A/N: oh hey, welcome back! first, thank you lots to the anon who reviewed. it actually motivated me to finish this second chapter because i knew at least someone was reading it! though i'm actually unsure whether i correctly hit all of the points i wanted to in this one, it was still fun to write. anyway, enjoy!

What.

"Hello?"

What is happening.

"Hey, don't go ignoring me, now."

Lucy, as cautiously as she could, lifted from her bed to a sitting position as if any rapid movement would set him off to cause harm against her, staring at the otherworldly being floating at the side of her bed.

She knew what it was. She knew who it was. She just didn't understand how this could have been possible under any circumstances, the only plausible ones being if she were dreaming or dead. That didn't seem to matter right now, though, as he was acting as if this were some everyday occurrence where he popped up in humans' bedrooms for reasons she personally couldn't find justifiable. As well as that, she had no idea the impact of her reaction to him. Unfortunately, she was scared to death and couldn't actually think of anything that would possibly help her in the situation, ultimately reducing her to a shaking, stuttering mess. After all, he wasn't even supposed to be real.

"Y-you..." Lucy trailed off, only now realizing how badly her hands were trembling in front of her, weakly planted in front of her chest as if it would defend her vital organs at all. It was all peripheral vision, though. Her eyes stayed strongly fixed on Ryuk.

"Did I scare you?" Ryuk's already wide grin somehow lengthened, reminding her of Hale's face-splitting smile (but only if he were a big scary monster.) She, however, gave no answer, therefore prompting him to continue. "Sorry. Actually, not really. You're funny, your reaction actually underwhelmed me! I think I was expecting more, 'AAAAAA!' from a high school girl, but everyone's different, right?"

Alright. Despite her overwhelming fear, she managed to set one goal for herself in this conversation with the fictional-but-not-really death god: do not reveal her knowledge of the Death Note universe. If she did, it would most likely make Ryuk even more interested in her, in which she assumed he already was interested since she, out of all people, had to have him break into her room. Or, float in. She didn't understand physics in her own world, so really there was no way for her to understand the physics of a real-life shinigami. Most importantly, she needed to end this conversation. Now. Truthfully, Lucy really just didn't care if continuing it would lead her on some supposedly fun adventure where she gets to save the world, or something. She cared about her own "adventure" in her own already complicated world where she's had to deal with an uptight teacher and difficult parent(s) and several other things she most likely couldn't think of at the moment. Besides, being in a world where untraceable murder is literally at some egotistical, inappropriately intelligent teenager's fingertips is absolutely terrifying. And the language barriers, don't even get her started on-

Snap. Snap. Snap.

"Oi, are you listening?" Ryuk had his weird pointy shaped hands hovering near Lucy's still face, snapping at an annoyingly fast tempo.

She.. blanked out? In front of a literal monster?

Sometimes Lucy still managed to surprise even herself.

"No... w-what did you say?" Lucy whispered, trying to make it seem as if her blanking out was just her being frozen in fear.

"Well, doesn't matter. You know what, it's about time I left."

Ah. Lucy internally jumped in joy, simultaneously checking her outward expression in case her true emotion slipped through. Finally! He was leaving, and I barely had to say anything. I didn't even have to follow through with my goal since I didn't have to talk much! When he leaves, I'll fall asleep and consider this as some weird fever dream, get a plan for the meeting tomorrow in order, and it'll be as if nothing happened.

Her personal party instantly shut down at the sound of the words Ryuk spoke next... almost mocking her for calling in a too-soon victory.

"Oh, almost forgot." The eerie face-splitting grin came. "I'm taking you with me."

At once, the shinigami grabbed Lucy by her shoulder.

That was the last thing she remembered before she finally regained consciousness.

Voices were all Lucy was able to hear once she woke up from her terrifying nightmare. Only, the nightmare seemed to be real... and she was still living in it, despite how absolutely insane it sounded and felt and smelled all the other senses (because clearly she's lost hers.) Before opening her eyes, she felt herself on a hard, wooden floor. She expected herself to be more uncomfortable because of that, but she guessed she just hadn't been lying there long enough to really feel it. Actually, why had she been lying there? Last time she checked, her floor was carpet. As in not hard and wooden.

Their words gradually became clearer. Her breath hitching, she noticed Ryuk's hoarse voice partaking in the conversation, only meaning...

A voice came, words slow as if either meticulously wrought or to make easier to understand for the other. "I'm sure you're well intentioned, but can't you see how much of a damper this puts on everything? Besides, this would only make it harder for you to get more apples, most likely because of me having to almost constantly supervise her."

Dreadfully opening her eyes, she caught a glimpse of the speaker.

Nope!

No way this was happening.

Never.

No.

NO.

It didn't set in when she saw Ryuk floating in her room. She could've brushed it off as some hallucination if anything since that could be somewhat easily explained. It didn't even set in when she felt herself on the floor of a room which was obviously not hers, since she could also explain that to herself as her probably trying some weird drug that let her hallucinate even more, even if she had always managed to avoid doing that kind of thing.

