Have you guys been dying of curiousity at what happened next? And I mean just DYING? Well, come back to the land of the living and you'll be pleased and upset, depending on your personality, I guess, by the chappie!

~Luffles, Fairylust~

He finally managed to catch up about three thunder rumbles and two street corners later.

Matt stood, breathing irregularly, at the entrance to an alley staring into it looking afraid at the dark gloominess of the alleyway. Mello panted doing everything in his power to not swear Matt out for making him struggle to keep up in the chase. After a few minutes when he caught his breath he stood alongside his friend looking down the dark alleyway it was a haven for Near. Nobody was there, they were pretty sure. Who would want to hide down such a messy, creepy alley?

There were beat up garbage cans and two large dumpsters on opposite sides of the alley right against the faded gray and white cracked walls. There was graffiti on some spots of the walls, some faded while other graffiti looked newer, being more vibrant in color. There were broken or empty bottles all over the ground along with other bits of trash. A large black rat darted from one pile of crumpled newspapers across the alley. Making a loud squeak that caused Matt to jump back a little, it dived beneath a rather large sack of wood shavings, which leaned against an empty cardboard box next to the alleyway entrance, and out of sight. As though that weren't bad enough there were tons cardboard boxes and abandoned wooden crates stacked here and there. There were also some wooden blanks and boards of various sizes that were leaning against things or just stacked on the ground. One pile of stacked logs looked so neat, but had mold growing on some of the decaying wood.

As though imitating a tumbleweed an empty black garbage bag was blown across the alley by a gentle breeze from one side of the alley to the other and into a small partially opened cardboard box.

"Near could be anywhere in there." Matt breathed. He eyed the back of the alley feeling a bit relieved there was a chain-linked fence in the very back. "At least he can't go anywhere else."

"Yeah. He's trapped."

Matt started moving forwards but was stopped by Mello, who grabbed his sleeve to stop him from progressing. The redhead gave the blonde a look of surprise. "Why are you stopping me?" Matt asked. "We need to go find him. That's why were here in the first place, right?" He was looking confused, tenacious to find and help Near.

"We don't wanna scare him and we can't leave the opening unguarded or he might run out and away. You stay here and let me try to find him. When I do you can come help me talk with him and stuff. Oh, and I notice those dark clouds are almost over us so please find out when that storm is gonna hit and update me on that."

Nodding Matt obeyed, watching as Mello went into the dark alley, peering behind overturned garbage cans and in emptied crates. He looked under and behind one of the dumpsters. He moved to check the other and heard a frightened whimper when his foot kicked an empty glass bottle. It hit against the dumpster making it break. It was combined with a thunderous bang as it smashed to pieces against the metal. The whimpers died down after a few still seconds where Mello felt frozen where he stood.

Mello moved towards where the sound had come from and found Near curled up into a small ball of white, silhouetted by the darkness of the hiding place. He had wedged himself between a stack of crates and the dumpster, pressing himself back as far as he could go, feeling the cold, white cracked wall against his back. He stared briefly at the shoeless feet. He was even more terrified. Mello leaned down, knowing that Near must have crawled to get into that tight space, peering at the tiny boy he made his voice soft and kept his eyes trained on the wounded child.

"Nia?"

Trembling the small boy didn't respond.

"Nia, Matt and me want to help you."

Still no response.

"Nia." He said a bit louder. "It's me, Merro. What happened? You aren't hurt that badly are you? Nia?"

Looking up a little Near leaned forwards and moved, crawling slowly towards the older boy. He fell just a few inches from where Mello was looking in at him. "Give me your hand." The wary blonde ordered. Near obeyed stretching out his arm and showing Mello his tiny, blood smeared hand. Swallowing he took it gingerly in his own hand. He pulled him out as gently as he could, not wanting to wound Near anymore. Once outside of his hiding place Near turned his head down. Mello saw that his clothes were wet, as well as stained by blood and grime. The tiny hurt boy moved over to an upturned crate and sat down inside it burying his face in his knees, which were both pulled up to his chest for once to hide his face.

"Nia, I need to see your face." Mello said softly hoping to try and coax Near into cooperating with a gentle voice. "I need to see how badly your hurt, okay?"

