I've got more Fan-Art!

*Squeals*

It's of Alice dressed up as Jack Sparrow, so please go to my profile and check it out!

The artwork was drawn by Vsat101, and it's absolutely adorable!

I'm so happy right now, I could cry!

*Takes a deep breath*

I'm such a lush...

(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)


Mission 2: The Ace

"Why are you tapping on that painting?" Zeek asked from his position on the floor. He was still in front of his computer, but he had longed turned away from his screen to talk to Alice. Alice was standing in front of a large painting, staring at it as if she could magically see L on the other side. But there was a reason it was called a one-way window. There was no possible way for her to see beyond the colorful artwork of an old town bakery. So, she gave up and focused her attention back on Zeek. L was on the phone with her, anyway, so seeing him ultimately didn't matter. She had other people to deal with, which included a very touchy ghost.

"I thought it looked pretty," she lied to Zeek.

Zeek raised an eyebrow, but did not further his questioning towards her new obsession with the painting. Instead, he went to ask about Doug, who was still standing by the door. Zeek could not see him, but Alice sure could. The way he was biting his nails told Alice he was anxious and uncomfortable.

"Why does my buddy want to apologize?"

Alice gave Doug a look, hoping maybe he would finally grow a pair and give her something to say, but alas, he hunched further into the corner and tried to make himself smaller. At least he wasn't running away. He may have been feeling remorse, but as long as he was still in the room, Alice had hope.

"Doug was the one who stole the money. He never told you and, in the end, he almost got you killed for it. He feels just awful for putting you in danger."

"But he doesn't have to apologize for that." Zeek surprised her. It was her turn to raise one eyebrow. Even Doug uncurled himself from a ball to hear what his friend was saying. "I betcha he stole the money for good reasons. He would never do something without having a good reason for it. He was always an honest dude."

Alice could have sworn she saw tears in Doug's eyes. He was soaking up Zeek's words like a sponge, but he obviously wasn't retaining the water very well.

"He almost got you killed, and you don't think he should say he's sorry?"

Zeek shook his head.

Alice was at a loss for words, but Doug didn't mind voicing his opinion next: "He's always been so forgiving! I would hug him right now if I could!" Alice wasn't sure if this was right, but if it helped Doug to pass over, then who was she to say it was wrong?

"You made Doug very happy," she told Zeek, who was finally getting up off the floor.

"How much longer is this going to take?" L scared her. She had almost forgotten she was still talking to him on the phone.

"What do you want me to do?" She ran her hand through her hair.

"Just a simple experiment."

"Care to elaborate?"

There was a moment of pause and some ruffling of papers before L answered her. "I need you to instruct Mr. Alchi to look in the bottom drawer of the nightstand. There he will find notecards. You must not look at them. They are only for Mr. Alchi's eyes. Your job is to figure out what is written down on those notecards. With the help of Douglas, I'm sure this won't be difficult for you."

Alice didn't waste any time motioning at Zeek. She was finally going to give L legitimate proof of Doug's existence, so she didn't want to waste a second more with idle chitchat.

"Zeek, look in that drawer for some notecards." She pointed to the nightstand. She then addressed Doug, who was wiping away some last-minute tears. "Doug, you're going to help me find out what's written on those notecards."

"These notecards?" Zeek asked, pulling out a small stack of white, thick stock paper.

"Yes. Make sure you hide the contents from me. In fact—" Alice made her way over to the bed. She grabbed hold of one of the many pillows and ripped off the pillowcase. "—I'll blind myself so there's no possible way for me to see." She smiled.

"Excellent." L sounded pleased over the phone.

"What do you want me to do?"

Doug inched his way closer to Alice, finding his courage after struggling to overcome his remorse. Alice sat down on the bed with one hand holding her cell phone and the other holding onto the pillowcase. She pointed to Zeek with the pillowcase hand and ordered Doug to stand behind him. Doug looked hesitant at first, but did as he was told.

Zeek momentarily looked behind him, hoping maybe he could see his friend. But all he saw was a blank wall with some paint peeling off. "What are we doing?" he wondered after giving up his search.

