This is my first ever fanfic, so please be gentle with your criticism. I do not own Death Note. If I did, this wouldn't be a fanfic. ...I wish I owned Death Note. Then L wouldn't have had to die.


Third

Loss

In everything we do, we are ranked. Whether it be a test of strength, stamina, or intellect, we are compared to others. If you're in first place, that means you are a winner, and everyone will look up to you. If you are second, you're not quite there, but you have people urging you on because you are so close. If you're third, well, no one really gives a flying monkey toss. There's really nothing exceptional about being in third. You may as well be forth, fifth, or sixty-eighth. You're close, but not close enough, even when you're the one who started the game.

Near waved his hand slowly in front of Hope's face, twirling his white hair with his other hand. Hope blinked and snapped out of her daze. "You were the one who said you wanted to do this," Near pointed out dully.

"I-I do!" Hope stuttered, slightly embarrassed. She looked down at the blank puzzle. How could Near do this so easily? He had at least thirteen completely white puzzles. Each one was actually different, but no one could tell. She fiddled with a couple of pieces, but there really was no logical way of trying to figure it out. "Sorry," she muttered and shuffled back.

"You do better with things that genuinely take all your focus," Near pointed out, continuing the puzzle for her. "A puzzle like this allows too many distractions."

Hope shrugged. She wasn't sure if Near was mocking her or not, but he was right. She picked up her notebook and went back to her sketches. This was something she could usually lose herself in.

The news was broadcasting on the TV across the room, reporting more of Kira's killings. Hope couldn't help glancing up for a moment before throwing herself back into her drawings.

"Do you worry about him?" Near asked quietly, not turning away from his little game. Hope didn't answer. That was probably what she liked most about Near. He would accept her silence, not hounding her for an answer. She saw him as a friend, though they rarely actually spoke to one another. They didn't need to.

"Mello," came a voice. Everyone in the room except Near looked up at the bespectacled Roger in the doorway as he grabbed a blonde boy running past. " and Near, please come to my office.

Near piled all the puzzle pieces on the board and took it with him, shuffling across the floor as if he was still half-asleep. Hope clipped her pen onto the spine of her notebook and followed him into the hall. He went left. She went right.

Near and Mello were always the ones Roger needed to talk to. They weren't in trouble or anything. No, quite the opposite. Wammy's house wasn't just an orphanage. It's true purpose was to find a worthy successor to the great detective known as L, a man Hope felt fortunate to have met. Near and Mello were always neck and neck for this title, but Mello always fell just that little bit short of Near. L was bound to choose Near to take over some day. However, L did have a tendency to surprise people.

What about Hope? Well, she was third. Smarter and more capable for the task of being L than the average student, but not quite enough to be recognised for it.

Once she figured that it was safe, Hope padded back the way she had come. She quietly bounded down the hall and silently opened the door to Roger's office just a crack to peer inside. Near and Mello may have been the only ones invited to these meetings, but Hope always made herself present in some form. She liked to stay informed.

Near was sitting on the floor with one leg out to the side and the other tucked under his chin, concentrating on his puzzle. Mello stood in the middle of the room, obviously only there because he was forced to. Roger sat behind his desk. He didn't say anything, he just sat there with an anxious look of anticipation on his face.

Roger didn't always necessarily get right to the point. Sometimes he didn't say a word for a few minutes, almost as if he was waiting for something else to happen first.

"L is dead."

Hope's chest tightened, and she gasped for air. She quickly pulled the door shut. She could still hear Mello questioning the situation loudly. He couldn't believe it either. Hope trembled and felt as if she might pass out. She leaned up against the wall and slid down to the floor. How could it be true? How could L... be dead?


The young boy scuffed along in the rain with his black umbrella. He watched his feet instead of where he was going, but he could see his comrade's feet splashing through the puddles beside his, so he knew he was still going the right way. Through the raindrops pounding on the footpath, he heard someone crying. He stopped dead and looked up. He couldn't see anything.

"Is something wrong?" asked the old man on his right.

The boy could still hear the sobs. He followed the sound and sloshed through the muddy grass towards the playground.