He shook his head once. Frowning it was clear he would have to be harsh whether he liked it or not. It was for Near's own good. "Near," he said firmly, "look at me." This time Near did as told. He looked up at the older boy, scaring Mello a bit.

His face was slightly swollen and covered by blood. It was drying in his hair, around his bangs, sliding down the side of his face, dripping down his chin, drying on his cheeks, and around his nose. The majority of it came from his mouth, though. Looking at Near's mouth was like staring at a grotesque waterfall of blood. The liquid slipped past his lips and fell onto his clothing staining it more. There were faint signs of bruising, turning more noticeable, all over his face. Fresh along with dried tear stains were evident, as well.

Mello took all of this in before turning his sight downwards.

Without asking he pulled Near's slightly torn pants legs up, making him whimper in protest. He saw that the albino's knees were scrapped up and bleeding a bit. He also saw numerous bruises on the pale legs, along with a few minor cuts around his ankles where the pants legs were ripped. He guessed that happened to Near when he tried to crawl into his previous hiding place and his pants legs got caught on a large nail or something like that.

"Mello!" Matt called making Near jolt in surprise as he ran up to the blonde's side. "Do you have him, Mel?" He looked at Near and smiled a bit. His voice was hesitant. He was truly horrified by the sight. "Okay, that's great. But listen I did that checking and-"

A few raindrops fell, hitting both Mello and Matt's faces. The drops slid down their skin like tear drops. Looking up at the sky Mello didn't need to know what his companion was about to say. The storm was beginning at that moment. There was no way they could get the injured boy home. Looking to Matt his eyes filled with concern his asked, "How are we going to get him home, now?"

"We can't, you know that. It'd be better for all of us to just stay here. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess." He said getting down on his hands and knees. "Near move over." He said as he crawled in beside Near. Matt managed to fit himself in. There was still plenty of room for them to stretch out or shift positions. In the end it ended up with Matt lying leaned against the wall of the crate with his legs outstretched and barely touching the opposite wall. Near lay down flat on his back between the two older boys, dozing off to a peaceful and much needed sleep. Mello, who leaned against the very back of the wooden crate, stared outside as the rain poured down.

"Matt?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Light notices we're gone?"

"By now? Yeah, I would think so."

"Do you think L knows we're missing? Do you think he's looking around for us?"

"I-" he stopped himself to think for a moment. He shrugged a few minutes later. "I don't know, Mels. You and him had that big fight and…he seems happier with Light than with us. Maybe he'd be glad. But then again he has taken pretty good care of us so far, not all of that could have been pretend, could it?"

"I don't know!" Mello snapped. Near stirred a bit prompting Mello to quiet himself down. "I don't know." He said more quietly, calmly. "It could have been. I mean, like you said, he's happier with Light. And…" he thought back to what Light had said when they had him tied up. "He would want to be with him, because we're just selfish brats."

Matt looked at Mello in surprise.

"What? It's true, isn't it?" he stopped to take a deep breath. Looking to Matt again he appeared doleful. "I've trashed talked to L and said things that I really regret now and when he was worried. I just made things harder on him." He paused sniffling and rubbing at his eyes. Moments later when he was calmed down he continued with what he was saying. "And if we cared about him we would have tried to keep him that way and Light makes him happy. We knew that." He paused to stare at Matt who was looking as blank and defeated as Mello felt. "We knew that Matt, but we kept trying to get rid of him. Isn't that selfish?"

"No."

"No?"

"We wanted to keep Light from taking our dad from us. That isn't selfish. It's caring and fearing. Think about it. Our moms walked out on us before we could even remember and L was all we had left. You especially wouldn't want to lose him after losing your mom."

"Yeah, well, I would take L over some slutty airhead."

"I'd take L over a spiteful, fiery ginger."

"And Near would-" Mello started but cut himself off remembering Near was the lucky one, he was the one who had the mother L loved and wanted to be with forever. But instead of leaving like the others she just died. She just wilted like a fragile daisy in winter, because she had always been just that, fragile.

It wasn't right, or fair.

"He would take L over a corpse." Matt muttered when Mello didn't finish saying it. They knew it and thought it but neither had dared say it before. Now it had been said out loud and it was like a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders, yet at the same time something poked at their empathy because now that it had been said it felt even more real. And it felt wrong.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" he asked evenly, looking at the wounded boy that slept fitfully between them, hugging Matt's leg like it were a stuffed animal. Matt grinned a bit seeing this. "He shouldn't die. He's too sweet."

