On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

♕♕♕

The rage of a helicopter's blades as they sliced the air was nothing compared to the wrath of the Japanese law enforcement officers on the night of October 28, 2007. Police sirens blared from far below, barely audible above the din, as three people steered toward the site where a criminal with supernatural power was destined to die.

L. Lawliet, pilot of the large aircraft, had grown used to loud noises. They used to make him curl in on himself and cause his brain to shut down. But with practice and exposure, he managed to think through the pain in his head and remain focused, even without shooting headphones. He was all about progress, after all. And tonight, he had prey to catch.

Heart pounding with exhilaration, he pulled a spare pistol out of his pocket. Passing it to his copilot, Light Yagami, he held it between his fingers as though it was something disgusting to touch. "Please, take it. You may need to defend yourself."

Light shook his head. "It's illegal to carry firearms in Japan as a civilian."

It was worth a shot. Seven years his junior, the young man was always the nobler cop. "You know," L mused as he put away the gun, "I'm sure your father would say the same thing."

Light gave an easy smile in return, and despite himself, L found the corners of his own mouth twitching. From the back gate, Watari straightened himself. "What is this? I thought we told the police not to get involved in this arrest."

Light frowned. "Yeah, and the only one who'd defy orders like that from you would be..."

"Aizawa," L finished after a pause. Contrary to Watari's verbal orders, he had counted on the feisty policeman to show up at Kyosuke Higuchi's arrest. It had been a long, tough fight to get enough evidence on him before they could make their move. But now, finally, they would take the supposed Kira into custody.

Kira, L thought as he lowered the helicopter to block the man's garish red sports car from escaping through the wrong side of the road. That name belonged to the world's most beloved serial killer. A man with the power to kill with a name and a face. A man who punished criminals as if he were some sort of god. They'd finally caught the culprit once and for all, after so many losses.

L sucked in a breath as Higuchi performed a doughnut with his car to circle back the other way. In a moment, Watari shot his rifle below, and this time L cringed. By the time he'd recovered from the sudden noise, the car's tires were smoking as it crashed into the shoulder of the opposite lane.

That was it, L thought as he landed the helicopter in the middle of the freeway. It was over. Kyosuke Higuchi – Kira – had been apprehended.

♛♛♛

Light watched as the police shuffled near Higuchi's car, opening the door. The selfish businessman roared something he didn't catch thanks to the helicopter blades; Watari shot again, striking a pistol out of his hand. The old man, Light had discovered, was a hundred times more competent than he first thought.

As with L, the bug-eyed spider of a man next to him, he was as thrilled as Light was that they'd managed to apprehend Kira. People wouldn't blame Light for crimes he had no memory of committing. Now they had a scapegoat—a sacrifice for his innocence.

A moment passed before he saw his father, the chief of the NPA, strap a headset to Higuchi's ears. L spoke in a firm voice, pouring himself a thermos of coffee and filling the cockpit with the smell. "Higuchi. How have you been killing people?" A pause as Light caught a glitter of impatience in his friend's eye. "Tell me."

The man didn't speak, and L took a sip of his drink. "If you won't talk, I'll use whatever means necessary to get it out of you."

He said it so matter-of-factly that chills ran down Light's spine. Despite their budding friendship, he hadn't forgotten how L had tormented him and Misa to get them to confess to being Kira six months ago. Despite having released them reluctantly, Light was convinced L would confine them again in an instant if he started suspecting them once more. Behind his gentle, analytical demeanor, he was a dangerous man, and everyone around him knew it.

Finally, Higuchi muttered something. "The notebook."

L frowned, resting his chin on his knees, which were bunched close to his chest. "Notebook?"

Higuchi snarled. "You probably won't believe it, but I've got a special notebook. If I think of a person's face while writing their name, that person will die. It's in my bag, in the car."

L nodded. "Yagami," he said, "please check to see if such a thing exists." He was, of course, referring to Light's father – not Light himself. Light wouldn't touch that thing in a thousand years, not after L's insistence that he was Kira.

He swallowed. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"

L didn't take his eyes, rimmed with dark circles, off the crime scene. "Yes. What good would it do for him to tell a preposterous lie like that? He has nothing to gain from it."

Light supposed that was correct. As they waited an agonizing moment for his father to pull out the notebook, he again studied L's unreadable expression. If Light was like the moon – patient, rational, and conventional – L was the sun. Passionate, unpredictable, strange. They were night and day, but together, they were unstoppable forces of justice.

He was glad to have L as both his friend and co-investigator. And though the world's greatest detective wouldn't say so aloud, Light could tell he shared the same sentiment.

"Is this it?" Dad called from the car, pulling out a nondescript black journal. "Ryuzaki, I found the notebook, but other than the sheer amount of names written in here, there doesn't seem anything special about –"

He cut off, screaming and falling to the ground. In a panic, Light leaped from his seat. "Dad? What's going on?"

"What is it, Mr. Yagami?" L chimed in.

"M-MONSTER!" Dad shouted, shrinking back.

"Yagami-san," L said firmly, "please calm down. You are not currently armed at the moment."

"O-oh, right," Dad stammered.

One of the other officers walked over to him and gripped his arms, trying to correct his posture. Light swallowed as the man drawled reassurance. "Relax, Chief."

