Chapter Text
While Light had long since stopped caring for his own well-being, he was by no means stupid enough to walk into a trap by Near and Matt without, at the very least, some kind of preparation. Donning a bulletproof vest was the first thing he did before setting out into the forest that evening, though not before analyzing the pen markings on the envelope to determine how old the letter was to confirm his suspicions. If his hunch was accurate, it reduced the chances of this being a trap, as the pen was faded enough to indicate it was from at least a month ago.
But that left more questions than answers. Why would Mikami send him a letter to go somewhere? There was also the lingering doubt he would find anything at all under the assumption this letter was old. Mikami could have relied on him being at home, which he hadn't been since Kiyomi...
No. Don't think about that. Back to the current situation. Why would Mikami want me to come here, or anyone pretending to be Mikami?
He looked around the clearing for answers, searching for clues indicating why he was supposed to come here for any reason that wasn't luring him out to be murdered. The answer to his inquiry came in a rather unexpected place, in a patch of dirt ever so subtly disturbed. The difference was so minor that it was likely a while ago, which lined up with the notion the letter was also from a while ago.
What could this be? He should have brought a shovel or something. But as it stood, his best action was to dig it up with his shoes. Good thing he didn't like this pair of shoes as much as some of his others.
It took maybe two minutes of digging before Light's foot came in contact with something solid. He frowned, bending down to pull out whatever the thing was. A shoe box? Briefly, he humored the idea there could be a bomb in the shoe box. Should he take this to headquarters to ask about it first?
In an act of what could only be described as self-destructive disregard for his well-being that would get him yelled at later, Light opened the shoebox. There were no bombs, no traps, only...
A Death Note.
Why would Mikami want me to see this? Light wondered, moving to gingerly pick up the—
Even a single touch of the book was enough for the memories he didn't realize were missing to slot aggressively back into place. Light wasn't sure if he screamed or was completely silent through the ordeal, just that he was left heaving as he slowly managed to get his breathing under control.
He remembered everything. Light smirked as he looked down at the notebook in his hands. Well done, Mikami. Everything went just as I planned.
He remembered asking everyone in the Yellowbox Warehouse what he had to gain from saving them. No doubt, every person there had guessed the obvious answer of political gain but brushed it aside as nonsense. In some senses, they were not wrong to have guessed that and also not wrong to brush it to the side. While Light did have his reasons, the factor of it being something everyone would be taken aback by was a key sticking point in the plan working at all. The task force was of better use to him alive than dead in many senses. Most importantly, if anyone ever reopened the Kira case again, the sole survivor of the warehouse would be the prime suspect, and he would have nobody to defend him.
That was why Mikami brought the fake Death Note to the Yellowbox Warehouse that day, writing down everyone's name except Near's. Mikami wrote Gevanni's name in the real notebook days prior, simply transferring that page from the real notebook into the fake one with a placement where Near's tampering would be seen as inaccurate, to make it appear Light's own handiwork was the thing to save everyone's lives.
However, that was the only thing Mikami used the real notebook for, sending Light a letter that would be buried under fanmail for him to come here. Mikami buried this notebook not long before coming to the Yellowbox Warehouse for Light to find when the time was right.
There was one part of the plan that Mikami did not know. That Light had written down his name on the piece of the notebook hidden inside his watch. There was no denying Mikami would be killed no matter what Light did, even if he wanted to stop it. It was because of this that Mikami posed a rather significant risk in the event he realized his Kami had used him and planned to cast him to the side. And so, he wrote, "Teru Mikami commits suicide February 7th, reveals no information to the police."
There was one factor in this aspect that Light wasn't fond of. His orders to Mikami within the notebook stated he could not reveal information to the police, which meant he also could not reveal Near's true name, which Light had no way of knowing now that he had lost access to the Shinigami Eyes. That would be a setback... But it wasn't a significant setback by any means. He was L, and with Aizawa as the Director, he could easily get all the information he needed.
