Return To Me Chapter 3: What They Have Done, a Misc. Anime/Manga + Maximum Ride Crossover fanfic

Return To Me

We're finally gonna get to see Katsumi! Yay! Yoshitaka is happy, too, but he's all 'grararar I'm gonna be grumpy and keep my real feelings inside' lol. Not really. I've got him acting a little OOC in this chapter, but if someone was reunited with their spouse/significant other after thinking they were dead, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't act normal.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned little Eiji. He's adorable! But I own nothing *sobs in the corner*

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Chapter 3

Five hours, one flight, and two car rides later, the three men finally arrived at University. Yoshitaka scowled darkly at the gloomy, grey building. The people who had built this accursed place had taken Katsumi away from him. They had kept him in this dark place for three years, doing God knows what to him. His hands curled into fists, fingernails cutting into his palms.

The tension in the area was thick enough to cut enough to cut with a knife. Parents who hadn't seen their children in weeks, months, or even years, stood with arms around each other, hoping that their hearts wouldn't be broken by what they found. Everyone waited to see what had become of their loved ones.

The doors opened, and several people in white labcoats came out. There was an even mix of men and women, but they all had the same nervous expression on their faces.

The two groups stared at each other, shifting awkwardly and murmuring to each other. Finally, one of the women in labcoats stepped forward. She had short, red hair and thick, square-framed glasses.

"Um, I-I'm looking for a Yoshitaka Mimuro," she called in a soft, feminine voice.

Yoshitaka stepped forward, Wakabayashi and Eiji following close behind him as he approached her. They stopped when they were within arm's reach, staring her down.

"I'm, um, Mei Feng. I-I guess you can call me Katsumi's case worker." She offered her hand in greeting, looking put out when it was ignored. "So, you can all follow me, and I'll take you to him."

She walked back through the door she had come out of, glancing over her shoulder to make sure they were following her. For several minutes, they all walked in an uncomfortable silence. Mei finally broke it.

"I have to tell you about Katsumi's...condition. I guess that's the best word to use. As is the case with almost everyone who was taken here, he has some very severe scarring, and-"

"We were told that he was unharmed," Yoshitaka interrupted, his voice like ice.

Mei flinched, but pressed on. "W-Well, he's physically fine, but the scars I'm talking about are emotional and psychological. After the DNA combination was completed, each person was put through several very intense trials that tested agility, endurance, reaction time, etc. These were usually done on a daily basis. Combined with malnourishment and continued genetic alterations, these trials slowy broke the spirits of all but a few people. And, unfortunately, this includes Katsumi."

Yoshitaka stopped and glared at her. "You're wrong."

Mei turned around and looked at him, startled. "E-Excuse me?"

"I said, you're wrong," he spat. "I know how strong Katsumi is. His spirit can't be broken. It would only happen if he died first."

Mei didn't reply this time. She just looked at him, her eyes filling with sorrow, and resumed walking. The others followed her, the tense silence returning ten-fold. When they reached the door at the end of the hallway, Mei quietly opened the door, ushering the men through it. Yoshitaka peered around the room, his gaze lingering on the large computers along one wall. In the middle of the room was something similar to the table in the conference room at the office. An extremely thin man was slumped over in one of the many chairs around the table. He wore a tattered, black t-shirt and a pair of worn out jeans that had holes in the knees. His light-brown hair hung just past his shoulders, and was matted and tangled. The strangest thing about him, however, was the pair of cat ears perched on the top of his head, and the furry brown tail that lay limp on the floor. One of the feline ears twitched as Mei shut the door again.

"Hey," she called softly. "Look who's here."

Slowly, the man lifted his head to stare at them, and Yoshitaka felt his breath catch.

It was Katsumi.

With a strangled cry, Yoshitaka surged forward, running to where Katsumi was sitting. He threw his arms around the other man and began to sob.

"You're alive!" he gasped through the tears. "You're fucking alive! I thought- I thought you were gone! I thought you were dead! I thought I'd never see you again!"

