This chapter is just like the last one. It's going to be confusing as hell for those unfamiliar with Gluhen. Geez. What the hell was I thinking? Would it help if I said that the rest of the plot doesn't matter – just Yohji and Aya?
The good news? It's a very short chapter. That's why it's out so quickly. It was, in fact, going to be out yesterday but there were...technical difficulties.
Yeah. I still hate this chapter. (But the next one is one of my favorites!)
A mother who would kill her only child.
A child who would not lift a finger to save himself.
"I'm sorry, Aya…I'm sorry I couldn't kill my mother."
He watched the life flood from the young boy's eyes, watched him grow unnaturally still. He had wanted to help the boy, and in the same process give his own soul some healing.
He had failed miserably.
"Kill me."
The voice of Fumie Kisaragi was a harsh rasp, her skin pale and sickly as she watched Aya carefully arrange the limbs of her only son, giving him the appearance of peaceful slumber.
"You came to kill me, right?" she demanded. "Then do it! Kill me, Weiss."
Mamoru stopped short at the sight that greeted him as he entered the room. He could do nothing but stare at the bodies on the ground.
"Sena…" he said quietly.
Ken's voice was uncharacteristically subdued.
"I guess we didn't make it in time," he said.
The brunette suddenly made a strange noise and grew unnaturally still, staring at something in the room, and Mamoru touched his arm gently in concern.
"Ken?
"I've felt this before…" the dark haired assassin whispered, eyes large. "It's here."
He began to run before Mamoru had the chance to further question, and the younger assassin could only follow.
The two stopped short as they reached Aya, who stood before a very large computer.
"It's Epitaph." Aya informed them, the only indication he gave that he had noticed their presences.
"This computer system is Epitaph?"
"Indeed!"
A laugh filled the air. Beside him, Aya stiffened at the sight of Mayumi Tsuji.
"Fumie was nothing more than a synthetic human computer – a creation of this machine!" Tsuji's eyes sought out Aya and she smiled slowly, coldly.
Ken was the first to understand the nature of her silent taunt.
"What have you done with Yohji?" he demanded as Aya's hands grew white-knuckled on his sword.
The bitch kept her eyes locked on the leader of Weiss.
"Gone!" she answered flippantly. "He simply didn't cut it. He was too weak to be even a warm up for my precious child!"
Ken had never seen Aya so pale, nor so angry. The man's expression was simply murderous as he listened to Tsuji argue with Epitaph over the creation of her god-children.
"We won't allow this!" he shouted at last, interrupting the argument.
Tsuji snarled at them.
"They're in the way," the Todo clone stated.
Ken felt his legs being swept out from under him as he and the others were blown backwards. Om…Mamoru fired at the creature, only to have the bolt reversed and slammed into his shoulder.
Before anything else could happen, a second explosion shook the building.
Ken clung to the floor, attempting to ride the blast as he formed a plan. The moment the building stopped shaking, Ken was on his feet and rushing to the creature. He grabbed it tightly and covered its mouth with his hand.
If the clone couldn't speak, it couldn't attack.
"Aya!" he screamed. "Drive your sword through him!"
The man hesitated and Ken tightened his hold on the creature.
"Do it! Don't worry about me!"
A tight nod, a determined twist to that stubborn mouth.
Aya charged.
Though Ken had thought himself ready, there was no preparing himself for the searing pain of the bite of the sword. He lost his grip as the clone began to scream, knocking both him and Aya away.
The "all-powerful" creature could not recover from the blow.
Moments after Aya's attack, it self-destructed.
Aya was clearly nearing the very edge of his control, very clearly enraged. He'd lost two teammates and been forced to injure a third. He barely seemed to notice the creature's destruction as he leveled his sword at Tsuji.
"This is the end," he informed her.
"End?" she laughed, her eyes wild. "I told you – with my cloning technology, I can create as many of these children as I desire!"
Aya's eyes narrowed dangerously and Ken knew that the man was already picturing the woman's blood on his blade.
Another tremor shook the building and some small hint of sanity returned to Tsuji's eyes as she realized that her data was in danger of destruction. She fled before Aya has the chance to attack.
He took a step forward, obviously wanting to follow, then hesitated and glanced back at Om – Mamoru and Ken.
"Hurry Aya!" Ken urged painfully. "Don't worry about me – go and stop the bitch!"
The man didn't need further encouragement.
"Is this what you're after?"
Yohji Kudoh smiled to himself as Tsuji spun to face him, glad that he had fought the pain and the desire to give up in order to find the woman's beloved data.
He hadn't imagined he would receive the wonderfully satisfying gift of being able to destroy said data before her very eyes.
"How does it feel to lose something dear to you?" he demanded as he let the ruined remains of the disk fall to the ground.
