In Charge

Chapter 14 – Realization

By Threshie

AN: Hi, everybody. I left last chapter at quite a cliffhanger, so I'll keep this author's note short and talk at the end instead. Onward!

Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.


The door was ajar.

For some reason, the sight of it made Mello uneasy. He wasn't even sure why, but it bothered him. They're probably just sitting there doing boring stuff like playing with Near's toy dinosaur, he told himself, snapping off another piece of the chocolate bar he'd brought. Despite reassuring himself, he still sprinted the last few meters to the door.

Stepped inside, he glanced around quickly to see what Matt and Near were up to. The bold stripes of Matt's shirt immediately caught his eye, but something else grabbed his attention more.

Blood.

The redhead was sprawled on his back on the floor; crimson stained one side of his shirt and was beginning to form a small pool beneath him.

Matt?!

Mello took a step backward, dropping the chocolate as shock and disbelief flooded his senses. Dead...?! Who—how...?

He crossed the distance between them, sinking down to sit on the floor without even thinking about it. This...this can't be happening. Is this real? He yanked one of his gloves off and swept trembling fingertips across Matt's cheek.

He was really there, really laying there in his own blood. Part of Mello was repulsed by the thought of Matt being dead, and at the same time another part of him wanted to cling to what was left of his friend and... And what? I-I don't even know! How can this be happening?!

Warmth.

He blinked, this bit of information finally breaking through the shock. Matt was warm. Warm...alive? He quickly pressed his fingertips to the redhead's neck.

A soft, steady pulse beat against his skin.

Scrambling to his feet, the blonde ran to the door and shouted at the first person he saw in the hallway, "Get a doctor—someone's been shot!" Eyes widening, the poor nurse nodded and ran off to get someone. Rushing back inside, Mello located the bullet wound and pressed on it to try and slow the bleeding. The shot had caught Matt in the chest; whoever was shooting must have been aiming for his heart.

Whoever did this to you is going to pay, Matt! You better live to see them pay!

Dr. Lidner and four nurses arrived in moments; they crowded around Matt, shooting quick, sharp orders back and forth between them, and Mello found himself shoved over beside the bed with no way to help. His mind was attacking the evidence from every angle, but nothing made sense.

Who could shoot him in a hospital? He wondered darkly, looking down at his bloodied hands, one gloved and one bare. The other glove lay forgotten on the floor. The nurses lifted Matt onto a gurney and wheeled him away, Dr. Lidner ordering them to the surgery ward. After they had gone, the blonde woman turned to Mello.

"This is horrible—how could someone...?"

Meeting her eyes, Mello didn't reply. He wasn't sure what to say. For once, I have no idea. But when I find out...

"Where is Near?" Blinking, he was snapped out of his darkening thoughts by the doctor's question. She was looking at Near's bed with wide eyes. It was empty, the blankets tousled as if someone had lifted the small inhabitant right out of it...

Near...whoever shot Matt took Near!


Warm...

Near blinked hazily at an unfamiliar ceiling, wondering where he was. And where is Matt...Matt! Everything that had happened suddenly came rushing back to him all at once.

Matt...Mikami shot him.

The gun had been silenced; how and why Near didn't know, but because of it no one came to help. Matt had sank to the floor, bleeding badly... Near had been so shocked by what was happening that he hadn't even resisted when Mikami scooped him up in his arms and carried him away. The image of Matt's body rapidly disappearing behind him seemed to be burnt into his mind.

He...was gone so fast. He didn't even get any last words... Even after watching it happen, it was hard to believe that Matt was really dead. The memory of it, even, seemed more like a surreal nightmare than something he had actually witnessed.

Matt is dead, he told himself blankly; he knew it but somehow the meaning wasn't sinking in. Shock wouldn't let it sink in.

He looked around the room as if in a daze. It was small, set up just like a hospital room...the bed was even a folding hospital bed. A nurse like Mikami would know where to acquire one, he thought absently, hugging the dinosaur to his chest.

He blinked, looking down at it. He hadn't even realized that it was there... I...must have been holding it when Mikami picked me up. Matt... He looked down at the plastic reptile's eternal, toothy smile and hugged it tightly, beginning to tremble. Matt...I-I want Matt...


"...He's waking up!" Matt heard someone exclaim nearby. His chest hurt in a dull, numbed kind of way. What the...? Wincing faintly, he opened his eyes to find Mello's slanted blue ones inches away. "Matt!" The blonde exclaimed, leaning even closer, "Who did this to you? Who shot you?!"

Shot? Matt stared at him in bewilderment, then looked down when he noticed white across his shoulder. Bandages. His shirt was missing, and in its place there were bandages wound all the way around his chest...

"Mello..." L said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head, looking down at Matt worriedly. H-how is L here? ...Mikami! Matt shivered, remembering the calm way that the man had took aim and shot him. There had no remorse in his eyes at all, no hesitation.

