Disclaimer: The Maiden of Autumn owns nothing.

Thank you to all the readers and reviwers- please, continue to enjoy the story.


At an unknown place, an undeterminable amount of time later…

"Ah, I see that it's working. K really was a genius, wasn't she, pet?"

A pitiful snarl was all Beyond got in return, slowly lowering to a whine as the effects of the drug he had just administered began taking effect. "God… no more, Beyond. This… this isn't right… Whatever you hope to accomplish…. It's wrong…"

Beyond shook his head in annoyance, turning away from the strapped-down figure on the table to pick up a syringe and fill it with more pearlescent liquid from a glass bottle. "Too slow. The effects aren't fast enough- obviously, the dosage needs to be upped. It's not seeping into the DNA fast enough."

L began to struggle, rebelling against the bonds that held him down, but they would not give.

"Hush, now," Beyond croonedsoftly , stepping forwards and injecting the substance into his subject's arm. Immediately, L went limp, a glazed look beginning to steal into his eyes, an odd yellow glint beginning to show in the grey of his irises.

Beyond set the syringe aside and reached out to gently run his hands through L's fluffy black hair, trailing down to feel the tips of L's ears. He grinned pleasedly when he felt the tips had started turning more pointed, morphing into what he wanted them to be.

"It's alright, Lawli," Beyond murmured, "You'll soon cease to think of right and wrong- you won't have to worry about that any more. I'll teach you, never fear. You'll be the perfect pet…"


A year later….

"Light, Light!" Matsuda was yelling his name as he ran into the room, flushed, sweaty, and out of breath.

Swiveling around in his chair, Light removed his headset and looked at Matsuda, cocking an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"We've found him."

Light's eyes widened, his fingers gripping the arms of the chair a split second before swiftly standing up, discarding his suit's jacket over the top of his chair. He sped out of the room, followed by Matsuda, tugging the tie around his throat loose as he did so.

"Details, Matsuda!"

"Our report details a red-eyed, Caucasian male with dark hair entering and leaving a warehouse on the edge of the city every night for the past few months. His description fits Beyond's exactly, and we think that he's holding L captive there."

Light nodded, mind rapidly running through procedures, heart starting to race. Had they finally found L? After all these months, could it possibly be? "Have the team suit up- I want them fully dressed in protective gear. Watari said this guy's dangerous, and I don't know what sort of stunts he's going to pull. I want them mobile- have an ambulance on-site, arrival set for after we arrive, in case. I want nothing left to chance. Good, Matsuda? Now, go!"

Matsuda nodded and rushed off, heading to alert the team about Light's orders.

Light himself, observing with satisfaction the haste in which Matsuda was making, quickly ran into the locker room and stripped out of his suit, dressing in standard SWAT gear, complete with a Kevlar vest and full protective gear. He pulled his handgun out of his locker and strapped it to his waist, shoved his secondary weapon-his knife- into his black boot, and hefted his standard-issue semi-automatic gun over his shoulder, slamming his locker shut and rushing out.

Light was not really one for using force- he hated guns as much as L had, but after the kidnapping, he had become paranoid and always had a weapon on his person, and had invested in body armor and guns for all of the Task Members, in the event of something like this.

While L had been hard to get along with, him being a workaholic bastard and all, he had never wished something like this upon the infuriating man. L had been his boss, his partner- hell, L was L, the world's greatest detective, his idol since L had fist gained the title, and actually considered him some sort of a friend.

L didn't deserve to be kidnapped and in most likely possibilities, tortured, by an obsessive psychopath whose sole intent was to capture and break L.

No one deserved that.

Light was broken out of his thoughts by sudden sirens, and he looked up to see he was in the garage already, the transport cars already up and running, the Task force geared and suited up in gear similar to his. Aizawa was opening a box, handing out headsets and radios to everyone, and Light accepted his, slipping it on.

