Author's Note: I wrote this for the sake of wanting to do a drabble on the many names L goes by. It's a few months old, but I'm still fairly proud of it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of its characters, although I'd certainly like to. There'd be a lot more yaoi, for one thing.
And None of Them My Own
L was a man of many names.
L. Coil. Danuve. Ryuuzaki. Lawliet. Even "Stalker-san" and "Hentai", courtesy of Misa.
L, Coil, and Danuve were the aliases he used for work. He had put so much effort into building up the reputations associated with each one. The name of L, especially. It took a lot of work to become a detective skilled and well-known enough to be hired by the UN.
Work was L's life. It was what he had created the name for. Sometimes he would become so obsessed with his work that he began to lose touch with the rest of humanity. Like a computer, full of data and projections. People seemed like ants to him then – dispassionately going about their lives without purpose. Sometimes L felt like an ant too. He knew exactly how insignificant all of his achievements were when compared to the grand scheme of things.
Ryuuzaki had a touch more humanity to it, he thought. Even so, it wasn't his true name. He had only created it for the purpose of the Kira investigation.
Perhaps he only liked the name because of the people who referred to him by it. He had worked with many people on past cases, but that had usually been done through the computer or phone. The Kira investigation was the first large-scale operations that had required him to be physically present. He had experienced many firsts when working with them; the first time he doubted his mental ability; his first friend.
Lawliet was a secret name. If Kira were to discover it, he would surely die. Two had already taken that secret with them to their graves.
Through it was the name he had been born with, he didn't believe that it suited him. He had kept it hidden for so long that he no longer associated it with himself. His aliases were much more practical for everyday use than his true identity.
Names were only temporary, as he well knew. They were simply a perception of you for other people to use in order to avoid confusion. Everybody had one, whether given to them or created for themselves. Somehow, everyone's name suited them in one way or another. He was an exception.
So very many names, he thought, and none of them my own.