note: this fic was made based of the memory flashbacks in the movie, not the manga. so don't yell at me if I screw something up :P have fun and be imaginative
Silent Hours
Prologue
The room was void of light except for an overhead lamp in the corner on the ceiling. The moon was shrouded behind heavy rain clouds, so it's pale and iridescent glow would be hidden until the storm, predicted for the early morning. Now the overhead light's harsh shine flickered weakly and threatened to burn out with the livid winds howling over the city. Far away, lightning flashed across the heavens, hanging low over a bustling metropolis. It was an ominous and dazzling array of electricity that danced sporadically, but still a threatening anger rumbled. It was a grim remainder of something beautiful yet deadly in time.
A woman's wail broke the silence. She writhed painfully, soaked in sweat. She lay in a bed in the corner of the room, staring up at the same ceiling light that flickered over her face. All the other hospital cots were lying perfectly neat and empty, the machines and monitors around them quiet. But hers—hers were humming and beeping excitedly and with each buzz or wavering blaze she clenched her teeth even tighter. Her chest undulated with panicky fear, when suddenly a hand touched her stomach and she cried again, lashing out with her arm angrily.
Voices arose. Nervous ones that tried to remain calm, but with each passing minute of having to listen to their nonchalant banter and feigned composure she felt the burning pain inside her grow even more. It grew and scratched at the inside of her and raced in her bloodstream and made her heart pound until all she could do was stare jadedly at the ceiling.
There were firm hands on her knees and a prick in her arm. She gnashed her teeth in fury no longer and shrieked. "Stay away from me!!"
A male voice, the doctor's, came closer and pushed her back onto the pillows. "Just relax and…"
"Shut up, shut up…SHUT UP!!"
The heart rate monitor hooked up by the foot of the bed suddenly shattered and sent the hospital personnel crashing to the floor and covering their heads as one by one, machines and computers split apart. Glass and metal and cords flew out of control, none comforted by the howling of the young woman in the bed.
She covered her stomach with her hands, eyes squeezed shut. She couldn't let herself get out of control, God no, not again.
She had to protect her baby. He was the most important thing on her mind now, knowing she'd soon die. Yes, she had plans for the unborn child. Big plans. But no one knew of it but her. It was secrecy in the depths of her mind. Secrecy like she had once been. Secrecy like a lab rat being jabbed and weathered, finally growing so damaged she had escaped to a mental ward not far from the government laboratories. But they knew of her too; the tests results of her psyche had been wired throughout Japan's leading scientists and doctors in top confidential files. But they did not tell her they knew, they didn't even press charges. They simply smiled and played coy. She hated them for that. There was no escaping them, their arrogance, their irritating ego's. She despised the doctors the most of all.
Now they had picked themselves up off the floor, brushing shards of glass from their coats. She grinned maliciously at the doctor just before another labor pain struck her violently.
"Her contractions are seven seconds apart," a nurse said timidly. She stood foolishly close beside the bed and said with some wasteful confidence, "Please listen to us, Mrs. Shima. I promise you everything will be okay if you'd ju—"
That was all the nurse could utter before the woman reached out and grabbed a fistful of her uniform, then threw her to the ground. She cut herself badly on the broken glass scattered across the floor and gaped in horror at her blood.
The doctor didn't bother to help the nurse but instead ran to another, who was trembling by the foot of the bed and biting her knuckles. He grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke very tersely about what he planned to do and the orders she must follow precisely. She nodded and ran outside of the room into a bright hallway.
He could see it all from the darkness. He had been vigilantly watching her suffer for the past hour, sitting with his hands clenched on an empty bed about half the room's length away. He wouldn't call himself a coward, but he knew how far to stand when she grew…disobedient. He felt bad for those who didn't possess this knowledge. How stupid they were though, pushing their luck. Couldn't they see it in her eyes? The wild hunger for carnage? Her thirst to see the blood of those who had harmed her? He berated himself for feeling sympathy for these people, for any person who dared hurting her.
She wasn't his wife, though. They instead had been childhood friends, inseparable from the moment they meet. He knew in the back of his head she had always been different from the rest, but he dared say nothing. Those who did ridicule her mysteriously grew ill or sometimes showed up with strange cuts or bruises. The less fortunate merely disappeared. Unfortunately though, she had taken his name and the identity of his so-called "wife" when the government came after her. She never said why, and became flustered when he mentioned it. But in a peculiar way he was quite flattered.
