Author's Note: Well, I've decided to start typing up everything and posting
it, so here's how far it goes before I changed it! Hope you like it! Oh,
and the second alternate ending sucked, so that isn't going up, but I will
put up the first ending and then the third ending in installments because I
haven't finished it yet. Sounds like fun, eh?
Her whole body showed her frustration. She put out her arm, moved her hand until her fingers were pointing upward, making a right angle with her wrist, and concentrated really hard. Then she remembered that her powers were gone. She made a loud "humph" noise and crossed her arms over her chest. The only problem was she couldn't walk, either. She'd have to wait until the others came home to help her get her glass of water.
She undid one of her two neatly done braids and redid it in boredom. She took both braids and threw them back with impatience.
She tried to relaxed and laid back, staring at the doomed ceiling, with its flashy colors and cardboard moons and suns, with painted faces smiling down on her, then the huge gap in the ceiling, showing the real stars of the sky. It was beautiful, and let her ignore the rubble around the rest of the Baby Room for a while.
She picked up one of her dolls and stared at it, then had a flash of remembrance. Being brought back may have taken her powers, but it fixed the problem that she had with her legs.
She flung her legs over the side of her bed, savoring the amazing ability of having her feet and legs solidly strike the ground and move her. She was still a little shaky, but the basic idea was down. She took one of their two glasses and took some of their almost sacred rainwater from the water barrel. She sipped at it slowly by habit and looked around and decided to walk around to see if she could find anything else she could salvage.
She found one of her favorite toys and played with it for a while. The "new" city clock chimed five and she decided to take a nap before her friends got home. She took her new toy back to bed and immediately fell asleep.
*/"Come back!"/
/She turned around. "Is that you, Akira?"/
/A young boy appeared in front of her. "Kiyoko, I still wanna play!"/
/Kiyoko reached out to him and laced her fingers with his and smiled./
/He smiled, too. "Thanks, Kiyoko."/
/His figure became blurry and started swirling into the blackness of the rest of her dream. Then pain came. Overwhelming pain. More than Kiyoko had ever experienced. She screamed and put her hands to the sides of her head. "Akira! Come back! Make it STOP!"/*
She sat up in her bed and screamed. The few usable pieces of glass shattered, their cracking unheard over the high pitched screaming. She felt like her head was about to explode.
Then the pain stopped. Just like that. A new power washed all through Kiyoko, though it felt somewhat familiar.
Then she listened. She heard a faint crying under the remains of the bed she was on. She asked softly, "Takashi?" Kiyoko then decided to go ver and make sure they were both alright. She tried to swing her legs over the edge of her bed, but she couldn't move. "Takashi? Masaru? Something's seriously wrong."
Masaru crept towards her from behind the water barrel while Takashi tentatively poked his head out from under her bed. Masaru came over and helped Takashi up, then looked up to Kiyoko. "You're telling us!" He replied.
"No, not like that." She replied. "Look!" She stretched out her arm like she did when trying to get the glass of water, but instead, a small rock floated over to her and she grabbed it. "I may have lost the ability to walk again, but that is a small price to pay for my powers!"
She looked up to shocked faces. Masaru shook his head. "I'm gunna round up some more firewood so we can cook our meal. Takashi, you can stay her and make sure Kiyoko is OK."
Takashi smiled and gave an enthusiastic, "Yea!" One of his least favorite things was leaving the safety of their little area.
Takashi and Kiyoko amused their selves with Kiyoko's returned powers while they waited for Masaru to return. Kiyoko suddenly found out why they weren't aloud to use so many of their powers when they first got them. "Takashi," she said, "I think that I'm going to take a little nap. All of this is starting to take its toll. Wake me up for dinner, OK?"
Takashi nodded, then walked up to the edge of her bed. "Also," he said in his always soft voice, "let us know if you dream visions come back."
Kiyoko nodded, not having the energy to explain her earlier dream, and fell into a light sleep.
*/The blackness surrounded he, until the faint figure of a boy appeared in front of her./
/"Akira!" Kiyoko exclaimed, happy and a little scared./
/"I see that you've been enjoying your powers," Akira said./
/Kiyoko nodded. "Are you coming back? Like we did? Well, with powers?"/
/Akira said, "I'll show you how restore them when I get back, along with Takashi and Masaru."/
/Kiyoko grinned. "Then you are returning to us!/"
/Akira replied, "Yup!/"*
Kiyoko woke to the soft voice of Takashi telling her that dinners ready. Kiyoko smiled and attempted to adjust herself. Then she stopped. Just stopped. "Akira's coming back."
Takashi and Masaru stopped dead in their tracks, their precious dinner dropping from Masaru's arms to the ground. Takashi fell down into a sitting position, with his knees tucked up to his chest. "Am I supposed to be happy, or am I supposed to be scared?" He asked, breaking them all back into reality.
