It's often said that we take things for granted until they are taken away from us. Regretfully this is true in most cases though we don't recognize it until it's too late to do anything. We do have a way to keep the moments that mean most to us close even after the person or thing that caused them has gone or abandoned us. But can those simple memories ever fill the void that is left behind? Or are they simply there to distract us from the reality that has befallen us?
The grey clouds covered the sky as they readied themselves to release the water droplets they were carrying on the people below. A blonde man stopped momentarily to look up at the sky, though he didn't really care about whether it was going to rain or not. Other thoughts were running through his mind as he looked back to the ground, he slowly started to bite into a bar of chocolate that he was carrying with him, he stopped halfway through as a thought, no, it was a memory of something she had said to him only a few months ago. 'Ah Mello you're going to ruin your teeth from all the chocolate that you eat' A soft almost invisible smile made its way to his lips at the memory, he finished biting his chocolate and remember that he had told her that she wasn't in any position to talk since she ate as much chocolate as he did.
"Oh I'm sorry." He nodded as a woman apologized from running into him, though he knew perfectly well that he friend had 'accidently' pushed her into him. He ignored the woman and continued to walk a look of remembrance apparent in his eyes. He looked to his right as he heard a woman let out a small shriek, he looked away once he noticed that she had shrieked because her boyfriend had scared her. A hint of sadness made itself know in his eyes for a fraction of a second before he went back to walking down the side walk. She would have found it funny that he had decided to walk to his current destination rather than riding his motorcycle to it.
He opened the glass door of a specific store, though it wasn't his final destination it was a stop that he wanted to make. A woman in a pink flannel shirt and black pants smiled at him as he walked into the store, he noticed how she seemed to try to over look his massive burn marks, though how she could ignore them was besides him. He walked down an aisle that he had previously walked down a few months earlier, a small chocolate brown bear cough his attention as he walked down the aisle.
Mello look! Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen? She said as she gingerly picked it up, he quirked an eyebrow and looked at what she was holding. The chocolate brown bear seemed to look straight at him, which creped him out a little, not that he would let anyone know it had. He decided to look away from the bear and rather at the person holding the bear, a look of confusion filled his face as he noted the look of adoration on the woman's face. He watched as she tucked a strand of her long black hair behind her ear before she placed the bear back on the shelf, she turned to look at him with her hazel colored eyes sending somewhat of an electrical shock between him.
"Is that all?" The woman who had smiled at him when he entered the store asked. Mello nodded and took out his wallet as the woman scanned the item he had picked up. He hesitated as he noticed a small picture on the inside of his wallet; it was a picture of all three of them. Matt was standing beside him, while she stood next to him with a smile on her face for some reason. The woman lightly cleared her throat drawing him from his thoughts; she smiled as an apology before she looked back at the cash register.
"That will be… $10.56." Mello handed her eleven dollars and proceeded to leave after he told her to keep the change. The busy sound of street traffic distracted him from his thoughts as he started to walk in the direction he had been walking him before, though he did stop to throw away his chocolate bar wrapper before he took another one out and bit into it. Mello turned once he got to the corner of the street and entered an area where there was less traffic, which allowed him to return to his thoughts.
"Why?" He muttered before he took another bite of his chocolate only this one seemed to hold some anger in it that the others hadn't. To protect him that's what she would have said, but had she even considered the consequences of her action before hand? She had left him alone so to speak; sure he still had his best friend and roommate Matt but it wasn't the least bit the same. Even though it had been nearly two months since the incident had occurred it still felt like she would walk into the apartment at any moment and sit in between Matt, who would be playing some sort of video game, and him. It wasn't just him who felt it matt had told him various times that he still felt like she was with them, living with them in the small three bedroom one and a half bathroom apartment.
"Why? Matt you were with him! Why didn't you stop him from signing the lease to this apartment?" Matt nervously scratched the back of his head causing his red hair to momentarily pull away from its regular hairdo and then back into it. Truth was he hadn't been paying attention he had another important thing on his mind at the time, which happened to be when would his Pikachu learn a new move?
Mello sighed before he walked into what seemed to be the living room of the trashy apartment. He had the feeling that it would take them a while to fix it up to decent living conditions, he looked back towards his two friends before he unwrapped a chocolate bar. Maybe he should have used his connections in order to get them a nice bigger and better apartment; he was a mafia leader after all.
"Well I hope that you don't expect me to be the only one to fix this place up by myself. If you are well than you're in for a rude awakening…..Mello is that a dead rat?" Mello nodded as he looked in the direction of dead rat body, he smirked as she sighed in defeat before sitting on the dirty floor.
