Wow. This one is going to be a long story, and it's FINISHED, so what happened to PWF won't happen here. I promise. o.o; Everyone, please bow down and worship the ground Blackie and I walk on. :P This RP was amazing. Hard to edit, because her writing style is drastically different from mine...but we flow better in the later chapters.

This story...is AU, kind of, but still in the Death Note realm. It takes place at Wammy's during October; Mello is 14, Near is 13. Rated for...well...to sum it up, sex, disturbing concepts and images, and profanity. But there's a lot more to it than that. :3

Anyway, enjoy.

Nulli Secundus

Chapter 1: Normal Day

-

It wasn't just rain. It was storming. Not storming even; it was absolutely horrendous.

Hail, ice, rain...all were pouring from the practically black abyss above, behind which the eyes of the sun were blinded. The grim weather was a despicable sight, ominous to the one gazing out his bedroom window. It was the sign of defeat. Yet again.

Failure.

He could feel it through his skin. Exam results were to be posted today, the latest in a major overall review of every class. And he knew. He knew in the pit of his heart that he had again failed. Second again. The sound of a low growling rumbled in his throat, harmonizing with a clap of thunder outside, sounding just as angry and dangerous. Small droplets of water streaked tears down the cloudy glass of the window, blurring the cold blue that was this teenager's eyes. A thin but obviously not frail arm twitched suddenly, and the blonde-haired creature stood, sliding the chair away from his messy desk in the process. Golden bangs shadowed his slightly bruised eyelids, showing how little sleep he really had gotten last night. It was like a daily routine: take an exam, worry about the results the next night, and wake up feeling entirely agitated. Not that he actually woke up at noon this fine Saturday morning, but still. He wondered why the hell he was worrying if he knew the results already, but the answer was clear. No way in the nine circles of HELL was he giving up. He'd give his all, time after time.

And that was why it irked him so much.

His best wasn't fucking good enough, EVER. The black long-sleeve and pants seemed to accent his mood, utterly dark. Hell, even the weather was perfect for his hopes to be dashed again...

A hand balled itself into a tight fist and the teenager inhaled deeply to calm his stretched nerves. Wammy's was definitely not doing his temperament any good at all. Mello sighed and turned the brass doorknob, exiting his room and yet again breathing deeply.

Mello walked down the hallways, heading for the library where the results were posted. An idle hand reached into his pocket for the sweet addiction that brought him relief from his troubles. He was only annoyed more by the absence of it. Fucking perfect.

Mello glanced inside while walking past, pleased to note that the little tormentor had not yet ascended to his mindless games yet. He paused in mid-step, doing a double take to make sure the all hailed "Number One" wasn't there yet, and sighed in relief.

He didn't want to see that white apparition today.

Mello continued to walk away, aware that Near was possibly watching him and walking with an air of "piss off or I will fucking kill you" just for that occasion. The blonde turned the corner to the library and grudgingly stepped over the threshold.

The library was vast and yet cozy, green carpeting and several tables making the place seeming very comfortable. In all honesty Mello was itching to leave. The blonde approached the papers full of names upon the wall and flipped through the packet, searching for the two names.

And there they were. Near, a perfect score. Mello...

Missed one point.

A sudden intense rage bolted through him and he fought to keep from ripping the papers to absolute shreds right then and there. He just shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away, head bowed at such an angle that made his eyes seem even more dark than usual. His aura read pure and cold rage, and it was just too dangerous at the moment for words. A sudden flash of lightning sparked a sudden and violent pivot, and a glower that would make demons fear for their lives.

But nothing was there in that hallway that was the victim of his utterly hideous and painful eyes. He turned sharply again, quickening his pace to a very fast walk, nails biting his own flesh through the mesh of his pant leg. Nothing he did was ever good enough, nothing he tried worked above that level of perfection...

Near.

Oh, the very name sent shivers through his bloodstream. Near...was perfection in its most refined form, able to calculate anything in the blink of an eye, able to outsmart anyone at Wammy's.

Mello stopped walking to gaze out of a window, concentrating on the rain, and pressing his forehead to the glass for a moment in an attempt to cool his outrageous temper.

There were many reasons why today was a bad day... And he had the feeling it was going to get a hell of a lot worse...

