Author's Note: This particular one-shot is a request from my brother. It was inspired by an idea we mused over one day. I am not sure if it has been done as of yet (there are just so many fanfictions for DN) but it would be nice if this was somewhat original. This fanfiction is complete crack and based on a ridiculous scenario (L himself would scoff if he ever read this) but I decided to give this a try anyway. Since this is for a sibling who is much younger than I, the prose in this is drastically different from what I usually write; quite a bit simpler, in my opinion, but I wrote it this way for coherency. I probably won't continue this, but with permission I may let someone else adopt this story or concept if they have the drive to do so.
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.
Out of Pages
Created By: x-LittleMissAlice-x
xXx
"Even when you least expect it, the impossible can become possible."
Unknown
xXx
The gentle scratching of pencil on paper had started in the beginning of the night, and continued even now during the ungodly (oh, the irony) hours of the morning.
Light had not paused his writing once – not once - and Ryuk was rather sick of it. Sure, the Shinigami understood this particular human's desire to cleanse the world of chaos and evil or whatever the boy constantly preached about (oh yes, cleanse the world by leaving yourself, the most tainted and disgusting human of them all. That made a lot of sense, the hypocrite), but could a guy have just one minute to himself? Just how many people did Light have to kill before he could eat an apple in peace?
He had waited hours now for a brief pause, for a perfect moment to sink his teeth into a euphoric paradise of juicy sweetness. Just as he was about to take a forbidden bite, mouth widening unnaturally large, exposing the points of his razor sharp teeth, inching towards the apple's shiny red skin; the sound of pencil scratching on paper abruptly stopped.
Ryuk paused. His beady black eyes shifted curiously towards his companion who sat, far too silent in his rolling chair, gazing blankly at the opened notebook, his pencil poised above it.
He was so still. Had he fallen fall asleep sitting up? Was the boy even breathing?
"Hey, Light."
Ryuk floated over to the want-to-be-God, hovering on his side in the air.
"Hey, you alive?" he asked, waving his hand in front of the boy's downcast brown eyes. If the Shinigami was able to physically touch the human, he would have poked his cheek several times.
A minute passed and the boy remained unresponsive. Maybe he was dead. But that was impossible: Ryuk could clearly see there was more time to his lifespan.
A sudden idea dawned on the Shinigami as his lips curled into a sly grin. "I know you're not dead, Light. If this is just some trick for me to tell you your lifespan, it's not working,"
He chuckled, amused at the thought of such a plan. Light would think of something like that, without a doubt.
As if coming from an out-of-body experience, Light suddenly took in a deep, long gasp. He wasn't worried – why would a Shinigami worry over a mere human? – but he had been… unsettled by the boy's silence, at the very least.
"I'm not stupid enough… to do something like that. Even if I was in my dying moments… you wouldn't tell me my lifespan. I know that," Light stated, inhaling deeply between breaths to make up for the air he neglected to take (or maybe he was trying to prevent a panic attack of some sort, Ryuk wasn't sure).
"Then what's up with you?" Ryuk asked. Light was silent for a long time.
"The death note… I ran out of pages."
"Y-you… YOU RAN OUT OF PAGES?!"
Ryuk barked a laugh, cackling loudly in his usual breathless fit, coughing and wheezing like a smoker on the verge of death. His laughter ceased when he saw Light staring at him, unamused.
"Oh. You're serious," he said, his smile slipping slightly. With a long, deformed hand the Shinigami picked up the notebook by the tips of his fingers, flipping through the pages. "Yep, not a page is left." He laughed again, "You've really outdone yourself, I haven't even heard of a human who has filled out an entire death note. I didn't know it was possible. Congratulations."
"This is no time for congratulations," Light replied dryly, snatching the notebook back into his hands. "How do I get more?"
"More… what?"
"More pages," Light snapped impatiently.
Ryuk stared at him. "Uhh… you don't."
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Light hissed, slamming the book onto his desk as he ran his hand through his hair. "Useless Shinigami!"
"Well…" Ryuk thought for a few moments, then perked up at a sudden idea, "You could always erase the names in the death note to rewrite new ones."
Light froze. "You can do that?"
