Disclaimer: The Maiden of Autumn owns nothing.
L often didn't have a problem working alone- the silence of the darkened rooms he worked in was often more peaceful than the blathering of the masses, and the bright white glow of the screens of the computers he used were often more homey and familiar to him than any other home setting could provide.
Work was what he knew- it was what he had born to do, as he had been gifted with such an intelligent, analytical mind. It was what he was used to, what he would do as long as he lived and until the moment he died. And honestly, he was not a patient man- wealth, an abundance of those catering to one's self, and being able to have anything he wished upon a snap of his fingers had spoiled him, he openly admitted- and so, he had no patience for the sheer idiocy of many.
Especially those idiots named Matsuda.
So yes, L preferred working alone.
However, he was willing to sacrifice his own comfort and safety for the sake of Justice. Justice came first, and the safety of many was much more important than the safety of one.
And besides, L had not expected to live overly long, anyways.
Being the best detective in the world led to being hated by many of the criminal populace, and technology, no matter how advanced it was, tended to be somewhat glitchy. Not very often, as L paid for and expected nearly absolute perfection, but it did happen. Sooner or later, some assassin or criminal that he would not be able to fend off would get to him, kill him off, and lead to one of his successors taking on his title. It was what they were being groomed them for, after all.
But his successors were the ones that were supposed to take his title and through it, let him live on through them. "L" was not to die, and therefore, as the original, he himself, would never die, either.
But... his successors were not supposed to take that away.
And that was the thought running through his mind as a strong, steel-like arm wrapped around his waist and an icy cold blade- wet with something warm and a 98% chance of being a dark, crimson red- pressed against his throat.
There was a reason L feared the dark, and it was because of monsters. Not the typical furry, fanged ones, but ones that had red eyes and his face, ones that possessed a brilliant, insane mind with a tendency to murder just for the thrill and an unquenchable thirst to beat him, to break him.
Monsters that were real, not something just out of a children's story book, but were as real as the cheesecake he devoured on a daily basis. Monsters that targeted him, hunted him, taunted him constantly with fleeting glimpses and shadows.
Monsters with the name of Beyond Birthday.
L feared the darkness, but he never feared it more when that cold, insane voice whispered, "Hello, Lawli," with sadistic glee a split second before a nerve in his neck was pinched and he felt the darkness descending, rendering him unconscious, unknowing, and in the hands of a complete psychopath.
His last thought, before blacking out completely, was that perhaps if there was Light in the room, the darkness would have been held at bay a little while longer.
"He's what?!" Light asked incredulously, staring at Watari while the alarms in the room flashed, turning the room from black, to red, to black all over again. It dyed everything a bloody red, casting an eerie light over the old man
hunched over the control panel of the building, desperately trying to reboot the system.
"L has been kidnapped," the old man replied, a barely repressed note of panic threading through his voice. "And the intruder has shut down the whole building's security system, power, everything. There's only one other person besides L that could have done this-God," the old man shakily said, then more quietly, as if to himself, "please don't let it be him…"
At that point, Soichiro and Matsuda ran in, Aizawa and Mogi trailing along behind. Worry and concern was written all over their features, and Soichiro threw a look at his son, clearly asking what was going on. "L's been kidnapped," Light explained, to the cries of incredulousy from Matsuda and Aizawa.
"How-" Soichiro started, but was cut off from a curse from Watari.
"Goddamn that bastard!" Watari yelled, banging his fists down on the control panel as the lights came flickering back on to their normal brightness. A single computer booted up with a gothic letter 'B' displayed on it, in the same style that L and Watari themselves used.
As the B came on, there must have been a recording to go with it. Over the speakers, there came a chuckle, starting low and dark, sending a flash of worry through Light, then grew to high-pitched, insane cackles, ones that made Light grit his teeth made the hairs on the back of his neck prick up.
"Kyahaha! Greetings, greetings to all of you within the illustrious Kira Task Force building!" the voice cried as the cackles trailed off. The voice itself was unsettling, clearly the choice of an insane man. Yet it was disturbing in
the fact that it sounded so familiar, so close to one that Light had been hearing every day for the last few weeks…
"If you're hearing this, then you've already figured out your precious L, your precious detective, is gone- and there was nothing that you, Watari, could do about it. Think on that, old man," the voice chuckled, and as Light glanced over at Watari, he could see the old man's fists clench and his eyes narrow in anger. "It's really too bad, isn't it, that your one chance at finding Kira is now gone, in the hands of a man who you have no clue what is going to do with him."
"But never fear- I'll be kind enough to settle at least some of your fears. I won't kill L- oh, no, not when he's the best chance at finding Kira, and I really, really, really, really hate him. No, I, you, need L alive. So, I'll return him to you alive when I'm done with him- and be happy! An associate of mine, K, has taught me so much about the little techniques she's used and developed in her time as a doctor, and I've developed some of my own! Rejoice- by the time I return L to you, he'll be a much better detective- perhaps not as sane, but I'm sure he'll be able to… shall we say… sniff out the criminals much better?! Haha! Kyahahaha!"
And with that, the cackling cut off as the recording came to an end, and there was a second of stunned silence before Watari dropped to his knees, glaring at the computer that still displayed the B. "You psychopath," Watari breathed. "What have you done?"
