*Light's POV*

The request shocked me. What were we supposed to do. No one was supposed to know that L was alive. And even what he had been doing was risking more than what he should have been risking. And it was my fault. He was only doing this because I was here.

"What you're asking me is difficult," L replied.

"I'll make it easy then," Luis' voice said from somewhere behind me. "If you let me talk to L, then I'll let a few hostages go."

"That is an amazing first step." I could hear the hesitancy in L's tone. "But I am not sure of a way that we can find contact with L."

"This isn't a debate." There was some form of movement, but I couldn't tell what it was.

There were footsteps and then a hand grabbed the man beside me, dragging him back. "Pick up the phone," Luis ordered.

"Wh-why?" the man asked.

"Pick up the phone!"

There was a pause and I glanced back to see the clerk picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Tell them your name," Luis ordered.

"I'm Usagi," The man answered.

My heart jumped as a loud crack filled there room and there were screams. The baby began crying again beside me and I glanced over to see the mother silently crying as she held the bundle.

"Man." Sarcasm dripped from Luis' words. I couldn't help but bounce on the balls of my feet slightly. I was so on edge. I could stop this. "You just killed Usagi. Not me. You. And I'm going to shoot another hostage every 60 seconds, if you don't get me L. Now, who's next?" I could feel the room tense even more than it was. Luis hummed, walking the line. "You," he said, snatching a woman from further down the line.

"No!" she screamed, crying. "Please no!"

"Tell them your name," Luis instructed.

"No, no, no," the girl sobbed.

"Your name!"

"Aiko," she blubbered.

"Hold on Aiko," L said to her, though I wasn't sure what the hell he was doing to help.

"I hope that Rue doesn't make me kill Aiko too." There was a cry from the Aiko at the words. "You have 30 seconds."

"I'm L!" I found myself saying loudly before I could stop myself or even think. "I'm L! Don't hurt her!"

"What are you doing?" L demanded in my ear. "What the hell are you doing? If this call ends, I won't have any audio." L's voice was frantic in my ear. "They will kill you!"

A hand snatched my shoulder and I was pulled from the line to face Luis. My eyes wandered the seen. Aiko was clutching to the phone, the body of Usagi beside her, the blood pooling around her dress shoes, and Anna's gun on her.

"Let the women and children go," I said as gently and calmly as I could. Luis laughed. "They don't need to see this."

"Aiko, you are off the hook. Get back in line." Aiko immediately dropped the phone and raced back to where the others were still facing the front door. When my eyes came back to Louis, his gun was pointed at my face. "You're a funny guy. Before I kill you, how am I supposed to know if you really are L?"

"The only way a person can contact L is through a man named Watari. If I can have Watari call you, will you believe me?" I asked, glancing behind Luis to Anna, who sat atop a table, watching with a smile.

"Sure. If you can get Watai to talk to us directly, then I will believe you," Luis replied with a nod. "Go, call him."

"I can't lose this audio, Light," L warned me.

I glanced towards a camera apologetically before pulling the earphone from my ear and my phone from my pocket. Holding it out so that Luis could watch me, I found Watari's name and tapped on it. When the screen came up, I put the call on speaker.

"Hello?" Watari asked when the line had connected.

"Watari, can you please tell this man that I am detective L?" I asked, unable to hide the nervousness from my voice.

"Of course you're L," Watari answered in a way that only spouted confidence.

"Why would L be in this bank?" Luis asked.

"You really think he just sits at a computer in his room all day?" Watari questioned with a laugh. "L has a normal life, like anyone else."

Luis didn't look fully convinced and I knew Anna didn't believe me at all, but Luis nodded and pulled my phone from my hand, ending the call. "Alright." Luis glanced around at all the people before resting his hand on the mother with the child. I took a step forward, but Anna's hand stopped me. "You, take the children and get out." I watched as the woman and the young girl raced for the exit. Luis kept his side of the deal. Maybe he would still be easy to work with.

"Would you mind if I helped him?" I questioned, motioning to Aizawa who looked sickly pale. "A dead cop won't be much of a negotiating tool."

There was an angry spark that shot through Luis. "Do you have medical training?"