Why shoot me? J-just because he was mad at me? No, there had to be a darker reason behind this...

"N...Near," he whispered, looking at Mello.

The blonde gritted his teeth, "The bastard who shot you took him." His eyes narrowed, "What happened, Matt? Who did this?"

He's gone...oh, god, Mikami took him... The redhead closed his eyes; he felt sick to his stomach. If Mikami had no qualms with shooting him, what could he want to do to Near...?

"M-Mikami," he said finally, tears in his voice. "W-we've got to find him. H-he'll hurt Near—we've got to find him...!" He struggled into a sitting position, ignoring the sudden jolt of pain from his chest and the wailing protests of the monitoring equipment by the bed.

"Matt, don't!" Mello pushed him back to the bed with both palms, sounding half-stern and half-panicked.

"It's all right, Matt—we'll find him," L's voice was soothing...Matt relented and sank back down into the pillow again, warm tears slipping down his cheeks.

"...I-I couldn't protect him, L," he mumbled, hiding his eyes behind one hand shakily, "M'sorry....l-let you down..." It's true, isn't it? Doing my best still isn't good enough. I'm not good enough! Dammit...Near, I'm so sorry...


Mello couldn't hardly stand to see Matt fall apart like this again. Before it had been for a stupid reason, but this time he couldn't fix things by telling Matt that it was foolish. There was a real reason to be so upset this time. He watched as L patted the redhead's shoulder and spoke softly to him, feeling helpless. He hated to feel helpless...

He gripped both hands into tight fists, trembling with fury at this "Mikami" Matt was talking about. Whoever he is, he's dead when I find him! How dare he hurt them?! He included Near without even thinking about it; whether he hated the white-haired boy or not, he wouldn't wish kidnapping or murder on him. It was bad enough even looking at him when he was hospitalized...

He can't get hurt again—he has to get better so that I can fight with him again, dammit! Things have to go back to normal!

"Matt," he said sharply, leaning close to the redhead's face again. Since L was speaking to him, his friend had stopped hiding behind his hand, but tears still streamed down his face. Those vivid blue eyes seemed even brighter against the red from crying... Feeling a twinge of guilt, Mello softened his tone, asking more gently, "Who's Mikami?"

It took a moment for Matt to calm down. Taking several deep, shuddery breaths, he finally answered heavily, "The n-nurse...in charge of Near's room." Sniffling and swiping at his eyes, he shrank self-consciously away from Mello's and L's stares, adding, "He's this grumpy J-Japanese guy, kind of weird."

"He's a nurse?" Mello asked, frowning. Matt nodded, keeping his eyes downcast.

"Y-yeah."

"How did he end up shooting you?" L asked quietly, propping a thumb against his bottom lip as he often did while thinking. He looked very troubled by what he was hearing. This Mikami guy doesn't know who he's dealing with, Mello thought darkly, L will track him down in no time, and then he'll have to face me. Anyone who had wronged someone Mello cared about before knew firsthand what that meant...

"He was waiting for us in the room. I-I kind of...got into a fight with him," the redhead explained faintly, glancing up at Mello before quickly lowering his eyes again. He almost looked ashamed of what he was saying. It was unusual for him to pick fights, so maybe he actually was...

"He hurt Near doing some s-stupid 'test', and then he wouldn't admit he was wrong..." He glanced down at the bandages on his chest, adding glumly, "I think he planned to shoot me all along...h-he waited 'til I sat Near down, though."

"Sat him down?" L said curiously, digging in a pocket of his oversized blue jeans. He came up with a small lollipop after a moment and began to twist the wrapper off delicately with his thumb and index finger, eyes not leaving Matt for even a second while he did so.

"I-I was carrying him," Matt explained, glancing at the lollipop briefly before looking down at his hands again. "...He got too tired to walk back to his room, so I gave him a piggyback ride. Anyway, Mikami..." He frowned, "As soon as I sat Near down, he just shot me, j-just like that." He pointed a finger at the roof and made a quick, offhanded shooting motion, sighing.

"I think he would've done it as soon as I closed the door, but he was probably afraid of hitting Near by accident. ...H-how could this happen?" He began to tear up again, shaking his head sadly.

Seating himself on the edge of the bed, Mello reached over and gently patted Matt's hair. A trick I learned from you...I hope it's okay if I do the same thing you did to Near. If not, you two are closer friends than you and I, I guess... That thought didn't help his mood any.

Matt didn't seem to notice the gesture at all, for better or for worse...

"We're going to get him, Matt," the blonde said, quietly but intensely. "We're going to get Mikami, and we'll get Near back too."

"But what if Near's not...i-if Mikami's already..." Matt closed his eyes, crying again. He couldn't say it, but it was obvious what he was implying.

