Entanglement
A/N - It's a long one, apparently the longest in the story and yet one of the shortest spans of time, haha! Sorry for the wait!
Wedy dropped L off at Wammy House before returning to her hotel for a few hours of sleep. It wouldn't take him the entire time to review the materials she had found, but he didn't like how little time she left to work on the armory before going out that evening.
He trusted her, however. He wouldn't have contacted her if he didn't trust her to fulfill the tasks he needed her for.
L scrubbed at his hair, wondering if he should also have a kip while others were sleeping. Matt's monosyllabic response to L's text meant that he was likely asleep too after the many tasks L had assigned him last night. No one was awake to do anything productive except Aiber, but he was useless while stuck on a ferry.
It was so frustrating that no one else had learned to subsist on naps and infrequent bed rest. Did they not see how inconvenient this dependence on sleep was?
He closed the gate behind him and tried not to kick at the tufts of grass along the footpath to the front door. Even if no one was watching, he shouldn't let his irritation be visible. He had slipped up so much since that d- since Mr. Wammy had passed, but he needed to collect himself now that he had a goal.
The thumb drives Wedy had given him clicked together in his pocket as he walked. He had to sift through that data to find anything relevant to Light's treatment, plus there were scans to view and audio files to listen to. Hopefully something would give him a better picture of Light's health than Light himself.
L had trained Light to lie even more effectively, after all.
Sugar would banish any fatigue that could slow him down. He told himself that was the only reason as he slipped into Wammy House and headed straight for the kitchen. Only then did he realize his mistake.
As another reminder of what his life without Mr. Wammy looked like, there was no cheesecake or torte or anything like it to fuel his work sessions. Mrs. Watson, the house's head cook and buyer of almost all of the food, had never been tasked with getting him anything. She tended toward fruit and other healthy items on account of the children anyway. Wammy always bought L's treats because he knew what L wanted.
L looked in the freezer, but sure enough, he had eaten the last of his ice cream back when his broken nose didn't even let him taste it. What a waste. He sourly pulled the box of sugar cubes out of the cupboard over the coffee pot and crunched through several while he made a carafe of coffee. He filled an insulated pot with hot water too, so he could make tea later without having to come back downstairs.
If this was growing up, he hated it already. For all his arrogance about his intellectual superiority even as a child, he had grown incredibly dependent on others to do the tasks he thought were beneath him.
What must Light have thought of him? Light appeared to have suffered greatly during the year he spent away from home, but at least he had left in the first place.
Before he could waste any more time on self-recrimination, he turned his thoughts to the tasks he would need to assign Wedy and Matt tomorrow if the records showed what he hoped. However, he didn't expect what had to be a gift bag hanging from his door handle when he reached his suite.
"Wedy brought these for you. Sorry I didn't get them to you before you left" was what Matt's terrible handwriting probably said. L set his tray on the coffee table inside before returning to peek into the bag around the tissue paper that hid the contents.
Ghirardelli chocolates. A colorful array of shiny foil packages filled the bag nearly to the top.
Wedy's memory was excellent.
Remembering her attempt at kindness outside the hospital made him flush and let go of the bag. She'd brought him things on occasion before, but they had worked together off and on for over ten years. He considered not turning her over to the authorities enough of a gift, and he used her hobbies and talents to find evidence rather than letting her waste them through acts of petty rebellion against her aristocratic family.
L and Wedy had a working partnership like his with Aiber or the host of others that he contacted when he needed assistance. L didn't talk to any of them when he didn't need them.
However, Wedy had made arrangements to fly out almost as soon as he ended their call; she wouldn't have gone shopping for him in that short time. She had set these aside for him weeks or months ago like she must have done with Matt's cookies.
Even though he had secretly hoped for this, it didn't make him feel better to know she had chosen gifts for him when he hadn't given her a passing thought. Had he been the only one that considered them "business associates"?
And now he had another terrible entanglement to straighten out without Mr. Wammy's help. Working so closely with Light would only produce a worse muddle. He had asked Light both to work with him and to figure out how to do so. L could provide any training or resources Light wanted, but Light had to define their working relationship when L had failed so spectacularly at it.
He lifted the bag of candies off the door handle and shut himself inside his suite. Right now, he was glad everyone else was asleep.
Near checked the time on his phone. Finally, boarding began in forty minutes. He was tired enough to wish he was sitting down on the plane again even though the sunlight and fresh air were welcome.
Instead, he rested his arms on a railing, eyes closed while he listened to planes moving about on the tarmac right in front of him. On the café table behind him, the stiff breeze ruffled pages in the puzzle book that he had found in a newsstand. It had kept him and Sayu busy while they ate breakfast. Sayu's spoken English might be awkward, but she could read it quite well.
"Is it hard for you to see out here?" Sayu asked once he pocketed the phone.
He was mostly blind even under the umbrella's shade, only opening his eyes every ten or more seconds to make sure nothing had changed drastically around him. He trusted Sayu to alert him if anything odd was going on.
