A/N: Sorry for the longer than normal wait for this chapter, everyone. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, though! I kind of put off writing this, because I'm starting to get freaked out over whether or not I'll be able to include all the necessary flashbacks. As fair warning, I might have to have some chapters that are just flashbacks, just to make everything fit. Please bear with me... Alright, well, I worked really hard on this chapter, so please let me know what you think. I'll try to get to work on the next one soon, as well!

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the characters used in this story.


Chapter 7: Wall

'Just one more level…' Matt told himself, quickly pressing the 'x' button to hit the targeted guard. 'Just one more…I've got this. I can do this. I just need to get into the castle, and then kill the head man. That's all I—' Three new guards suddenly appeared to help their fallen comrades.

'What? You can't call for backup! That's cheating!' He glared down at the miniature screen held between his hands, turning his character and furiously pushing combo buttons in an attempt to better get rid of them. However, it seemed the more he knocked out, the more they appeared around the corner, the more his health was being depleted…

'I can…Just one more…just need to…' But as his dying character ran, another guard ran up to catch him, shoving a sword through his character's stomach. Through orange goggles, Matt watched as the main character gave a guttural scream before falling to his knees and onto the stone floor.

GAME OVER.

He groaned, leaning back on the couch and looking at the monitors in front of him for the first time in what he guessed had to be at least twelve hours. A quick scan of them showed nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing interesting. He switched off his game and grabbed his smokes from his pocket.

No more smoking in the apartment. Light that cigarette and I swear I'll burn you with it, Mello's words echoed inwardly. 'Oh yeah…Mr. Dad is being all overprotective of his son.' He sighed, standing up and looking around the apartment as he pulled his goggles up onto his head and off his eyes, observing the way the empty room was lit only by the rays of a midday sun. It warmed the apartment, but he knew well enough that it was still December out, which would still make it cold out.

'I wonder where he went, anyway…I haven't seen him since he came in last night after visiting Near's, he reminded himself with a small shrug as he grabbed his abandoned vest from the back of a chair and slipped it on, heading out of the apartment to have a smoke, hoping that through that, it would calm his nerves enough to be able to beat his game.

Descending the floors, he exited out into a normally abandoned alleyway between their building and the one beside it, which was positioned on a quiet street. They might've been in the slums of New York, but at least it was quieter here.

He instantly spotted Mello sitting on the curb by the building, blue eyes watching Michael dribble a basketball, every once and a while trying to throw it into a makeshift metal basketball hoop that'd been made and put up on the opposite building's brick wall.

Michael instantly looked over at him, grey eyes glittering in the sun. His cheeks were flushed from the activity and the bracing cold weather, though it hardly seemed to be bothering him too much as he'd abandoned his coat off to the side, running around instead in just his jeans and a short sleeved shirt. "Hey Uncle Matt!" Michael called, waving at him. "Watch this, watch this!" He took the basketball and threw it with all his might to try and get it through the hoop, though it just fell short, bouncing off and back at him.

Matt chuckled. "Good try, Michael. Keep working at it and you'll be a basketball star one day!" he told him with a smile, going over and sitting next to his friend. "You've got one crazy kid, Mels. What're you thinking letting him run around out here without a jacket on?" he berated lightly as he pulled out his cigarettes and lighter.

Mello's azure orbs moved over to him. "And what are you, his mother?" he chided. "I gave him an old one of mine to wear, but he won't do it. Says it's not cold." He sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his head on them, his eyes again fading even as they followed Michael around the alleyway. "He's going to catch a cold."

Matt shrugged. "Yeah, but who does that remind you of?" he said with a knowing grin.

Mello's brow raised in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Matt chuckled. "Oh, I don't know…just that I distinctly remember a mini-you wanting to play outside in the middle of January in less than what Michael's wearing just because Roger told you you couldn't."

Mello scoffed. "It's different!"

"Why, because you're actually his father and care whether he gets sick or not?" Matt teased, taking a drag of his cigarette and letting his eyes go back to Michael. Things fell quiet between the two genii for a long minute before Matt flicked off a piece of ash from his cigarette. "So…what happened with Near?"

Mello's eyes hardened. "I don't want to talk about it!"

