May 28, 2011
8:25:23 PM
Of all the specific things he could have been feeling - sad, depressed, regretful, shocked - only one really seemed to fit L at that moment.
Pissed.
"Mido-san won't let you get away," L said through gritted teeth. Despite the bump on his head and the overwhelming urge to lose conciousness, he managed stand up and support himself. "He's here, he knows you're Kira, and - most importantly - he knows how to use a gun."
Light laughed and, using much of his own strength, stood up as well. "That's a lie and you know it. The doctor couldn't hurt a fly if he wanted to."
Granted, Mido hadn't actually shot anyone that L knew of... but it was possible. In theory. "He can bring me back," L hissed.
"Not after I'm finished with your corpse," Light smirked.
This whole time, Ryuk had been standing there looking at the both of them like he was at a freak show. Suddenly, though, he began speaking. "Um... Light?"
Light barely glanced at the shinigami. "What is it?"
"Erm... I don't think he's gonna die."
L slumped to the floor, the realization of it finally beginning to sink in.
I'm going to die. I wasn't strong enough to kill Kira.
Light responded by laughing. "Very funny. You think I'm going to freak out if you say that?"
"No."
The laughter stopped, and Light began to look a bit confused. "Then why say it?"
Ryuk shrugged. "I'm just telling you... I don't think he's gonna die."
L's attention was no longer on their conversation. I have five seconds left.
"Well, why NOT?"
Three.
"Explain why he won't die!"
Two...
The shinigami paused.
One...!
"...He has no numbers."
Zero.
L felt nothing.
There was no pain; there was no suffering. It wasn't like the first time he'd had a heart attack at all.
...
After a few seconds, he reasonably concluded that the lack of chest contractions meant that he really wasn't going to die.
He pinched himself, just to make sure.
How? A fake notebook? A mistake Kira made?
"It's not possible!" Light screeched.
"It is..." L slowly allowed. He turned to Ryuk. "I take it that Kira has no numbers either?"
The shinigami grinned. "Yer pretty smart."
It was because they'd been brought back. Mido had broken all the rules.
The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. Why should it work on a human who was - or had been - dead already?
Light figured it out at about the same time L did. With a calm resolution, he put the notebook away in the inside of his jacket. "Shame. I suppose you want to fight me some more?"
"Why not?" L said in a surprisingly calm voice. "Neither one of us has the advantage any more."
"You're wrong."
Even faster than when he had pulled out the Death Note, Light pulled out a gun. L's mental process froze as he recognized it as Mido's.
"L," Light said curtly. "Goodbye."
He pulled the trigger.