ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY

Chapter Eighteen

Betrayed

Zito awoke that morning to the sound of his step-mom walking across the hardwood floor in her high heels. He grunted, remembering that it was a late start Friday today so he could be able to sleep in. He'd been having a nice dream about zombies.

As he lied there in bed trying to go back to sleep, he remembered what it was that he had been planning yesterday. It all came back to him full force and he couldn't help but grin. He was going to find out what was going on between Steven and Andrew today. A little snooping around Andrew's house while they were distracted wouldn't hurt anybody, after-all. He doubted heavily that the two of them were just "playing Halo" every day.

Once at school, he sat down at the round table like he usually did, surrounded by Jacob, Baker, and Cameron. Steven was nowhere to be found.

"He's been going through a rough time, guys." Jacob muttered, sipping his apple juice when Zito brought up Steven's disappearance.

"What?" Zito asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No shit." Cameron sighed.

"What do you mean?" Baker asked.

"Well, I don't know if he wants me telling you guys this but…" Jacob shook his head. "Yesterday he blew up at Mr. Mjelli and walked out and not only that but he's been acting really, I don't know, moody lately."

"Do you think it might have something to do with Andrew?" Zito asked.

"What?" Baker's face lit up at the sound of his name.

Jacob answered with another shake of his head as he finished his apple juice.

"How about we let him tell us whenever he wants to fucking tell us." Cameron said with a frown.

"I'm just saying…" Zito shrugged tiredly.

"Hey, Zito." Said a familiar voice behind him and he looked up to find Andrew and Katlynn standing by his side.

"Oh, Whatsup?" Zito muttered groggily.

"Are you still coming over today?" Andrew asked.

"Hell yeah, dude. Halo!"

"Yeah, we can play Xbox Live and stuff." Andrew grinned.

Zito didn't understand why Steven disliked Andrew so much. Andrew just had a rough time growing up with his mom and all and he understood what it was like to have a bad mom.

They talked about Halo for the rest of break while everyone else stayed quiet. Katlynn was avoiding looking at Baker and visa versa. When neither of them left, Andrew decided to shepherd Katlynn away from.

"You're going to Andrew's?" Baker asked.

"Yeah, so?" Zito shrugged.

"He asked me to go too."

"What?"

Baker nodded. "I don't think I will, though. I have no interest in Halo…and it's kind of awkward between us. Plus…I don't think Katlynn knows that he asked me."

Zito frowned. "Huh, oh well… It'll be fun." He didn't really think too hard about why Andrew wanted Baker there too. He didn't care. It was Andrew's business.

By the end of the day, Zito hadn't seen Steven anywhere at school. He wondered vaguely if he was home sick or something. He'd tried to see him after second period but didn't see him there either. Nor did he show up during lunch like he usually did. Something in his gut told him that there was something wrong with all of this but he decided not to worry about it.

When the bell for sixth period rang, Zito went outside by the buses like he normally did and met up with Andrew and Katlynn.

"Where's Steve?" Zito asked.

"He's not coming." Andrew muttered.

Zito was taken aback. "Why? Is he sick today?"

"No, he said he had other stuff to do…" Andrew looked down at his feet when he said this. "Don't worry. It'll make more sense to you when we get back to my house."

"Huh?" Zito blinked. He didn't understand. Was Andrew going to show him something? Zito got into the car with them and he realized that this might have something to do with why Andrew and Steven were hanging out so much. Andrew was going to explain everything for him, he didn't have to snoop. Finally, he could be apart of something. Maybe Andrew had the answer behind Steven's difference in attitude. Whatever it was, he was about to find out…

Steven had been at school the entire day. Now, however, he sat on the bus home, looking out the window with a blank expression on his face, his chin resting in his palm as people talked loudly all around him and the song "Baby, I need your Loving" played on the radio.

When the bus dropped him off, he walked by himself to his house, careful to stay ten feet in front of his sister and her friends to avoid confrontation like he'd done the rest of the day with everyone else, even his own friends.

Zando greeted him merrily inside of his bedroom as Steven dropped his backpack on the floor and immediately went over to the living room where he took a seat on the sofa and stared out the window in silence. Zando followed him, looking back and forth between him and the window with a confused frown.

"Bad day?" Zando asked.

Steven didn't answer. The Death God took this as a hint that he didn't want to be disturbed right now. Something was happening but the Shinigami had no clue what. All he knew was that the last time he'd heard Steven talk was yesterday when he'd announced that he'd already won the battle with Andrew and that he would no longer need to be hiding underneath the floor. Unfortunately for Zando, he had no idea how Steven would have managed to pull this off, and why was he acting so strange?

