A/N: Wow… It's been since March since this story has been updated. Believe me when I say that I am very sorry about that long time. I ran out of ideas as to what to do at this point and I figured I would just start again when I had an epiphany on it. But that never happened. Thanks to Mrsrocklee20 for kicking me until I decided to do this again. And for helping me with ideas!
Note: italics at the end of this chapter = Flashback
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or the majority of the people used in this story.
Chapter 10: The Usual Competition
Mello walked up and leaned against one of the chairs, his skeptical eyes searching me for something that I couldn't read. More than likely, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
In that moment, I was glad that I was able to put up a god façade to hide everything going through my mind.
It was as if we were silently back to our old games. Each of us thinking… planning, almost, and trying to figure out what the other was thinking at the same time.
It was as if we hadn't yet consciously realized that, for once, we were working on the same side. This wasn't a contest between us anymore. We were a team. And yet I knew that Mello was still in the same mindset as he always used to be.
That was just him.
Leaning against one of the chairs near me, I watched the way he seemed to rock back and forth as if he wanted to move again. Then again, Mello's never been one to like staying in one place for too long. Unless it was necessary, or important to him, then he was fine.
His blue eyes, piercing in their nature to anyone that didn't know him, were locked only with mine. For a brief moment it was as if we were perfectly mirrored. With each tick I made with my eyes he mimicked the action.
Oh God, how I'd missed this. I couldn't have this much fun with anyone else.
Finally his look hardened on me, as if seeing past this little one-on-one game between us. Of course he always had to be the one to ruin my fun.
"So what the hell are we going to do now?" He asked, sounding particularly annoyed. Maybe he thought I was seeing something that I shouldn't. When in reality, all I saw in his eyes was the hollow reflection of myself.
I finally tore my stare away from him and looked down to the dusty wooden floor beneath us. What a good question. What were we going to do now?
I would have chuckled to myself if such a thing was like me. I was so good at planning, and manipulating so things went my way. But in the presence of Mello… things were fogged, and harder to plan.
Why?
I pushed the thoughts and wonder away so I could properly think about this. What were we going to do? I supposed… ideally, the thing to do would be to head back to the SPK building in order to look over the criminals.
I spoke before I could even finish the thought. "We should go to the SPK first. We can look over the victims before and organize some better plan of action there."
Mello rolled his eyes, and I knew before he even spoke that he was going to contradict that with the most polar opposite thing he could think of. That was just how he always was. That's how we worked.
Always that unspoken competition.
"That would be a waste of time." He stated. "What we should do is just head straight to Vegas and have your worker people meet us the-." He cut himself off, looking back at me seriously. "Do you still have those same people working for you?"
I knew what he was getting at. I'd already thought about it too. "Rester is the only one that still works for me." I stated.
"So how do you plan on explaining my sudden reappearance to him? He knows I died in that fire." He stated.
I looked down to the floor as he said that. Memories suddenly flooded past my sights. I remembered setting off time for him… for that time when I had to go and identify Mello and Matt's bodies.
Rester had taken me there… and while he hadn't seen it… he knew that it'd happened. "I haven't figured that out yet." I stated, trying to bring myself back to this reality instead of thinking back to that one… that nightmare.
Mello didn't seem to notice my revert back into my mind. "See? That's even more reason for us to just go and let them meet us there!" He countered.
My eyes trailed back to him as I thought about this. Things were probably already looking highly suspicious for Rester and the others. But… I could always just assert my authority over them and…
I paused. That wasn't like me. Things just fell into place! This was a puzzle! Just one huge puzzle. However, the pieces were highly scattered, and I supposed that it was that that was making this so frustrating for me.
"Hey." I looked up to Mello, and all of a sudden a black cell phone was thrown my way. Catching it, I looked to him for explanation. "Call your goons and tell them to set something up for us and meet us there." He said.
I looked down at the phone. "They're not going to know this number, that's a little bit suspicious." I told him, knowing that Rester would probably order the call traced. Which meant I needed to act quickly.
Mello simply shrugged –obviously not caring. "Let them wonder a little."
I looked down at the phone, trying not to wonder where he'd gotten this. It was definitely an older model. I supposed maybe he had it somewhere around here and it was just another thing that was left to be forgotten.
I flipped it open and dialed the number that I knew went directly to the investigation room of the SPK.