Masaru looked down at their pathetic excuse for a soup spilled on the floor. "Oh no!" he said, and started saving what he could, still knowing that there was more in the pot. Not stopping his work, he asked Kiyoko, "What are we going to do?"
Kiyoko paused for a second, then said, "I'm getting Kei."
*
A boy on a motorcycle whizzed down the once highway, ignoring the yells from behind him to slow down.
"Kaneda!" She yelled. "I know you can hear me! SLOW DOWN!"
Kaneda smirked and went faster.
The girl murmured under her breath, "I'm going to show you," and was about to step on the gas, when she stopped.
Kaneda heard the loud SCREECH of Kei stopping her motorcycle. "Now what is she doing?" He made a sharp turn with his motorcycle to see her heading off in another direction completely. "KEI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Kaneda sped up his bike, attempting to catch up with her, but somehow her speed was always greater than his was. Then he looked up to see the old government building. "Oh no. It can't be her!"
Kei barely waited for her motorcycle to stop before letting it drop and running into the building, heading to room A, also known as the Baby Room.
*
Kiyoko concentrated really hard, praying that this would work. If they needed anybody at all, it would be those two. She got Kei to look behind her, where they both saw Kaneda trying to catch up. Kiyoko got her to stop and waited until Kaneda was right behind Kei. Then Kiyoko spoke through her. "Yes, it is me doing this again. Please come to the Baby Room. We're waiting for you."
Kiyoko dropped all connections and listened through her own powers. She hoped that they would come of their own free will; she didn't want to get them caught up in another problem that they didn't need.
*
Kei looked at Kaneda. "What are we doing here?"
Kaneda said, "I think it's those little wrinkled kids again."
"They're ALIVE?" Kei exclaimed in disbelief.
"No duh. Guess they're having another problem. Lets go check it out." Kaneda ran off to where he thought the Baby Room was, not even looking behind to see if Kei was following. When he did noticed no footsteps behind him, he turned around. Kei wasn't there. "Oh, common!" He started running back. Once he got back to where he thought he had started, he took the other hall.
*
Kiyoko, now knowing that Kei and Kaneda wanted to help of their own free will, led Kei to where the Baby Room door once was, then left Kei to come in on her own.
*
Kei saw what was left of the Baby Room door in front of her. She looked around and, not seeing Kaneda, just gave up on him and went in.
*
Kaneda took another turn. Had he been there before? He took another turn, hoping to run into Kei somewhere.
*
Kei looked in; all that she was seeing was rubble. She climbed over the first rock and looked down to a doorway. She almost remembered this. She went into the doorway, and once she reached the end of its teeny tunnel like length she saw the remnants of the Baby Room.
*
Kiyoko looked up to see Kei looking around at the once colorful and beautiful Baby Room. "Kei, nice to see you again."
Kei looked up, surprised. "It was you! Didn't you all die?"
"No, well, sort of," Kiyoko began, "But it's long and complicated, I have no time to explain it now."
Kei nodded.
"So," Masaru said, looking around. "Kaneda come?"
Kei looked over to Masaru, then to Takashi. "You're all alive?"
Takashi nodded, and Masaru asked Kei again. "Is Kaneda here?"
Kei looked behind her.
"He's taking the long way around." Kiyoko said.
*
Kaneda couldn't find where he had been and where he hadn't been. He gave up and decided to take the sewers, that was the only way he knew in. He somehow found his way outside and made his way around the building until he found the sewer pipes. "He we go!" he said. He jumped into one of the pipes, all of a sudden realizing that he didn't have a way to get over the huge gap like he did last time. As he slugged through the leftover decay, he hoped that there would be a huge rock that he could climb across or something.
*
"I bet you're wondering why we called you here, Kei." Kiyoko said.
Kei nodded, hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.
"We need your help," Takashi said, "to prepare for Akira's return."
Kei's eyes grew wide with fear as she stared at Takashi. They're all alive, Kei thought. Every single one of them. She trembled and fell to her hands and knees and stared at the ground. "No," she said. "I can't go through with it again. I can't stand to lose any more." Kei fell back so she was in a kneeling position and put her head in her hands and sobbed.
Takashi looked uncomfortable and shifted uneasily, while Masaru remained stone faced. Kiyoko's eyes were a mix of pity and regret as she watched Kei. "You're the only one who can help us now," Kiyoko told her. "The only one."
But Kei didn't pay attention, she just kept crying, not wanting to go through it all again. She didn't want to lose anyone ever again, not a single one. I can't do this. She thought. I can't stand the pain again. Oh, Ryu.....
