I knocked on the door of the small apartment hoping the person who was living there was available to talk to because he almost never was anymore, I suppose I got lucky that day. Maybe it was fate but I'd sooner jump off a building than believe in that whole fate and destiny crap. Matt answered the door and looked very surprised to see me, more surprised than I found comfortable. I mean come on, it wasn't like I was dead again. At first he didn't say anything, then he unexpectedly hugged me, but what surprised me even more was that I hugged back.
"Mels, I'm so glad you're alive. I thought you would've already gotten killed by now." We broke apart and he held me by the shoulders at arms length. He inspected my face more closely and did a double take on my eyes, looking confused.
"Er, Mello, when's the last time you looked in a mirror?" he asked. I shrugged, wondering what was causing him to make that face.
"I dunno. Probably a few days before I left you and the others, why?" I answered
"Come inside, there's something you might want to see." Matt led me through the tiny apartment to the surprisingly spacious bathroom. He gestured toward the mirror on the wall and I looked at my reflection carefully. At first I didn't see anything out of the ordinary until I remembered Matt looking at my eyes. I looked at my eyes and was quite surprised myself. My normally dark blue eyes were literally glowing a very bright shade of blue, it looked beyond unusual.
"What the hell?" To be completely honest with you I wasn't all that surprised, eyes had glowed like this before, but they usually only glowed when I stopped time or the voice came back. The latter took a second to register, but when it did my head started to pound. "Shit."
I fell to the floor in a huge amount of excruciating pain. My head felt like it was about to split open and hitting the edge of the counter on the way down to the hard linoleum did not help with things. I groaned in pain, the pain in my head before was nothing compared to what I was feeling now, it felt like my brain was growing and slowly stretching my skull to its breaking point.
"Mello? Yo, Mello, are you okay?" I heard Matt say. Stupid question. I wanted to say 'Do I LOOK okay to you?' but was in too much pain to do so. I waited for what felt like a year for the voice to come, holding on to the last shreds of consciousness, but it never came. I eventually passed out, cold.
When I opened my eyes again I was in a very familiar room, my bedroom at Wammy's House. I looked around and saw every detail. it felt so peaceful and so real, I couldn't be a dream, it just couldn't. The scene changed. I was in the middle of a burning building, reliving my last moments before I died the first time. All of a sudden I felt heat and an excruciating amount of pain, even worse than the pain in my head just a few moments before. I saw a white light that quickly changed to black and felt nothing, I was dead.
I woke up what must have been a few hours later in a cold sweat. At first I was confused, I wasn't used to sleeping indoors anymore, much less in a bed. I looked around and saw Matt sitting at the foot of the bed staring at me. He didn't look like he had been playing any video games but I might have been wrong. I tried to talk but nothing came out of my mouth. I tried again, confused, but with the same result.
"Matt." I tried to say it several times before he realized something was wrong.
"Mello, can you speak?" I shook my head. "Gimme a sec." He disappeared and came back with a notebook and a ballpoint pen. I took it and scribbled furiously for about 30 seconds before handing the notebook back to him. 'I don't know why but I cant talk, but never mind that, I need some help. Do you know where L is hiding? I am in dire need of talking to him.'
"What's with the fancy wording, Mels?" he said, using the nickname he used for me that he came up with when we were kids. "And why do you need to see L? I thought the main reason you left was because you didn't want to lead the assassins to him and Near."
'I've changed my mind, I really do need to see him. I have traveler problems that I need to speak to him about, you know how he seems to know everything about me before I do.' I scribbled as fast as I could, this whole losing my voice thing was really starting to freak me out. 'Just please tell me where he is, maybe he can help me with this voice thing.' Matt presented me with a strange look.
"You mean you aren't faking it? You legit lost your voice?" He stared at me, grinning stupidly.
'Screw you man. Now are you going to tell me where L is or not?'
"Sorry. Lemme go write the address down for ya." He left the room, leaving me to stare at the spot where he had just been sitting. Matt was a great friend and it made me sad that I couldn't have his help and support all the time. But this was a mission I had to face alone because I was a traveler. I had never hated my life more than at that moment.