A/N: It's official! The haunting one-shot will be made and probably be out on Monday. Thanks, guys, for agreeing to the idea. For now, enjoy the epilogue. After I finished that when I first wrote it, I was randomly sad. Because, it's been so much fun working on this! Well, here it goes.

Disclaimer: I shalt never owneth the Death Note. This marketh the final time that I will ever useth this in my story...eth. XD

Epilogue: Moral

When L told me after I spoke with him privately that Light's spirit would not move on, relief swept over me. Despite that maybe he would have behaved cordially there, I wouldn't have known who would have shown up: him or Kira. I assumed that eternal captivity in nothingness served as the fate for all Death Note users. This made me even more glad that L hadn't tested the Death Note, though if he had... I admit that I did possess mixed feelings over that. But, perhaps, he could have found a different way to solve the case, which had concluded now at least. All we occupied ourselves with in the afterlife consisted of making occasional visits to earth and watching what went on there. Unfortunately, I found out one day while doing the latter that Misa had committed suicide.

She had gracefully fallen off the edge of an old, abandoned building, the skirt of her maid's dress billowing in the breeze. The sidewalk was about to greet her, when I turned away. I could never really watch a death again, considering the traumatizing one of my brother that compelled me to stand in stunned silence. Nonetheless, I grieved for my casual friend who had never looked upon me with revulsion. If a Death Note had avoided her ownership, she could have had her spirit drifted up here. But, no thanks to Light Yagami who manipulated her to kill, she was lost forever. I told not a soul of Misa's death, for they wouldn't have bothered to care. If Light had lived long enough to hear of the suicide, he would not have cared either. He would have only seen her as a defeated pawn.

Despite the sorrow that stemmed from my friend's death, I felt relatively content in my final home. I could talk to anyone whenever I wished instead of hopping on an eight-hour flight to some enormous city like I had when I was alive. A special bonus was that I could converse with my parents too, something I had never done, of course, before death. Enjoying the fulfillments of my rich afterlife, I never even felt depressed again. Weeks, months, and even years could pass, and I would disregard them; it no longer mattered to me what the time would have been in Tokyo. The chronophobia (or close to it) had finally vanished, leaving me undaunted of what time itself had to offer. As I have never failed to mention, I am dead after all.

And that suits me just fine.

One day, I approached my parents to ask of them to explain to me in great detail of what I was like as a baby. I confess that it had pestered me for quite some time, and though I didn't need to know it, I wanted to. Truthfully, I wondered what they had thought of me when they were alive. It's stupid, I know—of course, parents would love their children. Still, I had extreme curiosity.

"Well, V," Mom started to respond patiently, "when I first held you in my arms, I thought you were just as beautiful a baby as your brother."

"You only weighed five pounds too, if I remember correctly," Dad cut in. "You were supposed to be born in the middle of July, but you were eager to get out."

"Perhaps it was my curious streak," I joked.

Mom went on to continue, "You were the light in our lives. I know that sounds cliché, but you made all of us happy. We even caught L trying to give you sugary sweets at night."

Chuckling, Dad seemed to recall that detail quite vividly. "Yes, you see, we couldn't really stop your brother from eating that junk. He was too clever and hid every bit of it from us. So, he tried to pass that on to you, though we had to tell him sternly that you weren't even cutting teeth yet. And if you had, we wouldn't have wanted you to lose them."

"It's unfortunate, for I ended up eating ice cream constantly," I confessed.

Maybe I shouldn't unveil all the contents of that conversation, which lasted rather long, longer than last time. I developed the love for my parents that I should have grown up with, so it was only natural that I talked to them often. We discussed everything concerning my very early life from firsts I went through to my demeanor. Surprisingly, I rarely cried and seemed calm about everything. I had these traits for almost the entire duration of my life. And, according to Dad, there once was a time long ago in which I ate baby food containing vegetables. Yes, I, the ice cream eating V, used to eat foods with healthy vitamins and minerals. When hearing this fact for the first time, I practically deemed it blasphemy. Even worse, Dad added that my favorite vegetable had been peas. Peas! To say the least, I thought that appalling.

