soul_logs | Who in Mortal Chains, Who in Power

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Who in Mortal Chains, Who in Power

Characters: L Lawliet and Light Yagami
Location: New England, off the coast of Maine
Rating: PG-13
Time: Backdated to August 12th
Description: Mission 218b! L has a fear of being devoured, and Light isn't great with deep, dark water. This is obviously not ideal while trying to take down a red-skinned demon whale. Fortunately, each guy assumes the other one is about to break, and works extra hard to keep them both alive.

As usual, the mirrors deposited L and Light on site, clad in wetsuits and standing back to back in the middle of a floating platform surrounded by the carnage of the decoy fishing boat Shibusen had used to tow the dock. Averaging 20 feet long, a small pod of scarlet-skinned Kishins drifted through the wreckage, resembling sperm whales, with long, uniform, razor-sharp teeth and the protruding forehead that L knew to house the largest brain a mammal could possess.

He had expressed his displeasure at hunting whales, but as usual, the Kishin designation served as an acceptable way to rationalize killing. They weren't normal humans, or objects, or animals. They were monsters, and L knew better than anyone what appearances could belie.

It was a thin line, but one that was so much simpler to define in this world than the one he and Light both hailed from. Perhaps that was what made it so disarmingly easy to stand alongside his former rival and, finally, not immediately assume that he'd be shoved into the briny water and held under.

"I count four," he said softly, eyes lingering on the teeth as one of the red shapes surfaced briefly and the others, as if of a hivemind, started to circle the dock. He transformed one arm into a chain and handcuff, snapping it shut around Light's wrist in preparation. "Stay on the platform, if you can... I don't think I need to tell you that as the one with legs, your advantage is on higher, solid ground, and all bets are off if you end up in the water. Whether or not you're a strong swimmer, I promise they're stronger."

He bit his lip, a bare, brief indication of his nerves, before he steeled himself. "You don't even have to get wet, if I lure them in close enough. I can transform before they get too close, but... just be ready," he stressed, crouching and lowering himself into the cool Atlantic water, submerging himself to the shoulders in preparation for the most terrifying game of chicken imaginable. As he opened his wavelength to Light's, the Meister would probably note that it was colder and more rigid than usual, as if L was, for once, reluctant to take a risk.

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Most people fostered a fear of things like heights, the dark, and catching diseases. Phobias were a very human thing to have, and Light Yagami, despite his best attempts to set himself aside from humanity as a god was no different. HIS fear, though, was one that his lifestyle had conveniently kept him from ever having to run across.

It wasn't entirely unreasonable to be averted by bottomless, dark water with science having estimated that they had only explored twenty percent of the ocean and always extracting new, bizarre creatures from it to be studied. The monstrous whales gliding beneath the platform only reinforced the idea, but all the same, it left a bad taste in Light's mouth to know and acknowledge an irrational fear, and be unable to help it.

He was almost reassured by the fact L seemed to be sharing his ill ease, removing him from whatever pedestal he might be perched on otherwise to talk down to Light from.

What are you afraid of, Light? It's only water. You should have told me sooner and I would have been sure to bring along some floaties for you.

The cuff snapping tight on his wrist allowed him a clearer picture of the detective's current mental state via the tension and fear that flicked across their wavelength like sparks of electricity. With it, came the intuition it was not the water that was bothering L, but the things in it and what they might be capable of doing to him should something go wrong.

He wrapped a length of the chain around his hand to reinforce his grip on it and shifted his stance on the platform to one that was more evenly-balanced. To most, it might be daunting to know that neither of them were going into this battle fearless. To Light, it was all the more reason to swallow his upset and pick up the slack for both of them.

"Don't get overwhelmed." he warned. "They're likely to move much faster than we'd expect."

Before establishing resonance, L had no reason to assume that anything about this mission was inherently frightening to Light. Not everyone was a freak who had grown up convinced that others were going to hollow him out, inhabit the space left behind, speak in his voice and call themselves by his name after his bones were picked clean...

Eating was eating was always eating, and that was how L seemed destined to leave any world, with his unique and paranoid definitions. Ironically, the man who had done this these things to him first was the one who stood beside him now, as uneasy as the detective in the water for a different reason.

Once L figured it out, it would probably make an absurd amount of sense. Deep, dark water had much in common with L, as fire had much in common with Light, and it made sense for fire to fear water (though, when metal was a factor, fire could absolutely wear at water until it disappeared into pale steam, leaving nothing at all...)

He made a small, frustrated noise as Light advised him not to get overwhelmed. "Didn't plan on it," he said dryly in response, eyes darting from shape to shape as he attempted to predict which one would attack their "bait" first.

One was closing in, but the others still circled. "Steady..." L murmured, more to himself than Light. Their greatest hope was taking as many as possible out at once, rather than killing or injuring one and subsequently spooking the rest of them into attacking the platform en masse.

Whether he'd planned on it or not, Light above all people was aware that L's plans didn't always go as he envisioned them. If they did, then things would have turned out very differently for him in regards to the Kira investigation. Maybe he would be enjoying the privilege of blithely introducing himself as Light Yagami to the assembled task force of his next case while Light was holed up in an anonymous cell somewhere, dead as far as the rest of the world was concerned.

