A/N: This is a bunny that I adopted from the brilliant Shinami Tsuyoki. A very large percentage of the plot is therefore credited to her.
Disclaimer: The plot, Death Note and anything you might recognize is none of mine.
Warning: Insanity, one-sided pairings, lots of graphic violence (I'll try to make it 'classy' though, since it's for the sake of the plot and not just because I can).

-x-x-Room of Angels-x-x-

Morituri nolumus mori
(We who are about to die don't want to)

"I didn't think it would be so cold," said a girl, shivering and rubbing her red hands against each other. The girl next to her mirrored her actions after which she stuck her hands into the pockets of her pants.

"I know, I miss the summer already..."

The coming of fall had apparently taken everyone by surprise, seeing as a lot of people were still trying to prove to their fellow beings that wearing summer-clothes was a good idea.

Ryuuk hovered behind a group of them, bored with the ways of humans. Normally, they could entertain him for hours and he would silently amuse himself by observing randomly chosen subjects throughout their day, doing their meaningless little things, all of which - in reality - were merely distractions created by other humans to forget that they were all going to die eventually.

Something he never understood was their fear of death. For what seemed like forever, they'd created myths about so-called 'Gods' that would judge them the day their little hearts stopped beating, and send them to either some heaven where everything was what they'd always wanted earth to be, or a Hell where they would be tormented in all eternity.

He didn't get it.

He wasn't particularly unintelligent, but fear was something he would never be able to relate to. The thought made him want to smile. The great Ryuuk who didn't fear death. It almost sounded like something out of one of those human fairytales.

"Ryuuk," He groaned in annoyance as he heard the familiar voice behind him. Knowing what was about to come, he turned his head by a somewhat bizarre twist of his neck to glance at the white creature behind him with little interest.

"Tired already?" The female reaper sighed at the question, rolling her eyes to the sky above her.

"They get really irritating when they beg, you know. Your turn, there's one near here." Once again, an annoyed groan passed over his lips. Sometimes, being a reaper was no fun whatsoever. Not just sometimes, really. Having Rem as a colleague could tire everyone out, he supposed. She always bossed him around as if he was some personal slave of hers. Honestly, he didn't really understand why she disliked it when someone begged for their life. He'd always thought it to be hilarious... But as someone unimportant once said: 'every reaper has a different view of humans.' Ryuuk saw them as a direct source of entertainment and cheap laughs, whereas Rem almost seemed to feel sorry for them at times. He briefly wondered why, but decided to abandon that subject as Rem spoke again.

"His name is Light Yagami. He's going to get hit by a train in a few minutes. You better hurry." A train, huh? How boring... Accidents were no fun, because the 'victims' never got a chance to realize what was about to happen. No, the best way for a human to die -and for Ryuuk to be entertained at the same time- was definitely murder. However, he didn't have much of a choice. Someone had to do it, and it might as well be him, so he chose to look at the bright side and told himself that at least he would get some fun from watching someone get splattered across some rail track.

A couple of screaming bystanders would be nice as well...

"How dull... oh well, off I go. See ya, Rem." No reply. How rude.

.øØø.

Beyond was watching, almost voyeuristic, as the unsuspecting teenage boy walked with the grace and dignity of a king walking to his rightful throne. So arrogant... it showed clearly. But the boy, Light Yagami, only had about thirty seconds left to live. That was quite a shame, really; Beyond had found him very interesting and had actually been watching him for some time. A week, perhaps two.

He had been very fascinated by this particular young man. He was, unlike so many others, well aware of his brilliant mind. And he always made sure to let everyone around him know how brilliant he was, either through words or just simply by the way he behaved in general. The way he walked was a good example of this, but even so, his very being seemed to radiate superiority which frightened as well as amazed everyone around him.

But if he was so intelligent, how come he didn't hear the train approaching him?

It was painfully obvious that he wouldn't survive the walk home from his college, and he seemed totally unaware of that. How could that be possible? He was a genius, after all. Beyond had heard of such reckless behaviour; suicidal, it was called. The problem was, however, that Yagami didn't seem to have any reason to do something like that. He had a well-functioning family, top grades, was very attractive, was the most interesting human Beyond had ever had the pleasure to stumble upon in his search for additions to the House...

Yes, he should take Yagami to the House.

