Author's Note: Well, this is it. There's this chapter, and then the next one, and MAYBE an epilogue if you guys say you want one. I have a great idea for it, and I think every story needs an epilogue, but as it is, I'm not sure if I'm going to finish it yet.

And hey, sorry the last chapter was so choppy. I totally ran out of inspiration on that one. I hope this chapter makes up or it :)

Also, to those of you who are reviewing/favouriting/alerting, you seriously make my day ^_^ 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, or anything remotely associated with it.

Spoiler Alert: This chapter contains material to episode 35.

January 26, 2013

I couldn't get that phone call out of my head. It'd been days already, but I just couldn't get it out of my head; something was so wrong. As it was I was left out of more and more conversations, I was left out of more and more planning sessions. It was like they were trying to not tell me what they were up to; and it all started after that phone call.

I replayed the events, looking for any clue I could use to figure out what they were up to.

We spent the night together, and I'm sure neither of us heard when or even if Matt came back. We woke up in each other's arms, starring into each other's eyes. Sometime during the night I must have started - and not stopped – crying, for Mello gently wiped away my tears.

And then from the living room we heard Mello's phone ring.

Mello looked quizzically at me for a moment, as if the thought had never occurred to him that someone might call him. He tossed the covers back and went for the door.

"Mello! Phone!" Matt called, "It's... it's important."

Mello's eyes narrowed before he reached the door handle. I tossed my own covers off and went to join him but the sinister look he shot me had me sitting back down on the edge of the bed. "Stay in here for a minute," he ordered me. I opened my mouth to object, but just nodded and hung my head instead. Mello made a point of closing the door securely behind him.

I had wanted so badly to creep to the door, to hear what they were talking about; maybe if I had I would know what this was about. What had unnerved me the most was what happened after the phone call though. After I'd knocked on the door, asking for permission to come out, I'd watched Mello go to take a bite of chocolate... and then stop. He'd placed the chocolate bar back on the counter and seemed to have no interest in it whatsoever. I'd turned towards Matt and found him suspiciously absorbed in one of his videogames.

For the past couple days I'd been trying to subtly get it out of them, what they were up to, but they'd been more tight lipped than usual.

"Hey Jess," Matt said out of nowhere, zapping me from my worry fest.

"Oh uh, yeah, what's up?" I realised I kind of liked the way Matt had taken my nickname and altered it to fit his personality. And suddenly, without warning the temperature in the room dropped thirty degrees as I realised Matt and Mello were both looking at me with the most chilling looks on their faces. I'd seen them with a lot of expressions on their faces, anger, hate, determination, but fear? Fear was rarely, if ever, one of them. And yet there it was, as plain as day.

"W-what's going on?" I asked, my voice noticeably shaking.

"We're going for a drive, grab your stuff."

"My stuff? What kind of stuff? My surveillance equipt..."

"No, just your scarf and coat. Grab your bear too."

"Virginia?" What was going on? What was this all about? "Guys you're scari..."

"Just let's go okay, we're on a tight schedule."

"Alright," I said defeated. I went back into the bedroom to grab my bear and saw Mello's bunny beside it, I decided to grab him too.

I came back into the main room where the guys were packing up the rest of their gadgets, leading me to believe we were just relocating. It didn't occur to me at the time though, that they'd never acted this strangely when we'd relocated before.

I went to reach for my scarf and coat that I'd left hanging on the back of one of the chairs in the small kitchenette, but found only my scarf. My coat was gone.

"Guys have you seen my coat?" I asked. I didn't see the glance they shot at each other as my back was turned.

"Here, take mine," Mello suggested, draping it over my shoulders like he'd been ready to do that the whole time. It was Mello's favourite coat, and the one I loved the most as well. I'd voiced my opinion on it a number of times, saying how much I adored it. It was the full length one with the warm hood.

"But, but won't you need it?" I asked.

"No, just take care of it for me." What was that supposed to mean?

"Alright, I guess I'm ready then."

I was ushered into the back seat of Matt's Camaro. I sure loved old cars like this; Camaro's had always been my favourites. Everyone had always given me a hard time, saying how there was so many better muscle cars out there that I could pick from, but Matt, Matt had always agreed with me.

I hadn't really been paying much attention so I was surprised when Mello slid into the back beside me. Mello was always either on his bike, or in the front with Matt. I was starting to feel sick with worry.

Mello wrapped me up in his arms and I wanted so desperately to just enjoy that feeling, but I couldn't quell the worry in my mind.

We drove around for a while and ended up in the parking lot of yet another run down building. It looked like a tiny prison from the outside. There was a chain link fence around it, with barbed wire at the top and the walls were high.

What on Earth are we doing here? I wanted to ask, but didn't.

"C'mon, we're going inside," his tone was so cool, so emotionless. Mello held the car door open for me.

We walked up to the gate in front and Mello clicked open the padlock that was holding a chain in place to keep the gate closed.

There was an eerie silence as we walked up to the building and through the halls. Our footsteps echoed through the empty building and I realised it was more of an asylum than a prison; and it was built like a maze. I adjusted my glasses with my left hand as my right hand was holding onto Mello.

