Pathos
 an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response.

Ethos
 an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader.

Logos
 an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason.

Pathos, Ethos and Logos: 'The Case of the Lost Chocolate'

It's been a week since L returned to Wammy House with Watari from his travel across the north sea to Belgium for a case that needed his attention. Although no other crime happened that was big enough to catch his interest, he still worked on some smaller ones while staying at the one place he could call his home.

L pushed himself away from the computer screen on the desk in front of him and allowed himself to stretch his strained muscles. He sighed, pleased that he managed to solve the third case of that day and it wasn't even time for afternoon tea.

His dark eyes with hidden grey specks widened slightly when a thought came to his mind by thinking of afternoon tea. It was a week since he left Belgium and he still hadn't eaten a piece of the special bars of Belgian chocolate he brought with him back to England. Yes, bars as in more than one. Why only bring one if he could afford multiple?

His hand went almost automatically to one of his desk drawers, where he put them days ago. That way there wasn't a need to call Watari every time he wanted a piece… or a whole bar.

L frowned when his hand found nothing but a empty drawer. He turned to look at the place where he most definitely put all his Belgian chocolate, but none was to be found.

Did I already eat all of them? He wondered. Immediately that thought was discarded since the likelihood of him forgetting such thing was less than 2,3 percent. No, he was sure he didn't get to eat any of it yet.

Possibilities ran through his mind of where the chocolate might be. If he didn't eat them, someone must've stolen the bars from his drawer. His office was strictly forbidden to enter for Wammy's students, unless permission was given by L. So far no one had any permission to enter his office.

Of course, because this was his office, it wasn't an easy task to steal it away without getting noticed. L barely slept, and was almost always present sitting at his desk. Watari brought him his sugary snacks and tea, so only for the few bathroom breaks there wasn't an opening to sneak into his office.

Of course, every student at Wammy's was considered a genius, but they still wouldn't have the skills or the courage to steal his sweets. On the other hand one of his top students…

Mello.

His second successor had enough courage to try something like this, and his love for chocolate was big enough to maybe even kill a person for it. L hoped it would never come to that though.

Not wanting to waste any more time, L jumped off his seat and went to the room of Mello, and his roommate and friend, Matt. He politely knocked on the door until he hear someone call 'who is it?'.

L opened the door and peeked into the room. Both Mello and Matt were present. Matt lying on his bed playing a game on his Nitendo DS, and Mello sitting at his desk clearly studying seen all the books that covered the desk. Their eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the detective. L supposed it was a normal reaction one would have. He normally didn't visit the rooms of the students.

Matt blinked and said: 'That's certainly the last person I suspected.' He didn't finish his sentence and his eyes were already concentrated on his game device.

Mello had still his attention on him, turned away from his books. 'What is the reason you came here, L?' His eyes widened and he gasped. 'Are you here to ask me to help with a case?'

'Hmm, not exactly… but you can call it a case since it's something I have to solve,' L replied thoughtfully.

Mello jumped up from his chair and stood in a second in front of the detective. 'What do you have to solve? Can I help?'

'Well, I was in my office when I noticed something was missing…' L explained. 'After thinking through the possible theories of how, when and who…' His gaze lingered when he caught Mello's blue eyes. He could see that the boy had already figured out what was the real reason of his visit.

'You think I took something?!' Mello exclaimed. 'What the hell is missing that you think I would steal from your office?'

He seemed generously not to know about what was missing, but you never know… Mello was being trained to be a detective, thus a good liar as well.

'When I returned a week ago from Belgium I brought a whole stack of Belgian chocolate with me.' He shot Mello a well-knowing glance. 'I don't have to explain why I suspect you the most when it had vanished in to thin air, do I?'

Mello gaped at him in bewilderment as Matt, who had heard the conversation, laughed out loud.

'I- I, but… I never have done something bad to you! How could you just suspect me only because I like chocolate too! It's unfair of you…' he spoke like his best friend had just shot him. 'Do you really think that lowly of me?!'

L sighed tiredly. He had expected for Mello to react emotionally, but it still made him feel guilty for some reason. Mello really looked up to him, like an idol.

