Far away from Earth, perhaps in another dimension and on a different level of existence, lies the realm of Death Gods. It is a gloomy and desolate place, with harsh and dull landscape, where all notions of purpose turned to rust and ashes long ago. Death Gods just dwell there rather then really live, maundering about or simply squatting, like inhabitants of some lepers' village. The sole thing that can give them little excitement and any meaning to their existence are cards and dice, but since they can only gamble years of their life, which all of them can prolong endlessly, it is not particularly thrilling either.
'Completely rotten!' accurately observed one of them once, sitting moodily on the edge of rock cliff overlooking infinite drab wastelands. He felt that if nothing happens he will just die of boredom. Though probably even that would bring no revolutionary changes in his life, unfortunately...
He sighed heavily. Any entertainment would do. Any!
Down in the Human World certain seventeen year old boy was suffering in a quite similar way as his classes dragged mercilessly. It was one of the finest and very likely last of autumn's golden afternoons and it seemed even more of a crime than it usually did to waste his time in school. Apart from top marks that looked nice in records, it gave him nothing.
'Mr Lawliet, could you translate the last passage please?' came teacher's polite voice. The boy stood up sighing. He wasn't really paying attention, but he found the beginning of the sentence immediately, read it quickly, rearranged the clauses in his head and gave it's equivalent in flawless literary English. After finishing he waited emotionlessly for the teacher to thank him and ask him to sit down.
'Ah...' the professor seemed struck with awe for a moment. 'This is a perfect translation, yes. Just what could be expected from you, Mr Lawliet. Thank you, please, sit down.'
The boy sat with tiniest of snorts, totally unimpressed with a compliment that was his daily bread. He returned to his routine of reading another book, opened blatantly on his desk, glancing out of the window idly every now and then and scratching his one bare foot with another, despised shoes abandoned under his chair.
He signed up for Japanese classes two years ago in hope that the exotic language would present him with some challenge – something that all other subjects failed to do – but once he understood how the syntax worked, it turned out to be pretty simple. He really couldn't see why other students (and to his dismay sometimes even his teacher) found it so hard, and why the level of difficulty was rising so painstakingly slowly. In the end it turned out to be yet another class too easy to be enjoyed.
He bit his nails in boredom and thought longingly about pack of vanilla fudge and couple of flapjacks hidden in his bag. He never understood what harm it would do to anyone if he ate them in class, but his teachers apparently believed that some cosmic disaster may occur if he did. So after many disciplinary calls and fights his guardians promised that they will keep him supplied with all the sweets he wanted as long as he refrained from eating them in classes and also kept his other odd quirks within reasonable limits. It wasn't such a bad deal, especially that he managed to work out unspoken compromises with his professors. For instance most of them were willing to overlook his bare feet or at least heels, if he had the decency to seat in an orthodox fashion. And he was indeed well supplied all the time, so it was probably worth it. Though he still didn't see what harm chewing on a fudge would do.
As he was brooding over the idea of how unreasonable social standards could be, he caught some movement with the corner of his eye. He turned that way and saw some black and white object falling down through sunny air. By the way it's parts were flapping he figured out it could be a book of some sort. It hit the ground not far from the window by which he was sitting but also not too close, so he still had good view of it – small black rectangle resting among mass of red and golden leaves. The time started to run even slower, turning last ten minutes of the lesson into half an hour at least.
As soon as the bell rang, he slipped his feet into white trainers with trampled heels and headed outside, straight to the place where the object fell. He crouched above it and confirmed he was quite right in his assumption that it was a book, or at least it was close enough a guess, for at a closer look it turned out to be a notebook. He slowly opened a flapjack with generous amount of dried strawberry pieces, very careful not to tear the wrapper which he then folded in four and put in his pocket. He stared at the black notebook without touching it for a while, meticulously picking bits of fruits from the oatmeal bar with a slight frown on his face. He could not determine immediately what material the cover was made of and it interested him.
