Japan's brightest student wants to end it all into the nothingness of death. Unbeknownst to him, where death is, there exists life and second chances...
Platinum Light
Death Note taking place in the world of Platinum End.
Disclaimers: Platinum End is the creation of the owners of Death Note. This only exists to bring more popularity to the manga. Neither is owned by me and all characters belong to their creators.
Rating: Teen. Not much awful swearing, but there exists mentions of violence and violent things. Mentions of suicide and depression.
Length: 3417, average 15 minutes.
Notes: Mainly supernatural thriller written in third-person, present tense. May have drama and mystery, it depends. I rather like Platinum End, though it's too bad it's not that popular. I can't talk to my friends about it. Platinum End does have questionable content for younger audiences, so view with caution. I recommend 16+ should read. Platinum End is really similar to Mirai Nikki (also not owned by me).
Volume I: Light
Chapter I
Light (Pilot)
Can there exist a more troublesome characteristic than intelligence? It's maddening to see how being well-informed of the world and able to innovate only appears to cause more harm than good. Ignorance will continue to exist. More and more humans sacrifice knowledge for the power to control others through money. With more knowledge comes the awareness of all the flaws and faults of humans and the world. Knowledge can lead one to depression and madness.
A high school senior thinks as much as he strolls through his school grounds, shoulders back, chin high, eyes blank. He is the epitome of an intelligent student, one with flawless scores and a large gap existing between him and second place. To his heart, however, school is no place for the intelligent. He feels like an animal within a corporation's greedy hands, pumped with steroids and other unnatural products to make him look good and taste good to the public masses. He must do well in the barn because no one will buy him. He must be more expensive than the rest. He must be more refined. He will be slaughtered, wrapped, and frozen until he receives his price tag. Only then will he know of his fate: to be sold to the hands of the elite or to become the food for a family in poverty.
There exists uncertainty after he will be sold. What will his owners do to him? Will they have a first class chef chop him up to make him the most divine meal one could ever taste? Or will he be carelessly added to an overpriced salad or thrown to the elite's pets?
It's that uncertainty that makes him despise trying to be something at all. To him, this world is rotten. His world can be summed up as an apple: a beautiful scarlet face and healthy appearance while remaining spoiled to the core. The seeds are corrupted and the apples grown from those seeds will be just as corrupted as their parents.
As such, the high school senior deems life as hell.
"Sempai! I can't believe you're at school right now! You have cram school, huh, sempai?" Underclassmen who see him as the high-class student call for his attention. The senior stops and looks over his shoulder, smiling at them with the innocence of a child. The smile does not bring joy to his soul, only an ever-growing weariness.
"I left something in class. Even I can be forgetful," he explains with a casual tone.
"Need help, sempai? We're always here!"
"Thank you for your kindness, but I can handle this task my own. Good evening." He chuckles to himself as the underclassmen leave him alone, oblivious to the boy's true emotions.
Dusk makes the shadows longer, blacker, heavier. The shadows that engulf him as he walks the deserted classroom corridors give weight to his body, making every step more of an effort. The further away the noise of after school programs and staff members becomes, the more he lets his shoulders slump and his footsteps sound less crisp and purposeful and more of a slur. The hallway leading to his classroom has mentions of the top student's achievements, how the student is the brightest in Japan. That boy has bright eyes and life within his body. He is a fragment of the past.
In the present, the senior shrugs open the door, formerly locked but he had broken the lock yesterday. Bright gold blinds him and dyes his eyes colors as he steps forward into the warmth. Wind blows around him. The noise of extracurricular activities picks up again. He opens his eyes, squinting under the setting sun, and peers at the world kilometers above ground. He is in control on this rooftop. In control of what, he does not know. He is already in control of the school's social ladder. The students here worship him or are envious of him. It doesn't matter now. The senior drops his schoolbag and slips off his shoes, black socks pressing against the heated ground of August.
