Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Death Note.
Claimer: I Own Taku, Ehkei And The Untouchable Royals.

Author's note: Happy New Year guys! I hope you like it. This chapters theme is Hope. Adn I hope you guys have as much hope for the new year as I do. Enjoy! The title of this chapter also came from Scary Kids Scaring Kids' sonf "The world as we know it."

Chapter Ten: Tension Is Rising And Rising

Ehkei padded down the hall quietly. She was heading towards the parlor as she had been asked. She'd eaten all of her food with cautious starvation. Ryuk followed behind her, silently hovering over her shoulder. She stopped in front of what she assumed was where they wanted her. Soft voices could be heard from inside. Without hesitation or a warning to those inside she opened the door and walked in. Ryuk followed without a word.

"Ahh, Welcome, Ehkei! So good to finally meet you face to face. And Ryuk too!" A young man with light brown hair said from a rather comfortable looking chair by a fire. Ehkei had jolt as she realized that she'd met this man before. She had served him a few times at the Club. However, then he had treated her with respect, unlike the other men. Light Yagami. Misa sat to his left and Matsuda on the right. It didn't surprise her that this man could see Ryuk in the slightest, mainly because the Death Note was sitting in his lap.

Ehkei scoffed at him and gently let the door fall back to rest on the frame, making sure it never clicked shut. "Yeah, right. Whats with the gay outfit?" She asked pointing at her white attire.

Misa huffed. "You have no taste." She turned her face away from her, sulking.

"Aww I think it's cute, Misa Misa!" Matsuda chimed in cheerfully. Ehkei rolled her eyes.

"What do you want with me? Seriously? You can do your thing of 'World Domination' without lil' ol' me." She pointed to herself innocently.

Light smiled. "Yes I could, but you make it easier. And besides, if I don't use you to my advantage, your name goes in here too." Ehkei wasn't too surprised to hear this information.

"What is your true goal?"

"I want a new world. Free of crime. . . If you decide not to help us, your brother and his friends die. Along with you, Ehkei." He nodded to her. "If you help me reform the world I will spare your life. You can have all the money you want. Your brother will be spared as well. What do you say?"

"What about my friends? What about all the other people I care about? Are you just going to kill them off too?" When he gave her a chilling stare she growled at him. "You bastard! You're just like a death row inmate! All you want to do is murder people!"In her anger she ran towards him. "How could anyone be as much of a monster as you are? All you're doing is dwindling the population." Her voice was rising dangerously high. Ryuk was near the door chuckling. "There's no way you can get rid of crime. you can't catch every bad guy. It's impossible! If you had even a tenth of a brain you'd realize that!" Light stood then and before Ehkei could register what was happening her face had been forced to the side and her cheek was burning. Looking back and putting a hand to her cheek she realized he had slapped her.

"If you know whats good for you, you'll say yes." He narrowed his eyes. Ehkei stared at them, wondering how someone with such a pretty face could be so cold underneath. She looked over at Misa to see her sneering at her. Matsuda however, looked slightly pained, sitting there holding the Death Note. Looking back at him she glared as fircely as she could. When she still hadn't answered he grabbed her arm roughly and puleld her to him. Whispering in her ear he said. "You have ten seconds to answer me or you all die."

Ehkei ground her teeth together. ' What do I do? No. . . I can't let any of them die. But. . What about Matt? He's not guaranteed. .'

"Five seconds"

She squeezed her eyes shut. 'Damn it! I can't think straight.. . ' He tightened his grip on her arm and made her cry out. Before she realized her lips had moved she'd answered him. "Okay. . I'll do it."

She could practically feel his smile spread over his face. "Good. Now let us get to work." releasing her he walked back to his chair as if nothing had happened and lightly traced his finger over Misa's jaw line. She smiled at him seductively. Ehkei's stomach churned uneasily. Matsuda placed the Death Note on the coffee table before them and opened it up to the first clean page. He also pulled out a stack of papers and files from a briefcase beside him. "I want you to tell me the names of these men and the correct spellings. I will write them down in the Death Note." Light said.

Ehkei looked down at her feet. They felt like two lead blocks as she moved them towards the table. She sat down on the floor and picked up the first file. There was a picture of a man on it. His face needed to be shaved, he had blank black eyes and glossy hair. His name read Logan Bricker. Sighing heavily and closing her eyes she reverted into herself so she didn't need to know the pain of killing a man whom hadn't hurt her in anyway. She let herself fall over the edge of her consciousness, into the black until she was numb to everything physical thing. "Logan Bricker. L-o-g-a-n B-r-i-c-k-e-r." When she picked up the next file it was roboticaly. Her eyes became dull, her movements lost emotion.

