My Last Name

[johansaiou]

Riddles and Boxes

It was a nice day and everything seemed more beautiful than ever. Near couldn't help but watch as the doctors aided the three girls who were up and about into the car and he sat there, his eyes watching the reflections on the doors, but he couldn't help but think of anything except how close he would be able to get to Kira with Mikami. He felt something drawing him back inside and he turned his head and saw Matt scratching his head and looking down at a piece of paper.

"As much as I love this girl, I hate being away from my games for this long." He sighed and took out a cigarette and was about to lite it when Yoshi came out of no where and snatched it away. "HEY!"

He shook his head and gestured behind Matt. "The nurse wants to speak to you."

Near didn't see a nurse at first, until she opened the door and was surprised Matt was still there. "She said something in her sleep and we thought you and your two friends would like to hear it." She smiled and led them into Yumi's room and saw she was softly mouthing nothing. "She started to talk. She seems to be trying to say something. But we were hoping you could distinguish what she's saying."

Just as the nurse finished speaking, Matt heard that soothing voice and his attention turned to Yumi and he watched her mouth keep moving in rapid succession and he realized what she was saying. They were numbers. He quickly flipped the piece of paper over and started writing all the numbers she was speaking. He finally saw the patter and watched as Yumi started to say something else. He leaned over and closed his eyes as he listened for her voice.

"...Duma...."

His eyes flew open and he gasped before standing up straight. He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but this looked like a way to find something important to Yumi. He turned and marched out of the room, faster than a walk, he was in his car and driving to Yumi's home and he was determined to figure this out.

He marched up to the door and noticed it was locked. He looked at her note and saw it said four dash two. He looked left and right and noticed that, to his left, four windows down, there where vines growing up the side and he looked up to the second floor. The vines grew right up to the second floor window. He put the piece of paper between his teeth and pulled his goggles over his eyes before starting his climb up the side of the house and he got to the top. The window was slightly opened and he peeked in.

There wasn't anyone in there and he opened the window a little wider and saw that it was a nice studio-looking room. He climbed in and unfolded the piece of paper and noticed it said one dash twelve dash three. He looked around and saw, to his left, one vanity mirror and a wardrobe. He walked over, counting the paces and when he reached twelve, he heard a creek below him and looked down. The wood sounded hollow. He gently stomped and heard the creek again. He looked down and touched the floor and saw three small doors under the rug that was there. He sat down and looked at the paper. He hadn't noticed it at the time, but she had said "middle". He opened the middle pannle and saw a cloth wrapped around something. The cloth had his name embroidered upon it.

The object was only about the size of a small box for a ring. He slowly unwrapped it and it was a box the size of a ring. He opened the box and stared at a single silver feather. He almost screamed when Joseph appeared and looked at him odd.

"H-hi!" Matt tried to act like nothing was wrong and he hid the box behind him.

"Hi. Need something?"

"Huh?"

"The feather." He pointed at Matt. "It's mine. Yumi uses it to ask me to relay messages to her ArcAngel. You need to ask him something?"

"No!!" Matt threw his hands up in surrender. "I just have.... I was following Yumi's instructions." He looked at the paper and it said five five three one and, since he was looking at it upside down, he said it aloud. "Less."

Joseph gasped and then quickly knelt and something began to glow from the other two panels on the floor. Matt watched as the light softly grew brighter and brighter until he couldn't look. After a moment of not watching, he felt Joseph's wings brush his face. He opened his eyes and noticed that Joseph was headed towards a cage on the roof. The inside was dark and it looked like it was meant to cage something deadly or horrible.

He sighed and looked up. "What happened?!"