And now, with Ide having forced him to renounce ownership and the only notebooks seemingly in the custody of the NPA—and they already worried Near knew where another was and was searching for it—there would be no reason to believe Light had one at all! All the evidence vanished with his memories that day in the warehouse, with nobody knowing he got them back.
They would need to know soon. Light had seen the way the people begged for Kira's return in the last month. What kind of benevolent God would he be if he didn't return to save his people from the criminals who dared to become bold again?
The first thing he needed to do was take the task force into account. And for that, he already had a plan.
OoOoO
Light wasn't surprised it took almost a week for his message to arrive at the NPA building, specifically Aizawa's office. While he had the tools to complete a tape and had it finished within an hour of regaining his memories, the actual process of getting it to the NPA without being traced back to him in any way was rather long and involved multiple uses of the Death Note and controlling criminals to execute properly. He had to make it seem as though the envelope had traveled a long distance to arrive where it was now, which was why there had to be the use of criminals instead of a postmark, and ensuring there was no evidence about the environment it was from.
But for as long as that process was, it would be worth seeing the task force's reaction to what he had to say.
"Do you think this is going to be real?" Mogi asked, needing to sit down as worry began eating at him. What would that mean for all of them if this was real and truly from Kira?
Aizawa shook his head, and to his credit, he did a good job keeping it together when he was realistically buckling from anxiety. In some respect, Light felt bad for him. He had been the sole provider for his children for a week, and now there was a possibility he would be killed. No doubt, even the idea was unbelievably stressful.
"I don't know," Aizawa said, holding up the remote. "We should probably find out." He started the video, and everyone's stomach dropped to see a new format of the Kira emblem, unlike the police's version or Misa's. This was something completely new.
"I apologize for my leave of absence," the recording started. "Starting the night this message is delivered, I will return to carrying out righteous justice upon criminals. But this message is not for the public, and I will not pretend it is. This message is directly to the Japanese Kira Task Force, who caused my leave of absence."
Everyone stiffened at that. Light had to remind himself to show fear as well. How were they going to react to this?
"I will be honest and say that I do not want to kill you if I do not have to. I know you have families, and I aim to create a better world for people like your children so they do not have to suffer. While I need to eliminate the final member of the SPK, I will give the Japanese Task Force a second chance to live in the world I wish to create. I will spare your lives, but if I learn you still choose to stand against me, I will not hesitate to kill you."
The message ended, and with it came a dreadful silence throughout the office, everyone's eyes wide as they stared, horrified and dumbfounded, at where the message had been as though it was Kira himself.
"Rester..." Light whimpered, shaking with a false horror at the notion he had been killed, though Rester had been dead for four days. Under the Death Note's orders, he committed suicide, so it was no wonder the task force was unaware of it when they would have been alerted to any abnormal death by a heart attack.
But that was nothing more than eliminating another insignificant from the game. How was the task force going to react to this?
"How..." Ide whispered, "I thought the Shinigami said there were no more notebooks in the human world..." no doubt, he would have asked Ryuk if he was here, but as it stood, Light made sure to bribe Ryuk with the knowledge of a lovely apple orchard in exchange for hiding himself from the task force from now on.
"Clearly, he was lying," Aizawa said, slowly standing up and leaning on his desk for support. He gritted his teeth, his shoulders shaking from pure rage. "That bastard... Near really just used our children against us."
Light ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief. "This is just cruel. After everything we did... after everything we sacrificed... Kira just pulls this?!"
Ide crossed his arms, looking through every scenario he could think of to find a way around this. "I don't know what we can do. While we could probably get away with going after Near anyway by exploiting the loophole of his other crimes, he could very well still kill us and the NPA who works with us to catch him."
"Damnit!" Aizawa stood up and began pacing around the room. "Mikami knew about this, didn't he?! That was why he said nothing during interrogations because if we got Near's real name, we could just kill him before this happened!"
