A/N Just want to say thank you so much to everyone who's read and reviewed! You won't believe how happy it makes me. It's very encouraging. Hehe. Well I don't want to leave you with a cliffhanger for too long. By the way—LAST CHAPTER! Yeah, I thought there would be one more, but it sort of ended itself. Besides, I'm leaving for Brazil for 2 weeks in a few days, and I wanted to finish the story.

It felt like the entire room gasped sharply at L's words. Everyone except Light was staring him in shock. Light had crumpled into tears on the floor. He had dissolved into despair and disbelief.

How can Ryuzaki do this for me? He could already feel himself become overcome with anguish, sending intolerable jolts of aches into his heart. Just as L had predicted, Matsuda was first to break the tension with a nervous laugh.

"R-Ryuzaki…don't say such things…" he chuckled shakily. "Of course you're not Kira…" L removed the piece of the Death Note from his pocket.

"I can understand it's difficult to believe, Matsuda," he said, almost soothingly. "But yes, I am Kira."

No….NO…it's not him, it's not his fault! It's my fault! It's me, it's me, it's me! This was beyond torture. Both Light's mind and his body were pulsating fiercely with excruciating convulsions. His father's voice penetrated his wasting head as if from very far away.

"Ryuzaki," Soichiro said sternly, though there was fear in his eyes. "Please do not joke about such things. Look at what you are causing my son. He does not want to hear these lies."

"I apologize, Yagami-san, but I have proof." L held up the note in one hand and removed a pen from his pocket with the other. The second feat was nearly impossible, as his right hand was still cuffed to Light. Soichiro, Matsuda, Mogi, and Aizawa were all looking from L to the moaning Light in horror. L, on the other hand, was looking directly at the men before him, forcing his gaze away from Light. "When I know someone's face and name, I can write their name on this note and they will die of a heart attack in 40 seconds."

Light couldn't listen anymore. L was going to do it, he was really going to, he was going to sacrifice himself. Light let out an animalistic scream, he didn't care what anyone else thought of him right now, the pain was unimaginable. He was filled with regret that he had ever touched that damned notebook, filled with disbelief that L was going to give up his own life, filled with so much sorrow, and filled head to toe with indescribable pain. He tried not to hear Aizawa's next words, struggled to block out L's reply, but he couldn't, his eyes were scrunched shut, all he could do was listen and scream and feel his heart be ripped to pieces.

"So that's it then?" Aizawa exclaimed angrily. "You've been lying to us, and now you've decided to tell the truth and then kill us all?"

"No, Aizawa." L's inconceivably mild voice sent fresh stabs into Light's brain. "I've decided to tell the truth because I cannot bear being Kira anymore."

"I don't believe it," Mogi spoke up for the first time. "There is no way Ryuzaki can be Kira."

"Well, there is no way for him to prove it!" exclaimed Soichiro. "We cannot test that notebook on a human life!"

"There is a way, actually, for me to prove it." L responded. Judging from his tone, one might think that he was debating ice cream flavors. But if Light had been able to look up, he would have seen the charcoal rims of L's eyes quivering.

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

"I am going to"

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

"Write my own"

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

"Name into this notebook."

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO!

Light didn't hear what happened next. He didn't hear Matsuda's protests, Soichiro's gasps, or even Aizawa and Mogi banging their fists into a table. He could barely think; this was a million times worse than hell. Light was no longer aware of his motions. The pain and heartbreak had combined into one immense force that was larger than his entire body. It was raging though his every pore. It ripped and tore at his flesh. Was he screaming? He didn't know, he could no longer breathe. He was burning, freezing, drowning, suffocating, choking, withering—

Dying.

And then – it disappeared. The pain left him, flying out from his eyes and lips, and exploding. Light heard himself give a horrible cry, and then he knew no more.

When he woke up again, the first thing he realized was the absence of Kira. It felt as if a humongous weight had been lifted off his soul. He was about to cheer when he realized what this must mean. His face crumpled. Ryuzaki!

Light pried his eyes open. Crouched and staring at him, with a hand on his knee and a finger on his lip, was L.

"Ryuzaki!" Light's voice was overflowing with happiness that he had not felt in months. He reached up to embrace L, but a firm hand pushed him down again. Light's gaze followed the hand up until he found himself looking into his father's moist eyes.

"Don't get up yet, Light. Your body has just been through a terrible ordeal. Give it time to recuperate." Light gazed around and realized that he was back on the bed that he shared with L.

"Dad, I--" Light said desperately. He had to confess. It would be better to confess than to undergo the pain of losing Ryuzaki. Which brought to mind the question of why exactly both him and L were still alive…

"Shh. Ryuzaki explained it to us. You became Kira through no true fault of your own, and now that Kira has left you and the notebook is destroyed, as long as the killings stop, we will not report you." Soichiro was beaming down at Light, who felt a rush of happiness that grew when he realized it was not accompanied by any sort of pain. Light turned to L.

"How did you…I mean, why are we both…" Light didn't want to finish the sentence.

"It seems I underestimated your emotions, Light-kun." L was nibbling on a lollipop.

"What does that mean, Ryuzaki?"

"I thought that in order to fill your heart with love and sadness, you had to have someone close to you die. But it didn't take that much." L turned his gaze to Light and smiled. "You truly believed that I was going to die to save you – which I had intended to do. That alone filled you with enough emotion to force out the hatred." Light blushed.

"So then…" he murmured. "Kira was destroyed because…I care about you more than you thought?"

L removed the lollipop from his lips and gave a mirthful laugh.

"Apparently, yes."

They looked at each other for a moment, each of their faces spreading into grateful smiles. The next thing Soichiro knew, Light had flung himself into L's arms.

"Light, your health! Ahh, forget it." Soichiro walked over to the other side of the room where the other three were standing and clapped Matsuda on the shoulder.

L and Light embraced deeply, their arms intertwined. Light couldn't believe how happy he was.

"Ryuzaki?"

"Yes, Light-kun?" Light pulled away, just a little bit, and looked straight into L's eyes.

"Why did you do it? Why were you going to sacrifice yourself for me?"

L laughed again.

"I thought I told you, Light-kun!" He was tracing Light's features with his finger again. "I can never resist anything…sweet."

I almost cried a little writing this. I was planning on having either L or Light die, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I hope you liked the ending!