Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

November 5, 2004

It was raining.

Rain pattered noisily against the roof of the building, hitting the concrete with almost deafening pitter-patters. It was as if the weather knew, and the world was grieving for the anticipated fall of the greatest detective it had ever known. But that was ridiculous. The world should be celebrating Ryuzaki's death. It marked the victory of Kira, and the milestone of a new age.

In a way, Light almost regretted forcing Ryuzaki into a corner and manipulating Rem to kill him. It wasn't out of guilt, or anything like that. It was more disappointment that such a bright mind had been unable to accept his justice, and had opposed him. Light allowed himself to wonder what would have happened had the solitary detective gone along with his plans, agreed with them even. Light thought that, maybe, just maybe, they could have been true friends.

This, however, was not to be. It had probably been fated from the very beginning. Light and L... the brightest minds existing on this earth. They had been made to clash and fight. Light felt a bit bad, having to kill the one person who he might not have minded befriending, but it had to be done. He was Kira, and Ryuzaki was L. They were bound to fight, until one of them lost and the other won. That was how it was. Kill or be killed...

"Ryuzaki, what are you doing out here?"

The detective's pale face came fully into view, wide eyes blinking as his wet hair flopped in his face. Ryuzaki looked... strangely sad somehow. It was like he knew... and Light honestly wouldn't put it past him. Ryuzaki had the sharpest instincts of any person Light had ever met, and he respected that, even though he had lost in the end, or would lose, seeing as how he had failed to gain the evidence needed to convict Light. Ryuzaki tilted his head and cupped a hand around his ear, an obvious signal to speak louder. Light sighed in irritation, he hated repeating himself, and he had thought that Ryuzaki would be the last person he would have had to repeat himself to, seeing as the other genius could so obviously keep up and occasionally surpass him. Unfortunately, it seemed that he would have too. The rain was blocking out too much of his voice.

Light had the brief urge to silence the rain by writing it in the Death Note, but no, that would be foolish. How absurdly insane of him...

"Ryuzaki, what are you doing out here?"

He made sure to hide the slight edge to his voice, although he was sure Ryuzaki picked up on it anyway, because he tilted his head even further and made a vague motion with the hand cupped around his ear, a strange looking smile (or was it a smirk?) twisting his lips.

... That little bastard.

It took all of Light's (rather impressive) self-control to not stiffen in anger like he wanted to. Ryuzaki could always draw such responses from him. Ryuzaki knew, he knew that Light hated getting dirty. It was a pet peeve of his. Forcing him to go out into the rain... Well it was obvious now that Ryuzaki was provoking him, perhaps in a last fit of childishness before his heart stopped beating. Light felt vaguely triumphant, knowing that soon the heart of the man across from him would be still and lifeless, just like all those criminals he had killed. Criminals... that was what L was, a criminal, for standing up against him. There was nothing else to it, nothing else to call him. Just a criminal, a detective, a strange insomniac, a sugar addict, a social recluse, his enemy. It was curious that he didn't feel all that eager. When he had beaten Naomi Misora, he had felt jubilant. However, on the brink of his victory, most of what he was feeling was an unusual sort of longing for what could have been. Strange, he had never been one to be wistful. It was a new feeling, one he wasn't entirely sure he liked.

Light began to walk toward the slouching detective, whose shirt was so soaked it was see-through.

"I said, what are you doing out here?" Light called out as soon as he got close enough.

Ryuzaki didn't respond for a moment, blank eyes seemingly looking right over him. It annoyed him that he was seemingly unimportant enough for the detective's full attention, and if that wasn't enough, Ryuzaki turned his face away from him, looking up at the sky. Light felt a bolt of anger shoot through him. Not enough to send him ranting in the silence of his own head, but enough to make his fingers twitch minutely.

Still not looking at him, Ryuzaki spoke in his low, monotone voice. "You are Yagami Light, are you not?"

Confused, Light replied slowly, as if he were talking to an asylum escapee or a young child, "Yes... where are you going with this, Ryuzaki?"

Ryuzaki lowered his head, before shuffling so that his entire body was facing Light. His bare feet splashed against the puddles gathering on the rooftop. Light had the sudden realization that he must have been cold, standing out in the rain for who-knows-how-long.

"Ya - ga - mi - Light," he said, as if testing out the syllables on his tongue was of utmost importance and required a great amount of concentration.

Light felt a slight tremor of unease. Something told him that this wasn't quite right, that something was wrong. But what? He wasn't sure. He was missing a vital piece of the puzzle, and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Typical of him, Ryuzaki, to throw him in a loop just before his ultimate victory. He eyed Ryuzaki warily as the dark-haired male began to lift up his head. Noticing the grin on the insomniac's face, he crossed his arms protectively in front of his chest, wondering if the detective had finally lost it and was going to attack him. Light was fairly confident in his ability to defend himself, but Ryuzaki had more experience, and Light honestly wasn't sure who would win in a full-out fist fight against each other.

Ryuzaki lifted his head, fully exposing the grin. It didn't seem to fit on his face. Light had seen him smile slightly before, he had even seen him smile genuinely. But they had never been very big smiles. This grin was insincere and a little scary in its apparent brightness, and seemed out of place on the normally serious detective's face.

"Oh Ya - ga - mi - Light!" he chirped, and all of a sudden that insincere and out of place grin turned sharp and wide and, well, for lack of better words, insane. His hands curled viciously around Light's collar, and Light jolted in shock, because he hadn't remembered Ryuzaki being close enough to touch him. How had the detective moved so fast? Or maybe Light was reacting too slowly. "You killed me, ne~, don't you remember?"

Light stumbled backward in shock as Ryuzaki pushed him with a viciousness he hadn't known the man possessed, falling on his ass and causing the puddle he landed in to splash. He stared up, partially terrified but mostly incredulous, as the dark haired man bent over him, the leer still on his lips. "Did you enjoy it?" he sang, "Holding my dying body in your arms? Did you revel in the dwindling light of my eyes as I faded from existence? Did you rejoice as my heart stopped beating?" 'That's right,' Light realized. 'I killed him. He dropped the spoon and it fell just like its owner, down and onto the floor, dirtied by shame and failure.' He had the sudden urge to laugh, to throw his head back and cackle in uncontrollable shrieks of hilarity. To be honest, it was an extremely irrational urge and he questioned his sanity for even thinking upon the possibility of performing such an unusual action. But his sanity was completely fine, of course. It had to be.

Ryuzaki paused and stepped backward slightly, putting a thumb to his lips and suddenly frowning. He looked much more like how he was supposed to when he didn't have that half-crazed grin on his face. "Hmm, you're right," he hummed, even though Light hadn't said anything. "It's absolutely nothing."

"... Nothing?" Light asked in disbelief, dropping the act (because the detective obviously knew now, so what was the point of wasting energy in his charade? Of course, he should never put his guard down like that, he knew better, so why...?). "Nothing?!" He got up to his feet and shoved Ryuzaki back, the force behind the action sending the dark haired detective stumbling. "I have rid the world of criminals who would otherwise hurt even more people!" he shouted. "You have no right -"

The insane grin was back. It looked so unnatural on Ryuzaki's face, but at the same time Light felt like maybe he had just missed this persona lurking inside L. All of a sudden his slight remorse at having killed a genius so like himself was gone, and instead replaced by gratefulness that he had killed off the detective before he got the chance to change into... whatever this was. "Oh... I have no right?" his eyes lit up and he looked more alive than Light had ever seen him before, although he also looked a lot more crazed. "Light-kun has no idea!" Light felt vaguely like a cornered animal as Ryuzaki began circling him.

Light tilted his head slightly, turning to keep Ryuzaki in his line of sight. "What, Ryuzaki?" he asked, morbidly curious but also wary. "What do I have no idea of?"

All of a sudden, the rooftop was gone and he was in the dark. Hands clamped like vice around his neck and Light realized he was lying on the ground. His hands flew up to his throat, trying to pry the offender's appendages off of his vulnerable nape, and ultimately failing. He struggled and lashed out, hoping to land a kick on his assailant, but his blows never landed. The hands around his neck began to squeeze, and Light choked as a sudden, angry fear shot through him. He couldn't die here, he was Kira, he was god, god was invincible he couldn't die he mustn't die he -

"You have no idea of the people I've killed."

The area around him was bathed in light, and he was finally able to get a good view on who was pinning him down. "Ryu - za -" Light broke off, unable to make any noises other than aggravated grunts and coughs as his windpipe was squeezed.

"You... do not have what it takes to kill."

Light was outraged - what did Ryuzaki know?! Of course he had what it took to kill, he had killed thousands. Ryuzaki didn't seem to understand, just how much blood was on his hands.

"You... Yagami Light..."

His vision was beginning to tunnel, his attempted breaths wheezing. His hands stopped clawing so viciously and his struggles were growing weak. 'Shit, I'm going to die,' he thought.

"... You have never truly killed before in your life."

The hands around his neck were loosening and Light gasped, immediately kicking out with his legs but not connecting because where had Ryuzaki gone?! Light pushed himself up to his feet and spun around, eyes wide and stance defensive. He jumped as the room was suddenly bathed in a dark red light.

"... You've never had the feeling of someone's life pulsing under your hands."

The suffocating feeling from when Ryuzaki had been strangling him was back, and Light staggered, somehow managing to stay on his feet. He felt for the phantom hands around his neck, but there was nothing there.

"... You've never felt the blood dripping down your fingers."

Light felt a wetness by his feet and looked down. Blood lapped against his legs, staining his pants. He looked around in shock, wondering where the blood was coming from, but it seemed that it filled the entire room, not rising but not lowering, simply... there. It was sticky and wet and Light almost gagged with disgust, before remembering that he was already neck-deep in the red substance he was currently wading in.

"... You've never had that feeling when you know that you and you yourself and your own hands are going to kill."

"You're wrong!" Light shouted into the distance, trying to pinpoint where exactly Ryuzaki's voice was coming from. "I've killed thousands with my own hands! Their names and their faces, they were in my mind and I wrote them down and I knew they were going to die. I've killed, Ryuzaki, I've killed and I've killed and I've killed, over and over again."

"But you've never felt it," Ryuzaki replied, voice sickly sweet. Light spun and made his way toward the direction it had come from. "You've never felt their life in your hands, never known with absolute certainty that you controlled everything. You didn't even kill me, you got one of your pawns to do it, and held my life in your hands as if you had taken it, when you really hadn't."

Just a little closer... if Ryuzaki would just talk again, then Light could find him and end this. Whatever... this was. Light needed to goad another response from him.

"What would you know, anyway?" Light taunted. "It's not like you, the world's greatest detective, have killed anyone." He pretended to realize something and gasped mockingly. "Or maybe you have. Maybe 'justice' isn't so just after all?"

For a moment, everything was silent, and Light thought that Ryuzaki had simply left. Then he started cackling. In all the time Light had known the young detective, he had never even laughed, much less cackled. If he was ever amused (and that was a pretty big if) he would always make a sound sort of like a creepy chuckle. Never laughing, and he had certainly never made any noise resembling the laughter Light heard now.

The cackling faded into soft chuckles, before Ryuzaki finally spoke again. "Oh, Light-kun, you actually thought I was L? How sweet... but foolish. I thought you were intelligent, Light-kun! L is, after all, very dead." Ryuzaki's voice changed from light-hearted to serious in a heartbeat, and Light stiffened. Even though he had discovered that this person wasn't actually Ryuzaki, he was still missing... something. Just one thing. What was it? His mind began racing through different scenarios, but none of them seemed plausible. "And you killed him, Light-kun. You killed my Lawlipop."

Light jumped and stumbled backwards as Ryuzaki appeared in front of him, blood dripping from his wet hair. He was smiling as if amused, smudging blood on his bottom lip as he tapped it with his thumb. His shirt and jeans were stained with the red liquid.

"Do you know how disappointed I was when I found out, Light-kun?" Ryuzaki asked, tilting his head to the side. If it wasn't for all the blood, Light would have described the expression he wore as 'innocent.' "I hadn't even gotten to play with him." Ryuzaki pouted childishly. "I was so looking forward to that."

Then the insane grin was back. "I suppose you'll just have to do, Light-kun. Kira-kun. You cheat of a murderer. You don't have the guts to kill for real, so you sit at your desk with a pen and a little black notebook and watch it from behind a TV screen. Pathetic. Don't you know, Kira? It's much more fun to see your victims suffer in person. Kira. Light-kun."

Ryuzaki straightened out of his slouched position, and Light realized that the male was actually the same height as himself. The grin lost its edge of insanity, instead becoming dangerous and threatening. It was the grin of one who possessed great intelligence and knew they possessed great intelligence, the grin of one not going to lose without one hell of a fight. Light got shivers down his spine, but he would not back away from this challenge. He had beaten L, the world's greatest detective, how hard could this phantom impostor be? He was Kira. He was god.

They locked eyes, amber and dark grey. Ryuzaki let out a little chuckle. "I see you aren't afraid. My Lawlipop wasn't, either. Yes... you'll be a suitable substitute for him, Kira. Get ready, Kira. I won't lose this time."

Ryuzaki's eyes flared bright red and he lunged.

November 6, 2004

Light screamed and shot out of bed. "OW, shit," he growled, feeling pain shoot up his back as he connected with the hardwood floor of his bedroom. He lay there for a moment, gathering his thoughts and trying to calm down. As soon as he was no longer panting and his heart rate felt relatively normal, he got up and trudged to the bathroom. Gripping the sides of the sink, he inspected himself in the mirror. His brown hair was in a state of disarray, plastered to his forehead and sticking up at the back. 'What a sight,' he sighed.