What if Near's dead? I'll tell you what...if Mikami so much as hurts Near, I'll kill him! Mello retorted angrily in his some reason hating Near had become secondary to hating Mikami for kidnapping him. It didn't make sense, to feel so protective of a person he claimed to hate...but, Mello felt what he felt. Sense never had much to do with feelings anyway, did it?

"He isn't dead," L interrupted; he had the lollipop tucked into one cheek, and spoke around it with no apparent awareness of the fact that it made him hard for the average person to take seriously.

Used to such behavior, Mello crossed his arms and asked intently, "How are you so sure, Ryuzaki?" While out in public he, Matt and Near all knew to call L "Ryuzaki"; it was kind of a nickname by now more than an alias, although it was the opposite of a conventional nickname since it was much longer than L's actual name...

"If this Mikami had intended to kill Near," the great detective reasoned thoughtfully, "he would have shot him in the room along with Matt rather than risking leaving the building with him and being seen." He looked at Matt sidelong, dark eyes was wide as ever. The dark circles under his eyes only intensified his gaze, as he sighed, "Obviously he has other plans for him...though from the sound of it, they can't be pleasant ones."

"The police are looking, but we'd better investigate too," Mello nodded, but as much as he wanted to get Mikami, he couldn't focus entirely on the matter at hand. Something was occurring to him, something about Matt and Near...

They're already friends, aren't they?

Even after being shot, Matt wasn't worried for himself. Ever since he'd awakened, all that he had talked about was saving Near.

Matt's so worried about him...but not for the same reasons that I want to save him. It's because Near's his new best friend, right? He glanced at Matt, unable to help feeling bitter and a bit hurt at this realization. Ever since he'd returned from helping L with that case, Matt had spent almost every waking moment caring for Near...talking to him, worrying about him, even carrying him around. How could Mello have missed it?

He knew the answer, of course. He had been in denial. Seeing that he was losing, he had convinced himself out of desperation that Near must be guilt-tripping or tricking Matt into spending so much time with him. It was easy to see that Matt cared about Near, no mind games about it...anybody could see that.

He just hadn't wanted to see.

If Matt wants to be his friend instead of mine...then nobody wants me and Matt to stay friends except for me. There were more important matters at hand, and he knew that it was childish to cling to this, but he really felt like he was losing to Near for good. Matt's friendship was the only thing that he had ever had that Near couldn't come close to...until now.

If they got Near back in one piece, anyway.

Advantageous as having him out of the picture would be for their constant rivalry, Mello didn't wish for that outcome for even a moment. If he and Matt are really friends, Matt would be really upset if something happened to him. Hell, look at how upset he is just from Near being kidnapped! Besides, I don't hate Near enough to want him dead...

"Mr. Kennedy, I'm so sorry about this..." Mello and L turned at the same time toward the source of the voice—Dr. Lidner was making her way across the room toward them. Having been there when L arrived half an hour ago, she had already been introduced to him as Matt's and Near's adoptive father, and called him by the fake surname Matt had written onto Near's paperwork.

She looked at Matt grimly, then turned to L. "I have the police searching for your son. I'm sorry, I wish that I knew how to explain this, but the situation makes no sense. For a shooting to happen in our hospital is..."

"It's all right, doctor," the black-haired man murmured, plucking the lollipop out of his mouth for a moment to regard her seriously. "I know that the hospital isn't responsible for what happened; no one could have suspected such a thing would happen except for the attacker. I would like to assist in this investigation, though. I have connections to several highly skilled detectives who could solve this case."

"You'll have to take it up with the police," Dr. Lidner sighed, "I'm afraid I don't really have much to do with it besides answering their questions."

L nodded, "Ah, of course. I will go and speak with them right now, if you'll show me where I can find them?"

"Of course!" The doctor echoed, heading for the door immediately, "Just follow me, Mr. Kennedy."

"Please call me Ryuzaki," L murmured, falling into step behind her. "I don't suppose there is a nurse working here named Mikami...?" He glanced at Mello as he passed, shooting him a meaningful look. Stay and take care of Matt, the blonde nodded, Got it. You just go find out where Mikami's hiding, and promise me you'll give me a chance to "talk" with him before he goes to jail—if there's enough of him left to go to jail!


Near pushed the door open gently, surprised that it was unlocked. He had listened carefully to make sure that no one was in the next room, but still glanced around the large, ornately-furnished living room before stepping outside.

After an initial few minutes of hoping that Matt would suddenly show up and prove that this was all a bad dream, the white-haired boy had pulled himself together and decided that if he wanted to escape Mikami, he would have to help the situation as best he could. He would deal with what had happened to Matt later...if he didn't, he knew that he wouldn't be able to help himself escape.

Mikami didn't seem to be around, so now was the time to take action... He tried to focus on only the present, scanning the room quickly.

