"So, Rem, Shinigami don't sleep right?" That was the first question he asked the shinigami after he entered the room. He started to focus intensely on the notebook. If he was going to die, he had to find out as much as he could.
No, we don't.
"Can they reincarnate?" The shinigami wasn't exactly the most obvious creature in the world but she raised her eyes and stared blankly at L.
No. Once someone dies and becomes a Shinigami, there is no way to reincarnate. Shinigami are executioners. Even if one would get the chance and reincarnate, it would be pretty hard.
"What is the exchange for a Shinigami to be able to live again?" Rem shifted nervously.
That's almost impossible. But if it happens, that person has to give their life in exchange.
L hummed and grabbed a piece of chocolate from the table. He ate it slowly, savoring the taste. When he heard the door open, he grabbed the notebook and inspected it all over again.
"In this murderer's notebook, this page here has a corner that has been cut off. Would a person die if you were to write the name on that little piece?"
I wonder? I've never used it like that so I wouldn't know.
"Then do reapers only eat apples?"
That's not true. But the world of Reapers is fairly dead and there's usually nothing edible. So, the Reapers have degenerated…no, evolved, and we don't need to eat
L grabbed another piece of chocolate and poured some sugar cranes into his tea. He saw Light from the corner of his eye.
"Yagami-kun, you're early. You're finally free but you hardly ever go out of here. Misa-san comes to visit you but you only spend a few minutes talking to her in the entryway. You can freely make love outside, you know?"
"I haven't seen the end of Kira incident yet. I don't feel like I can love while it's like this" Light was annoyed. "Or are you saying that it's a problem if I'm always here?"
L couldn't say what he was thinking. Light was a perceptive individual. His mind was swirling with information. He didn't know if Light was standing around because he was genuinely interested in his future moves or because he wanted to keep an eye on him. If D was right, then Light was waiting for an opportunity to kill him.
The next day, everyone was in the basement. Sixteen people died overnight. It was more than what Higuchi ever killed at once. Somehow, L wasn't surprised. He glanced at Light and didn't see any expression on his face. He was steady, as if everything was going just fine. He stated his frustration only when he noticed L staring at him doubtfully.
The other detectives were speaking between them but L wasn't listening. Higuchi was dead so who was killing? Light wasn't there last night. But he didn't have any concluding proof.
Light was the one who came up with a new theory. There might have been another notebook. Rem didn't deny it.
"From the moment Amane became free" Light was offended. But it wasn't the same. Before, when L accused him and Misa, he would jump out of his skin, giving motives. But now, he was calm.
"Ryuuzaki, you're still thinking about that. Misa doesn't have anything to do with this. Even so, she was suspected of being the second Kira. Even if she happened to have Kira's power, using it at a time like this would just be stupid"
"That's also true" But L wasn't sure. Light's explanation was making the detective look like the bad and subjective person. Even if there was someone else, with another notebook, L was going to capture him.
D didn't utter a single word the whole time. She stood in the back, watching. L's lifespan was decreasing slowly. Rem was worried for Misa. D was very intrigued by that shinigami. Compared to Ryuk, Rem was soft.
On the other side, so was she. She killed, cheated, stole, made deals with bad people and even hid important information. She was a bad person, overall. She was a hypocrite. But she had a heart and had feelings too. She became what she hated but at the same time, she became what she always wanted.
"But I'm going to die" She mumbled. Luckily, no one was paying any attention. "I got soft"
L was adamant in testing the notebook. Nothing Light would say was going to change that. If he wasn't allowed to kill someone in Japan, he was going to kill someone from a different country. That wasn't the problem, though. Once someone would write a name in the notebook, that person had to continue killing. If not, that person was going to die. No one was ready to take such a risk.
Rem was terrified. She lied and Misa was getting even more suspicious. She had to choose between Misa's safety and L's life. But on the line was Rem's life too. If she was going to write a name in the notebook, she was going to dissipate; die.
