A/N: It's 2 in the morning, and I just had to write this in response to reading chapter 99. The idea simply wouldn't leave me alone. This is unbetaed, due to the time, so any mistakes are entirely my faulty.
Summary: Mello joins the others that Light has killed as they wait for Judgment. It's an interesting reunion, to say the least.
Our Dearly Departed
Being dead was decidedly odd, Mello decided.
He could feel himself going up and up and up, but it wasn't like flying or anything. He was just sort of floating, without trying to. He had seen his body crumple under him while he was flung free, and now he was just sort of hanging in the air, moving upward, though he didn't know to where.
Apparently, he'd find out when he got there.
Mello idly picked at his nails as he continued to rise, feeling his head go through clouds, a distinctly odd sensation, while birds flitted around. He saw a sort of cloud-enclosure up ahead of him, and realized he was approaching it at rapid speed.
When he got there, Mello was surprised to discover that there were others waiting for him.
"Mello!" A familiar figure exclaimed, rushing towards him, engulfing him in a huge hug. "I'm so glad to see you!"
"Matt?" Mello asked, uncertain.
"Who else would it be?" he responded, and the man pulled back, exposing him familiar to Mello.
"I don't know," Mello said flatly, looking around the cloud-made area. "I don't really know what to expect anymore.
"Hello, Mello." He turned.
"Watari!" Mello exclaimed, a rare grin spreading across his scarred face. "You've been gone a long time, old man, but you haven't changed a bit!"
"You have," Watari said, smiling slightly. "I don't remember your hair ever being quite that long, or that ghastly scar on your face."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Mello said, impatiently brushing his hair behind an ear. "Where are we, anyway? How come you and Matt are here?"
"This is where we wait for judgment," a young Japanese woman told him, stepping forward. "All of Kira's victims wait here, whether direct or indirect. Waiting for judgment takes years, so they keep us all in a place where we have something in common with those around us."
"Mello, this is Naomi Misora," Watari said courteously. "She and her husband were killed by Kira."
"You mean Light Yagami," Mello said bluntly. Naomi's eyes darkened, but she nodded.
"Sorry about that," Mello said airily, not really sorry at all, as he turned to glance around. "So everyone Kira hits is here, right?"
"That's correct," Watari said, as Mello cast his gaze around the room in the sky.
Besides Watari, Matt, and Naomi, there were many, many people in the room. The majority of them were all huddled together, a distinctly rough-looking bunch, which Mello presumed to be all the criminals Kira had killed. He recognized Lind L. Taylor among them, the man L had gotten to take his place on national TV. He also recognizes a punk-looking businessman, who Mello vaguely remembered as the guy Light and L had caught from the Yotsuba group, thinking he was Kira.
Speaking of L...
Looking around rapidly, Mello's eyes zeroed in on a familiar young boy sitting in an odd style on the edge of the cloud, looking down at the earth, his hair in disarray.
"L!" Mello cried.
L looked up at hearing his name, and, upon seeing that it was Mello, cracked a rare smile.
Overcome with emotion at the sudden reappearance of his long-time friend and mentor, Mello flung himself at L, intending to crush him in a fierce bear hug, only to have L nimbly move out of the way, letting Mello crash to the ground.
Mello groaned and rolled over, looking up at L, who was peering down at him blankly.
"You kidnapped Kiyomi Takada?" L said flatly.
Mello groaned. "Nice to see you too, L," he responded.
L offered a hand, and Mello let his friend pull him up.
"Thanks," Mello said, brushing bits of cloud off of his biker jacket.
"Why did you kidnap Takada-san?" L asked, completely ignoring Mello's thanks. Mello rolled his eyes.
"I don't know," he said, exasperated. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. I could kidnap her and use her as hostage to bargain with Light. It would've let me catch Kira before Near did as well."
"Your plan may have worked, except for the fact that Takada-san had a piece of a death note on her that she used to kill you at the first available opportunity," L said idly.
"I didn't plan on that," Mello admitted.
"Ah, but Mello, you must always plan for everything," L said in a wise tone. He crouched back down to the cloud. "I believe someone is about to join us," he remarked casually, watching the ground below. Mello sat down beside him, interested beside himself.
Fascinated, Mello watched as an exceedingly familiar young woman rose up to join them on the cloud, looking disoriented and scared when she landed.
"Takada?" Mello asked in astonishment, leaning closer to look. "Kiyomi Takada?"
Rubbing her eyes, Takada glanced up, only to freeze when she looked at Mello, her pupils wide with fear.
"There's no way," she said, her tone scared. "I killed you. I wrote your name on that paper just like Light said, and I watched you die."
"We're all dead here," Mello told her. "We've all been killed by Kira's plans." Mello paused, confused. "Wait – if that's so, then how are you here?"
Takada shook her head. She didn't know either.
