So sorry about the HUGE hiatus on this thing, but life sure sucks sometimes. You can thank Youtube for providing a plethora of AMVs to reinspire my muse :)

The stage was set. The broadcast is ready. L watches Lind L. Taylor with a cool, detached expression that he, of course, couldn't see through the computer monitor. Taylor glared at the monitor set up in the studio he was in. He was angry at L, and one didn't have to be a genius to understand why.

Taylor was one of L's old conquest. A career criminal and a murderer with over fifteen victims and about seven hundred thousand dollars to his credit. He was one of the worst of the worst, but L had finally found a way for him to be useful.

L wouldn't show his face on this broadcast- that would be idiotic. And since he hadn't been in the public eye as L for a solid decade, nobody should be able to tell if he used a stand-in (especially since he hadn't been to Japan since he was fifteen).

"So if I do this, then you'll do what I asked, right?" Taylor asked, in the same clipped, angry tone he'd been using with L all day.

"Yes, that was the agreement," L responded. "Please read the script I've set out for you exactly as it is written."

Taylor sighed, and glanced over it again.

"Okay. Okay. I'll do that," he said quietly. "As long as you keep your promise."

"Yes. After this is finished, I will get you pardoned from execution. Watari, please start the broadcast now."

"Of course," Watari said.

The red light in the corner of the computer screen turned green, and L clenched his fists and watched.

Taylor read his script just like L had said, right down to the inflection in his voice. So far, everything was going according to plan.

"I assure you, that what you're doing is evil."

L's breath hitched. He bit down on his thumbnail and waited.

This was it. If he was right, if Kira acted in any way, then he would use it to learn as much about him as he possibly could. If he didn't act...well, he could keep trying.

His heart leapt into his throat when, about forty seconds after Taylor finished speaking, he cried out, collapsed onto the desk, and stopped breathing.

L felt oddly triumphant. So his passing thought wasn't such an out-there prediction after all.

"Watari, do as we've planned," L ordered, as a couple security guards dragged off the body of Lind L. Taylor.

He heard his computer beep, and watched the screen change as he was connected to the broadcast. He was so excited and nervous he could barely choke his words out.

"I...I had to test this just in case but...I didn't think it would actually work."

He takes a deep breath, and regains composure.

"Kira...it seems you can kill without actually having to be present yourself."

He's so elated, so ecstatic, that he feels like gloating a bit.

"As you have probably already figured out, the man you just killed was not actually me. He was a criminal whose execution was scheduled for today. His arrest was never reported to the public, so you couldn't have known that."

L smirks a little. Then he took a breath and really let loose.

"So, Kira, try to kill me! Come on Kira! Kill me! Come on, I'm waiting! Kill me!"

He waits with baited breath, clutching at his heart, waiting for it to stop beating. His hand trembled as his fingers dug into his shirt. After forty-five more seconds, he slowly relaxed. He lets his smug demeanor return.

"What's the matter? Can't you do it?"

L waited for ten seconds longer.

"So...it seems there are certain people you can't kill. You've given me a useful hint."

He smiled to himself, releasing the last of his fear.

"I'm very interested to know how you can kill people without being present, of course, but I can be patient. You can answer all my questions when I catch you. So, let's meet soon, Kira."

He cut the broadcast right there, leaning back on his hands with a sigh. He won this round.

L's cell phone vibrated against his leg. He pulled it out and checked the caller ID; it was the Wammy's House phone. He pressed talk.

"Hello?"

"Didja do it, L? Did you catch Kira yet?"

L chuckled.

"I just got to Japan, Mello. It's going to take a little bit to find this criminal."

"I want you to come home, already. I miss you, damn it."

"Please be patient, Mello. I'll come home as soon as I can, alright?"

He hears Mello huff on the other end of the line.

"Fine. But hurry back, and don't die."

"I won't. Mello. I need to get back to work now."

"Fine, fine. Matt says hi."

"Tell him hello for me, and to Near as well."

A light growl greets him.

"Alright, alright. Bye, L."

"Goodbye. Please keep up your hard work."

L hit the end button and stared at his computer screen. Inwardly, he smiled at Mello's enthusiasm. He could make a fine successor someday.

However...

Mello was brilliant, that much was obvious. However, the fact remained that he just didn't think enough like L. He was ruled by emotions, and that often made him careless. That alone made him a rather poor candidate to become L, for whom caution was an imperative.

Then again, Near wasn't exactly a prime candidate either. He thought a bit more like L did, but he was full of pride in his own intellect, hubris he had not yet earned. He was so used to being right that he'd never even consider that he might be wrong. L had earned the right to his ego a long time ago; he could say he was always right because he always was. Near's pride would be the death of him outside the classroom.

Matt was easily brighter than either of them. He could think rationally (most of the time), and he was creative on top of that, but he lacked any motivation to try to succeed L. If it weren't for Mello's constant nagging, L doubted he'd get anything done at all.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked around at the dark room lurking outside the pale light of his computer.

None of them were like Beyond. Beyond could look through L's eyes, and see what he saw. Maybe he wasn't quite as smart as L, but really, who was?

Beyond was the closest person L ever got to having an equal. And...no matter what he'd done...L still saw him as that child with the brilliant smile, who saw L as a savior.

If I had just kissed him back...

He shook his head.

Beyond was dead now. Kira had murdered Beyond. Catching his killer would be L's last gift to him.

Just wait, B. I'll set this right. For your sake. For my sake.

Kira...

I will hunt you down wherever you are hiding and I WILL eliminate you.

Because I am Justice.

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