Yawning he felt rather tired so he climbed up onto the couch, curled himself into a ball, and let himself doze off. When he woke up he was in a bed with Mello and Matt holding onto him tightly. He instinctively tensed. He wasn't used to being so close to people or animal-featured people even. Near was just used to being alone, so he crawled down and went to get into his bed. He was surprised by how soft it was and immediately liked it.

He climbed up underneath the covers and let himself fall into a sea of dreams. A red mist drifted over all of them, so they were more nightmarish than anything else, but the small boy didn't wake even at the really, really daunting parts. He saw bad people, lots of them, all glaring and hating. He was afraid, extremely frightened.

Mello and Matt just so happened to have woken up and found that their little friend was gone. "He isn't making being friends easy you know." Matt said rubbing his eyes. He felt tired and maybe a little annoyed that Near was being so difficult.

Mello nodded in agreement, but also felt slightly worried that Near had ran off to the basement or attic or cellar or just away. "I'll check the rooms up here and you can check around everyplace else." He said as he padded off to go find his and Matt's new friend.

"I wanna follow you, though!" the redhead pouted. His little dog tail drooping. Mello saw this and smirked feeling kinda sorry for his best friend. He nodded letting his cat ears twitch with amusement at how easy it was to make that tail of Matt's wag and wag like crazy. It just made him want to giggle. Mello wondered if Matt knew how easily his tail was manipulated, but quickly decided to not bring that up.

They both padded down the halls looking into rooms, but it wasn't until they opened the door to A and B's room did they actually saw something interesting. A was underneath B and his face was cherry red. His blush seemed to intensify when B and he noticed they had interrupted. The two children stood in the doorway silently.

There was an awkward sort of silence and suddenly the silence ended when B got up. He grabbed his shirt and put it on appearing rather annoyed. "You two have to ruin everything, don't you?" He grumbled walking past them casually.

Mello shrugged not really caring that he ruined whatever it was those weird teenagers were doing and drug Matt off down the hall to their and Near's room. They were glad when they saw Near in his bed, but they weren't so glad to see he was tangled in the blankets and thrashing around like crazy.

"What do you think he's dreaming about?" Mello whispered to Matt.

"I dunno, but it seems to be making him run. Look at how his legs are moving, Mello, my legs do that sometimes when I dream about running. His hands are fists and he looks like he's scared when you look at him close enough."

"Yeah. Do you think we should wake him up?"

"I don't think so. B said you should wake someone up when they are sleeping."

"Forget B." Mello hissed angrily. "He's a stupid jerkface. We should wake Near up if he's getting scared, or else he might jump under something when he wakes up himself."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Of course I'm right!"

"How should we wake him up?"

"Shake him?"

"Okay. I'll do it."

"Whatever." Mello muttered. He hoped that he was right and B wasn't because there had been a few times when he was wrong and B was right and Matt ended up paying the price, it seemed, most of the time. Maybe it was because he did almost whatever Mello told him to? Still, the redhead never cowered away from Mello and his ideas.

So, Matt shook Near by his shoulder but that just seemed to make the small boy whimper and whine as he continued to sleep. He shook him again, but harder. Sure enough Near woke up, but he woke with a scream. Near looked to the older boys shocked and fearful, as he didn't see them clearly due to the effects of sleep, so he smacked Matt in the face leaving claw marks. The redhead fell from the bed and landed with a loud thud. "Run! Run! Run!" Near screamed jumping from the bed and running out of the room.

There was a loud cry from someplace else and both boys ran to see B looking out the open doorway. "Great." He growled sarcastically. "Just great."

"What happened?" A asked standing behind Mello, who appeared rather shaken, and Matt, who was holding his wounded cheek. The bunny-eared teen slammed the front door shut and tossed the mail to the floor. "Beyond what happened?" he asked again when he didn't receive any answer the first time he had asked.

"The little albino scaredy cat just got out of the bag." He replied with a grim look. Running to get his laptop he was certain they weren't going to hear the end of this incident for a while. "We've got to tell L." he said when he realized that A had followed him with a look of concern and panic on his face. "Are you serious?" he questioned with a look that baffled B.

"Yeah. Who knows what trouble the little kitten kid can get into outside."

"We should have already called, but now you want to call!"

"Yeah well last time wasn't anything very bad. There was no need to call, seeing as there was no real emergency. It's an emergency, now, though! Last time we had no idea where he was, but now we do know and you know how dangerous it for him to be out alone. If you don't remember you ran off when you were a kid and got beat up by some bullies."

"I remember!" A snapped. "I was in the ER for three days!"