(NS)

Though the boy had never needed any sort of alarm to awaken him, the gale pounding at the windows was enough to shake a pale ghost from his restless sleep. A flutter of eyelashes was the most effort that could be forced out at such an unpleasant awakening, and white hands shoved white blankets from a white form, so that a finger could entwine itself within a soft, white lock of hair. The other hand was busy retrieving tablets from the boy's drawer, and he briefly removed his hand from his hair to put the lenses into his eyes. Only then did he turn on his lights, and the white was illuminated to a blinding degree.

Yet, dark eyes gazed around the room indifferently, a dark mind already filled with the notion that today, like every other, would be both predictable and pointless...a dark day, like every other.

It was logical to assume such, or...perhaps not. Still, Near got dressed while thinking of nothing but the feel of white clothing on his white skin.

A day...like any other.

Near pulled a box of dominoes from his bookshelf and left, clicking off the light and closing the door soundlessly behind him, casting the pure, white room into darkness while a phantom headed towards the common room.

Silence tended to be the number one bit of comfort to Near's sensitive hearing, but he disregarded his own preferences completely as he dumped the dominoes into a messy pile on the floor. The porcelain tiles clacked against one another, scattering over a small area, and Near simply watched until they all stopped moving; watched, and then shoved them into a messy pile with his foot.

The floor was inviting him, and he sat, one leg pulled to his chest, the other curled beside him. He began to line them up, already thinking of the patterns they'd make when he knocked one down. A black sandal clacked onto the ground in his direct line of sight, narrowly missing his game (which was good, because there were few other ways to get Near from indifferent to absolutely pissed), and he looked up at the brightly-smiling girl.

"Hiya, Near!"

"Good morning, Linda."

Near disliked her. She wasn't unintelligent, but she was foolish, and that was enough. Near may have been the kind of person to be confused his emotions, even to the point where he'd block out his own to avoid the trouble, but he knew about them. And he knew about this little girl's crush on him.

That, too, somehow pissed him off.

"Near, I saw the postings in the library," she giggled, oblivious to the fact that he had yet to pause his actions in his game, let alone meet her gaze.

"Exam postings. That would be why they are there. For students to see them."

She giggled again, a fake, tittering sound that made his ears throb. He lowered his head slightly, hoping that his bangs could shroud how he struggled to not roll his eyes.

"Number one again," she crooned softly, and she spoke to him as though he were a baby (how condescending...). "You must be proud."

"Pride has nothing to do with it."

"Well, you were the only one to get a perfect score!" Linda said, and her tone indicated that she was shocked; Near looked up then to meet her eyes, and they weren't shocked. No. She'd expected as much of perfect Near. He shook his head, a fraction of a centimeter, from side to side.

"Are you implying something?"

"Come with me," she said, and she stuck her lip out, pouting. Near sighed softly and got up. She was thick. She was foolish. And she knew good and god-damned well he was trying to get her to go away, but no, she wouldn't, of course not. When in Rome...

Near stood up and walked past her, his posture perfect, for he didn't see fit to mimic his mentor in a way that could permanently damage an already-weak body. Linda skipped after him, grinning from ear to ear like the intelligent idiot she was. Something inside of Near's head warned him against the library, but then, it was a day like any other, and the library was no different.

Ha.

Down the hall, Mello's internal conflict simmered to a nice hot... EXPLOSION!...at the sound of that annoying laugh, ringing through the peacefully silent hallway. Mello turned on himself before anyone could bat an eyelid, and stormed past doors to the common room, having the set goal in mind and totally ignoring the fact that Near was in the room too. The albino most likely wouldn't care at the moment if Mello exploded in anyway.

And that was just what he did. With a very climactic flash of lighting, the burning shadow stood in the doorway, and with a miasma about him that could kill. The teenager's eyes widened in Linda's general direction, giving him an utterly insane appearance, and he took an intimidating step forward.

"Will you fucking BACK OFF! He doesn't like you OR your idiotic advances! Do us all a favor, and shut your high-pitched mouth for ONCE in your god-damned LIFE!"

It was a well-known fact Mello did not have the nicest tongue, and this was no exception. He absolutely felt like Linda should get a good kick in the face, but it was because of the hideous rage that had boiled over, finding Linda as an outlet for release. He was PAINFULLY aware that his arch-enemy was RIGHT there...but Linda was his primary target. Near would get whatever was left.

