a thousand times goodnight
a thousand times good night
luhan-centric, bffs!layhan
pg-13 (see warnings)
warnings: (highlight to read: dark theme(s), multiple character deaths)
DeathNote!au. luhan wants to create a new world.
.xxx.
“You lost, Luhan.”
Luhan staggered across the dark alley. The pain in his chest intensified by a thousand-fold and he found it harder to breathe. The raindrops free-falling on him did not help soothe the burn that spread all over his body. He dragged himself, holding onto the dirty, smog-stained walls for his dear life. His nails were already jagged with uneven edges but he didn’t bring himself to care.
He let out a curse when his knees bumped against a trash metal container, causing him to collapse atop wet cardboard boxes shoved at a corner of the alley. At this point, he was begging for mercy, for a few gulps of oxygen but he didn’t know who he was pleading to. He was a God, after all. The God of the New World.
Luhan didn’t feel the tiny pricks of the raindrops on his face. He opened his eyes. A dark shadow loomed over him like a bad omen. His time must be up now.
“Good night, Luhan.”
The voice dripped into Luhan’s ears like volatile liquid, thick and bound to seep through every pore in his body. A flash of lightning tore across the gloomy Beijing sky, illuminating the night with its bright effulgence for a split second. That split second felt like an eternity to Luhan. The face of the dark entity bending over him filled his vision and despite himself choking for air, Luhan felt like vomiting his insides out.
The last of his breath was stolen from him without any delay. The permanent smile and scarlet gaze of the dark figure latched onto his brain as a pair of dark wings sprouted from the former’s shoulder blades. Luhan watched a couple black feathers waltz in the air. He watched the dark shadow take off towards the crying sky with a piercing shrill that cut through the silent night, a black notebook clutched between its claws.
i.
Luhan found the notebook while he was on his way to school. He didn’t know why he picked it up. There was nothing special about that book but something was drawing him towards it. He flipped through the empty pages carelessly before shoving it inside his bag. He was running late.
“Having a dad who owns a large company doesn’t make it okay for you to be late.”
Mr. Lee’s words made Luhan flinch as he quietly shuffled to his seat. The unforgiving stares and sneers from his classmates seemed like a weight that kept his head hanging low. A gentle squeeze on his left shoulder startled Luhan and he turned to see his best friend, Yixing smiling at him. Immediately, Luhan felt at ease and he returned the smile, forgetting about the notebook.
Luhan only remembered about the notebook as he lay on his bed, exhausted and utterly spent after squeezing the juices off his brain in an attempt to solve a new problem set given by Mr. Lee. His TV was showing midnight news, the muffled voice of the newscaster quickly becoming a white noise as he fished out the black notebook from between his text books.
Luhan ran his hand across the black cover and hard spine of the book. His fingertips jolted a little as they skittered across the smooth surface. He turned the book and his eyes widened at the bold white letters emblazoned in the middle of the front cover.
“Death… Note?”
Luhan’s voice came out whispery and quiet. His lips trembled and his body shuddered as he carefully flipped open the book. Luhan furrowed his eyebrows as a list of English sentences spread out before him, written in the same manner as the label at the front cover with a bigger title on top that said, ‘Death Note: How to use it’. He began to read.
“The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.”
His lips mapped every word, enunciating each syllable carefully. He went through the list four times and had to stop to catch his breath at least twice. Then, he put down the notebook and plopped down on his bed, laughing by himself.
“There’s no way…” he muttered to the off-white ceiling, brain spiraling to work out the situation he got himself into. “Writing a name causes someone to die? This must be some sick joke. Wow, Luhan. Can’t believe you’re stupid enough to rile yourself thinking about this.”
Luhan turned his head towards the news still flashing in his dimly-lit room.
“A 45-year-old man was proven guilty of killing his wife and own child, the cause of it being rage over his wife’s infidelity. He will be executed-”
The TV was showing an image of the criminal; a middle-aged man who looked older than he actually was, hair already thinning and sunken eyes staring off into the lens of the camera. Luhan’s eyes slowly diverted from the TV screen. He glanced at the notebook lying on his table.
Before he could justify himself, he quickly scribbled the name of the man onto the clean, crisp page of the notebook, a face clear in his head. Then, he slammed the book close and stashed it among his comic books near the bed. After pulling the cord of the TV, Luhan crawled onto his bed and passed out until the morning sunlight greeted him again.
“Han, will you please pick up today’s newspaper at the front door?”
“Sure, mom!”
Luhan fixed his school necktie and grabbed his bag, exiting the room and padding through the hallways. As usual, the morning newspaper lay on the doorsteps. He picked it up, glancing at the headline and leafing through the pages as he walked back inside. Then, he saw it. There was nothing special about that piece of article, just a small column of news shoved at the corner of a page featuring local crimes. Luhan couldn’t believe his eyes as he read the title of the news article over and over again: ‘Man dies of sudden heart attack after being charged guilty of killing wife and daughter’.
A small grayscale photograph accompanied the news. Luhan stared at the photo, hands shaking badly. It was the same man he saw on TV last night.
He dumped the newspaper messily on the couch and went back to his room. After digging through his comic book stash, he finally found the Death Note. He put it inside his school bag and quickly left the house, bidding his mother goodbye. Cold sweat trickled across his back, staining his white uniform shirt before he could even reach school. His heart was thumping furiously against his chest as a thought ran through his mind: Is he a murderer now? What power does the notebook have?
“Han, you all right?”
Yixing’s gentle voice made Luhan jump in his seat. He scrambled to zip up his bag before pasting a wide smile across his face.
“Yeah, I’m just fine. What’s up?”
He suddenly realized that the classroom had gotten silent all of a sudden and his voice echoed through the concrete walls, obnoxiously loud. Luhan cursed in his head because all eyes were on him at the moment.
“My office. After school,” Mr. Lee said sternly before turning back to the whiteboard.
Luhan inwardly groaned and buried his face in his arms, ignoring Yixing’s pats on his back.
“You sure you don’t need me to accompany you?” Yixing asked, eyebrows furrowing across his forehead. “I mean, that’s Mr. Lee. He made a move on you couple of weeks ago, didn’t he? We should have reported him to the school director.”
Luhan’s face turned sour. “We probably should, but if the news got out, it will ruin my dad’s business.”
“But what if-”
“Xing,” Luhan cut his friend off, causing the other to frown deeper, if that was even possible. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, okay? If he dared to even touch me, I’ll kick at his crotch or something. I should get going now. See you tomorrow!”
Before Yixing could utter a single word, Luhan took off, leaving his best friend in the middle of the hallway. Truthfully, he wished Yixing was with him but he needed to do this by himself. Besides, he already had a plan.
Luhan knocked at the door of the teacher’s office. He pushed it open after waiting for a few seconds, startling the room’s inhabitant.
“Oh. Oh, Luhan,” Mr. Lee breathed out, sweat dripping from his face as he tried to make himself presentable. “Y-You came.”
Luhan scrunches his nose in revolt. If there was one person in this world who deserved to die more than anyone, it was the sick bastard in front of him. He clutched at his bag tightly, thinking of a certain notebook hidden in it.
The middle-aged man stumbled across the room as he made his way towards Luhan. Luhan resisted the urge to punch him as he gritted out, “I’m sorry for not paying attention in your class today.”
“No, it’s okay,” the teacher said, his breath foul and stinking even from a mile away. “I just want to see you, Luhan. You’re so pretty, so beautiful-”
“Stop it!” Luhan jerked away when the man began groping him at places he didn’t even want to imagine. “Don’t touch me!”
“Come here, Luhan. Don’t you dare go against your teacher or I’ll have to report you.” Mr. Lee approached him again and Luhan began to panic. He slung his bag at the teacher as hard as he could, causing the man to double over in pain. Then he fled, running away as fast as possible with tears threatening to spill out of his eyes.
The sun was already setting as he hid in one of the classrooms, trying to gather his wits. He waited until Mr. Lee came out of his office. The man looked grumpy as ever and Luhan had never hated a person so much in his life. He watched from the window of the classroom as Mr. Lee made his way towards his car. Taking out the Death Note, Luhan carefully wrote down a name and then added “car accident” as an afterthought.
In less than a minute after that, the scene that unfolded right before his eyes stirred something inside him. Luhan watched with a small smile on his face as a group of passers-by huddled in front of the school gate, fussing over a certain car being rammed by a timber truck.
Luhan held the black notebook tight in his hand and took a deep breath. The smoggy air never tasted so sweet before.
ii.
“Hey, Luhan,” Yixing suddenly said over his lunch, causing Luhan to quirk an eyebrow as he munched his favorite omurice.
“What.”
“Don’t you think it’s weird?”
“What is?”
Yixing was silent for a long while and Luhan had to snap his fingers in front of the other’s face to make him return to earth. “Sorry,” Yixing murmured sheepishly. “So, as I was saying, the world seems so weird now.”
“Yeah?” Luhan prompted, waiting for his friend to continue.
“I’ve noticed this ever since Mr. Lee’s death a week ago,” Yixing whispered, hunching over his lunchbox. “It’s like, somehow the world has gotten more peaceful. I hardly see crime news on TV these days.”
