/o/ I'm a loser too so sue me

Fri, 15 May 2009 03:30:16 GMT

Posted by: echo

Another Home

"Excuse me, Supervisor Reever?"

Tapp's voice cut into the long-standing silence of Reever's office, drawing his attention away from the report he was drafting. In the split second it took for him to look up, the bead of ink that had collected at the tip of his quill fell and splashed onto the parchment he had been writing on, but after seeing the look on Tapp's face the ruined report was the last thing on Reever's mind.

"What is it?"

As he had been the acting Chief Supervisor for the better part of nine years now, Reever had gained a decent sixth sense for when things went belly up in the clifftop castle they called their headquarters and home. As such, he quickly stood while waiting for his answer, grabbing his jacket off the stand to slip on as he crossed the room to join Tapp at the doorway.

"Ah, well, sir. It's one of the senior researchers. Komui? He's missing."

"Missing?" Reever echoed in disbelief before he let out a quiet groan, running a hand over his face. He was well familiar with the antics of Komui, a researcher they had gained from the East Asia branch not long after he had taken office. In fact, he remembered that day quite well.

⋛⋋†⋌⋚

Nine years ago . . .

"Reever! I mean, uh, Supervisor!" called out a certain glasses-wearing researcher as he ran up to Reever. It looked as though he had run for miles with how out of breath he was, small frame all but trembling like a leaf from the exertion. "Supervisor, I... There's... They told me..."

"Whoa there, Johnny. For one thing, 'Reever' is still fine," Reever laughed as he rested a hand on Johnny's shoulder, half to reassure him and half just in case he needed to catch Johnny should the other actually pass out on the spot as he looked quite ready to do. "Take a couple deep breaths, then tell me where the fire is."

Cracking a smile at that, Johnny nodded and held up a finger as he caught his breath. Reever waited patiently the minute or so it took, because he was full of new-job jitters and didn't have anywhere he was dying to be right that moment.

"Um, the new researcher from the East Asia branch was transferred over," Johnny finally managed to say, glancing back in the direction he came as though he was waiting for those dire consequences of not telling Reever as quickly as possible to catch up with him.

"Who is it? I have the additional lab set up on the third floor al--"

"That's the thing, Reever! They didn't send over the Innocence specialist like you asked, something about an ongoing experiment..." Johnny cut in, looking alarmed.

"What? But I filed that request weeks ago!" Unable to believe his ears, Reever brought his palm sharply to his forehead, muttering something unpleasant about upper administration. "Who did they send, then?"

"Um, some kind of Dark Matter analyst. I think his name's... Komui?" Johnny flipped through his notepad as he spoke, finding the notes he had jotted down pertaining to the new transfer. "Yeah, I think he got expedited here because he made a formal request about the same time we asked for reinforcements."

"What am I going to do with a Dark Matter analyst?" Reever sighed, shaking his head as he accepted the transfer details from Johnny.

"I don't know either, but I guess we need all the help we can get. There's also... one more thing."

Johnny was rather meek by nature, something Reever had grown used to and even fond of over the years of working alongside the otherwise stalwart member of their Science Department's staff. The way he sounded now was hesitant even by Johnny-standards, and it was beginning to worry Reever a bit.

"What's up?"

"He's, um. Komui's... a little odd."

"A little odd?"

".....When I left him to get settled into his room, he pulled out this stuffed bunny and started having a conversation with it."

"...I see." Letting out his breath in a short puff of air meant to be a sigh, Reever shook his head as he leafed through the papers in his hands to find Komui's room assignment. "Thank you, Johnny. I'll look into it. Why don't you go on break or something? I think Jamie was looking for you. Something about making her dad cry. Did you beat him badly again?"

The change of subject seemed to brighten Johnny considerably as he laughed a little at the thought.

"I wouldn't say badly..."

"Go easy on him, Johnny. We're not all chess whizzes like you."

