Choices

Choices: A death Note Fan-fiction
By Aurora Moon

I often depend only on spell-check, grammar check programs due to the fact that I often don't have people who are willing to beta my stuff.

so if some part seems weird, then forgive me! ^^;;

But anyway I hope you've enjoyed the story so far!
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The nights at the hospital passed faster than he thought it would, which he was thankful for.

Light was able to go back to his normal everyday route after he left the hospital, as if nothing had happened. He had to admit that part felt a little bit more surreal than it meant to be.

After all, he had just watched an criminal die right in front of him (which he still hadn’t told his father about) and nearly died himself! He somehow felt that there should be something happening afterwards. Something huge, although he didn’t know what.

But instead all that happened was that a few college associates of his had dropped by to visit him in the hospital, asking about his health.

And then when he had gotten out and returned to his college, his teachers and everyone else who he had associated with as well wondered if he was healthy enough to return to the classes, just like that.

His mother and sister had also made an fuss over that… saying he should stay home for a few days before returning. Maybe relax a little more, watch TV and maybe play on his game console (which he didn’t play often) like a normal young man.

He had to admit that the attention had irritated him somewhat. It wasn’t like he was some sort of delicate flower that would wilt overnight if not taken care of properly.

So to get away from that, he had taken to walking instead of taking the bus route between his college and the house, just so that he could have some time to himself. Plus, it also seemed to help him think better.

He had taken to thinking a lot about Kira once again. He had this gut instinct that told him that his father was obviously going to work on the Kira case… if not now then very soon. That feeling was so strong that he felt that there was no way that he could be wrong about that. He also had this strong desire to become an part of that, no matter what it took.

After all…before his life had been dull and mundane. There was nothing to challenge him at all.. And then now this case came along… promising to be the most challenging, the most difficult case of them all. He couldn’t help but get the strange feeling that he was destined to solve this case. So how could he resist this?

But how he could talk his father into letting him work this case? His father had allowed Light to help in past cases, but he knew it wouldn’t be so easy this time… This Kira was clearly a very strong, powerful criminal and thus his own father would be concerned for his son’s safety.
There was a very strong chance that his own father would refuse outright.

So the long walks helped him, as he slowly puzzled over every possible action he could take, and what the outcome would be should he do something in order to convince his father.

He knew he shouldn’t be plotting to get a piece of the action like that, as if he was the sort who would resort to mapulitating others to get his way. But damn it, he couldn’t help himself… he really wanted to know exactly just what sort of man or woman this Kira was.

He was alerted to the presence of another man following him, thanks to that strange feeling one gets on the back of their neck whenever somebody’s been staring at them.

Light glanced back, and the mysterious man suddenly ducked out of sight.

What the heck?

Damn it, how had this been going on? He had actually been too busy scheming to realize that he had been followed!

He then walked on, pretending as if nothing had happened.

Why was he being followed? This couldn’t be one of those possible perverts, could it?

Light suddenly had an paranoid thought.

He had been an witness to an actual criminal dying in front of him! Then he had that heart attack. He knew in his own heart that the two was connected. What if that heart attack hadn’t been a fluke? What if there had been somebody nearby, who had tried to kill him with that somehow, but failed?

Then it was quite possible that this stalker of his could be connected to Kira somehow… figuring a way how to kill Light without getting caught! Maybe even following him to see whenever Light knew about Kira or not.

Light narrowed his eyes.

The way he saw it. He had two choices here… get away from the stalker fast as possible, report it to the police and his father.
Or… he could lure the man into a public area, and then confront the man directly where there would be witnesses. He wouldn’t have to mention Kira, of course… that would be just stupid.

He felt like he was the confrontal type anyway… and plus he somehow got the feeling that he would learn far more things about this stalker of his.

He walked down into an busy sidewalk full of people in one of the busier districts of the city. He usually didn’t take this route to his college, but sometimes he did take this path on the way back home.
He hid himself a little bit out of view as he watched his stalker come closer. His stalker had clearly lost sight of him, and were desperately scanning the crowds for him. Any minute now…

Light stepped out in front of the now surprised stalker, and yelled at the top of his lungs. “Hey you! Why have you been following me?? You’re not some sort of pervert are you? ”

Sure enough, that grabbed the attention of the crowd, as they started whispering amongst themselves at the mention of an possible perverted stalker.