When Light dismissed her later that night she didn't think, didn't feel as she walked to her white washed room. Ryuk by her side. If the shinigami had said anything to her , asked her what was wrong with her, she didn't hear it. So, she couldn't answer it.

----

~*~Matt's was in darkness, off to the right there was a sliver of light. He couldn't tell if it was close or far. In his head he heard a voice whispering to him. Saying his name. Beckoning him towards the light. He eased himself off of his bed and took a few cautious steps in the dark. The light got slightly closer. The voice grew slightly louder with ever step. The words becoming more clear. He walked faster, but the light didn't seem to be getting closer any faster than before. The voice seemed like it belonged to someone he knew. But who? He began to run. The sliver of light began to widen. The voice getting louder and clearer. The words and beckons almost understandable. A few steps later the light widened so much that the light was blinding and Ehkei's voice rang clear as a bell. "Mail, Mail. . . Help!"

Sprinting the last distance into the light Matt was suddenly in a white room. Red stains, covered the walls and floor, bodys were all around him. Startled he took a step back, but accidentaly bumped into something. Turning on his heel he looked to see what it was.

Before him stood Ehkei drenched in blood, on the brink of death. She collapsed into his arms and they sank to the ground. "Mail, Save me." She began to reach for his face but her hand dropped and her eyes closed. ~*~

Matt sat up in bed violently, drenched in his own sweat. The sheets were almost translucent due to all of his perspiration. A candle burned on the night stand next to him. Matt put his face in his hands and held back a scream. The image of Ehkei covered in blood made his blood boil so he snapped his eyes open again and got out of bed to get a hot shower.

When the water was scalding hot he numbly stepped in, hardly feeling the burning tingles that came from hot water over freezing skin. When the feeling finally came back into his skin he lowered the temperature and began to wash himself with stiff limbs. No matter how hard he tried that image of her stuck in his brain like glue.

After his shower Matt walked back to his room with a towel haphazardly wrapped around his waist in a daze. Matt had to get Ehkei back. He just had too. He refused to let himself think of what could happen otherwise.

Emotions bubbling over, he reached out and punched the warehouse wall beside him with all of his might. He heard the metal bend under his strength to engulf his fist. Breathing heavy he roughly wretched his fist from the wall cutting it open in places from the sharp edges of the metal.

"Damn it! Light you dick-less-" he punched the wall again, "-mother fucking-" his other fist connected with the wall creating yet another large dent, "-horse humping-" another punch, another dent, "-prostitute raping-" another punch, harder than the others, "-hoe bag-" His fists and the wall were covered in blood when his fist made another dent in the metal, "-thunder cunt-" Blood splattered to hit his face with the next punch, "-gutless-" more blood, Matt stopped feeling the pain by this point, "-homosexual-" there were so many dents in that part of the wall he needed to take a few steps down the hall for a free piece of metal, "-duchebag-" when his fist connected with the metal this time he could feel something pulling him back by the shoulder, he shoved it away, "-manipulating son. of. a. bitch." with each word another punch, and more hands pulling him back. "Girlfriend kidnapping BASTARD!" with one final punch the metal in the wall engulfed his hand up to his wrist. Blood ran from his fist down to his elbow and dripped to the ground from there. The blood on his face was now laced with the salty tears running down his cheeks. The hands on his shoulders gently turned him away from the dented bloody mess of a wall as sobs began to rack his body.

"Get ahold of yourself, Matt! You'll be no good to us if you beat yourself up like this." Mello's cold voice said in Matt's ear.

Matt turned to him slowly. Tears still flowing. When he went to whip the tears from his face he winced at the pain of the motion. His hands were torn raw. "Don't. . Mello." Matt lowered his head and stared at his blood stained feet. The white towel was ruined. "I-" Matt fell silent once again. More tears came and Matt fell to the ground leaning against the opposite wall and placing his face into his ruined hands, ignoring the pain it caused him. He figured to must have been nothing compared to what Ehkei could be going through.

He lightly heard Mello kneeling down next to him. Mello lightly pulled at Matt's hands to bring them away from his face. Matt refused to look at him,Ashamed of his vulnerability.

Mello knew the feeling. When he had come to Matt with the wounds that were now a horrid scar covering most of his face and back he had felt so vulnerable and ashamed of that same vulnerability that he didn't talk for almost three weeks. Mello waited for Matt to look at him, when he didn't he growled and grabbed his bloodied chin an d forced him to look at him. "Listen to me, Matthew. Even if you sulk here and punch a hole into every square inch of this warehouse it will not help the cause." Matt cast his eyes down. "Damn it, look at me!" Mello waited again, a scowl on his scared face. "You can feel like shit for as long as you want but hurting yourself like this isn't helping Ehkei in any way, shape, or form! So suck it up, clean up, and get ready to go and rescue the dumb bitch!"

