Disclaimer: I make no claim to the series, ideas, or characters of Full Metal Panic.
Author's Notes: Thanks to all of you who have read and reviewed my story. I am stopping the story's progression for a little while in order to provide a little bit of the events leading up to the current story. Remember, this is being told by Meredith to Kaname. It is told in third person as another story in order to avoid wrecking the mood with a lot of 'she saids.' I point this out in order to avoid any confusion as to what is going on. The back events are going to be a little bit of a short story within my story. The next three chapters, including this one, will be back events. This is all essential to the story, so please bear with me while the story goes off track for a little bit. As always, reviews are most appreciated. I need a few more since I haven't been getting very many lately. It's making me wonder exactly where my readers went to. I promise that the story will get better, and all of these horrible events will begin working out when the story picks back up. Hope you enjoy.
The Deathbringer
Chapter 8: The Signs of the Storm
By Adam Lakewood Copyright 2004
Meredith had no problem getting to sleep that night. No trouble at all. She was exhausted, but she had a blast that night. The ball was a lot more fun than she expected it would be. She had gone with Sousuke, and everyone thought that she was his girlfriend. Neither bothered to correct them, though. That was fine. They had more fun as good friends than they could have had with their previous dates. They had dinner over there, had a few drinks, danced a few songs, and Kurtz even took their picture that he claimed would soon become blackmail. During dinner, she had eaten more than she thought she ever had before, and Sousuke stared at the escargot for at least half an hour debating whether of not he should eat it, or what side effects it would have on him if he were to devour the entrée. As far as the drinks; there was a legal drinking age, but who in their right mind would deny their superior and his date a drink. And, neither of them knew what Kurtz could use the picture as blackmail for. Sometimes his mind just worked on a completely different track than others'. She had no problem getting to sleep. No trouble at all, but she did have trouble waking up. She wished desperately she could wake up.
Meredith looked around from the inside of a glass tube. She had no idea as to where she was at. There was green tinted water in the glass tube with her. She could also see that wires and tubes were connected all over her naked body. Outside of the tube there were four men in the room. They all wore white lab coats. They were talking to each other while viewing many different things on many different monitors throughout the room. She did not know anything except for that she was confused and scared. One of the men turned around to look at her, and then it looked like he said something to another one of the guys at a console. The man nodded in acknowledgement and started pressing a few more buttons on the console. As soon as the final button in his sequence was pressed, Meredith felt an electric shock run through her body. The pain was excruciating; unlike any she had ever felt before. She screamed out in pain, but it could not be heard. Only a few air bubbles formed in the tank as a result of her sudden exhalation of oxygen. This lasted for what seemed like minutes. All the time, the men in the room went up to the tank to observe her and take notes on their clipboards. They also took their time to read some output given by their computers. The pain was the only thing that Meredith could think about. Finally, one of the men looks up at the clock in the room and says something to the others. They either look at their own watches or look up at the clock. The man at the console nods his head and presses a button. The pain finally ceases, though parts of her body are still slightly tingling from the lasting electrical current flowing through her body. The men all lay down their clipboards and leave the room. Meredith looks around the room to take in every aspect of the place. She then looks around inside her tube to look for any possible ways out. She pounds against the glass as hard as she can, but it is still unyielding. When she turns back around, she notices that there is a little girl standing in front of her tube.
The girl is wearing nothing but a set of pajamas and is carrying a plush teddy bear. She looks to be confused and scared. Her eyes seem to be searching for something that cannot be found. It is apparent that the little girl is not one of these people here. She does not know who she is or why she is here, but she does know that this little girl may be her only hope of getting out of here. Maybe then she and the little girl can help each other. She pecks on the glass to get the little girl's attention. No sound is made, but the little girl immediately puts on an innocent smile before turning around to look at her. The little girl no longer looks scared or confused. Now, she has a look of complete happiness and content on her face. Meredith, being a specialist of reading peoples' emotions by their actions, words, or facial expressions, cannot begin to understand what is going through the mind of the little girl.
