Reconstruction
By: Aviantei
Chapter Seventeen
Recover II
The room was dark, but that didn't impact its occupant in any way shape or form. The absence of light was a meaningless concept in this realm. After all, what was there to fear when such a power was at the ready, lurking in your very bones? Nothing that could be considered a concern by any means, that was for sure.
Not when the pieces were moving.
Not when excitement was brewing.
Not when soon, it would be time to be reunited with—
If nobody was there to witness it, could you still call the expression that formed a grin?
"My, my, you're all having fun together, now aren't you?"
"No blood, no bone, no ash."
It was a mantra that Misaki had heard many times ever since he'd joined HOMRA—had spoken, shouted, and chanted himself, even—but that simple declaration from Kusanagi-san's mouth was enough to give even him shivers. It was a proclamation, not just of his own intent to enter battle, but also one that implied the whole of HOMRA would join the fight if possible, that this wasn't something any of them would let pass, though it was still questionable what this was.
But what's he doing here with the Blue's lieutenant chick, though?
Misaki might not have handled girls well in the slightest, but even he knew that there was something between her and Kusanagi-san, though the relationship between their clans made that something complicated at best. Mikoto-san had let it go because the information in was helpful, even when HOMRA would wage unrepentant war on SCEPTER4 at the slightest provocation. But now, of all times?
It didn't matter in the slightest. Awashima stepped forward, charging into battle without any hesitation, and Kusanagi's attack came after, his red aura spewing forth with each click of his lighter. The Black Clan dude that they were all fighting against moved, stepping back, but Kusanagi's attacks combined with the other Blue officer—Misaki hadn't seen him before, but Black Clan had called him Zenjō-chan, so that was enough—following up made it hard for him to make a clean get away. Hitomi, recovering from the shock of the sudden intervention, had also joined in, and Misaki kicked off on his skateboard to follow suit.
"Careful, Awashima," Zenjō shouted, "this one's from Níðhöggr!"
Awashima didn't seem thrown off by the name of the Black Clan (that Misaki had no fucking clue how the Uru-dude and Zenjō could even pronounce) at all, and she set up a shield that protected her from the black-covered blade heading straight for her. It was the first time that Misaki could ever remember feeling so relieved to see the Blue Aura in action. The Black Clan guy hopped back, just avoiding Awashima's returning attacks of both blade and aura—which led him straight into the fire that Kusanagi-san had sent out.
"Damn!" Black Coat said, catching himself as he dipped down to the ground. "How dare you make me do something so inelegant—"
"Enough bitching, pretty boy!" Hitomi shouted, knocking him over with a near beautiful tackle. That was good, that was what Uru-dude had wanted them to do, though Misaki was having a hard time telling if Uru-dude's theory would be right enough to be worth it. "You started this fight, so you better be ready to finish it!"
And then, without any hesitation whatsoever, Hitomi drew her fist back and smashed it into the Black Clan member's face.
Hitomi didn't need to be involved with the Clans' drama to have learned how to fight, and her punch was powerful enough that the impact was audible. However, something that not a lot of people understood about getting an Aura from a King was that it enhanced one's physical strength and endurance as well. Where a blow like that might have knocked anyone else out, someone from a Clan could take it—and this particular one didn't like that in the slightest.
"You…!"
His smug expression breaking away to anger, Black Coat gripped harder onto his sword. It may have been an awkward angle, but that sword of his could still do some damage. Cursing, Misaki raced forward, his bat at the ready, and he could see flashes of blue approaching as well, everyone ready to interfere before Hitomi could become seriously injured.
"You think we're gonna let you get away with that?" Zenjō said.
Awashima shouted, "In the same of SCEPTER4—"
First the shockwave hit, and Misaki gasped as something hot and burning raced through his chest, feeling on fire despite the fact that he couldn't get burnt anymore, he hadn't been able to since Mikoto-san had welcomed him into HOMRA, and even though he'd known it would probably be coming, it still—
Second, a person collided into him, and the grunt made it obvious that it was Hitomi.
It was all that Misaki could do to make sure that he protected her from the worst of the fall, since she was limp and in no shape to handle herself. Not that Misaki was in much better shape, though; it was exactly what the Uru-dude had said would happen, but it didn't change the fact that Misaki felt like he was hyperventilating, like his limbs were dragged down by lead weights; it was so much worse than he'd imagined it would be like—
No one else seemed to be faring any better. Hitomi was also gasping for air, the direct blast having knocked the wind out of her. Zenjō had taken a knee, keeping himself upright with his sword for support, and the other SCEPTER4 members around were in worse shape. Even Awashima, who hadn't had her Aura sealed off, had stopped to throw up a wall in defense, but there was no sign of Black Coat on the street, like he'd vanished into thin air.
"Well, I think that's enough for today, now isn't it?"
Taking a moment to follow the source of the voice, Misaki found Black Coat standing atop a building on the opposite side of the street from the hospital. His coat flapped behind him in the wind, and Black Coat flicked his sword to the side with a flourish, the extra fuck. "I delivered our King's message well enough, wouldn't you say?"
