End Games

Chapter 17:Memories

The next day, Misa heard a knock at her door. 'That's gotta be Matsu again' She thought. When she opened the door, she nearly screamed when she saw who it was. Light Yagami stood at the entrance of her apartment, holding a bouquet of flowers out to her.
"Hello, Misa" He said, smiling at her. In another time, she would have melted for that boyish smile, but now she didn't even flinch. Light asked to come inside and she allowed him in, wondering what L thought about this little visit. Secretly, she hoped he was wallowing in jealousy.
"Does L know you're here?" She asked him, closing the door. The two went to sit on the couch, where Misa sat cross-legged at a modest distance from Light.
"He probably has a hunch but since you knocked out all the cameras, there's absolutely no way for him to know what's going on in here" He said, hinting at a romantic rendezvous. She simply gave him a blank stare. Not what he was hoping for, but that didn't faze him.
"...right." She responded, feeling awkward. "So what brings you here?" She asked, looking at the flowers that she assumed were meant for her. Light once again smiled at her and pressed the flowers into Misa's hands. She accepted them and returned his smile.
"They're beautiful! Thank you" She said, flattered. 'Now if only you had done shit like this while we were still going out...'
There was an awkward silence as Misa looked at Light expectantly. The brunette took this as his cue to speak and he leaned in closer to Misa, making her want to shrink back. "Listen, Misa. I know I wasn't the best boyfriend to you" He started. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 'He can say that again' She thought sarcastically.
"...But I want you to know that I'm terribly sorry for not being there for you. I was really busy at the time with school and work. I let that get in the way of our relationship. It was stupid of me, and believe me, I do value you as a woman." He said, sounding sincere. Misa already knew where this was going and she was dreading it. "Please forgive me if I'm stepping out of line here, but is there any way that you could find it in your heart to forgive me, and maybe, give it another shot?"
There it was. He'd said it. Light wasn't a fan of groveling but he did want to take Misa away from L and regain the upper hand. It would be worth it in the end. Misa tried her best to keep a poker face. She still couldn't believe this was actually happening, that Light really wanted her back even if she was expecting another man's child. 'Men...who understands them?' She thought. She had to admit that the idea of getting back with Light to just to piss off L was tempting, but even so, she couldn't let herself forget all the grief that Light caused her in the past. She just didn't trust him the same way anymore.
"Light. Thanks... I don't know what to say..." She said, fishing for an excuse. "I accept your apology but I just don't think we should go out again under these circumstances."
"Listen, I know you broke up with Ryuzaki. Matsuda pretty much told everyone what happened. I want to treat you well Misa. Ryuzaki clearly doesn't know what to do with someone as amazing as you and we both know you're too good for him. Maybe you're even too good for me too, but please give us another chance. Get back with me, Misa." He said, daring to lean in for a kiss. There was a time in which she would have swooned right into his arms, but things were different now. As Light came closer, Misa quickly blocked his face with the flowers he'd given her and shifted even further from him. She was annoyed now.
"You know Light, just because I'm not with L right now, doesn't mean that I have to be with you. I can be by myself you know! I choose neither! I'm my own person and I just want to be alone right now. Thanks for the offer though." She said. Light was flabbergasted. He looked as though she had just insulted him in the worst way imaginable. He turned a shade of red and looked down at his lap, trying to hide his embarrassment. 'This bitch...' He thought angrily. 'No matter. I guess it's time for my next plan.'
"Fine. I understand and I'm happy you feel that way. You're completely right." He said, slapping on an award-winning smile. Misa was confused now.
"Just please do me one last favor, as a way to give closure to our failed relationship." He said seriously. Misa was all ears now.
"Ok. Shoot."
"You remember that time that we watched a movie together and I told you that I would need to make an odd request from you?"
Misa thought back to that night. She remembered that he had made her promise to do something for him that might seem strange at first, but that would help solve the case. She nodded her head to indicate that she recalled the night he spoke of.
"Good. Well I need you to do that now. Will you?" He asked. Misa once again nodded. "Good. Here's what I need you to do" He said. She listened carefully to everything Light told her and he was right about being a strange request.
