Zerhogie: I have realised that this story's summary is a little misleading. Not once do they actually 'study'. But I also said I do not play a part in Anna's fate...
Come now, did you really expect a shinigami to tell the truth?

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Beyond sighed and kicked the air with his foot, his eyes on a single spot on the ceiling. He was in a dark, familiar isolation cell, lying against the wall on a stained grey mattress, his legs hanging off the edge of the old bed. His chest rose and fell calmly and he sighed, closing his eyes.

On the inside, Beyond was anything but calm. He was angry, frustrated and most of all worried, and all of those feelings stemmed from one single night.

Anna didn't visit him. Something that was both disappointing, and nerve wracking.

But in the end, it was just the tip of the iceberg. Because the moment he stepped into the visitor's room, not only did he found that Anna was not there, but in her place sat an elderly gentleman with a finely pressed suit and an impressing clergy collar – fake, of course.

"Says he's here to try and convert you," the prison guard said as he locked the gate behind him. "In my opinion you're a lost cause, mate, just like every other man in that orange suit."

Beyond glared at the side of the man's face, slowly approaching the table and making a show of sitting with his knees drawn to his chest and a thumb to his lips.

Watari must have lost a brain cell to think that his presence would be welcomed.

The entire half hour was spent with the old man attempting to make conversation and Beyond glaring holes in his skull. When it was time to leave, Beyond silently jumped to his feet, eager to get back to his cell, his hands shaking with anger. Watari chose that moment to inform him that Anna was… unwell.

Beyond wavered in his step, grit his teeth and stormed out of the room, punching the security guard in the face. When they later dragged him into isolation he hardly protested, just collapsing on his bed.

Two loud chimes rung through the room. They didn't just make Beyond's ears twitch, they deafened him. The sounds bounced off the walls, and the floor until the entire room became a vibrating vacuum of a song.

He frowned and sat up, his eyes searching for the source of the noise, humming.

The ringing of the bells signifies more than a clock. In other cultures it's a call to prayer. In some, a call to celebrate a wedding. It can mean many things.

And not a long time ago, a bell would be tolled for prisoners before their execution.

Beyond chuckled and folded his arms on his stomach, closing his eyes. They snapped open when he heard a faint sob in the corner.

He turned and fell out of bed, barely managing to catch himself on his knees. In front of his eyes, curled up in a ball in the filthy corner by the door, was a girl. A small, thin feminine figure with long ratty mess of hair and shaking hands curled around themselves.

"Anna?"

She looked up with a jump, wide bloodshot eyes staring at him in terror. Her entire form seemed drench, as if she had swam through a rotting swamp. Her hair stuck to her face, blood dripping from a gashing wound in the corner. The only item of clothing she wore was an old hospital gown overdue for a wash, falling baggily from her shoulders and stained with dirt.

Her skin was the most uncomfortable sight of all, and Beyond had the familiar urge to wrap his hands around her and never let go. She was pale – sickly pale, to the point where she was a combined shade of white, grey and blue and yellow. The skin around her eyes and one of the corners of her mouth was a raw red; she looked the part of a rotting corpse.

Suddenly he felt little disgust toward his own appearance.

Beyond saw her lips move before her voice reached him, barely above a whisper. "You can see me?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat, confused at the question. "Yes, of course I can."

Anna gave him a broken smile, one of her legs stretching out on the ground. She violently wrung her hands, so harshly she was almost forcing the bones out of their sockets. She sniffed, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Nobody else can see me."

Beyond approached her slowly, carefully as her sobs intensified. He bent down in front of her, grabbing her arms by the wrists in his gloved hands and stilled her movements. Anna choked a laugh, the skin painfully pulling at the corners of her mouth.

The man in front of her smiled back, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

Anna looked down at her feet, swallowing, before looking up with hollow eyes. "I think I'm dead."

Beyond chuckled and shook his head. "If you were dead, how could you be here right now?"

Anna flinched and retreated further into the corner, struggling against his grip on her wrists. "No. No! I was- I was in the hospital room, and Kate was crying and there were nurses and doctors all around and something was wrong! Something bad happened and I could see myself lying in my own blood and I was choking and screaming and nobody could hear me-"

"No, it's okay, it's alright," Beyond shushed her, interrupting her mid-rant. He wrapped his arms around her and almost immediately Anna calmed, her fingers curling themselves into his uniform's collar. "It's alright. You're here now that's all that matters. I said I will protect you, didn't I?"

Anna nodded with a sob, and buried her face in his chest. Beyond rocked the both of them slowly, rubbing her shoulders to comfort her, the sound of the church bells fading into his subconscious.

And suddenly with a blink of an eye, she was gone and Beyond was holding empty air.

