I don't own Death Note.
At Wammy's House
"This way please." Roger, a man with glasses and thinning, graying hair gestured towards the door that was slightly opened. She took a peek inside and she saw lots of children, probably the same age as she was. Somehow, she felt a little relieved. She felt nervous the moment that she and her brother were asked to come to this place, for a reason aside from them being orphans. Who would've thought?
She reached for her brother's hand. He, on the other hand, didn't feel nervous at all. When they were told of the reason for their being brought up in this house, his face instantly lit up. "For real?" was the question he had asked that day just to make sure as he twisted his white hair around his fingers.
His brother turned to face her as her grip on his hand tightened. "Let's go." She nodded in reply.
"Everyone, please settle down. We have two children joining us starting today. I'd like you to welcome both of them." The old man gestured for the girl to come closer.
"This is Mia. She is 9 years old." The girl had long wavy black hair and dull grey eyes. She was wearing a plain white shirt and light blue denim shorts. "Go ahead. Tell them something about yourself." Most of the children leaned in closer to listen.
"Uh…" She hesitated at first but somehow, it felt comfortable speaking to these people - despite the fact that she hates speaking in public. "I like playing the violin."
"Is that all?" The old man asked her. She nodded in reply. "All right, please take a seat there, beside Mello." he pointed to a boy by the window who seemed older than her. She walked towards him and took her seat.
"Next is Near. He's Mia's twin brother and is younger by two minutes." The boy had greyish white hair and solid black eyes and was wearing white long sleeves and loose denim pants. "Is there anything else you'd like to share with them?"
"I like solving puzzles."
"Ok, please take a seat beside Alexa." The old man asked him to sit beside a girl with glasses and was fiddling with something that looked like vials of different colored chemicals. Even though she looked scary because it looked as if she could cause an explosion, she had a rather friendly smile when Near took his seat.
"Hi, I'm Mia." The new girl said in an attempt to start a conversation with the older boy.
"Oh hi, I'm Mello." Mello replied turning towards her, but quickly faced front as a guy entered the room and introduced himself as a Math teacher. Their conversation ended there.
She sat up straight to pay attention to what their teacher was discussing. The boy beside her showed particular interest in the topic as he was listening intently to the discussion.
"All right, now who could tell me the cube root of 729?" Their teacher asked as he tapped the blackboard with his stick. Only Mello raised his hand, "I know, I know!"
As always, only Mello knows the answer. The teacher thought. "Hm… Are there any other people who know the answer? How about the new guy beside Alexa? What's your name?"
Near didn't bother standing up. "I'm Near. The answer is 9."
The teacher clapped his hands. "Good job Near."
At this, Mia heard Mello mumble something. When she turned to look at him, he was staring at her, no, more like past her. She looked at the direction he was looking at and found out that he was staring at her brother. She turned back to her seatmate, and looking at his eyes, she could sense that competition had just been established. Behind her back, Near returned Mello's stares.
Mia picked up her violin and placed it inside its case and headed for her room. Just as she passed by the landing of the stairs, she saw a familiar figure sitting on the sofa. She walked over, and saw that it was Mello.
She stood over the boy and found that he was holding a news article. She tilted a little and barely saw that it was titled, "World Renowned Detective Solves Another Mind-Boggling Case."
"Why are you reading the newspaper in the afternoon?" she asked as Mello finally took notice of her. He held up the article in front of her face so she could see the article better. "Read the first line."
"The great detective L…" she read out loud. Those few words were enough reasons as to why he was reading the article. "Oh I see. He's very amazing, isn't he?"
"Yeah." He put down the news article and sat up straight. "And I really feel lucky being raised up in Wammy's House and given a chance to succeed L."
"You really want to succeed L?"
"Of course I do! Doesn't everyone in this house?" He noticed that Mia was only staring at him, as if saying "no".
"Just think about it," Mello continued, "Not everyone is worth to be hailed as L's successor. You have to be rational and pay attention to every detail. You have to know a lot of things and be open-minded to new stuff as well."