For several minutes, he just sat there, crying and clinging to his lover. As he started to calm down, he noticed that Katsumi was acting strange. He hadn't spoken, or shed a single tears.

In fact, he hadn't even moved.

Yoshitaka moved back so he could see Katsumi's face, and felt a lump rise in his throat. Everytime he had seen Katsumi before, the younger man had always given off a kind of inner light. But now, it was completely gone. Katsumi's skin was pale, and his cheeks were sunken. His once fiery eyes were now dull and lifeless, the pupils transformed into black, feline slits. They showed no pain, no fear, no joy, nor sadness, no recognition.

Nothing.

Yoshitaka brought one trembling hand up to cup the side of his lover's face. The only thing that proved Katsumi had even felt the contact was the slight twitch of one of his cat ears.

"What have they done to you?" Yoshitaka whispered, gently tracing one of the all too visible cheekbones with his thumb. "What have they done?"

For the next half hour, Mei explained some of the specifics about what had happened to Katsumi. She skipped over most of the more painful details, but it was still horrible to hear. The constant pain the young man had been subjected to had left him shattered.

"He won't speak to anyone," Mei said sadly. "A lot of people have tried, even some of the other victims. He never moves unless one of us tells him to. And he won't fall asleep if one of our scientists is in the room. I think he's afraid to, though he doesn't really show any emotion at all."

Eiji listened, then found his gaze falling on his brother. Yoshitaka had managed to pull Katsumi into his lap, cradling him against his chest. One of his arms was wrapped around the smaller man's waist, while he ran the fingers of his free hand through Katsumi's tangled hair. Every so often, he would stop the gentle strokes, whisper something in one of Katsumi's human ears, wait for a response, then resume combing out the tangles when he got none. It broke Eiji's heart to see such a sight. After years of pain and loneliness, Yoshitaka had finally been reunited with the one person that he truly loved with all his heart. But with Katsumi in the mental state he was, Eiji couldn't see how much of a comfort he would be.

They'll help each other, he told himself stubbornly. Just having Katsumi back at all is enough.

Eiji realized that Mei had kept talking while he had been spacing out. He quickly started listening again.

"-so you'll need to keep an eye out for any adverse effects brought on by post-traumatic stress disorder."

"We can already see the adverse effects," Wakabayashi stated coldly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I was actually talking about the possibility of further complications," Me replied. "There's a high chance that Katsumi's mind has blocked out the more painful memories. His behavior could become unpredictable if the memories resurface, so someone will need to be with him at all times."

Yoshitaka nodded, though his focus remained on Katsumi. He never would have believed that someone as strong-willed as Katsumi could ever be broken. Yet here he was, right in front of them all, shattered into a million tiny pieces. Yoshitaka tightened the arm that was wrapped around his lover's waist, watching as one of the cat ears flicked towards him. While it was only a small reaction, and seemed to be unconscious on Katsumi's part, it still gave the older man hope. If Katsumi was reacting in any way, it meant that he could still be reached. Yoshitaka was determined to help him recover.

There was a knock at the door, and a black-haired man stuck his head into the room. "Mei, Xiang says it's time to wrap it up." And he was gone.

Mei stood up abrubtly, smoothing the wrinkles in her coat with her hands. "Looks like I let time get away from me again!" she laughed. "Time to send you guys home."

Both of Katsumi's feline ears perked up, and his tail swished lazily. For the first time since Mei had brought the other men to the room, Katsumi looked directly at Yoshitaka, without any prompting from someone.

"Katsumi?" Yoshitaka asked hesitantly, stopping his hair-stroking again.

There was a brief flash of something in the depth of his eyes, but it disappeared in an instant. Though it was hard, Yoshitaka hid his disappointment.

"I guess we'd better get going, then," he said softly.

Emoooooooooooo! It was hard writing Katsumi acting all emotionless and broken and stuff. If you've read the manga, you'd know that Katsumi basically wears his heart on his sleeve, and is crazy stubborn when he wants to be. Anyway, please review!