Code Light Chapter 13:Discussion
"So what happened out there?" Kallen asked. Zero had retreated to the lower levels of the decks, Kallen had followed him.
"There were certain complications when a young Japanese man shot members of the JLF." From Kallen's perspective he didn't know Light. However his conversation was not allowed to continue unfettered.
"Yes, but he's slightly more than just a young man." Ryuzaki spoke in a faraway tone as he shambled through the doorway. "In fact I believe he should be invited to join the Black Knights."
"Do we really know enough about him? All we know is that he shot the guards there. Can we really trust him?" Kallen seemed to disagree with Ryuzaki, which was good. Though he wished to keep an eye on Light, with his geass it could be too much of a risk.
"Oh, I believe you trust him all right." Ryuzaki meandered over to a seat and crouched down, slightly swaying with the motion of the boat. Lelouch snapped the two together. That was why Kallen and Light had been exchanging glances! He'd probably been trying to get closer to Kallen so she would invite him into the Black Knights! However, how did Ryuzaki know of this?
"What do are you talking about?"
"You were planning on inducting him anyway. You may have only wanted him to join for personal reasons, but it seems he has some actual talent." Kallen's eyes widened with realization. It took her long enough to put it together. Lelouch gave her a moment to compose herself
"Is this true Kallen?"
"Yes sir. He is intelligent and believes in our cause. I believe Light would be a great asset." Kallen spoke with such formality. She really wanted wished for Light to join, had he really gotten that close to her so quickly? He had, that manipulative bastard. It would be a gamble to take him on, Light's geass could prove problematic.
But Lelouch was Zero.
He would not be outdone by Light's righteousness. His way of healing the world was unsustainable, it would never last past his death. Lelouch would create a peaceful world that would last for the entire future, a safe haven for humanity to protect them from themselves. The Emperor must be ended to save the world from his bloodlust and Lelouch was the one who would do it. Light would be a tool, albeit a dangerous one.
"Then he will be welcome within our ranks. Even now our numbers grow, encompassing all those who believe in justice! Kallen, find Light and tell him he is welcome to join us should he wish it." Kallen looked happy with the information and went off to inform Light personally. He knew she meant nothing to Light, but hoped maybe he would become the mask and form an attachment to her. No, he wouldn't wish that upon Kallen, no matter how useful the results. He'd best stick to machinations with more tangible results. He looked to Ryuzaki, who seemed to be waiting for him to speak.
"You know quite a good deal." he began. "It is clear you are plotting your own schemes..."
"Isn't everyone?" Lelouch paused.
"Is that really how you see the world? Nothing more than a web of lies and deception?"
"It's the only part I'm interested in." Ryuzaki remarked with indifference.
"Then I must ask of you to keep an eye on Light. You are still a member of the Black Knights, no matter the circumstances under which you joined." Ryuzaki nodded and continued to sit. No further conversation would expedite his mission, so Lelouch went to oversee to the release of the Brittanians.
"So Light, how does it feel to kill with your own hands?" Ryuk floated about idly.
"I have been killing with my own all along. These are the hands to purge evil from the world." Light sat down in the small cabin. He'd been separated from the rest of the hostages, most likely due to his un-hostage-like behavior. Perhaps Kallen would pull through and be able to get Zero to let him in. It was unlikely that Lelouch would allow it, as he seemed to have picked up on his and Kallen's date and dismiss it as either manipulation or infatuation.
"Light," Kallen's voice came from the other side of the door. So she had been able to convince Lelouch.
"Come on in." he spoke nonchalantly. Then again Light was perpetually unperturbed. Kallen walked over and sat on the bunk with him, as Ryuk pressed to the side to keep out of her way. Strange, considering she would walk right through him.
"You don't seem all to surprised to see me." She seemed slightly annoyed, as if he'd ignored some fantastic revelation.
"It's not like it was all to unexpected." Light smiled at her "I did a little digging, Kozuki. I wondered why you would support Zero so much. Sure there may be good Brittanians out there, but your passion for human rights extended beyond that."
"I'm sorry, I forgot you were a genius." Kallen snidely stated, though in jest. Light grinned. There was a momentary tense pause.
"Necessity."
"Was it really?"
"Even though they weren't Japanese, I wouldn't leave them to die."
"I never implied anything of the sort."
"Forget I said anything." Sighing he stood up. Perhaps a change of topics would be beneficial. "Why don't you show me around. Since I'm a Black Knight now I could use an orientation."
