Author's Note: How are ya'll doing with this whole world shut down? Not too rough, I hope! Fingers crossed we get through this soon. Until then, here's another chapter.

Chapter 37

"What do you mean you're going to back Kira into a corner?" Eva asked, shaking her head in confusion.

"Follow me; I'll show you." Near replied, the smile never leaving his face. He led Eva back into the control room, dropping down in front of his mic and dialing "L's" number.

"Yes?" Light's familiar voice answered on the other side, driving an unsuspecting nail into Eva's heart.

"L, I thought you should know that we caught Mello." Near started, eliciting gasps from the other end of the line. "But he escaped soon afterwards. We were able to interrogate him for a while."

"He didn't really escape, did he? You let him get away." Light accused. "Am I right?"

"No, we tried to restrain him, but he was too quick." Near lied half-heartedly. "Anyway, Mello mentioned that there was some sort of god of death attached to the notebook. Have you been able to confirm the existence of such a creature?"

"Yes." he confirmed. "I can tell you for a fact that gods of death do exist. I didn't share that information with you at the beginning because I was certain you would never believe me."

"I would like to ask the god of death a few questions." Near proposed. "The thing that's bothering me the most about this is the issue of those rules written in the notebook. I have reason to believe that one of them is fake."

"A fake rule?" Light questioned.

"Yes. L, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this. Out of all the rules, which do you think is the fake? I'd like to know."

"By process of elimination, the obvious choice would be the one stating that the owner of a notebook will die if they don't write a new name in it every thirteen days." Light answered without hesitation. "I don't believe that."

"I thought you might say so. I've reached the same conclusion." Near confirmed.

"God of death, you know the rules of the notebook well. Tell us, are any of them false?" Light asked. Near's smirk grew in the silence.

"I see. You have a god of death there with you?" Near asked.

"Yes."

"Is that so? I think I'm beginning to get the picture." Near looked down at the stack of tarot cards in front of him and flipped one over, revealing Death. "In other words, Kira is there in the room and he's making the god of death lie on his behalf." He flipped over another card, revealing the Devil. Soft mutters could be heard shortly before the line was muted. Near waited a few moments before speaking up again. "If there's a problem, I suggest we verify the rule this way: I will volunteer to write down Mello's real name in the notebook. Of course, that means he'll die. If I also die thirteen days later…well, then I guess Kira wins. Either way, it's a gamble I'm quite willing to make." Eva waved her hands to catch Near's attention. He glanced up at her and she held her hands up with a somewhat distressed, questioning look on her face, mouthing the words 'what are you doing?' "Testing and confirming the thirteen day rule can only benefit the Kira investigation, and other than my possible death, there would be no drawbacks. I'm willing to put my life on the line if it will help us solve the case."

"Could you please wait for a moment? We need to discuss your suggestion." Light replied, promptly muting the call. It must have been a short discussion. "Near, we talked it over and we can't allow you to use the notebook like that."

"I had a feeling you might say so. No matter. Just one last question before I go: to the members of the Japanese Task Force, was there ever a point in the investigation where the second L was suspected to be Kira, even if the suspicions were later dropped? If you've been listening to our conversation so far and have any intention of helping my investigation in taking down Kira, then call the number I'm about to give you. Day or night, I will answer. The choice is up to you." Near paused for a moment before providing the number and ending the call.

"What are you doing?" Eva finally vocalized. "You know L suspected him."

"I told you: I'm cornering him. The information you gave me is fairly damaging to his credibility. He won't want it drudged up again. If I can create uncertainty and mistrust among his group, he's bound to act more desperately." Near flipped over another tarot card, smirking at the image of the Fool. "Maybe he'll slip up."

"If he's Kira." Eva reminded, clinging onto the tiny bit of hope she had left in her friend. Near looked up at Eva briefly, acknowledging her complaint, but saying nothing to correct his assumptions.

November 24, 2009

I wish I could spend more time with them. I never thought keeping my family out of harm's way would feel so much like abandoning them. If anything, it's given me more anxiety about their safety.