Suddenly, the little girl takes on an expression of horror and agony. Everything goes black before Meredith's eyes for a split second. When she can see again, the little girl is screaming in agony as to which could be guessed to be caused by the large pieces of jagged metal sticking in her body. Blood is streaming down her face like water from a large piece that is stuck in her head. The blood streams down her entire body to a huge pool of blood at her feat. The little girl then lets out a deafening shriek as she is instantly ignited in flames. Pain once again fills Meredith's body. This time it is worse than before, and she can't even scream.
Then, she woke up.
Meredith sits up in her bed with a loud gasp. She is sweating profusely and her hair is completely drenched. She takes a quick breath of relief once she realizes that she is in her room, and not being tortured inside of some sort of tube. That was certainly the most horrifying dream she had ever had before. She was still horrified, for the images from her dream kept replaying in her head. Everything seemed to be so real, but now she was safe. She was alone in her room, and no one was there to torment her. A cold chill ran up her spine. The cold chill came from the open window which she had closed and locked before she went to bed. She was not alone in the room. She quickly turned around to glare around the room. It was hard to see, but the moonlight provided enough illumination so that she could see the outlines of things in the room. And, her memory of placement and order was able to identify the outlines of the objects in the room. That is, except for the one right beside her bed. It was moving slightly, and the outline looked like that of a person sitting beside her bed. She had a horrible feeling about this; she hoped that whoever it was hadn't seen her. But, she had made too much noise to not have been noticed. She moved quickly to the corner of her bed furthest from the shadowy outline beside her bed.
"Who's there?!"
"It's me."
The tone of the voice was so casual and unsettling, and the voice was one which she didn't know. It sounded almost haunting and it made her stomach feel as if there was ice in it. The tone of the voice was unlike none she hade ever heard. She was starting to fear the worst, whatever that might be. Hoping to settle her nerves, she called out the first name that came to mind.
"S...Sousuke?"
"Yeah."
That time the voice sounded like Sousuke. She sighed in relief before moving to the edge of the bed. She stood up and headed towards the light switch.
"Leave the lights off."
She was confused by his command, but did as she was told. She had no idea as to why Sousuke was here, and why he had not made his presence known earlier. She sat back down on her bed and moved to the edge to where Sousuke was sitting and leaned against the wall. Something was wrong; she didn't know what, but she knew that something was horribly wrong. Sousuke was oddly silent. She started the conversation the only way she could think of.
"Sousuke, what are you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep."
She waited, expecting he would say something else. He did not.
"Well, why didn't you wake me up?"
"Just because I can't sleep, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to sleep also."
"Then, why are you in my room if you didn't want to talk?"
"I wanted to make sure you were alright."
Meredith was somewhat surprised and confused by his statement. It was a coincidence that he was in her room when she had the most horrible dream of her life. Maybe, it was a coincidence. And, he was so quite that it bothered her. And, the tone in his voice was so serious and solemn.
"Why? What makes you think that I wouldn't be alright?"
"I don't know. I think I had a bad dream."
Meredith smiled to herself. Earlier that night she had found a deep attraction to the person who was now sitting on her floor. She felt as if this were the person she wished to be with. Now, she felt as if she were a mother comforting her child after he had a nightmare. She was broken from her thought by an increased tone in Sousuke's voice. He sounded more excited, but not in a good way.
"Something is going to happen. It is going to happen soon; something bad. Something bad, beyond our wildest dreams is going to happen soon."
Meredith was starting to think of this as a bit more than a coincidence. She was now scared again. Sousuke was talking illogically. Sousuke never talked illogically, or thought illogically for that matter. She needed to take him seriously.
"What, Sousuke? What is going to happen?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't be here! I would be out doing something about it!" he snapped at her a lot more than he meant to.
It was obvious that he was upset. He was upset because he knew something bad was going to happen and he didn't know what it was. He was upset because he knew something bad was going to happen and he had no basis to believe that. He was upset because he was thinking illogically but it all seemed to make so much sense to him.
