Authors note: I did write and post this story previously but I never continued it. I came across as I was sifting through old papers and I thought, "Hey, I did this story three years ago an never finished it. Why don't I continue it?" So I revamped this fanfic and decided to go all the way and finish it. To those who might have read the older fic; sorry I never continued it like I promised. Though, you know what they say, late is better than never. I hope you enjoy this.

Tags; Graphic depiction of violence, mentions of depression, hell, heaven and purgatory concept, mentions of past trauma, alternate universe, OC, characters might be a bit OOC, Light behaves differently as he never obtains the death note, future LxLight, slow burn, like really slow, anguish, hurt and comfort, romance, bit of horror and supernatural.

Note; I've decided to put my own twist on the usual death God concept of Death Note. I will explain things in the fic as I go.

Chapter 1: Welcome To Purgatory

"were better to thank God for it, since the more you undergo down here, the less you will endure above. Grief is a portion of one's heritage taken in advance from Purgatory."

Saint Lydwine of Schiedam

A chill ran down Ratio Yagami's spine as the icy breeze of the night fluttered by him. He pushed his fisted hands deeper into the pockets of his school blazer. He held his shoulders high and rigid in a failed attempt to retain heat. The cold simply ignored his useless troubles and sunk deeper into his bone. It caused his teeth to chatter and Ratio knew he had to make it back home soon. Less he finds himself in the afterlife from hypothermia.

The light click of his boots on the concrete sidewalk were the only sounds in the void of night; besides the shaken breaths he took, the chirp of a cricket and the occasional dog howl that sent shivers of fear through his bean.

All lights were off except the rhythmic street laps and the episodic porch light as the neighborhood people soundly and safely slept in their beds. An image of Ratio's own comfy bed flashed by his mind longingly as he forced his exhausted body onward.

A sigh escaped his cold lips as he jerked his right arm up into his line of sight. The fabric around his wrist slid back as he did so to reveal the digital wristwatch. Its crimson digits glowed to allow him to tell the time in dark shadows he walked in.

00:13

"Damn its late…"He cursed under his breath and hissed as the cold bit at his hand. He shoved his hand abruptly back into the warm safety of his pocket. 'I'm never again going to let Trigger talk me into staying out this late…' He mentally scolded himself.

Hikigane Shiawasena was a tricky one to deal with. His intelligence almost rivaled Ratio's but the black haired maniac enjoyed to waste his time and cunning on ridicules stunts and pranks. He was a person full of jokes and laughs; even at the worst of times. Ratio could still remember the day he had gone to an acquaintance's funeral with Trigger. The idiot purposely set an alarm, with the tone of 'High way to hell', to go off during the wake. He had felt like strangling the infuriating boy right there in the church and had considered throwing his body in the casket before they buried it; but he was to focused on keeping himself from laughing.

Ratio usually tried to keep everyone worth mentioning in his life pleased with him. Even if it meant he had to lie about what he truly felt. Trigger though, he could see right through Ratio and tried his damn best to push his buttons or to convince him of doing things that might piss people off. This time Trigger had convinced him to stay out long past his curfew.

Tired auburn eyes looked on to the deserted streets before him; an eerie image of dark deserted streets and dull lights with dark shadows all around. Shadows that were perfect places for monsters to hide in…

Memories of the terrifying horror movies Trigger liked to subjected him too shoved their way to the forefront of his mind. A shiver of fear trickled it's way down his back as he cursed the day he met the dark haired Japanese boy.

Now that he wished to get home as soon as possible, Ratio decided to take a calculate risk and turned into a gravel pathway that cut through the only field in his neighborhood; which separated him from his home. It was a short cut that he walked many times before on his way to Trigger's house. Even with the fear that began to clutch at his heart and his instincts that told him to run; he walked on.

He reasoned with himself that he lived in one of the safer neighborhoods, that he had walked this path at night before and that he only felt fear now because of Trigger's damn horror fetish. Though that did not stop his legs from breaking into a brisk walk that could be considered as a light jog.

