Chapter 53

Near walked back into the main room after hanging up with Roger a second time after hearing that Roger had brought Dr. Thompson to her apartment. He had to make sure she was okay; he would never forgive himself if something had happened to her after giving her such horrific news. She was all he had left now, the last person who was there at what he now realized was the most important and happy time of his life. She knew everything, she had shared it, and she understood him like no one else other than L and the boys ever could. L was gone, he just watched Matt die violently and he knew Mello had died violently as well. She was all he had left of that very special family, and he knew he would die before he let anything happen to her. He looked up at Rester's questioning eyes and he nodded.

"Please contact L for me." He said and rejoined his toys on the floor.

"Hello L", he said when they were finally connected, keeping the escalating hate he felt right now for him hidden from his voice.

"Yes?"

"I hate to keep bothering you in regards to our meeting. I wanted to confirm that we are still set for the 28th at 1:00 pm. Alright?

"Yes."

"Very well," Near answered, "The day after tomorrow, the 28th at 1:00 pm."

"Right." L answered back and Near cut the connection and had Rester connect with Gevanni.

"Gevanni, will you be able to make it on time?" he asked.

"Yes." Came the assured answer. Near picked up the L finger puppet and raised it up so they could all see. He lowered his head as he spoke, so it seemed as if L was speaking to them.

"Commander Rester, Lindner, Gevanni; let's put our best into this, shall we?" he said, moving the L puppet as he spoke. The three SPK members look at each other, slightly concerned, but they all nodded and said yes.

Christine lay on her couch, Roger fixing her coffee. He brought it over to her and sat her up, holding the cup with her as her trembling hadn't stopped. After the first half an hour of just pure crying she found she couldn't anymore, at least not now. She felt numb, as if she were just viewing the events around her, not really there. Her mind kept replaying what Near had told her, the thought of her two boys dying just wouldn't register in her mind anymore. She felt Roger lift her up and sit next to her, the coffee being pressed into her hands.

"Come on, drink some Dr. Thompson, Christine…it'll do you some good, I'm sure." He said, continuing to hold on to the cup with her. His heart nearly broke when he watched her eyes move from the cup to his face, they were expressionless, vacant, as if she were no longer there. He brought the cup up to her lips to let a little trickle into her mouth, hoping the sensation would trigger something in her eyes. He saw them flicker just a little as the warmth hit her tongue, and they looked down at the cup that was in her hands, Roger's hand wrapped around hers. She tipped the cup towards her mouth again and took a good mouthful, her eyes closing as she swallowed it, welcoming the warmth as it went down her throat, the first thing she'd felt in almost an hour.

"Good," she heard Roger say, "I thought for a moment you were going to go catatonic on me. Drink some more." He suggested and she did, and felt tears slide down her face.

"Roger….the boys…." She started and he nodded.

"I know, Christine. I can't believe it either, it just doesn't seem possible. I've known them practically all their lives, since they were brought here and they got here very young. Near said it was this Kira, but what they did before will make it possible for him to finally stop him." Christine's eyes rolled back up to his face, but this time they were no longer vacant, they were filled with the most intense hate Roger had ever seen. If he hadn't been holding her hands around the cup he would've backed away.

"Kira!" she spat out, her hands beginning to shake again, "He has taken almost everything precious from me, Roger. Why won't he die, how can he keep doing these things." Roger shook his head.

"He has too much power. That notebook you told me about, if that's true, how can you stop something like that?"

"He will be stopped, Near will do this, I know he will. They worked together at the end, and L said that was the only way they could defeat him, doing it together. Near will do this." The hate faded from her eyes and they were now just filled again with her pain and loss. "Near said he was having them….sent home. You will tell me as soon as they arrive?" she asked, the tears beginning again. Roger nodded, then put the coffee down. He put his arms around her and held her to him, her body shaking with new tears. He looked over her head at the picture on the mantle and shook his head; this was going to be harder than L and Watari, he thought.

Near barely slept over the following two days until the 28th. Nightmares of what he had witnessed plagued him, with the deaths of Matt and Mello, his pain over L's loss came back in huge waves as well. He was quite sure that what they had done would assure Kira's defeat, but there was always room for error. He knew that walking into the warehouse would either mean Kira's defeat or his own death, and the death of the remaining SPK. For just a few moments he felt like a child, alone against the world. The way he used to feel before he was taken in hand by the man with the big eyes and never combed hair, when he first arrived at the orphanage. He sighed and looked at the clock on the computer, 6:00 a.m., January 28th. He would give them a couple of hours and then it would begin.

