Death Note fic: Blueberry Pie and Dead Animals
Title: Blueberry Pie and Dead Animals
Fandom: Death Note
Word count: 1574
Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note
Warnings: Unexplained probably magical species change, off-screen murder
Prompt: Death Note, any shinigami, human for a day
The first thing Rem notices when she wakes up - which is strange, because she's never slept, never woken up before - is how different everything feels. She knows no word for this sensation prickling all over her skin, nor for the feeling underneath her skin. There is a rapid pounding in her ears, a neverending thundering beat.
She raises a hand, and then goes still and stares. This hand, her own hand, is soft and fleshy and small, and she can see veins just underneath death-pale skin. They are pale blue and raised and stark; they look like lines drawn to represent rivers on a map.
The pounding in her ears is faster and louder now, and she realises that it must be a heartbeat. Do humans hear this all the time? How do they live with this, this neverending thunderstorm?
She clutches her hands over her ears, and it only gets louder. She shudders and hunches in on herself. Her fingernails, which should be claws, cut through soft flesh, far more easily than they should.
A sharply drawn in breath, and somehow Rem hears it past the thunder in her ears. She looks up, and there is Misa, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Who are you?" Misa demands.
Rem just looks at her, looks into her eyes.
Misa draws in another sharp breath. "Rem?" she whispers. She looks uncertain and confused.
Rem nods.
Misa worries her bottom lip between her teeth. "You look... You never said you could change into a human."
"I can't," says Rem, and there is a tremor in her voice.
Her voice has never trembled before. She has always been steady and calm, or at least given the appearance of it.
She has never had to breathe, either, but now her throat aches as she draws in short, hitching gulps of air. Is breathing supposed to hurt? Do humans feel like this every time they do it?
Misa dashes forward, grips Rem's shoulders - new and soft, just like all of her - tight. "Calm down, Rem!" she says. "We'll figure this out, right?" She smiles that same smile she always uses before cameras no matter how she's really feeling. "It'll definitely be alright, so don't worry!"
You don't have to lie to me like you do to the humans, Rem doesn't say. I've seen you in the dark with Gelus the only other watching, she also doesn't say.
She feels calmer, just a little, and her breathing slows down, each breath longer now. It doesn't hurt anymore. Although she knows Misa - pretty little liar Misa - somehow her voice and words feel like reassurance.
"Let's go out," says Misa, and Rem realises that Misa hasn't stopped watching her, considering her, looking almost hungry.
"Why?" says Rem.
"It's what humans do when we're friends," says Misa. "And you're my best friend, aren't you? So let's go out."
Rem feels... something. It's... pleasant, she thinks.
Misa grips Rem's arm - tight... possessive? - and tugs her towards the door. Rem could probably pull free if she wanted, but she doesn't. She lets Misa lead her out of the quiet safety of the apartment, out to the busy streets, concrete and tar and swarming with humans.
Humans that can see Rem. Humans that can touch Rem.
She starts violently when the first human brushes up against her, but Misa seizes her wrist and pulls her close again. "It's alright, Rem," she hisses into Rem's ear, and Rem's skin tingles where Misa's breath ghosts over it. "It's just people."
Rem nods jerkily, shivering. Of course it's just people. She knows it's just people, but...
Misa leads her into an airy little café where the little tables are covered with lace that is cotton candy pink. There are lilies at the table Misa chooses, wilting at the edges as they struggle to survive for just a little longer in their little vase that is red like blood. Misa's lips quirk as she looks at them; a smile that is smaller and more genuine than her earlier camera-bright smile.
This smile is the one she wears when she thinks that something is beautiful, or romantic, or poetic, like full-bloom roses with thorns or lovers in a movie who can't bear life without one another.
And then she's looking intently at Rem again. "Order anything you want," she says. "And tell me if things taste different to a shinigami."
Rem orders blueberry pie. Misa smiles camera-bright. "Misa-Misa will have cherry pie with plenty of ice cream," she says, low and sweet. "But don't tell Misa's manager, OK?"
