Den Mother Prologue: Three Heads of Cerberus
A/N: This is a Death Note Light x L fanfic. I don't own Death Note.
***
Pain.
It was all his considerable intellect was capable of processing at the moment as he was ripped forcefully from the merciful dark void of unconsciousness back into the harsh light of reality. All other sensations were overloaded with white-hot agony. He hadn't exactly had an easy life but he had never been in this much pain. If not for his training he would no doubt be screaming his lungs out. He was tempted to do it anyway.
Everything hurt but his right leg hurt so much it didn't bare thinking about. His right leg; where that thing had bitten him when he turned to kick it in the face. Thing…? What was that thing that had pursued him? A dog?
No, not just a dog. A wolf? Or was it a man? He couldn't do it. He couldn't process the information-he could just forget about calculating percentages-there was a 100% chance he was in too much pain. But L knew what that thing had wanted to be-his Death. It had certainly looked the part as the dark, red-eyed thing bore down on him with open, slavering jaws. But then, L remembered, something had stopped it. Again in his current state he couldn't piece together the details. All he remembered was seeing a large brown blur before blacking out…
L was about to let himself black out again when he heard a very familiar voice.
"Ryuk, get your ass down here! NOW!"
The man was answered by an evil cackle from somewhere above them."Right now?"
"Dammit, Ryuk! I'm not in the mood to deal with any of your shit! You'd better be on two legs and decent this time!"
"Li-Light-kun?" L tried to ask but was interrupted by his own pained whimper.
The pain had yet to subside but the detective did feel some relief now that he had an inkling of what the situation was.
Light. He was being carried by Light, bridal style, across the threshold of… wherever they were-bachelor pad meets hunting lodge from the looks of it, save for the fact that it was immaculately tidy. Light was carrying him as if he weighed nothing. L always suspected Light was stronger than he looked after all those times he easily trounced him at tennis (and thus had superhuman powers and therefore was Kira…)
"Hang in there, Ryuuzaki." Light whispered, accidentally bumping his forehead into his.
L startled when a huge man suddenly leapt down from the second story and landed gracefully on his feet right in front of them. L clung to Light's shirtfront for comfort without conscious thought. Stupid subconscious-it obviously thought that since Light was familiar he was therefore safe. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! If he wasn't hurting so bad he would consider smashing his addled brains against the nearest wall.
But then compared to the newcomer Light just seemed safer. The stranger radiated menace without even trying and the way he moved was kind of off-like he didn't quite know how to be human. He was strange, even for L who knew all about quirks. He was probably a foreigner, though even if he had been able to think deeper thoughts at the moment L wouldn't have been able to hazard a guess as to the man's origins-he had pale skin, spiky black hair and large golden eyes-and his fashion sense kind of reminded L of his Second-In-Line, what with the way he took to wrapping his body in cowhide, like it was a second skin-he looked like a really gay biker. Though L doubted even Mello would go that far-in addition to the tight leather, the newcomer wore a spiked leather jacket, and chains, along with jewelry and makeup and a rather dopey-looking grin his face-no doubt a guy that size could get away with walking around like that all the time and not get shit for it-or maybe most of the time-his many visible scars, it looked like at some point someone stuck a knife in his mouth and purposely widened his grin and his permanently broken nose suggested he'd been in a lot of fights.
"Ooh, Light-o! Did you bring lunch?"
"He's not for eating!" Light said; his voice laden with obvious disapproval, "Get the first aid kit!"
"Oh! Oh! I get it! He's not for eating, he's for eating," the big man snickered, his clownish grin widened as he gave the newcomer a suggestive wink.
"Now!" Light roared. L watched in shock as the big guy moved to do as Light asked.
Then a door slammed open somewhere and suddenly a rather bedraggled-looking man in a tattered black trench coat was falling to his knees before them. Oddly enough L registered that he smelled like a wet dog.
"God!" The man cried, his long black hair falling in his face.
Light ignored him and brushed passed him.
"God! I-"
"Mikami! How dare you show your face here after what you've done?" Light hissed as he knocked whatever was on the nearest surface-the office table-off it with an angry swipe of his arm and set L down on it as gently as he could so he could deal with his mutinous underling. L tried not to think of his foot as he instinctively curled in on himself in a fetal position and tried (in vane) to ignore the pain by watching the scene unfold. However L soon discovered that their shouting match just gave him a headache bonus on top of all his other pains.
