A/N: I was both smiling and cringing when I wrote this part. Death's obviously not a happy concept, and it usually shouldn't be taken lightly, but it's Matt (and it's fiction), and I don't think Matt would exactly think like a regular person.
Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note :(
Epilogue
Game over.
When the first bullet struck him, he knew that he was done for. Then came the second – thirdfourthfifthsixthseventh – and all his thoughts and senses just flew right out the window.
He lost count after the twenty-fifth shot. He wasn't Nate River, who needed nothing more than a single glance to account for his supply of building blocks; nor was he Mihael Keehl, who obsessed over every single detail that came hurtling his way.
He was Mail Jeevas, third best. Nothing more, nothing less.
Matt had no idea what had come over him, what had prodded at his mind, stoked his blood and animated his legs so that he had climbed out of his car with a devil-may-care smile pasted on his face and cocky words on his tongue instead of pissing himself in the driver's seat from the sight of the thirteen guards staring him down. It had just seemed like a good idea at the time, a last ditch effort to talk his way out.
Whoops, my bad.
When he fell backwards, slamming into the hood of the car that was meant to be his getaway, not his demise, his dimming vision suddenly reddened and the breath in his lungs grew thick and heavy.
Where was the START OVER AND TRY AGAIN option when you actually needed it?
His smoke-dry lips parted in disappointment as he realized that he would never find out whether or not this was just a fruitless endeavor, whether or not Mello would survive and Near would end up defeating Kira. He had so many damn questions, so little time – no, no time at all.
That uncertainty alone was overwhelmingly more painful than this…
This end.
But it didn't matter now, because now he understood that he had already begun digging his own grave the moment he had said yes to Mello. With each yes, he had dug a little deeper. With each yes, he had… well, it didn't matter now.
In the end, in this end, it had been his choice. Mail Jeevas would die a free man, not a dog.
Fireworks exploded from behind his eyes, deep within his brain. He slid down to the pavement next to his metal funeral pyre, as did his last cigarette.
No, not fireworks. Lights. Doors. Paths.
Matt smirked drowsily.
Anubis, ya son of a bitch –
– here I come.
Fin.
A/N: Matt actually dies with the cigarette still in his mouth. The anime changed it to make his death more…dramatic, I guess? D:
To akatsukifan: Thank you so much! Hehe, Mello's antics ARE somewhat amusing aren't they? xD
Friday: Thanks! And, unfortunately, the answer to your question was/is yes D:
Anyway, a BIG thank you to everyone who had been following this fic till the very end! Although it didn't turn out as horror-ish as I'd originally planned, I'm pretty happy with it. I hope you found it as educational as it was strange or crazy. I wanted to spread the Ancient Egyptian love around, so there we have it.
And, to anyone who may be interested, keep an eye out for a collection of one-shots that I am planning to write in the near future, inspired by Greek mythology. The installments will feature Mello as an Apollo figure, Near as Artemis, Misa as Aphrodite, Light as Ares and L as Athena, etc. Genres will vary. I'm still playing around with the details (:
Again, thanks for reading. Here, have some virtual watermelon – which is thought to have been first harvested in Egypt 5000 years ago; seeds were even found in King Tut's tomb ^_^