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Chapter Text

"Miss Langtree?"

Silence.

"...Miss Langtree?"

More silence.

"Psst," a black-haired boy hissed from his desk, hitting the arm of a girl whose head was just resting on. The action swiftly woke her up from her slumber. A groan escaped the girl's lips, her eyelids slowly rising from their prior state.

Slightly cranky from being woken from her sleep she'd needed for days, her squinted eyes quickly widened when her irises met those of her angered history teacher's.

"Oh, hey."

The car ride had been short, as it always was between her house and school, but the stale mood that settled among Lucy and her parents had made it seem as if they were there for hours on end. She held back a sigh, as any noise from her would signal her dad to start scolding her again, but unfortunately, it was in vain as she saw from the corner of her eye how he'd opened his loud mouth yet again without any provocation.

"God, it's the fourth time this has happened, Lucy. In a row. And now you've pushed your limit. I thought you'd learned by now to not fall asleep in class. What do you even do at night to make you that sleepy? 'Cause I sure as hell know it's not sleeping."

Her expression didn't change. Her head was up against the headrest, eyes staring at the roof of the car as if it were her stupid history teacher's face when she had told her that she was writing up a referral for being a distraction and falling asleep in class. Of course, she knew Mrs. McBride wasn't entirely lying about her behavior in class, but Lucy had just enough of her own evidence and witnesses to testify against some of the false accusations she noticed had been written down, such as her being a distraction. Now, that was something she couldn't understand why her teacher had seen fit to be included. After all, she barely spoke in that class since she herself had trouble keeping up with it and didn't need to be dragging her grade down even further. Though, maybe it was because McBride had to walk over to her desk and wake her up several times, disrupting the flow of the lessons...

Lucy snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her dad's voice break through. "Look, do you want to talk about something with us, or, what? We've been busy with work, so we haven't been able to see you much, which is our fault, I'll admit it. But that doesn't excuse you from acting like an ass when we're gone, you understand me?"

"Yeah... I know," Lucy spoke weakly from the backseat.

There was that small hint of dissatisfaction in the air; the kind Lucy always felt when she knew she'd feel her suppressed anger nearly boiling over. "What was that again?"

It took nearly everything in her not to lash out.

"Yes, dad. I understand."

There it was. Four words spoken with seeming ease, with an obedient tone honed to be exactly how her parents—mostly her dad—would want it to sound. She wasn't exactly good at anything other than being a fluctuating C to B average student at school, but this was the one thing she considered herself proficient at; lying. At least, with her parents. She didn't feel the need to lie to anyone else.

Truthfully, Lucy didn't know if it was simple natural talent or her parents' actions that allowed her to hold such an asset, but however she obtained it didn't matter. She noticed how people other than her would usually lie, or attempt at it. They always had some sort of tell, whether it was a reoccurring one, such as holding their chin or scratching behind their ear, or an obvious one like overt stuttering or blushing, tending to occur more in the inexperienced. Contrasting against herself, well, she proudly had slim to none. However, that wasn't all that went into artifice. Perhaps, to sum it up, Lucy'd consider herself to be a stellar actress. She almost giggled at the thought of her up on the silver screen, but remembered her current situation.

Right. Don't make noise and she wouldn't get scolded.

It's not like she hated her dad, hell, some kids would probably prefer him to their own since he thankfully wouldn't do anything physical against her (but it still didn't excuse the fact his verbal attacks on her hurt any less, since after all, words do hurt.) It's just... slightly dysfunctional. The decision on whether she'd want to explore that concept more had come to a close; she would not be divulging herself more into her family's issues since all it would do is stress her out. After all, she had issues of her own to deal with... namely Mrs. McBride. Hopefully there would be a way around everything before she'd be forced to go to the parent-teacher-principal conference tomorrow as scheduled by the referral.

Lucy stuck her tongue out at the grinning black-haired boy who had just been messing with her from behind the computer screen. Hale, who had been her only friend since junior year, pouted in response.

"You're literally the worst," he started, his tone teasing ever since they started video chatting, "you actually fell asleep in the same class for four days straight all because you were binging some anime?"

"Not just the anime, though, I've already finished it. I'm reading the manga now."

"Alright, but I still haven't heard a 'thanks!' from you for waking you up."

Lucy squinted her eyes. "That wouldn't have mattered, she already saw me sleeping anyway. If anything, you should've woken me up earlier."

"Geez, at least I made an effort. It's the thought that counts, right?"

"Sure, whatever." She let out a big sigh and let herself sink into her chair, eyes again pointed to the ceiling, away from Hale's face.

Lucy just wanted this to be over with. She knew it had been her fault that she'd been falling asleep in class, but it wasn't her fault Death Note had to be so good (not really a valid excuse when she thinks about it, but still an excuse.) After all, it was probably now her favorite anime of all time.

Other than that, her luck just had to be on the opposing side. Somehow she had managed to fall asleep a handful amount of times in the same class with the same uptight, nasal teacher who thought sleeping was a crime. Maybe it was, Lucy hadn't researched much on sleeping in class being a possible case of truancy, but in that moment she had done nothing to deserve the punishment she'd received.

She jerked her head back to its original position facing the screen. Hale's face was still there, thankfully. He hadn't ended the call even when she seemed to space out. Patience was a quality of his Lucy liked.

"Hey, maybe I can try and convince her to revoke my referral, if that's a thing," she offered.

He let out a short laugh. "Why not just go to the meeting? I'm sure it won't be that bad. It's not like you're falling asleep on purpose." Hale hesitated a bit before continuing his sentence, cracking a smile. "And maybe don't mention it's all because you're a weeb."

Lucy stared at him. He was clearly holding back a large amount of laughter with his teeth biting into his bottom lip, just waiting to get a reaction out of her which would be the breaking point in his attempt at covering up the sheer pride in his own terrible joke. A maybe insignificant attribute that came along with his patience was that he could manage to hold back his laughter until the timing was appropriate. Not entirely useful knowledge, but Lucy knew it about him nonetheless. In the end, though, she gave him the reaction he wanted.

"Alright.. I'm ending the call."

Hale finally burst out in laughter, his smile nearly splitting his face in two. "Okay, okay, I didn't mean it," he attempted, his speech being cut off by his own laughter. Despite the fact he was making fun of her, Lucy couldn't help but giggle along with him. "If something can get you that hooked that you're risking feeling the wrath of Mrs. McSnide, then it might actually be good." He finally stopped laughing and she felt he was genuinely interested, widening the grin on her face. "What is it?"

"Ah, well. If you really want me to tell you..."

Time flew by. As Lucy finally ended her retelling with Light's death, she noticed Hale's jaw had dropped a significant amount. "That is so messed up."

"Isn't it?"

Hale simply nodded, irises most likely glancing at the corner of his computer screen. "Oh, whoa, it's pretty late now, isn't it."

Lucy did the same, checking the time on her computer. 11:09 PM. "Yeah, I didn't expect it to take that long, sorry."

"No, I'm glad you did. No wonder you've been binging it, you just made me want to binge it myself! Though, maybe not on weekdays."

"Good idea," she chuckled. "Well, see you tomorrow."

He waved his hand goodbye with a big, dumb grin on his face. "See you!"

BEEP. The call finally ended, and Lucy was alone in her room once again. She laughed remembering the sight of his goodbye. Despite the eighteen year old being a year older than her, he still managed to act like a child, even in his jokes towards her.

After getting ready to sleep, she let herself ungracefully fall face-first onto her bed, hurting her nose upon impact.

"Ow." Groaning to herself, she flipped over on her back and stared at the nothingness above.

Ah, there it is again, she thought, catching herself staring at the ceiling. It was only recently she found herself doing this, but she never understood why. Bad habit? No, it's not necessarily bad to stare at nothing. Weird habit was more fitting. She presumed it was just her way of thinking, then. Rolling over to her side to avoid indulging in the weird habit of hers, she set her eyes on the backs of her eyelids, hoping sleep would come easy.

However, something told her it wouldn't. Something felt... off. She mentally shrugged it off though, and continued trying to fall asleep.

It still wasn't coming though, which annoyed her. She really wanted to sleep well for once, partly because she figured it'd be best if she didn't fall asleep a fifth time and partly because she wanted to be active and aware in the meeting where they may or may not be discussing her grades and school life and such. Maybe I should count sheep... One, two, three, four... five, six... seven...

"Eight... nine..."

Ten, eleven...

Wait.

"Twelve..."

Who...

Lucy opened her eyes, similar to the way she lifted them when her teacher had been waiting for her to wake.

What stood in front of her was definitely not Mrs. McBride... or any human for that matter.

"Hey-lo, Lucy-o."

Chapter Text

What.

"Hello?"

What is happening.

"Hey, don't go ignoring me, now."

Lucy, as cautiously as she could, lifted from her bed to a sitting position as if any rapid movement would set him off to cause harm against her, staring at the otherworldly being floating at the side of her bed.

She knew what it was. She knew who it was. She just didn't understand how this could have been possible under any circumstances, the only plausible ones being if she were dreaming or dead. That didn't seem to matter right now, though, as he was acting as if this were some everyday occurrence where he popped up in humans' bedrooms for reasons she personally couldn't find justifiable. As well as that, she had no idea the impact of her reaction to him. Unfortunately, she was scared to death and couldn't actually think of anything that would possibly help her in the situation, ultimately reducing her to a shaking, stuttering mess. After all, he wasn't even supposed to be real.

"Y-you..." Lucy trailed off, only now realizing how badly her hands were trembling in front of her, weakly planted in front of her chest as if it would defend her vital organs at all. It was all peripheral vision, though. Her eyes stayed strongly fixed on Ryuk.

"Did I scare you?" Ryuk's already wide grin somehow lengthened, reminding her of Hale's face-splitting smile (but only if he were a big scary monster.) She, however, gave no answer, therefore prompting him to continue. "Sorry. Actually, not really. You're funny, your reaction actually underwhelmed me! I think I was expecting more, 'AAAAAA!' from a high school girl, but everyone's different, right?"

Alright. Despite her overwhelming fear, she managed to set one goal for herself in this conversation with the fictional-but-not-really death god: do not reveal her knowledge of the Death Note universe. If she did, it would most likely make Ryuk even more interested in her, in which she assumed he already was interested since she, out of all people, had to have him break into her room. Or, float in. She didn't understand physics in her own world, so really there was no way for her to understand the physics of a real-life shinigami. Most importantly, she needed to end this conversation. Now. Truthfully, Lucy really just didn't care if continuing it would lead her on some supposedly fun adventure where she gets to save the world, or something. She cared about her own "adventure" in her own already complicated world where she's had to deal with an uptight teacher and difficult parent(s) and several other things she most likely couldn't think of at the moment. Besides, being in a world where untraceable murder is literally at some egotistical, inappropriately intelligent teenager's fingertips is absolutely terrifying. And the language barriers, don't even get her started on-

Snap. Snap. Snap.

"Oi, are you listening?" Ryuk had his weird pointy shaped hands hovering near Lucy's still face, snapping at an annoyingly fast tempo.

She.. blanked out? In front of a literal monster?

Sometimes Lucy still managed to surprise even herself.

"No... w-what did you say?" Lucy whispered, trying to make it seem as if her blanking out was just her being frozen in fear.

"Well, doesn't matter. You know what, it's about time I left."

Ah. Lucy internally jumped in joy, simultaneously checking her outward expression in case her true emotion slipped through. Finally! He was leaving, and I barely had to say anything. I didn't even have to follow through with my goal since I didn't have to talk much! When he leaves, I'll fall asleep and consider this as some weird fever dream, get a plan for the meeting tomorrow in order, and it'll be as if nothing happened.

Her personal party instantly shut down at the sound of the words Ryuk spoke next... almost mocking her for calling in a too-soon victory.

"Oh, almost forgot." The eerie face-splitting grin came. "I'm taking you with me."

At once, the shinigami grabbed Lucy by her shoulder.

That was the last thing she remembered before she finally regained consciousness.

Voices were all Lucy was able to hear once she woke up from her terrifying nightmare. Only, the nightmare seemed to be real... and she was still living in it, despite how absolutely insane it sounded and felt and smelled all the other senses (because clearly she's lost hers.) Before opening her eyes, she felt herself on a hard, wooden floor. She expected herself to be more uncomfortable because of that, but she guessed she just hadn't been lying there long enough to really feel it. Actually, why had she been lying there? Last time she checked, her floor was carpet. As in not hard and wooden.

Their words gradually became clearer. Her breath hitching, she noticed Ryuk's hoarse voice partaking in the conversation, only meaning...

A voice came, words slow as if either meticulously wrought or to make easier to understand for the other. "I'm sure you're well intentioned, but can't you see how much of a damper this puts on everything? Besides, this would only make it harder for you to get more apples, most likely because of me having to almost constantly supervise her."

Dreadfully opening her eyes, she caught a glimpse of the speaker.

Nope!

No way this was happening.

Never.

No.

NO.

It didn't set in when she saw Ryuk floating in her room. She could've brushed it off as some hallucination if anything since that could be somewhat easily explained. It didn't even set in when she felt herself on the floor of a room which was obviously not hers, since she could also explain that to herself as her probably trying some weird drug that let her hallucinate even more, even if she had always managed to avoid doing that kind of thing.

No, it had to be when he was right in front of her. Hearing his voice, seeing him in the flesh was what confirmed her buried suspicion.

She knew what kind of situation she was in. Despite her only having binged the anime for a few days, when she finished it she only skimmed over the various fanfictions that had been created in its name to see what kind of fun possibilities people would have come up with. Among those, she noticed stories such as people travelling to this whole new world and becoming best buddies or romantic lovers with either or both Light and L, or even a third option where they just wanted a way out. Lucy instantly found the concept compelling. If someone who knew everything about the Death Note and the universe surrounding it got involved, how would that impact the story? The characters? She would've loved to read a story about it. She probably would have if she didn't get literally sucked into it.

Lucy panicked. She intensely panicked. If it weren't for her somewhat strong-willed nature that allowed her to lie easily and not be persuaded into drug usage, she would have really slipped up by then. She knew her limits, though. She couldn't keep up with pretending to be asleep any longer, for her breathing was ragged and she could feel herself shaking in horror.

Light and Ryuk quickly turned their heads towards her once she sat up from her spot on the floor.

Oh my god. I can't move.

"Looks like she's awake," Ryuk spoke after a few moments of silence. With Lucy's new revelation, his voice somehow sounded different. As if every word carried weight with it. Although, that could have been because she perceived every word spoken by anyone then to be of importance and should be remembered in case something went awry, and Lucy remembering something they said would help her. Unfortunately, her current nearly petrified state couldn't let her do that.

Light strolled near where Lucy was, taking time in each step, and crouched down low so they were eye-level.

