AN: So this is the first fic I'm publishing here... constructive criticism would be nice. It's also cross-posted on Ao3. I just kinda want to improve my writing and see what appeals to people and what doesn't, I guess. This was just something I came up with, I may or may not be continuing it. Thanks for being interested enough to click on this fic. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Death Note and its related fandoms do not belong to me, nor do I own any of the characters who may appear or get mentioned in this fic. I only own the idea.
November 5, 2004
.
It was raining.
Rain pattered noisily against the roof of the building, hitting the concrete with almost deafening pitter-patters. It was as if the weather knew, and the world was grieving for the anticipated fall of the greatest detective it had ever known. But that was ridiculous. The world should be celebrating Ryuzaki's death. It marked the victory of Kira, and the milestone of a new age.
In a way, Light almost regretted forcing Ryuzaki into a corner and manipulating Rem to kill him. It wasn't out of guilt, or anything like that. It was more disappointment that such a bright mind had been unable to accept his justice, and had opposed him. Light allowed himself to wonder what would have happened had the solitary detective gone along with his plans, agreed with them even. Light thought that, maybe, just maybe, they could have been true friends.
This, however, was not to be. It had probably been fated from the very beginning. Light and L... the brightest minds existing on this earth. They had been made to clash and fight. Light felt a bit bad, having to kill the one person who he might not have minded befriending, but it had to be done. He was Kira, and Ryuzaki was L. They were bound to fight, until one of them lost and the other won. That was how it was. Kill or be killed...
"Ryuzaki, what are you doing out here?"
The detective's pale face came fully into view, wide eyes blinking as his wet hair flopped in his face. Ryuzaki looked... strangely sad somehow. It was like he knew... and Light honestly wouldn't put it past him. Ryuzaki had the sharpest instincts of any person Light had ever met, and he respected that, even though he had lost in the end, or would lose, seeing as how he had failed to gain the evidence needed to convict Light. Ryuzaki tilted his head and cupped a hand around his ear, an obvious signal to speak louder. Light sighed in irritation, he hated repeating himself, and he had thought that Ryuzaki would be the last person he would have had to repeat himself to, seeing as the other genius could so obviously keep up and occasionally surpass him. Unfortunately, it seemed that he would have too. The rain was blocking out too much of his voice.
Light had the brief urge to silence the rain by writing it in the Death Note, but no, that would be foolish. How absurdly insane of him...
"Ryuzaki, what are you doing out here?"
He made sure to hide the slight edge to his voice, although he was sure Ryuzaki picked up on it anyway, because he tilted his head even further and made a vague motion with the hand cupped around his ear, a strange looking smile (or was it a smirk?) twisting his lips.
... That little bastard.
It took all of Light's (rather impressive) self-control to not stiffen in anger like he wanted to. Ryuzaki could always draw such responses from him. Ryuzaki knew, he knew that Light hated getting dirty. It was a pet peeve of his. Forcing him to go out into the rain... Well it was obvious now that Ryuzaki was provoking him, perhaps in a last fit of childishness before his heart stopped beating. Light felt vaguely triumphant, knowing that soon the heart of the man across from him would be still and lifeless, just like all those criminals he had killed. Criminals... that was what L was, a criminal, for standing up against him. There was nothing else to it, nothing else to call him. Just a criminal, a detective, a strange insomniac, a sugar addict, a social recluse, his enemy. It was curious that he didn't feel all that eager. When he had beaten Naomi Misora, he had felt jubilant. However, on the brink of his victory, most of what he was feeling was an unusual sort of longing for what could have been. Strange, he had never been one to be wistful. It was a new feeling, one he wasn't entirely sure he liked.
Light began to walk toward the slouching detective, whose shirt was so soaked it was see-through.
"I said, what are you doing out here?" Light called out as soon as he got close enough.
Ryuzaki didn't respond for a moment, blank eyes seemingly looking right over him. It annoyed him that he was seemingly unimportant enough for the detective's full attention, and if that wasn't enough, Ryuzaki turned his face away from him, looking up at the sky. Light felt a bolt of anger shoot through him. Not enough to send him ranting in the silence of his own head, but enough to make his fingers twitch minutely.
Still not looking at him, Ryuzaki spoke in his low, monotone voice. "You are Yagami Light, are you not?"
Confused, Light replied slowly, as if he were talking to an asylum escapee or a young child, "Yes... where are you going with this, Ryuzaki?"
Ryuzaki lowered his head, before shuffling so that his entire body was facing Light. His bare feet splashed against the puddles gathering on the rooftop. Light had the sudden realization that he must have been cold, standing out in the rain for who-knows-how-long.
"Ya - ga - mi - Light," he said, as if testing out the syllables on his tongue was of utmost importance and required a great amount of concentration.
