Archive of Our Own ^beta

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That book. That blessed little thing. It was the reason L had regained his spark, a renewed vigor. The detective wasn’t stupid, far from it actually. Even he knew that the justice systems of the world were flawed. There were plenty of criminals that had gone free, even under his watchful eye. The evidence was insufficient, or no one believed him, so L settled. He convicted someone else. Casted his hunches aside for his unblemished reputation. There wasn’t a case he hadn’t solved, and he was determined to keep it that way, regardless of who he had to frame when Law enforcement didn’t want to listen to him. 

But the book changed that. The Death note . It was a godsend, literally, hand delivered to him by a god herself. According to Rem, a shinigami named Gelus had been watching over L and Beyond. It was how Beyond had survived that fire with only a few scars where the fire licked along his arms and torso. Apparently the shinigami had used his death note to control Misora, causing her to find Beyond and put out the fire before he could do something utterly irreversible. L was eternally grateful for that shinigami and his sacrifice. He didn’t know what he would have done if he had had to bury Beyond. And they ended up with a death note over the whole ordeal. With the book, his resources, and Beyond’s eyes, there would never be a hunch left forgotten again. His hunches were never wrong. Eventually the people he framed were found innocent and the correct perpetrators were jailed, and the local police or government agency were handed the blame. And that had never felt good enough to L. But now… now he never had to settle again. Justice would be served swiftly and correctly the first time around. 

But geniuses were fickle creatures. Geniuses got bored . And L was incredibly bored. No case had really, truly challenged him since Beyond’s (another person was framed for that fiasco as well, and L made sure they stayed locked away. He never claimed to be a particularly moral person, he did what served him). 

That’s when Beyond had the brilliant little idea to make a case out of the book. To make the police chase them this time. To watch them flounder and fail. To step in and catch the killer. To play the ultimate game. 

That was how L ended up uncovering his own tracks, being purposefully sloppy, displaying the murders for the whole world to see. He only killed criminals that deserved it of course, he wasn’t enough of a monster to kill innocents. No, that title went to his beloved Beyond. Though… that was water under the bridge. Once L learned that Beyond had taken the utmost care, drugging his victims to ensure they felt no real pain and that they would have died that day either way, well… L could never stay mad at him for very long anyway. He couldn’t remember a time that he had stayed legitimately mad at Beyond for very long. Even during the LABB case, the detective had been too caught up in the chase to feel any real way about the crimes committed. 

And now, that blessed little book (locked in a safe under the bed in the bedroom area of this hotel room), had led him to showing his face to a task force of five (with an additional member being Chief Yagami’s son. L had only allowed his involvement because he was supposedly brilliant and the detective thought it would be good fun. The chief had been understandably hesitant, but once L made the argument that they would be taking the strictest safety precautions possible and that Light had helped on cases before, Yagami-san really couldn’t argue against him. Especially not when Light himself was eager to help). He and Beyond were giving up their anonymity for this little game. L only hoped it was a good one, or he’d be terribly disappointed in the whole affair. 

L sat on the sofa, his legs tangled with Beyond’s as they chatted about something meaningless, mostly to pass time. Rem was standing in the corner, and every so often, L would glance her way and give a little nod and a slight smile. The task force was on their way, and L was brimming with unrivaled excitement.

Beyond just laughed at the detective. It wasn’t horribly obvious to the outside eye that L was excited, but Beyond had known him since birth, far before they went to Wammy’s house together. Back when their parents were friends and they spent their days attending galas and functions. L’s parents had come from a long line of Scottish nobility, and while the titles were now all but useless, they had enjoyed the celebrity and wealth that came with the status. And Beyond’s father, being a politician, had run in the same circles as L’s parents. Beyond had had a lifetime to pick up on all of L’s little quirks and mannerisms. He knew the detective better than he knew himself, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Excited much, sugar cube?” he teased, English flowing off his tongue with a soft Edinburgh lilt. 

L stood in one swift motion, untangling himself from the other. “How could I not be?” He asked, the slightest hint of a smirk on his lips. “This is all shaping up to be our most interesting game yet.” 

“I guess it is. Just don’t get ahead of yourself there, Lawli-pop. If we’re caught, we’re dead.”

Rem cleared her throat in the corner. She wouldn’t let them lose. Even if it meant killing all of these policemen the two had coming over. Even if it meant her death. In watching over these men like she had promised Gelus, she had grown quite attached herself. Their wit, their love for each other, it enthralled her. She had had no idea that humans were so complex, capable of such cruelty and care at the same time. 

Beyond glanced at her, dipping his head in acknowledgement. Right, their trump card. Their eleventh hour ‘phone a friend’. They had a god in their corner, losing was impossible. He felt a grin spread over his lips. Maybe they wouldn’t have to worry about the stakes. Perhaps they could just let themselves have fun with this one. 

L had turned away from the pair of them at this point, turning his attention to the window. “We’ve perfected our playing strategy. They don’t even know the rules of the game, Beyond. How could we possibly lose?” 