*
Kaneda kept on walking until he came to the huge gap. He looked up and saw that it was no longer a huge gap, but a big hole with a piece of the government building making a convenient bridge. Now, he thought to himself, if I get across and that huge, open top freight elevator is still working, I will officially be having a good day. He took his first cautious step onto the "bridge" and heard cement dust crumble to the bottom of the hole. He kept walking, praying this little excursion wouldn't be in vain.
*
Takashi walked over to Kei and sat next to her, putting his arm over her shoulder in silent strength. Kiyoko signaled for Masaru to carry her over to them. Masaru complied silently and took her over with little effort. As she was set down next to Kei on the opposite side of Takashi and she put her hand on her arm. Masaru sat down next to Kiyoko and watched, pity coming to his usually unreadable face.
Kiyoko whispered to Kei, "You may not have to do this again, Akira may have changed."
Kei shook her head slowly. "But we thought he was innocent enough at first. And now look at us!" She took her head out of her hands and looked at Kiyoko with red, swollen eyes and a tear streaked face. "You're living in the half destroyed Baby Room, fending for yourselves when you never had to before, while I'm just stuck out on the street, no where to go, nothing to do. I had a good life! But now it's all ruined! We never did anything, WHY NOT THE AMERICANS!" She started crying again, putting her face back into her hands. "Why us?" She whispered. "Why us?"
*
Kaneda made it across uneventfully, except for the heart stopping slip he had. But now it was time to check the elevator that was a meter jump away. One slip and a fall into blackness. Kaneda swallowed nervously and hoped this would work, and that the elevator wasn't broken. He backed up cautiously then ran as fast as he could and jumped. Right then he realized that him landing on the elevator this hard wouldn't help. He landed hard on his feet and then slipped and fell down onto his back. He lay there for a bit, waiting for the elevator to start falling. When he realized that he wasn't plunging to his death, he sat up and smirked. He got up and found the operation table, then pressed the start button.
*
Kiyoko sat there for a little waiting for Kei to stop sobbing so hard. Once Kei quieted down a little, Kiyoko said softly, "Crying for the past won't change things, but working for the future will."
Kei was still sniffling when she looked up into Kiyoko's wise eyes. "Yes," Kei said. "I think I'm ready now."
Right then, Kaneda appeared at the top of the rubble, panting. Kei, Kiyoko, Takashi, and Masaru all looked up to him. When Kaneda saw that Kiyoko, Takashi, and Masaru were all actually alive, he wasn't imagining, he looked down on Kei. He saw her red eyes and tear streaked face and the answer he got from one plus one wasn't a good one. "What have you brats done to her?" He jumped onto the slanted rubble and slid down.
Kei spoke up. "It's not what it looks like! They haven't hurt me, just opened some old wounds." And she looked back down again.
Kiyoko then took a try. "We need your help for Akira's return!"
Kaneda stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh no," he whispered. "Not again. Tetsuo....."
Kei didn't look up, but nodded. "Yes, I know."
Kaneda shook his head. "No way. I'm not doing that again. Once is enough for me."
Kei looked up and caught Kaneda's eyes, and held them. "Crying for the past won't change things, but working for the future will."
Kaneda fell to a sitting position and thought of every dead face he had seen then. He didn't want anymore to add to his list. Then a thought came to his mind. "Is Tetsuo coming back?"
Everyone looked to Kiyoko. She shook her head solemnly. "I don't know."
Kaneda nodded definitely. "I'll help then."
*
Kaneda and Kei stayed at the Baby Room for quite a while, Kiyoko not having any dreams to help them along the way.
Then one day, in the middle of the night, Kiyoko woke and shot bolt up in her bed.
"Hey! Guys! Wake up!" She panicked.
Takashi was the first to get up and Masaru soon followed. They woke up Kei who had a time getting up Kaneda.
They all walked over to Kiyoko's bed.
"He's coming," she said.
"Who?" Kei asked instinctively.
Kiyoko sat, shaking. "Incredible destructive power."
Kaneda gaped. "Tetsuo....."
Kei looked shocked, Masaru looked pretty upset, and Takashi looked like the end of the world was coming, which it may be. Kiyoko looked a little shamed face, bringing this news upon them. But Kaneda, Kaneda looked so scared and angry at the same time it looked like he was going to scream with frustration. He fell down onto his hands and knees and slammed his fists against the ground. "It's not FAIR!" He screamed. "It's just not fair," he whispered, as one silent tear fell to the ground.
Takashi all of a sudden grinned. "Maybe he'll come back powerless like the rest of us!"
Masaru cheered (sort of) and Kiyoko leaned over to give Takashi a hug, and the word powerless had a good effect on Kei, too.
