"But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he were not born."

♛♛♛

Light lay in confinement, a bead of sweat dripping down his chin as he tried to school his breathing. He still hadn't deduced what Ryuk was trying to get at with the eraser, and he hadn't had a chance to study it before L had landed him in prison.

It was the fifth day of imprisonment, meaning he had nine days to devise a plan before he was doomed. But all Ryuk did was sit in the corner, complaining about his lack of apples. Idiot shinigami.

Swallowing, he rattled his chains enough to get the shinigami's attention, feigning boredom. Light was a good actor, after all. Ryuk's head twisted toward his, those blank eyes and that ever-smiling expression creepier than ever.

But they couldn't talk, not here. L was watching this whole feed, and he'd seen Ryuk before. So Light instead growled. "Get out of here before you make me guilty! Please – I'm not Kira!"

Ryuk chuckled. "You want me to leave? But things were just getting interesting."

"Out," Light snapped. Ryuk, to his credit, did as asked, morphing through the wall. And in a panic, Light sat there, sweat dripping down his face and causing his brunette hair to stick to his skin. If L thought Light was panicking, that was the understatement of the century.

Let's assume that Ryuk wasn't on my side just then. He's made that clear. There might still be a way to trick L and the task force into giving him a chance to write down their names. If he could convince them that those erasers were magical...that they could undo death itself...

Light gritted his teeth. There was a high possibility that L had already tested that hypothesis. But would the detective be expecting a shinigami to have the power to undo death? After all, they were gods of death – a shinigami saving a human's life was such an outrageous offense that they would die immediately.

Yes, he thought, straightening himself. Yes, that's it. I'll tell them those erasers have the power to undo death, and then when asked to test it, I'll kill L. I'll write down as many names as I can.

Yet time slipped from his mind as sand slipped through one's fingers. It was a desperate, foolish plan. But still, he had to make peace with the fact that he would murder his father...

But then, the image of Dad choosing L over Light came to mind. Dad had trusted L the whole way through, even though their methodologies were fundamentally at odds. But he hadn't fought against L when it came to imprisoning his son.

That was it, then. Soichiro Yagami, chief of the NPA, had chosen Kira's enemy over his son.

And for that, he had to die.

♕♕♕

L sat in the control room, watching...and waiting.

He had not touched his food in over a day. Though his stomach was ravenous with hunger, he didn't have the appetite right now. All he could do was watch the cells of the two Kira suspects, dab his forehead with a towel to calm the ebbing sweat, and stare back.

He took a mental headcount of their crew right now. Mogi was at the police station, keeping up the front that the Kira task force headquarters was still stationed there. Aizawa, Matsuda, and Ide were at the detention center, watching over Manabu. The criminal still hadn't died, and it was the thirteenth day. There were only nine hours left till the truth was revealed.

"Ryuzaki-kun."

L didn't move. "Yes, what is it, Watari?"

His father sat next to him in the customarily reserved chair for Light. "Why don't you take those handcuffs off?"

L looked down at his wrist. A silver gadget was strapped to his thin arm, the other half of the handcuffs dragging across the floor as he walked. Six months ago, he'd sworn never to remove the handcuffs until the case was solved. The intended purpose was so he could keep a close watch on Light. But now that he was confined...was there no need for that?

He swallowed. "I don't quite know. I was hoping...maybe, you could tell me. Wammy," he added quietly, so only his handler could hear.

Watari stayed still, his blue-gray eyes ever-watchful. "You still love him, don't you?"

L's breath hitched. "He's my prime suspect."

"I didn't mean romantically," Watari said. "I meant...well, you did say a while ago that he was your first friend."

Memories flooded through L's mind. Their first chess game. The speech at To-Oh. The tennis matches, the long hours studying, the jokes they'd told, and the work they'd done together. Hell, they'd captured Higuchi, a criminal who had been using the Death Note.

It's all a lie, he thought, his fists clenching. He sees our friendship as a lie.

Do I have to see it that way, too?

"Come here," Watari said, inching toward him.

It was always going to happen, he thought, gripping the old man and shutting his eyes tightly. As if embracing the storm, as if clinging to his only true solace.

"You'll find someone else soon," Watari said, his deep voice rumbling against L's ear.

I'm lost, L thought, as the bells began to toll in the building. Only he could hear those bells, the hallucination that often draped his mind these days. Were they for a wedding? A christening? Or perhaps...

Or perhaps...

♥♥♥

Fourteen days.

Misa had been imprisoned for fourteen days. As Aizawa led her out of her cell with no blindfold, she looked up at the sky. Light had pulled through. He'd gotten them both out, and they were free. No one could keep them apart, and the real Kira had been caught.

She fantasized about his slim, muscular body on hers for the first time. The way he would kiss her face, her neck, her collarbones as he caressed her bare body for the first time. That was what they'd do after today, wasn't it? He'd told her he would save her for after they'd killed L. Oh, how long they'd waited...

She got into the police car, where Light – also clad in a white prison uniform – was waiting for her. He closed her hand over his as she slid in next to him. "Misa..."

He had gotten cleaned up before meeting her and looked more handsome than ever. And suddenly, it seemed very silly to Misa that Ryuzaki's – no, L's – favorite color had been white.

"Oh, Light." She pulled his mouth down to hers, and he kissed her, gripping her in his arms and stroking her gently. Their previous kisses had been cold, dutiful, each understanding that the other was using them for selfish gain. But now...finally, finally, Misa had what she'd been dying for all this time. Finally, she was in the arms of her savior, her lord.

Finally, she kissed her god.

She vaguely remembered to buckle her seatbelt as the car veered into motion back toward L's headquarters. But soon, she was all over him again. And she couldn't stop his name from spilling out of her mouth. "Light...my Light..."

And Light deepened the kiss, pulling her head so firmly against his it hurt. But all the while, he pressed his tongue against her teeth with the gentleness of the man who had saved her – both from loneliness and from a rogue criminal who'd never come to justice before.

She loved him. She loved him.

And her life was in his hands.

~~~

Did you know...

- I wanted to show Misa's infatuation for Light coming out full-force here. She doesn't have feelings for L yet, but because his presence was also very important in her life, her forgetting him momentarily is a vital moment for Heart.

- I firmly believe in the idea of Dad!Watari. In my headcanon, K (L's bloodthirsty older sister from the movies) called him Watari because she only spoke Japanese when he adopted her. It became his dad name, which L later adopted.

Tell me what you think...

- Will Misa be happy with Light if he succeeds? Why or why not?