"Yeah, so do I have to be the giver of bad news or should you?"

"You do it! If he's gonna be mad and kill someone over this, then I'd rather it be your crazy ass on the line."

"Cold." Beyond laughed. He gave that some thought before speaking again. "Yeah my ass is pretty crazy, but I doubt L would kill me. Or anyone for that matter."

"Still. They always shoot the messenger. Besides, I've got to see to Matt and Mello." A said, as he then left the room. "It looked like Matt cut his cheek or something."

Beyond ignored his boyfriend as he left the room and sent L a message, which read one simple word: catastrophe. He meant for there to not be any puns, but he made one by mistake and had to chuckle once he realized it. Beyond heard a yelp from down the hall, but he just worried about speaking with L, who answered the email within moments on web cam. He appeared serious yet blank at once when he appeared. Beyond tried to smile a bit, but he faltered and found that he could only frown.

"What's happened this time, Beyond?"

"It seems that little Nate has escaped."

"Escaped? You mean he ran away?"

"Yeah, he's run away again."

"Again?"

"Yeah. He-"

"Why wasn't I called the first time?"

"It was just in the basement! It was no big deal, but yeah, he's got outside. We aren't entirely sure why he ran outside. All I know is that I was checking the mail and the little kid ran past me screaming and shouting. I tried to grab him, but I had mail and he was like a blur so, yeeeaaah, he got away and we have no idea where he is now."

"I'm just finishing up here, but until I get there I want you and A to keep Matt and Mello in the house and to be looking for him. If he hasn't been found by the time I am back then I will be checking the morgues for any strange cat-child and then I'll see if your name is beneath the obituaries, understand?"

"Y-yes."

"Good." He said with a condescending look. The screen went black and Beyond felt sick. L was definitely pissed, but more than that. He was disappointed that B had let something like that happen. He was in charge and should have been watching the little fluff ball. He went to the living room where A sat in the chair looking at the ground nervously. Matt and Mello sat beside each other on the couch. "Well, you informed him, so how did L take the news?" A asked with a broken, hopeless smile. "Did that conversation go well?"

"Well, my dearest A, that conversation was short and rather distressing."

"What did L say?" he asked with a panicked look. "We're in trouble aren't we?"

"Oh, no, L just said that if we don't find him, we my dearest A, as in you and me, then we'll be going six feet under."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Six feet under!" Beyond repeated in a singsong voice. There was a smile on his face that contradicted the grave words. His ruby eyes flashed and he waited a moment before there was a response from the other male who thought on that for a short minute or two.

"We're toast!" A groaned miserably. "Near could be anywhere by now! If he's too far from here, then we'll never catch him! He could die out there and it's all our fault!"

"Not really." B said shrugging. "We just suck at babysitting. I first took a guess we'd suck when I almost shoved Blondie in the oven while it was on and you almost poisoned Red after mixing soda and cleaning chemicals by mistake."

"Would you please just shut up? Those were…common…mistakes, I'm sure. This is huge! If he dies then we'll be the biggest screw-ups in history!"

"Don't be so overly dramatic, drama queen."

"That's how L will see it!" A protested. "We're the oldest here!"

Beyond nodded. He smiled broadly as he went and wrapped a scarf around his neck and put on a hat to cover his ears as best he could. His black rabbit tail was already hidden in his pants, so he didn't worry about that. "I'll find the runt and bring him back, don't worry." B said trying to be optimistic, despite the fact he really didn't want to be the one to act like things were okay. If he had to be honest he'd bet that it'd be easier to just start digging his grave. He knew L didn't mean he'd really kill them, but their punishment would be very severe and B didn't like punishments in any form.

"See you later." He said leaving. It was cold outside and the snow didn't make things easier either. Please be okay kid. He thought trudging down the sidewalk. I don't want to get in trouble because of you. The weather was bound to get worse. He just knew it.

Near shivered feeling numbed. Where was he? He had no idea, but just knew that he was totally lost. Sniffling he huddled beneath a cardboard box in the alley he found himself in. He would just wait where he was until someone, if anyone, found him.

Surely, L or A or even B would think to look for him. They wouldn't just abandon him, would they? He didn't know, honestly, he didn't. He was scared and cold and hungry and just wanted to go home. The cold wind chilled him, despite how numb he already felt.

He was tempted to sleep. He didn't know that sleep meant death in this sort of weather, so Near began to sleep, but the sound of someone walking by made him snap his eyes open and look to see someone was standing over him.

I apologize for taking so long to update. I hope this and the next chapter makes things up to you guys!

P.S. Thanks for your patience.

~Sincerely, Fairylust~