Chapter Text
The air hummed with holiday spirit. Mello noted with a wry smile that his predicted tail was struggling to pursue him quietly with the crunching snow.
Now, to choose a shopfront. Near's plan involved him getting kidnapped in public like a moron. He eyed up the warmly glowing glass displays. Chocolatier? Well. The best lie always contains a note of truth.
He slowed as he approached the shop, and noticed the matching slow of steps behind.
He stopped in front of the window, pretending to be engrossed and hoping his acting skills weren't too rusty. Although, the chocolate sale did make it easier.
A few moments later, according to plan, he felt the presence behind him, and a nudging pressure in his back that was definitely just fingers instead of a gun.
"Mihael Keehl. You're going to take me to the detective known as N" He muttered staunchly into his ear.
So he had the eyes. Ah fuck, his chances of him dying as a middleman for Near just jumped by about 20%.
Mello caught a glimpse of wild dark hair and a lean face from the shop window reflection. Shame he was threatening to kill him.
"What makes you think I know him." He bit out mockingly. Near had emphasized that he couldn't make it too easy for him, lest he get suspicious.
"If I know your name, you should be smart enough to figure out that I know more about you."
Huh. Fair point.
The ride over (in the guy's car) was an awkward affair of the guy amateurly tying Mello's arms behind the car seat, then struggling to undo them when they arrived where Mello directed. He still didn't approve of Near's decision to meet the guy at his headquarters, but hey. His risk, his choice.
"Walk, fag." The guy muttered angrily, resuming the pretense of a gun behind his back.
"Tut tut. Twitter's not gonna like that one Mr. Kagami. Better watch out before you learn what the neo libs do to your cancelled corpse." Mello drawled, entirely done with playing damsel.
"What the fuck are you talking about."
The rest of the walk was in silence. Tch. Couldn't tease hostage holders nowadays? So sensitive.
Security had been told to be conveniently missing for this window of time, so all Mello had to do was swipe his pass.
Kagami was clearly getting impatient during the long walk, and jammed the 'gun-fingers' to the point of next-day bruising into his back.
Near was in the first open room past security, sitting in a chair and pretending to be busy. The agents around him jumped into the defensive with remarkable acting ability. Kagami ignored them, and fixed his stare at Near's back.
"Nate River. Listen to me carefully. I know about the eraser, and guess what? You're going to let me leave unbothered, and meet me in room 106 at the Beehive motel on 23rd street on the 30th of December at 7:00pm with the eraser and the notebook that was used to kill Kiyomi Takada or... I'll kill you, this faggot Mihael, and everyone in this room."
"Is that all?" Near replied, bored. Mello could feel the blood vessel about to pop from the guy without even looking.
"Bring no one." He settled on, pushing Mello to the floor and making his exit in angsty strides.
Mello looked up at Near, who was in turn passively looking down at him, and spat at him.
"Why do all of your plans end up with one or both of us nearly dying. And I won't even bother asking what fucking eraser he was talking about."
"Higher stakes give higher results Mihael."
"Go fuck yourself, ~Nate~." He pushed himself into standing, and looked at Near more gravely "What are you going to do about the whole 'you-burned-the-notebook-he-threatened-to-kill-us-over issue?"
"I'm going to do what I'm very proficient at. Lie. And steal information out from under him."
Near was at the motel early, as it was his belief that specialized crime professionals should be more punctual than specialized criminals.
So when Taro Kagami came in, he was collectedly sitting on the couch facing the door. With the Death Eraser on his lap.
The Ryuk Shinigami had came to him after he had burned the first notebook, and had stared at him for an unnerving amount of time before chuckling at him.
"Usually the staring breaks the humans. They either start blabbering in overcompensation, or overcompensate by ignoring me to the point of ridicule. Yet you just look at me. Do the others consider you a freak?" He had asked, turning his head just too far to be reminiscent of human motion.
"Only when I want them to." Near had replied.
That made Ryuk chuckle more.
"I have a gift for you, human. Never gave it to Light, since I thought it'd be funny to see what he'd do without it. And boy was it funny. But I have no use for it since you're about to burn the accompanying note, so you might as well have it. "
And he had dropped the eraser in Near's lap, before flying off in a wicked brush of dark wings, leaving Near to burn the second notebook while he decided what to do with the eraser.
He had ended up locking it away. Until now.
When Taro came through the door, he was looking around with paranoia etched all over his face.
"You came here alone?" He asked, suspicion drowning his voice to a mutter.
"I did."
"Well I don't intend to waste time with platitudes. Where's the notebook."
Well he may be a murderer and a blackmailer but at least he was efficient.
"I'll only show you the notebook when you tell me the purpose of this eraser." He had his suspicions, but what good were suspicions unless they were confirmed eventually.
Taro stiffened with inner conflict. But he nodded eventually.
"When used to rub off names in the death note, it brings the person back to life."
"I see. What a shame if someone used a pen. Now tell me. Why do you want it so badly."
"You know Kiyomi Takada from the Kira news? I was in love with her. Not like those other fanatic freaks. I knew her before Kira began his genocide. I was one of the only people she stayed in contact with on a personal level during the Kira case. She mentioned an N, and when I heard of a new detective going by that letter, and blatantly allowing associating with public detective M, I knew you were the same one. Just as I know that you have the notebook that killed her. "
Near grimaced internally. He suspects this entire affair may have been more productive if he hadn't burned the notebooks.
"Unfortunately Mr. Kagami, I disposed of the notebooks after the Kira Investigation."
There was a deathly still in the air.
