A/N: This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write. I don't know why torture scenes are so fun~
Chapter Six: The Reaper's Past
Beyond stared at Sora through one of the monitors in his room. He chuckled slightly, looking at her frightened face and broken body. He licked his fingers thoroughly, removing all traces of the strawberry jam he loved to consume. He licked the jar clean, eating it with nothing but his pale fingers. He carelessly threw the empty jar behind him, and jumped a little when he realized the jar had hit a poor little mouse. Beyond stepped out of his chair and skulked slowly towards the trapped mouse. He cocked his head to the side, looking at the struggling creature intently. Slowly, he picked up the frantic creature and studied it. The mouse was covered in jam and blood. He poked the mouse slightly with a long finger. He noticed how fragile the mouse was, how every little movement Beyond made would make the mouse squeak with pain.
He chuckled again, placing the mouse in an empty jar. He watched the mouse frantically run around the jar, looking for any means of escape. Beyond laughed, but then mentally kicked himself. How could he find pleasure in trapping a useless little mouse? He glared into the jar evilly, and threw the jar against the wall with extreme force, his smile spreading wider with every shard of glass that hit the floor. He then met his gaze with the nearly dead mouse on the floor, twitching and squealing with pain. Beyond glared at it, annoyed with the high-pitched noises. He then growled, his red eyes filled with anger, and he kicked the poor mouse to the side, the blow of his foot instantly killing the mouse. Beyond watched the mouse hit the wall, laughing silently. He went to sit back down until he heard another little squeak.
Beyond turned around with disgust as he saw a slightly bigger mouse scurry across the floor and look at the dead mouse. Beyond stood still, wondering what this mouse would do. The bigger mouse took one look at the dead one, and started to squeak frantically, running around the dead one. Beyond laughed, realizing that the dead mouse had probably been this mouse's mate. Beyond turned back to the monitors, until something caught his attention. The frantic mouse had stopped running and was curled up next to his dead mate, squeaking quietly.
Beyond's gaze looked astonished. He simply looked at the poor mouse, grieving for his dead mate. A smirk spread across the maniac's face as an idea fell into his head. He turned back swiftly to the monitors, laughing furiously as he quickly typed on the keyboard.
Sora's glance sharply looked up as she saw Beyond enter the room, the smirk still plastered on his face. Sora looked at him suspiciously.
"Good morning my little Sora!" he smiled at her sweetly, the smile making him look younger. "How are you feeling today?"
Sora glared at him, not buying his act for one second. "I'm fine…" she hissed, annoyed with this man's complete obliviousness to her physical state. She was dirty and cut up for God's sake! How was she supposed to feel?
"Well I'm glad my little Sora is okay." he looked coolly into her suspicious glare." Oh Sora! Don't look at me like that! I only game here to play a game with you! That's all!" he laughed lightly.
Sora kept staring at him, thoughts running through her mind. "A game? What kind of game did you have in mind?" she eyed him, looking for any signs of danger. She saw none.
"Oh just a little game…" he shrugged casually. "It's Truth or Dare Sora…..don't need to be so defensive..." he looked at her smugly.
"What are you hiding? You cannot possibly expect me to think you just want to play a simple game." Sora backed up further into the wall as Beyond hopped on the bed, crawling towards her.
"Like I said before Sora, this is nothing but a simple game. You can ask me first if you want, but if you say dare and you refuse to do the dare, and then you will have to be punished." He looked up into her eyes, a seemingly innocent look plastered on his face. He flicked out a knife and looked at her.
"Okay then…Beyond…truth or dare?" Sora asked eyeing the knife he was twirling in between his fingers.
"Hmmm….truth." he said casually.
"Why am I here?" Sora asked him, looking for any traces of anger in his seemingly expressionless face.
"I told you already. I want you here with me." He said plainly. "Ok…Sora truth or dare?"
Sora was scared of what he would have her do to herself if she said dare…or what she would have him do to him. "Truth." She studied his face. Beyond didn't seem to react. He simply stared at the knife lightly held between his fingers.
"Hmm…..let me think…oh! Sora? Have you ever killed another human being?" his eyes looked up and an innocent smile was plastered on his face. She was sickened with his question.
"No Beyond. I have never taken another human life." She scoffed at him, feeling offended that he may have thought she would actually be that barbaric.
"Well that's a shame. It really isn't as bad as you think." Beyond's smile spread wider, sending a chill down Sora's body. She tried to ignore the comment and just played along with his little game.
"Okay. Beyond Birthday, truth or dare?"
Beyond kept staring at the knife, his deranged mind wandering off. "Truth."
Sora thought about her question. She knew exactly what she wanted to ask him. "How do you know about L?" Beyond dropped the knife and looked at her with serious eyes.
"I was created to be his successor." He stared intently. Sora looked confused. Weren't Near, Mello, and Matt L's top three successors?
"When Whammy's was first founded, I was one of the first two children taken in to be L's successors. Since A and I were the first two, we were always pressured to be the best." He picked up the knife from the bed, eyeing it curiously. "Even though I was raised to think that being L's 'backup' was a good thing, I hated it." He cringed at the word "backup", his eyes showing a glimmer of hate. "We were viewed as nothing more that replacements. A was brainwashed to think that his sole purpose in life was to be L's successor, but I had been a troublesome child, always resisting what was said to me.." Sora listened intently, wondering what could have caused him to be like this.
