The Challenger

Chapter Thirteen: No Body

The firemen continued dousing the building in water. "Well that's all of it out," said one of the men to Roger. "Very good thankyou for your efficiency," he replied. Mello and Matt stood at his feet and began tugging on his sleeve.

"What about Shadow," said Mello impatiently "Ask them if they found her". Near stood a little off the group he was curling a piece of hair around his finger. "Mello they are going to go into the building soon just wait". "We can't just wait!" yelled Mello.

"She could have third degree burns or be dying of smoke consumption or something you need to get in there now!" "Mello!" snapped Roger in a sharp tone.

"I can understand the boys fustigation, but I need to think of the safety of my team as well as your friend. The building is very unstable".

"Even more reason to get in their," grumbled Mello. "That's enough go sit down and let the firemen do their job," interrupted Roger. Mello went and sat besides Matt and Near. They all sat in silence for a few seconds till Near cracked and dropped his head in his hands.

"Awww this is all my fault!" he mumbled. "I am such an idiot!" Matt and Mello just looked at him confused. "What do you mean?" asked Matt. "It's my fault I got her mad just moments before the fire.

If I hadn't of said those things she would be here with us now". Near sighed he refused to cry it's not like him crying would make Shadow magically appear before them. "I am such an idiot I am suppose to take care of her! I am such a jerk!" he yelled.

"Ahh no your not,' said Matt awkwardly trying to comfort…Near of all people. "Yes I am I am her brother and all I have done since she got here was ignore her and hurt her. I am such a jerk!" Matt looked at him.

"Wow Near's having an emotional breakdown!" he thought to himself. "This should be recorded in the history books". "You know he's right," Matt turned to look at Mello. "Not helping," he grumbled. 'But he's right.

He is Shadow's brother yet all he does is neglect her. Not once have I ever seen Near with Shadow. You both avoid each other on purpose all because you are both so stupid that you blame the other for your parents death.

When you really think about Near is a jerk. Honestly do you think your parents would be happy knowing that you 'hate' your only sister. Even more so that her last moments were spent with you fighting".

Matt looked at the ground. "Mello's right," he thought "I know his way is sometimes to direct and the truth hurts but it's better he tell Near the facts then leave him in the dark".

The boys looked up when they saw the same fireman walk back up to Roger. Mello got up and started making his way toward them, closely followed by Matt and Near.

"No," muttered the fireman "I'm sorry", he placed his hand on Roger's should and then turned to leave. As he turned he saw the three boys looking up at him he closed his eyes and walked off. "Roger?" asked Mello. Roger had his hand over his eyes.

"Roger what's wrong?" asked Mello again. Roger placed a hand on Mello's shoulder. "They couldn't find a body Mello". Mello's eyes widened "No but that's impossible! Maybe she got out maybe she is in another part of the orphanage!" Mello yelled franticly "We can't just give up!"

Matt pushed him aside "Roger make them go back in, make them check all around the other parts of the building only the eastern side was burnt, she could be somewhere else!" he yelled. "Boys!" yelled Roger.

"She isn't somewhere else". "How do you know that," squeaked Matt "you only looked in the burnt part. "She might have made it out of the fire, she could still be alive!" Roger put a hand on either boys shoulder.

"They didn't find a body, but they found a lot of blood". The two boys eyes widened. "B-blood?" asked Matt. "Blood," confirmed Roger. "They said they saw signs of a struggle and presumed she had attained a bad injury, which then resulted in her not being able to move".

"No this is bullshit!" yelled Mello "you're a lire Roger. I won't give up on her just like that!" Mello turned on his heel and ran off into the building. "Mello wait you can't go in there it's dangerous!" yelled Roger behind him.

"Mello wait for me!" yelled Matt and he took off after him too. "Matt, Mello get back here!" yelled Roger. Near just stood there his eyes trained on the ground in front of him. Slowly he turned and began walking off toward a clump of trees not to far off. "Shadow is…dead?"

Meanwhile Matt and Mello troughed through the remains of the eastern side of Wammy's House. "Do you see anything Matt?" called Mello. "No nothing but ash," Matt replied. They came to (what use to be) the stairs, which lead onto the main hallway. "Look!" yelled Matt. A large wooden beam lay in front of them.

It was black and bits of it had been eaten away by the fire. But it wasn't the beam Matt had been pointing at it was what was on the beam. Mello walked around the other side of the beam to get a better look at it.