"You're the one who said you were going to tell me today, Mels. Come on, now. Could it really be that bad? Anything less than what you were expecting?" He put the white stick to his lips again.

"I don't know what I was expecting," Mello admitted, his eyes remaining averted from Matt. "I just wanted answers. I wasn't even going to tell the bastard I had Michael. It just kind of slipped out…" The blonde lowered his head to his arms that were now folded together on his knees, reliving the cold fear when he had, for the first time, watched Near stop, turn, and be completely taken aback by something he'd done. For the first time, Near had miscalculated.

"What did he do?" Matt asked, watching Mello carefully.

"Told me that I was a fool, basically." The blonde's head rose suddenly. "Some nerve! He abandons our kid and then tells me I'm the fool for wanting him?" His fist clenched. "Even if the asshole did tell me I could have him…" He cut himself off, shaking his head as if to force the words from being uttered. "As if I need his permission to raise my own son." Blue eyes looked out to Michael, who was still dribbling the ball, trying to make the hoop.

Michael had said he liked soccer, but the only thing out here for him to play with was an abandoned basketball. He'd never played basketball before, but he was a smart boy, and had quickly gotten the gist of it. Mello smiled momentarily, overtaken by a wave of pride.

"Is he…going to be involved or anything?" Matt had to ask, though knowing the younger genius, chances of that were slim to none.

Mello shook his head. "No…"

"Are you just going to take that?"

Blue orbs flicked over to the smoker. "What do you mean?"

Matt took a long drag of his cigarette before pulling the stick away from his lips and speaking as the smoke escaped them. "Are you just going to let him not be involved with him? That's not really fair to Michael, is it? Especially with the way your life revolves around Near…"

Mello bit his tongue to keep himself from shouting how his life didn't revolve around the youngest successor for in the back of his mind, he knew it was true. Whenever his thoughts were left to their own devices, they always fell onto Near. That fact was nearly doubled now that Michael was involved.

"Michael wants to meet him," Mello stated simply, without answering Matt's question. Because honestly, he didn't have an answer. "He thinks he did something to cause Near to not want him."

"You mean besides existing at all?"

Mello shoved Matt, toppling him over to the concrete and glaring daggers into him. "Don't you ever—!"

"Calm down, Mels! You know I'm just kidding," Matt chuckled, righting himself into a sitting position once more. "But…" his tone died back down into seriousness as green eyes looked out to Michael, "you know it probably is true. That probably is what Near thinks. You know how he is. Distant. Cold. Objective. Michael probably would've stood in his way."

"Matt…" Mello muttered quietly. "I already heard it from him last night. I can't hear that again."

The friends lapsed into silence, Matt's emerald eyes looking over at Mello who still watched his son play by himself. He put his dying cigarette between his lips and slung an arm around his best friend's shoulders. "What I'm trying to get at, Mello, is that you can't just let Near decide that he's not going to be in Michael's life! You have to at least fight back! You have to change his mind. If anyone can get inside that guy's head, it's you!"

Mello couldn't help chuckling, but instantly the logistics of the situation destroyed the lightheartedness of Matt's comment. "I would, Matt, but I can't do that. He was genuinely…shocked when he found out. He told me he wouldn't interfere with my raising him, but I don't know what he might do if I try to force that on him. I'd hate to see what he could pull on me when he's backed into a corner…"

Matt's eyes narrowed. "Look at Michael, Mello. Are you just going to let him go through his life thinking he did something to cause this? Are you going to let him grow up holding a grudge against you for knowing and getting to see Near when he couldn't?"

Mello drew back. "No…"

"Then you need to get back there and leave him no other option but to see Michael! You have to get in his head and convince him that he's wrong, and that this is his best course of action! Lie to him if you have to!"

"I don't want to lie to him! I want him to genuinely want to see the son he gave birth to!" Mello retorted instantly, remaining pulled back from Matt.

Matt pulled back and patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly. "Desperate times, my friend! With Near, you have no other choice but to pull out every stop."

Mello finally sighed. "Alright, alright, fine." Pulling away from Matt, he dug in his jacket pocket for his phone. "I'll call Near and see if there's anything we can set up. He seemed pretty intent on not seeing me anymore, though."

