Crimson Justice
by Mushi and Dlvvanzor
Disclaimer: We don't own Death Note.
Chapter III
(Light's POV)
Hell
Turns out, the shinigami had this "there's no afterlife" thing dead wrong.
There is an afterlife, all right. And I'm stuck with an eternity and a facefull of Hell.
This, I think as the demon assigned personally to the overseeing of my eternal damnation cuts into my flesh with some kind of special knife, is entirely unfair. I was told there was Nothingness after death. AndI'm here because of the whole Kira deal, which I still consider to be good.
Because Lucifer was originally an angel from Heaven before he fell, it is ingrained in his systems that the Sabbath is the day of rest and, try as he might, he can't break the habit of honoring that. It is almost the sundown to the Sabbath in the human world, and then, for a full twenty-four hours, until the sunset after that, all the tortured souls- including me- will be released from our bonds, free from torture for a full day. Most use this to connect with each other, to commiserate. I prefer to use this time to watch Earth.
As my demon slides his steaming hot blade under my fingernails and twists, laughing, I scream and wonder how Earth has changed in the last week, since the last time I checked. I still care. I wish I didn't, but I do. Since Kira disappeared (went to Hell, thank you very much), the world has gone into even more chaos than it started out with, when Kira began to take action.
And I know I could fix it, if I could just get back there somehow. Give me a Death Note, and I'll give you a new world. It didn't even have to be a Death Note. Just something.
Especially now since that bastard Near has vanished. There would be no one to stop me.
I don't know what happened to him, but I hope he's dead. Now that I know his real name, if I ever came back to life and got a Death Note, I would write his name in a second. At least the Mello kid had the good grace to die like I wanted him to. Honestly, where did Near get off surviving me?
Anyway, Near is the only one who is alive right now that would be able to stop me. I mean, if I could get back down there.
The demon stabs me a few times in the heart. He keeps a special focus on that particular organ, since this is punishment for what I did as Kira. It doesn't hurt as much as it should, as much as it usually does. That's how I know the sun has set on Earth.
The demon sighs and removes my ties with a motion of his hand, and I'm free.
Well, as free as you ever get in Hell, but that's entirely beside the point.
I push through the swarming crowds of shuddering, weeping, temporarily released, tortured souls. I'm not popular in this place, seeing as I put many of them down here, but they know I'm getting what I deserve, and no one messes with me on the Sabbath. It's an unspoken rule in Hell. No one screws with each other because we already have the demons doing it. If you have a beef with someone, you just wait twenty-four hours for them to be just as miserable as you. Possibly more, depending on the gravity of your sins.
Needless to say, by Hell's standards, I'm quite a bastard, and I'm in the lowest level with some of the worst men and women in history.
Now I'm finally, finally at the portal where I can gaze at the world I left behind, and it's as beautiful as I remember. Maybe it's strange for Kira to think the world is beautiful, but I love it. I always have loved it. If I didn't love the place I was fighting for, why would I have fought so hard for it? Sure, the megalomania was a huge reason, too, but it had to start from something genuine. Something pure. All the best efforts of man start with good intentions.
But you know what they say about good intentions. Clearly, this is a lot truer than anyone gave the phrase credit for.
"Light Yagami."
The voice is cold and familiar, and I immediately get to my hands and knees, ducking my head. It's Alprezier, Satan's right-hand man, and the only demon I know of that is possibly crueler than him. The devil made him, then realized what he'd done and decided he sure as hell wasn't going to make that mistake again. It doesn't matter who you are. Unless you're an angel, God, or Satan himself, you pay your respects to Alprezier. Even Kira. "Sir."
"You may stand."
That probably isn't a good thing, but I'm not stupid enough to disobey him, so I scramble to my feet, my head still at a respectful angle, eyes to the floor.
"Look at me. We will talk."
I look at him. Silent.
"Light Yagami, I'm here to make a deal with you."
I almost snort, but realize that that would be instant obliteration and say nothing.
He smiles, probably knowing exactly what is going through my head. Part of me wishes that he didn't have to appear as such an attractive man. It's always distracting and unnerving. Probably hearing that, too, he continues, "You see, you were our best. You gave Hitler a run for his money. And, as you can see, with you absent, the world is falling into chaos."
I'm not entirely sure how those two statements are related, or at least relevant to the current situation. I would think that Hell would want the world to be in chaos.
"We do," he says. Well, he answered my other unspoken questions as to whether or not he can read my mind. "The world is in chaos now, which is great, but it is also attracting the attention of someone who will try to change it."
"L," I mumble.
"Precisely." Alprezier sneers and another shiver runs down my spine, making my abused, metaphysical nerves tingle. "Even now, he is visiting his grave and wishing he could come back. As a human." He doesn't wait for me to speak. "He hasn't been made the offer yet, but he'll accept it when he hears it. We can't stop him from becoming human, but we know what the conditions will be. He will have to find the new person acting as Kira. He will also have to," he laughed, "fall in love."
My mouth drops open and I laugh for the first time since going to Hell. I don't doubt for a second that L can find the new Kira, but... fall in love? That cold, emotionless prick?
"My thoughts exactly," Alprezier says. "Only Heaven would make such an ultimatum. The thing is, we do not want L stopping the new Kira. Not unless there is a... better option." He gives me a meaningful look. "Like, perhaps, you."
"What is the deal?" I ask.
"We can't make you live again, only God can do that, but... we can send you back there. As a demon. L has transcended things such as sexual orientation, and you and he were already friends on Earth... it should not be hard for you to make him fall in love with you." He pauses, looking at me, probably wondering why I've just blocked my thoughts off from him. "From there, you could easily manipulate him into helping you, taking your side. Perhaps you could come to him under the premise of having repented. We don't care how you do it: get the Death Note before he does or get him to join you, but don't let him destroy or keep the Notebook. And, once you have it, resume your actions as Kira. Except this time, we want you to kill the innocents."
Too much information all at once, and I'm suddenly glad I blocked off my thoughts a minute ago. Killing innocents? Making L fall in l-love with me?
"Eventually, this will lead to the majority of the world being evil, when innocent people are forced to commit crimes just to keep from being killed."
"And what do I get if I do it?"
"Why, everything," Alprezier says mockingly. "You get to be an immortal demon. Demons aren't tortured in Hell, we do the torturing. You get power in the human world. You'll probably end up ruling it. You get a physical form that looks just like your old one." He pauses and smirks, raising one perfect eyebrow. "And you get the love of your life, if you can convince him to take your side in the matter. Hell, if he joins you, we'll even make him a demon when he comes down here."
So explain to me how the demons know that I was in love with L on Earth? I mean, it was entirely unrequited, I think, but that didn't change the fact that I was in love with him. I've never mentioned that to anyone. Anyone. I haven't even thought it too loudly. So how does Alprezier know?
The deal sounds kind of... good. Minus the killing of innocents and the dragging of L to Hell with me. But, I'm already in Hell. Killing innocents really doesn't matter at this point. And as a demon, Hell isn't half bad. It would be L's choice, after all. I could tell him the whole story once I made him fall for me.
And I'd much, much rather be a demon than a Wretched Soul, which was my official title in the lower rings.
"Why aren't you doing this?" I ask suspiciously. "Or... him?" We are forbidden to say Lucifer's name aloud.
"Simple," Alprezier responds. "I don't want to leave."
I blink. The thought that someone wouldn't want to get out of Hell has never occurred to me. "I'll do it."
Like a demonic Cheshire cat, Alprezier's grin is the last thing I see as my world fades to black.
(Author of this chapter: Dlvvanzor)