pre-story notes, yo. OMG, guys, my first attempt at something that's not a drabble. It's totally AU, but everyone needs a little AU every once in a while, right? Oh, and I'd appreciate reviews, yo.

On February 1st, 1998, Melina and James Jeevas left their baby boy alone for twenty minutes so they could buy him a birthday present, and ended up trapped in a flaming car instead. Natasha and Nikolas Keehl managed to help their oldest son escape their flaming home, only to lose their lives trying to save their youngest. Lucy River watched her son sleep, which he rarely did, and wondered if she would be better off without such a freakish child.

These three children were not connected in any way. They did not know each other. Their fates were unlinked and they were each alone. Mail Jeevas, Mihael Keehl and Nate River were separate spirits, but they were soon to be brought together.

They would to be brought together by a building. A building with tall, wooden doors and a courtyard where the grass was always dead. They would be brought together by an orphanage.

Wilson's House For Orphaned and Abandoned Children was located between a run-down old hospital and a particularly morbid cemetery, as if to perfectly map out the three major arcs in the lives of the children staying at the orphanage:

You're born.

You're orphaned.

You're dead.

The "Wilson" in question was Mr. Randall Wilson, a fairly wealthy man who had decided to take over this orphanage when its original owners passed away. He had been raised here after his parents had both died from cancer. Many thought him to be a kind man, worthy of respect. He seemed to smile a lot, especially at the children, and, above all---

Anyone who runs an orphanage has to be nice.

Right?

Below Mr. Wilson was a young woman named Katie Rainn. She was the caretaker of the children; she looked over every last one of them with a watchful eye. She was always ruffling their hair and saying kind things to them. She could constantly be heard saying, "I would adopt him myself… if I could" but she never had any intention of adopting one of the children. The House was her former home as well.

Mr. Wilson and Miss Rainn were respected. They were kindhearted, generous people who dedicated their lives to helping unfortunate children. They provided a roof, a meal, adequate schooling--- all the things that a child needed to grow into a satisfactory citizen.

No one saw, though, the children. They would look at them playing in the courtyard, but no one really saw them and their sad faces. Constantly overlooked, too overshadowed by the "kindhearted owner," Mr. Wilson, these children were neglected in a sense that even they didn't understand. Most of the children were much too young to understand much of what was going on. All they knew was that they had a bed to sleep in; having a bed was a good thing. Some of the children would feel a soft aching in their hearts, an empty feeling, but they wouldn't know why. Others were lucky. They didn't have this feeling. They had pushed it away and forgotten about it…

Mail Jeevas was one of the lucky ones.

Eight-year-old Mail Jeevas battled a level thirteen Oddish with his incredibly well-trained Charizard. He let out a fiendish little giggle as the Oddish fainted.

"He won't tell me anything, so I didn't really know what to do with him. Well, he did tell me one thing: his family just moved to the U.S. about a month ago. They hadn't even enrolled him in school yet." Officer Lester said, shooting a series of concerned glances in Mail's direction.

"From where?"

"London, England."

"Mmhmm. How exactly did you find him?"

"He was stealing batteries from my wife's shop. She asked him where his parents were and he said, 'Dead, I guess.' That was a couple of days ago… Honestly, I just figured that it was best to go ahead and bring him here…"

"How were they killed?"

"He wouldn't tell me. I assumed he didn't know."

Mr. Wilson left his seat behind his desk and walked over to Mail. "Son, do you want to tell me what happened to your parents?" he asked, with a forced sort of kindness that the child saw right through.

"Not really." Mail replied lazily, sinking even further into his seat. "Am I going to be living here?"

"It seems so, yes."

Mail's mouth twisted into a frown. "Okay," he said, shutting his Gameboy off. "I'm kind of sleepy."

Mr. Wilson and Officer Lester exchanged glances.

"I suppose that's it, then." Mr. Wilson said. "Thank you for your time, Officer."

Officer Lester gave Mail an awkward pat on the shoulder and excused himself.

"Alright, then… Mail. What kind of a name is that anyway?" Mr. Wilson asked. "Mail… Jeevas."

"Mum picked it out, they always told me." Mail said simply, shrugging.

"I've always thought limey's were weird. We'll have to get rid of that accent, son. I don't like it."

The door to the office opened slowly. "We got another little'un?" Katie asked, stepping into the office. "Oh, isn't he reasonably adorable! What's your name, sweetie?"

"Mail Jeevas."

"Hmm. Odd."

"Yes, very odd." Mr. Wilson agreed. "Try to think of him a normal name while you're getting him settled, will you?"

Katie grabbed Mail by the sleeve of his shirt. "Come on, then! You're gonna have a whole room to yourself." she said, pulling him into the hallway. "You know, I grew up in this orphanage. Mr. Wilson adopted me. I mean… that's what it felt like, anyway. He took me in after I was old enough to leave. My parents died when I was five. … A fire. What happened to yours?"

Mail felt a little overwhelmed by Katie's forward nature.

"It's okay, sweetie, you can tell me."

"… I don't know what happened to them. They left to get me a birthday present. They didn't come back."

