Chapter 5: #20 Embrace
Summary: In which Fukuzawa is dad AF and gives all the hugs.
I'm not sure if this is truly whump. Kinda? I don't know. It's a "story progress-chapter", I guess.
It made sense for Dazai to be held at a military base. That is, if he was still alive at all. It would be one of the few places that they wouldn't have the authority nor the inclination to search. As the two SUV's pulled up behind the tall fence surrounding the facility, a strict looking man in full uniform approached, waiting for them to exit the vehicles. He looked to be about forty and had shaved the sides of is head. On top, his hair was in a braid that trailed a little down behind his back.
"Fukuzawa-sama," the man greeted. "It's good to see you again."
"Likewise to you, General Kano. I only wished it was under different circumstances." The military official named Kano gave them a solemn nod and peered across the yard towards the high-security building.
"Yeah, it was terrible what happened to poor Niko-chan. Do you really think Dan Saito knows anything about your subordinate's disappearance?"
Fukuzawa looked to Kunikida, who quickly caught on and went to work.
"You wouldn't know if Dr. Dan Saito used to go under a different last name, would you?" Kunikida asked severely.
"Oh, I don't-" Kano dwelled, suddenly remembering something. "Well, he is originally European. From Ireland, I believe. I've never put too much thought into it." He elaborated. "His Japanese is fairly good and he's an extraordinary scientist. I didn't hire him personally, so I haven't read about his background and never felt the need to. But now that you mention it, I think he might have said something at a party several years ago, about taking his wife's last name as to not stick out like a sore thumb on the market once he got permission to work in Japan."
"Gavigan," Ranpo muttered gravely, and Kunikida gave him a curt nod. Recognition sparked in Kano's nearly black eyes as he heard the name.
"So, what's the plan, General?" Fukuzawa asked finally, getting restless. They couldn't keep wasting time if Dazai really was this close. And if he wasn't… well, then they really couldn't afford to be wasting so much time.
"This facility does top-secret research. Only military personnel authorized with the highest level of clearance is allowed inside," Kano explained, peering behind the ADA director, towards his subordinates. "I'm extremely wary about this. I know Fukuzawa-sama already has level five clearance, but the rest of you… I can't even really disclose what they're doing research on in here in front of you."
"Weapons," Ranpo declared casually, looking back to the slightly disturbed face of the military official.
"I- uh, as I said, I can't disclose that," he stuttered nervously, scratching the back of his head while smiling crookedly. "But-"
"But I'm right?" Ranpo interrupted, receiving a brief wave from Fukuzawa to drop it.
" But," Kano started again. "We've been in contact with the Special Ability Department, who pulled a couple of strings so that you all have temporary level five clearance." As eyes grew wide around him, he hurriedly added, "Which is of course strictly confidential. And it runs out the moment you're done with the investigation on your missing colleague. "
Fukuzawa took a couple of steps forward and embraced one of the general's hands between his own, bowing his head deeply. "Thank you so much, General. I'm in debt to you," he told him sincerely, before turning to his subordinates.
"Let's go."
Dazai laid slumped down on the floor in his cell once again, the cuff around his neck back in place. He was faintly aware of him being unable to move due to the heaviness of his body, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Now, he was waiting for death. There was nothing left in him to fight with. There was no use to even try, because he would only break further, making the rest of his miserable existence more painful and torturous.
The room was so cold- he couldn't remember it being this cold before, and it was so, so quiet. The only sound was his own ragged breathing, tearing painfully though his chest and making him want to cough but, he couldn't even manage that. What the hell did Dan want from him? He wasn't going to admit to killing Niko, especially not by the means of torture. It had never worked on him and never would. His natural defiance was too strong, even at the brink of losing his own sanity.
At this point, Dazai was convinced that Dan honestly did believe that Dazai had killed Niko, and would swear on his own innocence. The man was insane, it was as simple as that, and kept assuring Dazai that he would turn him into the police once he had confessed to his crimes on tape. The thing was, Dazai knew he wouldn't do that.
