Good Memories and Nightmares
Chapter one
19th of November, 2012.
New York
"Near!" Rester's alert stirred white-haired boy's head to the screen, his eyes following the camera view of Halle Lidner and a well known figure of a guest he so eagerly anticipated.
"What should we do?" Rester asked, waiting for the boy's permission to shoot.
"Let them in." Clearly there was no other answer seeing a gun pointed at Halle's head and denying the entrance would be a meaningless provocation. Doors opened a moment later, Gevanni and Rester already pointing their guns at the two figures.
"Mello, welcome." Near nonchalantly greeted him.
"Drop your weapon!" The agents shouted, much to the boy's annoyance.
"Everyone..please put away your guns. Having a shoot right here would achieve nothing." Near spoke after a moment of silence, not even bothering to turn around from his moving toy train.
"Sir, with all due respect, Mello is the one who killed our partners." Gevanni said, not moving his eyes from the target.
"Please don't make me say it again. Remember that our primary objective is still to catch Kira. Killing Mello right here wouldn't do anything to benefit our investigation."
"Alright." Rester and Gevanni unwillingly lowered their guns, their trained eyes searching for anything suspicious.
"It seems things have been going just as you planned, Near." Mello lowered his gun and pulled his hood down, revealing the scarred face.
"Yes. I've take it you've already heard all about second L from Lidner by now. I've pretty much figured who Kira is and it's mostly thanks to everything you've done."
Mello gritted his teeth upon hearing Near's words, pulling out his gun once again, this time aiming it for the white-haired boy's head.
"Shut up, Near!" He yelled and the agents raised their guns right on cue.
"I'm not just a tool for you to use in order to solve your puzzles, you know!"
"Mello, if you really wanna shoot me then go ahead and do it." He answered, his face blank of any emotion, contrary to Mello and the rage that was visible on his face. His fingers began to click the trigger with small pressure as if he was debating should he put more strength and move the bullet out of the gun and into the boy's head. Before he made up his mind Lidner put herself between them, placing her hand on the silver gun.
"Stop! If you shoot him then the rest of us will have no choice but to shoot you too. What will it solve if both of you die? That's just what Kira wants." She was actually talking sense but he couldn't hide the scowl while moving the gun.
"You have a good point. Anyway, I'm only here for one thing. I came to take back that photograph you have."
"Of course." Near finally moved, pulling out the photograph and showing it to Mello. "I got it from the orphanage. There was only one and no copies have been made. I've already gone ahead and dealt with everyone who knows your face both inside and outside Wammy's House. They'll keep quiet." He threw the photo towards Mello with a precise flick of his hand.
"I can't say 100% for certain but it shouldn't be possible for you to be killed with the notebook." He kept talking while Mello observed the picture, his eyes narrowing upon turning it. Dear Mello. The handwriting seemed both familiar and distant in the same time and the blond started to wonder was it really Near who wrote it.
"Is this the only business you had with me, Mello?" The boy's eyes had stopped following the train and were focused in front of him, waiting for Mello's next words.
"Near." His eyes narrowed again, looking at the hunched boy in the circle. The agents could almost feel a deep hole appearing by each second of silence between the two rivals, something that went far back into the past of the two and thus couldn't be understood.
"Let's get one thing straight." Mello was the first to speak. "I have no intention of working together with you on this." He put the emphasis on 'no'.
"Yes, I know."
"At the same time, I can't just take my photo and leave, that wouldn't be right. So I'll settle my debt." That made Near look at the blond from the corner of his eye. He never thought Mello would do such a thing after all these years and that caught his attention.
"The killer notebook, it belongs to a Shinigami. Whoever touches it, is able to see a God of Death." Near let out a small gasp of surprise as the agents started their protest: "That's crazy!" and "Who the hell would believe in something like that?"
"I would. I believe him completely." Near startled them and they looked at him wondering if he has finally gone insane. "What good would it do for him to tell an outrageous lie like that? Even if he had something to gain, he could at least come up with a more believable story. Therefore, this Gods of Death must exist."
"The notebook I obtained had previously belonged to another Shinigami. Perhaps even Kira himself. Also, some of the rules written inside are actually fake." Near tilted his head, this information sounding even more helpful than the previous.
"That's all I can tell you for now." Mello slowly turned and started to walk away but Near soon stopped him with a well timed question: "Do you think it would be different if they were alive?"
