Weapons and Welders
Geez. Somewhere around late spring I tried to watch ‘Guilty Crown’ anime. It didn’t go well, and partly to wash the smell of me, I tried writing a fic. Ebikisu in GC-verse.
It didn’t go well either.
Then I tried it in another language.
Then I gave up on it.
Then I forgot the anime, like, completely.
Then I found the draft, and tried to finish it. It feels like I’ve butchered the grammar (ouch. English has way too many tenses for three levels of flash-backs), but hey. Like it’s the only thing I’ve butchered here.
Title: Weapons and Welders
Characters: Ebikisu, stress on Nika and Goseki.
Summary: they gave Nika a friend (no worries, it’s Senga), a place and a lot of power, and took all the rest away. Now they will be doing the same to another kid, and Nika will stand back.
Warning: it is not what you would call NC-17 (or R. Probably it's PG-13 range), but the law in my country would find here topics unsuitable for underage readers.
Nika recalls this talk much later. Later, when he hears (overhears) an offhanded remark:
‘Well done. Professionally.’
Yokoo is talking about Hasshi, a new talented kid they are handling at the moment. In 3 days he has gone from resolute refusal to cooperate to eager desire to stay. Not to… really, do something. Just stay.
It’s the beginning.
Nika knows. He is so far gone himself that he doesn’t even entertain the though to help Hasshi. Free him, let him go.
He agreeably grumbles:
‘Well done.’
His disgust shows in places Yokoo used for admiration. His intonations are wrong.
So far.
A little more along the road and it will change as well. The good old Nika will be gone forever.
The talk Nika recalls happened two years ago. He was just a scared wounded kid among unfamiliar elders. Miserable and young.
‘Let me see it.’ Fujigaya (whom he then didn’t know to be Fujigaya, just a cool guy in the uniform of a really prestigious school) kneeled by, gesturing towards Nika’s blooded and bruised hand.
Nika did show the wound.
Was it his first mistake? Was it his last?
They seemed so nice. So cool. So understanding.
They did let him meet Senga, who became his first real friend in what seemed like forever.
They never asked for anything. But then he lost opportunity to choose.
‘You don’t have to stay. You have life outside the movement. What about your family? What about school?’
He snorted. Back then.
And now, Hasshi.
‘It somehow seems dirty’, says Miyata. ‘To use Senga as the bait’.
‘It is dirty’, says Kitayama. ‘Take a miserable kid. Make him more miserable. And then show him all he never had, friendship, comradery…’
‘Luxury’, adds Fujigaya.
Kitayama laughs. ‘He is not you. Not so easy to buy’.
Fujigaya grimaces. ‘I’m way too expensive to be called easy, Mitsu.’
Miyata is there for the risk.
Kitayama, because he believes in their goal.
If not for the movement, Fujigaya would never be able to afford what he wants.
Yokoo claims they wouldn’t last a couple of days without him.
Tamamori, as Nika, says: ‘Well, it happened. Can’t back out now’.
Senga was born in the movement.
They kill people. There is no way around it. Nika tries not to think about it, but it’s difficult. And it’s not something that gets easier with the time.
Senga sees no problem.
‘If you don’t kill them, they’ll kill you.’
Nika knows the truth behind it. And still, the people they kill… They are normal. They have never known any other life.
‘You don’t want to kill’. Goseki says sliding by. Nika tries to shrug. He doesn’t like Goseki.
That’s when Goseki tells him about Ebi.
‘Totsu likes to kill. He didn’t, before. Took it really hard, prayed about everyone he had killed. Tried making altars. Buddhist thing, you know. He was so depressed then. But very sweet behind it. He still is, sweet, I mean. Sometimes. Usually right after he has killed. And not for long. Now he is here for the kills’.
Kawai, Nika learns, is in for fun.
Tsukada came from a very prominent military family. ‘He was raised to serve, but his family was abolished right after he has graduated. He even has the papers, with his real birth name’.
Goseki never tells about himself. Nika supposes he is also one of ‘it just happened’ bunch.
They kill people. They kill a lot of people. People on the streets, people in the cars.
‘These are easy’, says Kitayama. ‘You don’t need anything to get them. A little brain, a weapon or something. Anyone can do it.’
