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Thank you to all the readers and reviwers- please, continue to enjoy the story.
Light strode through the halls of the building, Watari right behind him.
"Where's L?" Light asked, peeling off his gloves with his teeth and unzipping his Kevlar vest. The body armor could become heavy at times, almost stifling, and Light wanted it off.
And then he wanted to see L.
"We had to put him into a cell- one of the solitary confinement ones," Watari explained, but then froze as Light whipped around, ripping the glove out of his mouth.
"You did what?" Light exclaimed. "Why?!"
Watari shook his head, ignoring Light's anger. "He was a danger to himself and others, Light. We had to lock him up for his own safety. Beyond has altered his mind as well as his DNA- there's something not right with him anymore, and until we find out what it is, or until Beyond deigns to tell us, we need to keep L restrained."
Light's grip on the glove in his hand tightened, and narrowing cold amber eyes, he reached out to hold his hand out, open with the palm facing up. "The keys to the cell. Give them to me," Light bit out, infuriated at the thought of L, his friend, being locked up like a common animal. He had already went through that at Beyond's hands for a full year. L didn't deserve to go through any more, damnit!
Watari didn't move for a second, instead searching Light's angry eyes, before nodding at the unyielding determination he saw within them. Sighing, Watari withdrew the key to the cell and reluctantly dropped it into Light's awaiting hand. "His cell is B1," Watari murmured, Light already turning to walk away.
Then, a thought stuck the older man, and he called out, "Light! Do you want to interrogate Beyond Birthday for more information?"
Light stopped, Watari's words making him think for a moment. Thoughtfully, he looked down a the small silver key glinting in his hands. Interrogate doubly meant "torture until the subject gives up vital information," and even though the subject was Beyond Birthday, the sick bastard that had experimented upon and possibly have ruined L, Light still found he couldn't condone torture.
"No," Light replied, shaking his head with conviction, starting to walk away again. "Torture is wrong, no matter who the person in question is. Leave Beyond Birthday be- he'll be going to trial soon enough, and we can question him later- not interrogate, question, understand?"
The trip to L's cell didn't take very long, and Light frowned as he saw cell B1- it was a total solitary confinement room, with no bars or windows, soundproof walls, and a metal door with a handprint scanner as its only way in and out. After L had been captured and Light appointed as the new L, all the technology and locks in the building had been re-set to Light's command- the retina scanners, voice identification, handprint scanners, all of those kinds of locks were set to admit Light entrance and no one else.
The fact that Watari had felt the need to put L into this cell, though, disturbed Light. What could have provoked this?
With some trepidation, Light placed a slightly trembling hand to the scanner and it flashed once, scanning his hand, then beeped in acceptance. There was a loud click and a hiss as the locks and bolts sealing the door came undone.
Taking a breath to steel himself for the sight of seeing what his friend had become, Light grasped the door, pulled it open, and then pulled it shut behind him, hearing it click locked once more, safe and secure.
Nothing Light had seen of L thus far could have prepared him for the sight that met his eyes in that room.
Disbelieving eyes locked onto the altered form of L on the opposite side of the room, next to the wall.
His body was in a straightjacket, a small and thin, yet strong chain wrapping around the jacket to secure to more tightly. His clawed hands poked out of the jacket, but the fingers were coated with clay, hard plastic gloves holding the material in place so that he could do no damage with his claws. L wore no shoes, revealing unnaturally long feet, styled much like the back feet of a wolf, and Light could only guess that his feet were clawed as well, because his toes had been covered in the same way that his hands had. L's black-clad legs were wrapped in the same strong, thin chain that covered his torso, prohibiting any movement other than the bending or straightening of his legs.
L was hunched over, totally silent and still, and from where he was standing, Light could see the back of L's neck where his black hair had parted to the side, and saw that a thin metal collar had been placed high around L's neck. A chain ran from his collar to midway down the back of the straightjacket, presumably to keep L from bending his head forwards and clawing at his bonds with the wickedly sharp canines Light had spotted earlier.
