Author's Note: As I said, I'm a tad burned out on the Big Four franchises that I usually write Death Note crossovers about. So I'm trying to find some more obscure games to work with for a bit instead! Here's Haze. Feel free to suggest any if you like my writing style!
The original game was pretty clunky story-wise, so I'm rewriting things to excise everyone but Merino and Watchstrap; Shane dies of his injuries sustained in the crash. I'm also rewriting Merino to make him a more morally guided character; the ending didn't work.
Chapter 1 - A Black Book In The Village
Gabriel "Skin Coat" Merino's eyes widened, and he dropped the book labeled "DEATH NOTE" that had appeared on the ground.
A demon stood in front of him, with piercing blood-red eyes and a skull for a head. Upon seeing him, it grinned ominously.
"Well, well, well," it said, before baring its teeth. Merino shuddered. "The rebel leader picks up the Death Note! That oughta make for a fun show."
"You're here to help me?" He was skeptical, and slowly recovered from his shock at seeing the creature.
The demon laughed. "Nope! Not here to help Mantel, either. I'm just bored."
"…bored?" Now Merino was confused.
"I'll explain. I'm a shinigami, or death god. Name's Rook. We use those Death Notes to kill humans in order to extend our own lifespan. Problem is, there ain't exactly a whole lot to do in the shinigami realm. We mostly just gamble and swap stories. So I decided to drop this thing to see what ya do with it!"
Merino picked up the Death Note again, regarding it anew. "This will kill those whose names I write in it?"
"Yep. Gotta have their face in your mind, then boom! Brain aneurysm. You can write the cause of death too, but it has to be realistic. Otherwise they just get the aneurysm."
Merino thought. Before he died, Shane Carpenter had revealed the name of one of his compatriots: Morgan Duvall. He suspected that that was the charming fellow who had cut off one of his fingers. It seemed a fitting first target.
Taking a pen out of his jacket, he quickly wrote the following into the Death Note:
Morgan Duvall
It wasn't a moment too soon, as Mantel Corporation soldiers charged into the Promise Hand village seconds later.
"You motherfucking apes! You're meat." The sadism in Duvall's voice was unmistakable as he fired warning shots into the air.
Fortunately, a brain aneurysm felled him seconds later.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE SARGE?!" One of the soldiers asked. Taking advantage of the confusion, several villagers quickly shot the other two members of the Mantel squad. One died instantly, and the other lingered after being shot in the thigh. For some reason, Merino ordered the latter to be patched up and treated.
"What the hell? Why?" One of the villagers asked.
"He might know something," Merino quickly said.
The villager stared for a moment before nodding, and quickly got to work removing Watchstrap's armor.
"Well," Merino said to himself, "this certainly changes things."
"Sounds like you've got a plan," Rook remarked.
"I do."
-tpofh-
A/N: I don't think they intentionally named a shinigami after an infamous slur, but I'm uncomfortable with "Gook" regardless. So his name gets adjusted to Rook.
Chapter 2 - Goodbye Mantel
BRAIN ANEURYSM EPIDEMIC TERRORIZES POPULACE - Mantel News Network
JUSTICE FOR THE WICKED! - Hand News Network
-tpofh-
The CEO of Mantel Corporation, AKA the King of the World, was terrified.
The Promise Hand had some sort of inexplicable supernatural magic on their side, and they were using it to DESTROY the Mantel corporation. The carefully cultivated loyalty that they had crafted over the course of two decades was beginning to erode, as public confidence in Mantel plummeted. Unless they did something FAST, Mantel would-
The CEO suffered a brain aneurysm, and died immediately.
-tpofh-
3 months later…
MANTEL CORPORATION DISSOLVED! NECTAR OUTLAWED; PRESIDENT MERINO ANNOUNCES MANDATORY TREATMENT PROGRAMS
-tpofh-
MERINO: And now the hard work begins.
ROOK: Gotta say, I'm impressed with how fast you operate.
MERINO: You gave me the ability to kill anyone whose face and name were known to me. It should not surprise you terribly.
ROOK: But it does! I get the whole "killing your enemies" thing, but how'd you manage to get to be President of South America?
MERINO: I refer you to the statement that I just made.
[laughter.]
ROOK: I'm glad I gave you that thing!
Chapter 3 - Truth And Withdrawal
Andrew "Watchstrap" Duran pulled all of his bedsheets over him as he once again attempted to fall asleep in the hospital. He knew he would wake up sweaty again, but the cold shakes he felt from withdrawals meant he had little choice.
