A/N; So, I think it's time you all learnt what this story's all about don't you? Yes, I think so.

I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Please read and review!

Chapter 3

"Please," L added his voice so devoid of emotion that it told the knight how much this had to be affecting him, "Tell me, did you see the demon in the mirror?"

The reaction from Light was so extreme that L couldn't hold back a gasp of surprise; the knight jerked away from him and his eyes went wide as a violent shudder past through him. Light's hands rose to rub at his face, his breathing quite audible. After a moment Light seemed to regain some of his composure and he simply stood there staring at L through gaps between his fingers. This was not the attitude or actions of a knight of the realm; this was the actions of a frightened child. L suddenly realised that Light must have been almost a child when it happened... and he had just brought up the memories.

"How did you hear about that?" Light whispered, and L was relieved to hear that he sounded far more composed than he actually appeared.

"Because it happened to me too," L replied, and he sank back down into the crouching position he so favoured. "The person who impersonates me in my homeland is not a person at all, it is a demon."

L paused as Light shifted to sit next to him, and he glanced at the knight to see he almost looked as if he was back to his 'usual' self. In fact he almost looked thoughtful.

"I thought princes led happy lives," Light muttered, and L realised that the man was not as recovered as he had thought, "What was so wrong about yours that induced you to let it into your life?"

"My responsibilities and the isolation," L said softly, "No-one treats you as a person when you're the heir. My brothers are all much younger than me and have to deal with much less than I do. Not expected to become king they are given much freer reign. No, there is not much happiness in being an heir, but I find not being one seems worse... Why do you ask?"

"Because that's how it gets into your life," Light whispered, his voice filled with deep grief, "the only way it can become you is to feed off your darkest emotions. It's the only way it can convince you to open your life to it. Then it becomes you and feeds off your life, destroying it as it goes..."

"How did you stop it?" L asked as the knight trailed off, "How do you stop a demon?"

"I tricked it into thinking I sided with its plan, that I was so disaffected with the world that I didn't have any grief for what it did to my family or to the old queen," Light ground out, each word seemingly forced out from between his lips, "I managed to get close enough to wound it... it was enough to give me the upper hand in the fight that followed, but then it was never going to kill me. In a way I was lucky I didn't kill it outright, if I had I would have been tried for treason and murder..."

"Murder?" L asked, he had heard the rumours, but he knew already how much they had got wrong.

"The demon killed my entire family because they knew it wasn't me," Light said, his voice toneless, "The queen and her entire squad of bodyguards. They never stood a chance."

"I fear the same would have happened to my own family had I not fled the country," L whispered, "I hoped that my absence would make it less impatient and its plans would be more subtle."

"I wish I had been given that option," Light sighed.

"How old were you when this happened to you?" L asked, voicing the question he didn't want the answer to.

"I was fourteen," Light breathed his voice so quiet L could barely hear it. He glanced at the knight and saw the wide staring expression he had, then it faded and a general sadness seemed to slump back onto Light's shoulders. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this; I don't know you and I certainly don't trust you."

"I understand," L whispered, "I did not approach you in the best manner to ensure you knew my intentions were honest. I just... I did not want to broach this topic if you had not been similarly affected; it is not something I want anyone knowing of."

L was surprised when this earnt him a smile from Light, the same understanding gaze appearing as it had when he had admitted to being a prince. It seemed his honesty was paying off.

"Why... why did it not kill me when it had the chance?" L asked, and his voice shook slightly, "when it came through the mirror, why did it not remove me? I know much about demons and I know they do not brook competition, and I am that competition. So why...?"

"It's because it's tied to your life," Light replied, and his voice was matter of fact once more. Almost as if he were stating the weather, "It was given power by taking in our fears and our worries, all the things that made us depressed... I don't think it can kill whoever it leeches that power from."

"Then it means it has a weakness," L sighed, "That's something at least."

Silence fell between the two men again, both thinking about the tragedy that had gripped their life. One focused on the past, the other on the tragedy that was all too close to the present and also filled his future.

"You didn't just come to ask about my attack did you?" Light asked eventually, "You came to ask for my help."