"I know that, but I'd rather be playing my violin rather than solving tough cases."
"So, you're not really interested in surpassing L?"
"No. Actually, I already told my brother that if ever I was chosen as L's successor, I'd decline the offer, and give him the position instead."
"Oh, yeah, your brother. Near, isn't it? I guess he wants to be L's successor as much as I do."
"You can say that. Though it might not look like it, he's really excited about this whole "succeed L" thing. Which means, if you really want be on top, you would have to go past him too."
Silence followed her statement.
"I know that." He said as he looked away to hide the hurt expression on his face. The way he said those words made her feel guilty. She sounded so excited while she bragged about her brother, only to realize she was bringing Mello's hopes down.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"
"It's ok." He turned to face her again and smiled as he quickly recovered from what she had just said. "It really wouldn't help if I admit defeat just because, well, it seems as if I'm always second to Near. I'll study harder and beat him."
She smiled at him. She thought of words that would probably cheer him up.
"You know, I guess if I'm chosen as L's successor, I'd have a hard time deciding whether to give the position to you or to Near." She pouted as she pretended to be in deep thought.
"Well, I wouldn't want that to happen. I want to earn that title myself. And besides, I don't need to worry having to let you choose." He shifted on the couch so that he could lean closer to her. "I'd beat you to it, anyway." He flashed her a playful grin.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
She paused a bit before answering, "Yeah, I guess you will." And they both laughed.
"Hey, you like playing the violin, right?" Mello suddenly remembered as he noticed the violin case Mia was holding. "Can you play something right now? I've never heard anyone play a violin before."
"Uh, sure." She took out her violin from its case and started playing a piece that sounded like a nursery rhyme.
"Isn't that 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'?" he interrupted.
"Yup, why?"
"Can you play something more, uh, non-nursery rhyme like? We're not babies, you know?"
"Uh, ok sure." She let out a small laugh. "Sorry about that." And she started to play another piece.
This time she closed her eyes as she played something so sad that the melody would pierce its way through one's heart, causing heartaches in the process. The kind of melody that won't stop until it brings about that emotion that would cause tears to fall from one's eyes and bring back sad memories with feelings of pain and emptiness.
That was its effect on Mello. His mind traveled back to the time his parents and siblings died in a car crash. He loved his parents, and he knew his parents loved all seven of their children. But even though he knew that, he never actually felt the love and attention that was supposed to have been given to him. He thought, maybe it was because he was the middle child - the invisible one. Because of this, nobody could really blame him why he strived so hard to be number one in the orphanage; just so even once he could feel his own existence and significance.
A tear had formed in the corner of his eye. He quickly brushed it off so no one would see him crying. "Why are you playing a sad melody?"
"Oh, sorry, that was composed and taught to me by my father." She sniffed as she said these words. Tears had already made their way to her chin. "It also happens to be my favorite piece. I'm sorry if it made you cry." She wiped the tears on her face with the back of her hand.
"No, I didn't cry. I told you, I'm not a baby." He put on his brave face to look convincing.
"I thought so," she said. She glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall of the living room. "Oh! I have to go to my room now. It was nice talking with you." She replaced the violin into its case and walked towards the stairs.
"See ya." He said before she disappeared behind the staircase.
"Near!" Mia just entered her twin's room without knocking. She didn't need permission to do so anyway.
"Do you need anything?" Near asked his sister as he carefully placed two cards, leaning on each other, on top of a huge pyramid of cards.
"Nothing really. Just came in to say hi." She walked over to the window of his room, walking around her brother's tall pile of cards.
"Really? I thought you've been visiting my room because it has a good view of where Mello is." He said without even bothering to face her and see her shocked expression.
"What?" She asked. She felt herself blush from his statement. "What made you say that?"
Near had just started another pile of cards beside the pyramid. "If you weren't fond of Mello, you wouldn't come to my room whenever he was with Matt."
"What is it about me and Matt this time?" Although she asked, it wasn't like she didn't know her 12-year old genius twin brother. He had already figured it out. He knew exactly what was happening.
