The Mello Code

"So here we all are."



They no longer sat around the table. Dessert had been eaten in awkward silence, filled with forced bonhomie as everyone sneaked looks at Luigi and tried to evaluate if he was really suicidal. Now they sat on the settees or, in the case of Near and Deontic, on the floor, a rough circle of people all watching each other. While no-one actually had their coats on, there was no sense that anyone was staying. The guards had been dismissed, except for Stephen Gevanni and Anthony Rester, Near\'s men, both standing up against the back wall. Though both armed, their weapons were concealed.



"Yes." It was Linda who replied to Chrissie. "What now, Deontic?"



Deontic swallowed, ill at ease now. "I was hoping that we could draw a line under our past. I was hoping that we could go on, into the future, without any of us fearing that someone will track us down and shoot us. Without old hurts going unaddressed." She glanced at Matt. "I came here today angry with Matt. We\'ve talked and it seemed that I misunderstood him. That anger has gone now and I have no quarrel."



Fenian nodded. "It\'s very idealistic of you, D, but you are stirring a fucking hornets nest. We had civility. We are on the Wammy\'s House Board of Directors. We work together."



Deontic nodded. "But apart. We used to live together, but since then we have only been in the same room three times. The majority of us four times. We have fear and loathing because we don\'t view each other as human beings. We are each other\'s deadly rival. I think that past events have proved that that is not a figure of speech."



"Good film." Matt muttered and everyone looked at him. He hunkered down, bowing his head so that his face didn\'t show.



Mello was holding Matt\'s hand, as they sat side by side on a settee. In his other hand, Mello clutched chocolate. He hoped that it communicated the fact that he wasn\'t about to shoot anyone. He growled out now. "Haven\'t we already established that what we mean here is that everyone is mostly fucked up by my behaviour as a pre-teen? Well, young teenager, I suppose. Haven\'t I already apologised about that numerous times?" He met as many eyes as weren\'t shielded. "I look around this room and mostly I feel gratitude. For whatever reason, you all came through for us, when that bastard took Matt."



"But that bastard," Salvo reasoned, "is one of us. He\'s Wammy\'s House, different generation, but one of us. Hollow was one of us. The great danger in the world was supposed to have been Kira. Kira managed to kill one of us. We\'ve individually or collectively killed all the rest. Deontic has a point."



Linda looked sharply at him, "We meaning Wammy\'s House and its alumni?"



"Obviously." Salvo unwrapped a chewing gum and stuck it in his mouth. Their baby was in the bedroom. No-one had checked the door, but all assumed it to be locked. "But Deontic only has a point if there\'s motivation."



Mello nodded rapidly. "Revenge would be a big one. You all obviously hate me. Is this notice that I seriously need to watch my back?"



Salvo sighed. "I was thinking more of the goal. We all entered into a game and the game was to become L. Near won. Is that game over?"



"A game?" Linda exclaimed. "You can call it a game? Jonny is fucking dead and you are calling it a game. Lamond is dead. A game! For fuck\'s sake!"



"Fundamentally, yes." Salvo continued, unrepentent. "If it wasn\'t a game, then people wouldn\'t kill for it. It\'s not being L that was the lure ever. Surely you know that, Linda. It was knowing that, amongst those people, these people, you were the best. Who here wouldn\'t have given everything for that to have happened? We were like those kamikaze pilots, who were told from infancy that they were but an unimportant ant and that the best thing that they could do for the empire was to die to secure it. Only it wasn\'t the empire, it was the code. It was being the best detective ever. Justice, money, who knows what Mr Wammy wanted. He got killed in its pursuit too. "



Fenian frowned. "This is Matt\'s \'we were all indocrinated\' theory dressed up differently."



"Yes. Because I thought about it and concluded that he is probably right."



"Woot." Matt smiled.



Salvo continued. "It makes no sense, when you examine it. By becoming the best, I can be L. How about being Salvo instead?" He looked around, noting Near\'s scowl and Mello\'s smirk. "Who here still wants to be L?" There was a loaded silence. Salvo stared at Fenian, then Mello and Matt. "Still?"



Mello shook his head. "No. I\'ve got my own code. I don\'t want it. Matt never did."



