End of crackfic?
Feb. 4th, 2006 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76 Aya didn't know what Nanaka had told the others, but his prediction held true and they no longer came to the Koneko.
He didn't *want* to know what she'd told them. Imagining that hurt too badly. He already knew he'd broken her heart by breaking her illusions about the person he was. Imagining what Takeo thought of him now....
So he filled his days with flowers and irritating silly schoolgirls and his nights with darkness and murder, and tried to forget that there had ever been anything else.
And so it was that a rainy gray day found him at the worktable doing nothing more complicated than arranging some chrysanthemums, when the doorbell chimed and he looked up to see Nanaka once again in his shop, folding an umbrella closed.
She was quiet and subdued, wearing forgettable casual clothing--no hint of the bright birdlike witch's dress, no wand poking out of her handbag. No stepping through doors into other people's lives.
"Well," Youji declared from behind the till, where he'd been listlessly paging through a magazine, "I'll go see about getting us some coffee, then. Aya, mind the shop, would you?" And he closed his magazine and set it down, was out the door, nodding politely to Nanaka, and gone before either of them spoke, the door chime ringing in his wake.
She looked after him. "He forgot an umbrella," she observed.
"He'll take so long at the coffee shop that he'll be dry before he comes back," Aya wryly replied, knowing Youji's habits. "Why are you here, Nakatomi-kun?"
She turned to face him again. "I thought... I wanted to talk," she said.
Aya sighed internally and set down the stems he held between his fingers, waving at the chair opposite himself. She left the umbrella by the door and took the seat. He waited for her to start.
*
Nanaka marshalled her thoughts. She hadn't wanted to leave things between them the way they'd been left, she'd finally decided. Aburatsubo had been harsh, true, but... wouldn't she have been, too, if someone she liked discovered that she was really doing something like that at night?
Not that either of them were wide-eyed high school students anymore.
"I told everyone that you were doing undercover government work," she said finally, "and that we were endangering your cover. That's why they haven't been around."
"Thank you," he said.
"It's not the truth, though, is it?" she asked.
"No."
"I didn't think so." She studied him. He was a lot older than the sempai she'd fallen in love with. She chose her next words with care. "I don't think you'd just kill anyone, though, even to keep you sister alive."
He leaned back just slightly. "Do you know anything about Black Technology?" he asked. She shook her head and he continued, "It's technology created by a special class of people known as 'The Whispered.' They're apparently born with an aptitude... what they create is beyond the skill of normal humans to imagine. And in the wrong hands, it's very dangerous. That crate contained circuits which had the potential to create directed critical failure in whatever systems they were placed into. Imagine them on subways, in banks, in hospitals. Imagine their controls in the hands of people who only care about profit to their own endeavors. And then imagine what happens when they cause train crashes, power failures, and take the national budget for themselves. Just because they /can/." His eyes seemed to glow even though his words remained calm. "We didn't expect the guards. In retrospect, we should have."
"You killed all those people to save all those others?"
He nodded. "My employers pay to keep my sister alive, and they offer me the chance of revenge against the man who caused my family's deaths. But I did not act mindlessly when I made this choice. The blood on my hands isn't from anyone you should mourn."
*
"We're none of us innocent," Nanaka declared. Aya almost had to smile at her vehement protest. "We wouldn't have turned away just because you do this kind of work."
"I'm beyond saving, Nakatomi-kun," he explained, as gently as he could. "I made this choice, for several reasons, and I have to live with it. Even if I stepped away tomorrow--even if I *could*--do you really think that would change what I've done?" He tried to hold her eyes, to make her see. "The world I live in is not the one you do. They occupy the same space, but not the same meaning. Even if I stopped, left Weiss behind, I'd still walk down the street knowing that there were killers and slavers and chemical wars going on that never make the front page. I can't look at a police officer without wondering what he's being paid to turn a blind eye to. I can't live in your life any more. I'm not that person."
She was very still, until she finally asked, "Is there magic in that world at all?"
He frowned, thinking of Schwarz, and of chemicals that mutated man to beast. "I think so," he said slowly, considering it. "The wrong kind."
"If there's magic," she pressed, "no matter what kind, then there's hope." She gave a wry smile. "I sound like I've been listening to Sae again, don't I?"
"Yes," Aya replied.
"But you don't have to give up the magic, sempai," Nanaka insisted. "Not if it's in the world you live in too. You just have to use it right."
Aya leaned back in his chair again, thinking about that. It was true that before this moment he'd never thought some of the things Weiss had come up against could be magic--but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed likely they might be. The seeds of magic, badly grown, warped and misdirected... if he could use the bright magic he knew to unravel that, to set things right....
Slowly, the world changed.
If it was possible... how many chances had he missed, Aya wondered, when he was too determined not to sully magic with the darkness?
It might be that he was wrong, but even so, surely the idea was worth a chance.
To save one life....
He raised his eyes to Nanaka's. "Does everyone still meet over the ocean at the full moon?" he asked.