"Light-kun wrote her name in his death note," L announced, not bother to look up to address the little congregation that had formed. "After she had killed Mello and had delivered the message to Mikimi, Light did not need her anymore, and so, he disposed of her."
Mello snorted, while Takada's eyes widened, aghast.
"Light- Light killed me?" she asked, disbelieving. "He actually killed me? After all I did for him? After all we shared?"
"Apparently," L said simply, before returning to look off his cloud.
"Killing his own girlfriend," Mello remarked, looking at Takada, who's lip was quivering, like she was about to cry. "That's cold."
"I have long since deduced that Light-kun is a sociopath," L remarked, finally coming over to join the conversation. "He does not possess the ability to feel any real emotion or guilt, and he uses it to his advantage whenever possible. I do not think Light can ever really feel love."
Takada started crying quietly.
Mello's eyes narrowed as he scooted away, while L just looked decidedly disconcerted. The Wammy House had never taught them how to deal with hysterical females. That was Light's area of expertise.
"Aw, it'll be alright," Naomi said, coming over to envelop the other girl in a hug, who gratefully turned to sob into her shoulder. "Light's a jerk. He got us all. But don't worry. It'll only get better from here."
Mello and L watched as Naomi softly rocked the sobbing girl back and forth as if taking care of a child, crooning comforting words in her ear. They exchanged a glance before returning to the edge of the cloud.
"Takada-san killed you instead of Light killing you directly," L mused, toying with his thumbnail. "I suppose that's close enough to qualifying to count, seeing as how far under his spell Takada truly was."
"Did Light kill you and Watari also?" Mello asked, though he already knew the answer. L turned sharply to look at him, but his eyes were tired and resigned.
"Yes," he sighed. "Light-kun finally managed to best me in the end. It was an admirable battle, though. Very admirable."
"But you lost," Mello pointed out. "Who cares if it's admirable or not if you lose you life on it?"
L turned and fixed him with a piercing, searching look, before turning away.
"You will understand, in time," L said quietly.
The two sat there for a while, deliberately tuning out the two girls and the conversation between Matt and Watari.
"Hang on a tic," Mello said suddenly. "If I'm dead, and you're dead, and Light's got the entire Japanese Police Force wrapped around his finger, that leaves only Near to fight against him."
L looked at him. "That's correct," he said.
"We're doomed," Mello groaned, collapsing backwards onto the cloud. "We are so doomed. Light is going to win."
"Why do you say that, Mello?" L asked, his tone betraying no emotion save polite curiosity.
"Because if Light prepared enough to have a course of action if Takada ever got kidnapped, there'sno way Near will ever beat him," Mello said flatly.
"An interesting opinion," L remarked. "We shall see."
"I think Near has a chance," Watari remarked, walking over to join them. "Near was always good at well thought-out methodical plans and anticipating his enemy's move, while you were more of the impulsive detective."
"So?" Mello said shortly.
"I agree with Watari," Naomi said, adding her own opinion. "I've watched what's going on between you two, Near, and Light for the past few years, and I think Near stands a decent chance."
"If I can't beat Kira, no one will beat him," Mello said stubbornly.
"Come now, Mello," Watari said, laying a gentle hand on his student's shoulder. "Surely it's better to have your rival triumph over your enemy than having Kira destroy and rule the world?"
Mello grudgingly nodded.
"See, then? It's a good thing that Near stands a chance, then. In fact, I think that Near will be the one to prevail, in the end."
"Why's that?" Mello asked, curious despite himself.
"I think Light's underestimated Near," Watari said crisply. "The young Yagami boy never was very good at treating people as equals or lowering his own arrogance."
Strangely, Mello felt a shot of hope jolt through his heart at this.
"Yeah," Matt added in. "Near may not look like much, but his heart is where is counts, and there's no way Light'll be able to break that."
"Hear, hear!" Naomi echoed, smiling. The group laughed, before joining in at rapid speed.
"He takes after L."
"He's obsessed with mysteries."
"He's never failed at anything."
"He picked the location."
"The SPF are loyal to him."
"He's short enough to knee Light in the balls, if necessary."
"He's been in these types of situations before."
"He's gone over every possible result thousands of times with his little toys."
"Guys?"
The group paused, interrupted, and simultaneously turned to face a young boy with gray hair, looking at them all with wide, interested eyes.
"Mello? L? Watari?" he said blankly. "What are you guys doing here?"
A collective groan went up from the group, their last hope in hell gone, while Mello just smirked to himself. He knew that if he couldn't catch Kira, there was no way that Near would ever stand a chance.
"Guys? Where am I?" Near asked, biting at his lip, worried. Sighing, Mello turned to explain as the others watched the unraveling conflict below, wondering if things would ever change.
If you read it, please review! Even if you didn't like it, still, please let me know what you thought! Many thanks!