And they kill people from the military. Specially equipped, and trained. Supposedly ready for the attack.
Occasionally they also kill people in tanks and plains, people who are almost impossible to get.
Senga says it is easy.
‘You kinda think about that, and then you kinda shift yourself, and it is it. Cool, yeah?’
Kitayama is not more elaborate:
‘There are techniques. You’ll learn to do it’.
Nika buys his time. But finally, when he doesn’t see any other way and things start to happen… After he saw Senga ‘shifting’ himself and transforming himself into a Weapon, saw Kitayana grabbing that Weapon, and - boom! - suddenly there were no tanks on the street, and actually no street at all, only a burned out land (concrete slabs cracked and melted, evaporated and whatever)…
Nika goes to Goseki.
‘There are two sorts of… people’ he explains. ‘I guess I’ll call us people. Weapons and Welders. Weapons are like your friend, they shift and change, and afterwards some of them get adrenaline rush, and others do not remember a thing. And Welders… they are like Kitayama. And most of them get out of their minds. Sooner or later’.
‘Which are you?’ asks Nika, mortified.
‘Am I crazy?’
‘And me?..’
‘And you are also… not crazy. Yet.’
Nika becomes a Welder. He has no other choice, tanks are rushing on him, on them, and Senga is by his side, and there are people they must protect. No matter what.
It’s amazing. The best thing he has done in his life.
Never before has he had such a power. Such joy. Such…
‘It’s better than sex’, says Fujigaya. ‘And almost as good as shopping’.
‘I don’t like shopping’, Nika says. ‘And sex… Well…’
“Try it now. Before it is too late’, Miyata gives him a piece of advice. ‘Welding really takes the edge of it’.
Nika learns to see people for what they are. There are Welders (like him and Kitayama, and Miyata, and Yokoo, and Tsukada, and Totsuka, and this new kid Hasshi) and there are Weapons (Senga, ans Fujigaya, and Tamamori, and Kawai, and Goseki). And there are people who are people. Just people. Without any hidden… properties.
‘Why there are more Welders than Weapons?’ he asks.
‘Welders break,’ says Goseki. ‘Weapons… don’t. We may perish, we may need recharge, we may be destroyed or captured. But we never break’.
Nika feels disgust behind the words. He dislikes Goseki, more and more, and he also pities him, a Weapon who has never trusted his Welder, a Weapon who doesn’t remember a thing from his unique experiences.
Still, Goseki is often the only person who would answer his questions.
Nika learns from other Welders, but he can’t make himself like them. Kitayama is… too much above his level. Cool sempai, but not a friend. Yokoo is somewhere around the same level with Kitayama. Tsukada and Totsuka are just wrong and scary. It takes just one (mild) look from Totsuka for Nika to scary off.
Miyata says crazy things.
‘What crazy things?’ asks Senga.
Nika explains. About sex and stuff. How one needs to really know his Weapon.
‘But it’s true!’ happily exclaims Senga. And before Nika can say anything, he is already on him.
Afterwards, Nika admits that sex is probably the second best thing in the world. After welding.
He still doesn’t like Miyata.
Hasshi is lured in a couple of years after Nikaido.
They get Senga to friend him (Nikaido doesn’t like it. Senga sees no problem, but then Senga doesn’t see any problem in getting to know Kitayama really well, too.).
‘Well done’, comments Yokoo.
It’s not long before Hasshi is gently pushed towards Ebi.
‘You’ll scare him off’, laughs Fujigaya.
‘As if’, grins Kawai. ‘We are better than you.’
Nika doesn’t care for the kid. Not one bit. Not really.
He stays back - but not very far back - and watches the integration.
‘It gets better’, says Kitayama. Nika shrugs. He hasn’t noticed the other was so close to him.
Time goes on. Hasshi blends in. He admires Totsuka (how can he, wonders Nikaido), he gets to weld both of the Ebi Weapons. Afterwards they both lean on his shoulders, satisfied.
‘We’ve killed a hundred people today’, says Kitayama. ‘Well done, everyone’.
Nikaido almost physically feels how he shifts along, how hate and sarcasm leaves his expression.
‘I’m too long gone even to hate this place’, he says to Senga.
Senga smiles. Somewhere behind them Goseki and Tamamori lock gazes.
‘Welders break’, mouths one.
