DESIDERATUM
Summary: Light discovers that L has an immunity to the Death Note, and L is overcome with depression. On a journey of self-discovery as well as a never-ending battle to the death of wits, they both expect to die. Shounen-ai.
Rating: T, mainly for language but some mature content
Spoilers: Up to manga 7 / episode 25. Sort of.
Beginning Notes: Alternate events after episode 25
Disclaimer: Death Note is not mine. I wish I had a Death Note. I need to purge the world of sin and evil! Uh. hm. okay. I'm a pacifist. And I was kidding. god.
When Rem realized with a fascinated horror what Light Yagami wanted her to do, she despised him viciously. Her hatred was even more bitter because she knew that more or less, she, she, a God of Death had become his pawn and would obey. It was the only way that she could protect something she had come to love, and Light - rightfully named Kira, for killer - took that into his ingenious calculations when he plotted her own downfall.
Humans were cruel and manipulative. The more she had come to actually knowing them instead of killing them from afar, the more she realized this to be so. Even the human that she loved was cruel and manipulative. Light Yagami, the Killer, was not much more than a child by human standards and he had already set the bar to a new level. Then there was the one they called 'L', his opposition, who was just as brutal and cold-hearted. It was without exception.
Invidiously she clutched her thin, black Death Note, wishing that she could write his name in the note. But no, that's not what would save the one she loved. She would follow his plan because it was the only plan that made sense at this point, as he knew that it would be. And she had precious seconds left before that old man who already had a low lifespan number left called the president of some human country, and the truth of Kira's false rules was revealed. If that happened... then the one she loved would inevitably receive the death penalty.
It was ironic, Rem thought savagely, that a God of Death would love more than these damned humans. She had always been indifferent to the species which she lived off of for sustenance. But now she wished that she had killed a million billion more. Damn you, damn you, damn you. You self-centered parasites, damn you.
Quillsh Wammy. Her spidery handwriting etched this name onto the pale parchment. This meant that, irreversibly, in forty seconds that old man would die of a heart attack and he was beyond saving. To her this was not heartbreaking. What was important and unfortunate was that in forty seconds she would disintegrate into a pile of dust. She would revert back into the ashes she was made out of. This was simply because for a Shinigami, loving on the job is forbidden. To kill out of passion, which is what without a doubt will happen when you love a worm, becomes a murder, and that is unseemly for a God. For Shinigami, loving the humans is a mortal sin.
Humans didn't know how damned easy they had it.
"Damn you, Light Yagami," she whispered to no one in particular. It was the last words that she would say, she wanted to say something that she would never regret. "I'm glad at least that I loved. You, despicable creature, will never... love..."
And then she remembered that the man called "Watari"'s death wasn't enough to achieve her goal. He was a pawn... that other one's pawn, and he was essentially replaceable. That other one... that other one, who also only had a taste for victory...
What was his name?
Panicked, she ferociously scribbled into the Death Note. The name that will kill, the name that will kill!
The only reason that humans could die from their names was because they were needy creatures. The name became the filthy creature as they embraced it like a mother's love. They needed it. Without it, they felt incomplete. Selfish, sick. Rem's name was just a word to her, she called herself whatever pleased her, like any Shinigami. That's why she would never die from a Death Note.
No, this was her end. A wail escaped her throat as her left hand began to soften from hard flesh into a powdery substance. What she called her skin was peeling in fragments, and as it fell down to the floor it looked like ground cinders. She was crumbling like a piece of burnt wood. This body was moldering, it was decomposing. It was ending.
What name?!
Rem shrieked, and as the sound escaped her lips, her fear was gone, too. She remembered quite simply the reason why she was becoming soot, and this calmed her. There were no regrets. This was fine. It was okay.
It was okay to love. She had killed countless others just like Misa, without a second thought. They were just humans. She might have even killed Misa one day, had she not spent sweet moments with the girl to realize what a waste that would be. This was one she would spare. Not just spare - die for.
Rem's eyes clouded over, and they were the last things to be reduced to that finely ground substance. Her Death Note lay settled in a pile of dull gray dust. It was the most peculiar of all murder weapons that lay in rest in the ferocious human world, but in the end it was a final tribute to a being that had sacrificed her existence for something she loved.
So it was beginning. It was ending, so it had to be beginning.
