* * * December 17 * * *

Beyond adjusted the dead weight of the girl he had slung over his shoulder as he switched on the lights in the hallway. After walking a short way, he opened a door to his left. He took a few steps into the room before tossing the body to the hard floor. He then took Amelia by her shoulders and propped her up against the wall beneath his new installation. He lifted her arms one and locked them in the pristine shackles before backing away somewhat. Her right wrist was hanging lower down than the left. A low growl emerged from the murderer's throat before his long fingers returned to the chains, adjusting them until her wrists were perfectly level.

Once satisfied with this, Beyond looked down to the body. Amelia's true name and lifespan floated above her dangling head. He put a hand on either side of her face, squishing her cheeks together as he lifted her head and placed it so she was facing the door. Brown locks fell in front of her face, making L's original B furrow his eyebrows with a grunt. He roughly ran his fingers through the girl's hair, forcing it out of her face and behind her ears. There was a moment of silence as his dark irises ghosted over the teen's unconscious form.

"It's a shame that you had to be caught in the middle of our war," he mused before standing. "Fate is an unforgiving woman, even to the innocent." It was then when a wry smirk appeared on his lips. "Though, you're not without your own sins. That's what got you here in the first place." He snickered. "Then perhaps this is a fitting punishment for you."

Beyond retreated to the adjacent room without so much as a glance back to his prisoner. The room was cluttered with cardboard boxes of various sizes, though some items seemed out of place. He walked over to the corner of the room before picking up a small video camera and tripod. After checking the clock on the wall, he picked up his pace and returned to Amelia's room. He set up the tripod and camera in the corner to the right before closing the door behind him and returning to the other room. Once there, he took a medium-sized metallic box and pushed it to the wall shared with the girl's room. He made sure that all the wires were in place before covering it with a large cardboard box. He then left the room and headed toward the stairs.

After making his way to the abandoned lobby, Beyond left the building and made the short trek to his nearest safe house. Once inside, the murderer made his way to the comfort of his control room. There was no light bulb, but the light from the computer screens was more than enough to allow the man to see what he was doing. He checked the computer to his right, making sure that the bomb was online and would only trigger when he input the right code. Then he looked to the surveillance video feeds on the other screens. All was silent in this area of the town. Finally, he looked to the blank screen to his left. He grabbed the appropriate keyboard and input his commands. A cheshire-like smile rose to his lips as the live video feed of Amelia began playing on the screen.

Beyond reached behind him and grabbed fresh bottle of water as he spoke aloud. "I'll wait until she wakes up."

Near had spent all morning looking through every detail of the evidence. He currently had Beyond's latest message in his hands; the other ten messages, both translated and untranslated, were spread out on the floor in front of him. He had been looking back and forth between the message in his hands and the first ten as he figured out the pieces to the puzzle behind the last message.

Near smirked in satisfaction, having figured out the secret, and announced, "The last message says: The fawn is mine."

Matt looked over to him as he asked, "Where did you get that from?"

Near twirled his hair. "The first number in each row corresponds to the message number, if you give them numbers in order of when they were recovered. The second number of each row corresponds to that number word in the decoded message, and the third number corresponds to a letter in the word. For example: the first row reads 'one-four-three.' The first decoded message reads 'The king has returned,' the fourth word of the message is 'returned,' and the third letter is 't'. If you use that pattern for the rest of the message, you get: the fawn is mine."

Mello burst out, "That's great, but what the Hell is it supposed to mean?"

Near looked at the blond. "Are you familiar with the Disney film Bambi?"

Matt now realized where this was going, and said to himself, "Of course!" The redhead continued, explaining for Mello, "The main character is a young deer-a fawn-named Bambi; so, our own Bambi-a young woman-must be the fawn Beyond's referring to."

Near looked at Matt and added, "Yes, and since he was at the house with you two, he must have planned to take her then. The only reason he didn't at that time was because you were there with her."

Bambi's eyes fluttered open. As her senses returned to her, the young woman could feel her body aching. As she looked around, the hacker could see that the room was dark except for a strip of light across from her. After a moment of contemplation she decided that it was was coming from underneath a door. The small amount of light was just enough to make it so her eyes couldn't adjust to see in the dark room.

There's no doubt that Beyond did that on purpose, she thought. I need to come up with a way out of here. It will be harder without my sight, but doable.

The young woman took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She then closed her eyes to allow herself to focus on her other senses. Bambi could feel that she was sitting up against a wall. Her arms were being held over her head by a cold metallic material that was tightly bound around her wrists: shackles.

