Light leaned back in his chair at headquarters, hiding a satisfied smirk behind one hand. Things were going so well that he could hardly believe his good fortune. To his right sat L in his usual freakish crouch, staring unblinkingly at his computer screen like some creature from the undead. Which he might as well be, considering that he would die soon.

To Light's left, Julie sat slumped in her chair, brooding. Light's smirk widened. No doubt she was still sulking about her failed attempt to accuse him of being Kira yesterday.

A ding-ing sounded overhead, signifying someone at the main entrance. Everyone looked to the big surveillance monitor. Misa was standing outside of the downstairs entrance, waving cheerily up at the camera and mouthing words that couldn't be heard. It looked like something along the lines of, I'm here to see my boooooyfriend!

Light stood and turned to Soichiro. "Dad, is it okay if I...?"

"Sure, son." The older man gave Light a warm smile. "Take a break."

Light returned his father's smile. "Thanks, Dad."

With that, he turned and made his way to the stairwell. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Julie swivel to watch him go.

Watch me all you want, he thought. And see all you can see, because it won't matter. You'll be dead soon. Julie Amachi may have had supernatural sight, but he was the one who had the Death Note, the smarts and the charisma. No matter what Julie could see, it wouldn't do her any good if she couldn't get anyone to believe her.

Satisfied with that thought, he plastered a charming smile onto his face as he stepped through the main doors of HQ and out into the sunlight. Misa immediately bounded into his arms.

"Light!" she squealed. "Oh, it's so good to see you! I've missed you so much." She snuggled her face into his chest.

Light kissed the top of her head. "Have you done what I asked?"

"Yes!" Misa cried, then discreetly touched a scrap of paper hidden in her hand to his arm.

Instantly a large, black-haired demon materialized before Light's eyes behind Misa.

Light smiled. "Good to see you again, Ryuk."

Ryuk's only reply was a long, gleeful cackle.

"Light," said Misa, tugging at his sleeve. "There's something I have to tell you." She looked to the ground and shuffled her feet. "I—I forgot what Hideki Ryuga's real name was..." At this her expression crumpled and she wailed, "I'm sorry! It's just that I saw so many names every day and I...I'm so sorry!"

Light put on a carefully practiced expression of disappointment. "I see," he said simply. "Well." He sighed lightly and turned away. "I suppose it can't be helped."

"But it'll be alright!" interjected Misa, skipping around to face him once more. "I can still do what you asked...because I got the eyes again!"

He took her by the shoulders, concern and alarm decorating his features. "You idiot!" he cried. Inwardly he applauded himself. He should've been an actor. "You know that means halving your lifespan again!"

"I know," said Misa softly, looking down at the ground once more. "But, it's worth it if it's for you, Light." She looked back up again, meekly. "And besides that, I—I wrote down Julie's name, too."

Light pretended surprise again. "You did? She's still alive."

Misa's eyes widened. "What? But...how? I know I spelled it right and everything!"

Light heaved a genuine sigh this time. Really, it was expected. He had long suspected that Julie wasn't using her real name. Even so, it was still an annoyance. No matter though, he had planned in advance for this. From day one, even before Julie had shown up, he had been counting on Misa's infatuation with him to drive her into making the deal for the shinigami eyes a second time.

Out loud he said, as though only just realizing it, "It must not be her true name."

Misa balled her hands into tiny fists, suddenly looking like she would cry. "I swear, Light..." she began, her voice shaking. "I'll kill both Ryuzaki and Julie for you! Now that I have the eyes, I can do it! Just let me see their faces and I'll—"

She was interrupted by the sound of sliding doors opening behind them. They both turned. Julie Amachi stepped out, casting them both nervous glances.

"Hi, Misa," she said softly.

Light gave her a welcoming smile that just barely managed to disguise his inward glee.

The timing could not have been more perfect.

----------------------------------------

Julie had noticed the demon on the surveillance monitor right away. She was barely able to hold back a yelp of surprise and recognition.

The thing that had been following Light from before was back.

Her mind whirled as she assessed what she was seeing. In front of the demon stood Misa, her bubblegum pink hue gone and replaced with a haze as dark as the one surrounding Light. Jubilee felt her stomach drop.

So. Misa truly was the second Kira.

Beside Jubilee Light got to his feet and got permission from Soichiro to go downstairs. Jubilee turned to watch him go, her eyes narrowed. The haze around him was as black as ever.

Her eyes caught sight of Rem then, standing silently in the back of the room across from Hellenos. Both angel and demon had made not a sound this whole time, nor given each other so much as a glance since Hellenos had entered with Jubilee that morning and taken up position in a corner opposite the shinigami. Jubilee had practically forgotten that they were there, so well had they faded into the background. But now the air around Rem shimmered with a color Jubilee would have never thought to see from a shinigami. It was the color of concern.