When he reached a fork in the path he instinctively and quickly turn right. He knew these little pathways well and could technically walk them with his eyes closed, if he tried.

He could remember how he and would sneak out into these fields with Trigger, during school breaks or events. It was quite easy for Ratio to sneak around and even if they were caught a time or two. People usually did not question where the son of the chief of police was headed. There was a place near the middle of the field. A cluster of rocks that were surrounded by thick tall grass. It was a place that he could hide from the world and be completely genuine. No fake smiles to hide the crippling depression he felt constantly or the constant mask he held to please those around him.

If Ratio considered half the naughty things he and Trigger got up too, since he met the strange teenager, he could only imagine how livid his parents would be. His father especially.

His parents usually left him to his own devices as long as his grades stayed in the hundreds and his reputation stayed clean. With his father's workaholic tendencies and his mother's wishful thinking; Ratio was free to do as he pleased as long as his parents did not know what the extent or severity of some of his actions were. If they only truly knew what he did they would have his head. So he has kept them oblivious to his darker nature.

To them he was the perfect son; and why would they think anything else if he did not portray himself as anything else. The only one in his family that even ever got glimpses of how truly imperfect Ratio was, was is sister, Sayu Yagami. Even then he loved his sister too much to burden her with the ugly monstrosity that was his mind.

To the world Ratio was perfect; one of the highest IQs in Japan, most popular in his high school by his peers and most loved by his teachers and he had a moderately rich family with high respect were it mattered. His life to an outsider was perfect.

'If they only knew the horrors I survived…'

Memories of burnt and maimed corpses, burning buildings with wrecked cars and ashed roads scattered around, horridly twisted faces screaming in agony and that twisted and evil man with the crooked smile and deranged eyes flurried in Ratio's mind. It caused his head to throb with the beginnings of a headache and his stomach to twist in knots.

The teenager shook his head of the red painted memories and pressed on with more vigor in his step. He now had more determination to get to his bed and sleep away his woes.

Yes. To the world he was perfect.

Was perfect.

'Too perfect…'

A sigh escaped his lips as his limbs began to feel heavy and he slowed his tap to-

A pain shot through the back of his head as something solid came in contact with his skull. The sudden attack forced Ratio harshly to his knees. He lead forward with his hands clutched at his pained head. Before he could raise his head another smashing pain erupted in his right side and sent him hurdling to the dirt ground.

Shards of glass cut through his blazer and button up shirt; a useless protection to his surroundings. A growl rumbled in his throat as he lifted himself up. The sound of a crunch behind him alerted him to his attackers approach. He tried to turn and strike at his attacker but they struck at his back before he had the chance. He crumbled to the ground with an agonized cry. His back felt as if it was struck with a sharp object. He could feel the razor pain sliced down his shoulder blade accompanied by something thick, hot and slick.

Ratio could feel his attacker above him. His he could feel his own heart beat pick up and the rush of blood in his ears. He could feel the overwhelming fear that clawed at his heart and strangled his throat.

'I'm going to die if I don't do something…'

CRUNCH

CRUNCH

THUD

A bruising boot pressed into his shoulder. It further aggravated the wound on Ratio's back. The pain burned through is muscles and forced a chocked whimper from his lips.

'There right above me.'

He stretched his hands out to something, anything that could help him. His fingers touched a cold, smooth and sharp-edged surface and he closed his hand around it. He barely registered the stinging pain in his hand that was dulled by the adrenaline cursing through his veins; before he blindly thrusted the object in his hand into his attacker's leg.

With a shout, the attacker stumbled back and Ratio took his opportunity to scrambled to his feet to face the bastard that struck him. He was ready to hurl himself at his attacker in rage but it was far too dark to see were exactly they were. The only thing that helped the teenager to make out the growling figure before him was the dull sheen of the full moon. The outline of the crouched figure stood up and revealed just what a hulking mass they were.

