Chapter 18

"I got the radio working!"

Light whirled from where he had finished up the toothpaste—charcoal is the best thing ever, Light decided—to see L looking down at the little radio triumphantly as the machine-made noises of functioning.

"Great! So are we going to be able to talk to Watari?"

"I doubt it. But now that it's working, there is a chance the tech back at headquarters will be able to pick up the signal, no matter how faint, if they're focusing around this area. It's more like a tracker. If we're lucky, sitting here and playing with it might let us get in contact with people on Iriomote."

Light stared down at the radio, deciding he didn't particularly care what L had done to get it working. He probably found a conductor to use in place of the missing wire. Lily was eating some fish, but was still a scrawny little thing. He was happy Watari may come to the rescue because that would make taking Lily with them that much easier.

Ryuk looked towards Light, "So we're going home?"

"Hopefully." L replied, and then he looked up, seeing the smile on Light's face had faded, and his eyes were uncharacteristically empty, "Light? What's wrong?" Light shook himself,

"Oh, nothing. I'm just tired."

"Don't lie to me, Light." L's voice was firm, reminding Light once again of who he was, and Light's thoughts wandered back to the truth. They weren't Light and Ryuzaki, they were Kira and L. Nothing was going to change that.

"I don't want to see Misa again, and I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to face my family. They don't know I'm...and they're pretty traditional, so I doubt they'd be very accepting."

And L was silent, unsure of what to say, because, being a social outcast all his life, he was used to people not approving of him. But Light had strived his whole life to be loved, but in finding someone who truly loved him, he could be sacrificing the care and approval of his parents.

"Camellia, when someone loves you, they want you to be happy. Why would it concern them who you're dating?"

"I'm supposed to marry someone like Misa..."

"Yes, well, Misa doesn't deserve you. I don't know what I can say to soothe your fear, but I do know I will defend you nonetheless. If it makes you feel any better, we've been gone for weeks, and perhaps that would put things in perspective for them."

"I hope. But what could I do about it either way?"

"You'll always have a place to go with me."

Light looked up, plastering on a smile, "Thanks. But I really am tired. We should get some sleep." L nodded,

"Agreed." They both crawled onto the finally completed real bed—it just figured, they finished it once they had a shot of getting out of here soon, and Light curled up next to L, closing his eyes as he felt Lily lick his face before curling up next to him.

He hummed quietly, which lulled Ryuzaki to sleep, and Light sighed as he let himself think about what had really been bothering him, but now that anxiety about his parents made him feel even worse.

Eventually, though, his genuine exhaustion crept upon him, and he drifted into slumber, but even then, he found no peace as he found himself in a massive graveyard. Row after row of tombstones, and judging by the soil, many of these graves had been dug in bulk.

"Hello?" He called into the eerie night sky, finding no comfort in this hour like he would normally, walking through the nightmarishly large cemetery, his bare footsteps against the stone pathway as he found himself face to face with a grave that made his blood run cold. There was a ditch in front of it, saying that the body inside had yet to be placed there.

It read: Lawliet.

This was L's grave, but there was no coffin within. Light's eyes widened, looking around at the other names on the graves, very quickly realizing to his growing horror that this was a graveyard for all the people he had killed. But then, why did L have a grave here?

"Do you know what this place is?" That voice... Light snapped up and found himself face to face with a corpse-like Naomi Misora, who looked at him with a look of uncontested disdain.

"Yes. I've figured it out, but not why L has a grave here." Naomi looked down at it,

"I would think you'd know. After all, it was you who had arranged for L to die had you not crashed. Does he know about that? How a mistake saved his life and most likely that of Watari's? That he was going to be betrayed by the one he loved?"

"I'm sure he knows, even if I hadn't said it directly."

"Then, does he know you're planning on betraying him again?" Light snapped up,

"What are you talking about? I'm not planning on betraying him at all. He can trust me."

"Just like you said I could trust you?" Naomi snapped, and Light cringed at the memory he had been trying to forget, "Face it, the only reason you aren't as deranged as you were then is not that 'you found love' or something like that, but because you're unable to kill. Once you make it back to civilization, you will return to how you used to be, and you will kill L."

