So, I've just started (and promptly finished, because I couldn't put it down) reading Death Note – Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, and I absolutely loved it! There's a whole other side to L that neither the manga, nor the anime (which are virtually identical, by the way) never explored. He's surprisingly human. I also gained a lot of insight into Wammy's house and learned plenty about Watari/Quillish Wammy.

Anyway, I plan to slowly implement a little of L's personality from the BB novel into this story. Enjoy, and feel free to review!

L Lawliet's P.O.V.

I munched on my cake, staring at the screen that now showed only static. Yori stomped off in fury as Mr. Yagami continued yelling into the microphone, trying to reach Ellie, but I knew there would be no answer. She had cast her equipment aside in pursuit of BB, and I highly doubted she would be back any time soon.

My eyes wandered over to my son. Nate must have sensed that something was wrong, because he was on the verge of crying. He didn't even bother to chew on his spider toy, a sure sign that he was unhappy. When he finally started wailing, I had already tuned everything out, my mind going a million miles an hour.

My wife's outburst had come from nowhere, and I can honestly say that I had not seen it coming. That in itself is impressive. Even more so was the fact that despite my having access to every camera in the city, and my having a general idea where she had been a moment ago, I had no idea where she was anymore. I put down my cup of coffee that I had been sipping since the start of the operation and quickly stood from my chair. Without a word I raced over to the elevator, pressing the button that would take me to the bottom floor.

As I walked away, I heard Soichiro Yagami calling after me, "L? L! L, where are you going?"

Ignoring him, I watched the door close and waited as the elevator took me to the bottom of the tower. When I reached the ground level, I grabbed a mask and hat off one of the shelves, shoving them on as I hurried outside. The fresh air felt strange in my lungs after having been inside for so long, but I paid it no mind. I hopped into one of the cars I saw parked on the street and hotwired it. This one was far more discreet than the limousine I liked to cart Ellie around in. I made a mental note to buy an older, less recognizable vehicle the next chance I got.

It only took a few minutes to drive over to the park where Beyond Birthday had left his little joke. Several police cars were surrounding the area and the park was already being roped off. With a quick glance to make sure none of the shinigami were around, I took off my mask and got out of the car, showing off a fake investigator badge to the police. The name said Lawrence on it… The same alias Ellie had given me the first week we'd met.

I followed the disembodied feet until I got to the end of the path, where I saw the shattered jar of peach jam. BB had been fond of puzzles. His main goal in life had been to try to surpass me in a game of riddles, trying to destroy me in a battle of wits. He had lost of course, due in part to Naomi Misora's quick thinking as well as my helpful guidance though his labyrinth of obscure clues.

But I wasn't looking for B this time. I was looking for Ellie. A far more challenging prospect, as she was incorporeal. I could see her, I could touch her, I could even taste her. But as much as I enjoyed doing so, the only thing I could do without her express permission would be to look at her. She could pass through walls as easily as if they weren't even there when she so wished, meaning that finding her would be a very daunting task as she was unlikely to leave behind evidence or a trail of any kind.

Beyond, on the other hand, was something else entirely. Smart as he was, he was still only a human, and would thus leave behind a trail. There was no telling if he knew that I was here as well or not, but I didn't think that he did. The clues he had left this time were far too obvious. They were too easy to solve for someone like me. They were clearly meant to antagonize the police in general, and therefore Kira. If Kira didn't know who he was, then he couldn't kill him. And as far as BB knew, Kira would have no way of finding out who he was other than to have the police catch him.

He was mocking Light Yagami. I smiled slightly to myself at the thought. Light likely hated BB already. If anything, having him run loose would be a good way to distract him from Ellie and I as we look for a way to destroy Kira permanently.

However, Ellie had gone after Beyond. That meant that wherever BB was, Ellie was likely to be there as well. I went down on my hands and knees, examining the last foot in the trail. It was clearly a woman's foot, as it was particularly dainty and sported bright red nail polish. It smelled slightly of antiseptic. I examined it from every angle, then moved on to the grass in front of it. There was a slight indentation where someone had been standing fairly recently.

