By the way, if anybody has written The Shinigami's Handbook, or knows somebody who has done something similar to it, please let me know and give me the link!

In advance warning... I'm human, before anyone asks. And I may look like L's female equivalent, but unfortunately, I'm not a genius (although I do my best). As a result, further chapter updates will be fairly sporadic, especially during school holidays.

For those who want a full description of L's current state, think Mucierlago's second release completed. The helmet is closest to that of the second release, except with the other half there, and a mask across the front with dark tear marks running down from the eyeholes all the way to the base of the mask, in a similar manner to Ulquiorra's facial markings.

Hollow: a spirit that has not been reached in time by a shinigami to be sent to Soul Society. These creatures are human spirits who have lost their hearts, either by the corruption of the broken Chain of Fate or the separation of the Chain of Fate from the place where it is attached to the soul's body, leaving behind a distinctive hollow or hole that gives these creatures their name. The other main distinguishing feature of hollows is the white mask, which covers the face in order to protect the hollow's exposed instincts. In general, hollows' primary instinct is to attempt to 'fill' the hole by consuming other spirits. Generally, these are plus and other hollows, although when a hollow is first formed, its instinct is to hunt down and eat the souls of relatives or close ones left behind in the living world, in order to appease its anguish. With every spirit consumed, the hollow gains power, and if enough souls are consumed, the hollow may evolve, changing its appearance completely (cref. Menos Grande, Gillian, Adjucha, Vasto Lorde and Arrancar).

Hollows are dangerous to shinigami due to the fact that they particularly seek out souls with high reiatsu, such as shinigami outside of a gigai, although they will also favour humans who have above-average levels of reiatsu before other normal souls. Hollows who did not kill whilst they were human can be purified and sent on to Soul Society by a blow from a Soul Cutter which shatters their mask. However, hollows who killed as a human cannot be purified of their sins, and are sent to Hell after their mask has been shattered.

-The Shinigami's Handbook

Darkness. Silence.

Light wasn't there.

I straightened up.

My range of vision was limited, since there appeared to be something covering my face. However, I appeared to be in a desert; all I could see was sand, and a single leafless tree on the horizon.

Wherever this was, it definitely didn't look like heaven.

Sand crunched under my feet. I looked down at the slight noise to note that said feet were currently black, furred and taloned, as opposed to pink… well… white, then, in my case… with toes.

What had happened to me?

Perhaps I have become a shinigami.

It wasn't a good thought.

I raised my hands to my face, only to discover that they were in a similar state. Lifting them up to my face, I then discovered that there appeared to be some kind of mask covering me, or perhaps a helmet with two sets of horns and a ridge running down the centre. The texture, as far as I could tell, was similar to that of bone. Inclining my head further revealed a hole in my chest, in the exact same position that the chain had been attached to beforehand.

"What am I?" I asked aloud.

Cold. Empty… Hollow. The voice resonated in my head strangely.

I heard sand sliding behind me, and turned around to see a creature emerging from a sinkhole. A reptilian creature with a horned white mask covering its face, its sharp silver claws scrabbling for purchase on the sand.

"Kekekeke…" Red eyes locked with mine as the creature laughed. "Fresh meat today! Unlucky, unlucky…" It raised its head, and shrieked, a loud sound that echoed around the desert.

There was a scuffling from behind me once more, as three more similar creatures crawled out of the sand. I was now surrounded.

"Stay still," one of them hissed as it advanced towards me, "and this won't have to hurt too much."

"Or you could run," another added. "It's always more fun when they try to escape us. They never get far."

Jump

As one, they leapt. And so did I.

There was a slight jerk as they caught hold of me, and I was soaring above them, one of the lizard-creatures currently clinging tightly onto my right foot. It screamed, dangling by my foot as the previously unnoticed wings on my back worked overtime to keep the two of us airborne. It was exhilarating.

"Let me go!" it screamed, terrified. "Wait, don't let me goooo!"

Down below, the other three were circling, following my movements.

"You can't stay up there forever," they called.

"Don't let me go oh God don't let me go – " The creature currently clinging to my leg bit down, hard.

I kicked instinctively.

Blood trailed from my leg as the creature fell down, throwing up a plume of sand where it landed. There was an audible crack as it impacted.

Its remaining three comrades howled and sped up, chasing me from below.

They're right. I can't keep this up forever. With the considerable lessening of my burden, it was considerably easier to fly, but I was still tiring nonetheless.

There were three of them, one of me. They were landbound, but experienced in fighting from the looks of things. I was neither of these things, in a body whose strengths and weaknesses I knew nothing of. The lone tree I could see was not tall enough to be unclimbable by the creatures, and if I landed, it was more than probable that they would attempt to rip me to pieces. Whether or not I would be able to fight them was not something I wanted to find out desperately, which left cunning.

