A/N: I apologize for the lack of update these past two weeks or so. I got caught in Cosplay Mode and neglected every other creative endeavor of mine. Heh. But the chapter is here!

I wrote a good portion of the B Mello scene three hours to the right of midnight, so it's a little loopy. But I think it works for them.

I have plotted most of this story out now, which means there's a pretty good chance of me actually finishing it! It would be a first. But I think I'm going to have fun once I get into the meat of things, which coincidentally is next chapter.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Please review!

Disclaimer: Death Note characters are not mine.

Chapter Four

"You resigned!" Naomi Misora's shrill voice echoed out from Lights cell phone speaker and through the airport terminal. Nodding apologetically to a family of four, Light hurried down the hall towards gate 3C, pulling his luggage along, boarding pass tucked neatly into his jacket pocket. He prayed that the heavy clicking of his shoes against the grey tiled floor would be enough to drown out the outraged woman, but going by the looks he was getting from strangers that wasn't the case.

"I told you I would only be working at the Bureau temporarily Naomi," Light interrupted in the vain hope that she'd shut up. "I don't know why you're so shocked." Okay, actually he did, and he'd been expecting her adverse reaction. But that didn't make the tone of voice she was using any more tolerable.

"Light, you resigned!" the woman roared, her shout laced with floored disbelief. "After only, what, five months! I can't believe you would actually do this, that you'd be so idiotic to throw away everything!"

Light heaved another mental sigh, the eighth one for this particular conversation. It wasn't as if he didn't know what he'd just done to himself by quitting. For the second time in his life he was running on faith, faith that he could survive all that was about to happen. He couldn't bring himself to regret the decision to leave San Francisco though. Either it was too early for him to actually regret that particular decision, or the sea air had killed most of his brain cells. Either way, he knew somewhere along the line he'd be screwed.

Light sighed, half heartedly listening as Naomi Misora continued to rant at him. Smiling politely, he handed the flight attendant his boarding pass and moved into the tunnel that connected to the airplane, ignoring the woman's concerned glance at his raging cell phone. His seat was in first class, how that arrangement had been made, Light had no idea. Taking the seat by the window, he fumbled with the envelope tucked in his breast pocket.

Smirking slightly, he interrupted Naomi's pointless ramblings of annoyance. "I'll miss you."

Silence met his statement, and for one glorious moment Light thought he'd quieted her. Reclining, he let his mind revel in its ability to actually hear itself.

"Don't you pull that seduction crap on me Yagami Raito!" But of course, nothing ever lasted. With an internal groan he brought his hand to his forehead and rubbed the bridge of his nose irately. "I'm not some blithering female, or male for that matter, that you can charm with that silver tongue of yours!"

"Naomi," Light shushed her again. "I'm already on a plane. Your shouting at me is useless, and frankly, it's giving me a migraine."

"You're on a plane?" she asked in shock. "Where the hell are you going?"

"On vacation." With that he hung up and turned his phone off.

3B

Skilled fingers combed lightly through Mello's hair, every now and then they brought a towel dowsed in antiseptic crème to his scalp, cleaning away the blood and dirt that had crusted through his hair. The strangeness of the situation was not lost on the teenage genius, his kidnapper, actually bandaging his wounds, gently and carefully. The darker portion of Mello's mind believed it was nothing but a game, the murderer caring for him so he'd lower his guard, and then the real pain would come, in what form he could only imagine.

Beyond had kept him tied up though. The duct tape was digging into his wrists painfully as he continued to fight against the restraints. The adhesive was already leaving faint scars across his flesh, like acid eating at the skin cells. Futilely, Mello squirmed as Beyond brought another stinging dose of disinfectant to his head, his hands pulling away from each other and against the bonds.

"Stop that!" Beyond admonished playfully, his free hand reaching down the quell Mello's fidgeting arms. "I know burn scars look cool, especially mine because they're so pretty, but I don't think they're something you want to get from tape."

Mello tried to escape from Beyond's hands, but the thin man gripped painfully onto the boy's shoulders, pulling him back into place. B enjoyed the feeling of having Mello quivering beneath his hold. The boy's back shuddered as it was gently placed back against the leather couch. Smirking, B spread his fingers out against the younger boy's skull, applying pressure to the colorful bruises that had blossomed across the skin. Mello let out a sharp gasp, B's touch eliciting an unwanted wince from his thinning lips. Beyond reveled in the sound of the light pain, his eyes soaking in the colors that went with the sting.