I thought about the trail of feet. Why would it have stopped here? What was so special about this spot? It was possible that he simply ran out of feet. But I doubted that, as I had counted an odd number of them, and most people tended to have two. It also seemed that he had no issue taking as many as he wanted. No, this was definitely deliberate.

It was possible that BB had some sort of literal meaning behind stopping the feet here. I stood up, staring at my feet. If I were walking forward, leaving footsteps behind me, then how would I manage to make the footsteps stop. There were a few possibilities. Either the material beneath me changes – for example going from mud to stone – and the footsteps are simply no longer visible, I have stopped moving – thus having reached my destination and no more footprints need to be made – or, the last possibility, I somehow have gone upwards. Seeing as the ground continued on as simple grass and BB was obviously no longer here, I believed it was the latter. Glancing upward, at first I didn't see anything. But, as I searched the area above me I saw something in the tree that clearly didn't belong there.

A ragged piece of once-white cloth billowed in the light breeze, tied loosely to the limb of a tree directly above where the feet stopped. One might mistake it for common garbage that had blown up there in the wind if they didn't know any better. As I examined the cloth I soon recognized it as a bandage. It looked like the same type of medical fabric Dr. Kaneko had used to patch up Ellie's stab wounds, only much older and dirtier.

My thumb moved to my lip on its own. I chewed on my nail in thought. What message could he be sending by leaving behind an old bandage? Was he trying to say that all these people had been sick? Was he attempting to guide us to his next little scene?

I was pulled from my thoughts as I saw something in the distance. A shinigami was flying around the area. It was still far enough away that the likelihood of it seeing me was only 17%, But I still considered those odds to be against me. Immediately I put my mask back on, then climbed up into the tree to get to the bandage. The police would almost certainly ignore it even if I had left it there, and I wanted to consult with Yori on the significance of it. His background in medicine may prove invaluable in finding my wife.

I dropped down from the branch, landing in the soft grass inches away from the woman's severed foot. Standing up, I walked rather quickly towards a spot where the police had not yet roped off the area. It was a reasonably large park, after all. Leaving the stolen car where I had parked it, I walked back to the tower.

No… Not the tower. Ellie apparently wanted me to call it home. I only ever really thought of it as a base of operations, but it seems that Ellie had been considering it a far more personal place. It was a strange concept to me, as I had never really preferred to stay in one area. I always followed where my cases took me. She, on the other hand, was clearly not accustomed to the concept of detachment.

This idea got me thinking of everything else she had said. She'd claimed that our entire relationship had been about Kira. Looking back, I could see why she would say so. Unless I considered something important and relevant, I would not bother to say it. From the perspective of those not privy to my inner thoughts, my entire life in this dimension has been centered on defeating Kira. As much as Ellie could do, she was still unable to read minds. Perhaps she was unaware of how much I truly did love her.

In all my life both in this world and my old one, I had never genuinely loved anyone. The idea was foreign to me, only understood academically though observation of others. The closest real connection I'd ever had to a person was with Light, because despite him being Kira, he'd been the only person I ever felt like I could call a friend. That is, until I met Ellie. I still don't know what it was about her that I found so enchanting. All I knew was that I was in love with her, and it felt strange. The more I got to know her, the more attached I grew.

When she said that sometimes she wished she never married me, my chest grew tight. I didn't know how much of a hold she had on me until that moment, when she exploded in a burst of pent-up frustration. Her tone suggested that she'd meant every word, and at that moment I nearly panicked. I hated the thought of losing her and being alone again like I had my entire life before dying and showing up here.

Now that I'd had a taste of what it felt like to be liked for who I was – after a lifetime of people giving me uncomfortable looks and whispers about how weird I seemed – rather than just for my investigative abilities, I refused to die alone again. I would find Ellie, even if it meant forgetting Kira entirely. I couldn't defeat him without her anyway.

My thoughts were interrupted when I got to the tower door and was promptly tackled to the ground.