Here we are... The Third Chapter! ;D Without spoiling anything, I just want to say that it's important.
How? Oh, well you're just going to have to find that out for yourself, won't you? :) Awh, you know I love you. XD

This chapter is fairly gory. There is quite a bit of blood. Mello says a few swears, but come on. It's Mello. He HAS to! Its the principal of the thing! Haha! I listened to the song by Paramore, called Decode.

I do NOT own Death Note, nor the DN Characters, but I do own Lilith and Juno. Oh and the names of Near's toys. ;D
Reviews, good or bad make me stronger!
Enjoy!

Mello's Mind 4:00am

Mello had no idea where he was. Everything was so dark. It looked like a ruined forest, all dusty and ruined. No trees were around. No sound was made. Just an echoing silence. Mello stood right in the middle of this mysterious world. The sepia scene started to frighten him, but the blond orphan could not move. He was stuck in a position of paralysis. As his eyes scanned the area, large heaps of sand and bone were left around. All that was there was rock, bone, mud and sand.

Our young hero knew what he was going through. He looked it up on the internet a few days ago. Mello was in the Shinigami realm. A Shinigami was a God of Death and many people in Japan believed in them. Slowly, creatures started wondering towards him. They looked horrendous. Some were tall and scrawny, with stretched pale faces, red eyes and such a sinister grin.

One stood out above the rest. It was tall, white a white long face and huge, black grinning lips. It's body tall and skinnier than a pencil. It's eyes were perfect circles, yellow around the outside and his pupils red. It seemed to have grey, black spiking hair from the top of it's head. None of that scared Mello. What did scare him was his laugh. "S-s-shinigami..." He muttured to himself.

"Hyuh hyuk..." The creature chuckled. "That's right, Mihael Keehl." All the other Shinigami chuckled. Mello gasped. How did he know his name? "Welcome to the Shinigami realm." Mello was correct. So did this mean he was going to die?

"W-w-will I...d-die now? A-are you going to kill me?" Mello trembled greatly in fear still unable to move out of that one spot.

"Hyuh...Hyuh, HYAH HAH HAH HAH!" The Shinigami broke into a huge burst of laughter, holding his small stomach. "Hyuk hyuk, I'm not going to..." Mello felt knots in his stomach tying. The monster raised a crooked finger and pointed behind Mello.

Mello turned instantly, as quick as lightning. Something was jumping, towering over him. It looked, human, but it held something in it's palm. A machete. Immediately, The being came nose to nose to Mello. He saw that the figure in front of him was human. A girl. He only caught her eyes, which were a bright ruby red. She gave a playful smile for a second, holding the knife in the air. She leaned over and kissed his ear.

Then, dug the machete deep into Mello's gut.

"AAAHHHH!" Mello screamed at the top of his lungs. The Shinigami's cackle echoed throughout the whole area.

Mello felt the pain, the machete stuck inside him. The girl refused to pull it out, making him suffer even more. Blood trickled down his torso, staining his black top. By the time Mello had stopped screaming, his shirt was drenched in blood, a huge pool of the red substance beneath his feet. He fell to the ground, losing every inch of strength and blood in his body. "Why...?" He whispered, finding the pain just too much.

The girl removed the long dagger from his stomach, smiling. Everything went dark, his heavy eyes closing to the sound of Shinigami's croaking cackle.

Mello's and Matt's Room 7:00am

Mello woke, jolting and sitting up, screaming. He jumped out of the bed, running over to the mirror. Mello lifted up pajama shirt to look for any scars or wounds. He was fine. The golden blond was relieved to have no sign of the nightmare he just had. But why did he have it? Why on earth did he have such a vivid and disturbing dream? Mainly, what did it mean?

By this time, Matt was sitting up in his bed, glaring irritatedly at his roommate. His emerald eyes were burning. "Sorry, Matt. Had a.. bad dream." Mello apologized.

"It's fine." Matt grumbled, making his way to the bathroom. Mello was wide awake from the thoughts of that nightmare. Getting dressed, all he could think about was the murderer who killed him. He knew it was a female, and he knew that she had red eyes. That's all he knew. Oh, and the creepy kiss behind his ear...

Dinner Hall 7:30am

No girl wanted to go near him. Let alone kiss him. Plus, she looked way older than Mello. So none of it made sense. He shook his head, trying to forget the whole situation. Mello went to get his breakfast fairly early, at 7:30am. Matt followed. Mello had the same as yesterday. The exact same cereal only without a muffin.

Matt had a bacon sandwich, which looked orange through his tangerine colored goggles. He never seemed to take them off, except when sleeping, of course. Mello's eating habits were strange today. His table manners were... perfect! Matt began to feel concerned. Mello never eats like this.

"You OK, Mels?" Matt asked, once he had scarfed down his breakfast. Mello nodded in a blank response.

Near came and sat down next to Matt, his eyes glued to Mello in shock and surprise. "He's actually got manners?"

"Yeah... Kinda freaking me out..." Matt whispered to Near, who couldn't keep his grey eyes off Mello, even whilst he was eating.

Mello couldn't help but look over at Near, who's eyes were fairly wide. He began to feel uncomfortable, slouching in his seat. Lilith sat down beside Mello, smiling at him, happily munching at her toast. Near and Matt were glaring Mello's way, intently and examining his behavior. Lilith was curious as to why they were looking at him, and suddenly remembered something Roger had told her.

"Roger wants us in his office at nine o'clock. He said he had an important announcement to all of us." She informed them.

Near began twirling his hair, thinking deeply. Mello took his plates over, quietly. Matt was watching him, until he was out of sight. "What is wrong with him? He's just not... Mello today." Matt asked urgently. Near shrugged.

