Watari Pt 2: Wammy's House

"Near." Mello barked. "Is there a webcam on this bloody thing?" Gevanni ran to help him, reaching across to activate the programme, but Mello batted him away irritably. "Matty, I don\'t want to talk to a couple of letters. Let me see you, baby." He waited in messenger for a couple of minutes, before an alert told him that Mariomatt had signed on. Mello frowned in surprise. The redhead didn\'t often go visible on that account and there was a private ID that he usually used to talk solely with Mello. True to form, Mariomatt went off-line almost immediately, though a window popped up with a request for webcam. Mello accepted and, a few seconds later, could see the interior of Near\'s headquarters. Only the tip of Matt\'s nose was visible between goggles and collar. "Hello, guapo."



"Mello." The redhead\'s voice was muffled and emotionless.



"Look at me. Do I look like I\'m about to kill you?" Mello gazed right into the camera with an apologetic smile, trying hard to convey all he could of love and understanding. "What do I have to do to convince you that it\'s ok?"



"It\'s way past ok." Matt replied.



Mello shrugged, as if this whole situation was insignificant in the vast scheme of things. "Baby, will you take your goggles off for me please? I want to see those beautiful green eyes again." The redhead bowed his head, so there was nothing to see but that mass of hair. "Come on, guapo. You\'ve cornered us already, what\'s to be lost from letting me see you?"



Matt was very still. A gloved hand rose and rubbed or scratched at the unseen face, then he looked away. Slowly the goggles were raised to the top of his head and he glanced back at the camera. His eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. If that wasn\'t evidence enough of prolonged crying, then the tears that filmed his gaze now would have told the story. He stood up and disappeared from view. Mello exhaled and glanced to see who was interupting him now, standing at his shoulder. It was Near. Mello fixed him with a glare, one fist clenching, but the white-haired teenager surprised him. "Everybody leave here except for myself and Mello. " There were protests, verbal and non-verbal, across the trailer, but Near scowled in annoyance. "Matt is not trying to be L. Matt just wants to make things right with Mello. There are things that Mello can say to Matt that he won\'t say if everyone is listening. Mello cannot have free rein to talk with Matt in private, therefore I will listen and you will all leave." He sat on the computer chair, out of range of the webcam, but within reach to intervene. "Go away."



Mello bowed his head over his hand, not saying a word until, with seemingly infinite procrastination, the space emptied. He peered across at the bane of his life, but Near wasn\'t looking at him. He was stacking dice. "What makes you think I\'d want you to listen in too?"



"It\'s the best compromise Mello could negotiate in the circumstances."



"So we skipped the negotiation and went straight to the compromise?" Mello snapped more nastily than he had intended. Near didn\'t respond. It was self-evident. "Matty, can you hear this? It\'s just me and Near here now, alone in a room, and you aren\'t standing between us."



Matt reappeared into camera view. His goggles had been replaced and a DS was in his hand. Near glanced up and smiled faintly as he watched the clicking fingers working the game. Mello frowned. From the depths of hair and jacket collar, the redhead said, "Near, why are you so convinced that I\'m not after your title? I mean, I\'m not, I want to destroy your title. You shouldn\'t get complacent." There was no response from Near. "You also shouldn\'t trust Mello like you are doing. I\'m guessing he\'s restrained? He learned to unpick handcuffs years ago."



Near looked up in alarm and Mello gave him a withering look. "Stop listening to him, Near. You\'re underestimating his mindgames again." The blond flicked back his hair and gazed into the camera. "Mail, I love you. I love you so much it hurts. I think back to the vows we took and I can\'t imagine how it came to this. I see you now, there behind your barricade, and I take full responsibility for the situation we\'re in. Near\'s here as my witness. With my hand on my rosary, I give up on the title. I don\'t want it. I throw in the towel."



Matt\'s head rose from his collar to face the camera with shielded eyes. "I thought you already had, Mello. No-one believed the time before you left Wammy\'s. That was just going after it by beating Near in catching Kira. I almost believed you in the warehouse. That sounded genuine, but here you are again telling us that only now you are chucking in the towel."



"I am reiterating a point." Mello growled. "Why don\'t you believe me?" His fist crashed down on the desk and there was the clatter of a wall of dice falling to the floor. Near calmly slipped off his seat and picked them up again.



"And there we have it." Matt shrugged. "You lose your temper and lose the advantage you had. Near takes what\'s broken and puts it back together again without saying a word."



