A/N Okay... I know. I'm expecting rotten tomatoes to be thrown at me for the ending on the last chapter. I love Hagi too... but let's just see how this chapter goes, okay?
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I just borrow these characters for my strange ideas- except Mary Frances/ Thuyet- SHE IS ALL MINE !
Chapter 56- A New Start
Rain began to pour, soaking the people of New York that still happened to be in the streets. Many that were scattered on grey sidewalks that shimmered in the street lamps, opened black umbrellas to hinder the winter deluge. They were just happy it wasn't snowing.
Against the grey of the buildings and streets, the black of the umbrellas, yellow streetlamps and neon signs seemed to offer a bit of cheer amid the dull rain. No one seemed to notice the seemingly 16-year-old girl with black and blue short hair as she dashed through the grey sidewalk.
Her hair drenched against her scalp, her blue sweater now soaked in rain, the young queen thought very little of her current situation as she pushed on at, reluctantly, human speeds. She just had to get there. Her cousin and uncle were fine and she was eager to prove it- or to stop her uncle from doing something so fucked up...
"Stupid Saya," she grumbled. It was all her damn fault. If she would've believed Hagi in the first place...
Upon rounding the corner to where she felt the presence of her uncle and cousin, she sensed a smaller presence with familiar powers and the scent of a human. They were standing nearer to her and she made her way to the pair as she wiped the rain from her face.
Two lavender eyes turned from under a black umbrella and shimmered with recognition. Placing a finger over her very young looking lips, she motioned for the blue queen to be silent. Offering her a space beneath the umbrella, the unlikely looking pair continued watching the scene in front of them with curious looks.
Hibiki, now being a bit more sheltered and a lot more cramped, turned her aqua looking eyes to what was happening. Once she blinked a few times in disbelief, she pointed and furrowed her brow to the father - daughter duo in front of them.
A street lamp a short distance away was barely illuminating the two as they seemed to be locked in a very depressing embrace. Her cousin was transforming back to her human form as she lamented her loss with heart breaking sobs.
It was like the dream... but so... not.
Lulu whispered, "When he tossed the vials in the hole, I thought for sure he was going to jump in. I screamed, but Lewis pulled me back before I could jump out."
The burly man could barely be seen in the dim lighting as sheets of rain fell all around them. He gave a wide grin and added in a hushed voice, "Ya mon. If I hadn't pulled her back, she would have been caught in the middle of this." A wide sweep of his hand indicated the scene before them.
The sound of cracking glass made it to Hibiki and she scowled further. Looking at the pair, she saw her uncle with an absolutely strange look on his face. The expression was so foreign to his features, she was certain it was the cause of the cracking sounds- he had broken his face.
"Uh..." Hibiki muttered intelligently as she kept her jaw slack. Hagi looked perfectly fine, save the bewildered look his face was sporting, but why were there cracking sounds if he wasn't crystallizing?
It seemed their help was not needed as they watched the chevalier finally use his hands to place a bit of space between him and the sobbing, young woman.
Screwing her eyes shut so hard she saw red, Mary Frances couldn't- wouldn't dare open them. Not again. Never again. She had lost so much already- she couldn't lose him.
Hagi swallowed as he took in his daughter's broken look. The scaled hands were slowly reverting to normal, but her black t-shirt and jeans were in tatters against her body, just barely hanging on. Rain soaked them both, but even through it, anyone could see she was crying.
What was she crying about? What did she possibly think he had done? "Mary Frances?" He asked gently, to which she replied by squeezing her eyes shut as a fresh bout of tears trailed her cheeks.
He tried again, giving her a gentle shake, but still, she did not respond favorably.
He took in a deep breath and whispered in her ear, "Tuyết , tại sao các bạn rất khó chịu?" (Snow, why are you so upset?) Watching her bury herself in his arms, he knew that she now understood that he knew exactly who she was. They knew each other- even if no one else in the world knew them, at least they had this.
