Author's Note: Once again. I have problems. Don't need to tell me that one. And I have a thing for hurting the characters I love. Hence. Not so sure about the characterization of B here, but I did my best. Don't hurt me too badly.

When he first opened his eyes to see that face leering down at him, he thought it was L.

A side of L he hadn't seen before – crazed, dark and terrible – but L nonetheless, somehow back from the dead, because if anyone could manage that it would be L.

Then it laughed, and he knew that he'd been wrong.

"Light Yagami," the man who looks like L – so much like L, he must be a twin, or something - said, slowly, like he was tasting the words and found them delicious. He rolled them around on his tongue. "Liiiight Yagamiii."

"How do you know my name?" Was the first inane question that popped out of his mouth, too surprised to try to struggle. The creature seemed pleased, grinned.

"It is written above your head. Yagami Raito. In English, Light Yagami."

"Who are you?" He asked, sharply, though a shiver crawled down his spine. "How did you get in here-" Eyes. The gleaming red eyes, just like-

"The front door." Not-L giggled, inanely. "I can be very persuasive." He lifted a hand slowly to his mouth, and Light expected him to bite his thumb the same way as Ryuzaki too, but no…he was licking his fingertips like a man after a particularly appetizing meal.

Then he realized that the places where the man's hands had rested on his blankets were wet and dark. The color of-

"Tastes so sweet," purred the man crouched over his waist, and reached out and smeared his fingers down Light's cheek. He smelled it, and bile rose in his throat. "Delicious, delicious blood…"

On the nights when Light had come in late, there had always been a doorman with a key, guarding the building, who checked his ID and let him inside. The man always smiled, always wished him a good night, asked how his day had gone. Light wanted to roll over and vomit. Dead? Probably. And he was alone in the apartment.

"What are you here for?" He asked, hating this position, on his back, helpless. "What-"

The man laid his bloodied fingers on Light's lips. "Shhh," he murmured, eyes glinting with mirth. "Shhh, I think it's best if you're quiet for this part…oh oh, I do think I'm going to enjoy this…"

Light could feel himself trembling and fought to still it. He tried to edge his hand sideways, reach for the phone, but the man caught his hand with lightning quick speed. Looking up, Light startled to see his eyes glow red. "Nuh, uh," he said. "You're mine."

And brought Light's wrist slowly to his lips, ran his tongue over the skin, and bit into the flesh. Light yelled and the man freed one hand to put over his mouth. "Shhhh," he purred, "Didn't I tell you that silence was best? This is only marking."

His teeth tore again, ripping away skin, and as Light moaned in shock and pain, a new sensation joined-

Oh no. Oh no.

He could feel this – L-demon, L-lookalike, lapping at the blood flowing from his torn wrist, chuckling as it smeared around his lips.

Light choked on the vomit forcing its way up his throat, unable to breathe, and finally the demon let him move enough that it spattered on the floor and he coughed, throat raw from the acid.

He thought there was enough room to pull away, but the man tightened his grip on his wrist, tsking. "Who are you?" Light demanded, trying for angry but only managing scared, or confused. "What do you want-"

"Call me Ryuzaki," it said, and Light could hear it grin. "I wanted L. But I guess I can settle for you. Pretty, perfect, Light Yagami." It laughed again, soft and cold and cruel.

He noticed a moment later that he had changed seamlessly from 'he' to 'it' – he admitted, because he didn't want this thing to be human, didn't want to think that it could be human. No, this was something else, something-

worse.

The thing calling itself Ryuzaki sat back as Light stared at it, wide eyed and trying not to pant. His hand reminded him painfully of the danger he was in. I need to get out of here. I just have to overpower it. Simple enough.

"I don't want you to struggle," Ryuzaki said, eyes gleaming, and Light realized that he was holding handcuffs, one end to the bedpost, the other closing toward Light's wrist. "It'll only make it harder, you know. I don't know how long it'll take but I don't want to rush. It's important, to take your time."