"Good morning gentlemen!" Near's voiced sounded inordinately cheerful to the members of the SPK as he addressed the Task Force and L2. "First of all, in regards to Misa Amane, we have already set her free. You may call her to confirm it."

"Alright Near, "L2 continued after speaking with Amane, "I need you to connect me with Mogi. We have the notebook locked away here in a safe and in order to open it we need a pin number from each of the team."

"I understand." Near said and had Mogi connected.

"Near, it's me," Aizawa's voice came over the speakers, "We've discussed it and we decided that it should be me to carry the notebook."

"L are you sure it's alright if Mr. Aizawa carries it? Be honest.." Near taunted.

"Ofcourse, I chose Aizawa for the job because I knew you would prefer that. I have no problems with it." Came L2's smug reply.

"I appreciate it, thank you. Well then, we'll see you shortly." Near terminated the connection. Near readied his puppets and the mask he had made and planned to wear. He wasn't going to be just walk in there just in case a mistake had been made without protection. He turned the mask over and looked at the face he had tried to recreate. L would be with him, and L would protect him. More importantly, L needed to be there and see his justice finally done. He smiled to himself and awaited the appointed time…

Christine stood in the hallway adjacent to the large auditorium, just as she had one six years ago; and like six years ago she could see two coffins at the end of the room. Roger had made her promise to stay put until he had signed the necessary papers and made sure no mistakes had been made. She watched him as the mortician opened one coffin, his face going slightly pale as he looked down. He nodded his head and the coffin was closed. Then the second was opened and she saw him go completely white, his hand going to his mouth as he turned away. He nodded and the lid was closed on the second one as well. The papers were signed and the mortician turned and made his way out of the auditorium, nodding at Christine as he went. She then walked into the auditorium, refusing to wait any longer. Roger saw her coming and started towards her, regaining his composure.

"Christine, please you don't want this. Remember them as they were the last time you saw them." He practically pleaded, holding her by her shoulders. She shook her head furiously.

"I need to see my boys to be able to say good-bye, Roger, I have to." She argued and shook out of his hold. She went to the first coffin and opened it, a moan of sadness escaping her. Her Matt lay inside, his red hair matted to his forehead, his face in his trademark smirk. She turned to Roger.

"Where are his clothes? Why is he naked?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, I imagine that after the incident his clothes were cut off. Near had him sent here so quickly I suppose they didn't have the time to find something for him. She looked down at Matt again, refusing to see the bruising all over his body from the bullet wounds. Then she remembered something.

"His goggles, he doesn't have his goggles either. He's got to have them, he's got to have clothes and he's got to have a game…" she cried and ran out of the auditorium, Roger close to her heels. She ran to the room that used to be the shared by the boys, and the one that Matt remained in until he left. She went through drawers until she found him a shirt and pants. She rifled through the desk, through all the drawers until she found several pairs of goggles; she knew he had more than one pair and they had left so quickly to find Mello he didn't have time to pack them all. Then she went to his bed and searched under the pillows. She'd always known he'd hidden games there as a child when it was supposed to be light's out and his games supposedly put away. She pulled an old game boy from under one of them and sighed, she knew she'd find one. She turned to Roger with the items.

"Take these, dress Matt and give him these, I'll be there in just a moment." She told him. He took the items but hesitated a moment, not sure he wanted to leave her alone. She smiled and patted his face.

"I'll be fine Roger. Just a few moments." He sighed and nodded then turned and headed back towards the auditorium. She turned and looked at the bed where she had first laid eyes on the little red headed boy in so much pain, more than ten years ago. She ran her hand over the pillows and sat on the bed. She looked over where Near had slept, and the top bunk over her head where Mello had slept. She watched as ghosts of the little boys she once knew ran around the room, Near making a fort out of dice, Mello threatening to kick it over as Matt pulled him back laughing.

"Oh, God please make this a nightmare and I'll do anything, anything." She whispered looking up for a few moments. She sighed and stood up, Roger must be done by now, she thought.

She walked back to the auditorium slowly, and saw Roger standing in front of the open coffin. She walked to him and looked down and smiled. There was her Matt, his goggles on his face, clothed with his beloved game in his hand. She looked over at Roger.

