(Near P.O.V)

I wasn't just angry anymore. I was downright furious. I hid these emotions well, but trust me I wanted to punch a wall from my anger.

I'd lost everything. Everything! All because of Kira. And I wanted revenge.

The day finally came where I would meet Mr. Light Yagami for the first, and last, time. We had been on our way to the warehouse when Lidner had spoken up.

We were being driven there by Rester, everything I needed in the trunk. I had been too angry and sad to play with my toys. It didn't help that the weather was dreadful, what with the rain and clouds. It all just piled onto my misery.

Mello was gone. Matt was gone. My family was gone. Everyone that I love was disappearing right before my eyes. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.

All I had left was myself. Just like before the orphanage. When I'd been abandoned by my previous family. Why did god hate me?

I apologize for being so morose. But losing my brothers hurt more than anything in my life.

As I said, Lidner had spoken up. "Near, I'm sorry about Mello and Matt…"

"What's done is done." I interrupted rather rudely. "I'll have time to grieve when this is all done…"

"But sir." She said forcefully. "You should know the truth."

"The truth?"

Lidner only shifted her eyes away but stayed in my general direction. "Mello commanded that you didn't know anything about his plan. He didn't want you to stop him. And he never meant for Matt to die. He died by his own terms."

"I know this already, Lidner. I read Mello's notes. Don't think that I've been left in the dark…"

"Here." She handed me an envelope. "I won't say anything other than he left this for you. I was supposed to give it to you when this business with Kira was done, but I think it would be best that you have it now."

I was silent now. All I could do was stare at the envelope. Why had Mello left this?

Nerves raking my core, I opened it slowly, not sure if I wanted the contents inside.

When I flipped open the lip of the envelope, out popped what looked like a photograph. Against the grey of the sky that day, it seemed to shine the only light in the world.

When I slipped it out of the paper, I almost cried.

It was Matt, myself, and Mello. Outside on a clear, sunny day, back at Wammy's. We were younger in this photograph. Much younger. It looked as if Mello and Matt were ten, and I was seven. Mello was leaning against my head, with a rather prideful smirk, and a soccer ball in his arm. I, myself, was sitting next to a tree with my robot in my arms. I didn't seem too perturbed by Mello leaning on me. In fact, I had a smile on my face. Matt was lying in the grass, goggles hiding his eyes, with his Gameboy up in the air in front of him. Always playing his games.

As far as I'm concerned, this was the only picture of all of us together. How Mello came about it, would always be a mystery.

I flipped the photograph and a tear rolled down my cheek.

'Dear Near,' written plain and simply.

My anger was suddenly replaced with sadness. Mello had given his life for this investigation. Matt had given his life for Mello. And I… I had done nothing. Until that day, I had done nothing but hide like a coward. Hell, even L had shown himself to Kira sooner than this. He'd put his life on the line as well. But me? I was nothing compared to my brothers.

This had to end. Now.

"Thank you, Lidner. This was much appreciated."

She only nodded. "Mello was a good man."

"That he was." Rester agreed. "I admit, my trust in him may not have been all there in the beginning. But when he told me his plan that day you demanded to go see him… I couldn't help but admire his bravery. I hope you trust me when I say I tried to talk him out of it. He wouldn't listen though. Stubborn bastard."

"He's always been that way. He fought to the very end. Like always." My voice drifted off.

'I promise you, Mello and Matt. Your deaths will not be in vain.'

We finally reached the warehouse, and I was more than ready to face Kira. I kept Mello's gift in my shirt pocket the entire time, with Gevanni's 'find' under my shirt. Had it not been for Mello and his efforts, Gevanni would have never found this evidence, and we'd all be dead.

In truth, Mello may just as well have saved us all.

My area was set up with all the puppets and my mask. I'd prepared for this moment to be shared with Matt and Mello as well. To have Kira take one last look at L's successors and know that he failed to defeat them. I guess I wouldn't get that opportunity.

Still, from the moment I was fully set up for Kira's arrival, I felt a strange chill up my spine. I shook it off as just the wind or morose excitement. But things just got weirder from there.