"Eh... Light? Did I hear something?" Ryuk asked from somewhere outside the bathroom, probably floating around and eating an apple. Sure enough, there was a loud crunching noise that marked the death of yet another innocent apple.

"It was just a nightmare, Ryuk," Light replied calmly, beginning to fix his bedhead. 'An extremely realistic one,' he added to himself. 'Nonetheless, one that was extremely illogical. People with red eyes... ridiculous. Unless they - unlikely. What are the chances another Shinigami is on the Earth? Nonetheless... I should keep that in mind. But that L impostor... unlikely, nobody ever saw his face. How would they have know my name, anyway? Watari deleted all the data when he died... Perhaps they searched up all the members of the Kira Task Force? No, I'm thinking about this too much as if it was in real life. It was just a dream. But who is to say dreams cannot be real? Shinigami exist after all...'

Light's train of thought was interrupted when Ryuk exclaimed in a mildly interested tone, "Oh-ho! Looks like the great Kira can still have nightmares. Who would've known?"

'Yes, I would have thought killing so many people would traumatize the nightmares out of my subconscious, but I suppose it doesn't work that way,' Light thought. Instead of voicing it, he asked, "Where is everyone?" He doubted that his family would leave him alone if he woke up screaming. Not that Light had woken up screaming ever before. He rarely ever dreamt, much less had nightmares. Which made this one quite strange, didn't it...

"Your mother's in the garden, your sister left for school a while ago, and your father went to work early. He said you could have a day off because," Ryuk chuckled, "of what happened yesterday. Don'tcha remember?"

Ah, right. He had been so preoccupied with his dream that he had forgotten about his 'day off'. That was a lapse of attention he couldn't afford to have. "Yes, I remember."

There was a long, silent minute, in which Light fixed his appearance and brushed his teeth.

"... Hey Light. There are no more apples left," Ryuk called as Light was rinsing his mouth clean.

Light spat out some water and examined himself once more. He looked perfectly normal now, not like someone who had just had a nightmare. Not like someone who had killed thousands of people using a Shinigami's notebook. Not like someone who had a Shinigami following them asking for apples. Just a normal university student with a policeman father and a model girlfriend. "Alright," he called. "We'll go buy some now." And damn if he didn't desperately need a distraction right now.

After changing quickly into casual clothes, he pushed open the door to continue his facade of a normal life.

November 9, 2004

Matsuda Touta was walking to the Task Force Headquarters. He was simply walking today, instead of walking cheerfully like he usually did. Why? Well, it was because L had died a few days ago. Matsuda hadn't known him that well, but he was still sad that the eccentric man had died. Not to mention, the Kira case would be much more difficult without L. But he didn't worry too much about it; they had Light.

He stopped in front of the intimidating looking building as his phone rang. Fumbling in his pockets and muttering quiet curses when he couldn't quite reach it, he put down his briefcase. Grinning when he fished it out, he put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

A calm voice answered, "Hello, Matsuda-san."

Matusda paused. That voice was so familiar... why did he feel as if he had heard it before? But he hadn't... had he? He didn't know this number.

"Who -"

Before he could complete his question, the caller interrupted him quite rudely and quite reminiscent of a certain dark-haired detective. "I would like you to inform the rest of the Task Force to meet me -"

Matsuda, annoyed at the interruption and worried that the unknown caller knew about the Task Force, cut in before the man could finish. "Ah, excuse me, but do I know you?"

There was a pause. "Ah, my apologies, I thought that Matsuda-san would have been able to figure it out by now," the caller remarked, "I suppose I was mistaken." Okay, now he was really annoyed. Matsuda's eyebrow twitched at the insult, and at the simply appalling attitude this man seemed determined to have. He was about to retort, but the man beat him to it and said, "Allow me to reintroduce myself, Matsuda-san."

Matsuda really, really hoped it was something worth his time, because if he wasn't in the Task Force Headquarters in about half a minute the Chief would scold him for being late and Aizawa would snicker at him, and he didn't want that to happen for the fourth day in a row. If this guy had called him just to be rude, then Matsuda didn't know how he would -

"I am L."

...

...

...

Holy fucking shit wait what?

Chapter Text

October 30, 2004

L stared at the monitor screen with large, black rimmed eyes. He chewed on his thumbnail as Misa greeted Light with an affectionate hug. His eyes narrowed minutely. 'Light is facing away from the cameras. From here, I cannot read his lips. Is he doing this on purpose? What is he really saying to her?' he wondered, brow furrowing. 'I am 80 - no, 90% sure that Light has become Kira again. Misa must have become the Second Kira some time ago. What is Kira planning now...?'

"Hey!" came a voice to his left, and L startled slightly. He had not been paying attention to his surroundings. As per usual for the eccentric detective. He shifted his feet slightly, adjusting his centre of gravity, and glanced out of the corner of his eyes. Ah. It was Aizawa-san. To be completely honest, L was quite glad that the man had decided to return to the Kira Task Force. He was reliable in a pinch, and though a bit hotheaded, was a valuable member.

"Light and Misa were released of all suspicion, remember?" Aizawa sighed, reaching and pressing the button that disconnected the monitor from the camera in the lobby. "You shouldn't be monitoring them anymore."

L blinked. Well, he supposed Aizawa was right, he 'no longer suspected' Light and Misa. So L huffed, and decided to allow the gullible Task Force to have their satisfaction. It was not their fault that their thinking processes weren't on his level.

"I suppose you are right," L said morosely, spinning his chair around. "I am simply unused to not being suspicious of Light-kun."

Now with nothing else to do and no new leads on the Kira Case, L opened up his laptop. He would get to work on another one of his cases, so he wouldn't waste time. L was annoyed at this, since he saw it as a small victory for Light, driving L to boredom so he would work on another case. Really, L was at a loss as to what to do... Light had successfully sidestepped all of L's accusations because of that 13 day rule, and L had to somehow put the suspicion back onto the young male. Light had the advantage now. L was sure that testing the 13 day rule would be the fastest way to convict Light, but he was apprehensive about it. Like he had already mentioned, Light had the advantage, and who knew if L would just be walking into his trap if he tried testing the rule. 13 days... 13... The number 13.

It was a rather nostalgic number for L. It reminded him of the days before the Kira Case, when there was another challenging case called the LABB Murders - short for the Los Angeles Beyond Birthday Murders. The number 13 had been a symbolic number for the murderer, one of L's successors. His name was Beyond Birthday, or BB for short. He was quite the intelligent man, and L liked to think that in another universe, B would have never strayed from the path of his sanity and they worked together on cases. B had wanted attention from him, craved it, and if L had known that, then perhaps he could have prevented B's tragedy. No, L did not dislike B. On the contrary, he respected him a great deal. He had come quite close to beating him, after all, very nearly killed himself and cemented the LABB Murders as a true mystery. L could respect someone who had such ambition. If only that ambition had not been used for the wrong purpose...

Well, enough thinking about things that should be left in the past. B was in prison now, and he would not be getting out. Back to the case at hand... quite literally too. It was an interesting case of arson, where the arsonist targeted populated places and set off a string of seemingly accidental explosions, thus setting the intended building on fire.

Light entered the room, having finished saying his 'goodbyes' to Misa. L ignored him and focused entirely on the case.

L solved it in seven minutes and twelve point nine seconds, and spent the next half hour staring blankly at his screen.

He sighed and began spinning around in his chair, sucking absently on a lollipop. Everything was so boring. There was simply nothing to do now that the Task Force was no longer suspicious of Light. How could he bring the spotlight back onto Light? How could he throw the young man off guard? That would be a difficult feat, seeing as said young man had spent the past three months in L's company. Light knew how L thought, and that was bad, because L didn't like being predictable. Then again, he also knew how Light thought, which was why he was so reluctant to test the rule, because he knew that Light knew that was how he thought, and most likely anticipated that he figure out the rule was a possible fake.

L perked up as his inbox lit up with a new message. He used a certain e-mail service that was completely private, and only those registered onto it (aka Watari, Roger, and himself) were able to access it. As well, incoming e-mails would be deleted within 3 days of reception. He clicked on the new e-mail, which was from Watari. It was most likely another case, seeing as Watari never used e-mails if it was anything too urgent, or anything too trivial. Usually, he would call him, or come bother him in person.

Shifting forward in his chair in anticipation of a new case to solve and a momentary respite from his constant boredom, L set down the lollipop stick and picked up a plate that contained a slice of strawberry cake - his favourite. He took a quick bite, before allowing his eyes to quickly scan the contents of his email.

It was only an update from the California prison in which B had been sentenced to. It appeared all was going as normal, B had not attempted suicide (not that he could, anything potentially harmful was kept away from him at all times), he was perfectly healthy, wasn't causing trouble, was mostly just silently contemplating the ceiling of his cell, as the weekly reports often went. Yes, weekly. A normal detective would only have monthly updates, but, well, L was evidently far from a normal detective, and had insisted on weekly updates, being the paranoid bastard he was.

It was while he was scanning the email that a certain phrase caught his eye. Apparently, one of the guards had been told by B himself to include this in the weekly report. This was new, he thought, B had never before left any messages for him. He read over said message and was immediately confused. His brow creased at the simple strangeness of it. What did B have to gain by telling him this? Was he trying to imply that - but he wouldn't want to, his sole purpose was to surpass L, himself. So why...?

L's mind suddenly clicked. His eyes widened as what felt like a ton of bricks slapped him point blank in the forehead. This... this was perfect! Even better than his original plan. He had been so preoccupied on how to get out of this trap that he didn't think about what would happen after... But now he knew what he was going to do.

It was a very fortunate thing that he had made the decision just over a year ago not to broadcast B's name and face, and to instead keep it confidential within the FBI files. The public was only informed that the criminal involved in the LABB Murder Cases had been captured by L, and that was that. It was luck indeed, for surely if B's name and face had been broadcast, he would have been killed by Kira for his heinous crimes.

L allowed a small smile to spread across his face.

Perhaps it was luck, perhaps it was fate, perhaps it was justice. Perhaps it was someone who held control over the world, and decided that they wanted a happier ending to Beyond Birthday's life. Perhaps L's entire life and existence was purely fictional and he was actually part of an intense and very popular drama anime/manga filled with mystery and tragedy and some crazy fangirl somehow generated the idea of his decision not to broadcast anything about B and created the entire timeline he inhabited through a keyboard and a certain website. But that was absurd. Why had his superior intellect even generated such a strange notion?

Well, whatever it was, L would make sure to make the best of this situation. He had a plan.

'Did you hear that, Kira?' he thought, glancing at Light out of the corner of his eyes. 'I haven't lost yet.'

Light blinked in surprise as Ryuzaki set down his cake and stood abruptly on his chair. Yes, on his chair. The eccentric detective spun the chair around and hopped off. It looked highly unsafe. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Ryuzaki landed safely on the floor and his chair merely spun like a possessed creature for several seconds before slowing to a stop. "Ryuzaki? Are you going somewhere?" Light asked curiously, wondering what had happened that caused L to leave his cake. Light had seen him with his cake, and his cake was not something he ditched easily.

"Yes, I just remembered I have some urgent business to attend to," L replied absently, gaze hovering at a spot somewhere above the door. "I shall be gone for several days. Please attend to your duties normally, thank you."

After this, L seemed to come out of his contemplative haze and his gaze snapped around to Light. Light once again blinked, confused. Ryuzaki was acting very strangely today, and Light wasn't sure whether to be wary or concerned. Was the detective finally loosing his sanity?

And then L smiled. He smiled, and everyone started, because the only times they had seen him smile was when he had declared that he was justice, when he was staring down a huge cake piled with whipped cream, and, for Light, in the helicopter when L had looked at him and smiled and replied, "I suppose it really is over."

"I shall see you soon," Ryuzaki said after a moment, smile dropping off his face as he turned and hurried out the door.

The Task Force sat there in mutual shock for several long seconds, staring at the door through which Ryuzaki had exited.

"He... smiled at you, Light-kun," Matsuda said dazedly, with a stupid grin on his face, as usual. "You two must be really close friends, huh."

Light clenched his fists involuntarily under the table.

"I suppose we are," he replied nonchalantly, before turning back to his computer. "We should get back to work. He did tell us to continue as usual."

The other members made noises of agreement, and soon the sound of typing and shuffling papers once again filled the room. Although Light looked like he was hard at work like everyone else, his mind was far from the countless faces and names of criminals long dead flashing by. It was, in fact, on a certain dark-haired detective. To be completely honest, Light felt slightly annoyed that some 'urgent business' had come up, distracting L. What could possibly be more important than capturing him, Kira?

Well, he would try not to let it affect him too much. Light was actually quite excited for the coming days. He was pleased that his plan had succeeded, and he now had his memories returned. His trap for L had also been laid. It would take several days for L to feel pressured enough to actually walk into it, however, seeing as the man was wary of anything he even thought anymore, in case Light had planned him thinking it. However, once it was revealed that Kira had started killing immediately after Misa was released, L would have no choice but to apprehend her once more. Once he tried testing the 13 day rule... that was when Rem would feel that Misa's life was in enough danger for her to kill L. It was the perfect plan. There was nowhere for L to go now. Light hid a smirk behind his hand.

'Checkmate, my friend.'

However, his mind drifted from the near future to the present. What could have possibly happened to drive L to leave so abruptly? From his months of confinement, Light liked to think he knew the reclusive detective quite well, or at least well enough to be able to partially predict his train of thought and to read the emotions on his pale, sleep-deprived face. And the expression he had been wearing just now was definitely one Light was well acquainted with - that of subtle excitement and determination. Had L come up with yet another plan to trip Light up, just as he was at the cusp of his victory? It seemed very likely. Light bristled at the thought - sly bastard! Why couldn't he just drop down and die already?! Well, he supposed it wouldn't be fun if it was any other way, but Light would be extremely infuriated if his plan was walked all over yet again by L. But then, he could just be over-analyzing the situation. What if L had just received word that a friend of his was in town or something, and had gone to discuss theories with them? Yeah, probably not... it was hard to believe that L had any emotional attachment to the world. The most likely situation was that L had thought up another plan that he was certain was foolproof, and shit was about to go down.

