Oceans of Time
~Chapter Four~
Her eyes processed a dirty brown ceiling before she closed them again as a wave of nausea passed through her. She slowly remembered what had happened before she had fallen asleep as she pushed herself into a sitting position and then she saw him.
"Chiaki."
He turned in his chair and stared at her for a few moments before wheeling it over to her. He did not look pleased.
"How did you get here?"
"What?" Makoto asked distressed.
"You heard me."
"Yeah I heard you! But what I don't understand is how that's all you have to say to me after three years!"
"Seven," Chiaki replied, his face unemotive.
"What?" Makota asked taken aback.
"For me its been seven."
"...Jeez."
His stare was unwavering, "Yeah."
Makoto screwed her face up, "Still doesn't explain why you're not happy to see me."
Chiaki put a hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair and said, "Of course I'm happy to see you idiot," before pushing her backwards.
"GAH!" She tumbled and half somersaulted off the side of the bed and landed on her back.
"What I'm not happy about is that you're here."
"That makes no sense!" she said bolting up.
"Yes it does."
"NO IT DOESN'T-!"
Chiaki put a finger to his lips with a stern look on his face.
Makoto clamped her mouth shut seeing as he looked very serious.
"Keep your voice down."
"Why?" she whispered.
"You don't need to whisper Makoto, just don't scream," he said wheeling himself back over to a screen on his wall. He pressed a button and a hologram of a keyboard appeared in front of him.
Makoto's eyes widened, "Wow!" she got up and raced over to get a better look. She put one hand on the back of the chair and another on her knee and bent down to see.
"I forgot we were in the future for a minute there," she furrowed her brows, "Some of these symbols look like the English alphabet..."
Chiaki glanced at her then back at what he was typing, "It's a mix of Mandarin and English. Some of the symbols changed a bit and there are some new ones in there too."
"What are you typing?"
"I'm hacking the security system in this sector. I have to knock out the cameras and the sensors before we go anywhere."
"Where are we going? ... Chiaki?
"Makoto, you're making it really hard to concentrate."
She made a sour face.
He typed a few more words, "There!" He got up and opened a cabinet above the bed and pulled out two respirators.
"Here put this on," he said handing one to her.
She looked at hers as he pulled his over his head, "What's this for?"
He turned a knob on the front of his and inhaled and exhaled deeply, "The air outside is poison," he stated simply.
"Guh!" She pulled hers over her head but instead of taking it's place on her face, it fell to dangle loosely around her neck. She searched for adjustment straps but there were none. Chiaki took hold of the front and held it against her face and pressed a button at the back which tightened it. He turned the knob on hers and she breathed in sharply.
He turned to put on a shabby pair of boots and as he sat down on the bed to lace them that's when she realize that they matched the rest of his attire. They looked old, faded and dirty, like they hadn't been washed in months. They paled in comparison to the white summer dress she sported. She looked down at herself, not so white anymore. It was covered in mud from earlier.
"I thought clothes were supposed to be shiny in the future."
He looked up at her, "This isn't the ideal future that people in your century dreamed of," He pressed a button on the wall and a door seemed to evaporate out of thin air.
"Whoa! What's that for?"
"Keeps the room air tight."
He turned when the door slid open, "Lets go."
"Where are we going?" she asked walking through it into a room that much resembled a closet. It was small and their bodies were almost touching.
"You'll see," he said typing in a few digits on the wall, "but listen, once we're outside we can't talk and you need to be very very quiet."
Makoto gulped and nodded.
The door to the room slid shut and slowly the outlines disappeared.
"Hey Chiaki?"
"Yeah?"
"Your accent's back."
"Really?"
"Mm."
"Well I haven't spoken Japanese in years," he answered.
"Guess not..."
They were silent as they waited for the other door to open. When it finally did they were met by a strong gust of wind.
"There's going to be a storm soon so we've got to move quick," Chiaki said grabbing her hand and pulled her along behind him.
Everything looked the same. All the buildings were the same square size, dingy brown colour, and equally spaced apart from each other. The landscape didn't change as they quickly made their way across the muddy ground. Mud that her ballet flats didn't provide much protection from.
After running at a fast pace for a few minutes they stopped at one of the generic looking buildings. Makoto collapsed against the wall as Chiaki pressed a button repeatedly. Finally the door slid open and they stepped inside.
Makoto gasped as she found herself assaulted by blue fumes from all angles.
"They're detoxifying the air," Chiaki explained.
The inside door finally opened up and Makoto found that the interior of the buildings matched just as the exterior did.
"Jeez man could you be anymore impatient?" A man with dark brown hair asked while pointing a screw driver he he held at him. He had safety goggles perched atop his head and he was working away at something.
"Is it ready yet?" Chiaki asked completely ignoring the question. He took his respirator off and she did the same.
"Almost, have her ready to go. We need to be quick. This shack doesn't provide life support for three," he said turning back to a bunch of gadgets he had on his desk.
"Ready for what?" Makoto asked.
"You'll see."
She pouted.
"Alright, here yeah go!" The brunette said handing a ball of cloth to Chiaki.
"Hold out your hand Makoto."
Confused, she did as she was told.
"Makoto look at me."
When she did she was met by two icy cold eyes.
"Don't come back," he said and with that he loosened his grip on the cloth and a round object fell out. She gasped as the cold metal came in contact with her palm.
"NO!" she cried as his face faded away and she began to fall through space.
What helps to inspire this story? The Ergo Proxy soundtrack. It has that distinct action and post apocalyptic feel that I'm looking for when writing this.
Thank you for the reviews Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, OtakuHarunaHimawari, Shizuku Tsukishima749, and anonymous.