Predictably, Rester was the one who answered. "Who is this?" Good, I thought to myself. Don't bother with formalities; just get straight down to business.
"It's Near." I said simply, waiting to see what his next words would be. I knew not to waste time, but I was curious to know what he would say.
"Sir!" He said, I heard him tell the others to track the call. I had to stop that now. Sure, they didn't know where Mello's hideout was, but that wasn't the point. The point was that I didn't want to feel like I was being watched.
"No, do not track this." I told him; even I could hear how suspicious this was sounding. 'Wonderful, Mello, just wonderful.' I thought to myself.
Rester was obviously taken aback by my words, but he didn't say anything. I took this as my moment to fill in the blanks and get it over with. "Rester, I'm heading out to Nevada now. I need you to organize a place for this investigation to happen." I explained quickly.
"You're going now?" He asked. "Alone?"
"No, I'm not alone." I looked forward and watched Mello's eyes flick back to me. 'Yes, Mello, you wonder about what is going to happen now.' I thought.
"Who are you with, sir?" He asked in pure wonder.
"I can not disclose that information at this time." I stated as the fingers of my free hand began twirling a lock of hair. "Just organize what I have told you, and meet us out there as soon as you can."
He was quiet for a long moment. "Yes, sir. We'll call you as soon as we are." He finally said.
I nodded instinctively. "Thank you, Rester." And without another word I shut the phone –thus cutting the connection. I felt sort of… bad for having to be this secretive around my own second in command. But what else could I do? I had yet to find a way to tell him about Mello.
Speaking of which I looked back to him, our eyes locking for a long minute before he spoke. "Come on, let's go." He turned from me and headed towards the front door.
I couldn't help wondering what he was thinking about now. But I bit my tongue, figuring that if I asked, he would find some way to take it the wrong way and blow up about it.
It just wasn't worth that.
When we stepped out of the apartment, Mello simply continued on as though he'd be back in no time. I had to wonder if he thought that was actually true. Or if it was so easy to turn your back on such a… memory-harboring place.
Obviously it couldn't be too hard for him… he'd done it twice before already.
Once, when he'd left Wammy's when we were still kids; when we still had a sense of innocence and were kept away from the realities of the rest of the world.
And the other being when he and Matt had left the night they went to kidnap Takada. I had to wonder what that must have been like. Had Mello known that his time left was severely limited? Had he accepted it? How?
I wanted to ask him so bad, but again I bit back the questions. There was always a time and place for things like that –and this certainly didn't seem like that time.
We continued down and to his car in silence. I wanted to say something to break this silence that seemed to be suffocating me. "How are we getting there?" I asked, blurting the first thing that came to my mind.
As he turned the car on he simply shrugged. "Haven't figured that out yet." He told me. I had to wonder if he was lying or not –saying that just to get to me or something.
Though, at the moment I didn't seem to care, for some reason. My thoughts were beginning to be flooded by things I didn't favor thinking about, and yet couldn't seem to push away.
I rested back in the seat with my eyes looking out onto the road as he drove along silently. My fingers found their way to my hair. Before I knew it, my eyes had slipped closed, and memories from a long off nightmare were taking the place of my reality.
During the Kira case I was in a battle with Kira… that was my first priority. The competition against Mello was something on the side that kept me busy –and kept me interested.
When he was taken out, it hardly seemed to bother me. He was just another player in this game. And, this time, he had lost. I had won now, ultimately.
But now, things were very different. It took me till right up until the end of the case to realize how much Mello had helped me with this. It had been us that'd brought down Kira. He'd helped –definitely.
And upon the end of the case I realized that I would never be able to properly thank him for that. The least that I could do was attribute the win to him.
Now that Kira was finally gone, things were so much quieter. So much more boring. But I knew that ultimately there was still something that I needed to take care of. And, of course, it had to do with him.
Even when he was gone, it seemed that Mello could never let me be. He always had to find a way to mess with me –in one way or another.
I was the only one… so I'd volunteered to identify his and Matt's bodies. I didn't want to… I really didn't. But I knew that if I didn't they would be buried in unmarked graves and God only knows where.
They deserved more than that, I knew. That was why I had to do it. I had to identify them and make sure that they could be buried on Wammy House grounds.
That was why I was having Rester take me to the morgue now; only a few days after the Kira case too.
