badfic_manor | 24th Blast || Mello || [In Person]

[Mello watches the gears turning in B's head. It was so strange seeing him now, after all these years, after all the research he'd done, after writing about him, using him like a character. Mello knew what he was thinking, almost instinctively. B couldn't believe that someone else knew, that someone else believed him that someone else figured it out. There was another wave of pity and Mello struggled to stay afloat. B was so pathetic when it came down to it, but it didn't make him any less dangerous.]

I met one.

[B sucks in breath through his nose abruptly and flinches, as if he's just been stabbed. No... it couldn't happen this way. No, no, no... It can't be M, and not B. B is for Better. B has the eyes of a Shinigami. B alone should be able to see a Shinigami. Not M, not anyone else... It can't happen this way. B moves closer to Mello again.]

That isn't true.

[Mello touches the freezing muzzle of the gun to B's chin for a fraction of a second, enough to prove the point. Don't forget, Mello is in charge here. M has far surpassed B. He finds intimidation gets him the best results, always has. But there is a second special reason behind it this time, it wasn't just to get the results he wanted, it was to torture B a little. B was another Letter. There was no hint of comradery here, B was only a roadblock, a rival. At best an annoyance, at worst an enemy. And while B was not Near but B had gone out of his way to try to scare Mello into failure. He focused on -this- aspect now, make all that pity wash away. Mello was a petty man and at the moment all that mattered was victory over B.]

It is, B. His name was Sidoh and he was a stupid son of a bitch. I had him under my thumb.

Edited 2010-09-23 22:44 (UTC)

[B's eyes are very cold. There is a wrath and a fear in his head that he has not felt in a long while... that desperate, hopeless, throat-closing terror that comes from the feeling of someone right at his back, someone who might be smarter and stronger than him, someone who is going to pass him - no. No. B will not let that happen. His expression softens into a poisonous smile.]

Shinigami are not real, Mihael Keehl. A man of logic such as yourself would know this. Only the mad believe in gods of the dead. Have you gone insane, Mihael Keehl...?

[B grabs Mello's wrist and twists, faster than the eye can see. He wants Mello to drop that gun.]

[Mello hisses and jerks back but it's too late. He knew instigating B would get this reaction but the vice like strength of B's grip, the uncompromising power of it shocks him. He remembered B was strong but he'd forgotten just how strong. He's underestimated B's physical prowess and now he's going to pay for it. His gun, the only gun he has with him in this Hell hole (the only gun he has in the Author's reality, period) falls into the snow. Mello struggles against B, trying to break his grip. Mello's dominant hand was pinned behind him, his is back bent and strained. B's protecting himself from Mello's free hand and the way B is pushing him Mello can't even move his legs without overbalancing. Struggling isn't helping either, B's grip is just getting tighter until Mello's afraid his wrist will break.]

Shit!

Edited 2010-09-23 23:46 (UTC)

[B only bares his teeth in a feral smile.]

Do not try to threaten me with a gun, Mihael Keehl. It will not be a gun that kills me.

[Now he gently takes Mello's free hand in his own, pulling it off the ground so that Mello has no way to hold himself up. His chest will fall onto his legs, and he will have to either crane his neck backwards to keep his head up out of the snow. B gives Mello's hand a few squeezes, making the veins in his arm start to stand out.]

How did you figure out that I have the eyes of a Shinigami? Was it because I knew your name?

[The gentleness is more disturbing and somehow almost more painful than the unreal strength. Mello has no choice, no power to stay upright. B's leverage pushes Mello forward but Mello keeps his head out of the snow. He wonders if this is how those five minutes will go. He wants to say "wouldn't you like to know?" but testing B at this point is a bad idea]

I told you the truth! I met one! A serial killer named Kira is utilizing the Shinigami's powers. I was on his case when I met Sidoh.

[When B squeezes his wrist]

I'm telling you the fucking truth, B!

[Mello will not be able to see how B ends up poking his arm with a syringe. Maybe he used his mouth to take the ancient thing out of the pockets of his jeans. But he certainly didn't use his hands. In any case, B has stuck the syringe into Mello's vein and is now using one finger to pull the plunge upwards, filling the large vial with blood. B keeps speaking to Mello, however. Calmly, as a doctor might speak to a nervous patient.]

No serial killer beside myself could use the power of a Shinigami. Only I have the eyes.

[When he is done, he slips the syringe out and piles a handful of snow onto the bruised area to stop any bleeding. He pokes his head around Mello's side to look him in the face.]

Who were you working with on this case, Mihael Keehl? Who would have believed that a serial killer was using mystical powers to know when victims will die? Why did you believe it? Unless you have truly gone mad...

[Mello flinches away from the sting of the needle, he wasn't expecting that. But he wasn't surprised that B was able to do it. Physically there's not much B can't do.]