*
Aya ignored the muffled laughter emanating from Youji's direction. He knew the black and white unitard looked stupid, and the black thigh-highs with the ankle boots didn't help, but this was his wizard's uniform, and no wizard's ceremonial garb ever looked like normal clothing. He really wondered what he and Takeo had been thinking, though, when they decided to use spandex for the main material.
Then Aya remembered what he had been thinking, and what he had been pretty sure Takeo had been thinking, and promptly shut down that line of mental inquiry.
Adjusting his hat with one hand, he spun his new broom with the other. He'd crafted it by hand, ashwood with broomcorn bristles tied on with seawater-soaked strips of willow bark, as they were supposed to be. He was pleased with its weight and sturdiness. It felt like it would take a high wind or a crash without any problems.
In some small way, it felt also like a new beginning.
He laid it on the roof and stepped away, taking out his wand. He closed his eyes and called power with the chant: "Isaki apam mehinan eto caffe nam." He was meanly pleased by the way Youji's laughter choked off as the wind picked up, whipping his bangs and eartails around his face. His single earring, twin of the one held in his sister's hand, brushed Aya's cheek. He could *feel* the magic, and was not surprised as he opened his eyes to see his broom hovering, waiting, bathed in a soft radiance.
"Holy shit," Youji breathed from behind him.
"Toldja." Ken sounded smug.
Aya met Omi's eyes. Omi, impressed but always taking things in stride, merely shrugged and smiled. *He* probably thought it was good for Aya to have a hobby. The rest of them did, after all.
He resisted sauntering as he walked over to it--he'd done a good job, but he didn't need to rub Youji's nose into his talent--and placed a hand on the broom's shaft. With the other he tucked his wand through its safety pocket, two slits cut in the uniform to free up hands and ensure it wouldn't get lost. He looked over one shoulder at his teammates. "I'll be back before moonset," he said, and hopped on the broom. His ankles crossed naturally. Like the costume, the position probably looked fey, but he'd never understood how any of the others could sit astride their brooms. It was just plain uncomfortable and no more secure.
With a thought, one crimson glove holding lightly to the broom's shaft for guidance, he soared off into the night sky in the direction of the ocean.
He didn't *want* to know what she'd told them. Imagining that hurt too badly. He already knew he'd broken her heart by breaking her illusions about the person he was. Imagining what Takeo thought of him now....
So he filled his days with flowers and irritating silly schoolgirls and his nights with darkness and murder, and tried to forget that there had ever been anything else.
And so it was that a rainy gray day found him at the worktable doing nothing more complicated than arranging some chrysanthemums, when the doorbell chimed and he looked up to see Nanaka once again in his shop, folding an umbrella closed.
She was quiet and subdued, wearing forgettable casual clothing--no hint of the bright birdlike witch's dress, no wand poking out of her handbag. No stepping through doors into other people's lives.
"Well," Youji declared from behind the till, where he'd been listlessly paging through a magazine, "I'll go see about getting us some coffee, then. Aya, mind the shop, would you?" And he closed his magazine and set it down, was out the door, nodding politely to Nanaka, and gone before either of them spoke, the door chime ringing in his wake.
She looked after him. "He forgot an umbrella," she observed.
"He'll take so long at the coffee shop that he'll be dry before he comes back," Aya wryly replied, knowing Youji's habits. "Why are you here, Nakatomi-kun?"
She turned to face him again. "I thought... I wanted to talk," she said.
Aya sighed internally and set down the stems he held between his fingers, waving at the chair opposite himself. She left the umbrella by the door and took the seat. He waited for her to start.
Nanaka marshalled her thoughts. She hadn't wanted to leave things between them the way they'd been left, she'd finally decided. Aburatsubo had been harsh, true, but... wouldn't she have been, too, if someone she liked discovered that she was really doing something like that at night?
Not that either of them were wide-eyed high school students anymore.
"I told everyone that you were doing undercover government work," she said finally, "and that we were endangering your cover. That's why they haven't been around."
"Thank you," he said.
"It's not the truth, though, is it?" she asked.
"No."
"I didn't think so." She studied him. He was a lot older than the sempai she'd fallen in love with. She chose her next words with care. "I don't think you'd just kill anyone, though, even to keep you sister alive."
He leaned back just slightly. "Do you know anything about Black Technology?" he asked. She shook her head and he continued, "It's technology created by a special class of people known as 'The Whispered.' They're apparently born with an aptitude... what they create is beyond the skill of normal humans to imagine. And in the wrong hands, it's very dangerous. That crate contained circuits which had the potential to create directed critical failure in whatever systems they were placed into. Imagine them on subways, in banks, in hospitals. Imagine their controls in the hands of people who only care about profit to their own endeavors. And then imagine what happens when they cause train crashes, power failures, and take the national budget for themselves. Just because they /can/." His eyes seemed to glow even though his words remained calm. "We didn't expect the guards. In retrospect, we should have."
"You killed all those people to save all those others?"
