The Difference
He'd always vied for attention, especially from her. He never thought it would cost him this. It's amazing how long a few seconds could last.
His rifle nearly slipped from his hands in shock. It wasn't supposed to happen like this, never in a thousand years. This wasn't supposed to happen...
It had caught them unaware, because she was paying attention to him. The attention he'd so fiercely craved came at the wrong time.
Neil watched, eyes wide in terror, as the world seemed to take its sweet time in claiming another life. Not just another life.
Jane tried to remain indifferent to the inevitable. She looked determined and courageous, as though they hadn't won. The Phantoms could kill her, as they had so many others, but she would win. The tentacle-like... thing... that seemed to hesitate as it curled around her neck and across her chest. A second and the third already pierced her body, and she stood defiant as ever against them. No, more than ever.
She tried to smile, maybe as reassurance, but it came wrong. When their eyes met for the last time, the carefully crafted façade fractured, and fear trickled through.
It was as though the Phantom had hesitated only because of Jane's will. When she faltered, when she feared it, when she knew better... the tentacles shifted and took her life. Her self torn from her body and absorbed in hatred, and her body falling to the ground.
Neil lifted his weapon uncertainly. He could still see the Shadow, the human spirit, being absorbed by the Phantom. If the scientists were right, if Dr. Ross and Dr. Sid knew what they were talking about... wasn't that Jane's spirit? If he took a shot and hit the Shadow, what would happen to Jane's soul?
It didn't matter. She'd always told him he was selfish, so what would she care? She wasn't here, so what did it matter to him? Neil swallowed and charged a shot. He watched only long enough to ensure that the Phantom was dead. He closed his eyes, feeling tired and sick. A strange noise brought him, or at least his instinctive mind, back to reality. He realized he'd hiccuped. Sound returned and other senses followed.
Sound brought with it orders, which he followed without question. He ran. The captain wanted a report; he wanted to know what happened. What had happened?
"Man down," Neil quietly repeated one of the phrases that had been drilled into him, and part of him waited for the repercussion that he knew would come for using those words in regard to that individual. It never came. That brought cognition back into his life.
He was being dragged up from the lift. Somehow he had never thought Aki was that strong, but she managed to pull him up despite his beliefs. Reality hit him hard as he was lying on the cold metal grating that was the floor.
"Captain," for once, words didn't come that easily, "Jane's... she's dead, sir. We got surprised..."
"Neil, it's okay. I know," the response came slowly and carefully, almost choked, "You did good, both of you. We'll take care of the rest."
Aki had drawn him into an embrace he couldn't quite find the strength to pull away from, even though he wanted to. He wanted to kick, scream, cry... he wanted to be told how much of a baby he was, how he was useless, incompetent, or... anything.
He could still see her when he closed his eyes. That final look, the failed smile, the fear... He'd carry that image with him the rest of his life. He'd cherish it until he the day he died.
The End
Working Title: The Difference
Inspiration: ... watching the film. It is high grade plotbunny fodder.
Noteworthy: I'm not sure if it would go that way or not, but it made sense to me.
Disambiguation: ... straightforward.
Series: The Difference; The Lion's Den; Truth at Heart
Derivative work of material © Square Pictures, Squaresoft. Reformatted to abide by 'site standards. None of the original text has been modified, 'cept in case of typo.