A/N: Dear canon-hating people, please ignore the first half of this^^ I liked writing it^^

2. God

The usual classroom. Dark with fake light coloring the room making it seem a bit yellowish. The same boring people, the same classmates reading manga under their desks and behind the usual windows the usual outside world the students of Taikoku Academy were always staring into, watching the cars driving to an unknown location to live their everyday life, to do the things they wanted or didn't want to do. Clean cars that reflected the sunlight ever so brightly, dirty cars dully passing the flashing neon billboards.

Again.

Yagami Light also stared outside. Walls. Windows. Trees. The clean tiles of the square, the sheet of paper- probably a test someone discarded- wandering around, floating on the wind.… So boring and lifeless…

Again.

The teacher yelled.

Again.

"Yagami, wake up!! Tell us..."

'Blah, blah...'

Light answered.

Again.

A small book fell out of the air and hit the ground.

Aga- ?! A small black book? Falling? Out of the air...? Maybe someone dropped it out of an airplane...? No, that was unlikely...

What was it…? Why did that book fall out of the air…? It just laid there, no one else had noticed it…Light felt a flicker of curiosity. He wanted to pick it up, to study it. For the first in a while, he felt a tingle of another feeling than boredom or lone in his chest. Outside, he wanted to pick it up…How long would this hour take…?

Finally, the bells rang through the modern, but boring building of the school Light studied in, day in, day out.

He tried to look relaxed as he walked outside to pick it up. A black book. With white letters in the front. It looked old and discarded…

'Death Note...' He opened it to find text on the inside of the cover. 'How To Use...Huh, it's in English? The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. Heh, rubbish...'

His head hurt. It was a wonder no one followed him outside to see him pick it up... rubbish. Hell. Light put it in his bag, only to walk into a few drooling girls who had showed up out of nowhere as soon as he turned around.

After another few disturbing hours ("Yagami-saaan, do you want to walk home with us...?" "No, with us!!" "You don't even live in the right direction, slut!!" "That only shows my affection for him!!"), he was finally home. Heh, no one around. Sayu and Mum weren't home today...? Was there a sale or something…? Nice... He liked being alone, and today it also meant that he would have the chance to study the notebook without being disturbed. Sitting down at his desk, Light switched on his desk lamp before flipping the notebook open once more.

'The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.'

'The cause of death must be written in this note within 40 seconds.'

'If the cause of death is not specified, the victim dies from a heart attack.'

'Other details of the cause of death must be specified within 6 minutes and 40 seconds.'

'Keep the face of the victim in mind when writing the name. This is to make sure others with the same name are not involved.'

...

'This sucks.'

Light lay down on his bed, and tried to relax a bit. Today had been disturbing… more so than usual. Something had been bothering him... It was tiring, he didn't know what it was, but there was something that kept him busy in the back of his mind. Probably his lonely feeling… Could it be caused by the weird dreams about being alone at the top? He dreamed about that almost every night, and something else, about himself doing... himself. Sometimes, he saw himself lying down on his back, looking up at himself, his face glistening with sweat and his expression a mixture of pain and ecstasy. Pretty.

Other times, he looked up at himself to see harsh eyes look back, filled with evil and lust.

'Weird.'

...

But still pretty.

'Am I gay? No...It must be because of the lack of people to think about like this. It's only logical to dream about myself under these circumstances.'

His thoughts went back to the black notebook lying with his stationary. Death Note. The one who thought about this joke really made work of it... Should he try it? Maybe someone at school? Hmmm... No. It must be a criminal.

Someone who really does wrong.

In an impulse, Light opened the notebook and grabbed a pen.

'Wait...If I kill someone, does that make me a murderer...?'

...

'I take this far too seriously...'

Light turned on the television to see a live news flash begin, about a criminal who robbed a bank and kept a few children and teachers hostage in a prime school.

A criminal.

Light hated criminals.

Light had always hated those who made other's lives go for the worse. He'd always wanted to protect others, his friends, family, his classmates and other ones he liked… And that mostly meant making sure they wouldn't be hurt. And those who killed others were definitely bad. They should be killed, the world should get rid of them, and there were so many of them… This one wasn't even better. Maybe he could use him…? In another impulse, and just to prove this stupid book wrong, Light wrote the name of Torou Otoharada, whose picture showed up with his name written under it, in the Death Note.