"You called to Duma. He would like a word with you." Joseph set Matt down and flew over to the latched door. He slowly started to unlock the several locks as he explained to the confused Matt. "The name 'Less' was Duma's beloved. When he heard you call that name, his two notebooks began to glow. Less envoked fear within the Angels that Duma befriended. He made us fear everything. That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Less never let us forget that. He made us understand that we have to be wary of everyone. Joshua, Lester, and I have a lot we owe Duma. But we owe his beloved just as much. that's why I was stunned you knew that name." He flew over and picked up Matt, only to put him down before the open doors. "Duma will understand your prediciment and help you." He smiled that kind smile. "Duma understands more than you know."

Matt looked at the open doors and took a breath. 'No use chickening out now, Matt,' he told himself and stepped over the threashold.  

[johansaiou]

Duma

Matt was consumed by darkness and he couldn't see anything. He heard something like chains scraping along the floor and someone moving around. He heard heavy breathing and then suddenly, he could see everything, like a light turned on.

A young man only in his twenties with long black locks of hair and bright red bangs was rising up off the floor. His bangs covered one eye and the revealed eye was a piercing blue. He was breathing like he'd been running for miles. Chains wrapped up around his wrists to his shoulders, from his ankles to his knees, around his neck, tying his cloths to his torso, and covering something behind him. All of a sudden, wings flared out, throwing chains from his body and he stood proud, his white robes falling lightly around him and his look growing colder and colder as he watched Matt. His other eye was a violet color and seemed to be full of tears.

Matt stepped back as the wings unfolded. He watched as a second set unfolded. Then a third. Then, from the sides of his head, a fourth and final set of wings.

"You dare wake me from my slumber?" His voice echoed and seemed to rock the whole world as it shook the cage. He lowered his head and a shadow fell across his eyes. "You don't seem to care much. I hate people like you. PEOPLE LIKE YOU DON'T DESERVE THE LIFE YOU'VE GOT!" He was right up in Matt's face and lifted him up by the throat and started choking him. "People like you really tick me off." His hand began to squeeze and Matt looked down.

The look in those eyes of his....

"Did you do that?!"

"NO!" Matt screamed at the top of his lungs and the man stepped back, releasing him.

"So, it was you." His voice was kind. He was holding his hand to his heart, his fingers spread. He looked heart broken. All of a sudden, he grabbed a fist-full of his robes and doubled over. "You gave her back what she'd lost to Kira. I wanted to meet you."

Matt heard him start to cry. He stepped forward and reached out when he felt someone open the doors. He gasped and whipped around and his eyes met her's. "Yumi!"

She ran forward and passed right through Matt and dropped down beside Duma.

"She's not real." Duma looked at those eyes staring at him in fear. "She lives more in my memory than anything. I hardly know her other than what she dreams. She created me from nothing. She can kill me with nothing. She's more than a person to me. She's my mother and my sister and my lover." He looked up at Matt with sorrowed eyes. "I'm her whole life. If I die...." He looked back at her.

Matt suddenly reached in his pockets, searching for the paper and found it in his glove. He pulled it out and looked at the last two numbers. He looked around and saw a dial on the floor near the door and knelt beside it and checked the numbers. "Thirty-seven four-hundred fifty-three...." he twisted the dial to the numbers three, seven, four, five, and three and the cage suddenly fell down and they were exposed to the sun and the world and Duma looked astounded. "Huh.... now what?"

Duma took Matt's hand. "I'll show you a way to save our precious Yumi." He smiled.  

[johansaiou]

Trusting the Dead

Light slammed his hands flat on his desk. This was stupid!! He was letting Mikami die, and there was no way he could stop it! What did they expect him to do? Lie down and play dead just so they could run him over with a train?!

He growled and sat down rather heavily as he heard the door open. He grumbled about nothing and started to pound away at his keyboard to occupy himself whilst Matsuda and Mogi started to set up their stations around the small room. The click of computers turning on and the shuffle of coats falling on the backs of chairs and then soft murrmurring from the duo.

Light listened carefully as they spoke and his mind was trying to wrap around what was being said rather than his irritation at Mikami and SAMY.

