Things Left Unwritten
A shortfic featuring Death Note and, well, you'll see what it is.
Standard disclaimer in that I do not own any of the following characters.
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The blazing eyes of triumph were the last thing L saw.
Deep down inside, in the pit of his soul, he had known Light was Kira from the first time they met. But L had ignored his instincts, insisting on hard evidence before doing anything. Why? Justice? Egotism? Confirmation that he was not just another version of Kira by following the letter of the law and having a trial before executing the mass murderer penmen? Or was it more basic, L just wanting to prove he was smarter than Light, perhaps the most brilliant mind he had ever met? Whatever it was that had held L back had cost him not just his life, but Watari's as well. That might have hurt him more than anything, though the heart attack was a close second. There was nothing peaceful about your heart stopping and dying as your vision slowly went black from a lack of oxygen. A bullet to the head would have been far better.
L had never considered the cost of failure, so certain of his eventual success. Now with him out of the way many others would die at Light Yagami's hands. In his ignorance L had remained blind to the fact his failure would leave the populous to suffer at Light's hands.
Suffering the exact same thing he was.
L felt his brain shut down and life leave his body.
And…
Then…
There…
Was…
Light.
Coming from a one hundred watt bulb in the ceiling of what appeared to be a standard Japanese apartment.
This was not what L had expected death to be like.
Reflexively L's observation skills kicked in. Yes, it was definitely Japan: Tokyo Tower was visible from the window. He wasn't the only occupant in the room either. A number of men of various ages and walks of life were also present, all Japanese if their facial features could be believed. An older man in a hospital gown. A younger man with an agitated look. A man in his thirties with glasses. Two other older males, that reeked of Yakuza, sitting against a wall. A high school age boy along the back wall. And to round things out, a dog that L could just sense would be annoying.
Oh yes, and there was a large black orb resting in the center of the room. That was certainly out of place. No markings on the surface gave any indication of its purpose. That was the real anomaly in this room.
More information was needed. Perhaps the occupants had some idea of what was happening. A cursory examination made L doubt it. All had the posture and looks of the confused and bewildered, especially the one with the glasses. Oh, they tried to hide it, and were dealing with it exceptionally well if they were drawn here in a fashion similar to L. That too was odd. But in any case, they seemed to have the same emotional state.
Wait. The high school student in back. He was different. His was not a look of confusion. On the contrary: it was curiosity and amusement. A closer examination for anything unusual revealed something odd sticking just above the neck of his shirt. Something black and tight. The way he held himself was confident. Yes, the 'Key' to this situation might very well be with that one, and L mentally designated him as such.
"Great, another one." That was younger man with the agitated look. "You don't happen to have a cigarette on you?"
"No." 'Smokes' phrase of 'another one' was further confirmation that this group was not organized. The likelihood this was centered on L became more unlikely. Were these all victims of Light? The Yakuza, perhaps, but the others? None of them were familiar, and L had gone over every confirmed Kira kill he could find. Any high school age victims would have stood out in L's mind, and he was certain the Key was not one of them. Older men were few and farther between as well. Although once L thought about it, the old man in the smock was familiar, but not in connection to Light. It was in a newspaper. He was a politician that had been hospitalized because of some sort of disease. A terminal one.
Now L noticed the enforcer half of the Yakuza fingering a hole in his shirt. The motion had the airs of was curiosity rather than nervous habit. It really was a large hole; inappropriate considering the shirt was in good shape in every other way.
Ideas were just starting to coalesce when what appeared to be a laser beam shot out of the black orb just above the wooden floor. It stopped in mid-air for no apparent reason, and began going back and forth at an incredible rate, rising up as it did. Where the beam had been, it left behind something that appeared solid. More of the… residue appeared until it revealed it was a person. L could tell, since he could see inside the person. Flesh, muscle, even bone. It was like it was creating a human from nothing from the ground up, including clothing.
Keeping one eye on the ever rising beam, L saw the others lacked the shock that would have been appropriate if it had been the first time they saw it, though confusion still reigned over them. All accept the Key. Oh yes, he knew something. It was probable they had all entered the room in the same manner. The Yakuza were the most relaxed. Perhaps they had been the first to arrive.
L watched as the 'laser' completed its task of creating the human and started again from the bottom up next to the being it had left behind. As the beam finished the completed figure moved abruptly, as though he had been left on 'pause' and then someone hit the button to pick him up where he had left off. Another high school male: large, black hair, school uniform. Not Light's old high school, so no easy connection there. The youth appeared normal in every way. Only his impossible arrival marked him as abnormal.
There was also no open relation to the Key. The newcomer was the most confused of the lot. L had enough information to test a hypothesis while the newcomer was disoriented and couldn't come up with a lie.
"How did you die?" L asked.
