L Is for Life

(Edited: Grammer/Spelling Changes. Divided things up by their official chapters.)

Chapter One: L Lawliet

His hair, a hopeless mop of black, contrasted against the white shirt he wore. He was vaguely aware of the fabric, but more focused on his throat, which was dry. His lungs felt incredibly empty... his mind swam, and his lips parted, taking in the first full breath he'd taken in years.

With that breath came a painful jolt from every organ in his body, and his heart began jackhammering in his chest, rapidly then slowing to become a regular metronome of "da-dump, da-dump".

He looked around; he stood in a building that was dark and wondered if he were blind. This was the first thought... the second, he voiced:
"Where is Yagami Light?"
There came no answer from the darkness that surrounded him. He breathed, trying to ignore the uncomfortable worming there was in his gut, trying to forget the dull throbbing that had also erupted in nearly every corridor of his brain. All, save for one, which was that insanity section, the part that was in pain all the time, so much pain that the rest of the nerve cells, axon and dendrite all, chose to ignore it.

"Welcome back, Ryuzaki." A feminine voice came from somewhere around him. "Welcome... back."

The boy looked around, somehow recognizing that to be his name. His ears tasted sound for the first several time in years, which caused a section in the base of his head to thunk even harder. He was unaware of the deep crevices forming themselves in his brain as each memory returned to him, but he was unaware, because the other parts of his brain responsible for feel, logic, and emotion were not awake yet.

"Where's Light?" Somehow it was the only thing he could say. The words tasted funny, and to hear his voice made him cringe for reasons he didn't understand. It didn't feel right, because at that instant, his logic half of his brain as well as the emotional half both came into being. It didn't feel right... His mind pressed this issue, swam in its ocean of disheveled confusion.

Why didn't it feel right? It was his voice, wasn't it? Somehow it simply didn't feel right still.

"In several moments I think you should be aware of everything that happened before."
Before? He wondered. Before what?

Before, was a word, that meant, strictly, that something happened before... now. Before now? What happened before now? His mind began to throw splotches of blue and yellow; he saw the colors vividly, but knew that the reality around him was that everything was dark, and that really he could see nothing.

"Before what?" His throat had been dry before though now it burned with unrelenting fury, and he wondered how he should quell it. Gasoline? No, no... he corrected himself, water. Water was what put out a fire... His natural knowledge began to return, his mind starting to scoop out the knowledge from his memories and piece it with his logical sectors. The lines in his brain deepened, some smoothing, and many forming deep canyons across the smooth surface that less than five minutes ago had been his brain.

"Ryuzaki, what is your code name?" The female voice sounded closer now.
A slight, almost robotic pause came from the boy, Ryuzaki.

"Why do you need to know?" Ryuzaki didn't snap, but answered calmly and assuredly, his tone almost seductive in its simply nature. Somewhere in the darkness came a chuckle.

"Good, good... But you have three, do you not?"

"How do you know this?" Ryuzaki became aware that he was lying on the ground; he hadn't felt that before. He put his hands to get up, but suddenly found that someone or something had then gently put their hands on his chest. Instinctively, he reached his hands to try and get them off, but the hands then flew over his.

"Relax. I'll tell you everything in time. I'd turn on the lights, but I don't think your eyes can handle it." The voice came from a figure that was obviously only inches away. Ryuzaki's body tensed, not because of the closeness of whomever had their hands on him, but because he wanted out of the darkness. He had to settle his basic needs before he could begin to wonder about anything else.

"I'd like it if you would turn on the lights... I would like to see." He was unaware that he was pleading, and he felt the hands leave his own. Moments later, light erupted throughout the room, filling his eyes and lighting them, as well as everything else, brightly.

Ryuzaki looked around, taking note of a girl that stood a few feet away with her arms crossed, looking at him. She wore a jean jacket, buttoned to the top, blue jeans, and her face was too white, making the her deep blue eyes stand out in like pools of water on her face. Whoever she is, Ryuzaki thought, she's very young. He watched as she moved towards him, her brown hair, which stretched a little ways past the middle of her back, looking like it cascaded down in the manner it rippled and shook as she walked.

