[Multichapter] The Watches Series: Apocalypse (4/??)
Title: The Watches Series: Apocalypse
Authors: syunikiss1990
Beta: andreja1989 <-- as always arigatou ♥
Pairing: SakurAiba, MatsuMiya, OhnoxOC
Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Romance
Rating: PG-13 (this chapter)
Disclaimer: No, we don't own anything... We're just Border Watch's glaziers
Summary: It looks like the end of everything they knew... Will their world collapse?
*MASTERPOST*
"Why on earth would you want to go to a place where people are disappearing?" Jun asked, looking from Sho to Masaki who were sitting in front of him. Their friends had come to Tokyo less than a week after he and Kazunari had left Chiba, suddenly standing in front of their door with fully packed suitcases, ready to leave the country and go to Rome. The tallest man had just finished explaining what had happened in the Vatican and right after told them about the invitation he got as well.
"Because there is only one way to find out what is going on there and that's by going there and investigate." Aiba said. Next to Matsumoto Ninomiya sighed and shook his head.
"I agree with you on that point but wouldn't it be too dangerous? It's just the two of you against the whole Vatican." Masaki looked at Sho who slowly nodded.
"That's why we wanted to ask you two to come with us." Aiba said, surprising both Jun and Kazunari.
"What?" Matsumoto said, looking at the two men in front of him and then to Ninomiya next to him, who looked back with a frown. "We can't simply leave. Not with all the riots going on. Besides, I think it's a bad idea to go in the first place."
"We already thought you would say that so we asked for permission from the Dark Watch already. We are leaving tomorrow morning." Sho said, looking slightly guilty at his surprised friends.
"What?!" Matsumoto yelled, wanting to stand up but he was pulled down by Kazunari's hand on his arm.
"You are too loud J." Ninomiya sighed, rubbing his ear. "Let's hear them out a bit more first before you jump into any conclusion."
"What if I don't want to? I don't like being pushed around like this." Jun grumbled annoyed but before Kazunari could reply, Sho cleared his throat.
"We know you don't like this but you two are the only people we trust. We worked together before and even though you actions and decisions might not always be completely legal, we know you don't make them without taking anything else in consideration. And you are right, with just the two of us we can't go against the Vatican. Even with just four it's really dangerous, but that's exactly why we need your eyes and ears as well. Maybe we are worrying for nothing and maybe this all is just a simple coincidence but if Masaki says something is wrong I believe him. Talking him out of this is useless so the only way for us is going there and that means we need you two." Sho smiled weakly. "For old time's sake. One last mission with all of us."
"Just us? I don't think any of the Watches would allow you to take just us, two Dark Watch officers. They might think you start choosing sides already." Matsumoto said with a frown, seeing Sakurai's cheeks color a bit.
"Well... Okay, I wasn't going to tell you this until we were in the plane but there are two Light Watch officers joining us as well." The older man held up his hand to stop Jun from talking. "But you don't have to worry about them. They just think it's an exchange between the Rome and Vatican Watches with Japanese Watches seeing the riots so they will be in the Rome's Light Watch office most of the time."
"And why shouldn't we worry if that would mean we have to go to Rome's Dark Watch as well?" Matsumoto asked, getting more and more annoyed with each passing second.
"Jun, for God's sake, stop whining. Why are you so against this idea in the first place? It's actually a great opportunity to see how the other countries are handling this situation." Kazunari barked at him, clearly more annoyed than the youngest was. Jun looked madly at him but he stayed silent, knowing that by now it was three to one anyway and there was no way he was going to win this. But that still didn't mean he was happy with it or that he would give in easily.
"I still don't see a reason to go when it's just a hunch that something is wrong. There is no evidence that anything is happening. Besides, it's even a bigger possibility that it's just a simple coincidence." Ninomiya sighed.
"There is no evidence because we didn't get into it yet. Of course you can't find evidence here, thousands of kilometers away from where it happened."
"It just doesn't make any sense." Jun said stubbornly.
"That's exactly why it's so troublesome." Sho interfered. "Ex-treaties get invited to the Vatican and at the same time a head of a Light Watch get murdered. One of those vessels is found dead, another missing and now Masaki gets invited there as well. It's almost like someone is slowly getting rid of people standing in his or her way. Think about it Matsumoto-san, we can't underestimate situations like this after those strange things a few years ago." Jun fell silent from the older man's words. It was true, they shouldn't take things lightly and risk making things worse that way. Though it couldn't possibly have to do anything with the case a few years ago, everybody was so sure the main culprit wasn't around anymore.
"You said it yourself J. What if Ohno is behind this? Don't you want to go after him again?" Matsumoto looked madly at the smaller man.
"Don't give me this. I know you don't even believe this yourself so it's no use to try to get me in with this." He grumbled.
"I don't get why you would risk the life of someone you love for this." Matsumoto said, looking straight at Sakurai whose eyes widened slightly with surprise and realization.
