Witch Hunter Robin/Sapphire And Steel: A Ball Bouncing (PG)
Summary: "Imagine time like a rubber ball, bouncing. The first impact is the incident, and the bounces are like echoes. I can keep the ball bouncing for longer, that's all."
Notes: First snippet written as a reverse birthday present for my birthday on the 13th, this one for thesilentpoet, who wanted WHR or Sapphire and Steel, and wound up with something like a fusion. Thanks go to sylverice2 for beta work.
A BALL BOUNCING
*
What a morning. If she had any sense, she would have gone to bed at a reasonable hour last night. But she got caught up in that show on television, and then she overslept and missed her usual train and the one after it, and now here she was, later than even Dojima used to come in.
At least the sidewalks are mostly deserted. Karasuma dodges a young mother, then her son behind her, intently bouncing his ball up and down and ignoring his mother's plaintive requests to keep up. The gatekeeper glances up from his paper, and lets her in without more than a sympathetic head-shake.
The elevator groans as it shudders to the usual stop. Karasuma frowns at the ceiling. She should talk to the Chief about getting that checked: this entire building is overdue for an inspection. She steps out of the elevator and around the corner, trying not to blush. She's running far too late: everyone else is here.
Another metallic groan behind her, and she spins in time to see the elevator door buckle, then crumble inward. The floor beneath her feet shakes, and Dojima behind her cries out. They're under attack again -- no, worse, the building is simply falling apart around them --
Just as the stones begin to fall, the phone rings.
*
"You said you could help."
"I can try, yes."
"Then please try."
*
Late, late, late -- and not only because her watch told her so. She shouldn't have gotten caught up in that television show last night and overslept, but it's more than that. There's something waiting at the office, something she's forgotten to even write down.
Karasuma hurries past a young woman trying to tug her son along the street, and hops into the elevator up. The feeling is getting stronger: not just the feeling that she's forgotten something, but a sort of terror she's only felt in the field before. She's missing something. What is she missing?
The elevator groans as it shudders to the usual stop, and she frowns up at the ceiling. Maybe it's a meeting with the Chief about the building inspections that she's forgetting? No, that doesn't quite feel right. As the door slides open, she hears the phone ring, then Michael's voice as he answers it.
She doesn't hide in the archway, because she's not that silly, and besides she's late and hiding will only make her later. So she walks past Michael as he says, "Yes," and, "Okay," and "But--" and doesn't speculate who's on the other end of the line. Even though she's here now, the feeling of immanence hasn't gone away.
Michael hangs up the phone with a soft click, and calls out, "Chief!"
The Chief looks up grumpily over the edge of his teacup. "What?"
"We've got to get out."
"Why?"
Michael's eyes flicker down to the phone, too quickly to notice unless you're watching as closely as Karasuma is ashamed to admit she's watching. She turns away and goes to the window, both to get coffee and to pretend she's not paying that much attention, as Michael says, "The building is about to fall."
"What? How would you know?"
"Because..."
"There was a phone call," Haruto volunteers from across the office.
"A threat, then?" The Chief stands up and gestures for Hattori to hand him his coat. "You shouldn't be so indirect. If there's a threat --"
"It wasn't a threat!"
The little boy is still outside with his mother, playing with a ball: bounce, catch, bounce, catch. Karasuma realizes she's gripping her mug so tightly that her knuckles stand out white. She hasn't taken off her coat yet. Is this what she's been expecting? Should she head for the stairs?
"Then what? You should be used to crank calls by now. If you saw something, then just say so. I can't interrupt everything because someone supposedly called and told us--"
"--not 'supposed,' Chief, I know there was a phone--"
"--can't just wait, it's supposed to happen--"
The voices are rising behind her, overlapping, the Chief and Haruto and Michael. Karasuma grimaces, and then hears a slow, shuddering groan of wood and metal.
The little boy below looks up, and his mouth opens. The ball falls from his hand, and goes bouncing along the sidewalk unheeded. Someone steps out of the shadows and bends to pick it up. It's a tall blonde woman in blue, nobody Karasuma recognizes even from the files, who stares down at the ball as if she's never seen such a thing. Just beyond her is a figure in long skirts that Karasuma does recognize, red-blonde hair no longer bound up, raising something to her ear.
The warning on the phone! But the realization comes to late. The stones have begun to fall.
*
"We stopped the Witch accelerating things."
