Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.

Chapter 1: Stolen Away

Light stared at his captors through his long, light-brown bangs. He was currently leaning forward in his seat; he could've lain flat on his thighs too if it were not for the fact that his wrists and ankles were bound behind the metal chair's backrest with handcuffs. He scanned the small, sickeningly white room. It seemed that the blindingly bright fluorescent lamps that hung above his head were to compensate for the room's lack of windows, if not to mock him as well. He glanced over his shoulder as he desperately fidgeted his handcuffed wrists.

He dropped his head in defeat. It was no use. Even if he was miraculously able to break the handcuffs, L was standing (more like slouching) in front of him, staring down his prisoner with cold, hard pitch-black eyes. Near, who was encircled by finger puppets, was seated right next to him. Not only was that, but Matt and Mello were also guarding the only door.

"It's over, Kira. You lost the game," Near calmly stated as he flicked one of the figurines in front of him. The Kira finger puppet then thudded noticeably to the ground.

Light's blank look turned into one of pure anguish. "B-but how?" Light scowled, sending a hateful glare to L with those frightening eyes of his. "How did you catch me? I had everything planned perfectly!"

L raised one of his non-existent eyebrows musingly. If he didn't know that Light was furious, he would have assumed that the young man was displaying signs of rabies.

"You are wrong, Kira-kun. You did not plan it perfectly. You see, your defeat was brought about by the fact that you did not take into account the effects of someone working on the inside for us."

When Light gave him a purely dubious look, L continued, "Don't give me that look, Kira-kun. I am sure that you know her very well, but very well, we will reveal to you the bringer of your defeat." And at that moment, Light realized the reason for L's ghost of a smirk when the latter gestured his hand for the traitor to move forward, but he had never expected it to be –

"Rem?" he yelped in surprise. So shocked was he that an invisible force seemed to slam him against the back of his chair.

"Yes, Kira-kun," the detective answered the convict while tilting his head ever so slightly. "She is working for me."

No longer able to control his anger, the brunette lunged his upper body forward. "B-but I thought you were working for me! YOU TRAITOR! I thought you wanted the best for Misa! I guess not because-"

Rem silenced him with a firm: "It is for Misa."

"Yes. It is for Misa-san. You see, Kira-kun, Rem-san knew that Kira has a much greater chance of getting Misa killed than me," L explained blandly, "Therefore, she struck a deal with me. She would help me catch the real Kira, and I in turn would drop all my suspicions against her. And that brings us-" he lowered himself into a crouch to lower himself with Kira's distressed face, "-to now."

He then stood up and nodded at Mello to continue. "Then, L called his three successors from England in order to perfect the plan against Kira," Mello continued, holding a hand forward as a sign of explanation. "That was when L died from a heart attack, and Rem supposedly dissolved into sand. If things ended there, you may have been able to win, but you didn't know about this." The blond quickly held out what seemed to be a block in his palm. "This is a Death Eraser. Erase a person's name from the Death Note with this, and the person will come back to life. Before she started to dissolve, she quickly erased L's name and kept the both of them from dying."

Mello sank into the wall and shoved his hands into his pockets, signaling Matt to continue for him. The redhead nodded and stood forward. "The Task Force then staged the whole funeral. It seems they got you pretty good there, buddy. You didn't suspect a thing, and that's when we showed up. You thought you killed us as well, but Rem was able to sneak in and erase our names. And then we played a little act, then you fall right into our trap and confess. You walked right into our little charade, but I have to say-" Matt sneaked in a little snigger. "-it was fun!"

Now, it was Near's turn. "You played well, Kira, but it doesn't matter. You are still the loser in this game."

L then glowered at the bounded one. "Light Yagami is in fact Kira, the original human owner of the Death Note. Light-kun will be executed in this very room today. Do you have any last words,killer?"

Light hung his head forward, his piercing red eyes hidden behind his blood-red bangs. "Yes, I do," he whispered, and ended his statement with a smirk. Suddenly, he threw his head back and started laughing maniacally, tears flowing from his eyes from its intensity. Then, he quietly added: "You are all fools," before almost choking on his laughter once more.

The laugh was completely unexpected. If any of them were a lesser man, they would all have been paralyzed with shock from the nauseating, piercing feeling from his laugh. However, that is not the case. "What do you mean by that, Light-kun?" We beat you," L interjected.

Kira's laugh slowly died down into chuckles, and he turned his face away, smiling knowingly to himself as the others gave him stares that questioned his sanity. (But then again, he was never sane in the first place.) "You say that you have won, but in fact, you haven't. In fact, you haven't been able to uncover my TRUE identity! I AM KIRA and nothing attached. Don't you see? I AM the spirit of the Death Note Near is holding right now. I AM the Death Note!"

L narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "Don't be so silly, Light-kun-"

"YOU are the one who's being silly, L. All of you. Even you, Rem." He turned his gaze to the upper-left corner of the room. "And you too, Ryuk."

"Heh." Ryuk sifted through the room's ceiling. "You got me there, Light."

Kira closed his eyes in frustration. "I am not Light." He clicked his tongue when he turned his head to the side arrogantly. "Since Ryuk is here, let me prove it to you." He faced the Shinigami with a malevolent stare. "Ryuk, you don't know that the notebook you dropped was possessed, did you? Silly Ryuk. You should have known that before you stole that particular one from the Death God King."

