V. APPLES

Ryuk stared down at the human realm. A sea of numbers and names floated below him, telling Ryuk all he needed to know to take a life. He crouched down and pulled out his notebook and pen. As he opened the notebook to the last page, his eyes fell upon the last name he wrote in it: Light Yagami.

Ryuk couldn't stop the sneer as it formed on his face. He recalled with crystalline clarity Light bleeding to death from his gunshot wounds, screaming for someone to help him. He called for Ryuk, who wasn't going to sacrifice his own life to save him. Then Mikami, who had just committed suicide for failing to kill Light's enemies. Then Takada, who Light had killed with the Death Note to save himself. Then Misa, who had long ago relinquished her Death Note at his request and lost all memory of having owned it.

And when Light finally realized that he was utterly alone and beyond all help, he cried like small child that lost his favorite toy.

All that killing.

All that plotting.

All that grandiose talk about ruling the world as its god.

And there he was: The great Kira writhing in agony as blood pooled around him. Crying and whimpering pathetically in a dirty stairwell of an abandoned warehouse. Ryuk knew that Light would most likely not succeed in his designs, but he had thought that Light would have been a bit more gallant about his defeat. Even now, he was searching his pockets, desperately trying to find the scrap of the Death Note he dropped and muttering "Nate River", Near's real name, over and over.

It was then that he decided to write down Light's name. The end of the ride was a let-down, but it was fun all around...

A thought occurred to Ryuk, and he shifted the focus of the vortex to a small apartment in the heart of Tokyo. Clippings of newspaper stories about Kira cults covered every inch of the walls. A week's worth of dirty dishes piled high in the sink. A dingy sheet covered the futon and laundry was scattered all over the floor. Flies buzzed around half-eaten take-out and mostly empty wine bottles.

Under the sheet, a body stirred. Misa reflected the state of her apartment, with her pinched, paper-thin face and limp, unwashed hair. She wore one of Light's old dress shirts, which was two sizes too big on her. She rolled over and curled up into a ball, clutching a picture frame to her chest.

"Light," she murmured, "Why did you leave me all alone?"

Ryuk shook his head. It seemed that killing Light killed her as well. After the funeral, she went to work less and less, eventually stopping altogether. After a while, she stopped even leaving her apartment, only contacting the outside world to order take-out when she remembered to eat and to pick up a newspaper to add clippings to her Kira collection.

Ryuk noticed the pill bottles scattered on the floor around the futon and yet more wine bottles. He had seen this before. Eventually, she would drug or drink herself to death. And the human world would remember her as just another casualty of the modeling world. And, if her lifespan was any indication, it would occur sooner than later.

Misa deserved a happier fate. She deserved better than someone that sniveled and wailed for a shinigami to save him from the hell he brought upon himself. Why did she pine over a guy like that? Why would she destroy herself over someone that never loved her?

Ryuk looked down at his Death Note and turned to a clean page. Methodically, he wrote "Misa Amane" on the first line.

He followed with: "February 14, 2011. Heart attack. Forgets her boyfriend and enjoys what's left of her life. The heart attack occurs while she sleeps and she dies without pain."

That date seemed appropriate. Many humans associated it with love. As an afterthought, he added that she would buy herself some apples before she died.

She deserved apples.