Quillish Wammy had bought Wammy House on a whim. He had been young and riding the high that comes from years of grueling work paying off and coming together just as one had imagined. He had fallen in love the moment he had seen the beautiful property, though the mansion itself, nearly a small castle really, had long since fallen into ruin.
For the next decade, restoring the place was Quillish's obsession. Even after marrying his childhood sweetheart and the purchase of another property across town, his favourite place in the world to be was working on the massive structure. But after just under seven years, the house was completely finished, and Quillish was left without a project.
An inventor through and through, Quillish absolutely hated not having something to do in his spare time. It was several years later during an evening at the pub with his good friend Roger Ruvie that it had come to him.
And so Wammy House, Orphanage, was born.
For the first fifteen years of it's existence, Wammy House had simply been that, an orphanage. They had supplied their charges with a decent education, making sure they would be able to contribute to society after leaving the establishment, teaching them the basics, Arithmetic, English, History, the likes. But it was when Quillish met a very special orphan, the direction of his Orphanage changed.
Quillish had been perusing other orphanages, something that he liked to do on his day offs. Occasionally he would find an establishment that was overcrowded or on the brink of being shut down, and he would return to Wammy's with a new child or two.
He had found L Lawliet at a church-run care center in the Borough of South Ribble. And at first the five year old had frightened him with the sheer intelligence that he possessed.
In the eyes of society, Quillish Wammy is a genius. He had above the required IQ of 140, and the test results to prove it. He was fluent in a dozen languages, including two dead languages. He could take apart a jet engine, make improvements, and put it all back together, then pilot the plane to any country he desired. He had the ability to do advanced statistics in his head without pausing in his cricket game.
But Quillish's intelligence was based on memorization. He loved repetition and pattern because he was good at it, but it put limits on how far his knowledge could expand. These principals did not bind L's incredible mind. His thought process was so complex and incomparable to that of an average person, that the nuns mistook his genius as Autism, and therefore left him alone, believing that no one would ever adopt such a simple little boy. When he saw their mistake, Wammy immediately spirited him away.
Upon arrival a Wammy's, L was placed in the same classes as all the other students. But not long after he began failing to attend on a regular basis. Eventually he didn't even bother to show up at all; instead he found sanctuary in the houses enormous library. After confronting the boy and concluding that he was simply too smart for the current curriculum, Wammy began tutoring L in private, one on one sessions.
The special classes were self-directed, and under that basis L thrived. He had taught himself fifteen languages by the time he turned fourteen with only occasional help from Quillish. He spent nearly all his time in the library, reading through Quillish's extensive collection at an astonishing rate, rarely interacting with anyone other than Quillish and Roger.
Under Quillish, L learned a variety of useful, and unusual skills, advanced lessons such as sign language, semaphore, basic computing, criminal theory and counter fraud, interrogation techniques, basic sniping and many others.
One thing however, that L had not bothered with during his education at Wammy's, was Home Ec.
Although an avid enjoyer of quality cooking, he had never been interested in actually learning how to put it together. And thanks to Quillish's culinary expertise, never once had he had to. Until now, he mused.
Standing in Wammy House's spacious kitchen, L scratched behind his ear, deep in thought.
It was hard to believe that in this giant, cavernous fridge, there was not one thing that L felt confident he wouldn't totally ruin. It seemed that everything needed to be baked, boiled, toasted or poached. The cupboards were also mysteriously empty.
Niri was sitting at the room's island rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She had woken up hungry, and of course, expected her apparently incompetent father to make her breakfast.
What did children even like for breakfast? L almost always skipped the meal because he normally stayed up all night working, and working meant that he had also been consuming his typically copious amount of sugar and caffeine in order to stay awake. Therefore he never desired food at the designated 'breakfast hour'.
Quillish's preferred extravagant western dishes for his morning meal, such things as fancy omelets or French toast. No question of that happening. Raito had often eaten a bagel or plain toast with eggs. L thought he might be able to handle toast, but he had no idea were to even begin looking for the toaster, and there was no way he was even touching the eggs. He found them repulsive unless hidden in cake batter.
Speaking of cake, a pale pink box on the top shelf of the fridge suddenly caught his eye. L recognized from the silver cursive on the side that is was from his favourite bakery in the Winchester area. Now that he thought of it, the fridge was stalked with sweets. It always was. At the rate that L consumed sugar, Quillish had gotten in the habit of simply going to the bakery once every week and buying enough to last until the next trip.
Well, kids liked sugary food right? Of course they did! All of his problems were solved!
He pushed the fridge door open all the way and motioned Niri towards the goodies. "You can eat these, take as much as you want."
Her eyes widened comically when she saw the sweet horde. "Really?" she gasped, "b-but it's cake! I can't have cake for breakfast!"
"I don't see why not" L replied, already making his way to the door, mind jumping ahead to the cases waiting back in his room.