He shuffles to the edge of the roof. Below him is the deepest area of the school, roughly eight meters below the school's level. The depression in the ground was formed years ago due to a fireworks mishap. Today, it is suitable for making sure he receives extra damage when he hits the ground. The first to see it will be the athletic students working outside. Then the nurse as the nurse's office was built to be as close as possible to the sports field. Maybe the police would arrive next if the students move slow enough. Then his father will know first and will be forced to break the news to their family.
I never thought sempai would be the one to do this. He's always happy and working hard. I don't know why he was hurting.
He was quiet sometimes. I guess you have to watch out for those kinds, huh.
Nothing on him? That's really selfish. How's his family going to know why he killed himself without a suicide note? He did it for attention.
Sempai wouldn't do this! He was murdered!
He closes his eyes. He will not have to be the one to deal with the responses of anyone in the future. School is the best place for him to meet his end. At home, his mother and little sister could see his corpse. He doesn't want to stain any public place with his blood, except for here. He met his rise to fame here. This building threatens to tear him apart. Yes, it is almost romantic to die in a place like this.
He steps on the short railing, smells the bitter city air, and lets himself fall forward.
Time slows down. He's able to look around himself, at the world he is leaving behind. He has no regrets. No connections to reality. He feels liberated.
He lets the world go black, content with his last view and wishes for the end.
The senior feels warmth spread around his waist and the wind changes direction to behind his head, coming from the sky. Gingerly, he opens an eye, then the other. He is not reduced to a corpse as he hopes, nothing is on the ground that gets further and further away.
The senior looks above him, aware of a shadow looming over his body.
She has a pale body with wavy, shiny hair that frames her curvy body perfectly, a cocoon. She seems to shimmer under the golden light. Some of the luminosity radiates from her skin and wings. They're lovely. They're pure white. The bits of feathers that fall look as soft as baby's skin and weigh nothing. Her face is perfect. Casually, she gazes down under the intensity of his stare, a scarlet halo floating above her head. Her visible eye is a pure red, like sweet red wine and blood. Her perfect lips smile, pearly whites showing in the gap.
"You are not dead just yet, my human," she purrs. "Your guardian angel has saved you."
Guardian angel? Angels exist? One of them saved him before his death? The senior worries that he'll forget the knowledge of angels and thinks of a way to retain his memory of her before she takes it all away.
"Do not be afraid. No one can see us. It is because of my magic keeping us hidden. How bothersome would that be attracting the attention of nosy humans?" she says into his ear, pulling his body close to hers. Warmth. Security.
"As your angel, I understand you better than yourself. You want death, that is true. Yet, you want something else, no? Come on, didn't you say you hate how rotten this world is?"
The senior's breath hitches. He has never disclosed his personal thoughts to family or paper. He doesn't like talking out loud by himself. She must be real or this is a hallucination and he is dead like he wants.
"You want a chance to purify this world. That is why you wish to join law enforcement when you graduate. You struggle between the misfortune of intelligence and your undying standards of morality. I have been by your side for many, many years. I have a chance to make your dream come true. Will you take it?"
"I want justice," he murmurs, watching the school building blur with the dozens of gray buildings in his city. "But I hate this rotten, boring world."
The angel's lips curve into a satisfied smile. The senior notes how shiny and captivating her entire appearance is. Is this the beauty of otherworldly creatures?
"What if I told you it is possible for you to change the world with your hands in a way far more effective than law enforcement," she asks, a trite rhetorical.
"That's...not possible." His logic tries to comprehend the limitations of an angel. With so little information, he deems the angel as limitless. "Can you really do that?"
"I can, though you will be doing your part to make it happen. I cannot interfere with your world for I do not actually exist. I can give you the power to make that change."
The senior's heart pulses. It scares him momentarily. He hasn't felt this much in years. The power to make his change now rather than wait the long way suffering through school is intriguing. "You can?"
"Yes. You just need to will yourself to live once more. If you continue to want to die, you may die."
