KRF Fic: Terrors
Rating: PG
Summary: Without any sort of protection against the harshness of space, it was likely that Tomoko was dead. Mid episode 41.
Notes: Requested by aisublue from Tumblr who gave the prompt what happened when Ryusei thought Tomoko had been sent to the Dark Nebula?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't ever recall the club discussing about dark nebulae or what not, or if they even knew what those are in relation to Virgo before ep 41/42, so this was the result of it. If they did, I'm... sorry?
Also, I've taken the explanation of dark nebulae from this site because I've no idea what they are beforehand. Space is awesome!
Dark Nebula. Dark Nebula. Tomoko-chan's in a Dark Nebula.
The walk towards the Rabbit Hatch had never been slower or more excruciating for Ryusei. It was made all the worse by the silence that embraced him, Gentarou, Kengo, and Yuuki - with the latter being unusually quiet and unwilling to speak a single word to anyone. Not that Ryusei could blame her; Virgo's attack today was meant specifically for her and who knew what could have happened had Yuuki been alone when the Horoscope came? She could have suffered a fate unimaginable and endured something horrible, just for being Virgo's target.
Just like Tomoko-chan was. Ryusei clenched his hands to fists, his footsteps becoming heavier, as if he was carrying a great weight on his shoulders. In a way, he was: his worst fear had come to pass.
Before, when they were not yet certain of Tomoko's fate, a small part of him refused to believe that she could be hurt. Despite three consecutive days of her absence, Ryusei stubbornly clung to the hope that Tomoko was fine - perhaps she'd gone somewhere to visit her father, whom she'd mentioned worked far away from their home? Or she could have traveled to another town to buy her supplies; he remember her mentioning that white snake skin wasn't exactly easy to come by especially in their city, and the one she had was something she bought from a store which was a good two days' journey from Amanogawa. She could have thought the snake skin old and useless by now, so Tomoko could have decided to replace it and journeyed two days to go to that store, and was bound to return any time now. Or--
Yet he knew Tomoko would never be that foolish, could never be that irresponsible. She would have told her mother of her plans, would have told Yuuki about them, would have told him. But believing these things was infinitely better than imagining the hundred and one horrifying ways which could explain her absence - which Ryusei himself was prone to do in the most unexpected, darkest of hours - and now--
"Oi, Kengo." Gentarou's voice was devoid of its usual energy and enthusiasm as it broke through the group's silent reverie. "What's a Dark Nebula?"
Ryusei snapped his head to glare at him. Sometimes he could not believe how naive and stupid Gentarou was about some things; how could he have not known what a Dark Nebula was?
Kengo took his time in answering. "Dark Nebulae are clouds full of dusts and gasses of many different kinds. They appear like dark patches in the universe, and stars are formed within their inner regions. We have several of them scattered in the Milky Way."
Perhaps even that was too hard for Gentarou to digest, but he did come to a revelation: "You mean Tomoko's out there? In outer space?"
The silence from Kengo was longer this time. "If the Dark Nebula Virgo referred to is the same Dark Nebula I'm familiar with, then... yes. You have to understand that it's very far from being a hospitable environment to an ordinary human. Nozama might be--" He paused, and tactfully refrained from speaking what was already in their minds.
Without any sort of protection against the harshness of space, it was likely that Tomoko was dead.
"That's what Virgo meant when she said she's going to erase us," Yuuki whispered. "She's going to send us there."
But it was a fate Tomoko already suffered, wasn't it?
"She's too strong," Yuuki continued, looking at the ground and seemingly talking only to herself as she walked. "Too strong."
What did Tomoko feel, Ryusei thought, when she encountered Virgo? Where did she encounter the Horoscope? Why was she the first one targeted among the club? Tomoko was far from being the most aggressive and threatening to the enemy. She was not a Kamen Rider like him or Gentarou. There was no logical reason for her life to be in danger, no matter what Tachibana said before! So, why--
"Ryusei." Gentarou placed a hand on his shoulder, and Ryusei shrugged it off quickly. He was in no mood to be comforted by anyone.
"Tomoko-chan was probably alone when Virgo attacked her," he said, and belatedly he realized that he was talking aloud. But he couldn't stop. "Alone and scared and defenseless. We were all too consumed with dealing with Taurus, weren't we? None of us thought to check in with her. None of us bothered to bring her along with us. We should have." Here he clenched his jaw, threw a cursory look at the others as if accusing them of a great crime. "We should have."
