L followed Light and Mello out into the main living room where Beyond paced and Matt sat quietly on the couch, "I thought it would take longer."
Beyond stopped and flashed a confident smile, "Not when you have my connections. Well. To be fair, Mello was here before us… But he was lost in the airport. Jeez, L, when you send out party invitations at least tell people where the hell to go…"
L raised an eyebrow, "I did no such thing."
Beyond walked over to him and flicked his forehead, "I fucking know!" He flicked his forehead again, "Bad, L, bad!"
Light snickered and Beyond grinned, "It's good to see everyone… Though, the situation is anything but to celebrate. So, let's solve this shit and party!"
Mello smiled and Matt smirked, L sighed, "I really didn't call any of you here. Watari did."
Near never looked up from his book, "Because even he knows when something is too much."
Beyond flopped himself on the couch bouncing Near slightly, "What do we know?"
L sighed and sat at the computer, haunched. "We know there is a pattern. Light pointed this out while we were discussing the case. He has a better explanation."
Light folded his arms, "While in med school, I took a pathological psychology course, there was a case study on a man who killed countless people trying to resurrect the spirits of the Zodiac. We think what's happening here, is that, on steroids and far more organized. The zodiacs needed specialized vessels, according to lore, one of each blood type so it could choose and devour the soul as a sacrifice. The other two would be devoured."
Beyond scrunched his face, "Bleg, that's disgusting."
"All the victims that were taken were Aquarius, if we are to presume the next course of action, Pisces is next." L bit his thumb then widened his eyes, but remained silent.
Near sighed, "But we can't know where or when. It happened to fall on the cusp for Aquarius, but the cusp has passed for Pisces."
"The first one." Matt said quietly.
Beyond folded his arms, "I don't care what you offer me. I'm not going to be bait. I play the worm far too often in my not so normal weekend job."
L chuckled, "No one wants that."
Light furrowed his eyes brows, "We have no way of knowing anything until a mass disappearance happens again. Then we have to hope we can find and end this."
Matt studied the files of the victims. "Not to be a party pooper, but, none of these people were kidnapped from the same place in the world. There seems to be no flow that seemed suspicious otherwise airports would have flagged them. So, we can assume their caught and tortured or brainwashed… Whatever, in the same country they're abducted in."
"With two weeks? It's much easier to torture than brainwash in that time…" Light sighed and leaned against the wall.
Mello sat in the other chair in front of a computer, "We'll have to monitor missing persons. There's no other trace. It's sad to say, but whoever is doing this is good. Not good enough to evade your detection… But good, they've got pull. If not flagged by any air traffics then they could have access to a private line or an entire private airport."
"They didn't evade my detection without reason." L tossed the gruesome photo of the taunting message in blood in front of Mello.
Mello's eyebrows knit together in worry, "That's repulsive." Mello handed the photo to Matt who silently shook his head and handed it to Beyond.
Beyond took the photo and examined it, "She. And she's a lefty."
L whirled around in his chair, "What did you say?"
Beyond looked up, "I said. She. And she's a lefty."
L growled slightly, "What brings you to that conclusion?"
Beyond shrugged, "I suppose they could be gender confused or have stupidly girly handwriting. But, they are definitely left handed. The letter a, hell, and c, the way the blood flows off of the L… They wrote this with their left hand. The a and c are characteristic of a left handed individual. I've done my fair share of handwriting analysis."
Light wrote on the white board, "So, left handed, has a position of decent standing, most likely wouldn't stand out in a crowd. We've got to have narrowed a little more than that… This kind of describes me as of now…" He let out a nervous chuckle.
Beyond smirked, "Well. What were you doing a couple of weeks ago… 'Mind of a Killer.'" Beyond gave a loud chuckle.
Light smirked, "Ha ha. Very funny."
L turned in his chair unamused, "It's not Light. He was busy."
The group eyed the back of L, "Cause that doesn't make me uncomfortable at all." Light sighed.
