He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.'" So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

♟♟♟

Rem, shinigami of the third rank, stood perfectly still in the task force headquarters. She had frequented Misa Amane's quarters to check up on the girl, ensuring that Light Yagami had not killed her yet, but now that she stood in the control room, she'd finally gotten a sense of who she was up against. Mouth agape, she gazed upon the faces of seven men talking in murmured tones, using words she did not understand.

Light Yagami...please save Misa.

"Well, Higuchi could have committed suicide," one man murmured. His name, 夜神 総一郎 - Yagami Soichiro - danced daintily above his head, as well as several numbers that spelled out his death date. According to her math, the man would die at seventy-one, though she was unsure how. She assumed this must be Light Yagami's father. What a poor, poor soul, having such a disgusting fool as his son.

An earnest young man - Matsuda Touta - replied. "But he killed by writing people's names down in the notebook. So wouldn't he have to write his own name down?"

"Yes...yes, he would have," Aizawa Shuichi replied in a low mutter.

"If he could kill himself like that, why did he point the gun to his head earlier?" Matsuda asked.

"Well," Yagami pointed out, "maybe he figured it would be less painful than dying from a heart attack?" His tone was uncertain, however. Rem warned herself not to underestimate these men. She had to assume they were dangerous and competent, or Misa's life was forfeit.

"A coincidental heart attack...suicide...another Kira...a shinigami..." Yagami had a habit of muttering instead of saying things with conviction. It reminded Rem of the shinigami Gelus, who'd sacrificed himself to save Misa's life before entrusting her to Rem's care.

Yagami turned to her. "Which is it, shinigami?"

"My name is Rem." She tasted the disgust in her voice - she had a name, and she wouldn't call them 'human.' As much as she despised these creatures, she would never stoop to such a rude, callous level. Continuing, she remained perfectly poised. "I didn't kill Higuchi, and I don't know why he died." Matsuda passed a sick look in her direction. Rem only stared back with her one good eye.

She took another good look around the room. Behind the men was a strange creature sitting in a spinning office chair. His slender white fingers stacked creamer cups on the back desk, and his head was graced with a shock of perfectly black hair. Loose clothes hung from his thin, emaciated frame as if they would blow away in a gust of wind.

Craning her neck slightly, she noted that his expression was as blank as she was sure hers must be. Above his head waltzed the name L. Lawliet, as well as the shinigami equivalent of eighty-two years. It was strange that he would live for so long, considering he looked like he would keel over from lack of sleep any second.

"Okay, understood," Aizawa broke in. "Ryuzaki," he said, addressing L. "You too, Light. The notebook and the ink used to write the instructions are made up of substances and materials practically nonexistent on Earth."

"I see," Yagami said, this time louder. "So, as Rem said, the notebook is from the shinigami realm, and a shinigami wrote the rules to allow a human to use it." Rem couldn't figure out why he was so excited; a Death Note in hands such as Light's brought nothing but misfortune.

Matsuda broke in. "We figured it had to be that since we now know shinigami exist, but this is great! Now Light and Misa-Misa have been completely cleared."

"How to use..." Aizawa murmured. "'The human whose name is written in this note shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in mind when writing a name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written within forty seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds.'"

A long pause settled over the room. Aizawa swallowed. "The names of criminals written here correspond to the TV broadcast order, and the names of people whose deaths would be advantageous to Higuchi-san's company are also here. Moreover, the rules match the documents our spy uncovered from the meetings those eight were conducting."

He took another look at the back cover. Rem's heart had long since shriveled up in her chest, but she still caught herself trembling with anticipation. This was all part of Light Yagami's plan to prove his innocence, recover the notebooks, and save Misa's life. The image of the sweet child with the blonde hair, obsessed with beauty and sewing and poetry, whose laugh could melt a rock-solid resolve like Rem's, dying...it was too much for her to bear thinking about.

"And then the section on the back cover," Aizawa said. "'If the person using the note fails to consecutively write names of people to be killed within thirteen days of each other, then the user will die.'" He looked up at Matsuda and Yagami, a worried expression on his face. "If Light Yagami and Amane, confined for over fifty days, were Kira and the Second Kira, there's no way they'd be alive right now."

"They couldn't write down a single letter while imprisoned," Matsuda added cheerfully. L had not moved from his spot and stared ahead, deep in thought. Rem wondered what sands were shifting in his mind right now, what that man of such complexity was thinking.

"But this means..." Yagami frowned. "We can't destroy this notebook."