"So let me get this straight...you want me to go into that park, find a landmark, and dig for whatever it is that's there?" She repeated, her face furrowed in confusion.
"Yes, and don't forget to bring an apple! That is very important" He told her.
"Right, I won't forget." Misa nodded, agreeing to go right after they were done talking.
"Thank you Misa. And one more thing, as soon as you find what's buried in the landmark, please call me." He instructed with an oddly calm look on his face.
"Will do!" She said, walking him out of her apartment. Once she closed the door behind him, she went to get ready to go out on her scavenger hunt. She left her apartment and took the elevator down to the main entrance, however as she was about to walk out the front she smacked right into the glass door.
"What the-?" She wondered, placing her hand on the door, trying to push it open. It would not budge. "What the hell is going on?"
She cursed inwardly and turned back. There was only one explanation to this.
"Ryuzaki!" She called, storming into the investigation room. "Open the door. I'm going out." She said.
L did not turn around, continuing to type away as he responded. "You're going out to do what? Get yourself kidnapped and plunge us into yet another rescue mission? I don't think so." He stated calmly.
Misa was fuming. She walked up to him and turned his chair around so he would face her. "Open that door, now." She said, dangerously close to his face. Light watched them with feigned disinterest, trying not to seem too invested in the situation, though of course, he too wanted to yell at Ryuzaki to open the damn door so Misa could go do what he'd asked.
"Promise me you're not going to do anything dangerous" He told her, bringing his face closer to hers. Misa had to fight the temptation to kiss him.
"I'll do what I want" She hissed at him. L caressed her cheek and she softened a little at his touch. His dark eyes showed genuine concern for her.
"Promise." He said gently, looking at her in the eyes, melting her resolve.
"Whatever." She relented, backing away. "I wasn't planning on doing anything dangerous anyway, I'm only going to the park." She said, though she could tell that L was not satisfied with her answer. She sighed. "Fine! I promise, I won't do anything dangerous. I'm pregnant, OK? I'm not up for doing anything crazy. Now will you open stupid door?"
With that, L relaxed a little and nodded his approval. Misa promptly exited the investigation room and walked out of the KIT building.
'What the hell is wrong with me? L treats me like garbage and I still like him?! I must be a masochist' She thought as she walked toward the park. 'And what's with him touching me like that if he's not interested in me? I want to smack him for not making any god damned sense. Actually, yes. I WILL smack him when I get back! What's he gonna do? Probably just stand there like a stupid panda and look at me all guilty! Ugh, I hate him...'
...
Back at Headquarters, Light checked his watch for what seemed to be the tenth time. He estimated that Misa should be arriving at the location any moment now and he was almost giddy with anticipation as he awaited her call. He glanced at L sitting next to him and fantasized about his death.
'Ryuzaki, I should thank you for your emotional ineptitude. By slighting Misa, you've made her that much more receptive to killing you by writing your real name in the death note that she's about to uncover. I could be watching you drawing your very last breaths right now.'
...
Misa reached the park within half an hour of leaving headquarters. Along the way, she stopped at a local fruit vendor to buy an apple like Light told her to. Now all that was left was to find the landmark he spoke of.
"Hmm...he said it was between two large sycamore trees..." She said to herself as she looked around, evaluating each tree in her surrounding. "Sycamore trees are pretty big, so it's gotta be here. Yeah, this looks about right." She said, examining the two over sized trees at either side of her-the two biggest ones she had seen around.
Whatever Light was hiding around there, must have been pretty important since it was such a hassle to get to that spot. It was in a secluded place, deep within the park's wooded area. Following Light's instructions, she felt the ground for any soft spots until she found one. She began digging with a little pail she had in her backpack. A few minutes later, she hit something. It was a box. Misa was intrigued by the box and picked it up to examine it. A very faint creepy laughter resonated between the trees, giving her the creeps.
'What was that?' She thought, looking around. "Is someone there?" She asked shakily. No response came.
However the Shinigami Ryuk was there, observing her, eager for her to finally uncover her death note at last. He was cackling, anticipating the end of his boredom. Misa shook the nerves off and opened the box, seeing what looked to be a black notebook with illegible symbols written across the front.