With those last few words, they parted company. Reever tried to talk himself down from being too apprehensive as he located Komui's room and knocked. He was well aware that the Order tended to employ some of the most questionable people he had ever had the displeasure of meeting. (A specific masked general came to mind.) However, he sorely wished it wasn't too much to ask for them not to employ these people and then give said people access to both sensitive lab equipment as well as highly volatile machinery and chemicals. Because that was just what their department needed. Mentally unstable people to compliment their stores of unstable chemical compounds.

And now they were sending him a Dark Matter analyst in lieu of the Innocence specialist he had asked for. He found that rather akin to asking for a glass of water and getting handed a tall glass of scalding habanero sauce. The bastards probably expected him to drink it and be grateful too.

"Hello?" With no answer to the first knock, Reever tried again, this time calling out to try to grab Komui's attention. "Komui? This is Reever Wenham, the Order's Chief Supervisor. Are you in?"

"The Supervisor?" asked a puzzled voice from within before Reever heard someone shuffling to the door. A moment later it clicked open, and Reever found himself face to face with a slightly skittish looking Chinese man wearing thin glasses, long black hair bound messily at the back of his head in a loose, somewhat haphazard ponytail.

"Ah... H..hello. I wasn't expecting anyone," Komui managed to say after a moment or so of clearing his throat. "Is there something wrong with my transfer...?"

"No, it's not that," Reever reassured, smiling in what he hoped was an encouraging manner as he gestured to the papers in his hands. (Jerry had pointed out to him the other day that while his smiles did have certain nuances to them, they generally just ran somewhere between 'strained' and 'losing faith in humanity'.) "I just wanted to see how you were settling in, maybe have a chat with you since we're going to be working together. Now it's my understanding that you're a Dark Matter analyst?"

"Ah, yes!" This seemed to perk Komui's interest as he waved Reever in, stepping to the side to clear the path. "Fascinating stuff, Dark Matter. Its density properties are unlike anything which occur in the world as we know it, and upon closer inspection over the last few months I've noticed that it resonates at a frequency which--"

"Yes, I saw that you submitted a report. You weren't... quite what I was expecting. But it's true, we need all the help we can get," Reever sighed, mostly to himself. The idea of someone who specialized in studying Dark Matter unnerved him to an extent, but he couldn't deny the necessity. "May I ask what made you start studying Dark matter...?"

Komui looked up sharply from where he had been working on brewing a small pot of tea at the question, his expression somewhere between puzzled and troubled. After a few conflicted moments of not quite making tea and not quite speaking while trying his best to do both, a lost sort of expression settled over Komui's features, like a child lost in a toy store that first moment when he fully realized he was all alone.

"I..." Komui murmured, leaving the tea to pick up a pink stuffed rabbit which was laying face-down on his bed. He held it to his chest, toying with its floppy ears absently. "I don't remember. I guess it was just... interesting. Someone has to study it, right...? I'm someone."

"...ah, of course." Reever felt a little uneasy watching the way Komui's moods changed so quickly, but of course this was the Black Order. People who walked through their doors whole were few and far between. Who knows, it might have even been the Dark Matter itself that addled Komui this way, and the older scientist was right. Someone had to do the dirty work. Reever could understand that, he even respected it. Deciding he had bothered their new recruit enough, he quickly wrote down for Komui where his new labs, office, and storage facilities were before excusing himself.

It wasn't until weeks later that he thought it was a little odd that Komui's last name had been stricken from his transfer records even though it was clear from the blacked-out marks from the original personnel files that he had one. It didn't feel like a particularly pressing matter, but Reever found himself looking into it in his spare time, cross-referencing their recent personnel records with the East Asia branch's when he came across something strange.

Just before Komui's transfer was finalized, there was...

⋛⋋†⋌⋚

"Supervisor Reever?"

