okay this is my fist deathnote fanfic... so i don't exactly know where i wanna go with it so for now just sit tight and hopefully i'll update soon

oh and i don't own deathnote or anything like that


Light opened his eyes to see a garden, a garden similar to the pictures of the Garden of Eden. He sat up staring around him, he knew he had died, he had seen Ryuk's laughing face writing down his name. That meant that right now his should be in Mu or nothingness as per all Death note users, yet he was not. As he got stiffly to his feet, a woman stepped into his view. She was clad in a pure white robe that shimmered gently as she moved. She looked so familiar, but he couldn't place where he had seen her before. He was about to open his mouth to ask where he was when she spoke. Her voice sounded like softly blowing wind. "Yagami Light," she said, "welcome to the afterlife." Light stared at her in disbelief, had Ryuk lied to him about going to Mu? He should not be here, not at all. As if to answer his thoughts, the woman spoke, "if you wonder why you are here, I can show you why." Light gave a slight nod, his head still slightly reeling from the fact that he was not trapped in a world of nothingness.

Light followed the woman through the garden silently, in the distance he saw people dressed in the same white robes as the woman, but many more that were not. He wondered what the difference was. He turned to the woman to ask, but she was already answering his question. Could she read minds? Light thought. "The people in white robes are Guardians, they bring souls of the deceased here to be cleansed and ready for rebirth. The ones dressed as they were when they died are those souls," she looked forward at a tower in the distance. "I'm not supposed to be here though," Light murmured. " I know Kira," she replied, "You're here because of the sacrifice of one who loved you and one I loved." Light looked up at her in confusion. "Who?" he asked. She did not reply but kept walking.

Soon they reached the white tower they had seen in the distance. Although the tower was beautiful, there was a slightly cold, dreary feeling to it, as if happiness could not exist around it. "Come," the woman said to Light. Light followed her obediently and they reached an ornately decorated door that stretched as far as the eye could see. They walked through the door and once inside Light could only stare. The inside was gorgeous. Everything was a pearly white with silver accents and there were flowing words that glowed and looked Arabic on the walls stretching all the way to the roof. Light noticed one other things, there were only to doors in the building. "What is this place?" Light asked curiously. The woman turned around to look him full in the face. She looked cold and deadly as she replied, "This is where the souls who are ready to be reborn come," she pointed to one door with red glowing symbols, "and there," she pointed to another door which had black glowing symbols splashed across it, "is where the man who saved your soul will lie for eternity!!!"

Light stared at her in shock as she raised her hand and brought it harshly down against Light's face. Suddenly a man appeared out of the door with the red symbols. "Ah," he said smiling, "Light-kun, welcome the tower of Eternity and Life. I just got done sending a certain pair rogues back down to Earth, I think you know who I'm talking about Light, there was a blonde and a red-head." The man gave lopsided grin and Light immediately connected his thoughts. "I want to show him," the woman suddenly interjected. The man's grin faltered and he glanced at Light, but then he nodded. "Go on ahead," he said inclining his head toward the door with black markings.

The woman nodded and walked toward the door and placed her hand on it and watched as it swung open.

Light let his eyes adjust to the blackness of the room and when it did, all he could do was gasp. In rows spanning the entire room there were bodies floating in nothingness. A slight glow emanated from each of the bodies and that was all the light there was. The woman pulled him further into the room, Light followed blindly only aware of the sleeping forms he passed by. 'What is this?' he thought, his mind trying to form possible conclusions. However, seeing as how he had recently died, his mind was not up to par yet, so he allowed himself to be tugged along.

They soon reached the furthest end of the room and Light was struggling to breath. 'Damn,' he thought, 'I'm dead so why does it feel like I've bust a lung.' All other thoughts died though as he realized who the woman had dragged him too. 'Oh god,' he thought, as his mind frantically struggled to get up to its usual because in front of him lay L. L in all his dark yet pale glory, L, who had been the only challenge, the only anomaly in Light's perfect life. Light then realized with a pang he had missed this man, more so than he had missed his father when he died. This L however looked younger and more peaceful. There was even a hint of a smile on his face. Then Light's brain finally decided to take itself out of its stupor and dots began to connect. He stared at the woman, surprise and curiosity in his face.