"Tell me your name."

Straight to the point, huh? Well, sucks for him. There was no way in hell Lucy was giving him her real name. Not like she could, anyway. She was still frozen in fear, and for real this time.

Light kept staring at her from behind his brown hair with his creepy gaze, like he was trying to figure out her every thought just from her eyes. It definitely wasn't helping the situation, at least for her.

Why did I have to be dragged into this? Why is any of this real? Why can't I just... go home? Lucy felt like crying. She was just a kid in her last year of high school, how was she supposed to deal with this? In fact, it hadn't even been long from when she was still in her room. All that happened was that Ryuk came, they talked, he magically teleported her here, then she woke up in a serial killer's bedroom.

It clicked.

A... fictional serial killer. From a story.

...That's right. He's still a character. Everyone isn't... real. Lucy didn't think herself to be so delusional, but she's glad she caught herself before she only began making the situation worse. It didn't matter what happened to anyone, right? It's all fake. She was the only real person in this damn world, so why should she be thinking of herself as the same as the people in it?

Lucy held on tight to that last strand of assumed sanity, knuckles whitening, never letting it out of her grasp. Nothing that happens in this world matters. Even if she could prevent all these deaths, even if she could prevent Light's or L's death, they weren't real deaths. The only potential death that mattered was hers, making it all the more important for her to get out.

Feeling confident in her conclusion, she finally broke out of her shock, unavoidably remembering Light's question as he was still staring at her like a hawk.

"Lou Langford." She'd decidedly taken inspiration from a certain someone whose alias and real name were strikingly similar.

She couldn't tell if he believed her or not, but she hoped that he already realized pressing her to tell the truth would lead nowhere. So, she waited.

Light stood up. He walked back towards his desk, never turning around to face her.

"Ryuk, take her back."

"No."

Ever so slightly turning his head towards the shinigami, he spoke again. "We've already talked about this. Have you forgotten?"

"Nope. It's almost like you forgot. I told you, I thought it'd be more fun to have someone else in the mix! You know, like those unexpected twists in soap dramas. Except this one's better."

Well, Lucy thought, if you had waited a couple more episodes, someone by the name of Misa-

"Okay."

It was just one word, but she instantly felt the gravity of it when it hit. It was almost like Light accepted his defeat, but already came up with a plan to make up for it later. It scared her, but not enough now that she had her newfound philosophy. She'd do whatever it takes to get out alive. For that to work out, though, she'd need the thing that dragged her here in the first place to drag her back.

Operation: Get Ryuk to Take Lucy Back to Her Own World was a go. Not many details in it at the moment, but the title should've been enough for her to recognize her main goal.

Turning on his heel, Light faced Lucy, her instantly noticing his change of demeanor. He put on a smile. "Well, Lou Langford, looks like we're stuck with each other." While once again walking towards her, this time with less intimidation involved, he stuck out his hand for her to grab. It was as if he were trying to build a false friendly environment, where she could feel secure and talk about anything. She assumed she saw through it only because she already knew how Light acted, but it was still disturbing how convincing it could be for anyone who didn't have that prior knowledge. "Here," he spoke. "We have some things to talk about."

Through this mess, Lucy was now 100% sure of the fact her luck was on the opposing side.

Chapter Text

Lucy didn't know she could vomit this much in one day. She didn't even think it possible for anyone in general, actually. Perhaps she held a new world record.

Her head hurt. Too much thinking was involved in this universe, which she was definitely not a fan of, and her grades could testify. Too much thinking about how she should approach every situation with Light and Ryuk, about how she cannot let them know past what she wants them to, and how she wanted to go home and leave this dumb universe. Confidence in her being the only real person can only take her so far, but at least the idea helped bring her back to reality. Her reality, that is, if she could figure out some way to get back there.

Maybe she noticed that Light noticed she wasn't exactly feeling so good, most likely from keeling over the trash can while making icky noises. It wasn't exactly the best impression she could have made for herself, especially right after Light had helped her up like a (murderous) gentleman, but she couldn't blame herself if first impressions weren't on her mind during the whole kidnapped-by-a-shinigami situation.

In the midst of it all, she thought she heard a drawer close and the clinking of a pen being put back in its pencil holder.

Ah. He assumed she hadn't seen it when she arrived. That was a good sign... I think.

"Are you alright, Lou?"

Light's voice came like a punching glove to her gut. It didn't make her emotional state feel any better to hear it, but at least it helped her nausea since the nonexistent punching glove finalized her... session.

Finally looking up from the disgusting mess she created, she noticed Light had brought in a wet face towel and a glass of water, squatted a foot away from her. Behind him were a pack of gloves. When did he get all that? Shaking her head, she came up with an answer.

"I guess." She took both the glass of water and towel from his hands, wiping the towel across her face. Before she took a sip of water, she croaked out a small thank you and sat down against the wall.

"So, Light, what are you gonna do with her?" Ryuk sat on Light's bed, head resting in his hands like Light was going to tell him a fairy tale.

Light chuckled, picking up the box of gloves from the ground as he stood up. "You ask that like she's some kind of toy." He slid on a pair of gloves then picked up the bag lining the trash can, tying the ends and walking to exit his bedroom. With one hand on the doorknob he spoke with a small grin. "Don't get too curious."

She didn't know whether that was directed towards her or Ryuk or both of them. The door shut. And Lucy was alone in the room with the monster that led her into this mess in the first place.

Alright, Lucy, remember. Operation: Get Ryuk to Take Lucy Back to Her Own World—maybe I should shorten that to GRTTLBTHOW—is a probably valid plan and your only plan so you need to follow through with it. But to initiate it...

What did she already hear from Ryuk's and Light's conversations? Didn't Ryuk think this was some soap opera? From her prior knowledge, she knew Ryuk just wanted to have fun. To appeal to him more than Light already does would be a challenge, but even if she succeeded in that, how was she supposed to convince him to let her go back if he really thought she was more fun than Light? What if he followed her back to her world and gave her the Death Note?

"Oi. Something wrong?"

Lucy only just now noticed herself looking up at the ceiling with her hands holding tight at her roots. Sighing and turning her head to the source of the voice, her eyes met with Ryuk's.

"What do you think?"

That earned a chuckle from him. "You still managed to lie about your name even though you were sick to your stomach."

She gave him a cold stare. Recalling how Ryuk usually acted, she assumed she was safe in regards to her name. He never told Light anyone else's names, so why wouldn't it apply to her?

"It's not like you're telling Light, are you?"

"Nope."

Before Lucy could even think to respond, she heard Light enter and close the door behind him, gloves and trash bag gone.

"Now, back to where we were." He sat down in his desk chair, staring at Lucy on the floor. "You can get up from there if you're feeling better now."

She held back a scoff. "Yeah." Lucy got up from her spot and sat down on the edge of the bed, never breaking eye contact with Light, him doing the same.

"So." Light had his hands clasped together in his lap, eyes that seemed to scrutinize her every move.

"So..." Lucy trailed off. The room was quiet. "Didn't you want to talk about something?"

"Yes."

Silence.

"Um..."

More silence. She felt a sense of deja vu...

As Lucy was about to babble another conversational filler, he finally spoke. "My name is Light Yagami. I am a seventeen year old high school student in Tokyo who holds a prestigious status in both academics and social standing." He paused. "Who are you?"

That was long-winded. Lucy sucked in a breath. "I'm... Lou Langford. I'm seventeen, too, but I'm a high school student in the United States. I don't know so much about academics or social standing, but... yeah."

Her gaze drifted to the shinigami beside Light. She assumed it would seem a little weird for her to not question it.

"You didn't mention it, but... why do you have a shinigami that follows you around all the time?"

Light smirked. "I just do."

...Okay. So he won't tell her about the Death Note, at least maybe for now. She didn't know the implications of that, but she hoped they weren't absolutely terrible.

In other aspects, how was he supposed to deal with her, then? After being dropped off into a new world, she possibly couldn't find any other place to sleep. Ryuk obviously (and unfortunately) wanted her around, so was she going to have to stay at Light's house? The thought of it is definitely unpleasant... but it gives her more time to be around Ryuk and possibly execute GRTTLBTHOW. But how was he supposed to explain it to everyone? To his family? Surely they'd be weirded out by some random girl suddenly deciding to stay at their house with no warning... There were so many things wrong with this whole situation. It made her head hurt again.

"Anyway, there's more I wanted to ask you. I think it helps for us to know about each other and our worlds in order to figure this mess out."

Of course. As long as she didn't say anything suspicious, she thought she'd be fine.

"Sure. Ask away."

"You said you're from the United States?"

"Yes."

"How do you know Japanese?"

Were they speaking in Japanese this whole time? This is exactly what Lucy was worried about; language barriers. Except in their case, there were... none? She perfectly understood him, but she definitely knew she couldn't speak Japanese. Maybe it was some mesh of languages of sorts, like Esperanto. Except English and Japanese were completely different in both structure and phonetics. And Light specifically pointed out they were speaking Japanese.

"Um... I don't. I don't know how I can understand what you're saying, but maybe ask Ryuk, I guess."

Light sighed, but put on a smile soon after. "Well, it's not that important, at least. Actually, I'm curious about something you said earlier..."

Uh oh. Lucy knew that wasn't a good sign. She was sure she made herself speak to not incriminate herself, but did she actually mess up without her knowing it?

No. I'm fine! He's probably just gonna bring up something about my school life, since that's what I told him about. Maybe about who I'm friends with. I could mention Hale, but maybe change his name, just in case.

"You've seen Ryuk in two places, correct? I'm assuming your bedroom and mine, both in two completely different universes. Also, the only place you've been in within this world is my room. When you asked why Ryuk follows me around all the time, how would you have come to that conclusion, when you clearly saw him stay in my room when I went downstairs, as well as your dimension when I obviously wasn't there? Of course, it could have been a simple guess, but you stated it with just enough confidence to make me curious about it." His smile stayed plastered on his face.

Light Yagami.

What the hell .

Of course she knew that Light knew Ryuk didn't stick to him like glue, but he still managed to incriminate her with just one question. A question!Why did Light have to be so... Light?

Lucy closed her eyes took in a deep breath. She didn't care if he saw her and somehow come up with more evidence on why she's suspicious based on the airflow of her oxygen intake and the time it took to shut her eyelids because if she didn't, she wouldn't breathe at all.

She tried not to let herself stutter as she let the words roll off her tongue. "You're right. It's just a guess."

There. That was convincing enough, wasn't it? She thought back to her philosophy to try and calm herself down. Light isn't real... yet, the fear that comes with interacting with him is, in fact, very real.

"Ah. You're good at guessing, then."

Attempting to revert back to her moderately aloof state, Lucy answered with, "Yeah."

"I assume you have no place to stay?"

"Yeah..." What was he, a mind reader? The thought of that disturbed her deeply.

"Considering Ryuk currently has no intention of taking you back, I would try and find a way to keep you near and under my watch. After all, you know of my shinigami. That's information I wouldn't want getting around."

Lucy found the part about him keeping her under his watch creepy, but she chose to ignore it. "If he does follow you around, wouldn't people know about him anyway?"

"Only I can see him. At least, until you arrived."

Lucy slouched in her spot on the bed. "It's not like I have anyone to tell. Besides, who would they believe if I told them, anyway? Some random girl they've never met before, or a prestigious high school student, like you said?"

"Some people would look into those sorts of things." He frowned. "Those people are the type I wouldn't want getting into my business."

Then Lucy understood. L was "those people," and at this point in time, Light knew he was his enemy. Of course he wouldn't want some girl knowing about Ryuk running around, since he's under suspicion. She wondered how L would come into play in this situation, but that only mattered if she stayed around long enough to see it (which she hoped wouldn't happen.)

"By the way, where am I gonna stay?"

Light thought for a moment. "I could rent out a hotel room for you to stay in, but that would be heavy on my credit card since I have future expensive purchases planned, as well as other reasons. I could also convince my family to let you stay here under the impression you're a foreign exchange student, but you speak perfect Japanese. Maybe if I tell them you're an amnesiac roaming the streets they'd let you stay, but the first thing they might do is send you to a hospital or the police to try and find your guardian."

"Why not just tell them I already went to the police or hospital or whatever? Like, it's already underway?"

Light glared at her, as if she were to already know the answer to that. "My father is the chief of the NPA. It would be hard to get around that."

"Oh." Right. She knew that, but obviously couldn't say she did. After a few moments of pondering, Lucy spoke. "I think I have an idea."

"You do?"

"Maybe... I could say I took a flight to Japan and my luggage got lost, so that could explain why I'm basically empty handed. And while I was looking for a place to stay, you somehow found me and took me in?"

It wasn't the best of ideas, but it was an idea nonetheless. She hoped it seemed plausible enough to make him consider it, because if he came up with a solution that got her far enough away from Ryuk, GRTTLBTHOW would take a much longer time to execute.

Surprisingly, his response wasn't of complete rejection. "That's not bad. Actually, I could make a few alterations to it. How about when I tell my family I'll be housing you here, I can convince them to let you stay at a hotel, but on their card?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "You mean... manipulate them?"

"If that's how you want to put it."

"Why are you saying that like it's so easy for you to do?"

"Lying is easy." She thought she heard a quiet chuckle come from him. "You would know."

Um, what? Lucy didn't like the sound of that.

In her attempt to derail the conversation from where she dreadfully thought it was headed, she brought it back to the plan. "Well, why would you want to keep me at a hotel? I thought you wanted to keep me under your watch." Also, the shinigami would be way out of reach...

He shook his head. "We don't have any guest rooms. You'd have to sleep on the couch."

"...Is that the only reason?"

"No, the other is for my father's secrecy in his work, but I can exaggerate both reasons enough to 'manipulate' them."

"If you have to exaggerate them, they're not real reasons."

Light paused for a few seconds. "It has to do with my business. That is all I'm telling you."

Euphemism for Death Note.

She sighed in defeat. "Alright. Whatever."

Light stood up from his chair. "My family is downstairs. Of course they haven't seen me walk you in, but that's something I can easily gloss over." He held out his hand, similarly to the first time he did when Lucy was sitting on the floor, right before she ran to the nearest trash can to empty out her guts. "Are you ready?"

She took the serial killer's hand in hers.

"Well, I'll have to be."

Chapter Text

The Yagamis—minus one—were incredibly welcoming and friendly people. Sachiko and Sayu fit into the stereotypes of both a caring mother and an annoying but endearing little sister, but it wasn't a bad thing, as Lucy felt comfortable in their presence. Speaking with them reminded her once again of how much she wished her parents were... different.

Though, that wasn't something she should be focusing on at the moment. What was important was...

"Yeah, Light here has been super helpful ever since I've arrived. I'm thankful for all the help, but I'm sorry if I've intruded anything by coming inside your house without you knowing..."