He waited, not expecting anything to happen. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. Thirty-five, thirty-eight, thirty-nine... Forty seconds later, still nothing happened. Duh. Like this could be real...It would've been funny if it was. Killing criminals like this didn't sound bad, but it was impossible… Ridiculous he even tried to prove this to be wro-?

"What?!"

"The victims are coming out!!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have just received that Otoharada has collapsed!!"

'!!'

"Eyewitnesses say that he just fell to the floor, and didn't get up!!"

Light didn't hear his chair fall to the floor as he jumped up in horror.

'What?! Heart attack?!'

"Liiiight!! Dinner!!"

'For how long has she been home?!'

Light startled and quickly put away his Death Note. What, why did he…? He laughed twitchingly to himself when he realized what he was doing…This notebook couldn't be real, it had to be fake, there was no way…

"Wait!! Wait a minute!!"

'One successful test doesn't prove anything...'

After a very disturbing dinner that Light didn't really join ("Light is in looove!! He's dreaming again!!"), Light walked to the yuku, carrying the strange notebook with him.

In his class, he watched as Sudou pushed Ryou to give him 2000 Yen.

A bully. Despicable. Another person disrespecting other lives and trying to get better by taking advantage of someone else's weakness.

'Maybe I should try it on Sudou...?'

"Liiiight-saaan!!"

Someone dared to call him by his first name, apparently. Should he try the Death Note on one of the brainless sluts…?

Light sighed when a girl ran into him and took his hands, to hold them up and show everyone around she'd caught Yagami Light's hands. Light tried to ignore it. He felt lightly disgusted that someone dared to invade his personal space like that, but he wouldn't do something low like hitting a girl, only because she was annoying. He had better things to do than being nice to her. She didn't do anything to better the world…Was he really everything the girl could think about…?

The girl smiled at him seductively.

"Light, will you go out with me tomorrow? I want to tell you something..."

"No, sorry, I'm not interestedtoday."

The girl stared at him in disbelief when he walked away and took a seat without even glancing at her.

After the teacher cracked a piece of chalk against his head and yelled at him again, Light sniffed the fresh outside air into his nose and looked around. The world was rotten. Everyone sucked. The world would be better off without all those people. It would be better if someone would judge over them, like a god... If God didn't do it himself, who could...?

Keeping his head lowered, he watched as a few motorbikes stopped around a young woman and the owners of them began to intimidate her. He noticed a guy, calling himself 'Takuo Shibuimaru, aka Shibutaku'… A guy who assaulted women…That was a crime too. Women always seemed vulnerable and weak to Light, and though they irritated the shit out of him sometimes, they couldn't protect themselves against violence. They needed help to overcome these situations, and luckily he was here to help.

He walked in the magazine store, picked up a shojo magazine he secretly liked to borrow from Sayu when no one else noticed, opened his notebook and began to write different versions of 'Takuo Shibuimaru' in it, keeping the guy's face in mind which he could see through the window, and wrote 'traffic accident' under it.

Light looked up.

'Allright...What happens next?!'

Forty seconds after Yagami Light wrote the first version of the name in the notebook, Takuo Shibuimaru followed the young lady who saw a chance to escape to the road, on his motorbike.

"Taku!!"

"Takuo, watch out!!"

As if in slow-motion, a truck appeared out of nowhere, missing the lady and slamming into the biker, throwing both the man and his motorbike down the road, shocking everyone around, including the young boy holding a shojo-magazine with a notebook in it...

Light stared at the man who lay down on the street, his mouth wide open. The notebook was real. The human whose name is written in this notebook really did die...

He ran away, feeling sick… He killed them.

Two people.

The rambling of the organ in his chest increased to the point of pain.

Two people.

He looked at his hands that killed them.

Two people.

The cold sweat ran over his face. He killed them. No, the first one was a criminal who deserved to die.

But the second...? Was he really that bad that he deserved to die...?

He clenched his fists until they trembled from the pounding of his heart. This notebook must...

His heart stopped for a second when the face of his little sister flickered in front of his eyes, causing a little fire of determination in his chest. Goosebumps. A strange feeling of hate filled his chest. No. This was how he always thought, wasn't it? This world was rotten. His heart continued to pound, but no longer out of anguish. It had disappeared, only determination remained…

Someone who judges over them… Like a god.

God.