At the sight of how massive his would be opponent was compared to him, Ratio lost all and any anger that might have bloomed in the initial attack in an instant. His dead rage was quickly replaced by fear that overwhelmed him and the only thought to cross his mind was run.

His legs seemed to have a mind of their own as they forced him into a sprint down the pathway. He did not get far before a sharp pain erupted in his left leg followed by his right shoulder. The sudden pain caused Ratio to crash back into the dirt with an agonized cry.

Ratio tried to get up, tried to get away, but when he moved pain shot through his body. He was left to whimper and cry into the dirt as the intense ache became too much.

A giddy laugh instantly quieted the wounded teenager as he focused on the heavy thud of boots that approached him.

"Please wait- " Ratio's please were cut short as he was roughly tugged over onto his back. A heavy weight fell onto his midsection and pinned him down. He coughed harshly as it became harder and harder for him to breath as it felt as if his chest was filled up with water. There was a thick taste of iron in his mouth and warm liquid trickled down the side of his face.

He struck out at the dark figure above him. He snarled, scratched and spat at them with all he had. He wanted them off. He wanted to get away. He should not have bean there.

'I should have stayed at Trigger's house…'

The figure above him seemed to grow impatient with Ratio's struggles and struck him back, repeatedly. Blow after blow his head was smashed into the ground. White spots began to form at the edges of his vision and a sharp sound screech in his ears.

Ratio felt dazed, his head throbbed and he barely noticed that his attacker had stopped beating into his skull. He could scarcely make out through squinted eyes the twinkle of shiny teeth grinning down at him and the shine of a knife that hovered above him.

The scene clicked in Ratio's mind and sent shocks of alarm through his system just in time for him to use his arm as a shield. He wailed in pain as the knife cut through flesh and embedded into bone.

He blindly began to scratch and claw at the figure's face with his free hand and did his best to blind them. He heard a frustrated grunt before the knife in his a wash yanked out. Ratio hissed a cursed at the shock of pain in his arm and was distracted enough for his wrists to be pinned above his.

Ratio's lungs aced at his rapid breaths and his heart violently struck at his rib-cage as he stubbornly and furiously thrashed about, in a fruitless attempt to escape the domineering figure that forced him down. He fought through the pain, fought through the profuse panic in is bean and he damn well would fight this bastard tooth and nail.

The shadowed figure forced Ratio down further with a knee pressed to his chest painfully. A howl of agony erupted in the teenagers throat and echoed in the night as he felt his rib cage crack and press agents his heart. A hand left his wrist and it gave him the opportunity to strike at the bastard. A sense of accomplishment washed over him as he landed a sturdy blow to the face.

The figure growled deeply in outrage, Ratio's brief victory was short lived as a sharp object shredded through his throat. His body went rigged with shock; his mind blank. Time seemed to slow down, and then ricochet back into dreading reality.

Hot tears poured down his paling cheeks in rivers as he numbly grabbed at the figure above with his free hand. Salty tears mingled with glistening blood. It creeped abundantly down the sides of his throat. The hot crimson liquid filled his mouth and trapped fear filled screams in gurgled bubbles.

The glittering black of night turned pitch black. The figure disappeared into the darkness; only it's gleaming, wicked teeth could be seen vaguely as his body numbed to all. His hand fell from its hold on the figure to lie motionlessly beside his head. Coldness clutched around his heart and steadily slowed its rapid beats to stillness.

Ratio lungs relaxed to release his final breath that plunged him into darkness.

He felt as if he was floating like a leaf left adrift in the ocean. An ocean with black waters. It's dark depths unknown and its inky blackness surrounded him in that gravity deprived place.

Senseless thoughts drifted in and out of his mind in lazy bouts; never the same and never coherent. No matter how hard he tried to decipher these rhythm-less musings in his foggy mind; he could never grasp onto them long enough to make sense of them. They were as smooth flowing, formless, colorless and meaningless as the black waters around him.

There in that cold abyss he felt numb and lifeless. In the empty void he floated in; he melded with the empty waters. As if he was in a dreamless sleep.

