Well, another day another crackpot theory. Here we go - for second to last day!
So we all know that one way or another Mello definitely tricked Takada's bodyguard into entrusting him with Takada during the events that turned out to be kidnapping, but I'm wondering if he may have gone a step further-- like he may have actually infiltrated their organization and gotten an actual job with them??
...I am aware how out there this sounds but hear me out.
Supporting evidence:
Let me begin with just a contextual note about how out of touch Halle Lidner was with the SPK during the events in Japan. In chapter 92 Rester mentions they (Near and the others) can't contact her directly because her phone is being monitored, and that she wasn't told the SPK's Tokyo location with the reasoning it would prevent her from being controlled to act against them. Makes sense. So anytime we see her in the scenes with Near (which happens rarely) she has to sneak away from her job and essentially join their Zoom call. After the awkward dinner where Misa and Takada fight Halle doesn't get in touch with them until 4 days later because she 'never gets time to herself'.
It's not surprising that her job is demanding, given how high profile it is and how seriously Takada's security is taken - as Rester said, it's almost impossible to get close to her, and with her practically impenetrable layers of ultra aggressive bodyguards she's better guarded than the American President.
It's interesting given these circumstances that she seems to remain regularly in touch with Mello. During the silent scenes in chapter 97 there's a very interesting section that shows:
1) Takada's fleet of guard vehicles, and prominently at the front of which is a large two-seater motorcycle.
2) Mello observing Halle and Takada from afar, in fact it seems the location the binoculars are watching from is located in a room INSIDE the NHN building, the headquarters of where Takada works.
3) a panel where Halle's shown on the phone (presumably given the context) with Mello telling him the details of Takada's schedule/planner book. Meanwhile Takada is sitting a few feet away and distractedly talking to someone else. This is interesting because we know, as Rester said, Halle's phone records are monitored. So here either she's very brazenly using a different unauthorized phone right in front of her employer and the other guards, or she's on her work phone calling an "approved" number. On the other hand it wouldn't necessarily be weird for her to be providing Takada's calendar details and movements to other members of her guard so they can coordinate schedules.
4) The last panels in this short series, shows a non-descript apartment building and Halle on the phone again - this time showing, as we will come to realize in the chapter 104 flashback, the final conversation between her and Mello - the one where she tells him Near's planning to end the case, and he replies "I have no choice but to do this."
Ok now skipping to Chapter 98, Mello and Matt's heist.
So January 26th the scene starts out with a shot of Takada's guard fleet, again the motorcycle prominently at the front.
As Takada's steps out of her car outside the NHN building, Matt blows in with his smokebomb gun causing a huge commotion. As the bodyguards are about to usher her inside, suddenly Mello is there on the same type of motorcycle we saw riding with her fleet in the earlier panels. He says it's too dangerous to stick around the area and to go with him. Halle recognizes him and agrees and encourages Takada to get on the motorbike. She also tells the rest of the team "A" to escort the bike and team "B" to go after the car. It's very unclear in canon just how much Halle knew about this plan beforehand (if anything even), but it is somewhat surprising to me how immediately she decided to go along with him, despite knowing that whatever he had in store for Takada it wasn't truly to help her, and that by giving Takada to Mello this would probably ruin Near's plan. Though again how much she even knew about the details of Near's plan is also unknown - I don't think she knows everything given she is being intentionally kept at arms length from them so that she can't be controlled by Kira against them.
I also think it's interesting that the army of highly trained and very serious guards would allow some unknown person to get so close to begin with - even if he's sort of disguised (but not really because his face is visible through the helmet's visor) and has the same style bike, you would think they'd still be able to tell a stranger from one of their own? Like when Mello calls out offering to take her away to safety none of the bodyguards seem put off by him being there. And don't seem to have raised flags about there being a bike that's not part of their typical cohort being among them. Though their defenses being down (counterintuitively - they were focused on the wrong thing) absolutely might just be tied in to the overall confusion and chaos at the scene though.
