CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The Next L

Light was standing out the door, his arms crossed and eyes closed. The chain around his wrist was running through the other side where L and Emiko were talking privately. Although he found it slightly suspicious that they were keeping secrets, he understood the past they shared and the privacy they were used to when talking to each other.

But Elaine's face was twisted up and she couldn't breathe right. "But Ryuzaki -"

"It's just a caution, Emiko. Besides, Watari can't leave and you're the only one I trust well enough to carry this out."

She bit on her lip, watching him with wide, ash coloured eyes. Something about her expression made him sigh and he leaned back against the door, his hands in his pocket. "I need you to do this."

Her eyes flickered across his face, observing him closely. "Okay," she said softly, "I'll go. But be careful with the Yatsuba group, okay? Don't do anything crazy until I get back."

"You have a week," he said breezily, standing up straighter now that she agreed. "I trust you know who the top candidates are?" She nodded reluctantly.

"I do."

A year ago, it was decided amongst them who the successor to the great detective known as L would be. With the Wammy's House practically raising children to one day play this role, it was between the three of them – L, Elaine and Watari – who would choose the next L if anything were to happen, with L holding the most sway. It was an avoided topic, of course, since Elaine would rather not think of her only and best friend dying but...but if he felt like it was necessary for her to go confirm the two candidates, then she would do it – for him.

When she had first met the tiny, silver-haired boy for the first time, Elaine had always thought that Near would be a perfect successor. But meeting his competitor, a blond haired boy named Mello, something was appealing to that idea too. Whereas Near had the quirks to fill the role, Mello had that crazy ambition and recklessness to solve a case that made L such a successful detective.

But if she had to be honest, the moment she met Light Yagami – the new one, the one working with her right now – he seemed just as intelligent and just as capable to replace L.

She shivered at the idea of that. Of not having him around.

"Something wrong?"

"No, nothing. Just thinking," she said quickly but the haunted expression did not leave her face. L had always been threatened and people had always tried to find him and kill him. Watari was great at keeping security and it wasn't as if L was parading around like a target, but the chances of him living a long life was a slim one. Maybe forty, forty five years old. She wasn't even sure what that would mean to her, but Elaine as well could not see a far future in front of her.

"Watari already has set you up first-class ticket ready to go in several hours."

Her stomach dropped. "So soon?"

He couldn't meet her eyes, looking around instead. "The sooner, the better." He turned back to the door, his hand on his knob hesitantly. "Emiko?"

Her head snapped up. "Hm?"

He stared at her for a while, at the girl who had always been his constant, the one person he always thought was smarter than him in a different way. But he would never place the role of L on her, ever. "Nothing."

"Okay," she said softly, and watched as he opened the door. He looked up to Light and they nodded before walking away, but she couldn't move. She had thought he would say something...a be safe or good-bye. Or maybe a hug. He didn't, and that wasn't even what bothered her the most. It was knowing that she was sent off on a side mission to set up plans in case of his death...

She wasn't okay with that. Not one bit.

xxx-xx-xxx

A week had passed since Emiko departed, explaining nothing except she was home-sick before leaving abruptly. It felt weird for him to be alone, but Light provided some sort of companionship. But looking at the brown haired man now who had just made Reiji Namikawa a potential mole and delayed the deaths of several important men, L began thinking of Light as...a successor. That is, if he wasn't Kira. But...

"At this rate, if I end up dying somehow...it's quite possible that you would be capable of succeeding me."

"What? Why are you being so morbid?" Light questioned, convincingly appalled. "There isn't time for that - we only have a month to find Kira's identity and to gather up enough evidence against him to prove it. This is only the beginning."

"Yes but...you actually might be more capable than I am." His tone was slow, measured. "I honestly believe that you could take this on. Tell me, if I should die, would you take over for me as L?" If he was Kira and was only playing innocent, he should say yes.

"What are you talking about?" Light stopped, and he heard the clinking of the chains. "As long as we are joined by these, we would die together anyway." He paused and a flicker of understanding flashed through his eyes. Light, having figured out what he was thinking, explained everything exactly to the Task Force. L simply stared in front of him, casual about it, wishing that Elaine would be there to -

"Ryuzaki," he felt a hand on his shoulder spinning the chair around. Lowered to L's level, he was forced to stare right into Light's determined eyes. "Do you think that I'm actually capable of becoming a murderer – Kira? Even after I help you catch him? Do I seem like that sort of person to you?"

