A/N: *peeks out from behind tree* I'm soooooo sorry this took so long. The only excuse I have is school. This chapter is a little short also, but important. I'm rather proud of how it turned out. I can't say large gaps of time won't happen between updates but I'm going to try to keep it rolling on a tighter schedule. Again, very sorry!!

Disclaimer: See Prolouge

The blood fades from your skin

And you know you cannot escape

Turn and face it like a man

Discover your worth. How much can you take?

I helped Watari into the sitting room and prepared a cup of tea for him. Surely the man was slightly delusional. Then again, what could make him think that he had to go away and die?

Watari grabbed my sleeve as he took the tea. "Where are Mello and Near? I need to talk to all of you."

"Near is upstairs and Mello went out with Matt. I'll call Mello and get Near." Patting his hand I left him as I went to the library to phone Mello. Given that I didn't want to try to explain what had happened to the blonde over the phone and possibly spend half an hour arguing with him, I decided on the "Fear-of-God" technique. Citing an emergency, I let his mind go to wherever it wanted.

Throwing my phone onto the nearest bookshelf I shuffled back into the hallway and up the stairs. Near was already on his way down.

"Was that Watari, L? Is he home?"

"Yes," I replied, calmly. It would do no good to overreact. "He wants to talk to us all. I've already called Mello. He's heading home now."

I waited for the young boy to move down the stairs but he didn't. Instead, his eyes drilled into mine.

"Something is wrong," Near stated. "What is it?"

I wanted to reassure him but couldn't because I knew it would be a lie. "I don't know."

Either Watari was having a psychotic breakdown or something truly horrifying had occurred in those woods.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The woods were getting more and more dense as he stumbled his way through. Being lost in the woods with no cell service was not turning out as bad as Watari had thought; it was worse. He knew that he probably should have stayed in the car, on the road. But with a flat tire and no one else in site, he knew he had to try something. He walked for a while along the road before he saw the lights in the manor house off in the woods.

For about an hour he had been trying to reach those lights but the trees seemed to be against him. He knew what wood he was in. His adopted son, L, spent quite a bit of time gazing at them from his favorite window in their townhouse. He also knew the rumors about the woods. No one, however, had ever mentioned the house in the wood so he imagined that he was far enough away from whatever caused all the gossip.

He carefully unwound the vine of briars that was holding his upper arm. As soon as he was free, he stepped quickly away and directly onto a narrow road. He looked to either side of him, mesmerized. He knew the beaten dirt path hadn't been there moments before. He also knew that he should be alarmed at the sudden appearance of it but something was keeping the fear at bay. Looking down the road, one way and then the other, he saw nothing of interest but that the second way turned off to the side and seemed the best choice to reach the house.

When he finally rounded the bend, he didn't have to look hard to come to the end of his excursion. In front of him rose large black gates, intricately entwined with rose vines. As soon as his eyes landed on them, he felt an insatiable pull to get to them as soon as possible. Something in him wanted to turn away but the urgency of the call did not allow retreat.

His hand met the handle of the gate. He released the latch and pushed, without much hope of it opening, but the iron slid smoothly away.

As he entered, time seemed to change.

There was a yard… then a garden… a stable… and then two large doors. Somewhere to his left, in a gathering of trees, something was watching him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Time was so strange there. I don't know how long I stayed. Probably not more than a day. It was so hard to tell…"

Watari's eyes were glassy and his mind was anywhere but with us, but I knew he wasn't lying. His tone was too sincere. Additionally, the Watari I knew did not make up stories like this.

I had many questions but couldn't decide with which to start. The events had started out believable enough. Then the road appeared. Knowing that he told us the truth did not help me to wrap my brain around what had happened to him.

"When I went in, a table was set with dinner. I nearly left the room to go in search of the owners, but the same pull that told me to walk through the gates bid me sit down and eat. I can remember that pull and the orders well enough but the corollary is fleeting in memory. I remember walking aimlessly through the halls but cannot recall the design of the rooms. I was bid enter a chamber and rest. That I did and that I do not remember. The next morning was the same. I sat down to eat and then knew I must go down to the car, for it was most assuredly fixed."

I could only stare in astonishment as Watari continued in his trance. Nothing seemed to make any logical sense. I vaguely wondered if the wood had had a toxic spill of some sort but could not think of any toxin that would still be affecting him without harm to his health also. He turned wide, terrified eyes on me and it seemed he was finally back in the sitting room with Mello, Near and I. Mello and Near I had all but forgotten about and turned to see what they thought.

