Chapter 47

The sound of ringing filled my ears as I heard the noise from my captive's actions halt.

"...what is that?" his shoes shuffled away before fumbling with something. A moment of silence passed before a snort escaped from his lips as he cackled in glee across the room.

"Alyona! You never told me you had a brother!"

I had a...brother?

I heard a click before a man's voice rang out of the speakers.

"A little warning for you, little brother, but it seems like your sister is about to break in my hands."

"...Who's this?"

This voice...

"The one who captured her, of course," I heard my captor scoff before insulting the caller an 'idiot.'

"...is she there?"

I heard a chuckle before the man yanked me up by my hair and held the speaker next to my ear. I whimpered quietly against my own wishes.

"...Sayu?"

My eyes fluttered open at the name.

"Li...ght?" My lips quivered as tears started falling down uncontrollably in relief. In the corner of my eye, I glanced at Hugo who was scrunching up his face to listen to my conversation. His eyebrows were knitted together and his lips were pursed in a confused manner.

Yes, Light and I were talking in Japanese.

It seemed like Hugo had not taken enough Japanese classes yet.

"..."

Light Yagami.

My brother.

He was...my brother.

I was Sayu Yagami.

I was Alyona, Henrik's adopted daughter.

I was...me.

I had killed my parents.

They didn't exist anymore. Not in this world. Not ever in my world again.

Get over them.

A barely audible chuckle seeped past my lips before widening at my situation. What a truly ironic birth I had. They were the ones that brought me to this world, yet they were also the ones that destroyed me and killed everything that I had.

Wait, Light was not supposed to know about this-

"Light, don't come here." I trembled into the speakers and tried to strengthen my voice.

"...How long can you hold out?"

"Don't you..." I wheezed out with a wobbly grin. "Don't you trust me?"

"I do," His voice answered back almost immediately after my question. "...But that's why I cannot afford to lose you."

The line hung up.

Hugo froze at Light's words before a crack spilled onto his lips.

"Heh, looks like your brother is much closer with you than your father," Hugo smirked before threading his hand through his hair with a perbed smile. He pivoted on his foot as the end of his shoes clanked through the warehouse before leaving and locking the large doors.

I blinked at Isame who got up staggering, a chain also bound to her leg before she collapsed in front of me, holding a plastic water bottle. Her knees were scraped from the endless attempts to crawl over to me as well as her hands that she instinctively started scratching the moment I took the water from her hands.

"S-sayu..." she sniffed before bawling out with her dirty hands covering her eyes. "I'm so glad-so glad-"

I tried twisting the cap of the bottle, but it felt as if it had weighed a thousand times heavier than it looked. I grunted, attempting to twist it with my noodle arms. Freaking torture method almost made me lose my mind-

I sighed before running over the facts, whirling my mind again like an engine that had been shut down for the past few years. It felt a bit awkward as I tried pulling my memories and resurfacing them onto my mind, the recent events, the recent happenings. How Hugo almost broke me.

My eyes glimmered despite its swollen corners.

The good thing was that after experiencing L and Hugo's method of torture, I've grasped a bit more about human psychology and my own preferences. I knew what had gone wrong on my last attempt to torture the Shinori family. It was not the fact that I felt my past tugging its core, but the way that each prosecutor saw people. L didn't see me as a human, but a thing that contained its own secrets. Hugo saw me as a toy, not even a mammal that needed to understand the pain to spill secrets.

Heck, I think Hugo mainly played with me instead of actually digging for information! I mentally applauded his great mind.

You have to be the follower before you become the leader.

In a way, I had learned the two ways of torture and found the perspective that they saw their victims in. I bobbed my head down in glee.

I had to have the mind of a mad scientist.

See them as experiments instead of actual beings that had pain.

"Isame," my voice croaked out sharply as she lifted her tear-stained face from her hands, sniffing. "Could you please help me?"

