Standard disclaimers apply.

Spoilers up to manga chapter 31.

Thank you sasori, for reading through and naming the fic.

--
Res Ipsa Loquitur
--

Three days after L decided it was better to stretch the LL alliance's resources over two locations at once than to keep it pooled at one spot, Yagami Light found himself seated alone in the cold, empty control room of the Kira investigation building.

He rubbed his hands against each other and blew hot air into them. Staring up at the various video footage being fed to him via different sources, he wondered briefly if he should adjust the air conditioning so that it was warmer.

The stat box at the corner of his laptop indicated that there was a downpour outside at the moment. Of course that would be so, Light thought to himself. That alone could explain why the room's temperature had suddenly gone down by so much.

After checking the air conditioner temperature, Light sighed. Much to his dismay, the thing was already stationed at room temperature - just as he had thought. The real cause of the biting cold was the downpour outside, which Light had absolutely no control over - L-certified partner/genius or not. He stood. Stretched. Wandered around a bit. He wondered where L kept his usual stash of coffee.

The coffee stash was not hard to find. It was in the room L often disappeared to at length. Light took a few experimental sniffs at the quaint porcelain cups already lined up around the ornate table in the middle of the room. His face twisted with slight disgust. He could literally smell the leftover sugar from the rims.

He swiftly took one of the cups into his hands, meaning to wash it and use it to contain that pint of coffee that was going to be warming up his insides. His cold, slightly stiffened fingers betrayed him, however. While he turned towards the sink area, the cup slipped ungracefully from his fingers and fell onto the carpeting.

For some inexplicable reason, it shattered into a thousand fragments. Maybe more. On the lush carpeting.

Light blinked. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head violently. He opened his eyes. The fragments were still there.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath. He carefully strode over the huge area of scattered fragments, using L's usual tea-time chair as a stepping stone towards the actual pantry area. "I think that was his favourite cup," he commented offhandedly to the thin air. Reaching the pantry counter, he grabbed another cup from somewhere nearby and rinsed it with water. Nevermind. It was not as if L could not afford another cup.

The sounds of water splashing against glass in the huge, hollow building was a comforting distraction from pertinent questions such as; how is it humanly possible to shatter glass on carpet?

And it was indeed so distracting, Light did not notice that L had magically appeared from seemingly nowhere, standing in the doorway. Not, at least, until he had finished rinsing the cup and was turning around to reach out for the coffee flask.

Instinctively he gripped the cup in his hand tighter. No way was he going to drop and break another one of L's cups - in front of the person himself, no less. Heaven only knew what kind of sneaky, subtle punishment L would mete out in retribution. He was also struggling to keep the surprise out of his face, lest L read into it and teased Light in that sarcastic, polite, mind-bending way of his yet again. He hoped very hard that L would not notice the glass fragments. And if he did, that he would not press it.

Light stared at L.

L stared at Light.

Light then noticed that L was drenched. His clothes were sticking onto his skin awkwardly. The usual mane of hair that resembled a messy nest of birds was flattened and subdued. L was looking as pale as - no, paler than; maybe, usual. For some reason, though, his dark eye rings seemed less prominent.

More importantly - L was dripping water on the carpeting. That was going to cost a bomb to replace. Big carpets always did cost a bomb. Not that L seemed to mind, though. Light continued to stare at L, who stared back. There was something in L's dull, lifeless eyes that made Light rather uncomfortable. The look in those eyes was also strangely familiar. Light wondered why.

"Ryuuzaki, what are you doing here?" Light eventually found it in himself to break the silence first. He moved towards the coffee flask nevertheless, determined to get warm. "Where's Misa? And my father? You guys went out to carry out some investigation together, didn't you?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the absence of the other two.

L stared at Light some more. He shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets and slowly making his way over to the chair he usually sat in. Once there, he slipped in - foot by foot. He crouched in his usual pose, hugging his knees to himself. "Yes," he answered, finally, when he had a thumb in between his lips, "we were." He glanced up slightly at Light. "Why are you not watching the cameras, Light-kun? Are they of no use anymore?"

Light could tell that L was testing him about something. Again. As usual, et el. Knowing did not make Light feel any less frustrated about the suspicion. Took all of his self-control not to just punch L in the face there and then.

