A/n: This is the first time I've written anything in…a while, at least for the site. This has been a working project (several mental revisions have prevented me from working on it), so I hope I'm able to do this right. Positive feedback (no flaming) is welcome and appreciated.

Summary: Ryuk had written Light's name in the Death Note, and Light had felt the exact moment that his heart seized, and his vision became black…then, his heart started beating normally, all of his wounds were healed, and he was sitting in a room with a mysterious black ball, and a familiar face…

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Prologue: The Death and Resurrection of Light Yagami

"You've erased my boredom for quite a long time, haven't you? It was a lot of fun." Ryuk sported a sinister grin as he turned the notebook to show Light that he had followed through on the promise he had made so long ago, and had put a premature end to his life.

"Ryuk, there must be a way to stop this!" Light was desperately pleading for his life, as he knew that his time was growing short and he became increasingly aware of his rising heart rate.

"You sound so undignified. It's not like you, Light. Once a name is written down in the Death Note, there's nothing you can do about it. Goodbye, Light Yagami."

Both the members of the SPK and the Japanese task force could only look in awe as Light kept repeating "I don't want to die" over and over, and Matsuda began to regret his reaction, almost wishing he hadn't shot the man who he had invested so much trust in.

Light's eyes grew cold, he became silent, and his body stopped moving as he spoke his last words.

"Damn it…"

All the other men present, save Mikami, began to attend to business at hand of destroying the notebooks, and ending the era of Kira. However, none of them turned to face Light's direction. Perhaps it was out of respect for the man he used to be, or out of disgust for the criminal entity he had created in his quest for a "just" world.

"Mr. Aizawa, may I please have the notebook belonging to the Japanese Task Force." Near placed both notebooks on the ground, and burned them so that such a weapon may never be used again."

"Well, there are no more notebooks in this world, I'd better get going. It's been nice knowing you, Light…hey, where'd he go?" Ryuk had turned to bid one final farewell to his former companion in the human world, but immediately noticed that the body had gone missing, as well as all of the blood that had been on the ground. "Well, that's strange. I'd better tell the old man about this." With that final statement to himself, Ryuk flew off into the twilight, never to be seen again in the human world until he became bored again."

"There is one last piece of the notebook that we must retrieve. Gevanni, please get the piece that was on Light Yagami's person at the time of his death."

"Near? The body is gone."

"That's strange…maybe that Shinigami took it with him as a sort of trophy. It doesn't matter. All evidence of the notebooks has been destroyed, in one way or another. Mr. Aizawa, Mr. Mogi, Mr. Ide, Mr. Matsuda, I would appreciate it if you would not disclose any more information of the closing of this case, other than the fact that Kira has been finally stopped. It would not do the public any good to know that Light Yagami was the man behind these acts."

"Understood."

After this final exchange, Teru Mikami was received into the custody of the Japanese task force, and the SPK immediately headed to the airport to return to America and report their success to Interpol.

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Light Yagami had died. That much he was sure of. He felt his heart stop beating, his blood stop flowing, and the unearthly chill of his own body as it began to shut down. So then, why was his heart beating right now? He lay on the ground of where ever he was currently, and tried to gather in his surroundings. After a cursory look, he deduced that he was a small apartment of sorts, somewhere in the vicinity of Tokyo Tower, with other people surrounding him, all casually dressed. He then began to hear voices of the other people around him, who had just witnessed his appearance.

"It looks like we've got another one."

"Looks like a manager."

"No, can't be...he's too young."

"Then what?"

"I don't know, maybe a low-level office worker."

"From what I can discern from his appearance, he is a former detective, most likely from the Kanto region. His dress suggests that he had been on his way to an important meeting, or was at one, when something tragic had happened. Notice the bullet holes on his clothes. He had been shot repeatedly, though probably not fatally. There's a 5% chance that he had been wounded in a scuffle, and then the shock of the wounds had caused his heart to seize. This is all just guesswork, so let's just hear what he has to say. Come with me, sir. I have some questions to ask you." Light had begun following the verbose man without a second thought, before realizing who exactly it was he was following.

That voice…it can't be…Light grew tense as he went into a small hall area with a single chair. On his way out of the room, he noticed that there was a giant black ball seated in the middle of it, with a metallic surface that had looked completely new. He then noticed the features of his interrogator; he was a gaunt man, but he didn't look weak. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, no shoes or socks, and a long-sleeve white t-shirt that sported many wrinkles of continuous wear. The face of the man was pale, with deep-set eyes. Judging by the unkempt hair and the large shadows under his eyes, it was obvious that the man had not slept, or was an incredibly light sleeper, possibly an insomniac.

"Well, we meet again, Light Yagami." Before Light had a chance to respond to the man he now recognized as his former enemy, he continued his speech, "Or should I call you Kira? It doesn't matter at this point, since we are both, for all intents and purposes, dead men. Oh, and you may now get rid of the idea of calling me Ryuzaki, or L for that matter. Please, call me by my real name of Lawliet. It's…what I'm known by in this room. I would like to ask you a few questions, starting with how you ended up in this room."

TO BE CONTINUED