The waitress, young and shyly star-struck, blushes and giggles. "It's our secret," she promises, glances sidelong and curious at Rem, and then leaves to get the pie.
"Well?" Misa says later, her lips glistening red like she's a vampire in one of the movies she likes to watch. "Does it taste different?"
Rem's eyebrows furrow as she thinks. "It's... sweeter," she says, slowly. "But it does not taste like... life."
"Hmm," hums Misa, and licks the red slowly from her lips.
Rem doesn't look away for a second.
Next, they go to a park, all green and picture-pretty with flowerbeds creating bursts of bright colour here and there. Rem likes this far better than the streets, because there are less humans to more space, and she can avoid those casual, fleeting touches that none of them seem to think anything of.
They find a dead tanuki beneath a tree. It is part-decomposed and there are flies swarming between its bones. Something white wriggles in the red; a maggot.
It smells like... It smells different now, Rem thinks, to how it would have before she turned into a human. She thinks it might be... more unpleasant.
Misa wrinkles her nose and tugs Rem's arm to lead her away. "Yuck!" she exclaims. "That's disgusting."
"Everything dies," says Rem, and lets Misa pull her away.
"When I die," says Misa, "I want to leave a beautiful corpse."
There is an odd, twisting sensation in Rem's stomach. She doesn't know why.
Everything dies.
"Let's go to a theme park," says Misa. Rem thinks that there will surely be lots of humans at a theme park, all crowded together and noisy and making casual contact.
She looks at Misa's bright, expectant face and says, "Alright."
They get onto a bus right outside the park with the dead tanuki, Misa paying both their fares, and they sit at the back, side by side with Misa's hand resting on Rem's. It feels nice.
And then there is a bus-jacker, a squat man with a pistol and savage, something-addled eyes. Rem stares at him, eyes wide in her death-pale face, lips stained by blueberry pie, and thinks He could really kill me.
She has seen Misa's death date, the new one with all of Gelus' years attached, and the other new one that was sliced in two for a shinigami's death-seeing eyes. She knows that Misa will not die today. She smiles, and pointedly does not think about the implications of her feelings about sweet little Misa's life and death.
Rem stares at the space above the bus-jacker's head, and wonders what is his name and when will he die? She feels blind.
Useless.
Misa's fingers curl in hers. "Keep your head down," she whispers. "Don't make him notice you."
Rem lowers her head and grips Misa's hand tight in turn. She thinks; I might die...
But Misa will live.
She is afraid. She does not want to die. She has not stopped smiling.
"Good," says the bus-jacker. "That's good." And then the bus is stopping, and he's leaving without ever having noticed them.
"I don't want to go to the theme park anymore," says Misa, her pale pink lips twisted into an angry sneer, something heated burning in her eyes underneath bright blue contacts.
"Whatever you want," says Rem, and means it.
So they go back to Misa's apartment instead, and Rem lies on her side on Misa's bed, watching as Misa opens up a black notebook, and writes a name and a snuff story in sparkly pink ink.
And then Misa comes to lie alongside Rem on the bed, and they talk. They talk about the differences between humans and shinigami, what it really means to be one or the other, and Misa says that some humans just deserve to die and asks if it's the same for shinigami.
Rem shrugs with one shoulder. "We die if we break the rules," she says. "That's all."
Misa's eyes gleam with interest. "Rules? What rules?"
"Like writing in your Death Note," says Rem, and does not mention Gelus or the law he broke. Not yet.
They talk for a long time, and then they watch the sunset, what they can see of it, through the window.
They lie there together, and Rem feels warm and comfortable, and she must fall asleep at some point, because when she wakes up...
When she wakes up, she's a shinigami again. There is no heartbeat in her ears or heat dancing under and over her skin. Even though she has always existed like this except for one day, she seems to feel so little. Everything is muted.
Misa rubs her eyes, yawns and stretches, and checks her phone. She frowns. "That's strange," she says. "I'm sure it's the sixteenth, not the seventeenth."
The sixteenth was yesterday.