"Sousuke?" she said trying to get his attention.
"Yes?"
She thought for a moment, thinking her question would seem to be strange and out of place, but this entire conversation was anyway. It wouldn't hurt anything.
"What exactly did you dream about?"
He thought for a moment, trying to recollect what he had dreamed about. It was horrible. It was only a bunch of flashes, but each and everyone of them was horrible. He sighed and placed his forehead in his palm for support. He remembered it well and it made perfect sense to him, but how could he explain it when he wasn't even sure as to what he had dreamed.
"I don't know. It was all a bunch of flashes of different things, and people."
"Do you know what the flashes were of?"
"Yes. There was chaos. Chaos in different scenes featuring me, you, Kurtz, Jack, Eagle, everyone else on this base, and plenty of people that I've never seen before. I don't know what I dreamed about."
"I see. I also had a horrible dream. I dreamed I was in some sort of glass container which was in a room with all of these other scientist looking people who seemed to be running some sort of experiments. I also saw a little girl who scared me more than anything else. She was..."
She jumped in surprise as Sousuke quickly moved from his sitting position to a kneeling position beside her. His hand quickly shot out and tightly gripped her shoulder. His grip was so tight it hurt. His hand began shaking as he relaxed his grip on her shoulder. His breathing was shaky also, but he managed to speak.
"Listen to me. I have to go on a mission. It is a 'Drop and Run' mission. We are assassinating an illegal arms dealer in Cuba. Commander Richard Mardukas of the 21st Mithril Branch has specifically hand-picked the soldiers who would be going and I am the one he chose to lead the batch. I will be leaving this base tomorrow and I want you to do the same."
The last statement caught her by surprise. He was asking her to leave while he was gone on the mission. He knew that she was confused by his request, but he had to get it out.
"I want you to leave out when I do. I do not want you around this base until after I get back. I may just be acting stupid, but I feel like something bad is going to happen, and I don't know what it is. The highest probability is that it could be an attack on this base, and I don't want you around here if something like that were to happen. Do you understand?"
"No, I don't understand! I will not, I repeat: will not, leave here while you are on a dangerous mission, expecting something to go wrong! What if something were to happen to you while you were on that mission?"
"Then, there would be nothing you could do about it."
"What if you come back injured?"
"Then, there would be nothing you could do about it."
"What if you come back dead?!"
"Then, there would be nothing you could do about it."
"Damn it, Sousuke! That is not what I want to hear! I want to hear something reassuring!"
"I will not lie. I believe that something is going to happen on the mission more than I believe it will happen anywhere else. I just want you out of here to be sure nothing happens to you."
"I'll only leave if you leave with me!"
"Negative. That would be impossible. It would also be illogical to the request that I am making in the first place. I expect that the mission will probably go wrong, but there is still the chance that this 'bad thing' is going to happen. But, that is unlikely, but it will still be on my mind while I am on the mission. It will make me feel much more at ease and capable of carrying out the mission if I had no worries while I was there."
"Why? You are expecting something bad to happen on the mission, but you are still going?!" Why?!"
"I am going especially because I expect something bad to happen. I will be ready for whatever it is, and it would probably happen regardless of whether I was there or not. I cannot let something bad happen to my team if I could possibly avoid it. So, I am going there, expecting something to happen, and expecting to avoid it."
"No! I will not leave here unless you come with me! I wouldn't be able to stand it if I were to lose you!"
Her voice began to crack at the end of her statement. She buried her head in her pillow in hopes of stopping her tears. Sousuke let out a sigh when he heard her light sobs. He lowered his forehead into the palm of his hand. He shook his head.
"Then, as your commanding officer, I will have you removed as my advisor and have you moved to 41st Mithril Branch in the United States. That is, if you leave me with no other choice."
Meredith was greatly surprised by his words. She then smiled to herself.