"No, it's completely fine! I can't imagine what it's like to be in your situation. We don't want to make you feel unwelcome, so if you need help, make sure to call us or Light. I'm sure the hotel has telephones." Sachiko warmly smiled, holding onto Lucy's hands as if making a proposal.

Manipulating people with the kindest intentions is scarily easy. Maybe that's how they've never suspected Light of anything other than being the smartest teenager one can ever come across, except, of course, for Soichiro.

Light put a hand on her shoulder, to which she made a quick reminder to herself not to jump."I think that settles it. Lou, are you ready? It's about eight minutes away."

Putting on a small smile, Lucy answered with a simple nod. As she said her goodbyes to the Yagamis, she felt a little sad. They were good company, and she was going to be alone for an undetermined amount of time, depending on whether Light was going to be checking up on her or not (which would give her a good opportunity to talk to Ryuk.)

Stepping into the car, she felt as if something were off. Not something incredibly unnerving, but just enough to make her eyebrows knit together. Nah, she thought, shaking her head, it's not important. After Light revved up the car, the trio, including the shinigami in the backseat eating a pile of apples Light had seemed to give him earlier, set off for the four-star hotel that was to be the place of residence for Lucy.

It seemed Light noticed her head shake. Light, glancing at her, questioned, "Something wrong?"

Lucy took this as an opportunity to ask him some questions. After all, she was curious. "No, I'm just wondering. What am I supposed to do there?"

A small pause. "What I tell you to do."

...Okay, creep.

"Can you clarify a little?"

"You're an American with little to no knowledge of Japan, much less the suburbs of Tokyo. Along with that, you don't exist anywhere. If you were to get caught up in the law, it would be extremely suspicious if they were to discover your lack of records. They'd then uncover your connection to me and make me a suspect, as well."

Sounds like Light, alright. Only in it for himself, but that's how it's always been with him, so it's expected.

Lucy sighed. "You think I'd get caught up in the law?"

"It's a precaution."

"Whatever." No reply.

Maybe a minute passed. After sitting in near-silence, she remembered she still hadn't asked all the questions she wanted to, so she decided to hit him with another one. "Are you going to visit?"

"Of course. I'd already planned my visiting schedule which is weekdays before 6 PM, along with Saturdays at 12 PM. I don't expect you to stay inside the hotel at all times, but it is important you make as little attention to yourself as possible if you do go out. Those visits are to check up on your activities, as it is crucial for me to know your whereabouts."

...It's also much like Light to have a set schedule for everything (along with being a total creep about it, too.) Recalling how Mikami's breaking of his own schedule was a big factor to Light's loss almost made her laugh. If she did, she couldn't imagine what Light would think of the reason behind it.

Still, she was slightly disturbed by his controlling antics, as if his other quirks weren't already disturbing. Letting a short laugh escape, she easily spoke, "You know, you're sounding like my dad."

A quick glance at her. Then, no reply. Again.

Few minutes passed, then the car lurched to a stop. They had arrived at the hotel, and at first glance, it actually looked quite pleasing. Exiting the car, Lucy waved goodbye at both Light and Ryuk, annoyingly getting no reaction from either. So much for being nice...

As she watched them drive off, her jaw dropped as she realized what that nagging feeling was when she first climbed into the car.

Since when did Light drive?

She scoped out the room; it was surprisingly large. Two queen beds, but Lucy obviously would've been fine with one. The bathroom was nice, too, which she was glad about since she'd had her fair share of terrible hotel bathrooms. Then again, she'd never stayed at an actually pleasing hotel.

She jumped and landed on the bed.

She was tired.

Everything that had gone down since she arrived in Light's bedroom is still so jarring to her. Being alone would finally allow her to gather her thoughts, but to do that, she would have to write everything down. After all, one of the reasons she wasn't doing as well in school was because she was terrible at remembering or organizing things. That came with a risk, though. If Light or Ryuk found it, they'd know everything. Even if Light only visited at specific times, she'd need to keep a close eye on it because of Ryuk and his weird death god abilities. What about writing in code? Lucy pondered the thought, but ultimately found it to be useless since she'd probably have to write down a key for herself so she wouldn't forget.

Whatever, I'll figure it out later. Adopting the same mentality she had when skipping test questions, she grabbed the notepad and pen provided by the hotel to write down all she could remember in a frenzied state, wasting no time to rest.

Lucy didn't know how long it took her, but she managed to fill out 6 and a half pages in varying sizes of handwriting. Maybe I didn't need a code after all, she thought. My handwriting looks like a whole different language.

Looking over her notes, she took notice of the most important events. Ryuk abducted her in her bedroom at night—in her pajamas she changed out of earlier, her thanks to Sayu who was only a little suspicious of why she didn't have normal clothes on—leading to her waking up in Light's bedroom. It was Tuesday, January 6, 2004, which didn't help her as much as it could since she unfortunately couldn't recall the exact dates of Death Note. Though, it did let her know it was still early in Light's Kira-ness, as well as the fact this world follows the manga timeline since she knew the anime took place in 2006. Then, she and Light came up with a plan to manipulate his family. With the word "FICTIONAL" written in all caps and encircled several times, she was reminded she couldn't afford to feel bad for fictional characters. She had to do what would help her get home. The more specific details were few, but she remembered more than she thought she would. If trauma was what helped her remember things, then she was doing this studying thing all wrong.

Her review session got interrupted by the violent gurgling of her own stomach. Right. She hadn't eaten since lunch back in her dimension, which would technically be yesterday in this one. After the conversation with her parents after school, she had gotten too mad to eat dinner and just slept through it, then video chatted with Hale... She missed him. She hoped everything had stayed the same since she'd left, but there was really no way of knowing that. Despite her life back home being riddled with problems here and there, she definitely could deal with those much easier than the ones in this world.

Picking up the phone from her bedside table and dialing the number from the menu on the nightstand, she turned on the television to the news station.

Her call was picked up. "Room service, what would you like?"

Lucy wondered if any of the criminals shown would be reported as dead in a few moments.

"Yeah, can I have a tonkatsu bento?"

A man who killed his fiance was on the run. His name is Adachi Tomoyuki, and he has an absolutely horrid haircut.

"Yes. What is your room number?"

Lucy looked around the room... as she had already forgotten it. At the top of the entrance, she found what she was looking for.

"Room 708."

"Thank you. Your order will be here soon!"

The call ended, and as she put down the telephone, she noticed the news reporter listening in on her earpiece.

'Yes, we just got an update on the fiance-murderer. He was found unconscious in an alleyway with a wad of cash in his hand.'

She let out a breath of air and closed her eyes. Well, at least she was right in her suspicions. Looks like Light's gotten home.

Yesterday was a blur. She just remembered feeling groggy the whole time, even when Light made his visit. He'd been nice enough to drop off some clothes and other necessities, but when he left, she went right back to sleep. Actually... she thinks she slept the whole day. Despite her will to follow her plan and go home, she just fell into a slump. The only thing she put effort into was hiding the hotel notepad, as she had asked room service to give her another blank notepad to make it seem like she'd never used it. That way, he wouldn't suspect why it's gone because of his annoying (but justified) paranoia.

Lazily looking out the window, she noticed the sun was starting to set. Light hadn't visited yet...

Sitting up from her spot on the bed, she studied the clock on the wall. 6:46 PM. Isn't it Thursday? He's supposed to have been here already.

"Ugh," Lucy grunted, and made her way over to the bathroom to take a shower and get herself somewhat presentable. She might as well visit him herself and see what's going on with him. What happens to Light is equally important as what happens to her, since he's basically the gatekeeper to her only way out of this hellhole. Besides, she felt it'd be a good way for her to get out of the slump she hoped to break.

When she finished, she grabbed the pouch full of yen given to her by the Yagamis and left the hotel to head for a bus stop. Unfortunately, walking two and a half miles wouldn't be so great for her feet.

She arrived at the stop near Light's house a few minutes later. It was only about a two minute walk from the stop to his house, but it felt like forever. She underestimated how cold it was going to be, so she was left shivering in the freezing wind all the way to their porch.

With a shaky hand, she rang the doorbell to the Yagamis' home.

Only a few seconds passed, but she was already impatient. It's so cold. Why aren't they opening the door yet? Her sad attempts at warming herself up weren't working, no matter how hard she tried.

Finally, she heard the click of a lock opening, her face instantly lighting up when she saw who was behind the door.

"Lou?"

"Sayu! Can I c-come in?"

Sayu's face was of both concern and confusion. "Yeah."

"T-thank you," Lucy swiftly stuttered out, heading inside.

She sat down on the couch, still trying to warm herself. Sayu, after closing the door behind her, went and sat down next to her.

"Not to sound rude, but what're you doing here?"

Lucy looked towards Sayu and answered, "Light hasn't visited yet."

A look of realization came across her face. "Ohh. So that's where he went yesterday. Is he visiting you everyday now, or something?"

"Except Sundays, I think."

"Ah." A pause. "You want something hot to drink?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, I just wanna see Light. Is he upstairs?"

"We're about to have dinner, so he'll be down in a little," a new voice answered.

Lucy turned to the source of the voice and found Sachiko's smiling face. Grinning back, she greeted her with a wave and a "hello."

"Actually, I was about to call him down. Since you're here for him, could you be a dear and ask him to come eat?"

"Yeah, of course." She thanked her and Lucy got up from the couch and went on her way upstairs to Light's room. Now to see what's going on with hi-

URHGHRHGHGH HRHG HRHGHGH .

Her hand stopped above the door handle. What the hell was that? The only thing that could possibly make that noise would be Ryuk, but why? Deciding it'd be better to make her presence behind the door known before she intruded on whatever was happening behind it, she knocked a total of three times. Even though it was Light she was expecting, it was much easier to wait behind this door. As long as she wasn't freezing, she was fine staying put for a couple minutes.

"Coming," she heard Light call out. The door opened, and their eyes met. Shortly after, Lucy's gaze traveled to the wailing shinigami hunched over on the ground, mumbling gibberish.

Before she could ask about it, Light quickly spoke, "Hey. You're here."

"I am." She narrowed her eyes. "You weren't."

Light sighed. "Sorry, I was busy. I'll definitely visit tomorrow."

Busy? Doing what?

Raising an eyebrow, she fired back, "You planned a schedule for yourself only to break it. I was concerned about you not visiting; you seemed so set on following it."

As if he wasn't listening at all, he said, "Let's go downstairs. I'm sure my mother's finished dinner by now. You can even eat with us if you'd like, you've come all this way."

He walked out, closed the door behind him, and started heading downstairs without Lucy.

Was he ignoring me?

This really was the most annoying Light's been, and it's only the third day of her being stuck here. Lucy took a deep breath to try and calm herself, then went downstairs after Light. What reason could he possibly be acting like this? As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she studied the scene to try and find anything out of place.

All of them were sitting at the dinner table. The only person who wasn't present was Soichiro, but that's a given since he's working in the Kira Task Force. The TV is on, but all it's showing is Hideki Ryuuga and...

...Oh.

The cameras. The bugs. The upcoming fake news report. The wailing Ryuk who she now realized was apple-deprived.

They're being watched by L and Light's dad.

Lucy only now noticed Light's chilling stare directed at her. She quickly shut her mouth she didn't realize was even open and blinked a few times to cover up her expression, but she knew it was too late since the only two people who could even attempt to figure out what was going on inside her head were watching her every move. So this was what Light didn't visit her for? She thought something like this wouldn't stop him, but he somehow surprises her every time. Both now and in the anime or manga. So... how was she going to deal with this? She knew the report about the thousand-something detectives was coming up soon, but should she say anything? Would not saying anything get her involved? Ugh, this is so frustrating!

"Lou, would you like to join us?" It was Sachiko.

"No thank you, I'm still full from the food back at the hotel," Lucy replied, shaking her head. It was a lie. She hadn't eaten, but she didn't want to eat now for fear of having a similar experience to the first day in Light's room.

Sayu's voice came. "Hey, it's a new bulletin." Everyone at the dinner table's attention was turned to the TV, and Lucy looked towards it, as well. 'Interpol to send 1,500 detectives from various countries to Japan to help solve Kira case,' it read. Sayu made a short comment after that, but Lucy was completely focused on what Light would say.

"Interpol is so stupid."

It was so bizarre to literally watch a scene come to life.

"What?" Sayu questioned, looking at him expectedly.

"What's the point if they announce it like this? If they're going to send in all those detectives, they should keep quiet about it and let them work in secret."

A good point, Lucy validated internally. She remembered watching this scene at 2 AM and thinking he was just so smart and cool and how she wished she had his intelligence. She didn't really consider how scary this specific scene would be, but maybe it only was because of her extremely unique situation.

"Those FBI agents were here on a top secret mission, and look what happened to them. If Kira knows about these guys, he's going to get to them, for sure."

Sayu then praised him for his intellect, which kind of annoyed Lucy. It was silly to be annoyed about something like that, but she didn't blame herself, she'd been through a lot and she's surprised she's managed to keep her emotions mostly under wraps for this long.

While mentally patting herself on the back, Light kept going, "That's why I bet it isn't even true. This is just a ruse to put pressure on Kira."

And here it is...

"But it's pretty obvious, so I bet Kira's figured that out, too," he said with a smirk.

There was the blow. She thought if Light hadn't said that, L maybe would not have been as suspicious of him, at least at that moment. Of course, Light just had to be extra (she bets he was mentally patting himself on the back at the moment, just as she was right before.) L was probably reeling in his chair by now, or at least way more interested in him than before from what she remembered.

"Lou, what do you think? You know about Kira, right?" Light asked her from his seat.

Huh?

She cleared her throat, hoping she wouldn't choke on her words out of surprise. "Yeah... but what do you mean?"

He smiled. "I haven't gotten the chance to know you as much as I've wanted. I simply want to hear your thoughts on things like these."

...The only thought Lucy wanted Light to hear was WHY DID YOU DRAG ME INTO THIS?!

She couldn't say that, though. For many reasons. Instead, she tried coming up with a response that would be something a normal person would say. Because she was normal and definitely not someone who can ultimately see the future for this specific world.

"Uh..." she started, eyes traveling to the floor. What would be the most natural sounding response for someone like me? Lucy tried to do just that: simply say something she would say. She's spent some time thinking about this scene back home, anyway, so she thought it'd be somewhat nice to put it out for someone to hear. Letting the words easily roll off her tongue, she spoke, "It's weird why they would lie about that in the first place."

She thought she heard a chuckle from Light. "Why?"

"Well it's just... isn't Kira, like, super smart? If it's really that obvious, then interpol wouldn't bother with it anyway if they know he wouldn't get pressured to do anything about it."

He paused for a moment. "So why do you think they put it out?"

