A/N: Its been a while since I've dabbled in the affairs of Mello and Sayu (uh, don't worry, I still plan on finishing Heterodox… someday), so here we go. The idea came from the prompts Bialy provided in her story Evangelos (a delightful read, by the way; you really oughta read it), and the invitation for others to try their hand at it. So here I am. Delightfully, deliciously AU.
Quote provided by Katherine Mansfield's "Garden Party."
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"Isn't life," she stammered, "isn't life--" But what life was she couldn't explain. No matter. He quite understood.
"Isn't it, darling?" said Laurie.
--
mihael
"This could be the key to your salvation," Mello rhapsodizes, dangling a pen before Sayu's eyes. It's held loosely between his index and his thumb, swinging back and forth like a pendulum before her. His grip would be easy to enough to break; the pen is as good as her's if she so chooses to take it. The fingers in her lap twitch, and in her peripheral she can make out Death Note, strewn out to an open page before her. "Two little words. You already know my name, Sayu."
This is a test, she knows; his way of pushing her to the brink. He likes playing these sorts of games, devised and executed in ways calculated for effect. He is gauging her loyalty here, as always.
"Killing me would save your brother's life, Sayu." His breath reeks of alcohol.
This is not a practical game. Not a sane one. But Mello has never been quite right in the head since the explosion – since Sayu became the only pawn he had left. He's stared death in the face before, finally understood the inevitability of it, and the experience has driven him to new heights of recklessness.
Sayu snatches the pen out of his hand. Mello smiles at her, an amused, terrible little smile; as though Sayu has acted just the way he had predicted.
"You're drunk, Mello," Sayu says in disgust, before pitching the pen away into the darkened, dilapidated recesses of their apartment – their de facto headquarters, their home. "I'm going to bed."
She closes the Death Note with a snap and rises from the chair. She feels Mello's eyes upon her the whole way down the hall.
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