Point of Succession

Point of Succession by Jedi Master Bag is an AU Death Note Fan Fic. Beyond Birthday has escaped prison and is out for revenge -- but not for the reasons L thinks. When Beyond abducts Mello from Wammy's House, L is forced to rely on the expertise of the criminal profiler who knows him best; a mysterious and troubled young man known as Light Yagami.

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Tropes used in Point of Succession include:

• Action Girl: Naomi Misora.
• Alternate Universe Fic
• Ambiguously Evil: this is teased with Light.
• Apocalypse Maiden: Played with Near is convinced that this is Light's role ever since L took a shine to him. It seems that Light is actually only a victim of Beyond but just how innocent... (or not) he is has yet to be seen.
• Bad Dreams: Light.
• Batman Gambit: Light and Mr. Junko fake a scene where one of them pretends to be injured in order to confirm that Matt isn't a real cop because when they shout for help he doesn't even stop to look.
• Battle Couple: Light and L.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: Matt impersonating a police officer. Also Light engineers one in order to steal evidence for L's investigation.
• Big Bad: BB
• Big Sister Mentor: Naomi Misora to Light.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Light saves Matt. Later Light and Matt's mad (distracting) charge into Beyond's death trap dungeon which results in them saving one of the victim's. Later from that same scene, (after Light's picked up the Distress Ball) L gets the drop on Beyond:

L: Beyond, I would very much appreciate it if you released my boyfriend now.

• Black and White Insanity: L is wary of Light because he sees that Light lives by such a strict moral code he could easily become Vigilante Man.
• Break the Cutie: Light after taking on Beyond Birthday as his subject of study.
  • Matt after discovering what Mello has done.
• Briar Patching: In order to get L to let him work with him Light tells L he doesn't want to work with him.
• Broken Ace: Light and Beyond.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer:
  • Of course L with his sweets and Matt with his games.
  • Near explains the case so far with his Transformers toys with L as Optimus Prime and he puts Light in with the Decepticons.
• Catapult Nightmare: Light often gets these after having nightmares inspired by Beyond Birthday.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: with barbed wire and broken wine bottles
  • Earlier B tried to kill Light with a stiletto.
• Combat Pragmatist: Beyond Birthday, to keep someone as clever as L from escaping or even moving he ties him up with barbed wire.
• Combat Stilettos: B.
• Cool Car: L's team uses the pink angel crepe van seen in L: Change the World
• Corrupt the Cutie: Beyond with Light and Mello.
• The Corrupter: Beyond Birthday.
• Cowboy Cop: this investigation isn't exactly by the book.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Beyond is quite the Yandere. Also L feels the need to "possess" Light in order to take him away from Beyond.
• Creepy Crossdresser: Beyond Birthday.
• Criminal Mind Games: B leaves behind all kinds of clues and puzzles in order to irritate L.
• Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: Pretty much everone with BB. Like The Joker, BB isn't so much insane as he is "super sane" and anyone who tries to get into his head will regret it.
• Cute and Psycho: There is no Death Note and Kira doesn't seem to exist in this universe so Light is/was the Wide-Eyed Idealist Nice Guy he would have been without it. However there are several hints suggesting that Light is less than stable- SOMETHING happened with Beyond. Something happened to estrange him from his family. And he has secrets—secrets which are apparently dire enough to keep hidden in a booby-trapped fake bottom desk drawer.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Light.
• Determinator: Practically the entire cast: Light, Matt, L, Naomi, Mello, B...
• Disguised in Drag: Beyond and Mello
• Distress Ball: first held by Mello, later Matt, Light, L...
• The Dragon: A to B.
• Dying Like Animals
• Face Heel Turn: Mello
• Faking the Dead: A
• Evil Mentor: B plays this for Mello and to an extent Light.
• Exactly What I Aimed At: Light Yagami is supposed to be such a great shot and yet when he was shooting at Beyond at close range he missed him every time. So Near believes that this trope is in effect-that Light wasn't actually trying to hit Beyond and that they are in fact working together and that Light's daring rescue of Matt from Beyond was just some elaborate stunt they pulled for Light to gain their trust. It's later implied that maybe Light spared Beyond for other reasons.
• The Farmer and the Viper: Unlike all the other doctors Light refused to be intimidated by B and would not give up on him and so B comes to transfer his obsession to Light...
• Finding Judas: Both Near and Naomi Misora becomes suspicious of Light and believe he's working with Beyond. Of course Light is plotting something and he has a connection with Beyond-it's just not in the way that they think.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The (Anti)Hero and Big Brother Mentor: L
  • The Lancer and The Sixth Ranger: Light
  • The Big Guy and The Heart: Matt
  • The Smart Guy: they all fill this role.
  • Tagalong Kid: Near
  • The Obi-Wan: Watari
• Foil: Matt and Light
• Gambit Roulette: Beyond has been manipulating events for years, from his prison cell to come to this.
• Genre Shift: it's a Death Note AU which is a straightforward detective/crime drama with (so far) no supernatural elements.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Matt intends to do this for Mello. Too bad Mello is waiting for him with a loaded gun.
• Good Is Not Nice: Team L cares more about solving the case than for the victims/casualties of it-that is unless it is someone they know. Beyond calls them on it.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: They cave to the demands of one psycho holding the hotel hostage and then bet it all on the teenage hostage to get them out of there.
• Guile Hero: L, Light, Matt, and Mello.
• Gullible Lemmings: the hotel guards.
• Gun Fu: Light is a very good shot. Naomi Misora taught him how to shoot.
• Guns Akimbo: Light's, and later Matt's, fighting style.
• Hannibal Lecture: Beyond Birthday's forte. Beyond discovers to his delight that Light dishes it out just as well as he receives it.
• Headbutting Heroes: Light and Near.
• Heroic BSOD: Matt after Mello kills Near.
• Hostage Situation: Beyond kidnapped Mello -- and a whole bunch of other people without names.
• Hot-Blooded: Matt shifts between this and absolute despair ever since Mello has been kidnapped.
• Hyper Awareness: How L, Light, and the Wammys kids' genius and investigative skills are portrayed.
• I Have Your Sister: The Reveal that Sayu was kidnapped and technically is STILL kidnapped by A and B.
• If I Can't Have You: Beyond does not take rejection well...
• Impersonating an Officer: Matt does this under L's orders.
• Ineffectual Loner: Naomi Misora
• Inspector Lestrade: Naomi Misora has figured out a vital piece of the puzzle from investigating Light. Too bad no one notices...
• It Gets Easier
• Lack of Empathy: Lampshaded in Matt's Inner Monologue after Light and Matt rescued a girl from Beyond they just abandoned her at some hotel and Matt supposes that made them heartless.
• Leeroy Jenkins: No really, Light and Matt's reckless charge is all part of the plan.
  • Also when Matt learns Mello is in the building and that he killed Near. Matt just runs off searching for him, with no plan other than to somehow find him so he can punch him in the face.
• Loveable Rogue: Mr. Junko, Sayu's fiancé Subverted, he's The Mole.
• Major Injury Underreaction
• Manipulative Bastard: Beyond Birthday.
• Meaningful Name: Attach Junko a.k.a. A.
• Minored in Asskicking: All graduates of Wammy's Program.
• More Dakka
• More Than Mind Control: Beyond gets into everyone's head.
• Mysterious Past: Light.
• Not Good with Rejection: Beyond. There's the implication that he's killing people because he wants attention.
• Not So Different: Beyond with L, Mello, and Light.
• OC Stand-In: A.
• Outrun the Fireball: Light and Matt when discovering Beyond Birthday had booby trapped the entrance to his villain lair with explosives.
• Papa Wolf: L.
• Parental Marriage Veto: Sayu is engaged to a criminal. This seems to be at least part of the reason why their parents disowned them.
• Patchwork Fic: L is just L (though maybe fused with his more Action Hero-like L: Change the World counterpart), an innocent!Light (maybe), teenage Mello and Matt that appear from the second arc of the Death Note anime and manga, B and A are from Another Note, and the pink angel crepe van is from the alternate continuity movie L: Change the World.
• Poor Communication Kills: L and the Wammy's House boys are wary of Light because he is acting very suspicious and is clearly withholding information from them The Reveal: B and A have Light's sister.
• Pride: As in canon, this is Light's main flaw. Part of the reason why Light refused to give up on B.
• The Profiler: Light.
• Red Herring Mole: Light... maybe.
• Reluctant Psycho: Light is implied to be one. While talking with B he seems to realize that there might be something fundamentally flawed with his own psychology:

