Author's Notes: My friend and I were trying to come up with a story for me to write and we came up with the idea of making up our own little stories of how L met Mello and Near since we never really found out what happened before the Death Note. So enjoy. :)


Near was putting together one of his blank puzzles, and Mello was sitting in a chair eating chocolate, as usual. Near sighed, he could just imagine Mello becoming fat. "Better slow down on the chocolate Mello." Mello shot his head around and glared at Near. They have never been able to get along, let alone stay in the same room longer then a few minutes. But unfortunately they had to stay in the same room, 'The Great L' was coming to meet them. "I will eat as much chocolate as I want, and I wont gain a pound, got it?" Mello spoke coldly, no one told him how much chocolate can and can't eat. Near just continued to put together his puzzle. "Ok." Near continued to work on his puzzle. Not that you can tell by looking at him, but he was quite eager to meet 'The Great L'. Mello and Near were "lucky" enough to get L as their mentor. They were told that means that L saw great skill between them, Mello and Near weren't quite sure about that, but another problem was that Near and Mello did not like each other, at all.

Near was about to put in the last piece of his puzzle when a man walked through the door. Mello noticed him too and neither could help but stair at the man, but of course Near didn't show it as much as Mello did. The man was fairly tall but slouched while standing. He had black messy hair, and his eyes were like black orbs of emptiness, and he had black under his eyes, obviously this guy rarely slept. He wore a white long sleeve shirt, and blue jeans. He wore shoes but no socks. This man was odd. "Ah I think your in the wrong room..." Mello thought that there was no chance this could ever be 'The Great L'. "You must be Mello." The man spoke to Mello. "Ah yes I'm Mello... Who are you?" Near was watching the conversation between the two. "I am L." L looked over to Near and asked him, "Your Near right?" Near looked into L's eyes. "I'm Near." L smiled and sat down in a chair a few feet from Mello, Near was over on the other side of the room, but the room was small so L could still talk to him from that distance. When L sat in the chair, he sat... differently. He pulled his knees to his chest and moved a bit to get comfortable.

Mello was being rude in Near's opinion. He kept staring at L. Then L moved his hand to his left pocket and pulled out three lollipops. That's when Mello spoke up. "You eat candy too?" L looked at Mello, with what could be confusion. "I eat nothing but sugary stuff." Mello looked like he was going to scream. "SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS ME!" Mello really needs to mature... Near thought. "L, why you sit like that?" Near asked. L looked over to Near and said, "I have to sit this way, if I sit normally my intelligence level gets deducted by forty percent." "Hmm." L looked at Near. "What about you Near? How did you end up here?" L placed his thumb to his lip and began chewing on his nail. "So my story is what your asking?" L looked at Near, "Yes." "Ok. I am twelve. I was abandoned by my parents at seven because they 'Couldn't take my bizzareness' they said. Watari found me on the streets and asked me a few questions, I answered correctly so he took me here." "Hmm." L moved his thumb a bit, to get a better grip on it. "Alot like my story."

Mello was ignoring Near's story, he didn't care, and he wasn't sure if he believed this was the real L. Mello was then pulled from his thoughts by L. "What about you Mello?" Mello looked up at L, this didn't suite his image for 'The Great L' at all. " Well my story, is I am thirteen and I ran away from home at eight because I was getting beaten up by my father. I ran for days and passed out in front of the Wammy building and Watari brought me in. When I woke up he asked some difficult questions that I answered correctly and was accepted." "Hmm... Interesting." L was staring either at Mello or the wall behind him, but either way, it was freaking Mello out.

"Well now that I know how you both entered Wammy's House, I will explain why I am here. You both know who L is, and you both know that L grew up in Wammy's too. I am here to tell you that you two are the top two to become to the next L shall I pass. Near dropped his puzzle piece and looked at L, Mello looked at L and stopped eating his chocolate... For once. "A-are you serious?" Mello was shocked. "I am serious." Near reached for his dice and began making some dice towers in front of him. "Well I will be leaving now, but I will be back a few times a month to observe your skills." With that L walked out the door.

Near continued to build his towers, but Mello was talking a mile a minute, Near could barley catch what Mello was saying, or at least the parts he was listening to. "Can you believe this? We are L's successor's!" Near looked up to Mello and tried to show some emotion. "Oh yea, woo." Mello rolled his eyes, that was the fakest expression he had ever seen, or heard. "Oh yeah, I can see how much you want this." Mello then grabbed his chocolate bar and walked out the door.