I trust mom and dad more than anyone else in the world, and they're both far more competent than I am with firearms and security…but I can't help thinking that I'd never forgive myself if something happened to them and I wasn't there. I don't know what I would be able to do…but if I can't protect them, if I can't protect El, I should die with him.

"Are you sure you can't stay for Thanksgiving?" Liliana asked for the hundredth time. Eva laughed and rolled her eyes, packing the last of her clothes into her suitcase.

"Yea, I'm sure. I don't even think I should've stayed this long."

"This long?" Liliana scoffed. "It's been three days."

"At least you'll have El to keep you company." Eva noted, watching her mom's smile fill her face.

"Yes! My little buddy! I'm going to send him back to you with terrible sleep patterns and hopped up on sugar." Liliana jokingly threatened, following Eva outside to the waiting taxi.

"Don't even joke about that." Eva groaned. "You know he's probably already got both of those genes from his dad."

"That's right…." Liliana stopped for a moment to remember that scrawny man she had met so many years ago: his tired, baggy eyes, the seemingly endless array of sweets constantly at his disposal, the boxes and boxes of sugar cubes that filled his hotel suite kitchenette cabinets. Had it really been five years already? Since he came into Eva's life, since she fell in love with him, since she held her heartbroken daughter at his grave?

"Mom?" Eva's voice snapped her out her thoughts and Liliana quickly wiped away the sad look on her face.

"Sorry." She quickly reached over and hugged Eva, planting a soft kiss on her head. "Call me as soon as you get to airport. And when you land. And when you make it back home, okay?"

"Okay." Eva nodded with a forced smile. Liliana felt guilty for reminding her of L. She would have given anything to have protected her daughter from a loss that devastating.

November 25, 2009

Light…what did you do?

"Eva, wake up!" Eva jumped at the noise, quickly sitting up in her bed at glancing around the room. Gevanni stood in her doorway with a panicked look. "Get dressed!"

"What's going on?" Eva muttered, hazily making her way to the dresser and pulling out clothes.

"Just come out as soon as you're done. We have to go!" He shut the door, leaving her bewildered. Eva quickly changed out of her pajamas, stopping only when she heard the whirl of a helicopter near the building. She made her way to the window, pulling open the curtains and gasping at the crowd that had formed outside. What is this? She quickly ran out of her sleeping quarters and down the hallway to the main room.

"What's going on?!" Eva asked, watching the full feed on the large screen in front of Near. Rioters had gathered around the building, smashing glass doors and windows on the first floors. They had thus far been unsuccessful in getting past the second layer of security doors, but that sure didn't stop them from trying. Metal rods, bricks, bats, and a variety of other objects had left noticeable dents in the heavy doors. "Who are these people?"

"At this rate we'll be dragged outside unless we stop them somehow." Rester commented. L's logo suddenly appeared on screen, patching in a phone call from him.

"What's going on, Near?" Light asked innocently. "Could it be that this is some sort of plot by Mello to finish off the SPK?" He stopped for a moment and chuckled. "No, surely it couldn't be that the SPK's security was so lax that even a normal citizen could find out where it was located?" There was a smugness in Light's voice that Eva recognized. Previously, she had only known it in their playful competitions. He would jokingly undermine her confidence when he got a higher grade than her in her subject matter of expertise, or when he managed to more accurately predict elections or policy approvals than she did. Never did she think she would hear that victorious tone from Light in a situation like this. Eva would have given anything for anyone to tell her not to believe her lying ears. "Near, you've got no choice: you better evacuate."

"You've got some nerve to say that, being Kira." Near shot back.

"What? Are you still going on about that nonsense?" Light asked.

"Think about it." Near shrugged and began lining up his toys around him. "With all the anti-Kira groups around, why is it that we're being targeted, and right after I started suspecting you? Pretty convenient if you ask me."

