Shards of a Broken Sun [Deprecated; see link in final post for remake]

A/N: Wow it's been a long time. I blame mosquitoes. For everything. Life, death, taxes…

Mato scrunched her face, thinking hard.

Not about whether or not she wanted to help, oddly enough. Although surprising even to her, she was absolutely sure that she did. She was even looking forward to it, although, and uncomfortably, she couldn't say whether that was because she'd be helping people or because she'd be killing demons. Rock had disappeared while she was sleeping…

Uncomfortably, too, she didn't think that was true. That attitude—the battle-lust—it was supposed to be Rock's way of thinking, not her own. She remembered that much, but she couldn't tell them apart anymore. Nor did she really want to, and that was the most uncomfortable thought of all. How much of her was Mato, and how much was Rock? Did the question even make sense?

Uncomfortable questions not being her thing, she instead let her eyes glide over the detective while she was thinking about Mom. He was kind of cute, in that rough, hard-boiled TV detective fashion; the day-old stubble did him a favour, making him look far more the part of what she'd have expected. Too old for her, of course—

She blinked, and shook her head. Too old by far, old enough to be her father, although thankfully they looked nothing alike. Dad would never have been caught dead in a shirt that rumpled and stained, or a tie that ill-fitting. Which would probably help once he met Mom, which was pretty much inevitable… No real distinguishing marks… no, that was backwards. He was all distinguishing mark, completely stereotypical, and she doubted the police had many other people like him. At least, she hoped they didn't. The way he practically radiated "hard-boiled", it'd be a little scary to have more like him.

She grinned inwardly, already speculating on how Mom would like him. She didn't know if her mother had a 'type', as such, but if she did then 'nothing like Dad' had to be a good start. That was a thought, that was definitely a thought, and it sounded like they'd be working together—which meant she had a good excuse to push the two of them together. Mom had thrown herself into work, the same way as Mato had—well—and it had definitely been long enough. She scanned his build, wondering what a potential new little brother might look like. If she could get Mom to—

Um.

Her thoughts came to a sputtering, incredulous halt. Simultaneously her cheeks reddened, and she ducked her face to stop him from seeing.

"Kuroi-san?"

"I'll do it!" The words came tumbling out of her mouth. "I'll have to talk with Mom, of course, but I'm definitely helping. Just tell me when and where! Of course I will—" She nodded energetically, if somewhat jerkily. Anything to get her mind off of those thoughts. "Er, because… I already saved her once, I can't leave the job half done! Right?" She stumbled to a halt.

"That's good to hear," He said, but doubtfully. Still, after a moment he sagged back into his chair, the tension seeming to flow out of him. "It's rather encouraging that you think that way. If I could possibly have avoided it, I wouldn't have involved you, and I'm sincerely sorry that I have to."

"Think nothing of it, think nothing of it. I'll be in your care, um…"

She sweated inwardly. If he'd told her his name, she'd already forgotten.

"Yagami Sõichirõ." At her startled look, he shrugged. "Not a relation, but I have two children of my own, about the same age as the two of you. It might be why I'm so focused on this case."

"You're married?" She blurted out.

"Yes," he said, very slowly. "Happily, too." He watched her carefully, as her blush spread downwards until she could feel the heat in her toes. She hadn't even thought she could blush, let alone… Gaah! Why was it that she'd suddenly acquired foot-in-mouth syndrome?

Thankfully he didn't press the point, allowing her to pretend that nothing had happened. They chatted for a bit, about perfectly normal things like how he'd expect her to help out with killing demons—and nothing that would make her want to sink through the floor—until she'd gotten the idea, and he was yawning despite clear efforts not to.

"So, um, what happens now?" She asked.

"Now?" He made a show of thinking about it. "It's four AM, I wasn't really expecting you to wake up yet, the city is asleep… so… we sleep." His mouth twitched at her expression. "We're not in so much of a hurry that you can't get a bit of rest. I'll send a few messages, setting things up, and we can meet your mother at the station tomorrow."

"I guess…"

But she was still pretty tired, despite already sleeping all day, so she only borrowed his cellphone for a little while to send Mom a message. Her own, she'd lost sometime after the fight. There were plastic shards in her pocket to remind her of how, and she tried not to dwell on the memory.


They left before Irino-sensei woke up, after scribbling out a quick note. She felt guilty about that, but she'd have felt guiltier about waking her.


And then?

"Mato!"

She turned to see Mom standing at the entrance to the police station, dressed in casual outdoor clothing, panting like she'd run all the way from home.

"Mom…"

The sterile walls of the police station didn't matter. Yui, still incarcerated deeper inside and hopefully asleep, didn't matter. The moment she'd entered the building she became the centre of Mato's world, and Mato had eyes for no-one else.

