If Death Note Were an Honest Love Story About Terrible People

Ch. 7 Mira

Feeling fully motivated by both the nightmare and his desire to save his husband, L reluctantly pulled himself from his husband's embrace. Carefully, L stepped out of the warm bed as to not wake Light. The moon was full and its brilliance lent a soft shine against Light's face that made L's heart ache.

With a heavy sigh leading the way, L headed out of the dark suite and into the lit hallway. Once in the elevator he faced his disappointing appearance in the glass doors. Nothing had changed; it was just a steady reminder. The elevator dinged his alert to return to the present and exit to his office to continue working on the current investigation. Computer screens lit up brightly at the touch of button, and L frowned. One of the morons on the task force cutely dubbed the investigation "Mira"; a combination of Mock and Kira.

"Hm," L mumbled to himself, "An email from Dr. Osaka." He read it in silence to himself, pleased and troubled at the same time.

'L,

It would be best for your health if you discontinued these injections. The side affects you are experiencing are very troubling to me. Please make an appointment to see me soon.

Dr.  Osaka'

He deleted it. L didn't have the freedom to consider the consequences of the injections, and he certainly couldn't stop now. In an attempt to push down the oncoming anxiety he felt at knowing what Light would do should he discover this truth, L spun around in his chair to go on the hunt for something to munch on. What he saw upon turning around shocked him, and he couldn't reel in his surprise fast enough to fake it.

Light pretended to rub the sleep from his eyes, "Hey, I got worried when I woke up and you weren't there," he smiled innocently, walking toward L. "I should've known you'd be here."

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better," L lied, "I was actually about to eat something."

Light perked up, "I could cook you breakfast. Want eggs?"

L shrugged, feeling nauseated at the thought of eating eggs, "Sure."

Light gently swept L's hair back and kissed his forehead before heading back up the elevator. L couldn't help but wonder how long Light had been standing there. Suddenly his anxiety was irrepressible.

As the elevator door closed, Kira's eyes flashed red, "I'll have to pay Dr. Osaka a visit," he whispered to himself.

After about an hour, Light returned with a large platter full of more breakfast items than L would ever eat. They sat together at the large computer desks, eating in silence, the monitors the only thing casting light throughout the room.

Light was the first to break the silence. "Hey, I'm going out on a lead," He said as he stood and put on his rain coat, prepared for the unpleasant weather ahead.

L felt a shiver of impending doom run down his spine as he remained hunched in his chair. He smiled anyway, "Try not to kill anybody."

Light smirked, "I'll aim for mercy."

All L could focus on were the resounding clopping sounds of Light's shoes against the concrete floor as he exited the room. L knew what Light was doing and he was powerless to stop him.

_________________________________________________________

Despite the downpour outside, Light found Dr. Osaka's uninteresting office easily enough, "Thank you for meeting me," he smiled, his smooth grace a cool warning against judging books by covers.

"So you're L's husband, Light! It's so nice to meet you. You are every bit as beautiful as L said you were," She winked, her own beauty quite piercing, but in a warm and authentic way. She almost seemed purposefully out of place to Light. He wasn't expecting the compliment, but he accepted it. Somehow it put him at ease. He gave a small laugh as she escorted him into her office.

"I'm worried about L. He isn't well," Light explained, laying on the concerned spouse appeal thick.

"I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but he did not give permission for any sort of record release to you, and all information is confidential. I'm so sorry Light, but I can't tell you anything. If you want, you can both come in and talk about it with me, or take this form to him and have him sign it." She rummaged through a drawer before sliding a form in front of him, "I think he just overlooked it upon take in,".

'L never overlooks anything', Light thought angrily. He knew L would never sign the form or come in with him or tell him what was going on. "I appreciate this so much," he grinned wildly, his eyes flashing red, "But here's how this will go. In about 40 seconds you're going to tell me everything, because I'm Kira, and I've written your name in my Death Note,".

Dr. Osaka looked surprised, but the kind of surprised where you realize you misspelled a word; not the kind of surprised where you find out you've been duped by a serial killer. "It's nice to finally meet Kira, as well."

"You knew."

"I knew."

"Well, you won't die immediately. I've made it so you die of heart disease at 85 years old. But also, you'll never tell L about this meeting or the information you're about to divulge," Light said.

"Fair enough," she shrugged, "L has been injecting himself with what you could call in layman's terms, a "cure" to a poison he hasn't yet been injected with."

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"Because he's on Mira's list. He's using himself to set a trap for them. He is more likely to survive the poison they have been using to mimic Kira's heart attacks by building some semblance of immunity, if you will, to the poison."

"But it's making him sick."

"It's killing him, Light." She sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm trying to stop him. Solving the case is more important to him than his own life, it seems. We're working on it in our sessions, but he doesn't seem to understand that he has intrinsic value simply because he exists."

"He can't get over it, can he?" Light's face softened and genuine sorrow came over him.

"Eventually he will," Dr. Osaka assured, "If we can keep him alive. He's in a lot of pain. What happened when he was five would haunt anybody."

Light nodded in agreement, recounting the horror of the first time L told him the story. "Well, I'm glad I didn't kill you immediately," Light said with a cheeky smile, "You have a lot to offer him. To offer us."

She smiled politely in return, "Thank you, Light. And thank you, Kira, for showing me mercy."

Light stared at her in confusion for a moment before dismissing himself. He couldn't believe that L had predicted all of this. Him seeing the email was pure accident. Had L been as sharp as he normally was, he would've noticed Light standing behind him. He would've been given away by the ding of the elevator. It bothered Light that L wasn't as cunning as he needed to be. Light walked out of the office building and into the cold, pouring rain. "He's going to get himself killed. Stupid bastard."

Upon arriving back at Head quarters, Light found L passed out in bed, snoring softly as he drooled on himself. Light smiled to himself; these goofy moments were his favorite ones of L. His heart fractured to think there might be limited memories to make with L in the future. He didn't want his final moments with L to be ones of him being sick and weak. It angered Light, but on some level he understood his husband's choices. He didn't agree with them, but he understood.

Seizing the opportunity L's solid slumber afforded him, Light made his way down to the investigation office and hacked L's electronic files. It didn't surprise him any longer to see that L had been keeping so much from him; L already had the names and faces of everyone in the Mira Terrorist organization. He just didn't tell Light because he didn't want to risk Kira using the Death Note to rid the world of this evil.

This put Light in a real conundrum. He could easily wipe these guys out and save his husband, but he would definitely go to prison and lose his marriage. It didn't guarantee L would live anyway; Light had no idea how much havoc the "cure" had wreaked on L's body so far.

All Light could do was keep a close eye on his husband and find the perfect moment to step in. He found out what L was planning to do. Apparently the Mira group had requested he come unarmed and alone to a specific location to "talk". Yeah, that wasn't code for murder the one guy in the world who could stop them.