Red Snow
''It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.'' - Barack Obama
White lips, pale face. Breathing in snowflakes. Burnt lungs, sour taste. Light's gone, days end. A year after the Kira case, someone starts gunning for every member of the Wammy Houses. MelloOC, MattOC.
Chapter One.
The Wammy House was quieter than usual. Most of the kids were away with family relatives that came once a year. Still more than a handful of kids were scattered around the orphanage. Kids who didn't have any relatives at all. Or relatives that didn't want them or lived too far away.
Mello and Matt were two of those children. They shared a room and had become quite close friends from the moment they'd been stuffed in a room together. But the two thirteen year olds had completely different personalities. Matt could amuse himself for hours with a video game of some sort; Mello was easily bored.
And he was bored right now. The blond chewed on a bar of chocolate, staring blankly at the ceiling from his position on the floor. His hair fanned out around his head and his icy blue eyes tried to pierce holes in the ceiling.
Matt was seated on his bed, leaning his back against the headrest as he mashed on the buttons of his PSP. His standard orange goggles were over his eyes as he lazily yawned, making his way through the levels of his game with ease and not running bored of the game at all.
''Matt,'' Mello finally spoke through the silence, swallowing a mouthful of chocolate and sitting up. ''Matt,'' he repeated, slightly irritated by having to say his name twice. ''Matt!'' the blond glared at the red headed boy on the bed.
''What?'' Matt finally replied, not taking his eyes off the game. ''I'm kinda in the middle of something here, Mels, if you're going to complain that you're bored, go bother someone else,'' he told the boy simply and firmly. Matt wasn't going to budge from his spot on the bed.
''Fine.'' Mello jumped to his feet angrily, grabbing a jacket from his bed and storming out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. He stood still for a moment in the hallway, contemplating on what to do as a flash of white vanished around the corner. ''Near,'' Mello's eyes narrowed and he immediately went on the chase.
If Near was still here it meant he had no one to go to either and it meant he was probably doing something. And Mello had every intention on finding out what that was in case Near was up to something to beat him again. Mello walked around the corner, pausing and quickly jumping back as he spotting Roger opening the door of his office.
The man was talking to one of the servants and Mello could make out two small white figures in the office. One was on the floor and the other was stood near the window. The one on the ground was definitely Near, but who was the other? Mello's eyes were narrowed in suspicion as finally Roger left with the servant, leaving the door to the office slightly open.
Mello took that as his chance and hurried forwards, determined to find out what Near was doing. He stopped just outside the door, peering through the crack. The blond's jaw dropped and his eyes widened when the figure at the window turned around. She was an exact replica of Near - but then female.
Her grey eyes were fixed on Near as she twirled a lock of her snow white hair around her finger. ''Nate,'' she spoke softly, causing Mello's heart to almost stop. The voice was almost melodic. And who the hell was Nate anyway? It took him a moment to register that was Near's real name and that the girl must know Near personally; Mello held his breath when Near looked up at the girl.
''Yes?'' the young boy replied, two toy solider dolls in his hands. He put one down as he saw her twirl her finger, his own hand reaching up to twirl a lock of his own as he gazed at the girl. An older female version of him.
''How are you doing?'' she asked, crouching down in front of him and reaching for a doll. ''I've been thinking of you a lot,'' she smiled, handing Near the doll when he reached for it. The girl smoothed down her hair and slowly looked up. Mello's heart almost stopped again when they locked eyes. His blue eyes widened as her grey eyes looked at him curiously.
It was then that Mello heard Roger's voice coming back and he quickly turned heel and fled the scene. He would have to interrogate Near on the mystery girl later. But now if Roger caught him eavesdropping he'd get the beating of his life. Prodigy or not. If there was one thing Roger didn't stand for it was eaves dropping.
Seven years later the blond boy was lounged across a tattered grey couch, a chocolate bar dangling from his fingers as he gazed at the snowy television. Mello was incredibly confused to why that memory had suddenly crossed his mind. He sat up properly, frowning at the television as he remembered. Mello had completely forgotten about the girl. When he had reached his room again, Matt had challenged him to a video game and by dinner time all thoughts of the girl had vanished.
''I'm back,'' the smell of smoke wafted through the room as Matt returned, closing the door behind him and dropping a brown paper bag on the table in the middle of the room. ''Huh. What's in your face?'' Matt asked Mello, waving a hand in front of his face.
Mello immediately slapped it away, glaring at the red head. ''You shouldn't have even gone out, you need time to recover from your wounds,'' he grunted, standing up and stretching. Mello had fallen asleep on the couch, which had given Matt the opportunity to sneak out.