"'Cause" her voice was uncertain now "Grandma says no treats before lunch"
L sighed inwardly "but it's okay today" he explained distractedly.
"Why?"
"Because you're in England" he lied "English people always eat cake for breakfast". Well, crumpets and waffles were close enough to cake, especially with whipped cream and strawberries…..yum…..that sounded good.
And with that incredibly intelligent thought, L made his long-awaited escape from the room.
Back in the blissfully quiet sanctuary that was his bedroom/office/cave, L once again immersed himself in his work.
At exactly twelve noon, two messages arrived in his inbox, and L knew whom they were from without even having to check. When Mello and Near had left the orphanage and went on their own ways, L had let them go with only one requirement. On the twentieth day of each month, at twelve pm sharp (England time) they were to send L an update detailing their personal status.
He read Near's email first. As was typical of the boy, it stuck to the bare minimum of what L requested. Location, personal health, a case summary, current company, and his activities for the past month.
L had given both of his successors the option of taking over one of his numerable aliases. Not Deneuve or Coil, L needed to keep those options for himself, but he allowed them to choose any other from his extensive collection of personas.
Near had browsed through L's notes on each character. Taking to note their pre-existing reputations, reading through their accomplishments, he spent eight hours straight carefully considering each one, before choosing to take the identity known as Essie Driskoll.
The original Essie Driskoll had actually been an acquaintance of L's from early on in his career. He had spent some time in Wales with her and her sister, Ginna. The two had been private detectives with a rather unorthodox set of methods. It was during the months he spent with them that L had learned his favourite espionage techniques, and become acquainted with the idea of working with criminals in order to catch other criminals.
As an interesting side note, it was also to Ginna, the younger sister that he had lost his virginity. Both women were quite a lot older then he who, at sixteen, and having a naturally inquiring mind, had been experiencing a certain amount of curiosity. The sisters had thought his eager questions 'simply adorable', and had been more than willing to show him the ropes.
The reason Near had chosen this particular alias to take as his own was quite simple. After Essie and Ginna had been killed in and unfortunate 'accident', L had taken their aliases. But out of respect, hadn't done much to further their peculiar legacies. So the Driskoll sisters had fallen off the world's radar. That was why Near had chosen to fill Essie's shoes. With her, he would be able to build up a reputation that was mostly his own, and he would not be tied down by his predecessor's renown.
Mello on the other hand, had quickly skimmed the very same files, before throwing them down and parading off, boasting that he "didn't need L's help in this", that he'd "make his own fucking name".
His updates always held a more personal flavour. That was just how Mello was. Everything about the boy-now officially a man L supposed, as he had had turned twenty-seven days ago- was very personal.
When he left Wammy's, Mello had disappeared for a few months, dragging his best friend Matt along with him. He hadn't contacted anyone in that timeframe, and they had all assumed that their hold on the rambunctious youth had finally slipped. But after half a year of no word, Mello had suddenly sent the fist of his monthly emails to L, explaining that he and Matt were fine, and that they had been traveling to world, but were back on track, and ready to take the justice system by storm.
And that he did. With Matt as his reluctant sidekick, Mello whirled back into L's life as not a successor, but as unexpected competition. It seemed that somewhere in his travels, Mello had matured and dropped his driving obsession of beating Near. No longer was he completely fixated on succeeding L, he had moved on to bigger dreams, of taking his place as most respected detective in the world. L had been thoroughly shocked, but at the same time full of a strange sort of pride.
Mello and Matt had been working from Russia for the past year, but they had decided to spend the winter in the Greek islands.
That was how Mello tended to function. As apposed to Near, who had recently spent a year straight locked away in an arctic compound in the northern most part of Norway in order to shut down a terrorist cell, Mello's first priority was personal comfort. It was just like him to run off to a tropical island because his disliked the Russia's frigid weather.
L smiled softly to himself as he read through Mello's unnecessarily detailed description of the crappy service at the hotel they were staying in. where Near stuck to the bare minimum, Mello went completely overboard. They were such complete opposites it was comical. It was the reason they got under each other's skin so easily.
L wondered when had he begun to think of heirs so fondly. It must have been after Raito had discovered that she was pregnant. They had flown to England almost right away to share their news with the residents at Wammy's. L chuckled as he remembered Mello and Nears reaction to the information…
Ladies and Gentlemen we are beginning the decent into the London area. The current weather is overcast, with an outside temperature of 3 degrees Celsius, and a wind-chill of –2. The local time is 5:43 pm. I thank you on the behalf of the entire crew and staff of British airlines for flying with us today, and we hope to see you in the future…. Shinshi shukujo…
L leaned forward and one-handedly flipped his tray table forward and twisted the knob with practiced ease. He simultaneously shoved his laptop into its bag and nudged it under the seat in front of him. The shuffling of the other passengers preparing for landing filled the cabin.
He turned to his wife in the seat next to him and noticed that she had yet to straighten her seatback. "Raito" L said softly, "we are going to be landing soon.