"I'm fine, Tapp. Will you check the catacombs for him? He gets lost down there sometimes. I'll go look in the restricted labs in case he's holed up there again," Reever sighed, freeing himself from his thoughts of the past. Normally Komui vanishing on them wasn't any cause for alarm, as the scientist's particular breed of unparalleled brilliance came closely partnered with equally unparalleled eccentricity. Today, though-- Reever supposed it wouldn't matter anymore in a couple of days, but until that inevitability came to pass, he refused to lose track of any of his people.

"I'll get together a few others and comb through them immediately," Tapp replied soberly, half turning away before he suddenly remembered something and paused. "Oh, and, um. General Maria was looking for you. She... She, ah, wanted to talk about the funeral arrangements to the people we lost in the siege on Headquarters?"

"...I've almost got that done," Reever sighed heavily with a grimace. "Give her my condolences about her apprentice. No, wait. I'll do it myself after we've found Komui. And Tapp?"

"Yeah, Boss?"

"I'm sorry about Johnny," Reever offered with a wan little smile, reaching out to rest his hand on Tapp's shoulder. Tapp smiled back in a way that was just as grieved but somehow still comforting as he reached out with his own hand and ruffled Reever's hair.

"Me too, Reever. I'll go look for Komui now."

⋛⋋†⋌⋚

At that very same moment, Komui was in fact in the restricted area of the labs, but he was not in any of the labs themselves. There was a small bedroom in the back end of the hall, for the nights he worked so late that he was too tired to go all the way back to his room but not so tired that he passed out right at his work station. He was sitting on a chair by the bed, his stuffed rabbit held tightly in his hands. Only it wasn't his rabbit, not really. Linali was in the bed, quietly asleep. She had been there for a few hours now, but he couldn't quite bring himself to wake her. She was just so beautiful sleeping like that. (And, in the back of his mind, he couldn't help the worry that maybe she wasn't sleeping at all, but surely that was a silly thought.)

It was only when he thought he heard a crash from the floor above that he tentatively reached out and grasped his sister's shoulder, heart stalling briefly as his hand closed over soft fabric and thinly covering warm skin. She was real. She was alive. She was right there in the bed in front of him. He wondered what she was dreaming of, and he hoped they were beautiful things. Maybe she was dreaming of him, except perhaps not-him.

"...Linali. Wake up, Linali. We don't have much time," he whispered, willing his voice not to break as he smiled down at her. With a soft sigh, her lips curved into a faint, sleepy smile at the sound of his voice and she absently nuzzled his hand before her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh... Komui?" she murmured, smiling up at her brother as she flushed just slightly. When had he gotten here? But then her vision cleared of sleep, and she realized she didn't recognize the room around her. "...ah? Where are we?" Yawning, she sat up slowly, a little puzzled but not quite worried because Komui was right there and he didn't seem to be up to anything.

"The back of my labs. I-I'm sorry I took you. I'll put you back, I just... I wanted to see you again," Komui explained a little disjointedly, moving from his chair to sit next to her on the bed. He took one of her hands in both of his own, looking a little like he wasn't sure what to do. He shifted this way and that until finally he just held out his arms to his sister, smiling a bit awkwardly. "M-may I...?"

"Huh? Um, okay--" Linali answered, startled but obliging as she let him pull her into a hug, wrapping her arms around him in return. She also reached up to press her hand against his forehead, lips pursed as she peered at him. "When was the last time you slept, ge ge? You're acting really strangely, even for you..."

At that, Komui let out a soft laugh that sounded almost as though he was ready to cry. He pressed a clumsy kiss against the top of her head.

"I brought you Yosshi. I went back and found him after they took you, and I was going to bring him to you... I'm sorry it took all this time," he mumbled, pressing the stuffed animal into her hands. She blinked at it, then glanced over at Komui in confusion.

"Huh? This is your doll, isn't it? I thought he was your favorite...?" she asked, turning the bunny over to inspect. She didn't remember much of being a girl, especially of life before the Order, but she was fairly certain this toy had never been hers.

