Chapter Forty-Nine: And So, the Ending Begins
Somehow, Rester had been left as the sole occupant of the Task Force's main meeting room.
The blonde man sighed, wondering whether or not he should go report to Amity and tell her that the others had left. However, just as he was about to get up and do that very thing, Rester was stopped by a knock on the door.
Rester paused, slightly confused.
"The others shouldn't be back already…"
He walked over and opened the door, but, to his surprise, saw no one outside. Rester looked around for any sign of a human presence, but there was no one there. Then, he looked down, and saw the package on the ground.
Rester bent down and picked up the package. Turning it over, he saw the note taped to it. It was then that he realized what this was.
The blonde man turned and nearly ran back into the building. By the time he reached Amity's room, he really was running.
"Amity!" Rester yelled, bursting into the girl's room, "Call the others! We just got a tape from the kidnappers!"
Matsuda had never had so much trouble waiting for something to happen in his life. It seemed to take decades before the rest of the group trooped into the main office, and it took even longer for everyone to get settled, and for Rester to explain how he had found the tape.
Then, finally, it was time to watch the tape. Matsuda looked around at the others as Amity slid the tape into the player, and realized that he wasn't the only one who looked anxious. Aizawa looked as if he expected the worst, Mogi looked like he was planning to shield Callie's eyes if any violence occurred, and even Amity looked nervous.
When the tape began to play, however, the room suddenly got very, very quiet.
As usual, the screen started out black. Then, there was a voice, which Matsuda recognized as Shinta's.
"Members of the Kira Investigation Team. I am sure that by this time you are probably worried about the welfare of one Sayu Yagami. Well, let me put your fears to rest."
The screen went from black to a photo of Sayu, who appeared to be tied to a chair. However, this was clearly not the warehouse that Shinta had previously been using as a base, as that had been blown up, but a new base.
"As you can see, she is alive," Shinta's voice continued, "However, she will not be for much longer if you do not comply with my wishes."
"Who does this guy think he is?" Matsuda heard Aizawa mutter.
"Listen carefully," Shinta said, "If you do not come, unarmed, to the location I am about to name by noon tomorrow, Sayu Yagami will die. The only person in your group not required to be present is Callie Suzuki. I have no wish to harm foolish children playing adult games."
Callie squeaked indignantly, but Matsuda barely heard her. After hearing four particular words, he hadn't heard much else.
"…Sayu Yagami will die…"
"We're not gonna let him kill her, are we?" someone asked, and Matsuda realized that the tape must have ended.
"We can't let him kill her," said a quiet, resigned voice, "If we do, then we're basically killing at least one other person along with her."
"Is he that fragile?" asked someone, probably Amity.
"I'm right here, you know," Matsuda mumbled, "And… This is you guys' choice to make. Look, I'm probably going to kill myself once this is over anyways, just so I don't have to live with myself anymore. Decide on your own terms. He's gonna kill us all, you know."
"Not," said a determined voice, "If we kill him first."
Gevanni was on his feet, looking through the drawers in one of the room's desks. A moment later, he pulled out a gun, and smiled.
"Time to get revenge on that guy for killing Lidner."
"And Ide," Aizawa added.
"And Naoki," Callie chirped.
"And everyone ever killed by Kira and his followers," Amity said. "Yes, I believe you are right, Gevanni. We may yet walk out of this alive. I for one know that if I simply sit here and allow Sayu Yagami to die, I will not be able to live with myself in the future."
"And what will Near think about that?" Aizawa asked.
"Near?" Amity echoed, "I suppose…"
The girl sighed.
"I suppose I will not report to him until this is all over. If I am killed, then someone will need to tell him what has gone wrong, and how much of a fool I was for going along with this."
"We'll probably all die," Aizawa said, "But, who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky."
"He told us to come unarmed," Mogi pointed out.
"His base is an abandoned warehouse," Aizawa snorted, "It's not like he's going to have metal detectors."
