10. Auld Lang Syne
"I can't believe you." Yoh stared at his twin brother as they sat on the benches of the Tokyo police station. "I can't believe you."
"Oh, what? What did you expect me to say?" Hao rolled his eyes.
"I don't know. Maybe…the truth?" Yoh said through his teeth.
"All right, gentlemen. Goldva is ready for you."
"Thanks, Silva." Hao smiled and waved at the officer who had come to call them in.
Once they were out of earshot, Yoh looked at Hao incredulously.
Hao tried ignoring the gaping stares his brother was giving him. "What is it?" he sighed.
"You know the officer's name? Looks like you two are pretty friendly too!" Yoh exclaimed accusingly.
"I just come here a lot, okay?" Hao ran his hand through his long mane of hair. "I know all the officers by name. And some of their birthdays."
"Y-Y-You come…here…a lot?" Yoh spluttered out. "Why?"
"Because they called me in here a lot over the past…six years give or take."
Yoh slumped down into the chair that was in Goldva's office. "My brother is a police station junkie…" He shook his head in disbelief.
"Hello, boys. So I'm sure that you're just as confused as we are." Goldva swept into the room, shaking off his winter coat and dusting the snow off of it before hanging it up. "So sorry that we had to ruin your Christmas…" The police head cleared his throat apologetically. "But we would like to give you as much information as possible regarding… well, regarding everything really."
"Thanks, Chief. But as you already have assumed, I already know everything there is to know about this case." Hao grimaced as Goldva turned to glare at him. "But my brother has no knowledge of it whatsoever."
"Shut it, Hao," Goldva growled. "And…I hate to admit it, but your brother has a point. Why don't we start off with what you know so far about the whole fiasco?"
Hao, Goldva, and officers Silva and Kalim turned to look at Yoh who had started to feel rather uncomfortable. "Well…"
Two Days Ago — Christmas Eve
"Yoh, you need to come here right away," Jun whispered frantically into her cell phone. "Anna is breaking down." The doctor turned to make sure Anna didn't go into a shock induced state.
"Dr. Tao, I'm kind of busy at the moment…" She could hear the faint murmurs of people talking (and…wait, were those sirens in the background?) on Yoh's end of the line.
"What? Too busy for your patient? A CC at that? Oh, and who happens to be your fiancée?" she snapped into the mouthpiece.
"Dr. Tao, the police are at my doorstep right now and they're…Doctor? Are you… are you okay?"
"Yes, of course, I'm okay, Asakura. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked a tad too defensively.
"I… It just sounds like you've been crying. And like you're pretty badly shaken. Sorry I asked…" he mumbled.
"I'll…I'll tell you when you get here. Anyways, why are the police at your place? Blasting music too loud again? Hardly anything to be stressed about."
"No, no. And that was Horohoro's fault last time. They're…they're going on about…some murder story that…" She heard him sigh in exasperation. "I don't even know anymore. I'm so—"
"The Mount Osore killing spree?"
There was exactly fifteen seconds of complete silence on both ends of the line. "Doctor," Yoh said quietly. "How did you know that?"
"Well, Anna over here has dozens and dozens of clippings of articles from different newspapers spread out all over her bed. Who knows how she even got a hold of these. Some of them were from the actual year they occurred."
"That makes sense though. She grew up in Osorezan and only started living in Izumo four years ago. She probably was in the same village as the people who were killed. She probably knew the people who were murdered!" Jun heard Yoh mutter something under his breath. "No wonder she's having a break down right now…"
"You best come over here as soon as possible, you understand, Asakura?" Jun wanted to end the conversation and tend to Anna who had collapsed in the bed in the middle of her phone call.
"Yeah, I'll just…I'll just tie up any loose ends with the police and head on over to the hospital. Thanks… Dr. Tao." Yoh paused. "And… everything will work out for the best, okay?"
"Hopefully for your fiancée it will."
"No. No, that's not what I meant. I was talking about you and Pailong." And then he hung up.
Several Hours Later
"What took you so long?" Jun demanded, blood smeared all over her gloves and coat.
"I…" Yoh slumped against the wall of the ICU.
"You look like you've just seen a ghost. Why so pale? I should be the one all sick looking. Kyoyama's vitals have slipped. She's internally bleeding and some of her wounds have reopened!" She pulled out a fresh pair of gloves. "I look like I've been slaughtering cattle all night.
"Dr. Tao," he whispered. "They… They told me that the one who killed those eight people in Osorezan…was…" Yoh looked like he could've slumped to the floor at any second.
"Boris, right? He's been the prime suspect for a couple of years now so it's about time that—"
"Anna."