Mogi's eyes were wide as he stared at the floor. There was no doubt that his guilt was beginning to consume him again, and Light had no problem with that. Everything was going just as he had planned. He knew better than to think they wouldn't try to think of ways to catch "Kira" underhandedly, but there was nothing wrong with their attention being once again focused on Near. Near was the only thing standing in his way, so if they decided to investigate Near anyway? He could just turn a blind eye and say "Kira" hadn't found out yet.
He suspected which direction this would go in. Would it go exactly as he planned, or would there be some variation?
Ide looked over to the safe where the Death Notes were hidden. "The first thing we need to do is dispose of those," he insisted. "I have a plan for it, and we need to dispose of them to avoid one of us doing something reckless and getting killed. Or worse, Near controlling one of us to bring him the notebooks."
The tension was palpable as Aizawa slowly gestured for everyone to unlock the safe, allowing Ide to take the notebooks out and put them in his bag. Aizawa gestured at Mogi, "Mogi, go with Ide to dispose of the notebooks. Make sure he is safe." What he didn't say, but Light knew was obvious, was that Aizawa wanted to go with his partner, but he knew Mogi needed something to do at the moment so he didn't get consumed by his guilt.
Light's brow furrowed. "How are you going to dispose of the notebooks?" He asked worriedly. "Isn't there a rule that we will all die if we destroy them?"
"Don't worry," Ide assured him. "I prepared for this, so we can get these out of the way."
"What are we supposed to do?" Mogi asked softly. "Can we even go after Near anymore?"
Aizawa hesitated. It pained him physically to say it, but... "Kira was smart this time. There is nothing more undoing than having children," he sunk back into his chair, running his hands through his hair as the gravity of his situation sunk in. "I don't know what to do. I just don't know."
It was easy to say justice came before all else. It was easy to say they would give their lives for justice and to bring Kira to justice. But Light knew better. All of those things were easy to say in principle, to stand tall and say that justice would prevail no matter what.
And justice would prevail. Light had no such weaknesses as the others did regarding his goal. If a roadblock came, he could easily find a way around it.
For the others? It was as though the world was falling apart. But while they believed this was horrible now, they would come around. Aizawa had already lived through the benefits of Kira's world firsthand, so he knew it could be done.
OoOoO
Ide had intended to go through with this part of his plan this week anyway. That was the single relief Ide could find in the entirety of the situation. Near escaped the warehouse that day because Ide hadn't taken matters into his own hands and written Matt's name that day.
Choosing not to kill someone wasn't supposed to be the wrong choice, right? He knew the topic could be far more complicated than expected, and he could admit there were times it was the right thing to do. But those two things didn't inherently clash with one another, right? Even if it was right to kill someone, that didn't mean it was wrong to find an alternative, right?
But... he hadn't been able to use an alternative. Matt had prepared and went as far as to fake his death, so imprisoning him had never been in the cards, had it? Which meant the game had been set for longer than any of them had been willing to admit, wasn't it? No matter what happened in the warehouse, Near had a backup plan nobody could have known to take into account unless they had more time to collect evidence.
No doubt, even if Near managed to find another notebook, he would want to get the notebooks in his hands. It was too great of a risk to have the notebooks, meaning they had to be disposed of as quickly as possible.
He had tested this in the last month to be sure it would work. The rule was that the notebooks could not be destroyed, but that didn't mean he couldn't ensure they would never be used. He took the time to carefully wrap the notebooks in a bag, then waterproof wrapping them, putting them in a metal chest, before putting them in an even bigger metal chest filled with rocks as he prepared himself for what he had to do.
Renting a small boat, Ide made sure to travel a couple miles from the shore as he stepped towards the edge of the water, chest in hand as he prepared to throw it into the depths where nobody on the task force would be able to retrieve it.
