Death Note Fan Fiction / Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ Days ❯ The Ride ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

There were four people scattered various places around the limo. A young blonde woman in a
black sundress stood with her arms folded impatiently across her chest. A big straw sunhat
shaded her eyes, and a petulant frown was painted on her red lips. A little ways away, a young
man with a very expensive-looking suit and immaculately trimmed brown hair was in the middle
of snatching a cellphone from a tall older male in a plain black suit. Another younger man with a
suit matching the older one's was awkwardly attempting to peer into the hood of the car without
sticking his head into the smoke.

The woman was the first to notice their arrival. She perked up a little but still looked rather
irritated as she tromped over to the driver's side of the van in her overly high heels. Mello
opened the door and looked as if he were about to step out, but L slipped between the seats and
climbed over him before he had the chance to. Mello didn't seem like the type of person who
would appreciate being put behind, but he didn't look upset by L's action. L dropped
surprisingly gracefully to the ground as the woman reached the van.

"It's about time!" she stated rather huffily. "We've been waiting out here for almost twenty
minutes. You shouldn't leave celebrities waiting like this. It's very rude, you know. We have a
show to get to!"

A normal person would have asked her who the hell she thought she was, ordering around
random strangers like they were her servants, but L was no normal person. He didn't say a word.
Instead, he just stared unblinkingly at her, his eyes bugging slightly. She shrunk back a little, a
look of disgust forming on her face.

"You're creepy," she stated plainly.

At this point, the man in the expensive suit came over. He put a hand on the young woman's
back and gave L a haughty smile.

"I apologize for my fiancée," he said. "She's nervous because we have a competition in Pointe
City tomorrow and we're running behind schedule because our limo broke down. I am Light
Yagami. You might have heard of me...I'm pretty famous in the figure skating circuit. And this
is my partner, Misa Amane." He extended his hand to L. "And you are..."

"You can call me L," he said, taking a firm hold of Light's hand. He didn't shake it, but just left
it there for what seemed to Matt to be an awkwardly long period of time. Matt, at least, would
have been trying to worm his hand away by that point. Light kept a smile plastered on his face,
though any real sentiments backing it crept away. "Main guitarist for Lament the Fallen. You
probably haven't heard of us," L continued. He turned his eyes back to Misa for a moment
before looking back up at Light and finally releasing his hand. "You know, we're headed to
Pointe City, if you'd like a ride...we've got some empty seats."

"Thank you for that generous offer. We'd be delighted to have the honor of riding with you,"
Light said, his voice dripping with sugary schmooze. Misa tugged on his arm and he exchanged
a glance with her that seemed to become a silent conversation. Whatever it was that went
between them, Light definitely appeared to win out. Misa sighed grudgingly and marched away

---

towards the young man in the black suit who was still attempting to peer at the engine. Light
turned to the older man standing a few feet away, and L climbed back into the van, looming
awkwardly over Mello.

"We're taking them to Pointe City," he announced, though it was clear that all three of them had
already heard. "Naomi, could you drive?"

Naomi nodded, but Mello looked thoroughly offended. "We'll get there an hour later if she
drives!"

"Yes, but now there're guests in the car." L's eyes fell on Matt, and he quickly added, "Rich
guests that wouldn't be afraid to sue us for lots of money." Matt had to admit he had quite the
point there.

"Why are we even giving them a ride, then?" Mello snapped. He hadn't exactly rolled out the
welcome mat for Matt, but he was beginning to think that how Mello had treated him thus far
was as close as he came to that.

L shrugged. "Being good Samaritans, you know? Like, karma and stuff."

Mello grumbled, but he didn't argue any further. Apparently, that explanation was good enough
for him to drop it.

"Umm...excuse me?"

The four in the van turned to look at Misa, whose attitude seemed to have completely
transformed in the minutes she was gone. She wore a charming smile on her face, and looked
generally more pleasant than when she had first met them.

"Do you have room for my luggage?" she asked politely.

"Sure," L replied and hopped out of the van. "We gotta pass it in through here," he said,
gesturing to the driver's door, "because the back doors are blocked with our stuff, but we've got
room."

