Disclaimer: I'm not Tsugumi Ohba, so I'm not the author of Death Note and therefore I don't own it.

Author's Note: Hi. To anyone familiar with my past work (assuming you're even still on this website), I know it's been a long time since I've written anything, but I'm back and I'm going to try to write more from now on; I'm not sure if I'll continue any of my past stories since my tastes have changed and I'm looking back at my past writing and realizing that some of my ideas were not all that great and I'm trying to improve myself as a writer.

I'm also trying to get a YouTube channel going with my boyfriend where it's fanfiction as a radio drama. The channel is FNFC YT and I've actually finished the first draft(s) for the first episode of a radio drama called Death Note: Legacy, which is basically Wes Craven's New Nightmare in reverse and using Death Note (while that one had Freddy Krueger become real because of all the movies made about him, there was a Kira case that was kept quiet but somehow became a popular manga and everyone, from investigators to aspiring gods of justice and everything in between, are struggling to keep it all under wraps and avoid being exposed in the real world), working on the drafts for the next two (because I feel it's better to have two or three ready) and am now looking for more voice actors and a co-writer/beta reader to help us out. If interested, please click on the link on my profile (because apparently I can't provide web addresses here anymore).

So this story will be a bunch of one-shot "what-if" scenarios connected to Death Note. Some of them, like this very first one, will be tied to Death Note: Legacy, albeit with slightly different dialogue. I've also uploaded this on my DeviantArt account to try to improve the chances of it (and the audition link) being seen; I don't know if I'm allowed to do that going by the rules, but I've seen people reupload their stories from Wattpad to Archive of Our Own to improve their chances of the story being seen so I don't see any harm in doing the same thing and if it turns out it is a problem, I'll just remove the one from DeviantArt. Hope you'll enjoy the story.

Light just barely managed to hide his smile as he saw Ryuzaki fall out of his chair, clutching his chest.

I've won! L is dying and there is nothing linking me to his death. Now I'm free to create a perfect world.

Other customers in the café were alarmed when he fell, someone shouting for others to call an ambulance to help the man, unaware that there was nothing they could do to save him.

Light went to Ryuzaki's side, feigning concern for his "friend."

He wasn't quite dead yet, but clearly in pain from the heart attack.

"Hold on, Ryuga-san! Help is on the way. Stay with me!"

The detective looked up at Light, a spark of realization appearing in his dark eyes. Light wondered what L would do, since he knew that Light was Kira and that he had lost to him. Would he futilely try to convince the patrons of this fact with his dying breath, or would he just slip away without saying or doing anything?

Ryuzaki did neither. Instead, he laughed. He looked Light in the eyes and laughed for a moment before he closed his eyes.

What's going on? Has he completely lost his mind? Or...did Misa and I walk into a trap?!

Light felt Ryuzaki's heart stop beating. The triumph he felt at seeing his enemy fall was now replaced with doubt as he tried to figure out what just happened. He also tried very hard not to glare at Ryuk, who had started laughing when Ryuzaki had laughed and had not stopped.

"Light! I think I screwed up!"

Misa sounded panicked and out of breath over the phone, as if she had been running.

"Calm down, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is."

It probably is. L probably realized that Misa is the Second Kira and told the Task Force "If I die, Light and Misa are both Kira." I should have destroyed those tapes when I had the chance and waited a little longer before telling Misa to kill him.

"I got a call from the police today telling me that my manager was being questioned for unlawful drug possession and that they needed me to come to the station to be a witness. It's obviously a trap, they're after me for what happened to 'Ryuga!' I told them that'd I'd be there in an hour about thirty minutes ago, but I'm not going to them. I'm in disguise and I'm trying to look for a place to hide out to avoid them. But I don't know where to go or what to do after that, even with Rem's help! What do I do if they find me?!"

"Everything will be fine, Misa. If they find you, just avoid saying anything they can use against you, no matter what happens. We'll get through this."

"Okay. I'll do my best. I love- Agh! Let go of me!"

Light heard her phone hit the ground as she struggled against her assailant, presumably someone from the Task Force, abruptly ending the call.

How the Hell did they find her so quickly?! They shouldn't have started looking for her for another thirty minutes! Unless...

Light slapped himself on the forehead.

Of course! The day Ryuzaki and Misa met, he "accidentally" touched her, and then a little before she left for her photo shoot, he returned her phone to her, claiming that she had dropped it. He must have placed a tracker of some kind on the phone. Did he place a bug on it too?! Bastard!

He turned off the cell phone Misa had given to him, not wanting to risk further incrimination if the person accosting her tried to call him back.

Ryuk took a large bite of an apple as he grinned at Light.

"You seem to have quite the problem here. How will you get out of this one?"

Light sat down at his desk, going through his options.

While doing nothing with the Death Note for a while and letting Misa take the fall would be the best move in the short term, in the long run it would be disastrous. For a start, he had no intention to stop killing criminals all together and the police would quickly realize that Kira was still out there after supposedly executing them. Then there was Rem; she clearly loved Misa and would likely kill him in retaliation if Misa were to die. And on top of that, as much as he hated to admit it, he needed Misa; while not as smart as she could be and a bit too clingy for his taste, she had the Shinigami Eyes, had many people who adored her (something that would be useful in trying to get the world to accept Kira), and actually did have some good ideas of her own. It would be foolish and needlessly cruel to discard someone as useful and devoted to him as she was just to save himself.

