B: Oh good lord Kira, that poor...representation of you. Goodness, it makes for a good plot line, though~
I never really liked Near either... xD That may actually be part of the reason nothing really happens with him. Oops. Oh dear, I'll have to work on that. Although, somehow I didn't exactly like Mello too much either... Hmm...

TheBlackArtist: You know, it is the longest! Though this is very near to the end, now. More fluff? Uhhh, here! *throws chapter* There's something in here, I promise! But...I'll have to work harder on adding more, ahaha... I shall do my best!

Okay, so, I looked ahead, and it turns out that the next chapter is the last chapter of this story!

Yaaay?

Ah, well, enjoy the second-to-last chapter~

Sam and Light sat in the back of a limousine sent to drive each of them to their respective places to be from the hospital. The two had stayed the longest, as Matsuda had to go and had offered to drive Anna home. Light would have had to leave too if Sam hadn't offered to take him home instead. He would have been fine with walking, but someone had to keep an eye on him.

In their longer stay, they'd had the opportunity to see me wake up with a messed up consciousness, my reality blurred by heavy sedatives. My first words were actually, "Do I get the oxygen tent again?"

Sam looked to Light, hoping he understood, but he merely looked back and shrugged. "The sedatives are still messing with the Bond," he'd said apologetically.

"You're in the hospital," Sam had explained to me in a tone that suggested she was talking to a three-year-old.

"I know that," I had scoffed as if I really knew what was going on, and my eyes rolled back in my head before I was out again.

Sam and Light looked at one another again. Sam laughed. Light raised his eyebrows at her.

Now they were sitting in the back of the limousine driven by Roger, waiting to reach Light's apartment. Light would kick back, relax, have some dinner, and kill some criminals while he was at it. Sam would probably just attempt to find some way to amuse herself in the hotel room that was her current home. It seemed wherever L was was more of a home to her than her real home at this point. Oh well, I had said that they would all move out eventually anyway. Sam supposed that she was simply the first.

In the silence of the car ride, Sam spoke. "I blame you for this," she said to Light, and Light looked at her and frowned.

"What did I do?"

"You're you," she answered promptly.

"How is being myself causing Natalie to go to the hospital?" Light asked skeptically.

"I don't know, maybe you gave her cancer by being in her head," Sam shrugged, nonchalant with the insult.

Light frowned at her. "I don't think cancer caused the lung problems and a heart attack," he said flatly. "Do you think that maybe Mello was the cause, and it wasn't my fault this time? Or, better yet, what if this is no one's fault, Sam?"

"Maybe it's karma because you were Kira," Sam suggested, and looked at him. "Or karma for possibly being Kira, right now? And if you're Kira, she has to be, so…."

"I'm not Kira anymore," he said calmly, looking away from her and instead straight ahead. "I'm being kept on watch, aren't I?"

"But we can't see everything." She eyed him closely. "You're still suspect. Kira."

Light frowned at her again, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I'm really getting sick of this," he said.

"Well, good, because you're Kira."

"I can't believe you're still—"

"Therefore," she interrupted, "it's your fault Natalie's in the hospital."

Light stared. "If there's going to be any reason she's in the hospital, it's not going to me, Samantha," he said, his voice low.

"Don't call me Sama—hm…." She paused, and considered this. "You know, you can call me that if you want. I like you, and you have a nice voice."

"I thought you hated me…," he said dully.

"Eh, you have your moments," Sam responded, waving him off.

He quirked an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth upturning slightly. "Well, thank you for the compliment. I do believe it's a first."

"Psh, probably. Don't get used to it, though."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, Samantha; I know."

"Good," she said simply, and Roger dropped him off. Sam gave a short, unhappy wave to him through the open car door as he closed it, and he smiled back as though he were bidding her farewell in return. As though it felt right to smile. But it didn't, and he allowed the expression to fade as the door was shut and he straightened up to watch the limousine pull away. He gazed after it for a moment before heading down a sidewalk that went around a parking lot for the residents before it reached his apartment home. He walked down this path calmly and without expression; his air that of a man between casualness and formality. Not quite casual, but not quite… formal, if that's the right word. Serious. Yeah.

