If he had known

If he'd known who would be caught in the trap, would he still have gone for it? Hell, no. His plan had entailed only one flaw, only one miscalculation. He hadn't anticipated how far L would be willing to go in order to ensure his defeat. Who could have known that he was actually prepared to sacrifice everything? It was just plain unreasonable – it was ridiculous. Pawns, bishops, rooks, knights, even queens – they all existed to be moved, to be sacrificed without second thought. But you could never sacrifice the king, because without him there was no game.

If he'd known how it would all end, would he still have made the same choices? Of course not. In hindsight, the deal wouldn't have seemed like such a bad proposition. Losing half of your remaining time was a steep price, but it was really nothing compared to the alternative. After all, in the end, all of nothing was still nothing.

If he'd known who would get caught up in L's trap, would he still have helped him? His choice had obviously been based on a lack of information – on a trust in a world that didn't exist and a son he didn't have. He had denied the mere possibility that his boy, his perfect son, could be the one until he couldn't close his eyes to the truth anymore, no matter how hard he tried. Still, he wasn't one to take the easy way out.

If he'd known how it would all end, would he still have gone along with it? He himself had once told them that they had to be prepared to sacrifice all if they wanted to bring this killer to justice. Of course, he hadn't known that the one who would actually have to do that would be him. Nevertheless, there could only be one answer.

Sometimes, you just had to make sacrifices.