Fiction (Update)
Well, one more update. Writing this chapter was quite fun... and one of those days I'm going to search for the pictures that inspired particular scenes and post them along with a few more comments and explanations. But for now, have fun with what I think is the longest chapter until now. And probably one of the worst cliffhangers as well *evil laughter*
Title: What Should Have Never Been Found
Part: 19/26 (?)
Genre: Suspense
Wordcount: ~4500
Warnings: Violence, character death.
Characters: Tezuka, Fuji, and some others.
Summary: Due to circumstances, Tezuka is forced to make an after school trip to a house belonging to friends of his grandfather. Fuji accompanies him and encounters something unexpected.
Disclaimer: PoT is not mine (which is probably for the better)
Prior Parts: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
Nineteen
Sunlight tickled Tezuka’s skin. A warm breeze caressed his cheeks, and the blissful silence urged him to keep his eyes closed. Leaves rustled in the distance, and he rested on something hard, yet comfortable, the air was clean and tranquil, and for the first time since forever his muscles began to relax.
Though…
His brows furrowed.
The air wasn’t merely warm, it was almost stuffy. An enveloping heat, only too welcome after all the cold he had just -
There was sweat on his brow. He was dressed far too thick for this weather. And when had it gotten so warm, anyhow? Hadn’t he just a moment ago been…
Heels clicked across a tile floor not too far away. Leaves rustled gently.
How had he gotten here? What had happened? When had …
The fog in his mind cleared abruptly.
Tezuka’s eyes widened; he sat up. This wasn’t right, his brain was screaming, this was dangerous, this was utterly, totally wrong. Nothing of this ought to be happening; nothing of this could be real.
He had to be dreaming, hallucinating -
Memories assaulted him. Hasegawa’s strangled gasps, the sounds of a body torn apart, blood dripping to the ground, the uncomfortable dizziness as reality shifted, Mori’s ominous smile - her innocent act in front of his teacher and classmates, the gesture that had started this downwards spiral into insanity.
Had somebody in school noted anything amiss by now?
Would they - Tezuka swallowed. Even if they had, it probably wouldn’t matter anymore.
Horror had frozen him stiff when Mori had done away with Hasegawa - whatever he felt then, he couldn’t remember. The scenes were burnt onto the back of his eyelids, but he’d barely sensed the cold, even though his winter coat had been unbuttoned when he had suddenly found himself back at his own house.
Too much had happened in too little time, and at some point his mind had stopped coping.
At first he hadn’t wanted to believe his eyes when he had found himself standing in his own backyard, with Mori smiling at nothing in particular. After everything her beige coat had still been spotless, and Tezuka’s stomach had twisted.
She’d been frighteningly cheerful through everything.
His grandfather…
A shudder ran down Tezuka’s spine, even though sweat began to form on his forehead. He didn’t want the memories to rise, not when there was nothing he could do. Not when he couldn’t undo what had occurred, not when he was cursed to watch helplessly as the scene replayed itself in his mind over and over again.
Tezuka Kunikazu had been in his study; naturally that he had noted their arrival. His surprise - and protest - and been short; a flick of Mori’s wrist had tossed him clear out of the room and into the corridor, where he’d slumped. And remained motionless on the floor, while Mori had unperturbedly gone through several boxed until she’d found the right one.
All Tezuka had been able to do was watch in silent terror.
“Are you finally waking up?” The question smoothly penetrated the thick haze surrounding Tezuka’s consciousness.
He pushed himself up abruptly, noting the warm tiles underneath his body for the first time, and looked around almost panicky. The demon was with him - who knows what she’d done while he’d been out of it. Who knew what …
The woman who was calmly smiling down at him wasn’t Mori.
+ + +
Instinctively Yumiko reached out - in vain. She was too far from her brother to stop him from falling, to pull him back to safer ground. As if time had slowed, she could only watch in horror as he fell toward the frozen surface, as snowflakes drifted down around them.
She couldn’t let him fall into the water. Every instinct screamed at her not to allow it -
The air shivered with unseen energy, bright and pulsing, urging her to give her own as well. To grant her brother’s wish, the one time he dared to use those powers neither of them liked to acknowledge. To send him after Tezuka, to -
Her hands touched the ground before she could form a rational thought.
And with every last bit of power available to her, Yumiko tried to grant said wish.
+ + +
It wasn’t Mori, but yet it was still the same being. Deep down, Tezuka corrected himself - this creature had never been Mori; had never been the nice old lady with the black cat he had known as a child.
This was the true form of the demon that had been terrorizing them.
The ageless face suited her better, Tezuka had to acknowledge, than the features of the elderly Mori. As some movements of the demon had already betrayed, its true form appeared young. Dark eyes observed Tezuka’s reaction with thinly veiled amusement, and her voice was deep and clear.
“You surely took quite a while to wake. And while we aren’t exactly in a hurry right now, I’d like to get this done and over with,” she turned her gaze away from him to a point hidden behind a tall bush of blossoming rhododendrons.
A soft breeze played with her long, artfully arranged dark hair, and a long scarf fluttered in the air. Mori’s beige coat had been replaced by a long gown, black with red, and rich golden ornaments that glistened under the sun. Instead of appearing as a small elderly lady, she now stood a little taller than Tezuka.
Her looks were utterly different - faintly Arabic, or African, though Tezuka wasn’t certain if earthly terms could be applied to such a creature - but the uncaring expression in her eyes had remained the same.
He carefully climbed to his feet, studying his unfamiliar surroundings. The tiles were immaculate, yet their pattern was old and foreign. The building that offered cool shade was unfamiliar as well, and taken the style of the pool his gaze fell upon, he would have almost called the scene oriental.