As the large scarlet hulks beneath the water were stirred by L's presence and now seemed to be deciding their attack order, Light focused himself on them intently. His eyes locked on the one that seemed to be breaking away from the others to drift to the surface. Clammy perspiration beaded his brow as his grip on the chain tightened.

Even if they were "only" twenty feet long, presently they looked much, much larger...

The chill L was feeling penetrated more deeply than the cool northern water could reach him in his wetsuit. The huge teeth were hateful, the thick, red skin over a layer of blubber. It would be difficult to kill even one of these things... even if this all went perfectly and he didn't freeze up.

And Light... Light's wavelength was far from as strong as it usually was. Like L's, it was somewhat frayed and fearful, which was hardly reassuring to the man acting as living bait.

He inhaled deeply as the first whale glided toward him, speed building to a charge. Light would have to hold on for dear life, even if the floating dock was merely grazed by an animal of that mass traveling at that velocity. There would be a lot of thrashing, so even if he avoided getting knocked off the dock initially, balancing would be an ongoing battle, as would providing the leverage L needed.

A second and third whale began to close in as well, and he decided, finally, that it was OK to risk transforming fully. The stainless steel sliced through the water; in this form, L had many sharp teeth, too, but he was so much smaller. The trick would be finding and targeting a weaker spot, as they had when they'd taken down the silver clown.

Light, too, had been scanning the beasts for weak points and trying desperately to dredge up something from past biology courses about marine life that might be helpful. In the end, it seemed more generic advice would have to suffice in the case of this mission.

"Try for the eyes." he said, bracing himself for the impact of the first creature's massive snout and the timing that he'd need to jump from the raft to avoid both being thrown into the air and being scooped into the mouth of one of the kishins trailing the leader.

It was generic to the point of terrific frustration; not only were the whales' eyes far apart, but they were disproportionately small. It seemed clear, from L's too-close-for-comfort vantage point, but taking out the eyes wouldn't do much to dull the whale's keen sense for echolocation.

Don't give me instructions unless you honestly believe they'll work...!

The whale chomped at his steel jaws, forcing him to change his trajectory. He dug his teeth into the closest thing he could latch onto, which happened to be the blowhole.

It must have been highly sensitive, judging by the whale's sudden thrashing.

"Better than presenting yourself as bait with no plan at all...!" he shot back. The maturity in this conversation was staggering...as was the speed at which the whale struck at L, and found itself bitten in turn.

The thrashing traveled up the chain and, in short order, Light's careful calculations and hasty timing were useless as he was yanked into the water with his weapon. The other two seemed immune to the leader's sudden pain and were still closing in - a fact Light noted with alarm as his head broke the surface and he drew a deep breath.

"That's not doing anything except pissing it off...!" he cried out, authority and terror beginning to mingle with one another as he gave a yank on L's chain, attempting to dislodge him. Sensitive points were useless if they couldn't be used to kill, and the blunt shape of L's beartrap made it unlikely he'd be able to drill himself through the creature's blowhole to inflict further damage than he currently was.

The trap was yanked back with the chain, because now they had more to worry about.

The retreat of one pained whale was somewhat eclipsed by the approach of two others. And since Light was in the water, now, they had one more disadvantage to inconvenience them.

New plan... if I end up in one of their mouths, do you think you could pull me back fast enough?

As he communicated through their wavelength, he extended his chain to its full length, about twelve feet.

They're built like tanks, there's not much we can do from the outside.

Destroying them from the inside, then, seemed like the most logical course of action. But...

"I can, but assuming one of them gets ahold of you, what's your backup plan?"

Even as he asked it, he knew the answer - there wasn't one. They were preciously-limited on options if they didn't want to join the statistics of those who had died to these things before them, and even MORE limited if they hoped to kill them.

A frosty silence was Light's answer, indicating that L didn't have a better one immediately ready.

My backup plan is coming back and haunting you forever because you let go. So don't let go.

"As long you keep in mind that you don't need to breathe in that form, but I do in this one." was his reply, finding himself buffeted by the currents created by the whales' movements and feeling his stomach fill with ice at the thought of jaws closing on his ankle and dragging him under. "Do what you need to do, I won't let you be eaten." he added quickly.

It was something L hadn't heard, or expected to hear, for a long time... and it did more to hearten him and strengthen his resolve than anything else could have. He believed Light, something that was happening more and more frequently.

I'll work quickly, then. That's the best I can do, under these circumstances.

The response to L's affirmation was Light's hand wrapping itself around another coil of chain in unspoken reassurance that he, as well, planned to follow through.

No sooner had Light's grip tightened around the length of L's chain he was holding than the nearest red whale's maw opened.

There's my chance. I think I'll need 15 seconds... even if it starts to dive, give me that much time.

No sooner had the bear trap swerved into the whale's mouth than it snapped shut, the glowing chain chipping one of the razor-sharp teeth in the process.