Light's heart thumped dramatically as he watched the man he knew as Ryuuzaki. L sat on his chair in front of a wall of computer monitors, his arms wrapped around his knees as he waited for Watari's response. Light had told himself repeatedly that he hated the damned detective, and when that didn't rid him from his nausea he reminded himself that L simply had to die. The raven-haired enigma was a closed gate on Kira's road to Paradise. This simply had to be.
It had to be. There couldn't be any second thoughts now. His opponent was in checkmate. The moment of truth was here. If Light couldn't kill L now, L would find the way to have Light arrested and the law would have no mercy. L would have him killed.
So... it had to be. The eighteen-year-old couldn't deny that it was a sacrifice. L had, very truthfully, been the most fascinating person that he had ever known. He was lanky and thin, but on the utter contrary he was strong and muscled. He was polite and humble, yet he was cocky and arrogant. Detached and collected, but likewise rash and passionate. He wore a round face with wide-eyes like a child, but the gazes and calculations he offered were matured. And under Light's detestation of the man who thought he was justice, there was a respect. Perhaps even a friendship, though one absolutely not founded on such pillars as trust or understanding. No, that was ridiculous. Never a friendship. These circumstances didn't allow such a thing. But maybe in other circumstances... but that was equally ridiculous. If Light had met L on the street he would have struck him as odd and moved on. Through this life-or-death investigation was the only way that he could feel what he did now... which was what exactly? Certainly it was hatred. It had to be hatred. He wouldn't let himself dare to think at this point that it wasn't that.
Of course, it's not like he knew anything about the lanky detective except a recognition of his spirit. L had suspected he was Kira from the start. He had known. And even now with no evidence he would not give up. Light wished that he had at least known the name of his dearest mortal enemy.
But that could be forgiven. When L was finished, Light would be free to create a beautiful world. No more innocent people would walk the streets in fear. Criminal activity would cease to exist. People would be able to cherish their lives and live in honesty. No more corruption, no more immorality, nothing. Humanity would be good again. And he would kill even Ryuuzaki for that. Without question, he would do it, and he was going to.
He knew that his plan was successful when the computer monitors that were linked to Watari's office suddenly went a dead shade of black. The words "ALL DATA DELETION" ran across all of the screens in bold, pixelated font. Rem, the pain in the ass but in the end ever so useful pawn, had gone even further than even Light had thought. Rem had just killed the old man.
"Watari!" L cried out in what was somewhere between a shout and a coarse whisper. The monitor screens flickered and died. The fear of a child drenched his pale face; it clenched his expressionless eyes. This very real horror suddenly transformed the whole situation from a surreal dream to a chilling reality.
Light Yagami held his breath. It was happening. This was the moment. In a few seconds, Kira's only real obstacle would be silenced. Ryuuzaki... would be silenced.
"I instructed him to delete the data if something were to happen to him..." L's voice was forced and unsteady. Light could feel his mind whirling with thoughts, equations, explanations and theories. On such an overload of data, trying so desperately to crack the code, Light half expected that Rem didn't need to write down L's real name in order for him to have a heart attack. Then as if on cue, L shouted, "The Shinigami! Everyone, the Shinigami just murdered Watari!"
Terror stricken, the police officers began to yell with faces as white as ghosts. "She'll kill us all!" Matsuda exclaimed.
Light was waiting for just that. His face was also covered in sweat, and he was holding his breath. Die, Ryuuzaki, please just die! It was agonizing. The torture of the heart attack that L would soon feel was nothing compared to this feeling. The domino was twitching, it just needed to lean a little bit further until it finally fell. Once it did the whole array of pieces would come tumbling after.
"No, quiet everyone!" The police chief and Light's father, Soichiro Yagami, commanded. He seemed to be the only one able to think rationally at that point. "Mogi-san, go to Watari, confirm if he's dead. Aizawa-san, find the Shinigami!"
These are the longest forty seconds of my life... Light clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. L was indeed not moving, except for quick little breaths that came in irregular intervals from his chest. The detective just stared in awe, frozen, at the monitors bearing blank screens. Still alive. Still alive. Still alive. The seconds were ticking. If only he had been brave enough to glance at his watch. Instead he couldn't rip his eyes away from him.
Finally, L turned his head slowly. His wide, ebony eyes locked with his would-be murderer. They were foggy, filled with disbelief. But there was nothing that masked the sad look that he gave the boy he had once claimed was his "first ever friend". Then his empty gaze was back at the monitors.
