Deus Ex Machina - Chapter 6/?
Title: Deus Ex Machina - The Instruments of Fate
Chapter: 6/?
Pairings: Ohmiya, OhnoxOC, NinoxOC, AibaxOC + other background pairings
Rating: PG-13, but rating will go up
Disclaimer: I do not own Arashi
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
Chapter Six - Wishing Well
Standing on a bus stop feeling your head pop
Out in the night in the kind of night
Where you want to be out on the street, on the street
Crawling up the walls like a cat in heat
And the air is thin and it blows through your skin
And you feel like something is about to begin
But you don't know what and you don't know when
So you tear at your hair and you scratch at your skin
Beyond the bedrooms in the hall, across from the bathroom door was an archway that led into a very nontraditional room inside the house. It was like a dance studio, one wall entirely mirrored and light hardwood floors. It was long, spanning what must have been the entire length of the house and contained normal things, like weights and treadmills, ballet bars, but it also contained things that looked more like they belonged in a lab. There were study carrels partitioned off from each other for privacy each with complicated machinery for measuring heart rate and blood pressure as well as EEG machines and some that were unrecognizable. There were more bookshelves, overstuffed and chaotic like the ones around Sho’s desk and it was here amongst the stacks that Aubrey was hiding, legs tucked up to her chest in the corner where two shelves met. Several other shelves and teetering stacks of books blocked her view of the rest of the room and she closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander. She’d left Sachi and Aiba alone, recognizing the look on her friends face. If Sachi was going to take the reality of her having powers seriously she was going to work tirelessly until she’d perfected them, that was just how she was; nothing if not a perfectionist. There was no way Aubrey could help her with that, Sachi was about it embark on something that she could never hope to understand let alone assist with. Aubrey didn’t know anyone else in what appeared to be their new permanent home well enough to find out how she could be useful; would she just be getting in their way? Not to mention that Nino was openly hostile, MatsuJun was moody to put it mildly, Aiba was obviously preoccupied with Sachi, Sho seemed to be playing mother hen to everyone else and Ohno was often off in his own little world. She was completely alone in a strange new reality.
She started to think about things like what would happen when Sachi’s manager noticed she was missing, what would happen when she missed her kanji test tomorrow, when she stopped coming to school, when the public noticed that Sachi wasn’t coming back. That was when Aubrey realized that while all of Japan would notice that Sachi was gone, no one would notice that Aubrey was. A foreigner on exchange to a country on the other side of the world, eventually school would notice but Aubrey had been estranged from her father since she was sixteen, her mother long dead, no one would miss her. The only person who would think to look for her was in another room in this house. The realization made her feel more alone than she had in her entire life.
And she was scared. Who was Johnny? Why was he after them? To what end did he need them? How did he get so powerful? What would happen if they failed to stop him? All of these were questions that Aubrey would eventually need answers to. Even though Sho claimed Sachi had been targeted by this man, what did that really mean? What did he need Sachi for? What purpose would she serve him? Though her instinct was to trust these five men she couldn’t be sure that all the things they’d told her were the truth. Every story had two sides.
“It’s true, not in nature to be black an white ne? Everything has shades of grey.” Aubrey had been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed Ohno watching her, cat quiet, leaning sleepily against the shelf across from her. His dark eyes tracking her movements with interest despite the fact that he looked like he could barely keep them open. He had a stark smudge of blue paint across his nose and his long hair was tousled like he’d just awoken. It wasn’t fair that every time she saw him she felt a little breathless. As far as she’d always been concerned, the male gender was a non issue. They didn’t even ping on her radar as something that needed paying attention to when she had things like school to concentrate on but for some reason ever since she’d met Ohno she couldn’t help but be drawn to him. When he looked on her she felt all the hair on the back of her neck stand up and her arms rise in goosebumps. He awoke something inside her she hadn’t know she could feel.
“What?” Had he heard all of that? Had she been speaking out loud just now? He lurched forward a bit unsteady on his feet and dropped unceremoniously next to her, leaning back against the dusty books as if that small movement had been so much effort.