After he was done with the precise operation of removing (and eating) all dried strawberries from his flapjack, he licked his right hand's fingers clean and flipped the notebook, so it was now laying with front cover facing upwards. It had words „Death Note" written on it in white spidery letters. Again he couldn't tell if they were printed or etched or what. He put a lump of syrupy oatmeal in his mouth thoughtfully and opened the notebook gingerly. Inside of the cover was also black and covered with same white letters as the front, just smaller. He studied it in silence for a while, slowly finishing the remains of his flapjack.
It looked like stylised, very regular yet slightly grunge handwriting, or maybe a print that pretended to be one. The text was framed with moderate amount of ornaments, most profound being quite realistic skull surrounded with rays. The heading read: „how to use" and below it set of rules was listed. All of them told how the notebook could be used to kill.
The brilliant teenager couldn't guess immediately and with hundred percent certainty who made the notebook and for what purpose exactly, and that was sufficient reason for him to put it in his bag to examine it more closely. He took out the fudges, got up and set off for home.
Some girls giggled and whispered excitedly as he went pass them. He was no poster boy, but world is full of people (with special reference to teenage girls) who find slender and sickly pale creatures with huge dark eyes and messy hair quite attractive, especially if they happen to be quiet, mysterious and eccentric geniuses. If you add to that that he was junior tennis champion, excelled at martial arts and was rumoured to help local police solve few cases, it was really not as surprising as it might initially seem that he had his own circle of admirers.
Did some of them do this, to draw his attention? No, it was rather unlikely that whoever dropped the note intended it to be picked up specifically by him. It could be spotted by any of few dozen people who happened to sit by the window in any of the classrooms on this side of the building or an adjacent wing. Or by somebody who came to that spot during a break. Or even some caretaker whose duty was to clean the fallen leaves from the lawns. So it was probably not meant for anyone in particular, unless that person was tipped beforehand and he just happened to spoil the plan by getting to the notebook first. It could not be ruled out.
He looked around discreetly to see if anybody was watching him. Of course he already did it several times, first one before he even got to the note, but he didn't spot anybody acting unusual at any occasion.
He fished out a fudge from the pack, crossed the lane and walked out the school gate, slouching and shuffling.
The distance between the school and The Wammy's House, where L Lawliet grew up and still lived, was almost two miles, but he rarely used any form of transport, preferring to walk through quiet town and watch its citizens. For no particular reason he worked out very complex formula to determine which of the many possible routes he should follow on any given day and today he took a minor detour and crossed the railway tracks twice.
He kept chewing on his fudges and thinking about the notebook. Most likely it was supposed to be some sort of a prank, which incidentally had all the potential to be a rather cruel one. Or it could be some test, just how hard your moral spine was. Still he just couldn't see the purpose of it. This sort of things only made sense if their architect had means to see if a victim got fooled or not. In that particular case – if they believed the notebook had actual power to kill or not. The fact that somebody picked it up didn't mean anything; it was a handsome notebook, L actually intended to use it for his memos once he was done with examining it.
He doubted that mysterious joker simply didn't think about it. They were obviously imaginative and creative and L was impressed with amount of work they put into this one single prank. And even if they did think that picking notebook meant believing in it, what were they planning to do about it, honestly?
But maybe it was like L already thought – victim of this prank was selected earlier and somehow made to believe that they will find the Death Note, or generally some mysterious object in particular place in particular time? And L actually ruined all the fun?
Or maybe the prank was already a success and it was not it's author that dropped the notebook today but the fooled victim. Perhaps it was someone who believed note was real, got terrified and wanted to get rid of deadly item. If it was so, they chose rather stupid way to do it, but it was not impossible. Or they might already know they were fooled and in anger toss away the humiliating evidence of how naive they were.
Still it seemed really odd that notebook happened to land in the spot it did. It was way to far from any of the buildings to be thrown from their roof and L was pretty sure he saw it fall in a perfectly vertical line. The trajectory it should follow to do this had to be really high parabola, and he couldn't think how it could be possible with an object so light. It had to be dropped from some greater high, but that means from where? Plane? Balloon? Some sort of glider? He didn't hear or see anything like that and besides it seemed way too fantastic.
He entered the orphanage in a much better mood then he left it this morning. After all he didn't expect to come across something to kill his boredom at least for few hours. Even if it was just childish joke, it was not totally transparent, unlike most of the matters he dealt with, and that was good.