It matched what he had seen in travel brochures and TV documentaries, but the entire place felt surreal. The air was too quite, the lush vegetation with its colourful flowers too rich, and the sun up in the clear blue sky too sharp a contrast to the place he had left. It was hot; an unfamiliar kind of dry heat, Tezuka realized the longer he stood there.
“How about you get rid of that coat and follow me, Tezuka-kun?” the demon suggested with a shrug. “If you’re interested, I guess I could answer some questions.”
Reluctantly Tezuka shrugged his coat off. He felt exposed without its weight on his shoulders, yet also less obstructed in his movements. A breeze cooled the sweat that had started forming on his forehead, and he pressed his lips firmly together.
His fingers were still shaking with barely suppressed tension. The quiet around him shouldn’t lull him into a sense of security. This new form the demon had taken bode ill, yet the first question that fell from Tezuka’s lips betrayed only his confusion. “Where are we?”
“Where?” She turned around, “The exact description of this place would be ‘a dimensional pocket I created from a memory’, but I doubt that would make any sense to you.”
Tezuka swallowed. Stared at the intense colours of trees, flowers and the sky.
“This isn’t real?” he asked.
She laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, this is real enough. You’ll die, if I kill you.”
+ + +
Fuji found himself falling.
A split second he was looking up at a clear blue sky overhead, filling his entire vision, confounding his depth perception; then with a thunderous splash his back hit water. The liquid was cool as it surged up around him, bubbles dancing around him as snowflakes had done a moment ago.
And overhead the sky was blue, and deep and endless and Fuji couldn’t quite tell if he was sinking, until his eyes caught sight of smooth white tiles in a far corner.
So he hadn’t landed himself in some bizarre hallucination in his desperate endeavour to save Tezuka. Yumiko must have helped - his own power would never have sufficed. But had he caught up to Tezuka and that demon?
With a few powerful strokes Fuji propelled himself to the water’s surface, blinking frantically to survey the scene even as he gasped for air. Water kept running into his eyes, blurring his vision, but the air against his face was warm and as unfamiliar as the scenery revealing itself to his eyes.
Ceramic tiles surrounded what was obviously a pool, patterned in blue and white, bordered by lush, well-kept greenery. Old olive trees provided shade for a myriad of flowers of all sizes and colours. Dozens of them Fuji had never seen before, yet beyond that green border he saw nothing but sky.
Frustrated he twisted his head around, his mind already starting to wonder what had gone wrong; if he had ended somewhere entirely different from Tezuka. His heart missed a beat, when there was no trace of Tezuka or the demon to the other side of the pool.
Greenery there was overshadowed by an elegant sand-toned building, half of it barely more than a roof on several delicate columns to provide shade. The columns were richly decorated, ending in rounded rooftops, and the far wall held openings covered by intricate iron works. Light filtered through the gaps, casting ornamental shadows on the tiled ground.
There was an abandoned piece of cloth on the ground, half-hidden in the shade, that did not fit with the rest of the picture. Fuji pulled himself out of the pool, his arm muscles aching in protest. His coat had soaked itself full with water, doubling his weight, and what had seemed like a comfortably warm breeze before, turned out to be a hot wind once Fuji was out of the water.
The undiminished sunlight was dizzying.
He shrugged out of his coat and school jacket, leaving them near the pool’s edge, before carefully pushing himself to his feet. Standing upright, he could see that the pool was located on the top of a small hill - in the distance he could spy a mountain range, sand-coloured and without even a hint of green. Only a faint layer of snow covered the highest mountain tops, though Fuji wasn’t sure if his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.
The air around him was silent, but for a few twittering birds. No human voices, nothing that might have given him a clue to Tezuka’s fate. Fuji pressed his lips together and stumbled in the direction of shade - that bundle of clothes; there might be a clue.
As he drew closer he could discern the landscape behind those window-like wall-openings. A valley dotted with houses, either white or in shades of light brown, palm trees and bushes springing up intermittently. But most of the ground consisted of earth or sand, and with the sun burning mercilessly high overhead, Fuji felt as if he stood at the border of a desert.
His heart faltered as he approached that bundle of clothes. Even without touching the fabric, he could tell it was Tezuka’s thick winter coat. To find it here, abandoned…
What did it mean?
Was he too late, already? Or was there still hope? What fate had befallen his friend? The uncertainty was suffocating, and Fuji had to remind himself to breathe. If Tezuka and the demon remained in this place - whatever it was, Fuji tried not to think about this place’s true configurations - where could they be?
There was no trace of a living being, other than those few birds, and those colourful flowers and immense trees. A few leaves rustled in the wind, but none fell to the ground. The tiles remained immaculately clear of dirt or even fallen petals.
But there was a tiled pathway leading away from the house, through the greenery and disappearing around a corner. He couldn’t see where it lead, but as Fuji turned he realized, that this was probably the only exist leading away from this place.
If the demon and Tezuka had remained, they probably had taken that way.
Fuji’s heart sped up.
+ + +
The demon had led Tezuka down several flights of stairs, past numerous blooming bushes, over small, beautiful squares so white he could barely look at them in the sunlight, until he had lost every sense of direction.
He still hadn’t been able to grasp what was happening.
Everything that had occurred since she had shown up at school struck him as unrealistic, impossible. He could scarcely even believe he was here right now and not back at home, dreaming. Even fear had lost its suffocating grasp - after what had happened to Hasegawa, things had stopped feeling real.
Maybe he was walking to his doom. Maybe he ought to turn and run. But for the moment, a soul-deep confusion filled his entire mind to the degree no space for other sentiments was left.
“What is going to happen?” he heard himself ask, before he had paid any mind to his words.
