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All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven	By : cor-te-reducit Category: Death Note > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 1362 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own no aspect or part of the Death Note community (characters, storylines, etc) I make no money off of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Title: All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven

Author: kathleenrose747

Pairing: L (Lawliet, Ryuzaki, Eraldo Coil, Denueve, Hideki Ryuga)/OC

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will I ever own anything relating to the idea, copyright, persons/characters and creation of Death Note. I also don't own any of the sweets mentioned in here. The only things I own are Michiko Nakashima and Melody Chance, characters of my own creation.

Authors Note: I do use some of L's other aliases in the story. If you get confused, go to the Death Note Wiki or just look up L on Wikipedia to get a background on his aliases. I won't go into too much background with those names and their uses. Also, L is 29 years old in this story. So yes, we can consider it AU. Please review with constructive criticism. I would also like unadulterated praise, if it is available. :)

Chapter 14- Advice For An Elder

The next couple of weeks flew by in a combination of classes, meetings, and case communications. L now had a whole new respect for his former teachers. Granted, his style of teaching was much more relaxed, but he was still full of respect for the work his former teachers had done for him at the end of each day.

The first day of classes, the kids had been confused by this sleep deprived individual who clearly didn’t know the meaning of the words ‘well pressed clothes’. However, L was able to win them over with his peculiar teaching technique. Every day, the kids would sit in a circle with L and talk over various aspects of semi-well known cases. L would hand out a case review with all of the telling information blacked out (final suspects, DNA, fiber analysis, etc). With only the crime, crime scene photos, witness and familial testimony available to them, the children had to walk down every possible avenue available. This led to some very spirited debates and a couple black eyes, but the children agreed that this was a great class.

L was just glad that he had bribed Mello to keep his identity a secret from the kids. Hero worship was still something he had an issue with. He also didn’t want to explain to the kids how he had managed to escape his most certain demise. By letting them know that there had been a “twin” of him floating around in a mental asylum/prison, the kids would get even more paranoid about their reason for being at Wammy House. And he didn’t need mass hysteria on his hands.

With only a few days left of his teaching tenure, L knew he would have to head back to Japan. To the Volya case. To Michiko.

That last one scared him senseless. The woman was single handedly responsible for all the awkwardness that L was trying to keep far away from. Emotions were not his forte. Never had been. But it was possible that he could get a better grip on himself by talking to his successors. L knew that Near would be as sensible as himself and Mello would be a jumping off point on emotional issues.

That is, if Mello could keep his comments on this side of decent. That was the problem with working with sociopaths; no matter how controlled they seemed there was always a hint of madness under their calm surface.

‘But who am I kidding. All three of us have sociopathic tendencies. Near is even more manipulative than Mello. He treats cases like they’re games and the other people in it as simple pawns. And while I don’t directly have any hand in killing people, I am not above manipulating, kidnapping, or even torture to get answers.’ That last part made L sigh and hang his head. ‘I’m far less than Michiko deserves.’ L’s thoughts were disturbed by a loud pounding on his bedroom door. ‘Sounds like Mello.’ L thought as he got up to walk to the door. He opened it to see Mello with his fist raised to bang on the door once again and Near standing behind him.

“Oh... hi. Um...” Mello looked at his raised fist and awkwardly scratched his head with said hand. “Roger said you wanted to speak to us?”

“Yes. Come on in.” L walked back to his chair and let his successors worry about closing the door. “I apologize for the lack of seating, so I fear you two will have to share that window seat.” L’s fear steamed from the idea of the two young men having to ‘share’ anything. But his fear was allayed when Mello stretched out on the window seat and Near sat on the floor with Mello’s feet above him.

“So what is all this about?” Mello pulled out a bar of chocolate and unwrapped the foil. It looked to be dark chocolate with almonds this time.

“Well, first of all I wanted to see how you two were after our previous conversation.” L sat in his chair and pulled his knees close to his chest. In part, to keep blood close to his brain. But he was reflexively trying to build a barrier. Why, he didn’t know.

Mello spoke up first. “Actually, I wanted to apologize.” He looked down at the floor and mumbled his explanation as if it pained him to say the words. “Sure, I’m still really angry that you would fake your death out of fear. Why would you be afraid? It just shattered a lot of my preconceived notions of you. So I kinda lost it.” Mello looked down at Near, as if expecting him to fill in his side. Near sighed and looked up at L.

