Matagot 4- The Duke of Felrawthy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. If I did, everything after the Yotsuba arc would not have occured, L and Light would've hooked up two eps after the chain went on and Near, Mello and Matt would've come in in some other fashion (Just because they rock). I do, however own some of the legends attributed with the 'Matagot', (which is a real French myth, who'da thunk it?) and the general AU.
Warning: AU, Yaoi/Shonen-Ai. If you don't like, please don't read! Rated for later content, possible swearing, definite limes and possible violence. LightxL, possible side pairings to be decided.
Flames shall be extinguished with great force because it is bush-fire season and I hate bush-fires. Many Australians do.
Credit goes to my beta, TsumeLover666 for another excellent job!
Dedicated to the following lovely Reviewers!! (Italics anonymous)
Hime
Neikrider
V. V. Kiri- No, I hate it when ppl make Misa so -chy, it does tend to ruin fics I believe
TsumeLover666
C Elise
thitewiger
yingyingyang
Translucent Darkness
Legacy of Samsara
Sayoko's-fire
Violet Velvetine
sasunaru-yaoi-4evea-39
Amorpheous
Kirin-kun
Black-Danzer-1119
ahou incarnate
The Book Fairy
chibikuro-rose-sama
Lucy
Shadow-L-Chan
Much loves for you all, this story is really progressing nicely (or starting to)! I will graduate on the 21st November! \o/ Can't wait!
Enjoy! :D
Ireina
L trailed behind Misa as she made her way through the halls with unnerving sureness toward the room in which Light currently resided. She lifted up her hand, and, just as she was about to knock, the door flung open and Light called out a single letter.
"L?!" colliding with Misa quite by accident as he near flew out of the room. "Oh, Lady Misa! I am terribly sorry about that, but have you seen-" he babbled, trying to untangle his long limbed body from Misa's skirts.
L silently held out a hand in front of him. Light paused, looking up at him.
"Ryuuzaki…" Light finished sheepishly. Tentatively, he took L's hand and the dark-haired male pulled him to his feet, leaving Misa to struggle to stand alone. "Thank you." Light said, not looking L in the eyes. It was the closest thing to an apology L would get from Light.
L studied his face silently for a second or two before replying. "You're… welcome." he said softly, the words tasting foreign on his lips.
"Why are you thanking your servant? You're really far too kind Marquis; you really ought to scold him." Misa asked with honest curiosity, struggling to her feet without fuss.
"What?" Light said, voice inadvertently showing his confusion. L lowered his vacant gaze to the polished floor, knowing what she meant, but unable to inform Light without exposing Light as a charlatan.
"Well, he should have assisted me first- as the lady of the court in which you're staying, then you, as his master. He needs to perform his duties properly." she explained calmly, before looking at L with surprising sharpness, and L realized she wasn't quite the airhead he had initially believed her to be.(Really, he must be losing his edge, all these people he was underestimating. It simply wasn't good enough.)
"Things are different where I come from, my lady." Light said smoothly, recovering and hiding his lack of information. 'That boy really has a gift for politics. Honestly, if he actually had a decent education…' L thought, admiring his ability to brazen his way through- it was almost as good as L's own. 'With practice, he might be almost dangerous.'
"Oh, your accent is so sweet!" Misa squealed, and the brief flash of intelligence was gone. Perhaps he had imagined it? Noticing the look on Light's face at the high-pitched, ear-aching noise and was hard pressed not to smile at the obvious restraint of Light's urge to roll his eyes. He predicted that soon he would be cornered with Light demanding to know what was going on. Hm. That would be a situation to avoid, as L doubted he could explain it satisfactorily without giving anything away.
"My lady, weren't you looking for my lord Marquis?" L asked, staring at a random spot on the ceiling. He felt the burning glare Light sent his way, but ignored it in favor of continuing to stare, a fact which always irritated Light. He was not disappointed as he felt the glare intensify.
"Oh, yes! Marquis, Misa would like to show you the gardens of the estate! They are the most beautiful in the land, save for the King's of course." She giggled, smiling brightly.
