Destery: H-Hi guys... so I know I promised an update within the month... in March...
Okay, let's be honest, I am a lazy piece of shit who only recently decided I was SO not making my goal of 3.5k words in this chapter UGH I am seriously the worst person for deadlines and I apologize profusely. But heyyyyy we get some plot development here, yes? Good, yes? Say it with me now, Yaaaaassssss.
I am so sorry.
On a side note, on top of me being a lazy piece of shit, all my stupid grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes will be checked LATER, k? I am fifteen years old running on, like, four hours of sleep right now. It is eight in the morning, I didn't sleep last night, and I am fucking tired. Let's all be friends and not be harsh, yeah? Okay? Okay. (TFIOS ref WHAT UP)
Okay, enjoy! Reviews are appreciated!
Boundaries
"Ryuk."
The Shinigami, like a well-trained house pet, turned its olive-like eyes in Light's direction once its name had been called. Despite being mid-chew through an apple core, it managed to grumble, "What's up?"
Light tapped a mechanical pencil lightly against the pages of the Death Note, staring at it indifferently. "Yesterday, you were in such a rush to get up here… were you speaking with someone?"
L's sleepy head flicked up to see if the Shinigami would rat him out, opaque eyes wide and groggy. Nearly glassy, like you could pull them right out of his head and he'd go unharmed.
Ryuk shrugged. "Nah, I was just thinking out loud. I do that often, you know."
The corner of Light's mouth tipped up. "I know. You mentioned a name though… a really weird one, if I remember correctly."
"Oh. Beyond Birthday?"
"Yeah." Light swept the Death Note to the side and typed the unusual name into the search engine. "Who is that? It sounds really familiar."
It laughed really hard, nearly cackling. "It should, Light. You wrote his name down around the time you first met L at university."
Light gasped, staring at the mug shot he was able to come up with. "He… he looks…"
L stood and walked to just behind Light, his hands buried deep in his pockets. His expression saddened upon seeing the subtle defeated expression on the charred skin of his ex-successor's face. "He looks just like me." L finished for Light.
"…just like L." Light finished, L going on unheard once again.
Ryuk bobbed his head in a half-committed nod. "Yup. He altered himself to fit L's profile, I believe. I don't know too much about the kid, but us Shinigami liked to check up on him every once in a while. He was an interesting fellow." He cackled.
Light raised a fine eyebrow at the picture, disliking how similar this man looked to L… and Light had killed him without noticing this, though it is true that Light killed him before he even knew L's face. "What's so interesting about a wacky seventeen-year-old serial killer?"
Ryuk raised his hand. "Plenty, actually."
"Don't tell him." L said, turning quickly to glare up at Ryuk. "It'll be much more entertaining if you leave Light to figure it out for himself." L quickly justified for the creäture.
"Like…?" Light prompted, turning to look up at the Shinigami.
Ryuk plucked an apple from the basket Light had on his desk, though he had to toss away an empty chocolate bar wrapper that had been left on top of it. "I'm not gonna tell you, and could you not litter on my apples? Just 'cuz you're depressed and mourning doesn't mean you can leave your trash all over my apples."
Light made a frustrated sound and turned away from the computer, his chin pointed at the ceiling.
"All you do is whine anymore." Ryuk accused, biting loudly into the apple.
Light righted himself and gave Ryuk a sour look. "I'm going to take a shower. I have a date with Misa tonight." He growled, standing from his seat and walking towards the bathroom. He closed and locked the door behind him, though Ryuk could float through the door if he so wanted to.
Same goes for L… right?
It suddenly came to the raven-haired detective's genius mind that he hadn't really attempted to exercise any of his supernatural abilities. Unless this was all a sick joke and L was actually in Hell.
"Ryuk." L said quickly, turning towards the ghastly creäture that would've choked on apples if it wasn't missing a gag reflex.
"Hn?" He grumbled, still munching on what looked like two or three fuji apples. L internally cringed.
The raven swept his thumb along his bottom lip as he spoke. "Are you completely certain that I am not in Hell?"
Ryuk swallowed the rest of fruit in his mouth and cackled so hard that he might have cried with laughter if he had tear ducts, or bodily fluid of any kind. "You aren't in Hell, trust me. It would be much, much worse than this. Us Shinigami can't enter Hell, anyways."
L nodded numbly, processing the information.
L heard the shower start and opened the door to Light's room. He pressed his hands to the barrier that trapped him in Light's room. He loses more and more feeling in his hands and feet the harder he pushes; he started losing more and more feeling through-out his ghostly body. It felt like pushing a brick wall. The more force he applied, the less he could feel of his body, like the action was injecting morphine into him. The longer he pushed against the boundary, the more the numbing feeling began to resemble that of fire licking his skin.
After a while, he could no longer stand it and pulled away. His skin had become even more translucent, but was quickly regaining pigment until he was what he classified as the direct center of the scale of transparent and opaque.
Incredible, the detective thought to himself, clenching and unclenching his hand. His teeth began to worry the nail of his left thumb while he processed the discovery. He could not leave Light's room. That was a rather unfortunate, but traditional, rule to follow. L tried to think of everything he remembered about supernatural lore. It wasn't like Kira was the first case he had that was thought to be connected to something supernatural – though it was the first to actually be connected to something supernatural in the end. In the past, L had been in situations where he had to study up on supernatural lore, but not too much had stuck. He was a genius, but he was also human and humans forget things.
He tried to recall ghosts, spirits, poltergeist, anything… but nothing he could think of matched his current situation. He thumbed his lower lip again, hoping the familiar action would stimulate his memory, but alas.
Emotions.
L's body jerked at the sudden thought. Ghosts or spirits were usually tied to locations due to a certain feeling or emotion. L was lacking in that department. Yes, L had lost to Kira but L had accepted that the moment he unlocked the handcuffs. He had accepted his death, which meant that the fires of Hell should be offending his closeted-eyes and his white skin, if there is such a place.
He turned towards the Death Note on Light's desk, his thumb barely touching the corner of his mouth. He dropped his hand and made his way back over to the desk were the Death Note lay, cast aside by Light's inner turmoil.
It must be exhausting play God, L thought bitterly to himself before picking up the Death Note. It solidified in his translucent hands, smooth and light weight. This was it, wasn't it? This was the trigger object, the anchor, the key to end this torment and finally go to the afterlife that waited for him. Too bad he didn't know what to do with it. He flipped through it, finding his name on the latest page.
"That is Rem's notebook." Ryuk clarified.
L nodded thoughtfully, tracing the hurried script with his index finger. The knife that cut through his heart, the bullet that pierced his brain, was just a piece of ordinary paper and some ink. It gave him the strangest urge to cry, to scream, to throw a tantrum over how unfairly easy the Death Note has made it to take human life away.
Instead, he set the Death Note down as it was – turned to the open page with his name – and sighed. He sighed and he heard himself sigh.
Before he even had time to react to hearing his own voice for the first time in… well, who knows how long, he felt a bony hand land on his shoulder, taking all his resolve not to jump. "Heh. Well, would you look at that. Still sharp as a knife, even when you're dead." Ryuk said, his voice condescending as always. "One step closer to being where all humans go when they die, aren't you?"
Unsurprisingly, the last sentence made L's skin crawl like it was really just stretched over his bones and he could feel too much at once, like that damn hand on his shoulder. "Yeah. I am."
Destery: Heh, yeah, not making any promises this time. School is over, I'll find the time. If you want updates, follow me on tumblr asklandbeyond ! Talk to y'all later~