"M-Mogi..." Dad stuttered, pointing at thin air. "Can't you see that – that thing?"

Mogi casually picked up the notebook. "You must be tired, Chief. But we've caught Higuchi now, so..."

He looked up. Then he also began to scream. Light's heart hammered so hard he thought it might fly out and stain the helicopter's windshield. "What's going on?" he shouted. "Dad? Mogi?"

Dad was still quaking on the ground. "It looks like...only those who touch the notebook can see it...there's a monster!"

Light looked over at L. The older man hadn't moved from where he sat, and Light could practically see the gears turning in his head. "Bring the notebook to the helicopter, please."

A long silence. Finally, Dad took a shuddering breath. "All right. Mogi...can you stand? Take that notebook to Ryuzaki..."

It was agonizingly long before Mogi brought the notebook to the helicopter. L took it between his thumbs and index fingers, then slowly looked toward the crime scene. He stared for a long moment, his face as blank as ever, his dilated pupils scanning every detail of whatever Dad and Mogi had seen.

Finally, his face melted into a curious smile. "It really is...a shinigami. They actually...do...exist."

Light's mouth dropped open. "Is this true? Ryuzaki, let me touch it too!" But L ignored him as the gears started turning again. But his thoughts were transparent this time, and Light wholeheartedly agreed with him.

At least two notebooks. Possibly more. This isn't over yet. We'll have to ensure no one touches the weapons, and then...

Exhausted from his friend's existential crisis, Light snatched the notebook from L's fingers. A blinding rush of darkness and an overwhelming sense of perversion and despair suffocated him through every orifice of his body.

And Light began to scream.

♛♛♛

Images filled his mind. No, not images...memories. Light's stomach felt sick as he struggled to reconcile the missing puzzle pieces with his cognition. He could barely hear L's voice as his co-investigator touched his shoulder, calling his name uncertainly. All he could do was SCREAM.

And just like that, it was over. His throat was raw, and he gripped the notebook so tightly that his fingers turned white and his fingernails red. He blinked, his head pounding with a roaring ache as he panted. But he remembered now. He remembered everything.

Light Yagami, son of Soichiro Yagami of the NPA, was Kira.

He was the god of justice in this new world.

And L, the man beside him...was his greatest enemy.

"Ah...Raito-kun?" L leaned over, speaking in his usual quiet, gentle accent. "Are you all right?" He looked back toward the crime scene, and Light followed his gaze, the shinigami Rem in all her white-carapaced glory standing just beyond the dilapidated sports car. "I suppose seeing that monster would frighten anyone."

"I'm fine," Light said, though his ears were still ringing from the din of his cries. He looked down at the English words Death Note, written in Ryuk's handwriting, scrawled across the notebook. "Writing someone's name in this kills them...?" he feigned, turning it over. "Can you believe that?"

Instead of answering, L craned his neck beyond the helicopter. "We can't exactly test this, correct, Mr. Yagami?"

"Of course not, Ryuzaki!" Dad snapped. A bemused smile tickled the corners of Light's mouth. L would ask about that. And as expected, Dad would deny him.

"No choice now, I suppose," L said with a laborious sigh. "We'll have to question Higuchi-san and the shinigami for now."

"Ryuzaki," Light said, typing one-handed onto a keypad on the helicopter's right side, "I'm going to compare the names in this notebook with the names of the victims. Does that sound all right?"

"Huh?" L replied, turning toward him. "Oh – yes, that sounds like a good idea." But even as he turned, Light could feel L's eyes boring into his back.

I've won, he thought in satisfaction. There's nothing he can say against me now...

He pulled the hand adjuster on his analog watch four times within a second, praying he was wearing the right one. As expected, a secret compartment popped out, containing a pin and a tiny scrap of the notebook. A little contraption, devised in case he was ever in a pinch and needed to kill someone quickly, discreetly, and efficiently.

Light pricked his finger and wrote the characters for Higuchi's name in blood. "火...口...卿...介..."

An agonizing forty seconds passed. His breathing was ragged. L was still staring at his spine like the freak he was.

Thirty-five.

Light schooled his expression, put away the compartment, and turned back to L.

Thirty-six.

"What do you think would happen," he said, "if we tried forensic testing on this notebook?"

Thirty-seven.

L tilted his head, his unkempt mop of black hair covering his shoulder. "That's not like you, Raito-kun. That thing is far beyond science."

Thirty-eight.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Light said with a shrug, passing the notebook back to L. "Sorry...I think I got ahead of myself there."

Thirty-nine.

"Higuchi!" Dad cried. Light could hear the choking noises from where he sat and relished them—music to his ears, a cacophony of murder, a symphony dawning the age of Kira.

Yes, he thought. He's dead. Looking over at his co-investigator's pale, ghostly face, he dared to smile.

And you're next, L.

~~~

Did you know...

- This story is a "pilot chapter" of sorts to what will be known as "Killer With a Pure Heart," an AU where L and Misa fall in love with one another after L wins the Kira investigation.

- While L is my favorite character in Death Note, I like writing Light slightly more. I enjoy writing a good villain.

Tell me what you think...

- What got you into Death Note? Manga, anime, video games, movies, novels, musical, drama, or (God forbid) the Netflix movie? Or are you a non-fan here while Joye is on hiatus from Alura?

- Who in the story is most intriguing so far?