His companion turned around. “You were unusually silent back there,” she commented, “Thinking about making a break for it? Anyhow, as to what is going to happen - we’re going to a special chamber, perform a quaint little ceremony with this nice stone, and once everything works out, we’ll go home.”
Tezuka blinked. “You mean…”
“You’re not going to die?” She chuckled, “Actually, I don’t know. That ritual doesn’t need me to kill you, but then again, I’m not sure what will happen once the process is complete. Maybe you’ll end up a ghost or something like that.”
A shudder ran down Tezuka’s spine.
+ + +
With hurried steps Fuji followed the path, paying no mind to his water-logged clothes. His hair had already begun to dry underneath the sun, and whatever water dripped from his clothes to the floor vanished within minutes.
The path of blindingly white tiles lead around several corners, bathed in the cool shade of trees and bushes; small flights of stairs every now and then guiding Fuji downward. He barely heard the chirping crickets over the pounding of the blood in his ears; and he held his breath before each corner he turned.
There were no other human beings around, but Fuji wasn’t surprised.
The entire landscape seemed to have been elaborately shaped by men - this time the demon hadn’t lead Tezuka merely to another location. He faintly remembered reading about some creatures having the ability to drag humans to other dimensions, subspaces - places outside of human normality - but he’d never paid it much mind.
Such ability had sounded far too rare to ever be confronted with.
But seeing it right now - it looked far more realistic than Fuji had expected it too, yet from the way everything felt, it was utterly different from reality. The mix of unreal and real sensations made Fuji’s head spin -
Yet as long as he failed to find Tezuka, all those contemplations held absolutely no meaning.
He rounded another corner and spied a building through the tall hedges; marble walls with exotic ornaments; a rounded roof with golden decorations. In front of it stretched a small square of intricately patterned tiles - beautiful to behold, but Fuji paid it no mind.
The demon and Tezuka would be inside that building. He couldn’t tell how he knew, yet every fibre of his being did. A closed door of blue-painted wood loomed in front of him.
He never slowed his steps.
Fuji threw the door open and held his breath.
+ + +
Tezuka and the demon whirled around, disbelief painted on both of their faces. There were no words to describe the flash of happiness that raced through Fuji’s mind as he caught sight of his friend - unharmed, standing and looking as stoic as ever before.
Only a widening of brown eyes behind elegant glasses betrayed Tezuka’s surprise, while the demon’s face darkened considerably. Fuji blinked, when he noticed the new appearance - he had long guessed the demon’s true form wasn’t Mori, but seeing it appear in the body of an unfamiliar young woman made him halt.
“Looks like uninvited company,” she muttered. Fuji’s blood ran cold when a callous smile crossed her face.
“It doesn’t matter, though,” she said, “You won’t be much of a bother.”
A wave of the hand catapulted Fuji against the far wall before he could blink, hard enough to knock all air from his lungs. For a moment he saw stars, heard Tezuka shout something from very, very far away, and only when the demon started laughing his vision cleared.
“Oh no, I don’t think I can allow that, Tezuka-kun. You see, I need you here,” she explained, “And really, it’s your friend’s own fault. He shouldn’t have followed us.”
Tezuka glared at her, enraged to a point Fuji had never before witnessed. His vision kept blurring though, and he wanted to say something, but an invisible force pressed him hard against the wall, keeping him upright and slowly obstructing his chest.
Her hand remained outstretched.
Her dimension; her rules. Fuji couldn’t even claim to be surprised at this turn of events - he’d never paid much mind to his possibilities in his desperate desire to ensure Tezuka’s safety. If she killed him…
There had to be something he could do.
Something to make sure his desperate deed had not been in vain. Not a foolish endeavour that would result in both their deaths and the demon’s victory. If at least Tezuka was to return unharmed…
Grim determination filled Fuji’s mind.
He wouldn’t be able to escape from the chokehold she had on him, not by his own strength.
The demon’s eyes were dark, calculating - the only reason he was still alive was because she was wondering if he could still be of use.
Unbidden, he recalled a memory from what seemed another lifetime; himself kneeling on a frozen surface and her coercing Tezuka to step on the ice as well. His life might once again become a bargaining chip against his intentions - to make Tezuka do the demon’s bidding no matter what might come of it.
This time he wouldn’t let her proceed as she pleased.
There might not be much he could do - this was her dimension, the rules could be bent to her will, and his own capacities in wielding any kind of supernatural powers far paled in comparison to hers - and chances on making things end all right had faded to nothingness at this stage. But as of now her plans hadn’t come into fruition yet. Tezuka could still be saved.
In a distant corner of his mind, he was surprised at himself; wasn’t this the kind of situation were humans fell back onto ruthless egoism? Yet he couldn’t really bring himself to care about what would become of him, didn’t even care he might not be able to see his friends again.
His mind was rushing through the possibilities - how to thwart her plans, how to save Tezuka.
And there was a way.
Not failsafe, not without risks - not a measure he’d even have considered under anything resembling normal circumstances. Most certainly not one Tezuka would agree with. Though they’d already gone along with the demon’s demands once, and it had led them here - Fuji would not allow the same mistake to occur again.
Even if it meant making sure his own life couldn’t be used for a bargain.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The demon asked, obviously having noted the shift in the air.
The invisible tendrils pinning him to the wall tightened and Fuji released an involuntary gasp. His chest ached - a little more and his ribs would break.
“Stop it,” Tezuka hissed, abruptly taking a step forward, “Stop it, you’re killing him.”
“That’s the point,” was her reply.
“But…” Tezuka started and was immediately interrupted with a careless shrug. Fuji forced himself to turn out the ensuing conversation - he was already on borrowed time, and if he wanted to do something, he needed to hurry.
