Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note in any way.
A/N:
This is my entry for a competition on deviantart where the theme was truth or dare, and you could use it however you liked.
Italics are either thoughts or memories depending on their context
Who have you become?
Time seemed to be running faster than usual. The hands of the clock spun in a whirlwind against the dark watch face, the seconds pouring away in the blink of an eye. Light, lying listlessly on his bed spread, glared at his watch, his lip curling upwards as if the inanimate time-piece disgusted him to his very core. Death was on his side; even luck seemed to swing to his advantage in a twisted fashion that even took him by surprise at times. But time, time was his eternal enemy.
And to top it all off, the constant sound of crunching emanating from the corner where the towering Shinigami munched on a blood red apple, was beginning to grate on his nerves. Light grunted and sat up. He glanced out of the window but he could see nothing through the blanket of shimmering darkness that transformed the outside world into the night-time realm.
"It's not like you to not use your time productively, Light." said Ryuk between bites.
Light turned back towards Ryuk and smiled faintly. "This might surprise you, but I do get tired sometimes Ryuk. I need time to consider everything that's happened so far," he began pacing the small, dimly lit room. A clock began to toll ominously, its individual rings ever so slightly muffled from behind the door. Light stood as still as stone as he listened to the chimes with a keen intensity. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ten o' clock.
"Dammit!" He threw a pen that he had been fiddling with moments before across the room. It fell behind a wardrobe and was immersed in a thick layer of hidden dust. Light scolded himself inwardly for losing his temper and after a few deep breaths he fell into the chair by his desk
"Tetchy, I see." Grinned Ryuk.
Light did not respond.
"Or maybe you are just a little bit grumpy. Killing people can be a wearisome profession." Ryuk laughed unreservedly as he spoke.
Light's eyes darkened, not because of Ryuk's comments, he was used to those. It was the clock. "I can control the lives of others. I can stop anyone and all I need is their name and I can take away all the time they have left in this world with a flick of a pen. All those rapists, murderers, criminals! Those are the ones, the ones with no regard for the lives of others, who betray the laws of morality, who deserve to lose to time. And yet I... My time is dwindling away whilst I take away theirs. My every waking moment is now spent on judging them and giving them the punishments they deserve. I am ridding the world of its rotten and grotesque edges, its dark sadistic corners, its scum ridden surface, I AM A GOD" His fists smashed onto the desk as he stood panting with anger. "And yet time still punishes me. I don't have enough; I'll never have enough to finish my work."
Ryuk took several more bites out of the apple until only the thin, wretched core was left. "You are a murderer, so why shouldn't your own time flow away? You humans are always so contradictory."
Light laughed harshly and rounded on the god of death. "You can't put me in to the same category as them. They are vile creatures, every day more and more of them appear, not even the threat of death is a strong enough deterrent for their evil. The idiots, they don't even care for their own lives let alone anybody else's."
"'They'? Such interesting phrasing," Ryuk turned his head to one side, "you don't count yourself as one of the masses, a member of the human race anymore, do you? You really have surpassed my expectations, Light." The apple core in his rotting hand was already turning yellow, its time already gone, and its life eaten away by the air. Ryuk swallowed it whole through his leering mouth.
The god stood up and left, leaving Light alone in the dark room, a faint ticking noise still haunting his senses. After a moment of consideration he grabbed a thick black coat off the back of his door and pulled it on hastily before hurrying down stairs.
Just as he gripped the handle of the front door his mother peered into the hallway. "Light? Where are you going at this time of night?" she asked anxiously.
Light didn't look at her or remove his hand from the door handle. "Just, out. Don't expect me home anytime soon."
"No! Light, you're not going out. I hardly even see you anymore, my sweetheart. I feel like I don't really know you anymore." Her voice was trembling as she spoke.
Shut up, you stupid woman, He turned to look at her, a charming smile pasted on his handsome face, "Mum, I just need to clear my head, get a bit of fresh air. I promise that we'll start to spend more time with each other. But, right now I need to meet up with Misa; we have a hotel booking tonight. I won't get home until morning, so we'll have to start getting to know each other better tomorrow."