Mogi had entered the room with Gevanni. He didn't seem to put off by my appearance. Then again, he'd worked around L before.

When Mogi got closer to me, I shivered uncontrollably for what felt like minutes. Lidner had managed to catch this but said nothing when the shivering died down. I wondered what was going on, but didn't have a chance to fully think before Aizawa entered the room.

"Near." He said in his usual low voice.

"Mr. Aizawa. Good to see you again. I hope you're doing well."

He groaned a bit. "As well as any at this point in time. What with Takeda being dead and Mello gone. I know you had no knowledge of his plans, as you've said, but…"

Another wave of cold brushed me, but I ignored it.

"Mr. Aizawa. What I'm about to say does not leave this room, nor your knowledge. I don't believe Mr. Yagami needs to know this. Otherwise he'll think he might've won."

With his curious glace, I continued.

"Those two kidnappers… Mello and Matt. I've been working alongside them in this investigation. And even more… they were my brothers."

Aizawa said nothing. Of course he wouldn't. This was all new to him.

"Of course, I never said anything to any of you about this. They're my family, and I wanted to protect them. They were my older brothers, however, and protecting me and my base of operations meant more than even their own lives. At least… I would like to believe. However, with my only family being dead now, I have a personal vendetta against Kira. If you do not cooperate with me, Mr. Aizawa, there will be consequences."

As if on cue, the door to my right slammed shut from what might have been the wind. The sound echoed through the hall, and another wave of cold hit me.

I looked at my puppets of Mello and L. I hadn't made one for Matt quite yet, but it would be done soon.

"I loved my brothers, Mr. Aizawa. Having them taken from me is the worst pain I've had to endure. If Kira believes he can get away with this…" I glared at him. "He'd better think twice."

Aizawa nodded. "Understood. I'll go get the others."

I didn't say anything more. I just simply slipped on my mask of L and waited.

While I waited, my left shoulder felt freezing compared to my right one. There also felt like it was being weighed down by something. It was a reassuring force, and I had to look over my shoulder to make sure nothing was there.

Still, even knowing nothing was there, I didn't feel so alone.

I was ready.

When Light Yagami and his task force entered the room, I immediately hated the man. It was now that I had come face to face with Mello's true killer. The one that led the people who killed Matt. The very person who snatched L away from us. He was right in front of me, and I had to fight the urge to strangle him.

The cold feeling on my shoulder grew colder.

There was silence for the longest time. I knew what Yagami was thinking too. That I wasn't fit to be L's successor. That I was a joke. Well, he wasn't too far off. In truth, Mello and Matt needed to be by my side with me for him to truly see who he had been battling these past few months.

Finally, the silence was broken by Aizawa. "That's them. Those four are the members of the SPK. And the one wearing the mask is Near."

"Hang on, am I the only one who sees something wrong?" Said the younger man to his left. "He can go around accusing people of being Kira, but the fact that he's wearing a mask says that he's only trying to protect himself!"

I rolled my eyes. "It's just a precaution. There's a good possibility that Kira has already seen the faces of everyone in this warehouse except for mine. In fact, he might be writing your names down as we speak." A quick pause and I continued. "So I'd like to wait for one hour… no, make that thirty minutes so it should be more than enough time to see if any of us are being controlled before they die."

"What! You're gonna wait and see if we die!?" Said the younger man again.

Aizawa then mumbled something to him, and the wait began once more.

For the next thirty minutes I stayed silent, though I more than wanted to chuckle at my revelation. It would seem Mello had been correct about the shinigami all along.

It seemed to take less time than I'd imagined.

"Near! It's been thirty minutes and nothing's happened yet!"

"Of course not," said Yagami, making my stomach churn a bit. "That's because Kira's not here."

I still had the upper hand though.

"Very well. Everyone seems to be safe. I'll remove my mask, now."

As promised, I slipped off my mask, but I couldn't hold my smile at what I was seeing. If only Yagami knew how much trouble he was truly in.

He didn't seem too fazed.

"You're quiet, Near. What's wrong? Are you still waiting for something?"

