Chapter 4, Big Brother

     Later that night, Trinity lied in her bed  staring at the ceiling. At dinner, Ryuu met the rest of  the students living at Wammy's House. He was definitely odd, but in a strangely familiar and endearing sort of way, she thought, though she couldn't figure out why it was familiar. He had remained close to her side throughout dinner and was generally very quiet, speaking only when spoken to. Over all, he was already adjusting better than Trinity had on her first day, which she realized wouldn't have taken much. In her first days at Wammy's house she had experienced multiple breakdowns due to her disociative identity disorder, during which she isolated herself for hours as countless personas vied for control, and she had been several years younger than Ryuu was when she arrived. She bent one arm behind her head, still staring at the ceiling deep in thought.

     "Where did you come from and why are you so familiar?" she muttered under her breath.

     "We've never met him before. He's too young and I would have remembered if we had." her second persona replied. And this was true; her second persona, Clair, was extremely intelegent and had an impeccable memory. Anyone she had met after her personality split, Clair would have remembered.

     "You're right. I knew that I hadn't actually met him before, but he still reminds me of someone else and I can't put my finger on it."

     "It could be someone from Wammy's House. Perhapse one of the big brothers? It's far too soon to say at this point though. He just got here."

     "I think you might be right about it being someone from Wammy's House. In any case we'll be seeing more of him and that should help us figure it out."

Trinity continued to gaze at the ceiling, contemplating the curious new comer and reminiscing the days when the big brothers were still alive as sleep slowly began to encroach upon her thoughts like darkness upon a dying candle.

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Wammy's House, ten years ago

 

     Trinity had just arrived at Wammy's House mere days ago and  for the first time since her arrival the voices in her head were nearly silent. Taking advantage of this rare moment of inner tranquility, she decided to explore her new home. The halls were strangely quiet, with the patter of rain falling outside the only sound to be heard. Trinity thought it odd, as she made her way downstairs, that a house this size with twenty-five other children in it could ever be this quiet. As she walked past a drawing room downstairs, she heard whispers and the sound of someone shushing just on the other side of the door. She opened the door and peeked inside and the whispering instantly stopped. Seven children sat on the floor around an older boy with long blond hair, each of them with a white band around their arm bearing the letter M and all of them with their gaze trained upon Trinity as she slid into the room. A boy in a red and black striped shirt said to the blond boy in a low voice, "It doesn't look like she's on B's team, she hasn't got an arm band."

     "You're right," he replied "I don't think she was even there when we chose teams."

     Turning to Trinity the boy in the striped shirt said, "We're playing capture the flag. We're one short if you want to join us since Near never wants to play."

     The blond boy scoffed. "He never plays with anyone, we're just as well off without him in a game like this anyway."

     Another of the children spoke up, "If Near was on our team we'd have solved the riddle to where they hid their flag by now." She was met with a scattered murmer of agreement from the group and a glare from the blond boy.

     "Can I see the riddle?" Trinity asked.

     The blond boy, who Trinity decided must be the team captain, handed her a slightly crumpled piece of paper. "We think it might be in the north wing."

     Trinity read the riddle scrawled on the paper and promptly answered, "It's not in the north wing, it's in the refrigerator." She was met with curious and incredulous looks and murmers and one of the other students took the paper.

     "She's right," he said in surprise. "Look here, it has to be the refrigerator"

     The blond boy smiled, "See I told you we don't need Near. You're the new kid aren't you? What was your name again?"

     "I'm Trinity," she replied as the blond boy tossed her a white arm band identical to the others.

     "Welcome to team Mello, Trinity. Ok everyone, first thing's first, we need to do a bit of reconnaissance in and around the kitchen. Check how many people are on the maid's entrance and the entrance from the root cellar. Those are our two best bets. We also need to check out the dumbwaiter. Three of you will go and report back with what you found." Immediately three volunteer spies were out the door and moving quietly down the hall.

     "Alright, everyone else needs to split up in teams we already have four people defending our flag, so now we need a team to sneak outside and get into the root cellar from the back. Another team will sneak in through the maid's enterance and if they haven't blocked the dumbwaiter, we'll have someone get in through there too. They probably have the refrigerator guarded pretty well, so teams one and two are going to have to divert their attention so that the person in the dumbwaiter can sneak past."

     "But Mello, even if we managed to get someone to fit in the dumbwaiter, they would have to be a level eighty stelth ninja to get past B," said the boy in the striped shirt.

     "Oh, come on Matt this could work..."

     "I'll do it," Trinity cut in. Matt and Mello turned to her, sizing her up.

     "You think you could get past B and his team?" Matt asked.

     "I escaped from Tel Aviv by sneaking through airport security, so yeah probably." She replied as they gawked at her and the rest of the room watched with intrigue.

     "But you're like six!" Matt said in disbelief. "Mello can't even sneak to the kitchen to get chocolate bars in the middle of the night without getting caught." There was scattered sniggering in the crowd.

