Behind the Mask

"L!"

Light had dashed through the door after the sleuth without thinking, knowing that he couldn't let L slip through his fingers now. If there were no more challenges, what could possibly be past the door? It didn't really matter. Light was going through, whether L wanted him to follow or not.

The first thing that he was aware of was that his clothes had changed. He was now dressed in black dress pants and a pressed white shirt, with a crimson coat edged in gold that went down to almost his knees. He paused a moment to look at the formal attire, wondering what on earth being dressed up had to do with anything, and then looked around the room warily.

It was a huge ballroom. People in every color, in sweeping coats like Light's, women wearing elegant ball gowns… It was some sort of formal dance. And, looking at everyone, he realized they were all wearing masks. A masquerade ball. But he didn't have a mask. What did it all mean?

There was a singer on a raised stage at the other end of the room. Light could just hear the words over the murmur of people talking. The singer was smiling, declaring to the room:

"There's a face that we wear, in the cold light of day,
It's Society's mask, it's Society's way,
And the truth is: that it's all a façade!"

Light began to push through the crowd, searching for a familiar raven-haired head, endless black-magic eyes, or anything to show him where his love had gone.

"There's a face that we hide till the nighttime appears,
And what's hiding inside, behind all of our fears,
Is our true self, locked inside the façade!"

He was grabbed by both hands and spun around, pulled into the whirling dance around the room. The two who held his hands wore masks that looked like children, a blond boy he didn't know, and the red-head, Matt, from the illusion of Wammy's. The blond, whom Light assumed through association with Matt was the elusive Mello, removed the mask of the childish face, revealing him for what he was: a young man Light's age, with a horrible scar on the left side of his face. Matt removed the mask of his younger face, revealing the older red-head with goggles on his head and a cigarette in his mouth. Light stared at them as he was pulled in a circle, both boys singing along with the song, "That's how our little game is played… Livin' like a masquerade!"

Light pulled away from them, pushing through the crowd. He wasn't sure what he was seeing, past, present, or future incarnations of the boys, but he didn't really care to find out. He thought he saw L, elbowing through the crowd to reach the detective's side, only to realize it was only a mask that looked like L. The figure lifted the mask away, and Near's face, still childish despite being as old as Light, became visible to smile crookedly at him.

"What you see is not what you get, 'cause man's a master of deceit!" Near sang, smiling as Light pushed away from him. He found himself surrounded, a blur of faces that he recognized from all of his many challenges. Beyond Birthday shoved him hard, asking loudly, "You didn't think you were a murderer?"

"Hypocrites! Hypocrites! It's all a façade!" the crowd sang with the one still on stage. Light was almost ready to resign himself to never finding L, to being trapped in this psychotic dance forever, when a single voice rose over the din, clear and loud and so familiar…

"Man is not one but two, he is evil and good, and he walks the fine line we'd all cross if we could!" It was a defending sort of lyric, at the end. "What's behind the façade? Look behind the façade!"

The crowd parted, returning to their dance as if nothing had happened. Light got his bearings, looking up at the suddenly-docile dancers, and his eyes focused on the only figure not moving, in the center of the room.

He gasped softly. L looked… stunning, for lack of a better word. He was dressed similarly to Light, in white dress pants and a white shirt, slightly looser to account for his own taste in clothes. His coat was a royal blue, edged in silver, and a silver mask covered the upper half of his face. Light walked up to him slowly, uncertain if L would walk away again, but the detective didn't move.

"L, please…" Light whispered, desperately. "Please, listen…"

"You killed me, Light-kun. You banished my soul to the Shinigami realm." L replied, not making eye contact. "You are Kira."

"You have to understand! I didn't realize…" He paused when L looked up at him questioningly, and finished quietly, "I didn't realize that I had actually fallen in love with you."

L turned away, tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat. "How can I believe Kira? The same Kira who, now I know for absolute certain, has done nothing but lie to me since the day that we met? How can I trust you, Light-kun?"

"I told you the truth in the grey room." Light said. "I told you that your memories would return, and they did. I kept going, knowing that you would eventually remember everything. I came to get you, something that I didn't have to do in the first place, if I wanted you dead." He gripped L's shoulder, turning the masked detective around to face him. "I came for you, because I realized how much I love you. I came to take you home. Please, god, L… Don't turn me away now. I'm not asking you to forgive me. Just let me take you home."

L's dark eyes glinted from behind the silver mask. Slowly, he reached up and pulled it from his face, revealing his whole expression. Light's breath caught in his throat as he waited to see what L would say.