"You did... what." He said, with incredulous horror
"I burned both notes, as I am not fond of Genocidal tools, personally."
The man's jaw clenched with vibrating rage, and Near had the sudden realization that he was going to die. He could only bet it wouldn't be the permanent kind.
Still.
He wasn't about to let it happen easily. The next few seconds burst into movement as Kagami scrambled inside his jacket pocket for a pen, and ducked behind the chair as he scribbled. Near vaulted the chair and tried to grapple him, the struggle collapsing them all the way to the couch. But by then, he had dropped the notebook to the floor, and Near picked it up by the corner to see he had been a few seconds too slow. Kagami's sudden surrender had been not conscious, but a heart attack. Near collapsed onto the couch as he processed the rest of the page.
Suicide. And by the clock in the room, he only had two minutes of free will left.
He could only hope that Mello could put two and two together he thought, as he popped the eraser into his mouth. But of course he would. He'd experience a wave of inferiority like never before if he didn't manage to live up to Near's expectations and bring him back.
Near suddenly relaxed and felt what could only be described as a foreboding swell of every idle depressed thought he had ever had, suddenly with the power to influence him.
He stumbled upwards, and walked, slowly, to the bathroom, idly picking up the complimentary motel shaving razor, cracking it open on the sink in a smooth motion, before getting into the bath clothed and turning on the spout to leave running.
It seemed the natural and rational next course of action to end his life.
Near had gathered the task agents and Mello together before he left for the meeting.
"in 100 worlds, 98 worlds have Taro Kagami with knowledge of what the counteractive is for the affects of the death note. Adding onto that. There is a 90% chance I will die tonight, and an 83% chance I will be able to be resurrected. So, I need someone to come into the room a maximum of 40 minutes after I enter it and try to... well, un-dead me. Mello, while I understand you would typically prefer to go in the opposite direction when it comes to me and living, will you be the one who tries to bring me back?
"I will."
At 7:40 pm exactly, Mello came into the motel. He passed by the apathetic front desk, and walked to the end of the right corridor with buzzing anticipation.
He had the ridiculous urge to knock before he entered, but settled for bracing his taser against his chest. With a breath in, he burst in and scanned the scene in front of him.
Were Near any one else in the world, Mello's faith in their optimism would have crumpled before the sight. Kagami lay dead across the couch, and his eyes were glaringly open, to the point of looking like they'd bulge out of his head. Near was... not visible. Then he looked down.
There was water
pink water
seeping out from the half-open bathroom door.
He paced to it, banging the door open, only to reel back and press his back to the bathroom door to support him, a hand clutched to his mouth. Near was in the overflowing bath-tub, barely floating, in a cloudy red solution. His typically pristine white outfit was riddled with crimson.
And his face was so uncharacteristically agape and undefended, Mello couldn't look away. Like a car crash. Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ.
Focus. If ever there was a time for disciplined speed, it was now.
The note... where...
He came around, coming back to the sitting room, and seizing the note where it lay on the floor half open. He flipped through it, just to confirm what he and Near had suspected.
[Halle Lidner slits wrists in a bathtub in the Beeline Motel at 3:00 am 23/12/22 ]
[Nate River slits wrists in a bathtub in the Beeline Motel at 7:35 pm 30/12/22 ]
[Taro Kagami ]
He blew out a shaky breath in relief. Nothing to insinuate an accomplice, or another missing piece of the puzzle.
That meant that he and Near only had to be right about one more thing.
He went to Kagami's corpse and scrambled his fingers around in the pockets. Nothing.
It had to be the eraser, didn't it? That must have been what Near and Kagami were talking about. It must be some kind of counter to the Death Note.
He stood back and rubbed the back of his hand over his forehead in thought.
The only thing keeping him from losing his composure over the fact that Near was currently floating in his own blood ten feet away was denial. He should go take him... Or his body... out of the tub. Make him seem less dead.
The walk back to the bathroom felt like a gallows march. He got down on the floor to get an advantage and looped his hands behind Near's back and knees, awkwardly straining upwards from his position on the bathroom floor.
Damn his gangly limbs and inconvenient hair.
He accidentally made eye contact with Near's unseeing eyes, and his legs wobbled a little. Funny thing was, there was only a minute difference between Near’s living shade of pale, and his current deathly grey.
"I hope your statistics are brushed up on." He muttered, laying him out on the motel bed. He was not about to put him near the fucking D-Kira. As his head lolled back, his mouth fell slack open.
Revealing what seemed to be an... eraser. In his mouth.
It clicked.
Mello squatted at eye level with the eraser in disbelief.
"It can't be that stupid!" He exclaimed, taking a contemplative pause. "Jesus Christ, it's that fucking stupid."
He leaned over to the book, flipping the pages and poising the rubber above the name.
Nate River
Then it was gone, with only the rubber markings lining the edges. Mello looked up at Near in anticipation.
The effect was instantaneous.
Though he was coming back to life, the violent seizing gasp that wracked through Near made it seem more like he was dying. His back came up from the bed, and his fingers seized the sheets, as if he was being exorcised. It took about a minute of this, before he lay back, tired, but breathing.
Near glanced at Mello, exhausted.
"We are in the 83 universes where I was right." He said simply, limp as a rag doll. Mello laughed disbelievingly. First words after being resuscitated were a thinly disguised boast. Unbelievable.
He punched Near in the shoulder.
“Death suited you, big-head" He said, quietly
Near just gave him a tired smile.
"Proving yourself in daring rescues suits you."
"I'm gonna kill you."