He shielded his eyes to look at her. She leaned half-over the railing on the observation deck, the wind whipping her hair around her head while she sipped an iced coffee. Even on as little sleep as he had, she still looked alert and composed. Did nothing ruffle her? The roar of airplanes taking off echoed all around them, but Near could make himself heard despite the racket.
"I have contact lenses to make it easier, but this is too much with only my glasses," he said.
He had lied earlier and said the light was too bright after he ended his call with L. It was less embarrassing than the truth.
"We can go inside," Sayu started.
"The fresh air is invigorating," Near said before she could continue. "I would not like to sit in there another thirty-eight minutes before boarding starts."
He heard her swirl the ice in her drink before she spoke again.
"Nasanyu-san, could I ask a question?"
"Of course," he said, reaching into his jacket pocket to find the robot he had stashed there after that call with L.
"What am I walking into?" she asked.
Near risked a glance at her to see what expression she wore, but against the searing light, he could only see that her jaw was clenched. She was looking at him though. He ran his thumb over the robot's smoothly painted frame, deliberately recalling the color of each raised surface.
"You know why he's in the hospital, don't you?" she continued.
Near nodded and faced the railing. He didn't know what level of honesty was appropriate if he wanted to warn her but also didn't want to make things worse for Light. Perhaps telling the truth about that was wise too.
"I have difficulty trying to convey how delicate Yagami-kun's health is while not humiliating him," he said.
It felt like he and Sayu had established a fragile rapport after one of the most stressful experiences of Near's life, and he wanted to maintain ties to one of the siblings. His chances were perversely better with the sister he had just met rather than the brother he had been talking to for months.
"My brother is 'Yagami-kun' now?" Sayu asked. So much for hoping she didn't call attention to it.
"He did not know I came to see you. I doubt he will forgive me for such a breach of trust."
"My brother is kind. I hope he wouldn't cut ties with you for that." Sayu's voice was quieter after that, as if she too had turned to watch the planes. "Or at least he was. He's… very distant."
"He was still…" Near cast about as he trailed off. Was Light kind? Near would hardly understand kindness when he interacted with people as little as possible.
He stuck to facts.
"He was friendly when we met, and he is easy to talk to. He is also very driven about his work. I do not know what changed recently." Or rather, he had no idea what incident had finally sparked the explosion that he had warned L was coming.
"What did he do?" When Near said nothing, Sayu added, "Please don't let me walk in unaware. I'd rather know now so I don't react badly and make it harder for him."
Near took a deep breath and let it out.
He saw L again, the other man bending over a rain-soaked near-corpse with his fingers pressing so hard into Light's elbow that his whole arm shook. His other hand clenched Light's arm above a makeshift tourniquet. The look on his face was nothing like L at all, his teeth bared in a rictus of horror. Under L, Light looked dead already, motionless with his skin white from blood loss and cold.
Near tried to explain the situation to the first responder on the phone, but in a panicked moment, he thought they had fought each other given how much blood they both wore.
That image was never going away. He didn't want Sayu to have to envision it too, but she was right. It wasn't fair to let her find out when she saw him.
"He cut both arms open," Near said.
He didn't open his eyes when he heard that aborted noise, whatever it was. She didn't make it again.
"He nearly died before we found him, and now the wounds are infected. It is very dangerous still.
"I am sorry," he added pointlessly.
He opened his eyes at the silence, but Sayu had her head down, hiding her mouth with her hand.
"Is he… awake? Can I talk to him?" she asked through her fingers.
"He is awake, and he can have visitors. His behavior is unpredictable, however. He may not be like you expect."
"I don't think any of us know what to expect." Sayu lifted her head and sniffed. "I'm going to find the toilet. We can go to the gate whenever you're ready."
She turned away from him and wiped her face as she went back inside the airport.
Near watched the glass door close behind her. Despite the sun, the air grew cold. He padded back to their table and opened the puzzle book. She wouldn't know where to find him if he left, so he had to stay here.
He pulled the robot out of his pocket and set it where he could see it while he solved puzzles.
L tried to ration the chocolates, but the caramel and raspberry squares were half-gone an hour later. The stacks of Intense Dark Chocolate and very out-of-season Peppermint Bark were still untouched, saved for a late-night work session. He did try one to make sure it hadn't expired and was still good.
It was.
He nibbled his way through the chocolate while listening to the psychologist's notes and deciphering the scans of that man's badly handwritten reports. Combined with the typed older entries, it painted a positive picture of Light's recent behavior but only that.
It also let him know much more than he had about Light's health. Light had been unconscious for nearly three days while the staff struggled to keep him alive. The twice-damaged artery in one arm plus hypothermia from the soaking rain had left him in a coma. He would have bled to death before Matt and Near reached him… but it was L who had dragged him into the rain and endangered his life in other ways.
The chocolate turned to ashes in his mouth. It clogged in his throat when he tried to swallow it, and washing it down with now-flavorless coffee only made his whole chest ache. It took a few minutes before the pain subsided enough so he could keep reading.
