Xanatos

A Death Note For Want of a Nail Fanfic written by CelticKawaii, which starts off at around episode 24 of Death Note and takes off in a whole new direction when L fakes his death after striking a deal with Rem. He promises Misa's safety in exchange for allowing him to capture Light as Kira. .

After deciding that his original method of solving the Kira investigation wasn't going to work, and that Kira would almost definitely get away if he were to die, L decides to take a different approach. Namely, he allows his successors to step in, hoping that they work together to catch Kira. That... didn't exactly work out.

So L readjusts the plan, and implores Matt to not only work the case with him, but also get Mello and Near to agree to cooperate, since, as Mello's friend, he can best get him to work with Near.

But then there's Linda.

Along the way come mysterious trolls, European painters who oppose Kira, and hackers who Rickroll people.

As of July 2020, the fic appears abandoned at thirteen chapters, all written in 2011. What there is of it can be found here.

"He was Lawliet - the darker, more cynical version of Light."
 * 108: Mentioned in the prologue, L figures he has a 10.8% chance at his plan actually working. Of course, since any percentage he spouts is just some random number anyway, and the number itself was meant to be symbolic, it's probably more accurately 108% chance...maybe.
 * Anti-Hero: Unsurprisingly.
 * Ascended Extra: Matt and Linda. The two of them are fairly well-rounded characters in the story, compared to their original roles as Satellite Character and One-Scene Wonder Flat Character, respectively.
 * Ass Shove: Alluded to in Chapter 11 by the Kira-Troll, when he tells "L" to tell Kira where he can shove his notebook.
 * Big Eater: L has sweets with him every other instance he appears in the story. Description of his consuming said sweets borders on Food Porn at times.
 * Character Alignment: Linda is established as a Lawful Good, which is both Lampshaded and Deconstructed.
 * Arguably, Matt could more or less be stated as Chaotic Neutral, since he doesn't really care about morality one way or another, and seems to enjoy stealing cars and  a little too much.
 * Cool Car: Matt steals one in Chapter 6. A cobalt blue Lamborghini!
 * Deadpan Snarker: Matt and L. The inevitable conclusion results when the two converse.
 * Drives Like Crazy: Matt in Chapter 7. Dear lord...
 * Faking the Dead: L and Watari.
 * Fiery Redhead: Matt is actually a brunette in this story, but due to a mistake involving a prank Mello had intended for Near, Matt ends up with bright red hair. The author really likes that hair color, which is why she added the hair dye incident.
 * Foe Yay: Light and L. They aren't even on the same continent and it's all over the place! Light internally admits that he actually misses L, and he even dreams about him. L also seems to have a kind of love-hate relationship with Light, mainly within their similarities:


 * Light and the Kira-troll.  sure seems to enjoy pissing Kira off.
 * Mello and Near. Near actually wanted Mello to work alongside him on the case.
 * Foreshadowing/Genius Bonus: L mentions the name of an artist who is opposed to Kira's agenda, by the name of Tilia O'Connor..
 * Jerkass: Whoever the hell  keeps sending harassing messages to Kira by hacking into his computer.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Matt and Mello.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Mello says it word for word after Matt decides he likes the red hair resulting from a prank backfiring. It Makes Sense in Context.
 * Oblivious to Love: Near, toward Linda.
 * OC Stand-In: Matt and Linda.
 * Original Character: Minori.
 * Playful Hacker: Matt..
 * Put on a Bus:.
 * Say My Name: Light calls L by his "real" name when he thinks the latter is dying of a heart attack. Probably to appear more dramatic (Light, not the author).
 * Shout-Out: In Chapter 3, Linda and Matt sing Still Alive for Mello on his fifteenth birthday.
 * Im on ur Internet, trollin ur Kiras.
 * Rickroll, anyone?
 * Troll: . He's been harassing Kira via taunting messages made through hacking his computer on and off for five years. Hmm...
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: No mention is made of  after.
 * Word of Dante: Kind of. Since Linda was never given an actual real name/codename in canon, the author gives her real name as Linden Benson.
 * Write What You Know: Averted with Matt. CelticKawaii has almost never played video games in her life, so she had to research any reference she made to gaming in the story.