"Then, tomorrow," Amity said, "We end this foolish conflict."
"Or die trying," Matsuda whispered, but no one heard him.
To Callie's utmost annoyance, Mogi absolutely refused to allow her to go anywhere near any warehouses for the next forty-eight hours.
"But, why?" Callie grumbled, completely aware that she was whining, and not caring, "All of you guys are going."
"Shinta didn't ask for you," Mogi said quietly, "That means there's no reason for you to go."
"But it's, like, the final conflict!" Callie said, "How can I not be there?"
"Callie, listen," Mogi said, kneeling so that he was on the same eye level that she was, "A while ago, I lost someone I cared about a lot. I don't want to lose anyone else. So, please, stay at home tomorrow, where it's safe. Remember, after this is over, you can go back to living a normal life."
"But what if I don't want to live a normal life?" Callie said quietly.
Mogi looked surprised, but said nothing.
"What if I want to keep on helping you guys?" Callie asked, "What if… What if I don't want to just stop knowing you?"
Mogi was silent for a very long time. Then, quietly, he spoke.
"Then, I suppose… I suppose I could take you shopping again, after this is over."
"If you survive," Callie thought, "Why won't you let me decide for myself whether I want to risk my life or not?"
"But if you don't come back…" she said, "What then?"
"Then you'll have to find someone else to take you shopping," Mogi said, "And you'll have to stop wearing white tops. Not every man will just hand you their jacket."
Callie giggled a little in spite of herself.
"That's how I know I picked one of the nice ones!" she said. Then, she hugged the extremely startled Mogi.
"You better come back," she whispered, "If you don't, I'll cry forever, and there'll be nobody left to make me quit acting like an angsty teenager, like you always do."
Gevanni almost couldn't believe his ears when Amity mentioned sleep. There was no time for that sort of nonsense, nor did the black-haired man believe it was possible for him to sleep at this time.
"But, Amity…" he started to protest. However, the girl cut him off.
"I know, you are much too…hyped up…to consider the possibility of sleep," Amity said, "Although I would not usually admit it… I feel the same."
"Then…what should we do?" Gevanni asked.
Amity paused for a moment. Then, quietly, she spoke.
"Come with me, Gevanni. You may not have realized it before, but there is a place in this building where I often spend my sleepless nights in peace."
Slightly confused and extremely curious, Gevanni followed Amity up several flights of stairs to the roof of the building. From there, they could look out on the city of Tokyo.
"It's hard to believe that there are several million people down there, all sleeping peacefully, while only a handful know that we are going to risk our lives tomorrow," Amity said thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Gevanni said. "Hey, Amity?"
"Yes, Gevanni?"
"Do you…do you think we'll actually make it out alive?"
Amity looked surprised, then thoughtful.
"I…I do not know," the girl said at last, "If we do make it out, what do you hope to do, Gevanni?"
"I dunno," Gevanni said, "I guess…I guess I'll just keep working with Near, if he'll let me."
"And if he does not?"
"Then… I don't know where I'll go," Gevanni said, "I'll find something to do."
"Whatever happens," Amity said, "Make sure you stay in touch. You're one of the few people on this earth that I can actually stand to be around."
"Um… Actually," Gevanni said, "I think you're fooling yourself, saying that. There are a whole lot of people you care about, right? I mean, there's Near… And I bet you care about Sayu too. That's why you're taking this gamble. You don't want her to die."
"Of course not," Amity said, "She is innocent. And, yes… She is a good friend, although incredibly stubborn. I would not like to see her die. But even more than that…I fear what losing her would do to Matsuda."
"And there's him," Gevanni added.
"And you," Amity replied, "Don't forget that. I believe, Gevanni, that I could call you my friend."
Gevanni smiled.
"I am completely fine with being your friend, Amity."
"Thank you," said Amity, "This business of friends…is something rather new to me."
"You solitary people should really get some friends," Gevanni said, "Yeah, friends can be totally annoying… But they always pop up to give you a pep talk, just when you need them most."
