Disclaimer: Not mine!
Warnings: Slash eventually and some cursing!
A/N: Sorry for the late update! Haha, I laughed quite a lot when I read your reviews! Yep, that moutain was indeed tall! And they are taking quite the beating! :Laughs:
Please enjoy! Thank you for all those reviews!
Game Over
Chapter Five
"War"
-
By the time the thunder stopped, they had been walking for quite a while. The rain was still drenching them and the sky had yet to calm down, but Light was only happy that they were seemingly out of danger for now. After all that had happened lately, he would not put it past fate to strike them both with lightning.
Beside the sound of their movements, the dark, massive forest was completely silent and Light did not know is he found the fact pleasing or not.
There were two kinds of silence.
The peaceful one and the dangerous one.
The silence when show falls, like soft, crystalline flower petals to the ground, the one before a storm. The silence of still water or the one where the spark moves towards the dynamite. Light could not figure out what kind of silence was surrounding them, and somehow, that precise thought had him more than a little worried.
Gritting his teeth, he forced the forest out of his mind and continued to move on, L by his side. The insomniac still could not stand on his own legs and he clasped Light's waist without shame. Pale, spidery fingers dug into his hip and the clutch was beginning to hurt slightly.
Briefly, Light wondered if the detective felt awkward about this kind of proximity. He knew he did.
Well, he thought, L was L. He'd never known much of such things as privacy or personal space anyway.
He grimaced.
Never, in his life on earth, had he pictured death to be like this. He had expected almost anything when he drew his last breath. Silence, pain, white bright light, angels, ladi-fucking-da, but not this. Anything but this.
Yet, here he was. Sauntering through an overgrown, rainy forest with L, chained to the man by invisible cuffs.
Completely normal, right?
For what seemed like the thousand time since he woke up on that mountain, he questioned why he was here. What was this place? What was its purpose?
And most importantly, what the hell was L doing here with him?
He shook his head. All those damned questions were giving him a headache.
L was starting to feel heavier against him and just as the realization struck him, one of his feet slipped on the ground and nearly sent them both crashing to the forest floor. He regained his balance in the last minute, and cursing, he used whatever was left of his strength to pull the insomniac up. The surroundings had not changed much, except from the fact that the big silhouettes of the mountains were hidden behind the green, twisted ceiling above them. The whole place smelled of wet vegetation and mold and in the dim light, everything gained a somewhat grayish color.
His legs felt wobbly. They were not going to make it much farther.
In what seemed like the last minute, he spotted a large, fallen trunk on the ground, between the heavy trees. Pulling his willpower together, he practically dragged L the last couple of feet. When they finally reached their goal, Light dropped the detective without a warning, eliciting a surprised yelp from him.
Light smirked.
L did not see the smirk, but huffed slightly as he all but crawled over to the giant trunk and swung himself up to sit on it. Once he was safely seated, he glanced over at Light, whom was now leaning against the twisted root, washed clean by the rain.
They were both breathing heavily and Light brought a hand to his forehead.
"How are your wounds, Light-kun?" L's voice broke the silence and Light blinked, a bit startled at first.
He shifted his gaze to the hunched figure upon the trunk.
L was regarding him through the pouring rain, dark bangs slick against his pale, wet skin. He looked tired, and the shadows beneath his eyes seemed even darker than usual.
Shrugging, Light dug his fingers into the slippery ground beneath him.
He did not reply to the detective's question.
He wasn't even sure if L meant it, or how he meant it.
For the record, his wounds were still throbbing, but how strange it might have seemed, the bones seemed to meddle themselves in this place. His nose was not a bloody mass any longer and his ribcage seemed solid enough. The deep, bleeding scratch on his cheek, however, was still aching painfully and all the other cuts he had gotten from the mountain's rough treatment were burning mercilessly. He wondered vaguely if L's bones had healed as well, and for some weird reason, it took him several seconds to come up with the wish that they had not. And even then, he wasn't sure he really meant it. Scowling, he glared at the insomniac, whom just returned his gaze with an empty stare.
How typical L.
"For your information, my wounds are okay, Ryuuzaki. After being shot, this can hardly be considered as more than a slight annoyance."
L nodded. "I see."
Then, "about that, Light-kun, who did shoot you?"
Light felt himself growing angry at the question, and remembering Matsuda's tear-rimmed face and trembling figure, he sent the detective a crushing, heated glare.
He was not going to tell L that that idiot Matsuda had been the one who gave him the bullet.
"Stop asking me that! There is absolutely no way I am going to tell you who shot me!"
"Why not?" L sounded genuinely curious, but Light suspected him of being mocking nonetheless.
"I will not give you the satisfaction!" he all but yelled back.
A couple of silent moments went by. Then L spoke up, voice strangely hushed. "Why would I feel satisfied by knowing who shot you? I was merely curious Light-kun."