'Because they're watching for your reaction because they're suspicious of you,' was what she wanted to say. She'd rather not say it, though, lest she makes everyone watching her aware of her knowledge of the cameras and bugs. To not reveal more than she wanted, she answered with a simple, "I don't know."

"That's still really interesting, Lou," he answered. Sure.

"I think I should be leaving now. I've already stayed here a lot longer than I've been meaning to," Lucy said as she stood up.

"You'd have to wait for the bus again," Sayu said.

"I'll be fine."

"If you want," Light interjected, "I can drive you back."

What about the potato chip scene?

"It's okay, I-"

"You were freezing at our doorstep. Are you sure?"

Well, he has a point... it was already cold, so even later in the night she couldn't imagine how much more freezing it'd be.

"I... yeah, thank you so much."

After exiting the house, she got into the car and let Light drive her back to the hotel. There weren't any cameras or bugs in the car, were there?

Apparently not, because of something Light said that sent a thousand more shivers up her spine than standing outside.

"So you know about the Death Note."

Chapter Text

Did I hear him right?

How... after all I've done to not let them know...

How did he find out?!

Lucy felt as if she couldn't move at all. Only her mind was active, running with thoughts and questions but barely any answers.

"Lou." Light turned his head to look at her, but she had her gaze directed down to the floor of the car. Despite her snubbing of him, he continued on, pronouncing his words with a cold tone. "Don't lie."

"How," Lucy managed to spurt out, throat clenching, "do you know?"

Light parked at the side of an empty road, in front of closed shops with the lights turned off, save for the 'closed' neon signs. He didn't respond to Lucy's query.

Did she slip up somewhere? She was sure she never mentioned anything to them they didn't already reveal to her. Or... did they find her notepad? Sure, she was a bit sloppy at hiding it the first day, but before Light visited she slid it under her shirt so she'd feel if it anyone took it. Ryuk hadn't broken into her apartment when she hadn't been aware, had he? Though she was terrified at the moment as to what this could bring for her future, she was infuriated at the same time, both with herself and at Light.

"You know, I've always been suspicious of you from the start. Of course, I hadn't predicted you'd end up being my personal oracle, but there was just... something." Lucy finally turned her gaze to Light as he spoke. "Like when you lied about your name."

Of course. Of course! He knew she lied about her name, but as long as he didn't know her real one, she'd be fine. She kept her lips sealed tight. Saying anything at this point would be a risk. Not because she didn't trust herself, but because he would twist her words into anything that would further incriminate her.

"See, earlier today I discovered there were cameras placed throughout the house. Before that, Ryuk mentioned to me he went back to your dimension and snooped around a bit... and eventually came upon something that nearly confirmed my suspicions about you, Lou."

She took a deep breath. She wasn't at all a fan of what Light might have implied.

"He said he found a book on your shelf entitled Death Note." He let out a small laugh, as if mocking her. "It was apparently a manga starring me as the main character. I almost dismissed it as one of Ryuk's ways of trying to get my attention, since I had to ignore him in front of the cameras, but the idea just wouldn't leave my mind.

"I purposefully didn't visit to make you come here. If it was true you knew my story, you would know about the cameras. About L." A devilish grin grew on his face. "About Kira."

Please just let me go home, Lucy pleaded in her mind to no one in general. Out of all the places she'd be, right here and right now would be the last thing on her list. Even her attempts at trying to cover her emotions up were failing, just as she managed to fail one of the most important steps in GRTTLBTHOW: do not let them find out. Tears were building up in her eyes, and she didn't know if she cared enough to let them fall or not. Still, one thing she could still do was not respond. She didn't know if she decided not to or simply just couldn't, but it didn't matter to her.

"Everything fell into place when I heard your response. Why you lied about your name? You didn't want to die to Kira, of course. Your cautiousness about what you say and the way you conceal your emotions were all because you had something to hide. All those times you didn't realize I had my eye on you and let your true feelings show, just as when you figured out the cameras were implemented." He rapped his fingers on the car door in a rhythmic manner. "You always had something to say, but never let it out to keep your secret."

Light tilted his head to the side. "That won't work for you anymore. Now that we have such a big secret out of the way, there must be something you've wanted to tell me?"

Go to hell, Light Yagami. Unfortunately because of his deal with the death god, he couldn't. Lucy's lips tightened, eyes fogging with a mix of frustration and anguish. She wondered if all her efforts were all for nothing. Here she was, alone in the car with the man who knew everything he needed to for that moment. Pitting her secret against her, but for what? If he wanted, he could have gotten rid of her at any moment. He could have left her to roam the streets and pass her off as some lunatic if she tried to say anything to make him a suspect, or he could have simply killed her off the old-fashioned way as an even better way of securing his image. But he didn't. Keeping her here must benefit him in some way, then.

So what if he knew everything? If she's important enough to keep around, then that must mean she at least still had some leverage over him. Most importantly, he knew everything except her name, which he possibly couldn't find out unless he went to her universe. She still had a chance at waking up from this nightmare. As long as she had that, she could still keep going. She could still go home. I will go home.

Lucy swallowed. She wasn't going to let any more of her little but important progress be undone by Light's aggravating genius. Attempting to dampen her emotions for steadying her voice, she flatly answered, "No. There's nothing."

"I see," he nodded. "But you know, of course. Things are going to be a lot more different."

"I know."

Light paused for a quick moment then proceeded to let out a quiet sigh. Lucy laid back her head on the headrest, facing the roof of the car and closing her eyes. The car started up again, and she felt him go into reverse, then back onto the main road. None of them dared to say anything.

Light was right, things were going to be different. Lucy only hoped some change that rose from it fell into her favor.

It had been ten days since Lucy'd been found out. Light kept to his routine of visiting her nearly every day of the week, occasionally bringing Ryuk along with him. To her delight, she'd managed to get some words across to him, such as 'I have a terrible family dynamic' and 'I only have one friend because I can't get myself to open up to other people.' Without context, it sounds like she'd been ranting about her problems to him, as odd as it is, when truthfully she was trying to exploit any aspect of herself that would possibly make her more interesting than Light. And when that happens, she could try to convince Ryuk to take her back home. It sounded like a general and easy enough plan to follow, but, sadly, being more amusing than a teenager with a god complex who's entirely too smart for his own good proves to be a hard feat to accomplish. Nevertheless, she still tried her best options.

To her dismay, it had been ten days. She already thought she'd been here for far too long. Even when the first three-ish days went by rapidly because of Light's figuring out nearly everything out about her, everything came to a slow by then, as if time was lava in an hourglass. It was definitely discouraging, but Lucy knew if she stopped trying there'd be no chance at all of her going home.

It was Sunday, so Light wasn't visiting. Even though she thought she should be using those days as a break from anything Death Note related, she couldn't help but think about potential strategies for GRTTLBTHOW. It was even more upsetting since she couldn't even come up with anything plausible and therefore wasted her time.

Adding onto that, Light had mentioned he took his Standard University Exam yesterday... and of course Lucy knew what would happen there and at the ceremony that may or may not be happening today.

Would she even want to get herself involved with L? Dealing with L would only lead her to more trouble, she assumed. Besides, for what reason would he want to talk with her, anyway?

Perhaps he could have been a bit suspicious about what I said under surveillance...

No! L had no reason to suspect her of anything, and it was going to stay that way.

Her focus should be only on going home. Everything that doesn't have to do with that is irrelevant and she has no reason to be getting herself involved in things that don't concern her.

Maybe I really should take a break today, Lucy mouthed to herself. Maybe a walk around the area might be nice as well as helpful for knowing her surroundings since she'd only seen most of what's outside through car and bus windows.

After Lucy stuffed the hotel notebook she wrote in into her coat pocket (she wasn't taking any chances leaving it alone) she left the hotel to aimlessly stroll around. The sun rose a good amount above the horizon, clouds barely covering its shine. She found herself walking along the sidewalk of a commercial area, some shops already closed and some only now closing. Despite that, there was a fairly large body of people walking along the streets, Lucy occasionally bumping shoulders with a stranger. The air didn't feel all that different from the air back home, but she never really cared to observe the crispness or lack of it.

With a growl of her stomach, she was reminded of the fact she hadn't eaten today. She recalled putting some money in her pocket, but she didn't know if it was enough to buy something that would ease her appetite. Oh well, she thought, and looked for a shop to buy a food or, depending on her budget, a snack. She could always order back at the hotel, anyway, but she hadn't had the chance to try any of the food outside of it and she really was starting to get a bit sick of rotating the same three or four meals everyday. It sucked to be picky.

Letting her nose lead the way, she walked into a cafe and slowly took in the rich scent of coffee beans, exhaling through her mouth. A pastry or two with a cup of coffee sounded good to her.

"How can I help you?" the cashier asked.

She had already looked up at the menu above prior to getting in line, so she was prepared with an order. Smiling back, Lucy said, "Yeah, can I have a decaf and two bagels please?"

After paying and getting her order, she looked around for a place to sit. There were some tables outside, but she was prone to getting cold and it was a bit chilly. Despite how quiet it was, nearly all the tables were taken, either by two people or those who sat by themselves. With her drink in her right hand and the small paper bag of bagels in her left, she looked towards the back for a seat since it seemed the least populated.

A thought suddenly came to her. Didn't Light and...

...Nah, the chances of that happening now are slim. It was just a normal cafe. Cafes are everywhere in Tokyo, aren't they?

She closed her eyes and breathed in, letting the smell of coffee enter her lungs to calm herself. She was being silly. After glancing around for a bit, Lucy spotted a seat against the wall at the back and started on her way there. Right before sitting down, she looked left and right with the same caution she had when she crossed streets. No one sat anywhere near her.

She sat. Then let out a breath, eyes crinkling when she smiled in ridicule of herself. Was that really so hard? She got herself worked up for nothing, but at least the stress would make the reward of having her snack taste way better.

Lifting the bagel to her mouth, she took a gleeful bite.

"Oh, Lou."

The chunk of bagel violently shot out of her mouth after she felt it nearly come down her throat to choke her.

Light and L. Light and L. LIGHT AND L.

Both of them stood in front of her table, both aware of her reaction towards them. It was like sirens were going off in her head, except the sirens were blaring voices telling her to avoid them as much as possible.

"Can we sit here?" L asked.

Light looked completely unfazed. He was putting on an act, after all. I should do that too, shouldn't I? L, of all people, was right in front of her and she couldn't afford to further incriminate herself. She just hoped he only suspected her of being a weirdo.

"Uh, sure. Sorry, I got surprised when I saw Light here. Are you his friend?" Lucy replied, softly smiling as if nothing had ever happened.

"We go to school together," he replied and sat across from her, Light then taking a seat beside her.

"Yeah. We just had the ceremony today, actually. We both got the highest scores," Light added. Both of them knew she knew. It was yet again another act, but this time they were working together to fool another person rather than each other. It was a nice change, but not by much.

"Really? That's cool, I didn't think I'd ever meet another genius in my life."

"I am Hideki Ryuuga." L stared at her with his creepy giant eyes that looked more like black holes.

"I'm Lou Langford. It's nice to meet you."

"I originally intended for only Light to do this, but since I am interested in the likes of both of you, would you both like to take a simple test of deductive reasoning?"

Right. This was where L was basically trying to out Light as Kira using those notes written by the prisoners Light killed.

"Sure. Sounds fun," Light said.

Lucy decided she'd act more cautious about it, saying what she thought she'd say anyway when faced with a situation like this and didn't know everything about what would happen next. She spoke, "I guess... but why?"

His eyes somehow bored even deeper into her soul. "I am L."

Well, duh. Even though he made the declaration a big deal, it still wasn't as exciting since she basically got spoiled simply by watching the anime. However, it'd look extremely off if she didn't react at all, so she widened her eyes and let her jaw drop as if in shock.

"L?"

He blinked. Lucy looked towards Light for confirmation, and he nodded. Something in that nod hinted that he was surprised at L's sudden declaration since it'd been so quick.

"Wow... No wonder you got matching scores with Light. Is this a case-related test, then?"

"Yes. Let's begin the test, now." L brought out three photos and placed them on the table. "Three prisoners have written these notes under Kira's control prior to their deaths. None of this information has been made public. Take as much time as you need to look over them and please tell me what you think." He paused, glanced at the both of them, then continued, "Please only say your answers when the both of you finish."

Lucy looked at the photos as Light picked up and studied them. 'L do you know gods of death love apples,' read the notes as he intended. Of course, there was a fake fourth photo, but Light didn't know that. She wondered what would happen if she decided to bring up the possibility of it. The print numbers on the photos certainly lined up for a finishing phrase to make sense of the incomplete sentence, so if those detectives L had asked the same test before could have pointed out something as obvious as that, Lucy could too.

"I'm done," Light said, and Lucy responded with a "me too."

"Lou, go first."

Wait, what? She didn't think L would make them go in a certain order... which was unfortunate for her since she only thought of what she'd say after Light had gone. She'd have to come up with something fast, then. What were the print numbers on the photos?

"I... um," Lucy stuttered, picking up the photos from Light's side of the table and flipped them over to reveal the numbers: 2, 18, and 21. Oh. Lucy thought of something. She breathed in and spoke, "There's print numbers on the photos... yeah, if you arrange them from least to greatest, it reads, 'L do you know love apples gods of death.' That doesn't really make sense, though. Because of how spaced out the numbers are, though, that could mean there could be more photos you're just not showing us that could make it make sense."

She looked up at L, his expression seeming like he was expecting her to say more. Was there something she was forgetting? She was sure she covered everything... Oh, right. She should probably mention something about Kira.

Looking back down at the photos, she continued, "Kira... made these prisoners write the notes, obviously. I don't really know why. The fact he mentioned you in it is kinda petty, honestly. He probably holds a grudge against you since you're out here to stop him, and stuff."

It was surface-level analysis, but it would suffice for the amount she wanted to let out.

"Thank you, Lou. Light?"

Light straightened up. "Well, Lou had beat me to it, but—"

"No."

Light looked at L. "No?"

"Explain it as if no one had spoken before you. I want to hear your raw ideas."

"Ah, alright. First, I think it's incredible to learn how Kira can not only kill his victims, but also control their actions before their death. In the photographs, it seems he's encoded a message for you through the criminals' notes." He arranged the notes so that they were side by side.

"If you arrange them like this and look at the first letter of each line, it reads, 'L do you know gods of death love apples.' The obvious print numbers, however, arranged into the order from first to last, read, 'L do you know love apples gods of death.' That doesn't sound right, so it's hard to believe Kira would've wanted you to read it like that."

"Thank you, Light." He looked at the both of them, but Lucy couldn't tell what was going on inside his mind at all. "Light, you're wrong. Lou is correct to assume there are more photographs. In fact, there is a fourth photograph that completes the phrase." L pulled out a photo from behind him and laid it down on the table to match the other three. "Now it reads, 'L do you know gods of death who love apples have red hands.'"