“You are projecting your thoughts quite loudly,” he explained with his eyes closed, she could see the midnight blue smudges on the backs of his eyelids and the dark circles underneath. An hour ago in the living-room he’d been fine, what could have happened between then and now that had caused him such exhaustion? He chuckled at the alarm on her face, “Don’t worry, I’m the only telepath in here, the others can’t hear you.”
“What do you mean projecting?” He searched her face for a moment intently but the sensation that came with it also felt like soft fingers brushing her cheeks. He was mapping her face with his eyes but also his mind; the realization made her stomach flutter nervously.
“They haven’t realized it yet but you’re a source, a powerful one,” he explained cryptically, “I can only tell because... I need you the most.” he did touch her then, his long elegant fingers reaching out to glide over the inside of her wrist, barely there. What did that mean. She couldn’t stop her pulse from picking up under his fingertips.
“I don’t understand,” She’d started whispering, like talking at a normal tone of voice in front of him would be like yelling in a library. He slid closer to her carefully, moving as slowly as possible so as not to startle her and his other hand came up to trace her collarbone carefully smoothing along the skin. Her heart faltered in her chest. His eyes sharpened and his gaze became hungry. Aubrey started shivering, partly out of excitement and partly out of fear; she was scared of so much right now. She was terrified for what this meant, about letting a perfect stranger touch her, about wanting him to keep touching her, but mostly she was scared of the ever increasing darkness in his eyes.
He looked like a predator. A look that would have been completely at home on Nino’s features looked foreign on Ohno’s gentle features. He was invading her space, small frame pressing against her now as he buried his nose in her hair breathing in deeply and exhaling like a hiss. Something about him was off; the fingers skating across her now gripped her wrists tightly and pinned them to the shelf behind her jerkily, pressing against the bones there making her arms weak.
“Stop - please,” Her voice warbled as she pushed against his hold but he was unrelenting. He pulled away from her to look at her face again and she saw his eyes were completely black, the whites drowned out and nonexistent; only black holes remaining. She couldn’t help it, she screamed. Despite his actions he looked scared and desperate, simultaneously trying to pull away from her and get closer.
“I’m sorry-” his normally soft voice came out rough and gravelly, “I just need-” he broke off, letting out a low moan as his lips came in contact with the pulse point on her neck and her vision exploded in pain as she felt something being ripped out of her against her will.
The searing agony only lasted a second as the small man was dragged off of her roughly, pulled back and restrained by Aiba who despite being taller and more physically imposing had to throw Ohno to the ground and use all of his body weight to keep him there. Everyone seemed to be in the small space at once, shouting to each other and trying to get her to focus though her eyes felt like they were rolling back in her head.
“Aubrey!” Someone had her face in both hands and was forcing her to look at them, to snap to attention. Her eyes met gold and she knew it was Nino. He was too close, only inches away and the look on his face... was stricken. She wanted to laugh and tell him it was okay, to push him away but she couldn’t find the strength to lift her arm. Her whole body felt numb except of course for when she felt an aftershock of the pain, a lingering phantom echoing in her veins. Sachi was right on Nino’s back looking anxiously over his shoulder saying her name desperately.
“Jun! Take care of that!” Sho was shouting pointing at Ohno who’d stopped struggling and was now just starting at her with those empty black pools unblinking, watching the labored rise and fall of her chest with a blank frown. Matsujun entered her vision from somewhere to the left, hair soaking wet and a towel around his neck fresh from the shower, and helped Aiba haul Ohno to his feet and lead him out of the room.
“What did he do to her!” Sachi was demanding thumping Nino on the back with her fist but he didn’t seem to hear her; he was still holding Aubrey looking so worried that Aubrey could almost make the mistake of thinking that he actually didn’t hate her.
“Come back,” his demand was a harsh order, not a request, and then he pressed his forehead to hers and whispered too low for anyone to hear, “Come back to me.”
