Only Human [Death Note]

Chapter 10: Oxycodone

"Get your fucking hands off me, you pervert!"

Lawliet woke up to Reina screaming like a mad woman. He found himself seated on a rusting chair, hands tied behind his back. Looking up, he saw Reina in the same position except a burly man riddled with tattoos loomed over her, groping her breasts.

Lawliet's eyes darkened. "Get away from her."

The man simply grinned. "And what are you gonna do about it, tough guy?"

In the mere seconds he had said that sentence, L had untied the ropes trapping his wrists and lunged. He swung the chair that had held him captive, making the man stagger back in surprise. Once he was close enough, Reina kicked the crevice of his leg, the large man falling to his knees. L quickly held him in a headlock position. And without even thinking, with swift flexion and an inviolable force, L rotated and snapped the man's neck. Killing him.

Reina gasped. "Shit. Watari is going to kill us."

With his back towards her, L silently stood beside the body, staring at the corpse. The sight of that man touching her replayed in his mind. He clenched his fists.

"I can't get this knot." She huffed in frustration, struggling with her binds. "Wanna help a girl out?"

No response.

"L?" She looked up. He was now standing in front of her with a hooded gaze. "What's the matter?"

He murmured softly. "... e you."

She frowned. "Speak up. I can't hear you."

He drew a slow breath before finally meeting her eyes.

Reina froze, seeing the look of bitter despair and a deep longing. She wanted to run. To hide. For the floor beneath her to swallow her into a hole. She knew what this meant. She's always known.

"No." Her tone was harsh. "Don't say another word."

"You always turn me away. Why is that?"

"This conversation is over. Untie me so we can get the hell out of here."

"Reina, I .."

No.

"..love.."

No. No. No.

"..you .."

"NO!" Reina shut her eyes, wanting so badly to disappear and to not exist. He was the one thing that needed to remain exactly as it was. She's never been able to have anything for herself. All her life, she's been tossed and used and disregarded. She did not believe in love. Her parents abandoned her. If the love of a parent couldn't prevail, what could? She saw love as a fleeting feeling. A weakness in their line of work. He was the only constant in her life. She didn't want him to disappear.

After all she's done, she knew he could never love her. After all, she's a whore. A slut that uses men like tools. Something so dirty could never be worthy of him. Yes, she loved him as well. Loved him too much to let him fall to her level. The level of a seductress.

Without even noticing, tears began to fall.

"Don't cry." Lawliet gently wiped her wet cheeks, almost scared to touch something so broken yet so beautiful. "I hate seeing you in pain."

"I want to protect you from everything. All the pain and horrors of the world. You learned of the darkness too early. And once you've learned it, you couldn't escape it. I was once like that. Trapped in an abyss, shackled down by everyone's burdens, I was so alone. It was cold and dark. But then, I met this girl who had the same empty eyes as I did. I had put up walls my whole life, but she broke them down. She taught me how to smile, how to stop feeling so alone, how to be happy. "

She opened her eyes, no words being able to express how her words unlocked the cage she had thrown her heart into a long time ago.

"You don't need to run anymore." His fingers traced her bottom lip. "You taught me how to love, Reina."

"I ..." She whispered, finally allowing herself to fall. "I too love you-"

Bang!

Time went agonizingly slow at that moment. Lawliet's body falling to the floor. Reina's choked scream. The cruel laughter of her previous Master.

It was as if the universe was telling her,

"You can never be happy, my dear sweet Lorraine. I'll make sure of it."