"What?" The youth was still bewildered, trying to process too many things at once. No, definitely no inside information here.
L prodded him. "What was the last thing that happened to you before you found yourself here?"
"The train. Kei and I were trying to outrun… what the hell is that?" he asked, in reference the beam that was creating a second person.
A pity the laser had distracted him. Still, L had more information. 'Trying to outrun a train' rarely met with success. Sudden death, no doubt.
Was L dead? A hard curl of his fist revealed pain. His body felt like it had before. No. It felt better; a throbbing in his ankle that had bothered him was gone. The orb's light was creating, no, recreating people somehow. Such technology was impossible. Then again, until a couple of months ago shinigami were thought to be 'impossible' as well.
The latest arrival was a high school male identified as 'Kei' by his larger friend. A pair, just like the Yakuza. People snatched from the moment before death, or maybe a moment after, all put in the same room with a black orb. And the quiet youth in the back, trying to make himself unnoticed, knew something about it. L decided it was best to play dumb until more information could be gathered.
The light was making another person, this one unclothed and female. She was much more… bouncy than Misa, L noted. There was some blood on both wrists. Suicide? Probably, though there were no wounds now.
The girl all but collapsed in the arms of the person nearest to her: Kei. L noticed that once the initial surprise from her gender, state of dress, and figure became evident, there was a look of lust in all of the guys' faces, especially the Yakuza thug. That could cause problems. As long as the thug wasn't armed, L could take him. No, being armed wouldn't matter. Looking deeply into the thug's eyes, L determined he lacked any true intelligence. He wouldn't think someone with L's… unthreatening appearance a danger until it was far too late.
L offered his shirt to 'Suicide Girl', hoping it would head off the potential mess. No, even as the others talked with the girl, trying to make sense of things, the thug rose up to his feet with only one thing on his mind. L knew talking would be useless, so the moment the thug got into range, L gave him a hard kick into the crotch, one that would have the man pissing blood for days.
"Now you don't have any urges to give in to," L said.
The others stared at L in surprise, even the youth in the back. Caution had replaced lust on the faces of the men. That was for the best.
Further discussion ended as the ball began blaring morning work out music. In poorly written Japanese it declared their lives were its to do with as it pleased. That was not reassuring. It proceeded to tell them they needed to kill something called a green onion alien, complete with an accompanying picture. A joke? A test of their reactions? The technology involved was beyond that of anything known by humans, so perhaps not. And L found the idea of aliens far more realistic than shinigami.
The sides of the orb popped out, revealing racks filled with several different types of futuristic-looking weapons. L stepped close and saw a man inside the orb, curled into a fetal position. He remained there, unmoving, naked, totally hairless and with some sort of breathing apparatus over his face. L didn't have the faintest idea what that was about, and had a feeling now was not the time to delve into it.
In addition to the weapons there was a rack filled with metal suitcases, one bearing his real name on it. How had they discovered that? Were the shinigami involved? No, this was too high tech for them. Some other agency that operated on some level beyond easy understanding, then.
L took the case and opened it. Inside was a jet black body suit with studs of some kind along the border. An idea dawned. He looked closely at the neck of the outfit. Ah, so that was what had been sticking out the Key's shirt. That confirmed he wasn't new to this situation. Was he some sort of control for an experiment, or a previous, well, 'hunter' seemed to be their new role, if the information on this orb was correct? Probably the latter, since Key seemed excited and eager, but was trying to hide it. Not in charge then, but he knew more about the situation than anyone else, and was keeping it to himself.
L decided to play along and grabbed one of each type of 'weapon'. Getting into the suit was going to be a challenge. It looked skin tight, and even he didn't think he was much of a fashion plate. "I recommend we all do what the orb says and grab these weapons as well as put on these suits," L informed the others.
"Why? They look stupid," Smokes asked.
L doubted the attitude was coming from nicotine withdrawal. He'd take the personality into consideration. "Do you think someone would bring you back from the dead just to make you look stupid?"
Everyone looked at one another in indecision, even the thug, who was just rising to his feet, tears in his eyes. The Key broke the silent deadlock by grabbing weapons, the others following suit. That settled it. L had been made de facto leader to all but the previous participant, and he was sure that would change in time.
The Key was no Light Yagami.
Once in charge, L would divine the mystery behind the mysterious ball, and even the aliens (should they exist) in time. But there was one other matter to take care of once this hunt was over. One case that needed wrapping up.
Light Yagami was about to have the worst day of his life, and nothing could stop it. After all, you couldn't kill someone twice, even with a Death Note.
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Writer's notes: Just an interesting postulation. And you just know L would actually be able to do what no one, including the creators, have been able to accomplish so far in figuring out the mystery behind Gantz.
Gantz is indeed the manga that was crossed over with Death Note.