Alice was happy to answer. "We are going to prove Doug's existence and my psychic abilities."

"But I already believe you; what's there to prove?" Zeek tilted his head.

"It's not you I have to prove this to—it's my boss."

"You mean that detective dude?" Zeek started to get excited.

"That's the one," she chirped.

"Wicked."

Alice chuckled, glad to see he was on board with the experiment.

L interrupted her laughter, knowing there was a time restraint that he had to comply with. The longer they stayed away from the case, the easier it was for the criminals to escape to Mexico. "We should start our experiment. The microphones in the room will allow me to hear you, so you can free you hand from the cell phone now."

"Okay." Alice hid her disappointment. She liked hearing L's voice, but having a free hand would give her less of a distraction.

"Good luck." Those were L's last words before the line went dead.

Alice's disappointment turned into irritation. She'd later have to give L a lecture on how to properly say good-bye on the phone. Sighing heavily, she tossed her phone behind her onto the bed and covered her head with the pillowcase. She knew she looked ridiculous, but it was all for a good cause.

"Let's start. Zeek, don't say a word about what's on those cards, unless I get it right."

"Roger!"


Matt picked up a shrunken head. It had dark thick hair and its mouth sewn shut. Even its skin was shriveled like a raisin. It was disturbing, but Matt knew it wasn't real (there was a tag that claimed it was made in China). Both he and Mello had made it to the pawn shop a couple minutes ago, and he was trying to find some sort of distraction while his friend spoke with the pawn shop owner.

"Have you seen any of these men before?" Mello pulled out a piece of paper with multiple pictures of criminals.

The owner, who was short and round with little hair on his balding head, gave the piece of paper a quick glance. Mello noticed how little the owner cared; he didn't even give the pictures a second look before he replied. "There are hundreds of men that come to my shop. I don't remember what they look like."

Mello certainly didn't like that answer, but, to Matt's surprise, Mello didn't shout. He kept calm, which was very much unlike Mello's interrogational tactic. Maybe he was finally starting to learn how to communicate with people after what he had done to Alice.

"Could you take another look?"

The round middle-aged man grunted and looked once more. Matt could tell the bald man was humoring Mello, but the blond didn't say a word. He applauded Mello for keeping his cool. As the owner scanned the paper, Matt observed his expression go from a deep frown to a sneer of disgust. He recognized one of the men's photos, and there was some amount of hate the old man harbored for this person. To Matt's relief, the balding man pointed to the bottom left picture. The old man didn't know it at the time, but if he hadn't given Mello any information, then he would have surely suffered a fate worse than death. Mello was not against using torture.

"This guy," he spat. Mello looked at the photo where the chubby man's finger was. There was a young man of Spanish descent with tattoos on his neck and shoulders. Alanzo was the criminal's name, and he was notorious for obtaining some of the harder drugs; drugs that could potentially bring in thousands of dollars.

"How do you know this man?"

"He comes in my store almost every other day. Stirs up a lot a trouble."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Are you a cop or something?" The old man finally asked the question; Matt was wondering what had taken him so long.

Mello debated the answer in his head for a while. "I don't work for the police." He gave an honest answer. The truth was, the police worked for him.

The old man looked skeptical at first, but by the amount of leather Mello was wearing, it was hard to believe he could be involved with the police, especially at such a young age. So, the old man went on to answering Mello's last question: "The last time I saw him was on the fifteenth."

"Was he with anyone at the time?"

The man shrugged. "I don't remember. He comes so often it's hard to remember who he's with."

Mello took the answer with a grain of salt. It was better than nothing. At least he could work with the information he now had about Alanzo.

"Has there been any other suspicious activity around this neighborhood?"

"Listen boy, I have a business to run. I got nothing else to tell you."

Matt shook his head, knowing what was coming next. The old man had a good run until that moment.

Mello scoffed, scrunching up his nose as if he smelled something foul. With his right hand, Mello used speeds no normal human being should be capable of and grabbed the old man's shirt. He tugged him forward, making sure to look the old man in the eyes. The old man's fearful expression reflected off of Mello's own blue daggers. Matt was surprised the guy hadn't fainted right then and there.

