[Closed] Serious talks in silence

[shiromadoushi]

Characters: Bakura and Mello
Location:Mello and Near's apartment
Rating:PG?
Time: June 4th, afternoon
Description: With Near all healed up, it's now Mello's turn. And while they're resonating, Bakura resumes his job as the Whammy Whisper, trying to patch things up between Mello and L.



After five sessions, Bakura had healed all that he could of Near's injuries and could finally tend to Mello's own. It was easier healing the person he was resonating it, he reflected as his Weapon form rolled. Leaning on that person's energy, boosting it with his own and then sending it back again seemed to create a bit of an echo chamber. That and being connected to where it was being sent helped make it go all that much further in it's healing scope.

Still, he took a moment to lean back against Mello's wavelength after the spell had been cast, letting himself recharge.

'Get it all in one go, did we?'

Comments

[cardfortress]

Near caught that glance, but didn’t comment on that acknowledgement through their resonance. He could tell that his words helped even more, too, and normally he wouldn’t care how angry or truly pissed off Mello was with Bakura-- he didn’t care about his Meister possibly hurting the boy’s feelings-- but he knew how Mello’s anger could affect his rationality and that such strong feelings would make it harder for him to say what he truly wanted to say. Right now, they both needed to keep their minds clear, not only to make their arguments perfectly but also to interpret Bakura’s words to the best of their abilities.

Mello was absolutely right: L would never have survived as long as he did if he were as-- Near almost cringes at the word, but there really is no other way to put it-- weak as Bakura is describing him. None of them were fragile or broken, no matter how gory or depressing their pasts may have been-- L told Near about his, when they drank together three months ago, and he’s sure that Mello overheard most if not all of their conversation too—and they wouldn’t have survived until adulthood, they wouldn’t even have made it through their schooling with their minds intact if any of them had ever been as broken as Bakura was implying.

Pathetic, he said through their resonance, his disgust and anger obvious through their bond. But no matter how strongly he felt about this whole thing, he’s careful not to let anything show through his façade: he’d rather make his feelings known through his words than through his body language. He is little more than a guard dog by now. L manipulated him perfectly.

He ignored the way Bakura glanced at them and at his touch, dismissing immediately whatever he may have been trying to imply.

“Who do you think he could have an easier time manipulating? Two geniuses who have surpassed him as one and achieved what he could not, with extensive training on how to manipulate the human mind and an equally extensive knowledge of his methods, or a boy from a world in which friendship is-- quite literally-- magic? Don’t insult our intelligence; the mere thought that he can manipulate us a lot more easily than he can manipulate you is as offensive as it is preposterous.”

Was Bakura really that delusional? The probability of it being true increased significantly since the moment Near first overheard their conversation, and Near now wished he could just sever any ties between them simply for his stupidity alone, but the boy was far too useful to them. If it hadn’t been for his healing abilities, Near would have been in a very different state by now.

“Thank you for reminding us that the role of L does not exist in this world,” he continued, his tone of voice as dry as a desert. “I had forgotten it entirely. He can’t be L in this world and I can’t be L, either.” He repressed the unpleasant shiver he felt at bringing that bit of information up, but he knew that his partner would notice his discomfort through their resonance very easily. “And I never cracked while trying to hold up everything I have been taught in our world with almost zero resources, even when I had no allies.”

That feeling of uneasiness grew as he spoke, but he made a point to use Bakura’s words against him, to try and make him see reason. But given how manipulated the white haired boy had been, Near doubted it would work. That didn’t stop him from trying, though, even if his anger was slowly but surely threatening to overwhelm him, just like it had done with Mello.

“He came here after dying, knowing that he’d lost but that his successors would certainly avenge him and win the game that he could not. Mello came here after dying and without knowing if his plan had worked, not very long after seeing Matt be brutally murdered. I came here after taking his place, and I am the only one besides him who can talk about what it really means to be L.”

His eyes narrowed at Bakura’s last argument. This was absolutely ridiculous.