“Well,” Luhan said, trying to refrain himself from smiling. “Isn’t that a good thing? The world is finally a peaceful place. We should be thankful.”
Yixing stared at him. “Now this is getting weirder, especially hearing that from you.”
“Hey!”
Yixing laughed as he tried to stop Luhan from poking chopsticks at his sides.
Luhan dropped his bag at the foot of his bed and turned on the TV. He pulled a drawer located at the bottom of the study table and removed its contents. Then he carefully lifted the plywood plank, revealing a familiar notebook at the base of the drawer. He beamed as he took it out and flipped through the pages, now full with names of people from various races and nationalities. He took a seat in front of the TV, eyes glued to the news channel and a pen ready in his hand.
“I see you’ve done quite a lot.”
Luhan turned his head so quickly his neck made a popping sound. His eyes widened at the sight before him and he screamed, falling onto the carpeted floor of his room. He stared, blinking a few times to make sure he was not dreaming.
“Why are you so surprised?” The creature in front of him spoke again. Its voice was deep, thick as the haze that veiled Beijing in its wake. It looked more like a shadow than an entity, Luhan noted. However, the most prominent feature about the creature was its scarlet eyes that seemed to bore deep into Luhan’s soul, and its face. Half of its face looked like it had been burned, showing dirty white skeleton and sharp teeth that formed a permanent smile on the right side of the face. The left side of the creature’s face was stretched with smooth tanned skin that looked almost flawless under the crepuscular light of Luhan’s room. Its dark hair was long, unkempt, and there were a few wild strands that covered the creature’s right eye.
“W-Who-what are you?” Luhan managed to choke out as the creature stared down at him.
“My name is Kai,” the creature said, speaking slowly. “I’m a Death God, and the previous owner of the Death Note.”
“A Death God?” Luhan whispered, glancing at the open notebook on his table. “So this is a real deal after all.”
“Of course it is,” Kai said, almost scoffing. He walked to the table lazily and took the notebook. “You gave these people a taste of hell and only now you realize that this is a real deal? Humans are so complicated!”
“What is the trade-off for using the notebook? Do I give my soul to you or something?” Luhan asked as he pushed himself up.
Kai stared at him in almost-disbelief. “Where did you get that idea? I dropped this notebook in the human world, so it’s a property of the human who found it. It’s yours now.”
“Are you kidding me? There’s no price for using it?” Luhan was starting to get excited as adrenaline pumped through his system. His eyes followed Kai’s movement closely, still cautious of the Death God.
“It’s as I said earlier,” Kai replied nonchalantly, folding his black wings neatly across his back. “However, I’ll have to mention that when you die, I’ll be the one who’s gonna write your name. And when you die, your soul will go to neither Heaven nor Hell. Such thing doesn’t exist for you the moment you started using the Death Note. And since you touched the book, you’re the only one who could see and hear me. Be flattered.”
Luhan searched Kai’s face for any sign of lies. It seemed that the Death God was telling the truth. Luhan didn’t actually care as long as the Death Note worked for him.
“Deal,” he said, snatching the notebook from Kai’s hand. Then he looked up at Kai. “I have one question for you, Kai. Why did you drop the notebook in the human world in the first place?”
The left side of the Death God’s face quirked up, an eerie smile quickly materializing over the expanse of his skin. “Because I was bored.”
Luhan blinked. “Come again?”
“I was bored. Death Gods don’t have much to do, you know. We mainly sleep and eat rotten food all day. Humans are interesting creatures so I might as well entertain myself by letting my notebook fall into the human world.” Kai’s gaze fixed on Luhan. “And it just happened to land in this city, and again, it just happened to be you who found it. Don’t think you’re special or anything. It was all pure coincidence.”
Luhan let a smirk grace his face as he listened to Kai. “It was fate. No, let me rephrase that. This is fate, not just coincidence.”
“Enlighten me, human.”
“Call me Luhan,” Luhan said as he took a seat at the edge of his bed. “As I said, this is not a mere coincidence. The notebook has the power to wipe off everything evil in this world. With my judgment, I’m going to purify this world from all crimes and wrongdoings. When I got the notebook, I thought, ‘Ah, it’s got to be me. No one else will be able to do it as well as I do.’ Then I’ll create a utopia, a new world. A world so clean and so unadulterated, and guess what, Kai? I’m going to be the God of the New World.”
The room was flooded with orange rays of late sunlight that got through the loose blinds draped over the windows. Kai stood behind the ceiling-high bookshelf, unmoving as Luhan stared up at him. Then as if a bomb had just exploded, a shrill laughter cut through the thick atmosphere of the room.
“As expected,” Kai wheezed between his laughter, his broad shoulders still shaking. “This is going to be fun. Humans are so interesting!”
Luhan just smiled. “Enjoy your stay here, Kai.”
iii.
It had been a month since Luhan found the Death Note. He wiped out all those high-profile criminals that he found by hacking into the police’s databases. Then he started to write the names of corrupt politicians and basically every single person he deemed bad. Eventually he began to gain recognition as a mysterious being that possessed supernatural powers. He was dubbed ‘Killer’, both by the party that supported his acts and the party that resented him for playing God.
Luhan didn’t really care.
However, a certain person who was known as L began to shatter Luhan’s perfect world. Luhan was sauntering across Beijing’s business district when the LED displays attached to the tall buildings stopped showing advertisements. All of a sudden, a row of block letters saying ‘Special Worldwide Announcement’ rolled over the screen. Luhan stopped his strides, and so did the people around him. All of them were whispering to one another, pointing towards the LED displays around them.
A few seconds later, the image of a young man clad in suit began to show. He stared into the screen, gaze sharp and precise. A nameplate that read ‘Huang Zitao’ stood proudly in front of him. Then the man started speaking.
“My name is Huang Zitao,” he began, voice crisp and clear. “I’m a private detective, otherwise known as L. I don’t usually show my face in public like this but I have to prove to someone that I’m real. I think everyone knows about Killer. Right now, I’m working with the police to catch Killer.”
The crowd began to murmur. A man suddenly said, “Why would you want to catch Killer? He’s the definition of justice!” His sudden outburst was followed by the others, “But he’s killing people! That is not right!”
Luhan watched the whole scene with slight amusement. Kai chuckled gleefully, “Look at these humans. They’re fighting over you now, Luhan.”
Luhan stared at the huge screen in front of him. A sudden sense of power filled him to the brim. He reached into his pocket, taking out a pen and a piece of paper.
“Huh? Is that a page from the Death Note?” Kai questioned, eyebrows twitching up. “Wait, are you gonna kill this guy here?”
Luhan didn’t say anything. He clicked his pen, pretending to jot down a note. Eyes maneuvering between the screen and the paper, he carefully wrote down each character of Zitao’s name. When he was done, he checked his watch. 39 seconds, 38 seconds, 37 seconds…
Zitao cleared his throat and continued despite the slight chaos, “We’re still investigating Killer’s modus operandi. Interpol is planning to-”
4 seconds, 3 seconds…
Suddenly, Zitao’s face contorted in pain. One of his hands flew to his chest and he wheezed in an attempt to breath. A few men huddled in front of the camera, blocking the view for a few seconds. Zitao collapsed face first onto the table. The crowd watching from the middle of the plaza gasped and some of the ladies began to scream in terror as the men carried Zitao away. The screen went blank.
“An impressive show,” Kai hummed thoughtfully. Luhan smirked, putting away his pen and paper. He was about to walk away when one of the men watching suddenly cried out, “Hey, look at the screen!”
Luhan whipped his head. The blank screen had been replaced with a white background. A huge letter ‘L’ stood in the middle, causing Luhan to frown. He barely heard Kai muttering beside him, “What now?”
“Hi, this is L,” a squeaky, almost cartoonish voice boomed through the loudspeakers. “Huang Zitao is not the real L. He is a decoy. He’s actually a criminal on a death row and his profile had been kept from the public until now. This is the real L speaking.” The voice paused for a moment, the sound of water being poured and drank echoing in the background loudly. “I’m here to challenge Killer. I don’t think he should be playing the role of God by killing people, even if those people are bad people. I don’t know what he’s thinking but I’m sure there’s more to this than just killing criminals and corrupts. Killer, if you’re listening now, I’m challenging you. Kill me right now, if you can. Do it!”
A gasp reverberated through the city, followed by the buzzing murmurs of the citizens watching the live announcement. Luhan clenched his jaw, feeling intimidated and insulted by the sudden bout. But he couldn’t do anything even if he wanted to.
“Oh, who is this guy, Luhan?” Kai suddenly said, grinning widely. “This sounds fun.”
“You can’t do it, right, Killer? It seems to me that you have to at least see my face if you want to kill me. That’s quite a disadvantage, if I might add.”
Luhan’s face flushed. He’d never felt so embarrassed before.
“Listen, Killer. As long as I’m alive, I promise that someday I’ll catch you. Justice will prevail itself.”
Just like that, the broadcast ended.
“What are you gonna do now, Luhan?” Kai asked as he hovered around the room. “This L guy just openly declared a war on you.”