Mello's stance, posture, tone, eyes...everything screamed rage and intimidation, down to the last detail. It was the perfect example of an emotional hijack on his common sense. It was a damn good thing there were no adults around to bear witness to the angry child.

Peace? At a quiet little orphanage? Too much to hope for.

Near's eyes had taken in this sight uncountable times before; Mello's seething rage emanated off of him like poison dripping from an assassin's blade, and his tongue itself was sharp enough to make Linda shriek and back towards Near (because logically, he could defend her, oh, of COURSE he could).

She was close, uncomfortably close, and Near shifted uneasily, staring at Mello through eyes that had been carefully trained to indifference, eyes that had required it since before he even became an orphan. Linda was making soft mewling noises, but her shaking lower lip was proof enough she was too much of an idiot to stay silent.

"Y-you don't have to shout, Mello-kun!" she wailed finally, and Near fought an overwhelming urge to abandon her. "He's my friend (oh, that was news to him...) and I can talk to him how I want. S'none of your business!"

She was gaining confidence, and Near's small finger was already playing with a lock of hair, anything to distract him. He carefully avoided Mello's gaze, because when dealing with an angry predator, one should never make direct eye contact.

Or taunt it. Apparently, Linda hadn't learned that part. Foolish child...

"M-Mello, you always get so grumpy when I try to talk to Near," she said, and her voice was lowered. "Are you...sure you're not just jealous?"

The group of kids that were up early enough to be hanging around the common room were already evacuating, gazing anxiously at the ticking bomb that was Mello. Near flicked his gaze toward his rival then, and in the split second his darkened vision caught a GLIMPSE of those narrowed blue eyes, something inside of him churned in...what was that? Concern? Fear? Perhaps he needed to study these "emotions" more carefully. He averted his eyes again, focusing on Linda's left ponytail, counting the strands.

Linda's vain efforts to fight back were met by a spike in Mello's anger, and the blonde's fingers spread suddenly, warning anyone to back the hell away or...

Mello took a step forward and his gaze widened to one that invoked sheer terror upon most. It wouldn't have been surprising if random objects began to spontaneously combust around him, he was just that pissed off.

"JEALOUS?! Linda! Get away from me before I squeeze your throat so fucking hard it POPS!"

He seeped ferocity, teeth bared and posture like he was about to slam someone onto the floor. He could EASILY do that to either one of the people before him, but chivalry wasn't dead.

Near wasn't exactly a knight foolish enough to fight the dragon slaughtering this idiotic princess, even as she shrieked and hid behind him. He wanted to sit down again. Badly. So badly. But not yet. He turned slightly to stare at the girl from the corner of his right eye. When he spoke, it was softly, not a whisper, but a stark contrast to Mello's screaming, a cat's meow against a tiger's roar.

"Linda. Suicide is a contemptible fate, and you've no reason to waste your life. You are not the one he is jealous of."

Linda nodded meekly, and Near's mind whirled. His gaze was on the wall to their right, Mello's left, and silently, he wished his rival would either calm down, or go away. Linda, he simply wanted to leave. A white cat did little between a growling tiger and a shivering mouse. Mello tried to constrain himself at that very moment. Bringing a hand to his temple, he growled to himself, breathing slowly to regulate the inferno that threatened to command his limbs to induce suffocation on the wretched girl.

And now, the overwhelming urge to murder his counterpart gnawed at him too. All of it was just absolutely too much. This was why, out of the ordinary from the usual insulting and screaming, he simply pivoted without a word, walking out, hand still to his head. He mumbled something under his breath, seeming too annoyed to do much of anything. He needed clarity at the moment...and these two weren't helping.

Mello went straight, instead of back to his room; straight, and a turn. He knew VERY well that the kids were not allowed outside, but like hell that was stopping him.

Mello looked about and creaked open the door leading to the raging storm outside. He growled and slammed it behind him, without any regard for the weather. He simply sat on the stone bench placed against the stone wall, the cold air soothing his temper. He leaned back, head cocked to the sky, and silently closed his eyes.

Normally, he would go to Matt for some sort of comfortable distraction, but Matt was away on some sort of educational field trip with a few other students. Mello's hands gripped the edge of the bench as a hailstone cut into his cheek.

He muttered to himself, trying to regain his composure...no luck.

Yeah. It was gonna be a GREAT day.

I hate intro chapters. -.-