“He had us, until he seemingly forgot what he, Mello and Matt died for, and what I almost died for. He hasn’t just betrayed us and our trust by constantly placing his life in danger for a thrill, he singlehandedly betrayed everything he has ever stood and fought for, and everyone who sacrificed their lives to bring Kira down.”

omg this is huge, I'm sorry

[want_the_world]

Mello was relieved that Near, again, said what he was thinking, and pointed out the more than obvious fallacy in Bakura's argument. Easy for him to manipulate, my ass, he said to Near. What the hell does he think they taught us at the House, if not how to use L's methods? And how can he not see how he's been used?

Bakura wasn't trying to deliberately antagonize him, he was sure, but he was having that effect. How dare he insinuate that Mello wouldn't be there for L if he needed help? How dare he say their support for him was conditional on an illusion that Mello had long since learnt to see past, and Near had never been fooled by at all?

"L didn't ask me for help. He asked me for what amounted to permission to self-destruct, and he lied to me, and called me stupid, in almost as many words.

"He was the only person I ever looked up to in our world. Don't you dare call my loyalty into question, or act like I'd refuse to help him if he really wanted help. But he doesn't."

It had been hard, harder than Mello could have imagined, to hang up on L. But he'd truly believed that the best help he could give his former mentor was to refuse to stand idly by as L stubbornly stayed on a path that would only destroy him, and Mello didn't think he was being overdramatic in thinking of it in those terms.

Bakura had to have got the idea from L that Mello's anger meant he didn't care. Both of them should have known better. It almost didn't matter whether he really thought that, or had only convinced Bakura he did: either possibility stung.

So did Bakura's lack of understanding about how Mello had left their world; he made it sound as if Mello had arrived here flush with success.

"I had no idea if we'd won or not when I came here. I showed up gasping for breath, because I'd just died of a heart attack.

"You have no idea what that was like, and you still don't understand our world. If there was anyone I would have supported, even if he was wrong, anyone I would've made excuses for, whose behavior I'd try to justify, it was L. I didn't stop on a fucking whim. I stopped when I saw that the only thing he wanted was for me to believe his excuses. The same excuses you're repeating. Someone who really cares will try to stop a friend doing something insane and stupid. Not blindly believe he knows best for himself when he clearly doesn't."

He did reach for Near's mind now, having felt that the Weapon was, much less obviously than Mello, on the edge of snapping from frustration and anger. If he won't accept how wrong he is, there's not much we can say to make him understand.

No worries! I just... likely can't match :D

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura was quiet a long moment. "He doesn't know what's best for himself. There are just somethings I can't stop him from doing. Somethings I don't think anyone can stop him from doing.

"And I don't think he feels that he has you. Either of you..." He looked over at Mello. "He doesn't know how to handle your devotion..." Then over to Near. "And he doesn't like how much you've tried to be him. How much you're like the upgraded version of him..."

He sighed deeply, shaking his head. "And of course I don't understand your world. Everything I've heard about it is nothing but horrible things... You've all thrown away yourselves to be someone else's ideal.

"Ryuzaki doesn't need to manipulate me... He already knows that no matter what, I'm his friend and I'll do whatever's needed to help him, even when it's what he doesn't want. But there are some battles that just aren't worth trying to fight. He's more addicted to Light than he is to anything else, right now... and what's between them is a mess I don't even want to try and figure out," he admitted softly before looking over at Mello again. "You were the one who encouraged me to try and work with the other Bakura, the person that I died to stop. I know nothing in my world compares to yours, but with this... Ryuzaki's convinced it's the same. He can't let go of that connection. He doesn't want to... he doesn't know what else he would have without that last thing that he defines himself by."

"Light can't be Kira here. The way he killed people back in your world doesn't work and there's no power he can hold over anyone. He's the same as anyone else here and bound by so many chains because of who else is here along side him. If he wanted Ryuzaki dead, he would have let him die in Vegas. There's more to this than just what happened in your world, there's more to this than anything any of us can see no matter how observant you think you might be. If he needs his obsession with Light to keep himself together, then I'm not going to keep trying to fight it so that he pushes me away as well. Because he won't change that just because you fight him over it."