Near sighed. "Why do you think a name matters? There are numerous codes within the L Code. L defeated them and took their names. Mello and Salvo say that they do not want to be L, but the Mello Code and the Salvo Code are rival codes. Nothing has changed." The silence was even more charged, punctuated by the sound of Mello biting into his chocolate. "I have no wish to kill anyone. You are all far more interesting alive."



"You could even think of it?" Chrissie demanded, staring at Near. "You would even consider killing any of us? For what? Fame, prestige, money? Because it certainly isn\'t justice. So we\'re alive because we intellectually stimulate you? Bullshit, Near."



Salvo nodded. "So those of us who are not detectives, and exhibit no wish to be so, are relatively safe? That basically boils down to Fenian being safe. He\'s the only one who doesn\'t challenge you with another code. I\'ve never seen an \'F\' next to a case on the MayDay Line."



Near looked bored. "I have already stated that I have no wish to kill anyone."



The silence deepened, each person reaching their own conclusions. One by one, their eyes turned into Mello\'s direction. He surveyed them coldly. Then bit into his chocolate again. "Heh." They were still looking. Mello pointed with his chocolate bar. "Bang. I have the Salvo Code. Bang. I have the L Code. Bang. Is that the idea?" He watched Luigi flinch. "As much as it irks me to say it, killing you is too easy..."



"You reckon?" Fenian glared.



"... and dishonourable. It\'s outside the rules of the game. I won\'t have defeated anyone, just killed them. The Mello Code is the best in the world because it\'s overtaken everyone else\'s code. They come to me." Mello fixed his stare on each of them in turn. "What\'s the use of having that, if no-one recognises it? The rest of the world?" He shook his head. "The rest of them know about the codes. Three people have been L so far. The world thinks it\'s one. When you hear of the Mello Code, your minds, alone in the world, can translate that. You know what you are hearing. You are hearing Mihael Keehl did fucking good."



"Bullshit." Chrissie responded. "Since when has our opinion counted in your world? Why would you accept the judgement of people whom you hate? It makes no sense."



Mello smiled. "You think it has to make sense? We are geniuses, yes. Some of the finest minds in the world. Hurrah! But what we really amount to is far less than that. We\'re like those little clockwork toys that you wind up and set off. They keep going as long as the momentum takes them. Off we go, loads of little detectives, still competing just as we were when we were fourteen. We can talk of all the high ideals, justice and a better world. But that\'s not how we were raised. That\'s not even how L was raised. It might have been Wammy\'s motivation, though I\'m not even convinced of that. L did it because he was bored and it intellectually stimulated him. Me and Near are doing it because we\'re both buggered if we\'re going to let the other win. Matt\'s helping me largely to shut me up, so he can have a quiet life. Why are you doing it?"



"I\'m not." Chrissie smiled. "I\'m a lawyer."



"Your name has been on the MayDay Line. What was that?"



Her smile faltered. "Boredom."



Mello nodded. "Anyone else got a better reason?"



"Debt." Linda responded. "Wammy educated me and gave me the world on a plate. I am grateful for that."



"Justice." Salvo looked at them all in turn. "Does that really make me the anomoly? As a child, I was helpless against injustice; as an adult, I am not. I\'ve been given the resources and position to do something, so I am."



Mello smiled. "Thank God one of us is. Mostly we\'re selfish bastards."



"I resent that." Chrissie grit her teeth. "Detective work isn\'t the only way to do some good in the world. You may have it elevated in your head as the be all and end all, but it really isn\'t. Sorry."



"Oh." Mello took a bite of chocolate. "But surely the important thing is that that is how I think and Near thinks. Therefore neither of us are going to kill you, because we need your competition to make our codes look good." Several people gasped at that. "No, hear me out. It sounds like I\'m being rude, but I\'m being honest."



"No, Mello. You\'re being an arse." Fenian growled.



Mello glowered, lips pursed and eyes narrowed at the Irishman. His words were hissed out. "I am being honest. I am telling you why I will not even think of killing anyone in this room. I am trying to make you feel safe."



Fenian glared back, "How the fuck can I feel safe? There\'s fucking blood on your hands, Mello. You were a bully then. You left and became a bigger bully. Are you telling me that you hurt no-one and fucking killed no-one, while you were in the Mafia? I look at you, Mello, and I don\'t see the Christian charity. I see a fucking spoiled brat."



"Stop." Matt said, firmly, though it was unclear as to whether he meant Mello or Fenian. His hand tightened around Mello\'s but his gaze was directed at the Irishman.



