Chapter Eleven: Blood Stained Inferno

Sora slumped weakly against the restraints, listening to the music box for what seemed like hours, days even. She was exhausted from being in this standing position for an excessive amount of time. Her stomach growled at her ferociously. She had lost count of the minutes after the music box had replayed its tune for the three hundredth and eighty-second time. Her wrists burned against the fabric that bound them securely. Surely Beyond would come get her soon. He couldn't leave her here to rot and die…could he? Sora eyes were filled with panic and she writhed against the chains, at least trying to release the ones from her wrists. She screamed and growled in frustration.

"Dammit Beyond where the hell are you!" She screamed furiously into the darkness enveloping her. She clenched her teeth together to sustain a growl. When she heard nothing she continued to shout and move violently. She was going insane in the darkness, her breath breathing irregularly as her heartbeat accelerated. She gave a final pull and she heard a small tear from the fabric around her wrists. She stared up at her wrists even though she couldn't even see them due to the complete lack of light. She stared into the darkness, her eyes laced with excitement and a hint of insanity. She laughed quietly to herself, her ragged voice scratching her throat. She pulled her wrists down harder, ignoring the searing pain that was coursing down her wrists again. In a matter of minutes, Sora had managed to completely tear the now blood stained fabric and pull her raw wrists to her panting chest. She gasped as she traced a finger across her wrists. The healing skin that had been broken multiple times was now torn again, thick crimson blood soaking the fabric still bound around her wrists. Sora's eyes began to water, but she quickly regained her face and began to work on releasing the chain Beyond had placed around her neck. She had traced her hand around the chain looking for any indication of the lock until suddenly; she heard a loud crash against the metal door.

Sora screamed at the alarming sound and her eyes snapped up and shot towards the sound's source. She heard crashing and multiple metallic sounds against the door below and across her. She quickly put her wrists up to make it look like she was still bound. If Beyond had found out she broke through the restraints, she would have hell to pay. Her breath and heart seemed to stop altogether as she listened to the irregular sound on the opposite side of the door. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the sounds stopped.

Sora stayed perfectly still, trying to listen for any sounds of activity. With a startling bash the entire door came down to let in a dull beam of light. Sora's eyes had major difficulty adjusting, being tied in the dark for an eternity. When her grey eyes were clear, she gasped at the sight her eyes took in.

It was Matt.

Sora's eyes widened and tears of joy began to run down her face.

"Matt! Oh my God Matt! Matt, Matt, Matt!" she cried his name out helplessly. She immediately recognized him even though he was hiding behind his armor, his orange goggles comfortably hugging the helmet. Matt's head snapped up at the sound and he pointed his gun at the hidden Sora. The beam of light from the scope shone directly into her eyes. She flinched away, but kept calling his name.

"Sora!" He cried out loudly, his voice sounding demanding, sad, and excited at the same time. He stood still and quickly whispered something into his microphone. In a matter of minutes, the whole lower floor of the warehouse was infested with SWAT team members, and Matt was standing next to three hidden figures. The whole room was suddenly lit up with flares and Sora pinpointed a very teary-eyed Matsuda looking up at her, terror rocking his guarded figure.

"Matt!" Sora didn't know what to say. She was overwhelmed, shocked, and scared. Her rescue was laid out right in front of her, beckoning her. She cried out helplessly, clawing at the metal around her neck. The three figures around the now helmet-less Matt threw off their helmets to reveal a very shocked Mello, a morbidly terrorized Near and…L.

L stared up at his lover chained up and struggling like a trapped animal. He dropped his helmet on the ground, broke off all of his armor, and sprinted towards her, stopping right in front of the staircase that separated them. Sora stared at her lover, her eyes filled with tears of love and sadness. L's eyes that had captivated her were now brimming with love and horror. His whole body was shaking frantically.

"S-Sora…" he whispered at first, but his voice was soon strong and dominant. "SORA!" he sprinted up the stairs, managing to skip about ten steps and only stumbling once. Sora strained against her restraints so much that they were carving into her pale skin, drawing deep red blood to the surface. She didn't care if they drew all of her blood from her. She needed to be in his arms. She needed to be with him again. Her heart ached in her chest.

The SWAT team was now spread across the whole floor, the three successors running up the staircases surrounding Sora. L was now feet away from Sora, his legs giving out under him as he collapsed onto her, cupping her face with his hands.

"Oh Sora I'm so sorry love. It's okay. I've got you." He whispered lovingly into her ears as he hugged her tightly, his white shirt staining with her blood. Sora cried helplessly into his arms as her bloody hands wrapped around her angel tightly, afraid to let go. L pulled Sora's face up so he could see her. His dark eyes started watering at the sight. She was completely broken. A scar ran up her blood stained face and her usually happy and loving eyes were filled with fear and pain. She tangled her bloody fingers into his dark obsidian hair, pulling his beautiful face down closer to hers, looking at him with her onyx-grey eyes. She pressed her body against his, wanting to infuse herself within in and be a part of him forever.

