A soft sound floated through the air as Len continued to sleep on oblivious to the world around him. The sound seemed to wrap around him and swaddle him in a cocoon of warmth and acceptance. He was so comfortable; he could have easily stayed asleep for the rest of his life. As the notes continued to flood into him, he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of nostalgia wash over him.
The song that the voice was humming was familiar to him. It was a song his mother had sang to him every night before he went to bed. He could remember his younger self struggling against the inviting lull of sleep in an attempt to stay up longer and listen to the quiet singing of his mother. The memory was so old and unimpressive that he was surprised he remembered it at all.
The notes began to grow quieter as the singer reached the end of the song. When he was a child, this was the part of the song that he never got to hear because sleep would always claim him. He fought against the overriding feeling of drowsiness as he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was large blues eyes looking down at him with concern clear in their blue expanse.
"…Mom?" Len's mouth formed the question before his mind had time to process all the incidents that had recently happened to him. For one moment, he was a child once more, back in his small house with his mother humming a lullaby to her children to chase away the demons of the night. As the singer's voice suddenly cut off, reality came crashing back around Len.
As he looked up at the owner of the blue eyes, he noticed for the first time that she had long pink hair that fell in waves about her quite different from his mother's short, cropped blonde hair. This girl also looked to be much younger than his mother; she must have been in her late teens if not early twenties. Whoever she was, there was one thing for sure; even though she was singing her lullaby, this woman was not his mother.
"…Are you alright?"
Len's evaluation of the girl was broken by the sound of her voice. It was only then that he realized something. His head was currently resting on the girl's lap.
Len pushed himself quickly off her lap and felt his cheeks burn in response to the close proximity he had been with this mysterious woman that knew his mother's lullaby. The flush of embarrassment quickly died away as he realized once more where he was.
He was in the room of "freedom" that had once been filled with a vision of the stars. The scene outside the four glass walls was now filled with a void of black nothingness that seemed to steal away any light that dared to encounter it. Even looking at it, Len could feel pieces of his human hope begin to fade away.
"…Len?"
It was only when the girl uttered his name that he remembered her presence in the room. He turned around slowly and deliberately in order to get a better look at the girl. She was standing at this point, causing her long pink hair to brush lightly against the glass floor beneath her.
"…Luka?" He echoed with the name that he now recognized belonged to this girl. She definitely looked like Luka but, what seemed like mere moments ago, he had lost all hope of reaching her. Now this girl stood in front of him with more life in her eyes than he ever imagined Luka capable of having.
"…Yes," The girl said quietly after a few moments, "I'm, I'm…'Luka'."
Then the girl did something Len wasn't expecting; she began to cry. But what was even more surprising was the fact that her tears were broken by the sound of gentle laughter bubbling from her throat. To Len, it almost sounded as if the girl was relieved of a great burden for the first time.
"I'm Luka…I'm Luka now," The girl managed through her laughter and tears. After a few moments of staring at the display, Len walked over to the girl and did the first thing that came to mind. He pulled Luka into a hug. He was significantly shorter than Luka, so he stood on his tiptoes in order to allow her to rest her head on his shoulder.
"You've always been Luka," Len mumbled into her hair, "You were just…lost for a little bit."
He felt Luka give a nod of her head into her shoulder as her crying began to die down completely to the point where only simple soft laughter remained. As she continued, her laughter seemed to trill through the air and fill the dark void of the now empty blackness of the world. Before he really realized what was going on, Len found himself laughing along with her.
The two of them parted from their hug as they both fell to the floor with laughter. Neither knew what they were laughing about, but neither of them could bring themselves to stop. The laughter seemed to tie the two of them together in moment of carefree childishness. In that moment, there wasn't a need to escape, there wasn't a mystery of life that needed to be solved; there was simply a boy and a girl sharing the same laughter for no reason.
After a few more warm moments, the laughter died down and neither of them were quite sure how to proceed. The last time they had seen each other, Luka had been terrified of the freedom obsessed individual Len had become. Now that the initial relief of finding one another died down, an awkward silence descended between the two of them.
Len took this time to evaluate Luka once more. There was something definitely different about her. It took Len a few moments of searching before he realized what had changed so drastically since the last time he saw her.
It was her eyes.
What before had seemed so hollow and empty now shone with the tiniest spark of life. It wasn't as if her eyes were suddenly flaming with the desire to escape, but the light that shone in her eyes was honestly beautiful.
As that word crossed Len's mind, he quickly looked away from the older girl as his cheeks turned decidedly red. He took a breath to clear his head and then began his speech that he had been planning his entire walk through the dark winding hallways.
