Dreaming
I do not own Death Note.
"What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?"
-Woody Allen
L was having a dream. It was a strange, yet wonderful refreshing dream. So he continued with this dream, letting it continue, allowing it to take over his mind.
There were very large trees, spindly things that were made from thin paper, surrounding the path he seemed to be taking. L scratched his foot. It was very dusty in this place.
On these trees there were little paper apples, colored red in a childish fashion with a marker. He picked one from a branch that hung low and tried a bit. It tasted stale. He left the remains to twirl about in the air. A stale apple was something one should never carry about. L remembered reading somewhere that they brought bad luck and monsters wherever you went. How awful.
The sky was very ugly. L was torn between grey or black as what the color was. He didn't like either choice. This place was a very bad place for a dream, but L didn't truly relish the idea of going back to the other side of his mind. Here he doubted that Kira could crawl in.
There was a house at the very end of the path. L didn't quite know why, but he had to get there, because there was something there he needed. What it was, he didn't know, but it was worth continuing forward. The stars were pin pricks in the sky, vastly out numbering the paper trees. They reminded L of eyes, a large amount of eyes just staring at him and the house and the bad stale apples.
When he reached the house, there was a little sign on the mailbox (which was hanging in horrid disarray) that read in redish paint:
"KIRA'S LOVELY HOUSE OF WONDERS"
L frowned. Kira always found a way, didn't he? Disregarding the fact that this was his enemy's house, he pushed open the rickety gate and walked off toward the mansion like house. There were many dying plants and over hanging trees (still thin paper trees) surrounding the house. A tall tower sprouted almost directly up out of the roof and seemed to lean to the side toward the top. L wondered briefly what was in it, and why there were such terrible noise was emitting from it. It sounded like shrieks, like that of a panicked bird.
The door knob was a shade of purple L had never come into contact with before and as he turned it; it seemed to him that should he remember it when he awoke, he would call such a color 'Vanity'. It seemed appropriate for the house where Kira was supposed to live.
A loud ring came out of the door and squeal came out from behind it. L heard the clank of rusty wheels turning and found the door being opened by a rather clownish Misa dressed in a corset that thrust her breast out ostentatiously. It looked like she'd dressed for fine company (or perhaps a gentleman suitor that she hoped to seduce), obviously not L. In Victorian clothing that made her look thin and frail, like a wooden puppet, she clasped her hands together and smiled impossibly wide with her red, red lips.
"HELLO MOST LOVELY GUESTIES. MISA ASSUMES THAT YOU'VE COME TO SEE HIS MOST GRACIOUS HOST, KIRA?" She looked past him expectantly, as if lovely guesties were to be arriving very soon. This remained so for a long time, so long that L felt the need to look behind himself, just to see if anyone was truly there.
No one was.
Her body visibly sagged, like her strings had been dropped all at once. She looked up at him, her face now painted with a frown that cut like a slash down her face.
"Misa supposes you are the only one to visit today?" She crowed out to in today like a rooster. Her voice was crackly and grating on L's ears. He nodded. This dream was strange. He was almost to the point of ending it, but he decided to let it go on a bit longer.
Kira's house of wonders was, at best, curious. It was an old house, from what he could tell, the peeling wall paper stripped with a rose color. There was a winding staircase that led up and up and up. Misa led him through this room, which she told him was the "most lovely front room, oh just lovely wasn't it". L took this moment to reflect on the disturbing hairdo Misa had inflicted upon herself. All her golden locks were piled on top of her head in a beehive of sorts, with many small pieces fallen out, curled at her nape and cheeks. It was decorated with paper apples.
"In here is where we keep our people wonders…" Misa bustled about, making things clean and a few dusty. L looked about. A sad group of people sat in ugly over stuffed ornate chairs, drinking out of tea cups what looked like dirty dishwater. He decided it was tea.
There were three women and three men, each of which had all their limbs tied to pieces of red string that held them from the ceiling. A slight women with dark hair that was tied with several decaying lace ribbons turned her head toward L and her mouth dropped open, straight down like a nutcracker. Her eyes had no pupil, only black. Following this, all the people turned to L and repeated her motions. Their arms raised concurrently, their cups falling to the ground, staining the dingy carpet greyer.
"Help…" Their rusted voices rasped out. "Help us Lawliet…"
"Oh hush you old puppety things." Misa exclaimed, while shoving their hands down and pushing up their descending chins. She turned them back to their places, fiddling with their appendages until they looked like they were in animated conversation. "Oh dearie dear, they've ruined all their tea. I'll have to get somemore…"
She hurried off in the other direction, but stopped at L and whispered to him:
"Don't listen to them. Some things can't just sit when they're told." And she then bustled off to the next room, which L followed her too. If he strained, though, as he left, he could hear the puppets muttering to themselves disparaging things about Misa and her person.
Wonders indeed.
The kitchen was a kitchen. The only thing L could find wrong was that it lacked any cake in sight. He asked Misa if there was any that he could consume.
"Oh, Misa supposes Misa could ask." She turned to the cabinet and tutted at it.