However, before he got the chance to open the red flip phone and dial the number for the SPK building, he heard Michael's voice call to him, taking his attention away.

"Daddy!"

Blue eyes shot up instantly to Michael, who stood beside the abandoned basketball, one arm reaching around to the other and scratching at it, his face sad and pained. "My arms hurt..." he complained pitifully.

Mello broke from Matt's grip and stood up instantly, going closer and kneeling in front of Michael, confusion written on his face. "What do you mean your arms hurt, Michael?" he asked, taking the boy's left arm that had been scratching the right and looking the exposed pale flesh over.

Upon observation, he saw that the skin was a light pink instead of its normal creamy pale. His confusion turned into shock at what saw before him, his eyes looking back at Michael's sad and confused ones. "Why does it hurt, Daddy?" the boy asked quietly as Matt stood from his spot and walked over to the two, watching from behind him.

"It looks like you have sunburn on your arms, Michael," Mello commented quietly. "How could you burn this easily? We were barely out here a half hour."

Matt scoffed. "Sunburn in December. Who'd have thought?"

Mello didn't respond, but suddenly scooped his son from the ground, standing and heading to the door leading back into their apartment. Michael instantly struggled against him. "No! I wanna keep playing! It doesn't hurt, Daddy! I promise! Please? I wasn't done playing!"

"No," Mello replied firmly. "I don't want you to get burned anymore than you are now. I promise I'll bring you back out to play soon, Michael. Alright?"

Matt followed after, quickly picking up the abandoned coat Mello'd brought for Michael that was by the wall. "And hey! You know, while you wait to go outside, you can always play video games with me! I'll teach you how to play them."

"No, Matt," the elder blonde deadpanned.

"Why not?"

"You're already a bad enough influence on Michael!" he chided, only half serious, but knowing it'd deflate the gamer's ego.

-:-

"Stop scratching. That'll only make it worse." Mello told his son as he sat him up on the sink counter in the apartment then kneeled down to look in the cupboard for the aloe gel that could be used for Michael's burn. He knew they had some; he'd used it for his own burn after the explosion at his base.

Michael fussed, kicking his legs in frustration. "Why did I get a sunburn?" he pouted, folding his arms together and sneaking in moments of scratching when he thought his father or his uncle Matt, who was leaning on the doorframe, wasn't looking.

Matt shrugged. "My guess would be that you have Near's skin. That sucks…what a bad combination…" he mused out loud to himself, watching Michael's grey eyes shoot down to Mello.

"What's that mean? Am I gonna be able to go play outside again, Daddy?" he asked, panicky now, his eyes pleading to be allowed to do one thing he, like any four-year-old boy, lived for.

Mello couldn't meet his son's pleading look. "Matt, go away! You're not helping!" he scolded, turning just enough to give Matt a glare before resuming his search, pushing aside bottles of various liquids.

"Fine, fine. Just trying to help," Matt said, turning and heading away from the bathroom.

The small room lapsed into silence between the two blondes, but Matt's words had struck a chord with Mello. 'He has Near's skin…but my desire to be outside and be active.' He sighed. 'Matt's right…what a terrible combination for him. I wonder if he has the physical ability to be as active as me or just the will to do it…' He shook off that thought, finally grabbing a bottle of blue gel from the side of the cabinet and standing up, only to find Michael looking down to the floor, downtrodden. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked carefully.

"I'm not gonna be able to play outside any more, am I?" Michael asked quietly, sadly, looking down at his feet that hung off the counter.

"What do you say that for? Of course you're going to be able to!" Mello reassured him. "Though, you probably shouldn't during winter, you know. You'll get sick, and if you're anything like I was as a kid…I know you won't want that," Mello told him with a small grin as he popped open the lid to the bottle and squirted some of it into his hand to put on Michael's arms.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the way his son's grey eyes darted from him to the floor then back again; a sign of nervousness, he knew. "What is it?" he finally asked, taking the small amount of gel and gently beginning to rub it on the young boy's exposed forearms.

