Ch. 1: Rebirth

Cheated. That single word pulsating in the otherwise absolute darkness. It is a biblical certainty that when God is deceived, a torrential flow of concentrated wrath is to follow. The darkness of the sea and sky as the world was rebuilt amidst the famed deluge was the same utter black that the deceased Light was witnessing. Suddenly, this blankness faded into the sight of a destitute slum of a place littered with what he assumed to be shinigami, as evidenced by their ghastly and lazy visages.

Suddenly a voice echoed in Light's mind: "'One who has used the Death Note can go to neither heaven nor hell,' you knew that, didn't you Light?"

Gripped by the calm of death, Light quickly responds, "Yes, of course. It was a reality I had come to terms with early on."

"Someone as smart as you ought to have realized by now that what you're looking at now is the shinigami realm that Ryuk told you about. Do you understand why you're here?" the voice answered.

"How would I know that? The only logical guess that I could come up with is that this is where I am to live from now on."

"Hehehe. Wrong! Humans who have used the Death Note would never be allowed to become shinigami, especially with their memories from being human. You do remember your life, don't you Light? To put things short, the Shinigami King has asked to talk with you. Your story has struck a chord with him or something."

At that moment, Light's sense of being returned, and the feeling of actively being within the shinigami realm surged within him. A cold, desolate aura was tugging at him as he followed the shinigami whom the voice had belonged to. This particular shinigami was draped in a tattered robe of black, falling around her otherwise visible bones. Palpable blackness seemed to exist within her ribcage, matching the dark mass atop her skull. This creature led Light past the bone-strewn outside environment into an ominous cave, patrolled by two guards who were adorned with a far more professional garb than the average shinigami. Lit by only occasional torches, Light's guide was most necessary indeed.

"So what's your name, shinigami?" Light comments, amidst the otherwise silence of their trek.

"It took you this long to ask? Ryuk always chattered on about how you were so good with the ladies! I was beginning to feel insulted!" the shinigami joked. Upon seeing Light was hardly in the mood for humor, the shinigami finished, "It's Hali"

After a moderate amount of time (lengthened by the general silence the two adopted), the two exited the passage. On the path, (which was only visible due to the difference in the altitude of the ground, as skeletal remains and piles of filth were abundant) an imposing, yet ramshackle Gothic cathedral came into sight. "That's the King's Cathedral, where our current King lives and administers to the living worlds."

The black doors noisily creaked ajar as Light was led into the King's central chamber. Light had noticed upon entering the place that the building's layout was dramatically different than those similar in the human world. There were far more rooms, all converging on the central one where the King resided. The King was indeed regally embellished for a shinigami, as he was strewn with gold, but the accustomed darkness was perpetuated in his countenance by the concealing hood over where his face would have been. As Light was beginning to bow, as would most humans to royalty, Hali nudged him, gesturing that such formalities were lost in their world. As Hali closed the door behind her, the King signaled Light to approach him.

"Light Yagami. The self-proclaimed god of the human world, who took it upon himself to use one of my Death Notes to punish criminals in the human world. Thwarted by another human, he faced a miserable, solitary death on the stairs of an abandoned Japanese shed. He then proceeded to bathe in the darkness of nothingness until I asked Charon to grant me a favor, which has culminated in the current situation, Light Yagami."

"Why did you summon me here?"

"Your endeavors have had a stirring effect on the shinigami here in this realm. A thorough rousing has occurred within our kind due to your initiative. A human using the power of a God of Death for the sake of mortal apotheosis. This feat has garnered much notoriety in our realm, so it has come to my attention that your life was far too brief and your death dreadfully unfitting. As the God of Death, I am willing to make a deal with you."

"I don't see that I have much choice. It's either I stay dead and bask in nothingness or accept your deal, shinigami. So of course I accept." Light shot back, slightly irked by how cornered he found himself in the presence of the being who was fingering his fate

"No doubt, you must have conceptualized how shinigami are formed during your contact with Ryuk, correct? Our bodies have decayed long past the ability to reproduce, as you know. As the King, I am in charge of the selection of new shinigami. The simple reality of shinigami creation is that only those whose lives have been ended by the Death Note can become shinigami. As I instructed Hali to tell you, humans who have used the Death Note, though, are usually barred from becoming Gods of Death, in order to prevent killings of vengeance by newly appointed Gods of Death. Thus, it is simpler this way. But it is different in your case Light Yagami, as you challenge both of these rules. Several shinigami in this realm took it upon themselves to dispose of your enemies, spurred on by sympathy for you. Furthermore, your presence among the shinigami is desired by many, and I am compelled to allow it. But I must be sure of your resolve to become a true god. Therefore, your life will be reinstated and you will begin anew, but you will exist in a world in which the Death Note belongs to a different human. If your Fate is to be a god, then you will retrieve the Death Note from this individual without your current knowledge of the Death Note. So, in essence, you will experience a life reset. I have informed the shinigami realm to avoid assisting you in this challenge. Thus, your memories will be temporarily erased and..."

The door that Light had originally entered then opened again, and the familiar voice of Hali broke in "The two humans whose lives were reestablished four years ago have come into contact, King."

"I see. Light Yagami, you once knew these humans. Their names were L Lawliet and Quillish Wammy, and they were killed by the shinigami Rem in the early years of your campaign. I had to wipe their existences from a number of people using my Death Note, but the decision to make this deal with you has been long in the making, so we had already begun the process. These two humans represented your primary opposition to becoming a god in your original life and thus they will be reused in your second life for a similar purpose. Their relationship had to be maintained for this reason, so Quillish Wammy was merely reanimated, while L Lawliet was granted another life. The conditions of his reestablishment are the same as yours. Your opponents are already aligned for you, both the person who will control the Death Note and these two humans from your past. These are the conditions of our deal, Light Yagami."

Light was flowing with adrenaline, or the post-mortem equivalent, for his rival would again be his obstacle in achieving his goal. The fakes that ended his first life were nothing like the original, as he knew for a long while. The challenge of a new face-off with dare-he-say his L was beginning: he could already envision the crouched, inscrutable appearance of L staring across at him amidst the Japanese skyscrapers. They had both plummeted to their deaths during tempests while atop these buildings, but Light, upon hearing of his future, felt the onset of a fateful, eventful deluge that would craft the rebirth of a world.

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-MikamiEscape