DOA

A/N: Okay, sorry this took so long but I'm posting the last few chapters right now to make up for the delay! Enjoy!


REFUSING TO GO DOWN

Matt was still choking on the smoke as the car spun, his vision hazy through the fog of it for several seconds. It was long enough for him to worry that he might die right here, might make a wrong move and hit a fucking pole, wrapping the car around it before he could lead the police away from the pick up spot. Still he pressed the pedal to the floor, looking through the smoke for any signs of Mello's bike behind him. The blond had been following, had called him once, telling him to 'break a leg'. Mello had been surprisingly calm on the phone as they made their way to the destination, reminding Matt three times of the address for the Yellow Box. Matt knew his friend well enough to know that he was scared shitless that one or both wouldn't be there for the confrontation. The redhead almost felt a swell of jealously when the older boy ended the call by telling him he loved him about ten times. He wondered how many times his friend had said it to Near.

Matt lit a cigarette as soon as he made it past the pick up point, when he heard the multiple sirens blaring behind him. He cranked his radio, thankful that he'd remembered to charge his ipod the night before. Mello hated the music, said it made it impossible to think, but it calmed the hacker more than the nicotine and his favorite hunk of metal sliding around corners at impossible speeds.

Hal had complained about the car, saying that it couldn't possibly handle the mission. It was old, in need of repairs and a paint job, but it was his baby. He owned it fair and square, had fixed it up himself. It was the first present he'd bought himself with the money inherited from L. Now it was certainly proving itself, as he hit the breaks just feet away from the roadblock ahead. How the hell had they gotten ahead of him? Eh, no matter.

The redhead leaned against the steering wheel, preparing himself for the fight. He finished his cigarette, lighting another off the butt of the last while he counted the number of armed police officers waiting for him. He looked to the passenger seat, again hallucinating that he wasn't alone when a pale arm held out the smoke gun for him. He began to tuck it into the back of his vest but the apparition shook his head, pointing to the bodyguards waiting outside for him. "Heh. How can I argue with you, huh mate? You're right."

L shrugged his shoulders, grinning as Matt stepped out of the car with the gun behind his back. The hacker could see the ghost still, wondering again if maybe his fears had been made real, if he lying broken down the road, or if he'd already been shot. He imagined that any minute now L would get out, and Mello and Near would come around the corner to escort him into the afterlife. He briefly considered flipping the eccentric detective off, just for taunting him like this. But it wouldn't do to have the police thinking the gesture was directed at them, seeing as how their weapons were already pointed his way. He thought he heard that deep, toneless voice warning him of something, telling him to react. It seemed as if his arms were on autopilot as he walked to the front of the car, bringing the smoke gun out from his back.

Matt was speaking, though later he'd have no recollection of what he'd been saying, other than it must have been something terribly witty and sarcastic. That was just who he was. He and Mello had always been in a competition to challenge authority.

Voices from all directions were screaming for him to lower the weapon, to not resist arrest. The hacker hadn't even realized he'd pulled the trigger until he lost sight of everything. There was more screaming, and the deafening sound of multiple shots through the fog. He dropped the gun, jogging back to the car. He wove around marked vehicles, finding an opening and driving through it, feeling but not hearing the scrape of metal as his own car shoved it's way through the small space.

Matt had made it half way to the Yellow Box when he realized that each turn of the wheel caused his shoulder to sting. His hearing was finally coming back, just in time for the redhead to hear his own labored breathing and winces of pain when he turned the wheel. He cranked the radio up, only then seeing the blood dripping down his arm and off of his gloved fingers.

"Right. Well... fuck."

*****************************************************************

He wasn't dead. At least, it appeared that he wasn't, though his head throbbed and his chest hurt and there was this nagging sense that he had forgotten something. What that was took several moments to figure out, as he straightened in his seat and squirmed under the hold of the seatbelt that had left a bruise on his chest. He couldn't get it off, and this more than anything panicked him, more than the glass shards that were falling out of his hair as he struggled and slammed a fist on the steering wheel.

A knife. A nice, sharp instrument tucked into a boot. His knees hurt, banged up from the crash and if it weren't more important to just get out he might have taken the time to notice how stiff all his limbs were as he finally freed the knife and then cut the seat belt, sagging in his seat and breathing hard, about to jump out the door just as his thoughts finally caught up with him.