“Too close,” she managed to groan out and Sachi pushed Nino out of her way and surrounded the redhead in a bone crushing hug.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” Sachi growled not showing any intentions of releasing her anytime soon. Aubrey let out a laugh that sounded more like choking and lifted her limp arms to hug back as best she could. Sprawled on his back Nino didn’t have the energy to snap at Sachi for pushing him, he just let the tension go out of his body in relief.
“You’re hurting me.” She mumbled and Sachi finally sat back on her heels, pushing Aubrey’s bangs off her face to feel her forehead in attempt to make sure she wasn’t feverish; though that was completely useless Aubrey didn’t stop her.
“Nino,” Sho said after a minute, “go take over for Aiba, we need him to comeback for healing.” Nino dragged himself off the ground without a word and did as he was told, glancing back over his shoulder at her before going around the bookcase and disappearing from view. The emotions on his face had been difficult to read. She could feel the strength rebuilding itself in her body and after a few minutes she was able to move her limbs at will again, to feel her extremities, to sit up under her own power. Her head finally stopped swimming. Through it all her mind kept coming to rest on Ohno’s face. He’s looked so desperate, and so infinitely sad. Eva knew there had to be something going on that no one was telling her. Sho knelt to one side of her, taking her pulse periodically, checking her pupils with a flashlight. He looked grim, his forehead crinkled with worry; he would not meet her eyes. By the time Aiba came whipping back around the bookshelf Aubrey felt absolutely fine again though she was having no luck convincing her two fussing nursemaids of that.
“Everything okay in here?” he asked wriggling between the two and flashing Aubrey a reassuring smile. He reached out and placed his fingers on both of her temples closing his eyes. She didn’t know if he realized it or not but he was humming nervously under his breath, a strange disjointed melody. Sachi scooted away from him unconsciously and Aubrey wondered at the nervous tension hanging over those two who’d seemed to get along so easily since the beginning. “She’s completely fine Sho. She regenerated the energy he took like it was nothing. She’s strong, powerful.” He dropped his hands and looked at Sachi. The dark haired girl looked away.
“I was afraid of that,” Sho said darkly.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Aubrey managed to grumble. Aiba reached out and ruffled her hair affectionately with a giggle.
“Looks like you aren’t as uninvolved in this as we’d originally thought.”
Chapter: 6/?
Pairings: Ohmiya, OhnoxOC, NinoxOC, AibaxOC + other background pairings
Rating: PG-13, but rating will go up
Disclaimer: I do not own Arashi
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
Chapter Six - Wishing Well
Standing on a bus stop feeling your head pop
Out in the night in the kind of night
Where you want to be out on the street, on the street
Crawling up the walls like a cat in heat
And the air is thin and it blows through your skin
And you feel like something is about to begin
But you don't know what and you don't know when
So you tear at your hair and you scratch at your skin
Beyond the bedrooms in the hall, across from the bathroom door was an archway that led into a very nontraditional room inside the house. It was like a dance studio, one wall entirely mirrored and light hardwood floors. It was long, spanning what must have been the entire length of the house and contained normal things, like weights and treadmills, ballet bars, but it also contained things that looked more like they belonged in a lab. There were study carrels partitioned off from each other for privacy each with complicated machinery for measuring heart rate and blood pressure as well as EEG machines and some that were unrecognizable. There were more bookshelves, overstuffed and chaotic like the ones around Sho’s desk and it was here amongst the stacks that Aubrey was hiding, legs tucked up to her chest in the corner where two shelves met. Several other shelves and teetering stacks of books blocked her view of the rest of the room and she closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander. She’d left Sachi and Aiba alone, recognizing the look on her friends face. If Sachi was going to take the reality of her having powers seriously she was going to work tirelessly until she’d perfected them, that was just how she was; nothing if not a perfectionist. There was no way Aubrey could help her with that, Sachi was about it embark on something that she could never hope to understand let alone assist with. Aubrey didn’t know anyone else in what appeared to be their new permanent home well enough to find out how she could be useful; would she just be getting in their way? Not to mention that Nino was openly hostile, MatsuJun was moody to put it mildly, Aiba was obviously preoccupied with Sachi, Sho seemed to be playing mother hen to everyone else and Ohno was often off in his own little world. She was completely alone in a strange new reality.
