Watari Pt 1: L\'s Heirs

There was a quiet laugh, but Mello awoke with a start. It felt like he had slept for a very long time. It took him a few seconds to gain his bearings, but he was in Wammy\'s House infirmary. Instantly on high alert, he turned to find Matt on his feet, a cigarette already in his mouth. Madeleine shook her head, smiling at the redhead and whispering, "You are incorrigible."



Matt bobbed his tongue out at her and made to leave the room. Mello called, "You ok, Matty?"



"No, I haven\'t had a cigarette. But otherwise good." Matt returned to lean over his bed and kiss him. "Fucking love you."



Mello blinked and blushed. He didn\'t need a medic to tell him that Matt\'s body was rehydrated. The colour and texture of his skin and the brightness of those green eyes were testiment enough of that. "We need to talk."



"After a cigarette."



"I\'ll come out with you." Mello slipped off the bed and found his boots. He kept casting glances across, as if to assure himself that Matt really was there, alive and well. He caught his hand and held it as they passed through the corridor, through the back door, into the garden. "You just said you loved me and we\'re not having sex." Matt smirked and lit his cigarette. "Thank you for saying it."



"Yeah, well." Matt squeezed the hand clasping his own and stared up at the sky. "I was fucking out of it earlier. Sorry about crying and shit. I really couldn\'t get my head around what was happening."



"Sorry about throwing you into that." Mello leaned on his shoulder. Things felt less frantic today, though he was anxious to leave. "It was nothing to what you were like when we first got you here. Delirius doesn\'t cover it." His gaze flickered to watch the redhead\'s expression, but Matt was just languidly watching the clouds pass by. Mello quickly filled him in on what had occurred in his absense - the gathering of the fourth generation Wammy House prodigies; the unpicking of the puzzles. Matt mostly listened in silence, though he reacted with a loud exclaimation when Mello\'s shifty narrative edged around the information that he and Near had worked together. Mello scrowled until Matt was still again and finished his story. "So that\'s my side. Matt, what did Sheol mean?"



Matt smiled and turned to gather Mello in his arms. "It meant both, but I thought of the Catholic version first." He held Mello\'s gaze. "I thought that you\'d have to do your prayer for me, then I remembered that Sheol is translated as Hades," He quickly added, "if you are not of the one true and pure faith, of course." He winked. "Quite pleased with it myself. Figured it would send the right messages to you or Near, depending on who got it."



"You sounded so scared." Mello\'s arms tightened around him. "I just knew you wouldn\'t think I\'d come. I had no way of telling you I\'d always come back for you."



Matt shook his head. "I knew." He cupped the blond\'s head in order to see his face properly. "Don\'t freak out. I need to ask you a question."



"What?"



"Mello, are you psychic?" He shrugged. "I mean, I don\'t believe in that shit, but I wondered... I don\'t know what I wondered, but, you know?" He watched Mello\'s eyes harden. "Yes, I know it\'s all very evil in the eyes of God, but well... all that stuff the other week, when you were bugging me with \'I\'ll kill anyone who takes you from me\'. Then, you know, this." Mello was silent, glowering at him. "Angel, listen to me, I knew you\'d come. As long as I have this collar around my neck, I\'m your possession. You don\'t let anyone touch your things."



Mello smiled, it was like sunshine arriving on a cloudy day. "What did you call me?"



"Angel."



"I love you, Matty."



Matt kissed him. "Let\'s go and get a cup of tea." He crushed the fourth of his spent cigarettes underfoot. "I\'ll tell you some of my side of it. But," He turned and bit his lip, "can I wait until we\'re home for some of it please?"



Mello wrapped his arms around himself and leaned back against the wall. "I\'ve done something really stupid, Matt. I practically told them our address." He kicked the wall behind him. "They know we\'re twenty minutes away from the college."



