My sincerest apologies! Last week I actually lost my USB...so at least I had a valid reason not to update... ^^;

Also-holy crap you guys have caught up to what I've written I've gotta write fast fast fast- A Forgive me if this chapter isn't as good as the rest; I'm sorrryyyyyyyy

Ah-

Serialkiller567: Oh, don't you worry; I completely understand! Things have been a bit crazy for me too, but hey~ =7= Welcome back~ Whelp, uh, I sure hope the ending is to your liking, anyhow~

Er, as I am with Real-Life Sierra right now, she says hi to all of you!~ (=7=)/ "And I love you all!"

...But in any case... I hope you enjoy anyway!

Beyond began to wander. In the Fog, all was hazy and he felt rather lost. Wandering added to the feeling, but it made him feel like he was going somewhere, at least. We had told him to remove someone from the In-Between just earlier that day, but now it was dark and he was going in no particular direction. He passed by what used to be Mikami's hideout without a second thought, not even noticing (let alone recognizing) the place he'd stayed for a few nights.

He slipped through alleyways and past strangers with the red floating eerily over their heads as reminders that one day they too would be gone. He would wander for much of the night before he went back to his own hideout and simply slept. The sleep was shallow and dreamless. In a heartbeat, it seemed, he was awake again at six am, and everything was a fog. He stared at the ceiling, mind heading nowhere. He felt like he was sinking.

"I have to go to the In-Between," he murmured to himself. Yes, that was right. Orders from Kira. And he closed his eyes and sank into nowhere.

Fire.

The heat woke up his mind easily. His eyes flew open, tensing at the pain. This was nothing; he'd done it before, right? But something about dying just couldn't be gotten used to… He allowed himself to begin to slip; slip into the fabric of the In-Between where all of the voices resided. All was red and he felt himself beginning to slip into oblivion, nearly becoming one of the Lost himself. The figures moaned and wailed, sounding as though they were all underwater. But he reminded himself of the sharpness of night and of his goals against L and of Near for killing Sophia, his dear Sophia—and he groped through what seemed to be a thicker kind of air, almost liquid as he reached for the figure whose name read Maxwell Hartman. At last finding a grip and holding tight, he forced himself into motivation, ripping himself and Max out of the fabric and into the fire again. The child's screams no longer sounded like they were underwater, everything became clear again, including the agony of being burned to death. That was probably the kid's new reason for screaming.

But they reached the dream-like Other World and they died and they suffered through this death (at least Max stopped screaming) until eternity had passed and they returned to reality with a gasp. Both sat up on the bed. Beyond was disoriented, but composed himself quickly. The Nothing had returned, and he was better. For Max…not so much.

He was a young boy, perhaps only five years of age, with a head of messy light brown hair, grey-blue eyes opened wide as he breathed in and out, in and out, nearly hyperventilating with his whole upper body moving with his breathing. His hands were on his chest.

Beyond looked at him and waited patiently. After a few moments of the same thing, he got up off of his side of the bed and rounded it to be able to face him properly. Maxwell stared at him and made a strangled kind of sound, as though he were trying to speak, but couldn't.

"Maxwell, right?" Beyond inquired, entirely casual.

The boy took in a deep breath and made another noise, then looked around wildly before scrambling off the bed and kneeling on the ground, pawing and clawing the ground, then pounding on it and laughing and laughing and laughing…

He looked up at Beyond with a hysterical smile, eyes wide and beginning to tear up. He spoke slowly and painfully. "I…t's… rea…l…"

"Yes. All real," Beyond confirmed without emotion, and the boy's tears spilled over. He cried, and B watched. In the Nothing, tears meant nothing to him. He could not empathize in the least, so he just gazed at the boy dully.

Max began to laugh again, "I—out—! Free!" He hugged himself tightly, eyes rolling up to the ceiling as he tilted his head back slightly and grinned. "Done…" He let himself fall to the side, collapsing onto the ground and hitting his head on the concrete. He simply lay there on his side, still hugging himself as thin trails of tears dripped sideways on his face, off his nose and onto the floor.

"Get up," B told him flatly. "Can you?"

"I…where…?"