How could he live with himself after this? Without the numbing delusionary power of Nectar, he saw himself as he truly was: a monster. A worthless excuse for a human being.
What was the point of not eating a bullet?
-tpofh-
WATCHSTRAP: I don't get it, doc. Everything the Promise Hand said about us is true. How the fuck am I supposed to go on with my life?
THERAPIST: Have you considered writing a memoir?
WATCHSTRAP: No. Why?
THERAPIST: Perhaps expressing your dark thoughts in the form of words will make your trauma easier to cope with.
Excerpt from Eye of the Butcher by Andrew "Watchstrap" Duran:
It felt REALLY good. Actually, that's not a strong enough sentence to describe what regular Nectar doses are like. I think that's what a lot of stories about us ex-soldiers miss.
It didn't just feel good. It felt so good we thought that there was NOTHING else worth living for. Duvall killed civilians because the Nectar told him to do it for the high - told all of us to do it. Obviously now I can look back and see "an empty hand is just a grip away from holding a weapon" is a disgusting sentence, one that enabled unspeakable atrocities. But at the time it just felt right.
None of this is to excuse what we did. It's to provide an explanation for people who can't understand our sadism. Everyone asks like we're inscrutable sociopaths, when the truth is that we're really easy to read.
If the Nectar said to do it, we did it.
-tpofh-
SON: Mom, who's that man sleeping on the street?
MOTHER: Just another Nectar addict receiving from the end of their precious supply. Ignore them.
SON: I want to try Nectar, to be honest.
MOTHER: No, you don't. If you did you'd shoot me and it would feel great to you when I died.
SON: …really?
MOTHER: Look it up.
…
…
…
SON: Thanks for looking out for me, mom. I'm NEVER touching that stuff.
MOTHER: That's my boy!
Chapter 4 - It Takes A Village
The Nectar Recovery Centre was a place of healing.
NOT a place of judgment.
President Merino had seen to that personally, and it wasn't an easy task. Plenty of people had reason to despise Nectar users. They had committed atrocities in the name of the hated Mantel. MANY atrocities.
But addiction was a disease, and many users had been forced into consuming Nectar by Mantel. Plus, from a pragmatic standpoint, there were simply too many Nectar users to throw them all in prison. Recovery and rehabilitation was the only way forward.
He smiled as he made the way to the bed of a Nectar addict.
"Hello," he said warmly. When the woman's eyes widened, he was quick to reassure her. "No, you're not hallucinating, and no, I'm not here for revenge. I want to wish you luck in your journey towards recovery."
The woman visibly relaxed. "Thanks, Mr. President. If I had known what Mantel was doing I…I…"
"You wouldn't have signed up?"
"…well, I was poor. My whole family was. I was desperate, and-"
"I understand," he quickly interrupted. "Mantel took advantage of the desperation all of us felt because of them. But things are better now. And with the hard work of both the staff here and yourself, you will be too."
She started crying. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
-tpoth-
MARY: My name is Mary Wu, and I'm a Nectar addict.
ALL: Hi, Mary.
MARY: My mood is about a seven or an eight. My goal for today is to not think about Nectar. And my favorite movie is….The Shawshank Redemption!
[smile.]
COUNSELOR: You're able to remember it this time!
MARY: Yes, and that's so great! That means my memories are coming back.
[applause.]
-tpoth-
A/N: Some of my readers from my recovery center might recognize this bit. Art imitates life :)
Epilogue: New World Order
17 years later…
NEW UNITED NATIONS INAUGURATED IN BOA CITY
HAND NEWS NETWORK - In a move that would have been inconceivable during the height of the Mantel Corporation's power two decades ago, the New United Nations was inaugurated today in Boa City, South America to widespread fanfare…
…chief among the New United Nations' policies are strict rules regulating the activity and advertising of business, as well as "Autonomous Agreements" which guarantee that the New United Nations will not interfere in the domestic, environmental, and/or cultural affairs of each of its members…
-tpoth-
Although he was now retired, Gabriel Merino had made a point of coming to Boa City for this event.
His life's work: achieved. The Mantel Corporation: dead. The people of the world: united by shared pain and common values.
And himself: feeling nothing but pure, unadulterated happiness for the first time in decades.
"Gotta say, I'm impressed by you," Rook remarked. "You managed to conquer the world and make everyone happy about it!"
He grinned as the cameras photographed him entering the building.
Today was a new day for humanity.