When Light did regain consciousness, he was less than grateful. He resisted questioning by firing nothing but questions back or by displaying flat affect in silence. He even refused food for the first few days; they had to keep feeding him intravenously. Dr. Martin's sparse notes recommended Light's detainment in an inpatient facility as soon as his health allowed it.
Light's initial medication was changed after those days of unrelenting hostility, and only then did Light talk and resume eating under his own terms. However, Dr. Martin's prognosis was still negative despite the improvement. Light behaved with chilly but polite reserve, but he avoided discussing the future or examining his actions. Nothing indicated that he would not seize the first opportunity to kill himself again.
L wasn't surprised, but it didn't bode well for what would happen if L took Light out of 24/7 observation and care. Even if Light said he would work with L, he had broken his word before. L scrolled through other patients' reports to find the next one about Light.
Everything changed after L's second visit even though L expected that too. Of course Light would try to get himself released when he wanted to avoid his family finding him there.
Light asked to see his counselor outside his appointment times, and he said everything right, even being open about his inability to overcome his depression. He was cooperative for his next appointment too. It was so perfectly reasonable that its very correctness was suspicious.
Although Dr. Martin also wondered at the complete turnaround, he thought it was due to Light's visitors. Matt was good for Light, and even "Ryu," though he had been a nuisance visitor, forced Light out of his self-centered thoughts. At his most recent appointment, Light displayed honest distress over a friend's sudden death and another friend's grief.
L had to reread that part once he realized that Light had been talking about him.
A "friend." Was that Dr. Martin's wording or Light's?
The next note said that Light expressed regret at the possibility that he had caused Mr. Wammy's death. Dr. Martin approved of that behavior as well, for Light was considering the ramifications of his actions on other people.
L took his hands off the computer and turned toward his coffee. The carafe was empty already, so he lifted the cozy off the teapot and poured tea leaves into it. The lid tinkled dangerously as he slapped it closed. He didn't know what flavor chocolates he ate next.
Had Light used Mr. Wammy as nothing but a prop to fool his counselor? Could Light be so cold-hearted when he and L's adoptive father had gotten along well? Light had contacted Mr. Wammy for help after a year away from him, and then he had made an ally of someone that L had always considered unquestionably loyal to him. This was how Light treated the man's memory?
L refused to believe that someone he had— that someone he had been so close to had been used like that. Light held nothing dear right now, neither his family nor his own life, but there was a difference between a lack of concern and that kind of callous disrespect.
L couldn't figure this out. He didn't understand what kind of monster he had unwittingly created with his training.
He closed his laptop, leaned against the sofa arm, and closed his eyes. No other distraction was working, and he needed Aiber before he did anything else.
"So spill, Matt," Wedy said several hours later on a yawn.
Matt looked up from the circuit board he was soldering. He set down the iron and pulled the penlight out of his mouth.
"What about?" he asked. With the magnifier attached to his goggles, Wedy's face changed shape as he moved his head.
Wedy was sitting with him on the recessed cement entryway to the armory, two toolboxes open beside them. One was his battered chest covered in stickers, the other was her ultra-compact bag in matte black, somehow looking like it came from Chanel or one of those other expensive purse people. She had brought it from her hotel room to augment his supplies, plus she had a portable retina display to see if she could fool the security.
Their workspace was small, little more than a place to stand out of the rain while using the access panel. It was not like this building saw a lot of use. Fortunately the good weather was holding, and neither of them was soaked in addition to sitting on hard cement.
If anything, the late afternoon sunlight was nice after the irregular hours Matt had kept. His thermos of chai kept company with Wedy's Starbucks coffee in the shade created by the recessed entryway, yet they still looked a little sleep-fogged in spite of the caffeine. Matt kept looking over his shoulder to see if L was coming with yet more tasks.
"Who's L's friend, the one in the hospital?" she asked. "L was mum about him, but I'm sure you know something."
"It'll cost you," Matt said, pretending to go back to his soldering just to tease her.
"I already turned over three packs of cookies. How much more do you think I stuffed in a suitcase on short notice?"
She grinned at him before going back to entering his and Roger's biometric data on the laptop. She could program the second access panel as soon as Matt finished building it.
"Probably at least one more thing if you're buying information," Matt said.
"Guilty," she replied. "So talk. This is too easy, and I'm bored."
Matt hummed as he tucked the penlight between his jaw and shoulder so he could talk while he worked. "L hired him a few months ago. Name's Lucian."
"Nakimura?" she paused while Matt nodded. "I scanned some notes about him. I didn't know if the name belonged to him or one of the other patients."
"It's his alias here," Matt answered her unspoken question.
He hoped she didn't ask any more. Wedy was trustworthy given that she was here at all, and this was not his first time working with her, but not every agent needed to know every sordid detail about everyone else.
"So why did I steal info on someone in the hospital?" Wedy asked as she unzipped her bag and pulled out something behind him, oblivious to his chagrin. "Is L trying to find out who put him there?"
Matt frowned and concentrated more on maneuvering his soldering iron. Wedy sighed.
