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Annals of Fear II	By : DeathNoteFangirl Category: Death Note > Yaoi-Male/Male > Mello/Matt Views: 5803 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Chapter List
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"Hal, you and I are seriously going to fall out."    Mello blazed from the doorway of the chalet above Hal's own.    He was glaring within; to where Hal stood beside the short-haired, middle-aged woman, whose whole demeanour just yelled 'lesbian' in Mello's view.   "And I am no longer laughing."

Hal nodded, carefully stepping between the newcomer and her fiery friend.   "Mello, I would like you to meet Valerie Mihaili. She is..."

"I know who the fuck she is. I approved her application!"   Mello charged into the room and was immediately beset from the side.   It was Deontic, looking drained and tired, who forced herself into his grasp. He automatically pushed her aside, but it had broken his stride.   He just as quickly pulled her back and held her in a one-armed embrace.    "Why is she here, Hal?   And I advise you to think very carefully about your response."   He glowered, his eyes unblinking in their surveillance of the tall American.   "Because if it involves Mail in any way, shape or form, then I swear that..."

Deontic quietly interrupted, "She's here for me, Mello."

"Nice try, Dee.   Inspired fucking try.   But her conversation back at Wammy's House name-checked me."   His attention had never left Hal.   "I'm sorry.   Did you not know that Lauren works for me now?"

Hal sighed, "Yes, Mello.   I'm quite aware of that.   Shall we take this tantrum downstairs and let Val settle in?"

Mello's stance froze.   From heat to ice in the blink of an eye.   He raised his chocolate bar to his mouth and bit viciously into it. Shards exploded before his face.    He smiled and nodded, just once, while Deontic took a step backwards, away from him.   "Sayonara."   He turned and walked, confidently, but briskly, back down the stairs.

With a pause to signal reassurance to both Deontic and Val, Hal hurried after him.   She caught up with him, mid-stride, halfway across the green.   "Mello."

"I will not be disrespected like this, Hal.   In front of my staff, my husband, my peers.   You think we have a special relationship that allows you to over-rule me, time and time again, and get away with it.   We do not have that relationship."

"Fine."   They were already at the door to his chalet, which was ajar from his leaving it.   Hal raised her hands in surrender and stepped back.   "I have obviously overstepped some professional boundaries in your opinion and I apologise for disappointing you.   So let's have a frank exchange of words here and gain some closure on this issue."

Mello cast her a look of utter disdain and marched into the chalet.   "Mail, we're going. Pack up."

He had tried to slam the door shut in Hal's face, but she was ready for him.   It ricochetted off her toe-cap and she followed him inside.   "And you think that you haven't repeatedly disrespected me?"   Hal snapped.   "How about that set up, when Matt came screaming domestic abuse at me?   Or have we brushed that under the carpet?"

Lauren and Matt watched with blank faces.   Mello hissed into Hal's face, "You are not listening to me, ma'am."   Venom laced every word.   "Our business arrangement is over. Our friendship is over.   You do not attempt to impose your will onto my husband."

"Ok." Hal nodded. "Understood.   The offer of Val's services, in the case of Matt, is refused.   And presumably you would like to continue on with the ghosts of Gorskica dogging your every..."    Mello slapped her.   Against all precedent, his palm connected and she reeled backwards against the wall.   She anticipated the next blow, but it never came.

Mello appeared icily calm.   He walked away, towards the bathroom, but turned there.   His back to the bathroom door, he had a view of all four of them and a position between Hal and the two Watari alumni.   "Mail.   Find lodgings in or around the manor house.   If there are digs with a penthouse suite in this town, book it.   We'll need room for the equipment.   Lauren, go and find Century and bring him here."

Lauren nodded and hurried past him, then Hal.   She didn't look back before leaving the chalet and closing the door behind her. Matt took his laptop and retreated into the kitchenette to access it.   Hal took a deep breath. "Mello, I've upset you and I'm sorry. But a schism in the team is only going to endanger you all."

"Because it's so wonderfully safe here."   The chocolate was ground between his teeth.   "We survived the interim couple of months well enough on our own and frankly that's the way it should have stayed."

Hal met his gaze and nodded slowly, "I'll go.   If I'm the troublesome element here, then I'll remove myself from the equation."

Matt had dialled a number on his mobile 'phone.   He spoke now, implacably precise, "Hello, I was wondering if your Penthouse was free for tonight?"   He listened.   "Can it be made free for triple payment of your usual rates?"

"Mello." Hal tried again.   She was cut off by the rapid rapping on the door beside her.

