L grasped the iron bars of the gate with spidery, white fingers, his gaze drifting over the grand stone building of the orphanage he had once belonged to. The orphanage occupied by only a certain breed of children, for those with special "talents", for those who were gifted.
"Long time no see." L sighed softly before pushing open the gate and shuffling through towards the building.
Far away in the distance, the church bell rings once, twice, three times, instantly taking L back to his first day at this very place. A little scared, a little lost, he was just a little boy with no family anymore.
L shook his head to erase the memory, his black mop of hair falling over dark wide eyes. He turned back towards the door and pushed it open.
…
A man in a dark brown suit with greying long hair sat behind a large wooden desk. L surveyed him from the corridor for a while, registering the worry lines on his forehead, the franticness with which he shuffled his papers. Suddenly, the man looked up and caught L's eye, a stunned expression lighting up his face.
"Lauliet? L. Lauliet, is it really you?" he stammered to which L replied with a brief nod, standing awkwardly in the doorframe.
"My god, are you... Is it... Is it safe for you to be here? Last I heard you were under strict orders not to make contact apart from through the disguised video messages with the children."
"Yes...well, I trust you to keep this a secret, and what Wammy doesn't know won't hurt him." L replied rubbing the back of his hair, making it stick out at even wilder angles.
"Yes... Yes of course. Come in! Come in!" the man stood from his own chair, gesturing L to join him.
L gave half a smile, shuffling into the room and pulling off his trainers before assuming his crouching position on the leather seat. The old man gave a slight chuckle before sitting down himself.
"I had forgotten about some of your quirks... Still got a sweet tooth?"
"You should know by now that sugar helps my deductive skills by up to 20%" L said matter of factly, wide eyes surveying the room and the man before him.
"And still not getting much sleep I see." The man gestured towards the dark bags under L's eyes, made more profound by the paleness of his skin.
"Sometimes sleep can be so restricting when your mind never stops working."
"Hmm... No time for sleep for the world's greatest detective?" The man raised his eyebrows at L who gave a small smile, fingers nervously twitching where he rested them upon his curled up knees. The man continued, "You know what, L? You are our biggest success story... And yet we can't tell a soul about you."
"Well, I'm terribly sorry about that." L stated and the man let a moment of silence pass before cocking his head slightly to one side.
"Why are you here, L?" he asked, causing yet another smile on L's side.
"Are you telling me that after all those years of teaching me how to be the best, you cannot figure out the reason of my presence?" The man squinted his tired looking eyes at the pale young man before him, trying to see the young boy he once knew.
"You are here to see the boys."
"Quite right. There are certain matters to be discussed with them both."
"Well then I won't keep you waiting, you know where their rooms are..." The man gave a sad smile and L nodded in agreement. L stood, slightly hunched over in his plain shirt and walked to the door. As he left, he stopped and turned back to the man, "Thank you Roger." He said before walking onwards.
He reached the first boys room and knocked upon the door. Mello opened up his door and recoiled in shock.
"L!" he cried and embraced him quickly, leaving L to pat him awkwardly on his shoulder, a fond smile on his face. When he pulled away L took in the sight of him, on the brink on teenagehood, growing taller and surer of himself.
"Mello, it has been a while." L said and Mello beamed in response.
"L, I have-"
"Mello, please, call me... Ryuzaki." L interrupted looking around slightly nervously. Mello nodded in understanding before continuing.
"I have been following all of your cases! You've been amazing, and I have learnt so much." Mello babbled out, pulling L inside his room to show him his files and carefully made notes. L glanced over them all, a wistful look in his eye.
He looked back up at the skinny boy stood before him, sandy blonde hair falling neatly around his face, eyes alight with emotion. But Mello always had been one full of emotion.
L remembered Mello's first day at the orphanage. He had found him outside, hidden among the garden, smashing up the windows of the greenhouse with a fallen tree branch. Mello had only been 5 at the time and L had been 15.
"My parents are dead!" Mello had cried at him when he had appeared at the sounds of glass breaking.
"Yes, well that's something we have in common. That should mean we have a 68% likelihood of being friends, with us being so alike." L had replied and for some strange reason it had calmed Mello down just enough to stop breaking up the greenhouse, just enough to give this deathly looking older boy a chance at friendship.
And even now, 7 years later, L could still see the upset little boy in Mello, just a snap away from smashing up the greenhouse.
"You certainly have been busy with your studies- ooh cake." L grasped towards the slice of cake lying on the desk before remembering his manners and looking hopefully at Mello.
"It's all yours! Think of it as a welcome back present." He smiled and L devoured the cake before licking each long finger with delight.
"This trip is tasting sweeter already." He sighed in the low monotone that Mello had missed hearing when L had left.
"Now tell me, Mello is here, where is Near?" L inquired walking out of Mello's door and leaving him to follow. Mello frowned at L's back.
"Try to disguise your distaste, it is not an amiable feature." L said from in front and Mello marvelled at the way L could read people's emotions so well whilst expressing very little himself.
