[Azura Rayume]

All Beyond understood at first was the beeping. It was this little, rhythmic, annoying noise that popped in once a second or so, but at least that meant he was conscious. And, since he was pretty sure his own personal rendition of hell would be more than just an incessant beep noise, he had to be alive as well. Raito had come through, he though, his call had gone through, and Raito had swooped down like the deity he was and swept his devilish little plaything to safety. With any luck, his godling would be right by his side.

His senses were still sparking in bits, but he was starting to get a pretty clear picture of where he was before his body cooperated enough to move. Other than the beeping, the room was practically silent, which meant he most likely was not at L's headquarters building; someone would probably be hovering over him if that were the case. That meant this was a hospital, which displeased him, but that didn't mean he was necessarily alone. Knowing L, he would have installed some kind of camera. He assumed L was behind his being here, too, considering Raito would have insisted on keeping him closer.

He stirred against the sheet beneath him, eyes cracking open just to snap shut again. The overhead light was too bright to stare at, and the beeping sure as hell wasn't helping. He turned his head and moved again, this time more "I'm awake" than "I'm alive." The sooner he got attention, the sooner he could get the hell out of here. His arm tensed and tried to life, only to have a band of pressure hold it down. He opened his eyes again, ignoring the brightness as best he could, to sneer down at the band around his limb.

No. No, no, no. Beyond absolutely hated hospitals, had spent too much time in them after his failed revenge attempt, but more than that? Restraints. Raito would have never authorized restraints in the first place, so he most likely didn't know. He slammed his forearms against the bands, harder than before, only to have the muscles of his back spasm along the gash in protest. He bit back a swear and thumped his head into the thin pillow with a growl. Absolutely wonderful.

[zapdragon555]

The level surface of the tea in L's cup twitched in surprise at the sound on the monitor--his monitor, not the heart one--a jarring interruption to the constant beeping that he'd long grown used to. He glanced up at the monitor, squinting as Beyond struggled against the binds on his arms, and L sighed through his nose. "Huhn," a little noise hummed out of him as he recollected his senses once more, and he leaned over to press a button on a microphone stand and hover his lips near the head of the mic. "Miss Hirata?" he called the nurse that had been placed in charge of Beyond during his stay. "He's awake. Feel free to begin running tests on his vitals--I'll be down soon." L paused and glanced at his tea, and took another long sip before setting it down and grabbing one last cookie from the little silver tray before he walked towards the door.

The hospital's staff lounge wasn't exactly comfortable, but it had served its purpose. It was better to be close by, than to go back to headquarters; after all, he wanted to talk with Beyond as soon as he was awake enough to do so, and knowing the killer's resilience, L was sure it wouldn't be long.

When L reached the floor Beyond was on, he peered inside to see the nurse doing her best to placate the raven-haired man. He tilted his head and gave a small, lilting wave at Beyond, his expression unreadable if not a little bit comically wide-eyed. "Ah, there you are," he said with a calm cheerfulness that hardly matched the situation at all.

[Azura Rayume]

From the moment the nurse entered the room, Beyond made it very clear he was not going to cooperate. He struggled and griped, muttering insults under his breath before she could tell him her name. Most of the information she wanted was on the beeping monitor, so she didn't actually bother with him too much, though he did flinch away when she brought out the blood pressure cuff, his movements so jerky and aggressive that she eventually had to give up on the effort.

Miss Hirata pursed her lips in annoyance and reached for the clipboard at the foot of his bed. "Even without that, I can say with confidence that you are still alive, Mister... Birthday," she said, clearly annoyed. The way she stared at the chart meant she thought the name was fake, but she didn't question it aloud. She jotted something down, tapping the pen on the page in between words.

"Morningstar, actually," Beyond corrected with a glare, which she returned in kind.

"Nice try." To his surprise, the nurse kept eye contact with him, almost like she was trying to scare him back. "The man who brought you in said it was 'Birthday,' the ID he presented said 'Birthday,' and it might not sound like it, but we are rather inclined to take his word over yours at the moment."

Beyond gave a huff and let his head fall, though he kept a careful eye on her in case she tried to do anything to him. He caught a hint of movement over the nurse's shoulder and let out another growl. "You!" he snarled, kicking out in frustration and completely ignoring the woman for the moment. L was here, which meant Beyond had someone to blame for his predicament. He fully intended to take advantage of that, having something to vent against. "Pasty-faced sugar addict, you did this, didn't you?"

[zapdragon555]

Well, at least Beyond hadn't suffered any memory loss from the mugging. It had, after all, only been a knife wound (light damage, compared to what L knew Beyond could do likewise) and a light head injury from falling to the ground subsequently. L angled his head at the other man, a little smile curving his mouth.

"You should be nicer to your nurse, Beyond," L quipped lightly, sounding as though he was quite amused with this situation. "She could put all sorts of nasty things in your IV bag, you know." He gave a small wave to the nurse upon entering, giving her a wide-eyed but good-natured smile. "Thank you for taking care of him, Miss Hirata. He can be quite the handful."

Once the nurse had finished checking Beyond's vitals--and she seemed to do so rather quickly, not much liking the company of either man--she quickly cleared out. After a brisk, friendly, and required, "Just press that red button on the wall near his bedside if you need anything," she shut the door, and the two were left alone.

Almost immediately, the smile slid off of L's face like lead, and he turned his gaze to fix directly on Beyond's. "You should be taking this more seriously," he said, voice even and low and lacking any of the previous humor, just in case the nurse could still hear them despite the closed door. Force of habit. "What do you think you're doing, really?"

[Azura Rayume]

Beyond bit back his initial retort. IVs, needles, nurses, that ceaseless beeping- everything he hated about his previous hospital experience all rolled into one. Add L on top of that, and you had a very dangerous combination. He wasn't about to shake that jar, oh, no; if L wanted to test things, though, Beyond wasn't about to stop him.

The door clicked shut, and his lips split into that familiar cracked smile, meeting L's fixed gaze with a glare. "Oh come on," he said, "if you're going to start sounding all threatening like that, you should do it right. Get up in my face a bit, Lawli, you know you want to."

He rolled his eyes and tugged at the bonds again- the stupid things were highly unnecessary, and he hoped L would catch the hint eventually- before continuing. "I was out for a little walk, just down the street and back. Needed to clear my head of all your looming for all the good that did me. Honestly, I may be a criminal, but not everything I do is a crime. I'm the victim here, remember?"

[zapdragon555]

That smile Beyond liked to wear still set L on edge, even after all this time. "Whether I want to or not is irrelevant," he murmured steadily, keeping a careful rein on his temper. Speaking of reins... L's eyes flicked to the bonds around Beyond's wrists. Admittedly, yes, those were likely unneeded. L knew he could hold his own against Beyond if the other man decided to fight back once free.

Very well, then, he'd do him that favor. He'd been as accommodating as he dared, taking Beyond in to work on the case, and even that was more than he would've liked. But Beyond was a valuable commodity, and over the course of his working there, L managed to scrounge up some sympathy for him. Care was a strong word. Sympathy. That was safer.

"Admittedly, your story checks out well enough. You were close to headquarters. Know that my 'looming' as you call it comes from a place of security consciousness," he murmured, unlatching the bonds on Beyond's wrists with spindly, quick fingers, his body showing he was a little more on edge now that Beyond was free to move. "It doesn't mean that I completely believe you, though. But I suppose I have little reason not to. You should have told someone beforehand."