"I'm sorry…" He began as he looked down at the black glass floor, "I shouldn't have lost my temper like I did and it was really stupid of me. I'm always rushing into things headfirst and all I end up doing is dragging myself and the people around me into a lot of deep shit. I don't pay attention to people around me and I only think of myself an-"
Len's rambling apology was cut off by a soft pressure on his shoulder. When he looked down, he found that Luka's hand was resting gently on his shoulder almost as if affirming for him that all was forgiven and there was no reason for him to apologize. His mind instantly flew back to the last time Luka had tried to comfort him in this same way. Then he had slapped away her hand violently; this time he simply looked up from her small hand to look at her face.
"Thank you," She said quietly as Len met her eyes.
"Thank you?" Len echoed as he looked at her in bewilderment, "What the hell do you have to thank me for? All I've done since I've met you is cause nothing but trouble."
"No, you're wrong," Luka responded with a slow and deliberate shake of her head, "I have to thank you for…for being yourself…for allowing me to find…myself."
Luka finished her sentence quietly before she gave a slow and unsure nod that was quickly followed by a much more self-assured bob of her head. Her resolution finally reached, a smile lit her entire face. Len felt his eyes spread slightly in surprise as he looked at the girl that seemed to radiate with happiness.
When he first met her, he thought that Luka would forever remain as she was; emotionless and empty. But as he looked at the girl's smile that glowed with almost childlike wonder, he couldn't help but realize how much she had truly changed.
He also realized for the first time how pretty she looked when she smiled.
Len quickly looked down at the floor and broke eye contact with the girl that he suddenly felt ridiculously more uncomfortable around. He cleared his throat and voiced the one thought that dominated his mind.
"You're so weird."
"…Weird?" He heard Luka reply in a confused voice that was so familiar to him he couldn't help but smile.
"Ah, there's the Luka I know; confused about even the most basic things," Len responded as he turned to once more look at Luka. Her radiant smile had been replaced with deep confusion as she tried her best to puzzle though Len's words.
Len realized for the first time how adorable she looked when she made that face.
"E-enough of this for now," Len said more hastily than need be as he stood up from the floor, "We've got to prepare ourselves for our escape."
"Escape? We're going to escape?" Luka asked as she also raised herself from the floor. Worry and confusion was clear in her voice, but buried beneath it all there was the tiniest hint of hopefulness. Hope was an emotion that Luka had been completely without for sixteen years that she now clung to desperately.
"Of course we are, that's been the plan all along," Len replied as his face turned grim and determined. He didn't mention the fact that in his original plan when he had first showed up in the room, he had been ready to leave Luka behind if need be; now whenever the thought crept into his mind, he silenced it immediately.
Maybe he had changed a little too.
"But…" Luka asked hesitantly, "How do you plan on doing that?"
"She didn't talk to you about it?"
"'She'?"
"Yeah, there was this one scientist woman that came to see me to strike a bargain with me. She told me a lot of stuff about what's been going on, but in return she wants us to escape together. Now that I think about it…" Len said as he honestly considered for the first time how odd the whole exchange had been. Previously, he had been busy having his entire life deconstructed by one woman, "It's actually kind of odd. Why does this woman want to help you specifically?"
Len expected to hear one of Luka's usual 'I don't know' responses, but instead he was met with silence. When he turned around once more to look at this girl, she was staring at him with wide eyes. On her face was displayed such a wide range of emotions that Len couldn't even begin to name half of them.
"What's wrong?" Len asked as Luka continued to stare at him. He took a tentative step towards her which caused her to blink and lunge forward. She quickly grabbed his wrists and knelt down slightly so that she and Len were perfectly on eye level.
"Please…tell me what she looked like," She asked in a voice that wavered between hopeful and fearful.
"I don't know, she just looked like a woman. She had pink hair that was pulled back in a tight bun. And…she had eyes; she had eyes just like you…" Len finished quietly as his mind made the connection for the first time. It wasn't that they had similar eyes; almost everything about them looked the same; their facial structure, their hair, their eyes.
Len realized for the first time that the woman he had been talking to was Luka's mother.
"Mommy…" He heard Luka say as he was pulled from his realization by the sound of her voice. Silent tears were streaming down her face as she continued to grip Len's wrists. "She…she didn't…leave me behind…Mommy."
Len wasn't quite sure what to do as Luka continued to cry to herself, so he simply stood there and allowed her to cry as she continued to cling to his wrists tightly. As he looked down at the frail hands that held on to him so desperately, he felt a distinct sense of responsibility settle down on him. He silently took Luka's hands into his own as she continued to silently cry.
"We're going to get out of here," Len said seriously as he continued to hold her hands, "I promise."
