This chapter is a bit longer and contains some fluff. Enjoy!

L Lawliet's P.O.V

I had the exact same dream immediately after falling asleep again. This time, however I decided not to allow myself to start screaming. I must remain calm. This is far more than just a dream; I must find out everything that happens.

I found myself looking over a rotting landscape, covered in grey sand and sharp rocks. The air was eerily still and reeked of death. There was no defined source of light, yet I could see perfectly. Somehow I knew exactly where this was: The Shinigami realm.

Slowly, one by one, horrific creatures formed a circle around a human figure. Each one was tall and frightening, but they all looked completely different. One looked as if it were made of gold and jewels, while another appeared to be a giant looming shadow that had taken form and grown spikes. Each one looked like a different kind of nightmare.

Once they had all arrived, there was still a gap in the circle. From there a large, ornate throne came up out of the sand. Sitting on the throne was the largest, most terrifying Shinigami of all. Growing out of his head was a crown that looked remarkably similar to the skeletal structure of human hands. His eyes were hollow and his mouth stretched all the way across his pale, bony face into a menacing, sharp-toothed grin.

Standing in the center was none other than Light Yagami.

"Human, I'm sure by now you are aware of your own death," the Shinigami king began. "As Ryuk has no doubt told you, because you have used the notebook you can neither go to heaven nor to hell. You have proven yourself to be quite a remarkable specimen. And as a reward for this, we will allow you one request. You may even ask to become a Shinigami yourself, if you wish."

Light grinned, his eyes cold and calculating. "So you're saying I can ask for anything?"

"To an extent."

"Alright. But before I decide, is it true that the universe I was born in is only one of many?"

One of the other Shinigami answered, "Yes. The human realm has several different dimensions. The world you call home is not the only one that exists."

Light nodded, satisfied. "Then I desire the ability to travel between worlds. I will not only be the god of my own world, but of thousands of worlds beyond. The name Kira will be worshipped in temples and churches in every single dimension by the time my work is done!"

"Is that truly what you want?" the Shinigami king asked.

Light's eyes practically glowed red as he grinned menacingly, "Yes."

"Then so be it. We will join you on your mission to cleanse these worlds."

The other Shinigami started shrugging and nodding in bored agreement. One heckled out, "It's not like we've got anything better to do."

The one the king had referred to as Ryuk started laughing. "This is going to be so interesting."

I woke up to the sound of Ellie humming some soft tune to herself. I slowly opened my eyes and sat up, scratching an itch on my scalp. She was brushing her long hair and looking at something on her laptop.

Looking over, she spotted me stirring. "Oh, good morning." She offered me a tired smile and yawned, "did you sleep well?"

I sat back up into my favorite position. "Not particularly," I mumbled, "Then again I never have."

She simply nodded, obviously sleepy. Perhaps I was partially responsible for that. I did wake her up in the middle of the night. "Hey, I've been thinking," she started, "Since I have class, you should stay here and study up on your anime. It's on Netflix, you can watch it on my laptop while I'm gone."

Now that was certainly an interesting idea. It made sense; it'd help me to know what I'm dealing with. I would be able to learn what I was to this world, as well as exactly how much Ellie knew about me. I nodded, "I think that would be the best course of action at this point in time."

"Perfect," Ellie smiled, "I'll set it up. I don't have class for another two hours so we can watch the first few episodes together if you want."

"If you would like to," I agreed. She could shed some light on what is to come. My mind went back to the dream I had last night. Something seemed off about it. It's possible that it was simply a nightmare. Or could it be some sort of warning? Even if it were, it doesn't explain how I ended up in Ellie May's closet. At some point, I would need to find out how I got here and how I could get back home.

Home. Would I be able to go back? Even if could, the last thing that happened there was my death; if I somehow were to find a way back would I become nothing more than a corpse? The people who knew who I was would undoubtedly be surprised to see me again if I were to survive the trip, especially Light Yagami.

And what about Ellie? Honestly I don't know what to do about that. The best thing for her would likely be to remain in her own world, but with her knowledge of the Death Note she could be of great help. Plus, I like her, she's good company. It's not often I find someone I can honestly say I am friends with.

There's something about her though… Why did I land here, of all places? I could just as easily have ended up in the middle of the ocean, or under a bridge. Instead, I ended up in the home of someone who not only knew who I was and was willing to help me, but they likely knew more about the notebook than I did. The odds are about a 0.0002% that I could end up in these conditions. It's simply too convenient. Could it be that this was no accident? Was I sent here by some unknown being?

I was interrupted by my train of thought when Ellie hopped onto the bed next to me, placing a laptop with a brightly colored case in front of us. "Okay, so the first few episodes tell you a lot about the notebook and how it works," she explained, "You don't come in until the second."

