A sound resembling church bells rang outside the halls of the great, estate-like property in Winchester, England. This property was known to most: not conceivably able to hide its grandeur from the rest of the area, nor able to avoid the curious and perplexed glances of passers-by unsure of what exactly its purpose was. What was known, is that it was apparently one of the most high profile adoption agencies in all of Europe, which wouldn't be all too curious if there was anyone in the county who could recount an instance of actually seeing any of the children get taken to a new home. But, as things tend to go, people looked the other way and paid no mind to the orphanage's occupants.

"I hate this stupid school." thought the young boy with the shaggy dark hair, sitting slumped at his desk.

One of those occupants, however, would have very much liked someone to come rescue him from this place. This place, The Wammy's House.

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"Another miserable England afternoon." thought the boy as he gazed longingly through the proverbial iron bars of the windows keeping him from the life he knew had to be out there. It was raining, as it often did. There was hardly any purpose to even look out the window - the fog was stereotypically of the pea soup variety, the view beyond that not really much to look at in the first place.

He knew there was a voice talking, no - lecturing - somewhere. He just didn't bother to pay much attention. The boy, with his pale complexion and the generally apathetic expression that he carried with him like a sidearm, could care less about the work and concepts that were being crammed down his throat at the moment. Induction, ratiocination, syllogistics… An alphabet soup's worth of crap he simply did not care about.

"Pay attention." said the instructor, bluntly. He said this in a manner that led you to assume he wouldn't have to say it twice.

"Sorry, Roger." said the child, roughly 15 or so. "I suppose I was off daydreaming again just now."

"Daydreaming is just one of the reasons you're here. It's like you've been trying to underperform lately and quite frankly, I can't for the life of me understand why."

"I don't want to be here." The boy opted for deflection. "This 'school' claims to value the science of reason above all else, when any way you look at it, there is NO logic to any of this. We're just kids, not detectives. The choice should rightfully be ours to leave if we wish."

Roger took a deep breath. He knew there was a point to having these children here in the first place; thus trying to win a debate with arguably the most untapped potential of the bunch would be only begging for a fight in an already losing battle. He exhaled. "Look, I understand how ya feel, boy. I do. I've seen too many of you go before your time and how, inside, we all lose when that happens. How many times have we gone over the tragedy of B to you kids? However." He paused, wanting to be sure he had his words straight before stepping over the cliff that was trying to sway this particular child's mind. "With your mind, and your skill, you have far too much to offer this world to simply throw it away because 'you don't want to.'"

"But-"

"But nothing. Look, the reality of the matter is this, my boy. You don't have anywhere else to go. We are your family now, and you have a vast, uncharted future that lays before you. What you're feeling is only natural."

The boy felt a trigger go off in his head, and his demeanor quickly darkened in response. "What I'm feeling is not in your realm of comprehension, Roger. You will NOT speak to me with that same tone you use with Matt, or Mello, or -"

"Enough. Matt aside, troublemaker that he often is, if you cared half as much about the directive as Mello then I wouldn't even have to have this conversation with you right now. Mello can put his occasional immaturity aside and look at the gravity of the bigger picture for what it is. He's accepted the responsibility, he wants it." Roger backed off, cooler heads prevailing. "Now look, it is simply not the time. He's coming. On his way as we speak. You know this, don't you? This is not the time to be putting on a bloody spectacle for the whole school to witness."

"What?" For the first time, the boy was taken aback. "Who's coming?"

"He is. And after informing him of your current… displeasure with the way things are around here right now and the dilemma it leaves me in as a result, he has decided that he'll be taking a special interest in you while he's here."

"Him? Taking a special interest in me? Why? It doesn't make any…"

Before he could finish, Roger's cell phone rang. He picked it up quickly, after one ring.

"This is Roger. Ah, yes, everything is ready. Yes. I understand, see you shortly." The phone clicks shut. "Well, I certainly hope you're ready. They're here. Come along, now."