He nodded. "My employers pay to keep my sister alive, and they offer me the chance of revenge against the man who caused my family's deaths. But I did not act mindlessly when I made this choice. The blood on my hands isn't from anyone you should mourn."
"We're none of us innocent," Nanaka declared. Aya almost had to smile at her vehement protest. "We wouldn't have turned away just because you do this kind of work."
"I'm beyond saving, Nakatomi-kun," he explained, as gently as he could. "I made this choice, for several reasons, and I have to live with it. Even if I stepped away tomorrow--even if I *could*--do you really think that would change what I've done?" He tried to hold her eyes, to make her see. "The world I live in is not the one you do. They occupy the same space, but not the same meaning. Even if I stopped, left Weiss behind, I'd still walk down the street knowing that there were killers and slavers and chemical wars going on that never make the front page. I can't look at a police officer without wondering what he's being paid to turn a blind eye to. I can't live in your life any more. I'm not that person."
She was very still, until she finally asked, "Is there magic in that world at all?"
He frowned, thinking of Schwarz, and of chemicals that mutated man to beast. "I think so," he said slowly, considering it. "The wrong kind."
"If there's magic," she pressed, "no matter what kind, then there's hope." She gave a wry smile. "I sound like I've been listening to Sae again, don't I?"
"Yes," Aya replied.
"But you don't have to give up the magic, sempai," Nanaka insisted. "Not if it's in the world you live in too. You just have to use it right."
Aya leaned back in his chair again, thinking about that. It was true that before this moment he'd never thought some of the things Weiss had come up against could be magic--but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed likely they might be. The seeds of magic, badly grown, warped and misdirected... if he could use the bright magic he knew to unravel that, to set things right....
Slowly, the world changed.
If it was possible... how many chances had he missed, Aya wondered, when he was too determined not to sully magic with the darkness?
It might be that he was wrong, but even so, surely the idea was worth a chance.
To save one life....
He raised his eyes to Nanaka's. "Does everyone still meet over the ocean at the full moon?" he asked.
Aya ignored the muffled laughter emanating from Youji's direction. He knew the black and white unitard looked stupid, and the black thigh-highs with the ankle boots didn't help, but this was his wizard's uniform, and no wizard's ceremonial garb ever looked like normal clothing. He really wondered what he and Takeo had been thinking, though, when they decided to use spandex for the main material.
Then Aya remembered what he had been thinking, and what he had been pretty sure Takeo had been thinking, and promptly shut down that line of mental inquiry.
Adjusting his hat with one hand, he spun his new broom with the other. He'd crafted it by hand, ashwood with broomcorn bristles tied on with seawater-soaked strips of willow bark, as they were supposed to be. He was pleased with its weight and sturdiness. It felt like it would take a high wind or a crash without any problems.
In some small way, it felt also like a new beginning.
He laid it on the roof and stepped away, taking out his wand. He closed his eyes and called power with the chant: "Isaki apam mehinan eto caffe nam." He was meanly pleased by the way Youji's laughter choked off as the wind picked up, whipping his bangs and eartails around his face. His single earring, twin of the one held in his sister's hand, brushed Aya's cheek. He could *feel* the magic, and was not surprised as he opened his eyes to see his broom hovering, waiting, bathed in a soft radiance.
"Holy shit," Youji breathed from behind him.
"Toldja." Ken sounded smug.
Aya met Omi's eyes. Omi, impressed but always taking things in stride, merely shrugged and smiled. *He* probably thought it was good for Aya to have a hobby. The rest of them did, after all.
He resisted sauntering as he walked over to it--he'd done a good job, but he didn't need to rub Youji's nose into his talent--and placed a hand on the broom's shaft. With the other he tucked his wand through its safety pocket, two slits cut in the uniform to free up hands and ensure it wouldn't get lost. He looked over one shoulder at his teammates. "I'll be back before moonset," he said, and hopped on the broom. His ankles crossed naturally. Like the costume, the position probably looked fey, but he'd never understood how any of the others could sit astride their brooms. It was just plain uncomfortable and no more secure.
With a thought, one crimson glove holding lightly to the broom's shaft for guidance, he soared off into the night sky in the direction of the ocean.
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-05 08:32 am (UTC)Out of interest, do the Whispered and Black Technology come from Weiss Kreuz? Because they show up in Full Metal Panic, so I'm curious as to who put the idea into what :)
no subject
Date: 2006-02-05 05:39 pm (UTC)And, no, the Whispered and Black Technology are from Full Metal Panic. I needed something for them to be going after, and borrowed the idea to make a three-way-cross. Because that universe would fit in with Weiss Kreuz entirely too well. I didn't mention it because I haven't been appending notes to the last few posted sections the way I should've.
no subject
Date: 2006-02-05 06:17 pm (UTC)Oh, and one typo that a spellchecker won't catch - "even to keep you sister alive" needs an r in there. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-02-07 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-07 08:00 pm (UTC)(will admit to a sneaking desire to see Schwarz get pwned by some REAL magic though. *grin*)