"This is hardly the time to play," the old man protested, obviously not hearing it.

The boy ignored him and scanned the area. He found a little girl of about three years tucked up in a ball in the tunnel beneath the slide. She folded her arms on her knees and bawled into her elbows. Her mousy-blonde hair was pulled back into a scruffy ponytail, and she wore denim overalls. The boy dropped his umbrella, startling the child. She inhaled sharply and shot her gaze up to the stranger.

His black hair stuck out every which way and hung over his wide, dull eyes. There was something about him that scared her. Of course, being left where she was by her aunt had left her very scared in general.

The boy took off his coat and scrambled into the tunnel with the girl. He put the coat over her as if it was an everyday routine. The girl could do nothing but stare at him through her tears.

The boy was L. Even then, he was pursuing the career of a world-renowned detective. The girl was Hope. Her parents had recently passed away, and she was left to live with her aunt. Her aunt wanted nothing to do with her and abandoned her in the playground. L practically treated her like a sister from that day on, but now, he was gone.


"I'm almost fifteen. I can take care of myself." Hope expected Mello to slam the door after a statement like that, but he closed it rather gently

He was leaving. Near was clearly going to be the one to succeed L.

"Is that really all you're upset about?" Hope asked, sitting on the staircase with her arms wrapped around one of the posts of the railing as if it would give her the same security as he had given her. "He's gone, and you're only mad because he didn't pick you."

Mello hadn't noticed her there, though he wasn't surprised. He climbed up the stairs past her without a word. Hope felt her insides boil over. She jumped up and flew past him, half-shoving him into the wall as she went. She ran into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. Luckily, her room mate wasn't there. She dove onto the bed and buried her face in her pillow. Why was she the only one who seemed to care? Mello's grouchy footsteps slowly made their way across the floor. They hesitated in front of the door, but kept going as soon as there was another pair of feet shuffling up the stairs.

Hope recognised the second person's footsteps, and she knew where they were heading. She wiped her eyes and propped herself up against the wall, hugging her pillow tightly to her chest. The door slowly opened and in came Near. He set his puzzle down and tipped the pieces all over the floor. He remained silent and did his childish work. Hope stayed where she was for a while before crawling onto the floor beside Near and turning all the pieces the right way up for him, still hugging her pillow in her other arm.

Near didn't need to say anything, and he didn't try to make Hope say anything, but she was glad that he was there.


A car drove up to the building. Hope's eyes lit up and she looked out the window. She immediately recognised the black limo and bolted out of the room. She rushed past some of the other children, out the front door, and into the scruffy man as he stepped out of the car. He hardly wobbled from the impact of the happy, little bundle.

"Nii-san!" Hope chirped.

L stroked her head, gently prying her from his torso with his other hand.

Mello sauntered over non-nonchalantly. Hope knew that he was as excited as she was. The difference was that he would've stopped to compose himself before coming outside instead of thundering into the investigator's ribs.

"Good afternoon," L greeted, humouring him in his mature and dignified deliverance.

"Hello, L" Mello returned. Hope could hear his voice tremble slightly as he tried to contain his enthusiasm.

Watari chuckled through his thick moustache and they all went inside.

Near lay on his stomach on the floor, waving his feet with socks a little too big for him as he played with his toy robots. L crouched beside him in his usual manner.

"Who can I be?"

Near handed him a red robot with a typical cube-shaped head. Hope sat down with them and picked up the robot that had been designated as hers for when she played with Near. Mello stayed where he was with his arms folded, muttering about how childish this was in such a way that he knew Near would be able to hear him.

"I'll let you play, too," Near offered with a kind voice, a cheeky smile flashing across his face.

Mello reluctantly joined in, but only because L and Hope were playing.

"Pshoo! Pshoo! I shot you, Mello."

"No, you didn't! I dodged!"

"You can't dodge my lasers."

"Yes, I can!"

"Pshoo! Pshoo!"

"Pshoo! Pshoo!"

"That doesn't count, Near. I was fighting Hope."

"Well, then I shoot L. Pshoo! Pshoo!"

"Oh, you got me!"