Another Life | Lawlight

Chapter 26

Matsuda stood at the entrance to the task force gym, which Matsuda didn't realise they had until ten minutes ago. They'd been all focused on finding Merikh that they never seemed to explore the facilities L added. Had it not been for Watari, Matsuda doubt he would've ever discovered this room. After Naomi filled Matsuda in on Kira's disappearance and assumed kidnapping at Merikh's hand, he instantly got to work. Trying to do something, anything to help find the missing detective. It wasn't until later, Matsuda realised, Beyond hadn't resurfaced from wherever he'd disappeared to when he stormed out the garage earlier. L typed away furiously on his computer. Aizawa and Mogi did their best searching CCTV footage to find anything that could lead them to Kira. So far, nothing.

Matsuda knew that his developing feelings for Beyond weren't healthy; the man is a serial killer. Getting involved with someone like would devastate him in the long run, but that didn't stop Matsuda from becoming more enamoured with him. To Matsuda, it's clear that the only person who seemed to treat Beyond as a normal human being was Kira; the detective didn't let what B had done cloud his view of who Beyond really was. The Task Force treated Beyond as dirt; Ryuzaki kept his own brother at arm's length as he did with everyone else except Kira and Watari. Kira didn't do that; he joked and messed around with Beyond like he's another member of the Task Force.

Sighing, Matsuda pushed open the door to the gym to find a shirtless Beyond punching the hell out of the punching bag. Matsuda's brain stalled for a second as his eyes took in the sweaty sight displayed before him. His heart raced a little faster when B took notice of him and turned around, revealing the abs no one would realise he had under the baggy black shirt he insisted on wearing.

"I was wondering whether you were coming in," Beyond said, grabbing the towel dumped on the chair and started wiping the sweat off his forehead and chest. Matsuda's cheeks flushed red as he dropped his eyes to the floor.

"I-I wanted to see how you are but wasn't sure whether you wanted company," Matsuda whispered.

"Why," Beyond snapped, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the detective, "Why do you care? No one cares about me except Kira, and he's missing."

"I care!" Matsuda blurted out before freezing. His heart pounding against his ribcage as he found some hidden strength within him to look up at Beyond, who stared at him, eye wide and shocked. Matsuda took a deep breath, trying to steady his erratic heartbeat, "You feel out of place, lonely. I get it. The other task force members look down on me because I'm not as clever as them. They don't want to waste their time on a newbie. I only graduated from the police academy barely months before Merikh appeared. This is all still new to me, and everyone treats me like I'm stupid and don't know what's going on. I'm the outsider looking in. You're the same, the others don't trust you because of your past, but you've moved past that. In Japan, you could've done anything at all. It wasn't like L or the task force are keeping you under lock and key; you could've left, but you didn't. I-I don't think you became a killer because you felt like it. I think you became one because it was the only way you could get any attention after living so long in your brother's shadow."

Beyond said nothing at first, staring at Matsuda frozen to the spot. "N-no one has ever read me that easily, no one except Kira... we didn't get along at first. I freaked him out as I do with most people, I irritated him got under his skin, but he was the first person who wasn't impressed with L being the world greatest detective. Hell, Kira only became a detective to prove to L he wasn't the only person who could solve the "impossible" cases. Kira's a force of nature, you've seen how my brother barely sleeps, and his diet consists completely of sugar well. Still, in the first few years, Kira did the impossible; L would sleep through the night and would have at least one healthy meal each day... he's my best friend, and I don't know what I'd do if we lose him".

"We won't lose him, L and the others are working hard to find him, and they will find him," Matsuda said. He believed it; from the first day since L joined the Merikh investigation, they swiftly progress to the point they've now identified who Merikh is. If anyone can locate Teru or Higuchi, then it's L.

"How can you be so sure? You're putting a lot of faith in a man who you barely know," Beyond scoffed.

"It's not about faith. It's a fact. I think nothing on this plant could keep L away from Kira. I think nothing could keep you away either," Matsuda said, taking a step closer to Beyond. "I get you're scared about losing Kira, I get that there are thousands of possibilities running through your mind on how this will play out, but you need to trust us we will find him."

"Trust who? Trust L?".

"Trust me, put your faith in me. We will find him, that he will come out of this safe and sound", Matsuda said, closing the distance between them. Gently cupping Beyond's cheek as he guided him forward before sealing their fate with a kiss.

Mello is brimming with rage. The task force is a mess, falling to piece as they all scurried around, searching for Kira with no clue where to start. No one looks like they've slept a wink in the last forty-eight hours. Especially L, who hunched over his computer frantically typing. Various uneaten sweets filled the empty workspace around him. L had stopped eating the moment he'd learnt Kira was kidnapped. The man is fit to drop the second he unwinds himself from the crotched position he insists he needs to sit in; everyone looks dead on their feet for the except for the old man who looked angry at everything.

"L!" Mello shouted, storming across the room, startling the task force members. "You look like you're about to die! Go to sleep!".

"We've tried Mello; he refuses to leave that chair until we've found Kira," Beyond said from where he's sat beside the youngest member of the task force.

"I don't care whether he plans to work himself into an early grave; if he wants to see Kira again, then he's gonna rest whether or not he wants to," Mello says. Eyes glaring at the back of the world's greatest detective, "right, here's our plan of attack. Watari sent us copies of what you've discovered. B take someone from the task force and canvass the area; for all, we know Merikh doesn't know you have these Shinigami eyes, so they'll still be out in the open. See if you can find one and tail them without drawing too much attention to yourself, especially after the fake trial. I want detailed reports and backgrounds on our two Merikh candidates from two other task force members. Go over everything to do with their family, friends, and their grades in school. I want to know about anything you can find, don't leave any stone unturned; if it may help us find Kira, consider it important. Matt, continue working on that facial recognition software you've been messing around with and Near... you continue doing whatever you're good at."

"WAIT A MINUTE, WHY SHOULD WE FOLLOW YOUR ORDERS! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" the old man shouted, stomping over to Mello like a toddler in the midst of a toddler tantrum, getting up in Mello's face. It took all of Mello's little self-control to stop himself from punching the man.

"Well, I don't see anyone else doing anything than sitting around sulking. If it weren't for Kira, you wouldn't have found Merikh or realised that the first Merikh was, in fact, two people. I know that whilst letting your only chance of finding Kira waste away, Naomi Misora trudges through the streets, looking for evidence of where Merikh took Kira. For me, that shows the only people who care about locating Kira are Naomi, L, Watari and ourselves," Mello snapped.

"HEY!" Beyond shouted, clearly horrified that Mello thought he didn't care about finding his best friend.

"You're excused from the equation B; your loyalty to Mum knows no bounds," Mello said to shut the strawberry jam loving fiend up. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to find Kira, and I don't care whether you help me or sit in that chair and sulk like the three-year-old you are."

Mello turned around, grabbing L's arm, dragging him off his chair and up the stairs towards the elevator. Mello considered himself one of the few people (apart from Kira) who would ever dare to manhandle L. Still, he knows once they find his mum, they'll need L at 100% so he can be by Light's side and look after him when he's recovering from being kidnapped. Mello hated to think about it, but since they're dealing with Merikh, there is a chance he's torturing Light for information about L. They do not know what state they'll find Light in, and if it's bad then, Light will need his husband to be by his side whilst he recovers because they will get him back. There is no force big enough in the world to stop Mello from achieving his goal and rescuing his mother.