At three in the morning L was sitting with his knees pressed to his chest, peeling a chocolate coating off a marzipan heart and frowning at the notebook laying on the desk before him. He picked it from the ground because he was bored and thought it might be some sort of entertainment to figure out who made it, for whom, and what for. „Death Note" itself was just a piece of evidence, his starting point, first clue, first piece of puzzle. He didn't think it could be particularly interesting in itself.
He was wrong. It was in fact extremely fascinating.
After examining it thoroughly for many hours L wasn't sure what he thought of it any more. It's inconspicuousness turned out to be very misleading. At first he was certain that if it wasn't for a „Death Note" inscription and such strange „how to use", it would be perfectly ordinary notebook. Something any student can carry in his bag or keep in his drawer. Closer look made him question this assumption more and more seriously.
The notebook turned out to be just too perfect. Almost unnaturally flawless. Absolutely no signs of damage, despite the obvious fact that it fell from significant hight. No scratches, no spots of dirt, no imperfections of any kind. He checked each and every one of eighty eight pages and found absolutely nothing.
No information about manufacturer either, something that was printed in small font at the back cover of every other notebook he had ever seen.
No fingerprints too. Not even his own.
When he returned from school on the next day, he dropped his bag on the bed, grabbed the notebook, a box of Turkish delight and two boxes of chocolates and run to the chemistry lab. The one at the orphanage was much better equipped than the one at school, and besides, once he was in, he could stay as long as he wished.
He hoped that proper tests might explain his observations from the day before. For instance finding out that notebook was treated with some sort of impregnate would explain few things, wouldn't it? However the more he managed to determine, the weirder it got.
Physically it was normal notebook. Material used for covers was still a small mystery, but the pages were very obviously made of regular paper. They behaved like perfectly normal paper. All writing tools he used on it worked exactly as expected. When he doused a sheet in water and tried writing with pen, ink blotched it like it usually happens. It burned in an absolutely normal way. Smeared with oil it became transparent and difficult to write on. It could be crushed and tore easily. In all sorts of more sophisticated chemical reactions it behaved exactly like something composed mainly of cellulose should.
Except that under a microscope he saw not cellulose but some very weird crystallic structure. He re-checked all samples with all microscopes at the lab and there was no doubting it – the notebook was made of substance that was completely unknown to him. Although it was just paper.
Next day brought another surprise. When he came back from school, he immediately started to re-examine the notebook, which seemed to hold him in some sort of a spell. He counted the pages for umpteenth time and his dark eyes widened.
When he found the Death Note, there were eighty eight pages in it. Yesterday, to conduct his experiments, he carefully tore out total of six pages and a bit of seventh. The damage done to that last page was still there, but apart from that notebook looked, as if he had never touched it. The total number of pages was still eighty eight.
L had extremely unbiased mind. No preconceptions ever blocked his deduction and analytical skills. So yet again, he came to the most logical conclusion possible, although it would have seem horribly illogical to most people...
'I see you find it quite captivating' said an amused voice.
L turned quickly and his eyes widened in shock. There was most certainly nobody in the room when he returned from school a while ago. He knew in fact nobody was here all day, he always checked the door for that. But now a tall, grotesque black creature stood by the window. The boy threw both hands up and gasped for air in utmost horror, voice stuck in his throat. He lost his balance and fell from his chair, hitting the ground hard with his side. It at least helped a horrified yell escape his mouth.
'Why are you so surprised?' his unusual visitor sounded slightly hurt by his behaviour. 'I am Ryuk, the Death God who dropped the notebook. And judging from your face earlier I believe you already suspect that it's not an ordinary thing.'
L stared at him for a moment, sprawled on the floor rather ungracefully. He blinked few times and slowly brushed his black hair from his eyes. He managed to calm down, picked a teaspoon he dropped and got up.
'I am not surprised Ryuk' he said in a slightly offended voice. It was a rather shocking thing to face a Death God, but still he felt it should not be enough to surprise L Lawliet and he wanted to make it clear. He composed himself and let a small smile appear at his freshly put poker face. 'In fact I've been waiting for you Ryuk.'
