Choices

Choices: A death Note Fan-fiction
By Aurora Moon

I often depend only on spell-check, grammar check programs due to the fact that I often don't have people who are willing to beta my stuff.

so if some part seems weird, then forgive me! ^^;;

I also forgot to mention in my author's notes at the bottom of last chapter that Nu wasn't an original character of mine. She's very unfamiliar to those who mainly watches the Anime instead of reading the manga. And even in the Manga, she didn't make a lot of appearances at all.

If her abilities seems a little too much... well, in the Death Note: How to read book, it was mentioned that she was the second most powerful shinigami next to the King himself. So I couldn't help but think-- What sort of abilities would the king have?

So I just compounded on that and gave her such abilities here. I also imagined Nu as being half the age that the King was... so being "young", she would do certain things just a little bit better than the King, like that time and space thing. Naturally, the King's still stronger than her in other respects. :P

Edit: changed some things to make it flow better. and corrected some more spelling errors that my spellcheck didn’t catch the first time around.
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black insect eyes watched from afar as Ryku started tossing the newly made Death Notes out into the wild world of the humans.

and when the eyes were sure that Ryku wasn't looking anymore, the shadowy figure then swooped down and grabbed one of the still-falling Death notes and flew off.

The said eyes belonged to an Shinigami, one that looked like some sort of bizarre giant white Mantis-like figure wearing an female human mask. She had four human-like arms right where four bug-like legs should had been. however her hind legs were insect-like, but she managed to be able to walk up right on it all the same. Her transept, rainbow-like wings fluttered in the air.

She thought about what The King had told her, regarding the bet. He had told her this was an chance for her to redeem herself regarding the crimes that she had committed. If things went in his favor regarding the bet, she would finally be free once again.

That by itself was pretty good, but the real icing on the cake had been when he told her that she would be not only be free again, but actually allowed back into the world of the living. She blissfully recalled the last time she had been in the world of the living.

Back then, she didn't have one of those modern death notes... but instead had an payarus scroll to write in. She often occupied the land called Egypt for many reasons. First off, she liked how the humans had worshiped her every time she would "accidentally" drop her death scroll in front of them. They would offer her so many kinds of delicious meat to eat and always did their best to make her feel like an goddess. The funny thing was that they regarded her as The god of all bugs, especially the Locusts which they saw as the very symbol of death itself. They would worship her, and then plead with her to get rid of all the bugs that so plagued their crops, their livestock and their lives. If they even became desperate enough, they would actually sacrifice one of their own for her to eat...

her true mouth hidden behind her human-like, built-in mask practically salivated at the thought of eating human flesh again. She really loved many various different meats, but she had to say that the human meat was truly the best of them all. For one thing, it not only tasted delicious, but actually helped add on to her lifespan better than the meat of animals as well. She never figured out why, but she wasn't the type to knock a good thing.

That was actually related to why The king had locked her up. You see, when she returned her own home realm, she had stayed there long enough to get withdrawals from not eating meat. It was then she started to wonder how the other Shinigami tasted...

The other Shinigami had tasted awful, like 50-year old dust. but she found that it increased her own lifespan by far much than any human beings could had done for her, whenever it be writing down their name or eating their flesh. Just by eating one of them, her lifespan was that of 1,500 years afterwards.

It was then she realized: Why waste her time writing down the name of humans when she could get instant gratification eating others of her own kind, no matter how foul they tasted?

So she lured some gullible shinigami away to their doom, and would eat them until there was nothing left of them. But alas, she had been found out, and imprisoned for her crime.

She shook her head, as to rid herself of her thoughts.

