Mrs. Lawliet: Well, well, Mrs. River. Careful, you may get a Real-life Anna angry with you, haha~~ Ahh, I love confusing people; don't you? Haha...
Well, there's going to be a bit of Near in this chapter, so there's that. Unfortunately, I only just started liking Near a few months ago, so there's not going to be much of him for awhile. So, I'm sincerely sorry for that...
In fact, in this chapter, I think I almost made him a bad guy, now that I think about it. .-. Oops...

Guest: Well, you're the first one to suggest that theory: L is Max. Hm. I cannot confirm or deny that theory... I think someone had a theory that Max was Matsuda, (or someone like that), though.

PlotBunnyMadness: I am aware that you are reviewing on chapter four of It Is What It Is, but I'll just hope you eventually read this. ('Cause I'm too awkward to just be a normal person and go to your profile to PM you as a reply.)
Yeah, L and bells have a 'thing.' As you find out later on, those very bells were tolling while his father died, so...yeah.

Sierra, laughing hysterically, ran around their new and improved hideout: the old Japanese Kira investigation team headquarters. You know, that huge skyscraper L and company – including me – had used way back in 2004. Mello didn't know why he hadn't thought of this place sooner. (…He didn't know it existed until Sierra mentioned it.) All it took was for Matt to hack into the security system to let them in, and for him to make sure the electricity functioned. Now they had the perfect hideout. Mello admitted that it was a little big and a bit too fancy for his tastes, but it would do. The place was abandoned, after all; why not use it? Plus, it had maximum security (once Matt got everything working again) and that was something they could use.

Does she have to run around like that? Mello thought with a grimace.

"Yes!" Sierra called, looking back to grin at him. Well, I guess it wasn't smart to not look where she was going. She consequently ran smack into a wall.

Matt chuckled. "You okay?"

She jumped back to her feet. "Fine!"

Mello blinked confusedly, then put his hand to his head. That had hurt. He frowned. Great. Don't tell me…. He eyed the arm of the couch, then slammed his fist onto it.

"Ow!" Sierra yelped.

"What'd you do now?" Matt smirked.

"I dunno!"

Does your hand hurt?

No….

Mello frowned dully. Don't lie, either.

…A little….

He twitched. Well, that settled it. "Sierra, we can feel each other's pain."

She stopped running and stared at him. It took a moment to process. "What?"

"Uh…," was Matt's intelligent remark.

"Ah! I don't want to reach the final stage!" Sierra cried.

"Me neither," Mello uttered.

"Right… that creepy stage," said Matt.

"Uh-huh…," Sierra replied. "And I don't think any of us want the two of us to reach that…."

"I'll admit that might be a bit disturbing," Matt agreed.

"It's not like we can do anything about it," Mello muttered.

"C'mon…," Ryuk snickered. "It can't be that bad. Light went through that too, didn't he? And so did your aunt."

Again, shut up, Sierra frowned.

What'd I do? Mello responded in irritation.

You didn't… uh…. "Hey Matt, don't we need food?"

Mello sighed. She'd changed the subject.

Matt got to his feet. "Right. I should probably do that…."

"By the way," said Sierra, calling after him, "get some food you think Mello might like that isn't chocolate." She'd been trying to feed him foods that weren't chocolate. So far, he hated everything but strawberries. Soon Matt was out the door and all that filled the silence was the hum of the computers. Both were absorbed in their own thoughts. Sierra was trying to imagine her and Mello at the last stage. It didn't work too well and whenever she did imagine it, it was just plain out creepy. Creepy, creepy, creepy. No, she didn't think she wanted to reach that stage. Mello, meanwhile, thought of the plan they had in place. Soon it would be carried out, now they had a suitable hideout to do the job. Yes, it would only be a matter of time….

There was a crash by the stairs, snapping both of them back to reality. Mello's hand went immediately to his gun. Both of them eyed what had fallen: Sierra's bag. "Uh…" said Ryuk, looking at the bag he'd knocked over, "…oops."

Sierra heaved a sigh and went over to pick her bag up. "Stupid gravity," she muttered.

"Sorry," Ryuk apologized, "I was trying to get an apple out of your backpack, but…. And don't glare at me for that, 'cause neither of you were paying attention." He snickered. "Yeah, you're so scary…." Sierra rolled her eyes and went back to the couch to sit down.

