We Sleep Forever

Suggested Listening: 'Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~' By Flumpool

Chapter 8 – Madness

~Matt~

I stared at the screen unblinkingly, unwilling to read any further until my thoughts had stopped racing. Mello had joined the mafia. Mello had been used as a sex toy for the mafia. My mouth was dry and I found it painfully hard to swallow.

Mello, my Mello, had lost his virginity to someone twice, maybe even three times, his age for information and status? What the hell was he looking for so badly, or what did he need, that he was willing to give away everything? I frowned at the thought of someone touching him. Someone other than me.

Running a hand through my hair I took a shaky breath. I had long since figured out that I was in love with the temperamental blond, I may have been young but he had been the only one who cared to be in my life, until I had screwed up.

And this, this file, was filled with things that he had wanted to keep hidden. It would not have been so hard to get a hold of otherwise. Though I had been surprised that L himself didn’t have it locked away more safely.

"Mello..."

My fingers hovered over the mouse for a long moment before clenching and eventually grasping the mouse. Scrolling down I continued to read. I knew that with every paragraph things would only get worse, could only get worse, and yet I had to know.

I needed to know what he had gone through, how he had gotten that scar, how he had gotten that cold look in his beautiful eyes.

Mello had been used by the mafia for many things. Gathering information, used as blackmail material, as payment, and as a whore; and that was for more than four years. Four fucking years. How in the hell had he withstood that?

My eyes narrowed at some of the things the men had done to him during sex, what was documented at any rate. What gave them the right to do that? Closing my eyes I had to force myself to keep calm, to pretend that this was just for another case which meant nothing to me.

It was near impossible to do.

One thing that was written down was that he had never taken a lover or had a girlfriend, and never got off during any of those situations. Though it would have been a natural reaction if he had.

This was just after five of the documents, I was hesitant to look at any more. I decided to skip to the very last one; it ended up being the most informative. Whoever had written this part was very close to Mello, knew everything about him and his past, and it made me uneasy and if I felt like admitting it, a little jealous.

'His body and mind have finally given way under all of the stress and abuse it was put through. Honestly I’m not surprised. He hasn’t eaten anything in almost two weeks, and that includes chocolate. He had been staying awake and filling his hunger with coffee and water.

Even the smell of food had made him sick, he was in the worst state I had ever seen him in. I have wanted to help him, however he is forever stubborn.

He has grown weak and has been less and less like himself these past few days, it was only a mater of time before he broke.'

This person, narrator, infuriated me. If they knew he was having such trouble they should have done something, Mello's stubbornness be damned.

'I found him passed out on the floor barely breathing. There was no choice but to do something then. I got him private care, and when he was well enough, gave him an ultimatum.

Quite the mafia lifestyle, or be left out of succession and the resources that came with it. I will admit to being a little surprised to learn that he held something far more dear to him that the title of L.'

My eyes widened. L had written this?

'In the end I was able to get him to promise, as a friend if nothing else, two things. One being that he would never use his body to gain information again, and the second; that he would never kill again for the same reason.'

I closed out the document and quickly pulled up one of the ones I had skipped over. I scanned the words quickly until I found what I had been looking for. He had indeed killed for the mafia. I had been a fool to think otherwise.

If it hadn’t been the abuse of his body, then it was this that had hardened his eyes. In the same file I found an attachment that lead to a case that he had been ordered to take because of the mafia.

Apparently there had been a serial arsonist that was killing mafia members as well as destroying thousands of dollars worth of goods.

Mello had solved the case, but at a terrible cost. There had been a traitor, a rat, inside the mafia and they hadn’t liked how close Mello was getting to them. So they torched his place while he slept. He barely made it out alive. He was given burns down the left side of his face, shoulder and back.

They all scarred.

I closed all the files and sat back in my chair. I had finally found out what he had been up to and god how I almost wished I hadn’t. My stomach growled but I ignored it. I didn’t even want to think about food-

"Food?" I questioned silently. Something about that struck a chord with me. My eyes widened. Mello never ate anything while he was here, and got sick when Miranda was waving around her sandwich.

Did that mean he had broken his promise to L and was selling himself for information again?! The thought horrified me, and yet at the same time I wasn’t surprised since Whammys was on the line in this case.

I found myself feeling uneasy, sick even, and wished for the first time in a long time that I was wrong.

"Hey J." a deep voice purred in my ear. I shivered. I pushed the hand that was sliding across my abdomen to the side and stood up.

