Game Over
The sky is perfectly clear tonight. The stars shine down upon the world with a heavenly light that makes everything blue and silver.
Almost everything.
Somewhere, far below, there is a tiny dot of red glowing in the darkness. Blue eyes narrow at the contrasting light, willing it to disappear. Tonight is the night, and he will not be stopped again. He will not allow himself to be convinced again by that foolish boy . . . that stupid, childish boy.
The light suddenly intensifies and glows brighter for a second, then returns to its original state. The light moves to the side and jerks slightly, tiny red specks falling from it and dancing in the wind as their glow slowly dies out.
"I see you."
The voice speaks in a mere whisper, but the wind carries it to his ears along with the embers. It is the only sound to be heard in this silent night. A shiver runs down his spine and he already realizes that it is too late; he is helpless now.
"I see you there." The light sways to the side again and returns to its resting place, bobbing up and down as the words continue. "I saw you then. I see you now—here. I see you every day and night and you still think that I don't. You still think I won't be waiting."
"I knew you'd be waiting, but it doesn't matter." he answers defiantly. "This time you won't stop me."
"I wasn't planning to." His voice is cool and smooth, despite the fact that he breathes and speaks poison. He steps out from his shadowy shelter under the fingers of the willow tree and into the moonlight. His smooth skin looks as pale as death in the night's eerie glow. The glowing light on the end of his cigarette sways as he removes it from his mouth, exhaling a cloud of smoke with a wicked grin on his face.
The click of the gun cocking echoes in the silence.
"You know the rules of this game." Matt states bluntly.
"Don't be stupid." comes the gruff answer. "Put the gun down."
"If you're allowed to make decisions by yourself, then so am I."
"Mine is based on reason; yours is based on impulse."
"I have a perfectly good reason." Matt answered casually, pausing to take a long drag from the cigarette before continuing. "If I'm going, I want to be taken from lead ripping through my body. Seeing as you're on your way out, I don't have to stick around for you, so I can make sure I die the way I want to."
"That's the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard in my life."
"And yours is better?"
"Of course it is."
"You can't look me in the eyes and tell me that this is what you want."
Mello swallowed hard and looked down. The ground was far below him, but that wasn't as frightening as the boy he looked down upon. There was Matt, cigarette hanging lazily from his grinning mouth, gun barrel pressing tightly against his own head, finger tense on the trigger, and pure madness shining in his eyes. Everything is a game to him, and this is no different. He loves the taste of breathing smoke, and the feeling of cold steel against his finger; he'd just love to go out with a bang.
The greatest games never end quietly.
He swallows hard again, and his voice quivers slightly as he speaks. "What's going to happen?"
"You're going to jump. You're going to hit the ground, limbs sprawled out and twisted in a most unglamorous way, in a messy splat of blood. I'm gonna pull the trigger; I'm going to die with a nice big chunk missing out of my head. Then someone will find our bodies. No one will be able to identify us, and we'll die—nameless and forgotten. Just two random teenaged punks who decided to take the easy way out."
Mello felt his throat constrict. "And then?"
Matt inhaled deeply and let the smoke fill his lungs. "Then one of two things will happen. Near catches Kira; the world bows at his feet and he gets all the glory that could have been ours. Or Near fails and Kira lives. L's last successor dies and the world bows at Kira's feet, who gets all the glory that he should never have gotten. We all die in vain." The cigarette is spent, so Matt drops it to the ground and crushes it beneath the heel of his boot—the light is gone. "I'm up for it if you are."
"I can't do it, Matt. I've tried—I've been trying my whole life—to be better. I can't outsmart Near." He moves a little closer to the edge, the toes of his boots hanging over. "If he can't do it, if L couldn't—how can I?"
"You're right, you're not good enough. Go ahead and jump."
He is dumbstruck. His blue eyes widen greatly and he stares down at the other boy.
"But before you do, let me remind you: L worked alone. Near works alone." Matt fishes through his pocket and produces another cigarette. He places it in his mouth but doesn't light it. "We work together. We die together. We triumph together. Understand?"
"We fail together." Mello concludes.
Matt shrugs and produces a lighter. "We can always do this some other night. Besides . . ." The lighter ignites a flame, and the cigarette is soon glowing brightly again. "We're not meant to die like this."
"Not with Kira winning." Mello agrees quietly.
Matt nods. "Not without a fight. Near uses his mind, but we play with guns. If we're gonna let them kill us, let's at least stir up some hell and go down in flames."
It only takes another minute or two of talking before Mello is on his way back down from the roof. Matt breathes in the smoke heavily and returns his gun to its holster. He grins to himself as he looks up at the sky and exhales another dark cloud. This is such an interesting game they played almost every night—so funny that he can win with little more of a weapon than Mello's own treacherous heart.
The gun was never loaded.
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Just an interesting idea I had. I've always thought that Matt had a lot of influence and power over Mello but that he chose not to exercise it unless it was really needed. Anyway, I hope you all liked it and please share your thoughts!
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