The Fawn | Death Note

6. Prisoner

* * * 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."