Hot diggity dayum! This is the fastest I have ever gotten out a new chapter. This one just poured right out of me and demanded to be written. I'd have to say that I'm super pleased with how it turned out. A super special thanks goes out to my beta Vicious Ventriloquist, who totally gets both me and this story. Their editing skills are out of this world.
When all is said and done with this chapter, tell me how you feel! I'd love for all of you to click that review button and tell me what you think and what you want to see next.


"We called him 'Beyond Birthday'."

It was a name I had never heard before. Nor was it something that sounded like one.

Addressing the scrunched look on my face L said, "That wasn't his real name of course, but it was the only one he ever gave. We never found out who he was before he came to Wammy's."

I leaned closer to him. "There were no records, at all? Did Watari just pick him up off the street?"

He gnawed at his nail more aggressively now. "No, he was in a different orphanage when Watari came across him. We were told that he went there of his own free will after his parents died. Beyond would not go into any more detail than that."

L looked as though he were staring at something far away. The hand in mine was slack and I hardly noticed him breathe as he continued to recall the past. "He was an odd child, but no more odd than the rest of us. Many children that come to Wammy's have behavioral or social issues. It wasn't difficult to overlook his… eccentricities."

I shifted forward in my seat until my knees were touching the edge of his chair. Witnessing for myself what the students had been like so far, I could see how his strangeness might have been overlooked.

"After one of the other children, A, committed suicide his… misconduct became much more apparent," he continued.

I interjected, wanting to get a feel for his character. "You're saying he was really affected by A's death… Do you mean he started to act out?" That didn't seem so out of the ordinary to be honest. Depending on what age they were, this just seemed like a natural reaction for a child who had witnessed death. Especially so if the victim had been someone he cared about.

"He did act out a bit, yes, but he wasn't affected in the way you're probably thinking. After A's death we completely refurbished the way we dealt with the children's mental health. Every student is now required to see a counselor at least quarterly. We keep a much closer eye on them."

"So while he didn't change drastically-," I started to say.

"The counselor picked up on the red flags," L finished. "Things we thought were a bit off about him were apparently a much bigger deal. Particularly in regards to how much he scared the younger children."

This explanation gave me an uneasy feeling. I could sense that he was giving me a very abridged version of this 'Beyond Birthday's' story. "Was he the sort to mistreat animals?" I inquired. I knew that was one of the more obvious signs of psychopathy, an indication that a person felt no remorse.

L sat back in his seat, though he didn't let go of my hand. "In a shocking turn of events, no. He particularly liked animals- not that they felt the same, however."

Perhaps I shouldn't have been interrupting so much, but I knew that if I didn't ask, he wouldn't tell. "Then what was so alarming?"

Without hesitations he replied, "He had a very macabre sense of humor. He would often take pranks too far, not thinking to stop even when the younger children would cry. He didn't seem to find anything wrong with it as long as no one was truly hurt. It did not deter him that no one else shared his fascination with death."

Again, assessing my facial expression, he decided to elaborate. "After A, he would often fake his own death- amongst other things. He was curious to the reactions he could get with his different methods of execution. Even I thought it was in bad taste," he deadpanned. "but by this point I was often out of the country solving cases."

I could tell that he thought I was judging him. I didn't blame him for the way this kid turned out though. As someone who was much younger, what authority did he really have- L or not? It was on Watari and Roger who housed these kids. They had a responsibility and they dropped the ball.

"As you can guess," L went on, "it was likely a cry for attention. B wanted very much to be on level with me. He sought my attention over all else when he attended Wammy's."

"I thought you said that none of the students knew who you were?" It was strange that this student in particular would pick up on his identity when no one else did.

"B is among the reasons that students are no longer privy to my identity." L took a deep breath and sighed in a long and exaggerated fashion. "B is a copy-cat. Over time he has transformed himself to my likeness. He went out of his way to study not only my appearance, but my mannerisms as well." He paused for moment and then added, "The end result was very unsettling."

I squeezed his hand. I couldn't imagine essentially having an evil clone running around and terrorizing people in my image. It was probably hard for him to come back here with Beyond looking like him. I didn't think the children would react well to that.

