From Egypt 'Till Eternity
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. If I did, everything after the Yotsuba arc would not have occurred, L and Light would've hooked up two eps after the chain went on and Near, Mello and Matt would've come in in some other fashion (Just because they rock).
Warning: Alternate Universe, Shonen-Ai. If you don't like, please don't read! LxLightxL, implied Darkshipping and Casteshipping, occasional hints at BakuraxLight and BakuraxL
Flames shall be extinguished with great force because it is bush-fire season and I hate bush-fires. Many Australians do.
So, while this may be a day late (Here at least...--') This is a birthday fic dedicated to L! ~3 At the moment it's best to be taken as a one-shot, though in the future it will become a fic when I finish something. So if you like this idea, alert it and you'll get more chapters in your inbox at some point!
This is set in an alternate DN universe, in which Yami and Bakura... Well you'll see. I may have tweaked the time-lines of both anime to suit, but.. Meh.
Thanks to both my beta's for putting up with my short notice! Thanks go to Shadow over Egypt, and I believe TsumeLover666 must have been rather busy at the time, so this is just edited by Shadow at this point.
Hope you all enjoy this!
Smile! :D
~Ireina
The dark-haired man looked around, expression disinterested. The room he stood in was the same as ever, plain and unadorned, almost drab in its utter simplicity. The only colour about him was in the pictures on the walls - cakes and sweet desserts of all kinds, many of which featured strawberries. The rest of the room was white – whether it was wood or brick he never could tell.
Among the pictures adorning the walls were the usual three that featured people (an old man with a kind smile and glasses, a pale boy with white hair and apathetic dark eyes and a blonde boy with blue eyes and a wicked grin).
There was, however something different this time. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was but -
"What is that doing there?" he asked aloud with a tiny frown on his face. He reached out a hand and lifted down a smallish picture frame, just the same as the others, but this one bore the picture of a fourth person.
This person had auburn brown-gold hair, angular, aristocratic features with perfect cupid's bow lips caught in an innocent grin. His eyes (for this was very definitely a male, albeit a beautiful one) were an almond-shaped topaz brown, glinting with mischief. In short, he emanated all the qualities belonging to the word the dark-haired male whispered, not in the Japanese pronunciation, but the English equivalent.
"Light."
He was surprised, for though he did not know precisely what this room was, or how it worked, he did know that the only things featured in it were things that were deeply precious to him.
"So that's the form his soul chose this time," came a different voice from behind him.
He spun around, picture still in his hand. "Who are you?" he demanded from the stranger.
The dark-skinned male whom had spoken raised an eyebrow. "You can hear me?"
"And see you; you are not invisible. Now if you please, answer the question."
The stranger smiled, holding his hands out wide. "Why, I am you, of course."
"Impossible." the first male declared flatly. "I am me. Not to mention- you appear nothing like me."
The stranger chuckled, looking down at himself before back to him. "I suppose our soul has changed over the millennia. But I can assure you, I am you. Or at least, I was. Though technically I was the first incarnation, so really, you're me…"
"What on Earth are you talking about?"
"Never mind. What are we called by in this incarnation?"
"I am known by many names." the dark-haired man said suspiciously. "You may call me L."
"Ah, it is always the same. Still we are nameless and bear an alias," sighed the stranger claiming to be L. "I also was known by many different names. He-" (here he pointed at the picture in L's hands. "-called me Namonaki Pharaoh."
"Nameless Pharaoh?" L translated aloud, scepticism clearly visible on his face.
"Yes, that would be the translation. But just as you possess a name by which all call you, the one I use is merely Yami."
"Light has never mentioned any by that name, and nor have records of you appeared during my investigation of him…" L mused aloud.
At this Yami laughed bitterly. "'Light?' Oh how deeply, deeply ironic."
L frowned. "What on Earth are you talking about? I'll admit that if he is proved to be Kira it could prove to be ironic, however…"
The other sobered up; staring at him intently in a way shockingly familiar to L - he saw that same expression often. In the mirror.
