Chapter 45

"So tell me, Isame," I scrunched up my face as we boarded the plane. Isame was carrying a small backpack on her shoulders as she took a seat beside me, grinning innocently at my irritation.

"Why were you so persistent on tagging along?"

The four days had passed in a blink. Even more so because Henrik had prioritized saving the Black Dragons before any of his work. The reason wasn't that he was attached, no, but because the Black Dragons needed a leader. The group wasn't exterminated. In fact, it swelled in number even more than Henrik's group.

100,600 people.

That was what the Black Dragons had.

And the number was still growing until this recent incident.

I remember Henrik chuckling at the numbers with a certain gleam in his eyes before shouting at how marvellously powerful he would become if I had been married into the group. Yes, at that point, they might as well finalize my engagement ring and wedding.

Apparently, when I was captive in L's HQs, Anthony's mother had proposed accepting me as her daughter-in-law with a much-pleased tone. Though it had not been confirmed since Anthony and I never had the chance to talk our feelings out, it was basically already made with a contract. Not to mention that the boy apparently had feelings for me.

"Well because you may need an extra helper!" Isame giggled before sliding open her window flap on her side of the seat. Rolling my eyes at her, I stared at the backpack that she held closely within her grasp.

"You brought the paper in there, didn't you?"

Isame nodded at my question before I paused and sniffed the air that was filled with cleaning alcohol. It did not smell pleasant at all, just like the hospital. Well, it wasn't that I hated hospitals, I just hated the smell.

"You do know that you're going to be risking your life with me, do you?" I questioned again before turning to my left where a guard in a black suit and black sunglasses sat.

"How many people do we have?"

"160 that boarded the plane, miss." The guy with the black sunglasses nodded firmly as I swallowed the number.

"I know this is risky," Isame simpered out a bit before unzipping her backpack to dig out a pen. "But you may need an extra helper."

"While I do appreciate the gesture," I sighed before rubbing my tired eyes. We had left Japan at exactly 5:00 am, and that was not one of the most crucial things on my mind right now.

I had only left a note for Light telling him that I was going to be gone for 2 weeks. I knew that he would never allow it if I suddenly brought up a trip to Singapore. Most likely, I would have to go through tons of scolding and his hidden words before he even allowed me to leave.

Heck, I wasn't even sure even if I went through all of that, I would still be allowed to go. I couldn't make up an excuse that my University classes had planned the trip since he was in most of my classes. The fact that he could simply reach out to the professors and clarify why the hell I was going outside of the country, defined any chances that I could use school as an excuse.

So that only left one option: run before he catches you.

In the case that everything does go wrong and that I haven't come back in two weeks… Well, then I could only accept his advice of placing a GPS on my phone. It wasn't that bothersome, but with Light knowing my location at all times, I would not be able to make my own moves underneath.

Well, unless I ask for another phone and tell Isame to hold onto it and pass it onto me each time I leave my house.

"While I really do appreciate your feelings, you are aware that the moment you bring the pages, you would need to guard them with your life, right?" I sighed before looking up at her.

A light pink flushed onto her face as she blurted out, 'of course I know!'

"Yeah, that's not it either," I shook my head. "If the pages somehow get into the hands of Hugo, we'll all face extermination. Not of the fact that he'd find pages as something magical."

A small smirk crawled onto my face.

Even if Hugo had touched the pages, most likely he'd just think they were normal, convenience store pages.

"But just in case, if you feel that the pages are going to get out of your grasp, swallow them."

Isame blankly nodded.

The guard beside me gave me a grimace at my words. I squinted at him before he instantly cleared his throat and shook his head furiously like I had wronged him while leaning backwards.

"What? It's not like the enemy would give us time to burn the pages," I snarled out before staring at the guard closer.

"Hey, aren't you one of the guards that knows about the pages?"

"Em, yes, miss. I was there when the contract was written," his eyes swirled around nervously before lowering his head in submission.

"Isame, give the bag to Mr. Guard over here," I pointed lazily as Isame walked up with confusion before gently handing the man the bag.

"You protect it. If danger comes, you're the one swallowing."

The man paled almost instantly.

It occurred to me that aside from the 6 men, Henrik, and Felix from the mafia who knew that my true name was Sayu Yagami, the rest only knew me as Alyona.

It was actually mind-breaking how fast Henrik was able to create a fake passport along with my made-up information that was pasted all over his data if anyone actually tried to infiltrate our base. At this point, I didn't even know if I was Sayu pretending to be the Mafia's daughter or Alyona who was infiltrating the Kira case and pretending to be Sayu Yagami.

