The Flaw

Suggested Listening: Pins and Needles by The Birthday Massacre; RENDEVOUS by Buck-Tick

Part 23

~Diary~

After finding out about Mogi and Ide, things concerning the case seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces falling in place; though it still irked Mello that the analogy reminded him of Near.

Looking through their deaths had turned up some startling results, things that Matt was currently looking into. Which, naturally, meant hacking into a police database.

And though his reaction to Matt's suggestion had originally been skeptical, Mello understood its value now, especially after finding another body, bringing the count up to three. They hadn't exactly been sure in the beginning if it was one of their men or not as it had only been in the news under 'an unidentified male in early thirties beaten and strangled to death.'

But it hadn't been too long after the deaths of Mogi and Ide, so he had asked Matt to look up the crime scene photos of it as well as the autopsy ones in case either set gave them an issue with identifying him.

Mello honestly hadn't expected anything from it, but to his surprise, the face was familiar. Mello had easily recognized Touta Matsuda, even with half of his face bashed in with gore and blood and the other half oddly puffed out and purple.

The report had stated that he had been found dead with nothing to identify him, no one coming forward when they had released the sketch, and the only thing in his possession other than the clothes on his back was a notebook with what looked like scribbles in it.

He and Matt had immediately thought of the Death Note, however they figured that L definitely would have tried to get it back if that were that the case; it was stated that the notebook was currently being held in an evidence locker.

The only good thing about that was the police had taken photos of the entire book and stuffed it into the online archive for easy access if something on the case came up. That was what Matt was getting then.

Mello wanted to know what it said, if anything.

Mello leaned over Matt's shoulder and grinned when Matt didn't tense at all. "You almost in?" he asked, watching blankly as the lines of code on the side disappeared and a smaller window popped up, prompting Matt either 'yes or no'. No was selected and, after a small 'blip,' a side tab to the open browser appeared, Mello knew next to nothing about what Matt was actually doing but figured it was according to plan as the redhead hadn't sworn.

"Hmm? Oh, actually I'm in now..." Matt trailed off, and Mello shook his head; Matt was more than distracted when he hacked sometimes. Matt probably wouldn't move even if the apartment fell down around him.

"Well grab the photos, and get out," Mello told him, resisting the urge to tap his fingers on something. He knew it was easy for Matt to hack things, as well as maintain the hack, and he also knew Matt was hardly a 'n00b' at this, but he didn't want to take the chance of getting caught in the system. It was as unlikely as him giving up chocolate, but Mello was paranoid given the circumstances.

"Yeah yeah, I'm on it. Give me a second," Matt mumbled, seemingly having only barely registered Mello's voice. Mello however knew better than to be offended. It was always like this when Matt hacked something and probably always would be no matter what status their relationship was.

Mello watched for the next few moments as Matt copied all the photos to his jump-drive and cut the hack's connection. "Sit down, and I'll bring them up," Matt told him. Not even asked, it was more of a command though it held no force. Mello narrowed his eyes and paused. He hated doing anything someone told him to, and he had been more than complaint with the redhead lately-

"Mello, don't be that way," Matt sighed out heavily, which only irritated Mello further. He sat down heavily and glared firmly at the screen, waiting for the redhead to pull up the aforementioned files. Why did it seem that Matt was acting as his caretaker? He was pregnant, not damaged for fuck's sake.

He huffed loudly when Matt grabbed his hand but made no move to yank it away. Distantly, Mello understood that somehow it was the influx of hormones that was affecting him, and perhaps that was the only reason he hadn't started an argument.

The writing, as it turned out, was written upside down, backwards and had numbers replacing some letters. It was a language Mello didn't automatically recognize, making it look like complete and utter gibberish to an outsider. Sure, had the police actually put some time into it, they would have figured it out, but they hadn't.

"I don't suppose you have a program that would instantly translate this, would you?" Mello asked dryly. Matt shook his head with a small smile.

"Nope. Looks like we'll actually have to do it ourselves. Maybe I'll make one after this so we won't have to do it again if it comes up," Matt said, grin widening possibly at the thought of making a new program. He left the folder open on the laptop, and Mello raised an eyebrow as Matt took the jump-drive from its port.

Matt stood, pecked him on the cheek and left him to it.

Mello smiled faintly. Matt really did seem to know what he needed before he did. This time though, the thought didn't bother him as much. Shaking his head, Mello set to work on his own, knowing that Matt would be working on the spare laptop with the very same.

