You wanted to get to the bottom of this, it'd be hard since almost all records on L's existence are either under lock and key or destroyed. But you had to know what happened to L as a child, that would be such a big help to a recovery he clearly needs.

You knew one person that would be able to help...

"Hey, Hey wake up"

The redhead didn't stir, half hanging off the bed asleep.

"MATT!" You whispered yelled.

He jolted awake, rubbing his eyes and making out your features illuminated by the lava lamp by his bed.

"(Y/n)? What's going on?" He said sleepily.

"You're an expert hacker, I need your help"

"Now? It's like midnight"

"Yeah, technically I shouldn't be looking into this because the staff are hiding it for a reason but I gotta know"

That peaked his interest. Forbidden knowledge? He liked the sound of that.

"What are we hacking?" He asked, grabbing his laptop from the floor by the bed and opening the lid.

"Any records you can find in the wammys system about L before he came to the orphanage"

"Ooo that sounds interesting, can I look at Mello and Nears too? They've never told me what happened before we met in the foster care system. I won't tell anyone anything"

"Go for it, just cover our tracks"

You watched him open programs and set up firewalls and VPNs to cover the tracks, opening the wammys database program and extracting the code.

"What would the files be called?" He asked.

"Dunno, maybe try his name?" You replied.

He typed L Lawliet into the search bar and a few pages came up.

"Looks like his medical records and a track record of all his cases and aliases"

"Try his wammys ID number"

Every orphan had an ID number, all of the orphanages Watari founded had a system like that in order to keep track of records. Your number matched when you came into the orphanage. Since L was among the first lot of kids at wammys with you, A and B, he was 0010 and you were 0009. Matt pulled up all the files with L's number in it, finding one called registration.

"Try that. It looks like the paperwork from when he was registered into the system" you said.

He opened it, finding an extensive record dated way back to the 80s when you and L first came to the orphanage. All handwritten and scanned in later.

"This looks like it was all done the day he arrived..." Matt said, pointing out the date in the corner.

Name: L Lawliet
Age: 5
Date of birth: 31/10/1979
Number: 0010
Sex: male
Weight: 17.9kg (underweight)
Height: 109cm
Hair: black
Eyes: grey
Ethnicity: mixed (Japanese, Caucasian, possibly some other genes)

Previous establishments: n/a

Allergies: pine nuts
Medications: n/a
History of seizures/tics/black outs: n/a
Disabilities: n/a
Mental disorders: upon investigation of his behaviours and home life a PTSD diagnosis is in order.

Notes: L shows bad communication and social skills, starting fights within the first hours of arrival. He seems to be scared of loud and energetic people. In an attempt to have him make friends and socialise he'll be introduced to (y/n) as she is quieter and a more gentle person. They seem to be a good match. He shows incredible intelligence for someone his age and looking to placing into classes a year ahead of him may be helpful. Further observation of his behaviour as he grows up is needed due to the behaviours that could be caused by his home life.

"Woah, he started fights on the first day?" Matt giggled.

"I remember that. The more out there extroverted kids wanted to play with him but he got scared of them being so loud and energetic so when he approached him he pushed them and kicked a few of them down" you explained.

"I never saw him as the type to do that... but I guess it makes sense if they mention PTSD. In all honesty I see it, he does seem to get all worried around loud noises"

Scrolling through the pages you got some more follow up notes on how his behaviour was in the following months, and some medical records thrown in there too from when he first got sick at the orphanage.

"Wait go back-" you said, seeing a familiar logo.

Matt scrolled back, and just as you thought it was a police report.

"Woah hold on... I think you've spotted something" Matt said.

Officer on duty: Carrie Nolvan
Crime: child abuse and abandonment.
Victim: A five year old boy - won't tell us his name.

Events: at 4:36pm a couple out shopping with their new born baby spotted the victim crying in a parking lot and approached him. He said that his parents left him there and at 4:38pm police were called. Police arrived at 4:57pm and questioned the couple. The boy was taken to the Winchester police station and questioned. [Transcript below]. Boy is a clear victim of child abuse and abandonment. Child protective services are being involved and he will be put into foster care. If parents can be tracked down, they'll be arrested and charged with child abuse, neglect, endangerment and abandonment. Therapy is recommended for the victim.

[TRANSCRIPT]
Officer: do you remember what happened before the couple found you
Victim: [nods]
Officer: can you tell me?
Victim: they said we were going shopping and we got in the car. They told me to wait outside the shop and didn't come back.
Officer: did you ask anyone for help?
Victim: [shakes head]
Officer: why not?
Victim: daddy doesn't like when I ask for help.
Officer: why not?
Victim: he says it's not his problem.
Officer: [pause] ok... how did you end up in the parking lot?
Victim: I thought I'd go wait at the car but it wasn't there.
Officer: how long do you think it has been from when you were left outside the shop?
Victim: it was sunny when we left and the sun started to down when I went to the parking lot.
Officer: alright. Do you remember what happened before you left to go to shops?
Victim: I was in my room playing with my blocks and mummy and daddy were yelling at each other.
Officer: do they yell at each other a lot?
Victim: yes.
Officer: do they yell at you?
Victim: yes

