with tracking technology. If you two are more than 25 feet apart, the bracelet will deliver a shock strong enough to cause you to lose consciousness. In addition, the local authorities will receive an alert and apprehend you both. You are not, under any circumstances, to separate. You will go out when needed but, from now on, Matsuda will be accompanying you as your manager Matsui. Seraphine will also be following you to work events under the guise of an aspiring model named Sofia that you've decided to take under your wing. Your agency has been paid to keep quiet and the police don't know. Don't blow their cover."

Misa did not look pleased, "Okay, first of all, I can't have him as my manager, he's too old and Seraphine, you're not ugly, but you're just not, like, model pretty, no offense."

"None taken," I answered, eyes focused on the space in front of me. I was so scared that, if I broke my gaze for even a minute, that L's eyes would lock on mine and all of the anger and hurt inside of me would come out, right in front of the Task Force.

"Aw, come one, Misa-Misa! What's wrong with me?" Matsuda asked but she didn't have the chance to reply because, at that very moment, Aizawa snapped.

"Would you cut it out with this dating, kissing, and Misa-Misa crap! This is the Kira investigation!" He yelled, looking angrier than I had seen him look before, "Stop messing around!"

"Sorry, Aizawa. . ." Matsuda apologized.

"No, that's fine," Aizawa replied through gritted teeth, "I just found out what the problem is. . ." With that, he walked over to me, wrapping his hand around my arm and catching me in a vice grip.

I instantly remembered the way that I had been handled during my arrest and panicked, grabbing his arm and trying to pull it off me, "Hey, what's your problem? Let me go!"

"Sorry about this, Seraphine, but it's time for you and Misa to go to your room," He said, grabbing Misa as well and pushing us into an open door nearby.

Wait. I have to sleep in the same room as Misa Misa, here? Oh my God, I won't be able to sleep. She'll spend all night talking about her eternal love for Light and I don't know if I have the mental patience for that right now. . .

"What, seriously? I don't have to sleep in the same room as her, right? Come on!" I protested.

But Misa didn't appear to be listening to me, struggling and trying her hardest to find her way to Light, "Light, let's go on that date! Even if it does have to be a double! Call me!"

Aizawa eventually pried Misa away from the door long enough to shut and lock it, dooming me in the process. Any other day, I might have been able to handle it, but I don't know if I could stand any Misa Misa talk about romance right now . . .

Almost like she sensed my apprehension, Misa turned towards me, a bright smile on her face, and pulled me into a hug, "Hey! I guess we're roomies! It's almost like we're sisters, which we totally will be after Light and I get married, you are his sister, right?"

"Uh . . . Light and I are cousins."

"Oh. Whatever. Still! It'll totally be like we're sisters! I can fix your hair and do your makeup to make you look like a real model! This is going to be so much fun!"

Yes, fun was exactly the word that I was thinking of.

. . .

THAT WAS LONG AF FAM

Yeah, so, it's stepping up rn. I'm literally so excited to write this next part omg.

Review or Misa will become your roommate.