"I'm Teela, Teela Ketana." She announced, smiling, and sticking out a hand. "Don't ask yourself if we've ever met. We haven't. You don't know anything about me, but, I know tons about you."

The boy blinked, looking around now. He was in a white room, where only a dresser and a very large, clean window currently made the place look as though anyone lived there.. He also noticed that there were black buildings with little yellow squares for windows painted around the window, cartoon-like, mimicking the real ones that rested outside in the city.

"Are we in Tokyo?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Uhm... No, L." She seemed to bite her tongue guiltily. "How do I tell you this... It's been destroyed."
He looked at her, found that the seriousness in her face was solid, and blinked.

"What?"

"The entire country of Japan is gone. Destroyed."

More silence. Finally, the girl, Teela, began laughing.

"Just kidding, Ryu, just kidding... relax." She said, hugging the boy who only continued to stare, turning back to the window.

"Where are we?" He tried again.

"I'll tell you that another time. We're here, for now, at a friend of mine's place. That's where we are."
"Friend's place?" Ryuzaki asking, sighing. He had a headache, the first headache he'd had in a long time. In fact, he couldn't remember a time where his head hurt so terribly, aside from his early childhood, which was a result of, he later researched, the rapid development of the brain.

"Yeah. But that's irrelevant... L... Ryuzaki, do you remember what happened before? Before now?" Ryuzaki took note of her careful word choice, and immediately knew she was avoiding something.

He was deadpan after several seconds; his complexion darkened into a deep shade of scarlet, and the hairs on his neck stood up. For a moment Teela thought that she had seen his eyes threaten to roll back into his head, but as he took a deep breath, they settled.

"Data deletion... And after that, nothing..."
"Do you have any idea what happened?"
"I can't really think straight. Not sitting like this. Do you have a chair?" Ryuzaki asked casually. He had finally given in to answering the girl, because it was obvious that he wasn't the one in this situation given the chance to not answer. If he wanted his questions answered, he was better off answering hers too. He could figure that much, at least.

"No, I'm sorry..."

"And why is it that this place... this room doesn't have a door?" Ryuzaki took note of that strange fact and stared strangely up to Teela. She grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet.

"Do you remember what happened after that?" She pressed.

"No. Nothing. I don't really have an idea either."
"I want to tell you, but I don't want to ruin your sanity, Ryuzaki. I want you to make a promise to me." The girl looked up to him; she was at least a head shorter.

"Hm?" He looked down into her sea-blue eyes, and had to look away. Their depth and color seemed unnatural.

"You won't kill yourself or try to kill yourself."
"Why would I do that?!" The boy's eyes grew wide, the black hue under them almost seeming to be eye liner, but was in truth the neglect of sleep.

"Because... you died. You died, and I brought you back to life." Teela Ketana informed him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace, quickly letting him go to analyze his face.

"Dead?"
"No, died. You're alive, now."
"Dead?" He pondered. It was all he could do... Death was a non-logical sort of thing, and he tried to flounder in his mind for some memories of the actual process, if there was, but found he could recall nothing. Data deletion...and then nothing.

"Not dead. You died. Please don't keep repeating yourself."
"Okay... and you brought me back... how?" Ryuzaki asked, his eyes still wide, reflecting the hunger of knowledge.

"Death Note. Life Note. Think about it." She replied with boredom, taking out of her back pocket a small notebook that seemed no bigger than a CD case. Ryuzaki stared at it, watched as she opened the book to a seemingly random page, and there, written in beautiful, curvaceous letters was his name: L Lawliet.

Many question erupted from Ryuzaki's mind, so many that it was all he could do but sigh, because every word wanted to be said at the same time, and that was impossible. He looked up to Teela Ketana, wondering what he was being forced into, and how he was going to find time to get answers for all his questions...

After several moments of silence-- it was the kind Ryuzaki enjoyed the most: Devoid of all sound-- Teela cleared her throat and walked towards Ryuzaki.

"Amazing." She looked upon him as an onlooker might a painting.

