Is... L mocking him? He has to suppress the rage that wants to boil to the surface. A bit of a struggle to remain as composed, being in the presence of L. If it were anyone else, it wouldn't be a problem. He wouldn't care at all. But, because it's L. Because he's lost to L, because no one's better than L. Because of the very thing L represents, it has always infuriated Beyond. L was presented as unattainable. And here L was, behaving as though he had no recollection of Beyond's presence from before. The elabourate series of murders that he laid out for the detective to follow and confront him. The biting, faux-compassion he brought with him to Hope's Temple.
Of course he knew everything was an act. L could never be capable of compassion. That was what made him L, able to be cold and calculative. But this. This. But Beyond defeated L here. That is a true insult. Even if he lost in his homeworld, and had to relinquish the alias Rue Ryuzaki, Beyond still had here. Beyond had defeated L in Hadriel first, before he died back in his homeworld. Even if Mello's and L's timelines were different from his, his own timeline justified this experience.
Would L be so fickle as to pretend it never happened? With the way Mello idolized him, he doesn't think so. It might be too far-fetched. After all, L has assuredly claimed other aliases. He should play by those rules better than anyone.
Then what is this reason for this question? What is the testing? He should already know the answer to how Beyond got here. Did their final battle traumatize L? No, that also seems far-fetched. For someone like L to become traumatized, it would take something almost assuredly more than Beyond could give, if it were possible at all.
No. Assuredly it must be something else. But what, he can't quite pinpoint himself. Unless....
He has a theory. Though, if he can be clever enough to get L to answer it properly, that will assuredly be no easy task. He knows that much well enough.
"Oh? Do you not remember? What a pity, I expected better of you. It's the same way that you arrived here, of course."
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Of course he knew everything was an act. L could never be capable of compassion. That was what made him L, able to be cold and calculative. But this. This. But Beyond defeated L here. That is a true insult. Even if he lost in his homeworld, and had to relinquish the alias Rue Ryuzaki, Beyond still had here. Beyond had defeated L in Hadriel first, before he died back in his homeworld. Even if Mello's and L's timelines were different from his, his own timeline justified this experience.
Would L be so fickle as to pretend it never happened? With the way Mello idolized him, he doesn't think so. It might be too far-fetched. After all, L has assuredly claimed other aliases. He should play by those rules better than anyone.
Then what is this reason for this question? What is the testing? He should already know the answer to how Beyond got here. Did their final battle traumatize L? No, that also seems far-fetched. For someone like L to become traumatized, it would take something almost assuredly more than Beyond could give, if it were possible at all.
No. Assuredly it must be something else. But what, he can't quite pinpoint himself. Unless....
He has a theory. Though, if he can be clever enough to get L to answer it properly, that will assuredly be no easy task. He knows that much well enough.
"Oh? Do you not remember? What a pity, I expected better of you. It's the same way that you arrived here, of course."