"Um…" Michael looked away from Mello, and blue eyes watched as the boy's little hand rose, tugging on a single lock of light blonde hair. "Am I gonna…have a mark like yours? On my arms?" he asked hesitantly.

Mello was confused for a moment, then realized what Michael was talking about: his scar. He swallowed, and exhaled a heavy breath. He hated to talk about it or acknowledge that it was even there. But at the same time, he couldn't do that with his four-year-old son, who of course would be inquisitive about such a thing.

"Of course not," he replied. "The only way you could get a mark like this, Michael, is if you play with fire. They tell you not to for a reason. Learn from what I did and just don't do it. It's not worth it."

He watched as a small smile grew across his son's face, lighting it up in the same way playing outside for the first time since he'd gotten to New York had. The boy giggled. "Of course I don't play with fire! Why did you, Daddy? Did no one tell you that that was bad?"

Mello chuckled, going back to putting the soothing gel on Michael's left arm before repeating the action with his right. "No, that's not what happened. Maybe when you're older I'll tell you the story of what happened. But for now, let's fix this little sunburn you have, alright?"

Michael nodded, but the silence between them didn't last long before his inquisitive eyes looked back at his father. "What's wrong with my Mama's skin?"

Mello stopped. "What?"

"Uncle Matt said that I have skin like my Mama. So…what's wrong with it? Why did this happen?" he elaborated, shrugging his small shoulders and kicking his feet lightly back and forth against the cupboard.

The elder blonde took a moment to think that one over. "Well…Near…has sensitive skin, that's all. Your mother never really went outside either. And since you have the same skin color and sensitivity as Near's, I'm guessing it's just a genetic thing. Something that you and Near were born with," he explained as best he could.

"Oh…" Michael muttered quietly, then looked away for another moment. "Am I really gonna meet my Mama like you promised?"

Mello's heart fell at his son's question. He hated himself for making those kinds of promises when he couldn't be completely sure he'd be able to live up to them. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to break Michael's little heart and tell him that he didn't know. So instead he swallowed hard and muttered, "Yeah. After we're done here, I'm going to call Near about setting something up."

The younger's face lit up again. "Really! I hope she wants to see me and that I'll get to!" he exclaimed excitedly, his feet kicking back and forth even more now.

Mello chuckled, finishing putting the gel on the boy's right arm. "Alright. I think you're done, Michael. Does it feel better?"

The boy nodded.

"Good. You can play inside for the next couple of days till we see how that sunburn does. And then we'll talk about when you can play outside again, alright?"

Michael nodded his head furiously. "Are you gonna call my Mama now?" His eyes were bright and full of a twinkle only possible for children still ignorant towards the real world, untainted by the evil and corruption of mankind.

He nodded. "Yeah, I am. I might have to see Near, though, before that happens, okay? Can you be patient with me for a while, Michael?" Again the boy nodded. "Alright, good." He leaned closer and placed a kiss on the top of his boy's head before picking him up and putting him down. "Now go bug Matt while I call."

Michael smiled and turned. "Okay! Thanks, Daddy!" he called as he ran out.

Mello shook his head with a smile across his face as he leaned against the sink counter and pulled out his phone once more, flipping it open. However, before he could make any move to call the building, he noticed the flashing message across the screen. 'One new voice message'.

Confused, he accepted the message and put it to his ear, his eyes widening the moment he heard that familiar monotone voice. 'You're…calling me, Near? What could be so important now?' he wondered to himself, different variables running through his mind as he exited his voice mailbox and dialed the number to reach Near at the SPK. 'Only one way to find out…'

The phone rang only a few times before it clicked and was answered. Mello instantly felt his heart clench. What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do? Talking to Near had suddenly become such an awkward thing now…

"This is Near," came that calm, collected voice that held all the stability in the world. A quality Mello always envied him for…

Mello swallowed hard and put up his usual confident façade. "You called?"

There was a pause on the other end, to which Mello could almost see those dark and empty eyes looking away for a moment as he twirled a single lock of white hair. "Yes, I did."

"Well this is my returning your 'important' call. What do you want? I'm pretty busy, you know. I have my own investigation to worry about, as well as other responsibilities," he stated, still holding up that image as best he could.

