THE HYBRID'S SONG

Chapter Fifteen: Terminus Ex

.o.o.o.

The Past. . .

Was it contact that people sought out- human contact and warmth? For a man like Hayami, the answer may have been more simple then that. When one is alone for so long, they lose the desire to know and understand others.

But when you suddenly HAVE to be part of something- part of a cause- things change. As relatively young as he was, he had lived long enough to know what the world was like. Perhaps the loss of others- including Katsumo- had jaded him from other people.

When he was on the wreckage with Mutio, things seemed oddly comfortable, perhaps too comfortable. Hayami had wanted to stay as he was, to not care about anyone or anything. The fact that his only company was a creature he knew nothing about- not even her name.

He couldn't talk to Mutio, and he couldn't know who and what she was or anything else about her. Perhaps this made things seem simpler. If you don't have to know someone, then you don't have to worry about being hurt when they're gone.

He'd slept with her on the wreckage - not in the carnal way- but as a sort of proxy for human love and warmth. It was selfish of him to use her that way, but he needed it. And perhaps in someway, she had needed it too.

If you could live with someone in the moment, in a life where nothing really mattered- not even names- was that so bad? Was it a delusion to believe that life could be that simple? There were a lot of questions.

Hayami stood in the darkness, looking around. "Now that I've come this far, what next?" He thought.

Dianna appeared next to him. "I think the answer to that may lie in another question- do you love her, or are you simply using her?"

"I have a child with her- so I must love her." He reasoned.

Dianna smiled. "Science can explain 99 percent of life."

"And the other 1 percent?" Hayami asked.

"Is us, who we are, what we do." She replied. "Science can't tell you why a sunset is beautiful, or why a rose smells so sweet- nor can it tell us why we love someone." She added with a smile.

Hayami smiled back. "Maybe it's not quite love, but it's close enough to make something of it." He reasoned.

It had been his dream the night before. . .

.o.o.o.

Lights shined on Hayami and Dianna, stopping them in their tracks. At last it seemed that their luck had run out. They found themselves surrounded by the gun barrels of unfriendly-looking looking guards.

Hayami shielded his eyes and tried to make out some of the people around them. Dianna gripped his shoulder and narrowed her eyes, looking outwards.

"You?" She exclaimed.

Macintyre stepped forward and smiled. "Bravo, I must applaud your efforts Mr. Tetsuo." He remarked. "Oh, and I see that you have the esteemed Doctor Ainsley with you."

Dianna growled at him while Hayami simply glared at him quietly.

Macintyre clapped his hands together. "How appropriate, the Monster and the Rebel working together."

"Macintyre!" Dianna screamed. "Quintessence of wickedness, corruption incarnate!" She yelled and tried to attack him.

Macintyre gestured to someone, who fired a taser at her. She screamed and almost chocked as she fell to the ground and convulsed.

"You bastard!" Hayami exclaimed, running over to her.

Macintyre smiled. "This has been a fun game- I've really enjoyed this little relationship or ours- but the game ends here and now." He explained. "As fun as this has been, I have more important matters to attend to."

Hayami stood up and regarded him. "What is this place?"

"A research center." Macintyre replied. "This is science."

"No," Dianna began, wiping her mouth off. "This isn't science- it's an abomination."

The man looked down at her. "Ah, defiant to the bitter end." He remarked. "But soon neither of you will by a problem for me." He added. "You've caused me a good deal of stress and now I feel obligated to do something about it."

"This place is a freak show- your little gallery of horrors. You're mad!" Dianna added.

"I prefer to think of myself as a visionary." Macintyre added and his men advanced towards the two of them. "This world is on the verge of dying- power must be gained by the strong."

"Like you?" Hayami asked darkly.

"Exactly, the idea that the weak willed- the conservative minded people- could rule this world is absurd." He answered. "It requires radical and bold people to move it forward."

"All I see is here is a damn theatre of the macabre!" Hayami replied. "If this is the world you have to offer, then I'd rather be dead."

"I'm glad you said that." Macintyre replied and signaled to his men.

But then, something unexpected happened. A massive explosion racked the structure and jets of fire shot upward. Several more explosions shook and devastated the structure.

Macintyre was knocked down as fire spread out around him. Some of the men were thrown of the structure from the force of the blast, while others caught fire.