He blinks, mind racing. The angel's words are music to him. It's a reason to start living again, to perform his own change, this time with more power, not some student who's dreading the day fate grows cruel and kills him senselessly. But the boredom of the world will still persist, won't it?
"You must make a decision. Are you still uncertain of what I offered to you?"
"I understand. I...can't accept immediately."
"Why not?" The angel sounds oblivious as the underclassmen. "You want this. Why do you hesitate?"
"This could be a big dream, or you could be the devil in disguise." The possibilities are equally likely. Likewise, this could be an elaborate prank. He'll destroy the person who managed to crack his mind.
"Oh. You do not think I exist." She does not sound too bothered. She seems to have expected it. "I thought this was proof, but I underestimated how humans love lying to themselves. I have no idea how to convince a liar, therefore I will force you to chose rather than stay neutral and worry."
The senior tries to see if her face is as solemn as her voice, but her white locks tickle his face as she looks up. "What are you saying, creature?"
"You should choose. Ready? Let's go."
He watches her, dazed, and the warmth around his waist is gone. As his stomach turns to lead, he is acutely aware of how cold the air is.
He falls, twisting his head to see his guardian angel floating in the air growing smaller.
He screams on instinct.
He calculated several times, the distance from the roof to the lowest point of the school. He calculated how long and fast he should fall, correctly predicted he would die instantaneously and not die slowly while doctors struggled to save him.
He didn't account for hitting the ground hundreds of kilometers in the air. Although common sense tells him certain death.
Wind whips around him, picking up speed every second. Heat starts up around him. For a moment, he's terrified he might burst into a ball of flames and burn to death before splattering the ground. He can't think, can't breathe. Why is death so terrifying now when he felt nothing before?
"Will you choose, my human?"
His angel's golden voice stirs some kind of sense into his mind. The angel falls next to him, far more graceful and in control than he.
"You must hurry if you do not choose death. I am certain that the shock will stop your heart soon. I cannot revive dead humans," the angel says in an attempt to help. "It is very...tricky."
He stares at her, mouth agape, horrified. No, he refuses to die like this. Not like an unidentifiable red splatter. Not with a chance to realize his dream. Whether or not the angel is truly the devil himself and he must sell his soul, aren't suicides damned in hell? And while living and death are both unbearable states of existence, at least he can make an impact in the world of the living.
He fights against the current of the air to stretch his empty palm to the angel.
The angel sees his hand and rights herself. The sun is just behind her, outlining her body and wings with golden rays as her smooth as pearls hand takes his palm. Her warm fingers close around his hand. Her bright cherry eyes are narrow yet shining.
"You have made your decision," she hums.
The world stills. He no longer falls.
The angel taps her red halo and three more appear at once.
"For you, to achieve your dreams, I give you love, freedom, and choice. So long as you maintain the will to live and survive, you will pursue your dreams." The halos float to the boy, wrapping themselves around his neck and twice around his right wrist, a small halo within a bigger one. They are as red as the angel's eyes.
"The halo around your neck allows for flight," the angel says, calmly running her fingers through her waves. "Release your wings and right yourself like me."
Tired of being upside down, he follows her order. He imagines freedom from weight of the words. The halo around his neck brightens until he hears a whoosh and some control is given to him. He turns himself upright and bask in the majesty of wings as crystal white as his angel's.
"Excellent. The wings take to their owner kindly. No one will be able to see your wings or halos, though humans can still see your floating body. Let's go somewhere where there is less people."
The senior gulps. Flying should be easy...so he wills his wings to take him to a quiet place he knows. He takes off at high speeds. A gentle, shimmering aura surrounds his body. He no longer feels the cold nor the wind, but it's as if he has no body at all. He looks down at the world lighting up in the darkness of night while he flies high above.
He feels like a god.
His angel follows him to a small hill away from prying eyes. He lands while she continues hovering in the air, toes grazing the cool grass.
"You've given me the power of flight," he says, hoping this isn't all a big dream.
