"What is it with you now?"

They were in one of the smaller rooms in the Taskforce building, still on the floor where they kept the workroom. The room was unused, yet it was furnished to appear as a small office, complete with a large desk, chairs and a wall with bookshelves, filled with various books and decorations. L was seated down on one of the chairs facing the desk while Watari looked at him calmly with his arms crossed.

Watari saw that his charge was reluctant to answer and prompted, "Well?"

L cast him a glance and muttered, "It's nothing."

Watari stared at him silently where it served to set the detective on edge.

"Before I arrived and found you in a squabble with that boy," L tried not to bristle at that word choice as he shifted uncomfortably under the stare. "I was looking through the footage to see what might have caused you to behave like a fractious child."

L turned to him, the seemingly empty stare holding a semblance of worry.

"You told him," Watari stated, his tone light and non-accusatory but L could sense the undercurrent of disappointment within it.

"I wanted to help him," L muttered weakly.

Watari gave him an incredulous look, "With what?"

The detective said nothing more and Watari sighed, seemingly defeated.

"Even so, it was not an excuse to divulge such sensitive information, especially since he is your prime suspect," he said, as if L did not know better, as if he was an ignorant child.

"I know what I'm doing," he protested.

"Do you?" Watari questioned. "You were angry at him and lashed out emotionally when I have taught you countless times not to let yourself be controlled by your feelings. This is a dangerous case, L, so you can't let yourself be compromised by becoming invested emotionally."

L was silent, unable to reply and unable to explain why on earth he had let himself done the one thing that he was not allowed to do in this line of work.

"You have befriended Light," the older man started, "What are you doing to do if he turns out to be Kira? Are you able incarcerate him? Are you able to remain impartial and sentence him to death?"

The detective kept his head down, his thoughts racing.

Of course, he would be able to sentence him to prison.

But death?

He was unsure.

Watari sighed at the silence, "If you are unable to do so, perhaps we should pass the role to someone else instead."

L's head snapped up at that and he stared at Watari's blank face.

He was serious.

"No," he said quickly. "No, I can do it. I can sentence him."

Watari kept looking at him.

"I can sentence Light-kun to death," L said firmly, inserting his name to show that he did not dissociate the teen that he sees as a friend and the male that is a Kira suspect. "I can do it, Watari."

He nodded, "I shall trust you, L."

Watari began leading the detective back towards the workroom and added, "However, if you show any signs of weakness from now on, I shall have to take you off the case."

"Understood."

In the workroom, Aizawa was nursing his injuries where he was hit a few times when he tried to pull Light and L apart. Matsuda and Mogi appeared to be trying to stay out of it as Soichiro cast a stern look on his son at the sitting area.

"I have expected you to be more disciplined than this Light," he snapped, "And this wasn't the first time we're talking about this."

The brunette seemed unable to look his father in the eye as his gaze was cast to the sight, staring at nothing while he was lectured.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Soichiro demanded, "What on earth has possessed you two to snap at each other like rabid dogs?"

"It's nothing, dad," Light mumbled, hiding his face by lowering his head.

"Nothing?" Soichiro snapped, causing his son to flinch. He adopted a slightly softer tone, "Light, I have never seen you bodily attack anyone before, anyone. And yet, here you are, grappling with Ryuuzaki every other day, more times that I can count."

Light provided no reply so he continued, "Has Ryuuzaki done something?"

The teen shook his head, his hands curling up into fists on his thighs.

Soichiro noticed that and started to sound concerned, "Light, you can tell me."

"No," Light's voice sounded strange and Soichiro was highly puzzled at the sudden difficulty in speech, "He didn't… didn't do anything wrong."

"Light?"

Something landed on the fabric on his jeans and it took a second for Soichiro to realize that it was a tear.

"Light?" Soichiro stepped forward, very worried now with that knowledge.

Light flinched away before Soichiro could touch him, quickly turning his face away where he was able to catch a glimpse of the teen's simmering eyes.

"What has Ryuuzaki done to you?" He demanded, grabbing his shoulders as Light struggled to hide his face from everyone in the room.

"No, he didn't…" Light struggled to speak through the growing thickness in his throat as he trembled with emotion, "I'm sorry."

Sorry?

Before Soichiro could form any sort of sentence to respond, the door hissed open. The taskforce turned towards it and saw Watari and a subdued L enter the room, the chain dragging behind him.

Light glanced at them briefly, and then swiftly twisted his face away before they could see.

Unfortunately, L did catch the sight of his face and halted in his tracks.

Soichiro's worried expression turned into a harsh glare at the sight of the detective.

"Ryuuzaki!" He snarled, surging forward towards him.

Soichiro only made it a few steps before Light quickly grabbed into his coat. He turned back to his son who still hid his face by having it lowered.

"No," he hiccupped and managed to form a shaky sentence, "It's not his fault."

Soichiro ignored Light, convinced that the detective had done something and turned back to the detective who stared blankly at them, "You tell me what you've done, Ryuuzaki."