"Mello and Matt are inseparable. To you, Mello is off-limits when he's with Matt. It's that simple." He looked at his sister with his deep black eyes. To a normal person, it was just an ordinary stare, but between the twins, it was Near's way of slapping the situation to Mia's face. She promptly returned his stare with her just as deep, narrowed eyes which read, 'Ok, so what?'
"You're not planning on telling him, are you?" Mia raised an eyebrow at her twin brother.
"Maybe."
"That's good." She turned her attention back to the view outside. "Matt just left."
"Bye." came his immediate response. She glared at him before her lips formed into a smile.
"Bye." She proceeded towards the door and, as she was going out, said, "Don't worry, someday I'll visit you in your room just because I want to see you and not Mello." And she closed the door a little too hard that Near's buildings of cards came crashing down.
He didn't have to be fooled by those words anymore. He knew he'd always be second to Near. It was already a fact in that orphanage and that's why he was leaving. He made up his mind that he would someday prove that he can beat Near and surpass L. Given more chances, he could also be number one, that's what he thought. But he didn't care anymore. He didn't give a damn what Wammy's House thought of him. Once I capture Kira, things will be settled once and for all.
On his way to his room, he passed by Mia's room and he could hear her playing again. It was that melody again. It reminded him of the things he would miss when he left the orphanage - his friends, Matt, and Mia too, especially when she plays her violin. Just as he was starting to get absorbed in the music, it stopped and he heard footsteps coming towards him and the door of Mia's room opened.
"Oh, Mello." She wasn't expecting anyone to be outside her door since she didn't hear any footsteps because it was drowned by the sound of her violin. "Do you need anything?"
"Uh, hi. No, I was just on my way to my room to..." She doesn't have to know. He stopped. "...I was just on my way to my room."
"Ah, ok. I was just going to get a glass of water. So I guess I'll see you later then." And she walked towards the direction of the staircase.
"No, wait," I have to tell her. "You won't."
"Huh?" She turned around, confused by Mello's words. "What do you mean I won't?"
"You won't see me again." He looked down at the floor. He didn't want to see her reaction. "I'm leaving the orphanage."
There was a moment of silence before she managed to respond. "What? Why?" She sounded as if she was about to cry.
"I don't have time to explain." He turned his back on her. He didn't want to see her cry, so he started walking towards his room.
Minutes later, he was already at the entrance of the orphanage and only Matt was there to bid him goodbye. Roger, the guy who looked after them, did not bother anymore to stop him. Probably because Near told him to "respect his decision." Thinking about those kind of stuff made him angry.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Matt asked him again as he pocketed his gameboy.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Well then, I guess this is goodbye."
"Yeah, bye." He, again, turned his back - on Wammy's House and on everything that happened inside that house, except for his competition with Near. Someday. he thought as he started to walk away.
"Mello, wait!" Somebody was running after him. It was Mia.
Mello stopped but didn't around. "What is it?"
"Here." She placed a silver chain with a cross pendant in his hand. "Just so you won't forget me."
He read the inscription at the back of the cross. Milan Ritchell River. "Is this your real name?" She let out a barely audible "yes". He placed the necklace inside his pocket. "Thanks." He said, and he walked towards the gate.
"Bye." She managed to say before she fell into tears.
"Bye." He too felt a tear run down his face but he didn't want to cry, so he wiped it with the back of his hand. He was going to miss this place. But then thoughts of Near filled his head and it reminded him why he wanted to leave in the first place. He walked out of the orphanage with clenched fists and an angry expression on his face.
As soon as he was out of sight, she walked back to the entrance where Matt was standing.
"You like Mello don't you?" he asked her.
"Yeah. You do too, don't you?" She received a nod in reply.
A/N: I got the idea of my OC being Near's twin sister when I found out I shared the same birthday with Near but that doesn't imply I am portraying myself using my OC. Also, I just made up the part about Mello's past. Hihi. Anyway, please review.