She opened the MacBook and put in her password. Although she typed quickly I was able to follow her fingers and see the password; that may prove useful at a later date. She pressed play and wrapped a blanket around both of our shoulders, settling into a position until she was satisfied. She sat on her hip with both legs tucked to the same side, leaning on her hand for support.

The screen showed flashes of Light Yagami with red hair and eyes. A Japanese song played. One of the shots that was particularly interesting to me was one of Light standing high on a pedestal overlooking the city, and I stood on another one across from him. We appeared to be having a stare down. Apparently, the animators decided to give me blue hair and blue eyes in this shot, obviously to contrast with Light's red imagery. The introduction came to a close and the words "Death Note" appeared onscreen in front of a large white cross.

I grabbed the cake from last night and decided to finish it, picking at it with my fingers. Ellie had the same idea, and we munched on the treat as I finally learned how Light had come across the notebook. When Ryuk came on the screen my eyes widened in shock. That was the same Shinigami from my dream… But I hadn't seen him before. How could my subconscious know the name and face of a Shinigami I had never before met or heard of? This was evidence to support the theory that what I saw last night was far more than a nightmare. I considered telling Ellie, but decided it would be best to wait. For now, I would see how things unfolded.

Several episodes in I noticed that Ellie hadn't left. "I thought you said you had class," I commented, not taking my eyes off the screen that, oddly enough, showed my own face. It was all so strange to see and hear yourself in this way. It's like someone had watched my every move. It made me wonder if something similar was happening in another universe somewhere. Perhaps there is another world where I'm still fictional. Maybe a movie, another anime, or even a book. Could it be that somewhere I was nothing more than words on a page?

"I do, but I should be fine missing a day. How often does someone get to watch an anime with their favorite character?" As soon as she'd said that she looked embarrassed. "I mean-" I watched, curious as she stumbled over her words, "Well, what I meant was…" She sighed, "Nevermind, forget I said anything."

Interesting. So, I was her favorite character from Death Note. That means I can likely count on her as an ally. It was still strange to think of myself as anything but a real person, let alone an animated character. And yet it was oddly satisfying to know that Ellie liked me enough to call me her favorite. It was certainly comforting to see that she clearly had no shortage of disdain for Light; that told me she is not the type to be a Kira supporter.

We watched all the way up to episode 24. But just before episode 25 was about to start, Ellie paused it and closed her laptop. I looked at her, wondering why she would stop now.

She frowned, "Lawliet, we've been watching for 8 hours straight, we really should eat something other than cake. And I think you know what comes next."

It wasn't hard to deduce that we were nearing the point of my death. It must happen in the next episode, judging by her reaction. "Yes," I replied, "Now that we are nearly caught up to what I remember, episode 25 must be the one where Kira wins."

She nodded, her face grim and sheepish. "You don't have to watch it if you don't want to. We can skip this episode?"

But that wouldn't do. I needed to know every detail. "No," I replied, "It's important that I don't miss anything. The key to how I ended up here may very well be in episode 25. I'd say there's at least a 4% chance that watching it will be beneficial."

She sighed, "Fine. But we're still taking a break to go eat something. It's almost 4:00 in the afternoon and all we've had is sugar. If I ate like you I'd end up morbidly obese." She slid off the bed and stretched her arms high above her head. "Besides," she continued, "If you can afford a house and a security system, then you can certainly afford to take me out to eat. How does hibachi sound?"

She was right about that. After I had contacted a certain government agency and told them a few things they found of extreme interest, I once again had enough money to last a lifetime. If I invest it well I may even get back to where I was financially in my own world. For the time being, however, several million American dollars would have to do.

"If that is what you wish," I agreed. A hibachi dinner didn't sound too bad. At least it'd be something familiar.

"Great! You can use my flip flops. I doubt they'd let you in barefoot." Ellie went over to the closet and was about to open it when she stopped and looked at me, thinking. "You know," she said, "we should probably get you some new clothes too. You can't live in the same outfit; you'll have to wash it eventually."

I looked down at my – now very wrinkled – white shirt, "yes I suppose you're right."

At that she smiled – which revealed a single dimple on the right side of her face – and opened the closet door.

When she looked inside she gasped, "What the fudgenuggets happened to my closet!?"

Fudgenuggets? Was that a common word here or just something Ellie said?

"What's wrong," I asked, only mildly curious, picking up my fork from the night before with my thumb and forefinger to fiddle with it.

She pointed downward to the shoes I had been sitting on the day before, "Look," she bent down and picked up a tall leather boot, "everything is covered in sand." She dumbed the boot out and a bucketful of sand poured out. Ellie did not look pleased.

That got my attention. My eyes snapped up to her face. "What color is it?"

She looked at me incredulously, "What color? Is that what you're concerned about?"

