Lily screamed in anguish at the top of her lungs. She pulled back and threw her cell phone against the wall. The screen cracked, but Lily could still see the message from her brother. She flung herself at the wall with all her strength again and again. It was making a visible dent, but she didn't care. Hot tears flooded down her cheeks. She screamed again.

Finally, exhausted, she collapsed onto her bed limply, tears still streaming from her eyes. She picked up the cracked phone and looked down at the screen, desperately hoping she hadn't read the message correctly, but no such luck.

-Dear sweet little Lily,

I've made a decision. Please don't hate me for this, but I have to do it. If I don't, Mello will die. Even if I do, he might die, but if I can keep him alive for even one more minute, it will be worth it. I have only two regrets: For one, I'll be leaving you behind. You and Iris. For another, I can't tell Mello what I'm planning, because there's no way in hell he'd let me go through with it if he knew. That means I can't say goodbye to him. But at least I can say goodbye to you. When you don't see me again, I just wanted you to know I didn't let that idiotic Kira kill me off. Your big bro went out by choice, in the way of my choice. Little sister, I'll miss you and love you forever.

Love,

Mattie 3-

It took all of her energy not to call Mello; not to tell him what Matt was about to do, but somewhere inside her she understood. If Matt lived and Mello didn't, it would completely destroy him, and Lily just couldn't be the reason that her brother was miserable, empty, alone. So she just gripped her phone with white knuckles and screamed at the sky.

She didn't know how much time passed, but the next thing she knew, her phone started ringing, playing 'I Can't Go For That' by Hall & Oates. Mello's ringtone. The familiar sound resounded, hollow and empty, in her ears. She forced herself to press 'talk' and raise the phone weakly to her ear.

"He-hey, Mels," she choked out.

"Hey," Mello responded. He spoke clearly, but his voice shook , and Lily could sense that he'd been crying, too.

"He really did it, didn't he?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah… yeah, he did. It's all my fault, isn't it? I killed him." This actually made Lily stop crying.

"No," She said in a firm voice. "No, it's not. He wanted this."

"How would you know that?"

"I got a message... He said if he could keep you alive for one more minute, it would be worth it." She heard Mello gasp, and then she heard his shaky sobs.

"Y-yeah," she heard last, and then the line went dead.

Lily took a deep breath and wiped her tears on her sleeve. Glancing down, she realized that Matt had sent a second message along with the first. She opened it, confused. It said:

-Y'know what? I'm just glad that I died the man who made a difference in Mello's life… and the worldwide Starcraft record holder. Yep, probably my greatest achievement.-

Lily laughed softly in spite of herself, even as fresh tears dampened her cheeks. It was just like Matt to say something like that. Not only was that one of his last thoughts, but she got the feeling that he had said it just to taunt her and make her smile, knowing that she held second place. When L died, Lily had fallen apart almost as much as Iris had. They were both mental wrecks. In between that time and the time when Matt had left Wammy's to help Mello with the Kira case, he had spent almost every waking minute trying to make Lily smile. Even though it only occasionally succeeded, Lily appreciated it so much. Even just minutes before her brother was going to die, he still tried to make her smile.

There were three knocks on the door: two high and one low. Lily hastily shoved her cell phone deep into her pocket and wiped her tears again before tapping the wall four times in response. The door opened, and Iris came into the room. Lily did her best to

hide her sadness, or at least keep it on the same level it had been at since L's death, but Iris picked up on it immediately. Iris hadn't spoken since receiving news of her brother's death and she still wouldn't. She simply walked over to Lily's bed and lied down next to her, hugging her best friend tightly. Lily sighed.

"You'll never leave me, right?" Lily asked in a hushed voice. Iris gave a sad look, but shook her head. Lily gave a tiny, sad smile.

"You're the best, Sphinx," she whispered, using her nickname for her best friend. She felt guilty about not telling Iris about Matt- and probably Mello, too, by now- but she couldn't force herself to say anything. Not so soon after L's death. Iris would find out soon enough, but not just yet.

After a while, Iris started to yawn. Lily listened to her even breaths until she fell asleep beside her.

When she woke up the next morning, Iris was gently nudging her shoulder and waving a chocolate chip cookie on front of her face. In one swift movement, Lily untangled her arms from the blankets, snatched the cookie out of the air, and took a big bite. Her eyes widened in the closest thing to joy she was capable of as Iris gave a tiny, almost imperceptible smile. She got up and threw on a Counter Strike: Source t-shirt and jeans. She and Iris walked down the hall to the school section together. Just as they were sitting down in the back corner of the classroom, L's screen in the very front of the class room came on… but his familiar English L was replaced with Near's N. Lily felt herself getting angry. How dare Near? He wasn't worthy of L's screen. But what he said made her even angrier.