48. Lunatic % The 12th

Past Light, whose scythe was descending with the shaky jerk of his right arm, the moon went from red to white in an uninterrupted instant. First it was blood, then it was snow—there was no transition. Yuri was so struck by the change that it actually took him a couple of seconds after the fact to realize a bullet had been fired.

Yuri looked up and saw the scythe's blade less than a foot from his face. The blade hovered there for a moment, then began to trace backward. Yuri followed the weapon to its owner and watched as Light stepped back. Light was staring at his left hand, so naturally Yuri looked in the same direction. What he saw was nothing—the Justice Diary was no longer in Light's grasp.

Yuri looked down and saw the foreseeing voice recorder lying on the deck, completely obliterated. Yuri put this observation and the earlier sound together in his mind, and he realized that someone must have shot the Justice Diary.

He looked up at Light, who was now looking past him. Yuri turned his head. Standing at the door leading out to the deck was Meilag Spooky. He was aiming one of his pistols in Light's direction, while the other hand was ready at any moment to reach for the holster. He was still dressed as the 12th, but this time he was not wearing his giant eyeball mask.

"You talk too much," Meilag said. "But that's typical for someone who hates to lose."

Light dropped the scythe. He clasped his own throat and doubled over. Yuri saw that the Justice Diary was rapidly fading away. Light stared up at Yuri, before he also began to disappear before their eyes.

"A heart burning with justice," Meilag resumed, suddenly right by Yuri's side, "Even if it's misguided, can be annoyingly difficult to extinguish."

Light was already half-transparent when he started to rise from his knees. He was clearly struggling to maintain his mortal body. He managed to stand upright and then, while he was but a fading form, attempted to leap at Yuri. While struck with the notion that somehow Light's efforts might actually pay off, he stood still and felt nothing but a slight breeze pass against him. Yuri looked around, and Light was no more.

"He's gone?" Yuri half-whispered. He looked at Meilag. "Just like that… Light's not going to come back?"

Meilag shook his head. He looked back at Yuri with unwavering, reddish-brown eyes. "His soul has left this world forever. Even if someone fool were to try to resurrect his body, it would be just another mortal body. The only remaining threat is that wretched imp, Murmur."

Meilag rolled his head to the left and pointed with his the end of his gun. "But observe!"

Yuri looked toward the end of the deck, and he saw a momentary flicker in the air. The invisible wall that Light had created was now gone. This was proved when Anemone blasted Murmur with a stream of water and sent her clear past where the wall had just been. Murmur washed up right at Meilag and Yuri's feet.

The demon's bright eyes were even larger than usual. She was clearly surprised to see the two alive, and perhaps more, she was surprised that the barrier had dropped. She certainly did not see what happened next coming: Meilag stomped Murmur's face in with his foot.

Murmur responded by biting the foot that was offered to her. Her teeth sunk into the heel of his shoe, and try hard as he might, Meilag could not shake her off. She looked like a parasite clinging resolutely to its host.

"Let your fears be eased away."

Yuri turned toward the familiar voice. Where the ghost of Mr. Legend had been, another spirit was standing. Where her bare feet touched the deck, the surrounding vines summoned by Light now began to sprout blossoming flours of bright orange, purple, yellow, and red. It was Olivia: she appeared wearing the same golden silk skirt, diamond-studded white belt, and golden brassiere. She extended her glistening arms toward both sides of the deck, each of the tiny bracelets spinning around her bare skin.

Olivia was still semi-transparent, just as Mr. Legend was, but it was certainly Olivia. Yuri could feel her presence, the presence only that strange old woman could ever create or possess. Olivia turned fully in his direction, while the four 12ths behind her looked on in amazement.

"Murmur, you've caused quite a mess, haven't you?" Olivia hummed, calmly but resolutely.

With both her left and right hands, she snapped her fingers. Immediately Murmur released Meilag's foot and plugged her ears with her tiny hands. Olivia spun a full revolution around and snapped her fingers again. The sound was simple and calm to Yuri, but apparently it was causing Murmur anguish. Murmur fell to her knees, while Meilag checked out his leg.

Olivia clapped her hands together and waltzed forward. Murmur cried out—the pale color her skin had taken on suddenly began to leave her, quite literally. The pale color was slowly draining out from Murmur's body, leaving in a mist that was drawn into Olivia's aura. Murmur's eyes returned to normal, and soon the imp looked just like she had back when Yuri had first met her. She no longer looked like the monster Yuri knew she could very easily and thoroughly be.