"He wanted to be me," L muttered. "but he was like a caricature." It was now that he let go of me, reaching over to his laptop. He turned the screen away from me and typed something I couldn't see. "When it was finally clear that Watari and I couldn't allow him to take my place, he left Wammy's." When he was done typing, he turned the screen back toward me and away from himself. "He left to surpass me by creating a case that I wouldn't be able to solve."

Leaning forward, I moved the laptop closer. Across the top of a news article it read "Wara Ningyo Murders".

The article went into detail about the clues he left for the police, which were both sent to the station and left on and around the victims. It noted the three victims and the suffering they must have lived through. One of which I noticed was only thirteen. Beyond Birthday had offered his own services as a private detective to the families of the victims. He used this cover to stay close to the crime scenes. He intended to leave himself as the last victim under the guise of 'Rue Ryuzaki' by setting himself on fire and burning to death. The origin of the case's namesake came from the wara ningyo dolls left at each of the crime scenes. The article was concluded with a special thanks to one Naomi Misora, an off duty FBI agent who worked with L to solve the cases.

I felt like I was going to be sick. It seemed as if neither of our pasts could stay in the past. I never thought I would be hearing of her again.

And Rue Ryuzaki… This must have been where he got the name. He often absorbed the names of other detectives that he 'defeated'.

I looked at him now and he appeared so despondent. Putting Beyond away wouldn't have been a victory for him. In fact, I would place the "Wara Ningyo Murders" as one of his greatest failings. One of his own and most promising students turned away from his philosophies and became the one thing that L, both as a symbol and a person, strived to eliminate.

Even the Kira case, though a large public failing to some, had a better turn-out than this. Where B had murdered because of L, I had stopped.

I pushed the laptop away and turned to him. "And you think that he's still alive?" L was rarely wrong about this sort of thing. In this instance however, I hoped he was being paranoid. Of course I didn't want him to go back to blaming me for the prison deaths. The existence of another Death Note in the world was also not something I'd like to explore. Cases of such a personal nature were always devastating though. No matter the turnout of this one, B would either be a murderer once more- or dead.

He rolled his discarded candies between his fingers. "Maybe; this is exactly the kind of thing that he would do- and has done before." To make his point he nodded toward the screen before closing it. Lifting himself off the chair he said, "We need to inform Watari and Roger of the possibility. It is one thing for murders to be committed across an ocean, but if these really are B, they are much too close to home."


Roger looked like he hated this job. His scrunched expression made me think that had he been alone in this office, he would be banging his head on the desk and crying. He was pale, tired, and drawn. No elaboration was needed on his part to know just how stressful managing a mansion full of geniuses really was. Needless to say, he was not Beyond Birthday's biggest fan.

Even with Roger's obvious disdain for the man, Watari was the first to break the silence created by L's announcement. "Am I right assume that Light is already aware of the full extent of the situation?"

I took this opportunity to insert myself into the conversation. "Yes, he's already given me adequate background information."

Watari nodded, looking unsurprised by the insinuation that L was all but stingy with the facts. "We must contact the prison and find out all we can about his supposed cremation."

Getting up from the large desk he was seated behind, Roger walked across the room to the double doors. "I'm putting this school on lock-down."

No one disagreed with him.

"Do try to be subtle though," Watari advised him. "The last thing we want is for any of the students to start snooping around."

Roger nodded absently, and with a waving gesture he vacated the room with haste.

Turning back to address the both of us, Watari said, "I will contact the police station- see if any of the victims or their families have noticed anyone with his description."

I was thoroughly disturbed. That they even considered he would try to attach himself to the victim's families again was a testament to his character. It was a sick sort of thing that even I would never be able to understand.

"That would be wise," L agreed. "Light-kun and I will consult with the prison staff and anyone involved in the other deaths."

As we were making our way out the door Watari told us, "I will come see you if I find anything."

L didn't bother to reply, but before he could shut the door I managed a simple thank you to Watari.

"You are very polite to him," L pointed out as we walked down the hall.

I looked at him and wondered if the reason wasn't obvious. "It's the least anyone can do. He does so much for us."

He didn't have anything to say to that either so we walked in silence.