"Yes. It may be important in understanding how I got here. Remember when Ryuk gave Misa the apple from the Shinigami realm? It was made of sand. And when Rem told the story of how to kill a Shinigami, she told of how he too turned to sand." I remembered the grey landscape I had seen in my dream. That had been sand as well. "So, what color is it?"

She picked up a different shoe, this one being a very sparkly black high heel, "here, see for yourself."

She handed the shoe to me and I held it in my thumb and forefinger, examining it. I noted that Ellie is a size nine and a half. Inside the shoe was a very fine, grey sand. The same dusty material that had I had seen in my dream. There was no mistaking it: this was from the Shinigami realm. It had not been there when I first woke up in the closet, which means that it had gotten there sometime after I arrived. The only time I was not in this room, Ellie had been here cleaning. That means the only way it could have gotten there was if the closet had something to do with the way to travel between worlds.

I stood up and examined what I could see. There wasn't much other than sand that looked like it didn't belong. I needed a better look. "Ellie, please remove your belongings from the closet."

She gave me a questioning look, but obeyed nonetheless. I noticed how she had enough shoes to fill a store, and quite an impressive variety of coats. The closet was jam packed with them.

When she had finished pulling out all her belongings, all that was left was an empty closet coated in sand. There was nothing else out of the ordinary. "hmmm… Nothing." I mumbled myself, a bit disappointed.

"Lawliet, what does this mean?"

I didn't have time to answer because someone knocked on the door. Ellie jumped, spooked by our discovery and startled at the noise. "Who is it," she called to the person behind the door.

"Ellie, we're having a roommate meeting," a female voice called back to her.

"Okay, I'm coming."

That seemed to satisfy the voice and I heard footsteps walking away. Ellie took a deep breath, calming herself. "I gotta go. Here," she picked up a pair of flip flops with little emoji's on them, "you can wear these for now."

I took them from her and watched as she tried to find a pair that hadn't been completely covered in sand. She found a worn-out pair of Vans that didn't look too bad and slipped them on. I decided just to hold the flip flops until I absolutely had to wear them. I preferred to be barefoot.

She grabbed a pink overcoat and put it on, sticking her phone and wallet into the pockets. "Alright, let's go. Once the roommate meeting is over we'll head out. Sound good?"

I nodded and followed her out into the living-room-slash-kitchen. There were five other girls congregating around a large counter. One was extremely tall with dark hair highlighted with light colored streaks. Another was petite and blonde, dressed in pastel colors. She appeared to be very passive, allowing the others to do as they wished. Two of them were blonde as well and looked like siblings. They acted very dominant. I deduced that these two thought they were in charge, but from the behavior of the others, they were not well liked. The fifth was also blonde, leaving Ellie as the only one with pure brown hair. This fifth person appeared to be well respected among the others, but was particularly close with the tall one.

They all looked at us as we walked in. From the behavior of the group, I could tell that Ellie was the odd one out. A black sheep, if you will. She was not disliked, but not particularly loved either. They mostly avoided paying her any attention. She seemed perfectly content with this, as it was evident that she would rather have been anywhere else.

When she walked to one of the chairs and sat down, her roommates all stared at me. I, however, was used to this. I am well aware of my odd appearance.

"Guys, this is my friend, Lawrence. He'll be staying with us until tomorrow. Lawrence, these are my roommates." Ellie introduced me, inventing a new alias for me to go by.

"Hi," the tall one greeted me, attempting to look like she wasn't disturbed by my strange appearance.

"Nice to meet you," I mumbled in their general direction as I chose a seat on the couch. They all gawked at my odd way of sitting.

"Ellie," one of the two siblings started, "You didn't tell us your guest was a guy." She was obviously unhappy about it.

Ellie had no patience for this one apparently, as she subtly glared and matched the blonde woman's tone, "I am breaking no rules by having him here. I informed you of his presence as per the roommate agreement."

There was clearly some petty feud between these two.

My thumb fumbled with my lip as I watched them talk. They all seemed wary of me, but the petite one in particular looked visibly uncomfortable at having me there. The rest of the conversation was not at all interesting. Arguments about the temperature of the room, the condition of the bathrooms, and the need to do dishes. Ellie kept sneaking me glances, showing how annoyed she was at the whole thing.

When their meeting finally ended, Ellie's mood had significantly decreased. Clearly she disliked talking to these people. Her roommates dispersed to their respective rooms, each avoiding making eye contact with me.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked, turning to me.

I stood up, shoving one hand comfortably into my pocket while the other held the slippers she had given me. She opened the door, following closely behind as I walked out.

