Author's note: The story is about to veer dangerously into Fullmetal Alchemist territory, but don't worry, it's still going to retain its Death Note-ness. If you watch/read FMA, you'll clearly see why, but if not, it won't make much of a difference to your view of the story…hopefully.
He was awake. At that moment in time, the young blond man knew- though he couldn't have said how- that he had spent a long time in a state of unconsciousness, and this world was entirely new to him. There was no real light here, yet he could see…things. Tall blocks and archways. Pictures on the ground. Above his head, there was nothing but deep, grey clouds, swirling and swirling. What was this? It was strange, he felt as though he knew so much already, yet he couldn't remember any of it. He wasn't ignorant of anything around him, but he knew that he had never set foot in this place in his life.
Hmm, what happens when I do this?
The newborn shinigami kicked out with his leg, scraping the floor with his left foot. A red patch appeared near his toe, and a fluid leaked out. Almost instantaneously, the redness vanished, and his foot returned to exactly how it had been. How had that happened? For the briefest of moments he was confused, but then he understood.
Shinigami like me don't get hurt…
He then became aware of movement behind him. He twisted, but found that he was bound to something, and could not move. Chains were wrapped around his waist, ankles and hands, yet after wriggling, his arm simply phased through, completely free. He understood, and cleared his mind. As he had anticipated, as he moved forward, the chains binding to him slid through, as though they were nothing. Walking was a strange sensation at first, his muscles having never before been exercised,but snapping his tendons seemed to do the trick, and he felt fine.
He turned to face the centre of the circular area in which he was standing, slightly awestruck by how ancient everything seemed to be. There was no colour in sight other than ones which had faded after years and years. As he looked up, all he could see was grew, swirling skies, but it made him feel quite afraid. What his eyes were resting upon now, however, were the figures before him, each one chained to a pillar. They all appeared to be sleeping, albeit with their eyes open. Although, one had made a sound which had disturbed him, and this was the one next to him, blinking awkwardly.
By looking at this shinigami, he could tell that it was female, and beautiful. She- like himself- was completely naked, and her face was a blank, but resilient mask and black hair flowed from the crown of her head. She was shorter than he, as was her hair. Stirring, and making involuntary movements, she came to her senses. As she did, the male shinigami looked around at the others. They all remained asleep, so he focused his attention on this woman, who awoke groggily.
Instantly she was alive. For the briefest of seconds, her eyes- so dead only seconds ago- shone brightly, and blazed with a certain intensity and fear and intensity, which startled her blond observer, whom she was looking at. Then this expression was gone, replaced with a look of bewilderment. Then, she spoke.
"Who are you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow before proceeding to take a look at her surroundings. She looked apprehensive, but not particularly surprised. Tied to a pillar, she tried to wriggle free, but couldn't immediately do it.
"You just have to relax, and you'll walk right through them." The shinigami was aware that he was hearing his own voice for the very first time. The female looked over at him sceptically, then shrugged and closed her eyes, doing exactly what he had told her. She phased through the chains, but remained standing in the same position, not approaching the male. They locked eyes, but she seemed unwilling to do anything provocative, and dropped her gaze.
"Who are you?" she repeated, "and how did you get here? How did I get here?"
He narrowed his eyes in response. "I'm afraid we cannot help one another. I know nothing about this place, or how I got here. If I have a name, I can't remember it. It seems as though you don't either. I haven't been here long."
His companion looked up again, and appeared to relax slightly, though looked displeased. "I thought perhaps you were the one who brought me here."
"No." He shook his head. As he did so, he noticed something from out of the corner of his eye. To his left, a series of steps descended into the ground at the edge of the arena. The bottom was shrouded in mist, so they were hard to make out. The female shinigami turned too, to see what it was that had caught his attention. It was not the steps themselves, but both shinigami could distinctly make out two figures in the mist, moving down and closer towards them, though from where they stood, only their silhouettes were visible. Both were differently shaped, however, and as they came into view, they couldn't have looked more different.