Satisfied with his conclusion (although now much more on edge than he had been before), Light turned his thoughts to wondering how L's absence would affect them. This was a situation he could take advantage of, since L would be gone. Of course, Watari was probably still going to monitor them, and L most likely had some sort of long range device that allowed him to see what was happening in the headquarters, but their guards would be slightly lower than usual. Ha. If L had thought up of a plan to once again try to trick Light into revealing more information, then there was no way Light wouldn't rise up to the challenge.

October 29, 2004

Boredom was something that not even the strongest person could escape.

It ate you up from the inside, clawed at your sanity, killed brain cells until you were reduced to an incoherent meat bag.

The same could be said about humiliation. If you embarrassed yourself, you would remember the experience your whole life. The shame would haunt you, tear you up, set you screaming every time you remembered it. There was simply no escape.

Especially not for a prisoner. Especially not for someone who had physical reminders of their failures.

A prisoner didn't get the chance to distract themselves from their mistakes. No, they were left to dwell in them until the time when they would be released. Or until they died there. Either way, their blunders haunted them for much longer than the average person.

Even with someone such as Beyond Birthday, this reigned true.

The man sighed for the eighteenth time that hour, staring at the ceiling as he lay on his cot. After only about a year of his imprisonment, and he was already bored half to death. Not to mention, he knew L was still out there, solving cases, and he had to wallow in the shitty fact that he had failed. B huffed, playing with the overgrown strands of his hair. How much longer of this did he have to endure? He wished he could just kill himself. But noooo, L, with his stupid sense of justice, had condemned him to this monotonous hell. The bastard probably knew what he was putting him through by giving him a life sentence instead of an execution, and was laughing sadistically somewhere on the other side of the world as he received weekly reports of how bored B was.

B's gaze wandered to the walls and he wondered how long it would take for him to die from head trauma if he started bashing his head against it. It would be an interesting experiment, and would serve to end his pathetic excuse of a life. But the guards would most likely catch him before he died, and it would only serve to bloat L's ego about his victory. Besides, the human body was quite ingenious, for being merely a bag of meat and nerves and guts. Basic survival instincts wouldn't allow B to hit his head hard enough to cause significant head trauma. Probably. Now he really wanted to see if he could defy his own body. But no, he couldn't give L yet another triumph. He had to remain strong...

Ah, who was he kidding. L had probably forgotten all about him by now.

He felt the sudden urge to violently dismember something. Preferably a certain dark haired detective across the world from him.

B sat up on his bed as he heard footsteps approaching. It was most likely the morning guard, finishing up his shift by checking on B. He was the only one B looked forward to seeing, if only for the fact that he always read the newspaper in the morning and gave it to B once he was finished with it. Which meant, of course, some very slight excitement in his tedious schedule. B was always eager to hear more about the Kira case. The guard probably thought it was some sort of irrational fear or something. Ha. Like B would ever fear someone who could kill him. He welcomed death, in fact, and was mildly disappointed at the fact that Kira had not yet found out his name and face and killed him. That was a disappointment.

Then again, he didn't exactly want Kira to kill him. That would be annoying. Mostly because B actually detested Kira. It was obvious that Kira was using some sort of supernatural means to kill his victims, simply because it was impossible for someone to give another person a heart attack. B did not doubt this. If he was able to see someone's name and lifespan floating above their heads, then why couldn't a magical murder weapon exist?

Anyway, the simple fact that Kira was using something otherworldly to kill people pissed B off. That was cheating, as far as he was concerned. He, himself, had worked long and hard to kill his own three victims, and their deaths had been a result of his blood, sweat, and tears. And then Kira came along and for all he knew killed people with a snap of his fingers. Yes, the world was unfair, and B knew that perhaps better than anyone else, but seriously? Murder was something B always thought would remain the same for all time. But Kira changed that.

There was also the fact that B might also have been very slightly... jealous.

Kira had already killed over a thousand people in just under a year. B had only managed to kill three people in a month. Although to be fair, he had planned out his victims and left teasing clues that served to hinder him... But the real thing that made him envious of Kira? The fact that L had been working on his case for about the same amount of time Kira had been killing.

And L still hadn't caught him.

Sure, B had intended his own case, the LABB Murders, to last only a month, but this was ridiculous. An entire year? Kira had to be damn good to evade L for such a long time, and B hated how much attention L focused on this criminal. B hadn't been worth even half of that attention, and that just ticked him off royally.

If B ever got out of prison (which was unlikely), the first thing he would do was to beat L by becoming a detective and solving the Kira case before he did. And then execute Kira. While laughing. Maniacally.

B smothered several giggles with his pillow.

"Hey! What are you laughing about in there?"

Ah, the guard was here. B must have not been paying attention. He had noticed a decrease in his observation skills now that he wasn't exercising them as much as when he had been a successor or a criminal, and that wasn't a good thing. B disliked letting his guard down, even though he knew how unlikely it was that he would get out of jail.

He sat up and looked at the door of his cell. Sure enough, the guard could be seen peering through the small gap set into the door that served as a window. Yes, he had a door, instead of a normal jail cell with bars and whatnot. It was a bit strange, and B suspected that it was L's doing that he was separated from the other prisoners and given special attention. L's pity pissed him off, but hey, it wasn't like he was complaining. He would probably have died from the sheer stupidity of the rest of the prisoners by now had he been forced to interact with them.

B grinned at the guard, making him tense. He knew it was never good news when B grinned like that.

"Did you know," B remarked, in the manner of someone commenting on the pleasant weather outside, "that the most satisfying way I've ever killed someone is through blunt force trauma? She was just a little girl, unfortunate enough to die on that day, and equally unfortunate enough to have the requirements I was searching for. Do you have any idea how it feels, to see a person's skull cave in when you hit it just right? To hear the completely gratifying sound of their brain being crushed by the force of your hit? And when they collapse on the floor like a doll, dead, it's a rush of adrenaline and power. I feel bad for you, never having felt that." B frowned just to make it more believable. As if he actually felt bad for the guard. As if he actually felt something other than vague interest in how the guard would react.

The guard shuddered. Even after a year of knowing this strange, half-mad prisoner who they got ridiculously scant information about (none of them even knew his name, for goodness' sake), he still wasn't used to the creepy-ass things he said daily. "Whatever you say," he muttered, and silently thanked the prisoner for giving him some lovely nightmare fodder. Sarcastically, of course. "Did you just want the newspaper today?"

B shrugged. "Sure, why not." He got up and stretched, before walking the very short distance across the room to the door, where he took the offered roll of newspaper. "Huh," he mumbled, too quiet for the guard to hear him. "Kira made it to the front page again. Arrogant bastard..."

Suddenly, he had an idea.

It was insane, irrational, and completely and utterly rash. He shouldn't do it. It was a horrible idea. Why had he even come up with it? Honestly, the things his mind vomited after a year of rotting... What would L think? He would be incredulous, no doubt. And insulted. He would be very insulted...

Dammit, this temptation was too much for him to take. Not to mention, the boredom was killing him and maybe this would bring some excitement back into his life and allow him to start forgetting the humiliation.

Nah, who was he kidding. Abort mission, the plan would fail. It was stupid. It would never work. L would never be foolish enough to actually -

"HEY! Can you include a message from me in the weekly report?" B called, just before the guard's footsteps faded away.

... Fuck.

'Don't hear me don't hear me just ignore it just keep walking what the fuck did I just do.'

The footsteps stopped. "What is it?" the guard asked.

... Double fuck.

Well there was no going back now, so he might as well do it and bask in his minuscule, childish win over L. And on the very, very small off-chance that L actually listened to his message then, well, he would no longer be bored. So, it was a win-win situation!

Before he could change his mind again, B stated boldly, "Tell him to remember... that B stands for Backup."

Chapter Text

November 9, 2004

Light could only sit there with his arms crossed stare blankly at the dashboard of the car.

You know those days, when so much shit goes down you don't even know how to respond? So you just shut down all your emotions, and then more shit goes down, and your reaction is to just look on with a deadpan expression that screamed how freaking done you were with all this shit?

Light was having one of those days.

If a strange, fucked up dream of someone impersonating L wasn't enough, then just throw in a strange, fucked up phone call from a strange, probably also fucked up person claiming to be L and telling them to meet at some also strange, fucked up hotel nobody in the Task Force had ever heard of. That was bound to destroy all of Kira's chances at a normal day.

Alright, let's rewind.

Early in the morning, just before Matsuda had entered the Kira Task Force Headquarters, he had gotten a call from an unknown number. When he answered the phone, a familiar voice had spoken to him, claiming to be L, and instructing him and the rest of the Task Force to come visit a remote hotel at the very edge of civilization. A far cry from the expensive, posh hotels they had been used to when L was still alive and moving around constantly. As expected, everyone was extremely suspicious, and they were now driving along in two different cars, each car toting along an impressive amount of explosives, guns, and other such dangerous artillery.

Which brings us to the present; Light sitting in the front seat beside his father, who was driving, with Matsuda in the back seat. In the other car, which had departed from the Headquarters approximately fifteen minutes after they had, were Mogi, Ide, and Aizawa.

"... Are you alright, Light-kun?" Matusda asked after several more moments of Light staring impassively at the dashboard. "I know it must have been a shock..."

'A shock indeed,' Light scoffed inwardly. "Yes," he said aloud. "I wonder who this person is, and what their motive is, too, for claiming to be L."

Matsuda gave a nervous laugh and scratched at the back of his neck. "Yeah, it was pretty stupid of them to call in right after Ryuzaki died, wasn't it?" Obviously, but it would have been equally stupid to call in before he died. Matsuda paused and frowned as if something had just occurred to him. "Hey, do you think it really is Ryuzaki? What if he faked his death or something?"

"Matsuda-san, if Ryuzaki faked his death then why would he reveal himself to us again? If he faked his death then that would mean he was certain that one of us was Kira, since his identity was never revealed to anyone else, and we did not broadcast the news that the real L had died. So why would he possibly feel the need to tell us he was actually alive, when he could simply investigate in secret, and solve the case that way?"

"Oh... you're right as usual, Light-kun," Matsuda chuckled, leaning back against the car seat. "Besides, we all know that none of us is Kira. I guess he really is..."

"... Gone," Light supplied. 'And it would have been convenient if he stayed that way, dammit.' Light didn't necessarily want Ryuzaki dead, but it was required for his perfect world to be created. It would cause him unneeded problems if this L was genuine - which Light just knew he was. You could call it a gut feeling. But he had been sure that Rem had written L's name and that he had died... so how...? Maybe he had made a deal with Rem? Light wouldn't put it past that traitorous shinigami. Or perhaps... this was a backup plan? L was just a title, didn't that mean that it was possible that there were many backup Ls waiting in line for the current L to die? Now, that was something. Light hadn't thought of this possibility. Once he got rid of this new 'L' he would have to further investigate this new theory of his... it wouldn't do for him to let his guard down, only to be attacked years later by an L wannabe.

Light was distracted from his inner dialogue when his father said, "I know it's hard, especially for you Light; you two were friends, weren't you? But we have to do the best we can without him. We must bring Kira to justice, for his sake!"

Matsuda nodded firmly, looking very sure of himself. "Yes! That's what we must do!"

... Light could taste the cheesy protagonist mood in the air, and it took all his willpower not to gag. Nonetheless, he smiled pleasantly. "The only way I will get closure is if I avenge Ryuzaki's death. I'll make sure to do my best." 'Of course I'll do my best. Only, for the opposite side.'

After that, Soichiro fell mostly silent, and Matsuda was left to pester Light with his many theories on who the new 'L' was. Most of the theories were half-baked, but Matsuda wasn't a police officer for nothing, though he could be idiotic at times. Some even wandered close to what Light had already theorized - that this new 'L' was one of L's 'backups' and was acting in his stead, trying to discover who Kira was.

At some point Light began tuning out the other man, smiling and nodding whenever necessary. He began to wonder what L's relationship with his 'backups' were, that is, if his 'backups' even existed. Was he friendly with them? It was hard to believe, but if they liked him, that might prove to be an issue, because they would have more motivation to find him. As revenge. At the same time, this might drive them to become more reckless in their attempts to pursue him. However, if they were more reckless, then they could also be less predictable. And if they hated L, then the same two options were available. They would try to surpass him by finding Kira and convicting him, and would either grow rash with determination or become more driven. It all depended on their personality. Light simply had to meet this new L.

Light snapped back to attention when the car slowed to a stop. "Alright, here we are," Soichiro announced, turning off the engine. "Have you all got your handguns with you? Communication devices?" he asked, glancing at Matsuda and Light.

"Yup," Matsuda chirped, patting the holster of his gun, which was hidden underneath his coat. Light merely nodded as he took off his seatbelt.

Turning on the device, Soichiro said into it, "We're going in." He waited a moment as someone on the other side, probably Aizawa, replied with something. "Affirmative," he answered, and the three men exited the car, looking exactly like three businessmen coming home from a day of work. That is, if work days ended at 10 in the morning. And if businessmen came home to work together. And if businessmen lived in run down hotels. But that was beside the point.