My hands went up defensively. "No. I just thought that wrapping the wounds couldn't hurt." I glanced towards the medical bag. As much as I wanted to help Aizawa, I wanted the gun that was in that bag.

"Fine. Whatever."

At the ok, I moved towards the bag and snatched it up before kneeling next to Aizawa. He wasn't breathing very well, but I needed to try my best to help him. I shifted him so that he was sitting up more, my hands becoming a dark red.

"How are you feeling?" I asked softly.

"Been better," he replied, coughing up red. I began to rummage through the bag to find gauze and wraps.

"I'm going to go search the back again," Anna said before moving through to the back of the bank.

"We need to turn them against each other," Aizawa whispered. "That might be your only chance out."

"I agree," I replied, doing my best to wrap up the wounds. "I'll distract them. Can you stand?"

"I will do my best," he replied. "I'll make sure everyone gets out."

"Thank you." I glanced behind me, but at Luis' gaze on me, I decided it was best if I didn't take the gun. I got to my feet and slowly approached Luis. he gave a confused look. "You can't trust her," I tried. "She's taking orders from someone else."

"No. She's taking orders from me," Luis corrected me.

"Any second, police are going to break into this place and the only bad guy I see is you." Luis' eyes were dark. "She's setting you up. You'll take the fall for this."

"That's not true."

"Then where is she?" I challenged.

"Alright." He snatched my shoulder and shoved me towards the back of the bank, the barrel of the gun digging into my back. "I'll show you." The gun pushed me in the direction that Anna had gone and I could just hope that Aizawa was able to get everyone out while we were gone and he was horribly injured.

We wound down hallways and checked each backroom before we came to the very last one in the hall. The walls were lined with shelving and boxes. We rounded a shelf right as Anna stepped out of a closed door in the back.

What the hell are you doing?" Luis demanded and Anna gave a slight smile.

"You'll see."

I didn't like the sound of that. What had she been doing back here? There was something wrong. Something bad was going to happen. I just hoped that Aizawa got everyone out.

Anna opened the door fully and motioned for Luis. The gun at my back shoved me through first and I was shoved in a direction of a ladder that lead downwards. I knelt down and took the sides, lowering myself down.

"Hurry. We don't have much time," Anna urged.

I dropped down to the floor and glanced around. There was a maintenance entrance. She knew that. She had planned everything. What else had she planned?

The gun pushed me further down the cement hall until the floor was removed below me and I found myself face first in the hard ground, with ringing ears. It took a moment for everything to come back and I was pulled to my feet aggressively, this time by the woman. She forced me forward, but the ringing made it so I couldn't exactly hear what she was dying.

"...gas main." the sentence was chipped, but it was enough for me to understand. She had made an explosion happen up above. I wasn't sure how or why I didn't smell any gas, but it had obviously happened. I just hoped that no one else had died in the process. Maybe it was an explosive set off by... No. Maybe c4. That would create the large explosion. But that didn't matter now. Right now I was a hostage and I no longer had any eyes on me. They wouldn't be able to find me.

Eventually, we came to a door that lead out on the street. The street was empty, but you could hear the sirens overlapping the chatter down the street. I shave shoved to a car and climbed into the back seat. Anna took the passenger seat and Luis the drivers'.

As soon as the car started off, Anna pulled her phone from her pocket. A small gunshot came from the speakers and I leaned over enough to see her watching a video she had filmed of Luis shooting the father.

"You recorded that shit?" Luis asked, glancing over. "You planned this the whole time, Anna. You set me up to take the fall. You killed Andrei." She didn't look up from her phone and a smile was across her face. "How do I know that he's not your partner?" This was bad.

"Why would I work with this guy?" anna questioned, turning back in her seat to look at me with a disgusted expression.

"Why would you do anything that you did?" Luis hissed, taking a sharp turn that knocked me into the door. "Cops said that you got somebody else.'

"You sound jealous," she smirked. Her smile fell aas Luis trained his gun on her.

"Who is it?"

I glanced around at the surroundings, but didn't see anything I recognized. I had never really been to this district before. But there was no way for me to tell anyone where I was anyways. Unless... Could I somehow roll down the window? Now that would be too risky.

"Don't point that at me. This is about survival. And I am your only way out of this mess," was Anna's answer.