"Not tonight." I stated dryly. There was no way in hell I was doing anything of the sort for quite awhile, not after what I had just read. The man before me cocked his head to the side.

"Something wrong? You're usually raring to go." I cringed at his voice. It made me sound like some cheap whore, and I wondered if that was what Mello felt like every time, only his wasn’t done for recreation.

"This case... is complicated."

"Something is actually stumping you? Must be hard then, especially if you wont accept help." his tone was suggestive, as though subtly asking if I wanted to have a go and retract my earlier words, but he made no more moves on me.

"No, I’m not necessarily stressed... its something else." the man nodded and backed out of the room with a curious look on his face.

Rubbing at my face I sighed heavily. This was certainly going to get back to Miranda, and even though she never approved of my lifestyle she knew I needed it for stress release, among other things.

The fact that I was pushing aside sex would bother her, but I didn’t want her to know about Mello. It was his business and too many people already knew. So the only options were to either avoid her indefinitely or lie.

The only problem with the latter was that she always knew when I was lying to her. This was going to be a long case.

Deciding it was just easier to sleep than think, I made my way to the messy bed. Shaking my head at the piles of stuff on the bedspread I mercilessly shoved it all to the floor. I heard glass break; apparently I had something breakable on the bed. Where I sometimes slept. Wasn't that a comforting thought?

Rolling onto my stomach I curled my arms around a pillow and buried my face into the soft red fabric. I feel asleep quickly and would have stayed asleep if it hadn’t been for a slight inconvenience.

*Buzzzz* *Buzzzz* *Buzzzz*

I groaned into the pillow as my pocket vibrated. Reaching behind me I took the phone out from my back pocket and answered it without much enthusiasm.

“Yeah?” I mumbled.

“J, stop being such a grouch. There has been another murder, go look at your e-mail for the details.” I was hung up on so I shut the top and tossed the red phone across the bed and rolled over with a sigh.

“The one time I actually go to sleep willingly this bastard has to murder someone?” I huffed to myself. Seating myself once again in front of the computer I logged into my e-mail quickly and opened the file that had been sent to me.

There wasn’t much to the e-mail itself, just a few preliminary things noted by police. As well as the victims name and address, as well as estimated time of death.

“J open the fucking door you've been in there forever!” Miranda's loud voice and harsh knocking filtered through the door. I wanted to bang my head on the table.

“The door is unlocked.” I sighed. Never a moment’s peace in this shit hole.

Upon seeing the state of the room, as well as the rumpled bed covers she stared at me open mouthed.

“W-were you sleeping?” I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, and its something you can do too.” she reached over and smacked me in the back of the head.

“You ass, when Ben came and told me you refused sex I was worried! But if you were sleeping why are you on the laptop now?” I was fortunate that my sleeping habit derailed her usual questions for the moment.

“There has been another murder, just reported a few minutes ago.” a sour look crossed her face and her lips pulled back into a frown.

“Again? That makes six...” wishing I hadn’t left my phone on the bed I looked over to Miranda and then pointed to the small red object. She shook her head in exasperation but retrieved it for me. Scrolling down I hesitantly dialed a number I had just recently memorized.

“Yes?” his voice sounded tired; exhausted even.

“There has been another murder. The body was just found.”

“I already know.” how did he know? It shouldn't have been announced yet.

“And you didn't feel the need to inform me?” I asked curiously.

“I haven't known for more than a few minutes at best, and as if you could possibly be left out of the loop.” I laughed into the phone.

“The two from yesterday are on their way to the crime scene; get there as soon as you can.”

He snorted. “It won’t take me long, it's only twenty minutes from my apartment and I am already out.” my eyes narrowed. Something about that seemed odd.... wait. The victims seemed to be getting closer to where he lived, there must be something more to this that we aren't yet seeing.

“That's interesting.” I murmured softly.

“What's interesting?” his voiced suggested that he was curious but the pause before he asked told me otherwise. He was guarded. Did he know something and was holding back, but for what aim? It was the third time this case I had doubts about what he knew and didn’t know.

“Oh, nothing. I suppose Emerson and Miranda will see you soon.” and with that I snapped the phone shut effectively ending the call.

“We have to leave now if we want to get there before him.” I heaved myself out of the chair and stretched my sleep ridden muscles.

“J, I expect to continue our discussion later.” the red head in front of me said seriously. “No.” her eyes widened in surprise.

“What do you mean 'no'?”