"Let Century in, Hal."   Mello smiled, coldly.

It wasn't Century.   It was Fenian.   Across the room, Matt said, "Ok, thank you very much anyway."   And cut the connection.

Mello seemed vaguely amused by the presence of the Gael.   He purred, "What do you want, Fenian?"

"Hal." Fenian didn't even look at Mello.   "It was a test. You did very well. But thank you. I have my answer now and you can call the shrink off Matt."

Hal closed her eyes, exhaling loudly, "You have the right..."

"I have no fucking rights."   Fenian snapped.   "The test was to find out if Watari was now a fucking tyranny under Mello.   It is. So I have to plan where that leaves me.   But I don't want my name on this procedure anymore.   Mello, you heard that. Me and mine are out of this."

"Good decision." Mello smirked, but his gaze was still icy.

Hal shook her head. "It's not, Fenian.   Isn't the whole problem here that we're acting against Mello's will?   It will happen, on your behalf, to the full process allowed by the Constitution."

"Not on my fucking behalf. I've stopped it."   Fenian jabbed a finger into Mello's direction. "Because I don't want that fucking toerag declaring war on me and mine. And that is why it's a tyranny.   If he fails diplomatically, then it'll be force of arms. Mello wouldn't know justice, if you highlighted it in a fucking dictionary."

Mello peered at the Irishman, "And how many serial killers and human traffickers have you put away this year, potholer?"

"You have no idea what I do." Fenian snapped.   "But I'm done with Watari.   This is my first and last fucking case for them. It's all yours, Mello."

He hadn't closed the door behind him and Lauren appeared in it now.   She pushed her glasses back up her nose and stated, rather breathlessly, "Century isn't in the complex.   I called him via Watari and he said that he's out working on the case.   He will be back after he's seen Siân on her train home, later on this afternoon."

"Heh." Mello sneered.   "If he's with Siân, then he's not working on the case."

Fenian looked away, "Is it good between us, Mello?"

"Was it ever good between us?"

"I mean are you fucking coming after me with a shotgun?"

Mello looked to the Heavens, "'Martyrdom, sir, is what these people like: it is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.'"   He smirked. "Very quotable race, the Irish."

Matt had been making further calls.   He walked to Mello's side and quietly said, "I can get us a bungalow in a nearby village."

Mello nodded. "Take it."   Matt continued his booking, but stayed beside his husband.

Fenian turned to walk out. Hal put a hand on his arm, but he shrugged her off.   Hal looked back to Mello.   "Can we not just sit around a table and talk about this?"   She watched him smile.   "I have a woman over there who was brutally attacked last night by four men.   I have someone else, walking across the green, who has been repeatedly let down by the system that was supposed to protect him.   I have two men in here, who could become suicidally terrified, if a bottle is removed from a tree.   I have a young man out there in a car, who is recovering from a heart-attack.   I have a Constitution that is sound, but is being challenged within hours of its validation.    I cannot work in these circumstances without co-operation."   She saw his utterly impassive expression.   "I will call Near and tender my resignation as warden of Wammy's House.   If you are not working with me, Mello, then I'm working for Near."    She was met by the twin stares of Mello and Matt, both studiously emotionless, though Mello's shoulders had risen to the level of his ears.   "However, I just have to say this thing.   The complaint against Matt was heard before the Constitution was ratified.   Therefore it had already been reported to Near.    You think that you're protecting Matt, but this road will just lead to him being arrested and imprisoned or sectioned.   You know that."

"Lauren."   Mello lifted his chin. "Is there a Land Rover parked up outside?"

The Finnish woman checked. "No."

"Did Fenian go in the direction of his chalet?"

"Yes, he did."

Mello nodded, "Then go and find out where Kiana is, please."   Lauren nodded and left.   Mello looked to Hal. "And you know that I will see off any bastard who comes looking for him."

Matt bit his lip.   "¿Debo ir a ver sólo el psiquiatra de mierda? Estoy seguro de que puedo decirle lo que ella necesita escuchar para hacerla desaparecer."

"No." Mello shook his head, then considered it. "Unless you want to, as a matter of principle because you wrote the fucking thing that got her into Wammy's."

Matt wrinkled up his nose, "It'll get them off your case."

"Don't do it for me. I can take anyone who wants to try it on."

There was a loaded silence.   Hal cleared her throat, "Afford me the decency of acknowledging that you heard me tender my resignation."