But he wasn't quite calm, even though he acted it. He wasn't quite at ease, and he wasn't quite ready to relax. He felt rather restless. And sure, the Bond was taking effect quicker because of the whole 'the-hospital-sedatives-are-weakening-the-Bond' thing, but it seemed to be something more than that, which made him uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the fact he didn't quite understand the unease that made him truly uneasy.

What, am I worried? he thought as he unlocked the door and opened it, entering and reclosing the entrance behind him. No, what am I thinking? There's nothing to worry about. Even if she does die, I can't die with her because I'm not being affected…. He froze momentarily. He almost felt sick. No, that's not right….

But the moment passed and he unfroze. The uncomfortable sick feeling in his chest left him. "Hm," he remarked aloud. He headed to his kitchen, heated up some ramen to eat, and would then proceed to go up to his room to judge. Then he would sleep.

There was a man down, but we were the martyrs, the revolutionaries of our world to create a utopia. The New World. And as such, we could not let a fallen comrade slow us.

Thus, nothing had changed.

"Was she doing anything that could be harmful to her health lately?" asked a man with a shaved head and thin rectangle-shaped glasses. My doctor; Doctor Matsushita. A pencil was in his hand so he could mark off a few things on his clipboard.

Sam and Light were sitting in chairs set up in my hospital room. I was currently still unconscious, though I'd been awake – though my thoughts were incredibly hazy – a bit earlier that morning. "Well, she was recently kidnapped," Sam said to the doctor, and Matsushita looked up.

"Pardon?"

"You've heard of Mello, the Kira rebel, yes? Natsumi's the one he kidnapped."

Matsushita gazed at Sam for a moment, then nodded slightly before taking a note on his clipboard. "Do either of you know if something could have damaged her lungs, during that incident; before; after?"

"She had asthma as a kid," said Sam.

"Perhaps the chloroform," Light added. "Natsumi was forced to inhale chloroform quite a lot in an expanse of five or six days."

"Chloroform, huh?" the doctor said, and took a note of that. "The thing is, when someone inhales enough chloroform to really harm them, it should harm them immediately, not a few days afterward…. Sometimes it causes cardiac arrest like what happened to Miss Matsuo, but… it is sudden; something that happens immediately upon inhaling the anesthetic. It's commonly called 'Sudden Sniffer's Death' for that reason." He frowned slightly and looked at my sleeping form. "It can cause Asphyxia too – something that causes lack of oxygen – but that's also immediate."

"Huh," Sam remarked.

Light was leaning forward, his right forearm resting on his legs and his left elbow set beside said forearm. His hand was to his chin in a thinking position. Could it have been the In-Between? He and I had died there, but… we were here now. That place could allow you to evade death; why not delay it? It could allow you to evade pain and suffering; any injury, right? Why not delay that, too? Freeze up anything It knew would harm you, however It liked. Because in a way, It also had the ability to control time, didn't it? A moment could last three days in reality. What if It had taken a sickness from the near future, and had pushed it to now instead? Could the In-Between really do all that? How much was that place capable of?

Doctor Matsushita eventually finished with his questions and told the two that the doctors would try to figure out exactly what was the problem here, and assured them that I would be out soon. Sam and Light talked idly in that room for awhile, oftentimes lapsing into silences where Sam would think with L and Light would think to himself. His finger was tapping at his knee the whole time. They would leave the room at one point to go out of the hospital and have lunch together in the city. It was odd for Sam – as well as a bit off for Light, too – in the fact that the two had never really spent any time together, especially not alone. They'd never had the chance, and besides, it had taken quite a lot for Sam to kinda-like Light rather than despise him. They would go back to the hospital awhile after, Sam feeling a little bit closer to the guy. Maybe because he seemed so much more human when in a relaxed setting, even though he always looked tense and restless. Perhaps stressed. In her opinion, he looked worried, and in her mind she wanted to believe he was worried about me. But then, L was skeptical about that.