Well, in a way, the name that would kill me would be Sayu Yagami.

I shrugged as we went over the procedures of our arrival. Hugo's base was located near the docks where we had sent a few non-mafia members to scout the place out before my official group arrived. Apparently a few had mentioned the secret escape way that was located underneath the docks, a dark door buried into the sea that linked with the ground.

Most likely Hugo had submarines down there. Regular boats were located above the water to cover up the possibilities of the gate being found out…

Well, they didn't do a very good job because our pawns had found the gate within the first three days. But I had to admit that if it wasn't for Henrik's order to check any nook and cranny, they would have never found it. With the commotion that more than 100 people were coming towards Singapore and especially from Japan, it wouldn't take an idiot to guess that Hugo's place was already found by me.

Hugo would have kept tabs on the planes.

He would be prepared to see us.


"I've always wondered, but why does Mr. Hugo want to see only you, Say- I mean, Alyona?" Isame almost slipped up as I pondered over the map of his location without turning my eyes towards her.

"I've been contemplating that too," I shrugged. "Honestly, he either wants me to see him kill Anthony and then try to purge papa's group in the process, or use me as some kind of ransom in exchange for something."

"Hugo's group has been very restless lately, miss."

The guard beside me added on.

"Because of their countless deaths, they are lacking in numbers."

"Oh?" I flicked my head up at his words. "From Henrik's use of the Death Note? How many do they have now?"

"Boss tried to destroy Xzar, however, he did not realize that Xzar had falsified their numbers in their database," he said.

"In total, there were 90,000 members in Xzar. 80,000 were placed as their false numbers. Boss had left a few lives so that he did not want to make it seem suspicious, so now only 20,000 remains."

I paused.

So Hugo's full name was not registered into the database, huh? How careful of Xzar.

"Why didn't Henrik prepare more men then?" I tightened my hands into fists as they hardened on the table. It wasn't that Henrik was sending me off to die, I knew that from our vow in the Death Note.

But why hadn't he when our manpower was only 1/125 Hugo's total of men?

"Miss, boss's orders were to keep you safe and rescue the heir of the Black Dragon family. Xzar would not go full out just to kidnap you," he said as he tapped the map in different areas of Hugo's base.

"200 around each location. That would be around 1000 for Hugo's base." The guard pushed his sunglasses up. "Boss wants to tell you that the mafia never clumps out in large groups so that it would be easier to take revenge if there was actually a betrayer."

"Not to mention that our 160 men are all the most talented ones in our group, miss." He said with a soft smile. "Quality over quantity."

"And what if Hugo's 1000 men are all the same quality?" I growled out maliciously as Isame flinched beside me, her hands slightly trembling from my anger.

"There's no way, miss." The guard replied professionally without batting an eyelash. "Boss has already killed every single member that has trained in Xzar for over 2 years. We are facing newbies."

My face instantly relaxed as I faced the numbers, mulling over the possibilities of winning. I had, in fact, experienced the meaning of quality over quantity from L's interrogation. He had more than 20 men along with Watari and himself and Watari got rid of all of them, only leaving 2 alive.

If I were to calculate with that in mind, 160 people would have the manpower of 2,880. Not to mention Watari was not trained mercilessly and fought for his life like the mafia did in their daily activities. But the numbers had paled in comparison to Hugo's small group.

"Do I have command over all 160 men?" I asked before glancing at the only male in the small space. He nodded nonchalantly.

"Ah," I untensed my shoulders and stumbled back to hit the divider between the seats and the small and open space. "Henrik is testing me."

"You will be the leader of a future unit, miss." The man spread his hands in front of him, rubbing the calluses on his palms. "Consider this to be a test that Henrik has over 80% in believing that you will succeed."

"Freaking goddamn-" I slapped my forehead before turning to Isame who was wearing a casual long-sleeved shirt and soft jeans. "Change your clothes to bulletproof ones."

I turned to the guard with a deadpan expression.

"Tell the men to get prepared. We're making this quick."

The cars screeched to a skidding stop as my driver stepped off of the seat, opening the doorway for me. Isame shuddered as the wind hit our faces as she took a shaky step off of the car to follow my footsteps. Twenty men were in front of me before they parted like the sea, allowing me to walk towards Hugo's elegant face that had a wide grin plastered onto it.

He extended his arms in a friendly greeting yet I stopped just meters away from his body. My eyes flickered behind him to see Anthony's widened eyes along with the tatters of clothes that revealed his broken arm and beaten up body he had. There were countless cuts on his dry face along with the swollen cheek and bruised patch that highlighted over his clamped eye.