She then fell unnervingly silent, letting those terrible words sink in with Light, and he knew it was true. Who was to say he wouldn't be called back by the Death Note? He remembered what it had done to him and his mind, of course, it was going to do so again.

He thought back to that plan he had created what seemed to be so long ago. It was almost if not already December now—he had long since lost count of the days—and they had no idea what was going to happen once they returned.

"I told L that he could trust me," Light said softly, forcing himself to look up into Naomi's anger-filled eyes, "And I'm not going to make the same mistake I made with you. But I am sorry, Maki-San, for what I did to you and Raye. Innocents were never meant to get hurt in my quest for a better world. I went astray, but no more." He knew what he had to do now to ensure L was safe.

Naomi looked him dead in the eye and scoffed. "We'll see about that."

OoOoO

Watari had been drinking some tea, trying to calm himself down from the stress he was sure was terrible for his heart when Matsuda came running in with a wide grin on his face.

"Watari! The chief found a signal! It's really faint, and it's a miracle we were able to catch it for even a second, but—"

"L!" Watari got up, not even sparing a glance at the cameras in the room Misa Amane was being observed in. Because there was no evidence since it had been decided to wait for L's orders to test the 13-day rule, Misa was still allowed to come and go as she pleased as long as she stayed most of the time. This did not make for good observation, but the entire task force agreed they could care less. The highest priority was to bring Light and L home. Besides, Higuchi had only created more evidence against himself in the time he believed himself to be uncontested, it was likely the same would apply for this new Kira.

Rushing in, he saw Soichiro had tears of joy in his eyes, "The signal faded, but I managed to mark where it was. Please let it be them."

Watari looked to the mark. Not far from Iriomote. That made sense for where they could be. He felt tears start spilling down his cheeks at the thought of being reunited with his adopted son. It was possible this wasn't them, but neither father could bring themselves to consider that possibility when they finally had a potential lead to where they were.

"I'll get a plane ready. We're flying out there as soon as possible."

We're coming, L.

OoOoO

"L, Light-o, wake up!" Both Light and L blinked a few times sleepily, looking up at Ryuk,

"What is it, Ryuk?" Light asked, and Ryuk laughed,

"Well, I was going to tell you a plane just landed about a half-mile from here." Both humans looked to each other with wide grins, realizing the radio had worked. Without thinking, L kissed Light and hugged him tight,

"Come on, let's pack up and get to the plane!" Light nodded, taking the Death Note and the actual survival equipment, and L had Lily in his bag with a little food as they both followed Ryuk, and got faster when they heard people calling for them.

"Light!"

"Ryuzaki!"

L ran into the clearing, freezing at the sight of the task force, and Watari gazed at him with wide eyes and a smile.

He flashed back to all those years ago when Watari had found him the first time, and he slowly walked towards his guardian as Watari cupped his cheek,

"Oh, my boy." L's bottom lip quivered, and he broke down, clinging to Watari,

"Dad..." Watari was taken aback by the title but also broke down, holding him close as though he never wanted to let go.

"It's okay now, L. It's time to go home." L looked up at him, nodding,

"Yeah." He turned back, looking to where he assumed Light was reuniting with his own father. But he then saw Light was hiding in the shadows, his head bowed and gripping the straps of his backpack as his entire body trembled. L smiled softly, figuring Light was nervous about their relationship, "Light, it's okay, you can come out. We're going home."

But then Light looked up, revealing his eyes were bloodshot as though he had been sobbing, yet he still had a shaky smile on his face, "No. You're going home. I'm staying on the island."

"What?!" Everyone asked, but when Soichiro tried to take a step towards Light, Light stepped back. L broke his embrace with Watari and knew Lily was peeking out of the backpack to see what was happening.

"Light, what are you talking about? You've wanted to go home since the moment we crashed. Is this about not wanting to see Misa?"

"I can't explain," Light rasped, "But please, forget about me and never return here. I have what I need to survive—you taught me how. I just..." he let out a choked sob, looking in the direction of Ryuk even though L was the only one who saw the God of Death, "I love you, L."

Then he took off into the forest, ignoring the screams of his family and friends and his love, begging for him to come back.