"Dad," she sobbed out before she finally dared to open her eyes a crack. Seeing the black of his soaked suit jacket, she noted that he still seemed to feel solid underneath. She brought her tear- filled eyes up the black expanse of the jacket to his neck. The muscles and sinew moved with his voice as he asked again in Vietnamese. The color was the usual pale skin tone with no grey or red cracks. "I... I..."
He watched as her eyes turned to his face. Knowing the look of utter bewilderment was now gone, in its place was concern, he brought his hand to cup her cheek. Blue eyes so like his own reflected back at him while she continued to hiccough sobs.
"I thought you were dead!" she finally revealed as she fell into his arms.
Noting they were not alone, he watched as his niece, Lewis, and Lulu came forward. "Why would you think that?" he asked as he reassuringly stroked Tuyết's back.
He was surprised when Hibiki answered, "Gee, Uncle, we were really freaked when you stole those vials and Kai's gas can."
His daughter nodded and added, "The note you left at Omoro, too. You told Kai to take care of me. What did you think we would think you were doing?"
Getting more upset with every word, she pushed back and looked him in the eye, "What about 'It should have ended here'? What about that, Dad?!"
His stoic expression returned as he took in the angry face that glared at him. Kanade now joined them, along with Riku and Hojo. Hagi reasoned that they should be here to hear his reasons. They could relay them to Saya.
He only hoped that one day she'd be able to forgive him.
"When I said that, it was not meant for others' ears," he admonished his eavesdropping daughter, "... but my reason for it is not what you thought."
When he was sure he had the attention of all present, he explained, "I was speaking about the war between Saya and Diva. Yes, I should have died here, but I did not. I continued to serve Saya, even if she did not want me."
"I decided as my last act as her chevalier, I would destroy Diva's blood. It is now resting with her and Amshel's remains."
A clap of thunder was heard as it continued to rain. It was Lulu's voice that chirped the suggestion, "You know, it might be best if we find a nice, dry place to continue this discussion."
Lewis and Lulu lead the way with the younger queens and their chevaliers trailing behind. Hagi stood up and lifted his daughter to her feet, holding her close to his side.
A slight scowl marred her features as she questioned, "If you didn't crystalize, why did I hear breaking glass?" Before he could answer, she asked another question, "And why didn't you crystalize? I saw you drinking Diva's blood!"
"Tuyết..." He tried to explain, but was interrupted again.
"Will you stop calling me that!" Now at a complete stop, she glared at him as she forced him to face her. Both drenched in rain, she huffed her frustration with the rain falling around them. "I told you that girl is dead!"
Narrowing his eyes at the stubborn girl, Hagi wondered about her sanity. "Why should I continue an argument in the rain when there is a place not far that is dry? I will answer your questions when you have calmed down a bit." With that, the chevalier turned and continued his trek to where the others huddled under a small pavilion.
It made sense to do as he said. She was soaked to the bone and the air was starting to turn chilly, even for her. Swiping the rain angrily from her face, she argued back, "My name is Mary Frances, damn it!" With that clarified, she stomped to the pavilion as well.
The Shivering group huddled together as the rain came down and the winds blew cold and frosty around the sheltered area. The chevaliers stood around the human and the queens to protect then against the cold.
Hagi began to unbutton his jacket. To the group it seemed he would soon be offering it in a chivalrous act, as he was known to do, to help warm one of the ladies.
"So, why aren't you dead?" Riku asked Hagi. "When Dad told us about that note…"
The stoic chevalier gave them all quite a surprise with the questioning look he was wearing. "What I said in the note was nothing out of the ordinary for any parent. I needed Kai to look after her while I was away," he responded.
The group all seemed to think it was a reasonable thing, now that they heard it from him. He was alive and well, and that was all that mattered.