"Just as I am you, and you are me, he is -"
"You are not telling me that you expect me to not only believe your outlandish story about being my preincarnation, but that Light-"
"I knew him as Touzokuou Bakura. They look much changed also, but I recognise his soul in the boy. It is a part of the binding."
L gave him a flat look. "So Light is the 'King of Thieves' is he?" he enquired, raising a brow in polite disbelief. "A mass murderer, perhaps, but I cannot see someone who would be Kiraas a thief, considering Kira's choice of victims."
"You're really more like Seto than me." muttered Yami frustratedly.
"I do not know this 'Seto' you mention, but I assume you refer to my reluctance to believe that not only am I supposed to be a re-incarnation of yours, but that Light is a reincarnation of one of your acquaintances?"
Yami let out a sound not unlike a growl. "This whole damn situation is because he was far more than a mere acquaintance."
"What?"
"It is a long story… 'L'." Yami sighed running a hand through hair that L couldn't quite see in the shadows. "And you will awaken shortly. I will speak with you more once you return to this room."
A door appeared in what had previously been an unmarked white wall and it was through this that L's 'preincarnation' left.
L frowned, wondering what lay beyond that door. It had never appeared before…
He followed Yami, cautiously stepping from 'his' room. He looked to his left, then his right. In both directions stretched a seemingly endless hallway, and directly across from 'his' door was another.
This door was black, a golden symbol resembling an eye (something in his consciousness told him it was an 'Eye of Ra') streaked with seemingly random patterns of rust-bronze fixed upon it. Just as he reached out his pale hand to open the door, both the hall and doors vanished and L became aware of hands on his shoulders shaking him.
"Ryuuzaki. Ryuuzaki! L!" came a familiar voice. "Wake up! This whole waking up before dawn was your idea, and here you are sleeping?"
L pried his eyes open with a frown. "Raito-kun?" he asked, using the correct Japanese pronunciation rather than the anglicised version he'd been using in the dream-room.
"Who else would you be waking up beside?" A perfect eyebrow quirked as the young man shook the chain attached to his wrist pointedly and L sat up, Light moving back slightly to allow this movement.
-----
The day proceeded much as usual, thought there were several instances where L blanked out, though no-one seemed to notice any difference, although L caught Light staring at him oddly once or twice.
This time however, he had come back to himself only to discover the computer screen in front of him filled with some strange pictograms for a Middle-Eastern-seeming dialect he'd never seen before. Yet…
"I can read this…" he said softly, somewhat surprised that this was so. He was highly intelligent, no 'if's, 'and's or 'but's about it, but for him to comprehend a language he'd never encountered before? That should have been beyond even him.
Light rolled over to the computer L was using, peering over his shoulder. "It looks like some form of Egyptian I believe - it's similar to the hieroglyphics I've seen in the museum."
"Don't pretend you can't read it, thief." scoffed a ghostly form of the stranger L had seen in his dream-vision, arms crossed as he stood between L's chair and Light's (though L was sure he hadn't been there moments before.) "I taught you how myself."
L looked at Yami sternly. "How did you get past security?" he asked.
"I did not need to," the odd male replied evasively.
"What do you mean?" L said, narrowing his eyes.
L was now receiving odd looks from both Light and the members of the task force, though L was oblivious to their stares, having received worse stares in his long career as a detective.
"They… can't see or hear me. They wouldn't be able to see the thief either, though if he were awake, he'd be able to see me, and I him." Yami said finally, carefully avoiding looking at L.
"L…are you… alright?" came Light's voice, sounding cautious. "It's just-"
"Fine. I am quite fine." L said, closing off the window displaying the hieroglyphs.
-----
"Why can I see you and they cannot?" came L's abrupt question.
They were once again in the strange room L seemed to visit every time he slept, still the whiteness with the pictures in the same places, including that of the golden Light.
This time he noticed that not only was the stranger dark-skinned, he had ruby-red eyes and black hair that spiked outrageously, slashes of magenta and blonde scattered throughout the unusual hair.