And then Light realized that the longest forty seconds of his life was not in fact forty seconds at all. L was not going to die. Light's face twitched, and he held back a gulp. Not going to die. Not... going... to... die... Oh, shit. Shit. Rem messed up. The only explanation was that Rem messed up. She must have written down Watari's name first, and before she could write L's, she had withered away.
That... fucking... god-damned... fuck!
"He's dead..." Mogi had re-entered the main room. Awkwardly he looked at the detective, who was hunched over and hugging his knees, facing the other way. "Ryuuzaki... I'm sorry. It looks like heart-attack..."
"So it's Kira's doing. Ryuuzaki..." It was Soichiro Yagami, his face still contorted in a look of determination underneath the anguish. He walked over to the huddled youth and gingerly put a strong hand on his shoulder. "It's awful. But at least it was a quick death."
"No it wasn't," L answered quietly, but the tone was as foggy as his eyes. He might not have even known that the words left his mouth. "Myocardial infarction isn't quick. The blood supply to the heart is interrupted... then there's oxygen shortage... It was slow enough for him to delete the data... heart attacks are longer than that... Watari didn't..." The words drifted off into a strangled mumble.
At that moment, Shuichi Aizawa was back, cautiously holding a black notebook in his hands. He held it in two fingers, gripping it as though it were toxic. "She's not anywhere. Unless she's a pile of dust now, right by the Death Note. That's all I saw anywhere."
"Then she's dead," Light said bitterly, not needing a reason to explain his foul tone. What was important was hiding the panic that he felt in his gut. L was capable of picking up on fear with a sixth sense. Though of course, perhaps showing some fear would be fine. A Shinigami had after all just killed a member of the team. "It was her Death Note after all. There's no other logical explanation. No one else is going to die if we haven't already."
Soichiro exhaled sharply, and the other police in the Kira Investigation team breathed sighs of relief. The chief gave them hard looks, and turned back to L. "Ryuuzaki, I'm so sorry."
"Hmm.." L blinked the fog out of his eyes, and pressed a key on his keyboard. Those long slender fingers pressed a few more keys, and in its own domino effect suddenly he was typing ferociously at the computer. His voice was still rather mumbled, but he spoke clearly. "So it was the Shinigami who killed Watari. I see, how interesting that Rem-sama died from that. Why is that, I wonder? Because she interfered with the doings of humans? But that doesn't make sense, anybody that she killed would be interfering with our lives. Though how can a God of Death make sense? They shouldn't exist in the first place."
"Ryuuzaki?" Matsuda slowly inquired. "Are you... all right?"
"I regret very much that I won't be able to find out how and why exactly she died. Obviously, she isn't here to tell us anymore. Not like she was very useful in answering my questions anyway. There is so much that I don't know, and I would like to. I wonder what her motivation could be? Perhaps she didn't like where our investigation was going. She doesn't want the existence of Shinigami to go public in the human world, maybe?" He kept talking in the same detached voice that he normally used. It became clear to the rest of the team then with the beeping of computers that he was trying to recover Watari's deleted data.
Light knew he was in denial.
"Aha! But if every Death Note is tied to a God of Death, then Kira, or the second Kira must also have a Death Note! Once we've captured Kira, we must be sure to find out more information on the subject. I wonder if the Shinigami does the actual killing? If by owning the notebook, you can control a Shinigami? Since you can't see the god unless you've touched the note, this would be logical, but I'm doubtful that-"
"Ryuuzaki!" Soichiro shouted. He grabbed the back of L's chair and spun it around, and the bewildered detective stared up at the man like a kid who wasn't quite sure what he was being accused of now. "Watari-san is dead! If we're all safe now, we are not continuing the case until he is buried!"
L's face altered into a very exaggerated but extremely genuine look of despair. "Dead..."
Light's fingernails had dug too deeply into his palms as he clenched his fists. He couldn't take this. He felt near having a heart attack himself. He walked to Aizawa and snatched the Death Note out of his hands. Angrily he opened it to the more recent pages. There was a whole list of new names, and he hazarded a guess. "Quillsh Wammy, huh, Ryuuzaki? Was that Watari's real name?"
The despair deepened. "Light-kun!" And then his face was contorted into sincere torment. It was in defensive terror that he exclaimed, "You can't know that name!" With that he very suddenly leaped out of his chair and right at Light.