Mello frowned, but relaxed again, his hand going back to his side. A few more minutes passed… and Ryuk knocked the bag over again. "What the hell?" Sierra asked flatly, glaring pointedly in Ryuk's direction.

"Uh, oops again," he said, but he seemed amused. The bastard had done it on purpose this time, hadn't he? Sierra wouldn't be surprised. "Here…." He picked the bag up and set it back on the step. "See? No harm done. …Wait…."

Sierra went pale, glancing nervously over to Mello. His chocolate bar was halfway to its destination, and his mouth was slightly open. "What the fuck?" he asked dully. There was silence for awhile.

"Um… does this mean no apples for a while?" Ryuk asked, and snickered. He had done it on purpose. Damn it, Ryuk. Sierra guessed this was why it was bad to have the shinigami bored.

She fought the urge to facepalm. Hard.

"Sierra…," Mello said slowly. "…There's a shinigami here, isn't there? You know there's a shinigami here, don't you?"

"Uh… I guess so…."

"Sierra."

"…Yeah?"

"You have a Death Note, don't you?"

"U-uh…. Yeah…."

There was some awkward silence. Then, "Where is it?"

"Are you mad?" Sierra asked worriedly, unable to decipher his emotions. She felt nothing from him. "You're not going to mark me off as Kira and keep me locked up, are you?"

He looked at her oddly. "What? No. By the way… are you acting as Kira?"

"As one of them," Sierra admitted.

"Right…." He leaned back. "Show it to me." His voice was scarily low and void of emotion.

Sierra blinked twice; she had a real bad feeling that he was actually very, very angry and would snap any moment. She hesitantly got up and headed to her bag, then pulled out her supposed diary and brought it back to him.

"…Can I take an apple now?" Ryuk asked.

Sierra ignored him.

Mello took hold of the Death Note disguised as a diary, and looked up at Ryuk.

"Oh…," said Ryuk. "…Hi."

Mello looked back down to the notebook; flipped through its pages. He smirked down at it, which actually scared Sierra even more. "Do you know who the main Kira is?"

"No…."

"That's fine. I didn't think you'd know anyway." He gave a little heh.

"So… um… now what?" Sierra asked hesitantly.

"Now we have the Death Note." The corners of his mouth curled upwards ever so slightly. "This is perfect. With this… with this we can't possibly lose! Don't you get it? With this, we can finally make it to the top; we'll finally be number one! And I… I'll kill anyone who gets in our way."

It felt nice to wake up the next morning. I liked being able to hear people without getting a headache. Yes, very nice. Mornings were bad enough without all that.

In any case, I decided to come home a little earlier that Thursday night, for Sam wanted to be able to hang out with me for awhile. I understood perfectly. We didn't see each other often enough ever since she'd run off to America all those years ago. Not only that, but she knew and I knew that at some point we'd have to work against each other. It was only fact. She was Bonded to L, Light's enemy, and I conversely was Bonded to Light. I didn't look forward to the day we had to be enemies too.

Anna and I left the house at the same time, and for awhile we were able to walk together on our way to work. We discussed Sierra and how she might be doing, as well as wondered aloud when she and Sierra would reach the final stage with Near and Mello, respectively. Anna informed me that, at the moment, she and Near could still only feel one another's emotions. I was starting to work out what each stage was, and I dubbed the stage she was on to be the fourth stage of six before the final one. I wasn't quite sure where Sierra and Mello were….

Well, anyway, Anna and I soon parted as we had to head to our respective workplaces. Anna would head to SPK headquarters, and I would head to NPA headquarters. Ha.

Anna walked into the main HQ of the SPK building to see Near building up a tower of tarot cards. An unopened jar of what seemed to be strawberry jam was at his side. The thirteen-year-old could only gaze at it confusedly.

On Near's side, of course everything made sense. The night before, he'd made of L's words what he could. He'd said, 'In fact, he was the one who interrupted your fake execution.' That execution had happened back in April, and it was at that time that L had been working on the cases around the world. Therefore, Beyond Birthday was also the killer in those cases, for he would have no other reason to interrupt Near's plan at that time. It was probably a way to get Samantha worried about her friends back in Japan.

