"I told you! But nooo we don't believe anything near says"

"Ok ok! Maybe you were right. Magic does exist"

Mello didn't like admitting he was wrong, but standing under giant mushrooms kind of proved him wrong right now. Having followed the path, the boys found themselves walking through trees with gems and giant mushrooms, completely amazed at what they were seeing. They wondered how long L had known about this place, and what exactly he was doing down here every few nights.

"Hey do you hear that?" Matt spoke up.

"Heat what? The wind?" Mello sassed.

"No dumbass. Running water, there's probably a river nearby"

"So?"

"So? Rivers are water and water means sirens"

Near perked up, desperately wanting to find the siren again.

"It's probably at the end of the path, come on!" He said excitedly.

They'd never seen Near so eager to do something before. Usually he was very quiet and monotone, keeping to himself. But he must be really into this while magic thing if he was excitedly running  off in search of a siren. The two followed him down the path running behind him through the mushrooms and trees, the leaves crunching under their feet.

And sure enough, at the end of the path was a massive river, in the distance they could see a town on the other side.

"Woah... how do you get across?" Matt asked.

"There's a boat! Although it probably belongs to someone... there's probably no bridge nearby and you have to sail across" Mello replied, pointing out the boat that was docked up on the shoreline.

Climbing up into it, he found there was an oar, life jacket and a few personal belongings lying on the deck. One was a scroll of some kind, the other was a small bag full of shells and rocks. And hanging on the side of the boat was a shirt.

A white, long sleeves shirt.

"No way- guys look!" He called out.

The boys ran over and peeked into the boat, seeing all the things inside, including the shirt hanging off it.

"Hey, that's L's! It has to be it's literally all he ever wears, and it's the right size" Matt said.

Reaching over Near grabbed the sleeve of the shirt and pulled it off the side, looking at the tag and confirming it was a mens large fit for L's height. And there was one other way to confirm it was L's or not. He bought the shirt up to his face to smell it.

"Did you just smel-" Mello began.

"It smells like baked goods and sea salt. The sea probably from him wearing it after swimming here and the baked goods... I mean this is L we're talking about. This is definitely his" Near explained.

"Oohhhh... so this is his boat?"

"Looks like it"

The boys continued to look in the boat, and around the surrounding shoreline at the evidence that L had been there. Footprints in the sand, his shirt on the boat, clear signs of humans interfering with the area like broken branches off trees and sand castles on the shore. If it wasn't him then who could it be? There was no one else around here.

"Hey do you think he's been over to that town across the river?" Mello asked.

"Probably, I mean he has a boat here" Near replied.

"We should go"

"Mello none of us know how to drive a boat. Plus we can't stay here for too long or Roger will know we're gone"

As usual, the two harmlessly bickered over weather or not they should try and boat across the river. Mello all for taking the risk and Near telling him he was stupid. They were smart as hell, but they're still kids. It's not exactly safe to have three kids out on the water alone, even if they were the smartest ones in the orphanage. But Matt was too distracted to argue with them, he was busy looking at the footprints in the sand. He noticed something... some were bigger than the others, so there were really TWO sets of foot prints. Even stranger, one set seemed to be coming out of the water, like something was being dragged and then the footprints started.

Maybe... something like a tail?

"Hmm... so it's not just L that's been here..." he mumbled to himself.

Hearing something move in the water, he snapped his sight up to the river. Quicker than you could say magic he was looking out at the water for the source of the noise. Was it a fish? A water bird? He looked around for a moment, before spotting it. There was something swimming around underwater and making a current behind it. He stood up and walked up to the edge of the water to get a better look and as the thing got closer, he could make out a blue-ish colour through the water.

"Guys shut up! Look!" He called out.

Mello and Near stopped bickering and rushed over to watch the clear movement of the water seemingly get closer.

"What is that?" Mello asked.

"It's them, it has to be! If this is where L comes to meet them then of course they'd be near by" Near replied.

As if on cue, they watched as a person surfaced from the water shaking the hair away from their eyes. Behind them, a long, scaled tail.

"See? I told you!" Near bragged.

The second you heard that voice you almost jumped out of your skin. Turning to face the shoreline you were met with none other than the three boys L always talked about, and one of which you'd met before.

"Oh my god- what on earth are you three doing here! How did you even find this place?" You questioned, swimming over.

Near wasn't surprised, he'd already seen you. But Matt and Mello were stunned to see a real live siren just casually talking to them. They knew what sirens looked like, but seeing one for real was a whole different feeling. Tails were so... long... and shiny.

"We wanted to know where L was going at night so we kind of... did an investigation" Near replied.

"Well... he is raising three tiny detectives, should have guessed you'd figure something out..." you sighed.

"I'm sorry are we just going ti pretend this isn't insane? There's a real siren RIGHT THERE! And they know about us? L's talked about us to a siren" Mello jumped in.

You snickered at his disbelief, but didn't blame him. Being told magic isn't real your whole life and then finding out it is must be pretty shocking. L was shocked, Near was shocked, of course Matt and Mello would be too.

"I know... this all feels like a dream" Matt added.

"It's very real. In fact more humans than you think have found this place before. Wait I haven't even told you my name yet, I'm (y/n). L already told me about you guys" you replied.

You never really minded the boys knowing about you and the land, L spoke a lot of them and when you went up to the human world to watch them they seemed to be incredibly smart and they loved L a lot. You knew that they could be trusted, since they'd understand the weight of keeping it a secret better than any other kid would. And the fact they cared for L and wouldn't want to disappoint him, if L wanted it a secret then they'd keep it a secret.

"I'm guessing L doesn't know you're here?" You asked.

They shook their heads, completely forgetting that now they had to come up with a reason as to why they know about this place that was meant to be secret.

"Oh you little trouble makers. Don't worry, I'll help explain everything. Come back after lights out at about 9pm. That's when L will be here, we can tell him together how about that?" You suggested.

"You know... you're a lot nicer than I thought. Aren't sirens meant to drown people?" Mello asked.

"We only drown people that hurt us or our land. L has been nothing but nice to me so I'm nice to him back. And I've heard a lot about you three, I know you guys are nice too. Plus, I wouldn't drown a child" you explained.

You didn't blame a bunch of kids for not knowing what was real and what wasn't. Especially when they just had magic proven to be real to them. In your mind, these were L's babies and you wouldn't dream of hurting your lovers babies. So whatever questions they had, or trouble they caused you'd gladly help clear things up for them.

"Oh... so you're not evil?" Matt asked.

"Not unless you try to stab me or something, which I know you won't do. Now... let's figure out this whole L thing shall we?"