PIS Chapter Twelve: Profile of a Monster
The bed felt much bigger than it was previously and my sleepy eyes opened to see that L's side was empty. I covered my mouth with my hand to yawn, then pulled the covers off and searched for my pants. After relocating and slipping them on, I searched and found him in the living room area of the room sitting in one of the arm chairs and fingers tapping wildly at the keyboard. I slightly bent forward to see his face and saw him wearing black rimmed glasses that reflected the computer screen and did not show his eyes.
"I didn't know you wore glasses," I said aloud.
He looked up at me startled and was quick to remove them and place them on the table. "Good morning, Light-kun. Would you like some coffee?"
"Later," I answered, "Did you sleep well?"
He typed on the keyboard. "I don't sleep well."
As I pulled up another arm chair next to him, I frowned at his answer. "Did I keep you up? I'm aware that I do have a habit of kicking in my sleep."
"Yes, you do. But that's not the reason. I have had difficulty sleeping for a very long time now."
"Really? How long?"
"About..." He counted the fingers on his left hand and then on some on his right hand, "...eight years."
"That's impossible," I said bluntly.
"More like improbable, but it can happen no doubt."
"No, it's impossible. You hallucinate after five days of no sleep and you'll be dead after eleven days. Without REM sleep, a normal person would never see the end of the month, let alone eight years."
"Ah, but Light-kun," he said, smiling cat-like at me, "I'm not a normal person. Yes, in a normal person it would cause hallucinations, but isn't true that I also cause hallucinations for other people? And I do get REM, but it is not in the form of sleep."
I was curious now. L had no reason to make such a blatant and ludicrous statement such as that, but I still had doubts about it being true. "Then how do you get REM sleep?" I asked, holding my knees and sat much like he was.
"Sometimes when I'm alone, I get in a heavy daze and that is how I get my REM."
"Then you're sleeping."
"On the contrary, I'm fully aware of what goes on around me. I know who is who and what people are saying. I can even give answers and ask questions; they're short, but I'm still communicating, nonetheless."
"So why haven't you been able to sleep for so long?"
One of his spidery, long fingers tapped the edge of the laptop as he thought. It took a long while for him to answer, in which I took the time to study his face and wished that I could get inside that mysterious head of his.
"I..." he finally said, "haven't always been a good guy. I didn't care much about others."
I wasn't sure if this answered my question, but I decided not to press; it seemed like a subject that was not easy for L to discuss. However, it made me curious to know what L was like previously. Was he really as cold hearted as he seemed to sound, or was it just guilt for something he regretted in his past. Again, I wished to get inside that head of his, but when I tried, it was like looking into the bottom of a cave and not able to see anything. In the usual cases, it meant death that could have been seen as prevented. It made me wonder...did L lose a loved one or a previous lover and blamed himself?
"Don't think too hard about it, Light-kun," he said, smiling in my direction, "You'll give yourself an aneurysm trying to see what I'm thinking."
"And I thought I was the only one who could read minds."
His laugh was throaty, showing that he didn't laugh too often. This made my grin widen and I leaned in and touched my lips against his smile.
BAM! The door was busted open and we broke apart instantly to see what the racket was.
"We're coming in," called in Mello as he carried in what looked like a projector, "Trousers up, erections down." Matt laughed loudly and Near rolled his eyes. "You're dad is coming up," he said to me, "I already told him that you spent the night with L after having an 'important' discussion with him." He winked at me and I punched him in the arm.
I left to put on a shirt and some better pants, and when I returned, Mello had the projector set up and my father was seated on the couch. He acknowledged me by nodding his head in my direction.
"What about Mom and Sayu?" I asked as I sat in the arm chair again.
"I told them that you and I were going to an all-male spa."
"Did she believe you?"
"No, but she took my wallet and took your sister shopping."
"Ah."
L came from the other room wearing his usual t-shirt and jeans. He took a seat in his usual perch-like arrangement and took the remote in hand. Mello pinned a white sheet against the wall, then he strolled over to the opposite wall and turned off the light. When the projector turned on, the white sheet was bathed in blue.