"Oh, I would not wish to trouble my lady…" Light demurred.
"Oh, it's no trouble at all, Marquis! Come!" she said, latching on to Light's left arm.
Helpless to stop her without seeming impolite, Light was forced to allow her to tug him in the direction of the gardens. L looked down, turning his gaze on the pair as they left. He caught the look Light sent over his shoulder, demanding aid. Stifling his amusement, L waved at him before turning and, with deliberate slowness, ambled off the way he'd come.
--
'This must be his revenge for what I said to him earlier.' Light thought resignedly as Misa pulled him behind her, gabbling about the various gardens that apparently could be found around the estate. He did not realize that without a single word of chastisement, L had effectively rendered him apologetic.
--
L walked, following the same invisible path that his feet had found earlier, his thoughts turning from one thing to the next, flying about, calculating actions and possible reactions, weighing up possible outcomes of their situation, and how to obtain the most favorable. But he soon found his calculations sluggish, his thoughts suddenly reluctant to seek possible futures.
'Why is my thought process so slow?' he wondered, frustrated. 'This should be so easy- especially without Light to interrupt my calculations with his idle chatter.' But, as though he had opened the floodgates, thoughts of Light began to infiltrate his calculations.
Each time he tried to predict some particular thing Light might say as part of his attempts to predict ahead, L found his thoughts instead turning… dare he say… fondly to particular expressions the younger male had worn as he had spoken some similar thing just the other day.
Ire increasing, L forcefully shoved those thoughts away, giving up on his precious calculations in disgust.
"My discipline has slipped terribly," he muttered aloud, slouching even further from his usual poor posture to one that would have made Light twitch in irritation (For some reason, it seemed to get to him when L did that. L now took great pleasure in doing it.) "First, sleeping, of all things then this! It is appalling."
Aimlessly he continued to wander the halls of Felrawthy, ignoring the greetings he received from the other servants as he went, until a butler tapped him on one hunched shoulder apologetically.
"I'm sorry, perhaps you weren't told? None of us except those designated specifically by the Chief Advisor or the Duke himself are allowed into that wing."
L looked up at the man before staring vacantly at the hand on his shoulder until the other man removed it somewhat self-consciously.
"And what, pray tell, is in that wing?" he asked the butler with mild curiosity coloring his usually emotionless tone.
"Why, the Duke's suite of course, and his private rooms." replied the butler confusedly.
"Ah. Thank you." L murmured. The Duke's rooms? Some part of him urged that he go and investigate- insisted even. His curiosity agreed.
He wandered towards a side room, ostentatiously to leave the door to the forbidden wing well enough alone, entering the room and picking up a fold of the exquisite wall-tapestry hanging just near the window between thumb and forefinger, pretending to peer closely at the stitching, using the action to hide the dancing fingers of his other hand.
He watched through the door as the butler nodded satisfied, muttering "Good to see a young one who knows how to listen to his elders." Not seeming to see L through the doorway, the older man continued about his business, striding down the corridor. L waited a minute to be sure he was gone before ambling over to the open door, latching it shut and opening the window to the gardens.
Several minutes later, a white cat with dark grey eyes and distinctive black markings leapt out the opened window, circling back towards the servant's door at the edge of the garden, slipping between the rose-bushes with ease. Just as it was almost to its goal, it felt a pair of soft and dainty hands pick it up around its middle and heard a loud, high-pitched squeal which hurt the poor animal's sensitive ears, prompting a loud (and mightily displeased) yowl, although it resisted with phenomenal strength of will the urge to scratch the idiotic thing making such a terrible noise.
"Oh, look! Isn't it gorgeous! Her fur's so beautiful and soft!" a female voice belonging to the owner of those hands said. At that, its fur bristled and it yowled once more indignantly.
A more masculine voice corrected the female, taking the cat from her uncomfortable grasp and its fur settled slightly at the familiar voice and scent that now enveloped it.
"His fur is soft, my lady."
