L x Reader oneshots 1 // series 3 • Death Note

AU ideas that aren't dry

I've seen a lot of AUs over my time in fandoms. But so many are just so overdone and unoriginal you'd have to be an amazing writer to actually make it interesting. So I've come up with a bunch of more unique ones, but obviously I don't have the ability to write them all at once. So I'm gonna list them, and if you like it feel free to use it. I may get around to one of these when I have the time for it, so if there's one you like but can't write yourself, drop a comment. Me or someone else who writes will then know that it's something people want to see!

Let's get into it.

•retelling a completely separate story with the DN characters. For example let's say sleeping beauty but L is the one who sleeps for 100 years and Light is the one who curses him. Or the virgin suicides but each of the sisters is one of the wammys kids. Whatever movie/book/anime you want but replacing the characters with the DN ones.

•high school AUs are overdone, do one where the characters are the TEACHERS not the students. L is a psychology teacher or something, Misa is an art teacher, Mello is the sport teacher etc. could also apply to a collage/university au.

•coffee shop AU is boring, make it a bar/club. Make L the mixologist, Misa the dancer, Mello the bouncer etc. bars provide so much more entertainment than a coffee shop. Drunk idiots are fun to laugh at.

•past lives AU. Make all the characters have lived through some event/battle in the past and when they re unite for another battle in the present day, all the past life memories come back. I kinda touched on this in Etheral, but it could make for a whole story on its own. Make L an Achilles figure or something, and Light as Paris who shot him. Then they meet on Kira and suddenly remember their past lifetimes beef.

•soulmate au? Nah. Soul-Enemy au. Make two characters (like L and Light) destined to be enemies. And then they have to choose if they will give into destiny and destroy each other, or walk away for the sake of those they love. Don't make them fall in love, this is no enemies to lovers. This is a my hatred for you is so strong it's ruining my life, and I have to choose to walk away for my own and the ones I love sake.

•disaster AU. We've seen apocalypse AUs but barely ever see the actual disaster happening. How are the characters reacting to the active threat? If it's a natural disaster like an earthquake, how do they get to safety? If it's a disaster like a disease, how do they protect themselves from infection? We only really ever see the aftermath once everyone is already dead and society has crumbled. But L's a damn genius detective here toss him into a society on the brink of collapse and tell us how he'd cope.

•domestic au. We've seen this done before in its basic formula. Get married > have kids > domestic family life. But let's spice it up a little. Domestic life while on the run, domestic life while hiding identities, domestic life while trying to hide dark past from family. L trying to hide the fact he used to be the detective L from his family because he doesn't want them to be put in any danger type story.

•historical au, retell Death Note but way back in ancient times. Without the modern technology, how does the case get solved? The ancient belief in the gods/ancestors/spirits could change the way they approach the case entirely. The lack of modern tech means they'll have to find much more physical ways to collect evidence. All while having to survive themselves in a world that didn't have modern medicine, experienced more famines, more sickness etc. if you slapped death note into Ancient Rome for example, how would L be able to track down Light using only his mind and the Roman tools at his disposal.

•afterlife AU. I've done some afterlife AU's based on Greek myth, but what about a completely different one like they go to hell or a void of nothing, or the land of the dead like in corpse bride, or an afterlife like hazbin hotels version of hell. Or make up your own afterlife realm. Alternatively, do it in a ghost way where they're stuck in the place they died and need to find a way to break free.

•take something like a limb, their hearing, their sight away from one or more of the characters. Make one of them chronically or terminally sick. How do they react, how do they adapt, can they still solve the case/ be Kira even though they're in and out of hospital? L's already majority Autism coded, but his eating habits can't be good for his body. Make him faint mid case and be diagnosed with something. How does he overcome that?

•a full gender swap. I don't think I've ever actually seen someone rewrite a the whole story but gender swapped. Obviously since it's 20o6 in the DN timeline, and they're in Japan which is a bit more gendered, L would have to fight for his(her in this case) power a bit harder. And if Miss were a boy borderline stalking a girl Light, the implications and reactions to it would be way different.

•Divine AU. But not based on any pre-existing mythology like I did. L is a god (of justice or something) and Light is also a god who is going around killing whenever he wants and L has to stop him. God fights effect the mortals too, I mean hello, Trojan war. So how would these two gods fighting change the lives of the mortals they rule over? Who would the mortals gravitate towards? Or would they be scared of both of these angry gods?

That's about all I got for now, have had some serious writers block recently. I'm in a cycle where I can draw nonstop but barely write. And in like a month it'll the the other way around probably. Very annoying. But we'll be back at it soon enough and for now, have some of these ideas you can use for yourself or let us writers know you'd read something like it.

Until the next oneshot!