He looked into the brown eyes of Light Yagami. Even after all this time, this man was simply too smart...and although L and Elaine both acknowledged a change in him, L would not put it past Light – the one before the imprisonment – to have this all planned out. To wipe his memory of being Kira, to take up L's name, and return to killing the criminals. That Light would forever stay on his mind, and he was sure that he would always have a lingering suspicion that Light was in fact Kira. "Yes, you do." He spoke at last knowing the consequence of his blatant truth. "I've always thought so."

And then Light's fist was in his face, and he only had just enough time to kick him as well.

"Gah! Not again!"

As soon as Matsuda pulled them a part, he felt a buzzing in his pocket. Quickly taking out his phone, he saw the only text from the only person he ever really cared to check from. I'm coming in the building, checked out both of them. With Elaine's confirmation, he was ready to separate the task force. They were becoming too swayed by the sacrifices and he was intent on the objective: to stop Kira once and for all. The more the Task Force stayed together, evident from the situation with Aizawa, the more they were bound to fight over trivial things.

He was used to working solely with Elaine who understood his actions, and he had thought he could work with them as well – but they weren't Elaine and they were...getting in the way. Even as he thought about all this, he spoke and ignored their reactions. "I will pursue Kira on my own. We only have one month...I wonder who will succeed." He got up, not stopping to speak as he walked up the stairs, dragging Light with him.

"R-Ryuzaki, where are you going?"

"To Amane's room. Sorry, I know you're on your father's side and all but I can't remove these handcuffs." His tone was flat, unwavering despite Light's obvious protest. "I'm afraid you're going to have to come along with me." It wasn't an ideal partner, but without Elaine, he would have to do.

xxx-xx-xxx

That one week away from Japan had refreshed Elaine completely. By the time her taxi pulled up on the towering glass buildings, she actually even looked forward to working back on the Kira case.

At the Wammy's house, she spoke with Roger and there were the two bright boys. She couldn't approach them, of course, but watched them and the way the worked as they handled minor investigations of their own. Her conclusion was still the same: they were both eligible to be successors. What one had, the other lacked and their differences complimented each other. With this in mind, she planned to return and persuade both Watari and L that maybe two successors would work.

As soon as she gained access into the building, she contacted Watari first who filled her in. L had chased Aizawa out and now breaking apart the Task Force. She sighed, having a feeling that this would happen sooner or later. His lack of motivation of finding Kira and the Task Force's reluctance of using any means necessary would eventually clash but she hoped that maybe the breakthrough with the Yotsuba group would make things better.

But apparently not.

Next, she was heading up to Misa's room but what she was not expecting to happen was walking into a room was L's back to her. "Yes. Misa, is indisputably the most perfect and worthy woman for Light." And although his tone was bored, the blonde girl suddenly popped up and kissed him on the cheek.

Elaine didn't make a sound.

"I could actually fall for you."

She bit on her lip.

"Let's not go that far," Misa mumbled but then brightened up, "but you may can be a friend of mine! Would that be okay?"

"Yes, so now I gain yet another friend," L commented, distractedly and she was about to make her presence known until -

"Yeah! Well any friend of Light can be a friend of mine as well!" Misa cheered and then they were spinning around ridiculously and Elaine stepped out. She needed air, needed movement. She took a deep breath now that she was out in the hallway, wondering why her heart was beating so fast or how her face had heat up like this.

He was just amusing her for the case, Elaine, you know that. You know that he would say whatever it takes to solve this.

But that didn't make her feel much better either.

xxx-xx-xxx

Light closed his eyes, agitated. Why did Misa have to be so...eager? Purposely putting herself in danger just because she loved him – and it bothered him even more that Ryuzaki would use that against him. Now he was forced to do things Ryuzaki's way, of course, even if he objected it. He couldn't let Misa be run over by Ryuzaki, after all...

He wondered how Emiko had survived being his partner for so long.

And speak of the devil, as soon as he shuffled the door open first – he came face to face with the girl of his distant memories. She was no longer the familiar, tousled looking woman who looked too comfortable everywhere but more like the woman she posed to be when she first met him. Her dark hair blended with the darkness of the hallway, and her entire presence was like a smudge in the darkness. Black hair and clothing, nothing but her pale face and even lighter eyes making it clear she was there. "Emi – you're back," he sighed the relief clear in his tone. Immediately, he felt a yank on his arm.

"So you are." Ryuzaki left the room, with Misa trailing behind him still with that glow around her. Light, having a keen sense of observation, did not miss the tone in his voice. Emiko couldn't look at him.

