Having nothing better to do at present, Nu gazed down into the swirling black orb which was placed in the centre of a carved stone table she had long ago assembled. There was precious little else to be found in the white, igloo-resembling dome in which Nu resided. The mystical viewing globe enabled her to survey any human she chose, at any given point, exactly like the numerous other such objects in the Realm, only this miniature one belonged exclusively to her. Here, she could live separately from the noisy cretins which populated the Realm.

Well, now. It seems as though we are making progress…and such intoxicating progress it is.

Nu usually only took an interest in humans whose names she intended to write in her Death Note. They were always desperately regretful individuals, who wanted nothing more than to correct the mistakes of their past, and to right what was wrong with their lives, and this one was no exception.

Yes…I can feel your suffering, human…

Misa Amane would probably not have realised that her intense sorrow was inducing feelings of warmth and comfort within the powerful being that observed her, and if she had, she doubtless wouldn't have cared. Nu watched the blonde actress, dressed completely in black, pouring through a photograph album in her ruined apartment, crying so very, very wretchedly. This was something of a change. For the past few days, Misa had been doing nothing but lying in bed, the television in her Victorian-style bedroom constantly blaring. It seemed as though she'd been fired from her latest project, though Nu didn't care what that might have been, and she certainly did not waste time looking for clues in the apartment. Well, it hardly mattered. What good is an actor who cannot break free of his own troubles to give a realistic portrayal of a character? The concept of acting, from Nu's point of view, was alien and if she had to define it, she'd say it was synonymous with lying.

Where is Ryuk? I assumed he'd be interested in this…

Nu, of course, would not usually have cared whether Ryuk cared or not. She hadn't granted him the dubious honour of visiting her 'temple' for his own light entertainment. No, she had bigger plans for Ryuk, Amane, and herself. Hell, if these plans came to pass, they would change the entire world…

In terms of distance, Nu's temple was located roughly two miles away from the cliffs where Ryuk had been idling his time away until Sidoh had appeared, delivering Nu's message. Ryuk flew above the jagged rocks and sandy plains, all the while apprehensive. Although excited to hear of the apparent suicide of Misa Amane, who he had previously possessed, he wondered what it was that Nu wanted from him. The domed structure appeared before him far too quickly, and he alighted on the smooth ground some distance away, tucking his black, feathered wings in. It was well-known that Nu hated being disturbed, and landing on her roof would probably accomplish exactly that.

So…where's the entrance?

There didn't seem to be one. The temple was appeared to be completely lacking in any particular feature, actually. It truly was just a bony well-made mound. Ryuk had walked over to it, and was circling the circumference. The temple backed out onto a cave, but-

"Ryuk, is that you?" a low voice spoke from within. It was quite soft, Ryuk was surprised to hear, and easily identifiable as female. He realised at that point that he had never actually heard Nu speak before. He opened his mouth to reply, and found himself sounding uncharacteristically nervous.

"Yeah- yes, I-"

"Please keep your voice down. I am only on the other side of this wall. Why do you not come in?"

Ryuk felt slightly embarrassed. Surely he must be missing something here. "I…can't find any door."

"I don't understand."

What's this genius talking about? Oh, right…

Ryuk took a step forward and phased through the wall, feeling completely idiotic. Perhaps it just hadn't seemed polite to enter by phasing, so he'd instinctively not done it…? All thoughts of foolishness quickly dissipated as he was confronted by the shinigami who had summoned him.

Nu stood tall, almost as tall as Ryuk himself, though she was much larger overall. He'd seen her before, but never this close up. Her body was almost entirely grey, and she resembled a seven-foot, pointed human thumb sticking out of the ground, with no legs visible, though two normal-looking arms extended from the middle part of her body, with gnarled hands. The entire figure had the external texture and colour of a slimy rock, and of course, then there were the eyes…

Dozens of scattered eyes covered Nu's upper body, giving her perfect, 360 degree vision all around her. The eyes varied in size, but all were perfectly round and bulging, a bit like Ryuk's. Parts of Nu's head were coloured black, and patchily, around the eyes. All in all, she was easily the weirdest-looking shinigami Ryuk had ever seen.