"You can't say, can you?" Wedy continued.
"It's a big mess," Matt said. "Their project went sideways. There's no good way to talk about it."
Behind him, he heard a succession of beeps rather than any more awkward questions, but the electronic locks to the armory didn't disengage.
Wedy hummed and fiddled with a tool, for Matt could hear it spinning in her fingers for a long moment.
"The little I saw in his reports looked positive, Matt," she finished.
"Thank God," Matt said under his breath.
"Are you friends?"
Matt snorted to cover up anything else that might show in his expression.
"Who knows?" he said. "I thought so, but what do any of us know about that sort of thing?"
"We're friends, right?"
"I thought so," he mumbled, focusing hard on the circuit board.
She let out a chuckle. "I've tested the panel, so whenever… oh!"
Matt glanced behind him at her surprised sound only to see L standing there, one hand dug into his pocket and the other holding some papers. The man could move way too quietly when he wanted. He could have been standing there any length of time.
"When will Aiber get here?" L asked without preamble. "He's not answering his mobile."
"You heard us?" Wedy asked with a wry twist to her mouth.
L didn't dignify the question with a response, only looking at her without blinking. Wedy made a little huff of irritation.
"Our dinner reservation is for 8:30, and if his wife takes over driving, they might be here by four. They're staying at my hotel too," Wedy said. "I didn't tell him about this place."
"Did you have plans before then?" L asked. "I could use him," he continued before Wedy could answer his question.
"Just drinks and catching up," Wedy groused. "Really, L?"
L shifted on his feet. Rather than being his usual high-handed self, he looked apologetic. He was being that weird considerate stranger again.
"Yes. I contacted him the same time I called you," L said. "This job shouldn't interfere with your plans if he is quick."
"What is it you want him to do?" Matt interrupted, feeling like an eavesdropper on this conversation. He set the penlight down because he wasn't likely to accomplish anything else with L hovering over him.
L turned to him, and that contrite gaze sharpened into L's usual wide-eyed stare. Matt was suddenly sorry he said anything. L held Matt in place as surely as if he had bound him, but then L blinked and looked away. Matt let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding once the spell broke.
"You'll know tomorrow," L said enigmatically.
Apparently Matt had failed whatever evaluation L had just put him through. L rolled up the papers he was pinching between his fingers so Matt couldn't see what they were.
"Don't let me interrupt you," L added before he turned and left.
"I wonder why it's so important we work on this now," Wedy said quietly as she watched L walk away. Her tone suggested that she had a few ideas.
Matt resolutely picked up the penlight and repositioned it so he could check his work. Next, he clambered to his feet and installed the circuit board back in the new panel he had cobbled together.
"Like I said, there's no good way to talk about it," he repeated as he handed Wedy the device to program with L's information.
"You don't have to. Did you want to do breakfast tomorrow morning? We didn't get a chance today," she asked, deftly changing the subject to something more pleasant.
"That would be great," he said.
He didn't want to drop in on her dinner with Aiber's family, but maybe breakfast would be all right. He didn't know Aiber as well as he did Wedy because Aiber worked when Matt's skills weren't needed. Wedy liked systems and finding out how to infiltrate them, things Matt could understand and support.
Aiber insinuated himself into his targets' company, bluffed expertly to gain their confidence, and then turned what he found out against them. The unfortunate targets divulged information that they should've protected, or they were found somewhere incriminating by police, or they provided items crucial to an investigation or court case. They looked like fools when Aiber finished with them.
Why did L want a con man involved with Light? Matt had done his best to make Light a little less miserable, including not inflicting himself on Light too often. He didn't see how Aiber's involvement heralded anything good.
Thierry pushed his wavy hair back behind his ears and added pomade to tame it a little. His "doctor" persona needed to look a bit tidier than he did after seven hours of travel; the humidity on the ferry crossing had made a right mess of his hair. However, the wrinkled shirt would probably work just fine for an overworked doctor under the white coat he had packed.
His phone hummed as it vibrated on the minimalist glass desk in the hotel room.
"Hey, Thierry," Merrie said when he answered. "I've finally got a few minutes to myself. Did you get briefed?"
"Yes, our mutual friend sent some files I just finished reading, and they made no sense. What is going on?"
He could still hear water running in the shower, so his wife wouldn't hear anything she shouldn't.
"I was hoping you'd know more," Merrie said on a sigh. "I'm installing security and only stole some files in plain sight. What are you here for?"
"The usual interrogation, but I'm not clear what the end game is," Thierry said. "Our friend's goals were not as defined as I'd like."
He could tell her more in person if his wife was elsewhere. Marguerite still believed, willfully or otherwise, that most of their income came from his legitimate "consulting" career, but he never told her anything about his dealings with L. His jobs for L were far more fun; it was almost a shame he had no one to tell about them except Merrie.
"Not at the hospital?" Merrie asked in disbelief.
"Yes, actually."
"Our friend has an agent there, a new one," Merrie said. She hummed to herself for a moment while he heard the whine of a power tool in the background. "I feel like there's neither a case here nor any crime to investigate."
