It was just after dawn, so early that the hospital still had the eerie stillness of night shift. The harsh fluorescent lights glared down on the weary comrades.
Kai sat reading a magazine. The elder David was on his cell phone at the end of the hall, pacing desperately as he talked to his wife. Aka and Ruka had followed Dave into the operating room. Haji sat with his back straight against the wall, his cello case at his feet and Saya leaning against his side, resting her head on his shoulder as she dozed. He stared absentmindedly out the large wall-sized window opposite them, watching the birds on the lawn in the courtyard outside, where several cattle egrets stood, silent and still while mynas and red-crested cardinals hopped about their feet. Haji, as a man who spent so much of his long life waiting quietly, had learned how to take interest in trivialities such as birds.
Kai looked up from his magazine when he noticed the sound of some very brisk footsteps echoing from the other end of the hall.
"Huh, what's he doing here?"
Haji turned his head, causing his ponytail to brush against Saya's nose, tickling her awake. Her eyes fluttered open and she quickly stood when she caught sight of Solomon. Haji stood at her side, barely fighting off the temptation to stand in between Saya and Solomon.
"Nathan told me that he killed Dave, I came as soon as I could."
"Well," said Kai, "fortunately, Davids aren't so easy to kill, and he was lucky enough to get stabbed while two med students were standing next to him. He's in real bad shape, he'll probably need some prosthetic organs, but the doctors say there's a good chance that he'll pull through."
"So he's alive and the girls didn't have to make him a Chevalier?"
"Ruka tried, but Dave refused."
"I am glad to hear that she did not force him, I have witnessed the negative effects of becoming a Chevalier against one's will," Solomon said, with genuine regret in his tone. "How are the girls taking it?"
"Pretty hard, especially Ruka. Both of them have been friends with Dave for their whole lives, but Ruka has wanted to marry him since she was five."
"I know that he means a great deal to them. I have no doubt that Dave was brought up to hate chiropterans, but his treatment of the girls did not seem to change when he found out what they really were, and I respect him for that. I would have done everything in my power to prevent this if I had known."
"Well, I guess it's good you're here, I bet the girls'll be glad to see you, they need as much emotional support as they can get right now. I'm sure they'll be happy to know that one of their Ojisan isn't a traitorous bastard. I'll go tell them you're here." Kai walked through the double doors that separated the ward from the waiting room.
Solomon turned to Saya. "I also wanted to apologize for my brother's meddling in your personal life. I knew nothing of it prior to this morning."
Saya blushed.
"However," Solomon continued with a small polite smile. "If it really is what you want, I can think of no greater honor than to be the fa -" Solomon stopped, sensing Saya's discomfort with the subject when her head sunk down toward her shoulders and she looked toward the floor.
Naturally, Haji was seeing red, and it wasn't because he was looking at Saya's face.
The three people stood there, Haji glaring menacingly at Solomon, Solomon gazing longingly at Saya and Saya desperately wishing that she could be anywhere but where she was at the moment.
As Saya stood between the two men that loved her, she recalled a somewhat confrontational conversation with Mao, shortly before the incident at the MET.
"Look Otonashi, three guys are madly in love with you, two of them want to kill each other over you and one of them is probably going to get himself killed over you, but you act like it's not even happening! Are you blind or do you just not care?"
"I do care, it's just -"
"Then do something! I mean, ignoring them might work out fine for you, but what about them? Kai is all weird and obsessed over you, and I'm afraid that if it goes on to long, he'll stop talking altogether, grow a pony tail and start playing cello! Even if you don't have that sort of feelings for any of them, you should at least put them out of their misery and tell them so! I don't know about that blonde stalker-man, but both Kai and Haji are nice guys, when most girls have a hard time choosing between two guys, its because one is an asshole and one is an idiot! If you care, then do something, will you! It doesn't even matter what, just do something!"
"Mao, I do care, I just – I just don't have time. I don't think you could understand."