Light swallowed, the only sound in the suddenly eerily silent room, and other than a minor twitch of L's pointy black ear, the detective didn't move.
Unsettled, Light stepped forwards cautiously, and did so again when the detective still didn't move. Not a twitch was seen from black ears, the tail that Light suddenly noticed was lying limp on the ground, or a rattle from the
numerous chins binding him that signaled a muscle move.
"L?" Light called out cautiously, now only a few feet away from the detective. "L? Are you alright?"
Still not a movement, and Light was becoming worried as well as extremely disturbed.
Something's not right… Light thought, and cautiously, now that he had moved close enough, he moved out to gently touch L's shoulder-
Only to draw back with a surprised curse as L suddenly snapped his head up and to the side, attempting to bite Light's hand. L missed, only grazing the side of Light's hand, and a loud snap was heard as the crushingly sharp teeth met.
Furious at missing his prey, L looked up- and Light gasped.
A depraved anger burned within L's eyes, any trace of warm humanness gone, instead replaced by wolfish yellow ones that showed no sign of anything but an animal's killing instincts. L growled, a deep, threatening rumble that was so similar to a wolf's that it raised the hairs on the back of Light's neck.
"L?" Light whispered. "L, what happened to you?"
He tried reaching out once more, but recoiled as L's head shot forward, trying to bite at Light's hand again. Light withdrew once more, only to watch, frozen with incredulity and shock, as L thrashed around, growling and
snarling, lips curled over gleaming white canines.
Mixed feelings of despair and anger overwhelmed Light as he slowly stepped back, L slowly stopping his thrashing until Light was right at the door. The detective only glared balefully at Light, lips still curled up in their
frightening grimace, feral eyes never leaving Light even as he reached behind him to trigger the unlocking mechanism.
They never left Light, even as the younger detective backed out of the room.
It wasn't until the door slid shut in front of Light's eyes, finally blocking the detective from sight, that Light blinked and released a shuddering sigh, resting his form against the wall. Shakily, he lifted his hand, clenched into a fist, to his face, seeing the trembles that he hadn't realized encompassed his entire form.
He was… angry, Light realized.
Angry and terrified and despairing at what his friend had become, at what his friend was.
At the hands of Beyond Birthday.
Letting out a growl of his own, Light slammed his hand to the side of him, hitting the wall with an almost bruising force. "Fuck!"
"Sir?"
Light looked up to see Watari standing patiently, calmly in front of him. "Is there anything you require, sir?"
The older man's words held a double meaning, and Light steeled himself for what he was about to do. Standing up, he curtly nodded. "Yes. Bring the interrogation kit to Beyond's cell. I'll meet you there shortly," Light said, already turning to the elevator.
Watari nodded. "Sir, the key…?"
Light shook his head, feeling the small key that he had put into his pants pocket. "I'll keep it with me, Watari."
"But sir, after seeing him like that, you cannot possibly be thinking of releasing him?!"
"No, I won't," Light said. "But I'll keep it with me. Just in case… Just in case his state changes."
He kept growling, even after the brown-furred human had left. This human had a different feel to him than the black-furred human that had kept him until recently.
This one felt more trustworthy, and almost familiar, but a well-deserved fear of the other race had left no room for second chances; the black-furred human had scarred him for life.
However, the black-furred one held sway over him; he was the alpha of their pack, and so he had had no choice but to defer to him for fear of more pain.
This brown-furred human, however, held no such sway, and as such, he felt no need to allow the human into his personal space. He was dominant, now that his alpha was gone, and made sure the other human knew it.
Light entered Beyond's cell with little ceremony, only sliding his hands into plastic gloves and stepping over to the table where Watari was waiting, the interrogation materials spread out on the table.
Beyond was strapped to a metal chair bolted into the ground, and was watching the proceedings with sick amusement glinting in his eyes as he surveyed the instruments. "I take it you've seen L?" Beyond laughed, receiving only silence in return.
