Disclaimer: Note that none of these characters belong to me. I an merely borrowing them for use in the fanfic.

Note: This story will contain Yaoi/Shounen-Ai.

Another Note: I'm really horrible at writing humor. If you have any suggestions, PLEASE, don't hesitate to leave them in a review or message!

Day 25

Three young minds, camping in a warehouse until they could think of where their mentor was. Pathetic. Near, if he'd brought enough supplies, could have easily made them a fort. But, no. Mello wouldn't allow his adopted brother to outshine him again.

That night, they hadn't made it back to the warehouse before the rain started. The trio had been forced to camp under a small overhang. Firewood had been given to them, in hopes they would find their way soon.

Matt fished around for his lighter, taking a good five minutes before he found it. Flipping the tiny switch, a blue flame jutted out from the miniscule item. He lowered it to the wood and blew on the sparks, willing the fire into existence. With a loud 'snap', orange flames burst from the logs, dancing across the wood as if it was alive. Matt just stared, enchanted. Near and Mello watched Matt, wondering if he'd ever seen fire before in his life.

Rain thundered around their camp, trying desperately to find a way in.

It wouldn't.

It couldn't.

A cold wind blew foul upon the trio's little shelter. The setup didn't have walls, so they fell victim to a harsh spray of the rain. Not enough to put out their fire, though.

Thankfully.

Matt, being on the outer edge of the fire, farthest away, found himself shivering after about an hour. He looked to Mello and Near. Near seemed perfectly fine, against a wall. Rainy winds barely reached him. Mello, though, the red-head couldn't understand. Wearing the skimpiest clothes of the three, Mello sat perfectly still, just as vulnerable to the wind as Matt was. He wasn't shivering, though. Was Matt the only one penetrated by the wall of cold that hit them from time to time?

Mello finally turned his eyes away from the flames. Where his gaze ended was at Matt, vibrating more than any human should. In pity for his friend, the blonde scooted to the shivering boy and wrapped himself around the other. Immediately Matt blushed, and Mello laughed kindly.

Near had fallen asleep, leaning against the back wall.

The whole night, after that, became nothing more than a warm, golden fuzz. Matt remembered being happy, more thankful and grateful for what he had than ever.

If only the batteries hadn't been ruined.

Ashes met his eyes as he woke.

A warm presence moved slightly beside him. Mello snuggled closer, curled up against him. Matt felt himself blushing as the sleeping blonde's arms suddenly wrapped around him.

"Mello…"

"Mello, wake up."

Near yawned and looked around. It had stopped raining, but it wasn't yet dawn. When had he fallen asleep? The first thing the ghost saw was Matt trying to wake up his best friend, which was precariously hugging him in the depths of slumber. Mello, he knew, was a rock when he wanted to be, and wouldn't wake up if there was a hurricane.

Matt, giving up, finally stood, slipping out of Mello's hold. That woke the blonde up, and he whipped into a sitting position. He looked up at Matt, who had stepped out into the cold, morning air.

The red-head turned. His eyes lighted on Mello.

"Good morning."

A muffled groan was the reply.

Near stood and joined Matt. He lightly kicked Mello.

"Get up. We have to get moving if we ever want to find L."

"Y'know," Matt began complaining. "We didn't think this out very well, did we?"

"No, we didn't," Mello mumbled, finally joining the two others.

Grabbing their rucksacks, the trio started off again. Mello wouldn't stop complaining about how sore he was. Matt retaliated with the knowledge of what position the two were in when he had woken up. That silenced the blonde.

L stared at the pile of glass he'd found the moment before. One of the cheaper vases, but still quite loved in the building. He sighed and shuffled away to find Watari. It had already been a long night. No new cases, but Light had refused to sleep. The two, out of boredom, had erected a dice city as Near often did.

It wasn't until midnight that the news hit them.

"L, this is Roger," the laptop's speakers mumbled.

"It's nice to hear from you, but normally you wouldn't contact me unless something was wrong."

"Always straight to the point. But, yes, you're right."

L shuffled in his chair. He never had liked bad news.

Bad news had meant he was an orphan.

Bad news had meant his first and only friend was Kira, soon to be executed.

The detective sighed, the black marks under his eyes even more prominent.

"Mello, Near, and Matt are gone."

"What do you mean? They're dead?"

"They very well may be. They've run away to find you."

"You told them I freed Kira, didn't you…" Not a question, but a statement. A fact.

"Yes."

Light could only sit and watch as his newfound friend tore himself apart trying to find leads on his heirs. Without heirs, Light knew, if L were to die, nobody could take his place. The legend would end.

"They'll find us, don't worry."

It didn't consol L. The detective wasn't one to worry, but he could not think of anything else that night. No heirs meant no L. What if they died? Japan could be a very dangerous place sometimes.

After somewhat of an hour, Light was fed up. He stood and stalked towards L. The detective went still after Light wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug.

"Don't. Worry," he cooed into L's ear.

The raven-haired detective merely nodded and went into the kitchen to find cake.

Ryuk was sitting on the kitchen table, eating an apple. His red eyes followed L as he shuffled to where Watari tried to hide the cake. Shinigami or not, he didn't like being ignored.

"So your heirs are lost, huh? I can find them if you want. It would give me something to do around here, at least."

L ignored him.

"L…" Light made to attempt to comfort his sulking friend, but the detective passed by without a word. It reminded Light of the guards in prison.

Not letting him reach the stairs, Light bolted forward and tackled L. Both landed on the ground with a thump. L stared at him, his mood lifted slightly. What had Light been thinking?

He hadn't.

L smiled for the first time that day. A warm smile that silently said 'thank you'.

"Stop pushing!"

"Ow! Near, move over!"

"You'd think we'd have learned that alleyways are too small for the three of us to walk side by side."

Mello and Matt were squished together, both blushing at the close contact.

"Move over, Near!"

"There's no room."

"Yes there is!" For the past two statements, Matt and Mello had been yelling simultaneously.

"No."

Mello took out a gun and pointed it, sideways, at Near. The ghost sighed and tilted his head, rolling his eyes.

Mello pulled the trigger. Making an audible 'click', the gun refused to shoot.

"The rain ruined the gunpowder, stupid. Just like it did my batteries."

Mello glared.

Matt shrunk away.

Near smirked.

The three continued on through the mist of early morning.

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