I lifted up the bottle before she took it shakingly, twisting the cap and handing it over to me, only to spill some of the contents onto my lap. She gasped and apologized with her swollen eyes before her hands grazed over my skin and I flinched. Hard.

The after effects of torture, huh?

I gripped the bottle tighter and gulped down the contents of it in a single second. I felt parched, and the moment water rang through my lungs, I sighed in utmost satisfaction.

"It's okay, Isame, take a deep breath," I cooed gently before lifting my arm and patting her on the head. What I intended to be a gentle pat actually seemed like my arm was flopping around like a rubber band. I frowned.

"Sayu, I'm so sorry..." she barely whispered as I pondered over a few questions that I wanted to ask her. I touched my face despite the soot of my sweaty palms, feeling the hollowness and the awakened hunger trampling inside my stomach.

"Have I been eating?"

Isame mutely shook her head. "I've seen H-hugo pouring water down your mouth in desperate situations, but-"

Isame! Couldn't you just have mushed the food and forced it down my throat or something?! I was basically immobile! Also- you let Hugo pour down water because you couldn't?!

I squeezed my eyes shut at the information as Isame whimpered out another apology and how she was so useless.

At least she knew.

I snapped open my eyes before glancing at the large supplies of water bottles and wrapped objects that I concluded as food in the corner of the warehouse. Isame's gaze followed mine before realizing what I was trying to tell her to do, and rushed to the isolated supplies to carry over a few packets of chocolate pie and water.

Chocolate pie?

Are you serious?

Couldn't Hugo have been a bit more healthy with the options?

Well, I guess vegetables and fruits would have rotted if you placed them there for so long, and nuts would be hard to clean up...

I ripped open the package before shoving the snack into my mouth to only cough out the contents through my lung. My hand instantly flew to block the food from throwing itself completely out as I coughed harder, one piece of the chocolate going down the wrong lung. Isame panicked, grabbing a bottle of water and twisting the cap so that I could yank the bottle out of her hands before inhaling the liquid.

I turned into another coughing fit.

My lungs burned and spiked with the iron taste each time my back lunged for a hack.

Frick, that was a bad decision. Clearing my throat after swallowing the liquid a few more times, I made sure that everything was going down the correct lane.

"How long was I out for?" My eyes snapped back to the remaining chocolate pies before tearing them carefully, biting down and chewing them as thoroughly as I could before swallowing.

"I think around 2 weeks and a bit more," Isame replied before wiping away her tears and leaving streaks of her own faint blood from her cuts. My eyes trailed down to my filth-covered legs that had evidence of the whips and the dark puss that stuck with dirt. But something caught my eye on top of the wounds, grazing my fingers over them, I felt an oily and sticky substance.

Sniffing it a couple of times, I was barely able to distinguish the medical herb scent.

Hugo must have rubbed it over me to make me last longer. Truly, he went easy on me compared to Anthony who had his arm broken.

But well, he must have enjoyed my session the most.

My eyes lifted from my legs and towards my arms too, noticing that they were also covered with ointment.

"Isame, did Hugo do anything to you?" I asked slowly and watched as Isame shook her head, biting her lips before she apologized again. I chuckled bitterly before turning towards the door that Hugo had walked out of.

I suppose I should thank him for sticking to his promise, even though he did change in terms of watching other people in pain while he enjoyed it, Hugo was still the boy who tried to persuade 15-year-old children to not touch alcohol before coming to age.

He could've raped her, sold her to human trafficking or worse, fed her drugs and experimented on her. But he didn't.

I sighed as I played the time in my head, counting the days.

2 weeks, huh? No wonder Light had called me.

My note had written that I'd be back after 2 weeks, and that was giving me more time than I had predicted because I had thought that the rescue of Anthony would only take 2 days max.

I grimaced again before thinking of the excuses I had to make when Light would arrive. Then my eyes widened.

Wait, during our phone call...there was not even once that he had asked me where I was. My eyes darted to the phone that was lying on the white table with all of Hugo's torture equipment.

The GPS tracker.

Fucker didn't even ask me!