"You really are worried about me aren't you?"
Both knew that the question did not need an answer; it was obvious, so there was no answer provided by Sousuke.
"I know you don't want rid of me, do you?"
"No, that is the second to last thing that I want in this world. The first is losing you, so if I have to, I will go with the second to avoid the first." he replied in a stern, determined voice.
"If you are that worried about it, I will leave. But, only until you return, then I want you to come and get me. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Well, I couldn't come and get you, but I could dispatch a plane to pick you up, and..."
"No, I want you to come and pick me up. We both need a vacation anyway."
Sousuke laughed slightly. He managed to put a smile on his face. Her way of thinking amused him sometimes; sometimes it annoyed him; and at other times it made a lot of sense. He nodded his head in agreement.
"Alright. I will come to pick you up in America once I get back, and we will even take a tour of the country while we're there, but you have to go exactly where I tell you to go. Deal?"
"Alright. But, I want you to call me as soon as you get back. Agreed?"
"Affirmative. I will probably be back in about a week. Tomorrow, I will put in for about a month's vacation for when I get back. Please, try not to worry; whatever happens, I can deal with it as long as I am expecting it, and now, I am expecting it."
"You certainly do have an odd way of cheering people up; don't you?"
"Well, I am Sousuke Sagara. I have many different talents, and I suppose that would be in my inventory of skills. As for the strangeness of it, it does not matter what method is used as long as the chosen method is..."
"Alright, Sousuke, I get the picture. You don't have to give me an entire lowdown of it."
"I understand. You are Meredith Rily. You have many different talents, and I suppose that would be in your inventory of..."
"Sousuke!" she said with an amused chuckle.
He ended his statement when he heard her chuckle. He hated it when he brought about a depressing mood, but as long as he was able to remedy it, it didn't really bother him. He smiled to himself; in the darkness where no one else would know except for him. He leaned his head against the wall and let out a tired sigh. He grunted lightly as he rose from his comfortable position on the floor. He stretched his back and let out a tired yawn.
"I suppose I'll be heading back to my room now. I have kept you up long enough, and the morning will come before we know it. We both need our rest."
He stretched one last time before heading to the door. He opened it and stepped outside. He poked his head back in the door one final time.
"Sleep well."
"I'll try. Good night, Sousuke."
With that the door closed. Meredith let out a long sigh. She felt as if she had been holding her breath. She also felt odd, uneasy, uncomfortable. She felt as if a part or her, mostly her nerve, had left out that door with Sousuke. He had done a very good job at reassuring her, but she could still not help but feel as if the worst could still happen. What if he never came back again after tomorrow? What if she never got to see him again? Would the entirety of tonight be enough to possibly be letting go of him forever? There seemed to be a strong possibility, an irrational possibility, but a strong possibility none the less that she may not see him again after tomorrow. What could she do?
She could sleep.
She could sleep and not give that foolish thought another second of her time. Sousuke was young, but he was a professional, more professional than most of the soldiers on this base. Nothing bad would happen to him. She would see him off in the morning, she would leave to America when he left, and she would return to see him when he got back. They were both overreacting to all of this. Nothing bad would happen, and she knew this. So... why was she still feeling uneasy? Why had she laid in bed now for over twenty minutes thinking about this? Why could she not go to sleep?
"Ninety-one" said the whisper of Sousuke as the sand bag shifted slightly from the heavy force of his kick.
Sousuke was in his room, and had been for the past forty-two minutes since he left Meredith's room. He knew he should be tired, but he wasn't. Was he still concerned about what may happen tomorrow? Yes. He was very concerned. As much of a professional as he was; something could still go wrong. Something that could easily cost him his life. Accidents happened to professionals all the time in their fields. There had been many accident reports with the professional paratroopers and their profession was nowhere near as dangerous as his was. Accidents could happen to anyone. If he went on this mission, he may never see the light of day again. He would never get to see his home again. He would never be able to see his friends. He would never be able to see Meredith. As slim as a possibility it was, it still bothered him considerably. He felt more at risk now than he ever did while taking enemy gun fire. But, this was somehow different.