Soichiro pushed open the door, Light and Matsuda following behind. The door creaked loudly on its hinges, and Light eyed it warily, estimating the amount of time it would take before it fell off. Light would give it three months, tops. He glanced around at the lobby of the small hotel. It didn't appear suspicious, just the average lobby that one would expect to be found in a poor quality hotel. There were no visible cameras or wire-taps, so either this 'L' was very good, or there weren't any to be found.

Light stopped abruptly as his father paused. "We've lost connection," he muttered to Light under his breath, and Light stiffened.

'... Shit.'

Lost all communication to the outside world - that was bad. Especially since the device was pretty high-tech, and had been working just fine moments ago when they were outside the building. Someone had gone to great lengths to make sure that everything was secure, hadn't they? It was quite impressive.

Far away, a certain brunette slid his goggles up his head and wondered why he suddenly felt extremely proud of his prowess with technology. Shrugging it off as an unusual whim, he returned to his handheld game.

The three made their way up the stairs. According to the information divulged in the phone call, 'L' was currently residing in room 13. Light saw no particular significance in the room. It wasn't even positioned strategically at the far end of the hallway. How strangely not paranoid... Light needed to get used to this person's way of thinking. What a bother - he had spent months finding all the weaknesses in L's thought process that the man hadn't even known existed, now he would have to go through the whole process again?

Best case scenario; this was just a scam and they would simply arrest some idiot for a while.

Unfortunately, the best case scenario was one of the least likely ones.

Soichiro let out a deep breath, before slowly pushing the door of room 13 open with a deafening creak.

Before anyone could even blink, a mass of black hair had popped up from behind a couch positioned in front of the door. The strange looking man clasped two hands together into a finger gun and said, "Bang."

"R - Ryuzaki?!" Matsuda gasped, staring at the slouching male before them.

No, not Ryuzaki. Not quite. He bore a strange resemblance to Ryuzaki, but there were certain differences. This L's hair was long, almost reaching down past his shoulders. It was unruly, but not in the way that Ryuzaki's had been - it was tangled in matted knots and stuck up in strange places instead of blatantly defying gravity. His skin was just a shade darker than Ryuzaki's, and his grey eyes showed no sign of tiredness. He was wearing a dark grey shirt instead of a white one, and perhaps the largest difference was the large burn scar marring the otherwise smooth expanse of his face. The burn looked severe, the scar reaching down and underneath his shirt collar. Light wondered just how large it was, and what could have possibly happened for him to get it. That certainly wasn't a scar caused by an accident with the stove.

"If I was the Second Kira, then you'd all be dead by now," said the poor mockery of L. Or, perhaps, he wasn't trying to imitate L, and this was simply what he was like in real life. "As we all know, the Second Kira can kill without a name, and only needs a face. I am disappointed that you were not more suspicious of me, especially after my introduction over the phone."

"You weren't honestly expecting us to burst in here with guns drawn, were you?" asked Matsuda incredulously.

The man turned toward Matsuda, studying him with a critical eye. He seemed to draw some conclusion or other, and said, "Well no, I would have thought you would be more discreet, being trained policemen. However, discussing the fact that you should have been more cautious was not the point of me summoning you here. You probably have many questions for me, and I am more than happy to explain what answers I can disclose."

Light's eyes narrowed. It was painfully obvious that he had secrets he was trying to hide, especially with the wording of his last sentence. It was only a matter of whether or not he would be able to keep them secrets. What do you have to hide... 'L'?

The moment B popped up from behind the couch, he had to hide a triumphant grin. His first victory, and he hadn't even had to try.

'I wonder, Yagami Light,' he mused, 'why I cannot see your lifespan. Is it because you are Kira? Do you have shinigami eyes like myself? Or perhaps it's for some other unknown reason. This makes you even more suspicious, not that I need more evidence that you are guilty.'

It wasn't quite a victory, since B couldn't exactly use Kira's lack of lifespan as proof in the courtroom. No, people simply wouldn't believe him; it was not enough verification to condemn someone of serial murder. A pity, but the game simply wouldn't be fun without obstacles, would it?

"Please, have a seat," B said, gesturing at the chairs gathered around the small rickety table in the centre of the room. He quite enjoyed making the policemen uncomfortable with his strange similarities to L, and then giving them whiplash by showing how different he actually was. Poor bastards couldn't see it coming for them. B wondered if Kira was the type of person to feel guilt; perhaps he could play on that. Pretend L was his brother? Nah, that was stepping over boundaries. He may not care much about innocent people who were unfortunate enough to get in his way, but he cared for the dead. They should be left (mostly) in peace. L had told him he could use anything to his advantage, but he didn't like the idea of pretending to have bonds with the man that he didn't actually have. Besides, that could backfire on him in the future, should he be asked something that he, as L's 'brother', should know.

So, he'd stick with 'colleagues'. Perhaps even 'friends'.

As he was pondering this, he absently grabbed a jar of strawberry jam off the nearby counter and clambered into his seat at one end of the table, unconsciously settling into his preferred form - crouching like L. Besides having the side effect of making the Task Force members even more uncomfortable, he found that it did indeed increase your thinking capabilities.

"While we are working together, I would like you to call me Rue, for certain safety purposes Ryuzaki probably already informed you of," he told them. "Moving on, what I told you over the phone was true. I am, in fact, L, although I am not the same L as the one you knew as Ryuzaki. He was working on the extremely time consuming Kira case, while I worked on other cases under the aliases Deneuve and Eraldo Coil." B stuck a finger in the jar and swirled it around, before pulling it out and sticking it in his mouth. He snickered internally when he saw their incredulous stares. "L is, in actuality, the two of us working together on cases. Or, it was. After Ryuzaki's recent..." B paused, for dramatic effect and to garner a more sympathetic response, "... passing, I now have to step in to solve the Kira case in his stead. I wish to avenge his death in the way he would most want me to - by taking down Kira, and making sure justice is served."

B marveled at the corniness of his speech. He should get a medal for coming up with that on the spot. It was a golden speech, designed to fool even the most intelligent of sheep. Of course, Kira didn't look very impressed or convinced, but the speech hadn't been made to trick wolves.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," Chief Yagami Soichiro said gruffly. "Were you two... close?"

He pretended to think for a moment, before letting out a contemplative hum and dipping three fingers into the jar. "We were more rivals, than anything else. Watari found us both at a young age, and we were constantly competing to be the best. When he gave us the choice to become detectives, we tried to go our own ways, so we could have detective battles against each other. It was to see who could solve the most cases faster, to see who was the better detective... but we found that it simply wasn't effective. Too soon there were no more cases to solve. In the end, we matured slightly and decided to combine our efforts and to split the workload between the two of us." B slowly licked off the jam, mentally cackling at how disturbed the four other men looked. "I like to think that we grew closer over the years, but with people like us it's hard to tell. Initially, I was the one who wanted to work on the Kira case. I wanted to get it over with quickly, and planned to be ruthless in finding and convicting Kira. It was Ryuzaki who made the decision that he wanted to have a go at it, and to try to make it into some sort of cat-and-mouse game. I let him take the reins, since he had been so bored recently. It was... not one of my best decisions."

Of course, everything he had just said was complete and utter bullshit.

... But nobody needed to know that.

"Ah... I'm sorry to hear that," said the young man named Matsuda Touta. He didn't seem to be the sharpest blade in the drawer, but B supposed he could be a useful tool to manipulate. Then again, he shouldn't underestimate anyone's abilities. Last time he had done that... well, he certainly didn't want to repeat that experience.

It was Light who asked the next question. "So, Rue, why did you call us all here to speak to us? More importantly, what evidence do you have to prove that everything you just said to us is true?"

B grinned and continued consuming his jam. It wasn't suspicious of Yagami Light to be wary of him, but at the same time he took it as a challenge. As a threat. As more personal evidence. "I wanted to speak to you because you are the Kira Task Force, and because you were hand-picked by Ryuzaki to assist him. I believe that you may be somewhat useful in the capture of Kira. On the other hand, my evidence is everything that I know. Ryuzaki is a very paranoid individual, as you all know. His security system is top-of-the-line and virtually impenetrable. The average or even advanced hacker would not be capable of breaking into it. If I was a fraud, I would not know things such as the fact that Yagami Light here and his girlfriend Amane Misa were both apprehended under suspicion of being Kira and the Second Kira for approximately 50 days of confinement, or that Chief Yagami Soichiro was so distressed about this that he requested that he be locked up too. Would you like me to describe the details of the scheme Ryuzaki came up with to see whether or not Yagami Light and Amane Misa had Kira's powers?"

"Er, no, that's quite enough," Chief Yagami said, looking unsettled at the topic B had decided to use as an example. Heh. It was all too easy to rile them up, B barely even had to try. They didn't even suspect that he was doing so on purpose, probably used to L's lack of social etiquette. "So now that you are heading the investigation, what do you plan to do next? Do you have suspects in mind that you are investigating?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have several," B replied, smiling slightly as he began coating his entire hand in strawberry jam. "However, I am at a loss as to what to do. It seemed that Ryuzaki had been on to something when Kira... killed him. But I am unsure as to what that thing was. He instructed Watari to delete all data should anything happen to him - which Watari did. Ryuzaki used to send me daily reports, and I have all previous data on a backup file. But on the day of Ryuzaki's death, I did not receive any data. In fact, I did not know he had passed on until he failed to send his report to me. If that ever happened, we were to assume the worst, so I assumed he had been killed for his efforts. I was correct. But since I am missing a day of vital information, do you happen to know what he had been doing at the time that caused Kira to strike?"

The three men glanced at each other in a way they probably thought was subtle, looking hesitant to tell him and doubtful of his authenticity. It was not a big surprise, as he had just sprung everything at them out of nowhere. Even if he had the knowledge, there was never any guarantee. However, their meaningful looks had just given away the fact that they knew something. Which meant that Yagami Light knew that certain something - the certain something being the reason why L was killed. B needed to find out the reason why L was killed and what the detective had been digging into that was so crippling to Kira's plan. This was B's key to solving the case.

"Well, in the moments leading up to his death, Ryuzaki had just gotten permission to use a criminal on death row to test one of the rules in the notebook of death; specifically, the one that stated that if the someone wrote a name in it, they would have to write another name within 13 days, or they would die," Chief Yagami finally decided to explain after what appeared to be mutual agreement. Although, Kira didn't look too pleased. But perhaps B was being desperate. No matter, he now knew what he had been searching for.

From that, B now knew that there were fake rules planted in the Death Note by Kira, aka Yagami Light. Smart, very smart. B grinned. This was a very complicated case. Figuring it out was almost more fun than the LABB Murders. Moving on, the first fake rule would cast Yagami Light and Amane Misa out of suspicion, whilst the second was to ensure that the Death Note was not destroyed. How did B know that the rule after the 13 day one was unreliable? It was quite simple. Why hide a fake rule in the middle of the true rules? If Yagami Light had gotten the Death Note with only the five rules on the front cover written on it, then it was only logical the two made up rules would be placed beside each other on the back cover. The placement itself was suspicious. Besides, if L had thought the two rules were deceptive, then there was no doubt in B's mind that what L had thought was true - L had never been wrong before. This was reinforced because L had been killed while investigating that very thing. Things lined up too well for it to be mere coincidence. Therefore, the Death Note could be destroyed and the 13 day rule was false. That was good to know.

Now, he would have no problems with proving it. While pretending to be L, he could contact the prison that held the criminals L had wanted to use. After that, it was all too easy to just use L's strategy. But how would he obtain the Death Note...?

Well, he would ponder that later. He didn't want to think for too long; it might scare the others into believing he had died, or whatever silliness inferior minds came up with.

"That's fascinating," he murmured. "We should look into it, but also be very cautious. It would not do to have Kira come after the rest of the Kira Task Force next. I suggest we do it in three weeks."

The others looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "That sounds fine, Rue," said Kira.

"What are we supposed to do while we wait for the 13 day rule to be tested?" Chief Yagami inquired.

'Fuck you,' B thought childishly. Now that he had discovered what he needed, he didn't want to deal with the normal people's bullshit. 'I don't care, do whatever. As long as I win, I couldn't care less about you.'

He didn't dare say that out loud, though. "You all can go back to your usual work," he replied, standing up and eyeing his empty jar morosely. B made a mental note to get some more jam. "In the meanwhile, I will be solving other cases as well as investigating on my own. That is all."

"What about the other three?" Matsuda Touta asked, confused. "They haven't even gotten here yet."

Nope. Nu-uh. No way B was going to deal with explaining everything again. Too bothersome and repetitive and boring. "Since I do not feel like repeating everything I have already told you, I shall give you three the task of explaining everything to Aizawa-san, Mogi-san, and Ide-san. Thank you very much for your time gentlemen," B responded smoothly.

As much as B wanted to be a rude asshole, he couldn't, because more likely than not he would have to work with the Task Force again - and he didn't want to get on their bad sides. That didn't mean he had to be completely polite, either. He smirked slightly as he turned his back and walked into the kitchen to fetch his laptop. The Task Force had no choice but to leave.

The moment he heard the door of the hotel room close, B began to giggle. His giggles evolved into chuckles, which then turned into full-blown shinigami laughter. Once he was done, he wiped his eyes dry of tears of mirth and grinned menacingly, allowing his eyes to flash red. "Keh. I'm onto you, Kira. It won't be long now."

'Well then,' he thought, turning on his laptop. 'Time to order several more boxes of jam...'

Chapter Text

October 31, 2004

"I was sent here by L to talk to one of his prisoners," L said, flashing a completely fake badge containing one of his many aliases.

The guard gave him a mildly interested look. After all, it wasn't often that agents directly from the great L were sent to speak to criminals. Actually, it wasn't often at all that anyone ever came to speak to a criminal. All the people sentenced to this jail were psychopaths or close, and most had no families. Nobody ever had any reason to meet the prisoners. "Who are you planning to speak to?" the guard asked, bringing out the book recording all visitors to the jail. He wrote down the name on the badge, along with the date and time.