"Because you and I are the same person. The boy couldn't see me because Bakura was asleep and I was not choosing to show myself to him. If Bakura had been awake, it would not have been Light to see me, but him. He can see me because we are both tied together to the wheel of destiny. It would be the same if Bakura were to awaken- you would not see him unless he chose to show himself to you."
"Again with this? Light is not this 'Bakura' person. You and I are not the same person Yami, and I have better things to do than converse with a vision in my mind that apparently only I can see. I could be working on the investigation. I'm sure that Light will become suspicious of how often I sleep-"
"Light will not. And this investigation of yours… this 'Kira'… it bothers me." the ruby-eyed man said thoughtfully, frowning. "Actually, an uneasy feeling most alike to fear stirs in me as I look further into your memories of this 'Kira'…"
That gave L pause. He tilted his head to the side, carefully reading the other's body language and adding it to what he knew of the male's 'personality' and his facial expressions.
"How so?" L asked cautiously, eyes staying on Yami, wondering just what the spirit-like man meant by 'looking' into L's memories and whether or not he ought to call one of the psychiatrists on call for graduates of Wammy's Orphanage.
"It reminds me of… of the games that Bakura played with me in our first incarnation. He hasn't done that sort of thing in millennia. If he's doing it again, then something really is different… And not in a good way either. I don't think he's ever been this completely awake to manoeuvrer his host into doing these games."
"Ancient games?"
"The psychological dancing, plans within plans. A game, intricate as a spider's web- and just as hard to see. It sounds exactly like what Bakura played out all those years ago. He's only ever managed this much control over a host twice- his true descendant who died far too young as a result of those games, and in our first incarnation."
"If he was the first incarnation, then what do you mean 'host'? If this were true, would that not have been his body to command?"
Yami's eyes shifted away from L's piercing gaze, a mask sliding firmly into place as they did. "Perhaps." he said non-committedly.
L studied him closely. "What then, is the difference between these so-called 'ancient' games and what is occurring between Kira and myself?"
"Bakura did not confine himself to killing criminals." Yami explained with a sigh. "He was a tomb-robber, and known as the Touzokuou, though I believe I mentioned that. Something in his past caused him to swear an oath of vengeance, and in seeking this vengeance he became steadily more and more sociopathic- he knew what he did was wrong, but he believed that 'the end justified the means'. By the end, he just didn't care…" The darker male trailed off. "He became possessed by this vengeance, till there was little left of his heart, or soul to be bound with me to the wheel of fate."
"Why does it cause you to fear?" L asked the other male calmly.
"Because Bakura made a living on the streets of Ancient Egypt- he was a highly intelligent, ruthless man despite the lack of education for non-royals back then. He made a living all right, and he was top of the heap. You have no clue what he is capable of when roused to anger." Yami told him flatly. "Your history books have not been able to document properly what things occurred then, in the shadowy reflection of the Royal court."
"Shadowy…" L began sceptically.
"The Court of Thieves, 'L'. I believe that the reason these books have not documented accurate occurrences, is that if they did they would not allowed to be printed." Yami told him matter-of-factly.
Despite himself, the melodramatic statement sent a brief shiver down L's spine.
"I believe you need to explain your previous statement." L said suddenly, sitting in a desk-chair of the same white stuff as the room that formed itself around him seemingly at his whim.
"You are becoming good at this." Yami said approvingly, another chair, though this one a throne-like shape of gold with Egyptian hieroglyphs carved into it forming behind him. Yami folded himself gracefully into it.
L pulled his legs up into his trademark sitting position, thumb at his lips as he stared flatly at the man opposite him. "You said something earlier, something along the lines of 'this is all because he was so much more than an acquaintance.' I believe."
Yami gave him another flat stare. "How do you do that?" he asked L with slight annoyed wonder in his voice.
"Do what?" L asked quite seriously.
Yami raised an eyebrow, apparently letting it go. "Nevermind." he said, running a dark hand slender as L's through his mane of disarrayed tricolour hair.
"This all started back in my home country of Egypt several millennia ago." he started.