"I-"

"Dad, please listen," Light struggled, "He didn't-"

"Why are you defending him, Light?" Soichiro turned to look at him, his accusatory tone immediately softening when he caught his expression when Light had raised his head in a panic, "Did he threaten you?"

Light struggled to answer, gasping as he shook his head, "No, no."

He hurriedly wiped at his eyes, embarrassed.

Before Soichiro could question him, Light blurt out, "It's nothing, dad, I'm just… stressed, that's all."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, ashamed.

L had not moved, staring at Light while the others tried not to be involved in their affairs. Watari did not appear bothered by the situation, softly mentioning that he will be monitoring the building and took his leave while he cast L a meaningful glance.

"Then maybe you should stop doing the case," Soichiro responded after a long moment.

Light startled, looking straight at his father with tear-filled eyes.

"What?"

"This is clearly not good for you," Soichiro started, "You've displayed too many extreme responses in such a short time, I'm worried."

"No dad," he protested, his voice still thick but he was quickly regaining control of it, "I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Soichiro said firmly, "You will stop helping with the case, I want you home." He turned to glare at L. "I don't care what he says."

Light leapt to his feet then, "No, I want to stay to help."

"Light," Soichiro asserted, "I said no."

"Dad, please," Light tried to persuade him, "What about the people that Kira is killing? Don't you care about them? About justice?"

Soichiro began to look angry, "Do not try to play that card with me, you are my son. Nothing will be more important!"

Light, on the other hand, began to look anxious.

He turned to L, "Are you not going to say anything? You can't let me be taken off the case just like that!"

L looked startled as he was addressed suddenly.

He looked hesitant to answer, then muttered, "I am of a mind to agree with Yagami-san."

Light looked at him, betrayed before he continued, "However, it is better for Light-kun to remain here to help with the case… he had been a valuable asset."

Soichiro's eyes blazed at the detective's respond, "Ryuuzaki!"

"I cannot let him off the case," L stated.

"And yet you keep provoke him," Soichiro accused, "And caused him mental and emotional harm. I did not say anything before when you somehow convinced me to pull off that stunt with the pistol. But now that the effects are becoming apparent, I can't remain quiet anymore."

"Dad-"

L looked him in the eye then, "I assure you that I will no longer deliberately cause such harm to Light-kun. It had been proven to be detrimental to the progress of the case."

"The case?" Soichiro growled, "Is that all that you care about?"

"Of course," L answered, unfazed by the show of aggression by the older man, "I am here to solve a case, not to make friends, I am already taking a significant amount of risk revealing my face to all of you here, you cannot expect me to become involved with any of you people."

Light appeared to look struck but remained silent on the topic.

Soichiro's eyes hardened, "I want Light off the case."

"I will not allow it."

Before Soichiro could form any kind of respond, Light hurriedly grabbed his father's arm.

"Dad, it's fine," Light insisted, "I'm fine. We can get this case done quickly and then forget about all of it."

"Light…"

"Please," he muttered, "I want to do it."

"I have never denied you anything, Light," Soichiro said, "But I cannot agree to this."

"Dad, I'm begging you," Light stated, "I want to help. I can help. So please, let me stay."

Soichiro saw the unshakable determination in his eyes and finally relents.

"Fine," he sighed, clearly unhappy about it, "But if there are any more incidences, I will have to have you be sent home then."

"I'm okay, dad." Light insisted, "I promise."

Soichiro cast a final venomous glare at Ryuuzaki before stepping to the side to let L put the cuff back on his son.

L approached Light who now refused to look at him as he raised his arm.

The detective took it in hand and carefully attached the metal back around the teen's wrist.

"We should get back to work," he mentioned dully and proceeded to lead Light back to their desk while Soichiro stared at them unhappily, wondering if he should have gone through with his request after all.

The silence between Light and L continued throughout the day.

What Light had mentioned as an excuse to his father was in fact, the truth.

He was under a high amount of stress.

He was stressed because he knew he had been Kira.

Even more so when there's an entity within him that is now Kira, who is haunting him, who had tried to manipulate him back onto the path where he killed others, a being invisible to others that he could no escape.

Even more so when he had to keep it all to himself. Light has always been good at keeping secrets and hiding the truth. But this was too much. He had killed. He was a killer.

Even more so when he had to see the Kira Case through, which would lead to his inevitable demise.

Because he was a killer.

And even more so when L kept demanding the truth from him, truth that he could not reveal because he did not want to know how L would react. He doesn't want to be executed. He didn't want to see his or his father's disappointment when they find out.

But he had to keep going. He had to finish this, because he's a killer.

He was trapped.

Now he's tinged with melancholy, as L had stated earlier that the Taskforce is nothing to him.

That meant him too.

Light reasoned with himself, that it was a good thing, because he needs L to finish the job. He was the symbol of Justice after all. He had to do it. He had to be able to.

If not, Light would not be able to believe in him, that it was possible to stand for Justice without resorting to Kira's methods. His previous methods.

While that was all said, he still couldn't come to terms with it.

What had he done?

Light grappled with that the whole time he had realized he was Kira, who he had presumably given birth to some sort of thing that haunts him in his mind and that he was eventually going to have to be caught and sentenced.