Why didn't he, anyway? Was his pride getting in the way again? He had always come to save her in the past; perhaps Ryusei had taken his presence to mean Tomoko's safety - as long as he was in Amanogawa, then she would be safe. But he wasn't near her when Virgo attacked. Maybe if he had been, then she would be here with them. They wouldn't be contemplating her to be somewhere in the vastness of space, perhaps even dead--
"None of us could have foreseen this happening, Sakuta." Kengo, as always, was the voice of cold reason. "We have never directly fought Virgo like the two of you did before this, so we wouldn't have any means of predicting what her moves would be. And even if we did--" He clamped his mouth shut from saying the rest of the words, though Ryusei could hazard a guess: Virgo was too strong. Too strong for them to stop from carrying out her plans.
"Now what do we do? Tomoko's--" Gentarou paused, then looked away.
"There is nothing to do about Nozama right now. She's in a place we couldn't hope to reach. I think the best way to--"
But Kengo wasn't able to finish that.
Because Ryusei had gone and hit him square in the jaw, and, unsatisfied with that shot, had managed to get a hold of Kengo's collar in a deathly grip.
"Kengo-kun!" Yuuki shrieked, trying to pull Kengo away from Ryusei - to no avail.
"Don't--" It was hard for Ryusei to speak, too consumed he was with rage to do so. Kengo's face, despite being close to his, was a blurred image in front of him. There was a throbbing in his head that wouldn't stop, and his fists itched to hit the boy again, harder, repeatedly. But he curbed the violent urge and, instead, forced the words out of his mouth: "--don't say we can't do anything to help Tomoko-chan. We can and we will. If you want to give up on her, go do it - but I won't."
"Stop it, Ryusei!" Gentarou pulled Ryusei away, and this time he let go of Kengo. "Fighting with each other isn't going to help Tomoko. We need to work together and think." A beat, and he added: "Even you, Kengo." His words had an uncommon bite to them.
Kengo, to his credit, didn't look the least bit threatened, even when he was in Ryusei's grip and mercy. But he did sigh and shake his head. "Yes. Yes, of course." To Ryusei he said, "...I'm sorry, Sakuta. I should have been more--" He paused. "I should have realized how wrong it was for me to say those words at this time. I didn't mean-- I'm sorry."
Ryusei realized that Kengo was never the type to apologize so easily, and should have appreciated the fact that he did so - yet he was still reeling from the realization that what Kengo said could be true, despite it being difficult to swallow.
Tomoko was in place beyond their help and reach and, worse, she could be dead by now - and it was all Virgo's fault.
Virgo.
Wordlessly, he looked away.
"All right," Gentarou said lightly. "Let's go meet the others in the Rabbit Hatch."
Summary: Without any sort of protection against the harshness of space, it was likely that Tomoko was dead. Mid episode 41.
Notes: Requested by aisublue from Tumblr who gave the prompt what happened when Ryusei thought Tomoko had been sent to the Dark Nebula?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't ever recall the club discussing about dark nebulae or what not, or if they even knew what those are in relation to Virgo before ep 41/42, so this was the result of it. If they did, I'm... sorry?
Also, I've taken the explanation of dark nebulae from this site because I've no idea what they are beforehand. Space is awesome!
Dark Nebula. Dark Nebula. Tomoko-chan's in a Dark Nebula.
The walk towards the Rabbit Hatch had never been slower or more excruciating for Ryusei. It was made all the worse by the silence that embraced him, Gentarou, Kengo, and Yuuki - with the latter being unusually quiet and unwilling to speak a single word to anyone. Not that Ryusei could blame her; Virgo's attack today was meant specifically for her and who knew what could have happened had Yuuki been alone when the Horoscope came? She could have suffered a fate unimaginable and endured something horrible, just for being Virgo's target.
Just like Tomoko-chan was. Ryusei clenched his hands to fists, his footsteps becoming heavier, as if he was carrying a great weight on his shoulders. In a way, he was: his worst fear had come to pass.
Before, when they were not yet certain of Tomoko's fate, a small part of him refused to believe that she could be hurt. Despite three consecutive days of her absence, Ryusei stubbornly clung to the hope that Tomoko was fine - perhaps she'd gone somewhere to visit her father, whom she'd mentioned worked far away from their home? Or she could have traveled to another town to buy her supplies; he remember her mentioning that white snake skin wasn't exactly easy to come by especially in their city, and the one she had was something she bought from a store which was a good two days' journey from Amanogawa. She could have thought the snake skin old and useless by now, so Tomoko could have decided to replace it and journeyed two days to go to that store, and was bound to return any time now. Or--
Yet he knew Tomoko would never be that foolish, could never be that irresponsible. She would have told her mother of her plans, would have told Yuuki about them, would have told him. But believing these things was infinitely better than imagining the hundred and one horrifying ways which could explain her absence - which Ryusei himself was prone to do in the most unexpected, darkest of hours - and now--
"Oi, Kengo." Gentarou's voice was devoid of its usual energy and enthusiasm as it broke through the group's silent reverie. "What's a Dark Nebula?"
