"-if you could just get your head out of your ass for one fucking second!..."

"Shut up!" a blonde man dressed in leather slapped the young woman who was speaking across the face. "You know nothing! Treat me with respect!"

The woman chuckled darkly as she picked herself up off the floor (the slap had sent her flying to the ground). "Respect? Really?" She turned to look the blonde in the eyes. Her own dark brown eyes were filled with a cold, controlled anger.

"What is with you?" her voice was quiet, but furious and deadly.

"You're so obsessed with beating Near that you haven't even stopped to notice how far you've fallen." She shook her head sadly. "I don't even know who you are anymore."

Sighing, she took a gun out of a holster on her hip and placed it on a small table next to her. "Forget it. I'm done," she said softly, but forcefully, before turning and walking towards the door.

The man pulled out his own gun and pointed it at the woman's retreating back. "You stupid bitch! You're in the mafia! You can't just fucking leave!"

She slowly turned around. Now, the only emotion on her face was exhaustion. "Well then, I guess you'll have to shoot me, won't you? Because I can't stay here. I can't do this anymore."

The man's face was expressionless, except for the slight hint of insanity in his eyes that had been there ever since he had joined the mafia. "I thought you said you were in love with me." If one listened very closely, they could here the smallest sound of desperation laced onto his words.

She smiled sadly, tiredly. "I was in love with Mello. The blonde boy who would wrestle me for the last chocolate bar, and wouldn't go easy on me just because I was a girl. The boy who taught me street fighting so I could defend myself. The boy who had that cute smirk whenever Matt did something idiotic. The boy who broke Jack's nose because he made me cry. The boy whose idea of comforting me when I had nightmares was smacking me on the head and calling me a wimp before hugging me. That's the boy I fell in love with. The man in front of me, with the eye's of a killer? He's a stranger. And a monster. A monster who is willing to point a gun at his friends in order to feed is own over-inflated ego. The Mello I knew and loved is dead. And I can't stay here with his replacement any longer." She turned around and resumed walking towards the door.

"Hey!" Mello shouted after her. "I'll count to three! If you don't turn around by then, I will shoot!"

The woman looked around searching for someone. Her eyes fell on her best friend Matt, who looked scared and sad, even though his goggles covered his eyes. She gave him a small, shaky smile, which he didn't return.

"One!"

She quickly mouthed a silent prayer. Her breathing was shaky, even though she struggled to keep it under control. Her legs felt like they were about to give out, but she forced her self to keep walking.

"Two!"

She closed her eyes and thought of a happier time, before the Kira case, when she and Mello and Matt were just kids without a care in the world.

"Three!"

Her eyes snapped open and she cried out in pain as the bullet buried itself in her chest. Taking a ragged, shaky breath, she managed to turn around, facing Mello, before falling to her knees. She could feel her life slipping away quickly. Every breath was incredibly difficult, and it sent a jolt of searing pain through her chest. Gazing directly into her (ex)lover's eyes, she managed to find the strength to speak.

"You've lost sight of yourself, Mello."

She took one last, shaky breath, and continued to speak, even as she felt herself slipping into darkness.

"And that will be your downfall."