Pain, regret, misery, this was all Mikami could feel. His failure still haunted him now, after what seem like eons in this place. When Teru had glanced over the Death Note's rules, it had mentioned that a human that used it could go to neither Heaven nor Hell. Instead, in one of the conversations he had had with the Death God called "Ryuk", he had been informed that his final fate would be an eternity of nothingness. The Shinigami hadn't lied; he indeed was trapped in what felt like nothingness. The surroundings were nothing but pure white, like an unpainted canvas. In the earlier years Mikami had searched for even a hint of colour, but he had never found any. The only thing that had any colour other than white in this room was Teru himself. The landscape was as white as paper.

At first Mikami refused to believe his fate, the mere idea that this was his eternity scared the prosecutor immensely. This, coupled with his failure, proved to an ever-present problem to Mikami's mental health. As the years began to pile on the lawyer became less and less sane. Those were hard years, at first he had torn into his hands with his teeth. All he wanted was a different colour, the red proved soothing at first however it wasn't enough.

The once fanatical disciple of Kira began to believe he wasn't real, so he took to more extreme measures to prove his existence. During those years he pulled out all of fingernails on a regular occurrence, and he ripped every last strand of hair from his head. The pain was still very much real, but confirmed to the Teru that he was too. After an immeasurable amount of time he regained his sanity. Or at least, he didn't harm himself anymore.

Then the regret began to seep into his head. It wasn't regret for his actions; even after all of this he smiled when he thought of them. He felt at peace knowing that, even though he currently suffered for it, that he had made the world a better place for a short period of time. He felt regret, knowing that he had ultimately failed to delete evil. While he had barely regained his sanity there were still slips into the quagmire of lunacy. His mind took to creating apparitions for him to converse with, or perhaps the visions were real. He had no way of telling. The first had been his God, Light Yagami. He had begged his God to free him from his own personal hell.

"My God, please!" Mikami had cried begging the vision before him "Save me! Free me from this place!"

The spirit had laughed "You still believe that Mikami? After all this time? Think, how could I have been defeated if I was a God? No, I was just a human, and you? You were just an idiot, who grabbed on to the idea of Kira with all you could. Now you are just a sorry mess, nobody cares for you and nobody wants you. Even Hell has no place for you."

And with those words, the phantom had vanished leaving Mikami alone. It left him alone with nothing but shame. It seemed so obvious now, Gods were infallible. Why would Light need his help to do anything? His fanaticism and blind devotion had been his downfall. His naivety had led to his current predicament. This simple fact had enraged Mikami, who had cursed and yelled. He had hit the ground with his fists in anger and desperation. That was when the second apparition had appeared. It was none other than his mother.

"Mother," Mikami had uttered not truly believing the sight before him "is that you?"

The spirit had nodded sadly at him "Yes Teru, it is me. I am very disappointed in you. I was awaiting your arrival in heaven. You were such a good child, I was certain you and I would be reunited. I waited years, but yet you never came. Finally I found you, but not how I wanted."

"But Mother," Mikami had protested, desperately trying to defend himself from his mother "I am still good, I did what I did for the benefit of Mankind. Surely you can understand that? I am not evil!"

The spirit had shaken its head "Teru Mikami, was a good and kind boy. He fought to defend his classmates from bullies; he refused to back down in front of what he though was wrong. Even when his mother scolded him for it. Teru Mikami was a hardworking and regimented man; he kept himself in good shape and fought to put criminals in jail in a lawful way. Teru Mikami was a human being. You are not Teru Mikami, you are not my son! You are Kira, an evil that devoured my boy! You aren't good, and you deserve your current fate!"

And with that Teru's mother had disappeared, leaving only Mikami once more. He had been in shock for quite some time; he hadn't been prepared for his mother to truly disown him in such a way. He could feel a lone tear trailing down his cheek, but he quickly rubbed it off. His mother had never truly understood his way of doing things, he was glad when she died when he was younger. He still, however, couldn't shake the feeling of pain in his heart. It was at this point another two apparitions had appeared. It was himself when he was a child and himself before he had begun to be influenced by Kira.

The younger version had spoken first "Truly despicable, that we once were the same person. How could someone so evil have come from me?"

Mikami had angrily responded "I am not evil! I defended the innocent from the evil of criminals. You should be proud of me!"

The older apparition had scoffed "Proud, of a criminal? Please, you are no different from the filth we once fought to lock up. No, in fact you are worse. At least the criminals don't pretend that they are anything better."

At this point Mikami had broken down, tears freely flowing from his cheeks. He had fallen to the ground in a foetal position. This entire ordeal had been too much for him to bear. He had cried for what felt like an hour, his eyes were red and sore. Not once had the spirits moved. Instead they looked at him with a mixture of disgust and shame. Disgust as they looked at the monster before them. Shame as they had contributed to the monster before them.

It was at this point the fifth apparition had appeared; it was inherently different from the rest. It had looked exactly like him, except for the red Shinigami Eyes burning brightly as it scanned the other two apparitions. It had propped Teru up, allowing him to stand once more. Then it too spoke.

"Take no notice of them," the Kira Mikami apparition began "they are just as evil as they say you are. They too wish to interfere with justice; both of them are inferior versions of you. They are injustice!"

At this point the previous two apparitions looked visibly disturbed by the newest apparition before them. The Kira apparition leaned beside Mikami's ear before speaking.

"But not us," it spoke slowly enunciating every syllable "we are different, for we are justice!"