"So I am."

xxx-xx-xxx

She had gotten back to Japan late, and was absolutely starving. After having caught up with the recent events and explained their plans, she found herself nodding away but not really listening. Of course, she was given no choice of whose side she was working on – L's. Even if she didn't agree to it, there was no way of her working opposing him. She was, after all, his partner. It was expected. Even if she felt now strangely uncomfortable.

She yawned, not covering her mouth as she made her way to the kitchen, knowing that she wouldn't run into L here. He had Watari supplying him constantly with food, after all, and it was well past midnight. The refrigerator on her floor had run out of milk so she found herself having a 2AM snack of cereal three levels down from her room.

As soon as she arrived back from and left the awkward encounter at Misa's, she didn't have a chance to change or shower so instead of being comfortable in a pair of boxers and a slouchy t-shirt, her earlier outfit was still on. Whenever she was out, she took care to seem in place and given the fact that she spent the majority time of the day in airports and on a first-class plane, she was still in her simple, lace white dress with a soft oversize cardigan on top. She didn't even had a chance to throw away the heels she wore, waiting until she got to her room to do so. With the sleeves well past her knuckles, she carried the bowl of cereal back upstairs to -

"I thought you would be down here."

"The whole 'you can't unlock the handcuffs so you have to be on my side' thing to Light is just a huge lie, don't you think?" she asked, too tired to get into a deep conversation about what she found out in Winchester or about what happened in Misa's room...especially that.

"He's asleep, it doesn't matter." Pause. "How was England?"

She sighed. What could she say? She missed the dark skies, the sound of rain and the smell of an age-old Orphan secluded in the forests already. What she didn't miss, however, was the new feeling of being in an institute there – as if the children are forced to prove their worth, all forced to be great. When she lived at the Wammy's House, intelligence wasn't a requirement as much as a common trait. It had been a race to beat everyone else - but it was a race that the children chose to participate in. But it was different now. Maybe it was the pressure placed on those kids. They all heard about L, and they all wanted to be like him, to surpass him even...and things weren't like that for her when she was younger. Her days at the Orphanage didn't compose of being smarter; no, it was a happier memory of discovering her mind. That, and of being with Lawliet.

Now of course, being with him only made her excited but nervous and tense all at once. Especially after overhearing him and Misa...even if it was a joke...

"Ellie?"

Her eyes flashed up to his at hearing her name, but he didn't seem apologetic. "Don't worry, there's no one around," he said, taking a step closer. His eyes ran down her and suddenly she was felt expose. She nodded, lifting a spoon and eating the cereal simply to give her something to do, her eyes down. "Something wrong?" he asked curiously, hands in his pocket.

"I'm just tired. And hungry. I'll see you in the morning," she said quietly as she began leaving – but he stopped her. He didn't even have to touch her, just simply a shift of his shoulders and the slight movement of turning his head towards her made it clear enough that he wasn't done talking to her yet. "Wait -"

"Yeah?" She didn't know why she was so quick to respond, so breathless but she wanted him to say something...to say that he valued her friendship. That hers was enough. That although Light was intelligent, he would still prefer her or as pretty and eager as Misa may be, he would rather have her work with him.

But she was being petty and insecure for an unfathomable reason and there was no way he was going to say that. Ever. And she shouldn't expect him to. After all, he didn't even say good-bye.

Instead, she got something else.

"I'm glad you're back," he murmured, taking her hand – holding it there for a second too long – before placing it on his shoulder as he bent down. She stopped breathing. She looked down, watching as he placed a hand behind her ankle and lifting up her feet to slip off the heels gently. "You know, I missed you around here."

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly, scanning the room around nervously. He took off the other pair and slowly stood back up.

"They don't seem comfortable," he simply said as he placed them on the counter, "especially not on you." With his hands back in his pockets, he turned and began walking away. She watched as he started to blend into the darkness yet she had the oddest feeling in her chest when he lifted a hand out to wave at her without turning around. There was a softness in his tone that she hadn't noticed before, and his touch still lingered on her hand – and she didn't forget the way her heart wouldn't just stop hammering earlier. But this was L...Lawliet speaking, touching her.

"After all, I wouldn't want you to fall."

And then she realized it was too late.

:)

Hope that will satiate what Elaine/L remains until...you know :) Thanks for reading - reviews would be lovely! So close to 100 reviews...and five more chapters to go...