Author's Note: This was written for the Lyric Wheel fanfiction contest at the forums. The challenge was to take a song sent to you by another participant (in this case, Home and the Heartland by Bill Whelan, thanks to Bobcat Moran for the song) and write what inspired you, using at least one line from the song, and with reference to an anniversary. (Because it's 's second anniversary on the web. .)
In any case, I was so wrapped up in work that I forgot the contest, and threw this 32-minute disaster together less than an hour before the deadline...so be gentle, lol.
This is an EXE fic, set in the animeverse.
Go Your Own Way
by Shimegami-chan
w w w . shimegami . com / ichijouji
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The rain poured mercilessly on the pavement as he watched from the desk, the cold droplets occasionally sneaking through the window and falling silently on his hands. On the desk lay an envelope, beside it the disk. Paper and pen were close at hand.
The young scientist pondered the sheet of stationary and the three words inscribed upon it. Dozens of others from the same flowered box lay crumpled in the wastebasket and on the floor around it, more symbols of Yuuichirou's frustration at the wording than the messages they contained. He could not seem to phrase it correctly. Though the knowledge in his head seemed logical and simplistic, when presented with an emotional and literary challenge such as this, he could not express them in the way he wanted to.
Apologies. Explanations. Could Netto ever understand the reasoning behind the deed, or the incredible circumstances surrounding it?
He wished he could be there to explain it in person. This was one of those instances when a prerecorded video would not do, nor would even the letter he tried so hard to perfect tie up this loose end once and for all. He supposed he could wait until the next time he was home, but there was no way of knowing when that would be. His job took him away from his family far too often.
The disk lay innocently on the desk. He had strived to finish the project once and for all by tonight, partially because of the significance of the day, partially because Netto had just started fifth grade and Yuuichirou desperately wanted to keep the promise he had made to his youngest son when last they had seen each other.
I wonder if Mama is thinking about him too...about what happened on this very night, ten years ago...
More than ever, he wished he could be back in Akihara, holding Haruka in his arms. No doubt she would be her usual happy self around Netto, bidding him goodbye as he went to school, cooking dinner for the two of them, offering him a snack when he came home. Yuuichirou knew she would remember the date, and perhaps wonder why her husband hadn't called. He knew he could not, until the project was complete...and now that it was, here was the letter to accompany it, cold and blank and white.
He could not formulate the words needed to complete it.
Frustrated, Yuuichirou stood, a sudden gust scattering the papers from the desk like the leaves in the wind, including the impersonal sheet he had been poised above. The words, "My dear son," disappeared from view as the leaflet fluttered, landing face down on the burgundy carpet of the hotel room. The curtains wove about fearlessly, unobstructing the young scientist's view of the downpour outside, and more droplets of rain fell upon the pages remaining on the desk. Yuuichirou made no move to protect them, only the minidisk that contained the past ten years of work truly warranted his care. Gently he lifted the tiny clear slipcase and chose a dry envelope, slipping the disk into it with little circumstance. The outside was already addressed, the neat scrawl only slightly shaky, betraying the apprehensive excitement he'd felt as he wrote his son's name.
Yuuichirou held the envelope open for a time, thinking about the abandoned explanation. Perhaps Netto would neither want nor need one. It would, after all, only cause him the same anguish Yuuichirou had experienced nonstop for a decade. After all, he had told his son only that he would deliver the contents of the disk, no more, no less. Perhaps the secret they had concealed for so long was better left unsaid.
I promise you this, Netto...you will know your brother, and someday you will both know the truth. Until then, until I can tell you myself, it will be my secret.
Closing the window to shut out the rain, Yuuichirou sealed the envelope and placed it on the desk, satisfied at last.
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-exeunt-