AN: Well, for those of you that couldn't piece it together (which was everybody save about two of you, no offense), this whole chapter is like a giant hint.


May 28, 2011
6:52 PM

There are, supposedly, five steps in the grieving process.

The second one, coming after denial, is anger.

And once L had a plan and was by himself in the elevator, he found that--indeed--he was undeniably angry.

In a rare display of emotion, he pounded his fist against the solid steel wall of the elevator.

"Damn you, Kira!!" he senselessly repeated. "Damn you, damn you, damn you to--!!"

Wait.

A sudden thought stopped his fist in midair. Slowly and with great care, he lowered and unclenched his fist.

...

All of ten seconds ago, he hadn't been thinking clearly. All of twenty seconds ago, he had been practically traumatized.

All of forty seconds ago, Near had been alive.

And now, Near is dead.

But...

How?

How was he dead?? It wasn't a matter of checking his pulse and seeing he wasn't alive by now; that much was obvious. It was more a matter of what had killed him.

L knew what the cause of Near's death was.

A heart attack.

Kira, of course.

But... it was impossible!

Whoever Kira was, the chance of him finding out about Near was so small that the possibility was almost nonexistent. Not only that, but the chances of finding out Near's name, Nate River, was so incredibly small that it literally didn't exist.

So how??

L's mind raced to come up with all the possible scenarios.

...Through the use of shinigami eyes?Maybe. Near was never photographed, though, and Mamoru Miyano hadn't had the shinigami eyes in the first place.

Could a shinigami killed him?Perhaps, but the chances of a God of Death deciding to kill him were not big at all. Even Ryuk, the shinigami that was supposedly following Miyano around, wouldn't have killed Near: he hadn't bothered at the Yellowbox warehouse, after all.

The other possibility was that the holder of the Death Note--whoever that might be--had found out Near's name in some other manner.

Only eight people in the entire world knew Near's name: L, Rester, Gevanni, Lidner, Aizawa, Matsuda, Ide, and Mogi.

All eight of those people would never, ever betray him.

Or would they??

L shook his head, as if to shake that very thought from his mind. No, they wouldn't. L had seen the fire in their eyes when the name "Kira" was ever mentioned. None of them would stoop so low as to sell out Near to the man they'd vowed to catch.

...So one of them had to be the new Kira??

But that was ridiculous!! The probability of that was so low it wasn't even worth considering.

But there weren't any other options.

Somehow, a human had gained a Death Note and the knowledge of Nate River's existence.

And L couldn't deduce how it had happened.

...Damn you Kira!

All of this passed through L's mind over a time period of fourteen seconds, and his last thought came to mind right as the elevator door slid open.

L gently picked Near up again and stepped out of the elevator. "Mido-san!!" he called.

"Ryuzaki?" The muffled voice came from around the corner. Moments later the doctor appeared. "Ryuzaki, what's--" Mido stopped mid-stride as he got a good glimpse at L. "Oh my God, did Near pass out??"

L swallowed and didn't look the doctor in the eye. "No, I'm afraid he's... dead."

Mido's eyes grew to twice their normal size. "Dead??" he whispered, apparently horrified.

L nodded.

For a moment, Mido didn't speak. With soft footsteps, he moved toward L. "Let me see."

L stepped back in retaliation, not wanting to let go of Near. "Mido-san, I'm 100% sure Near is--"

"Ryuzaki." Somehow the doctor's voice calmed L. "Just let me examine him."

Slowly L nodded. Mido carefully took Near's body into his arms as though he were a sleeping child. The doctor then headed down the hallway into one of the rooms, with L shuffling behind him like a zombie. L didn't bother to step any closer to Mido than the doorway, as the doctor looked Near over on the bed inside.

Two minutes and five seconds later, Mido stepped away, looking rather shaken.

"Cardiac arrest?" L asked softly.

Mido could only nod. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Don't be," L replied quietly.

It was time to ask.

"Bring him back," he whispered.

AN: Here's a point that needs to be brought up--if you love me for both this chapter and the previous one, you probably haven't figured out what all this means yet. Therefore, if you totally want to KILL ME, then my mission has been accomplished.

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