Anonymous reviewersss~
The Reading Kind: ...Or the second time, evidently. xD And perhaps he will face off with the Kiras. Who knows? c: He really is going 'til death, isn't he? Though if he were rendered incapable of this sort of thing (like, if he were burned alive, perhaps...), then he'd have to quit... Aha. Poor Sam and L indeed, although... they already have trouble sleeping... So... Hm, well, it's alright you feel bad for B and Sophia. They have their reasons for sympathy, whether they're known reasons or reasons to-be-discovered. C:
So you noticed Natalie left Mello out? xD Yeahh, she actually doesn't like Mello all too much. Especially considering he keeps kidnapping her niece. You know, I'd have a hard time picking between Kit-Kat and Pocky too... Hmm... Sorry to scare you with the unknown of what may happen in this story, but hey, there's always Matsuda. :)
...Until there isn't.
...Just kidding~ Did you just say you suspect there's another step in the Bond? Ooh, what a theory. I cannot refute or confirm that theory. But if that were to happen... That would be just terrible. And creepy. xD Fun to write, though~
Amy: Happy to make you smile! ^^ I will warn you that your feeling is right... At least one person will die in this story. So... there's that. It won't be too bad, though. ...I hope.
Reader: I thank you for that wonderful image you have given to my mind. xD I'll have to keep that in mind. I know the truth now. Near is actually Kira... and Mello is secretly the prince of Sealand! It all makes sense now!
Mysterious Guest: I'm not a fan of lying, but... I can't really completely help you with this... for the simple reason I'm really bad at this kind of thing. How to ask parents stuff... I draw a blank. Probably because my parents are usually cool with the things I choose to do. And if they disagree, I just give them a few good reasons to accept. So... Yeah... That's my way of persuading: just giving a few good arguments. It's really your call how you go about this... So... I'm sorry.
I'm glad you liked this story so far. c: And if you're going for a job, I hope you get it. I myself am going to try for a summer job this year.
Random: *pet* It's okay. I like your review all the same, first or not~ I'm rather glad you like the dream. I like metaphorical (and perhaps dramatic) things. c: Anna... she's always adorable. She's just... amazing. She's... well, she's Anna. I'm...sorry you get worried whenever you read Sierra's point of view, then, I think. But Mello will eventually find out... We just don't know when... Teehee.
...Did you just ask if Max was a supervillian? xD That would be amazing, but... no, sorry, Max isn't a supervillian. He can't melt L's brains or anything like that. And... you like the title? ;v; Yayy. And no, actually, I haven't heard that quote. You're right, though. This world is turning mad, eh? In fact, I'm going to take note of that quote, because there could be one called 'It Is Said' that may just use that its advantage... Hm. You worry for Misa? I... just feel bad for her. I really do.
...I love the Pocky Game.
Alright guys, so there's going to be a double update this week. Why? Because... Friday is Sierra's birthday! :D
So, enjoy the chapter~
A dark brown-haired, unshaven man by the name of Henry Morgan with eyes that had a sense of wildness to them, gesturing madly towards another man, black-haired and pale. "He's evil!" he exclaimed. "He's possessed; don't you see it in his eyes?! We must kill it!"
Beyond Birthday laughed at the scene; a crowd was beginning to gather around the center of the courtyard of Atascadero State Hospital. "He can't die!" he corrected, playing along with his current façade. "He can't die yet; not yet, not yet!"
"He can, and he will!" Henry insisted, staring at B with wide, serious eyes. "Kill the demon before it kills us all!" The man was a victim of paranoid schizophrenia; poor guy….
The man being accused cried out, holding his hands to his head. "No, no, no, no, no…," he mumbled, rocking on his feet. "I didn't do it this time; I told you; all of you…." His face was thin; he looked ill. Damien Connors. B wasn't sure what he had….
Henry released a battle cry and charged as the employees ran forward to hold him back. Damien cringed, and Henry howled in distress when he was restrained by the workers.
Beyond grinned delightedly despite the fact he found nothing amusing about this scene. "Silly, silly Henry. Mr. Connors is not due to die until next week!"
