Dark Lady Amon
by amiwakawaiidesu
(Based on characters and situations from "Witch Hunter Robin", created by Hajime Yatate and Shuko Murase)
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CHAPTER TEN
"I'm sorry, Sena-san; you must have lost your baby."
"What? How is that possible?"
"It isn't unusual to have a miscarriage so early in a pregnancy, but I'm not certain if you were ever actually pregnant. Is it possible you just imagined it?"
Even now, the doctor's words stung Robin as she remembered them. The lady doctor hadn't meant to sound unkind, but Robin knew what she meant. Robin was still a virgin, and the doctor couldn't possibly understand how her spirit had been intertwined with Amon's while they shared one body. While they still shared that body, Robin had been positive that she felt a third being within herself - and Master Harry had sensed it too - but now she felt nothing within herself. Amon was gone, the baby was gone, and Robin sat alone on the bed in Nagira's upstairs room with Amon's over-large coat pulled around herself, wondering if she had imagined everything...if she had lost her mind.
How recently things had been different. A week earlier, while Amon's spirit was still inside her, Robin had entered the Shinjozuna Tower disguised as a model, and made her way to the penthouse level where Amon's body was held by the Shinjozuna Three, only to learn that the Shinjozuna Three were actually travellers from another world, who only desired Amon's wind craft in order to return home. Further, they had learned that Mrs. Wong - their seeming benefactor - had arranged for Robin to take Amon's spirit within herself merely for her personal gain, hoping they would destroy the Shinjozuna Three with their combined power and leave Mrs. Wong in control of the Shinjozuna commercial empire. Happily, though, Robin, Amon and the Three were able to come to an amicable resolution. After Amon agreed to help the Three return to their own world, Robin used the spell taught to her by Mrs. Wong to reunite Amon's spirit with his own body.
Shinjozuna Tower, meanwhile, had been surrounded by Tokyo police and fire personnel responding to reports of an explosion on the penthouse level, actually caused by the combined power of Amon and Robin during their initial encounter with the Three. That complicated matters because the Three planned a controlled implosion of the Tower to cover their departure from the planet, and they preferred to avoid killing anyone in the implosion if possible. They were able to order their own employees out of the building, but remained concerned about police and fire personnel who might be killed within the collapsing Tower. Thus, they arranged for their own security personnel to relay a report to the police about a van full of explosives left unattended in the Tower's parking garage, and the police accordingly formed a perimeter around the building at a safe distance while calling for their own bomb squad.
As for Amon, he recovered from separation with his body sooner than Robin would have expected - but of course the Three had used their own powers to keep his body in a state of virtual stasis. Now awakened, Amon looked at Robin with his own eyes for the first time in a week, and felt her embrace him warmly.
"Amon, I missed you!"
"I was always with you," Amon said, returning her embrace. "But I missed you too."
With Robin's help, Amon then pushed himself into a sitting position. He was woozy for a moment, then seemed embarrassed as he noticed Robin's near-nakedness in her halter top and miniskirt.
"You must be cold," Amon said, as a bracing breeze swept in through the shattered penthouse windows. He then stood up and swept off his long black coat, which he draped about her shoulders.
"It's a little long on me," Robin said, noting how the coat seemed to engulf her. She liked the warmth of the coat, though, as it retained the heat of Amon's living body.
The Shinjozuna Three, meanwhile, had been working magic of their own. While one of the males held Mrs. Wong, the other male and the female Xiu summoned a vast magic circle which occupied the entire chamber in which they were standing. Xiu explained that this circle was the propulsion system of their spacecraft, which would form a pocket in hyperspace after four witches with the requisite elemental powers stood within the circle and combined their craft. Originally, Xiu's sister had supplied the wind power in the circle, but now it was Amon who would complete the circle.
"You should go," Amon said to Robin; "the bomb squad will be here soon."
"Wait," Robin said, holding Amon and looking at Xiu. "How long will Amon be gone? Will he be able to come back?"
"It shouldn't be long," Xiu said. "We only need Amon's power to take us to the edge of your solar system, then we shall return him to you. It should be no more than a month, as measured on Earth."
"There, you see?" Amon said. "It won't be so long."
"But Amon, there's so much I want to say...what about the baby? I'm still only sixteen...will you marry me? Would you want to marry me...?"
"Of course I'll marry you," Amon said, pausing to bend down and kiss Robin gently on the lips. "Wait for me."
"Of course I'll wait for you."
Xiu then came up to Robin and reported that a bomb squad truck was approaching the building. With lives at stake, Robin then reluctantly stepped back from Amon, took hold of the prisoner Mrs. Wong, and withdrew to the double doors leading into the chamber. She paused a moment, though, to look back at Amon.
"Ci incontreremo ancora," Amon said, "amore mio."
"We will meet again, my love."
