December 28th
Matt promises Near that if she wakes up by three, he'll buy her some new toys.
At three, he promises that if she wakes up by five, he'll buy her every toy she wants.
The sun sinks below the horizon at exactly four.
At five, he promises that if she wakes up, he'll protect her from Mello and he'll never let her get hurt again.
He can't leave. Not now she's so vulnerable. She could be killed, and Matt doesn't want that on his conscience.
He wastes the whole day smoking and pacing and begging. It's the kind of thing Mello would call him pathetic for doing – he knows this from experience, from the several times he had to beg Mello to not kill himself. Doing this brings back the kind of memories he'd rather let go. But every time he opens his mouth to talk to Near, it's like he's doing it for Mello.
The first time had been when they were both seven. Did Mello even know what he was doing with the knife back then? They'd both known what death was – Wammy had made sure of that. Matt hadn't known then, though, that what Mello was doing was intended to kill him. Just that he'd wanted Mello to put the knife down before he got hurt.
The second time was a few years later. Near had pissed him off somehow and Mello had been telling her that she'd be responsible when he died. Matt had been the only one who could calm him down.
There have been three times since then. All of them have involved Matt sobbing and pleading. All of them have involved Mello laughing and counting out pills and telling Matt to stop crying, he sounds like a child.
Mello was thirteen then. A child himself.
But he always woke up eventually, and Matt just has to hope that Near will wake up too. He places several blankets over her so she'll stay warm. Later on, he carries her to the bed. She's alarmingly light. It's too late to go out now.
He lies on his back, stretched out, looking up at the ceiling as the thoughts chase each other around his head. Matt can't believe he wasted a whole day. It's the kind of thing an idiot would do, the kind of thing Mello would kill an idiot for – and there his thoughts go, always circling back to Mello somehow.
Gabriel Clay's address is on the scrap of paper the assistant gave him.
Green – 12 Vernier Street
Clay – 70 Sermon Road
Amberwood – 5 Stony Lane
Silver - 119 Sermon Road
Forests – 16 Worthy Road
Matt'll have to go to Gabriel first thing in the morning and tell him what's going on and why he's in danger. But Near will have to stay here, unprotected. He can't let her die, but he can't let Gabriel die either. He'll just have to hide Near somewhere. It takes him a long time to realize that his eyes are burning with tiredness. When he realizes, he curls around the nearest warm thing, which is coincidentally Near. Strangely, the thoughts still, and he falls asleep easily.
December 29th
Gabriel wakes up with the alarm clock screaming. Slams his hand down. Blearily rubs his eyes. Stumbles out of bed. His head is killing him and he didn't even drink that much last night.
Someone's pounding on the door.
His mouth tastes like someone's bled out in it. He brushes his teeth and now his mouth tastes like someone's bled out, but before dying they injected pure mint into their bloodstream.
The noise of the door is making his head hurt even more than he knew was possible.
Gabriel tosses on a shirt and jeans before opening it. Standing in the doorframe is a kid with hair the colour of dried blood. He's pulling at the hem of his shirt. "Are you – Gabriel Clay?" he stutters out.
"Sorry, I don't give to charity," he says in the most polite tone possible. He goes to slam the door but the kid sticks his foot in the way.
"I'm not here for charity. I'm here because the murderer is going to kill you tomorrow."
Gabriel wants to dismiss this whole fucking thing as a joke. So he does, because the possibility his life's in danger is too terrifying for him to think about. He laughs at the kid. "Fuck off. Go get your money from somebody else. I'm not a fucking idiot."
"If you weren't an idiot you would listen to me," the kid says, raising his voice a bit.
"Only an idiot would listen to you," he hisses, and then goes to slam the door again, but he stops because the kid's holding out a large knife, and the knife's covered in dry blood.
January 7th
If Misa didn't want her plan disrupted, she shouldn't have told Light about it. She shouldn't have told him the names of everyone in the task force. If she didn't want all her managers to die she would have taken their names off Wikipedia.
When Light gets home he checks that nobody has entered his bedroom. The door handle is the same as it always is, therefore L isn't here. It doesn't really surprise Light when L is there anyway. He's sitting on Light's desk playing with a pen.
Light sits down on the bed and pats the bed next to him. "L, I want to show you something." He takes out Misa's Death Note from under his pillow. There's no point in putting effort into hiding it now L isn't trying to find it. Light briefly wonders why Misa didn't take the note when she left. It would be much more efficient at killing him than the stupid plan she's come up with. Then again, Misa has never been efficient.
L shuffles over to the bed, looking at Light expectantly.
"I'm going to kill someone."
"Alright." L leans his head on Light's shoulder. He's surprisingly warm for someone who should be lying in the ground stone cold. It's nice here snuggled together.
'Maya Umeki', Light writes. "That's one of her managers." 'Dies of a heart attack in 23 days. During her remaining life she acts as if she thinks Misa is alive and as if she knows where Misa is'.
"But Misa-Misa is alive," L points out unhelpfully. His hair tickles Light's neck.
"She called me earlier. She told me she was in hiding, faking her death. She wants me to get arrested."
"But doesn't she love you?" For the world's best detective, L can be astoundingly oblivious.
"Not any more. But it's okay. I've got you for that."
L kisses Light's neck.
"Akihiro Takemura, dies of a heart attack in 23 days," Light narrates as he writes. "During his remaining life he acts as if he thinks Misa is alive and as if he knows where Misa is."
"You're so smart."