His stalker, who turned out to be a rather handsome Japanese man in an suit with an black treachcoat, looked completely startled at being accused of this.

“What…? No! This isn’t what you think it is! ” The man obviously weren’t used to being put on the spot so publicly like this.

Light then walked towards the man, and then stood rather closely to him, as he whispered: “If you’re not following me for perverse reasons, then why? Just who are you?”

The man tried to step back out of Light’s personal space, but Light just grabbed him before he could move away.

“If you’re not going to cooperate in telling me who you are, then I’m going to have to report you to the police!” Light said in his normal tone of voice now.

Somebody out of the crowd walked towards the two, and it was another fairly handsome man. This one had longer black hair, with a pair of glasses on his face. He wore an nondescript gray business suit, and carried a black briefcase in one hand.

“What’s the problem here? I have an cellphone, should I call the police?” This man asked of Light.

Light smiled. Not only an witness, but somebody who were willing to help out here. Wonderful.

“Yes, thank you… this strange man’s been following me around for a while and I just want to know why. It’s been making me feel very nervous… I’m sure you understand.  I’d certainly feel better if you called the police for me. Hey… while you’re at it if your cellphone has an camera function why don’t you take this guy’s picture? Just in case he tries to run away.” Light explained to the other guy.

The other guy simply nodded, and pulled out his cellphone. He actually seemed to be taking the man’s picture, just as suggested.

The stalker then sighed. He then leaned over to whisper, “ look…. I know how this looks but I swear to god, I was never stalking you. I was just doing my job. I’m with the police myself.”

Light then looked at the man skeptically. “ A very likely story! My father’s with the police himself, you know. Why would an policeman start following around the son of another policeman? That seems way too strange… ”

The supposed policeman then pulled Light away from the helpful guy with the cellphone so that their backs were turned to him. He then pulled out an ID and badge.

“See? This is proof that I’m not a pervert or an stalker. ” The man said.

Light looked down at the ID. Raye Penber, FBI Agent.

“ But that doesn’t still explain why you were following me. Besides, why is an FBI Agent doing in Japan?” Light wondered.

“To be quite honest… I cannot tell you the full reason for that. But I’ll tell you this… I’m honestly just doing background checks on your family. I was just following you and the rest of your family around to see what sort of life you and your family led. I can’t tell you anymore than that.” Raye answered.

Light gave him one long look, as he pondered this. He then decided… he’d take a big risk right now, just to gauge the reaction of the FBI man.

“Would this be about… Kira?” Light whispered, leaning towards the other man to get a better look at the other man’s face as he said this.

The other man let out an startled gasp, his eyes widening at this.

Yeah, just as Light thought. seems that was what it was all about.

Raye Penber then gave Light an slightly puzzled, yet supicous look. Almost as to say “Just what do you exactly know about Kira? Do you have any connections to that criminal? ”

Light just smirked, feeling very triumphant. He then figured he’d throw in another name that had interested him for a while, just to see if he’d get another reaction out of the FBI man.

“I see. Somehow I had a strange feeling what’s what it was all about soon as you showed me that badge. You know, you should tell L that if he’s looking into whenever Kira has any connections to the police, he should find a better way to go about it. It’d be pathetic if he was caught spying on the police force so easily just like this. But don’t worry. I won’t tell my father or the other policemen I know what’s going on… I respect L’s work too much to interfere.”

That got yet another interesting reaction out of the man. So this was just not about Kira, but the FBI man had connections to L himself! How interesting.

The helpful businessman with the cellphone walked over before Raye Penber could even question Light. He had been standing from a certain distance, so he hadn’t heard much of the conversation.

“Is everything okay? Do you still need me to call the police?” The young business man asked.

Light turned around and gave him his best winning smile. “No, everything‘s alright now. It seems that it turned out to be an misunderstanding… I’m so sorry for wasting your time. Thank you for your concern though!”

The businessman looked at Raye Penber and then back to Light. “ I see. Well just in case you get into any actual trouble regarding stalkers and what not, you can reach me via this address. ”

With that the businessman reached into his suit and pulled out an card for Light to take.

