Author's Note;;

Last chapter, for real this time! And the poll results are in. I'm writing the sequel next. ^_^ After that I will write this one over from Light's POV.

OK, next order of business. I said in the beginning that I would mix and match from the manga/anime/movies and I am, but I am also making this A/U altogether and putting my own spin on things to better help set up my sequel. I'm sorry if you wind up not liking it, and you are more than welcome to tell me so, but please don't flame! I did warn you guys!

Shannara810;; Well –takes a deep breath- I hope this ending is intriguing and satisfying enough for now.

Chapter Eighteen:

The next thing I saw was Mogi's face hovering above mine and it was clear he'd performed CPR on me, a portable AED device on the floor beside where I'd fallen…where he'd caught me. And then I was up, following the plan and muttering a "Thanks" to Mogi, but I didn't really mean it. "The others…they – they saw?" He nodded and I was relieved, but at the same time…Light really arranged my death. In the end he'd been triumphant, gloating, at the fact that I was dying.

I watched from the monitors as Misa and he met up and she handed him another Death Note, the fake one we'd planted in her place, and it was solid. Not only had they heard Light say checkmate, they saw this with their own eyes. Mr. Yagami came into the room and handed me the Death Note from the case he'd been carrying and I instructed him to get back in the car, my voice monotonous and strained. And then he started writing in it as if he were at ease with the practice and Misa's face bunched up, "But…your father!" I'd had enough and I sent the signal and the van Mr. Yagami had been in could be seen entering the driveway once more and I walked out of the room, taking my precarious position on the floor on the wrap-around balcony that was above the room Light was in and I watched, trying not to be seen. But his eyes were only for the Death Note now, and for his father as the man walked into the room with the case.

When his plan didn't seem to be succeeding I made my entrance, smirking as I said it was a shame we hadn't been friends. We'd been so much more. We hated, no, loathed each other and we loved each other; but we'd never simply been friends. I showed him my name, and what I had written.

L Lawliet – November 6th, 00:00 Hours.

It had seemed so easy, so right, that I should die in that twisted midnight

And we never would be, either. And then he was messing with his watch again and Matsuda shot it off, and he made a dive for it only to get shot in the leg. My face remained passive as I distanced myself from the scene, removing Light from the equation and then he was pleading with the Death God, Ryuk. He'd been shot a few more times and I had to look away a moment to get my reactions under my control, and I saw Ryuk take out his own Death Note. I hadn't been expecting this.

"I did warn you that when the time came I would be the one writing your name in my note book, Light." And then Light spasmed and fell, his father catching him and I felt a gut-wrenching, knee-jerk reaction within me to go to Light. Instead I stood slowly, fighting every instinct in me to run to him, to comfort the murdering bastard. When he'd thought I was dying at least he'd given me so much, but I didn't. He didn't deserve it. That was what I told myself as my legs carried me forward and I knelt on his other side, my hand brushing his cheek gently and his own came up to meet mine, but he never finished the motion. His head fell back, eyes still open and in my direction, and then he was gone. There was something infinitely chilling about watching someone die. The way the light left their eyes and the glow of their skin vanished. The force that animated them was gone, and it was obvious. And if you watched long enough, if the eyes of the corpse were open, they deflated. I didn't want to see that and I brushed my hand down across them, closing the lids, and jerked away once more. He was still warm…and I? I was in Hell.

I heard a gunshot from the next room and was on my feet, running and wondering what the Hell had happened and where Mr. Yagami had gone. He was on the floor, a hole in the side of his head oozing blood, and my fists curled up in rage. I looked around for any sign of the Shinigami, but he was gone. And the room felt dead as we planned what we would say about Light's death – that he'd been Kira's victim, in fact they had both been. And it was true, the power to kill had been what had started all of this, this huge debacle we found ourselves in. This macabre scene that felt straight out of Macbeth, with the dead littering the floor literally or figuratively. I crossed to where his watch lay in pieces and fit them back together, jerking the mechanism like I'd seen him do. The lower compartment slid out and inside was a single shred of paper with Higuchi's name written on it in blood, along with a needle. So that was what he'd been doing? I pocketed the watch and went back to his body, searching his pockets and was stumped to find two things of mine in them. First, the small spoon that I had dropped when I'd fallen, and the next was the keychain he'd given me.

I slipped his watch on my own wrist and set the alarm for eleven fifty-nine pm, and then plucked my keys from my pocket and noticed it was gone, and I fit it back in place, tears stinging my eyes. He did love me. Somehow, somewhere beneath that tough exterior, there had been love. I ignored the police as they asked what I was doing and why I was tampering with evidence and I grabbed the note book that had my name in it and brought it into yet another room with me. Watari – he was my biggest regret in all of this, my final failure. And it would be the final one because this, this was the end of L. Even if I didn't die, I no longer wanted to be a detective. I would find some other way to help the world. I would never resort to such measures as Light had, but now I understood it had seemed the easy thing to do. Humans sometimes must face the toughest choice of all when it came to their dreams; they had to choose between the most difficult of ultimatums. Should they choose the morally right path to achieve their dream, or the easy path? It was a harder choice to traverse the road less traveled and most often chose the easy way out, even if it meant doing things they weren't necessarily proud of. It was then I noticed something sitting on the coffee table in front of me and my eyes widened. It was actually two things and I leaned forward, fingering them gently and examining them in my hands. The first was another Death Note, and the second thing was an eraser.

