Redeemer

Matt was the one waiting for them downstairs in the kitchen, where a traditional British afternoon tea had been laid out, watercress sandwiches and all—just like home. Linda was obviously famished, but she’d taken Mello’s advice and changed into something a bit more comfortable—jeans.

“Now I think I remember you,” Matt joked. And he’d always been the one to get along with the others better. Poor girl was trying to ease into things, but she was smart and she had that sense that a storm was lingering just somewhere out of sight.

It was midway through the dainty British meal that she finally popped the question. “This is about the Kira case, isn’t it? I know L has been working on it for years—”

Matt and Mello exchanged conspiring glances. “We’re gonna leave that one to L,” Mello purred. “I honestly don’t know what exactly he wants to disclose and whether or not you’re on a need-to-know basis. He gave us as much warning as he did you that he was bringing you in on this.”

“That’s an almost yes, Mello,” Linda said smartly. “Can I ask then how long you’ve been working with him?”

Mello leaned in and smiled, “Six years.” Wow, how long had he wanted to flaunt his accomplishments to his peers? Latent repressed desire rearing its head—he felt way too much pleasure on that one. Maybe the notion that he was L’s heir was beginning to take root. Matt snorted as though to say as much.

The girl seemed more than a bit shocked. “That long?”

Matt shrugged, edging over Mello’s burgeoning ego—“We’re special, what can we say?” he ribbed, smiling around his cigarette. It was about then he got the text message from L. It buzzed him where he sat and he dug the phone out, flipping it open, glancing over the message. The wry laugh was enough.

“I’m afraid it’s into the fryer you go, Linda,” he said somewhat jokingly. Mello crooked an eyebrow, and Linda was prepared to be saddled with a case, but not quite prepared for what was about to happen.

“He wants us upstairs,” Matt clarified. And Mello knew what that meant. He knew exactly what that meant.

* * *

The sight of such an elaborate medical facility confused Linda to no end, and that was before she truly walked into the room. L was seated before his rows of laptops, as per usual, and she saw him, but that was not where her attention shot to.

Nope.

It didn’t matter that he was in a coma, Light had the same magnetism half dead that he had wide awake, and it wasn’t lost on poor innocent Linda. Damn if her mouth didn’t drop a little to see him there—the fairy tale prince caught in the spell, waiting for that kiss that would wake him—Mello snorted, he’d been reading too much literature these passed few days.

Linda looked like she wanted to ask, but she just forgot to, drifting just a bit closer to make sure Light was just as stunning up close as he was from afar. L watched, they all did—it was obvious L was testing the effect, thumb spreading over that plump bottom lip, dark eyes fixed on the girl.

Linda finally rallied after a moment, and displayed her ingrained-Wammy blunt side. “Who is he?” She said, and there was bewilderment and curiosity, and something slightly awestruck about how she said it.

“Sleeping fucking beauty,” Mello heard Matt mutter under his breath, but not loud enough for L to catch—or if he did, he made no show of it.

“I had no intention of keeping it a mystery as long as you’re here, Linda,” L droned, clacking the keyboard. “It’s pertinent to the case at hand every way you cut it.”

He was being terribly cryptic and that only drew the poor girl in more. Her eyes were wide, and she kept sneaking glances at Light.

“He,” L said, “Is Kira.”

And this time the girl’s jaw did drop, eyes widening in a mildly delayed reaction as if the words did not add up. Linda was not particularly sure whether she wanted to laugh and call his bluff or demand an explanation because, surely enough, that made no bloody sense whatsoever. All propriety flew right out the window which at last indicated that she was indeed from the same stock.

“What..?” she gasped, returning her attention to Light as if looking upon that angelic face would either confirm or deny L’s words. Certainly he wouldn’t be joking with her, not about something so serious. “How—I mean…” At a loss for words, she turned to her two peers for confirmation. Matt only shrugged, Mello was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest and quite pointedly not making eye contact.

Answer enough.

She pursed her lips, regaining some sense of composure and looked to L for the explanation only he would give her. “I’m not sure I understand…”

L’s eyes lifted from the screen and met hers, and he seemed almost indignant that such a statement required further explanation—although his expression truly hadn’t cracked. Talk about throwing poor Linda into the deep end to see if she could swim.

“His name is Light Yagami,” L said, “and he is Kira. Kira-Proper actually, as at present there are a host of others acting in his name and carrying out the judgments the world newscasts have been reporting. What we’ve all come to know as Kira—began with this man here. He is 24 years old. He became Kira when he was 17. He is a genius, and was once the top student in all of Japan for nearly the whole duration of his academic career, he entered the police force after attending university and led the very investigation designed to capture him.”

The next part would be a real trip.

“I personally met him his freshman year at To-Oh University, I suspected him the moment I first saw his photograph months earlier. For the next six years I pursued him tenaciously—I’ve had him incarcerated, I’ve had him under 24 hour surveillance for months on end—I even had him handcuffed to my own wrist for nearly half a year. He always remained one step ahead of me, never offering up the proof of his true identity. I have played cat and mouse with this man longer now than it seems I can remember—it has become such an ingrained way of life. I have even faked my own death to lure him into confession. This past January, with the help of Matt, Mello and Near, Kira was finally caught in his own game, confessed and was captured. He is serving a life sentence as my ward, in my employment.” L paused. “Recent events have landed him where you see him now, most directly, a high-speed car accident. He is in a coma, and though his physical recovery seems imminent, there is no indication of if and when he may wake up.”