The blond stopped, his eyes slightly widening as he questioned Near and his reason for even thinking about them. And what was his reason to drop that question now of all times, in the middle of this wretched case, so long after they've agreed never to bring them up again?
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to make too much of an outburst to the boy's question.
"It doesn't make any difference to hear what I think. They are dead." The tone of the words was between a threat and a warning, signalising the end of discussion about that topic.
He started to walk again, making his steps as slow as possible to show how he couldn't care less about it, even though the look on his face was slightly changed to a more reserved one..if not angry.
"Near." He stopped before the doors, feeling he won't see his rival again until the end of the case.
"Mello." Near returned the acknowledgement, the air between them becoming thick. Mello pulled out his chocolate bar and took a bite, his lips now in a smirk. "Which of us is gonna reach Kira first, I wonder."
"The race is on." Corner of Near's lips curled as he continued to wrap the lock of his white hair around his finger.
"We're both headed towards the same destination. I'll be waiting for you."
"Hah, right." The agents watched as the blond walked out of the room, his boots echoing through the empty hallway. When the doors closed they looked at the boy in the circle, wondering what is it between him and Mello and who is them and why that topic caused both reserved and nostalgic faces.
However, they didn't intend to pry so they left Near to ponder about the false rules of the notebook and went back to their jobs.
Couple of days later, or more precise: 25th of November, 2012.
New York
It was Kira's brilliant plan to use Demegawa and mob of Kira supporters to make Near flee and reveal his face. However, L's massive fortune had another use than just buying toys for Near. As soon as the bills flew through the air, SPK and Kira were both forgotten. Near and his team used that to mask themselves and successfully leave the building. Not even Mello could follow them from the building nearby.
Near and his team went to their second HQ, but upon opening the door they noticed that the carefully planned security had been breached.
Lights were on, and monitors were being turned on one by one. Row of monitors showed security cameras from the entrance, now also showing Near and the agents.
A person was sitting on the chair in front of them, hidden from their view.
Agents immediately drew their weapons, taking few steps in front of Near.
"Drop your weapon and turn around slowly or we will shoot!" The person chuckled and turned around.
"Near, haven't you learned? You should never keep a girl waiting."
AN: Okay now that the first chapter is up I have a few things I need to address.
By now all of you have a pretty good idea what will be the main topic of the sequel. For those who don't, well, wait for the next chapter.
I know I promised first chapter will be put up this year...well, school gave me a handful of problems. And then I planned to put the first chapter on Near's birthday but that prolonged too, so I missed both Mello's and Misa's birthday. In the end I kept my promise, I am putting first chapter this year. I'll just casually avoid the fact that it's the last day of the year. For those of you who already celebrated 2015., it's still 2014. here so I did keep my promise. Ha!
Let's move on. First part of the chapter is from the anime. Literally copied here. For the second half I used manga. It's interesting how many things are wrongly described in the anime, and there are lots of things that never did get into the anime. So for the plot I will be sticking to the manga since it is the best version. I can list a lot of things; Near having more emotion in the manga, Mello and Near actually teaming up, more details that are very useful to me, etc.
That being said, I am facing the biggest challenge in my life. There's no screwing around with Death Note plot, so I will have to be very, very careful. Which means a couple of things; 1. I will have problems sticking to the plot and incorporating everything that I've imagined. That means that chapters will be more complicated than usual, not just me improvising something and throwing it online for the sake of it. I just can't do that this time because this sequel means so much to me and I won't ever forgive myself if I screw it up.
So, if I'm not satisfied with a chapter, I will not put it online.
2. I constructed a different approach for this kind of writing. It'll be hard to balance this and school, but I am so happy that I'm putting this up and that I'm continuing with this project. Also, chapters will be rare. As I said, if I'm not satisfied, I won't risk putting it up and then regretting it later.
But, I did limit myself. There will be at least one chapter per month. I can't promise more but I will sincerely try to put more. If I'm unable, well, one chapter will have to suffice.
I have to stop before I blab out everything. I am extremely happy about this and extremely excited. I would love to hear your feedback after you come back to your senses and actually see that I updated.
I'll need your advice about ratings too, but I'll leave that for the next chapter.
Dear followers and reviewers, I wish you a joyful New Year and we'll see each other soon.