Despite the water's surface being too choppy to see the details, the images shared across their wavelength provided him an uncomfortably-vivid picture of what was taking place.

He had half-expected the whale to snap shut as well in response to the threat that had invaded its mouth. Instead, it unsuccessfully attempted to jerk back, flailing its head from side to side, jaws wide open.

Light had begun counting back from fifteen seconds the instant L had mentioned needing them. By his count, they were only on seven as he was dragged forcefully beneath the water as the kishin glided forward in a vain attempt to escape.

When L's jaws snapped shut, it was firmly on the beast's tongue, so any and all attempts to jerk back were met with a tremendous amount of resistance. As Light's count passed seven, he was tearing through the muscle, soaked in blood and brine as he attempted to pull it free.

With two seconds to go, the tongue parted company with the rest of the whale, and the flailing Kishin was all too glad for the painful intruder to be expelled. It would bleed out quickly, L was sure, but they were still in danger, and far enough under the surface to elicit panic in anyone uncomfortable with unknown depths.

Transforming back to lend his metal form more buoyancy, he kept his hold on Light and utilized his strong kick to propel them back to the surface.

"Ready to do it again?" he asked breathlessly.

Light's head broke the surface explosively as he drew air into his lungs. His heart galloped in his chest, and his ears rung...though, despite this, he nodded.

Light Yagami of a year ago would not have been able to withstand this sort of chaos with no control granted to him no matter how desperately he reached for it. Light Yagami of a year ago would have seized the first opportunity to release the chain the instant L disappeared into one of the whales' mouths and fled in vain for his own life, and if he survived would keep himself warm with the idea L's final minutes had been filled with panic and water-filled lungs.

As it was, with their attackers swiftly down to two, he was able to keep a white-knuckled grip on his fear in favor of feeling encouraged that, if they both endured this a little longer, the problem would be gone.

"Like I said, do what you need to do. Just keep moving." he said breathlessly.

L wiped his shaggy bangs back from his eyes, watching Light nod through what appeared to be no small measure of distress. This was difficult for both of them, but they were going through with it anyway... which was, ultimately, rather the story of their entire history in Death City.

The entirety of their history, though, dictated that their fates were bound to one another; though the temptation might have once existed for Light to let go and abandon L to a painful death and a watery grave, Light wouldn't survive long without him.

Such was the nature of a partnership and missions.

"Two to go. The others are uneasy... we'll come up for air between them."

L's transformation was smoother that time as another whale charged them, steel trap surging forward, again, into an open mouth full of teeth.

It looked as if their comerades' defeat had made the remaining two more aggressive...and it seemed clear that this one was not quite so eager to part with it's tongue as it snapped it's jaws shut, quickly opening them again as its teeth ricocheted off of the steel chain.

Light seized the narrow window to yank L back and out of the whale's maw before it could try to find a better hold.

As its jaws closed once more, on nothing this time, he sent L flying at it again...full force against the shut, dangerous rows of sharp teeth.

It was a more nuanced approach to guarding against their attack, and L started to realize as he flew past the rows of teeth that it wasn't going to keep working.

As Light yanked him back, L lost his footing in the complicated dance they were currently engaged in, hurtling forward with his motions a step ahead of his total awareness and control. With a sickening crunch, he collided with the wall of sharp teeth, cracking two of them and sending a keening, dazed shock wave back up the chain to where Light gripped it.

The barely-contained panic teeming off of the both of them was wrecking hell on their ordinarly-flawless resonation and making communication blurry, at best.

The jolt of confusion and bewilderment, however, was unmistakable and discouraging.

Their upper hand was dwindling, and would be gone in short order if something didn't shift drastically in their favor. It wasn't enough for one of them to engage their targets while the other watched his back, as had worked in the past. It was going to take a bold move on both their parts.

The third whale had been circling the face-off between the second and L before breaking away, seeming to remember that there was a morsel up top it could have to itself.

It was now or never...

Drawing in a deep chestful of salty air, Light dove beneath the surface, holding the picture in his mind of his intentions in hopes that he could convey it to his partner.

It was a picture of him diving down to meet L, dragging behind him an angry whale to meet the other one. Both opened their mouths to come at Light from both sides, leaving themselves both vulnerable to having their tongues removed. It would need to be precise, and done correctly on the first try in order to work.

Battered and shaken, L wavered and started to sink before wrenching himself back to the pressing situation at hand. When he transformed back, he was likely to be bruised from the impact, and hopefully that was the extent of the damage, but just because he was made of steel didn't mean he was indestructible.

Light's relayed plan made its way to his thoughts as they sharpened and focused once more, and what was at stake in the risky wager was not lost on him. Light joining him underwater meant that the two of them were wholly vulnerable, and had only one chance to get it right; it carried with it that very real possibility of both of them getting torn limb from limb by beasts in murky depths.

Fine. Let's do it.

He wouldn't falter if Light's resolve remained steady. He stretched the jaws of his trap, readying them for a final blow, awaiting Light's dive and descent.

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Who in Mortal Chains, Who in Power

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