Light tried to pull away, but with the creature essentially sitting on his chest, that was impossible. The handcuff clicked around his wrist with a brutal finality. He tried to fight it, automatically, and it dug into the torn skin of his wrist. He just managed not to scream. The creature – Ryuzaki – leaned back and surveyed its work, then hopped down off the bed. "I'll only be a moment," it said, gleefully. "I don't like to keep anyone waiting."

He did come back quickly, holding a slender, curved grapefruit knife in one hand. He held it up for examination, and Light stared at it in disbelief. "It's nice," he said. "Good weight. Nice edge. I think it'll work great. Now remember…just hold still, I don't want to mess up."

Light flinched at the first slice, down his belly, and then at the other two, slashing down from the shoulders. But they only nicked the skin, just slicing through the cloth of his button-up shirt. "That's how they begin an autopsy," Ryuzaki said. "Those cuts exactly. But don't worry, I'm not going there. It's too early." He pulled the scraps of shirt away like the peel of an orange and then straddled his chest again. "If you want," Ryuzaki said conversationally, "You can call me L."

"L's dead," Light said harshly, and Ryuzaki, demon-L, laughed.

"All the more reason, then, isn't it, now that you'll never have him?" Ryuzaki leaned closer, grinning that mad, Chesire Cat smile. "Not that I blame you. He's fascinating, beautiful. Addictive. Oh, no no no no no, I understaaaand…"

Light could feel himself tremble again. "You're talking nonsense. I don't-"

"I would have done anything to be like him. I did do anything to be like him. And you killed him." It sounded like Ryuzaki was whining, but he was leaning forward, his eyes glinting in a strange and dangerous way. "It's not fair. But I'll be nice to you. You can pretend it's him, everything I do. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Get – away – from me," Light managed to say through his teeth, though he could feel the fear speeding up his heart-rate, his chest tightening. This time, the sharp teeth dug into the skin of his neck, and he could hear Ryuzaki murmuring: 'blessed be the meek, for they will inherit the earth…'

He felt himself panic again and fought the handcuffs, making an incoherent noise of pain and fright as he struggled. Finally, Ryuzaki pulled away, wiping Light's blood off his chin with two fingers, and holding them up to Light's lips. "Open your mouth," he purred.

Light shook his head, turning his face away and locking his jaws. Ryuzaki drew him back around again as easily as if he was a child and forced two fingers between his lips. Of its own accord, his tongue darted out, finding his own blood on the offered fingers. Copper-salt taste, still warm.

He bit down hard on the fingers between his teeth.

Light tasted blood – not his own – as the creature yanked its hand away, but the demon didn't seem to care, crouching back on its heels and laughing like a madman, like a lunatic. Need to get out need to get out… Light looked toward the door, the phone again. Ryuzaki's gaze followed his, and the phone cord tore out of the wall.

"You taste so good," Ryuzaki murmured. "And you smell like fear. And vomit, but mostly fear. But your blood is sweet. Sweet like strawberry jam. Mmm-m. I want more of it. You're not leaving. You're not ever leaving without me."

Light could hear himself whimper and tried to use his unbound legs to push the demon away, but the chains only clanked and dug more painfully into his wrists. No use. The handcuffs, just like the ones that had held him and L together for weeks and weeks and weeks.

It's a dream. It's a dream. It's all a dream and I'll wake from it soon enough, I'll never sleep again if I have to-

The demon leaned down to him with the curved knife in his hand. "Don't worry," he said, as Light's eyes widened, his voice gentle and almost affectionate. "I know what I'm doing."

He laid the knife to the unblemished skin of Light's chest like a pen to paper, humming under his breath, made one small downwards slice. Light flinched, the pain not hitting immediately, just the surprise. Then Ryuzaki looked up, and Light could see the utter glee in his eyes.

"I don't want you to scream," Ryuzaki said amiably, picked up a handful of sheet, forced Light's jaws open, and shoved the sheets in until he could barely breathe. "There," he said, and then reached down, eyes still looking with malevolent pleasure into Light's, and-

He tried to scream and choked, tried again and choked again as the knife slipped back into the gash and drew downwards across upwards downwards slash oh god the agony of it and his wrists strained until he could feel them about to break – and then there was Ryuzaki's mouth, lapping up every drop he could find, mad eyes eager and rejoicing as Light quivered, helpless, KIRA written in smeared and bleeding letters across his chest.