L came to slowly, not really registering anything at first. The nerve pinch had frazzled his brain, leaving his thoughts fuzzy, and he also thought that his kidnapper might have drugged him- his mouth was dry as cotton, and his eyesight was blurry as well.
However, he was able to make out the slim, darkly dressed figure standing with his back to him, holding up something that gleamed in the light.
Fear flashed though L as he saw what it was- a syringe. He couldn't afford to be drugged any more than this; he needed his full thinking capacities to get out of this!
Beyond turned to him, pressing down on the plunger of the syringe to remove all the air bubbles. As he glanced over at L, the sight of the large black eyes, glazed over with the sedatives he had given the detective earlier and the fear of the situation, made a grin spread across his face. "Glad to see you're awake, Lawli!" the psychopath said, smiling sadistically. "But I'm afraid that you'll have to go back to sleep- I'm not ready for you to be awake yet- not until I've injected you with your first treatment."
"Treee….meennnt?" L slurred, barely able to force the words out through unresponsive lips.
Beyond nodded, black spikes so much like L's own waving with the movement. "Yes. K-you remember K, don't you?"
And L did- the psychopathic doctor that had created a virus that, if she had released, could have wiped out nearly all of Earth's population. Beyond, seeing the remembrance in L's eyes, continued. "Yeah, I see you do. We used to be friends, back before she was caught, and taught me a lot about what she did- along with a project she was working on. She wasn't able to finish it, but I found her notes, and therefore, I was able to. And lucky you, L- you'll be the first one gifted with it. But really, you need to go to sleep, so…"
L watched with panic as Beyond turned to grab a syringe of clear fluid, and as Beyond came close to inject L with the sedative, his eyes caught a glimpse of another, larger syringe filled with a pearlescent fluid.
That doesn't look good, L thought, before his eyes slipped closed once more.
When they finally got the room back into order and Watari off the floor and into a chair in the living room of the Headquarters, they all sat down, waiting for Watari to explain.
"Before I start, I'd like to tell you of L's wishes if something ever happened and he could not abide by his duties as L," Watari said. "He wished for Light to take over for him, until he was able to return, or to take over permanently if he died."
"L wanted… me… to become the next L?" Light said incredulously, not believing it. He'd idolized the detective for so long, wanted to go into the criminal justice system because of L, but to actually take over… it was mind-boggling.
And in a way, infuriated him even more. The only reason this was happening was because of Beyond Birthday. Determination hardened him, and Light nodded. "Alright. I'll do it. But only until we get L back. And until then, I'll use all my resources as L to find this Beyond Birthday," Light said. "And we can do that by you telling us what you know about him," Light said to Watari.
And after taking a sip of coffee, Watari did.
He explained B and L's history, retelling the tale of how Beyond went insane with L's supposed rejection of him, how it led to the LABB murder case, how B was finally caught and locked up in a Los Angeles prison, but how he had escaped and had been lying low for the past year. Watari and L had tightened security wherever they went, but in the end, it had not been enough.
B was a brilliant psychopath, possessing an intelligence and cleverness to rival L's. Their security measures had done nothing but slow B down and in the end, the murderer had gotten what he wanted.
"But what I don't understand," Watari said, wrapping up his tale with a sip of tea, "was why B didn't just kill L right away. As far as I know, that was what he had wanted since his mind broke those years ago- to eliminate L and take his place. The fact that his plans have changed and he's now holding L hostage do not bode well for my charge."
"We'll do all we can to find him," Soichiro reassured the elderly man. "After all, Ryuuzaki is our best chance of finding Kira, and the sooner we find this B, the better our chances are of finding L unharmed."
"Yes," Light murmured, speaking for the first time since they had come to the room. He pushed himself out of his chair and went to the window, looking out at the lights of Tokyo. The thought that Ryuuzaki-L- his friend was out there, helpless at the hands of a psychopath with an unnatural obsession for him worried and angered him.
Damn it, Ryuuzaki. Why couldn't you have been more careful?
"Watari, what does this Beyond Birthday look like?" Light ventured to ask and behind him, his father nodded.
"That information would be helpful. I know we can't put out a missing person's report for Ryuuzaki, and putting an active warrant out for Beyond's arrest would most likely spook him into hiding, but if we could at least get a
picture of Beyond, it would help," Soichiro said.
Watari sighed. "Beyond's obsession with L has driven him to take on L's appearance- quite thoroughly, too, I may add. For all intents and purposes, Beyond looks exactly like L, acts exactly like him, and has even adopted his way of speaking and mannerisms. The only way one would be able to tell Beyond Birthday from L was to look at his eyes- Beyond has red eyes, the only feature that distinguishes him from L."
Light felt a shudder run down his spine at the thought of red eyes. Red eyes- where had he heard that before? It seemed so familiar, like the fragment of a dream that he couldn't quite grasp. Shaking it off, though, he instead said, "So, for all intents and purposes, we're looking for L himself?"
Watari nodded. "Yes."
Light didn't respond, only dimly heard Aizawa and Matsuda questioning Watari further about this Beyond Birthday, gathering information to build a profile of the killer. He didn't pay any attention, his eyes instead sweeping over the cityscape laid out in front of him, seeing the bright lights and blurs of the cars that made up the late-night traffic. His friend could be anywhere out in the city, at the hands of a killer who could be doing unspeakable things to him that moment.
The thought made him grit his teeth and clench his fists in anger.
L… where are you?
Edited version uploaded 4/6/13