Shout out to Sano Sauro for figuring out the riddle. The rest of you didn't even try. *sad face*

Review and let me know what you think.

L Lawliet's P.O.V.

The shinigami king said that they had brought three people here. One was Light Yagami, the second was Teru Mikami. That left one more person unaccounted for. It's safe to say by now that only people who have died can move between worlds. Therefore, there are only a few people who the third person could be. It was a safe bet that they would be a supporter of Kira. It was also obvious that they must have been important or useful in some way, otherwise they'd not have been brought here. That narrows it down to two people. It'd have to either be Misa Amane or Kiyomi Takada. Kira would not likely risk bringing someone who he openly betrayed as they could not be counted on to be loyal.

That meant the third person had to be Misa Amane. As I understand it, she committed suicide after learning of Light's death. Since Teru Mikami still had his shinigami eyes, it was safe to assume that Misa did too. This meant that she can kill with only a face, so we needed to be extra cautious.

Based on the fact that she's an idiot and likely would not be capable of surviving in another country, it was probable that she was still in Japan. Kira would also likely keep her close in order to give her orders when needed. She may very well be in Tokyo as we speak.

I spoke on the phone with a sketch artist and had them draw up a not-anime depiction on Misa. I faxed it to the police with the instructions to seek her out using the utmost discretion. "You are not to engage," I ordered, "You are to find her and tail her from a safe distance. Do not let her see your face." Luckily, at this point, I had the entire Japanese police force – among others – wrapped around my finger.

Ryuk brought us one new Death Note page every week; We now had 12 new shinigami visible to us. That made 14 out of 23. Each week we'd keep an eye on a different one, analyzing their personality. I found that a good deal of them couldn't care less about Kira, they were just doing what their king told them to do. So, that begs the question, why does the king care? If he were so interested in creating a new world like Light Yagami was, then why did he give Soichiro all the information he had without hesitation? Did he have some other motive? The shinigami king was a strange riddle that still required solving.

The woman selling the apples started smiling every time Soichiro showed up, even though she hadn't ever seen his face. We were giving her a good deal of business for a shop her size. Once she even baked an apple pie on the house to show her thanks. It was delicious. I made sure to have Mr. Yagami offer her a large tip from that point on.

In the meantime, we had an entirely different issue to deal with:

Ellie was screaming in pain, "Ahhhhhh, what is this demon magic?"

"It's just contractions, Ellie, breathe through it," doctor Kaneko instructed.

"Say that again and I will stab you," She threatened, but attempted to breathe nonetheless. She arched her back as another wave of pain pulsed through her body.

Weston grabbed her hand, "It's okay, sweetie, you got this."

A tear fell down her cheek, "It hurts…"

"I know, honey, I know, but it'll be over soon. Any minute now you'll finally get to meet your son after nine long months. Imagine holding him in your arms, won't that be amazing?"

That helped console her a bit, but not much. Personally, I was less worried about her pain and more concerned about her bleeding. While the stab wounds had closed long ago, the muscular bruises hadn't healed fast enough. She was in considerable danger. I bit my thumb as I watched on, hoping against all odds that the heart monitor would continue beeping.

She'd been going through labor all day now. It was already 11:49 in the afternoon and her screams were only getting worse. I hadn't realized the full extent of her voice until now. She was earth-shattering.

"Yori, make it stop!" she pleaded.

"We've done everything we can to make this easier on you," he said, "At this point all we can do is watch and wait."

Her eyes locked on mine and she held my gaze, "L…"

I stood up and walked to her, stroking her hair, "It's quite alright. Just focus on the task at hand." It was now 11:53

Mr. Yagami came in, "I have the warm towels you asked for," he handed them to Kaneko who placed them on a table.

"Okay, Ellie, listen to me, I'm gonna need you to push. Ready?" He positioned himself, "One, two, push!"

She released a fresh scream of pain, crushing Weston's hand. 11:57

"Good, keep going, don't stop," Kaneko encouraged.

Ellie gave everything she had, sweat dripping down her forehead.

"Almost there, one last push!" 11:59

With one final cry, her screams ceased and were replaced with the sounds of a crying baby.

12:00 and Nate River Lawliet was born.

Kaneko looked at me, "Want to cut the cord?"

I took the tool he handed me and snipped the umbilical cord. Kaneko wrapped Nate in a towel and handed him to Ellie. She smiled, looking down at our son, "He looks just like you."

I leaned down to inspect him. He did resemble me. He had my pale skin and thick raven hair.

"Oh no… No no no no no, Ellie stay with me, please," Kaneko pleaded. I looked up to see what was wrong. She was still bleeding.

I looked on helplessly as she slowly closed her eyes, the heart monitor falling to a single line.

12:01

Ellie was dead.