"Please." Mello scoffed rolling his eyes. "Don't build the twerp up. He wouldn't be in the mess in the first place if he had stayed home where it's semi-safe."

"No," Matt argued, "he wouldn't be in this mess if we had made sure he wasn't listening in on our walkie-talkie talk. We did say things about him that I am pretty sure made him unhappy or mad. We said some sad things, you know. And some mean things. You said some real depressing things, too. And we did talk about running away, so he probably got the idea from us." Matt watched as the weary Mello gave him a glare. "You know I'm right."

"I'm usually the one to say stuff like that."

"You can keep with it, cause I don't like it. I like being the guy who says the sad truth that makes you have to consol me, whatever that means." He paused to look at his friend who was giving him an amused smirk. "I mean, it's true and all, but defending us makes me feel…self-centered, I guess."

"So what?" Mello snapped louder than he intended. "You think I sound like a self-centered jerk a lot of the time?"

Near stirred.

"Shhh, Mello, you're gonna wake him! And yes I do think you're a self-centered jerk a lot of the time, but ya know what? You're my self-centered jerk. And I love you, you self-centered jerk."

"Stop acting weird, Matt!" The blonde whined flushed in embarrassment. "You're a real pain in my neck to be my only favorite little redheaded half-brother."

"You're awesome." Matt teased. "You're just so awesome, Mel!"

"I know."

The two burst into wild, uncontrolled giggles minutes later, which eventually made Near sit up and look between the two that were laughing. He sighed quietly and laid back down feeling too tired to stay up for long. His bones hurt and his muscles ached.

"Oh!" Mello gasped suddenly not in the mood to laugh. "Sorry, we didn't mean to wake you up, Near." He said feeling more worried, now. Near's face was now a bit swollen and there was still a slow dribble of blood from within his mouth, leaking between his lips.

"Hey, bud." Matt said. "You aren't looking too good. Wanna tell us what happened?"

Near shook his head a bit, covering his face the best he could with his tiny hands, smearing some still wet blood on his already bloodstained face. Fearing they would get mad he pretended they weren't there at all. This however proved to just make them mad anyway. Thunder boomed loudly making them freeze, they relaxed when lightening flashed lighting up the night. Near found himself trembling and clinging to Matt's arm for dear life, it seemed.

"It's okay." Matt whispered sitting up as straight as he could, pulling Near onto his lap, and then wrapping his arms protectively around the small boy. "Everything is gonna be okay, Nia. We won't let anybody hurt you, kay? You can trust us to stick by you, no matter what."

"That's right." Mello said gently. Near looked over to him through glassy onyx eyes. It made the blonde's heart quiver to think that anyone could harm the freakish lamb that was in some way cute. "We just wanna help you. If you answer our questions we will get you all the help you need."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Matt whispered brushing the boy's wispy white bangs away from his eyes. He noticed with disgust that the bangs were stained with blood. "Promise."

"Near," Mello said firmly, leaning forwards, now on his knees with his hands in front of them. "If anyone has hurt you tell us. We can get you help or get someone who could help you. You really look hurt. Will you let us help?"

Near thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay." Smiling forcefully Mello breathed out in relief. "What happened to you? I mean, how did you get hurt? You look hurt real bad and you're only getting worse."

"I was walking and then a man came up. He said he was gonna take me to his house. I got scared. I remembered what Daddy said to me before and was really scared. 'No, I'm going someplace else' I said. Then he got angry with me, really angry because I would not do what he said. He yelled and grabbed onto my wrist and started to pull me, so I struggled to get away. That was bad of me. He grabbed my arms real tightly and shook me really hard. There are bruises where he had squeezed my arms, want to see?" When neither of them replied, but gaped at him, Near continued with his heartrending tale. "He shook my whole body and didn't stop even when I screamed." Near looked up at his two brothers with wide eyes and a smile that only revealed dread. "For a minute I saw white in the sky, because he shook me so hard! I managed to get away but he grabbed me and tossed me against a brick wall. All I really remember after that is a lot of screaming, which I think was me, and pain that I know for certain he caused. I think he kept stomping and hitting or kicking me."