"Hey!" The man's voice cracked.

"I've got my own business to attend to, and the longer I have to be here, the more impatient I get. So, either you tell me everything you know, or I'll cut your head open to find the answers myself!"

A flash of steel caught in the old man's eyes. It was brief, but there was no mistaking the blade under Mello's jacket. Sweat dripped down the old man's bald head. He'd run a pawn shop for years, and he'd had his fair share of delinquents come in to try and scare him, but he'd never met this kind of fear in his life. Mello had a certain…gift when it came to intimidation, no matter how big or small his opponent was. That was why Matt was allowing Mello to do the talking. For one, Matt didn't mind exploring the shop, and two, he always enjoyed the entertainment.

The old man looked like he was about to pee his pants, and Matt couldn't have been more delighted.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you!"

Mello immediately let go of the man's shirt, watching him stagger backwards. The fear never left his eyes, and he sang like a bird.

"Once in a while, I'll have these two Hispanic guys come around to drop something off for my shop. They always have something nice, like guitars or expensive jewelry. They sell me the good stuff and for a cheap price."

"The chances of those items being stolen are pretty high. Don't you have a law that restricts you from buying anything stolen?"

"Yes, but I have a good thing going for me. I'm off the cop's radar, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Mello didn't care about the old man's dirty purchases. His main focus was the two men who brought the stuff in. "Who are the two Hispanic men?"

"I only heard one of their names, and I'm pretty sure it was a nickname. He called himself Wolf."

Mello hated nicknames. Well, that wasn't all true. He hated those outside of the Wammy's House who had nicknames. If he had a choice, though, he would never use a nickname. Especially the one given to him. Some days he wondered if his nickname was a joke.

"Is that all?" Mello made sure to sound sharp. Seeing the old man flinch gave him the reassurance that it worked.

"That's all, I promise you!"

Mello gave the man one last glare before he turned around. "Matt, let's go." He waved to his friend who was playing with an electric piano.

Matt immediately pulled away from the instrument and smiled over at the old man behind the counter. He gave a friendly wave good-bye on his way over to the exit.

"Thanks for all your help," were Matt's first and last departing words as he followed Mello outside.

It was a successful stop and, once again, Matt didn't have to do a thing. The missions were turning out to be easier than he initially thought. Maybe he could stop for some coffee on the way to their next destination—God knows he could use something to stop that annoying twitch he got after hours of not smoking.


"Are you sure about this, little elf?" Zeek flipped through some of the cards.

At least, that's what Alice assumed he was doing. She couldn't see him through the pillowcase, but she could hear him shuffling through some papers. The way he asked the question made Alice slightly on edge. What was written on those cards that made Zeek worried?

"I can do this as long as Doug is here."

"I'm here," Doug said, giving her reassurance. It was exactly what she needed to calm her nerves. She wasn't sure why she was nervous and having a pillowcase over her head wasn't helping the situation.

"Shall we begin?" Alice initiated. Zeek quickly shuffled the papers back to their original order and coughed to show her he was ready. As she took a deep breath, she only prayed Doug would tell her the right thing to say. She had to completely trust him, which was enough hard to do after just getting out of an argument with the guy. He could easily make her look like the fool in the room.

"Uh…" She heard Doug's voice through the thin sheet. The fact that he was stalling made her heart start to race. Maybe the cards were written in a different language or some weird code that Doug was unfamiliar with. Would L give them a challenge like that?

"It's an equation." The ghost started to laugh.

Alice felt her left eye twitch. "What does the equation say, Doug?" She took in a deep breath; her relief far outweighed her annoyance toward Doug.

Before Doug answered her, Zeek gasped. "You know it's an equation? No way!"

Alice ignored Zeek's outburst, waiting to hear from Doug. She preferred to hear that kind of excitement from L, anyway.

"The card wants you to add five plus five." Doug sounded confused, but Alice knew not to rush for the answer. L specifically told her to relay whatever was on those cards. He never said to give him answers, so she was going to do as she was told. "Five plus five."