"I was just taking a break, Ryuuzaki," Light made extra sure that he sounded as sweet and innocent as the triple layer chocolate cakes he always saw L inhaling for breakfast. He threw in a big smile for added measure. "Grabbing a bite and a drink before I freeze to death, you know," he poured a generous helping of coffee into his cup. "I won't take long, and I'll make sure I review the recordings of what I've missed a while later." He paused in the middle of replacing the coffee flask. Sneaking a glance over his shoulder at the silent L, he asked lightly, "Speaking of warm drinks and food, you look like you need some yourself." He waved the flask in mid-air slightly. "Do you?"

L removed one hand from his lips and the other from around his ankle. "Yes please," he folded his hands neatly and carefully over his raised knees. "That would be excellent. My fingers are far too cold to be holding anything properly anymore."

Light decided he would not argue against the wisdom behind those words, considering there were many glass fragments on the floor that were the results of his having gone against it.

He poured another cup of coffee and set it on a saucer. Placing it on the spot of table before L with the sugar cubes, he extended a hand in fanfare. "Please," he rumbled, like a long-time waiter of a posh western restaurant.

"Thank you," L replied, plainly. Light could not tell if L was playing along or just being himself. L stared at the cup of coffee, his hands still placed palm-first on his bent knees. "Would you be so kind as to place a slice of apple pie alongside the coffee?" L looked at Light from across the table - his eyes hollow. His voice hollow.

Light almost choked on the coffee that was already in his throat. He coughed slightly, then put the cup on the table. Flashing L a dark look - only for a split second, though - he wondered what the other was thinking of doing this time. L's eccentricity often made people dismiss his weird questions as of no importance. Light was not about to let L get his way like this, however. He knew by experience that the more out-of-place the question L asked, the more careful he should be about his reply. He pondered his options carefully.

Though before he could reply, L's next words threw him off balance.

"It is only morally right that you accede to this little request of mine, Light-kun."

The silence in the room thereafter was resounding.

Light rose to full height, a tick threatening to appear on his forehead. But he was not going to be able to gut L in the jaw fast enough unless he stamped on all the glass fragments on the floor that were in the way. He simply returned to the pantry, retrieved a slice of apple pie, grabbed a pastry fork from somewhere, and set the plate in front of L, who continued staring at him with empty, unreadable eyes. "Will that be all?" He smiled at the observing L.

It took L quite a while to react. "Yes," he was saying. His gaze was now transferred to the edibles before him. "Thank you."

At that, Light relaxed back into his own seat. He decided that he was going to ignore L until he at least finished his coffee.

Which, was proving to be rather difficult, since L apparently favoured watching him like a hawk to sipping his own coffee and chewing on his apple pie.

"Do you like coffee, Light-kun?" L suddenly asked. His head was slightly inclined to his left shoulder.

Light frowned slightly. That question sounded normal enough. "I like it without sugar," he said tentatively, eyeing L questioningly.

"But sugar is necessary. Sugar gives coffee a nice smell," L dully declared, bending forward to sniff at the coffee first, then the apple pie. "Coffee is not complete without sugar... and I can't smell anything anymore." He straightened, though still crouched on the chair. His hands gripped the folds of the cloth on his knees. "Light-kun, would you be so kind as to put the sugar into my coffee for me?"

Light had just finished his coffee and was about to stand up to place the cup in the sink. Thereafter he could go out and continue watching the videos, leaving the drenched detective to his own private affairs. His plans and intentions dove head-first out of the proverbial window, however, when he heard L's question.

Light's head was bowed, and he let it remain as such while his eyes rolled upwards to stare stonily at L through half-lids. "What's wrong, Ryuuzaki?" He was growing impatient at the succession of unrelated questions L was shooting him with. "You never let someone else put the cubes in your coffee for you." And it was true. L's cube requirement varied from minute to minute. If this was yet another one of his arbitary tests, it was way too blatant. Light did not like it. He did not like being tested.

"My fingers are too cold to hold anything," L remained unfazed. He held both hands up and wriggled his fingers against the ceiling light, staring at them with something akin to morbid fascination. "I am very cold." He repeated.

"Then drink your coffee," Light snapped in as gentle a tone as he could. "Before it gets cold too."

"Sugar..." L looked at his coffee sadly, his wet hands back on his wet knees, and his chin resting upon them all. "Coffee is not complete without sugar..."