"Ninety-two."
The sandbag shifted again as sweat poured from his bare leg. This time the kick had more force behind it. He stopped for a moment and wiped the stream of sweat from his face. If he could not get this off of his mind and be able to go to sleep on his own, he would send himself to sleep from exhaustion. Perhaps he should have stayed with Meredith a little bit longer. She seemed to be able to comfort him with just her presence. He did not want to leave in the first place, but it seemed to be the most logical thing to do since people do need sleep in order to function at their fullest. But, what had he done that seemed to be like a half-way logical thing tonight. He had discharged one of the best soldiers in the base for insulting Meredith. He had given her the birthday present early because he thought it would make her feel better. He had confided in her about his dream. He was taking drastic steps and worrying about a dream that he had, and a dream that she had. It was illogical for him to want to be with her right now. It was illogical to want her near him, to hear her voice, to hold her. It was not to be considered in the least bit logical thinking for a soldier.
"Ninety-three."
Screw logic. She had been trying to tell him that since their first week together two years ago. Perhaps now, he understood that. Perhaps he understood that long ago and only now understood that he understood all along. Talk about illogical. Perhaps logic, like a weapon, should only be used when it best suits the purpose.
"Ninety-four."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. It did not surprise him in the slightest that someone would be knocking at the door at 4:12 in the morning. He opened the door and still was not surprised to see Meredith standing before the doorway. She was standing there still oddly dressed in her sleep attire and holding a pillow. He looked at her oddly before she spoke.
"I couldn't sleep."
"Me neither."
He opened the door wider and motioned for her to come in. She hesitantly stepped inside. She walked over and sat on his couch. He soon came over and took a seat beside her. She was not nervous being around Sousuke, but she felt nervous about being here under these odd circumstances. She did not know quite what to say without sounding awkward to him for her being here. She decided she would just speak what was on her mind.
"Sousuke, I'm scared."
"Me too.
His short and sudden reply took her by surprise. She had never heard Sousuke admit to anything that he may consider showing weakness of character. Being scared was one of those things. He wasn't being very talkative, thus, suggesting that something was bothering him. She did not need to ask what it was; she already knew. She wouldn't be here if she didn't. Just being in the same room as him made her feel a little bit better. She inched a little bit closer to him. Sousuke glanced over at her when he noticed her move closer to him. He had a little bit of a nervous look in his eyes as he quickly glanced away from her.
She shivered slightly and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. It was very cold in here. The leather couch was cold through her thin gown, and the floor was cold against her bare feet. She moved a bit closer to where her shoulder almost touched his. She felt a very strong attraction to the man sitting next to her. She would have immediately declared her love to him, but did not feel as if that would be suitable, or at least not at the moment. She opened her mouth several times before finally finding the simple, yet most difficult words to speak.
"I... want to be here with you tonight."
He turned around to look at her now. He was still in deep thought, and his stare was cold. His eyes were as cold as the room they were in. This caused her to shiver again and tighten her arms around her shoulders. She pulled her knees up close to her. His look was enough to turn someone to stone. She looked away from him and towards the table. Without warning he got up and walked off behind the couch.
That was not the response she had wanted from him, and now she was regretting she had ever said those words to him. She felt exposed to him, vulnerable, and now she felt as if he had pierced a knife into that vulnerable spot. His voice interrupted her from her train of thought.
"You're cold?"
His voice had a friendly tone once again. She felt the ice thaw out of her stomach from his warm voice. She was relieved that her words had not shunned him away from her.
Sousuke placed a hand on the back of the couch and leapt over into a seated position beside of her. He had a blanket in his other hand. She smiled as he wrapped the blanket tightly around her, pulled her close to him, and wrapped his arms tightly around her as he leaned up against the arm of the couch. She was somewhat taken back by his actions, but she soon relaxed into his embrace and rested her head on his chest.