'Ooh?' the creature seemed curious about it and L felt a little better.
'I've already realised that this Death Note is real-'
'Ooh?' Death God repeated, approaching the table at which the notebook in question was laying and bent over it. 'But you haven't write any names in it!'
'No' admitted L. 'But I studied it thoroughly and after all I've seen I was able to come to the conclusion, that this object transgresses natural laws, at least as we know them. Calling it an supernatural object seems highly justified and although it is not enough to be sure if it's properties are exactly as described on the cover, the probability is very high.'
'I see' there might have been a hint of smile in Ryuk's voice, but it was impossible to tell. His mouth were frozen in an eternal leer. 'Well, I must say you surprise me. I heard about few instances when Death Note appeared in the Human World and people had either disbelieved it or gave it a chance and used it. You are probably the first person who realised its nature without actually writing any name.'
L perched himself back on his chair in his trademark crouching position. There was a treacle tart on the table in front of him but he ignored it for a time, his eyes fixed steadily on the Death God. He was of course purposefully making himself sounding more certain then he really was, but he wanted to learn something and bluffing was one of the ways, wasn't it? The other being exchange...
'So I imagine you may want your property back, am I right?' he decided to touch the topic casually while finally lowering the spoon that was suspended in mid air in his fingertip grip.
'What are you talking about?' Death God looked slightly aghast, as if a teenage in front of him was being really dumb. 'The moment the notebook touched the ground of the Human World it became the property of the Human World. The moment you picked it, it became your property. It belongs to you, not me. It's yours.'
Ryuk froze with his long black finger pointing at L in a dramatic manner and when teenager blinked in surprise it turned out Death God's leer indeed can widen even more.
'Mine?'
'Correct. You can pass it to somebody else if you don't want it, but then all your memories of it will be erased.'
The creature seemed indifferent about it and maliciously amused, like a child that just managed to pull a prank. That idea again... Was it what it was about after all?
As L opened his mouth to ask another question there was a knock on the door.
'L?' said a slightly shy voice from the other side. 'Are you OK? I heard a scream...'
'I'm fine' the boy answered frowning slightly and shot Ryuk a quick glance. Death God cackled merrily.
'It's OK.' he sneered. 'Answer it.'
L hesitated for a second but finally decided he wanted to see what happens. He carefully put his spoon next to the plate, got up and went to unlatch the door.
On the other side was a boy with a huge bowl full of apples. He was much younger then L, most likely not a teenager yet. He looked both timid and awed and held the fruits as if it was a sort of offering.
'They just came, so I thought... Honey-crisps are your favourite, right?' the kid sounded nervous and apologetic, as if scared that his gift might not be accepted. L was used to that. If he was popular with some people at school, here, at the orphanage, he was almost worshipped. At least by the majority of younger kids.
'Wow, thanks! They are' he said granting the kid one of his small smiles and stepping aside to let him in. The boy blushed a little with pleasure and went inside. He started towards the small table by which L was sitting a few moments before, but seeing the treacle tart, cup of tea and opened notebook decided it was already too full for a big dish he was carrying. He looked around, hesitated for a split second and finally put the apples on the relatively empty desk.
L was watching him closely from his spot by the door. The boy didn't react to Ryuk's presence in any way, so most likely he couldn't see him. Theoretically there was a possibility that he saw him but purposefully ignored him, but its probability was rather low.
'That used to be my notebook, so as a current user you are the only one who can see me and of course the only one who can hear me' explained the Death God as if reading in L's thoughts. Not that it was particularly difficult to guess what he was thinking right now.
'How is your project going?' L addressed the kid as if the creature was invisible to him as well.
'What? Oh, fine, almost over' the boy seemed to be really surprised that his older colleague actually remembered about his matters. 'It would be cool if you could have a look at it...' he added hopefully, biting his lip.
'But be careful' Ryuk said matter-of-factly. 'He will be able to see me, if he touches the notebook.'
L actually considered asking the kid to do just that, out of sheer defiance. It was obvious that God of Death said it to unnerve him and he was tempted to show him what he thinks about his mysteries and secrets. But because he still had some unanswered questions, he decided to play along.