I let my gaze linger on his hunched form. He was back to keeping in step with me instead of five paces ahead. L wasn't one for apologies, so this would have to be affirmation enough. I smiled nonetheless; this would suffice. Most of our communication was done in a subtle manner, but now more than ever I thought it was time for us to have a talk. There were things that needed to be said that couldn't be expressed solely through gestures and looks.

When this whole ordeal was over, I was determined to have this talk with him.

Upon entering the room L and I were met with three familiar faces. Two of them belonging to bodies splayed across the bed, and another occupying L's chair. I noticed fondly that he had one leg tucked tight to his chest.

Mello sat up abruptly, a cuff in each hand and a long metal chain piled in his lap. "Is this a gay thing?"

Without hesitation the red-head lying next to him replied, "If it was, you of all people would know." He never looked up from the game he was supporting precariously above his face.

I looked to L, wondering just how to handle this, and he already had a thumb nail to his mouth.

"To what do I own this unexpected visit?" he inquired whilst walking over to seize my chair.

The three were quiet and glanced at one another as if to silently decide who would speak.

Near, who was fiddling with the hem of his shirt decided to take the lead, "We know you believe B is back."

I stood up straighter and crossed my arms in front of my body.

Though Matt and Mello still handled the game and handcuffs respectively, they were much more serious now. Matt slowly pushed himself up to sit against the headboard.

L's gaze between them was unwavering. "How is it that you are becoming privy to all this information?"

Matt spoke up, sliding his fingers along the strap of his goggles. "Everyone seems to underestimate the power of listening at a door."

I couldn't help but chuckle. Roger had probably taken measures to secure his office from more sophisticated means, never thinking that despite being geniuses they were still children. Children often tried the simplest approach to a problem before escalating the solution.

L didn't find it as amusing. "The possibility of B's return does not explain why you are here." Gazing at them one by one, he reached behind himself to the candy he had left on the table earlier.

Mello's eyes widened as he leaned away from the headboard. "Is there any chocolate?"

Slowly, L unwrapped one of the candies. I nearly laughed again when he brought the tiny morsel of sugar to his lips at a snail's pace. "There might be." Then he added after a pause, "If you tell us what business you have here." His toes wiggled on the edge of the chair in amusement.

As serious as L looked right now, he was enjoying himself. I could tell that he liked his heirs.

Mello leaned even farther across the bed, as if he were about to take to his knees and crawl straight to L. "We want to help obviously."

"Help," I interjected. Pushing myself away from the entrance I moved to stand closer to the bed. "If B is really the one responsible for all of these murders, what makes you think you should be involved?"

This must have been the wrong thing to say because all at once everyone's attention closed in on me. The only warning for the impending shitstorm I got was the sigh L always gave me before I was about to be chastised. In my peripheral I could see him shake his head and deposit another piece of candy into his mouth.

Handcuffs forgotten behind him, Mello crawled with vigor over to me. It shook the bed enough that Matt had to hold onto the bed-side table to avoid falling off.

On his knees, he got far too close to my face. "You've gotta be fucking me!"

"Mello…" L began, but was drowned out immediately.

"No! He doesn't get to come in here and criticize our capabilities when he'd never even heard of Wammy's a week ago." He affixed me with a harsh glare. "I don't give a damn where you came from, but we've been here. We have been trained from day one to do this. We've been solving cases of our own both with and without help from the school. Don't you dare tell us that this is too dangerous! We were the ones who had to go to school with B!" The more he shouted, the closer he got. When the distance between our bodies was insignificant, he grabbed me by the collar to bring me down to his height. It seemed like I was getting manhandled by everyone today.

He snarled over his shoulder. "Back me up here, Matt."

For the first time since we'd met, I saw him put down his game. In a very calculated move he slid off of the bed and walked around to place himself between me and both L and Mello. Or as close as he could get, with there being no space between Mello and I.

Addressing all of us he said, "Mello has a point. If you want to get technical, we have more experience with him anyway. Less of the murdery sort, mind you, but he's always been a very particular brand of freak." Crossing his arms, I saw that he was attempting to stifle a shiver.

Mello loosened his hold on my shirt. Looking over my shoulder to L he said, "Matt and I are nearly fifteen and I'm willing to bet that you were a hell of a lot younger when you started. It's time to give us a real case- something with stakes."