"What? Why am I amazing?"
"Because you're a defiance of nature, L. In more than one way too."
Ryuzaki made no attempt to reply. He only sat there, waiting for something to happen. Generally he would have made a random remark right about then, some intelligent statement that would catch everybody off guard, but he couldn't seem to focus on anything else but his questions, and their possible answers.

"Do you want to take a bath? Have something to eat?" Teela asked, raising one of her thin eyebrows. Her face was too white; Ryuzaki continued to take note of her features.

"I'm not really hungry... and I don't see any place I can take a bath." He looked to the dresser. He needed a place to think, needed the comfort of at least something he could stand in and against. The boy stood up, walking across the room, to the dresser, and pulled himself upon it, sitting slightly hunched over and balancing his weight upon his two feet.

Teela chuckled, smiling. Ryuzaki didn't see her pointed teeth, and she seemed to straighten up immediately, her hand flying to her mouth, as though to hide that fact.

"Why're you amused?"
"You're just like you." The girl smiled, though not revealing her teeth.

"Who am I supposed to be like?"
"You're amazing."
"Please stop swooning over me." Ryuzaki didn't seem annoyed, and he didn't lash out at her, but his voice was unnervingly cold. The girl didn't seem to be bothered by it, however.

"The word you're looking for wouldn't exactly be 'swooning' per say, but rather marveling." Teela clarified. She watched as Ryuzaki looked up to her, seeming to analyze her constantly.

"How did you do it? Life Note? Does it have rules in it too?"
"Not really. Only conditions. Every person you bring back to life is in some way, and I haven't figured this part out yet, connected to you, and that bringing someone back takes half your life away. So really I don't think it should be called a Life Note, because if you bring too many back-- I mean, think about if your lifespan is already short?!-- then you can die too. But I'm not really worried about that."
"It must have been a heavy decision to make." Ryuzaki looked to his bare feet. They were too smooth to have really been his own, and he recalled having a bad case of dry skin on his heels that now seemed to have gone completely.

"Not really."

"Well any normal person wouldn't want to give up half their life for someone else. And why me? How many others have you brought back?"
"Only one other."
Ryuzaki stared. He watched as a small smile lit up her face, her lips a sliver of red against the ocean of white. His mouth went dry again, and he thought that perhaps it wasn't food he had recently eaten but chalk.

"Yagami Light?" The words came out in a sharp whisper.

"That jerk? I don't know what happened to him. I don't know if he lived or died. I never finished watching the show."
"Show?"
"Yeah! I watch other worlds... you know, dimensions and stuff. We're kind of a long way from Tokyo, but I watch other people and creatures. Somehow I find it entertaining."
"Another dimensinon?" Ryuzaki tried, tasting the phrase. He already disliked all of the things she was speaking of, because most of it he only believed he'd find in some novel or comic book, and worst of all, it meant there was a lot he didn't know. He never believed he knew everything, but all that she was telling him seemed wrong.

He had felt the same about the Death Note: everything in existence never spoke of a "Death Note" and it seemed defiant to reality. He secretly wondered if reality could be some higher force's TV show, and that whatever that force felt like throwing in to get a good laugh was fate, but as long as he was on the winning end he never seemed to mind.

"Yes. I suppose you could call it that."
"Are you God?" Ryuzaki didn't believe in what he asked, but at this point everything he had ever really "believed" was being tried.

"No... Heh, and nor would I want to be. He's a pretty busy guy, I'm guessing. I can honestly say I'm one of his creations, like you though! And that I'm very blessed. But hey, I can't exactly tell you you're God's creation, because I'm only inferring you believe in God. For all I know, you're athiest."
"Doesn't matter. I believe in whatever I want. Changes with the weather, but I suppose I should have asked you if you're a higher force or something."
"I'm not more better or worse than you, but I am a bit different."
"Mmhm... I guessed as much." Ryuzaki bit his lip, looking up to the ceiling.

"You're more talkative now."
"Yes... I can be talkative. When I'm not trying too hard to figure something out. Currently, I'm stuck here with you, supposedly freshly brought back to life, and talking about religion. It's a little strange."