"B-but, God, please, I don't understand! Isn't he causing problems for us?! Bullying you with his so-called 'investigation?' I only wanted to protect you…" Mikami began but hastily corrected himself when his God gave him a warning glare. "…I mean I only wanted to protect the pack!"
Light's face became unreadable as his caramel locks dripped down into his eyes. "You… you did this after I explicitly told you not to? Mikami, you are an IDIOT!"
L watched in surprise and apprehension. Light had one hell of a poker face so he'd never had the dubious privilege of seeing Light get so angry before.
"You say you did this to protect the pack? Do you find my protection so lacking that you would take matters into your own hands?"
"No my lord!"
"Are you challenging me, Mikami?"
"Of course not! I would never…"
"Then why would you go against my orders? Have I ever failed us?"
"No! I'm sorry!"
Light sighed. "And another thing-did you even think about how rude you were being by trying to kill what I’ve claimed as mine?"
"I'm so sorry!"
Light snarled at the long-haired man. Mikami sunk further to the floor; whimpering and kowtowing in contrition.
"If you EVER go against my orders again I will rip your throat out. Do you understand?"
"Yes, God. I'm so sorry I failed you! Please, I promise! It won't happen again!" Mikami cried in utter despair.
"Get out of my sight!" Light finally dismissed him with a growl of disgust.
Mikami couldn't get away fast enough.
Light immediately turned his attention back to L. Despite the detective's best efforts, his stoical façade was beginning to crack and whimpering cries began to bleed through-the pain was excruciating and it was made worse by how it felt like his foot wound was itching now as well as firing signals of pain into his brain. It felt like his foot was on fire. With too much effort L lifted his head up to make sure it wasn't.
L couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. What was going on here? He was… he was healing?!
"Never mind, Ryuk. You can forget about that first aid kit. He's been infected."
"Li-Light?" L spoke again, and immediately hated how weak and confused his voice sounded to his own ears.
Light tenderly brushed L's sweat-drenched bangs out of his eyes. "I'm sorry Ryuuzaki, but looks like you're in for a rather rough night."
Next
***
Pain.
It was all his considerable intellect was capable of processing at the moment as he was ripped forcefully from the merciful dark void of unconsciousness back into the harsh light of reality. All other sensations were overloaded with white-hot agony. He hadn't exactly had an easy life but he had never been in this much pain. If not for his training he would no doubt be screaming his lungs out. He was tempted to do it anyway.
Everything hurt but his right leg hurt so much it didn't bare thinking about. His right leg; where that thing had bitten him when he turned to kick it in the face. Thing…? What was that thing that had pursued him? A dog?
No, not just a dog. A wolf? Or was it a man? He couldn't do it. He couldn't process the information-he could just forget about calculating percentages-there was a 100% chance he was in too much pain. But L knew what that thing had wanted to be-his Death. It had certainly looked the part as the dark, red-eyed thing bore down on him with open, slavering jaws. But then, L remembered, something had stopped it. Again in his current state he couldn't piece together the details. All he remembered was seeing a large brown blur before blacking out…
L was about to let himself black out again when he heard a very familiar voice.
"Ryuk, get your ass down here! NOW!"
The man was answered by an evil cackle from somewhere above them."Right now?"
"Dammit, Ryuk! I'm not in the mood to deal with any of your shit! You'd better be on two legs and decent this time!"
"Li-Light-kun?" L tried to ask but was interrupted by his own pained whimper.
The pain had yet to subside but the detective did feel some relief now that he had an inkling of what the situation was.
Light. He was being carried by Light, bridal style, across the threshold of… wherever they were-bachelor pad meets hunting lodge from the looks of it, save for the fact that it was immaculately tidy. Light was carrying him as if he weighed nothing. L always suspected Light was stronger than he looked after all those times he easily trounced him at tennis (and thus had superhuman powers and therefore was Kira…)
"Hang in there, Ryuuzaki." Light whispered, accidentally bumping his forehead into his.
L startled when a huge man suddenly leapt down from the second story and landed gracefully on his feet right in front of them. L clung to Light's shirtfront for comfort without conscious thought. Stupid subconscious-it obviously thought that since Light was familiar he was therefore safe. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! If he wasn't hurting so bad he would consider smashing his addled brains against the nearest wall.
