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Another fandom. Just what I need. Too bad Deathnote has eaten my soul. I've got about five or six fics for this series in the wings; this is just the one that happened to get finished first. By way of warning I should mention that it contains a spoiler or two for events occurring after those in the latest tankoubon, so tread carefully.
Deathnote fic.
Goodnight
by Trismegistus
L curls into a fetal position when he's asleep, sucking contentedly on the thumb he's forever biting during the day.
As if he were nursing, thinks Light, who's disgusted by any sign of weakness, even if it's displayed during sleep while its owner isn't aware of it.
He should do it now, before L wakes. (He doesn't allow himself to use L's real name, even in his thoughts, because there's a chance he might become too comfortable with it and use it aloud to L's face. He is certain of his ability to deal with such a situation in the event that it arises, but all things being equal, he'd rather it occur on his terms.) He's come so far, and every second spent without acting is a second in which L might find the evidence that connects Light to Kira.
But...to end the game now... Light has never faced an opponent like L, never been so equally matched in terms of intelligence, determination, mental resources. A life without such an opponent seems unbearably dull, by comparison. He needs L, needs the challenge and uncertainty L presents.
Even now, Light is terribly pleased with himself. It was a dangerous gamble - forfeiting the Note, assuming he was intelligent enough to follow the clues about Kira's identity back to himself and regain the Note again. But that's exactly what he did, his own certainty of his innocence while the Note was lost earning him L's admiration of his talents and the grudging admission that he probably wasn't Kira, in the bargain.
And along with that had come L's trust, and the recognition that Light was perhaps the most intelligent person he'd ever met, aside from himself. Light basks in this attention, in the knowledge that he's outmaneuvered L so elegantly.
He wonders if it's the closest he'll ever come to being in love. He wonders if he will ever love anything in his life. He wonders if that matters, and decides that it doesn't. He's going to save the world from itself; what is the ability to love a single human being compared to that?
He should just do it now. To not do it is a sign of weakness, and he detests weakness. To not do it endangers his life, and with it the very future of the world.
He rises, careful not to disturb L, and lovingly retrieves the Note from its hiding place. He sits down, opens it to a blank page, and takes a pen in his hand. Light has always believed in doing things properly, so he writes the name carefully, stroke by stroke, with an attention to detail that would make any calligraphy master weep for joy.
And then, under L's name, his real name, he writes: Insanity, followed by suicide, contingent upon discovering that Light is the original Kira.
He shuts the note and carefully returns it to its hiding place, and the satisfaction of another skillfully executed entry keeps him warm until he's back in bed.
Light does not want to live a life without L. Light cannot allow L to discover who he really is. And Light does not see why he can't have it both ways.
これで以上です。
Deathnote fic.
Goodnight
by Trismegistus
L curls into a fetal position when he's asleep, sucking contentedly on the thumb he's forever biting during the day.
As if he were nursing, thinks Light, who's disgusted by any sign of weakness, even if it's displayed during sleep while its owner isn't aware of it.
He should do it now, before L wakes. (He doesn't allow himself to use L's real name, even in his thoughts, because there's a chance he might become too comfortable with it and use it aloud to L's face. He is certain of his ability to deal with such a situation in the event that it arises, but all things being equal, he'd rather it occur on his terms.) He's come so far, and every second spent without acting is a second in which L might find the evidence that connects Light to Kira.
But...to end the game now... Light has never faced an opponent like L, never been so equally matched in terms of intelligence, determination, mental resources. A life without such an opponent seems unbearably dull, by comparison. He needs L, needs the challenge and uncertainty L presents.
Even now, Light is terribly pleased with himself. It was a dangerous gamble - forfeiting the Note, assuming he was intelligent enough to follow the clues about Kira's identity back to himself and regain the Note again. But that's exactly what he did, his own certainty of his innocence while the Note was lost earning him L's admiration of his talents and the grudging admission that he probably wasn't Kira, in the bargain.
And along with that had come L's trust, and the recognition that Light was perhaps the most intelligent person he'd ever met, aside from himself. Light basks in this attention, in the knowledge that he's outmaneuvered L so elegantly.
He wonders if it's the closest he'll ever come to being in love. He wonders if he will ever love anything in his life. He wonders if that matters, and decides that it doesn't. He's going to save the world from itself; what is the ability to love a single human being compared to that?
He should just do it now. To not do it is a sign of weakness, and he detests weakness. To not do it endangers his life, and with it the very future of the world.
He rises, careful not to disturb L, and lovingly retrieves the Note from its hiding place. He sits down, opens it to a blank page, and takes a pen in his hand. Light has always believed in doing things properly, so he writes the name carefully, stroke by stroke, with an attention to detail that would make any calligraphy master weep for joy.
And then, under L's name, his real name, he writes: Insanity, followed by suicide, contingent upon discovering that Light is the original Kira.
He shuts the note and carefully returns it to its hiding place, and the satisfaction of another skillfully executed entry keeps him warm until he's back in bed.
Light does not want to live a life without L. Light cannot allow L to discover who he really is. And Light does not see why he can't have it both ways.
これで以上です。
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From:
no subject
*takes red marker*
*scribbles out new ending where light (WOW, definitely did NOT make that association--kept thinking, why the heck do they call him raito?) burns the DN after seeing L's kawaii negao*
on a more technical note, i thought that you could only control deaths up to a period of something like 23 days? or is there no time limit, i.e. the businessmen told to die of cancer died accordingly, but after long periods of time?
nevertheless...eek. i hate Light and hope more than anything that he never wakes unto his psychotic self (currently under discussion is how much his personality is influenced by the possession of the DN itself), but i acknowledge (alas!) that your vision of events is far more likely to occur than mine. although i rather think that L will have a victory of sorts in the end, pyrrhic though it may be, if only because the fans will cause a bloody riot if he doesn't!