"I would like to speak with the criminal who committed the LABB Murders," L replied firmly.

There was a pause in the guard's writing. He looked up. "... You're sure?" he asked.

L nodded. "I'm sure."

Shrugging, the guard decided to let the man be. "Alright. Come with me, I'll lead you to his cell."

The entire journey there was spent in an awkward silence, the guard not-so-discreetly eyeing the slouching detective as said detective shuffled his feet along the floor. L, despite himself, felt slightly nervous. He had not seen Beyond since, well, the last time he had been at Wammy's house, about four years ago. And even then, he had never actually... talked to B ever in his entire life. L had only known about his existence and resided in the same place with him for a period of time. The last time he had seen B was after A's funeral, and that had only been from a distance. The one and only time they had ever even seen each other face to face had been when L was 14 and B was 11. How was he supposed to talk to a former successor who tried to surpass him by becoming a murderer?

L didn't like the situation at all. It was fairly obvious that the message left by Beyond had been a taunt, something designed to irk him. B had probably only thought there was a slim chance that L would actually come, and the fact that L had? Beyond would think that he was an idiot. And, even though this was an ingenious plan, L didn't like the fact that he would have to put it into motion. If the plan succeeded, L would beat Light. But, at the same time, B would beat L. Either way, L had to lose in order to get a victory. And, he would rather lose to his former successor than to Kira. Why? Perhaps it was because he felt a stronger kinship with Beyond, as strange as that sounded. He understood Beyond's reasoning, even sympathized with him. But Light... L could understand Light's reasoning, but even though he had been justified in killing criminals, he had stopped being justified the moment he killed Lind L. Tailor, whom he had believed to be L. There was no justification to killing innocent people only doing their job - that was nothing but serial murder and arrogance combined with a god complex. As far as L was concerned, Light was a criminal who killed for no reason.

"Here he is," the guard nodded at the door. "Do you want me to go in with you, or...?"

"I believe I am perfectly capable of defending myself," L replied in his usual monotone, fully aware that Beyond knew by now that someone was here to see him. Although, L didn't think that B knew it was him. By him, he meant L himself. Beyond had never heard his voice, as far as he remembered...

The guard shrugged. "If you're sure," he said, and unlocked the door. L took a deep breath, before pushing it open to reveal one of his greatest rivals. He was currently lying on his cot, facing the wall with his back to the door.

For a moment L thought he was asleep, but then he saw the too-quick rise and fall of B's breathing. L entered the cell and shut the door, before pausing to study his ex-successor.

Beyond did not look to be in the best condition. He was healthy, but his hair was too long and matted, and he looked skinnier than L remembered. L allowed another moment to pass in silence before he said, "Hello, B."

The male stirred on the bed. "You've got some guts," he began in a voice slightly raspy from disuse. "Nobody's ever visited me in all this time... guess I'm too much for them." B chuckled briefly, disturbingly. "So... which one of them are you? You can't be Wammy, I know his voice. You can't be Misora, you have a very male voice. So, you're either one of the ones at Wammy's or... you're L himself. Judging by the message I recently left, you are L."

L raised an eyebrow. "Very good, B. I see your deductive skills have not faltered whatsoever in the time you have spent here."

The cot creaked as Beyond sat up in it. "Keh... you must be really stupid, to have actually listened. I'm sure you know it was only meant as something to annoy you... there wasn't much chance of you paying much attention to it. You know I'm never going to help you. I only want to defeat you, I only want to humiliate you and let you live the rest of your life in the shame of the fact that you, the greatest detective, have been beaten. You know I'll never go back to being your successor. What's the point of even coming? Or are you just this idiotic? I remember you to be much more intelligent, but perhaps things have changed, L." B stretched his arms out, before finally turning around and pinning L with his crimson eyes. Beyond tilted his head, studying him almost hungrily, before looking... above his head? The criminal grinned unnervingly. "Well, L? What's your reason?"

L, hands shoved in his pockets, shrugged. "I wouldn't talk about how 'stupid' my actions are if I were you; it's awfully desperate to leave me a message in the slim hope that it would alleviate your boredom, isn't it? It's also rather pathetic, poking fun of someone you failed to beat. I do hope you are satisfied, B."

B scowled. "Fine, so I was bored. But I can't be blamed. You aren't even in prison, and you're bored enough to turn a case of serial murder into some sort of game - not caring about the many lives that could have be saved if you had taken it just a little more seriously. I've heard how you began your case - the broadcast was smart, I admit, but giving away information was reckless. You and I both know that it was a challenge to Kira, and now the case has proven too difficult for you to handle on your own. So many lives could have been saved, L... the FBI agents... they might not have died. Keh. Too bad for them your boredom mattered more than their lives, eh?"

Forcing himself to remain calm, L managed to maintain his stony expression, despite the sensitive subject B had just broached. Challenging Kira... had not been one of the best ideas he'd had. It was one of his many regrets, in fact. If only he had not prioritized himself... L admitted that he had been very selfish. He knew he wasn't the best person to go to when it came to morals. L's view of the world was very much grey, and he only solved cases for fun - so that he had something to do. There was nothing more to it. The world's justice was, ironically, a rather sinister person. L had his fair share of sins to shoulder. He was not a murderer in any way, but... he had indirectly killed people. People had died because of him, because of his decisions, because of his flaws. In some ways, he was just as much of a criminal as B, and they both knew it.

"Perhaps you are correct," L replied softly, glancing downward for a split second. A weakness he knew B saw, and would exploit; but not if L had a say in anything. "Perhaps I have just as much blood on my hands as you do on yours. Perhaps I was selfish, and because of that people lost their lives. But if it is all true, I would like you to know that..." This was his trump card, so he should be smug. He should be revelling in the pride that he was about to outmanoeuvre B. But, strangely, he couldn't bring himself to be. He was just... sad. Because everything he had said, everything he was about to say - it was all the unadulterated truth. "... Beyond. I am human. I am capable of emotions. I did not come only because of your message. It was also because I am certain that I will die because of the Kira case. And, with my death looming over me, I would like one more chance to face my sins. I would like one more chance to atone for this one mistake that, perhaps, I am able to rectify.

"Beyond. I'm sorry."

Beyond was frozen.

Of all the things.

Of all the fucking things this bastard could say to him -

THIS?!

How the hell was he supposed to respond to that? How the hell did L expect him to respond to that?

Oh. Of course. B narrowed his eyes after they had widened briefly in shock. How had he not seen this before? This was all a ploy. L wanted B to let his guard down... this was all a part of his plan. He was playing to B's emotions, hoping that B would - like some blind, emotional sheep - sympathize with him, or forgive him. Did L think he was stupid? Beyond liked to think that L was much smarter than that. He couldn't have fallen that far, could he?

But... if it wasn't a trick...

The only other option was that everything L had just said was the unblemished truth. And that was absurd. Who ever heard of the great detective apologizing? For anything? B knew he had hit a sensitive spot, when he had talked about L's selfishness in challenging Kira, but he hardly expected him to get all emotional. Why would he tell the truth, anyway? Was he really that convinced he was going to die? Did he really wish to 'atone for his sins' and smooth out the mistake that was Beyond Birthday? B once again stole a look at the other man's lifespan. He still had a while to go. Obviously, he wouldn't die on this case... but he didn't know that, did he?

A plan began forming in B's mind. It was perfect. This entire situation was perfect! He would go along with L's plans, pretend to accept his apology or whatever shit L wanted him to do. B could tell what L wanted to do. He wanted to beat Kira, and would use Beyond as his weapon. L was certain that he was going to die, and planned to use B as his backup plan. He knew that B wanted to surpass L, and by setting him free from prison and using him to continue the Kira case and beat Kira he was guaranteeing B's cooperation. Why? It was simple. If L was to be killed by Kira, then he would have lost to Kira. If B were to then subsequently gain evidence against Kira and convict him, then B would have finally defeated L. Beyond would have all the motivation to do this the right way. He couldn't just kill the Kira suspect, he had to detain him, and prove without a doubt that it was Kira.

That was what L had in mind. What he didn't know was that B had the power to see when people would die, and L would not die in this case - that was obvious from the numbers above his head. Releasing B and taking him along to Japan as L undoubtedly wanted to do would be a mistake. Beyond would wait until L's guard was down, before escaping. Once L solved the Kira case like he was bound to do, Beyond would make his move. This time, he wouldn't underestimate anyone. This time, he would surely create something L could not solve.

For now, however, he shouldn't focus on that. He should be thinking of what to respond to L with. Well, his initial response probably wasn't too far off what L expected. Then again, would L expect him to do what he expected? B did not pride himself on being predictable. He didn't want L to get suspicious - that wouldn't do, as L might not allow him out of jail if he suspected a plot.

Beyond narrowed his ruby eyes. "Are you fucking serious?" he snarled. "Do you expect me to believe that? Damn, you really do think I'm an idiot, don't you." B let loose a hollow laugh. "The hell are you apologizing for anyway? It's not like it'll make any difference. We both know that it's not going to change anything."

L looked downcast. Was he actually - yes. Holy shit, the great detective L was pouting. B would be cackling madly in a fit of laughter had he not been trying to emulate the stance of an angered criminal. "Yes, we do," L said softly. "No matter how we try, the past cannot be changed. This, I believe we are both quite aware of. However, what we do now can affect the future. I have chosen to do this, therefore it is your decision whether or not you will use it to change the future." L paused, and unconsciously raised his hand. He took the tip of his thumb thoughtfully between his lips and bit down on it. "I am sure that you know the real reason why I am here," L mused, voice slightly muffled. "So, I will not bother explaining it. B, I am very reluctant to work with you on this case."

"You see it as a victory for Kira, to drive you to such lengths," B supplied. "You see it as a victory for me, because I get to wriggle out of my sentence early and get another chance to surpass you."

L looked mildly surprised. "It appears you know me more thoroughly than I had expected," L murmured, mostly to himself. Beyond heard it anyway and smirked smugly, making sure L saw it. "However, despite my misgivings, I no longer wish to be selfish. As it is fairly obvious by now, I do not hate you. I respect you a great deal, as a matter of fact, and I believe in your ability to solve the case as fast as possible if you were to succeed me after I die. You do not lack motivation, either, so there is no chance that you would try to leave the case unsolved just to spite me. I have pondered deeply on the approach of my own death. I am childish and hate to lose, as those who know me personally must all be aware of. This, I fear, is not much different. I suppose a way you could see it is a game of chess, where the king sacrifices himself so that his queen can take down the opponent's king."

What a clever comparison. In chess, the king cannot sacrifice himself. If the king is in a checkmate, then the game is lost. The king was not allowed to die - that was the ultimatum. L was in a checkmate, definitely. He viewed himself as the king, and Kira as the opposing king. Beyond was the metaphorical queen (although he definitely did not appreciate L's referring to him as such. It was quite suggestive, not to mention gay). L's most dangerous weapon. If a king dies, his queen is the one in most authority. The queen as a chess piece had the most power. L was sacrificing himself so that, in the end, he could defeat Kira.

It probably did not make much sense. The analogy was incorrect, in terms of the rules of chess. However, L was never one to play by the rules. L would have managed to maneuver the situation so that he would win in the end. He would have sacrificed a victory to B, but by doing so simultaneously ensured that he conquered Kira. B, infuriated that Kira was more significant to L than he was, would have only gotten more motivation for hunting him down. L would have, essentially, controlled everything. He would have had B in checkmate, and Kira in check.

It was probably luck that L had so assumed the certainty of his own death. Beyond wasn't complaining. Because of this, he had managed to avoid going along with L's plans, which he would have hated but had no choice in doing, because after L's death the only way he would have been able to surpass him was by beating Kira. B would have only gotten a small victory over L by doing what the detective couldn't do, but L would still have received the overarching victory, and Beyond would not have been able help that. How devious of him. B was rather impressed. Too bad L's one flaw was his own arrogance. He was so confident in the assumption that he would die - too confident. He didn't have any reason to think he was incorrect, but if L had just considered the fact that he might survive, then maybe he wouldn't have overlooked the small detail that, if he were to live, then B was free to escape.

Not that it would be easy. Beyond had no doubts that high security would be placed on him. However, it would probably be less uptight than prison. It wouldn't be too difficult to slip out once L's guard was down, or so he hoped.

"Didn't know you swung that way, L," B mocked. "Calling me your 'queen' and such. Was that the real reason you came to see me?" A leer twisted his lips, and Beyond tilted his head in a travesty of innocence. B stood up, his cot creaking as he took several steps toward the detective. "What irony!" Beyond snickered. "The great L, brought down by love. That would make a wonderful story, wouldn't it? It wouldn't surprise me if there were already stories out there like that! A tragic tale that would be, huh? The world's greatest detective, falling in love with a criminal, only to be stabbed cruelly in the back." B threw his head back and cackled madly. It took a minute or so for his giggles to fade away. "I almost wish I could write it myself. What say you we give it a try?" he asked, once he had recovered, grinning at L in a crazed manner.

Throughout his entire tirade, L hadn't moved a muscle. He hadn't responded in any way to Beyond's advances, except to narrow his eyes slightly. His face was still expressionless, still stony and cold. B had the sudden urge to shatter that emotionless wall - to throw the hardest punch he could muster just to see if the porcelain features would break. B wanted to scream at L and punch him and kick him and stab him and break him, and the feeling was so intense after so long of feeling nothing but boredom that his breath got stuck in his throat as his brain nearly went overdrive with violent fantasies.