His lips formed silent words; words his sister had taught him a long time ago.
Words for a desperate situation.
To allow a last change to happen, even when ones powers were all used up.
“I said I didn’t need to kill you - but that doesn’t strictly apply to your friend over here,” she continued, watching Tezuka from the corner of her eye, “His death holds no merit for me, but he brought it upon himself once he set foot in this dimension.”
Tezuka paled. His heart fluttered nervously as he forced the next words from his lips - he didn’t dare to let her stop talking, as that seemed to be the only thing stopping her from killing Fuji right there and then.
“How about my compliance?” Tezuka offered with baited breath, “How about I promise to do your bidding - if you let Fuji live?”
She tilted her head. “I remember, we already made such a deal a while ago. However, circumstances are different, this time,” she shrugged. “After this I have no further need for you. And how do you suppose you can go against me in this place, anyway?”
“Though once he finds the exit, that’ll change drastically, won’t it?” Fuji interrupted. His voice was hoarse, choked, but his eyes glittered determinedly. At the creature’s glare, he continued unperturbedly: “It’s simple. He only needs to jump back into that pool on the hill in order to return - and then you won’t have the power to make him agree to your demands.”
Suppressing his anxiety, Tezuka joined in. “I promise not to run if you let go of Fuji.”
He could only hope he was doing the right thing. In truth, he had no idea what Fuji was doing here, what his friend was playing at - if he actually had any sort of plan. Tezuka frantically wished to be able to read the other’s mind; yet Fuji’s face was as unrevealing as ever.
“How about I make sure you can’t run?” she replied, dryly.
With pronounced movements, she turned her hand away from Fuji, letting the forces pinning him to the wall ease off. He slumped to the ground, gasping for breath, while the demon waved in the direction of the door. Before Tezuka’s astonished eyes, the wooden door turned into a solid wall, covered by ornamental tiles - not a trace of the prior open space visible.
Instead of pondering, Tezuka hurried over to Fuji, sinking to his knees next to him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, carefully observing his friend’s pale face and soaked clothes, “Are you…?”
“I’m fine,” Fuji half-whispered in reply, “How about you? Did she do anything to you?”
For a split second Hasegawa’s mutilated body flashed in front of Fuji’s eyes. Tezuka had to have witnessed that happen; how on earth had he kept his countenance? Though a close study revealed white skin and wider-than-usual eyes.
Fuji instinctively reached out, resting his hand over Tezuka’s in a silent, reassuring gesture. He’d get his friend out of here. No further harm would be done to Tezuka from here on.
A shudder ran down Tezuka’s spine as something more than electricity passed between their hands. He had already opened his mouth to ask - Fuji was doing something, and he didn’t understand it in the least - when footsteps announced the creature’s approach.
“So what are you going to do now?” she asked, coldly staring down at them, “Which exit are you going to make your escape from?”
Fuji swallowed.
The room had effectively been sealed shut. Not entrance of exit remained; only those star-shaped skylights overhead let sunlight enter the chamber. For the first time, Tezuka noted candles hidden in corners, providing further light in the room. Twilight now cast flickering shadows on the ground; the air still and hot.
Fuji’s grip on Tezuka’s hand tightened as the demon stepped closer.
“You need to get away,” he told him in a whisper, “Once she performed that ritual, you need to run.”
Tezuka blinked, unable to utter a word. His mind was in chaos - a part taken aback at Fuji’s instructions, at the certainty within them. Another part frozen in horror at the implication; Fuji wasn’t including himself in that plan.
Fuji took his silence for attention. “You need to return to that pool on top of the hill. Don’t pay any mind to what is happening around you - this dimension won’t affect our world. All you need to do is think of your home when you jump into that pool.”
She was almost upon them. Metal glinted in the flickering light.
“Promise me you will do that, Tezuka.”
In face of Fuji’s soft, insistent words, Tezuka could only nod.
A smile crossed Fuji’s face, relieved beyond anything Tezuka had seen before. Dread blossomed in his chest, but before he could form a clear thought, the demon had raised a hand -
And brought down a coldly glittering blade.
Warm liquid splashed onto Tezuka’s hands. A stray drop hit his cheek, but he never even felt it. His eyes were fixed on the tip of metal emerging from Fuji’s chest - disbelief numbed his entire body to the point he couldn’t breathe.
With hardly any gaze of concern the demon glanced down on them, closely observing Fuji’s reaction.
Tezuka feverishly prayed for a miracle. He’d never believed in any kind of deity, but if faith could save Fuji’s life, then -
Fuji’s eyes had widened a little. No sound fell from his lips, but from the position of the blade’s edge, Tezuka could already tell.
A faint smile crossed the demon’s face. With barely a shrug she let the blade dissolve into thin air, as silently as she had summoned it into existence.
Madness, a faint voice in the back of Tezuka’s head whispered, this was madness. This couldn’t be happening.
Blood started flowing from the wound in Fuji’s chest. Tezuka could hear his friend attempt to breathe. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how that wound had to hurt.
The fingers grasping his hand loosened. Fuji weakly moved a hand to clutch at his chest, but couldn’t lift his arm high enough. His eyes managed to focus on Tezuka’s shell-shocked face.
Something lit up his eyes warmer than Tezuka had ever seen before, and he attempted to smile one last time at his friend. His expression was heart-wrenchingly gentle, and maybe for the first time no mask hid those emotions.
Then those lashes fluttered shut, and Fuji’s body slumped into Tezuka’s arms.
Tezuka did not have to search for a pulse.