Lelouch sat in class, the substitute from the other day was back. It seemed Mr. Cartwright had taken indefinite leave, which was quite beneficial. The substitute seemed nearly as eccentric as Lloyd, there were opportunities abound for him to skip. Light also seemed to be plotting something. Again. He hoped C.C. was doing her job at Light's new residence. It was strange the way that as soon as he returned, he'd also acquired a geass as well as his new lodgings. There would probably be something at the old greenhouse that would shed some light on Light.
"Today we will be starting a project dealing with the histories of this place of Japan." There were several gasps from the Brittanian students "I'll be pairing the two boy geniuses together, Suzaku and Kallen, Rivalz and..." The teacher droned on. Lelouch stopped listening after he realized that he would be working with Light.
"I can't say I'm all too thrilled with this." Light remarked.
"We could discuss other things of greater import."
"I suppose. Still I thought I saw a glimmer in his eyes when he paired us together."
"He is mad." Lelouch sighed and packed up his things. "Let us discuss this all elsewhere." The two walked side by side out of the room, their new teacher giving them a friendly wave goodbye.
They walked back towards Light's quarters. Hopefully C.C. found some incriminating evidence and escaped, it would be a nice change of pace to finally get an upper hand on Light. As they entered the building, Light looked around suspiciously but said nothing. He gestured for Lelouch to sit down in one of the chairs.
"I'll bring us something to eat." He returned munching on a plate of donuts. "How can you tell if an Immortal has been in your kitchen?" Lelouch wasn't even shocked at this point. Light waited, as if for a response before answering "The pizza from the fridge is missing."
"Damn it C.C.. Was it really something so simple?" He picked up a donut and bit into it. Rather good, he may have a new favorite food.
"I'm afraid it was. Now here we sit. Are we enemies or allies? These are things we should decide upon, we must discover our goals before we try to reach them." Light's fauxlisophical speech irritated him.
"My goal is clear. It is your motives that I question."
"My wish is to rid this world of the rotten. Your father is rotten as well, so I allow you to continue your own quest."
"I am not so selfish that that is my only motive! I shall make this world a safe place for all who are weak, that is what the Black Knights stand for!" Light's eyebrows raised.
"So it appears we are on the same side Lelouch. For now." he tossed an apple from hand to hand "So what do you wish to know?" So was this what he wanted to speak about. To make sure that he knew he was only a piece. It seemed he and Light were playing each other to reach the same goal.
"How do you kill?" how much information would Light offer him? This would likely be his most safeguarded information. The apple from his hands was tossed into the air and fell back into his hands.
"It's good to see you have some sense. You may eat it Ryuk." Tossing the apple into the air, it remained suspended for several seconds as it slowly disappeared into some unseen creature. "That was Ryuk. I tell him who to kill and he does so. I did plan to kill you at first, but I couldn't speak your name aloud to him. A rash move, in fact it was more of an experiment to see wether he would actually kill someone for me."
"So this, thing, it does whatever you tell it to?" It was strange the way Light divulged information like this. He had to entertain the notion that he was lying.
"Not at all. Ryuk is rather fickle and does whatever he wants, except for his duty which is to kill those who I request."
"That doesn't explain how someone dies every hour on the hour."
"I gave him a list. He kills them at his leisure, which is usually one piece of filth per hour. Says it's too much work otherwise." Lelouch thought this over. That meant that if the invisible beast decided to ramp up it's killings it would. Light apparently exerted little control over it as well. It was a great deal of a wild card.
"Can you trust it only to kill those you say?"
"Yes. Until my death, he shall only kill who I say." Until his death. Did that mean any future deaths would stop if he was killed? Still, Lelouch didn't want to waste any more time with details.
"This means you are Kira."
"Well yes after a fashion. I do chose who will die, even if I don't do the deed myself."
"How did you get your geass?"
"Now I'll be keeping some secrets to myself." So it seemed that Light had some things he would keep hidden. Perhaps they were contrary to his own interests and that was the reason.
"Well I suppose if you refuse to inform me on your geass' origin, would you tell me its usage? I have deduced that it seems to make the target feel guilt for past transgressions, albeit amplified somehow."
"Very good. My power is known as Wabisuke, the ability to judge, to make sinners repent for their crimes. Unlike your power, it is not limited to once per person." Penance and judgement. Controlling an invisible being that could slay whoever he wished. He must think he would become God or perhaps he already had that notion. There was nothing further he wished to ask of him that he would answer.
"Is there anything you are going to ask of me before I go then?"
"No. It is clear we are not necessarily opposed to each other. I look forward to working with you in the future."
L stalked the hallways. Lelouch and Light seemed to share many of the same classes, however they were most definitely not partners in the same scheme. Lelouch seemed constantly wary of Light, who in turn seemed to keep an eye on Lelouch but did not plan on taking any action. As he wandered the campus, the replacement teacher called to him.
