Author:Catlover51

Genre: Adventure/Drama, Romance Humor, Angst, AU

Chapter Summary:

After running from the killer drones that were chasing them, Mello once again questioned how he even got into this situation in the first place. He swore to himself that the next time he sees that asshole Kira, he would slaughter that asshole right where he stood.

Alternatively, Light may have problems, but Mello has issues. Mainly with Kira.

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note!

Chapter Text:

"This reminds me of something," Linda said out of the blue and completely unprompted.

They had just entered the maze through the eerie corridor with no lights at all. Once they finally got to the end of that tunnel, the room they entered was as large as a tennis court, and their voices were able to echo without the slightest problem due to the space. There were two corridors placed on opposite sides of the other, and one placed right in front of them, that was radiating heat so strong that L felt it even though he was standing the furthest away from it.

"Yeah? How can this specific situation possibly remind you of anything unless you are secretly a deranged psycho mass murderer and never told me." Mello remarked dryly, with the faintest hints of sarcasm. It was clear just by tone that he can't wait for this day to be over.

"Oh come on. I'm not talking about 'who built the maze', don't you remember those times when Roger would use mazes for the finals?"

"He, right. I remember now, that old man used to get so frustrated when we solved it after like one second." Mello fondly remarked. Recollecting the simplicity of a time with Kira, when he was still living in Wammy House with a daily routine that could by no means be called normal, but was the closest thing to domesticity that Mello ever had or will ever have.

The test, the exams, and the lessons. It all blurred together, into this simple shade of calm and relaxation.

He had always liked the mazes, Mello thought to himself.

"So this will be a piece of cake for the three of us, right? We'll be out of here in no time!" Linda cheerfully said, but something came to Mello's mind.

Maybe he had been too overwhelmed to question anything when he just got out of his cell but after some time he had finally found something strange about this situation.

"… Linda?" Linda's smile dropped at Mello's tone.

"Yes, Mello?"

"Did you memorize the layout of this place before you came and bailed me out or did you break into my cell not knowing where the emergency exists during a facility lockdown?"

Silence. Damning, uncomfortable silence.

"Answer me."

"I…" Before Linda could formulate a positive response that wouldn't make Mello freak out, L cut in the conversation to help her.

"There weren't any emergency exits, this path is the closest to the nearest wall that we can obliterate for the purpose of escape. And unfortunately, that includes traversing the labyrinth that Kira built. I had hoped it wouldn't have come to this and that we were able to get out before the lockdown. You like explosions, don't you Mello?"

"Sure I love explosions. You want me to blast through the walls?"

"No." L firmly commanded, "That would draw too much attention to us. And some of these walls here are supposed to act as pillars, supporting the ceiling from collapsing. It would be unfortunate if we accidentally detonated the incorrect wall and injured ourselves in the process of escaping. I'd imagine that would slow us down quite a bit."

"Okay, so what's your plan L?"

"There is a wall at the end of the maze that was supposed to be a dead end, I would like you to explode that wall."

"We still need to go into this creepy trap-filled maze?"

L hummed affirmatively, while he walked into the left corridor, most likely assuming that Mello would follow him after a small tantrum.

"Damn it!" Mello swore angrily, he kicked the nearby wall letting out his frustration. Linda slowly came next to Mello putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Mello, listen. I know that today is a really bad day for you. But the sooner we finish this, the sooner we get to go. Besides, we have L with us, I'm sure we'll be out in no time!"

Mello scoffed and brushed Linda's hand off his shoulder. "You keep saying that, but we are nowhere near freedom. In fact, we have a whole fucking maze in front of us!" Linda shrugged, following in L's footsteps, heading towards the left.

"Well. Someone's got to keep their spirits up. Hope is the only thing we have in this place."

Belatedly Mello followed behind Linda, sighing rather loudly before speeding up to catch up to her.

The first thing L did when he got to the other side of the corridor was to put his ear on the nearby wall, and after a few seconds, he continued to take the left, bypassing what Mello can tell to be a room full of buttons. Before stopping suddenly right in front of the entrance of a room full of levers, staring at it like it held the secrets of the universe inside.

Fully used to L's weird quirks by now, Mello peered into the room he dubbed 'The Lever Room', trying to see what was so interesting about it. He stepped closer trying to get a better view, but he was pulled back by L who grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

"What the hell?!" Mello cried, spinning back to glare at L, but when he turned his back to the room, a heavy metallic sound and something slammed closed together behind him. L inhaled, and grabbing Mello with a gentle but firm grip, he dragged him to take another turn before picking up his pace, turning his walk into a sprint. Linda followed fast behind them.

"The drones." L explained, and Mello understood. He must have triggered something when he stepped so close to the stupid room of levers. It was one of Kira's traps. Kira was a tricky little bastard after all.

Soon enough the buzzing sound of a drone was heard, and the group ran faster, trying to get out of the enclosed maze. They all couldn't afford to get hit by any of the bullets, so they ran like hell was at their heels.

Mello panted as his legs strained to carry him to safety. He had been right when he predicted today was only going to get worse, Mello thought cynically.

When Kiyomi woke up she was gasping, her body felt like it was on fire and her clothes were stuck to her skin uncomfortably due to sweat. She was lying on some soft surface, She faintly noted, a bed maybe, and she wasn't tied to it. But that was impossible because the last thing the rebels would do was untie her. Then she remembered. Bright lights, people shouting, loud police sirens, and fast footsteps. She was rescued.

As she remembered what happened to her, her heartbeat began to gradually calm down. Her eyes were less wild, and her face more serene. She observed the room silently.

There was a window with white curtains to block out the sun, two chairs placed adjacent to each other with a table between them. The room was plainly furnished and rather small but it was clean and she predicted that she'd be staying in a bed for the rest of her stay here anyways.

