Ever After
Light remembered getting up, leaving L asleep in the small bed in the grey room. He remembered going to the door and taking a last look back, reaching up to touch the black stone, still on its cord around his neck, safely hidden under his shirt. He remembered opening the door and walking bravely through, ready to face whatever challenge or torture lay ahead. Thus, waking up in bed was quite a shock. And not just any bed, but the bed in their set of rooms in headquarters. He sat up, looking around in puzzled wonder before his attention was captured by the detective currently asleep on the other side of the bed.
It was exactly how Light had left L back in the 'real world'. He slept peacefully, and Light was hesitant to wake him. Rem's warning of a soulless L still rang true with him. But he bit back his nerves, shaking the detective hesitantly by the shoulder. He had to know what was going on.
L awoke immediately, always a light sleeper, but smiled when he saw Light. "Good morning, Light-kun."
Light fought to keep from gaping at him like a dead fish. "W-what's going on, L? We were in the grey room, and…"
L sat up as well, wrapping his arms around Light from behind. He rested his chin on Light's shoulder, saying soothingly, "You won, Light. It's over. "
"I… don't understand. The door…"
L nuzzled his ear. "That was your last challenge. To have the nerve to step through the door one more time, knowing what you had just had to go through and knowing that there might be something worse on the other side. You passed, and your black stone brought us home."
Light turned to face him, catching L in his arms and hugging him close. "I don't believe it… I don't believe we made it. Everything I had to go through…" He smiled wistfully, musing, "I wonder if they are real people out there somewhere. Noir and Aki and the others who helped me."
"We may never know." L laughed. "But if anyone can find them, we can." He pulled away from Light, getting up to walk to the dresser and pull out a clean shirt. "Watari called earlier, before you awoke, and informed me that he'd given the task force the week off. They might be coming in on-and-off, but we are not required to work. We can just relax."
"You, relax?" Light said with a grin. "The world must be ending!"
L smiled in return. "Being dead has taught me something about enjoying the time I have, especially with you." He changed shirts, wandering back over to where Light still sat in bed and leaning down to press a brief kiss to his lips. "Let's just… enjoy ourselves."
xXx
They ended up watching movies, Light sitting at one end of the couch in the 'living room' area of their little suite, L's head in his lap. Light had found a collection of mystery movies, and they had amused themselves trying to figure out the clues before the movie's hero or each other. They had watched "The Illusionist", which L had somehow come up with the answer to even though there had been no real clues, and "The Prestige". Both were movies about magicians, and in the case of "The Prestige", L had once again come up with the answer first. But that had not been a triumphant moment at all.
"What's wrong, L?" Light asked, glancing down to see L cringe.
"I have figured out the answer." L replied unhappily. "It's not a good answer."
Forty-five minutes of movie later, Light was forced to agree with him. Not a good answer at all.
xXx
They had lunch, and L disappeared into the kitchen to bake something, surprising Light once again. He hadn't known that the detective could cook. He himself proceeded to finish the book that he had been reading before going on his strange quest. It was right where he had left it, sitting on the corner of the coffee table with a scrap of newspaper in it for a bookmark.
It turned out to be a good book, except for the ending. It was one of those endings where the protagonist wakes up and realizes everything was a dream or an illusion or whatever. The ending seemed tacked-on and contrived to Light, but the rest of the story had been okay. He smiled faintly at the smell of something chocolate coming from the kitchen. No matter what books he read, his own story had ended perfectly.
xXx
It was two days before the task force reappeared. Aizawa came up to knock on the door, asking if they were okay, and L had replied easily that they were fine, and would return to work when the week was up, five days from then. Aizawa had hesitated, expressed his relief that L was feeling better, and gone away.
That was also the day that Light noticed the timer. There was a small countdown timer on the screen of the computer in the corner of the living room. It read, at that exact second, 4d12h44m3s, and Light wondered what on earth it was for.
"L? What's this?" he asked, pointing it out to the detective.
L shrugged, coming over to look at it over Light's shoulder. "It is counting down until we have to return to the investigation. Watari left it here, presumably so that we do not take our 'vacation' too far."
"Like you could ever take a vacation too far, you workaholic." Light laughed. "I'm still surprised you wanted to take a week off in the first place."