Surely she would be able to come up with more than an “Oh…” but that was indeed the initial response.

Mello had been watching the floor through the account, but as L fell silent, he lifted his eyes to the detective, his thoughts hidden behind unreadable features, the slight furrow of his brow hidden behind long bangs. Just what was he playing at with the clear cut summary? Sure was leaving out a lot, but that only went to show that she was either being tested – poor thing had only just barely arrived too – or L was keeping her in the dark just a tad while longer. Seeing as they had not been briefed on what she was and was not to be told, there was little to go on.

Beside him, Matt released a breath and freeing a cigarette from his almost empty pack, paced toward the balcony where he lit up, leaning against the doors with the smoke held outside. He’d made a habit out of it – being considerate toward the bastard while he was as good as dead to the world was not so bad as doing it to his face.

Linda seemed to be processing it all, her brain catching up to all that had just been said as she directed her gaze – now thoughtful rather than admiring – toward Light’s prone state. She frowned and pulled a shorter loose strand behind her ear. “And the current case?” she prompted as if having forgotten her place, or perhaps was starting to swim up to the surface for air at last.

L blinked and Mello could see the gears turning. Yes, yes Linda was being tested—it was there in the slightly disappointed glimmer of L’s eyes and the way the detective’s lush mouth turned down—almost indecipherably except to those like Mello, who knew how to see it. But whatever it was Linda had or had not done to prick his disappointment, L let slide for a moment.

“The current case is an extension of the case I’ve just summarized,” L said, and he was transferring files to a stick drive. “Of course, in order to function, I require you read the full case file on the original Kira investigation,” he handed her the drive. “The current case can, for briefing purposes, be neatly categorized in two parts. The part you will not be assisting on concerns a ring of Kira worshippers we have been infiltrating these past several months who are responsible for the massive prison deaths across the world. The part you will be assisting on concerns Near. For all intents and purposes, Near and I have ceased seeing eye to eye, he now opposes me, and I him. Near has come into possession of Kira’s own power, and seeks to use it to some purpose we have yet to determine.”

L waited, and Linda was listening with a plainly disturbed look on her face. “Near has turned against you?”

“We failed to agree over the fate of Kira—to put it mildly,” L replied. Linda went to speak further, but L stopped her. “I’m relaying the facts of this case as loosely as humanly possible,” he said. “I’m sure you can imagine given the circumstances and the length of time already involved, that the true details are extremely complex and immensely overcomplicated—before we continue, I need you to review those files. You have until tomorrow, and you may ask either Matt or Mello to clarify whatever you don’t understand; but try not to bother Mello more than necessary, as he is studying for exams.”

She lifted a slender brow at the mention of exams but did not question, certain there would be enough time to find out about it later. More importantly, she was flipping the drive around in her hand, eyeing it as if the plastic casing alone held the answers she sought. It was a great amount of information all at once – contradictory and unbelievable in the least – but nothing she could not sort out given the chance. “May I speak plainly?” she asked after a moment’s contemplative pause, lifting those clear blue eyes to L’s intensely, seemingly blank look. When he said nothing, she continued. “I will read the files, but… from what I see here, you guard Kira with the same determination you swore to destroy him six years ago,” she pointed out.

Something had changed, something integral to figuring out all that was truly going on here – she wondered if the answer was amongst the files in her hand. “There was only so much we were able to follow at the time, but I clearly remember that.” And the excitement that went along with it – and the near-immediate changes in curriculum for those few that had ascended to that selective list and understood an extra onslaught of classes on top of regular schooling. She also remembered that Near had shown his usual amount of excitement with the new developments – nil.

Green eyes darted from L to Linda and back and Mello straightened from his casual slouch against the door frame. But she went on before he could decide whether to interrupt her or not. “Based solely on what you’ve told me, I am led to believe that he too is an integral part of this investigation, which in turn makes me question Near’s intents as well as yours.” Ballsy. She went so far as to offer a small smile, but it was not false, nor mocking. And with it, she held up the drive before making it disappear into her hand. “Hopefully this will suffice to give me what I need to know to best be of assistance to you.”

“Not a chance,” L answered frankly. “It’s just the facts of the previous case. You stand there while Kira himself lies behind you in the flesh and you have yet to ask me just how one man—one young man—can so easily slaughter so many people. And I’m not talking about matters of conscience—Kira’s personality is a whole other arena—I’m talking about physical capability, corporeal means, he surely did not run up to his hundreds of thousands of victims and knock each and every one of them over the head. He induced heart attacks remotely and at will, merely with the use of names and a faces. What you should be asking, Linda,—is how.”

L swiveled a bit in his chair. Had he wanted someone to yes him up and down, he would have brought back the task force. He wanted Linda to question him—but that didn’t mean he liked it.

“What’s there in those files will hopefully shed some light on the how—it will not however cover the whys you’ve just addressed. To outright respond to your observation, yes, Kira is an integral part of this investigation—both halves relate to him directly—and yes, my position has changed. I no longer seek to destroy Kira—I seek to save him from himself.”

Something clicked in Linda’s expression, but she did not voice it. And maybe that was all she needed to hear to understand that L’s position on Kira was a deeply personal one—that that veritable Sleeping Beauty behind her had the power to charm on sight while lying in a coma—so one could only imagine what he was capable of while awake. What sort of glamour had L fallen for? And what was Kira really? Was he a victim of his own actions? Surely Linda had not imagined him to be what she found herself staring at there in the bed, nor had she imagined him as L described—a genius? Someone of Wammy caliber? So then was Kira a pawn of some other force as L seemed to almost be suggesting? Or was he a snake in the garden? The wolf in sheep's clothing? Matt’s dour expression seemed to say the latter—Mello and L however, were both equally unreadable and Linda supposed she was going to have to reach her own conclusions—and that was precisely why L had brought her on. She was the outside perspective…so what did that imply about those who were currently involved?