It would be so easy to let go. To drop it and get this cursed thing out of their lives forever. Do one thing to prevent Near from making any moves! So why... Why was he hesitating?
For a brief, terrible moment, he felt a jolt of fear as he wondered if the notebook had taken over his mind, and that was why he hesitated. But that fear subsided as he forced himself to think about the feeling logically. Why was he hesitating?
It was because he got an idea. An idea that could very well get him killed but would allow him to make up for his mistake... and protect Aizawa from what he was inevitably going to consider.
Mogi noticed Ide's hesitance. "Ide?"
Ide unlocked the chest, taking out the Death Note that had been in headquarters for so long. The tampered notebook was useless besides its cruel reminders of his failure, meaning he had no qualms about locking the chest shut and throwing it into the depths.
What did I just do? He asked himself, looking down at the notebook in his hands. Was he insane? Was he really considering this plan? And in the end... did either of those things matter? He was the best person to do this. He was the only person on the task force that Kira didn't have anything over. While he had Yumi and Nozomu, who he cherished as his own, they still had Aizawa. Light had his mother and sister. Mogi had his daughter... Ide was the only one without those connections. The only thing he had to lose would be lost if he left Aizawa to become increasingly frustrated with the situation until he couldn't take it anymore, which could get him killed.
He snapped up when he felt Mogi's hand on his shoulder. "You're planning to go after Near, aren't you? Find his name or him, and then..."
Ide slowly nodded. "Yeah. I've had ownership of the notebook for five days. That means I have 485 days before I lose ownership by default, 498 days if I write a name, and then..."
"Ide, you can't be considering this," Mogi insisted. "You're basically just saying you're going to sacrifice yourself? Aizawa won't—"
"Aizawa won't find out." Ide retorted. "You can't tell him, Mogi. I'm considering this because I want to keep him alive. If he finds out about this part of the plan..." he trailed off. "I don't want to put him in that position. He has a life with his kids."
"And a life with you," Mogi said. "Ide, I can't let you do this."
"Mogi—"
"Not without me."
Ide blinked. "What? What about Kazue?"
Mogi sighed, gripping the railing of the boat. "She got accepted into a good school in Tohoku. Her mother's sister agreed to take care of her, but she's been hesitating because she was worried about me. I can use this to encourage her to follow her passions." He looked up to the sky, hoping Matsuda was looking down upon him. "Besides... I promised Matsuda I would protect all of you. You're right that Aizawa and Light can't join us, they have too much to lose, but I know I can't stop you. So that just means I have to help you, and make sure you don't get killed and especially don't have to use that thing." His eyes became dull. "And I need to face Near. I betrayed all of you by giving him information, and I need to prove to myself that I can do something good."
He had been thinking about this for a while, hadn't he? "Mogi..."
"And we don't need to worry about a time limit for the notebook if I join you," Mogi said. "We can just keep up the weekly switching."
That was a good point... Ide slowly nodded. "Alright. The tape was kept secret from the rest of the NPA about its contents, so I can find a way to explain our absences for however long this takes. The biggest hurdle is..."
"Aizawa and Light."
Ide grimaced. He could barely imagine what kind of reaction he would get, even if they kept the notebook secret. No matter how he tried to explain that, even if he said it was to communicate with the Shinigami, that would go exceptionally poorly.
"Yeah. That is... going to be interesting."
...
There was a reason that despite his stress levels, Aizawa was considered a more than competent Director. Light had observed his behavior while Ide and Mogi were gone, focusing all his energy on multitasking phone calls, going through paperwork, and organizing investigations.
There was something on his mind, and Light knew there was. That choice he had done everything he could to circumvent had come back to haunt him: justice or his family. Light knew what Aizawa was going to choose as well as Aizawa himself did, but that didn't make the choice any easier.
Aizawa suddenly straightened, the reflection of the screen off his eyes indicating he was checking his email. "What the hell?" he muttered, his brows pressing together in confusion. "Ide, what..."
