Free time and boredom.

That's what a lot of Beyond's days consisted of now-a-days.

Not that he was meant to have free time, in fact he was currently scheduled to be sat in quantum physics and yet, here he was, wandering the halls and hating every moment of it. It was still better than that god awful class, though.

Although L had informed them all of the apparent and inevitable introduction of the newcomer, Beyond was still yet to actually see her. They were all called to the courtyard for the same introductory phase that they had both been greeted with upon arrival, yet it was all for naught. There was no girl. There was simply an empty file with no name, no alias, no image and no information. For all Beyond knew, she could have just been a test from L to see how A and Beyond would react to the idea of a stranger within their midst.

It goes without saying that the small killer was less than pleased with the unnecessary waste of his time. However, it was during his time pacing the halls, while trying to avoid the ever searching Roger, that Beyond encountered something not even he could have expected.

The sudden intrusion of a small black gem dropping from the ceiling above him, forced the slightly irritated boy to stop in his tracks and glare at the floor. There was no reason for it to be there, yet there it was. A small, black, shiny gem which just happened to appear in the air above him and fall directly in front of him, nearly catching him in the face in the process.

It was while bending to lift the gem (accompanied by a barely audible frustrated sigh) that Beyond was informed of another's presence. A voice which, although quiet and uncaring, wasn't all too pleased with him trying to pick up the stone.

"Don't touch that. That's mine."

Beyond actually stopped, questioning whether the voice was real or simply a figment of his imagination again. But, after thinking it through, he reached the conclusion that the voice had to be real however, who the name belonged to was something left to be questioned. It most definitely wasn't L. Nor was it A (even if he didn't speak all that often). There was no way in hell it was Quillish or Roger, or any of the teachers for that matter. The voice was too young and... high for any of those. And why was it above him?

Taking a deep breath, Beyond reached down and picked up the stone, running his thumb over it repeatedly to test it's surface.

"I told you not to pick that up."

Annoyance. That was that voice had now. Annoyance and indifference.

"And I didn't listen."

The curtness in his voice was cut short when he finally looked up and saw who he was dealing with. A small girl. Dark brown hair, grey eyes, freckles. Nothing special yet something different at the same time. A small girl who didn't look happy and who happened to be lying across one of the rafters above him.

"Don't you think it's a little too dangerous for someone like you to be up there?"

This roused a tut and a roll of the grey eyes before they fell onto him again.

"Don't make me laugh. You're more likely to trip over your own feet while stood still than I am to fall. Now. That's my stone and I want it back."

Beyond blinked. He wasn't used to being spoken to so... frankly. Not since his departure from Annabelle and her blunt ways. But it didn't surprise him enough to loosen his grip on the smooth stone, nor did it compel him to give it up to her. He didn't have the answers he wanted just yet.

"I guess you'll just have to ask nicely then, won't you?"

"No. Because if you take that it'll only make you a thief, and theft is against the law which is not what you're here for. You're here to be good, not break the law."

Beyond laughed, his head shaking lightly in pity for how little she knew.

"Oh, sweetheart, you really don't know me at all."

There was a pause and a light shuffling sound, causing B to refocus his attention on her. He found her now lying on her front, her right arm dangling in the air below her while she stared at him. It was only a small movement but effective and probably purposeful.

"I don't truly want to either." Her hand extended towards him, fingers together, palm flat. "My stone."

With a quiet and short laugh, Beyond threw the stone up to her and watched as it rose just out of her reach. What he didn't expect, however, was for the small being to launch herself from the beam, catch the stone and swing up onto the beam behind him. Without any contact with the floor at all.

"Thank you."

Beyond turned to face her, raising an eyebrow when he found her sat up and kicking her legs, quite obviously happy with herself.

"You're quicker than I expected."

"And you're dumber than I expected."

Small, blunt and harsh. Not at all what he had expected. His eyes dropped from her face to the stone being thrown up and down in the air repeatedly.

"What's so important about that stone anyway?"

"Don't you have somewhere to be? Somewhere less irritating for me?"

"Darlin', if I had anywhere to be I'd be there. I wouldn't waste my time on someone like you."

"Yet here you are, doing just that."

Beyond's shoulders lifted and fell in a lazy shrug. "My other toys have become boring."

"Only children play with toys."

"Oh, you're right. It's much more grown up to play with stones..."

Silence.

Blissful and wonderful silence.

Blissful, wonderful and short-lived silence.

"It's my 'thing'."

That made no sense to the small killer and actually managed to bring about a light and moderately puzzled frown. Something he wasn't entirely pleased with. Neither was she by the looks of it.