Dianna got back onto her feet and turned to Hayami. "We have to get out of here, now!" She exclaimed. The two of them started running, but stopped when the platform's crane finally broke and fell down before their path, in a blaze.

"The whole damn place is coming down all around us!" Hayami yelled.

Someone then called out to them.

"I will kill you both!" Macintyre screamed as he held up a machine gun at them. His hair was messed up and he was marked by ash and singed in certain places. "Now just die!"

Dianna nodded to Hayami and leapt towards Macintyre. Who shot her in mid stride, but when she fell to the ground- Hayami appeared behind her and threw his knife into him.

Macintyre Gasped for air and then stumbled towards the edge. Dianna picked up the gun he had dropped and fired on him- blasting him off the edge and into the dark waters. She then threw the gun aside and stood up.

"Are you alright?" Hayami asked.

"y-Yeah, fine. The shot didn't even break the skin." She said with a grunt. She then looked at Hayami. "We're going to have to jump into the water- it's the only way.

She then latched onto him by the wrist and pulled him along with her to the edge and jumped off with him. . .

.o.o.o.

The two of them plunged down towards the dark water, but Dianna shifted their position to get underneath him and take the brunt of the impact. With a gasp, the two of them resurfaced.

"We have to get to the boat, quickly!" Hayami exclaimed.

Dianna gasped and lost grip of him.

Hayami swore. "Damnit, she's pushed herself too much." He thought and pulled her along with him as he struggled through the water to get to the speed boat. Once he was there, he threw up and arm and gripped the edge of it.

"Damn it Dianna, you can't give up now- you have to hold on a little longer!" He exclaimed. "Come on- damnit, just a bit more!"

She flinched and grabbed hold of the edge of the boat and struggled to pull herself up. Hayami flipped over the edge and into the boat and then crawled over to Dianna and pulled her in with him.

Dianna landed on top of him and went limp. He then heard her laugh weekly. "Dianna?"

She looked up at him. "You're a hell of a guy, you know that?" She remarked and then lost consciousness.

Bits of burning debris fell down around them as they speeded out of the area. Hayami looked over his shoulder as the entire complex soon went up in flames.

He pushed the sturdy female off him and scrambled over to the steering wheel of the boat and started the engine and blasted away from the platform as it proceeded to explode and light up the whole night sky for almost a mile.

Hayami looked down at his torso when he felt a sting and wetness on him. He placed his hand against the vest and pulled it back up- dripping blood. "Shit." He swore and pressed the lever forward to accelerate the boat.

.o.o.o.

The boat crashed up onto the shore line roughly. Hayami lost grip of the wheel and leaned to the side. He fell over and finally lost consciousness.

Dianna, who had been jostled awake by the impact of the crash, looked over at him and crawled over towards his unmoving form. "Damnit." She swore and pulled off his vest. "Bleeding out. . ." She remarked. "Why didn't you say anything?" She asked him, shaking him.

He coughed and looked up at her. "Not enough time."

Kino and the others made their way outside as they remained in the boat.

Hayami handed her the antidote. "Here, take it." He told her. "Get it to Emma."

"Not without you!" She exclaimed and took the phial and stuck it in her pocked and pulled him up and tugged his arm across her shoulders and held his wrist while snaking the arm around his side.

She made her way up the top the dunes, but stumbled and fell.

Some called out to them in the distance.

She put her arms under his and rapped them around his chest and pulled him with effort up the sandy dunes, closer towards the complex.

"Dianna! Dianna!"

She looked over shoulder. "Kino?" She asked weekly. She then noticed Kisaki and Warlock and Dumont. She fell onto her back.

(- End of Chapter Fifteen -)

.o.o.o.

Well, this chapter was a bit more introspective on my part. I wanted to look back at what I had written at the start. I now think that I was a bit too heavy-handed with the romance in the beginning. Hayami wasn't really in character either, but I've gradually managed to tone this down and get the cast more down to earth.

Once again, I drew some inspiration from the sadly deceased screen-writer Robert Holmes. I wanted to keep the readers wondering till the last moment. And still, there are no guaranties about what will happen in the next chapter. I'm not sure how many chapters are left of this, but it's almost over. I'm also not sure when the next storyline will start, but oh well.

I'll see you all next time.

-Bojack727

(The upcoming chapter will resolve a lot of things, and include some more bonus material.)