She started to think about things like what would happen when Sachi’s manager noticed she was missing, what would happen when she missed her kanji test tomorrow, when she stopped coming to school, when the public noticed that Sachi wasn’t coming back. That was when Aubrey realized that while all of Japan would notice that Sachi was gone, no one would notice that Aubrey was. A foreigner on exchange to a country on the other side of the world, eventually school would notice but Aubrey had been estranged from her father since she was sixteen, her mother long dead, no one would miss her. The only person who would think to look for her was in another room in this house. The realization made her feel more alone than she had in her entire life.
And she was scared. Who was Johnny? Why was he after them? To what end did he need them? How did he get so powerful? What would happen if they failed to stop him? All of these were questions that Aubrey would eventually need answers to. Even though Sho claimed Sachi had been targeted by this man, what did that really mean? What did he need Sachi for? What purpose would she serve him? Though her instinct was to trust these five men she couldn’t be sure that all the things they’d told her were the truth. Every story had two sides.
“It’s true, not in nature to be black an white ne? Everything has shades of grey.” Aubrey had been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed Ohno watching her, cat quiet, leaning sleepily against the shelf across from her. His dark eyes tracking her movements with interest despite the fact that he looked like he could barely keep them open. He had a stark smudge of blue paint across his nose and his long hair was tousled like he’d just awoken. It wasn’t fair that every time she saw him she felt a little breathless. As far as she’d always been concerned, the male gender was a non issue. They didn’t even ping on her radar as something that needed paying attention to when she had things like school to concentrate on but for some reason ever since she’d met Ohno she couldn’t help but be drawn to him. When he looked on her she felt all the hair on the back of her neck stand up and her arms rise in goosebumps. He awoke something inside her she hadn’t know she could feel.
“What?” Had he heard all of that? Had she been speaking out loud just now? He lurched forward a bit unsteady on his feet and dropped unceremoniously next to her, leaning back against the dusty books as if that small movement had been so much effort.
“You are projecting your thoughts quite loudly,” he explained with his eyes closed, she could see the midnight blue smudges on the backs of his eyelids and the dark circles underneath. An hour ago in the living-room he’d been fine, what could have happened between then and now that had caused him such exhaustion? He chuckled at the alarm on her face, “Don’t worry, I’m the only telepath in here, the others can’t hear you.”
“What do you mean projecting?” He searched her face for a moment intently but the sensation that came with it also felt like soft fingers brushing her cheeks. He was mapping her face with his eyes but also his mind; the realization made her stomach flutter nervously.
“They haven’t realized it yet but you’re a source, a powerful one,” he explained cryptically, “I can only tell because... I need you the most.” he did touch her then, his long elegant fingers reaching out to glide over the inside of her wrist, barely there. What did that mean. She couldn’t stop her pulse from picking up under his fingertips.
“I don’t understand,” She’d started whispering, like talking at a normal tone of voice in front of him would be like yelling in a library. He slid closer to her carefully, moving as slowly as possible so as not to startle her and his other hand came up to trace her collarbone carefully smoothing along the skin. Her heart faltered in her chest. His eyes sharpened and his gaze became hungry. Aubrey started shivering, partly out of excitement and partly out of fear; she was scared of so much right now. She was terrified for what this meant, about letting a perfect stranger touch her, about wanting him to keep touching her, but mostly she was scared of the ever increasing darkness in his eyes.
He looked like a predator. A look that would have been completely at home on Nino’s features looked foreign on Ohno’s gentle features. He was invading her space, small frame pressing against her now as he buried his nose in her hair breathing in deeply and exhaling like a hiss. Something about him was off; the fingers skating across her now gripped her wrists tightly and pinned them to the shelf behind her jerkily, pressing against the bones there making her arms weak.
“Stop - please,” Her voice warbled as she pushed against his hold but he was unrelenting. He pulled away from her to look at her face again and she saw his eyes were completely black, the whites drowned out and nonexistent; only black holes remaining. She couldn’t help it, she screamed. Despite his actions he looked scared and desperate, simultaneously trying to pull away from her and get closer.