The cat shifted, and the male human let it settle in a more comfortable hold, resting on one of his arms. A slightly rough hand somewhat calloused from toil in the fields caressed its fur in long rhythmic strokes and the cat began to purr loudly, albeit reluctantly.
"Do you know whom it belongs to, Marquis?" the female voice asked. "Misa simply cannot think who owns it- Misa has never seen him around here before, so he can't belong to the kitchens…" The cat bristled, fur rising. "Is he yours, Marquis?"
The cat froze, turning its head slightly to stare at Light (whose hands had paused on the animal's fur) with its unnerving eyes.
Light looked back at the animal with some amusement. "This cat is not one to be owned I believe. He goes where he will."
"Oooh, then Misa could keep him!" the female interrupted, letting out another squeal, causing the cat's claws to unconsciously unsheathe and grip Light's clothing as though refusing to go to the female.
"I was not finished, my lady." the human holding the cat said in gentle rebuke. "I do not believe he is one to be owned, but I suppose that, as far as ownership goes, you might as well say I'm his human." Light told her, scratching gently under the animal's chin, causing an increase in the volume of its purring. When the male noticed the bafflement in her eyes, he clarified. "I do not own this cat- it, well, he adopted me. He follows me of his own accord."
Understanding dawned in the female's eyes, and the cat shifted in Light's arms, staring at the grass, although making no move to try and escape the gentle hold of the human male.
"Oh." the female said in a disappointed fashion. "Ah well, Misa can still play with him, yes?" she cooed, reaching to stroke the animal's ears. It hissed, lashing out with a paw in a warning swipe, making sure its claws were first sheathed, and the female recoiled with yet another squeal. "Oh! Marquis, your cat nearly scratched me! You really need to control him better."
"His claws are sheathed." Light told her, gently picking up the paw in question without fuss from the cat. "And cats, though this one in particular it seems, are lightning fast- if he'd really wanted to scratch you, he'd have done so. He just doesn't like to be touched by strangers- it took several months for him to trust me enough to pat him and this is the first time he's allowed me to hold him this long." Light said, the part-lie rolling smoothly off his tongue.
As though to agree with the story, the cat gave a sharp meow before trying to jump down, easily escaping the gentle hold of the human and racing off in its intended direction.
"What is its name? Misa never asked." the cat heard briefly in its helter skelter dash to the relative safety of the servants hall.
--
Light tilted his head to the side, watching the odd cat disappear with a tiny smirk playing about his mouth. Really it was almost as though L had taken animal form, the way that cat behaved sometimes.
"It's name?" Light said, echoing the blonde girl's question.
"Yes, you know, what you call it?"
Light smirked, knowing that L would have been horrified at his next statement and slightly pleased that this time the joke would be on the raven-haired youth. "I call him L."
"Elle?" she asked, puzzled.
"L." Light confirmed seriously.
--
At that moment, said male was standing in a hallway, one hand clutching at his clothing just above his heart as though the organ was causing him pain. Tiny droplets beaded his forehead under his unruly black hair, and one trickled down the line of his elegant neck. He winced, though the expression was hard to see through the dappled sunlight and shadows.
"A most unexpected turn of events." he said softly, eyes blank. "But really," he added. "I should have been far more careful."
No, what he really should have done was escape Light's hold sooner.
L sighed once, releasing his loose clothing and closing his eyes.
--
Soon the white-furred cat made its reappearance, ignored by all the servants, hurrying along on their various errands.
In no time at all, the cat was opposite the door to the wing that the old butler had earlier warned L was forbidden. Patiently it drew itself up and sat primly, black-tipped tail swishing slowly as it stared down the hall.
Presently, another servant came scurrying along the corridor, a single dark blue sprig of hemlock embroidered on the breast of his plain cotton waistcoat. The servant opened the door and continued along the corridor, not noticing the cat that slipped through the door just before he closed it.
Keeping to the shadows, the cat followed the servant at a sedate pace, glancing all around it curiously. The servant opened a door, the creaking hinges catching the animal's attention, its black ears twitching toward the innocuous sound. With a darting motion, it entered the room with the servant.