Misa looked almost adorable when she turned and called, "Oh, Matsuda! Can you please bring
my luggage here?"

Soon, the younger man in the black suit struggled over with an enormous suitcase that looked
incredibly heavy. He set it down in front of the driver's door and leaned on the side of the van,
panting with exhaustion.


"Hi, I'm...Touta Matsuda...pleased to...meet you!" he gasped, smiling as he attempted to catch
his breath.

"I'm L," L introduced, "and this is Mello, Naomi, and Matt."

---

Matt was caught a little off guard by the fact that L introduced them all as a group, though he
supposed there was no other logical way to introduce them without making the situation more
awkward than necessary.

Matsuda took a few more heaving breaths before he grabbed a part of the suitcase and attempted
to lift it a few inches off the ground. It seemed like a useless attempt, however, and before he
could say anything to the contrary, the front seat was folded down and L and Mello were out
lifting the suitcase. Naomi grabbed a hold of it and pulled, and after an awkward pause, Matt
helped her. It was quite the struggle, and it nearly hit the horn on several occasions, but
somehow the suitcase made it into the van, over the table, and back with the band's luggage.

"Damn." Mello exclaimed as he climbed back out of the van. "What, do you keep a department
store in there?"

"A girl's gotta look her best, on and off the ice," Misa replied with a shrug.

It turned out that that wasn't all of Misa's luggage. She had a separate bag for makeup and hair
products that was roughly the size of an airline carry-on, plus an additional case for her skates
and some plastic-covered costumes that had to be hung. Light also had the last two items,
though his personal suitcase was a great deal smaller than Misa's. Matsuda had a bag about the
size of Misa's makeup case for all of his belongings. He, as it turned out, was one of two
chauffeurs transporting Light and Misa to their ice show. The other's name was Mogi, and he
was left behind to wait for the mechanics.

With the addition of three new people and their luggage, the van didn't seem nearly as big as it
had when Matt first entered. He was the last to settle in the back, choosing to crowd the side
where L and Mello were sitting as opposed to seating himself next to two complete strangers.
Yes, L and Mello were technically strangers too, but he felt a connection to them that he just
didn't feel with the newcomers.

As Matt reached into his backpack to pull out his PSP, he could tell that this was going to be a
long trip.

~~DAYS~~

With a flourish and a repetitive battle cry, he slashed at his opponent with his overly large sword.
His opponent was hit by the blow, but was up quickly, aiming a flame attack at him. He was too
quick for his opponent, though. He dodged the attack and leapt into the air, raining a furious
lightning attack down as he somehow remained suspended in the battlefield's seeming lack of
gravity. His opponent rose to join him in the air and struck him down to the ground. Another
attack was aimed against him, which he could easily block if he-

"What're you playing?" a voice asked in his ear.

Matt nearly jumped a foot in the air. He saw Mello looming far too close to him before
remembering he was in the middle of a battle. He looked back just in time to see his character

---

die a horrible death. With an exasperated sigh, he saved the game and turned his attention back
to Mello.

"Well, I was playing Ultimate Saga, but you've ruined my perfect score, so now I'm going to
have to start over again."

"Oh."

Matt turned back to the screen. He went to restart, but he could feel Mello watching and it made
him nervous, so instead he shut the PSP off and tucked it back into his backpack. Without
thinking, he drew out his pack of cigarettes and his lighter.

"Hey, could I have one?"

Matt was surprised to look up and see Misa staring enviously at the package of cigarettes on the
table. He hardly knew her, but she didn't seem like the type to smoke cigarettes. Then again,
cigarettes didn't really have a type.

"Sure." Matt pulled one out and handed it to her. It was quickly snatched away by Light.

"You really shouldn't be smoking," he scolded. "You know it's horrible for you. It messes with
your breathing. And besides, you know how much I hate the smell of smoke."

Misa crossed her arms petulantly as Light handed the cigarette back to Matt. He was about to
light up when L chimed in.

"Please don't smoke in the van," L requested. "It kinda chokes everyone up, you know?"

Matt sighed and tucked his cigarettes and lighter away. He silently wished he had thought to
light up back when they picked up Light and Misa. He looked up to see Mello surveying him
with disapproval.