Eventually, Anna arrived at the hospital from SPK headquarters. She and Sam chatted for awhile, and every so often they would include Light in the conversation. I woke up for a bit soon after, and was able to actually have a real conversation with the three of them. I stayed up long enough for the sedatives to fade, and both Light and I were glad that the Bond was back in full effect. But even as this went on – and I felt great; really – I was also so very tired…. Probably because of the heart attack, plus the fact it was still hard to breathe despite the cool oxygen being pumped into my nostrils.

Before the sedatives wore off, though, I was hazily worried over whether Light was okay. I mean, after all, I was here in this world of artificial lights; I was in pain; we had a Bond; therefore he must be going through the same! Oh god; I'm so sorry, Light…. But I had been assured he was fine by Sam, telling me Light was right there in front of me, so I looked at him and started apologizing until my brain made better sense of things and I realized he was obviously fine. "…I'm such an idiot," was the first sentence that held real common sense.

But after a few hours of this, my breathing would falter, and the doctors would come in and tell me I was getting too worked up. Doctor Matsushita suggested that Light, Sam, and Anna leave the room because they were 'disturbing the patient.' "But I don't want them leaving," I told Doctor Matsushita simply. "I like them, you know." So he frowned at me before agreeing to compromise by giving me more sedatives instead – if I was calm, my breathing was fine.

I tried to stay awake as long as possible…. I didn't like the black-that-wasn't-black that you seemed to float in, and I didn't like how hazy everything seemed even during sleep. To be honest, I also didn't like it for the simple reason that it was a sort of sedative-anesthetic-thing; just like chloroform. And I didn't much like chloroform. At all.

Unfortunately, I was not magical, and therefore I could not possibly stay awake. I slept, and Anna began getting ready to leave. Sam did the same, and Anna turned to Light. "Near said I have to walk you home," said Anna to him, and he looked at her from his seat.

"Is it completely necessary?" he asked her.

"Well, yeah… I guess so," Anna replied confusedly. "Someone has to watch you, right? And Sam's leaving now too…."

Sam gave a little nod in agreement.

"But I could stay here all night, couldn't I?" he asked, and watched both of them carefully. Sam seemed skeptical, and Anna was frowning in thought. "I mean… there are cameras here… and if you really don't trust me, you can check those if you have to. I know you have the power for that." He continued watching the two, waiting for their responses. It would be alright if they agreed; this wasn't a fake idea meant to make him look more like he cared. He'd even made his kills for tonight last night, making sure they were to die tonight instead. Packed an extra pair of clothes in a small carrying bag for the occasion. And why would he want this? Why, I wanted it, and thus he did, right? But I wouldn't quite know that because the Bond has broken off, he reminded himself. So then, what was the real reason?

"Eh," said Sam, waving him off, "it should be fine, Anna. Let him keep an eye on her."

"Um, alright," said Anna, and they gave their farewells and left him behind. There came a time in the middle of the night where I came to, where the first thing I did was look over to my mind sync, knowing he was there even though the sedatives hadn't completely worn off yet. He was sitting with his elbows on his knees, his head hanging. I couldn't see his eyes.

I took note of the fact the window was dark and that he was the only one in the room. "What're you doing here?" I asked him. Quiet.

"Just staying close; you know," he replied, and looked up at me.

I smiled at him. "Well, I appreciate that," I said as I looked back up to the ceiling and I closed my eyes and allowed a more natural sleep to overtake me. Light was more comfortable now that he could sense me fully there. I slept rather well, all things considered, and the night would pass on. Light slept in the chair he sat in.

Sam came early in the morning to find him and I both awake. The doctors would check on me, and Light and Sam were informed that I was improving. Surely I'd be out by the next day. They got me some food from the hospital cafeteria, and then they went out so Sam could sneak in some 'real food,' as apparently Sam said it was considering she thought the food the hospital had was obviously not real food. In any case, I was grateful.

Anna would come to visit at one point; the first thing she asked me was when I thought I would be getting out. She was pretty happy when I told her I would likely be getting out the next day. Matsuda came in to visit for a little bit as well, and while everyone was here, Light left for a bit to go home. Pack some clothes; write some names; you know. Get ready so he could stay over at the hospital again that night.