"I feel bad for him," commented Nick Geraldy, the man whose bed lay next to Beyond's, back in the sleeping area of the institution. He had short, shaggy, dirty blond hair and blue eyes. Sometimes his pupils would dart around; that's when you knew he wasn't at his best. Right now, though, he was gazing steadily at the employees as they called everyone to go inside. He had, in some ways, befriended Beyond, but B's friendship was typically a lie. Still, he learned some things about Nick. B knew Nick's name and when he would die immediately upon meeting him, but now he knew his story: he had extreme bipolar disorder, and had killed his mother and younger brother in a manic fit. Having regretted it, the prison warden had sent him here for help. That was the gist of it.
Nick looked at B. "You've been taking your medications, right?"
B twitched. No, I have not been taking my medications, he thought. I don't need them, because I am not a catatonic schizophrenic. Of course, he had to play along with it. "No," he admitted. "I don't need it. I'm fine. See? No episodes!"
"You're jittery, Beyond," Nick told him. "You've still got symptoms…. Trust me, taking what you need helps. And you've gotta believe me when I say you still need them, because you do."
"Sophia says I'm fine," B sniffed. He was getting rather good at acting.
Nick looked at him. "Sophia might be wrong."
"Invalid!" B snapped. "She's always right!"
Nick lifted his hands, showing peace. "Sorry; just something to think about."
B knew he was right, of course. If he was only twitchy when he didn't have what he needed, they might think his supposed 'condition' wasn't as severe as they predicted. In this case, they may send him back to jail, where he'd likely be executed. Maybe that night he'd have a catatonic episode, just to make the lies the doctors thought to be true seem more real. Of course, it wasn't catatonic schizophrenia that affected him, but the final stage of the Bond. No one could possibly get that, though, so he continued to live by his false diagnosis. After all, it wouldn't be long before he could get out again….
He had a plan.
"Near," said L into the mic, "what do you think of this investigation? What have you deduced thus far?"
"Well," Near responded, his voice altered, "we know Light is somehow involved. A notebook had to have been stolen from the Kira Task force headquarters and switched. This was most likely Light, and there is proof of this in the point that Misa was caught with the Death Note. The day I lied and said I would be detaining Light – the day I died – it was proven the same people from before were involved. Also, Natalie could only have been involved because of the fact Kira somehow knew of my plan – Anna is likely to have told her. Where we are now, we know Light, Natalie, and presumably Misa is involved. Someone with the shinigami eyes is judging, and it isn't certain whether or not Light has his memories intact."
L nodded. Sam was lying on her stomach on the bed behind him, her knees bent and her feet in the air. She was gazing intently at nothing in particular. "May I add something to that, Near?"
A pause. "Of course. Have I missed something?"
"Not necessarily…. For one thing, I know for a fact Light is in the know of what is going on; Light and Natalie are on the final stage of the Bond, or mind sync, and thus one cannot do something without the other knowing. It's as simple as that. Also, there is another figure working alongside Kira, judging: Mikami. There was a breakout in his jail, where many of the criminals died of heart attacks not long after they escaped. It only makes sense that Kira manipulated this to happen, and that it was to get Mikami to work for him again."
"Didn't Mikami turn against Light in the warehouse?" Near inquired.
"Yes, that's true… but anything can happen, Near."
"That is true," Near conceded.
"Mello knows I'm back on the case," L told him.
"…I see…. How did he react?"
"I don't know; I just had Natalie tell Sierra to relay the message. I wasn't there."
"Ah. Well, thank you for the update."
"You're welcome. Goodbye, Near."
"Goodbye." And they disconnected.
Oh, Ryuk, you fool, I thought with a satisfied smile as I slipped his Death Note out of his Death Note holder. He'd said we wouldn't get his new notebook back, but all I had to do was steal it in the night again. I just needed to wait a while to ensure he stopped thinking about it. Now, we'd have a fourth Note. And we'd figured out a loophole, too, that may allow Misa to actually own her notebook rather than just borrow it….
I – we – slept well, and I awoke to a nice, happy, Sunday morning. I savored the moment of just lying there comfortably as our minds organized themselves. Then, I swung my feet over the edge of the bed as I sat up. "Hey," greeted Ryuk. "Uh, did you steal my Death Note again…?"