L regarded the three, quiet but for the candy clacking against his teeth. "I can see the logic in your request." Turning his attention to the boy in his seat he asked, "What do you think, Near?"

He was absently twirling a lock of his hair and gazing at L's closed laptop. "I believe that Matt is right. Mello is particularly familiar with B and his experience will be an asset."

Even if his hands were not still at my throat I wouldn't have asked for an elaboration. From what I had heard about B so far, Mello had every reason to not want to talk about it.

"He's an absolute sicko," Mello growled. "The best thing we could do in our lives is put him away."

"Here, here," added Matt.

Mello detached himself from me and slapped a hand down on Matt's shoulder. "You always have my back," he told him in a serious voice.

"And your front too, most likely," quipped Near.

I couldn't believe this. The small sheep-child just made a dirty joke. Was there no innocence left in this school? After barely a second of consideration, I reasoned that no, there was not.

Ignoring Near, Mello turned back to L. "So, what about it, L?"

"I suppose it can't hurt," he agreed. Then after a pause, "as long as you remain out of sight."

This must have been fair because none of them kicked up a fuss. "All three of you will go to the Case Room and I will send Roger to debrief you shortly. Do not let me down." L brought the bowl of sweets to his lap and dug his hand to the bottom. Upon pulling out as much as he could fit in his palm he added. "Have some candy before you leave; it stimulates brain function."

Mello jumped at the opportunity to not only be gifted with sweets, but to receive them from L himself. Before anyone else could interfere, he deftly picked each piece of chocolate out of the pile.

Matt grabbed a couple at random before being dragged from the room. Their departure was dramatized by Mello's hopeful mutterings of the chocolate to come.

Even when we could no longer hear them in the hallway, Near was still seated in L's place.

"Is there something you need, Near?" I asked him.

Instead of answering me, he turned to look at the bed… and subsequently the handcuffs. Rising from the chair, he looked back at me. "I have just decided against asking. Just know that I am suspicious," he replied ambiguously.

I glared at him as he turned around to bid L goodbye and select a single piece of candy from his hand.

When he was gone I asked L for my seat back.

"I am already seated; it makes little sense for you to not simply take my chair," he told me, depositing the remaining sweets back into the bowl.

It wasn't worth it to argue, so I grabbed my laptop and slid his over to him. Taking a seat, I asked, "What's the 'Case Room'?"

Rifling through his pocket with one hand and logging back onto his laptop with the other, he answered. "The top three students are assigned cases to solve outside of their normal course work. Often they are cases that I have solved previous. Sometimes they are live cases from various police organizations across the world." He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open in the same motion. "The Case Room is where they are required to work on the cases. As there can be sensitive information, we prefer to keep it contained."

Pressing down on a number for speed-dial, L held the phone to his ear and began to dig in another pocket. He pulled out another phone, an odd looking one that I'd rarely seen and had never been permitted to answer.

He turned away from me when the phone to his ear picked up. "Watari, once you have procured all of the security footage from the prison, have Roger take it down to the Case Room."

There was a pause during which I assumed Watari was answering and then L spoke again. "That is correct. They are capable of reviewing it and this saves us time." He paused for another moment and then with a final, "Good," he closed the phone.

To me he said, "Watari will be sending us the contact information of everyone who came into contact with the thirteen prisoners the day of and after, or had a substantial role in their stay. I anticipate my heirs having more to add to this list."

I thought about all the people we were going to have to follow up on and was immensely grateful to Matt, Mello, and Near. Considering all of the cameras that the prisoners would appear on, there was likely fifty-sixty relevant hours of footage. If B really was still alive, we wouldn't have time to review all of it ourselves.

That fact became much more apparent when Watari came through with the preliminary contact sheet. There were more than thirty names and all would have to be contacted.

I finally got to find out what the odd phone was for when L used it to contact the warden of the California State Prison in Los Angeles. The warden was told in no uncertain terms that he was to arrange a private room in the prison for the staff to be interrogated. More information would come following the delivery of a package. I knew that a laptop was inside of this mysterious package, but from what I could hear the warden didn't like the idea of a 'mysterious anything'.

"It will take more than twelve hours for the package to arrive though, won't it," I pointed out to L.