"L…I-" she whispered quietly and she was cut off by L's yearning lips pressed against her own blood stained ones. She whimpered into the kiss as he caressed her face softly, almost as if she was his fragile little porcelain doll. Their tears mixed together as they were both lost in love. L moaned into the kiss as he pressed his hand against her back, pushing her even closely to him. Sora simply let herself infuse into his kiss and his touch, wanting to stay in this moment for the rest of eternity. She missed his gentle touch and loving kisses. He was her guardian angel, her savior, and her lover. L broke the kiss sharply, but he tightened his embrace on her.

"Sora I love you so much. You have no idea how worried and frightened I've been." He buried his face into her hair and cried softly, his tears soaking into her dark brown hair. Sora simply pressed herself into his perfect chest and cried softly into his now blood stained shirt.

A few seconds later Near, Matt, and Mello had appeared at Sora's side, working quickly on the chains. Mello had shot the link of the chain that was connected to the wall. Soon Sora was completely free and she toppled onto L, her weak legs giving out. Mello grabbed Sora's wrists and his icy eyes started to leak clear tears of hurt. He held her wrists cautiously in his own calloused hands. Near simply gave her a reassuring smile, holding the small music box he had picked up off the floor, and went back to attend to the SWAT team who was looking for Beyond. Matt's emerald eyes were for once not shielded by his goggles, but were gazing at Sora as he assisted Near. Sora crawled up to L's arms until she was sharply pulled back from her neck. She clawed at the cuff around her neck as she was being dragged away from L. she screamed and cried in agony as trails of blood spilled on the floor.

"SORA!" L's eyes shot up and he sprinted towards her, his reach managing to grab onto the chains on her feet. He quickly switched his grasp so he was pulling against the chain of her neck to avoid strangling her. The chain suddenly gave in and L stumbled back with a bleeding Sora in his grasp. A soul piercing laugh came from the darkness where the chain began to move. The maniacal laugh loomed closer to the horrified lovers and the three successors. Sora was clinging to L, digging her nails into his back fearing the man behind that laugh.

"My my my! What do we have here? I am rather impressed Lawliet. Your reaction time was rather fast. Only took you thirteen days to get your precious Sora back." The dark figure stumbled into the small beam of light, revealing Beyond Birthday. His blood red eyes filled with insanity flickered wildly from Sora to the successors then to the SWAT team, and finally to Lawliet. His sadistic smile spread wider at the sight of the man.

A sharp maniacal laugh exploded in the dark room, bouncing off the walls and making everyone in the room shiver with fear. Mello stared sharply at the man, trying to hide the obvious horrified expression with a hostile one. Near stared intently at the psychopath, never seeing someone, or something, so terrifying. Matt simply signaled the SWAT team to stay on guard, his body shaking.

L's eyes were filled with hostility and murder, his grip tightening on Sora. He clenched his jaw line so tight that he drew blood. His throat rumbled with a fierce and sharp growl. He didn't move, but simply stared at his "backup". Beyond noticed the blood trickling down his ex-hero's mouth, and laughed again. He suddenly sprang forward and grabbed L by his neck with skeletal hands.

Mello saw the movement and flicked out his gun and shot Beyond right in the shoulder, causing the deranged genius to lose his balance and fall next to L. L grabbed Sora and stood up, only to find his foot had been caught in a device that looked somewhat like a bear trap. His eyes widened with pain as the metal spikes dug into his left ankle, blood flowing out onto the floor and in front of Beyond. Beyond stood up weakly but laughed at the sound of L's scream of agony. Matt signaled the SWAT team to surround the laughing maniac and restrain him. Using his good arm Beyond pulled on the trap and brought L and Sora right next to him. L toppled onto the floor, still holding the paralyzed Sora who was shaking with fear and screaming her soul out.

Beyond's face showed a sick smirk and crimson orbs staring at all of the SWAT team members surrounding him. Mello had placed his gun directly on Beyond's right temple. His voiced was filled with rage as he held up the gun.

"You have five seconds to release your hold on L and Sora before I personally shoot your f**king sick minded brain out." He stared angrily at Beyond with hostile eyes. Beyond simply gave him a defeated look and placed his face right up to Mello's.

"Well? Don't I get some sort of countdown?" he smiled evilly at the blonde.

Mello simply unclenched his jaw and began counting coldly. "Five…Four…Three…Two…"

Beyond began to chuckle as he quickly pulled out a little black remote from his pocket and shone it on Mello's face. Mello stared back in horror as he immediately recognized the device. He looked at all the locations where he had placed his explosives. One loomed directly over himself.

It was a detonator.

Beyond chuckled quietly as he leaned closer into Mello and whispered coldly, "One." The maniac suddenly crashed onto the floor next to the weary man and his lover who appeared to be unable to move or do anything other than to cling onto her savior.

Click.

Mello let out a sharp gasp as the whole room suddenly exploded in a wave of fire and color. The sound and impact of the explosion snapped L back into reality. He let out a heartbroken cry as he saw Mello take the full force of the explosion over him and Near and Mello pinned down on the cold floor by a piece of ceiling that had collapsed due to the explosion, the music box tossed to the side. Beyond threw his victims behind him as he himself pressed a button on the detonator that made him and his captives fall down far below the explosion and into a shaft of darkness. The last thing L managed to see before he hit the floor were all three of his beloved successors and lying lifeless on the floor surrounded by fire, their lifeless faces contorted with agony.

And then L's head hit the floor, his arms still wrapped protectively around his broken doll.