Okay so GIANT AN!

So I recently stumbled upon my story called 'On the Run', I wrote it when I was about 16. I just found it recently and, well, I feel a little sad that I never finished it, but life happened. I had a lot going on, I was trying to get into college etc.. and writing just wasn't a priority anymore. I lost all the details to my old account so i made this one to hopefully somehow compensate.

I OWN NOTHING.

A week passed since the raid of their previous hideout. Everyone was settling down in the new one although this place was much more...impoverished in comparison to the last. There was no proper ventilation, no running water and worst of all: no functioning toilet, which means everyone had to do their business into buckets.

Mello had been unusually quiet the entire week, barely lifting his head from the laptop and I decided not to bother him. I myself had a very broken spirit, and shut myself out from everybody, barely opening my mouth. I knew Near knew what happened, and who was truly responsible for the SPK members deaths, which means he doesn't want anything to do with me even if I managed to escape the Mafia.

Speaking of the Mafia, they became crueller to me too, barking orders at me and pushing me around which means I was becoming useless to them, now that I wasn't a potential mole. So much for "we need you" Rod started to drink more and would often have... trophies over, while the morale of everyone else spiralled down. Everyone other than Mello that is. He seemed more determined than ever to get a lead on the case. I don't know whether I admired that or found it was strange, after all we had been running dry on new information and I began to become more and more paranoid about another raid. Regarding anything I've previously felt for Mello, or thought I felt – I decided not to fill my head with it, because it was greatly impairing my judgement and ability to think. I now had a new agenda, I needed to escape the mafia before they kill me, or worse, before Kira finds us.

I wandered around the halls of the new hideout aimlessly, thinking, planning. This wasn't going to be easy. Suddenly I passed by Mello's new "room" if you could even call it that. Ever since we the raid, we lost most of our 'goods' which means the financial situation has been tough considering now everyone also had to worry about staying out of Kira's radar.

I looked at the door... we barely spoke the entire week. We never had been friends, but he was the only one in the entire place who I could somewhat relate to. Maybe it's because he was my age, or maybe it's because admittedly I've become rather attached to him during my time with the mafia, something I could tell was not reciprocated. Should I knock? Does he even want to talk to me? But before I could even begin to think of an answer, the door flew open, the golden haired boy in his tight leather attire lingering the doorway. 'Beth? What are you doing starring at my door?' he smirked.

'I wasn't! I mean... I WAS, but I was just uhm... lost in thought I guess?'

'Right' he laughed, pushing past me.

'Listen, Mello' I began. I wasn't myself sure where I was going with this but, nevertheless I couldn't leave without saying goodbye.

'I'm busy right now.' He waved me off without turning around.

'I-I want to leave' I coughed out. That made him stop, but he didn't turn around.

In his coldest voice he said 'what.' It wasn't a question, more of a pissed off statement.

'Well, I mean... look, you don't need me here anymore. All I do now is petty jobs, I cant provide you with helpful information and I doubt the SPK would have my back if anything was to happen to me here. Look, I know you have little regard for my life but, out of everyone here, I-'

'You want me to help you to escape.' He finished for me.

'well... help is a strong word...' I considered.

He finally turned around and walked towards me, stopping only inches away from me. 'I figured this might happen,' he sighed looking to the side 'look, you're not wrong in saying I have little concern as to what will happen to you,' just for a moment I saw something shining in his eyes, something telling me that wasn't true. Or maybe that's just what I wanted it to be. 'but I'm also not as inhumane as you think. You feel under threat here now that the SPK will no longer defend you if someone was to...' he trailed off.

'Yeah.'

'Alright. Naturally you should understand that I can't directly help you, because you're still a hostage of ours. Helping you escape and spread information about the mafia which could end up going to Kira is far too dangerous for us, but I don't think you're going to say anything. Nevertheless I cant stop you either. I will turn a blind eye to whatever you decide to do. But if you get caught-it's your funeral.' He turned back around and started walking in the other direction.

'I'm just tired of peeing in a bucket!' I called after him, which resulted in an awkward laugh from both of us.

I need you. I need you. I-

His words from a week ago echoed in my head. Why did he say that? It planted false hope in my head, that maybe he actually liked me. Maybe not in a romantic way- but as a person. Why was he so easily prepared to never see me again? Was I prepared to never see him again?

The question bothered me for the rest of the day, as I was planning my escape.

General POV:

'Near, what's the plan now...' Gevanni asked the white haired boy who was crouched beside a pile of Legos, at which he was starring intently. There was a great deal on his mind. Was Beth the one who...

'Regarding what?' he emotionlessly sighed.

'The girl, Near. No disrespect, but how could you allow this incompetent bitch possibly handle such an important mission?' he spat at the mention of Beth.

