Zed's Notes: I can't come up with anything but strange crossover stories. I'd thought it'd be compelling to try and fuse DBZ and Death Note together somehow and this is what I came up with. There's about 5 more parts to this, with some LxLight.

Whistle in the Dark

– CNN with the horrifying events occurring in Lyons, France. A blackout of massive scale –

– BBC News reporting this breaking information, witness testimony reveals the explosions and killing are whims of –

– Demons, sent to purge this world we have squandered. Lower your heads in prayer, for we can only hope for God to save us –

– Androids! Killers in the shapes of humans! They are here to destroy us all!! Again, this is Sakura TV –

The world was ugly.

It couldn't be called anything else.

And Yagami Light was only 17 years old when he had first realized it.

Like a plague, it began. One day in a large European city an explosion of unknown origins blackened the earth and killed 1.3 million people. No cause or reason could be found. Only a crater the size of 30 football fields, like the footprint of a giant, left its messages for anyone searching.

The states of the world all looked to each other with blame and accusations. Barely veiled threats of retaliation sullied the fragile peace.

The death of Mannheim, Germany became a terrifying, mysterious event. Something had detonated there, something scientists and militia could not explain, and it spread fear like wildfire across the continent as the rest of the planet watched on in confusion.

And then it happened again.

This time Manchester, England, and its surrounding cities, were taken. Rubble and smoke curled in the wake of despair.

Debates flew, armies mobilized, the Earth's leaders were thrown into hiding, and terror ruled peoples' hearts. Death had walked out of the shadows and onto the doorsteps of the free world.

Androids.

That's what they began calling them.

A pair of killers with powers unheard of, who sought nothing but destruction at the hint of a whim.

In the space of a year, 2 more large scale attacks sank the islands of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria off the coast of the African continent. No survivors ever escaped, no detailed video feeds ever made it out. The media couldn't be trusted; the governments couldn't begin to offer trust. Numerous small violent occurrences took place all over the planet, born from fright or fun; it was difficult to tell the difference.

Now, 18 years old, in a dark and turbulent time, Light watched the world become something truly sinister…

– Stay tuned for the program 'How to defeat the invisible foe' here on Broadcast News. Guest speakers and what the government is promising for –

The young man's bright cinnamon eyes clouded with revulsion as he turned away from the television set sitting in the store window front. He pushed through the small crowd of people on the street who continued the watch the programming like moths to a lethal flame.

Light walked away, his lips a thin line at having gotten caught up in the pointless talk stories while making his way back home. The tall buildings loomed over him as the youth kept moving forward.

Japan had been lucky so far. The country had not been subject to an android attack yet, but the threat was a living presence, following you with every step like a ghost from the grave. It disgusted him how those in the media used this crisis to profit off of the horror of the people.

Death stalked every corner. You could see it in the eyes, especially those of the elderly – those who had lived through wars and social unrest before.

But this was no war – it was slaughter.

Light laughed bitterly under his breath, turning his gaze away from a small group of punks who were giving a storekeeper a hard time. He forced his feet to guide him away, to not stop walking until he reached his home. His face fell blank, but inside his chest burned at the blatant injustice.

The inaction of the world was the iciest grip on Light's heart. Every day he witnessed the utter corruption and defilement of society around him. He saw good people suffer, and bad people prosper, because of the rule of terror.

He remembered a time when things had seemed promising. He had graduated his secondary education with top achievements, scoring a perfect grade on his entrance exams to Todai. His father – the chief of police – as good as offering him a position as soon as his studies finished… The cherry blossoms had floated gently through the air… the symbol of serenity had been a horrible taunt to the time of conflict which had lain ahead.

The youth slowly passed by the small park a block from his house. It was deserted at this time of day – parents' more unwilling to take their kids out to play as they sat glued to their television sets to watch the latest news updates.

Sparing a momentary glance inside, Light heard the empty swings shift in the wind, chains clinking. He looked back in curiosity. He'd sensed some movement from in there. Had something fallen?

The young man walked through the deserted playground with some interest, searching for whatever it had been. It was most likely a left over child's toy or something similar. Past the swing set, brown eyes caught sight of a standard sized black notebook. Stooping down and picking it up, Light saw that some English writing adorned the front cover.

"Death Note…" He sounded out.

That was odd.

A notebook of death? Light looked around for any sign of who might have lost the book.

Still alone, Light's attention was drawn back to the strange notebook. Absently opening the cover, he was confronted with scratchy lettering spelling out a list of rules.