Luhan paced back and forth in his room, trying to sort out his mind. He couldn’t think of anything. “How did he know that I’m in Beijing? Of all places!”
“Must be some genius detective, that guy.”
“I’ll have to find out who this guy is,” Luhan muttered, more to himself. “Then I’ll kill him using the Death Note. That’s it.”
Kai whistled wistfully. “Not gonna be easy.”
“Do you have a way? Kai, you’re a Death God. Figure something out.”
“Well,” Kai murmured, barely audible to Luhan’s ears. “There is a way. But I doubt you’ll want to do it.”
“Tell me.”
“I can lend you the power of my eyes. The Death God’s Eye. With this, you’ll be able to see the lifespan and the real names of the people around you. But there’s a catch.” Kai grinned. “Your own lifespan will be reduced to half if you agreed to have the Eye. Quite tricky.”
Luhan’s own breathing seemed loud in his ears as he whispered, “You can see my lifespan, right, Kai?”
“Sure I can.”
“Then can you tell me-”
“Can’t tell you,” Kai sniffed. “It’s a rule.”
Luhan plopped down on his bed. “You’re basically useless.”
Kai rolled his eyes. “You told me to enjoy my stay here and that’s what I’m doing. Geez, I just don’t understand humans.”
After a few beats, Luhan was the one who broke the silence. “Give me that Eye, Kai.”
Kai sighed weakly. “I don’t understand humans.”
iv.
Spring in Beijing had always been cool and windy. Luhan liked spring. He especially loved looking at the blooming flowers. To Luhan, the flowers signified a beginning; the born of a new world, a new renaissance. As he sat there, in the park, with plastic cups of bubble milk tea in each hand, he wondered about a lot of things. The ice cubes were melting but Luhan paid no heed to that.
Luhan’s milk tea was already half when Yixing finally showed up. Luhan shoved another cup of lukewarm milk tea in Yixing’s direction and the latter took it without a word, sucking on the beverage quietly.
“Are you busy?” Luhan asked, toying with the straw of his drinks. “Spring break has just started.”
“Yeah, a little,” Yixing replied. He paused for a while to munch on the chewy tapioca pearl. Luhan waited, peeking at his friend under his eyelashes. Yixing gulped once before taking another sip. “I was called by the police. Said they needed my help in investigating the new case. The chief officer is a young guy who transferred from Guangzhou. He personally asked for my assistance. Since dad gave his assurance too, I couldn’t say no.”
“Wait, the chief officer is a new guy?” Luhan turned in interest, looking at Yixing.
“Yeah. Didn’t I tell you that my dad retired a few weeks ago?”
“No.”
Yixing groaned. “Been meaning to tell you that. I must have forgotten again. Sorry.” Then he fished out his phone from his pocket, thumb dancing on the screen before showing a candid photo of a young man to Luhan. “His name is Wu Yifan. Isn’t he cute?”
“Yeah, he is. But he looks a bit scary,” Luhan laughed as he peered at the screen. “Say, Yixing, you’ve been helping the police with crime cases and whatnots, am I right? Do you mind telling me about the new case you’re working on?”
Yixing hesitated for a while, pondering. Then he nodded. “No, I don’t. I guess I could give you an overview. No harm in that.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “The new case is not like any other cases. It’s like dealing with a phantom.”
“A phantom?”
“Uh-huh.” A loud slurping noise materialized. It was starting to irritate Luhan. “A phantom. We don’t know who we’re dealing with. This person seems to be killing people without even having to get out of his house. It’s mindboggling.”
“You mean, the Killer person everyone’s talking about?” Luhan asked cautiously, a swell of pride blooming in him.
“Bingo.”
“But he’s killing bad people, isn’t he? The world will become a better place if he continues to do that.”
Yixing chuckled darkly. “It’s not about whether he’s killing bad people or innocent people. It’s a matter of life and death. Who gave him the right to judge, Han? His act puts him in the same flock as those Bad People he’s killing.”
Kai sneered. “Oh, he’s right.”
Luhan threw a glare at Kai’s direction, causing the latter to grin widely. Yixing, who was not aware of the exchange between Luhan and the Death God, continued, “Captain Wu, the chief officer, is determined to catch Killer. He’s quite ambitious.”
“Did you know about the live broadcast yesterday? Some weird guy seems as determined as your boss. He even challenged Killer to kill him on the spot! What a crazy bunch,” Luhan murmured softly, crumpling the empty plastic cup in his hand.
“L? He's on the investigation team too,” Yixing said. He seemed to regret telling Luhan that and quickly added, “I’d never seen him, though. He mainly only makes contacts with Captain Wu and those high-rank officers.”
“Hm,” Luhan hummed thoughtfully. “Killer could be anywhere in the world. I wonder how did L know that he’s in Beijing, of all places.”
“That’s because of his killing patterns, Han,” Yixing smiled. “You see, most of the criminals that Killer finished off were Chinese citizens. But still, China is a big country. Killer could be in Hunan or Guangzhou or even Shanghai but that’s not the case. It seems that small crime cases that were only reported in Beijing had become Killer’s targets too. But then, we weren’t still very sure. He could be in America, for God’s sake!”
Luhan swallowed thickly as he listened to Yixing. Kai’s piercing laughter was annoying the hell out of him but he couldn’t care less about the Death God. He made a grave mistake and the urge to kill L was bubbling inside of him like a hot magma waiting to erupt.
“Han, are you okay? You look pale,” Yixing’s concerned voice made Luhan jump. Luhan shook his head, urging Yixing to continue.
“The broadcast was actually aired in different parts of China at different times. Qingdao, Wuhan, Changsha, and then Beijing. In the first three places, nothing odd had been reported after the broadcast. However, in Beijing,” Yixing paused, causing Luhan to look at him in alarm. “Damn, I can’t get the last bubble out!”
Luhan wanted to fall flat on the ground as Yixing made a frustrated noise and finally gave up on that single tapioca bubble.
“Where was I? Oh, yes. In Beijing, there was a turning point. A huge one at that. I’d say it was luck and perhaps a bit of fate that caused such a big turn of event.” Yixing’s voice was quiet as he leaned in. “We immediately knew that Killer is in Beijing when Huang Zitao got killed as soon as he appeared as L.”
The silence enveloping the park was deafening. Luhan felt as if he had been sucked into a vortex and then dumped into the deepest, darkest abyss. His face flushed despite the cool breeze blowing past them. Kai stood behind them, unconcerned.
“Han,” Yixing suddenly said. “If you are Killer, what would you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you have a power like Killer's, would you use it to achieve your ambitions?”
Luhan’s gaze was directed towards the top of Yixing’s head. A series of numbers hovered over him, followed by the three characters of his friend’s name. He smiled, “You know me best, Xing. I’m sure you’d know the answer to your question.”
It was raining heavily when Yixing arrived at Beijing’s police headquarters. He shook the water droplets off his hair and quickly dried himself with a handkerchief. The building felt warm and welcoming but the warmth still failed to calm his racing heart. He made his way towards the main office of the building, relieved to find that the chief officer was still there.
Yixing cautiously knocked on the door, a golden nameplate that read ‘Wu Yifan’ gleaming under the fluorescent light. He stared at the nameplate, feeling a little out of place since he was so used to seeing his father’s name engraved on the rectangular block.
A muffled ‘Come in’ shook Yixing out of his reverie. He turned the knob and let himself in.
“Oh, Yixing, it’s you,” the man sitting behind a large oak table greeted him, voice slightly drained and exhausted. “It’s rare seeing you around this time. Do you have anything for me?”
Yixing cleared his throat. “Well, actually,” he paused, hesitation suddenly overtaking him.
“Please, take a seat,” Yifan said, gesturing towards the small couch in the room. “What’s the matter?”
Yixing looked thoughtful and Yifan could almost hear the gears in his brain working out possibilities and aftermath to the subject he was about to discuss. Yifan waited, listening to the concealed sound of the rain.
“I think I know Killer’s real identity.”
Yifan did not see that coming at all.
v.
Luhan and Yixing had been best friends since they started elementary school. People said they were a weird combo; how could the son of a police commissioner be friends with the son of a top entrepreneur? However, neither of them minded. They were comrades when it came to fending off Luhan’s bullies. They were brothers when it came to celebrating birthdays and graduation days. Luhan considered Yixing as family and Yixing didn’t think of him any less either. They knew each other inside out like a second skin.
When Yixing started helping the police with crime cases, Luhan felt like there was a drift between them. He realized he would never be like Yixing. He was a mere pretty face, waiting to wilt and wither like maple leaves at the end of autumn. He was tired of being treated like a princess by everyone around him. Luhan wanted something to hold on to. Perhaps some power, or authority over anything. The Death Note gave Luhan a new hope. He thought the idea of an ideal new world was noble and perfect. He didn’t expect to receive such feedback from his own best friend.
“Yixing is L. And he knows that I’m Killer.”
The words left Luhan’s lips albeit a bit shakily but there was so much certainty in his voice as he took a seat in front of his study table. His hair was a bit damp from the rain earlier but that didn’t bother him one bit. He stared at Kai, who was standing in the shadows of the room, looking bored and uninterested.