"Why?" Mello glared.   "I haven't decided whether you can leave yet or not.   I'll let you know when I have."   His hand rubbed across Matt's shoulder-blades.   "I'll come with you, if you're going.   If not, I'll fight your corner."

"I'll go see her."

Hal released a breath. "Thank you, Mail."

Mello scowled, "He's not doing it for you."

"I don't care who he's doing it for.   He's doing it and that's all that matters."   She started to walk away, but spoke over her shoulder.   "And now I'd better call Near and resign to him instead."

Neither man replied.   Mello stomped forward in her wake and closed the door.   Then he just stood there with his hand against it, head bowed and his chocolate static in the air before his lips.   He gave a heavy sigh and twisted slowly around.   He placed the remains of his chocolate bar down on the table and sank to sit on the end of the bed.   Matt watched, passively.    Mello just stared into space.   He eventually whispered, "It's not fair."   In the corner, Matt lit a cigarette.   "Have you got any suggestions?"

Matt nodded. "Mix up a pot of cement and pour it down the roots. Then no-one could extract the witch bottle again.   Go home."

Mello snorted an ironic laugh, but he sounded depressed, "That simple, eh?"   He witnessed Matt's shrug.   "Do you think she's removing it as we speak?"

"Possibly."

Mello nodded.   "Then I hope I'm enough for you, Mail, and I hope that God is enough for me."   He held out his hand and Matt came forward to take it.   "Upstairs, when it happened before," he slipped an arm around Matt, as his husband sat beside him, "I don't think my faith was strong enough.   Not in the end.   Like God's been a comfort blanket, to cling onto when there was nothing else. But when the chips were down, I trusted witchcraft over a church?   And I wonder if I've ever really trusted that God would save me, when it was His cathedral that crashed down on my family."

Matt exhaled smoke.   "When you saw the Japanese bitch writing your name on the Death Note, what did you do?"

Mello blinked, "I gave myself the last rites."

"Well then."   Matt peered sideways at his husband. "You believe in God."

Their door was being knocked on again.   Matt rose to admit Lauren. She walked past him to report to Mello.   "He laughed at me and said that you think Kiana is at the manor house."

"And is she?"

"I don't think so, no."   Lauren grimaced. "I'm sorry, that's the best I could do.   It took me ages to get that out of him."

Mello blinked slowly. "Did Fenian say that Kiana is not at the manor house?"

"Yes, he did. Finally."

Mello gave the briefest flicker of a shrug. "Then she's not.   He's a lot of things, but he's not a liar."

"What do you want me to do next?" Lauren asked, eagerly.   A movement caught her attention outside the window. "Fenian's going past."   She carried on watching.   "He's going onto the beach."   Matt stretched on tip-toe to see out too.   Mello sat immobile.   "Out of sight now, but he's gone onto the beach."

Mello nodded. "Hope he drowns. One less fucking hassle in my Godforsaken life."

Matt sauntered back to him and sat down.   "Fuck 'em."

"That's always your advice, Mail. It's not always that simple."

Lauren gave the second snippet of her commentary from the window. "And Deontic's on her way over."

"I rest my case, your honour."   Mello sighed.   Matt sprang to his feet and jogged to the door.   He opened it and slipped outside, then pulled it shut behind him.   Mello looked startled.   "What's he doing?"

"He's talking to Deontic." Lauren replied. "And dithering."

"I've known him for over fifteen years and I had no idea that he could move that fast."   Mello rubbed his face, debating following him.   "What's Deontic doing?"

"Crying." Lauren kept watching.   "But she seems pretty riled up too.   Matt's just nodding at whatever she's saying.   He looks cold."

Mello growled, his head in his hands.   "She's found out that Hal thinks she's resigning.   That's what's wrong with Deontic." He leapt up and snatched up his chocolate, then devoured half of the remainder of the bar in just two bites.

"They are both going towards the chalet next to Fenian's.   Oh! And the Land Rover has just returned." Lauren reported.   "There's a lady getting out of it.   Matt and Deontic have now gone into that chalet.   The lady has opened the back of the Land Rover and she's getting something out."   She continued observing the scene through the net curtain.   "It's a sack of firewood. No, two sacks of firewood. The little ones, in plastic netting, that you get for kindling.   She's taking them onto the beach."

"Why did they adjourn the case in Belarus?"

Lauren turned to look at him.   "I've got the paperwork in my bag. I can get it.   The defence needed more time to prepare, but not a biggie.   Are you alright?"

"What was said about me in Wammy's House to bring you here?"

