[Mello taps the knife against the side of his leg, agitated. The only thing worse than making this mistake in the first place is needing to explain it - to Near, of all people.]

What I was thinking, Near? What am I always thinking about? How to be better. You know that better than anyone.

[And that single driving factor is who he is, what motivates his actions. It's a part of him so deeply embedded it cannot be excised.

And it's a significant part of what makes him dangerous.]

It sensed that about me, Near - that's how it got to me. It knew what I wanted, and it convinced me that it could give me what I wanted, and that's - that's not something I can turn off.

[He's always considered it a strength, his drive to succeed. Only now is he beginning to see it as a weakness, and that feels to Mello like failing twice over. He shakes his head, disgusted with himself, and turns back to collecting his belongings from the desk.]

I can't stay here.