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Along the Crumbling Road	By : sashocirrione Category: Death Note > Crossovers Views: 1002 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 1-Along the Crumbling Road
- 1
Title: "Along the Crumbling Road"

Author: Sashocirrione

Spoilers: MAJOR Spoilers for everything up to the end of the series for Death Note, also spoilers for up to volume 2 of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (aka "Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip"). These Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou spoilers are mainly for volume 1, chapter 7 and for volume 2, chapter 8.

Warnings: NO UNDERAGE READERS. Rated T for a reason. Coarse language, references to sexual activities.

Summary: Crossover between Death Note and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, with L and Light visiting Cafe Alpha.

Pairings: LxLight and AlphaxKokone

Additional Notes: Most Death Note canon events in the entire series (with an exception that should become pretty obvious) have happened as normal and most Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou canon events previous to this have happened as normal. Reading Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is not necessary for understanding this fanfic, but it would help. Reading/watching Death Note is necessary, or you'll probably be hopelessly lost. This crossover universe is a sequential fusion of the two series (Death Note events are in the past of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou events are in the future of Death Note).

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, and I do not make any money from these writings.

It was times like these when Light let his mind drift, almost forgot where he was.

The wind was chilly in his face, though his scooter wasn't going very fast. There were too many potholes in the road for that. L clung to his back, as slender and lightweight as always. Grass grew through the cracks in the road, bright green fuzzy lines zigzagging across the cement. The sky was expansive overhead, a wide stretch of blue with very few clouds.

There was almost no noise other than the scooter.

L leaned close to Light's ear and said, "I think you should have turned right just there. Judging by the ocean level we saw ten kilometers back, I believe-"

Light said, "This is the way according to the map."

L continued, "I believe the next valley will be entirely underwater. Our maps are often wrong. We should stop and ask directions soon, anyway."

Light laughed and said, "Who would we ask?"

He felt L shrug against his back. The buildings they were passing all looked abandoned, and Light hadn't seen a single person in the last hour.

Light continued, slowing even more as it was no longer a case of cracks and large potholes. Entire chunks of the road were missing here and there. He briefly considered getting off and walking, as that would probably be about the same speed, but then they'd need to push the scooter, and it was heavy enough to be more work than walking.

Light said, "I wish Watari hadn't wandered off. I think he's getting senile. That note he left was so difficult to decipher, and then when we reached the Institute, we have to keep looking because he left them a note too and went off again. I think-"

Light suddenly stopped talking, trying to calculate just how long the search had been. He'd lost track of time.

And then he forgot what he was complaining about as they crested the hill and he saw the road dropping into a small steep valley. The buildings and the road continued all the way down the side of the hill, down and down, right to the water's edge and then below it, sinking into the water. A double line of the tops of streetlamps continued through the water, outlining where the road must still be, submerged.

L said, "Watari will be fine, I'm sure. Everyone knows to take good care of him. If we keep on schedule, then within the next two weeks we should at the very least be able to confirm or discard the latest lead."

Light continued down the hill, the scooter moving at a pace much less than a walk. His eyes scanned the water, looking for a ferry. The last time the road had plunged into the ocean, there had been a ferry, though they'd had to trade away some absolutely delicious yams to pay for the crossing.

Light stopped at the water's edge, still scanning the opposite shore for any place where a boat might be tied up.

He didn't see anything, just sea birds soaring and the sunlight twinkling on the water.

When Light gave up and turned around, L was already off the scooter, dwarfed behind a huge paper map he'd unfolded, full of creases and smudges.

It seemed to Light that he could remember a time when L carried only digital maps with them, ones that displayed on his cellphone's screen. But, no, that was before L's cellphone had broken at last and it had been too much trouble to repair it.

L hated cellphones anyway. Said they were useless.

Light felt a tug on his trousers; he looked down to see a huge pelican. It opened its beak, and then clicked it shut with a loud snapping sound and bobbed its head.

Light said, "Stop begging," and shoved it with the side of his foot.

It made a few waddling steps away, then hopped into the air and spread its wings.

As the pelican flew away, Light wondered if he should have tried to grab it for the evening meal, but, no, they had enough food to last for some time, and pelican meat was rather stringy. Besides, the bird had been so unafraid that it might be someone's pet, and eating pets brought far too much trouble.

If they wanted meat, it was usually easiest to trade for fish, or to fish themselves.

Light heard a woman's shout. "There's no ferry here. You need to use the ridge roads."

Light looked up to see a middle-aged woman hanging out of an upstairs window.

L said, "Do you mind showing me on my map?"

She said, "Not at all."

