A Year of Jubilee [The Death Note Fanfic]

Chapter 69

The others gawked at L. Light, his face etched with terrified fury, whipped towards him.

"You—" Light spluttered. "You bastard. You think you're some kind of hero or something?" His voice rose to a shriek as he threw himself forward. "You are just as bad as me!"

Mogi and Aizawa tightened their holds around Light, restraining him. They looked warily at L, but said nothing.

L ignored Light, keeping his gaze on the shinigami. "Well?" he asked.

Ryuk looked positively gleeful. "You're telling me, that you want to be the one to kill Light?"

"Yes."

"And why should I let you do that?"

L kept his face impassive. "Because he doesn't deserve an easy, painless death...and I can come up with a far more interesting way for him to die."

In front of him, Light sagged in the officers' arms, pale with dread.

"Hmm." The shinigami's eyes gleamed as he twirled his pen. He laughed. "Oh, why not? Bloodlust is one of my favorite things to feed on. Sorry, Light—" He turned to grin at Light, who stared at him in horror. "But Sherlock here is offering me too good of a show to pass on, and I'd love to see what he comes up with while fueled by revenge. I've always admired you humans for your creativity. So!" He presented his own Death Note to L with a flourish. "Would you like to use mine, or...?"

"No need." L pulled out the notebook that was already in his possession. "But I do need a pen. And I'd rather not use that one." He eyed the one sticking out of Mikami's corpse, before sweeping his gaze over the members of the Task Force. "Does anyone happen to have one on them?"

The others shook their heads. No one had exactly anticipated taking notes at the final showdown with Kira.

"Here, use mine," Ryuk cackled, proffering his own writing utensil.

L took it stiffly. The pen looked and felt just as innocuous as the notebook did. He silently prayed that it didn't hold any similar properties. Slowly, he flipped the notebook open to a blank page, as a hundred different calculations of risks and benefits ran through his head all at once. He did a rapid inventory of all the rules from the notebook which he'd committed to memory. His mind paused upon one.

Whosoever writes in this notebook will go to the shinigami realm when he or she dies.

Jaw tightening, L remembered another rule. One that might make risking the prior one worth it. Slowly, he brought the pen down to the page as he did a final mental check over everything. Would he regret what he was about to write? He glanced at Jubilee's pale face, and came to a decision.

Lowering the pen to the page, he started to write Light's name.

Somewhere in the background, Light howled with rage. L ignored him, taking his time to write out a lengthy sentence. When he was finished, he raised his gaze to Light, locking eyes with him.

"It is done," L said softly.

Light stared back at him in despair.

Ryuk cackled gleefully. "Well, out with it! Tell the boy how he's going to die. It's so much better when they know what it is beforehand, but can't do anything to stop it. Plus, I'm dying to find out myself." He guffawed at his own pun.

L slowly raised the notebook and turned it to face Light and the others. Light's name was clearly written on the page—along with a sentence.

Dies from complications due to Alzheimer's disease, in a nursing home while surrounded by family members.