He didn't see her move.
But he felt it when her kick connected.
And then there was only pain.
Her hand closed around his throat and she lifted him up off the ground, slamming him backwards into the wall.
He hurt everywhere, each breath was a struggle. She was going to crush his windpipe if she tightened her grip by even the smallest bit.
"Yohji!"
He opened his eyes, fighting the darkness threatening to close in around him.
There, across the expanse of the ruined lab, stood his Aya. His angel. Too beautiful for words, too wonderful to be real.
The man was pale and clearly terrified, obviously terrified – but still so very strong.
Holding Yohji's disbelieving eyes, he raised his sword and threw it.
Yohji didn't hesitate.
Reaching, straining, Yohji's fingertips at last brushed the hilt of the sword. Somehow he managed to get a hold on it.
He struck and killed Tsuji in one movement.
Fighting pain and dizziness, Yohji stared at Aya, filling his eyes with the sight of the man he loved.
An explosion wracked the building.
"Yohji!"
Ken and Omi had reached Aya at last. His team suddenly seemed impossibly far away.
"You all go!" he shouted to them, knowing that the building wouldn't stay standing for much longer. He couldn't bear the thought of his team, his Aya, losing their lives here.
"We can't leave you!" Omi argued.
Swallowing hard, Yohji fought to keep his tone light.
"Are you crying, Omi?" he teased. "I'll be right behind you guys!"
"Don't be an idiot, Yohji!" Ken called back. "We have to go home together!"
Yohji looked at Aya – at the cold, pale beauty of him.
Were those tears in the man's eyes?
He knew it wasn't his imagination as he watched his love mouth one word.
Please.
"Yeah," Yohji agreed, holding Aya's eyes. "I mean, I have to return your sword, right, Aya?"
The man nodded, love in his eyes shining full and unabashed.
"I'll make it home," Yohji promised. "Home is where you are…and we aren't finished yet."
We're not. I swear we're not. Aya mouthed.
"I'm coming home. I am Weiss."
I'll be waiting. Aya promised.
Yohji smiled.
Another shudder shook the building, and the roof at last began to cave in.
Blackness incased him.
When Yohji awoke he found himself in a small pocket of air, pinned down by rubble. His head was a great, throbbing pain.
Black spots dotted his vision and he found he couldn't move. Nausea swam through him as he tried to calculate how much damage had been done to him.
He thought he heard a voice calling him before he blacked out again.
Smoke curled lazily in the sky as the sun began its slow ascent into the heavens. Was it the sun or the dying flames that had consumed the building that made the sky such a brilliant color?
Maybe it was the mere fact that he had survived the night.
Aya only paused for a moment to view the charred remains of the Esset research laboratory. He couldn't bear the sight of it against the breathtaking backdrop of a newborn day.
All it served to do was remind him of what he'd lost.
The body of a boy who had been like a brother lay forgotten in those remains. It may never be found.
The remains of all his good intentions lay there as well, stripped away to reveal with painful clarity the time he had wasted, the hurt he had caused.
He didn't even notice it as he reached up to finger a wound on his neck – the delicate crust of dried blood from where he had been kissed by the wire.
Aya had only intended to pause for a moment. He was in a hurry.
But he was also tired, and weak, and pushing himself to breaking could possibly cause more harm than a short rest.
A quiet moan assured him that his companion was still with him – that his search had not been in vain.
He'd dug through the rubble until his fingers bled, swearing all the while that he would not leave alone.
And he'd begged, begged like he'd never done before, that Yohji Kudoh was still alive.
Every muscle in his body protested as he placed one of Yohji's limp, unresponsive arms around his shoulder and lifted him up. Getting him to the car would be so difficult.
But no doubt easier than getting up the hill with him had been.
"Hang on, Yohji," he pled, unsure as to whether or not he was even speaking out loud anymore. "Hang on, love. I promise…I promise…!"
To Be Concluded
Wince. Yeah. Reallllllllly hate this chapter, and I apologize that you had to read it. I'll go back and rewrite it one day. For now, if you want something more furfilling, get your hands on the last episodes of Gluhen.
Response to Unsigned Reviews:
fractured dreams - chapter 12 will be better than this! I promise!
zojirushi - You're more than entitled to your opinions, doll; however, please remember that the bottom line is that when it comes right down to it, I can write whatever pleases me. I share with readers because I want other writers to share with me, not because I want to be told how to write the story.
JB - Hmm...I guess I can tell you that it doesn't end exactly like Gluhen. There's a Kit original twist to it. There's some stuff in the next chapter that will make everyone extremely happy...but there's also something that made me cry while writing it - and I never cry. Just remember that there's a sequel coming.
GuiltyAmethyst - Did I answer your question? (grin)
