Part 2

"Poor kid, he's all alone again," Mello remarked softly. Were he still alive, he would've received puzzled looks from L and Matt (maybe not from L but he would at least glance at him questionably). Since he was dead, though, they understood that Mello no longer had any reasons to hate Near. And in reality, he never actually hated him, just had a really strong desire to beat him to be number one.

"Hey, you guys," Matt called, breaking Mello out of his musings. "Come look at the picture he was looking at before he fell asleep." Matt waved a transparent hand over to where Near had placed his photograph just a few minutes earlier.

L placed his thumb in his mouth and slouched over to where Matt stood, leaning down to see the picture since he couldn't actually pick it up. When L saw the picture, he couldn't help but smile. He had all but forgotten about it. It was such a sweet memory; he couldn't believe he hadn't remembered it until now.

Mello glanced at the sleeping boy and walked over to where his brothers stood. He laughed out loud when he saw it. "I can't believe he still has that picture!"

"I suppose it does make sense that he would like to keep a memory of us with him," L mumbled against his thumb, the hint of a smile gracing his lips.

"Yeah, I agree," Matt murmured, kneeling on the floor to have a better and more comfortable view of the picture. One of the downsides of being a ghost: not being able to pick up things- which meant no video games or smokes for Matt. He really wanted one. It's not like it could kill him now.

Mello sighed and glanced once again to Near, his eyes narrowing as he saw tear marks staining his cheeks.

Matt "plopped" as much as a ghost could plop on the floor. "What's eating ya?"

"Do you think he could see us? You know, like when I touched his shoulder?"

"You know, I think he felt you. I saw him turn his head a little when you touched him but I don't think he saw us."

Mello hummed thoughtfully. "Is there any way he could?"

L went and crouched in his unusual way of sitting on the computer chair, said item making no visible signs that he was actually sitting there. He looked up at the ceiling in thought and rubbed his lips with thumb.

Mello and Matt waited patiently for the former detective to think of something.

After a few minutes of more thinking, L's eyes brightened so little that any ordinary person wouldn't have even noticed, but Mello and Matt knew him for a long time now and they knew that that meant he just came to a conclusion.

L hopped off the chair soundlessly and glided over to Near, leaning down to whisper in the sleeping boy's ear, "Hey, Near, wake up." It took a few more tries of verbal prodding but eventually Near stirred.

When he woke up, Near looked directly into the bottomless eyes of the black-haired detective. Shock flew over his features for a fraction of a second before it returned to his carefully composed mask. He betrayed no emotions as he rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up and stop imagining his older brother.

He was mildly surprised that he could still see him and wondered if maybe he was still dreaming…

"L…?"

L.N.M.M.L.N.M.M.L.N.M.M.

I actually didn't know I was going to do this but after I wrote the last three paragraphs in the last chapter, this came to mind. Review please.

I do not own any characters. This is merely fan-made.