He had hope- at first. That may be, if he did confess and was turned into police and they saw the tapes of his savage beatings, they would believe him when he said he didn't do it. Then, the sessions of torture grew much more violent and varied so much more beyond the cattle-prods and nail-pulling. New instruments were used each time, and Dazai had realized that he had turned into a lab rat.
At the end of his ropes- he would be disposed of in a garbage bag in the dumps for toxic waste.
His breath hitched suddenly as a wave of nauseating pain ran through his body. Both his eyes were nearly swelled shut at this point, and it was too dark to see anything anyway, but he was still sure the room was spinning. He waited the attack out patiently, hoping he would pass out from it eventually, just to make time pass. Almost lost in his fever-dreams of blissful unawareness of what was happening to his body and mind, he heard footsteps in the hallway outside. His body tensed. There were several of them this time- more than two or three, like there usually was. This sounded like a whole group.
Panic struck him momentarily. Because he didn't know what this meant- didn't know what was going to happen next. It made him want to struggle, put up a fight, but, there wasn't a body part left he could move freely. Everything hurt and he was so very afraid. Tired of being in pain and feeling hungry and sick and why couldn't it just stop already?
The rattling of keys was heard urgently behind him, and he closed his eyes while inhaling as softly as he could, ready to be jerked back with the door. Whatever was going to happen, just had to happen. He had no longer control over his own faith- which, to be perfectly honest he hadn't been for the bigger part of his life. But… this was never what he had imagined, even after his whole childhood under Mori's medical experiments. Really, this is exactly what he should have expected. Just not what he had been stupid enough to hope for.
Finally, the terrifying anticipation was over, and he was jerked back with a strangled cry.
"What do you mean 'Dr. Saito abruptly left moments ago'?" Kano yelled furiously at a young, gradually kneeling subordinate, looking absolutely horrified back up at the General.
"Uh, well, sir, I, uh, he s-said there was a family emergency, sir," the major stuttered apologetically, clearly struggling to keep his back straight in fear of his higher commander. Nearly black orbs peered venomously at the man, knowing exactly how to make someone talk, even (or especially) when they didn't want to.
"B-but I think…" the startled officer uttered, trailing off.
"You think what, Major Masaharu? Speak up!" Kano growled back, effectively getting his charge to straighten his back and tighten his expression.
"I think…" he lowered his voice and looked assessingly at the Agents standing stoically behind his superior, unsure if they were supposed to hear this or not. "...it has something to do with… the basement."
"The-" Understanding sparked in the coal-colored eyes, and he gestured for the Agency to follow as he walked with long strides towards an old looking goods lift, dismissing the frightened major as they moved.
"There's an old cellblock in the basement, some shady business went down here during the Siberian Intervention, but it's not supposed to be used for anything anymore. It's registered as a warehouse now, but the pens are still there," he said darkly, sliding a key-card and pushing the elevator door open.
"Do you think Dazai-san is really down there?" Atsushi asked with a tint of faith in his voice as they entered the worn, grey elevator. Dual-colored eyes looked hopefully between Fukuzawa, Kunikida and Kano, wishing that any one of them would give him some sort of confirmation. They looked at each other, and Kunikida shifted his stance, nearly losing his balance as the elevator started its descent with a lengthy groan.
"All we can do is hope, Atsushi-kun," Fukuzawa said calmly. The only thing that revealed his rising awareness was the very keen stare on the wall that seemed to slide upwards in front of them. He was highly concentrated, ready to raise hell if necessary.
The room they entered was large and smelled like mold. It felt strangely damp, while still having the frigidness of an old cellar. The air was filled with particles that surely couldn't be healthy to inhale if spending any amount of time down there.
"This way," Kano directed silently, walking towards a heavy door at the other end of the room. It did indeed look like a door leading into a high-security prison. The old lock mechanism had been replaced by a code-lock, and Kano briefly looked at a small piece of paper he had tucked away in his pocket, before entering an eight-digit code.