So Takada gets on the bike, then they (Mello + Takada plus her guards' cars) start driving away in formation together and everyone seems satisfied. And once they are away from the scene, instructions come from one of the guards who says "Ok she's safe now. Get Lady Takada into car 7"......so this is interesting because,
1) he is addressing Mello directly...remember Mello is on a motorcyle (which is very loud) and the speaker is in a car....so logic dictates he must be using a radio/speaker system to be able to communicate with the other guards, and he obviously expects the motorcycle to hear the command.
2) Saying "get her into car 7" is in-group specific language that implies Mello should know which car is number 7 and what is the process to "get her into it". Of course, we don't know that he just *expects* Mello to be connected to their communication system and doesn't realize if he isn't and therefore doesn't hear the order/communication. Nonetheless the guard leader/speaker *thinks* he is.
At this point, when the guards cars think she is safe, Mello suddenly cuts away into a narrow alley and only then do the bodyguards realize she's been kidnapped.
So, basically that concludes my argument for why this theory is...possible? I'm well aware there's a number of issues with it that are unaddressed here, like wouldn't the other guards think it's odd that there's a foreigner amongst them? But interestingly I wonder if her circle of protection is more diverse than one might assume and include Kira-worshippers from around the world? Since Takada's own closest guards are not all Japanese - Halle being the obvious example, the same might be true for the more distant members of her guard complement as well. And Halle, as Takada's most trusted bodyguard may have been able to vouch for him to join the crew, or at least hook him up with equipment intended for insiders-only to be able to penetrate their ranks. With Mello's good social skills and fluency in Japanese it wouldn't be surprising if he could pull it off, especially if Halle helped him.
Another flaw is wouldn't Mello be concerned about Takada herself seeing his face and recognizing him? Since he must assume since the Japanese Task Force members know his face they'd be able to describe him to a sketch artist or something. To this I just propose that Takada has an extremely large staff of security, so there's likely ones just in the background that she doesn't interact with much or at all. And she is rather...how did Near put it - "a wannabe queen" - she probably doesn't take the time to get to know or even notice who the lesser members of her security team are, and it'd probably be easy to avoid being in close proximity to her if one wanted.
Is it more likely that Mello didn't go that extreme extent and instead just infiltrated the guard in the regular way; by observing them, getting to know their movements via Halle, and then getting the same model of bike to take advantage of the chaotic situation he and Matt created and slip in to whisk away Takada in the confusion? Yes probably.
But I found these details captivating and love overthinking and cooking up a good weirdo (but defensible within canon material) theory. I'd love anyone else's comments -criticism welcome too, I have a thick skin- on this idea.
Despite It All; AU in which they are NOT soulmates, though are in a soulmate universe, but decide to stay together anyways.
Fandom: Septimus Heap
Pairing: Simon Heap and Lucy Gringe
A/N: I wrote this in 45 minutes and honestly I’ve never felt so accomplished.
Modern AU
Never Forget
Simon walked through the hallways of the apartment complex him and his family lived in. Today was a very important day for him; he was going to tell his parents about his girlfriend, Lucy Gringe. Simon already knew that it was going to end poorly. Not only did his father, Silas, not approve of the Gringe family in the slightest, but there was the clear fact that Simon and Lucy were not Destined.
Simon had met his Destined partner a few years previous, and he had already explained his feelings and intentions to them. He did not love his soulmate. Such statements would be received negatively, but Simon didn’t care. His love was Lucy Gringe. No matter how he thought about it, he would only ever love her. He loved her strong, determined attitude. How she would never take ‘no’ for an answer. He loved her long brown hair that she always kept in two tight braids. He loved her chestnut eyes and how they shined when she got excited.
There was no other option. Simon had to stay with her, even if it meant leaving his family.
Lucy made her journey home with purpose. The long walk to the edge of town gave her a lot of time to rehearse what she planned to tell her parents that evening. She was in love with Simon Heap. It was obvious to her that she could be with no one else. But, she knew that her confession would be met with hostility.