"And what message might that be?" Kusanagi-san asked. Though he was uninjured, he wasn't pursuing the enemy, prioritizing stepping in front of Misaki and Hitomi as a shield. Misaki felt both ashamed that he needed such a defense and grateful all at the same time. "Last I checked, you lot haven't been active since your old King went down. So what might you be doing now?"
"Well, I don't know about the Níðhöggr that existed before I joined up, but…" Misaki would be the first to admit that he didn't understand what all was going on with Clan politics in the moment, but even the declaration that followed was enough to give him a chill, no matter how innocuous the words were:
"We're very much planning on taking back what we've lost."
And then Black Coat disappeared, and all that was left was the aftermath.
It took Misaki at least several minutes to feel like he could breathe again, but at least he wasn't the worst off. The SCEPTER4 members who had all had their powers sealed before Misaki and Hitomi had entered the fray were still down, though they could sit up with help, and a few were dropped against the upturned chunks of the ruined road. If the scene had looked like chaos before, the street outside of Ashinaka General now was nothing short of disaster.
"You doing okay, Yata?" Kusanagi-san asked, and Misaki grunted out a response. He could breathe alright, but his body still felt exhausted. "I've never been hit by the Black Clan's Aura myself, but I hear it feels pretty nasty if you have."
"You got that right," Zenjō said, already on his feet. Misaki couldn't even imagine trying to stand, and it was only in part because Hitomi was still collapsed onto his lap. "You two look like you got hit pretty hard. Especially the girl, since she was right in front of the blast."
Misaki hadn't ever wanted to talk nice to a Blue before, but Zenjō seemed to know what the hell was going on, so there was a moment for everything, he guessed. "She's…not a Clan member," Misaki said, the worry forming in him as he realized it. "That's not…going to mess with her, is it?" Hitomi may have been obnoxious as all hell, but she didn't deserve to get fucked up just because some out of their mind Clansman had decided to cause trouble.
Kusanagi grimaced, which wasn't the answer Misaki was looking for. Zenjō, at least, kept a neutral expression as he squatted down. "We might need to check her to be sure, but she should be sa—"
"Don't you fucking touch me."
Zenjō stopped mid reaching out towards Hitomi. Her voice was a bit hoarse, but it still carried plenty of bite. "Now, don't be like that, ojō-chan, you could be hurt. Look, I'm part of SCEPTER4, so I take care of civvies—"
Hitomi laughed, though it was a humorless sound. "Spare me your bullshit. Even if I need treatment, I'm sure as hell not going to let you of all people take care of me." Zenjō's expression was blank, no recognition whatsoever, nothing triggered in his memory by Hitomi's clear hatred. "You don't even remember, do you? Should've figured. Wish I had that luxury."
Kusanagi's concern was obvious. "Hitomi-chan, what…?"
"Hitomi!"
It was Eri's synthetic voice that snapped through the air, but even that artificial component didn't stop her panic from being obvious. She moved fast, her long skirt flying behind her, and Eri almost tripped over some rubble as she rushed to Hitomi's side, clutching onto her arm, her expression strained with tears forming in her eyes.
"Hitomi, are you alright? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said—"
"Don't worry about it, Onee-chan. I'm going to be fine." Hitomi's tone had changed to gentle reassurance, as if whatever issue she had with Zenjō had melted away for the time being. "Besides…" She raised her hand, forming shaky signs, and Eri took a few deep breaths before nodding. "I may be down for the count for a while, but I'll make it, no worries."
"Well, let's hope that's true," Kusanagi-san said, back to his usual easy smile. "Now, I'm not one for the Blues, either, but, Hitomi-chan, I think it would be for the best if you went with—"
"No."
The fact that Eri's voice was just as hard as Hitomi's threw Misaki off—and Kusanagi-san by the look of it, too. "I'm sorry, Kusanagi-san," Eri said, "but going with him is the one thing we can't do. If we must, we'd agree to have another member of SCEPTER4 escort us, but not him."
Kusanagi sighed, but he shrugged as he turned to Zenjō. "I'm sorry, but you heard the lady," he said, not sounding very apologetic at all. "If these girls don't want to go, then they're not going; simple as that."
While he'd just been talked down to, Zenjō didn't seem all that bothered by the fact. "Normally, I'd fight you on that, but, as you can see, I have a giant mess to clean up here, so you're not even close to my first priority. Shit, we've got the Black Clan coming back in, plus the Reds running around, and now a couple of outsiders; how'd Clanless get involved in this anyways…"
"That, you can blame on me, Gōki."
Zenjō ran a hand through his hair, looking resigned. "Urumana."
The Uru-dude stepped onto the scene next, coming from the same direction as Eri—maybe he'd gone back to get her? Either way, Misaki had considered Urumana to be some random guide the whole time. Sure, he seemed to be good enough at his job, but there wasn't anything super impressive about him. Now, this time, he seemed to at least to fit in the scene, despite this being ground zero for a major Clan conflict. The fact that one of the Blues knew him was just another piece of information that Misaki didn't have the wherewithal to process after everything.