"That's it!" Zeek gasped once more. He was definitely more excited about the experiment then she was.

"Next." Alice snapped her finger. She wanted to get through the cards quickly so she could see L's face. She hoped it would mirror Zeek's, because he sounded like he was going to explode. She could even feel the floor underneath her shake from his jumps.

"Okay, try to guess this one!" Doug looked over Zeek's shoulder and frowned.

The silence yet again made Alice's stomach do flips. Why is Doug so slow?

"These just keep getting weirder," Doug mumbled. It was enough to make Alice's eye twitch for a second time.

"Could you please just tell me what's on the card," she sighed.

Unfortunately, her request was misunderstood by Zeek. "I can't do that, little elf. You have to figure it out."

"Not you, Zeek— I was talking to Doug."

"Oh, right."

"Is this supposed to be a picture of some sort?" Doug scratched his head.

Alice formed a hard line with her lips. "Picture? Of what?"

"You're good, little elf."

"Shoosh, Zeek." She had to put an end to his commenting.

Zeek shut his mouth immediately.

"Not really sure…It looks like a dog humping a man's leg."

Alice instantly remembered the buttons on the plane ride to Paris. It was her first mission outside of Wammy's House with L, and her first time alone with the great detective. Thinking back, she started to blush when she remembered all the cute nicknames she gave him. Maybe she would use one of them again…

"Is it a picture of one of those buttons on an airplane? I vaguely remember mentioning that one of them looked like a dog humping a man's leg."

"Is that what that is?" Zeek thought aloud, turning the card sideways.

Beep!

"That is correct, Ace. Continue with the next card." L's voice was distorted. He must have not trusted Zeek enough to want to use his real one.

"Jesus?" Zeek looked around the room.

Alice shook her head. "Zeek, no."

Doug was next to speak: "Your boss is creepy."

"Thank you, Doug. Now, can we move on?"

"Right. Here's the next card." Doug got focused.

Alice waited with as much patience as she could muster.

"Oh, I got this one! It's a quote. It says, 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' ByAbraham Lincoln."

"Lincoln quote— nice touch. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'"

"That's right! I can't believe you knew that!" Zeek started to jump some more. Alice couldn't stop the smile that came next. Doug was doing a brilliant job; she'd have to thank him later for cooperating.


L watched through the window like he was looking into a whole new world. Near was right by his side, unable to look away from the experiment.

Near was so enthralled by it that he even stopped twisting his hair. "So, this is real," he said mostly to himself.

L played with a sugar cube on his desk, his eyes never looking away from the girl with the pillow case over her head. Alice had suggested herself she would eliminate her vision all together just to prove her point. L had never been so proud of her commitment before. He applauded her stamina for lasting as long as she has. She'd worked so hard to get to this point, and she was willing to do everything in her power to illustrate proof of her abilities. L was a believer, even before the experiment started. But having Near as his witness just made the whole ordeal that much more real to him. There was no mistaking her gift; she was talking to Doug, even though L (or anybody else, for that matter) could not see him.

When she announced the first card, L gave in to a little of his adrenalin. When she answered the second notecard right, L nearly allowed himself to smile. By the third, he was almost ready to laugh, which by Watari's standards meant L was going off the deep end. So, he contained all his emotions until the very end. He had a reputation to uphold, which meant keeping a level head. He had to stick with logic, even if he was staring down the most illogical phenomena that ever existed.

"Quite extraordinary," L allowed himself to say for the moment. It was the most emotion he was willing to show at the moment.

"Doug, stop laughing and tell me what's on the damn card!" L overheard Alice on the speakers. For some odd reason, she was getting more frustrated with her ghost friend. L, of course, could not hear anything Doug was saying, yet Alice was becoming more impatient by the second. L hoped Alice's relationship with Doug would not become strained, because, by what Alice had told him earlier, Doug was the only connection he had to find the suppliers. If Doug were to become upset and leave, L would be right back at square one.