"No, don't start celebrating yet," Kaneda said from the floor. "What about those drugs of yours?"
Masaru all of a sudden looked frightened. "The drugs!" He said. "Won't Kiyoko be needing them?"
Kei, the good moment ruined, just rubbed her temples helplessly. "Where are we going to find those?" She asked. "They're tiny, and look at this place!" She moved her arm in a semi circle in front of her, indicating the hideous state of the Baby Room and the rest of the government building.
"Well, lets start looking!" Masaru said. "The last time the Colonel brought us some it was over there." He then pointed to one of the big piles of rubble.
Kaneda got up and began venting his anger out by moving rocks. Kei moved some of the slightly smaller ones, while giving him space. Kiyoko helped by moving the large ones that no normal, amazingly pissed off boy and his girlfriend could ever move. Takashi sat on the bed, propping Kiyoko's head up so she could see what she was doing, while Masaru looked in every little crack for the tiny pills.
There were still a lot of rocks left by the time Kaneda had vented his frustration and Kiyoko and Kei were unable to do anymore. Kaneda walked over to an unusually high pile of rocks and kicked one of the smaller ones away. "It's hope....." the "less" never had a time to leave his lips as the pile of rubble collapsed, surprising him off his feet and into a Kei who stood close behind him.
Kaneda's eyes were wide with shock. "What the....." A stray rock flew over and hit him in the gut, making spit fly out of his mouth and re-knocking over a half risen Kei.
Looking up, both Kaneda and Kei saw a huge boulder bounding towards them. Kaneda started crawling backwards, Kei attempting to get up. But they couldn't get out of the way in time and silently waited for their impending doom. They shut their eyes, but soon realized that they weren't dead, but floating. They opened their eyes and looked down to a small figure with an orange aura.
They all felt at a loss for words, but Kiyoko managed a week, "Akira has come."
Kaneda looked around him and saw the floating Kei, Kiyoko, Takashi, and Masaru. At least they were all alright, but Akira was there. Where did he come from? And how did he still have his powers?
Takashi looked down. "Akira! You're finally back!"
"With your powers," Kiyoko added.
Akira smiled slightly, then he put them all down gently. Takashi ran over to Akira while Masaru carried Kiyoko over.
Takashi hugged Akira, grinning from ear to ear. Kiyoko smiled and even Masaru smiled in spite of himself. Kei was flustered, but tried to smile along anyway.
Kaneda didn't even try. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Where's Tetsuo?"
Akira looked to Kaneda. "Tetsuo's here?"
BOOM!
They all ran to the hole in the wall to see a huge explosion coming from the new-new city.
Kiyoko gasped. "All those people!"
Kaneda grabbed onto Akira just as he disappeared.
*
A semi tall figure with wild hair sat in the middle of the wreckage of a burning building, looking totally clueless.
Akira, with Kaneda grabbing onto his arm and a shocked-looking-last-second- bad-timed-brush-against-Kaneda, also known as Kei.
Kaneda, ignoring that a whole building was crumbled and burning around him, walked dazedly towards the figure in the center of the destruction. "Tetsuo?" he whispered.
Tetsuo, hearing his name, looked up. "Kaneda?" he said, looking totally puzzled. Then a look of remembrance crossed his face. "Kaneda! It is you!"
All of a sudden, Tetsuo found himself thrown against a huge hunk of rubble. He cried out in pain as hi head got thrown back while his body stayed against the rock.
Kaneda turned to Akira. "What was that?"
The reply was simple. "Revenge."
Tetsuo sat, rubbing his neck. "Where'd that come from?"
"From me." Akira stepped forward.
Tetsuo clenched his jaw. "I don't know how you did it, but you did, you little brat! You'll pay!" With that, he reached behind him and pulled out a led pipe that was between some rocks, and charged.
But he ran into an invisible barrier.
Akira stuck out his tongue.
Tetsuo looked wide eyed after running into the force field, but this soon turned into rage. Tetsuo got up, picked up the led pipe, and once again charged Akira. Once he got to the force field, instead of running into it like an idgit, he hit it with his pipe. It rebounded out of his hands, and straight into Kaneda's shin.
"AH!" Kaneda fell to the ground and grabbed his shin with both of his hands. "OW! IT THROBS!"
Tetsuo flinched and slowly turned around. "Uh..... oops?"
"TETSUO!" Kaneda got up and limped towards Tetsuo.
Tetsuo stepped back by instinct and walked right into the barrier, from which he was flung into Kaneda.
Akira was watching this with much amusement, while a half-forgotten Kei was cracking up.
Kaneda moved a rock off of his self and sat up, rubbing his head.
Tetsuo walked over to Kaneda. "Uhm, you OK?"
Kaneda jumped onto Tetsuo and wrestled him to the ground.
