CHAPTER 22 - Virus, part 2

KT wasn't sure how long they were lying there before L fell asleep. She was happy that he did, because he needed it. She didn't experience L's anxiety attacks after LA case, but she had enough knowledge from psychology classes, so she had some idea about what was going on. And she could only guess that the fact that L is in love with his prime suspect wasn't making it much easier. It was highly probable that his subconscious was rejecting the relationship in order to save himself and started sabotaging L's body. She didn't know what was going on in his head so she took a guess and it sounded reasonable to her. She could only hope he might wanna talk about it when he wakes up... But he didn't.

"How long was I sleeping?" he asked her with sleepy and teary eyes.

"Just a few hours… Are you hungry? Watari left you a lunch here…" she said and pointed at the conference table. She was currency chewing on grapes she stole from the plate.

L only shook his head. He wasn't in the mood for food.

KT bit his lower lip and finally found the courage to ask: "Elie, what happened?"

He didn't respond.

"Something between you and Light? He was really raving when he found out you are not coming. He demanded to see you and almost threatened Watari."

"I dont wanna talk about Light." L spat.

KT held her breath, trying not to ask more, so she only said: "Alright…"

There was a moment of silence. KT was observing L and L was looking at the paper in the legs of the bed.

"What is it?" he asked, as if he wanted to change the subject, but he didn't really care.

"Thats a list of events Beyond might want to meet at…"

L took it and searched through it.

"Your work?"

"Well yes… also. But this one is from… youknowwho." She tried to joke but L clearly wasn't in a mood and ignored it.

"So you both made the list."

KT shrugged: "Yep. More or less the same. I did it yesterday before I went to meet Misa and Light said he made this tonight. It's clear that he has his own motivations to help with BB's investigation."

L hugged his legs and looked like a hurt animal but his voice was sharp: "I don't want him to participate in this."

KT stood up from the bed and went to steal more fruit from L's plate: "Me neither, but he wasn't exactly asking for permission… and we merged the cases so we can't really keep him out. Even when I told him to back off."

L looked at KT questiongly: "I bet he wasn't happy…"

KT chuckled: "He lost his temper for a moment."

"Hmm…"

There was a moment of silence. KT was looking at her brother, not sure if she should say it or not but…: "Have you ever noticed that the longer you are gone the more Kira like he is acting?"

L gave her a sharp look: "Why are we even talking about him? I do want to talk about him."

KT rolled her eyes, but only internally. She didn't want to provoke him in this state… but it was L who asked about the list so…: "Oh… right, sorry." She said and sat down to the conference table, taking an apple.

There was another silent moment, before L started speaking again, with a low voice: "Yes, I noticed. That's why I wanted to keep him occupied in the first place."

KT was looking at him. L was still staring into one place and looked like a disaster.

Fucking anxiety.

"Yeah… lets hope you will feel better soon, because the boy is seriously losing it down there."

L bit his lip. He knew he won't be feeling better anytime soon. He needed time. Time to grief, time to think and time to make a new strategy. Right now, he wasn't in a mood to make Light a babysitter.

There was a knock on the door. The twins shared a look. It wasn't Watari's knocking.

"Who is it?" KT asked. She didn't want L to answer in case it would be Light.

"It's Mello, can I come in?"

KT frowned: This is weird, since when does he ask before he bursts to the room?

L wiped his face into a sleeve and answered: "Come in."

Little blonde came into the room with KT's laptop in his hands.

"Hey dad, hey aunt…" he greeted them with a wide smile.

L stood up from the bed, facing his little son: "What's going on Mello? Shouldn't you be at the class?"

Mello shook his head: "It's a mid day break and I went to see you to HQs but you weren't there and KT's laptop was ringing but no one could get in to refuse the call. They were pretty annoyed by that, so I decided to bring it here."

KT smiled at him: "Oh that's nice of you honey, give it to me."

Mello gave KT her laptop and sat on the chair at the other side of the conference table. His eyes fell on a small piece of chocolate cake that was on the plate. L saw exactly what his son was looking at and smirked.

"Want a cake?" he asked and Mello immediately bent forward to take the offered piece of heaven.