Mihael Keehl. They had his name, and that woman, Kyomi Takada, was still in the back of the truck with a piece of paper that had no doubt come from the death note. He turned slowly, thinking that somehow if he looked that it might be the end of him, that he just hadn't died yet because his stubborn mind refused to let go even though his name had been written down and forty seconds had passed.

Sure enough, she sat there, nude and shaking as she clutched the paper. She crawled towards a backpack he'd left back there, full of chocolate bars and a set of clothes and- oh, a packet of matches. Just what was that insane bitch doing now? Takada's hands shook as the first match was struck, only burning her fingertips and wincing, trying again and again until finally she managed to keep the flame going long enough to hold the piece of the death note over it.

Oh shit. Oh god please don't let him die like this, please don't let this happen to him again. Mello watched in horror as the flames took up the debris in the back, as Kiyomi simply lay down and wrapped herself in the blanket that was now on fire too. He had seconds to get out of here, there would surely be an explosion. He could smell the gas leak, taste it on his tongue as he struggled to get the door open, ripping his hands to shreds on broken glass.

He wished he could stop to admire how beautiful the abandoned church was, how the setting sun made the stained glass look alive with it's depictions of the baby Jesus and the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. There was no time, he had to remind himself again and again as he clutched his rosary and tried to navigate around the wreckage. The truck had crashed into the double doors of the entrance, stuck halfway in and out of the church and just where the hell was another exit? There was no way he could make it through this.

Mello was going to burn for his sins, his last living breath would be a taste of what was to come next. So he had done this all to save the world from an (even bigger) evil man, so he had sacrificed his life for the sake of his loved ones and strangers alike. It was still murder, he had known that when he got behind the wheel and watched out of the corner of his eye that if he died she was going with him, he would crash and they'd both go to hell together. He felt for Kyomi Takada, who at this moment was burning alive without so much as a shriek for help, because she had been fooled into believing this was the right way and that her god was Kira. Mello knew better, he knew that killing another, even for the sake of millions, was still wrong.

That hadn't stopped him from pressing that button so long ago in the hideout, from looking into the eyes of a man who was a husband and father, a dedicated police officer that wouldn't kill a young man even when he had been given no reason not to and the choice had come down to him or the teenaged member of a powerful Mafia family.

The explosion came with a deafening boom, a bright light that blinded him as he still ran, now just searching for cover and praying that it would be over quickly. There was no way he was going to live through this, and how fitting was it that this would be how he died?

*****************************************************

"Mello!" Hal dragged the unconscious teen into the back of the car, mentally kicking herself when she realized that he could have possibly broken something and lifting him might cause more damage, but the church was almost already burned to the ground and though he'd somehow managed to make it far enough away not to yet have the flames licking at him they were all still in danger.

"Hal! Do something, wake him up!" Near screeched, scaring the blond woman all the more because never did her employer so much as raise his voice let alone actually scream. "What are you waiting for! Do something!" Near laid a hand over his lover's chest, feeling his heart beating slowly as he let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

Hal managed to get the blond boy into the backseat, his head laying on Near's lap, eyes still closed though his mouth opened slightly and he began to mumble incoherently. "Mello, Mello, you're talking nonsense. Open your eyes, kid, you're safe. It's ok, you're in the car with me and Near and it's ok. Come on. Get up, now, you're scaring us."

"Shh, he's praying. Let him finish." The blond woman raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hell kind of prayer Near thought the older boy was saying. It sounded like nonsense to her. "It's Croatian. Couldn't you tell?" The woman wanted to remind the albino that unlike he and his friends, she was not a genius with multiple languages at her disposal, but now was not the time to snap at the child. He was petting the little blonde's hair, watching his eyes move under the lids squeezed tightly shut, watching his lips for a sign that Mello was finished before he spoke again. "Mello does not need to bargain for his soul today, he has somehow managed to survive yet again."

"Near...what are you doing here?" The albino smirked, wondering if Mello really didn't expect him to someday burn for being a nonbeliever, or if he was just surprised that the younger man had perished at the same time as himself.