Kiyomi was glad that despite how much Kira-sama was disappointed in her, he still came to save her. Well, not him personally, but she knew that God's work was much more important than someone like her and didn't expect Kira-sama to come and save her from the rebel's fiendish clutch anyways.

It was just that after Light— No Kira-sama chose to marry that ditzy girl instead of her. She felt that she was not as important to him as she had thought she was. Maybe Kira-sama was just using her after all. But it wasn't like that… Really. Kira-sama saved her, he was the benevolent god that is just and righteous. It would be foolish to doubt him.

It was all Misa's fault! Putting such doubts about her god inside Kiyomi's mind. If Misa didn't exist, she'd be the one being Goddess of The New World. Not that she wasn't happy with being Kira's spokeswoman. It was just that Kira-sama had once promised her that she was the one he truly loved. But he married Misa, not her……

The doorknob of her door shook, and the door creaked. A young man with a charming smile wearing a suit walked in, Light!

"You came…?" Kiyomi asked, full of hope and a tinge of disbelief. Her Light just smiled, walking towards her. He pulled the chair closer to her hospital bed, sitting next to her.

"Of course, I've been so worried about you, Kiyomi. I don't know what I'd do if something terrible had happened to you." Kira-sama said care lacing his every word, but there was something inside his voice that Kiyomi can't quite place.

"I… Kira-sama, I don't know what to say… I had thought…"

"That just because I married Misa that I no longer care for you anymore?" Kira-sama asked, pinpointing her insecurities in one sentence.

"Oh, Kiyomi." Kira sighed, "It's because of how much I love you that I cannot marry you. How can I possibly put the women I love through so much pressure?" He said in a condescending manner, but Kiyomi, so blinded by her intense emotions, didn't notice. She didn't notice how her precious Light's lips rose in a slight snare, how his eyes narrowed at her in arrogance.

"Light… I.. I don't know what to say."

"It's okay, Kiyomi. I understand." Light smiled at her softly, patting her hand. "Rest, I'll be back to visit. Alright?"

"Alright…" She replied hesitantly. Light gave her another small smile before slipping out of her room.

L held another drone that flew too close to the group back with a piece of the wall before twisting and flinging it to the drones that were chasing them taking out most of the group. The remaining drones all twitched, and with sparks of light flying out their exposed wires, they hesitated so L took that short time given to pick up his pace, he followed Mello into the next turn.

"You're stronger than you look." Mello commented when he stopped to catch his breath. L stared blankly back at him, before averting his eyes. Mello stumbled and L steadied the teen with his strength, putting a hand on to his shoulder and helping him to a nearby wall.

"Mmhm," L hummed in agreement. "I hope that was enough to stop them. Perhaps we will have to run a bit more if they decide to chase us again." He paused and observed the surroundings around him, "The exit is just at the next turn."

"Oh thank god. I don't think I can run anymore. This is the most I have ever exercised in my life ."

And that was probably true Linda preferred artistic indoor activity rather than any physical outdoor training. Her grades weren't ever high in that area, however, she compensated for that with her artistic skills. Linda bent over, she wheezed heavily for air. Perspiration was gleaming on her skin, she looked like she just came back from hell.

After a while, she finally got back up. Mello, who was leaning his weight back on the wall, had also just finished catching his breath, straightened up and smoothed out his crumpled leather jacket, taking it off and tying the black jacket around his waist.

"Yeah," Mello breathed in wincing as he leaned his weight fully onto his legs, his burning, aching legs. "I definitely tore something important." He gently massaged the burning area of his hurt legs as Linda and L stared in relative concern.

"Mello, go to the infirmary once we get back to the base." L commanded, Mello groaned in miserable agony.

"But L," Mello whined like a small bratty child instead of the teenage genius that he is, "I'm fine, it's literally just a little pain."

"Mello, the human body is more fragile than you think it is." L monotoned, "Go to the infirmary once we get back to the base." L softly coaxed despite his firm sentence.

"Yeah, yeah okay, 'world's greatest detective'." Mello groaned and playfully rolled his eyes. He knew that his mentor was really just concerned for him, but it still didn't mean that he gets a free pass when he orders Mello to suffer through the dull mindless task of staring at the fucking blank ass white ceiling for a whole week. He at least has to sass L a little if has to suffer through that indigity. "Never knew you were such a fucking mother hen, L."

"Mm. Mello?"

"What, L?"

"Never call me that again, please." L requested before wandering towards the exit.

And as Mello followed L, his every step taking him closer to his wished freedom, something like hope swelled in his chest. Walking in front of the smooth wall, he smirked playfully as he took the small stick of dynamite and the lighter in L's hand.

"Huh. Where did you even keep this thing?" Mello asked as he tinkered with the lighter, its flames flickering before stabilising for a small moment and disappearing again.

"You'd be surprised what you can store in pant pockets." L said mysteriously before he hid behind the nearest turn for shelter.

Mello chuckled in amusement, before raising his lighter to meet the trigger of the dynamite. After it was lit he threw it onto the ground, bolting for the cover with L and Linda who were also waiting there.

Linda was the first one to come out of their makeshift bomb shelter, grateful beyond relief that they have reach the end, Mello following fast after her.

"This can't be it, it's way too easy," Mello questioned but he still moved towards the exit he just made.

"Hey don't be such a pessimist, Mells. Maybe Kira isn't such a genius after all..." Linda trails off and suddenly froze in her place. Mello, catching on to the tense atmosphere, stopped alongside her as he stared over her shoulder to see many suited figures holding guns.

"Fuck." Mello swore, just when he thought this day was going to be over.