The moment Murmur was fully back to her old self was the same moment that Olivia stopped dancing. The spirit was now just a few feet from Murmur, which meant she was standing close to Meilag and Yuri. Olivia smiled toward them and raised a finger.

"I'll be with you in a moment," she promised.

Yuri nodded.

Olivia bent down on one knee and placed her hand on Murmur's shoulder. Murmur could be heard sobbing into her hands. Olivia waved her free hand over Murmur's small body, and a sparkling mist descended upon Murmur in the gesture's wake. The dust settled on Murmur's body and caused her skin to give off a radiant glow.

"You probably think I'm going to punish you, don't you?" Olivia asked.

Murmur nodded her tiny head, while still sobbing into her hands.

"That's probably how Deus did things, but I'm not going to do that to you," Olivia said. "I gave you free will, knowing you could make mistakes. That doesn't make what you have done okay—you have made terrible, terrible decisions since I released you from your shackles. However, only by free choice can you really learn anything worth learning or love anything worth loving. I only want servants who are choosing to serve me, and until you can make that choice, you cannot be my servant. But that doesn't mean I'm going to hurt you. No, Murmur—I am going to give you more of what you want, but I just have to make sure you can't hurt anyone like you just tried to do."

Murmur looked up from her hands. Yuri was startled by what he saw: Murmur's face was now that of a human girl's! Her hands were the trembling hands of a human girl, wet with the genuine tears of a child. The last thing to change over was the color of Murmur's skin, but when that did change over, she looked like a normal girl.

"I am going to give you total freedom," Olivia said, helping Murmur rise to her feet, while rising along with her, "You are going to be fully human and get to experience all of the different things a human gets to experience. Whether you serve me in the skies again is up to you—but I want you to live a full life before you make that decision. I already have prepared a home for you. You will have human parents, and they will raise you in the ways of the world you used to be a stranger in. In return, however, I am taking away all of your powers. You are just a girl now—you're nothing more, but you're still special to me and to this world."

Murmur looked over at Yuri and Meilag.

"Can you forgive her?" Olivia asked. She was holding Murmur's hand.

Yuri sighed. "She's going to have to make up for this, somehow… But even then, Yomotsu…"

Olivia nodded. She looked back toward the body. "I knew you would still be worried about him," she said quietly. "But you should trust me more. He met death, but he did not cross over. I commanded the soul to stay, and the body I will heal. I cannot heal his mind alone, however."

Yuri looked longingly toward the group of 12ths huddling over Yomotsu. "If he's going to be alright, then yes, I can forgive Murmur in time… I may already have, if he's going to live!"

This elicited a smile from Olivia. "And you, Meilag?"

The gunslinger 12th crossed his arms. "I don't know if 'forgiveness' is within my jurisdiction."

Olivia shook her head. "Actually, your forgiveness is perhaps more important than anyone else's—you will need to forgive her, if you're going to serve as her replacement."

Meilag looked sharply at Olivia. "…excuse me?"

Olivia chuckled into her hand. Murmur released her hand and did a double-take. "Him?" Murmur shrieked. "He's replacing me?"

Yuri listened carefully to her reply: "I will still need someone to go between my world and the human world. You might think it looks easy being here like this, but my power here is limited and is very difficult to maintain. Even a Goddess can get weary, you know! I can't realistically just show up like this anytime I want. Why do you think I didn't show up until now? Think it was all some part of some divine plan? …Maybe! But it also took me this long just to figure out how to even do this! And like I said, I only want a servant who will serve willingly, so my options are limited. Meilag has said he wants to live forever, and he already has been such a dear to me—he's a natural pick. I'd love for you, Yuri, and for Yomotsu to join us, but I still have special things planned for you in this world."

Yuri looked at Meilag, and Meilag was totally speechless. He clutched his head and furiously ruffled through his black hair. "Ugh, me, servant to the Goddess? Eternal life? What has happened to me…? Am I going soft, for wanting to live a life in obedience to some higher power? Or is this… is this how I can finally have my goals realized?"

Olivia set her hand on Meilag's shoulder, and this quieted him right away. He still clutched his hair with his hands, but his attention was all on her.

"One of my plans is to work to prevent what happened to your brother from happening to anyone else," Olivia explained. "I want you to be an ambassador on my sake, to save the lives of good people. Your ideas of justice are still too much like Light's, but in time, I think you'll see the light."

Meilag smirked. "We'll see if you can convince me!" He hissed, "I accept the challenge."

Olivia smiled back at him and then turned her attention back to Murmur. Olivia placed her hands on her knees and leaned closer to the little girl. "I want you to go introduce yourself to Kaede Kaburagi, okay? She's going to be like an older sister to you, if you let her be. Trust me—there is a clear sense of destiny in the thought of you two being best friends. Your first act as a human is to earn her forgiveness."