"Alright. Let me kill him." Luis' gun turned to me. How many more chances did I have before his finger finally did pull the trigger. My chest was tight and it felt like my lungs didn't have enough room to expand.

"We need him for leverage."

It was best if they kept me alive. They wouldn't kill me until my use had dissolved and that wouldn't be for a while. I had until they reached the help. The other man. I needed to think of a way out of this. They were driving too quickly for me to jump out of the car. The injuries would be hard to live from.

And why did they do this. The cousins had been in it for the money, but her. She had done all of this for the chaos. She had done all of this to speak to someone. To say something. And they had picked Japan specially. Why Japan?

There was a ringing and Anna put her phone to her ear. "Yeah? Got it."

"That was fast," Luis grumbled.

"Change of locations. Turn around," she ordered.

I could sense the hesitant, but with a loud squeal we stopped on the side of the road. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me the plan."

I jumped and could only watched as Anna emptied her clip into Luis before grabbing his gun. "He talks too much. L, come get him out of the car."

"And just leave him here?" I questioned, my mouth dry.

"Please and thank you," Anna said, her gun now on me. She was more dangerous than Luis had ever been. I had to do everything as carefully as I could. I got from my seat and moved to the driver's door, opening it. Luis fell to the ground with a groan, his blood covering the back of the seat. "Sorry for the mess," she teased. I slowly climbed behind the steering wheel and closed the door on the dying man. "Drive."

I followed her instructions for a few streets and came to a stop when ordered. The back door opened and someone climbed in. In the rear view mirror, I could see the face a woman. She was the woman beside me that had the child. This was her partner? This woman had been the one who made the anonymous tip. That had to be it. But what had happened to the baby?

"Drive," the woman in the back ordered.

"You know the way," Anna finished.

I put the car in gear and began down the road towards the nearest airport that I knew of. I had to think. I wouldn't be of use as soon as we reached that airport. I had the when, where, and how. What was the why? Anna's partener had been there the whole time. They had planned all of this out. And by the look on Anna's face towards the woman in the back, she wouldn't have let Luis harm the partener in anyway. So why?

They had made situations that had been near impossible to survive. A high. Like an adrenaline junkie. The ultimate high. Near death.

"What happened to the baby?" I asked. I was running out of time. The exit was coming up.

"Wasn't mine. Picked it up. Probably why it kept crying," the woman in the back replied. "But he's fine, if that's what you're worried about."

I gave a nod. "Since I'm going to die here soon, would you mind telling me why you're doing this?"

"To get back at the country that turned on me," the voice in the back seat said.

"What's your name?" I inquired, glancing back in the rear view mirror. I was running out of time. They would leave me for dead in this car and I had no cell phone.

"Hiriko Takahashi." I knew the name. It was a rape and murder case. Her husband was murdered and she was raped, but no one ever could prove that the convicted was guilty. She must have felt very betrayed. "I thought that maybe Kira would help me, like he did for Misa Misa. But the years went by and nothing happened to the man." I bit my lip. What man? Had people really been expecting me to kill everyone that had ever done a wrong thing in their life? And I didn't have a name. And there was no evidence that the one convicted had ever really done it. "So I called Anna to get the job done."

Assassin for hire? Maybe.

I pulled into the parking garage and closed my eyes. I was going to die. Right here. There was no reason to keep me around.

"Out of the car," Anna said, motioning to the door with her gun.

I gave a confused look, but slowly exited the car. I was lead from the parking lot and towards a terminal. Once inside, the two of them lead me back to where the bathrooms were. Hirio had a rather large bag in tow with her. The bathroom was surprisingly empty. I was shoved down to the floor, and the barrel of the gun was cold against my forehead.

Hiriko opened the bag and the first thing she pulled from it was a roll of duct tape. A piece was pulled free and stuck over my lips, and then she worked on taping me to the wall, Anna holding me steady with the promise of a bullet. Once I was completely immobile, they went about taping plastic packs to my chest. And soon came the wires to connect everything, followed by a timer and an old cell phone.

And this is how I was going to die. Alone in a bathroom, taking several hundred others with me.

"Thanks for the ride," Anna smirked, before taking Hiriko's hand in a loving way and pulling her from the bathroom.