"Oh wow. This looks like Higuchi's notebook" She said, grabbing it. As soon as her hand grabbed the notebook, Misa gasped loudly as she felt herself going into a trance-like state. Memories flashed quickly across her mind. Theey were her missing memories that spanned the period of time from her incarceration until she surrendered her Death Note. She was paralyzed, chilled to the bone by what she was remembering, and by the end, she was breathing heavily. When the flashes were over she was on her backside, scrambling on the ground.
"Hey there. It's about time!" Said Ryuk, waving at Misa's surprised form, a sinister smile on his face.
She gasped, shaking her head. "Oh no. This is is all screwed up. This can't be, this has to be a nightmare. Please tell me this isn't real and that I'm dreaming!" She said, burying her head in her hands. Ryuk simply looked at her perplexed. 'Heh, she's just as crazy as she was last time I saw her... I guess humans don't change much, just like Shinigami' He thought, amused.
"Hey relax. It's not that serious. And no, this isn't a dream." Said the Shinigami. Misa looked at Ryuk, horrified, shaking her head slowly. Ryuk tsk'd and waved a disapproving finger at her before cackling again.
"And here I thought you'd be happy to see me" He told her. Misa was livid.
"You don't understand anything you selfish Shinigami! Everything's screwed up! I slept with L, many times. And I'm pregnant. And I'm in love with him even though he's a jerk, and I'M THE SECOND KIRA!" She said waving her hands emphatically.
"Oooh that sounds...so interesting! After months of doing nothing, this is bound to be fun!" Concluded the Shinigami. For a being that claimed to care so little about the lives of humans, Ryuk sure loved drama.
Misa groaned and got up from the floor, shaking a few fallen leaves off of her. She took the notebook and eyed it sadly. "This was my death note" She said. "Ryuk, how come you're here and not Rem?" She asked.
"Oh, Light made me switch notebooks with Rem. Don't ask me why, he just did." He answered.
"So where is she now?"
"No idea. Probably wherever the other notebook is." Ryuk answered.
Misa sighed and put the notebook inside her backpack. "But that's impossible because L has the other notebook... and he hasn't seen Rem..."
"I don't know, we Shinigami can be unpredictable once in a while. Hey, aren't you forgetting something?!" Asked Ryuk, twitching. Misa looked at him and then at her backpack, remembering to give him the apple. She did so and the Shinigami happily took it and devoured it in gulps.
'Dammit. What am I supposed to do now?" She lamented. Ryuk ignored her, still munching on his juicy treat. 'Call Light I guess...' She thought answering her own question.
She took out her cellphone and dialed Light's number.
...At Headquarters...
Light's cell phone rang. L glanced at Light with mild curiosity as the brunette excused himself to take the call.
"Actually, I'll be taking my lunch break now. I'll be back in half an hour" He told L. Everyone else had left for lunch as well, leaving the raven-haired detective by himself. Watari walked in just as Light sped past him, nearly bumping into the old man.
"Must be an important call he's got there" Noted Watari. L said nothing on the matter. He was more interested in what Watari was doing in the main investigation room.
"Tell me L, when you said that you knew Misa was the Second Kira, you never told me how you determined that. Are you sure that you are not drawing a false conclusion about her?" He asked in hopes of defending the young mother-to-be.
L was silent for a moment then reached for something hidden underneath a pile of papers beside his computer. It was a black notebook that resembled the death note he'd recovered from Higuchi. He flipped the pages of the mysterious notebook until he found what he was looking for: a torn out page. He then reached for another piece of paper that he had been saving in a plastic bag underneath his laptop. It was the torn out journal page sent by the Second Kira along with one of the tapes. It was the same page that described the alleged meeting between the two Kiras in Aoyama, as well as the notebooks and the "Shinigami."
L turned his chair around and held the two items side by side for Watari to see. The torn out page sent by the second Kira matched the torn out edges of the missing page in the journal. Not only that, but the bubbly, cursive penmanship in the journal and the torn out page, were identical.
