Death Note: Plane of the God's
Chapter One: The Endless Abyss
Calogero tumbled through the sky of the Mu, disorientated by the placement of the ground in relation to the Shinigami Realm. With a heavy crunch, he crashed into the ground. He growled and rolled to his feet, dusting off the muck that clung to his robe. Looking around, Calogero was surprised at how similar this world was to the Shinigami Realm. He was also surprised that he had forgotten such an important factor.
"Must have been away for longer than I thought," Calogero muttered.
He shrugged it off and began to wander through the new realm. No sense in over working his already exhausted wings. He glanced around, looking for a landmark of some sorts. He spotted a tall cliff face that someone had hollowed out since they were there. A perfect landmark to find his way back.
His navigation sorted, Calogero began to walk away from the portal and the cliff. There weren't many signs of life in this new realm. Even the Shinigami Realm wasn't as sparsely populated as this.
"This is like looking for a needle in a haystack," growled Calogero. "I'll never find him here."
Realizing the futility of his quest he swung his scythe at a mound of rubble. The force of the blow, rather than cleaving the mound in two, crushed it into dust. Calogero chuckled, his scythe returning to its place at his side. And that's when he heard the sniffling. He paused, then made his way toward the source.
The source was further away than he anticipated but it was better to be doing something rather than wander aimlessly through this desolate wasteland. A minute later he found the source of the noise.
A human. He was curled up into a ball, dressed in a deep, blood red coloured velvet vest with black leather trousers. His blonde, gingery hair reached to just under his jaw and his hands were pressed to his face. Although he was dead, his name was still displayed above his head in blood red lettering.
'Mihael Keehl'. Calogero recognised the name from his time watching the human realm and Ryuk. He was the human who had taken Sido's Death Note by force. What was the name he went by? Mello? Was that it?
"What do you want?" the figure sobbed. Calogero smiled.
"Why are you crying Mihael?" he asked, feigning concern. Mello froze. He began to uncurl and looked up at Calogero.
"How do you know my name?" he whispered, his voice hoarse, pale blue eyes sparkling. The flesh around his left eye was scarred and burnt. Calogero reached up and tapped one of his eyes.
"Shinigami," he responded. Mello sat up and looked at Calogero.
"If you're a Shinigami then tell me why I'm here," Mello demanded. Calogero smirked.
"You used a Death Note," he said, "This is where you belong. Humans who have used a Death Note can go to neither heaven nor hell. They come here. To the Mu. Nothingness."
Mello looked at him aghast.
"Don't look so glum," Calogero smirked. "At least you knew the power of the Death Note."
"So this is it?" Mello choked. "This is all I have to look forward too?" He waved around at the barren landscape. "This is what I have to live with? Forever?"
"Until the end of days," cackled Calogero as he stood up to his full height. "Bet you wished you hadn't thrown your life aside for Near so carelessly now eh?"
Mello looked up into Calogero's laughing face before a smile slipped onto his lips.
"You'll end up here too you know," he whispered hoarsely. Calogero froze and looked down at Mello, curiosity aroused.
"Explain," he said in a rigid monotone. Mello smirked.
"I've seen you're kind in this world too," Mello chuckled. "Not as many as the humans but enough. They look like ghosts but I can tell that they're Shinigami."
If Calogero had eyebrows one would most certainly be raised at this point. He said nothing however, merely turning his back on Mello and walking away. He wasn't sure if Mello knew of Light Yagami's existence, let alone presence in this realm. Better to continue searching then waste time pointless questions.
Time. Calogero laughed at such a notion in this realm. Here time was irrelevant. He could spend an eternity in this realm and return barely a minute later in his own realm. Or he could have spent minutes here and returned to the Shinigami Realm at the end of days. No matter though. Be it seconds or centuries, the Shinigami King was forever.
What might have been several days passed by and still Calogero had not found Light. He had seen other humans and even some Shinigami as Mello had said. The Shinigami however were strange. They appeared translucent, see-through. Like the paranormal entities humans might call 'ghosts'. But during this time, there had been no sigh of Light.
Still unperturbed, Calogero continued his search for Light, although the longer he spent in the Mu, the more he remembered of his previous time here. The crushing loneliness, the deep sense of sorrow and the furry that he had been denied. All those negative emotions were seeping back into Calogero's head. He gave a vicious scowl and shook himself in a vain attempt to rid himself of these thoughts.
