"L! L! Near's hogging all the trains!"

L sighed deeply and glanced down from his bed at the three children he had suddenly become big brother to.

Mello, five years old now, still as whiney and irritable as ever, his little shadow, Matt the computer geek, who had simply begun following them one day and hadn't stopped since and baby Near.

Baby, prodigy, boy genius… all of those worked. The plainest way of putting it was that the two-year-old seemed to have the abilities of a five-year-old, and was getting better all the time.

It didn't stop him hoarding toys like any other child though.

Currently all three of his 'boys' were sitting on the floor of his room, a huge train set running around the legs of his desk and bed. Occasionally there was a whirring and clicking sound as one of the little mechanical trains went past him, carrying imaginary passengers.

L himself was confined to his bed, under orders not to move unless totally necessary. He was getting annoyed about this, he'd read every book in the library and done all work sent to him by the school and was now feeling thoroughly bored.

"Near, let the others play too." He replied to the complaint in a monotone.

The little boy whined in response and stuck one of the trains in his mouth, using it as a pacifier, or perhaps just trying to annoy Mello.

"Eww! L! He's eatin it!"

L rolled his eyes and tried to focus on the newspaper he'd been given to read. Not that the world really interested him, it was just that he was so bored anything was welcome. There was a big story on the cover about a recent string of murders in London.

"L! Pay attention!"

"Mello, please shut up." He replied without looking up. His eyes skimmed over the names and places of the murders.

The little filing cabinet in the back of his head clicked as the drawers slid closed.

"Mello, could you find me a map of London? With the street names on?"

Mello frowned, about to go into a sulk, then decided that right now that wouldn't be the best option, and instead nodded and hopped to his feet, scurrying from the room. Matt followed him dutifully.

The three genius' watched their big brother in silence as he sat up in bed, scribbling furiously on the map, every now and then looking back at the paper, double-checking his facts.

Finally he stopped his frantic scribbles and smiled in a satisfied manner. "Mello, could you fetch Wammy for me? Tell him there's a 95.8 chance I just cracked a murder case."

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Wammy was impressed. L had carefully marked down on the map each of the scenes of the murders, a fine black line running from each scene to the next.

L had explained it very carefully to him.

There hadn't been any connections between the victims because it wasn't about who. It was bigger than just individuals. And the pattern couldn't be seen until it was drawn out like this.

Each crime scene formed a point of a star. Two points were incomplete.

L had helpfully filled them in with green pencil, marking down approximations of where the next deaths would occur.

He'd insisted that Wammy at least try to get the police to look at this, but he was to claim he, Quillish, worked it out, and not L. Simply because they would never believe a child had figured all this out.

Wammy had to admit it was unbelievable. Still, he had come to expect the unexpected from his dark haired ward, and didn't he owe the boy this much? After having lied to him about his brother for so long? Even bringing Near to the orphanage as a helpless replacement didn't make up for what he'd done.

With a deep sigh, he set about making the appropriate phone calls.

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After the first case was cracked, and the murderer caught before he took his last two victims, L began to heal at last. He fought off the last of the lingering illness.

He seemed more energetic, willing to eat more and go back to his lessons, play with his three 'siblings'. It was an endless source of joy to see him running in the garden with them, living his childhood again through them.

Wammy brought him case after case. At first they relied on what they could gather from the media and sent out helpful tips to the police. But after a time even the police realised how odd it was that this elderly gent had all the answers, and Wammy admitted that he was working as a go-between for them and a great detective.

"They want to know the name of the person who is solving all the crimes, L." He said one day to the boy, sat on the floor with Near, working on a jigsaw together.

L didn't look up, "What should we say?"

Wammy rubbed the back of his head, "Well, to be truthful, L, I think you should consider becoming a detective proper. Even the police sometimes bring in private detectives to help, and you do seem to have a knack for this." He coughed. "I believe we should tell the police that there is a detective called L solving these cases for them."

L picked up a piece of the puzzle and examined it delicately, "We could ask for payment."

"L, really, this isn't about money, it's about your health." Wammy cautioned.

L placed the piece, "I am healthy now, Wammy, I don't need these cases to give me a reason to stay alive, I have my brothers for that." He nodded across at Near, who babbled intelligibly and picked up a puzzle piece.

L smiled, "And I am not talking about keeping the money for myself." He looked up, blinking his blank, coal eyes. "I want to give it to the orphanage. You could set up accounts to pay for university fees, better equipment, that sort of thing."

Wammy blinked, then smiled. "L…"

L went back to the puzzle. "Don't. Whatever you're going to say, don't. This does not mean I forgive you, I'm just not angry anymore. There's only one reason I want to do this and it's not the money, the orphanage or the thrill of solving the cases."

Near took another piece of the puzzle from the pile and placed it neatly.

L smiled tenderly at the albino child for a moment; "I want to become justice."

Wammy tilted his head, "I'm sorry?"

"I want to be justice. I want to be the thing criminals fear. I want to be the one thing people rely upon. I want to make sure what happened to me never happens again… and if it does, I want to be the one to find the man who ruined a child's life… and make him realise what he's done."

For a moment there was silence.

L sighed. "The man who killed my parents died yesterday."

Wammy blinked, stunned, "How did you-"

L shrugged, "It's not difficult to hack into police files. He was in custody, suffered a stroke."

Wammy felt he ought to say something to the boy, but he wasn't sure what. L intimidated him, to tell the brutal truth. The boy was more intelligent than he was, certainly. And that made it hard to work out what would upset him and what wouldn't.

"…That's… good news, surely?" Quillish tried.

L spun around, scattering puzzle pieces, Near whined.

"Good!?" he barked. "How is it good?! He's dead! He's gone forever!" he stood up, fists clenched, eyes low, "He died and never had to see me in court! He never had to see what he did to my family! Anyone can just die! Dying's the easiest thing in the world! Being alive is the difficult thing!"

Wammy blinked. Were those tears? Did the boy sound… choked?

"It's not f-fair…" L stammered. "He got let off with death, I get punished with life…" one hand shot up to his face to scrub at the cheeks. "Th-that's why I have to be justice. I have to make sure… this never happens again."

The old man was stunned for a moment. He had always assumed that L would want to see the man who destroyed his world get the death penalty. But that was silly, L was far more intelligent than to want that kind of revenge.

It made sense, really. Death was an instant end to suffering. Life in prison would have been worse, and a far more fitting punishment.

"All right," he said quietly. "How about this, you go to university and learn law and criminology and anything else you think will be useful. How long do you think that will take?"

L tilted his head and considered the question. "Two years, I'll work faster than everyone else anyway."

Wammy nodded, not doubting the boy's estimation for a moment. "Then you will be seventeen. When you are ready, I will announce to the police of the world that you are ready to be employed by them."

L nodded and sat back down with Near, going back to the puzzle.

"You'll need an alias, though. It'll be a dangerous job, if you really intend to hunt down only the worst criminals in the world. The safest option would be for you to solve the cases from undisclosed locations, using only your Alias to contact people."

L nodded, "I had considered that, and though I may be getting ahead of myself, I have chosen my alias already." He reached into his pocket and drew out a neatly-folded piece of paper.

Wammy opened it.

The image it showed was iconic, and bizarre, but of course, it made perfect sense.

He swallowed. "…If this is to be your alias… then you remember your real name?" when he got no response he coughed and said calmly, "Liam Lawliet?"

Liam didn't move, continuing solving the puzzle with the boy who, in some part of his mind, was Oliver.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who you're talking to." He said softly, "My name is L."