"Watari, contact the heads of all the states which fit into that situation"
D's eyes went back on the shinigami. Rem was thinking deeply about something. She was trying to make a decision. It was all over its posture. She was tense. D's eyes moved for a fraction of second. That was enough for the Shinigami to disappear.
The computerized voice stopped out of nowhere. They heard a crash and silence spread through the whole basement.
"Watari?" There was no response. D's eyes widened. She ran to the computer, pushing Matsuda harshly out of her way.
"Watari, respond please" There was no answer. D was horrified. "Please" She grabbed the laptop and shook it a little. "Watari!" L was equally shocked. If D didn't know what happened, then it wasn't part of the original plan.
The laptop started to buzz and D placed it back on the table. It had one sentence written on the screen. The whole data about Kira had been deleted. Light was genuinely taken aback.
"All data deletion? What does that mean?" L's eyes narrowed and he held a murderous aura all around him.
"I instructed Watari to delete the information he currently holds if anything unexpected would happen to him" D's grip tightened.
"He's dead" L glanced at D. She was pale and her hands were trembling. She was getting a panic attack.
Truthfully, Watari's death had never occurred in her image. Light wanted L dead, so Watari didn't really have a place in the whole equation. He was the man who accepted her, who raised her. Maybe he had some unexpected decisions regarding her life and had a strict image of her future, but he was her well doer. He was like a father.
"Where is the reaper?" Suddenly, it made sense.
Rem killed Watari in order to protect Misa. But, that only meant she was going to kill L as well. Her head shot to L's. Her eyes reddened quickly and she saw. She saw the numbers decreasing until there was nothing. D blocked. She couldn't believe it. L was going to die exactly like B. She was going to lose her anchor.
L was ready to say something when his eyes widened and he started to feel like he was suffocating. He was dying. His eyes were wide. D dropped beside him and started to shake him furiously.
"Come on L, don't die. Don't leave me alone"
She felt something salty dripping down her cheeks. She was crying. She hadn't cried since B died. She lost the people who had been there to catch her and give her what she always craved: safety. Her anchors died, one after another. The only kids she ever got close to, the only people who saw beneath her cold and narcissistic behavior; her only friends.
She gripped tightly on his shirt.
Light had to play his character until the end. While falling from his chair, Light was quick to catch L. While everyone saw two pained people, crying over their friend, D saw the ending act. She could see Light's face clearly. He was happy. He won.
After L's eyes closed, Light yelled loudly. The rest of the officers started to panic. If the great detective L died, then they were next. They were screaming in fear. They were stupid.
Light's eyes traveled to D. He couldn't see her face because it was covered by her bangs. However, he saw how tightly she was gripping on L's white shirt. He wasn't sure if she was blank or not. Ever since he met her, she didn't seem very happy around L. It looked more like he pressured her to enter the investigation. Actually, he was pretty sure she hated L. But then, why was she hunched over his dead body? Why was she so affected?
Two hours later, Chief Yagami was in the hospital room with D. She came along as L's only family. The doctors tried to resuscitate him but it was too late. L died from a heart attack.
"It was the Shinigami. I'm sorry D. I promise we will-" She shook his hand off her shoulder. She didn't need his pity. Since he didn't have anything else to say, Yagami left.
D was alone with the soulless body of her anchor. Her eyes were sore and red. She was pale and her heart was beating slower than normal.
"You died before me. You always did things before I did" She sighed and trailed his face with her fingertips. "I'm sorry. I acted so mighty all the time. I guess I never imagined you would die. I never thought any of my friends would die because I was there to protect them. My eyes, my senses and my intellectual abilities were not enough, were they? Doomed souls can't escape the darkness" She closed her eyes tightly and bit her lip hard.
Three days later, D was on the bed, staring blankly at the wall. After L's death, she started to feel empty. She called Roger and asked him how the kids were but she didn't tell him about the recent deaths. Knowing Watari and L, they probably had a backup plan, just in case. Someone else was going to investigate the Kira case. She was curious which one. The status of L was a burden. A felt a lot of pressure being the most probable successor. B never craved L's name. He wanted to beat him.