L blinked, shifting to look up at Light with wide dark eyes. "I think I finally found something more important than work." he said softly, and left it at that.
xXx
Several more police officers came to the door over the course of the next day, offering relief that L was feeling better, and trying to convince them to come downstairs for just a moment to look at a news clip or a piece of potential evidence. But L was adamant; they were not going to do any investigating until their vacation was over. And vacation was not over until the timer said so. The task force was persistent, but all of them knew that L was singularly the most stubborn person that they had ever met.
"What are we going to do, though?" Light asked. They were sitting on the couch, an unfinished chess game sitting on the coffee table in front of them. Light had called a time-out, needing a few minutes to rethink his strategy, but had gotten distracted since then.
"About what?" L hummed curiously. "There isn't a way to save your knight at this point; either my rook or my bishop will take it."
"Not the chess." Light grumbled. "The task force. How do we tell them that I'm Kira? Or do we just lie? We're going to have to go back and begin investigating again at some point, but there's nothing left to find. It was me."
L sighed. "There isn't much that we can do, Light-kun. Their faith in both you and I will be obliterated if we tell them the truth, because I refuse to see you sent to an execution chamber. They will see it as a betrayal." He thought for a moment, then said, "If we could set up one more criminal to die, and frame that person as Kira…"
"What about you?" Light shifted, as L slouched against his shoulder. "Can you live with yourself, knowing that you framed someone else to get me off the hook? Can you live with me, knowing that I killed over a thousand people?"
L looked up at him, and said with complete seriousness, "I forgive you for Kira."
Light felt his blood turn to ice. "What did you say?"
"I said 'I forgive you'." L blinked, puzzled, as Light stiffened. "What's wrong, Light-kun?"
Light pushed L off of him, getting up. "You told me that the last door in the grey room was it, and the black stone brought us home." he said sharply. "Right?"
L nodded. "Light, I don't understand …"
"I never told L about the black stone. And L might love me in return, and he might not, but he would never simply forgive me for being Kira."
There was a long silence between them, and then L stood up as well, hair obscuring his eyes. His voice was low, and had a near-hysterical quality to it that Light had never heard before. It was almost frightening. "But isn't this what you want, Light-kun? You want everything to be okay again; you would rather forget that Kira ever happened. And you want me to forgive you. More than anything else, you want me to forgive you for sending my soul away!" The illusory detective was shouting, now.
"Of course I do!" Light shouted in return. "But I know it won't be that easy!"
"It could be. All you have to do is stay here. Stay until the timer runs out, and your soul can serve the Labyrinth too. Think, Light! An eternal dream, of whatever you want!" L cried.
Light hesitated. "Where is my guide? If we hadn't had that conversation, I wouldn't have realized anything was off."
"I'm your guide!" L yelled. "Beyond Birthday told you, we exist knowing that the challenges are illusion, but helping you or hindering you was our choice! Beyond tried to lead you to eternity within the Labyrinth, and I chose to do the same!"
Light took a step back, thinking quickly. He had been in every room in the suite in the past three or four days, so the only option left was the place that L was determined that they not go. Through the door to the rest of the building. He hesitated for a few seconds, then lunged past L, running for the front door. But he slowed as he realized that L was not chasing him, simply standing in the abandoned living room, melancholy.
"I am your guide." he said. "To help or to hurt. It is your choice, to stay here and live your ideal dream, or to move on. I will not try to stop you."
He looked so much like L, depressed and hurt that Light wasn't going to stay, and it took every ounce of willpower the teenager had to turn away. "I can't stay here and live a lie. I want my L, even if he hates me for what I've done." He opened the door and stepped through, the last thing he heard being the illusion saying, "I love you." But it wasn't real. The L who stood across the grey room from him was real. The L who walked over, opened his mouth, and then hesitated.
The L who whispered, "We were… in a relationship. Light-kun… Why didn't you tell me?"
"You had to remember on your own." Light replied. "But… I do love you. I swear."
"I believe you." L replied, again, and Light embraced him, feeling tears welling in his eyes. This was why he had turned down the fairytale illusion. Nothing was better than the real thing.
I neglected this for a month. (bows head in shame) This chapter was hard, and my writing muse still hasn't completely recovered for this story. All that's left is the final challenge and the conclusion, and that needs extra planning and note-taking. I don't know when exactly the next chapter will be finished, but I promise I won't leave this for a month ever again. I'm renewing my vow to never leave a story unfinished except in very special circumstances.
How many of you thought that it was seriously the end, there, for a minute? I know I got someone! XD
Hugs!
Li