Light wished he could strangle the bastard right then. He misjudged the force at which L was flying at him and the detective's thin but tall figure knocked him over. He was trying desperately to pull the note book out of his hands. It was illogical behaviour because of course not just Light but everyone in the room now knew Watari's true name. L didn't usually act illogically. Light curled his knuckles and punched him in the jaw.
"Stop it! Light-kun! Ryuuzaki!" Matsuda yelled.
Ryuuzaki recoiled back, but his face didn't distort in any kind of acknowledgement of the pain. Instead he jumped forward again at Light, raising a bare foot and swinging it into what became a kick. Light lowered his head to save himself from the blow. Without stopping to recover his stance, L raised his left foot and snapped it forward. Light reached and grabbed a thin ankle, and yanked it so it pulled his enemy off balance. Pushing forward he punched L in the stomach. L took the blow without reaction and raised his own fist to hit Light in the face with enough force so that the brunette had to release his foot.
"Ryuuzaki, calm down!" Soichiro recognized the detective's irrational mindset, and immediately he went forward and grabbed one of his pale, skeletal wrists. Aizawa joined him in grabbing L's other arm. The detective flailed his weight forward, but the policemen twisted his arms like they had been trained to do with criminals. Though it must have hurt, L continued to pull away and unsuccessfully so, like a spooked cat with his eyes still casting horror upon what the Death Note might reveal.
"Ryuuzaki, I'm sorry. It's horrible that this all had to happen," Light said sagely, pretending that he was calm. "But it's too late now. He died for our cause, we all deserve to know who he was."
"Just put it down!" L's voice was the closest thing Light or anyone else there had heard to a wail. Light was reminded vaguely of the time when L discovered the existence of Shinigami, and realized that it was reminiscent of that disbelief too.
"Light, now isn't the time," Soichiro said, still holding on to the struggling detective. "He doesn't need this right now. We'll talk about this after we ... take Watari-san's body to the police station."
"Don't touch Mr. Wammy!" The words came out of L's mouth wearing a heavy accent. The English use of "Mr" instead of the Japanese "-san" made Light narrow his eyes in thought.
His disregarded his father's order, and looked back down at the pages. Light was as drawn to the Death Note as he ever had been, and his eyes swept over the parchment. He realized that Rem had written a number of names after Quillsh Wammy. Some were in Japanese kanji characters, others used a Roman alphabet... and was that Arabic? He scanned them for meaning. Ryuuzaki. L. Ryuga Hideki. Erald Coil. Denuve. ...What was this? Rem, may she be forever damned, had written out a hundred of L's aliases. She had tried to kill him after all.
"So none of these names are real, huh, Ryuuzaki," Light said softly, but out loud.
Suddenly L was very still and he hung limp in Soichiro's and Aizawa's grasp. He seemed very docile, as if he had never been fighting tooth and nail for freedom in the first place. "What do you mean, Light-kun?"
"It looks to me as though Rem attempted to write your name into the Death Note, too," Light said very casually, but he studied his rival's reactions with fierce intensity. "Both 'Ryuuzaki' and 'L' are in there. Even 'Ryuga Hideki', even I deduced that that was fake when I met you the first time! There's so many. 'Lawliet'? Is that French?"
If it had been possible, it seemed that L had suddenly become even more pale. He stared at Light with eyes that lacked their usual calculating scrutiny. "Lawliet is in there?" His voice was forced and scratchy.
"Yeah." What the hell had gone wrong, anyway? Was Rem so blind in her fit that she forgot to look at whatever name was written above L's being? Light wished that she were alive and human so that he might write her name, the proper way, and give her a death that would never let her forget. "Which identity was that?"
"One from a very long time ago, I suppose. A minor one." L took a deep breath, and gathered his weight properly on his legs. After a short moment of silence, he said, "Everybody. I'm sorry for acting so strangely. I apologize for attacking you, Light-kun. I'm not thinking straight."
"No one is expecting you to think rationally right now, Ryuuzaki," Soichiro said very gently as he released L from his hold. "We're all panicked right now, and we all... had a great respect for Watari-san."
"Yes," L answered blandly.
"Mogi-san! And Matsuda-san!" Soichiro commanded, sizing them up, likely taking L's surprising strength into consideration. "Both of you, please stay with Ryuuzaki. Aizawa-san, and Light, both of you will come with me. I'm going to contact the station and tell them of Watari's passing. We will arrange a funeral. If... this is alright with Ryuuzaki..."
"Yes." The tone was as bland as before.