My shoulder was freezing now, but I did nothing to stop it.

"'Waiting'. That's an excellent choice of words." I said as I place my Kira puppet in front of me. Pity that the real thing couldn't be destroyed as easily as my puppet. "Yes, I am waiting. For the arrival of someone who will solve everything once and for all. He'll be here son, it's only a matter of time. There's only one entrance to this building, and the only way to look inside is by opening that door." I gestured to my right. "That means he'll either walk through that door, or at least open it and peek through."

"And just who is this person anyway?!" Said the young man again.

"X-Kira," I said while holding up my puppet of Mikami. "The one who is currently using the notebook at the moment, and killing people on Kira's behalf. He's bound to come here and bring the notebook with him. Then, he'll see me, and write down my real name. Or rather, he'll write down all the names of everyone here and those who know about the notebook, and kill them."

The room filled with gasps.

"W-what are you saying?" Said the younger man. He was a very talkative one. "This doesn't make any sense! What are you trying to tell us, Near? That some other guy is going to drop by with the notebook, poke his head in, and kill us all!?"

"And you want us to sit back and let it happen?!" Said one of the elder men.

I fell silent for a moment. "Yes, that's correct. Now listen carefully. If someone comes into the warehouse, or opens that door, just let them in without resisting. If the door opens slightly, simply act as if no one is there."

"But… but that's just crazy!"

I was about to say something else when the cold left my shoulder and I swear, to this very day, I heard a growl come from my right towards the door.

"He's already here!"

The room fell silent with tension and we could suddenly hear the faint chanting of someone saying 'delete' from the other side of the door. The fear of dying caused the younger man to pull out his weapon and aim, but thankfully Rester had stopped him.

"You'll be fine, you won't die!"

"How can you be so sure, Near!?"

I held up my plastic toy. "Because I modified the notebook." After they gasped at my actions, I continued. "We took repossession of the notebook and replaced the pages. The person behind the door has been doing the killings for Kira. He has also been using exactly one page every day. Based on that, I was able to replace the page he'd use on this exact day, as well as all subsequent pages, so no one else would die."

The chanting stopped. And the deed was done.

I continued. "On the other side of that door, is X-Kira. My guess is, in roughly forty seconds, he'll look through that door to see if we're all dead. That's when we'll restrain him and seize the notebook. Whoever's name is not written down, must be Kira."

I could see it. Right on that smug bastards face. That pride in his eyes, and that smile of victory. He thought he actually had me. He thought because of Takeda that he had me beaten, that because Mikami had a fake and the real one all along that I was beaten. Well now, how much pride could one have before he becomes overconfident?

He hadn't won. Not by a long shot.

The coldness returned to my side and I welcomed it. Somehow, this was a comfort for me. A cold presence though it was, it felt all too familiar.

"You there, outside." Yagami directed to X-Kira. "Have you finished writing down the names in the notebook?"

A short pause. "Yes, I've written them."

The coldness intensified on my shoulder. I got the message instantly.

"Don't you think it's rather odd?" I asked. "Why would he answer you so quickly, calmly, and honestly, when you asked him if you had written down our names yet?"

"Who knows, maybe he's just honest. Or confident that he'll succeed, or he's seen through your brilliant plan."

The way he'd said 'brilliant' made it sound like he was being sarcastic.

"In that case, we're in big trouble." Said the younger man by Yagami's side once again.

I finally caved. "Teru Mikami. If it's not too much trouble to ask of you, won't you please come in and join us?"

Silence. I tried again.

"I already know it's been you who's been judging and executing people for Kira. If you've already written down our names then there shouldn't be anything to be afraid of. You can come right on in."

Yagami only confirmed this with him and before I knew it, the door was sliding open, and low and behold, there was Teru Mikami standing at the door.

Yagami questioned him as to how many seconds had gone by since he'd written the names, and he began to count the last few that were rolling by.

I was confident that we would all live though.

Right as he counted the last few seconds…

"Well Near… it looks like I win."

A/N: Don't you all just love cliffhangers!? Aww, don't worry, the story is far from over and I'll be back soon to write the ending.