Chapter Three:

"She looks so full of life. I wonder why today. It's… it's just not fair."

"Her numbers are running out," Harry whispered from behind.

"You can… see me?" It looked above Harry's head. The place Harry realized must have had his own death date. "I don't understand. You're human. Not a Shinigami?"

Slowly, the words translated. Gods of death…. Master of death. This term of phrase ringed true from deep within his conscious.

"A Shinigami? Is this why no one can see me, hear me?" Harry clutched the creature's robes. "Are you a servant of Death? Please, you must tell me. Am I dead? Alive?"

A man's voice cut through the night. "Misa!"

"Let me go. I must see the reason why!" The monster sputtered.

Harry and the creature looked at a man only a hands reach away. A knife gripped tightly in his hand.

"She's dying. The numbers never lie. There is nothing you can do." Harry said. He knew all too well.

"Let me go." It shrieked. Harry only tightened his grip on the monster as it struggled against him. He had been alone for too long. He couldn't let go. He had to know if this creature knew Death. Beneath their struggle of breath, the man's voice continued.

"I would be a good boyfriend. I'll treat you like a queen." The voice was unnaturally high-pitched, full of frantic energy.

"I'm sorry. I don't even know you." The girl replied.

"I love you more than anyone else in the world. I always want to… I want to protect you forever!"

But the girl just slowly backed away. "I need to get home." Her voice full of uncertainty and yet her rejection was clear.

"Why?"

"Please, I really need to get home."

"…If I can't have you… I'll kill us both!"

Metal teeth bite Harry's arm. "Shite!" He gasped as his grip loosened.

The stalker rushed towards the woman, slashing his knife. The world slowed as the sound of the girl's screams blurred with the sound of flesh ripping.

"Why did you make me hurt you? I only wanted to be your man. Why don't you understand?" The stalker said as he stood over the bleeding woman.

The creature kneeled on the ground, a black book laid across the pavement. Harry looked over its shoulder at the blank page. It had written the man's name on the page.

Confusion rattled Harry's thoughts.

A sudden gasp and the rasping of breath broke his attention. Harry looked up. The madman had dropped the knife, his fingers were white and clenching at his chest.

The excessively large amount of numbers above the man's head scattered and broke. Harry watched the human die.

"How… How did you do that? No one can cheat Death..."

The mismatched fabric felt brittle beneath his fingertips. The single eye was filled with unshed tears before the image of the creature blurred and dispersed.

A cloud of something that was neither sand nor dust covered his robes.

Harry dropped his hands. The creature was fading. His first clue to finding peace…the first thing that could truly see him, hear him and talk back to him, was fading. It was dying…

This couldn't happen. He had been so close. Even a malformed mouth and single monstrous eye were better than nothing. He couldn't stand the silence anymore and yet the monster had been gifted the very thing he longed for. Death.

He was left shaking with a coat of powder lining his clothes. The only thing that remained solid was the small black notebook. A notebook that did not look like his and yet was an exact copy. The strange language that was scripted on the front shifted under his gaze. Symbols slowly clearing… Death Note.

Trembling fingers gripped the binding as he looked at the last piece of evidence. No feelings of hope or doom came down upon him as he stroked the monster's notebook's lettering. No, it was simple, light, normal and boring… yet he held it warily.

A gurgled breath caught his attention. Standing up he slowly walked towards the model that was crumpled on the ground slowly dying. He had seen her numbers. He had even assumed her upcoming death to be the reason that the creature had followed her. To kill her, devour her but the monster's strange… affection… for the girl had been unexpected. Red digits highlighted his vision.

No… That couldn't be right. They should be slowly ticking to nothing. They weren't. It was as if he was watching the odometer of a vehicle click backward.

It was a lie… No one could cheat death. Yet, the woman's chest continued to rise and fall. Aoto had died. She should be dead. He knew somehow the monster was involved. Somehow it had cheated. Somehow it had died.

He walked towards the girl, each step painfully slow. Misa Amane's crying echoed throughout the alleyway. Her eyes were open and unseeing as he looked down at her. Still invisible. He opened the book and glanced down at the page. The killer's name was written clearly across the page. The very limited rules that Harry had thought he had come to understand were breaking… breaking in front of him.

The notebook dropped to the earth.

Hope… He never wanted to feel it again. He wanted nothing to do with the creature that had stolen his last glimmer of it. Harry turned away, to escape. The light from the main street only brightened with each step. At the opening of the street, a small voice echoed through him.

