[FFML] [Death Note/?] Things Left Unwritten

[Gary Ee]

>The blazing eyes of triumph were the last thing L saw.

>Deep down inside, in the pit of his soul, he had known Light was Kira
>from the first time they met. But L had ignored his instincts, insisting
>on hard evidence before doing anything. Why? Justice? Egotism?

If you believe the yaoi fangirls, something much, MUCH worse.....

>Confirmation that he was not just another version of Kira by following
>the letter of the law and having a trial before executing the mass
>murderer penmen? Or was it more basic, L just wanting to prove he was
>smarter than Light, perhaps the most brilliant mind he had ever met?
>Whatever it was that had held L back had cost him not just his life, but
>Watari’s as well. That might have hurt him more than anything, though
>the heart attack was a close second. There was nothing peaceful about
>your heart stopping and dying as your vision slowly went black from a
>lack of oxygen. A bullet to the head would have been far better.

Good thing he never met Dokuro-chan. Or Tanaka Punie for that matter.

>L had never considered the cost of failure, so certain of his eventual
>success. Now with him out of the way many others would die at Light

Apparently Lawliet had never heard the immortal words "THIS is the price of
failure!"

>Yagami’s hands. In his ignorance L had remained blind to the fact his
>failure would leave the populous to suffer at Light’s hands.

Personally I would insert "wilful" after ignorance just to play up just how
bitter L is over this.

>Suffering the exact same thing he was.

>L felt his brain shut down and life leave his body.

>And…

>Then…

>There…

>Was…

>Light.

"Yes L. I have truly become a GOD!"

"My afterlife is so going to SUCK."


>Coming from a one hundred watt bulb in the ceiling of what appeared to
>be a standard Japanese apartment.

>This was not what L had expected death to be like.

Granted L had hoped for the perky Goth version of Death or the version that
really liked cats. Like all reasonable men, he probably had covered all of
his bases as far as Descartes' argument went but few people expect death to
be, well, mundane.

>Reflexively L’s observation skills kicked in. Yes, it was definitely
>Japan: Tokyo Tower was visible from the window. He wasn’t the only

How would L know at a glance that it wasn't say, the Effiel Tower, or a
reasonable fascimile of either of the two?

>occupant in the room either. A number of men of various ages and walks
>of life were also present, all Japanese if their facial features could
>be believed. An older man in a hospital gown. A younger man with an
>agitated look. A man in his thirties with glasses. Two other older
>males, that reeked of Yakuza, sitting against a wall. A high school age

Then L slowly, bitterly began to laugh.

As the others in the room edged away from him, the detective erupted into
full-blown gales of laughter.

He always thought it was a trite phrase but apparently it was true.

Hell was spending eternity locked in the room with the same bunch of people.

>boy along the back wall. And to round things out, a dog that L could
>just sense would be annoying.

After all how often do you see a dog with a pretty young lady playing
translator? Especially if its first greeting was "please don't eat me! I've
already been the emergency food ration once!"?


>Oh yes, and there was a large black orb resting in the center of the
>room. That was certainly out of place. No markings on the surface gave
>any indication of its purpose. That was the real anomaly in this room.

Like any good detective, L knew that the last thing he wanted to do was to
touch or manipulate the device in any way. The first thing he wanted to do
was to get someone else to do it.

>More information was needed. Perhaps the occupants had some idea of what
>was happening. A cursory examination made L doubt it. All had the
>posture and looks of the confused and bewildered, especially the one
>with the glasses. Oh, they tried to hide it, and were dealing with it
>exceptionally well if they were drawn here in a fashion similar to L.
>That too was odd. But in any case, they seemed to have the same
>emotional state.

>Wait. The high school student in back. He was different. His was not a
>look of confusion. On the contrary: it was curiosity and amusement. A
>closer examination for anything unusual revealed something odd sticking
>just above the neck of his shirt. Something black and tight. The way he

You know, I actually had a hard time visualizing what that sentence meant.
Perhaps a little clarification? My mind just keeps throwing up the image of
a choker of some sort or an undershirt.

>held himself was confident. Yes, the ‘Key’ to this situation might very
>well be with that one, and L mentally designated him as such.

>“Great, another one.” That was younger man with the agitated look. “You
>don’t happen to have a cigarette on you?”

>“No.” ‘Smokes’ phrase of ‘another one’ was further confirmation that
>this group was not organized. The likelihood this was centered on L
>became more unlikely. Were these all victims of Light? The Yakuza,
>perhaps, but the others? None of them were familiar, and L had gone over
>every confirmed Kira kill he could find. Any high school age victims

More importantly, Wataru was not among them. Something that L probably had
bittersweet emotions about.

>would have stood out in L’s mind, and he was certain the Key was not one
>of them. Older men were few and farther between as well. Although once L
>thought about it, the old man in the smock was familiar, but not in
>connection to Light. It was in a newspaper. He was a politician that had
>been hospitalized because of some sort of disease. A terminal one.

>Now L noticed the enforcer half of the Yakuza fingering a hole in his
>shirt. The motion had the airs of was curiosity rather than nervous

I would insert "what" before "the motion".

