Chapter 23: The Moment of Epiphany

Near looked around warily as he got out of the car. Gevanni, Halle, and Rester stood in front of him and Taro, guns trained on the house. All present were wearing helmets with darkened visors, in case of Shinigami eyes. When there was nothing but silence, Halle and Rester went to work, kicking the door in frantically. The three SPK members hurried inside, leaving Taro and Near to stare at the house.

"This is Drevan's house?" Near asked, simply to confirm.

"Yeah. Him and Emi live here." Taro replied.

Near smiled faintly, sadly. "There's no one here."

Taro turned to stare at him, confused. Near was probably the strangest grown-up he had ever met, but he certainly shouldn't be able to know that. Near saw the stare, and nodded. "They would have reacted by now, if they were here."

At that moment, Gevanni returned, sticking his head out the door and calling, "Near, there's no one here!"

Near smirked, the expression just a flash before being gone again. He turned to Taro, asking calmly, "If they weren't here, where would they have gone?"

Taro closed his eyes, thinking. "Drevan said something about a correlation between past and present, and something about irony and poetic justice. He wanted to win somewhere where it would be poetic justice."

Near frowned. "Poetic justice it would be… if…" He paused, his eyes widening. Looking to Gevanni, he said quickly, "Get Halle and Commander Rester. I know where they are."

xXx

As L stormed through the connecting hallway between the two warehouses, he didn't even know what he was planning to do when he reached Drevan. All he knew was that the man was responsible for Light's death. L had lost him again, and it was all Drevan's fault.

He flung open the door at the end of the hallway and stepped out into the second empty warehouse. If Drevan was surprised to see him there, covered in blood and clutching the white notebook, the mass murderer didn't show it. Instead, he looked on L with eyes that flickered red, and L knew that at the moment, he was outmatched. Drevan's red notebook lay on the ground behind him, next to Himeko's and Mizuki's. Light's was with him, and Emi still had hers. The white one, held tightly in L's hands, was near-useless if he didn't know Drevan's full name.

"Lawliet Corbeau." Drevan said quietly. "It is nice to finally be able to speak face-to-face. I suppose I should introduce myself." L's eyes widened. Would it really be this easy? "My name is Drevan Ricter."

"Why?" L asked before he could stop himself.

Drevan chuckled. "To give us an even footing. You have a notebook; so do I. You know my name; I know yours." He twirled a pen between his fingers. "Of course…" He let the sentence hang, and L mentally cringed. Dammit. Notebook or not, he had nothing to write with.

Drevan smiled. "I suppose I should ask… Did you kill Emi?" He raised an eyebrow as L instantly looked disgusted. "I suppose not. Is Light with her, then? I guess he's on your side again."

L looked at the floor, then back up. "Your gunman killed Light. He jumped in front of me to save me. I left Emi in the other warehouse."

"So that's what happened!" Drevan looked amused. "I thought that I could hear the gun going off. I was just waiting for Emi. You were both supposed to die, you know. You and Light."

L stared at him, judging the distance between them, wondering if, if he moved fast enough, he might be able to get to the notebooks just behind Drevan. As if sensing what L was thinking, Drevan picked up the red notebook, waving it absently. "Don't try anything, L."

This man… This childish murderer… What was he planning? What was he waiting for? L weighed the risks carefully. He was going to die regardless if he didn't do anything. Better to take a chance now, and go for either the notebook or the pen. He tightened his grip on the white notebook and jumped, falling into a capoeira au and attempting to kick the other as he turned back upright. Drevan dodged, and the only thing L got for his trouble was his bare foot catching the edge of the murderer's notebook.

Drevan growled angrily, losing any illusion of being polite. "You think that you can best me that easily? If I recall, you've been held prisoner, and have chased me in circles for weeks! I'm better than you, L!"