The human collected an empty dinner tray, bowed, and left, inadvertently shutting the cat in the room.
Its eyes widened before it went back to the door, as though to check that it truly was closed.
"So that is the form you must take?" came an old man's voice contemptuously. "How pitiful."
The cat turned back to face the form sitting on the bed. It yowled defiantly at him.
"Come, surely you know who I am?" chuckled the old man's weak voice. "Defiant one, I am your Adversary." The man who surely must be the Duke himself stood, taking a step towards the animal, face gaunt and wasted, once lustrous hair hanging limp and lifeless around his aged face.
The cat's only response was a contemptuous noise more like a laugh than anything else.
"You dare laugh?" asked the old man furiously, clenching his fists at his side. Power gathered, swirling around him in a dark maelstrom, the eerie light returning some semblance of health to his time-ravaged features.
Warily, the black-marked white cat moved to the side, jumping onto the desk in the corner, well out of the way of the tendrils of power slinking out toward it.
"You bear no true power; you are no Adversary. I have more power in a single hair than you in your entire body." came a surprisingly clear voice. "What did you trade for that weak sense of power? Your health, I would presume."
"Insolence!" roared the Duke. "I will become a lion and kill you, you weak little pet!"
Both the form of the Duke and that of the cat began to shimmer like a mirage, before the door swung open and the cat ran from the room.
"Master, we heard you yelling, are you well? You really oughtn't to be out of bed, the doctors said-" began a worried servant.
Rolling his eyes and coughing heavily before returning to bed, the Duke cut him off. "I am fine. Bunch of incompetents." he muttered under his breath.
--
The cat's form began to shake uncontrollably and it skidded to a halt, still in the Duke's forbidden wing.
--
Soon a familiar dark-haired figure was sitting on the ground, slumped against the wall, shaking as sweat poured down his face, neck and arms, his breathing irregular and labored.
"By God that hurts… should never have done that twice… those are absolute hell to loosen that suddenly…" he muttered to himself incomprehensibly between gasps for air.
After several minutes, he struggled to his feet, masking the shakes expertly as he walked towards the doorway out of the forbidden wing. Luck, that fickle mistress, was not with him, as the same old butler he'd encountered earlier returned along the hall in front of him, just in time to catch him coming out of the forbidden wing.
In a typical response to this sort of situation, L slumped even further, rolling his eyes irritably as he was predictably told off and chivvied down the halls.
--
"Ah, my lady, Marquis." the servant said, bowing as best he could without releasing L.
"Hello. What on Earth are you doing with the Marquis's servant?" the blonde woman asked, clinging to Light's arm.
"A question I should like answered also. What on Earth are you doing with Ryuuzaki?" Light added with a frown directed at the pair.
"He was caught in the forbidden wing, my lady." the servant told them.
"A forbidden wing? But as we are visitors, I'm certain Ryuuzaki was unaware this place was forbidden when he entered it, after all I did not know there was a forbidden wing myself." Light countered dismissively. "And how could a servant be expected to know what even his master was not told?"
"Unfortunately, my lord Marquis, I had already encountered him earlier wandering about near the entranceway and I informed him that that wing was forbidden at that time."
"Yes, Light, I'm afraid I was informed." L told Light, staring blankly ahead at Light and Misa with a faraway expression on his face, as though he wasn't entirely present.
"Do not call your master by his first name!" Misa and the butler exclaimed in scandalized tones. "As for the forbidden wing, I'm afraid you must suffer ten lashes." Misa continued.
Light opened his mouth to protest, but in an uncharacteristic display of backbone, Misa held up her hand, silencing him with a look. "Marquis, Misa is quite allowed to punish your servant for knowingly trespassing, as you ought to know. Misa cannot allow her family to be insulted so. Because he is the Marquis's servant, Misa is being extremely nice and only giving him ten." she explained to Light in an almost reconciliatory tone. Reluctantly, seeing no other choice Light nodded.
