Yet another chapter! This story has continued to be so much fun to write, and I've been enjoying everyone's comments and reactions to it so much! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

"So, why hasn't Light-kun been sleeping well?"

It was another early morning for the two of them, Light, again, having gotten to the building before L had even gone to the work room. It had been two full days of no criminals dying, meaning that Kyosuke Higuchi was, in fact, Kira. That also meant that their plan was happening tomorrow — the Put Matsuda On TV And Hope That Higuchi Tries To Kill Him plan.

Such a plan wouldn't work on someone like Light. He'd find a way out of it by doing something so inventive and creative and intelligent that L would, under other circumstances, be completely amazed. In awe.

Under these circumstances, it was just a reminder of how much better he could be. Should be.

It was, at least, easier now, that he and Light were on the same side. Genuinely on the same side, anyway. Before confinement — yes, sure, Light was on the task force, working to catch Kira. But it hadn't been sincere.

How could it have been?

"I've been sleeping just fine, Ryuzaki."

Light's words pulled him out of his thoughts, and when he refocused, he found that Light was still facing his computer, looking so concentrated and absorbed in research that it was as if L hadn't spoken at all.

A façade. He was lying through his teeth.

"You've been getting here exceptionally early." At that, Light sighed, but he continued typing away, as if ignoring him would make him stop. "You have dark circles under your eyes. Your caffeine intake has risen by, oh, I'd say… 18 percent? You've been yawning twice as much as normal, from the hours of eight to-"

"Okay, Ryuzaki! Okay." Light pushed his chair away from the desk and turned to face him, crossing his arms over his chest. "I haven't been sleeping well. I don't know why. Can we drop it?"

"Sure," L said. "Once you stop lying to me."

"What makes you so sure I'm lying?"

"I'm the world's greatest detective." At that, Light rolled his eyes, and L had to stop himself from smirking. "It's my job to be sure that people are lying."

"I suppose you're right," Light said, and he was smiling, just the tiniest bit, though it disappeared as he sighed again. "I've been — having nightmares. That's why I'm not sleeping."

Immediately, L had the urge to ask, About what? (About being Kira?) But some part of his brain shouted at him, scolded him, told him that wasn't what friends did. So, instead, he said, "I'm sorry, Light-kun."

Though it didn't seem to have the desired effect. Light just looked confused, instead of — however that was supposed to make him feel. L wasn't exactly sure. "You're sorry? Why?"

Wasn't Light supposed to be the one good at social interaction between the two of them? "I'm familiar with having nightmares, and I understand the toll they can take on someone. So I'm sorry that you're having them."

"Oh." Light still looked confused, but definitely less so, and it dawned on L that perhaps he'd expected a question of, About what? rather than what L had actually given him. "Thank you, Ryuzaki. I'm sorry, too. That you've had to deal with them."

Before confinement, L wouldn't have believed him for a second, had he said something like that. But now — it seemed real. Everything about Light seemed so real.

Something in his chest ached at the thought of Light being fake again. Of everything just being an act. (Because it was coming, wasn't it? Tomorrow they were going to catch Kira, but what if that was all part of the plan? Light's plan? What if L was just doing what he'd wanted? What if today was Light's last day being innocent? What if L couldn't save him?)

"Ryuzaki?"

L blinked. Refocused. Light was still looking at him, confusion gone and replaced with something gentle. Kind. There was a little bit of concern there, too. (His hair was getting long, and L idly wondered what it would feel like, if he were to run his fingers through it.)

"Thank you, Light-kun," he said, looking for only a second more before he was turning back to his computer, getting back to work. Soon, he'd have to talk with Watari, discuss the plans with Sakura TV, and he'd have to talk to Wedy, too, make sure that bugging Higuchi's car had gone alright. He was sure it had, but confirmation would make him feel better.

(Light's hair would more than likely feel soft to the touch.)

There was a soft knock at the bathroom door.

L sighed, though after accessing the situation — his thighs were bandaged, as well as his right arm, and he was currently working on the left — he decided there was no reason not to open the door.

Quillsh took one step into the room, but did not enter further, so L simply went back to tending to his wounds.

"Can I help you, Quillsh?" he asked, not looking up at him.

"Were you being truthful when you said that you would accept help, after this case is over?"

L's movements stilled for a moment, before continuing. "Yes."

"Do you believe the case will be over tomorrow?"

At that, L glanced up at him, but Quillsh was only looking at him with an expectant expression. He looked back down at his arm. "No, I don't."

"You're nervous about capturing Higuchi."

"I was under the impression that we all were," L murmured, and when he looked over both arms, there was a spot on his right in which a line of blood had seeped through the bandage. He simply wrapped over it.