"Let's get started," he said. He clicked the remote and the white sheet went dark. "I usually have a more advanced setup, but because of our relocation, I will have to start from the basic fabric." The screen came on again, this time with what looked like a picture of L with a black bar over his eyes. "This is Beyond Birthday. I had to block off his eyes because of complaints from people complaining about nightmares where his eyes were present. However, thanks toPhotoshop, I am able to give you a look into what he looks like."
He brought up a window and dragged over a manipulated set of eyes and placed them over the black bar. The pupils were black like everyone else, but there was a blandness to them. The iris on the other hand was bloody red, almost like a tear was created in the iris and it was stained. It was something that only I could visualize in a Halloween horror flick. But evenphotoshopped, it still gave me chills.
"It is unclear of whether or not this is his natural eye color," L continued, "Though our abilities are subjectively the same as they are the same technique and cancellation, but I digress to say that his eyes are stronger than mine. It is reported that he is able to manipulate the vision of reality to someone for long periods of time, going on to days and weeks if long enough. And unlike myself, he suffers no long-lasting side effect of his powers, meaning that he abuses his power beyond his limit. He is a thrill-seeker, fueled by the fear he causes in his victims. He is sadists, but only mentally, thus the reason why his victims are only found with self-harms or heart attack, often caused by fear.
"His powers do not give him the ability to see what the person has a phobia of, but he has come very close. If he already has previous knowledge, he will create an illusion of your worst fear. Unfortunately, even if he does not know what entices fear into you, he has an exceptionally good imagination. Though he is a serial killer, he often does not stick around to watch his victims die."
L clicked the remote and a cat-scan of a brain showed up where the frontal lobe was significantly darker than the rest. "Eight years ago, I arrested and sentenced Beyond Birthday. This is the brain of his last victim, a woman whose identity is to remain hidden but has been given the alias of "BackyardBottomslash ". The alias of his victims are determined by their location the body is found and cause of death determined by The Company's medical examiner. As you can see in her brain, her entire frontal lobe is collapsed and damaged due to hemorrhaging. She was discovered in her backyard in Los Angeles, California." The slide moved again to a woman lying face down in a grassy area with her face blocked out. I assumed this was BackyardBottomslash in person. "Unlike his other victims, Backyard was clinically blind and refused to wear glasses; which we believe BB was unaware of."
"Are you suggesting that because of her bad eyesight, Ms...Backyard was able to survive from his mental assault?" Soichirou asked, pausing in his note-taking with his pen still pressed to the pad.
"It is a theory, but it has not been fully determined," he answered him, "We do know that in order for the effect of the Eyes to take hold of you, you must make eye contact. It could be that was unable to make direct eye contact, or it could be that the effect did not work because she could not focus on his eyes. It cannot be fully determined."
"And how are we supposed to go up against such a formidable man?"
L stared at him in a way that almost made it like he was staring though my father's head; which he couldn't, right? "We will do everything in our powers to stop him," L answered, "But when I say 'we' that does not include you, Mr. Yagami."
"Then what am I doing here?" Soichirou asked testily.
"You are here to protect your son, daughter, and wife. How do you think you will be able to go against a full-fledged monster such as Beyond when you do not even carry a gun? I had your family relocated for the time being because it is unclear of whether or not he knows about your son, Light." I glanced at my father and saw that his jaw was tensed, but he swallowed when he heard my name. "Beyond likes to mentally torture his victims, but he also does this psychologically. You may be his victim, but he'll get under your skin by attacking your family first; he's done this before.
"The best you can do is enjoy your holiday here in New Zealand. Keep your wife thinking that the Yakuza is after you; keep your daughter believing this is a vacation. It's the best and safest decision you can do for them."
Soichirou Yagami rubbed his hands together. He shook his head and exhaled through his nose. It reminded me of the times he castigated me for disobeying him. I did not probe into his mind so as to obey his privacy, but I could tell that he was not liking what L was saying because we both knew what else was coming.
"And Light?" my father asked, "What about Light?"
"Light-kun has the decision to remain here with you, or he can take the case."
"Well, I'm letting you know right now that I don't--"
"Dad!" I interrupted him. He stopped his chastising and looked at me. "I'm taking the case."