Well, but his move did save me.

I groaned and slapped my forehead.

That meant that he probably knew that I was moving inside Henrik's mansion-

No wait, I already knew what I could say.

Aw, dammit! And I thought that I could move freely after L's death!

My eyes narrowed at the desk again. He didn't...wiretap my calls, did he?

I shook my head. He didn't just yet. If he did, then the first thing he would be asking Hugo was not, 'who is this,' but rather, 'what is your relation to Sayu' or something, just to dig for more information on what I had gotten myself into.

I drew a long and heavy sigh before turning to Isame with a small smile.

"Don't worry Isame, we're getting out soon. But first, I might as well change my clothes and take a well-intended bath."

Hugo had undoubtedly left to prepare for the appearance of my dear brother. He had left us in the empty warehouse for a whole day's worth of time. During that period Isame and I both refreshed our energies, munching on the pies and drinking enough water that would last us for a few days without food. Well, I was actually regaining colour and some of my cheeks from the high caloric snacks, even though I felt that I was becoming bored at the taste after my 8th packet.

Isame had also assisted me in recovering my familiarity with touch, my orders being for her to randomly place a hand on my shoulder when I was least expecting it. It didn't turn out very well. In certain instances, I even shrieked out from her touch, shivering on my knees before feeling the bitter distaste from my own actions.

Torture after-effects were more long-lasting than I had ever expected. I shuddered as Isame poked my arm, concern washing over her eyes each time before I dismissed it. Even though I knew that Isame had meant no harm-

My body reacted by itself.

And that was purely dangerous.

Losing my ability to cope with people would be similar to losing all my weapons against humanity. I wouldn't be able to act as well as I did before if I was constantly conscious of people touching me.

On the bright side, I had gotten over the fear of Hugo and my parents. How many articles had I read about girls trembling in fear for the rest of their lives after a kidnapping or raping incident? I took this as a chance to learn, to admire, and to strengthen myself.

It was extremely interesting how both methods, mental and physical torture would bring out different results. Of course, physical torture would force the victim to submit, to cower in fear, but it would work terribly for digging information.

Even if I had submitted to Hugo, I would have been too tired and fearful of actually answering in a complete sentence. L on the other hand kept my mind intact. He gave me enough space to keep my energy up so that I was able to speak, lured me with the basic needs that he had created my desperation in, and successfully took information out of my mouth.

Interesting.

Truly a genius for a detective.

And here I thought the only method of torture was by plucking out someone's toenails and beating them into submission. While my initial ideas were similar to Hugo's actions, he did a bit more than just harming me.

He created a reason to fear.

He saw my weakness and transformed that into his weapon.

Well, either way, that was an experiment that I would have to do in the near future.

Hugo's green hair fluttered with his steps as he walked towards both Isame and me, his smirk fading once he saw my state returning closer to normal.

"Well, it's not like it matters in any way," Hugo murmured before crouching down and grabbing my chin. I recoiled at his movement, the slipping grin resurfacing as he saw my movements.

"My dear Alyona," he cooed smugly before throwing my face away. I glared at him, swallowing as he stood up and gave us some distance. "I would have never thought you'd recover so quickly from my methods."

He clapped his gloved hands together before flashing his teeth.

"It's a pity really," he started. "How we are such a perfect match yet your father chose to make the decision of killing my group."

I shrugged nonchalantly. "To be honest, you don't share my feelings on the perfect match part."

His smile widened.

"I knew you were acting according to my tastes in the beginning," licking his lips, Hugo lifted a small bag on the side of his belt, pulling out a gun.

My eyes widened as he aimed it at me.

"Well, I wonder how your brother's expression would be like when he sees the dead body of his little sister in front of him~" Hugo sang out merrily as my face paled.

I wasn't scared for my life, no.

I had already died once.

My body started trembling as Hugo mistook it for fear, cackling his loud laugher through the room as his finger fluttered onto the trigger.

