Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright of “Death Note”, as well as any other songs, books, movies, or character references made in this fan fiction.  All Copyrights Belong to their respective Owners. 

Note From Author: I know that there will be a lot of you anal fan fic readers who will flame this for being “Mary Sue”, but I don’t give a shit, and besides it’s only Mary Sue if the Author Created Character interacts with the other characters from Death Note, which there are none here.  There is NO LIGHT.  There is NO L.  There is NO MISA.  If you don’t like that and don’t want to read this, then go somewhere else.  Otherwise, enjoy the story. 

© Death Note – Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata – Shueisha

Death Note:  A Halcyon Slaughter

By

Tattoo Alchemist

Chapter 1: The Unusual Book

            Halcyon: Adjective Calm, undisturbed, peaceful, serene. 

            Jack Murdock knew what was coming to him because it was the same thing each morning when he attended Hillvale High School (or Hellvale as he liked to call it in private).  Each day that he went was a descent into hell itself that not even Dante or Virgil could fathom since the only sin that Jack had ever committed in his entire life was just being different than everyone else.  He was a relatively young boy of sixteen years who had very dark hair and dark eyes.  His skin was usually pale and that led into one of the big differences that set him apart from most of the mindless mass that made up the Hellvale student body. 

He was a boy who loved to learn, to study, to read, and to think.  It was because of this trait that made others think of him as a geek or a nerd.  If he were to be in a more accepting setting he would learn how much of an endearing term that would be.  Unfortunately in a high school setting it was just another cut into his soul. 

All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall.

            He often loved to quote songs to himself that seemed to fit or signify certain situations and that Pink Floyd song “Another Brick in the Wall” was dead on for his own situation.  It is often said that sticks and stones may break bones but words will never hurt. 

            “Whoever said that” Jack thought about that old proverb, “was never a high school student here.” 

            He only thought about that as the pain in his body subsided after the bullies had stopped beating him up.  They had him on the concrete ground after they had used their fists on him, but when their fists became raw they turned to their feet and kicked him wherever they could and whichever would cause the most pain. 

            This sort of thing had gone on ever since he started school at that place.  He would have turned them in, but the bullies were the star football players, and God forbid that the school should loose its precious star players.  It is also said that high school is not the real world.  Jack already saw that this was a lie as well.  There were the privileged few at the top taking advantage of those at the bottom.  Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.  There is no justice. 

            He tried to take his mind off of his beatings by soothing his tortured soul in the schools’ library: the one place that very few high school students go in, unless forced to.  It was because of that reason that Jack loved that place; it was the sanctuary from the outside world. 

            Since there was so much time before classes would start, he decided to catch up on reading more of his current book: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King.  When reading such books, Jack would loose himself in the words that the writer had spent so much time and energy weaving, carefully jotting, and then re-wording.  Although the great irony of it was that Jack was a slow reader.  Even some books that some would consider relatively simple would take him months to read through.  It wasn’t that he was a slow individual; on the contrary, he just wanted to truly absorb what was written.  Every word and every letter in it as if they were fine delicacies that demanded to be savored for as long as humanly possible. 

            He glanced up from the pages of the book to the clock on the wall and saw that he had about twenty minutes before the first period would start.  Closing up the book, he stretched and yawned but cringed and strained from the injuries that he incurred from the bullies earlier that morning.  As he did he turned his head towards the nearby shelf that he was sitting next to; the occult.  He saw something there that was out of place.  The library at Hellvale was so small it was easy to know all of the shelves and books and there was a book that Jack had never seen before. 

            He got up from his chair and went over to it.  The book wasn’t set into place like all the others, it was sitting on top of the other properly filed books as if someone had casually set it there without giving any consideration of how to set it into it’s proper place.  He picked it up and looked at its binding noticing that it was made out of black leather or faux leather.  There was no sticker showing that it belonged in the schools system and there was no title printed along the spine.  He turned it over to its front and saw it had letters printed into it in silver leaf:

Death Note

            “Death Note?”  Jack thought to himself before flipping open the book to its first page.  The book was blank.  It only had lined pages like a finely made journal or diary.  Except for a very peculiar first page that was completely black with white letters on it.  It was magnificently ornate with its border edging and a human skull adorning the top of the border haloed in a circle that seemed to radiate like the sun.  Within the border there were instructions.

How to Use the Death Note:

The Human whose name is written in this note shall die

This note shall 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 death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

            “Wow” Jack thought to himself, “whoever wrote this was pretty thorough.” 