"You're nervous about Light Yagami."

"I am," L said, and he didn't look up at Quillsh as he spoke. He was just focusing on putting everything away, cleaning up the bathroom. Bandages, towels. His knife, too, which was sitting on the edge of the sink. He put it behind the toilet, deliberately ignoring the way he could feel Quillsh's gaze following him.

When the room was spotless, not a thing out of place, then he looked at him. His expression was blank, not revealing anything, and L should have been able to get a read on something that Quillsh was feeling. Anything.

But he couldn't.

"Shall we?" he asked, nodding his head towards the door.

Quillsh stared at him just a moment longer, before he was leaving, not saying a word. L followed suit, shutting the door behind them.

Their destination was, of course, the kitchen. Quillsh had a tower of cookies set out, and even if their relationship was a bit strained at the current moment, he was extremely thankful that the embargo on desserts had ceased.

L ate four and a half cookies in silence, before Quillsh was speaking again.

"Perhaps Light should no longer be permitted to work on the case."

"You know no one would accept that," L said, mouth still half full, and he grabbed his fifth and sixth cookie. "Light is invested in this case. His work is the only reason that we're going to be arresting Kira in less than twenty four hours."

"You could claim that it would be for his safety."

L could do that. He'd thought of doing that. He'd thought of doing anything, really, that would keep Light away, keep him safe, because he couldn't shake the feeling that arresting Higuchi —

It was just part of the plan.

Light's plan. Kira's plan.

"I could," L said, voice soft. He broke his sixth cookie in half, and then into fourths, before he was dumping all the pieces into his mouth.

"You won't."

"I won't," L agreed, mouth full. "He's contributed an extreme amount of work to the case. And if any problems happen to arise, his help would be indispensable."

"He would have a bright future, working as a detective."

"He would," L said. Part of him, a part that he did not give much acknowledgement, could think of nothing better than solving cases with Light Yagami for the rest of his life.

He wasn't sure what that meant. He'd never thought of anyone else that way, not even Near, or Mello. His successors.

It was better not to think too hard about it, probably.

"Such a pity," Quillsh said.

They locked gazes for a few moments, for a few beats of L's heart, before he was nodding.

"A pity, indeed," was his response.

"Namikawa speaking."

"It's L." Truthfully, it was still a little unnerving to hear Light say those words, and again, he searched his eyes, looking for any ounce of Kira. And there was nothing, like before. "Before I continue, are you alone?"

"No," Namikawa said.

"Then just pretend this is a normal call, like before."

"Actually, I don't think there's any need for that." L watched a bit of confusion flicker on Light's face, but he waited for Namikawa to continue. "I'm with Mido and Shimura, and I'm reasonably certain that neither of them are Kira." Some background noise could be heard, another voice, and then Namikawa said, quietly, "It's L."

"Will they also agree to the terms of my deal?" Light asked. His face was serious, focused. He truly was invested in this case, and it was a reminder that pulling him was not an option.

"They will. I think we're all a bit fed up with Kira at this point, so we'll have no problem watching your face-off from the sidelines."

Light glanced at L, and he nodded back at him. Having two more people know about the plan wasn't a bad thing. If anything, it meant there was less of a chance of something going wrong.

Seeming reassured, Light continued. "Tonight, I'm going to catch Kira. But I'll need a favor from you."

"Hm." Namikawa sounded intrigued, pensive. "Then it's the end for Higuchi, isn't it?"

"You know that it's him?" Light asked, and, to his benefit, he appeared to immediately recognize his mistake, based on the way his entire body tensed.

And it was especially obvious when Namikawa said, "So it seems that even the great L can be tricked. Based on your reaction, I'm now 100 percent certain that Higuchi is Kira."

(L couldn't be tricked, but Light Yagami could. But there was no reason to point that out.)

"Wow, Namikawa sure is smart." L had almost forgotten that Misa was there. At least she hadn't attached herself to Light's side — yet. "But I always thought he was, just by the way he looks. And I guess this proves it!"

Hm. Maybe there was a reason to point it out after all. "No, that was just because Light messed up."

The look of irritation on Light's face made it absolutely worth it.

"I'm baiting Higuchi with a staged TV show tonight," he continued. "Sakura TV. A few minutes into the show, I need you to call Higuchi and tell him to tune in. After that, just make sure none of the others try and do anything, and if they do, stop them. And if you do this for me, I won't go after you or the other five. Only Higuchi. Understand?"

"Yes, I do."

And with that — the call was over.

Their plan had officially started.

It was, actually, going better than L could have imagined.

Matsuda was doing a good job of rambling to the interviewer, giving details vague enough to keep the public from putting anything together, but specific enough to put stress on Higuchi.

