Authors Note: HEYO! XD Please tell me what you think; I would love to know XD I own nothing and no one.

JUST SO YOU KNOW: I have taken creative liberties with middle names, so please take that into consideration. Also, I've only seen the Anime and have only JUST started the Manga.

This is my FIRST Death Note fic, so I suppose you could say I'm new to the Fandom! Also, I live in England, I don't know Japanese, so any Japanese I use in this story I get from Google Translate XD

Please review XD

P.S. This is an AU - Light was never Kira, but still helped during the investigation; obviously, Light and L did not die; the Kira case took 1 year to clear up, not (about) 7; set in 2016. I apologise for OOCness, but it IS an AU ;)

Chapter 2

L

"I won't pretend to know exactly what happened to Mello. All I know is what Watari and, eventually, Mello himself told me." I said to Light. "So I'll explain this to you how I came to know."

Light nodded, turning on the sofa to face me completely, crossing his legs and hugging his mug of tea to his chest. It was the position he always took whenever I would give a little bit of my past to him, not that he noticed. It was a subconscious movement, something I found rather endearing...

Shifting my feet from underneath me, I copied Light's position, facing him. I rarely ever changed my seating habit, but there were time when I deemed it acceptable. This being one of those times.

For a moment, I was silent, running through the many different ways I could start off Mello's story. It was no easy think, that was for sure. I mean, did I start with what I had been told? Did I start with Mello's behaviour when he got to the House? Where was the best place for me to start?

As I had my internal debate, Light just sat there patiently. His expression remained neutral, only moving to lift his mug to his lips. He just sat there, watching me, waiting for me to sort my head out before speaking.

It's what he always did.

Light never tried to force anything.

Taking a deep breath, I began my recount:

"I was fifteen, when Watari brought Mello to the house..."

Saturday, December 2nd 2006

It was a cold, dark winters day. What else do you expect from England in December? It was a miracle that it wasn't raining!

Many of the younger children had taken to playing outside, a number of the staff watching over them. Few stayed inside, splitting between their bedrooms and the kitchen. I was the only one that sat in the communal area, a room reminiscent of a living room. Though I was thought as the most accomplished out of the children, I was still what people would consider 'a loner'. I didn't socialise with the others, nor did I want to. I didn't like people; I wasn't one to trust people. Watari and Roger were the only exceptions.

I was thumbing through a case file, from America - not a particularly difficult case, that being the reason I didn't find it necessary to take the journey 'across the pound', as it were. I had estimated that the case would take me, minimum, of a week - maximum of a week and a half. At that current moment, I was right on track.

I had been working on the file for the entire day, communicating back and forth with my contact in America via email - I hadn't seen Watari for hours. I heard him say that morning that he had somewhere he needed to go; do something that required his immediate attention. He didn't need to go into any detail, it was obvious what he was doing - he was brining someone new into the house. And, with the lack of detail he gave, it was obvious the situation said child was in was a dangerous one.

I just hoped Watari got there in time.

It was as the thought crossed my mind that I heard the door open. Two pairs of feet, one of them Watari's, shuffled inside into the warmth. I expected Watari to heard the child into the communal area - he always introduced them to me, leaving them in the room whilst he went to get Roger.

What I didn't expect? The child screaming and yelling.

It was a reflex - jumping off of the sofa and running towards the door. No matter what, whenever I heard the sound of a terrified child, I always ran towards the sound. I refused to look into why...

The boy I found in the hallway was no older than five. His blond hair in a bob, his blue eyes wide. From head to toe, he was covered in bruises, his ripped, black clothes doing nothing to cover them from view. He was shaking, crying, hiding behind Watari as three of the other adults tried to get closer, almost trapping the boy - honestly, they were idiots!

Clearing my throat, I caught attention of the three idiots. All I had to do was stare at them, that being enough communication for them all to back away slowly... That seemed to be the only thing they could understand - 'L talk', as people put it.

The boy was clutching Watari's leg, his face turned into the man's coat... They hadn't gotten within arm's reach and he was still terrified.

Just what happened to you?

Taking in Watari's solemn expression, I knew better than to ask questions - I would be informed later on. Instead, I made my way towards the two of them, slowly. I stopped a safe distance away from my Guardian, taking a bar of chocolate from the pocket of my jeans, crouching down how I did whenever I sat down. Making eye contact with the boy, I held out the chocolate bar, nodding for him to take it. He looked up at Watari, waiting for his ok, before he moved to take it...

I had never seen a child eat so quickly.

(Small time skip)

It was surprisingly easy to get the boy to agree to sit with me after that, whilst Watari went to find Roger. Apparently, chocolate was the way to establish trust?

"I am L." I told him after a couple of minutes, the boy just staring at me. "What's your name?"

"Mihael Keehl." the boy whispered. "I'm five in eleven days."

Of course I was right...

"I don't wanna go back." Mihael whimpered, sniffling. "I don't wanna get hurt anymore..."

I couldn't understand why his words hurt me the way they did; why they affected me. It had never happened before... Was it because he was so young? Was it because of the pure fear in his voice? Was it because he was crying?

No - I had witnessed many crying and scared children in my life, it wouldn't be because of that... So why now?

