[disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of it's characters. I merely am writing a fictional story involving them. This takes place in an alternate story where Mello does not die so I'm sorry for any confusion it might cause.]

Blood

Chapter One

There were gun shots in the distance. Their piercing scream rang through the ears of one blonde haired boy who was in a dire situation as of late. His victim, whom he was holding at gunpoint, trembled in fear but was too alerted to the devestating sound. A barrage of them sounded off, almost as if they were unending. The blonde boy's arm which carried the concealed weapon shook ferociously as he listened still to the raining of bullets. Once they came to a stop, his heart felt as if it had plummeted off of a large ravine and splattered against the rocks below. Forgetting the situation he was currently in, Mello dropped his weapon and rushed out of the enclosed storage area that he had been hiding in with his victim and dashed off towards the area he had heard the noises from. He came to a rural area surrounded with police cars surrounding one small red car. There was blood all about the scene. Mello kept himself hidden securely behind one of the buildings close by, just close enough to see what poor soul had been gunned down. His heart raced faster and faster as the image of the victim had become increasingly more clear as the police men moved away and off to a much more important situation. There, laying in a pool of his own blood and bodily fluids, was Matt.

Mello's eyes widened and tears started to form in his tear ducts. He felt as if his insides had exploded into a gorey mess and his head became increasingly lighter and lighter. As the tears poured down his face, Mello ran over to the body of his fallen comrade. He knelt down in the pool of blood and took Matt's corpse into his shaking arms. It was cold... so very cold. He held the red-head's body against his own, careless about the blood dripping from it. He just continued to cry upon he other boy as he had just lost his best and only friend. Mello lifted his head to the sky as the rain began to pour dramatically upon him. Mello's mind was telling him he needed to get out of the rain but his body refused to budge as he just wept profusely. His mind had left the planet Earth and drifted to a realm of sorrow and despair.

How could this have happened...?

Why did this happen...?

Mello finally snapped back to reality and looked around him. He heard the sirens of police cars advancing towards his location. He needed to get out of there. But he couldn't just leave Matt, regardless of the fact that he was no longer with him. Mello's mind began to race. He looked around and noticed an unoccupied car. He stood up and mustered the strength to drag Matt's lifeless body over to it and put him in the passenger's seat. Mello climbed into the driver's side and jump-started the ignition so that he could get out of there as fast as he could. Stepping on the gas, he made his hasty escape.

Mello's tears continued to flow down his cheeks as he approached his secret hideout: a well hidden, run-down tool shed secluded from the masses of people and the rest of the world. Mello wanted to be alone. He stopped the car and looked over at Matt's body. It was still bleeding. Mello took Matt's goggle's off of his lifeless eyes and looked upon his face. It looked as if Matt were merely sleeping and that he would wake up any moment and pull out his video games. But Mello knew better than to expect that.

After he felt his heart couldn't take anymore of his dead friend's company, Mello departed the vehicle, leaving Matt inside. He opened the door to his hideout and threw himself on the makeshift couch he had achieved a while back. He held Matt's goggles close to him, sobbing uncontrollably.

Three cheers for tyranny...

He clenched Matt's goggles in his hardened fist and pulled himself into the fettle position. He didn't want to move; he didn't want to live. No... not without Matt, the one with whom he did everything with. The one he cherished... the one who got him through the good times and the bad times... the one he loved...

Unapologetic apathy...

"I just want my friend back..." he sobbed pathetically.

Suddenly, the room got a bit colder and an ominous presence could be felt, as if it were biting into one's very soul. Mello's heart stopped, afraid to turn around and look at what was clearly there. His head rotated very slowly over his shoulder and there, standing in the darkness, was none other than a Shinigami. Mello threw himself in terror over the side of the couch, screaming with fright. The Shinigami just stared at him and chuckled. Its flesh was the color of lava and it bore razor sharp teeth and a devilish grin. Its hair, dark as night, covered the top of its cranium and along its arms and the back of it's ankles. It had torn devilish wings and a impish tail that wrapped around its body. It was truly a terrifying sight.

"W-W-W-WHO ARE YOU?" Mello screeched in terror.

The Shinigami laughed a bit.
"Who am I? Why I'm the one who is going to grant your wish, dear boy."

Mello stared at it, unsure of what it was talking about.

"...wish...?" he said in a confused state.

The Shinigami let out a chuckle again.

"Didn't you say you wanted your friend back...? Well, I can arrange that for you."

Cause there ain't no way that I'm coming back again.

Mello jumped up to his feet, his fear leaving his body and excitement entering.

"You can bring Matt back?" he said in a frantic voice.

"I can. I can do anything I please." it said, floating over to the couch and taking a seat. Mello stood in front of it, staring down at it in a cautious mannor.

"What's the catch?" he asked in a stern tone.

The Shinigami looked up at him, cackling a bit.

"Ah smart boy. You knew this wouldn't be a free task."

"Just tell me what I have to do and I will do it." Mello said in absolute confidence.

The Shinigami pondered for a bit, trying to decide what to have the blonde boy do in exchange for his best friend to be given back his life. A moment later, an idea came to mind.

"I want you to kill."

Mello took a step back and turned away. He wasn't sure that he could agree to that. Images of Matt flowed through his mind. He desperately needed him. He wanted him. All caution was thrown away as Mello turned to the Shinigami once more.

"In what manor of the sense?"

"I want you to kill the masses and collect their blood so that I can feed upon it. Nothing tastes better than human blood I say." the Shinigami stated evily with a menacing grin on its face.

Mello stood unmoved nor shaken by the agreements of the deal. There was a long pause and a silence that could have driven someone mad.

"DEAL."

The Shinigami laughed loudly and boisterously as it took flight into the air. It looked down upon the blonde boy and with a snap of its fingers vanished into a black cloud of smoke. Mello coughed a bit and looked around the room to find he was once again alone. He looked down at Matt's goggles and then around the room. No sign of him. Could the Shinigami have lied to him? Did he just make a grave mistake?

Just then, there was the rattling of the doorknob and a scratching at the door. Mello's heart lept and he turned around, clenching Matt's goggles in one hand and drawing out his other gun from his side and pointing it in the door's direction. The door finally opened slowly, Mello's arm shaking in fear whilst holding his gun. Boot steps could be heard entering. A moment later, the bloody body of Matt entered the room, pale as a ghost. Mello's eyes widened and he dropped his gun to the floor. Matt stood there, cracking a smile at the blonde.

"H...Hey Mello... I think I'm hurt pretty bad..." the red-head said holding his abdomen tightly.

Mello rushed over to his comrade and helped him onto the spare bed. Matt coughed and cringed with pain as Mello lifted his shirt to examine the wounds. To his surprise, the bullet holes had closed up and now resembled just mere scars, but the blood seemed to be coming from them still.

After fixing his friend up, Matt began to chat with Mello. Mello told him everything, about the ambush, about the police men, about the gunshots, and about the Shinigami. At first it seemed as though Matt didn't believe Mello but seeing as how Mello would have no reason to make something like that up, he had no choice but to believe him.

"Well... thank you for all you've done for me, Mello... you're a good friend."

Mello stared at the window in the little place.

"I want revenge, Matt."

Matt sat up a little and looked at him, confused by his words.

"What are you talking about? Everything's fine now."

Mello slammed his fist on the side of the bed.

"NO! It's part of my deal anyway. I need to give him blood, and gallons of the stuff. I need to fulfill my agreement and avenge you."

He stood up menacingly, turning to his friend.

"And I know just where to start." he said with an evil grin on his face.