End Transmission

Suggested Listening: Its Beginning To Get To Me by Snow Patrol

Chapter Three: Mixed Signals

Matt watched as Mello's expression completely closed off and became blank. He hadn't seen that particular expression in a while, and couldn't say he was happy to see it. Not in the least. Mello spun on heel and walked away from the rankings sheet. Near was number one, followed by Mello and finally Matt. Matt honestly didn't care about what rank he was, just happy he wasn't first anymore, but he knew that Mello liked being first, almost needed it.

Now that Mello had been toppled from the rankings by a boy two years younger than him, Matt wasn't sure Mello knew what to do with himself.

So it was a surprise in itself to see Mello walk up to Near and speak with him in hushed tones. No growling or yelling involved. It was, what looked like, a normal conversation. Mello didn't have normal conversations with anyone.

Matt stabbed down the feeling of hurt and went to play on the Wii. He knew that if Mello wanted to see him that he would look for him there first, as he'd spent the majority of the last few days on it, though granted it had been at night and not mid day.

Matt figured he'd earned a break in the routine.

Hours later he was still by himself and found that not even another soul had come to play the game as he had been so certain of. He wandered from the common room and found the library, which was generally a quiet place, was buzzing with commotion.

He peeked inside and found that most of the children were either talking at Near, as the boy simply sat there and curled a strand of white hair around his finger, or talked about him. Save for Mello, who would look up from his textbook every few minutes before going back to his studies.

Mello usually studied in the room with him as he said it was too noisy elsewhere. Well wasn't that a kick in the gut?

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Ever since Near had appeared in the house just over seventy-three hours ago, Matt really only counted the days the boy had been seen rather than the ones he'd spent in the infirmary, things had gone downhill. At first Mello had simply been interested in the new boy, and that was fine as Matt was curious about him as well.

But then the second Near took the placement test and ranked higher than Mello, it seemed Near was a higher priority. Matt understood that Mello wanted to stay first, or maybe even wanted to be the tiny albino's friend, and that was all well and good.

But Matt would prefer if he weren't ignored and tossed to the side like an old and broken toy. Jealousy was a bitch.

Though Matt wondered if he were simply making too much out of nothing as it had only been just over a week since Near's arrival. Things may in fact calm down within the following week, in which case all his worrying would have been for naught.

Oh how he wished that were true.

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Mello's new routine consisted of little sleep and food and constant studying. He would generally be found in the common room or the library, usually across the room from where Near was. Though he would sometimes converse with the albino child, nothing of what was said was ever heard as it was said in hushed whispers.

It was made worse by the fact that Near would actually speak back whereas most people couldn't get two words from him unless it was in class. Then, after dinner, Mello would pace around the room and begin a small rant about Near.

Generally about what a condescending little bastard he was and how someone like him didn't deserve to be first and how he would enjoy forcing some emotion into the boys expression. Matt could quickly see that it was becoming an obsession. Near, that was.

Matt's new routine consisted of sitting on the sidelines and playing his games while generally being ignored by the person who'd been his friend for the last few months. He had to deal with the knowing looks and the not so quiet whispers as he passed down the hall with no Mello in sight after being seen as his practical shadow for so long.

But despite that, Matt couldn't hate Near. He doubted that Near's sole purpose in life had been to steal Mello's every breath of attention and focus. And despite what Mello said, he doubted that Near was any of the things he were being accused of.

As Matt had nothing more to do, he watched.

And from what he had seen, Near was simply just attempting to survive in a situation he had been thrust into. Like the rest of them. That wasn't to say that Near didn't have some issues, particularly in concerns with interacting with others.

In other words... he was socially retarded.

Matt noticed how Near's games became more animated, or how he solved his puzzles quicker, when others were around, as though trying to gain their attention and speak what he wanted without having to say it.

But there was something else that struck him about the albino. It was the fact that Near was an albino and a genius to boot. It reminded him of the billionaires son that had been kidnapped nearly four weeks ago.

And Matt supposed that it was probably a mere coincidence, as he doubted the boy would have let himself be placed in an orphanage had he been kidnapped, but he couldn't help that it had caught his attention. He knew that he was only interested because he had nothing else to do, as Mello had all but abandoned him.

So after classes one day he took his time in scouring the internet for the article, he knew it wouldn't take too long as it had been a huge article, but he hit a snag. It seemed that any and all pictures of the missing boy had vanished.