"You are in Japan, Tokyo to be exact. This is a hideout of mine that is underground. No one will find us here. It's secret." B realized he would have to explain a lot to this kid, but he was also aware that he would have to wait to explain it all. This Max was too fragile to handle knowing about Kira right away. He'd wait until…say, tomorrow. Or later today, if he recovered more quickly. For now he needed to make sure that Max would listen to him, and stay loyal to only him. "I took you out of that place. It's called the In-Between."

"Got…out…me…"

"Yes, I got you out."

"Th…" Max looked up at him without moving any part of his body other than his eyes. "Th…ank you…"

"Do you remember how to speak properly?"

"Speak…?"

"Speak. How long were you in that place?"

"How…long…?"

B sighed lightly. This would take a bit. He crouched on the ground to be closer to the boy. Max's eyes followed him. He didn't seem to want to move from his position on the floor. "What year was it when you went into that place?"

"What…year…" He looked up and seemed to think. B waited. "I…there was…what…? How…did I get…there…?" He looked confused. "Can't…remember…"

"You can't remember?"

"Cannot."

"Yes, cannot."

"No."

B sighed heavily. "What do you remember?"

"That place."

"That's it." It was a flat inquiry.

"That's it," Max confirmed. His bottom lip began to quiver. "H…ate…it…"

"I'm sorry," B apologized unapologetically.

"I…t's…o…kay…"

"Take your time." He tilted his head, eyes hollow. "Are you hungry?"

"Hu…ngry…" He paused. "Food… Food…" He pushed himself up slowly. "Yeah… Hungry…"

B nodded and stood; Max sat on the floor, leaning on one hand and staring at the ground. B rummaged through the fridge and came back with a jar of jam. He set it in front of Max. Max stared silently at the jar. B gazed at Max. Max looked at B. And B looked at the jar.

"I…can have…spoon?" Max inquired.

B blinked, nodding before going to get him one. It went surprisingly smoothly, I think. Hehe, if I were handed a jar of jam by a stranger I'd be pretty lost myself…

In any case, Max ate his quietly with a spoon, and B got his own jar which he ate in his Winnie the Pooh style. B couldn't tell whether the kid was questioning his eating methods, since he didn't seem to be showing any signs. Ah, well. Good. He'd have to get used to him anyway.

"Maxwell," B said, and the boy looked at him.

"…Max," said Max.

"You prefer Max?"

The boy nodded.

"Alright." B closed his eyes, then opened them again to look at the boy. His eyes were brown and wide, still nervous. Something was off about them; they almost looked paranoid. Something was broken. B vaguely wondered what. He wasn't surprised, though. "Max," he began again, "what do you remember from before the In-Between?"

Max looked down. "I…don't…" He allowed silence to envelope them, setting the spoon in his jam as he thought. Even B paused in his eating to let him think. "I remember…being hungry. And lonely. Mama and Papa weren't there no more; that's right. Mama and Papa were gone. Mama and Papa…" Tears welled in his eyes, and he began to cry again. B blinked. How was he supposed to handle this? "Mama and Papa! Do you know? Where are they?"

"They're in the In-Between," B answered him with blunt honestly.

Max's breath caught in his throat, and he seemed to stare at B with utter horror. Then he cried more.

"You need to understand they're not coming around anymore. I'm sorry." B's voice was flat and unsympathetic. Sorry; yeah right… He realized that in order to gain this kid's trust, however, he may have to lend him some kind of empathy. "My parents are gone too. Since I was young, just like you."

Max stared at him, lip quivering.

"My father was mugged and killed and my mother was in a train crash," he informed the kid flatly.

Max started crying again. "That's bad, that's baaad," he wailed.

B stared at him impassively. Maybe he wasn't that great with kids. Perhaps he'd just kill the kid if he was too hard to deal with, then tell Kira that he'd been too unstable for use…

As the serial killer was thinking these things, Max's blubbering turned into giggling. "At least…at least your Mama and Papa don't have it so bad…" He giggled some more. "Your Papa got beat up but that happened to me; he died so he don't feel it no more. Your Mama prob'ly died real fast like a light, heehee…"

"I'm sure," B answered dully. He never really thought about that. He supposed it would be better to go quickly. He'd never delighted in other's pain when he killed his victims, and he supposed that a part of him did hope that his parents hadn't suffered… As for his adoptive brother, well, he'd seen how that went. He wondered how much it hurt when A died…

"Being dead is prob'ly better than living 'n hurting lots," Max informed B.