"Did you tell them the name of the college?" Matt watched Mello shake his head. "And you\'ve been beating yourself up about it eversince?" He smirked. "So they\'re all going to run away, track down where you\'ve done your courses and find us?" He caught Mello before the blond would punch, flee, shout or whatever else his prickly mood had been about to induce. "That would be more of a problem if you actually registered at the college in your own name. As it is, it\'s more my problem trying to get your grades and qualifications moved over into the name Mihael Keehl." He winked. "You didn\'t fuck up, angel. You never do. There are a lot of colleges in this country." Mello was blinking at him, his mouth a perfect \'O\'. "I, however, did. Manetti lives not far away from us. Not the village, but close. He saw me in the garage and watched where I turned down. It\'s not rocket science to work out which of the properties down there is ours. He\'s been watching us for weeks."



"Manetti is dead, Matt. He\'s the one I called Catania."



Matt shrugged. "You said." It was clear that they weren\'t going for a cup of tea, so he lit his fifth cigarette of the morning. "He said he\'d been listening to us. So he\'s got some kind of audio in there. I got thinking about your ghost on the landing, then it came to me that the toilet hasn\'t got sensors or cameras. He could have been in there. I just don\'t know how he got across the ground and up the side of the house. Or how he would have known that. I know that the first thing I\'m going to do when we get back is listen to you and properly check out the landing."



"I thought you\'d done that!"



"I had a little look." Matt pulled slightly away, looking at the ground beneath his feet.



"You wanker. You told me that you\'d checked it out!" Mello growled. "For fuck\'s sake, Matt! I give you one little thing to do and you..." He raised his hand in a gesture of impatience. "Nevermind." He marched back into the building, pausing at the door to snap. "You want this cup of tea or not?"



Salvo, Chrissie and Century were in the dining room when they entered. There was a spontaneous round of applause at the sight of Matt looking much better. He bowed and whispered his thanks, before following Mello into the kitchen. The blond opened cupboards and the fridge. The clock on the wall told him that it was late afternoon and he was hungry. They prepared their meals with little glances, sometimes caught, at each other. Matt sensed that Mello wasn\'t angry with him anymore, so paused en route to the dining room to kiss him. "Does this count as romantic?"



Mello smirked. "It\'ll do." He followed him out, kicking shut the door behind him. "Everyone else still around?"



"No." Salvo reported. "Just us three now, but everyone is dying to know some of the blanks. If Matt\'s going to tell us, I\'ve got to broadcast it over the Watari network."



Mello raised his eyebrows. "Let him get his bacon and eggs in his belly first. Matt, just treat it like it\'s Ventrillo." He winked, proud of himself for knowing the gaming network. "I\'ve filled him in on what happened with us." They watched Century setting up his laptop to allow the communication. "So, what\'s with you three? Some kind of menage a trois?"



Chrissie snorted. "What happened to that prudish, Catholic boy? I didn\'t think you\'d know such words." Mello pouted at her. "No, Salvo is man enough for me. Century just came to live with us when he walked out of here. We\'re his legal guardians until he turns eighteen." She laughed and Mello and Matt understood that the legalities were a source of amusement. "It suits Roger. Century spent about a year running away and now he doesn\'t. Everyone\'s happy."



"This is ready when you are." Century placed the laptop on the table in front of Matt. "Good to see you again, dude."



Matt smiled and nodded. He had worked out, in the yard, how much he was in the debt of these people and didn\'t quite know how to react. He whispered thanks again and rose to make another cup of tea. Upon his return, everyone was looking at him expectantly, though Mello was trying to disguise it. "I made a pot." Matt carried it to the centre of the table and placed a black coffee in front of his lover. "Help yourselves." He clicked a key to bring the laptop back to life and dialled Watari himself before nerves got the better of him. He would have prepared to have a game in his hand, but there was none around. One by one, the alumni indicated their presense and Matt chewed on one of the fingers of his glove. "\'kay, everyone. Thanks. You know?" There was a movement behind him and Mello sat on the table beside the laptop, a little smile on his face. Matt smirked and forgot about his audience. He told Mello. "I owe you my life. I really appreciate you coming, because my hitpoints were really low. I know how much it cost you working together and so that makes it more sweet. \'kay?"