'Sure, no problem' he said calmly. 'Not today though, I am horribly busy.'
'Oh, of course!' the kid almost jumped, getting the meaning at once and only to willing to comply. 'I will not disturb you then.'
'That Death Note is the bond that ties you, the human, to me, Ryuk, the Death God' the creature explained as L closed the door behind the kid.
'So it was yours before, right?'
'Right. It was' Death God confirmed not very interested, helping himself to one of the apples.
'And you don't want it back?'
'No, not really. No' he bit it, chewed thoughtfully, like a conessoir, and sighed in appreciation.
'I see.' L cocked his head a little, tracing his lips with his thumb thoughtfully 'So you did drop it on purpose. I thought it might be the case.'
'Eh? Well, yeah, I sort of did.' Ryuk finished the apple and took two more, much more interested in fruits then in the pale teenager still standing by the door.
'Out of sheer curiosity, do all Death Notes have instructions?' L asked and waited patiently for Ryuk to finish munching on his honey-crisps.
'Apples in the human world are really good!' the creature finally said. 'How you say it... juicy.' He reached for another one.
L didn't say anything for a long while. He went back to the table, sat in the same weird fashion he had before and just kept staring at Ryuk questioningly with unmoving eyes. It was one of his best strategies and it turned out that even the God of Death wasn't immune to his gaze. His moves slowed down and became more awkward as he became aware of L's eyes fixed on him.
'Er... No. I wrote them myself in this one' he finally said.
'I understand.' L stirred his tea which already got cold and most of the sugar formed a thick layer at the bottom of his cup. So his grotesque guest wantedsomebody to find and use the notebook. It was logical to conclude that he would somehow benefit from this. 'What happens if a human uses a Death Note?'
'Eh? The victim will die, like it's written.'
'Sorry, I didn't make myself clear' L sipped his tea not looking at Death God. 'What will happen to the user?'
'Eh?'
Teenager finally lowered his cup and met Ryuk's unreadable eyes.
'We are talking about human's life' he said suddenly sounding much more serious and involved then he did until now 'consequences cannot be light. Besides it's a God of Death's notebook. If I use it, what will happen to me? Will you take my soul?'
'What are you talking about?' Death God sounded both amused and disappointed, as if a promising student did not meet his expectations. 'Is it some fantasy that humans have? I will do nothing to you.'
L said nothing for a while, considering what he's just heard, not too convinced.
'Are you trying to tell me there is no trade-off for using the notebook?' he asked sceptically.
'Well, if you ask, there is fear and suffering that is faced by only those humans who use the Death Notes' there was definitely amusement in his voice now and it wasn't indicating anything pleasant. 'Next, when you die it falls to me to write your name in my Death Note. And finally don't assume that human who's used the Death Note can go to heaven or hell. That's all.'
Ryuk cackled mistaking L's blank look for shock.
'You'll have something to look forward when you die' he added.
L turned away from him and focused on his cake.
'Does it matter to you in any way if a human suffers or fears something?' he asked matter-of-factly delicately scrapping the whipped cream from the tart.
'No, not at all.'
'I see. Can you write my name anyway, if I don't use the Death Note?'
'I can. I can write any human's name at any time. This is what Gods of Death do.'
'I thought so. And does it concern you where the humans go after they die?'
'No, it doesn't. I don't care at all. Once they're dead humans are of no interest to me.'
Ryuk was not obliged in any way to answer human's questions or share his knowledge, but also, with just a few exceptions, he was not forbidden to do that. So, just like the pale kid that picked his Death Note, he played along to see what will happen. In a way he already liked this new owner. Although he was not an expert on humans, he immediately felt that this kid's behaviour was peculiar and unique and found himself fascinated by it. Hell, even the meticulous way in which he was eating a cake, layer by layer, was hypnotising.
The manner in which L was asking questions was also unexpected, and as unexpected counted as interesting, Ryuk was happy with that. Still, he felt a little uneasy that he, the God of Death, was calmly interrogated by a human, and one showing no sign of fear too.
'Why do you ask all those questions?' he said after a short but definitely too long silence.