The latch in the door opened and a prison guard pushed in a tray of cold food, both tasteless and odorless and every meaning of unappetising.

Beyond sighed, his shoulders deflating. Chewing on his bottom lip, he scratched the back of his neck and slowly shuffled back to the bed, staring distastefully at the mattress before falling face first onto the cot.

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L hummed, chewing noisily on the strawberry in his mouth. He sat on the floor of the hotel's bedroom, the only light in the room coming from the laptop in front of him.

It was unusual, since the beginning of the official Kira investigation, for him to have a moment alone. Ever since Soichiro Yagami and the rest of the taskforce met him face to face, the group has been working around the clock, L always having to put up with five men that often were little more than a distraction.

He was exhausted.

And also only a few days previously L had revealed his face to their – his – most likely suspect. That, however, did actually provide some excitement in the detective's brain, as much as it pained him to do so.

He knew Light Yagami was Kira. All he needed was evidence.

And it was while pondering over the lack of such evidence, with Matsuda and Aizawa's constant arguments in the background and his teeth gritting, half planning to send the both of them home, was when he received the phone call from Anna Nixon's assigned surveillance. He retreated to one of the hotel rooms that the Kira investigation team had no idea even existed and set up the portable computer in front of him, sitting on the floor with his knees drawn to his chest.

L was surprised at the contact at first, having dropped his fork to the floor when the cellphone buzzed in the back pocket of his jeans. He placed a pair of white earphones in his ears, not trusting the rest of the taskforce to not follow him and eavesdrop, and double-clicked the contact icon on his screen.

P.I. Dvornikov's voice drifted through the earphones as Anna Nixon's medical school file popped onto the screen. "L. I have important news concerning the surveillance you have assigned to me."

"Yes, I assumed that much. Go on."

"On the fifteenth of this month, Anna Nixon presumably attempted to take her own life. The details were never clear, only that she was found in her bathtub, bleeding into the water, one of her wrists slashed and a wound on her forehead. She has been in a coma since then, exhibiting very few life signs."

L bit his thumb, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, I know."

Why else would have Watari visited Beyond in the prison? L's old friend hadn't told him, but he didn't exactly made any effort to hide it form him and once confronted admitted to it without shame.

Mr Dvornikov seemed to hesitate, before he cleared his throat and resumed. "Yes, of course you do. Well, as of this morning, Anna Nixon has been pronounced dead." L didn't comment and the investigator took it as a sign to continue. "An unknown culprit injected into the IV an unauthorised dosage of pain medication which sent her body into shock. Her heart stopped within minutes. The doctors tried to revive her but failed. Would you like me to draw a list of suspects and start an investigation?"

L's thumb left his mouth, the background buzzing of L's laptop cutting through the silent tension of the news. Finally L shifted, his hand leaving his mouth and he began to type on the keyboard.

"No, that is not necessary. Thank you, Mr Dvornikov," he said, hacking into California prison's security system, his voice distorted, "for your services. You will be paid shortly. This is the end of your work for me; I do not acquire any additional information." He pulled the earphones out of his ears and terminated the call, destroying the mobile device with his hands, before the private investigator could say another word.

Leaning forwards, he squinted at the only name on the list of people that have died that day in California's Maximum Security prison. Beyond Birthday. A heart attack no more than a few hours prior to the current time. The medical staff must have typed his name into the system straight away, knowing it useless to try to revive him.

Was it a coincidence, for Beyond to have died only a few hours later after Anna's death? Kira's mark was clear on him. And even though Anna Nixon's death seemed accidental enough and not very unlikely at all, L couldn't deny the fact that it would have been perfectly simple for Kira to control a nurse into injecting the overdose.

But how could he have known that they were connected? Anna Nixon's name wasn't written on a single one of police's reports. Thus in conclusion, since Kira drew his sources primarily from the media and his connections with the law enforcement, her death could not have been connected to him.

L violently shook his head, closing the laptop shut and rising to his feet. His shoulders remained hunched and his hands stuffed themselves into the pockets of his jeans. His head was pointing towards his bare feet, his dark hair casting a shadow over his eyes.

He turned on his heel, and decided at that moment to leave this case behind him. Beyond Birthday was killed by Kira and Anna Nixon died to the hostile infection that her body didn't have the strength to fight. That was all there was to it.

L was the world's greatest detective and his mind needed to focus on the world's biggest case.

Kira.

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Anna gasped awake, jumping to a sitting position. Immediately her head swam and her vision blurred, flickering to black before it cleared, only to be replaced by an ungodly sickly feeling in her stomach. She turned to the side, vomiting up a mass of red onto the dark sand.