It was beautiful, he thought, continuing to pet at the boy's hair, occasionally letting his fingers stray down the back of the boy's neck just to watch him squirm. B's smirk wound its way into a smile as he listened to the boy's breath still. If only the child knew, the real ceasing of inhalation, it could come just as easily. A twinge of viciousness spun its way down the length of Beyond's arms, through the tendons of his fingers, and into the tips of his nails. Delightedly, he raked his nails through Mello's hair, eyes narrowing in pleasure at the sound of the boy's hissing. Drawing the roughly chewed out keratin down the neck that lay openly beneath him, B fought the urge to growl in delectation as he drew bright red ridges along the flawless skin.

Slowly he brought his head level with Mello's, poising his lips right against the lobe of the younger boys. "I would however be more than willing to set you on fire," he whispered tauntingly.

Mello gaped in shock, fighting the urge to turn and stare at his kidnapper. Beyond Birthday's actions had taken him completely off guard. He'd labeled the serial killer as one for experimentation, the type that would care for his prey peculiarly, relishing the different ways another could die. Beyond Birthday was the type to inflict pain, draw salted daggers across open flash wounds, saw off one finger at a time, alternating hands and curdling the blood so the body wouldn't spoil, cut open a man's skull just to watch dust particles settle across the nerve endings. Or so he thought. Instead, Mello found himself being toyed with like an insect. He felt like a fly, wings crushed and leashed to an escaped convict as a dry source of entertainment.

Mello had been awaiting torture, what he found was a child-like bully.

"You're quiet? Why?" B asked, his voice soft as he removed his hands from Mello's hair and leaned back against the couch, staring sullenly at the back of Mello's head. He wanted vocal protests, questions, something more than the pensive silence the teenager before him offered. It was dull.

Despite the fact that is felt as if his vocal chords were dripping with hot glue, scalding yet thickly bonded shut, Mello was able to articulate a perfectly caustic response. "Aren't you going to, I don't know, torture me? I can't imagine you brought me here just to give me a scalp massage."

B cocked his head to the side in amusement. It was cute the way the boy acted tough. "Oh I'm not insane, more philosophically unsettled."

With a stretch Beyond reached over his head and grasped the back of the couch. Arching his body upward he vaulted over the piece of furniture, he smiled carelessly at the rush of air moving through his hair. With a soft flop he rolled onto the floor and started grappling beneath the couch, hand patting around the plush carpeting for the blade he knew he'd left there. Nimble fingers enclosed around the sharp metal, the thin blade cutting into his own callused flesh. Grinning in face of his protesting nerves, he drew the blade out from under the couch and climbed back over the seat. With a flurried movement he sliced the tape off of Mello's hands.

"Honestly, it's hardly worth the effort to harm you more than I already have." He paused for a moment, and then added, "physically at least."

Beyond watched, face caught between childish mockery and enthusiasm, as Mello brought his wrist's into his chest, simultaneously turning to face the murderer while scooting back a good fifteen feet from him. Mello didn't know if it was the guy's ragged jeans, or his overlarge gray tee shirt that hung off one shoulder, revealing a skeletal stature, but something in his mind demanded that he reject the creature sitting in front of him. It was his survival instincts telling him to get as far away from the other human as possible. Though Mello was still debating if 'human' was the appropriate classification for Beyond Birthday.

The man wasn't unclean, could he use a new wardrobe, yes, but Mello had to admit that the man was well groomed for an escaped convict. Rapidly, Mello's mind assessed the fact that they seemed to be residing in an expensive ballroom, which possibly meant that B was receiving copious amounts of financial assistance from some outside source. It wasn't as of the man could just walk to the bank. But, there was something else about Beyond, an entity separate from his appearance, that set Mello on edge. Like a pheromone, secreted from B's pores, warding off others, telling them that beneath the Cheshire cat smile was a madness that would devour them. For Mello, that was a lot to take in.

Beyond cocked his head to the side again and extended his head outward. Like a turtle emerging from its shell, the man managed to stay firmly seated on the couch, yet come to hover three feet from the actual couch. "You look a little pale," he commented. "Perhaps it would make you feel better if I were to skin your back?"

