Note: Last chapter, people! I hope you like the end of the story!

Chapter 19

Misa covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. Light's eyes lost focus and her image danced up and down, in tune with the rising and falling of her shoulders. He could hear her snickering as if she was somewhere far away. As if the sound came through a tunnel.

Time and space seemed to stretch. Light's grip on the doorframe had to tighten to hold the man upright. His eyes were wide but unseeing.

"Now Light will love only me, since there won't be anybody else to compete with Misa-Misa…"

Misa's voice continued chattering, but Light couldn't distinguish what she was saying anymore. His attention was turning inwards; he seemed to disappear into himself, protecting himself from the brutal reality, refusing to see, refusing to think.

Light felt his fingernails painfully digging into the wood of the frame. There was more noise. It was dissolving into the warm air-conditioned air, hollow and meaningless to him.

'L will die. It's over.'

His mind evaded any points of rationality, circling around rational thought or any thoughts at all. One word echoed in the man's brain "over, over, over, over, over".

"The game is over."

'No, it can't be." Light blinked. Thought process was beginning to return. "It can't be over. L won't die."

Figures were moving in the background. Running in slow motion, encircling him. Light held on to the door frame.

"It's over, Yagami-kun."

'No. No, it's not over! If I own the right over his life, if his life is tied to mine, then the death note won't have effect unless I write his name down. Misa cannot kill L. Not even the shinigami can. Only I can.'

"Light-kun?"

'Who said that?'

Something cold pressed to the back of his head. Light stiffened because the sound of a gun loading accompanied the cold, metallic feel of the object.

Light's eyes finally focused. He saw Misa with both her hands over her mouth. However, she was no longer suppressing her laughter. She was terrified. Her eyes were huge, round, painted in black…

Light saw his doom in Misa's big doll's eyes.

The teen tried to understand what was happening. Men were running towards Misa. Slowly, as if all happened in slow motion. Light saw machine-guns in their hands. He understood that they were wearing helmets and armor.

The teen's eyes followed the trajectory and found Rem, still and silent behind Misa. The shinigami's death note was ready in her long bony hands. Her dead gaze was fixed on him. Her pen was above the paper.

Light saw his doom reflected in those big yellow eyes.

In a glaze, Light turned back with pains taking slowness, his honey-colored eyes found Ryuuzaki's dark silhouette in the corridor behind him. L stood there, slouched as always, a thumb locked between his teeth, eyes darker than ever before.

When Light's gaze finally reached the other's, Kira saw his end reflected in his enemy's black eyes.

Light saw his reflection in L's wide pupils. He saw himself looking over his shoulder, with one arm still firmly on the doorframe. He saw the machine gun pocking his nape, his shiny auburn locks ruffling over it. He saw three other machine-gunmen behind himself. He could almost see Ryuuzaki's reflection in his own reflection's eyes.

And all made sense to him. L had betrayed him.

Bitterness. Light had never felt so bitter. Unexplainably but very truly bitter and hurt. L had betrayed him. Light didn't want to believe it.

'Impossible! … didn't he seem to love me?... That bastard.'

The thought echoed in Kira's head, louder than reality, louder than reason, stronger than caution and quicker than the fear. And then the anger kicked in and the need for revenge. He wasn't going to go down that easily. He wasn't going to be defeated in his own game – not by him.

Light's head snapped forward and time suddenly regained its normal pace.

"What are you doing?! I'm L!" Light screamed.

The entire room jumped, startled by the sudden intervention. The man behind Light almost pulled the trigger by accident.

"What are you doing?!" Light's strong, velvet voice again. "He is Kira!"

Light spun around and pointed directly at L.

Ryuuzaki's thumb dropped from his mouth as several men, clearly confused, pointed their machine guns at him. L' jaw remained unclenched. His eyes were as big and round as they got.

Most of the special force kept their guns at Light, others turned to L, and several couldn't make their mind and switched from one to the other, trying to keep safe. Nerves were breaking. One of the two men was Kira for sure. Perhaps both of them were, if what L had said about there being two Kiras, was true. Or even, it wasn't L who had contacted them, it was Kira and this was a trap. They couldn't know.

The sound of transmission was audible from the soldier's helmets.

Immediately the special force separated in three equal parts and pointed their guns towards Light, Misa and Ryuuzaki.

Ryuuzaki snapped out of the shock.

"I am L," Ryuuzaki said calmly. "He is Kira, she is the Second Kira. Restrain them!"

"That is a lie!" Light said just as calmly. "Don't believe what he says. Arrest him!"

The gunmen did not move.

In the confusion Light and Ryuuzaki stared at each other. The challenge was evident in their killing gazes. Both men wanted to prove something to each other. Both wanted to have the last hand. To Light it didn't matter if he would never be able to be Kira again and have to pretend to be L from there on, he just wanted to have Ryuuzaki defeated. L didn't care if his identity was to become known, or if he was going to die when Light got executed – he just wanted to prove the teenager's guilt and win the game.