Mogi, too, did his part, by redirecting Higuchi to the president of the production company. And after that, it wasn't long before Higuchi was in his car, heading straight towards the trap they'd set for him.

"This is going well," Light said, and his eyes were stuck on the screen showing both Higuchi's location and the camera in his car. "He's doing everything we thought he would."

"It's easy to anticipate how certain people will panic," L said, and he should have been watching the screen, but he was watching Light instead. "Higuchi is very predictable."

"And that bodes well for us."

"Very well," L agreed, and that was just in time for Higuchi to ask, "Rem, what do you think?"

L's eyes snapped to the screen. It was just him, alone in the car. He hadn't made a phone call, hadn't tuned into the radio, nothing.

Rem?

"Who is he talking to?" Light asked, leaning forward a bit more. "There's no one else in the car, right? Could he have made a call without us knowing?"

"No." That would have been impossible. "There are no other electronics in the car that he could use to contact someone. Wedy would have notified me."

"Do you think I'll get to Yoshida Productions only to find that his file isn't there?" Higuchi asked, and that was — an interesting question. "If this guy was smart, he'd destroy everything that had his real name on it before he appeared on TV."

Hm. That would have been smart, but destroying all evidence of your actual name was not an easy feat. (L should know.)

"Who is he talking to? Is he talking to himself?" Light's eyes were wide, excited, engaged, shining with how the monitors were reflecting in them, and — and maybe L should be looking at the screen, and not at Light Yagami.

"It could be another alias." Higuchi was still talking. Perhaps it was just to himself? "I wouldn't put it past this guy to do something like that. I mean, he faked his own death. Who does that?"

L had known a few people. However, it was a difficult thing to successfully pull off.

"Yeah, I already know that," Higuchi continued, and alright, there had to be someone else there.

(Or something.)

(A Shinigami?)

"I should probably kill everyone I contacted tonight." L had been wondering when Higuchi was going to make that specific jump. "The president, Misa's manager, and Misa, too."

"Me?" Ah, yes, Misa was still with them. Right. "He's going to kill me?"

"He won't do that until Matsuda is dead," L said. "There would be no reason to kill anyone else until the main threat was taken care of."

"You're right," Higuchi said, and he was most definitely having a conversation with someone — someone who happened to be invisible. "You're smarter than you look, Rem. I'll just have to make them erase their phone call histories before they die." Yes, that was right. Kira could control his victims before they died. But Higuchi hadn't utilized that, had he?

"Who is Rem?" Light asked. "How could he be talking to someone right now?"

The existence of Shinigamis was becoming more and more probable every minute, it seemed.

"I can't do that," Higuchi said, exasperated. "Even if I forgot the notebook, this guy says he has concrete evidence. If he points out anything about Yotsuba's recent growth on air, people will believe him. Whoever he says is Kira will be marked as Kira. I need to kill him."

With that, Higuchi had arrived at Yoshida Productions, and he was out of his car in an instant, nearly bursting into the building.

The room was silent as they all watched the screen, which had changed to the security camera in the Yoshida office. It was a perfect view of the desk, and Higuchi walked right up to it, very easily finding Matsuda's fake file. He laid it out, and then pulled out a notebook, quickly scribbling the name down. And then —

Started to put everything away.

"Ryuzaki," Mogi said, over their comms. "We're in position. Do you want us to apprehend him?"

"No," L slowly responded, his voice soft and eyes glued to the screen. "We still don't know how he kills. Stand by."

Once the file was back in the desk, Higuchi walked out of the office, and then out of the building, and got back into his car. The camera switched back to the view of the interior, where he was just sitting, watching the broadcast on his portable TV.

"Why is he so calm?" Light asked. "I thought he'd be killing Matsuda by now."

"Yes, it is strange," L agreed, and he was leaning forward, his thumb halfway in his mouth, his eyes going over every inch of the screen, searching for something they could be missing.

There was nothing. It was just — his car.

But after a few more seconds, Higuchi was exploding into motion.

"Dammit!" he yelled, slamming his hands on the steering wheel. "He didn't die!"

"He didn't die?" Light repeated, looking over at L. "But he didn't-"

"All he did was take a note of his name." What was happening? What were they missing? Higuchi had Matsuda's name (albeit his fake one), and he knew his face. So he should have tried to kill him by now. But he'd — what had he done?

Higuchi ran his hands over his face, and through his hair, pulling at the ends. They'd certainly succeeded in making him panic, so that part of the plan had worked, but watching him kill wasn't going as perfectly.

After a few more seconds of him just breathing, he said, "Rem, I'd like to make the deal."

