The next hour was tense. Mello stood, leaning against a wall, as Light sent him glares and Near stared. Matt, who still seemed to be coming to terms with the information, began to pace throughout the room. Mello ignored him all, letting his eyes stay fixed on the bedroom door. Was it possible that L would remember? And, if he did remember something, what would it be?

"Should someone be in there?" Matt finally said, pausing in his movements for a moment while his eyes flickered throughout the room. "I mean, Near seems…uncomfortable when he's sleeping. Maybe L-"

"No," Near said plainly, looking down as all eyes turned to him. "If L begins to relive some of his counterparts memories, waking him up will force the memory to be incomplete," his dark eyes moved to Mello's for a moment before returning to the floor, "it is…irritating to not see the completion."

Irritating? Near found something irritating? "And what memory didn't you see the end of?" Mello asked sharply.

Near's eyes narrowed slightly, but the boy did not bother looking up. "Dear Mello," he responded quietly.

Mello moved instantly, anger rising in his chest once more at those words, but his path was instantly blocked by Matt. "Okay, no. This isn't happening again. What the hell does that mean?"

Mello scowled, stepping back to lean against the wall once again. "Mello came to the SPK headquarters," Near replied.

"So you said," Matt cut in.

"He came to retrieve a…memento."

"Is that what we're calling it?" Mello scoffed.

"The words are from that object," Near continued, ignoring the comments he received. "I believe Mello does not like that particular…memory, for lack of better word."

Mello's mind instantly flashed to that night. Stepping foot into that building. Seeing the picture. The words. The gun in his hand. The gun that he wanted so desperately to shoot at that moment. The thoughts in his head, of pulling the trigger, of finally beating Near…

He shuddered.

Matt, who had been watching him closely, noticed and opened his mouth to respond, only to snap it shut when the bedroom door swung open.

L walked into the room, instantly turning every eye onto him. He merely moved toward his usual chair, perching on it as he faced the computer screen. "Has there been any developments while I was gone?"

Mello felt his fists clench. Was this all he was going to get? Had it worked? "No," Light replied cautiously. Mello smirked as the other boy spoke. He seemed hesitant. So, he knew as well as Mello that there was a possibility his little…comrade with L would end if L began to remember.

"I assumed as much," L responded, turning his complete attention to his computer screen.

Matt turned to Mello, eyes wide. What the hell? He mouthed.

Mello shrugged, just as confused and impatient as Matt seemed to be.

"I believe everyone would like to know the outcome of your experiment," Near said plainly to the shock of every person in the room. Even L's eyes widened for a moment. Near was never that straightforward and he was more patient then all of them.

"Light-kun had a very nice opening ceremony speech," L replied, his eyes once again fixed on his computer screen. "Though he did not seem to care for mine until I entrusted him with my identity."

"Speech?" Matt questioned lowly.

But Mello was watching Light. Light, who had gone drastically pale and was staring at the man in front of him. "You – you saw that?"

"In this regard, it seems the experiment was successful," L stated calmly. "I will ensure to get more sleep from this point on. Seeing things for oneself helps one to understand the full extent of the situation."

Light stood instantly, "Right. Good. I should be going, my parents will be wondering where I am-"

"Light-kun usually stays for another hour."

"I have homework to complete."

"It never seemed to come between the case before."

"L-"

"Near, please ensure you sleep as well," L cut off the now fuming Light. "As your memories take place after my own it will be compelling to compare them."

Mello watched as Light's hands tightened into fists as he continued to stare at the detective. After a moment of complete silence, the younger turned on his heel and made his way toward the door. "We will see you tomorrow, Light-kun," L called as Light began to close the door behind him. The door paused for a moment before slamming shut.

"Well, that was awkward," Matt muttered as he pulled out his gaming device and slid down to sit on the floor.

"Mello, please compile a list of any persons you believe would have had contact with the Death Note. We can no longer rule out the possibility that it is not just the people that used it that remember this alternate timeline."