“I’m sorry-” his normally soft voice came out rough and gravelly, “I just need-” he broke off, letting out a low moan as his lips came in contact with the pulse point on her neck and her vision exploded in pain as she felt something being ripped out of her against her will.
The searing agony only lasted a second as the small man was dragged off of her roughly, pulled back and restrained by Aiba who despite being taller and more physically imposing had to throw Ohno to the ground and use all of his body weight to keep him there. Everyone seemed to be in the small space at once, shouting to each other and trying to get her to focus though her eyes felt like they were rolling back in her head.
“Aubrey!” Someone had her face in both hands and was forcing her to look at them, to snap to attention. Her eyes met gold and she knew it was Nino. He was too close, only inches away and the look on his face... was stricken. She wanted to laugh and tell him it was okay, to push him away but she couldn’t find the strength to lift her arm. Her whole body felt numb except of course for when she felt an aftershock of the pain, a lingering phantom echoing in her veins. Sachi was right on Nino’s back looking anxiously over his shoulder saying her name desperately.
“Jun! Take care of that!” Sho was shouting pointing at Ohno who’d stopped struggling and was now just starting at her with those empty black pools unblinking, watching the labored rise and fall of her chest with a blank frown. Matsujun entered her vision from somewhere to the left, hair soaking wet and a towel around his neck fresh from the shower, and helped Aiba haul Ohno to his feet and lead him out of the room.
“What did he do to her!” Sachi was demanding thumping Nino on the back with her fist but he didn’t seem to hear her; he was still holding Aubrey looking so worried that Aubrey could almost make the mistake of thinking that he actually didn’t hate her.
“Come back,” his demand was a harsh order, not a request, and then he pressed his forehead to hers and whispered too low for anyone to hear, “Come back to me.”
“Too close,” she managed to groan out and Sachi pushed Nino out of her way and surrounded the redhead in a bone crushing hug.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” Sachi growled not showing any intentions of releasing her anytime soon. Aubrey let out a laugh that sounded more like choking and lifted her limp arms to hug back as best she could. Sprawled on his back Nino didn’t have the energy to snap at Sachi for pushing him, he just let the tension go out of his body in relief.
“You’re hurting me.” She mumbled and Sachi finally sat back on her heels, pushing Aubrey’s bangs off her face to feel her forehead in attempt to make sure she wasn’t feverish; though that was completely useless Aubrey didn’t stop her.
“Nino,” Sho said after a minute, “go take over for Aiba, we need him to comeback for healing.” Nino dragged himself off the ground without a word and did as he was told, glancing back over his shoulder at her before going around the bookcase and disappearing from view. The emotions on his face had been difficult to read. She could feel the strength rebuilding itself in her body and after a few minutes she was able to move her limbs at will again, to feel her extremities, to sit up under her own power. Her head finally stopped swimming. Through it all her mind kept coming to rest on Ohno’s face. He’s looked so desperate, and so infinitely sad. Eva knew there had to be something going on that no one was telling her. Sho knelt to one side of her, taking her pulse periodically, checking her pupils with a flashlight. He looked grim, his forehead crinkled with worry; he would not meet her eyes. By the time Aiba came whipping back around the bookshelf Aubrey felt absolutely fine again though she was having no luck convincing her two fussing nursemaids of that.
“Everything okay in here?” he asked wriggling between the two and flashing Aubrey a reassuring smile. He reached out and placed his fingers on both of her temples closing his eyes. She didn’t know if he realized it or not but he was humming nervously under his breath, a strange disjointed melody. Sachi scooted away from him unconsciously and Aubrey wondered at the nervous tension hanging over those two who’d seemed to get along so easily since the beginning. “She’s completely fine Sho. She regenerated the energy he took like it was nothing. She’s strong, powerful.” He dropped his hands and looked at Sachi. The dark haired girl looked away.
“I was afraid of that,” Sho said darkly.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Aubrey managed to grumble. Aiba reached out and ruffled her hair affectionately with a giggle.
“Looks like you aren’t as uninvolved in this as we’d originally thought.”