A large red stain ran along the bottom of the beam. It was hard to spot due to the ash but Matt seemed to have a keen eye. "Do you think it's hers?" asked Mello. "She was the only one in here," replied Matt.

Mello got up "Come on we need to keep looking," he mumbled and started walking again. Matt followed silently. A little further down the boys were having no extra luck.

They noticed a fire door, which made their hopes go up. Maybe Shadow had escaped the fire through there. But they then plummeted back down again when they noticed it was locked. The more the walked the more they noticed.

Red stains were on the floor and made a neat trail amongst the blackness of the ash. Matt looked around at the hallway, which he remembered so well.

Now it looked like a scene from a horror movie. He was so entranced by their surrounding that he ended up bumping into Mello. "Ahh!" he grumbled

"Can you warn me next time your just going to stop like that Mello", he then noticed what Mello was looking at. On the floor before them was a large red stain, a huge puddle of blood.

"Matt," whispered Mello. Matt didn't reply if this had come from Shadow then she must have been in extreme pain.

All he could think about was how much pain she would have been in. Matt had never seen so much blood in his entire life.

"Matt," repeated Mello. He too was staring at the blood. "Yeah,' said Matt quietly. "Do you think," Mello took in a shaky breath. The orphanage smelt of smoke and ash.

"Do you think this is what they meant by 'a lot of blood'?"

Matt fell to his knees. "She is dead Mello and it's all our fault!" he sobbed. Mello crouched down beside him.

"She isn't dead Matty she has got to be alive this is Shadow we are talking about. She fell out of a tree and landed on top of me and is still alive".

Matt gave Mello a weak smile. He wiped the tears away and stood up. Mello put his arm around Matt's shoulders "lets go find her".

Near wiped away the strange water substance which seemed to be persistent and continued coming out of his eyes. He sniffled and wiped some more away. "I can't see with these stupid tears," he grumbled.

He didn't notice a ditch in front of him and ended up falling flat on his face into it. "This is stupid! I am so sick of this!" he cried. He crunched himself into a ball and buried his head in his arms.

Near began crying "I am so sorry Shadow!" he sobbed. Near looked up and wiped away more tears. "The only other time I cried like this was when mum and dad died," he whispered. Near blinked. He though he saw something, no wait more like someone.

"What the-" he strained his neck to get a better look. Whatever it was it was a little far off and lying on the ground in front of some trees. Near got up and began walking toward it. "What is that?" he asked curiously. His eyes widened when he noticed what it was.

Shadow.

"Shadow!" Near screamed and he began running toward the limp figure. At the same time Matt and Mello came out of nowhere and started bolting toward the figure as well. All three boys made it to Shadow at the same time. "Shadow,' said Near urgently he bent down besides her and looked at her.

She was very pale (well more then normal) and was still. Her leg was still bleeding it had made the grass surrounding it turn red. Near placed his hand on her throated.

"She has a pulse! Go get someone now!" yelled Near. "Rite," said Matt and he began sprinting off towards the main group of Wammy's students and teachers.

"She is unconscious it is most probably due to blood loss. We need to stop the bleeding". Near looked up at Mello for a brief second.

"Tear some of your shirt," demanded Near. Mello did as he asked. "Good now tie it up here above the wound". Mello tied his torn piece of shirt just below Shadows knee. "Now tear some more and apply pressure to the wound".

Again Mello did as Near told him to without argument. Three teachers and Roger returned with Matt. "We have called an ambulance they should be here in a few seconds," said Roger. He bent down next to Shadow and felt her pulse.

"It's faint but there is one, and you boys have done everything to prevent the bleeding".

Near and Mello nodded at the same time "Good job". The Ambulance Syrian rang out through the air as it made it way into the orphanage. Three people appeared with a stretcher-like thing and lifted Shadows body carefully.

The whole time neither Matt, Mello or Near left her side. In the end only on could ride in the ambulance and of course it was Roger. "She will be fine," reassured one of the teachers. "They are going to take care of her". Mello sighed "I hope we weren't to late".

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Well here is a quickie for you! So don't get your hopes up yet I still don't know whether they made it on time or not to save Shadow but anyways I hope you liked the chapter the story is coming to a close now only a few chapters left =( but hey plenty more fan fiction to write. So yes read and review and I'll get that update for you guys/girls soon.