"What?"

Mello shrugged. "Didn't know you smoked."

"Does it matter?"

Mello shrugged again and looked away rather moodily.

"So, what instrument do you play?" Misa asked. It took Matt a moment to realize that this
direction was directed at him.

"Oh, I'm not in the band," he corrected. "I was just hitchhiking, and they picked me up."

---

Misa looked between the strangely-dressed hitchhiker and the owners of the sketchy van he had
willingly climbed into, plainly trying to decide which one had been crazier in their decision.

"You fit in rather well here," Light sighted, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen.

"I guess," Matt said with a shrug. He hated being the center of attention, and he certainly
seemed to be at the moment. He looked over at Mello and L, people whom he had a much easier
time conversing with, but Mello still looked a little broody and L had occupied himself with a
box of sugar cubes, so Matt figured he was on his own. When he tried to think of a topic of
conversation that would require little input on his half, he drew up blank.

"So, you two are professional figure skaters?" L finally said as he examined a sugar cube held
delicately between his two fingers.

"Yes," both Light and Misa confirmed enthusiastically.

This was the golden ticket Matt had been looking for. The young couple prattled on about figure
skating as a sport and their personal careers, throwing in the occasional personal story such as
how they met. It seemed their lives revolved around the ice. Matt tuned them out a few
sentences in, nodding whenever Misa's eager eyes landed on him.

As they talked, it grew dark outside the van until it reached the point where L had to climb onto
the table to turn on the overhead light. Matt, wondering what time it was, pulled out his
cellphone. He had several missed calls, a few messages, and about fifty texts waiting for him.
This surprised him a little, since usually nobody talked to him, but he supposed disappearing in
the middle of his shift at work would cause wonder in a hick town like Plainsville. After seeing
that it was six twenty-seven, he turned his phone off and put it away.

Matt turned to look at Light and Misa again, who were arguing over a part of their routine for the
competition, when a half-eaten chocolate bar obstructed his view.

"Want some?"

"No thanks," Matt declined, shaking his head.

Mello snapped off another piece of the chocolate bar with his teeth, watching Matt carefully.

"Is something wrong?" he finally asked.

"'s nothing," Matt lied. He didn't want to admit to himself that he was beginning to question his
decision to leave Plainsville, let alone talk to someone else about it.

The silence stretched on for what seemed like an eternity, but probably only lasted a half an hour
at the most. Misa and Light argued over a broad variety of topics during this time, none of
which Matt paid any attention to, and Mello finished what was probably his third or fourth
chocolate bar of the day.

---

"We're almost to Pointe City!" Matsuda announced excitedly as he peered around the
passenger's seat.

Matt had almost forgotten he was sitting up there with Naomi and was rather startled by this
announcement. He leaned awkwardly over the table, trying to see out the windshield. Sure
enough, a glitter of lights approached them from the horizon.

The spell of silence in the back of the van broke at this announcement.

"Our dinner reservations are shot," Misa said wistfully. "We could still order room service,
though...Ooh! We could make it a nice romantic evening..."

"We do have to go to bed at a decent hour, remember? We have to be in a good condition for the
competition," Light retorted.

"But..."

Matt tuned them out as Light began to speak.

"So, what're we looking for tonight?"

"Chinese," Mello declared, as Naomi shouted "Pizza!" from the front.

"...fried chicken it is," L said decisively.

All this talk of food, in addition to making him hungry, made him think about what he was going
to do once he reached Pointe City. He had enough money for a meal, but he had no idea what he
was going to do after that. He could maybe afford to stay in a really crappy hotel on the edge of
town for one night, but he didn't know if that would even be worth the money with the
expensive, easy-to-steal items he had with him. He wasn't willing to grapple with the idea of
selling them yet, but the idea was at the back of his mind.

"You're coming to dinner with us," Mello announced, breaking his train of thought.

"Okay."

"What, you don't like Chinese?" Mello joked. Matt knew the anxiety was probably visible on
his face, even though he tried to hide it.

"No, Chinese is good...it's nothing," Matt lied for the second time.

As they drove at last into Pointe City, Matt felt a hole form in the pit of his stomach.

---