“ My name is Mikami Teru, and I’m an prosecutor at an law firm. ” He introduced himself, “ I have connections around the firm, so I’m sure we’d be able to successfully file any lawsuits against potential stalkers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. You might not know this, but sometimes Stalkers can do irreparable damage to their victims’ lives… sometimes even killing them in the process. So if you feel that you or your family is in danger, don’t hesitate to contact me. ”

Mikami then gave Raye Penber an pointed glance, as if he was sure that Raye Penber was somebody dangerous.

Raye Penber just sighed under his breath, muttering: “ give me a break! ”

Light took the card, looking at it. He then smiled at the Lawyer. “ Yes, I’ll be sure to call you if anything happens. Thanks.”

Mikami nodded, looking upwards to an spot right over light’s head, and he had an slightly puzzled expression as his stare lingered there. Almost as if he had seen something he couldn’t figure out.

Light turned away, wondering what was with that expression. Everything had seemed so normal until Mikami went and did that. Oh well… it was probably just a strange quirk or something.

Light faced Raye Penber once again and said: “ Well, I have to go to class college now! So if you want to question me, you can do at a later time, okay? I’ll do my best to answer any questions you might have for me honestly. ”

With that, he politely nodded at both men, and then left for his college.

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Raye Penber left the scene quickly, swearing softly under his breath.

This had not been what he had in mind when he had agreed to look into each policeman and their family.

This was honestly the very first time in his whole life that he had been accused of being an pervert and a stalker! And in a very public place too.

How completely humiliating for an FBI man like himself.

He then frowned. But this was no time to worry about his public image. That young man was far more important… There was just no way that Light Yagami could had figured out why he had been investigating his family THAT quickly without having some sort of knowledge about Kira that nobody else had.

There was something about that young man, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. To be honest, it kind of spooked him how Light had seen right though him.

He would have to tell L about it. He dialed the untraceable number that “W” had given him.

“This is L. What have you got for me, Raye? ” The electronic voice greeted, not even bothering with the proper greeting.

Raye then told him what had occurred just moments ago.

“ ….and then he told me to tell you that if you were investigating any possible connections between Kira and the police, that you would have to employ a better investigation route than this. He said that it’d be pathetic if the world’s greatest detective’s activities was found out so easily.  He then promised that he wouldn’t even tell his father or the other policemen what was going on, saying that he respected your work well enough not to interfere with it. I tell you, it’s completely strange that he would say all that so easily as if he knew what was going on here.”

There was silence on the other end.

“ Hello, did you hear what I said?? ” Raye wondered.

“Yes, I heard you. ” The electronic voice said. “ You’re right, that is certainly odd. Looks like I’ll have to investigate him closely. However I think I will have to tell you to stop, since you were found out so easily by him. all the policemen’s families so far have been cleared of anything suspicious, save for the Yagami household and the Police Chief’s household which hasn’t been investigated thoroughly yet. Thank you, you were certainly very helpful. ”

“ So you don’t have any other work for me? ” Raye asked.

“ No. You may return to your own life. Tell Naomi Misora congratulations on both your and her marriage, won’t you? I hear you two are getting married very soon… ”

Caught slightly off guard by this, Raye just mumbled “ Uh, thanks….thank you very much.. ”

“ I gather that you have nothing else to say, so this is Good-bye.” the voice on the other end curtly said, and hung up.

Raye just sighed, rubbing his forehead as he put his cellphone away. Typical L… not that he’s actually seen him personally in person. He never really knew the guy, but each of their conversation so far over the phones had been always like this.

Oh well… at least he didn’t have to work overtime anymore!
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Light frowned as he slowed down at the college grounds. Now that he thought back on his behavior, he had acted too strangely…

Damn it, he had let his slightly paranoid side and his curiosity get the better of him.

Now he would have to endure some pointless interrogation later on, it seems.

But maybe he could use that to his advantage…especially if he could show off his detective skills, and find a way to get on the Kira case even if it turned out that his father wasn’t on it...

He smirked to himself.

