I've had some reviewers trying to get me to write certain events. However, I've had this planned out from the beginning, so Ellie was doomed to die in childbirth since the moment L showed up in her closet. The story's not over yet though, read on!
Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, as much as I wish I did.
The song featured in this chapter is called Gaeta's Lament. If you go on YouTube and search "L singing" you can find it being sung by the same person who voices L in the English Dub. It's gorgeous and I highly recommend listening to it. If you want to get the full effect of the chapter, listen to it when you come to the part it's sung when you're reading. It'll probably make you cry, so keep tissues on hand. Enjoy the chapter, my beloved readers!
Yori Kaneko's P.O.V.
I was vaguely aware of someone shrieking in anguish. It took me a moment to realize it was me. Ellie can't be gone. It's not possible. She was going to make it. She had to. I'd tried so hard to patch her up… but it wasn't enough. This was my fault. If I had just done a better job as her doctor she could have been okay. She would have. Her son wouldn't have to grow up without a mother if I had done things right.
She lay there, clutching Nate in her arms. She looked happy and peaceful; like she was sleeping. Her son had settled down, and was calmly resting against her chest, soaking in the last of her body heat.
I looked up at L. He had his forehead rested against hers. I had never seen him express much emotion, but right now, he was crying. Silent tears fell down his cheeks and he looked even more upset than I was. The sight broke my heart.
L's tears were contagious. I felt my eyes begin to water and my chest tighten. I broke down, falling to my knees at Ellie's feet. I was so cold and distraught that I didn't even recoil when that asshole Weston knelt beside me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I even found myself hugging him back. We needed the comfort. We buried our faces in each other's necks, trying to hide from the grief.
That's when I heard someone singing. It wasn't Ellie. It would never be Ellie... It wasn't even Weston. It was none other than L Lawliet himself. I looked up to see him cradling the baby in his arms, singing a soft and eerie lullaby, tears still falling down his cheeks:
"Alone she sleeps in the shirt of man
With my three wishes clutched in her hand.
The first that she be spared the pain
That comes from a dark and laughing rain.
When she finds love, may it always stay true.
This I beg for the second wish I made too.
But wish no more;
My life you can take
To have her please just one day wake.
To have her please just one day wake."
The room was silent as everyone stared. We were empty. Ellie had been the glue that kept us all together; Without her, we were nothing.
What now?
The door slowly opened and Watari entered the room, Gwyneth at his heels. The little fox had been sitting by the door all day. We couldn't let an animal be in the room during delivery, much to the creature's dismay.
"I'm so sorry," Watari said, walking over to L, placing a fatherly hand on his shoulder.
L reacted by burying his face in Watari's chest, clinging to him like a lost child, "I don't know what to do," his voice broke.
Gwyneth padded up to the bed, jumping up beside Ellie. She nuzzled her face, giving a gentle nudge to try and wake our fallen angel. When Ellie inevitably didn't move, she curled up next to her, whining. I guess even foxes could cry.
Watari pulled L into a hug, being careful not to crush the baby, "You don't have to do anything. Not right now."
Nate started fussing. I took him out of his father's arms; I still needed to bathe and screen him. No matter how somber I was, I'm still the doctor. Once he was clean, I carried him to a scale, writing down his weight and length on my clipboard. I checked his vitals. He appeared to be in prime health. I tested for hearing, and he responded well. Wrapping him back up in a soft blanket, I handed him back to L, "He's perfectly healthy. No problems, even despite everything. It's miraculous, to be honest."
Watari stepped back to allow the genius detective enough room to hold his newborn. Other than the dark bags under L's eyes, Nate looked exactly him. I briefly wondered what his eyes would look like once they opened. Would they be obsidian black like L's, or would they look more like Ellie's? Hers had been the deepest brown. They glistened. Every time I had looked into her eyes, I'd felt the world brighten just a little bit. It was one of the many things I'd loved about her.
Gwyneth suddenly seemed to notice the baby. She looked up cautiously, tilting her head. Standing up, she stalked around to the other side of the bed to get a closer look at the bundle in L's arms. She sniffed at it, flicking her tail. L sat down in his odd way, holding his son out in front of him with both arms. Gwyneth took the opportunity to climb on the back of his chair and stare curiously at the child.
Nate's eyes blinked open and everyone in the room gasped; His eyes weren't brown or even black; They were a striking grey. He stared intently at the fluffy creature in front of him, then scanned the room, his gaze eventually resting on L.
They looked at each other for the longest time. Nate and L Lawliet were so similar it was almost frightening. Nate was even pressing the inside of his thumb to his bottom lip just like I'd seen L do all the time. If it weren't for the eyes and obvious age difference, they'd be nearly identical.
Suddenly, our attention was drawn back to Ellie. Something was happening.
She was turning into sand. Her body began to dissolve into the purest white sand I'd ever seen, glittering like diamonds. In only a few seconds she'd become no more than a pile of shining white dust.
"That's not normal," Weston commented. I was too busy silently agreeing with him to snap back my usual sarcastic retort. What was going on?
L played with his bottom lip, "How interesting…"