[ EVENT: So long and thank you for all the fish ]

[soul_mods]

Characters: Everyone in Death City
Location: Death City
Rating: G
Time: October 8th and onwards
Description: It's time to say goodbye



A day after Medusa's defeat, Shibusen makes an announcement on the network: BREW is acting up again but instead of bringing new people in, it has created a portal.

It's in the Kishin Chamber, available to anyone who wants to go through it. Anyone who looks into it will see the place they came from, frozen in time. The moment you step through everything resumes and, maybe you'll forget or maybe you won't. Either way, there's no need to hurry right now. Shibusen assures all of you they will keep a sharp eye on BREW's energy readings and tell you the moment anything changes. For now, the portal is stable so take all the time you need to say goodbye and settle everything before you go.

Comments

[cardfortress]

[His Meister really doesn’t have to point that out: Near knows it very well, just like he knows that, in turn, some of his qualities have rubbed off on Mello. It’s a two way street, and they have both influenced each other equally, but even though he is slightly less patient than he used to be, he can’t say it’s a bad thing.

Near catches Mello’s thoughts as they wander off like his own did, and although he isn’t surprised by any of it, he can’t help feeling possessive at the thought that Mello could have become someone else’s partner. Contrary to what happened in the early stages of their partnership, there is no reason to hide his jealousy and possessiveness now, so he doesn’t; they belong to each other, and they both know it.

(The ring on his finger feels a little heavier and a little warmer, as if the train of thought his mind has been on has made him more aware of it against his skin.)

He leans more heavily against his partner when Mello holds him tight, but when he speaks through their resonance, those words surprise him enough that Near pulls back a little bit, just enough so he can look at his Meister. He knows how much it would have cost Mello’s pride to say those words, and he’s surprised that he’s admitting such a thing at all; there’s a hint of curiosity in Near’s eyes, but there’s understanding, too, because he can imagine all too well how that must have felt like for him.

He lets go of Mello’s shirt so he can reach up to tangle both hands in blonde hair, and he gives one of the strands a little twirl.]

I made my decision long before BREW offered us a return ticket, and it never wavered while we were in the kishin chamber, [he says. Mello told him he didn’t doubt him, and Near wouldn’t have confessed to him that he didn’t want to go back if his decision hadn’t been set in stone (that memory feels distant, somewhat, even though it didn’t happen that long ago; maybe today is just screwing with his perception of things), but he still feels the need to voice these thoughts out loud, as if to reassert his decision.

(Not that there’s any logical need to make it even clearer: giving up the life he used to have-- the life he was groomed for since he was a small child, and the only way of living that he’d ever found desirable before coming to Death City-- is enough proof of how serious he was, and still is, about his decision, and about them.] Facing it was harder than I expected it to be, that’s all.

[want_the_world]

I know, but.

[Mello really didn't doubt his partner; he's just never lost sight of how everything between them might so easily have been different. If they hadn't got the chocolates with the truth drug on Valentine's Day; if Mello hadn't been the first to reach out, dropping his mental walls as Near lay in a coma; if Near had lost his nerve and not said 'wield me' after the fucking witches stuck Mello in their damn machine, or Mello had lost his nerve with so much to lose at stake... He's never believed in destiny, but so many things had to happen exactly the way they did for the two of them to find their way, it's hard not to see the hand of fate at work. And Mello has never forgotten that what fate seems to give you, it can even more easily snatch away.

He slips his hands into Near's hair, automatically starting to toy with it.]

I was... [After all they've been through, it's still hard to admit.] I was scared. I know damn well what you gave up today.

[Maybe, for once, his eagerness to face his fears--to prove they don't control him, to get it over with--backfired. There was never anything to be afraid of.

Would Mello have been able to look into that portal and turn his back on it, if he'd been the one to live in their world, and Near the one only able to stay here? He'd like to think so, but he's immensely glad it wasn't his choice to make.]

[cardfortress]

[Near frowns slightly at the train of thought he can pick up on through their resonance, and that frown remains in place even as he leans into Mello’s touch, doing so as automatically as his Meister started to toy with his hair. While he may have thought otherwise at the beginning of this thing between them, Near has come to realize that it was inevitable for them to end up together after becoming partners, no matter how differently things would have gone if their decisions and personal choices had diverted from the path they actually took. After all, the letters from the doomed future showed quite clearly that he and the other Mello became a lot more than just partners, and Mello’s previous incarnation was quite different from him; as different as two people can be when they are literally the same person, that is.

For a moment, he considers pouring Mello a shot of that whiskey he’s so fond of, because it seems to have helped in the past; he remembers all too well how they were both feeling like after facing their own shadows for the first time, and how the alcohol helped dull some of the nerves that hit them as they tried to talk about that subject. He can’t help but wonder if the alcohol would help his partner once again, but it doesn’t take him long to realize that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea: Mello is displaying vulnerability, of all things-- something they rarely display at all, unless one or both of them have been seriously injured or have just narrowly escaped death-- not the nervousness of trying to speak about something neither of them are equipped for. They aren’t good at being scared, either, and admitting it out loud is almost as hard as admitting other, far more complicated things.

Is Mello worried that now that everything is (supposedly) fine, something else will happen to ruin it all? At the thought, Near’s hands move to his partner’s cheeks so he can cup them, and he holds on tight to their resonance, wanting to get to the bottom of this.]

Are you still scared? [he asks, not daring to speak out loud because that would feel-- quite illogically-- like tempting their luck.] Scared that something may happen, now that it’s all over?

[Truthfully, Near isn’t completely sure that both the war and BREW’s meddling are over-- he’s too paranoid to fully believe that with all of his synapses-- but it appears to be that way; he thinks he’ll feel a lot more at ease whenever Shibusen confirms that BREW is indeed inactive once more. But it’s hard to let a restless mind catch a break, for once, and it’s even harder given how many months he’s devoted to worrying about what the little demon tool could do.

Since their arrival, they’ve been fueled by their fight against BREW’s Russian roulette and the war against the Witches, but now that everything is over and now that they’ve been allowed to stay here, together, it’s as if the momentum they had been following had stopped, making them stumble in disorientation. Near can't help wondering if the adjustment will be harder than he predicted.]