"What about her?" Jun shoved through the doors of the ICU. "We need to hurry if we want to save her. She's undergoing huge hemorrhaging right now."
"No. They said…they said my fiancée is the murderer." Yoh's eyes looked empty. "Anna is the killer."
Jun slowly lifted her hands away from the bloody body of Anna Kyoyama. "What…did you say…?"
"Anna killed those people…those eight people six years ago. She's the person who was behind the Mount Osore killing spree… I think I'm…I think I'm going to be sick." Yoh's body heaved.
"Asakura. Pull yourself together," Jun barked. "Nurse first, sentiments later." She roughly seized him by the chin and forced him to raise his eyes to meet hers. "And your first duty as a nurse is to assist your doctor. And you can do so by explaining to me what… exactly… happened."
"I'm sorry, doctor. I'm sorry." Yoh took a deep breath. "They suspected Hao for so many years… since he was at the scene of every murder… but he was just trying to protect her. Can you imagine that? Hao was protecting someone. He withheld all he knew during his interrogations so that Anna wouldn't be arrested."
"Then how did they get to the conclusion that Anna was the killer? They went through several other suspects."
"A photograph just recently surfaced. It was a picture of her crouched next to one of the bodies she just killed. She looked… She didn't look like Anna." He shook his head. "She looked like an animal. She had blood all over her hands and…Her eyes were… They were so hungry and starved and bloodthirsty and they way she was postured… She didn't look human."
Jun laughed in disbelief. "This is…This is real life… not some goddamn CSI: Tokyo!" She threw up her hands, letting the dirtied gloves go flying. "Are they absolutely sure about this?"
Yoh looked up at her pathetically. "Of course they are, doctor. Of course they are," he moaned. "It's a six year old cold case. They wouldn't come to any final decisions without substantial evidence to back it up. They found her prints all over the crime scene. Her prints! They had them before but never thought of investigating a young girl for a crime so… unbelievable."
"No DNA tests?"
"No. Not enough funding yet. But they're going to get the feds involved."
Dr. Tao closed her eyes and rocked back and forth slowly on her heels. "How did she…ah, how did she…" She made a 'Well, you know…' gesture.
"What? How did she kill her victims?" Yoh asked emotionlessly.
The doctor nodded.
"Sometimes she used a knife but in every murder she…she strangled them. With her bare hands. Can you imagine that? She was just a fifteen year old girl and a couple of the people she killed were full grown men." Yoh ran his hands against the instrument stand that Jun had set up next to Anna's bedside. "No one knows how she did it…" He looked down upon Anna's erratically breathing form. "A lily-girl, not made for this world…" he recited softly.
Jun threw down her gloves and ripped her doctor's coat off. "Excuse me, I can't do this… I can't handle this right now." She stalked out of the room.
"Huh. You're wearing the dress," Yoh said, trying to sound as casual as the present circumstances could permit. "The dress."
Jun leaned against Conchi's security desk and looked down at her black and gold party dress she was supposed to show up at Yoh's Christmas get together earlier in the evening. "Trying to get your mind off things?"
"The dress. The come here and screw me black and gold dress that you realized that Pailong's leading ladies always wore in his movies."
"Shut it." Jun realized that both she and Yoh were beginning to regain some color. She drew out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket.
"Since when did you smoke? Macchi indoctrinate you finally?"
"It relieves stress. And this is my first time in a long time. And no, she did not indoctrinate me. I just found her secret stash in the ladies' room." Jun took a long drag from the cigarette.
"Smoking violates hospital sanitary protocol."
"Screw protocol, Asakura. We have a murderer on our hands," she spat out, returning the cigarette to her lips.
"I know, doctor. I know." Yoh walked back into the ICU, leaving Jun alone with her thoughts.
"Anna…" The girl looked up at him, her lids fighting to keep themselves half-open, her ragged bursts of breath amplified by a machine. "You need to try to tell me everything you remember about Mount Osore. Please."
Anna faded into consciousness and unconsciousness. Her voice was seemingly uncooperative and she only managed a throaty, raspy groan before the morphine Jun had pumped into her kicked in.
Please.
Six Years Ago
"Mount Osore killing spree. Seven dead in two weeks. No suspects yet, killer still on the loose. If you see any signs of suspicious activity or any information concerning the murderer, please contact your nearest police station. Now we're going over to Meene Montgomery for some interviews with eye witnesses." The news anchor gave a grave smile before the screen transitioned to a calm, blond reporter.
"Thanks, John." Meene Montgomery addressed the camera and turned to a village woman. "Now this woman says that she was at one of the scenes of the murders when it was actually taking place."