*
Author's Note: And this is where it all changes . . . . . because Ms. Tesuo- Obsessed didn't like the ending to the first one. -.-
Her whole body showed her frustration. She put out her arm, moved her hand until her fingers were pointing upward, making a right angle with her wrist, and concentrated really hard. Then she remembered that her powers were gone. She made a loud "humph" noise and crossed her arms over her chest. The only problem was she couldn't walk, either. She'd have to wait until the others came home to help her get her glass of water.
She undid one of her two neatly done braids and redid it in boredom. She took both braids and threw them back with impatience.
She tried to relaxed and laid back, staring at the doomed ceiling, with its flashy colors and cardboard moons and suns, with painted faces smiling down on her, then the huge gap in the ceiling, showing the real stars of the sky. It was beautiful, and let her ignore the rubble around the rest of the Baby Room for a while.
She picked up one of her dolls and stared at it, then had a flash of remembrance. Being brought back may have taken her powers, but it fixed the problem that she had with her legs.
She flung her legs over the side of her bed, savoring the amazing ability of having her feet and legs solidly strike the ground and move her. She was still a little shaky, but the basic idea was down. She took one of their two glasses and took some of their almost sacred rainwater from the water barrel. She sipped at it slowly by habit and looked around and decided to walk around to see if she could find anything else she could salvage.
She found one of her favorite toys and played with it for a while. The "new" city clock chimed five and she decided to take a nap before her friends got home. She took her new toy back to bed and immediately fell asleep.
*/"Come back!"/
/She turned around. "Is that you, Akira?"/
/A young boy appeared in front of her. "Kiyoko, I still wanna play!"/
/Kiyoko reached out to him and laced her fingers with his and smiled./
/He smiled, too. "Thanks, Kiyoko."/
/His figure became blurry and started swirling into the blackness of the rest of her dream. Then pain came. Overwhelming pain. More than Kiyoko had ever experienced. She screamed and put her hands to the sides of her head. "Akira! Come back! Make it STOP!"/*
She sat up in her bed and screamed. The few usable pieces of glass shattered, their cracking unheard over the high pitched screaming. She felt like her head was about to explode.
Then the pain stopped. Just like that. A new power washed all through Kiyoko, though it felt somewhat familiar.
Then she listened. She heard a faint crying under the remains of the bed she was on. She asked softly, "Takashi?" Kiyoko then decided to go ver and make sure they were both alright. She tried to swing her legs over the edge of her bed, but she couldn't move. "Takashi? Masaru? Something's seriously wrong."
Masaru crept towards her from behind the water barrel while Takashi tentatively poked his head out from under her bed. Masaru came over and helped Takashi up, then looked up to Kiyoko. "You're telling us!" He replied.
"No, not like that." She replied. "Look!" She stretched out her arm like she did when trying to get the glass of water, but instead, a small rock floated over to her and she grabbed it. "I may have lost the ability to walk again, but that is a small price to pay for my powers!"
She looked up to shocked faces. Masaru shook his head. "I'm gunna round up some more firewood so we can cook our meal. Takashi, you can stay her and make sure Kiyoko is OK."
Takashi smiled and gave an enthusiastic, "Yea!" One of his least favorite things was leaving the safety of their little area.
Takashi and Kiyoko amused their selves with Kiyoko's returned powers while they waited for Masaru to return. Kiyoko suddenly found out why they weren't aloud to use so many of their powers when they first got them. "Takashi," she said, "I think that I'm going to take a little nap. All of this is starting to take its toll. Wake me up for dinner, OK?"
Takashi nodded, then walked up to the edge of her bed. "Also," he said in his always soft voice, "let us know if you dream visions come back."
Kiyoko nodded, not having the energy to explain her earlier dream, and fell into a light sleep.
*/The blackness surrounded he, until the faint figure of a boy appeared in front of her./
/"Akira!" Kiyoko exclaimed, happy and a little scared./
/"I see that you've been enjoying your powers," Akira said./
/Kiyoko nodded. "Are you coming back? Like we did? Well, with powers?"/
/Akira said, "I'll show you how restore them when I get back, along with Takashi and Masaru."/
/Kiyoko grinned. "Then you are returning to us!/"
/Akira replied, "Yup!/"*
Kiyoko woke to the soft voice of Takashi telling her that dinners ready. Kiyoko smiled and attempted to adjust herself. Then she stopped. Just stopped. "Akira's coming back."
Takashi and Masaru stopped dead in their tracks, their precious dinner dropping from Masaru's arms to the ground. Takashi fell down into a sitting position, with his knees tucked up to his chest. "Am I supposed to be happy, or am I supposed to be scared?" He asked, breaking them all back into reality.