He managed to start breathing again as L tore him out of his daydreaming by saying coolly, "Do not be ridiculous, B. We both know that it is borderline impossible for people like us to form any attachment whatsoever to others, much less romantic ones. Please stop wasting your breath on pointless things."

Beyond's knees suddenly felt shaky and he sank down onto the ground. He could hardly believe this was happening. Perhaps it was the shock catching up to him, perhaps he was weaker and more sickly than he had imagined, perhaps his rant had exhausted him, but whatever it was, he suddenly felt very lethargic. "That's that then," he concluded. "You have us all in checkmate." 'Not.' What could he say; very few people could claim to possess better acting skills than B. "I have no choice but to go along with everything, if I ever want to beat you in any way whatsoever."

The look on L's face softened slightly. Beyond blinked in shock. A surge of triumph flooded through him. Yes! L's mask was beginning to crack. B's first victory, small as it was.

"Beyond... I am aware that you do not believe me," L began, "but I am sincerely apologetic for... everything. Watari, Roger, and I should not have put so much pressure on A. It was wrong of us, and he was still so very young. I regret his death deeply." L paused to take a breath. B regarded him with mild interest. Many people thought that B had some sort of attachment to A. This was an incorrect assumption. After he had figured out what the numbers above people's heads were, he was always cautious to not get close to anyone whose lifespan was short. He did not wish for that sort of pain again. The moment B had met A, he had seen how limited a life A would have left to live. A had seemed to sense it somehow, and kept his distance as well. This did not mean that B was completely indifferent to A's death. They had been roommates, and had shared a special sort of bond that was not quite friendship. Beyond had had plenty of time to prepare himself for A's death, so while he had been upset, he hadn't been utterly devastated as many had thought he was.

The fact that A had died because of L did not escape his sharp mind; although it was not the entire reason he had decided to become a criminal. A's death had been an eye-opener for B. Because A had died, he B realized that if he stayed at Wammy's and as L's 'successor', he would never surpass him. That was what they wanted, right? For him to become just as good as L, so he could replace him. Beyond would do that. He would not only be as good as L, he would completely destroy him. But, Beyond's attention was wandering. He should focus, so he could listen to the rest of L's speech.

"However," L continued, "I regret the fact that I turned you into a criminal even more. I have indirectly killed, yes, so this does not seem like much compared to that. But... I am a detective. My job is to eliminate evil in the world. It was a large blow to my pride when I discovered that I had inadvertently created evil instead. That is part of the reason why I look back upon our past with such sorrow. The other reason is because despite myself... I greatly enjoyed our time battling each other in the LABB Murders. It was the first case I had ever considered 'fun' in a great while, Beyond. I think that, had circumstances been different... perhaps we could have gotten along. Perhaps we could even have been friends."

...

Friends?

B had never had a friend in his entire life.

What made L think that if things were different, they could be friends? Beyond was sure that in any universe, he would always, always hate L with a passion. That was a constant in his life, that should be a constant in any reality that existed.

'Hate and love are two sides of the same coin,' his brain reminded him. 'That coin is something called "obsession".'

Beyond kindly told his brain to shut the fuck up.

"Friends...?" B echoed. "... I can, regrettably, see why you might think so." He looked up and glared at L through his messy bangs. "I'd like to say that I think otherwise," he spat. "I still hate you, and I always have. I hope you realize how stupid you're being. Nothing will ever change the undeniable fact that I despise you with a passion."

Honestly. L was everything B hated - everything B was. L was childish, selfish, manipulative, and (although B loathed to admit it) slightly more intelligent than Beyond. B hated everything about him. He wanted - needed - to knock him off his pedestal so Beyond could take his place.

Sure, L was being a lot more sincere than B had expected. Sure, he was a lot more human than B had imagined him to be. Sure, he felt emotions and pain and regret. Sure, he was impressively smart and depressed but simultaneously courageous about his coming death. Sure, L was less of a monster than Beyond had thought he was. But that didn't make any difference whatsoever. B was going to win this time, and nothing would stop him. Not even the fact that he found it a shade more difficult to entirely loathe the person he was going to overcome.

L looked rather like a kicked puppy at Beyond's declaration of loathing. He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans and turned around to face the door. "Whether you abhor me or not does not matter. You will be my backup for this case, correct?"

'No,' B thought. 'You overlooked the smallest thing, L. No, I won't be your backup. I'll be your undoing.'

Nevertheless, B stood, and took several steps after the slouching detective. L opened the cell door and began informing the guard that he would be transferring Beyond to another prison. The guard was skeptical, so L began listing a variety of (probably) bullshit reasons as Beyond looked on in mild amusement.

It was a mere five minutes later when they were inside an inconspicuous looking SUV. L was staring absently out of the window, chewing on his thumb. Meanwhile, Beyond stared at the numbers and the name above L's head, resisting the urge to smirk.

'L Lawliet,' he thought. 'I will destroy you.'

Chapter Text

November 12, 2004

... Ring! ... Ring! ... Ri - click.

"Wammy's House. Who is this?"

Instantly, a familiar electronically-distorted voice was heard over the line. "Hello Roger. This is L."

Roger leaned back on his chair. "L? What's happening? Qui - Watari hasn't contacted us in a while. We were getting ready to assume the worst. Wait, is this really L?" There was a code phrase that L had to say every time he called, just to ensure that it was him. Paranoid as L was, he was not going to endanger the safety of his successors.

"Yes, I am that monster. Everything is fine," L replied. "I apologize, we have been quite preoccupied."

Roger sighed in relief. It really was L, then, the code phrase being 'I am that monster'; taken from something he had once told the children. Roger wasn't sure what he would do if L and Quillish had really... well. He wouldn't think upon it. Most likely, he would have had to choose between Near and Mello, and that would have gone brilliantly. "Are you any closer to solving the case? I heard that Kira started killing again."

"Yes, it's quite unfortunate," L responded. "It was a worry of mine that another Kira was still around. I shall try my best to wrap up the case."

A bell began tolling nearby. Roger glanced at the clock. Class time had ended, and the kids would soon be flooding out of their classes. "The kids really miss you, you know," he said. "Maybe you should -"

L sighed rather loudly. "I have already said - it is too dangerous for me to expose my face, even to them. The calls are the best I can do."

Roger frowned disapprovingly. That was always L's answer for that topic. He worried that another... incident might yet happen, and history would repeat itself. Well, it wasn't his place to do anything.

"Did you come here for any business, L?"

There was a pause, and a sound like rustling papers. "Actually, yes," L said. "Mail Jeevas is quite the expert with technology, is he not?"

"Matt?" Roger asked in surprise. "Well, yes, he's practically a mastermind. He has hacked into our databases three times already since the last time you spoke to us."

"Three times?" There was a note of surprise in L's voice. "Should I be worried about the security of Wammy's House?"

Roger shook his head, smiling slightly. "Perhaps just slightly, but Matt is an extraordinary hacker," he replied. "There is likely no one around who could surpass him, or even come close. Would you like me to get him for you?"

"Yes. That would be appreciated."

Several minutes later, a young brown-haired boy was lead into the room, fidgeting nervously with his handheld device. When he was informed that L himself wanted to speak to him, his eyes lit up in surprise and excitement. He took a breath and released it, pushing down his emotions. L would want him to be professional. Even if he didn't want to follow in L's footsteps, he still admired the man greatly. Matt took the phone and held it up to his ear. "This is Matt," he said, not allowing any of his nerves to affect his voice.

"Hello, Matt. I have a task for you..."

As he listened, a slow smile spread over the brunet's face. He had a feeling that this wasn't going to be boring.

"Yeah, I think I can do that. Just set me up and tell me when to start."

Matt could have sworn he heard a smirk in L's distorted voice.

"Perfect."

November 13, 2004

"Maaan!" Matsuda groaned, rolling his shoulders. His back let out several loud and rather alarming popping noises. "Can you believe what's been happening? I thought for sure that we were doomed!"

Light twitched in barely concealed annoyance as the overly cheerful man began to declare his admiration for L's resourcefulness and planning. Yes, yes, he knew first-hand all of L's ingenious plots. This was undoubtedly one of them.

It was rare that a creature with an intellect such as Light's was born in this world. L? That was acceptable. Light hadn't expected another one of him. Well, all the more entertainment for him (and Ryuk) he supposed.

After Rue had introduced himself to the Task Force, he had met up with them once more in a different hotel the day after. It appeared the man was just as eccentric as Ryuzaki himself, and perhaps even more paranoid. He had absolutely refused to make his center of work the Task Force Headquarters - who knew why. It wasn't like it was unsafe or anything. After all, Ryuzaki had lived there for three months. There wasn't even a reasonable explanation as far as Light could see. After all, it wasn't as if Light could kill him without his name, and Misa was no longer allowed very far into the Headquarters. Anyway, after that infuriating meeting, Ide had once again left the Task Force. It was not a surprise, seeing as he was extremely distrustful of L, and it appeared that it still hadn't changed.

The day after that meeting, Rue had inexplicably pulled Aiber and Wedy out of the investigation. While the rest of the Task Force was rather relieved, seeing as the two were criminals, Light was exceedingly suspicious. Was Rue planning to do something with them, or did he simply think he did not need them any longer?

Light looked up as his father's hand landed on his shoulder. "It's late, son," Soichiro said to him, giving the shoulder under his hand a pat. "We should be heading back home now."

Surprised, Light looked at his watch. It was indeed eight in the evening. Sayu and Sachiko would be displeased that they had missed dinner again. With a small sigh, Light stood and stretched before reaching to turn off his computer. "Alright. I wish we had made more progress today... Kira's gone back to killing regularly," he muttered, looking irritated.

Aizawa shrugged. "Not much else we can do. The leader of this investigation doesn't trust us enough to be in the same building for an hour, much less work with us," he grumbled, bitter about Rue's lack of respect toward the Task Force. It sometimes felt like the private detective's rudeness was intentional, as opposed to mere social awkwardness. But that couldn't be true - the man was too... absurd to be anything but socially awkward.

Once all their work had been saved and the computers were shut off, the Task Force made their way toward the exit. Light came out last and turned to punch a passcode into the security system to lock all doors and windows. He looked up at the dark hallway stretching beyond the closed door before him. It looked strangely ominous today.

The sky was dark overhead, Light noticed as he turned. He frowned slightly.

Something was going to happen tonight.

He just didn't know what.

A man clad in a dark gray shirt slumped casually down the street. He took awkward shuffling steps and slouched horribly, hands shoved into the pockets of his baggy jeans. The cool wind blew against him, ruffling his already disordered hair. People paid him no mind as he walked. They dismissed him as a foreigner - he was clearly not native to Japan. Most thought of him as homeless. Some who were more observant to their surroundings did double takes when they saw his face, upon which a savage-looking burn scar lay.

The man reached his destination. A wicked smirk crossed his pallid features as he took a step forward, appraising the tall, businesslike building before him. "My, my, Lawli," he murmured to himself. "You certainly didn't expect to finish the case soon, judging by the size and quality of this building." Beyond chuckled. "Too bad you aren't around anymore to enjoy it, eh?"

Needless to say, he received plenty of strange glances for standing around talking and laughing to himself. Nobody cared to bother the strange man, however. It was late, and most people were heading home to be with their families.

Family. What an unfamiliar word for an orphan such as himself.

Beyond pondered this. His family was long gone. Did he miss them? On occasion. They had done their best, he supposed. He didn't blame them from passing on. B knew better than most that death was not a force to be reckoned with. Most of those he had met had had families. The Wammy's kids fit in with each other and got along, for the most part. Only those set apart by their brilliance intimidated or embittered people too much to be accepted.

Like B.

And, he suspected, probably L too. This was one way in which the two were similar... not that anything like that mattered anymore.

The man sighed and scratched at the back of his neck. Well, enough introspective sentimental pondering. It was now time. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and flipped it open, pressing dial and holding it up to his ear. "Matt?" he asked in an emotionless monotone. "Are you ready?"

"Just about," Matt growled. "Man, it's tough hacking into my own programs. I can't believe you used these. I only made them for fun. I should hack myself more often - this is so much harder than hacking into Wammy's." B heard the noise of fingers flying furiously over a keyboard and a mouse clicking rapidly. "Got it!" Matt crowed. "This is so informational. I've figured out exactly what things I need to improve with my firewalls!"

"Impressive, Matt," Beyond said, and he wasn't lying. B could do a lot with technology, but this kid surpassed both himself and L in that skill. "Do you think you can manage to set it up again once I'm done?"

Matt jumped at it. "Of course!" he cried. "Easy as pie. I can even make it better -"

"It's quite fine as it is," Beyond interrupted hurriedly. He knew Kira had at least some skill in hacking - how else had he managed to find out confidential police information? He did not want Kira to be suspicious that the set up of the system was different than it was before. "Just set it up the exact same way it was before."

The teen groaned. "Alright, fine."

"Thank you again for your assistance. I shall call you again when I am finished, and you can begin to reprogram." With a click, Beyond snapped the phone shut and once again pocketed it.

Without further ado, he entered the darkened building.

It was quite easy without the security system enabled. B nearly got lost several times, but he had memorized the blueprint of the building quite thoroughly and managed to reach the main investigation rooms without complications. He pushed open the door and blinked. It was even darker in the large room than the hallway.

B allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness before surveying the room before him. At the side across from where he was standing were countless monitors mounted on the wall, along with a desk underneath it lined with many different computers and devices. There was a staircase off to the side, and beside that a small coffee table with two couches around it. On the other side of the room were more desks and computers. It was certainly high-tech and luxurious.

Now, according to L's notes, the safe was just over... yes. B entered in the passcode triumphantly. The safe was cleverly camouflaged with the wall, and B would have been hard pressed to notice it had he not been informed where it was.