L returned the glare Drevan sent his way, saying sharply, "You're a murderer. No murderer is better than me." He blinked in surprise at the Shinigami hovering over Drevan's shoulder, and realized it was the one attached to the red notebook.

"Dealer." the Shinigami said sharply. "Don't underestimate this one." She smiled wickedly, baring a row of pointed teeth.

"Of course not, Kinddara." Drevan replied. He grinned at L, and the black-haired boy frowned.

"I don't understand you." L said, ignoring the nickname that the Shinigami had for Drevan. "I didn't get Light Yagami either. How can a human being care so little about other life that he can murder thousands of people?" He stared at the man claiming to be Kira, waiting for an answer.

Drevan smirked.

"Oh, but you wouldn't be able to understand, Lawliet." He tossed L's name out as a barb, leaving L to sting with the knowledge that this man not only knew his name, but had Death Note and pen in hand. "I've done this before. I'm accustomed to death like you wouldn't believe. Haven't you ever wondered if there were others like you? Everyone is reincarnated eventually, but some come back quicker than others. If fate decides you deserve a second chance, you'll be reincarnated much quicker. Someone up there liked you and your precious Light. As opposed to me. I was dead a long time. But anyway, it takes a conscious decision on a Shinigami's part to unlock memories, and Kinddara unlocked mine."

L's eyes widened in understanding. Drevan was reincarnated as well. "Then… Who were you?" Something in him was afraid to know, but the part of him that was a detective demanded that the question be asked.

Drevan's eyes glowed, and it was a look L recognized all too well. It was a look he remembered in Light's eyes, from when he still held Kira's point of view. Drevan waved the Death Note, its blood-red color glinting under the extra bright, bare light-bulbs hanging overhead. "I was the original Kira." he declared. "I was the one who first tried to cleanse the world. They changed the rules for human beings because of me, you know. Because of what I did." His eyes glinted wickedly. "You used to not have to be as specific. My country, my continent, was rotting, and I wanted to cleanse it of all the terrible people. Let me tell you a story, Lawliet. Let's see if all your smarts can give you the answer." He began to pace slowly back and forth. L never took his eyes off the man's Death Note.

"Once upon a time there was a continent called Europe. And all the people in Europe were either poor and useless or rich and arrogant and self-centered. And then the Shinigami's gift came to me, and I was given the opportunity to fix it, to cleanse the world. So I wrote." He closed his eyes and began to recite, obviously from memory. "A disease sweeps Europe, killing many in its wake. It runs a natural course, and then dies away. That is what I wrote. I joined a merchant caravan going to India before I wrote it, and when we were safely out of Europe, it struck."

L was frozen with shock. "Not… the Black Plague?"

Drevan laughed with delight. "Yes! Very good! It worked just as well as I'd hoped. But the Shinigami got worried. You see, if there aren't enough people to kill to renew their life-spans, they will all die. I was murdered by a Shinigami, and the rules were changed so that that level of destruction could never be reached again. They even gave me a nickname, to fall into their history. They called me the Black Dealer."

L stared at him in horror. Possibly the single worst epidemic to ever occur in human history, and this man was responsible for it? Here was a man worse than Kira, a pitiless killer. He took a short breath, opening his mouth to ask, "So why all of this? Why Kira? Why not make a new name for yourself?"

Drevan smirked. "Kira is a name with power, thanks to Light Yagami. Why wouldn't I take the power that name offered? I never needed those other five fools. A child, two silly teenaged girls, an antisocial maverick, and a besotted fangirl. This was all a means to my end. They never mattered beyond being my pawns."

"Emi loves you." L said, stunned. She had tried to have him killed, for this murderer who cared nothing for her.

"Love is a weakness, Lawliet. You should know. It got you into this mess." Drevan chuckled. L looked down at the notebook in his hands, then back at Drevan.

"You would be caught, just like any other Kira. How are you any different than Light Yagami was?" he said. Sharply, he added in a hiss, "You're nowhere near as smart."