The room was completely dark except for one computer screen that reflect a harsh blue light off the woman's face as she typed at the keyboard with a frenzy of flying fingers. There were many precautions to be prepared now that Len and Luka were reunited. She would have to move swiftly to keep her activities secret from everyone involved in the project.
Alright…I've programed false images for both video feeds from the rooms. By the time they discover they even exist, the two of them will be long gone. Now I just have t-
"My, you're quite diligent working this late into the night, aren't you Miss. Megurine?"
The woman felt her heart jump in her chest as she turned around much more swiftly than an innocent person should. She silently cursed herself; her nervous actions were making her intentions terribly transparent. She looked at the man that was standing before her and she couldn't help but curse whatever fates governed her life.
"Of course sir," She answered in the most level voice she could manage, "The project is nearing its end; I want to make sure that everything goes perfectly."
"Committed as ever, I'm glad to see that," The man responded as he walked over to look at the monitor the woman was typing at. When he looked, all he saw were images of two separate rooms containing 02-L and 03.
"May I ask why I have the honor of the Head of the Board of Directors visiting this lowly research division this late at night?" The woman asked as she typed a few commands into the keyboard behind her back. She would have to work quickly if she was to keep her secret hidden.
"Would you believe me if I told you for old time's sake?" The man asked with a twisted smile that could only be described as a mockery of happiness.
"Unfortunately, I don't find myself able to believe that."
"I suppose that's true. I've always hated being a lowly scientist; that's why I worked so hard to reach the top after the initial failure of this project."
"You mean…Leon and Lola?" The woman asked quietly as she examined the man's face.
"I have long forgotten their names, they were failures; no need to remember something like that," The man responded with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"…They were your children…your own flesh and blood…" The woman said quietly as she stared at the ground.
"They were research products that happened to share my DNA," The man responded coldly as he looked over at the woman that refused to raise her head, "I would recommend that you view 03 the same way."
"You know I already do," The woman responded without raising her head.
"That's what you've lead everyone to believe; it's what you've almost lead yourself to believe," The man said in a low voice that was dark with danger, "But we both know better. We used to be good friends when I worked in the division. You're very talented at hiding your emotions, but not that good."
There was a heavy silence as the man waited for the response of the woman. The blue light of the computer screen reflected off both figures placing them both in an odd silhouette that only increased the out of time sense of the scene. The woman remained silent for a few moments longer before she raised her head and met his eyes.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," She answered as her eyes absorbed the light emitting from the computer, "03 is nothing but a device that we will use to allow the citizens of Crypton to obtain freedom."
The man stared harshly back at her before he turned around and headed for the door. The door slid open in response to his presence, but he took no steps to leave as he continued to stand in the room with his back to the woman. The electric blue light of the computer screen shone on brightly, oblivious to the serious tone that pervaded the air.
"You can say that as many times as you want, but until you believe it it's not going to get any easier to watch your child's humanity drain away," The man spoke in a voice as hard as steel, "You had best not try anything stupid."
With his ominous warning still hanging heavy in the air, the man exited the room without another word. The woman listened to his footfalls for a few moments before the automatic door of the room closed causing them to bet cut off mid-stride. The silence that ensued was deafening.
The woman slumped down heavily as she released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Her legs shook beneath her as she realized the implications of the conversation that had just occurred.
He knew. He knew she was going to try something.
And he was going to try and stop her.
Using all the energy she had left to her, she turned toward the computer terminal once more and slowly clicked a few keys. Instantly, another image emerged showing the image of two young people on screen. She couldn't hear their voice, but from the way their mouths were moving, she could tell they were talking about something. She felt her eyebrows rise slightly as she observed something else.
The two of them were holding hands as the girl cried.
"…Please…" She whispered quietly to the image she knew couldn't hear her, "Don't fall in love…there's no kindness in this word for young love…"
Her own love; carried off to be a citizen of Crypton; her forced to remain behind due to her scientific abilities; his memory erased so that he wouldn't rebel. She carried their unborn child. When she was finally born, she snuck out from the facility to find her love, but instead she found heartbreak; he had a new life; a new family; children. There was no room in his heart for her love.
He was free of any obligations he had to her.
She continued to watch the image for a few moments longer but the two of them didn't change position. With a small sigh of resignation, she continued her preparations to assist their escape. With every new command she typed into the terminal, she could hear the ghost of her old friend's voice ringing in her ears. The words haunted her every move as her fingers carried her closer to the goal she had been chasing for fourteen years.
"You had best not try anything stupid."
She wanted to save the product of her young love; she wanted to save her daughter.
As the darkness slowly turned to dawn, she continued to command the world she had created and change its selfish purpose.
She was no longer seeking freedom for herself; she was seeking freedom for the one she loved.