"Yeah, that's scary...." Matsuda was saying.

"I can't believe Mikami would do something like that. I mean, honestly, forcing himself on a woman. That's ungrateful, even if he is Kira's handy-man. What a waste. He could've been a good detective, too." Mogi sounded like he would rather kill Mikami than let that happen.

"I heard that Satsu, Anatsu, and Matsumoto wanted an audience with Kira and L. I don't know how long that'll last. There's something odd about those girls...."

There was a knock at the door and Light got up to answer it. He opened the door and froze as he stared at those dark eyes and that frizzled mess of hair and he stumbled back and hit the sofa as those barefeet tapped on the wodden surface and onto the soft carpet. He shook his head, this was impossible!!

"Yo."

-~-~-

Yumi was finally fully awake. It had been almost two months since she'd been hospitalized and she was only able to stay awake for an hour or so and then she'd fall asleep again for several hours and then be awake again. She had managed to eat a few bites of her food today and she kept nodding off and Matt would adjust her so she was under the blanket again and then she'd wake up and smile at him before falling asleep or eating.

Matt finally sat down on the foot of her bed and started palying his hand-held as he awaited her awakening. He had cleared seven levels when the door opened and Near and Mello walked in and he jumped up. "What?! I'm not doing anything illegal!"

Mello smacked him across the face with his fist. "There's somebody who wants to talk to Yumi. And what do you mean 'anything illegal'?" He was up in Matt's face, his scar seeming to envoke more fear than just his menacing stare.

Near scooted over and sat in one of the chairs so he was out of the way. The door creeked open and there, standing in the hall, messed-up hair and all, was a "dead man".

Yumi woke up slightly and saw the man and smiled and held her hand out to him. He came forward, taking his hand out of his pocket and met her half-way and gave her a kind, almost sweet, smile.

Matt felt his heart sink. She loved someone else.... that wasn't fair.

"Brother." She smiled her kind smile to him.

"Sister." He leaned down and their foreheads touched. "What happened to you?"

"I had a run-in with Kira. Why are you here?" She sounded worried and was shifting in her bed to get better leverage to sit up. She collapsed, however, and just lay there, holding his hand and Matt finally spoke up.

"What the Devil is he doing here?!"

L turned and smiled at Matt. "I can't tell you. It's a secret." He held a finger to his lips and then turned back to Yumi. "I came to see my foster sister. Watari adopted us and we've been together for a long time. She's precious to me in the sense that she's more important than anything. I love my sister." He smiled.

She gave him a kind smile before her eyes began to close again. "I.... love you.... too, brother...."

L held fast to her hand that was resting beside her and he seemed to be restraining himself from something that was boiling up inside him. "Kira has to be brought down, I'm sure you three are aware of this." He turned to them, his eyes stern and his presence filling the room like it used to. "I intend to bring him down, at all costs."  

[johansaiou]

A Palace of Gold

Matt kept gawking at L from the corner as L spoke to Near and Mello, his two superiors now and Matt was ABSOLUTELY sure that L had been dead for almost a year now....

He finally closed his mouth for the millionth time and looked over at the window that was at the end of the hall and thought of Yumi and what Duma had said and all that was happening around him and how everything was moving at warp speed and he was standing still. It was like knowing a train was coming and never actually seeing it hit you full on until you'd died. For some reason, it was actually more painful than that.

Matt recalled way back when he was a boy and he and Mello and Near had all been introduced to Watari, Wammy, and Roger. They had never actually known that they were all still young and that they were probably going to be the next victim that Kira took or that L would someday entrust them with the rest of the world's fate or anything like that. They just thought these two men were trying to get them to play a game of chess with a computer that would speak the next moves on the board.

Matt had assumed it was a human on the other side when it came to his turn. He sat across from the screen and crossed his legs before he looked at the board and then up at the screen that said L that was all fancied up. He had won, compared to the other two, and he gawked at L then for the simple reason he'd never won a single chess game in his life span and for him to win against someone he'd never seen face-to-face and, to add to the shock, L was laughing happily and clapping his hands.