Why dwell on such things? She was free now, and she had to perform an duty in exchange for her freedom.

~~~~~~~~~

She flew around until she spotted who she was looking for.... An human by the name Misa Amane.

She then sat down on top of an building, as she watched the human walk by. She then scratched her head when she noticed Misa's lifespan.

"No, that's completely impossible!" She whispered to herself. She then floated downwards right besides Misa to take a better look.

Well, there was no mistaking it.... Misa's lifespan was actually at zero, and had an slash though it!

"How strange. You should be dead by now. why aren't you dead?" She spoke to Misa, as if the human could hear her. Misa didn't hear her at all, and just kept on walking.

The slash though the zero could only mean that somebody like the King must had “frozen” her lifespan so that Misa could act and think like any living thing without literally dropping dead on the spot. By putting an slash though the Zero, it was like giving the once-dead girl an infinite lifespan. But why?

She paused as something occurred to her.

Wait. Didn't The king say something about this? Something about this world currently being some artificial reality in which the said humans who had died in the main reality was placed in this one to restart their lives as pawns of some gigantic game?

She then nodded to herself. Yes, that did make sense somewhat. If those humans had died in an past life, then it'd be impossible to give them back the lifespans that they had before they died. so therefore they had their lifespans “frozen” in this reality to keep them from dying instantly soon as they started to exist again.

The Insect Shinigami couldn’t help but feel slightly creeped out. The dead wasn’t supposed to come back to the land of the living… it wasn’t just right at all. And she was supposed to shadow something like that (undead?) girl?

To be honest, She didn't quite know what her role here was supposed to be. All she knew was that she was supposed to take the place of another Shinigami who had watched over this human. Her name had been Rem, it seems. Rem had been completely so foolish enough to have fallen in love with this human. Rem had died for this human, giving this human all of her lifespan in the process. Of course that didn’t explain how This Misa had died so soon then… she should had lived for hundreds of years on Rem’s lifespan.

But then again Humans were fragile.. They could die easily if you happened to bite an limb off or something.

The insect shinigami couldn't help but chuckle at such stupidity.

The king didn't want to resurrect such a foolish Shinigami, knowing how unstable an pawn Rem could be. So he had chosen her instead. Not that she blamed him... if she was in the same situation she wouldn't had brought the shinigami back neither.

She realized that Misa had almost gotten away from her while she had been lost in thought, and hurriedly caught up to Misa.

She then trailed behind her, following her all the way up to some house in the neighborhood.
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"I'm home!" Misa cheerfully called out, as she closed the door behind her.

"Welcome home!" Her parents greeted her as she walked into the living room. Her little brother had already gotten home before her and were now playing on his Dreamcast in front of the TV.

She smiled at this familiar scene, feeling extremely happy for having such a family.

A while ago in the middle of the night, she just suddenly realized how lucky she was to have such a family. She had this vivid nightmare in which she witnessed her family being killed off by some serial killer... and in that nightmare she had experienced this intense sense of loss. she didn't remember much about the rest of the dream, expect that some man had killed that serial killer for her. But the part where her family had been butchered before her eyes.... that stood out so vividly.

Her parents had heard her loud wailing that night and rushed into her bedroom to wake her up, and she had been so happy that they were safe, and that it had just been an nightmare...

She hadn’t realized how much little her own life would mean to her if she didn't have her loved ones like that until she started having those nightmares. Oh yes, she was very lucky indeed.

She walked up the stairs to her own bedroom, and then started peeling off her school uniform so that she could change into her cute Gothic outfit.

She was going to go out with her friends today, and she wouldn't be back until late night. Today was Saturday after all, and she wanted to have some fun.

She smiled to herself as she planned out the girls night out with her friends.

Some shopping, then maybe do some karaoke with some cute guys, and help her best friend get an boyfriend that way. If she was lucky herself, she might even meet the man of her dreams tonight...

She giggled to herself as she mentally shooed away her daydreams, and turned around to pick up her black lacy shirt.

It was then she noticed something strange on her bed. It was an black notebook that seemingly had only appeared a few seconds ago. She was sure that she didn't see it before...