Boy, wouldn’t it be something if he actually managed to do that? He doubted that would even happen, but it couldn’t hurt to try.
~~~~~~~~~~

–A few moments ago–

Mikami Teru had been on his way to the office, with Ryuk trailing behind him.

It had been an fairly uneventful day so far, until he had heard an male yell, “You’ve been following me for a while now. You’re not some kind of perverted stalker, are you?! ”

He couldn’t help but look then, since he was always naturally curious when such a scene occurred. Plus…if there was some sort of pervert on the loose, he felt an duty to stop it. Especially now that he had recently acquired the death note a week ago.

He had been aware of Kira’s activities long before the news had finally put an name to him, and he knew that It was God who had been punishing the evil criminals. In so many ways, he couldn’t help but feel like God had been watching over him for a long time, ever since he was a boy.

More than often, the people who he had rejected as impure, evil in some way… would die eventually one way or the other. Even as an boy, he had felt that he was somehow killing them one way or the other, or that God had been doing it for him.

Maybe that seemed a tad bit egoistical…maybe whoever out there in the heavens weren’t doing it for him at all, but for the overall good instead. In fact, he didn’t mind if it was for that very reason at all.

So he hadn’t been shocked when every criminal he had ever despised and prosecuted against in court all suddenly died of an heart attack. In fact, this only seemed to verify his belief that Evil itself was supposed to be punished.

he couldn’t help but feel overjoyed that some divine being out there was finally taking a much more active part in the world like this than he had been before.

And then Ryku had appeared before him with that death note… he simply took it as an sign that he was to help God punish the evildoers out there. He even felt glad that he had been right, that somebody out there really had been paying attention to him.

He cut though the crowd and then stood there to watch the scene that was happening before his eyes.

It was a young man, with auburn brown hair, yelling at an older man in a black trench coat.
“ Explain to me why you were stalking me, then, if you’re not a pervert. ” The young man said.

Mikami Teru then choose to use his Shinigami eyes then, just in case something was about to happen.

The older man’s name is Raye Penber, while the younger man’s name were…. Moon Yagami? Oh, wait.. That was just the way the kanji was written.. It was really Light Yagami.

He gasped in shock as soon as he saw the lifespans under the men. It wasn’t Raye that he was worried about, but this Light’s.

Light Yagami’s lifespan was that of zero, with an slash though it!

This was the first time he had seen something like that… normally humans had lifespans longer than this, even minutes before they were about to die. They certainly didn’t have slashes though numbers, neither.

Worried, he walked over to the two men and asked if there was anything wrong at all. He wondered aloud if he should call the police on the cellphone he had.

Light looked at him, and seemed to be very grateful that he was there. It was then that Mikami was suddenly struck by how handsome and attractive the young man was now that he looked at him up close.

“Yes, thank you… this strange man’s been following me around for a while and I just want to know why. It’s been making me feel very nervous… I’m sure you understand.  I’d certainly feel better if you called the police for me. Hey… while you’re at it if your cellphone has an camera function why don’t you take this guy’s picture? Just in case he tries to run away.” Light explained to Mikami.

Mikami nodded with an grim expression on his face.

That would certainly explain the strange lifespan… maybe the slash though the zero simply meant that Light’s fate was undecided?

Maybe there was a strong possbilty that he was going to die from some crazy stalker, but could be easily saved at any time?

Mikami narrowed his eyes as he pulled out his red cellphone, and snapped an picture of the offender. There was no way he was going to let this young man die, if his little theory was true.

This seemed to make the man in the black trench coat nervous, as he protested the fact that he was an stalker. He claimed to be some sort of policeman, which didn’t sound believable to Mikami… and Light didn’t seem to believe it himself, saying something about how his own father was an policeman.

Raye grabbed Light by the arm and had the two of them turn their backs to Mikami. He started whispering something to Light, and pulled out something to show Light. He didn’t see what it was though.

Ryuk just laughed softly, as if he was deeply entertained by something.

“ Heh, no matter how much things change, some things remain the same… ” Ryku sniggered. “ Poor Light still has trouble with people following him around it seems. ”

“ What do you mean? You know this man? ” Mikami whispered.

“Eh, I used to know him in another life… I doubt he’d even remember me in this new life of his now though.” Ryuk said rather cryptically.