Near was sitting in the corner of the room, surrounded by his dice towers, he began to think about what had just happened. Near thought about what he looked like, he also thought about what all the other kids looked like here at Wammy's House. None of them looked normal. So Near decided that, L looking like that man who was just in the room, made sense. You grow up in Wammy's, chances are, you wont look, or act, normal.

Mello could not believe Near. L's successor's, he should be happy, yeah he doesn't like, or maybe can't, show emotion but come on, this is amazing, how can you not be happy? Mello gave up trying to figure out why Near wasn't happy about it, and began to walk towards Roger's office. Roger was the Watari's best friend, he was also the one looking after Wammy's House while he was gone.

Mello knocked on the door that lead to Roger's office. "Who is it?" A voice came through the door. "It's me Roger." There were a few seconds of silence. "It's Mello..." "Oh Mello!" Mello could hear footsteps coming closer to the door. Mello heard the sound of a few locks being turned, then he was face to face with an average height man. He had white hair and glasses. "Hello Roger, can I come in?" Roger looked at Mello for a few seconds and then said, "Yes, of course." The room was fairly big, alot like what you would imagine a principles office to look like. On the far side of the room, right center with the door was a big wooden desk. Roger walked over to the desk and sat down at his chair. He gestured for Mello to sit in the chair that was right in front of the desk. Mello walked over and sat down, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Roger was moving a few paper's that were in his way. After he was done moving the papers he put his elbows on the table and held his head up with his hands. "So what brings you here today Mello?" Mello looked around the room like as if he expected someone to pop out. "Is everything ok Mello?" Roger was looking a little concerned. "Y-eah I'm fine." Mello took a deep breath and continued. "Did you know that 'The Great L' was coming to see Near and I? I mean like, did you know what he looked like?" Roger looked at Mello with confusion. "Mello L already saw you two, did he not?" "You mean that odd looking guy was'The Great L'?" Roger looked at Mello again, looking confused he said, "Yes... did you not believe that was L?" Mello was silent for a few seconds. He lowered his head and said, "Not really..." Roger changed his expression. He looked... understanding. "I understand what your saying Mello. Alot of people have a hard time believing that L looks like that. But I can promise you it is. And you must practice your skills. L will be watching you and Near to see who will be able to succeed him. But you and Near will also have to get along." Mello's eyes widened. "You can't be serious? Near and I don't get along, at all!" Roger sighed. "I know but you will basically be competing against him." Mello looked at Roger with a hard expression. "Great." Mello stood up and began to walk for the door. "Mello wai-." The door was slammed. Roger shook his head and sighed. "He will never succeed L that way."

Mello reached in his pocket and pulled out a half eaten chocolate bar, and began walking down the hall towards the room that he last saw Near in. Sure enough Near was still in the same spot, the only thing that had changed was he had way more dice towers, and they were taller then him, when he crouched. "Ah, hey Near." Near looked up at Mello. "Hello Mello." Near then looked back to his towers and continued to build them. "Ah... Near... we ... need to work ... to- together... if we want to succeed L..." Near didn't even look up from his towers. "I know. I agree. I have no problem with it." Mello looked at Near. "How can you agree to it? We've never gotten along!" Near moved his hand towards his tallest dice tower and pushed it over. "We can try." Near knocked over another tower and two of the dice rolled over to where Mello was standing. Mello picked up the dice and walked over to where Near was. Mello stood beside Near and put out his hand to give Near the dice. "I guess trying is all we can do." Near looked up and took the two dice, and attached them to the new tower he started. "Hmm... well I guess I'll see you later Near." "Mhmm" Mello rolled his eyes and walked out the door.

Mello was heading down the hall when he bumped into a brunette haired boy. "Oh sorry." The brunette haired boy said. "Ah I've never seen you here before, I don't think. My name is Mello, you?" The redhead looked at Mello and held out his hand, Mello grabbed it and shook as the Burnett introduced himself. "My name is Matt. And I've been here for quite some time, I'm also the top third child to succeed L." Mello let go of Matt's hand. "Ohh well I've never seen you before, and I'm the second." Matt smiled. "I don't get out much. And I guess we will be seeing alot more of each other now then." He smiled again. Matt reached into his pocket and pulled out an old school game boy. Mello watched in amazement as Matt completely acted like he forget Mello was standing there. Mello reached in his pocket and grabbed a chocolate bar and touched Matt's shoulder to get his attention. Mello took a bite of his chocolate bar, and Matt looked up. "What?" Mello swallowed his chocolate. "Why don't you come with me, we can get to know each other." Matt looked up from his game just long enough to say, "Ok."