"Help me." The woman who had cheated Death still lay against the pavement. In her struggle of breath, pale fingers had brushed over the plain black cover. Harry looked around but besides the dead stalker, he was the only one here. He looked back into her red-rimmed eyes. Their gazes met. He froze. Time seemed to slow. The woman was all he could see.

"Help me." She whispered again.

Harry took a step forward. Her tear filled gaze followed. It was surreal.

"It hurts."

Harry kneeled before her. "Shh… it's okay. I'm here."

But he could do nothing. The state of his existence still cursing him. Her pale fingers reached out to grab his wrist. Harry sighed and waited with sad eyes to see her fail.

Warm fingers gripped tightly at his wrist. Harry took a sharp inhale as the familiar warmth of another flooded his senses.

"My phone, it's in my purse." She coughed. However, reluctant he was to leave her touch, he pushed away and attempted to pull her cell from her purse. He could touch it! He fumbled to open it and looked at a screen with complete confusion. He had, of course, used a land line before however, the device in his hand was not that. How did you call people with this thing? In desperation, he thrust the phone into her hands.

"Call for help. You must call."

Bloody fingers brushed the screen. Harry only let his shoulder relaxed when he heard her gasp her location to the emergency despatcher.

He sat in the back of an ambulance as a medic applied pressure to the knife wound. Time sped around them. Sirens, the rush of people and the beeping of a hospital machine flooded his mind.

In the corner of Misa Amana's hospital room, Harry haunted. He watched with keen interest as her manager came and visited every day. Even the police and yet, not one friend or family member. He wondered if her limited guests were due to the attack and yet her lack of family was somehow upsetting for Harry, who knew the pain of having none.

Days passed before Misa awoke again. Standing above her, Harry gentle stroked her face. Light brown eyes fluttered open and Harry dropped his hand as if it burned. The pain killers had not worn off yet and she just smiled up at him warmly. The doors opened and three people entered. He pressed his finger to his lips.

"Shhhh."

She attempted to giggle and reached for her own lips. Harry faded through the wall and watched through the window.

"Misa, Misa Amane? Can you hear me?" The nurse called. "I'm nurse Suechi. I'm going to check your vitals."

"Can you remember anything?" A police officer asked.

Her face downcast, she gripped the white sheets close before she shook her head no.

"That's understandable. We know this is a lot but if you can remember any more information this could help the case. If that man was the only one."

"Wait," Misa whispered. "Misa remembers something… There was a young man. He had almost glowing green eyes. He saved me."

"Glowing eyes… Saved you?"

"He grabbed my phone and helped me call you."

"I'm sorry but on our phone records, you made that phone call. There was no other voice or person there."

"But…" She seemed unsure. "I know there was someone else there." She turned to where Harry had just been standing by her bed.

"You lost a lot of blood."

… Mors Chartula…

Harry watched Misa inside her small home. He understood now. The home was clearly Misa's family and yet no one lived here. Misa stood in front a wall that held clipping of her parent's murder. And a single word that seemed to be plastered randomly throughout the wall.

Kira

"My parents were murdered in front of me as well."

Misa turned around, nearly dropping the notebook in her haste. "Stay away. I'll scream." As they stared at each other from across the room her panic slowly subsided. "Your eyes. I remember you. You helped me."

"Yes," Harry said simply.

"Who are you?"

"Harry. Just Harry."

"Hari, huh…" She rolled his name across her tongue as if tasting it.

A wide grin spread across his face. He couldn't help it, too many months had passed since he had heard his name from another. "You have my notebook."

Misa perked up at the mention of the notebook. "It belongs to you?"

"Yes."

"Your notebook is very interesting. It has a list of names in it. The last person on that list was the name of my stalker. Why did you write his name?"

Harry fumbled. "Uhh… It's kind of hard to explain."

"Well, explain this then. Why are all the people in this notebook dead, all of heart attacks?" She neared, an excited skip in her step.

"What? I think you're mistaken. Dead… heart attacks..." The Latin scribe slowly became clearer. Death note. He had seen it work and yet the idea that simply writing a name on a piece of paper could rob a person of their life was hard to accept.

She giggled. "Oh don't worry. Misa isn't upset." She walked up to him and shyly looked up. "I would have never imagined in a million years that Kira would be so young and handsome!"

Harry tried to back away. Confusion raddled his mind. Kira? The word slowly unwinding in his mind.

Killer…

"I am not a murderer."

"Oh, course not. You're justice."