"Hey Ryu, I'll be assigning Light to a project with Lelouch in about half an hour."
"Oh. I see." Why in the world had the teacher commented to him? Still the information was useful, it implied Light would not be to his quarters for another 30 minutes. L hadn't done any old fashioned snooping in a long while, he missed it. With his usual slouching walk he approached the old greenhouse, Light's recent quarters. Apparently it had been arranged by someone rather high up in the government. It also happened after he returned from his trip to the EU, a peculiar coincidence; his trail unmarked. So was there government involvement? Perhaps.
After a quick lockpicking, L walked into Light's residence. Where should he begin, Light's room perhaps? After a single wrong turn into the guest bedroom, he opened the door to see a green haired girl snooping about.
"Hello there." he called, walking into the room. She seemed to be inspecting Light's bookcase and the disorganized fashion implied that she'd also been rummaging through the closet and drawers. The desk had yet to be touched, so that was where he headed.
"What are you doing here?" She seemed mildly threatened and spoke in a cold voice, lacking ordinary human emotion. Not that L knew too much about that.
"The same as you I would assume." Only one drawer was locked. Would Light keep the key on him and risk it being lost or stolen? No matter, it would be no more difficult than the front door.
"That would imply you knew what I was doing here. As I've never seen you before I doubt that to be the case."
"Only the most thickheaded of fools would be unable to tell you've been trying to find something." Opening the drawer, he felt something shift. It was more than the fake diary on top. Did Light really believe he could fool someone with a diary? An imbecile could tell that Light would never wright his thoughts down, unless absolutely necessary. Now what was it beneath the false bottom, L placed his ear to it and closed his eyes.
"You are rather adept at this."
"If we aren't going to discuss anything, cease talking. I'm a bit busy." My that girl was annoying. There was the sound of fluid sloshing back and forth and the faintest odor of gasoline. A trap. Now how to disarm it, looking at the bottom of the drawer there was a small hole. Looking back to the top of the desk he eyed the bowl of small knick-knacks. A paperclip bent back into shape. Ordinary paperclips. An new eraser and several old ones. Light didn't seem to be the type to keep such things. With a thoughtful hmmm, he turned his attention to the jar of pencils and pens. Aha! One of the pens had been dissembled and put back together. The hole on the bottom of the drawer was just the right size, L looked to the green haired girl, jealously guarding his solution to the problem.
"It makes me uneasy when you stare at me like that." He shut the drawer smoothly and walked over to the girl looking into her amber eyes. She was to collected to be one of those silly creatures that fawned over Light. Lelouch may have sent her as he kept Light busy. However, they both were due back in another 15 or so minutes. Ah, but neither of them knew that, Lelouch probably had full intentions to keep Light delayed in class. Now, were there any other possibilities, anything to disprove this theory. It was crucial not to let his own ego distort his perception of reality. Other possible suspects, the government? No, if they were to send someone they would be more competent than this girl. Some other group? Unlikely, there was a very high probability she had some ties to Lelouch.
"What does Lelouch think he is looking for?"
"He is not looking for anything." She turned her back to him.
"I don't feel as if we have time to debate semantics."
"Well if you don't have the time, then I suppose I'll be on my way then."
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?" Most irritating she was indeed.
"My common alias on these grounds is Aizawa. Your alias is?"
"More than one false name? You must be a tricky one then. I should warn Lelouch about you." L rubbed his sleep-shadowed eyes. He'd had enough of this, he left the room in favor of the kitchen. He opened the fridge and frowned, nothing but fruit, vegetables and a pizza. Pizza would have to do. Opening the box he saw that there were three pieces remaining. Unless Light was a big eater, it seemed highly unusual. The amber eyed one had already left a presence, so he picked up a piece. The girl snatched the piece from behind and took a bite.
Unforgivable! He swiped at her legs, though surprised, she obviously had training in combat. Still, he caught her left leg causing her to tumble to the ground. L leapt for the pizza, but his opponent kicked her legs into his stomach propelling him into the air. He managed to turn so that it was a solid impact on his ribs and dealt no damage and enabling him to land in a crouch. Rushing again he slammed his elbow into her stomach as she made a move to stand up and she lost the slice. Nimble jumping off a chair he caught the pizza midair and tore off a bite. The taste of the tomato sauce, with the cheese on a light fluffy crust.
L frowned. It was a bit much effort for something so bland.
"You fight fairly well." he commented between bites, as the girl struggled on the ground. "I wonder how Lelouch got you. Anyhow, he and light will be here soon so I'd best be going." The girl lay still momentarily before standing up.
"Who are you?" L ignored the question and headed for the door.
"There are still two slices left if you want any."