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"You're not even going to ask what is wrong, or how I know?" Nate whispered.

"I trust you enough to think you would know." Mail replied. "Because you're my friend and I trust you. Why would you lie about that or even bother telling me something like that if you didn't?"

"You're not even curious?" Nate whispered. "About how I'm going to die?"

"...Are you seriously asking me that question." Mail's voice was so serious, without any of its usual cheer or lax quality that it was almost like a completely different person. "That I would I would hear news like that be curious? Is that the kinda person I seem like?"

"I didn't mean-" Nate groaned, before he smiled weakly. "Look at us... eight years since I've seen you and we're already bickering like a married couple..."

"...Yeah...I wouldn't know anything about being married." Mail replied. "It's really too bad. I wish could look at you and feel the same...but that's different now. Now I'm just gonna feel bad and that sucks."

"Feel bad for what?" Nate asked, frowning in confusion.

"Before, I would have looked at you and felt light...maybe uplifted like everything was okay." Mail replied. "Now I'm gonna look at you and think...you're gonna die."

He shrugged.

"I don't know if you'd feel differently about that if it were me." He said.

"Of course I would, you idiot," Nate mumbled, looking hurt. "But you have a life... you have stuff to move on with. You can take care of Near or something, I don't know... you brought him here, right? He must trust you..."

He rubbed his arm a bit, looking away.

"I don't want you to think of the bad when you see me," He whispered.

"...What I'm just going replace you?" Mail frowned. "Is that it? That I have a life to go back to and you never did...even with me, if I mean so much to you for you to say something like that. That after you vanish and I finally get you back, you tell me that I'm only going to lose you again and this time forever and all you can say is, 'I have a life'?"

"I want you to have one," Nate sighed. "I want you to move on. I... wanted to believe that you two didn't care enough to look for me... because I didn't want to hurt you."

"Well unfortunately you're wrong and wishing it were any other way isn't gonna change that." Mail replied. "I'm not just gonna move on and pick up someone else...you meant more to me than that, you fucking brat. And thinking that I could ever have just brushed you off...when in our history together have I ever done that?"

Mail opened the bedroom door then.

"Mihael ran off." Mail said. "I don't know if you care enough to really notice, but he's probably not going to just 'move on' either."

Nate let out a slow breath and sat back down, feeling very weak all of the sudden.

"...If he's anything like me, he's never going to shake you off." Mail said softly- his tone sad. "I don't know anyone who could...that's the person you are, whether you want to be or not."

Mail turned and left the room- leaving the door wide open as he went.

Nate remained quiet on the bed, dropping his head into his hands as he felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.

--

"...Where's Nate?" Mello asked as Mail came back downstairs.

"He's up in the bedroom." Mail replied. "I'm gonna crash out in the car."

He slipped outside- leaving Matt and Mello to look at each other in confusion.