'I understand I am acting unfairly towards you, but you also have to realize I had no other clue to start,' L explained. 'As a detective there'll be cases where you don't have many clues, so you have to investigate those you did found.'

Mello nodded, but was still slightly upset. 'I understand…'

He turned his head to Matt who was still quietly snickering at the whole happening before him. Mello's eye twitched in irritation.

He pointed at his friend. 'Then what about him? His continuously laughing about this! Maybe he's amused I got caught for his crimes!'

The snickering stopped instantly while Matt looked incredulously at the blond. 'Do you hear yourself? Why would I steal a whole stack of chocolate bars? I don't even like sweets that much… I'd rather have pizza or something.'

L knew Matt didn't care for a lot of things. Most of the time he had only attention for his games and nothing else. It was because of his intelligence he was third in becoming his successor, not because of his motivation.

'No Mello, I don't think Matt has anything to do with this case.'

Mello was just about to throw, most likely, a temper tantrum when a small boy came to stand into the doorway. With his white hair, white pyjamas and pale skin it was not all too difficult to recognize this boy.

'What do you want!' Mello snapped, aiming his irritation on the newcomer.

Near didn't react on his unfriendly words. 'I had to announce to you and Matt that our private lessons are moved to tomorrow morning instead of this evening,' he announced.

As the top three students of Wammy's, they had special lessons on an even higher level than the normal lessons were. L had personally suggested the lessons to keep their brains active.

'Great!' Mello exclaimed. 'So I studied this afternoon for nothing, since I have until tomorrow! It's for the best probably, because my room will be examined anyway…' he glared at L.

Near saw the glare Mello shot at L and at that point he made notice of the detective. 'L, may I ask why you are here to examine Mello's room?'

'That's not your business!'

'I discovered that many chocolate bars I brought from Belgium vanished from my office,' L answered, ignoring Mello. 'Do you have an idea where they might be?' The hidden meaning of his question clearly heard.

'I had no knowledgeyou had any chocolate in your office,' Near stated. 'Therefore it's impossible for me to have stolen it, since there was no way I could've known you had it in the first place.'

L nodded, not suspecting Near in the least. 'Of course.'

'Well, I didn't know too!' Mello said.

The detective nibbled on his thumb, unsure what to do next. Examining Mello's room would anger the boy only more and L was beginning to doubt if Mello really had stolen his chocolate since there was no way he would've know about it.

'L, there you are!' Watari entered the room. 'I looked for you everywhere. There's this new case I think you…' he stopped speaking when the room's atmosphere hit him. 'What are you doing here exactly?' he asked curiously.

'I noticed the chocolate bars from Belgium disappeared, so I was investigating on where they might be,' L explained to his mentor.

Watari shook his head and chuckled. 'Oh, L. In that case you're investigating the wrong people.' His gaze went over the three boys in the room. 'Because I am the one who took your chocolate away.'

Matt started laughing again and Mello crossed his arms in a see-I-had-nothing-to-do-with-it-you-were-wrong way. Near just watched with slight interest in the situation.

'You… but why…' L couldn't understand why Watari was the one behind his lost chocolate.

'L, I know you hid the chocolate in the drawer of your desk so you could take one whenever you wanted without having to ask me. Knowing you it wouldn't take long to eat it all in one sitting, so I took precaution and hid it myself. I'm fine with your sugary diet when you're working on difficult cases, but otherwise you won't need that much sugar for your brain to function. You're not that young anymore, it's unhealthy.'

Mello and Matt chuckled when L hang his head and could do not much but give into his mentor. He might be the greatest detective in the whole world, but Watari was the only one with authority above L.

'Well,' Watari said. 'I'd say this case is closed. If you'd follow me to your office, I'll show you the new case I was talking about earlier.'

L did what the old man said and so he was on his way back to his office, leaving the boys behind. He made a note to himself to offer Mello a bar of his Belgian chocolate to make up for his wrongdoings…

… and take one or four chocolate bars for himself as well.

So I was studying about the terms pathos, ethos and logos and suddenly this story popped up in my head. Now I lost three hours, but writing this was worth it. I'm happy how it turned out since it was just a spontanous story. I hope you enjoyed as well! Let me know~

Can you figure out who of the three boys is pathos, ethos and logos? :)