'Well I was wondering, how does dropping a Death Note benefit you' L answered honestly, licking his spoon clean. 'You don't seem to gain anything. Then why did you do it?'
'Ah' Ryuk once more did the seemingly impossible thing and made his smile even wider 'now that you're at it... Because I was bored.'
L actually rose his eyebrows, although the phenomenon was almost invisible in his thick black fringe.
'Bored?'
'Yeah. The truth is that Death Gods haven't got much to do' Ryuk explained eagerly. 'They mainly sleep or gamble. Even if you write the name of someone living in the Death God's world, they won't die and it's no fun killing humans from up there. So I figured it will be more interesting in this world.'
L tapped his teeth with a spoon, then put it down next to an empty plate.
'I understand' he said finally in a voice that indicated that for him the conversation was over. He closed the Death Note and pushed it slightly away. 'That would be all, thank you.'
'Eh?' Ryuk stared at him blankly. He would probably have blinked if he could.
'You are welcome to take this notebook back' said L calmly, sipping his cold tea. Ryuk would probably marvel at how the cup somehow didn't fall from L's gingerly fingertip grip, if he wasn't so surprised with a sudden twist in the conversation.
'What!?' he almost yelped 'You are not going to use it!?'
'Of course not' L finally graced the Death God with a cold look. 'Why should I want to use something like that?'
'Well... It's a great power, isn't it?'
'Power of killing with just knowing a person's face and name? No doubt. But I don't really have a kink for such things.' L emptied his cup, got off the chair, went to a shelf where electric kettle and some tin boxes were standing and started making himself another tea.
'Wait!' Ryuk was quite unnerved with the way this human kid was showing him his back, all interest in Death Note apparently lost. He felt a first class treat slipping from his hands and he didn't want to let it go. 'It's not just the ability to kill! See, this rules about details of death, it can be used to quite a great extend. There's a lot of things you can make them do before they die, practically anything-'
'No thanks.' L didn't even bother to turn, much more interested in dropping sugar cubes into his cup, one by one.
'But I said I don't want it!'
'I don't want it either.'
Ryuk took a deep sigh and decided to try a different approach.
'Look' he said in a tone one might use to plead with a stubborn five year old 'don't be so hasty, I watched you a little, you may not crave for power, but you care for what you call justice.'
'So?'
'Can't you really see what a great tool it might be!?'
L didn't stop for even a split of second to think about it.
'My sense of justice and how I embody it is none of your business' he answered flatly.
Another dead end... But even if somewhere in th corner of his mind he started to realise that this is hopeless, Ryuk the Death God was not ready to give up yet.
'But there are really countless ways...' he went on. 'And there are many more rules that are not written that you can discover yourself! Wouldn't that be fun?'
L sighed impatiently. It was really beginning to work on his nerves. The riddle was solved and the idea of playing with human life was sheer nonsense. What else was there to talk about?
'Look, I have no more interest in supernatural puzzles' he crossed the room, opened the window and pointed towards it in a wide welcoming gesture. 'Please take your things and leave this place at once!'
'No, wait!' Ryuk protested desperately. 'There is one more thing! You don't have to use the notebook, but if you keep it, you can bargain for Death God's eyes.'
L folded his hands and glared hostilely at his unwanted guest.
'Mr Ryuk, did I not make myself clear?'
'But listen' Ryuk was really pleading now 'for just half of your remaining lifespan I can make you see real name of every person you look at.'
'This is really enough!' L snorted angrily unfolding his hands and starting towards his desk.
'It will work even if it is just video or photo' Ryuk continued gliding after the teenager stubbornly 'just think how useful such a knowledge can be- Wait, what are you-!?'
L, who lost his patience completely, took a big bottle of black ink and a brush he used to practice Japanese, opened the Death Note and started to paint it's pages black.
'I thought I made myself clear' he spat, pointing the brush threateningly at the Death God. 'I have no interest in bargain of such nature, so just go away!'
He fiercely dipped the brush in ink bottle again and resumed his destructive work.
'OK, look, be reasonable' Ryuk raised his both hands in a calming gesture. He looked and sounded like somebody trying to approach psycho. He sort of felt that way too. 'I can do it for one third of your lifespan.'