We finally stopped when we came to a large empty room. It looked like an office; there were old filing cabinets tucked away in the corner and a rather large desk.

The desk struck me as odd, because on it was a police scanner and a radio tuned into the news channel. Matt's gaming system was sitting on the corner of the desk as well, and so was his... cat. Just like Mello and I, and even Near, Matt had been given a stuffed animal when he'd attended Wammy's. His had been a cat, I'd only ever seen it a handful of times but I recognized it, even after not having seen it for years and years. I was sure Matt had lost it when he was little, but sure enough, there it was.

"Alright, that's it. I want some real answers, and now!" I demanded. I turned towards Mello, "I don't want any more..." my words caught in my mouth as I felt two strong arms latch onto me from behind and shaggy red hair brush against my cheek.

"M-Matt?" he released me and gave me a small shove into Mello's arms.

Mello's hug was so tight it was almost suffocating.

"Mello," I cried and pressed myself into him. "W-what are you doing? What's going on! Tell me now!" I sobbed into his chest.

Catching me off guard he picked me up and walked me over to the far side of the room where a smaller door stood, almost invisible. He put me down and with one hand he opened the door; with the other he shoved me inside.

"Mello!" I shrieked.

I stumbled backwards and noticed that the frame of the door actually had a double barrier. There was a door made of iron bars on the inside, and the regular wooden door that I had seen on the outside. Mello closed the iron barred gate and I heard a deadbolt slid into place before I had a chance to stop him; forever separating us.

"Mello what are you doing!" I cried, tears welling up behind my eyes. I grabbed an iron bar in each hand and pulled futilely.

"Do you want to see something really 'reckless and destructive'?" he asked, referencing our little episode which had taken place about a month before. I don't need you getting involved in the next part of the plan." I opened my mouth to object, "Now shut up, I know what you're going to say. 'We're in this together,' and whatever else. And yes we are Jesse, but there are some things that you just don't need to be a part of, understand."

I turned my attention to Matt, as it was apparent that Mello was going to be completely unreasonable. "Matt, c'mon, don't do this. Let me out of here! Whatever it is I can help! I won't get in the way I promise! You can't leave me here!" Matt refused to look at me, or even acknowledge that I was speaking. I turned back to Mello, "Don't do this Mello. Don't leave me here like you left me at Wammy's." Yes it was low of me to play that card, but I couldn't let him go!

"Matt'll come get you out when we're done." Matt? Why would Matt have to come get me out?

"And where will YOU be?" I asked accusingly. He turned away from me. And then it clicked; something that I'd been trying to not realise, something that my most basic instinct of self preservation had kept me from realising until just now. "MELLO NO! Don't do this! Please!" I begged. "You can't! There's got to be another way! Let me out and we can come up with another plan! We can figure this out!"

I reached my hands through the bars in a useless attempt to draw Mello back to me. "I'm sorry Jesse. I love you, so much."

"Mello." He came back to the barred door, and awkwardly as it was we shared one last hug and Mello kissed me more passionately than I've ever been kissed in my entire life. My eyes burned and my heart ached, and every other part of my body was numb.

Mello pulled away, "Goodbye Jesse."

"Mello. Matt."

"Goodbye Jess." Matt placed my bear and Mello's rabbit on the desk beside his cat; I hadn't even realised he'd grabbed them. I fell to my knees as I watched them leave.

I sat, crying shamefully in self pity for quite a while before I decided I wasn't going to let them get away with this. I pulled myself off the floor and took in my surroundings. I hadn't even realised what kind of room I was in until now... if you could call it a room. It was more of a closet, a long narrow closet with dusty shelves of dustier boxes and files piled all the way to the ceiling; I was in an old record room no doubt. That could even explain the barred door; private records were meant to be kept private.

There had to be a way out though; there just had to be. No place was inescapable, Houdini proved that. I took my scarf and Mello's coat off and laid them on a shelf. "Okay," I rubbed my hands together determinedly, "first things first, the door." I gave a hard tug on it to test its strength. Then I checked the pins that were holding the door on the hinges to see if I couldn't just pop them out; but no dice. The next most obvious solution would be to find something to lever the door open, but there was nothing in the room that seemed practical enough. I thrummed my fingers in the air as I thought. What about the lock? I asked myself and felt around the other side of the door for the key hole, but it didn't appear as though I had anything to pick it with. I caught a glimpse of a set of keys lying on the desk by the radio, but they were too far to reach, and I had nothing to assist me in reaching them.

Next I checked the ceiling and floor for something like a ventilation shaft or trap door, but there was no such luck. Really though, who constructed this building? In every movie I'd ever seen there was always a ventilation shaft. I took a deep breath.

I could get out of here; I would get out of here. The lives of my friends depended on me; it was up to me to save them! I looked around anxiously, trying not to panic. I just had to think about this rationally. I furrowed my brow and thrummed my fingers again, and then impatiently shoved them into my jeans pocket. I don't know why, but I was surprised when I found them to contain gum. I shoved a stick in my mouth and took another deep breath.