"Thank you dad…" he heard aunt KT said, reminding him of good manners.

"Thank you dad…" he repeated with his mouth full.

L and KT shared an amused look. Then KT finally logged into her computer and said: "Hey, I have missed calls from your friend Matt."

Mello snorted: "He's not my friend."

KT raised an eyebrow: "Since when? Did you two argue again?"

"He is impossible!" Mello raised his voice and he almost choked on his cake.

KT rolled her eyes: "Oh come on Mello… he is the only real friend you have and you know it."

"Who is this Matt person?" L asked and sat beside KT. He didn't know the boy.

"A boy I took to Wammy's last year before Christmas. You were already out for the Kira case so you don't know him, but he and Mello are best friends."

"We aren't." Mello hissed.

"Sure you are…" KT said with a theatrical voice and then turned to L: "They even share a room at Wammy's. He is the only kid in the house who is able to keep up with Mello and Near. He is already third on the successors list."

Mello finally finished his cake and was free to expres his feelings on the matter: "He is stupid dad! Stupid and lazy!"

L took a piece of watermelon from the plate and answered him calmly: "He cant be that stupid if he is able too keep up with Nate and you."

Mello rolled his eyes.

"So why did you argue?" KT asked.

"I dont wanna talk about it." Mello spat back.

KT smirked and gave L a look.

Where did I see this before? She asked herself.

"Alright so should I call him and ask him?"

Mello shrugged and acted like he didn't care. But his voice was giving away a lot: "Do as you want. He probably called you to make me apologize, like the last time."

KT raised an eyebrow: "And would he be right to ask me to?"

Mello folded his hands on his chest and didn't say a thing, his eyes pointed somewhere on the table.

"All right…" she said and dialed Matt. The boy picked it up within seconds.

"Hello KT!" a boy's voice said and in a moment she saw her favourite orphan on the screen. L leaned in to look at what the boy looks like, but not enough to get to the camera's range.

"Hello Matt, you needed something?" KT asked and acted like she was alone in the room.

"Yes… listen I… how to put it…" the boy looked nervous and scratched the back of his neck.

KT smiled. Matt was adorably shy: "I am listening, just say it."

"Yeah… you know… is there any chance you could get me... a plane ticket?"

KT's eyebrows shooted up in surprise: "A plane ticket?"

The boy shrugged but looked pretty nervous: "Yeah to Japan you know… it's Mello's birthday in two days and he wanted me to be there…"

KT shot a look at Mello, who suddenly looked guilty.

"Mello wanted you to be here for his birthday I see… so I guess he asked you to ask me, to buy you a ticket?" she offered him, as she tried to figure out, why they had a fall out.

Matt shook his head and scratched his neck again: "Well… no actually… he ordered me to hack into British airlines and get myself a ticket, and then run off Wammy's so… we had a little argue about it…"

"He WHAT?!" L blurted and looked at Mello in shock. Matt felt silent when he heard the voice he didn't know. He quickly realized who was in the room and swallowed hard.

"Hello sir…" Matt said, suddenly unsure if he should proceed in the plan or not. Because if L was in the room with them, there was a chance he would notice something is off.

"So my son, ordered you, to get yourself a ticket and run away so you could spend his birthday together?" L asked, still out of the camera, his eyes focused on little Mello, who suddenly looked like he was sinking deeper into his chair.

"Yes sir…" an unsure voice said.

"And you are calling my sister because you hope she might get you one?"

"Yes sir… I don't want Mello to be mad at me on his birthday so I was hoping KT might… I don't know… invite me officially?"

KT and L both looked at Mello. His blue eyes were shining with hope. Then they shared a look. But it was more as if they shared their thoughts. They both wanted to make Mello happy but bringing another child into this situation would make things even more complicated. Even when he was one of Wammy's.

"I am sorry Matt. I can't allow it." L said.