His mothers expression turned to one of confusion and horror. It made him smile as he threw open the door and strolled out into the cold, night air, slamming the door behind him.
He walked confidently through the dimly lit street, walking to nowhere.
The moon was full and glared at him from its perch amongst the stars. The night sky appeared like a court judging the infinitesimal and insignificant beings on earth who slept away these hours of darkness in complete ignorance, but their dreams, some innocent and some filthy gave away the true nature of their souls. The moon sat as the supreme judge whilst the stars whispered in the gallery. Some of these people, down below, won't wake up in the morning and will never see daylight strike a million knives through the darkness until it is vanquished and the sun rules the skies once more. Both the good and the bad will be gone in the morning... the moon was a heartless judge with no clear motive.
But Light, his judgements held meaning, a twisted meaning, but meaning nonetheless. Those who disobeyed his law earned the death penalty and those who dared prevent the implementation of justice had to pay the same price.
Light's dark reverie was interrupted when a girl screamed his name out of the darkness, before he could turn around the girl had already launched herself towards him and had her thin arms wrapped around his neck. Scantily clad and bursting with energy Misa giggled and then ran her hands through his hair.
"Light! Who could have guessed that I'd find you here!"
"Did you send Rem to look for me?" His arms hung by his sides, his body stiff and unsympathetic to Misa's embrace.
She let go of him reluctantly but remained bubbly as she smiled brightly at him, her blond hair seeming almost white under the strong light of the moon. "Maybe." She whispered tauntingly. "But I did manage to convince her to give us some alone time."
Light rolled his eyes and then continued walking as if nothing had ever happened. Misa followed him happily, her hand reached for his but then she thought better of it and reached inside of her thin leather jacket instead. When she brought her hand out again she had a lolly clutched between her dainty fingers with pink, perfectly painted nails. Those hands, those hands had killed many people, all for the young man who walked before her. In the name of Kira she had sullied those perfect little hands.
She tried feverishly to undo the wrapper on the lolly, but after a few fruitless attempts she had to admit defeat and instead stared sadly at the neatly wrapped lolly.
"Light."
"Yes, Misa?" Light sounded tired.
"Can you unwrap this please?" She grinned widely and held out the lolly right in Light's face. He looked surprise, utterly taken aback in fact. It just seemed like such a mundane request...
"Fine." He did not have them energy to resist. They both stood around a streetlight and Misa waited patiently as Light carefully unwrapped it. He had a vision as he stood there under that glaring light. A memory from long ago of doing this for his sister, her dark hair had been tied up in bunches and her eyes had lit up when he passed the orange lolly back to her... and then he had laughed a little as she twirled and giggled.
As she spun the skirt of her blue dress rippled like waves interrupting the silken surface of the sea. "I'm a princess!"
"Are you indeed." Light grinned playfully.
"Of course! And you are my manservant." She pointed at him accusingly daring him to question her. Her other hand rested on her hip.
"As you wish, my lady." The smile was genuine.
"Light?" Misa was watching him intently when he broke out of the memory. He rubbed his eyes and passed Misa the lolly. She began to lick it thoughtfully as Light lent against the lamppost; the light above them cast a perfect circle on the ground. It shone on the pair like a spotlight and together they made a rather strange still image. They were like actors in an obscure, surreal play where the script had been burned and the next scene was lost from all memory and blowing in the wind as ash so they could go no further with the plot.
"Hey Light, fancy playing truth or dare?"
Light looked at her steadily. "No."
"Oh come on! Don't be such a spoil sport! You can go first, truth or dare?"
He glared at her but she still smiled at him and showed no signs of giving up. "Fine." He sighed bleakly. "Truth."
"Do you love me?" she stuck the lolly back in her mouth and stared at him expectantly with her wide, shining eyes.
He met her gaze unflinchingly. "Of course." He smiled emptily.
"Do you ever tell the truth?" asked L. "Or do you always lie?"
She pulled the lolly out of her mouth before leaping up in delight, "Yay!"