Olivia snapped her fingers, and the thorns that had been binding Kaede loosened and fell to rest on the deck. Kaede rose as though from a deep sleep, and as she stretched and yawned, the thorns sprouted beautiful flowers.

"Go on," Olivia said. She gave Murmur a gentle push on the back.

Murmur looked up at Olivia and nodded. She was still teary-eyed, but this time, she was smiling. Murmur ran off to where Kaede was. Yuri watched their conversation start and watched how Kaede's apprehension and fear began to steadily disappear. Kaede looked around and then set her eyes on Olivia, even as Murmur continued to speak to her.

Olivia, for her own part, was now able to address Yuri. Meilag seemed to perceive that she wanted to be alone with him, because at this time he wandered over to where the other 12ths were huddled. Yuri saw that everyone had taken off their eyeball masks, and although Anemone and Rocco were crying, Rocco was also laughing and Wi-Fi Man's face/screen displayed the text "LOL XD." They appeared to be all talking with Yomotsu, although Yomotsu was still lying at the same spot, still in a small pool of his own blood.

"You'll get to speak with him in a moment," Olivia assured him.

Yuri looked at her and nodded. He then looked off toward the white moon. "Is Kira really gone?"

"Everyone is going to find out about what happened tonight. Some will believe that Kira is gone, and others are going to believe that Kira will return again. They will view this as the crucifixion, that Kira will return in three days, three months, three years—perhaps three decades. However, it will not take long before most people will figure it out. At that time, those who supported Kira most fiercely and yet accept Kira's defeat will try to create a new Kira. They will have no heavenly powers from which to draw, because I am going to prohibit any more Death Notes from being dropped from the Shinigami Realm to the human world. So, Yuri—Light is gone, and Kira will never return. However, convincing the people will be difficult, and his shadow stretches far and wide."

"I've been living in a shadow for too long," Yuri remarked. His eyes traced along one crater on the white moon, then another. When he finished tracing every crater he could see, he stared into the white center of the moon and drifted out of perceptual awareness. "I'm not interested… In being in anyone's shadow ever again."

Olivia paused and then reached over and grabbed Yuri's hand. She gave it a gentle squeeze. He turned his head to look at her. She faced the moon. "Your father will haunt you no more. I am worried about Yomotsu, though. He still needs closure. His father's shadow can take on every sort of frightening form, because he has no way of making the nightmare real. If only Yomotsu knew that he has already met his father, and that now his father is dead, that Kira killed him… Even I don't know how and when I should reveal that to him."

Yuri sighed. He broke away from Olivia and took a few steps toward where Yomotsu and the 12ths were. Kaede and the human Murmur were also there now. He stopped and clenched his collar. He pressed his fingers into his palm through the fabric. "It took more than a year since arriving in America, but now… It's finally over."

Yuri looked over his shoulder. He then turned fully around to face her again. He felt like he did not even need to voice what was on his mind. She already knew. He looked at her as if to ask, "Are you still going to be here when I get back from seeing him?" She nodded her head and smiled.

"Then…" He took a quick breath and swallowed. "Finally… It's the death of Thanatos. At long last I can say goodbye to Lunatic. Father… I'm right with you now, aren't I? I have atoned for the mistake I made, when I killed you…"

Yuri started to back up, going in Yomotsu's direction. He then turned excitedly around and ran to meet the others. "Finally," he whispered under his breath, "I will live in the future."

I looked up and could have sworn I'd seen angels. The white light of a sacred moon gave them grace. The 12ths were made from my rib bone— Akise smiling, Rocco laughing through sobbing, Wi-Fi Man's computer monitor going "LOL XD," and Anemone's flowing tears. Their laughter tickled the hairs of my ears and kept me awake. Their crying warmed me and kept the light on. Meilag stood with his hands in his pockets. A halo was over his head, and really, it seemed so fitting it made me cry too. That girl I'd seen, Kaede, was trying to look at me while smiling, and there was another girl with her. I hope they get to live to age 80 and maybe own a business at some point in their lives. One day, I'll have another memory as good as this one, but in this moment, I will remain content. Yuri appears next to Meilag, and he looks forgiven. I recognized Olivia when she appeared. I'd never seen her look old, and maybe that just means I've only seen her atman. The moon is so bright that I am able to keep my eyes open a little longer. I won't hold on too tightly to sight, but I won't let this sight go. I won't let the memory go, even if I'll let time pass through my fingers. Because that is what time is going to do. Time is going to make this a precious memory.