We were beginning to wonder about the In-Between. What was it capable of? Could it really do more than save lives and take me home? Was it the cause of the illness that had gotten me in the hospital? Could it really have been that place; a place that had caused such harm to get me hospitalized? Perhaps it wasn't a place after all, but more a passageway; an entity…. A source of power; sheer power…. What could it do? Could it help us in other ways besides saving our lives, or could it only harm us? There were so many unanswerable questions of the unknown, here…. How intriguing.

Matsuda actually came to visit once, as before said, that day, telling me the task force sent their well-wishes. I was taken off the oxygen earlier in the morning, though the EKG still had to be attached whenever I was in my hospital bed. It was then that I was allowed to walk around the hospital. It was nice to stretch my legs, though it felt real weird to walk. The cycle of people would repeat, and everyone would leave but Light. Having not much to do for so long, I have to say I was glad I was getting out tomorrow. I was already tired of having to stay in one place from when I'd been kidnapped, and now here I was stuck in the hospital after only four days. How annoying. I could only hope that I'd be free at last once I got out the next day.

As it got later, Light and I would talk idly even though talk was pointless. We challenged ourselves to try and get reaction out of the other, which is often like trying to get a reaction out of yourself. Pretty hard, right? He seemed to be better at it than I was, occasionally earning a grin or a little laugh while every so often I would earn a chuckle or an odd look for my attempts.

As the night wore on, I grew tired – I still wasn't completely fine and dandy, you know; I was tired – and eventually I would fall into slumber. Light would think to himself as he waited for sleep to begin to press on him as well. For awhile he would think on the most important things. Thoughts of Near and of L and of Mello. Soon L would be completely on the Kira case again, wouldn't he? Yes, he would; now that the Sinful Murder Cases were over. Apparently L had lost that battle…. This only made Light want to beat him even more. Otherwise he, Light, would have been bested by a mere murderer. A criminal. And that; that was not an option.

Over time, though, his thoughts fell back on old topics. Of the steps of the Bond and how it worked; how did it work? Minds were not meant to attach to another. Even in the case of identical twins, minds could not technically be read, especially when the twins were raised separately. Thoughts were always isolated. Humans, no matter how close they were to one another, would always find a moment where they did not know a piece of a person. One simply could not completely know a person. Most of a person, sure; but not the little things; the hidden things. And none of what the Bond did should be possible. A cut on your hand where someone else had been hurt? It simply wasn't possible in the laws of physics if there was nothing to cause the cut on your own body. It didn't make sense. How was this connection possible? Hell, how did it even begin? Was that the In-Between's doing as well? Light wondered, and leaned back in his chair to stare thoughtfully at the ceiling.

A connection through the past, huh? He didn't quite know what it was that connected Sam and L, or Sierra and Mello. He knew little pieces. Sierra's past was a thing he knew because of my own memories, which gave him some insight into Mello's past. Sam had the whole 'withdrawing and coming out a new person' thing that L said he had; also an idea from my own memory. Anna and Near was something neither of us had any clue what the cause was, considering Anna had a pretty innocent past and we knew nothing of Near. Then, BB and Sophia. Sophia had been an infant upon coming to this world, so she had no past to judge by. Did she just Bond to the first person she saw? Or was there some reason for that too? Well, thought Light, if the In-Between is the thing that creates the Bond, and it can control time… could it sense things that will happen in the future? Things that would happen, but won't? Who a person will become?

Now, Light and I…. There was always that whole 'pride and confidence' idea; the fact that I'd had those traits of his when I was younger. And I'd also had anxiety, right? Which was something he surely had to fight when he first became Kira all those years ago, even though he couldn't remember. Light had had a pretty clean past himself…. Successful, confident, light, generally happy even though there was the underlying darkness he could sense in the world…. But he couldn't grasp it until later…. Everything was the picture of the perfect life; everything but—

The door opened. It was the nurse; the girl with her dark brown hair pulled into a bun, her pencil now tucked into her ear rather than her hair. She looked at him and nodded in acknowledgement before walking over to the hospital bed to check on me. "Mr. Yagami, right?" she asked him.