"Right…" Near replied in his usual neutral manner. "I'm sure I'm quite positive in assuming the case is your main priority." He exhaled, but gave Mello no opportunity to cut in before saying, "Come now, Mello. Let's not turn this into an argument. I actually called in order to ask you to come by later. I'd like to discuss the case with you."

Mello's heart instantly dropped. 'He wants to talk about the case? Why?' He sighed. 'He's remaining on target…of course. He can't even just let it go in order to deal with this situation.' Looking away, he had to wonder. 'Maybe…he's pushing the situation away because he doesn't know how to deal with it?'

"Mello?"

"Yeah, fine," he instantly replied, his attention back to the matter at hand. He grinned. "You reconsidered your position and want me to bring him with me, this time?"

"Please don't be foolish, Mello. This is a serious matter and does not warrant your humor at this time."

The small grin remained as blue eyes closed. "So Michael and I will be there around ten, then?"

"Mello."

"Yeah, yeah…I'll be there." He sighed, standing straight and clicking off the phone while feeling a bit of his earlier will to get Near to see Michael diminishing. Either Near was putting up a damn good front to keep any desire he had to see his son back, or he really was just that separated from the situation and didn't want anything to do with him at all. He hated that more and more, Near made him think it was the latter.

Even so, he had to force himself to put that away, and realize that there really was only one way to find out the truth: to take Matt's advice and go to him. There, he could talk, pry, push those buttons and see just what kind of responses Near gave him.

It was time to beat Near at his own game. Manipulation at its best.

-:-

Mello was beginning to think everything between himself and Near would be awkward from now on. It used to be, before all of this, that things needed to be said, but neither of them could acknowledge any of it in order to address it. Things were just better for them that way. But now, it felt like too many words were hanging around them, clogging the air, suffocating them more and more, and neither of them knew what to do about it.

Sitting in that living area with such a tense silence between them almost made Mello want to just get up and walk out. It wasn't worth it. It was obvious that neither of them knew where to start. They both had things they wanted to say to each other, and the Kira case had become nothing more than a clever ruse to hide the real issue at hand.

"According to Mr. Aizawa of the NPA, there were originally two suspects in the Kira case. One of them is the second L; the other is Misa Amane," Near finally spoke, though the words seemed to have no effect on the atmosphere.

Mello sighed, unable to take this any longer. It was hard enough for him to sit here, everything jumbled in his mind without Near trying to keep them behind the false belief of being here just for Kira. Or perhaps Near was there just for the case, and it was the elder successor making it an issue.

"Michael's still asking to see you," he blurted before he could stop himself.

Near never faltered from where he sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by cards he slowly constructed into a wall before him. "That's not what we're here to discuss tonight, Mello. There are more important things to deal with."

"Kira is important, but not as important as our son. He begs me to see you and thinks he did something wrong. I told him I'd talk to you, and I'd bring him to see you."

"You should know better than to make promises you can't keep, Mello." Near placed another set of stacked cards on top of his growing wall, his dark eyes, much like his focus, never moving from the task before him. "In any case, I originally sent him to Wammy's for him to someday become my successor. That was the idea before you got involved."

"He could still be your successor without you having to cut yourself off from him. He's not going to reveal you to anyone, or say anything that'd give your identity away. He just wants to know who his mother is!"

Near paused, looked over at Mello with a blank stare before his orbs moved back to the cards. "If Michael is to someday become my successor, he has to learn not to get emotionally invested. Not even family members."

"He's only four years old, Near. Of course he's going to be 'emotionally invested' in his family. Especially since he just learned he even had one after growing up being told he didn't!"

"At the same age he is, I learned to no longer invest in my family. There is no reason why he cannot do the same."

"There's a difference between you two, Near."

"Oh?" Near stopped a moment as the conversation between them began to get heated. Both knew that this was not going to end well for them and at the same time, they both found themselves unable to stop themselves or each other. Somehow all the pent up frustration and anger at everything began to seep between the normally well-maintained cracks in the foundation. "Enlighten me, dear Mello."

"You didn't have people who actually cared about you as more than a lab rat. Not to mention your son actually has the heart and capacity to forgive."