"Sidoh came to see you, I trust?" At this point, an ordinary mouth revealed itself upon its opening, and was located beneath a small bump which must have been her nose. Above her nose, two eyes were clearly situated symmetrically, which was a relief, because in all honesty, Ryuk hadn't known where to be looking when he addressed her.

"Uh, yeah, he did." Ryuk cast his eyes around the temple. It really did seem to be just one large, circular room, with a shrine standing near the far end, where a few candles were burning, as they were at regular intervals along the wall. Of course, the temple had no other source of light. What his eyes were focused on, however, was…

"Is that a viewing sphere?! Wow."

Nu shook her body impatiently. "Yes, it is, but if I were you, Ryuk, I would be wondering why I'd been called upon by the highest-ranked shinigami."

Ryuk's nerves returned instantly. He'd been quite preoccupied with the hypnotic sphere which enabled the human world to be viewed…Nu practically had her own home entertainment set.

"Well…yeah, actually. Sidoh said something about Misa Amane killing herself. You must know that I possessed her…so I assumed it was something about that."

Nu did not answer the question directly, but instead motioned with an arm towards the sphere. "Take a look," she permitted graciously, "she isn't dead – yet."

Ryuk walked cautiously over towards the sphere, realising that not many Shinigami had ever done this before, and was interested to know whether this orb operated differently to the others. Apparently they didn't. Ryuk's wide eyes looked hungrily into the orb. He had to think of Misa's name in order for her to appear, though that only took a second. There she was, alright.

Oh, I remember that apartment well…

He was looking into the rooms where he had had such very good fun. He remembered it all so clearly that he could have been watching it happen. Light concocting his various schemes…Saying goodbye to Misa as she gave up the Death Note….he felt not only a wave of nostalgia, but a feeling of longing towards this period in his life. He was really starting to regret having finished Light off now. But he'd left Misa well alone, and now, apparently, she was going to die pretty soon. She'd put the photo album away and was now sitting at her vanity in the bedroom, putting on her makeup, her face a blank mask.

"Nu, how long does she have?" Ryuk turned to the female shinigami hovering over his shoulder, quite literally. She didn't even appear to be using her wings.

"Have you not yet learned how to read a lifespan, Ryuk?" Her tone suggested that somehow, she was not surprised. When Ryuk shook his head, she continued, "Three hours and twenty minutes. Approximately." She mumbled the last word quietly, as though she'd said it reluctantly.

Ryuk felt a cold chill. This was not supposed to be happening. As a shinigami, taking so much interest in humans was frowned upon. Yet Nu had invited him here to do just that. Was this some kind of test?

"So…" Ryuk took his eyes away from the numbers floating above Misa's head, and asked Nu directly, "why am I here? I don't think you just wanted me to watch some human girl commit suicide."

Ryuk may have imagined it, but in the flickering candlelight, the Nu's mouth flickered, and all of her eyes lit up for a brief second. Perhaps she was even smiling, albeit slightly sinisterly.

"I know all about you, Ryuk," she began. Ryuk could feel a speech coming on. "I know everything, and as such am the King's arm, his will. Along with Armonia Justin Beyondormason- though he is not as powerful as I- I have the capacity to regulate all the activities of this Realm. You probably wonder who carries out the punishment of dissenting shinigami. Well..." she pointed a finger at herself. Ryuk blurted out, in his terror:

"No! Nu, I…please…" he didn't care that he was begging. He'd pleaded with a much less threatening force before, all for the sake of a juicy, juicy apple…

"I don't intend to kill you, Ryuk." She was calm, but Ryuk knew that she had not yet finished her sentence. "If you assist me, then I will do you no harm at all. In fact, I think you'd be happy to oblige anyway."

"What- what do you want me to do?" If shinigami needed to take breaths, then Ryuk would have been holding his at this point.

"I want you to help me resurrect Light Yagami. Ah- that certainly sounds interesting, don't you agree?"