"Yeah, this final sentence..." Aizawa read it aloud. "'If you make this note unusable by tearing it up or burning it, all the humans who have touched the note till then will die.'"

"So if we dispose of it, at the very least, everyone on the task force will die," Yagami replied.

"Man..." Matsuda ran a hand over his raven hair. "I shouldn't have touched it..."

"Maybe," Yagami said with a shrug. "But then you wouldn't have been able to participate in the investigation. Would you have preferred that?"

"Uh...no, I want to be in the same position as everyone else," Matsuda amended quickly, somewhat embarrassed. Rem was glad that this spunky human would live to be ninety-five.

"We'll just have to keep it locked in here for now," Aizawa said. "It should be safe with all the security cameras here, and we're the only ones who even know of its existence." Yagami and Matsuda nodded in agreement.

All the while, Light and L remained poker-faced, each absorbed in their work. Judging by Light's expressions, he must have gotten his memories back. But what was Rem to do if L caught onto that fact? Was killing such a beautiful mind her only option?

"Rem-san," L said. "There are more notebooks in the human world, aren't there?"

His voice was deep and soft as if he were a child politely asking for candy from his mother. Rem again thought about how she would respond. "Who knows?" she intoned. "There may be, and there may not be. The only notebook I'm required to watch over is this one here."

L still didn't look over at her. "If there were other notebooks, would they all have the same rules?"

Rem bit her tongue momentarily. That wasn't true, but he had no way of proving that, did he? "Yeah, they're all the same," she decided to answer. "There are tons of notebooks in the shinigami world, but the rules are all the same. And it's the same rules when a human uses it - there is no mistake." She looked up at the monitors, where Misa was sitting and reading the Sailor Moon manga for the tenth time since Rem had met her. She was so perfect, so small and fragile and precious.

Now you'll be completely free, my child.

"Ryuzaki," Aizawa snapped, "the suspicion against Light and Amane has been cleared. The surveillance of them should end."

"Yeah, it's crystal clear!" Matsuda added.

L paused. The only sound was of him stacking the creamer cups again - such a strange man, Rem thought. "Three days."

"What?" Yagami snapped. "Ryuzaki -"

"In three days, I will release them," L said calmly. "Once we wrap up this case and file all their paperwork, I will let them go."

A collective sigh of relief fell over the task force. "We can do that," Yagami affirmed. Rem stood there, mouth agape as always. Three days.

And what is L. Lawliet planning to do with the time he has left, I wonder?

♕♕♕

Instead of an interrogation, L's team filed a report with the coroners. Now, he sat in deep thought on the couch, the only person besides Watari who was awake.

If the person using this Death Note fails to consecutively write the names of people to be killed within 13 days of each other, then the user will die.

If this Death Note is made unusable by tearing it up or burning it, all the humans who have touched the Death Note till then will die.

One of L's hands was bound with chains to Light's – a precaution against his co-investigator doing something sneaky by himself. The younger man lay on the couch's other half, dozing after their riveting capture. But something wasn't sitting right with L.

The second rule is impossible to prove. And yet...thirteen days, but Higuchi died while Light had the Death Note in hand. L flipped through the pages. Kyosuke Higuchi's name was not written down. But...

"Ryuzaki-san?" a sweet voice called from behind him. "What's that you've got in your hand?"

L didn't look up, though he knew who was sitting there. "Miss Amane. They unbound you."

"Yeah, after you chained me down," she snapped, though she didn't seem all that mad. Traveling around the couch, she plopped down onto the ottoman opposite him and Light, her makeup shimmering in the night. "So, did you find anything? I hope I was of some use to Light...I don't want to make him fret and all."

L forced a swallow, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he stared at her for a long time. She was the picture of beauty, with flaxen hair and perfectly dark eyes, slender and petite, and dressed in a nightgown that showed off a little too much of her legs. L had decided early on that he couldn't meet her eyes, or her mere presence did strange, uncomfortable things to him.

What could he even say to Misa Amane? The thirteen-day rule should have proved her innocence. But still, with Higuchi's death...

It all comes down to whether Light knew about the rule and if he was indeed the one who killed Higuchi.

He closed the Death Note. "Yes, we found the murder weapon. I'm performing analysis on it right now."

She leaned forward, eyes glowing, arms pressing against her breasts and pushing them above her low-cut gown. "That's amazing!" she whispered. "You're incredible, Ryuzaki."

"You should be asleep," he replied bluntly, focusing on her face so he wouldn't turn the same color as Light's hair.