“Near, on the other hand,” L continued. “Seeks to kill him. Kira’s current state as you see him now—is essentially Near’s doing. Depending on your position regarding the Kira case as you’ve followed it, that may seem the more logical and just course of action. Indeed a great many people want to see Kira swing for his crimes—conversely, a great many people also look to him as a force of hope. I have not reneged on my view that Kira is a murderer—but I have begun to question the surrounding elements on a higher moral ground. This discussion, however, comes after you’ve read the file.”

* * *

Linda was frowning as they descended the stairs back to the lower level. "I can't help but feel that I blundered up whatever just happened in there," she muttered, mentally kicking herself for it.

"You did," Mello chuckled to the girl's utter horror. "But that's all right. I'm sure there'll be plenty of chances to make up for it."

"Thanks," she mumbled sarcastically, eyeing the drive in her hand. The data there contained would likely uncover the hushed up mysteries of what was now being considered the biggest case in history, encompassing the last six years, but as eager as she was to lose herself in it, there was also a hint of apprehension because obviously this was a lot more involved than what she had originally anticipated. No one expected to come face to face with Kira himself upon arrival. It threw off her judgment. And Light was not even awake to further boggle her mind. She would be in for a treat when - if - he woke up.

At the bottom of the stairs, she paused, unsure of where to go. "I'll be there," and Mello nodded to the vast hall that led to the still brightly lit sun-room. "Matt can show you to the study and answer most questions you may have. I'm sure your head will be spinning before the end of the night."

"L mentioned you were studying for finals?" Linda sounded appropriately confused.

"Long story short, I'm uppin' my credentials." It was as brief a response as Mello could have given her before setting out to pick up where he'd left off some hours prior. The respite had been welcomed.

Matt nudged her the opposite way. "L's chosen him as his heir," he explained as they turned the corner. "He's been working with L on this case for six years, but as you can imagine, never completed his schooling. L's having him do it now."

"Oh," Linda said as all confusion was swept away. And then she stopped short, looking up to him in surprise. "Oh!" The importance of Matt's words had sunk in at last. "Then Near..."

"Rose in status six years prior with Mello's absence and has not stopped there. He's become an all too... aspiring," he phrased the word lightly, "entity onto himself." The study doors were pushed open revealing an array of equipment that had been laid out over an additional number of desks. The walls were lined with set in screens and book shelves, creating a bizarre combination of the traditional and top of the line modern. Matt hit a key on the first desktop he passed, bringing all other screens to life in an instant.

"This is basically the work room, although L has taken half his equipment upstairs. Let me just set you up on the network and you can use any of these."

"Still the resident techie, huh?" she asked with a grin.

"Something like that," Matt answered; his sense of modesty a great deal more pronounced than Mello's had ever been.

"You didn't leave Wammy's when he did, so I'm guessing you've been on the case for five years then?"

"Four," Matt said unexpectedly without looking up from the screen. But as if he could still see the look of puzzled curiosity upon her face, he explained. "There was a good year where I had no idea what the hell Mello was up to, or where he was."

"I would have figured you'd keep in touch."

"He got caught up in bigger things at the time." And while the comment was open for resentment, there was no hint of it in his tone. Up until recently, he had not even been all that aware of what 'bigger things' it had been that Mello got himself buried in. The ramifications of that absence had only lately become crystal clear. "All right, you're in." And with that, Matt gave her free reign, plucking his own personal laptop off the coffee table as he sank into one of the couches nearby. He'd considered leaving her alone to it, but given the nature of the file, Matt figured it'd be best to remain in the vicinity.

Linda would be crying out in disbelief within the hour.

Sure enough as predicted the loud "You've got to be bloody kidding me!" resounded and Matt grinned despite himself.

* * *

7pm found Linda leaning over the desk, eyes intent on the glowing screen before her; cup of coffee firmly in her hand. Matt crept up behind her shortly after that, brushing her shoulder as he glimpsed at the screen to see her progress. The girl practically jumped, blinking out of her concentration - which given by the array of neatly jotted notes she had stacked beside her, was something to be admired.

"Sorry," Matt said, crushing a cigarette into the nearby ashtray. "Dinner's ready. And yes, there is a possibility that you might get drilled," he smirked.

* * *

Mello was a little bit more than slightly disgruntled. He stared incomprehensibly at one of the text books that had been left on the bookshelf for him. It lay open on the desk now, its neat, compact writing making his head throb just by simply looking at it. L had to be fucking kidding. Mello spotted it on the shelf prior to even getting to it on the curriculum, but the binding had caught his attention. Now as he stared down at the incomprehensible kanji displayed before him, Mello laughed. "Oh no... I don't fucking think so." He swept his eyes across the bookshelves, finding a handful of other Japanese texts in its original form and scowled.

It was one thing to compete academically with Light in this intensive a schedule. Another all together to have to do endure part of the workload in the bastard's native language. One that Mello had learned to converse fluently in, read and write it decently enough with little issues - but this was a whole other level. He had only been academically taught for just under a year at Wammy's when those in line for the L title had added the language onto their already packed schedule due to the emergence of the Kira case. This was ridiculous.