"I have given you much more than that." She smiles as she gestures to herself. "I am a high class angel. I have given you wings and arrows. The larger halo on your wrist is your red arrow. The small halo is your white arrow. With these abilities, you are comparable to my power."
He looks at his wrist. "What...are these arrows capable of?"
"Hm. In importance, the red arrow can make any person fall in love with the caster. They will do absolutely anything under the effects of the arrow, but this is not a permanent thing. As for the white arrow, you have no use for it, so it is not important or necessary."
"That's all this power can give me?" The senior stares at his angel, brown eyes appearing black in this night. "What use is this? I should have died."
"Don't kill yourself yet!" The angel seems uncomfortable displaying fear on her face. "The...white arrow...I cannot understand how useful it could be for you, but the white arrow, when a person is hit, causes instantaneous death."
Death.
"Why...would an angel have a murderous power?" the boy says, stepping back.
The angel looks her human with sparkling eyes. "It was something like...euthanasia. It is a happy death. When need be, angels can mercy kill their human. As you may not need to mercy kill your own humans, the power is useless."
The senior takes in her words. The power was in the hands of sensible angels. Now he, a foolish and clumsy human, has the power of demise at his beck and call. "No, this power is useful. Like this, I can kill the unworthy vermin that pollute this world."
His angel gazes at him with half-lidded, confused eyes. "Hmmm?"
"These wings allow me travel faster than any machine invented by humankind. This arrow can let me kill the criminals that cause chaos to this world. It's why I wanted to be in law enforcement. Wouldn't this world be more kind if it weren't for the humans who can't keep their sins in check and must hurt others?" the boy rants, body trembling. "I can deliver due justice myself."
"Oh," she exhales. "I have never used my powers like that before. You are a smart boy. You will make this plan work, no? Now I am happy I chose you for God."
"God?" Which religion is right after all? He wants to know now.
"I nominated you for participation in the God's Candidacy test. God slowly dies. Another must walk in His image. We angels recruit from our humans to join." She grins, a small movement. "Are you excited for this? I know you'll be perfect as my God."
God? To be God? To be God and deliver judgement among the world? To be all powerful, all knowing, all intelligent? To have billions of humans and a legion of angels forced to respect and follow his command?
"Becoming God..." he murmurs. "Out of the question."
His angel blinks furiously. "H-Hmm?"
"I already have these abilities as a human. I already feel godlike. Becoming the actual man doesn't sound ideal. It's my duty as a human to cleanse the evil of this world. If your God exists, he's done a horrible job at cleaning this world. Sorry, but no thank you."
His angel is speechless. She struggles for words to say, becoming more flustered at her weakness. "O-Okay, I will follow your lead, but you will not have these powers forever."
"What? Why not?"
"Your powers only remain for the the duration of the Candidacy test. After it concludes, your powers will be gone with it."
A bitter taste fills his mouth. "I have a limit, right? Then the only thing that matters is that I deliver judgement and justice while I am able. And I must remain in this test until the end. Correct, angel?"
"Yes. I was really hoping you would be my God. Alas, I am content with your happiness." She shuts her eyes and fans herself with a hand.
"Me? Why?"
"Why not? I would not like a faceless stranger to worship. I have had dreams being your servant to command. I guess this is second best."
"You...are obsessed with me, aren't you?"
"Of course I am! I am your guardian angel. I have been by your side since the beginning. I was especially chosen to match your personality - at least a facet of it God predicted. I idolize you."
The high school senior's brown eyes have fire within. "I see. I'm glad you are on my side, angel. Let me show the judgement worthy of Godhood."
The senior summons his mighty wings. Red particles shimmer under the starry sky, highlighting the boy in soft reds and harsh blacks of shadows.
Receiving these abilities far outweighs his suicide. He smirks to himself, idolizing the entertainment eating away at his heart grown cold from boredom.
He takes to the skies, angel at his side, feeling the light of freedom and justice at his command.
Chapter End