"Not quickly enough for those inside. Can you push things back further, Sapphire-san?"
"No. Even that far is difficult."
"...once more, then."
"Only once."
"It will be enough."
*
Karasuma hesitates on the front steps of the STN-J, massaging her temples. It wasn't quite a headache, just a feeling of pressure. She shouldn't have stayed up so late. She nearly walked into a little boy playing with his ball. But it felt like more than petty annoyance.
Exercise, she decides firmly. If she takes the stairs instead of the elevator, that will clear her head.
She reaches the top floor in time to see Michael set down the phone and look around. "Is something wrong?" she asks in an undertone.
"Karasuma-san!" He looks relieved. "Could you tell the Chief we have to leave, now."
"What?" She glances toward the window, and is oddly relieved to see the little boy still bouncing his ball. "What is it? Are we under attack?"
Michael offers her the phone, eyes steady on hers.
That means one of two things. "A threat?" She keeps her voice quiet.
"No."
Then -- right. Her headache isn't pressing on her any more. "I'll tell him," she says firmly. "Get the others out in the meantime. Tell them it's a drill if they ask."
They get out only just in time. The rest stop near the gate, panting: the Chief has his hands on his knees, and Michael is staring back at the building, eyes wide as if he can't believe what just happened. Karasuma steps through the metal gate and looks down the street, not sure what she's really expecting to see.
The little boy's ball rests in the hand of an oddly familiar woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and a blue dress in a Western style. She looks down an alley, her back to Karasuma. Facing her across the alley entrance is a very familiar figure, red-blonde hair down over her shoulders. A hand reaches out from the alley shadows and takes Robin's. She smiles over at them, then glances back at Karasuma and gives her a little wave before both she and the blonde vanish into those same shadows.
"Robin-chan?"
Karasuma turns back to find the Chief giving her a knowing look. She shrugs a little. "With someone else, probably another Witch," she says.
"If she saved our lives, does that make her still a Witch?" Haruto asks nobody in particular.
"It wouldn't be the first time," the Chief says, as if that were an answer, and straightens up. "Right. We need to call the police. And probably the insurance company."
"But we haven't been inspected for years," Karasuma reminds him, and jsut like that, things are as close to normal as they could be. If the back of Karasuma's mind is worrying about Robin, and why she chose now to step out of the shadows...well, she'll keep that to herself for now.
-end-
Notes: First snippet written as a reverse birthday present for my birthday on the 13th, this one for thesilentpoet, who wanted WHR or Sapphire and Steel, and wound up with something like a fusion. Thanks go to sylverice2 for beta work.
A BALL BOUNCING
*
What a morning. If she had any sense, she would have gone to bed at a reasonable hour last night. But she got caught up in that show on television, and then she overslept and missed her usual train and the one after it, and now here she was, later than even Dojima used to come in.
At least the sidewalks are mostly deserted. Karasuma dodges a young mother, then her son behind her, intently bouncing his ball up and down and ignoring his mother's plaintive requests to keep up. The gatekeeper glances up from his paper, and lets her in without more than a sympathetic head-shake.
The elevator groans as it shudders to the usual stop. Karasuma frowns at the ceiling. She should talk to the Chief about getting that checked: this entire building is overdue for an inspection. She steps out of the elevator and around the corner, trying not to blush. She's running far too late: everyone else is here.
Another metallic groan behind her, and she spins in time to see the elevator door buckle, then crumble inward. The floor beneath her feet shakes, and Dojima behind her cries out. They're under attack again -- no, worse, the building is simply falling apart around them --
Just as the stones begin to fall, the phone rings.
*
"You said you could help."
"I can try, yes."
"Then please try."
*
Late, late, late -- and not only because her watch told her so. She shouldn't have gotten caught up in that television show last night and overslept, but it's more than that. There's something waiting at the office, something she's forgotten to even write down.
Karasuma hurries past a young woman trying to tug her son along the street, and hops into the elevator up. The feeling is getting stronger: not just the feeling that she's forgotten something, but a sort of terror she's only felt in the field before. She's missing something. What is she missing?
The elevator groans as it shudders to the usual stop, and she frowns up at the ceiling. Maybe it's a meeting with the Chief about the building inspections that she's forgetting? No, that doesn't quite feel right. As the door slides open, she hears the phone ring, then Michael's voice as he answers it.