"Yeah, well, so should you."

"I don't sleep."

"Fine then," she shrugged. "Y'know," she said, "I think you're going to catch Kira soon. I just know it!"

"You think so?" L didn't have the energy to tell her she was still under suspicion as the Second Kira, the most prized accomplice of the first.

"Yeah," Misa said. "You have Light with you, after all." She sat next to him, looking almost troubled. "Hey, Ryuzaki?"

"Ah...yes?"

She leaned in close. L looked at the ceiling. "What's your favorite color?" she blurted out.

He blinked; he had not been expecting that. "Does it matter, Amane-san?" he asked her, tasting the exhaustion in his voice.

"I just wanna know," she said with a shrug. She was like that sometimes. Whenever a conversation got too deep or philosophical, she'd interrupt it with a random, banal question. Yet there seemed to be no harm in indulging her, just this once.

"White," he said, his mind elsewhere still. Is the thirteen-day rule valid? And if so, did Kira know about it?

Shinigami are known to be liars in the legends, he thought, chewing his thumb again. And if they're liars, and this rule is false, and Kira knew about it...

He could prove his innocence in only thirteen days. I know that Light is Kira. If I can prove it...

"Ryuzaki-san?" Misa asked, her face too close to his again.

"Huh?"

"Did you hear me?" she asked. "I asked you why you like white."

"Oh." He tugged at a stray lock of his tangled raven hair. "I suppose I like how it's all colors, yet none at all. A paradox, if you will."

He'd expected her eyes to glaze over, but Misa gazed at him with a dreamy look in her eyes. "What a coincidence," she thought aloud, lying on the ottoman and curling up, so her legs were even more exposed. "That's exactly why I like black." A pause. "I think...I'll sleep down here with you two. You're comforting, in your own weird, off-putting way."

"I don't know if I should be complimented or insulted," L murmured.

"Your pick," she said with a wink and a pure-white smile. It was a matter of minutes before her breathing deepened, becoming the whisper of sleep in the control center. Carefully, so as not to rattle the chains, L took the blanket around his lap and draped it over Misa's waist, hiding her legs as she slept.

Two of his friends, precious people to him, slumbered close. And they might be the murderers he had been working so hard to catch. Before padding back to his spot and observing the notebook again, his fingers reached out to touch her hair as he tucked it behind an earring-adorned lobe.

Either way, he would be saying goodbye to them soon. But that was not his decision to make. He opened his computer, the ghoulish glow casting his reflection in a ghastly light, and typed a single message to the channel only he and his adoptive guardian could access.

Watari,

Please take this notebook to the crime lab and bring back the results when we come. I want to know if a shinigami's hand added all the rules at precisely the same time.

He didn't need to sign it; his guardian would know from whom the message came. And sure enough, just as his eyelids grew heavy, his logistician – no, his father – did as he asked. A smile crossed L's face as his eyes drooped shut, and he fell asleep bunched into the fetal position on the couch beside his friends.

♕♕♕

The task force, collectively, had low spirits after finding that Higuchi was a dummy. Despite Aizawa and Ide's return to their ranks after leaving over conflicts with L, he could practically feel the depressed state of the crew as they loomed over him the next day. L wasn't sure how much better he was doing.

Two days left until Light had to be unchained. And then, if L couldn't find a clue to prove his hypothesis, he would die.

Biting the inside of his cheek, he reached for his tea. Out of the blue, Light looked over at him. "Hey, Ryuzaki. I meant to ask – where's the notebook?"

He'd been anticipating this question. Shoveling a handful of animal crackers into his mouth, L spoke around his food. "Crime lab."

"What?" Aizawa called from behind them. "Ryuzaki, we didn't consent to this as a team. You have no right to keep analyzing this notebook until you get the result that suits your pride. The thirteen-day rule clears them. What more proof do you need?"

L swallowed; the food stung his throat. "I simply wished for an ink test done on the notebook," he said carefully. "If the times and dates of the ink match up with our victim database, we can be sure that this notebook is the genuine article."

That, of course, was a dummy answer. A lie...if he wanted to be honest with himself. He was trying for something much more dangerous – to test inhuman ink and find inhuman answers.

"There's no need for that," Light responded with a frown. "I compared the names, and they all match. What's your problem?"

L was glad most of the task force was still asleep or busy. "I wish to know as much as possible about the situation we're dealing with. It's obvious in my eyes that the real Kira is responsible for Higuchi-san's death."