Jubilee stared. Rem was gazing at the overhead monitor, straight at Misa, and the color around her swirled and churned with a mixture of fear and anger. The emotions didn't seem to be directed at Misa, but rather...for her.

Jubilee gave a start. The shinigami was...worried for Misa?

She whirled back to stare hard at the monitor. What was it that gave the demon cause for concern? Was it the black haze around Misa, or something else?

Onscreen, Light walked out from the entrance and Misa ran into his arms. Their respective black hazes collided and then slid easily into each other, becoming one. The sight made Jubilee feel sick to her stomach. She turned away, clutching at her abdomen. That was when she noticed L.

The detective was crouched in his chair, staring up at the pair onscreen. Around him, all colors receded into his gray haze and then faded, before the gray darkened considerably. He hung his head.

I've lost, she heard in her head.

She stood so abruptly that her chair toppled backwards. Everyone in the room turned to stare at her, including L. He gave her a questioning look.

"Ryuzaki," she began, her voice quavering. She glanced again at the screen, where Misa and Light were making a show of canoodling and whispering who knew what to each other. Behind them, the other black-haired demon loomed with a sinister grin. She clenched her fists and turned to face L again, willing her voice to be level. "Permission to meet with Misa at the entrance—please," she added hurriedly.

L gazed at her, an expression of mild surprise on his face. Then he seemed to scrutinize her. She held her breath. She was asking L to let her leave the building on her own, albeit a few feet, but it was still against their original agreement. Though perhaps, if he trusted her enough—

"Permission granted," he said. Around him the faintest wisp of light winked from beyond the gray.

She let out a breath. "Thanks, boss," she said softly, and gave him a warm smile. For trusting me, she thought. Then she turned and ran for the exit. Hellenos met her at the door, falling into rapid step with her, and they both passed Rem, who turned to watch them go with a look of curiosity.

Behind them Jubilee could hear Matsuda remark, "Wow, she must've really missed Misa-Misa, huh?" And then she was out the door and dashing down the stairs, Hellenos on her heels.

When she burst through the doors of headquarters into the sunlight, there was a brief millisecond of surreal realization that she was free—that this was the first time she had stepped foot outside of headquarters on her own for almost a year. That, if she wanted to, she could keep on running, just like she always had...away from the case, away from Japan, away from Kira and this whole mess.

But she no longer wanted to run.

Light, Misa, and the demon all turned to face her. She stared back at them, breathing hard. Hellenos stood tall and bright behind her.

"Hi, Misa," she said.

Misa looked at her, blinked twice, then suddenly winced as though in great pain. She turned away, shielding her eyes.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"You," said the demon. Its voice was low and gravelly. She didn't know if it was talking to her or to Hellenos. "So you're the marked one."

Misa glanced up at the demon, bewildered by this statement. Light, to his credit, kept a stoic face and acted as though he had heard nothing, though Jubilee could tell from the sudden violent spike in his haze that he was just as surprised as Misa. She ignored both him and the demon for the moment.

"Misa," she said again, stepping forward. "We have to talk."

"I have to go," stammered Misa, but faced Light instead of her. "I'll—I'll see you later, Light."

Jubilee stopped, taken aback. Around Misa the black haze bubbled over with—what was that? Jubilee started, nausea suddenly forming in the pit of her stomach. Hatred was what she felt rolling off of Misa in waves. Hatred—and fear.

"Wait," she said weakly, trying again. She reached a hand towards the other girl. "Please, Misa, just...just look at me, for a second."

Misa turned her way on impulse, but winced again upon meeting Jubilee's eyes and quickly turned away once more. "Don't look at me like that," Misa hissed, glaring at the ground. "You don't look good when you're about to cry. It hurts just to look at your face." With that, she walked away as fast as her petite feet would carry her.

"Misa?" said Light, looking genuinely confused, but Misa was already too far to hear him. He turned to Jubilee. "I'm...sorry about that," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know what's gotten into her. Are you alright?"

Jubilee realized that tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. She scrubbed at them with a sleeve.

"Light," she began through grit teeth. "Stop this."

Light cocked his head at her. "Stop what, Julie?"

"Pretending!" She took a step forward and pointed at the demon behind him. "I can see that shinigami. I know that you can see it, too—"

"I prefer the pronoun 'him,' not 'it,' if you please," said the demon, sounding amused. "Just a personal choice—you know how that is these days."

Jubilee glanced warily at the dark being. Light still managed to look oblivious to the demon behind him, though the haze around him flattened with annoyance.