Mello stretched out a hand and it was held. "You know what we know. Was there anything we got wrong?"



"Yes." Matt sipped his tea. "Everything happened with Hollow as you deduced, but it was nothing to do with Kira. Like I didn\'t think it was the Death Note. When Hollow was killed, I was on Manetti\'s \'phone talking to Neuron. He told me that he\'d planted bombs in Wammy\'s House and then gave me my address. I was told that if I didn\'t go quietly, I\'d hear the explosion from the Cathedral. I knew the children would all be in class. I thought I\'d better play it by ear and at least make sure that the kids weren\'t killed, you know? Plus I was told that somewhere in the Cathedral there was a gun pointing at my head. I had to surrender my weapons." His gaze fastened onto Mello\'s with a pleading look. "You said first do whatever it takes to save my own life. I..."



"You did the right thing, Matty." Mello smiled reassurance.



Matt nodded, then bent down. From his boot he pulled out a Beretta. "They never found this one."



"You were armed!" Mello glared. "You were armed in that cave and you never shot the fuckers!"



"It occurred to me that I needed them to take messages back. If I\'d killed them, how would I have got the picture to you?" Matt\'s hand covered his mouth. "I\'m sorry!"



"No. You did right."



Matt sighed. "Ok, there was a little more. Neuron told me that this was a Mafia job. I told him what you\'ve told me to say, if that should ever happen, but he didn\'t seem to get the code."



Mello nodded. "That\'s because neither one of them were in the Mafia. Catania used that to hook Neuron, but it took me seconds to work that one out. Thank you for remembering what I told you to say. Had that been real, I feel sure that more inquiries would have been made before they went on with the operation."



"You\'ve also told me that if I think it\'s Mafia, I\'m to obey them to the letter. Catania looked the part."



"Just because he\'s Sicilian, it doesn\'t mean he\'s in the Mafia. You were right to be cautious though and again thank you for listening to me on that." Mello smiled and squeezed his hand. "So it was stay and fight, or do what you were told, thinking this was a Mafia job, and believing that Wammy\'s House could blow at any moment. I think it\'s reasonable that you went."



Matt bowed his head. "Thank you." He tapped his cigarettes until Mello reached and deposited a saucer in front of him. The blond pointed to the laptop and placed his finger over his lips. Matt smiled and bent under the table to light up. Chrissie coughed pointedly and, when Matt re-emerged, placed both hands on her pregnant stomach. "Oh." He sneaked two quick drags before extinguishing his cigarette with an apologetic wince. "Hollow killed Jonny, Nathalie and Mairoo. Manetti was made out to be the mastermind, but I actually think it was a joint effort between Hollow and Neuron. Manetti just had the idea. If Manetti had had the guts, he could have taken me and Mello out at home. He had the hatred, but he wasn\'t cut out for it. He nearly gave the game away when Hollow was killed. I think she was his first hit. It was Neuron, on the \'phone who told me to make it look like Hollow was praying." He squeezed Mello\'s hand. "I was taken to a van and inside I was handcuffed and blindfolded. I was on the ledge before they took them off. You know the rest."



There were more details to clarify, but they had the story now. Near added just one more piece of new information. Neuron and Kato had been picked up by officers in Kent. They had been trying to board the ferry to Calais without passports and the report had sparked an alert in his headquarters. He declined to say where they were being taken and hoped that Mello would allow him to deal with it from now on. Mello looked into Matt\'s pleading eyes and gave his consent. "Can you drive?" Mello asked once the connections had been cut. Matt seemed slightly dubious but nodded anyway. "If I escort you all the way on my bike?"



"Yes."



"Then let\'s go home."