He looked ahead, hands on his knees, straining his weak shoulder to stay hunched near his neck. "With this in mind, I want to look for clues within the notebook. Does it kill the target automatically when ownership changes? Was it a case of Kira himself killing Higuchi to keep him silent? And of the rules..." he looked back toward the shinigami Rem, who stood in the shadows. "Which of them might be fake?"

"Fake rules?" Aizawa's face flushed. "Now you're stretching it."

"No," Light said firmly. "If there are fake rules, it's best we know which ones. If we can find out whether Kira knew about them, we'd be able to catch him."

But he stared at L with an unreadable expression. L had never been adept at understanding a change in facial posturing, nor what it could signify, so he was left guessing. He eventually decided Light was giving him what he would affectionately dub a dangerous look.

Is this a man so honor-bound that he would be so murderous in his glance? L wondered. Or is he frustrated that I'm going through with his suggestion?

I suppose, he thought, eating more animal crackers, that we will have to wait and see.

♕♕♕

The secret channel was opened again that night when everyone else was asleep. Discrepancies, the message read. The last two rules were written circa six months ago. All others, circa twelve.

L bit his lip, bunching his knees to his chest. This was what he'd feared was the case. Staring off into space, he mouthed words to himself in the dark. "This isn't enough to prove that the rules are fake; just that they might be. With this in mind, the only way to know if these rules are false is to compare them side-by-side."

He paused, wetting his lips and closing his eyes. But even that won't be enough. Rem would likely retort that only the Death Notes intended for humans have rules inside them. The shinigami wouldn't need them, after all.

Still...I could build a case. In fact, it's likely. Chief Yagami had denied him the opportunity to test the notebook at the crime scene. But what if he could prove that that was the best course of action? Could his and Watari's testimony, the ink, and a second discrepant notebook be enough?

"Rem-san," he said softly, just loud enough for the shinigami to hear. She turned her head to him, staring at him with violet lips slightly agape to show pointed teeth. Her reptilian eye regarded him with a blank, masked expression.

"What do you want, L. Lawliet?" she asked in a low, musical tone.

He hissed, shaking his head for her to stop. It had been years since he'd heard his full name – the true name – spoken by anyone, and she dropped it so casually it was frightening. If Light was Kira, this shinigami was clearly not on L's side. "Come here."

L knew he had no right to demand such a thing from a god of death, but to his surprise, Rem walked on crustacean-like bones toward the couch where he stood. And still, she loomed over him, seven feet tall and with thick locks of cellulite falling over her wounded eye.

He supposed it was worth asking her several questions. But he had to word them deliberately. If he messed up, she would dodge the question. "Rem," he said, "are all the rules the same?"

She spoke. "Yes." As said before in interrogation.

"And you cannot write a name on a torn piece of the notebook, either?"

"No."

"So then," he said, "if there are multiple Death Notes, would I expect to find that all the same principles apply to both, including the last two rules?"

A long silence this time. Finally, Rem spoke. "Yes." Now that is testable. "What do you plan to do?" she asked him bluntly.

"I suppose I should ask you the same question."

"I am sent here only as a guardian. Nothing more."

"A guardian?" L raised his brows, rocking on his heels. "To whom? Kira?"

"No. I hate him."

"Then, whom?"

"I am not permitted to reveal the names of other humans. This is to avoid causing confusion in your world."

L looked upon her. She was expressionless, but her voice was gentle. Almost motherly. Is there a motherless person here? And if so, could they be the second Kira?

That was no good. Several of their members – hell, even L himself – were motherless. And he was certain Kira wasn't among the task force that had formerly been part of the NPA.

"Thank you, Rem. This conversation has been most helpful." That, at least, was no lie. Because if he knew what the shinigami's claims were, he could test them and weed out the truth from the lies. And once the lies came to light, whatever they were would reveal the truth in stark contrast. That was how all cases functioned.

He typed a message on his laptop as Rem stalked away. Watari,

Send Mogi to places Misa Amane and Light Yagami have been. Specifically areas where it would make sense to bury something significant.

~~~

Did you know...

- L has a (comedic) crush on Misa in the show. I tried to hint at it without being too obvious, since he usually sets all his feelings aside for the case.

- Contrary to popular opinion, I don't see L as a pervert. He's very clearly on the autism spectrum, in my opinion, and just socially awkward.

Tell me what you think...

- Why did L lose in Death Note? Why won't he lose now?

- Was Misa just as guilty as Light in her crimes?