The door swung open with a hiss to reveal a small black notebook with the words 'Death Note' written on the cover.

Beyond took a moment to stare at it in fascination. It was hard for him to believe at first - a notebook that could kill people with only their name and face? Please. This wasn't some shonen manga. But L said it was true, and L was never wrong. Not to mention, B himself had shinigami eyes, and apparently shinigami themselves also existed. So, a killer notebook was not that surprising when compared with deities such as gods of death.

Almost hesitantly, B reached out. His fingers brushed the cover and a shiver ran down his spine. No, he did not get a strange, foreboding rush of doom and destruction. It was simply that he knew this notebook had killed people, thousands of people, more people than the average serial killer could even dream of killing. What an extraordinary weapon. To be honest, Beyond was slightly jealous. If he had found this notebook, then L would never have been able to catch him. He would just keep killing and killing, until he rid himself of the evidence - namely, the notebook. The case would forever remain unsolved and L would be driven beyond his wits trying to solve it. The thought brought a grin to B's face.

The grin faltered. Right. L was dead. Beyond's mouth tilted down into a scowl. Unfortunately, L would never be able to experience shame and humiliation beyond (pun not intended) what fickle emotions he had ever felt before. This... catching Kira... it was the closest that B could or would ever come to catching up with L.

A sigh escaped and B curled his fingers around the spine of the notebook. He glanced around himself, half expecting a shinigami to float out of the wall or something just as impossible. When no shinigami appeared, he was rather disappointed. L had mentioned a shinigami being attached to the notebook... Beyond wondered where it was now. He shrugged. If it so wished, it would follow him. He had no control over what shinigami did.

"Well," he muttered, closing the safe, "that was utterly anticlimactic." He didn't know what was so exhilarating about theft. It was too easy, and too boring. That might have been because the security system was completely disabled, but still. B's preferred crime was murder.

Beyond tucked the Death Note into the waistband of his pants, allowing his baggy shirt to hide it completely. He grinned and brought a thumb to his lips, somehow magically producing a cloth and cleaning spray. "Now. Time for the fun part."

November 14, 2004

Mogi Kanzo was the first to arrive at the Headquarters that day. He went through safety procedures without a hitch (after three months one really got used to it) and entered the main investigative room cheerfully. The lights turned on as he entered, and he blinked in shock.

The entire room was positively spotless.

Everything down to the ceiling appeared to be painted in rainbows and sparkles and fluffy unicorns defecating Skittles.

Okay, that was a hyperbole. But his point was that the entire room was wiped clean and perfect. The tops of the desks had no more smudges on it, the keyboard that Ryuzaki had once dropped a cupcake on was immaculate, and the computer screen that was an unfortunate victim of Light's spittake in response to Ryuzaki announcing (falsely) that he was pregnant with Light's man babies was bright and shining in the glow of the overhead lights.

Mogi blinked slowly again.

Despite being dazzled by the appearance of the room, he frowned. Obviously, after they had all left, someone came back and cleaned the entire room. But who? He didn't think it was Matsuda, he was too... Matsuda. Aizawa and Soichiro spent as much time with their families as possible, so it didn't seem as if it was them. Light? Well, he did have some rather... OCD tendencies, but would he really go this far and clean the entire room from top to bottom? That seemed a little extreme even for him.

Well, it didn't really matter which of them had spontaneously decided to clean up. Mogi would appreciate it.

They would start arriving soon - most likely Soichiro and Light first, seeing as both were overachievers and borderline workaholics. Mogi would have to start getting things ready: stacking papers, readying the Death Note for further inspection, preparing the computers...

Several minutes later, he had finished setting up for the day. He went over to the hidden safe in the wall and entered the password. A moment later, the door opened.

Soichiro and Light entered just in time to see the normally stoic Mogi whip around, eyes wide in panic. "It's gone!" he shouted, his loud, scarcely heard voice cutting through the silence.

Light felt his knees grow weak.

He blurted, "What the fuck?!"

B giggled quietly to himself as he studied the notebook in his hands. The plan had gone flawlessly, of course, and now, in his hands he held the power to ascertain whether or not the 13 day rule was real. How ironic, that it was 13 days...

He tucked the 'Death Note' back under his shirt, seeing as people were starting to emerge around him, and continued walking down the street. If he had calculated correctly, he had about two hours until the first person arrived at the Task Force Headquarters, and they would search everywhere and look for proof after discovering the disappearance of the murder weapon, which would take around another hour. Considering the size of the building, it might take longer, but they would be in haste and might neglect to check rooms thoroughly.

Beyond finally stopped before a fancy looking building. It was a French embassy, which was fortunately located quite close to his location. The prisoner had been flown here a day earlier, and was waiting in high security somewhere in the building.

After a very rigorous security check, Beyond was finally allowed into the building. He was lead to the prisoner by a rather nervous looking French official, flanked by two burly guards. Discreetly, he rolled his eyes. The security was impressive, but rather bothersome. He had wasted an entire half hour. Seriously people, it wasn't like he was some mass murderer or anything.

Oh wait...

"This is where the prisoner is being held," the official said in slightly accented English as they reached a sturdy-looking metal door. "Should we begin?"

Beyond nodded. "Are his arms restrained?"

The official looked surprised. "Yes, of course."

"Please unchain them. He needs his hands for this experiment. I would also like to ask that I be the only one in the room when he is using the weapon." When he saw the official's brow crease and his mouth open to protest, Beyond interrupted. "I am a lot stronger than I look."

The official and the guards all gave his skinny, slouching frame a dubious look. The official shrugged uneasily. "I suppose so. Just allow us to remove the bindings on his arms before you begin."

A moment later, the metal door was opened and the prisoner was revealed. He was in a straitjacket, attached to a rather uncomfortable looking wooden chain by leather straps and with half his face hidden by a blindfold. The man appeared to have dark hair, but it was difficult to tell whether or not it was his true hair colour or simply grime that had not been cleaned up in years.

The guards stepped forward and removed the bindings of his arms. Giving them a nod of (fake) gratitude, Beyond waited until they were no longer in the room and the door was closed before approaching the prisoner.

"Do you know why you are here?" B asked carefully.

The prisoner lifted his head slightly, face angled toward the sound of his voice. "No. I don't." His voice was gruff and raspy - he probably hadn't spoken for many years.

Beyond removed the blindfold. The man had blue-gray eyes, he noted, as the prisoner squinted at the bright light assaulting his vision. "Who're you?" he growled.

B smirked. "That is of no concern to you. Here." He took the notebook out from underneath his shirt and produced a pen from the endless depths of his pockets before adding a photograph to the contents of his hands. "This man's name is Michael Edontrian," he said, pointing to the photo. "I'd like you to remember his face and write his name down in this notebook."

The prisoner scowled. "The fuck makes you think I want to do anything you tell me to?"

A dark chuckle escaped his lips. "Because, my friend, you are set to be executed in 13 days. If you do not die in 13 days after writing in this notebook, then you will be exempted from death row. How does that sound?"

The man's dull eyes lit up. It was clear he had no doubt whatsoever he would live, as B also thought. "Fine," he grumbled, keeping up his impassive behavior. "Give it here."

B stared unblinkingly at the photograph as the prisoner slowly scratched out several letters. "Done," he announced, holding the notebook and pen toward Beyond.

But the murderer-turned-detective did not respond. He simply stared unblinkingly at the photograph, uncharacteristic shock written all over his pale, scarred face.

The prisoner blinked. "Uh... hello? Person? Are you alright?"

There was a distinct ringing sound in B's ears. The prisoner's voice was a faint noise barely registering in his head. There were simply too many panicked thoughts running through Beyond's head. Why, you ask?

Michael Edontrian's lifespan had just dropped to forty.

He had been scheduled to live for another two years, but the moment the last letter of his name had been penned down, that fateful 'n', the red ticking numbers above his head had dropped right down to 40, and were now ticking down slowly toward 30.

'Wh - what the fuck?!' Beyond thought numbly, eyes wide. His alarmed gaze found the innocuous-looking black notebook in the prisoner's hands and he stared at that, too. 'This notebook,' he realized. 'This notebook isn't just a murder weapon.'

The Death Note was a cheat against death itself.

Chapter Text

November 1, 2004

The ride from California to Japan took an irritating amount of time. L was displeased as, obviously, it was time that he could have spent working on the Kira case. As it was, he was stuck typing things out on a document with barely any available data other than that which he had saved on the laptop he brought with him, which was not that much data at all, for obvious security reasons.

L sighed as he leaned back in his seat, thumb placed beside his lips. This was why he hated travelling.

He glanced beside him, momentarily surprised to find Beyond sleeping peacefully. His head rested on his shoulder in what looked like an uncomfortable position. That would probably cause some soreness later on when he woke, L noted.

The reason for his surprise was because he didn't think the other man would be comfortable enough in his presence to slip into such a vulnerable state as sleep. Then again, he supposed the body could not be denied if it were to function properly, and B was not a natural insomniac like L was. Still, L thought that B would at least have the self control to keep himself awake. L tilted his head. Was the criminal... slipping, after all his days in prison? It was not too unlikely. After all, he had not had any mental stimulation while kept in a cell. That must have done wonders for his brain cells.

Well, L would have to make sure that Beyond returned to his original state of mind. If not, then they would undoubtedly lose this game against Kira.

L moved his thumb into his mouth so he could nibble lightly on it. It was... strange, to think of the two of them as a sort of 'team'. L did not work in 'teams'. It was always just himself, working on every case. The people working underneath him... he did not consider them his 'team'. They were... pawns. It was probably cold of him to think of them as such, but it was true nonetheless. Sure, they had individual emotions and reactions and thoughts, which he respected, but all those feelings and opinions could be categorized and predicted with ease, allowing people like him to manipulate and control them to his own will.

Now, however, there were two people in his life who he could honestly consider game pieces other than pawns. It was unfamiliar and unnerving; L never liked change much. He reveled in his position at the top of the world, and he didn't like the fact that there were those who could rival him. All the same, he could not deny the fact that it was... exhilarating. To have someone he was constantly at odds with, someone who could see through his bullshit and not only take it, but throw some of their own back at him. It was new, and not entirely unwanted.

He removed his thumb from his mouth and wrapped his arms tightly around his knees. If he was to be honest with himself, which was rare, he had been hoping for this to happen for a long time. L had always been alone, but when B had decided to challenge him L had never been more entertained. After he had defeated B, however, he had sunk back into boredom until Kira appeared to wreak havoc in his life. L supposed he was... lonely, in a way. Sometimes it hurt, and sometimes he wished more than anything that there was someone there, someone in which he could find true companionship.

L was not one to wallow in self pity or self indulgence, however. He had always accepted the fact that there would be nobody there.

Light and Beyond... two such minds that he had never expected to find in the world populated by pawns, but fate enjoyed making him a laughingstock as always, designing things so that both were his bitter enemies.

Perhaps L could find companionship with the other residents at Wammy's House; Mello and Near, he heard, were shaping up to be quite the successors. They were just... too young, and too naive, too inexperienced with the world. He could not fully relate to them the few times he had spoken with them over the computer.

All of a sudden, Watari's voice came over the intercom, declaring that they would arrive in a matter of minutes. This startled Beyond out of his sleep. The other raven haired man straightened in his seat and rubbed at his crimson eyes, glancing around at his surroundings. His eyes widened slightly, and there was a brief flash of confusion and then recollection, before his expression smoothed over into stony indifference.

"Did you sleep well?" L asked softly, staring at B with contemplative eyes.

Beyond stretched and rubbed at the side of his neck, hiding his wince of discomfort. "As well as I could have, I suppose," he muttered, shooting L a vaguely reproachful look.

L's only response was a rather enigmatic smile.

B sat up a little more in his seat, peering out the window at the ground flying by underneath him. L tilted his head and studied him with his blank gaze. Beyond placed his chin on his hand, still staring out the window, as he asked, "So where am I going to be staying?"

"An apartment that I chose for you," L responded. "It is about half an hour away from the investigation headquarters of the Kira case."

The two fell into a rather uncomfortable silence after that exchange, both being rather socially inept.

L spoke up after several moments. "I regret to inform you that I shall have to leave you alone for the remainder of this day. Rest assured that there will be disguised guards positioned outside, as well as locks on all doors and windows that can only be opened from the outside. Cameras and wiretaps will also be planted in various places inside the apartment room. Though you are my Backup, there is still an almost 100% chance that you are waiting for a chance to escape."

Beyond shrugged. "Fair enough. Though I don't understand why it isn't a full 100%... Anyway, what am I supposed to do while you're doing whatever it is you do?"

"I have left several cases in the database of a computer you will find inside the apartment," L replied, "As well as a brief summary of what has happened in the Kira case beyond the eyes of the public. There are also books, if you so wish to entertain yourself in that manner. Nourishment has already been provided."

"Very well," B sighed. It irked him that the Kira case was so important that L didn't bother to properly debrief him on everything that had already happened, but he supposed it would have to do. Besides, it wasn't like he was planning to stay in the apartment for very long.

The short remainder of the plane ride and the trip in L's limousine was spent in silence, the two men lost in their own thoughts.

B's eyebrow twitched. He turned slowly to face an impassive looking L, who stood in the middle of what was now Beyond's kitchen. The dark-haired criminal slowly lifted a hand and pointed at the cabinet. "What. Is. This?" he asked, in a deadly quiet voice, murderous intent obvious in enraged scarlet eyes.

L blinked. He replied slowly, as if speaking to a young child, "That, Beyond, is a cabinet which holds various food items placed there by Watari and purchased using the money of yours truly, intended to sustain you for the days you will spend in this apartment."

...

"Where. The fuck. IS THE STRAWBERRY JAM."