Light nodded. "Yes."

She pulled out a stethoscope. "You staying overnight again?"

"Yes, that is correct."

She nodded. "I'm only checking how her heart sounds and how her lungs sound. Just making sure."

"Understandable," said Light, and watched her do her work. She marked something off on her clipboard, informing Light I was doing just fine, and then left.

His mind went back to its topics. Thought of serious matters at first, and then moving to thoughts that were less serious as time went on. He thought of Sam's confession to me right before I'd been taken to the hospital, and wondered idly if the two would be getting married any time soon. Who would have thought L would make love to another, Light thought to himself, and chuckled as he shook his head. Perhaps they'd have a child. That would surely distract L enough to give us the advantage. And maybe; maybe then he could understand our motives once he had a loved one to protect.

Light's thoughts turned to Sam's words about love, and looked at my sleeping form. He thought of how I most certainly did love him, but as he didn't return the feeling, I would simply have to get used to the fact. It was something both of us knew. Emotion was something not easily manipulated, and after all, we were the Kiras that were trying to throw away our humanity. This was not about being happy ourselves, but cleansing the world to create a new one. The New World. And as long as we were these humans thought of as a god… love was something that wasn't needed. Just intelligence, good judgment, and good leadership. It was just as how we couldn't waste our time with grieving for losses such as it was with Misa. She was gone, and that was that. Just as Light would have to move on quickly if I were to have died, and he to survive.

Still, he was glad I survived…. I mean, it hadn't been that bad, but it had certainly been a good scare, hadn't it? And… it was always good to have another relatively intelligent mind on Kira's side. Plus… there was the Bond, and no matter how detached he was, he was still going to be affected if only for that. Not necessarily for caring…. Not necessarily for….

But I was fine now, so Light wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing.

As he came to this conclusion, there was a flash of light. At first he thought it was one of the artificial lights above our heads; flashing because its bulb was weird or something. But the flash had been more full; more of an enveloping sort of thing than a simple flash of a light fixture on the ceiling…. The In-Between? he wondered idly, then thought of the flash we'd seen right before I had to be sent to the hospital….

No, it's illogical to worry, he thought. No matter what happens, I'll be fine. Even if it affects her again and she is hurt, I won't be. He swallowed. Something didn't feel right. It was a feeling of the chest, but it was not a heart attack for sure. We were fine. He was fine, and I was fine.

…That was, until the heart monitor went flat.

Light stood abruptly, staring at the EKG. A sick feeling crept up in his chest, but he felt no pain. It was only me. He was fine. But….

He didn't want me dead, either.

Doctors came rushing in to treat me, and there was a flurry of motion. "I'm sorry, sir, please leave," said a doctor; a woman. Light was frozen. For once in his life, he was frozen. "Sir? I'm sorry, but you need to leave."

"Just leave him alone and work!" a man snapped. Doctor Matsushita.

Normally, Light would have snapped something like, "What went wrong?!" the moment the doctors entered the room. Obliged when the doctor asked him to leave the room. But pure fear had flooded him the moment the line had went flat; the moment the repetitive beeping and become one long, never-ending sound that could not repeat anymore. It wasn't just the Bond. He cared, okay? He got it; now bring me back! He didn't know who he was asking – begging? – but….

He could feel the Bond being cut off now, and he felt sure I was gone for good. A feeling of horror began to flood him; a feeling he hadn't felt since the day his father died. Because I cared for him, too, even then, didn't I? He sat down numbly and felt nothingness replacing where my half of the whole used to be. A horrible hollow feeling; combined with the horror and the shock and the fear and the realization that—

He was plunged backwards into nowhere, the light enveloping at first to be replaced with the groundless passageway of blues and greens and white. But it was dull, not bright, and things were going red. He was still alive, though; the heart attack hadn't hit yet. But he was here, right? Surely I must be too, and both of us would be alright! But even as he looked, I wasn't there… Why am I here, though? he couldn't help but wonder as he felt hands grasping at his shoulders and back, pulling him backwards into the fabrication of the In-Between. Voices moaning and wailing at him for help or for company as they pulled him backwards. Backwards into the fabric and into pain as the heart attack began.