She took a step forward. Then another, until she was running, and suddenly her head was buried in her mother's neck. She didn't cry, and she didn't shiver—she wondered if she should have, but as Mato she couldn't, and as Rock she wouldn't. Instead she just clung, until Mom hesitantly started rubbing her back.

"Ahem. So, Kuroi-san." She stirred, but it seemed like Yagami-san was addressing her mother. "You got my message. What are your thoughts?"

Mom stiffened. The arms around her back tightened slightly, and when Mom answered, the tone of her voice was sad. "I'll tell you right away, I'm not happy about it. What you're proposing…" She slowly disentangled herself, Mato clutching fitfully at her jacket until she realised it wasn't going to do any good, and Mom gave her a once-over from close range. She felt a tingling sensation in her shoulders as Mom turned her around. "Does this look like someone who's up to any kind of fight?"

Wait…

"I just got her back," Mom said, her voice shaking. "I got her back, and I didn't even notice when I lost her. I don't want to lose her again." Her hands clenched on Mato's shoulders.

Mom… That was…

Mato shook her head, twisting to look Mom in the eyes. "I can fight. I want to help. I've been fighting for years…" Mom's face grew ashen, and it occurred to her that she hadn't mentioned that before. More than that, those were Rock's memories, and she hadn't even noticed. She hurried to fix it. "And I'm not going anywhere! I'm really good at fighting, and I'm really good at healing, but there's no way that bull would have hurt me if I'd been on my own. I want to help Yui-chan, though."

"Still my tomboy—" Mom choked. "Are you sure?"

She was, so she nodded. She wouldn't mention her growing bloodlust, the way she wanted to kill anyone who'd hurt people more than she wanted them not to be hurt, but she could use that. Demons would hurt people, so she'd kill demons.

"…I guess you were right," Mom said not-to-her. Mato blinked, wondering what she was talking to Yagami-san about now.

He inclined his head. "If it's any comfort, I'm no happier with this than you are. This whole situation—it gives me a bad taste in my mouth. Not just the girl, but your own daughter as well—"

"If Mato's agreeing to help, then your plan is as good as any. The things Irino-sensei told me about…" She shook her head. "I don't understand them. All I can do is hope she's right."

"I'm still here, you know." Mato pouted, ducking when Mom tried to ruffle her hair.

"Of course you are. How about we go to see Yui-chan now?"

She frowned. "I wouldn't mind, but…"

"Let's go, then—"

"Hold it!" She glared at them. Mom, who'd already started moving, looked amazingly startled at her reaction. "There's something going on here, and I want to know what. It involves me, doesn't it?"


They relocated to Yagami's office before continuing.

"Well, out with it?" She said. Mom squeezed her arm in response, but she ignored it. She'd had enough railroading for now. "There's got to be some reason that Mom is acting this way, and you're my best guess. What's going on?"

"That is…" He drew a hand through his hair, but eventually capitulated. "You're absolutely right. I feel like I should ask your mother, however…"

"She deserves to know." Mato glanced at Mom. Her face was bleak—

"Know what, exactly?"

"That you're in much the same boat as the girl. I lied about that."

She shot him a betrayed look.

— — —

The difference between the two of them was, Yagami Yui had deliberately shouted to everyone who'd listen about what a terrible person she was, and she was the sole suspect in a murder case. Unfortunately, she'd also stressed Mato's role in rescuing her… including the way she'd done so, materialising guns out of nothingness.

Japan had some rather strict gun control laws.

The fact that her guns weren't really guns—she made one for the detective, and he pronounced it "nonsensical"—didn't exactly help. Neither did her fast healing, lack of a heartbeat, lack of electrical activity and lack of insides—and that made Mom pale all over again, when he'd asked her to hold her hand and pointed out that she had no noticeable bones inside. Mato knew that she'd been a shell of a person, but it seemed like she'd just switched that from the mental side to the physical.

It was guilt by association, but there'd already been a lot of 'incidents' reported; demons were crawling out of the woodwork, practically none of which were as sociable as her. He'd headed it off so far, but it would be convenient to arrest her based on breaking the weapon laws; however, that was just an excuse, as the mayor wanted to be seen doing something. Forming a special tactics group, where weapons were conveniently allowed, should also work for that, and would be a great deal more useful.

And—


"I wanted to make sure it was your own decision, and not because you were feeling pressured. You shouldn't have to do this, and I'm very sorry that you do." He bowed deeply to her. Really odd, to see an adult doing that, but she thought she understood him a little better now.

"It's fine," She said. And, to his doubting look, "Honest! You're asking me to do something I already wanted to do. Helping you out is much better than going out as some sort of vigilante—" Mom winced. "Not that I would have done that, of course!"