"Ah, you must have. He's probably not in very good condition, is he?" Beyond enquired, a sick little smile tugging on the edges of his red lips. "After what happened to his brain… no, I suspect his humanity has been lost now. Too bad, so sad-but oh, well," Beyond sighed, shrugging, though the little smile remained.
The only response he was geiven in return was Light casually lighting up a blowtorch, then setting it off to the side. The caramel-haired detective then turned to Beyond, a cold detachedness making his amber eyes hard. "You're going to tell me what you did to L, and how to fix him, or I take all these," Light gestured to the various things on the table, "and apply them to you." His voice was hard and unrelenting- though Beyond doubted teh boy would go through with his threat. He looked too pretty and refined to actually go through with such a dark threat.
Beyond only shook his head, cackling. "Reveal my secrets? I don't think so, pretty. Why would I want you reprogramming L, turning him against me after all I've done for him?"
"All you've- you turned him into an animal!" Light shouted, slashing his hand in front of him in anger.
"No," Beyond replied, a maniacal grin taking over his face, "I've made him better- and I've made him mine. The only way L is going to get reprogrammed is if I do it myself."
"Stop talking about him as if he weren't human," Light growled, hand already twitching towards the table.
Beyond smiled crookedly. "But that's the thing, detective- he's not. Not anymore, at least. He's above human, the perfect specimen. All I need to do is tweak certain things, and I'll be able to prevent the wolf's instincts from
taking over completely. He'll be perfect, if only you would allow me to play with him a bit more. But you'll never let me, and I'll never tell, so this whole farce is useless."
"Enough," Light bit out, enough of hearing L talked about as if he weren't feeling, as if he were just some sort of science experiment. This was his friend, goddamnit, and he'd rip the way to fixing L from Beyond's mouth-figuratively or literally, Light really didn't care which. "I've had enough of your talking."
"Oh, good, is it time to get down to business?" Beyond asked, watching excitedly as Light began sorting through the things on the table, figuring out what to start out with. "Can you start with the knife? It looks like you've
sharpened it quite marvelously. Of course, it's a shame, you being an amateur at this and all, you probably won't even know how to use it properly…"
"Of course," Light nodded in acquiescence. "But you should know, I learned all my tricks from Watari- and he was an intelligence operative in the Vietnamese War. You wouldn't believe how much they were taught back in those days," Light said almost conversationally, picking up a large, serrated knife and flicking some dust off. "They were actually allowed to train on actual living people-criminals- in those days. Got away with so much more back then. There were no civil rights laws like there are today, and everything was done in absolute secrecy…" Light grinned, twirling the knife as he advanced on Beyond, delighting in the way a fearful gleam overtook Beyond's red eyes.
Obviously, he was expecting Light to not be able to go through with this…
But he had underestimated Light's fierce sense of righteousness and protectiveness towards friends and family. "You'll tell me all you know after I'm through with you," Light promised, and then brought the blade down.
An hour was all Beyond could take under Light's tender care.
"I'll tell, for God's sake, just STOP!" Beyond shrieked, and Light stepped back, dropping the sixth of Beyond's toenails into the garbage can Watari had conveniently set up.
"You'll answer all my questions truthfully, with no lies?"
"Yes! Just… no more!"
"Alright," Light nodded, pleased. He set the bloody tweezers back on to the table, and then stood in front of the panting, bloody, ragged form of Beyond Birthday. "Tell me everything- what you've done to him, why, and why he's in the state he is now."
And Beyond told.
He spilled everything, from K's findings of what would happen if one mixed animal DNA with a secret solution, and then injected it into a human, how he trained L to be his own personal bodyguard in return for all that he had done to Beyond- it would be the ultimate humiliation, for forcing L to serve the one he hated and not be able to do anything about it, how he had conditioned L- and the secret of the microchip planted in L's brain.