It seemed for the moment, all was calm. The group gathered close together to keep warm as they waited for Joel, David, Dr. Julia, Saya, and Kai to arrive. As all eyes seemed glued to the small road that served as a path for maintenance crews, hoping for headlights, Hagi moved toward the trash can at the edge of the pavilion and empty the contents of the breast pocket.
Lulu and Hibiki turned their eyes to the sight with a scowl. "What is he doing?" Lulu murmured, bringing his daughter's blue eyes to the scene, as well as Kanade and the two chevaliers.
The tallest in the group narrowed her eyes as she took in the image of shards of glass stained in red. He was carefully removing them and dusting off his shirt. The tinkling sound of many glass shards hitting the concrete was drowned out by the rain.
The sarcastic voice of Tuyết seemed to get her father's attention as she noted, "Well, that explains the 'sounds of crystallizing dad' that I heard, but why do you have glass in your pocket?"
"It was originally the vial of Saya's blood that I was drinking," he replied simply. As he shook the jacket, he added, "I may heal quickly, but broken glass being repeatedly squeezed into my chest hurts."
Tuyết stood with her mouth open in surprise- whether it was from knowing the truth on whose blood was in the vial or that he'd openly made a joke in front of everyone, she wasn't sure. Her thoughts were a bit fuzzy. She had thought he had tried to drink Diva's blood. "It was Saya's blood?" she asked when she recovered from her surprise as he walked back to the group.
"I told you that flying takes a lot out of you," he replied. For him, going without much blood was not unnatural. Being that Saya was against it so vehemently for so long, he hid the natural instinct and learned to make do on very little.
On the other hand… he looked to his daughter from the corner of his eye, scrutinizing her. She was pale, a bit too pale. She had fed, but not nearly enough. He too looked to the road, hoping to see headlights soon.
Lulu chuckled, "So the shattered glass was not your body, but Mary Frances hugging you and breaking the test tube."
The rest of the group, save Louis, wasn't laughing. They had genuinely been scared for Hagi's life. Of course they were relieved he was okay, but the concern was still there.
Hibiki cleared her throat, feeling extremely guilty. As she began to speak, she did not notice her cousin's color pale further. Hagi, however did. "Uncle Hagi," she began, "I am sorry that I never believed you. I-in light of things we have- we have learned tonight… well… I've learned my lesson. I'm sorry I doubted you."
Hagi gave a small smile and a slight bow. Unsure of what it all was about in the first place, the older chevalier replied, "Hibiki, I appreciate your apology. However, we need to get somewhere safe and dry.
Tuyết is about to…"
People's voices began fading in and out and Mary Frances… or was it Tuyết?... began to see fuzzy shapes of people talking. She felt so very sleepy and her fuzzy thoughts registered a free floating feeling as the ground seemed to be coming closer and closer.
Just in time, a set of headlights came into view as the chevalier wrapped his arms around his daughter before she hit the ground. She needed blood immediately.
Many voices spoke at once as Dr. Julia, Kai, David, and Mui exited the vehicle. Most of what they were saying about Hagi being innocent were waved aside as the chevalier lifted the tall, dark haired woman into his arms and called out, "There's no time for this." Nodding toward the unconscious girl he added, "My daughter is in need of blood- now!"
Dealing with chiropterans as long as they had, the Red Shield never went anywhere ill-prepared. In record time, the chevalier, his daughter, and the group that had exited the vehicle piled back in. Saya was in the rear of the van as Kai joined her.
Through the sparkling droplets of rain on the back window, Saya watched as her nieces, their chevaliers, Lulu and Lewis climbed into the other van where Joel VI and the Okamuras were. David decided that since Mary Frances needed to lay down, he'd join the other van to leave her some room.
Burgundy eyes turned to the touching scene in the seat behind the driver. Dr. Julia was informing Hagi of the information they had obtained as he cradled his daughter's unconscious head in his lap. Mui was at the girl's side hooking up an IV drip. The task was completed quickly and the driver began to move the vehicle.