"Thank you, Roger. I couldn't leave him naked and not looking like himself. L would never recognize him." She reached down and ruffled his hair, still marveling at his trademark smirk on his face. She felt it was his own message to her, that no matter what, he was still Matt.

"Good bye, Matt, I love you. Kiss L for me…and make sure you tell him it was from me, otherwise he might not understand. Oh, and the same for Watari." She touched his cheek one last time and then reached up and closed the lid. As she walked over to the other coffin Roger grabbed her.

"Please, please listen to me this time. Christine I don't want to hurt you any more than you already are but you have to listen to me. You don't want to see Mello like that, please believe me you don't."

"But…"she started to struggle but Roger wouldn't let her go.

"Try to remember how he died, Christine, in a fire. You're a doctor you know what that looks like. Near told me the coroner found he had been dead of a heart attack before the fire happened, so we know he didn't suffer. But still, it was a fire." Christine looked up into Roger's haunted eyes and she remembered his expression when the coffin was opened for him. No, she didn't want to see what made him look like that. Her Mello was beautiful, with blonde hair and green eyes and that's the way she would always remember him. She didn't want it marred by looking at what remained of him after the fire. She nodded but still walked over to the coffin.

"Roger, do you think you could at least open it enough to put a chocolate bar in there later, I don't want to put you through that again either." Roger smiled sadly and nodded.

She put both her hands on the coffin and pressed her forehead against it.

"Good-bye Mello, I love you. I always felt I failed you somehow when you lost L and you left. But you were so strong you managed to survive anyway. I'm so proud of both of you. Near said because of what you did, he'll be able to destroy Kira. I knew you'd do it, L knew you'd do it and you did." She lifted her head and rubbed the top of the coffin.

She turned to Roger who put his arm around her as the tears began again.

"Come on, you need something to eat. Service will be in the morning for them, and arrangements have been made so they'll be next to L." she nodded and allowed him to take her from the room. She didn't notice Michael watching from the other end of the hallway….

Near, the SPK and Mogi arrived ten minutes early. He wanted to make sure everything was in place before L and the task force arrived. Rester had gone in first to make sure no one had arrived yet, and then they followed him in. Near lay his finger puppets on the floor, put the mask on, and got down on the floor to wait. He heard the thunder and lightning outside, the rain falling heavier every moment and he had to smile.

Within a few moments the door in front of them slid open and light from the outside bathed them as L and the Task Force came in. Near smiled behind the mask as he could also see the shinigami hovering behind L. They shut the door behind them and stood across the room from Near and the SPK. They all started when Near lifted his head, and L's countenance stared back at them. So there he was right in front of him, the man who killed L, who was responsible for Matt and Mello's deaths, and untold numbers of others, just a few feet away from him. He was glad the mask was covering his face, he wasn't sure he would have been able to hide the hate that was pouring through him.

"That's them," Aizawa said, "The members of the SPK and the one with the mask is Near"

"Am I the only one who sees something wrong here?", Matsuda asked, "He goes around accusing people of being Kira, while the fact that he's wearing a mask says that he's just trying to protect himself and no one else!"

"It's just a precaution," Near answered from behind the mask, "It's a good possibility that Kira has seen everyone else's face here in this warehouse except for mine. In fact, he may be writing down names even as we speak, so I'd like to wait for one hour…no thirty minutes. That should give us enough time to see if anyone is being controlled before they die."

"What? You're gonna wait and see if we die?" Matsuda yelled.

"No, its not impossible that Light could be Kira and this will prove it one way or another. Especially since the rest of us are of no use to him anymore." Aizawa said and they began to wait for the thirty minutes to pass.

"Near!" Matsuda shouted when the time had passed, "It's already been over thirty minutes and nothing has happened."

"Ofcourse not," L2 smirked, "That's because Kira's not here with us."

"Very well, everyone seems to be safe," Near said, "I'll remove my mask now." He reached up and pulled off the mask, looked up at L2 and smiled. L scowled at him and waited a few more minutes before he spoke.

"You're quiet Near, what's the matter? Are you still waiting for something?" Near reached down and moved the Kira finger puppet.

"That's an excellent choice of words. Yes I am waiting; for the arrival of the one who will solve everything once and for all."

"Someone else is supposed to clear this up?" Ide asked.