"Him," she amended slowly. "You can see and hear him, Light. I can tell."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Julie," said Light, in a tone of measured patience. "This is starting to get out of hand—"

"And I've watched hundreds of hours of surveillance of you, walking and talking with that thing," she continued, voice rising. "I've watched you kill using the Death Note, on surveillance and in real life." She marched up to him, glaring into his face. "You killed Higuchi that day, didn't you?"

Light gazed down at her. An expression of surprise and anger flickered through his eyes, too quickly for the normal human eye to catch, but not unnoticed by Jubilee.

"Ouch," muttered the demon in the background. "First I'm an 'it,' now I'm 'that thing'? Humans truly are callous."

"Julie," said Light coolly. "How could I possibly have killed Higuchi that day? We've inspected the whole Death Note. Higuchi's name isn't written in it."

"I don't know how you did it, but I know that you did," said Jubilee. "Do you want to know how I know?" She stepped closer. "I know because every time you kill someone, I see a knife plunging into your body. One knife for every kill. Over and over again, stabbing into your flesh, and never going away. Hundreds and hundreds of knives." She was so close to him now that the haze was touching her, and she could smell the stench of death emanating from it. Nausea rolled through her, but she continued in a low voice, "You're covered with those knives, Light Yagami. But you're too blind—or too ignorant—to see them, or to care."

Light looked slightly unnerved then. He stared at her but said nothing.

The demon broke the silence with a long whistle. "And people say I'm scary," he chuckled.

At that, Light's gaze hardened. He took her by the shoulders and bent slightly to be eye level with her. "Julie, I don't know what's gotten into you," he said, slowly and firmly. "I would never kill anyone." The line over his head snapped violently, spraying them both with black dust. "I don't know if Ryuzaki put you up to this, or what...I know the two of have started getting close, but—"

Jubilee smacked his hands off of her, anger suddenly rising. "Don't you dare bring him into this! I know that you intend to kill him. But I swear, Light, if you so much as try to write him into the Death Note, I will—"

"You'll what?" asked Light. "What could either you or I do, if Kira found out Ryuzaki's real name and wrote it into a Death Note? How could we possibly stop him then?" He gave her mournful expression interwoven with hurt and righteous indignation. "I care about Ryuzaki just as much as you do, you know. He's my friend too." The line over his head snapped again.

Behind him the shinigami guffawed. "You're too good, Light! You could win an Oswald—or whatever those things are called."

"An Oscar," Jubilee corrected through grit teeth, still glaring at Light.

"Right, those," said the demon. "Never did like Oswalds. They tend to be too pious for me."

Light gave her a blank look, still ignoring the demon. "Oscar?" he echoed. "I don't know what you're saying, Julie."

For a third time, the line over his head snapped. And along with it, Jubilee felt the last of her patience snap as well.

Her hand flew out and she slapped Light across the face. He stumbled back a step and put hand to his cheek, wearing an expression of authentic shock.

"Cut it out!" she screamed at him. "What you're doing is wrong, Light! It's evil! You're trying to be God, but you are nothing but a liar and a murderer!"

He stared at her, wide-eyed. Behind him, the demon slowly started to snicker. Then he fell to the ground in unrestrained gales of laughter.

"This is too good!" he managed between chortles. "You humans are better than any of those television dramas you cook up." He sat up at grinned at the two of them. "I love it. Please, do keep going."

Jubilee turned to the shinigami, alarmed by his statement. With a start she realized that she could not sense Hellenos anywhere, and had not been able to ever since Misa left. And then she noticed that the black haze surrounding Light had completely enveloped her.

Panicking, she stepped back. The black haze followed her, clinging to her like metal shavings to a magnet. She looked back at Light, whose hand was still to his cheek. As she took in the look of barely disguised fury in his eyes, the darkness around her flared up even more. With a sickening jolt she realized that what she was feeling right now was the same hatred she had felt coming from Misa earlier.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Please Dad, she thought, Do not let me hate this man. She waited for a moment, but nothing happened. The feeling of cold rage did not lift. No voice whispered in her heart, no sign of Hellenos reappeared. Opening her eyes again, she stared down at her hand which had struck Light.

"I—I'm sorry, Light," she forced herself to say, struggling violently with herself. Taking a deep breath, she looked up and went on reluctantly, "I repaid you evil for evil. That was wrong of me."

A mask of cool indifference clicked into place in Light's eyes. "While I appreciate the apology, Julie," he said, his voice polite, "You're still implying that I am evil...which I do not appreciate."

Her hand balled into a fist again and she scowled at him, caught between rage and a feeling of helpless despair. She was powerless to fight against this anger and hatred that she suddenly felt towards the boy standing before her. Even as she watched the black haze around him expand and attach itself to her more and more, she could do nothing to stop it.

This isn't you, a voice whispered in her head. Don't let them make you believe that it is.