"Why is it that you find the word 'banana' funny? It's a word, Doug, not a gag you find in one of those prank shops."

Yet again, Alice had revealed what was written on the notecard without even looking. L was impressed, and his brain raced with possibilities for the use of her gift. Her abilities to sense the unknown and talk to the dead were going to be his greatest asset by far. And not to mention she was delightful to work with, even if she occasionally went astray.

"She got it right." Near checked off another item. He was in charge of the list, counting down the number of times she predicted the right answer. But by now, L was absolutely sure she wasn't making any predictions. There was a ghost in that room helping her, and his name was Douglas Brown.


"Can't we talk about this?"

"No."

"Mello, what have I told you about acting like a five-year-old girl?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Mello flipped off his friend, demonstrating how much of a child he was not. They were both walking down an empty street, looking for the building with the address that was supposedly demolished a couple years back. But word on the street told Matt and Mello that the building was never taken down. It was still in use, and not for purposes of good intent.

"I really think we should call L," Matt pushed again. For the past thirty minutes, Matt had been trying to convince Mello to call L to tell him about the so-called demolished building. It was never put on the list of places to go, so Matt assumed L didn't know about it. This meant both he and Mello were walking into a crime scene with a blindfold on. Without L's background check on the place, they had no idea what they were going to see. If it wasn't going to be a part of the drug dealing case, then he had no doubt it would hold some other illegal trade. Matt was all for stopping crime, but he never got his coffee, and it'd been hours since his last cigarette. The last thing he needed was to enter another war zone with just a handgun and a pissed partner.

"I told you we don't need him."

"We don't know what we're going to find. There could be gang members with machine guns just waiting at the front doors."

"We aren't going to walk in and demand they hand themselves over."

"Then what are we doing? If you suggest a stakeout, then I'm heading right back to the car. I don't have enough damn patience to wait and see if they work for the dealers."

"We don't need to wait and see; I already know a part of the drug trade is being operated in this building." Mello adjusted his gloves.

Matt gave his a skeptical look. "So, tell me, then how do you know that?"

Mello stopped walking long enough to pull out one of the cell phones he picked off one of the men he killed back at the body farm. He switched it on and held it out for Matt to see.

"I found the address in this cell phone, and, if I'm not mistaken, the number that sent this guy the address was Alanzo himself. Putting the two together, I've got a pretty good hunch the dealers' business has moved to this place."

"Don't you think that's a stretch? Just because the guy has the address in his phone doesn't mean they moved the whole business to the place. They worked in a warehouse before. I doubt they would be able to fit their work in such a tight area."

Matt pointed to their surroundings. They were in a denser part of Houston; A place where the buildings almost looked like they were melting together. The only way for the buildings to grow was to build up, and that was exactly what they had done. Each building looked like it was getting taller, but that didn't make the area more populated. In fact, there was hardly anybody on the streets. Of course, it was still at a time were the people could've been asleep, but judging by the broken street lamps and the foggy atmosphere, Matt assumed there was nobody living close by. It wasn't exactly a family friendly neighborhood.

"How long have you been working as a detective? By now, I'd assume you know how adaptive criminals are."

Matt sighed and rubbed his forehead. Why did he even try to argue? Mello had that look in his eyes that said, "You're screwed, Matt."

Looked like he was going to fill out paperwork when he got home, after all.


"You're truly something, little elf. I wish I had psychic powers. I would totally use them to fight crime. I'd be like a real life super hero," Zeek said.

From the way he talked about it, Alice believed him. She could see Zeek going around in a costume with his underwear on the outside and a cape flowing behind him. Even if he didn't have psychic powers, she could still see Zeek wearing the costume. Maybe if she told him about his ability to sense the dead, he would start to work on his superhero persona. She could've used another player in her game. You know, the one where she almost got herself in deep trouble with a serial killer in France? No harm in having a sidekick, right?

"I only do as I'm told, Zeek. It's Doug who's giving me all the answers, remember?"

"No need to be humble, little elf." Zeek waved her off as he flipped to the next card.

