AN: Look! I'm updating faster! I started this in school Friday and got 2 pages done, so lets see how long it takes to finish

Disclaimer: Do you SEE 800 episodes of almost pure Matt and Mello? Then I don't own it.

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Chapter 7: Flying Through the Night

The next month passed very quickly. Before I knew it, it was nearing the end of January. Mello and I have been pretty comfortable living in the trailer. I won't say we didn't get cold at night, or that there weren't some days when we went hungry, but overall things were okay. I'd never imagined I could survive like this without a house…but I was. Although I knew I never could have done it on my own.

I owed a lot to Mello. I don't know how he could deal with helping another person in these circumstances. If it wasn't for him I would have starved, or been murdered, or froze to death.

But with Mello I had a provider and a protector. It was amazing how much things had changed.

The batteries for my Gameboy had worn out, but several days ago I had snatched some new ones and could play happily while Mello read. Although sometimes the intensity with which he read was distracting.

January was coming to an end. Inside out of the wind it was warmer, but it was still freezing. Half the time there was freezing rain, and half the time there was snow. Snow could be a problem because then footprints would lead to the trailer. On those days we had to be more creative getting inside.

It was dark now, and Mello was asleep beside me. I was too cold to sleep, but I was trying to help keep Mello warm in the meantime.

I froze though as I heard the quiet sound of tires. I scrambled up, pulling aside the ratty curtains to look outside.

A police car was pulling up.

Turning, I quickly began to shake Mello to wake him up. "Mello!" I whispered urgently. "Mello the police are here!"

He was up and moving at the word police. "Quick, go open a window on the other side," he was saying as he stuffed the blanket in my backpack. He moved to grab our meager food supplies and I quickly shouldered my backpack and did as he asked. I hovered at the window, nervously looking between Mello and the window.

"You go out now!"

There were footsteps now, and I scrambled out of the window as quietly as I could. We were lucky there was no snow on the ground right now. I slowly peeked around the side of the trailer.

There was only one officer, and he was almost at the door. I was on the verge of turning around to call to Mello when he appeared beside me. "Let's go," he whispered as the officer went inside. I nodded and followed behind as he fled from the trailer.

We retreated to our old alley. It was deserted so we both sat down, breathing heavily.

"That woman must have seen us," Mello said.

I nodded. "Did we leave any evidence inside?"

"Nothing that wouldn't already be there. The food I got and we were already wearing our coats. I had to leave behind some of my books though. I don't think they can use it to track us down though."

My eyes widened. "But what if the librarian describes me? She started watching me the last time I was there."

Mello scowled. "That's not good. We'll need to lay low for a couple of days. We should have enough food for us to get by."

I nodded, and then let my head fall on his shoulder. My throat was burning from the run, and I took several slow breaths to calm myself.

What if they caught us? What if they took me back to my parents? What if they found me now? He'd kill me! My dad would kill me! Subconsciously my hands tightened around Mello's arm as awful scenarios ran through my head. He'd beat me to death. It wouldn't be quick. He would draw it out…slow…painful…

"Matt! Calm down!"

I started and looked at him, trying to shake away my dark thoughts. It wasn't working though, and they stuck to me. What if, what if, what IF? I'm sure I must have looked desperate, clinging to him like that and staring at him.

"Mello. What if they catch us? What if they send me back home?! He'll kill me Mello. He'll kill me! And they'll take you somewhere and you'll be alone and I won't be able to find you and then I'll be alone too!" My voice was tinged with hysteria now. "They'll find us! They'll ruin everything! They think they'll be helping but they won't!"

"Mail!" he demanded.

I shut up.

His hands reached out slowly to settle on my shoulders. "Don't worry. They won't catch us. I won't let them take you back to your parents, even if they somehow do catch us. You won't have to go back to them…I promise."

I suddenly noticed my hands were shaking as I let out a slow breath. My hands fell from his shirt and I leaned against him again, suddenly exhausted.

He settled one arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. While I was sitting like this with him, I believed him. I believed he could shield me from the law, my parents, and the entire world.

I knew he wouldn't let me down.

/…/…/…/

"It's cold."

"…I know."

I shivered uncontrollably, pressing as close as I possibly could to Mello. The blanket was wrapped securely around us, but it was doing little to keep us warm.

Neither of us had gone back to sleep the night before…at least not like we normally did. I remember dozing on and off against Mello, but I had been particularly jumpy at any noise. Suffice to say I wished I could sleep, but without the trailer to go back to we were stuck out here.

And it was freezing.

I couldn't feel my hands, and my feet were throbbing. My head was buried against Mello's chest, and I could feel him shaking against me. There were just several more hours of nightfall left, and then we could get inside somewhere to warm up. It was unavoidable in this weather.

"Are we…are we going to d-die?" I asked finally, teeth chattering loudly.

"N-no!" he said angrily. Or it was supposed to be angrily, but he was stuttering with cold too. "We'll be f-fine. We just need to get mo-more…blankets tomorrow."

"Tomorrow seems so-so far away," I murmured, eyes heavy despite the cold. I was just so tired…I wanted to sleep, but the cold wind kept jerking me awake. Plus I knew sleeping right now was probably dangerous.

"Don't worry Matt. I saw in-in the newspaper th-that it was go-going to be in the forties in a couple days."

I feel a small smile, and I think Mello can feel it too. "That'll be nice."

Mello nodded. "So just hold out a…a couple more days," he said, both to himself and me I think. I was beginning to think this was his first winter on the streets, and to try and distract myself I decided to ask him

"When did you run away?"

"It was…near the e-end of February. Last year."

He didn't elaborate, and I didn't ask. I could tell it was something he didn't want to talk about, and I wasn't going to push him about it. I could only hope that someday he would be able to tell me.

A single snowflake fell and landed gently on the ground in front of us. If possible it only made me feel colder as we were surrounded by the light flakes. Mello groaned and glared up at the sky. "Can't you just give us a BREAK?!" he screamed at the sky. I jumped at the volume of his voice and he let his head fall back to his chest.

Hesitantly, I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer to me, so he was resting against my chest. It was usually the other way around, but he didn't seem to mind tonight, instead settling comfortable against me and shielding his face from the snow.

I rested my chin on the top of his head and held him tighter.

Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.

/…/…/…/

AN: Aww look at the ending. And are you shocked? A day later I've updated! I was very inspired to write this one. Hopefully the wait for chapter eight won't be very long either.

In case anyone was wondering, for a few of the chapters I've been using song titles or song lyrics that fit the story. I'll probably post a list of songs that helped me write this at the end of the story.

Please review, and thanks to everyone who keeps reading. I hope you're all enjoying it.