The window swung shut, and just a bit later the woman burst out of a street-level door. She leaned over the map with them, discussing the best routes and even using the short stub of a pencil to make notes and to mark roads that had been washed away or flooded.

L seemed quite pleased to get such a large amount of information, and he continued to prompt the woman until she clearly knew nothing else that could be written on the map.

Before they left, L brought out a photo of Watari just in case, but the lady could not help them.

The ridge roads were quite obviously the long way, and Light knew the detour should add at least an extra day to their trip, but with the flooded areas extending so far inland there was no choice.

By nightfall, they had found a grassy slope angled just right to block the sea breeze, and there they stretched out their sleeping bag, made of two sleeping bags zipped together for shared warmth. There was a fire ring on the slope left by previous travelers, and they built a fire with twigs so that L could cook rice over it.

Light ate first, and then L added a large amount of sugar to the rice remaining in the pot and ate it, and soon after that Light fell asleep in their sleeping bag with L's warm weight entangled with him.

The next morning they dug a few clams from the ocean's edge and baked them in the coals for some variety in addition to their usual rice, but L made faces while he ate and when he finished, said, "The next time we see a restaurant, we're stopping."

They made a detour to one of the very few gas stations shown on the map, previously confirmed by the helpful middle-aged woman as still operational, and found an old man there who let them purchase gas for far less than the usual price.

The old man hadn't seen Watari either, but he did have news of a restaurant.

"Cafe Alpha," he'd said, "it's a bit out of the way, but just take the next left turn and it's right at the end of that road. You'll be able to see it before the turn, though it looks like a house. The sign is pretty small."

The road there was crumbling very badly, but fortunately only the outside edges of the road had been washed away, leaving a narrow but intact center strip with growing gullies on each side. The cafe did look like nothing more than a house until you saw the small, unobtrusive sign.

When they knocked at the door, a young woman answered, smiling and fresh-faced and perhaps 17 or 18 years old.

"Welcome to Cafe Alpha. I haven't had any customers today yet; I'm so glad to see both of you! Please come in. My name is Alpha."

She ushered them into a room that was spacious yet homey, with a long counter along the back wall with various kitchen items lined up behind it, and tables scattered around. It looked very clean and nice and airy, decorated in white with a few touches of bright colors.

L crouched in a seat and Light took his place at the same table opposite L.

Alpha said, "Ah, sorry. I already have coffee made, but I drank most of it myself and it's not as fresh as it could be. I'll let you have the rest of the pot on the house, okay?"

She didn't wait for an answer, but scampered off to a nearby table that had a steaming pot on it, brought it over to plop it down right in front of L, and then gave them two clean coffee cups, poured them full, and thrust menus in each of their hands.

L took a sip of his coffee, then tapped one long finger on his menu and said, "This thing called 'Maple', what is it?"

"It's maple syrup in hot water."

"Could I have a more concentrated version than usual? Thank you."

Alpha said, "I can make a regular 'Maple' and let you have the bottle of maple syrup on your table, so you can add as much extra syrup as you want."

"Excellent," muttered L, "however, I do not recognize anything to eat on this menu. Does this cafe only serve drinks? I would very much appreciate some cake if I could get it."

"The only food I have for customers is watermelon, and that's not a usual item. I have it now because I overstocked on a trade. If you wish I could cook you something from my personal stash. I have beans, carrots, peas, rice, and some wheat but I'd have to grind it first for flour before I could cook, so it would be a long wait for cake, and it would be egg-less. I don't have any eggs, meat or animal products, sorry!"

L said, "Watermelon sounds wonderful. How much?"

"It's all you can eat for the same price as a cup of coffee. I really have far too many watermelons."

Light ordered a soft drink, and Alpha hurried away, going behind the counter to take out a watermelon wrapped in a bow, cutting it up, and then heating some hot water, as Light chatted with L and they both sipped their coffees and looked outside. A large window showed a view of the rolling landscape, with plenty of tall, bright green grass, crops here and there, and in the middle distance a fox nosing around in some bushes as if searching for something.

Soon L had an array of watermelon slices arranged in front of him, along with a second cup filled with 'Maple' and an entire bottle of maple syrup. His eyes were wide and pleased as he spooned sugar from a bowl on the table, liberally coating the nearest watermelon and then noisily eating.

Sugar was like sex to L.

It made him very, very happy.

From his expression when he sipped it, L found even the unconcentrated 'Maple' to be good, but that first sip was obviously only for the sake of his curiosity. He had soon added nearly half the bottle of maple syrup.

Alpha didn't hover. She was chatty enough when she came to their table to restock any of their items and replace their coffee with fresh ("Still on the house since the first pot was," she said) but she soon became absorbed in a book, sitting at another table.

