"No, no, no!"
"What?"
The cinematographer snatched up Hal's drumsticks and repositioned them. "Like THIS."
"Oh." She flicked her bangs out of her eyes impatiently. Weddy sniggered as she readjusted the microphone.
I (discreetly) picked away my wedgie. They had dressed us in so little clothing, I felt like a stripper, as opposed to a singer with a career. The video we were recording involved us doing a bunch of stupid dancing and melodramatic singing/acting in English and Japanese, because that was what Broken Wings feat. Misa-Misa did to earn their dough.
Not that I was bitter or anything. Hah.
"Places! Places! We're going from the beginning of the B-Section!" the director called out. The cinematographer scurried away from the set and started up the camera.
"Quiet on the set!"
"Rolling film!"
I edged next to Weddy, where I was supposed to be standing.
"Action!"
The music started up. Weddy and I smiled and blew kisses at the camera.
"I don't need your magic kisses/," Weddy trilled. "Or your bald-faced lies and disses. Tell me everything's okay/ but nothing ever works that way."
"It's almost like the fairytale," I intoned. "Doesn't wanna end okay..."
We jumped into the first chorus.
"Hate me, kiss me/break me, fix me,
But I'm made of stronger stuff/
And as for all this fairy magic/
It's okay, I've had enough/
So when all the balls are over/
And I haven't been set free..."
The guitar slowly built up to a deafening crescendo.
"Happy ever after never looked so good to me."
...
I think that Matt wanted to talk to me in the car, but I wouldn't face him. I kept scowling at myself in the mirror. The plaster bandaging was supposed to come off, but the regular bandages were supposed to stay on for about five or six days.
A song by Coheed and Cambria played on the radio.
Man your own jackhammer
Man your battlestations
We'll have you dead pretty soon, and now
Sincerely written from my brother's blood machine
Man your battlestations
We'll have you home pretty soon
We turned a corner, and I tore my gaze away from the mirror. "Matt, what's up with the look?"
He sighed. "Shit."
"What?"
Awake through motion, with curiosity to curtain your first move
Over arm's length they'll break protocol
Jealous envy for the youngest one
To be the hero is all I'll ask
He clenched the steering wheel so hard the tendons on his arms popped out. "I don't think there's a good way to tell you this."
"Well, just tell me then."
We pulled up at the corner, right outside of Vega. "L doesn't want you returning to Vega."
"What?" I demanded, twisting around to stare.
"It's the scar, he said. He said since he paid the hospital bill, it was only fair. Besides, you're not gonna get a whole lot of clients that way..."
My heart felt like it had been put into a hamster wheel and spun faster than the speed of light. "So I'm out of a job? Is that it?"
"I told you I didn't have a good way to tell you this."
"Fucking–Matt, how long have you known about this?"
"He told me this morning. And now, with the article in the magazine and everything, Vega's gonna be getting some negative attention..."
"Matt, listen to me–"
"No, Mello, you listen to me!" he spat, suddenly furious. I shrank back a bit. Matt was hardly ever seriously angry. "You're my best friend, Mel. You're my only friend. You're like a...a brother to me, and I had no say in this. You can feel sorry for yourself all you want, but what about me? I'm all by myself now!"
For you, I'd do anything
Just to make you happy, hear you tell me that you're proud of me
For them, I'd kill anything
Cut the throats of babies for them, break their hearts for they were them,
Waiting for you to say: I love you too.
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. What the hell was I supposed to say?
He reached over and popped the lock on the passenger seat door. "L says you've got an hour to pack your stuff up. He's got someone new coming in to take your place."
I raised my hand, meaning to open the door, but my fingers curled into a fist.
"Mello–"
I brought my closed hand down on the window of the car, over and over. The glass fissured and then cracked, tiny shards embedding themselves into my hand. Blood curled around my digits and streamed down my knuckles.
Will, do the children really understand,
The things you did to them?
And why, oh why, should they conjure up the will,
For you my love, I would kill...
him.
"Mello! Dammit, Mello!"
One last punch, and the window was history. I hurled the door open and got out, slamming it shut so hard the whole car shook.
In the seventh turning hour,
Will the victim's shadow fall?
Should the irony grow hungry,
With the victory and all they sought for?
I took off at a run. Who cared where?
...
I hung my Chanel bag on the hotel room's coat hook and dug my phone out, searching for any missed calls. None.
Nothing from Mello.
I guess it was kind of dumb to expect him to call, right? I mean, he had his own things to worry about.