"What is this really about?" Kazunari suddenly asked, looking at Jun. The taller man sighed and got up, getting the cups from the table and mumbling something about getting more tea. Of course he heard footsteps following him immediately, seeing Ninomiya standing behind him with his arms crossed in front of his chest when he turned around.
"Spill it." The older man said.
"Why would you even care? Go with them if you must."
"J you are acting like a teenage girl who doesn't get what she wants and even though it suits you I'm not going to play along. I will go if you keep acting like this and you can just be a whiny bitch by yourself. So tell me what is really bothering you or accept the decision I made." Jun sighed and leaned against the sink.
"It's dangerous." He muttered. "Going there is dangerous. I agree with Aiba, something is wrong over there but I'm scared that it's something we are not able to handle."
"We have been in worse situations before." Ninomiya said with a frown. "This is not like you Jun, you never backed off because it's dangerous."
"No but after that last time with Ohno I realize it's sometimes better not to meddle with things that are above you. We have absolutely no idea what we will be going against if we go there and I don't want to risk anything." Kazunari didn't reply, he simply looked at Jun with a frown on his face.
"You really believe Ohno is behind this?" He asked. Matsumoto shook his head.
"That's not it. Okay, maybe he is but what if we are about to face something or someone even worse? Almost losing you once was bad enough already." For a short moment Ninomiya looked shocked before he smirked.
"That's what this is about? That's cheesy J." The older man chuckled, which only made Jun mad.
"Fine, whatever. Do what you want, I don't care." With big steps he stormed out of the kitchen, only making it through the living room to the front door before Kazunari caught up with him and pushed him against the wall.
"Will you stop running away already? I understand what you are scared of but there is nothing to worry about. We both know we work best as a team so as long as we work together nobody will get hurt. They are our friends and you know Aiba, he's a stubborn idiot and Sakurai is an even bigger one by simply following him in this but that's their love. Don't forget that they have helped us before as well, we owe it to them to help them as well. If it wasn't for them we wouldn't be standing here right now. You would either still be in jail or dead and I would still be somewhere composing music for B-rated video games." Matsumoto looked down on the other man, slowly feeling the angry feelings slipping away, realizing the man in front of him was right.
"I still don't like it." He mumbled stubbornly, making Ninomiya sigh.
"Me neither and that's exactly why we should go. There is something going on and my feelings tell me that the main reason lies somewhere in the Vatican." Jun slowly nodded, pushing himself away from the wall and getting back to the living room, where Masaki and Sho looked at them with worried but curious eyes.
"So... when do we leave?" A small smile formed on their friends faces as they looked at each other.
"Tomorrow."
***
Even though the flight was comfortable, it was too long for Jun's liking and the big time difference didn't make him much happier either. Though this had a negative effect on everybody, at some point the conversations coming down to grumpy statements and even grumpier replies. Seeing the situation they decided on going to the hotel right away, making some plans to meet the next day in the early afternoon and from that point on planning what would be their moves from now on. Luckily the Watches in Rome managed a quite good hotel in the middle of the city, sparing no cost to make their stay as comfortable as possible. After saying goodbyes in the hallway of their floor Matsumoto opened the door to their hotel room, looking around amazed by the size of it.
"You would almost think we are important, getting big suites and everything." Ninomiya mumbled next to him, dropping his bag on the floor before walking to the king sized bed and letting himself fall face forward on it. Matsumoto shook his head and placed his own bag in a corner close to the closet before walking over to the curtains, opening them and smiling at the sight. Seeing the hotel was one of the tallest buildings and that they were almost on the top floor he could watch over a big part of the city, lights beaming at them through the dark evening sky. When he realized he was standing in front of doors instead of a simple window he opened them and stepped on the small balcony. The streets here seemed so peaceful, unlike the chaos they came from in Tokyo. But the tension was here as well, he could feel and see it in the looks of the people on the streets. Maybe they were handling it better, but there was something going on for sure here as well.
"Penny for your thoughts." He heard next to him, seeing Kazunari leaning over the reeling as well. He sighed deeply.
"You felt the tension as well right?" He asked, seeing the smaller man nod in the corner of his eye.
"Maybe the riots here aren't as openly as in Tokyo because they are so close to the Vatican but there is something going on here as well." Ninomiya sighed and handed the taller man a cigarette which he gratefully took. "There is something about the silence here that really bothers me though. It's a city but it's as silent as a small mountain village. This can't be good."
Jun slowly nodded as he lit his cigarette, giving the lighter back to the man next to him and blowing smoke into the dark sky. As if the city heard the younger man's words it spoke up, a loud bang coming from a few blocks away, immediately accompanied by the sound of car alarms going off. Cursing they looked at the direction the sound had come from but in the darkness they couldn't see much. Underneath them people came out of the buildings, some of them running towards the place, others looking around confused and talking to each other with high and panicked voices. Behind them Matsumoto heard loud banging on their door, making him sigh and push out his cigarette, following Kazunari who was already on his way to the door.