"He'll be here soon, it's only a matter of time. There is only one entrance to this building, only one way to get inside, that means he will have to open that door. At the very least he will have to open it and peek through."

"Just who is this person anyway?" Matsuda demanded.

"X-Kira, the person who has been using the notebook and killing people on Kira's behalf," Near answered picking up the appropriate finger puppet, "He is bound to come here and bring the notebook with him. Then, he will see me and write down my name, or rather he will write down the names of everyone here who knows about the notebook and kill them."

"What is this, what are you trying to tell us Near? That some guy with the notebook is going to poke his head in here and try to kill us all!" Matsuda shouted obviously frightened.

"And you want us to just wait and let it happen?" Ide added.

"Yes, that's exactly correct. Now listen carefully, if someone comes into the warehouse through that door, just let him in without resisting. If you see the door open even slightly, just pretend there's nothing there." Matsuda came towards him.

"But..that's crazy!" he shouted. Near shushed him.

"He's already here.." he said quietly. They all looked towards the door, they could hear mutterings from behind it and could make out the word "Delete" being said over and over. Matsuda grabbed his gun and Rester pulled his out and aimed it at Matsuda.

"Hold it, don't do anything!" he yelled at Matsuda.

"Everything is fine, you won't die!" Near shouted.

"How can you be so sure, Near?" Matsuda asked.

"Because we took repossession of the notebook and replaced the pages. The person behind the door has been killing for Kira. He also has been using exactly one page per day. Based on that I was able to replace the page he would use today and all subsequent pages so that no one else would die. On the other side of that door is X-Kira. My guess is in about 40 seconds he's going to look out and see if we're dead. That's when we'll restrain him and seize the notebook. Who ever's name is not written down in the notebook, must be Kira."

"Its true," Aizawa said, "Kira would be the only one that guy wouldn't try to kill. But still…"

"You there, with the notebook. Have you finished writing all the names down?" L2 asked.

""Yes, I wrote them all down." Came a voice from behind the door. Near looked up at L2/Light Yagami. He could see the smirk trying to hide on his face, he was so sure he'd won.

"Don't you think it's rather odd," Near said looking at L, "Why would he answer you so quickly and honestly when you asked if he had written down the names yet?"

"Who knows," L shrugged, "Maybe he's just honest, or over confident that he'll succeed or..perhaps he's seen through your BRILLIANT plan."

"In that case, we're in big trouble." Matsuda worried. Near looked down at the floor again.

"Teru Mikami, if it's not too much trouble for you, would you please come in and join us? I already know that you are the one who has been judging and executing people for Kira. If you've already written down our names then there should be nothing for you to be afraid of so you can come right on in."

"Teru Mikami is it? He's right, you can come in." L2 told him. With Kira's permission, Mikami opened the door and came in.

"How many seconds has it been since you wrote down the first name?" L2 asked him. Mikami looked at his watch as it ticked away the seconds.

"30 seconds", he answered, and began to count down to 40. Just as he reached 39, L2 turned to Near.

"Well Near, it looks like I win." He said, louder than he meant to. Near moved the Mello and L finger puppets closer to the front. He looked around, amused at all the postures of impending death the Task Force was displaying. Matsuda was the first to uncoil.

"We're still alive!" he said sounding completely surprised, "It's been over a minute and we haven't died!" Near turned to L2, whose eyes had suddenly gone totally wide with surprise.

"Didn't I already tell you all that no one was going to die"? he asked totally disgusted with them all.

"But why!" Mikami screamed totally distraught, "Why won't they die? I did everything you told me, God!"

"Rester! Gervanni! Take him now!" Near yelled and they jumped into action, grabbing and handcuffing Mikami, making him drop the notebook.

"Gevanni, the notebook please." He asked holding up his hand for Gevanni to drop the notebook into.

"If you didn't believe me before, you can see with your very own eyes. I can confirm that the first four names are the real names of the SPK. The second four are the names of your team. The only name not written down is Light Yagami. If that isn't enough, Mikami addressed you as god, and said he did what you asked him to. It's settled." Near watched as the calm, cool exterior of Light Yagami began to crumble and fall apart right before his eyes. His eyes grew wide with terror and he began to wildly swing his arms around.

"It's a trap! It's all part of Near's plan to try and frame me! Don't you think it's odd that no one died after having their names written in the notebook! This proves it's a trap!"