"Does Mello know where here is?" The albino grabbed the blonde's hand, squeezing hard until his eyes finally shot open. Hal had already gotten to the driver's seat, speeding away from the burning wreckage while frantically dialing Matt's cell phone over and over. They hit a bump, and the blond winced, squeezing Near's hand back while the other went to his forehead. "I am sorry, Mello, I know you must be in pain after the accident but we have to hurry. We received a call from Matt a few moments ago. He has escaped his pursuers but he was...injured."

The blond tried to sit up, but the albino pushed him back down and tried to comfort him by petting his hair, rubbing his bare arm. "What- unh, my fucking head. Where's Matt? What happened?" His frightened eyes widened when he tilted his head up to stare at Near, trying to search his emotionless face for some sign of the seriousness of the situation. He was just beginning to feel the soft leather seat under his back, the bony leg supporting his head. "Shit. I'm alive."

***********************************************************

Matt was doing just fine, thank you, though he couldn't quite manage to pick up his phone again and stop the constant buzzing of the Mario theme that had become somewhat annoying in the past few minutes. Mello hated the thing, and now he understood why. His shoulder hurt like hell, his panicked breathing as the sirens of cruisers traveling the streets, coming closer and closer, was killing his head, and now his new girlfriend just wouldn't stop calling.

The redhead laughed at how ridiculous that last thought was, not the girlfriend part but the fact that he was annoyed with her concern. Of course she was worried, the pretty blond that had tried so hard to resist him but quickly gave up and last night was begging him not to go. He was just that charming, getting the stubborn agent to fall for him in just days, despite his disturbing loyalty towards the best friend he had to keep swearing was nothing more than that. Matt couldn't be sure if Hal was just teasing or not when she suggested that best friends didn't do this kind of shit for each other. It seemed that there was a hint of jealousy there, though he had surely made her forget that later in the night.

He just needed a cigarette, then the theme that was playing again wouldn't be so damned irritating. He lifted his injured arm, forgetting about the wound even though it was still steadily oozing blood. He tried the other, but just didn't have the energy to dig in his pockets; to lift a cigarette to his mouth, and shit all he had was matches anyway. That required two hands. Fuck it, he thought, sagging against his seat and sighing heavily. He had enough nicotine in his system anyway; having chain-smoked a pack this morning, half of another on the drive before the proverbial shit hit the fan. If only he could have finished that last one, but the shock of the bullet hitting him had made his mouth fall open and the cigarette drop into a puddle by his feet before he turned and ran.

Just let him live, the hacker prayed to the gaming gods as he fought to stay awake. Just let him live so he could smoke another whole damn pack and drink himself retarded. That was the plan, and fuck all the Japanese police with the guns they weren't even supposed to be carrying and fucking Kira in his safe hiding place, wherever that was. Screw Near and Mello even, with their love/hate relationship, all his time taken up just trying to convince the blond to give up and forget Near, or at least convince himself that his life was worth living long enough to come up with a plan that didn't include their imminent deaths. Screw everybody except for the lovely factories that rolled and packaged his cigarettes, the distributors of that bottle of whiskey waiting for him in Hal's kitchen cabinet.

Most of all, with any luck, screw Hal. Completely, a few times even, Mello and Kira and research be damned because there were three things he wanted more than anything else in the world and he was sure as hell going to get them. He wasn't going to bleed to death or get caught by the police while he was so vulnerable waiting for his friends to get their asses in gear and get him out of this mess. None of that was going to happen because he had plans.

*********************************************************

She must be really head over heels for this one; Hal thought when she miraculously found the car that the entire city was still searching for. She must really really like this one because she was starting to cry when she saw the blood on that hideous vest and couldn't see those bright green eyes that always made the ever-present smirk of bored confidence (what the hell did they do to these kids at that orphanage?) look even more infuriating.

The hacker looked only peacefully asleep, the expression on his handsome face somewhat annoyed but otherwise relaxed. Even with all her experience in this field and the obvious fact that the gunshot was in his shoulder, both because she could /see/ it and because he had told her with his rushed message, Hal was still panicking when she opened the driver's side door and pressed a finger to the side of his throat. She checked for pulse, signs of life, waiting for him to jerk awake like he did at the slightest noise in her bedroom for the past couple of days. Now more than ever he should be alert, should be paranoid that any second those idiots that chased after him would find him unconscious and not even bother to wake him before they shot the 'traitor' on sight.