"He's always been an emotional person... but never quiet." Near muttered. Matt had to agree. Lilith was unsure of what was happening. She felt very upbeat and happy about what happened yesterday. The black haired genius always felt happier around Mello. But apparently, something wasn't quite right.

The trio thought and thought. Matt didn't bother bringing his game console with him to the dinner hall. He thought that today wouldn't be about Grand Theft Auto. It would be about Mello. First he would have to ask his best friend about the dream. Maybe that's why he was acting so strangely?

When Mello had arrived back from placing his dirty dish into a water filled sink, he saw that Matt's eyes weren't visible underneath his orange goggles. Near was twirling his hair around his finger, over and over and over. Lilith's head was tilted slightly, nibbling at her bottom lip. The three teens were completely silent and staring into space.

"Uhh, guys?" Mello tried to get their attention. Matt, Near and Lilith all whipped their heads over to look at the golden blond at the same time. Mello flinched subtly. "You want to go into our rooms?"

The reflective trio all exchanged looks, following Mello to his room. Near just went off in his own direction, into his bedroom.

Mello and Matt's Bedroom 8:30am

Both Mello and Matt were both on their beds, lying and thinking. Lilith was sitting by the old desk, chatting to both of them. When Lilith had finished, Matt wanted to ask Mello what the dream was about, to see if it might be linked to the idea of Mello's unusual behavior. "Mels?" He began.

"Hm?" Mello returned. His hands were behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

"What was that dream actually about?" Matt sat up now, intrigued in what his closest friend had to say.

Oh.. well, I guess there isn't getting past Matt... Mello thought to himself. He gave a chuckle under his breath, thinking, He never ceases to surprise me... Mello sat up, crossing his legs. "Well, it wasn't a dream. It was more like a... nightmare." Lilith's eyes were glued to Mello, paying full attention. "I dreamed that I was in the... Shinigami realm."

Matt was taken by surprise. He was with Mello at the time, when he researched it. Lilith had no clue what that meant and she wanted to know everything she could, to help out her new friend. "Shinigami realm?"

Mello turned to his companion, explaining. "A Shinigami is believed to be a God of Death, basically. The Shinigami realm is like their... home. Matt and I looked it up on the computer a few weeks ago." Lilith got an idea of what he meant now. Mello went on to tell the story of his dream. "I met all these Shinigami... they were horrifying. They just... laughed. They all had red eyes. I'm not sure why, but... Anyway, I asked if they were going to kill me. One of them just laughed and said that they weren't going to..." Mello stopped in mid sentence and remember all the vivid pain and suffering.

He'd never felt that before, so why would he feel that in his sleep? "And then, this girl came up to me... She had these red eyes, like the Shinigami had... She... smiled at me, then for some reason, the girl kissed my ear and... stabbed me."

Not a sound crept into the air. It was obvious that he had a fairly vivid nightmare. Matt and Lilith couldn't help but feel sorry for Mello. Yes, after all it was a dream, but such a real one... Maybe Shinigami don't exist, and it was all a part of Mello's imagination, but could there be the slight possibility that it was some form of message?

Nobody knew at this time, but the only thing Matt knew was that he felt guilty for bringing it up. "Sorry, man."

"What for?" Mello gave him a little smile.

"Bringing it up." Matt explained.

"Please, don't be. It actually kinda helped." It was true. Mello did feel better telling someone. The orphans realized it was almost nine o'clock, remembering the announcement that Roger had to make.

Roger's Office 9:00am

Lilith knocked on the old wooden door with her pallid knuckle. "Roger? We're here." The two boys were behind her, peering in and staring down at the crouched Near, who had been there for five minutes, with his Firebuster toy. Roger looked up through his tiny glasses, perched at his desk. He gestured for them to enter and stand next to Near, who was now paying more attention.

Roger cleared his throat, standing from his chair. "As you are aware, Lilith came here in transfer from her other care home, in Manchester. Lilith has been transfered for a reason, that reason may be taken good or bad, but don't hold it against this young lady." He came around to the front of his desk, holding the children in suspense.

"Lilith has been chosen to be a candidate of L's successor." Roger announced, shaking her hand. "Well done."

Lilith didn't know how to feel. She was in shock, knowing that she was smart enough to be the future L, she was terrified of having to compete with her friends and she felt proud of herself. Shock took over, as she blankly stared into the carpet, her pale eyes wide as if the carpet began to speak.

"T-t-thank you, Roger." She tried to break in a smile.

"My pleasure." He stood back, facing all four of the genius teenagers. "Now, you will all be taking classes, to make it more fair and from now on, Lilith, you will be home schooled just like the rest of us." Roger moved over back to his desk, sitting in his luxurious chair. "L will be calling to speak to the four of you tomorrow."

The three boys were surprised. Near was looking forward to the competition, making things a little more interesting. Matt felt the same, but only in a more friendly manner. He liked Lilith as a good friend, and enjoyed her company. Mello, on the other hand, was completely stunned.

Mello liked Lilith a little more than just friends, so he thought. He developed quite the crush on her. When it came down to it, sure, Mello was happy for her. But he didn't want to compete against her...

"You are dismissed." Roger was sorting out his paper work, and the four candidates went to their rooms. Their separate rooms...

Ooooh! Were you expecting THAT? Yes? Aw, damn it. Haha!
The first gory detail of the story. AND I think you can take an educated guess as to who the Shinigami was... :) Yep! RYUK!
You might be able to see more of Ryuk later on... :P If you're lucky. XD
Tune in next time, when the kids get a phone call from L! Mello and Lilith could get all sentimental, too.. *Wink wink!* LOL!

Anywayz, please review! Good or bad, they make me stronger!

I LOVE YOU ALLL! XD

Caoi for now! ;3

Darkness

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