– The human whose name is written in this note shall die –

Light's lips twisted in disbelief. He read a bit further but stopped, not finding anything about it funny. Sighing, the youth stared at the notebook with derision. Stuff like this was just a sick joke in the times they were facing. Who honestly wasted their minds on this crap? The student made to toss the notebook back where he had found it – but stopped, thinking. It seemed wrong to leave it here where some innocent child might pick it up and get the wrong ideas.

Slipping it into his side bag, Light shook his head and took the shortcut home.

"I'm home." Light called out as he entered the modest house.

The rest of his family was sitting in front of the television, though thankfully it was tuned onto a comedy program and not the news for once. They looked up and he saw his mother's eyes flooded with relief as he walked in.

"Welcome back, big brother." Sayu smiled.

"You missed dinner, I saved some leftovers – are you hungry dear?" Sachiko got up and was already halfway to the kitchen.

"No, no thanks. I think I'm just going to go study for a while." Light gestured towards his bag where the textbooks he had recently purchased rested.

"You're doing a good thing, son." Soichiro Yagami nodded at him solemnly, a look of pride hidden in his eyes behind the glasses.

The intelligent youth gave a slight nod in return, his neutral expression tightening imperceptibly as he looked away.

Light had foregone starting his first year at Todai. The university didn't operate under the same methods as before. Government and educational institutions maintained shorter hours, more cautious hours, breaking up school times into a special schedule of intervals. It was a safety precaution that Japan had affected for the past couple of months when news of an attack on a small township in China hit a little too close to home.

Every part of life had been struck by those monsters.

A few weeks ago, after his father had gotten home very late one night, Light had confronted him about joining the force as a detective – a promise that the older man seemed to have changed his mind about.

It was with no lack of trying and reasoning that Light sought to be a part of the force. Sooner or later Japan would be in the line of fire for real, and the young man desperately wanted to take action and hold what was left of the crumbling world so that there would be a future. As it was, his father had become quiet and obstinate about the secrecy of his work, a stark different from before when he would have consulted his son for his thoughts on any matter.

Digging for answers himself, Light hacked into his father's computer – something he had done for fun in the past. The deception turned out to be a frustrating dead end when all that he could discover were old case files. His blood sang with the frenzied need to know… but at the same time it was difficult for Light to meet the other man's gaze, because he was bothered… by the fear he saw there.

Giving another denial of hunger to his mother, Light excused himself and made his way up the stairs to his room. Pulling out the books from his bag, Light readied some paper and cracked open the text on the top of stack.

"Chapter one. Theory of artificial intelligence." He read.

As it was, the intelligent youth could only learn by his own devices right now. He would be ready when his chance came. Until then, he needed to know anything, and everything, that could possibly stop the androids.

The hours past on into the night, and it was under the glow of his lamp that Light's hand reached absently for the next text and came up with something thin and black instead.

The Death Note lay unassumingly on his desk before him.

Sitting up in his chair, Light opened the cover and examined it in more detail. He read the rules silently and by the end of it nearly laughed. A name and a face? That was it? It was morbidly fascinating, and he was unable to decide between being uttering disgusted or thoroughly impressed with the prank book.

A name and a face.

Light toyed with his pen, resting his chin on his hand.

Wouldn't it be simple to change the world if something like that could work? The androids would be as good as gone. You didn't have to go near them, you wouldn't even have to shoot a missile and destroy the earth even more. All you'd need was some information and then…

Light looked at the book again. The paper seemed so ordinary that he nearly scoffed.

Should he try it? He tapped his pen against the page.

What if it did work? A frown marred Light's handsome face at that. He frowned too often nowadays. He was less likely to smile, more likely to find a reason not to.

It had to be someone who deserved it.

Light turned on the small television in his room; mildly disappointed in himself for actually being bored enough to give the prank book a try. He flipped the channels idly until he caught what was the news coverage of a hostage situation. The anchor woman gave an update on the circumstances and a photo of the suspect appeared on the split screen, his name clearly underneath.

Otoharada Kurou.

He killed 6 people indiscriminately and was now holding 7 preschool aged children and their teacher hostage.

Here was someone who deserved to die for deigning to act so abhorrently in an already rotten world. Light looked again at the picture and name, and then wrote it neatly in the Death Note.

Looking at his digital clock, he waited with slight growing apprehension. 'Thirty-eight, thirty-nine… forty!' Light turned and stared at the television screen with wide eyes.