"Fukuzawa-sama?" Kono said and didn't need to add anything else. Fukuzawa raised his katana, nodding towards Kunikida to pull out his gun before they entered first and made sure the next room was clear.
The tension rose considerably by the added precautions, as they ventured further into the windowless labyrinth. Finally, they reached a long narrow room with numerous rusted, steel doors standing almost side by side from one end of the room to the other.
"Be careful. Someone could be hiding in any one of these cells," Kunikida huffed with his gun raised and his back facing the wall. Simultaneous nods stretched across the group of agents as they got ready to search the place.
"Wait," Kono said abruptly, looking intently of a large key change with countless of keys on it. He flipped through each of them as if he knew each one, until he stopped somewhere at the end of the chain.
"There's supposed to be three sets of keys to all of these pens. They're not supposed to be in use anymore, so nobody is supposed to be in possession of any of these. But we're missing one . The general's eyes went to one of the blocks the furthest down, and they started walking. The younger ones of the agents had to restrain themselves from breaking out into full sprints, nerves and expectations exploding out of their chests, but the elders made sure to keep their excitement low. This was not the time to do anything rash.
A collective sigh ran through the group as they came to a stop in front of the suggested room, and they realized quickly that it was indeed the only door that was locked shut.
"Get behind the door," Kunikida ordered and hurdled everyone away, getting his gun ready as Kono unlocked the door and quickly yanked it open. The military official bearly had time to be startled by the unexpected weight of the door, and the painful cry that followed and quickly died out, before he realized what was being dragged out of the room by it.
For a moment, the world around them stopped turning. They all stood stunned, looking at the bloodied heap hanging from a chain attached to the door. The only sound in the room was the sickening gargles of a strangled man struggling to breathe.
"D-Dazai-san!" Atsushi bellowed. He was the first to move and threw himself to his knees in front of his broken mentor. Also breaking out of her stupor was Yosano, who quickly followed.
"Dazai? Dazai-san, can you hear me? Answer me, please! " Atsushi begged frantically, teary-eyed and fidgety before Yosano gently lead him to the side so she could access Dazai better. The first thing she did, was to check for a pulse, frowning when it was slow and weak.
"Don't just stand there! Go get me some tools! We need to get him down, it's blocking his airways! And somebody needs to call an ambulance!"
Kenji and Tanizaki ran back to where they had come from to search, while Kano yelled directions to where he thought there might be some utensils, and informed them that he would call the military hospital since they were the only ones allowed to enter the premises.
Fukuzawa came down to kneel beside Yosano, while keeping a steadying arm around Atsushi who buried his face into the creak of his chest- unable to care about personal boundaries, or simply just craving the support too much. The doctor kept checking Dazai over with a horrified expression as more and more hideous and critical injuries were discovered. Kunikida was feebly trying to produce some kind of tool that didn't dissolve between his fingers the moment they touched the chain that was attached to Dazai.
Fukuzawa did a quick count of his subordinates, making sure that they were all doing what they could for Dazai when he realized that he couldn't see Ranpo. "Call for me if I'm needed," he said softly to Yosano, hugging Atsushi a little closer before releasing him and resting a warm and reassuring hand on his shoulder, squeezing it tightly as he got up to go look for their missing comrade.
As expected, he didn't need to go far. Ranpo had never been good at hiding, mostly because he would lose track of where he was so easily, which resulted in a slight fear of wandering too far off. Already in the next room, he saw the back of the genius detective turned towards him. Fukuzawa advanced swiftly.
"Ranpo-kun, what are you doing-"
As Fukuzawa was about to reach out and touch Ranpo, he realized how much his shoulders shook. Urgently, the older man turned Ranpo around and caught him in a firm grip.
