My dog Padmé wishes to convey her greetings and asks that you review. Reviews make her human happy, and her human being happy makes her tail wag. Do it for the waggles, friends.

Mihael Keehl's P.O.V.

I'm not entirely sure why Ellie Lawliet was so upset about L being focused on hunting down Kira. She should have expected it, really. Honestly, he was more affectionate with her than I'd ever seen him with anyone. The idea of him having a kid was an odd picture, especially seeing as he'd have to actually have sex to make that happen. I simply couldn't picture it. Ellie did have a certain charm to her, however, so I couldn't blame him. She was pretty, even as a human. Now she was absolutely angelic. I guess if L can find someone, then there was hope for everyone.

Matt, despite Ellie being married to the person he and I respect above all others, couldn't take his eyes off her ass. It made me want to punch him in the face. For a Wammy's-level genius, he could be a total idiot. But, at lease Ellie didn't notice. I had no intention of earning L's disdain just because my partner gave a bit too much attention to his wife.

BB, on the other hand, was an entirely different issue. With Ellie – an incorporeal being with untold powers – at our disposal, we could very well capture him, and even use him to our advantage. It could be that we'll beat L to punch in defeating Kira once and for all. I wondered if that robot Near would be jealous that I get to compete with our predecessor and mentor. Maybe I'll finally surpass L.

"I'm gonna hit the sack," Matt announced, "Let me know when we land."

We'd hopped on a private jet the moment Ellie let us know where BB was. We'll catch him and get him locked up the moment we land. Ellie could have easily just flown back to Tokyo on her own, but she elected to ride with us, playing on Matt's portable game. There wasn't much to talk about with Matt asleep, and Ellie had already told me everything I needed to know, so I decided to get a little rest too. When I woke up, Ellie was leaning over my chair staring at me with an odd expression on her face. It startled me so bad my hand shot out of its own accord punching her in the face. My fist went right through.

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?" Ellie asked as if nothing had happened.

"A fact most people wouldn't live to discover," I glowered, "Why were you staring at me."

"Because you were talking about Wammy's. You went into excruciating detail."

That got my attention. Even though she already knew about Wammy's, it was unsettling to hear that name coming from the mouth of someone who had never actually been there. "What about Wammy's?"

She stood back up, allowing me enough space to lift my head, "Well," she started, thoughtfully, "You kept talking about the people you knew there. L, Near, Matt, BB… Even someone named A. I was interested, because while I knew about A, so little is known about him. Even an in-depth google search would tell you practically nothing. You, on the other hand, knew a great deal."

I sat up, ignoring the protest of my aching muscles after sitting in the same position for who-knows how long. "And what, pray tell, did I say?"

"You didn't exactly give a list of facts about him so much as you were talking to him. It seemed like he was divulging secrets to you or something. You kept promising not to tell anyone." She tilted her head slightly, "did he really always want to be a doctor rather than a detective?"

I hesitated, but Ellie was trusted even by L. Besides, there wasn't much else she didn't already know, I figured I might as well tell her. "Yes, he did. He hated Wammy's House. He thought of it as a huge burden, as well as an inefficient way to help people. He always was overly emotional."

She gave a gentle smile, "So he wanted to help people?"

I nodded, reaching over to an unfinished chocolate bar beside me, "Yeah. Plus, he found the healing arts to be fascinating. He even had a set of surgical tool replicas. Ironic how something meant to make someone get better wound up being the very thing he used to kill himself." I took a bite of the candy bar, savoring the sweet flavor.

She brought her hand to her mouth in a gasp, "that's terrible… Wasn't he a genius? He could have made such an impact. What could possibly have happened that would make him think he had no way out?"

I narrowed my eyes, "Your husband happened, that's what. A was number one on L's list of successors. Above me, above Near, even above Beyond Birthday. Out of all of us, his intellectual scores were the highest. He passed every test; overcame every challenge. The only thing he couldn't do was deal with the stress of it all. Even BB is who he is in large part due to L." Ellie was glaring at me now. I took another bite of chocolate, "That's the difference between a pretender and a true successor. They didn't have what it takes, so one ended his life, and the other went insane."

The ambient glow surrounding Ellie turned slightly red. She took an indignant step forward, "How dare you blame L for all this. It wasn't his fault some poor kid was driven to suicide. And it wasn't his fault that BB went psycho! L is who he is. If anything, it's Wammy's House's fault for trying to force those poor kids to become him. If everyone there is so smart, why couldn't they see that A was having a hard time? Or that BB was a literal serial-killer in the making? There had to be red flags."

There were, and I had definitely noticed them. But, A was my competition. Near is too much of a robot to care, L was already off somewhere else by then, and no one else in Wammy's was intelligent enough to see the signs. I could tell that A was going to snap, I just didn't stop him. And I'd have done it again. I didn't regret any inaction I took. He was just another obstacle in my way. Despite my lack of remorse, however, I felt compelled to lie. I looked Ellie in the eyes and told her, "There weren't. A's suicide was out of the blue, and BB left before anyone noticed anything amiss. Everyone there was strange, so any odd behavior was merely written off as another absurdity."

"They were kids! Surely an orphanage with Wammy's resources would be able to tell if a child is mentally unstable."

"Evidently," I told her, taking another bite, finishing off the chocolate bar, "they didn't deem it necessary."

Her glare intensified, "Then for a bunch of geniuses, you all can be pretty thick." And with that she turned around, gliding away. It was a bit disconcerting to see her phase through the side of the plane and sit down on the wing mid-flight, but I paid it no mind. At least she'd stop bothering me. I stood up to close the window so I wouldn't have to see her fuming pouts. For an eternal being, she could be remarkably similar to an infant.

Speaking of immaturity, Matt strode into the main cabin from the bedroom stretching, "I heard arguing. Something up?" He spoke between a massive yawn, "because if there is you should probably forget about it. She's a goddess who can either make your life miserable, or wonderful and long-lasting, depending on how you suck up to her."

I glared at Mello, "There's no way I'm going to kiss her ass just because she can magically grow a few spiders."

He put his hands up in mock surrender, "Okay, okay, captain grumps, but if you get sick from all that chocolate, or someone shoots you – which hurts, by the way – she's your best chance at survival. You know, I bet if she was there when our base exploded you'd never have gotten those ugly burn scars in the first place that you were so happy to be rid of."

My hand moved to my cheek of its own accord, feeling the smooth skin that had once been charred flesh. I could still practically feel the fire searing half my face off.

Matt grinned, "Plus, admit it, you kinda like her," he sat in my chair and put his hands behind his head, "after all, you haven't once threatened to kill her friends or family. That must mean you don't think she's as annoying or useless as you like to pretend. Not to mention, she's got one fine ass."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm sure L would love to hear about how you keep hitting on his wife. Perhaps I should pass on your sentiments."

He merely shrugged, "At least I admit to liking her. You just need to accept the fact that you obviously don't hate her."

Sometimes Matt could be incredibly annoying. He was right of course, I didn't hate Ellie. In fact I looked at her as somewhat of a friend, of which I had very few. Still, that didn't change the fact that half the time I wanted to punch him square in the jaw.