Near learned from Anna that Beyond was the killer of the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases as well, and with this he used his research. As he looked up these cases in Los Angeles, he discovered that he was also the killer of the Morbid Artistry Murder Cases, which spanned from April first – the day the first victim was found – to April nineteenth – when Beyond was detained again. But he was put in a psychiatric hospital up in San Luis Obispo County this time, an institution known as Atascadero State Hospital. There was no record of his escape….

So Near went back to around the time the Sinful Murder Cases began: May thirty-first. He looked through the news of late May and discovered there was a man known as Brian Bachman who was reunited with his daughter, Selena Bachman. That could only have been him. Now, just to make sure, he checked to see if Beyond had used that alias anywhere else….

He had.

'Brian Bachman' had gotten a room in the Teito Hotel, and if the hotel's records didn't lie, it was also the hotel Misa Amane had been staying at right before she was killed. It had to be him. Near could find the exact room on the exact floor he was staying at, and because of this he knew how to find him. Perfect.

He'd been told by Anna that he loved strawberry jam, thus the strawberry jam that was placed at his side. He was also told by L that Sophia Ellis was working with him. According to the newspaper article from California, Sophia (or 'Selena Bachman') was only nine years old. It had been discovered that there was a loophole in the Bond. Near would dispose of Beyond. Not Sophia. It would not be direct; it would not be a murder. Near thought over the fact that maybe Anna's emotions could be clouding his judgment here, but decided against it; they were her emotions; not his own. Anna had told him later on that Beyond had the Shinigami Eyes… B wasn't even human. This disposal was only to ensure that Beyond both did not kill anyone else, and also so that Kira could be caught faster and thus so many others would be saved. Inside that strawberry jam that was placed on the floor at Near's side, arsenic was mixed in. A fatal poison. Beyond, the killer, would die. Sophia, the child, would live. The end.

But Near waited. He had Gevanni hack into the security system of the Teito hotel, and after this was accomplished had Rester watch the video of the room Beyond and Sophia stayed in. He made sure that his face matched the picture of Beyond birthday in the criminal records of Los Angeles, and they did. Near would make his move while he and Sophia were both gone. This didn't happen until soon after lunchtime.

He held out the jar of jam and a slip of paper to Anna once the time came. "Anna," he said, "could you take this to someone for me?"

She blinked twice, taking it. "Um, sure. Who am I taking it to?"

"Gevanni met another girl from your world; her name is—"

"Sophia?" Anna interrupted. "I know her! We're friends, you know."

"Are you? Good. Do you know where she lives?"

"No…."

Near nodded, and handed her another slip of paper. "These are the directions."

"Okay," she said, taking them. She grinned. "Got it; I'll be back!"

Near twirled his hair. "Yes; thank you."

Anna began her trip to deliver death….

I, meanwhile, lounged on the couch with Sam, having gone home right after lunch. We were finally able to talk; hang out for hours on end. It was nice to do that every once in awhile. Savor it while the time was here.

There was a ring of the doorbell. Ding-dong.

Sam and I looked at one another. I shrugged. Sam was the one to get to her feet and head to the door. She opened it to see Sophia standing there. For a second or two, there was utter silence.

I tried to peer behind Sam to see who it was. "Who is it?" I asked her.

"You!" Sam exclaimed, then swung a hit down low to our unidentified guest.

I jumped to my feet and ran over to see Sophia there. "What are you doing?" I asked Sam. Sophia was clutching her stomach.

"This girl," Sam exclaimed, "was working with the guy who tried to kill me!" She made a move to kick her again, but the nine-year-old surprisingly flipped backwards.

"…What?" Well, that put Sophia in a whole new light, now, didn't it? So she was the one Bonded to BB….

Sophia suddenly brought her leg up and swung her foot at Sam's face, but Sam bent backwards into a bridge and kicked up. Sophia bent back herself and ducked, then slid between Sam's arms before her feet landed, consequently ending up behind her. Sam spun around to face her, but as she did so Sophia swerved around her and ran right out the door. "Well bye, Natalie!" she called with a huge grin, and continued speeding away. Sam and I stared after her.

I looked to Sam. "Epic moves," I complimented.