It wasn't hard, just tedious, you had to find the values of the numbers. They weren't the usual 1 equals A and so on, but neither were they random placements used for confusion. Mello typed away, word by word, and slowly the sentences began to make sense. A scary kind of sense.

"Matt!" he yelled. He knew Matt had to have gotten at least half as far as him, and what he was reading...

Matt appeared beside him hardly a few seconds later, expression blank which Mello took to meaning Matt knew what he had called him over for. "How far did you get?" he questioned.

"Almost all of it."

Mello blinked in surprise at the answer but figured it had something to do with the numbers. Matt was good with numbers, had to be with his knowledge of computers. It made sense that he had finished it...

The writing in the notebook was not Matsuda's, of that they were certain, but neither was it Mogi or Ide's as it continued on past their deaths.

According to the notebook, Yagami senior had taken his son, along with the rest of the task-force, in a last ditch effort to free Light's mind of the Death Note's effects, hoping that no longer being exposed to it would sober his mind. However, things had gone wrong from the start as Light had protested in being removed from his cell, lashing out in a craze and injuring Ide.

L had taken notice, and after the escape, the task-force had gone on the run in two separate groups. Mogi and Ide had gone on their own, and only later on in the notebook was it described that news of their deaths had reached the remaining group.

Within mere hours of being ripped away from the Death Note's exposure, Light was having severe shakes and was feverish and muttering things, pleas for the book. The writer, who Mello believed was Aizawa, stated that he believed the notebook to be something like a drug, one that directly affected the mind in the worst of ways. At that time, it was obvious they hadn't known of the other effects the note could have.

Nowhere in the notebook had it mentioned them contacting or even thinking of their families. They probably hadn't even known they were gone, moved or killed by L.

It did speak of them moving from place to place, sleeping in the alleys and the like and just constantly moving, hoping to get far enough under L's radar that they could escape the country.

But it also spoke of the writer's belief on the growing paranoia in the group. They had all been under the effects of the notebook for a long time, Light worse off then any of them, and even the weeks away from it hadn't dulled the underlying mistrust of each other.

The very last pages had different handwriting, and it looked as though the new writer had attempted to write in the same code. It told of how Aizawa had seemingly run off one night and had never come back. It was dated a few days before Matsuda had been found dead.

"Do you think... it was Yagami that killed him?" Mello asked.

"I think that's more than probable. Aizawa mysteriously goes missing, and then Matsuda is strangled to death? Paranoia can do strange things to the mind, you know that well enough Mello."

So it was possible Aizawa had noticed the paranoia or his own had gotten too strong, and he had escaped to an unknown fate. It was also possible he had been killed before Matsuda. The notebook made it unclear as to the actual events, and it was impossible to follow the Yagamis after the notebook had been left in Matsuda's jacket.

Mello held no doubt that Yagami was the type to do anything for his son, and if he were slightly affected by the Death Note as well... anything was possible, even him following his son into the abyss.

One thing that was delete certain was that after Light had escaped L's place, no more criminals' deaths were reported than the usual oddity. Kira had simply vanished, and it looked likely, unless his and his father's bodies were found, that it would stay that way.

"So the case is kinda unsolved, isn't it?" Matt commented.

The case would have to remain open until, if ever, the Yagamis were found. Mello wasn't sure if he liked that or not, but until more evidence was found, that was all there was. And judging from how long they had been on the run, Mello doubted there would be any news on them for some time.

And though it seemed that being away from the note's influence slowly brought ones mind and actions back to a more normal level, though still laced with paranoia, would it mean the same for L and Near with how attached they were to it? Mello knew he wouldn't be able to find them without exposing himself and Matt first... And he just couldn't do that.

Not for L.

Not anymore.

L had chosen to expose himself for the case, and he had gotten a crappy deal out of it, but it had been his choice. Had he not been pregnant and in a relationship with Matt, he might have gone after them; hell, he might have been in the nuthouse with them. But he wasn't, and there were just things he wasn't comfortable risking for his idol anymore.

And maybe it made him a bad person, but he didn't regret it and doubted he ever would.

He loved Matt far too much to do that.

-End 23-

and there concludes the main portions of my secondary plot. XD back to the drama next chapter. This fic is coming to a close soon, around 10 or so chapters.