Matt smiled to himself as he remembered how odd L had always been. But now, with so many things happening at record speed, Matt felt like he was falling behind and being left for dead in some remote part of this strange life he was leading. He stood up and walked down the hall, counting the doors, and stood before Yumi's door for a second before he opened it and stepped in to see Matsuda standing beside the girl's white-lined bed.

Again, Matt caught himself gawking at somebody and quickly closed his mouth, making sure Matsuda hadn't seen it and quickly scurried over. It was odd for one of Light's men to be here in the US, especially if he'd come just to see a poor girl who was either dying or slowly making her way into insanity.

Matsuda gave Matt a reassuring smile and touched Yumi's hair. "I knew a girl once. She was a nice person. She - Yumi - reminds me a lot of her. I think she'll be okay. Hey, maybe she's even better off than Kaze." He gave Matt a sad but kind smile and lifted his hand away. As he did so, the sun came through and made the whole room illuminate in a beautiful orange glow and gave Yumi a kinder, softer look in comparison to when Matt first saw her.

"Mastuda-san?"

"Matsuda's fine." He smiled at Matt.

Matt cleared his throat and tried again. "Matsuda, why did you come here? What made you come to see Yumi? Won't Light wonder where you are?"

Matsuda shook his head. "He and Ide are caught up in whatever they're doing. I highly doubt I could do more than just be the decoy person who dies." He gave that fakely happy smile that made him look almost like a puppet or something to be manipulated under any and all circumstances. "I wanted to see Yumi anyways. I heard she's probably going to be L's one and only successor who survives. My gut keeps telling me to say hi. After all," he turned to Matt and gave him an eerie feeling, "she used to be my fiancee."

Matt staggered back. The clouds rolled over the sun and the room went dark and all Matt could think was 'Yumi.... why didn't anyone tell me?!' He saw Duma shaking his head as he stood over Yumi, his wings of gold fluttering softly as if by some unearthly breeze. "What do you mean by 'fiancee', Matsuda?"

"We broke it off. Kaze was in love with me. I guess I fell for her instead. It was an arranged marriage between us anyways. We thought it was for the better. I guess it worked." He reached out and patted Matt on the shoulder. "After all, she's found you." He smiled again and marched out of the room and almost screamed when he opened the door to L's estranged face that was suddenly lit up by the golden sun's rays again.

Matt gawked at Duma, who had shunk to about the size of a cat and was curling up beside Yumi like a cat would. 'I seriously need to lay of the late nights and video games....'  

[johansaiou]

Life Of Dreams

Light sat there, his eyes glued to the television set as reporters were swarming around the hospital in Illinois about a girl who seemed to have been leeched upon by her unborn child. He got a feeling that the girl was probably somebody he knew....

He folded his hands and leaned against the counter with the microphones and documents he was using to "catch" Kira. He was determined to fake it the whole way through, and having Near being shot down by his very own colleauges was more than Light could've ever asked for, especially since he was going both ways, as L and Kira.

He noticed that a screen was flicking on to his left and he flicked it on and there was one of girls of SAMY and she was standing in a white room with the lights flooding out everything else. She wore a black cap and her eyes were hidden deep within the confinds of the shadows and her face was stern and cold. Her cloths were a simple black male suite with a black tie and her feet were bare and seemed to be curling in and uncurling as she awaited Light's response.

"What's wrong?"

"You've set us up with no choice, Kira." Her voice was distorted and Mogi and Ide came to stand behind Light, completely unsure what she meant by that and who she was. "I will do this at my pace, not yours anylonger. I will allow you a moment to speak to your father. Good luck and goodbye, you filthy scum of trash."