"I wouldn't know all of them," Mello said, pushing himself away from the wall.

"Near and myself will add to it if we see anything different."

Mello watched as Near's hands tightened around the robot he had grabbed shortly after L's announcement. He frowned. L seemed to think this could be a good thing. Why didn't Near? He had to know that, as L had stated, if he remembered what had happened, it put an entirely new outlook on the events. Yet, Near seemed to be doing whatever he could not to remember.

With those thoughts in mind, Mello grabbed a notebook and a pen from beside Matt's computer and made his way to the other boy. He slid down beside him, trying to ignore the fact that the younger actually shifted away from him for the first time in weeks, and began to write. He was only a couple names in, names of his old Mafia contacts, when he felt Near shift again, this time closer to him. Fighting back a smile, Mello continued to write.

"Stephan Gevanni," Near said quietly as Mello continued to write, "he is the person that traded the Death Note for the forgery."

Without comment, Mello added the name onto the list he was creating. Near had said he remembered the warehouse – apparently, this was the place that Kira had taken his last stand. Did he also remember what led up to that event? Did he remember Mello's death? Hell, was it even important enough for Near to remember?

Mello finished the list with the questions still running through his mind. He quickly stood and passed it over to L, who glanced at it briefly before motioning toward Matt. "Matt, please encrypt and place within the working file. We cannot leave a list of names lying around at this moment."

Mello's eyes narrowed at the words, was that an insult?, before passing the paper to Matt. Matt took it quickly, still playing his game, as he stood and moved toward his computer. "Sure," he muttered, his mind obviously on another matter.

Task completed, Mello decided he would get some sleep. Without any break in the case, there wasn't much for them to do. "I'm turning in," he announced, moving toward the bedroom before anyone could stop him.

He changed quickly and climbed into bed, his mind still on his previous questions. Would Near even tell him if he did see Mello's death? How would he, did he, react to it? Did he feel the same pain Mello had when he heard that Matt had been shot down? The same disbelief as when they were told of L's demise?

What would L remember? The reports he sent had been incredibly detailed, not surprising, but was there anything the detective had left out? Mello had always thought the reports seemed to be missing something. Why would L let Light get as close as he had? Was there more to the story that Mello and Near hadn't been aware of? Lights reaction to L's comment had been interesting. The detective had only seen the meeting between the two – so why had Light acted like that? Was he just afraid of L seeing what happened between them later? Of Light's plan to kill L?

Mello was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't notice that Mello and Near had joined him in the room until Matt, who was already asleep, turned and flung his arm over Mello's stomach. With a huff of irritation, Mello grabbed his best friends arm and flung it away from him. He turned his head slightly, not even surprised to see Near fast asleep in the second bed. He really needed to start paying attention to his surroundings. How had he not noticed the two come in? Why hadn't they said anything to him, had they thought he was asleep?

It was obvious to everyone that Near and Mello had been getting along much better than they ever had in the past. It was something Mello had been working towards. Would these dreams change that? Would Near block himself off from Mello, from everyone, again?

With a groan, Mello turned his back to the other boy. There wasn't any use in wondering about that. He needed to focus on the fact that now there were more, many more, suspects for them to deal with. Not to mention the fact that there was a possibility that someone completely new had picked up the Death Note, in which case all of their research would be for nothing.

Mentally going through the list he had made earlier, Mello let out a sigh. He doubted that any of his Mafia contacts had anything to do with this. Sure, he could see them killing the cop if he got in their way, but a high school teacher? They had no reason to do that. They didn't even know who Light was, Mello had certainly never told them, so they wouldn't have used her death to mock him. And, like they had discussed earlier, there was a possibility that the only reason Near and L had been able to recover some of their memories was because they already knew the Death Note existed and had been informed of their other self. Which would mean none of the others should be remembering anything.

He could feel a headache coming on.