It was an hour before Steven decided to lie down across the couch and start watching television, but Zando noticed that he still seemed to be thinking deeply about something. His eyes were narrow and dark and even though the volume of the T.V. was high, it didn't look like he was really listening.

"Hey, Zando…" Steven muttered and his voice sounded cracked, like he hadn't talked at all for the entire day.

Zando was standing in the corner behind the love seat watching T.V. When Steven addressed him. He snapped his glance to him and grinned. "Yes?"

"Remember back when I asked you…if it was unforgivable to betray your friends?" Steven asked, eyes never leaving the television screen. "You said that to use them for the greater good is alright but to betray them is not…What if I told you…that betraying them was for the greater good? What would you say to that?"

Zando frowned. He remembered this conversation and he remembered his friend, Ryoku, or at least when they used to be friends. Betraying for the greater good…

"I don't know." Zando said honestly. "Doing something evil for something good…How ironic…Why?"

"I had to make a choice…" Steven muttered.

Zando's grin turned into a frown. "Why were you really crying yesterday?"

Steven looked at him for moment or two but didn't say anything. Instead he stared out the window in surprise.

Zando curiously turned around and saw a vehicle pull into the driveway. Someone familiar was getting out of the side, holding something in their hands.

Steven got up from the couch and went to the front door. He opened it before the visitor had a chance to reach the house. Zando joined Steven at his side and watched as Zito stepped up to them, only there was something different about him.

He had a glazed over look in his eyes. There wasn't a single trace of emotion on him. It looked like Zito was acting under control of a spell. And in his hands, to Zando's amazement, was a Death Note.

Without a word, Zito bent over and set the Death Note down by Steven's feet. And when he stood up again, Steven had a pained expression on his face.

"I'm sorry." Steven said.

Zito didn't respond, instead he turned around and walked away. The truck pulled out of the driveway and left as well. Steven didn't see who had been in it but he didn't have to. He already knew.

And slowly, shakily, he bent over and picked up the little, black notebook on the welcoming mat. "I won…" He muttered to Zando, only his voice was quieter than the last time he said it…

On Steven's bed, inside of his Death Note on the first page…

"Andrew Craddock gives Joshua Zito his Death Note at 3:15 PM and drives him to 136th ST, SE 40th at the house address of 4040 where Joshua gets out of the vehicle and sets the Death Note down on the welcome mat. Joshua walks back to his home. Andrew drives back to his home. They don't talk to anybody. Both of them die at 3:45 PM from Heart Attacks."

Steven had made sure to test each specific scenario out separately earlier during his beginning experimentation with the Death Note. He could write in their names first and then include how they die as long as it was written within 6 minutes and 40 seconds prior to writing their actual name in. He concluded with the Cheney and Brown test that someone could give someone else an object as long as they were within the vicinity of each other. Steven knew that Andrew and Zito would be together after school and the safest time he could think of would be sometime after 3 o clock. By then, Andrew would have been done explaining everything about the Death Note and trying to convince Zito to join him. Steven knew Zito would take a while before being convinced to betray his best friend. That wasn't the issue. He'd also tested earlier on that as long as you put a specific address, then the person whose name is written will be able to go to that place. It was almost like being able to have a small amount of puppeteer-like control over someone. Of course, this control was severely limited. But this was a simple task. Deliver the Death Note and die minutes later.

Steven looked at the clock. He'd received the Death Note at 3:35, just like he'd planned. It was now 3:34. One more minute and his friend would be dead, and so would Andrew. The fact that Zito had delivered the Death Note to him proved this. He'd won. He'd finally beaten Andrew, but lost someone along the way. But he regretted nothing. He'd decided a long time ago that he would have to use his friends to his advantage if he had to. And Zito had decided to be suspicious of him and find out what they were up to. Curiosity killed the cat but fed the dog. That's what had just happened. He'd avoided him at school today. He'd avoided everyone. He'd avoided confrontation. Steven wanted to remain alone in his thoughts today. Not even seeing Jennie during Second Period had erased the weight of knowing that he was killing one of his best friends. There was no turning back. This was it. Nobody could stop this from happening now. Not even Katlynn or Ryoku. Steven knew that Ryoku was with Katlynn. Andrew wanted her to be protected, to have an extra pair of invisible eyes behind her back just in case Steven had decided to try and convince Katlynn to join his side. In the end, Andrew was just like Steven in a sense that he didn't trust anyone, not even his girlfriend, only himself. Only the difference was that this would be his downfall. Neither of them would know what had happened until it would too late. Steven already knew what was going to happen after this. He was prepared for what responsibilities he would be facing. With Andrew gone, there would be no 3rd Kira. No 2nd Kira. Only Kira. Only Him.

"So…he's dead, then?" Zando asked as the minute hand turned to 3:45.

Steven smiled. "Yes."

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