She released a disgusted groan, shakily rising to her feet and dusting off her hospital gown. She looked at what exited her body and pulled a face. Scrambled mess of flesh stuck out above the puddle of blood. "Did I just puke up my guts?"

"Most likely, yes."

Anna jumped and screamed, turning around in a flash. A harsh burst of air pushed her back a couple of steps further and she fell on her backside, letting out a scream.

I tilted my head to the side and laughed.

She glared up at me, cursing under her breath. When she finally got to her feet and opened her mouth to ask a question, she took a step towards me but suddenly her face tormented in pain and she groaned, falling to one knee, her hands clutching at her stomach. Anna stayed in that position for a long time and by the time she began to somewhat get used to the pain I was already yawning and dozing off.

She was up on her feet in a second, flying in circles, her eyes scanning the grey wasteland that surrounded us.

"Where am I?" she asked when she finally turned to look at me.

I rolled my eyes, shaking my hook in her face. "The Shinigami Realm. You've been here before, did you really forget?"

"But-" she scratched her head, wincing as she swallowed the sick taste at the back of her throat. "How did I get here? I could have sworn I was at Beyond's cell…" She laughed and shook her head. "No, wait, that's ridiculous – how could I have been there?.."

"You were dead," I explained. "Your body was reacting to the overdose and rejected your soul. You must have been wondering around before your heart finally gave up. You appeared by the portal."

She gulped and shakily met my eyes. "You brought me here?" I nodded. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Did you kill me?"

"I wrote your name in my Death Note, yes."

"Right, okay, I don't even know what that is." She opened her eyes only roll them and rub her arms. "Whatever. I'm pretty sure I would have died soon either way."

"Well…" I didn't finish my words, offering her a wide smile. She looked up and glared. Then her eyes slowly widened.

"Hang on a moment…" She jumped a couple of steps back, pointing at me comically. My smile only grew. Humans pulled their faces into such amusing structures at times. "I remember now! That one time when you were in my apartment, I confronted you about making me this way!"

I glared back, offended. "It wasn't all me!"

"Right so the stupid cancer, tumour, whatever, I still would have had it and it still would have killed me anyway?"

"Well, you would have lived longer. Even if a little."

She nodded, scratching the back of her neck. Then she shook her head, laughing harshly. "I can't believe this. You, son of a bitch. How the hell did you infect me in the first place then?"

I rolled my eyes and stroked the feathers of my headpiece. "No need to overreact. The infection was already in your body, what I did simply fastened the process. At first I thought it was my touch that caused your numbers to drop. But now I know the human body simply couldn't handle the change of dimensions… And I'd appreciate if you didn't run around telling everyone that, by the way, it was kind of against the rules and if others were to follow example I would get in trouble…"

She shook her head again, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well why the hell did you bring me here in the first place, if it's against the rules and everything?!"

I grinned, my shoulders twitching with laughter. I stroked my headpiece, remembering Ryuk's reason for dropping the note, and for doing anything really. A cackle. "I did it because I was bored." The wind nearly completely muffled my words.

"What?" She exclaimed, her mouth opening and closing in disbelief. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I picked up a movement in the corner of my eye and jumped towards her, turning her towards the shinigami in the distance. "Shhh." I clawed my hand around her mouth, bringing my hook to my mouth to motion for her to be quiet.

Anna's eyes widened and at first she struggled against the grip, pulling and scratching at my arm but then she stopped. In the horizon, a slow mass made entirely of eyes slowly made its way past us. It had no legs, no arms, it moved with the sound of flesh being ripped to shreds. Its eyes didn't just move their irises, instead they shifted around the creatures form, fighting against each other.

"That's Nu," I warned her. "Be quiet, she hates voices."

Anna nodded and we both waited for the shinigami to move past us, far enough for us not to be heard. When I finally let go of Anna, she made a motion of retching. "Woah. I expected you guys to be scary, but that was just straight down revolting."

"Well when you're around her, don't speak at all, let alone what you think of her. She is the most powerful shinigami in the realm after the shinigami King. A level one."

"Oh, so you're all divided into hierarchy and shit." She laughed and gave me a mischievous smile that immediately made me feel uncomfortable and my feathers lay flat. "What level are you?" I frowned, my skull contorting and turned on my heels, walking away. She laughed at my back, running after me. "That low, huh?"

A heavy wind blew across the realm, raising walls of sand that scratched at Anna's eyes. She stopped following me, rubbing them with her fists. Then she sighed heavily and called after me. "Hey, you, shinigami."

"My name is Zerhogie," I growled.

"Right, right, Zerohedge, whatever. Why am I here?"

I sighed, stopping and turning around to face her. I shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps the old man decided to punish me after all, for bringing you to the shinigami realm? This is why he made you a shinigami, so you would always annoy the hell out of me..." I frowned, scratching the side of my face with my hook. "However bringing a human to the shinigami realm isn't exactly a usual offense. I don't know what level it is. The most I can hope for is that it isn't above a level three."