And with that all the apparitions vanished leaving only Mikami again, the man was calm now. His belief in himself and his ideals had been restored. Perhaps he had been foolish for believing Light was a God, but he hadn't been foolish for believing his ideals. The reasoning was wrong, but the motives were right. He had finally corrected that reasoning. The Kira apparition had either turned tha man sane, or returned him to madness. Time would tell which.

All of these events had led to his current state. Now Mikami did little but stare, waiting for something. He was waiting for something, he wasn't sure what. But, despite his uncertainty, he felt a need to wait. After what felt like eons of sitting patiently he was rewarded. A familiar Shinigami appeared.

"Hey Mikami," said the Death God staring at the prosecutor with his omnipresent grin "how's it been?"

Mikami looked up "What have you come here for? What do you want from me? Haven't you ruined my existence enough?"

Ryuk raised his hands in defence "Hey Mikami, that's no way to treat an old friend. Anyways I came to make you an offer. I think you'll like it."

Teru stared interestedly at the Shinigami "Go on, what is the offer?"

"A second life for you, memories intact and you get a new Death Note as well as Shinigami Eyes. Better yet if you end up dying naturally in this life you won't be subject to this nothingness again. A free guaranteed trip to heaven for you, all expenses paid."

It would have been a lie for Mikami to say he wasn't interested. A second chance to protect justice was enticing alone. However this heap of benefits couldn't come without a cost. As life had taught him "You never get anything for free."

"What are the terms of this offer?" asked Mikami.

The Shinigami's eyes glowed "You can't use the Death Note without finding a willing accomplice or partner. And you also won't be reincarnated into the world you left. Instead you will be born in a different world."

Mikami nodded "Those terms are acceptable, as long as I can escape this wretched place."

The Shinigami smiled in confirmation "If you accept my offer you will have to deal with me watching what you are up to. I will be watching from the side-lines however, the Shinigami World is still quite dull; such quality entertainment like you, it's quite to come by."

Mikami was however confused, despite his gratitude at having the luck to have a second chance at life he could only think about one thing.

"Why did he choose me?" Teru thought to himself "Go-Light would have been a far better choice."

Teru decided to ask this "Why did you choose me Ryuk? Surely Light would have been a more entertaining choice?"

The Shinigami shook his head "Well you see I'm not allowed to have Light reincarnated. He is in a rather tight spot with the old man, he is forced to relive the deaths of everyone he killed using the Death Note. He isn't getting out of that anytime soon. So I got you, the next best thing. I bribed the King with fifteen apples to revive you, so please be worth it."

Mikami nodded "Oh and one last thing before we agree to this, how long has it been since I died?"

Ryuk chuckled "You have been dead for four hundred and twenty three years."

Mikami knew that he had been gone for a long time, but hearing that he had been gone that long was shocking. He supposed it was a side effect of this place, there was no perception of time here. Everything stayed the exact same, there were never any discrepancies. If there was Teru was confident he would notice, he was a observant man.

Ryuk spoke again "So what do you say? Please accept, I already paid my fifteen apples to the King. If you don't accept I will have to reincarnate Misa, please don't make me do that. She is annoying and won't last long in the world I will have you sent to."

Mikami smiled, for the first time in centuries, "Very well I accept, you have my permission to reincarnate me."

Ryuk was giddy with joy "Excellent, if you are confused about things during your time in this world ask me. I will tell you what you need to know. Make no mistake this world is certainly different to your own. It is far more dangerous."

Mikami voiced his acknowledgement "I understand, but being here is worse than any other fate."

The Death God laughed once more, before extending his hand towards Teru. The prosecutor accepted it without hesitation, eager to escape the prison where he had spent the last four centuries. And before he even knew what was happening everything went dark for Mikami, with one thought left his mind. One thought that screamed at him inside his head relentlessly.

"In this world there is only good and evil, and all evil must be deleted. There is no moral grey, and no mercy can be shown."

When Mikami awoke, he could see Ryuk had been very literal about him being "reborn". Needless to say, he was a lot smaller and weaker than he once was. He could see the face of his mother. While a regular new born wouldn't be able to understand what the shouts and confusion meant, Teru did. The look of pure exhaustion on the woman who had birthed him confirmed it all; she was dying from the strain of having him. Mikami didn't feel sad; the woman had served her purpose. She was at peace now, free from the corruption of the world. There was no greater gift.

The building looked very medieval in appearance, with large wooden beams and a heavily wooden floor. The doctors didn't particularly look very modern either, with one wearing what appeared to be a coat with a primitive stethoscope. He turned to his colleague.

"We have lost the mother; we will have to put this new-born up for adoption. Record the death of the mother as follows: June 7th Year 822." said the doctor with glasses who was shaking his head.

"But Grisha, who will look after the boy?" asked Grisha's colleague, a short man who looked to be nearing the end of his career.

"I remember one of the Wall Cullt priests was asking to take on a new protégé. Perhaps he'll raise the boy as his own." answered Grisha, turning to look at the child he was holding.

"Hmm… what should we call you little one?" Grisha began pondering the child's name "Mrs Ackerman told me a bit about her language and the names they gave. We shall call you Teru, Teru Mikami that will be your name. Do you like that name?"

Mikami stared disinterestedly at the doctor before him; he decided that he would give no indication of his intelligence. So he merely stared dumbly at the man, who took his silence as a positive answer. He felt himself slowly being carried outside to whatever civilisation awaited him, it was a daunting prospect. However, Teru was confident that he was prepared for life in this world. The first thing that struck when he went outside was a massive structure. The walls, they were at least one hundred feet tall!

"The Death God wasn't lying, this place is different to Earth."