"He wouldn't call us in for nothing. Sometimes I handle other jobs," he added, recalling his most recent missions to trail that young man whom L wanted to keep tabs on.
"Oh, I think there's something he wants us to handle, but it's not a case."
Thierry stopped smoothing his hair in front of the mirror and took the phone off speaker once he heard the water shut off in the shower. His reflection looked tidy enough; he was just wasting time while he tried to concoct a plan.
"What do you mean?" he asked. The room had a balcony, so if he went out there and shut the door, Marguerite would know not to bother him.
Merrie was silent for a few moments before she replied, "Mr. W. died two weeks ago."
Thierry froze, his progress toward the balcony's glass doors halted. That was unexpected.
"I hadn't heard," he said because he couldn't think what else to say.
Mr. Wammy had coordinated the mundane aspects of L's investigations for years; he made missions run better when L failed to account for his agents' human frailties. L had kept Thierry up for thirty-six hours once with no breaks and no food after the first day, and only Wammy stopped L from asking for more when Thierry reported back. No wonder parts of this mission had felt so… unusual.
As old as Wammy had to have been, Thierry had never considered him not being there, standing behind L.
"Our friend didn't tell me either. I found out by accident," Merrie said in an unusually solemn tone for her. "He's in bad shape, Thierry. He won't show it, but he's not handling the loss well."
Thierry couldn't even imagine L handling anything poorly; the man was unflappable. What had Merrie seen? He had to pick up a piece of equipment from L when he visited the hospital, so he'd get a chance to see if L looked strange. As outlandish as Merrie's suggestion was, she had to be telling the truth if she was telling him about it at all.
"And there's no foul play?" Thierry asked, grabbing his laptop so he could skim the files L had sent again. Maybe he had missed something that would make this assignment make sense.
"It was natural causes," Merrie replied.
Thierry got his slippers on to keep his feet safe from the cool cement outside. He nudged the balcony door open and leaned against it once it slid closed. England was blasted chilly, as always, but the sun kept him warm enough when he was out of the wind. He had hoped to spend a couple days catching up with Merrie, taking his wife shopping, and enjoying a mini-vacation while the kids were with Grandmère. Because of how few details L had provided, he had thought it would be a simple job.
Nothing he did for L was ever really simple, was it?
"Anyway, I wanted to see if you had similar suspicions," Merrie said.
"Just more questions," Thierry said.
He got the laptop open one-handed after setting it on the little café table that sat between two chairs. He pulled up the last documents he had been reading while Marguerite drove them to Winchester. They were medical records of all things, and now Merrie's comment about stealing things and the hospital made sense. L wanted him to verify what the records said as well as some other tasks.
This time, his gaze snagged on the odd English and Japanese name. Most of the time the name was abbreviated in the notes, but one document had his whole name. This time it clicked, perhaps because he'd been reminded of his last few jobs earlier.
Lucian was the posh young man he'd followed in Winchester and elsewhere without a lot of details from L back then either. L usually gave him a full work-up on his marks, but this one had been curiously bare, like L was keeping the information close or using "Aiber" to get initial details on a suspect.
Thierry had failed at his mission several days in because Lucian found and confronted him despite all the precautions he took. L warned him that the boy was observant, but Thierry's success rate had been near-perfect until that day. Perhaps he was careless, or the boy really was that good.
Now Lucian was not a target to be followed but a young man stuck in an isolation wing because he'd nearly killed himself. Again, there was no foul play or even the suspicion of it.
"You said my mark was probably a new agent?" Thierry asked.
"Gamer confirmed it. They were friends too, so this new one was around them for a while."
Why would L call in both Aiber and Wedy on extremely short notice to do curious tasks related to some kid in a hospital when no crimes were involved? Violence had happened: one person had died and another nearly had, but there was no mystery to clear up. It was natural causes and a failed suicide. One person was very close to L, and L was interested in using the other one. Nothing here indicated what L wanted Thierry to handle, as Merrie intimated, especially when Mr. Wammy wasn't there to coordinate—
Oh. Oh…
If Thierry was right... He snapped the laptop shut. He had little time to lose if he wanted to finish this before dinner.
"I'll call you back after I finish this task," he said. "I have a hunch what's going on."
The hours ticked away toward dinner with no more sign of L. Light used the MP3 player to block out the background noise while he tried to ensure Dr. Martin wouldn't stop him from leaving.
Short of starting a fire and hoping the staff forgot to evacuate him, which was wildly unlikely, he would never get out of this place without being observed. There was no guise he could think of that would let him walk around by himself either. He could walk passably well after days of being confined to his bed, but his few personal items were stashed elsewhere while he was isolated. Even if he could find them, he only had his shoes, watch, wallet, phone, and jacket, hardly fitting garb to walk into public with when this robe was his only other option. Everything else had been blood-soaked and sent to evidence before being destroyed.
"Mr. Nakimura?" came a rich, cultured voice that derailed his plans.