"I called." L's voice was soft and reluctant. "Your nurse said you were in surgery."
Light looked down, "Not trying to make myself a suspect, but this person isn't exactly doing all these abductions, they're coordinating them."
"Unless your coordinating abductions in your sleep at your desk, it's not you." L's tone was short but quiet.
Near cleared his throat, "I sense an argument. I'm getting tea. Whose coming?" Matt and Mello were up and leaving the room before he finished, "Beyond?"
Beyond never moved, "Not only am I excruciatingly interested, I have more important matters to attend to than tea."
Near narrowed his eyes, "No. I think you're coming." He pinched the tip of Beyond's ear making him yelp and whimper a little while following him out.
After everyone had cleared the room Light looked up, "How many times did you call?"
L never looked back to him, "Six times. Finally, your nurse said she'd give you the message when you weren't busy or sleeping at your desk."
Light bit his lip and his memory flashed, 'He insists.' 'They'll wait.' Light sighed, "It was you… Watari contacted me via email… I just assumed…"
L never moved. Light sat next to him in the other chair and L glanced at him, "I wanted to talk to you… After I had accepted the case, something… Was bothering me. I couldn't shake the feeling, that this may be my last case… And I wanted to tell you."
Light sighed, "Tell me what?"
"That I loved you. Still. Even if you didn't."
Light sat back in the chair, "And that's it. That's all you wanted. I probably would have hung up on you."
L stared emotionless at his computer, "I know. But you would have known."
"I left for the address enclosed in Watari's email before she could give me the message." Light rubbed his fingertips on his forehead.
"I didn't want you to come, not because you wouldn't have been a help. We only have the lead we have, because of you. I wanted you to stay away. Not because I don't crave to be near you. Because… I wanted you to stay safe. Safe away from me and this nasty world I live in." His tone never changed from its normal monotone.
Light gave L a stern scowl, "Why?"
L lifted his eyes from his computer and gave Light a sad stare, "Because, I love you."
"You have a terrible way of showing it." Light stood up and grabbed his coat. "I'll be back. By then, figure your shit out. You either want to be together or you don't."
L sighed, "I do… But we can't."
Light rolled his eyes, "Well fuck you too! Get your priorities straight!" Light slammed the front door and walked over to his car.
Beyond gave Near a worried stare. He ran to the living room, "What the hell?! You going to let him get away… Again?! Why can't you just listen to him, hear the torment in his voice. Jesus fucking Christ, L, he still isn't over you and you do that shit?!" Beyond grabbed his coat and sprinted outside.
Light started to reverse as Beyond landed a hard hand on hood of his car, Light sighed and put the car into park. Beyond walked over to the window, "I won't ask, I won't pry, but damnit, Light, I won't let you be alone either, I think you've been alone long enough. I don't care about what happened when you two were together or when you were alone in a room together. What I care about is you being alone. So. Before you take off into the unknown, can I please come?" Light sighed again and unlocked the door and Beyond got in.
The car pulled away slowly, leaving everyone left in the house in an awkward silence.
Matt looked up in from his coffee, "Guys? We might have a problem…" He walked out of the kitchen and stared at the white board, "Yep. Problem." The remaining of the group stared at him in anticipation. He wrote two dates on the board, "Can anyone tell me the significance of these dates?"
L glanced over to the board, "It's Light and Beyond's birth dates."
Matt nodded and wrote a period of time down below that, "This is the time frame of the zodiac spirit of Pisces. Our killers next motive is..?"
Mello swatted the back of L's head, "Moron! You just chased one of them out and the other followed willingly! You all but handed two Pisces to them!"
Matt sighed, "Our only hope is that Beyond truly is the Devil." Near tilted his head in confusion. "It's Beyond's code name among agencies, 'The Red Eyed Devil.' His name strikes fear into the hearts of would-be terrorists. Above being the UN's favorite choice in prosecutors… He's a highly skilled and well paid assassin."