“ speaking of his life.. What’s with his lifespan?? Surely you noticed how strange it looks… ” He continued the whisper-speak, minimizing lip movement so that it wouldn’t look like he was talking to himself.

Ryuk laughed. “So you noticed, huh? That special number is a part of his destiny right now.”

Before he could even ask what Ryuk meant by that, Raye’s movement caught his eye.

Raye appeared to be shocked about something, while Light seemed to be smirking right back at him.

Mikami walked over, and asked: “ Is everything okay? Do you still need me to call the police?”

Light turned around and gave him this very charming smile. “No, everything‘s alright now. It seems that it turned out to be an misunderstanding… I’m so sorry for wasting your time. Thank you for your concern though!”

As Light smiled at him like that, Mikami couldn’t shake this strange sense of Deva ju, that he had met this man somewhere before…

Mikami Teru looked at Raye Penber and then back to Light. “ I see. Well just in case you get into any actual trouble regarding stalkers and what not, you can reach me via this address. ”

With that he reached into his suit and pulled out an card for Light to take.

“ My name is Mikami Teru, and I’m an prosecutor at an law firm. ” He introduced himself, “ I have connections around the firm, so I’m sure we’d be able to successfully file any lawsuits against potential stalkers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. You might not know this, but sometimes Stalkers can do irreparable damage to their victims’ lives… sometimes even killing them in the process. So if you feel that you or your family is in danger, don’t hesitate to contact me. ”

Mikami then gave Raye Penber an look, as if daring him to come anywhere close Light again.

Raye Penber just sighed under his breath, muttering: “ give me a break! ”

Light took the card, looking at it. He then smiled at the Lawyer. “ Yes, I’ll be sure to call you if anything happens. Thanks.”

Mikami nodded, his eyes straying upwards towards Light’s name and lifespan.
That lifespan… what the heck did that mean?

The two men left, and so Mikami continued walking on his way to work.

–-Later–-
Mikami frowned as he sat in front of his computer at the office.

On screen, he had obviously googled both Light Yagami and Raye Penber, as there was a dozen tabs and windows which detailed parts of their lives.

There was so much on Light Yagami– Tennis Championship, Student at Tarou University (which was pretty impressive in itself considering how pregetious that college was), Graduated with high marks and honors from high school… which meant that he had to have been very studious all his life.

And, his father was certainly an policeman. Which meant that he must had been raised in an family with very high morals. Very impressive… And no doubt he would want to become an policeman himself, or something else to do with the law?

Raye Penber on the other hand, there wasn’t much about him. More than half of the pages he went to about him was on Classified FBI pages, which meant that he couldn’t get though without an password. So that was out… However he did manage to find out that he was FBI, and not some sort of criminal.

But that didn’t make sense at all. Why would there be FBI in Japan? They were an American organization. And why was he following Light Yagami around? And that weird lifespan of Light’s!

Ryuk appeared at his side, and glanced at the computer monitor. He laughed when he saw that Mikami was looking up Light Yagami’s stuff.

“ You know… I meant to ask you… what did you mean about Light Yagami’s lifespan, and his Destiny? I have to know! ” Mikami Teru asked.

Ryuk shrugged, saying: “I’m not sure I can tell you at this point… after all, you just recently got the death note and all. It might be too soon. ”

Mikami narrowed his eyes. He then reached into his briefcase, and pulled out an apple. “I’ll give you this apple if you tell me everything you know about Light Yagami, and why his lifespan is like that. ”

Ryuk eyed the apple, and then grinned. “ Well….. When you put it like that… alright. ”

He then started explaining. “I first met Light Yagami in that other life. It was basically an lifetime ago…. It was so many years ago. Back then… he was the very first and original Kira. He was your ‘God’ as you call him.”

Mikami gasped at this part.

Ryuk ignored the gasp, and went on: “He was so interesting! He punished and killed so many criminals well into the millions. He was the only one who had actually ever done that back then…until you, that is. You actually lived too, back then… in that other life. You were his proxy, and became his right hand when he no longer could do anything due to the fact that he was being watched by those who were Anti-kira. He was constantly followed around, monitored…
So he choose you, his most faithful follower, to do everything for him in secret. You were there with him to the very end, even when he was killed by the Police once they had evidence that he was truly Kira. I believe you died too as well?“