Ryuk shrugged. "Sure, why not? It's not going to hurt anyone. They're already dead, right?"
Hesitation was clear in Light's eyes. "In theory, yes, but there could be consequences. This is a notebook of death, after all…" he said thoughtfully.
"Is there anything in the rules about not erasing names?"
"No, there isn't," Light replied firmly. He had read the rules of the death note over a hundred times, after all.
"Then there isn't a problem."
Light nodded in understanding and picked up the nearby eraser, hovering above an opened page hesitantly.
"Chickening out already, are we?"
Light shot the Death God a harsh glare. "No. As a matter of fact, the first name I think I will erase is L's."
"Is that so? Kehehe, I think L would roll around in his grave at that."
This amusing thought must have erased all doubts because Light began to rub furiously on the page until the name LAWLIET was nothing more than a faint indent on the page.
Light smirked in satisfaction. "It looks like it was hardly ever there."
"Sure, you erased the name, but don't think that can erase your sin, Light."
Light raised a perfect cocoa brow at that before shaking his head, chuckling heartily. "You say the weirdest things sometimes, Ryuk." And with that he returned to his new goal, unfazed by the warning.
Needless to say, due the screech of the eraser rubbing on notebook paper, for the next several hours Ryuk did not eat a single apple. But something interesting did happen…
"Um, Light."
"What, Ryuk? If you're really that starving then just eat your apple now."
"You know I can't eat it if I can't enjoy the moment."
"Then starve. It's not like not eating the apple will kill you. You're dead anyway."
"Speaking of dead… There's something I think you should know."
Light dropped the worn eraser, leaning back into his rolling chair. He sighed heavily. "What is it?"
"Is it almost Halloween?"
"Um, no… It's the middle of June," Light replied carefully.
"Oh. Then I guess those guys outside your window aren't cosplayers."
"What are you talking about?" Light sighed, exasperated. He started to rise from his chair but before he could make his way to the window, the phone in his back pocket buzzed. His nose crinkled at the ID.
By the fourth buzz he flipped the cell phone open.
"Misa, I told you not to call—"
"EEEEEK!"
Light jerked the phone away from his ear at her screaming. "Misa," he said in the calmest voice he could. "What's wrong? Is it… another stalker?"
"If it's a stalker, there are over a hundred of them!" Misa exclaimed and he could hear the click of doors locking in the background.
"Just calm down, Misa. Take deep breaths." At his instruction, he could hear her begin to take steady but shaky breaths on the other side of the line. "Alright... I am going to hang up. And when I do I want you to call the police. They should be able to—"
"Light…!" Misa exclaimed and her breathing hitched. "I think… I could have sworn I just saw Hideki Ryuga."
Light paused, his thumb hovering over the END button.
Was she talking about L? But he was dead… he watched him die. The man took his very last breath in his arms. There was no way he could be alive.
"Are you talking about… the movie star?" Light asked hopefully. He chuckled half-heartedly, managing a weak smile. "Who would have known Ryuga was your biggest fan ."
"Huh? No, not the star Hideki Ryuga! The guy who was the leader of the task force to catch Kira. Y'know, the one with the dark circles under his eyes? …Light? Um, Light? Are you there?"
The cell phone slipped out of Light's grip and crashed to the ground as he stared out his window. Torn bodies limped down the streets, filled with the sound of moans and groans. The stench of death hung thick in the air as the undead beasts clawed at his fence, trying to get to his front door.
Through the horde he could spot Raye Penber, the motorcyclist he first tested the death note on, the faces and names of various criminals he had killed – people he had killed. But they were walking. They were alive – no, they weren't alive. They were undead.
Ryuk chuckled next to him. "Looks like you created a New World after all, Light."
But Light hadn't heard the Shinigami's taunt.
Light Yagami was still trying to process the fact he had started a Zombie Apocalypse.
Before anyone asks (like it truly matters...): yes, I am aware the death note cannot (or so the series claims) run out of pages. This is just an amusing scenario if it could do so.
Anyway, drop a review if you enjoyed this piece or if you want to adopt this story.
Thanks for reading. Have a lovely evening.
xLMAx