She spun around dramatically her hair fanning out around her before she stood still again and threw it back over her shoulder with a seductive sweep of her hand that had been demanded of her so often during photo shoots that it had become a natural habit. "Now it's your turn to ask me."
"Truth or dare?"
"Dare." Her eyes widened in anticipation. He could tell she was hanging off his every word, like she always did. In this distance Light could make out the sound of a car coming in their direction. He looked over Misa's shoulder, watching the road.
"Come on!" She said restlessly.
The headlights of the car appeared around the corner, and then it was there, travelling down the road speedily, taking little notice of the road ahead in the safe knowledge that the streets would be practically empty at this time of night.
Light looked back at Misa. "Stand in the road, now."
She looked behind her, and saw the car.
"Now?"
"Now Misa," He replied sternly, a hint of menace clearly identifiable in his tone and intonation.
She didn't ask again. She trusted him beyond all reason and he knew it beyond all doubt. She stepped out into the road, in front of the oncoming car that was gaining ground every second. Her heart pounded in her chest, even though she had stared death in the face before... But she would do anything... anything for Kira.
For Light.
She didn't look up for a second, just stared at her shoes as she put one foot in front of the other on the dark tarmac. Her hair streamed behind her, caught in a twisting breeze. To Light she seemed to move in slow motion, as did the car. He counted the seconds. Feeling the ticking of the slender hands on his watch in his bones and in his blood, his veins seemed to pulse with every passing second. Five, four, three...
The next thing Misa knew she was face down on the floor and she could feel something heavy on her back, pinning her to the spot. She blinked in confusion and tried to turn her head. Hot breath moved her hair and warmed her ear. "Light." She whispered so quietly that he could hardly hear her. She turned her head the other way and could see skid marks on the road and the back of the car disappearing once again into the darkness.
They lay on the ground together for awhile, entangled in a firm embrace that Misa had only dared to dream of before.
Light gathered his thoughts and caught his breath before standing up slowly; dusting himself off slowly. Misa turned on to her back and watched in silence. She could only see his black silhouette, outlined by the light of the streetlamp.
"I thought I was going to die." She said to herself absentmindedly.
Light stared at her, lying there like a limp doll, her cheek bleeding from where it had scraped against the dirty ground. Misa could just about make out his eyes, but they seemed red as the light reflected off them curiously.
"I wouldn't let you die, Misa. Your eyes are far too beautiful to be lost on a corpse." He held out a hand towards her. She stared at it for a long time before gladly grabbing it. He pulled her up and they stood staring into each other eyes, hand in hand. A cruel sneer crept over Light's face. "You would do anything for me, wouldn't you?"
"Of course."
She fell into his arms.
"I like this game, truth or dare, Misa?"
She looked up at him, "But it's your turn."
He laughed at her, and then turned his head up to the moon, as if laughing in the luminary judge's face. Mocking that judgemental court, even the gossiping little stars for believing, even for a second, that he was one of the many insignificant beings that walked this dismal earth, that he had no larger purpose that surpassed even the rulings of time itself! Ha! He would gladly spit in their faces if it were possible.
Misa trembled against him like a shaking leaf as the night grew ever colder. He looked down at her his eyes wide with mirth, "When have we ever adhered to anyone else's rules?"
"Light Yagami, tell us what is your perception of the divide between right and wrong?" asked the old teacher, sitting himself down on the side of his desk.
"Well, sir, to be right is to obey the rule of law. Those who are in the right are right legally and perhaps more importantly, morally. Things that are wrong are usually wrong because the law has been dismissed or ignored. The divide between right and wrong is similar to that between good and bad. The good people in this world are truthful and conscientious of their actions and they respect the rules of society. The bad people dare to believe that these rules don't apply to them. That's why they get punished by the law, to show them that they are wrong."
"That's a very interesting take on it Light." The teacher looks behind him at the big white clock hooked on the wall, "Well, that's all we have time for. Have a good holiday everybody."
_
I wonder, Light, do you ever consider what kind of person you have become?