"You're a smart kid," he answered without emotion. That also made him think of A. Maybe a high amount of emotional pressure was something like pain. B didn't quite know whether this was true, not while he was in the Nothing.

"Nah," Max answered with a shrug. "Not smart. I just know stuff 'cause I would rather be dead than go back to that place. Since when you're dead, I don't think you feel pain. You're not s'pose to…"

B gazed at him. He hoped that Sophia wasn't feeling any pain…

"Which do you think is better? Living? Or being dead?"

B blinked. This kid asked some strange questions for a technical five-year-old. Right? Maybe he didn't know 'normal' anyway. "To me, it doesn't really matter," B answered. "But if I have a goal that I want accomplished, I won't let myself die before that goal is achieved. However, if that goal requires my death, I'd gladly die."

"What's your goal, then?" Max tilted his head, curious.

"To win against a particular person that I dislike," he answered.

"Who's that?"

"His name is Near."

"Weird name."

"My name is Beyond Birthday."

"That's even weirder." Max started to laugh again. "I mean, nice to meet you, Mr. Birthday. Hehe."

"You as well, Mr. Hartman."

"Right." Max blinked. "How did you know my name?" He seemed hesitant.

Alright. Now for a bit of explaining… "I just know." That works too.

Max squinted.

Well, oh well. He tried to be vague. "I can see it. Above your head." Max looked up, and B shook his head. "No, no. Only I can see it." He pointed to his eye with his index finger. "I can see the names of people above their heads. I've had this ability since I was born."

"Ohhh… That's real cool. Now why do you not like the…Fear person?"

"Near."

"Near," Max repeated. "That's what I meant."

"He killed someone close to me."

Max thought about this. "…Oh. That's…not good…"

"Not at all." B looked at him in silence for a bit; Max wasn't looking at him. Then he inquired, "What goals do you have, now that you're free?"

Max seemed to think about this. "Uh…I dunno. I guess…I'll have the same goal as you for now, since Near seems mean and you saved me, so I should help."

B smiled, even though it felt strange on his face. Perfect. "You'd do anything to help?"

"Uh-huh. Because…if it weren't for you…I'd be still…in that…place…"

"That's right. Would you even hurt people for my goal?"

Max blinked, then smiled as if that were the best idea in the world. "Uh-huh."

Somewhere in his mind, B realized it wasn't normal for a kid to want to hurt something, but oh well. "Ah, very good… Thank you…"

"Mhm. Thank you for getting me out, Mr. Birthday."

"B."

"Call you B?"

He 'smiled' again. "Yes." Now I have a lot of explaining to do… He sighed lightly and leaned back, tilting his face to the ceiling and closing his eyes. There was nothing to look at on the ceiling anyway – it was all grey. I'll have to tell him about Kira eventually…

"Who's Kira?" Max asked curiously.

B looked at him in a flash.

Evidently, the sudden look scared Max, because he jumped. "I…I'm sorry… You said Kira. Is that your girlfriend?"

B looked at him carefully, the Full Moon creeping up on him. Surely B had said that aloud, and that was why Max had responded. "No… I don't have a girlfriend… Kira is someone that kills criminals…he's my ally." For now, he added in his head, and examined Max's reaction.

Max bobbed his head. "So you don't actually like them?"

"What do you mean?" B's heart was beating in his ears.

"Well…you said…"

No. No no no.

"I mean, 'for now' means you won't be on his side later, right?"

"I didn't say that." His voice was tight. This can't happen.

"You didn't? I thought I heard…"

It can't happen. People can only be Bonded to one person. Just because she's dead, that doesn't mean—

Max looked at him and blinked. "Are you okay?"

-Sophia is my only Bond, he can't possibly—

"I don't know who that is—"

"This isn't right!" he shouted. "You aren't my Bond! You can't! You won't!" Eyes wild, he stood abruptly and turned away, feet carrying him to the other side of the room, fist clenching as he punched the wall once, twice, three times to get rid of the Full Moon and calm down, Beyond, god damn it…

He went up the ladder without a word and locked the entrance behind him, leaving Max alone.

Whoopsie... ovo

Fun Fact: I had originally intended Max to be even worse (meaning he hated B), and in my first idea of this scene, Max was laughing when B panicked. Funny how things work.

Review? For Max finally showing up as promised! ...ovo