L sighed quietly. "Yagami Light… I cannot forgive you for what you have done." He hesitated, then continued, "But you are also my first friend, and the first person that I truly felt something for. So I… for the moment, at least… I will let it go."

Light gaped at him. He reacted almost immediately, wrapping L in his arms and kissing the detective firmly on the mouth. To his great joy, L kissed him in return, and Light reached for the necklace he still wore. He gripped the black stone tightly, his other arm firmly around L, and focused with all his being on bringing them back to the living world.

The world whirled into a blur of color around them, and Light felt L's fingers twist into his shirt, obviously not understanding what was happening. Light kept his eyes open as long as he could, watching the spiraling colors until it nearly made him sick. He finally shut his eyes, and felt himself falling away. There was a moment of panic when he felt his grip on L slacken, but there was nothing he could do. Awareness faded away, and he knew no more.

xXx

When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at a blank white ceiling.

He was in bed, in his and L's room at headquarters. He sat up, startled, looking around frantically. L was asleep next to him, once again the same as he had left everything in the real world. But he couldn't trust it. He couldn't trust that it was real. After all, it had given him a challenge that looked like a perfect reality once. He wasn't going to let it fool him this time.

L stirred at the movement, opening black eyes to stare at Light. He too sat up, looking around. "What day is it? How long were we gone?" He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, wincing. It hurt, waking up and trying to move after being unconscious for that long.

Light was still gazing around the room with wide eyes. How did he tell? How did he know it wasn't a trick? The computer didn't have a timer on it. L knew about the stone now; he had seen it just before they left the masquerade. What could he do…?

"Light, what's the matter?" L asked worriedly. Light turned to him suddenly, grabbing him by the shoulders to hold him in place.

"Do you forgive me for Kira?!" he demanded wildly.

L's eyes were impossibly wide, wider even than usual, completely baffled by the question. "Of course not. Kira… Kira was a demon. I acknowledge that you are not him anymore, but you were once, and your actions will not just go away."

To L's continued astonishment, Light began to laugh with relief. The teenager tugged the completely confused detective into a tight hug, saying between bursts of laughter, "This is real! Oh, god, we made it. We made it out…" L hugged him in return, reaching one hand up to rest his fingertips on the black stone.

"What is this?" Ever curious.

Light sat back, pulling the cord over his head and handing it to L. "Ryuk gave it to me. It was our ticket out of the Labyrinth. I doubt it has any power now. He said it would only work once. I suppose… now it's just a keepsake." He stared down at the sheets for a second, unwilling to bring up the obvious topic. Instead, he said quietly, "Why was the last illusion a masquerade ball?"

L stared at his reflection in the stone. "Possibly… because all we have done our entire lives is hide behind masks. I hide from the world behind a computer screen to keep myself safe. Mello told me once that it was my way of protecting myself, since I do not trust anyone to keep me safe outside my own power. And you… you hid behind the mask of the perfect son, the perfect student, when in reality you were bored with everything. Bored enough to be tempted by the Death Note, which preyed on both the purity and the darkness in your soul."

"But I didn't have a mask. I was the only one." Light pointed out.

L smiled softly, rationalizing, "By that point… You had shed the mask of Kira. You had exposed yourself, every part of yourself, to complete the trials. There was nothing left for you to hide behind." He looked up to meet Light's eyes. "You… risked everything, didn't you?"

Light nodded. "It was worth it. I realize that now. You… You were always more important than Kira, somehow. I think I ended up caring more about continuing the games with you than actually being Kira, sometimes." He gazed at the detective's expression, searching for something in the reflective eyes, and murmured quietly, "I love you."

L didn't falter or look away. Just as he had in the grey room, he held Light's gaze, saying clearly, "I believe you, Light. And… I love you, too."

It was the best thing he could have said.

Look, we're all just people. Can you hear the voice?
Find the one who'll guide you to the limits of your choice.
And if you're in the eye of storm, just think of the lonely dove.
The experience of survival is the key to the gravity of love…

I was going to hold onto this for a while longer, but I decided not to. ^.^ This... this is it, people. There's a very short epilogue in the works, so this story is just about complete.

I love masquerade balls so very, very much, and with the parallels it presented in terms of both Kira and L, the temptation was just too much. XD The song used during the masquerade is "Facade" from Jekyll and Hyde. The song at the very end, there, is "Gravity of Love" by Enigma.

To whoever it was who added this story to the Fanfic Recommendation page on TVTropes... Thank you. I swear to all higher powers out there, finding that seriously made my year, and it's only January. :D A thousand times thank you!

The end is in sight!
Li