Ryusei snapped his head to glare at him. Sometimes he could not believe how naive and stupid Gentarou was about some things; how could he have not known what a Dark Nebula was?
Kengo took his time in answering. "Dark Nebulae are clouds full of dusts and gasses of many different kinds. They appear like dark patches in the universe, and stars are formed within their inner regions. We have several of them scattered in the Milky Way."
Perhaps even that was too hard for Gentarou to digest, but he did come to a revelation: "You mean Tomoko's out there? In outer space?"
The silence from Kengo was longer this time. "If the Dark Nebula Virgo referred to is the same Dark Nebula I'm familiar with, then... yes. You have to understand that it's very far from being a hospitable environment to an ordinary human. Nozama might be--" He paused, and tactfully refrained from speaking what was already in their minds.
Without any sort of protection against the harshness of space, it was likely that Tomoko was dead.
"That's what Virgo meant when she said she's going to erase us," Yuuki whispered. "She's going to send us there."
But it was a fate Tomoko already suffered, wasn't it?
"She's too strong," Yuuki continued, looking at the ground and seemingly talking only to herself as she walked. "Too strong."
What did Tomoko feel, Ryusei thought, when she encountered Virgo? Where did she encounter the Horoscope? Why was she the first one targeted among the club? Tomoko was far from being the most aggressive and threatening to the enemy. She was not a Kamen Rider like him or Gentarou. There was no logical reason for her life to be in danger, no matter what Tachibana said before! So, why--
"Ryusei." Gentarou placed a hand on his shoulder, and Ryusei shrugged it off quickly. He was in no mood to be comforted by anyone.
"Tomoko-chan was probably alone when Virgo attacked her," he said, and belatedly he realized that he was talking aloud. But he couldn't stop. "Alone and scared and defenseless. We were all too consumed with dealing with Taurus, weren't we? None of us thought to check in with her. None of us bothered to bring her along with us. We should have." Here he clenched his jaw, threw a cursory look at the others as if accusing them of a great crime. "We should have."
Why didn't he, anyway? Was his pride getting in the way again? He had always come to save her in the past; perhaps Ryusei had taken his presence to mean Tomoko's safety - as long as he was in Amanogawa, then she would be safe. But he wasn't near her when Virgo attacked. Maybe if he had been, then she would be here with them. They wouldn't be contemplating her to be somewhere in the vastness of space, perhaps even dead--
"None of us could have foreseen this happening, Sakuta." Kengo, as always, was the voice of cold reason. "We have never directly fought Virgo like the two of you did before this, so we wouldn't have any means of predicting what her moves would be. And even if we did--" He clamped his mouth shut from saying the rest of the words, though Ryusei could hazard a guess: Virgo was too strong. Too strong for them to stop from carrying out her plans.
"Now what do we do? Tomoko's--" Gentarou paused, then looked away.
"There is nothing to do about Nozama right now. She's in a place we couldn't hope to reach. I think the best way to--"
But Kengo wasn't able to finish that.
Because Ryusei had gone and hit him square in the jaw, and, unsatisfied with that shot, had managed to get a hold of Kengo's collar in a deathly grip.
"Kengo-kun!" Yuuki shrieked, trying to pull Kengo away from Ryusei - to no avail.
"Don't--" It was hard for Ryusei to speak, too consumed he was with rage to do so. Kengo's face, despite being close to his, was a blurred image in front of him. There was a throbbing in his head that wouldn't stop, and his fists itched to hit the boy again, harder, repeatedly. But he curbed the violent urge and, instead, forced the words out of his mouth: "--don't say we can't do anything to help Tomoko-chan. We can and we will. If you want to give up on her, go do it - but I won't."
"Stop it, Ryusei!" Gentarou pulled Ryusei away, and this time he let go of Kengo. "Fighting with each other isn't going to help Tomoko. We need to work together and think." A beat, and he added: "Even you, Kengo." His words had an uncommon bite to them.
Kengo, to his credit, didn't look the least bit threatened, even when he was in Ryusei's grip and mercy. But he did sigh and shake his head. "Yes. Yes, of course." To Ryusei he said, "...I'm sorry, Sakuta. I should have been more--" He paused. "I should have realized how wrong it was for me to say those words at this time. I didn't mean-- I'm sorry."
Ryusei realized that Kengo was never the type to apologize so easily, and should have appreciated the fact that he did so - yet he was still reeling from the realization that what Kengo said could be true, despite it being difficult to swallow.
Tomoko was in place beyond their help and reach and, worse, she could be dead by now - and it was all Virgo's fault.
Virgo.
Wordlessly, he looked away.
"All right," Gentarou said lightly. "Let's go meet the others in the Rabbit Hatch."