A human suddenly leapt out at him. Calogero was taken completely by surprise at this and failed to react as the human lunged at him with a rock. Thankfully he didn't have to as the human sailed straight through him. Calogero chuckled at the human's foolishness as he turned to face him.
The human was tall with sallow skin. He was middle-aged perhaps, dressed in the remains of a once fine suit. His reddish brown hair was but a mop of grease and his eyes had the wild look of insanity. Calogero looked at the name above his head. 'Kyosuke Higuchi.'
Another human who he recognised form watching Ryuk. He was the one who was given a Death Note by Rem. The greedy man who worked for a human company. What was it called again, 'Yotsuba'?
"I want out!" howled Higuchi, looked madly at Calogero. "Let me go! I want to live! I don't belong here!"
Calogero snorted. The human had clearly lost his mind. Being in the Mu could have that affect on some people. No, most people. Higuchi got to his feet and ran at Calogero again. Calogero lifted his scythe. Although Higuchi couldn't touch him, Calogero could certainly touch Higuchi.
With a powerful swing of the scythe, the handle struck Higuchi in the stomach. Higuchi retched and staggered back as Calogero stepped forward and kicked Higuchi in the face. The human fell backwards unconscious. Calogero looked down on the man with disgust and walked away. He couldn't tell if attacking a human after death would have consequences for the human and he didn't really care. He shouldn't have been so foolish as to attack a Shinigami.
There was movement behind him. Calogero sighed. If it were Higuchi again he wasn't sure whether or not snapping the human's neck would have any effect. He lifted his scythe again and turned to face the noise. It wasn't however Higuchi who had made the sound.
Standing before him, a ghostly apparition of her former self, stood Rem. The tall, lilac haired Shinigami looked at Calogero with her amber eyes with cat-like pupils. Calogero lifted his scythe back into place and looked at Rem.
"How nice to see you again," Rem said in her usual slow speech.
"Rem," Calogero said smiling. "I had a feeling I'd see you here eventually."
"Yet I had no knowledge that you would come here," Rem admitted. "What business do you have here? Unless you too have died?"
Calogero barked a laugh.
"You think I would throw my life away for some human?" Calogero snorted. Rem considered it for a moment.
"No," she admitted finally. "You are not the type to fall in love with a human Calogero. But that still leaves the question as to why you are here."
Calogero looked at Rem for several long moments. There was no real harm in telling her. After all, she was perhaps his oldest friend.
"A long time ago you came here looking for me," Calogero said softly. "You took me from this place and to my rightful place at the old man's side."
"I remember it well," Rem said softly. "It was such a strange time after that, but that still does not answer my question. Why-"
And then Rem understood her eyes narrowed and she looked at Calogero.
"You're here for a human? One who has just died? One who possessed a Death Note?"
"Yes," Calogero admitted. Rem glared.
"You are here for Light Yagami." It wasn't a question but a statement of fact.
"Yes," Calogero said again. Rem looked indesicive for a moment.
"I longed for Light Yagami to suffer an eternity in this place," Rem said at last. "He came here not so long ago. But now you are here to take him back to our realm."
"You know where he is then?" Calogero asked, trying not to sound hopeful.
Rem turned and pointed to a high plateau in the distance. Even from where he stood Calogero could see strange clusters of pale blue that covered the rock formation.
"I tell you not out of any sympathy or affection for Light Yagami," Rem told Calogero. "But in honour of our friendship. No go before I regret this decision."
Calogero nodded and opened his wings once more, taking flight towards the plateau Rem had pointed out to him. It really wasn't that far to fly and he was thankful to Rem for pointing it out to him. As he flew closer he saw that the strange clusters of blue on this rock were actually clusters of rare blue roses that often grew in the Shinigami Realm. Calogero was surprised to see that they grew in the Mu as well. This world was becoming eerily like the Shinigami Realm.
As he drew nearer he saw the person standing on top of the plateau. A tall, young man with brown hair. He looked to have dried blood all over his clothes. But as Calogero looked with the eyes of a Shinigami, he saw the name written above the human's head.
'Light Yagami'.
He had found him.
Kira.