'No thanks.'
More pages turned into black wet mess. Ryuk swallowed nervously.
'You can just keep it and think it over' he tried desperately 'and if you don't use it all those things about fear and suffering and not going to heaven or hell won't apply!'
'Oh, please!'
L rolled his eyes, which was a rare sight to behold, threw the brush to the floor and actually started spilling ink directly onto the Death Note and spread it with his bare hands.
'Quarter!' panicked Ryuk. 'Quarter of your remaining life-'
He broke abruptly because at this very moment a soaking wet Death Note hit him squarely in the face. He wobbled for a moment and barely caught it. Just as he managed to restore his balance he felt a push on the chest and found himself on the other side of the window.
'Good bye Mr Ryuk' L hissed spitefully. 'Oh, you can have some apples for the way' he added thrusting a bowl with remaining few honey-crisps into Death God's arms, almost causing him to drop the Death Note again. Then he shut the window violently, leaving flabbergasted creature outside in the dark.
'Check!' the kid smiled broadly putting a figure down on a board with a triumphant thud.
'Nice one' the corners of L's mouth rose slightly as he traced his lips with his thumb. The kid beamed even more.
It was an early sunny afternoon, but even at this time one could already feel the autumn chill in the air. All boys at the Wammy's House were forced to wear sweaters and L's younger companion was tugging at the sleeves of his unhappily.
'I don't like them too' said L, although he didn't seem uncomfortable at all. He picked a lump of candied ginger from a small bowl standing between them, sucked on it thoughtfully for a moment, then finally put it in his mouth and made his move.
'What happened to your hands?' the kid asked in a very casual voice, which told L immediately, that he wanted to ask it for a while but was nervous about it. He wondered why, it was completely normal thing after all and besides, the boy wasn't particularly timid by nature.
'Oh, nothing really' he answered honestly. 'I have spilled my ink.'
Well, it was quite obvious. His usually white hands were a pale shade of grey with some darker tones around his nails. It wasn't difficult to guess that he had them stained with some black substance and didn't manage to remove it totally. However the kid kept looking at him intensely, as if expecting to hear more, so L wilfully elaborated.
'It's actually quite funny' he said stretching his hand and watching his opened palm 'I got really angry about it, don't know why, honestly. I mean, the table got badly stained, but none of the books did, so it's really not a big deal... But I was furious, I actually tossed the fruit bowl out of the window...'
His voice was even and mildly interested, though in reality he was quite confused about his state from the previous evening. He remembered breathing heavily after slamming the window shut, black ink dripping from his hands, but he couldn't recall what made him so irritated. Weird.
The kid watched him for a few more seconds, then lowered his gaze and made his move. L focused back on the chessboard and for a while they both sat in silence.
'I won't tell anybody, you know' the kid suddenly said, very quietly.
L looked at him surprised.
'When I brought the apples. I saw it. That creature. And heard it too. Although it said you were the only one suppose to and that I need to touch-' he broke seeing L's bewildered stare. The effect was very strong as L's eyes barely ever showed emotions that clearly. 'I'm sorry for not letting you know immediately, but I thought...'
L blinked.
'B, what exactly are you talking about?'
Now it was kid's turn to stare. For a while neither of them said anything, then the boy called B bit his lower lip and looked away. L saw that he was hurt and bitterly regretted saying anything, but he had really no idea what that was about. Not knowing what to tell, he moved one of his knights.
'Check' he announced calmly.
B turned his attention back to the game but he still looked troubled. L watched him closely as he analysed the situation and made his move. As soon as B's fingers left his piece L shifted his tower and got up to his feet.
'Check mate' he said patting wide eyed boy on the shoulder. 'Come, let's go check your project.'
B kept staring at the chess board, while L collected bowl with candied gingers, flask of hot unbelievably sweet tea and two cups.
'Why did I loose again?' B was obviously disappointed. 'I thought I was playing well this time.'
'You did' L shrugged. 'You usually play well. But you are too unwilling to loose any of the pieces. Quite opposite to A, who thinks only about the king and readily sacrifices everything else.'