I need to think of something I can use-something I actually have on me-to pick the lock, she realized before moving on.

She then tried to move her arms. She soon realized that she was only capable of moving them a few centimeters. As she moved, she heard a creaking and clanking sound. Bambi's heart nearly stopped at the noise, fearing that she may have alerted Beyond that she is awake. After a few moments of silence, she had concluded that Beyond was likely too far away to hear her, and the shackles had to be attached to the wall above her by chains.

Bambi took another calming breath before focusing on her lower half. She felt the cool floor with only her bare feet. A jolt of pain went through her ankle as she shifted. The hacker bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out in pain. As the sharp pain subsided into the dull feeling that she had been ignoring, she deduced that she was still dressed, the floor was made of concrete, and her ankle was still either broken or sprained.

The captive investigator took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of musty and stale air with a hint of saltiness. With that information, she could tell that this building hadn't been occupied in a long time, no one had been killed here recently, and the room was likely near the ocean.

Given her last observation, Bambi realized, With the ocean nearby, I may still be somewhere in LA.

Her attention was quickly drawn away from her thoughts as she heard a repetitive sound from the hallway getting louder and higher in pitch: someone was coming. As her heart rate began to race, Bambi took a shaky breath in attempt to calm herself. She knew enough about violent criminals and kidnappers to know that as soon as he got what he wanted, Beyond would kill her. She would have to give him no reaction if she wanted to live to see another day.

Back at the hotel, Mello addressed Matt as he asked, "Hey, did you figure out what was on that USB drive yet?"

Matt sighed before answering, "Well, I found one thing on it, but every time I try to open it, all I get is a message saying 'not connected.' I'm not entirely sure what it's connecting to, but I think we have to wait to see." He tried opening the file again, but to his surprise, he didn't get an error message. His eyes widened in disbelief. "It's working."

Mello stood behind his friend so he could see too, and Near looked up at the screen from his spot on the floor. What appeared to be a live video feed popped up on the screen. It was mostly dark, but the boys were just able to make out a figure in the room, chained to the wall. Light flooded into the room as the door opened. The trio of investigators could clearly see that the figure was their missing partner.

Bambi looked up as the door opened, the light nearly blinding her. She saw the silhouette of a man with messy hair and baggy clothes: most likely Beyond Birthday. As he approached her, she tried to pull her legs to her chest defensively. The man slammed his prisoner's legs to the ground and sat on her knees so she couldn't move.

He was close enough that his head blocked out enough light for the teen to begin to make out his facial features. After a moment, she clearly recognized him as Beyond Birthday. All was silent as she stared at her menacing captor, only the pounding of her heart resonating in her ears with the sounds of her own breaths.

lub

dub

lub

dub

lub

dub

His grin extended as his eyes widened and he whipped his hand around. Bambi tensed as she instinctively jerked her hands to protect herself, only to have the shackles keep them held above her head. A few moments passed before she heard him chuckle darkly, followed shortly by the sound of metal creaking against glass and the distinct scent of strawberry hit her nostrils. Mentally cursing herself, she realized, He's just trying to get a rise out of me. I know he's unpredictable, but I need to keep calm.

As the captive investigator warily opened her eyes, she could see Beyond holding a jar with a maniacal grin on his lips. Right, Matt said that he always ate strawberry jam at Wammy's.

The murderer on her legs reached behind him, slowly pulling out something that glimmered in the light. Her dark eyes widened as all blood drained from her face – it was a knife. In that moment, he jolted the weapon-wielding hand around, making the teen flinch as he stopped just in front of her face and plunged it into the jar. Bambi exhaled shakily as she furrowed her eyebrows, gaze still locked on his hands as he pulled up the jam-covered blade.

Beyond pressed it against her lips, leaving the sharp edge just below her nose. "Want some?"

The strawberry sweet dripped down her chin as she remained frozen in place, her eyes wide and her heart nearly silent as she locked eyes with the man who had kidnapped her.

A few moments passed before he teasingly asked, "No?" He shrugged. "Your loss."

He withdraw the knife, bringing it to his own face as he slowly licked off the remaining jam. The brunette nervously swallowed a gulp as she tightened her lips into a thin line, ignoring the mess around her mouth that was dripping into her lap. He was playing mind games with her. She knew it, but she was losing all the same.

Beyond reached up and wiped some jam from his prisoner's face with his knuckle, licking it off before releasing a satisfied sigh. "So, here we are, and look at how far I have come. One day I was L's shining beacon, meant to be his successor, and the next..." He grinned. "Here I am, outwitting him and his little successors. What a shame to see the quality of production drop at the Wammy House."