"I was young, and the Crown Prince of Egypt, firstborn son of Pharaoh Aknumkhanon, Son of Ra. Bakura was slightly older than I, and was the only person whom had survived a massacre of the city that he and his family lived in. If Fate had been kinder, and my father not so easily influenced by my uncle we might never have met…" The ruby-eyed man trailed off, staring into the distance as though forgetting L was there. "I really shouldn't have done it. I know, but I cannot bring myself to regret saving him. I saw them take him down into the dungeons. I knew, or at least I had a good idea what they would do to that boy- and he was not very much older than I. So I got him out in utmost secrecy, tending his wounds and feeding him with aid from my cousin the High Priest Seth. I would like to think that he was my friend after that. Funny- I was the son of the Pharaoh, the Crown Prince and up till then, I don't think I ever really had a friend who hadn't been in the pay of my family," he said thoughtfully. "He left soon after first sunrise."
"That's all well and good-" L said politely, "-but, do forgive me- you do not appear to be millennia old. At all." he told the other man, unable to allow this talk of ancient times as though they were recent occurrences that could have happened yesterday, for the detail the man appeared to remember.
"Of course I don't; I died young. I adopted pieces of my clothing from my most recent incarnation, who was far more 'modern' than I, which might also add to that misconception. Yuugi was far more akin to me than you are." A faraway look came back into his eyes. "I do not know what came over me but… at one point, I kissed him."
"This Yuugi?" L asked cautiously. Perhaps he ought to call those psychiatrists as soon as he awoke, if he had created a split personality who claimed to enjoy kissing people who he claimed were his re-incarnations… Talk about narcissism…
"No!" Yami exclaimed, seeming to be horrified at the idea. "He was like a little brother! And besides which, he was my true descendant. Can you imagine kissing someone who looks almost exactly like you? It would be disturbing to say the least. I'm confident in myself; some have even called me arrogant, and I might give them that. But narcissistic is one thing I definitely am not."
"Very well then." L said, secretly relieved, as the idea of this 'other self' suddenly jumping him had crossed his mind, and had mildly disturbed him. The other male was… exotic. But not attractive to him. Especially when one considered that a) he was a male, and b) he was a figment of L's overactive mind. "Then, if you'll forgive me, then who…?"
"Bakura. Who else?" Yami said. He appeared to notice L's knowing look and blushed. "He was very attractive."
L blinked owlishly, ignoring the defensive look on Yami's face. He raised an eyebrow. "Ah."
"We met again years later, and things… changed."
"Changed?"
"Well, by this time I was sixteen, and he was only three years older than I, and he did not know that I was the Crown Prince, and, well, one thing led to another…" Yami trailed off delicately.
"You slept together." L said, with all the delicacy of a hammer.
Yami nodded. "If you wish to put it that way, yes. The affair lasted until my father's death, and I ascended the throne. When he discovered my identity… it cut him, you see. It cut him deep that for one, I hadn't told him I was the Crown Prince (though I'd assumed he already knew), and then the fact that I was who I was."
"What do you mean? Please clarify."
"He was bound by his oath of revenge you see."
"Bound to kill you?" L said oddly, remembering his confrontation with Kira via. the televised video-cast.
That had been a bold move, and the opening one in this game. One could almost see it as a declaration of an oath. Both knew that for one to win, they would have to kill the other, or see them dead by justified means. Not quite revenge, but… An oath all the same.
Yami returned the odd look, appearing to have noted the change in L's voice. "Yes. Well, the royal family technically, but neither of us were splitting hairs at the time. Please don't tell me he's-"
L cut Yami off. "So you had an affair with someone who was revenge-bound to kill you?"
"Yes." Yami said, somewhat sheepishly. "If you wish to put it like that… It sounds rather silly."
"You are also telling me what? That perhaps if you'd just told him your identity he might not have…?" L guessed shrewdly, deftly sidestepping the question the darker male had asked and distracting him in one go.