"This page here, as you know, was sent by the Second Kira along with one of the tapes. It was torn out from this journal I now hold in my hand. This journal also happens to belongs to Misa. Coincidence? I think not." L said regretfully. "This proves without a doubt, that Misa and the Second Kira are one and the same."
"I see..." Said the old man. "And how long have you know this?"
"I've been taking her journal for weeks now. Each time, I left it somewhere different to make her think that someone was reading her journal. I figured that if she thought someone suspected her secret, she would feel cornered and confess to me, especially since I gained her trust. But she never did come to me..." He said, gloomily.
"So if you've known for this long, why didn't you arrest her and interrogate her with this evidence in hand?"
This was the question that L feared to answer most. Why hadn't he acted against Misa earlier? He knew that Watari was cornering him with that question. He could say that he wanted Misa's cooperation in catching the first Kira, but that would only be a half truth. The complete truth was that his feelings for Misa got in the way and that as much as he hated it, he couldn't bring himself to do it. The truth was that he was weak and he fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful criminal. What started as an attempt at gaining her allegiance became his own undoing as well. That was the real answer. Of course, he opted to remain silent rather than admit his true feelings.
L turned his chair around and ignored the old man as he often did whenever he no longer wanted to continue a conversation. Unfortunately for L, Watari was no fool. He saw right through L like clear water.
"Because you love her" Said the old man, voicing what was in L's heart. At L's lack of response, the old man smiled to himself, relieved to finally know just how his adoptive son felt about Misa. Satisfied, he left L to battle it out with his own thoughts and feelings.
...
Misa held the phone shakily. She could practically feel Light grinning on the other end of the line.
"Well done Misa. Now I need you to write down L's real name in the notebook." He said. Misa felt queasy at this request, the thought of killing L chilling her to the bone. How could he expect her to do such a thing?
"I'm sorry Light, but I can't. Whether I like it or not, L's the father of my child and I can't kill him. He may be a jerk but I...just can't! And even if I wanted to, I don't remember his real name." She told him. Upon hearing this, Light nearly split his cell phone in two from how hard he was gripping it. He was furious and he was thankful that Misa was not standing in front of him for he may have lost it just then.
"What do you mean you don't remember his name?" Light responded through gritted teeth, trying to contain his anger.
"I don't remember it. I know it was a weird name but back when I had the eyes, I saw so many names at every hour and minute of the day, it's all a big jumbled mess!" She said, raising her voice. Light took a deep breath and composed himself, knowing that if he pressed the issue like this, he could lose Misa's trust.
"Very well. Now listen carefully to what I'm going to say next Misa." She listened. "L is getting very close to finding out our identities. When he does, he's going to have us executed" He lied.
"No, he wouldn't! I know he wouldn't, he's not a monster." Said Misa hoping her feelings toward L weren't impairing her judgement.
"Oh but he is. I asked him what he intended to do once he found out the identities of the Second and First Kira. He said he would send them straight to death row without a second thought. Think about what that means Misa. He would kill your baby, you know he would." At this part, Misa cringed and moved a protective hand to her stomach as she felt panic spread through her.
"He tried to do it once and he would do it again, and even if he spared you long enough to give birth, he'd still have you killed afterward. And then, what will happen to your child at the mercy of L? Think about that Misa."
Misa was speechless as she considered Light's words, her mind racing to think of any counter argument. Unfortunately, he had a point.
"Let's face it. The best we could hope for is life in prison, and that wouldn't change the fact that your baby will be torn from your arms and given to L to do as he wishes. Is that what you want Misa?" Said Light striking at her most sensitive chord. "Is it?"
"No" She said feebly, inwardly grieving at the thought. "I don't want that."
"Then you know what you must do. Make the deal with Ryuk for the Shinigami Eyes and we can save ourselves, and your child."
"I...I don't know, Light" She said, her voice cracking. "I'm so confused..."
Light rolled his eyes. He could feel a migraine coming on. He looked at his watch and saw that he had 20 minutes left before he had to be back at Headquarters. If he took a taxi, he could reach Misa in about 5 minutes and be back in time to avoid raising any suspicions.