“Kai, are you not listening to me?”
“I heard you,” Kai said, yawning. “So what are you waiting for? Write his name in the book.”
Luhan seemed perplexed by the proposal. He turned away, staring at the black notebook on his table. It was almost full but the more names he wrote in, more pages would appear. That thing was truly diabolical, inexorable, and Luhan found that he could not escape from it.
“I-I can’t do that,” he whispered. “I can’t write Yixing’s name. He’s my best friend.”
“Boring,” Kai yawned again. “You just traded half of your lifespan for nothing, then.”
“Yeah? Are you going to write my name now?” Luhan challenged, cold lacing his voice as he stared up at Kai. For once, Kai stopped yawning and he maneuvered himself towards Luhan, amber eyes never leaving the boy. Luhan didn’t break his gaze either. From his peripheral vision, he saw Kai lifting a hand and he shut his eyes close as his body trembled in intense fear.
Kai held Luhan’s face, claws grazing the latter’s smooth skin dangerously. Luhan slowly opened his eyes when he heard Kai chuckling darkly.
“Nah, not today,” Kai murmured, returning to his original spot. “I know you’re going to keep me entertained. Humans are unpredictable, after all.”
“Then why don’t we throw a small party for you, Kai?” Luhan suggested once he regained his composure.
Kai cocked his head to one side. “What’s a party?”
“Oh, it involves exciting things,” Luhan said. “Yixing seems determined to catch me but I won’t go down without a fight. Neither of us will. I know Yixing.”
“Sounds interesting,” Kai drawled and started yawning again. “Count me in.”
“Be my guest,” Luhan murmured, finger tracing the smooth cover of the notebook. “But first, that Wu Yifan has to go.”
vi.
The school gymnasium looked deserted without the constant presence of students bustling in and out of it. It was Luhan’s private hideout; a place he’d always went to when he needed to think.
It was drizzling when he arrived that evening. The gymnasium seemed eerier when the sky cried like this. Pitter patters of raindrops leaking through pinprick holes in the building reverberated in Luhan’s ears. He loved the sound. The constant, uneventful rhythm reminded him of his own heartbeat. It made him feel alive this way.
“Han? Luhan?”
A gentle, familiar voice interrupted his train of thoughts. He turned, smiling when he saw Yixing padding towards the basketball court he was in. They stood facing each other in silence as Yixing eyed the ball tucked safely on Luhan’s hip.
“One-on-one?” Luhan prompted and started dribbling. Yixing grinned in response, body already hunching in reflex as he attempted to grab the ball from Luhan.
They played for a while, their loud voices echoing through the building. Yixing’s laughter mixed in with Luhan’s giggles when they fell all over each other in the middle of the court. They lay on the court, trying to catch their breaths.
“Haven’t played like this for a while,” Luhan said, squirming slightly to get a better look at his friend.
“Me too,” Yixing replied, eyes still shut tightly. “Feels so nice.”
Luhan hummed softly and sat up. His hand fiddled with his shoelaces before throwing a look over his shoulder. He didn’t realize that Yixing had been staring at him, an unrecognizable emotion swimming in his dark orbs.
“Tell me, Xing,” Luhan started, voice almost inaudible. It was raining heavily at the moment and Luhan repeated his words a little louder to fight with the harsh rain sound. “How did you know?”
“What?”
“Stop pretending already!” Luhan’s voice raised a few octaves higher, startling himself at his sudden outburst. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew that I’ve been killing people, am I right, Yixing?”
Yixing slowly peeled himself off the floor and sat cross-legged, facing Luhan. “Listen, Han. I wished I didn’t have to find out. I wished-I prayed that it wasn’t you. I didn’t want Killer to be you.”
“But Killer is me. I am Killer, Yixing.”
“I hoped I was wrong,” Yixing whispered. “For once, I wanted my intuition to be completely false. But the more I thought about this, the more I tried to steer my thoughts away from you, your face just kept coming back. Oh, how I wished that I wasn’t part of the investigation team.” Yixing sniffled. “You were too obvious, Han.”
“No,” Luhan said, standing up. “It’s because you’re that good. You’re a genius young detective, a pride of the country. And then there’s me; the helpless heir of a large company who can’t even gain his own father’s trust.”
“Why are you saying this?”
“I’m saying that I can actually be useful when people want me to,” Luhan smirked. “See, Yixing, I’ve been wiping out criminals and corrupt politicians all over the world. What did you even do?”
“I can’t believe you’d have this kind of thoughts,” Yixing mumbled, almost to himself. “But how, Luhan? You can’t just kill people as you sit around in your room.”
Luhan laughed, his voice booming across the hall. “I did exactly that!” Then he walked over to the benches and Yixing watched as he retrieved a black notebook from one of the seats. Yixing frowned in confusion.
“What does a notebook have anything to do with all this?” Yixing questioned.
“You don’t get it, Xing,” Luhan said, turning over the pages. Yixing’s eyes widened when he saw long lists of familiar names being scrawled onto the pages. He stared at Luhan, who just smirked at him. “This notebook started everything.”
“I don’t understand,” Yixing whispered as he wiped a hand over his face.
“You see, Xing, when I write someone’s name in this book, that person will die within 40 seconds,” Luhan explained, tucking the book to his chest. “You witnessed it yourself, remember? When Huang Zitao died during the live broadcast. I was so mad when you said you’d definitely catch me.”
Yixing’s expression was calm as Luhan finished speaking. A small, almost fond smile stretched on his face and he muttered, “I said that, huh?”
Luhan whipped out a pen from his pocket. He paused, eyes lingering to the diminishing numbers hovering above Yixing’s head.
“What, you gonna write my name now?” Yixing asked, his tone mocking.
Luhan’s mouth turned downwards in distaste. “Can’t have you around any longer, Xing Xing.”
Luhan quickly scrawled Yixing’s name on the parched page of the book before the latter could stop him. Yixing reached out, hurling himself at Luhan and punching his face in the process. Both of them stumbled onto the ground, throwing fists at each other. But then, there was nothing Yixing could do. Suddenly, he curled up on the floor, a hand clutching at his own chest as he tried to breathe. Luhan panted, spitting out the blood from his mouth.
“Goodbye, L,” Luhan said, his voice devoid of any emotion as he stared down at Yixing.
Yixing’s face turned blue. He felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly. He scrambled on the floor, hands finding purchase around Luhan’s legs. He clutched at the fabric of the other’s pants tightly and choked out, “Y-You’re wrong, Han. I’m sorry, but I-I’m not L.”
Luhan’s eyes widened, hands shaking when Yixing’s grip around his legs ceased. As Yixing’s body fell to the ground with a loud thud, Luhan realized that he’d been surrounded by a group of uniformed men.
His eyes went wild as he searched the group of police around him, trying to look for the real L. ‘Not Zhou Mi, not Jin Minxi, not Jackson Wang, not-’ he scanned the group. Then as if a bucket of cold water had been splashed on his face, he froze when he saw Yifan proceeding towards him cautiously.
‘Impossible!’ he thought but then, his eyes flickered towards the top of Yifan’s head. ‘No…’ Luhan gasped. A name that was definitely not Wu Yifan hovered over his head.
Li Jiaheng.
Luhan screamed, startling everyone around him. Yifan gestured towards his team, ordering them to stay still.
“Luhan,” Yifan said, lowering his gun. “I want you to stay calm and put your hands at the back of your head. Please do not do anything foolish.”
Luhan’s tears streamed down his cheeks as he stared at Yixing’s dead body, sprawled on the cold floor. He killed his friend, his best friend! He quickly wiped his tears with the sleeve of his shirt. A sudden wave of rage surged through him as he glared at Yifan.
“So, you’re L, huh? Li Jiaheng,” Luhan spat out, clenching his fists tightly.
Yifan was startled for a moment but he immediately regained his composure. “Just turn yourself in, Luhan.”
“No! You can’t stop me!” Luhan shouted, hands diving into his pockets to search for his pen. His eyes roamed about to look for the Death Note, but it was gone. Luhan panicked when Yifan almost got to him. He did the first thing that came to his mind: he ran away.
The rest of the team started to chase after Luhan but Yifan held them back. “He won’t be able to go far. Surround this area.”
As the pursuing team filed out into the rain, Yifan walked over to Yixing’s still body. He kneeled down and gently cradled the boy in his arms. The stoic mask on his face crumbled to pieces and he buried his face in the other’s cold chest, tears rolling down his cheeks silently.
Kai stood at the edge of the rooftop. His hair was dripping wet, and so did his entire body but that didn’t seem to faze him. His eyes were fixed on a single person running across the alley.
“You lost, Luhan,” Kai murmured as he flipped open the Death Note in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, a claw protruded from his index finger. He carefully traced the page of the notebook with his sharp claw, drawing stroke after stroke of two characters of a name. Lu. Han.
“These past few weeks had been very enjoyable, thanks to you.”
Kai slammed the notebook close as he watched the figure below him collapse and writhe under the rain.
fin.
- idek ok idk what is this Thing tbvh
- title came from this movie.
