Disclaimer: I make no claim to the series, ideas, or characters of Full Metal Panic.

Defining Normalcy

Chapter 14: To Bring to Rest

By Adam Lakewood

Sousuke took great pride in being able to speak fluently in twelve different languages. He considered himself to be a natural linguist, being able to add an additional language to his inventory just by listening to people speak it for prolonged lengths of time. He was always quiet, but in one language or another, he always had something to say. He was too good at speaking to not have at least something to say for whatever occasion. In that instant, he had so much to say that it seemed as if his mouth could turn into an endless river and flow on forever. But, for one of the few times in his life, he couldn't utter a single syllable for the longest.

Shin gave Sousuke an odd look when he continued holding firmly onto his hand even after the introducing handshake should have ended. The odd gaze only reinforced itself when he felt his grip tighten slightly.

Shin stared into the eyes of the man before him. His expression and posture was normal, but his seemed to give the impression that he had been stabbed. Jin, Mr. Kalinin, and Ms. Chidori seemed to be the ones with unnatural expressions. They all had the expressions of ghosts as they looked almost worriedly from one to the other and back to him like he had released some latent evil with the forbidden words he had just spoken.

He finally managed to pull his hand from Sousuke's grip when he felt it loosen a bit. He made sure to keep his smile on his face as he reestablished eye contact with Sousuke. He felt somewhat uncomfortable talking about the Old Republic of China to anyone, so he had no idea why he had just went right out and revealed a part of perhaps the most traumatic event in his life. For some strange, unexplainable reason, he felt as if he could connect with Jin's friend in some odd way, despite the fact he had only known him for just a mere few seconds. Sometimes, his logic slipped from him. Now, he felt more uncomfortable talking about it considering the strange looks he got from everyone when he mentioned his being with the Old Republic during their first rise.

The eyes of the man in front of him were almost unsettling. He felt as if those eyes were going to stare a hole through him or thoroughly incinerate him with their laser-eye beams. He was generally the best at letting others know he was paying attention by always maintaining eye contact with them at all times and never hindering. However, with Sousuke, he was having problems. Sousuke's eyes were locked on his and not moving, but he noticed that those eyes were paying no attention at all to him and were instead seeing something entirely different.

The words replayed themselves to Sousuke over and over again.

"I was a part of their first rise no more than three years ago."

He had said this with a smile. He knew he had heard the words correctly, but he still couldn't believe them. During that time, the numbers of the Old Republic were very small. There were not much more than one hundred members and soldiers gathered in a single base near the eastern border of China. He was there; he knew. He had made sure to know the exact number of people there.

He had started counting after they killed Jahah.

He would have imagined the two men to be chuckling, but the sight was obviously too gruesome for even them to enjoy.

The child laid on the ground unmoving, his naturally black skin shaded even more due to the fire of the blow torch that ignited his oil covered body. All movement had ceased from the burning child and the fire had almost gone out. The only movement from the young Sudanese child was coming from his twitching fist which was holding desperately onto the dog tags Sousuke had given him. He knew fully well what had happened to him, but the last thing he wanted was for the scorching flames to mar his dearest and only treasure.

Sousuke let out another anguished scream of pain, grief, and rage: a scream which his son had refused to let out. He let out another hoarse scream as he tried in vain once again to lunge for his son. But, his strength had almost drained out of his entire body, and the two men holding him by each outstretched arm didn't have to try very hard to keep him on his knees.

The man holding the blowtorch looked mortified. He had dropped the torch minutes ago, and now, he could only look at the crisp remains of the Sudanese child with a horrified expression on his face. No doubt, he was sorry for what he did. Unfortunately, being sorry or regretful was not going to bring back his son.

Nor was it going to ease his inevitable suffering.

At that point, Sousuke had a moment of insight as he weakly lowered his head. These people were not human. No human could do what they just allowed and assisted in doing. They were not human. They were a plague, a plague which threatened to kill any and all it came across without discrimination or remorse.

He was the vaccine.

He was the cure to this horrible plague. They had kept him locked up; they had tortured him; they had killed his son. They would not continue to spread. He would kill them all. Every one of those yellow, diseased, bastards would be eliminated; even if it had to be by his hand and his hand only. They had already killed Jahah's mother and father, now they killed him, all so they could get his godfather to talk. They did not discriminate against man, woman, or child. It did not matter to those… things.