''Recover my ass,'' Matt retorted, reaching in the paper bag for a bar of chocolate, tossing it to Mello. ''I've had a year of it. As if sitting around and doing nothing will make my recovery go quicker. Bullshit,'' he pulled the packet of cigarettes out from his jacket, followed by the lighter as he sat at the table. Matt lit a cigarette, letting it dangle from his lips as he reached for the gameboy on the other end of the table and flicked the on switch.
''You got shot,'' Mello deadpanned, tearing open the new chocolate bar and discarding the already open one on the coffee table. ''Multiple times,'' he glared at Matt.
''With body armor on,'' Matt pointed out, pointing his cigarette at Mello. ''The only bullets that hit me were the ones in my shoulder. And those were only two,'' he spoke smugly. ''And they healed ages ago.''
A hand came flying down and squeezed Matt's shoulder hard as lips pressed to his neck. He yelped in pain, dropping the cigarette and squeezing his eyes shut in agony. His breathing came out short and fast as the hand pressed down and the lips moved to his ear, nipping his earlobe sharply.
''Mail fucking Jeevas,'' a young woman's voice purred in his ear as soft brunette locks fell over the hand gripping his shoulder. ''When did this shoulder heal exactly?'' Miley Hunter questioned, her other hand on her hip.
''It- it didn't,'' Matt wheezed, trying to pry her fingers off his shoulder. ''Please- let go,'' he groaned, his eyes tearing up in pain behind his goggles. Matt gasped for breath, shooting up and stumbling away from Miley when she let go of his shoulder, glaring at the girl.
''Did I see you step out of your car not five minutes ago and head up here from outside?'' Miley demanded, her hand on her hip. Her dark blue eyes bored into his goggle clad eyes from under her bangs. ''Mihael Keehl!'' she said sharply, spinning around. ''Weren't you supposed to keep an eye on him?''
Mello simply gazed at her lazily, biting a piece of his chocolate and leaning back in his seat. ''I fell asleep,'' he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Miley dug her fingers against the bridge of her nose and sighed loudly.
''It was just a short trip to the store, Miles!'' Matt protested, rubbing his throbbing shoulder and stepping towards her. ''It was nothing bad! And Mello didn''t want to leave the apartment!'' Matt grabbed her hand, pulling it away from her face and smiling hopefully.
Miley tugged away from him, turning her back to both of the boys and shrugging her jacket off. She hung it up on the coat rack which had Mello's leather jacket hanging on it and bent down to undo her bootlaces, pulling knives from them and laying them on the table. The brunette pulled two guns from her belt, placing them also on the table before stepping out of her boots.
''You two are so fucking irresponsible,'' Miley said quietly, still not facing them. She ran her hand through her brunette curls and sighed again. ''Matt, you were proclaimed dead not a year ago. People might recognize your face. And Mello, you're supposed to keep an eye on Matt. Is that too much to ask for?'' she turned around, looking at the boys. ''You used to work for the goddamn Mafia, you've had bigger responsibilties than this.''
Both of them were twenty years old, but both adverted their eyes from the eighteen year old girl's hard stare. She shook her head and walked past Matt, stopping only briefly to give him a kiss on the cheek. ''Don't go out without telling anyone again,'' Miley mumbled, walking on to one of the three doors in the room and shutting it behind her.
Matt and Mello stood in silence for a moment before Mello yawned and stood up again. ''Man, she's so dramatic,'' he grumbled, walking to the fridge and pulling out a beer. ''We can't do anything without her knowing.''
''You know damn well why, Mello,'' Matt replied, sitting back down at the table and picking up his cigarette that had died out. He relit it and picked up his gameboy again. ''There's someone out there gunning for everyone in the Wammy Houses.''
''Yeah well she needs to stop being so uptight about it all,'' Mello rolled his eyes, sitting back down on the couch and turning on the TV with the remote. He flicked through the channels bored, occasionally drinking his beer and snapping bits off his chocolate bar.
The room was filled with silence except for the television and Matt's videogame. A full hour passed with no one speaking until the door slammed open and Miley's unusual pale posture stood in the doorway. Matt immediately jumped up alarmed, looking at the young woman.
''Miles, what is it?'' he asked her, striding across the room towards her. Miley shakily lifted her arm, pointing to her room as Mello also slowly stood up. Matt pushed passed her, entering the small bedroom she shared with him and grabbing her laptop off their bed. ''Mello,'' Matt's voice sounded strangely twisted and Mello barged into the room.
''What!?'' he asked before falling silent and staring at the laptop screen. Miley came to stand besides him and the three stared at the hacked laptop, the screen white except for the big black letter engraved in the middle of the screen.
''Hello Matt, Mello, Miley. This is N.''
A/N:
The full description is on my profile. Also a fair warning, I do have great plans for this story and a lot of explanations but my writing and updating may be slow. I will be doing a flashback at the start of each chapter for each character and the next one will be with Matt and Miley, establishing their relationship and how they met. The flashback will be from Matt's point of view.