Light's face only slightly scrunched up. "But seeing as I only had three photos to work with, my deduction was perfect."

"No, it wasn't. The truth is, there is four of them. If you'd figured that out then it would've been perfect. You never even considered there might be more photographs. What do you think of that?"

"Hm..." Light laughed. "Well, you got me there. I didn't think of that."

"Lou did, though." He turned his gaze to Lucy. She was starting to regret ever saying anything slightly intelligent at this point. "However, you skipped over an important part. You didn't even bother to explain how there was a message in the first letter of each line. Why?"

So that was what she was forgetting. She didn't see why she couldn't tell him the truth, so she did. "Well... I wasn't holding the photos when we were still looking at them, so I just looked at how Light arranged them and figured out what he was doing. I just assumed Light was going to go first, so I based my answer on what he would say, I guess. That was a wrong move on my part, though, since you already said you wanted to hear our 'raw ideas.'"

"Interesting. You knew what Light was going to say?"

Crap. Note to self, maybe don't give so many hints that you're basically a seer for this universe? "Well, I knew what he was probably going to say. He's obviously smart, and if he wasn't smart enough to explain the encoded message maybe thenI would have explained it myself."

L tilted his head to the side. "Are you not confident in yourself, Lou?"

"What?" Did L think he was the school therapist, or something?

"That's silly of you to ask, Ryuzaki," Light interjected.

"No, it isn't. There should be no reason for you to base your answer off of Light's when your deductive skills, at least in this test, are better than Light's."

Better... than Light?

That was new. Lucy wished Ryuk was here to witness that so that she'd gain another point of interesting-ness (not that she was keeping count.)

"...I can't deny that, but Light is Light, you know?"

"I do not."

"Oh."

Before the air turned stale among the three of them, Light spoke up. "In any case, the likelihood the message would lead you to Kira isn't great. Besides, no one actually believes gods of death exis—"

"If you were faced with someone who might be Kira, how would you go about establishing this persons innocence or guilt?" L interrupted as if Light hadn't started talking at all. He continued, "Lou, go first." Ah, it was that kind of question again.

Honestly, Lucy was feeling brain dead at this point. Talking with two geniuses was taking a greater toll on her mind than she initially thought, and she hadn't even gotten to finish her bagels or her coffee because of how invested she was in the conversation.

So she sighed and gave him the first answer she thought of in her mind. "Don't know. Set up cameras at their base ops, maybe."

L's eyes widened as he bit hard on his thumb.

Chapter Text

"What an interesting answer, Lou."

L had been continuously chewing on his thumb for a moment, then quickly put it down and almost looked as if he were about to grin. Lucy thought nothing of her answer when she first said it, but now that L's gaze had somehow shifted similarly to a circling vulture's, she started to understand why Light stared at her with one of the most furious, piercing expressions she'd seen from him.

He continued, "I'd asked many different detectives this same question, but none of their answers came as quick as yours. You were instantly able to think as Kira would when faced with this question."

She slowly picked up her coffee and took a small sip. "It's just an educated guess..."

"I agree with her, actually," Light chimed in, his exasperated manner from just a bit ago nowhere to be found, "I think it'd be smart to check in on your opponent. Setting up something similar to a surveillance system would be a smart way to either catch them in the act, or at least learn more about them."

L's smile disappeared, his features still and serious. "I believe the both of you may be Kira. Or, one of you may be working with them. About 3%."

...Kira. He thinks I could be Kira. Great.

"But at the same time, my desire to have the both of you investigate with the Kira Task Force has grown with this one conversation. Even if one of you is Kira. I at first did not intend to have Lou join us, but I have thought of percentages pertaining to her in the past, and I now believe I was right to do so.

"As of now, I'm in a position where it would benefit me to have you work with us. Do you both understand the logic behind that?"

Light began, "If we work with you, we may help the investigation move forward. However, if one or both of us are Kira or working with them, then we might somehow reveal ourselves. You can investigate and interrogate at the same time, to put it in other words."

Lucy nodded in silent agreement.

"It's a good idea... but you're misunderstood. I am interested in the Kira case and it's true investigating is one of my hobbies, but I'm not Kira and I don't want to be killed by Kira. After all, how am I supposed to know you're not Kira? Then it'd be strange if only one of us investigated the other.

"Even more, you only claim to be L. We could get my father or a member from the investigation team to confirm that, but if not, I can't work with you."

L looked as if he was about to roll his eyes. She didn't blame him, even though Light's overt defensiveness was understandable (since he really did have something to defend,) it still felt a bit like overkill.

He then turned his head to look at Lucy, presumably waiting for any more resistance. Did she want to resist? She at first imagined there wouldn't be any benefits of getting caught up in the Kira investigation, even if he did suspect her. Though, she thought for a moment if she did decide to work with them. If she revealed to L that Light was Kira and that he was the reason she's in the wrong universe, would that get her home? If Light was rid of the Death Note, leaving Ryuk to have no reason to leave the shinigami realm, would he finally take her back home after all the fun ended?

That would mean she'd officially be against Light. Even though the Death Note was currently powerless against her in Light's hands, he still might be able to do something to hurt her chances of getting back... or worse. Light was able to kill L without ever learning his name, so who's to say he won't do the same with her? It was a risky move. But after the idea rattled around in her brain, she realized it was the easiest thing she could do, as long as she did it without him noticing... yet another problem rose. She had no idea how she was supposed to prove Light was Kira. But this plan was the best thing she'd thought of, especially in her exhausted state, and she was tired of trying to entertain Ryuk when she was constantly stressed over Light, tired of staying in that stuffy hotel room where she ate nearly the same thing every day and desperately wondered when her time came to go home, tired of having to think so hard.

The betrayal of Light Yagami. An apparently new addition to GRTTLBTHOW she'd never expected to actually go through with.

She didn't know how much time she spent mulling over L's offer, but her head had greatly cleared now that she had. "I'm not against it. I've never been one to investigate, but if I have the chance to prove my innocence to you and maybe help the case move forward, I won't pass it up."

L nodded, then turned back around to face Light. "I never said you couldn't meet the team. I currently work with your father and others at the Investigative Headquarters. So, if I take you there, you'll then cooperate. Is that correct?"

Light stared in pure silence. She knew what his true feelings were underneath his mask of lies.

RING.

And at that moment, both L's and Light's phones went off.

Lucy decided to wait outside the hospital room. She had never properly talked to Soichiro, so she decided it'd be inappropriate for her to come visit. However, she could at least try and piece together what happened in that scene based on her memory of what she'd seen happen on the screen.

After visiting hours ended, Lucy, Light, and L all walked out of the hospital up to L's limousine.

"Ryuuga," Light called out before L got in the limo, "Is there any way to prove to you I'm not Kira?"

"You don't need to do that if you're not Kira."

"Come on, Ryuuga! Do you know what it's like to be accused of being Kira?" Light practically yelled out of frustration.

L considered it for a bit, then answered with, "I'd feel terrible."

Imagine being accused of Kira and being forced into a dimension where all a serial killer's problems could be solved with a notebook. Lucy could relate.

"How about you just lock me up for a month? I'd have no way of getting any outside information, and you'd just keep me under surveillance."

"I wouldn't want to infringe on your human rights. Most importantly, I definitely would not accept the suggestion of a suspect."

L got in the car. Light walked up to say something to him, but Lucy didn't follow and therefore didn't hear. She didn't think it was that important, though. Her focus was more on what Light would say once they're finally alone together since they'd been in L's company ever since they met at the cafe (she still couldn't tell if it was a good idea going there or not.)

Light walked back to Lucy after L finally drove off. He stopped right next to her, but never made eye contact. "Why did you accept working with L?"

She shifted her annoyed gaze towards him anyway. She didn't have a real answer prepared, so she simply came up with the most absurd answer on the spot. "It sounded fun."

He looked at her. "That doesn't sound like you."

"You think you know me?"

Light narrowed his eyes. "The only other reason would be that you know something important's going to happen. Important enough for you to want to get involved with L."

Now she's had it.

She profusely exhaled then spoke, "Well, I actually was terrified of you, you know. Now, it's not so much. You don't even know what my real name is, so you basically don't have any power over me. I do over you, you know why? I know you're Kira, and I know how to prove it to your biggest threat. So please stop asking me questions like that. I'm tired and don't want to answer them."

She felt her hands in her pockets shaking with adrenaline once she finished doing the riskiest thing she's ever done in the universe, possibly until she actually ends up betraying Light. Her knowing how to prove it was a bluff, but she imagined he wouldn't take it as one since he must've thought of six hundred ways to prove it before she even thought of one.

Silence. Then a small chuckle. Then a full-on laugh with him hunching over and grabbing his stomach. Light was wiping the tears out of his eyes, and Lucy felt like she was about to freeze once more.

"Lou. You really think that?" Light's smile was as wide as a hyena's. "Alright. I get it."

He forcefully grabbed her arm, making their faces too close for Lucy's comfort. "I don't know what or how much you think you know about me, no matter if you've seen how my supposed story will end. Just know underestimation will be your downfall." His words were filled with venom, and with every other syllable came a piercing sensation in her ears.

Lucy shook Light's arm off with just as much force as him grabbing it, and yelled with tears streaming down her face, "That'll be my downfall?! You say that when you underestimated Nea—"

She clasped her hand over her mouth. I almost just...

Light's expression softened. He started walking away from Lucy without any warning.

"Where are you going?" She called after him, making an effort not to have her voice shake under the strain of her vocal chords.

He half-turned his body around to answer. "Home."

Lucy sniffed, her face still wet and cold with tears. She hesitated before following Light, every step filled with increasing determination.

I don't care what I have to do. I will get out of this hell.

'In other words, we are being held hostage by Kira.'

The hotel room TV flickered slightly as the three news reporters sat at the front of the desk, about to reveal the tapes the Second Kira had sent in.

Lucy didn't bother switching to the other channels to see if it was true, of course; she already knew it was.

Stretching her legs under the thick blankets the relatively affluent hotel provided her, she recalled what happened at the cafe with Light and L. Though she decided she'd begin her plan involving L, she had no true way of contacting him. That was a small obstacle on her part, though, she'd been patiently waiting for Light to join the task force just to then follow shortly after. And surprisingly, L had called in both of them, cementing their positions on the team.

So there the two of them were, standing by the television in L's hotel room along with the rest of the members of the task force. The Kira tapes played, the threatening voice being severely downplayed by Lucy's knowledge of the one behind it.

She had not properly spoken to Light since the night of the hospital. Although he maintained his visits, they were always short, consisting only of small 'hellos' and mentions of her weekly allowances (despite who she was receiving it from, she was still glad to have one on top of staying at the hotel his own parents had been paying for this whole time.) Lack of communication with him hadn't been as big as a problem she had previously thought, since her focus had largely shifted to L. However, she'd still felt this unsettling mass in her stomach ever since she and Light had the... argument.

"Light, Lou, what do you think? Did you get anything from it?" L had silently walked next to them, taking few glances at their faces.

She thought she heard a scoff come from Light. "There may be another person with Kira's power."

"Yeah, like a Second Kira," Lucy continued as to seem invested in the conversation.

After a few minutes of explanation (mostly from Light) the room became filled with disbelief.

"It's the same!"

"It's exactly like L's deduction—I mean, Ryuzaki..."

Small bursts of side conversation quickly died down, leaving L and Light speaking exclusively to each other. However, Lucy had already began thinking of her plan, their words muddled in the back of her mind. Soon, L would have asked Light to act as Kira in order to have the Second Kira, Misa, reveal herself and the real Kira through a meetup at... some mall. Her memory was never advanced enough to memorize details like that, but it was definitely enough, especially since she still had her small guestbook to look back on everything that had happened. She continued to write in it as well, but it was hard for her to not treat it as a diary to let her emotions loose in—if she did, she would have ran out of pages the first week she'd started it.

But if L had both of them join under the suspicion of one of them being Kira, wouldn't he...

"Lou, Light. You are to pretend to be Kira through the tapes we're creating."

Yeah. He did.

Soichiro sat up from his seat. "L, may I talk to you alone?"

He looked at him, slightly cocking his head to the side. "Sure." They both disappeared into the bathroom, hushed voices dying out once the door shut.

That was new, Lucy thought. She wasn't entirely sure if that happened in canon or not.

"Lou Langford... is it?" She heard a slightly timid voice from the other side of the room, recognizing it as Matsuda's.

"Yeah. And you are...?"

His timidity quickly shed, a friendly hand held out as he introduced himself as "Touta Matsuda!"

Lucy shook it, noticing how slightly clammy his palms were along with his somewhat carefree demanor. She almost laughed. She had no clear picture of how Matsuda would act in the absence of a writer's direction, but he seemed Matsuda enough.

The rest of the task force followed and introduced themselves to her, missing the one Soichiro would have provided, though he was literally one of the people responsible for her hotel expenses. Even then... she'd actually never met him.

Right as she began to think L and Soichiro were having a longer conversation than she'd initially thought they'd have, the pair walked through the door. Soichiro's expression was guarded; L's exactly the same as when they first walked in. But she felt something had changed between the both of them. She didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

L spoke first, "Thank you for waiting. Now, let's get on with the tapes."

After a couple hours, they had finally compiled together a convincing message. Now, they just had to send it in. Everyone but L had started to gather their things and leave for the night, but just as Lucy stood up to leave, he called out for her.

"Lou, I would like to talk with you once everyone has left."

Huh?

She stared at him in confusion, then peered over at Light. He had his back against her as he walked out the door, but she swore that right after she looked at him, he had only just started moving again after stopping in his tracks.

"I... yeah, okay." She sat back down, thumbs nervously twiddling together. Wasn't this a good thing? Lucy had already been waiting for a moment like this with L so she could tell him about Light. She just didn't expect it to come so soon, especially with how unprepared she was.

Soichiro was the last to leave, her noticing how he stayed lingering at the door for a moment, scanning the room. Maybe his conversation with L was the reason she was asked to stay for a little.

That was extremely unsettling.

The door closed. L sat across from her, his usual position. Biting his thumb.

"Ryuuzaki?"

"Soichiro recommends you stay with me, instead."

HUH?

Lucy gathered her jumbled thoughts together, trying to create a coherent response. "I don't... know what you mean by that."

"He explained your situation to me. I find it odd how he had never met you yet agreed to pay alongside Sachiko for your hotel room, but that is besides the point."

Her situation. The one shemade up with Light. She couldn't even remember how it exactly went.

Despite all her senses on the edge of going into panic mode, she tried to hold on for as long as she could. It was all she could do.