He also toyed with the idea of temporarily giving up his and Misa's Death Notes (after having Ryuk write in one or two false rules to ensure that it wouldn't immediately be destroyed or incriminate him and Misa upon its discovery), let someone who would use it for selfish purposes (and be careless enough to get caught) have it, and ask to be detained out of fear that he's being controlled by Kira so that when the other Kira is found, his and Misa's names would be cleared. However, that would be difficult to pull off without Rem's help and she was unlikely to leave Misa's side at this time, and he had no idea if writing fake rules in the Death Note was something he could do without angering the Shinigami King enough to intervene. Plus, there were multiple things that could go wrong with this attempt to clear their names even if Rem cooperated and the King allowed the fake rules to remain, up to and including the Task Force refusing to believe whatever is said that would supposedly clear him and Misa. He didn't completely discard this plan, but decided that he would have to wait for Rem to show up to discuss it further.

He took out his Death Note and turned on his computer, writing down the names of criminals he found out about online.

"For now, I need to make them think that Kira's still out there and that he has no connection to Misa. I can't do anything else until she is either let go or Rem comes back. I won't lose to L, not even a dead L."

The next couple of days went by uneventfully. Kira continued to kill criminals and if the Task Force met with each other to discuss the next course of action in pursuing Kira now that L was gone, Light didn't know about it. Whenever his father came home, Light tried to gauge his expression, figuring that if the evidence was pointing to a member of his family being Kira he would be understandably distressed. But his father's behavior didn't give any indication of what was going on and he didn't talk to Light about Ryuzaki's sudden death or what that would mean for them.

No one has come to arrest me or interrogate me, so it's not over yet, but you'd think something would happen since the one in charge of the Kira investigation is dead.

Rem had also not come back yet. On one hand, it was understandable since she cared so much about Misa to the point that she was willing to die for her should it come to that. But on the other hand, Light needed an update on what Misa's situation was as well as start putting plans in motion to clear their names.

During this time, Light thought back to Ryuzaki's death. In all the time he spent with him, there was a part of him that always doubted that he was the real L. Every forum post he could find connected to L and his investigations said that he never appeared at the scene of the crime himself, that he would send Watari or other investigators, like the late Naomi Misora, there to gather the evidence he needed and make the arrests. Why should now be any different, even if he considered this his most challenging case of his career? He could have hired a stand-in to pretend to be him this whole time and nobody would've known the difference.

And yet, Ryuga, or Ryuzaki, or whatever his name had actually been, appeared to be far too intelligent to be a mere stand-in, even with his bad posture, no sense of personal space, and obsession with sweets, so when his father confirmed that he was L, Light believed it and sought to earn L's trust so that he could either persuade him to stop looking for Kira or kill him. He ultimately picked the latter option since it became clear that L either couldn't or wouldn't stop looking for Kira and on multiple occasions called him evil. Light didn't know why, but that word bothered him, especially when applied to his actions as Kira.

I know that killing people outside of self-defense is a crime, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that I'm "evil" for killing other murderers or people who have done far worse than that. I will fix this rotten world by getting rid of every criminal on Earth and anyone standing in my way, good or bad, will have to go as well.

During the last couple of weeks, however, there were days, especially his last day, where Ryuzaki behaved even more oddly than usual, even after accounting for the Death Note's control over him. He was very cheerful, even as he told Light that he suspected him of being Kira, looked at Light a lot more intently than usual, flirted with Misa on the day they met, and the laughter, that creepy laughter that came from him when he came face-to-face with Misa and when he died.

Maybe the L I knew was a fake from the start and his act was finally slipping. The real L is just sitting in a room somewhere, looking at the evidence and deciding what needs to be done now. And I failed to pick up on any of this. Misa was onto something when she said something was wrong with him, but I didn't listen and told her to kill him anyway, told her that it was the only way for us to continue acting as Kira together.

He hoped that Rem would show up soon; if his theory was correct and L was still alive, that Shinigami's cooperation was the only way out.

The third day was when Light received confirmation that something was definitely wrong. He had gone out with Takada, to make up for suddenly leaving her to spend time with Ryuzaki and to take his mind off his current situation, and when he returned home, he found that Misa's Death Note was no longer in his room.

The surveillance cameras have been gone for several months and my Death Note is still here. Rem must have taken it while I was gone, which most likely means that Misa is no longer its owner. Now what?!

He had no other plans to get out of this and even if he found a way, Misa, his only ally, was either dead or unable to help him since she would no longer have the Shinigami Eyes or even remember he was Kira. He'd be on his own again (and a lot less efficient) and under a lot more scrutiny from now on no matter what he did or who was in charge of the investigation.

Light tried to think of ideas to put into motion, some way to come out on top, but every scheme he thought of he just as quickly discarded upon finding a flaw that would get him caught. In this game of chess, there was no way he could win; he could only move the King to avoid capture.