Light cocked his head to the side. "Ide?"
The door opened, and Ide stepped inside with Mogi behind him. Aizawa let out a breath of relief to see his partner well, spinning around his computer to show the contents. "Why does this say you're going on a prolonged undercover investigation? Do you know anything about this?"
Ide sucked in a breath at the sight of the email he very clearly knew the origin of, which caught Light's interest. Is he really going to do it this quickly?
"Yeah." Ide admitted, "I filed for that five minutes ago. I'm going after Near."
"What?!" Aizawa stood up from his seat, storming over to his partner. "Didn't Kira say yesterday that if we go against him, we'll be killed?! And—And you're just going to go out there?" He shook his head. "I can't let you throw your life away, Ide."
"If I don't do it, you will." Aizawa froze at Ide's words. "I saw what happened when you left the task force last time for your family. Which is exactly why I am doing it like this. I can go after Near without him suspecting anything because nobody outside this room knows about Kira's ultimatum. If I say I am on a prolonged undercover investigation and place Light as my stand-in until I return, nobody will question that."
"And what about Near?" Aizawa retorted. "Don't you think it's suspicious that you go on some imaginary undercover investigation a day after he gives that ultimatum? He must have access to police information if he's making that kind of demand."
Ide smiled as though he knew Aizawa was going to say that. "That is where you come in. I know you won't be satisfied if you aren't in some way involved, so yours and Light's job is to investigate where any leak could be coming from during the mandatory audits that are coming up anyway." He looked back to where Mogi was standing behind him. "Mogi will be joining me as well. We will leave in two weeks once he has finalized arrangements for Kazue. All we need you to do now is approve it, Director."
Aizawa looked back over at his computer and then at Ide. "You both could be killed."
"I know," Ide said, taking a step closer to Aizawa. "You need to be here for the kids. You know that."
"I know..." Aizawa muttered. Even if Ide's idea did help to solve some problems, knowingly allowing his partner to walk into danger was something he never wanted to do. But he also knew there would be no stopping Ide. "Fine. I'll approve it," he looked Ide dead in the eye. "You are keeping me updated on everything. If you find Near, do not engage with him. We'll think of something if you get that far, so we can capture him with no chance of you being implicated."
Ide chuckled. "I know," but he noticed Aizawa's turmoil. "Hey, you know I will be fine. I know his face, so all I have to do is find him."
Aizawa nodded. "I know." He narrowed his eyes. "You better be careful."
Light couldn't believe this. It was going just as he had planned! No doubt, Ide had one of the notebooks on him as well, his guilt over not killing Matt meaning he was willing to risk the 13-day rule if it meant his partner's safety.
He had known his ultimatum wouldn't dissuade all of them. All it was meant to do was divide the task force. The only thing Ide had to lose was Aizawa and the kids, so it was only natural he would put himself in danger if it meant protecting them. Mogi was guilty about what happened, and his daughter had a bright future ahead of her, meaning disappearing for a while benefitted him for her sake.
Ide may not tell Light everything that happened during his mission, but there was no doubt he would tell Aizawa everything to avoid worrying him. Those messages would be easy to hijack.
And so, when the time came for Ide and Mogi to leave the NPA and begin their mission, Light was more than happy to watch from the window alongside Aizawa as Ide waved goodbye to them, suitcase in hand. Light looked over to Aizawa, gripping his tie to calm his nerves.
Light had to suppress a smirk at the sight. He had seen what happened when Aizawa was overcome by stress and grief. He could only imagine what Aizawa would do if something happened to Ide...
I was worried there for a while, Ide. But in the end, you've played right into my hands. I will let you and Mogi find Near. Once you have eliminated Near and Matt for me, then I'll have no more use for you.
Don't worry, Ide. There will always be someone left to raise the children. Aizawa is in good hands with me.
Sorry, Matsuda... Sorry, Dad... It looks like Kira won't be caught after all.