     "Shut up, Matt!" Mello snapped. "And keep your voice down, we don't want B's team to find our base. Watari brought her here himself; he obviously had his reasons, and if she can help us win I say we let her do it."

     At that moment the reconnaissance party returned.

     "You made sure you weren't followed?" Mello asked.

      "We did. No one saw us, but I think B suspected we were there" one of them replied

       "There were two by the refrigerator, and three by the maids' enterance and the root cellar. No one around the dumbwaiter, but it's so close to the refrigerator it wouldn't be hard for them to keep watch," said another.

     "It looks like their flag is actually inside the refrigerator, not just tied to the door or something."

     "Alright, good work. Now half of you need to pair off with me and the other half go with Matt," Mello replied. "We're going to come at them from two sides and cause as much commotion as we can to give Trinity the cover she needs to sneak in and get the flag."

     Within minutes both teams were in position and Trinity was waiting in the dumbwaiter for all hell to break loose. Mello had assigned one of the other team members to lower her down to the kitchen and wait until she had the flag and signaled to be pulled back up. Sitting in the dark cramped space, she peered through the miniscule gap between the doors of the dumbwaiter. Any second now....

     She heard the crash of doors flying open, yelling voices and the scattering of running feet and knew that it was time to move. She began counting back from five to let the chaos take full effect and through the gap she saw people running to the other side of the kitchen.

  Five... Four.... Three... Two... One....

     She quickly opened the doors and immediately dropped to the floor, shutting them behind her. Crouching low, she ran behind the counters toward the refrigerator which had been abandoned in the commotion that ensued on the other side of the kitchen. Pots and pans crashed and Trinity moved stealthily through the din, under and behind counters and prep tables without a sound. She shot across the floor to the refrigerator and was in and out with the flag in seconds and was soon back into the dumbwaiter. She closed the doors and whistled shrilly and her team mate started bringing her back up as the rest of her team began to retreat. She and her team mate ran through the halls and back down the stairs, racing towards the base and victory. Suddenly they stopped in their tracks. Standing in front of the door to their base room was a tall boy with a pronounced slouch and a black arm band with the letter B painted on in white.

     "Kyahahahaha," the boy laughed unnaturally.

     Thinking on her toes, Trinity ripped the flimsy fabric of the flag in two and shoved the other half into her team mates hand.

    "Run!" she yelled as the boy lunged at them. They separated and bolted for the door but her team mate was tackled by their opponent, who then ripped off his arm band, disqualifying him. Using this distraction Trinity burst through the door into home base just as her team showed up down the hall.

     Fuming, the boy with the strange laugh got up from the floor, releasing her team mate.

     "You cheated! Who the hell do you think you are?" He towered over her as she tried to back away.

     "Problem, Backup?" Mello asked as he walked through the door.

     "Your pawn cheated!" he seethed. "You only got half of the flag to base. You lost!"

     "Oh did we?" Matt had picked up the discarded other half of the flag as he walked in. "Both halves are here and in our base. I'm pretty sure that means we win"

     B looked furiously between Matt, Mello and Trinity and threateningly took a few steps closer to her. Outside, the other students from both teams crowded the hall outside the doorway trying to see what was happening. Mello stepped between B and Trinity, baring him from coming any closer.

     "Leave her alone, B. You're just mad because the new girl outwitted you. We won the game."

     Matt walked over and stood beside Mello, crossing his arms. B glared at the three of them and gritted his teeth.

     "Fine, I'll leave her alone...for now. But she can't hide behind you two forever." He sneered.

     "Jeeze, I wonder why L won't consider you as his successor. You seem like such a reasonable human being." Matt quipped as B turned to leave with a scowl.

     The crowd began to disperse after he left, leaving Matt, Mello and Trinity alone together. Trinity stood where she had been backed up against the wall, her jaw slightly agape and her eyes wide with terror. The boys turned to her and Mello knelt down next to her.

     "Don't wory about him," he said. "He's crazy and a sore loser, but he can't hurt you here.

     "He's probably just threatened by you. You were amazing in that game and he's probably just worried that you'll knock him out of the competition to be the next L." Matt added. "Just make sure to keep a friend around and he won't be able to do anything.

     "But...I just got here. I don't have any friends I can keep around. This is the longest I've even talked to anybody since I got here." Trinity replied, a slight tinge of panic creeping into her voice.

     "Don't worry about it," Mello said, standing and putting an arm around Trinity's shoulder. "You can hang out with us. You can certainly keep up; hell, you might even give us a run for our money. It can be hard around here if you don't have anyone. Matt and I know that probably better than anyone around here."

     "You'll be our honorary little sister," Matt said as he ruffled her hair. "You've earned it today. If you ever need anything, you can come to us."

     Trinity was genuinely touched by their kindness. "Thank you," she said.

     "And just imagine how angry B will be about this," Mello added as he and Matt grinned.

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