Dinner was already underway by the time Mello strode into the dinning room and dropped the seemingly offending text on the table. Its bulk was enough to cause every glass' content to shake. "You've knowingly put me at a disadvantage!" Mello said with a scowl but surprisingly enough, took his seat without being asked.

L was tying cherry stem knots with his tongue, cherries which he’d plucked off a various assortment of gelati in front of him. “I can speak at least 267 native and dead languages and dialogues,” he simpered—“I can read and write in each and every one I speak. For the past 6 years your main adversary almost strictly speaks and excels in Japanese. If Kira were communicating with his associates via kanji alone—you, Mello, would need to know how to read each and every word he wrote. If you can’t read Japanese texts in their native written form, what’s the purpose of even attempting to pursue a predominantly Japanese master-mind?”

The detective swirled a long finger through a mountain of whipped cream and promptly sucked the sticky digit into his mouth. He turned his head then and smiled. “Does that suffice?”

“Personally,” and Mello was maintaining a very controlled—albeit gritting—veneer, unfolding his napkin and laying it across his lap, “I think you’re doing it to mess with me.”

“That too,” L readily agreed, “But my prior reasoning makes more sense. Ultimately, you need to know it—and this particular text has gone a long way toward feeding Kira’s idealistic nature. It’s required reading as far as I’m concerned.”

Mello stifled his aggravation, but managed to glug his wine all the same.

He wasn’t the only one rather antsy at the dinner table. Linda was trying her best again to act with a manner of ease and professionalism, and at the same time she looked quite bleary eyed having been glued to a laptop screen for the better part of several hours.

It was now, as Mello was being reintroduced to that academic environment he’d moved so far away from, all while watching Linda, his fellow Wammy alum fidget in her new job position, that L took on a much more intimidating nature. Given the past 6 years, and more precisely the past several months in which Mello had seen L in almost every light imaginable—including a vulnerable and victimized one—that he’d almost forgotten how strict and overwhelming the detective could be when it came to academics and meeting his exceedingly high expectations.

It was most definitely very apparent now that L was greatly missing his mirror opposite with whom he could always rely on for brilliant responses and a patented slew of strategic tactics to engage his over-accomplished brain. It made Mello realize that despite the veritable prodigies that surrounded L at this table—his own heir included—there was but one mind L still seemed to respect above all others, and that mind was comatose on the floor above them. It made Mello grimace.

“Linda,” L said, and the girl’s eyes shot dutifully upward. She’d already confessed to Matt prior to dinner that she never realized how much she didn’t understand about L back at Wammy’s, in particular, his occasionally rude demeanor. L was admired to the nth degree by all enrolled, he was held on a pedestal that drove all that youthful brilliant ambition those students possessed. He’d drop in on occasion for guest workshops or lectures or quartet concertos—or just because he needed the respite of his ‘home’ and aside from knowing he had a variety of unique ticks and mannerisms, an abundantly sweet tooth, and was possibly attractive underneath his often-odd panda appearance; there was not much more anyone knew about him. It always seemed what they knew was enough—and his mystique was part of the allure.

When he called out Kira on national television he essentially took on Superhero status—ironically, that launch between the battle of Good and Evil did more to inspire his underlings than perhaps any solitary accomplishment he’d achieved before—but that grand gesture turned out to be smoke and mirrors in hindsight. Obviously it was not L’s intention at the time, but considering what Linda had been reading, the elaborate game L had engaged in with Kira…the fact that he now protected him from the very justice he sought to uphold—it brought everything into question and left her feeling rather lost and confused. Who was L now? And what drove him if not justice?

What was more, was that this was the first time she’d been around L long enough to even hold a conversation with him. Of course she wanted to impress, and didn’t seem to be succeeding, and of course she wasn’t prepared for his lack of congeniality and often impatience when it came to the inability to jump on topic and understand all with the minutest set of facts. It almost seemed as if L wanted to just inject her with the knowledge of the past six years because he didn’t have the patience to catch her up to speed—what he knew, and what Matt and Mello knew—about the cases, about Kira, about the complexity involved all around, L wanted her to magically understand or else she was just useless.

Matt of course, assured her that was not the case—and that L just had ‘a way.’ He left it at that, but he saw the anxiety flicker across the girl’s face at that moment when L addressed her.

“May I inquire as to how far along you are with the files?” L said, downing another cherry. “And may I also bother you for your observations on the case up to such a point?”

Linda drew herself up with a visible deep breath and all the while keeping a glass in hand, just so that there was something to distract her attention and at the same time, she said simply. “L.A.,” earning a clearly impressed look from Matt – apparently she was not only a psychoanalyst, she could also speed read, given the amount of information she’d blown through in just a few hours’ time – and a sidelong glance from Mello. She, however, only had eyes for L at that point, which given her apprehension was equally impressive.

“I admit that there have been things that have shocked me, and things I have yet to fully understand, but I’m withholding my questions until I’m done.” She paused, wetting her lips as she took a sip, also giving her a moment to quickly gather her thoughts. “Because you’ve told me the reason I’ve been called here was Near, I have been able to focus closely on his actions through the years, while I probably would not have done so much without that initial guidance.” But what conclusion had she come up with? Hard to tell if there was even anything solid there yet. “There is, however, a distinct difference from the moment you stepped out of the foreground of the investigation. Not only in Light’s behavior but that of both Near and Mello.” Sitting on the other side of Matt, she did not catch the twitch of a brow just barely hidden behind blonde bangs. “I understand both were still under your instructions, particularly Near. Your methods, Mello, despite being brash, partly selfish and questionable in the very least, would have been effective had it not been for Near’s Devil’s Advocate-like involvement.” Ah, wasn’t that usually the case? He snorted but did not comment.