But all my efforts in this life-

I freaking did my best to survive so that I could laugh till the end.

All my efforts to see myself standing at the top of the world-

I felt my cheeks blaze red before I bared my fangs at him, feeling the cords in my neck pulsing.

"Fuck you, Hugo!"

Bang!

...

I froze watching the body thump lifelessly in front of me, dropping onto the ground before the blood started to pool out from her chest. I stared in shock as the girl's trembling mouth pressed into a painful smile while shutting her eyes and then becoming completely lifeless.

Hugo's face pinched into a look of surprise before snickering out.

"Hahaha-"

"Young master! Our men- Our men have dropped dead!"

A scowl interrupted Hugo's delight before he aimed the gun at me once more. My eyes were frozen on the body of the girl, only just watching the blood seep out slowly and creeping towards my knees like they were trying to comfort me.

"Young master! Please- now!"

This time, Hugo fully started cursing.

"Well, it doesn't matter!" He spat out after lowering his gun. "I'll just kill you in front of him then!"

With a turn, Hugo paced out, slamming the door as his voice bellowed over his men, commanding silence.

My head was lowered as I continued to stare at the blood, not knowing what to do.

She was dead. Undoubtedly.

"Isame...?" I gasped out quietly before shuffling on my knees towards her, trudging into the blood as I took her pulse on her warm neck. There was no heartbeat. Not even a faint one. She had died in a matter of seconds due to her weak body already stressed by the lack of nutrients and my screams which made her suffer throughout countless nights.

I closed my eyes in silence, listening to the sounds of panic from the outside.

"Are you an idiot, Isame?" My own whisper echoed out with disbelief. "You could have freed yourself from me."

What was I supposed to tell Tsubame now?

What was I supposed to do now?

I opened my eyes slowly, staring at the girl who had jumped in front of me so bravely despite her usual timid personality when violence was involved. Slowly, the memories of her formed inside my head, playing like a national anthem that wallowed in bits of grief before ending with her words that she told me on the cliff.

I would never betray you, Sayu. Not even if my life depended on it.

"...Thank you," I whispered hoarsely before stumbling up onto my feet. The shackles moved along with my aching body who had fallen in complete silence.

"Thank you...Isame."

I fell down onto my knees, having no more energy to push myself up anymore. I was exhausted.

Isame had died so easily that I couldn't even register it into my mind. No words, no hatred, nothing at all.

Only that wobbly smile that told me she was happy to die for my sake.

What are friends?

Because if friends would give up their life for me, I didn't want them.

I was independent. I strived for my own life, twisted everyone to my own wishes. I was selfish. But then Isame gave her life for me...and that made me feel so heavy.

Did normal friends also give their lives up for each other?

I shuddered, my chest rising up and down as the breaths that shook out of me were cold. I didn't want that. I didn't want someone's life knowing that I had used them for my own selfish means. I didn't want her to protect me when I was trying to kill her just a few months ago.

What was she thinking?

Was she out of her mind?

I drew in a long breath before murmuring my 'thank yous to her corpse, knowing that this was the last time that I would be seeing her.

I have to live.

I had to live for her.

"I'm sorry," I uttered weakly before lowering my head towards her corpse.

I'm sorry for suspecting you.

I'm sorry for not treating you as a better friend.

But...I won't regret it.

Because regret was a waste of time.

I waited until all the screams had died out, crouching into a ball as I stared listlessly at the doorway. Time had passed quickly as I waited and that had somehow amused me.

I used to hate waiting.

But now it was comforting.

The door opened smoothly as the light shone in from the outside, blinding my eyes as a figure walked calmly towards me, gun in hand yet his coat was so clean that it seemed as if he never used the gun. I chuckled quietly before untensing my shoulders, throwing my head back as the light behind him made him look like a fallen angel.

A rush flew through my body, making my heart quiver.

"And I thought I could escape you," I wrung a wry smile onto my face as Light stopped in front of me with a curled twitch of his lips. I could tell he was studying my state and the room in which he automatically put together what had happened during the two weeks I was absent in his presence. His lips twitched and paused a moment on the dead body behind me as recognition flashed through his eyes.