Masaru looked down at their pathetic excuse for a soup spilled on the floor. "Oh no!" he said, and started saving what he could, still knowing that there was more in the pot. Not stopping his work, he asked Kiyoko, "What are we going to do?"
Kiyoko paused for a second, then said, "I'm getting Kei."
*
A boy on a motorcycle whizzed down the once highway, ignoring the yells from behind him to slow down.
"Kaneda!" She yelled. "I know you can hear me! SLOW DOWN!"
Kaneda smirked and went faster.
The girl murmured under her breath, "I'm going to show you," and was about to step on the gas, when she stopped.
Kaneda heard the loud SCREECH of Kei stopping her motorcycle. "Now what is she doing?" He made a sharp turn with his motorcycle to see her heading off in another direction completely. "KEI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Kaneda sped up his bike, attempting to catch up with her, but somehow her speed was always greater than his was. Then he looked up to see the old government building. "Oh no. It can't be her!"
Kei barely waited for her motorcycle to stop before letting it drop and running into the building, heading to room A, also known as the Baby Room.
*
Kiyoko concentrated really hard, praying that this would work. If they needed anybody at all, it would be those two. She got Kei to look behind her, where they both saw Kaneda trying to catch up. Kiyoko got her to stop and waited until Kaneda was right behind Kei. Then Kiyoko spoke through her. "Yes, it is me doing this again. Please come to the Baby Room. We're waiting for you."
Kiyoko dropped all connections and listened through her own powers. She hoped that they would come of their own free will; she didn't want to get them caught up in another problem that they didn't need.
*
Kei looked at Kaneda. "What are we doing here?"
Kaneda said, "I think it's those little wrinkled kids again."
"They're ALIVE?" Kei exclaimed in disbelief.
"No duh. Guess they're having another problem. Lets go check it out." Kaneda ran off to where he thought the Baby Room was, not even looking behind to see if Kei was following. When he did noticed no footsteps behind him, he turned around. Kei wasn't there. "Oh, common!" He started running back. Once he got back to where he thought he had started, he took the other hall.
*
Kiyoko, now knowing that Kei and Kaneda wanted to help of their own free will, led Kei to where the Baby Room door once was, then left Kei to come in on her own.
*
Kei saw what was left of the Baby Room door in front of her. She looked around and, not seeing Kaneda, just gave up on him and went in.
*
Kaneda took another turn. Had he been there before? He took another turn, hoping to run into Kei somewhere.
*
Kei looked in; all that she was seeing was rubble. She climbed over the first rock and looked down to a doorway. She almost remembered this. She went into the doorway, and once she reached the end of its teeny tunnel like length she saw the remnants of the Baby Room.
*
Kiyoko looked up to see Kei looking around at the once colorful and beautiful Baby Room. "Kei, nice to see you again."
Kei looked up, surprised. "It was you! Didn't you all die?"
"No, well, sort of," Kiyoko began, "But it's long and complicated, I have no time to explain it now."
Kei nodded.
"So," Masaru said, looking around. "Kaneda come?"
Kei looked over to Masaru, then to Takashi. "You're all alive?"
Takashi nodded, and Masaru asked Kei again. "Is Kaneda here?"
Kei looked behind her.
"He's taking the long way around." Kiyoko said.
*
Kaneda couldn't find where he had been and where he hadn't been. He gave up and decided to take the sewers, that was the only way he knew in. He somehow found his way outside and made his way around the building until he found the sewer pipes. "He we go!" he said. He jumped into one of the pipes, all of a sudden realizing that he didn't have a way to get over the huge gap like he did last time. As he slugged through the leftover decay, he hoped that there would be a huge rock that he could climb across or something.
*
"I bet you're wondering why we called you here, Kei." Kiyoko said.
Kei nodded, hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.
"We need your help," Takashi said, "to prepare for Akira's return."
Kei's eyes grew wide with fear as she stared at Takashi. They're all alive, Kei thought. Every single one of them. She trembled and fell to her hands and knees and stared at the ground. "No," she said. "I can't go through with it again. I can't stand to lose any more." Kei fell back so she was in a kneeling position and put her head in her hands and sobbed.
Takashi looked uncomfortable and shifted uneasily, while Masaru remained stone faced. Kiyoko's eyes were a mix of pity and regret as she watched Kei. "You're the only one who can help us now," Kiyoko told her. "The only one."
But Kei didn't pay attention, she just kept crying, not wanting to go through it all again. She didn't want to lose anyone ever again, not a single one. I can't do this. She thought. I can't stand the pain again. Oh, Ryu.....
