A/N: In the chapter "Extra: Character information" you can find information on the characters. I say this now since I figured it would be best read after the timeskip, with the exception of Story and Harrowing, whose information you should read after reading the chapter, "And How Have YOU Been?" A warning that the extra information has a looooong explanation at the beginning.

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Patience

"Open up!" she shouted, continuously banging on the door.

"Lacey!" a voice boomed. "Quiet down!"

"Fine," said Lacey, "but I still ain't moving."

I recognized that voice: it was Mr. Roger. I listened as he walked away, and when his footsteps faded, I knew the coast was clear. "Allison?" I said, hoping she was still nearby. "Can you tell Lacey the truth now?"

Sure enough, Allison replied. "Yeah, sure! Lacey! Joy lied."

"What?" Joy and Lacey exclaimed at the same time.

"Obviously," said Allison. "We're a bunch of nine- and ten-year-olds. Dating? Really? Not to mention, it's her second day here. You're just a mug."

"Hold on!" Joy protested. "Nobody even got hit."

"You know Lacey wouldn't do that," Allison said. "She only gets violent if you cross her. She just would have complained a lot and annoyed Mello."

"And you're telling me that you wouldn't have wanted to see that?" Joy countered.

There was silence, likely Allison pondering over Joy's question for a moment. "Well, as much as I might, I have to respect Patience's wishes."

I then opened the door, only to have my exit blocked by Joy and another girl around my age, who I assumed was Lacey. Lacey, to talk to Mello; Joy, to make sure Mello couldn't escape.

Clearly, Joy didn't like Mello; that or she really liked making people miserable. Or both.

Had Mello and I not been there to preoccupy Lacey's attention, she would most likely have been confronting Joy and Allison for lying to and tripping her.

"Hello," she said, "me name is Lacey. Sorry about that misunderstanding. You must be Patience, yeah? It's nice to meet you." Now I could tell why she picked the name Lacey. Around her neck she wore a pretty black lace.

I nodded. "You, too." I knew that since Mr. Roger was there, May had probably finished her work and maybe even seen my file. "I'm sorry, but I really have to go."

Lacey stepped out of the way to let me pass, but surprisingly, Mello grabbed my arm. "I have to go with her," he said. At first, I was somewhat confused, but seeing as how Mello was horrified of Lacey, it became clear rather quickly.

"Then I'll come with you lot," Lacey said.

"I'll stay here," a voice said.

We all looked down to see Matt sitting by the doorway, playing a video game. Birdie and Allison were watching him, intrigued.

"When the hell did you get here?" Joy wondered. In response, Matt shrugged.

"Oh no; if I'm going, then you're coming with me," Mello said, grabbing Matt by the collar as Allison, Birdie, Joy, and I walked away. Lacey followed us, walking right next to Mello the entire time. Mello turned to look at Allison. "Allison, remind me to kill you later."

Allison giggled. "Will do," she said, winking at him.

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While walking back to my room with the others, Allison sped up so that she could walk next to me.

"Hey, Patience," she said.

"What?" I asked. "I'm still annoyed about you having me get chased after for your own amusement."

"I wouldn't have let her do anything bad to you," Allison told me. "Like I said, Lacey doesn't get violent that easily. She just would have started griping.
"Are we okay about that? It was more to annoy Mello than you. I'm sorry."

I raised an eyebrow; I had only known her for a day, but even I could tell that this was unlike Allison. "Yeah, it's fine," I assured her.

"Okay," she said. Then, she simply dropped the subject and stopped talking.

"What's the big deal?" I asked.

"I just haven't got a whole lot of mates who are girls," she said.

Friend? Me? "I'm your friend?" I asked. "Are you sure you want to be my friend?"

She looked as sincere as I'd ever seen her when she said to me, "Yes, of course!"

"Okay, we can be friends," I told her. "It's just... I've had a lot of friends leave me."

"That's okay," Allison said, looking at me with eager eyes, "because we'll be friends forever! I promise."

I don't know why, but for some reason, when she said that, I truly did believe her.

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We all walked into the bedroom I shared with Joy, May, and Allison to find May sitting on her bed, reading a book.

"We're back!" Birdie announced, skipping over to May.

"Oh, that's good," said May, somewhat nervously.

"May, did you find it?" I asked.

"Find what?" Lacey asked, interested in our conversation.

I didn't really want to tell her, but it didn't matter, seeing as Birdie had no problem explaining. "Her mummy's name!"

Lacey looked somewhat taken aback but nodded in understanding.

"Well," May said, "I got a look at your file, but I didn't find your birth mother's name."

I frowned, and my hopes that she'd make a discovery began to fade.

"But I did find one thing of note," she explained. "Do you remember that woman who took you here?"

"Jessica," I said. "Yeah, I remember her. What about her?"

"Well, I found out that she was knew your mother. Your adoptive mother, that is, which is why she was assigned to you. She wanted you to go to this specific orphanage, and she even recommended you to Mr. Roger."

"She did?" I said, stunned. "Why?"