One was an extremely tall male, thin and black all over, with a white face and feathers at his shoulders. His limbs were disproportionately long and lanky, but he appeared to have a shape similar to the two shinigami who awaited him. In addition, he wore various accessories, such as a bracelet, belt and earrings.
The other was truly weird. Appearance-wise, she was much less complex than the male; seeming to be a giant grey rock with eyes covering her body. The eyes were very similar to those of the male's, however.
"They're alive!" The male shinigami shrieked in a gravelly voice. "They're- they're…they look exactly like they used to! Can they talk?"
"Yes," answered the two humanlike shinigami simultaneously, wondering what he had meant by 'used to'. The blond male was bursting with questions, but the black shinigami didn't give him a chance to ask any.
"Nu!" he addressed his companion, the rock-shaped shinigami. "Are they all awake? What are you going to do now? This is all such fun!" Without warning, he sprung forward, and great feathered wings sprouted from his shoulders as he leapt forward. To the surprise of Nu, he did not bound over to the two fully-awake creatures standing staring at her, but rather towards the still-sleeping character on the other side of the arena. Neither of the newly awoken shingiami had paid much attention to him, and neither of them knew it themselves, but he bore an uncanny resemblance to-
"Light! Can you hear me?" he crouched over him, hands on hips, animated with excitement. However, 'Light' did not make any noticeable movements. When the black shinigami began to actually prod his body, this was the point when Nu stepped in.
"Leave him alone, Ryuk; he will wake up when he is ready." Her voice was calm, but also commanding. Ryuk, as he appeared to be named, backed away, shrugging. Then his face- which was perpetually grinning- seemed to break out into a genuine expression of glee when he fixed his attention upon the two who were observing him. It was quite intimidating, and Ryuk walked over to them.
"Can I talk to them?" he asked his companion. Apparently, he was under her control. Nu nodded, and then slid over to the other naked, chained-up creatures she had created, in order to get a closer look at them.
The dark haired female spoke quickly, hoping to catch Ryuk before he launched into another babbling sequence. "What is this place? Could you explain it to us, please…?" she gestured towards the blond guy.
Ryuk's eyes widened and he checked to make sure that Nu was not within earshot. She had already said that he could talk to them, and of course she could see that he was doing so, but she hadn't specified how much information he could tell them.
Oh well, he thought, the simple facts can't possibly hurt.
"What do you remember?" he asked. If either of them had memories of 'their' previous lives, then he could probably tell them everything he knew…if not, he'd have to keep them in the dark about much of it.
The blond shinigami shook his head. "I don't remember anything. But…I know how to speak to you; I have a vocabulary and all the rest of it. But apart from what I'm seeing now…I don't think I have a memory. Everything is black as far as I can go." Ryuk looked upon him disappointedly, which it had to be said, could easily be mistaken for pity. It gave both newborns a bit more comfort when speaking to him, and after the female told Ryuk that she was in exactly the same situation as the male with regard to memories, the male continued. "Are you our…creator?"
Ryuk nodded. "Yeah. Well, sort of. I'm partly your creator," he looked pointedly at the male, before turning to the female, "but Nu is completely responsible for you."
The female looked quizzical. "So…what about the rest of them?" She was of course referring to the other humanoids, who had not yet woken up, "are they the same as us?"
"Yeah, hopefully they'll wake up soon. You've all just been born, that's why you have no memories. Don't worry about it; you're in safe hands." This felt like a slight overstatement, even to Ryuk. "But…" he called over to Nu, who he had just noticed was tending to a dark-haired young man, another of the shinigami waking up. Instead of proceeding with his question, Ryuk walked over to her as she beckoned to him, the other two following intently.
When Ryuk approached, he immediately recognised the third new Shinigami to be L Lawliet, or what he had become, anyway. In this state, he looked rather different than the human L that Ryuk had known. He was standing up, for starters, and his back wasn't hunched in the way that Ryuk was used to seeing it. Plus, apart from being naked, the bags underneath his eyes weren't present. He was stirring, most certainly, which seemed somehow inappropriate. Ryuk could remember Light once mentioning to him that L didn't seem to sleep at all. Then, Ryuk was struck with a sudden thought.