“As much as we disagree when we work, Mello and I are on the same page when it comes to this. You need to come up with a better explanation than just self preservation. I have a feeling you knew what was going to happen, but I have no evidence to prove anything. Mello and I will still stand by you, partly because we can’t fully trust anyone else. But just know that it will take awhile for this situation to fully reconcile itself.”

L looked at his two successors. They had both grown up so much in the years he had been absent. He felt a flicker of pride as he looked at the two young men he helped raise.

“As to why I called you both here...” L cleared his throat before moving on. “I have a situation on my hands and I need to get some outside input.” Once L spoke, Mello began choking on the piece of chocolate he had cracked off the bar.

“Whoa whoa whoa! The great and powerful L actually needs advice?! Since when?”

Near had sat there silently during the little display and took this time to voice his thoughts. “It’s about the girl, isn’t it?” Near pointed to the picture that L had resting against the monitor. He hadn’t moved it since he had placed it there at the beginning of his trip.

“Yes. I’m concerned that my mind is starting to move to a more primitive state because of her. I wanted to know if you two had any ideas of what I should do to alleviate this situation.” L rested his chin on his knees, waiting for what they would tell him. He hoped it was anything but...

“Why don’t you just sleep with her already?”

… that. Mello could really get to the point if he wanted to. And right now, he wanted to see L squirm in the worst possible way.

“That wouldn’t be practical. We’ve only known each other for a month, digitally. Five days, in person.”

“That’s long enough. Especially if she has the hots for you too. Ooh! Have you watched her in the shower yet?” Mello snapped off another piece of chocolate as he watched L closely.

“I’d rather not have that awkwardness on my conscience, thank you.” L responded, politely. ‘But I’m sure as hell thinking about it now.’

Near tilted his head, considering his words carefully. “Do you still have the basics file on her?”

“Yes.” L had the file on his laptop. He never went too far without it, seeing as it contained most, if not the whole story on his female counterpart.

“Okay. Well, we know she has a sweet tooth that is connected to her intelligence level.” Near twirled a piece of his hair around his finger, “What about a box of chocolates?”

“Or chocolate sauce?” Mello added with an evil grin.

‘Why did I think including Mello in this conversation would be productive?’ L struggled to block images of Michi licking chocolate sauce off of her fingers.

“That first one may be useful.” L said, trying to keep his voice steady. Near saw how uncomfortable L looked and decided to change tactics.

“Look, you know Miss Chance will be back in town on the 30th. Why don’t you talk to her? At least you will have patient to counselor confidentiality and you won’t have to worry about the two of us picking up any unnecessary information you wouldn’t want us to know.” Near nodded softly. “You helped raise us. This can’t be an easy conversation to bring up.”

L mentally berated himself for not thinking of it sooner. “Thank you, Near. I’ll email Melody today and see if she can fit me in. I leave in a few days, so I’ll take whatever availability she has.” L stood up and headed towards the door. Upon opening the door, he turned around to issue a challenge; “So, does anyone else want to raid the kitchen before dinner?” Mello laughed and got up from the window seat, running to beat L to the kitchen. Near shook his head with a small smile on his face. ‘Some things never change...’

A Few Days Later

October 30th. L would be leaving to fly back to Japan later that night. A 9:00 flight had been arranged and he would arrive in Tokyo by 17:00 on the 31st. He had needed to push his flight back in order to speak with Melody Chance. He didn’t like the idea of meeting with a psychoanalyst that specialized in children and young adult therapy. ‘Then again, has my mind really gone much beyond young adult status?’ L thought, ruefully.

Melody had suggested they meet at the medical wing’s cafeteria. It was quiet, remote, and very few people came by it. Just before the main cafeteria doors, there was a small side area with a soda machine, coffee machine, and basic snack machine. There were also two sets of tables with chairs. L figured meeting there would allow the noise of the machines to drown out the conversation from anyone who could be listening on.

He took a seat facing the door with his back against the wall. There was a window to his right looking out into the hallway. As he turned to look out the window, Melody came into view with two coffee cups. He wasn’t surprised to see that she didn’t carry a pad of paper or files with her. When she said she would keep this confidential, she meant it.

Melody walked in and took a seat across from L. After handing him one of the coffees, she reached in the breast pocket of her jacket and pulled out some sugar packets. “I already dumped almost half a canister of sugar in your coffee. I just grabbed these on the off chance it wasn’t enough.” She then leaned back in her chair and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I’ll skip the pleasantries. How can I be of assistance?”

