Disclaimer and such in Chapter 1

Chapter 18

B suddenly found himself with a large dog on him and being attacked with licks. He chuckles and gives the animal's ears a generous petting, noting that it calmed it down some.
"Cool mutt. So he's your test subject for the tumors, huh?"
"Yep... He is the only animal I could find with anywhere near the kind of tumors you have without having to grow them inside a rat... this is just less cruel then growing them in a rat." She shrugged, "though Roger hates him... I think he is cute... and they where just going to put him down anyway..." Even after that brief burst of activity the dogs chest was heaving, struggling to get enough oxygen though it didn't move from on top of the raven.

"I know your pain, Doggy. I feel the exact same as you." He lay down and pulled the dog to lay on top of him to pet its ears and give it a hug.
"I like him. He's like Griffin, only a dog."
"I am going to have one of the building student classes build him a dog kennel..." she mumbled and pulled out a sealed test tube full of a reddish gold fluid from the fridge, "and this, this is my breakthrough!"

Scarlet eyes turned their attention to the tube and his eyes widened a little.
"That has the root extract and the enzymes from the Axolotl, am I correct?" He wanted to reach for it, but was too occupied petting the large canine who'd been catching its breath on him.
"Yep... And it was quite an accident that I figured out this would shrink the tumors!" She chirped and begun to explain in detail her experiments.
Meanwhile L sat inside Watari's office, keen to learn all he could about this next case.

"Well L, as per your request to take on a more time constrained case, I have one here that may pique your interest. The criminal in this case goes by an alias simply known as "Rufus". "Rufus" has a history of paranoia and violent behavior. He's also one of those criminals that never repeats a tactic twice. Every victim of his has died in numerous and extremely graphic ways." He pulls free a large case file and hands it to the young detective.
"Inside contain witness reports, investigation reports as well as several photographs from crime scenes. There is also only one photo of 'Rufus' from the asylum that took him in about 9 years ago. He escaped 7 years ago and has been on the loose ever since. The local law enforcement agency that sent this request wanted his predicted whereabouts based on any pattern that exists. They would like your assistance in bringing this murderer down in less than 6 months."

"That will be no problem Watari..." the elder assured him and took the thick file from his mentor. It seemed like an easy job, finding the most likely places he would run and hide based on his profile. For L it was of great interest.
"I am glad to hear it. Do note that you have the option to withdraw from the case if you feel something is not right with it or if you feel this report was given out on false pretenses. This is something you can take with you on any planned trips. As long as they know that you are actively assisting them in this case, that is fine. If you feel you can take the case, I will set the radio frequency to their number and you can confirm your interest in it."
"I will read the files now... Thank you Watari..." With that the young raven slinked out quickly and made his way down the halls and finally into A's borrowed lab. What he saw surprised him, B was resting in the doorway with a dog that was probably larger then he was with its head in his lap.

"I think that including starfish in our studies would seriously improve our findings. Combine that with the Axolotl enzymes and we could very will have a means for humans to re-grow lost limbs in the future. Just imagine the possibilities there." He looks to his right and spots the older raven.
"Oh hey Lawli. A's details on her studies and findings are nothing short of spectacular." He pets the large dog's ears, liking at how calm it became.

"That is all well and good, but may I ask what that thing is doing on your lap?" L did not much understand dogs and their behaviors, he himself was more like a feline and thus seemed to have a kinship with them he lacked with many other animals. What the dog was doing seemed rather strange to him.
"He's resting. He has tumors in his lungs and can't breath as easily as other dogs. He's just like me, but I like to think that tumors aside, he's more like Griffin. I think she has competition for attention now."
"This is your test subject?" L tilted his head to the side slightly in thought.
"You shouldn't get attached then..."

The younger raven nods, but does not let up the attention.
"He has a fighting chance just like I do. I believe that A's medicine will be of great help to him. I like him though. He's very calm when you pet his ears just like this. He doesn't bite, otherwise I would not be in this situation."
"What happens if you need to do a necropsy... What then?" The elder mumbles, slightly worried his friend will be hurt by attaching himself to a dying animal.

"You speak nonsense. A's tests are more hit than miss. She's not going to fail with this one. If she does... then we'll just have to see what went wrong..." His eyes sadden a little, but they go sort of happy again.
"That's not going to happen though, right Bear?" The large dog's tail wags slowly as if understanding its own predicament and the faith the humans had in it.
"Alright..." The elder admitted defeat with a sad sigh. He trusted A to get her medicines right eventually but just as with the mice she lost some in the process...