"Hey Nu, I don't remember L ever using a-"
"Be quiet!" Nu hissed, and drew her arm around Ryuk's back, as if to emphasise that this was now a private conversation. In a whisper, she continued, "I do not recall saying to you that you could mention anything about the Death Note to these shinigami, or anything else relating to the humans upon whom they are based. I have no intention of letting them know, not yet at any rate."
Ryuk nodded. "I understand that, but-"
"I will discuss 'L' with you later." She then turned to the male and female shinigami, who were looking slightly frustrated.
"Excuse me, Nu," the female addressed her with an awkward bowing motion- typical "refined" Takada, thought Ryuk with a smirk-, "but, could you please explain to us…who we are? I know you as Nu, and your companion as Ryuk, but I don't seem to be able to recall any name of my own."
Nu gazed upon her, probably admiring the respectful bow. "You have no name. However, it only makes sense that you should have one, if only simply of identification purposes." She regarded the two shinigami thoughtfully. "You," she pointed at the blond one, "will be known forevermore as 'Larycorthus'. It is-"
"Hey!" Ryuk interrupted, "I have…a suggestion."
If Nu was surprised, she didn't show it. "Excuse me" she said, as she and Ryuk moved a few metres away. 'Larycorthus' and the as yet unnamed female kept their distance, instead watching as the black-haited shinigami began to open his eyes. It seemed as though Ryuk or Nu should be informed of this development, but it was clear that they were busy having some kind of dispute. Besides, Nu literally had eyes in the back of her head, so she was probably watching it right now.
It didn't feel like witnessing the miracle of creation, as the awakening creature, filthy and groaning, started to speak.
"He-hello?" he stammered, looking at his two fellow newborns in a confused and frightened manner. "Where-where am I?" His eyes- which were almost black in colour, although unlike those of the female shinigami, they did not seem to be quite 'normal'- darted from each person to the other.
"We don't know any more that you do," the female said quietly, "but those shinigami over there are our creators, apparently."
Still bound to his chains, he narrowed his eyes and stared straight at Ryuk, who was busy giggling, bent double and waving his hands. "He's the one who gave me life?" He looked somewhat sceptical. His gaze had caught Nu's attention, and she glided over.
"Welcome, young one," she said in a totally flat voice, devoid of any emotion. "My assistant and I have been awaiting your arrival for some time now." Apparently, Nu didn't realise that this greeting may be construed as slightly hurtful by the other shinigami, whom she had largely ignored.
"Who are you?" the L-like shinigami asked warily, "are you my…mother?"
Everyone who heard this was taken aback. Shinigami didn't have mothers. What was he thinking? Ryuk couldn't help but snigger at the thought of Nu being seen as maternal. But wait- if Nu was a mother, what did that make him?
"No, I am not your mother," Nu replied sharply, "we don't have parents. Just address me as Nu. Meanwhile…" she stopped hear dramatically, as the shinigami's wide eyes looked up at her, "we- Ryuk and I- have been discussing your name. All of your names, in fact. I was initially sceptical,but now…yes, I think they all suit you."
Ryuk couldn't help but feel pleased with himself.
"Gluttony," she pointed at the black-haired, chained male, "Greed," her finger found the female, "and you will no longer be 'Larycorthus'", she turned to the blond male. "As of this moment, your new name will be 'Envy'. Unconventional names, I confess…but I like them. Nice work, Ryuk."
Envy...that sounded much better, Envy silently agreed. He looked to his left, at the newly-named Greed. In all honesty, she looked less than thrilled, and may well have preferred something else.
The five of them remained in silence, as Gluttony found his way out through his chains. Then Nu, Ryuk, Envy, Greed and Gluttony stood for a considerable length of time, no doubt waiting for the birth of Pride, Lust, Wrath and Sloth.