Rem says nothing and tries not to feel disappointed.
Fandom: Death Note
Word count: 1574
Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note
Warnings: Unexplained probably magical species change, off-screen murder
Prompt: Death Note, any shinigami, human for a day
The first thing Rem notices when she wakes up - which is strange, because she's never slept, never woken up before - is how different everything feels. She knows no word for this sensation prickling all over her skin, nor for the feeling underneath her skin. There is a rapid pounding in her ears, a neverending thundering beat.
She raises a hand, and then goes still and stares. This hand, her own hand, is soft and fleshy and small, and she can see veins just underneath death-pale skin. They are pale blue and raised and stark; they look like lines drawn to represent rivers on a map.
The pounding in her ears is faster and louder now, and she realises that it must be a heartbeat. Do humans hear this all the time? How do they live with this, this neverending thunderstorm?
She clutches her hands over her ears, and it only gets louder. She shudders and hunches in on herself. Her fingernails, which should be claws, cut through soft flesh, far more easily than they should.
A sharply drawn in breath, and somehow Rem hears it past the thunder in her ears. She looks up, and there is Misa, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Who are you?" Misa demands.
Rem just looks at her, looks into her eyes.
Misa draws in another sharp breath. "Rem?" she whispers. She looks uncertain and confused.
Rem nods.
Misa worries her bottom lip between her teeth. "You look... You never said you could change into a human."
"I can't," says Rem, and there is a tremor in her voice.
Her voice has never trembled before. She has always been steady and calm, or at least given the appearance of it.
She has never had to breathe, either, but now her throat aches as she draws in short, hitching gulps of air. Is breathing supposed to hurt? Do humans feel like this every time they do it?
Misa dashes forward, grips Rem's shoulders - new and soft, just like all of her - tight. "Calm down, Rem!" she says. "We'll figure this out, right?" She smiles that same smile she always uses before cameras no matter how she's really feeling. "It'll definitely be alright, so don't worry!"
You don't have to lie to me like you do to the humans, Rem doesn't say. I've seen you in the dark with Gelus the only other watching, she also doesn't say.
She feels calmer, just a little, and her breathing slows down, each breath longer now. It doesn't hurt anymore. Although she knows Misa - pretty little liar Misa - somehow her voice and words feel like reassurance.
"Let's go out," says Misa, and Rem realises that Misa hasn't stopped watching her, considering her, looking almost hungry.
"Why?" says Rem.
"It's what humans do when we're friends," says Misa. "And you're my best friend, aren't you? So let's go out."
Rem feels... something. It's... pleasant, she thinks.
Misa grips Rem's arm - tight... possessive? - and tugs her towards the door. Rem could probably pull free if she wanted, but she doesn't. She lets Misa lead her out of the quiet safety of the apartment, out to the busy streets, concrete and tar and swarming with humans.
Humans that can see Rem. Humans that can touch Rem.
She starts violently when the first human brushes up against her, but Misa seizes her wrist and pulls her close again. "It's alright, Rem," she hisses into Rem's ear, and Rem's skin tingles where Misa's breath ghosts over it. "It's just people."
Rem nods jerkily, shivering. Of course it's just people. She knows it's just people, but...
Misa leads her into an airy little café where the little tables are covered with lace that is cotton candy pink. There are lilies at the table Misa chooses, wilting at the edges as they struggle to survive for just a little longer in their little vase that is red like blood. Misa's lips quirk as she looks at them; a smile that is smaller and more genuine than her earlier camera-bright smile.
This smile is the one she wears when she thinks that something is beautiful, or romantic, or poetic, like full-bloom roses with thorns or lovers in a movie who can't bear life without one another.
And then she's looking intently at Rem again. "Order anything you want," she says. "And tell me if things taste different to a shinigami."
Rem orders blueberry pie. Misa smiles camera-bright. "Misa-Misa will have cherry pie with plenty of ice cream," she says, low and sweet. "But don't tell Misa's manager, OK?"
