Welcome to Quindecim (A Death Note and Death Parade Crossover)

Welcome to Quindecim

The elevator doors opened, suddenly, revealing a short white haired woman. She smiled at the man in front of her as she walked towards him.

"I'm going to have to ask you to go inside the elevator," she said, her soft voice filling the silent room.

"May I ask, where am I?" said the brown haired man as he stood up revealing his tall frame. 

"You will find out soon," said the woman while walking away from him. The young man did as he was told, and entered the elevator, without knowing that behind him a conversation was undergoing. 

"Why did you take him off my hands, Nona?" asked a red haired man.

"I told you, Ginti, I am really curious about how this will go with Decim. Now that the woman left, the way he treated guests has been different. I want to see how he will work out this difficult case."

Ginti snorted as he turned around to pet his cat. "Whatever. At least I can get some free time."

A few floors below, a ding was heard before 2 elevator doors opened at the same time. From the one on the left stepped out a tall brown haired man. From the other one, a pale, slightly older man with unkempt black hair and a really bad posture emerged. They stopped for a second to gaze into each other's eyes before they walked forward following the unfamiliar corridor.

They ended up in a spacious room filled with different items and right in front of them stood a bar counter from behind which a white haired man with a piercing blue gaze spoke. 

"Right this way, please." His voice was deep but pleasant to the ear. The two did as they were told and kept walking towards him. When they got to the bar stools, both of them sat down and looked at the man in confusion.

"Welcome to Quindecim," the man greeted. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Decim and, tonight, I will be your bartender." 

The brown haired man turned his head to look at the other man and noticed the way he was sitting. He kept his eyes on Decim and he kept a thumb fidgeting around his lips. There was something familiar about that stare but he didn't have time to figure it out, because the white haired man spoke again. 

"You will most likely find this a strange question, but I am afraid I do have to ask it," Decim said in a low voice. "Do you remember anything prior to your arrival here?"

"I do not," whispered the brown haired man, more as a realization. While waiting he thought about not knowing where he was but the fact that he couldn't remember the past few years of his life didn't occur to him. 

Decim looked at the other man who didn't move his gaze while slowly shaking his head. 

"Yes, very good. Thank you for indulging me," he continued.

"I will now explain some things about your situation. This is important. Please pay close attention," said Decim. Finally, thought the younger man. They were about to get an explanation.

"Number 1: I am afraid I cannot provide you with any information regarding your current location," continued the bartender in a loud and clear voice.

"What do you mean?" asked the taller man standing up from his chair. The other man, however, moved for the first time since they got to the counter. He raised his left hand towards him, in a way that told him to stop talking and pay attention. Decim ignored the exchange and kept talking.

"Number 2: Now that you are here, I shall have you play a game."

"A game? Is this some kind of joke?" 

"Number 3: As for the game selection, that will be decided upon by roulette." the young man didn't interrupt this time.

"Number 4: The stakes of the game are very high, your lives, in fact," continued Decim. The pale man widened his eyes at the statement, but didn't say anything. 

"Number 5: Until the game is completed, you cannot leave," he finally finished.

"This guy is crazy," muttered the younger man under his breath. "We should find a way out of here," he said, this time addressing the other man. 

"We can't," he answered, while talking for the first time since he got here. "He just said we cannot leave until we complete the game."

"He could be lying."

"If you wish to chat," intervened Decim, "you may sit at a table. We are in no hurry."

As they were advised, the two men sat at a table, ignoring the drinks placed in front of them. 

"Let's start from the beginning. My name is Light Yagami," said the brown haired man. 

"You can call me L," said the other one. Light couldn't help, but notice the way L sat on the armchair. He was crouching. L seemed to notice his confusion as he answered. 

"My reasoning ability drops by 40% if I sit normally."

Light nodded not understanding in the slightest what he was talking about. 

"Right, so, what should we do about our situation?" he asked. 

"I say we play whatever game he gives us," L answered, while neatly arranging the sugar packets in front of him.

"You seem way too calm about this," said Light. "Are you working with him? He could be a murderer for all I know. And I don't know who you are either. This was a bad idea, I'll try to get out of here on my own."

"I am also taking a risk. I do not know you, either, but I am sitting here having a conversation with you." L answered. "As for me being 'way too calm about this', panicking would cloud my judgement."

Light seemed convinced so he sat down and spoke again. "So, you say that we should play this game, but we don't know what will happen if we will."

"That's true, but ask yourself what will happen if we don't play the game," L said in low voice now balancing the sugar packets on his index finger. "This is our only choice. He didn't seem like he was lying when he said there is no way out of here."

"Let's see what he wants from us first," Light said as he stood up, being followed by L.

"May I ask something?" said L.

"Certainly," answered Decim.

"What would happen if we refused to play this game?"

A powerful sound was suddenly heard, followed by the wall behind Decim shifting. A big dark room appeared with what looked to be corpses hanging from the ceiling. 

"I told you, the stakes for this game are your very lives," Decim explained, the wall closing behind him. 

"Now, if I could ask you to press this button please, the roulette will begin." Decim placed on the counter in front of them a big, red button. Behind him, a big board with nine blue tiles with a weird cup-like drawing appeared. 

Light glanced at L who simply kept looking at Decim like trying to figure him out. They both got closer to the counter and Light used his palm to press the button. The tiles on the board started lighting up one after the other. Finally, the light stopped on the tile in the center. It flipped around and a single word was inscribed on it: Chess.

"Very well," said Decim. "Please, follow me."