almost alice

Time passed by in slow motion as the brunette carefully pulled a videotape marked with the letter 'A' from a cardboard box he had received just yesterday. Just yesterday, he had also decided he'd complete BB's assignment for a friend he held dear though he refused to admit it. The eccentric detective L, after all, wasn't the easiest person to deal with.

'Why am I doing this?'

All the boy's movements were dulled; all his actions forced.

'For L. So I come back to my previous question.'

The videotape was inserted into a slot; and the raven known as BB appeared on the screen. The boy pressed 'pause' on the remote.

With a weary sigh, Raito Yagami plopped down in a manner that didn't really resemble the precise college boy he was. He checked the room and hit the 'play' button.

"I truly am glad you chose to accept my last request, Raito-kun," BB snickered. 'How I hate that laugh…'

"First and foremost, I must give out this sliver of information: L attended a house for orphans training to become renown detectives. Currently the children are training to become L once he passes. I was amongst the first generation of experiments. So were A, Z, and a few others. Once again, I am trusting you with these pieces of valuable information, so don't abuse a deceased man's trust.

"Alice Orchids , or A, was perhaps the brightest child said orphanage had taken in during the first generation. She was beautiful as well, with silky brown hair and doe-like blue eyes, and the girl had hundreds of doors of opportunities opened to her.

"L admired her stubborn yet hard working personality, and though at the time she seemed like the perfect replacement should anything happen to the World's Greatest Detective, she had one fatal but (at first) unnoticeable flaw; one that ultimately caused her demise. Her mental stability."

Raito shuddered involuntarily. That sounded like a horrible flaw to possess.

BB's voice at this point sounded a bit strained; as if he was forcing the words to come out of his pale lips.

"She couldn't handle the mental strain said orphanage placed on all the children there. And by the time she turned thirteen, everyone could tell she wouldn't make it past fourteen. The poor girl engraved an 'L' in her pale arm every day. Whenever she received a grade lower than a B+ on any sort of exam she'd hang herself by a rope until she was about to suffocate…and I'd have to be the one to help her down. She murdered herself by injecting herself with some sort of medicine in the asylum she stayed at during the last months of her life."

BB started shaking slightly, and Raito thought he might've been crying, but then he threw his head back and started to howl with laughter (which made Raito shudder yet again). He managed to say, in between fits of laughter, "Those…bastards killed…her!"

He finally calmed down to the point where his shoulders were only shaking lightly.

His voice came out in a growl that would scare any vicious animal away: "But this isn't about Alice…no…it's about the man that pushed her to suicide…"

The corner of one side of his upper lip twitched upwards, forming a snarl.

"He…"

More giggles and snorts.

"He…is…"

"Kyahahahaha…ahem…I apologize…"

'Good thing he's dead. He's not too far off from insanity himself.'

BB couldn't bring himself to say what he had to, so he bit his lip to stifle the laughter. Apparently, he was trying really hard to hold the laughter back; his lip started to drip crimson blood.

"L is becoming (giggle) like the one he killed…"

"L is almost Alice."

The tape went black. The image of the insane raven was lost.

Raito found his mouth slightly agape; he didn't consider the possibility that the person he'd complete favors for was insane.

'BB's mental stability isn't the problem here, now is it? But I assume L's is. Well, tomorrow will be an interesting day.'

{end of part I}

Part II: L's first appearance. Note: the last chapter mentioned Ryuk in it. That was a mistake on my part; I apologize. Kira is non-existent (hence the AU), and Light is simply helping L.