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no subject
Yup, his name's Light (the mangaka spell it that way in the front of each book), and the kanji's one for light too. (And it's also in compounds for 'confession,' interestingly enough, but I may be reading too much into it at this point). So his name is essentially Light Night-god, which is purty damn cool.
Is there a rule like that for the DN? OMG I hope not; I hate being jossed. I've only read the non-tank chapters once each as they came out, so I can't go back and check myself. Do you remember where you ran across the rule?
I love and hate Light. He's such an amazing psychopath and I don't want to see that part of himself lost. But I also would like a big helping of angst if he dedicates himself to eradicating Kira only to discover that he was the first Kira. We shall see. I have my own ideas as to how the series will end, but I won't share them unless you want me to;)
I hope this manga goes on forever. What a ride.
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no subject
I cling stubbornly to the belief that the sociopath in Raito (habit!) is the sociopath in Raito, because that's just so much more fun (and interesting!) than it if was some internal property of the Death Note.
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I do believe the sociopath in Light is the sociopath in Light, but here's some food for thought for you: would it ever have come out if Light hadn't got his hands on the DN (or indeed anything that gave him such abnormally godlike powers)?
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Your Journal, Your Spelling
For instance: Light follows in his father's footsteps and becomes the next Chief of Police. Maybe he keeps order around the office by manipulating his underlings, playing them off of one another? Or maybe he ruins the career of an officer he doesn't like, just because he can.
I think the proof that Light's change was more a release of Id than anything else is that when Misa lost her Death Note, her personality didn't change. Meaning that the Death Note didn't change her in the first place, meaning that the Death Note does not create dysfunction, per se. It is the power of the Death Note that creates dysfunction.
Getting back to the original question, do I think Light's Id would have come out under different circumstances? Yes, I do. His reaction was extreme; I think he's got an awful lot of Id, and for it not to have shown before now he must have been very repressed indeed. And I want to believe that this is some sort of commentary on Japanese societal pressures, but it probably isn't. Oh well.
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Re: Your Journal, Your Spelling
If Light did become Chief of Police, but without the DN, who's to say that he wouldn't have become a reformer - one of those cops people don't like precisely because he is the guy that roots out corruption because it is corruption, even amongst his buddies, even when it's been considered one of the 'perks' for ages? I think current events in the series are asking this question of readers. But then again...how far have you read? I don't want to spoil anyone accidentally.
I think Light is very much a commentary on Japanese social pressures, or at least he was in the beginning, before the story veered so far off into fantasy. It's as if the mangaka are saying that mindless devotion to what society expects of one is not always a Good Thing.
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Re: Your Journal, Your Spelling
The only problem with this reasoning is that it's hard to come up with another source of power that's anywhere near as... powerful (XD aren't we witty today); if you follow that reasoning Raito's condition really can be blamed on the Death Note.
Or at least the severity of it can be. Are there degrees of sociopathy? Because my original thought was that he'd still be a sociopath, but a harmless petty one.
As to Raito-the-reformer: that depends on whether you see his Kira!actions as idealism or as self-indulgency and an attempt to play god. Before the last couple of chapters I was leaning more toward the former; now, having seen how pricipled Raito is without the death note, I'm beginning to think it might have been the former. In the beginning, at least.
And Raito is a commentary on socialtal pressures is because, behind his perfectly-well-adjusted facade, there exists a seething mass of dissatisfation and prejudice? I'm not sure if that's what you mean.
(I've read scanlations to 38, translations to 39, and seen the raws to 42. I understand Japanese not at all, so anything I got out of those was from the pictures only; however, I have no objections to being spoiled.)
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Re: Your Journal, Your Spelling
And whew, so much easier to write "Raito". Which I know is worng, but anyway.
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Re: Your Journal, Your Spelling
I don't argue with you there, but what I think is that the extraordinary powers of the DN led Light down the path to sociopathy. IOW, if Light had been given power through official channels, he might have been a crusader for good - his tendancy to go to extremes would have expressed differently. It was due to the fact that he was given the ability to kill anyone whenever he pleased, without fear of reprisal, that brought out this aspect of his personality, as I think it would do in most people, where they given such power.
if you follow that reasoning Raito's condition really can be blamed on the Death Note.
Yup. And it offers the potential for great dramatic tension, because although he will always be responsible for those deaths, he is not now as he was then. Can he be held accountable now? And in what way should he be made to atone for his actions?
And Raito is a commentary on socialtal pressures is because, behind his perfectly-well-adjusted facade, there exists a seething mass of dissatisfation and prejudice?
What I mean is that Light is the ideal Japanese teen. He takes his studies seriously, doesn't mess around with petty crime, girls, or alcohol. He's got big ambitions, yes, but he's sacrificed his self - individuality, his own capacity to want and desire for himself - to the system, to the point that even his ambitions are those society wants him to have. By Japanese standards, he's the ideal citizen. But look how empty his life is because of it, and look how easily (and how far) he falls.
Compare that to L, who's everything Japanese socieety hates - antisocial, quirky, not interested in conforming, being part of the system, and who is on the good side.
And since you asked for spoilers, and seem to have seen pretty far along anyway, my thesis above is complicated by the fact that L is willing to go to any lengths to catch Kira. He's quite possibly being driven insane by it (though I'm not sure how much of this is an act). But look at the way he uses Light's father, the way he tortures Misa: he's hopping off the deep end in his crusade to catch Kira the same way Light hopped off when he got the note.
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Re: Your Journal, Your Spelling
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no subject
From:
no subject
Remember, Light is willing to kill his own family to protect his mission; I'm sure L means much less to him.