Sayu pushed past me towards the minifridge. "How'd the shoot go?"
"Good. Great."
The phone rang. We both jumped.
"It's yours." Sayu nodded towards my cell.
"Um, yeah. I'll be out in the hallway."
"Cool." She grabbed a can of Diet Coke and cracked it open.
...
I found the first payphone I could and dialed her up.
"Hello?"
"Misa?"
"Mello? Oh, my God! I didn't think you were going to call! Is this about dinner? Can you come?"
I swallowed down the anger I'd been feeling earlier. Misa's different. No reason to be mad at her. "Thing is, ther've been some...complications. Can I meet you in the hotel lobby?"
"Sure. Be there in ten."
...
Why did I want to see him so bad?
And I really care?
"Sayu?"
"Hm?"
"I'm going down to that little gift shop in the lobby. I'm going to get something for Sophia, okay?"
"Okay. I told Rico we'd be there in about an hour."
I didn't give him time to reply as I dashed back through the automatic doors.
Where was he, where was he...
I scanned the crowd, searching for him.
There, in the armchair, with his head ducked down.
...
She hurried over, a big, slightly nervous smile plastered on her face. Not a Misa-Misa smile, that was for sure.
"Mello!"
I looked up, feeling, as I did, a strange sensation flood through my belly. It was icy-cold and boiling hot all at once, and pushed at me from the inside, like needles through my pores. I blinked and let loose a deep breath, my eyes unfocusing as I did so.
"Mello? You okay? Mello?"
I reached towards her. A couple people in the lobby were staring at us.
She ogled my hand with a mixture of horror and revulsion. "What happened to your hand? Did you cut it on something?"
I winced, as though just remembering the pain. But the feeling was still there.
"Mello? Are you alright? Oh, my God. How much blood did you lose? Did you get a tetanus shot?"
I blinked again.
"Come with me."
She grabbed my (uninjured) hand and dragged me across the lobby to the unisex bathroom and pushed me inside. "We have got to get that rinsed out, at the very least. Is there glass in the cut?"
Pressing my finger down on the lock, I flicked off the lights.
"Mello!"
"It's too bright in here," I tried to say, but my tongue felt weak.
She grabbed a paper towel and wet it with cold water, pressing it against my cheek. "You're burning up. What happened?"
"I..."
My knees gave out.
Maybe it was the blood loss, but I felt as though I were hallucinating.
But I swear, she looked like a goddamn angel. All angry and white-gold and...burny.
Is burny a word? I found myself wondering.
Burnyness aside, she grabbed me and hoisted me up, slinging my arm across her shoulders. She was strong for being so small, but she was trembling a bit. A mixture of surprise and fatigue, I guess.
But somewhere in the back of my scrambled brain, I wondered why an angel would be fatigued.
Just proved I was really going crazy, huh?
...
"...So basically, he cut his finger and fainted because of the blood. He's a bit of a sissy, see." I forced a Misa-Misa smile.
"Oh, okay."
"I'd appreciate if you could call me a cab, please?"
"Oh, yes, of course. Are you sure you don't want the hotel medics to check out that cut of his?"
"I'm going to run him over to a clinic. It'll be fine, I'm sure."
"Yes, ma'am."
I exhaled a long breath and helped a barely sentient Mello hobble out of the lobby and to the little rotunda in the front where the doormen were perched like Beefeater guards. Quickly, I glanced back to make sure Sayu hadn't come down in the meanwhile.
Coast was clear.
One of the uniformed cab dudes signaled to me. "Miss Amane, a taxi has arrived. Do you want me to contact a hotel security person to escort you?"
"I'll be fine." I took a quick look around to make sure we wouldn't meet with a flash mob or anything, like the little scene in the airport. Then I helped him into the cab.
...
A/N: Just to tell y'all, for the scene between Matt and Mel, I used the song 'In Keeping Secrets of the Silent Earth' by Coheed and Cambria. See, I was writing and I had my iPod on shuffle (I always listen to music when I'm writing, you should try it) and that song came on. Well, I was in a total rush and I just couldn't stop writing. So then I put the song on repeat and had to listen to it about 3 or 4 times before I got that section down pat. I recommend you listen to it. It's quite the inspirer. Oh, and Light wants to say something.
LIGHT: The chapter after next is gonna be written from my POV. YEY!
ELLE: So does this mean you're not angry at me anymore?
LIGHT: You bet your ass!
*Light and Elle engage in a giggly pillow fight*
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