"Huh, what's this?" She spoke aloud as she picked it up.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eyes she saw an white thing move. She turned around to see what it was, and then she screamed.

IT had to be some sort of pervert in an insect costume. That was the only explanation she could think of.

"Who are you?! how did you get into here?!" She screamed as she grabbed her bed sheet off the bed to cover herself up. She hoped that her parents would bust into the room and chase him away.

Sure enough, they did. But what she didn't expect was the fact that her parents actually ran right though the insect creature as if it was nothing but a ghost.

Her parents ran to her side, asking her what was wrong.

Misa blinked, shocked by what had happened. She couldn't help but start to shake violently, as she shuttered: "Uh... I was sure there was a pervert in here... I swore I saw him clear as day...."

The Insect laughed as it spoke to her "Don't worry, I won't harm you. I have no interest in young girls, being female myself. And oh by the way, your parents won't be able to see me... unless they were to touch that death note you have in your hands."

Her father had gotten up at the mention of an possible pervert in her bedroom, and quickly started looking around the room. He searched the closets, under the bed and even checked if Misa's windows were forced open. He found no signs of entry.

he then looked at his wife, shaking his head.

Misa's mother then looked at Misa worriedly. "Are you sure you didn't imagine it? There's nobody here."

Misa whimpered.

Oh god, she was losing her mind. She just had to be.

She then hung her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, mama. That's just I saw something move in the corner of my eyes... and it looked so real.. ”

"Well, as long as you're okay..." Her Father said awkwardly, as he suddenly realized his daughter’s state of undress. he hurriedly walked out of the room to give her and his wife some privacy.

She heard his little brother ask their father what happened outside the door.

"Just an false alarm. it's nothing." daddy had said outside the door, and then her brother mumbled that Misa had been acting really strangely lately. Dad hushed him, and there was the sounds of steps going down the stairs.

Misa's mother looked at her with an strange, concerned expression. "You know... I can't help but notice that you've been acting strangely lately. You seem to be having nightmares lately... is there anything you want to tell me? You can tell your mama anything, you know."

Misa then got up to sit on her bed, while still clutching her bedsheets around her body.

She did her best to ignore the insect thing, as it was currently watching her with interest.

"It's nothing... that's just those nightmares of mine has made me a little jumpy." Misa tearfully said. "You just have no idea how real it seems to me at times. Well... it just makes me scared that something might happen to you and the rest of the family. I love you, mama. I don't want anything to happen to you at all. And sometimes those nightmares makes me scared that something is going to happen to me too."

"Oh, Misa darling." her mother said, giving her an worried look. She then embraced her daughter, rubbing her hands soothingly over Misa's back. "Nothing's going to happen to us, okay? In fact Daddy has a gun downstairs, so we're armed against anybody who would dare to break into our house."

Misa hugged her back, feeling better. "Yeah, you do have a point there. Thanks, mama. ”

Her mother smiled at her daughter, and replied: “ Well, of course I do. What’s mothers for? ”

She then turned to leave the room. She paused as something occurred to her., she looked back at her daughter and said: “ Isn’t today the day that you made plans to go out with your girlfriends? Are you sure you’re okay to go out? Maybe you should stay in today? ”

Misa managed an feeble smile. “ Um, I’m sure I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m crazy or something! ” with that, she let out an weak laugh.

Her mother just gave her another worried glance as she left Misa to get dressed.

Misa then eye balled the strange insect thing in the room as she got dressed.

"Is it true? am I going crazy?" She wondered aloud.

The giant insect with the human face then bowed formally before her. it then said: "Do allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Khepfi. You might not know this. but in an place called Egypt I was once worshiped as the God of all insects. But around here, I believe you might just call me an... Shinigami?"

Misa looked skeptical at this as she managed to pull up her skirt over her hips. "God? But I thought you said you were an female? Oh dear god, I'm talking to some sort of mirage. Yeah, I'm definitely insane now."

Khepfi laughed. "Back then, the humans all believed that most insects were male... and therefore I had to be male as well. Not very smart of them I must say. But I didn't care whenever they thought I was male. As long as they worshiped me and offered me meat on the altars. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to watch over you, even if you don't worship me or give me meat."

"Assuming you're real, what would an Eygptain goddess want with me? I'm just a human girl." Misa wondered, as she buttoned up her lacy shirt.

