The Burning Fire
By: Babs Laumer
Disclaimer: I don't own Amon, Robin, Nagira, Zaizen, or...heck, any of the WHR characters.
Zaizen is probably slightly OOC because I don't like him much. Thank you. If anyone else is OOC, I apologize, I was just having fun, and I wanted to share.
Author's note: I'm sorry if I've offended anyone by having Zaizen as the main antagonist. I realize that Robin sent flames up after Zaizen in the last episode, but that doesn't mean that (theoretically) Zaizen didn't manage to stop the elevator and escape (as many cartoons/movies have done) so they can re-use old antagonists for later. And the flames probably weren't up to full power by the time they reached the bottom of the elevator, so he could have just gotten very warm from the experience, not fried. He did have material between him and the fire, and much of the fire would have dissipated by the time it reached the bottom of the elevator. However, if it'll make people happier, I'll tag an AU in the summary line. I did rewatch that part of the last episode.
In the Bebop section, virtually everyone brings Spike back to life, even when it's fairly clear that he was supposed to die on the roof. I just figured that since we "never saw the body" for Zaizen, that it wouldn't be too far fetched to have him survive somehow. I just didn't want to bother with the 'how' in this fic.
Sorry about the formatting, isn't playing nice, so I bit back. Also, sorry about the late update, I had physics finals last week. :oP
Oh, wait...please review.
Flames will be used to heat my apartment.
Chapter 2:
"I had strict orders, directly from Zaizen, not to interfere with their hunt for you. But...I just couldn't do it."
"Amon...I..."
crashing sounds from above
"Let's go!"
"This way."
Staring into the dark depths of the well
"Robin...I don't think of you as a witch."
Dark eyes, glittering in the dark.
"Go."
Cold stone
"But...the others..."
"Don't worry about them. Now hurry!"
Strong hands, lifting down into the darkness
Soft thunk from heavy weight
Warm breath, paper scraping into hair
"Listen. If something happens to me, contact this person."
Click. Platform rising. Realization. Panic
"Amon!?"
"Go."
"Why are you..."
"Robin, go down those stairs and out through the underground tunnel."
"No! I won't! If you stay here, they're going to...ngh!"
Can't reach the button. Failure
"Stop that Robin, just go!"
Straining. Hand shoving. Darkness. Lonliness. Loss
"Robin...next time I see you..."
"NO!" Robin struggled against the blankets holding her down, gasping. Blankets. The rough material scraped at her hands as she clutched them tighter. Amon...was gone. Feelings repressed for practical reasons seeped out past her eyelids, trailing down her face.
"Why? Why does he have to keep saving me, just to leave me again? All...all I've ever wanted was his respect. As soon as I get it, he's gone. Why...why did I have to be born a witch?"
The blankets didn't answer, and neither did the darkness that permeated the room...just the way he preferred it. It made her feel worse.
When she'd made it down the long passage, she'd sank onto the heap of straw covered with a sheet, and let all the strings break at once. It was better, she'd thought, to fall asleep to avoid thinking about the events of the day.
Now she realized how wrong she was. Something was lodged in her throat, and it was hard to breathe. Her gut was twisted into a knot that she couldn't untie.
Why? Things had finally started looking better...from the information Amon had gathered from Nagira, Solomon thought they'd died in the factory...at least, that's what Doujima had told Solomon. Robin pulled her knees against her chest with her arms and laid her head across the hard kneecaps. But nothing was ever going to be right, was it?
She was the Devil's child.
The name hurt...knowing she was an engineered witch. It hurt worse when Amon told her that Juliano had ordered her hunt, because he didn't trust her. She hugged her knees tighter.
She hadn't asked for this...hadn't been given a choice. But then...what witch WAS given the choice? According to Todo, whether you were a witch or not was almost a lottery, or pot luck...since the witches couldn't pass on the witch genes reproducibly.
But, some witches had a spark of good in them. And, towards the end of her brief witch hunting carreer, she found she had mixed feelings about the whole business. After she'd been hunted...
Robin closed her eyes. She'd met nice people...seeds, potential witches...who never deserved what they undoubtedly got. And Amon...
When he had shoved her into the dark well...after she realized he wasn't coming with her...after watching her co workers shot...
It had been the last straw. All her emotions had hit overload; the fear of Amon being killed...she'd only just gotten to know him a bit better...and he finally acknowledged that he didn't think of her as a witch...
She still didn't quite understand the feelings she'd felt then...why they resurfaced now. And when Amon had pointed his orbo gun at her (for real, not just in her imagination), the world had nearly fallen apart. For some reason, he didn't trust her again. What had she done?
Robin still had nightmares about it.
