Lawli: Hello, and welcome to my first Death Note fanfic! Since I'm new to the fandom, I'm not sure if a story like this has ever been done yet, but I hope not 'cause I like to have unique ideas. Anyways, yeah, welcome to the fic. Even though this chapter (the prologue) is very short, I hope you reader(s) enjoy it anyways. Rest assured, future chapters will be longer. Please R&R!!
Disclaimer: If I owned Death Note, the ending of episode 25 would not be the way it is. -sniffle-
An Apple A Day
Prologue -- Doctor L Lawliet.
"...Did you know?"No-one ever visited the Red Wing of Lawliet Institute, where two patients resided. It wasn't that they were potentially dangerous – well, they were, but a majority of the time they were both relatively tame and even-tempered – but they were surrounded by chilling rumors. Rumors of murders, of secret powers, of frightening monsters.
"Did you know, doctor?"
Doctor L Lawliet, founder of the Institute, loved rumors. A rumor was a puzzle which one had to solve, in order to discover whether or not it was based upon truth. Normally, instead of rumors, Doctor L Lawliet referred to them as 'mysteries', for he liked to think of himself as a sort of detective. The mysteries of the Red Wing particularly fascinated him, and it was this fascination that drove him to take full responsibility of the two patients. He would get to know them, and slowly but surely he would put the pieces of the puzzle in place.
"Shinigami only eat apples."
"Shinigami..." Doctor L Lawliet sighed, his dark orbs momentarily sliding shut and blocking out the sights of the room around him. When enough time had passed, he unclosed his eyes and, in a swift movement hopped on to his favorite cushioned office chair, drawing his knees up to his chest. He surveyed the papers on his desk with only minute interest. He'd looked over them so many times that they were starting to bore him. Papers and books could only get him so far. If he needed to learn more, he would have to make himself known.
He'd never introduced himself to a patient before. Always he preferred to work behind the scenes, solving cases of patients' different mental diseases that other doctors were afraid to investigate, and doing so by only analyzing the patients' records and observing them on tape from right there in his office.
For both these patients, number 5471 and number 5472, twenty-four-hour observation proved useless. He'd watched both of them for a period of over fifty days, and in that time, no new clues developed. Although, he wouldn't say that neither patient came across as suspicious in that time. Oh no... He wouldn't say that. Both numbers 5471 and 5472 came across as dubious during their captivity. But with this distance separating them, the doctor could not rightfully pass any judgment on them.
Another sigh passed through his lips and slowly he reached forward, taking into his hands a sheet of paper with neatly typed information regarding his two patients printed down the center. He held the paper by the very top corners between the index finger and thumb of both his left and right hands, using only several inches to separate it from his face.
"Patient 5471 – Amane Misa. Gender, female. Age, eighteen. Former model and avid KIRA supporter. Brought to Lawliet Institute in May, 2006."
He set the paper down and picked up another, supporting it up in the same peculiar manner. He wriggled his bare toes as his slate gray orbs darted across the page, lips forming the syllables as he spoke aloud to himself.
"Patient 5472 – Yagami Light. Gender, male. Age, twenty. Second to arrive, but thought to be the more dangerous of the two. Brought to the Lawliet Institute in January, 2007."
A frown twitched L's lips downwards. He leaned back very slightly, careful not to lose balance or tip over – which would be easy, considering his awkward manner of sitting – and began to recall the many similarities his two patients shared.
Both have mentioned a 'Note' and 'The Eyes', and have been witnessed talking to themselves...
Both seem to have no memories of the months prior to being brought here...
After first being put into solitary confinement, they both spoke two an invisible second person in the room. For 5471, there was Rem. For 5472, there was Ryuk. After fifteen or so days, this stopped, as did any knowledge either had pertaining to KIRA and the past several months of their lives.
L brought his thumb to his lip, chewing thoughtfully on the skin around the nail.
"Did you know, doctor? Shinigami only eat apples."
"...Shinigami don't exist."
"Yes they do. Yes they do, doctor. And they'll kill you one day. They'll kill you for making me stay in this awful place! They'll kill you for letting me die here!"
A door swung closed. Doctor L Lawliet stared passively down the empty white hallway, his back hunched and his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his pants. Strands of long black hair shaded his eyes. Shaking his head slowly, he turned away from the door and the threats directed towards him that could be heard through it.
"Shinigami don't exist."
L huffed in annoyance. He would never figure anything out at this rate.
Standing up from his chair, he walked around his desk and picked up the telephone, holding the receiver in the same manner that he held the paper – by the very top, with one his thumb and index finger. He punched a red button with his other index finger. There was some static, and then an elderly voice resounded from the speaker, asking what he would like.
"Watari... prepare a new room in the Red Wing for patient 5472. Include in it an extra bed. He will be having a roommate."
"L, can you mean..?"
"I would also like some tea, with extra sugar cubes."
And with that, he hung up the phone.
Shinigami... Shinigami don't exist.
There was a logical explanation behind his patients' symptoms, and he would find out what it was.
Lawli: Aaannnd that's all you get for now. If you all review, maybe it will inspire me to update faster?? -nudge, nudge- Review please!!