A/N: Another chapter of DEALTHY to treat you with. ^_^ In it, well, I'll say that lessons are (finally!) learned and though it's heavy, it gets gradually more light-hearted. A POV chapter by the way in Matt's.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything other than V.

Chapter 17: Regret

As V strode past him, Matt glimpsed a haunted, injured look in her eyes that implied that she had suffered through immense pain in the past. Did her brother's death trigger all of the sadism she appeared to have used? He sighed, merely watching her walk away from him and out of his life for good. He figured he should have been apathetic, so why did he feel like part of him withered away with her departure? Then again, the V he remembered would never have intentionally attempted to hurt him and Mello like that. She wouldn't even tell him what had stricken her. Regretting his lost patience with her, he proceeded to play his video game in order to push her away from his mind.

He lost level one. How could he lose level one at a time like this?

Of course, blissful memories always come at the worst times; he remembered playing his console game with V and how he had willingly let her win. How she had beamed. How she had laughed that pretty laugh of hers.

Matt cursed under his breath and shut his handheld off. Not even the intriguing world of gaming could solve his problems today. If not, then he supposed that cigarettes could abet in the task. Dragging one out of the box, he took out his cheap lighter and carefully ignited the end of the cigarette. He popped it in his mouth and allowed the rather stuffy fumes practically suffocate his nostrils.

Her eyes appeared within his mind just then, rather large in size, though they did look cute on her, especially when she would look at him inquisitively. But, she wasn't here right now. She was gone and would be until the end of time, judging by what she told him in her farewell. These thoughts resulted in Matt dragging his cigarette out of his mouth thirty minutes earlier than usual. So, he resolved to take out another one.

"I'm gonna go through these today," he predicted in his somewhat lazy, slacker accent.

He was right, for he smoked an entire pack that day just so he could stop remembering V. But, every time he inserted another cigarette into his mouth, he inadvertently brought up another memory of her. These memories followed in succession until he recalled the moment she left Wammy's, her attitude coming off as unsure, even reluctant.

"She didn't want to go...," Matt murmured to himself, realizing that his other best friend Mello had erred in his assumptions. V merely sensed that it was her duty to abandon the orphanage due to her age. It had nothing to do with Mello and him, after all. If this was the case...he had made an awful mistake. He had had to let her go out on her own once; he didn't plan on doing it again.

For some crazy reason he himself barely understood, he cared about her. That was the reason why. With this firm resolve, Matt discovered himself running down the stairs with more energy than he had ever exerted before.

As soon as he reached the main room, where Mello and his henchmen had assembled, he shouted at random, "She didn't want to go!"

When he followed his declaration with a grin, everyone gave him strange looks. His chocoholic friend as well as partner in crime seized his shoulder to forcibly lead him back to his room.

"How weird do you plan to be?" Mello interrogated Matt. "The Death Note is coming in two hours, and you're talking about your latest video game victory."

"It's not a video game victory. I just realized that V didn't mean anything she said."

The crazed blond furrowed his brows at the very thought of L's younger sister. "Are you saying she said all that crap to me, because she was upset? Why would she even be upset?"

"Um, dude, maybe it's because you're going crazy."

"You're lucky you're my best friend. Otherwise, I would kick you all over the place right now."

Matt pretended to wince, though promptly focused on calming Mello down. "Look, I'm just saying that V probably regrets what she said to both of us. I think she's hurting, and I plan to bring her back here."

Musing over his words, the blond remembered how icy V's tone was. And she only preferred to act cold when something deeply troubled her. Maybe Matt had a point.

Finally, Mello seemed to relent by responding with, "All right, all right. Bring her back. I don't care just as long as she doesn't pull anything else."

Did his voice resound of...relief? Matt shrugged his shoulders briefly, slightly confused as to what Mello truly felt. Really, there was no telling with that guy. At least he bestowed his permission, and it proved to satisfy.

Feeling like himself again, Matt flashed a grin that implied his time of reflection had concluded.

"Well, in that case, Link is off to retrieve the divine Princess Zelda."

Mello punched him in the arm. "You'll never stop being weird, will you?"

The comical redhead retained his stubborn smile as he shook his head in the negative. His mood had improved, what could he say? And honestly, he saw his idea to convince V to return here as a quest from an epic fantasy RPG. Maybe, though, that comparing himself to a persistent elf with a bow and arrow was stretching it a little far. He could hardly deny the similarities between a strong-hearted princess and V on the other hand. She possessed an unbreakable will all her own that he always admired...and she looked cute, too. But, he leaned more toward the unbreakable will, definitely.

"Why are you doing this anyway?" Mello interrupted with another question.

Matt's grin faded until it became a more subtle, sincere smile, which he disregarded as he replied, "When you like someone enough, it tends to make you do weird stuff that you never thought you'd be doing two years ago. You know what I mean?"

"No, I don't. Now get out of here before I change my mind!"

Pleased with the outcome of the conversation, Matt grabbed a cigarette to go and descended the stairs to head over to the garage. This hideout amounted to so much that even a garage existed inside. And, with the help of a master remote control that Mello kept constantly, the door of it could be controlled among other features. As soon as Matt eagerly yet breezily strode inside, the lights immediately flipped on. Motorcycles, for the most part, were parked in the garage; the gangsters preferred that method of transportation to intimidate their rivals. But, one special vehicle stood out.

A lollipop red convertible parked among the motorcycles in the garage beckoned to Matt like the shed light of a harbor lighthouse. He readily walked toward his pride and joy, having his purpose set in mind. And that purpose consisted of driving around the while vicinity of Los Angeles to find his girl. Even though she could be anywhere in that enormous metropolis, or even on a plane en route to London, he would search for her. Even if it resulted in the elapsing of days, weeks, or months, he would check every nook and cranny for her. For her, he would go to the ends of the earth...because honestly, he possessed so much affection that he would.

He opened the car door and flopped down on the driver's seat, all the while admiring the perfect leather interior of the vehicle. After three to four months of owning this, Matt still couldn't believe that he stole it. That rich guy didn't even know what happened at the time; he was having a little too much fun at that party, probably alcohol being provided. All he, Matt, had to do was turn the key in the ignition (since the rich owner had misplaced his common sense, too) and drive off into the ebony night. Thankfully, he did possess a driver's license...a counterfeit one. But, the LAPD seemed to pull over drunken celebrities and rich people most of the time. That squad would disregard a nineteen-year-old kid with a fake license.

Matt flexed his gloved fingers on the steering wheel, which he eventually gripped with a strong determination that was usually not there in a lazy individual like him. But, if determination meant persuading V to realize that he would be the happiest gamer kid in the world if she came back with him, he would give it his all. Lowering the windows of the car slightly, he lit his cigarette—maybe not a smart thing to do, but he could care less. He wanted to focus on his current task.

Now, if Mello would cooperate and open that garage door...

Hearing that sweet sound of the garage door opening, Matt turned the key in the ignition.

"V, I'm coming," he stated with his largest grin/smirk yet. "Don't get too mad."

As soon as he said this, he drove off at sixty miles per hour through the desert.

A/N: Well, well, Matt's finally decided to play hero. XD I decided to have him make a game reference, since he's so obsessed with video games. Yeah, he's a bit of his normal goofball self in this chapter. And Mello...well, he's not all the way cured, but he definitely is less of a jerk than he was. What will happen in the next chapter? Haha, only I know that! But, Friday will come for all of you to find out.

For now, review please!