"Did you see what happened?" Sho stormed into the room as soon as it was opened, Masaki following him closely behind. The Border Watch officer was standing on the balcony in only a few seconds, leaning over and looking at the direction the explosion had come from. Trails of smoke were slowly forming, making the location clearer and making them realize how close it actually had been.
"Sho, get back inside." Aiba said madly, pulling the smaller man back in the room and closed the curtains.
"Relax, it's not like anyone can see us up here." Ninomiya mumbled, sitting down on the bed and looking at the two intruders in their room.
"I don't care, I'm not going to risk anything." Masaki said annoyed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Says the one who wanted to go here in the first place." Matsumoto said just as annoyed, not in the mood for any crap like this at all. All he wanted was to take a warm shower, maybe even a bath and get some sleep. Though by the looks of it he wouldn't get this anytime soon.
"Don't start this again." Kazunari threw some angry glares towards Jun, who rolled his eyes.
"Look, I thought we agreed on resting today. It's not like we didn't expect anything like this to happen so I don't get why you two are so worked up. This only proves that the riots are everywhere." Sakurai frowned at Matsumoto's words.
"How doesn't this bother you? You first reaction should be to see if help is needed, not to turn away from it." Jun clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Look Sakurai, after this week your first reaction should be to turn away from it until you are completely sure it's safe. I don't know about you and your safe office job, but we have been on the streets constantly for the past few days and that is far from safe. There have been cases where you could hear screams and gunshots but as soon as you would take a look you get assassinated by some idiot, thinking he is doing the right thing. Yes, we are trained to investigate what happened but right now you must be suicidal to run in without checking twice if it's absolutely safe." Sho turned slightly pale, sitting down on a chair.
"It starts to sound more and more like war." He mumbled softly. Matsumoto sighed.
"It doesn't need much anymore to turn into a war. But isn't that why we are here? To check what all these strange coincidences have to do with each other so we can try to stop it before it gets that far? So I suggest you try to get some rest so tomorrow we all will have enough energy to find out what the reason behind all of this is."
"Jun is right." Aiba agreed, pulling up his boyfriend. "I'm sorry for bothering you but this guy here panicked and disappeared before I could stop him. We will see you tomorrow morning." Bowing slightly the tallest man pulled Sakurai with him out of the room.
"Did we make the right decision by coming here?" Matsumoto wondered out loud, hearing an annoyed sound coming from Ninomiya.
"We are here now, can you please stop questioning this? Yesterday it was cute, you being so worried but now it gets more and more annoying. I will bring you back to the airport and get you on it myself if you don't stop." Jun sighed and let himself fall backwards on the bed, looking at the ceiling, wondering if he should say something about the familiar figure he had been sure he had seen on their way to the hotel. But it was no use, it wasn't like the older man would believe him anyway. Sleep seemed to hit him with double force now that he had laid down, making it impossible to keep his eyes open and drifting away, hearing Ninomiya's voice tell him something but not hearing what he said anymore.
***
When he woke up the room was still pitch black. For some reason he was underneath the covers, only in a shirt and boxers even though he didn't have the slightest clue how that happened. But a warm body pressed against his side as the room slowly got shape in the darkness made him remember where he was and realize Kazunari had probably undressed and covered him. The thought made him smile as he reached for his phone to check the time, seeing it was only just past 3. He sighed, carefully moving away from the other man not to wake him up as he slipped out of bed. His inner clock didn't agree with the time, making him wide awake and he knew he would toss around if he would stay in bed now anyway. As silently as he could he opened the door to the balcony, lighting a cigarette he had taken with him. The streets had turned quiet again, as if nothing had happened just a few hours ago. Jun leaned against the reeling, following the trails of smoke he blew out and wondering what should be their next step.
Of course Aiba would want to go to the Vatican tomorrow where he would try to find clues where Nila was and at the same time probably looking for Sachiko. He figured that Sho would go with him but he and Ninomiya would have a very small chance to be allowed in the Vatican, seeing it was the highest Border Watch office and mostly kept a secret for the other Watches. This would probably mean he and Kazunari would go to the Dark Watch and maybe they could find something worth their time there.
Sighing he put out his cigarette, staring into the darkness a bit longer before softly slipping inside the room again. After drinking a bit of water he stepped in the bed again, trying to make himself comfortable so he could try and sleep a bit again.
"You smell like smoke." Ninomiya muttered, turning towards him and moving a bit closer.
"I couldn't sleep." Matsumoto said.
"You didn't seem to have problems with that before." Kazunari yawned and closed the last bit of distance between them.
"Ever heard of a jetlag?" Jun asked annoyed but by the sound of the older man's breathing he knew the other had fallen asleep again already, making him wonder if he had even been awake in the first place. Chuckling softly he closed his eyes as well, hoping for sleep to take him soon again.