"Near, with all due respect, you're wrong. You're jumping to conclusions." Light replied calmly. Near glanced over at Eva and she suddenly understood his intentions. It's a test. You just want to see how he reacts…. Eva nodded and made her way to the microphone.

"L?" It felt strange to use his name again.

"Who is this?" Light asked after a brief pause. "Eva?"

"Yea…."

"What are you—are you at the SPK headquarters?!" Light's voice was significantly more panicked. It was the tone she would have expected him to take with anyone he considered an ally.

"Yea, I've been working on the Kira investigation with the SPK."

"Where's El?"

"He's safe." Eva reassured. "Listen, I don't think we have a lot of time."

"Eva, listen to me—" Light tried to interject, Eva quickly muted his mic.

"I'm sorry, I have to cut you off. We might get dragged out into the streets by the rioters, and we both know Kira will kill everyone as soon as that happens." Eva took a deep breath, her voice shaking as she continued. "I'm sorry for leaving the way I did. I should have told you what was going on, but it was just too painful for me to be there anymore. I hope you understand. No matter what happens to us today, just promise you won't give up on finding Kira." Eva unmuted Light's mic and leaned back in her chair.

"Members of the task force, please listen to me: Kira is likely amongst you. Even as we speak, he is in that room. I'm simply asking you to think about this carefully."

"Near—" Near ended the call, cutting off Light's desperate plea.

"Did you get the reaction you were hoping for?" Eva asked.

"I guess we'll see depending on what Kira does next." Near replied.

"Near, we have to evacuate immediately." Rester insisted.

"Really, what pathetic people." Near sighed, lifting his head to observe the images of the riot that flashed across his multiple screens. "I'm not surprised that there are ordinary people who support what Kira's trying to do." He flicked his finger, knocking over a toy robot. "I'm talking about honest citizens who believe in their hearts that, by punishing evildoers, Kira will actually make this world a better place to live." Another flick of Near's finger knocked over another toy. "But, as for this crowd outside, they're a completely different breed. They are truly despicable and stupid." A third toy toppled over. "This is just a diversion for them." Then a fourth. "They're all selfish." And a fifth.

"I-I know that, but it still leaves us with the immediate problem." Rester urged.

"We'll use L's legacy and the anti-Kira protesters we hired." Near replied, gathering the fallen toys.

"Yes, but we only have one shot with that plan." Rester warned.

"I'm aware of that." Near acknowledged, standing up with an armful of toys. "But I can't imagine a better time to do it. Besides, it should be interesting."

"I'm sorry, what are we doing?" Eva chimed in. Gevanni sighed and made his way over to a cabinet filled with uniforms. He handed her one and she inspected it carefully. "Police riot gear?"

"Put it on." Gevanni replied, slipping into his own suit.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT! Light tried to ease his ragged breathing. It was probably obvious to everyone in the room how panicked he was. Would it make him seem suspicious? Would it seem odd? No, Eva was his best friend. Everyone on the task force knew that. It would only be natural that Light would be worried sick about her. He was stuck. There was no way he could communicate to Misa to spare Eva. There was

"We have to do something!" Matsuda spoke up. Light was relieved someone else was taking the initiative.

"What can we do?" Aizawa asked. "We have no jurisdiction."

"I…I don't know! But we can't just let Eva get dragged out into a crowd of angry protestors. Who knows what they'll do to her!" Matsuda continued.

"We can try to persuade the local police districts to take action." Light quickly offered. "Maybe they'll listen to L." He didn't wait for the others to respond before he started making his calls. There was a burn in Light's chest from Eva's betrayal. It had always confounded him how Near managed to figure out so much about Kira, about the notebook, now it all made sense to him. Eva…. Of course, he couldn't blame her for it. Eva was still under the impression that he was just Light. She had never been on Kira's side and had never pretended to be. It made navigating the whole situation even trickier. But he would never allow her to get hurt, not when he did this all for her. Had she even noticed that he had killed those doctors that had so severely damaged her life? He wanted to tell her, see her reaction in person. She would be grateful to Kira. She would finally understand.