It was too much that he can't keep a lid on the storm of emotions, that a gentle tone from his father had been the final straw.

He did not deserve care or concern from anyone because of what he had done.

Pretending had never been so difficult.

While Light brewed in his anxiety, L stewed in his guilt.

He was shocked when he had seen that Light was crying. The guilt had come when he realized that he had been the cause of it.

He had asked for too much and it seemed to have broken him emotionally.

He was supposed to be impartial. L was supposed to be able to remain neutral and do what is right. He was supposed to be able to do that, even if the subject had been family or friend.

He was supposed to be the symbol of justice that will bring down any criminal.

Yet he felt like such a hypocrite.

L had already seen Light as a friend, no matter how infuriating the other might be at times. He had too much emotions invested in him to be able to judge him in the end.

The longer he thought about it, the more he saw that he would try to protect Light and conceal the truth if he did indeed turn out to be Kira.

He's already compromised.

So he hopes that Light is not actually Kira, that the former had been influenced in some way.

So that he won't have to introduce him to death.

L nibbled on his thumb distractedly, hoping that Watari would not introduce someone else to the case. He won't be able to protect Light if that is the case, if he turns out to be Kira.

There was an uncomfortable atmosphere in the workroom as they agreed that they would follow L's suggestion to have Misa infiltrate Yotsuba by joining the audition for the company's ad campaign. Matsuda watched the two warily during the discussion as Soichiro glared at L pointedly, while the other two tried their best to feign ignorance over the whole thing.

At least nothing happened for the rest of their working hours.

While Light prepared for bed that night, he couldn't help but think about what he had snapped at L while he had been blinded by anger and fear in the morning.

He stared at L who is already sitting on the bed, the empty handcuff lying on the floor next to the bed as he ignored the younger male.

Light felt shut out by the other and couldn't help but feel miserable about it.

He picked up the handcuff and put it on himself, while the detective continued to pay no attention to him.

Light climbed onto the bed and switched the light on his lamp off, plunging the room into total darkness.

There was a long silence where Light laid on his side, eyes wide open and staring at the wall as his mind kept nagging him about what L had said to him, while he unhappily felt as if L had rejected him with all that he had said before.

"Ryuuzaki," he blurt out suddenly.

Light regretted it immediately.

If he does intend to have the case end the way it should, perhaps he should distant himself from L.

However, he couldn't stop himself from continuing, the words spilling from his lips unbidden.

"I'm sorry about what I said this morning."

He could feel L turning his focus on him, his brain screaming at him to stop talking because the case did not need this. He clutched at his blanket for his stupidity.

"I'm sorry for using what you told me against you, for insulting your memory of your friend."

There was a long silence.

The logical part of Light's mind decided that it was for the best that L continued to ignore him while the emotional part suffered for it.

Light decided to give up and attempt to go to sleep when L spoke softly, "I'm sorry for pressuring Light-kun for an answer. I simply wished to help."

"I know," Light said, "And I'm sorry."

L did not say anything in response and Light managed to fall into a trouble sleep.

"Hello Light," Kira greeted, a curved smile on his face.

Light blinked at him and found himself sitting on a couch in the living room of his house. It was dark, the room lit up only by the soft glow of the wall light behind Kira. Kira was seated opposite him, wearing his collared shirt and dark brown pants, his arms and legs crossed neatly as he smiled at him.

A/N: I was planning to continue Chains of Fate but then decided I wasn't feeling it. Well, at least there was more content this time and this was a perfect chapter to add more father-son moments that I have failed to add in the original version. Uh...

On a lighter note, I shall talk about more light-hearted things (LOL). So I was playing Assassin's Creed 4, a long time ago, there was just one moment that I couldn't forget. It had nothing to do with the storyline just a whim that I was going after. I think I had upgraded the ship to about level 40 or something, based on what ships I could take on. So I decided, 'You know what, I'm feeling adventurous today, let's go take on a level 3 fort, which was the hardest kind of fort to defeat. That was not only it, it was the hardest of the hardest fort, in the South-West region (I forgot what it was called, maybe Charlotte or something). It was crazy.

I approached it and there was about 5-6 ships guarding it. They spotted me and started coming after me while the fort fired at me ship. Then a storm was brewing, and there was me trying to avoid all sorts of cannon fire and mortars and ramming and all that crazy things while the sea goes crazy. It was insane, the waves was so uneven that I almost ended up under an enemy ship at some point. So I did a little exploiting and took down small ships to repair my ship to bring it back to full health, while fighting off the other ships and trying not to get destroyed by the fort and the storm. Then more enemy ships kept coming and I was just trying to survive at that point. I swear I took on at least thirty ships and I spotted some level 60 ships. Level 60. How did I lived? Then I somehow cleared them all out and shoot at the fort while a couple ships kept coming to try and stop me. And then it was done. It had taken me 30 minutes and that was just about the most stressful 30 minutes of my life. After that, I quit the game and shut off the computer to go lay down. Because I just couldn't even anymore.

The end.