"Waiting for orders" the captain announced to his men.

The transmission sound was overheard, but the words couldn't be distinguished by the three civilians.

"Who is she?" the leader of the force group addressed Light harshly.

"She is my girlfriend, Amane Misa, the model. She is staying here with me, but has no part in this. Let her go!" Light said. His eyes glided over to Rem who was still holding her pen over the death note. Her eyes were fixed on him.

"He is lying, I am the one that contacted you, and I can prove it! Don't let her go!" Ryuuzaki raised his voice.

The transmission sound was overheard again.

"Restrain all of them and move out!" the captain ordered.

"No! You can't do this! I am L!" Ryuuzaki and Light shouted in unison and they both got quickly handcuffed.

Misa shrieked as two men grabbed her. Rem's pen was on the paper.

"Give me a chance! It's the only hope!" Light shouted over the rattle just before he got blindfolded and his mouth taped. His words were addressed to the white shinigami, who neither of the special force could see.

As they carried him away into darkness, the teenage Kira trembled and counted 40 seconds.

He didn't die. What a relief.

Rem had given him a last chance to save Misa. Truly, shinigami weren't so different from humans – faced with the choice between keeping a ridiculously small hope and abandoning it completely, the shinigami had chosen to give Light one last try. Because if she hadn't, Misa's life was going to end for sure, no matter how many of the gunmen Rem managed to kill before she dissolved into dust.

…….

Light was dragged out of the building, thrown into some sort of vehicle, a helicopter he imagined, and transported to some unknown spot, where he was dragged again and thrown into another vehicle. He was completely deprived of senses – with the blindfolds and the helmet over his head, he didn't see or hear anything. His mouth was taped. His limbs were firmly chained.

Kira was reduced to utter helplessness. He felt only cold floors and iron grips from leather gloves, pulling and carrying him around.

Light felt the vibration of the floor. A car, he supposed. He was alone, separated from Misa and Ryuuzaki. In the back of his head he wondered what had happened to L and if the man was still in the same situation as Kira. Or perhaps after Light was blindfolded, L had managed to talk his way out of the situation. That was the worst case scenario.

Light told himself not to panic. He had to stay calm, and think. He had to pretend to be L, to look secure. If he were to panic, it was going to be obvious that he was the guilty one. Surely Ryuuzaki was calm... Light wondered if the detective was chained and left somewhere really close by him. Even if L was sitting a mere foot away from him, there was no way for him to know. Light imagined Ryuuzaki tied up and blindfolded on the seat next to him. He tried to imagine a lost look on the man's face, but couldn't really picture it.

'He was never really that lost, was he?! He abused my trust in him and betrayed me behind my back. When I get out of here, I'll kill him,' Light promised himself. He felt bitterness in the back of his throat. 'He betrayed me, the bastard...'

It was a dangerous line of thought and instead Light focused on remaining presentable. He had to pretend to be L. He had to convince whoever had captured him that he was L. And he could only hope that Misa was smart enough to act calm as well.

…

After hours of sense deprivation Light felt himself being dragged out of the car. He walked blindly, pushed from behind and held tightly by the shoulders and forearms. He felt room temperatures change, pressure change as he was made to enter an elevator and brought down. A basement, he assumed. Soon after he was pushed some more and finally made to sit and then bond to a chair.

His heart raced as all possibilities ran through his head. He had to hope that it was an interrogation chair and not the electric chair.

Light felt someone remove his helmet. Kira's relief didn't last for long though. The first thing that came into view was Ryuuzaki's dark-rimed stare. The detective was free of all bonds, standing with both hands tucked into his pockets in front of Light's temporary imprisonment.

A guard walked out from behind Light, the helmet in his hands. He exchanged a nod with L and left the brightly lit, white-walled cell.

For a brief minute the static hum of luminescent lights was the only noise in empty room. There they were - Kira strapped to a chair and L standing several feet in front of him, one thumb in his mouth, one hand in his pocket, eyes flat and calculating.

Light knew he had lost. But he refused to acknowledge it. He didn't want to.

"Game over, Kira," L said quietly.

Was there a trace of a smile on L's impassive pale face, or was it just Light's imagination?

"There has been a mistake!" Light's raised his voice, his eyes searching for the video cameras that were undoubtedly there. "I am L! You made a mistake! Get me out of here!"

Ryuuzaki just stared at him. His empty eyes suggested that he wasn't thrilled by the act.

"I can prove that this man is Kira! Can't you see how he has manipulated you all?! I want to speak to an inspector!"

"My identity has been confirmed. So has yours. The results of the test were concrete - the 13 day rule is fake," L said flatly. "You are Kira, Yagami Light."