Near was quiet a moment and in that second, it was impossible for even Mello to read whatever the younger might've been feeling. "If he's as much like me as you say he is, his bleeding heart will dry out soon enough." Grey eyes moved away, but his hands remained on his knees, refusing to pick up where he'd left off.

"You might be surprised how far that unconditional love will go. Besides, could you really allow your own kid to be reduced to such a state that he becomes like you? Do you really want that sort of life and existence for him when you could give him all the things you…we didn't have?"

Grey eyes slowly lowered to the floor, remaining icy and empty. "Like what?"

"Like love! Like knowing that people out there care about him!"

"Are you not providing him with those already? Or are you doubting your own skills?" Near questioned, still in his place.

"I am, but he knows you exist. He knows you're alive, Near. And he wants to know you, too. He thinks he did something to cause you to not want him. Can you really live with that?"

"I'm sure he'll eventually figure out that that's not the case. Unless, of course, one would count his mere existence as his crime," the younger genius commented smoothly as his careful fingers went up to thread through his locks of hair.

Mello was silent for a long moment, unable to fathom what Near had just said. He'd known a different Near than the one that sat in front of him. He'd known one with a heart and a soul, that loved and hated, was fearful and pained, all without ever breaking composure in the toughest of situations. It was when they were alone that that composure was broken. It was something in the art of isolation from the rest of the world that broke down the boy's walls.

But this was different. It was as if his body was here, with no soul to feel or be anything but a shade of what Mello once saw in him. "You're heartless," Mello said, unable to hold back the tremble in his voice. "And here I thought you were actually capable of more than that."

Near exhaled, reaching out a hand that wasn't tied in his white locks to gently flick the wall of cards he'd built before him and watch them collapse to the ground. "Then you were mistaken, dear Mello." His eyes refused to meet the blue, turning them instead to gaze out the window, as if remaining looking away kept him from having to completely face the situation.

"Stop saying that. You have no right."

"Oh? Don't I?" Something in Near's tone felt taunting, as if daring to see how far he could push Mello.

"No. Such a familiar term should be reserved for someone who actually gives a damn about something other than themselves."

"I do," Near replied, his fingers remaining twirled in his hair. "That's why I'm doing everything in my power to bring Kira to justice. Or have you forgotten about that?" He asked, turning a bit back to the blonde, his dark eyes glinting in the light from the outside.

"You're not doing it for him. You're doing it because that's what's expected of you as L."

"You weren't doing it for him either," Near instantly retorted, his eyes moving to the floor. "You were doing it for your own aggrandizement, to prove once and for all that you're better than me."

"I am better than you," Mello said, quietly, azure eyes remaining fixed on the younger's back.

Minutes passed, an eternity, as Mello waited for Near to do something, anything to show what was going through his mind, to give him something to work with. But instead, Near only said this: "If you've nothing more relevant to say, then your presence here is pointless."

And that was that. Near wasn't giving in. Not tonight. Possibly never. Picking up pieces of a heart that was once again broken for their son, Mello stood and turned to pick up his jacket before heading towards the door. Reaching for the doorknob, he turned to look at Near one last time. And once he did, he saw something that truly gave him pause: a single tear trailing down his rival's face.

Near hadn't budged from his spot, merely reaching one hand out for the mess of cards on the floor and beginning to rebuild the wall around him. Mello found himself beginning to wonder in that second if the wall of cards was more literal than he'd ever given it credit for. Fragile and full of holes, but a wall of protection nonetheless.

His rivals every feature remained completely solid and perfectly aligned even when he sensed the lingering presence of his rival.

"Please go."

Only then did Mello leave, closing the door softly behind him, his mind ringing with so many thoughts, and chief among them this: What do I tell Michael now?


A/N: Well, there you go. There's the new chapter. I originally had the meeting longer than it was here, but my wonderful beta stopped me at the last minute and talked some sense into me. So, the rest of it will be saved for a later meeting. We'll see what happens. Anyway, there was more view from Mello's side. Slowly I'd like to start showing more from Near's, but even so, there was some view of what he was thinking, here, obviously by the end. So... what's going to happen? Guess we'll see! Let me know what you think!

Please review
-Forbiddensoul562