He knew there would be none.
tbc
Note: I hope to be able to post the next chapter within the next month, but as I'm moving from Germany to China, accessing lj might become difficult. That said, I'll be very happy about feedback, criticism and whatever comes to your mind while reading ^_^
Title: What Should Have Never Been Found
Part: 19/26 (?)
Genre: Suspense
Wordcount: ~4500
Warnings: Violence, character death.
Characters: Tezuka, Fuji, and some others.
Summary: Due to circumstances, Tezuka is forced to make an after school trip to a house belonging to friends of his grandfather. Fuji accompanies him and encounters something unexpected.
Disclaimer: PoT is not mine (which is probably for the better)
Prior Parts: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
Nineteen
Sunlight tickled Tezuka’s skin. A warm breeze caressed his cheeks, and the blissful silence urged him to keep his eyes closed. Leaves rustled in the distance, and he rested on something hard, yet comfortable, the air was clean and tranquil, and for the first time since forever his muscles began to relax.
Though…
His brows furrowed.
The air wasn’t merely warm, it was almost stuffy. An enveloping heat, only too welcome after all the cold he had just -
There was sweat on his brow. He was dressed far too thick for this weather. And when had it gotten so warm, anyhow? Hadn’t he just a moment ago been…
Heels clicked across a tile floor not too far away. Leaves rustled gently.
How had he gotten here? What had happened? When had …
The fog in his mind cleared abruptly.
Tezuka’s eyes widened; he sat up. This wasn’t right, his brain was screaming, this was dangerous, this was utterly, totally wrong. Nothing of this ought to be happening; nothing of this could be real.
He had to be dreaming, hallucinating -
Memories assaulted him. Hasegawa’s strangled gasps, the sounds of a body torn apart, blood dripping to the ground, the uncomfortable dizziness as reality shifted, Mori’s ominous smile - her innocent act in front of his teacher and classmates, the gesture that had started this downwards spiral into insanity.
Had somebody in school noted anything amiss by now?
Would they - Tezuka swallowed. Even if they had, it probably wouldn’t matter anymore.
Horror had frozen him stiff when Mori had done away with Hasegawa - whatever he felt then, he couldn’t remember. The scenes were burnt onto the back of his eyelids, but he’d barely sensed the cold, even though his winter coat had been unbuttoned when he had suddenly found himself back at his own house.
Too much had happened in too little time, and at some point his mind had stopped coping.
At first he hadn’t wanted to believe his eyes when he had found himself standing in his own backyard, with Mori smiling at nothing in particular. After everything her beige coat had still been spotless, and Tezuka’s stomach had twisted.
She’d been frighteningly cheerful through everything.
His grandfather…
A shudder ran down Tezuka’s spine, even though sweat began to form on his forehead. He didn’t want the memories to rise, not when there was nothing he could do. Not when he couldn’t undo what had occurred, not when he was cursed to watch helplessly as the scene replayed itself in his mind over and over again.
Tezuka Kunikazu had been in his study; naturally that he had noted their arrival. His surprise - and protest - and been short; a flick of Mori’s wrist had tossed him clear out of the room and into the corridor, where he’d slumped. And remained motionless on the floor, while Mori had unperturbedly gone through several boxed until she’d found the right one.
All Tezuka had been able to do was watch in silent terror.
“Are you finally waking up?” The question smoothly penetrated the thick haze surrounding Tezuka’s consciousness.
He pushed himself up abruptly, noting the warm tiles underneath his body for the first time, and looked around almost panicky. The demon was with him - who knows what she’d done while he’d been out of it. Who knew what …
The woman who was calmly smiling down at him wasn’t Mori.
+ + +
Instinctively Yumiko reached out - in vain. She was too far from her brother to stop him from falling, to pull him back to safer ground. As if time had slowed, she could only watch in horror as he fell toward the frozen surface, as snowflakes drifted down around them.
She couldn’t let him fall into the water. Every instinct screamed at her not to allow it -
The air shivered with unseen energy, bright and pulsing, urging her to give her own as well. To grant her brother’s wish, the one time he dared to use those powers neither of them liked to acknowledge. To send him after Tezuka, to -
Her hands touched the ground before she could form a rational thought.
And with every last bit of power available to her, Yumiko tried to grant said wish.
+ + +
It wasn’t Mori, but yet it was still the same being. Deep down, Tezuka corrected himself - this creature had never been Mori; had never been the nice old lady with the black cat he had known as a child.
This was the true form of the demon that had been terrorizing them.
The ageless face suited her better, Tezuka had to acknowledge, than the features of the elderly Mori. As some movements of the demon had already betrayed, its true form appeared young. Dark eyes observed Tezuka’s reaction with thinly veiled amusement, and her voice was deep and clear.
“You surely took quite a while to wake. And while we aren’t exactly in a hurry right now, I’d like to get this done and over with,” she turned her gaze away from him to a point hidden behind a tall bush of blossoming rhododendrons.
A soft breeze played with her long, artfully arranged dark hair, and a long scarf fluttered in the air. Mori’s beige coat had been replaced by a long gown, black with red, and rich golden ornaments that glistened under the sun. Instead of appearing as a small elderly lady, she now stood a little taller than Tezuka.
Her looks were utterly different - faintly Arabic, or African, though Tezuka wasn’t certain if earthly terms could be applied to such a creature - but the uncaring expression in her eyes had remained the same.
He carefully climbed to his feet, studying his unfamiliar surroundings. The tiles were immaculate, yet their pattern was old and foreign. The building that offered cool shade was unfamiliar as well, and taken the style of the pool his gaze fell upon, he would have almost called the scene oriental.