They had almost gone through all the cards, and Alice was more than ready to be done. She was prepared to face L. She would even consider giving the detective a hug and a kiss on the cheek, if all else goes according to plan. She hoped to see L speechless. Heck, any other emotion besides the one he had on all the time would be nice.

"This next card is a doozy," Doug said.

Alice held her tongue. The entire time they had been reading cards, Doug had said or done something to annoy her. She tried ever so hard not to say anything, but she could tell by the fourth card he was doing it on purpose. He was getting revenge for forcing him to come here, and she didn't blame him. If Alice was a ghost and she was forced away from doing what she liked, she supposed she would be upset, too. So, she stopped complaining altogether, partially because she realized Doug was getting a kick out of her sassy attitude.

"The notecard has a long paragraph on it. It looks like it came from a play, because there are names written next to the dialogue. I don't really understand it. It doesn't look like English, but at the same time, I can read it."

Alice went through different possibilities of what it could be, but it didn't take her long to come to one of those possibilities of being a Shakespeare play. And if she had to guess, it was the one L tried to use on her earlier as a pick up line.

"Read it all the way through Doug. It's okay if you don't understand it."

He repeated the paragraph as best as could. Once in a while, he fumbled with the words that weren't used in the English language anymore, but beyond that, he did okay for somebody who hadn't read Shakespeare in a while. When he was finished, Alice took a deep breath and got herself ready to do the same.

"It's from Shakespeare. The play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Helena speaks of some lover and the cupid dude who is blind. I would recite the whole thing, but I have short-term memory loss."

Okay, so she would have slaughtered the scene worse than Doug, but it wasn't as if she got the answer wrong: she just didn't want to have to repeat the entire line again. Just because L thought Shakespeare was overplayed didn't mean Alice disliked the guy. It was best if she didn't make his work sound like it came from a dying cat.

"I love Shakespeare, man," Zeek approved of the notecard. "I always thought his plays were moving. Tugged on the heart strings, you know?"

"You love Shakespeare?" Alice was surprised. She never thought Zeek would be the type to like that sort of thing.

"Yeah dude, his plays make you think." Zeek tapped his head.

"He was always the brilliant one." Doug was proud. Alice didn't want to say anything smart to ruin the moment, and who was she to say Zeek wasn't brilliant? He could have had an IQ as big as L's (though, she highly doubted that).

"Well, maybe sometime we'll go see one of his plays," she offered.

"Instead of seeing one of his plays, why don't we just act in one? I bet you would make a great Helena."

Alice had never seen A Midsummer Night's Dream, so whoever Helena was, she only hoped it wasn't one of the characters who died in the Act II.

"I'll think about it." She waved her hand. "Next card!"


Near checked off another correct answer. She was almost to the end, and she hadn't missed one notecard. He was truly amazed by her ability. He only wished he could see the ghost himself, wondering what it must feel like to have the spirits of the dead coming to him for help. He obviously wouldn't have been as lively as Alice was, but he certainly would use his ability to its fullest. There was no end to the possibilities of what he could accomplish.

"Do you think there are others out there like her?" Near asked L.

"There is nobody else out there like her." L answered him with a different set of thoughts. He hadn't been thinking about her psychic ability, but he wasn't going to tell Near that.

Suddenly interrupting their little chat, L's phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at his caller ID. At first, he wondered it if was Mello or Matt calling. But, to his surprise, it was the Chief of Police, Jonathan Howard. He flipped his phone open and greeted the chief with his usual monotone.

"Good morning, Chief Howard. How may I help you?"

"I'm starting to wonder if you really care about this case. It's been hours since your last call. You told me you had a lead. I want to hear about it."

L wasn't intimidated by the man at all. He may have had a deep gruff voice, but there was nothing about the man that made him big and scary, no matter how hard this particular chief tried.

"There is no need to worry, Mr. Howard. I do, in fact, have a lead that is even more reliable than the last."