Hagi's steel blue eyes were locked with Dr. Julia's as she explained their theory as to how his daughter was created. His soft, ebony tresses slightly curled in spite of the weight of them being soaked in rain.
Eyes half mast, the chiropteran queen listened as the story was retold and her chevalier was exonerated of any wrongdoing. Why hadn't she trusted him in the first place? She was so quick to judge him. Guilt was a heavy stone in her gut at that moment. Her calloused finger came up to the cold glass of the window. Her eyes looked upon the drops as her mind supplied the image of Hagi's damp hair.
There was a time they had been caught in a sudden rain storm when they were both young. She recalled they both decided to help each other by hanging their damp clothes to dry and then helping wring each other's hair out. How she longed for things to be so simple between them once more.
So lost in her own musings, she did not see when his eyes strayed from the one speaking to him. He watched her eyes as they seemed mesmerized by her hand pressed against the window. Even now, in light of the truth, could they ever find love with each other again?
Those blue-grey eyes took on a slightly melancholy look as he turned them to his own hand, which rested on his daughter's short hair. "Tuyết," he murmured, effectively correcting Dr. Julia. "That is the name the orphanage gave her in Vietnam. It means snow."
Dr. Julia nodded in acceptance and Mui looked over the seat back to the girl. Tears filled her brown eyes as she realized this was once the little miracle baby she rocked to sleep. She had hoped the child would have had a decent chance at life.
Hagi took a breath and then told the two, "I will not tell you her story of how it is that she came to the United States. It is her story to tell. Just know that her life has been far from easy."
He looked down and watched as his hand stroked her short locks gently. A tightening in his jawline was the only miniscule give away that he had come to a decision- a decision he knew this girl would not like. "If she wishes to change her name, that will be fine with me, but her last name will be the same as mine. She is also a minor and until she is an adult, she is under my care."
He looked up and locked a hard gaze on Kai, who was listening, "She will fight back- she's stubborn. I will need your support."
The aging red haired man gave a firm nod, "You got it."
~0~
When they arrived at the hotel, everyone took their time unpacking, showering, and getting dry clothed on. Dr. Julia and David shared a room and Joel VI had a private suite. They allowed Lewis and Lulu to use their showers to clean up while they met with Hagi in his room as he and his daughter received another round of transfusions.
After the discussion of what was to be done about the young woman and Hagi explained what he had done at the MET Memorial, they began to theorize on just how it was possible for Hagi to be cloned.
"We know that chiropterans contain an extra base in their DNA, which is what causes the mutation." Dr. Julia continued, "Well, we also know that same base is what causes them to regrow lost tissue and even limbs. Chevaliers contain higher amounts of the D-base than the queens do."
"So," David questioned his wife, "would blood alone be enough to create a clone? I was under the impression that blood does not contain enough DNA to replicate in that way."
"True," Dr. Julia replied as she checked the progress of the transfusion, "but in the case of chiropterans- mostly chevalier, there is DNA in the blood. When the queen awakens from her long sleep, she feeds from her chevalier to gain strength and recall memory. A chevalier's blood contains the DNA - which is a genetic map. It gives the queen total recall and the ability to regenerate in case she is injured."
Hagi watched the interaction of the group carefully and responded almost quietly, "They also took skin samples from me during the war. I was told that it would help them to understand more about how I regenerate."
Joel nodded and brought his hand up to scratch his chin, "It makes sense. They used skin samples as well as blood in these experiments in order to ensure a positive outcome, but it still resulted in only one pregnancy. Why weren't there more?"
"Because only one subject also had Delta 67 in their blood," Hagi replied to their surprise. He lifted his eyes to them and added, "I could smell it on her. It's why I kept watch over her. I thought she might turn into one of those creatures. I did not know she was pregnant." A slight scowl marred his porcelain brow as he thought of his next question, "Why did the pregnancy not progress for so long? It was well over 30 years."
