Happy Ending (MattxMello)

27. Goodbye

Near
I'd always believed Matt and Mello to be my closest, or rather, only friends. I do know however, that Mello believed otherwise and I can't say that I knew too much of Matt. Despite Mello's poor opinion of me, since they were my friends - or as close as I've ever gotten to having friends at least - upon hearing the news of their deaths I had decided to give them a proper send-off. After all, if I hadn't done it nobody else would have, considering their lack of relatives and friends as well as their criminal records.

I'd known of Matt's almost immediately due to its coverage on the news but Mello's death was a bit more complicated, in fact, had Mello not contacted Ms. Lidner the day after the Kira case had been solved, I would've assumed him to have died and burned along with Ms. Takada as I'd originally believed. I have to say that I was more than a little surprised to have received his message, both because I'd believed him to be dead and because of the contents of said message. His message simply stated, "Congratulations Near, you've won. Mello."

It had taken all of about an hour to locate Matt and Mello's apartment. Mello had been sloppy in his attempt to prevent my tracing his message back to him, which is also how I'd concluded that:
1. Matt was, in fact, dead.
2. Mello was not functioning at his full capacity.
After investigating further, I'd discovered the true nature of my fellow successor's relationship nearing the end of their lives. Information gathered in this further investigation courtesy of Ms. Lidner, who was apparently in touch with Mello in the months leading to his death. I had decided to leave Mello alone with his grief for a few days, until February 3rd, when I attempted to contact him. After my many attempts failed, I had someone check on him and, just as I had suspected, Mello had committed suicide. I estimated the date of his death to be February 2nd, just seven days after the death of Matt. So, I'd had Matt and Mello's bodies collected and attempted, as best I could, to give them a 'proper' funeral.

Their joint funeral consisted of my team and I silently watching as the only 'friends' I'd ever had were being buried in an empty cemetery. There was nothing to be said, none of us really knew either of them. However, Ms. Lidner had insisted on giving them something she believed would suit them perfectly. On each of their corpses we'd found wedding rings with the same engraving on the inside and so she had suggested we have this phrase written on their gravestones. I'd agreed to this request for one simple reason: they're dead and what is written on their graves won't make a difference to them anyway. So, now on February 6th 2013, I stand before their graves (which are right next to each other as requested once again by Ms. Lidner, who apparently cared more for my fellow successors than I had originally thought) which read:

Mihael "Mello" Keehl
1992-2013
"Forever and Always" for Matt Jeevas

And

Mail "Matt" Jeevas
1993-2013
"Forever and Always" for Mello Keehl

Now, because I myself know nothing of romance, I will have to take Ms. Lidner's for it that it was a "fitting and romantic ending to their story" and that it's "something that they would have wanted". The rain is beginning to pour, darkening the stones that tell my peers' stories simply and truthfully. Mello would have liked this, I think, the rain. It's as if the very sky weeps for the loss of them. I am not really one for believing in an afterlife of any kind but, just in case he could hear me, I say my final goodbyes.
"Well, Mello. You said you'd wait for me at the finish line and I wonder, is this it? Is this the finish line? If so, I suppose you won. Congratulations. Also, if you can hear me and you'd care enough to listen, I hope you're happy with what I've done as a parting gift. It seems that there are people that care for you after all."
"Who were you talking to Near?" Ms. Lidner asks me.
"Oh, nobody really."
"Is that so? Well, it was really beautiful Near, what you said."
"I did not intend it to be."
"Whether you intended it to be or not, it was. Thank you." I nod and wrap a lock of my hair around my finger.
"Goodbye Mello, Matt."