Robin nodded, lingering a long moment to look back at Amon. Then, with the bottom of Amon's coat dragging at her heels, Robin guided Mrs. Wong to the penthouse elevator station and rode a cab down to the garage and out the back of the now-deserted building. Robin was concerned then that she might be spotted by a police unit and become separated from Mrs. Wong, but she was pleasantly surprised to find virtually the entire STN-J office staff - and Nagira - waiting with a pair of cars not far from the garage. Nagira and Doujima had met Robin inside the Tower and guessed that she might need help despite her insistence on confronting the Shinjozuna witches alone, so now Chief Kosaka, Karasuma, Sakaki and Michael (the latter with a videocamera firmly trained on the Tower) had all converged on the area and remained dangerously close to the building despite the police warning to back off.
"Robin!" Doujima exclaimed. "Are you all right?"
"Yes," Robin said, "but we need to get out of here quickly. The building is about to collapse."
"So there is a bomb!" Kosaka exclaimed.
"I'll explain later," Robin said. "But someone should cuff Mrs. Wong; she's a dangerous witch and we should take her into custody."
"Right," Doujima said, slapping a pair of restraints on the old lady. Robin then joined Mrs. Wong in the backseat of a sedan driven by Doujima and shared with Nagira, while Chief Kosaka, Michael and Sakaki bundled into the other car driven by Karasuma.
"What about Amon?" Nagira asked.
"He's fine," Robin replied.
"Well, where is he?"
"Up there," Robin said, pointing toward the tower. "But I'm sure we'll see him again."
Doujima and Karasuma then made haste to get away from the building, although Karasuma did linger a while at an intersection so Michael could continue filming the tower. A curious shroud of fog now surrounded the building, hiding its upper stories even from news cameramen covering the event, but Michael's infrared camera captured a fine image of the tower as it suddenly exploded; Michael failed to capture an image of the building falling into its own footprint, however, as Karasuma suddenly floored the accelerator to get cover behind a nearby building.
As it happened, no one was hurt in the implosion, nor was anyone known to be dead except for the photographer Setaguchi whom Amon killed in the Happy Look studios while still in Robin's body. As for Amon, his whereabouts were officially unknown even before Father Juliano had asked him to investigate the Shinjozuna Corporation, but Michael's camera did capture a tantalizing image that seemed to verify what Robin reported about the extraterrestrial nature of the Shinjozuna Three. As Mrs. Wong was whisked off to a psychiatric care facility now retained as an alternative to the Factory, the STN-J staff gathered around Michael's work station at Raven's Flat to watch his computer-enhanced video of the implosion. There, for a split second, Michael had captured an image of a luminous ring rising from the top of the tower even as the rest of the building fell.
"My God," Michael said, "do you know what this means?"
"Amon is alive?" Karasuma ventured.
"Well, that, and I've just taken the world's first high-quality video of a UFO!"
"Well, I don't know about that," said Sakaki, "there are lots of videos of UFO's."
"But this is the real thing; we have Robin's own testimony. This could be sensational!"
"Let's not make it a sensation just yet," Chief Kosaka said, resting a hand on Michael's shoulder. "For the time being, let's keep it under wraps."
"Oh, man!"
"But make sure you keep the file backed up in a safe place. It could be important later."
"Right, Chief."
Robin, meanwhile, had taken Doujima aside.
"Doujima, can you help me with something?"
"Sure, Robin, what is it?"
"I was wondering if you could recommend a doctor..."
"Don't you have a doctor?"
"Yes, but I think I need a special kind of doctor."
Doujima looked at Robin for a long moment, then her face brightened with surprise.
"Oh my God, Robin, are you...?"
Robin averted her eyes, and nodded.
"Just leave it to me, dear," Doujima said, lowering her voice and hoping her earlier outburst had gone unnoticed. "Meet me after work, and I'll give you the name of a lady who's very discreet about these things."
And so it transpired that Doujima gave Robin the name of the specialist, and even volunteered to go with Robin to an appointment the next day. Somehow, Robin kept Doujima from telling everyone at Raven's Flat that she was pregnant, but she was less successful at persuading Doujima that nothing physical had transpired between Amon and herself. Doujima herself was sympathetic with Robin, noting that Robin was of legal age to marry in Japan and intimating that Amon would be in a lot of trouble if he didn't do the honorable thing and marry Robin when he returned from gallivanting in outer space.
To her credit, Doujima was supportive after the examination, and stayed with Robin at Nagira's office afterward. Indeed, Doujima was still there now, asleep on a futon below the platform holding Robin's bed; Nagira was naturally curious why Doujima was there and what was the matter with Robin, but Doujima only said it was none of his business and politely but firmly insisted he not bother Robin with any questions.
As for Robin, she was glad she hadn't shared the news with anyone else at the STN-J. Losing Amon was bad enough - she could trust that he had survived the implosion and was indeed safe with the Three - but the miscarriage was so final. Robin had seen the little girl in visions from the future, and even knew her name; but now, Anastasia was dead.
Could I have imagined it? Robin wondered. It seemed so real, but now I feel so empty…
Have I lost my mind…?