A few minutes later, after a quick phone call (having a police car come directly to the building would be too compromising for L) it was determined that they would bring the body and information to a designated place where they would be picked up. Light's father had lifted Watari's body. The eighteen-year old felt a sudden, unexpected sickness as the sight of the doll-like mass of flesh that not long ago was the kindly gentleman. It was uneasiness, because generally he did not see dead bodies. He had put to death a thousand sinners but there was something uncomfortable about being directly near one. Not that Watari had been a sinner in any sense except that he followed L's lead of opposition. Light forced himself to trail directly behind Soichiro and Aizawa and not advert his gaze. They didn't let L look at all - Mogi and Matsuda had kept him in one of the bedrooms out of fear that he might lose his head again.
It was an ironic saying. 'Lose his head'. If only he had.
Outside it was raining, but no one said anything. Aizawa opened a black umbrella but because of the wind, it didn't shield them from a single rain drop. Light tried to take reign over the emotions that he felt right then as they walked. There was definitely panic. L would certainly recover over any emotional loss he had for his assistant. He must have developed some kind of attachment to the old man when he was the only true company he had. But now that L was in contact with others, that was a smaller loss. Once L had recovered, he would continue with the test. The detective would find exactly the results that he wanted, too.
And with those results... Light could be Kira. L would undoubtedly have Light locked up once again, and Misa too (which would be ironically appropriate, considering Rem's sacrifice and failure...), and then... Light's body would be the next lifeless doll. This world couldn't afford to lose him. This world needed him. L couldn't win. Light didn't want to die. There had to be some way to find L's real name.
Light bit his lip anxiously, and then he remembered Misa, his trump card. Misa had the Shinigami eyes again. If only she could see L. She could see his real name. How hard would it be to draw L out of the Kira Investigation Headquarters, anyway? L would have never come out if Light had asked before, because that would only be too obvious. But with Watari dead, would he be more defensive over his life, or less?
They arrived at the designated place where a police car had already arranged to pick them up. An ambulance sat parked on the street for Watari. Of course they would try to revive him, but Light knew better than anyone what a waste of efforts that would be.
They entered the police car, and Light sat by a window. Water dribbled down the glass, and even inside he could hear the wind howling. It was a terrible rainstorm. L had said that just a few hours ago. It felt longer than that.
Light hadn't exactly cared, or at least that's what he told himself. But when Ryuuzaki was absent from the investigation room, he ever-so-casually questioned Matsuda about his whereabouts. For reasons of caution, of course. Ryuuzaki taught him better than anyone that it was dangerous to let one's enemy out of one's sight. Matsuda put on a concerned face. "He said something about bells, I think he went upstairs."
Light had sighed at that. Of course Ryuuzaki was going to get all depressed again. He had been depressed after Light's release from prison because he couldn't prove that he was Kira. The bastard was immature in that sense. He didn't take defeats easily. So now that Light had eliminated all evidence against his shakey hypothesis (even if it was correct), who knew what that guy would do?
When his soon-to-be-murderer found Ryuuzaki on the porch, outside, standing obliviously in the rain, looking up at the sky as if he were focusing on something besides heavy clouds... Light had been mildly irritated. The man who was supposed to be the world's greatest detective looked more like a young teenager who had just realized how baffling life was. He was soaked head to toe. That idiot could catch a cold, standing there.
Bastard.
They pulled in at the police station, and Light wondered hesitantly why exactly his father had insisted that he be in this group. He wasn't part of the police force. Wasn't the only explanation for him being with L's personal assistant that L suspected the police chief's son? No, no, he had to remind himself. Soichiro simply didn't want to agitate L more by having Light stay there - and inevitably, it would have agitated L, no matter how kindly Light acted. And it would have been acting. Light didn't even know how to put how frustrated he felt into words, and gritting his teeth and biting his lip wouldn't have been enough right then to keep his hands away from his despised friend's neck.
"Light... are you doing okay?" Soichiro opened the door for him as they pulled into the station. His face was grim, and his lips were drawn into a tight line. He offered his son a gracious hand.
"I'm okay," Light said, playing his voice so it perfectly caught the tone of a youth trying his best to hide his hurt feelings. He clasped on to the offered strong hand of his father. "I feel terrible for Watari-san though. He was a wonderful man. I can't believe that the Shinigami would do that. I just don't understand why."