He still thought the best course of action was looking for Misa Amane. Light had told him how the girl had received her Death Note – was there a possibility that her death would once again be overridden? Would the Shimigami give himself up to save her? Would yet another Death Note find its way to Earth? Where could the girl have possibly-

Mello's thoughts broke off as he heard muttering. He sat up quickly and turned his eyes to the youngest in the room. Near was panicking. He was tossing from one way to the next, muttering under his breath. Mello stood quickly, moving toward the other boy, but stopped himself from waking him. Hadn't he said earlier that waking him up before the memory ended would just leave more questions? "No….no! Stop….burning…."

"Burning?" Mello muttered, sinking down onto the bed and pressing his hand lightly against the other's forehead. He seemed fine, almost cool. He wasn't burning.

"Check….barn…." Near continued to mutter. "Car…"

Mello sat beside the boy, watching with wide eyes as Near seemed to grow more and more frantic. He was struggling against the blankets now, almost like he was struggling against a person. "Need to check… let me go!"

Mello jumped at the shout, his hands fisting together in an effort to stop himself from reaching out and waking the other. "Mello?" Matt asked groggily, sitting up. "What is going on?"

"I think he's-"

"NO!" Near screamed. Matt jumped up instantly, moving toward the bed and staring down in horror as tears began to fall down Near's face.

"Mello, we have to wake him-"

"He told us not to!" Mello said loudly. It wasn't like he didn't want to wake him! He hated this. Near looked, well, broken.

As much as Mello had wanted to break the boy in the past the sight of it tore him to pieces in the present.

"Near!" Mello finally said as yet another scream tore through the boy's throat. "Wake up! Come on! Near!" He gripped the boy's shoulders, struggling to hold him down and wake him at the same time. "Wake up!"

The boy's eyes flew open and he looked around frantically. He finally stopped fighting when his eyes landed, first on Matt, then Mello. With a loud sob, the usually stoic boy threw himself forward, pressing himself into Mello's chest and wrapping his arms around his waist. Mello's eyes widened and Matt's mouth dropped open. Mello looked at his best friend, completely shocked. Matt shrugged back before miming at him to hold the other boy.

Hesitantly, Mello let his arms move to wrap around Near. Okay, this was awkward. "Near – what on earth did you dream?"

The boy sobbed again, tightening his grip. "Stupid," he finally said, his hands gripping Mello's shirt. "Why would you – Mello is intelligent! Why would you?"

Well, that didn't help.

"Uh, thanks? But what did I do?" Mello questioned, bewildered.

"The barn! I watched it burn! I tried to go, to get you out, but they would not let me go! And Matt! The car…"

"The barn? Wait, the barn burned?" Mello asked, scowling at the thought. So, not only did they kill him with a heart attack, they then set the barn on fire? Talk about overkill.

Matt cleared his throat, "I'll, uh, get him some water!" he said, running toward the door.

Great.

"Near, it wouldn't have mattered if you got to the barn," Mello finally said as the boy seemed to somewhat calm down. He was still pressed against Mello's chest and shaking, but Mello didn't think he was still crying. "I was already dead. No clue why they would have burned the barn…"

Near pulled back, his eyes red as he looked up at Mello's face. "I was not able to get to you. Nothing of yours survived."

"Yeah, Matt and I didn't have much and what I did have probably burned," Mello said, frowning again at the thought.

"That is not what I meant," Near said, pulling away and resting against the bed once again. "Mello should get some sleep."

Mello stared at the younger. He just expected him to go to sleep after that? "Wait, what did you mean?"

"Mello should sleep," Near repeated, curling up into a ball and closing his eyes.

With a growl of frustration, Mello moved back to his own bed. What the hell did he mean? And where the hell was Matt? It didn't take that long to get water.

It wasn't until later, right before Mello finally fell into a deep sleep, that he realized Near had actually spoken to him directly for the first time, using the term "you" instead of his name.