Taking a deep breath, she put on a bittersweet tone as she spoke her next words. "Yeah... I've always felt bad for burdening them. Even though I really am thankful for how kind they've all been to me, I don't want to intrude on them any more, I guess.

"But, uh, how are you just gonna take me in so easily like that? Don't you have any precautions?"

"Yes," L said, "but where you're staying is where I plan to eventually move the task force. You're part of the task force, so I don't see any problem."

"Oh... that's great."

L stopped biting his thumb. "There is something, though."

She held her breath. There is something.

"What is it?" Lucy said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

"I did a background check on you."

Oh no.

"There was nothing to check."

She stayed silently staring at him.

L paused for a moment. He looked contemplative, as if he were assessing her all over again. Finally, he asked with narrowed eyes, "Why are you here?"

She gulped. Would he believe him if she told him? This early?

"I..."

Come on, think of something! Just say anything!

"I just..."

The small voice in the back of her mind became increasingly more audible, but she could only make out muffled vowels.

L stared. Lucy's gaze stopped at L's nose, refusing to make eye contact. What could I—

Her back straightened. The nervousness building in her throat started to ease, and the overbearing noises in her head came to a stop, forming a neat line of thought for her to read off of.

She almost forgot. L couldn't hurt her. He was just a character in a story, and she was from the real world. And in the real world...

She'd always held her confidence in her proficiency of deception.

It was as if something in her snapped; how her mind and body read the situation as life or death, even if it really wasn't. So she remembered how it felt to lie to her parents, how she felt the twinge of excitement every time she managed to fool someone into a false reality. How she considered herself a stellar actress, worthy of the silver screen. It was the same thing here, wasn't it? She had lied to Light many times before. Maybe that breakdown at the hospital got to her.

But she's feeling better now.

Adapting mannerisms she'd seen only from professional, credible people, she replied, "I'm sorry. I think you understand, though."

She could tell something in L stirred at the sight of her extreme change of demeanor. It didn't matter, though. As long as she kept him on hooked a lie, it didn't matter.

"I do not."

"Well, nothing showed up when you did a background check because I'm using a fake name. I thought you'd know the reason behind me using one if you use it, too.

"But, I suspect the same thing you do, Ryuuzaki. You know, Light being Kira. Even though you think I might be Kira, I guess that just gives me an advantage because I'm able to work with you, which really benefits me since, well, I'm not Kira.

"That's why I came here. I'd suspected Light Yagami from the start, and I plan to keep investigating him until his true nature's revealed. Until I find the truth."

She found it ironic she spoke of seeking the truth when she'd sold herself to a lie. But when the time came for her to reveal everything she knew to him, she'd be ready. She'd finally go home and never have to face anyone from this universe, ever. For now, she'd have to hang on to her lie and develop it as much as possible, to the point where no one, not Light, not L, could poke a hole in her logistics.

(She'd try to, that is. Adrenaline rushes can really make you feel like you can do anything, don't they?)

She only now noticed L had been biting his thumb again. Slowly, he removed it.

"Twenty-seven percent."

Chapter Text

Lucy lay on her stomach on the hotel bed, the notepad in her hands. Aimlessly flipping back and forth between pages, she contemplated what she should do with it instead of finishing packing for her move to the new headquarters.

The question was simple; Should she get rid of the notepad (probably by burning it with a lighter) or keep it? However, the answer to that was definitely not coming easily. Although she read through it countless amounts of times ultimately rendering it nearly useless to her, she couldn't decide if she wanted to show it to anyone in the future... to L. Ever since her plans changed to betray Light, she'd been thinking about her notepad way more than she usually did. If she were to show it to L to prove Light's guilt, what would happen? She hoped L would believe her rather than think she fabricated a literal other-worldly story just to get him off her back. A fabricated story...

'That's why I came here. I'd suspected Light Yagami from the start, and I plan to keep investigating him until his true nature's revealed.'

A chill traveled her spine as the memory returned, her grimacing at how ironic it was. But thinking back to that night she really couldn't believe she'd said any of that, as it all seemed like nonsense was spewing out her mouth (which, to some extent, it was. No wonder her Kira percentage went up that high.) She knew she had no choice but to stick to it, though.

Lucy grabbed a pen from the bedside drawer and flipped to one of the last few pages in the notepad, trying to write what she remembered she established in her lie:

* BACKGROUND CHECK + NOTHING SHOWED UP = FAKE NAME

* SIMILAR REASON TO L?

* AM NOT KIRA, SUSPECT LIGHT IS

Using a fake name for a similar reason as L, huh. Lucy was glad she didn't have to explain that. L had simply stated her Kira percentage and moved on as if nothing had ever happened, listing details about her move to headquarters. Even if she didn't need to thoroughly expand on it, L's quiet demeanor managed to frighten her since she knew that he was thinking. She knew she'd need to eventually come up with a reason for saying that, but... she'd come up with it later since he didn't ask her about it, right?

...Procrastination is a disease.

Ah, she caught herself. She was still putting off packing, but she hadn't come to a decision about her notepad filled with pages upon pages of the events from Death Note she could remember, as well as notes about her important conversations with the characters from it. The word "FICTIONAL" written in all caps and encircled several times serving as a reminder of her place in the universe. As important as it was to her, she once again thought about the dire consequences if L or anyone else were to find it at this crucial point in time.

Time flew by. When Lucy finished packing, she got ready for bed. Lying down to sleep, she caught the faint red glow from the bathroom sink and the quiet crinkling of burning paper like a lullaby, exhaustion weighing down her eyelids.

KNOCK KNOCK.

A grunt escaped her lips.

What now?

She begrudgingly stood up and opened the hotel room door to reveal a stoic looking Light, proceeding to walk inside and stand around the middle of the room without saying a word.

"Why—"

"L informed us you'd be moving in at headquarters," he interrupted.

Lucy exhaled in annoyance, shutting the door and sitting on her bed, arms crossed.

"Yeah. I'm going soon." A pause. "Thanks for coming by the way, I really wanted to be having a conversation with you at this time of night," she continued.

"It's only 10 PM, I'm sure you've stayed up later in the past." As he spoke, his stare never faltered. "And you know who the Second Kira is."

She instantly perked up, blinking in disbelief. "Do you think I'm gonna tell you?"

"I don't need you to."

"Then why did you ask? Why are you even here, Light?"

He stood still. "I want you to know something, Lou."

Lucy stared.

"I know why you want to be with L. I know you want to leave this world and go back to your old one, it's obvious. But you can't possibly think the one you're in right now isn't as significant. You think you're toying with the strings of fate? Just because you know the outcome of some silly manga, some anime you enjoyed? What makes you think you, an insignificant seventeen year old, can change anything in the world I live in?

"I'm as real as you are. And I won't let you win."

Anger pooled in her stomach, heat spreading across her face. It was way too late for this. Despite how she felt, she didn't want to snap at him as she'd done enough of that at the hospital. Lucy stood from her bed and spoke, "I won't let you win, either. Now, are you done? Can you leave so I can get some sleep?"

Light gave her one last look and left through the front door, Lucy locking it and lying back down.

Even as she confidently stood her ground, she couldn't help but pick at the seed of doubt Light planted. Could he really have figured out her plan to reveal him as Kira?

Lucy turned and yawned in her bed.

That's a problem for another day, she thought.

There wasn't much for Lucy to pack. All she had was a pile of clothes—part of them Sayu's—and leftover money from the allowance provided to her by Light. Everything fit in one box, making it easy to carry into headquarters. She made sure the hotel notebook burned completely before she left.

After passing the security check, she met with the task force in their discussion of the eighth Kira tape.

"Ah, Lou, just set it down there," L said, pointing at an empty table.

Lucy nodded and placed it on top, proceeding to join the conversation. She didn't know how much she missed, but she assumed that they figured that Kira and the Second Kira met already.

L looked towards Light, his knees still against his chest in his eccentric habit. "You are not Kira. That is, it will be a problem if you were Kira. Because... I feel you are the first friend that I've ever had."

Light chuckled, replying with, "I think we really do get along, too."

Light, you lying pig.

L simply lifted his cup of tea with its disgusting amount of sugar cubes to his lips, quietly sipping.

"Thank you."

Unease filled Lucy. Light had talked to Misa. That meant he talked to Rem. Didn't he convince her to... kill L? If so, she had to get on with her plan fast. It would be difficult proving Light's guilt during the whole handcuff debacle since he lost his memories, and she'd have barely any time to talk with L once Light gets his memories back.

...Besides that, she'd always been curious whether L really meant he thought Light was his friend. Surely, if Light wasn't Kira they'd be the perfect detective duo. Ah, what a waste, she thought. Maybe she'd ask L about it sometime.

The meeting dissolved, leaving L and Lucy behind, Watari off somewhere doing Watari things. L sat in front of a computer, typing away and occasionally picking up a sweet treat to bite a piece off.

She considered the option of telling L everything, right now. He still suspected her, though, not to mention at a relatively high percentage.

Then she remembered the forest Light buried one of the Death Notes in, and an idea came to her.

However, Light buried it after Misa forfeited hers, so she'd have a small timeframe... plus, she didn't know exactly where it was buried. She could be searching and digging through every forest lining the city and still not find it by the time Light loses his memories. Could she bribe Ryuk? She didn't know how available of an option he was, but if she couldn't think of anything else she may have to go that route. Or she could somehow convince L to buy a construction company to dig through all the forests in town, but that would be too obvious to Light and she didn't think she'd be able to convince L of doing that for a plausible reason.

No, to even begin to start finding it she would have to think like Light, and the person who thinks the closest to him was...

"L?"

"Yes, Lou?" L didn't stop typing, but his fingers slowed as he waited for Lucy's reply.

"If you were to hide something extremely important, where would you put it?"

This time, the clacks of the keyboard stopped completely. L swirled his chair around to face Lucy.

"What brought on this query?"

"Curiosity."

She practically felt her percentage rise, but it didn't matter as long as she could get at least a hint at where she should be searching.

L thought for a moment, biting his thumb. "I would keep it far enough away from me so that I am not associated with it. Although I have the resources to keep it in a private facility, it's too obvious."

"Lets say you didn't have those resources."

"Ah, then I'd still do the same thing." He cocked his head. "By important, do you mean something that I plan on gaining access to in the future? Or is it something I do not want anyone at all to get a hold of?"

"The former."

"I'd bury it in the ground. Considering my current station, I would say in the forest north from here. Visitors are scarce and it is secluded enough for me to hide it without anyone seeing, but still accessible."

Lucy felt her eyes widen. "That was... really specific." As well as exactly what she was prodding for.

L nodded. "How would you do it?"

"Me?" She thought for a moment. The most important thing she ever held was that notebook... "I would keep it as close to me as possible," she said, recalling how she would hide it in the waistband of her jeans, or inside her pillowcase while she slept. "If it was something I didn't want anyone finding, I'd just get rid of it."

"Like burning it?"

Did I leave burn marks on the sink?

No, that wasn't important. It's unsurprising L would have searched her hotel room once she left, but she was 100% sure the hotel notepad turned to complete ash. Lucy outwardly sighed. Her question may have inadvertently caused L to connect the dots among the sink's scorch marks and something "extremely important." Even with that, was it still possible to be more suspicious than Light, at this point? After all, Misa's DNA should be found soon enough, and her connection with Light would further incriminate him.

"Yeah, something like that," she answered.

L stared. "Is this to do with Light?"

"Uh," she stammered, "why do you say that?"

"You told me your entire purpose being here is to investigate Light Yagami. You went so far as to hide your true identity and then involve yourself in the Yagamis' personal lives based upon your suspicion."

His eyes bore deep into hers, voice small but firm. "If you're not Kira, you either have solid evidence against Light or are mad enough to trust your gut."

Solid evidence, huh. She recalled the buried Death Note. Even with solid evidence, she thought, I'm definitely still going crazy.

"And if you are Kira..."

Lucy gulped.

He reclined in his chair and looked up at the ceiling with his thumb still in his mouth. "Kira needs a face and a name to kill. Two of your greatest opponents are working against you; one you can kill, the other you cannot. You used Light to get to me so you can find a way to kill us both, because if only Light dies, I can nearly guarantee you are Kira.

"And hiding your identity seems like an obvious step when facing someone who can kill under those little conditions. However, it also works in Kira's favor. There would be nothing known about the potential person behind Kira, and when you kill us both it is plausible for you to not have died, even if I have."

She curled her fingers in her lap. She agreed that she was being suspicious, but not because she's Kira. And she wanted to get close to L to prove that Light was Kira. That didn't seem like something she could explain at the moment, unfortunately... so she decided to humor him for a little.

She took a quick breath and said, "Why do you think I would kill both of you?"

He cocked his head. "To get your biggest opponents out of the way. Disposing of him is more than suspicious considering you dedicated yourself to proving his guilt."

"That's true, but if I were Kira, I'd only aim to kill you."

L paused for a moment. "Kira would not take that risk over sharing the 'suspect spotlight.' Not after Lind L. Tailor."

"And that's why I'm not Kira."

L softly smiled. "I do not want you to be."

"And you don't want Light to be, either."

He swirled his chair around back to his computer, keyboard clacks filling the empty air once again.

"It's late. If you do not know where your quarters are, Watari will guide you."

"I'm okay." Lucy stood up from her seat, picked up her singular moving box from the table, and walked towards the door.

"Before you go," L said, "if you're not Kira, tell me about who you truly are, one day. Light is not my only friend here."

She stopped with her hand above the handle.

L's friend?

"Yeah," she replied. "Only if you tell me about yourself."

He must be lying.

"Yes. One day."

"Night, L."

"Good night."

Dirt still got stuck under her fingernails, even if she was using a shovel.

The forest north from here, huh, she remembered. Lucy had been digging around, searching for the Death Note. Prior to digging in an eerie forest, she'd just left the headquarters after Light convinced L to temporarily imprison him alongside a memory-wiped Misa and then his own father.

The Note had to be here somewhere. She was sure she'd find it, as she still had a week before Light relinquished ownership. Nevertheless, she was frustrated.

"Ugh," she grunted to herself, "where are you?!"

"I'm right here!"

She swiftly turned around to the source of the raspy voice. There floated Ryuk. There floated her only gateway back to the real world.

She shut her eyes and slowly exhaled. "I didn't mean you."

"I know." He smiled maliciously. "Heh, you're looking for the Death Note, aren't you?"

She continued digging with the rusty shovel. "So?"

"What're you gonna do with it? Give it to L? Get rid of it? Or..." Ryuk crawled in front of her, blocking her from using the shovel, "use it yourself?"

"No! I don't—I don't know yet. I just need to find it right now. Alone."

Ryuk groaned out of boredom. "Suit yourself."