It matched what he had seen in travel brochures and TV documentaries, but the entire place felt surreal. The air was too quite, the lush vegetation with its colourful flowers too rich, and the sun up in the clear blue sky too sharp a contrast to the place he had left. It was hot; an unfamiliar kind of dry heat, Tezuka realized the longer he stood there.
“How about you get rid of that coat and follow me, Tezuka-kun?” the demon suggested with a shrug. “If you’re interested, I guess I could answer some questions.”
Reluctantly Tezuka shrugged his coat off. He felt exposed without its weight on his shoulders, yet also less obstructed in his movements. A breeze cooled the sweat that had started forming on his forehead, and he pressed his lips firmly together.
His fingers were still shaking with barely suppressed tension. The quiet around him shouldn’t lull him into a sense of security. This new form the demon had taken bode ill, yet the first question that fell from Tezuka’s lips betrayed only his confusion. “Where are we?”
“Where?” She turned around, “The exact description of this place would be ‘a dimensional pocket I created from a memory’, but I doubt that would make any sense to you.”
Tezuka swallowed. Stared at the intense colours of trees, flowers and the sky.
“This isn’t real?” he asked.
She laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, this is real enough. You’ll die, if I kill you.”
+ + +
Fuji found himself falling.
A split second he was looking up at a clear blue sky overhead, filling his entire vision, confounding his depth perception; then with a thunderous splash his back hit water. The liquid was cool as it surged up around him, bubbles dancing around him as snowflakes had done a moment ago.
And overhead the sky was blue, and deep and endless and Fuji couldn’t quite tell if he was sinking, until his eyes caught sight of smooth white tiles in a far corner.
So he hadn’t landed himself in some bizarre hallucination in his desperate endeavour to save Tezuka. Yumiko must have helped - his own power would never have sufficed. But had he caught up to Tezuka and that demon?
With a few powerful strokes Fuji propelled himself to the water’s surface, blinking frantically to survey the scene even as he gasped for air. Water kept running into his eyes, blurring his vision, but the air against his face was warm and as unfamiliar as the scenery revealing itself to his eyes.
Ceramic tiles surrounded what was obviously a pool, patterned in blue and white, bordered by lush, well-kept greenery. Old olive trees provided shade for a myriad of flowers of all sizes and colours. Dozens of them Fuji had never seen before, yet beyond that green border he saw nothing but sky.
Frustrated he twisted his head around, his mind already starting to wonder what had gone wrong; if he had ended somewhere entirely different from Tezuka. His heart missed a beat, when there was no trace of Tezuka or the demon to the other side of the pool.
Greenery there was overshadowed by an elegant sand-toned building, half of it barely more than a roof on several delicate columns to provide shade. The columns were richly decorated, ending in rounded rooftops, and the far wall held openings covered by intricate iron works. Light filtered through the gaps, casting ornamental shadows on the tiled ground.
There was an abandoned piece of cloth on the ground, half-hidden in the shade, that did not fit with the rest of the picture. Fuji pulled himself out of the pool, his arm muscles aching in protest. His coat had soaked itself full with water, doubling his weight, and what had seemed like a comfortably warm breeze before, turned out to be a hot wind once Fuji was out of the water.
The undiminished sunlight was dizzying.
He shrugged out of his coat and school jacket, leaving them near the pool’s edge, before carefully pushing himself to his feet. Standing upright, he could see that the pool was located on the top of a small hill - in the distance he could spy a mountain range, sand-coloured and without even a hint of green. Only a faint layer of snow covered the highest mountain tops, though Fuji wasn’t sure if his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.
The air around him was silent, but for a few twittering birds. No human voices, nothing that might have given him a clue to Tezuka’s fate. Fuji pressed his lips together and stumbled in the direction of shade - that bundle of clothes; there might be a clue.
As he drew closer he could discern the landscape behind those window-like wall-openings. A valley dotted with houses, either white or in shades of light brown, palm trees and bushes springing up intermittently. But most of the ground consisted of earth or sand, and with the sun burning mercilessly high overhead, Fuji felt as if he stood at the border of a desert.
His heart faltered as he approached that bundle of clothes. Even without touching the fabric, he could tell it was Tezuka’s thick winter coat. To find it here, abandoned…
What did it mean?
Was he too late, already? Or was there still hope? What fate had befallen his friend? The uncertainty was suffocating, and Fuji had to remind himself to breathe. If Tezuka and the demon remained in this place - whatever it was, Fuji tried not to think about this place’s true configurations - where could they be?
There was no trace of a living being, other than those few birds, and those colourful flowers and immense trees. A few leaves rustled in the wind, but none fell to the ground. The tiles remained immaculately clear of dirt or even fallen petals.
But there was a tiled pathway leading away from the house, through the greenery and disappearing around a corner. He couldn’t see where it lead, but as Fuji turned he realized, that this was probably the only exist leading away from this place.
If the demon and Tezuka had remained, they probably had taken that way.
Fuji’s heart sped up.
+ + +
The demon had led Tezuka down several flights of stairs, past numerous blooming bushes, over small, beautiful squares so white he could barely look at them in the sunlight, until he had lost every sense of direction.
He still hadn’t been able to grasp what was happening.
Everything that had occurred since she had shown up at school struck him as unrealistic, impossible. He could scarcely even believe he was here right now and not back at home, dreaming. Even fear had lost its suffocating grasp - after what had happened to Hasegawa, things had stopped feeling real.
Maybe he was walking to his doom. Maybe he ought to turn and run. But for the moment, a soul-deep confusion filled his entire mind to the degree no space for other sentiments was left.
“What is going to happen?” he heard himself ask, before he had paid any mind to his words.
His companion turned around. “You were unusually silent back there,” she commented, “Thinking about making a break for it? Anyhow, as to what is going to happen - we’re going to a special chamber, perform a quaint little ceremony with this nice stone, and once everything works out, we’ll go home.”
