Thursday afternoon: revividus

[firm_detective]

L is still resting in bed. He's recovered from the shock of the hallucination he experienced earlier that day, and has been turning the problem over and over in his mind, considering Mello's suggestions carefully

Comments

[lastrunnerup]

*The knock is maybe a little urgent; Mello is shifting from one foot to the other, over and over again, because now that they're at L's door he's anxious to get the information to L and see if he gets better.*

Come on, come on... I swear, if Amane's asleep again...

Ryuuzaki, it's Mello. Can I open the door?

[firm_detective]

Yes, of course. Come in.

[coordinated_n]

*Near pushes open the door. Green stained, dirty, but very much alive.*

Ryuuzaki. You're not hallucinating, I'm back to life.

[firm_detective]

*He's taken aback, and doesn't immediately reply. When he does, his tone is dry.*

That is just what a hallucination would say.

... It is -- good to see you. What happened?

[lastrunnerup]

No, no, no, Ryuuzaki, Near's alive and I know how this thing works. I figured it out. Mostly. Just-- he really is alive, honest.

...And I'm sorry I'm late with your tea, but I did bring it.

[firm_detective]

*He nods.*

Thank you. I see him, but I think I will be more inclined to believe it after a few sips of tea. While I drink -- tell me what you've learned... please tell me it didn't in--involve a deal with the Assistant.

[coordinated_n]

It didn't.

It was an apology.

[firm_detective]

*His eyebrows lift. Near can't see how sick he looks, but can probably hear it in his voice.*

What sort of apology?

"I'm sorry" and azithromycin are not precisely the same thing.

[coordinated_n]

A sincere 'I'm sorry for making life difficult while we were growing up, and not doing my best to get you not-killed.' And then I was myself again.

[firm_detective]

*Frowning.*

That's very peculiar. It lends credence to our theory -- has Mello told you about it? What there is of it.

[lastrunnerup]

The theory's next to perfect thanks to this, Ryuuzaki. It's-- that's what it is. That's why it depends on them, and you. They need to apologize. And what B wants from you... he wants you to realize that you've done wrong by him. That's what this is about.

[firm_detective]

... Except that if that's the case, he wants reassurances I may not be able to give him. I don't -- I don't know what wrong his L might have done by him. Some seem -- very different from me, in one way or another.

[lastrunnerup]

But you're L, Ryuuzaki. You're... so much like ours, and the story's so much the same, and it... it fits.

[coordinated_n]

It fits. Unless you're carrying some other momentous guilt.

[firm_detective]

Have you met the L who arrived the other day? He's American, and -- almost nothing like me. He -- waits tables, goes to college -- his parents are alive.

The three Bs who arrived recently -- there's the one who seems to be the ghost, another one who was beaten and abused by his Mel--Mello if he looked at their L, and the one called Cipher, who has been abused -- I think, maybe, by his L, but I wasn't able to get enough infor--mation from him. He knew me as Ryuuzaki.

The best argument for this theory -- really, the only good one -- is that this B has chosen me as the -- focal point of whatever he's doing. It follows that he must see something in me.

[lastrunnerup]

It's that you're like his L. That has to be it. You're... there's no one more like L than you are, Ryuuzaki. You are L. That's just how it is.