Stupid Ryuk, she thought. Why does he have to be here? He's probably gonna tell Light all about this, how I'm trying to find the Death Note and all, and he's gonna try something. Stupid Light, in his jail cell, not even able to do anything—

He can't give Ryuk apples.

Lucy jumped from her crouched position and yelled, "Ryuk!"

"Oi, what do you want? Didn't you want to be left alone?"

Lucy walked to where he hovered. "Not anymore. I need your help."

"Hey, didn't we go over this? I don't help anyone."

"You already have, with Light. 'Cause of apples. And considering his current situation, we both know what'll happen when you don't get your quota."

Ryuk sheepishly looked away and scratched his chin. "Ah, I can handle it... Light told me he's gonna get rid of it soon, and once he forfeits I go back to the shinigami realm so I'll have plenty—"

"Can you handle it? Remember how you felt when we were under surveillance? It'd been a while until you were able to eat apples, and you were already feeling the gruesome, agonizing pain of your withdrawals. And now, we don't know when Light's gonna get out of confinement. Days? Weeks? Months? You're gonna feel that same painful experience, only much worse. The effects of withdrawals don't go away just because you're in a different realm. Not even with those so-called 'apples' you already have up there."

She had her face nearly pressed up against his, and she could see his pupils shaking as his memories flashed by. After a while, she stepped back and took a deep breath.

"So?"

Ryuk was sat on the dirt. With a forced smile, he looked up and answered, "Well, what do you need?"

Lucy smirked in triumph. Not wanting to waste any time, she replied, "The Death Note."

With a nod and a quiet but audible, "Light's gonna be so mad..." Ryuk floated into the trees. Lucy saw his silhouette dig up the ground, and... there it was.

He floated back to her, opening the box that held it. "Here. Be gentle with it." The Death Note was in his hand, holding it out to her.

"...Thanks."

She hesitated to grab it. Nothing would happen, right? Ryuk said only bad things happened to those who used it, and she was simply going to keep it. Still... knowing she was about to hold a weapon of mass destruction in just one hand was quite an unsettling thought.

Letting her pointer finger lead the way, she finally took the Death Note in her hands. She opened it up and saw the number of names, the rules on the front and back, the blank, unwritten pages. She imagined those guilty of the pettiest to most disturbing crimes clutching their chest in agony, unknowing their demise was caused by the swift flick of a pen from a wrongfully driven teenager.

There was something else inside; a letter for Misa. Right. This was originally Misa's, Rem's Death Note, but Light switched the owner to become Ryuk. He had meant for her to find it once he regained his memories. Lucy held the letter in her hands and began to read.

Misa,

Remember the time you first set eyes on L at To-Oh University? He used a false name, but you were able to see his real one with your eyes. I want you to remember it and use the Note to kill him when I give you the signal. Also, only take a few pages out of the Note for yourself and rebury the Death Note to protect yourself. Next time we meet, touch me with one of the pages. If you do this,  I will love you forever .

Light

Lucy rolled her eyes. What a letter.

She exhaled and clutched her head in her hands as she sat back on the ground, trying to get her thoughts together. So, Light had told Rem to give the one Ryuk originally owned to someone power-hungry, which was to be Higuchi. Right now, Lucy had what was originally Rem's note but because of Light's switch-up, it was now Ryuk's. Though, she did not currently own it because Light hadn't forfeited yet.

...Again, why the hell did she have to drop into a universe that required so much thinking?

But she came here to fulfill a goal, and that was to find the Death Note and keep it. And she will.

"So... apples?" Ryuk pleaded.

Without looking up from the book, she quietly replied with, "Yeah. Let's go back into town." After getting up and dusting it off, she hid the Death Note under her shirt, tucked in the waistband of her jeans. She left Light's letter in the box and reburied it once Ryuk showed her the exact spot.

"What were you doing hanging around here, anyway?" Lucy asked.

"I was checking up on it, I guess. How did you know where to find it?"

Lucy chuckled to herself. "A 'friend' told me where to look."

Chapter Text

The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

She held the Death Note.

Every time she felt it press up against her side while she walked, sat down, did anything only served as a gruesome reminder of the power she held. Not only killing power, but it really was solid evidence against Light, as well as Misa.

Lucy had just parted ways with Ryuk after buying him a couple apples (which he sloppily devoured,) but she got the feeling she was gonna see him sooner than she'd realize. After all, she did hold a Death Note he currently possessed.

The problem facing her at the moment was how she was going to get through security with it. She knew well enough not to take L's security systems lightly (or any aspect about him, really,) but even if she did, she couldn't think of a surefire way to sneak it in at all. Even if she took a chance on regular detectors not being able to pick up on paper, there might be something else like x-rays or infrared light that can produce a clear image of what looks like a big questionable rectangle under her shirt. Though, she still had her pouch of yen. She thought about buying a bag and a few notebooks so it could easily blend in, but the chances of L questioning her random purchase were unfortunately high.

Then, should she even try sneaking it in? The risk was significantly higher than the reward in this situation, and despite her natural ability to lie behind a controlled expression, stealth in terms of physical and not verbal terms was a whole different area she knew she was far from being an expert in.

She finally arrived at the front of the headquarters, feet aching from all the walking. Tree branches swayed softly in the wind, and a fallen leaf just missed the top of Lucy's head. For the first time in a while, she stepped back and took in what she'd been dealing with ever since she got dragged into this hell. She stared at the dull color of the front door of the building and imagined it was the wooden red door of her best friend's house, paint chipping off from years of use. There was no way to tell how time worked from across dimensions, so she could have been missing from a few minutes to years. There was definitely no way to contact anyone, no way to talk to Hale, who she forced herself to not worry about the whole time she'd been there for fear of losing her mind. She felt empty without having someone to talk to. She even missed her parents, the ones who essentially taught her how to lie. Without them, she probably wouldn't have survived her first encounter with Light.

The Death Note felt heavy in the waistband of her jeans. Was it really necessary to prove Light as Kira? Wouldn't it be easier if she could just... kill Light?

Half of her felt disgusted by the thought of it. She already made it clear to herself she was to not, under any circumstances, use the Death Note. Otherwise, she'd just be another Kira, wouldn't she? She'd be a murderer, and she wouldn't doubt L's ability to find out she was the one who did it.

And the other half remembered what she reminded herself of every single day. These aren't real people. They're not like her, and anything she does should only benefit herself.

Then her mind turned to the night Light visited her hotel room.

I'm just as real as you are. And I won't let you win.

Lucy dropped to her knees, the asphalt scraping against her palms as they hit the floor. That sounded awfully like a direct answer to her mantra.

Why did he feel the need to announce that to her in the middle of the night, when it seemed like such a childish declaration? She assumed it just was something to get her riled up, to mess with her mind, but this was Light. He was challenging her, reminding her of the fact that she knew the story, she knew what was going to happen next, she knew how it was all going to end. It was almost like he only wanted her to think that, as if it wasn't true.

Hadn't everything that's happened so far lined up perfectly with the Death Note timeline? She thought nothing of it, that it was an advantage since she knew exactly what would come next. Besides, it's not like Light could tell the difference between what happened and what changed... it's impossible. It's impossible for Light to have planned around what he couldn't predict, to know that she would dig up the Death Note and take it with her.

She shakily got up from the ground.

I'm fine. I'm just overthinking, no need to get so worried. Just because things haven't changed from the story doesn't mean it's because of Light.

As she turned on her heel to go anywhere but the headquarters, she heard someone call out her name from the building. She kept walking away, adjusting the Death Note so it wouldn't accidentally fall through her pant leg. I need to get rid of this. Now.

"Lou!" The voice got louder. It sounded like...

Lucy stopped. There was no getting out of this. She slowly turned her head, her eyes landing on the two people she expected least.

Her head spun. Wasn't Light supposed to be in his cell by now? She saw him leave the room in handcuffs, earmuffs, and a blindfold before she set off to dig up the Death Note. What the hell was he doing out here, with L?!

Light motioned for her to come closer. L stood silently.

This was not good. This was not good. She still had the Death Note. Her clothes were noticeably dirty from being in the forest, as much as she tried to fix herself up.

Worst of all, she saw the faintest hint of a smirk on Light's face.

So, she was right. Light somehow knew that she'd dug up the Death Note. Now he's using it against her.

Lucy walked towards the pair, her legs feeling like they'll give out at any moment. Once she reached them, she knitted her brows in confusion.

"Hey... Light's not in confinement, yet?" She questioned, forcing herself not to let her voice shake. She looked back and forth between the two, assessing the situation.

"No," L answered. "After you left, Light told us to stop. He explained that if he was to be put under confinement, you would have to, too. Both of you have a high chance of being Kira. This arrangement would therefore clear both of your names." He glanced between Light and Lucy. "Of course, not if one of you really is Kira."

Lucy took a deep breath. "You want to put me in a cell? Sorry, but Light wanted to do this. I don't. I don't need something as drastic as being jailed to prove my innocence. Besides, why do you think I could be Kira, Light?"

"First off, I'm sure you think it's odd how someone lands in a foreign country with no luggage, no online presence, and no legal documentation attached to their name. I took you in because I pitied you. However, my generosity may have led me to forget the danger of inviting strangers into your home and then offering to pay for a place for them to stay."

"Well—"

"Don't," Light interrupted, "I already know. You came here to 'investigate' me, right? I had it figured out already, and L confirmed it. But why me? You came at a time Kira had just started his—or her—murderous streak. Perhaps you saw it fitting that I would be the main Kira suspect. Of course, who else would be capable of such a feat other than a highly intelligent teenager with nothing but a perfect record? Perhaps you thought it was too perfect, and what could be better than tainting it with the flaw of being a serial killer set on changing the world through death?"

The three of them stood in silence for a moment.

Light spoke up once more, "It's only a possibility. But both of us have good reason to be suspects, and once this is all over, I only hope both of us come out as innocent. After all, your main goal is to prove me as Kira, right? What's a little confinement for you when it could make or break your conviction?"

So Light was framing her for being Kira, framing him as Kira.

That genius bastard.

No, she wasn't out of this yet. She can still—

CLICK.

Lucy looked down at her handcuffs. She didn't even notice L putting them on her.

"Listen, I still don't think this is necessary," she hastily spoke, breath nearly hitching.

"It's already decided," L answered. "We're going back inside."

They're going to find the Death Note. She was sure of it. But she could think of a way to explain it, right? If Light was going to double frame her, then she could just as easily call him out on it.

'Lou is Kira! Look, she has the Death Note.'

'Only because I'm going to prove Light's guilt! He's framing me, I only have it 'cause I can tell the future, also I'm from another dimension because of his death god!'

...Even as an imaginary conversation, it sounds beyond stupid. But if they can believe in Death Notes and shinigamis, they can believe in stupid shinigamis who can travel to other universes solely for ruining the lives of teenage girls. Still, she had no idea how Light figured it all out. It's not like Ryuk gave him a copy of the manga, right?

But if the Death Note is found, that puts Light in a dangerous position. If he thought it was necessary to reveal its existence at the end of the Yotsuba arc, why did he think that applied now?

"Security check," Light mentioned.

"We're skipping that," L said as the lights on the metal detector turned off. "She has handcuffs on. It'll only cause an annoyance if we go through it."

Light nodded.

Soon, they both headed to the room the Kira investigation team was still in. Soichiro Yagami, Shuichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, Touta Matsuda, and Hideki Ide. All of their heads turned towards the trio that just entered the room, tension filling the air.

"So it's these two." Yagami said.

Lucy's heart pounded. They were going to find out any second.

"Yes," L responded.

After a few more affirmations, L began grabbing the blindfolds and everything else, Watari helping him.

"Wait," Light spoke up.

"Again?" Matsuda said. He most likely meant for it not to be heard, but everyone did, anyway.

Light ignored him. "Just to be safe, can you do a quick pat down?"

They're gonna find it.

"We were going to do that later, but if you insist. Watari?"

Watari politely nodded and headed to Light first.

Lucy scanned the room. All attention was on them, even Ryuk's, who she only noticed floated in the room a bit ago.

She turned her head towards L, and called his name.

"Yes, Lou?"

Watari was now down to Light's feet. He'd expectedly found nothing so far, and he'd be moving onto Lucy, next.

She remembered how she told Light she wasn't going to let him win.

As Watari finished with a quick thumbs up, she asked, "What ever happened to not taking suggestions from a suspect? Back at the hospital when Light asked you to lock him up?"

L paused. "As of now, this is the most assured way of clearing your names."

When the Death Note is found, she can easily explain it was really Light's. Ryuk followed him around all the time, anyway.

"You really don't think either of us is gonna use this situation to twist things around? Because if Light planned for this, if he's Kira, I'm sure he's found a way to feign innocence."

Even if it only showed Misa's victims, it automatically points to her as being the Second Kira. His plan will have failed, and Rem would end up killing him, instead of L. Then Ryuk would take her back home. GRTTLBTHOW: check.

"That's the thing," Light interrupted, "what other situation can we put ourselves in to be proven innocent? How are we supposed to carry on as Kira when we're under constant surveillance, as well as being completely restricted from the outside world?"

Lucy scoffed. "You tell me, genius."

Watari was now in front of her. He gave a reassuring smile, as if he wasn't about to pat her down for being a Kira suspect. He started from the shoulders. Lucy felt the push of the Death Note against her side, almost making her feel levels of nauseousness she hadn't seen since the day she arrived in this world.

"If you gave me a little time to think over it, maybe," Light chuckled, the shinigami watching the scene from behind him.

Watari was inches away from the Death Note.

"You sound so confident."

Light stared into her eyes, an evil aura emanating from them. "Of course. Maybe this confinement will teach me a lesson." He smiled. "All this pride... I'll have to get rid of it."

"Hm, what's this?"

Lucy stood still as Watari felt the Death Note's print from underneath her shirt. She saw how Ryuk gave Light an affirmation that he heard his command.

"Later," Ryuk said as his temporary farewell to Light. Right as Light's head lolled over, he turned to face her. "Hey-lo, Lucy-o."

So ownership transferred to Lucy.

"Why am I doing something like this...?"

Watari pulled the book from her waistband.

"Death Note?"

"Ryuzaki, I know I was the one who suggested this, but I only now realize there's no point! I'm not Kira!"

"Oi, relatively old man! You can see me now, ain't that cool? Say, got any apples on you?"

"Sh-Shinigami?"

"Let me out of these handcuffs!"

"Chief, Light's doing it again..."

Lucy looked back at L. It was almost funny, seeing him in a state of shock. Actually, shock was an understatement. It was more like complete, utter bewilderment at the chaos that went on in one room. She couldn't blame him. She felt almost the exact same as he did, the only difference being her life was on the line. She didn't even have time to reflect on the situation as L put on her blindfold and earmuffs, dragging her, along with someone she assumed to be Light, out of the room.