I decided to turn the conversation over to a much more intriguing topic: my parents' intelligence. Surely, L and I had inherited our sharp minds from them. Unbelievably, they told me they possess above (though not extraordinarily so) average IQs, though Mom did mention that she had gone to one of the most prestigious universities in England on scholarship.

"Yes, I went to Oxford, just to say I was there," she kidded, though added more seriously, "I was more of the artistic type, though, and dropped out after a year."

My mouth dropped open. Why would my mother give up three years of Oxford? Then again, I supposed her dreams didn't entail studying law. My grandparents probably wanted her to pursue that branch, and her heart just wasn't in it.

Dad then contributed his education background. "The truth is, V, I was an average student. Haha, it's just the glasses that make me look intelligent! And I went to an average college, and, during that time, I met your lovely mother."

"So...L and I were born geniuses for no apparent reason?" I asked, unsure of why that would turn out that way. Perhaps it resulted of sheer luck.

"It seemed that way. I was just a mere real estate agent," Dad answered with a toothy grin.

"What was your occupation, Mom?"

"I loved writing, so I became a novelist of course." She smiled after divulging her passion.

Contemplating over this, I realized that I now knew where the artistic gene of mine had come from. The only writing I had done, though, only consisted of songwriting. Mom actually did that professionally. It made me wonder if things in nature had inspired her as they had with me. Why not ask that?

"Did sunsets, trees, birds, or anything like that have an impact on your writing, Mom?"

"Most definitely, especially the nighttime. I was a self-confessed night owl and would waste the nocturnal hours writing just one paragraph about what stars looked like."—she laughed at that memory—"The fact that I was a perfectionist wasn't much help either."

So that was why L probably never slept all the time, I thought with a smirk.

One question remained in the back of my mind that I wished to ask Dad, who I hadn't included in the conversation for a while. I welcomed him right back into our talk to show that I was as equally interested in what he had been like.

"Did mysteries ever captivate you, Dad? It might explain why L and I were so intent on solving the Kira case."

He chuckled kindly before telling me, "Well, V, the closest I got to captivation was watching those old detective movies. The more complex, I figured, the better."

I smiled back, for that reminded me of L so much when it came to that quality.

"Thanks for answering my questions. I'll see you two tonight!"

Striding through the impeccable realm that I highly enjoyed living in, I headed to an esteemed vantage point of mine to watch the sunset someplace on earth. My favorite time of day—just observing it brought back many positive memories for me. Even though pessimism often haunted me, I currently felt a tranquil sense settling within my heart. The serene atmosphere down there looked so inviting, so peaceful. Day waning to make way for starry night; there was nothing more beautiful in any world than that. Musicians sang about it, authors wrote about it, and artists placed what they saw in that many painted sky to paper. I sighed contently, gazing at this sunset that oddly meant so much to me. It compelled me to think romantic thoughts within my mind.

If only I had some paper at this very moment, I could write song lyrics in a snap. However, I had already created practically a hundred songs regarding the sunset, which I was nearly obsessed with. I am an artist at heart—always was, always will be. That excuse, I felt, sufficed. Artists dream up beautiful things that can help them perfect their crafts. I was just like them, honestly, despite the application of more sensible, practical thought processes during the case. At peace with the world that I had long since abandoned, the only thing to do was stare at that one twilight with a smile on my face. No cares dragged me down regarding Kira, I was never too far from L, and I got along smashingly with both Matt and Mello.

Honestly, what was there to worry about now?

Suddenly, my sparkling eyes were covered by a pair of hands covered with leather. I started laughing like a schoolgirl as I heard the owner of these hands greet me warmly.

"Guess who."

"Matt, don't fool me. I know it's you." I gently removed his hands from my eyes and turned around to see his perfect grin.