So, it wouldn't matter to him either.

One of the fools holding on to him figured it would be safe to loosen his grip on him since he was obviously broken. That single mistake would be the cause of the downfall of the Old Republic of China and the deaths of one-hundred thirteen men, women, and children.

As soon as the man momentarily loosened his grip on Sousuke's left arm, he immediately acted on the foolish mistake. With a single, fierce tug of his arm, he pulled himself free of the first Chinese man's grip. The free hand immediately went for the pistol hanging at the man's side. He didn't even have time to react before the gun was placed firmly against his thigh and several shots were fired into it in rapid succession. The man screamed when perhaps the forth bullet entered his leg, and he fell to the ground screaming.

The other man released his grip on his other arm and went for his own weapon. Obviously, people tended to freeze up and hesitate when presented with their death. His patience in hesitating to draw his weapon was met with a shot to the side of the head.

The last of the three Chinese men in the room was the one who had wielded the blowtorch minutes ago. The horror he had witnessed with the child he had burned alive and what had happened to his two teammates was enough to cause him to completely freeze up and take a look of pure confusion on his face. He looked around as if he didn't know what to do, so he just stood there fidgeting with his uniform.

Sousuke would help him decide what to do.

He would suffer… dearly, starting with a scorching bullet in the chest.

The man fell back grabbing at the wound in his chest. The bullet was carefully aimed as to avoid hitting any vital organs that would kill him… or at least immediately. Once Sousuke figured that the man was no longer a threat due to the massive pain he was in, he turned his gaze back to the one who was on the ground holding his leg, bleeding from several wounds close to the same spot. He was then treated to his own combat knife in the side of his neck. The death wasn't instant, to Sousuke's surprise and delight. The man must have had more lives than a cat since it took many additional stomps on his skull before he finally died. Now…

The only one remaining was the one who had killed his son.

Just a few seconds later, the soldier felt a cold liquid splash over his upper body. The smell and the burning feeling in his eyes and wound revealed that it was the same oil that he had poured on the Sudanese child only minutes ago. His fears were confirmed as to what was going to happen as soon as he heard the escaped captive's sickened snarl. He screamed for his life and tried desperately to get out of the way. But, the prisoner's leg was pressed firmly to his already wounded chest. Next, his hands and feet were bound together in a highly professional manner to stop him from being able to move at all.

The man finally managed to piece together what he was looking at when he opened his eyes again. He immediately saw the oil covering a small part of the floor around him and the short, blue, flame of the blowtorch lying just a few feet away from him on the ground with the flame pointed toward him. He had heard a familiar screeching sound as the flame seemed to extend even further toward him. He had looked up just in time to see Sousuke violently turning the release valve of the gas tank connected to the blowtorch.

He had screamed like none other when he finally realized what was going to happen to him in a mere few seconds.

"Three," said Sousuke as the flame of the blowtorch shot forward at the man lying on the floor.

The sights, the sounds, and the smells still stuck with him to this day. There was no forgetting it, and Shin's commentary only helped him remember the events more vividly.

"Are you alright, Mr. Letrus?" Shin asked.

Sousuke made sure to smile at the man in order to get rid of any suspicions he might have had.

"Yes, of course. I was just trying to remember some details," he said, his comment fully understood by everyone but Shin.

"About the Old Republic of China?" inquired Shin.

"Precisely," Sousuke replied. "I just found your comment to be somewhat contradicting with my previous knowledge since I heard that the first rise of Old Republic had been completely crushed and there wasn't a single survivor."

"Well, that is true, Mr. Letrus. But, there was a single survivor out of them. I am fortunate that I was that sole survivor who was spared by that boy. I remember not his name or even what he looked like, but for some reason, he spared me when he granted no one else that right," he said as he temporarily looked away. "But, that isn't something anyone wants to hear about, and to be honest, it certainly isn't something I like to talk about," he finished with a laugh and putting the smile back on his face.

Sousuke had forgotten all about that. There had been one who survived.

"Eithty-seven!"

The assault rifle was snapped up to shoulder level, straight and narrowed from eye to scope to sight. With a quick, enthusiastic pull of the trigger, a three-round burst cut through the air and into the back of another one of the scientists cowering under the table.