Light pushed pause on his audiobook but went still at the sight of the doctor: slightly curling blond hair, a shadow of facial hair along his jawline, and a warm smile that did not match his calculating eyes behind his glasses.
Aiber. Light's erstwhile "stalker" that had followed him several times during L's absences.
Light did not react beyond going still because the large window facing the hallway made him visible to any nurses walking by. He didn't want to tip anyone else off that something was strange, including this man. He relaxed his shoulders with the next breath and tried not to seem surprised, only curious.
Aiber stepped inside with a clipboard and tablet. In a lab coat over his bland business attire with a mask hanging at his throat, he looked the part of several of the staff Light had seen here. He even had a badge.
"Dr. Martin had to cancel his appointments on short notice, so I'll be taking over for the near future," Aiber said.
I'll bet he did, Light thought.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Doctor… ?" Light asked cautiously. He was unsure if he should give away the fact that he recognized Aiber or not.
If the man worked for L, was this L's help?
"Doctor Moss," he said with a more natural smile. "I know it's a challenge to adapt to a new counselor at such a delicate time, but Dr. Martin's notes are very thorough."
His notes?! That bastard. There was nothing sacred to that man; he should have known when L showed off his easy access to Light's school records that he would happily avail himself of any data on Light. Either Matt had hacked in or Aiber, disguised as a doctor or even something else, had lifted the records from somewhere and reported to L.
Light bit his tongue trying not to show any reaction to that off-hand comment. Aiber/Dr. Moss closed the door softly behind him and sat down in the chair not far from the bed. He lifted a neat stack of papers.
"You might be pleased to know that Dr. Martin was considering not having you medically detained once the treatment for your injuries is manageable elsewhere," Aiber said.
"Does 'detained' mean mandatory admission to the psychiatric wing in this case?" Light asked, barely able to keep the frustration out of his voice.
Fortunately, he had read a great many medical journals during the course of his training with L. This was not English vocabulary that would have been covered in his classes at school, but what was the game here? He had demanded that L get him out in exchange for working with him, not get Light transferred elsewhere in the hospital.
"Close. There is no inpatient psychiatric facility in this hospital, so you would have been transferred to," Aiber paused to read off the sheets, "Melbury Lodge here in Winchester if you were still a danger to yourself."
And that would be where his family found him, locked up in a hospital clearly meant for those with mental health failings. Every time Light thought things could not get worse, he was proven wrong. Every opportunity only came with more devastating setbacks. Taking L's initial offer should have taught him that.
"So what does all this mean?" Light asked quietly. He reached up and managed to pull the earbud out of one ear by wrapping the cord around his finger when he could not pinch it.
Aiber crossed one leg over his knee and made himself comfortable in that plastic chair. He practically aped Dr. Martin's approachable behavior. It was also a clear signal that he was now getting down to business.
"It means that you should keep your voice down and be discreet because of the door. Our friend will get you out, but only if he believes that it won't endanger your health," Aiber said in a quieter tone of voice as he made a show of paging through the handwritten notes on his clipboard.
So the man knew Light had recognized him. It was a relief to drop one mask, but L had sent this character to see if it was safe to free Light. That was the game here: proving that he hadn't just lied to L to get out of the hospital.
The monumental irony was that Light had been honest with L for most of their acquaintance. The only lies he told L were the same ones that he unknowingly told himself. L, on the other hand, had been almost entirely dishonest with him, yet this was Light's test yet again.
He had to get out if only to give L a taste of the kind of humiliation that he had remorselessly put Light through.
"The infection was responding to antibiotics in the lab," Light started, unsure how much the man knew.
"We're aware," Aiber said as he poised a pen to feign taking notes.
We. Not "I'm" aware, but "we."
If the heart monitor had still been attached to him, the damn thing would have started beeping.
How could one word infuriate him so? That casual admission showed that not only would L conspire with someone else when he withheld trust from Light, but L, together with Aiber, knew more about Light's condition than he did. We're aware, as if Light's words and input were mostly unnecessary now that L had gleaned Light's records.
Was L playing Light for a fool?
Aiber's eyes glinted with amusement, and Light realized that his face was doing something without his consent. He wiped his expression clear. Curse those wretched drugs; he would never take another after he escaped this hellhole.
"He was more concerned about your mental state and intentions. He can only visit for ten minutes. I can stay for an hour or more," Aiber said.
"You're not a real doctor," Light guessed though it sounded more like an accusation. Aiber would hardly have time to trail him around a doctor's busy schedule, and what doctor would consent to such a menial task at L's request?
"I'm a doctor today," Aiber said, "and I'm wearing a camera so our mutual friend can review this conversation later. So, Lucian, convince my partner and me that what I see here is not just manipulation."
Aiber did it again: "my partner and me." It wasn't an accident. He kept twitting Light about how he was the inside person in L's circle, not Light. He didn't know what L had asked Light to be if he thought he could fool Light with this tactic.