"That there was a strong need for a psychiatrist on this case.   Part of the phenomena was something that evoked strong feelings of persecution and terror; and that it was powerful enough to have even got to Mello and Matt." Lauren inspected him carefully.   "Are you alright, Mello?"

"The situation here is a mess.   My advice is to get out of here as fast as you can.   I need someone not involved, as my lifeline out of here."   He gestured towards the door.   "Mail's solution is genius in its simplicity, as they often are, but I've found a dozen potential flaws already.   Plus that doesn't solve the case.   It just postpones it again and I don't leave cases unsolved. All that you're hearing about so far are just distractions, you know?   The combustible shit that kicks up whenever you get a group of our generation in one small space.   The collective noun for our generation is genocide.   A genocide of the fourth."

"You sound really rattled."

"How did you get here?"

Lauren pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Helicopter and taxi."

"Did the 'copter wait?"

"No. Though it was mentioned that I might be escorting Deontic to the institution in her car."

Mello glanced sharply at her, "You do not work for Watari.   They can't ask you to escort Deontic back."

"I don't mind."

"I mind."

Lauren pulled a face and returned to her surveillance.   "It's all quiet out there now."

"Then you're not looking hard enough."   Mello picked up his motorcycle helmet, then placed it back down again in the middle of the table.   He took out his keys and arranged them prominently next to it.   But the biking jacket, from the kitchenette worktop, was put on and zipped firmly up.   "This is what's going to happen. I'm going to let Mail deal with Deontic. It can be a little lesson for him in people skills. I want you to stay right here.   If Mail comes back, tell him that I'm on the beach.   If he wants to, he can come and look for me. It's daylight, so he should have no trouble.   However, I'd rather he went upstairs and checked to see if Century is carrying a tracking device. There is an outside chance that he actually is working on this case and, if that is so, then I want to know where."

"Ok."   Lauren nodded. "And what would you like me to do, while I wait?"

"Chill out, make yourself a cup of tea. Read Nietzsche." He shrugged. "But whatever happens, do not get involved in any of the great or petty squabbles around this camp. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Thank you."   Mello uncased, loaded and applied the safety catch to his semi-automatic.   It was pushed down the front of his biking leathers, with the jacket hefted, with difficulty, over it.   He took out a fresh chocolate bar from the mini-fridge and then a second for his pocket.    He left the chalet without another word.

It didn't take Mello long to find Fenian and Kiana.   They were only a few feet from the track, a little further along the beach.   They had built a small windbreak of rocks, with a dry atoll in the centre.   The firewood, still encased in its orange, plastic netting, was set beside it.   A bottle of Jameson's Whiskey was propped up against the wood.    "Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" Kiana was shrieking, backing off.   Fenian was coming towards her, but Mello couldn't see what he had in his hand.   The carpet of rocks was unsteady underfoot and one rolled under Fenian's boot.   He stumbled, almost onto one knee, but an outstretched hand saved him. Kiana roared with laughter, while he blushed.   Regaining composure, Fenian ran to the ocean's edge and skimmed whatever he held far out to sea.   The great, grey waves surged forward, but he didn't get caught in the spray.   Instead, Kiana wandered to his side and cupped his face. They kissed, long and hard.   Mello watched, in plain view, but neither had noticed him there.

He waited for a minute or two, before making his way towards them. Mello trod lightly, tipped off about the instability by Fenian's near fall and unwilling to replicate it himself.    Still, his boots were heavy and it was impossible to walk silently, even against the thundrous roar of the ocean.   Fenian and Kiana were both facing him by the time he'd traversed the short distance to them.   Their expressions had lost the easy mirth of just a moment before. They were stonily wary now.   Mello stopped a few paces away.   "I come in peace."

"What do you want?" Fenian replied.

"Mail has agreed to see the psychiatrist.   He's voluntarily answering for what he did to you."   Mello watched their expressions and noted the surprise register in Fenian's eyes.   Kiana's features were more open. She looked visibly stunned and pleased too; she squeezed Fenian's arm with her own.   "Will that settle the matter for you?"

Fenian gave a one-shoulder shrug, "It's the best I'm going to fucking get."

Kiana lifted her chin, defiantly, "I was still for calling the police.   Fenian thinks that Watari will order our disappearance, if that happens, so that we can't testify in court."

"I doubt that would happen via Watari."   Mello gave a half-smile.   "Though still utterly unadvisable as a safe course of action.   But there's still the witch bottle situation and none of us know the outcome of that.   As it stands, you have me over a barrel.   That state of affairs can't continue."