"There is no need for you and Near to be so hostile to each other." L continued and looked back seriously at the sulking boy.
Ever since Near had first moved to the orphanage, Mello had had something against him. Near was much younger than most of the other children who arrived. He was only 3 when he was labelled as upcoming genius and placed here when his mother was killed. L took a shining to the quiet sullen little boy and Near took a shining to L, showing him the loyal devotion a small child would show his older brother. Mello, however, did not make such a connection, and after being L's only friend for a year by that time, his jealous emotions set himself against Near from the very start.
L saw it only as immaturity what they were displaying and refused to let Mello's sour emotions ruin his reunion with the boy.
L was just as shocked as Near was when he opened the door. The small boy had grown, but had not forgotten L.
"L... I was certainly not expecting you." His grey eyes turned wide beneath a shock of white hair, curling in certain parts from the constant twirling through his fingers.
"It is good to see you Near. But please, you must call me Ryuzaki. I hope you are doing well... Both of you." L turns, revealing an angry looking Mello and Near frowned back.
"I see that you have also been working very hard Near." L says, walking past into a room full of toys, the floor littered with completed puzzles and the desk piled high with notes. Near gave an accepting nod, his face happy to see L but his eyes serious, knowing that L must have come for a bigger reason than to check upon the studies of the two boys.
L looks at them both and bites down on his thumb, the calm and aware Near, the impulsive yet intelligent Mello. His round eyes search them both and they stare back just as defiantly before L lowers his bitten thumb and smiles.
"Who is up for a game of tennis?"
…
L picked up the racket and faced an eager looking Mello across the court. Near sat by the side of the net, one white pyjama'd leg curled up against his chest, moving the arms of his toy robot.
"I have gotten better since you left L, you better watch your back." Mello called across to him, a challenging smile playing on his lips.
"Have you been playing with Matt? How has he been doing?" L inquired, bouncing the tennis ball and catching it again.
"He's been good. He mostly just sticks to his games." Mello replied, thinking of his firey headed best friend and wondering why L hadn't asked to see him also.
His train of thought was broken as L served a powerful blow, shocking Mello into action as he ran across the court to hit the ball back. Near sat in silence, his face deadpan, large eyes following the ball as it bounced back and forth.
"As you have both probably guessed by now, I have returned for an important business." L said calmly, swinging his racket to hit the ball.
"And what is this business?" Mello replied, then cursed as he missed the ball, letting it roll to the far end of the court.
"My job... Who I am... It's a dangerous affair. I could be killed at any moment and I am sure there are many out there willing to do the deed. Regardless of whether they succeed or not... everybody dies." L stated the last two words softly and Mello had to strain to hear from across the court. He retrieved the ball but something stopped him from serving, instead he stared at L intently.
"What are you trying to say?" He finally said, tossing the ball and catching it.
"When the event of my death occurs, L cannot die with me. This world needs an L to serve justice. And the task of becoming the new L will fall to one of you." L said, his face deadly serious as he stared at the two boys in turn from under dark eyelashes.
Mello let the ball slip from his hand, his eyes wide. Near sat frozen, his mouth formed into a small "o".
"Now I have no doubt that you two are the likeliest candidates. Not only are you both top of your classes, but you are also two of the very few people who actually know who L is. I have faith in both of you to do what is right." L shoved his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans and his eyes grew wide in pleased surprise as he pulled out a lollipop before unwrapping it and placing it in his mouth.
"But who of us will do it? Only one of us can be the new L." Near's ghostly voice sounded out, a finger automatically lifting to his hair to twirl it repeatedly.
"Hmm... Well, I haven't quite decided that part yet..." he pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and frowned at it, "these kiwi ones don't taste as nice as they used to..." he murmured to himself and when he returned his attention back to the boys he could sense the shift in emotion.
Mello now stood defiantly, shooting Near daggers from narrowed eyes. Near also stared at Mello, however in the blank empty way he had always done so.
"I can assure you boys, there is no need to be so hostile towards each other, it is not a competition... Although I do dearly love competitions...no, no it is not, you must learn to respect each other." He moved the lollipop around his mouth with his tongue, "Surely two geniuses like yourselves can learn something as simple as respect, right?"
A moment passed before Mello turned away from Near, giving one quick nod in agreement. Near simply directed his gaze back to L, surprising him with the smallest of smiles.
"I am honoured that you are considering me, L." he stated and L walked over to him, fondly ruffling his snowy hair with his hand.
"You have both grown so much." he said quietly, moving his gaze upwards to Mello who stood, arms crossed and defiant. "I missed you."
The words hung in the air and L assumed his crouching position beside Near, who with a small hand peaking from his large pyjama shirt reached out and clung to the bottom of the folds of his jeans. Mello waited a few seconds, trying to avoid L's gaze until he gave up and slumped to the ground on the other side of L, gently resting his head on L's shoulder sadly.
"We'll try not to let you down." he stated simply and then as the church bell rang 5 times the three boys said goodbye for the last time.