“Near’s involvement, however, is further questionable. On the surface it seems as if he was following your guidance, L, but only so far as it interested his personal plans. I’ve reason to believe that he contacted Light on several more occasions that have not been recorded in the case file – there is a definite deconstruction in Light’s behavioral patterns since the feign of your death. While on the surface Kira reigns unchallenged, and his double as L also goes unquestioned, there was something more going on that I have yet to put my finger on. I admit that I read ahead on multiple occasions,” she explained her insight, which obviously expanded beyond the LA incident.

“You’ve read how that story ends ahead of time,” Mello pointed out, guessing where she was getting at.

“Yes. I have yet to touch on more recent and current events, but I’ve read through the warehouse incident. Knowing how it went down in the end has only allowed me to look at the finer details along the way.” She paused, returning her attention to L, who had yet to interrupt. “Although I must ask, seeing as this is a detail which has obviously not been included in the file – when did you start protecting Kira?”

Mello awarded her a questioning look – after all, it was written in – albeit subtly – by the actions carried out on his part toward Kira in the last couple of years. Not only that, but Near’s gradually straying attitude. Or was she trying to get at something altogether different? Seeing something they did not due to their too-deep involvement all this time?

“Prior to my death,” L answered simply, too simply, Linda held out for a longer response, L was holding out for her reaction. There was a tense moment of silence before the girl realized he was waiting. Her eyes gleaned the table cloth and she seemed to be mustering a courage of some sort.

“Okay,” she said; “You brought me here not only to psychoanalyze Near’s actions.” It was a statement, not a question.

“I did?” L playing Devil’s Advocate, he didn’t spare her a glance either, too involved in parting the gelato from the cream with a rather long silver spoon.

“In order to understand the present case, I must not only psychoanalyze Near’s actions, but psychoanalyze yours as well because the two are inextricably linked and are acting off of each other.”

L slid a spoonful of sweetness into his mouth. “Very good Linda,” he said at last. “So what conclusions have you drawn, if any?”

The girl paused again—her astute assumptions were impressive, but it was rather obvious she was still unsure enough to rightfully stand by her own convictions…or conclusions.

“You say you started protecting Kira before you faked your death,” she repeated tentatively.

“Correct,” L replied.

“That means you grew close to him on a personal level during the time you were handcuffed together. Personal feelings are the only feasible reason I can see to protect someone like Kira at all. It strikes me that you see him as an equal, and I’m sure that we can all vouch, having grown up aspiring to you, that you finding an equal is no easy task as a mind like yours is few and far between. I admit I had my doubts regarding Kira’s intelligence and how it could ever compare. His achievements are impressive academically speaking—they’re frightening with regards to his ambition and delusions of divinity, but I can’t see him as your equal based solely on what I’ve read so far. He is however, a cunning strategist at the very least.”

L smiled slightly to himself, his attention still very much drawn to the desert. “Go on,” he said.

Linda took another deep breath—the detective had yet to confirm or deny her analysis, and she supposed if she was way off base, he’d hold his reprimand until the end. It was extra unnerving saying this before Matt and Mello who had already been through so much with him and knew the truth when she did not.

“It leads me to conclude that, given your sense of bondship with Kira at a mental capacity, you began protecting him based solely on selfish motives,” She didn’t let that rather grating truth settle before she quickly added in her own defense; “Because from what I see in the file, Kira has done nothing to invoke anyone’s sympathy on his behalf otherwise. You yourself recorded that he smiled vindictively when he believed you were dying in his arms.”

L blinked. “He did,” and that sounded like the loneliest statement in the world. It seemed like everyone was holding their breaths just then, all eyes on L, who had yet to return any gaze. The moment stretched awkwardly. “And Kira’s behavior after my death?” He continued, flat-toned and analytical. “You just observed that Kira’s behavioral patterns were deconstructing.”

“Yes,” Linda breathed, her mind working to fit things together—but there were glaringly obvious omissions in the story. “Judging by how much he seemed to have underestimated Near and Mello, I would venture to say that he felt the same way about you that you do about him—that only you were his equal, and they were not worth the same effort, hence his subsequent downfall.”

“A decent observation,” L muttered. “As to the ‘something more’ you have yet to put your finger on—I will fill in one particular blank.”

Linda noticed how both Mello and Matt were staring intently at the detective as though wondering which blank he was about to fill in—that meant it could have been any number of most likely shocking occurrences she had yet to know about.

“Several months prior to the Yellowbox Warehouse incident, Kira was interrogated by the SPK. This event was omitted from the records due to my involvement and interference in the operation—a fact I want neither Kira nor Near to understand in its entirety, albeit for difference reasons. The Interrogation turned into a torture session intent on brutalizing a confession out of Kira. I gave Near the order to proceed with his tactics as he saw fit, at the same time I took measures to stop it—both by depending upon Mello to intervene, and by causing a technological blackout in the SPK’s security system, which allowed for Kira to escape. You ask when I began protecting him—the intention was there before my death, but that incident was my first true act on Kira’s behalf.”

