Mello & Near's Idiot

Disclaimer: Uh… I obviously don't own Death Note. I'm too young… I don't own Death Note: Another Note either.

AN (Author's Note): This is my first fan-fic, so there will be a lot of pointless babble at some points in the story (like this chapter), but that's just me getting (or at least attempting to get) into character. Anyway, onto the story!

Chapter One: "Death to all" is a name?

Located in Winchester, England, there was an orphanage established by Quillish Wammy, more commonly known as Watari, the only known contact with L. This orphanage was for specially gifted children.

"Near, Mello, would either of you like to take a guess at why you are in this office at the moment?" Roger questioned the tall blond and short albino boy beside him. They were the top two at the Wammy's House, and there was a high possibility of either one of them taking place of the legendary detective L after his inevitable death. Still, currently, they were far too young for all that, Near was only eight, and Mello ten.

Roger was the current head of Wammy's and he was definitely not happy with them.

Mello glanced briefly at Near. The pale, white-haired boy in white pajamas did not make a sound; instead, he sat on his chair with one leg held up and the other dangling, a trait that annoyed Mello oh so much. Another thing about Near that Mello was annoyed with was how the boy kept twirling his hair with his index finger. Why'd he have to keep doing that?

But what prompted Mello's original annoyance to turn into a full blown anger that no therapy could hold back was most definitely those lifeless eyes of Near. They held no emotion, and there was a lack of humanity in those eyes. Everything they saw didn't affect that boy at all; it was all merely fact for him…

Mello was just that to the albino boy who was top in grades at the orphanage as well; just fact, albeit a very painful, hateful, and outright violent one. But it was just another part of life for Near, just another fact that the boy learned and accepted, and didn't bother with.

Mello wanted more though. He wanted to be acknowledged, he want to affect the boy for once! That's why he had convinced himself to get into the mess he was now in.

"Well?" Roger prompted. He wasn't at all impatient; he knew how smart children often took twice the span of time a normal person would take to go through things in their head. This exact same situation had happened enough times already, and he expected that Mello and Near knew full well why they were here. Still, he waited for one of them, most likely Mello, to come out and say it.

"Should I?" Near asked, his voice monotonous, just as blank and flat as his eyes. Those soulless eyes that Mello hated oh so much.

Mello growled and glared at him. No, he wouldn't let Near, who was two years younger than him win against him again. It had happened far too many times in his life already! So, just like every other time this situation happened, Mello let his emotions get to him and shouted at Roger, "I know, already! I broke another one of Near's damn toys and I shouldn't have done that right? Now would you hand out the punishment already?" After he finished, he chomped down on the chocolate bar in his hand. For some strange reason, chocolate calmed him down, and as you can see that for Mello shouting and growling is part of being "calm". You don't want to faze the guy when his chocolate supply is low.

Mello's voice dripped venom, and any normal person would have jumped back in surprise upon hearing it. Roger however, was used to this behavior, because, as was mentioned before, this happened more often than he would like it to.

Mello knew, for whatever reason, he just knew. He knew that it wasn't exactly going to help his case to shout at Roger- it would just make punishment harsher. But he wouldn't back down, especially not in front of Near!

"I take it then that Mello, once again, this was an act on purpose?" It wasn't a question, more of a statement from Roger. He sighed, not understanding why Mello and Near couldn't just get along. The albino boy was quiet enough and never did anything wrong, as for why Mello was obsessed with trying to make Near upset- It was anyone's guess.

"Mm." Was all that came out of Mello's mouth, because it was still filled with chocolate. He glanced over at Near again. He was still twirling his hair, still in that weird half-crouch position, and still ignoring Mello. Nothing new there.

Roger wondered what punishment he should hand out this time… Take away Mello's activity privileges? Make him stay in his room? None of these would affect him all that much though… Not to mention today was the day that L was going to introduce someone very interesting to Roger, so he needed to hurry up and clear this office.

Too late, just as that thought flashed across his mind, some kids running outside in the hallway started screaming loudly, "L'S VISITING!"

Three point four seconds. That's exactly how long it took for Mello to rush out the door. It wasn't because he wanted to get away from the punishment (though maybe that was part of the reason for his speed too), rather, him, like many of the other children at Wammy's looked up to L, and was always overexcited when he visited, which happened rarely, because he worked on cases a lot.

Near went out the door too, though not quite as rushed as Mello. He was still slightly faster than usual and almost slipped on his own white socks. You could tell that he respected L quite a lot.

