Author's Note: Okay, I'll admit it. The first one sucked. Which is why I'm reposting a different prologue for our wonderful story, Light Side of the Moon. I've finally gotten a mildly good idea. Please, please at least attempt to read this one through and tell me if I'm doing anything wrong!
I don't own Death Note or any of its characters, concepts, places, etc, etc…Collab with oOforeverobsessedOo. Always and forever. Peace.
Prologue
Cream-painted hallways loomed all around, seeming bigger than they actually were to the small child being led through them. She clutched desperately to her teddy bear with one arm, the other hand being held gently by a man who occasionally murmured for her to keep up. He wasn't cruel in the way he spoke to her, but she was terrified from the start—it hadn't exactly been the best day of her life. Her young mind tried to register what was going on as her large ocean eyes darted this way and that, taking in nothing but endless hallways. Her bare feet made little sound on the thin carpet, even if she stumbled once in awhile.
She had never felt more alone in all seven years of her life.
The man who had been leading her along turned abruptly, pulling her into a room with a desk near the back. Sitting at that desk, the back of his chair facing the large picture window behind, was another gentleman with a wise, kind face. It didn't help her fear of the unknown, of what was going on. She whimpered a little and buried her face in her bear.
"Oh…I see." The man behind the desk said sadly, sliding a manila folder onto his desk and flipping it open. When the little girl looked up, she realized that her escort had given the folder to this new person. "And her parents?"
She glanced up quickly at the tall man beside her, wanting to know the answer to that question herself. Where was her mother? And her father? The man opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again as though contemplating. He shot a glance back at the child, who flinched and shied away behind her teddy. He looked back up at his cohort, sighed once, and shook his head slightly. The desk man frowned.
"Does she have any siblings?"
Another shake of the head. But then, the little one already knew.
"Alright then, Ryder. We'll settle her in."
Scenechangescenechangescenechangescenechangegodihatethatasteriksdon'tcomeupSCENECHANGE
A loud, obnoxious beeping noise blared through the upstairs of a one-bedroom apartment near Tokyo, Japan. The covers on the bed shifted and one hand reached out from under them to slam the button on the alarm clock, a groan rising from the teenage girl who had been sleeping in the warmth. She yawned widely as she threw the covers back, tired eyes glaring death at the alarm clock. It only blinked back at her with its green numbers, 7:58 AM. Growling and sitting up, she managed to drag herself out of bed. The answering machine on her night stand was beeping at her, signaling that there was a message chewing her out for being late for school…again. It didn't matter anyways; she always aced every test, quiz, and homework assignment those teachers threw her way. Sometimes she wondered why she was still in high school when she could've gone to college two years ago.
She pushed the button for playback as she wandered over to her dresser, grabbing her brush and running it irritably through her mid-back length, dark red tresses. A female voice echoed from the machine and back to her, the voice of her best friend in the entire world.
"Oi, Alex, wake up you lazy bum! If I can't sleep in then neither can you! If you wanna sleep in, lend me your brains so I don't have to go to school either. If not, then GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"
'BEEP! End of messages.'
Chuckling quietly to herself, Alexandra rolled her eyes good-naturedly and dug through her dresser for a pair of jeans she hadn't worn yet that week. Settling on an old pair of Levis, she set the brush back on her dresser and headed into the bathroom to shower.
Janie had been keeping Alex in check since the day they met, almost four years ago. They did almost everything together, considering they lived in the same house for a period of time that the elder would never forget. A lost, just-teenaged version of herself wandering the streets crossed her mind's eye, soon joined by a girl just about a year younger than her insisting that they hang out together. The younger Alex declined, and was consequently dragged off by the younger Janie, who introduced her to the parents, and…the rest was history. Of course, everything before that lost, horrible time in her life was a very effectively-irritating blur. Usually her memory was incredible, but that seemed to be the exception.
Then there were the dreams. Alex frowned as she combed through her wet hair, going over her reflection a couple of times in the mirror. Deep dark eyes, bluer than the deepest ocean, gazed back at her indifferently, set almost out-of-place amongst her creamy skin. Sighing a little, she ran two fingers along her collarbone and played with the silver necklace set there. Those dreams seemed to occur more and more over the last month and a half…and they almost disturbed her. She never liked dreams, due to the vagueness and the unrealistic things that always happened, and these were no different…but somehow she felt they were more real than any dream she'd ever had. Somehow it was as though they weren't just dreams, but the memories she couldn't manage to unlock consciously.
Shaking her head, she shoved it to the back of her mind. Janie would have her head on a platter if she didn't hurry and get to the school. Plus, she had to speak with the guidance counselor about the shadow program she had been signed up for at the local University. God damn it. Tying her hair back, something she rarely to never did, Alex finished dressing and pulled her camouflage jacket on over her simple black, long-sleeved shirt, grabbed her camera from the night stand, and headed out of the apartment.
SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE
"And so, that is how you balance the mother of all chemical equations."
Alex slipped into her seat just as the chemistry teacher finished her lecture, knowing that she had been so quiet the senile old woman wouldn't have even noticed. (She had her back to the class, anyways.) Smiling a little at her victory, she glanced out of the corner of one eye at Janie, seated beside her. Janie glared at her.