'So to beat you I need to make a major but careful sacrifice?' asked B gathering the pieces.
'Yes' answered L glancing at the boy. It made him a little uneasy how this kid seemed to be set much more on beating L in particular then actually winning the game. It might seem to be the same, but L knew that it wasn't. 'Don't worry too much about it, you are improving. And don't worry about the other thing-'
'Oh no, it's nothing, I'm sorry' B quickly cut in. 'I think it was not your room, you know. I don't actually remember it too clearly. Yesterday evening was weird. Maybe something about the pressure...'
L felt that the boy is not really honest and is simply backing away, but he had nothing but the feeling. And yesterday was weird after all. Wasn't he himself best proof of that? So there was no good reason to disbelief the boy.
'Indeed' he agreed. 'Though I doubt it's the pressure. It's like... Sometimes I feel like going crazy because of all that.'
'All what?'
L stopped for a moment and looked at B seriously, although it felt as if he was not seeing him at all.
'This boredom' he said and started towards the orphanage.
Thank You very much for reading this! This is actually my debut, I never wrote a complete story before, so I would be extra happy if You could share Your thoughts. All oppinions are welcome and appreciated!
Now just a few info about the story:
*Inspiration: The core idea of this story comes from the "The Temptation of Harringay", a very short and quite hilarious story by H.G. Wells, which is kind of a spoof on good old Deal with the Devil motive. In other words it's about a guy who, when His Dark Majesty appears in front of him, gets really pissed off and makes it clear where he can stick his canonical offer, contradicting the rather common oppinion that most people wouldn't be able to resist the temptation. As there are many similar sentiments about the Death Note - I mean the whole 'if you had it, would you use it?' thing - I decided to go for that idea; idea of somebody not just resisting the temptation but actualy totally not giving a damn. Instead of faustian Light why not give Ryuk the Harringay sort of guy? And of course it had to be L because... Well, because L.
*The OOC L: I stated in the description that L of this story is "slightly-out-of-character". That is because I wanted him to be really In-Character and I hope that my effort to reproduce his behaviour and the 'lol, it's L' feel gave some results. However to realise the original idea (see: Inspiration) he just had to crack in the end and loose his temper completely. I'm quite convinced that canon L would never throw the Death Note away so thoughtlessly, not when it was just to obvious that rejected Ryuk will just give it to somebody else. But this story was written solely for that precious moment, so I decided to kiss all the 'that's just not like L' thoughts goodbye.
*The switched thing: At first I was very determined thet it will not be an AU story. I tried very hard to make the whole situation as possible to happen in the canon universe as I could. I even wanted to end it with retelling of the end-of-Yotsuba-case scene where L actually gets his memories back upon touching the notebook. It would be possible to fit into main storyline, because those memories didn't contain anything that could change the final outcome and it would just be so bloody dramatic, wouldn't it?
But in the end it just resulted in too many boring paragraphs of lenghty explanations. So I decided to change the approach and stop bothering with such issues as 'if L went to school he would not be enrolled under his real name', 'L probably never went to normal school but had individual classes at Wammy's House' or 'at seventeen L probably already kicked ass as a detective and didn't need to worry about falling notebooks'. I cut it all out and went the other way - I purposefully made it as parallel to Light-Ryuk confrontation as possible. You obviously noticed thet I went as fas as using a lot of original movie dialogs and scenes. I think that it was a good decision because it actualy made me explore one of the best parts about Death Note - how Light and L were very similar and very different at the same time. I enjoyed putting L in Light's shoes in the end and I hope that so did you enjoy reading it.
*B's guest appearance: After I decided to make it as parallel to the opening of manga/anime as possible, it was neccesary for somebody to bring those apples, right? B seemed like a good candidate for mother/Sayu replacement, so I planed to put him there just as a little extra, just to make his fans happy in case any happen to read this. But once I made this I was like 'oh wait, if it's B, would he really not see Ryuk?' So my first reaction was to cut it out and not involve the story into any side-issues, especially not something from extended universe. But in the end I decided to give it a try (there was really no better apple bringer) and I added the current ending. I hoped it didn't divert your attention from the main thing as I feared it might.