She tightened her lips into a thin line as she eyed him warily. Surely he had to know the truth.

"Oh, but you're a special one, aren't you?" he cooed. "I've stolen away little miss Robin Hood from her band of merry men." Her eyes widened and her brows pinched together at the sound of her old alias, prompting a cackle from the murderer's throat. "It's quite the dysfunctional group you have there. So argumentative – especially that Mihael."

Bambi couldn't help but turn her head slightly as she opened her mouth. Who...?

He brought a wrist to his forehead dramatically. "Oh dear, I've forgotten. You don't know their names, do you?" He paused for a moment as his prisoner began to feel a pit in her stomach. "You know Mihael. He was the one who made you so easy to catch..."

He flicked the bruise on the teen's forehead, drawing out an involuntary whimper from her lips.

"And that Miles, such a sweet boy," he snickered. "You should really thank him. If I had my way, you and I would have met much sooner."

The photo of Beyond slipping behind her in the window flashed into Bambi's mind.

"But you already knew that, didn't you?" He grinned. "You know, you have such a childish name, Bambi—not that I judge people by their names."

He paused, watching her face intently. She narrowed her eyes and looked away, refusing to respond to his unusual statement. What was with all this talk about names? Were those names he gave for Matt and Mello even true?

After a few moments of silence, Beyond asked, "Do you know what name I like better than Bambi?"

The conversation was making no sense. She decided that it must be one of his tactics to unnerve someone. Although she watched him out of the corner of her eye, she still refused to turn her head and respond.

"Amelia Stein," he cooed as his slasher smiled returned.

Bambi's heart began racing at the sound of her real name. She made sure that it wasn't in any of the files at the Whammy House Orphanage, so this proved that Beyond had done his research. She closed her eyes as she tried to calm herself.

Beyond continued as a teasing sweetness laced his voice. "It suits you so well, Amelia, yet you chose to go by a name from a children's movie. Why is that Amelia? Do you not wish to be Amelia Stein?"

She still refused to answer. Beyond roughly grabbed her jaw and her eyes shot open as he yanked her head to face him, forcing her to look him in the eye. A cold sweat dripped down Amelia's neck as Beyond brought the knife to his prisoner's face, caressing her cheek with the flat section.

"My, my, Amelia, what a pretty face you have." He turned the knife, making a shallow cut across her cheek. She involuntarily winced at the pain as he continued, "It's almost a shame that you have to go this way." Beyond licked the end of the knife where her blood was as he emphasized, "Almost."

He let go and stood to leave, closing the door behind himself as he left her in the darkness again. Bambi let out a shaky breath as she closed her eyes. Tears of terror trickled down her cheeks as frightened chills went down her spine. Her palms tightened around the chains to her shackles as she tried to calm herself and think of a way out of the situation.

The boys had heard bits and pieces of the conversation, and were watching as Beyond left the room.

Mello was the first to speak as he ordered Matt, "See if you can track the location of that camera."

The techie's fingers went flying on the keyboard, and in a matter of minutes he had the location.

"Well?" Mello asked impatiently.

Matt hesitated for a moment. "It's pretty far away, but there was no security blocking me from the location. It took me half a day of nonstop work to get through the security on the USB drive, so-"

"He must be baiting us," Near interjected as he twirled his hair. "Remember that Beyond is interested in L, not us. He will do whatever it takes to get us out of his way."

Mello narrowed his eyes at Near as he raised his voice. "Well, what do you suggest we do? We can't just leave her there! We know where Beyond is now, so we should catch him!"

Near looked at him in mild irritation. "We have to think carefully about our options and create a plan of action. If we go in without thinking we will get ourselves killed."

Bambi felt like she had been there for hours trying to think of a way out. She heard footsteps in the hallway again and tensed, knowing who it would be. The door opened and the light almost blinded her once more. She saw the silhouette of Beyond Birthday with a knife in his hand as he rapidly approached her. The murderer sat on his prisoner's legs before she could move them.

No reaction, she mentally repeated as she tried to calm herself. Give him no reaction.

Matt yelled out to the team, "He's back in the room!"

Near and Mello gathered around the screen to watch. Their ears were quickly greeted by muffled cries of pain. Near began trembling at the sight. Unable to handle watching his partner be tortured, he walked away and began fiddling with a bag of dice that Bambi had bought him. Not long after that, Matt looked down. Mello remained staring at the screen, his fists clenched, and his body shaking in rage.