"And what lead is this?" The Police Chief sounded irritated. He obviously didn't like working with L, and L felt the same way about him. But he didn't tell the chief about his ill feelings towards him. Instead, he watched Alice answer the last notecard with astounding accuracy. "The card has a list of numbers: seven, twelve, fifty-five, seventy-six, twenty-four, one hundred three, two hundred forty-five, ninety-nine, and seventeen."

"That's right! You got them all right!" Zeek jumped in the air. Alice threw off her pillowcase and snagged the cards from Zeek, reading over the last few numbers she had just repeated.

A smile that would have even made Texas look small spread across her face. "I did it! Doug, thank you so much!"

"L!" The chief interrupted his enjoyment of watching Alice jump up and down with Zeek.

"Fret not, Mr. Howard." L finally allowed his emotions to surface. He did so with a small smirk and a sparkle in his eye. "I have an ace up my sleeve."


THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

ShnieseAce, CrazyinAbottle, Serendipital, Kashagal and Natures Ruler, Bree Renee, uniquename200, Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit, Saber Amane, nadzuke eno mono, PhoenixBreaker90, ShaDow EmpIre, PreppyShinigami, Grey Psyche, Fraulein Kate, Alyssa, MsBlondiePunch, and Random persion. (You all are so nice to me, I don't deserve it. Thank you to all of you who have taken some of your precious time out of your day just to read my story and tell me what you think. I don't think a simple thank you is enough to show how much I appreciate your reviews!)

Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: At first I thought it could be the sun, but I don't see how we could surround the sun, so maybe it's an expecting mother? Because she looks at her belly from above but cannot touch her child. She surrounds her child but as soon as the child is born, the child becomes her whole world.

ZombiChirp: I have never heard L sing, but now I am intrigued. xD I wouldn't be surprised if he sounded good. I liked his voice actor.

WhiteLadyDragon: You are absolutely right. I shouldn't be tweaking his personality. I think I was just trying to make myself feel better when I said that. L is a difficult character for me and there were parts in my story that I did not feel I did him justice. But I have been working hard to change that, and when I complete this story I promised myself I would go back and fix some the problems I've had. I even got an editor to look over my story, so I hope to improve my technical skills as well. I really appreciate your review. I know you're a well acclaimed author on this site, so I do look up to your abilities as a writer. Thank you for reading my story!

Vsat101: Once again, thank you so much for your artwork! I LOVE IT! xD

B. Asterfield: I love rabbits! I want one so bad! Sorry to hear about your rabbit. Your cat sounds adorable. For some reason, I like them extremely chubby. I have a cat of my own, but she goes outside too much to get fat. At least she has a lot of fluffy black fur to make up for it. Anyway, I know I we've already exchanged pleasantries, but I just wanted to say thank you again for helping me. =)

XxAmi-IzunexX: Writing this story for so long, I've grown attached to it, so I am deeply grateful to those who have kept reading! Yes I am aware of my grammatical errors and have finally taken up an editor to help me with those, so hopefully I will improve on that. The editor will also be helping me to improve the story line, so when I do finish this story, I will go back and work out all the kinks, which includes the blowing up of the ship. Addressing L's ethnicity, yes I know he is British, but I assume his race is Asian since he sports the black hair and black eyes. Thank you so much for your reviews! I enjoyed every one of them!

Speckles719: I hope you have an awesome time at band camp! Sucks to get up that early, but I'm sure it's worth it. Aw, Shasta sounds like a sweetie! Pulling a dead squirrel out of his mouth sounds horrible. I could just image the smell of that! *Shivers* I have a dog myself named Sadie. She's a black lab mix and I swear, every time she see's someone outside, she has to voice her opinion about it. She barks like a mad woman! But I love the girl. It's alright if you don't always have a recipe for me. I appreciate the ones you've given me so far. =) I finally made those cookies! They were fantastic! Love the jam in the middle! xD

BipOlAr-CHeeSeCAke-pAnx-emO: Oh goodie! More riddles! Let's see...Would the fifth man be driving a car? Or maybe he just had an umbrella and decided he didn't want to go to church that day...gosh, those aren't very good answers...

thelastshanghai: Witches and Wizards? Forgive me, but I don't know what that is.