The Popping of B, Part Two: The Unpopping of Matt

[12panelwonder]

Beyond stood in front of a kernel of popcorn. Instinctually, he knew that this one represented Mail Jeevas, aka Matt

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[mello_n_choco]

I'm at the point where I can walk around the campus and not be too worried about who I meet. It's been awhile. I need to start moving forward, moving on. It's not like me to hide all the time.

So, it's more of a test of myself than anything, walking by the popcorn room, looking for his name.

Only...only...why can't I find it? I know his real name. I know both of his names, they're not there. Fuck...

No...he was gone. Near wouldn't do that to me. He wouldn't. It was too hard on him. I look into the room, around the corner.

Fuck...

[12panelwonder]

"Mello? Hey. Did I pop? I don't remember coming here on my own. Last thing I remember's being on the computer...shit! I just left that open for anyone to get into!" He began to run out of the popcorn room.

[mello_n_choco]

"It's been put away," I said, my voice sounding weird to my own ears. "Weeks...Fuck..." I can't move away from the wall. Fuck...why? Why?

[12panelwonder]

"Wait. Weeks? So I did? Man, I'm sorry, Mello, I don't know what happened. Hey..." Matt tilted his head quizzically. "You okay?"

[mello_n_choco]

"You left, Matt," I said, my voice still not right. "You...you left."

[12panelwonder]

"I...well, I don't know HOW. All I know is that I suddenly showed up here, touching this popcorn." Matt slid down next to Mello against the wall and lit a new cigarette. "I don't know, Mello, I don't."

[[OOC: Hey, did Mello get the owl from B yet? Or could, in Matt's next tag, it show up?]]

[mello_n_choco]

[[ooc: ...he was wandering...sorry...blame the mun]]

I step back. He's my best friend and I don't want to be anywhere near him. "You...you weren't supposed to go," I say. Fuck. This isn't right.

[12panelwonder]

"What do you want me to do, Mello? One minute I'm working on...something, I don't even remember, the next I'm here, weeks have passed, and I'm wondering who was hoping something would work. What the fuck do you want from me?"

An owl flew in at that moment, dropping a letter in between the two of them.

[mello_n_choco]

I rub my face with both hands. I really don't want to deal with this. I can't...can I? I can't dump this on Near. He's been through enough already. "I..." I stop when the letter falls. It has my name on it, so I pick it up. I read it through and hand it to Matt. How much more...how much fucking more?

[12panelwonder]

Matt scans it.

"Who's Beyond Birthday?"

[mello_n_choco]

How much more of this can I really take? I swallow hard and ask, "Just what do you remember?"

[12panelwonder]

"You. Near. Ryuzaki. Some things that happened. I know I was learning runes from...someone." He smirked. "Light's dad turning into a Kirby."

Yeah, he WOULD remember the videogame related stuff.

[mello_n_choco]

"Runes? I didn't think you were taking lessons from Wednesday," I said. It was something to focus on. "You were working with Kusu on fuda." I run my hand through my hair. It's not fair to lash out at him, but God, why?

[12panelwonder]

"I...don't remember Kusu, either. Sorry."

Shit. Somehow he fucked up big time.

[mello_n_choco]

There had to be something he remembered, something more. "Near and I are together," I said, trying to find something, some ground to start with. Fuck, Near didn't need to deal with me being broken anymore. I have to get this fixed before I see him again. He's done so much for me, I can't force him to deal with this.

[12panelwonder]

"I remember that. I think I dealt with it." Matt took a puff. "How...how did Near take this?" Not as badly as you, Matt thought.