"Poor, Nia." Matt cooed. "That's awful."

"Yeah." Mello quietly agreed. "We should get you someplace safe. The guy who was hurting you might still be around."

"No, no, no!" Near squealed clinging to Matt and burying his head into the older boy's chest. He started to shake and his shoulders heaved letting the two older boys know he was sobbing. "Please," he whispered, "please, don't let the monster get me! Please, please, please! Don't let the monsters get me!" He broke down crying and shaking, pleading that his brothers protect him.

Mello moved forwards prying Near from Matt's grasp and pulling him onto his lap. His eyes seemed to soften as the smaller boy wrapped his arms around Mello, not wanting to let go, no matter what, crying softly trying to calm himself. "It's okay." The blonde said gently. "Everything is gonna be okay now. You've got us here and we're gonna take care of you, until we get home. Okay? There's no need for you to be so scared anymore."

Nodding he tried to calm down. It was difficult but he finally quieted down. Sniffling he eventually relaxed in the blonde's hold. Matt smiled as he stared out at the rain, which seemed to fall even harder. The smile became a scowl when a drop of water leaked down on him. Looking back to Mello he saw that the blonde was holding onto the seriously wounded albino boy who was now sleeping. Their gazes met mere seconds later. Mello blushed profusely turning his eyes away from Matt's.

"I don't like him. I just don't want him to die."

"Yeah. Sure."

Mello said nothing but stared down at Near, running a hand through his white strands soothingly.

"We can't stay her for much longer." Matt said feeling another drop of water land on him, then a second later two drops hit his hand. "The top of this is already leaking, plus he might get sick from all the germs around here."

"We're safer here than out on the streets. Besides, it's only leaking where you're sitting. Near and me are both nice and dry. And germs aren't really that big of a deal compared to everything else he's been through."

"Yeah. Good point. Hey!"

"Hmm?"

"What's up with that?"

"What?"

"There is blood on his back!"

"Maybe he got cut there."

"Should we check?"

"Yes. If it's deep we'll have to try and find a way to stop the bleeding."

"Okay." Matt said. "Give me a minute." He moved closer until he was behind Near before he lifted up the white pajama shirt and saw the mark. It made his eyes widen considerably. The bite mark was obviously from a human and it was big and deep, still bleeding a little after what had probably been a long while since it was made.

"What is it?" Mello asked seeing Matt's shocked expression. "Mello," he said in a nervous, high-pitched voice, "I think he was more than just beat up. There is a really huge bite mark on his shoulder and it's bleeding pretty badly, still."

"Oh, for the love of-"

"What are we gonna do?"

"Matt, clam down-"

"No! I can't take it! He was hurt and we're lost and we're probably gonna die out here!"

"Matt! We aren't gonna die. I swear we're gonna get home safely. If not all of us then you and Near. I promise I won't let anything bad happen to either of you, okay?"

Nodding the redhead wiped the tears away. He took a few silent deep breaths to calm down and looked to Mello with a forced smile and hopeless eyes. "Do you still have that money?" he asked. He watched as Mello nodded bringing it from his pocket. Matt started to take it but Mello closed his hand into a fist and jerked his hand back. Matt scowled at this looking at him befuddled.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Call someone," he said quietly. Mello watched as his hands clutched at his jeans. "I saw a phone booth not that far from here earlier when we followed Near. I figured that I could try and call someone to come get us. L, Light, A, B, Taro…just someone."

He shrugged when he ran out of phone numbers he had learned by heart in his head. He watched as Mello shook his head, putting the money back in his pocket. Without a word he locked eyes with Matt and they made a silent, unspoken agreement. The agreement was that Matt would look after Near and Mello would risk catching a cold to try and call for a ride. Being as gentle as he could he handed Near over to Matt, who held him as tenderly as he could in his nervous state.

The blonde got out of their shelter flinching when the rain made contact with his previously warm, dry skin and clothes.

Doesn't this chappie just tug on your sympathy strings and break your heart?

Oh, and don't you hate how I leave off these chappies with cliffhangers or grim settings/situations? Well, anywayz, hope you enjoyed this update! X3

I honestly dunno when the next shall be. ;P

~Luv, Fairylust~