"All we are and all we want

Forty years come and gone

All we are in photographs

Can never be taken"

-The Fray, Absolute

Beyond Birthday had almost everything planned out, almost everything was down to each tiny detail. Wringing his hands, which still were coated in a bit of red from either his jam or his last kill, he stared at the lit windows of Wammy's House, watching silhouettes of children dance by them, a shadow in the light. Their lives twirled before his very eyes as he caught glimpses of their remaining life spans. It was a horrible kind of beauty. But he was not trying to occupy his mind with the notion of these, normal, cursed genius children. Oh no, Beyond Birthday was looking for something else, someone special. Though the orphanage was pretty far away, his amazing eyesight could see many things, his eyesight could easily rival an eagle's. His raven black hair was being whipped around by the wind, the swing he was perched on making small creaks as well. He wondered briefly if everything would go as planned, that fate would work its way into his hands.

It must… He thought, scooping up another handful of jam and munching on the sweet substance. It must happen now or it never will…

And suddenly, all his hopes were proven true as he caught a glimpse of a young girl peeking out at him with wide blue orbs, her lips set into a puzzled frown.

Butterfly let out a large sigh of relief once Mello finally let her and Matt out of the closet. Both children had stumbled out with large, red blushes on their faces and Mello had been wearing a triumphant smirk and asked them if they "did it" or whatever that meant. Flattening out her clothes, Butterfly decided to take a little break, allowing Matt and Mello to spend some time to talk about boy stuff. Butterfly may have been a Tomboyish girl but there were some things that she couldn't understand about boys. That irksome red tint to her cheeks was finally starting to fade, for which she was grateful. The moon was bright, or at least it had been before the clouds had strolled past it, covering it in a milky veil, and giving the sky an eerie shine. Stars twinkled in the places they were visible, stars that she used to spend a long time counting as a child. Wasn't she still a child? Sometimes it didn't feel that way.

But there was something off about this picture, but it was the strange feature that seemed to enhance the eerie mood outside. Sitting in a swing was a lone man, and he seemed to be staring directly at her. No, directly through her. But there was something about him, something that told her to go outside and talk to him. Though she really wasn't sure if there was anything logical at all behind those feelings. Feelings are never logical she reminded herself with a bit of a smile before turning away from the window and walking down the hall. Children were not forbidden to enter the yards at night, as long as it was not past curfew. This rule, however, was one of L's rules, the rules that L deemed to be worthy, not the rules Roger approved of.

Slipping on a red jacket, Butterfly opened the door that led to the back yards and stepped out in the chilly air. Her feet curled in protest of the cold, one foot still clothed in nothing. So before she was able to shut the door, she took a step back inside and slipped on a pair of boots by the door. They were large boots, much too large for her, but she did not care. Frightened that if she went all the way to her room to get her boots her finding would be gone already, she decided to put up with them.

With awkward steps, she walked through the snow covered yard to where the swings were. The footprints trailing behind her were large and un-proportional for such a small girl, but she was focused less on tripping and more on the strange figure.

But when she reached where he had been sitting, not a single soul was there. Her heart fell as the sight of the swing moving back and forth in the wind without a rider. A shiver coursed down her spine as she realized she was out here for nothing.

"Good day," a voice chimed in from behind her. Every hair on the back of her neck prickled and she spun around to face the spitting image of L. Only this was not L, that much was obvious. There was something about this man that was not L-ish. Her pulse was racing as her brain tried to come up with some reasoning, but her brain seemed to hold no such thing anymore. "You don't remember me? That's very tragic…" The man walked past her and sat himself down on the swing, studying her.

"W-who are you?" she wrestled out, still nervous.

"Rue," he said simply, as if that one word could answer all of her questions.

"Rue..?" she repeated the word as if it would help her understand this. But then something clicked as his dark eyes trailed up to hers. The dark orbs flashed red once, and a small smile spread across his face.

"Y-You…" her voice suddenly sounded young and small. Images of being in her backyard played in her mind. The image of a man walking out of the shadows was the most prominent. A memory of being handed a small bear also appeared among the memories laced with the scent of strawberries. A smile broke out on her face.

"You're my father, aren't you?" she asked suddenly.

Rue grinned, as if that was what he wanted to hear. "Yes, your real father." Unable to contain herself, Butterfly through her arms around Rue and gave him a hug, well, she gave him some form of a huge since he was perched on a swing. Rue hugged back to the best of his ability, though it was more awkward for him; he let go first. Butterfly pulled back, her smile still alive.

"How did you find me?"

Rue shrugged. "It was rather easy, a little bird whispered in my ear." Butterfly was suddenly acting like a normal nine-year-old.

"Where did you and mom meet? Why did you leave us? Wh-," She babbled out questions so fast that it was a miracle that Rue was able to pull them apart.

"One at a time… now let's see… I met Kenny about a year before you were born, in LA. She was a nice woman… I met her while I was killing the man she had been dating at time." Butterfly wavered slightly at the word "killing". "But instead of being horrified, she seemed grateful which was very curious…" he placed his thumb in his mouth much like how L would while thinking. "I suppose it was dating though I am not sure exactly how to relate to people. I had intercourse with her once, during which you were conceived." Some of the things he was saying would not make sense until a bit of time after. "But I left her once I realized I would not make a good father. Though raising a young homosapien seemed like an interesting experience…"

Butterfly had to force these next words out. "K-killed?"

"Yes," Rue said matter-o-factly and rather bluntly as if this were the most normal thing a human could talk about. Butterfly was too stumped to ask more about that. Rue just went back to examining her like a painting.

"How long are you staying…?" she asked, trying not to sound daunted by the words he had just said.

"Do you want me to depart?" Rue questioned in a monotone.

"N-No, of course not, you are my dad… Well, what should I call you…?"

"Father… Rue…" he grinned. "Or you can call me Rue-Rue like your dear mother." He laughed once, the sound was dark and sounded like something that a god of death would make.

"I'll call you Rue then," she grinned slightly, finding his laugh amusing.

"Alright my dear… but I'm afraid we must depart soon," he mused, staring up at the sky, dismounting the swing.

"Oh… will I ever see you again?"

"No," he said with a cracked smile. "Fate will not allow it." And with that he leapt up the fence, waving at her once before disappearing over the other side.

"What a strange man…" she muttered, a smile over her lips. "Then again… he is my dad."

Beyond Birthday watched as his daughter stared at the swing where he had been sitting at previously. She was interesting, he noted, though he knew he would never be able to see her again.

"Butterfly," a voice called from Wammy's. Both Beyond and Butterfly looked over to where a boy with a striped shirt was making his way over to her.

"Hey Matt," Butterfly called back, walking through the snow clumsily, her smile suddenly bright. The rest of their words were lost to him but he was able to see as the boy, Mail Jeevas, took the girl's hand in his and they made their way back into the orphanage.

But Beyond couldn't help but frown at the numbers above each child's head.

Beyond Birthday knew a lot about fate, though sometimes he couldn't help but hate it.