[questioning is put on hold for 30 minutes as the victim began crying]

Officer: do you like it at home?
Victim: no
Officer: why not?
Victim: because mummy and daddy hate me
Officer: why do you say that?
Victim: they yell at me and throw things at me and drag me around
Officer: how did you get that bruise on your arm?
Victim : mummy got mad at me and hit me.
Officer: why was she mad at you?
Victim: because I didn't ask before I got a juice box
Officer: why didn't you ask?
Victim: because they always say no so I have to sneak them.
Officer: do they not let you drink juice?
Victim: they don't let me have anything when it's not dinner time.
Officer: no breakfast or lunch?
Victim: is lunch the one at the middle of the day?
Officer: that's right
Victim: they don't let me eat when it's not dinner.
Officer: ok, I'll tell you what's going to happen.
Victim: [Nods]
Officer: we're going to take you to see a specialist that knows what to do in a situation like yours. They're going to talk to you and you'll stay there for a few weeks. After that you'll be sent to a place where you'll live with other kids that don't have good parents. You'll be taken care of and go to school there.
Victim: I'll be allowed to have friends?
Officer: yes, and you'll have breakfast and lunch too.
Victim: I won't have to go back home right?
Officer: no. You'll live there for a while ok? It'll be much nicer there.
Victim: ok. What are you going to do with mummy and daddy?
Officer: well we can't tell yet until we find them. I need your name if you want us to find them faster.
Victim: I don't tell people I don't know my name.
Officer: why?
Victim: daddy never calls me my name. He only call me mean things so only very special people can know my name.
Officer: right, well thank you for answering questions. You can keep colouring in until the specialist arrive ok?
Victim: ok.

When you got to the end of the transcript, you and Matt were silent. You knew he didn't have a good home life but you didn't know it got that bad. No wonder he has all this trauma, that kind in thing will stick with your for a very long time. From the looks of the transcript he was physically and verbally abused. Restricted on food, was constantly hearing yelling and fighting down the hall, and had all that turned to him when his parents got sick of yelling at each other. It explained why he didn't like loud noises, was tense and anxious a lot, always thought he was the reason things wrong like with A and B, eats in weird patterns, over analysed things, and was very careful with who's allowed to touch him.

As he got older, he clearly repressed all these traumatic memories and that's why he doesn't remember life pre wammys. He grew up in a broken household and very sheltered. It was no surprised he ended up the way he did.

"I mean I knew he went though something but I didn't think it was THAT bad..." Matt said.

"I had a bad feeling it was... that explains a lot. The poor baby..." you sighed.

"At least now you know the source of everything so you can try and fix things as best as you can"

"Yeah that's why I wanted to find these records. Send me a copy of all this if you can. I'm not going to have him read it himself in case it triggers something, but I will give him a broad rundown"

"Ok, I'll send it to you. I'm gonna look at Mello and Nears too because I know full well they went through some shit too and if I understand what happened maybe I can help them get through it"

Matt really did care about those two. He was always the peacekeeper. Whenever Mello lashed out at Near Matt was the one to calm him down. And whenever Near was poking rods at Mello Matt would tell him to cut it out. And you knew that Mello and Near did care about each other deep down despite the rocky relationship too and they cared about Matt as well, which is why they listened to him and his peace keeping. Neither of them wanted to hurt him, and their fighting clearly does, so they stop when he tells them too.

You knew what happened to Matt, he seemed to have the best home life out of the three of them. Still not a good one but at least he was actually able to talk about what happened to him. When the boys got older, you did bring it up. Near didn't remember, Mello refused to talk about it, but Matt confided. His birth father was involved with drugs, he was raised by his mother and the father was never home and when he was he was high and things tended to get violent. But his mother always stepped in to protect him, that was until she got killed in a fight with the father while he was tripping on hard drugs. He was arrested and Matt was taken into foster care. You were actually very surprised he remembered all that, he was so young you thought it would get repressed or forgotten. But he remembered, he preferred not too but he did remember.

You seemed to connect some dots when he told you that. Why he was attached to you and L, because he saw you as a replacement mother and L as the good father he didn't have. And it also explained why he hated Mello and Near fighting. Because he didn't like people he cared about getting aggressive with each other.

Mello definitely remembered what happened to him but really didn't like to talk about it. It was clearly traumatic. Near was so young he didn't remember, but just based off his reactions to certain things, some trauma was definitely there. In fact, most wammys kids had something traumatic and horrible happen to them. It was sad, but that's just the depressing truth about some monsters in the world.

"You know... maybe I'll take a look at Mello and Nears too... it might help. Tomorrow I'll talk to L about his problems, and maybe you should try and talk to the boys at some point" you said, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Yeah I want to help them. I want to help L too, I'm clearly at an advantage here with being more healed than the three of them. I feel like I should help" Matt replied, beginning to look for Mello and Nears records.

You wrapped an arm around him, giving him a smile.

"You're an amazing kid Mail" you said.

He smiled back, resting his head on your shoulder the way a son would to his mother.

"Thanks, you're an amazing mentor"