There was more silence.

'This is impossible. This is not happening...' Light's inner voice kept repeating.

"Do you admit to being Kira and using a murderous notebook, to kill numerous criminals and several civilians?" L asked mechanically.

"That is a lie. I don't admit anything! I am not Kira." Light said, regaining a calm face His bright caramel eyes slid off of L to rest stubbornly on the floor.

"How did you come into possession of the murdering notebook?" L's voice was completely impassive, as if he was no longer human, but an interrogation machine.

Light's attention was attracted by that. Wasn't the detective a ball of emotions the last time they had interacted… kissed? Ryuuzaki had faked it, hadn't he… but how could he? Light had felt the sadness in the detective. Could the man really act against his own emotions?

'It's not impossible,' Light thought. He had worked very hard to learn to keep L's emotions out of his way. Now it seemed hard and unpleasant to try to delve into the pits of L's soul in order to find the true emotions that the man held deep inside. After a long moment of silence, in which L probably thought that Light was figuring out what to respond, Kira sensed what he was looking for. Ryuuzaki was still bitter.

'Perfect,' Light thought, feeling a raise of hope.

Light lifted his eyes. They were the perfect imitation of defeat and misery. L didn't even batter an eyelash, but the teenager had already known that he wouldn't.

"So, you have it all figured out then…" Light made a pause, letting his eyes fall to the ground miserably. "You know about the notebook, and you know that whoever touches it can see the death god, who brought it to me."

"Do you admit having had and used the notebook?" L asked.

"Yes, I admit." Light said quickly and closed his eyes.

There was a short pause in which Light kept silent, pretending to be remorseful. He heard L's soft footsteps move towards him. The younger man opened his eyes and lifted his head to meet the detective's flat stare. Light could see his miserable-looking reflection in L's black pupils. It felt somewhat pleasant to know that he was the only object of L's attention in that moment.

"I never wanted to kill anybody! At first I didn't even know what the notebook did… I… I thought it was a joke!" Light bursted out lies.

Nothing in L's expression changed. Light knew that the man probably didn't believe a word he had said, but he also knew that L wasn't the only judge – whoever had captured him had taken the world's three greatest detectives as well. It was most probable that L's identity and face was made known to whoever that organization was in order to release him. And now, somebody was watching his interrogation through security cameras, L had been sent to force the confession out of him, but he wasn't in command anymore for sure. If he had been, he wouldn't have been in the cell in person; he would have spoken to Light by a microphone.

So, in the end, it mattered more to convince whoever was watching that Light was a victim of the notebook and the shinigami.

"Perhaps it began this way, but my observations of Yagami-kun's behavior and characters lead me to believe that even if the first murder was an accident, Yagami-kun continued to kill by his own free will."

"I never killed by my own free will!"

"Please explain."

"I was given the notebook for the sake of conducting the execution of those criminals – I was chosen to do it." Light said with faked desperation. He couldn't bring himself to say that the shinigami had 'forced' him… yet.

"Chosen by whom?"

"I don't know! I didn't dare to ask! Why don't you ask Rem?!"

"We searched the notebook, which belongs to Rem and we didn't find your handwriting in it." L said.

"Perhaps it gets erased when the notebook passes from one person to another." Light said.

"No, that is impossible. The writing of the notebook's previous owner hasn't disappeared and I doubt that it would. Also, you said that you were chosen to conduct this judgment – how come the notebook's ownership passed to somebody else?" L responded immediately, having anticipated the question.

"I don't know how the notebook passed to somebody else, and also, I think I lost my memories when it did. For as long as I was under your surveillance I had no memory of the notebook. I regained my memory when I touched the notebook again."

"I think there are more than one notebooks that can kill. You had one, which I think, you have somewhere hidden. That would explain the lack of your handwriting in the notebook that we have. It doesn't explain why you lost your memory, if what your saying is true, but it surely means that you weren't chosen by some divine power to murder people."

"On the contrary – didn't you see what happened when the last Kira was restrained and the notebook was taken away from him?! He died! He hadn't fulfilled his function, he failed to. That's why his handwriting wasn't erased from the notebook, like my handwriting was! That's why the notebook hasn't transferred itself to a new owner! How do you know if I was the first one anyway?! I just did what was asked of me, I succeeded, and the notebook passed to someone else! I would never kill people again – I swear, I don't have to now…"

"If all that you are saying is true, how will you explain the fact that Amane Misa was killing people at the same time as you were? You couldn't have been using the same notebook at the same time, right? You met her after she began killing people, you both already pointed out a certain date for your first meeting. A date in which she saw you and immediately knew your name…" L kept talking but Light's eyes noticed a white figure emerging from the wall behind him.

It was Rem. She looked grim and she had brought her notebook with her.

"You lied to me, Yagami Light." Rem interrupted the detective.