Ryuk gave a dark chuckle that made even L wince. (What is it with all the laughing today?) He then nonchalantly turned his head towards the humans. "Hey, L. This guy's the real deal. I haven't told the kid about the theft. Heck, I didn't even tell him about the Death God King. This is…just so interesting!" He howled with amusement as he took another glance at smirking murderer.

Everyone turned towards Kira, who looked seemingly like he would blow his head off from laughter. "SEE? I told you! Light is just a human I possessed in order to pass out my judgment. It doesn't matter if you execute me; as long as that notebook exists, I will always be alive."

"Well then, in that case, we'll just burn the notebook," Near announced, and he deftly caught the lighter Matt threw at him. He held out the items to his predecessor. "L-sama? Would you like to do the honors?"

"Yes." L then reached down and plucked the two items from Near's outstretched arms. "This is goodbye, Kira-kun." Then, he raised the lighter closer and-

"Are you THAT ready to lose your best friend, L?"

L stopped dead in his tracks. He turned towards the young man, still holding the lighter very close to the Death Note. A little too close for Kira's comfort. "What do you mean? Kira is my enemy-"

Kira smirked. "I mean, Light."

The detective snapped his head to the murderer. "What do you mean? Once you are gone, Light will be free."

Kira grin just grew even wider, his red eyes growing more frightening in the lighting. "Didn't you listen? I am in Light's body. I control him. I HAVE HIM. I POSSESS HIS BEING! And if you kill me, I will take Light to death with me. His body may remain, but his mind and heart won't. Just as nothing will be left of me, there will be nothing left of him! So, L, WILL you burn the notebook?

L, for once, didn't know what to do. He glanced down at the objects in his hands. 'Should I, or shouldn't I? I do not want to lose Light, especially now that I know that he is in there somewhere. But I cannot let Kira murder. Even if I do get him out of Light, he will just keep coming back, seeing as he can possess anyone who touches the Death Note. But will I kill my own friend? But I must serve justice. But…'

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard someone scream his name.

"L!"

He turned towards the origin of the sound. "Please, L!" It was Light – the real Light. Light was desperately leaping forward from the restraints. "Just do it, L! Burn it already!"

But L couldn't. He just couldn't. He hadn't seen Light in such a long time, and he couldn't help but be completely relieved. He didn't notice how badly he missed him. It made his heart twinge at the though of never being with his friend again. "But Light-kun, I-I'd never be able to see you again."

"Please, L! Do it!" Light was shaking violently in his seat. "I can't hold him back much longer! AH-!" He was squirming even more brutally as the five watched Light and Kira battle for dominance. "Please, L! AH!- Do me a favor…agh, and…STOP KIRA!"

Immediately, the flames engulfed the Death Note. As it burned, Kira was convulsing in agony. "Why- did you…ARGH!- have to…DO THAT! YOU…SUCK!" he said in between screams. "But…if I'm going down…I'm taking Light with me!" He started cackling again before he suddenly stopped in mid-cackle. Suddenly, his head hung forward limply.

Throwing the lighter to the ground, L made his way to the limp body and shook its shoulder furiously. "Light! LIGHT!" There' still a chance that I can save him!

Light looked up at him with HIS chocolate brown eyes, a sincere smile graced his lips. "L?"

L smiled back, relieved. 'Light's still here.' So relieved was L that he wrapped his arms around the brunette – something very un-L-like.

Light closed his eyes and sank into the embrace. "Yes, I am," he said soothingly," "And now there is no more-" The sound was caught in his throat, and he slowly felt himself numb all over.

"What's wrong, Light-kun?" The detective kept his arms on Light's shoulder and was left in horror as the brightness of Light's eyes slowly fade away.

"I'm sorry, L," he said, his voice sounding further and further away – somewhere where no one can return from. "I'm slipping…I'm leaving…after…all…"

And now all that was left of his friend's eyes was a blank, lifeless stare (and surely his being was in the same state as well).

L was so stunned that he had forgotten the fact that his successors were present, so it was a great surprise to see them nudge him.

Sullenly, he looked over his shoulder. "Near." The young boy's pitch-black eyes with L's much more sullen, wistful ones. "No one won. We may have rid the world of Kira…but we have also lost an invaluable ally to him."

My best friend.

Author's Notes: YAY! I have finally offered something to the Death Note fandom. It has always been my state of mind that one is not truly a fan unless one looks through and creates gifts for the fandom in the form of cosplay, fan-fiction, fan-art, etc. And now, I have offered mine. This is the first one to come in a long line, I believe. I got this idea from the rows of plush toys that sit on my cabinet in my room. And I wrote this for two hours straight in my So-Dark-Blue-It-Looks-Black Notebook when I SHOULD have been doing my projects. TEE-HEE. You'll understand later on as the story progresses (the toy thing, not the notebook thing or the evils of Drafting. No one will. :( ). AnyHOO, I should stop ranting and let you start reading the story (and getting to bed). Have a good time. Please leave reviews. You don't have to, but they'll really brighten up my day. :D RAWR!