Sophia ran and ran and ran until she reached her destination: B. He was waiting for her a block away. She ran right to him, and of course he said, "There you are, sweetie," as a part of the act they had to play. Sophia was still his daughter, and he was still her dad. Yes, it was the perfect little family of liars and masks and murderers. But she was okay with that and he was okay with that, so she guessed it was okay.

They were headed to one of their multiple hideouts hidden throughout Tokyo. The one they had meant to use had been occupied by Mello and his friends (Mail Jeevas and Sierra Terrell). B hadn't been able to see Sierra's lifespan, but he had yet to figure out what that meant. The Teito Hotel, where they had been staying for awhile, was to be left behind today; they even checked out like normal people.

Their next hideout was an old bomb shelter from some war; World War II, most likely. Neither of them really cared. It was another underground one, but this one had two beds. It was less roomy, but more cozy, and I guess you could say they liked it like that. Space didn't necessarily matter in the long run. Yes, it was much better than the hotel they left behind, crowded with people and certainly not to their liking….

And, at this hotel they'd just recently left behind, Anna made her way through the front doors and headed to the room specified. She had to ask the grumpy lady at the desk named Rin Saito for a key of sorts, and eventually she got one. She tried making friendly conversation with her ("Cool, your name is Rin? I like that name!"), but Saito didn't seem to appreciate the talk. Or anything. Whatever. Anna just dubbed her to be a jerk and eventually just made her way to Sophia's room to drop off the jam. "I didn't know she liked jam," she remarked. "Huh…."

She walked into the room, carefully placing the jam on the bedside table. She noticed a faded red blanket lying out on the bed. Anna supposed it was Sophia's, since it didn't fit in with the hotel décor. The thing reminded her of Blankie, her own blanket owned since birth that had been left back in her original world. Well, no time to think about that now. She had to get back to SPK headquarters. So, she left the jam and faded red blanket behind….

The blanket.

My blanket! Sophia thought in alarm. It was the one thing she had left of her home, of her family, of the person she could have been. Who she almost was. Connected to Beyond and influenced by his mind at a young age, she was generally lacking in any emotion, but through it all she had kept an attachment to that blanket. Her mind was really only a recreation of B's consciousness, but that blanket set her apart as another person. It gave her a little sense of individuality. It made her her own being, in a way.

She had to go back to get it.

B, typically, knew this the moment she did, and after setting the laptop on a small table, he headed back out with her to get that blanket. The hotel wasn't too terribly far from there, so it didn't take long to get back. B waited outside the hotel doors while Sophia went in. She told Rin Saito of her predicament, and asked for a room key. With a sigh, she gave it to her, and Sophia hurried to the elevator to go up to their second-story hotel room.

Down the hallway she walked, oh-so-calmly. Now that she was about to get it back anyway, all emotion dulled and deadened again to the emptiness it was before. Even when she had been anxious, it wasn't even really that much of an emotion. It was almost more of a need, like eating or sleeping or finding shelter.

Sophia opened the door.

She walked, taking long strides, to her bed, and grabbed her faded blanket immediately, clutching it tight and holding it to her chest. It was still soft, and it had the distinct scent of something left behind. She turned to the door, about to head out, but something on the nightstand caught her eye. Strawberry jam. She tapped the lid with her finger; it was unopened. Huh, what a surprise. She lifted it and grabbed the piece of paper beneath it. This paper was folded, so she opened it up to see text in an almost typewriter-like font.

To: B
From: L

Her mouth twitched into a sneer. "Now you're just copying us, L…." She gave a little giggle; her own natural laugh. It was childish and cute, yet somehow dark. Such a tease…. He knows where we are? Good for him. We're moving anyway. Sophia giggled derisively, and Beyond chuckled darkly. This doesn't matter anyway… you won't be beating us this time.

Holding the jar of jam in the crook of her arm, her blanket draped over her shoulder and the note clutched in her hand, Sophia made her way out the door. B would love to have some jam later, they were sure.

Uh-oh...

Fun Fact: Looking back on this little bit, I'm really questioning and trying to re-rationalize Near doing this. .-. The second time around, it doesn't seem like him at all. ...Carp.

Review? For, uh, strawberry jam?