- thank you for reading!
luhan-centric, bffs!layhan
pg-13 (see warnings)
warnings: (highlight to read: dark theme(s), multiple character deaths)
DeathNote!au. luhan wants to create a new world.
.xxx.
“You lost, Luhan.”
Luhan staggered across the dark alley. The pain in his chest intensified by a thousand-fold and he found it harder to breathe. The raindrops free-falling on him did not help soothe the burn that spread all over his body. He dragged himself, holding onto the dirty, smog-stained walls for his dear life. His nails were already jagged with uneven edges but he didn’t bring himself to care.
He let out a curse when his knees bumped against a trash metal container, causing him to collapse atop wet cardboard boxes shoved at a corner of the alley. At this point, he was begging for mercy, for a few gulps of oxygen but he didn’t know who he was pleading to. He was a God, after all. The God of the New World.
Luhan didn’t feel the tiny pricks of the raindrops on his face. He opened his eyes. A dark shadow loomed over him like a bad omen. His time must be up now.
“Good night, Luhan.”
The voice dripped into Luhan’s ears like volatile liquid, thick and bound to seep through every pore in his body. A flash of lightning tore across the gloomy Beijing sky, illuminating the night with its bright effulgence for a split second. That split second felt like an eternity to Luhan. The face of the dark entity bending over him filled his vision and despite himself choking for air, Luhan felt like vomiting his insides out.
The last of his breath was stolen from him without any delay. The permanent smile and scarlet gaze of the dark figure latched onto his brain as a pair of dark wings sprouted from the former’s shoulder blades. Luhan watched a couple black feathers waltz in the air. He watched the dark shadow take off towards the crying sky with a piercing shrill that cut through the silent night, a black notebook clutched between its claws.
i.
Luhan found the notebook while he was on his way to school. He didn’t know why he picked it up. There was nothing special about that book but something was drawing him towards it. He flipped through the empty pages carelessly before shoving it inside his bag. He was running late.
“Having a dad who owns a large company doesn’t make it okay for you to be late.”
Mr. Lee’s words made Luhan flinch as he quietly shuffled to his seat. The unforgiving stares and sneers from his classmates seemed like a weight that kept his head hanging low. A gentle squeeze on his left shoulder startled Luhan and he turned to see his best friend, Yixing smiling at him. Immediately, Luhan felt at ease and he returned the smile, forgetting about the notebook.
Luhan only remembered about the notebook as he lay on his bed, exhausted and utterly spent after squeezing the juices off his brain in an attempt to solve a new problem set given by Mr. Lee. His TV was showing midnight news, the muffled voice of the newscaster quickly becoming a white noise as he fished out the black notebook from between his text books.
Luhan ran his hand across the black cover and hard spine of the book. His fingertips jolted a little as they skittered across the smooth surface. He turned the book and his eyes widened at the bold white letters emblazoned in the middle of the front cover.
“Death… Note?”
Luhan’s voice came out whispery and quiet. His lips trembled and his body shuddered as he carefully flipped open the book. Luhan furrowed his eyebrows as a list of English sentences spread out before him, written in the same manner as the label at the front cover with a bigger title on top that said, ‘Death Note: How to use it’. He began to read.
“The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.”
His lips mapped every word, enunciating each syllable carefully. He went through the list four times and had to stop to catch his breath at least twice. Then, he put down the notebook and plopped down on his bed, laughing by himself.
“There’s no way…” he muttered to the off-white ceiling, brain spiraling to work out the situation he got himself into. “Writing a name causes someone to die? This must be some sick joke. Wow, Luhan. Can’t believe you’re stupid enough to rile yourself thinking about this.”
Luhan turned his head towards the news still flashing in his dimly-lit room.
“A 45-year-old man was proven guilty of killing his wife and own child, the cause of it being rage over his wife’s infidelity. He will be executed-”
The TV was showing an image of the criminal; a middle-aged man who looked older than he actually was, hair already thinning and sunken eyes staring off into the lens of the camera. Luhan’s eyes slowly diverted from the TV screen. He glanced at the notebook lying on his table.
Before he could justify himself, he quickly scribbled the name of the man onto the clean, crisp page of the notebook, a face clear in his head. Then, he slammed the book close and stashed it among his comic books near the bed. After pulling the cord of the TV, Luhan crawled onto his bed and passed out until the morning sunlight greeted him again.
“Han, will you please pick up today’s newspaper at the front door?”
“Sure, mom!”
Luhan fixed his school necktie and grabbed his bag, exiting the room and padding through the hallways. As usual, the morning newspaper lay on the doorsteps. He picked it up, glancing at the headline and leafing through the pages as he walked back inside. Then, he saw it. There was nothing special about that piece of article, just a small column of news shoved at the corner of a page featuring local crimes. Luhan couldn’t believe his eyes as he read the title of the news article over and over again: ‘Man dies of sudden heart attack after being charged guilty of killing wife and daughter’.
A small grayscale photograph accompanied the news. Luhan stared at the photo, hands shaking badly. It was the same man he saw on TV last night.
He dumped the newspaper messily on the couch and went back to his room. After digging through his comic book stash, he finally found the Death Note. He put it inside his school bag and quickly left the house, bidding his mother goodbye. Cold sweat trickled across his back, staining his white uniform shirt before he could even reach school. His heart was thumping furiously against his chest as a thought ran through his mind: Is he a murderer now? What power does the notebook have?
“Han, you all right?”
Yixing’s gentle voice made Luhan jump in his seat. He scrambled to zip up his bag before pasting a wide smile across his face.
“Yeah, I’m just fine. What’s up?”
He suddenly realized that the classroom had gotten silent all of a sudden and his voice echoed through the concrete walls, obnoxiously loud. Luhan cursed in his head because all eyes were on him at the moment.
“My office. After school,” Mr. Lee said sternly before turning back to the whiteboard.
Luhan inwardly groaned and buried his face in his arms, ignoring Yixing’s pats on his back.
“You sure you don’t need me to accompany you?” Yixing asked, eyebrows furrowing across his forehead. “I mean, that’s Mr. Lee. He made a move on you couple of weeks ago, didn’t he? We should have reported him to the school director.”
Luhan’s face turned sour. “We probably should, but if the news got out, it will ruin my dad’s business.”
“But what if-”
“Xing,” Luhan cut his friend off, causing the other to frown deeper, if that was even possible. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, okay? If he dared to even touch me, I’ll kick at his crotch or something. I should get going now. See you tomorrow!”
Before Yixing could utter a single word, Luhan took off, leaving his best friend in the middle of the hallway. Truthfully, he wished Yixing was with him but he needed to do this by himself. Besides, he already had a plan.
Luhan knocked at the door of the teacher’s office. He pushed it open after waiting for a few seconds, startling the room’s inhabitant.
“Oh. Oh, Luhan,” Mr. Lee breathed out, sweat dripping from his face as he tried to make himself presentable. “Y-You came.”
Luhan scrunches his nose in revolt. If there was one person in this world who deserved to die more than anyone, it was the sick bastard in front of him. He clutched at his bag tightly, thinking of a certain notebook hidden in it.
The middle-aged man stumbled across the room as he made his way towards Luhan. Luhan resisted the urge to punch him as he gritted out, “I’m sorry for not paying attention in your class today.”
“No, it’s okay,” the teacher said, his breath foul and stinking even from a mile away. “I just want to see you, Luhan. You’re so pretty, so beautiful-”
“Stop it!” Luhan jerked away when the man began groping him at places he didn’t even want to imagine. “Don’t touch me!”
“Come here, Luhan. Don’t you dare go against your teacher or I’ll have to report you.” Mr. Lee approached him again and Luhan began to panic. He slung his bag at the teacher as hard as he could, causing the man to double over in pain. Then he fled, running away as fast as possible with tears threatening to spill out of his eyes.
The sun was already setting as he hid in one of the classrooms, trying to gather his wits. He waited until Mr. Lee came out of his office. The man looked grumpy as ever and Luhan had never hated a person so much in his life. He watched from the window of the classroom as Mr. Lee made his way towards his car. Taking out the Death Note, Luhan carefully wrote down a name and then added “car accident” as an afterthought.
In less than a minute after that, the scene that unfolded right before his eyes stirred something inside him. Luhan watched with a small smile on his face as a group of passers-by huddled in front of the school gate, fussing over a certain car being rammed by a timber truck.
Luhan held the black notebook tight in his hand and took a deep breath. The smoggy air never tasted so sweet before.
ii.
“Hey, Luhan,” Yixing suddenly said over his lunch, causing Luhan to quirk an eyebrow as he munched his favorite omurice.
“What.”
“Don’t you think it’s weird?”
“What is?”
Yixing was silent for a long while and Luhan had to snap his fingers in front of the other’s face to make him return to earth. “Sorry,” Yixing murmured sheepishly. “So, as I was saying, the world seems so weird now.”
“Yeah?” Luhan prompted, waiting for his friend to continue.
“I’ve noticed this ever since Mr. Lee’s death a week ago,” Yixing whispered, hunching over his lunchbox. “It’s like, somehow the world has gotten more peaceful. I hardly see crime news on TV these days.”
