instigation

The silence that followed was ungodlike; stunned, disbelieving, uneasy.

'A bold move,' came Lawliet's murmur close behind him, barely audible. If they'd been alive, Light might have been able to feel his breath on the back of his neck. 'I would expect nothing less from you, Kira.'

Light made no indication that he'd heard anything, and simply smiled the death gods in the face; seraphic, waiting.

He was more of a god than they ever were.

'Ahahaha!' Deridovely finally broke the silence with his rasping cackles, slapping the thigh of an insect-like leg with the long-fingered hand at the end of an insect-like arm. 'This guy's a riot!' He gestured with his scythe, wide, dark lips pulled in a mocking grin. 'Sure, if you manage to win, you can have one of our Death Notes! You can even chose whose!'

'Hey, Deridovely,' said Zellogi, rows of sharp teeth gnashing, 'are you sure we should be gambling our Death Notes?' He'd pitched his voice lower, as if he thought Light wouldn't hear.

'Why not?' said Deridovely, still cackling. 'It's not like he's going to win!'

'You mean you don't usually gamble your Death Notes?' asked Light, blinking and sitting up straight in a show of surprise.

'Of course not,' said Gook, looking at him with a deep-set, sickly yellow eye. 'Why would we do that?'

'It just seems to me that the Death Notes are the only possessions you have that you'd be troubled by losing,' said Light, with a gesture, 'and such the only gambling item with any risk. Isn't that point of gambling to take risks, after all? If you don't take risks, then there's no thrill, and it's boring.' He shook his head at the idea. 'You might as well not be doing anything.'

Another ungodlike silence followed.

'He has a point,' said Gook, eventually, scratching around the base of a horn with a clawed hand.

'But what would you do with a Death Note, human?' asked Zellogi, feathered headdress rustling as he shook his head. 'It won't extend your existence here.'

'I would use it to cause chaos in the human world, obviously,' said Light.

'But you're dead,' pointed out Zellogi, gesturing with his hook. 'What's the point?'

'But I can still watch what happens in the human world, right?' said Light. 'It would be entertaining.' His lip curled cruelly, a dark glimmer in his eyes. 'Besides, I have some… vendettas… that I'd like to deal with.'

A stunned pause, and then Deridovely was cackling and slapping his sticklike thigh. Each time he did, the gray bandages loosened slightly, revealing more sickly, translucent skin. 'No wonder this guy didn't go to Mu!'

'Honestly,' said Light, sitting back and adopting an air of disdain, 'I don't understand why you just sit around gambling when you could be actually using your Death Notes for something interesting.' He shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face. 'It's such a waste.' He glared through his fingers. 'You've all grown remiss with time.' His spread both hands in front of him, then, and smiled a condescending smile. 'I think your Death Notes would be put to much better use in my hands.'

The silence that followed was intensified by the discomforted clacking of beads and bones, the agitated rustles of feathers and fur.

Deridovely cackled finally, but it didn't quite have the boisterousness it had contained earlier. 'No wonder Ryuk liked this guy!'

'You do realize, after insulting Death Gods like that, we won't be generous about explaining the rules to you, right?' said Gook, with his unchanging skull-grin.

They really were nothing like gods.

'Are you really that afraid of me?' said Light, eyes glinting. 'Fine, then; don't explain the rules.' He shrugged. 'I'll just figure them out as I go.' He looked out from behind his bangs, lips curling. 'It'll make it more interesting for me.'

Deridovely cackled, but the sound was slightly uncertain. 'Does nothing daunt this guy?'

Light's eyes gleamed. 'Well, I am a mass murderer, you know.' His hand came up so that his knuckles rested nonchalantly beneath his chin, and he smiled at them. 'Single-handedly committing genocide is, after all, no task for the fainthearted.'