L looked out the window, trying to pull his thoughts together. “I have a... compromising issue that I need advice on.” Melody nodded, inviting L to continue speaking. “I’ve taken on a partner.” When Melody raised an eyebrow, L knew he had to elaborate. “A partner in the investigative sense. The problem is that I’m starting to fall back on emotions I have not felt in years. I don’t know what to do about it.”

Melody nodded, closing her eyes in order to commit what L was saying to memory. “Can you elaborate on these feelings? Or do I need to run through them one by one?” L looked down at the table.

“This is where it gets awkward. I really couldn’t tell you what the feelings are. All I know is that it lies outside the realm of logic and the calm of reason. I could only compare it to the thrill one gets when they are in pursuit of something they have been on the hunt for for a very long time.”

Melody kept a straight face as required by her profession. “Interesting. Do you see her as a potential conquest?”

“By no means. I just want to make sure she is safe. I don’t want her to get into any trouble by being associated with me. I seem to be an occupational hazard.” L picked up his coffee and took a sip. ‘She was right about the sugar level. Not bad.’

“May I make an observation?” Melody interjected. L tilted his head. “Do you really care about her safety or are you trying to dismiss the idea that you want to be the only one to keep her safe?”

L was surprised. He hadn’t thought about it that way. Did it really matter to him how Michiko was kept safe? Even more important; did it matter who did the protecting? “Could you present me with a scenario?”

“Sure.” Melody leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “You know I have open access to all the case files, so this analogy should not come as a surprise to you. I want you to think back to Ruslan Obarin’s quote unquote ‘birthday party’. How did you feel when Michiko was dancing with Ruslan?” Melody was amused to see the flash of possessiveness in L’s eyes and his body tense up as the memory passed through his mind. ‘Well I’ll be damned. The boy can care for someone else.’

“Well...” L froze. He wasn’t sure how to put his words together. He sighed in frustration. “This is exactly my problem. I have kept emotions out of my vocabulary and actions for so long that I can’t even define my feelings or lack thereof.”

“You aren’t supposed to.” Melody said softly. “Emotions are there to fill in the blank spaces in dictionaries and thesauri the world over. They should not be named or given a definition. They are just there to be felt and experienced. We wonder why human language is so limited; it is because emotions are the filling for those empty spaces in our mouths and minds.”

L looked up at Melody. “So what is your final assessment of my situation, counselor?”

“Say something to the girl. Just be honest with her.” Melody smiled. “I mean, who else did you hire to do her psychiatric evaluation for the job? I wouldn’t have said that she would be a good match for you otherwise.”

L shook his head. “I’m just not sure how or when to say it.”

“An opportunity will present itself. I trust that it will happen. No need to rush it.” As the two stood up, Melody placed her hands on L’s shoulders. “I just need to make one thing perfectly clear; if you don’t deal with things that are emotional and traumatic, they resurface in other ways.” With that cryptic message delivered, Melody gave L a light hug which he returned. He then shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and headed out the door.

Melody sighed and sat back down, rubbing her forehead. “So. Did you get what you were after?”

The door to the main cafeteria opened up and Mello popped his head into the room. He held a small camera phone in his hand and had a huge grin on his face. “Hey. I’m just trying to move things along.”

“You really think making Michiko jealous is the way to go?” Melody deadpanned. She knew this had ‘horrible idea’ written all over it. But, knowing L, he would only make his feelings known if he felt them in an exaggerated fashion. And only if they were exaggerated to a point where he could no longer deny what the feeling was.

“L needs a life outside of the world of crime.” Mello stated matter-of-factly. “If he gets pinned with a relationship that he knows doesn’t exist, he will go to hell and back to prove it is false. But if Michi tries to make him explain it right then and there, backing him in a corner, so to speak, that trapped feeling could finally make him snap.”

“And you don’t think Michiko would be in danger if he snaps?”

“She can take care of herself.” Mello looked down at the picture he had taken of L and Melody hugging. He then typed in Michiko’s phone number that he had collected from her basics file. ‘I’m sorry L. But payback is necessary. You want self-preservation? Try saving yourself from this.’

Mello pressed SEND. He looked over at Melody as he leaned against the doorjamb. “It’s done.” Melody rolled her eyes and raised her coffee cup in a mock salute.

“Let the games begin.”
- 13
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- 15
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All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven