I'm pretty sure it's going to be all the systematic injustices taking place in Academy City. Part of it's because it's all interconnected, part of it's because Greek gods are dicks.
In Memoriam (A Certain Magical Index/Scientific Railgun AU)
- Thread starter Shockz
- Start date
Considering Index's circumstances, I don't think it's possible to dick her over on this deal? She wants to live free and here's a reason why the people searching for her need to back the FUCK off. The longer it takes, the better.
That's without getting into Academy City needing a ton of appropriately applied justice dumped all over it. As long as she isn't compelled to kill innocents or something, it's hard to construe that cause as being dickish.
Yeah, my bigger concern is "what happens if Nemesis' idea of Justice doesn't align with Index's," because that could go nasty places. But presumably Index knows what she's doing and she was willing to pay this price, so...?
- Pronouns
- she/her
My problem with the bargain system isn't with Index not intending to fill her side of the vow, but the fact I'm not seeing anything in place to stop her from making more of them. She isn't required to have personal investment or belief in her ability to accomplish what she promises, there are multiple gods she can keep appealing to, and power is bestowed just from making the vow.
The potential that a binding could backfire on her in the distant future is not going to prevent her from using the power she gets now to stop an immediate threat. As presented so far the only limit on making more emergency power bargains would be that her promises don't immediately contradict with each other.
Index has read enough (implicitly) to know better. Making a bargain that she thinks she can't pay back is a great way to end up as some unfortunate example in Tartarus someday.
Basically, she's not a hotblooded shounen deuteragonist that happily takes on cursed powers all day without thought for the future.
Shockz
You might see it coming...but it'll be too late.
- Location
- At least a mile high
- Pronouns
- no
Well, it's Themis's idea of justice she's bound to, not Nemesis's, so you can...sort of rest easy on that point.
It's tough to respond to this without going into spoiler territory, but...consider the possibility that making a magically empowered vow like this might have much more immediate and life-altering effects than "the potential that a binding could backfire on her in the distant future".
- Pronouns
- she/her
I can wait. *prepares popcorn*
When the spell was preceded by a minute-long begging spiel, and then proceeded to, probably, pump her full of divine energy that other divines (and tons of other people) can likely sense (with other accompanying changes?), I can't imagine another begging spiel not being met with divine laughter and a door slammed in her face at BEST.
- Location
- Mons Regius
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The only thing I can think of, based on a character in the Inheritance Cycle cursed the same, is that Index would always feel when an injustice is committed close to her and would be compelled to always help even if she doesn't want to.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
More fun: Pax will presumably have to send agents to help Index in order to reduce the likelihood of their magic library exploding and thus becoming impossible to reclaim.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Congratulations, you made me feel bad, not just for Kiyama, but for the giant angry baby thing she accidentally conjured. That's good writing.
And it's extra sad, since it seemed to be getting more coherent and reasonable, meaning maybe killing it wasn't even necessary.
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- Location
- oregon, usa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Kiyama was definitely aware of Project Radio Noise, and I can not imagine that she would have considered the Sisters as irrelevant to her intentions for revenge/justice, so that seems amusingly plausible.
Jonen C
F.M.D.G.
- Location
- Lincopense, Ostrogothia, Suecia
My mind keeps showing me a smug index.
Probably in a cafe, or something, having just explained to the gang what she did and letting them work out the implications of this.
Smugdex.
... Of course in order for that to be a thing, they would have to resolve things and have time for tea and crumpets, so probably not. What a waste what a waste.
Probably in a cafe, or something, having just explained to the gang what she did and letting them work out the implications of this.
Smugdex.
... Of course in order for that to be a thing, they would have to resolve things and have time for tea and crumpets, so probably not. What a waste what a waste.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
"HELLO, BOYS (and girls)! [IT'S] BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"
In Memoriam By: Shockz
AU/Rewrite. In a city where science has made the impossible mundane, a young man meets a very strange girl, who speaks to him of things yet stranger. Meanwhile, four friends stumble into a conspiracy that threatens to overturn everything they thought they knew about their home.
Toaru Majutsu no Index/とある魔術の禁書目録 - Rated: Fiction T - English - Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Chapters: 18 - Words: 80,901 - Reviews: 157 - Favs: 402 - Follows: 412 - Updated: 4h ago - Published: Jun 30, 2013 - id: 9442823
******
EDIT
******
It has been pointed out to me that in my excitement to share the news, I only looked at posting dates and not content.
I apologize for my redundant announcement.
In Memoriam By: Shockz
AU/Rewrite. In a city where science has made the impossible mundane, a young man meets a very strange girl, who speaks to him of things yet stranger. Meanwhile, four friends stumble into a conspiracy that threatens to overturn everything they thought they knew about their home.
Toaru Majutsu no Index/とある魔術の禁書目録 - Rated: Fiction T - English - Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Chapters: 18 - Words: 80,901 - Reviews: 157 - Favs: 402 - Follows: 412 - Updated: 4h ago - Published: Jun 30, 2013 - id: 9442823
******
EDIT
******
It has been pointed out to me that in my excitement to share the news, I only looked at posting dates and not content.
I apologize for my redundant announcement.
Last edited:
Chapter 18: Labrys, part IV
Shockz
You might see it coming...but it'll be too late.
- Location
- At least a mile high
- Pronouns
- no
Touma/Labrys, part IV
Let's get the two most important things out of the way: Yes, I was right, and no, I am probably going to die anyway.
I gauge Kanzaki's running speed as she charges toward me, and to my all-too-brief relief it's well below 'anime bullshit' speed and much more like 'fast but within expected bounds for a woman of her height and build' speed. This is the 'I was right' part: according to Magnus, Kanzaki gets stronger and faster the tougher her opposition is. But against me? Well, if I'm lucky her magic just reads me as an empty space, but the worst-case scenario is that it reads me as one unarmed teenager who's, at best, a pretty decent fighter. After all, the only actual power I have is the power to cancel out anything else she brought to the fight. Either way, she's unlikely to be much stronger than a normal person as long as she's facing me and me alone.
The 'I'm probably going to die anyway' part comes from the fact that one of the things she brought to the fight is a goddamned invisible sword made of telekinesis. Not quite invisible, technically, but close enough to make it difficult to figure out exactly where it is or what angle it's being held at. I have no doubt that I can make the sword go away in a hurry, but in order to do that I have to intercept it with my right forearm, and in order to do that I have to know where it's coming from. And I have no idea how quickly it will reform after it dissipates, which in turn means I have to either get a grip on Kanzaki herself or disarm her if I want to have any hope of ending the fight without any of my internal organs becoming external.
So, yes, this was probably a bad plan.
As she closes to within slice-n'-dice range of me I see her arms twitch downward and to my right, and I duck to my left just in time to hear the ethereal blade whistle by my ear. At the same time I step towards her and attempt an uppercut into her left forearm, trying to knock the hilt of the blade loose from her grip. That strike whiffs through empty air, but I follow it up with a low kick to her legs. She angles her own leg to deflect it; I still feel the impact through my shoe, but she holds her balance as she steps back. There's a faint look of surprise on her face; I'm betting she was expecting more of an assist from her magic than she's getting.
And there's something else, something I didn't pick up on at first--she's tired. Whatever--or whoever--Anti-Skill sent to fight her at the station must not have gone down very easily. I don't think either of us can keep this up for very long--there's a small but noticeable bit of shaking in all her movements, while I'm still exhausted, extra-crispy, and one dumb mistake away from instantaneous decapitation.
Okay. Gotta keep up the pressure, gotta minimize the advantage the sword gives her, keep trying to disarm her. I keep moving, circling around to her side, trying to prevent her from getting a good angle to strike from.
She must have been thinking the same thing as me, because the next strike is clearly intended to finish things quickly--a lightning-fast horizontal slice at neck height. I barely get my right arm up in time to intercept it--and miracle of miracles, it works, the shimmering field of distortion flickering out of existence the instant it touches my forearm. I was hoping to keep the element of surprise a little longer, but no time to dwell on that now--even as the hilt passes harmlessly in front of my eyes, I'm already stepping forward again, putting everything I have into a knifehand strike at her forearm, trying once again to force her to drop the sword.
This time, it connects; I hear a grunt of pain escape her lips, and the sword hilt springs free from her hand. If being disarmed took her by surprise, though, she doesn't show it, as I barely have time to blink before I'm forced to dodge an elbow strike aimed straight at my neck. Followed immediately by a kick dead center in my torso, which I don't see in time to dodge. Oof.
She doesn't waste any time following it up, either; before I can start getting air back into my rapidly evacuated lungs, she's already done something I can't quite follow with my legs and--crack--stars explode in my eyes as the back of my head impacts the asphalt.
But...she doesn't follow it up, at least not quite as quickly as I would have. I look up to see her hesitating, eyes darting in the direction the sword-hilt rolled when she dropped it. I don't hesitate, immediately attempting to hook her legs with my own--and somehow I manage it just as she tries to dash for the sword hilt, sending her off-balance and crashing to the ground.
The next few seconds are a frantic tangle of limbs and punches and pain until, finally, I manage to get on top of her and get her into a shoulder lock, keeping my right hand in a death grip on her wrist in case she has anything else to try. She keeps struggling for a moment but, well, this particular lock is a pretty painful one. She goes more-or-less limp within seconds.
And...that's that. This is probably the point where Yomikawa-sensei would say I should keep hitting her until she can't fight back, but, well, I suppose that's just not my style. "Okay. No bullshit now. What do I have to do to convince you to let Index go?"
For a second she doesn't answer me directly, instead mumbling something under her breath that I can't understand but which sounds vaguely magic-spell-like. When absolutely nothing happens, she lets out a sigh instead. "You would have to kill me. Nothing less will suffice. Though judging by the fact that you have not done so already, I doubt you have the nerve."
She's...not wrong, but I can't exactly let that show, so instead I apply a little extra pressure in a way that should hurt just a little more. "Okay, clearly we're not gonna get anything done in that direction. How about this? Why exactly are you so hell-bent on keeping her locked up? She doesn't even hate you guys or anything; do you really think she's gonna spill all the ancient secrets of magic to the first person she meets?"
"She did to you."
I literally have her in a submission hold; why do I feel like I'm the one on the defensive here? "Okay, fair, but she hasn't told me how to, you know, do anything. Honestly, I get the feeling she just really wanted some fresh air." I pause, considering that for a moment. "And maybe to go BASE jumping or something, I guess. But would it really be that horrible to just let her out once in a while?"
I can't get a good look at her face, but Kanzaki's voice contains record levels of incredulity. "Let her...you have no idea of how dangerous the knowledge she holds truly is, do you? You really did just stumble into this entire situation." She spits, literally spits on the ground next to us. "Listen to me, you ignorant child. I would sooner give a nuclear bomb to a random person on the street than I would willingly let the Index Librorum Prohibitorum out of my supervision for a single second. With an hour's time to prepare, she could end the world in four different ways that I know of. And she is weak compared to the kinds of people from whom we have reclaimed this knowledge, or would desire to gain it."
"End the…" I apply a little more pressure, without even thinking about it. "I said no more bullshit!"
"I wish so very much that I was trying to bullshit you," Kanzaki says back, the pain in her voice evident. "Sadly--"
She's abruptly interrupted by a flash of blue light from the construction site, bright as the sun for a moment before fading away. I realize, thinking about it, that the crashes, bangs, and other assorted sounds of violence from over that way ceased a couple minutes back. Whatever the hell was going on there, it's likely over now.
Kanzaki seems to agree. "That was her. Do you still believe she's so harmless?"
"Maybe? Depends on what exactly she was actually doing."
"What she--never mind." Another sigh. "Unless you plan on staying like this all night, you should probably at least render me unconscious."
I oblige her.
Job done, I slump back against Tessou's abandoned cruiser and rather ungracefully let myself slide down to the ground. It's thankfully not long before something happens--something, in this case, being Shirai and Index abruptly popping into existence not far away. Index immediately runs over to me. "Touma! You...you beat her." She looks slightly incredulous as she stares down at Kanzaki's unconscious form. "Is she…"
"She's alive. Should probably see a doctor about...well, a whole lot of things, but she'll live."
"I...see. What about you? Are you all right? Anything broken?" She leans over me, making a show of checking for additional injuries.
"I'm fine. Well, not much worse, anyway. Help me up?" She nods and holds out a hand; I start to reach for it with my right arm--
--until she very subtly (well, by her standards) shakes her head, and twitches it in the direction of my other arm. I take the hint and use that one to grab her hand and pull myself to my feet. "Something up?" I ask her under my breath.
"Yeah. Talk about it later," she responds. I nod; probably just more weird magic shit.
I can hear sirens in the distance; it's not long after that that a couple more police cruisers arrive. Statements are taken and lies are told; and by the time Index and I are free to go the first few rays of dawn are starting to break over the horizon.
Part of me wonders why, exactly, we're free to go. As far as anyone in ACPD knows, Index is the result of an actual successful foreign esper program; if I were the AC government I'd want her interrogated and locked up in a lab to be thoroughly analyzed. I have a feeling strings were pulled.
The rest of me, though, is just so very freaking tired...
"My God…"
The two of us end up staying the night (or rather the day) at Komoe-sensei's apartment, lacking anywhere else to really go right now.
"When...when does she stop?"
When I wake up sometime that afternoon, I immediately realize that there is one unexpected benefit to this arrangement: for once, someone else is responsible for keeping Index fed. "She doesn't," I state solemnly. "Ever."
The girl in question is currently scarfing down her fourth consecutive chocolate chip pancake, and Komoe-sensei does not make small pancakes. She's simultaneously devoured at least a panful of scrambled eggs, and I suspect my teacher's granola bar supplies are running critically low as well.
"She's...she's so tiny, though...where does it all go?" Dismay wars with a kind of horrified fascination on Komoe-sensei's face as she watches the spectacle. I have to admit, I'm not really sure about that either; Index must have a seriously overactive metabolism. "I...I think I need to head to the grocery store, if she--if you two are going to be staying here for a couple days."
She does so a few minutes later, leaving me and Index in silence. Well, silence except for the loud munching noises.
I just...keep watching her eat for a bit, thinking about what Kanzaki told me. Ending the world...she had to have been exaggerating, right? She was just trying to get me to give Index up quickly, there's no way...I decide to break the silence first: "So. What happens now?"
Index finishes a bite of pancake and looks up at me. "Well, I can guarantee you Kanzaki will not stay in police custody for long. She'll have her eye on me for as long as I stay here; even if we split up, I doubt you've seen the last of her either."
"Okay, sure, but immediate problem with that: why do we think she's going to let you stay here?"
"Simple. I'm holding myself hostage."
"Oh, okay. Wait, what?"
She explains the whole thing to me--the thing that Kiyama Harumi created, Index's plan to destroy it, the bargain she made and the oath she apparently took. "So, you see, I can't really leave Academy City until I get justice for...whoever the names were. Or else, well, I'll probably die, and Pax would never let that happen." She's grinning at me like she thinks this is the most brilliant plan in the history of plans.
"...Right." I sigh. "So, Index, if I'm understanding you correctly, you have sworn--to a goddess that may or may not actually exist--to go poking at Academy City's dark underbelly until you unravel a massive conspiracy that could tear apart the city as we know it."
"Yep!"
"You do remember what happened to the gangster at Seventh Mist, right?"
"Ye--oh." The grin vanishes. "...well, I suppose I'll have to be very careful about it."
"Right. Careful." Understatement of the year right there. "Look, I'm guessing this is why you didn't want to touch my hand earlier--it would let you out of this, this death pact or whatever." I hold out the hand in question towards her. "But, Index--"
"No!" She recoils away from it as if it were a snake about to bite her. "No...Touma, I don't know if you heard the telepathic signals the...the entity was sending out, but...something horrible happened, something that needs to be made right. This is bigger than keeping myself free and in Academy City, this is about seeing justice done. You understand, don't you?"
...Damn it, I completely do. "Fine. Yeah. But you know you aren't going to be able to do it alone, right?"
"I know. I'm thinking of getting into contact with Misaka and Shirai. They were both fighting the entity; they may know more about the situation." She raises an eyebrow at me. "Or are you volunteering to help?"
"...I guess I am," I say, and thus seal my fate.
Ruiko
"Hey, I think she's waking up!"
"Shhhh, quiet down. Let her sleep."
"I will have you know that we have a long and storied history of waking each other up--"
"Shhhh!"
My eyes blink open, and I find myself staring at an all-too-familiar ceiling. Oh, right, the hospital. Was I dreaming or--
"RUIKO-CHAN!" A very familiar face fills my field of vision as I groggily sit up. "How are you feeling? Do you recognize my voice? HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP?!"
Kazari isn't holding up any fingers--none of her own, anyway; instead, she's grabbed Shirai's arm and commandeered her hand for the purpose, which is rapidly curling into a fist.
I look around the room and see that Misaka is also here, face scrunched up like she's trying very hard not to laugh. She looks a little better than the last time I saw her; less obvious bandages and bruises, and she seems more...aware, I guess?
"I'm...fine...," I manage to rasp out. Ow. Throat very dry. I clear it and try again: "I'm fine. How'd it go?"
Kazari glances meaningfully at the other side of my bed; I follow her gaze to find--oh. "Hi, Dr. Kurotani."
The middle-aged neurologist smiles back at me. "Good morning, Saten-san. I'm glad to say that the reversal treatment went without a hitch!"
"Ah...good to hear." Shortly after...whatever had happened with Kiyama Harumi, a mass e-mail had gone out from an anonymous address to a number of prominent neurologists and neuroscientists in Academy City, as well as a huge number of apparently random school and university students, detailing how to reverse the effects of Level Plus. "If this e-mail is going out, well, it's already over one way or the other," it read. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
Turns out, the cure was a pretty simple modification to an already well-documented procedure: reversing the Kihara Process.
Supposedly, the modification meant that you could get the Process done again without any ill effects, as long as you didn't mind working your way up from Level 0 or 1 all over again. So, pretty much back to the status quo for a lot of the people who were using Level Plus.
Including me.
"So...have you re-done the process yet, or does that have to be separate?" I ask Kurotani.
"Ah, not yet. We're recommending everyone wait at least a week after the reversal treatment to get it done again. In the meantime, well, I'd prefer if you stayed the night, just to make sure there are no aftereffects, but after that it's up to you if you want to go home." He gives me a conspiratorial smile. "And don't worry; either way, it's all on the city's dime."
"Right…" That's a relief, at least. "I think I want to go home as soon as I can; I kinda feel like I've been stuck here too long already. Actually, well, is there anything else right now? Because..." I glance meaningfully around the room.
"Of course, of course, I'll let you catch up with your friends." He leaves us alone after that, and Kazari is, of course, the first to speak up. "See, I told you everything would be fine. You got all worked up over nothing!"
"As I recall," Shirai speaks up, "she was the one reassuring you--"
"Eh, details. Seriously, though, Ruiko, how are you feeling? Any side effects? Are you possibly feeling a slight craving for braaaaaains?"
"Nah, honestly, I feel fine. But, I wonder…" Just out of dumb curiosity, I hold the tips of my pointer fingers about half a centimeter apart in front of me, and try to push, like I did at the restaurant not so long ago.
And...nothing happens, of course. There's no sense of there being anything there to push on. Like it had never happened.
"What are you...oh." Kazari seems kind of at a loss for anything to say, a rare and momentous event indeed.
Instead, it's Misaka who has something to say. "Hey...Saten-san. Listen. Don't let this get you down, all right? Having to start over from the beginning sucks, yeah, but...I mean, I've only known you for a few days, but you're one of the hardest-working people I've ever met." She smiles. "Just keep at it, and I'm sure you're going to be--"
"Be stuck at Level 0 like I have been the last six years, Misaka-san?" That's odd. My hands are curled into fists, shaking. "Because that's what all the hard work in the world has gotten me." Shaking with the urge to punch her right in her perfect goddamned smile. "Sweet. Fuck. All. The only actual progress I ever made just got instantly reversed, because oh hey turns out it kills people! So excuse me if I don't really feel too up for hard work right now."
The smile, at least, vanishes. "Look, I don't understand why you're being so hostile, I'm just trying to--"
"Misaka-san." Kazari's voice has gone ice cold. "Didn't you have to see someone about something? Elsewhere?"
"...Fine, I get it. I'm out. Later." She unceremoniously storms out the door of the hospital room.
Shirai watches her leave, and shakes her head. "Onee-sama, for all that I love you, sometimes you can be so...argh." She turns to me. "For what it's worth, Saten-san, I'm sorry you got caught up in all this, and...I hope your fortunes improve, however they may." She looks like she wants to say something else, but ultimately just follows Misaka out the door, leaving Kazari and I alone.
Kazari sighs. "Well, so much for that. I'm sorry about that, Ruiko-chan, I kind of figured Misaka would be less...dense."
"It's...it's fine." I force my fists to uncurl. "I know she was just trying to be nice."
"Aaaaaaand failing horribly at it. But yeah...she's, she's a good person, and…" Her voice and expression turn weirdly serious. "...Look, if you can stand the sight of her again, I was going to invite her and Shirai over to the apartment tomorrow, after you got back."
The sheer abruptness of the tone shift kind of overrides all my remaining anger. "...why?"
Kazari sidles up a bit closer to me and lowers her voice. "While you were out, Misaka asked me to look into something. Something called--no, probably shouldn't even say it out loud here. Back at the apartment." Her voice grows even more hushed. "Where I know nobody's listening."
I match her whisper. "Why? What's going on?"
"I don't know, it might be nothing, and if it's not nothing I'm not sure I want to get you involved, but...after this?" She shakes her head. "No more secrets. Ever. To hell with opsec; if I can't trust you, who the hell can I trust?" She raises her voice again. "Aaaaaaaanyway, while you were out the new Star Wars trailer came out! I still can't believe they're sticking with the Episode-VIII-Luke-was-a-clone plot…"
We talk about pretty much nothing for a while, and by the time she leaves, somehow...somehow it feels like everything is going to be okay, no matter what happens from here on out.
No more secrets, huh...That does sound pretty nice.
Let's get the two most important things out of the way: Yes, I was right, and no, I am probably going to die anyway.
I gauge Kanzaki's running speed as she charges toward me, and to my all-too-brief relief it's well below 'anime bullshit' speed and much more like 'fast but within expected bounds for a woman of her height and build' speed. This is the 'I was right' part: according to Magnus, Kanzaki gets stronger and faster the tougher her opposition is. But against me? Well, if I'm lucky her magic just reads me as an empty space, but the worst-case scenario is that it reads me as one unarmed teenager who's, at best, a pretty decent fighter. After all, the only actual power I have is the power to cancel out anything else she brought to the fight. Either way, she's unlikely to be much stronger than a normal person as long as she's facing me and me alone.
The 'I'm probably going to die anyway' part comes from the fact that one of the things she brought to the fight is a goddamned invisible sword made of telekinesis. Not quite invisible, technically, but close enough to make it difficult to figure out exactly where it is or what angle it's being held at. I have no doubt that I can make the sword go away in a hurry, but in order to do that I have to intercept it with my right forearm, and in order to do that I have to know where it's coming from. And I have no idea how quickly it will reform after it dissipates, which in turn means I have to either get a grip on Kanzaki herself or disarm her if I want to have any hope of ending the fight without any of my internal organs becoming external.
So, yes, this was probably a bad plan.
As she closes to within slice-n'-dice range of me I see her arms twitch downward and to my right, and I duck to my left just in time to hear the ethereal blade whistle by my ear. At the same time I step towards her and attempt an uppercut into her left forearm, trying to knock the hilt of the blade loose from her grip. That strike whiffs through empty air, but I follow it up with a low kick to her legs. She angles her own leg to deflect it; I still feel the impact through my shoe, but she holds her balance as she steps back. There's a faint look of surprise on her face; I'm betting she was expecting more of an assist from her magic than she's getting.
And there's something else, something I didn't pick up on at first--she's tired. Whatever--or whoever--Anti-Skill sent to fight her at the station must not have gone down very easily. I don't think either of us can keep this up for very long--there's a small but noticeable bit of shaking in all her movements, while I'm still exhausted, extra-crispy, and one dumb mistake away from instantaneous decapitation.
Okay. Gotta keep up the pressure, gotta minimize the advantage the sword gives her, keep trying to disarm her. I keep moving, circling around to her side, trying to prevent her from getting a good angle to strike from.
She must have been thinking the same thing as me, because the next strike is clearly intended to finish things quickly--a lightning-fast horizontal slice at neck height. I barely get my right arm up in time to intercept it--and miracle of miracles, it works, the shimmering field of distortion flickering out of existence the instant it touches my forearm. I was hoping to keep the element of surprise a little longer, but no time to dwell on that now--even as the hilt passes harmlessly in front of my eyes, I'm already stepping forward again, putting everything I have into a knifehand strike at her forearm, trying once again to force her to drop the sword.
This time, it connects; I hear a grunt of pain escape her lips, and the sword hilt springs free from her hand. If being disarmed took her by surprise, though, she doesn't show it, as I barely have time to blink before I'm forced to dodge an elbow strike aimed straight at my neck. Followed immediately by a kick dead center in my torso, which I don't see in time to dodge. Oof.
She doesn't waste any time following it up, either; before I can start getting air back into my rapidly evacuated lungs, she's already done something I can't quite follow with my legs and--crack--stars explode in my eyes as the back of my head impacts the asphalt.
But...she doesn't follow it up, at least not quite as quickly as I would have. I look up to see her hesitating, eyes darting in the direction the sword-hilt rolled when she dropped it. I don't hesitate, immediately attempting to hook her legs with my own--and somehow I manage it just as she tries to dash for the sword hilt, sending her off-balance and crashing to the ground.
The next few seconds are a frantic tangle of limbs and punches and pain until, finally, I manage to get on top of her and get her into a shoulder lock, keeping my right hand in a death grip on her wrist in case she has anything else to try. She keeps struggling for a moment but, well, this particular lock is a pretty painful one. She goes more-or-less limp within seconds.
And...that's that. This is probably the point where Yomikawa-sensei would say I should keep hitting her until she can't fight back, but, well, I suppose that's just not my style. "Okay. No bullshit now. What do I have to do to convince you to let Index go?"
For a second she doesn't answer me directly, instead mumbling something under her breath that I can't understand but which sounds vaguely magic-spell-like. When absolutely nothing happens, she lets out a sigh instead. "You would have to kill me. Nothing less will suffice. Though judging by the fact that you have not done so already, I doubt you have the nerve."
She's...not wrong, but I can't exactly let that show, so instead I apply a little extra pressure in a way that should hurt just a little more. "Okay, clearly we're not gonna get anything done in that direction. How about this? Why exactly are you so hell-bent on keeping her locked up? She doesn't even hate you guys or anything; do you really think she's gonna spill all the ancient secrets of magic to the first person she meets?"
"She did to you."
I literally have her in a submission hold; why do I feel like I'm the one on the defensive here? "Okay, fair, but she hasn't told me how to, you know, do anything. Honestly, I get the feeling she just really wanted some fresh air." I pause, considering that for a moment. "And maybe to go BASE jumping or something, I guess. But would it really be that horrible to just let her out once in a while?"
I can't get a good look at her face, but Kanzaki's voice contains record levels of incredulity. "Let her...you have no idea of how dangerous the knowledge she holds truly is, do you? You really did just stumble into this entire situation." She spits, literally spits on the ground next to us. "Listen to me, you ignorant child. I would sooner give a nuclear bomb to a random person on the street than I would willingly let the Index Librorum Prohibitorum out of my supervision for a single second. With an hour's time to prepare, she could end the world in four different ways that I know of. And she is weak compared to the kinds of people from whom we have reclaimed this knowledge, or would desire to gain it."
"End the…" I apply a little more pressure, without even thinking about it. "I said no more bullshit!"
"I wish so very much that I was trying to bullshit you," Kanzaki says back, the pain in her voice evident. "Sadly--"
She's abruptly interrupted by a flash of blue light from the construction site, bright as the sun for a moment before fading away. I realize, thinking about it, that the crashes, bangs, and other assorted sounds of violence from over that way ceased a couple minutes back. Whatever the hell was going on there, it's likely over now.
Kanzaki seems to agree. "That was her. Do you still believe she's so harmless?"
"Maybe? Depends on what exactly she was actually doing."
"What she--never mind." Another sigh. "Unless you plan on staying like this all night, you should probably at least render me unconscious."
I oblige her.
Job done, I slump back against Tessou's abandoned cruiser and rather ungracefully let myself slide down to the ground. It's thankfully not long before something happens--something, in this case, being Shirai and Index abruptly popping into existence not far away. Index immediately runs over to me. "Touma! You...you beat her." She looks slightly incredulous as she stares down at Kanzaki's unconscious form. "Is she…"
"She's alive. Should probably see a doctor about...well, a whole lot of things, but she'll live."
"I...see. What about you? Are you all right? Anything broken?" She leans over me, making a show of checking for additional injuries.
"I'm fine. Well, not much worse, anyway. Help me up?" She nods and holds out a hand; I start to reach for it with my right arm--
--until she very subtly (well, by her standards) shakes her head, and twitches it in the direction of my other arm. I take the hint and use that one to grab her hand and pull myself to my feet. "Something up?" I ask her under my breath.
"Yeah. Talk about it later," she responds. I nod; probably just more weird magic shit.
I can hear sirens in the distance; it's not long after that that a couple more police cruisers arrive. Statements are taken and lies are told; and by the time Index and I are free to go the first few rays of dawn are starting to break over the horizon.
Part of me wonders why, exactly, we're free to go. As far as anyone in ACPD knows, Index is the result of an actual successful foreign esper program; if I were the AC government I'd want her interrogated and locked up in a lab to be thoroughly analyzed. I have a feeling strings were pulled.
The rest of me, though, is just so very freaking tired...
"My God…"
The two of us end up staying the night (or rather the day) at Komoe-sensei's apartment, lacking anywhere else to really go right now.
"When...when does she stop?"
When I wake up sometime that afternoon, I immediately realize that there is one unexpected benefit to this arrangement: for once, someone else is responsible for keeping Index fed. "She doesn't," I state solemnly. "Ever."
The girl in question is currently scarfing down her fourth consecutive chocolate chip pancake, and Komoe-sensei does not make small pancakes. She's simultaneously devoured at least a panful of scrambled eggs, and I suspect my teacher's granola bar supplies are running critically low as well.
"She's...she's so tiny, though...where does it all go?" Dismay wars with a kind of horrified fascination on Komoe-sensei's face as she watches the spectacle. I have to admit, I'm not really sure about that either; Index must have a seriously overactive metabolism. "I...I think I need to head to the grocery store, if she--if you two are going to be staying here for a couple days."
She does so a few minutes later, leaving me and Index in silence. Well, silence except for the loud munching noises.
I just...keep watching her eat for a bit, thinking about what Kanzaki told me. Ending the world...she had to have been exaggerating, right? She was just trying to get me to give Index up quickly, there's no way...I decide to break the silence first: "So. What happens now?"
Index finishes a bite of pancake and looks up at me. "Well, I can guarantee you Kanzaki will not stay in police custody for long. She'll have her eye on me for as long as I stay here; even if we split up, I doubt you've seen the last of her either."
"Okay, sure, but immediate problem with that: why do we think she's going to let you stay here?"
"Simple. I'm holding myself hostage."
"Oh, okay. Wait, what?"
She explains the whole thing to me--the thing that Kiyama Harumi created, Index's plan to destroy it, the bargain she made and the oath she apparently took. "So, you see, I can't really leave Academy City until I get justice for...whoever the names were. Or else, well, I'll probably die, and Pax would never let that happen." She's grinning at me like she thinks this is the most brilliant plan in the history of plans.
"...Right." I sigh. "So, Index, if I'm understanding you correctly, you have sworn--to a goddess that may or may not actually exist--to go poking at Academy City's dark underbelly until you unravel a massive conspiracy that could tear apart the city as we know it."
"Yep!"
"You do remember what happened to the gangster at Seventh Mist, right?"
"Ye--oh." The grin vanishes. "...well, I suppose I'll have to be very careful about it."
"Right. Careful." Understatement of the year right there. "Look, I'm guessing this is why you didn't want to touch my hand earlier--it would let you out of this, this death pact or whatever." I hold out the hand in question towards her. "But, Index--"
"No!" She recoils away from it as if it were a snake about to bite her. "No...Touma, I don't know if you heard the telepathic signals the...the entity was sending out, but...something horrible happened, something that needs to be made right. This is bigger than keeping myself free and in Academy City, this is about seeing justice done. You understand, don't you?"
...Damn it, I completely do. "Fine. Yeah. But you know you aren't going to be able to do it alone, right?"
"I know. I'm thinking of getting into contact with Misaka and Shirai. They were both fighting the entity; they may know more about the situation." She raises an eyebrow at me. "Or are you volunteering to help?"
"...I guess I am," I say, and thus seal my fate.
Ruiko
"Hey, I think she's waking up!"
"Shhhh, quiet down. Let her sleep."
"I will have you know that we have a long and storied history of waking each other up--"
"Shhhh!"
My eyes blink open, and I find myself staring at an all-too-familiar ceiling. Oh, right, the hospital. Was I dreaming or--
"RUIKO-CHAN!" A very familiar face fills my field of vision as I groggily sit up. "How are you feeling? Do you recognize my voice? HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP?!"
Kazari isn't holding up any fingers--none of her own, anyway; instead, she's grabbed Shirai's arm and commandeered her hand for the purpose, which is rapidly curling into a fist.
I look around the room and see that Misaka is also here, face scrunched up like she's trying very hard not to laugh. She looks a little better than the last time I saw her; less obvious bandages and bruises, and she seems more...aware, I guess?
"I'm...fine...," I manage to rasp out. Ow. Throat very dry. I clear it and try again: "I'm fine. How'd it go?"
Kazari glances meaningfully at the other side of my bed; I follow her gaze to find--oh. "Hi, Dr. Kurotani."
The middle-aged neurologist smiles back at me. "Good morning, Saten-san. I'm glad to say that the reversal treatment went without a hitch!"
"Ah...good to hear." Shortly after...whatever had happened with Kiyama Harumi, a mass e-mail had gone out from an anonymous address to a number of prominent neurologists and neuroscientists in Academy City, as well as a huge number of apparently random school and university students, detailing how to reverse the effects of Level Plus. "If this e-mail is going out, well, it's already over one way or the other," it read. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
Turns out, the cure was a pretty simple modification to an already well-documented procedure: reversing the Kihara Process.
Supposedly, the modification meant that you could get the Process done again without any ill effects, as long as you didn't mind working your way up from Level 0 or 1 all over again. So, pretty much back to the status quo for a lot of the people who were using Level Plus.
Including me.
"So...have you re-done the process yet, or does that have to be separate?" I ask Kurotani.
"Ah, not yet. We're recommending everyone wait at least a week after the reversal treatment to get it done again. In the meantime, well, I'd prefer if you stayed the night, just to make sure there are no aftereffects, but after that it's up to you if you want to go home." He gives me a conspiratorial smile. "And don't worry; either way, it's all on the city's dime."
"Right…" That's a relief, at least. "I think I want to go home as soon as I can; I kinda feel like I've been stuck here too long already. Actually, well, is there anything else right now? Because..." I glance meaningfully around the room.
"Of course, of course, I'll let you catch up with your friends." He leaves us alone after that, and Kazari is, of course, the first to speak up. "See, I told you everything would be fine. You got all worked up over nothing!"
"As I recall," Shirai speaks up, "she was the one reassuring you--"
"Eh, details. Seriously, though, Ruiko, how are you feeling? Any side effects? Are you possibly feeling a slight craving for braaaaaains?"
"Nah, honestly, I feel fine. But, I wonder…" Just out of dumb curiosity, I hold the tips of my pointer fingers about half a centimeter apart in front of me, and try to push, like I did at the restaurant not so long ago.
And...nothing happens, of course. There's no sense of there being anything there to push on. Like it had never happened.
"What are you...oh." Kazari seems kind of at a loss for anything to say, a rare and momentous event indeed.
Instead, it's Misaka who has something to say. "Hey...Saten-san. Listen. Don't let this get you down, all right? Having to start over from the beginning sucks, yeah, but...I mean, I've only known you for a few days, but you're one of the hardest-working people I've ever met." She smiles. "Just keep at it, and I'm sure you're going to be--"
"Be stuck at Level 0 like I have been the last six years, Misaka-san?" That's odd. My hands are curled into fists, shaking. "Because that's what all the hard work in the world has gotten me." Shaking with the urge to punch her right in her perfect goddamned smile. "Sweet. Fuck. All. The only actual progress I ever made just got instantly reversed, because oh hey turns out it kills people! So excuse me if I don't really feel too up for hard work right now."
The smile, at least, vanishes. "Look, I don't understand why you're being so hostile, I'm just trying to--"
"Misaka-san." Kazari's voice has gone ice cold. "Didn't you have to see someone about something? Elsewhere?"
"...Fine, I get it. I'm out. Later." She unceremoniously storms out the door of the hospital room.
Shirai watches her leave, and shakes her head. "Onee-sama, for all that I love you, sometimes you can be so...argh." She turns to me. "For what it's worth, Saten-san, I'm sorry you got caught up in all this, and...I hope your fortunes improve, however they may." She looks like she wants to say something else, but ultimately just follows Misaka out the door, leaving Kazari and I alone.
Kazari sighs. "Well, so much for that. I'm sorry about that, Ruiko-chan, I kind of figured Misaka would be less...dense."
"It's...it's fine." I force my fists to uncurl. "I know she was just trying to be nice."
"Aaaaaaand failing horribly at it. But yeah...she's, she's a good person, and…" Her voice and expression turn weirdly serious. "...Look, if you can stand the sight of her again, I was going to invite her and Shirai over to the apartment tomorrow, after you got back."
The sheer abruptness of the tone shift kind of overrides all my remaining anger. "...why?"
Kazari sidles up a bit closer to me and lowers her voice. "While you were out, Misaka asked me to look into something. Something called--no, probably shouldn't even say it out loud here. Back at the apartment." Her voice grows even more hushed. "Where I know nobody's listening."
I match her whisper. "Why? What's going on?"
"I don't know, it might be nothing, and if it's not nothing I'm not sure I want to get you involved, but...after this?" She shakes her head. "No more secrets. Ever. To hell with opsec; if I can't trust you, who the hell can I trust?" She raises her voice again. "Aaaaaaaanyway, while you were out the new Star Wars trailer came out! I still can't believe they're sticking with the Episode-VIII-Luke-was-a-clone plot…"
We talk about pretty much nothing for a while, and by the time she leaves, somehow...somehow it feels like everything is going to be okay, no matter what happens from here on out.
No more secrets, huh...That does sound pretty nice.
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- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Oh man, I'm really looking forward to the next instalment. Incredible work.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
What a long strange trip it's been.
Looking forward to the epilogue, and then hopefully the sequel.
Looking forward to the epilogue, and then hopefully the sequel.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
So, does this mean we can finally start recommending this fic be added to the Discussion -- The Best Damn Fics You've Ever Read. thread? Or should we wait for that epilogue?
Shockz
You might see it coming...but it'll be too late.
- Location
- At least a mile high
- Pronouns
- no
I would definitely wait for the epilogue before calling this one "complete".
Shockz
You might see it coming...but it'll be too late.
- Location
- At least a mile high
- Pronouns
- no
Reposting from SB, to keep the amount of information equal:
I think I was a little too vague on the hints here, especially since io and I have been talking about what went down in the police station after Touma & co. left in vivid detail, so I'll give you a few clues:
universalperson said:
I think I was a little too vague on the hints here, especially since io and I have been talking about what went down in the police station after Touma & co. left in vivid detail, so I'll give you a few clues:
- She was fighting the #2 Level 5 esper, who works for Anti-Skill.
- The #2 Level 5 esper is not Dark Matter, nor are they based on him in any way character-wise or power-wise.
- They are, however, loosely based on a canon esper, albeit not a Level 5.
- ...very loosely.
- Their codename (which is original) is very briefly mentioned in the story.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Did you mean for a second paragraph break here?
Gotta say, I quite enjoyed the changes from canon you've caused in Memoriam, Shockz, and look forward to reading the epilogue and sequel.
Shockz
You might see it coming...but it'll be too late.
- Location
- At least a mile high
- Pronouns
- no
Goddammit, I thought I caught all of those! Thanks, fixed.