Disclaimer: I don't own DN… nor do I own this idea… thanks Fluffy!

Sufferings:

The hallways were silent, almost as if no one was there, as if everyone was dead. It was a ghostly hallway that had almost an aura of sadness that seeped into the walls, contaminating the residents. The only sound that was heard was the soft pitter pattering of bare feet as they made their way down said hall.

L was dressed in his normal attire, slumped over, his eyes stinging with the lack of sleep. He had learned to ignore the pain, his insomnia simply unrelenting to the fact that his frail body needed sleep. His hands were in his pockets and his pale complexion made him look almost like a ghost. A ghost that haunted the hallways. Almost comical.

This had become L's tradition, roaming the halls at night alone. He had nothing else to occupy his time for the eight hours of sleep that most normal people obtained. He liked to remind himself that others were breathing around him. He liked the feeling that these people gave off, something like innocence, as they slept. If nothing, it made him a little happier to deal with the pain that came of a new day.

He passed by many doors of the Wammy children before reaching the end of the hall and stopping. He turned to the door, placing a single hand on its wooden surface. He stared at that hand for a while, lost in his own thoughts.

This was B's room, the sad boy who seemed to become sadder with each passing day. L had noticed a dimming in his obscure scarlet eyes since the passing of A. L worried for the boy, not wanting anything else to happen. He had gone through so much already, and there was definitely more to come.

He turned to leave before hearing a whimper. It was barely audible but L was certain that it was the sound of someone in pain. He knocked on the door quietly. "B, are you alright."

The room became deathly silent and there was no response. L began to get visions of A's body hanging limply from the ceiling, except it was not A's eyes that stared blankly ahead. It was B's.

"Backup!" he said more loudly, pushing open the door and stepping inside.

The room was littered with clothing and books as if it had not been cleaned in a while. Knives and other sharp utensils sat on various surfaces, a few of them marked with crimson. Pill bottles were opened and their contents were strewn on both the floor and the nightstand and there was a crudely fashioned noose lying on the floor.

B sat in the middle of the floor, a knife held to his wrist. He was crying and his eyes were shut tight. If he noticed L he did not let on to it. His wrist was already bleeding and that blood had stained the boy's shirt and pants, even a few drops managed to fall on the floor.

"B," L said, snatching the knife from the boy's hand. Beyond did not even look up and he seemed confused, wondering where the knife that had previously been in his possession vanished to. "Snap out of it!" L said sharply, physically shaking the boy. B's head just lolled back and forth, seemingly in a daze. L grabbed a towel, wiping the blood from the boy's wrist and from the ground. "What the hell were you thinking?" he asked with no expectation for an answer. He proceeded to leave the boy there while collecting up the various weapons and pills that were strewn everywhere in the room. He placed them in the laundry basket before carefully pushing it into the hall.

Returning to B, he found that he had taken to a fetal position on the floor, thumb resting on his lips, and fallen asleep. L sighed, trying his best not to wake him and get him to the bed. He resorted to draping a blanket over the boy before leaving the room to wake Watari.

As he left, L could faintly hear B mutter, "A."

~AN~

Thank you thecatchinglightalchemist for this idea! I've really hit writer's block with this one!