Drevan laughed. "You don't know, do you? Ryuk never bothered to finish writing the last rule." He smiled when L's eyes widened in recognition, looking up at the ceiling, his eyes alight. "This whole world is rotten! People are rotten to the core! No one knows anything of care for their fellow man anymore. Kindness and compassion are buried beneath man's insistence to put himself first, and damn everyone else. It would be best to just start all over!" There was an almost fanatical edge to his voice now, and L watched in horrified fascination as a wild expression came over his face. "With all six notebooks, I could do it! I could have all the power! Rules would no longer matter! I could destroy the rules, and no one would be able to stop me! Even the Shinigami wouldn't be safe from me! Like years ago, I could purge the world!"

L stared at him, suddenly terrified of this man. Here was a man crazier than Light ever was; someone who wanted to kill most of the human race to make a better world. Another Black Plague, another epidemic disaster… He couldn't let this happen.

Drevan was still talking. "It would rain sand over the world!" he said happily, lost in his own delusional dream. "When the Death Gods die… Because why do we need Gods of Death when Death itself walks abroad?!"

L gazed at Kinddara, wondering how the Shinigami could stand idly by while he spoke of murdering Death Gods. But he saw the vicious smile on her face, and realized that she enjoyed the death and murder, more than someone like Ryuk or Rem ever had. He searched his memory for anything that could help, and realized with a start what he could do to save himself. One of the rules of the notebook, coupled with a memory of watching Light Yagami try to murder his protégé. Reaching out as a spirit, unable to stop the young man writing Near's name in his own blood…

L stared at the fingers of his right hand for a moment, raising his index finger to his lips. He flipped open the white notebook, biting sharply on the tip of his finger.

Drevan reacted instantly, saying with a wicked smile, "The last person to try that ended up dead, Lawliet. You're too late. I'll kill you, and go get the other notebooks from Emi, and I'll be unstoppable." He opened the red notebook, setting pen to paper just as L started writing.

L kept his eyes on Drevan, realizing with despair that the other could write faster than him. Blood was awkward to write with. Maybe this was why Light lost. He watched Drevan scribbling his last name in an almost detached way, thinking to himself, It's over. I've lost…again.

A click from behind him went almost unnoticed, until he heard a gun go off. Drevan fell back, bleeding from a wound in his stomach, and landed heavily. The pen and notebook slipped from his fingers, clattering to the concrete floor. L stared at him for a split second, then moved to finish writing. This man had to die.

"No, L!" Emi cried, running up behind him and grabbing his hand. "Don't!" When he looked at her, confused and angry, she continued, "You mean to give up the notebook? It you don't use it, you retain all memory. Don't throw away your memory for him. And don't throw away your morals. Don't be a murderer." She stared at Drevan, who was groping for the pen. She walked over and stepped on his hand, saying sharply, "Besides… I want to kill him. I've killed too many already. The least I can do is kill him too."

"Emi." L said. "Can you? Wasn't he…?"

"This is not Drevan. The Drevan I loved wasn't a killer." Emi said. "I don't know who he is anymore, but he's wrong. He needs to die."

L watched her impassively. He wasn't going to stop her, if she was determined. She was liable to turn on him if he tried. Emi leveled the gun at her former boyfriend's head. "You're not Drevan." she hissed, and pulled the trigger.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

(blink) Damn, Emi. What's gotten into you? (smile)

I hope I did the situation justice, in any case. One half of a climax for you, and you'll get the explanation next chapter. Buuuuut... That will have to wait a while. I won't be able to update for at least three weeks. All of my Saturdays are monopolized, and between school and the libraries not being open on Sundays... Sorry, my friends.

Oh, yeah... About the plague... That would be the only thing that I DIDN'T research. The information was far too complicated for me to make sense of. Sorry. :)

Two more chapters and an epilogue, if I'm counting right. Oh! And another bonus chapter. :D See you in three weeks!

Hugs!
Li