The numbers above the Yagami's head continued to count backwards until he only had twenty seconds left to live in. Perhaps he wasn't aware of his own approaching death? Yes, that must be it; his unconscious mind sending him the signals that something was wrong and that he would be better off dead, thus causing him to refrain from noticing that he was about to get hit by a train. Yes, that made sense.

Fifteen seconds left.

Luckily, Beyond was not far from the boy, and only had to hurry a little as he placed himself directly behind him and walked in his steps for a few moments before Light Yagami looked to his right...

His eyes widened in visible horror as he saw the enormous machine, no more than a few feet from him, not slowing down...

Beyond reached into him and grabbed his soul the moment he was hit.

.øØø.

"Ryuuk, is there a problem?"

"Yeah, big-time problem," was what he tried to answer, but it was very hard to talk when his mouth was full of apple. Rem asked him what he said, and he tried again, this time being more successful.

"Well, what happened?" She was obviously getting annoyed with him. Either that or the screaming humans were just irritating her. Ryuuk couldn't really blame them, he supposed. A mangled corpse lying at a short distance from the place where it had been hit by a train wasn't something they saw every day.

"You remember B, right?"

"Oh no... Don't tell me--"

"Yup, he got here before I did."

"But... Why?"

"No idea. But there's not much to do about it, I guess..."

"But still, there must be something--"

"Look, it isn't our fault that he can't keep his hands to himself, the Old Man knows that."

"But... what if that human suffers?" Ryuuk almost choked on his apple when he heard that.

"... That's what you're worried about?"

"I just don't want them suffering."

"Rem... he just got hit by a train. A train. I think he's already suffered plenty."

"I know, that's my point! He's already been through that pain, and he probably doesn't deserve more of it."

"But why do you even care?"

"Because I don't want anyone else to become what Misa is because of that... place..."

"Oh, that girl. Right. Whatever, then." Ryuuk turned his head to get a better look at the scene before them, let out a heavy sigh and got up from the bench he'd been lying on.

"I guess we should get back to work and let the Old Man handle the whole B-thing." Rem just nodded and flew off.

.øØø.

When Light woke up, he couldn't see anything.

Where was he? In a hospital? No, hospitals weren't this dark... the last thing he remembered was seeing the train and then everything went black. How he could have failed to notice the train was beyond him, but he was glad that he'd survived, at least. He didn't feel any pain and supposed that someone had given him some kind of medication. He hoped that he'd be able to go back to school soon; he didn't want to miss anything, even though it was all fat too easy for him.

He closed his eyes and tried to open them again after a few seconds.

Still nothing.

Slowly, he tried lifting his right hand to feel for anything that would prevent him from seeing. There was nothing.

Had he gone blind? And if so, could he regain his vision? He needed all five of his senses to work. He was beginning to get really scared. Perhaps he'd really died and gone to some afterlife? No, that was just downright insane. He'd never believed in any of that and besides, his body should be able to survive a train. It wasn't driving that fast. And if this was some afterlife, he shouldn't be capable of feeling anything, and he could quite clearly feel his hand resting on his forehead.

He was probably just in a dark hospital room. How long had he been out, then? Closing his eyes again, he decided that he could get all the answers when someone showed up.

"You have been lying on the floor for a while now. I suggest that you get up before your clothes get dirty."

He didn't know that voice. A doctor, perhaps.

Wait, was he lying on the floor? Why the Hell was he lying on the floor?

Not wanting to get dirty, he lifted himself up on his elbows and tried opening his eyes once more. This time he could see the silhouette of someone sitting in the dark beside him. Good, he hadn't gone blind.

"I can't see a thing," he said, hoping that someone would turn on some light.

"Ah yes. I apologize, but the lamp seems to be out of order."

Okay, he'd have to wait until the morning to see how badly he was injured. At least he was awake.

"Where am I?"

The person beside him moved slightly.

"Wammy's House." He'd never heard of that. He'd ask later.

"And who are you?"

"I am L."

-x-x-Room of Angels-x-x-

Morituri nolumus mori
(We who are about to die don't want to)

-End of Chapter One-

A/N: I know it must seem kinda confusing, but more will be explained in the upcoming chapters. Please review.
This chapter will be re-uploaded when it has been beta'ed and corrected.