"Only a little?"
"Yes. I suppose it could be worse."
"I'm a shapeshifter."
"Now it's worse."
Teela grinned again, revealing her pointed teeth. Ryuzaki stared, not at all surprised when they suddenly became dull and like his own.

"Awww... L, why aren't you amused?" She asked, walked towards him and leaning against the dresser. "I expected more of a reaction from you."
"I'm not really in the mood for reacting."
"Yes, I always wondered while I was watching you... do you have a depression problem?"
"Not that I know of. I'm not in the mood for much right now because I'm sick of challenges. If there is a higher force, I'm wondering if I was brought back either to A) end Kira, which I'd really like to know what happened there, or B) be the one person that all of life's mysteries and creations are revealed to."
"It's neither. Not that I'm a higher force, but through logic I can tell you it's neither." Teela shook her head to emphasize the point.

"What do you mean?"
"You've been brought back to live. I didn't think it was fair that you had died, so, I brought you back. Could have been anyone else--"
"This seems to be some sort of game to you. I'm not the only one who was killed thanks to Kira, and here you are---"

"I know, it is unfair that I didn't bring anyone else back. But I think you should be a little more thankful. The purpose of life isn't to solve it. Not everything is a puzzle, and things can be simple you know. I thought you knew that, but the way you're acting now says other wise."
"I don't need a scolding." Ryuzaki replied plainly.

"The purpose of life is to live it, L. I built your body from your DNA in your brain cells. I took your brain from the laboratory that had been assigned to diagnose a 'super-natural' cause of death. Ryuzaki, they didn't even put your name in the paper. Watari, yes, but not you."
"And that's the way it was supposed to be."
"No but I can't do that for everybody L."
"You played God, you're saying. You're just as bad as Kira. In fact, I wish Light was here right now."
"How do you know it was even him?"
"Oh come on... you think I didn't know? I just couldn't prove it. He was always one step ahead of me. I think that people playing God is just sickening. You brought me back from wherever I was, and now I have to suffer."
"Why do you have to look at it that way? I didn't play God. In fact, I think I was being rather human. I was given a chance, and a choice. I took that chance, I made the choice. If anything, if there is a higher force-- don't forget Buddha! We can't just call him God, because I firmly believe that the higher power shouldn't have one name-- then if they didn't want it they could have stopped it."
"I want to stop talking. You're giving me a headache. I want food."

"You're whining, but fine." Teela rolled her eyes, pulling herself away from the dresser. She turned towards the window, where the moon stood fixated and staring in at L, momentarily disappearing. She reappeared moments later holding two canisters of chocolate ice cream. Ryuzaki stared dreamily at the cans, and a small smile inched across his face, gradually trekking from ear to ear.

"Yum." He stood, and the girl held out the ice cream to him.

"Yay, I have my own pet L." She rolled her eyes, handing him the spoons and the cans. Teela watched as he took the tops off gentle and set them on the ground then beginning to spoon the soft cold substance into his mouth.
"Want any?" He offered a spoon full. Teela shook her head.

"No thanks. I've got plenty more... Whoops, wrong thing to say..." Teela shook her head as Ryuzaki paused and looked up to her, his eye becoming bright.

"Great. But you do realize that you're going to have to explain to me what I am to do if I supposedly died. I can't go back to my world."
"You won't have to. Not as Ryuzaki." Teela replied. "But eat your ice cream. In truth, I'm still trying to figure out what's the game plan." She admitted, shrugging. Ryuzaki went on eating his ice cream, paying her no more attention. His stomach had suddenly become an empty pit the moment the ice cream had touched his lips, and he was driven by the feel that if he didn't fill himself as soon as possible, that his own organs would eat themselves.

That was not a pleasant feeling.

"So who was the other person?" Ryuzaki asked casually. He had almost forgotten.

"It's not important." She turned away from him and towards the window again. "Eat your ice cream."

Ryuzaki found that being talked to like a child wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling either, but he supposed he could tolerate it for now. He had his chocolate ice cream.