"Alright," he said, addressing all of them. "Load up- hopefully the report was accurate and Beyond's in there, and we can retrieve L. You know your teams- we'll do a radio check on the way there. I and Matsuda will enter the warehouse first- on my signal, Aizawa and Soichiro will come in, with Watari as sniper on a nearby roof. We have police helicopters and cars on-call in the area, as back-up in case something goes wrong. They're not in sight, so Beyond won't know we'll be coming. Objective is to retrieve L at any costs, and Beyond, dead or alive- I don't care which. Everyone set? Alright, move!" Light shouted, and within minutes, they were exiting the garage, speeding down the streets and heading straight to the warehouse Matsuda had given directions to.


The place was silent as they pulled up, and they got out, sneaking to the corner, Matsuda and Light at the front.

A tap on Light's shoulder made him turn around, and he was shocked to see Watari there. "Watari," he hissed, "you're not supposed to be here! Where's our sniper?"

"Soichiro is taking my place," Watari whispered back, "and I will be taking Matsuda's. L was my ward for many years," Watari continued, cutting Light off as it seemed as he was about to speak, "and I failed him by allowing Beyond to get his hands on him. I owe it to him to be one of the ones getting him out of there. It does not matter what happens to me, as long as L is brought out safely."

Light was about to speak, when Matsuda turned back to them. "I understand. Light, it's only right. I'll switch places with him." He and Watari switched, and Light just shook his head.

"Whatever. Let's just get this done. The sooner we get L out of there, the better. Watari, let's go. Matsuda, Aizawa, on my signal, be ready to get in there."

Then, he and Watari slid around the side and snuck into the warehouse.

It was cold in there, due to the fact that it was fall, there was no heating in the abandoned space, and it was almost pitch black. The darkness, the silence was eerie, and Light covertly switched the light on top of his gun on, Watari following his lead.

They slunk deeper into the warehouse, all senses alert, until they found a trapdoor hidden in the corner. A few more sweeps of the ground floor revealed nothing except some steps leading up to the rotting second floor and some empty crates, so Watari got to work opening it while Light radioed in to Aizawa.

"This is Light, Aizawa. We've found a trapdoor leading to a deeper level, located in the far right corner of the warehouse. Watari and I are going down- come inside and position yourselves near the trapdoor, in case we need
backup."

"Copy, Light. Moving in."

With that, Light cut off the communications and turned back to Watari, who had forced the door open and was waiting for Light to give the okay.

Hefting his gun, he made sure it was primed and ready before nodding to Watari and started to descend down the steps silently, Watari following closely behind.


Below, ears perked up, a head swiveling to turn in the direction the intruders were coming from. A low, throaty growl echoed from a chest, warning and threatening, only stopping when the hand running through black hair grasped it and jerked only slightly, as a reprimand.

"Not yet, pet," a cold voice whispered. "We don't want to give away our location. Let them come, and then you may get your revenge on Kira."

The growling ceased, although pale lips still curled in a grimace over pale, ivory fangs. A body tensed with anticipation, as it heard the glee in its master's voice, knowing instinctively what was to happen. As soon as master gave the signal, the hunt would be on.


"Shit," Light hissed, as he stumbled over a rock, almost losing his footing. He was only saved by Watari, whose hand shot out to grasp the back of Light's Kevlar vest and jerk him upright, saving him from falling and sending the various crates and other paraphernalia rattling to the ground.

Light heaved a sigh. "Thanks," he whispered, and he saw Watari nod out of the corner of his eye. Taking a breath, Light continued on, keeping a more watchful eye on the ground this time.

They had been walking for an upwards of about 5 minutes, and from what Light had observed, the basement was a narrow tunnel, about the span of 5 men and the height of one and a half, hewed out of rock and lined with crates, shelves, and other things that looked like discarded clothing, packaged food, weapons, and-what was most disturbing- medical equipment, along with many syringes filled with a white, pearlescent liquid that looked like no sort of drug, medical or illegal, that he had ever seen.

It sent dread twisting into Light's gut, and if the intake of breath from Watari slightly behind him and at his side was to go by, he felt the same dread that Light did.

God, L, I hope you're okay.


Footsteps were heard, getting closer, and a growled whine was let out, partly warning, partly begging. The hunt was near, was sensed, and an eagerness was being made known.

The hand let off stroking black hair, and cold, firm hands drew the body up, turning to point at the direction the sounds were coming from.

"Go, my pet," that feared-loved-hated-craved voice whispered. "Make me proud and bring them back."