A pause.
"You're death does not amuse me."
--
She was sitting with her legs crossed atop of a massive, flat rock. Her blond locks glimmering like pure gold in the light of the dying sun and her round, deep brown eyes were looking directly at him. Her lips, painted blood red, were slightly parted, cheeks flushed pink.
Roses to her otherwise porcelain skin.
Her skirt fell in delicate folds around her bare legs and the black fabric was a strong contrast to the pale flesh.
Smooth, dark velvet hugged her chest, which was pushed upwards as she rested her weight on the arms that were stretched out behind her. She wore a somewhat sad look and in the depths of her eyes, a painful little gleam lingered.
For a moment he was annoyed. Why did she regard him in such a way? Hadn't she used to be all smiles and sparkles when he was around? This look of agony was not supposed to graze her, not while watching him at least.
Misa had never looked at him like that.
Now, she seemed broken, defeated, and the hope that had always shone within those brown depths seemed to be completely gone. She was miserable, he could tell and suddenly, he found himself wanting to do something about it.
This feeling was entirely new to him.
Before, he had never once cared about her actual well-being. Ha had used her. Used her without hesitation Taken advantage of the love she harbored for him and never once felt bad about it.
In the beginning of their relationship, the only thing keeping him from killing her when he considered her useless, was Rem.
The Shinigami had always been there to protect her, and he had known that the creature did not lie when it said Yagami Light would be instantly killed if he tried to get rid of Amane Misa.
He had always wondered how a being such as powerful and old as a Shinigami could ever fall in love with a simple human being, Misa nonetheless.
As a matter of fact, he had been over and over about that in his mind, but he could not comprehend how the Death God had managed to ever give birth to such feelings towards the petite blonde.
He had tried to ask Ryuk about it, but every time he mentioned it, an eerie, plastic smirk appeared in the God's face and Light had soon come to terms with the fact that Ryuk was nothing like Rem.
He was far more cynical, and Light could not in his wildest dreams imagine the true owner of his notebook to ever fall in love with a human.
That simply wasn't Ryuk.
So, what had possessed Rem? What qualities was hidden inside Misa Amane? What was so spescial about her that a mighty God of Death could fall in love with her?
He had no clue.
Sighing, he realized he's never really know either.
Rem was gone.
After the Shinigami's departure, he had found that she was rather useful, and even if he did not love her back, or even liked her, he had chosen to keep her around. She had been possessing the eyes, and he had come to see how useful her puppy-like adoration of him could be.
She had never questioned his orders and always obeyed his will, no matter what.
Sure, she had been a royal pain in the ass sometimes, and he had wanted to write her name in the Death Note more than once, but regardless, he had kept her by his side. He guessed now, she had been somewhat bound to him, like he was to her.
He furrowed his brows.
Seeing her again was entirely different from what he had imagined. He had thought he would have become irritated by the mere sight of her, but that however, wasn't the case.
When his gaze met her's, her appearance changed a little and when he saw the tiny quivering smile that grazed her lips, he felt as if an enormous burden was lifted from his shoulders. All of a sudden, his heart fluttered pleasantly in his chest and a warm feeling spread through his body. A feeling he had not felt since long before he found the small, black notebook. He gasped, and with eyes wide as saucers, he took a step forward.
Noticing how her hair billowed slightly in the wind, he moved even closer to her and had to lift an arm to cover his eyes. The orange sunlight was blinding and now, he could only see her contours.
"Misa?" He breathed, but gained no response. The figure on the rock was motionless and the unnerving silence urged him to move forward. Blinking against the sharp light, he reached out an arm.
The moment his palm touched her knee, all colors disappeared and the sun died in a flash. All that was left was this thick, gray fog and through it, he could see her eyes burning at him. Deep, darkened pools of night and horror were staring at him.
Shallow and soulless.
Burning at him.
At nothing.
He screamed.
--
He jolted awake with a forced whimper, his throat dry and neck tensed. Tears rested in the corners if his eyes and he gritted his teeth almost painfully.
It was still raining, judging by the droplets that it his face and he was lying on his side, one of his arms tucked under his head.
Apparently, he had fallen asleep beside the trunk and his clothes were now coated in deep brown mud. His shirt clung to his body, sticky substance squirming through the bullet holes in the white, soft fabric. The sky had darkened noticeably and Light wondered if it would become completely dark. He had not meant to fall asleep, but he suspected that he had more or less passed out due to his former blood loss and the energy he had used to support L earlier. His body still felt weak, but his head was somewhat lighter.
A rustle of clothes told him that L was still around and when Light turned his head to look at the detective through curtains ow sweaty bangs, a small, ghostlike smirk found it's ways to his lips.
"Having nightmares Light-kun?"