Khepfi pointed at the death note that Misa had dropped on the floor. "That book you held before? That is called an Death Note, and if you write the name of an person you have in mind into it, the said person will die. I'm giving that to you so that you can kill in order to protect those who you love."

Misa then looked slightly horrified. "But.... I couldn't kill anybody at all! I'm not a killer at all. that's... just wrong!"

Khepfi then picked up the death note and held it out to Misa. "But those nightmares you've been having? They're going to come true tonight. Just now, I looked at your parents' lifespans, and theirs are counting down to Zero as we speak. I'm here to help you make sure that your visions never come true. You don't want to have your parents killed, right?"

Misa impulsely took the Death note back into her hands. Her legs started to shake slightly as the shinigami’s words sunk in.

"No... that can't be! they're just nothing but bad dreams! You're just some figment of my imagination that plays upon my worst fears.... All I need is a good shrink, and you’ll just go away! Nothing‘s going to happen to my parents. " Misa cried out, trying to convince herself.

Khepfi tilted her head. "It's up to you. if you don't want to kill, then that's your choice. But why don't you stay home tonight? If nothing happens, then you're free to dismiss me as nothing more than your imagination. But if it happens...then you know what I said is true. You don't want to take a chance with your family's safety, right? You do have the power to protect your family thanks to that death note."

Misa looked down at the book in her hands. It felt so solid, so real in her hands. And maybe it was just her imagination, but there did seem to be a sort of power radiating from it. What Khepfi said did make sense. What was the harm in staying home tonight? There would always be other nights to go out with her friends anyway. Her family was far more important.
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Her parents had been surprised that she had chosen to stay home tonight instead of going out with friends like planned, but they didn't object. In fact, her mother seemed pleased that Misa had taken her suggestion to stay home tonight.

It was actually kind of nice... they had dinner together at the table, and talked about their days. which was kind of rare, due to the fact that things were usually so hectic at the amane household. It seemed corny, but it was little things like this, that made her feel closer to her family.

and then they watched TV together on the sofa while they talked about normal, everyday things such as how overdramatic the soap opera characters were acting.

It just all felt so normal and mundane (in that nice way), that Misa was starting to think that Khepfi was wrong. That there wasn’t any danger to her family at all.

But then it happened.

There was a loud noise in the back of the house, sounding as if somebody had broken an window and were breaking into the house.

“ What was that?! ” Misa’s mother cried out, as she automatically pulled her children close to herself.

Her father rushed to get the gun.... but the gun was gone.

And then HE came out of nowhere, holding daddy's gun. He laughed a little too much, as he demanded to know where all the valuables were at.

Misa couldn't feel but feel a cold chill go down her back as the burglar's face was burned into her mind.
She shouldn't know this stranger's name at all, but somehow she did. the vivid nightmares she had... of this wretched person causing an bloodbath in her own home. The nightmare of her having to testify against this man, only for the courts to let him go because there wasn't enough evidence.

No... she couldn't let that happen at all. She couldn't bear to go though such pain again!

She felt the skin of the death note pressed up against her flesh, as if it was telling her to do it. She slowly pulled it out from under her shirt, and reached for an pen while this criminal wasn't looking.

She wrote quickly as she could, but the criminal noticed what she was doing.

"Hey! what the hell are you doing there?" He reached over to grab Misa and roughly yanked her upwards on her feet.

"Nothing, I was just writing down something." Misa answered honestly, her heart pounding faster by the minute. Her own parents cried out for the man to let their daughter go.

"Is that so? well you don't mind me looking then, eh?" The man leered at her, with one outstretched demanding hand.

"Oh, not at all." Misa calmly said, as she handed over the Death note.

The man's eyes widened as he saw what was written down: 'Isamu Satou: Dies of an accident while fleeing the Amane household.'

"What the fuck is this?! Is this some kind of joke? How did you know my fucking name?!" The man screamed as he waved the death note around.

The look in Misa's eyes as she stared him down couldn't help but unnerve him even more.

"No, this is not a joke at all. As for how I knew your name... Did you know that I've actually had many nightmares about you murdering my family in cold blood? At first, I thought they were nothing but nightmares. “ Misa had an sad look on her face as she explained everything to the bulgar. But her sad expression turned to that one of determination and anger.