"Yes. Yes I did," L replied, turning to look at Light his gaze emotionless, even while his black eyes were wide with hidden yearning. Now it had come to the main reason for his search after Light he didn't think he could cope with waiting for the answer, if he was denied...

"I will never be able to forgive myself if I don't help you," Light sighed, "So, I'll help you... Though after we deal with the mages. We should catch up with them tomorrow anyway, and it seems like your demon is a patient one."

As Light rose and went to either resume his sleep, or just move away from the prince, he was startled by L also rising and bowing deeply.

"I thank you," L said, his voice solemn, "I think you may be my first true friend."

...

The morning when it came was accompanied by an unnatural frost, and a pervading cold that gripped them all to their bones despite the fire they hurriedly stoked up to brew tea. They knew there was no point in hiding their presence now, the sudden change in the weather could only mean the mages knew they were being followed. Even if the mages didn't know of their position, they no longer had time on their side, magic took more time to cast the more powerful it became.

"I hope you're good at running," Light commented to L as they packed up to leave, "Because that's the plan for today."

"Would the plan be any different if I wasn't good at running?" L replied, risking a smile at Light. Somehow after last night's series of confessions something seemed changed between them; to his relief the knight smiled back at him.

"No it wouldn't," Light chuckled, "But it would be useful to know if we need to slow down... somewhat."

"That won't be necessary," L said, and he let his confidence in his abilities colour his voice.

"Glad to hear it. Now hand me your pack."

L handed the knight his pack with a curious expression and watched with some horror as it, along with everyone else's was transferred up into the branches of a nearby tree. He thought it was quite beside the point that Wedy was up the tree hiding them so they couldn't be seen from the ground. It was their belongings after all. He glanced to the side, attempting to find something to distract him so he wouldn't break the fragile 'bond' growing between him and the leader of this group of knight's to see that Matsuda had already strung his bow and everyone not involved in the pack hiding operation was checking over their weaponry one last time.

"Matsuda," Light said suddenly, turning to face the man who was now fussing with the saddle on his horse even though L knew he had already checked it twice before, "Ready?"

"Of course sir," the still outwardly happy man replied as he mounted the horse, "I suppose I'll see you later."

"As long as you don't do anything stupid," Light sighed as the knight turned and rode off towards the distant mountains; the leader of the knight's watched him leave with none too little trepidation.

...

L knew two hours later why the packs had been hidden and Light had been so serious in asking him whether he could run. Despite his fitness level he had difficulty keeping up with the knights who ran on with unfaltering speed along the trail left by Matsuda's horse. He wondered how they kept at it, but as he looked at their faces and considered their actions this morning, they hadn't even needed instruction from Light as to what was necessary; it seemed as if they had done this many times before.

He knew this was what was needed though; the cold was encroaching ever harder into the surrounding landscape. Even as they ran frost formed underfoot and their breath began to appear in foggy streams around them. The mages were fighting a war of attrition against them, the cold was a cruel beast and if they were walking it would surely be making them shiver and shake as the cold ate through them to the bone, running was the one thing that would keep them warm. L regretted thinking this almost immediately as there was the pounding of hooves and Matsuda appeared over the crest of the hill before them and came closer; as he had expected Light signalled for them to halt.

"Have you found a hint of their direction?" Light called as Matsuda approached.

"If you keep up the pace you have been, then only another half hour. They've set up some form of circle or something. They definitely know we're coming if we didn't already know from the weather," Matsuda replied, his words coming out between his shivering and L realised that he had to be freezing up on his horse; not only not moving himself but dealing with the head wind such fast riding would create. Without thinking he shifted closer to the shivering man and took his hand feeling the icy temperature it had, this was dangerous.

"You need to get warm," L muttered, before he turned to look at Light, "Can we start a fire?"

Light shook his head, and he looked at Matsuda with, what looked to everyone else like friendly concern, but the prince could tell was outright worry. Matsuda needed to be warm. He sighed and focused his strength and channelled it into his hand where it touched the cold knight. What he was attempting to do was magic, but not something he had ever needed to do before. Truth be told L knew he was quite the poor magic user in practice, the details only told to him because of his royal birth and the need to know what those under his command were capable of achieving. He had never been given much chance to investigate what he could do though. The prince knew he was succeeding when Matsuda gasped and his shivering suddenly stopped.

