It was midnight.
Mei screamed out painfully on the mobile bed as doctors and nurses hurried to bring her to the emergency room. She went into labor barely an hour ago. Following closely is her worrying husband, Kouichi, who held her hand tight as they moved along, trying to comfort her.
"It's going to be alright, Mei. Everything's going to be alright. Don't give up!"
Fear and anxiety filled his voice, but also does hope. After everything they went through, he isn't going to give up on her now. They must not lose here. The sake of their children depends on them to be strong. Life has taken so many loved ones from them already, and he's sure as hell won't let it take anymore.
Outside the labor room, Kouichi paced back and forth nervously. Sitting on the chair nearby is his best friends Naoya and Yuuya, who arrived just half an hour ago to give support to their friends. Times like this, friends must always stick by each other. They all learned their lessons since that...tragedy all those years ago.
"I'm sure she's going to be fine. Mei's a strong woman. She can do it, man." Naoya spoke up, trying to calm his best friend down. Kouichi just nodded in respond.
Yuuya didn't say anything, probably because he doesn't know what to say. He just gave a thumbs up to Kouichi, who managed a small smile, before going back to being nervous again.
As for Kouichi himself, the very thought of becoming a father terrifies him. So many things to fear: What if he couldn't be a good father? What if he couldn't take care of his family? What if something bad is going to happen to them? Most of those fears are obviously driven by his awful experiences when he was a junior high school student.
And that's not even his biggest fear right now.
Mei Sakakibara, his loving wife, his beautiful angel, is undergoing her operation to deliver their children. He finally understands how all those husbands feel when their wives are going into labor. His father once told him that it's lucky to be born as men, because you won't have to face something so painful like this, now he finally understands what he means.
His lovely wife is now facing that very painful moment for the sake of their children, while he can't do anything except waiting and praying for their safety.
What if something bad happen to her? What if the doctors aren't good enough? What if their children don't make it? What if she doesn't make it?
All those thoughts are driving him crazy. What kind of a man he is if he can't even protect his family? It took all of his strengths not to fall into despair right at that moment.
Minutes that passed by feel like hours, sweats keep dropping from Kouichi's strained face. He's about to give up. He wanted to run into that blasted room, just to see if his wife's still safe. He's willing to give up anything, anything, for any sign that can tell him that everything's going to be alright.
And he waited on, and on, and on...
Finally, one of the doctors came out of the room.
Kouichi, Naoya and Yuuya quickly gathered in front of him.
"Is it done, doctor? Is my wife alright? Is the delivery a success?" Kouichi asked frantically. He has to know the answer right now. Just tell him already whether he's the world's luckiest or the unluckiest man.
The doctor slowly took his glasses off, before smiling at him, and nodded.
"The delivery's a success, son. Your wife and your children are safe now. Congratulations."
The good news almost throw Kouichi off his feet. He sighed deeply before smiling as Naoya slapped his back, laughing. Yuuya just jumped up and down like an idiot, cheering to the new father's success.
"Your wife's now recovering, but you can go in to see her. My assistant's taking care of your children right now, please be gentle with them." The doctor said.
"Thank you, thank you so much, doctor. We owe you so much!" Kouichi shook the doctor's hand, who just smiled back.
"Happy to help a fellow father, son! Now, I have other matters to attend to, please excuse me." And then he walked away.
Kouichi stared at the labor room's doors. His wife, his children, his new family is waiting for him behind this door.
"Go on! We'll wait outside." Naoya said. "Wouldn't want to interrupt a private time between you two! Oh, I mean, four, right? You lucky bastard!"
And then he and Yuuya laughed again.
"You idiots will never change." Kouichi grinned. Heh, those two guys are really his best friends forever.
Finally, he pushed the door open, and stepped into that room.
She was there, on the patient's bed. Her eyes closed, resting because of the exhaustion from the childbirth.
Next to the bed is a nurse carrying two newborns in her arms.
Twins, Kouichi thought. I'm now officially the luckiest son of a bitch alive.
"Your children are here, Mr. Sakakibara." The nurse smiled, before handing the two babies over. They're still crying, as all newborns do.
Kouichi carefully took them both to be in his arms.
"The children are both healthy, sir. No symptoms or anything to be worried about. We've already taken care of any basic necessities for newborns. There's nothing to worry, sir."
The kind nurse gave him another smile, a smile that somehow reminded him of another nurse that was significant in his life all those years ago.
"Thank you so much, miss, er..." He looked at the nurse's badge on her shirt.
Hikari Mizuno
"Miss...Mizuno." He finally completed.
So, that explains everything.
"Congratulations again, sir! I'm sure you'll make a good father!" She said before leaving the room.
Kouichi carefully carried his newborns toward Mei's bed, who finally open her eyes.
"...Hi..." She gave him a weak smile after seeing her children.
"We did it, Mei." Kouichi said softly while playfully caressing his children. "We finally did it."
"How's our children, Kouichi?" She asked.
"They're so adorable, Mei." He answered, gently stroking the child on his right arm. "So beautiful..."
Somehow, he felt a very strong connection with her, this...this first child of his...