However, she'd rather that he killed her before she...if she...ended up abusing her powers. She really didn't want to hurt anyone, unless absolutely necessary. She'd told Father Juliano she'd rather die than do something horrible...against God's will. Amon would just be helping her if she went over the edge and couldn't see it.
"Amon? Robin?"
Robin wiped her eyes dry on her sleeve and jumped up to greet Nagira. She even managed to conjure up a small smile, though she certainly didn't feel it.
Nagira hadn't known where the emergency hideout was until three days ago. For whatever reason, Amon had chosen not to impart this information to his brother. Amon had told Robin as much, and was surprised when Nagira had escorted Amon back to the hideout. Nagira had seemed more than usually irritated by his brother, and seemed to watch Amon like a hawk until he left. Amon had looked paler than usual, but he appeared to be fine, so Robin never asked. She'd assumed Amon had done something to annoy Nagira on their information gathering session. They HAD been taking longer than usual (four days), but considering Amon often took longer than he had at first stipulated, she wasn't as worried as the first couple of times he did it.
"Nagira." He smiled at her as he rounded the corner in the tunnel.
"Nice bird's nest you guys have got here. All you need now are the curtains."
"Nagira...tonight...last night..."
"So, the big bonfire was you?" She nodded.
"What happened? I heard rumors that a whole bunch of witches had gathered in the walled city and made a huge ruckus. 's part of the reason I came. Wondered if Amon..." He looked around suspiciously. "Speaking of the devil, where is he?" Nagira saw Robin's expression slip.
"I...don't know. We were...it all happened so fast..." Nagira pulled the cigar out of his teeth and said gently, "Start slowly, then."
Robin nodded. "We were going to pick up groceries..."
"He let you out?"
"I insisted. Four walls get boring very quickly." Nagira smirked.
"Go on."
"When we made it to the edge of the walled city, Amon paused, but I hadn't noticed. Then he'd grabbed my arm, and shoved me back the way we'd come...except we were almost surrounded by then. We got separated and...they took him. He told me to leave. I didn't want to, but..." The burning sensation behind her eyelids had returned full force, and she vaguely registered that Nagira had put a hand on her shoulder.
"Robin...it won't feel any better, but...you did the right thing. Amon can take care of himself." Nagira forced his voice to come out right. He and Amon fought and disagreed on a lot of issues, but...as he had explained once to Robin, he just hated it when people locked others up. Especially his annoying little brother.
Robin frowned. "I can as well." Nagira chuckled. The fire in her wasn't just for burning trash.
"You don't have to convince me. You took care of The Professor pretty well on your own. I certainly wasn't in a position to do much but watch." Admittedly, he hadn't enjoyed the fact that he hadn't been able to do something, but he wanted Robin to feel better right now. It was bad enough his brother'd gotten himself caught, without Robin feeling responsible as well.
It worked, too. Robin's face looked less upset.
"So, I'll go snooping around, and find out what happened to Amon, okay? In the meantime, you can..."
"I want to go with you."
"Robin...they probably WANTED you, but got my ugly brother instead. And Amon would kill me if he found out I'd let you get caught as well." Nagira waited till Robin had sighed in defeat.
"What can I do, then? I don't want...I CAN'T just do nothing." Her desperate eyes reminded him of an earlier time. A time when Amon had disappeared off the face of the earth after the incident at the STN-J. Nagira wanted nothing more than to tell her Amon would be fine, but he wasn't entirely sure he believed it.
"Can you hack at all?" Robin shook her head.
"Good. Then use this," he pulled a laptop from under his jacket, "and see if you can't find a good place for you and Amon to go after we get him back. When this is over, you'll both want to leave the area. For good, most likely." Robin nodded, a thankful look in her eyes. Nagira smiled as she set the laptop on the "bed", then left.
55555555555555555555555555555555555555555
"Any luck?"
"Not so far. Given time, we'll find her."
"Probably not. Send out rumors that Amon's alive...perhaps post it on the net, where she's likely to find it..., but that we want an exchange."
"Exchange?"
"His freedom for her."
"But, sir, will that..."
"And then, we get both of them."
"So...we never intend to give him to her."
"Of course not."
"Right."
"Oh, and how is dear Amon doing?"
"He'll live. We're keeping him sedated, as per your order."
"Good. He's too resourceful awake. Make sure he stays that way till we 'hand him over'."
"No problem. He was difficult enough for the hour or two he was awake. Actually...in connection with that...you know Shusuji?"
"Yes. Amon killed him after I ordered him to kill Amon's guard."
"His brother...Shusuji's brother... I think wants to kill the prisoner now."
"Tell him if he can't wait, he recieves the same fate as Amon."
"I'll tell him."
"Good."