The next thing I knew I was being led up the steps to the building. I didn't like being here. Not one bit. Just the thought of coming to this place didn't sit well with me to begin with.
I stopped at the door as Rester held it open for me. My eyes were pointed slightly down –to the snow covered steps. My breath came out in visible clouds of white, and for some reason this fascinated me. Each breath going in and out… keeping me alive.
I shook the absurd thought away. "Near?" Rester suddenly asked. I knew what he was thinking. He thought that this was painful for me.
But he didn't understand. There was no way that he could. He hadn't known me long enough, and certainly had never known Mello. Because of that, he could never understand the relationship between us, and what I was feeling.
I wasn't even sure if I knew what I was feeling.
"Stay here, Rester." I told him, looking up and into the seemingly empty building emotionlessly. Detached. That's the perfect word. I was utterly detached from the situation.
I had to be, I wasn't sure if there was any other way for me to deal with this situation other than complete detachment. I suppose I was trying to convince myself that this was the professional way to deal with this situation.
Without another word to Rester I stepped into the building and proceeded through. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I needed to move. If I didn't, I would begin to think about where I was… and why I was here. And I didn't want that so much.
A man, about middle aged, finally appeared to the side. "Oh, hello." He said in a happy tone. I wondered how anyone could appear so happy when they worked in a place like this. "Are you here to identify the two males?" He asked.
I simply nodded in response.
"Alright, come this way." His tone fell slightly and he led me away from the main entrance and into a separate, colder room that was line with tiles and multiple side metal doors, where I figured bodies were being held.
I shuddered at the thought, but allowed myself to step closer –taking a deep breath and biting my lip. But I wasn't sure why. Wasn't I trying to be detached?
The man went over to the wall of doors and opened two. Heh, it didn't surprise me that the two of them were next to each other even now.
Though, I had to look away the moment they became visible. It was just too much for me to look at. These two were some of the ones that I'd grown up with… and now they were gone. It was hard for me to think about.
The man was watching me but I couldn't bring myself to look back, or to even step a bit closer. I knew it was them. Matt, because he still looked like him. Mello… it was just intuitive. I would always know him.
But… it was hard to see him as he was now… burned and all. I hadn't even wanted to look at him when he came to the SPK before, because I'd wanted to preserve how he'd look as a kid… back when things were easier.
But now things were different and I was being forced to see them as they were in their last moments. It was painful and I felt it grip at my heart for reasons I couldn't begin to try and understand.
"The furthest one is Matt." I said with my look still turned away. "The other is Mello." I bit my tongue to stop myself.
"And their last names?" He asked, sounding as though he was logging it down somewhere. I was partly glad that he was –for I did not want to have to repeat anything I said now.
"They don't have last names." Why did I say that? That was stupid, of course they had last names. It just so happened that I didn't know them, and even if I did, that wouldn't be right. That wasn't part of their names. Well… to me, anyway.
"Well… how are we supposed to contact any family?" He asked, confused now. I could feel his dark eyes looking to me as well.
"They don't have any family." I told him. And it was true. We didn't have any family. We had only had ourselves and the damn completion. Though… I supposed the closest thing Mello had had to that was Matt… and he was gone now too. The thought gripped my heart.
I suddenly felt as though I'd led them to their untimely end.
I continued before the man could. "I shall contact some people who will come to take the bodies to where they shall ultimately rest." I said.
He agreed, and I made to turn and leave. However, my eyes finally caught sight of them, and in that moment I couldn't turn away.
It was them in their last moments… and, rather, the last time that I would ever allow myself to see them again. My eyes were on Mello. I remembered all the brief times we'd ever had together… even though the majority of them weren't too good.
But that didn't matter. The closest person I had was now dead before me –taking with him what felt like my very life. Not only that, but the memories, and our competition, and the games that we always had.
"Sir?" The man asked and I forced myself to look at him. I shook my head, to dismiss the thoughts, then forced myself to leave from the room once more. I just couldn't take it anymore.
As I left from the room I felt like I was turning my back on everything… on everything I'd once known. Well… turning my back on what had been my life.
A/N: Well, I think that was pretty good for the three month absence that this took!! I'm going to try and begin updating this as regularly as I possibly can, but with 6 stories undone, I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to do that. Please bear with me! I swear I'll get stuff done soon! What's even better, after this, the chapters should be a bit easier! I even have the next one planned out too!
Please review!
-Forbiddensoul562