"We can't stop now. We have to keep going." Soichiro hesitated for a moment as they walked into the station. "I feel the need to apologize to you anyway, son. I feel as though I've somehow put your life into danger. If the Shinigami hadn't died after that murder... to think, what if she had... written more names down, too. I don't know if I could handle it if she had written your name..."
"It's okay, Dad." Light gave a reassuring smile. "You can't help those things. I got myself wound up in this case, but I have a genuine determination to capture Kira too. If I die in trying to reach my goals, then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. It wouldn't be your fault at all."
"Don't talk like that, Light!" Soichiro said forcefully. Of course, he would still have to act like a father. Of course it was okay for him to say things, but hearing his son say the same things would be painful. "I don't want to hear you saying things like that. You shouldn't be throwing your life away for anything at this point. You're still just a child."
"Ah, you're right, Dad. I'm sorry." A lie, of course. Light was no child. Light was Kira, a god, a superior being who would bring this world to salvation. Though that could only happen if...
"I just pray that Ryuuzaki will be able to recover," his father commented quietly. "Living the life that he's been living, it must be hard to lose your only real support. You know, I've been hearing about the famous 'L' for years. I never imagined that he would be so young. He's not much more than a child himself."
This annoyed Light, and made him feel a pit in his stomach all over again. That child wants me to sit in an electric chair. That child had you pretend to kill me. That child doesn't follow the laws of any country, yet claims that his side of government order is justice... "He's strong-willed. He'll be fine, too."
"I don't know if he is, without Watari. He's got no one left to trust that he's ever told us about. At least, that's what I've gathered." Soichiro's voice drifted as they reached the desk of the police headquarters. "Just wait here, Light. It'd be better if you... just stayed."
"Of course." Light smiled in farewell, watching his father enter the elevator across the lobby.
But instead of waiting in the lobby he went straight to the men's restroom. He glanced around for video cameras, but there were none. After concluding that the area was free from all forms of life, he sat down on the tile counter and took out his cell phone.
"Light! Light! Misa was worried that you wouldn't call her, being so busy killing Ryuuzaki!" The girl's voice was full of bubbles that made Light clench his fists to keep from snapping. "Can we meet?"
"He's not dead, Misa," Light said slowly and quietly. He would have to have a talk with that damned woman about what was acceptable to say over a phone line and what was not. Actually, since Rem was dead, killing her might not be such a bad option... "I need to know what his name is. You saw him that day, months ago. I need you to remember. If you can't, you're useless to me."
Misa let out a girlish yelp, and she hesitated. "I thought very hard about it for a long time, and something came into my head. But it's very stupid so I thought that surely it was wrong..."
"Misa, for God's sake, tell me you remember what L's name is!"
"I did remember," she peeped quietly. "I remember that I thought it was strange, and you told me later it was because he gave me a false name. But now that I've had time to think about it, I remember."
"I need to know now."
"He didn't have one."
Silence. Light found himself unable to choose the words that he wanted to say. He felt faint for a moment, then panicked, then furious, then frightened. Then he said, "What you do you mean he didn't have one, Misa?" Light's voice was slow and dangerous.
"There was no name above his head. I only saw the number that was his life span. I was going to ask Rem about it, what it meant... but then I got arrested..."
L. Ryuuzaki. Ryuga Hideki. Erald Coil. Denuve. Edward Williams. Zayeed Raberba. Charles Pavlov. Lawliet. All of those names that Rem had so desperately written, none of them was a name that that fucking bastard called his own.
In that case, L was essentially immune to the Death Note.
In that case... Light would have to kill him with his bare hands.
-To Be Continued...
Author's Notes:
1. This was, sadly enough, inspired by my L death-fic, Faith of an Atheist. I had explored the idea of L's real name meaning nothing to him, so maybe the Death Note wouldn't affect him... and now I have a storyline planned out focusing on just that.
2. At this point in my story plans, shounen-ai WILL ensue, but this also won't be a Romeo-and-Juliet-true-love-fluff... I don't necessarily want romance to be the number one focus. ...More importantly I just want to let L and Light act realistically and in-character to the best of my abilities.
3. Yes, some of those L names are made up. I figured that he has like a billion of them, so why not take creative liberties.
I'm going to try really hard not to abandon this one... the reason I usually only write one-shots is because I always get distracted and never finish actual stories. So if you enjoyed this beginning, wish me luck. ;-) If you didn't, well, you know. Shit happens.
Thank you for reading! -Serria