He hurried home, holding the notebook against his chest, breathing desperately to go faster. Once he was home, he searched for a place to hide the Death Note. In his closet... No, maybe his mother would put clothes in it to do him a favor and find it. Under his mattress…? No, that wasn't safe either and Light wanted it to be easy to hide and use it. Between his school cahiers…? No, Sayu would accidentally take one out of curiosity, and it would be THIS one…

After five minutes of anxiously stepping around in his room, most likely resembling an idiot, he hid the deadly notebook in his drawer, under the fake diary he wrote in once in a while to make others think he was attracted to girls, like any normal guy of his age. It didn't matter now. He wasn't normal anymore, he'd never been. He was extraordinary, and from now on, he would be even more so.

He took a shower to wash away the sweat. He didn't want to know what he'd smell like if he would sleep covered in it. He lifted his head to the cool water.

A god. Could he do it?

Could Yagami Light save the world from all the evil?

He washed his hands. Those soft, lightly tanned hands with the long, slender fingers killed two people. He took soap and rubbed them until they looked pink. He dropped the soap on the floor and slid his hands down over his arms, and held them tightly crossed against his a moment, he felt very weak and defenseless.

But that was only a moment.

He opened his eyes, washed his hair and body harshly, stepped out of the shower and dried himself, pulled on a boxer, ignored Sayu who asked him if he knew where the shojo-magazine was she bought last Saturday, and shut his door. He turned off the light, fell down onto his bed and pulled the sheets up over his head and squeezed his eyes shut; but of course, there was no way he could sleep. His mind struggled to understand what had happened that day, but even then it seemed so unreal . A strange notebook. The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.

Light killed two people with it.

Murderers?

But Light… Was he a murderer himself...?

The continued pound of Light's heart forced him to breathe in short quick pants and a thin layer of sweat had once again coated his skin. His stomach hurt. His head almost burst. A murderer. A god. Murderer. God. Murderergod. Murdergod. Murdgod. Mur-

Light blinked.

It was almost 4:30AM. Shit. How long had he been lying there?! Light had to sleep now. He felt his head throb.

Then, finally, he felt himself slide away in the dark. Yagami Light finally fell asleep.

That night, Light had the strange dream again. The world was at peace… Like in his other dreams.

Everyone was proud of him. Like in his other dreams.

He saved the world.

Like in his other dreams.

But this time... He was holding a notebook and a pen. He was standing on top of the world.

Like a god.

Like the God of the New World.

A god. The God. The ultimate.

'I am... the God of the New World.'

***

The next day Light was once again in class, his head throbbed and his eyes were heavy from lack of sleep. His mind refused to rest and the same thought kept running through his mind.

God. Of. The. New. World. Light. God.

Wasn't there anyone else who could do it? Anyone...?

That would mean passing this power to someone else. It would mean that he had to watch someone else judging those criminals…Others would make mistakes, no one should find out about the identity of someone passing judgment on criminals…

Light opened his eyes. No. He was the only one who could do it.

From that moment, he was sure. Light Yagami would become the God of the New World. He would be justice.

'With this notebook…I'll change the world.'

***

'Gwaaaah...'

'Hmwww...'

'Mmmm...'

The sound of three teenage boys as they woke up slowly wailed through the large, bright bedroom. It was the end of November, and the yellow leafs from the big oak standing next to the house had all disappeared from the branches of the tree that tapped against the window. A blond boy opened his eyes, to inspect the room for a clock or anything.

"How late is it...?"

An albino stretched uncharacteristically and blinked at the light falling into the room. It was cloudy today, but the sun still found its way to Wammy's House's south-west windows.

"It's already morning..."

Between them, a redhead with goggles hanging around his neck tried to roll around, to discover that he couldn't move his right hand.

"..Mello...Get your ass off my hand..."

"WHAT?!"

The goggle boy tried to pull his hand away from under a certain part of the blonds' anatomy, and got hit on his head with a firm fist. The albino boy sat up and stared at them.

"What's wrong?"

"MATT GROPED ME IN MY SLEEP!!"

Goggle boy felt his head where the aggressive blond had hit him and looked hurt.

"No, I didn't, I woke up with you breaking my hand with your ass!!"

"AND WHO PUT THAT HAND THERE?!"

Albino boy looked away with a faint blush on his white cheeks.

"It wasn't me. Where is L?"

The redhead blinked.

"He was just lying here."