"It negated the effects of the wolf's overriding animalistic instincts," Beyond said. "When it shattered when his head hit the wall, it allowed these instincts to take control. L has no humanity in him- for all intents and purposes, he is a wolf, capable only of the animal's thinking processes."
"Why did you cause it to shatter, knowing this would happen?"
"As a way to get you to let me handle him again."
"Is there any way to replicate the microchip?"
"The blueprints are in my warehouse. But," Beyond smirked, "It takes months to create one, simply because the supplies needed are only available in certain places. It was a very sophisticated microchip, one that can completely reprogram a person's brain. It took years for K to develop it, and a few more for me to get it where it is today. It'll take me at least another year or so for me to perfect it, to allow L to completely function as a human once more. But once it is perfected… with that microchip, and the right hard settings, you totally control a person- force a soldier to be unable to kill, or force a Buddhist monk to pillage and rape."
Light growled in frustration. "You're saying L will be like this for months, until we can create our own microchip? Are there any other solutions?"
Beyond grinned. "Well, you could always do what I did- ugh! Fucking shit!" Beyond yelped, wincing. He huffed a sigh, and then glared up at Light. "I forgot about the microchip I planted in myself. It prevents me from saying too much- if I tell you too much about certain things, it causes me pain, and if I persist, it will cause a tiny explosion within my brain, killing me instantly. It was a safety precaution, in case of situations like this. But I can tell you this- look up a wolf's behavioral pattern. L is totally a wolf within his mind, and if you can figure out how he thinks and respond to him like an actual wolf would, you'll be able to control him to some extent."
Later that night, Light found himself up in his room, an internet search bar opened up, hands unmoving on the keyboard, contemplating.
He's a mass murderer, a psychopath who kidnapped your friend and experimented on him, for fuck's sake, Light! What are you thinking, listening to him? he berated himself.
But… Beyond's the one who made him this way. He knows what he's talking about, and everything he said made sense, Light had to admit.
But… something was nagging Light.
What was Beyond's purpose in kidnapping L? He understood the revenge factor, yes. Light knew Beyond hated L, for exactly the purpose Watari had detailed when he first explained Beyond Birthday to him. But if Beyond had truly wanted revenge against L, he could have done it in a multitude of simpler ways- killing L, raping him-
Light stopped the thought right there, shuddering at the thought of something like that happening to L. This was his friend, not some random woman who had been assaulted, and the thought of L having to go through that, along with whatever else Beyond had done to him caused shudders to run up his spine.
But still! What could Beyond possibly have gained from doing something like this, something so elaborate, and not sure if ti would work or not? He didn't seem like one to do things without reason, and simply doing this to L to have him serve as some sort of twisted bodyguard or something served no real purpose.
Light thought over what Beyond had said in the recording the year ago- his perfect memory was able to accurately recall the information word for word. …by the time I return L to you, he'll be a much better detective…
If Beyond had truly wanted revenge, why would he want to return L to them?
He thought back to the microchip, remembering Beyond mention one he had implanted in L's brain, and in his own as well. They weren't finished, and Beyond was still working on them….
So many puzzles, but unless Beyond gave them more information, Light couldn't reason them out. Growling in frustration, Light turned back to the computer, deciding to shove the mystery of Beyond's motives to the back of his head for the moment, before he beat his brain to death attempting to figure it out.
The issue of whether to trust Beyond's words regarding how to keep L under control still was at hand, and Light hemmed and hawed over it, wavering between his desperation to help L free of those awful chains, and his distrust of anything that came out of the killer's mouth.
Finally, he compromised. He'd do the research, and then apply it to L. If it worked, then he'd continue to listen to Beyond.
And of it turned out Beyond had lied…
He'd just apply some more of Watari's training to the psycho.
Satisfied with this decision, Light got down to work, immersing himself in the wolf's psyche for the rest of the night.
Edited version uploaded 4/7/13