"You know, I was thinking the same thing before you came. Not that I was cold, but that I really wished you were with me."
"Yeah."
She snuggled in deeper to him and closed her eyes. She let out a content sigh.
"Sousuke?"
"Yes?"
"I feel like I can do anything when I'm around you."
"Is that so?"
"Yep."
Sousuke shifted downwards a little bit and laid with Meredith in his lap for a couple minutes before shifting around again. Then, he shifted again. He seemed to be having a hard time getting comfortable.
"Are you comfortable?" he said while peering down into her eyes.
She tilted her head back to look him in the eyes. She smiled at him warmly.
"No. But, I don't care as long as I'm close to you."
He blushed slightly at her reply and scratched that imaginary itch on the back of his head as he looked over his shoulder at nothing in particular.
"That may be so, but I don't think this side of the couch is big enough to hold the both of us, or at least not comfortably."
"Well then, we could get down in the floor."
He smiled in amusement at her suggestion. He raised an eyebrow at her as he looked back down at her. He then spoke with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Yeah, that's a great idea! The thin carpet on the floor is padded underneath by solid, cold concrete. We would sleep like logs!"
She laughed at his sarcastic remark. She also laughed at his lack of innuendo. He was more knowledgeable on things that people his age should be knowledgeable of than he once was, but not all things. She looked up at him, raised an eyebrow at him, and put a smirk on her face.
"Sousuke, I wasn't planning on sleeping."
The beaming of the sun on Meredith's eyelids brought her out of her state of slumber. The beams of sun signified a new day. A new day signified a new feeling of dread. This was especially so since Sousuke was nowhere to be found. Instead of seeing his sleeping figure on the pillow next to her on the floor, there was only a folded piece of paper. Sousuke was already gone. He had left without making a sound, or saying a word. She sat up on the floor and pulled the sheet around her bare body. She shivered, not because of the room still being cold, but at the realization that he was gone. She let out a sigh before taking the piece of paper in her hands. It was a note from Sousuke.
Meredith,
Good morning. I'm sorry that I was not here when you woke up. I'm sorry that I wasn't here to say goodbye. I hope you will be able to forgive me once I get back; I'm sure you will. I wanted to tell you goodbye; I really did. But, after all of last night's events, I'm not sure as to my feelings about you anymore. I know my feelings; I just don't know what to call them. One thing is for sure; I care about you a lot. The last thing I wanted this morning was to see you hurt. And, I know that it wouldn't have taken you more than a few words to convince me to stay. For fear of this happening is why I left without waking you.
Our deal we made last night still stands. I have made all arrangements this morning to have you relocated to America. It seems as if your vacation will start a little sooner than mine since you will not be going to a Mithril base. I have contacted an old acquaintance of mine to come pick you up this evening. I trust him just as much as I trust myself to take care of you while I am gone. He is a very nice man; I'm sure you will enjoy his company in my absence. If my bad, if not foolish, feelings concerning your safety should turn about, he is a very skilled man who is quite capable of protecting you. His name is Father Kevin Jacobs, but he will probably insist on you calling him Kevin. He will be there at 7:00 p.m. He is a good man; please trust him as you would me. He will give you more details once he arrives.
Please, don't worry about me. Whatever happens, I will be ready for it. I swear to you that I will return. I am not exactly sure as to when, but it will probably be no less than a week, no longer than two. When I return, we will go on vacation as planned. We will have a blast since there will be no 'military interference' in our recreation time. I will be back before you know, so please, have a good time while I am away; Kevin will make sure to it. Do not be concerned about me; everything will be just fine.
No worries,
-Sousuke
Meredith laid the note on the couch beside her and let out a sigh. She got up off the couch and began the search for her clothes. She needed to be leaving, for she had a lot of stuff to pack before Kevin got there. She would leave with Kevin as Sousuke had told her, and she would wait for his return. She would try her best not to worry about him.
TO BE CONTINUED