A Year of Jubilee [The Death Note Fanfic]

Chapter 58

Three days passed. With each passing day, L felt hope slipping away a little bit more and more.

His successors were brilliant, everything that he could have asked for—with the exception of finding a way to save both himself and Jubilee. Speaking of his visually gifted colleague, she was everything that he could have asked for too, with her increasingly keen insight and her faith in both him and the boys which seemed to bring them all together. Everything that he could have asked for, that is...except for being guaranteed to stay alive.

He had already failed to protect Watari, along with scores of victims and innocents who had been in Kira's way. It cut him to the core to think that he might fail to save yet another friend. And not just Jubilee, but the entire Task Force. They were all innocent men. They didn't deserve to die at Kira's hand.

L had been determined to patiently wait for a solution to form, for he knew that worrying would produce nothing beneficial. But as time ticked down, it became increasingly difficult to remain calm.

And then, when Aizawa walked into headquarters that afternoon carrying several sets of firearms and declaring that the police force had finally decided to reinstate them, it pushed him all the way into high alert.

"What do you mean?" Matsuda gaped at Aizawa. "I thought the police had declared themselves to be on Kira's side!"

"No, they declared themselves neutral under threats from Kira," corrected Aizawa gruffly, handing both him and Mogi guns. "But that doesn't mean that everyone on the force agreed with Kira's ways. I've been hounding them about it for a while...told them that they needed to either just give in and officially declare themselves to be Kira supporters—in which case I'd quit—or they needed to take a stand, and have our backs when we meet with Kira at the Yellow Box Warehouse. Naturally they're too chicken to actually give us reinforcements, but they've finally agreed to at least allow us to carry firearms again, by officially reinstating all of you as policemen. Technically this is all on the down low, though, so don't go broadcasting it or anything."

"This is very fortunate, indeed," stated Soichiro, taking a holstered gun for himself and attaching it to his belt. "At the very least, they are passively taking a stand, and we won't be totally defenseless when we go to the east countryside in five days. Ah," He patted the gun at his side. "It feels good to have this on again. Here, Light...it appears there is one for you as well." He handed the remaining weapon to his son, then turned to L. "Ryuzaki, you have your own firearm already, isn't that right?"

L had slowly swiveled around in his chair to face all of them. "Yes...though you must know, Mr. Yagami, that the honest truth is that we are no better off having guns than not having them, when we face Kira."

"Hey," protested Matsuda, "At least it's something—"

"Furthermore," continued L, his eyes narrowing, "I find it very strange that the police are suddenly unafraid of what Kira might do to them." He turned back around to face his computer, as though to continue his typing from earlier, but discreetly pushed a button as he did so. Unbeknownst to the others, live surveillance of the main room was now being sent to Jubilee's laptop upstairs.

He continued casually, "It almost makes me wonder if, somehow, this is actually Kira's doing?"

There were gasps of dismay behind him, mostly from Matsuda.

"What are you talking about?" Aizawa demanded angrily. "Why on earth would Kira want us to have weapons we could use against him?"

"Because they won't be for him," L murmured, too softly for the others to hear. He turned around to face them again, leveling Light with a cool gaze. "What say you, Light? Does this not strike you as odd?"