>habit. It really was a large hole; inappropriate considering the shirt
>was in good shape in every other way.


>Ideas were just starting to coalesce when what appeared to be a laser
>beam shot out of the black orb just above the wooden floor. It stopped
>in mid-air for no apparent reason, and began going back and forth at an

Which would have been in defiance of all physical laws that L knew about
since light beams just don't halt in mid air without meeting something. Then
again he had a fairly strong conviction that he was dead so who was he to
argue?

>incredible rate, rising up as it did. Where the beam had been, it left
>behind something that appeared solid. More of the… residue appeared
>until it revealed it was a person. L could tell, since he could see
>inside the person. Flesh, muscle, even bone. It was like it was creating
>a human from nothing from the ground up, including clothing.

>Keeping one eye on the ever rising beam, L saw the others lacked the
>shock that would have been appropriate if it had been the first time
>they saw it, though confusion still reigned over them. All accept the
>Key. Oh yes, he knew something. It was probable they had all entered the
>room in the same manner. The Yakuza were the most relaxed. Perhaps they
>had been the first to arrive.

Not unusual given the lives of the Yakuza....


>L watched as the ‘laser’ completed its task of creating the human and
>started again from the bottom up next to the being it had left behind.
>As the beam finished the completed figure moved abruptly, as though he
>had been left on ‘pause’ and then someone hit the button to pick him up
>where he had left off. Another high school male: large, black hair,
>school uniform. Not Light’s old high school, so no easy connection
>there. The youth appeared normal in every way. Only his impossible
>arrival marked him as abnormal.

>There was also no open relation to the Key. The newcomer was the most

I would use the word "apparent" rather than "open".

>confused of the lot. L had enough information to test a hypothesis while
>the newcomer was disoriented and couldn’t come up with a lie.


>“How did you die?” L asked.

"I was standing next to this pigtailed boy. He called this short-haired girl
approaching him 'uncute'. She pulled a mallet out of nowhere and swung. He
ducked. I didn't."

>“What?” The youth was still bewildered, trying to process too many
>things at once. No, definitely no inside information here.

>L prodded him. “What was the last thing that happened to you before you
>found yourself here?”

"A bright, white light."

In eerie unision the rest of the people in the room nodded.


>“The train. Kei and I were trying to outrun… what the hell is that?” he
>asked, in reference the beam that was creating a second person.

>A pity the laser had distracted him. Still, L had more information.
>‘Trying to outrun a train’ rarely met with success. Sudden death, no doubt.

L also marked the young man under the category of people he had to be nice
to. He may be many things but unkind to the obviously mentally handicapped
is not one of them.


>Was L dead? A hard curl of his fist revealed pain. His body felt like it
>had before. No. It felt better; a throbbing in his ankle that had
>bothered him was gone. The orb’s light was creating, no, recreating
>people somehow. Such technology was impossible. Then again, until a
>couple of months ago shinigami were thought to be ‘impossible’ as well.

A tiny voice in his head started to quote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. L mentally
beat it with a savagery that would astonish anyone who knew him. After half
of his clients expected him to wear a deer-stalker cap, it got really old.


>The latest arrival was a high school male identified as ‘Kei’ by his
>larger friend. A pair, just like the Yakuza. People snatched from the
>moment before death, or maybe a moment after, all put in the same room
>with a black orb. And the quiet youth in the back, trying to make
>himself unnoticed, knew something about it. L decided it was best to
>play dumb until more information could be gathered.

>The light was making another person, this one unclothed and female. She
>was much more… bouncy than Misa, L noted. There was some blood on both
>wrists. Suicide? Probably, though there were no wounds now.

Why did this girl appear with blood on her wrists but the Yakuza with a
presumed gunshot wound appear with just the hole in his clothing? L decided
to look for an exit hole later lest the inconsistencies in how this device
operated drove him to distraction.


>The girl all but collapsed in the arms of the person nearest to her:
>Kei. L noticed that once the initial surprise from her gender, state of
>dress, and figure became evident, there was a look of lust in all of the
>guys’ faces, especially the Yakuza thug. That could cause problems. As
>long as the thug wasn’t armed, L could take him. No, being armed
>wouldn’t matter. Looking deeply into the thug’s eyes, L determined he
>lacked any true intelligence. He wouldn’t think someone with L’s…
>unthreatening appearance a danger until it was far too late.

My dear girl, welcome to a life ruled by the Law of Narrative Casuality.
When the Hero appears before a new group of individuals, he must have the
chance to prove himself suitably heroic. Save the damsel, drive off the
bandits, humiliate the Sheriff of Nottingham. You're just lucky this isn't
an anime like La Blue Girl.


>L offered his shirt to ‘Suicide Girl’, hoping it would head off the
>potential mess. No, even as the others talked with the girl, trying to
>make sense of things, the thug rose up to his feet with only one thing
>on his mind. L knew talking would be useless, so the moment the thug got
>into range, L gave him a hard kick into the crotch, one that would have
>the man pissing blood for days.

L knew that many professional legbreakers wore cups lest they spend their
lives speaking two octaves higher. It mattered little. He wore steel toecaps
and all that squatting had give him *excellent* thigh muscles.