"What did you do?" Matsuda asked, and there was no hint of shake to his voice as he spoke and L was relieved that the hand in his was warm once more.

"You didn't tell me you could use magic," Light commented before L could come up with another explanation. Though truthfully he didn't know what excuse he could use that would work.

"I can't," L said, deciding to go for blunt honesty as it had always worked with Light in the past, "I know how it functions, abstractly, but I had no idea if it would work. I've never had the need to try before."

There was the sound of nervous laughter from Matsuda, and for a moment Light looked ready to deck the prince, the fingers of one hand flexing as he stared at the object of his ire.

"If you had failed," Light began, but was interrupted by L.

"That was very unlikely," L said with a smile, "I know the theory very well."

"You alright Matsuda?" Light asked, looking up at the still worried looking man. Light sighed as the mounted man nodded back at him, before turning back towards the errant prince. For a moment he looked as if he was about to say something more, but he didn't. "Can you tell me anything more about their location Matsuda?"

"Sorry, not much," Matsuda said sounding embarrassed, "All nine are there, they are gathered in a small valley between three hills, but there was no way of observing them further without being seen. As I said they know we're coming four are on lookout."

"That's something. Well done Matsuda," Light said slowly, rubbing at his arms as the cold began to encroach into his flesh, "I would normally suggest sneaking up on them, but I don't think we'll have that advantage. If they can change the weather they can certainly lay enough traps to sense us coming. Speed is our only advantage against magic."

"Then we better get going," Aizawa muttered, his teeth chattering, "Before we're too cold to swing our blades. I don't know about you but I've never been in a winter this cold before; even the ground's freezing."

"I agree," Aiber grunted, unsheathing his sword and hefting its weight for a moment before re-sheathing it, "There's no point planning if the cold is going to take our advantage away. These guys really know their stuff."

"Everyone ready then?" Light asked, "The usual drill of course."

The knight's nodded at Light before shifting and, as one, darting off into the cold and bleak landscape at increasingly different angles. For a moment L stared after them in bemusement, but then the tactic suddenly made sense; stand together as a group against mages and you were dead. Splitting up and attacking from separate angles, while dangerous, provided the greatest likelihood of success when there was no time for careful planning.

"Matsuda, guard L," Light said suddenly, "and stop him from leaving. He needs to be kept safe at all costs."

"Don't you dare," L growled, but was stopped as Light gripped his shoulders and stared at him. There wasn't a trace of the scared boy L had seen last night; all that was shining from the knight's eyes was determination. This was the reason Light held the position he did L realised.

"If you go you're not endangering your life but the lives of everyone in your kingdom," Light said harshly, "you are staying here."

L said nothing, he felt Light had pulled the lowest blow imaginable and it was one he couldn't fight back on. He could have fought back against any suggestion of staying behind except this one. L glared at the knight's back as he sped away from them along the trail left by Matsuda's horse.

"I thought I was to be treated like everyone else," L sighed, crouching down to hug his knees against the cold as Matsuda dismounted. He wondered if he could perform the spell he had tried before on himself. He realised he couldn't, he was too cold, he needed all his energy to keep himself warm in a completely normal fashion without generating energy to perform magic. It had taken enough to save Matsuda from Hypothermia and frostbite as it was. "I see that this was never going to be the case of course, I was foolish for considering that it could be. I should have realised why he wanted to talk to me before this battle."

L was grateful Matsuda stayed silent, he didn't think he could cope with false platitudes. He had wanted to help, he knew they would need everyone to fight against mages but Light had chosen to keep Matsuda behind to protect him; chosen to keep behind the one person who knew where the mages actually were. L had come to Light for help, not for this protection he had suddenly gained. His pride demanded he help.

The explosion when it happened lit up the sky and shook the ground. Both Matsuda and L turned to see the large plume of smoke rising from just over half a mile away. L jerked up at the sight, his eyes widening as the full possibilities dawned in his mind; there were so many horrific possibilities.

"That's where they were," Matsuda whispered, "that's precisely where the mages were."

"I hope you don't mind," L said softly as he strode towards the knight's horse, "but I'm stealing your horse."