Lips curling in an eager, predatory grin at the permission to indulge in the hunt, it loped off, on swift and silent feet, blending into the darkness that permeated the shadows.


"Shhh," Watari whispered behind Light, stopping suddenly. "Did you hear that?"

Light stopped, listening for a second. They had been walking for another 15 or 20 minutes, walking slowly to make sure that they didn't miss sweeping any part of the tunnel.

"Hear wha-?" Light started to ask, but whipped around as a muted thud was heard, and saw Watari crumpling to the ground, swiftly being drug into the shadows, behind a large crate.

"Watari!" Light rushed to the crate, seeing Watari's feet round the corner, but by the time Light got around the crate, to the other side, the older man was nowhere to be seen.

Shit!

Light backed away, his gun gripped with steady, if not slightly nervous hands, senses alert and eyes scanning the sides around him swiftly. That didn't stop as he reached up to press the button to his communicator. "Aizawa, come in. Watari's been- I don't know, he just disappeared. Right in front of my eyes, he disappeared. I'm not sure what happened, but Beyond must have set a trap, and-"

Light was cut off as something cold and hard pressed to the back of his head, knowing instinctively what it was.

Raising his hands, Light let his gun fall to hand loosely against his body, kept on by the strap around his neck. "I'm not armed right now," Light said, referring to his surrendering stance. "I don't know what you want, Beyond, but-"

Once again, Light was cut off as Beyond, who was behind him, didn't say a word, but simply jabbed him in the back of the head with his gun, a signal to start walking.

And Light did.


They walked for a while, Beyond totally silent behind him, which unnerved Light. As a psychopath that had his enemy at his mercy, shouldn't Beyond be gloating, at least? The silence was dreadful, yet Light kept walking, the steady pressure of the gun pointed at his head a constant threat.

Finally, the tunnel narrowed out and an opening was seen, through which there was light able to be seen, the only part of the place that was lit.

Light blinked as they went through the door-sized opening, the room beyond it opening to a large, circular room. A bed was on one side, large, covered with red bedcovers and large plush pillows. A table with two chairs was set in the middle, and dressers and tables on the other side of the room. And right in the middle, Light saw something that made his eyes widen in shock.

In the middle of the room, seated in a large, throne-like chair, sat Beyond Birthday, a smug, sadistic smile upon his face and red eyes gleaming bright in the light of the lamps hung at regular intervals within the room.

And if that was Beyond in front of him, then that meant that either Beyond had a minion on hand, or-

Light refused to finish that thought. Watari had said that Beyond Birthday was one of the only people L truly feared in the world. There was no way L would ever do something like this for Beyond, even upon pain of torture. He knew L- the detective was too stubborn to side with one of his enemies, even if he was being tortured.

"Ah, hello Light," Beyond suddenly said as Light was forced to halt a few feet in front of the reclining Beyond by a harsh jerk on the back of his vest. "I have to say, you being here comes as no surprise. Pesky Light, what shall we do with you?"

"You sick psycho," Light hissed, narrowing his amber eyes at the psychopath in front of him. "Where's L? You said that you wouldn't kill him!"

Beyond chuckled, dark and amused, as if he held the punch line to a joke only he knew. His eyes shifted to a point just behind Light, and he grinned. "You can let him go now, pet. Come here to me."

As Light felt the barrel of the gun remove itself from the back of his head, Beyond focused back onto Light, his red lips twisting into a sick grin. "You won't go anywhere, will you, Light? I don't think you'd leave without your precious L, would you?"

"What do you mean?" Light asked, but his question trailed off as he saw someone walk around from behind him, towards Beyond.

Someone with black hair, dressed in full black gear, and walking with a familiar slouch.

But it couldn't be who he thought it was. The person he wanted this one to be couldn't be the one wielding an automatic heavy assault rifle, walking towards the man he professed to hate and fear, and that had potentially captured and delivered his caretaker and now friend to the man that was his enemy.

And-

Light's eyes widened as his eyes caught details about the man he thought could possibly be his friend, but in no way could. It wasn't possible, there was no way-

"What the hell have you done to him, you sick fuck?" he choked out.