It was peaceful. It was comforting. It was empty. It was a deep sleep. It was like the welcomed arms of deaths embrace after years of suffering.

So suddenly the peace was destroyed by light that flashed across his eyes. Were his eyes even open? Was he not asleep?

The light intensified into a blinding white that shocked his system into awareness. Then the light vanished and was replaced by imagery that surged and pulsed as if alive.

A woman smiling at him as she held a small fragile babe in her arms. A smiling bearded man who held his broad and strong hand over his should.

The welcoming arms of a bright figure that seemed so warm and comforting . The figure seemed so sad to see him go. So was so familiar yet so foreign. Like he was coming home after years of being gone.

White teeth that glinted in the dark maliciously. The gleam of a sharpened blade that hovered oh so menacingly…

His eyes snapped open to reveal panicked red orbs. He instinctively gasped for air but found non. His panic intensified as he state up and began to claw at his throat.

'Breath, breath, breath…' He chanted in his mind in hopes it would come true. Moments passed and he soon relished that he was not suffocating like he should be. He frowned in confusion as he held his hand over his mouth and tried to breath out.

Nothing. No air at all left his lips although his chest and shoulders moved with the motion that seemed to indicate life. No breath touched his hand.

His brief victory was short lived as a sharp object shredded through his throat.

He unconsciously slipped his hand down to his throat to feel for a wound yet he found only smooth skin. Smooth skin coated with a dry and cracked substance. He scratched at his throat to get it off.

He brought his hand away to look at it. To find that the substance he scratched off his through looked like dark, reddish flacks. Like dried blood left to bake in the sun

He felt the indents of one of his palms to find that there was the same substance creeped into the various shallow wrinkles of his hand. His hand slipped up his wrist as he felt along his inner arm. He could see that his whole arm was coated in the same matter as his throat and palms. He looked down his body to find that he was naked except for the same dark flacks that trickled along his chest.

"Blood?" He murmured with a depend ground.

Confusion consumed his mind as he tried to make sense of his state of body. He looked around for help but only found a barren waist land. It's strange monotone colors seemed as if the pigment was sucked out of the land. Dark almost black rocks scattered over gray sand. The expected blue sky was a dark gray with clouds almost as dark as the rocks.

'Where the hell am I?'

He tried to remember how he came to be here, naked in a strange land and covered in what appeared to be dried blood; but his memory came to a blank. Only a familiar dread and a deep rooted despair would dig into his chest when he tried to recall what happened. It brought cold tears to his eyes. His eyes burned and blurred as rivers ran down his cheeks to drop down his chin and neck.

Why was he so sad? Was it because he could not recall anything; even his own name? Was it because he felt that he lost something precious and irreplaceable? Or was it because deep down in his subconscious he knew why he was and how he came to be here?

He could not control the unreasonable pain he felt. It was crippling and it was unfair. Unfair because he could not remember the reason he was so sorrowful. The confusion that accompanied the agony was frustrating. Sobs began to rack his body in jerked motions as he curled in on himself.

With his face buried in his knees and his ears filled with his own misery; he did not notice the heavy crunch of a stranger's feat on the course sand as they approached. Not until an abrupt and jolly-filled laugh shocked him out of his depressed state. He whirled around to see who the intruder was and what he saw surprised him.

What stood before him could not be considered human. The creature stood tall at what seemed over two meters. It was a flesh less skeleton with sharp teeth and gazelle horns protruding put its skull. It was covered in black tattered clothes ; similar to that of the stereotypical reaper. What bone-limbs that were left uncovered by the dark cloth was embroidered with purple gems and silver patterns. The gems and silver etching swirled all around ivory surfaces in elegant patterns. Its eyes closed in a menacing red.

This creature shook him with terra yet mesmerized him with its strange beauty.

A chuckle past through its sharp teeth as its jaws unhinge to speak.

"Welcome to Purgatory."

Note: Is started to write fanfiction as a fun way to improve my writing skills so I'll appreciate any reviews. Constructive criticism will always be welcomed. Thank you for reading!