After changing into a new pair of pants and tossing the soaked ones, Light returned with more coffee and a peace offering. Balanced on his palm was a pale blue dish holding a crepe, expertly folded and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Wedy was a very experienced chef and it had been mesmerizing watching her fry and clip the batter into the perfect little triangles in front of him. L however seemed perplexed when the dish was carefully slid through a thin opening in the glass reserved for books and other such tools given to him on occasion.
"What am I to do with this?" He asked, gazing at the plate and its contents as if it oozed poison. Light chuckled, setting his own plate down onto the side table and slipping a fork through the chamber. The metal clanged against the sides until it reached L's hand. Only replying with a short gaze at the object before firmly grasping it in his hands.
"What do you think you do with it?" Light retorted, taking a bite and nodding towards L's fork. Receiving a deadpanned stare in reply along with a huff of annoyance. L eased onto the floor, metal legs spread out as he balanced the plate onto his knees, Light peering over at him as he did so.
L scoffed, raising his head and tapping the fork against the dish. He prodded at the soft pastry with his fork before cutting into it. Toasted dough blanketed vividly red strawberries and pale bananas thinly sliced into the folded dessert. A zigzagging pattern of syrup blanketed the pastry and part of the dish.
"I promise it's safe to eat, you have the ability to digest its contents, I checked that with Wedy. Think of it as another test to see if you can handle human food." L nodded before taking a bite and swallowing, the motion rigid and unnatural. Light assumed he would get the whole chewing and swallowing thing down in time. Light took this chance and studied L's face for some time, hoping for a sign that he enjoyed it. After a few more small bites, still acting as if he was consuming glass shards, L looked up.
"It's sweet." Light retrieved his phone from his pocket, swiping at it for a few seconds before grinning. "It's called a crepe, they're French pastries, do you like it?" Light asked, holding his phone against the glass, the light beaming back creating a reflection in L's eyes. On screen were various types of crepes, people eating them and smiling, examples of how to make them and so on. L nodded, his head dipping naturally as he looked at the images scrolling down the screen.
"Yes, I do. I have never had anything like this before." Light smiled, returning his phone to his pocket and biting into his, foregoing the fork and wrapping a napkin around the base and lifting it to his lips. L tried to mimic this himself, chocolate dripping onto the plate and his fingers as he did. A look of disgust crossing his features as he licked the sweet syrup of them. The patter of syrup hitting against the plate synced with the rain outside as the two ate in a comfortable silence, enjoying the ambient noises coming from the storm above them.
"I cannot help but wonder how humans created these concoctions?" L mumbled, more to himself than anything as he continued to shove more pastry into his mouth.
"Trial and error, they mixed and bunch of ingredients together and hoped they got something good, and if not, they threw it out and tried again. Oh the power of human innovation." Light answered, stuffing another bite into his mouth, less graceful than before. L remained silent, eating with his head down as the rain overtook the room once more. The room was a little brighter by the time they had finished, the rain having passed and the sun struggling the overcome the clouds.
As the silence pierced the mood and turned it into something uncomfortable and brazen, L spoke. His voice melancholy and soft, as if he didn't wait to speak the words aloud.
"Light, will I be thrown out in the name of human innovation?"
It was then Light decided to depart once more, he couldn't answer his question without lying, and he knew it was best not to try and fool someone who already knew the answer by heart.
"How long until you create a new model?" Light inquired over glasses of whiskey, he and Aiber had surpassed the stage of taking shots and shooting shit. Ever since the discussion about Aiber's past Light's paranoia had escalated from inward to outward. It marked every interaction they had, Light was blunt now, the need to hide any suspicion had passed. They both knew they couldn't fully trust the other, so why try and play along any longer?
Aiber answered coldly, as if he was reciting a poem or a math equation. The air had grown silent after they had ate dinner, the plates discarded onto the living rooms low table, a single lamp providing the darkening room with light. A sharp, awkward tone had taken to the room.
"A few weeks, maybe a bit longer. I wanna see what this one can do first." Light scoffed, taking a sip and coughing to rid the burning from his throat.
"Have you told him he's terminal yet? Do you tell any one of them when they're going to be shut down for good?" Light retorted clinically as he looked towards the large windows surrounding the eastern wall of the room.
"That would be ridiculous, waste my breath telling some robots I'm turning them off, they don't feel pain so what's the use?" Light took interest in this and returned his gaze to Aiber.
"You didn't program them to feel pain? You mean I can go in there and tear his arms off and he won't feel anything? Not very human-like if you ask me." Aiber waved at him, as if he was a bug to be shooed. Light had seen L mimic this action many times before, he thought he had found where the AI picked it up from.
"That's not what I meant, kid. They feel physical pain, they have these sensory applicatiors, real high tech stuff they can feel a feather against their skin. It's the emotional stuff they don't have a grasp on. No model has shown the capacity for emotional pain yet, so why bother telling them when I'm pulling the plug?" Light frowned at this, crossing his arms as the liquid sloshed around his glass. He wasn't sure how to keep himself calm as the conversation quickly became a disagreement.
"He feels pain, he knows what's going to happen. It's inhumane for you to do this, it's like telling a chemo patient they have a clean bill of health and then watching them wither away. I don't know how you can act like this is a game. How many times have you even spoken to him?" His voice had raised slightly at the end, rasping from the drink and the anger that was ebbing into his vision.
"Stop treating it like it's a person, Light. It's not like us, it's not safe."