"A 'thing'. You know? We all have one apparently. L likes sweets. The timid guy doesn't talk. You like to play with people although you try to play your thing off as liking jam..."

Yet again, Beyond blinked. This wasn't how he had expected this encounter to go at all. The small, fragile-looking stranger already seemed to know quite a lot about himself and the others, yet he knew nothing about her.

"How do you know that?"

"How do you think? I don't just sit up here because I like spiders?"

"You like spiders?"

"It amazes me you're being considered as a successor if that's the thing you picked up from that."

Beyond huffed and folded his arms across his chest. "Alright. So you watch people. Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because it's not what you're meant to be doing."

"Talking to me isn't what you're meant to be doing. Yet here you are. Skipping class and trying to deduce a stranger you know nothing about."

Not nothing. He knew two things. One thing in particular she probably didn't even know herself.

"Ah, but you're not me. You should be being a good little girl and attending classes, shouldn't you Taylor? Or should I call you T?"

This time it was her turn to falter. In fact, it was a much bigger falter than Beyond could have ever wished for. Something which led her to lean too far back and very nearly fall from the rafter onto the floor in front of him.

Nearly, but not quite.

Next time.

Again there was silence. But this time it was due to the girl trying to figure out how he'd know that just by looking at her. Not that she'd ever guess how. It wasn't exactly something that was common knowledge, after all.

"How did you know that?"

"Now that would be telling and where would be the fun in that?" The grin that found it's way onto Beyond's face was both cruel and satisfied. The frown that found it's way onto Taylor's face, however, was both frustrated and confused.

"Tell me." she demanded.

"Tell me why you're up there instead of in classes. We all had to stand outside for two hours waiting for you to turn up on your initiation day."

"I know, I used the time to explore this place undisturbed."

"That wasn't what I asked."

"I never said it was." Yet, despite the stubbornness in her voice, a clearly defeated sigh indicated to Beyond that he had, yet again, won. "I don't have a reason to go to class. Yourself and timid gu-"

"A."

"A, aren't who I'm here for. I don't care about you nor do I want to spend any amount of time with you."

"So instead you hide up in the rafters to avoid having to talk to us? How sweet. Who is it that you are here for then?"

"Answer my question first."

"No."

Yet another sigh and a small show of resentment as she kicked her legs out. "I don't see why it's any of your business."

"I don't see why how I know your name is any of yours."

"It's my name."

"Yes, and it's my knowledge."

"I deserve to know."

"You deserve to be smacked." Beyond hissed back, already getting irritated by her stubbornness and refusal to agree to his terms. With a quiet growl, Beyond turned his back on her and started to walk away. "Fine, you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me. I'll see you around."

"Wait! You didn't answer my question!"

But Beyond didn't wait, nor did he care for that matter about the desperation in her voice. No matter how much she begged and pleaded, he wouldn't tell her. She didn't need to know about his eyes, nor did she need to know about anything else about his life.

"And I'm not going to." But I am going to tell L about the missing successor hiding in the rafters. Then we'll see how stubborn she can be when she's forced to go to classes.

He was sure she had shouted something else after him, but he was beyond the point of caring now, instead finding himself feeling rather indifferent towards the whole thing. In the end, she hadn't been the interesting toy he had hoped for. In fact, she was more disappointing and disposable than the boring mute he was already stuck with. If she was lucky, he'd give her a quick death. People like that often knew too much and said too little. And that wasn't something Beyond particularly enjoyed.

Silly girl. She doesn't know what she's done. But we'll show her not to piss us off. If she's the new toy you were told about then you could break her in no time. Silly, silly girl.

However, in years to come, Beyond would find himself wishing he could return to this exact moment. To completely rewrite it and change how it ended. Wishing, with brutal desperation that he could change even the smallest event to produce a different outcome than what was coming. But, unable to change the past, Beyond would find himself living in a world of regret and self-loathing. Desperate for his time to end. Because this was the start of something not even he could have predicted.

This was the start of something awful.

If only he had known.

*Author's Note*: Wow, well, I've been gone for a while. If I'm 100% honest with all of you I sort of forgot I was still uploading this for you all, not because I don't care or don't love it, simply because my outside life caught up with me for a little while. But hi. I'm back. Hopefully I'll be back again in less time then I was last time. But who knows? I have an awful memory for this sort of thing.

But here it is! Here's the next chapter. I don't know how it turned out and I do hope you like T. She hasn't come out quite how I wanted her to yet but we've still got a while to play with that. Thanks to all those who've read, recommended, favourited and reviewed! I really do appreciate it and I'm sorry I haven't been more frequent in my updates. But here's hoping I am from now on, eh? Lovely to see you all again. Hope you're all doing well! Much love.