The screen fuzzed and Light sat back. This was all a bluff! His father should've gotten away when Mikami had pretty much destroyed them from the core out. There was a click and Light almost fell off his chair as his father looked up.

The same girl came over and her silver needle rested on the neck of his father and began to pressure, but never punctured. "I bid you speak now, before I inject him with anything. Something centimental, if you'd like. But I will have my patience wear thin soon. After all you've done to us." She raised her free hand and pulled down the hat to reveal a bio-eye that shimmered in a white light that was surrounded by silver that was shown on her hands as she took off the white gloves. The darkness within her heart seemed to spread throught he camera and into Light's heart as he watched her puncture his father's neck and begin to inject some kind of fluid that looked like it was made of jell-o.

His father gave off a horrid scream, his head thrown back and his wrists beginning to bleed from straining to pull free of the bonds that tied him to the floor. The chains rattled and strained to hold as he fought it back and then.... it died and he slumped to the floor and lay with saliva drooling out of his mouth. He was helped to his feet by two guards and they cleaned his face and gave him some water.

"Nothing?" She stood between the camera and Light. "Then this is your devin punishment, Kira, Yagami, Light! You will watch him suffer and all you can do.... is call for him when nobody can hear you." She turned around and drew out a switchblade knife and raised it to Soichiro's chest and ripped his shirt open before she picked up a very menacing weapon and started to dig into his skin.

The blood-curling scream that came from him made the hairs on Ide and Mogi's arms stand on end and made Light grit his teeth. He wasn't going to say anything, not when he was so close to getting Near! He was going to meet Near in a few days and he wasn't going to lose to her, not now, not ever, and it was not going to be by means of his father....

'I won't lose to you!'

After about ten minutes of that, he noticed she turned to face the camera, blood dripping off her face and fingers and she smiled at him. "Ah, well, I have another who might make you believe it." She gestured and the camera turned to L and Matsuda seated in electric chairs and were wired up to them. "There's a method we use. It'll be painful, but they don't mind. I asked them first. You guys don't mind?"

Matsuda smiled and nodded. L just bit his nail and then smiled. Light's breath caught in his throat as they powered up the electric chairs.

-~-~-

Matt suddenly looked up as Yumi sat up-right and looked like she'd been made the spotlight of a horror film and she was dripping sweat. He slowly got up and reached out before she spoke up, looking at the wall.

"I hate living like I'm always dreaming." She suddenly fell into Matt's arms, wheezing and clinging to his sleeves as her eyes remained closed and she was sweating even more.

Matt followed his gut and looked to the open door. "HELP! SOMEBODY!!" He clung to her, making sure she was secure in his arms as her body began to burn. He was feeling like she was going to turn into a volcano soon and probably take him down with her, but he didn't let go, he couldn't let go, because if he did, she would fall into darkness like she used to be in her sweet Alice-In-Wonderland-world that his parents had thrown her into. "SOMEBODY!! I NEED HELP IN HERE!!"  

[Elisabell-angel enraged]

YAY! You updated!!! Matty crying !!!  

[johansaiou]

Listening to Silence

It was a few hours before Light could fully comprehend everything happening around him as he was driven to his home. He had a gut feeling that things would either get worse or get better from here, especially after what was said....

-~-~-

Matsuda and L were being cared for as Anatsu rewound the tape and watched Light's expressions over and over again when she'd been tormenting the two poor men who now lay a few feet away from her. She couldn't tell them she had just used them, after all, they had recently gotten the shock of their lives when she and her three "sisters" had declared that Light truly was Kira.

She gasped and suddenly hit the stop so hard she thought she'd break the button. The look on Light's face when L was tormented was all she needed and she swivvled around in her chair and waved down Matsumoto and pointed to her screen.

Matsumoto hopped off her high stool and scotted Anatsu aside. She looked at the screen only once and then looked away as she noticed the door slide open and Mello walked in. The two girls watched him as he ran a finger over the scars on his neck from his escape of Kira's grip and he moved to touch L's forehead.