At that moment a storm bursted in the room. Mello jumped on his legs and started shouting at L: "WHY CAN'T I HAVE HIM HERE? WOULD IT HURT YOU TO DO SOMETHING FOR ME ONCE?! YOU DON'T HAVE TIME FOR ME AND YOU CAN'T EVEN ALLOW MY FRIEND HERE SO I AM NOT ALONE?!..." Mello was yelling and somewhere at the beginning of it Matt acted like he was surprised Mello was in the room. But when he knew KT was not looking at the screen he quickly logged into her system and sent a virus.

It was a simple one, really. Its only purpose was to find and download all the files that contained the word "Kira". It went faster than he thought. Within seconds, he downloaded over 4000 files.

"Mello calm down!" KT said with a sharp tone.

"No! No! I won't! It's my birthday! I want him here!" Mello screamed at them, his eyes red.

"Mello, it is not safe for Matt here." L told him stoically but he was pretty much shaken by his son's behaviour.

"It is safe enough for me." the boy opposed.

"It is not safe for anyone actually… I just wanted to have you here." L said and Mello opened and closed his mouth. He never expected his dad to say something like this. There was a moment of silence before they heard Matt again from the computer: "I understand sir. I am sorry to bother you. We will celebrate your birthday when you get back Mello."

That was it. That was their secret sentence so Mello knew he could cut the act, because Matt had all they needed. So Mello turned around and bursted out of the room screaming: "IT IS NOT FAIR!"

Light was watching TV… after a long long time. And many things… had changed. There were TV shows where people were openly supporting Kira and they called him a God. Light smirked. Things were going according to his plan even when he was not paying much attention to it in the past months. Hell… things were still going according to his plan even when he didn't know it was his own plan. He knew he started something, something big, something that might actually save the world from rotting from the inside.

Light felt pride.

He knew he was doing something good. Something for everyone.

If only L understood... Light thought and let out a long sigh. The situation was rather desperate. In moments like this, Light felt he should let L be and go back to his original plan. Because the world needed him, because people needed him. There was no one else who could do this task.

Light switched the channel and watched the news for a few minutes. The criminality dropped rapidly in the last year and yet… there were still those, who were raping, killing and cheating on others. Sin was like a virus to the world. That's why the world still needed Kira.

And then… there was L. His first ever love. His worst enemy.

In moments like this, he was cursing the day they kissed for the first time. And he cursed himself because it was him who initiated, it was him, who fell first. It was an irony, really.

How the mighty Kira fell for his nemésis and refused to go on without him.

Light even wondered if someone will ever write a book or a poem about them. He wondered what it would end like, what it will end like…

Light was depressed.

His life and his goals were much easier without love. And yet, he still couldn't bring himself to go back to Kira fully. He was holding back because of L. But now? What has he got left? L was hiding somewhere. Maybe he was sick but maybe... it was all about Beyond Birthday in the first place. They had a past and now, it seemed like L was not over him.

Light was thinking about it all day. And yesterday also.

L didn't even let him know what's wrong with him… like Light was nothing to him.

It was pissing him off.

He was postponing his dream, he let down the people who believed in him. He let many criminals go free. All for L. And this is what he got back. Solitude, sadness and uncertainty.

Misa has his Death Note now, she is not under surveillance anymore and she is using the notebook instead of him. He gave her the order not to kill too many people, not to draw attention too much, so she is only killing the worst criminals.

But now? Light was wondering why he was even doing this. Why was he holding back, when he is obviously not even worthy of a message?

It was time to take his Death Note back.

It was time for Kira to strike again.

Ryuk was most of the time behind his ass anyway, not guarding Misa as he should. And as he was sure there were not bugs or cameras in his room, he might actually take the risk of bringing the note to the tower and hiding it there. He was smart enough to do it. At least he will have something to focus on, now that he had no chance to get to L.

Wait a second… Light's mind stopped in the tracks.

What if this was his plan all along? What if he wanted to distract me from killing more people? And if I will start killing again now, it will show him exactly what he wanted. It will point at me as Kira again.

Light frowned. It made perfect sense. If he takes his Death Note now, and starts working, he will give L a clue to be suspicious of him even more.

But on the other hand, if L would ever want to use this against him, he would have to reveal their relationship and that was very unlike L.