"I don't know," May admitted. "The only other information I found out about her was her full name."

"Which is?" Allison said.

"Emily-Jessica Lockwood."

Hearing that, I stiffened and felt the blood drain from my face.

"Patience?" May said, sounding concerned.

Emily-Jessica Lockwood. Emily. The name from my dreams. Did this mean Jessica was my mother?

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Three years. Three years I had been at the Wammy's House, and the time went by so quickly. Those were a great three years, but I should have known better than to think it would last.

I was in one of the hallways, just walking around, admiring the grand structure of Wammy's House; three years and it still didn't cease to amaze me. I then saw Mello walk around the corner, coat in hand; he was walking rather quickly.

"Mello?" I said.

He turned to me, and his eyes widened as if he'd forgotten something. He walked towards me and said, "Patience, I'm leaving."

My eyes widened. "What?" I managed to choke out.

"L is dead," he explained. "I can't stay here. I'm going to leave. Near will work on the Kira case; he can be L's successor. There's just no way in hell I'm working with Near; I swear, I'll suffocate if I stay here any longer. I'm leaving; I'll solve the Kira case without him. Without Wammy's. "...You can come with me if you want."

"Why?" I asked.

"We know that Kira's in Japan, and that's where Jessica is. You think she's your mother, right?" he said. I had told him about this some time ago. "Well, if you come with me, then you'll eventually be able to find her."

Mello was right; since the Kira murders had started in Japan, that's probably where Kira was.

Jessica had told me in passing that she was moving to the Kanto region of Japan. L had deduced years ago that this is where Kira was located. If I worked on the Kira case, I could possibly track down Jessica and learn the truth. It was a long shot, but waiting around wasn't going to bring me any closer to finding her.

But leaving Wammy's... could I really do that? Could I leave Allison and all the other people I'd grown fond of over the years? Mello was my friend, too, though. Not to mention he was going towards Kira, who was in Japan, where Jessica lived.

Then my mother came to my mind-my adoptive mother, Annabelle. She may not have been my birth mother, but she had loved me as if she had been.

She never wanted me to find my birth mother, though she and I both knew that I'd eventually go searching for her someday.

But like this? Would my mom want me to do this? Still, I needed to find my birth mother. I needed to.

"Well?" said Mello, waiting for an answer. That's it; I knew my answer.

"I...I can't," I said. I wanted to find Jessica; I would find Jessica and ask her if she was my birth mother. Not like this, though. "Come on, Mello. You can't just leave." He rolled his eyes and shot me a glare, then began to walk away. "What about all your friends? What about Matt and Allison?"

As though I'd just chanted the magic words in a spell, he stopped, a chord having been struck. Hesitation. But whatever that feeling was that was holding him back, Mello shook his head, pushing it away. Shifting to anger again, he stormed down the hallway.

"I'm leaving, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it."

Then Mello was gone. I didn't know what to do. All I knew was that I'd failed my friends. And myself.

Matt and Allison evidently found out that Mello had left, though they weren't aware that he'd asked me to come with him. I didn't know what else to say, what else I could do. Allison was silent for several days, and Matt couldn't even bring himself to pick up his GameBoy. And you don't even want to know how Lacey took it.

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Soon after, I was ready to leave the Wammy's House. What Mello said had sunk into me, and I knew that the only excuse I could get to leave Wammy's to get to seek Jessica out in Japan was to work on the Kira case.

I couldn't wait until I aged out of the system, so I left. No, I didn't go to Mello. I didn't know where he was, and even if I had, I wouldn't have had the guts.

Near. Mello had said that Near was going to work on the Kira case. If I needed to find Jessica by working on the Kira case, then I didn't want my conscious killing me about running away from everything.

I'd talked to Near. He already knew about me thinking Jessica was my mom, since I'd always vent to him whenever I got stressed. He didn't seem to mind, but he was straight with me: while his journey would eventually lead him to Japan, there was no telling when. For all he knew, I'd be eighteen and able to travel there myself before he even got there. His words were something to consider, but in the end, it was better than sitting in Wammy's and waiting. I loved it there, but every day I stayed, there was a reminder of the slow passage of time and how far I would have to go until I finally reached my goal. Ultimately, I knew that my path lied with Near.

Not many people from the orphanage knew I was going to work with Near on the case. The only people who did were Mr. Roger, Joy, and Allison (being my two roommates), Matt (being third in line to succeed L and my friend), and May. By then, May wasn't at Wammy's anymore; she'd left a while ago, but I had wanted to tell her anyway.

I can still clearly remember the day I left. I hugged each of them and said goodbye. My mind was filled with all of the possible things that could happen to me. It was like I wasn't even there.

"Patience," Allison said, bringing me back to reality, "you have to promise me something."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Whatever you do, please," she said, her voice nearly breaking,"please bring Mello back."

"I will," I assured her. "I promise I will, Allison."

I promised that, and I meant it, but deep down, I knew that I would probably never see Mello again.

If only I'd known how wrong I was.