The Task Force stared in horror. They'd never seen Light Yagami behave this way, he never lost his composure, even after being in confinement for months. They couldn't believe what was happening. Near grinned at him.

"I believe I already told you that no one would die because I had modified the notebook."

"NO! You…er..it can't be!" Light sputtered trying to regain his composure, "This is a set up, I don't know this guy." He said pointing to Mikami. Mikami reacted as if he had been shot, his god denied him and he cried out, falling to his knees. Aizawa walked over to Light and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Light, it's too late to deny it, you know Near has won. Just a moment ago you were saying "It looks like I win." How much more of a confession do we need?" Matsuda stared at Light in horror and disbelief.

"Light…why?" he whispered and fell to his knees, tears running down his face. Mogi walked over to Light and pulled out handcuffs. Just as he began to put them on, Light screamed.

"STOP IT!" he screamed and turned and tried to run, tripping over himself and falling to the hard concrete floor. He got up and ran to the wall on the other side of the room. Near watched him and tried not to laugh.

"Light Yagami..L.. Kira.; It's over, you've lost the game. Just a moment ago you proclaimed your victory expecting us all to die. And to tell the truth, I might have lost. We ended up doing what you expected us to do, modifying the false notebook. However, when I said before that I had modified the notebook, I was in fact referring to the real notebook as well as the fake. We only switched part of the fake notebook, but as for the real one, we switched the entire thing. This notebook here, is the real thing." He reached into his shirt and pulled out the notebook.

"NO! That's impossible!" Light screamed.

"We used the same kind of pen that Mikami used, copied his handwriting exactly and made the inside and the outside of the fake look exactly like the original. Gevanni was able to do it in a single night. Ofcourse, since I had touched the real notebook before coming, I have been able to see the shinigami as well. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Shinigami, I'm Near." The shinigami laughed.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ryuk."

"Some of the edges of these pages in the notebook have been ripped off. Tell me, if someone wrote a name on a torn piece of the notebook would they still die?"

"Oh yea, ofcourse they would." The shinigami answered.

"I thought so. I bet you were able to use it to your advantage. I wonder how many times you deceived us with this, and how many people you killed." Near looked down at the floor again. "Light Yagami, you ARE Kira."

"This has got to be a trick. Could it be that Mikami betrayed me somehow.." Light began.

"You're mistaken, " Near answered, "This was all thanks to Mello." He said, holding up the Mello puppet, "I believe if I explain this much you will begin to understand."

"What? Mello?" Light asked incredulously.

"Please look at this page of the notebook." Near held it up and Light could read Takada's name.

"Takada's name is in the notebook! I was the one who killed her but her death was written a minute after I did! Does that mean Mikami did the same thing I did!"

"God you told me you couldn't move. I had to take care of her wasn't that part of my duty to you?" Mikami cried.

"It's all true. On the 26th, right after Takada's kidnapping was broadcast on the news, Mikami went to the bank." Near added.

"I'd been trailing him," Gevanni said, "I knew he went to the bank every month on the 25th, and I thought it was odd for someone as methodical as he was to go to the bank twice in two days. I followed him to the safety deposit boxes and it was only at that time that he seemed to worry that he might be followed. I got into his safe deposit box and found the real notebook. Sure enough, Takada's name had already been written inside."

"Do you understand now, Light Yagami? You didn't realize that Mikami had made a move on his own and killed Takada because you had used a notebook clipping and had killed her yourself. This was the event that made us think of the possibility of a fake notebook. We were able to stop you because of the efforts of one person, it was Mello who did it all. I bet Mello knew in his heart that working alone neither of us would be able to reach our goal and surpass our mentor, L. But together, together we can stand with L, together we can surpass L, and now standing together we can face the Kira that defeated him and with solid evidence, beat him at his own game!" Near held up the puppets of himself, L and Mello as he spoke, making sure Light saw each one.

"Let's see you try and talk your way out of this one, if you can." He finished, the three puppets staring up at Light.

Light stared back, then bent over, making a sound that Near thought at first was crying. Then Light stood straight up, threw his head back and laughed maniacally.

"That's right, I am Kira." He said looking over his shoulder at them all.