He inspected the big bed, as if he expected the panda to be minimized and lost on the white and uneven surface. Mello, Matt and Near had per se wanted to sleep in L's bed because they'd missed him so much. L had smiled and approved before he fell asleep for the first in a while, with the boys using him as a kind of bony pillow. The blond shook his head.

"He was asleep!!"

"Pandas need some sleep too."

The blond hit Goggle Boy on his head again.

"Maybe you groped him in your sleep too, Matt, and he didn't like it and now he's looking for somebody to punish you."

Said boy blushed and looked delighted.

"Punish? Wooh, I hope it's a hot one..."

Albino boy repressed an eye roll.

"Not in that way, Matt. If he'd wanted you to get punished in that way, he'd have asked Mello."

The blond snapped at the youngest boy.

"What the hell are you implying?!"

"Mello, you like Matt..."

Blond jumped up and hit the albino on his head.

"NOT TRUE!!"

Goggle Boy looked up with a hurt expression on his face.

"What...?"

Another fist from Blond boy on his head.

"You groped me, bitch!!"

"Guys can't be bitches, Mello."

"Keep your mouth shut, Near!!"

The door opened, and a tall and black-haired young man came in.

"What, are you fighting again?"

The three boys looked up.

"...?"

"L!!"

The blond jumped up on the bed and walked over it to the oldest person in the room, so he was leveling him.

"Where were you this morning?!"

The young man shrugged.

"I woke up with the three of you sticking to my body and I thought it was better to let you sleep. So I went to the main room to talk to Watari and Roger; and to get some cake."

The last part was worked out hastily and soft, as if the raven-haired felt he was doing something inappropriate. The blond jumped up, giving the black hair a soft pat with his fist, the same as with the other boys but more respectful, though he still sounded sarcastic when he spoke.

"How nice of you, L!! Don't you like sleep hugging?!"

Pale lips formed an amused smile.

"Don't you like a little walking around in the very early morning? There's nothing wrong with cake either."

"You exaggerate it!!"

"..."

The man's eyes turned sad, as if he had remembered something he needed to do. The boys turned quiet.

After a few seconds, the blond pricked in a soft and pale cheek with his finger.

"... L? What's wrong? You look sad."

"Sharp, Mello…"

The albino boy got the death glare of his life.

"How often do you see a panda with sad eyes, Near?!"

"Well-"

The young man laid a hand on the blonde's head, and they all fell silent.

"Enough. Mello, Matt, Near, I cannot not tell you this."

The redhead blinked.

"Cannot not...?"

Blond boy jumped back and hit him on his goggled head again.

"Come on; don't tell me you don't get that, Matt!! You are in Wammy's too!!'

"No, I just thought he was kidding..."

The albino ignored them and turned back to the black-haired person still standing next to the bed.

"What is it, then?"

The young man looked like he wanted to sigh sadly.

"There's a new case, and there's a chance I won't come back alive."

Silence. The three boys stopped arguing and stared at him. Goggle boy blinked again.

"You mean... You'll come back as some kind of ghost who can float through the wall and other people?!"

"Matt!! This is serious!!'

The aggressive boy gave his friend such a hard fist on his head that he looked dizzy for a few seconds. The young man walked over and took the blonds' always-balled fist in his hand to stop him, and maybe to find a little comfort in the ball of fingers and hand that relaxed once he touched it.

"In the last few days, criminals all over the world die from a heart attack. This is obviously murder, a serial killer who can't get away with this. I have to catch him."

The blond jumped up and grabbed the young man's other hand.

"Are you sure it's a 'him' already, L?! Maybe he'll fall for you, you fall for him and then you finally lose your stupid virginity!!'

The young man decided to ignore the gay-remark. Why should he react on it…? But the blonds' energetic behavior made him feel a little better already.

"Virginity isn't exactly stupid, Mello. You are one yourself too, right? And do you really think I would lose my virginity to a mass murderer…?"

The energetic boy ignored L's last few words and smiled even brighter.

"Not for long!! I'm planning to fuck someone into the wall!!"

Both Goggle Boy and the Albino lit up a bit. The black-haired male tilted his head to the side and smiled amused.

"And who's the, ahem, lucky one, Mello?"

"I hope for that person it's not a girl. It must be so... aww to be fucked into the wall with your boobs forward."

"Matt!!"

The older male repressed a chuckle.

"Matt appears to suffer from the same problem. Why don't you help each other?"

The redhead and the blond both blushed. The albino looked down. The young man turned serious again.