“Well,” Luhan said, trying to refrain himself from smiling. “Isn’t that a good thing? The world is finally a peaceful place. We should be thankful.”
Yixing stared at him. “Now this is getting weirder, especially hearing that from you.”
“Hey!”
Yixing laughed as he tried to stop Luhan from poking chopsticks at his sides.
Luhan dropped his bag at the foot of his bed and turned on the TV. He pulled a drawer located at the bottom of the study table and removed its contents. Then he carefully lifted the plywood plank, revealing a familiar notebook at the base of the drawer. He beamed as he took it out and flipped through the pages, now full with names of people from various races and nationalities. He took a seat in front of the TV, eyes glued to the news channel and a pen ready in his hand.
“I see you’ve done quite a lot.”
Luhan turned his head so quickly his neck made a popping sound. His eyes widened at the sight before him and he screamed, falling onto the carpeted floor of his room. He stared, blinking a few times to make sure he was not dreaming.
“Why are you so surprised?” The creature in front of him spoke again. Its voice was deep, thick as the haze that veiled Beijing in its wake. It looked more like a shadow than an entity, Luhan noted. However, the most prominent feature about the creature was its scarlet eyes that seemed to bore deep into Luhan’s soul, and its face. Half of its face looked like it had been burned, showing dirty white skeleton and sharp teeth that formed a permanent smile on the right side of the face. The left side of the creature’s face was stretched with smooth tanned skin that looked almost flawless under the crepuscular light of Luhan’s room. Its dark hair was long, unkempt, and there were a few wild strands that covered the creature’s right eye.
“W-Who-what are you?” Luhan managed to choke out as the creature stared down at him.
“My name is Kai,” the creature said, speaking slowly. “I’m a Death God, and the previous owner of the Death Note.”
“A Death God?” Luhan whispered, glancing at the open notebook on his table. “So this is a real deal after all.”
“Of course it is,” Kai said, almost scoffing. He walked to the table lazily and took the notebook. “You gave these people a taste of hell and only now you realize that this is a real deal? Humans are so complicated!”
“What is the trade-off for using the notebook? Do I give my soul to you or something?” Luhan asked as he pushed himself up.
Kai stared at him in almost-disbelief. “Where did you get that idea? I dropped this notebook in the human world, so it’s a property of the human who found it. It’s yours now.”
“Are you kidding me? There’s no price for using it?” Luhan was starting to get excited as adrenaline pumped through his system. His eyes followed Kai’s movement closely, still cautious of the Death God.
“It’s as I said earlier,” Kai replied nonchalantly, folding his black wings neatly across his back. “However, I’ll have to mention that when you die, I’ll be the one who’s gonna write your name. And when you die, your soul will go to neither Heaven nor Hell. Such thing doesn’t exist for you the moment you started using the Death Note. And since you touched the book, you’re the only one who could see and hear me. Be flattered.”
Luhan searched Kai’s face for any sign of lies. It seemed that the Death God was telling the truth. Luhan didn’t actually care as long as the Death Note worked for him.
“Deal,” he said, snatching the notebook from Kai’s hand. Then he looked up at Kai. “I have one question for you, Kai. Why did you drop the notebook in the human world in the first place?”
The left side of the Death God’s face quirked up, an eerie smile quickly materializing over the expanse of his skin. “Because I was bored.”
Luhan blinked. “Come again?”
“I was bored. Death Gods don’t have much to do, you know. We mainly sleep and eat rotten food all day. Humans are interesting creatures so I might as well entertain myself by letting my notebook fall into the human world.” Kai’s gaze fixed on Luhan. “And it just happened to land in this city, and again, it just happened to be you who found it. Don’t think you’re special or anything. It was all pure coincidence.”
Luhan let a smirk grace his face as he listened to Kai. “It was fate. No, let me rephrase that. This is fate, not just coincidence.”
“Enlighten me, human.”
“Call me Luhan,” Luhan said as he took a seat at the edge of his bed. “As I said, this is not a mere coincidence. The notebook has the power to wipe off everything evil in this world. With my judgment, I’m going to purify this world from all crimes and wrongdoings. When I got the notebook, I thought, ‘Ah, it’s got to be me. No one else will be able to do it as well as I do.’ Then I’ll create a utopia, a new world. A world so clean and so unadulterated, and guess what, Kai? I’m going to be the God of the New World.”
The room was flooded with orange rays of late sunlight that got through the loose blinds draped over the windows. Kai stood behind the ceiling-high bookshelf, unmoving as Luhan stared up at him. Then as if a bomb had just exploded, a shrill laughter cut through the thick atmosphere of the room.
“As expected,” Kai wheezed between his laughter, his broad shoulders still shaking. “This is going to be fun. Humans are so interesting!”
Luhan just smiled. “Enjoy your stay here, Kai.”
iii.
It had been a month since Luhan found the Death Note. He wiped out all those high-profile criminals that he found by hacking into the police’s databases. Then he started to write the names of corrupt politicians and basically every single person he deemed bad. Eventually he began to gain recognition as a mysterious being that possessed supernatural powers. He was dubbed ‘Killer’, both by the party that supported his acts and the party that resented him for playing God.
Luhan didn’t really care.
However, a certain person who was known as L began to shatter Luhan’s perfect world. Luhan was sauntering across Beijing’s business district when the LED displays attached to the tall buildings stopped showing advertisements. All of a sudden, a row of block letters saying ‘Special Worldwide Announcement’ rolled over the screen. Luhan stopped his strides, and so did the people around him. All of them were whispering to one another, pointing towards the LED displays around them.
A few seconds later, the image of a young man clad in suit began to show. He stared into the screen, gaze sharp and precise. A nameplate that read ‘Huang Zitao’ stood proudly in front of him. Then the man started speaking.
“My name is Huang Zitao,” he began, voice crisp and clear. “I’m a private detective, otherwise known as L. I don’t usually show my face in public like this but I have to prove to someone that I’m real. I think everyone knows about Killer. Right now, I’m working with the police to catch Killer.”
The crowd began to murmur. A man suddenly said, “Why would you want to catch Killer? He’s the definition of justice!” His sudden outburst was followed by the others, “But he’s killing people! That is not right!”
Luhan watched the whole scene with slight amusement. Kai chuckled gleefully, “Look at these humans. They’re fighting over you now, Luhan.”
Luhan stared at the huge screen in front of him. A sudden sense of power filled him to the brim. He reached into his pocket, taking out a pen and a piece of paper.
“Huh? Is that a page from the Death Note?” Kai questioned, eyebrows twitching up. “Wait, are you gonna kill this guy here?”
Luhan didn’t say anything. He clicked his pen, pretending to jot down a note. Eyes maneuvering between the screen and the paper, he carefully wrote down each character of Zitao’s name. When he was done, he checked his watch. 39 seconds, 38 seconds, 37 seconds…
Zitao cleared his throat and continued despite the slight chaos, “We’re still investigating Killer’s modus operandi. Interpol is planning to-”
4 seconds, 3 seconds…
Suddenly, Zitao’s face contorted in pain. One of his hands flew to his chest and he wheezed in an attempt to breath. A few men huddled in front of the camera, blocking the view for a few seconds. Zitao collapsed face first onto the table. The crowd watching from the middle of the plaza gasped and some of the ladies began to scream in terror as the men carried Zitao away. The screen went blank.
“An impressive show,” Kai hummed thoughtfully. Luhan smirked, putting away his pen and paper. He was about to walk away when one of the men watching suddenly cried out, “Hey, look at the screen!”
Luhan whipped his head. The blank screen had been replaced with a white background. A huge letter ‘L’ stood in the middle, causing Luhan to frown. He barely heard Kai muttering beside him, “What now?”
“Hi, this is L,” a squeaky, almost cartoonish voice boomed through the loudspeakers. “Huang Zitao is not the real L. He is a decoy. He’s actually a criminal on a death row and his profile had been kept from the public until now. This is the real L speaking.” The voice paused for a moment, the sound of water being poured and drank echoing in the background loudly. “I’m here to challenge Killer. I don’t think he should be playing the role of God by killing people, even if those people are bad people. I don’t know what he’s thinking but I’m sure there’s more to this than just killing criminals and corrupts. Killer, if you’re listening now, I’m challenging you. Kill me right now, if you can. Do it!”
A gasp reverberated through the city, followed by the buzzing murmurs of the citizens watching the live announcement. Luhan clenched his jaw, feeling intimidated and insulted by the sudden bout. But he couldn’t do anything even if he wanted to.
“Oh, who is this guy, Luhan?” Kai suddenly said, grinning widely. “This sounds fun.”
“You can’t do it, right, Killer? It seems to me that you have to at least see my face if you want to kill me. That’s quite a disadvantage, if I might add.”
Luhan’s face flushed. He’d never felt so embarrassed before.
“Listen, Killer. As long as I’m alive, I promise that someday I’ll catch you. Justice will prevail itself.”
Just like that, the broadcast ended.
“What are you gonna do now, Luhan?” Kai asked as he hovered around the room. “This L guy just openly declared a war on you.”