“I mean no, you don't need to know everything about my work and I will not discuss anything more on the matter.” she glared at me but conceded for the moment, though I had no delusions that she would back down from this.

In this aspect she was almost as damn stubborn as Mello. And perhaps that's why I enjoyed her company, because she reminded me so much of what was left behind.

We headed out of the apartment and into my beat up Camaro. The ride to the crime scene was quiet, Miranda was still angry at me but I didn’t miss the idle chatter. Once there we left my car around the corner and walked to the police tape where I showed my credentials as well as alerting them to Mello's arrival through using his alias.

The sixth victim lived on the sixth floor. How poetic. I wondered if that was the only thing dealing with numbers at the scene but as we entered the apartment I doubted it. The floor upon first glance was a deep red, but if one paid any attention to the small area in front of the door the floor was actually blue.

“Is that...?” Miranda gasped and pointed to the carpet. I nodded and she clamped a hand across her mouth and I could see her gag. Leaving her at the entrance I stepped further into the carnage and was mildly repulsed by the fact that the carpet actually squished as I walked on it.

The body was devoid of most, if not all, of its blood by use of six holes cut into it near main arteries. However, they weren't just holes, they were shaped as sixes. The actual hole being the main part and a small curved cut to complete each one.

The body was stripped naked and lay face up with the eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Miranda cringed and kept her hand by her mouth as she stood beside me. The victim had light blue eyes and straw colored hair. Eerily similar to Mello's blue eyes and blond hair. She was also missing six fingers.

I heard the door creek open and turned to see Mello standing pale faced in the doorway. However I didn’t think it had anything to do with the crime scene. He took in the scene silently and when it clicked that the carpet was actually blue his eyes widened.

With nothing more than a weary sigh he stepped quickly onto the stained carpet; he was far calmer than Miranda had been. He had probably seen worse in the mafia than this.

“It looks like the killer took a melon baller to her.” he commented dryly while surveying the body like one would road kill.

“That's horrible.” Miranda gasped. She may be good at observation, but perhaps not so much while looking at an actual body.

“Going with the previous themes, where is the letter?”

“I suppose one of the police officers has it.” I shrugged a shoulder; it wasn’t as if we really needed the letters anymore. We already knew that there were only two possible letters left, and there were never any clues attached with them.

“I'll go look for it.” Miranda volunteered and I knew that it was just a ploy to get away from the body.

“There is something different about this one, more violent.” Mello commented as he knelt by the victim. He was right, while the other murders had not by any means been nice; this one was by far the worst.

“Though the last one wasn’t all that pleasant for the deceased either.” Mello hmm’ed in agreement.

“Here is the letter, but the police think that this used to be attached to something.” she held up a large blue piece of paper with a large red 'A' in the center; turned over there was a small tear in the back, with what looked like a piece of tape stuck to it.

“Something else? But if that is true, then where is it?” I murmured. I glanced towards Mello but he didn't seem to know anything.

“One more letter and then we either get to the final showdown or this person disappears.” Mello said with a tired sigh. His face was still pale and there were slight shadows under his eyes. Whatever he was doing for this case it was taking its toll on him.

The ringing of his cell phone startled him; his hand lightly shaking around the small object. He held up his hand and moved just out of hearing. As he spoke with the person on the other line his expression became blank, not showing anything. He had unconsciously moved closer during his short pacing cycle.

“Got it. I'll be over there soon.” my heart ached at those words. I hoped he didn't mean it as it sounded....

“Sorry about that.” Mello told us but offered no further information.

I nodded and turned back to the body lying at our feet. There was still something that struck me as wrong with the scene, though I couldn't figure out what. It was more than the potential missing evidence, it was something more. It bothered me.

Mello was fidgeting in his spot next to me and I sighed inwardly. He was going to be useless unless he took care of whatever business it was that awaited him. It was then that I noticed something.

“Michael why don't you go see if you can find any connections between the escalating brutality of the murders, Miranda and I are almost done here anyway.” Mello eyed me speculatively for a minute before he nodded and turned on heel before exiting the apartment.

“Why did you do that? We have hardly been here for twenty minutes!” Miranda scolded me. I ignored her in favor of getting the attention of a police officer.

“Excuse me, but I need your help in turning the body over.” the brown eyed man's eyes widened.

“Why would we do that?” I refrained from shaking my head irritably, honestly was it really so hard to find intelligent people.

“Because that was the body’s original position, meaning someone was here before any of us.” the officer appeared shocked. And this is why nothing ever gets solved, I thought to myself.