L would have kept his agents close when Light was still in training, but this man was spinning lies just to tweak Light. Mr. Wammy was L's only confidante, not some guy L tasked with following him when L was out of the country.
"I don't need to convince you of anything. You're just an underling," Light deadpanned.
"An underling with more clout than you, perhaps," Aiber replied immediately. He had known Light would say something like that, so Light was behaving exactly like Aiber expected.
"If you're not a doctor, why would I talk to you about my mental health?" Light asked, curious if the man would let himself be questioned.
"It's your intentions I'd like to know, not your thoughts. You've had almost four hours to consider what Ryuzaki asked of you, so what are your plans?"
"If Ryuzaki wants to know them, he can ask me himself," Light said.
"So you've considered what you'll do after this," Aiber replied, his eyebrows raising slightly. It was probably as rehearsed as anything else he did, but Light was still developing a baseline for this man.
"Yes, and I doubt you are privy to what he asked of me," Light fired back.
Aiber smiled, and this time, the expression met his eyes. He lifted his hand and gripped his collar in a curious gesture.
"You'd be surprised what I pieced together," Aiber said in a completely different tone of voice. Without breaking eye contact, he let go of his collar, revealing a button that didn't match the one on the other side of his shirt.
He had just hidden his words from the camera and microphone, if that was actually the camera he had covered up.
Light tried to smile a little, as if he was echoing the man's openness, but he narrowed his eyes at the camera.
"So Ryuzaki trusts you, but he doesn't trust you enough to do this on your own when he wants to check your work."
"That's one way to look at it," Aiber said.
"But he wants you to do this because he can't when he has no interpersonal skills," Light finished.
Now Aiber said nothing, only raised his eyebrows again. Was this what he did when Light said something that pleased or amused him? Perhaps this man was not entirely in agreement with what L was doing. Was that why he had covered up the camera? Why would he come here at all if he didn't agree with this course of action?
"What does he have over you to ensure you do his work for him?" Light asked in French.
Aiber's eyes widened even though nothing else moved. Maybe he'd thought Light would forget or hadn't noticed that he had been carrying a rolled-up copy of Le Monde in his coat pocket when they met in Winchester. His British English was near-perfect, but every now and then, his pronunciation slipped a little.
It was hardly an extreme response, but there had been that same flicker of surprise when Light asked who made him follow Light. Aiber had excellent composure when confronted, but he wasn't wholly without tells.
Just like before, Light swiftly changed directions to keep him off-balance.
"Shut off the camera. If you want to know my plans, I'll tell you the general idea, but make Ryuzaki do his own work if he has so much faith in your word versus mine. He won't believe anything I say anyway."
Aiber leaned back and tilted his head while he studied Light. "That would hardly fulfill the task he asked of me."
"Then you should leave now. Nothing you say could induce me to let myself be recorded for his sake. Either he chooses to trust me or he doesn't, but that's his choice. I can't convince him." And L would see that in a few minutes or an hour, whenever Aiber decided to hand over the recording.
Aiber looked at him for a long moment. Then he sat up and gripped the little button. With a few motions Light couldn't see behind his hand, Aiber produced a little black box from behind his shirt. A wire connected it to the tiny lens of the camera that sat in place of the button. He kept the whole thing on his lap where it couldn't be seen on the other side of the window.
"The other one too," Light said with a blank expression.
"There's only the one," Aiber said, his eyebrows lifting again.
"Do you do what you're doing because I amuse you, or does it make you uncomfortable because I'm using your tells to see whether or not you're telling the truth? You're lying. If you don't produce another recording device, I won't say anything," Light said.
Aiber actually laughed. He sat up, set aside the clipboard, and pulled another device out of his pocket. It looked like a mobile phone, but he opened it up and showed it to Light. There was no signal, which was why he was recording Light in the first place, but it was recording audio.
"Take the battery out of that," Light said. "Hand me the camera."
Aiber did as he asked, and Light put the camera on his blankets, buried it, and then smothered it with his pillow for good measure. He didn't have the manual dexterity right now to try to take it apart although he did know how given some of Mr. Wammy's instruction. It was his and Matt's design, anyway.
"You'll be good for him," Aiber said with a more genuine smile on his face. "So, what did you have planned?"
L looked up when he saw Aiber exit the hospital. To save time, he had met Aiber here with the camera and stayed while the man met with Light. On account of Wedy's chocolates and her behavior earlier today, he didn't want to upset her by making them all late for dinner. It was a little thing he could do as thanks. A little, vastly uncomfortable thing.
He left Mr. Wammy's car and went to intercept Aiber. The BMW was a lot more discreet than his Rolls Royce, and he didn't want to attract attention right now.
Aiber started when he saw L, but then he headed his way across the parking lot.
"I was going to call you," Aiber said.
"This way I keep from tying up your evening," L said.
It also kept him from waiting any longer to see what Light said. Aiber could read people very well, which L could also do, but Aiber could get them to open up to him, a skill L failed at. He needed Aiber to confirm that Light would not seize the first opportunity to commit suicide once he was free. He needed to know that Light wasn't using every underhanded trick L had taught him to ensure his release. He had to know if there was a kernel of honesty at the heart of all this deception.