For as he watched, the man that he thought was L reached Beyond's side. With practiced comfort he stepped to straddle Beyond's lap, bringing his hands up to rest on dark-clad shoulders and rest his cheek against Beyond's, letting him catch a glimpse of appendages that no human should have.

That his friend should not have.

Beyond grinned, reaching up to run a hand through spikey black hair, where furry, pointed ears stuck out, colored black- the same color as the bushy, black tail wagging lazily, protruding out of the back of L's spine.

"I simply took him and made him better," Beyond responded lazily, scratching the mass of black spikes, a low rumble reaching Light's ears as the action continued. "I, using K's leftover notes, found a way to bind an animal's DNA to a human's. It gave them that animal's instincts, as well as a few other advantages- a tail for better balance and quicker recovery reflexes, a wolf's ears for better hearing, the eyes for better seeing, and a wolf's sense of
smell, to name a few among many changes."

"Of course," Beyond continued, frowning now, "there were a few disadvantages- the process completely replaced the subject's human intelligence, leaving them with an animal's instincts and thought process. Of course, the starting intelligence of the human subject determined how intelligent they would be once the adjustment to their body had been made, and L is one of the smartest subjects I've been able to do- he's the most perfect specimen I've created, able to understand and complete simple tasks- anything I ask, he does."

"I've made him perfect," Beyond stated, grinning evilly. "I've gotten him right where I want him- the great L, broken, beaten and at my beck and call, the perfect servant. It' so pleasing, to see the man that everyone wanted to have, to possess, to even see, now groveling to me. A would be pleased."

Light had only felt his rage grow at Beyond's sick words, and as soon as the psychopath stated that he had broken L-his friend, his rival, his idol, something within him snapped. With a growl, he grabbed up his gun, aiming it
right at Beyond.

At the sound, L's head swiveled, and Light froze at seeing the changes inflicted upon his friend for the first time. The black ears poking out of the mess of black spikes were more noticeable from the frontal view, and pale lips
curled back to showcase long, ivory fangs that were definitely unnatural, and definitely made for tearing into flesh. Large eyes, still wide and black, were narrowed, the warm ring of grey that usually surrounded the black no longer grey but a feral, hostile yellow, now focused on him.

The rumble of L's growl turned from low and pleased to decidedly loud and threatening, his eyes focused solely on Light.

"I wouldn't do that, Light," Beyond said lazily. He stopped petting L, and pushed the detective off of him, the man sliding onto his feet with a predatory grace unnatural for the hunched man. Unnatural for his friend. "Subdue him, L," Beyond ordered, and then settled back.

Light was unprepared for how fast L had become; even from the beginning, the detective had been stronger and faster than his lanky frame had let on, but the messing Beyond had done with his DNA had obviously changed that, making him even faster.

In a second, Light's gun was discarded, and Light was pushed against the wall, a gloved hand pressing his throat to the wall tightly, and Light could feel the point of sharp claws pressing against the cloth of the gloves.

Staring into L's eyes, he saw only cold, animal-like intelligence. There was none of his friend in there, in those burning yellow-ringed eyes, and Light felt despair overtake him. "L, you've got to fight whatever Beyond has done to you," Light choked out, feeling his airway being slowly constricted, and in desperation said, with his last bit of breath, "It's Light- I was your first friend, remember? Come back, L!"


Dimly, through L's consciousness, something familiar niggled at his brain.

There was the overwhelming urge to do as his master said, to simply drag this human back and throw him to the ground at his master's feet, to get the approval of his master.

But something else told him to try to listen to what the amber-haired man was saying, for some reason. And this conflict of feelings, so foreign and unknown, shocked him enough to make him freeze. He had never once heard any voice telling him to disobey his master's orders. Not once.

There was never any reason to; disobeying his master led to pain, while listening led to him being praised and rewarded.

So he concentrated, listening to what the human in front of him had to say.

"L, you've got to fight whatever Beyond has done to you!"

L- his name. he knew that, had heard it before in so many contexts, that he knew whether or not to cower when his master said it in an angry or disappointed tone, or to come and be rewarded happily when he said it in a pleased tone. But never once had he heard it said the way this human did, with desperation, sadness, despair, and –longing? The mess of emotions contained within the choice that uttered his name confused him, confused him enough to make him listen to what else the human was saying.