'My dear Gevanni there's no need for the harsh words. Even if Beth was the one who gave our names to the mafia, she was most likely in a position where she couldn't refuse.' He answerred, nonchalantly.

Gevannis face heated up with rage 'How can you dismiss this so easily? If she gave our names out, shouldn't we arrest her along with the other mafiosi? Hell, I wouldn't even be opposed of making her real name publically available, if you know what I mean.'

'Please get a hold of yourself. Truth is, even if I wasn't completely against the idea, I wouldn't know her real name. No one does, as soon as you enter Wammy's, you're given a new identity and your old one is basically erased. And to answer your earlier question, I don't think there's anything TO do. We need to focus our attention purely on the investigation. Chances are, Beth wont make it out of that base alive..' he looked down and sighed. He knew it's not likely he would see her again but he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

How could Near make such a big error when hiring her? Then again, there's no proof there wasn't a spy in the SPK all along that gave the mafia our names. Halle thought to herself.

It was the dead of night. It's time. I didn't know how I would survive outside of the hideout, where I would go, how I would feed myself but I knew I couldn't live here anymore.

I snuck out of my poor excuse for a bedroom, a backpack with a change of clothes a few tins of food and some of my other belongings and as silently as I could as I could made my way down the long hallway. This was mot going to be easy, but at least I was under less surveillance from the mafia now. There was a small light coming from the main room. I crouched near the wall, before the entrance to the place and peeked my head around the corner.

Mello sat upright, typing away on his laptop, with the light from it the only thing illuminating the room. Damn did he ever sleep?

I relaxed a little and calmly walked into the room. After all he agreed to turn a blind eye to what I was doing. 'you're awake I see...' I whispered to him and got no reply. 'I'm leaving'

He stopped typing for a moment and looked up at me 'Oh' he looked emotionless. Uncaring.

'Thank you.'

'For?' he raised an eyebrow at me.

I shrugged 'tolerating me I guess, and not putting a bullet trough my skull'

A cheeky smile spread across his face and he chuckled to himself 'Hey, it was pretty hard at times.' He set his laptop aside and walked over to me. 'this is probably crazy...' he suddenly paused and looked away from me, an expression of embarrassment on his face.

'well, you're a crazy dude'

'Don't take this the wrong way.' He continued, rolling his eyes.

'Take what the wrong-'

'I want you to have this' he cut me off, taking the rosary I had seen before on his nightstand out and sheepishly handing it to me. 'Think of it as something to remember me by'

'Mello, I don't know what to say... why are you giving me this?' I looked down at the gorgeous item in my hand. This was definitely unexpected.

'I guess this is my way of saying sorry.' He returned back to the couch, and placed the laptop back on his lap concentrating on the screen again.

'Sorry?' I was beyond confused.

Without taking his focus off the laptop screen, he stated 'For being a bit of a dick to you. Plus you seemed to really like it when you saw it on my nightstand.'

I was taken aback. This was weird. What was he talking about? He was confusing me further, did he like me? Did he hate me? Was I ever going to find out? Would he ever tell me? A minute of silence passed, and neither of us had anything else we could say. I was confused and tired and I felt a surge of feelings rush back from the place I previously locked them away. I stopped myself and pushed them right back in there again. I had to leave. If I allowed myself to feel anything for him, I knew I wouldn't be able to.

'So I guess this is goodbye.'

'I guess. Although...' he took a chocolate bar out of his pocket and quietly unwrapped it. ' Somehow' he took a bite and with his mouth full said 'I feel we will cross paths again.'

He then, with a click of a few buttons, turned off the base not-so-high-tech security system as I made my way out.

2nd part:

Another week passed. I used up the tins I took with me and resorted to begging to earn some money for food. It wasn't the most glamorous of lifestyles, but it made me feel safer than I felt in the base. I began slowly moving east, trying to make my way back to New York. I knew this could take a while, but I figured if I could make it back to my apartment without being detected by the remaining SPK members, I can see if there's anyone I could contact. The chances were slim, but maybe Linda, or someone else I had known in Wammy's would be willing to help me rise back to my feet, start over. And maybe in time, I could go after Kira myself.

I hitched rides with decent looking strangers, collected money for bus rides between cities, slept on the streets and ate one meal a day, and lived in constant paranoia of the mafia tracking me although part of me thought that they would've caught me already if they wanted to. It surprised me a great deal that they hadn't gone after me, after all, I knew their location, their faces, their information... it was definitely odd, but worked out in my favour as I was able to move further and further from LA, all the memories I made there left behind.

I still had Mellos rosary, which I wore under my shirt. Getting distance from him was probably a good thing too, there's no way anything could ever happen between us. Of coarse I wondered how he was... I wondered how Near was. I wondered if he thought I was dead...But I could never face Near again, and I doubted I would face Mello again.