Matsumoto, with the speed of an imp and the agility of some kind of creature, unearthly and swift, and stopped his hand before it touched L's forehead. "No. Don't touch him. He's still electrified from the chair." She released his hand. There was a pause and she asked; "Why's your face all red?"

Anatsu quickly turned away and choked on a laugh as she attempted to swallow water. Mello was so obvious sometimes it was silly! She looked back at the screen and Light's menacing eyes and cold smile and she was reminded of Ryuk as he laughed nicely when they shot apples into the air just so he could have some fun. She leaned against the table, her right hand cupping her chin and she let her elbow rest neatly on the solid surface as she stared Light down.

'Got you, Kira.'

-~-~-

Matt was seated by the window when his cell rang. It was rare for his cell to be ringing, and it was usually Mello calling. He was glad that nobody was in the hospital room to hear it ringing and he quietly answered.

"Yes, Mello?"

"It's time."

Matt's eyes wandered up and his eyes watered slightly beneath the goggles as he stared at Yumi's gently rise and fall of breath and all the machines hooked up to her. He grinded his teeth and then remembered he had a duty to L he had to fufill and it was now or never. "Got it. I'll get my car in an hour or so. I'll call you when I'm close...."

"Right. See you there."

Matt closed the phone and looked at Yumi's troubled face as she began to thrash slightly in her sleep. It was almost as if she'd heard his quick talk and was asking him not to leave. When he touched her hand, however, she was calm and Duma stopped ruffling his feathers and crouched at the foot of her bed.

"Are you going to die today?" Duma asked idly as Matt went to the door.

"I don't know. I wouldn't know." He sighed and turned to face the ArcAngel and was suddenly reminded of Mello when the Angel looked up at him and smiled a kind smile that was rare for Matt.

"If you do...." He looked at Yumi. "She won't miss you."

Matt's heart twisted. "Why?" He tried to stop the crack in his voice, but there it was. It'd come without warning. Duma was being sinical and probably lying, but Matt's heart was saying that he was telling the truth and that all this time, even now, while she lay there in ruins, she'd been lying to him.

Duma's smile seaced and his face became stoic and the chains became visible and were linked to Matt as well as Yumi and he looked at Matt. A flash and there was a twisted wing that looked like it was ready to fall off, a piece of a pipe was stuck in one arm and the other was non-exsistant, the perfect beauty was gone, replaced by ugly and decapitated. Duma was no Angel....

"Because ArcAngels don't let people die. Once you've touched the heart of an ArcAngels' creator, you are bound to an eternal voice. You become a piece of the creator." He slowly came off the bed as the chains rattled and Matt could only see blood dripping from the pipe and off his face. "I'm not as pretty. I know why you stare. Yumi isn't as pretty either. She's just as jelous and ugly as I am. It's only natural."

"Then, if it all ends tonight--"

"Yumi will have another ArcAngel watching her."

Matt's heart untwisted and began to beat at a rapid pulse and he swallowed his pride and his jelous feeling towards Duma and scurried over to Yumi, planted a kiss, and scurried out the door.

Now, there was no fear of death. Mello might die, but if it's by Kira's hands, maybe, if he dies first, he can make Mello an Angel just to spare him the loss at Heaven or Hell....

-~-~-

"Yumi.... he's passed on. He's not coming back." Duma was whispering to silence from his place across the room from Yumi. "We have to act now.... or you won't survive."

Yumi's hands began to shake and tears welled in her eyes.

"Please." Duma leaned forward and, with a light flash, settled beside Yumi's bed, his hand pressed lightly to her forehead. "I know it hurts. I don't know how much more you can take. Please, for your sanity, you must act. Yumi...."

She suddenly grabbed the front of his robes and there was a blinding heat that consumed him and he was torn to shreds as her hand fell, holding what was left of Duma's body. A lock of hair and a small hand full of his robes and she began to cry, holding those objects closest to her as the moon shone bright just beyond the window.