L scraped the bottom of his gelato, licking the spoon, still not making eye contact. “Also omitted from that case file is the obvious truth that Kira survived the warehouse incident. As far as most of the world is concerned, Light Yagami died a police officer that day, in the line of duty and was cremated and interred beside his father. In fact, he lives because I had him airlifted to a medical facility—ironically he suffered a coma very much like the one he’s suffering now. However, the connection between Yagami and Kira was never revealed to the public or to anyone with lower-than-necessary clearance—which is fine as Kira’s judgments are still very much active, even though they are not being carried out by Kira-Proper at this time.”

And despite everything he’d just said—confessing to the fact that he had, for seemingly selfish reasons, protected Kira from a deserved fate—L still sounded very much removed from the responsibility he’d only just admitted to freely.

“Linda,” and at last a voice other than L’s, as Mello inserted himself into the conversation. “The biggest piece of the puzzle you’re missing here, is Kira himself. It’s virtually impossible to understand motives where Kira’s involved, simply by reading about him in a case file. Kira in person is a different breed of animal altogether from Kira on paper.” And certainly, Mello should know.

But seeing as Light was currently indisposed, a case file alone would have to suffice. At least for now. She had been about to respond when a thought struck her and she closed her mouth, considering it a moment before asking, “Are there any surveillance videos available that I may take a look at?” She was right on the ball after all.

“You’ll end up being up all night with those,” Matt commented as he leaned back in his seat, tapping his pack of cigarettes against his palm without making any true move to fish for a smoke.

“That may be so,” she agreed. There would be plenty of coffee to sustain her. “But seeing as I’m working with a timeline here, and Kira himself is presently unavailable for a hands-on case study, I will take the next best thing.” She paused, directing her attention at L. “If that would be all right.”

Ironically, it was at that point that L chose to hesitate, sliding a somewhat narrow glance over his shoulder. “There are years worth of surveillance footage,” he said darkly, “Literally years worth. And depending upon which point in Kira’s own timeline you choose to view, it likely will not give you—by any means—an adequate picture with which to analyze, as more often than not he was well aware he was being filmed, and acted accordingly.”

And that sounded very much like L didn’t want her to see any footage at all. Bizarre—try psychoanalyzing that one, Mello thought, because it was certainly one of several extreme reactions on the detective’s part. First there was the obvious point—Light on video…well, could be even scarier than he was in person, especially if Linda chose to watch the warehouse footage. That would certainly rob L of any moral leg to stand on where defending Kira came into play. Stranger still…being a type of possessiveness Kira himself would be proud of—despite L having ordered Linda onto the case with the intent that she analyze all the behavior involved, he was either having second thoughts, or suddenly did not like the notion that anyone other than him would study and analyze Light. Hmm. It was as though Linda had not earned the right to go near Kira with a ten foot pole—or maybe Mello was misreading the sudden bout of …jealousy?...L seemed to be displaying.

Whether the girl picked up on it, he couldn’t be sure. Or maybe L was being deliberate…maybe L didn’t want to taint the invaluable experience of meeting Kira person to person with any sort of incomparable trailer footage.

Linda caught onto it all right – however, in her lack of experience dealing with the detective, she was not particularly sure what it was exactly she was catching on to, just that all of a sudden that hesitation spoke worlds of the mysteries that remained unattainable to her just yet. “You’d rather I don’t…” she made it a statement, albeit a carefully intonated one.

L blinked. He’d caught himself then as he felt Mello’s eyes on him rather intently. It took him a moment. “Matt has cataloged all the footage, he can point you to anything you need.”

That was his parting statement because he got out of the chair then and left the room.

Linda looked downright horrified as L exited. Mello was looking after him, brows knit in thought but did not comment. Matt on the other hand exhaled and did manifest a cigarette from the pack. “Testy,” he commented lightly. But then again, he had only had so much close interaction with L, and the recent months were hardly a good example to go by.

Mello however, agreed. “A bit. Even for him.” It was telling and for a split second it had crossed that hairline boundary between professional expectations being met and personal feelings on the matter. It was the latter that troubled him, because even though Light was an essential key in putting together the array of chaotically scattered pieces, L was being possessive. Odd. He had to wonder if Linda was grasping at points too close to personal matters too soon – certainly L must have anticipated that much if he expected her to have read through the entirety of the case in order to start making deductions by the following day. Of course light would be cast upon his personal feelings on the matter; and sooner or later she would figure out just how close that bond happened to be.

Mello rose from his seat, but hesitated, leaning a moment on the back of his chair. “Show her the footage,” he told the redhead, although his gaze lingered on the table as if it held the answers. “Light’s initial collaboration on the case, snippets from the time of both his and Misa’s imprisonment, something out of the Yotsuba Case, L’s feigned death…” he paused, going down the mental list of key points. “The task force storming in on the LA hide out. There were various points of communication between he and Near after that point. Do not, however, show her footage from the Warehouse ‘till further notice.” At least that much they could safeguard.

Matt was left blinking at him. “That’s going to take all night.”

“Fast forward to the key points. I’ve got a few things to get through, but I’ll drop in later.” And to Linda, he said, “You’re doing fine. Don’t let his demeanor make you think otherwise. I’ll see you both in a couple of hours.”

And before either could so much as say a word in response, Mello swept from the dinning room, but not without having to turn back a few paces to pick that damnable book off the table. Instead of returning to his study, however, it was L he sought, and taking the steps two at a time, ascended to the top level where he deduced the detective had returned to.