The other scientist, a female this time, shrieked in terror as the blood of her fellow male scientist splattered on her face and white coat. The soldier guarding the room, a boy no more than a decade old, had frozen up as the half-naked man with the assault rifle came into the room and started counting.

He wasn't a very good soldier; none of them were. They were fools for posting children as guards anyway. He was supposed to be protecting the scientists in the room, but instead, the woman had pulled him under the table and was holding him protectively against her, thus, attempting to shield him. Sousuke snapped the assault rifle back up to his shoulder and unnecessarily took time to aim.

"Eighty-eight!" he almost sung in a mocking manner.

The child screamed as his protector's head all but totally disappeared from her body as soon as the loud, thundering sound filled the room and adjacent halls. It was definitely not something a boy so young needed to see; it would surely scar him for life. That is, if he had actually had a future ahead of him.

The tip of the weapon was adjusted slightly down and to the right.

"Eighty-nine!" he said as he released another three-round burst.

He would not procrastinate. They certainly hadn't when they decided to scorch his son's flesh off right before his very eyes. The least he could do was return the favor.

Sousuke immediately turned around when he heard a surprised gasp and the sound of clattering metal behind him. As soon as he turned around, a young man, no more than a year or two older than he, fell against the wall and slid down to the floor where he had dropped a metallic tray of food.

Sousuke starred momentarily into the eyes of his next victim. There was something different about this one, but he didn't know what since they all looked the same to him: ugly… foul… tainted. Temporarily, his destructive resolve had been broken, if only for a second. But, then, he saw his son… and the fire.

Sousuke snarled and released a yell from his lungs which sounded as if it could have crumbled even the strongest of walls. He peered down the sight of the weapon to insure a headshot. The young man only looked on with an expression of absolute helplessness.

"Ninety," he growled through his gritted teeth.

The only thing to come from the assault rifle was a hollow 'clink.' The sound repeated itself a few more times before Sousuke finally sneered in disgust and threw it through the closest glass window.

"Shit!" he screamed.

He was ready to break something else and spit out a string of curses that could go on indefinitely before he saw a familiar glass case attached to the nearest wall with 'Emergency' marked on it in red, Chinese letters.

Sousuke immediately smashed his elbow through the glass case and removed the fire axe from it. He rubbed his finger along the head of it until it slightly cut him, testing its sharpness. He turned his gaze back towards the older boy still sitting on the floor. He felt something which could have possibly been remorse, but there was no way he could have comprehended that feeling at that moment. He almost felt like having mercy. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for their species to be entirely extinct. He almost felt like sparing at least one of the pathetic bastards of the Old Republic of China. Almost.

Sousuke rested the axe by his side but tightened his grip as he approached the young man sitting on the floor in a hastened pace. He stopped when he was looking down upon him and raising the axe above his head.

"Ninety," he snarled again.

As if the fortunes were smiling upon the young man on the floor, Sousuke was interrupted from his moment of bloodlust yet again. This time, a scientist who was obviously hiding before in one of the storage cabinets in the small lab darted out from it, leapt over the broken glass window separating the lab from the hall, and began running down the long hallway as if he was being chased by a hellhound.

Sousuke turned his look back to the young man on the floor and back to the man running down the hallway. He repeated this process several times with a confused look on his face as if having to make a difficult decision.

He held his gaze on the retreating man for several seconds before his eyes shone with a glisten. He actually hissed slightly as he stepped over the young man and turned to give chase down the hallway.

"Ninety," he whispered as he hastened his pace into a jog, carrying his newest chosen weapon by his side.

That day, Shin Wu Chang had survived. Out of all the people at the single base of the Old Republic of China, he had been the only one who survived Sousuke's onslaught.

Everyone was silent. Jin turned a worried stare to Kaname, Kaname to Kalinin, and Kalinin to Jin. They all knew what Sousuke must have been thinking when they all pieced together what little he had revealed of his past.

Sousuke bellowed out in a wall-shaking war cry… and lunged.

Shin gasped in complete surprise and utter horror as the taller man's hands wrapped around his neck as he was tackled violently to the ground. His face turned several different shades of red and blue as his path of the external oxygen supply was blocked. He was suffocating, but not quickly enough for Sousuke.