"One day, A just couldn't take the pressure. He ended up hanging himself." Beyond looked at the knife, tightening his grip on the handle. His face was covered by his messy jet black hair. Sora saw him tense up. She scooted back a little, fearing another one of his fits of anger and rage.
"After A died, all the pressure was put on me. I went through Hell and back trying to be a decent successor so I wouldn't be punished. I put up with it because of him. It was all because of L." his tense posture loosened up and he simply collapsed on the bed, curling up into a ball.
Sora couldn't bare it. She knew he was going through so much pain remembering everything. She yearned so badly to touch him, give him some kind of comforting gesture, but she stopped herself. She remembered this was the same man who had her bound to a bed with cuts and torn up wrists.
"One day I just snapped." He said, his gaze looking straight into the blade of the knife. "I saw L walking down the hall, surrounded by all these children. They treated him like a god. It made me sick." He looked up at Sora, pure hatred flowing through his crimson eyes. "I was walking away when he looked into my eyes. He looked so bored with everything, as if he was used to being waited on hand and foot. I just snapped." He started to shake, a deep growl escaping his pale lips.
"I attacked him. I couldn't help it. He made me sick! I tried to claw his throat out, tear his hair out, anything to make him realized he was making my life a living hell!" Beyond jumped up from the bed, shaking furiously. His skeletal fingers grasped the knife so hard his knuckles turned white.
"One of the adults caught me before I caused any harm. I was locked up for two weeks in a dark room with only one meal a day. One day, the same teacher who had stopped me came into the room, holding a leash. He was going to let me walk around the kitchen so I could pick out some sort of dessert. Apparently I had behaved well." He cringed at the thought of the leash. "We walked to the kitchen and I grabbed a jar of strawberry jam. The man looked at me oddly, as if I were an animal. I hated him." He went back to Sora and laid on the bed, looking up to the pitch black ceiling. "He told me I was 'nothing but backup. You were created to be L's successor. That's all I could ever be'. I hated him…I snapped and I killed him right then and there." A sick smile had plastered his face.
Sora gasped. She had not expected that. "B-but how?"
Beyond looked at her, his eyes lost in thought. Sora realized he was remembering how he had killed the man, a sick smirk plastered on his face.
Beyond stood above the man who was curled up on the floor screaming in pure agony, his face beaten, broken, and bloody. Beyond laughed and looked at the floor next to the man. Teeth were scattered on the floor along with splatters of blood. The small boy looked at the teapot he had in his hand. It was dented and covered in blood. The raven-haired boy giggled at the sight of the blood. The color was so pretty…
So very pretty…
The man screamed for what seemed like an eternity. Beyond started to get annoyed, his demonic eyes rolling to the sight of the man. The boy looked at the battered teapot clenched in his hand and a sadistic smile spread across his face. He cackled as he poured the boiling hot water down the man's throat, watching the man's eyes grow so wide it looked as if they would jump out of their sockets. Beyond smirked at that mental image. It didn't sound so bad actually.
The man's screaming turned into hoarse weak gasps of air, his throat being completely burned. The giggling boy took out a couple of knives from the drawer and stabbed them right into the man's humerus, immobilizing the man. Beyond stood up and admired his creation. He smiled at the bloody, beaten, burned mess. He heard people running down the hall. They would be here any second. The boy was slightly annoyed that he wouldn't get to see the horrified faces of the teachers when they looked upon his masterpiece. Beyond took another knife and simply slit the man's throat. He watched as the blood coated his thin arms, the blood getting in his jet-black hair. After the man had died, he quickly carved and Old English Styled "B" into his dead chest. Beyond stood back and heard the quickened footsteps accelerating. He admired his work once again, and he climbed out the kitchen window, the blood mixed with strawberry jam staining the walls and his fingers. The young murderer ran as fast as he could, the adrenaline running though his veins. He stopped for a second to hear the bloodcurdling screams of the teachers who had discovered that dammed man's mangled body. Beyond kept running, laughing maniacally with pleasure.
Sora couldn't believe what he had just told her. She shook with complete fear. You psychopath! She thought in her head, her eyes wide with disgust and terror. Beyond simply tilted his head and smiled at her.
Sora was deathly afraid of what this man could do to L. something clicked in her head.
"You….want me here…..to get to L…" she whispered in disbelief, shock running through her fragile frame.
"Hmm? Oh yes…very good Sora! You caught on quite quickly!" Beyond laughed, his eyes filled with insanity.
"Beyond I swear if you lay a finger on L I will-"Beyond clasped his cold pale hands against her threatening lips.
"Now Sora if you keep talking I will have no choice but to silence you." He chuckled evilly, flashing the knife in front of her gaze. Sora froze, obeying his orders.
"Now since you figured it all out with your smart little brain," he lightly tapped her head with the dull end of the knife, causing Sora to flinch. "I'm going to give you a little reward!" he smiled playfully.