There was a knock at the door.

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L turned his head to the door in an instant, his ever-wide eyes going wider, if that was at all possible. He looked at Beyond, allowing a wide grin to play on his lips for just a moment before his face fell flat. “They’re here.” He murmured. 

Beyond didn’t bother hiding his own grin, unashamed with his own excitement. “What are you waiting for? Let them in! I want to see exactly what we’re dealing with.” 

L hummed, nodding. He moved to stand a bit closer to the door before calling out. “It’s open,” 

The anticipation hit him the moment he heard the door handle creak. He stood there, watching the door as it opened and the taskforce stepped in. He watched as they all introduced themselves. He watched as they took out their badges. He watched as Beyond started cackling behind him and the detectives’ faces all turned sour. 

“Bang.” He exclaimed, holding up his hand in a mock gun at Chief Yagami’s face. 

Aizawa scowled at his actions. “What the hell was that for?”

L ignored him, laser-focused on Soirichirou. “If I was Kira, you’d be dead, Mr. Soichirou Yagami, chief of the NPA.” Beyond’s laughter grew louder at his loaded statement, but L paid him no mind. “Kira needs a face and a name to kill, you’ve all just handed me your lives on a silver platter.” 

He glanced at Light, who had shown his school ID instead. L resisted the urge to laugh at that. He had to at least appear mature. For a bit while, at least. “Especially you, Yagami-kun. You’re not a public official. You’re under no obligation to show any form of identification to anyone.”

Beyond sobered up the second he laid eyes on Light, his face somber and serious now as he stared just above the teen’s head. No lifespan. He had no lifespan. Shit. “L.” He muttered. “L, c’mere a minute. I need to talk to you.” He glanced at the taskforce. “Privately.” 

The detective looked over his shoulder at Beyond, frowning. Such an abrupt mood change.. What could have spurred that? “Of course,” 

He returned his attention to the taskforce. “Begin without us, we’ll return momentarily,” He said, before ushering Beyond into the bedroom. 

Beyond closed the door behind him, guiding L to the corner of the room furthest from it in order to avoid any eaves-dropping. “He has one, L.” He said, urgency showing in his tone. “The Yagami brat. He has a death note! I can’t see his life-span,” 

Rem walked through the wall into the room, clearly just as troubled as Beyond. “What he says is correct. A shinigami named Ryuk is following him. I do not think he saw me though, he seemed preoccupied with making fun of the human boy, I snuck into the bathroom the moment I saw him.” 

L took a moment to digest this information. This certainly changed things. Most certainly. They would have to get Light on their side. If the teen was as smart as he was said to be, then he would figure out Kira killed using the death note soon, if he hadn’t already. The way he saw it, they had two options, befriend Light and make it impossible for him to rat them out, or blackmail him. And their decision all depended on whether or not Light had actually gathered any pertinent information on the deadly book he carried. L doubted he hadn’t. Intelligence was comorbid with curiosity. 

“Alright.” He murmured, raising a hand to his mouth so he could chew on his thumb while he thought. “ First thing’s first.. We need to establish his thoughts and feelings on the Kira case, as well as whether or not he’s used the death note, made the eye deal, and what he knows about it in general. After that we will be able to formulate a more in depth plan on what to do.”

“We could frame him,” Beyond offered. “Make it look like he was Kira all along.”

“It wouldn’t work.” L huffed. “The taskforce would never buy that. We need to either befriend him or blackmail him into not telling, and our decision rests on what he knows.” 

Beyond ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “Having fun yet?”

The detective looked at him, a hint of a grin on his lips. “Of course I am. Though, I must admit, I hadn’t expected the game to advance so quickly.”

“Neither did I.” Beyond chuckled a bit. “But you’re taking this well. Or.. You’re trying to at least. Your hands are shaking, sugar cube.” 

L looked down at his hands. Ah.. so they were. “You can hardly blame me. He could steal checkmate in one move.” He huffed. “He could topple all our efforts with one conversation. I have every right to be on edge.” 

Beyond wrapped an arm around L’s shoulder, laying his head on the shorter man’s head. “I never said you couldn’t be on edge. But you can’t let them see. You especially can’t let Yagami see. We can’t give them any reason to suspect us. There’s no room for error.” 

“I know that.” L grumbled. “There’s no need to remind me of the stakes. I know them intimately. I’ve imagined every single way this could end, good and bad. If we lose, we have a few options. We are arrested and acquitted, we are arrested and found guilty, or we pull off some extraordinary feat and escape completely unscathed. The first option is the most probable, with the others following suit in their respective places.” 

Beyond nodded. Of course L had already thought of everything. He likely had contingency plans already in place too. Beyond expected nothing less. “Alright.” He said, pressing a soft kiss to the crown of L’s head. “Then let’s get back out there and play the game. Can’t keep them waiting forever, Lawli-pop.”

L pulled away from Beyond a moment later, grasping the door with forced steady hands. “Showtime.” He remarked sarcastically.