I did my beast to steady my erratic breathing. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel, other than guilty. Guilty that I had hurt L. The love of my life, I had damaged. And I was never going to get to fix it.

The guilt consumed me, making me leave all of time and space. It wasn't until my name was called that I opened my eyes and met yellow ones. Ryuk. He stood there with a large, razor sharp smile. In his hand rested his own death note that he kept on a chain with him at all times.

This was it. I was dead. Ryuk had finally come to write my name.

"This was far more entertaining that I had every thought possible," Ryuk sneered, sitting in front of me on the tile floor. "I thought I would be trapped here with nothing to do, but this has been fun. Especially getting to meet your fan." My eyebrows rose in question at the word. Maybe he could distract me. Maybe I could forget that I couldn't talk and that there were numbers that were signalling the rest of the time I had left on this planet. "They wanted nothing but for you, their hero, to live. But you didn't take the help."

Ryuk laughed before continuing. "And I'll have even more fun with you once you become a shinigami. That'll be very very interesting. Don't you think Light."

I sighed behind my duct tape. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of hearing me be afraid. I had never been more afraid in my entire life, but I wouldn't show him. I was too proud.

The door to the bathroom opened and my eyes feel on Matsuda. "I found Light," he said into his radio before racing forward and kneeling beside me. How had though found me? How had any of them found me? "He's got six transmitters on him. This whole place is going to blow." He reached out and pulled the tape from my lips, leaving a fire hot burn in the place of he gag.

"Where are you?" My father's voice said through the static. "I'm on my way."

"No," I said shaking my head. "Get everyone out of here."

"Everyone needs to leave," Matsuda replied into the radio, his eyes meeting mine. It was odd. I could see something in his eyes. Like a look saying that he had accepted whatever was going to happen. He and I were going to die here.

"Bomb squad will be there in three minutes," my father called.

Matsuda rolled his eyes and I glanced down to see the timer. Two minutes and twenty-eight seconds. He started to carefully pull at the tape. He was trying to get me out. Maybe if her could untape me from the wall, we could get out, but I didn't think that was a very strong possibility.

"You got to get out of here," I said, trying to push myself from the wall, but I couldn't even budge. "You got ot make sure that everyone gets out."

"I'm not going to leave you," Matsuda said, his voice cracking slightly. Ryuk chuckled, watching intently. "Just give me a minute."

"That's about all you've got," I muttered.

"Ok." Matsuda took a deep breath. "Everything they did was for them." He was talking about the two women. L must have dug up more information about them.

"Narcissists," I mumbled.

"Romantics," Matsuda corrected, his hand covering his mouth in thought. "They met in 2008." He leaned forward and typed in the four digits on the keypad of the phone. The beeping seemed to echo through the bathroom. This could be our only shot. It was over.

There was a beeping and I glanced down seeing a flashing two tried left under the time of 1:26. I exhaled sharply. "What are you doing? Get out of here," I ordered, at a lost of anything else that he could possibly do that would help.

"Ok. They met in Laos." Matsuda leaned over and pressed another four digit code. But at another beeping I rolled my eyes. He still had a chance. "Ok. these are special to her. These are anniversaries. So, a four letter word. Love, life, soul.." Matsuda trailed off.

"Anna," I whispered, the air gone from my lungs. "Her name is Anna."

"Anna," Matsuda repeated, leaning over to the phone. His eyes met mine again and he gave a small nod before inputting the numbers. I would have held my breath if there was anything to hold onto. There was a green flash and the timer came to a stop. There was a momentary calm over the room. But a beep brought everything back. "Shit!"

There was another timer now on the phone. 30 seconds. What a sick and twisted trick.

"OK. Everything has a reason." Matsuda came closer to me, looking at the wires connected to the phone. "These are the colors of the Laos flag. Blue, white and red. The only color that's different from Japan's flag is blue."

I had no idea where Matsuda had come up with this, but it was better than anything I could have come up with. At least it made sense. His fingers carefully took the blue wire and he pulled.

We both gave a loud sigh as the timer came to a stop on the number two. Matsuda fell to the floor and I finally felt like my heart could rest.

"How did you do that?" I asked, breathing hard.

"I didn't overthink it," was my answer.

I glanced over to where Ryuk had been sitting, but the dark figure had vanished.