This. Is. All. Light's. Fault. 'Let's go to the United States,' he says. 'It'll be fun,' he says. 'They have so much to do in California,' he says. And L! He was so adamant we stay in England. He argues, 'There are plenty of things to do here.' So it was up to the Doom Squad as Light has so cutely named us. This. Is. The. Single. Worst. Vacation. Ever!

Seriously. L, you couldn't have picked ANY OTHER BLOODY PERSON IN THE WORLD TO SUCCEED US?! It had to be some smug Japanese kid whose never seen outside the Kanto region of Japan? And of course, Near chose L's side, so naturally, I just had to open my fat mouth and take Light's. And Matt, well… to be fair, I bullied him into our side.

Now, here we are. Trapped in a Los Angeles prison with… Him. I've never met Beyond until this stupid trip. To be honest, I never wanted to… I stumbled upon his journal in the attic when I was chasing Near around trying to give him a beat down for sneaking into my room. The guy was seriously fucked in the head.

He wrote things like, 'The monsters aren't real.' Or this one, kept me up for a good couple of weeks before chalking it up to insanity. 'But they are. The monsters are real, but not in the closet, not under the bed… all in my head.' Then the cheeky fuck runs off declares himself the worlds greatest criminal, brutally slays four people, in some sort adolescent fable of surpassing L. To be fair, he might have gotten away with it, if he wasn't screaming for L's attention.

So anyway, this new drug… Some radical behavioral treatment. It worked. But only on him. Never anyone else. It spun them into insanity and literally had them chomping at the bit. They considered it a possibility that because Beyond was already out of his gourd, that it brought him back. They tested it on hundreds of different patients and prisoners alike from prisons to asylums. Only one thing remained true. It. Only. Ever. Worked. Once.

I see why L never wanted to come now, he knew all along… and Light… I bet he knew too, probably stumbled along this new test and put two and two together… This was never about seeing California. This was about the possible redemption of L's former successor. This drug would have proved L wrong. And, that really seems to be all Light truly likes to do, prove him wrong in all things. And L, in his words, is never wrong.

But he was. But… then again… he wasn't. Code named Beyond, for beyond redemption, had taken a strong hold of his mind… and everyone around him. These prisoners worship him. Like some sort of twisted little god. But he disregards it. Dismisses it. No big deal.

Maybe because he kept a level head when shit hit the fan. Maybe because he was always as smart as L, just needed to chill the fuck out. Maybe because at the end of the day… Beyond was his own Doom Squad, had the tech savvy like Matt, cold and calculating like Near, but not afraid to show you how he really felt about you, like me… it was then. I realized L could only ever find three to replace one.

At that moment, staring eye to eye with death itself. I realized why L chose Light. Because, he's like Beyond… but way less psycho. Maybe… maybe Light would lose his shit too under the right circumstances?

I'm droning, let's see… where to begin. Anyway, we had decided now that L had chosen a successor, we'd take a trip. Light didn't like the idea of just coming along and stripping us of everything we worked so hard for… they argued for days… obviously we see who won. We are Light's 'little Doom Squad', look, I like the idea of working with the detectives, but, really? Light argued, that L shouldn't squander the talent that was right in front of him, if not choose us, utilize us. I can respect that.

It all started three days ago… On a plane ride…

Beta Read: BenjaminBirthday.