"You won't go back." I told him, turning back to the file. "You'll be safe here."

"How'd you know?" he croaked.

"Because I'm still alive."

(Small time skip)

Whilst Mihael was waiting with me, he ate a bit more - mainly chocolate bars. He told me how he was never really given much to eat. I just gave him a few more, making sure he would drink some water between every few bites.

As time went one, he slowly inched his way towards me, not stopping until he was pressed against my side. Somehow, he even managed to wiggle his way underneath my arm, burying himself closer.

That was when I felt him shivering, his teeth chattering.

Trying not to move too much, I pulled the blanket off of the back of the sofa, unfolding it enough to wrap around the child, placing my arm back around his shoulders once it was in place. I tried not to put too much pressure onto him, not wanting to aggravate his bruises and hurt anymore than he already had been.

As the boy ate and drank, I continued to work my case, going over my evidence again, using my laptop to look into my suspect. I knew who had done it, I just needed to find how he was connected him to the crime. That was always my problem, trying to convince others that, yes, I was right. It always complicated things, always led to more damage - more death. They brought me into stop them but, as soon as I gave them their man, I had to prove it, which caused more... Yes, because that makes sense to me.

"What are you doing?" Mihael asked, rubbing gingerly at his bruised eye.

"Working." I sighed.

"But you're not old. How can you work?"

"When you have my intelligence, you don't have to be 'old' to work."

"What do you do?"

"I'm a detective."

As if a switch was flipped, Mihael instantly perked up. Still with my arm around his shoulders, the boy scrambled up onto his knees, leaning over me to get a good look at my laptop.

"You catch bad guys?!" he asked, wide eyed.

I gave the boy a single nod, watching him.

His sudden change in mood - behaviour - was very curious indeed...

"That's what I wanna do when I grow up!" he stated, confidently. "Can you teach me?"

(Small time skip)

By the time Watari came back with Roger, I had made some headway with the case... I had also, somehow, started to develop some sort of bond with the child next to me. They seemed even more shocked than I felt at this, the two of them freezing the moment they stepped into the communal area and saw me with the boy.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as Mihael caught sight of Roger, the boy reverted back to how he was when he first walked into the house. He pushed himself further into my side, disregarding what pain he felt from the bruises.

"Mihael, this is Roger." Watari told the boy, calmly. "He runs the house when I'm away."

Mihael said nothing, using the blanket around him to bury himself even closer.

The only way they got Mihael to talk was with more chocolate - and the promise that he could stay next to me. Never had I thought I would be part of someone's conditions - unless they wanted me dead, that I had thought of and expected.

To be honest, I didn't listen to the conversation. I turned my attention, yet again, to the case, but I made sure to keep a part of my mind on the boy next to me. I made sure to keep a check on how he was reacting to what both Watari and Roger were saying, making sure he wouldn't start screaming again.

I couldn't understand why I cared.

I couldn't understand what was different about this boy, compared to all the other kids in the House...

What was so different?

(Small time skip)

Mihael fell asleep shortly after he spoke with Roger and Watari. He was holding onto me so tightly that I ended up having to take him to his knew room. When they had been trying to decide what room to put the boy in, it was the only time I spoke up. I told them to put him in one of the rooms opposite mine - I thought it would be easier, considering how well he had taken to me.

As soon as I had placed him in the bed, covering him with the covers, I kept the door ajar and followed Watari to his office. It was the only place we could talk, without having to censor anything.

Watari's office was, also, his room. It was quite large, split into two so he didn't technically 'sleep' in his office. When the man let me inside, I immediately jumped onto one of the chairs, biting at the nail of my left thumb as I waited.

"I expect you have some theories?" Watari asked, walking around to the other side of his desk, sitting down with a sigh.

"I do." I nodded. "I would prefer for you to tell me."

Watari nodded his head, rubbing a hand over his mouth for a second. He stared down at his desk, resting his elbows on top of the polished wood, letting the weight of the day finally settle on himself.

"Mello was neglected by his parents. He was beaten, mentally and emotionally abused. I have been trying to intervene for some time now..." Watari told me. "Today, after many calls to many people, I was finally able to bring him into our custody."

"Yes, I thought that was the case." I said. "I suppose there's more?"

Again, Watari nodded.

"Turning up at the house today we found Mihael's father in the living room with his drinking friends. His mother was spread out on the sofa, smoking a 'joint', with bruises on her face, legs and arms - I don't think I need to explain what had happened there..." Watari went on. "My contacts took care of those downstairs, whilst I went to find Mihael. He was locked in an empty room, the windows boarded up, with nothing in there by an old, broken mattress. He was covered in bruises, as you saw, shaking and crying far more than when he came into the house."

I didn't say anything. I just sat there, waiting for the man I thought of as my father to finish speaking. He needed to tell me, far more than I needed to know.

"Thankfully, the boy knows me, he knew why I was there." Watari finished. "His parents will be prosecuted; he will stay here. Unfortunately, he will have to live with the memories."

P.S. This is an AU - Light was never Kira, but still helped during the investigation; obviously, Light and L did not die; the Kira case took 1 year to clear up, not (about) 7; set in 2016. I apologise for OOCness, but it IS an AU ;)

Please review XD

Thanks XD