The Flaw

Suggested Listening: Devils & Angels by Toby Lightman

Part 3

~Unease~

"Mello may now use the notebook if he so wishes." Near said ever so blandly, holding out the notebook that was practically clenched in his small hand. It was odd, very much so, for the albino to hold something in that way, using more than just the tips of his fingers.

In fact, to Mello and Near had been acting rather oddly. Matt didn't want to believe that it was the notebook, but it was of supernatural origin. But if there was something up L would have known about it, so was there something else going on?

Matt wanted so bad to bring it up to Mello, but he saw the hungry look in the blond's eyes as he took hold of the notebook and began to scan its contents. There would be no discussion of anything for the moment. Not until Mello had read and reread everything a few times and committed it to memory.

And even then Matt knew it would be difficult, Mello had a one tract mind, and should he even slightly hint that L might be hiding something harmful to them... well Matt doubted he'd have to worry about talking to Mello anymore.

Mello was rather protective, obsessed?, when it came to L. Always had been.

"Matt do you want to take a look?" Mello asked, eyes peering at him through his blond locks. Mello, despite the seeming death grip on the notebook, gestured to Matt with it. There was no way in hell he was going to touch it until he found out what was really going on. He had never been paranoid, but notes of death hadn't been real before.

"I'll just read over your shoulder." Mello shrugged to him as he moved behind him and nearly rested his chin on the leather covered shoulder. Mello was taller than him, but thankfully not by too much.

He almost still couldn't believe it, that all those rules, everything in there, was made to kill people. 40 seconds and a heart attack... 6 minutes and 30 seconds to write out death specifics. It was taking some time to wrap his mind around it.

But, if that was a Death Note, then where was the shinigami attached to it, there had to be one right? It wasn't like it had just appeared one day... but then again, L hadn't told them where it had come from, or how he had gotten it. So maybe Matt had gone on too far of a limb.

L wasn't in the room with them anymore so there was no way for Matt to ask the detective until later, but it was something he would wonder about until then. He didn't want to bring it up to Mello in case it was a stupid question.

It was probably odd that he'd rather look stupid to L rater than Mello.

"It's unreal..." Mello muttered. Matt turned to look at him, slightly surprised.

"To have that kind of power... no wonder Kira used it." Mello's voice was raw, and almost dripped with envy. Matt didn't like it, not one bit. And despite that he made no move to take the murder notebook away, still couldn't bring himself to touch something like that.

"Mello, we've studied the note book enough why don't we move on?" he suggested instead. Mello narrowed his eyes at him and was silent. Matt sighed and stepped back after Mello clenched the note tighter in his grasp.

He continued to back up until he was a good few feet away; Mello's reactions were anything but normal and Matt knew for certain that it had to do with the notebook. Perhaps even why Kira became Kira.

"Matt?" Mello blinked slightly, as though he had zoned out, and dropped the book onto the table as it slipped from his grasp.

"I guess we could go over something else. I have already memorized the rules." Mello mumbled, sounding a bit shaky. It was unnerving to see Mello like that, and it didn't even seem as though Mello had realized it.

"Mello I think we should go see L.."

"No, he's busy, we'll see him when he lets us!" Mello was adamant, and Matt deflated a little. Mello listened to everything the detective said and if asked to jump off a bridge he probably would.

"Fine then, what are we doing now then?" he snapped. He needed a cigarette badly and Mello's odd behavior wasn't helping in the least. If anything it made it worse. But with Mello watching him so intently he doubted there was anything he could do at the moment.

"L hasn't told us anything about the case other than what we already knew, and the existence of the notebook. So we obviously have to find the rest on our own, and for that I'll need you." Mello's expression morphed into a cat-ate-the-canary grin that Matt knew all too well.

It was hacking time.

But at least Mello was acting more like his usual self. However odd that normally was.

"Get your laptop so we can get started." Mello ordered, giving the notebook one last look before stomping from the room, presumably to get more chocolate. Matt was just happy the notebook had stayed on the table. Maybe he was making too much out of nothing, maybe Mello was simply overtired.

It had happened before...

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Mello had requested something from him, and he knew something would end up thrown across the room if it wasn't completed. Mello may have been his friend, but when his temper got the best of him...

Matt was happy to find Mello sprawled across his bed, chocolate bar in mouth, when he arrived to get his laptop. "Hurry up Matt, I don't want Near to get ahead of me."

He withheld a sarcastic response, that Near would always be ahead of him because Mello was too hard to please, but kept it to himself as he would have gotten hit for it. He shook the mouse and the laptop was brought forth from its sleep, the screen slowly urning brighter and brighter.

Matt glanced over at Mello as if to say 'So what now, boss?'. The blond swiftly tossed his legs over the edge of the bed and was moving towards him before his feet had even touched the floor; he was beside Matt in seconds.