"Why is he like this?" Light asked softly as if afraid to wake the souls around him. The woman looked up from where she had been staring at L with one of the most caring looks Light had ever seen. In a softer voice, she spoke not looking at Light, "He chose to be like this. He said that he'd choose to be like this for eternity because," here she paused looking up to Light and he saw anguish in her eyes, "because he felt indebted to you." Light stared at her, the comprehension not quite there yet. So she continued, but seemingly onto a different topic.

"Once there was a woman who was one of the world's top spies. As time went on, she could no longer bear the pain of what her actions did to world, so she went through a transformation and tried to save the world. She did everything humanly possible to rid herself of that guilt-helping in third world countries, donating money, setting up orphanages and rest homes for the homeless, anything she could think of. When it came down to the final act, she failed. An enemy spy shot the woman and at that time she was about to give birth. She barely managed to make it to a hospital, in final breath she wasn't able to help the one she loved most," the woman looked up at Light, "I'm his mother, I was given an option of being a guardian because of my deeds and so I could wait to be resurrected with my son." Light realized then she was crying. "I watched over him, saw what he became, a part of me was devastated that he was so isolated from love and affection. Then Kira came along, a new challenge for him, but I knew in my heart that my son would not survive because he was dealing after all with gods of death, so I waited for him to come here. I didn't realize that he had found those emotions he lacked in you." Light wanted to say something at that point but found himself speechless and a new emotion was stirring in him, but he was not sure what. Light felt terrible and more than a little uncomfortable looking at the crying woman, he had had her son killed and now she couldn't even be reborn with him.

The woman continued, "after you killed him." Wait, Light thought 'Rem killed him' but he knew that wasn't really the case. "he came here, I didn't see him for awhile and I didn't realize that he was ready to pass through the afterlife quicker than others. I barely managed to reach this tower before I found out he had made a deal, a deal to spend eternity here in this room to give you a chance at being reborn."

Light looked down at L's resting form and wondered what had possessed the man to make such a deal. Back when L had been alive he had shown no inclinations that he like Light at all. Light stared hard at L, 'why?' he wondered, 'we were both geniuses and thought practically on the same wavelength, but still...' light's thoughts were cut off by the woman, who had begun speaking again.

"Are you ready to pass on Yagami Light?" she asked coldly, "I wasn't able to help my son pass on to a new life, but I will help the one he cared for most."

Light looked up at her, oh how he wanted to be able to move on and stay in this room in nothingness for eternity, but…

He looked up and stared at the woman head on, "I will not leave here unless he comes with me!" Light could feel his heart pounding (if souls can feel that kind of thing). The woman stared at him for a moment in surprise but then she gave him the tiniest hint of a smile.

"I think I can help you with that," she murmured walking back across the room to the door. Light followed not sure what was about to happen.

Light was led back out the door away from L. He couldn't help but turn back for one last look in case it might be the last one. L never moved and the door shut with a soft swish of air. Light turned back to face the woman, he was expecting them to leave the tower but they didn't. Instead, they walked further into the tower. The hall they walked through was eerily quiet. Light felt slightly disturbed at the silence because it allowed his mind to wander to thoughts he'd rather not think about. Some thoughts settled on his current predicament but most of them were on the still form inside the room of eternity.

Why did he do that? I'm quite sure that he hated me, especially since I let him know I was Kira as he was dying. So why did he sacrifice his own rebirth for mine? And how the heck did he know I wasn't going to be reborn? Did Rem tell him? Damn I've never been so confused in my entire life… and well death too. In addition, what the hell is up with this woman? She looks nothing like L, how can she be his mother? She gorgeous and L's still pretty darn ugly. Even as Light thought this, he knew the resemblance was still there. Both had those strange piercing eyes that seemed to go right through you. Those eyes had always got to Light, especially since he knew that L knew he was guilty. But still, Light had always found L's panda eyes quite adorable. 'Wait, did I just say adorable' Light felt a little flushed at that thought. Before his mind could travel down any other obscure pathway, they stopped. The woman (Raito wished he knew her name) had stopped the pair in front of a pair of gilded double doors.