He heard his family get ready for bed, Sayu talking excitedly to her mother about going to a Hideki Ryuga concert in a couple of weeks with her friends.

She and Mom know nothing about the Kira case. How will they react when they find out I'm Kira? Will Dad even tell them?

Another few hours passed with Light trying and failing to come up with a plan, a feeling of dread building up inside of him with each minute that passed.

I'm going to die. Either L will kill me for being Kira or Ryuk will kill me in prison for no longer entertaining him. And there is no afterlife for me to go to when I'm done here; Light Yagami will cease to be, remembered as nothing but a murderer if I'm remembered at all.

At midnight, he heard the front door open and someone make their way up the stairs and toward his bedroom.

Dad would have rung the doorbell to let us know it was him, but a thief wouldn't walk right into the home of a police officer, and Misa would probably have no reason to come if her memories are gone. Which can only mean...

He took a deep breath to compose himself and turned around to face the intruder just as his door opened.

Ryuzaki walked in, his expression unreadable as he looked at Light. If there was a difference between him and the man who had died at the café, Light wouldn't have been able to tell, but he knew deep down that this was the real Ryuzaki. In the hallway, Light could see his father just behind him, a pair of handcuffs at the ready as well as sound canceling earmuffs and a blindfold. He didn't say a word, but Light could feel his anguish.

"I was wondering when you'd show up. I should've known you wouldn't go that easily."

Even now, I'm not sure if he's the real L or just another stand-in, but at least I was right about the Ryuzaki I was with that day being an impostor. If only I realized it in time to save Misa and myself.

"Is that a confession, Kira?"

Light almost said, "I'm not Kira, stop calling me that," having grown used to Ryuzaki saying things like this during their conversations to try to provoke a reaction, and he wished he still had the confidence to say that now, but he had no idea how much L knew, no idea how much evidence the Task Force had against him, and no plan of attack for a situation like this so he decided not to prolong the humiliation.

"I know that you wouldn't be confronting me here, in the middle of the night mind you, after faking your death unless you had proof that I was Kira. There's no point in lying to you anymore. Where's Misa?"

"Misa Amane is unharmed. Watari is looking after her and I told him to return her to her home after I take you into custody. Since the Shinigami told us that she wouldn't remember being Kira and will likely not kill again, no charges will be pressed against her. You, however, will stand trial; Interpol wants Kira to face the consequences for everyone he's killed, criminal or otherwise, so I'm afraid I cannot let you go. If the trial goes how they want it to, you will either be executed or imprisoned for the rest of your life. I strongly advise against destroying or giving up ownership of that notebook in your desk to forget what you've done; we have all the information we need about the Death Note and forcing yourself to believe in innocence you do not have and being forced to face the consequences for your forgotten crimes is a punishment I do not wish on anyone, not even those who tried to kill me."

So Rem sold me out. I guess I shouldn't be completely shocked since she never liked me, but I have to wonder what terrible things they were planning to do to Misa that caused her to tell L everything.

Ryuzaki continued, "You will be kept alive and under surveillance until your trial. The date, location, all people chosen to handle the trial, and the true nature of your crimes will be kept secret from the public. I don't want any more surprise followers or sycophants of yours interfering with the trial to help you get away and I don't want the world to find out how you kill. To any outsiders looking into this case, this will be just another murder trial."

Ryuk laughed. Even though L now knew that Shinigami existed (and was likely aware that one was in the room, if his glancing around was any indication), Light ignored the death god.

"Ooh! A trial about Kira! I'd like to see how he'll try to keep all of this a secret! You humans are so amusing!"

Ryuzaki was now directly in front of Light. He could see a flash of something in the older man's eyes, but he couldn't figure out exactly what it was. Triumph? Disappointment? Or something else entirely?

"I wish it didn't have to end this way, Light. We could have worked together, you could have even surpassed me someday. But I need to get rid of Kira and you are him. As far as I'm concerned, the game is over."

There was a finality to his tone that sent a chill down Light's spine. He remained silent as L removed the Death Note from its hiding place, the detective taking great care not to set off the trap Light had placed many months ago. He felt that if he spoke he would completely break down in front of them; even in defeat, he did not want to show weakness.

It's over? This is how my attempt to create a new world ends, with me being beaten by L and at the mercy of the justice system I've been seeking to correct? Am I really the only one who sees that killing all the evil people in the world is the only way?

And in that moment, he felt the fear he was trying to hide from L and his father completely disappear and he burst out laughing.

"'The game is over?' You couldn't be more mistaken, L! While it's true that I'll no longer be here, I'm not the only one who sees how rotten the world is and I'm not the only one willing to do whatever it takes to fix it, even at the cost of their own soul. And you can try to hide the truth about Kira, but nothing can stay hidden forever and even if they can't do exactly what I've done, others with the same dream as me will step up to take my place. The game may be over for me, but it will never be over for Kira and it won't be over for you!"

L said nothing as he and Soichiro took him away, but Light could see that his words had affected L in the same way the fake Ryuzaki's dying laughter had affected him and that was more than enough to satisfy him as he and Ryuk waited for his fate to be decided.