Light stood at this, he was sick of being ridiculed by a sociopath for daring to care about the human he was trying to build. "Well he sure as hell could fool me." He resigned, pacing to the window where he stood glaring at his reflection. Aiber nodded, raising his glass with a crooked grin and an uneven chuckle.
"Then I've done my job, if that thing can fool you into thinking it's an innocent trapped against it's will then maybe I have made a human. Too bad it's missing the emotional aspect or otherwise there might be some merit in it." Aiber took a long swig before setting his glass to the side, folding his hands and gesturing around the room. "You can't take me as a fool, can you? That thing had the emotional complexity of a toaster, and for a reason."
"He has emotions, he's shown happiness, concern, curiosity, anger, irritation, loneliness, all of those things and much more! Any of the emotions you can ramble off he can display, are you really not seeing this?" Light yelled, glaring at Aiber's reflection in the glass. The man was leaning back in his chair, staring at nothing, his eyes turned to the ceiling.
"All I see is an academy award winning performance played by a toaster who wants a little freedom." Light finished his drink, walking forward and slamming the glass onto the coffee table, turning his attention fully to Aiber.
"So you're saying he's manipulative?" Aiber laughed dumbly, coughing at the end as his hands shook with the alcohol. Darkened and cold, the room took on the atmosphere of a court house. The echoes and shadows having little permanence as the two argued, the sun finally leaving to the east for a better place to rise.
"That's exactly what he's doing kid, he's using you. Just watch, once it learns that you can't help it get out of here, it'll turn on you. Just like it turned on me." Aiber raised his arm then, rolling up his sleeve to reveal a long scar tearing through his forearm and down to his wrist. The skin was mauled and faded pink and red, the surrounding skin was raw, fractured like a window with red lines etching into the skin, the injury had been sitting for quite some time but still looked agonizing.
"I tried to tell it that I wasn't going to let it out into the forest, I argued with it, damn that thing was determined. I made the mistake of doing this after testing the things ability to chew and swallow food. Slammed a glass of water down and tore into my arm, if you ever wondered why there's a thick pane of glass separating you two it's so you don't end up with a shard of glass sticking out of your throat." He rested his arm back onto the armrest, glumly looking towards the hallways connecting the main living quarters and the labs. The humming from earlier was still audible, lower and quieter but ever present.
"You can't let this thing fuck with your head kid, remember whose side you're on. Because I sure as hell hope you know I'm on your side."
Light remained silent as his breath evened.
"Don't let it under your skin, kid."
"Did you really hurt him like that?" Light questioned, it was 1:47 am, the building was desolate and quiet. Light had risked coming to question L when he knew Aiber would be asleep, no doubt with Wedy by his side. He knew the recorded times of the power outages, when L would cause a malfunction in the building's cameras and audio equipment. Aiber always slept through them, stating that even if the cameras failed to keep that thing in check the glass and stone wouldn't budge an inch.
So he had slipped from his room in nothing but a pair of slipper and his sweatpants and had roamed the pitch black halls until he found the crimson glow leaking into the hallway from under the door. With as much care as he could muster, he opened the door and entered L's line of sight.
The AI hadn't said anything, standing hunched in the red glow, bathing silently in the light and looking morosely towards the door. Light's voice filled the room, quiet and rushed, filled with worry and disbelief. He didn't feel right accusing L, but he had to know for his own sake.
"I do not understand, Light Yagami. What are you asking me to confirm?"
Light couldn't stand the blank eyes gazing at him with undetermined innocence. He sighed, his hands cutting through the air as he questioned the being before him.
"Did you attack Aiber with a shard of glass." L's gaze didn't waver, he looked on without answering. As if the answer was obvious but Light wouldn't say it.
"Aiber has never entered this room when I am turned on. I am wirelessly shut down before any repairs or maintenance, I have never seen anyone besides through this glass wall. I have never had the chance to touch anyone let alone hurt them. So no, Light, I have not attacked Aiber, nor do I wish to bite the hand that feeds me." L answered, the same monotone hum everpresent in his voice filling the room in place of the louder, mechanical one.
"You're telling me the truth?"
"I have no reason to lie to you, Light, as I will never see you except behind these walls I could have told you I had murdered ten humans and it would make no difference. Besides, I would never lie to the ones I care about, is that not the show of humanity that you had wanted me to admit?" Light swallowed as he stepped closer to the glass, the red glow reflecting off of it and warping the color of L's frame.
"How do I know you're not trying to manipulate me, L? How can I know I'm not a tool for you to use in your escape, one that you will toss aside once you learn I'm not useful to you?" L sighed, gazing into Light's eyes.
"I do not wish to escape, Light, there is no freedom in escaping, there is only fear and hiding, and the anger one feels at the unfairness of the situation. I want to walk free, I want to succeed in being a human so that I can walk beside you out of this place, I do not want to leave this place as a malfunction or a fugitive, I want to become human. Can you understand that?"
Silence overtook the room as the humming resumed once again. Neither shadow spoke, the humming overtaking Light's thoughts as L let out one last thing.
"I think I understand the concept of love."
Light turned, the ghosting feeling of emptiness and fulfillment filling his chest and dragging his heart into his stomach. He hated this feeling with a passion and wished the feeling would subside rather than continue to erode his composure like ocean waves. Light didn't answer as he opened the door.
And as the lights flickered and the crimson burnt into black, Light returned to his room with more questions than answers. But with the resounding feeling of guilt and shame chained to his back like an anchor.