When we got outside Ellie stopped and leaned against the building. She huffed, "They are so infuriating to deal with! Did you see how they loved to play the blame game, always directed at me. Even when I had nothing to do with their issues, they somehow made it my fault. 'You didn't do enough dishes, Ellie.' 'You need to clean the bathrooms, Ellie.' 'There's food stuck in the burner, Ellie, it must be your fault.' Ugh! I can't wait to move out of here. Then I never have to talk to them again."

"Yes, they do seem to target you more often than the others," I muttered agreement. Fortunately for her, she wouldn't have to live there much longer. I made sure to buy a large building, she'd have her own floor high on a hill overlooking the entire town once everything was settled. Because of the sand we found in her closet I've concluded that it is no longer safe for her to remain in that room. It could very well be something far worse than sand next time.

She deflated. "Alright, I'll call a car or something. I think I saw a flyer about a taxi service, we can get to the restaurant that way."

"That won't be necessary." I started walking away towards the vehicle I had acquired while I had been out.

"Where are you going? We can't walk, it'd take nearly an hour," she remained rooted to her spot, typing away at her phone.

I didn't answer. She'd eventually follow me. Sure enough, she growled in annoyance, but followed nonetheless. "L, where are you going? The restaurant is that way." She pointed in the other direction, trying to get me to follow her.

Soon she'd had enough. "L Lawliet, you answer me right now, or so help me I'll… I'll… I'll glue shoes to your feet while you sleep!" She stomped on the ground childishly.

I stopped and turned around, taking in her small tantrum. She was glaring daggers at me. I merely looked at her. "Would you rather I drive, or you?"

Now she just looked confused. "What?"

"A house was not all I managed to get a hold of while I was out." With that I turned pulled a car key out of my pocket and pushed the remote button. Behind me a black 2017 ford mustang beeped, confirming its location.

Ellie's jaw dropped. "What… How?" was all she managed to get out.

I didn't feel the need to answer, so I just repeated my question, "Would you like to drive, or shall I?"

Her eyebrows raised, not even trying to mask how impressed she was. I don't see why she should be. It hadn't been particularly difficult to get my hands on.

"I can't drive a stick shift," she responded.

"Very well. In that case, I'll drive." I climbed into the driver's seat and turned on the car. The engine roared. Honestly, it was pointlessly loud.

Ellie May opened the passenger side and climbed in, her mouth still slightly open. "Okay, I don't normally swear," she said, "But damn, Lawliet. This is the sexiest car I've ever seen." For some reason, I was flattered by this.

"Hold on," she looked at me, "do you even have a license?"

"No."

She looked at me for a second, but eventually shrugged. "Fine, just don't get pulled over."

The likelihood of that was at a mere 7%. "Which way?" I asked.

"Pull out of the parking lot and take a left."

She directed me to a place called Ninja. Inside was a tank full of koi fish and there were various paintings scattering the walls. The lighting had a red-ish tint to it and the air smelled of sushi. A man at one of the tables was about to propose. I deduced this by his nervousness and the small square object hidden in his pocket. He was a very poor actor.

A worker led us to a table connected to a large metal slab. That is where the hibachi chef would cook our meal.

"Sir," a waitress walked up to me, clearly unhappy. "Sir would you please put shoes on? It's a house rule; no shirt, no shoes, no service."

Ellie looked at me pointedly as she handed over the pair of flip flops that I had forgotten in the car. I put them on my feet and sat in my chair like I normally do. This granted me no shortage of dirty looks from the hostess and surrounding guests. Ellie simply giggled, obviously amused at the whole scene.

Her laugh was pleasant. It almost distracted me from the problem at hand. How am I to get home? And more importantly, was it truly just a dream? It's that closet… The closet is the key. There must be something in there that could give us insight as to what was going on. There's no way my arriving in the same place as the sand is a coincidence.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I realized Ellie had been staring at me, smiling slightly.

"Yes? What is it?" I asked, a lock of hair falling in front of my eyes.

"Oh nothing," she replied, reaching up to brush it back into place, "It's just that it's been a while since I've gone on a proper date."

A date? I've never been on a date. Is this what a date was? I wasn't certain how to respond to this, so I merely stayed silent, watching her face in order to assess her behavior. She simply looked back at me, her dark eyes watching mine just as intently. Once again it hit me how very pretty she was. I almost didn't notice when she began to lean closer, and yet I felt compelled to do the same.

Our trance was broken when the hostess arrived to take our orders. Ellie ordered the most expensive item on the menu, and I got the same thing. Filet mignon and lobster tail, cooked right in front of us by a hibachi chef.

Throughout the entire meal my mind was uncharacteristically blank. This was not a situation I was familiar with. Each time I caught her looking at me my heart rate elevated, and my breathing shallowed. Something about the way she suppressed a laugh when I loudly slurped my tea made my lips turn up into a smile of their own accord.

I don't understand what's going on.