"And Matt gets hurt." Near spoke up from the floor.



Mello ignored him, his sharp gaze was firmly on the redhead. "I had an advantage?" He smiled, charmingly. "You were taking it in, Mail. You were actually hearing me when I told you how much I love you. You think I could lie to you now? After we\'ve made a commitment? After everything we\'ve been through this last year?" He yanked off his glove and held up his hand to display his ring. "You don\'t think that this trumps everything?"



Near was craning his neck to view the screen. He watched the redhead bow his head again over the handheld game. "Matt has to do what Mello tells him. He wears a collar around his neck to say that he is Mello\'s slave."



"What are you rambling on about?" Mello scowled. "No, Matt chooses to follow the lead. He is nobody\'s slave."



"Matt is wearing your collar. He is your sub."



"Near, will you just shut the fuck up about things of which you have no concept?" Mello glared down at the white-haired teenager. "You\'ve just looked it up on the internet and drawn your own dodgy conclusions." On the screen, Matt\'s shoulders were shaking, but whether with mirth or sorrow, it was impossible to tell. "Matt knows precisely what that collar means and will always mean." He watched the redhead carefully. "It means it now, Mail. Nothing\'s changed. I\'ll never give up on us. I couldn\'t stand it without you."



Matt glanced up. There were tears on his cheeks. His voice was choked with them. "I was working with Near. Since you left Wammy\'s. I got angry and I\'ve been working with him to bring you down."



Near frowned. "Bullshit." He stood up from the floor. "Matt is trying to make Mello hate him. Do not bring me into it!"



Mello turned his head, biting down temper and hurt in equal portions. "Baby, why are you so desperate to die?" His gaze returned, slightly manic. "Don\'t you realise, guapo? I\'m the one in danger this time. Near could kill me and..."



"He\'s not going to do that!" Matt yelled. "For fuck\'s sake, Mello! Near\'s respected you for years! Your hatred isn\'t reciprocated!"



"No." Near clarified. "I do hate him."



"Nate! Mihael!" Matt pushed back the chair and slammed his DS down onto the desk. There was an audible crack and the redhead crouched, both hands gripping the desktop above his head. "Make it be over. Make it be over. Make it be over. Please, make it be over."



Mello closed his eyes. "Near, get me a legal document, get me a Bible, get me whatever it would fucking take to persuade you both that all I want is him out of there and back home. I don\'t care about the L title. I don\'t give a flying stuff about Near. Yes, I will be a detective and I\'ll be the best fucking detective this world has ever known, but I\'ll do it under my own name. They will come to Mello not to L, because that is how I\'ll win." He glared at Near. "And if you have the guts for that challenge, you will see to it that he is allowed safe passage out of that building and that there are no repercussions for this. Are we on, Near?"



Near looked delighted. "I accept." He sat back down on the computer chair, twirling a lock of hair. "Matt, please would you leave my headquarters and go home so that the race can begin?"



On the screen, Matt remained where he crouched, still muttering softly to himself. They couldn\'t discipher the words. Mello sighed. "Mail, you\'ve been through Hell and back this past week. On top of a terrible year. You\'re physically drained. Guapo, your hitpoints are so low. There\'s no shame in a tactical retreat. You already owned the boss." He touched his rosary. "I swear by Almighty God that the only thing I\'m going to do when I get my hands on you is hug you to death."



"Mello will not kill Matt." Near summarised.



"Let me look after you. I\'m looking at you, Mail. You\'re at the end of your tether. Let me come and get you, baby? You can sit on your settee and play \'Final Fantasy\', while I cook you a meal. Then I\'ll come upstairs and, after you\'ve eaten, I\'ll stroke your hair until you fall asleep. Wouldn\'t you like that?" Mello gestured for Near not to say a word. "Mail, I want you. I want you with me forever. I want to pay attention to the little things you do and always have you with me to talk to and love. You\'re the most important thing in my life. I want you, Mail." Matt rose from his crouch and picked up the DS. They could all see that it was broken. "I\'ll buy you a new Nintendo."



Matt stared into the camera, his face red and tear-stained beneath the goggles. He rasped out eventually. "So I just walk out and that\'s it?"



"Tell him, Near."



"You will return control of the computer system to me and leave the building. I will give you ten minutes grace before I release my staff." He grinned. "Mello made me an offer I can\'t refuse."



