Disclaimer: If I owned Death Note… well, that's a very long rant that I won't share with you now. Suffice to say Mello and L would be alive, and L and Misa would realized their love for each other, Mello would be named his successor, and Near would spend the rest of his life as a hermit with only his toys for company. Seeing as none of these (except debatably the "Near-hermit" part) actually happened, no, I don't own Death Note.

Wammy reunion

"Where are we going, Matt?" the sixteen-year-old blond griped as he stomped his way through an almost marsh-like patch of grass.

"Stop moaning, Mello." Matt snapped, brushing another tree branch aside. Why did he choose such a dismal location as this for the meeting place? Oh yeah, because no one else would be there.

Matt sighed as his friend let out a yelp as the branch he pushed out of his way rebounded and smacked him in the face.

"Matt, why are we doing this?!" Mello yelled, stopping in his tracks. Matt stopped as well and glanced over his shoulder.

"You just called me up out of nowhere and told me we had to catch up for old-times sake. I don't see why we couldn't have done that somewhere else… why couldn't we have just stayed at my headquarters?"

"Mello, your 'headquarters' is the cheapest apartment you could find that would let a parent-less boy stay there by himself. Besides, you've kept yourself cooped up there too long anyway. You never used to be so antisocial like this." Matt started walking again, confident Mello would follow.

Indeed, Mello let out a soft sigh before dully falling into step behind his friend. "It's… complicated."

"Mmhmm."

"Well, let's face it, Matt— I have no idea what to do now. I've spent the past few years doing all I can to gather information on Kira and start a life for myself. But I don't have enough money, connections or men to really start investigating. The two options my thoughts keep leading to are either engaging in criminal activity to get what I need, or to join up with Near."

"And, of course, you'd choose criminal activity any day."

"Of course."

"Oh, here we are!" Matt announced a bit too loudly as he came in sight of the old brown gazebo.

Mello's head snapped up and he surveyed the structure. It was nice enough, the wood was a bit worn but the ivy trailing over the wooden railing was a nice…

The boy froze as his eyes latched onto a figure squatting on the gazebo's planked floor. A figure with spotless white hair and clothes, fiddling with an equally spotless puzzle.

Mello's jaw dropped open as he stared at the boy. In a few moment the final piece of the puzzle clacked into place, and the white child raised his head with a slight smile.

"Hello, Mello."

Mello's mouth moved up and down a few times, trying to grasp some fleeting sound, when he suddenly regained his voice and screeched out a name.

"Near?!"

"Matt, why's Near here?!" Mello demanded, arm waving wildly at the seated boy, who had by this point overturned his puzzle and started working on it again.

"S-sorry!" Matt placated, waving his arms in a gesture of surrender or self-protection. "I-I thought…"

"You know how much he annoys me, Matt! And now you've…"

"I'm sorry, I just thought it'd be nice if we could all meet up again!"

Mello's rant stopped short as he stared blankly at his friend.

"Ex… cuse me?"

Matt let out a heavy breath. "We haven't seen each other since L… since Mello left Wammys. Being the top three successors of L, we used to see each other a lot and I thought… well, I missed you guys and thought maybe you two did too. But I guess I was wrong so never mind."

All was silent in the misty forest atmosphere as Mello and Matt locked gazes, the only sound the soft click of Near's puzzle re-forming under his command.

"Matt… fine." Mello sighed, flopping onto the wooden floor. "I guess you did say this was for catching up… just didn't say it'd involve Near too."

Matt smiled slightly, walking onto the gazebo's platform and slid to the floor, leaning against the railing.

"But no video games." Mello snapped, snatching the game Matt had just flicked on out of the boy's hands. "This was your idea so you're going to participate in all of it."

"Fine, fine." Matt let out a melodramatic sigh, but smiled. It had been almost two years since they had seen each other, and that was a long time to be without your only two friends in the world.

"You know," Mello frowned, "you shouldn't be working on that puzzle either, Near. I'm assuming you knew what was going to happen so you should participate as well!"

Near's only response was a small smirk as he flipped the puzzle over, letting the pieces fall out. He placed one of the corner pieces in.

"That's it!" Mello snarled, leaping up and grabbing Near around the collar.

Three minutes around Near and he's resorting to violence… Mello's patience must have improved. Matt thought wryly, deciding against moving. He was sure it would sort it out itself soon enough.

"Why do you always have to act so superior around me?! If L hadn't died first, you know he would have named me his successor!"

"Yes, L would definitely choose an over-emotional—"

"Hey, guys, guys, stop it." Matt said hesitantly. Near usually didn't respond to Mello's rants, so maybe he should intervene. "Besides, as I see it, debating over who is L's successor isn't really necessary. We're all L."

Near and Mello turned towards the other boy and blinked.

"…How'd you figure that?" Mello asked in a subdued tone.

"Well," Matt leaned back and grinned. "Now that L's gone, the three of us are the top three detectives in the world. In other words— L."

Mello shook his head. "If you were trying to make a joke, Matt, that was a pretty poor one. Not to mention—"

"That's not very logical, Matt." Near interrupted smoothly. "Besides, while the two of us are detectives, you are more of a…"

"Sidekick." Mello said, at the same time Near finished with "hacker."

Matt folded his arms over his chest and fake-pouted.

"You two are the worst friends a guy could have, you know that, right?"

Mello snickered. "Just your luck, huh, Matt?"

"Yup."

The silence reigned once more as Mello sat down again, and Near gathered up the puzzle pieces, setting them on the frame and putting it to the side.

"So, Mello, Matt, how have your investigations of Kira gone so far?"

"W-well, I… I'm doing just fine!" Mello got out, wondering if Near had heard his and Matt's conversation earlier.

"I see." Near said softly, resting his head on his knee, a hand reaching for his puzzle before he forced it back to his side. "I have been doing fairly well by myself, but due to the increased severity of Kira's movement and number of Kira-supporters, I will need more resources before I have much hope of bringing him to justice."

Mello blinked. How come Near was in the same state he was in, but managed to make it seem like everything was under control?

"What about you, Matt?"

"Yeah, Matt," Mello added to Near's question. "I haven't heard much of what you've done these past two years."

"Well," Matt got out, rubbing the back of his head casually. "I've stayed at Wammys for a bit more training, then… well, I guess I assumed I'd join up with one of you eventually."

"So… what you're saying is you haven't really done anything."

"You guys know I'm not good at taking initiative. Besides, this Kira-chasing is dangerous work. It's very likely we all might die in the end, so I figured I might as well lay low until one of you could use my help, so I wouldn't just throw my life away. I know I'm not as good at this stuff as you two are."

Mello bit his lip. He knew it was likely he'd die while trying to stop Kira, but he had tried not to think about it…

"Mello." Near said quietly, drawing the blond's attention to him.

"I promise, if you die in the attempt to catch Kira and I am undisputed as L, I will eat chocolate in homage of you."

Mello's eyes narrowed, then he relaxed and sneered.

"And if you die, Near, I'll laugh in your dead face. And burn your toys." He added as an afterthought.

For the first time in his life, Mello saw an expression on Near's face that was one other than superiority or emotionlessness.

"…Mello, you are very cruel." He mumbled under his breath. Mello caught the words and laughed out loud.

"Yeah, I am. But you guys wouldn't want me any other way."

Near and Matt exchanged glances, then smiled lightly.

"You're right Mello. We wouldn't want it any other way."

Author's notes: my first Death Note fic! ^^ I have several more ideas upcoming (although they're mostly LXMisa, there are a few Mello-centric ones I have planned) so... yup! Hope you enjoyed!