"Alright, I want you to search the Internet; sites, forums, whatever you can, to see if there is anything there, but do it on your own time. Right now I want you to hack into the NPA and the ICPO's databases to see if there are any clues there." Mello paused, as though weighing his thoughts.

"It might not give us anything big to work off of, but even something to help would be worth it." he mumbled, chocolate being shoved into his mouth at the last second. Matt nearly smiled, Mello had included him in it that time, using 'us' rather than 'me'. Matt didn't really care about Kira, as it had never affected him while they were at Wammys, but he liked to help Mello in whatever he did. Be it sneaking down to the kitchens to pilfer locked up chocolate bars or hacking.

Matt had never thought about life outside of Wammys, despite it being just around the corner, but he had always pictured it being him helping Mello out, no matter the circumstances. He supposed that was naive of him, and he hoped he wasn't proven wrong in his assumptions that Mello would want to take him along.

"Quit spacing out Matt." Mello snapped, voice close to his ear as he leaned over to view the screen.

"Sorry Mello." but really he wasn't.

He worked in silence, well other than the occasional snap and chomp as Mello ate his chocolate bar by bar, and let his fingers fly across the keys as he worked on the NPA's systems.

It didn't take him nearly as long as he'd thought, and he checked over the entire site to make sure there were no hidden traps before he slid out of the seat to let Mello take over. It was simply easier that way.

"We have about an hour, maybe an hour and a half before I have to find a new doorway into the system so I don't get caught." and really it was just a precautionary measure, but he didn't need to get another lecture from Roger about getting caught. Which had only been once, and back when he had first become interested in computers, but the old man always brought it up should there be even the most remote traces of a hack left; even if it hadn't been him he always got a talking to.

It was not only annoying but embarrassing. Like he was some inexperienced child. He played with the lighter in his pocket and shook his head, he supposed that it just couldn't be helped.

He read over Mello's shoulder as he had before, and Matt was thankful Mello didn't appear to be annoyed by it as it made it easier for Matt to follow along. The blond was silent for a long time, skimming through document after document and either sighing in irritation of letting out a soft hum or snort, though it was anyone's guess if something good had been discovered.

"Can we copy any of these?" Mello asked finally, nearly at the hour mark.

Matt said nothing and left to rummage through his suitcase. He had taken everything he possible could with him from Wammys, leaving only the CDs and extra games that just would absolutely not fit. He had all of his jump drives and hacking materials he needed for the difficult hacks, as well as spare jump drives for times like that when the copying of data was needed.

As he didn't know how much space would be needed he grabbed the one with the most storage capacity and inserted it into the laptop and leaned across Mello and made sure it was open and waiting for him.

"Just drag everything you want into that space and it will make a copy of it, though I'm sure you remember from last time." Matt added as Mello tended to get prickly when it sounded as though they doubted his knowledge.

Matt hoped that one day the blond might get over his complexes and see when people were only trying to be helpful rather than condescending. Matt figured that was a few good years away, at least.

But one could hope.

Mello began moving all the files and documents he wanted onto the flash drive, all the while Matt watched the time. It was over and hour and Matt was getting antsy. He needed to back out of the system or risk getting caught, but Mello was in the middle of things and he didn't want to interrupt.

Five minutes past.

Ten minutes past.

Matt's fingers began to twitch as Mello showed no signs of stopping. He hesitated; he could wait until his laptop gave him a warning that he was about to be caught, that someone was tracking him, but he didn't want to get that close if he didn't have to...

At nearly twenty past the hour Matt took hold of the mouse, Mello's hand still covering it, and closed out the flash drive despite the files still loading into it.

"Matt what are you-"

"It's almost been an hour and a half, that's the limit." Matt told him, though Mello already knew. Mello pursed his lips but when he didn't protest Matt backed out of the system, Mello's hand still under his as he maneuvered the mouse.

When Matt had finished Mello pulled his hand away, holding it as though he'd been burned. They both started as the door swung open gently revealing Near who stood there twisting a piece of hair between his fingers; though to Matt he looked a little strained.

"What the hell do you want Near?" Mello snarled, pushing Matt away as he stood up, fists balled. Mello, no matter how old he became, could never restrain himself when it came to Near. His anger always got the best of him, and Matt sometimes wondered what would happen if he completely snapped, lost control to such a degree that all rational was lost...

"I am here to gather Mello and Matt. Watari has made food." Near's fingers were practically ripping his hair from his skull, though Matt couldn't think of what might have made him so unsettled.

Mello stilled, hostility still evident in his posture, though his fists had unfurled and his back gone rigid. "I assume we won't be in the same place, so just show us there?" Matt spoke out before Mello could, knowing there would only be violence the longer Mello was forced to interact with Near.

Matt thought he saw Near's expression darken for a moment, but when he glanced over his features again they were the same save for the slight tension that had been present before. Near turned and left the room and though Mello made a tsk like noise he followed leaving Matt standing in the room by himself.

