A/N : sorry for the wait, this chapter is a bitshort
Chapter five : Shadow of the pendulum
Tatsumi stared up at the body of the man whose family wanted to kill him, still in a state of shock. He had just been minding his own business, writing a letter to Alex, telling her that he didn't want to be a burden to her any more as he was afraid they would kill her as well as him...so he would be leaving Tokyo. But before he could finish it a gunshot rang out. A man appeared almost from nowhere, falling backwards from the airvent. Blood splattered onto Tatsumi's face, yet he did not notice, his eyes gazing fixedly upon the slowly turning grotesque pendulum that was once a man. Alex D's head popped through from the airvent, a concerned look on her face, "I'm sorry you had to see that, are you alright?" She had saved his life, again. Alex dropped from the hole in the ceiling, her feet padding softly upon the carpeted floor. The boy just looked, his eyes staring, unseeing, his mind filled with a vision of what had just occurred.
"Are you going to be alright?" Alex said in a concerned voice. An awkward silence came between Alex and Tatsumi. "Are you going to be alright?" Alex repeated, concern filling her voice. The boy just stared back, his eyes glazed, his mind filled with memories of horror, of dead, lifeless corpses, of loved ones and strangers, of anyone who'd given him any hope of safety. Tears welled in his eyes and emotion cascaded out of his soul. He cried, cried not as he'd ever done, not for ages, and Alex held him, held him close to her and he knew he would be safe.
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Eiichi Yano was enshrouded in the darkness of his office, the shadows overwhelming the dim flicker of the holocom, its only ally the muted glow of the datapad Eiichi held before him. The autopsy report was long and boring, but dull as it was, it was avid reading. The shot was elegant, a single killing blow, a bullet to the brain, it was either the work of a master or a fool who got lucky. Logic dictated the former. Fool! Why didn't Isato finish the hit? He could have died honourably, not been remembered for the fool he was! The boy was lucky this time, but next time it would not fail! For my turn had come. As the old saying goes, if you want something done right, do it yourself. And he slowly caressed the handle of his energy blade.
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Tatsumi gazed out of the window, the images of yesterday, of the blood, of the death, were still real in his mind, but they were starting to dull, dull like all the other memories, memories that he held in the vault of his mind. A movement made him stir, the visage of Alex formed in the reflection of the window, her arm moved hesitantly around his shoulder. "I'm alright, really, it's nothing I haven't seen before," the boy said, still gazing fixedly out of the glass window. "You still need to talk," Alex said, "We all have to talk sometime, believe me, I know." Tatsumi looked round. Alex was staring far off, lost in her own memories, and at that moment he felt a bond they shared, a past, different but equally filled with blood and horror, equally filled with despair.
"You do?"
"I've lost loved ones, some by other hands and some by mine," she said with sorrow filling her eyes, memories of the past still warm, still burning. The glaze returned, her thoughts shifting to another place, a place of hurt, a place of pain, a place where she had done things she desperately tried to forget - the island where she had ended the lives of JC and Paul Denton - Liberty Island...Liberty, Liberty. Alex started to laugh. It was a free, uncomplicated laugh, a laugh to release all her hurts and pains. Yes, she had given them freedom, or had she given herself freedom? Then something sick swirled up inside her and she turned away. She didn't want to think anymore, she didn't want to know anymore, she just wanted to go away. Tatsumi watched her go, he knew how she felt, he knew pain when he saw it. She was like him, he knew that now, and for the first time in a long while he knew he would be safe, he knew he'd found home.