Raising his gun to point at the shackle that was bound to my foot, the sound of his bullet made my ears ring the moment he pulled the trigger. I whined like a child as his eyes twinkled with amusement. Silence passed between us as we both stared at each other, trying to figure the other out.

I could tell that he was feeling the power of being a God. He felt unstoppable as if no one could attempt to even hold him down. Extending both my arms, I opened my palms childishly before he scooped into my grasp instantly as his fingers brushed gently below my butt, lifting my petite build with his hands.

I almost gasped at the sparks that he set aflame by his simple actions as I shuddered physically, caving into his hold. My own fingers found themselves around his neck before hearing his deep laugh burn into my ear.

For a moment, I was surprised at how I didn't flinch at his touch because of disgust or alarm. It was almost comfortable. I clenched my grasp tighter around his neck and sighed in comfort as his whole body stiffened to a halt. Confused at his sudden reaction, my eyes naturally drifted down before realizing tightness in his pants.

Gaping open with a wide mouth, I stared widely into his childlike eyes as the tip of his ears started to tint pink like a caught rat. What the fu-was he blushing? From embarrassment?

"You have drowned too deep with me, Sayu."

Instead of a dark growl, his words were like a seductive cello trying to warn me from the dangers surrounding him. A lopsided grin flipped onto his face with egotistical joy at the flushed colour of my face. My heart bounced like a ball, smacking all around in my chest.

That was right- Light's first kiss with me was sloppy too-

He was never actually close with women aside from trying to manipulate them.

"We will never be able to escape each other."

Ignoring my flustered state, I smiled coyly at his words and I leaned onto his chest.

As he carried me outside of the building, I squeezed my eyes shut from the blinding sun. One of his hands was around my legs and the other was around my stomach. The wind blew warmly to greet my face as the sight of men on the ground did not surprise me at all. In the far corner, a green head caught my eye as we passed him.

There was no blood, only the bodies that were lifeless on the ground indicated that they had died from sudden heart attacks. I personally knew that Hugo did not implant any security cameras around his base because he was part of the mafia. They did not need evidence of their own killings that would have landed them in jail if they slipped up.

Light's traces would never be revealed.

In the distance, I saw a helicopter in mid-air that Misa was waving cheerfully from. Ah, so that was how he killed everyone here. I turned my head around to survey all the deaths that were scattered around the dock like some kind of decoration game.

"I'm burning this place down," Light's voice was flat and hard as a stove lid. I nodded mutely before shuffling my hands on my lap.

"There is no 5th book," I confirmed as Light's face turned curiously towards my face before flickering with awareness from my words.

"You risked your life to find out the Mafia case," he asked in more of a statement form.

"I had to know," I narrowed my eyes at him before giving him a proud smirk. "Well, aside from me getting captured, I had already burned the remaining pages that they had."

"That was an unnecessary move, Sayu," he gave me a deep frown before lifting his chin to focus on his direction.

"Unnecessary but worth it," I pointed out with my eyebrows wiggling up and down.

"I've told you before, haven't I?" I grinned smugly. "If you don't succeed then I'll pluck the crown and throw you on the throne."

"And are you sure that you've burned all their remaining pages?" Light cocked his head in my direction before giving me a discrete twitch of his lips.

"Got it done on the second day. Heard them saying that I ruined all their plans of using it. You've killed most of their remaining members, so I'd say that we have them in checkmate."

I heard Light's chuckle before the helicopter's wings drowned out the rest of the noise around us, landing carefully in front of us before Misa jumped down from the passenger's seat.

"Light! Did Misa do well?" She batted her eyelashes before Light simply nodded, stepping onto the steps of the helicopter and placing me down on the leather seat. Ryuk floated towards me with a malicious chuckle, already knowing some of the truth behind my disappearance.