The only overhead lamp that was on in the room unexpectedly went gray. Somehow he thought it wasn't the weakening bulb. The doctor made a wide circle around her bed and turned on a small bedside light. The first nurse was quietly weeping in a corner, blood soaking into her gown.
That man sat on the edge of a pristine hospital bed, eyes frozen in fear, slowly rocking himself back and forth for comfort. He turned quickly when the door to the room burst open again and light flooded the floor up to the foot of her bed. The same nurse chewing on her hand trotted in carrying a tray and set it down on a table with a small clatter. It was full of metal instruments.
He watched the doctor carefully pick an object to his liking, the light catching the metal luster for a second, then made his way around to the bed again.
"You kill my baby and I'll kill you!" She threatened and clutched her stomach, though her fingers were shaking like mad. She had to hide her fear.
"I'm not going to harm your baby." He said nothing about harming her, though. He smiled coolly in the dark.
He watched the doctor put his palm on her forehead and poise the knife over her stomach. A steady, curving line of red followed his hand as it moved slowly across her skin, her screams trailed also. His lips parted slightly when the nurse stood beside the doctor as he slid his fingers in to widen the incision. She was going to die. Without the proper drugs she'd go into shock and die from the loss of blood.
He stood to his feet as the baby was pulled from the womb. The doctor and nurse stepped away, the squalling baby went with them. He was afraid to move, afraid to get close to her, afraid to see her dead.
But she wasn't. He could see her breathing feebly. To his surprise she lifted her hand and motioned him to come closer with her fingers. He found his feet shuffling across the floor and to her side, where he knelt down. With the same hand she stroked his face, her blood smearing on his cheek, and whispered to him inaudibly. He listened intently but to no avail. Her dark brown eyes moved across the room now to the tray of instruments, lying idle.
To his horror the tray began to tremble, then it smashed to the floor, causing the baby to pitch in its scream and the nurse to jump backward, a hand flying to her chest. But the instruments on the floor continued to jump and quake and suddenly, like sharp bullets, they flung themselves across the room. The nurse's screech was violently cut short.
He buried his face into the mattress and he could hear her chuckling now.
"Listen," she said softly, painfully smirking.
He looked up and squeezed her hand as she tried to speak, her blood turning the white sheets a deep crimson. Her breathing was awkward, and he feared any second she'd die without saying what she wanted. But her eyes remained clear and she managed to smile, though weak.
"Take him…" she murmured. "Take my baby. Take him far away from this place. This hospital. But," she paused and closed her eyes. "Always keep him within Tokyo. Always." She lifted her arm and pointed to the glass cradle on the other side of the room. "Go take him now."
He stood up under her command and followed her arm with his eyes. The nurse lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, a pool of blood steadily collecting underneath her. The doctor was slumped against the wall, a large red spot where he was hit, flew back, and slowly fell to the ground. The look of horror was frozen in his eyes, a steady trail of blood dropped thinly from his mouth. He blinked, immobile.
"Go." Said a ghostly-like voice behind him.
He dragged his feet across the floor and put a steady hand on the glass cradle that wasn't far from the nurse's body. Leisurely, almost afraid, he looked over the side. His racing heart seemed to slow sufficiently. The baby was wrapped in a blue blanket, neatly placed in the center of the cradle where it kicked and cried. It opened its little eyes to the man staring back at him. It blinked and cooed, ceasing it's crying and softening its kicks of fury. It curled its fingers toward the man and wailed shortly, very hungry. He reached his arms out and picked the tiny pink child up and cradled it in his arms.
He looked back at the bed were his friend lay. She was still alive, and her arm remained outstretched, but in a different way. Tears streamed down her face, weakening her heart even more.
The man was at her side again and kneeled down, adding her sobs to the baby's. She had enough strength left to kiss the tiny infant on the top of the head and suddenly broke through a sob, her voice still very quiet and afraid. "Koji…he's beautiful…" she dotingly looked at the baby now. The newborn had cried itself to sleep, exhausted. "Tetsuo."
Her voice shook but it was clear through her crying. Her bloody fingers curled around her chest and raked across her skin when her heart decided to give up on her.
Koji stood and shifted the baby in his arms. He watched the bedside light dim.
It was exactly six o'clock a.m. when then first drops of rain started to fall and the sun was rising over Tokyo.
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Continue? There's much more *wiggles eyebrows suggestively*