Light: You knew this was a temporary arrangement. It's not like we could talk forever.
Beyond: I think we could. And never get bored. You aren't a boring individual Sweetie Jam, despite what you try so hard to show the world. And me, I know I'm not boring.

Light: Don't be too sure hun, the killing people thing gets old real fast.

Beyond: How would you know?

Light: We all have fantasies. Some are just bloodier than others.

• Room Full of Crazy: Beyond's hideout. Light's apartment also has shades of this.
• Rose Haired Boy: Right before Mello was abducted, he had caused Matt to have a hair dye "accident" dying his hair an embarassing shade of bright pink. Matt has resolved he's not going to dye it back until they've got Mello back.
• Scars Are Forever: Light has been marked by Beyond (from a failed attempt to kill him with a stiletto.)
• Serial Killer: Beyond.
• Sherlock Scan: Employed by the Wammys and Light.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Light gets annoyed when L proclaims him to be "my boyfriend" after they slept together once.
• Ship Tease: Mello x Matt, Beyond x Light, Beyond x Mello, Light x Matt, L x Light, Beyond x L all have Ho Yay moments.
• Shout-Out: to Dexter, Transformers.
• Slash Fic
• Stalker with a Crush: B to L at first. There are hints that perhaps he has transfered his obsession to a certain handsome, young psychologist that paid him a visit.
• Stepford Smiler: Light.
• Stockholm Syndrome: Mello with Beyond. Also Sayu is getting married to the man who kidnapped her.
• Stuff Blowing Up: When Light and Matt invade Beyond's villain lair.
• The Stoic: L.
• Tears of Blood: Beyond wants to see L in tears. When L doesn't oblige him, Beyond cuts up his face with a wine bottle.
• Terms of Endangerment: Beyond is quite The Nicknamer and comes up with creepy names for those near and dear to his heart such as "Darling!," "Little Dear," "Mr. Twelve," and "Sweetie Jam." A, Mello, L, and Light respectively.
• They Fight Crime: and break many laws to do it.
• Those Two Bad Guys: Beyond and A.
• Tyke Bomb: L, Mello, Matt, Near, Beyond, A.
• The Unfettered: B.
• Unflinching Walk: Light and Matt.
• Vomiting Detective: Matt upon finding Near with his brains blown out.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Those poor security guards.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Light. This is the other reason why Light refused to give up on B.
• Worthy Opponent: When Light begins studying B, B makes it no secret that he's having so much fun.
• X Meets Y: Death Note in the style of Dexter or Criminal Minds.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: employed by Mello in his escape attempt.
• Yakuza: Mr. Junko, Sayu’s fiancé.
• Yaoi Guys: Light and L.
• You Have 48 Hours: Beyond's ultimatum to L -- you'd better find me before the next one dies and this time it'll be someone you care about!
• You Need to Get Laid: Sayu says this word for word when it seems Light is overly-enjoying his coffee.