The trembling woman looked uncertainly at her interviewer, then at the camera, then back at Meene.
Meene smiled at her. "It's okay, go ahead," she whispered. "Before my career goes down the drain," she muttered, careful not to say that into the microphone.
The woman still looked frightened and she hesitated before she spoke. "I-I-It was t-terrible…" She swallowed before continuing. "She took several swipes at the poor, poor man's face and then…and then h-h-her hands wrapped around his neck and—oh, God it was awful."
"'She'? So you're saying that the killer is a girl?" Meene pressed the shaken woman she was interviewing.
The woman bit her lip before she shook her head. "All I saw was the killer's hair… The murderer had long, light hair and…" She began sobbing. Meene signaled for the cameraman to stop rolling.
"And there you have it, folks. Back over to Lucky for tips on spotting suspicious behavior in your neighborhoods. This is Meene Mont—"
Anna hit mute on the television at the hole-in-the-wall restaurant she was currently sitting at.
"The entire village thinks you're a witch or a murderer or both…"
"Quiet, Hao." Anna didn't want to open her eyes to look at him.
"Of course…Anna."
"Are you going to tell anyone?" She reluctantly opened her eyes.
"No, no. Where's the fun in that?" Hao frowned as his comment didn't evoke a response from her.
A small boy tottered over to Anna and looked up at her. A woman nearby shrieked. "Darling, don't talk to that child. Don't you know she's the village outcast? She's dangerous." The indignant woman scooped her son up and walked away, glaring at Anna all the while. "No wonder her father left such a long time ago…left both her and her godforsaken mother."
"She doesn't even deserve to be called human! Just like her mother," the woman's friend scoffed.
Hao's fists began shaking, the wood underneath his hands beginning to sear. "Calm down," Anna warned. "Remember what happens when you get angry… Just let it go. I'm used to comments like that."
Hao took a couple of deep breaths and he felt the temperature of his hands reduce significantly. "Yes. Last time I lost my temper, I burnt down the ranger's HQ up in the mountains." He smiled and snapped his fingers, a flame igniting out of seeming nothingness above it for a split second, much too quick for anyone around except for Anna to see. "And last time you lost your temper…" He reclined in his chair and gestured at the silent television, the banner of MOUNT OSORE SERIAL KILLER STILL ON THE LOOSE perpetually scrolling at the bottom of the screen. "Well…"
"Stop it."
The owner of the restaurant walked over to their table, stopping a few feet away, and pointed at the door, indicating that it was closing time.
"Why do you tolerate me?" Anna asked the air in front of her unfeelingly.
"What do you mean?"
"You hate everyone. You hate humans. And yet you willingly talk to me." She exhaled, her warm breath curling up into the night air. "Why is that?"
Hao drummed the tips of fingers against each other, his hands forming a steeple. "It's because we are veritable bastards of society, Anna. We're not like everyone else. I hate humans. We're not human. Even everyone else knows it." He held his hand in front of him to illustrate his point, nodding affirmatively as several people they passed by on the sidewalk walked in a large arc around them, some of them even going so far as to cross the street to avoid having to come into contact with the two. "See?" He stuck his hand back into his pocket. "We are the cursed ones."
"Still…"
"You are the only other person I know who understands what it truly means to suffer." Hao shook his hair to free it of the rain that was falling down on it.
"Does it hurt?" she asked, referring to the rain that was falling.
"Why? Because my essence is made up of fire and rain is continuously pelting me in droplets right now?" he asked teasingly. She nodded. "Does it hurt when you keep seeing your victims' faces on the television?" She simply kept walking. "Of course it hurts. But we endure it."
"Our situations aren't the same…" She stopped in her tracks.
A scream rang out in the night as the two had rounded the corner on a quieter street. "You!" Anna recognized her as the woman who had been interviewed earlier on the news. "You took him away!" she screeched, pointing a quivering finger at Anna. "You took him away and it's all your fault." The accusing woman clutched at her hair. Anna felt the adrenaline in her own blood begin to pump into her system, her heartbeat race, her pupils dilate. "And he's never coming back now!"
"Anna…" Hao clutched her arm in an attempt to calm her down. "Don't."
And then Anna collapsed.
"Yes, Yohmei. She's…just unconscious. Nothing to worry about. I'm simply keeping an eye on her as you have asked. She'll soon be ready, I think." Hao had been crouching over Anna for the past hour or so. "No, I'm not trying to violate her. How offensive." Hao hung up on him.
"Wh-What happened…" Anna whispered as she roused from her unconsciousness.