The pair walked out of Roger's classroom and down the dimly-lit hallways of the high-ceilinged building. Down the master staircase and just beyond the double oak doors that stood before them was the man who the boy was sure would understand him. Surely, if he is the champion of rationale that he is purported to be, he will no doubt see things his way and help him get out of this virtual prison.

Roger opened the doors, and there stood two men. The first, elderly and congenial looking, familiar to the young boy, stood in his suit and tie holding an umbrella overhead for the both of them. Watari. The same Watari that had been there like a grandfather for him as well when he was younger. Mentored him. He liked Watari, who was probably the only one there he could say that about and mean it.

He had yet to be formally acquainted to the awkward young man standing beside him.

He was bizarre, yet the boy couldn't help but shake the feeling that his mannerisms were familiar. Too familiar. Had he seen them somewhere before? Were they not unlike his own "tics"? He found it not unlike staring at a fun house mirror, seeing all your quirks and characteristics before you, only exaggerated tenfold.

A moment of silence passed the four of them until the ill-postured young man with the invading grey eyes poked his head almost cartoonishly out from underneath the umbrella with what appeared to be a boxed cake in his hands.

"Nakanishi Ryuta, I presume… Or do you prefer R?" said the wunderkind detective with a bit of a ribbing tone.

"You know damn well what I prefer."

"Either way, a pleasure." he said as he handed Ryuta the cake he was holding. "I hope you'll enjoy this."

"Um, thanks…?" said Ryuta, politely handing the sweets over to Roger.

"You may call me Ryuzaki if you wish, but around here, I am perhaps better known as L."

That last bit sent an odd chill down Ryuta's spine. You hear enough stories about someone and there comes a point where you don't even believe the person exists anymore. But here he was, the world's greatest detective. right in front of his very eyes.

L stepped through the doorway past Ryuta and Roger, Watari right behind. "I do hope you're ready, Nakanishi Ryuta."

"Ready? Ready for what?"

"Hm? I assume you're wondering what exactly you should be ready for." L quickly surmised.

"I'm showing tells already? I must be, or else there's no other explanation than he can simply read minds. He really is good."

Roger cut in before L could elaborate. "I'm going to leave the two of you to get acquainted. Ryuzaki, as you know it is always a pleasure to see you return here safe and sound. I do believe Watari and I have some matters to attend to, so if you'll excuse us…"

"Thank you, Roger. Watari, some tea please before you get down to business." He turned his attention back to Ryuta. "So, Nakanishi-kun, would you care for some tea as well? You didn't seem too eager for the cake I brought."

"Tea would be fine, thank you, and my apologies. The cake was a very nice gesture, Ryuzaki-sama. However, sweets are not exactly a food group that sits particularly well with me."

"Is that so?" The concept was an obviously inconceivable one on L's part. "But I have heard that you are one of the exceptional thnkers around here, Nakanishi-kun. If that is so, does the sugar not allow your brain to work faster?"

Ryuta suddenly felt like he was in the examination room with the chief of medicine. Every flaw, every chink in the armor was sure to be exposed with this man around. It was not a comfortable feeling to say the least.

"How to put it…" He felt for the words. "It kind of feels like my mind is operating on fast-forward in general. If I were to overindulge in sweets, it would only be pushed into hyperdrive, so I eat heavier foods to make my mind slow down and catch up with itself. Fatty foods, high protein, anything that would make an average mind slow and lethargic allows me to relax and concentrate on the task at hand. However," he said as he started to crack a smile for the first time all day, "by the looks of our physiques we must be doing something right if we're not gaining a whole lot of weight!"

L was silent as Ryuta quietly chuckled to himself in an effort to break the tension. The elder detective sat in his chair, wide-eyed and hunched in his trademark position as he took in this new protégé, the tip of his thumb pressed up boyishly against his bottom lip.

"Well, either way, no need to apologize about the cake." he finally said. "One thing I can assure you with 100% certainty is that no cake in my presence will ever go to waste."