* * *

The room appeared empty upon entrance—empty of course except for the unmoving figure of Light in the bed. Mello’s gaze lingered on those fine handsome features, and he had to blot the memory of that skin away. But L was nowhere to be seen—not in the chair, not curled in his usual spot on the bed, not behind the laptops. Mello knew he was there, however, and circling around the foot of Light’s bed, found the detective on the other side, sitting on the floor—hidden—with his back against the mattress, knees to his chest. He was staring at the glass panes of the balcony doors with the sort of devastated look on his face Mello was not used to seeing on him.

“I don’t know…” L said, gaze unmoving, as though to move meant he would break. “I don’t know what to do.” And he looked just wrecked at that moment.

Mello hesitated there at the foot of the bed but after that moment’s pause, inched forward, crouching down beside him. “You’re well on the way to scaring the shit out of her, but I’d like to think I know you a little bit better than to completely buy that façade,” he said quietly. “What’s wrong?” He asked gently, reaching out to brush his mentor’s arm if only just so that those endless black eyes turned to him for just a moment.

They did, and there was far too much weight in those dark marble orbs to even measure. But it was in L’s face wasn’t it—his heart was breaking more each day Light did not wake up, that was, if it hadn’t already broken completely at the thought he’d fallen in love with the devil.

“I’ve sold my soul haven’t I, Mello,” the detective muttered, returning his gaze to the windows.

Ah. Mello settled down on the floor with him. “You’re looking to Linda for validation,” he said. “You want to see if she can uncover a reason for you to feel the way you do about Light. But she won’t. She’s going to look at the facts, and she’s going to see Kira—a murderer.”

“I’m aware of that,” L said distantly.

“And you’re getting angry at her for it,” Mello added.

“I’m aware of that as well,” L muttered, eyes wide and staring off into space. “If I was in her position, I would see the same.”

“L,” and Mello’s voice was grounded. “I understand.”

The way Mello said it could only allude to one thing, and L turned a solemn gaze on him. The blonde sighed, fingers itching for a piece of chocolate. “I understand why you feel the way you do about Light—”

“I love him.” L said it quickly, as though the words were acid burning his tongue, as though he couldn’t bare the thought that he’d said them at all. He’d never really professed his love for Kira—not in words—and it seemed to truly and utterly scare him. And maybe it was because Linda was dredging up all the worst parts about Light in her work—parts L may have wanted to forget—no—parts he did want to forget. Like the look on Light’s face when L died in his arms. That haunted the detective endlessly, and here L was, keeping vigil, lying beside Light every night, fingers entwined, praying for God to forgive Kira and grant him life—or afterlife—or whatever would bring him solace and a chance at redemption, despite that look Light had given him, despite everything Light had ever done to hurt him, to betray him, to tear L’s heart to shreds.

And there was no why.

No why other than how L felt.

And L looked devastated because he understood that was all there really was to it.

“I know,” Mello told him quietly. “Despite how rationally you’ve been handling all of this, despite how you go about the days focusing on everything other than who lies so terribly unconscious in this bed, I know. I know without having to see you when you do manage to fall asleep beside him every night.” Mello allowed his gaze to sweep up to the crisp white sheets, the life-support machines and just the faintest hint of Light laying prone and so still upon the mattress. From this lowered angle, they were spared of that sight.

“I don’t fault you for it,” Mello continued, returning his attention to L. “I’ve never faulted you for it regardless of whether or not I approved.” And with that, he offered a small smile. “God knows I hate seeing you destroy yourself because of him.” He sighed again and shook his head, following the trajectory of L’s gaze toward the windows. “You miss him. Having us here doesn’t make a lick of difference because as much as he messes with your head, you’re still lonely without him.”

It was with a sad smile that he shifted to sit at L’s side and lean his head back against the mattress. “You tell me it isn’t my fault, but on some level it is. I fucked up somewhere along the line–be it a small or large detail, that doesn’t matter right now. What’s done is done, but mine were the decisions that have landed you both in this situation a second time.” And he was sorry–God was he sorry. Not only because of what he had indirectly put Light through but because in essence he had set the ball rolling toward the one thing that could hurt L the most.

It was strange, but L leaned against him at that moment, head on Mello’s shoulder, gaze still firmly fixed at the windows—on his own distorted reflection. And that how L felt wasn’t it? Distorted. “I’m not going to win this, Mello,” he said quietly. “Any way I divide the end results, I pay the price—whether it’s my life or his… ”

“You’re a fool…” Mello murmured affectionately and even though L’s need of comfort was a surprise, he did not hesitate to slide one arm around the detective’s shoulders, fingers burying themselves into that mass of fluffed black hair.

Somewhere along the lines L had stopped seeing Kira as an entity to be destroyed, but rather as one to be saved in whatever way possible. But that was the rub–Light did not want to be saved, too set on his ideals, on his sense of right and wrong and justice. It was a moot argument, but one L had been feeding for years. He was making countless sacrifices for that sonfoabitch, and lately—had put his entire reputation on the line, everything L had ever worked for. Mello sighed. Sure, he entertained the thoughts of lecturing the detective on this seeming insanity, but that wasn’t what L needed just then.

For once he needed a shoulder to lean on and someone to tell him that everything would be alright. Somehow. By some miracle of God, that everything would be all right in the end. And so he said it – whether he believed it completely or not did not matter, but Mello was there to say it nevertheless.

* * *

Matt watched Linda scrunch up her nose at the screen. “He’s—” and this was merely the first hour of her introduction to the wonderful fucked up world of Light Yagami—in living color.