"Take him away. Stripe him immediately." she ordered.
As L was taken away, he heard her turn to Light and, in a tone that gave no hint she'd just ordered him to be whipped, she said, "What should Misa show the Marquis next?"
--
The manservant he'd been handed off to for punishment waited as L removed the tunic and the undershirt covering his back. As L folded the clothing neatly, laying it aside, the manservant whistled.
"Ye're very skinny lad. And ye've an impressive set of scarring already. Y're master must be cruel." Studying his back further, he added, "And inventive, barely any of those are whip marks."
"Yes, I was aware. But it was not my master that gave me these marks. He is not a cruel person by nature." L said softly, turning to face the other male, who drew in a gasp.
"What happened to y' before the Marquis took y'in?" he breathed in shock.
"It is of little consequence."
The other man whistled again. "Come; let's get this over with then. Call me Mogi by the way. I'll do my best not to add more scars to your collection."
With that, he tied L securely to the pole used for floggings ("Just a matter of your safety lad, can't have y' squirming about, could miss and hurt y' more.") and picked up the whip to be used. He lifted it up, calling out, "Ready? Do y' want something to bite on?"
L shook his head grimly. "Just start. I will be fine."
Mogi shrugged. "Suit y'self." he said. "First!" he called, cracking the whip expertly, the sound of leather hitting flesh echoing through the courtyard.
L winced slightly but made no other acknowledgement of the pain he must have been feeling.
"Second."
Another stripe opened, blood ruby red against the white flesh of L's back.
"Third."
The same again.
"Fourth."
And so on, until finally,
"Tenth."
With that Mogi put down the whip. "Ye've an ungodly high pain tolerance." he said with some awe. "Usually y' hear them caterwauling after the third clear across the grounds." He untied L carefully, supporting the other man as he briefly collected himself. "Will y' be fine to return? There's a woman in the kitchens who knows about herbs- she'll help ye. She's no friend of the Duke- or his pretty little niece. Forbidden wing indeed." he muttered under his breath.
"I will be fine."
Donning his clothes, seemingly heedless of the pain at the contact with the fresh and bleeding semi-deep flesh wounds, L began to meander back towards the quarters he was to share with the other servants of the house.
He never quite got there as his feet took a different path of their own accord, pulling him along the halls towards Light's rooms.
Without him even knocking, the door swung open as though Light had known he was there.
--
Light stood in the doorway, leaning against the left side of it, face sober. "I am so sorry L; I would have stopped it if I could." Light said quietly, not mentioning the fact that it was almost entirely L's own fault for digging his own grave.
It was then that L seemed to realize that Light's torso was completely naked and gleaming slightly in the soft candlelight.
"Light was bathing? I will return later." L said, carefully looking anywhere but at Light, to Light's great amusement.
"No, but they sent up hot water. And one of the kitchen girls brought up a pack of herbal paste and bandages, as though she knew you'd come here."
"If Light was not bathing, then why…"
"Am I not wearing at least an undershirt?" Light asked amusedly. "Because the dear lady quite tired me out with her endless nattering and I was considering sleep. Come in, I might as well dress those for you since they sent me everything I need to do it with." Light said matter-of-factly, stepping aside to allow L to enter.
"I really should just let you go to sleep Light- I do not know why I came up here quite honestly."
"Oh, don't be moronic." Light said irritably, grasping L's slender wrist and pulling him into the room, shutting the door. "Lie down." he ordered.
"Light really does not have to, I'll be…" L trailed off as Light glared at him, brown-gold eyes shimmering that eerie red-bronze color once again in the candlelight, seeming to captivate L for a second as he stared at those odd depths. He visibly shook himself out of it. "Very well." L sighed, beginning to remove his upper-body clothing for the second time that day, wincing as the material of his undershirt stuck on the semi-dry blood. "It is not worth arguing with Light I suppose, as he seems to feel quite guilty for some reason."