B nudges the large dog off of him with some effort before standing up and walking into A's lab. Inside were several machines of advanced and primitive means. There were numerous cells containing lab mice and tanks holding animals and plants alike.
"No wonder you need a kennel for him. Good thing he's so well behaved otherwise you'd have a crisis on your hands."

A gave B a small smile and then called the dog over to her to sit at her side.
"Yeah I just got him yesterday too, " she chirps, "The people at the pound say he is about a year old and that they were going to put him to sleep tomorrow... this is a better use for him, at least he has a chance this way..."
"Yes, I believe that you'll give him that chance, so what about the test mice that you did grow tumors in? How are they faring thus far?" B walks to one of the cells and notes the living and deceased. The living seemed to outnumber the dead, which was reassuring so far.

"Well..." She mumbled and tapped on the side of the tank,.
"So far, five in ten show immediate improvement, two in ten don't survive long enough to treat and one in ten die anyway..." she mumbles, looking at the chart she had drawn up.
"There is of course one which the treatment didn't effect at all and one which had an allergic reaction to something in the medicine and passed away... Which... in round one of testing gives it a 50% chance of working... sounds more scary then it looks though. I mean, this is round one and I expected more casualties then I got so..."

"It sounds to me that round one of testing turned out the appropriate results that it should turn out in the first place. Willow tree bark would help with immediate pain related side effects though and thus remove any side effects pertaining to it. Thankfully that this is only one round of testing. If things improve however with more testing, I think that the results should begin to turn out more positive results. If not, then that is what the chemical adjustments are there for."
"Right. this was actually a suspenseful te- L... what are you doing?" A's attentions where immediately captured by her older brother who was down on all fours rubbing his head against the large dog the way a cat would scent someone or something.
"He licked me..." he responded simply.

B quirked an eyebrow at this.
"You have your hand Lawli..." he murmured.
"It is not very hard to wipe your cheek or better yet, to use the sink over there. Doing that only ensures that you will now have fur on your cheek." He walks over and crouches and begins to pick off small pinches of the animal hair from his friend's face.
"It's what Griffin does..." he mumbles, seemingly getting the large canine confused with a completely different animal.

"Dogs have an entirely different means of communication, and if you knew that... you'll know that you are just confusing Bear. Besides, Griffin does that to claim whatever she rubs her glands against as her territory. Luckily you don't have such glands otherwise you've just claimed Bear as your own." He finishes the task and tosses the hair in the garbage. L simply tilts his head to the side in slight confusion, not fully understanding why it is that dogs and cats would communicate differently.
"Then Griffin owns us?"

The scarlet raven simply nods before returning to A's cells to read over her research, holding the papers delicately between thumb and middle finger.
"She owns us, not the other way around..." he murmured while speed reading everything.
"If a dog wanted to own us, they would have to pee on us, but not just any normal pee. Scent marking pee has different chemicals and they seem to have this in abundance."

The detective turned up his nose at the large dog who again licked his face. A couldn't help but wonder if her eldest brother was in fact a cat in a past life, his expressions and mannerisms seemed to be so feline, not to mention the way he slinked around.
"I like what you have here. I need to get back to my natural pesticides too. I have a compound that I need to review with my test subjects. If all goes well with that then I can perhaps begin to market my finds soon enough."

A nods in agreement and quickly gets back to her own work.
"Well you're welcome to it now, but remember not to put it anywhere on my half of the room..." she mumbles, putting on her goggles.
"I don't want to contaminate my samples..."
"I have the regular lab for that. I have a few rats that are currently in round 3 testing at this time. Thanks for the offer though A." He looks to his friend and walks to him.
"I see Watari gave you your newest case. It's a time constrained one as well. I can't wait to see how fast you solve this one."

"I was going to work on it while you helped A with her work," the elder mumbled, sitting up on one of the high stools.
"But you already know my work was already kept separate. I didn't know A had another lab set aside, so that sort of makes our work a little off so to speak. However, on that note, is there any help that you would like A?"

"Sure, I need someone to dissect these rats and find out how much there tumors have shrunk after 24 hours with the medicine pumped into there cages. It means you have to kill them unfortunately, however, considering they're full of tumors, its probably for the best," She mumbles and gestures towards the cells.
"You should also dissect the ones who failed to survive and the one who is not improving and find out why... in the tests on tumors outside the body the reduction is between 50 and 75% as I said before however inside the body though it is clearly working or they would all be dead, it could be very different results."

"Good point. I know you don't like seeing me kill rodents, but it is a necessary sacrifice..." He reaches and takes one of the living animals and with practiced motions, snaps the rat's neck and sets it aside. He repeats the motion with the remaining animals before removing the deceased and moving to retrieve a scalpel for the next task. A shuddered, but knew it needed to be done. Their sacrifices could save countless people and animals alike... not to mention her brother and Bear. With surgical precision, B begins to cut open every rodent, somehow managing to keep his hands clean of blood while he worked. Eventually all the rodents were gutted and the lungs made available for dissecting.

