[Uke]

K moved forward and began to put in the IV. She worked quickly but was gentle at the same time, watching his every movement to make sure he wasn't going to attack.

Soon enough the sedative was slipping into him and he could feel his heart rate slowing down, his body relaxing. He wanted to call out but his voice wouldn't work... yet to his surprise, through his fuzzy vision he could see Zero move over to him.

The taller boy slowly climbed onto the bed and curled up at his side... and a few moments later the twins joined him.

--Scene Change!--

From Matt's usually covered window, Next watched as the snow began to fall. The sky was covered with clouds and darkening as night came over them... he'd been standing there almost fifteen minutes, not speaking a single word.

[Mint]

The whole time- Matt had sat on the bed and watched him- waiting for his cue to say or do something. But after a while of this, he was certain that he wasn't going to get any sort of sign from the ivory-haired boy. Instead he quietly got up and moved to sit on the sill beside Next and watch the snow.

[Uke]

"...It's weird," Next finally said after a few more moments of uncomfortable silence. "I... never knew about this, before. Yet... its like I understand everything. I know all the rules... like it was there, but hidden..."

[Mint]

"...Do you feel any different?" Matt asked.

[Uke]

"I feel guilty," Next admitted, turning to look at Matt. "Like... I should have known. I should have warned Mello... if he knew the consequences of his choice, maybe things would have gone differently... Maybe he would have made a different wish or just not saved me at all..."

[Mint]

"What consequences?" Matt frowned.

[Uke]

With a small groan, Next pressed his forehead against the window. "Bringing... someone back from the dead is a really dangerous thing to do, Matt... There is a reason that murder with a Death Note isn't supposed to be undone... and death in general. When someone is brought back in their own body, everything works okay, but..."

He turned to look at the redhead.

"Naveen's body had been dead for some time," He whispered. "And so... he was born from its ashes, so to speak... like a phoenix. Reborn... But certainly you know that a phoenix is immortal, don't you? And... so is Naveen..."

His eyes fell downward, guilt written on his face.

"From now on... any time Naveen 'dies'... he will just be reborn again," Next whispered. "And... since Near had his heart... when Naveen was reborn Near's heart failed and Naveen, in a moment of desperation... shared that ability with Near. I don't think he meant to, but... they're both going to live forever, Matt."

[Mint]

Matt stared at Next.

"You mean...forever..." Matt leaned back- running it all through his head. "But...how? And they're going to be...sad...Mello isn't gonna live forever Next."

[Uke]

"Exactly!" Next cried, turning to his lover with tears in his eyes. "How do I fix this, Matt!? Mello is going to be mad when he finds out and Near... god... he's going to be so heart broken... this is all my fault!"

[Mint]

Matt wrapped around Next.

"It's not your fault...you didn't know and you were only trying to help them." Matt said- holding Next tightly. "These people are your family Next, you would have done anything for them. You never did this to hurt anyone."

[Uke]

"But if I had known I could have warned him," Next whimpered, leaning in to Matt's hold and sobbing quietly.

[Mint]

"But you didn't...you can't blame yourself for that, it's not fair." Matt whispered. "...We'll think of something Next, we'll...will think of something. They won't hate you for this...not when all you wanted to do was help."

[Uke]

Next didn't reply, only letting out another soft sob.

[Mint]

Matt rocked the boy in his arms gently- rubbing his back and shoulders. After a moment, he started to hum softly- doing anything he could think of to comfort Next and ease away his tears.

[Uke]

It took a while, but eventually Next's cries died down and he just let Matt rock him listening to the redhead as he hummed.

Then through the humming, he whispered, "...Is that the Mario brothers theme song?"

[Mint]

"Well, I was gonna lead into the underwater level theme." Matt laughed.