"Have you any cake dearest Cabbie?" The cabinet answered with a low groan of inner woe and swung open. L was handed a soggy sponge cake that dripped with a liquid he could not quite describe. He took a bite of it and chewed thoughtfully. It was, like the paper apples, stale and mushy. He discretely disposed of it. It wouldn't do to hurt the cabinet's feelings.
He followed Misa out into what looked like the library. She set down her tray, which held a good deal of tea cups and dollies, piled up on the shining silver tray. The tea pot was a fanciful little thing, with a spout that twisted into a perfect loop. She poured the tea into the cups, each one shaped as a different fruit. L picked up a grape cup with his thumb and forefinger and sipped it with a cautious face. It was awful. He took another sip.
There, not as bad.
The library was almost completely devoid of books, odd knick-knacks and strangely shaped silverware decorated the shelves instead. The occasional book littered every third shelve and the shelves were vast, reaching everywhere in the long room. Misa picked up her cup, a pear, and gave it a careful tasting. She smiled and nodded. "Yes, that is a lovely tea."
A low creaking noise began to resonate through the halls, and the clank, clank of rusted wheels came from every nook and cranny of the room. Misa rushed to her feet and her cup dropped to the floor, shattering terribly. She hurried around, trying to make things look less ugly, but in L's opinion, some ugly things could not be fixed.
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dearie ducklings. Misa had a thought, a thought he would be coming today and oh, look the mess, the terrible mess. Oh dear, oh dear…" She hadn't finished her second set of oh dears before around the corner came a wheel chair, carrying a boy who looked like he owned many things, or thought he did.
"Kira." L said, nodding his head toward the boy, who looked at him with a disdainful look on his otherwise nice face. Behind his large ornate wheelchair was a person dressed in a black frock, a tightly laced corset, and a large black hat that had a black lace veil that covered its head completely. Its dainty fingers gripped the handles of the chair as it wheeled Kira to a stop in front of L.
Kira glared at L, his face turned into an angry pout of sorts. He was in a loud suit, the kind street vendors wore when performing parlor tricks for children. It was the purple of the door knob and it had an obnoxiously tall collar, which was bespeckled with jewels of all sorts of colors.
"Why are you here?"
"It's my dream."
"It's my house of wonders."
"Yes, I suppose it is. But it was in my forest." Kira snorted and leaned back, his arms crossed in a huffy fashion.
"No, it isn't. This is my forest. Everything here is mine. All my wonders." L sipped his tea and shrugged. He looked down at Kira's legs, which seemed to be in perfectly fine condition.
"Why are you in a wheelchair? You look like you could walk."
"I can."
"Then why…"
"Because this is his punishment." Kira pointed to the person behind him, who looked away quickly, the veil moving slowly through the air. L got up and came around to the person. He was much taller then them, which was odd, seeing as it was male. It refused to look at him, keeping its head tilted toward the floor. "What did he do?"
"His face is very ugly. I don't like ugly things, so I punished him by never letting him show his face and making him take me places. It's much faster than walking."
L nodded and looked at the person. They looked at the ground and would not meet his eye. Misa sensed the tension and ran over to Kira's wheelchair, shoving the person out of the way, taking the handles and turning Kira in the direction of the kitchen.
"Oh now would be a lovely time for scones. Misa made scones for Kira, oh Kira dearie will love them."
And then L was alone with the person. There was a terse silence and L stared at the veil, willing it to come off. It did not. The person wrung their hands and refused to turn their head up.
"What is your name?" It jerked its head up and it back a little further from him. L turned his head to the side and wandered closer.
"I can't tell." Its voice was gargled, as if it were trying to hide it from him. L heard the quiet elegance in its words and frowned.
"Why ever not?"
"Kira tells me not too."
"I bet I could guess it."
"I don't know if that would be good either."
"But then you wouldn't be telling me. You could just nod your head or shake it."
It looked at him and nodded. L smiled and thought for a moment.
"Sam?" It shook its head and pressed its hands behind its back.
"Nathan?" A shake.
"Hiro?" A shake.
"Mello?" It shook its head vigorously and L smiled. He got very close to it and whispered softly:
"Light?"
It looked up at him, the veil hiding its face. A short and simple nod was all it gave. L touched the thin fabric and it fell from its head, revealing Light's face, beautiful pale porcelain, with pink cheeks, rose lips, and caramel eyes.
There was a giant crack straight down the middle of his perfect face.
His eyes were wide and seemed fathomless, like a doll's, and his hands were cold as they cupped L's face. This dream, L thought, is quite odd. There seems to be ups and downs, but never anything that makes sense. I wonder if all dreams must be like this.
If they were, L certainly didn't want to have a nightmare.
"This world is very strange. I do not understand it, nor the people. How could someone think you were ugly? You are so beautiful. I do not understand."
Light nodded and brought L's face down to his, meeting their lips. It was a soft, quick touch of the mouths and then it was over.
"It's time to wake up Lawliet."
And so he did.
The end
A.N. I didn't want it to make sense. L's dreams would be the opposite of logic.
Albums listened to:
Pretty Odd by Panic! At the Disco
The White Album by The Beatles
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