Light got little sleep that night. L's words somehow managed to deeply disturb him, and yet…not affect him at all. He felt detached from the emotions playing tag with his head, even though he knew they were there, and could feel them. It was like they belonged to someone else. For a long time, they both sat back against the pillows and headboard, and stared into the darkness at the foot of the bed. After an hour or so, when he realized that Light wasn't going to sleep again, L pulled his laptop up and began working.
Light was torn in two directions…he felt that he should say something, but to do so would be almost disrespectful. So L did still consider him a friend…he was ashamed to say that that put some part of his guilt at rest. Light had never met someone who didn't accept him. He'd never hurt anyone to the extent that they no longer cared about him…even Takada still liked him, and they'd parted on odd terms. The idea of someone hating him was almost offensive. He felt spoiled again.
In the end…Light said nothing, though two or three pretty counter-speeches danced across his tongue. They were empty though…he had nothing to say at all. All of his speeches were as clear as water, and he didn't see the point in them. The steady, dull clicking of L's fingers soon lulled him sleep, and he stayed that way…chin on his chest, arms crossed.
L worked through the morning, stopping only briefly when Watari shook him from his trance for his morning tea and cake. Light had slipped down in his sleep, and his arm was thrown over his face. He'd be stiff when he woke.
L let him sleep anyway.
XXXX
It was…decidedly different to walk into the investigation room the next day. Light stepped through the door in a perfectly calm-looking state of emotional turmoil.
L cast a sidelong glance at him as he reached for the power button of his computer.
"Prepare yourself, Light-kun."
As the machine started and programs began opening automatically, Light's eyes widened. There were almost a hundred new programs showing on his screen, and the amount of document files tabbed at the bottom of the screen had nearly tripled. There had been close to a thousand before. His contact list went from three hundred people to 2,378 contact groups, each a subcategory with at least thirty people in them. Finally, when his screen was a chaotic mess, a tiny, tiny box appeared in the bottom left corner.
Search.
Light tore his eyes from the monitor to find L with a tiny, proud smirk on his face.
"How do you function with all of this?" L rolled his eyes to the ceiling for a moment.
"Well…carefully."
"What is all of this?" He clicked on a colorful screen at the top. Something in Chinese…
"Before you get click-happy Light-kun, I highly recommend you set your computer to auto-translate. You won't be able to read half of this if you don't."
"I can read Japanese and English fluently."
"As I said, you won't understand half of this. Just…hold on a minute, I'll sort through it with you." L turned around and gave the rest of the team their assignments. Light scowled at his screen and reluctantly admitted that the Detective was right. He could read, maybe, one in five of the windows…he recognized several languages though. German, English, French, Russian, Spanish…the Majors he could puzzle out.
"Ready, Light-kun?"
"As I'll ever be." L nodded and slaved his computer. He clicked on the window just under the one Light had brought up. An IM screen appeared in the bottom corner, and Light watched the secondary cursor move through the program quickly, glossing over the functions.
"This is a Godsend…it's a global translating program written by the Koreans. It's by far the most accurate I've found, and it's constantly updating. It covers nearly every language from five hundred years ago to present time. Better yet, you can set it to automatically translate every file that enters your account into any language."
"So you can't actually read all of this, either?"
"A vast majority of it, yes. It's really the various dialects that I have trouble with. Learn the core of a language, and you can puzzle out the rest though."
"How accurate is it?"
"If I wished, I could accuse you of fornicating with my mother's pig in fluent Swahili. Slang is optional.
Now…moving on…"
Two hours later, Light had an entirely new respect for L. This had to be the singular most powerful man on the planet. He had nearly every world leader, and few that had retired on his personal email, and even deleted two while they sorted through the mess, because they had recently been assassinated.
Of course, once everything was sorted and L showed him use of a tabbing program that L himself had written, he realized that L had allowed that waterfall of information strictly to show it off. He was proud of this, if nothing else…his great web of people. Light wondered how the hell he could know so many people and still have only one friend.
Light wondered how he could be that friend. It was depressing.
Light was almost scared to touch his keyboard when L finally gave him control back.
XXXX
By Lunchtime, Light was practically salivating at his newfound freedom. L left the IM window up and guided him through the few programs that he tried to use and got stuck with…L never had to show him twice, though. He basked in this power like a kitten sleeping by the fire. He could email a President, and then with a phone call order his assassination from a list of professional criminals. Once he even hit the wrong button and called a Russian contact. L had hissed in irritation and silenced the room with a jerk of his hand. He turned on the "L voice" and they spoke quietly for a moment in fluent Russian, and Light felt his face heat in desire…the desire to be able to DO that, to just…be an entity. To be known, and needed, all over the globe.
A childish grin was plastered on Light's face when L finally managed to end the banter with the Russian detective. The man was drunk, but regarded a call from L as an intense emergency. L had to think of some nonexistent crisis and fast, or risk losing his respect. Russians were finicky about that…you did not call while they were not at work, and you absolutely did NOT interrupt their drinking time unless the world was ending. Light had managed to find the perfect window of opportunity to do both. He was a child…no, he was L in a candy shop with these new abilities.
L said nothing when the call finally ended; just cast another sidelong glance at Light. The boy was far too curious to feel bad about it, and was already diving back into his computer. L watched his enthusiasm with both amusement and something akin to apprehension. He'd known how Light would react, but still to be face to face with this power-hungry side of Light was disconcerting to say the least.
Misa came to visit during lunch, and there was a small outcry at the bandage on her arm. She immediately noticed the men tensing and played it down.
"Oh Misa just slipped in the bathroom and scratched herself on the counter! MisaMisa can be so clumsy sometimes, you know?" All the right blushes, all the right giggles…Even L had to admit that she lied beautifully.
It did nothing for his mood.
AN- As I write these final chapters, I have the entire DN manga collection stacked on the couch next to me. I will be using this as a constant reference for the sequel to this story, and I'm using it now to lead into Concerto. I found myself with some unexpected time last night, and with the exception of a final polish, Violins is officially written. I will likely post it tonight (Sunday) between the hours of six and nine. In the event that this does not happen, it will be posted the moment I get out bed Monday, promise.
This chapter is just laying the bones for the next, and it's really just stretching my drama muscle I guess. The next chapter will be serious as well, and the next story will be written in a similar fashion. I'm taking the rest of the afternoon to write for my other two stories. I need to back away from Violins so that I can read it objectively and fix mistakes. Look for many updates tonight.
Step Lightly,
Mikanis.