Watari, with his ever-impeccable timing, arrived, tea in tow, before things became anymore awkward for poor Ryuta.

"Your tea, as requested, Ryuzaki."

"Thank you very much, Watari."

Watari turned before he left the room. "Ryuzaki, perhaps it would be beneficial for Ryuta if you shared some of your own troubles from your days here. I imagine Ryuta would benefit greatly to hear such a first-hand testimonial from someone who's gone through it already."

L clammed up again, this time without the sheepishly-friendly look on his face. Watari often had a habit of revealing more than what was necessary.

"Indeed." he eventually spoke up. "If you'll excuse us."

"Of course, Ryuzaki." With a short dip of a bow, Watari about-faced and proceeded back into the other chamber.

"Yes, as Watari alluded to, I myself was not always very fond of this place either, Nakanishi-kun. I always felt very alone here, very distant. Is this similar to how you've felt?"

"Mhmm." Ryuta was tight-lipped this time. Now he was trying not to give anything away, not to mention he didn't want another attempt at a joke sailing over Ryuzaki's head again.

L mused. "You needn't worry, Nakanishi-kun. I am not analyzing you as a means to judge you. I am merely observing you in order to better understand just where the root problem is located." He took the teapot precariously between his thumb and index finger and proceeded to pour two cups.

"Enough." Ryuta stood in defiance. He expected this from Roger, this brand of patronization, but not from L. "I'm not some child who simply needs a good guidance counselor to psychobabble his problems away, nor am I one of Near's puzzles to take apart and put back together again just for the sake of the challenge. I thought you would be the one person who could understand but obviously your success as L has hindered your hindsight. I suppose globetrotting around the world gallivanting as the high and mighty world's greatest detective has managed to inflate even YOUR most rational of egos."

To look at L, one would assume he had just missed the tirade entirely. He sat there, quietly, preferring instead to focus on his sugar cube-to-tea ratio. The sugar cubes were winning in lanslide fashion. Ryuta really had had enough, and turned away to retire to his room.

"It's still lonely." L said very matter-of-factly. Ryuta was already halfway out the door, but stopped to hear what he had to say. "I apologize, Nakanishi-kun. This sort of consolation has never been my strong suit. I won't lie to you, my life has only grown more difficult and more complex since I've taken on the role of L. I am perhaps awkward in my relationships with others because I am not afforded the luxury of having them. Again, I won't lie to you, I do have my own selfish reason for agreeing to insert myself in your situation here as I have."

"Please, do enlighten me."

"You sounded like what you needed was a friend."

"And what does that have to do with you?" Ryuta questioned. "You know, that's what I didn't get when this all started to unravel. You have INTERPOL at your beck and call, countless pressing cases… What brings a man like that halfway across the world for what I'm sure was relayed to you as merely a whiny problem child with authority issues?"

"Because you intrigue me, Nakanishi-kun. You are unlike the other students here, in a manner that seems to remind Watari of myself. He strongly urged my assistance in calming your fears, which is why I'm now here before you. That, and…" L trailed off.

"And…?"

"And… because I too could use a friend right now."

Ryuta was stunned. Never had he expected the great L to show such vulnerability. Maybe it wasn't as effortless as he always made it seem. For the first time, Ryuzaki's posture made sense to him. To Ryuta, it wasn't just another of his eccentric idiosyncricies anymore, now it served as the perfect metaphor of the weight L has had to carry on his shoulders this whole time, never able to show the slightest grimace of strain from the pressure. A 23 year old entrusted to solve the crimes no one else could. It all started to make sense…

"So what do you say? Do you like tennis? We could play some sometime if you'd like." This made Ryuta smile. "As many talents as Watari has, his backhand isn't quite one of them."

"I'd like that, Ryuzaki-sama. I'll be looking forward to it." Ryuta turned to walk back to his room.

"Thank you, Nakanishi-kun."

"Please, call me Ryuta."