There was a pile of books and a gun there, and Alpha alternated between reading, polishing the gun, and staring out the window. She looked drowsy, as if she might fall asleep at any moment.

At the sudden pinging sound of a doorbell she sat straight up with a surprised expression and said, "Someone's at the main house?"

She hurried away through a door off to the side, and Light got a glimpse of a corridor, and then shortly after heard muffled voices as Alpha talked with whoever it was. It sounded like another female voice.

Alpha appeared again, dragging another girl by the hand, saying "Come in, come in."

The other girl looked undecided. Alpha was carrying a package. Light surmised the visitor was probably a delivery girl. Alpha got her to sit down at a table, then sat with her and said, "Do you have another delivery after this, or any plans?"

The delivery girl said, "No, I don't have anything until my ride back arrives."

Alpha said, "That's great! Won't you have a drink before you go? It's on the house, of course."

And then Alpha was shoving a menu into the surprised girl's hands.

Light exchanged a glance with L and he could instantly tell they were both thinking the same thing: that Alpha was obviously lonely and so desperate for visitors that it would probably be easy to leave without paying, with Alpha's blessing. It would be simple to talk her into it.

Confirming Light's guess, L said, "I'm tempted, but I don't think that would be right. Let's trade her our largest daikon radish. This 'Maple' is quite interesting, and this is the best watermelon I've had in a year."

After a pause, L added, "I think we should use some of our sugar to pay too."

"What? You're actually giving up some sugar?"

L gave him an indecipherable look and then quietly said, "Hmmmm, the way I'm using her sugar, she might run out if we don't trade her some. I expect I'm going to eat twice as much of her sugar as we'll end up giving her. Besides, it's not as if we're in any danger of running out of sugar ourselves soon."

"If we do, you'll get desperate enough to do whatever it takes, even washing cows."

L frowned in obvious distress for a moment, then grinned at Light.

Light remembered the job... what was it, a week ago? Two weeks? They'd spent most of a day washing some incredibly filthy cows, and L obviously hated every moment of it, but at the end they'd been rewarded with a 40-kilogram sack of sugar. Plus, there had been bathing themselves afterwards to clean off the filth of the job, in the ocean, scrubbing their laundry at the same time and stretching it out on big flat rocks to dry. While waiting for the laundry to dry they were just lounging around on the sand, naked, with nobody around, and finding very interesting ways to entertain themselves.

At the other table, the girls were already deeply absorbed in conversation with each other. The delivery girl was named Kokone, but nothing of interest was being said and Light's attention was already drifting. Light gave them only the slightest glance and then mostly forgot about them. It was really a very pleasant place to sit, this cafe, to sit and drink and relax and not be bothered at all.

It was unlikely there would be any more customers, even if they stayed for hours.

He reached across the small table to L's face, rubbing the edge of his chin. L leaned into the touch like a cat, just as he always did, tilting his head and pressing back hard and producing his cat-like half-smile and looking almost as if he might start purring.

L's lips trembled. His eyelids fluttered open and shut; his breathing increased its speed.

Light continued to touch him, reveling in the stimulation and responses.

After a few minutes, L quietly said, "If you keep stroking my face like that, I'll have an orgasm."

Light whispered, "What? Don't say that here."

"Do not worry; the robot girls aren't paying any attention to us. They're kissing."

Robot girls? What does he mean?

Light glanced across the room and saw Alpha mouth to mouth with Kokone.

Incredulous, Light said, "Robot girls?"

"Yes, they're both robots. It's easy to tell, just look."

Light stared at L, trying to decide what the joke was.

L said, "Ah, I see. You're forgotten again, haven't you?"

Light found both his hands being gripped in L's warm, strong hands, gripped in that delicate way L had of holding everything, but quite firm all the same. In one smooth movement L was leaning very close across the small table, his face in Light's face.

Light flinched back, suddenly confused. Something was wrong; things didn't make sense.

L said, "There is no need to be nervous. I'll answer all your questions. Kiss me, and be sure to open your mouth. I'll press my tongue to yours."

Light said, "But what-"

"This has happened before, many times. Trust me. Now kiss."

L was so close Light would have to jump up out of the chair to avoid the kiss. At the last second, Light decided that it was better to not jump up and cause a scene. Besides, he trusted L; together they'd gotten out of so much trouble before, so many different times.

Lips pressed to Light's lips, and then the tongue pressed inside, in a jolt of sudden contact that thrilled through Light's entire system like a lightning bolt. He was L and L was him, and Light didn't know which direction was up or down as they floated or soared or rotated together in a nothingness of non-space.