And Beyond- his master's name. Did the human want him to betray his master? That wouldn't happen; the idiot human didn't know what his master would do to him if he let the human go!

"It's Light- I was your first friend, remember? Come back, L!"

Light…Light….Light.

Why did that seem familiar?

The word tugged at his brain, making him recall things that had been long buried. But why were they surfacing now, of all times?

Light.

"You're my first friend, Light."

Light.

Sharing a computer, working together in comfortable silence on something. The comfort he had felt with this person was one he had never felt with another before.

Light.

Suspicion. He suspected this person of something, although he didn't want to. Light was his friend.

Light…Light…

His friend. Light…His suspect. Light… Kira. …Light. The investigation. Light. The task force. Light. Kidnapping. Light!

"Look at me, L! Come back!"

Gasping, L felt his memories return, and he looked into blazing amber eyes, desperate and despairing.

Light!

"Light…" L rasped, feeling his vocal chords burn as they were used for human speech for the first time in a little under a year.


"Look at me, L! Come back!" Light rasped out desperately, seeing the confusion and hesitation flicker in the feral yellow eyes, no longer so feral, but more confused.

They wavered for a second, dropping for a brief moment, then raised once more, and when they met Light's own, they were warm grey again, confused and scared, but that warm, familiar color once more.

Light felt a wave of something- relief, joy, and another odd feeling- spread through him as L's grip on his throat loosened to allow him to breathe, and the pale lips opened, to allow a single word out.

"Light…" the usually monotonous voice was hoarse and scratchy, but the sound of the long-missed voice of his friend sent joy through Light.

"That's right, L. It's Light, your friend. We've come to take you back."

"NO!"

Beyond's voice cut through the room, and the two men turned to see Beyond striding towards them, anger burning in his eyes. "Bring him to me, L. I am your master!"

Light's desperate gaze returned to L, whose own eyes were passing between Light and Beyond's, flickering between the feared yellow, and the familiar grey. They finally settled on yellow, and the crushing grip returned as Beyond's training kicked in, L's natural response to obey the man that had become his master. He growled at Light, L's upper lip curling in a fanged sneer as his animal instincts, hardwired into him by Beyond, overtook his mind, pushing his human consciousness to the back.

Beyond stopped upon seeing this and watched, waiting for L.

"No, L," Light choked out. "You remember, right? I know you do! You hated Beyond, remember? He kidnapped you, forced you to live here with him while he did such horrendous things to you. The L I knew-know- wouldn't allow himself to be treated like this, like an animal. Fight his control, L," Light whispered desperately.

"L!" Beyond called impatiently, beginning to get annoyed with L's resistance. "Bring him here!" He started forwards once more, intent on forcing L to obey him.

Light shook his head shakily. "Don't do it- listen to me, your friend, not Beyond."

L's gaze flickered between Light and the ground, as if battling within his own mind, until slowly, he looked back at Beyond with unsure, confused eyes, then back at Light, to Beyond once more, and Light again.

"Yes… No," L whispered raspily, drawing back slowly, shakily. His crushing grip on Light's windpipe slackened as his hand drew back, and Light gasped for breath, reaching up to rub his sore throat.

Warily, he watched L, not sure what was going to happen next. It was frightening, seeing the usually stoic detective so unsure and out of control, and Light was all at once captivated by the now animated face, even if what he saw in the face of his friend scared and thrilled him at the same time.

L's eyes still flickered between the feared yellow and warm grey as twoconsciousnesses-animal and human- warred within his mind for dominance. His furry ears twitched, back and forth, as if they were listening to two separate people that only L could hear. "I don't know…what is right… I don't know…I don't know!" he howled, sinking to the ground, clasping his gloved hands over his ears, bending them into uncomfortable angles, but uncaring of it in his desperate attempt to block out the two battling voices.

He needed… they needed to go away, to stop screaming for him to bring Light to master, and to go with Light at the same time. It was confusing, and frightening, and he wasn't used to dissent within his own mind, couldn't handle the two warring, separate voices. He couldn't take it- he wanted to claw his ears off, to rip something apart, to rip everything apart in an attempt to get rid of the voices, and God, they just needed to stop!