Shinigami don't kill with their eyes. You should know that. Kira got a hold of the Shinigami's murder weapon.

[it's hard to talk like this, face about an inch from the snow, twisting his neck back and still unable to see B in his peripheral vision.]

[B's nostrils flair. He's never heard of a Shinigami murder weapon, and it scares him. He had never learned how Shinigami killed... there was so much he didn't know... So much that Mihael Keehl now seemed to know... How could this be happening? He lets Mello's hand go again, not worried at all about Mello fighting back. B is much too fast for Mello to fight. He leans in closer, so close that his breath will warm Mello's ear as he speaks into it.]

Tell me everything, Mihael Keehl. Tell me about Shinigamis.

[Mello did not like B's face so close. He hated hearing that voice in his ear, that hot breath on his skin. He growls and wrenches in B's grip]

Let me go and I'll tell you.

[B doesn't move a muscle.]

The interviewer is always in control, Mihael Keehl. Not the suspect. Tell me everything.

[Mello twists his head as far away from B as he can]

Shinigami live in a separate realm from humans where they watch the world. They have eyes like yours that let them see people's names and when they're supposed to die. To kill humans Shinigami write their name in notebooks called Death Notes. Humans can use that power too if they get a hold of a Death Note. You have to write down the person's name while thinking of their face and that person dies. Kira used it to execute millions.

[B turns his head with Mello's so that his mouth stays brushing up near Mello's hairline. He is so tense that he is beginning to twist Mello's arm more harshly. If Mello is not careful, B will break it.]

How did Kira obtain this Death Note?

[Mello's muscles tighten. It's getting harder to keep his head out of the snow especially with the pressure and pain B is subjecting him to. He knows how much human bone can take and he knows his arm is only seconds away from snapping.]

A shinigami dropped it to see what would happen if a human found it.

[Probably the same way you got your eyes B]

Edited 2010-09-24 03:19 (UTC)

[B grimaces. He can accept the impossible and understand the senseless, but this... it isn't that it's impossible. It's only that it's unfair. All his life, no one believed him, no one believed that he was right and that he wasn't insane. It should have been he who was given the Death Note, Beyond Birthday who should have been given the power of a Shinigami, to show the world that it was real, and that B really was Better. It should have been him. But there are still more questions, so many questions in his mind. He can't let Mello stop talking now. He puts no more pressure on Mello's arm, but he does not change his position to let Mello move.]

How did you know that the Death Note was a Shinigami's? Did Sidoh tell you? Was he helping you?

He didn't have much of a choice. I had his Death Note and he had to do what I said.

[Mello holds his head as far away from B as he can but it's starting to hurt his neck]

He was afraid of me.

[Sidoh couldn't have made -that- fact any more obvious]

[B is silent for a moment, sliding all of the facts together into a coherent story.]

Kira was killing with a Death Note given to him by a Shinigami. And yet the detective on the case was using a Shinigami as well. Was the Death Note that you were in possession of the murder weapon, or was it a different Death Note?

[Good question.]

A different one. There were three Death Notes on Earth by the end of it.

[He gives another halfhearted squirm]

Edited 2010-09-24 19:25 (UTC)

[B lets out a breath that ghosts over Mello's scarred cheek. He isn't even doing this to bother Mello; he's just doing what comes naturally to him as he thinks.]

Your Death Note, Kira's Death Note, and... did Nate River perhaps have one? I can hardly imagine him letting you take on this case while he sat idle...

[Nate River.

Could that be...?

Was Nate River...?

Near.

Mello's eyes bulged hearing Near's real name for the first time. He knew Near's name, as a Wammy Kid his deepest secret. He knew Near's name, Near didn't know his. In one way he was better than Near. He knew one thing Near did not. His heart was pounding in his chest, louder now than the wind and B's voice in his ear. B would feel him go limp in his grip.

He knew Near's name. He had power over Near.]

[B chortles. It sounds vaguely like Sidoh having a good time. His hand gently squeezes Mello's incapacitated wrist, an assurance that he was still in control.]

Yes, Mihael Keehl, that is N's name. Obviously from your reaction, you are still working against each other, and he is still superior to you. But I must know, did you work together on this case with Kira?

[Mello jerks again in his grip that -laugh-! Oh God that laugh! Mello shudders.]

He is not better than me! He's a fucking twit!

[He struggles harder]

I would never work with that goddamn fool!

[B is fully aware that his laugh scares Mello; it scares everyone. But that doesn't stop him from laughing. It is a good scare-tactic, sometimes. To stop Mello from struggling he twists his arm just a tiny bit further, only for a second, to send threads of sharp pain through the limb. Like the threatening brandish of a whip.]

That does not answer my question. Was he working on the case, or was he not?

[Mello grimaces, bracing himself against the pain.]

What do you think, B?

Edited 2010-09-26 22:56 (UTC)

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