"If I don't return, I want you three to know you are like younger brothers to me. I'll think of you. And miss you."

The blond and the redhead both jumped up and tried to shake the tall male's bony shoulders.

"No, L, don't say things like that!! You'll return, with a boyfriend!!"

"A very cute, beautiful, smart, funny and sexy one; just like you!!"

L slightly blushed. Not enough to be seen, though. Sigh. He was going to miss these boys. And he just returned home...

Then he realized that boy had made another gay-remark and decided to ask.

"Mello, where did you get the idea I'm gay?"

"Have you ever seen yourself?! I think you just have to meet the one!! It has to be a genius brunet, and then we're complete!! Matt is the redhead, you are the black one, I am the blond, Near is…"

The blond glared at the emotionless albino, who stared back blankly with a look that resembled the young man's expressions.

"…Transparent, but that doesn't count."

The albino couldn't help but look slightly hurt.

"Now we only need a brunet, right?! Black, brown, red and blond!! Complete!!"

"And white, Mello. That counts too."

The albino's look changed a tiny into comforted when the older male smiled at him. The blond decided he wanted his attention and patted on his head.

"You are picky, right? And you never see someone of your own age. You'll probably get someone who's younger than you. You are such a child, L."

Mello stepped forward and wrapped both arms around L's waist and laid his head down against his shoulder.

"I will miss you too, L... You have to come back, okay? And if you feel you're going to die, come back here to die surrounded by us!!'

"Mello, in such a case you should use your time to solve the case. In the very end, every second matters. You should know that too, Mello Yellow."

The redhead winced.

"A nickname!! L, can I have one too?!"

The older male smiled again.

'Matt is Batt. I don't know. You can't rush nicknames. They have to pop up in your head."

"Batt!! Bad!! Brilliant!! Please come back, L!!"

The redhead ran to the older male too, who was still crushed against the blonde, and wrapped his arms around his and the blonde's waist and laid his head on the male's other shoulder.

It must have looked a bit weird, three boys hugging.

The albino still sat on the bed they all slept in last night, and looked at it with shy sadness. With a tiny bit of jealousy in his eyes, he pulled the robo toy closer to his chest.

"Do I have a nickname too, L...?"

"Near, by you I swear. Not exactly a nickname, isn't it…?"

"It's good enough."

The albino walked over, pushed the blond and the redhead away and crushed himself against the older male. Said person's eyes widened slightly as he felt and heard his own ribs cracking. Ay. Nonetheless, he wrapped his arms around the boy and stroked his hair for a few seconds. After both released again, the Great Detective L looked at his three successors/ younger brothers again.

Maybe he wouldn't return. But, he could also show up here again with someone pretty, smart and sexy next to him.

Someone just like him.

***

It was hard. It was so extremely hard.

Yagami Light tried not to feel too miserable when he thought about all the people he killed, or was going to kill.

He thought about those people. Smart people, passionate people, strong people, maybe even good people… And Light killed them all.

He thought about their families. Wives, children, parents, brothers, sisters… They'd all be sad. Light hurt them all. And there was no way he could apologize.

He thought about their lives. Happy and successful lives, or maybe ruined and sad lives who found comfort in doing as their heart told them, normal lives, extraordinary lives, lives who'd come to an end as soon as Light would put those few stripes of ink on the ruled paper…

...No.

No way. They were criminals. Not human. It was a waste that the smart ones didn't use their intelligence for the better. It was a waste that all the passionate ones didn't use their passion to better the world around them instead of their own. It was a waste that the strong ones used their strength for the wrong, and Light had to kill them all for making the world worse.

They were criminals. Their families would be happy to be rid of such a dark spot on their family name. They would be happy that they didn't have to concern any longer. And Light didn't need to be thanked for what he did. As long as it made others happy.

They were criminals. They didn't have proper lives. Happy and successful or ruined and sad, normal or extraordinary, they were all rotten and needed to end. And Light had the power to.

Light looked up and sighed. It was so hard. All these criminals to be killed, the hard work, his grades, his social life, his body, his mental state… Light felt so bad. He hadn't eaten in days, hadn't slept in nights and the constant battle in his mind over if it was right or not to kill criminals kept him occupied every single second he could somehow think. It was painful. It was so extremely painful.

But Light kept on going. He was too sure it was better like this for the good people.

Good people.

Light was God.

Light was the God of the New World.

***