"I had it on its way shortly after I received word of his death. I still wanted an explanation for the mishandling of his corpse," he explained. "The laptop will arrive shortly and then we will begin the interrogations."

Just before eight o'clock, L's unaffectionately dubbed 'BB phone' rang. The warden was given strict instructions as to how the device would be set up and how the staff would be pulled for questioning. I.e. with little warning. L made it clear that he wanted no opportunity for anyone to escape questioning.

L grilled them thoroughly, asking the same questions with slight variation time and time again, waiting for someone to slip up. No one gave off an air of untrustworthiness. Though we did receive a very detailed report of his every breath, scratch, and sneeze over the last week.

According to the staff, his behavior had all been within the range of normal- or as normal as it could be considering our person of interest. Despite their assurance of him regularly taunting the security staff, I made a detailed note of it anyway.

It was around midnight our time when I wished that we were on Los Angeles time. Staying focused was vastly easier around four in the evening.

Though the interrogations were being recorded, I was set to transcribe any information that may be of use. It was proving to be more difficult as the night wore on. The screen appeared to be getting brighter and the space between words was smaller. Half of the time I found myself with my gaze fixed to the battery icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.

They say that when you keep your eyes on a clock, time seems to move slower. The opposite was true for my battery life.

I closed my eyes in an attempt to refocus. When I opened them again I went straight for my coffee cup.

Instead of wrapping around the cup, my fingers made contact with a digital clock. Upon taking a moment to assess my situation, I realized that I was no longer sitting beside L, but rather snugly tucked into his bed. With the amount of sleep that I had gotten lately, I had no complaints.

Taking advantage of L's rare moment of consideration, I pulled the comforter tighter and closed my eyes once more.

When I was woken again, it was to the smell of Watari's cooking. There is no better way to wake up…

I sat up and spared a quick glance at the clock. 7:06 am. I suppose that's adequate. In truth, with the way things had been lately, seven hours was a blessing. This was as bright and rested as I was like to get.

Watari turned from where he was depositing the food onto the desk. "Light; good timing."

"Good morning," I greeted. "Has everything been going well?" Sliding off the bed, I threw the covers back into place and decided to do a neater job after eating. Not that L would notice or care.

"Indeed. I was just telling L that the boys have found eight more people to contact in regards to their association with B."

As I answered, he carried on with serving L's morning tea. "On top of however many we still have to talk to." Walking over to my place at the desk, I couldn't help but get a whiff of the tea. "If you don't mind, could I get a cup of that too?"

Nodding in affirmation, he selected another cup off the tray.

L lowered his cup back onto the desk. "If by 'however many we have left' you mean zero, then certainly."

I stopped midway to accepting the tea from Watari. "You don't mean that you got to everyone last night?"

From his plate he picked up a bite sized cinnamon roll that Watari must have brought him. "Of course I did. I organized each interview to take place at times that would allow for me to get to everyone. I had to consider what times they would be working, but after that it was just going down a list." Upon concluding his statement he didn't hesitate to devour his breakfast in quick succession.

"So these next eight then," I started, feeling slightly sheepish on behalf of my sleeping faux pas.

"We'll get to them in a timely manner," he told me, licking frosting from his lips. "It's nearing midnight there and most of the new contacts are prisoners. We will have to wait until it is morning for them."

Nodding, I then asked, "So how much of the footage have they gotten through?"

L considered it for a moment before replying. "Out of sixty-one hours they have watched roughly thirty-six." He took a sip of tea and moved his spare hand over the plate, deciding which cinnamon roll to eat next. "You and I will have to watch the cameras that were in use during and after B's death. It's essential that we don't miss anything."

Four minutes later I was catching my first glimpse of Beyond Birthday. The image was shoddy at best; the quality of the camera and distance he stood from it did us no favors. After functioning as Kira, my first instinct was to identify the face. I wouldn't have been able to kill him with the Death Note if I wanted to.

When I couldn't see his face I moved on. When the recording was live it took place at lunch time. L and I watched him move through the food line with hunched shoulders. His shuffling gait reminded me of L's and I felt uncomfortable by proxy.

Beyond sat at a table a few seats down from three other inmates; he didn't interact with them. He just sat placidly and ate, never looking anywhere but at his food or straight ahead.