"...oh, of course not. Sorry, sometimes my memories... I want you to have him, though. Is that okay? He's always helped me sleep," Komui corrected quickly, holding Linali a little tighter.

"Komui, what's going on?" Linali sighed, trying to sound stern. It was obvious there was something wrong. Actually, it was always obvious when something was wrong with her brother. It was just figuring out exactly what.

"N..nothing--" Just then, another harsh crash came from upstairs, causing both Komui and Linali to jump.

"Is something happening up there? I should go check--" Linali began, getting to her feet with a worried frown. Crashes like that in Headquarters was never a good thing, be it something escaped from the science labs or enemy attack. To her surprise, though, Komui's hand immediately closed around her wrist to pull her back.

"N-no! Don't-- Don't go. It's not... There's nothing... Stay?" he begged, running a hand nervously through his hair. "Please. You... You've gotten so pretty, I... I wasn't expecting... We don't have much time, so I... I should've gotten down to it, but you've just gotten so pretty..."

Worry for her brother quickly outweighing worry about the mysterious sounds coming from above, Linali's took a seat again, this time taking Komui's hands in her own herself.

"Tell me what's wrong?" she asked gently, running her hand over the back of his.

"...we were separated when you were little, weren't we?" Komui murmured, grip on Linali's hand tightening as he stared down at the floor. "And while I wasn't here to protect you, they... They hurt you, let you see horrible things. You were so little, and they hurt you so bad..."

"Komui...?" Linali breathed, feeling a chill spread through her at Komui's words. Why was he bringing up all this now?

"Finally, you--" Komui turned over Linali's hands then and saw the scars, and he knew that his memories were right in this instance. Almost right. "...finally you hurt yourself. What happened then?"

"You... You came, of course. I was in the hospital, and you were there when I woke up to tell me we were home," Linali answered quietly, her smile a little pained but brilliant nonetheless.

"O..of course. I came in time. I..." Komui's voice cracked then as he tried to smile back, and finally he buried his face against his little sister's shoulder and began to cry.

"K-Komui--" At a loss, Linali simply brought her arms around him and held him because she didn't know what else she could possibly do. She waited until the tears tapered off, until the breathless sobs ebbed away. She held on until the moment he pulled away himself. Then he reached out and stroked the stuffed rabbit that was sitting in her lap.

"I'm not... I'm not the brother you know. I'm... I'm someone your brother might have been, I... Ten years ago, my sister tried to hurt herself, and no one found her for days," he whispered, slowly drawing his hands back to himself to clutch them against his chest. "I was still filing my transfer request when they called me to say... that you... That she was gone. I couldn't... I... I was the scientist. I had all the answers, and my only sister was... She'd... I should have been there, but I... I couldn't accept she was gone, that I'd... never see her again. That... That was when I began to study Dark Matter."

"Dark Matter?" Linali echoed, remembering that the core of Akuma was composed of that substance, the rest of the story almost too much to take in. He wasn't making any sense, but the more he spoke the more she worried for him.

"I postulated that the specific properties of Dark Matter could be used, if utilized properly at a strong enough concentration, to open pathways to parallel universes," Komui went on to explain almost excitedly, though that note of sadness remained. It was reminiscent of the Komui Linali knew and loved, that bright-eyed eagerness to explain scientific theories well beyond her realm of comprehension to her. "Places much like this, where the world is the same as ours, but slightly different. Where events unfolded slightly differently and with them the people we became. I theorized a reality where you survived, or perhaps a reality where I did not. Wouldn't that be perfect...? A world where you were missing me, to compliment a world where I was missing you... Like finding the lost pair of a sock! Only not in the back of the dryer, but in an alternate reality... Socks are useless on their own, you know. Utterly useless--"

"Wait, so you-- You made this? And you... took me from my world?" Linali echoed in disbelief, trying to get a better look at the room around her before she turned attention back on him. He was slightly... off from how she remembered, but to think that the Komui sitting next to her was another person entirely was more than a little overwhelming.