Luhan paced back and forth in his room, trying to sort out his mind. He couldn’t think of anything. “How did he know that I’m in Beijing? Of all places!”
“Must be some genius detective, that guy.”
“I’ll have to find out who this guy is,” Luhan muttered, more to himself. “Then I’ll kill him using the Death Note. That’s it.”
Kai whistled wistfully. “Not gonna be easy.”
“Do you have a way? Kai, you’re a Death God. Figure something out.”
“Well,” Kai murmured, barely audible to Luhan’s ears. “There is a way. But I doubt you’ll want to do it.”
“Tell me.”
“I can lend you the power of my eyes. The Death God’s Eye. With this, you’ll be able to see the lifespan and the real names of the people around you. But there’s a catch.” Kai grinned. “Your own lifespan will be reduced to half if you agreed to have the Eye. Quite tricky.”
Luhan’s own breathing seemed loud in his ears as he whispered, “You can see my lifespan, right, Kai?”
“Sure I can.”
“Then can you tell me-”
“Can’t tell you,” Kai sniffed. “It’s a rule.”
Luhan plopped down on his bed. “You’re basically useless.”
Kai rolled his eyes. “You told me to enjoy my stay here and that’s what I’m doing. Geez, I just don’t understand humans.”
After a few beats, Luhan was the one who broke the silence. “Give me that Eye, Kai.”
Kai sighed weakly. “I don’t understand humans.”
iv.
Spring in Beijing had always been cool and windy. Luhan liked spring. He especially loved looking at the blooming flowers. To Luhan, the flowers signified a beginning; the born of a new world, a new renaissance. As he sat there, in the park, with plastic cups of bubble milk tea in each hand, he wondered about a lot of things. The ice cubes were melting but Luhan paid no heed to that.
Luhan’s milk tea was already half when Yixing finally showed up. Luhan shoved another cup of lukewarm milk tea in Yixing’s direction and the latter took it without a word, sucking on the beverage quietly.
“Are you busy?” Luhan asked, toying with the straw of his drinks. “Spring break has just started.”
“Yeah, a little,” Yixing replied. He paused for a while to munch on the chewy tapioca pearl. Luhan waited, peeking at his friend under his eyelashes. Yixing gulped once before taking another sip. “I was called by the police. Said they needed my help in investigating the new case. The chief officer is a young guy who transferred from Guangzhou. He personally asked for my assistance. Since dad gave his assurance too, I couldn’t say no.”
“Wait, the chief officer is a new guy?” Luhan turned in interest, looking at Yixing.
“Yeah. Didn’t I tell you that my dad retired a few weeks ago?”
“No.”
Yixing groaned. “Been meaning to tell you that. I must have forgotten again. Sorry.” Then he fished out his phone from his pocket, thumb dancing on the screen before showing a candid photo of a young man to Luhan. “His name is Wu Yifan. Isn’t he cute?”
“Yeah, he is. But he looks a bit scary,” Luhan laughed as he peered at the screen. “Say, Yixing, you’ve been helping the police with crime cases and whatnots, am I right? Do you mind telling me about the new case you’re working on?”
Yixing hesitated for a while, pondering. Then he nodded. “No, I don’t. I guess I could give you an overview. No harm in that.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “The new case is not like any other cases. It’s like dealing with a phantom.”
“A phantom?”
“Uh-huh.” A loud slurping noise materialized. It was starting to irritate Luhan. “A phantom. We don’t know who we’re dealing with. This person seems to be killing people without even having to get out of his house. It’s mindboggling.”
“You mean, the Killer person everyone’s talking about?” Luhan asked cautiously, a swell of pride blooming in him.
“Bingo.”
“But he’s killing bad people, isn’t he? The world will become a better place if he continues to do that.”
Yixing chuckled darkly. “It’s not about whether he’s killing bad people or innocent people. It’s a matter of life and death. Who gave him the right to judge, Han? His act puts him in the same flock as those Bad People he’s killing.”
Kai sneered. “Oh, he’s right.”
Luhan threw a glare at Kai’s direction, causing the latter to grin widely. Yixing, who was not aware of the exchange between Luhan and the Death God, continued, “Captain Wu, the chief officer, is determined to catch Killer. He’s quite ambitious.”
“Did you know about the live broadcast yesterday? Some weird guy seems as determined as your boss. He even challenged Killer to kill him on the spot! What a crazy bunch,” Luhan murmured softly, crumpling the empty plastic cup in his hand.
“L? He's on the investigation team too,” Yixing said. He seemed to regret telling Luhan that and quickly added, “I’d never seen him, though. He mainly only makes contacts with Captain Wu and those high-rank officers.”
“Hm,” Luhan hummed thoughtfully. “Killer could be anywhere in the world. I wonder how did L know that he’s in Beijing, of all places.”
“That’s because of his killing patterns, Han,” Yixing smiled. “You see, most of the criminals that Killer finished off were Chinese citizens. But still, China is a big country. Killer could be in Hunan or Guangzhou or even Shanghai but that’s not the case. It seems that small crime cases that were only reported in Beijing had become Killer’s targets too. But then, we weren’t still very sure. He could be in America, for God’s sake!”
Luhan swallowed thickly as he listened to Yixing. Kai’s piercing laughter was annoying the hell out of him but he couldn’t care less about the Death God. He made a grave mistake and the urge to kill L was bubbling inside of him like a hot magma waiting to erupt.
“Han, are you okay? You look pale,” Yixing’s concerned voice made Luhan jump. Luhan shook his head, urging Yixing to continue.
“The broadcast was actually aired in different parts of China at different times. Qingdao, Wuhan, Changsha, and then Beijing. In the first three places, nothing odd had been reported after the broadcast. However, in Beijing,” Yixing paused, causing Luhan to look at him in alarm. “Damn, I can’t get the last bubble out!”
Luhan wanted to fall flat on the ground as Yixing made a frustrated noise and finally gave up on that single tapioca bubble.
“Where was I? Oh, yes. In Beijing, there was a turning point. A huge one at that. I’d say it was luck and perhaps a bit of fate that caused such a big turn of event.” Yixing’s voice was quiet as he leaned in. “We immediately knew that Killer is in Beijing when Huang Zitao got killed as soon as he appeared as L.”
The silence enveloping the park was deafening. Luhan felt as if he had been sucked into a vortex and then dumped into the deepest, darkest abyss. His face flushed despite the cool breeze blowing past them. Kai stood behind them, unconcerned.
“Han,” Yixing suddenly said. “If you are Killer, what would you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you have a power like Killer's, would you use it to achieve your ambitions?”
Luhan’s gaze was directed towards the top of Yixing’s head. A series of numbers hovered over him, followed by the three characters of his friend’s name. He smiled, “You know me best, Xing. I’m sure you’d know the answer to your question.”
It was raining heavily when Yixing arrived at Beijing’s police headquarters. He shook the water droplets off his hair and quickly dried himself with a handkerchief. The building felt warm and welcoming but the warmth still failed to calm his racing heart. He made his way towards the main office of the building, relieved to find that the chief officer was still there.
Yixing cautiously knocked on the door, a golden nameplate that read ‘Wu Yifan’ gleaming under the fluorescent light. He stared at the nameplate, feeling a little out of place since he was so used to seeing his father’s name engraved on the rectangular block.
A muffled ‘Come in’ shook Yixing out of his reverie. He turned the knob and let himself in.
“Oh, Yixing, it’s you,” the man sitting behind a large oak table greeted him, voice slightly drained and exhausted. “It’s rare seeing you around this time. Do you have anything for me?”
Yixing cleared his throat. “Well, actually,” he paused, hesitation suddenly overtaking him.
“Please, take a seat,” Yifan said, gesturing towards the small couch in the room. “What’s the matter?”
Yixing looked thoughtful and Yifan could almost hear the gears in his brain working out possibilities and aftermath to the subject he was about to discuss. Yifan waited, listening to the concealed sound of the rain.
“I think I know Killer’s real identity.”
Yifan did not see that coming at all.
v.
Luhan and Yixing had been best friends since they started elementary school. People said they were a weird combo; how could the son of a police commissioner be friends with the son of a top entrepreneur? However, neither of them minded. They were comrades when it came to fending off Luhan’s bullies. They were brothers when it came to celebrating birthdays and graduation days. Luhan considered Yixing as family and Yixing didn’t think of him any less either. They knew each other inside out like a second skin.
When Yixing started helping the police with crime cases, Luhan felt like there was a drift between them. He realized he would never be like Yixing. He was a mere pretty face, waiting to wilt and wither like maple leaves at the end of autumn. He was tired of being treated like a princess by everyone around him. Luhan wanted something to hold on to. Perhaps some power, or authority over anything. The Death Note gave Luhan a new hope. He thought the idea of an ideal new world was noble and perfect. He didn’t expect to receive such feedback from his own best friend.
“Yixing is L. And he knows that I’m Killer.”
The words left Luhan’s lips albeit a bit shakily but there was so much certainty in his voice as he took a seat in front of his study table. His hair was a bit damp from the rain earlier but that didn’t bother him one bit. He stared at Kai, who was standing in the shadows of the room, looking bored and uninterested.