Tezuka blinked. “You mean…”
“You’re not going to die?” She chuckled, “Actually, I don’t know. That ritual doesn’t need me to kill you, but then again, I’m not sure what will happen once the process is complete. Maybe you’ll end up a ghost or something like that.”
A shudder ran down Tezuka’s spine.
+ + +
With hurried steps Fuji followed the path, paying no mind to his water-logged clothes. His hair had already begun to dry underneath the sun, and whatever water dripped from his clothes to the floor vanished within minutes.
The path of blindingly white tiles lead around several corners, bathed in the cool shade of trees and bushes; small flights of stairs every now and then guiding Fuji downward. He barely heard the chirping crickets over the pounding of the blood in his ears; and he held his breath before each corner he turned.
There were no other human beings around, but Fuji wasn’t surprised.
The entire landscape seemed to have been elaborately shaped by men - this time the demon hadn’t lead Tezuka merely to another location. He faintly remembered reading about some creatures having the ability to drag humans to other dimensions, subspaces - places outside of human normality - but he’d never paid it much mind.
Such ability had sounded far too rare to ever be confronted with.
But seeing it right now - it looked far more realistic than Fuji had expected it too, yet from the way everything felt, it was utterly different from reality. The mix of unreal and real sensations made Fuji’s head spin -
Yet as long as he failed to find Tezuka, all those contemplations held absolutely no meaning.
He rounded another corner and spied a building through the tall hedges; marble walls with exotic ornaments; a rounded roof with golden decorations. In front of it stretched a small square of intricately patterned tiles - beautiful to behold, but Fuji paid it no mind.
The demon and Tezuka would be inside that building. He couldn’t tell how he knew, yet every fibre of his being did. A closed door of blue-painted wood loomed in front of him.
He never slowed his steps.
Fuji threw the door open and held his breath.
+ + +
Tezuka and the demon whirled around, disbelief painted on both of their faces. There were no words to describe the flash of happiness that raced through Fuji’s mind as he caught sight of his friend - unharmed, standing and looking as stoic as ever before.
Only a widening of brown eyes behind elegant glasses betrayed Tezuka’s surprise, while the demon’s face darkened considerably. Fuji blinked, when he noticed the new appearance - he had long guessed the demon’s true form wasn’t Mori, but seeing it appear in the body of an unfamiliar young woman made him halt.
“Looks like uninvited company,” she muttered. Fuji’s blood ran cold when a callous smile crossed her face.
“It doesn’t matter, though,” she said, “You won’t be much of a bother.”
A wave of the hand catapulted Fuji against the far wall before he could blink, hard enough to knock all air from his lungs. For a moment he saw stars, heard Tezuka shout something from very, very far away, and only when the demon started laughing his vision cleared.
“Oh no, I don’t think I can allow that, Tezuka-kun. You see, I need you here,” she explained, “And really, it’s your friend’s own fault. He shouldn’t have followed us.”
Tezuka glared at her, enraged to a point Fuji had never before witnessed. His vision kept blurring though, and he wanted to say something, but an invisible force pressed him hard against the wall, keeping him upright and slowly obstructing his chest.
Her hand remained outstretched.
Her dimension; her rules. Fuji couldn’t even claim to be surprised at this turn of events - he’d never paid much mind to his possibilities in his desperate desire to ensure Tezuka’s safety. If she killed him…
There had to be something he could do.
Something to make sure his desperate deed had not been in vain. Not a foolish endeavour that would result in both their deaths and the demon’s victory. If at least Tezuka was to return unharmed…
Grim determination filled Fuji’s mind.
He wouldn’t be able to escape from the chokehold she had on him, not by his own strength.
The demon’s eyes were dark, calculating - the only reason he was still alive was because she was wondering if he could still be of use.
Unbidden, he recalled a memory from what seemed another lifetime; himself kneeling on a frozen surface and her coercing Tezuka to step on the ice as well. His life might once again become a bargaining chip against his intentions - to make Tezuka do the demon’s bidding no matter what might come of it.
This time he wouldn’t let her proceed as she pleased.
There might not be much he could do - this was her dimension, the rules could be bent to her will, and his own capacities in wielding any kind of supernatural powers far paled in comparison to hers - and chances on making things end all right had faded to nothingness at this stage. But as of now her plans hadn’t come into fruition yet. Tezuka could still be saved.
In a distant corner of his mind, he was surprised at himself; wasn’t this the kind of situation were humans fell back onto ruthless egoism? Yet he couldn’t really bring himself to care about what would become of him, didn’t even care he might not be able to see his friends again.
His mind was rushing through the possibilities - how to thwart her plans, how to save Tezuka.
And there was a way.
Not failsafe, not without risks - not a measure he’d even have considered under anything resembling normal circumstances. Most certainly not one Tezuka would agree with. Though they’d already gone along with the demon’s demands once, and it had led them here - Fuji would not allow the same mistake to occur again.
Even if it meant making sure his own life couldn’t be used for a bargain.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The demon asked, obviously having noted the shift in the air.
The invisible tendrils pinning him to the wall tightened and Fuji released an involuntary gasp. His chest ached - a little more and his ribs would break.
“Stop it,” Tezuka hissed, abruptly taking a step forward, “Stop it, you’re killing him.”
“That’s the point,” was her reply.
“But…” Tezuka started and was immediately interrupted with a careless shrug. Fuji forced himself to turn out the ensuing conversation - he was already on borrowed time, and if he wanted to do something, he needed to hurry.
His lips formed silent words; words his sister had taught him a long time ago.
Words for a desperate situation.