>“Now you don’t have any urges to give in to,” L said.

Except murder. Of L. That was apparently okay since L expected everyone to
try at least once. Came from his upbringing.


>The others stared at L in surprise, even the youth in the back. Caution
>had replaced lust on the faces of the men. That was for the best.

Considering that most of them had a near death experience just presumably a
short while before....


>Further discussion ended as the ball began blaring morning work out
>music. In poorly written Japanese it declared their lives were its to do
>with as it pleased. That was not reassuring. It proceeded to tell them

Whoever had the insane levels of technology to design and build this machine
apparently had no idea how to choose suitably dramatic or sinister music.

On some level L felt comforted by that.

>they needed to kill something called a green onion alien, complete with
>an accompanying picture. A joke? A test of their reactions? The
>technology involved was beyond that of anything known by humans, so
>perhaps not. And L found the idea of aliens far more realistic than
>shinigami.

Aliens shaped like green onions however did strain his mental processes just
a tiny bit.


>The sides of the orb popped out, revealing racks filled with several
>different types of futuristic-looking weapons. L stepped close and saw a
>man inside the orb, curled into a fetal position. He remained there,
>unmoving, naked, totally hairless and with some sort of breathing
>apparatus over his face. L didn’t have the faintest idea what that was
>about, and had a feeling now was not the time to delve into it.

Hmmm............. Gantz?

>In addition to the weapons there was a rack filled with metal suitcases,
>one bearing his real name on it. How had they discovered that? Were the

Welcome to Battle Royale III. Could hardly be worse than the last one
without inviting Uwe Boll. Oh SHI-

>shinigami involved? No, this was too high tech for them. Some other

Considering that they have notebooks that can kill people, I really wouldn't
discount them having all sorts of fancy things.

>agency that operated on some level beyond easy understanding, then.

You know, I always did hold that all of them do.


>L took the case and opened it. Inside was a jet black body suit with
>studs of some kind along the border. An idea dawned. He looked closely
>at the neck of the outfit. Ah, so that was what had been sticking out
>the Key’s shirt. That confirmed he wasn’t new to this situation. Was he
>some sort of control for an experiment, or a previous, well, ‘hunter’
>seemed to be their new role, if the information on this orb was correct?
>Probably the latter, since Key seemed excited and eager, but was trying

"the Key"

Either that or the girl who wanted to make 10,000 friends and blessed
Facebook every day of her life.

>to hide it. Not in charge then, but he knew more about the situation
>than anyone else, and was keeping it to himself.


>L decided to play along and grabbed one of each type of ‘weapon’.

Why 'weapon'? L had earlier identified all of them as some sort of weapon
after all which would mean that they were at least familiar to him.

>Getting into the suit was going to be a challenge. It looked skin tight,
>and even he didn’t think he was much of a fashion plate. “I recommend we
>all do what the orb says and grab these weapons as well as put on these
>suits,” L informed the others.

Inwardly L wondered at their design. They seemed made of cheap plastic but
had surprising heft. Most intriguing were the names on the side. Raising
Heart Excelion? Bardiche Assualt? Laevantine? Did someone run around with an
electronic dictionary to name weapons?


>“Why? They look stupid,” Smokes asked.

<BOOM!>

"You were saying?"

"Gimme!"

Murphy's Sixth Law of Combat: If it looks stupid but it works, its not
stupid.


>L doubted the attitude was coming from nicotine withdrawal. He’d take
>the personality into consideration. “Do you think someone would bring

Hmm, perhaps remove "the" before "personality"?

>you back from the dead just to make you look stupid?”

"Depends if we're in the grips of an evil, sadistic power who just wants to
see us dance."

"......"

"Point taken."


>Everyone looked at one another in indecision, even the thug, who was
>just rising to his feet, tears in his eyes. The Key broke the silent

Add "When" before "the Key"?

>deadlock by grabbing weapons, the others following suit. That settled
>it. L had been made de facto leader to all but the previous participant,
>and he was sure that would change in time.

>The Key was no Light Yagami.

>Once in charge, L would divine the mystery behind the mysterious ball,

Hmm, not so sure but in context did you mean the Key had become the de facto
leader?

>and even the aliens (should they exist) in time. But there was one other
>matter to take care of once this hunt was over. One case that needed
>wrapping up.

Where in the world could he get lots of sugar around here? He was getting
irritable from withdrawal and L's trigger finger felt twitchy.

>Light Yagami was about to have the worst day of his life, and nothing
>could stop it. After all, you couldn’t kill someone twice, even with a
>Death Note.

Although apparently you could kick them in the twigs and berries and have it
*hurt*.

>Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

>[Writer’s notes: Just an interesting postulation. And you just know L
>would actually be able to do what no one, including the creators, have
>been able to accomplish so far in figuring out the mystery behind Gantz.

>Gantz is indeed the manga that was crossed over with Death Note.

Yay I called it right!


Overall quite an intriguing fic as it plays with placing an old character in
a new premise. I did expect L's thought processes to contain more intuitive
leaps though.

Regards,
Gary