He asked the question as if he were suggesting a message, something playfully innocent and designed to benefit Mello's health, yet containing a naughty undertone.

"I could even drill tiny screws into the bone and stretch rubber bands across your back!" B suggested helpfully. "If you're flexible you'd probably be able to flick them yourself. Make some music!"

"No that's okay," Mello stammered, unconsciously scooting further away from the madman.

At that moment a phone rang from the confines of B's pockets. Glancing at the pocket as if it had committed some unspeakable crime, B extracted the phone. Mello assumed he had caller ID because the moment B's red eyes took in the lit up screen, they widened in excitement and, if Mello was reading the man correctly, a small tinge of lust.

"Darling?" B purred into the phone.

Mello strained his ear to hear who was on the other end of the phone, but he was too far away to register any sound other than B's own voice.

"Oh goodie you're coming!" B replied to whoever he was conversing with. "I so look forward to hearing more from you darling!" Hanging up, Beyond continued to bounce like a two year old in his seat for a minute, hands shaking with impatience.

After a moment of what Mello took to be consideration, Beyond jumped to his feet and skipped over to a large table that was situated a ways behind the couch. Standing hesitantly, Mello followed after B, trying to make out the contents of the table. His eyes widened as he was met with the sight of a giant board game unlike any he'd ever seen. The board was about three feet by three feet, vaguely Mello placed it as belonging to some sort of fantasy role playing game. He'd seen kids at Wammy's playing something like it. But the pieces on B's board, they were an amalgamation of every type of board game piece one could find. Chess and checkers pieces scattered themselves across the square spaces accompanied by jacks, Monopoly pieces, and die cast race cars. Mello was pretty sure he even saw a few cardboard game pieces from Candyland.

The blonde was used to grand acts of immaturity, having grown up in a house of child geniuses, but the sight before him was just wrong. But as he watched the grown man skip happily around his insane gaming creation, Mello couldn't help but think it fit B.

Coming to stand on the side of the table opposite B, Mello asked, "Who was that? On the phone?"

He watched as Beyond picked up one of the Candyland pieces, Queen Frostine, and moved it closer to Princess Lolly. It concerned Mello that he was able to recall the names of the characters, but it frightened him even more that he felt a little put out over the board's lack of Gloppy the Chocolate Monster, who had been Mello's favorite character as a kid.

"That was my darling," B replied dreamily. "Yes, Darling is coming to see me! He reminds me of A you know, brilliant, a visionary, true believer in all that justice crap. He's a romantic. I suppose that's why I adore him so much."

Mello relaxed slightly, his shoulders were still tensed, but the pain in his head was abating. He was pretty sure he'd been drugged before regaining consciousness if the muddled soup his brain was rapidly turning into was anything to go by.

"What do you believe in?" Mello asked, not entirely sure where the question was coming from, or why he was even relaxing in the presence of a mass murderer.

"Me?" Beyond blinked at the question. "I believe in death. Taxes, not so much. But death is very real."

The murderer leaned across the table and plucked a small red plastic mouse for the board, delicately pinching it between his thumb and forefinger, and then stuck it right before Mello's eyes. The man had to climb onto the table to do so. Mello blinked at the plastic toy, its petite nose barely touching his own. The thing had lacked eyes Mello noticed, it seemed that a pair had been carved into the plastic, almost as big as the thing's body. The blonde jumped as B abruptly slammed the toy down next to Princess Lolly, directly beside a black knight.

"You remind me of myself Mello," B said, crawling closer to the teenager. The man settled himself into a crouch that in no way could have been comfortable. Drawing his knees against his chest, Beyond stuck his thumbnail in between his teeth and began gnawing on it lightly. "I'm really happy I got to kidnap you. Out of every orphanage in that place, I got you."

Mello took a step back, recoiling from B as if he'd just fired a G36 point blank into the man's head, which he was seriously wishing he had. "I am nothing like you," Mello spat.

"Yes you are." The man reached his hand out and gently stroked the hair from Mello's eyes, tucking it behind the blonde's ear. "I see it in your eyes Little Dear. Yes, Little Dear, I think that's what I'll call you from now on." B chuckled, dark, silken clumps of hair falling across his face, obscuring the haunting red orbs from view. Moving forward B glanced up at Mello from just beneath the fringe of his bangs, painting the picture of a grotesquely, attractive wraith with all the innocence of a poison apple in Mello's eyes.