But he fought back. He had a world to create, and a certain girl he had to make sure was alright, and he simply had too strong a will to be pulled back into that place of the souls who were stuck here for eternity. Light was only pulled into the place where your being melted away for a moment before he reemerged and felt himself die as he passed through this place again…. Without me this time. Alone. An eternity flowed past as he waited the pain out; felt the agony to the point where he couldn't even think about how much it hurt because he couldn't even think anymore….

Light seemed to be jolted awake rather than thrown back into reality this time. He leaned forward at the inertia, but he did not fall out of his chair or anything like that. The first thing he did was look at the EKG, his heart pounding. Pounding from having just died; pounding out of fear; pounding out of a horrible hope that I would be fine. Light looked to the heart monitor just as the doctors got my heart going again. Just as it was determined I would be alright after all.

A breath was released out of relief. The Bond reconnected, and we were all whole again. It was a wonderful feeling. Like being put back together. Things began winding down, and the doctors were congratulating each other on a life saved. There was a sense of relief among all of them in the room. It was like one of those hospital shows, only… real. Like the day my dad died… only they couldn't save him…, he thought to himself. Doctor Matsushita came over to Light and asked him if he was alright, and Light told him he was.

Composing himself, Light stood and bowed, thanking the man sincerely before telling him he would be stepping out of the room for a moment to tell a friend of what just happened. The man nodded, and Light left. He flipped out his cell phone and called Sam as he walked down into a windowed bridge on the second floor. She answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Hello, Samantha," Light greeted, leaning against the wall just before the windows began. He forced his tone to relax. He was the actor, after all. "I just thought it necessary to tell you of how things were going here…."

"Why?" Sam replied. "Natalie's fine, right?"

Light eyed the dark view outside, lit by the city lights. His heart was finally beginning to slow. "Well, she just had another heart attack. I think she's fine now, though."

"Jeez, what the hell's wrong with her?"

"I don't know," he told her semi-honestly.

She sighed into the phone. "Do I need to come over there? Is it bad?"

"No, no, she's fine for now. You can come if you'd like, but…."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it…. I'm coming in early tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Alright."

"Yeah; thanks for telling me. Bye, Light."

"Bye," he said, and closed his phone. He breathed a soft sigh and put the device in his pocket before walking back to my hospital room, his pace slow and steady. By the time he reached me, the doctors were gone. He entered the room and shut the door quietly behind him. I was back on oxygen, he could see, and my heartbeat was steady on the EKG. The beeping was repetitive, if annoying, just as it should be. I'm sorry, he thought, even though I couldn't hear him quite yet. Silence filled the room, broken only by the beeping and the sound of the oxygen machine. Sounds of sickness and the possibility of death. Sounds that seemed somehow ominous; for good reason.

He stepped beside my hospital bed and looked at my unmoving hand before gripping it gently and squeezing. It was warm. Alive. He looked at me. I would surely be getting better soon now. Or at least, he hoped. We hoped. Not just for Kira-related reasons, or because of the Bond, but because….

"I love you," he said in a low, quiet voice. And he did. He didn't know it before, but he did. It wasn't quite the same as when he didn't have his memories, but still, he did, and that was all that really mattered, wasn't it?

After standing there for a minute or so, he returned to his chair and gazed at nothing as he thought, waiting for sleep to come for him.

Blarg. I lack confidence in this thing called 'fluff.'

Okay! So!

HEY: so I need help coming up with the title for the last story for this series! Please give me your input; say which one you like and why (or just which one), or even come up with your own! I'm sure I'll have it figured out in time... Ahaha... So far my ideas are:

It Is Law
It Is Said
It Is Finished
It Is Decided
It Is Known

I thank you in advance for your help!

Fun Fact: Back when I was just starting It Is Done, I didn't label it as Death Note or even keep them in my normal folder. I hid them in a folder called "Bucking Fuffalos."

Review? For Loooove.