"Good morning, sunshine."
"Hao." She sat up. "What happened."
"Mmm…"
"Eight now…right?" she said softly. "I killed her, didn't I?"
"Pretty much." Hao shrugged. "Don't worry about it."
"How can you act like that? I just killed someone. I'm sorry if I actually have somewhat of a conscience, unlike you, Mr. Pyro," she snapped.
He crouched down spread the snow from his hands into her hair. "How can you expect anyone to love…to love a monster?" he whispered, cupping her face. "Everyone hates you!" He smiled. "Don't you see, Anna? You aren't worthy of anything else besides hatred." He stared into her eyes, grinning and then suddenly his hand flared up and burnt her cheek.
"Bastard," she hissed as he wiped his hands off and stood up.
"Come with me." He stretched his palm out and offered it to her. "We'll start anew. We're both cursed. We're both only capable of hatred, only worthy of hatred. Let us live our lives as society wants us to: bitter, angry, and vengeful."
"Never." She spat on the ground next to her, rubbing snow to ease the burn on her face.
"Oh? And what are you going to do then? From the way I see it, the only good opportunity you have is joining me."
Her hands came crashing down onto the ground and she shoved herself up. "I'm going to go by myself. Atone for what I have done. And then I'll start anew." She drew her feet together and clasped her hands rigidly in front of herself. "By myself."
Hao smirked. "And you really think that that will work? Running away from your past?"
"I need to try. For myself." She began walking away from him as he shook his head smilingly and jammed his hands into his pockets and kicked at the slush on the ground. "And I need to get away from you."
"It's never going to work. You can't ever escape what or who has been in your past, Kyoyama."
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
A/N: So...yeah. Short chapter but very complicated. I think I got confused myself several times before I got it right, necessitating several rewrites. And I wrote all of this in the happiest place on Earth: Disneyland! =) yup, so here on out, yay drama and murders and cold cases and serial killers! prepare for some twists yayyy. and i suppose the fic will end when it will end. I'll just be taking it slow to make sure everything develops correctly. I hope everyone had/is having a GREAT holiday! and will have a splendid new year. well, since I and all a bajillion of my relatives are straight up Roman Catholic (and Filipino), I had been going to simbang gabi... -__- and went to Mass (it was actually really nice this year) before having the biggest noche buena dinner ever! it was great, having the house stuffed with relatives. How did you guys celebrate the holidays and new year's eve????
for those of you who offered to do some fanart for this pathetic excuse for a story... I love you so. I honestly do not care what medium/how the characters look/etc since I'm still floored that anyone would actually want to draw/paint anything for this... It's totally up to you! =) thank you so much!
ps: what may seem like "inconsistencies" are a result of the fact that this story is not linearly told. the story itself covers a little bit over a month of plot but obviously only covers bits and pieces of it along with flashbacks so some of the character interactions and relationships are based off of incidents that aren't covered in the fic..... don't worry about loose ends or whatnot. I have that covered.
reason why Chapter 8 (Silent Night) is so important to me: when I started writing Critical Condition, I only had a few solid lines and visuals in my head that I knew the entire story was going to hinge on: the excerpt I debuted in My Commensal of course, Pirika asking her father "Can we be a family again?", Jun telling Pailong: "I fear that you will think me to be quite strange but…I believe I have fallen in love with you.", Chocolove and Mic, and the whole University of Hartford/Yale deal between Lyserg and Jeanne. so yeah...pretty important to me.
i think the overwhelming majority of the stories I'll write after this will be humor/comedy, as you can probably tell if you have seen my author's page. which one are you most excited about? After Critical Condition is over I'll be starting:
Bad Romance (not so subtly named after the Lady GaGa song of the same name), Down the Rabbit Hole, restart Camera Obscura, regularly update 121 Theme Challenge (which the link for can be found on my author's page at the bottom if you're interested), Heavy Hearts Brigade (finished for the most part and is my last planned dramatic piece for a long, LONG time), My Commensal (new chapter is written and ready to go which is basically a preview of Bad Romance), The Emperor and I (because I enjoy writing fairytale type retellings), Mismatched Adventures! (the summaries for all of these can be found on my author's page.) 2010 is shaping up to be an even more exciting year for writing for me and I cannot wait to get these ideas out!
fun fact number something or other: originally when I revisited my ff account after years of neglect, I only had three fics planned out. now I have twenty-six. I need to keep my imagination in check... =/ SORRY FOR THE LONG ASS AUTHOR'S NOTE! I just missed writing so much. And it's only been a week!
don't forget to review! =) happy days and a happy new year!