"There's not a lot to see. You might find the first minute very interesting," Aiber said, handing over the camera. "See how Lucian reacts to not being the closest person to you."
L scowled at the camera when it was Aiber's words he focused on. Could Light possibly be… jealous?
"You were in there almost an hour. Why isn't there much to see?" L asked rather than seeking confirmation. He would see soon enough.
Rather than answering, Aiber bent so he was at eye level with L when L wasn't standing up straight. L leaned away, not liking the insinuation that Aiber was reading him.
"When have you ever expressed an interest in a person who wasn't a criminal? Try trust, L," Aiber said softly, his eyes meeting L's for just a moment. "You can't treat him like you do criminals."
L kept his face blank, his eyes empty despite his reaction to Aiber's words.
Aiber stood back up and ran fingers through his hair, loosening the grip of whatever product he had tamed his hair with.
"He has some interesting plans for the two of you. Are you coming to dinner?" he asked after he checked his watch.
L shook his head. The mention of plans filled him with relief, however. He wouldn't put it past Light to lie about those too, but if he had plans at all, it was a good sign.
"I don't want to take up your free time too," L said, but he was near-certain that Aiber had expected nothing else.
"Call me in the morning when you know what the next steps are. Cheers," he finished with a wave.
L watched him leave, pinching the little camera between his thumb and index finger. He had his laptop in the car and could check the footage right now, but visiting hours were over, and he couldn't get back in to see Light today without a disguise of his own. He might as well pick up some sweets in town so he didn't devour all of Wedy's chocolate in one day. There was still a lot of planning left to do before tomorrow based on what Light had just told Aiber.
"Don't come right now," Sayu said into Near's phone while she ran a finger down the train timetables.
Light's father's voice was loud enough that Near could hear it even from several feet away. He blushed and edged even further away in an attempt to give her a little privacy.
"Oh good. No, Dad, waiting a couple days is best. I know, I know, but it's not going to do any good to get here sooner." She paused while he spoke more quietly. "He's going to be angry enough as it is. At least if he gets out of the hospital, he might be easier to talk to. I'll call you right after I can speak with him."
Near resolutely closed his ears to the farewells and watched the other passengers milling around them. His bag felt like it was full of rocks, so heavy had it gotten as they slowly passed through customs.
"All right, I think I have it," Sayu said as she handed the phone back. "This notice about winter schedules confused me, but I think I know what tickets we need."
Sayu seemed confident enough about planning their transportation so long as Near was there to check her translations and do the actual talking. Near had considered calling Matt, but then they would have to wait while Matt stopped whatever he was doing and drove there first. No, it was easiest if they just took the train into Winchester. After so much air travel, riding a train would be almost a relief.
He was almost home, back to the friendship he had destroyed and the home he would lose in a few years. Maybe L would need his assistance with whatever he had planned for tomorrow. It would keep Near's mind off the chaos that his life had become since Mr. Wammy's death.
Sayu met his eyes and inclined her head toward the ticket counter.
"It's… really noisy," she said with a laugh as they walked. "I don't know why I thought England was all Buckingham Palace and country estates. I guess I'll get a good look on the train."
"You might like Winchester. Your brother spent a lot of time in the city when he wasn't working," Near said.
Light was like a phantom member of the conversation much of the time, but he gave them something to talk about.
"Tell me about it," Sayu said as she pulled a card out of her wallet. "It's my first time traveling outside Korea and Japan."
While they stood in line, Near tried to tell her interesting things about the city, things that his teachers had said on their long-ago trips into town. He added information about London, which he had visited exactly once with his peers. What he remembered best was Mello harassing him about cheating on his end-of-year tests and Matt kicking Mello to shut him up on the bus. Near hadn't cared; he knew Mello was a sore loser back then. He just hadn't realized Mello would never grow out of it.
He couldn't share that, though. It was sad that most of what he related to Sayu was information about his own home that had been told to him by other people.
However, he'd set foot in Japan. He hadn't been there long, but now he had impressions of another place that had not been told to him.
As he stood on the platform waiting for the train to collect them, he realized that it could be coming to take him anywhere. He didn't have to have a ticket to Winchester. It could be to Blackpool, or Cambridge, or it could be the tunnel to Coquelles in France. Then the Eurostar was open to him.
Just thinking about it made his heart start racing, and he checked the ticket to make sure the destination hadn't changed.
"Something wrong?" Sayu asked.
He blinked and looked at her. "No, it is nothing."
When she looked away, he smiled.
A/N – This chapter also just needed to get off my hard drive. I added about half the material today in one writing session, and I need to move on. I could have called this chapter Fanservice because so many of these characters would never meet in canon, and I like fleshing them out and making them talk to each other.
I have a BJD version of Light, and I'm waiting on L to finish getting made. Maybe I can work on Light now that I've gotten a long chapter out, hehe.
Uh, just kidding. I'm already working on the next chapter…
