Greetings. You may want to read this first to see if this fanfic is right for you:

Hello, and welcome to the Happy-Go-Lucky-Go-Wammy Trivia Show! No, wait, that's not right... Heh, I've been spending too much time on DeviantArt and YouTube and not enough time writing. Now, I'm new to the whole anime fandom in general. It's a funny story, actually, but way too long to put here. I'll just say I got into, possibly even addicted to, anime about a month ago when my friend said, "Hey, have you ever watched 'Death Note'? I think you'd like it!"

Now, I will say right now: I have watched the whole anime series, but I haven't read the manga, watched the movies, or read the novels yet. Yet. Therefore, if L's history has ever been explained, I don't know about it and am making up my own theory. So there.

This chapter leading up to the rest of the story will contain spoilers if you haven't watched up to episode 25 or read up to chapter 58.
Rated T for Teen for: character death, possible mild language, supernatural mischief of sorts, etc.
NOT Rated T for Teen for: yaoi. It's about L and Light, yes, but no yaoi. No romance of any sort, except for Misa just being Misa.

I know I should be working on my Sonic and video game fanfics (in Death Note speak, I'm a female version of Matt), but I watched the series and just had to write this! Thank you, and I hope you enjoy our feature presentation!

Disclaimer: I don't need to put one, actually. No one does, but they do. This is FANfiction for a reason. Everyone knows we don't own anything.
...Crap, I did put a disclaimer. Oh well.
Oh, but that first sentence comes from a comic on DeviantArt by SilentReaper. It's funny; go read it.
Wait, read this first, though! :)

"Watari?"

L stared at the screen, even though he knew he couldn't see his elderly assistant through it. Watari had cut off mid-sentence with a gasp, and that alone worried L. When he didn't respond, L's concern and uncertainty grew to an uncomfortable level, something he didn't feel too often and didn't like.

His black eyes widened as he heard a weak and strained breath on the other end. "Watari!" he cried as the connection ended. In its place on the monitor were three words that instantly made L's face pale.

"'All data deletion'? What the hell's going on?" Shuichi Aizawa shouted as he, Kanzo Mogi, Touta Matsuda, and Soichiro and Light Yagami, the rest of the Kira Investigation Team, circled around the monitor in the center. L kept staring at the screen, keeping his face expressionless. The realization of what happened, though, failed to settle on him. He hoped it wasn't true, but the emergency screen on all of the monitors proved him wrong, bathing the room in an ivory glow.

"I told Watari," explained L, referring to the others with a hint of emotion behind his voice, "to make sure that he should erase all information in the event that something were to happen to him."

"'If something were to happen'?" Aizawa echoed, expressing everyone's concern.

"Could it be?" asked Matsuda. The air seemed to drop to chilling, morbid degree.

It must have been a heart attack, L thought quickly. He eyed the letters on the screen, running his tongue over his teeth. We have Kira's notebook, so it must've been someone with the second Kira's powers and notebook. Either that, or…

His head whipped toward former-Chief Yagami at his left. "Where is the shinigami?" he demanded.

Yagami looked over to Mogi as if he had the answer. "Good question; I don't see it," he said, glancing at the others in a frantic search.

"It disappeared! What's going on?"

L turned back to glare at the keyboard, tightening his two-fingered grip on his coffee spoon. Light can't be the Kira that killed Watari, and the shinigami is the only other one that could at this time.

"Everyone!" he shouted while lifting his head. "The shiniga—!"

He gasped, the words getting stuck in his throat. Black-lined eyes grew wide as he felt one last rush of blood in his ears before the beating of his heart in his chest stopped.

Time seemed to slow as his body went limp. The spoon slipped from his fingers and he felt his swivel chair disappear from under him. He couldn't think straight, but he knew that Kira had gotten him.

How L hated to admit it, but…Kira had finally won.

The bells…

I hear the bells. They've been ringing all day, actually. I find it rather distracting. Maybe they're for a church, or a wedding, or…

They grew louder, ringing over and over again in his head. With each thunderous clang, they brought up memories that he'd forgotten long ago. Leaving them forgotten for a good reason, those memories: an eight-pointed sapphire star, its image immortalized in hued glass for children without families.

He was rendered breathless already, but the image only led to more surprising pictures, and a more depressing time.

The glass changed and lightened, now tinted with emeralds and golds that laid filtered sunshine on the ground.

Through the glass, he could see an empty sidewalk behind a black iron railing. That sidewalk always tormented him. To some, it might be uninteresting.

Walking along that path offered L a new life as a child. And now that life was ending, just like that, with a pen, eight letters, and a notebook. To think a life could be taken away so easily.

Too bad it had to torment him and be so damn slow.

Behind the clamor of the bells, he heard a cry. Faint, but the sound rapidly became recognizable as children ran in front of the glass. Children L used to know. Especially one young boy, standing off in the shadows. He sobbed again, crying over the sound of the bells now. Tears had already stained his face, and the other youths avoided him, glancing at the boy and scurrying away.

L felt weightless, even though his chest clenched to an uncomfortable, somewhat painful level, slowly erasing his existence. His mouth hanging slightly agape, he was able to make out a shocked face watching him.

Yagami.

It was Light Yagami in front of him.

The clang of the bells grew even louder as L lost strength. More stained windows replaced Light's face, with spacious cathedrals, excited playing kids, close-cropped foliage, and the lone, crying child. Over and over again.

Seconds, moments, or possibly even minutes later, the picture and sound of the boy's whining grew fuzzy as L lost all feeling in his being, slipping from the real world and struggling to keep his eyes open. He gave one last desperate attempt at an intake of air when a last, vivid memory was shown to him: A child, his short, black hair highlighted in sunshine, standing out on the sidewalk, hand-in-hand with an all-too-familiar adult. Laughing…

As fast as it came, it dissipated, filling him with unbelievable warmth. Once again, L saw Light over him, but he couldn't take his eyes off of him this time. His mahogany eyes had narrowed, almost looking blood-red, to give him a smug look, and he was smirking.

He wanted this to happen.

Light Yagami is Kira…

I—I was right all along. I knew it…

But…I…

He didn't even attempt to say anything as his eyes finally, silently slid closed and the bells faded away. He barely heard one of the men shout, back in the real world, "Ryuuzaki!"

It…It's not Ryuuzaki, he thought quietly to himself for the last time. It's Lawliet. L…Lawliet.

After that, the warmth went away, and he knew no more.

Yes, this takes place during the time jump between 2007 and 2012. And it goes by anime dates/years. This is the scene from the show, so I didn't make much up myself, but it was a recap for the rest of the story.

Now I know that half of L's little 'life-review' memories aren't canon, but I wrote this without a copy of the episode at hand and had to go on memory. Let's just say some of L's flashbacks were cut from the episode for scripting reason to make it easier for me. Thank you, and the next chapter will be up shortly! Of course, if you know me, I tend to take long on updates... Well, HA! I already have the next chapter pre-typed! I'm so proud of myself!

~Silvershadow471