"What can you do? Kill me right here? Hear this, I'm not only Kira but I am also God of the New World. Kira has become law in the world we now live in, he's the one maintaining order. I have become justice, the only hope for mankind. Kill me? Is that really the right thing to do? Since Kira's appearance six years ago, wars have stopped, global crime rate has dropped over 70%. But it's not enough, this world is still rotten, with too many rotten people. Somebody has to stop it. When I first got that notebook all those years ago, I knew I had to do it…no I was the ONLY one who could do it. I understood that killing people was a crime, but there was no other way, the world had to be fixed, a purpose given to me! Only I could do it. Who else could have done and come this far, would they have kept going? The only one who can create a new world is me!"

"No, you're just a murderer Light Yagami, and this notebook is the deadliest weapon of mass murder in the history of mankind. You yielded to the power of the shinigami and the notebook and you thought yourself a god. In the end, you're nothing more than a crazy serial killer, that's all you are. That's all you are, nothing more and nothing less." Near told him, squishing the head of the Kira puppet. Near watched as Light stood perfectly still for a moment, surveying the room.

"Near," he called out, "Here's some food for thought, that notebook you have and the one that Aizawa brought from the Japanese Task Force Headquarters…are they real?" Near blinked. What is he up to, he thought, is he bluffing?

"At the moment, only I know where the real notebook is. If you truly want to defeat Kira as well as test the notebook that Aizawa is carrying, I guess you're going to either write down my name or Mikami's." He said, his back on Near. "It's the only way to see if it's real….OR FAKE!" he yelled, working the button on his watch as he turned around, pen in hand.

"He's got a piece of the notebook!" Someone yelled and Matsuda pulled his gun and shot Light's hand, the watch flying off with the pen.

"Matsuda you idiot!" Light screamed holding his bloody hand, "Who the hell do you think you're shooting at! Don't screw with me!"

"What was it all for then?. Matsuda screamed back at him, never lowering his gun, "What about your dad, what the hell did he die for?"

"My dad? Soichiro Yagami?", Light whispered, a trill of hysterical laughter bubbling out, "That's right Matsuda. In this world, earnest people like him who fight for justice always lose. You want a world where people like that are made to be fools? I know you understand so kill the others! SHOOT THEM!"

"You led your own father to his death, and now he's gone you call him a fool!" Matsuda's hands began to shake with anger as he continued to point the gun at Light, staring into Light's eyes. He didn't notice that Light was writing on the small piece of the notebook paper in his hand with his own blood. Aizawa shouted what he was doing and Matsuda pulled the trigger four times, each bullet pushing Light's body back and eventually onto the floor. Matsuda ran to him, pointing the gun at his head.

"He has to die!" He screamed readying to shoot Light one final time. Aizawa and Mogi grabbed him just as the gun went off, sending the bullet into the floor next to his head. Light crawled to his knees screaming at Mikami.

"You idiot"", he gurgled through lungs filling with blood, "What are you waiting for? Write down their names, write them down!" he screamed falling back on his back, "Kill them now!"

"It's finally over isn't it Near" Rester said watching the spectacle before them.

"Yes," Near answered, enjoying watching the mighty Kira crawl around in his own blood.

"Where's Misa? Where's Takada?" Light cried out, "Someone…what do I do now?"

At that moment there was a blood curdling scream from Mikami and they all turned to see him stabbing himself with his pen, jamming it directly into his heart, blood spurting like a fountain from his chest.

"Someone stop the bleeding!" Aizawa shouted.

"It's too late", Near answered, "He'll be dead in a few seconds."

"Wait…Light!" Matsuda suddenly yelled, and they all looked up to see Light stumbling out of the door.

"Come back…"Aizawa shouted on his way to follow him.

"Mr. Aizawa," Near started, "It is unlikely that he has any more pieces of the death note and with those wounds he's not going to go far, even if we leave him alone."

"Near, I'm not going to follow those orders." Aizawa said to him. Near was slightly startled, no one had refused his orders before. He turned away.

"Very well, I'll leave it with you." He said as the task force flew out of the door.

Near looked around the room. He would wait until they brought back Light's body, so he could see for himself that he was indeed dead. He sent his SPK members out to follow the task force, just to be sure.

He looked down at his puppets. He suddenly felt bad he hadn't made one for Matt, but Matt was relatively unknown to these people, he would make one later.

"We did it L, just like you wanted us to. We did it together." He held the L puppet and the Mello puppet against his chest and began to cry, his quiet sobs echoing through the empty warehouse.