"I do not. Lie down would you." the younger male said crisply, hiding how those ten stripes made his blood boil. And… those terribly varying scars on his front…
L complied without a fuss, laying stomach down on the bed. Light dipped a piece of cloth he presumed had been intended for just such a purpose, squeezing the excess out before laying it over one of the angry wounds to a small hiss from L as he gently wiped it across the bloody stripe.
"Sorry." he apologized, rinsing the cloth and continuing to clean the other's torn and bloody back with the same gentle strokes.
"It is fine."
As soon as that arduous task was complete, and L's back was clean of the blood that had seeped down his back, Light warned, "This may sting, I'm about to put that paste on these now." before matching action to words. Again, L gave a hiss, but this time his muscles stiffened, and once again Light apologized.
"It is necessary, Light. As I have already explained to you, it is quite alright." L replied in a voice that was ever so slightly strained. If Light hadn't been looking for signs like that, he would never have noticed it.
He let it pass though. If the darker haired man wanted to pretend the treatment did not hurt, then Light wasn't about to let on that he knew how painful it was. L would surely have just denied feeling pain with another of his vague, dismissive evasions anyway.
"I should probably let that sit a while before I bandage your back." Light mused, admiring his handiwork critically.
"If Light thinks it best, I am sure he knows far more than I on this particular subject." L replied in the same strangled variation of his usual emotionless voice.
"And what are you implying with that statement?" Light asked, only vaguely indignant. He knew L was likely just trying to distract himself by picking a fight.
"I am implying nothing, Light. I am merely expressing confidence in your… abilities." L turned his head so as to look directly at Light over his shoulder, blinking owlishly. "Why are you picking a fight with an injured companion?" L continued, going for the kill. "Did the lady Misa truly tire you out that much?" he inquired.
Light's eyes narrowed dangerously. Just what did L think he'd gotten up to with the lady Misa? Oh, he knew L was merely picking a fight. He was just surprised to see what looked like jealousy cropping up in the other male. What he also didn't understand was L's real reasons for picking an argument. It couldn't just be the pain of the treatment, for then he wouldn't be able to pick up on that and throw it in Light's face.
"You are well enough to attempt to manipulate me into a fight." Light pointed out acidly, sick of his antics, injured or not. "But while I freely admit the lady tired me out, we were doing nothing improper for heaven's sake and I resent that implication. I also resent you trying to push me into fighting with you just so you can distract yourself from the pain. I would never pick a fight with you over mere irritation, and I find myself unexpectedly hurt that you seem to think so lowly of me, L." Light said in a quiet yet vehement voice, noting with mild pleasure the look of something that seemed almost suspiciously like surprise that flitted across L's infuriatingly blank face.
"I did not mean to… upset Light." L said slowly, staring at Light's face intently.
"I am sure you didn't." Light agreed blandly, desperately trying to keep the amusement from L's awkward attempt at making amends out of his voice and features. "But nonetheless, you did." he added.
"I suppose… it would be proper for me to… apologize."
"It would."
But L said no more, turning his face back to its previous position, and Light, knowing that was the closest thing to an apology he was likely to get from L, wisely chose to drop the issue.
Instead he trailed his fingertips down L's spine, examining not only the almost sickly slender stature, but the odd scarring as well as the fresh stripes. The white, white flesh was surprisingly soft where it was not scarred or injured. Light would have thought that such pale skin would resemble paper to the touch but not so with L. His skin was more like the texture of the petals of his mother's precious roses than anything else.
Come to think of it, L was just as prickly as one of them too when in one of his 'moods'.
Shoving the odd comparison from his mind, Light realized that not only had L stiffened to the point that his muscles were completely solid, he seemed to be muttering intelligible nonsense under his breath.
"My apologies, I know it hurts. I was checking to see if your wounds were ready to bandage yet, and they are," Light said, half-lying about his intentions. "So let's get them bandaged rather quickly, before they become bad, hm?"
Chapter 4: Done!
Chapter 5: Typing!
Thank you all for your support, and I hope you all enjoyed! :D
Smile! :D
Ireina