Twenty-five minutes into lunch he stood. Leaving his tray he walked to the other end of the table. He brandished what may have been a plastic utensil and brought it down onto another inmate's hand.

L didn't look surprised. Maybe, I thought, he'd already watched the video while I was sleeping.

Looking back at the screen, I saw Beyond being dragged out of the room by several guards. He let them.

When they all had left the room, L ended that recording and brought up another one. We went through several more camera views watching him being carted off to solitary confinement. There was no point where he put up any kind of resistance. He was slack in their arms, perhaps even content to be dragged there.

When they arrived at his holding cell and footage from the hallway stopped, L paused before starting the feed in his cell. "When he first came to the prison he was very disruptive, mildly violent. Never enough to be transferred, but he did make a name for himself. After these initial outbursts, up until this occurrence, he'd never caused another scene. I wouldn't say he kept his head down, but he behaved himself for the most part." L poured himself another cup of tea from the pot Watari had left.

"You could argue that he wanted to be put in solitary confinement."

"From his calm demeanor I would say the same thing." Counting out several sugar cubes, he dropped them all into his cup.

For the next four hours we watched Beyond Birthday lay absolutely still in his cell. It was horribly boring.

L couldn't have been this bored when he was watching me on sixty-four cameras. At least I moved around and did things, but this guy made it too easy to watch him.

Shortly after the four hour mark he got up to relieve himself. He then went right back to lying still.

I groaned in frustration just as Watari entered to bring us lunch.

"I can't be that unwelcome can I," he joked.

"Certainly not," I sighed. "You're the most interesting thing to happen all day."

He chuckled and deposited our plates in front of us. "Roger and I have been going over security procedures most of the night. No one will be getting in without our knowing so."

"Very good," L affirmed. Though Watari listed all of the precautions they were taking and what they were checking regularly, L seemed more interested in his pudding.

As security talk hadn't garnered much attention from L, Watari moved onto the next topic. "Near, Mello, and Matt have nearly finished watching through the footage. What would you have them do next?"

"They have been awake all night watching recordings; tell them to go to sleep. They can finish watching when they wake up." L scooped a large amount of the yellow goo onto his spoon and opened his mouth as wide as it would go.

I had to look away.

After a few bites of my own food, I heard him speak again. "Once they have slept and finished with the recordings, you may inform them that they are to come see me."

"Even in the early hours?"

"Especially in the early hours," L confirmed.


In the five hours following lunch, L and I continued to watch Beyond lie perfectly still. He didn't move a single muscle even to fidget. He had self control rivaling my own and I tried not to be impressed by it.

He moved only to eat a meager dinner and relieve himself again two hours later. It was just past 9:30 the night before the deaths took place when L and I broke for our own dinner.

"You think they're still sleeping?" I mentioned to him.

"Undoubtedly," he answered. "They are still children and need much more sleep than you or I."

I scoffed. Where was this consideration when he kept me up all night for cases? I suppose it could be said that he just liked to push me, and I'm sure that he would be hard pressed to deny it.

Glancing to the place in front of him, I noticed that he was going without dinner tonight; choosing instead to supplant his meal with coffee.

Shaking my head absently, I dug into the rice portion of my meal. With all of the extravagant food Watari would sometimes come up with, it was nice to get back to the basics on occasion.

"When you finish with eating we will resume with interviewing staff and inmates."

I crossed my ankles and turned toward him; though I was unwilling to put down my bowl. "How many more are we up to now?"

"We have twelve to confer with, Light-kun."

"We could start now. I'm just as eager to get this over with as you are," I offered.

"You may not be speaking to them, but it would not do if they were to hear you choking in the background," he teased.

Elbowing him in the arm I told him, "I have never choked. I have never had anything but perfect manners."

"Sure, Light-kun," he dismissed me.

Of those we had to interview now, there were a few inmates and also the staff that collected him from solitary confinement.

From the staff we'd learned that inmates try to fake their deaths by heart attacks quite frequently. It's because of Kira that they extensively test the inmates before ever even removing them from their cells, let alone the prison.

He'd had no pulse and no heart beat. When they tested his reflexes, his hand came down hard onto his face rather than avoiding contact. Nothing they did to him could make him flinch. They were all positive that he'd been dead.

