Ohmahgawsh...Forgive me for the hugely slow update! Exams, exams and more exams D: Either way... Sorry /3
Hope you enjoy the chapter, darlings! I'll try to make up for my absence.
Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note etc etc.

Her unconscious mind was filled with smoky coiling swirls unfolding onto an inky black background. It was silent, but somewhat warm. She could smell a rusty salt-like scent, but it was faint, being acknowledged in the realms of her murky mind. She felt the warmth lick at her skin like flames, but they didn't burn, so she didn't struggle to move away from the smoke. It wasn't likely that anything better resided within the bare, lonesome darkness that awaited her outside the smoke's protective walls. Through the numbness of any coherent feeling, she could sense her body was broken. It wasn't a shock, she just couldn't remember why she was in that state. Lying on the blackness and being blanketed by smoke, she strained her eyes to see any sort of light. The smoke was pinning her to the black and she couldn't bring herself to move, struggling against it being the last thing on her mind. She simply wanted to lie there in the warm and sleep. Maybe when she woke up, she would regain her senses…

But maybe she didn't want to. As Jet began to wake, she didn't open her eyes. It would be a huge effort, and it was taking a lot of her will power not to scream. Everything hurt- her arms, her scalp, her face, her legs, her chest and stomach, her back. The pain alternated between aching, burning and piercing, and no matter how much she willed her mind to think of something that might make her forget about the pain, nothing could smother the feeling out. Convulsions wracked her body, and with every spasmodic movement she made a new area in her body flame up in pain. She wanted to open her eyes, to stop what was causing the pain, sooth it and bandage herself before finding somewhere to sleep in the cold alleys, but all she could manage was to lift a shaky arm to her face and smear a traitor tear over her cheek. This simple movement felt like it was much larger and strenuous that it really was, and after completing the action her arm flopped back down uselessly.

A canine-like whine rose in the back of her throat and she couldn't hold it back. Nothing could quite match up to this pain, and she decided the whine was well deserved. She had held back the tears, leaving them stinging and unshed in her eyes, and choked back the dry sobs for at least 2 minutes. With the amount of pain she was going through, 2 minutes may as well be 4 hours. But she had battled with herself, trying to calm her body, force it into submission, because the jerking of her limbs was not helping her case. It wasn't for another of these stretching minutes, that she realised she was moving and that there were other people there. With these two pieces of information clicking together like parts of a puzzle, the dam holding back her memories broke and everything that had happened in the last 5 hours flooded into her mind like ice cold water. She supposed it was just because her mind was waiting for a coherent thought to form. Her brain went into lock down and suddenly everything went blank as she watched herself be beaten, feeling helpless and frail.

In a moment of idiocy she allowed herself a small, shivering sob. It was too late, and by the time she realised this a huge bout of others were flowing from her rough throat mercilessly. Her sobs shook her body, increasing the pain, reducing her to a sobbing, bloody mess. And still she couldn't open her eyes. She tried to speak, tried to choke out something that made sense, but her voice wouldn't come. A fresh howl of angst rolled from her bitter tasting mouth, and it echoed in her head, dying out at last as another jerk rippled over her front and into her shoulders. Her whole mind focused on feeling something else, she soon began to feel the leather of the seat that her blood was soaking out onto, and the smooth seatbelt that held her in place. So she was in a car… The windows must be open, then, she thought, feeling the air whip at her face as the car accelerated. The thought was drowned out by a sudden jerk of her head, causing her to smack it back onto the window. She was sitting up? Maybe that was why her stomach was so cramped up and tense.

Struggling to regain control on her body, she tried to slide downwards, the aches in her back making themselves heard as she sobbed, her efforts at being silent going to ruins. She was half way down, shoulders propped in a surprisingly sore way on the ledge of the window, when her feet hit the other side of the car with a sickening thud that stung in her ears. It probably wouldn't have seemed all that loud to anyone else, but her senses were heightened by the pain and it was apparent that she had done something to her ankles and/or feet, if the zinging pain that raced up her legs was anything to go by. Groaning, she eased herself back up so she was slightly more comfortable, and tried to relax her body to numb the pain slightly, but the sharp movements would not cease and she was soon jerking about like a puppet on string, helpless. She couldn't stop and she couldn't ease the pain, she couldn't even form thoughts that made any sense.

"Gh….Ah….Tch…Nmph…" She forced out, the best she could do to form words. It was enough to make her proud of herself. She had made a noise that wasn't a sob or a cry of pain. She had almost formed words.

Mello looked around from his place in the passenger seat and grimaced. He had tried to keep from looking at the wreck of a girl who lay in the back seat, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had peeked around to see. At first glance she looked like she was simply tired and dirty, but if you paused and looked for a moment later that dirty tired girl morphed into a bloody lump that sagged against the seat. If you watched for another couple of moments you would see the blood pouring from her, the flow slowing but the spasmodic movements never stopping. It was like watching death and pain for the first time. Like watching a horror movie that you couldn't pause or turn away from.

Slowly but surely, the girl began to open her eyes. They watered and were bloodshot, and a couple of tears raced down her face upon them opening and being exposed to the lashes of night air. Sight didn't come to her, but she knew her eyes were open because of the air that touched at the delicate surface. For a few glorious moments she fought against the urge to blink- she was certain that if she blinked she wouldn't be able to find the will to open her eyes again. After a few seconds, she blinked and managed to heave her eyelids upwards, feeling extremely accomplished. This time, her sight started to phase in and out, not in focus yet, but she was able to make out the rough outline of things. She could see her body twist and shake about, pick out where the white of her skin was tainted with red and black. She could see blossoming bruises and limbs at awkward angles. Somehow, that didn't matter.

She could feel the warmth of blood spreading over her skin, wetting her clothes and making them stick to her. Easing herself slowly, she tried to move herself again, this time into a sitting position against the seat. The way her spine protested was nothing compared to the zinging pain still racing up her legs, and so she was easily able to ignore it. She moved methodically, focusing every ounce of her mind onto the awkward shunts she could muster up. She was sitting, leaning on the window, and began using her ruined hands to push herself to lean against the back of the seat. Her wrists burned and bled but still she ploughed on- she wouldn't be beaten by something so insignificant as bleeding wrists when she was working with broken bones and torn skin. Soon, she sat against the leather, and let out a shaky laugh in between the whines and sobs.

It was easier to look out the window now, and this she took advantage of. She stared out over the city as the car twisted and turned, swerving around corners and narrowly dodging objects littered over the streets. A new view was presented to her curious, pained eyes every couple of minutes as they skidded around yet another street corner, but the image that never left the background of the
scene was the sun rising like amber flames in the sky.

Stories always look longer on a word document...I deserve whatever criticism you can give me. :/
Moving on- I may not update for a while, (AGAIN), but like I said last time, I might be putting other stories up on my profile if you want to check that out instead? I don't know. I'm not completely inactive, though.
Reviews get hugs from a character of choice. I'm sure they don't REALLY mind!
Okies, bye bye lovelies!
Lara~x