He looked terrible.

Although the blood was not seeping out of his face, his left arm was twisted so badly that it was dangling on the side, seemingly like his skin was the only thing that was holding the limbs together.

He could no longer hold a bow.

Wincing from the prolonged shock I had portrayed from staring at his arm, Anthony's gaze avoided mine.

It was as if he was ashamed of looking like this. As if he was apologizing silently how my future fiance would not come in one piece anymore. It was so ironic that even in his situation, he was considering my feelings.

A ball of scantling iron emerged through my mouth and spurted out lava.

I was shaking.

Shaking in fury.

"Hugo, mark my words. You will pay a threshold for this," I hissed with my tense jaw as Anthony's head shook sideways mutely, mouthing an awkward 'run' with his cracked and pale lips.

"Now, now, Alyona." Hugo dropped his arms without the smile on his face sliding off. His green hair fluttered heavily in the wind. "I understand that you are concerned for your fiance here, but I left him alive for us to make an exchange."

"There will be no exchange," I murmured before lifting my hand up as a signal. Everyone behind me tensed with guns raised as Isame let out a small squeak while one of the guards pushed her behind him.

"I'd rather you halt your actions," Hugo sneered darkly before turning behind him. One of his members lifted their guns and pressed it threateningly to Anthony's brain. Anthony's eyes shook before turning up to mine and mouthing another 'don't.'

I grinded my teeth.

"You must compensate for the damage, Hugo." I spat out and crossed my arms, waiting for his words.

"Simple, a life for a life. Exchange yours with his." He rolled his shoulders before rolling his head and cracking a few sounds from his neck.

"And his family?" I narrowed my eyes with my trembling fists clenched deathly onto my sleeves.

"Ah, I never thought that you would actually make it within 7 days, so I killed all his siblings already."

I closed my eyes, feeling my face blaze up from all the emotions that were running inside my body. The siblings I had not cared about. But Hugo was a rule-breaker, and I hated when people played with me.

"Parents?" The growl scraped through my teeth.

"That is something we have," Hugo smiled fakely before hollering out. "Bring them out!"

A few of his men pushed out the unconscious bleeding father and the trembling pale mother before kicking them onto the space that was in between Hugo and I. The mother's eyes watered as her long black hair straggled around her face like it had been pulled out. Her hair resembled a haystack, waving in the wind as she sobbed quietly.

My eyes narrowed while inspecting the hand marks and lashes on her body.

She was raped.

I held my breath at the information before hoping that she would have a strong enough mind to pull through and plan her revenge on Hugo's men.

"Ah, forgot to remind you, I will not be making a deal with 3 lives exchanged for one." Hugo tapped the side of his pants before grinning evilly at my expression.

"What do you want?"

I heard a couple of men behind me protest before I raised my hand to silence them.

"I want you…" his eyes flickered around behind me as they shone with a dark glint. "And that girl over there."

Hugo pointed his long fingers at Isame who went white at his words.

"No, I mean, what do you want?" I threw my words at him as recognition crossed his face.

"I want the weapon that Henrik," his face contorted with a scowl. "Used to kill off my group."

...The Death Note?

"And why do you think he was the one who assassinated them?" Relaxing my shoulder just a slight bit, my brain roared over the countless situations I could pull. So he wanted to use me to threaten Henrik to give him the weapon.

He lured me here because he was afraid that either Henrik or Felix would be able to use the power again.

"The moment my members started dropping down from heart attacks, your group attacked during our weakest moment!" Hugo's green hair flew widely before pointing an accusing finger at me. "The timing was too much for a coincidence! Your father is Kira!"

From his exclamation, Anthony's eyes bulged out and stared at me like I was some sort of treasure. His mother also gaped at me with an open and closing mouth before blinking with fear then with greed, realizing the power they could get if I was married into their household.

"Uh, sorry to break it to you Hugo, but specifically saying, my father is not Kira."

Kira's my brother.

"Then he has the same power as him!" Hugo's mouth screeched loudly as he panted. It was by now that I squinted at his face to take a better look. Deep, dark circles had underlined his eyes while veins were literally popping in his right eye, tainting his eyeball pink.

This was his last-ditch effort.

He wouldn't believe anything that I told him right now.

Well then.

I pursed my lips before glancing at Anthony's family. Specifically, Anthony and tried to communicate with my eyes. What did he want to do? Endanger me and have me hand over the Death Note? Or sacrifice his own family and life to ensure mine?