"You have the jazz," B purred in delight. "The spark to get what you want through any means necessary. You got bored didn't you?"

"As interesting as this all is, you're really not my type," Mello quipped acidly, his entire body on the defensive. For what felt like the hundredth time in the single hour he'd been awake, he was backing away from the creature sitting before him. Really, Mello had to wonder, what the hell possessed him to get closer to the maniacal murderer?

B giggled, as if sensing Mello's thoughts. "You find me alluring don't you?" B asked mockingly, climbing down from his table and coming to stand directly before the blonde. He stood a good four inches taller than Mello, which only served to make the officious grin he was gracing the boy with all the more dangerous. "Well, I suppose there is one big difference between you and I," Beyond drawled in mild contemplation.

"What's that?"

Beyond leaned in closer to Mello, resting his cheek on the boy's shoulder, lips tickling against his ear like a glass feather. Roughly nipping Mello's ear lobe B whispered in a caricature of passion, "I would have thrown a bigger rock."

3B

"L, are you sure you want to reveal yourself to them?" Watari asked, dropping a suitcase onto the bed of the penthouse's master room, never mind the fact that he knew the bed was not even going to be used during their stay. He couldn't help but grimace in distaste at L's sleeping habits, or lack thereof.

L swiveled around from the desk that was set against the wall, lazily rotating in circles, knees brought up to his chest. He stared over the caps of his knees as Watari began to pull white sweater after sweater from the luggage.

"They come from the House, and they're just as involved in this as we are," L remarked casually, motioning for Watari to pass him his laptop. The older man raised his eyebrows at the twenty year old's impatience but passed him the laptop bag without comment.

Logging in, L ran through his email account and clicked open the files Roger had sent him. It included all the records of Beyond Birthday's stay in the California Penitentiary along with the instructor reports and psychological evaluations of his top three successors.

If he was being honest with himself, he really wasn't all that comfortable introducing himself, in person, to the boys. He would have been fine presenting himself as nothing more than a former Wammy's House resident, fashioning a cover as close to the truth as possible that to operate within the confines of. He would've preferred something akin to that. But as he sped through the information Roger had sent him in on each child, he felt doing so would've been an insult to their intelligence. Not to mention things would've probably become a little messier once they discovered his true identity. It was simpler in the end to just come out and say he was L. But that didn't mean Watari had to like it.

"Showing yourself puts them in more danger than if they just stayed at Wammy's," the older gentleman said stiffly.

L glanced over his shoulder at the man. "We both know I'm not B's true target. And I doubt he'd take a glance at any of the other children besides the top three. Bringing them here, though it may not be safer, gives us a twenty eight percent chance of dealing directly with Beyond."

"And that's what you want." It wasn't a question but a resigned statement.

"It's the best way to get the case over with quickly," L said succinctly.

Watari stared at his charge emotionlessly. "This is Beyond we're talking about L, not a band-aid."

The detective didn't need Watari to illuminate further on his point. There was no way Beyond would make this case quick and virtually painless. The man wasn't the type to allow himself to be easily removed from L's skin, ripped off, leaving nothing more than a sharp sting in his wake. B wanted a game, an opponent, and he wanted to leave an impression in the flesh of every player on the board. At the moment, the player whose flesh was being seared off the most was Mello's.

It wasn't destiny that led L to pass his knowledge of Beyond Birthday on to Mello. At least L sincerely hoped it wasn't, if it was than the Powers That Be possessed a cruelness humanity would never be able to survive. Reading deeper into Mello's file, L sighed. Of all his successors, Mello was the one most like Beyond Birthday, and it scared the shit out of L. That was why he'd thrown every scrap of information regarding Beyond at the kid. It wasn't luck, or destiny, or some other such crap. It was a survival instinct. Now L could only hope that the information he'd relayed was enough to allow Mello to contend with B. L loathed hoping.

The violent vibrating of Watari's cell phone drew L's attention away from his computer scree. Silently, he observed as Watari picked up the phone and listened intently to the voice on the other end. It didn't take L's superior deductive abilities to ascertain what that call was about, the weary expression on Watari's face was indication enough.

"They're here."