hadriel | sixth. video (i fought the war but the war won).

[It's a video post from Mello, and that's a thing that just does not happen. The camera is propped up to face him, lying on his back with his eyes closed, drinking in the artificial sunlight on a patch of grass somewhere in the park.]

Don't you all just get tired of fighting all the time?

[A peculiar lilt colors his words, a slight discordance to his typical tone and a languidness that should be noticeable to anyone who has ever heard him speak. He opens his eyes and glances to the camera.]

I mean, I know you are - I can smell it on you. You all want, so much - you want to go home, you want to return to your normal, ordinary lives. You want an end to the struggles you face here in order to simply survive.

[He shifts onto his side, propping his head up in his hand to face the camera directly. This is something else Mello would never do - openly show his face. And anyone who has seen his face before, even just partially, will notice a key difference here - his scar is gone. He smiles deviously at the camera.]

Don't fight us. Join us. Let us help you. Let me help you. I can give you what you want. All you have to do is ask, and let us in.

[He gives the camera audience a one-shouldered shrug and smiles again, something that looks entirely wrong and out of place on Mello's face.]

Despite what you may have heard, we're not all bad.

(ooc note: demon-possessed mello can also be encountered in person pretty much anywhere in the city for the next few days!)

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We don't need your help, and even if we did, what help do you think you could possibly offer?

[He murmurs a word under his breath, snaps his fingers, and a shower of sparks rains down in front of L. It's a harmless spell, designed more to startle and misdirect, hinting at greater power not yet unleashed.]

[The sparks have the desired effect. L wasn't aware that Mello could do this, and assumes that it's an effect of being possessed rather than something he learned or had all along.

He takes an instinctive step back, forearm reflexively going to his eyes to shield them.]

I'll tell you when we're safe indoors. Stand up, Mello.

[It's the last time he's going to say it, judging by the air of finality in his tone.]

[The demon is already on its feet, taking full advantage of the distraction to move inhumanly fast and circle around behind L. Mello's hand slides over the top of L's bony shoulder, feather light, as the demon leans in to murmur into his ear.]

We're not in any danger out here. All I've done is make him better. That's all he wanted.

[His voice drops a touch lower, warm and inviting.]

I can do the same for you too, you know. I can make you better. Wouldn't you like that? To become better than the child who defeated you?

[Mello's hand passes in front of L's eyes, and when L looks, he'll see Light Yagami standing in front of him, wearing a haughty smirk. This illusion is all the demon's doing, feeding L an image from his memories and desires.]

[If it was just Mello, in decent shape but diminutive and thin, L has no doubt that he could take him if a physical altercation were to occur. That's not the case, however, and the speed alone is enough to prove that. L's agile, but this isn't human.

Neither, of course, is the way Light appears before him. He's simultaneously repulsed and thrilled by the likeness, but the demon's words are nothing but hateful to him.]

It's relative, isn't it? I don't think that Mello would accept "better" by any definition if it wasn't strictly on his own terms. I'm the same way.

[He pulls away, intent on putting distance between himself and the demon.]

[Once again, the demon moves quickly - too fast for a human - and ends up in front of L, one hand raised in a gesture of stop, a cruel smirk stamped across his features.]

Don't you think this is all on the boy's terms? Or perhaps you don't know him as well as you think you do.

[It's unacceptable in every way, wrong on a primal level. L is in charge, and even if all of his successors don't love or revere him, they were brought up to see him as someone to respect, someone with some command over their lives and their directions. Maybe it was a mistake to reclaim that distance, a sign of weakness or retreat that the demon is taking advantage of now.]

No. I think he was bested, as he's been before. But his allies won't let that stand.

His allies?

[The demon laughs again, wicked, vicious.]

You're speaking of yourself, I take it? Maybe that scrawny mage back at the house?

[Something in his smile turns a shade darker.]

I doubt he can stand, much less do anything about letting something else stand. You humans are awfully breakable.

[L is steadfast, even though the laughter is chilling, manages to cut into even his careful, practiced stoicism.]

In spite of that, we have more that we value and care about. That has a tendency to draw strength out of unexpected places.

[He doesn't come right out and say it, but Near, for instance, is not possessed or dead. That means something about his ability to stand, even if it's only metaphorical, and (ironically) reliant on what remains of Mello's restraint.]

Mm, I don't think your little successor has any hidden wells of strength - or at least he didn't.

[Now the smile the demon's wearing turns downright cruel.]

Like I said - you humans are so breakable.

[If L hadn't already dealt with Near, using every ounce of theoretical medicine and intuition he possessed to reset a dislocated shoulder, those words would probably incite dread. Instead, he just looks dully disappointed.]

You're wrong. On both counts, actually. And that's why you'll lose.

sixth. video (i fought the war but the war won).

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