"See," Mello added triumphantly, "there is nothing ever broken that can\'t be fixed."



"I hear you." Matt muttered. He coughed, then lit a cigarette. "I hear you both making your deals like it\'s all about you two. Are we just ignoring the fact that I\'m the number one? The number one gets to succeed L. That doesn\'t mean jack until you\'re in possession of the L code." He reached over and tapped some buttons on a keyboard. Every monitor in his room and their trailer, except for that showing the webcam feed, whitened into an Old English text font \'L\'. "I\'m in possession of the L code. I owned you both." Twin stares glared back at him through the camera. "You think something that broken can be fixed? You think there\'s an exit plan?" He laughed ironically, turning suddenly to catch the expressions on their faces. "You think something like that isn\'t going to eat away at what we have, Mello? Yes, I believe you. Tonight, tomorrow, all good. I want to be home. I want to be with you. But in a year\'s time? You\'re going to learn to hate me and I can\'t..." He broke down, turning away from the camera. They heard him scream so it reverberated around the building. He went on screaming over and again, the cigarette falling from his hand onto the carpet.



"Near." Mello pulled at his bonds. "Get me to him. Where\'s your helicopter?"



Near watched the screen impassively. "Matt could blow his brains out with the gun in his hand before you got to him."



Mello erupted, "Mail Jeevas! I did not fetch you from a cave in the Purbeck Hills or off a rooftop in Japan for you to kill yourself now! Put the fucking gun down! Arsehole!"



Near added, mildly, "Of course, I already knew about the Mario Clause. You are aware that it\'s a trick? Matt might have possession of the code, but he was never the number one. It was blackmail to force him into being Watari after Roger died. I set it up."



"What?!" Mello screamed, but Near\'s gaze slid away. The blond struggled with his straps and chains. "I\'m going to fucking kill you, Nate!" He jabbed a hand at the screen. "You have put my Mail through all of this in some stupid fucking game! I\'ll see you dead. I\'ll fucking see you dead!"



Out of reach of his thrashing limbs, Near calmly replied. "Matt is the third. Matt exploited your friendship and my working relationship with Hal to get the code, but I knew all along he had hacked my mainframe. I like my fun too. It was interesting to see what he would do next. I admit that I didn\'t expect Matt to go this far."



"You motherfucking piece of bastard shit!" Mello yelled.



"Is that true?" Matt\'s voice, shaky and broken, whispered through their speakers. They both looked up to see heart-breaking hope plastered across his tear-drenched features.



"Yes. I\'m sorry." Near placidly replied.



Matt seemed to dissolve in front of their eyes, sinking onto the computer chair with sagging shoulders. "Thank God." He lifted the goggles back onto his head and hurriedly wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, then turned to type rapidly on the keyboard. All of their monitors went dead, then resurrected with a digital form. \'Please enter your new password\', it asked above a text-box. Carrying a keyboard out of sight of Mello, Near entered digits, which appeared on the screen as a series of dots. Within seconds, control and possession of the code alike were with the white-haired L. "I accept your offer."



Near nodded. "Matt, please vacate my headquarters." They watched him shove the broken game into his pocket, then pause and raise his hand to his collarbone.



Mello forced his tone to soften, "I love you, Mail. Go home, baby. I\'ll meet you there."



The redhead dashed out of view of the camera, but a few clicks of Near\'s mouse showed him in other parts of the building. Near took up a walkie-talkie and spoke into it, "Matt is allowed safe passage out of the building. Do not fire or attempt to apprehend him."



"Should we follow him, Sir?"



Near glanced at Mello and released the communication button, so none could overhear. "Mello."



"Let him go and I won\'t break your fucking neck."



"It will be fun sparring with you intellectually again, Mello." Near pressed the button and spoke to his officer. "Do not follow him. Matt is allowed safe passage out of the area."



Mello bowed his head as Near walked behind him, giving him a wide berth, in order to summon his people back inside. But before the teenager could open the door, the blond spoke. "Nate. Roger said L set it up."



"I am L."



"Are you lying?"



"No. I am L." Near opened the door and exited it. Before it swung shut again, Mello heard Near giving instructions to escort him back to his motorcycle and to... But the door closed, blocking out all further sound.



Mello bowed his head. "That wasn\'t what I asked." He paused, taking deep breaths and realising that he didn\'t want to know the answer. "But thank you for not telling me."