After putting on a pair of latex gloves we rolled the body over onto its stomach; Miranda gasped. While the back was covered in smears of blood it was still obvious that it had only recently been turned over.

However the most startling feature was the word etched into the victim’s skin. Detective.

“Detective?” the police officer asked, confused.

“The killer obviously has their eyes set on someone.” I said calmly.

“How did you even know to turn the body over?” Miranda asked.

“Simple. The blood on her face, arms and legs was still wet, and if she had been killed and left face up the blood would have dried and turned a shade or two darker.” it really was simple, and I was ashamed that I hadn’t noticed it earlier.

“Then why have Michael leave if you were going to do this.” I shook my head as I knew the police officer was still listening.

“Later.” was all I said on the matter.

“See if you can find any other clues before we head back.” I told Miranda as I headed off towards the bookshelf, though I doubted anything would be left in the same spot twice.

Around a half hour later we left the apartment with nothing new. The moment we sat in the car Miranda was asking questions.

“So spill, why leave Mello out of this?” I rubbed a hand over my eyes.

“After he talked on the phone he was distracted and less likely to be of any further help until he has sorted out whatever business he has.” though there was more to it than that.

I had a rather bad feeling that this entire case had something to do with him; not that he was in any way involved with the killings but something else. I hadn't a clue of what, but something.

The drive was once again silent, both of us caught up in our own thoughts. Though I doubted they were even remotely close in content. Mello you idiot, just what the hell are you caught up in?

Stepping into the apartment was like walking into the twilight zone. While loud music still blared through the speakers, and a person or two still danced; it was, in a way, quiet. Miranda furled her eyebrows at the scene; she too noticing the odd atmosphere.

“Things just keep getting weird around here.” she muttered before heading off into the kitchen.

I however, decided to look over the crime scene photos once more. Though I had asked Mello to do something similar I figured it couldn't hurt to have two sets of eyes on the same things. It wasn’t like any of us really had anything to go on and the end was drawing near.

In a few short days the final murder would happen if we didn’t stop it. And only the killer knew what would happen next if he wasn't caught. The only thing I did know was that it probably wasn’t going to be good for Whammys.

And maybe it was a mistake not to get L involved with this, but in the end he was the one who either didn’t care or didn’t pay enough attention to get involved in the first place. Though I doubted it was the former.

I'm not sure how long I was at the computer before the sound of heavy boots on the floor made me look up at the door. The unlocked door swung open and Mello sauntered inside and forcefully closed it before looking at me with a strange expression hidden in the depths of his eyes.

“Did you find anything?” his eyes flashed for a second but he shook his head.

“Nothing that we didn't already know. He started calmly and with each murder the violence increased; though he took a nose dive with the last one.” it was pretty much what I had noticed as well.

He took a bar of chocolate out of his coat, pulled back the wrapper, and tore off a piece with a loud snap. He flopped down beside me on the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table. It was a feeling of déjà vu for me.

It almost felt like we were back at Whammys. Almost.

Glancing to my left I noted how dark it had gotten; I had been going through all the data for some odd hours if it was already night.

“We're losing.” Mello stated simply. And all I could do was nod my head. For all our genius, we were losing.

“I'm getting coffee; I expect it to be a long night.” I got up from the couch and winced at my stiff muscles before heading into the kitchen. Looking through the cupboards I discovered a few packets of instant coffee and a pound of some exotic brew. I went with the instant.

Sticking a cup of water in the microwave I set it on two minutes.

“You call that coffee?” Mello said with a raised eyebrow; he had followed me.

“It’s better than whatever bagged stuff Miranda bought. I probably can't even pronounce it.” he chuckled and leaned against the counter opposite me.

'My cock is much bigger than yours, my cock can walk right through the door-' my eyes widened.

Mello looked at me with a wicked grin on his face before pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket. It didn't seem to be an actual call, rather a text message instead. The grin instantly slipped from his lips and he became expressionless.

I watched as his long fingers clenched tightly around the phone. That was when the kitchen door opened.

“Matt- oh!” Miranda stood frozen as she said that, knowing her slip up was something huge when she saw Mello.

Mello, who had just finished reading whatever was on his phone suddenly looked up at me and not Miranda as I would have expected of him. His eyes were searching before they widened.

“Jesus Christ.” the look on his face said it all. I swallowed, this was one confrontation I never had wanted to happen..

-End Chapter 8-