"What is he talking about?" Light was looking at L again, and his eyes were still wide. "What deal?"

How should I know? L thought to himself, and his hands were gripping his knees, his gaze still stuck on the screen. I have absolutely no idea what's going on.

Which was infuriating. They were watching — everything. Everything. And L still couldn't figure it out? What more did he need? What more could he even get?

In another moment, Higuchi was grinning to himself, and then speeding away, Mogi saying, "We're heading after him," as he and Aiber began following him.

After another few minutes (in which Higuchi had been driving like a mad-man), his car slowed to a stop, and Wedy said, "He's being pulled over by a traffic cop. I'm going to have to pass him."

It felt like every part of his body was completely still as he watched Higuchi interact with the cop, watched as he agreed to get out his license, watched as he looked through his bag.

And then — as he drove away.

"He ditched the cop!" Mogi said. "He's driving away!"

What was he doing? Why risk being chased by the police during a time like this?

After another minute or so, Mogi was speaking again.

"The cop just rear-ended a truck! He's dead!"

"What? he and Light asked, in unison, and a pit was forming in his stomach, because —

All he'd done was put his hand in his bag. Nothing else. Was it something in his bag? Was it mental? Was it — the deal?

Furthermore, he hadn't known the cop's name. He'd just looked at his face, and —

And he'd just looked at his face.

"Everyone!" L's brain was swimming, overwhelmed, lacking focus, but he needed to do this. Lives depended on it. "It is too dangerous to allow further action from Higuchi. We need to bring him in! I believe he has the same powers as the second Kira, meaning that he only needs to see someone's face to be able to kill them. Please, keep this in mind when arresting him!"

There were confirmations from the three teams — Wedy, Mogi and Aiber, and Soichiro — and L squeezed his eyes shut, pressed his arms into the sides of his chair, and tried to focus.

This was no time to get overwhelmed. This was no time for his brain to stop working. He had to be thinking straight, or they'd miss their chance. They'd fail. So many people would be put in danger, so many people would die —

"Watari," he said, and somehow, his voice wasn't shaking. "Call the director of the NPA. Tell them that we know Kira's identity, and his location, but tell them not to interact. Our team will be handling this arrest." He paused, for just a moment, before adding, "And prepare a helicopter. We'll be taking off in five minutes."

"Of course, Ryuzaki," was Quillsh's response, and L had no doubt that he'd flawlessly do everything asked of him — he always did.

L looked over at Light, their eyes immediately locking. "Tell your father to evacuate the TV studio," he said, "and get ready to go. We'll meet on the roof in five minutes."

Light nodded, immediately speaking to and instructing his father, his voice calm and confident and controlled.

Which was the opposite of how L felt. He needed to get to the bathroom, quickly, before they had to —

"What about me?" Misa asked, forcing L to remember her presence. "Am I coming, too?"

"No," L and Light said, in unison, and L was moving, quickly searching through the drawer of his desk, and pulling out a pair of handcuffs. He sat Misa down in his chair and attached one cuff to her right wrist, and the other to the arm of the chair. "You're staying here. Do you understand?"

"But why?" She was whining. Honestly whining. L was going to lose his mind. "I can help!"

He looked over at Light, making eye contact again, and something about the gaze said, I'll handle her.

Which — thank god. He nodded, once, and then he was off, making his way out of the work room and into the closest bathroom, because he didn't have the time to go anywhere else.

He had, what? Four minutes? Less?

Shutting the door behind him, he quickly grabbed everything he would need — blade, towels, bandages. He could be smart about this, he was going to be smart about this. He just needed some of his focus back, that was all. He didn't need to cut as much as he normally did, he just needed enough to get through this.

Not wasting any time, he lifted his sleeve up, pulled his old bandages off, and pressed the knife to his skin, anticipation making his brain go absolutely wild.

The pain was — sharp. He hissed from the sting of it, but it didn't make him stop. No, it just made him continue, and he could feel his mind repairing itself, refocusing, already imagining what route they'd take to get to the highway that Higuchi was on, how they'd need to blindfold him, once he was arrested, so he couldn't see anyone's face, how they —

He looked down at his hand, and there was blood dripping off of it.

That — wasn't the normal amount of blood. That was a lot of blood. Why was there so much blood?

He stared for a few seconds longer, before the knife slipped out of his hand. As it hit the floor, it was like a rubber band snapping back into shape, sudden clarity, and —

You're about to pass out.

"No, no, no, no," L whispered, but he knew it was the truth. The clarity was gone, replaced with confusion. Dizziness. His brain was foggy, clouded, and he leaned against the wall, keeping himself standing, but it wasn't enough.

He didn't even remember hitting the floor.