Light frowned even deeper. He was tired of this stalemate they were stuck into. It was time to make a bolder move. He needed L to step out of his shell. He needed L to show which side he is on. And him, acting like Kira again will definitely not go without response.

Light smirked.

Had a new plan.

This morning, he was worried sick about L and he let it show in front of everyone. It was reckless and it made him look like a lovesick teenager. Which was actually... playing into his cards. In the past weeks he was not exactly subtle with his feelings towards L and he was all doing it, to make sure L knows he will do anything to redeem himself. But… he might as well make it the part of the game. For the task force, he will look like A lamb who fell for a wolf. And meanwhile, he will be the wolf, waiting for the lamb to come to him. And he knew the lamb would come. Because when the first Kira appears again, L will show up too.

Light smirked, took his phone and dialed Misa.

She was not picking it for a while and there was a small voice somewhere in the back of Light's mind telling him, to stop, that L might be actually sick and need his support, to remember his mother's words.

But Light was not listening.

He had enough.

Misa finally picked up the phone and her high squeaky voice filled his hearing. He clenched his fists and rolled his eyes. He didn't even let her finish her enthusiastic greeting and cut her off: "We will have lunch together tomorrow. Bring it with you."

"How compressed? What do you mean?" Mello asked his red-headed friend that night, when they finally had an opportunity to talk to each other.

"It must have been another line of defence we weren't expecting. There must have been another program that packed the files into compressed format and assigned a unique password to each file." Matt explained and looked nervous.

"Then get through it!" Mello ordered him.

The red-head shook his head: "Mello, it's pointless! We have over 4000 files, but each of them has its own password. Even if I knew where to start it would take months to get through it. It's over, I can't make this."

"You have to be kidding me Matt! We got this far! We got all the Kira case files and now you are backing off?" Mello sounded desperate. He was not even trying to yell at him this time. He just had enough and was tired of all this.

Matt bit his lip: "This is not about backing off Mello! I just don't know how to get in! I can study it, I can try it, but I definitely won't be able to give it to you within the time you need it."

Mello looked like he was about to cry: "But this is important! I just argued with my dad to get these files!"

"I know! I am sorry okay?!" Matt was frustrated. Because sad Mello was a much worse case than raving Mello. Matt was able to stand when Mello was yelling at him and sending him to hell, but the moment when Mello stopped doing this, things were seriously fucked. Anytime Mello stopped using his temper, bad things were about to come.

"Jesus Matt…" the blond said and hid his face with his hands. All Matt saw in that moment, were hands and strands of blonde hair. He let out a sigh and decided to back out: "I gotta go… Roger is making controls of the rooms tonight…"

There was no answer, not even a movement from Mello. Matt decided not to wait for it and cut the connection without another word.

When the monitor went blank, Mello finally lifted his head from his hands. There were tears in corners of his eyes and he hated it. He hated when he felt weak and his body was shoving it. He hated that he was still just a little boy and couldn't make a difference in anything. He hated that his father was mostly cold to him. And he hated that his beloved daddy put him into this position in the first place.

Suddenly, Mello felt guilty about it all. He knew his dad was trying to be with him as much as he could but it still wasn't enough. He needed more of L's attention. He swallowed hard and he reminded himself, why he was doing it in the first place: he wanted to save his dad from Kira… and his daddy from his dad.

It was all a shit really.

I should not be doing this! I am just a kid! His mind was yelling at him and he felt his anger growing inside his chest. Out of nowhere he roared and threw his laptop against the wall.

The device shattered into pieces and Mello fell on his bed in tears, breathing hard and sobbing.

He was unaware that his whole conversation with Matt was not entirely private and that his little brother left the door to the bathroom slightly opened, listening to every word.

Hey guys,

In case you missed it, I posted the first chapter of a new lawlight story last week. It is a Hogwarts/Omegaverse AU. :D So if you don't have enough of my writing, you might want to check it!

As for this story...
I feel like I might be losing some readers because this story is becoming very long and complicated. But I somehow feel like I cant go on with the plot without building relationships and portraiting characters motivations well enough. The future part of the story wouldnt be much convincing without it so... yeah. Thats all I wanted to say.
See you again soon.