"Let me see them, too." Mei spoke. Kouichi carefully handled the child on his left arm to her.
Mei used her arms to play with her child, her smile never faded from her face. She has never felt so happy before in her life. She's a mother now, a mother of two healthy, adorable children, and a wife of a loving husband. Nothing could be more perfect than this moment.
The child in her arms stared at her with a curious look, her little red eyes connecting with her single red one. They seems strikingly familiar to her.
"She's..." Mei whispered. "She's so..."
"Yeah..." Kouichi added. "I sensed it, too."
The first child couldn't believe its fate.
"So...warm..." It thought. Somehow, this man, this man who carried it right now, means something special to it.
It's as if they have met before...
When? How? It doesn't know for sure.
It couldn't remember anything. When it first arrived into the world, it screamed out loudly, a painful voice echoed around the room. It was in pain, the pain that is nonexistent yet is still there. Why is it so painful? Why is this world so painful?
What is this pain? And where does it come from?
It does not know that the pain came from its previous life, a pain of despair, anguish and sadness of a broken woman. A red-headed twin tail woman whose body is covered in blood, with giant, horrifying glass shards pierced through her tiny body. All her hopes have been lost at that moment. She has lost everything, her friends, her family, even the man she loves, even her life.
It does not know, and it will never know.
It will never know the horrific answer behind all its pains, but that ceased to matter as soon as this man held it in his loving arms.
This man...the man who gave birth to it...the man who returned life to...her...
At that instant, all pain was finally melted away.
One life ends, another begins.
She is happy now. No matter what happens, as long as she's with this man, she can face anything.
She's finally with the man she loves now, and that's all that matters.
"Izumi..." Kouichi whispered into her ear. "You are Izumi..."
He lovingly caressing her face before kissing her forehead, feeling as if all those painful memories from his childhood has finally gone away when his head touched hers.
Somehow, Kouichi knows that the name meant far more than his late friend's name. It's meant to be her name. It always has. This child is named Izumi, and won't be anything other than Izumi.
Izumi is his child, and he will love her with all his heart. He will take care of her, and will protect her from any harm that may come to her.
"Izumi Sakakibara, it is..." Mei agreed, glancing at the child in her husband's arms. "Such a beautiful name."
Meanwhile, her attention's more directed to the other child in her arms, the child with the same red eyes as her.
This child is meant for her.
The second child is no doubt in much happiness to be with this woman.
"I'm...so...happy..." It thought.
This woman...who gave birth to it...they are one and the same.
They are connected together by that special bond, the bond that is one of a kind, the bond that is meant to be theirs, and theirs only.
The bond similar to those of cousins...or sisters...
Although it cannot remembers its previous life, as all new lives do, the fact remains that it was once a young brown-haired lady who was this woman's sister. A distant yet close relative, separated by the cruel twist of fate, yet nothing, not even death, could cut the bond between those two ladies away.
And it is that bond, that very same bond, that brought it...brought her...to be with this woman again.
And as she yawned, finally drifting to sleep, she can rest assured that from now on, no matter what happens, they will always be together forever.
As Mei Misaki, she never once believe in destiny.
No life is a fairytale. Happy endings only existed in fictions that have no places in this cruel reality she lived in.
But as Mei Sakakibara, as a mother of her newborn children, she started to believe that maybe it is real after all.
"Misaki..." She spoke softly, tears started flowing down her face. "My dear Misaki..."
"Misaki Sakakibara..." Kouichi gently patted his second child's head, carefully not to wake her up as she already drifted to sleep. "A very pretty name, Mei."
As Izumi went off to sleep inside Kouichi's arm, he carefully placed her down near Misaki. Somehow, he has this funny hunch that Izumi and her mother won't really get along in the future, but that's probably just because she's entering her rebellious age. Deep down inside, she will be a kind woman that will always put the needs of others in front of herself. Mei also imagined Misaki to grow up to be a pleasant lady, a splitting image of herself in her younger years, and also, to certain extends, her deceased sister.
Kouichi and Mei's eyes finally connected, and they both smiled at each other once again.
They don't say anything, but no words are necessary.
They already understand each other's thoughts.
No matter what happens, no matter how much more pain they have to go through.
No matter how much sadness, how much tragedy that life will inflict on them.
Life may one day take one of them away, or even two, or even all of them, but they do not fear it at all.
They do not fear because of one simple knowledge, one small promise, one ordinary act yet has extraordinary meaning to all of them.
They will always be together.
Editor's note: Whew! Haven't write a oneshot for a while.
I gave this fic my best shot, you know why? Because I will never be satisfied by how Another ended, and certain characters that I really liked don't get their well-deserved happy endings. I don't know how they worked in the hospital when it comes to childbirth operation, but well, I never planned this to be a realistic fic, after all. I did my best to portray Kouichi's feelings as a father, though. I'm yet to reach that moment myself, but I imagine that all new fathers everywhere will feel something similar to what I described here. But I'm willing to accept criticisms, as always.
So, have a nice happy ending-ish oneshot for our beloved Another main characters, because I'm gonna off to sleep! Finished this thing by midnight! LOL