She doesn't hide in the archway, because she's not that silly, and besides she's late and hiding will only make her later. So she walks past Michael as he says, "Yes," and, "Okay," and "But--" and doesn't speculate who's on the other end of the line. Even though she's here now, the feeling of immanence hasn't gone away.
Michael hangs up the phone with a soft click, and calls out, "Chief!"
The Chief looks up grumpily over the edge of his teacup. "What?"
"We've got to get out."
"Why?"
Michael's eyes flicker down to the phone, too quickly to notice unless you're watching as closely as Karasuma is ashamed to admit she's watching. She turns away and goes to the window, both to get coffee and to pretend she's not paying that much attention, as Michael says, "The building is about to fall."
"What? How would you know?"
"Because..."
"There was a phone call," Haruto volunteers from across the office.
"A threat, then?" The Chief stands up and gestures for Hattori to hand him his coat. "You shouldn't be so indirect. If there's a threat --"
"It wasn't a threat!"
The little boy is still outside with his mother, playing with a ball: bounce, catch, bounce, catch. Karasuma realizes she's gripping her mug so tightly that her knuckles stand out white. She hasn't taken off her coat yet. Is this what she's been expecting? Should she head for the stairs?
"Then what? You should be used to crank calls by now. If you saw something, then just say so. I can't interrupt everything because someone supposedly called and told us--"
"--not 'supposed,' Chief, I know there was a phone--"
"--can't just wait, it's supposed to happen--"
The voices are rising behind her, overlapping, the Chief and Haruto and Michael. Karasuma grimaces, and then hears a slow, shuddering groan of wood and metal.
The little boy below looks up, and his mouth opens. The ball falls from his hand, and goes bouncing along the sidewalk unheeded. Someone steps out of the shadows and bends to pick it up. It's a tall blonde woman in blue, nobody Karasuma recognizes even from the files, who stares down at the ball as if she's never seen such a thing. Just beyond her is a figure in long skirts that Karasuma does recognize, red-blonde hair no longer bound up, raising something to her ear.
The warning on the phone! But the realization comes to late. The stones have begun to fall.
*
"We stopped the Witch accelerating things."
"Not quickly enough for those inside. Can you push things back further, Sapphire-san?"
"No. Even that far is difficult."
"...once more, then."
"Only once."
"It will be enough."
*
Karasuma hesitates on the front steps of the STN-J, massaging her temples. It wasn't quite a headache, just a feeling of pressure. She shouldn't have stayed up so late. She nearly walked into a little boy playing with his ball. But it felt like more than petty annoyance.
Exercise, she decides firmly. If she takes the stairs instead of the elevator, that will clear her head.
She reaches the top floor in time to see Michael set down the phone and look around. "Is something wrong?" she asks in an undertone.
"Karasuma-san!" He looks relieved. "Could you tell the Chief we have to leave, now."
"What?" She glances toward the window, and is oddly relieved to see the little boy still bouncing his ball. "What is it? Are we under attack?"
Michael offers her the phone, eyes steady on hers.
That means one of two things. "A threat?" She keeps her voice quiet.
"No."
Then -- right. Her headache isn't pressing on her any more. "I'll tell him," she says firmly. "Get the others out in the meantime. Tell them it's a drill if they ask."
They get out only just in time. The rest stop near the gate, panting: the Chief has his hands on his knees, and Michael is staring back at the building, eyes wide as if he can't believe what just happened. Karasuma steps through the metal gate and looks down the street, not sure what she's really expecting to see.
The little boy's ball rests in the hand of an oddly familiar woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and a blue dress in a Western style. She looks down an alley, her back to Karasuma. Facing her across the alley entrance is a very familiar figure, red-blonde hair down over her shoulders. A hand reaches out from the alley shadows and takes Robin's. She smiles over at them, then glances back at Karasuma and gives her a little wave before both she and the blonde vanish into those same shadows.
"Robin-chan?"
Karasuma turns back to find the Chief giving her a knowing look. She shrugs a little. "With someone else, probably another Witch," she says.
"If she saved our lives, does that make her still a Witch?" Haruto asks nobody in particular.
"It wouldn't be the first time," the Chief says, as if that were an answer, and straightens up. "Right. We need to call the police. And probably the insurance company."
"But we haven't been inspected for years," Karasuma reminds him, and jsut like that, things are as close to normal as they could be. If the back of Karasuma's mind is worrying about Robin, and why she chose now to step out of the shadows...well, she'll keep that to herself for now.
-end-