No, it had to be when he was right in front of her. Hearing his voice, seeing him in the flesh was what confirmed her buried suspicion.

She knew what kind of situation she was in. Despite her only having binged the anime for a few days, when she finished it she only skimmed over the various fanfictions that had been created in its name to see what kind of fun possibilities people would have come up with. Among those, she noticed stories such as people travelling to this whole new world and becoming best buddies or romantic lovers with either or both Light and L, or even a third option where they just wanted a way out. Lucy instantly found the concept compelling. If someone who knew everything about the Death Note and the universe surrounding it got involved, how would that impact the story? The characters? She would've loved to read a story about it. She probably would have if she didn't get literally sucked into it.

Lucy panicked. She intensely panicked. If it weren't for her somewhat strong-willed nature that allowed her to lie easily and not be persuaded into drug usage, she would have really slipped up by then. She knew her limits, though. She couldn't keep up with pretending to be asleep any longer, for her breathing was ragged and she could feel herself shaking in horror.

Light and Ryuk quickly turned their heads towards her once she sat up from her spot on the floor.

Oh my god. I can't move.

"Looks like she's awake," Ryuk spoke after a few moments of silence. With Lucy's new revelation, his voice somehow sounded different. As if every word carried weight with it. Although, that could have been because she perceived every word spoken by anyone then to be of importance and should be remembered in case something went awry, and Lucy remembering something they said would help her. Unfortunately, her current nearly petrified state couldn't let her do that.

Light strolled near where Lucy was, taking time in each step, and crouched down low so they were eye-level.

"Tell me your name."

Straight to the point, huh? Well, sucks for him. There was no way in hell Lucy was giving him her real name. Not like she could, anyway. She was still frozen in fear, and for real this time.

Light kept staring at her from behind his brown hair with his creepy gaze, like he was trying to figure out her every thought just from her eyes. It definitely wasn't helping the situation, at least for her.

Why did I have to be dragged into this? Why is any of this real? Why can't I just... go home? Lucy felt like crying. She was just a kid in her last year of high school, how was she supposed to deal with this? In fact, it hadn't even been long from when she was still in her room. All that happened was that Ryuk came, they talked, he magically teleported her here, then she woke up in a serial killer's bedroom.

It clicked.

A... fictional serial killer. From a story.

...That's right. He's still a character. Everyone isn't... real. Lucy didn't think herself to be so delusional, but she's glad she caught herself before she only began making the situation worse. It didn't matter what happened to anyone, right? It's all fake. She was the only real person in this damn world, so why should she be thinking of herself as the same as the people in it?

Lucy held on tight to that last strand of assumed sanity, knuckles whitening, never letting it out of her grasp. Nothing that happens in this world matters. Even if she could prevent all these deaths, even if she could prevent Light's or L's death, they weren't real deaths. The only potential death that mattered was hers, making it all the more important for her to get out.

Feeling confident in her conclusion, she finally broke out of her shock, unavoidably remembering Light's question as he was still staring at her like a hawk.

"Lou Langford." She'd decidedly taken inspiration from a certain someone whose alias and real name were strikingly similar.

She couldn't tell if he believed her or not, but she hoped that he already realized pressing her to tell the truth would lead nowhere. So, she waited.

Light stood up. He walked back towards his desk, never turning around to face her.

"Ryuk, take her back."

"No."

Ever so slightly turning his head towards the shinigami, he spoke again. "We've already talked about this. Have you forgotten?"

"Nope. It's almost like you forgot. I told you, I thought it'd be more fun to have someone else in the mix! You know, like those unexpected twists in soap dramas. Except this one's better."

Well, Lucy thought, if you had waited a couple more episodes, someone by the name of Misa-

"Okay."

It was just one word, but she instantly felt the gravity of it when it hit. It was almost like Light accepted his defeat, but already came up with a plan to make up for it later. It scared her, but not enough now that she had her newfound philosophy. She'd do whatever it takes to get out alive. For that to work out, though, she'd need the thing that dragged her here in the first place to drag her back.

Operation: Get Ryuk to Take Lucy Back to Her Own World was a go. Not many details in it at the moment, but the title should've been enough for her to recognize her main goal.

Turning on his heel, Light faced Lucy, her instantly noticing his change of demeanor. He put on a smile. "Well, Lou Langford, looks like we're stuck with each other." While once again walking towards her, this time with less intimidation involved, he stuck out his hand for her to grab. It was as if he were trying to build a false friendly environment, where she could feel secure and talk about anything. She assumed she saw through it only because she already knew how Light acted, but it was still disturbing how convincing it could be for anyone who didn't have that prior knowledge. "Here," he spoke. "We have some things to talk about."

Through this mess, Lucy was now 100% sure of the fact her luck was on the opposing side.