"Yes, I am."
"Misa's stopped killing criminals. Aren't you going to kill some to make up for it?"
"No. I'm going to make it obvious that Misa is Kira. Now that she's stopped, the killings will stop, so they'll know it was her, not me. It will be so obvious."
Satisfied, Light tucks the Death Note back under the pillow. L smiles at Light like he's a god, which he is.
December 29th
Matt thinks this is going rather well.
Gabriel had actually listened after a while of Matt waving the knife at him, and he'd accepted Matt's offer of protection. And then he'd started crying and Matt had had to watch. It wasn't elegant, just kind of pathetic. He'd wanted to call his parents to tell them that he might die, but Matt hadn't let him. "The killer might be listening," he'd said.
After about an hour of awkward silence, Gabriel attempts to leave.
Matt blocks the door. "No."
"My friends are going to be worried about me."
"Text them. Tell them you've got such a bad hangover you're staying in today." Gabriel shakes his head, so Matt steps behind him and presses the knife against the man's stubbly throat. "No. Call them. That way I know exactly what you're saying to them."
"It's you, isn't it?" he says flatly. "You're the murderer."
Matt can't come up with any way to prove he isn't, so he just drags the tip of the knife down Gabriel's neck. "Take your phone out of your pocket and call one of your friends. I'll tell you what to say. If you don't do exactly as I ask you will die."
He feels a bit like Mello. But in a bad way.
Gabriel's fingers are shaking as he dials the number.
"Good. Say hello, then your friend's name."
"Hello, Dan," he says. He's nearly crying again.
"Now, say that you feel terrible."
"I feel terrible."
"Tell him you'll be staying in today."
"I'll be staying in today, sorry." Gabriel's voice breaks on the 'sorry'. Matt doesn't think he can do this any more.
"Say bye."
"Bye, Dan. I - "
Before Gabriel can say anything else, Matt grabs the phone and hangs up.
"Please don't kill me," Gabriel chokes out. "I don't want to die, I really don't. I'm going to go to college next year. I'm going to be a doctor so you can't kill me, please don't kill me. I'll do anything. I promise I will do anything, just don't kill me." He falls to his knees and tugs at the bottoms of Matt's jeans.
"I won't kill you. Go watch TV."
Gabriel seems more scared than ever. "What do you want me to watch?"
"Doesn't matter. I'll be here for a while and I don't want either of us to get bored."
And so for the rest of the day, both sit on Gabriel's stained couch and watch nature documentaries. Matt knows most of the science in them, and has done for years. The knife in his hand smells disgusting. Gabriel smells even worse.
If possible, today is even more boring than yesterday. Gabriel even falls asleep around noon, and Matt is left to wonder if Near's been killed yet.
However, he can't go back to check on her, because then Gabriel would probably call the police and tell them that Matt's the serial killer. But – that won't matter if he stays here, because then Matt can kill the real serial killer, and it will be obvious how innocent Matt is, and then they'll be able to find Mello and leave. And Mello will admire Matt's bravery. It will be great, he's sure.
When he wakes up – when did he even fall asleep? Why did he do something that stupid? - Gabriel's lying on the floor. Someone's knocking on the door.
He picks up the knife and grips it so tight it will leave impressions in his palm later. Blood pulses fast through his body. He steels himself as he steps towards the door.
The knocking continues.
If his heart keeps on like this, it won't be Beyond Birthday that kills him, it'll be a heart attack.
Matt takes a deep breath, opens the door, and thrusts the knife forwards.
January 10th
Light's having sex with L when his phone starts ringing.
Then L disappears, so Light answers the phone.
"Hello, is this... Light Yagami?" someone says. It isn't Misa's voice. He doesn't recognise it at all and that makes him want to kill whoever's on the other end.
"Yes, it is."
"Do you know where Misa is?"
"Her managers say she's too sick to come out."
"Yes, well... thing is, I really need to see her about something. It's to do with the man who killed her parents. I've been trying to get in contact with her for days, and... I think her managers are lying." The person pauses.
The world is his and the world is not how he wanted it to be. It should be. Hasn't he shown the world by now that unless everyone kneels to him, everyone will die?
"I - " their voice drops to a whisper " - broke into her house. She wasn't there. It looked like it had been untouched for days. Your number and name were written on a scrap of paper by her bed. "
Light thinks he has forgotten how to breathe normally. "I – if she's not there – I – maybe Kira - "
"Don't panic!"
He's panicking anyway and a voice over the phone isn't going to stop that. Just – hopefully they'll think he's panicking because she might be dead. Not because she is dead. And she isn't dead, and god this is so confusing, and maybe he's the one who's dead, and he just managed not to notice, and he just wants to kill, and he manages to blurt out "Give me your name, I'll contact you if I hear anything from her."
It's oddly satisfying to write out the name.
They say, "I need to go," and Light asks them to keep talking for just a bit more about what they think happened to Misa. They tell him their theories until their phone clatters onto the floor.
And Light starts laughing then.
December 29th
Near falls backwards and clutches at her shoulder. Her fingers come away slick and wet. How strange. It's so dark she can't make out the colour of the warm liquid, just that it is glistening obscenely. How beautiful.
Matt is still standing in the doorway with the knife
"Were you aiming for my heart?" she asks him, laughing.
His face is pale. He hasn't moved since stabbing her.
The tarmac is rough under her hand as she stands back up. "Why are you even here? Gabriel isn't going to die. Come on. We need to go save Stanley Amberwood."