Amity smiled slightly.
"If that is what friends are for…then perhaps I can be a useful friend."
"You don't have to be useful, necessarily," said Gevanni, "Just as you would never give up on your friends, they'll never give up on you."
It was with no slight degree of uncertainty that Aizawa returned to the small group of rooms that he was currently sharing with his family. Having to explain the situation… How would he even go about doing that? How could he explain that he might die on the following day? How could he tell his family that when he left tomorrow morning, he might never come back?
They ate dinner in silence. Even Akira was unusually quiet, leading Aizawa to believe that his family had sensed the tension in the air.
Finally, Yumi broke the silence.
"Dad, is there something the matter with you?" she asked, "You seem…sad, or something."
"What?" Aizawa asked, looking up at his daughter, "No… No, I'm fine."
"But you sound sad, Daddy!" Akira said.
"I'm fine," Aizawa said, smiling, "Daddy's fine, so don't worry."
"If I die tomorrow… What happens to them? What happens to my family…? If I don't come back?"
Matsuda couldn't sleep, and he couldn't seem to focus on anything either. He knew that Mogi had probably taken Callie home hours ago, and the others were asleep. They were all staying at headquarters tonight, so they could move out early in the morning.
There were a lot of dark hallways to wander through, and Matsuda took advantage of that.
However, his wanderings eventually led him back to the main conference room, where, to his surprise, he found Rester. The blonde man was sitting in a corner chair, and appeared to be reading a book. He looked up as Matsuda entered, not seeming very surprised to find the young man awake at this late hour.
"You should be asleep," Rester said, "You need to be awake for what could very well be our last day on earth."
"You're not asleep," Matsuda pointed out.
"No," Rester agreed, "I'm not. And I think we're awake for a very similar reason. Are you afraid of dying, Matsuda?"
"Not… Not necessarily," Matsuda said, "I mean… I guess you could say I've been playing games with death ever since… Ever since that day. On that day, I started playing a game. Sometimes the game was seeing how long I could stand the pain. Other times, the game was to try dying, and see who would come save me. Because, you know, someone always did come save me, even when I didn't want them to."
He paused, wondering where Sayu was, and if she would be all right until morning.
"I'm not scared of dying," Matsuda said, "Not really. I'm okay with dying, as long as I'm the one that dies. But if it's somebody else… Sayu, or Aizawa, or Amity… Then I would do anything to stop that. That's why I do stupid stuff like running into burning houses. I'm okay with risking my life. It's other people that I have to save. Saving myself… That's never been an issue. If I had to guess, I'd say that out of all the people in this building, I'd be the one that'll die first. But… I would have said that in the beginning, too, and now Ukita and L and the Chief and Ide and Naoki and Lidner…and Light and Misa, and whole lot of other people… They're all dead, and I'm still alive. I know… I know technically Light didn't deserve to be saved. Maybe some of the others didn't either. But… If I had to make a choice between my life and theirs, I would save them all."
Rester nodded.
"Then we were thinking the same thing. Like you, I wouldn't say I'm necessarily afraid of dying. But having to watch the others die… That's what I'm afraid of."
"Yeah," Matsuda said quietly, "We really are afraid of the same thing."
He paused for a moment, wondering if he dared to ask the question that was troubling him.
"Hey, Rester? Do you think anyone will make it out of there tomorrow?"
"I don't know," Rester said, "But I… I hope that it will turn out like the last encounter we had in a warehouse, where only the bad guys died."
Matsuda sighed.
"One thing I know," he said quietly, "Things never happen the same way twice. So…maybe nobody will get out. But like I said… I'll try to save everybody, if I can. It's the only thing I'm good for, if I'm good for anything at all."
It's getting harder and harder for me to believe that this fic is almost over. I think there will probably be three or four more chapters, and then it really will be over. Thank you guys for all your support in the...very long time...that I've been writing this story! :)