And the story itself had all but been buried with the exception of a rather small mentioning. It was said that authorities had found the father, Jonathan River, guilty of murdering his son with the use of evidence to horrible to show the public, which immediately had Matt suspicious, and that he had been place on death row.

He was said to be scheduled for execution soon, the quickest move along in a quite some time. But other than that, everything concerning the story was gone, where he last found a mass of data, he now could find absolutely nothing.

He didn't understand it. And it wasn't for a lack of trying either. But it seemed the data just wasn't there, as though it never had been, except that Matt had seen it.

He needed another opinion on the matter and despite how unapproachable Mello had become in the last few days, he had to try.

"Mello, I need to talk to you." he stood directly in front of the studying blond and got a sinking feeling as he was ignored. "Mello." he said more firmly and though the blond seemed to hear him, as his body twitched, he kept his eyes on the book.

He began to wonder if Mello was just used to ignoring everybody and that it wasn't just him he were ignoring. He calmly took hold of the textbook and pulled it from Mello's lap. The reaction was instantaneous.

"What the hell? Matt I'm studying!" Mello's glare was upon him the second he looked up.

"I need you to look at something, this is important." he persisted. Mello stood up and for a second he thought the blond might just listen to him until the book was forcefully ripped from his grasp.

"And so is this." the blond hissed menacingly. "Beating Near is all that matters."

Matt sucked in a breath as Mello walked away and couldn't help the hurt that sprung from his chest at the blatant dismissal. So much for friendship. With no one else to give him a second opinion on the matter, as he didn't have any other friends at Wammys and perhaps not even one, he would just have to dig up what he could.

Which meant his favorite pastime, hacking.

He would have to be careful though; if the story had been buried then he was sure that any attempts to find information on it would be heavily monitored. Matt wished he were the greatest hacker in the world so he wouldn't have to worry, but really, all he was some genius kid with a gift for technology.

He went back to his and Mello's room and sat on the floor in the corner facing the door so that he would know when someone entered the room; he was potentially dealing with sensitive material.

He hacked into the international news website that he remembered having headlined the story. He searched for signs of tampering, as no matter how good it would leave tiny glitches in the system, and was unsurprised to find a few.

Granted it didn't help him find the missing data, but it did prove that someone hadn't wanted the data floating through the internet anymore. And if he were one to watch the television he would bet the story had been silenced there as well.

He searched for hours and the only place that held the barest amount of information had been a conspiracy theorist site, one that was apparently going to be shut down in a few days because of pressure from the persons local as well as international government.

Matt copied what little he had found and saved it to a password protected folder on the laptop before he wiped his history clear. He added small mention about Mr. River's impending execution to the file as well before he buried it within his folders for gaming things.

He also uploaded the files to a few of his non Wammy e-mails just in case something happened to his laptop. But he wasn't quite done with his searching for the day. During the time he'd been attempting to dig things up on the River kidnapping case, he'd been reminded of a case that he had merely glanced over months ago, before Mello had come to Wammys.

The one about the murdered Mafiya boss with the mysterious disappearance of his sole surviving heir.

And just like the River case, there was nothing to be found. But the Mafiya murder case had happened so many months ago that there was nothing, after six hours of searching, to be found. Matt couldn't quite put his thumb on it, but he knew there was something going on and he wasn't going to stop until he found the article on the case. He wondered if that, since it had been months ago, what information there was, if any was left, wouldn't be as heavily monitored.

He put out a question on web, saying that he wanted to do a research paper on the article but couldn't find it anymore, asking for anyone who might have a copy of it saved. He did so on the accounts he hardly used just in case they would be wiped out or mysteriously deleted.

But for the moment he had to stop, as it was dinner. And while he supposed he could have simply ignored it, he was actually hungry. He secured his laptop and used his real name as the password, a name that, at the moment, only himself and two of Wammys House staff knew.

And neither of them were at the house at the moment.

He left the laptop in the corner where he'd been sitting and left the room and was instantly thrown into the chaos of the dinner rush. He should have remembered that things were always a bit more hectic for the last meal. He merely let himself be carried to the dining hall by the tide of children and teens.

Once inside he quickly grabbed a plate of food and sat by himself at his usual spot. He was joined a short time later by Mello, who after seating himself, ignored him in favor of eating with one hand and using the other to flip pages in his textbook.

It hurt, Matt realized, but not enough where he wouldn't just deal with it. If Mello wanted to act like that then he wouldn't stop him. Perhaps Mello would go back to 'normal' after another week or two of this...