November 2, 2004

When L returned to the apartment building the next day, he braced himself for some sort of attack before carefully unlocking the door. He tensed, listened, and heard nothing. It was quite possible that Beyond was waiting just behind the door, ready to ambush him and make a break for it. Of course, there were guards right down the hall, and L was more than capable of defending himself. However, L would rather take no risks. There was a 94.1% chance that B didn't believe his claims that he would die soon and would attempt escape to return to being the world's greatest criminal. That was much too high for L's liking.

After waiting several more moments, L yanked open the door with all his considerable might. He blinked when B was nowhere in sight.

... Well that was strange. Although he was quite sure that Beyond wouldn't attempt escape while L himself was present, he hadn't been expecting Beyond to just... leave things as it were. L had expected the other man to fight.

L closed the door behind him. He heard it lock again from the outside. Not worried, for he would simply call Watari to unlock and open it for him when he wanted to leave, L continued farther into the apartment, walking past the empty couch and untouched television. It was eerily quiet, and L was wary. It was unlikely, but there was a small chance that Beyond had, indeed, escaped. If not, then he might be hiding in wait to ambush L. Or, he was asleep, which was also possible due to the fact that he was undoubtedly jet-lagged from the change of time zones.

"B?" he asked curiously, eyeing the door of the bedroom. He didn't particularly care about infringing on other people's privacy (he had handcuffed his suspect to himself; how did you expect them to shower every day?) but he figured he should give B at least some warning.

When there was no reply, L announced, "I am going to enter your bedroom." He turned the knob and pushed, the door creaking slightly as it opened.

The sight he was greeted with was a mess.

Pillows were lying in several places around the room, and the thinner blanket had evidently been flung haphazardly into the air, somehow ending up hanging from the ceiling fan. L raised an eyebrow. The bedsheets had been ripped off the bed, and there were what looked like fingernail scratches on the bed frame.

He blinked slowly.

It looked like someone had thrown a temper tantrum worthy of L himself.

Blinking again, his eyes traveled to the corner of the room, where the thicker blanket was bundled up and... shivering?

"... Beyond?" L asked warily. Was the criminal suffering from some sort of mental breakdown? If so, how much control did he have over his actions and how much of a danger did he pose to L?

A mess of raven hair poked out from underneath the covers. The red eyes that glared at him were accusing and feral. L blinked again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Is there a reason why you have decided to throw a temper tantrum and desecrate your own bedroom?" He noticed the tired bags under Beyond's eyes. "... Did you sleep at all?"

"No," B croaked, "I didn't sleep." He glared furiously at the slouching detective. "This is your fault."

L tilted his head to the side, obviously oblivious to the point Beyond was trying to make. "And how is this my fault?"

B shuddered and curled up into an even smaller ball of blankets and serial killer. "I told you," he rasped, "that I needed jam."

A sigh that was borderline exasperated permeated the air. L replied, "You have lived without jam for over two years. Why do you need it now?"

Beyond buried his face in the blankets once more and made several strangled choking noises.

L resisted the urge to facepalm. That would be unprofessional of him. (Not that he was professional on a regular basis anyway, but that was beside the point)

With another sigh, L said, "Very well. I suppose a trip to the convenience store wouldn't hurt."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"I believe the correct question is: what is wrong with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me, besides my insanity and homicidal tendencies! You, on the other hand, are a panda-eyed insomniac freak! We came here to buy my jam so buy my fucking jam."

"... That wasn't very nice..."

"What are you doing now?!"

"I refuse to buy you jam until you apologize for your immature name-calling."

Beyond opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. He turned and slammed his head against the nearest wall before returning to their conversation, ignoring the stares they were attracting.

In case you were wondering, L had insisted that they wear handcuffs to keep B from escaping, which was reasonable enough, he supposed. The point being, a lot of people were shooting the two the most insulted glares, as if whatever they did was a personal affront to them. After a short walk to the nearest convenience store, L had dragged Beyond away from his precious jam and into the sweets section, where he was piling several different jars of candy into his arms. B had resisted, but he was weakened from his extended amount of time in prison and had no choice but to be dragged along.

Which lead to the current situation.

B growled as L pored over two different flavours. This was taking far too long for his liking.

"Are you done yet?" he asked through gritted teeth, crossing his arms. He was extremely annoyed. Normally he had better reign over his emotions and played the role of the gleefully sadistic serial killer, but...

Without strawberry jam, Beyond was bitchy.

He was able to suppress his urges in prison, but the fact that there was jam literally in the next aisle drove him mad. B was sure L was cackling inwardly and manipulating the situation for his own amusement, which just pissed him off more. A dark cloud of rage hung around him, affecting his every action. Already, several children were crying from the sheer terror instilled by his infuriated expression.

"You still haven't apologized," L calmly reminded the enraged man next to him.

B grabbed the chain connecting them and pulled, reducing the distance between the two to practically nothing. He grasped L's arm and promptly threw the detective over his shoulder and into the shelf in front of them.

The entire display tipped over backward from the force. There was a raucous crashing noise that was caused by countless containers shattering all at once.

In B's brief moment of disorientation as he avoided the heavy jars raining down around him, L's naked foot smashed against the side of his face in a rather impressive roundhouse kick. Beyond was sent reeling backward into the shelf across the aisle. His arm swung, trying to find something to hold onto so as to avoid falling, which caused even more products to be swept to the floor.

Recovering quickly, B shot back up into a standing position and gave L a solid right hook to the face, just as L took his feet out from underneath him. As B fell, he tugged sharply on the chain, causing the detective to follow him. From there, they began tussling on the floor, throwing punches and occasionally biting each other as they attempted to gain control over the fight.

Needless to say, they were immediately kicked out of the store.

L would have to pay the bill for the damage later, not that it would affect his finances at all. He was still quite displeased, however.

And B still hadn't gotten his jam.

Sobbing, B clutched his precious, precious jar to himself as he shoveled the heavenly red substance into his mouth, savouring its sticky sweetness.

Yes. He had finally, finally gotten his jam.

L watched in what seemed to be amusement as he himself crouched on the chair across the table from where Beyond was sitting, devouring a slice of strawberry cake.

After subsequently being banned from eight other convenience stores, the two had managed to cooperate just long enough to purchase ten boxes of strawberry jam and five cakes of varying flavours. Why not ask Watari, you wonder? He had been busy working on the Kira case, so that the Kira Task Force would not get too suspicious. And if you are wondering why that seemed like a bullshit excuse just so the author could torture her favourite look-alike characters and produce a shitty attempt at a chapter, then. Well.

...

You won't be telling anyone. Will you?

Fourth wall breaking aside (does it even count as fourth wall breaking when said fourth wall breaking is read?), the two were spending a rather peaceful evening in Beyond's apartment, if you could call it that. Yes, they were having a very special male-bonding experience in B's dining room. In fact, both were learning very much about each other. L had learned that Beyond was an extremely messy eater when it came to his jam. Which meant that B was a messy eater all the time, since he never ate anything other than his jam. Beyond was learning that L was quite a neat eater, although he made the most atrocious noises you would ever hear from someone eating.

Beyond, being very OCD when it came to his surroundings, was irritated by it, and retaliated by making equally abhorrent noises. It was a good thing he wasn't completely obsessed with perfection and social politeness, he mused, otherwise the appalling show of manners (or lack thereof) would have long since driven him to the point of homicide.

Light sneezed.

After polishing off the cakes (B was on his eighteenth jar of jam), L stood and stretched a little. B wondered how the man wasn't obese or diabetic after eating so many sweets, then decided that some things were most likely best left as secrets.

"I shall be leaving now," L said, as if it wasn't obvious. "This will be the only time I shall visit you in this building. As said before, you have been provided with all your necessities and are not to leave this apartment. As I suspect that you have spent the entirety of the previous day destroying your bedroom and moping in a ball of self-pity and blankets in the corner, I would advise that you read through the notes I have given you on the Kira case." B rolled his eyes, something that L certainly caught but chose not to respond to. "You might also want to solve the other cases I left, for your own sanity and entertainment."

Beyond cackled loudly. With blood-red jam smeared over the lower half of his face and his lips stretched into a crazed grin, he certainly looked the serial killer he was. "Sanity? My, I didn't think that you thought of me so highly! I can assure you, any sanity I have left has just been eaten alongside my jam."

L narrowed his eyes just slightly. "That hardly made any logical sense. I can assure you that any sanity you have left would be gone in minutes had I not left you anything to entertain yourself with."

"Please!" B scoffed, kicking his chair away from the table and causing it to screech on the tiled floor. "I can entertain myself just fine," he leered.

"If by 'entertaining yourself' you mean gorging yourself on food, making up songs, talking to yourself, testing the patience of your neighbours by constantly giggling like a madman, playing chess against yourself, making rape faces at your reflection in the mirror, attempting to renovate the apartment, and masturbating, then I can guarantee that your sanity will be gone within half a day," L responded flatly. "Believe me when I say I have been there."

Beyond shrugged dismissively. "I'll check the cases out tomorrow. Maybe."

The detective shrugged and turned, making his way to the exit. "Suit yourself," he replied, knocking twice on the door. Soon, Watari opened it, having been alerted before by a text from L that he would be leaving Beyond's living quarters.

Before leaving, L paused in the doorway and lifted a hand in farewell. "I hope that we will be able to work well together on this case, Beyond."

B watched L leave with a smirk. Tomorrow would be spent searching for an escape route, not that it would be easy to find one. Even if he crawled through the air vents, L had surely thought of such a thing. Besides, the cameras would catch him, and he would be intercepted without any trouble. This would involve a lot more intricacy than the normal sneaking out the average protagonist had to do. Well, B was certainly up to the challenge.

November 4, 2004

The day had been extremely unproductive.

Currently, B was sitting cross-legged on the floor with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, scowling at the case notes before him. The culprit had managed to elude him for almost two entire hours. He was really in need of some more mental stimulation, as much as he hated to admit. He had spent five and a half hours of his day searching the apartment thoroughly. There were some small things that he could use to his advantage, but nothing concrete that could truly help in his getaway. They were only things he should take advantage of if he was desperate, and Beyond did not at all like the idea of letting L know that he was desperate.

Nonetheless, he began formulating several different possible escape plans, each having an annoyingly pessimistic capture-to-escape ratio. In other words, with each and every one of his plans, the chances of getting caught were significantly higher than the chances of getting away.

To top it all of, this stupid case had been mocking him and he was pissed.

B defiantly slurped up some jam and slammed the jar down on the coffee table, glaring at the computer screen as if it had offended him in the most scandalous of ways. In case you were wondering, he had already read through the notes on the Kira case hours ago, and knew all about Yagami Light and Amane Misa and what had gone on with the confinement and the Yotsuba group. (He'd laughed his brains out when he'd read about the handcuffs - damn, L, who knew you had it in you, you kinky pervert; when he himself had been handcuffed, he had thought it was only a one-time thing) This case was, in fact, the final case that he had on his laptop, and it was quite late at night. Or, he supposed, early in the morning. 12:56, to be precise.

There was a knock at his door.

Beyond threw the laptop across the room, watching disinterestedly as its screen cracked and turned black on impact. "Yeeeees?" he sing-songed, not worried at all for his data, for it had already been saved. Not to mention, he had found several other laptops hidden around the apartment. L had no doubt factored in B's erratic behaviour and spontaneous destructive urges when he was considering the murderer's living environment.

The only reply was a shuffling noise just beyond the door of his apartment. Beyond raised an eyebrow and grunted as he pushed himself up to his feet. It appeared that an envelope had just been slipped underneath the crack of his door.

Oooh, how clichéd. Was it, perhaps, some traitorous turncoat guard who was sick of going along with L's manipulative ways and had decided to help out a criminal?

B eagerly tore it open (the envelope had been unsigned) and extracted the sheets of paper inside. He rolled his eyes. Of course it wasn't from any of the guards. That had been fairly obvious - one had to be truly imbecilic to turn against L and the salary he offered.

No, the letter was from the detective himself, and it explained all that Beyond had to do once L was dead. He skimmed over the contents of it, not wanting to miss anything, but knowing it was all useless information. L wasn't going to die, after all. His lifespan proved it. Something about an email account… and a bank account… along with a password that would be sent later… other unimportant things. L had really thought out this plan of his. Too bad it would all go to waste, B thought with a smirk.

He glanced at the digital clock on the wall and sighed. It was now 1:01, and he was too irritated to formulate a cordial response. B reread L's directions on what to do if he wished to send a letter in reply. He had instructed to be polite and vague, and to address him as 'Ryuzaki'.

Beyond blinked. Surely he had read incorrectly? He read the sentence again. Nope, he had definitely read it correctly. That meant that L had stolen his alias.

Despite feeling indignant at this turn of events, B couldn't help but feel strangely touched. L only stole the identities of those whom he respected a great deal - Deneuve and Eraldo Coil being prominent examples. The fact that L had chosen to use B's own alias, Ryuzaki Rue, as his 'name' in a case so important and challenging as the Kira case… well.

B shook his head. No, the bastard was probably doing it to mess with his emotions again. He wouldn't fall for it. Beyond put the letter down on the table. He would write something in reply tomorrow. And he would send it the day after, just to spite the detective. Sass and smartass would have to be cranked up to the max. L surely deserved it.

The raven-haired criminal crawled into bed without changing and steadfastly ignored the little voice in his head that reminded him of the fact that L had begun using 'Ryuzaki' as his alias long before his backup plan had been formulated, thus this could not be any manipulation on the detective's part.

Beyond covered his head with a pillow.

"Fucking bastard," he growled.

November 5, 2004

Beyond's letter arrived at the Kira Task Force Headquarters, and was left unread on L's desk.