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Four days, and no word.
Robin rubbed her temples tiredly. She'd managed to keep herself busy with the task Nagira gave her for the first two days. Each time Nagira showed up, and she asked THE question with her eyes, he merely shook his head. He still wouldn't let her go with him. The third day he tried giving her something else to do, but she'd had it done in three hours. It was getting to the point that he wouldn't show up as often during the day. Today he hadn't shown up at all.
Robin glared at the laptop computer screen. Why didn't it tell her anything useful?
God, she missed him.
For the first hour of the day, she'd played solitaire—a game Michael said he liked. It was okay...once she'd found the rules to the game on a website.
Now she was bored, and still worried out of her mind. She pulled up the google search engine window, and idly typed "Amon" into the blank space. She didn't expect much to happen when she hit the enter key. When she'd searched for a place for them to hide in Greece, she had gotten websites that were NOT what she'd been looking for. Lots of them were on myths, and, after talking to Methusela, she didn't feel like this was the appropriate time. It reminded her of unpleasant truths.
She was right. "Amon" had not turned up much of anything. Useful. She sighed heavily, scrolling through the mulitude of corporations, and personal websites that had nothing to do with a missing tall, dark hunter. Half heartedly she inserted "witch hunter" in front of "Amon" and hit the enter key. There were fewer hits, but one caught her eye.
A message board, discussing witch hunters' role in society. Intrigued, she clicked on it. She knew this information shouldn't be this easy to find. After all, Michael had been roped into the STN-J for hacking into their systems. This shouldn't be here...
Unless she was meant to find it.
The website required a password. Ah. So they weren't allowing just anyone to access it. Robin studied the password box a moment, then inserted her computer password from the STN-J.
The screen went black for a moment, then a text box popped up.
(So, you found it. Took you long enough. Robin.)
(Who are you?)
(Let's just say I'm an old acquaintance. I've got Amon, but I'm willing to negotiate his release.)
Robin stared at the screen. This whole scene was just surreal. Why would they give Amon up? It didn't make sense.
(On what terms?)
(You surrender yourself, and Amon goes free.)
She eyed the computer screen suspiciously.
(And...that's it?)
(That's it.)
This was making less sense by the minute. Unless...it was a trap of some kind. Was Solomon finally tired of searching for them, and felt this approach was the easiest way to successfully hunt her?
(You still there?)
They were obviously impatient, or surprised by time it took her to reply.
(Yes. How will this work?)
(You agree, then?)
It was the least she could do for Amon at this point. Maybe...maybe they'd both make it out. It was worth a shot at least.
(Yes.)
(Fine. Meet me at the warehouse where you were first hunted.)
(When?)
(Tomorrow at 3AM. Come alone, or Amon won't live to see the dawn.)
(I understand.)
The text box disappeared from her screen and she was left staring at the search she had made.
Robin was still staring at it when Nagira finally made an appearance at 7PM.
"Robin?"
He was surprised that she didn't immediately ask him how it went. Instead, she shook herself, and seemed to be closing things down on the computer. Apparently done, she smiled at him, wiping an errant lock of hair out of her eyes.
"Yes?" He held up takeout.
"I brought dinner. Thought you might be bored with all the canned goods you've been eating lately." Maybe she's mad at me for not letting her come along. He almost banished the thought when the smile became genuine.
"Thank you." She took her share and sat on the "bed". He joined her.
"I did get some information today." Robin perked up.
"Really?" I guess she just didn't expect any information tonight.
"Yeah. My sources say that Amon's alive, but the price is that you give yourself over to Solomon." Robin seemed disappointed.
"I see." She started picking at her food, preoccupied.
"Robin?"
"Yes?"
"What's wrong?"
"Wrong?"
"Yes, wrong! You didn't ask about Amon as soon as I set foot down here, and something's on your mind or you wouldn't be picking at your food, so what is it?" She stopped picking at her food and glanced at him.
"Do you know where Amon is?" Nagira's shoulders slumped.
"Nope. No one knows." He decided not to add that the rumors also hinted that Amon might no stay alive very long if Robin didn't show up soon.
"They...they didn't say?"
"I had a feeling they were going to, but some ruffian buttonholed the guy I was talking to, and they both just took off. Damndest thing, that. Weird. Didn't even wait to get paid." Robin contemplated her noodles.
"That is weird."
"Yeah." Nagira finished his dinner, stood and stretched, yawning loudly.
"Well, I'm going to go back out...see if I can dig anything else up."
"Okay." Her voice sounded off. When he looked down, a tear leaked from under shut lids and made a splashdown in her noodles. He grabbed her shoulder and shook it gently.
"Don't worry; he'll be fine." She nodded.
"I know," she whispered