The look he gave me said 'Are you mad?', and I stared back at him, giving him my answer. "Light, this man is very, very dangerous."
"I'm aware of that. The more reason why we have to stop him. I was going to become a cop anyway. My powers can help them tremendously. I can't just sit here and desist." I licked my lips. "I'm doing it."
I saw several emotions cross my father's face as he tried to think of a way, an excuse, for me to change my mind, but my stern look told him that my decision was cement. I was going to go after Beyond Birthday along with L, Mello, Matt, and Near. I saw the lines around his mouth deepen and he suddenly seemed to have age five years in just ten seconds.
"Fine," he said, not looking at me, "You are old enough to do what you feel you must do. There's nothing I can to stop you." He clapped his hands together, and I felt guilty; it was hard to let your son go against a monster you could not face. My father would rather die for me than allow me to get hurt, and I knew this.
And then my father looked back at L with stone eyes. "And how do I know you are not prevaricating? Are you hiding anything else from us?"
"There is something that I have been hiding," L said, scratching his knee through his jeans, "Something that not even Mello, Matt, or Near are aware of." The three mentioned boys perked up slightly. Near stopped twirling his hair.
"Beyond Birthday was my original proxy."
Everyone reacted.
"What the..." Mello trailed off while he stared at his boss incredulously.
Matt's jaw was open, matching my own expression. Near stared at L, but it was more intense, but none of us reacted as strongly as my father.
"That monster was you goddamn proxy?" he yelled. His swearing made me jump because my father had never swore in his life that I was aware of. A few 'damn's and 'hell's but that was it. "You're telling us that you taught this monster, personally?"
I admired L's cool demeanor. He seemed unperturbed by our reactions. "No, I never taught him personally. In fact, before I arrested him, I only met him three times prior and it was for a short period of time.
"In The Company, when one reached a certain level of authority, you have the choice to choose a subordinate or more to train under you, so if something were to happen to you, they will take over," he told us, "Because of my high position, I was asked several times to make a choice, but I refused. They finally decided they would choose one for me. They chose B. I didn't care either way, and I didn't really care of who he was." L stared directly at the picture of Beyond that had been brought back up. They did not blink. "The first time I met him, I felt something suspicious about him. He was an astute student with great grades, no trouble at all, but I felt something dark about him, so I did not get close.
"However, even with me ignoring him, Beyond continued to chase after me. An incident at the Academy took me back to him several months later. His entire demeanor changed drastically in those few short months. He changed his looks to copy mine, he changed his habits to imitate mine, he kept records of every case I did, had copies of every file or paper I wrote. His room, I saw, was a shrine to my entire life. He was becoming my zealot, but much worse. His favoritism of me was quickly becoming obsession. He put me and himself on a pedestal, believe that our powers omnipotent and that we were to be true rulers, him and I.
"I finally confronted him and told him that he was not going to be my proxy. He did not take it well. In that same year, his only friend committed suicide. Beyond Birthday left the Academy and was never seen again, until he was captured eight years ago."
As his voice died down, we were left in perturbation with everyone feeling uneasy and awkward. My own brain was reeling at what I just discovered, so I could not imagine what L's now current subordinates were thinking.
It became very clear, though, when Mello rose from his seat, took four quick strides to the door, and slammed it behind him hard enough to make the picture of flowers rattle and drop from where it was stuck to the wall's stucco. Matt sighed and cupped his cheeks with both hands. Near's blue eyes stared at the door before he removed himself from the couch and followed after the other male. None of us were sure what to say next.
Watari poked his head in the door. "L, Mello and Near look pretty upset. Should I go after them?"
"No," L answered, chewing on the nail of his index finger, "Let them be."
"Mello," Near called out. He disliked running, but Mello's long legs already had him at the elevator. He saw him push one of the buttons, probably to the lobby. Before the doors could close, Near stuck his hand in between them and pushed himself through.
"Near?" Mello said, surprised to see the albino boy.
"Why did you storm off like that?" Near asked him, "What exactly are you planning to do?"
"I'm planning to get away from L," Mello hissed through gritted teeth, "You heard him out there. B was his original proxy! Why didn't he tell us that? We've been with him for four years. Why did he not tell us this?"
