Despite Near never again staying up late at night or hearing crawling noises, he kept having nightmares. Nightmares about a monster crawling around the school. Crawling trying to get into people's rooms.
Sometimes Near would dream that Mello would save him from the monster. But that was only sometimes. Most of the time the nightmares were terrifying and there was no one to save Near.

And every morning Near would see a red rose taped on Alternative's door. All thorns carefully cut out from it. Near always stop at Alternative's door and looked at the roses before Alternative could even have a chance to see them. It was mid December. Winter was in its coldest time and many of the roses were already covered in snow. Dead. And the ones that survived.....belonged to Alternative.

Not because the rose garden was Alternative's. Not anything like that. They belonged to Alternative because Beyond Birthday said so.
It was prohibited to cut the roses, yet Beyond Birthday would cut them and taped them to Alternative's door.
And of course, rumors at Wammy's spread like a fire.
How could Alternative- someone so beautiful, delicate, smart, and perfect engage in conversation with someone like Beyond Birthday who was a trouble maker and a weirdo. Someone who was Backup if Alternative were to fail. Someone who was Alternative's competition.

Rumors spread like the heat of a fire in a dark, freezing-cold, winter night that it quickly got to Roger's ears. Backup is cutting roses from the garden.
Of course, there were consequences.
Roger told Beyond Birthday that he would be taken out of the competition. He told him in front of everyone during lunch.
Beyond Birthday laughed in Roger's face. "I don't care about becoming the next L. I don't care about that at all."

Near turned to look at Mello's table. The group wasn't laughing or eating like they usually do during lunch. They were intensely looking at the direction of the rebellion. A fire in Mello's eyes as soon as Beyond said that. Less competition for him.
Same expression for everyone else in the cafeteria.

But Near knew that Roger wouldn't eliminate Beyond Birthday from the competition. Roger would never. Nobody could top Alternative like Beyond Birthday could. Nobody's scores were perfect like those two. Everybody knew that. And if someone actually believed that Roger would eliminate Beyond from the competition, well they were a fool. Because everyone knew Roger wouldn't.

The threats didn't scared Beyond. He didn't care. Why was B at Wammy's then? Near would never know.
The threats didn't scare B so the attention turned to Alternative.

"No please!" Alternative literally cried when Roger threatened to eliminate him from the competition. "Please don't. This is all I have."

B couldn't care less and Alternative couldn't care more.

"Please don't take this away from me." Alternative's pleads and crying replayed in Near's head for the rest of the day.

It was way past bedtime and Near was playing in his bed with his toys. It was the first time in a long time he was awake so late at night. Being under the covers was the only way Near could keep warm in these cold, snowy nights.

Suddenly he hears a knock.
Near quickly peeks out of his door's keyhole to see who is out in the hall at this time of night.

He sees Beyond Birthday standing in front of Alternative's room. After a few seconds, Alternative opens the door.

"After you told me to meet you here at this time, I couldn't stop thinking of you . I brought you something," Beyond whispered and Near was only able to hear because the hallway was dead silent.

Near watched attentively as Beyond reached into his coat and took out roses. A bit of snow coming out of his pockets as he did so.

"How did you get them?" Alternative's voice was even more difficult for Near to hear.

"I went outside right now. Roger would never know."

"Backup, I wanted to talk to you about that. I don't want to get in trouble anymore. Having the opportunity to work with L in the future means a lot to me."

Near watched as Beyond's smile disappeared, but he was still extending his hand with the roses.

"No one will know. If we meet at this time I can give them to you and I can be alone with you," Beyond quickly said. Didn't even let a minute of silence go by.

"No. I don't think it's a good idea. I really don't want to get in trouble," Alternative repeated.

"Please don't be like that. Please accept these roses. They're yours. You deserve everything," Beyond offered the roses like a sacrifice.

Alternative shook his head no, and Beyond quickly grabbed his hand.

"Don't be like that, A. Don't." Now Beyond's voice was louder and borderline threatening. He had a firm grip on Alternative's hand trying to get Alternative to get the roses.

Near couldn't hear what A said but it must had been something important. Something hurtful. Because as soon as A said it, Beyond let go. Let go of A's hands and the roses. Beyond watched as the roses fell on the hallway's floor.

A took this opportunity to close the door leaving Beyond alone in the hall. Not even a minute passed and Beyond began to knock on Alternative's room.
"I'm sorry. Please open the door. Please talk to me."

No response and soon Beyond's knocks grew louder.

"Please A. I don't care about this stupid competition. I don't care about L. You're the only thing I need!!!"
The knocks turned into banging and Near could feel the walls begin to shake.

Beyond suddenly stopped. Like a miracle. He picked up the roses from the floor and reached into his coat's pocket.
Near watched as Beyond took out handfuls of frozen snow from his coat pocket and began throwing the frozen snow at Alternative's door.

Near got up from the floor and ran back under his bed covers. Although the snow balls weren't thrown at him or at his door, he felt extremely cold.