*
Kaneda kept on walking until he came to the huge gap. He looked up and saw that it was no longer a huge gap, but a big hole with a piece of the government building making a convenient bridge. Now, he thought to himself, if I get across and that huge, open top freight elevator is still working, I will officially be having a good day. He took his first cautious step onto the "bridge" and heard cement dust crumble to the bottom of the hole. He kept walking, praying this little excursion wouldn't be in vain.
*
Takashi walked over to Kei and sat next to her, putting his arm over her shoulder in silent strength. Kiyoko signaled for Masaru to carry her over to them. Masaru complied silently and took her over with little effort. As she was set down next to Kei on the opposite side of Takashi and she put her hand on her arm. Masaru sat down next to Kiyoko and watched, pity coming to his usually unreadable face.
Kiyoko whispered to Kei, "You may not have to do this again, Akira may have changed."
Kei shook her head slowly. "But we thought he was innocent enough at first. And now look at us!" She took her head out of her hands and looked at Kiyoko with red, swollen eyes and a tear streaked face. "You're living in the half destroyed Baby Room, fending for yourselves when you never had to before, while I'm just stuck out on the street, no where to go, nothing to do. I had a good life! But now it's all ruined! We never did anything, WHY NOT THE AMERICANS!" She started crying again, putting her face back into her hands. "Why us?" She whispered. "Why us?"
*
Kaneda made it across uneventfully, except for the heart stopping slip he had. But now it was time to check the elevator that was a meter jump away. One slip and a fall into blackness. Kaneda swallowed nervously and hoped this would work, and that the elevator wasn't broken. He backed up cautiously then ran as fast as he could and jumped. Right then he realized that him landing on the elevator this hard wouldn't help. He landed hard on his feet and then slipped and fell down onto his back. He lay there for a bit, waiting for the elevator to start falling. When he realized that he wasn't plunging to his death, he sat up and smirked. He got up and found the operation table, then pressed the start button.
*
Kiyoko sat there for a little waiting for Kei to stop sobbing so hard. Once Kei quieted down a little, Kiyoko said softly, "Crying for the past won't change things, but working for the future will."
Kei was still sniffling when she looked up into Kiyoko's wise eyes. "Yes," Kei said. "I think I'm ready now."
Right then, Kaneda appeared at the top of the rubble, panting. Kei, Kiyoko, Takashi, and Masaru all looked up to him. When Kaneda saw that Kiyoko, Takashi, and Masaru were all actually alive, he wasn't imagining, he looked down on Kei. He saw her red eyes and tear streaked face and the answer he got from one plus one wasn't a good one. "What have you brats done to her?" He jumped onto the slanted rubble and slid down.
Kei spoke up. "It's not what it looks like! They haven't hurt me, just opened some old wounds." And she looked back down again.
Kiyoko then took a try. "We need your help for Akira's return!"
Kaneda stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh no," he whispered. "Not again. Tetsuo....."
Kei didn't look up, but nodded. "Yes, I know."
Kaneda shook his head. "No way. I'm not doing that again. Once is enough for me."
Kei looked up and caught Kaneda's eyes, and held them. "Crying for the past won't change things, but working for the future will."
Kaneda fell to a sitting position and thought of every dead face he had seen then. He didn't want anymore to add to his list. Then a thought came to his mind. "Is Tetsuo coming back?"
Everyone looked to Kiyoko. She shook her head solemnly. "I don't know."
Kaneda nodded definitely. "I'll help then."
*
Kaneda and Kei stayed at the Baby Room for quite a while, Kiyoko not having any dreams to help them along the way.
Then one day, in the middle of the night, Kiyoko woke and shot bolt up in her bed.
"Hey! Guys! Wake up!" She panicked.
Takashi was the first to get up and Masaru soon followed. They woke up Kei who had a time getting up Kaneda.
They all walked over to Kiyoko's bed.
"He's coming," she said.
"Who?" Kei asked instinctively.
Kiyoko sat, shaking. "Incredible destructive power."
Kaneda gaped. "Tetsuo....."
Kei looked shocked, Masaru looked pretty upset, and Takashi looked like the end of the world was coming, which it may be. Kiyoko looked a little shamed face, bringing this news upon them. But Kaneda, Kaneda looked so scared and angry at the same time it looked like he was going to scream with frustration. He fell down onto his hands and knees and slammed his fists against the ground. "It's not FAIR!" He screamed. "It's just not fair," he whispered, as one silent tear fell to the ground.
Takashi all of a sudden grinned. "Maybe he'll come back powerless like the rest of us!"
Masaru cheered (sort of) and Kiyoko leaned over to give Takashi a hug, and the word powerless had a good effect on Kei, too.
"No, don't start celebrating yet," Kaneda said from the floor. "What about those drugs of yours?"
Masaru all of a sudden looked frightened. "The drugs!" He said. "Won't Kiyoko be needing them?"
