Second Chances
is a Death Note Fan Fiction by Spades 44.
The plot revolves around L Lawliet, the genius detective who was killed midway through the original story. The story itself takes place in the second world, a Mundane Afterlife that is exactly the same as the one in which he lived before his death. The only major difference between the two worlds is the expulsion of those who committed a significant crime to Hell.
Enter L, working with his teammates Naomi Penber, Raye Penber, Mail Jeevas, and Touta Matsuda, as he solves crime throughout the second world, all while avoiding the use of the very instrument that took his life at the behest of a malicious shinigami called Rae.
It is a relatively long story at 67 chapters and over 400,000 words, and is rather well-known among the Death Note fandom.
It is also now complete, and has a sequel/continuation called Third Time Lucky, the summary of which would be a Late-Arrival Spoiler. Not to be confused with the Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction by TheNovelArtist.
Second Chances contains examples of:
- Arc Villain:
- Bernard Holland and Teru Mikami, who was trapped in Hell as a Gorgon, serve as the antagonists for several chapters.
- Character Development:
- L becomes softer and cares more for his teammates as the story goes on.
- Rae goes from a cruel, malicious shinigami to legitimately caring about L.
- Becomes even more stark after you hit The Reveal and realise that by the end of the Second Chances, Light Yagami has gone from being the ruthless mass murderer who killed L to (apparently) giving up his existence to save L's life.
- Mail, while he still remains a depressed loner after learning that Mello is in Hell, begins to open up to everyone more over the course of the story.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Emma Wakefield. First mentioned as a seemingly random name that has managed to pass through hell, her importance in the story gradually increases later on. She was "The Shyster", a world famous criminal who was Wedy's idol, and the first criminal L ever caught, back when he was less than ten years old. She was also L's mother. The sequel is setting her up as the Big Bad, as it is greatly implied she only passed her hell test with Ryuk's help.
- Death Is Cheap: In a way. All those who died in the first story show up in the sequel, as it takes place in the third world.
- Dramatic Irony: In Third Time Lucky, L's entire team is convinced that Light is not in the third world, as he is too evil to have passed his test and leave hell. The only who holds any doubt about this is L, and that's because he's L. Of course, those who read the first story know the truth.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted, at least in the hell god's eyes. She believes that evil cannot love, and specifically designed Light's hell so his choice would be between love and power, fully believing he would choose the latter. When he didn't, she became enraged, cursing Light even as she sent him on to the next life.
- Fate Worse than Death: Well, technically, this is the afterlife. It's hard to really discern what counts as "death" seeing as dying just means passing on to another world.
- Those in hell who fail to pass their test stay in hell forever. Ditto for those pass their test but relapse — when they die, they return to hell and stay there permanently.
- Light Yagami regards his life in the third world as this. He wishes were back in hell as Rae, since he had no memories of his past life, power, the chance to gain even more power, and most of all, L. Here in the third world, he remembers all of his terrible misdeeds, has to confront the fact that all the power he seemingly had at his fingertips was nothing more than a lie, and most of all, no L. Even when he learns that L has passed to the third world, it provides little comfort as L hates Light Yagami and loves Rae — and Light has no idea how he'll react to learning they are one and the same.
- Happy Ending Override: Just because they managed to pass their tests does not mean all souls who have left hell have been redeemed. In the sequel, it's noted that many that bear the mark of hell (known as "God marks") relapse and end up killing people. While many do seem to have changed for the better (such as Teru Mikami and Light Yagami), others seems to have not changed at all (Misa Amane).
- Hell: All evil souls go there. Those designated for hell that appear in the second world are there for a test — their one shot at redemption. If they pass, they go on to the third world. If they fail, they stay in hell forever.
- Irony: L spends the entire fic fearing Light's return, as Light is the one person he knows can beat him, and desperately wishes the man will remain in hell. Unbeknownst to him, Light has been right beside him the entire time, as Rae. Not only that, he and L fall in love with each other, and L is ultimately the reason why Light is able to leave hell and start anew in the third world.
- Love Redeems: His love for L is what allows Light Yagami (as Rae) to pass his Secret Test of Character and pass on from hell. By the looks of it, it seems to stick — Light refrains from killing specifically because L would be disappointed in him, and rather than plotting, he seems content to just moon over L.
- Loves My Alter Ego: L is terrified at the thought of coming across Light again, and has fallen in love with Rae. As of Third Time Lucky, he still has no idea they are really one and the same.
- Red Herring: L is initially led to believe that the new detective, Buzz, that is on the rise is Light, since this detective is just as good as L himself. It's actually Near.
- Redemption Equals Life: Those in hell who manage to pass their test earn another shot at life in the third world. That being said, there is no guarantee that they don't relapse.
- Secret Test of Character: The hell test. Those in hell are put in a situation and given a choice — if they make the right one, they pass on to the third world. Wrong one and they stay in hell forever.
- Rem is forced to become a shinigami, an existence she hates, and constantly falls in love with the wrong people. Her falling for L and choosing to aid him is what finally allows her to pass on to the third world.
- Teru Mikami is turned into a gorgon with no memories of his past life and is forced to serve another madman who fancies himself a god. Him denouncing gods allows him to pass on to the third world.
- Kiyomi Takada is forced to choose between trying to bring back Light Yagami, who constantly used her and was the one to ultimately kill her, just so they can continue where they left off in the first world, and Naomi Penber, who cares for her and offers her a chance at redemption. She chooses Light, and thus is stuck in hell forever.
- Light Yagami was made into a shinigami, and hell was relatively pleasant at first. It was specifically designed so he'd want to stay in it, so that way, when he failed his test, the real suffering could begin — the hell god hates Light, and sees him as true evil. However, as Rae, Light falls in love with L, and when given a choice between L and life, he chooses the former, and passes his test and thus on to the third world, much to her rage.
- Security Blanket: L specifically names this trope (and even lampshades it as childish) when referring to Matsuda, saying that because he was the one who managed to take down Light once and for all, he's the only person L feels truly safe around.
- Sins of the Father: Inverted. Soichiro Yagami, now aware that his son truly was Kira all along, feels great shame for having raised a monster. L disagrees, as Light's choices were his own, and Light was never deserving of the father he had in Soichiro. Learning Sayu has become Near to atone for what Light has done is what allows him to finally forgive himself.
- The Reveal: While there was enough Foreshadowing to make it an
I Knew It! for a many reviewers, it's only right near the end that it is confirmed that Rae was Light Yagami in Hell all along.