Mello and Matt walked towards the room that Near was last seen in and, of course, he was still there. But instead of dice he was putting together a blank puzzle again. Once they entered the room Matt looked up from his game to see where he was, then he spotted Near. Matt paused his game and leaned up to Mello's ear and whispered, "Why don't we go to another room? This kid has some problems." Matt pulled away from Mello's ear and began to start moving from the room, But Mello grabbed his arm. And whispered to him, "This kid is... kinda my friend." Matt almost dropped his game. "Are you serious?" Matt instantly covered his mouth, he spoke a little louder then he wanted. Near finally looked up. "Mello. Matt. No need to whisper. I heard every word." Near looked back to his puzzle. Mello decided to break the silence. "Ah, Near. How do you know Matt's name?" Near looked at Matt then at Mello. "I know every ones name here." Near threw away his puzzle. He crawled over towards the two boys and then sat in the chair beside them. Near pulled one leg up and kept his other leg down to hang off the side of the chair. "So what can I do for you two?" Near wasn't stupid, he knew Mello wanted something. Mello moved to sit in a chair across from Near. Matt shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a chair a little bit off the room, and pulled it up beside Mello. "Well, I've been thinking. We are in the top three spots to succeed L. If Near and I have to work together, maybe you could too Matt." Matt looked up from his game. "Sure." Mello looked at Near. "Near?" Near grabbed a piece of his hair and began twirling it in this index finger and his thumb. "Ok."

It had been a year since that day. Near, Mello and Matt competed all the time, but mostly just Mello and Near. Their 'Lets work together' idea never worked. Over the year they just got worse and worse. Mello completely hated Near, Near didn't care either way. L was supposed to come visit them today. But things had become hard for him. Kira was on the loose and was things were getting worse and worse. The last time Mello and Near heard from L was a few weeks ago. He was talking over the computer to them. And he said he was quite proud of them and that he almost knew he was going to choose. He had also said that he was thinking of going into hiding again, before it's too late. That was the last time they had heard from him so L's no show, or call, was odd.

Mello and Near were called to Roger's office after L's no show, or call. Near sat on the ground crouched as usual and had one of his blank puzzles. Mello was standing beside Near. "What is it Roger?" Roger looked up from his desk, he stayed quiet for several seconds. "L is dead." Mello's jaw dropped. Near didn't even move an inch. Mello walked up to Roger's desk to get closer. "Dead? W-why?" Roger stayed silent. "Y-you mean he was killed by Kira? Is that it?" Roger looked up at Mello again. "Most likely." Mello grabbed onto Roger's shoulder's to pull him close. "HE PROMISED HE WOULD SEE KIRA DEAD! L WAS KILLED? ARE YOU SURE?" Roger was trying to get Mello to let go of him. "Mello!" Near finally decided to get in on the conversation. "If you can't beat the game, if you can't solve the puzzle, you're nothing but a loser." Mello snapped his head around and looked at Near. Near picked up his completed puzzle and dumped all the pieces on the floor. Mello looked back to Roger. "So which one of us did L..." Roger looked at Mello again. "Neither of you yet... and he can't choose now that hes dead." Mello was speechless. "Mello, Near... How about you two work together?" Near didn't looked from his puzzle but responded. "Yeah, sounds good." Mello got a look of disgust on his face. "That's impossible Roger. You know Near and I don't get along... we're always competing. No matter how hard I try... I'm always number two. Always... It's fine Roger... Near can be L's successor. Unlike me, Near will calmly and unemotionally solve the puzzle. I'm going now... I'm leaving the orphanage too." Mello began walking out of the room. Roger tried to stop him. "Mello." Mello stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around. "I'm almost fifteen anyway, Roger." Mello opened the door and as he shut it he said. "I'll live my life my own way."

Mello walked down the hall to his room. He packed up all his belongings, and walked down the hall towards Matt's room. Matt was on his bed playing video game, as usual. "Hey Matt." Matt looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Mello. He paused his game. "What's up Mello?" Matt could tell something was up. "We're getting outta here man." Matt got off his bed and began packing his stuff. When he was done him and Mello walked out the front gate and swore to never return. As they walked Mello explained everything.


Author's Notes: The rest would obviously be what actually happend in Death Note :P Anyway what did cha think? :P Tell me ;)