"Well yes. Perhaps if there'd been honesty between us from the beginning, he might not have felt bound to kill me for being royalty, and he might have realised that it wasn't my fault he was alone. He might not have taken the path that he chose." Yami told him, voice sounding tired, and the expression in his eyes suddenly made it much easier for L to believe that he was older than he appeared. Not quite ancient as he claimed, but normal people didn't get that look, as though you'd been to hell and fought your way back tooth and nail much before thirty.
L had gained it by the time he was eighteen.
"At any rate, after we died, part of our souls were bound into two of seven artefacts, while the rest was bound to the wheel of time, to be re-born many years later. Since then, we have returned many times, in many different bodies. Every time we recognise each other on some level, and every time our re-incarnations…" Yami trailed off, again refusing to look L in the eyes, and that mask firmly slipped back into place.
"Your re-incarnations?" L prompted.
"Well, one at least… must die."
"You are not telling the truth."
"I am telling you nothing but the truth."
"Then you are not telling all of it." L countered.
"Always the cycle follows the path of Bakura and myself- the original incarnations- we never seem to learn from the pain of it." Yami said, staring intently at L as he emphasized the first word. "Each time one destroys the other, it is never different. But, I'm beginning to hope it won't be like that this time."
"Why would it change?" L asked, willing to play along. He was stuck here, and this delusion was at least a fairly interesting way to pass his 'sleep' time. He was not going to even contemplate what it might mean if this 'Yami' person was in fact telling the truth, given that he and Light were supposed to be the 're-incarnations' of Yami and his lover.
"Never have I been a truly separate entity from my re-incarnation. I have been able to merge my spirit with theirs to take control of our body, but never have I been completely separate, at least not with all my memories intact. Even with Yuugi, whose situation was the most similar to this, I did not gain my memories until after I had won… and Bakura was dead."
"Ah. I see. Memories would make a rather large difference one would suppose."
Yami's eyes suddenly became sharp and he sent a glare at L. "Do not patronize me 'L'. You neither believe me, nor do you understand." he said cuttingly.
"I do not believe you." L admitted. "But I must admit it is a well thought out delusion- and it does have a mad kind of logic."
"It does, does it?" Yami asked with slightly bitter amusement colouring his tone, raising an eyebrow as he did.
The room began to swirl and the slight stranger looked about him with a start.
"You are awakening swiftly." Yami remarked.
"I am often a sufferer of insomnia." L said in a completely unremorseful tone of agreement.
Yami turned to the door to that endless hallway which suddenly re-appeared as though at his command. "Don't think that this conversation is finished L. There is more you must know, and I do not know how long it will be till Bakura re-awakens. There is never long between my rise and his." he warned.
"I am sure."
With that L's self-proclaimed 'pre-incarnation' strode through the door and L just caught the swish of a blue jacket that almost seemed school-issue, worn like a cape of all things, before he awoke.
He sat up, looking around for whatever had woken him. It was a futile effort, as he knew that the tiniest of things could awaken him. He felt something warm around the wrist that bore the customarily cold metal of the cuffs (and subsequently, chains) that bound him to the young prospective mass-murderer, whom was at present unusually close to him under the shared blankets that they had been forced to admit was the only real remedy to allow sleep (mainly on Light's part) without removing the chain (which L flat-out refused to do.).
Ignoring the unusual closeness and warmth (which L would not admit was a welcome change) L moved to retrieve the laptop which he could've sworn had been on the side-table on his side of the bed when he'd drifted off, only to admit what he'd tried to tell himself was untrue- that the reason the metal of the cuffs was unusually warm was the fact that his arm was being clutched (definitely not cuddled) by Light.
L sighed. 'Well that explains what awoke me at least.' he thought, conceding defeat this once. There was no way he could risk lifting his laptop one-handed, reaching over Light to do so, (at least definitely not without risk,) and L was nothing if not careful. It would simply not do to lose any of the data contained on that thing, and retrieving the backup would be such an inconvenience…
So L settled into the blankets and set his mind to contemplating the bright Tokyo lights dancing across Light's graceful features.
Here's hoping you all enjoyed! If you liked this, put it on your alerts as I fully intend to continue this idea at some point. If you'd like to leave them, I enjoy reading reviews.
Smile! :D
~Ireina