Back then, Wammy's House was a normal orphanage. When Watari took D in, they were only children. L was two years older and had different classes than her. She was there when the expectations started to form around him. She was there before he became L. Maybe that was why she got to know him at a personal level. Maybe that was why she couldn't adjust to Wammy's new purpose.
Children became tools. L became a status. She became an outsider when they started to compete for that status. She already inherited a status. Her role in Wammy's was questionable. Probably, that was why Watari decided to get her adopted and part of the Interpol. She had to get out of the picture but still be in use.
"I've been the victim all along" She sighed and bit the inside of her cheek.
She didn't get out of her room for three straight days. Matsuda was worried that she might intend to do something drastic. He asked Chief Yagami how she acted at the hospital but he shook his head. She didn't do or say anything suspicious.
Light wasn't fooled. She was up to something. She knew the reason L and Watari died. She knew about him and she was a potentially dangerous threat. That was why he decided to pay her a visit. He knocked a few times but she didn't respond. He turned the doorknob and noticed it was unlocked. He entered her room but didn't see her anywhere. He entered the bedroom and noticed the unmade bed. He eyed the bathroom door and opened it widely. She was in the bathtub, her hand on either side of her body, her head laid back with her eyes closed.
"What are you doing?" She opened her eyes but didn't change her position. He walked closer to her and sat on the edge of the bathtub.
"I'm bathing in shame and guilt. What about you?" He smirked.
"I won" She closed her eyes back.
"I noticed"
"I am free to kill. Aren't you scared you may end up like L?" She chuckled.
"How? Dead? I already signed my death sentence, Light. I'm going back"
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. She opened her eyes and turned her head to face him. She placed her left hand on the end of the bath tub with her palm up. Her wrist was clean.
"I broke every promise I ever made. I saved millions of lives but I couldn't save the ones who mattered to me. I brought death wherever I went and in the end, I have nothing to boast about" Light was confused. Was she confessing to him?
"You're not going to die yet. I have plans regarding you" She started to laugh.
"Too bad. I'm going to die very soon and it's not going to be a heart attack"
She swayed her wrist. There were a few cuts that weren't there before. In front of Light's eyes, her wrist was cutting itself. She wasn't moving at all.
"How is this happening?" She shifted a little. Her back was hurting.
"A Shinigami doesn't have the right to reincarnate. I was lucky enough to trick the Death God Lord into it with the help of Ryuk" Light's eyes narrowed. "I had to obey some rules. I did it for 22 years but now my time is slipping. I broke the rules and I must bear the consequences. I'm going back to the Shinigami Realm" It finally made sense for Light. That was why she always knew he was Kira, why Ryuk was so secretive about her and why Rem looked at her with some kind of inferiority.
"So that was your secret" She nodded. Her wrist was bleeding a lot by now. She had five cuts on each wrist.
"I can see your lifespan, you know" She chuckled. "It's not decreasing yet. But your lifespan changed when you touched the Death Note" Light's eyes widened. He never knew that would happen. Ryuk wasn't talking about that topic and Misa never told him anything regarding his own lifespan. "I guess I'll see you in a while. You're going to become a Shinigami after you die" He knew that. Ryuk told him about that.
"I don't care" She stared at him softly and smiled.
"I'm glad I got the chance to meet you. If only it was in different circumstances I would have taught you a lot of things. Once, I had the same ideals as you do"
Light watched as D closed her eyes slowly. She was so calm and peaceful. She knew exactly what was happening and was welcoming death with open arms. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Breathing took some power now that her lungs were hurting.
When Light returned to the basement, he asked Matsuda if he could go and check on D. The young detective complied right away. However, it was too late. D was found in the bath tub, her wrist cut open. She was dead. Light was the only one who knew the truth. The conclusion was that she committed suicide.