"He didn't choose Beyond, Mello. He chose us."
Mello looked down at the white-all-over boy and grit his teeth. He turned his head to glare instead at the corner.
"Mello..." Near hesitated to take a step toward the blond as the elevator began descending, "There's something you're not telling me."
"It's nothing."
"Mello."
"Jesus fucking Christ, Near! I said it was nothing." Mello crossed his arms and leaned his back against the corner. Near did not press further. However, he did squint his eyes at the floor buttons and the elevator gave a jerk, making them stumble. Near even lost his balance and fell on his knees.
"What the hell was that for?" Mello asked, directing his question at Near because he knew it had to be him.
The younger boy pulled himself back on his feet. He looked up at the blond and was actually glaring at him. "You're being a spoiled brat, Mello. Are you just going to run off and sulk because L kept one secret from you? There's plenty we don't know about him, so why is this getting under your skin?"
"Because there's something I need to find out!"
"And what's that?"
Mello was enraged, Near could tell. His jaw was clenched and his face was getting red. Near did not even mind when Mello grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hoisted him up, toes dangling just above the floor.
"Because I need to know if he chose me or not!" Mello bellowed. Realizing what he was doing, he let go of his shirt, and Near dropped to the floor. "Tch. He said he never wanted subordinates, so why did he even choose me? The only thing I can do is become invisible. You have telekinesis and tracking. Even Matt has really good hacking skills, even though he's only a class B. Now Light is here with his ability to read minds; what the hell am I doing here?"
Near's thin eyebrows knitted together. "You're second in command. Do you honestly think that you would be where you are if there was no need for you?"
Mello sighed through his nose. "I've always felt it was because I was the oldest. Maybe that's the only reason I am."
"L chose you first, Mello. He knew what your powers were at Wammy's. He could have chosen anyone else there, but he, himself, chose you. There has to be a reason."
"That's what I need to find out. I have to go back to Tokyo and get my file."
"Your file? We don't have files, Mello." Near stared at Mello. A pregnant pause. "Mello...please tell me you don't have a file."
"I filled out a form at The Company."
Near frowned at him. "...." Then he looked down at his feet, realizing that he did not put on shoes and that he was wearing socks. "You're going to leave us, aren't you?"
"I was only considering. I haven't decided, yet."
"What exactly is on your file?"
"Just my resume. It doesn't have my true identity if that's what you're wondering."
"Will you be working with Halle?"
"...I don't know."
Near nodded, then squinted at the keypad again. The elevator began moving again. "I want to go with you," he stated.
"What?"
"Beyond Birthday's crew know our HQ was in Tokyo. They're going to be there. You need someone who can track them so as not to get caught." Near looked up at him, stared at him. "I can do that. They most likely have posts along Headquarters. You're gonna get killed if you just waltz in there."
Mello shook his head, but he was smiling. "All right. We'll do it your way."
Several hours passed and still no sign of Mello or Near. Matt called Mello's cellphone several times, but it was never answered. It wasn't until two in the morning that Watari came in to tell us of their location.
"They're on a flight to Japan," he informed us, "They went under the aliases of Ronald Castrevo and Martin Dunse."
"I see," L mumbled, putting down his cup of tea. "Now, what could they be doing in Japan?"
"Should we head back?" I asked.
"No," he answered, "Mello has a reason for going. He's not stupid, if a little impulsive. And Near is with him so he will keep Mello in check. If they do not return tomorrow, we will go after them."
L seemed calm, but I was not. I felt restless. Matt was snoring on the couch. L was drinking tea and working on his laptop. What could I do?
"Get some sleep, Light-kun," L said, as if he just answered my unasked question, "There's nothing more we can do now. Mello and Near have not even made it to Japan."
I doubted I would be able to sleep, but I nodded my head anyway and left. I tiptoed into my hotel room. Sayu had fallen asleep in the bed while Jay Leno told more jokes on his show. I changed my clothes and crawled into bed. Just as I had predicted, I did not sleep. Instead, I listened to the corny one-liners from Mr. Leno.
(A/N): To view chapters up to fourteen, visit my deviantART page. My username is the same. :) Oh, and sorry for being so late. I had surgery to remove my appendix.