L looked over his shoulder to follow the shinigami's actions.

"You asked for one last chance and you wasted it. Misa is suffering again." Rem said, approaching slowly.

'Damn, she is serious. I have to convince her to spare me some more time,' Light thought.

"Wait, how will Misa benefit from my death?! It won't change a thing! Give me one last chance to defend her!" Light's voice sounded weak even to his ears. The stress of the situation was finally catching up with him.

"Speak no more, human! If you and L Lawliet die, there is a fair chance that the other humans would think that the two of you were responsible for the murders! I took Misa's memory away. She will be found innocent, if there are two other people to blame for the killings."

Light's jaw dropped.

"So you are saying that you will kill us in order to…"

"Be silent, human!" Rem's voice raised and she quickly scribbled something in her notebook. Immediately after, she began disintegrating. "…I am not sorry… Be happy, Misa…"

Rem fell apart right in front of Light's terrified eyes.

The teen's mouth hung open.

'No, it can't be! She didn't! I won't! No!'

L walked with surprising swiftness to the pile on the floor. He picked up the notebook that Rem had been holding. He looked in it.

Light's mouth was too dry to speak. He tried to ask the question, but he couldn't bring himself to.

The detective looked up. His black eyes were glazed, but focused on Light. The detective turned the notebook towards Light and Kira saw his name in it.

Light's terror finally broke.

"NOOOO!" he screeched, his voice reached such a pitch that it broke.

L dropped the notebook and walked over to stand right in front of Light's chair. The teen kept screaming but the panic quickly changed into anger and hatred.

"What did you do, you stupid shinigami! Damn it! Damn you! Misa is guilty! Do you hear me?! She is the second Kira! I am the original one, and to hell with you all, maggots! I am not sorry!" Light screamed to whoever was listening and then to the men standing a foot away from him. "Damn you, L! I hate you!"

Suddenly Light's cries ended. He felt his heart seize painfully and then stop. Light knew what it meant and it terrified him more than he had ever though he could be frightened. The teen had to fight his next breath. L fell towards him, grabbing Light's left shoulder for support, while clutching his own chest with one hand. The detective slipped down to his knees, unable to support himself anymore. His heart had stopped in the same moment as Kira's.

Light felt a grim satisfaction surge through him. At least his enemy was going down with him. L had won in the end, but wouldn't live to rejoice his victory. Now all that was left was not to show his enemy weakness – there was so little time left, there was no way that Light was going to let himself break in the last moment.

But as the heartbeat didn't return, Light felt the fear step back. Realization was kicking in. Why had he done that?! Now they were both about to die, and in a way, they had wasted their chance to be happy with each other. And wasn't it that what he had wanted – L's attention, affection, love. He had settled for grabbing the man's attention by fighting him, once he had his affection, he had tried to exploit it in order to securely ensnare him, make sure that L would never run away. And once he had gained his love, he had felt the need to hurt him to make sure he wouldn't be the one left behind and hurt in the end.

L slipped into his lap, holding weakly to the teen's knees to remain upright. Light's head spun. He could barely make out L's face. Surely the detective wasn't going to see the tears that began streaming down Light's cheeks, as if by their own accord. Light begged that L wouldn't notice…

"You lost." Ryuuzaki whispered.

"You lost too. And I told you… that you'll die with me!" Light coughed out with his last breath.

"I knew that." L said and looked up. His eyes met Light's. "Now you cry…" L breathed out.

Light closed his eyes. He couldn't take it. He was losing consciousness. His chin dropped on his chest and he felt L's grip of his knees loosen. The detective must have fallen to the ground.

'I'm sorry.' Light tried saying.

…………….

Epilogue

They sat with their backs to each other, in the middle of the wastelands of the afterworld. A false atmosphere bounced off light from an unknown source, eternally illuminated Mu (nothingness) Sceneries changed, lost souls passed and they didn't speak for what seemed like days. They moved from one place to another, together, ignoring each other, but refusing to separate.

Neither wanted to admit the regret they shared.

Both felt that they had wasted too much. But a silent, not admitted hope kept them together.

They both hoped that it was only a matter of time before they could speak about all the things they had left unsaid. It was the reason why they were sticking together, but neither wanted to begin. For as long as they felt that the game was still on, they couldn't afford to lose. Yet at some point, it became the new game. And they spoke.

END

Author's note: Hurray! Finished! I could have written chapters on what Light and L could say to one another after they are both dead, but I'll leave this to your imaginations. I hope the end is as optimistic as I can get it to be.

I'm leaving the end quite opened, and Misa's fate to your own interpretation. I like to think that she got off the hook in the end, but you decide 

Thank you for reading!!! I love you all and thank you for the wonderful reviews and for having read this far! Have a merry Christmas and a happy and lucky new 2009 year!!!

Love,

V