Take him to master!

No! He's your friend!

Don't listen!

Don't listen!

Deceiver!

Liar!

Fool!

He knelt there, frozen, eyes shut tight and eyelids quivering. "The voices," L whispered, "the voices- make it go away. It tells me to bring you to him, Light, to master, and I want to listen so badly… I need to…no…make it stop."

"It's telling you to listen because I am your master," Beyond said angrily. Stopping in front of L, he drew the limp detective up, off the ground, grasping the altered man by the throat and drawing him up to face level. Red eyes bored into flickering grey-yellow ones, and L hung limp in Beyond's unnaturally strong grip.

"Will you listen to me?" Beyond whispered to L.

There was a moment of frozen silence, as Light held his breath, fearing that L would say yes, but then, L hesitantly shook his head. "You feel wrong," L whispered raspily. "Malicious, dark, dangerous. I sense it. You're rotting, corrupted. I can't listen to you, no matter how much it's screaming for me to."

Beyond's face twisted into a snarl, and he spat, "Then you're of no use to me. You're a failure, L," he hissed, and then in his anger, tossed L away from him.

L hit the wall with a thud, the back of his head impacting with a sharp cracking noise, along with the odd sound of what sounded like plastic shattering, and he slid to the floor and slumped onto the ground on his side, limp and unmoving.

"Such a disappointment," Beyond sighed, glaring at L's limp form, then turned back to Light, unsurprised when he saw that Light had gotten ahold of his gun once more, and was now pointing it right at Beyond's head, cocked and loaded. "Don't move, you sicko," Light growled, flickering his eyes over to L for a moment before returning them to Beyond.

"Beyond Birthday, you're under arrest for the charge of kidnapping and holding person against their will, torture and unauthorized medical experiments on a non-consenting person, and multiple, innumerous counts of first-degree murder."

Beyond raised an eyebrow, smiling as quick as a flash, he raised his arm and had a handgun pointed at Light's head before he had a chance to see what Beyond was doing. "That's where you're wrong, Light," Beyond sneered. "I'm not going with you- you're going to let me walk out of here with L, or I blow your head off. You've undone a year of progress, of training and programming of L, and now I have to start all over. Do you know how long it took me to get him to where he was before you had to go and mess with his mind?" Beyond growled, his arm now shaking as he tried to hold in the rage that overtook him at the thought of all
his progress gone. "It took me months to lock away his memories, and I need to get started as soon as possible reprogramming him before it's too late. So you're going to put that gun down, step aside, and let me go, or so help me, I'll kill L and then-"

"I think not," a familiar voice came right before a thunk was heard and Beyond crumpled to the ground, his gun clattering to the floor as the psycho fell, revealing the angry form of Watari. He held his gun butt-first, which he
had used to hit Beyond over the head, knocking the psycho unconscious.

"Watari!" Light cried, putting the safety on on his gun and letting it fall back around his neck, rushing forwards to help the older man, who had knelt and was clasping a pair of handcuffs around Beyond's wrists. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Watari replied, shaking his head. "I was hit over the head and when I came to, I was lying in this room, off to the far side behind a table." He looked up then, Beyond safely secured, and glanced over towards L, his eyes taking on a sorrowful cast. "I heard enough- we need to get L out of here and tested to see just what sort of sick experiments Beyond performed on him. K was a piece of work herself, but she lacked the… creativity Beyond did. I shudder to think what they could have come up together. K, at least, still had some limitations-Beyond has none, especially when it comes to L. There's no telling what he could have done with his hands on K's notes and none of her influence to hold him back from the edge of true immoral experimentation."

Light nodded. "If you'll get Beyond, I'll get L. I'll radio the rest of the team and tell them to get the ambulance here and have them ready to transport L back to the Headquarters. Beyond threw L hard, and he might have a concussion or something worse. We'll need to run tests on him as well, and I'll also tell the team to have our doctor updated on things and ready to treat L when we get back. The holding cell will also need to be prepared- I'll send Matsuda back to do that," Light told Watari as the older man lifted Beyond's lanky form up and heftedhim over his shoulder.