"By which you mean?" Fenian asked, gruffly.   He did very well in concealing his fear, but it was there in the fingers drumming against his thigh.

"By which I mean that I'm going to have to neutralise the bottle or the threat that it's plugging."   The wind was whipping blond hair across his face.   It was hardly the most glamourous of poses. "You still believe that destroying the stable and the outhouse will open up your pathways and make it all better?"

Fenian stiffened, "It's a working theory."

"What else have you got?"

"Are we working together on this case now?"

Mello smiled, "I thought that we were always working together."   He watched Fenian snort.   "I'm taking Mail out of this Hell-hole.   We'll be working independently.    The race is on."

"Bye."

Mello saw that hand picking up pace in Fenian's tapping. "I meant what I said up at the manor.   I picked on you because I could. Because I was a little shit.   There was nothing you could have done to stop it.   There was no significance in it being you.   I did it to everyone, but Mail."

"Fuck off.   You did it to Mail too."   Fenian snapped, unable to stop himself.   "And I'm not talking about smacking him around when you've had a bad day now.   Did he ever tell you what happened to him after you left Wammy's?"

Mello froze inside his leathers.   "Of course."

"Yer man lost the fucking plot.   He had a fucking nervous breakdown, suicide attempts and the whole fucking shebang." Fenian sneered. "You kicked us all like dogs for years, then walked away and dumped your little fox cub in the middle of the pack of fucking hounds.   You know why we didn't tear him apart?   Because he was doing a good enough fucking job all on his own.   So don't come here with your fucking protecting Matt shit.   I was there and I know the truth."

"Why do you goad me, Fenian?"   Mello asked. "You shit yourself as soon as you look at me, but it's all gob with you. Do you want to end up in an unmarked grave, just so you can feel vindicated at the end that you were right about me?   Or is it some strange masochistic impulse?   Do you get off on the fear?"

"You ain't worth fucking shit."

"No, I'm not." Mello smiled. "But you have a go anyway, which means that you're spouting hot air. You think I'm the biggest threat in town and you'd be right there too.   But you are small game for me.   You are a disturbance.   An itch.    For preference, I'd like to negotiate with you like reasonable men.    Come to a place where we can co-exist in this world without having to bother with each other at all.   But even as I'm saying these words, I'm struck with a feeling of déjà vu.   It goes round and round, same old truce, same old hit."

Fenian shouted, "It wasn't me who fucked around with car bombs!   Look closer to home for shit-stirrers.   In fact, look behind you, because he's on the way down."

Mello didn't look, because that would involve taking his eyes off Fenian and Kiana.   But he held out his hand, as soon as the sound of boots on rocks came close enough.   Matt took it and stood beside him.   Mello could see him out of the corner of his eye.   Matt had his gilet on, still damp from the night before.   He was tensing every muscle, so that his shivering wouldn't be mistaken for shaking.    Mello asked, "Fenian, did you know that I was going to be here?"

"Yes."

"Then we make a deal, right here and now.   If either of us learn that the other is going to be somewhere, we decline the invitation.   We both ensure that our paths never have to cross again.   We keep out of each other's way."

"Sounds good to me."

Mello nodded. "And Mail's agreement to see the shrink will shut you up about the entirely imaginary car bomb?"

"As I said in there, it's the best I'm going to get."

"It's more than you'd get in the real world."   Mello rolled his eyes.   "Excuse me, officer, my foster brother said he'd booby trapped my car, but he hadn't really.   Can you tell him off for me please?    They'd just tell you to go home and look up 'sibling rivalry' and 'prank' on Google."   He stared at Fenian, who looked away and didn't look back.   "If that is all settled, then I have one final request of your lady."

Fenian frowned, but Kiana faced Mello, "What?"

"I'd like to buy a couple of pots of that stuff you put on Deontic last night."

Her mouth gaped; her laughter incredulous.    Fenian kicked a rock, "No fucking way.   That's like carte blanche to knock him around at leisure, because you can just fix him up later."

"Hopefully."   Matt said, with a knowing smirk.

Mello nodded, "Fenian, consider this.   I stood up there for a good five minutes, watching you and Kiana playing on the beach. I could have taken you both out. I didn't.   I came to reason with you.   Remember that, next time your paranoia and fear cause you to want to goad me.   It's not self-defence that you're acting in. It's aggression.   Provocation.   And one day, I might just hear your act of war and not dismiss it as beneath me."   He bowed slightly to Kiana. "Have a good life."    They weren't stopped, as they returned across the beach.
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Annals of Fear II