L occasionally looked up to check on the rooms other occupants, but for the most part remained silent, immersed in his own work. He took out a map of the area as well as satellite pictures and started plotting routes from where he was last spotted to potential hiding places, finding 2 that where likely 2 that where extremely likely and one which, for some reason seemed to scream at him. It had the best cover, was a little further away and most importantly, would be hard to lay siege to... if he where this man, this is where he would hide.

The younger raven opened the lungs and motioned their sister to his side.
"The living subject's lungs seem to have various stages of recovery. There is one survivor who was not effected at all, I'm surprised it did not show any sign of weakness. The tumors for the rest of them seem to be reduced between 30%-50% which is good, but not fully assuring. Hmm... I wonder why that is..."

A looked over her clip board with the before and after measurements of each tumor before letting out a frustrated sigh.
"I couldn't use as high of a dose with living animals and I couldn't expose them as much for as long... I know that's what caused these results..." The young scientist and future doctor flipped back a few pages and reviewed her notes.
"I can't lengthen the exposure due to it being in the form of a fine mist, almost gas, they would suffocate! And I can't just up the dose because they're far to small... Perhaps there is another way..."

"Perhaps mice and rats are just too small for this particular experiment," B murmured in thought, putting an index finger to his lips.
"Growing tumors in them and healing them at that size would put their health at too much risk as it stands. We might fare better with something larger..."
A nodded and sighed sadly.
"Rats and mice just aren't comparable to people when it comes to lung tumors... They're too fragile... But I'd feel bad doing this to say... Puppies... Well, I have a hard enough time doing this to mice... I couldn't put down 10 dogs a day just to take out their lungs..."

B visibly flinched and nicked his finger, making him hiss in pain and go to the sink and begin to clean his wound.
"Puppies may hold answers, but I would feel bad too... so small..."
"The only thing I can think of, realistically, is to hunt down dogs like Bear who are going to die anyway... Even then... Or... We could test Bear as he is now and if we get positive results we can assume that my original theories where correct... We wouldn't have to put him down, I can do all the measurements by camera the way I did with the rats first test... But if I've messed up and I'm wrong it will kill him..."
"Then try not to mess up his chances A... He has a lot of years ahead, we can try to make them good."

B wrapped his hand and went to the First Aid kit to get himself a bandage. On the way there he froze in place and then collapsed. L's eyes snapped over to his friend and he immediately jumped up and went to his side, quickly doing his usual and familiar checks for signs of the lung failure that always haunted him.

He was drifting in a weird void, unable to make sense of direction. It was familiar, like he'd been here before, but he could not place it. He looked in a direction and determined it was himself on the ground out there.
"Not yet... This isn't my time... Let me back..." There was a jolt before he was sent back.

"Beyond!" L shouted and shook his friends shoulders gently, unsure of what exactly had happened so rapidly. The young raven coughed and gasped, trying to make sense of everything. He saw stars and sat in place to clear the fog that had accumulated in that short time.
"Are you alright?" the elder asked, seeing his friends eyes open at last. B nodded slowly and made to stand up, though a little weaker than he'd like.
"Y-yeah... I'm fine..."
"N-no sit down!" the elder ordered and pulled him back onto his lap.
"A has gone to get Watari..."
"I'm said I'm fine!..." He glared, but didn't fight back.
"I think this is the fourth time that has happened..."

"Which makes me even more worried..." the elder mumbles and runs his fingers through his young friend's dark hair.
"Today isn't my day... I would not worry about it..." He huffs out a sigh and leans into the touch, shivering when key spots were touched.
"I will worry until the day I die..." L whispers softly.
"I love you too much not to..."
"I love you too..." he whispered back.
"But I'm fine... I promise..." He shifted in the older's lap slightly.

"I will have Watari look you over just to be sure..." the older replied again.
"If you are indeed fine then you can go back to helping A..."
"Please... this one time... I don't want to deal with Watari..." He wriggles out of L's grip and tries again to stand on his own.
"A has already gone to get him, if you can get to her without collapsing again then I will let it go..." To L it seemed like a fair test.

"Fine..." With some effort on his end, B managed to stand with a lingering pain. He winced and started to walk to the doorway. When he'd cleared that area, he picked up speed and moved ahead. He did not get far before collapsing once more, grunting with the impact. L followed behind and scooped his friend up, carrying him back into the lab.
"You're not fine..."

