A/N: Just so everyone knows, I posted a DN/FF7 crossover last night called Bartender. It's a silly parody fic.
Shoutout to Day for reviewing and to ObviouslyADeathNoteFan for being a lovely beta.
As always, feedback is adored!
House of Cards
By Catsitta
Part Twelve: Bittersweet
He was not sure what to think when he saw her for the first time since the violent close of the Kira case. Misa Amane, the second Kira, courtesan to the stars, looked ill. Blue eyes that once sparked with life were dull and reddened. Her pale skin was sallow. And her waterfall of golden curls were cut short, the ends frayed like dried wheat. L watched from his position in the shadows as the formerly glamorous woman staggered through the airport, legs trembling in her fashionable heels.
L recalled the doctor's prognosis. The injuries she sustained from the collapse of HQ were fatal. Her internal organs suffered terrible damage from the steel beam that pierced her abdominal cavity, and left Misa comatose for weeks. They said she was in for a long, slow death full of suffering as her body failed her. The lethal injection planned for her would have been a blessing.
Instead, Light turned everything on its head by putting power over her very life, and somehow, in the distraction, Misa escaped. L suspected Rem played a large role in that fiasco, otherwise, how else would little Miss Amane free herself from the highly fortified unit she was being held in while being supervised by no less than a dozen armed men? She should be dead right now. Both her and Light.
Yet here they were, alive and paying the price.
Light lived at the mercies of others, forced into helplessness.
Misa lived a half-life filled with pain as she tried to finish what her "beloved" Kira started.
The Death Note caused nothing but suffering.
L shivered.
For every action, there were consequences.
He was officially no better than Kira.
"Hey Ryuuzaki, isn't that...?" L grabbed Matsuda and clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Go back to the girls."
With that, he shoved the interloper away, careful to keep his gaze on Misa. She was close to the checkpoint. A few more steps...
...she began coughing. Odd. This wasn't what he wrote down in the Death Note.
A few visitors warily moved to her aid. She let out a scream. What was going on? Misa wrapped her arms around her midsection and crumpled to her knees. Was that blood?
"Somebody call for an ambulance!"
"Miss! Miss!"
L stepped back, baffled by what he was witnessing. She was supposed to get on the plane. Cursing, he straightened and hurried to where Matsuda and the Yagami women were standing, eyes wide as they watched on. He grabbed the young enforcer by the scruff and led him towards the terminal.
"We need to go now."
"But Misa?"
"Is dying."
"Huh?"
How? How? HOW?
Hyuk. Hyuk. Hyuk.
"Ryuuk..." the word left his lips in a ghost of a whisper.
"Such a shame."
L turned to see the shinigami floating nearby, greedily drinking in Misa's suffering.
"If there is one thing the Death Note cannot do, it is extend a human's life. Too bad. I kinda liked what you were planning. Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk."
His gaze slipped to where Misa was now surrounded. Organ failure. Too much physical activity and strain put on her internal organs was literally causing her insides to rip open. The scarring made them heavy with tissue build up. She was bleeding out. L grit his teeth. He never wished this suffering on her, not even after everything she did and threatened to do.
He wanted to give her a peaceful death. After getting Misa to England, he would extract needed information from her and grant the young girl's troubled life a gentle end. There would not be the crippling agony of a heart attack, nor the terrible violence of this kind of death.
Unable to continue watching, L shoved away from the scene and guided his flock with silent determination.
"Ryuuzaki?"
L realized that he was shaking. Unclenching his fists, he motioned at the waiting area.
"Go. Sit. I...I will be back shortly."
Sweat dribbled down his brow.
He tried to play god. He tried to meddle with death's unyielding hand. He failed.
L staggered into a bathroom and hunched over the sink.
It was hitting him now. The sickness. The revulsion. It was like a drug, the power of the Death Note. It addicted. He could hear it maliciously whispering in his head, begging him to surrender. One small taste wouldn't hurt. He could do so much. All he had to do was give in.
He could change the world!
Slowly, L pulled the two books from his bag and laid them on the counter, their matching black covers so innocent to look upon.
From a pocket, L pulled out a small plastic device. Utterly innocent to the eye. With a flick of his thumb, an intense blue flame leapt to life. Tendrils of dark power lashed at the edges of his brain, offering a perfect world upon a platter. Light's face came to mind. Her state of mind was heavily linked with the Death Note. If one were to strip her of her memories, it was possible her brain would be unable to cope with the shock. The mind came up with alternate scenarios to make sense of the world when the Death Note was gone.
How would Light make sense of trying to kill her lover? Of being shot by him? Of being kidnapped, drugged and essentially held captive? What about her father's death? Misa's death sentence?
As for himself...
...Without the Death Note, would he still have a reason to hold onto Light? To love her? Or would his rational brain brush aside his obsession-turned-lust and she would lose her importance to him?
He was stuck in a nightmare...
There was only one way to escape.
"I always knew she would be the death of me..."
L swept the flame across the books.
A heartbeat later, as the smoke curled high and sent alarms shrieking, L's world went white for the briefest of moments. Then...
"Ryuuzaki! What's going on?"
"Matsuda."
L glanced to the smoldering ashes of the...things he burned. Evidence? He burned evidence for the Kira case in order to protect Light. Roger sent him back to Japan to do just that. He was just doing his duty.
Suddenly, Matsuda grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the bathroom and around the corner.
"I don't know why you were burning stuff in there, but we have a flight to catch and you don't need to be arrested."
"Indeed. I apologize. Come, let's hurry. I'm sure you are all eager to be away from here."
"It's home. Despite everything, I never thought I'd see the day where I left it."
"Home."
Why did the thought of returning to England feel so bittersweet?
-tbc-
A/N: (Oh these memories are such fragile things...a turning point? Thanks for reading. Like it, love it, hate it? Have a crazy theory? Review! Feedback is love.)