"You're right! I can't!"
The awkward silence persisted until the double doors flew open, both slamming against the wall as Kai burst into the room.
"They're gone!" Kai shouted, as he held out a small piece of paper.
"Who?"
Kai glanced down at the note in his hand. "The girls! They've gone after Nathan, they want to fight him because of what he did to Dave."
"Do you think they'll be okay? Can they beat him?"
Solomon answered first. "No, I do not think they can."
"You think that namby-pamby excuse for a Chevalier can beat both of them?" said Kai with a brief, snide laugh. "I mean, he did ruff Ruka up earlier, but she was unarmed and irrational, but against both the girls and their swords, that mincing pansy doesn't have a chance."
"People are not always what they seem and the same goes for our kind," said Solomon. "Nathan simply dislikes fighting, but he is capable of inflicting tremendous damage."
"I find that hard to believe," Kai muttered.
"Shortly after he took on the role of Diva's Chevalier," Solomon continued. "I bore witness to a confrontation between him and James. Nathan beat him effortlessly with out even changing form, and could have easily killed him. The girls are strong, but they are no match for Nathan's experience."
"James was the toughest Chevalier I ever fought," whispered Saya. "But I don't think Nathan would ever hurt the girls."
"I guess I wouldn't be too sure about that," said Kai. "We never thought he would hurt Dave either, and he didn't hesitate to smack Ruka around when she attacked him."
"Yes," added Solomon. "It is fairly clear that whatever he's up to, he's willing to be ruthless."
"Then we have to find them before they find Nathan, they could get hurt."
"But we have no idea where they went," groaned Kai.
Solomon stepped forward. "Just before he disappeared, Nathan said he was going to Bordeaux."
"The zoo? Why would he want to go there?" Saya murmured.
"I do not know, but I believe that would be a good place to start, if we want to prevent the girls from fighting him," said Solomon.
"Haji and I will go after them," Saya said as she pulled on Haji's sleeve.
"Cool," said Kai as he whipped out his cell phone. "The shield has a private plane on standby for us, I'll tell 'em your coming."
Saya glanced at Haji. "Let's go." She took a step toward the door, but was stopped when Solomon gently seized her wrist. She turned to face him, finding him down on one knee.
Solomon lips hovered an inch over her hand and he looked up at her as he spoke. "Many years ago, I proudly swore my self to you as your Chevalier and that is an oath I intend to keep. Please allow me to accompany you on this mission, so I may serve and protect you, as is the duty of any Chevalier."
Solomon smiled as he kissed her hand, his lips lingering there as he stared up at her intensely, his eyes locked on hers. Saya recalled what Nathan had said, about how Solomon wasn't as pretty as he used to be, but as she looked down at him, she thought to herself, though there was a large scar on the side of his face, and there was a subtle difference in his complexion, over all, it was still the same face she had stared at, at the ball in Lycee.
When his lips finally parted with her hand, he glanced down at her hand, and the ring now on her finger. He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him.
"So you two are -"
"Yes," Haji replied somewhat irritably, annoyed by the needlessly prolonged hand-kiss.
Solomon managed to swallow the disappointment caused by this new setback, and regained his usual, temperate tone. "Congratulations, to you both."
"Thank you," Haji and Saya said simultaneously, Haji's saying it with subtle pride that came close to gloating, Saya saying it in the same tone ordinarily used when apologizing.
Solomon rose to his feet and stood before Saya.
She briefly glanced at Haji before returning her eyes to her self-anointed Chevalier. "Solomon, you are welcome to come with us. I am sure you can help, since it seems that you have a good relationship with both Nathan and the girls."
"A least it will be better than having him lurking in the shadows wherever you go," Haji muttered, almost inaudibly.
Okay, I know I made it sound like Dave was dead, but I figure, hey this is thirty years in the future, there have probably been advancements in emergency medical care, so they resuscitated him.