"Dr. Julia explained to us on the plane that it is possible for a queen to delay implantation of the fertilized egg until an opportune time. Diva had done this with her babies. It's why her pregnancy was over a year long- when in fact, it was only 6 months." Joel explained.
Before Hagi could ask, Julia replied, "Yes, the mother was human, but since the fetus was basically a chevalier, it was the fetus that decided the time of implantation. When the mother was awakened from her coma, the fertilized egg began to grow."
The young woman that seemed to be the talk of the night lay with her eyes closed, but she had thus far, heard every word. It was shocking and a bit disheartening to learn she was nothing more than dome grand science project from a time so long ago. Not only was she unwanted, but she was some sort of freak of nature.
Biting back stinging pain in the back of her eyes, the girl refused to cry about that. She'd known all along that she was not normal. Deciding she was sick of letting others ask questions, she wanted to ask one.
Rolling to her side, she called out, "Hey, if I'm some sort of freaky clone, then how is it I'm a girl? In case you haven't noticed, I came from his blood, so I should be a guy."
Dr. Julia smiled rather sheepishly. It was not nice to talk about people while they were sleeping, but now that she was awake, the doctor felt slightly better. "How are you feeling? Do you need another transfusion?"
Running a hand through her drying short locks impatiently, the girl responded, "Yeah, yeah, yeah… in good time. Right now I'd like my question answered. Then I'd like to take a shower and get into some dry clothes."
Nodding, Dr. Julia admitted, "I'd like to get a bit of blood from Hagi and the other two chevaliers to confirm my theory, but I believe it is because of when they are transformed into chevaliers. It is also why the offspring of a queen is always female. I believe it somehow alters the chromosomes of the chevalier from XY to an XX- basically making his genetic structure female. He would only be able to create female offspring."
Questions came from all around the doctor from Hagi, her husband, Joel, and even the girl about how it was possible, how they remained male, and a few others. Dr. Julia placated with raised hands in surrender, "Look, for now it is a theory, I don't know for certain. It will take time and testing, but I can assure you," she locked eyes with the chevalier who had given her so much trouble over this, "that all samples will be used just for the purpose of searching for this answer alone. Once completed, I will destroy the samples myself. You have my word," Julia promised.
Hagi gave a curt nod of the head.
Disgusted with her clothing sticking to her body, the young woman rummaged through her luggage (which she had no idea who had packed it) and scowled at the choices of attire. Finally pulling out a pair of flannel pants and black t-shirt boasting a fat, pink peach with anime stars all around it and the word KAWAI, she shook her head and headed to the bathroom without excusing herself.
The group continued to talk as the shower began to run. Hagi was a bit upset at her for her rude departure but could hardly blame her. He wanted nothing more than to escape the heavily weighted wet suit he was now wearing.
After a brief discussion on her schooling and what the chevalier planned for his daughter, the group decided to retire to their rooms for the night, seeing as Hagi and Tuyết both were back in good health.
Once both were showered and ready for bed, they settled in for the night. Hagi sat with one leg bent at the knee in the window seat overlooking the city. The rain had stopped, but had left dazzling droplets on the window.
Tuyết rolled on her side to look at her father. His hair was back in its customary ponytail and he donned the same boring suit, but his relaxed pose in the window seat was highlighted by the golden glow of the city lights outside. The droplets looked like glitter and it had quite a dazzling effect. "I thought I'd lost you, Dad," she quietly intoned after a time.
He turned his head to her, the long, wavy bangs that curved to one side of his head were cast in shadow, leaving the other side of his face bathed in the golden, New York glow. "I know," he answered, "And I am sorry that I frightened you and the others."
After a long silence, he returned his steel blue gaze to the city around them. The busy sounds of the city did not seem to penetrate the thick glass, but to a chiropteran, the sounds were still there, only muffled a bit.
He was certain she'd ask if she could return to LA now, or even Jack. What he did not expect was her to ask what she did.
"Will you forgive Saya?"