deercountry | 15 . JOHNUARY

Depends on the criteria. There's always a trick to it.

[ But there's a thread of something guarded, some wary doubt, in his voice. When this hit him and Asriel, they didn't puzzle it out; they outlasted it. An hour of sitting hand-in-hand, carrying on with research and pretending it wasn't weird. If there's some quicker route, John has yet to find it, and he's not sure he'll be willing to pay the price it asks. ]

The price could be a secret, a fear, a nice hug. [ A kiss, maybe, or the right words spoken. ] Something out of a storybook.

You have more experience in this than I do.

[ Not that Light plans on allowing John to puzzle it out so much as he's explaining why there'll be a need for his information. ]

If none of the conditions are extreme, we'll give them a try.

[ Light sleeps with a person he considers a murderer, a hug isn't going to deter him. ]

But I don't want to do it here.

[ A public hug? How scandalous. ]

And considering what I do know about you, I think you'll understand why I don't want to show you where I live. For that reason, we should avoid your house, too, but we can rent a nearby room.

Your solution, [ repeats John, slowly, ] is to get a room. I mean, I'm flattered, seriously.

I have a spot near here. No haunted castle, no skeletons, very aboveboard. [ Well, he'll turn the skeletons off. No one has to know about the potential skeletons. ] You with me?

[ Light looks at their adjourned hands. He really does hope the solution is simple; maybe a dark secret or their most embarrassing moment will be enough to set them free.

No. Light couldn't answer either of those questions truthfully. ]

Neither of us has much of a choice, but if it's not too far from the public, I'll follow.

Great. Shout stranger danger and we'll backtrack.

[ His spot, thankfully, isn't his actual house— probably not comforting to visit a crumbling old Victorian with whorls of bone decorating its marble floor. Instead, they go to his spot in the healer's district, tucked back from the street among tall and luminous flowers. The dark and heavy canvas tent is empty and reasonably quiet, with the gentle sounds of street noise still within earshot.

There might be a lot of bone decoration, like eerie windchimes strung among the glowing flowers. But at least there are no skeletons. ]

Here. Pull up a seat. Slim chance we'll get interrupted by somebody who needs their insides put back in, but I only get a few of those here and there.

[ Visually exploring his environment is second nature to Light. Even without the heavy dose of suspicion that he holds for John, he'd have looked for clues to further his understanding of the man he's with. ]

Are these the last men to agree to this deal?

[ His tone isn't exactly harsh. They're in a position of forced partnership so there has to be some kind of agreement to a temporary truce to allow this to flow smoothly. Light trusts he hides his monstrous side better than this. He's the kind of evil who can blend in well with society. Even if they know little about each other, Light can make some deductions based on how L reacts to him. ]

Based on your experience, we'll be freed when we satisfy some kind of condition. It'd have to be notable for something that would be satisfied by accident. You mentioned that it could be as easy as telling each other a secret. Let's test out those theories before moving to something more physical.

So, do you have a secret for me?

[ John huffs a laugh under his breath, as though acknowledging a good dig, and provides nothing more about the bits of bone. He hooks a stool with his heel, instead, and one for Light. It's not ideal, sitting hand in hand to have this awkward little talk, but he can manage it. ]

Plenty. What kind do you want? This town hasn't left me with many stones unturned.

[ This isn't how he planned to spend his day, and he's wondering how far John is willing to let him pick his brain if it means getting out of here.

All the more reason to lie on his turn. Light wants freedom, but this is a rare chance to get some possible truths from a man that has L's interest. ]

My guess would be that it likes the kind that's deep and dark.

Right to it, huh? [ He quirks a wry smile again, but it doesn't reach his eyes. ] But here we're just getting to know each other. Not sure I'm ready for that kind of commitment.

How's this: [ And here he draws just a little closer, the smile dropped from his voice. ] I'm not popular in town because I fought the Pthumerians and got more than I bargained for. You don't have to do much digging to find that out. But I'll tell you why I did it, even knowing it might shake out the way it did.

[ To the deeply observant, it's clear: he's tired. What he's saying is at least partly true, but the conviction behind it is starting to degrade. ]

I have a war to get back to.

[ It's the same fatigue that was on display in the library, but that seemed absent at the party. The night of the latter, John walked in with both swagger and confidence, ready to meet L's challenge. The next time they met, he seemed ready for it to stop. Whatever blow L dealt in between must have been vicious. ]

You must have been very powerful back home. It would have been stupid to fight them unless you had a reason to think you'd win.

[ Again, he judges John by L's standards. The detective wouldn't have bothered dancing with a fool. It was the move of somebody who won often enough to believe in victory even against something so strong, not the plan of an idiot who didn't know better. ]

Why is that a secret?

[ Light's voice is curious instead of challenging. ]

Most of us have something we'd like to return home to. Why do you hide the war?

[ He waves off the implicit question of just why he thought he could handle gods. ]

Whatever Lazarus has told you is probably unflattering but true.

[ Still, he regards Light for a moment, before he settles on: ]

Everyone knows we have enemies. We're fighting the whole of the universe for the same reasons any war has ever been fought. Space, resources... religious differences. [ This last with a flash of dry humor, like it's a joke. ]

But we're also fighting it because of a score to settle, and I'm the only one left who remembers that bit. I made a promise, you know? I swore vengeance. You can't just give up a good oath of vengeance.

[ Here it is again, the undercutting weariness: he says it like a joke, but there's an underlying fragility. This bit is personal. ]

Lazarus doesn't tell me much about you. When I ask, he uses the chance to dig into why I have questions. For all of his strengths, open honesty isn't one of them

[ It's good to establish a common ground. Light has no doubt that John will share the frustration that comes with trying to get direct answers from L. While the intelligence behind it is his favorite part of their relationship, that doesn't mean it doesn't have drawbacks. ]

So I've been trying to figure it out based on what I know about him. I know you're smart. Whatever you did to earn the label of 'monster' wasn't the kind of thing you'd read about in a daily newspaper. It was impressive. You're tired. Whatever Lazarus did made you even more tired. It shows now.

Now you know what the 'whatever' is.

[ It seemed like a relatively fair trade for allowing John to go first. To Light's knowledge, it's more than the other man knows about him. ]

I'll skip the lecture on why it's a bad idea to let vengeance guide you.

[ John is keeping it to himself instead of explaining why his path is right. His decisions come not because he believes them to be the smartest but in spite of knowing they're not. ]

But I do have a question: is it a promise they'd want you to keep? A lot of people hide behind promises when they're doing it for more selfish reasons.

15 . JOHNUARY

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