Chapter 2

December 18th

It was the second day their new pet Chrissy lived in their room. Mello put a small bowl of water under his bed for Chrissy to drink. He couldn't place it somewhere everyone could see the bowl of water otherwise it would be questioned. He and Matt had agreed to hide Chrissy into the bathroom when someone knocked on their door. That way nobody would discover her. A very bad plan if you'd asked Mello, but they managed to sneak the cat into Wammy House so this shouldn't be that hard either.

The food wasn't forgotten either. Both of them had brought some food to their room they hid in a napkin. Chrissy was really happy the first time she got to eat. Within seconds she devoured what they had brought her.

Matt had grabbed a bunch of soft towels and made with it a cosy place to sleep under his bed. Now she had a warm and quiet place to sleep. After the towels Matt went away again only to return with a ball of wool he took from the crafting classroom. It wasn't much, but it was something better than freezing to death in the snow.

At the moment Matt played one of his games again on the Playstation in their room. Bleeping sounds sounded across the room. Mello was beginning to get irritated with it. He tried to read while he sat at his desk, but the bleeping was very distracting.

'Hey Mels! Look at Chrissy! I think she likes games as much as I do,' Matt said.

Mello looked over at Matt who sat on his bed. Chrissy sat next to him and looked like she watched the TV-screen with interest. Her head moved as her eyes followed the character Matt controlled in the game.

'I don't think she's interested in the game, Matt. It's probably just the movement that catches her interest,' he reasoned.

'Well I think she could like the game!'

Matt could be very stubborn so now and then…

'Stop moving the character for a moment and we'll see.'

Matt did as Mello said and stopped pushing the buttons on his controller. The moment the character stopped moving Chrissy turned her head from the TV-screen and jumped off the bed.

Mello snickered when he saw Matt pouted. 'I told you.'

The redhead picked up his controller again and grumbled: 'You're mean sometimes you know that?'

Mello simply grinned at that. 'Yeah, I know.'

December 20th

The piercing alarm sounded through whole Wammy House. Mello ran as fast as he could through the hallways. He had to find Matt before the bomb exploded and everyone inside the building would be gone.

'Matt!' he screamed. 'Matt! Where are you!'

Mello ran around the corner and saw dozens of other children running for safety. They came towards himself, but he still tried to get through the crowd. Matt had to be here somewhere!

At that moment he saw Matt. The redhead was crouched on the ground with his arms protected above his head. He rushed at his friend's side and pulled his arms away.

Matt looked up at him. His looked scared to death. 'Where not gonna make it, Mels.'

'Don't say that! Now stand up and we escape together!' Mello commanded as he took Matt's hand in his. 'Come on!'

Matt did as he said and together they run like hell. All the other children were gone, probably already outside, and the hallways were much longer than normal. Normally they had to be by the front door by now.

The alarm pounded in his ears and he just knew they had less than a minute to get out. Of course Matt tripped right at that moment. He fell to the ground and made a pained sound.

'Matt?! Are you okay?'

He groaned in pain. 'My leg hurts.'

Mello didn't hesitate for a second and grabbed Matt's arm and tried to support him, but it was no luck. Matt cried out and collapsed on the ground again.

Mello wanted to try to get Matt up for a second time, but it was too late. The alarm stopped and instead an enormous rumbling noise came closer and closer.

Mello saw a wall of fire coming towards at a high speed.

Mello's eyes widened and grabbed Matt again and tried to drag him away from the fire blast.

The explosion was too fast.

'NOOO!' he screamed terrified.

Mello jerked up when he awoke from his nightmare. His forehead felt damp of the cold sweat. His breathing was ragged and he was still shivering a bit. Mello cast a glance in the way of Matt and saw he was still fast asleep.

Good, that meant he didn't scream out loud.

Movement caught his eye by Matt's bed and he turned his head quickly. Did he still wake Matt?

A small shadow had appeared from beneath Matt's bed. Chrissy walked across the room and jumped on his bed. Mello stared at her in confusing. Why came she here in the middle of the night? Before he could tell her to go to her own bed of soft towels, she nuzzled her head against hem while she purred a soft and low.

Mello sat still in amazement. Chrissy seemed to feel he was scared by his nightmare and she was trying to comfort him. If that was not the reason she did that it didn't matter 'cause it was very soothing. His breathing calmed down and he felt his eyes grow tired. He still had some hours before it was time to get up. He lay down again and Chrissy snuggled closer to him. Mello stroked her soft chocolate brown pelt while Chrissy continued purring softly. Not much later Mello's eyes closed and he fell asleep with Chrissy curled up next to him.

December 23rd

It had been a wonderful afternoon. Mello and Matt went outside again for some time to play in the snow again. Luckily Matt went along without too much struggle this time.

They laughed together about some joke Matt had told and opened the door of their room. Expecting to see Chrissy locked up in the bathroom, with of course her bowl of water and ball of wool. But what they saw was certainly not what they what was expected.

Near.

The boy with his snow white hair and white pyjamas was sitting in the middle of the room. One leg tugged against his chest. Their secret pet, Chrissy ran through the room chasing her ball of wool that she pushed herself over and over again across the room.

Mello slammed the door shut behind them and stared angrily at Near. Matt just stood still and looked like he didn't know what to do.

'I had to inform you two about L's arrival tomorrow morning. He is going to make it to be here for Christmas this year,' Near said in a monotonous voice.

The ball of wool came to a stop right before Near's feet. Chrissy jumped at it and almost hit Near in her hurry to catch her toy.

The only reaction he showed was blinking once. 'You know that pets are forbidden in Wammy House, right?'

'Of course we know that, sheep!' Mello spat at the boy. 'How did she get out of the bathroom?!'

'When I entered this room I saw you were not here so I decided to wait for you two here.' His obsidian emotionless eyes followed the cat when she ran past him again. 'After some time I heard a soft sound coming from the bathroom so I opened it.'

Mello turned slowly around to give Matt a glare that said "I told you it was a bad plan".

Matt threw his arms in the air. 'How am I supposed to know that Near would come in here!' He exclaimed.

'Everyone could come in here, Matt! The doors to all of our sleeping rooms don't have locks!'

'We couldn't let her out there alone in the cold! She would've died, Mels…'

'You found her outside?' Near asked. He stood up from his sitting place on the ground.

A scowl appeared on Mello's face when he remembered Near was still in the room. 'Yes, we found her outside and saved her by breaking the rules. So go ahead and go tell Roger we didn't listen again.'

His hands formed into fists when he thought about their new pet going away. He lowered his head when he felt sadness through his anger. Chrissy was only for a few days here, but he felt already very fond of her. Especially after she tried to comfort him when he had a nightmare some days ago, he began to like her even more. Chrissy was very smart even for a cat. She was perfect for someone of Wammy's.

'I won't tell anyone.'

Mello's head jerked up and Matt gasped.

'What did you say?' Matt asked astonished.

Near walked past them and held his hand on the door handle. 'I said I won't tell anyone about your cat.'

Mello blinked a few times before he found something to say. 'Why?'

'I may be not a fan of breaking the rules and causing chaos like you two, but I'm not going to betray you if she's so important to you and Matt.'

With that said he opened the door and closed it behind him. The first thing Matt did was grabbing Chrissy of the floor and hug her closely.

'Who would've thought Near had a heart?! We can keep Chrissy!'

Mello had his doubts about Near. Who said he wouldn't betray them? He looked at Matt who was spinning happily round and round with Chrissy in his arms and he sighed. He just had to trust Near for this one time.