"Light! Light, pay attention to Misa!" She stamped her foot outside of the motor before crawling into the small space with a pout.

"Don't worry about it, Misa! Light's just thinking about something," I gave her a reassuring smile before she eyed me with a bit of annoyance. Aw crap, is she jealous?

"Misa, how could Light ever not pay attention to you? You're his one and only love!" I instantly butchered out and made my usual kiss-ass face as Misa's eyebrows softened only a tiny fraction. Light sat beside me, Misa behind us. Twitching at my words, Light closed the helicopter door and we lifted up into the sky.

"Misaaaaa," I pouted my own pursed lips. "Don't do that to me- I'm your husband's sister, not another random girl!"

Misa's eyes widened before nodding cautiously.

"If Light ever looks at another girl-" her eyes flashed with crazed red. "I will murder them all!"

Ryuk beside Misa laughed.

"Oh, she doesn't know, does she?" His dark voice rang out as Light snapped his concentration towards the Death God. Although nothing changed on his face, the deadly darkness was swirling in his eyes.

"Know what?" Misa turned towards Ryuk with a distorted expression of jealousy.

"Oh, I don't know, should I tell her, girly?" Ryuk turned to me as I plastered on my businesslike smile. Dammit Ryuk, are you trying to get me killed? His grin widened at my expressionless stare, knowing that I was showing my seething hatred right now.

The last thing I want is to turn Misa's feelings towards me hostile, Ryuk.

"Misa, let me tell you a secret," I leaned towards her and whispered. "Light was a playboy before."

Light shot me a dirty look.

"What are their names?!" Misa spat out before reaching towards the Death Note beside her and flipping it open with rage. "Tell Misa their names!"

Ryuk's eyes flashed red at my excuse, giggling before turning away from me to let us have our space.

"Misa, stop," Light's eyes narrowed fiercely at her, forcing Misa to whine.

"Don't you dare look at another woman other than Misa!" She snarled as Light turned away from her before glancing at me.

"You're thinking how the pages got into the Mafia's grasp, aren't you?" I changed the subject as Light fell even more silent.

I honestly had to create a believable excuse before he started locking all the pieces together and linking me with the Mafia. There were three books, two that Light had used. The only time that the books were out of his grasp was when he lost his memories.

That meant he would either suspect Kira the 3rd to do something, or...the only one who knew about the location of Ryuk's notebook.

Me.

His eyes slid to mine the moment I reached the same conclusion as he did.

"Light," I clenched my fists before staring at him with icy intolerance. "I told you before if the trust between us is broken, everything will come apart."

"Then it was him?" He said in a tone that was condescending as if trying to intimidate everyone on the plane. It worked on Misa for a moment, freezing on her own spot before she pouted and placed her head on both of her hands. But it didn't work for me at all.

"That also brings out the question," I nodded hesitantly like I had no idea why Kira the 3rd would reveal the Death Note to the Mafia. "Why would he?"

"It's logical to assume that he did it for a business contract," Light uttered out before lifting his right hand to his chin. "It also makes sense why the Mafia did not know of any other rules except for the heart attack."

"Or, Yotsuba did it to distract L." I pointed out before Light's gaze flickered to mine carefully. "Remember how he tried to shut down the Kira investigation? He probably had suspicions that it did not shut down, so gave a few pages to the Mafia so that they could cause chaos and direct the attention away from his company."

"...It's plausible."

I was pleased with his agreement.

"Nevertheless, with all the attention that this group had brought, the Mafia would realize that someone had Kira's power," a dark smirk crawled its way onto his cunning face. "The Mafia will now be working with fake names."

Good.

I smiled a smile that did not reach my eyes. I had successfully led him to the thought that he couldn't touch the mafia at all. But something was telling me that Light had started to suspect me. It was threatening, but my heart ignored it.

"Keep an eye on the mafia, if they have any sudden deaths with heart attacks, that means that Yotsuba gave more than he had intended."

Light grounded his jaw before nodding stiffly.

"We'll do that."