He’s a worthless Heap! Her father would say. I’ll never allow someone like that to be with my Lucy! But Lucy didn’t care. She didn’t care if her father hated him. She didn’t care if he didn’t have a lot of money. And she definitely didn’t care if he wasn’t her soulmate. Clearly it was a mistake that they weren’t soulmates anyway. She loved him, and she refused to let anyone keep her from showing that love.
They both reached their respective homes and prepared themselves for the night ahead. Plans had already been made to meet up that night to discuss the reactions. So, with boldness and a bit of anxiety, they both entered their homes.
Simon sat alone at a diner, taking occasional sips from the coffee in front of him. It was nearly one in the morning, which was the arranged meeting time. The diner he sat in was open 24 hours and was always packed, thus no suspicion arose with him sitting by himself so late. He sat silently, thinking over what had happened once he had gotten home and told his parents.
“A Gringe?!” his father, Silas, had yelled, “Are you mad?!”
“No, Dad, I love her,” Simon had said while trying to remain calm.
“She’s not even Destined for you! Why would you ever want to be with a Gringe?! They’re a horrible lot,” Silas had continued.
“Lucy isn’t like her father, Dad,” Simon replied, his fist clenched and shaking.
“Silas, honey, do calm down a bit. There’s no need to shout. The kids are trying to eat in the other room,” Sarah said softly, putting a hand on Silas’ shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Sarah. It’s just I don’t want my son to waste his life with some disgusting Gringe,” Silas spat, crossing his arms. That was the final straw for Simon.
“She isn’t disgusting! She isn’t horrible! Lucy is wonderful and strong and beautiful! I won’t just sit here and let you call her those things! How dare you?!” Simon roared, standing, unable to contain his anger. His outburst clearly sparked something in Silas.
“Don’t speak to me like that, Simon! I am your father! And no matter what you say, it won’t change two things: she’s a Gringe and she isn’t Destined for you! I won’t allow you to chance after someone that isn’t right for you! Am I clear?!” Silas had yelled.
“Transparently,” Simon said bitterly before leaving the room. He left the apartment soon afterwards, taking as many of his personal belongings as he could fit into his backpack.
Simon glanced at the bag at his feet. Within it was his phone, charger, some clothes, books, and all the money he had. He sighed deeply and took another sip of his coffee.
“I’m not late am I?” Simon heard a feminine voice say. He instantly opened his eyes and looked up at Lucy. She had visible tear stains and held a backpack of her own.
“Not at all, Luce. I’m guessing it didn’t end well?” Simon asked, gesturing to her backpack.
“No, it didn’t. I can see yours went similarly,” Lucy said while sitting down across from Simon.
“How did you parents react?” he asked carefully, hoping it wasn’t too bad.
“Dad started yelling, Mom started crying then yelling. About what I expected actually... Didn’t stop me from hoping they’d take it better,” she replied while rubbing away a stray tear.
“I know, Luce,” Simon said while reaching out and gingerly grabbing one of her hands, “I’m sorry that this had to happen. I wish it didn’t, but it was going to sooner or later..”
“Don’t apologize, Si. We prepared for this. Your aunt knows, right?” she asked.
“Ya, Aunt Zelda said we could stay with her a little while, if needed. She has a spare room. Obviously there’d be a few rules, but we could go there until we have a full plan,” he reassured her.
“Alright. We’ll leave in the morning on the ferry to the Port then travel to her house. Sound like a plan?” she said.
“Definitely, but for now, want to get something to eat? I didn’t get dinner.” Simon offered with a small smile.
“I’d like that, Si. I didn’t either,” Lucy agreed, returning the smile.
They spent most of the early morning hours together, planning and enjoying each others’ company. It didn’t matter if their parents didn’t approve of them. They were staying together, and when they were together, they were happy. And that’s all that mattered to them.
“Simon?” Lucy said as they rode the early morning barge to the Port.
“Yes, Lucy?” he replied quickly.
“I love you, and I always will.”
“I love you too. Never forget that.” he said softly before giving her a small kiss.