Fifteen days. Fifteen days Lucy'd stayed in her cell, with no social interaction save for the few minutes she gets every day through the speakers. The only piece of outside information she got was that the Kira killings had stopped three days after she and Light had been imprisoned. But she knew they had the Death Note. They had Ryuk, who would most likely start spouting things about who knows what, along with the rules of the Death Note. Were the fake rules there, too? Light canonically only had the fake rules written in the other Death Note, but if he knew this was going to happen then he surely must've had Ryuk write them in both.

But they were going to be imprisoned for two months. If he was framing Lucy, wouldn't that mean he'd be proving the rule as fake, since she hadn't written in it within 13 days? Unless he actually didn't write them in both, and he's trying to pass off the idea that different Death Notes have different rules... Or—

"Lou," the speaker boomed.

I'm actually going crazy.

She snapped out of her thoughts. "Yes?" she weakly answered.

"Are you Kira?"

She let out a loud exhale as her eyes shut. "You've been asking me that every day."

No response.

Lucy wondered if she should just go for it. Do what she'd been meaning to do all along, which was prove her innocence through outing Light. There was a small chance L would believe it, right? If they knew shinigamis existed, they'd consider her situation to be completely possible, right?

Imprisonment was taking a massive toll on her mental state, and she wasn't even halfway through. yet. Even when she had all the information, all that she needed to get out of this hell, she just couldn't do anything. Something in the back of her mind was telling her Light knew her exact moves, even when he lost his memory. How was the task force even handling all of this? Were they already 100% sure she was Kira, waiting for a solid confession from her being cornered?

Well, she wouldn't give them one.

"I'm not Kira," she finally continued.

"What do you know about the Death Note?"

Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. He'd never prodded further than that one question. Maybe he thought she was finally vulnerable enough to really get something out of her.

"It kills people."

"Anything else?"

She made sure to stare directly into the cameras watching her. "I never used it."

A pause. "What is your real reason for involving yourself with Light Yagami?"

Involving yourself with Light Yagami. He made it sound like she wanted all of this. Like it was her idea to get hurled into Kira's bedroom, throw up in a trashcan, live in a hotel room, meet L, lose her damn mind. She thought it was funny. Her whole situation was just so, so hilarious. Enough to make her look like a lunatic, laughing away and clutching her stomach on the cold pavement of her jail cell, hearing her own laughs echo through the empty corridors.

"Lou, you—"

"What?!" She interrupted L mid-sentence, shouting at the cameras. "I never wanted this. I never wanted to get involved with Light Yagami, of all people. That Death Note isn't even... even real! None of you are real! The only reason I'm still here is because of that bastard Light. Light, who keeps trying to pin everything on me when I haven't done anything. I could tell you so much, but Light would find a way around it.

"I should've just killed him when I had the chance."

She stayed hunched over, heaving, watching her tears fall and wet the concrete.

All L said to that was, "Thank you, Lou."

Chapter Text

It was the thirtieth day of confinement.

Lucy had never felt so drained. Thinking about anything at this point was useless. She'd gone over so many scenarios, so many fears, so many memories of her home that she couldn't handle any more weight in her mind; not that she could think of anything new, anyway. It was always the same thing, the same exact cycle that drove her to near madness.

She'd tell herself she can get through it. She can tell L everything.

No, you can't, the little Light in her mind hushed.

Why couldn't she?

I know what you're going to do next. You can't escape me.

Logically, she knew that was impossible. But the stress forced upon her shoulders was too much for her to handle, slowly deteriorating her mental fortitude. Light knew her situation. Light knew what she expected in the future and easily took action to counter her expectations. It wouldn't surprise her if he could read her mind by simply looking through the emotion in her eyes. It was like every time she tried to do something, Light was already a million steps ahead of her.

And she almost accepted it.

Almost.

Her ears picked up the sound of the speakers' short crackle, usually followed by L's voice. He had stopped asking her if she was Kira after she broke down in her cell, only checking in once in a while to make sure she hadn't gone completely insane.

"Lou," the speaker boomed.

"Yeah?" she answered mechanically.

"Kira has started killing again."

Part of her was baffled at the freely given information since L wasn't so lenient in canon. Yet, the rest of her was apathetic. Why did it matter? If everything she predicted would be uprooted by Light's schemes in the end, it would be a waste of energy to try to do anything at all.

L spoke again. "What do you make of that, Lou?"

"It's sad." Short and sweet.

"Sad," L echoed. "Explain."

Without missing a beat, she replied, "Because killing people is wrong."

No reply came from the speaker. Not that she'd have a proper response, anyway. She was aware of how childish her speech patterns were, but she didn't care. There was no reason for her to pretend to be this smart know-it-all L apparently thought she was after that day in the cafe with the photographs.

Curling up in a ball, she was about to let herself succumb to sleep until she heard the door open and footsteps approach her cell. Turning her neck to face the person who entered, her eyes found...

L. Holding a key, handcuffs, and a blindfold. What was even more disorienting were the words that came out of his mouth.

"It's over now."

Lucy half-expected to find herself in a car in the middle of nowhere, having a gun held to her head as a test to see if she really was Kira. It didn't make sense why that would happen to her since Light was being tested to see if he'd kill his own father, but unexpected situations could happen anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

Instead, her blindfold was taken off, allowing her eyes to focus on the thing right in front of her—L. Slowly, she began looking at the room they were in. Dull grey walls and a concrete floor made up her surroundings as L and she were sat (L still never really "sitting") on plastic chairs at a folding table.

Amusement flickered through her eyes; the first positive emotion she'd felt after a month. It didn't escape L's attention, though.

"You find something funny?"

Her voice was still somewhat coarse after lack of use, but she couldn't hide her comical tone as she spotted the various cracks in the walls. "Aren't you rich?"

"Yes."

She assumed her one sentence would be enough for the detective to figure out what was so funny, but he still had the same blank, soulless stare. Either he didn't understand, or he didn't find it funny. Probably the latter.

"Ryuk," he said, the single word piercing the silence and causing Lucy to jolt at the mention of the shinigami. "He told us a lot."

Now that was ominous. Still, Lucy kept her mouth shut, crossing her arms.

Ignoring the lack of verbal reaction, L continued, "You've told us a lot, as well. But we both know it is not the truth."

She responded with silence.

"And yet..." He began chewing on his thumb.

That caught Lucy's attention. Yet... what? What exactly did L plan to do with her once he put her in a room with him after thirty days of grueling confinement?

Right as the train of thought crossed her mind, it was broken by the detective sitting before her.

"Light Yagami is Kira. And that is something you know as a solid fact."

Her breath hitched. Something told her this was going to be more than an interrogation.

"I don't..." Lucy started, "I-I don't know why you—"

"Lou Langford," L again interrupted. "You can come up with a story so grand, so complex, but still manage to fool everyone around you."

He released the thumb from his mouth, instead focusing all his attention on staring into Lucy's shaking pupils.

"Lou, when is the better time to lie: when someone asks your favorite food, or when someone asks if you murdered your father?"

What a weird question...

Lucy pursed her lips. "Um, if I murdered my father."

"Good. You understand the value of deception, just as 95% of the population do."

A feeling of impatience washed over her. What did this have to do with anything? And sure, L was smart, but he was talking down to her as if she were a toddler.

"So you're saying if I only lie about the big things, it'll make me a better liar?" Lucy said.

"No. Excluding pathological ones, liars will always have a goal in mind, big or small; whether it's saying their favorite food is ice cream when it is really spaghetti so they can fit in with others, or lying about murder to avoid going to jail. What can determine a liar's worth is whether they reach their goal or not.

"Do you think you are a good liar, Lou?"

She felt a twitch in her eye as she heard the question. "I'm better than most people."

"I disagree."

"On what grounds?"

A sigh escaped the detective's lips. "You are good at creating false realities in people's minds, but that is not lying."

"Huh?" she said, her tone noticeably growing more vicious, "is that not the same thing?"

"I already told you what a good liar can do. And I can tell you are not one of them."

Her brows furrowed in frustration. Here was the world's greatest detective—no, manga's greatest detective, she wasn't going to give a title that human to someone this annoying—telling Lucy that what she prided herself most on wasn't even something she possessed.

Huffing a short breath, she said, "Please tell me, L, why I'm such a bad liar, then. Because after all this time, I've managed to fool all the police officers on our task force at least once. And I'm damn sure my goals were fulfilled when I lied to them."

A glare like daggers was shot at Lucy. "You put too much effort into the smallest of lies. How close are you to reaching your goal of getting home?"

And that was what made her muscles tense, not in anger, but in fear.

What the hell did Ryuk tell them?!

L didn't allow room for her to speak, as he said, "The best liars know when to do it. You can tell a thousand truths and one lie and still be a better liar than someone who has done the opposite, all because the latter failed.

"You are good at formulating your words, and your stories were believable. But it was a waste because your lies were pushing away your goal, no matter how many people you deceived. "

A silence filled the room, a dark shadow casting over Lucy's face.

"Kira's manipulative nature led you to lie for his benefit, not yours."

So that was it, wasn't it? L had it figured out from the beginning that she was Light's puppet, when she thought she was doing everything her way. But it didn't make sense... nothing made sense.

Lucy finally opened her mouth to speak, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "Why does my goal matter? You just want to arrest Kira. Even if I did know Light was Kira for sure, there's no way to prove it... I'm just useless."

No matter how long she'd stare at L's face, it was always a challenge trying to decipher what his emotions were. Still, as he had those black holes for eyes peer into hers, she could almost tell there was a hint of disappointment.

"Do you remember our day at the cafe?"

She nodded. That was when L had applauded her "deduction" while he criticized Light's.

"I had asked you a question. 'Are you not confident in yourself?'" His head lowered, but kept his focus on the still Lucy. "By the time we first met, you were already under Light's control. He took advantage of the vast knowledge you held, and that's why you're still here. Obviously, you were not useless to Light. And you are not useless to the Kira case, either.

"Listen carefully," he said, Lucy trying to ignore the way his toes were repulsively curling up, "there are no cameras or mics in this room. You can say whatever you want, and the only person to hear it will be the only one who completely believes you."

"I thought Ryuk told you everything," she said, almost as quiet as a whisper.

"No. He told us the basics of the Death Note, but the only information he gave about you was that you didn't 'belong here.'"

And L figured out her goal by that one simple phrase?

Damn.

"I'm leaving it to you, Lou. Will you again lie in Kira's place, or break out of the cage he put you in?"

Lucy thought back on her most prominent conversations with Light. The first plan they came up with was to fool his parents into thinking she lost her luggage on a flight to Japan. That was her idea, and Light went along with it. Did he purposefully do that so she could feel like she was in control...?

Then there was the time in the car where he told her he knew she knew that he was Kira. At the time, something in her was reminding her he hadn't killed her. He kept her alive so he could use her, but the rest of her said she had everything under control. In hindsight, that was the furthest thing from the truth. But what was she supposed to do? Her thought process made it sound like it would've been better if she actually had died, because the only other option was to help Light. It was quite similar to her experience at the hospital, where she finally voiced her thoughts to him, tears rolling down her cheeks and all. She told him she knew how to prove that he was Kira, and Light simply laughed at her, essentially saying she was wrong.

The last time she had a private conversation with him was at the hotel. That was the same conversation that convinced her she couldn't do anything because Light had planned around every move she'd make. After all, that was how she got put in confinement in the first place; he knew she had the Death Note, so he knew she would take the blame.

But where was L in all of this? Every time she spoke with him, it seemed the only thing he did was follow along with Light's plans, too. He imprisoned her because Light somehow convinced him of it. He forced a confession out of her when he found there was nothing when he did a background check on her. Hell, he even led her to finding out where the Death Note was buried in the first place!

Will you again lie in Kira's place?

Lie in Kira's place...?

All Lucy had done to L was lie, hadn't she? But she only did that to keep herself safe.

Break out of the cage he put you in.

...

"Light is human, Lou," L said, words piercing the silence.

Lucy couldn't swallow the lump that formed in her throat. Her face tingled with nervousness, and she could see her own hands shaking in her lap.

There were so many chances where she could've told L about Light. The first time they met, the time they discussed her living arrangements, and then the rest of the time she spent living in headquarters where he was just an arm's length away. It was so easy.

But she kept lying to him because she thought that was her only option. It wasn't that Light knew every single action and word that comes out of her mouth; he knew that she was going to keep lying and lying and lying. That was what he held advantage over.

So, manga's greatest detective gave her a final choice.

"You're really going to believe everything I tell you?"

"As long as you tell the truth."

She wanted to bring up the possibility of her continuing to lie about everything, but she felt it was unnecessary. They both knew what choice she was going to make.

Raising her head with more confidence than before, she said, "Lucy Langtree. That's my real name."

L nodded.

"Ryuk... he brought me into this world. Like, this dimension. Because to me, all of you are fictional characters from a manga that I know the complete story of."

Her eyes glazed over the detective to find any inkling of doubt in his mind, but his stare remained the same as it always was.

She sighed. "He dropped me in Light's bedroom. So, because I don't want to stay in a world where I suffer melting my own brain from all the overthinking I do, I came up with a plan: Get Ryuk to Take Lucy Back to Her Own World, GRTTLBTHOW for short... yeah. Up until I met you, I was aiming to be more entertaining than Light so he'd want to bring me back. It obviously didn't work, so I decided I was going to betray Light by proving he was Kira to you so Ryuk wouldn't have any reason to keep me here.

"But... it was so hard. It felt like Light was watching my every move, so I didn't tell you anything until now."

The rest of the one-sided conversation was her retelling of her stay in the hotel room, what conversations she and Light had, and other small details she managed to remember. It did annoy her a bit at how L didn't make any reaction; she expected for him to be at least a little surprised, but it was like he was listening to someone recount their list of items at the supermarket.

"That's all my experiences since I arrived. I haven't told you anything about what I know of the story in Death Note yet... but do you want to know?"

"Do you think I should know?" he answered, cocking his head.

That was something Lucy didn't like thinking about. If she revealed the future to anyone, would that affect the story in a bad way?

Rather than taking her chances, she reminded herself of her goal. "No," she said, "we just need to prove Light is Kira. I think it'll be better if I only tell you what you really need to know."

"Fair enough," he replied. "But, I am quite curious."

"Curious?" Lucy echoed.

"Yes. You say we're all fictional characters to you?"

She nodded.

"So you know everything the author's revealed about us."

Another nod. "Yeah. You... you're L Lawliet."

And for once, Lucy could clearly read the expression on L's face as he gave her a small smile.

"Thank you for speaking with me, Lucy. Also," he said as he stood up from his odd sitting position, bare feet planted on the ground, "Light was the one who underestimated you. Don't forget that."