Watari nodded. "Of course. If you don't mind, I'll go ahead in case Beyond wakes up, and oversee things at headquarters. If L regains consciousness, make sure that he doesn't move around until we've determined that his spine and head are uninjured," Watari instructed Light, then turned and made his way out of the room as Light crossed swiftly to L's side, kneeling and gently rolling the altered detective over.

Light sucked in a breath at seeing the trickle of blood that had tracked down from the back of L's head to trail down the side of his neck, and worry invaded Light as thoughts of what could happen if something t]like this, if it was bad like he feared, was left untreated. And seeing his friend in such a situation… Anger filled him at the thought that if it wasn't for Beyond, he and L might still be working in comfortable companionship back the he Headquarters, and he cursed under his breath.

No one treated his friend like this. Beyond would pay, if he and no doubt Watari had anything to say about this.

Nevertheless, he pushed aside those thoughts for the moment and gently slid his arms under L's slim form, lifting up the light body and cradling it, taking a moment to get situated as he stood up. He shifted L's weight to his one arm for a moment to adjust L's head to rest against his chest, on his shoulder so that it would jostle around, and crossed L's arms over the detective's chest so that they wouldn't dangle and jar his spine with the motions of Light's gait.

Then, he shifted the detective's form back into both arms, shaking his head for a second as a black-furred ear brushed right under his nose, and spikes of feathery hair tickled under his chin. Frowning, Light absentmindedly reached down to brush the irritant under his nose away, but drew it away as quickly as if it had been burnt when the sensitive ear twitched at the rough touch.

Staring down at the form of his altered friend for a moment, Light couldn't help but feel a wave of uncertainty wash through him as he thought about all that L had been through, and what the detective had become in the year in Beyond's hands.

Things are never going to be the same between us, are they? Light thought sadly, sighing before shifting L so that the ears wouldn't tickle his nose and then started down the tunnel, making sure to make his gait smooth as possible to avoid jolting L.


Light squinted as he exited the warehouse, the bright light burning his eyes for a few seconds before they got adjusted. The ambulance was just pulling up, and as soon as Aizawa and Matsuda spotted him, they rushed forwards, intent on helping him.

Shit, what were they going to say when they saw L?

Light thought fast and shifted L once more so that his ears and facial features were unseeable to the men coming towards him.

"Light!" Matsuda exclaimed as they neared him, "Watari wouldn't tell us anything other than that you found L. Beyond's already being transported to the Headquarters. Is that L? Is he alright? What happened in there?" Matsuda fired off the questions at a rapid pace, Aizawa adding his own version of the same questions in his usual blunt manner.

"Not right now, Matsuda," Light replied, intent on getting L to the ambulance that was just parking, paramedics already exiting the vehicle and running towards them. "I'll explain alter. Just- don't say anything, alright? I'll explain when we get back," Light had time to say before the paramedics got there.

"Is this the injured man?" the first paramedic said, a taller man with shoulder-length black hair. He had intense brown eyes, totally focused on his job.

Light nodded. "Has Watari already told you?" Light questioned the man, and he inclined his head.

"Yes. Head wound, get him to the address given and stabilize his head and spine. Don't ask any questions about the patient, and don't tell anything to anyone. My team and I have worked with Watari for years, whenever he and his charge came to Japan, and we've never let him down before. You can trust us- we've signed a confidentiality agreement," the man said with a reassuring smile.

"My name is Nemushita Yokoro, by the way," Yokoro continued as he looked over his shoulder, gesturing for the stretcher that was being set up by his two other teammates. He then turned back forwards, seeing L's body in Light's arms. "And this man, I've seen before as well. We had to treat him a few times, when he got into bad situations." As he reached out to take L from Light, Yokoro's eyebrows raised upon seeing the altered detective. "However, this man, I've never seen in a state like this before."

Light tensed, and Yokoro shrugged, striding towards the stretcher that was approaching them. "But, Watari pays us to treat first and ask questions never, so I won't ask."

Light relaxed, nodding in thanks, then with one last glance to L's form, turned away to climb into his waiting car, where Aizawa was already behind the wheel, waiting to drive them back to the Task Force building.


Edited version uploaded 4/6/13