Everybody at the orphanage was quite surprised to see a girl around Near's age holding L's hands and walking right beside him. Usually, new children would be escorted to the school by the head of their own orphanage or their care taker; it was extremely rare for L to show clear favoritism to someone like this.

Mello took another bite of chocolate, unlike the other children; he didn't hate this new girl for being so close to L. No, rather, he pitied her. Once she started learning here, for clearly she was here to attend, as she dragged along her suitcase behind her (though she could've just let Watari carried it), she would face a lot of bullies who weren't very happy with her being special.

Matt, Mello's best friend, more like only friend (and loyal dog) came out beside Mello from somewhere or other in the crowd of people. "You get in any trouble?" He asked. As usual, Matt was wearing a striped black and white long sleeved shirt and jeans. Also, he was gloved, which was understandable considering it was mid-November already, but he wore them all the time, even through summer! His eyes were glued onto the PS3 screen held tightly in his hands. Because of what Mello suspected was pure experience, he could tell his surroundings without having to look up for even a second.

"Mm." Mello grunted. As you have probably noticed, "Mm" was becoming quite a popular phrase with Mello.

"What do you think that new girl is talented at for L to personally escort her here?" Some boy Mello didn't recognize in the crowd of people asked.

"I don't understand why people take these things for granted. Maybe she's just an orphan who L happened to pass by on the way here, and he decided to get her to an orphanage. Geez… I mean L doesn't always bring back talents. Look at me! I was brought back by L, and all I do is sit on my butt all day playing video games- By the way, can you return that Halo3 game disk you borrowed from me?" Matt said.

"Are you kidding? I'm not done playing with it yet!" Mello practically shouted, because the kids around them were being too noisy and also squishing too much against them. Then he added, "And to answer your question: You are the third best in this whole orphanage! Of course L only brings back talents!"

What Mello said was true. Somehow, Matt, who was obsessed with video games, and had apparently no interest in studies, was third in line to be L's successor.

Suddenly, a particularly plump boy was pushed right into Mello, and he pushed on into Matt, who complained with a "Heh, watch it! I just missed an easy target!"

Mello was not quite as forgiving as Matt though, for he grabbed the boy by the collar and with little effort, picked him right off from the ground. Then, in a very threatening manner, he growled, "Stay away, got it?"

The boy nodded, made a sound that was somewhat similar to a whimper, and scrambled as far away as possible. The people around, noticing the incident, actually cleared a circle for Mello and Matt, because they were scared of him.

"You really need anger management, ya know?" Matt asked.

"Mm."

"But I suppose chocolate is your anger management, eh?"

"Mm."

"Tell me if you don't have enough chocolate. I'll buy a whole box for you, my treat."

"Really?"

"Yeah. In return, keep me alive when you start going crazy someday without chocolate."

Just as they finished the conversation (of sorts), Roger reached the little girl with L. As soon as the girl got within sight, Roger noticed her eyes.

They were both orangey-brown, just barely on the edge of flashing red, and they were certainly very, very, unstable. Roger had seen these kinds of eyes, once and only once- with B. His breath caught in his throat as he remembered the student that became a serial murderer but was eventually brought to justice by L.

"What's your name?" He asked, trying to keep his voice from quivering.

The girl tilted her head to one side and shrugged. "Real or fake?"

"Real for now, I suppose." Roger said without thinking, everyone at Wammy's had a fake name, but he did have records of most of their real names, though it was top secret. His throat was dry; this girl was really making an impression on him. Though she had only said three words to him so far, he could hear from her voice something that he had heard from A (another Wammy's student, first generation)'s but had failed to recognize…

Suicidal intent…

Very clearly, raising her voice to its loudest, which was surprisingly loud enough to get every person in probably the whole hallway to hear even above their own chatter, the girl stood up tall, let go of L's hand and spoke with an unreadable look right into Roger's face:

"Death to all."

The words echoed off the walls, and instantly everyone was silent, even Roger himself was breathless. The only sounds left was Mello chomping on his chocolate bar, and Matt's PS3 making gun noises.

Near was at the very back of the crowd, as he didn't have the motive (nor the strength) to push up front, as he knew L would come speak to him, Mello and Matt privately sometime later just like every other time he visited. But even he could hear the words the girl had shouted. Very interesting… He thought.

As for Mello, all he was wondering was: "Death to all" is a name?