L's POV

Screaming. Blood curdling screaming echoed down the halls and into the room. I was on my feet instantly and out the door. The familiar halls seemed longer now as I tried to get to the source of the screaming. I felt a strangely familiar presence at my side, but brushed it off as I rushed down the hall. When I finally reached the room I was looking for, the presence next to me shoved someone into me. "Shit. Get her out of here."

That's when I recognized him. "Beyond?"

Beyond's chocolate eyes met my grey ones and he waved me off, "L, are you deaf? Get her out of here. She doesn't need to see this. I'm going to find Wammy." I glanced into the open room and chocked back a sob myself. Andrew was dead.

"This isn't happening. This isn't happening." I looked down to find a pair of panicked green eyes staring into the room. Her brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. Anna. Her face was stained with tears and her breathing was ragged and uneven. "we have to help him." Anna took two steps forward before stumbling. I caught her before she could hit the floor and the sobbing started up again.

"L. L, can you pay attention for a second?" I turned from where I was holding Anna to look behind me to find the same girl leaning in the doorway. The scene had changed. She was older now. "L, I've been trying to talk to you for ten minutes. Why are you sitting in the dark?" She flipped on the light and I instantly recognized the room. We were back in Watertown, New York.

"Anna." Her name left my lips in a breath before I even registered I'd said it.

Her hair was in tight curls down to the base of her neck. "Look. We know who it is. I'm going to arrest him." No. I knew how this ended.

"No, Anna wait." I jumped up from where I was seated on the floor and went to grab her wrist, but the scene had changed once again and I heard it. The gun shot. Followed by the scream. "Anna!" I rushed toward where she'd fallen at the other end of the darkened ally way, but froze when I heard my name and faint sobbing.

The scene had changed yet again and the ally was gone.

"L." I turned to find Anna standing in the doorway between the brightly lit hallway and the darkened room where I was working. Her face was streaked with tears. "L, we were wrong."

"Wrong?" Oh no.

"It wasn't Williams. They found some more evidence at the last murder scene. It wasn't Williams." Anna repeated through tears.

I nodded and stood up, "Fine, then we can release him."Anna shook her head and covered her mouth as a sob escaped. "Anna?"

"He killed himself, L. He thought he was going to be executed so he killed himself. We just murdered an innocent man." I reached out to grab her, but in an instant, she was gone.

I was once again in a hotel room, but it was different. This time it was the one in Dublin. "L. I know you can hear me."

I glanced at the door to make sure Watari was nowhere around and clicked the button on the microphone. "Beyond." I could almost hear him smirking on the other end.

"So have you come to a decision yet?"

I closed my eyes for a moment. "I can't."

An impatient sigh, "Can't or won't."

"Anna would be furious."

"Then don't tell her."

I opened my eyes and looked at the lone B on my screen. I noted in annoyance that he'd used the same font as Watari and I did. "I can't lie to Anna." I felt a knot tighten in the pit of my stomach. I had lied to Anna. That's why I was in Dublin and she wasn't. I could practically see B sitting at the other end.

He's have both knees pulled to his chest, thumb pressed against his lower lip, still attempting to predict my own movements. "You, the master of deceit cannot lie to Anna. She's only a girl, Lawliet."

"Don't call me that." I spat into the microphone, but Beyond continued as if I'd never spoken.

"Is it because you love her? If you loved her you would do this. You're both in danger and you know it. And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but the truth in masquerade."

"Lord Byron." I quoted before Beyond could pass it off as his own.

Once again, he continued without interruption. "Lie to her. You can't protect her yourself and you know it. If you could we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now are you going to do this or not?"

I took a deep breath and sighed, he was right. "She won't believe me. She's smart."

An unnatural laugh resonated throughout the room, "Anna? I know. She's brilliant. Beautiful too. I honestly regret missing that transformation." I scowled, but remained silent. "Make her believe you, Lawliet. If you want to save her, lie."

I bit the inside of my cheek. There was no other way, "Fine. Let me wrap things up here and I'll be in LA in two days."

"Excellent."

The scene brightened and I could feel rain sticking my clothes to my skin. Today was the day my plan with Beyond was going to play out. "He's dead." I heard Anna's sobs next to me, but did nothing. This was just a dream. A bad dream. All I had to do was wake up.

Anna's POV

I flipped on the lamp next to the bed and looked beside me. L was thrashing around next to me. "L?" I barely touched his arm and he leapt up from his slumber, panting and swinging his arms as if to ward off an attack. "L, it's me. It's me." I grabbed his wrist tightly and he looked down.

He watched me for a moment as if he hadn't seen me in years, "Anna?"

"Yeah it's me. You were having a nightmare." I informed him releasing his wrist.

He shook his head quickly, still trying to catch his breath. "It wasn't a nightmare."

I watched him for a moment. L rarely had bad dreams, hell he rarely slept and when he did it was never long enough to dream. I hadn't seen him like this in years. I just nodded, "Ok, not a nightmare. Are you alright?" I reached out to touch his cheek, but he flinched away. I retracted my hand cautiously.

"I'm fine."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked feeling slightly hurt at his reaction to my touch.

"No."

I nodded, "Alright. Let's just go back to sleep then." I turned over to turn off the light when L grabbed my wrist to stop me. '

"Wait." I turned back to him and he took a deep breath. His eyes were bloodshot and, despite getting more sleep lately, the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced against his sickly white skin. If I didn't know any better I'd think he was dead. "Anna, I lied."

I blinked a few times trying to understand what he was going on about. "You do want to talk about it?" He shook his head and released my wrist, his gaze falling to the bed between us. "Then what is it?" A raspy breath escaped his lips and his eyes met mine.

I was expecting the worst, but nothing could have prepared me for the next words that he said, "Anna… Beyond is not dead."

Matt's POV

I glanced in the rearview mirror at the sleeping image of Near. His cheek was pressed up against the window, a transformer action figure resting loosely in one of his arms. His other hand lay limp at his side. Gia had fallen asleep almost as soon as we put her in the car. Wammy had her car seat set up in case of emergencies.

"Do you think they're alright?" I glanced at Mello who had spoken. The radio was on low, just enough to fill the silence.

"Who?" He looked at me like I was stupid. Had I not been driving, he probably would have smacked me upside the head.

"Anna and L."

I shrugged. "You talked to her. Did she sound alright?" I asked glancing back at Near again. I didn't want him to wake up while we were discussing this. He'd freaked out pretty bad back at the hotel. Anna was his favorite person in the world, the chance of her being in any type of trouble was enough to make him cry. I can't deal with crying.

"Yeah, but you know how it's been. She hasn't been the same since Beyond's death."

I bit the inside of my cheek, "Yeah I know." I adjusted my goggles slightly, "Still I think they're fine. Anna was getting better."

Mello nodded, "Still I wish I could have spoken with L." Silence settled between us Mello checked the map. We'd been instructed to avoid using our phones as much as possible. This included GPS, meaning we had to use an old fashion map. Luckily, Mello was pretty good at that. If it had been just Near and I, we would have been lost for sure. "Turn left in about four miles. We should be there before sunrise."

I nodded and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Thank God this nightmare is over."