"Oh, I see. So, you just left home?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, well. You have a new home now! I see you did a bit of packing before running away."

"Yeah. A little."

"Why didn't you get Officer Lester to take you home?"

"We haven't been here long. I couldn't remember how to get back."

"Oh, well, maybe you'll remember soon enough. Here's your room, Mail! … Hmm, I was supposed to give you a normal name, wasn't I? What are we going to call you…? … Matt! That's normal enough, right? We'll call you Matt. Is that okay? Mr. Wilson has a thing about odd names."

"Guess so." Mail shrugged.

"Matt it is, then! Anyway, this is your room. You'll be sharing it as soon as other kids come in her. Just make yourself at home--- dinner is served at six; you're free until then. Mr. Wilson will come ask you some questions later, but just settle down for now! Bye, Matt!"

Mail was by no means a stupid kid, so he certainly knew from the get-go that not a soul in that orphanage gave a flying damn about him or his wellbeing. He hadn't fallen for Katie's bright smile. She had simply renamed him and pushed him aside.

(What Mail didn't grasp, however, was the extremity of this unloving environment.)

Mail knew good and well that his parents had probably died in some accident that had left them unidentifiable, which basically meant that he was a nobody now. A nobody in a strange county with no family to speak of.

He didn't feel like crying anymore.

--- but his stomach just kept twisting up in knots…

"Hey, new kid?" he heard from the other side of his door. It was a girl speaking.

Mail opened the door to reveal a tiny, smiling, blond-haired girl.

"Yeah?" he said.

"My name's Linda. I wanted to meet you. What's your name?"

"Mail. … Actually, no, it's Matt now. They thought Mail was weird."

"Oh, well, they're both nice names! How old are you?"

"Eight."

"Me, too!"

"How long have you been here?"

"Three years. Where are you from?"

"London."

"Oh, that's so cool! Can I come in?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Mail had no idea why this girl was so fascinated with him, but he didn't mind too much. Talking to her wasn't exactly horrible, but she did ask an ungodly amount of questions about almost anything.

"So, what's your middle name?" (Winston.)

"You in here by yourself?" (Yeah.)

"Does it bother you?" (So far, no.)

"What are you playing?" (Pokemon Red.)

"Is it fun?" (Very much. Would you like to play?)

"Yes!"

The questions halted as Linda tapped away on the Gameboy, whining whenever she lost a battle and giggling whenever she increased Mail's Pokemon repertoire. "You're really nice, you know." she said, handing Mail his Gameboy after her gaming urges were satisfied.

"Uh. Thanks. You are, too."

"So, do you want to be my new best friend?"

"… Uhm, I guess?"

"Yay!" Linda threw her arms around Mail's neck. "Thank you!"

"… No problem…"

Linda promptly dragged Mail to the common room to introduce him to the rest of the children, which he didn't particularly care about doing.

"Should I introduce you by Matt or Mail…?"

"Matt… I guess."

He figured he should start getting used to his new name.

"Everyone, this is Mai--- Matt! He just got here today."

He got a few friendly waves, but most of the kids didn't seem too enthused about meeting him. He wanted to assure them that the feelings were mutual.

One girl, however, wasted no time in sweeping him up in a fierce, tight hug. "My name is Misa. Linda and I will do everything we can to make sure you feel right at home here!" she said. Her blonde hair tickled his face.

Misa was assumedly the oldest child at the orphanage, probably around fourteen years old. The other children seemed to view her a sort of mother-figure, a role that she was quite enthusiastic about playing.

Mail liked her enough but couldn't quite say that he wanted to replace his mother so quickly.

He didn't complain, though, when she held his hand while they walked to the dining hall to get dinner.

Misa and Linda stayed by Mail's side all through dinner, taking him to sit at the table right in the middle of the dining hall.

"We have classes everyday. Your teacher is Miss Lidner. She's very nice. She teaches the little kids. My teacher is Mr. Yagami." Misa's cheeks flushed when she said this. "He's the best teacher I've ever had…" she trailed off. Linda nudged her. "Oh, anyway! On class days, breakfast is served at 7:30. On weekends, it's served at 10:00. Lunch is served at noon on class days and at 2:00 on weekends. We're supposed to be in our rooms by 9:00, but you can go to sleep whenever. You can go to church with Katie on Sundays, if you want to." Misa gave Mail a winning smile, and her silence indicated that her run-down of the orphanage was done.

"You done?" Mail asked, pulling out his Gameboy.

"For the most part, yeah. You'll get to meet Miss Lidner tomorrow. I think you'll like her."

"As much as you like Mr. Yagami, Misa?" Linda asked.

Misa blushed and ruffled Mail's hair.

Mail frowned. His batteries were going dead.

Notes and stuff: Random idea that's been playing around in my head for a while. This will probably be Matt-centric, but more stuff involving other characters will happen through the course of the entire thing. Some characters have yet to be introduced or even mentioned.

Since I didn't have the heart to make Watari a heartless butthole, I decided to make up my own villain and his sidekick. XD

I wanted to completely break away from the Wammy thing, so this fic is based in the U.S. This is AU, after all, and I can do whatever I please. This is the truth.