Light inwardly scowled, but he refused to give L the satisfaction of knowing he had managed to upset him, so he merely huffed and turned his head away. He had no idea of what that dream was supposed to have meant and quite frankly, the almond-eyed genius did not want to dwell upon it. It was nothing but a bad dream.
A creepy, bad dream.
"Why do you care, Lawliet?" He spat back.
Just as he said it, he noticed from the corner of his eye how L flinched and he felt blood rush to his cheeks. He had not really meant to call L by his real name, the words had just slipped from his tongue.
He had been wanting to mock the insomniac, not address him by using his birth name.
It just... happened.
He bit his lip, but refused to look at the black haired man. Whatever the reaction from L would be, he was not going to face the detective and show him the flush in his face.
"Hn..." L's soft humming broke the piercing silence that had erupted.
"Maybe the dream was of no such nature?" Apparently, he was ignoring the latest happening.
Light raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the former investigator once more.
"What?"
"Well," he drawled on, "you kept murmuring Amane's name, so..."
Light's mouth almost fell open. "I did what?"
L gave a small, almost invisible shrug.
"You uttered her name several times while you were asleep, so it's only natural that I assumed you were dreaming about her. Perhaps Light-kun did not have a nightmare at all?"
At this last comment, the hazel-eyes male grimaced thoroughly. "What? Ack! No!"
L merely shook his head. "Is that the way to speak about your girlfriend, Light-kun?" He bit his lip, "at least she used to be your gi—"
"I know, Ryuuzaki!" Light all but hissed, "but that does not mean I dream of her like that! What on earth would be... arousing about Misa?!"
The tiniest of smirks grazed the detective's lips. "Well, aside from her infamous intellect... her legs perhaps?"
This time, Light's mouth did fall open. For a breathtaking moment, he just stared at L, whom was now biting his nails thoughtfully.
"Ryuuzaki— I mean L... did you— did you just attempt to joke?"
L shrugged again, but a mischievous gleam flickered in his coal colored eyes.
"Perhaps I did."
Without his permission, Light's lips tugged upwards, and before he knew it, he was laughing. He had not meant to actually react like that, but there was nothing he could do about it really.
L looked a bit flabbergasted at the sound of his laughter at first, and his surprised expression only made it increase. Clutching his stomach, the previous mass-murderer felt tears starting to pour from his eyes, the salty liquid mingling with the rain. He felt how his insides seemed to bubble and throwing his head back, his chest rose and fell in rapid spasms as the amused noises rolled off his tongue.
He could not stop.
As his laughter grew louder and more passionate, he forgot completely that he was indeed laughing because of something L had said and only enjoyed the sensations that coursed through him. He could not remember the last time he had let himself go like this, the last time he had actually laughed. Laughed in genuine amusement.
It felt so extremely wonderful!
Until he stared choking, that was.
His breaths became short, muffled gasps and he was almost unable to breathe. Through the blurry mass of rain and tears, he saw L watching him, eyes wide.
Still quite baffled, the insomniac stuck his head forth.
"Light-kun, are you all right? You seem a bit— Ah!"
When the pile of mud connected with his chest, the detective's hands flew up on their own accord and the somewhat shocked gasp that escaped him made Light's grin widen.
Still laughing, he watched as L lifted his head to stare disbelievingly at him, raven hair falling around his face, eyes impossibly round. The insomniac looked so startled, Light let his muddy fist slam into the ground in sheer amusement.
"You—" L started, stammering like a complete fool, "you just threw dirt at me!"
Light, who was currently having a hard time breathing, struggled to find his voice.
"So?" He cackled, "does that raise my percentages of being Kira?"
For a couple of seconds, L just stared and Light wondered if he had fallen into shock. He looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of his skull.
Then, the detective's lip jumped unexpectedly and suddenly, a strange, somewhat hollow sound spilled from his throat.
"..."
Light thought he was going to faint.
L was laughing?
By God (read Light Yagami), L effing Lawliet was laughing!
Laughing?!
His surprised state was probably the reason why his reflexes were not fast enough to prevent the ball of mud from colliding with his face.
A/N: So, I am sorry there hasn't been any real progress yet, but I wanted to buit some bars around this plot and storyline before I started. Maybe you're wondering what kind of dream that was? Well, I'm not telling you yet, but I there will be an explanation to that was well! As you can see, their relationship is slowly, but surely changing. This will NOT be a fic where they get all lovey-dovey with each other, cause I do not see them that way.
For those of you who wished for that, I am sorry.
Also, I must remind you that I do NOT like Near, or Nate River-whatever. (The reason is probably totally irrational and therefore, I shall not even mention it)
!! Although, that does not mean I will bash him in this story, cause I know others like the guy. I might even include him (I'll not say how though!)!
For the record, I have been ill for a while and still is, so the updates might be a little bit slower than I would have liked them to, but I will NEVER abandon this! Thank you for reading, and please don't be afraid to review!
Love,
Naro