Their lives were all in danger now, and here Matt was calmly sleeping as his shoulder still bled profusely. Hal lifted up his good arm, trying to get the ugly vest off enough to inspect the wound. She almost lost balance on her sensible high heels when she tore the collar of his striped shirt and peeled the soaked fabric away. Hal did stumble when the hacker jerked forward, grabbing her shoulder in a crushing grip, his strength surprising as he held her at a distance with one arm while he blinked lazily up, eyes meeting hers for a fraction of a second before making their way down her chest.

"Goddamn you! I thought you were dead!" Hal wanted to slap the little bastard for that trademark smirk, at a time like this all he could think about was the feminine blouse clinging tightly to her chest, staring without the slightest bit of shame. Later, she reminded herself, later she would beat him within an inch of her life but right now Hal almost felt sorry for raising her voice when the redhead rocked forward and his head fell on her shoulder as she wrapped an arm around his waist and tried to gently lift him out of the seat. "We're going to have a long talk about the seat belt rule when you're feeling better, too."

Later Hal might also reconsider this relationship, as well as her taste in men. It seemed she had been doing nothing but reminding both Matt and Mello to take better care of themselves, to sleep and eat. These were things mothers did, not potential girlfriends. Of course, girlfriends also didn't use their lovers as bait to catch serial killers, or date the best friend of the man she'd been lusting after who turned out to be the long lost lover of her (male) employer. Yeah, when this was all over Hal needed a therapist, a seminar, a good stiff drink and maybe she'd just finally give in to Gevanni's not-so-subtle advances because he was by far more normal and healthy than either of these men.

Still, Hal couldn't help but feel her heart skip a beat when the hacker stirred after being placed in the backseat with his companions. He shook his head, placed a hand over his heart and sighed in relief. Mello was coherent enough so that he took a turn caring for the other boy, even offering him a bar of his precious chocolate, though it was quickly refused. Mello smirked, patting down the redhead's pockets and producing the desired vice, lighting it and then holding his friend's hand while the redhead puffed away without once removing the cigarette to exhale or tap off the ash.

When the hacker was finished, the blond leaned over the albino on his other side and threw the cigarette out the window, then lit another. Now Matt's green eyes were coming into focus, and though all that Hal wanted to do was go back there and mother him or kiss him (seriously, you need help, she thought) she started the car and sped away, watching the three young men through the rear view mirror. Matt cleared his throat, coughed, then finally took the cigarette out of his mouth to speak. "Woman, you almost got me killed, let's not go trying again so soon, eh? Maybe I ought to drive if you refuse to follow those speed signs, that way you'll have free hands to properly thank me for risking my arse out there."

"Oh, and how do you suggest I do that?" The former agent did her best to appear offended at the suggestion that her driving was not up to the (much) younger man's standards, though she smirked when his smile widened into a toothy grin.

"Do not answer that, Mail." Near spoke up, glaring at the redhead while taking Mello's free hand. Though the hacker was obviously not interested, the albino still felt jealously welling up that his lover was paying more attention to his injured friend than himself. He wanted nothing more than to hold Mello, to make love to him again, and here the blond was clinging to Matt like the younger boy might die if he let go. Also, almost as annoying, he felt his cheeks heating up at the way he knew the conversation would go if he didn't stop it soon.

"Oh, come Near. That's not what I meant and you know it, you little pervert." Mello saw the opening for a good little bitch fest between the two younger men, squeezing both their hands and turning his eyes to Hal in hopes she would hurry up and get them home, or at least distract his friend from starting a fight for no reason other than he was too close to the albino and had the opportunity.

"You're name is Mail?" The car actually slowed considerably as Hal tried out the word, wondering if this too was made up. If not, it was good to know his real name, made her feel a little less cheap and perverted for hopping into bed with the hacker when she'd never even bothered to ask if the name was the one he'd been born with.

"Yeah, now you know what to scr-" Mello clamped a hand over the younger man's mouth.

"Matt, you're a disturbed little slime ball. Near-" Mello turned to his lover, untangling their fingers and slapping the back of his head. The albino winced, might have even pouted a little but the blond could care less. "I can not believe you would be so stupid as to say that out loud at a time like this. No offense, Hal, but we still can't trust anyone. By the way, close your mouth and step on it. You're too pretty to make that face."

Hal blushed, Matt laughed, and Near continued to rub the back of his head until Mello took his hand again.