"Two more criminals were killed today thank to the workings of Kira…" Mello momentarily stopped in front of an electronics store, disgust filled him at the mention of Kira. It was Kira's fault that this had all happened; Kira had taken her away from him….. and Matt. He walked away as the broadcast continued all the while thoughts of their last time together filled his head, tears that he promised to never let free built up in his eyes.
He walked through two steel doors that had two angel statues on either side of them, he felt his heart get heavy as he walked down the cobble stone pathway that he hated. A sadness loomed over him as he recalled the first time that they had met back at the Wammy's House for gifted orphans.
A six year old Mello looked up from the television as a familiar figure walked through the doorway. Wammy, the founder of the orphanage, walked into the sitting area/ living room while a small girl hid behind his leg. A six year old Matt gasped as he reached a new level in the video game that he was playing, after all it was his obsession like how chocolate was Mello's obsession.
"Mello, Matt I would like you to meet Rave." At this he gently nudged the girl behind him forward causing her to blush lightly, as to why she was blushing well she didn't know the reason. Mello quirked his eyebrow at the girl, he knew perfectly well that Rave was her alias and not her real name after all they all had one. Matt muttered a hello before he returned his full focus on his Mario game, Mello muttered an almost inaudible hello at the girl and returned his attention to the Dragon Ball Z episode that was running. He looked to his side when he felt the couch sink a little as someone sat next to him.
"I love this episode." She muttered giving him a small smile before she turned her attention to the television. Though they didn't know it at that time, this was the start of their long friendship.
"Stupid, she was stupid to do what she did. I knew she was stupid but not that stupid…" Mello muttered under his breath, he walked onto the grass once he was certain he knew that he was walking in the right direction.
"Mello we don't have to do this." She stated as they continued down a seemingly abandoned road, she was almost pleading him to stop. Mello looked at her and shook his head, Rave sighed as she held the motorcycle helmet in her hands; the one Mello had use d a few moments before.
"We can make her tell us who the other Kira is Mello." Rave stated as she strummed her fingers on the dashboard something she did when she was nervous or doubtful. Mello pulled into a gas station once he noticed that the gas light had turned on, he exited the truck and walked inside of the air conditioned building.
"Sorry Mello…" Rave muttered as she slid over to the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition roaring the truck to life. 'Forty miles that's more than enough.." She thought to herself as she hit the gas pedal and drove away in the truck, she frowned as she notice Mello run out of the gas station and look towards her. She pulled into an inlet that led to the remains of a small church that had burned down leaving a solitary wall in its place.
"Stupid, this has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever done." Rave muttered to herself as she reclined back onto the driver's seat. She let her thoughts slip to how pissed off Mello would be at her, she ignored the sound of something falling in the trailer behind her.
"Kiyomi Tokada." Rave named the woman that they had kidnapped, but they had a reason to do so. She was the second Kira after all and in kidnapping her they were essentially protecting the world from a murderous killer, right? Rave brushed the thought from her mind instead she focused on what to do next, a gasp escaped her lips as she felt a sudden pain go run through her body. She placed her hand over her heart as her eyes widened. Darkness consumed her as she fell over onto the passenger's seat a few seconds later.
Mello paused in front of an object that he held hate towards. He opened the bag from the store he had been in and took out the small chocolate brown teddy bear that Rave had looked at with adoration; he gently placed it in front of the tomb stone.
"Here lies Rave Keehl… beloved friend R.I.P" Mello read aloud, it was true Rave had died of a heart attack the day that they had kidnapped Takada, who also died that day but from a fire that somehow was ignited near the inlet Rave had drove them in. A small tear ran down his cheek before he kneeled down, the leather pants he was wearing squeaked lightly at this movement.
" Happy Birthday Rave…" He muttered before getting up. A soft wind blew at that moment, he may have stayed longer but he knew he couldn't after all she had told him two weeks before her death something she made him promise.
"Hey Mello." Mello looked up from the television and towards Rave. She gave him a serious look, something she wasn't known for being.
"What Rave?" Rave motioned for Matt to come over which he somehow saw over his PSP. She looked at both of them before she began speaking.
"If I die on the mission I don't want you to mourn me ok?" Matt paused from his game and the cigarette in his mouth fell to the ground, Mello simply quirked his eyebrow. What had brought this on?
"Promise me you two won't mourn me." Mello nodded while Matt hesitated for a moment before nodding his head. Mello was certain that they would all live through the mission and that they would know Kira's identity.
How wrong he had been. Matt had been in the hospital for weeks after the mission, but most importantly he had lost Rave. HIS Rave. Memories were all he had left of her and the promise he had made, though he felt a void within him whenever he thought of her he knew that one day he would see her again. For now memories would have to do.