"Misa, stay right there. I'm coming to you" He said as he hung up the phone.
...
It was raining. L liked the rain. The detective stood on the roof of Headquarters, enjoying the steady beating of the rain against his skin, each droplet lulling the millions of processes in his mind. L couldn't abandon or shut off all the thoughts that his brain conjured, but in moments like these, he could at least take a break. One thought, however, would not lay to rest like the others. Misa.
L looked up at the gray skies with a melancholy expression. Everything that Watari had said to him was true. He loved Misa, and he was an idiot for doing this to her. He didn't know why it was that he did the things he did or sabotaged the things he cherished but he hated himself for it sometimes. Then again, justice was one heavy bitch to carry all by oneself; most people would crack under the pressure. But not him, and he'd carried this burden for as long as he could remember. It made him who he was, and deep down he knew the world was a better place because of it.
He reflected on the situation at hand. If he arrested Misa as the Second Kira and handed her to the ICPO, she would face death for sure. As much as he fought against admitting it, he could not allow that. For that reason he had to be very careful, as the ICPO was not an organization to be trifled with. The way he saw it, the only way to save Misa was to catch the big fish, THE Kira. Light Yagami. If Misa helped him, he could make a case for her in the eyes of the ICPO and grant her a pardon on the grounds that she was instrumental to solving the case. She may not be freed from surveillance, but she would be alive. She and the child...theirchild...
...
Misa sat at the entrance of the park, underneath a canopy that shielded her from the heavy rain. A taxi cab pulled up just then, and when she looked up, Light was standing in front of her. She had been crying again. Light noticed this and without saying anything to her, he brought her into a hug, which she reciprocated. Ryuk's laughter as he saw the two Kiras embrace each other was all that could be heard over the rain.
"Misa, I know you're conflicted, but you have to understand that it's either him, or us and your baby." He said as he placed his hand over hers on her stomach. Misa accepted the comforting touch. Her eyes were trained on the ground as she nodded her head.
"I know..." She whimpered. "But I don't know if I can..."
Light watched her for a moment and then asked her for the Death Note. Misa obliged cautiously, wondering what Light was going to do. She still had to be careful with him as he could trick her at any moment, even if Rem had threatened to kill him if he murdered her. She could not see Rem, but the blonde was certain that the Shinigami still watched over her somehow. Light took the Death Note from her, wrote something on it, and then tore it off the notebook and handed it to Misa.
She read the piece of the Death Note silently, with Ryuk looking over her shoulder. It said "...dies by committing suicide. Goes on Sakura TV's show where he reveals his identity, expresses support for Kira, and calls off all police support for the Kira Investigation. Then, shoots himself in the head with a revolver." Her hand shook as she read the paper. There was no name written on it, but she knew that this death was meant for L. Ryuk laughed, loving Light's plan.
"It's a death he deserves. It's memorable and worthy of him. He doesn't deserve to die of a heart attack like some common criminal, I know you wouldn't want that. It might not seem like it, but I actually have a lot of respect for L. I understand this is a tough decision to make, but we're up against a ledge here with no other alternatives." Said Light, calmly. He looked at his watch one last time. He was out of time.
"I need to go now, Misa. I trust you. I'll be waiting for you at Headquarters" He said as he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on her lips. Misa was so stunned that she did not even have time to react to the gesture. Light boarded the Taxi, and in a flash, he was gone.
...
L walked back into the main investigation room, a towel slung around his shoulders as he finished drying himself off. As soon as he walked in, he noticed that everyone was gathered around Light, debating something amongst themselves with excitement. The detective stopped and looked at them inquisitively. The room fell silent when they all noticed him standing there.
"Ryuzaki! We were wondering where you were! There's been a new development!" Announced Aizawa. The group opened up a path for Light, who walked forward toward L with a determined look.
'Misa, you pathetic excuse for a Kira. You've left me no choice. I gave you a chance to save yourself and your miserable bastard child, but you failed me time and again.' Thought Light as he came to stand face to face with L.
"I know the real Kira's identity" He said.