I smiled and didn't respond, getting to my feet. Out into the hallway my feet led me; I noticed Sam's door was closed. Still sleeping. Anna was likely already up…. "What an odd Bonding; between one who never sleeps and one who sleeps in," I mused to myself as I made my way down the stairs. You know, I actually liked Sam's term for the mind sync better than the original: the Bond. It was more accurate than 'mind synchronization,' I thought. It was true that our minds were pretty damn near synced, but they weren't completely; there were still some individual opinions. Besides, although it was in actuality a mind sync, it was also more than that. It was… a Bond between the two, really. The word fit well….
I ignored Ryuk's nagging – my silence convinced him I had, in fact, stolen his Note – and gave Anna a morning greeting as I began breakfast. It was a Sunday, and thus Light would be coming over later. Later; for dinner, like he always did. At that point I would give him the extra Note I'd stolen from dear Ryuk. And tomorrow, we would convince Ryuk of our loophole's credibility, and Misa would be free to own the Note. Light would convince her not to get the Eyes again…. The idiot, if she kept doing that, she'd find herself dead in no time. None of us wanted that.
In any case, the day passed well.
Beyond Birthday lay in his bed, his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling through the dark. It was lights out in Atascadero State Hospital; far past it, actually – in the middle of the night. It was time. Thousands of miles away, Sophia was setting the knife on the counter. Perfect…. Beyond took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. He could hear the breathing of the many others in this psychiatric hospital; maybe a few were awake, but the majority was sleeping.
He took another deep breath as he and Sophia thought together, and there was an explosion of light, then heat – an inferno that began again whenever they went to the In-Between. That place between my world and the Death Note world. And the two of them burned like that; burned until they died. But even as they died, they remained fully aware of the agony that lasted forever….
But then it ended, and they'd switched places. B was in Japan, and Sophia was in LA, stuck in a mental institution. B staggered to his feet, not knowing the exact time in LA and thus having to act quickly – it was never possible to determine how much time had passed while in the In-Between. He'd prepared for this, but dying was something that couldn't be gotten over easily. So, he grabbed the knife from the counter on unsteady feet and swiftly stabbed himself in the side. After dying, the pain was nothing, but his breathing was shaky after all of it…. He took it again and, without hesitation, sliced his chest. It wasn't deep enough to kill, but these were relatively good wounds to place on Sophia to create the illusion she'd been forced to stay at Atascadero in his place.
He stood there silently for a moment, watching the blood pool on the tiled floor of the kitchen. Breathing deeply, he walked slowly over to the sink to grab a towel. He used this to wipe off the knife. Then, knowing well enough not to stain the carpet, he sat down there in the kitchen of the hotel room to wait.
It was early dawn, not enough light to necessarily see by. But Nick Geraldy had heard a sort of seeping sound just earlier. Now he heard whimpering. He looked to the bed next to him; Beyond's area. He saw a small, curled up figure. Nick propped himself up on his elbow and squinted at the figure. "Beyond?" he asked in a strained whisper. "You okay?"
Without a response, he sat up and leaned over to flip on the light. "Oh, God," he breathed at the sight of a small girl no more than nine, dark brown hair falling over her hunched shoulders and deep brown eyes wide. The sheets were stained red; her shirt was bloody in two major places. The others in the large room were beginning to stir in their beds.
One, the pale one named Damien Connors, was sitting up already and staring with wide eyes. He breathed deeply. The girl looked up at him.
The moment Henry Morgan awoke and saw the girl, he released a cry and scrambled out of bed. "I get it now!" he said in a panicked voice. "Beyond was after us all along! Where'd he go?! We need to find him before he murders us all! This is just a warning!"
By this time, many were waking to the scene. Nick got to his feet; he needed to tell the employees what had happened…. Mr. Myers; a stiff, stone-faced, and graying man as well as one of the upper-ranked employees; opened the door and looked in. "What is going on here?" he asked in his low, slightly intimidating voice.
Damien tittered like a nervous child.
"Good God," Mr. Myers exclaimed the moment he saw the girl, taking long strides towards her. "How did this happen?" he demanded, sounding calm but firm.
Inwardly, Sophia smiled.