"...Don't," I didn't hear his voice yet his desperate scream in silence had reached me.

Well damn. What was I supposed to do now?

Of course, I would never hand over the Death Note pages. Sacrificing the Black Dragons would be the smartest thing I could do in my place. But if I did, then Henrik would be losing a whopping number of pawns to use and have his faith broken with me. Not to mention I was quite fond of Anthony.

If we lost the Black Dragons, there was no second option for us to choose.

While we could start all over again and bond with another group, our reputation would plummet and we would be known to be the group that abandons their partners.

Yeah no...that would be terrible, especially when Light is reigning over the world and we couldn't use the Death Note to control the leaders, since everyone would be under fake names. After that incident Henrik did when I was in L's HQ, rumours would start circulating that Kira was part of a Mafia group. Even if we did get our hands on a name, leaders were the only authorities that led the group. If the members thought that we were unreliable, they might as well rebel.

This was a checkmate question.

Either we live long enough to see our own destruction, or we die as a hero.

Fuck this.

Then how was I supposed to get out of Hugo's grasp?

I could imagine the torture methods from Hugo just by glancing at Anthony. It was more of physical pain than mental. I would be able to take it, but how about Isame?

Also, how was I supposed to know if Hugo had changed his location and brought me into another, even more, well-prepared one? Neither Henrik nor the Black Dragons would be able to find us then.

Should I just abandon the Mafia altogether?

But I couldn't. They already knew about the Death Note and the future that I've told them about. They would easily be able to manipulate all my plans from the shadows.

"I agree to your terms," I raised my hand just in case anyone behind me protested. My eyes lingered at the guard who was carrying the pink backpack left from Isame that contained the pages. In the corner of my eyes, Anthony's face paled as he tried screaming with his hoarse throat. Nothing came out.

Hugo clapped loudly with a sneer at the pitiful boy.

"What a wise girl."

"But before the exchange let me calm my bodyguards for a minute. They would not follow the transaction since you're dealing with the daughter of their boss, of course."

Hugo gestured to me to go ahead with a smug smirk.

"Alright," I turned my back towards the enemy and ordered some to keep watch of Hugo's actions. "You will go back and treat the head of the Black Dragons immediately."

"Tell Henrik," I emphasized as the one who knew about the Death Notes nodded gravely. "Do not use the note at all costs. Attack every base of Xzar with the Black Dragons."

I took a deep breath.

"Make. Them. Pay."

"Miss, how about you?" The guard jerked his head at my words as his chest rose and fell rapidly as if trying to catch any hidden meaning in my sentence.

"I will hang on. Even if they move my location, I will be somewhere in one of their bases." I said before turning towards Isame who was frozen ice cold

"I'm sorry to drag you in this," I murmured as her trembling cold hands reached out to grapple mine.

"N-no," she shivered out and my own hands moved with hers. "I will be here to help you."

"Isame, no matter what happens, you will never utter a single word about the Death Note or anything related to the mafia, do you understand?" I lowered my head to make eye contact with her shaking ones that were directed onto the ground. She nodded with her pale face.

I gave a small sigh and turned my head towards the sky, squinting at the sun rays that made me blind.

My lords, please don't kill me. I still have things to accomplish.

I turned back to a smiling Hugo.

"Alright, I just have one thing to ask of you," I watched him warily as he shrugged with his eyebrows. "This girl is my maid. She won't have any information about the weapon."

I pulled Isame out of the crowd as she yelped.

"If you have anything, do it on me. The more you'll damage her, the tighter my mouth remains shut."

"Agreeable," Hugo nodded.

"Also, avoid fucking injuring my face. That would also make me seal the information. My face is my life. If I don't have this face, then I might as well go and die."

"Anywhere but the face," Hugo repeated as he nodded towards his members as a few of mine rushed up and helped the madam and her husband. I walked up with Isame sobbing quietly behind me as one of the enemies pushed Anthony onto his feet, bringing him closer before Anthony stopped his steps.

"I will find you," his face contorted with his broken voice, blazing with unwavering resolution and agony for his mistake. It was the first time that I had seen him cry, tears welled up out of his corners as he wet his dry lips.

"Believe in me, Alyona," he rasped out. "Don't give up."

"Be sure to get your arm checked out," I gave him a small smile as Anthony was pushed past my shoulder like a slave. Hugo walked up with a broad grin before clasping handcuffs on both Isame's and my hands.

"Alyona!" I heard the desperation in Anthony's fading tone. It was heart-wrenching to hear his voice before Hugo pushed me into the car, knocking me unconscious as I groaned a bit from the impact.