Matt really hoped so.

He missed his friend terribly.

He swallowed just another mouthful of the food, as it had suddenly lost all flavor to him, and tossed the plate onto the dish rack after clearing it off at the trash. He forced himself to concentrate on the new case rather than Mello, because in his mind it was a case.

And a very important one at that.

So far he had one nearly confirmed kidnapping, another possible and the mystery of who exactly was behind them. His mind supplied him with an answer of course, but he didn't like it and really wanted more solid proof before he slid into paranoia.

But the thoughts did lurk in the back of his mind as he shut his room door behind him and caused him to change all of his passwords for the laptop to things about games, generally the more obscure ones that he never really played as it wouldn't be obvious choices for him.

He jumped slightly as the door banged open and nearly laughed at himself as it was only Mello who stalked inside. Honestly, what had he expected, the police or something? He snorted at that and rolled his eyes as he leaned against the wall while he did his best to ignore Mello's odd look at him.

Though Matt supposed he was just happy that Mello still remembered, even if only sometimes, that he existed. He searched around for a little while longer before he divided his attention between that and an online game; he needed something to help him concentrate or he would loose his motivation no matter what might be found.

He had long since placed his headphones on, as it helped block out Mello's mumbling, so he hadn't really heard the sounds of Mello as he'd moved about the room and only glanced up as he caught sight of the blond as the light was switched off and the blond crawled into bed. Matt looked at the clock and noted that it was almost ten past two. He pulled his headphones free and shut his music off.

"Night Mello." he told the blond, though his eyes hadn't adjusted enough to be able to see him with just the light of his laptop just yet. He heard as Mello shifted and was content to know that he had heard him.

He was, now that the lights had been turned off, aware of just how tired he actually was. He bit his lip and quickly set up a search program that would continue his work, though not to the same caliber, while he slept.

There were classes in just a few hours at any rate and he supposed he needed some form of sleep. He locked the laptop up again with a new password and closed the lid to set the room into complete darkness.

And unlike Mello, he had no problem going to sleep in the same clothes. He had just curled up under the covers when a soft voice called out to him.

"Goodnight Matt..." he smiled into the darkness and despite it having been generally delayed, Mello had responded.

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When he woke Mello was gone and so were his textbooks and just a glance at the clock told him that he would be late for class in under five minutes. Matt figured it was best that he had slept in his clothes the night before.

He rolled out of bed, clothes more than a little rumpled and his shirt halfway up his back, and trudged over to his shoes to toe them on. He had missed breakfast and was glad that he had eaten dinner or he would have been starving.

He glanced longingly at his laptop but knew that he didn't exactly have the time, unless he should skip out on classes, to review the search results should there have been anything found. He knew it would eat at his brain until he was able to check but forced himself from the room with little more than the clothes on his back and the gameboy stuffed in his pocket.

He meandered, wholly uninterested, into class just after he had been supposed to be there. The teacher didn't even look at him as he walked to the back of the room and figured that if he were to get into trouble they would have said something the second he was in the room.

He only halfway paid attention to the garbage they were being taught, as dead poets and what not was not really anything he thought they needed to know, and let his mind oak up the cheap graphics on the well used gameboy.

It certainly wasn't the best handheld he had, but he had the most games for it. And he didn't mind if the teacher took it from him as much as he would have with one of the others. He vaguely, just before lunch, thought he heard Mello get into a debate with Near, but couldn't bring himself to be very interested in it.

No, the onset of lunch brought thoughts of the case back to the surface and he was suddenly very awake and more than ready to leave the classroom. The second the teachers dismissed them he was out of his seat and headed to his room before half of the students had even noticed.

He wondered why he didn't just rush out everyday as he would generally have more time for other things, namely games, if he wasn't stuck behind all the milling about teens and those rushing to lunch.

He noted just how odd his thoughts had turned, ever since he'd woken up, and decided to blame it whole heartedly on the case as it seemed the right thing to do. He left the door open, as he knew he wouldn't be there all that long as lunch was on and he'd missed breakfast, and unlocked the laptop.

He leaned over it, one hand on the desk for support, as he lazily browsed through the results. Nothing had come of the search, however one of the places he'd placed the question had turned up a link and the second he clicked on it the article overtook the screen.

He skimmed the article and got a sinking feeling.

Why couldn't he have just stuck with his games?

-End Mixed Signals-

AN: yay were getting to the good stuff now.