It was then that something caught my attention on the radio.

"Our latest report is that the escort team was forced to shoot one of the perpetrators. They are also still making efforts to track Ms. Takada's whereabouts"

What? Ms. Takada? Light's girlfriend? Kira's spokesperson? What was she doing on the news? I listened intently as the reporter recounted the events that had recently unfolded. Fear and anger and rage built in me with each spoken word. Apparently there had been a car, an orange Camaro, and apparently there had been a motorcyclist. My heart fell and a lump the size of an apple caught in my throat.

I had to get out of here NOW!

There was no more time for rational thought, it was time for action. With the little I knew about carpentry I picked a spot on the wall close to the deadbolt of the door where I figured there was least likely to be a stud, and I kicked with all my might. My steel toed boots crunched through the ancient drywall easily and I took that as a good sign. I kicked again and again until finally with my last kick I dislodged the lock. I pulled the barred door into the closet and pushed the wooden door into the room. The voice on the radio rang out again.

"As for the suspect who was gunned down earlier, we are still unable to identify him. The police are tracking the remaining suspect..."

'Gunned down?' Had Matt been gunned down? There was a stabbing pain in my chest and I fought the urge to break down again. I couldn't though. I still had a job to do, Mello was still out there.

I raced through the building, leaving everything I had there behind; I'd get it later. I burst out the front door and booked it for the gate... the locked gate. Mello and Matt hadn't left anything to chance. There were a half a dozen chains and padlocks wrapped around the opening. Even for someone as small as I was, there was no getting through; my only chance was over. Over the ten foot fence, and over the barbed wire that lay in wait at the top. There was no doubt it was going to hurt, but there was no pain on Earth that was even remotely comparable to losing the ones you loved. And so, I backed up and took a running leap at the fence, using my momentum to help me hoist myself up. I hadn't really worked out since before I'd joined Mello in his crusade almost a year ago, but I still had enough left in me to get the job done. And besides, when you're working off of adrenaline, well nothing can stop you then.

I fought desperately to ignore the searing pain as the cold metal sliced through my arms and sides. I fought desperately to ignore the acute pain that shot up from my ankle to my brain when I landed on the ground a little too hard.

The facility was in the middle of a more or less deserted locale but I quickly made it to a main road and hailed a cab. I spat the address for Takada's studio and ordered the driver to step on it. When we finally got there the police tape was already up and cop cars were everywhere. There was one car that stood out though. I tossed five twenties at the drivers face and raced across the courtyard.

"HALLE!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, she was just ducking into her gloss black Mercedes. "Halle wait!" I ordered, and half ran, half limped over to her. "Where's Mello!" I demanded of her when I got close. "WHERE!"

"Get in," she sighed and slipped into the driver's seat. I followed suit and slid into the passenger's. Halle shot me a worried look, but it seemed she was more worried that I was going to bleed on her seats than anything else.

We raced down the freeway, taking an exit here and an exit there. Finally the highway gave way to less crowded streets and finally to back roads. We stopped outside an old stone wall that was leaning in, in some places and leaning out in others and standing straight nowhere. Where we parked there was a large gap in the structure where the wall had crumbled away completely. And then I saw it; the smoke.

I threw open the car door and I heard Halle do the same behind me. I raced around the fallen wall and found myself in an open area surrounding an old church... an old, burning church.

"Mello!" I started to run towards the inferno but felt a cold, steely hand grasp my bloody arm.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you crazy?"

"Are you? We have to get him out of there!"

"It's too late."

"You don't know that!" I cried and felt tears starting to build up again.

"We both know that!" she shouted at me.

"Shut up! Shut up!" I tried to pull away from her, but only succeeded in tearing up my arm further. "Let me go! I have to get him out!" I spat at her. "Mello!" I cried back to the building, tears distorting my already blurry vision. "Mello!"

I fell to my knees and Halle released her grip on my arm. Everything got hazy in that moment and I could've sworn I heard someone far away, someone far away shrieking and wailing.

"Shut up! You sound like a banshee," Halle cussed at me. I guess it was me that was screaming.

"You vile harpy! This is all your fault," I accused. "You! You're the one who called him that day! I checked the number!"

"This was Mello's idea you selfish woman. Mello did this to save you!"

"I didn't know! You did! You should have stopped him!"

"Kira can be brought to justice now!"

"At what cost! At the cost of the two most important people in my life!"

"Do you think you're the only one who lost somebody?" I just started wailing again. "Let's go!" she yanked me up roughly by my arm and all but threw me back into her car.

"Where are we going?" I demanded.

"The SPK's headquarters."

Author's Note: So I debated a couple ways for Jewel to get out of the 'prison/asylum' as it were. I hope the one I chose wasn't too unbelievable.

For those of you unfamiliar with Irish folklore, a banshee was believed to cry out before a person was to die. In this case, both of those in the fire were already dead, however you may choose to see the shrieking as an omen or foreshadowing to Light's death... Aaand I just gave away the ending again.