She pressed one hand firmly against the door. It didn't open but it glowed a faint blue color around her hand. "The council will convene for you soon to help you with this dilemma. I don't know whether or not they can help you, but I know L came to them first also." "What kind of council?" Light asked. There was no reply as the door swung open easily. Light felt blinded for a moment by the light emanating from the room. Light stepped into the very well lit room and saw to his surprise it was full of people. The room was built like an ancient Greek amphitheater. The seats rose up high and every row was full of the so-called 'Guardians'. Light realized that a majority of the light came from these beings and what appeared to be and open ceiling. As they entered the chamber, all eyes turned to them. Light suddenly felt unnerved to feel hundreds of eyes focused on him.

A voice from above suddenly called out to them, "So Leila, what is so urgent that you need to call a council? These little meetings are getting a little to frequent for my taste. After all we just had one, what five years ago?" The voice belonged to a man sitting in what seemed like the thirteenth row. The man reminded Light of Near, although he looked much better. Light still immediately took a disliking to this man; he seemed too haughty and prideful for his own good. He leaked confidence and had an air of pure power about him. Like all the other Guardians, he wore the same pale white robe, but that very same robe seemed more vibrant and lively on him.

"Light wishes that L accompany him in their rebirth," Leila said coolly. "Oh, so that's why you are helping him. A mother's love, this man tries to help your son and you immediately jump at his whim," the man gave slight chuckle, "Why do you bother? Just because you were the boy's mother in your last life doesn't mean you were his in any other one. We only remember the past life given to us, but you are a Guardian now, you should forget about the kid." The rest of the man's statement was made blandly and in an uncaring manner. Leila's face however, seemed to contort with both anger and sadness. Light felt very sorry for her at the moment and he remembered his mother. With that thought came unbidden anguish for Light. L's mother was probably very proud of him, but what about Light's own mother? How did she feel when she found out that her son was a mass murderer? Light hoped she understood that he had only been trying to make a better world for her and his sister.

"So Light-kun," the man drawled slowly, "what do you want us to do for you?" Before Light could reply though, another voice interrupted to address the other man.

"We do don't make deals with the corrupt souls, Neko, even if they have been allowed to be cleansed and reborn." This statement came from another older looking Guardian. Light felt a slight jolt of annoyance course through him. 'What the hell?' he thought, 'that guy makes me seem like I was completely in the wrong.'

"Well," the man named Neko replied, "the man can't be all that corrupted if he wants to bring that other man back with him."

"You only think that because of what-" the man was abruptly cut off by a deadly glare from Neko. All the other Guardians had turned to stare at the two, completely ignoring Leila and Light. Light watched the two go off on a tangent and he was no longer sure what they were trying to say. It seemed however, that many of the Guardians did not trust Neko and many of them were in agreement with the older Guardian.

Suddenly Leila gave a loud cry, "For God's sake SHUT UP!!!!!" She looked very annoyed. Neko turned back to look at them, as did all the other Guardians. Once again Light found himself under the scrutiny of hundreds of eyes. Those eyes all seem to want something from him, but he wasn't sure what.

"All right," came the sigh from the older Guardian, "what is it that you want, Yagami Light?"

Light felt slightly awkward standing there in the middle of the floor, surround by the Guardians. He wasn't even sure what he wanted, everything had seemed very rushed. He had just died and they were already asking about his reincarnation. Light decided to take a moment to collect himself. 'Okay, what do I want,' somehow coming to conclusion of what he wanted was slightly difficult. He could just leave L as he was and never have to remember any of this, but when he died again L's mother would probably make his life hell. 'Besides', he thought, 'now I feel like I owe L something. A very big something.' Light didn't like that feeling, being indebted to L was something his pride couldn't take. There were a few other reasons why he wanted L to reborn also, but Light squashed those thoughts rather fiercely.

So he turned to face to the seated Guardians, his face expressionless, but confident. "I humbly request that great beings such as yourselves allow the soul L to be reborn with me," 'god,' he thought, 'that sounded like crap.'