Carpet.

Curtains drawn down over every window.

Two doors to other rooms...

I am sure that the doors leading out of the house are locked...Mikami can't be stupid enough to leave me here alone without preventing me from leaving in some way...unless he believes that I am too weak to escape. He frowned, starting toward one of the doors. A moment later, the click when he tried the knob only half-surprised him. Of course he locked me in. Thinking it might be unlocked was only wishful thinking...which I don't have the time for right now.

If he couldn't escape, what was the next best thing to do?

Hiding would only last for so long—he knows that I am in here, and must be more aware of places to hide in his own home than I am. No...something else. A phone! Mr. Mikami must have a phone somewhere, he told himself, glancing around again. If he could find a phone, he could call someone for help. Gevanni and Rester are out of state, Matt... He shook his head, dismissing any thoughts that had to do with Matt hurriedly, He isn't an option. Mello is my best chance.

The house was so still and silent that his footsteps sounded too loud, even though he was walking on a carpet in socks. The place was filled with dark, polished wood furniture. Ignoring the most prominent example of this--a square dining room table and chairs—Near headed for the imposing black walnut desk that took up one corner of the room across from him.

His stitches throbbed persistantly, as well as one hip; he'd decided that falling would be less likely to tear the incision open than attempting to climb off of the side of the bed would, and so he had crawled over the edge and let himself fall onto his side on the floor instead. He would have a bruise to show for it later, but if it helped him escape it would be worth it...

Escaped to what? Going back to face Mello after what had happened to Matt seemed almost as dangerous as staying there with Mikami...

He caught himself thinking of Matt again, of how he had sank to the floor without even a cry of surprise...

Focus, he ordered himself, banishing the thoughts; his own emotions were irritating him at the moment. I can panic later on my own time—right now, I must find a phone. Mr. Mikami is a meticulous person...someone like him would keep the phone where he would use it the most. His eyes scanned the desk, flitting back and forth across the neatly-stacked paper, perfectly-angled pens, and fllawlessly-written notes.

There!

In a house furnished so formally, he'd expected an old-fashioned corded phone. Instead, the device that sat atop a thick medical reference book far to the side was tiny and black; sleek. A cell phone.

I wonder if Mello will answer when the call is coming from an unfamiliar number... Slipping the device open with both hands, the white-haired boy frowned and began to dial awkwardly. Anybody who had worked with him on a case would never guess how bad he was at using things like computers and cell phones...he always had an assistant to get people on the line for him, or to call up important documents.

I have no one to rely on but myself, he told himself, holding the phone close to his ear with both hands. It was ringing...he must have pressed the right button after entering the numbers.

Now, if only Mello would pick up...

--End Chapter 14


AN: What an angsty chapter... (Sweatdrop) Sorry for the double-whammy (har, whammy, Wammy's...yeah, nevermind...) of having two scenes in a row where people think Matt's dead. He deserves to have a fuss made over him for something this serious, I figure. The ending seems really...mild and slow, after chapter 13's. Oh, well. Hope you enjoyed chapter 14! :)

Trivia: "The Last Word" for chapter 13 was, of course, "Delete". :) So the chapter's title is directly based on the fact that Mikami and Matt were arguing and Mikami got the last word.

That's it this time around; see you in chapter 15! (Wow, 15...)


In Charge Akugi! Volume 14

Akugi #53

Narrator: The bold stripes of Matt's shirt immediately caught his eye, but something else grabbed his attention more.

Matt: (Covered in chocolate syrup stains)

Mello: o_o Must...resist...urge...to....EAT....ALIVE...!

Akugi #54

L "Sat him down?" (Reaches into pocket and pulls out a five-layer fudge cake with strawberries on it)

Matt: o_o; "Uh....y-yeah..."

L: (Munch) "Something wrong, Matt?"

Matt: "Is there another dimension in your pockets? How did you fit that in there without even smudging the frosting?"

L: C_C "Let's just say that I am a very talented man."

Matt: "..." (Wonders what exactly that has to do with being able to fit a five-layer cake in one's pocket—can talent defy the laws of phsyics?)

Akugi #55

Matt: (Frowns) "As soon as I sat Near down, he just shot me, j-just like that." (Makes shooting motion)

L: (Blinks) "Bang?"

Matt: ^_^; "Believe it or not, no bang."

L: "Aww..." (Disappointed)

Akugi #56

Mello: If Matt wants to be his friend instead of mine...then nobody wants me and Matt to stay friends except for me.

L: (Pats his head) "I'll be your friend, Mello-kun."

Mello: (Twitch) "Is it some requirement to be friends for the older person to pat the younger person on the head? And..." o.o; "H-how the hell did you answer my THOUGHTS?!" (Thoroughly disturbed...after all, he thinks some pretty blunt things sometimes...)