"Where is God in all of this, Mello?" Fenian spat. "You wear a fucking rosary around your neck, but..." He growled in frustration. "Fuck it. That\'s between you and the Almighty. Your parents must be so proud."



"Liam. Stop." Chrissie warned, but Fenian was already getting up. "What are you...?"



Fenian shook his head, moving behind the back of the settee. "I\'m going home." He glanced at Mello\'s bowed head. "There is something about being with you all that just makes me want to go home. I\'m fucking going home."



"They would be devastated." Mello\'s voice rose, gruff and quiet. They all looked at him. "They would be ashamed. But L, I think L would have been proud." He looked up, eyes swimming beneath a veneer of tears and expression uncertain. He saw Near and Mello\'s face hardened. He sought out Fenian again. "After everything. After defeating Kira. All of that and all you can see is the bullying? Liam, I was a fucking child! I was a frightened child lashing out. Just like you!" Fenian froze, then continued towards the bedrooms corridor. "No-one? No-one sees that? We beat Kira."



Fenian shook his head, calling back after himself. "The ends do not justify the means, Mihael. I\'m sorry."



"Never?" Mello yelled after him. "Even when there are no other choices? What then?"



Fenian had already passed out of view, his bedroom door opening, when Matt called out. "Clerkenwell, 1867." He smirked and Century\'s head shot up. Everyone else looked momentarily blank, before assuming an expression of studied neutrality. "Chester Castle, same year, I believe. Phoenix Park, Dublin, 1882." The door in the corridor did not close again. "In fact, didn\'t O\'Mahony say that Irish Independence could only be won with armed revolution?"



"O\'Mahony?" Chrissie hissed at Century.



"The founder of the Fenian Movement." Century replied, quietly.



Mello bit his lip and nodded. "It doesn\'t matter. Irish independence is patently more important than Kira." He stared at Near. "Would you have caught him without me doing the things that I did?"



Near\'s hair twirling increased speed momentarily, then slowed to its usual pace. "No."



"Thank you, Near." Mello held his crucifix. "You have my oath, witnessed by my husband, heard by God, I swear by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I have no intention of killing, maiming or otherwise harming any of you. I will respond in self-defence, but otherwise, no. I am sorry for any harm I did to you in the past." He rose, pulling Matt up with him. He caught sight of Fenian, returning to lean against the corner of the wall. "I know. It was a lot easier to hate me when I was just a monster. I am not proud of some of the things that I did, but, you know what? I\'m proud of my part in catching Kira. I did that. I did that." As they strode across the floor, Mello\'s gaze took in all of them, but lingered on Luigi. "None of you kill yourselves over me. I\'m not worth it."



Mello and Matt picked up their bags from where they were piled and carried them to the door. Mello\'s hand was on the doorhandle before Chrissie spoke up. "I think your mother would have been proud, Mihael." He stopped and looked back. She had turned. She was still looking at a bit of carpet a few feet in front of Near. "To be honest, I think all of our mothers would have been proud. We survived Wammy\'s House. We survived Kira. Mihael, Nate, Mail, you caught Kira. Well done and thank you."



For just a moment, they all looked at each other, not with the eyes of rivals and long-time enemies, nor even as competitors. It was as those having shared experience; the empathy of the orphaned, with the sound of Winchester Cathedral bells ringing insidiously in their memories. "We\'re all safe now." Mello muttered and nodded once, before opening the door and leaving with Matt.



There was a long pause before Linda sighed. "I\'m sorry, Deontic. You must be disappointed, but it was a doomed venture. We\'re all too screwed up and distrustful..." She stopped as Deontic looked up, a faint smile on her face and shook her head so slightly that it was almost imperceptible. "What?"



Deontic bowed her head, her mind picking through all that had happened. "No. I\'m right." She rose and fetched a wad of paper. "Enough was said. On all sides. It was enough." No-one dared to look puzzled, but Deontic went right on smiling, as she sat down. "Enough for the healing to begin." She began to fold the stop sheet on her lap. "Whoever stays and whomever goes. It is enough."



No-one questioned her, because she tended to grasp things just that little bit quicker than everyone else. However more than one pair of eyes strayed towards Near. He didn\'t look, from the deck of cards that he had been stacking, knocking down and rebuilding again on the carpet. But the house of cards was secure now and he sensed their looking. A little smile played upon his face and he said, "Yes."