Light felt a slight tremor of unease. Something told him that this wasn't quite right, that something was wrong. But what? He wasn't sure. He was missing a vital piece of the puzzle, and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Typical of him, Ryuzaki, to throw him in a loop just before his ultimate victory. He eyed Ryuzaki warily as the dark-haired male began to lift up his head. Noticing the grin on the insomniac's face, he crossed his arms protectively in front of his chest, wondering if the detective had finally lost it and was going to attack him. Light was fairly confident in his ability to defend himself, but Ryuzaki had more experience, and Light honestly wasn't sure who would win in a full-out fist fight against each other.
Ryuzaki lifted his head, fully exposing the grin. It didn't seem to fit on his face. Light had seen him smile slightly before, he had even seen him smile genuinely. But they had never been very big smiles. This grin was insincere and a little scary in its apparent brightness, and seemed out of place on the normally serious detective's face.
"Oh Ya - ga - mi - Light!" he chirped, and all of a sudden that insincere and out of place grin turned sharp and wide and, well, for lack of better words, insane. His hands curled viciously around Light's collar, and Light jolted in shock, because he hadn't remembered Ryuzaki being close enough to touch him. How had the detective moved so fast? Or maybe Light was reacting too slowly. "You killed me, ne~, don't you remember?"
Light stumbled backward in shock as Ryuzaki pushed him with a viciousness he hadn't known the man possessed, falling on his ass and causing the puddle he landed in to splash. He stared up, partially terrified but mostly incredulous, as the dark haired man bent over him, the leer still on his lips. "Did you enjoy it?" he sang, "Holding my dying body in your arms? Did you revel in the dwindling light of my eyes as I faded from existence? Did you rejoice as my heart stopped beating?" 'That's right,' Light realized. 'I killed him. He dropped the spoon and it fell just like its owner, down and onto the floor, dirtied by shame and failure.' He had the sudden urge to laugh, to throw his head back and cackle in uncontrollable shrieks of hilarity. To be honest, it was an extremely irrational urge and he questioned his sanity for even thinking upon the possibility of performing such an unusual action. But his sanity was completely fine, of course. It had to be.
Ryuzaki paused and stepped backward slightly, putting a thumb to his lips and suddenly frowning. He looked much more like how he was supposed to when he didn't have that half-crazed grin on his face. "Hmm, you're right," he hummed, even though Light hadn't said anything. "It's absolutely nothing."
"... Nothing?" Light asked in disbelief, dropping the act (because the detective obviously knew now, so what was the point of wasting energy in his charade? Of course, he should never put his guard down like that, he knew better, so why...?). "Nothing?!" He got up to his feet and shoved Ryuzaki back, the force behind the action sending the dark haired detective stumbling. "I have rid the world of criminals who would otherwise hurt even more people!" he shouted. "You have no right -"
The insane grin was back. It looked so unnatural on Ryuzaki's face, but at the same time Light felt like maybe he had just missed this persona lurking inside L. All of a sudden his slight remorse at having killed a genius so like himself was gone, and instead replaced by gratefulness that he had killed off the detective before he got the chance to change into... whatever this was. "Oh... I have no right?" his eyes lit up and he looked more alive than Light had ever seen him before, although he also looked a lot more crazed. "Light-kun has no idea!" Light felt vaguely like a cornered animal as Ryuzaki began circling him.
Light tilted his head slightly, turning to keep Ryuzaki in his line of sight. "What, Ryuzaki?" he asked, morbidly curious but also wary. "What do I have no idea of?"
All of a sudden, the rooftop was gone and he was in the dark. Hands clamped like vice around his neck and Light realized he was lying on the ground. His hands flew up to his throat, trying to pry the offender's appendages off of his vulnerable nape, and ultimately failing. He struggled and lashed out, hoping to land a kick on his assailant, but his blows never landed. The hands around his neck began to squeeze, and Light choked as a sudden, angry fear shot through him. He couldn't die here, he was Kira, he was god, god was invincible he couldn't die he mustn't die he -
"You have no idea of the people I've killed."
The area around him was bathed in light, and he was finally able to get a good view on who was pinning him down. "Ryu - za -" Light broke off, unable to make any noises other than aggravated grunts and coughs as his windpipe was squeezed.
"You... do not have what it takes to kill."
Light was outraged - what did Ryuzaki know?! Of course he had what it took to kill, he had killed thousands. Ryuzaki didn't seem to understand, just how much blood was on his hands.
"You... Yagami Light..."
His vision was beginning to tunnel, his attempted breaths wheezing. His hands stopped clawing so viciously and his struggles were growing weak. 'Shit, I'm going to die,' he thought.
"... You have never truly killed before in your life."