Mello's eyebrows were knitted with worry and for the first time it didn't appear that he was going to release a sarcastic comment. Flippant though he could be, he was not cruel and often infinitely insightful.

Near seemed both terrified and angry. He was leaning away from Watari, like the old man might spring onto him at any moment.

One thing was certain, I was not the only one who instinctually believed the story.

"It was when I was leaving that I found the rose." Watari's hand was raised, pointing at the tiny glass flower that had been in my hand since he had thrust it on me at his arrival. "I don't know why I took it. I was urged to… but not by the same presence as before. This was different, though I knew I should not steal it. There were so many glass figures and part of me wanted to believe that the house had long since been abandoned despite the obvious services they had done me. But I never would have taken it. Never have I ever done something like that. And when my hand touched it…"

I leaned in again. I knew now we were getting to the part of the story that truly terrified him.

"I touched it and it was soft…like it had come to life. The bright green glass still looked like glass, but felt slick and suple. The red rose petals were of the softest silk. The blue dew drops were really moist but no matter how you touched them, they did not move… and the black blood that would occasionally drip from it…"

I looked down at the rose. Yes, it was beautiful in its intricacy and something about it seemed to have a life of its own.

But it was only glass and there was no trace of black blood.

"I picked it up," Watari continued. "I thought to get a better look at it, but soon I was walking away with it still in my hand…" Watari started to shiver and his eyes darkened.

"And then…He came."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"That's how you repay me, old man?" The voice erupted behind Watari and he spun back, nearly flinging himself to the ground.

He started up at the hulking figure that stood at least two heads above him.

"You steal from me?" The thing growled at him. "That is you idea of gratitude?"

"I'm sorry." Watari stumbled back as he tried to understand what he was looking at. His mind was as clearer than it had been since he came to the gate the day before. "I don't know what I was thinking! I'm sorry…"

"It's certainly not what I told you to do. I've been guiding you since I found you fumbling around in the woods. I took care of you, gave you shelter, fed you and you steal from me!"

Watari was still trying to fight his way backward to escape but couldn't seem to gain any ground. "You? It was you?"

"Yes," it growled. "I can do a lot of things. Maybe you should have thought about the fact that, just maybe, the one who's telling you what to do can do other things. Things that are not so comforting."

"Please," Watari continued in a calmer voice. "I have sons at home. Three of them. They are waiting for me. Two of them are not yet old enough to truly watch after themselves and I would not thrust their care onto the oldest."

"Three sons and two are still young? You look like you could have grandchildren that old."

Watari nodded, understanding that whoever this Beast was, he was calming down a bit. "I adopted them. None of them are related but I've raised each of them since they were small children."

The Beast stared down at Watari. Something in the creature's eyes was sad, lonely and disturbingly human.

"What are your son's names? And how old are they?"

"L is the oldest," he started. "He just turned twenty-two. Then Mello who is sixteen and Near is the youngest. He's only thirteen."

"The oldest… L. What is he like?"

A faint smile reached Watari's lips. "Very intelligent. Stubborn. Kind. Most people think he's very strange because of the way he acts and looks, though… He doesn't leave home often."

A gleam of something crossed the Beast's face again before disappearing. "Go home, old man, and send L to me."

Watari's eyes sharpened when he heard those words. "Why would I do that? If you are going to kill me, then kill me. Do not think I would trade L's life for my own."

"Fine. Go home, tell your sons what has happened. I promise you, if L comes, no one and nothing will harm him. If he refuses to come, you must return. If neither of you come, in a week, I will find you and I will kill all of you. Do you understand?"

Watari stared up into the face of the Beast. He was terrified of whatever this monster was but he knew he should not ask. Something inside him was very adamant about not approaching just what he was. Now that he understood what was going to happen he was starting to shake. He could feel the dismissal coming so he only had to hold out for a few more minutes.

"Then I will see you in a week." He reached out to set the rose on the fountain beside him.

"No," the Beast whispered. "Take the rose. Show it to your sons. Show them what your absence brought about. Let them see how it glitters. Let them hold it, weigh it in their hands so they can know that that rose is worth more than glances. Then they can hate the little glass rose you took because they know it was purchased by losing either you or L."

A/N: There it is! Next chapter should be quite a bit longer as *dundundun* L and Light come face to hairy face!

Thank you so much to my awesome beta, Amy, who after all this waiting is still such an enthusiastic supporter! You're amazing, wild child!