Stalemate (A Death Note Story)

Chapter One: Temptation

The desolate plain of Shinigami Realm left a bitter taste in the god's mouth. Gin sat on a rock, staring at the empty land in front of him. The shinigami narrowed his eyes behind his bony mask. He felt tired of it all. 'Where the hell was the excitement?' Gin thought to himself.

"What the matter, Gin? Things got ya down?" Another shinigami flew next to him.

"I'm not in the mood." Gin muttered.

"You're never in the mood. You're always moping around at your stupid rock." The shinigami huffed.

"Yeah, well, at least that's better than nothing, Ryuk."

The shinigami chuckled. "Yeah, I heard you conned some poor guy out of giving up his death note."

"I heard you lost your death note in the human world." Gin grumbled. "And, I wasn't using it anyway."

Ryuk smiled then. "Is that so? Didn't you also lose your death note? It seems rather odd to just randomly misplace it."

"Do you think anyone has picked up your death note yet?" Gin asked, his bony knees up to his chest.

"I'm not sure, but from the looks of it, no one has picked up your death note, either." Ryuk sneered.

"Don't be so sure, Ryuk. I know exactly where my notebook is." Gin said. He stretched out his large bat-like wings that expanded over Ryuk. "If you'll excuse me, old friend, but I need to get going."

Ryuk smirked. "Have a good flight. I'm sure the human world has much in store for you. I'll be seeing you very soon, Gin."

He jumped down into the black abyss. His wings soared through the sky as he made his descent into the human world. The rain and lightning came down as Gin passed through the clouds and onto a hospital, where a human girl lay in bed.

The hospital was cold and dark. It was the dead of night, and no one but the staff was awake. A young woman lay in bed, analyzing the ceiling, as her conscience began nagging her to go to sleep. The bleakness of the hospital room only seemed to consume her sanity. The only noise was the occasional beeping from the machine the doctors hooked her up to.

Her headache was throbbing. She was already on a lot of pain medication, so there wasn't anything that she could do. She felt depressed, just laying in bed with a barely functioning body.

She wanted to be so much more than to be chained to a bed, by ailments that had taunted her since birth. Furthermore, she was a detective in the middle of a case, but unfortunately, another flare began to clog her senses.

She wanted to cry, but she just couldn't. Not only that, but she carried a great sadness. Her mother died in the middle of the cold and dry December. She felt detached from the world.

Nemo was her name. At least that's what people call her. She felt like a shell of the person she used to be. The thing is, she wasn't even that old. She was the youthful age of 25, yet she felt like she was at the end of her years.

Her laptop gently hummed, gaining her attention for just a moment. She had gotten a notification.

It seemed that they solved the case she was working on in a matter of days, and all the credit went to a guy that was barely on the case.

She tossed her laptop to the side, pissed off by the way her department treated her. It was infuriating to no end. She worked hard in law enforcement. Over time, she had lost all respect for her cause.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a notebook drop from three stories.

'How curious,' she thought. She got out of her hospital bed and walked outside. It was the middle of August, but the night was still cooler than the day. The notebook seemed to fall in a bush, a little outside her window. She took the notebook that was lying on the ground. It was black and had bold white letters that said 'Death Note'. She held the notebook close to her face. The letters looked blurry since she forgot her glasses in her room. She walked back inside, discreetly holding the note.

When she got to her room, she put on her glasses and read the notebook's rules. The letters of the unknown person's handwriting were rough and rushed. The person writing the journal must've been in a hurry.

"Looks like you finally found it. Took you long enough." A voice said in the shadows.

"Who was that? Who's there?" Nemo dropped the notebook.

"Don't be alarmed. I noticed that you took an interest in my notebook." The voice chuckled.

"Your notebook? I'm sorry I didn't know that this belonged to you." She said, apologetically.

"Do you know what I am?"

"I've got a hunch." Nemo had been close to death many times but never got to see it in person.

The voice rose from the shadows of the darkroom. The creature was lanky, towering over the smaller woman in the room. It seemed to be covered by some kind of animal pelt, with a cat skull covering its face.

Nemo stood there, looking up at the creature. She didn't seem to have any fear on her face.

"You seem quite calm for someone that's face to face with a god of death." The creature chuckled. His eyes were completely dark pupils, and his teeth were sharp, but broken in certain places.

"I've grown accustomed to death, and when you always end up in a place like this, you stop fearing death." Nemo lowered her head while turning away from the god of death towering over her.

The shinigami grinned. "I am the shinigami, Gin." He bowed his head, adjusting his cat skull mask.

Nemo smiled back at Gin. "It's a pleasure to meet you, but I have just one question." While the creature was intimidating, she had seen much worse things during her time as a detective.

Gin stepped closer into the light, showing a little more of his features. His black wings behind him appeared with a shine along the inside of his wings.

"About the Death Note, what happens if I don't use it at all?" Nemo asked.

Gin tilted his head. "Hmm, I think nothing will happen. Why? Are you hesitant to use it?"

"Well, I want to use it on myself. I want to choose how I die. All my life, I've been told that I'll never see past my 20th birthday." Nemo paused for a second. "But I'm sick of everyone saying what I can and cannot do." She has had this exact conversation with herself. Whether she wanted to die or not, she wanted to die her way. With the death note, she had the chance to end all right there and right now.

"I see, well that's certainly interesting. Alright, Nemo. We'll see how this plays out." Gin handed Nemo a pen. "Just in case you wanted to do it now to get it over with, but I can see your lifespan. It's all up to you."

Nemo hesitated. This was intense. She didn't want to second guess herself. She stared at the pen in his hand for a moment. With a simple signature, she could die in peace. However, she began to think more and more about her partner, Naomi Misora. She had talked to her on the phone. Naomi told Nemo, "Please don't just give up."

Nemo silently rejected the pen.

Gin chuckled. "I thought so. Another thing I should mention is that you can give up ownership of the Death Note, but then I'd have to erase all your memories about the Death Note."

Nemo laid back on the hospital bed. "I see. But, I don't think I'll be giving it up that easily."

"Heh, just letting you know that's an option too." The shinigami shrugged.

"Of course. I should be heading to sleep now. Tomorrow I'm supposed to be able to leave this wretched place." Nemo's eyes slowly began to close as the dawn of a new day peaked around the corner.