‘Weapons don’t’, answers the other in the same fashion.
PS LJ changed like everything since I last tried to post.
It didn’t go well either.
Then I tried it in another language.
Then I gave up on it.
Then I forgot the anime, like, completely.
Then I found the draft, and tried to finish it. It feels like I’ve butchered the grammar (ouch. English has way too many tenses for three levels of flash-backs), but hey. Like it’s the only thing I’ve butchered here.
Title: Weapons and Welders
Characters: Ebikisu, stress on Nika and Goseki.
Summary: they gave Nika a friend (no worries, it’s Senga), a place and a lot of power, and took all the rest away. Now they will be doing the same to another kid, and Nika will stand back.
Warning: it is not what you would call NC-17 (or R. Probably it's PG-13 range), but the law in my country would find here topics unsuitable for underage readers.
Nika recalls this talk much later. Later, when he hears (overhears) an offhanded remark:
‘Well done. Professionally.’
Yokoo is talking about Hasshi, a new talented kid they are handling at the moment. In 3 days he has gone from resolute refusal to cooperate to eager desire to stay. Not to… really, do something. Just stay.
It’s the beginning.
Nika knows. He is so far gone himself that he doesn’t even entertain the though to help Hasshi. Free him, let him go.
He agreeably grumbles:
‘Well done.’
His disgust shows in places Yokoo used for admiration. His intonations are wrong.
So far.
A little more along the road and it will change as well. The good old Nika will be gone forever.
The talk Nika recalls happened two years ago. He was just a scared wounded kid among unfamiliar elders. Miserable and young.
‘Let me see it.’ Fujigaya (whom he then didn’t know to be Fujigaya, just a cool guy in the uniform of a really prestigious school) kneeled by, gesturing towards Nika’s blooded and bruised hand.
Nika did show the wound.
Was it his first mistake? Was it his last?
They seemed so nice. So cool. So understanding.
They did let him meet Senga, who became his first real friend in what seemed like forever.
They never asked for anything. But then he lost opportunity to choose.
‘You don’t have to stay. You have life outside the movement. What about your family? What about school?’
He snorted. Back then.
And now, Hasshi.
‘It somehow seems dirty’, says Miyata. ‘To use Senga as the bait’.
‘It is dirty’, says Kitayama. ‘Take a miserable kid. Make him more miserable. And then show him all he never had, friendship, comradery…’
‘Luxury’, adds Fujigaya.
Kitayama laughs. ‘He is not you. Not so easy to buy’.
Fujigaya grimaces. ‘I’m way too expensive to be called easy, Mitsu.’
Miyata is there for the risk.
Kitayama, because he believes in their goal.
If not for the movement, Fujigaya would never be able to afford what he wants.
Yokoo claims they wouldn’t last a couple of days without him.
Tamamori, as Nika, says: ‘Well, it happened. Can’t back out now’.
Senga was born in the movement.
They kill people. There is no way around it. Nika tries not to think about it, but it’s difficult. And it’s not something that gets easier with the time.
Senga sees no problem.
‘If you don’t kill them, they’ll kill you.’
Nika knows the truth behind it. And still, the people they kill… They are normal. They have never known any other life.
‘You don’t want to kill’. Goseki says sliding by. Nika tries to shrug. He doesn’t like Goseki.
That’s when Goseki tells him about Ebi.
‘Totsu likes to kill. He didn’t, before. Took it really hard, prayed about everyone he had killed. Tried making altars. Buddhist thing, you know. He was so depressed then. But very sweet behind it. He still is, sweet, I mean. Sometimes. Usually right after he has killed. And not for long. Now he is here for the kills’.
Kawai, Nika learns, is in for fun.
Tsukada came from a very prominent military family. ‘He was raised to serve, but his family was abolished right after he has graduated. He even has the papers, with his real birth name’.
Goseki never tells about himself. Nika supposes he is also one of ‘it just happened’ bunch.
They kill people. They kill a lot of people. People on the streets, people in the cars.
‘These are easy’, says Kitayama. ‘You don’t need anything to get them. A little brain, a weapon or something. Anyone can do it.’
And they kill people from the military. Specially equipped, and trained. Supposedly ready for the attack.
Occasionally they also kill people in tanks and plains, people who are almost impossible to get.