Yeah, I'm not the type that figures all this stuff out. Damn, I wish I could've just punched the black coat bastard in the face; sure would've made me feel better right now. Well, Hitomi had done it at least, but that mean Misaki wouldn't have wanted to do it instead, just so he could feel like he'd contributed today.
"You know what, Urumana?" Zenjō said. "I'm not even gonna bother to lecture you on everything you've done wrong, because you know, and that won't do any damn good. But I do want to let you know that you've made my job so much harder than it needs to be, and I hope that you feel bad about it. Now, if you could not give me more shit to clean up—"
"I'll get out of your hair if you let me escort Hitomi-chan and Eri-chan to safety," Urumana said, making it so that Misaki didn't lose all possible respect for him. No matter how familiar he was with a SCEPTER4 member, at least he wasn't about to leave Hitomi and Eri in the middle of it.
Zenjō scowled. "You say that like you didn't drag them into this in the first place."
"Sorry, Gōki. It was something that I couldn't have avoided." That seemed to be answer enough, because Zenjō didn't argue—but he sure as hell didn't look happy about it.
"Fine, whatever, get on out of here. And take your little Red entourage with you!" Zenjō pivoted on his heel, marching over to where Awashima was giving out orders. "Have enough to clean up with Níðhöggr running around, Nezuto dragging more trouble onto my doorstep, some things never fucking change…"
Once he moved out of earshot, Kusanagi turned to Urumana. HOMRA's de-facto leader had his usual smile on his face, but Misaki noticed that there was a sharp edge to the expression. "Interesting company you keep there," Kusanagi-san said, sounding casual, though it was a clear test.
Urumana kept his expression just as pleasant. "As a guide, I do get around. Though Gōki and I haven't kept each other company for quite some time." Was it just Misaki or did Urumana sound…sad? If it weren't for the fact that, despite how much he'd tried otherwise, Misaki still missed the way he and Saru had used to be, before he turned into a goddamn traitor. "Still, we got permission to leave, so shouldn't we prioritize getting Hitomi-chan here to safety? I don't think she'll have any long-term effects from that attack, but she should rest."
Hitomi groaned. "If I have to go to the same doctor twice in one day…"
"No, no, Suga-chan would kill me if I interrupted her right now. I think that bar HOMRA's pretty close; mind if we impose, Kusanagi-san?"
Minenai had thought she wasn't going to get any sleep whatsoever, but she must've somehow managed to doze off, since when she opened her eyes her room was dark save for the glow of the city lights outside the window. Her arm had stopped hurting for the most part, but now it was stiff from lack of movement, and that sent a dull throb through the muscle and bone. Minenai passed the time by staring straight up at her ceiling, which was an uninteresting as ever, but it was at least a change from the back of her eyelids.
She hadn't dreamt. While Minenai didn't consider herself a super active dreamer by any means, she never seemed to have nighttime adventures after using her Strain ability in large quantities, like healing broken bones. It was almost like her body wanted to shut everything down to focus on recovery, to make up for the use of power.
It sure is fucking bullshit that my own goddamn ability wears me out so hard.
Anger always seemed to do the trick at waking her up, and Minenai pulled herself out of bed. She was craving a shower with her own preferred products (because the shit supplied by the hospital wasn't anywhere near good enough), but her stomach was also demanding food, and that need came first. Not even caring to check the time, Minenai combed out her hair with her fingers and headed back towards the kitchen.
The lack of any loud gaming sounds from the living room meant that the twins were already in bed, and Minenai was just fine with that. Oh, sure, she cared about them—having to go through the shit Strains did was bad enough, but to put up with that as kids? Empathy wasn't enough to describe what was going on there—but there was only so much sass she could put up with in one day. In fact, most of the group seemed to be out in some way or another, and the quiet was both nice and grating.
Thankfully, there was an easy solution, and Minenai popped the headphones out of her pocket and started up one of her relaxing playlists on her PDA, which served as the soundtrack to ratsing through the fridge for something to eat. Momoko had packed up the night's leftovers into pre-portioned plates, one of them baring a note indicating it as Minenai's portion so no one highjack it and leave her without a meal. Peeling off the plastic wrap first, Minenai popped the plate in the microwave and returned to the fridge to grab a soda that she so didn't need at this hour but was going to drink anyways.
"Mind grabbing me a can too, there, babe?"
Minenai clicked her tongue into the fridge but still grabbed an extra can anyways—though she tossed it across the kitchen to where Shinichiro stood for good measure. He caught it without a single complaint, still grinning at Minenai, despite her scowl.
"Don't look so sour, Minenai. I just want a nice chat, leader to team member, nothing more. Ah, unless you're unwilling, that is."
[Author's Notes]
I'm having a chill decompression day, so I don't have too much to say about this chapter. We're almost done with another day in this timeline, though, so there's that.
As usual, thanks to anyone who's reading. I appreciate you.
Next chapter will drop at the end of the month during the anniversary/holiday updates. Please look forward to it!
-Avi
[12.11.2021]