“ But now that I've seen your face, I now know that they were actually visions of things to come. I'm just simply stopping you from hurting my family! I won't let those visions come true if it’s the last thing I ever do!"

The baffled man couldn't help but take a few steps backwards as Misa walked towards him.

Her shocked family cried out for her to stop, that he could seriously kill her if she tried to provoke him any more.

Isamu the criminal then wondered what the fuck he was doing.

He was actually getting scared by an little girl, for fuck's sake! He had killed so many people without even batting an eye...and here he was going to let some spooky little blonde play mind games with him? Fuck no, he couldn't let this happen. His buddies would laugh at him!

He growled, as he lifted the shotgun in his hands towards Misa. The girl's parents cried out for him to stop, that they would give him anything if he would just stop pointing that thing at their little girl.

But then at the corner of his eyes he saw something large and white move. He whirled around, and screamed as he came face to face with a giant insect monster that was apparently wearing some sort of human mask. He blasted an huge hole in the monstrous thing, thinking that it would get rid of that monster for sure.

The holes in the insect's body quickly closed up, and then it actually laughed at him!

That was too much for an hardened criminal like him, so he decided the best thing was to just run the fuck out of the house, which he did.
However in his haste he failed to register the uneven rug in front of him and he tripped over it. as he fell down, his head connected with a nearby table. The hard impact caused a loud crunching noise, and that was the last thing he would ever feel.

As the criminal's head began to gush forth a pool of blood on the floor, Misa calmly turned around to face her stunned family.

"Well," She cheerfully said, "The good news is that I don't think I'll be having those nightmares again! But... I think we should call the police, ne?"

Khepfi then leaned towards Misa. "And here I thought you said you weren't going to kill at all?"

Misa then looked at the Shinigami. She replied, as her eyes moved to the criminal's body. "Well... it turns out that, if it's to protect my family....I guess I really would do such a thing after all."

Khepfi smiled.
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Khepfi choose to leave Misa and her family alone for a while as they had to deal with explaining things to the police about what happened.

She then flew upwards over the city, following the vehicle which carried the human criminal's corpse. She took in the city's sights, marveling at how things had changed over the time. there was bright, flashing signs and many other interesting sights.

Truly, things had changed so much since she last had been in the world of the living. But... she didn't mind at all. Things were just so interesting, and she thought that she was going to get along with Misa just perfectly.

Granted, she was really supposed to have waited until much later to give her the death note.... but she was the impatient sort, and she wasn't one for waiting then.

So she gave it to Misa right away, not caring about the consequences.

plus, She figured that if she "helped" Misa in saving her own family, that Misa would probably be more respectful of her then. Maybe even start leaving out meat for her as an token of thanks.

The vehicle stopped at what the humans seemed to call an morgue. Much to her delight, it was actually an place where they stocked more than an dozen human corpses in those frozen drawer things.

She had only intended to nibble on the man's corpse for a little bit, but here she got an whole buffet of human flesh. Oh boy, this was truly her lucky day.

She noted that the humans were now in the middle of dissecting the criminal's corpse, so she walked though into the frozen meat drawers where the other bodies lay.

Her human mask opened up like a pair of doors right in the middle to reveal an hideous bug face with an giant gaping and drooling mouth. She then bent over some of the frozen dead bodies, and started munching down.

Oh god, that tasted so good. She had almost forgotten how delicious those humans truly were.

Mmm. now that she thought of it, if being The King's pawn was going to be like this... she wouldn't mind playing this game of his forever.

Being Entertained by the antics of humans and the endless supplies of human bodies to feast on... what could be better than this?
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Yeah, I felt that I had no choice but to introduce a new original character here, as seeing surely Rem would had probably fucked up so many things and gone against the king here due to the fact that she would most likely remember what happened in the main timeline. like trying to kill Light before he and Misa meets just to make sure that Misa doesn't go though all that again. plus, I just thought it'd be more interesting to change up stuff like this.

I thought it'd be interesting to introduce a much more dangerous character, one that was based off Egyptian origins.

So, What do you think? reviews are apericated!