"I'll take your word for it." He hadn't. She could tell. "But with that settled, we still need to inform Yui-chan and her family. The girl, in particular…"

They followed him down a staircase, Mato looking around at all the. Apparently the holding cells were all underground, and this part of the station was far less inviting. Concrete walls, steel doors and—soon enough—bare jail cells, without even the dignity of a proper door. Mato wrinkled her nose at the smell; it smelt like a dirty toilet.

"I apologise for the conditions. There isn't enough power to run the fans. I had a constable clean her cell, but the prison as a whole is in a shoddy state…"

He pushed open a final, armoured door, marked "high security".

It was a small space, with only two cells and a single chair outside them, on which a young man sat staring into the air. He was startled when they entered, jumping to his feet and giving a salute.

"Inspector Yagami, sir!"

"At ease." He waved him down. "I told you, you're not in the army anymore. And our guest?"

"Yes, sir. There's been no change." She followed his gaze into the cell, where there was a small bundle of blankets lying on the floor, on top of a futon. It was otherwise barren. There was a sink, an untouched plate of food, and nothing else—

"Yui-chan, I have someone here to meet you."

Uneasily, she watched the bundle shake slightly. That couldn't be Yui-chan, right?

"Yagami Yui? Please say hello to Kuroi-san. The two of you met yesterday."

The bundle shrank a little, and Mato could see that it was a young girl, squeezed up into as close of an approximation to a ball as she'd ever seen. She couldn't tell which side was up and which was down. That was Yui-chan? She'd been upset yesterday, but this—

"Where are her parents?" She hissed.

"Visiting hours haven't started yet. And this is a prison, not a hospital; family members aren't normally allowed inside. Fujioka-kun, could you open the door for us?"

She pushed forwards, ignoring his response. She hadn't wanted to see it, hadn't been able to associate the miserable pile of girl in front of her with the one she met yesterday, but that was Yui-chan all right. She remembered the feeling, the sense of hatred so strong it was nearly tangible, only now it was all directed inwards. She wanted to make it all go away, wanted to shoot it and tear it apart—but she couldn't do that, not unless the girl had an otherself, and she truly hoped she didn't—Irino had been wrong to cultivate them—

"Mato!"

Hmm?

She glanced behind her, and saw Mom's astonished face looking back at her—through the still closed prison cell door. She wasn't alone, Yagami-san was outright staring at her. Fujioka… strangely, seemed unaffected, though he'd paused in the middle of unlocking the cell.

She could do that?

She prodded the wall with a finger. On her second try, the digit disappeared, pushing through the substance of the wall—only, the wall didn't look at all affected, and her finger felt cold and somehow insubstantial. She quickly pulled it back, inspecting it to make sure that nothing had happened.

Yeah. Ghost. She'd already died, after all. Never mind, she had someone else to worry about.

"Yui?" She knelt in front of the girl, afraid that she'd break her with a touch. Where was her head? She found a shoe that was sticking out—did the girl have no joints? Never mind. This was her back, probably—the knot tightened a bit when she touched her, though. "Are you okay?"

What. No.

She obviously wasn't okay. She was shivering, shrinking away from her touch—they were strangers, she reminded herself—and her clothes were soaked through with sweat, underneath the blanket she'd wrapped herself in. Yui was somewhere in there, but she didn't know how to reach her. Rock was no use at all, half her instincts just told her to force her way in—as if Yui was some kind of prison cell, and not in a prison cell. She couldn't even tell where her face was, but she was sure it was tear-streaked.

The door finally clanged open, leading Yui to shrink a little further—not that there was much room left for that—and Mom, thankfully, sat down next to her.

"Yui-chan, was it?" Mom smiled wistfully down at the bundle. Mato settled down; Mom would know what to do. "I'm sorry, I'm not your mother. I know she'd want to be here if she could." She paused. "We need to talk to you for a while, but you can see them afterwards."

The bundle shuffled around. A single, reddened eye showed through an opening.

"They can't come here," Yui said, her voice hoarse. "They mustn't come near me. Tell them not to come near me. It's dangerous."

Mom didn't immediately respond, but— "I'm pretty sure that's not true. I'm sure you don't want to hurt them."

"I didn't want to hurt Izayoi-kun, or Sakura, but they're both—" She sniffled. "They're both dead. I'm dangerous," she reiterated.

[ ] That's not true! I know Izayoi is alive, at least.
[ ] Leave this to Mom.
[ ] Insert pep-talk here.

A/N: And that's the Phantasma racial skill, for the curious.

Summer hasn't been nice to me. Whatever. Just keep writing~

On which note, I started another side project. Maybe this one will last? I doubt it, but let's try it anyway; it's a bit of an experiment. Here you go: Yuki Quest (Ciel nosurge/Ar Tonelico)