The inmates told stories of their avoidance- to the best of their ability. They weren't afraid to admit that he scared them and most of the other inmates on his block as well. He wasn't "right in the head", they said.

I leaned back in my chair and stretched, savoring the feeling of having made our way down the list. Makes me wonder if L ever told them of B's penchant for faking his own death. If something concrete came up in the footage, I wouldn't need any convincing that he really was responsible for all of this.

Starting up the tapes again, it was evident that we were in for another boring night. The only movement in the cell was the constant flickering of the lights above.

He didn't even appear to be sleeping, just lying perfectly still. As the hours ticked by, the lights were becoming more of a frustration. I was guzzling coffee to keep my focus on the prone form atop the bed instead of the ever increasing flickering. Even on the grainy video it took effort to keep my eyes from wandering.

I was grateful that, despite the subpar surveillance system, the video itself only flickered a handful of times.

At 4:25 am he moved to relieve himself again. Once finished, he stretched his arms above his head and laid right back down. For four minutes he was still, but at 4:29 am he shot up out of bed and grabbed his chest. Standing, he stumbled to the door; his left arm was rigid at his side. He banged on the door once and collapsed next to it. There he sat, unmoving until a guard entered the cell at 4:38 am.

The guard did some preliminary tests, including taking his pulse. When he found nothing, he grabbed his radio and called for a medic team. The medics performed more tests, and he passed all of them. However, there was one aspect of the scene that stood out to me.

"Is it just me, or is his left arm particularly stiff?"

L went back and played through the assessment again. "Indeed it is," he confirmed. "It is impossible for rigor mortis to have set in this fast. No matter how they maneuver him, his arm always stays at his side."

Laying my head in my hands, I groaned. "Of all the incompetent…"

"No one is more disappointed than I," L deadpanned.

Still deep in my hands I asked, "Why that arm, do you think?"

"I can't be certain, but I have heard that putting a stress ball in a certain place underneath your arm can restrict the blood flow. It can make it seem that one has no pulse."

I reached in front of him and replayed the last several minutes of the recording.

Running my hands through my hair I theorized, "He could have kept it in the front of his pants and slid it up his sleeve."

L took his nail from his mouth to rewind it yet again. After watching the scene in silence once more he began to nod. "Stretching is how he got it from his sleeve to under his arm."

"Makes sense," I told him, rising to do some stretches myself. "If only the quality were better, then we could confirm it."

"No," L said suddenly. "It doesn't really matter if this is the case." He turned in his chair to face me. "I am convinced that Beyond has escaped. It hardly matters how he did it, only that we catch him again." He reached beside him to the coffee that must have gone cold hours ago.

I paced around the room to get my blood flowing. In a bitter turn of events I questioned how we were ever going to find this guy. Unless we caught him in the act or he left us a clue, I didn't think we had anything to start with.

I wondered if this was how L felt when he had first begun the Kira case. Of course, I had taken a more systematic approach. In hindsight, I wondered if I hadn't wanted to be caught. It was obvious by the time of the deaths that I was a student. When I changed the times to taunt him, it only brought him closer to my identity.

Wandering to the side of the bed, I turned my back to it and let myself fall. The mattress jumped and I let out a sigh.

"If Light-kun is tired, he may rest," L offered.

"No," In all truth, I was too wired on caffeine to consider sleep. "I just feel like we've missed something."

"In what way?" L rose from his chair and shuffled over to sit beside me on the bed.

"Obviously B is a very calculated individual. In the Wara Ningyo case he had all of his bases covered, all of the clues were sophisticated and clear. There was a beginning to the case and an end. That it failed wasn't important." Closing my eyes, I went over the details that we had so far.

"What is important is that it made sense. He had a goal," L continued. "The ashes were him reaching out to us in the same way as the puzzle he sent to the police before the first murder. He knew that the police wouldn't be able to make sense of it." He gripped his knees tight to his chest.

Opening my eyes, I turned to look up at him. "Then he made contact with the victim's families," I added. "But Watari said that neither victims of the sex ring nor the families of the perpetrators had been contacted by anyone with that description."

L leaned his head to rest on his knees. "He must be lurking around somewhere," he muttered. "He needs to keep an eye on the case somehow."