After Light made his request, the murmuring began. He could see most of the Guardians turn to other ones to discuss what he had just asked. There were a few not doing anything, one of those being Neko. Leila wasn't giving any input either, she stood next Light watching the other Guardians with a guarded look. Light, however, was looking at the Guardians in the front row. There were thirteen of them and they all had their eyes closed, not saying anything or giving any input. "Who are they?" Light whispered to Leila. "They are the original Guardians, the first thirteen who were here to guide the rest of us." Light stared at them for a moment. Of all the Guardians, they looked the oldest. They seem to capture an essence of purity and calmness. Looking at them, Light could feel himself relaxing. It seemed they were absorbing what was said, but not contributing.

After awhile the conversations began to die down and one of the thirteen Guardians who had not said anything stood up. She turned to face the other Guardians.

"We understand what you all have been discussed and this issue has been unprecedented, so…" she turned back to Light, "Light-kun, we regret to inform you that we do are not able to grant your wish. However, " here she paused briefly and glanced upward to Neko. He gave a slight smirk and the woman continued. "I believe someone here can help you with your request."

At her words, a slight movement came from the top and Neko stood up languidly, giving Light a slow, lazy smile.

At her words, Neko stood up from where he sat. He gave Light a languid smile and walked down to the center floor. He then turned to the thirteen Guardians in the front. "We will trust you to handle this Neko," said one of the Guardians, "We believe that L does deserve this chance and since you made L's previous deal, we will let you continue. Is this agreeable to the rest of you?" the last part she spoke to the of the Guardians sitting. In unison, there was a single nod of head. Neko gave a bow and turned to Light and Leila. His face had turned solemn. "Come Light-kun, you may come to Leila." Leila followed them stiffly, not making any eye contact with Neko.

Light wondered about that, but didn't feel comfortable asking. They left the room and the tower itself, leaving behind the other Guardians and L. Light was about to ask where they were going but Neko spoke first; it was addressed to Leila. "You know you shouldn't hate me. I only did what he asked. He wanted it and he wouldn't have been able to pass on even if I hadn't shown him how."

There was no response from Leila, only a stiffening of the shoulder and a clenched fist. Clearly mother's love or something, Light thought. He also wondered where the heck they were going. After all the entire place looked like one giant paradise garden other than the tower, so Light tried figure out what they were going to do. They kept walking for god knew how long. Light kept seeing trees and flowers and then more trees and flowers. Occasionally he would see some other soul or Guardian but that was rare. Finally Neko decided to speak, "Light, the only way to allow L to be reborn is if you make a deal with the King of the Shinagami's." Light stopped walking, as did Leila, they both stared at Neko in shock.

Neko continued, "Death came before rebirth, so it only makes sense that the King of all the Shinagamis would have more power than us Guardians."

"Did L come to you also?" Light asked.

"Yeah, he did, I was the Guardian who first went to get him when he arrived. Then he said that a shinagami named Rem told him about the whole Mu thing and some other stuff about Deathnote users and he wanted me to help him. I was a little surprised but I decided to help him. He seemed very serious."

Light was a little surprised Rem had told L about Mu. He wondered if Rem had told L so he could help Misa. Maybe Rem had thought L had liked Misa, but that was impossible. L was simply too smart for her, he needed someone to match his intellect. Suddenly Leila spoke, "Do you know how to get into the Shinagami world, Neko? If so, how did you find out?"

Neko gave a crooked smile. "Leila, I would have thought someone would have told you, we Guardians can get into the Shinagami world anytime we want and it's a secret how I know." "WHAT!!" Light shouted, "Then what the hell are we doing still walking around." Light was finding that his dislike of the man was increasing. "Well I just thought a nice walk would be in order but if you guys are ready we can go now," Neko said laughing; he clearly was not taking this seriously.

"All right, Leila all you have to do is think that you want to go to the Shinagami world and you'll be there. Light, you however need to keep your mind absolutely blank."

"What no flashy portal or door to the Shinagami world?" Light muttered sarcastically. Neko gave him a disparaging glance and held out his hand. Light stared at it for a moment and then took it. He tried to keep his mind clear as possible not exactly understanding why he had to. Then he felt a gut-wrenching sensation as if he was falling.

"All right, here we are," Neko said. Light opened his eyes and grimaced.