"Well, yes, but only temporarily. I'll put you back, I swear. I just, like I said, I just... I really wanted to see you again. I was hoping for a Linali who didn't have me, but I'm out of time... I... I wouldn't keep you from your brother, though. Never, never..." Komui mumbled, half to himself, before yet another loud crash came from above.

"When do you plan on sending me back?" Linali asked. There was a conflicted expression on her face as she scooted a little closer to Komui. Real brother or not, she hurt to see him so obviously hurting. The gesture must have startled Komui, judging from the bewildered look he gave her, but he quickly recovered and held her tightly to him once more, glancing up at the ceiling with a troubled frown.

"Soon. There's not much time..."

"When's 'soon', Komui? I... I'd like to stay longer with you, but the war--" These words startled Komui even more than Linali moving closer had, and Linali could only stare at him as he took her by the shoulders to look her in the eye.

"The war? You're... you're still fighting the war? Then there's even less time-- I should-- I should get files, prep the machine-- Yes, we'll do it right now--" Without warning, Komui stood from the bed and began to pull things out of the filing cabinets set up in the corners of the room.

"Komui? What's going on? What do you mean 'still' fighting? The war... Is it over here?" Linali asked as she stood after him, slowly piecing the story together. "We won?"

Komui stopped what he was doing then to turn and look at her, expression strangely unreadable.

"No, not at all," he murmured. "We lost. There was a siege on Headquarters. We fought them off, but we lost too many of our own. The Order's done. It's... It's really only a matter of time now."

"Lost?" Linali echoed, eyes widening. But all at once it made sense to her, everything that Komui had told her and everything he was implying. If the siege on Headquarters and the fight with the Level Four had taken place in a reality where she wasn't around to aid Allen, there was no saying how much carnage...

"Here--" Without answering her directly, Komui pushed a thick stack of papers into her arms. "It's all of our latest breakthroughs. I'm sure your scientists will have discovered most of the same, but... Some of these might have turned the tide for us if we'd had more time. Show... Show them to me when you get home, okay?"

"Komui, I--" Linali began, clutching the files to her chest as she reached out for him with her free hand. "If you can open portals, then you should try to get people--"

"No, I-- It doesn't work that way, Linali. It... It's possible, but there's too many risks. There's not enough power in the machine. We're... We're not meant to survive this. It's okay, though. You don't need two of me. I already took so many chances bringing you here, it was stupid, but I..." Swallowing thickly, Komui tried his level best to smile at her as he drew her into his arms one last time, brushing a kiss over her brow.

"I wanted see you again. I love you, Li-Li. I'm... I'm sorry I didn't come in time. I'm so sorry," he choked out, holding her tight. Then he let her go, stepping away to make for the door.

"...you have to go. Now. The restricted labs are harder to get to, but it won't be long now. Come on, I'll send you home."

All of Linali's protests fell upon deaf ears as Komui led her back to the room where he kept the Dark Matter machine. He set the coordinates and opened the window back to Linali's home dimension, keeping an eye on the machine's remaining Dark Matter stores. Just enough to send her back.

"Go," he urged, nudging her in the direction of the portal.

"Come with me!" she begged, but he only smiled and shook his head even as there was an explosion somewhere from the floor below.

"I'm already there waiting for you," he replied.

Once she was gone again, files, Yosshi, and all, Komui shut down the machine and sat down by the door. He took a worn picture out of his shirt pocket, so faded that it was almost impossible to make out. But he could see it clear as day, the little girl sitting on their front porch steps, pink bunny clutched tight in her arms. And her smile, bright and beautiful. He ran his fingers over the photograph and thought about how beautiful of a girl his baby sister had grown up to be, then shut his eyes and waited.

Any moment now, not so far away from here, Linali would be coming home to him.

comments

pathos :: d.gray-man and other nonsense.

/o/ I'm a loser too so sue me