The hands around his neck were loosening and Light gasped, immediately kicking out with his legs but not connecting because where had Ryuzaki gone?! Light pushed himself up to his feet and spun around, eyes wide and stance defensive. He jumped as the room was suddenly bathed in a dark red light.
"... You've never had the feeling of someone's life pulsing under your hands."
The suffocating feeling from when Ryuzaki had been strangling him was back, and Light staggered, somehow managing to stay on his feet. He felt for the phantom hands around his neck, but there was nothing there.
"... You've never felt the blood dripping down your fingers."
Light felt a wetness by his feet and looked down. Blood lapped against his legs, staining his pants. He looked around in shock, wondering where the blood was coming from, but it seemed that it filled the entire room, not rising but not lowering, simply... there. It was sticky and wet and Light almost gagged with disgust, before remembering that he was already neck-deep in the red substance he was currently wading in.
"... You've never had that feeling when you know that you and you yourself and your own hands are going to kill."
"You're wrong!" Light shouted into the distance, trying to pinpoint where exactly Ryuzaki's voice was coming from. "I've killed thousands with my own hands! Their names and their faces, they were in my mind and I wrote them down and I knew they were going to die. I've killed, Ryuzaki, I've killed and I've killed and I've killed, over and over again."
"But you've never felt it," Ryuzaki replied, voice sickly sweet. Light spun and made his way toward the direction it had come from. "You've never felt their life in your hands, never known with absolute certainty that you controlled everything. You didn't even kill me, you got one of your pawns to do it, and held my life in your hands as if you had taken it, when you really hadn't."
Just a little closer... if Ryuzaki would just talk again, then Light could find him and end this. Whatever... this was. Light needed to goad another response from him.
"What would you know, anyway?" Light taunted. "It's not like you, the world's greatest detective, have killed anyone." He pretended to realize something and gasped mockingly. "Or maybe you have. Maybe 'justice' isn't so just after all?"
For a moment, everything was silent, and Light thought that Ryuzaki had simply left. Then he started cackling. In all the time Light had known the young detective, he had never even laughed, much less cackled. If he was ever amused (and that was a pretty big if) he would always make a sound sort of like a creepy chuckle. Never laughing, and he had certainly never made any noise resembling the laughter Light heard now.
The cackling faded into soft chuckles, before Ryuzaki finally spoke again. "Oh, Light-kun, you actually thought I was L? How sweet... but foolish. I thought you were intelligent, Light-kun! L is, after all, very dead." Ryuzaki's voice changed from light-hearted to serious in a heartbeat, and Light stiffened. Even though he had discovered that this person wasn't actually Ryuzaki, he was still missing... something. Just one thing. What was it? His mind began racing through different scenarios, but none of them seemed plausible. "And you killed him, Light-kun. You killed my Lawlipop."
Light jumped and stumbled backwards as Ryuzaki appeared in front of him, blood dripping from his wet hair. He was smiling as if amused, smudging blood on his bottom lip as he tapped it with his thumb. His shirt and jeans were stained with the red liquid.
"Do you know how disappointed I was when I found out, Light-kun?" Ryuzaki asked, tilting his head to the side. If it wasn't for all the blood, Light would have described the expression he wore as 'innocent.' "I hadn't even gotten to play with him." Ryuzaki pouted childishly. "I was so looking forward to that."
Then the insane grin was back. "I suppose you'll just have to do, Light-kun. Kira-kun. You cheat of a murderer. You don't have the guts to kill for real, so you sit at your desk with a pen and a little black notebook and watch it from behind a TV screen. Pathetic. Don't you know, Kira? It's much more fun to see your victims suffer in person. Kira. Light-kun."
Ryuzaki straightened out of his slouched position, and Light realized that the male was actually the same height as himself. The grin lost its edge of insanity, instead becoming dangerous and threatening. It was the grin of one who possessed great intelligence and knew they possessed great intelligence, the grin of one not going to lose without one hell of a fight. Light got shivers down his spine, but he would not back away from this challenge. He had beaten L, the world's greatest detective, how hard could this phantom impostor be? He was Kira. He was god.
They locked eyes, amber and dark grey. Ryuzaki let out a little chuckle. "I see you aren't afraid. My Lawlipop wasn't, either. Yes... you'll be a suitable substitute for him, Kira. Get ready, Kira. I won't lose this time."
Ryuzaki's eyes flared bright red and he lunged.
November 6, 2004
.
Light screamed and shot out of bed. "OW, shit," he growled, feeling pain shoot up his back as he connected with the hardwood floor of his bedroom. He lay there for a moment, gathering his thoughts and trying to calm down. As soon as he was no longer panting and his heart rate felt relatively normal, he got up and trudged to the bathroom. Gripping the sides of the sink, he inspected himself in the mirror. His brown hair was in a state of disarray, plastered to his forehead and sticking up at the back. 'What a sight,' he sighed.