To allow a last change to happen, even when ones powers were all used up.
“I said I didn’t need to kill you - but that doesn’t strictly apply to your friend over here,” she continued, watching Tezuka from the corner of her eye, “His death holds no merit for me, but he brought it upon himself once he set foot in this dimension.”
Tezuka paled. His heart fluttered nervously as he forced the next words from his lips - he didn’t dare to let her stop talking, as that seemed to be the only thing stopping her from killing Fuji right there and then.
“How about my compliance?” Tezuka offered with baited breath, “How about I promise to do your bidding - if you let Fuji live?”
She tilted her head. “I remember, we already made such a deal a while ago. However, circumstances are different, this time,” she shrugged. “After this I have no further need for you. And how do you suppose you can go against me in this place, anyway?”
“Though once he finds the exit, that’ll change drastically, won’t it?” Fuji interrupted. His voice was hoarse, choked, but his eyes glittered determinedly. At the creature’s glare, he continued unperturbedly: “It’s simple. He only needs to jump back into that pool on the hill in order to return - and then you won’t have the power to make him agree to your demands.”
Suppressing his anxiety, Tezuka joined in. “I promise not to run if you let go of Fuji.”
He could only hope he was doing the right thing. In truth, he had no idea what Fuji was doing here, what his friend was playing at - if he actually had any sort of plan. Tezuka frantically wished to be able to read the other’s mind; yet Fuji’s face was as unrevealing as ever.
“How about I make sure you can’t run?” she replied, dryly.
With pronounced movements, she turned her hand away from Fuji, letting the forces pinning him to the wall ease off. He slumped to the ground, gasping for breath, while the demon waved in the direction of the door. Before Tezuka’s astonished eyes, the wooden door turned into a solid wall, covered by ornamental tiles - not a trace of the prior open space visible.
Instead of pondering, Tezuka hurried over to Fuji, sinking to his knees next to him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, carefully observing his friend’s pale face and soaked clothes, “Are you…?”
“I’m fine,” Fuji half-whispered in reply, “How about you? Did she do anything to you?”
For a split second Hasegawa’s mutilated body flashed in front of Fuji’s eyes. Tezuka had to have witnessed that happen; how on earth had he kept his countenance? Though a close study revealed white skin and wider-than-usual eyes.
Fuji instinctively reached out, resting his hand over Tezuka’s in a silent, reassuring gesture. He’d get his friend out of here. No further harm would be done to Tezuka from here on.
A shudder ran down Tezuka’s spine as something more than electricity passed between their hands. He had already opened his mouth to ask - Fuji was doing something, and he didn’t understand it in the least - when footsteps announced the creature’s approach.
“So what are you going to do now?” she asked, coldly staring down at them, “Which exit are you going to make your escape from?”
Fuji swallowed.
The room had effectively been sealed shut. Not entrance of exit remained; only those star-shaped skylights overhead let sunlight enter the chamber. For the first time, Tezuka noted candles hidden in corners, providing further light in the room. Twilight now cast flickering shadows on the ground; the air still and hot.
Fuji’s grip on Tezuka’s hand tightened as the demon stepped closer.
“You need to get away,” he told him in a whisper, “Once she performed that ritual, you need to run.”
Tezuka blinked, unable to utter a word. His mind was in chaos - a part taken aback at Fuji’s instructions, at the certainty within them. Another part frozen in horror at the implication; Fuji wasn’t including himself in that plan.
Fuji took his silence for attention. “You need to return to that pool on top of the hill. Don’t pay any mind to what is happening around you - this dimension won’t affect our world. All you need to do is think of your home when you jump into that pool.”
She was almost upon them. Metal glinted in the flickering light.
“Promise me you will do that, Tezuka.”
In face of Fuji’s soft, insistent words, Tezuka could only nod.
A smile crossed Fuji’s face, relieved beyond anything Tezuka had seen before. Dread blossomed in his chest, but before he could form a clear thought, the demon had raised a hand -
And brought down a coldly glittering blade.
Warm liquid splashed onto Tezuka’s hands. A stray drop hit his cheek, but he never even felt it. His eyes were fixed on the tip of metal emerging from Fuji’s chest - disbelief numbed his entire body to the point he couldn’t breathe.
With hardly any gaze of concern the demon glanced down on them, closely observing Fuji’s reaction.
Tezuka feverishly prayed for a miracle. He’d never believed in any kind of deity, but if faith could save Fuji’s life, then -
Fuji’s eyes had widened a little. No sound fell from his lips, but from the position of the blade’s edge, Tezuka could already tell.
A faint smile crossed the demon’s face. With barely a shrug she let the blade dissolve into thin air, as silently as she had summoned it into existence.
Madness, a faint voice in the back of Tezuka’s head whispered, this was madness. This couldn’t be happening.
Blood started flowing from the wound in Fuji’s chest. Tezuka could hear his friend attempt to breathe. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how that wound had to hurt.
The fingers grasping his hand loosened. Fuji weakly moved a hand to clutch at his chest, but couldn’t lift his arm high enough. His eyes managed to focus on Tezuka’s shell-shocked face.
Something lit up his eyes warmer than Tezuka had ever seen before, and he attempted to smile one last time at his friend. His expression was heart-wrenchingly gentle, and maybe for the first time no mask hid those emotions.
Then those lashes fluttered shut, and Fuji’s body slumped into Tezuka’s arms.
Tezuka did not have to search for a pulse.
He knew there would be none.
tbc
Note: I hope to be able to post the next chapter within the next month, but as I'm moving from Germany to China, accessing lj might become difficult. That said, I'll be very happy about feedback, criticism and whatever comes to your mind while reading ^_^