“A bastard,” Matt finished from the other couch. “Don’t let perfect appearances fool you, he’s the bloody snake in the garden, although both L and Mello will claim he has redeeming qualities.” He deadpanned that last line, but Linda detected a hint of resentment.

She turned to him; “Well it’s hard to say because he’s very reserved in much of this footage.”

Matt’s eyes lifted from the PSP in his hands. “Listen, Lin,” he said. “I know L mortified you before—that’s because you managed to find the thin ice over his rather solidly frozen pool.”

The girl’s brow twisted. “Now what is that supposed to mean?”

Matt chuckled, unlit smoke poised against his lower lip. “You scratched the surface before—dig a little deeper and whole lot of shit will make a whole bunch more sense.”

She continued to eye him questioningly a short while longer, but seeing as Matt was offering no further insight on that particular matter, returned her attention to the screen. It was another two hours of silence unbroken only by the video reel and the scratching of a pen before Linda paused the footage and pushed herself up. Night had fallen in earnest outside and she watched it without truly seeing it, coming to stand before one of the full length windows. She rubbed at her eyes, regaining some clarity to the blur that was beginning to set in. Fatigue was definitely starting to show, and she fetched her coffee in order to combat it, but did not return to the desk, pacing slowly in front of the windows as her thoughts fell into place.

Not oblivious to her pacing, Matt glimpsed up through the haphazard fall of reddish-brown bangs, waiting to see if she had anything to comment on, any questions to make. Given what she’d just been shown, it was a wonder she had said nothing more on the matter, absorbing information before properly digesting it. He supposed it made sense.

“Matt?” she called at last without looking at him; the contents of her mug held her gaze.

“Yea.” He considered pausing the game, but decided against it.

“Is… was there something going on between L and Light?”

“Are you asking me because you think you’ve been led to see things, or are you asking me because you’re starting to find no other explanation?”

“Shit,” she cursed, which in of itself was unusual. The PSP was paused then and Matt inched up from his sprawled state across the couch, tossing one arm along its back so that he could look at her, dark blues following her pacing. “It had crossed my mind earlier but I dismissed it as foolishness thinking that could never be the case when L had been out to destroy Kira but… Shit!” Linda cursed again a bit more vehemently. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t something I was meant to find out?”

Matt scoffed. “Please. He knew ahead of time that bringing you on board would mean you finding out every little detail of the case sooner or later, especially considering what he’s asked you to do. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that in part he does want you to psychoanalyze him as well as Near and not only because they’ve been bouncing actions off each other but because this whole situation has gotten so fucking out of control.”

But of course, she was not yet fully up to date on recent details and looked to him questioningly. “You’ll see once you move onto the current case file.”

The door cracked open at that point and Mello strode in, looking weary. He said nothing also, which prompted Matt for the immediate question – “How is he?”

“As well as he can be. Sleeping for now.” He sank down heavily into one of the overstuffed chairs. “Made any progress?”

“Some,” was the redhead’s answer.

But Linda had other plans. “You think Kira’s got redeeming qualities?”

Mello blinked, head rising up from where he’d dropped it against the back of the chair. He looked to her then to his lover. “Christ, what have you been telling her?”

“Nothing beyond my unclouded judgment,” his lover responded which made Mello scoff and look back to the girl.

“Yes, but I’m not on your list of study-subjects,” he responded with a grin.

Linda seemed disappointed, but not overly so. In fact, she appeared to have taken the comment as a challenge. “You should be.” And that response could only mean that she was not limiting her attention to L and Near alone. That annoyed Mello, but it was inevitable.

“She’s gonna take on the whole lot of you,” Matt quipped, “”cept, me—I’m the last sane one here.”

Luckily Linda was too preoccupied to examine that statement. “It’s been going on for years then, hasn’t it?” She said, as though she were merely making notations aloud.

Mello watched her pace. “If you’re referring to L and Light—yeah, it’s been going on for years.”

Linda stopped and glanced at him, Mello shrugged. “You asked,” he justified.

“It’s just a bit of a shock, isn’t it,” Linda said in that astute British lilt. “I was there at Wammy’s during the Kira fight—we all rallied behind L—he was going to take Kira down …and now to think…”

“It’s called irony,” Mello said, dropping his head back against the couch. “Brutal, cruel, devilish irony.”

“How bad is it?” Linda persisted.

“Pretty bad,” Mello muttered, “L hasn’t been himself for a long long time”

“Kira sunk his claws in that deep? You’re right, Matt, he is a bloody bastard”

“That’s a surface way of putting it,” the blonde replied. “The reality is far more complicated being that the sentiment is not completely one sided. Kira has had the means to kill L—among other people—for several months now. He won’t do it. In fact, he’s gone to L’s rescue on more than one occasion. No, Kira is a case study if ever there was one. What you’re seeing in that footage—can’t compare to the real thing.”

“So you keep telling me,” Linda muttered, folding her arms. “I almost want the pleasure of making his acquaintance at this rate.”

“Take that back,” Matt interjected. “You definitely don’t want that—definitely not.”

Mello’s lips bowed upward slightly, but he didn’t contradict his lover. There was nothing to contradict on that one. Whereas meeting Kira may help toward Linda’s overall task—poor girl, Light would go straight for the jugular if she ever did have the pleasure.

“If he has L at such a disadvantage,” Linda mumbled, “Then even in his current state, Kira is winning, isn’t he?”

Matt and Mello exchanged glances. “In the current state,” Mello said after a moment, “Neither of them are going to win.”