“Kai, are you not listening to me?”
“I heard you,” Kai said, yawning. “So what are you waiting for? Write his name in the book.”
Luhan seemed perplexed by the proposal. He turned away, staring at the black notebook on his table. It was almost full but the more names he wrote in, more pages would appear. That thing was truly diabolical, inexorable, and Luhan found that he could not escape from it.
“I-I can’t do that,” he whispered. “I can’t write Yixing’s name. He’s my best friend.”
“Boring,” Kai yawned again. “You just traded half of your lifespan for nothing, then.”
“Yeah? Are you going to write my name now?” Luhan challenged, cold lacing his voice as he stared up at Kai. For once, Kai stopped yawning and he maneuvered himself towards Luhan, amber eyes never leaving the boy. Luhan didn’t break his gaze either. From his peripheral vision, he saw Kai lifting a hand and he shut his eyes close as his body trembled in intense fear.
Kai held Luhan’s face, claws grazing the latter’s smooth skin dangerously. Luhan slowly opened his eyes when he heard Kai chuckling darkly.
“Nah, not today,” Kai murmured, returning to his original spot. “I know you’re going to keep me entertained. Humans are unpredictable, after all.”
“Then why don’t we throw a small party for you, Kai?” Luhan suggested once he regained his composure.
Kai cocked his head to one side. “What’s a party?”
“Oh, it involves exciting things,” Luhan said. “Yixing seems determined to catch me but I won’t go down without a fight. Neither of us will. I know Yixing.”
“Sounds interesting,” Kai drawled and started yawning again. “Count me in.”
“Be my guest,” Luhan murmured, finger tracing the smooth cover of the notebook. “But first, that Wu Yifan has to go.”
vi.
The school gymnasium looked deserted without the constant presence of students bustling in and out of it. It was Luhan’s private hideout; a place he’d always went to when he needed to think.
It was drizzling when he arrived that evening. The gymnasium seemed eerier when the sky cried like this. Pitter patters of raindrops leaking through pinprick holes in the building reverberated in Luhan’s ears. He loved the sound. The constant, uneventful rhythm reminded him of his own heartbeat. It made him feel alive this way.
“Han? Luhan?”
A gentle, familiar voice interrupted his train of thoughts. He turned, smiling when he saw Yixing padding towards the basketball court he was in. They stood facing each other in silence as Yixing eyed the ball tucked safely on Luhan’s hip.
“One-on-one?” Luhan prompted and started dribbling. Yixing grinned in response, body already hunching in reflex as he attempted to grab the ball from Luhan.
They played for a while, their loud voices echoing through the building. Yixing’s laughter mixed in with Luhan’s giggles when they fell all over each other in the middle of the court. They lay on the court, trying to catch their breaths.
“Haven’t played like this for a while,” Luhan said, squirming slightly to get a better look at his friend.
“Me too,” Yixing replied, eyes still shut tightly. “Feels so nice.”
Luhan hummed softly and sat up. His hand fiddled with his shoelaces before throwing a look over his shoulder. He didn’t realize that Yixing had been staring at him, an unrecognizable emotion swimming in his dark orbs.
“Tell me, Xing,” Luhan started, voice almost inaudible. It was raining heavily at the moment and Luhan repeated his words a little louder to fight with the harsh rain sound. “How did you know?”
“What?”
“Stop pretending already!” Luhan’s voice raised a few octaves higher, startling himself at his sudden outburst. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew that I’ve been killing people, am I right, Yixing?”
Yixing slowly peeled himself off the floor and sat cross-legged, facing Luhan. “Listen, Han. I wished I didn’t have to find out. I wished-I prayed that it wasn’t you. I didn’t want Killer to be you.”
“But Killer is me. I am Killer, Yixing.”
“I hoped I was wrong,” Yixing whispered. “For once, I wanted my intuition to be completely false. But the more I thought about this, the more I tried to steer my thoughts away from you, your face just kept coming back. Oh, how I wished that I wasn’t part of the investigation team.” Yixing sniffled. “You were too obvious, Han.”
“No,” Luhan said, standing up. “It’s because you’re that good. You’re a genius young detective, a pride of the country. And then there’s me; the helpless heir of a large company who can’t even gain his own father’s trust.”
“Why are you saying this?”
“I’m saying that I can actually be useful when people want me to,” Luhan smirked. “See, Yixing, I’ve been wiping out criminals and corrupt politicians all over the world. What did you even do?”
“I can’t believe you’d have this kind of thoughts,” Yixing mumbled, almost to himself. “But how, Luhan? You can’t just kill people as you sit around in your room.”
Luhan laughed, his voice booming across the hall. “I did exactly that!” Then he walked over to the benches and Yixing watched as he retrieved a black notebook from one of the seats. Yixing frowned in confusion.
“What does a notebook have anything to do with all this?” Yixing questioned.
“You don’t get it, Xing,” Luhan said, turning over the pages. Yixing’s eyes widened when he saw long lists of familiar names being scrawled onto the pages. He stared at Luhan, who just smirked at him. “This notebook started everything.”
“I don’t understand,” Yixing whispered as he wiped a hand over his face.
“You see, Xing, when I write someone’s name in this book, that person will die within 40 seconds,” Luhan explained, tucking the book to his chest. “You witnessed it yourself, remember? When Huang Zitao died during the live broadcast. I was so mad when you said you’d definitely catch me.”
Yixing’s expression was calm as Luhan finished speaking. A small, almost fond smile stretched on his face and he muttered, “I said that, huh?”
Luhan whipped out a pen from his pocket. He paused, eyes lingering to the diminishing numbers hovering above Yixing’s head.
“What, you gonna write my name now?” Yixing asked, his tone mocking.
Luhan’s mouth turned downwards in distaste. “Can’t have you around any longer, Xing Xing.”
Luhan quickly scrawled Yixing’s name on the parched page of the book before the latter could stop him. Yixing reached out, hurling himself at Luhan and punching his face in the process. Both of them stumbled onto the ground, throwing fists at each other. But then, there was nothing Yixing could do. Suddenly, he curled up on the floor, a hand clutching at his own chest as he tried to breathe. Luhan panted, spitting out the blood from his mouth.
“Goodbye, L,” Luhan said, his voice devoid of any emotion as he stared down at Yixing.
Yixing’s face turned blue. He felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly. He scrambled on the floor, hands finding purchase around Luhan’s legs. He clutched at the fabric of the other’s pants tightly and choked out, “Y-You’re wrong, Han. I’m sorry, but I-I’m not L.”
Luhan’s eyes widened, hands shaking when Yixing’s grip around his legs ceased. As Yixing’s body fell to the ground with a loud thud, Luhan realized that he’d been surrounded by a group of uniformed men.
His eyes went wild as he searched the group of police around him, trying to look for the real L. ‘Not Zhou Mi, not Jin Minxi, not Jackson Wang, not-’ he scanned the group. Then as if a bucket of cold water had been splashed on his face, he froze when he saw Yifan proceeding towards him cautiously.
‘Impossible!’ he thought but then, his eyes flickered towards the top of Yifan’s head. ‘No…’ Luhan gasped. A name that was definitely not Wu Yifan hovered over his head.
Li Jiaheng.
Luhan screamed, startling everyone around him. Yifan gestured towards his team, ordering them to stay still.
“Luhan,” Yifan said, lowering his gun. “I want you to stay calm and put your hands at the back of your head. Please do not do anything foolish.”
Luhan’s tears streamed down his cheeks as he stared at Yixing’s dead body, sprawled on the cold floor. He killed his friend, his best friend! He quickly wiped his tears with the sleeve of his shirt. A sudden wave of rage surged through him as he glared at Yifan.
“So, you’re L, huh? Li Jiaheng,” Luhan spat out, clenching his fists tightly.
Yifan was startled for a moment but he immediately regained his composure. “Just turn yourself in, Luhan.”
“No! You can’t stop me!” Luhan shouted, hands diving into his pockets to search for his pen. His eyes roamed about to look for the Death Note, but it was gone. Luhan panicked when Yifan almost got to him. He did the first thing that came to his mind: he ran away.
The rest of the team started to chase after Luhan but Yifan held them back. “He won’t be able to go far. Surround this area.”
As the pursuing team filed out into the rain, Yifan walked over to Yixing’s still body. He kneeled down and gently cradled the boy in his arms. The stoic mask on his face crumbled to pieces and he buried his face in the other’s cold chest, tears rolling down his cheeks silently.
Kai stood at the edge of the rooftop. His hair was dripping wet, and so did his entire body but that didn’t seem to faze him. His eyes were fixed on a single person running across the alley.
“You lost, Luhan,” Kai murmured as he flipped open the Death Note in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, a claw protruded from his index finger. He carefully traced the page of the notebook with his sharp claw, drawing stroke after stroke of two characters of a name. Lu. Han.
“These past few weeks had been very enjoyable, thanks to you.”
Kai slammed the notebook close as he watched the figure below him collapse and writhe under the rain.
fin.
- idek ok idk what is this Thing tbvh
- title came from this movie.
- thank you for reading!