I picked up altitude.

Riutz stared upwards, flicking his armoured tail in annoyance. "Damn hollow's going higher now," he growled as he followed its path from underneath.

Voratz kept his eyes on the hollow as he tracked it. It was just about visible from the ground, although surely it should be running out of strength by now… and then the pack would close in.

"Don't worry, Gryutz," he muttered under his breath. "We'll make the food pay for you before we eat."

"Hey, where's he gone?" Juitz yelled.

The twilight sky of Hueco Mundo was empty, devoid of the previously visible dark speck that had been their prey. Voratz swivelled his head round frantically, searching the skies for the hollow as his brothers did the same.

"Aww, jeez! The bastard managed to get away?" Riutz cursed. "Useless – "

There was a slight shift in the sand behind him, followed by a swift crack. Juitz and Voratz's heads snapped round to see the helmeted hollow's tail retracting itself from around Riutz's now-broken neck.

Riutz slid slowly to the ground to reveal the black hollow, standing behind him.

Green eyes stared impassively from behind its mask as Juitz and Voratz lunged in unison. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD – "

My talons raked the creature's side deeply, ripping it wide open and leaving a trail of dark blood on the air. I sidestepped quickly as the other one continued, barrelling into me. It didn't impact directly, but nevertheless knocked me off balance –

Let me.

Voratz backed off, limping, dripping blood as Juitz snarled. The dark hollow straightened up, then flexed its talons.

"He did better than I expected, actually," it – he – mused, apparently to himself.

"Asshole. You're going down." Juitz prepared himself, his claws beginning to secrete the deadly poison that had brought down so many others before. The only difficulty was that it made meat taste terrible…

He leapt, jaws and claws closing down –

On thin air, and a hollow who had moved faster than was possible had now vanished, only to appear behind him.

It punched a hole in his chest, just below his neck, as Juitz stared at the spiked fist now protruding from his body.

"Trash," he heard the hollow murmur, before everything faded.

Voratz lay wounded on the sand, panting as he was forced to watch the strange hollow slaughter his brothers and devour them. He attempted to move, but his back left leg was dead and the front left leg wouldn't respond, either.

The hollow turned to him, bright emerald eyes watching his attempts to get back up with mild curiosity. Voratz glared at the creature as it stepped over to him, tensing his muscles in order to swipe when it got close enough.

He reached out, only to have his right leg pinned down by the other hollow's foot in such a manner that promised an awful lot of pain if further movement was attempted in any way, shape or form.

"Get it over with."

"Not yet." The hollow leaned forward, placing one hand on Voratz's neck. "I can make this quick, or painful. You choose."

"Quick." He swallowed as the pressure on his neck was decreased slightly.

"Then answer my questions."

"Sure. Sure." He realised he was babbling, then stopped. "What questions?"

"What are you?"

Voratz started laughing, hard, until the other creature's talons squeezed hard around his neck. "You mean you don't know?"

"My offer can be rescinded at any time." The grip shifted a little more, pricking his neck and causing a drop of blood to well up and drop onto the sand.

"I'm a hollow."

"Hollow," he mused. "Then what am I?"

"Some crazy ass powerful hollow?" he tried.

"Were you human?"

"What?!"

"It's a simple question. Were you ever human?"

"How the hell would I know? I don't remember!" he yelled in despair.

"Nothing?" The other hollow tilted its head, then sighed. "Very well."

There was a crack as the hollow twisted, hard.

I had been entirely aware of what had been happening, despite the fact that I had not been in control.

Who are you?

The control of my body was relinquished to myself once more, leaving me alone in the desert again.

Who are you? I asked again.

Don't you remember me, L? It's Beyond Birthday.

I repressed a slight shudder at the memory of hunting my lookalike. Why did you… I hesitated. Eat them?

Because we were hungry. They were weak, and would have done the same had they managed to catch us. I noted the use of the plural first person at this point.

It was true that I was now – marginally, admittedly – less hungry. Unfortunately, that still wasn't saying much compared to my original state. I needed sugar. Or something more filling than this.

Did you expect Candy Mountain? Beyond said sarcastically.

Hardly. However, this leads me to conclude that there is no God. Either that, or He has very bad taste in afterlives.

Beyond scoffed. It took you this long to figure that out?

No, it took me this long to confirm it with 100% certainty. Although there is still the possibility that God is a sadistic being…

I turned round. No direction looked particularly favourable, although there was the tree…

Closer inspection proved that it was made of some kind of quartz. While it supported my weight, it was brittle and snapped if I exerted too much force on the thinner branches. Nonetheless, it would still be safer than sleeping on the ground.

I perched on the thickest branch of the bare rock, and attempted to sleep on a slightly-less-empty-than-before stomach. This was somewhat hampered by the fact that it continued to make growling noises. Nevertheless, I drifted off anyway.