With a sigh he dislodged the jump drive and pocketed it. He didn't want to leave that lying around in such an obvious place. With a shake of his head Matt closed the laptops lid and hurried to follow Mello and Near.

He was thankful that Near wasn't one to hurry, and that Mello like to stay a few paces behind him, so they hadn't gotten too far.

Though the building was large, quite an understatement, it took hardly five minutes to get to the requested room. Watari was in there and had appeared to have set up a large meal as he'd waited. Matt doubted that Mello had even realized what time it was that food was necessary.

"Please enjoy the meal." Watari said, a clear order to sit and eat. Matt didn't mind much but wished it could have happened a little later so they could have finished the hack.

The entire meal went by almost silently, Near at his own end and him and Mello seated together at the other end. Mello was shoveling mouthfuls of food away and not bothering to hide the dark way he looked at Near.

Matt thought that it was the calmest meal the three of them had ever had together. Probably only because there was someone else there, otherwise Mello probably would have been at Near's throat.

"I have a message from L." Watari stated as he set out a small array of deserts before them. Mello instantly perked up making Matt roll his eyes.

"You are to complete all of this weeks lessons before continuing on with the case. If not then you will be penalized for each assignment not finished. Everything will have been sent to your laptops email."

Mello grit his teeth and Matt simply took it in. he never had any problems with the lessons, though he knew Mello would probably pull all nighters to get everything done quickly. That and make sure he understood the material. Watari was sure to provide them with the tests.

Mello scoffed down his chocolate desert, where he usually savored it, and Matt had just enough time to grab his plate as Mello dragged him from the room. Matt assumed Watari didn't mind him eating in the room as nothing was said, and he wasn't about to skip it simply because Mello wanted to leave.

.

Over the next few days all they did was lessons and assignments. It bored Matt as Mello had forbidden him from playing any games until he was done, said he didn't want Near to get ahead while he waited for Matt to get his act together. Though Matt knew that was absolute crap since Mello had other things he could do in the meantime.

Mello had also wanted him to study, once everything was finished, but after three days of nothing but work work work Matt picked up his gameboy and blatantly ignore the 'suggestion'. Though his attention had been far from locked onto the tiny screen at the time.

Mello had been acting oddly again, but different from whenever he was in contact with the murder notebook. He would rub at his stomach every few minutes and grimace in pain, and Matt had begun to wonder if the chocolate he was eating had come from a bad batch.

But Mello had never said anything about it since it began, practically a few hours after they had started that weeks lessons, so Matt kept it to himself, though he watched as Mello grew more uncomfortable as the days went on. He hoped it wasn't something serious, like a pending appendicitis or something equally bad.

"Matt make sure to get whatever files I missed the first time." Mello told him as he touched his stomach again while he sat in front of his laptop. It had been days since Matt first hacked the NPA and Mello had already told him to continue the hack on his own and copy anything useful onto the same jump drive.

Mello was slowly going over the previously copied files, having had them transferred to his laptop, but so far they had not been able to discern anything more than Kira was in the Kanto region of Japan, a known fact, and that the task force had met L personally had practically disappeared off the face of the planet.

In fact Matt had just dug that piece up. There were no records of the men after a certain point in the investigation, though no main details about the case or the men were present, only that something happened and now it was back to L and Watari. It was as though someone had taken a whiteout pen and covered the rest of the document up, and that made Matt wary.

He put that under Mello's folder for 'important reads', meaning it would get read first and foremost. There was only one other thing in that folder on the jump drive.

Matt wished they had gotten an earlier start that day, being interrupted by dinner had made Matt start everything over again, though they could only work till a certain point.

Both he and Mello were getting tired, but not to the point where they couldn't function. They weren't left to their own devices though and had a 'lights out' time just as in Wammys. Matt supposed the only consolation for Mello was that Near had to abide by that as well.

Hardly an hour later there was a knock at the door. "You boys should have your lights out by now, make sure you do not take too long to get ready. I will be back in ten minutes." Watari's voice called through to them.

Mello groaned softly and with a frustrated sigh closed out the documents and shut his laptop down. "Hurry up Matt, we weren't given much time."

It didn't really make much of a difference to Matt as all he needed to do was strip down to his boxers, and he didn't need light for that. Mello was the one that took forever. The blond was still scrambling around when Matt shut the lights off at nine minutes and ten seconds later.

He rolled his eyes as Mello cursed, having collided with something. "Nite Mello." he called out as he rolled over. He heard the muttered response, a soft 'goodnight Matt, dammit where the hell-'

Matt smiled softly and closed his eyes. While he wasn't tired, if he didn't do something to keep his mind occupied he would eventually fall asleep. He drifted off to Mello getting settled.

And he woke up to Mello yelling and sounding generally freaked out. The lights were already on and Mello was staring in horror at the blood on his sheets. Matt's day had gone to hell before it had even really begun.

-End part 3-