Raito jumped as if startled out of a trance. For the past half hour of the flight she had been gazing absently out the window at the thick layer of fog that blanketed the United Kingdom. Blinking back into focus, the young woman nodded and pulled her seat up into the correct position.
L took a moment to study his wife. She looked slightly haggard, her normally perfect hair was messier then usual, and the bags under her eyes were starting to resemble his own. Reaching out, L took her hand in his.
Her eyes met his, and she smiled gratefully at him. She had been rather stressed about this trip. She had only met L's heirs once before, at the small wedding ceremony that had been held on Wammy House's picturesque property the previous year. Because of L's need to protect his identity, there had only been a few select guests invited who weren't from Wammy's. Raito's parents and sister, along with the taskforce from Japan.
Mello and Near had been suspicious at first, and a little (or a lot on Mello's part) jealous of her. She was a stranger after all, and they had had mistrust of anyone who was from the 'outside' drilled into their brains since they arrived at the orphanage.
It didn't help that she was smarter then they were, and stealing what already limited attention they received from their hero, L.
And now they came baring the news of yet another form of competition. Or at least, that's what the over-zealous boys would view L's unborn child as.
It was nonsense of course. L had no intention whatsoever of naming this baby his heir, not to the L name, not to its father's legacy, that was not the life he wanted for his and Raito's child.
He hadn't really talked about it with Raito, but L had made up his mind on the matter. The world he lived in, full of crime and mystery, was not where his baby would grow up. He would do everything in his power to make certain that the kid would have as normal life as possible. He just wasn't quite sure how he'd get around to that yet.
He still had eight months to work that out though. In the meantime he had two very eccentric successors to appease.
As expected, quite the greeting party met them at the front gates and an hour and forty-five minutes later. It wasn't often that the great and elusive L dropped by for a social call. It appeared that either the day's classes had been canceled, or the entire student body had skipped class to catch a glimpse of their idol and his beautiful wife.
After a bit of a struggle, Roger managed to push his way to the front of the crowd in time to open the door of Qillish's Rolls Royce. They were met with no resistance, however on the way back into the building. The students parted as L walked past, fascinated, but not desiring actual contact with the man.
They made their collective way to Quillish's study in order to tell Roger and Quillish in private, before finding the children. But they were met with quite the surprise when, in the middle of their announcement, a blur of blond hair and black denim shot out from behind one of the sofas yelling in outrage.
Mello was just as insecure at the prospect of L's biological child as he had expected. And it appeared that he was taking surveillance classes.
A moment later, Near and Matt, their location having been revealed by their companion, popped out from behind the couch as well. It had taken a good twenty minutes to assure Mello that he wasn't being replaced, that he was still in the running for the L title, and that yes, L was absolutely sure that he wasn't going to be replaced by 'some damn brat' who hadn't even been born yet.
After that, L and Raito had a very pleasant time catching up with Quillish and Roger. They stayed at Wammy's for three days before traveling to L's house to spend the rest of their time in England alone. But before they left, L made sure he spent some quality time with each of his potential successors. It was Raito's idea, she thought he should make an effort to get to know them a little better, and, she reminded him, it would be good for his to get used to kids.
In the end, L was glad that he had. Mello, Near, Matt, and all the other children at Wammy's were truly brilliant kids. And despite their young ages, L found himself impressed by the conversations they held. He even went to some of the classes to observe their progress.
As he was dragged around on a tour of the playroom by one of the youngest members of the school, a four year-old called Penny, he realized that he was actually enjoying the interaction.
L was brought back from his reminiscing by the sound of soft footfalls. It was four o'clock he realized, and he hadn't heard from Niri in hours. Now she stood in his doorway with a peculiar look on her face. "My tummy hurts" she whimpered.
L knew what was going to happen a split second before it did, and he looked around desperately for something to catch it in, but there was nothing he could do but watch as the little girl stood and vomited all over his floor.
The half-digested cake splattered all over the wall was mocking him, he was sure of it.
A/N: super long chapter eh? 3000+ words.
Believe me, give the average kid permission to eat all the junk food they want, and they WILL eat until they puke. I speak from experience.
So we got to see what Mello and Near are up to! In this world, Raito was never Kira, so this is what their lives would have been if L hadn't died pre-maturely.
One thing that I previously didn't like about genderswap L/Raito fics is that I thought that it was a bit homophobic. My mind has changed since then however, because of reading several well-written ones, but I still prefer it when authors stick with the original genders. (I'm a hypocrite, I know) the reason I wrote Raito as a girl was because I absolutely cannot stand Mpreg. I just think it's super weird. The reason I switched Raito not L is because a) I'm sure Raito would have functioned better in the event of L's death and b) Raito is easier for me to picture as a girl both physically and mentally.
If anyone is interested in reading the amazing fic that inspired me to write a genderswap, it's called Inner Glow written by Danielle Anderson = .net/s/3869707/1/