Mikami was thankful that he was still sitting in his computer chair, because his legs had suddenly felt weak all of a sudden at this revelation. His hands was even trembling now!

“But of course, he’s been reborn now. You’re reborn now too, obviously since you died back then too. That lifespan you saw? The Zero with an Slash though it simply means that he now has an frozen infinite lifespan due to the fact that his fate is undecided. He has yet to fulfill his destiny. Once he chooses which path he wants to take in life, for better or worse, his lifespan will return to normal. There’s a strong chance that he could die again though, at the hands of Anti-kira people.”

Mikami stared up at Ryuk, with an shocked expression. “ If what you told me is true… then.. Why didn’t he recognize me? If I was really his right hand who did everything for him…he should had recognized me somehow on some level. ”


Ryuk couldn’t help but laugh at the human’s expression. He was really entertaining!
“ He didn’t recognize you of course, because being reborn he forgot everything about his old life… inducing being the god of the new world in which Evil didn’t exist! Far as he’s concerned, he’s just a mortal man. Even though… he isn’t right now. The way his lifespan is right now, he could go though a million heart attacks and still live! In a way, I suppose that’s a blessing… too bad that won’t last very long. As I did tell you before, once he chooses he might die all over again. Now, about that apple?”

Mikami was too stunned to ask anything, much less even think. He just handed Ryuk the apple,
He put his face into his hands, as he trembled all over.

Silence would had filled the whole room, if it wasn’t for the sound of Ryuk munching on the apple.

After a few seconds, he started laughing hysterically as all the information he was given finally sunk in.

No wonder why he had felt like he was different his whole life. No wonder why people always seemed to die around him once he had rejected them in his mind.

It wasn’t that God was watching over him… rather, it was actually his role in life to act as the proxy of God. As the Proxy, he would even have to watch over God himself sometimes. Even when God right now apparently were an young college man named Light Yagami. Which of whom had no idea who he was.

But then another thought occurred to him. He knew there was another Kira out right now. And if Light Yagami didn’t know who he was right now… then who was the other Kira besides him?

He calmed down, his laughter suddenly stopping. Ryuk was staring at him, wondering what Mikami would say and do next.

“ The other kira out there right now…do you know who he is? You gave him another death note too after all, right?”

Ryuk shook his head. “ No I don’t. I wasn’t the one to give the other Kira out there their death notes… in fact there’s other Shinigami out there besides me, you know. I actually have to be very careful… as seeing they might be against me and against what Light originally did in his past life. They’ll kill me, you and even Light.  That is… if L and his heirs doesn’t kill Light first again…”

Mikami gasped again. “ So you mean to tell me the other Shinigami out there… they might give death notes to humans and make them act as False Kiras? Make them do things that would make the public turn against Kira.. That is, my god? “ 

Ryuk nodded. That was quite possible, after all.

Mikami then frowned, as the last thing Ryku had said caught his attention. “ Wait a minute. L? You said L and his Heirs killed Light before? Don’t tell me he’s been reborn too or something! ”

Ryuk chuckled. “ Oh yeah. I imagine you’ll run into a lot of familiar faces from your past life, eh? If you’ll even remember them! ”

Mikami scowled. He didn’t get what Ryuk found so funny at all… this was all too much!

First he found out that he had some sort of destiny as the right hand of god. then he found out that being the proxy of god had problems of it own. Other Shinigami who he couldn’t even see without touching their death notes…. Some of them possibly going out against the word of god, trying to kill God…And those Shinigami was most likely siding with L, as well.

It was bad that it wasn’t only him and his god who had been reborn… their enemies were like that too… were it their destiny to die once again at their enemies’ hands?

Ugh, too depressing to even fathom.

He took deep breaths, and then turned around to face his computer screen, looking at Yagami Light’s Tennis championship photo. The face of Light was smiling at him. His eyes narrowed, and his expression became more determined.

“ There’s no way in hell… nor in heaven…that I will let Light Yagami be killed by anybody again! As his proxy and his right hand, I swear I’ll protect him from L and the rest of his enemies! ” Mikami declared. “Even if it means I die doing it. ” 

Ryuk started laughing again, louder this time.
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Whoo, this was a long chapter! 12 pages long…. Oh well, it’s full of Light and Mikami goodness.

Poor Raye, being accused of a pervert couldn’t had been fun! But at least he didn’t die this time around….

Remember to review as always, as it’s my lifeblood!