            The fifteen-minute bell for classes rang and Jack saw that it was time to move.  The Death Note had no sticker or stamp saying that it belonged to the school and that more than anything allowed him to make the decision to take the book.  He slipped it into his backpack and headed to class. 

            The rest of the day passed without incident for Jack, but thoughts about the Death Note still lingered in his mind just like how it sat in his backpack waiting to be pulled out.  He started to wonder if the thing was real. 

            “I’ll look into it when I get home after school” he thought to himself.

            That time came sooner than he had anticipated.  There was a certain amount of excitement because even if the thing wasn’t real then it would make an excellent journal. 

            “The human whose name is written in this note shall die” he thought, “would be nice if that were true, because there are a lot of people who deserve to die.  Including here.”

            After the final bell for the school day had rung, Jack was walking out the front doors and was on his way home.  Things seemed to be going well, but Jack should have known better because things never did go that well for him. 

            “Hey geek!”  A deep and rough voice demanded at him. 

            Jack sighed as he knew all too well the owner of that voice.  He turned around and saw Greg Schneider, senior classman, star quarterback, and top of the high school social hierarchy.  Flanking beside him was his posse of other football players: the running back Nick “Foul-Mouth” Leary and the full back Taylor “Meat” Cunningham.  All three of them looked at Jack like wild animals; hungry, ravenous, and ready to pounce.  Jack knew that there was no point in running since they would catch up to him.  So really there was nothing else to do but accept his coming fate. 

            Greg opened his mouth and made his signature hocking sound.  It was a sounded that truly disgusted and annoyed Jack. 

            “What sort of sound is that?” Jack would think when looking back at the situation with retrospect, “Is that the lion call of assholes?  Fuck.  These guys hock so much that it makes me wonder what they suck on.” 

            After Greg hocked and spat out the phlegm in his mouth he stared down at Jack like a man ready to step on a cockroach.  There was no warning of what happened next as Taylor and Nick dashed out and caught Jack by both of his arms.  He didn’t struggle as Greg came up and began to punch, jab, and kick at their helpless victim.  The part that truly made it tragic was that there were other students walking past this beating and none of them stopped to help or even try to notify any of the teachers of what was going on.  They all simply went about their business as if it wasn’t happening at all. 

            Greg loved to save the specialty move for last; the knee in the balls.  Whenever his hard knee would come into hard contact against the softest and most vulnerable part Jack would always cry out in pain.  It was always worse than any other blow that they would deal to him because it wouldn’t set in until a few seconds afterwards but when it did the pain not only spread from the crotch but also into the nerves of the stomach and legs.  If Jack were to compare it to anything else it was as if his balls were two water balloons being thrown against concrete. 

            Jack tried not to cry from the pain but he did. 

            “The geeks a total faggot” Nick spat, “all faggots can’t take it like real men.” 

            Nick and Taylor dropped Jack as they ripped his backpack off of his back and emptied the contents onto the concrete.  In his blurred vision he saw the Death Notes’ black leather cover in front of his very nose as if it were presenting itself to him. 

            The three jocks walked off laughing in their victory and Jack felt so enraged from the pain that was surging through him.  It could have been that rage or maybe a moment of insanity but whatever it was, he reached for the Death Note and a pen.  Opening it to the first blank page he scrawled out the names of all three of them remembering the rules of that first page. 

This note shall 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 death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

            Through one open eye that was starting to regain the clarity of vision he wrote out the names and remembered, in disgust, the faces of those three jocks. 

Greg Schneider

Nick “Foul Mouth” Leary

Taylor “Meat” Cunningham

            He dropped the pen and looked up with that same clear eye at the ones who were walking away from their victim. 

            “Die you assholes.  Die.”  Jack grunted underneath his breath. 

            He couldn’t measure how much time had passed since he scrawled the names in the Death Note because his mind was so overwhelmed by pain, rage, anger, frustration, and fury. 

            It must have been under a minute, at least it might have been, but however long it was, Jack saw the three Jock start to shake and grab at their chests as if they were having heart attacks.  They fell to their knees and eventually came fully down to the ground where they were writhing in pain. 

            Jack blinked hard to make sure that he wasn’t hallucinating what he was seeing or that it was a projection of a violent fantasy in his moment of horrible pain.  He saw that it wasn’t when the students began to circle around the three jocks and he heard one of the students cry out:

            “They’re dead! Jesus! They’re dead!”

            Among the muffled murmurs, cries for help, and screaming there was Jack who was starting to develop a very wicked smile across his face.  He looked down at the Death Note at the names he scrawled in its pages and he began to laugh. 

            “Good riddance” He laughed. 

To Be Continued…