"Eh... Light? Did I hear something?" Ryuk asked from somewhere outside the bathroom, probably floating around and eating an apple. Sure enough, there was a loud crunching noise that marked the death of yet another innocent apple.
"It was just a nightmare, Ryuk," Light replied calmly, beginning to fix his bedhead. 'An extremely realistic one,' he added to himself. 'Nonetheless, one that was extremely illogical. People with red eyes... ridiculous. Unless they - unlikely. What are the chances another Shinigami is on the Earth? Nonetheless... I should keep that in mind. But that L impostor... unlikely, nobody ever saw his face. How would they have know my name, anyway? Watari deleted all the data when he died... Perhaps they searched up all the members of the Kira Task Force? No, I'm thinking about this too much as if it was in real life. It was just a dream. But who is to say dreams cannot be real? Shinigami exist after all...'
Light's train of thought was interrupted when Ryuk exclaimed in a mildly interested tone, "Oh-ho! Looks like the great Kira can still have nightmares. Who would've known?"
'Yes, I would have thought killing so many people would traumatize the nightmares out of my subconscious, but I suppose it doesn't work that way,' Light thought. Instead of voicing it, he asked, "Where is everyone?" He doubted that his family would leave him alone if he woke up screaming. Not that Light had woken up screaming ever before. He rarely ever dreamt, much less had nightmares. Which made this one quite strange, didn't it...
"Your mother's in the garden, your sister left for school a while ago, and your father went to work early. He said you could have a day off because," Ryuk chuckled, "of what happened yesterday. Don'tcha remember?"
Ah, right. He had been so preoccupied with his dream that he had forgotten about his 'day off'. That was a lapse of attention he couldn't afford to have. "Yes, I remember."
There was a long, silent minute, in which Light fixed his appearance and brushed his teeth.
"... Hey Light. There are no more apples left," Ryuk called as Light was rinsing his mouth clean.
Light spat out some water and examined himself once more. He looked perfectly normal now, not like someone who had just had a nightmare. Not like someone who had killed thousands of people using a Shinigami's notebook. Not like someone who had a Shinigami following them asking for apples. Just a normal university student with a policeman father and a model girlfriend. "Alright," he called. "We'll go buy some now." And damn if he didn't desperately need a distraction right now.
After changing quickly into casual clothes, he pushed open the door to continue his facade of a normal life.
November 9, 2004
.
Matsuda Touta was walking to the Task Force Headquarters. He was simply walking today, instead of walking cheerfully like he usually did. Why? Well, it was because L had died a few days ago. Matsuda hadn't known him that well, but he was still sad that the eccentric man had died. Not to mention, the Kira case would be much more difficult without L. But he didn't worry too much about it; they had Light.
He stopped in front of the intimidating looking building as his phone rang. Fumbling in his pockets and muttering quiet curses when he couldn't quite reach it, he put down his briefcase. Grinning when he fished it out, he put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
A calm voice answered, "Hello, Matsuda-san."
Matusda paused. That voice was so familiar... why did he feel as if he had heard it before? But he hadn't... had he? He didn't know this number.
"Who -"
Before he could complete his question, the caller interrupted him quite rudely and quite reminiscent of a certain dark-haired detective. "I would like you to inform the rest of the Task Force to meet me -"
Matsuda, annoyed at the interruption and worried that the unknown caller knew about the Task Force, cut in before the man could finish. "Ah, excuse me, but do I know you?"
There was a pause. "Ah, my apologies, I thought that Matsuda-san would have been able to figure it out by now," the caller remarked, "I suppose I was mistaken." Okay, now he was really annoyed. Matsuda's eyebrow twitched at the insult, and at the simply appalling attitude this man seemed determined to have. He was about to retort, but the man beat him to it and said, "Allow me to reintroduce myself, Matsuda-san."
Matsuda really, really hoped it was something worth his time, because if he wasn't in the Task Force Headquarters in about half a minute the Chief would scold him for being late and Aizawa would snicker at him, and he didn't want that to happen for the fourth day in a row. If this guy had called him just to be rude, then Matsuda didn't know how he would -
"I am L."
...
...
...
Holy fucking shit wait what?
AN: So here you have it. Yeah, it would make a really interesting 'verse I guess but I'm quite uncomfortable with plotting things out, and am not confident in my ability to accurately portray the Death Note characters in all their complexity. Also, I have problems with updating regularly... so that is why this might not be continued. Yeah, I know B died in prison... but humour me. Sorry if someone else already came up with this... I really didn't mean to copy if something like this already exists.
Thanks for reading I guess. Review? Farewell, fellow insane fangirls/fanboys. Enjoy your potato chips. ;)