He could feel the silent tears rolling down his face, the sobs choked on the sheet in his mouth that made his jaw ache.

"You killed L," Ryuzaki said, sounding almost sulky. "So I couldn't have him anymore. But this is almost as good. Almost." He crawled up Light's body, pressed the bloody flat of the knife to his cheek. "You're pretty when you bleed." He laughs, suddenly, abruptly, madly. "Did L ever fuck you, Light Yagami?"

Light could hear his own coughing laugh, how unnatural it sounded. "L? Are you kidding?"

Ryuzaki lowered his head again, lapped hungrily at the congealing blood on Light's neck. "Did you want him to?"

"Please," Light said, with sudden desperation. "I don't know what you want from me, but-"

"Want?" Ryuzaki laughed, that high, cold, unnatural laugh that made Light's skin crawl like there was an anthill rooted between his shoulders. "I want revenge." The knife against his cheek turned, cut into flesh. "You ruined my game. I don't like that. Not at allll."

Light couldn't hold back a whimper and the knife sunk a little deeper. I'll kill you, he thought, savagely, I'll-

"You're dead, Light Yagami," Ryuzaki purred. "You're dead. Kira." He dropped the knife, and smeared his hand in the blood on Light's chest, licked it off one catlike tongue-stroke at a time. "I'll leave your rightful name, though. So everyone knows what you are…"

The creatures hands went to his pants, starting to work at the buttons, and Light who had been frozen with horror, helpless as no god should be helpless, could move again. "No!" he howled, choked around his mouthful of sheet, and lashed out wildly with his feet, hitting Ryuzaki in the stomach, then the chest, driving him back. But it didn't last. The creature snarled, snatched up the knife again, and drove it swinging downward, hand around Light's ankle.

His world was swallowed in pain.

When it came back, he could breathe only raggedly, and with every twitch pain spiked up his leg – the bastard put a knife through my foot – and his pants were gone, leaving him naked, exposed, in his own bloody bed. He couldn't see the demon, the false-L, Ryuzaki. Someone, please come, he thought, desperately, no longer caring about the humiliation or the shame. Anyone. I don't want to die. The knife cuts on his chest throbbed with agony. The bite on his neck stung and ached by turns. His wrists were bleeding where the metal had cut into the skin in his struggles.

God, help me.

Ryuzaki came out of the bathroom, not smiling. There was a bruise on his stomach, another on his chest. "Stupid," he said, in his low, rich voice – just like L – "You could have made this easier for yourself."

He climbed onto the bed, between Light's legs. "I'll do you a favor," Ryuzaki said. "I'll let you come, Kira. If you call me L, and tell me how much you want it."

Then he lunged forward and forced his way violently into Light's body, reaming his body in two, and he could have screamed for rage and hate and pain, most of all pain. Ryuzaki ran his fingers along the letters carved in his chest, tracing them, licking the blood, and all the while pounding his body without mercy. What was worse than that was the things he felt – the desire, the arousal in him, him, who had never wanted any sex at all, and how could this be-

And it went on, and on, until he could only close his eyes and whimper, violated and humiliated.

But he would still find a way out of this. Would still-

The cold steel tip of the knife pressed against his abdomen. He opened his eyes and Ryuzaki grinned, pressed a little harder. "Going to die, Kira," the madman hissed, and Light felt him come, hot liquid shooting up his ass, and then the knife plunged in, dragged up, yanked out, and the sheet was jerked out of his mouth so Light could scream.

Heedless of the pain in his chest and the pain in his ankle and the pain of his violation, Light thrashed, screaming, as the knife tore him open like paper and laid his insides bare, and blood, so much goddamned blood

Why am I still alive?

"Hold still," the monster murmured, drawing strange designs with the blood spattered on the sheets, on the walls, on his body. "It'll hurt less…I promise."

Hurt less, Light thought deliriously as he could feel death begin to close. Why would I want that? And the last thing he saw before the pain and darkness dragged him under was Ryuzaki watching him with empty fascination, absently licking his blood off of his long, white, fingers.

And he died.