"I am going to kill you," she hissed softly. "That was the worst damn lesson we've ever had, I didn't understand any of it, and you arrive at the freaking end?! You're a dead woman!"
Biting her lip and pretending to be ashamed, the older girl whispered back, "I'm sowwie, Janie-chan. But I was up so late last night, I guess I just completely forgot that I had to be here today." Shrugging, she quickly scribbled down what their teacher had written on the white board in her neat cursive. "Besides, this stuff is so easy a caveman could do it. I'll give you a hand later; unless you just wanna copy my notes." She offered, holding up the now-full sheet of paper.
"Oh, yeah, so easy a caveman could do it. What, so the caveman evolved from me? You're a nice freaking friend," Janie spat, grinning a little and snatching Alex's notes away from her. "Gimme those."
Shrugging again, Alex muttered, "S'not my fault I'm so damn good at chemistry." Striking a small pose, she smirked. "I just rock." Janie smacked her on the back of the head.
"Stop bragging, you smart aleck. You're 'so damn good' at everything. You need to share some of your smartness!"
The elder rubbed the back of her head, raising a brow. She thought about repeating the fact that it wasn't her fault, but instead decided to mess with her best friend. "For starters," she began smugly, "'smartness' is not proper Japanese."
"Oh, shut the hell up. I don't care. I'll speak however I wanna speak, and you can't stop me!" Janie snapped, shoving her friend. Laughing, Alex was about to shove back with enough force to push the other girl out of her seat, but the clearing of an ancient throat from the front of the classroom caught her attention.
"If you ladies would like to say something to the class, then by all means share. If not, then Janie, would you mind using that extra energy you seem to have and balance this chemical equation for the rest of the class?" Miss Donna interjected, pointing a wrinkled finger at the white board.
Alex glanced at it first, trying not to laugh. For her, it would be a no-brainer, but unfortunately…she glanced at Janie, waiting for what she knew was coming.
"Uh, no, I'll say something, instead." Janie stood and pointed an accusing finger at her friend. "Alex is too damn smart for anyone's good and she needs to share her brains with other people—like me!"
"Thank you. Now come up and balance the equation, please," Miss Donna said. Janie groaned and glared at her friend.
"I'm going to kill you, Alexandra," she growled, sulking up to the board.
About halfway through the painful chemical equation, Alex lost face and let her mind wander to other, more important matters. Despite the fact that she usually let the "insulting" things Janie said about her insanely-high intelligence quotient slide off her shoulders, this particular one hit home based on how she'd been thinking as of late. It was true, she was considering taking her already-acquired high school diploma (as well as the small fortune in scholarships saved in her bank account) and applying for a college; maybe in an exotic place, like England or Australia. If it weren't for Janie's sanity, the job probably would have been done long ago. That was the main reason she was going along with the shadow program between her high school and the University of Tokyo: to get a glimpse and see if college interested her.
Then there was the number-one priority on her mind for the last six years or so—a world-wide murder mystery known as the "Kira Epidemic," or the Kira case to her. Now that she actually took the time to think about it, she could probably catch up to the main detective on the difficult case—a man who was just a voice on the radio to everyone, who went by the name of 'L.' All it would take was some patience, several references, plane tickets, the right search tactics, and…
"Alex? Alexandra!"
Humming in response, the young woman glanced up at Miss Donna and tried to clear her head. She took in the scene of Janie standing at the front of the room, practically having a mental breakdown from the difficulty of the equation, and the chemistry teacher handing her a marker.
"Would you please aid your friend with your superior intellect?" The statement was not at all endearing, not was it intended to be in any way. A good amount of the teachers disliked Alex for her genius, as it tended to mean that she didn't play close attention and yet managed straight-A's with ease.
Ignoring the snide remark, Alex took the marker delicately and stepped up to Janie's side. Without a second glance at the work, she filled in blanks with numbers and perfectly balanced the problem in five seconds flat. She pulled her friend back to their seats without another word. The chemistry teacher was speechless, as usual.
"First of all, I hate you, and second of all, you're my hero." Janie whispered as they sat again, sighing and sliding down in her seat. "You and me have got to take some time so you can teach me how to solve that…that thing. It's gonna be a HUGE part of our final, and I don't feel like failing this class again."
Smiling, Alex nodded. "When I get home from my shadow day tomorrow, we'll have a study session. I promise." She assured, closing her notebook. "Then we can plot how to kill Miss Donna." She added, grinning wider.
"Yes!" Janie cried, pumping her fist into the air. Everyone in the room turned to her, and she laughed nervously. "Eh-heh…" She quickly lowered her arm and pretended to be studying her notes.
As Alex chuckled lightly and attempted to return to her prior train of thought, things almost went back to the usual, everyday pattern.
Until Miss Donna suddenly collapsed on the classroom floor.
--End Prologue—
Author: Well, I hope this is better than the first prologue. It might be a little confusing, but the part in italics at the very beginning is a dream that the main character is having. Before I get into the later chapters, let me just list a couple of pairings here…
One-sided LightMisa.
MelloOC.
MattOC.
Any others are TBA. Anyways, I'd better get started on the first chapter. Enjoy!