Kei, the good moment ruined, just rubbed her temples helplessly. "Where are we going to find those?" She asked. "They're tiny, and look at this place!" She moved her arm in a semi circle in front of her, indicating the hideous state of the Baby Room and the rest of the government building.
"Well, lets start looking!" Masaru said. "The last time the Colonel brought us some it was over there." He then pointed to one of the big piles of rubble.
Kaneda got up and began venting his anger out by moving rocks. Kei moved some of the slightly smaller ones, while giving him space. Kiyoko helped by moving the large ones that no normal, amazingly pissed off boy and his girlfriend could ever move. Takashi sat on the bed, propping Kiyoko's head up so she could see what she was doing, while Masaru looked in every little crack for the tiny pills.
There were still a lot of rocks left by the time Kaneda had vented his frustration and Kiyoko and Kei were unable to do anymore. Kaneda walked over to an unusually high pile of rocks and kicked one of the smaller ones away. "It's hope....." the "less" never had a time to leave his lips as the pile of rubble collapsed, surprising him off his feet and into a Kei who stood close behind him.
Kaneda's eyes were wide with shock. "What the....." A stray rock flew over and hit him in the gut, making spit fly out of his mouth and re-knocking over a half risen Kei.
Looking up, both Kaneda and Kei saw a huge boulder bounding towards them. Kaneda started crawling backwards, Kei attempting to get up. But they couldn't get out of the way in time and silently waited for their impending doom. They shut their eyes, but soon realized that they weren't dead, but floating. They opened their eyes and looked down to a small figure with an orange aura.
They all felt at a loss for words, but Kiyoko managed a week, "Akira has come."
Kaneda looked around him and saw the floating Kei, Kiyoko, Takashi, and Masaru. At least they were all alright, but Akira was there. Where did he come from? And how did he still have his powers?
Takashi looked down. "Akira! You're finally back!"
"With your powers," Kiyoko added.
Akira smiled slightly, then he put them all down gently. Takashi ran over to Akira while Masaru carried Kiyoko over.
Takashi hugged Akira, grinning from ear to ear. Kiyoko smiled and even Masaru smiled in spite of himself. Kei was flustered, but tried to smile along anyway.
Kaneda didn't even try. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Where's Tetsuo?"
Akira looked to Kaneda. "Tetsuo's here?"
BOOM!
They all ran to the hole in the wall to see a huge explosion coming from the new-new city.
Kiyoko gasped. "All those people!"
Kaneda grabbed onto Akira just as he disappeared.
*
A semi tall figure with wild hair sat in the middle of the wreckage of a burning building, looking totally clueless.
Akira, with Kaneda grabbing onto his arm and a shocked-looking-last-second- bad-timed-brush-against-Kaneda, also known as Kei.
Kaneda, ignoring that a whole building was crumbled and burning around him, walked dazedly towards the figure in the center of the destruction. "Tetsuo?" he whispered.
Tetsuo, hearing his name, looked up. "Kaneda?" he said, looking totally puzzled. Then a look of remembrance crossed his face. "Kaneda! It is you!"
All of a sudden, Tetsuo found himself thrown against a huge hunk of rubble. He cried out in pain as hi head got thrown back while his body stayed against the rock.
Kaneda turned to Akira. "What was that?"
The reply was simple. "Revenge."
Tetsuo sat, rubbing his neck. "Where'd that come from?"
"From me." Akira stepped forward.
Tetsuo clenched his jaw. "I don't know how you did it, but you did, you little brat! You'll pay!" With that, he reached behind him and pulled out a led pipe that was between some rocks, and charged.
But he ran into an invisible barrier.
Akira stuck out his tongue.
Tetsuo looked wide eyed after running into the force field, but this soon turned into rage. Tetsuo got up, picked up the led pipe, and once again charged Akira. Once he got to the force field, instead of running into it like an idgit, he hit it with his pipe. It rebounded out of his hands, and straight into Kaneda's shin.
"AH!" Kaneda fell to the ground and grabbed his shin with both of his hands. "OW! IT THROBS!"
Tetsuo flinched and slowly turned around. "Uh..... oops?"
"TETSUO!" Kaneda got up and limped towards Tetsuo.
Tetsuo stepped back by instinct and walked right into the barrier, from which he was flung into Kaneda.
Akira was watching this with much amusement, while a half-forgotten Kei was cracking up.
Kaneda moved a rock off of his self and sat up, rubbing his head.
Tetsuo walked over to Kaneda. "Uhm, you OK?"
Kaneda jumped onto Tetsuo and wrestled him to the ground.
*
Author's Note: And this is where it all changes . . . . . because Ms. Tesuo- Obsessed didn't like the ending to the first one. -.-