The waitress, young and shyly star-struck, blushes and giggles. "It's our secret," she promises, glances sidelong and curious at Rem, and then leaves to get the pie.
"Well?" Misa says later, her lips glistening red like she's a vampire in one of the movies she likes to watch. "Does it taste different?"
Rem's eyebrows furrow as she thinks. "It's... sweeter," she says, slowly. "But it does not taste like... life."
"Hmm," hums Misa, and licks the red slowly from her lips.
Rem doesn't look away for a second.
Next, they go to a park, all green and picture-pretty with flowerbeds creating bursts of bright colour here and there. Rem likes this far better than the streets, because there are less humans to more space, and she can avoid those casual, fleeting touches that none of them seem to think anything of.
They find a dead tanuki beneath a tree. It is part-decomposed and there are flies swarming between its bones. Something white wriggles in the red; a maggot.
It smells like... It smells different now, Rem thinks, to how it would have before she turned into a human. She thinks it might be... more unpleasant.
Misa wrinkles her nose and tugs Rem's arm to lead her away. "Yuck!" she exclaims. "That's disgusting."
"Everything dies," says Rem, and lets Misa pull her away.
"When I die," says Misa, "I want to leave a beautiful corpse."
There is an odd, twisting sensation in Rem's stomach. She doesn't know why.
Everything dies.
"Let's go to a theme park," says Misa. Rem thinks that there will surely be lots of humans at a theme park, all crowded together and noisy and making casual contact.
She looks at Misa's bright, expectant face and says, "Alright."
They get onto a bus right outside the park with the dead tanuki, Misa paying both their fares, and they sit at the back, side by side with Misa's hand resting on Rem's. It feels nice.
And then there is a bus-jacker, a squat man with a pistol and savage, something-addled eyes. Rem stares at him, eyes wide in her death-pale face, lips stained by blueberry pie, and thinks He could really kill me.
She has seen Misa's death date, the new one with all of Gelus' years attached, and the other new one that was sliced in two for a shinigami's death-seeing eyes. She knows that Misa will not die today. She smiles, and pointedly does not think about the implications of her feelings about sweet little Misa's life and death.
Rem stares at the space above the bus-jacker's head, and wonders what is his name and when will he die? She feels blind.
Useless.
Misa's fingers curl in hers. "Keep your head down," she whispers. "Don't make him notice you."
Rem lowers her head and grips Misa's hand tight in turn. She thinks; I might die...
But Misa will live.
She is afraid. She does not want to die. She has not stopped smiling.
"Good," says the bus-jacker. "That's good." And then the bus is stopping, and he's leaving without ever having noticed them.
"I don't want to go to the theme park anymore," says Misa, her pale pink lips twisted into an angry sneer, something heated burning in her eyes underneath bright blue contacts.
"Whatever you want," says Rem, and means it.
So they go back to Misa's apartment instead, and Rem lies on her side on Misa's bed, watching as Misa opens up a black notebook, and writes a name and a snuff story in sparkly pink ink.
And then Misa comes to lie alongside Rem on the bed, and they talk. They talk about the differences between humans and shinigami, what it really means to be one or the other, and Misa says that some humans just deserve to die and asks if it's the same for shinigami.
Rem shrugs with one shoulder. "We die if we break the rules," she says. "That's all."
Misa's eyes gleam with interest. "Rules? What rules?"
"Like writing in your Death Note," says Rem, and does not mention Gelus or the law he broke. Not yet.
They talk for a long time, and then they watch the sunset, what they can see of it, through the window.
They lie there together, and Rem feels warm and comfortable, and she must fall asleep at some point, because when she wakes up...
When she wakes up, she's a shinigami again. There is no heartbeat in her ears or heat dancing under and over her skin. Even though she has always existed like this except for one day, she seems to feel so little. Everything is muted.
Misa rubs her eyes, yawns and stretches, and checks her phone. She frowns. "That's strange," she says. "I'm sure it's the sixteenth, not the seventeenth."
The sixteenth was yesterday.
Rem says nothing and tries not to feel disappointed.