Tears ran from his emerald green eyes and trickled down his chin while he hicked and shook, sobbing and clawing at the sleeves of Fukuzawa's cloak, nestling the wide sheaths of fabric to his face and wiping his tears in a desperate attempt to calm himself down. Blurry eyes looked up at the man who was basically his dad, distraught and heartbroken and hopeless.
Fukuzawa gently removed his sleeve from the feeble fingers and gathered the short man-child into his arms and hugged him tightly against his chest. In the comfort of his strong arms, he let Ranpo get it all out of his system without asking any questions. Not until the 26-year-old had finally calmed down a bit.
"I- I- I didn't see this coming," he cried inconsolably and shot a quick glance towards the other room. "I didn't expect this- didn't think… I didn't think it would be that bad-" His voice broke as a new wave of grief enveloped him, but this time, he forced it back. "We should have gotten here sooner, should have… should've realized our mistake! We didn't look everywhere! And now… did you see him? He looks like a bloody bag of broken bones!"
Fukuzawa's stoic, steel-grey eyes looked at the boy wistfully. He felt the exact same way, but it was his job to be a reassuring presence. Especially for Ranpo, because that went deeper than most things in the agency director's life. Eventually, he sighed.
"I know."
Ranpo blinked rapidly, tears still escaping at every flicker.
"I truly, truly do, Ranpo-kun. But we're here now . We weren't yesterday, last week or even six months ago. But we are now. So, now we need to do whatever we can to make sure that Dazai will be okay, right?"
Ranpo kept staring and his lips started moving before he was able to respond. "R… right."
"Good. I want you to go upstairs and guide the ambulance down here once they arrive, okay?"
This time, Ranpo really just glared. Nearly a bit exasperated. "Well…"
" Or," Fukuzawa hurriedly corrected himself, "...go back inside and see if Yosano needs a hand, and I'll send Kano up to greet the ambulance."
"Good decision, sir."
Moments after they returned into the gruesome sight in the other room, Kano went up to meet the helicopter that had come to bring Dazai to the hospital. Kenji and Tanizaki had returned with an entire toolbox and had finally been successful in cutting Dazai down.
He now laid motionlessly on the floor, with Tanizaki's red hoody under his head and broken limbs twisted in places all except for the right way around. His upper body was covered in painful-looking marks, nearly hidden behind a thick layer of dried blood. Both of his eyes were swelled completely shut and weak breaths moved his uncovered and horribly scarred abdomen, ripping and shuddering bearly, painfully, in and out of his emaciated body.
"What's your assessment?" Fukuzawa asked Yosano calmly. Her face and gloved hands were already covered in blood that could be none other than Dazai's when she looked back at her boss with a worried frown.
"As long as the fucking ambulance arrives soon," she sneered, realizing her brisk tone, releasing her shoulders and inhaled deeply and let it out. "...I think he's going to make it."
The sounds of a gurney and several footsteps running towards them started echoing through the room. Ranpo took a couple of steps forward and watched Dazai hopefully. The tiny rise and fall of his chest, the nearly invisible twitch of his eyebrows. "Say… Please say that again, Yosano-sensei."
The young doctor seemed confused for a moment and tried to figure out what Ranpo was looking at.
A thin, bearly recognizable strip of a deep brown orb peeked out between swollen purple eyelids, and her hands shot up to cover her mouth for a moment. The melodic giggle that followed after seemed almost soft, and so much unlike her.
"Ranpo- he's going to make it."
I did say I was going to make a lot of progress in the plot in this chapter! And I also realized that writing the chapters with real story-development is really hard. I'm honestly not sure yet how I feel about it. But I know this chapter was needed to tell the story I had come up with.
Kano, the OC character was a surprise for me too. But I kinda liked him. I kinda envisioned a more rugged, G.I Joe version of Iruka from Naruto. He probably won't be in the rest of the story though- unless there's a popular demand (which it rarely is for OC characters).
This story will continue for another two or three prompts I think. Those will not have the same pace as this one though, which, honestly, I'm much more comfortable with writing. I still really hope you liked it!
Dazai is finally safe, yay!