Present day: 4th June

England

Matt sighed, rubbing his index finger and thumb against the bridge of his nose when another of the students left the room and Linda summoned another. Luckily they were almost through with questioning the survivors. Luckily, or unluckily if you wanted to look at it that way, they'd already found three students who'd been planning on turning the rest over for their own safety. Linda and Matt had chosen to question everyone instead of the Neutralizers. Two of the three weren't Neutralizers.

Linda entered the room followed by a younger female student and Matt straightened in his chair, dropping his hand and fixing his gaze upon the girl. Near was waiting in the neighbouring room, erecting a bubble around those who entered to prevent them from lashing out at Matt and Linda. When Mello had first ordered it, Matt had silently protested it, now though he was thankful for Mello's foresight.

The little girl Matt believed was called 'Sugar', though he didn't know her birth name or if she even had one, wore a pink dress, polished black shoes and a pair of knee high socks. Her blonde hair was pulled into two pigtails and Matt couldn't picture her to be someone capable of betraying them all and joining up to mass murder. Then they began to question her. Things started out well, Sugar answered the questions and Linda made little marks on a sheet of paper so she could keep track of what Matt asked and the response Sugar gave. Then he asked about the military.

"Have you heard the radio message about joining the military?" Matt asked, unable to summon the ability to care by this point. He thought she was good. 'She's a little girl, probably lost some of her friends or a favourite teacher.'

"I haven't, what military messages?" Sugar asked, her head tilting to the side and her hair following. Matt didn't see the way Linda made a slight movement.

"If you haven't heard them, then it doesn't matter. Do you plan on joining the military and if so, do you plan on selling us out?" Matt asked the final question, he didn't even need to look at his written out questions anymore he'd asked them so many times.

"I don't plan on joining the military, they killed my friends back at the orphanage." Sugars lip wobbled and tears pooled in her eyes. "They're bad people and I don't want anything to do with them."

"Okay, thank you Sugar. I'm sorry for bringing back bad memories. You can go." Matt instructed, catching sight of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slightly he saw Linda violently shaking her head, eyes darting from him to Sugar and back again. 'No way. She's a little girl!' But Linda was a Truthseeker and she couldn't be wrong.

Unfortunately Sugar caught sight of Linda at the same time, a small snarl marring her young face as she stood from the chair sending it toppling to the group at her abrupt movement. Blonde hair lashed out at both he and Linda, wrapping around their throats even as Sugar giggled.

"I wasn't aware that you were planning on questioning us all about the message. I just thought you'd check on the Neutrals." Sugar had her hair tighten causing Matt and Linda to splutter before the blonde locks fell away and retreated to Sugar's surprised face. "I forgot." She said with a rueful smile even when the door was opened and Mello entered with a raised gun and Near trailed at a safe distance behind.

"We've got another one, I presume?" Mello asked, gun trained on Sugar who had her hands raised in surrender. Matt simply nodded as her rubbed his sore throat, Linda doing the same thing in a far corner. "That makes four. One Neutral and three others." Mello glared at Sugar who just glared back. "It was a good idea, questioning them all."

Matt had to agree. Though he couldn't help but wonder how often they would need to do so. How long it would take before the promise of safety and life would lure others to the military. He hoped that this was the first and last of it. He knew that it wouldn't be.

/:/:/

Present day: 5th June

Japan

Ide looked down at the motionless bodies laid out on the autopsy slab. He didn't know any of them personally, but by this point he knew that the larger group consisted of member of the Neutralizer army and the other two bodies were of 'criminals'. 'Though the only criminals are those who sanctify the murder of people because they're different.' He left the morgue and re-joined Ukita who'd chosen to wait on the outside in the event he would be faced with another body of someone he knew. 'This job that he once loved is now tearing him apart.' And Ukita wasn't the only one showing the signs. Officers were quitting left right and centre, crime rates had risen due to more effort spent hunting down Powers rather than criminals. The Norms blamed the Powers, they never did seem to be able to argue their way out when it was proven a Norm committed the crime. 'Disgusting.' Ide hated the way the people were acting, he was slowly beginning to understand why some Powers chose to act out against the Norms. Norms had the higher mortality rate then Powers after all, but nobody was hunting them down.

/:/:/

Present day: 5th June

Japan

They'd almost made it to the edge of the city when they encountered the military once again. A helicopter caught them unawares as it swooped down from the cloud filled sky, the rain having halted temporarily. After the helicopter spotted them the military only took seconds for them to arrive, armoured vehicles pulling to a stop and guns trained upon them. L pulled Light closer, eyes rapidly scanning for a way out, whilst the others slowly began to panic.

"Stand down. You are under arrest." A voice crackled over a loudspeaker from one of the vehicles.

"Not bloody likely. They'll shoot us regardless." Raye said, Naomi standing behind him, Ryuk and Rem in similar stances.

"So we fight?" Aizawa asked, glancing around at the group but his focus also remained on the soldiers who had yet to make a move.

'Looks like we have no choice.' L thought as what could have been an exit was closed by another military vehicle and soldiers that stepped out. The helicopter appeared to have left for elsewhere.

"How are we going to go about this? There's far more of them then there are us this time around, and we're running low on ammo." Mogi commented, though his hand rested on his gun.

'I'm not sure.' L thought, eyes scanning their surroundings in rising panic. He didn't notice Light's hand slipping from his grip, but he did notice the wave of pure power that brushed by him with a high pitched scream as a grey wraith targeted the Neutralizers in front of them, slamming into them but ghosting through as bodies began to drop. 'The second lot!' L remembered just as a second high pitched scream mirrored the first and L spun around to see a second wraith target the enemy from behind the small group, bodies dropping just as quickly as the first ones unable to pull the trigger. When the last of the bodies dropped the wraiths dissolved into smoke and a deafening silence fell over them. L turned slowly, as did the others who had been facing in opposite directions, towards where Light was standing. Though 'standing' was pushing it, 'swaying' was more accurate.

"I think," Light began, voice weak and barely audible. "That I shouldn't have pushed the second one." Blood began to drip from his lover's nose and L managed to get his arms around Light when he paled rapidly and collapsed unconscious in L's arms.

"I wasn't aware he was even able to summon two at the same time." Ryuk said, voice cracking as he tried to speak softly.

L had to silently agree, they'd gotten used to one wraith, Light had used that ability on some Fivers, but two at the same time was a bit of a shock. 'I wonder if it's because he's been killing more frequently.' The first time Light had used the ability in L's presence, Light gained more control over his abilities, and as nobody had taken the time to study Shinigami Powers, he couldn't help but wonder if Light's abilities would grow again.

"We need to move." He said instead, carrying Light bridal style towards the military vehicles.

...