That little prick should have died in an instant back then. Unexpectedly, the young man he had failed to kill in a completely different country was here in his home country. He would not make the same mistake twice.

Sousuke removed the grip on the Chinese man's throat and replaced it on both sides of his head. He pulled the dazed man's head up as far as it could go and violently slammed it against the concrete floor. Once didn't do it, so he repeated the action several more times.

Sousuke was familiar with the concept of the Freudian Slip. But, could that same slip of the tongue be applied to the mind…

… or an overactive imagination?

Sousuke nodded his head, almost approvingly.

"Then you must be very fortunate." Sousuke stated matter-of-factly, calmer than anyone would have expected.

Shin smiled in reply to his statement, glad to see that his odd conversation partner was still on the same plane of communication as him.

"Yes, I most certainly am, Mr. Letrus."

Jin, Kaname, and Kalinin all stared on in disbelief and relief. They were all glad that Sousuke didn't immediately hate Shin after the bit of information he divulged to him. It was ironic that both men were in the same place at the same time and going to the same place. They were just glad Sousuke didn't suddenly snap. They all knew that Sousuke would have remained calm, but for some odd reason, they could all just imagine Sousuke tackling the man to the ground and either strangling him or pounding his head against the ground in rapid succession. They were even more surprised and relieved when he took on a shockingly friendly tone and sparked up casual conversation.

"So, I hear you're a psychology major like Jin?"

To everyone's delight, after Sousuke's initial shock of finding out who Shin was, the two of them seemed to get along just fine.

Everyone, especially Sousuke and Shin had enjoyable conversations while waiting for the plane to arrive. Their conversations continued across the aisles of the plane once they boarded since their seats were only about two rows separated. Everyone was relieved that the Old Republic wasn't brought up a single time during all of their conversations which passed away most of the time of what would have otherwise been an excruciatingly long trip. Kaname and Jin talked about how quickly their own friendship was developed and laughed about how Sousuke and Shin could end up breaking that record. They also laughed at the dark irony of it all. Everyone actually seemed to be having a good time already.

Everyone that is, except for Andrey Kalinin. He seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around him. He kept his nose in his laptop most of the time, and when questioned about what he was doing, he would reply that he was just doing his taxes and quickly put on his usual mild smile. But, the worried, contemplative look on his face that accompanied the response seemed to say something else.

Occasionally, he would look up at Sousuke with a worried glare. He would also occasionally do the same to Jin and Kaname, but he would casually smile and nod his head before turning back to his 'taxes' whenever one of them would meet his gaze.

He could not let them know what was really going on. It was impossible. Yet, at the same time, he would have loved nothing more than to let the three of them know what to expect. But, he couldn't. The operation was of the utmost secrecy. Besides, there was a low probability of anything actually happening, so he might just end up causing hard feelings and making everyone worried for nothing. Perhaps there wasn't even anything to worry about; perhaps everyone would actually end up having an enjoyable vacation.

Or, at least that's what the positive part of his conscious kept telling him. However, the negative seemed to be talking a little bit louder.

He had been notified of the current dangers for the past three days. The information kept coming in quicker than he could read it. For the past three days the familiar, green, message icon on his computer had been continuously flashing, notifying him of more and more information which had been sent to him. Finally, he had finished reading everything about the new threat which he had hoped in vain he would not have been drug into. The green icon had finally stopped flashing. Good thing too; he didn't know if he could handle anymore bad news.

He looked ahead a few seats at Sousuke and Shin. No one would have ever thought that the man with the scar was ever once a soldier. He had been talking about wanting to become normal. Truth was, making casual conversation with the Chinese man he met at the airport, having a friend who he loved like family, and having a true love he wouldn't hesitate to give his life for; he couldn't even imagine someone being anymore normal that that. He regretted having to pull him back into that familiar territory he had considered to be normal for a good part of his still young life.

He turned his gaze over next to him to see Kaname and Jin smiling, talking, laughing, and altogether having an incredible time. Both had seen their fair share of danger because of who they were, but they were still innocent; they hadn't fully witnessed the true evils of the world. He would not take that innocence away for anything. But, sometimes, some things had to be done.

He knew what had to be done, no matter what the risks. But, that was not to say he wouldn't regret it. He knew his beloved Merian would understand. She would forgive him no matter what happened.

The green icon started flashing again.

TO BE CONTINUED