Tears of frustration pricked at her eyes. But it feels like me, she thought. Because what Light was doing was wrong, just plain wrong, so how could he…

Something suddenly occurred to her. Wasn't this exactly how Kira thought? Wasn't this the same reason Kira gave for why he killed people? Murder all started with the belief that the person you were murdering was somehow in the wrong.

The realization made her go cold. How many people in the world were only a few steps away from being murderers themselves, through their very thoughts? All it took was a weapon from the demon world dropped into this one to make that temptation a reality and wreak havoc on the earth.

She let her hand unclench and fall to her side. "You're right," she said. "I've never been the best with my words. So please...let me try again." She stepped forward once more, back into Light's black haze. This time, she didn't try to fight or attack it. "I know that you believe what you're doing is right," she went on, slowly. "But what you started out of good intentions is now consuming you. I know because I can see it," she added, lifting a hand to gesture at the haze around him. "It's killing you slowly, from the inside out...and if you keep going down this route then one day there will be no way back. But Light—there's still time."

She peered up into his face imploringly. For the briefest moment, a memory of the happy yellow hue that he used to radiate echoed through her mind. Softening, she continued, "There's still time to turn back." Around her the blackness that had been clinging to her began to fall away, bit by bit. "It's not too late. I know the place that you're driving yourself towards, because I almost went there myself, and—and I don't want you to go there, Light."

She paused as she suddenly realized just how true this was. A memory of the dark void that had once almost swallowed her up—its screams, sense of cold hopelessness and empty despair—flitted briefly through her head. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. "I don't want anyone to go there," she whispered, gazing down at the ground with a haunted look in her eyes. "No matter...no matter what they've done. I don't think you would either, if you knew what it was really like." She shuddered and looked back up, dispelling the memory. "So please...please. Stop this now. Tell that shinigami to go. Surrender the power of the Death Note. You have the power to do so, to be free from the darkness that's around you. But the choice is yours."

Falling silent, she gazed up pleadingly at Light. Behind him, the demon seemed to have grown darker, and the air around it pulsed with a tense, nervous energy, as though it were waiting for Light's response.

Light pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "This is getting ridiculous, Julie," he said, sounding irritated. "Tell what shinigami to go? You honestly believe that there's another shinigami here, even though Rem's still upstairs, and that I have Kira's power even though the Death Note is now under the custody of the police? I'm sorry to say it, Julie, I really am—but I think Aizawa and the others are right. You really are delusional."

There was a tense beat. Then, slowly, the shinigami behind Light started to cackle.

Jubilee stared at Light, grief-stricken. The old Light had never once spoken down to her—had always kept graciously silent when she was at her worst, and spoken words of encouragement to help her be at her best. Him, Misa, L, and her...the four of them had been friends, despite all of their differences and disagreements, and if only for a short time. They could have remained friends, too, if not for the stupid Death Note, which some stupid shinigami had dropped into the human world.

With that thought Jubilee whirled on the laughing demon. If Light wouldn't tell him to leave, then she would do it herself. There was scripture pertaining to this, wasn't there?

"You," she began, squaring her shoulders and doing her best to sound authoritative. "Be gone from here, in the name of—"

"Ah-ah-ah," said the shinigami, wagging a finger and rising up from his sitting position on the ground. Standing, he loomed over her a good ten feet, with bulging eyes and a menacing smile. "So sorry, human," he said. "But I'm not going to let you take away my fun again. Besides—" He glided closer towards her on dark wings. "You don't really think that would work, do you?"

Jubilee stumbled back a step as the shinigami came near. Sudden terror gripped her as the air around her grew cold and thick, and she struggled to draw breath. "What—what do you mean, 'again'?" she stuttered.

The shinigami stopped less than a foot from her and tilted his head, looking amused. "Don't tell me you don't remember me." He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. "Because I remember the details like it was yesterday. Shall I jog your memory?" Reaching behind himself he produced a black notebook and flipped it open, riffling through pages.

Jubilee's heart hammered. It was another Death Note.

"Right here," said the shinigami, stopping at a page and jabbing a long, clawed finger to it. He turned the book around and held out the page for her to see, his claw tapping a spot in the upper right hand corner. Jubilee read the words there and her heart almost stopped.

Jubilee Jenkins, it read. Dies in car crash due to drunk driving. Thinks of father in her last moments.

She gasped and backed up several steps, staring at the book.

"Pretty good, don't you think?" rasped the demon. "I always fancied myself a bit of a writer, adding in those little details. Really ups the tragedy a notch. And how about that nod toward the reap-what-you-sow rule? Somebody upstairs would approve."

Jubilee couldn't breathe. Her heart pounded as she continued to stare at her name on the page.

The demon grinned and pocketed the book, then leaned forward so that his face was inches from hers. "So you see, human," he continued, before his face formed into a terrifying scowl. "You and I have a little bit of history."