– This is Broadcast News, if you're just tuning in, the Shinjuku killer is armed and dangerous. Police will have to act soon, or the hostages will continue to be in danger. –

Light felt the trepidation that had been threatening to course through him gradually ebb away. He'd known nothing would happen, though the book had some power to make you believe it might. It looked like he'd fallen for the prank.

– The hostages are coming out!! –

'What- what is this?' Light got to his feet, eyes constricted in shock as he stared at the turn of events.

– No shots fired, but it appears that the perpetrator has collapsed. He is confirmed dead! The police are securing the –

The rest of the broadcast went on like white noise in the background to Light's furiously running mind. Had that honestly happened? Cinnamon eyes brimmed with something akin to dread as he took in the open notebook sitting innocently on his desk.

'Just a fluke.' He thought feverishly. 'It wasn't real.'

It was a foreboding sense of unease that weighed heavily on Light's shoulders as he went through the motions of the next day. He denied the freak coincidence of the death of the convict. It couldn't be real… but as much as he tried to suppress the disconcerting emotions which welled inside him, Light could not ignore the feeling that it had been.

Paranoia invaded his nerves at the idea of leaving the notebook unattended in his room, so when it came time for Light to go out in his customary way to purchase a new text, the brilliant teen slipped the note into his bag, carrying it with him.

Entering the bookstore, Light cast a wary eye at a group of leather-clad bikers who appeared to be more drunk than not. Safely inside, he could hear their loud voices laughing suddenly.

"Hey c'mon baby, don't you know we could die any minute? Come on you know you want it." A particularly bad-tempered thug slurred.

Light's honey eyes snapped up and watched as a woman who had been trying to enter the small magazine and book shop didn't seem impressed at the come on. She nervously tried to ignore the man and his hooting friends.

The biker grinned raucously as his friends helps box the lady in so he could freely hit on her. "Shibuimaru Takuo's the name. Heh heh."

Light frowned at the display from inside the store. 'Utter slime… the dregs of society…' He thought.

Apprehension settled in at the disturbing scene. Nobody on the street had any courage to standout and deter the group. A couple a young girls on the other side of his aisle stood whispering in scared tones as they watched the scene as well.

The upsetting behaviour carried on for a few more moments, and Light could feel his resentment escalating.

'The notebook.'

The thought had flashed through his mind in an instant. Light looked down. The thin black spine peaked out from his unzipped side bag, a sliver of darkness that drew him to take it out. Following through with the urge, Light placed the Death Note in the cover of a fashion magazine, opening it to the page with the first name he'd written on it. In his pocket was a pen.

Should he?

Haunted cinnamon eyes looked up to the altercation. Taku now had his hands on the woman's body, and she was clearly not enjoying it as she shook, struggling.

Could he?

The group of men laughed.

Light took a breath and raised his pen, clicking it open, poised against the paper. He held off longer and longer, waiting for the situation to change on its own – but it wasn't happening. He had to act!

Light wrote down the name, spelling it in its variations to be sure, adding 'accident' as the cause of death. He put down the camouflaging magazine and quickly exited the store, staying under the awning as the street became wet with the night rain.

'This is just an experiment.' Light rationalized, watching with rapt attention as the lady got free and hurried across the street.

"Hey babe, you can't escape me! I'm on a bike!" Taku called, the crude man cranked the throttle, making passer-bys jump, and took off after the frightened woman.

'…Thirty-nine… Forty! Is it real!?" Light counted off in his mind, his visage openly fearsome as he looked up from his wristwatch.

An 8 ton cargo truck hurtled through the intersection and ploughed into Shibuimaru Takuo.

The deafening sounds of screeching and twisting metal wrenched through the air.

"Taku! TAKU! Oh man, let's get out of here!"

"Oh my god! Somebody call an ambulance!"

"Did you see that? That guy just got flattened! He's –"

Dead.

The light rain became an insistent shower as Light hurriedly covered his mouth, turning away. Warm coloured eyes saw nothing as the youth staggered into the sanctuary of an empty alley, away from the yelling and horrible images.

The rain pelted down on his shaking frame.

'It's real! The notebook did this... No –' Light's gaze sharpened. 'I did this. I saved that woman.'

The droplets of water washed him, a baptism, dripping down his nose onto trembling lips. He stared at the book held within his hands.

Hope.

That's what he held.

A grim smile upturned the corners of his mouth and Light slowly got to his feet, walking forward through the darkness, a purpose in his steps. All he needed were two names and two faces.

End chapter 1