Senga says it is easy.
‘You kinda think about that, and then you kinda shift yourself, and it is it. Cool, yeah?’
Kitayama is not more elaborate:
‘There are techniques. You’ll learn to do it’.
Nika buys his time. But finally, when he doesn’t see any other way and things start to happen… After he saw Senga ‘shifting’ himself and transforming himself into a Weapon, saw Kitayana grabbing that Weapon, and - boom! - suddenly there were no tanks on the street, and actually no street at all, only a burned out land (concrete slabs cracked and melted, evaporated and whatever)…
Nika goes to Goseki.
‘There are two sorts of… people’ he explains. ‘I guess I’ll call us people. Weapons and Welders. Weapons are like your friend, they shift and change, and afterwards some of them get adrenaline rush, and others do not remember a thing. And Welders… they are like Kitayama. And most of them get out of their minds. Sooner or later’.
‘Which are you?’ asks Nika, mortified.
‘Am I crazy?’
‘And me?..’
‘And you are also… not crazy. Yet.’
Nika becomes a Welder. He has no other choice, tanks are rushing on him, on them, and Senga is by his side, and there are people they must protect. No matter what.
It’s amazing. The best thing he has done in his life.
Never before has he had such a power. Such joy. Such…
‘It’s better than sex’, says Fujigaya. ‘And almost as good as shopping’.
‘I don’t like shopping’, Nika says. ‘And sex… Well…’
“Try it now. Before it is too late’, Miyata gives him a piece of advice. ‘Welding really takes the edge of it’.
Nika learns to see people for what they are. There are Welders (like him and Kitayama, and Miyata, and Yokoo, and Tsukada, and Totsuka, and this new kid Hasshi) and there are Weapons (Senga, ans Fujigaya, and Tamamori, and Kawai, and Goseki). And there are people who are people. Just people. Without any hidden… properties.
‘Why there are more Welders than Weapons?’ he asks.
‘Welders break,’ says Goseki. ‘Weapons… don’t. We may perish, we may need recharge, we may be destroyed or captured. But we never break’.
Nika feels disgust behind the words. He dislikes Goseki, more and more, and he also pities him, a Weapon who has never trusted his Welder, a Weapon who doesn’t remember a thing from his unique experiences.
Still, Goseki is often the only person who would answer his questions.
Nika learns from other Welders, but he can’t make himself like them. Kitayama is… too much above his level. Cool sempai, but not a friend. Yokoo is somewhere around the same level with Kitayama. Tsukada and Totsuka are just wrong and scary. It takes just one (mild) look from Totsuka for Nika to scary off.
Miyata says crazy things.
‘What crazy things?’ asks Senga.
Nika explains. About sex and stuff. How one needs to really know his Weapon.
‘But it’s true!’ happily exclaims Senga. And before Nika can say anything, he is already on him.
Afterwards, Nika admits that sex is probably the second best thing in the world. After welding.
He still doesn’t like Miyata.
Hasshi is lured in a couple of years after Nikaido.
They get Senga to friend him (Nikaido doesn’t like it. Senga sees no problem, but then Senga doesn’t see any problem in getting to know Kitayama really well, too.).
‘Well done’, comments Yokoo.
It’s not long before Hasshi is gently pushed towards Ebi.
‘You’ll scare him off’, laughs Fujigaya.
‘As if’, grins Kawai. ‘We are better than you.’
Nika doesn’t care for the kid. Not one bit. Not really.
He stays back - but not very far back - and watches the integration.
‘It gets better’, says Kitayama. Nika shrugs. He hasn’t noticed the other was so close to him.
Time goes on. Hasshi blends in. He admires Totsuka (how can he, wonders Nikaido), he gets to weld both of the Ebi Weapons. Afterwards they both lean on his shoulders, satisfied.
‘We’ve killed a hundred people today’, says Kitayama. ‘Well done, everyone’.
Nikaido almost physically feels how he shifts along, how hate and sarcasm leaves his expression.
‘I’m too long gone even to hate this place’, he says to Senga.
Senga smiles. Somewhere behind them Goseki and Tamamori lock gazes.
‘Welders break’, mouths one.
‘Weapons don’t’, answers the other in the same fashion.
PS LJ changed like everything since I last tried to post.