Anna tilted her head to the side, rubbing her cheeks where I grabbed her. "Why? What punishment awaits a level three offense?"

I laughed, resuming walking and throwing her a grin over my shoulder. "After the punishment is done?" She frowned at my choice of words but nodded. I cracked my neck. "Death."

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Anna sighed, tiptoeing along the edge of the cliff, humming a nursery song. I threw her a sideways glance, before returning my eyes to the portal, writing a name in my death note.

The girl stretch her arms out, for a moment closing her eyes and facing the empty air in front of her. The wind blew her hair in a cloak around her shoulders. If she jumped would she die? Or would she sprout wings and fly?

She sighed and opened her eyes, returning to her dance inches from the edge. Hours have passed, or perhaps even days or weeks since she was brought to the shinigami realm – it was hard to keep track of the time in that place.

Well, her realm.

After all, she was a shinigami now. She had her own death note, and has already written a dozen names. In the end it was easier than she expected, mostly after I announced that if she doesn't write names, she will die.

And for some strange reason, shinigamis have always feared death.

Anna targeted bad people at first. Prisoners, people who have cheated the law and gotten away with gruesome crimes, even people who simply ruined lives for the people around them and people who were in pain and yearned death, even though the lifespan above their heads dictated they had many more years to live. But soon, she began to feel that her own morality began to fade away, and any of it no longer mattered.

She winced when a sharp pain stabbed at her abdomen and she wrapped one of her arms around her stomach, the other remaining by her side. The free limb was wrapped in a dirty bandage from the wrist up to the middle of her upper arm. The skin had begun to waste away, rub raw against the wind and peel away. She wrapped it up when she accidentally hit a skull with the back of her forearm and a piece of her flesh was torn away, exposing the bone.

She didn't really feel it and neither was she too concerned but it was annoying. Her soul was changing from its human form to that of a death god. I had explained to her that give it a few decades and her body will be completely transformed. But for now she will have to endure the pain.

She was doing well however, already forming distinctive characteristics. She had grown and had to hardly look up at me anymore, our eyes almost level. She had the eyes of the shinigami too, and it contrasted with her bruised body. And although the skin from her right arm was peeling away, the infection did not spread. The wounds she sustained the day she fell into a coma remained a bright red, refusing to heal and earned her the name 'Spot' by Dalil.

Anna twirled on her toes and called my name as she faced me. I ignored her, shutting my note and reattaching it to my belt where it fell against a skull. She cleared her throat, but I merely focused on the human realm, as the entire world's eyes were glued to their television screens, listening to the distorted voice of the second Kira.

She cleared her throat again which caused her to choke and cough violently, blood dripping from her lip and onto the hospital gown. I rolled my eyes and turned to her with an annoyed expression. She held up a finger and cleared her throat, wiping the trail of blood with the back of her hand.

"So," she spoke up, her voice rough. "What was that rule again? The one that explained why I could see you even though you didn't drop your note."

I breathed out heavily, scratching my headpiece with my hook. "The human who touches the Death Note can recognise the image and voice of its original owner, a god of death, even if the human is not the owner of the note. As much as a single page of the note is enough."

She nodded. "Oh all right, what was the one after that?"

I groaned, swinging around in my seat so my legs were hanging over the edge of the cliff. "You know you should start writing them down." She was far too bothersome.

Anna winced, crossing her arms. She faced the front again, balancing on one foot with the other hovering over the edge. "I tried but I can't grip the pen properly because of this stupid thing." She waved her bandaged arm in my direction. "It keeps shaking."

She sighed and took a couple of steps sideways along the rock edge until she was standing next to me, peering into the portal to the human world. "It feels so strange." I turned to her with a questioning look. She avoided my gaze and turned to glance at the black note on the ground behind her, a small silvery scrawl on the cover. "The human world. When I first came here I was disorientated, sure, but with every passing day I can remember less and less of who I am - who I was. I can still remember my funeral, for example but…" She frowned and scratched her head. "I know I was buried next to this man that my father called Uncle Sam but… I don't know, the significance of that man or who he was to me escapes me. Do shinigamis remember their human lives?"

I smiled sadly, shaking my head before facing the portal again. "For a while… before it fades."

Anna nodded and looked back at her note, sighing.

The human who's name is written in this note... shall die.

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A/N: There. The end. Anna's story is finished – or perhaps just beginning. Depends how you see it, really. You are all gods for reading this story (the atrocious amount of spelling and grammar mistakes I make is embarrassing). I hope you all liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it (I take full responsibility for any tears shed). Thank you.