"Do you think there are victims we haven't found yet?"

"That would be impossible. I gave warning to everyone accused of having a hand in the abuse. Even if they decided to forgo protection, they all have someone who would notice their absence," he explained.

A thought suddenly struck me and my face burned in response. It was as if merely saying her name would profess my guilt. "He made contact with Naomi Misora too."

Gaze honing in on me he asked, "You were the one investigating the crime scenes. Did you see anyone who matched B's description?"

I didn't even have to think about it. "No, but you have to remember that at the time you didn't suspect him. On top of that, I was exhausted. Scoping out the area was the last thing on my mind."

"So we can't rule out the possibility of him being there…"

Our conversation tapered off and though we remained on the bed, we did so in silence.

I loathed it, being stagnant. I felt as though we were on the cusp of some sort of clue, but it continued to elude us. There was something missing- something we'd forgotten about.

I turned my head to look at L's unmoving toes and in my periphery I saw the clock. It was just after one in the morning.

"Shouldn't those kids have come back by now?" I asked absently. Maybe they had found something.

L sighed. "It's likely that they don't want to check in empty handed." Getting up from the bed he moved back over to the desk. Without discretion, he pocketed as much candy as he could fit in one of his hands. "I suppose I could take this opportunity to show you the Case Room."

This caught my attention. Aside from Roger's office, I hadn't been escorted anywhere. I was eager to be shown some of the finer details involved in Wammy's.

Following him closely out the door I joked, "Maybe I can finally get the grand tour. Show me where you keep the helicopter." Under the dimmed lights, I figured I could enjoy a late night tour.

He rolled his eyes and led me down a different staircase. "It is at the hangar, Light-kun."

My step stuttered. "You actually have a helicopter?"

"Yes; though it's rarely used for anything other than training."

"One of those "better safe than sorry" skills?" I asked him.

"I suppose it is."

We had just passed the library when he stopped short in front of a nondescript door. It was almost tucked away into the corner and looked as negligible as possible. Unlike the other classrooms I had passed my first day here, this one had no windows beside the door.

I assumed that there would be a lock of some sort, but L just pulled the door open and walked right inside.

The room was dimly lit as well, and like the space near the door there were no windows anywhere in the room. Against one wall sat long, thin tables with half a dozen computers topping them. On another wall was a large projection screen. What really caught my attention was the presence of not one, but three projectors hanging from the ceiling. The only other thing I could see was a plush brown couch in the middle of the room.

Talk about Spartan… There was nothing that could elicit a distraction in this room; it was designed for efficiency.

Walking to the center of the room I leaned over the back of the couch. The projectors were all on, but nothing was playing on the screen.

To my right, L was reading the only lit computer monitor. I left the couch to read over his shoulder.

On the screen was a drafted email.

Went to the kitchen for a snack. To L's afterward. – Matt

"Seems we just missed them," I mentioned. Chuckling, I figured that they knew how long they'd been gone already without consulting us. Perhaps they'd heard us coming and hadn't found anything, so were trying to delay the inevitable.

"No," L said, pointing to the bottom of the draft.

Saved at 11:58 pm, 11/4/07.

The time right now was 1:31 am on the 5th.

We stared long and hard at one another.

"It doesn't have to mean anything," I whispered. Though even as I said these words my stomach was sinking.

He must have felt the same way because in the next second he was sprinting out the door and down the hall.

And damn did he run fast for someone who had probably never even seen a vegetable.

Keeping close to his tail, I let him lead. His speed didn't waver until we burst through the doors of the main kitchen.

Hunched over with hands on his knees, he breathed heavily.

I looked around and checked all of the places a group of teenagers could be hiding. I was more than relieved to see that there wasn't anything untoward in any of the refrigerators.

Closing the last one, I saw Ryuzaki emerge from the walk-in freezer. We locked eyes and he shook his head.

I was going to suggest we check Watari's private kitchen next when a loud moaning sound from inside beat me to it. In less than a moment we were through the door.

The room was a mess. Utensils lay scattered across the floor, several cabinet doors were caved in, and remnants of various foods were smeared on every surface.

In the center of it all Matt hung, struggling, from a damaged light fixture.