Raw, hot data was flowing out from L, being loaded into Light through his tongue, files upon files and he somehow lived each file as a separate life, like dreaming weird dreams that felt like months but happened in mere seconds. Light was the files, existing through them, and the pure knowledge streamed into him, filling up all the little holes and mysteries except for some that he now realized had always been unknown or perhaps had been irrevocably lost over the years.

So many years.

Yes, Watari, the first Watari, had been a genius inventor. The man Quillsh Wammy had ways of thinking that had been a few hundred years ahead of his time. When he died, almost nobody understood the instructions he'd left behind for his grandest project yet.

According to his wishes, his body had been obtained by the right people soon after death and preserved in the special way he'd invented that allowed a determination of the exact neuron-states in the moments before death, along with recording the residues of chemical memories.

His close associate who died at the same time had been similarly preserved. It had been a close call with L; he'd been preserved just barely before the deadline when things might fade too much.

It had taken an orphanage full of the world's smartest teenage geniuses to decipher the instructions for Watari's last great invention well enough to create something that was perhaps Watari reborn, Watari the second.

Their work had its flaws and Watari the robot was simply not as intelligent as Watari the human had been.

Watari the first had dreamed of robots that were close copies of specific humans, not in materials, but in design and function. He had dreamed of robots that had microscopic structures that mimicked human cells, including human neural networks. These were robots that had exact analogues of every neuron in a particular human's brain, recreating an individual.

They were so alive that they weren't quite machines. These were robots that reacted like humans and ran on abundant, easily-produced biofuel: ordinary food.

Watari the second, working with the geniuses involved in his resurrection, was able to create an L that was nearly a perfect embodiment of his dream, a much better job than Watari's own resurrection.

By that point though, it was years later, and that L dared not to disrupt the nearly-complete plans that his successors had for capturing Kira. He watched from a distance, only showing up at the very last moment to demand Kira's body.

L got what he asked for, and another robot was born. That resurrection wasn't quite as good a job as L's resurrection had been. Despite the freshness of the corpse, something hadn't worked quite right and Light the robot had recurring memory problems. They weren't too bad, and Light was still a magnificent specimen in comparison to many robots which came after him.

Watari the second, Watari the robot, was never quite right. It was difficult for him to convey his methods and to make the finer points understood, and he was so secretive that he frequently destroyed information about the processes he'd used.

Just a few years after Light's resurrection, more of Watari's secrets had died when Watari suffered a major meltdown in memory. Watari recovered, but many of his methods had been lost forever. Humans could not be successfully resurrected as robots any more, but very similar kinds of robots could be mass-produced, and they were, for various purposes.

The later robots were never quite as good as the early robots, though, and some serious issues appeared in them and were never overcome, such as the frequent mysterious deaths of male robots that made them incredibly rare.

Yes, a male robot was an amazing, valued thing, and wherever Watari was, people would know to care for him and appreciate him, even if they were ignorant enough to not know who he really was. And Watari would almost certainly live for however many years it took to find him.

In this world, there were certainly many people that ignorant, to not recognize Watari or any other important historical figures.

The world had become very exciting for a time, with all sorts of amazing technological advancements. Yet now it was sleepy, declining slowly.

High technology didn't solve everything. Some problems were only made worse by it.

And so, humans were gradually passing away. The time of humanity was over. There were fewer of them with each generation. Communities were smaller and closer. Travel became more complicated. The roads were certainly crumbling away. Except for a few important ones in populated areas that still got repairs, the roads would probably be virtually gone in another hundred years.

But the humans did not seem to mind. They didn't try to increase their numbers or to rebuild civilization to its peak. They seemed oddly contented with the slower pace of life, unworried about the way that certain items were harder to obtain with each passing decade, or that certain types of knowledge were obviously dying out.

As Light processed the last of the information he came back to his physical self, finding his body collapsed forward onto the table, his breathing fast. L was still clutching Light's hands.

This was what always happened when downloading information directly. Recovering took a little bit of time.

As soon as Light caught his breath and ventured to sit up straight, he said, "Are we... really still ourselves?"

But even as he said it, even as he saw L shrugging in reply, he already knew the answer.

Our particular process of transferring the personality and memories is a lost process. The best they can do now is to physically model robots on particular humans, nothing more. Since so few robots were created our way, and all were from dead humans, not living, it is impossible to say if I am the same Light Yagami who was born so many years ago as a human.

L said, "This is a very nice cafe. If we return by the same route, we should stop here once more."

A/N (Author's Note):

Due to AFF's new rules about author's notes, all author's notes have been removed from this fic. If you wish to read them, please read this fic on AO3 or FFN instead.
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Along the Crumbling Road