Light sighed. Fortunately, the table was narrow enough that a little bit of stretching brought his hands close enough to L's coffee and sugar cubes. He scooped some sugar cubes up and dumped them into the cup. He stopped at four. He stirred the cup while he was at it. Then finally, sat back down heavily into the soft stuffing of the chair behind him. "Will that do? Drink your coffee now and let's get back to work."

L kept staring at the coffee. He made no attempt to reach forward and pick the cup up. "Light-kun," he said, sounding like he was singing, "have I been a good friend?"

Silence.

"... What?" Light asked quietly. Too surprised to be able to say anything else. He gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in, tightly.

L was gazing at the pieces of shattered glass on the floor beside him, eyes somewhat downcast. He slowly lifted them up to meet Light's anxious, worried ones. "Good friends warn each other if they see danger before the other one does, don't they?" He continued to say, ignoring Light's confusion. "Kira," his tone was serious. Yet sad. "Please stop killing."

Light bolted onto his feet. It was more of a reflex reaction than anything, really. L had already climbed out of his chair and was waddling slowly towards the doorway of the pantry. "Ryuuzaki!" Light shouted at the retreating detective.

L turned to look at Light over the shoulder. "Better get back to work, Light-kun," the same, seasoned, nonchalant voice of detective L was back, and Light did not know if he should be relieved or pissed. "You are probably going to be very busy for a bit from now on."

With those words last left, L departed from sight. Sidling into the darkness. As if he had never been there before.

"Ryuuzaki, wait!" Light tried to reach L before he could disappear, but was stopped by the shattered pieces of glass on the floor. He slowly, slowly edged over the sharp fragments, wondering how L had managed to traverse them with such ease and speed.

Once away from the fangs of the shattered cup, he broke into a run. He was nearly reaching the control room when the phone next to the pantry door rang, offensively loud. Light rolled his eyes, jogging back slightly. He picked the phone up. "Yes?" He all but snapped. He was so going to chew L's head off once he got his hands on the eccentric guy.

/Li... Light.../ Misa's unmistakable voice greeted him from the other line. In the background, the rain was pouring. Misa was sniffling. /... Light?/ She ventured, when Light had not confirmed his identity yet.

"Misa, what's wrong?" Light ran a hair through his fringe. He hoped she wasn't going to ask him to go carry her shopping bags again. Especially since it was raining so heavily now.

/Light.../ sniff /... Light... he asked me.../ sniff /...to tell... to tell you he's gone./ sniff /He's gone... He's... he's dead./ She sniffled. Her words were garbled and her voice was spinning wildly out of control.

"Misa," Light could feel a bad, bitter feeling of forebodance welling up from within him. "Misa calm down. What happened? Who's dead?"

/Ryuuzaki!/ Misa shouted into the phone with her teary voice. /Ryuuzaki's dead!/

Overhead, thunder rumbled.

Light's mouth grew dry. Fingers grew cold. "Impossible," he whispered. "When did this happen?"

Misa was sobbing by now. /I... I'm not very sure.../ she also sounded uncharacteristically tired. /...half... half an hour ago he collapsed... I... I don't know... Light, I'm... I'm scared!/ She started to rant into the phone, sobbing, shouting, pleading, hoping to elicit a response from Light that was anything but stark silence.

That was going to be kind of hard. Because Light wasn't listening anymore.

His feet had somehow taken him back into the pantry. He stared down at the table in the room. Where the untouched coffee still stood, tendrils of smoke curling up into the air. The cup was still shattered in fragments on the floor. A cold, wet trail led from the doorway, over the sharpnels, pooling into a big mess on the chair where L had been crouching.

An apple from the stack of apples placed on the pantry counter was missing. So was L's apple pie. In its place, on the saucer, was a torn page from a note book. There was a name written on it. Light did not know whose name it was.

Although he did recognise the handwriting.

It was his own handwriting, after all.

/Ryuuzaki is dead!/ Misa's sudden loud wail from the other side of the line of the phone Light was still connected to shook him out of his stupor. /Light! Are you listening to me?!/

Light's knees grew weak, so he leaned against the chair he had come to dub as L's chair. When that did not work, however, he gave in, allowing his body to fall onto the ground with a heavy thud. When had he started holding his breath? He could hear Misa's incomprehensible babble in the background. The coffee he had taken earlier no longer warmed him up.

He thought he saw the piece of note paper with the strange name written on it fly away.

But he didn't know what was real, and what was not, anymore.

--
Exigo
1.dec.2004
tougenkyou . net / xd