But then compared to the newcomer Light just seemed safer. The stranger radiated menace without even trying and the way he moved was kind of off-like he didn't quite know how to be human. He was strange, even for L who knew all about quirks. He was probably a foreigner, though even if he had been able to think deeper thoughts at the moment L wouldn't have been able to hazard a guess as to the man's origins-he had pale skin, spiky black hair and large golden eyes-and his fashion sense kind of reminded L of his Second-In-Line, what with the way he took to wrapping his body in cowhide, like it was a second skin-he looked like a really gay biker. Though L doubted even Mello would go that far-in addition to the tight leather, the newcomer wore a spiked leather jacket, and chains, along with jewelry and makeup and a rather dopey-looking grin his face-no doubt a guy that size could get away with walking around like that all the time and not get shit for it-or maybe most of the time-his many visible scars, it looked like at some point someone stuck a knife in his mouth and purposely widened his grin and his permanently broken nose suggested he'd been in a lot of fights.
"Ooh, Light-o! Did you bring lunch?"
"He's not for eating!" Light said; his voice laden with obvious disapproval, "Get the first aid kit!"
"Oh! Oh! I get it! He's not for eating, he's for eating," the big man snickered, his clownish grin widened as he gave the newcomer a suggestive wink.
"Now!" Light roared. L watched in shock as the big guy moved to do as Light asked.
Then a door slammed open somewhere and suddenly a rather bedraggled-looking man in a tattered black trench coat was falling to his knees before them. Oddly enough L registered that he smelled like a wet dog.
"God!" The man cried, his long black hair falling in his face.
Light ignored him and brushed passed him.
"God! I-"
"Mikami! How dare you show your face here after what you've done?" Light hissed as he knocked whatever was on the nearest surface-the office table-off it with an angry swipe of his arm and set L down on it as gently as he could so he could deal with his mutinous underling. L tried not to think of his foot as he instinctively curled in on himself in a fetal position and tried (in vane) to ignore the pain by watching the scene unfold. However L soon discovered that their shouting match just gave him a headache bonus on top of all his other pains.
"B-but, God, please, I don't understand! Isn't he causing problems for us?! Bullying you with his so-called 'investigation?' I only wanted to protect you…" Mikami began but hastily corrected himself when his God gave him a warning glare. "…I mean I only wanted to protect the pack!"
Light's face became unreadable as his caramel locks dripped down into his eyes. "You… you did this after I explicitly told you not to? Mikami, you are an IDIOT!"
L watched in surprise and apprehension. Light had one hell of a poker face so he'd never had the dubious privilege of seeing Light get so angry before.
"You say you did this to protect the pack? Do you find my protection so lacking that you would take matters into your own hands?"
"No my lord!"
"Are you challenging me, Mikami?"
"Of course not! I would never…"
"Then why would you go against my orders? Have I ever failed us?"
"No! I'm sorry!"
Light sighed. "And another thing-did you even think about how rude you were being by trying to kill what I’ve claimed as mine?"
"I'm so sorry!"
Light snarled at the long-haired man. Mikami sunk further to the floor; whimpering and kowtowing in contrition.
"If you EVER go against my orders again I will rip your throat out. Do you understand?"
"Yes, God. I'm so sorry I failed you! Please, I promise! It won't happen again!" Mikami cried in utter despair.
"Get out of my sight!" Light finally dismissed him with a growl of disgust.
Mikami couldn't get away fast enough.
Light immediately turned his attention back to L. Despite the detective's best efforts, his stoical façade was beginning to crack and whimpering cries began to bleed through-the pain was excruciating and it was made worse by how it felt like his foot wound was itching now as well as firing signals of pain into his brain. It felt like his foot was on fire. With too much effort L lifted his head up to make sure it wasn't.
L couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. What was going on here? He was… he was healing?!
"Never mind, Ryuk. You can forget about that first aid kit. He's been infected."
"Li-Light?" L spoke again, and immediately hated how weak and confused his voice sounded to his own ears.
Light tenderly brushed L's sweat-drenched bangs out of his eyes. "I'm sorry Ryuuzaki, but looks like you're in for a rather rough night."
Next