"I'm a kid at heart. What can I say?"

"Well, for one thing, you can admit just how weird you are."

"Rhetorical question, V—it doesn't have an answer."

"You wish!" I retorted sarcastically, my manner of fully welcoming his company.

Proceeding to look at the now nighttime sky from my location, I could sense his arms gently enveloping me in their comforting hold and his chin resting on top of my head.

"So, it's night down there, huh?" he asked in a rather content whisper. It was as though everything surrounding us melted away when that question came. It felt like only the two of us remained, staring calmly at the twinkling stars in some far-off place. I felt like this could stay for the rest of eternity, should stay for forever. A moment alone with Matt could bring all these fanciful thoughts to my mind.

"Yes," I finally whispered in response, settling myself comfortably against his chest.

He played with my raven tresses adoringly, as he had persisted in doing for as long as I could remember. This time, though, he was slower with his strokes, which he treated as though he could do this all the time. And, really, I wouldn't put that past him. Our surroundings could collapse, and he would not even bat an eye. He never cared about the world anyway, and thought that an exceptional quality. At least that implied he hated worrying about everything.

"I love you, Matt," I sighed, relaxing out of the complete and utter happiness that threatened to suffocate me. I hardly minded that, though.

"I know," he replied with a feigned arrogance.

"If you're going to be like that," I joked playfully as I wore a sneer, "should I say that I hate you?"

"OK, OK, I love you too, V," Matt submitted, and I heard that grin in his voice again.

I laughed in a low, reverberating tone as I slowly turned around to face him and his alluring emerald eyes that glowed incandescently. Nothing else at this moment could be any more ideal.

Matt soon proved me wrong when he sluggishly removed his arms from my waist and placed his gloved hand near his other one.

"Hm, I always wanted to try this—always wanted to know what your skin really felt like. Am I sounding too weird?"

"Maybe," I replied, grinning as I stifled giggles with my hand, "but let's see what you mean by that."

"OK."

He actually pulled off one of his gloves to reveal bare skin underneath. My grin softened into a smile when I predicted that I would feel his hand instead of leather.

Good. Leather seemed like such an overrated material to me. However, I had figured he would hold my hand instead of softly caressing my face. As soon as warm skin brushed my cheek, I blushed.

"Will you ever stop blushing around me?" Matt asked with a smile.

"Some day," I whispered, closing my eyes and feeling his lips kissing mine. This kiss was so much more serious when it came to passion that I smiled slightly and leaned gently into him.

Thus, this concludes my extensive yet admittedly abridged autobiography. Interpret it as you like. I was only revealing my thoughts, my dreams, and my passions—really, only the basic qualities that living life has to offer. Since I'm dead, though, perhaps I should offer a word of wisdom. Cryptic ghosts usually do such things in works of fiction, I suppose. During my narration of my tale, I have attempted and attempted to fabricate such intelligent advice. And the one life lesson that I have come up with is this: don't ever allow life to haunt you. Even when the worst imaginable events can unfold (take it from a nearly full-fledged expert), eventually learn to move on and enjoy life. For, though it might take, it can give tremendously.

So, as a parting farewell, live life to its fullest and never take it for granted.

A/N: It's...over. Wow. Well, thanks everyone for your reviewing/favoriting/adding this to story alert! XD I never expected this to be so popular and to have so many reviews. Thanks, thanks, thanks! This story just meant so much to me when writing it, and I'm so glad so many of you enjoyed it, too. Tha--well, I better mention some things before I say "thanks" for the billionth time. XP

All of you have made these first two months of me being here (ever since April) very memorable indeed. And, I will be sure to write more Death Note stuff, even if they just might be one-shots. I have other fics on here too, in case you want to read them. I'm a Kingdom Hearts fanatic, so I like writing that stuff. I'll take any requests given (unfortunately, not Bleach, cuz the last time I watched it, I got confuzzled from lack of watching it). So, thanks for the support, everyone! This concludes my rather long author's note. XD