Duma's wings spread. They were black and leather-bound. He watched her cry for just a moment before he took off to aide Matt. 'The price is always highest. You must kill one to make another. I will miss every memory we shared. I will miss everything we've done as a brother and sister, dear, kind, sweet, Yumi. I loved you more.... beloved sister.'

Duma, the ArcAngel of Silence, passed through the skies, unnoticed, unwavering, and disappeared into stillness.  

[johansaiou]

The End?

When the rain finally stopped pouring, Anatsu watched as the skies cleared and thought of Mikami and how much she wished she could've seen him one more time, just to see that kindness in his eyes and know that he was doing it for the sake of a better world. In the darkness of the world under Kira's thumb, Anatsu saw a kind heart just wanting to find happiness and beauty in life.

A few dropletts fell off her head and rolled down her cold cheeks and she watched the gray clouds shifting and thought of Mikami and how he must be enjoying himself back in his life as a reporter. She brushed the wet hair off her face and let it stick to the rest of her hair and her skin began to crawl with the shivers when she thought she saw those glorious wings and the soft white feathers that fluttered down. No, Duma was still with Yumi in the hospital, right?

Her phone rang. She looked at it and flipped it open and saw "Satsu" on the LCD screen and she quickly picked up, taking in breath and struggling to keep her voice as calm as possible. "Yes?"

"Yumi's room is locked and she's screaming at us."

As if to prove the point, Yumi's screams came out of the speaker and seemed to be right there beside Anatsu as she screamed that they were all mean for leaving her behind....

-~-~-

"I hate you! You left me here to die! How could you?! You promised me! You made a promise!" Yumi grabbed her tray of food and flung it at the door so the silverware was stuck and the bowls clattered around and the food made a mess at the foot of the door. She grabbed hold of the side of her bed and threw it so it flipped a couple of times and then made a dent in the door.

She was going mad and her body was simply following her lead. She grabbed the IV and threw it through the glass that allowed people to see in on her and watched as Satsu was shielded by one of the guards. Her anger flared to her mouth again and she lashed out with her words of poison that stung harder than she meant them too.

"You blasted creatures! You twisted deamons! You Shinigami! You don't care! You only want for yourselves! You won't come back for me! You don't want to come back to me! You hate me!! And guess what?" Her menacing whisper made them all look at her. Her eyes were watering with tears and her face was slightly bloody from her bleeding and cut hands and arms and her dress was covered with blood and ripped scars. She screamed at the top of her lungs at the sight of Satsu's on phone. "YOU ALL JUST UP AND LEFT! YOU LEFT ME ALONE! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! Then you'll know my pain!" She grabbed the bed sheets and was about to come through the window when she suddenly collapsed to the floor and the guards had time to arm their guns.

Yumi shifted and looked at the floor. A shadow was cast as the sun rose and it was an ArcAngel. Her heart constricted. Had Duma failed to retrieve Matt? Was Matt dead?

She slowly turned her head to see Matt crouching beside Duma and his sweet smile filling his face. He lifted the goggles off of his face and there was a tear in his eye and it slid down to fall on the floor and she collapsed, mostly from loss of blood, but also because she'd made Matt cry.

-~-~-

Matsuda and L shot up to see Matsumoto peeling an apple. Kaze and Toru's faces still emblazed upon their eyes the looked around for some sign that they weren't dreaming about the two deceased women.

Matsumoto spoke. "I wouldn't bother. You can't see them anyways. But they miss you. Kira may have killed them, but they found refuge between heaven and earth. Kira's going to kill me or Yumi soon." She looked thoughtful. "Well, now that I think about it.... L's safe. So's Matsuda." She smiled at the duo. "This isn't the end. There's more to this than you think. I want to see this story to the end."

Matsuda quickly looked away, unsure what he should do with his feelings.