"This is great!" Misa exclaimed. "Now Misa can—"
"Wait," Ryuk interrupted, looking at Light. "I can't haunt more than three people. I'm haunting you, Natalie, and Sierra. I can't haunt Misa too."
"Well, think of it this way," said Light with a confident smirk. "Natalie and I are at the final stage of the mind sync; therefore, depending on the way you look at things, we can be considered the same person."
"How does that work?" Misa asked, frowning deeply.
"Misa," Light assured her, "I mean our thoughts are generally the same, and each individual subconscious of ours merges occasionally. That's what the Bond does."
"Okay…."
"Well… I guess it might work…." Ryuk thought a moment. "Eh, who cares anyway? Go ahead."
"Right then," said Misa. "Well, I'm really happy now! Now Misa can be a help again; she can get the Eyes!"
"No, Misa," Light interjected calmly. "I don't want you to get the Shinigami Eyes again."
"Why not?" Misa demanded. "Misa just wants to help!"
"You've halved your life far too many times, Misa. Don't you get that I don't want you to die anytime soon?"
She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling, and hugged him. "Oh, Light," she breathed. "Thank you for caring."
"You don't need to thank me," Light replied. "So, please, Misa, don't do the eye deal. If you want to please me, don't shorten your life so much."
"Okay, Light, Misa can do that," she practically purred.
Sierra sat on a platform high above the ground, curled up as she doodled in her diary-disguised Death Note. (Hey, it killed with names, not doodles.) In this current lair, there were firm boards lining the rafters above, serving as a private little room that looked out over the broken-down home. It was perfectly safe, so long as she didn't roll off the edge in the night. Beside her was a simple blanket that served as her bed, and her bag, which contained all the belongings she had with her. A black and white striped, long-sleeved shirt that was a tad too big clothed her, along with typical jeans. As she outlined the eyes of a cat she'd drawn, she heard the creaking sound made when someone was on their way up.
She looked up to see Matt leaning under a rafter to enter, then straightening up with his hand on the back of his neck as he looked around the room, as if searching. Oh, and he was shirtless. "Hey, Sierra, have you seen my…?" His gaze, hidden behind his goggles, rested on her. "…Shirt," he finished dully.
Sierra blinked at him.
"Why are you wearing my shirt? It's my last clean one."
Sierra looked down at the shirt she was wearing, then back up at him. "I ran out of clean shirts."
"Couldn't you take something of Mello's?"
Sierra shrugged. "He'd kill me. You won't."
He sighed, muttering something under his breath. "Just wear something else. I'll go downstairs, and you can change. Give my shirt back when you're done."
She looked at him blankly. "No," she replied simply.
"I'll take my shirt off you if I have to. No… I'll get Mello to do it."
Sierra scowled, her cheeks warming ever so slightly. "That's just mean." She huffed, and Matt chuckled. "Now you're definitely not getting your shirt back." She crossed her arms. "Meanie poop."
"Would you rather me walk around shirtless all day?"
"Well, no, not really. It's kinda creepy."
"Then can I have my shirt back?"
"…No."
He frowned.
"How about this," Sierra suggested, her expression brightening. "You can have your shirt back if you give me your goggles!"
"What?" he asked, his hand absently going up to adjust the orange-tinted headwear. "No!"
"Then no shirt for you."
"Look, can't I just have my shirt back?"
"What's the magic word?" Sierra responded, her lips quirking into a smile.
"Please," he answered flatly. "Please, can I have my shirt back?"
"Of course!" she squeaked. "Now go away so I can get it off!"
"Got it." He walked away, giving a little wave as he left.
Sierra heard him make his way down to ground level, and shuffled through her clothes as he walked away. She found a shirt that was relatively clean, and heard Mello below. "Matt, why aren't you wearing a shirt?" he asked, without much inflection.
Sierra smiled to herself, pleasantly amused.
Fun Fact: The 'Sierra wearing Matt's shirt' scene was suggested by Sierra herself. :3 Sierra actually used to always steal the clothes of her brothers, so... xD
Alright, expect the extra chapter tomorrow~ ...Which is also the day of my first exam. Ahaha... Wish me luck.
Review? For shirtless Matt?