B was in a daze again and felt the fog build once more.
"I'm fine..." He continued to deny it, even with a voice that was not recognizable. L held his friend close to his chest, he was scared for the younger male. The scarlet eyed boy closed his eyes. He was feeling tired from his efforts and wanted a little sleep to get his energy back. His slow breathing continued to lose speed until it seemed he'd all but lost his breath. It was there, but only just. The tired looking raven watched his friend like a hawk, never removing his dark eyes from the other boy. It wasn't long before Watari was at their side which comforted him somewhat.

The elder male had wisely retrieved B's medicine ahead of time and had it in his waistcoat.
"A tells me that Beyond collapsed in the lab. Was there anything that may have triggered it?"
"I don't think so..." the elder mumbled.
"He cut his finger but... it wouldn't make sense..."
"Hmm... his lungs failed on him again, did they?" He leaned down and gently shook the younger raven's shoulder and didn't get a response. He brings a finger under the nose and gets a small puff of air.
"This is not good. Rub his chest L, Beyond's breathing is too weak to stir him and get the medicine into his system."

L nodded and carefully started rubbing his friends chest in the same familiar motion he always did, trying to encourage him to breath normally. While the elder male waited for L's efforts to work, B was once again plunged into darkness and into the void. He floated in it for some time, wondering what had happened to him. He could see flashes of light and instinct drove him to one of these sources, though as he thought on it... they could be broken parts of the same whole. Either way, he made his way until he could feel himself being pulled along naturally.

L let the younger males head rest against his neck, trying his best to make his friend breath easier. Some strange force urged him to start humming his sad, soothing tune. All at once, a familiar song began to play, calming him down and letting the strange force that was pulling him to do so. He hummed the song as best as he could, thought he was not nearly as good as his friend. It gave him warm energies, made him feel safe.
His breathing started to slowly come around and even out.

"That's good..." the elder whispered and kissed his friend's forehead softly. Watari looked on as B finally fluttered his eyes open and scan the area blearily before focusing on the other occupants.
"Lawli...? Watari...?"
"Beyond!" the elder chirped, relieved to see his friend wake. B's breathing was still a little shaky and wheezed, but he managed a small smile. Watari handed the puffer to the older raven.
"Give him this when he's ready to receive it."

L nodded and shook the medicine roughly for a moment.
"Can you take this?" he asked quietly, waiting for his friend to ready himself. The younger raven tested out a few deep, but shaky breaths and nodded, accepting the mouth bit into his own and gave a nod to have the medicine into his system. The elder raven nodded and pressed down, releasing the spray and starting to hum again.

B inhaled the medicine and took some more calm breaths before relaxing on his friend's chest.
"This is not the first time this has happened Beyond, and I know that it can happen again. You need to be careful."
"He is right, you shouldn't work by yourself anymore," the elder raven mumbles sadly.
"I will stay with you from now on..."

B wanted to retort, but he knew what happened in the past and only nodded his head and closed his eyes, feeling tired again. L scooped his friend up off the ground and started the trek back to their room. The elder couldn't help but be thankful that his young friend was so light. The younger raven fell into a dreamless sleep filled only with the song his friend sang and feeling more and more protected by it.

Soon they were back in their room and the elder carefully lay his weakened friend down in his own bed, crawling in next to him and pulling the blankets over them both. The younger raven immediately cuddled into his friend and was soon at ease with himself and the world around him. He would stay this way for another 4 hours before waking again. L was sure he would never sleep again by this time, too worried about his friend to focus on anything else around him.

4 hours had passed before B woke again. It was in the afternoon by now as noted by the sunlight streaming in. He looked with unfocused eyes at his friend's chest and managed a small smile before nuzzling into it more, hearing his heart beating strongly.

"Beyond," The elder tested, not wanting to wake his friend if he was simply shifting around in his sleep.
"Hmm?" It was spoken softly and tiredly. B nuzzled the chest area more before letting out a long, but soft yawn.
"I was worried..." the tired eyed raven mumbled back, noting that there cat was acting rather strangely.
"I'm alright now Lawli..." he murmured, finally letting his vision clear enough to see that he was in their room. He shifted comfortably and looked at the detective's face and followed his view to their cat who did not look all that well.
"Lawli... what's wrong with Griffin?"

L shrugged and moved to stroke their cat whose body felt cold and was shaking slightly.
"She isn't well..." Beyond knew that the detective didn't know what was wrong with their beloved furry friend. B wriggled out of bed as fast as he could manage and looked into her face, seeing her numbers dangerously low. He frowned and sniffled, freeing a tear.
"What's wrong?" the elder asked, looking up at his friend curiously.
"S-she's not going to m-make it... W-whatever's wrong with h-her... She's gonna... d-die..."