Hey there, Death Note fans!
Just a quick heads-up: Death Chess is a finished story. I wrapped it up a few years ago in Spanish, my native language. Now, since I'm revising it and putting out a definitive version in Spanish, I figured I'd translate it into English too.
Why am I telling you this? So you don't worry about starting an unfinished story. It's all done! The only thing that might happen is I could add some extra bits after the ending during the revision, but that's about it.
So, go ahead and dive in! I'm really proud of how the final version is shaping up, and I'd love to hear what you think. Enjoy the prologue and the first chapter! 😊
Prologue
There was a Japanese boy in a dungeon with metal walls. He was chained by feet and hands in the middle of the tiny cell, sitting on the floor with his back against a small bed with white sheets. He must have been around eighteen years old. He could have been any boy, with little or nothing to do with the mass murderer who had divided the opinion of the world for a few weeks. But Light Yagami was not just any boy, and his path as Kira had only just begun, as incredible as it might seem given the current circumstances.
"Light," the boy did not flinch upon hearing his name projected through the speakers. "It's only been a week, but you seem quite worn out... are you okay?"
Still with his head down, shoulders slumped in false submission, young Yagami felt a tickle at the corner of his mouth, the hint of a smile, but he controlled the impulse, aware of the cameras. He couldn't allow himself such sweet satisfaction, not yet. He just had to hold on a little longer. How naive, L , he thought, stoic, do you really think you have everything on your side? The boy's plan was simple, it would flow smoothly once set in motion, and it would end with the famous detective L's last breath, whose appearance few people knew, and whose identity Light himself was not aware of; unfortunately for him, as writing his name in the notebook would have saved him a lot of headaches.
But it was only a matter of time, he told himself, focusing on the positive. With his memories erased, suspicions about him would eventually disappear; but his intense sense of justice would compel him to continue assisting with the investigation. Sooner or later, detective L would discover the existence of the death note, and upon touching it, Light's memories of Kira would return.
The boy took a few more seconds to react when the detective called him again through the speakers. Deliberately, he lifted his head, his brown eyes as cold as ice when they pierced through the bars of the cell.
"Yes, it's not a situation where I can show too much fortitude," he took a small breath. "But this useless pride, I abandon it!"
It was like lightning. Ryuk, as the Shinigami who had accompanied the boy from the Beginning called himself, rose, his deformed and lanky joints creaking, his crimson eyes a true reflection of the deranged vibration in Kira's eyes. Ryuk said a mocking 'see you later' before disappearing through the reinforced wall. Soon all the pieces would fall back into place.
Light Yagami blinked a couple of times, slowly. Then he opened his eyes wide, shocked to realise where he was, and remembered that it was he who had requested to be locked up, fearing that Kira was controlling him while he slept. He couldn't fathom how such an absurd idea could have occurred to him.
"Ryuuzaki," he called the detective by his alias, staring at the camera installed in the right corner of the cell. "I know I was the one who proposed the confinement, I don't blame you for anything, but I just realised right now: this is completely useless! Because I'm not Kira, you have to let me go."
Elsewhere in the building, crouched in the chair from which he monitored Kira's cell and the second Kira's cell—Misa Amane, coincidentally the girlfriend of the first—Ryuuzaki stopped short at his prisoner's sudden change in attitude. He wasn't the only one surprised by the turn of events. All the other members of the task force, except Light's father who had decided to lock himself in another cell until his son was free of suspicion, were paralyzed.
"No, we said we wouldn't release you until we were sure whether you were Kira or not. Whatever happens and whatever you say," Ryuuzaki replied, rubbing his bare feet together. His black eyes narrowed with distrust. "What's with this change in attitude?"
"Hey, Ryuuzaki, you have to listen to me," the Japanese man insisted with evident desperation. "I assure you I'm not lying, I swear. I'm not Kira!"
Even as Matsuda, the youngest and most naive of the Japanese police officers Ryuuzaki had started working with for this case, asked him what the hell was going on, the detective's mind continued to work at full speed. It didn't make sense. First Misa Amane and then Light, both acting completely out of character. The detective wondered if it could be pure theater, but it didn't seem plausible, both had sounded genuine, more than ever.
Ryuuzaki frowned and bit his thumb in a mechanical gesture.
"But we can't release him now. The crimes have stopped since Light was arrested," Aizawa was saying, circumspect. "If they don't resume, we'll have to consider the case closed."
A sense of foreboding came over him. Aizawa was wrong, thought the detective, there was something fishy going on.
"Damn it!" Light Yagami lamented, looking noticeably more haggard than he did a few minutes ago. "Why me..?"
The anonymous detective was aware that something was slipping out of his hands, but the mystical power that came with using the Death Note was one that even he couldn't deduce so easily, not without more clues, not when it defied all known logic. Bewildered, Ryuuzaki could only think, " What's gotten into you... Light? "