Matt's nostrals flared. "She is not a dumb bitch! Take that back you asshole!"

Mello grinned. "Good, now remember that anger and spit fire at your enemies not me." He stood and held out his hand to Matt. "And for God's sake put some real clothes on. I suggest a wholenother shower. Unless you want to see Riliyan again covered in your own gore." Mello waved his hand over his shoulder as he walked away down the dim corridor.

Matt sighed and looked down at his hands. Just looking at the blood dripping from the open cuts made his stomach churn. The smell began to make its way into his nostrils and he feared he might puke. Taking Mello's advice he went back into the bathroom and took another shower.

When he came out of the bathroom for the second time that night he was the cleanest he had ever been and his hands had bandages on them up to his wrists. The towel he know wore was black and when he walked to his room he looked straight ahead of him ignoring the bloody dented mess of the wall on the way there.

Walking into his room he decided on something different than his regular attire. He slipped on black and neon green plaid boxers and tight, low-rise, black leather pants. Similar to Mello's. Knee high black socks followed after and a pair of black boots with green laces that came up to just below his knee. The belt he put on was neon green also and had a gun holster attached to it. He slipped a neon green long sleeve, high necked, under armor top, a brown gun holster followed after. He then put on a rather thick, black leather vest. Taking a step to the dresser he pulled out a pair of goggles that were tinted green and strapped them above his forehead Taking a deep breath be gently pulled his old black gloves over his wounded hands.

Once he was dressed he walked out of his room and back towards the rooms Taku and his men were using. He met Taku halfway there in the kitchen. "Making anything good?" he asked casually.

Taku glanced at him before he continued to rummage though the pantry. "Maybe, if you guys had anything good."

Matt chuckled lightly. "You've got a point. I'd tell you where Mello hides his chocolate but then he'd kill me. Then what good would I be to Ehkei?" He looked down at his hands and mentally thanked God that it was Mello whom had heard and found him earlier and not someone else.

Taku didn't say anything but he paused in hie pursuit of food for a moment before continuing on. Matt stood and opened a cupboard and pulled out a few plates and a skillet, then a mixing bowl and a few spices. Almost out of nowhere Taku watched Matt pull out about a dozen eggs and a loaf of white bread. Then some syrup and other ingredients.

"Sorry, man, no sausage. How do you like your french toast?" Matt smiled slightly as he set to work making the egg mixture. Adding a few seasonings at Taku's request.

As the toast was almost done cooking a few of Taku's men and Sasha came floating in wondering what the delicious smell was. Taku had Xavier set the table and pour orange juice for all of the men and the

one woman going out scouting that night. They had decided to let the younger members go out on the scouting and information gathering trips so that the more experienced men and women would go when they rescued Ehkei. Taku didn't want young blood on his hands, and frankly, neither did Matt or Near. Mello couldn't've cared less.

When the toast was done Matt placed it on a giant plate and then put it in the middle of the long table. In Mello's place he put a special order. Mello liked chocolate mixed into his. And Matt wasn't allowed to give Mello's chocolate to anyone else so he had to make a whole other batch for just Mello.

As soon as Matt and the others sat down to eat Mello walked into the room decked out in leather also and carrying a box that clanked with metal when he moved. Setting it down on the table Mello cleared his throat to get the gang members attention. "I refuse to let you go out of this place unarmed. These are only handguns but you can ask for something else if you prefer. I will not however give out any other type of gun than these. Take your pick before you leave tonight." With that he sat down and began eating. Everyone resumed eating but Matt reached into the box awhile and pulled out three Glocks and placed them in his holsters before he started on his french toast.

----

When Taku, Mello, Matt, Sasha, the Duce, Fives, Threes and Eight left that night it was silent, But no one was afraid. Armed and ready they began their work of checking as many possible hideouts as humanly possible before daylight.

When the men and Sasha returned at sunrise they had eliminated five possible hideouts and found reasonably suspicion that Light wasn't in the area but in some mansion in the next city over.

Matt went straight to his room and collapsed onto his bed, instantly falling into a fitful sleep with dreams about evil notebooks and giant shinigami coming to get him. The last dream being the same one that woke him from his sleep the night before. But this time when he sat up in bed drenched in sweat he didn't go on an emotional rampage but changed his bandages and went on with the new day with the hope that they would finally find where Light was hiding Ehkei.