I heard a familiar laugh behind me and turned, seeing Ryuk with yet another Shinigami I had never seen before. The newcomer was tall, glittering with gems, and the two were looking at me strangely. I flipped to the back of the new Shinigami's book and read, Light Yagami. But because I had touched the other Death Note, the one Misa had been using since the death of Higuchi, I could still see Ryuk. And now there were three Death Notes in this world. The one that had started it all, the one that Higuchi had been using last, and now this one. I left the room once more and came back, carrying the third Death Note and ripped off the cover, recalling a rule that mentioned if the cover was removed from the Death Note the note book was rendered useless. And now we were back to two as Ryuk watched me like I was some sort of entertainment. "This is rather entertaining, Ryuk…" the bejeweled one spoke and Ryuk merely laughed once more, his gaze never leaving me as I picked up the eraser.

And suddenly I was faced with The Choice. I could choose the morally strong path, or I could choose the path of The Fool. I was human, the odds were I would choose the more foolish of the two, but I put the eraser down with a shaking hand and checked the clock. Eleven-ten at night, only fifty minutes until I would…die. I had to look, curiosity was digging into my side and since I knew it wouldn't be the death of me, and I checked. Light was still lying on the floor, the room now deserted and I walked over to him, lifting the white sheet that covered his body as we waited for an ambulance to arrive and take the him. And I pulled out a small remote-control from my pocket and pressed the shiny red button in the center, the one everyone always joked not to push, and all the cameras in the building shut off at once.

I hastily headed to the other room once more and grabbed the two note books, the eraser and the mess that was left of the third book and put them in a bag. I slung it over my shoulder as I picked Light up, struggling with the dead weight and I brought him to the garage of the building, taking shortcuts I'd built into the place in case I ever needed a swift exit. I put him in the backseat of the limo, covering him with a blanket so now one would see him, and as I sat behind the wheel of the car I mentally berated myself, knowing what I was doing was wrong. I merged into traffic and just drove, not really sure where I was going, until I hit a sad-looking motel and once again checked the time. Twenty minutes. I checked into the dingy-looking place a bit forlornly and carried him into the room I was renting under yet another alias. Hell, the place hadn't even asked me for proof of my identity, which just went to show its caliber.

I laid him on the bed and carefully extracted each bullet with a pair of tweezers from the first aid kit that had been in the car and then I went into the bathroom, closed the door behind me, and I did the unthinkable. I had always been a man of genius, of calculations and numbers, until Light. And I was selfish, too. I was spoiled and got whatever I wanted when I wanted it. But no, when the time came and I put the eraser to the paper to take off his name, I faltered. My sense of justice overtook me and I put them back down, ignoring the strange, probing stares from the Shinigami behind me and I said, "Neither of these books belong to me, therefore I cannot forfeit ownership. This one," I picked it up, "Belonged to Light…or so I would imagine." I handed it to Ryuk, the one that had my name in it, and then I turned to face the other one. "And this one, I suppose you put it in front of me therefore I own it?" I thought about that for a moment and said, "I forfeit ownership of this Death Note," and handed it back to him before going back into the bedroom and, laying on the bed as far away from Light's body as possible, I just looked at him. Even in death he was beautiful, but I hadn't the heart to bring him back to life. My watch beeped and I raised it up, counting down from sixty as the seconds ticked by. Well, it wasn't really my watch; it had been Light's, after all. The piece of Death Note that had been in it was long gone, confiscated by the Police, and I breathed the last few aloud. "Ten…Nine…" I shifted closer towards Light, feeling the weight of mortality against my chest. "Eight, Seven, Six…" My hand not adorned with the watch clasped his empty, cold right one. "Five…Four…" And I realized with a jolt we were in reverse position of what felt right. "Three…Two…" He should have been on my right, that was always how it had been with the hand-cuffs. "One." And my heart pounded for the second time in less than twenty-four hours and I buried my face in Light's shirt and it still smelled like Light. I solved the Kira case…I figured out who had killed B…and I'd fallen in love in the process. Maybe this is just it, after all, if no one who's ever used the Death Note can go to either Heaven or Hell, he and I are both destined for this 'Mu' place, right? At least we'll be together…I guess this is my Happy Ending.

Fin…

A//N

WHOAH!!!!!

I mean, WHOAH!!!!!!!!

Yeah, A/U, but I warned youuu!!! ^-^

Alright, I admit, I didn't even know how I wanted it to end. it just sort of write itself!

Now, was that what you were expecting?

Reviews are yummy, please don't flame.