Ghosts Always Come Back

Chapter 6: Adieu

The sound of thunder echoed outside as the weather continued its dismal streak. Rain slapped against the windows and lightening threatened from the skies and flashed into the small hospital room. All of this, including the incessant beeping of the life support machines was blotted out in his mind. All Sousuke could do was stare blankly at the maiden that slept before him. Whether there was anything left of her or not could no longer be determined anymore. In her fight to save him Kaname had somehow lost herself. He didn’t know whether to be thankful or completely disgraced by the whole thing. She had helped him finally kill Gauron, but at the cost of her own life, maybe even her soul. Would she ever be the same again?

Sousuke’s eyes were bloodshot as he sat beside her bed and watched her slumber. It had been a good four days since they had hospitalized her, and he had not moved save to go to the bathroom. Had Melissa and Kurz not dragged him out and stuff food down his throat, it was very possible that he would have simply starved himself to death waiting for Kaname to wake up. Every moment he wasted away, the Mithril crew wondered if things would ever be the same again. Tessa had even shut herself away in her captain’s quarters, and ordered the Danaan to dock for the time being. No further instructions were given with the exception to have a team perform a data analysis test on the Keris. In the meantime, everyone was in suspension of their activities while the heart and soul of Mithril tucked herself away from the world for a spell.

Kurz yawned as a machine poured him a cup of instant coffee in the waiting room, “Man, I never thought it would come to this.” The major was standing near a window and watching as the weather attempted to beat down on the buildings. Even she wasn’t feeling quite like herself, “It was stupid of both her and Tessa to do such a thing. I don’t know how this is going to be explained to that girl’s school or what’s left of her family. Now her blood is on our hands and Tessa’s going to have to face facts about it.”

“All that aside, Kaname’s sure an amazing girl.”

Melissa’s expression softened as she turned to her subordinate and smiled, “Yeah, Sousuke’s lucky to have an angel watching over him. It’s too bad he still hasn’t learned to grow up and accept that. Now who knows what will become of him.” The phone in her pocket chimed after that moment and she rifled with her hand to retrieve the item. Kurz quirked an eyebrow as he was curious to see what the message was going to be. “Text message?” he asked her. Nodding, Melissa read the note quickly, deleted it, then clapped the phone shut and put it away again. There was a small pause as she took the time to stretch her arms reaching up towards the ceiling, “Looks like we’re going back to the boat. Tessa’s come out of her cocoon and she’s going to perform a database analysis on that new machine of hers.”

“Does that mean we have to yank him out of the hospital?”

“We’ll probably die trying at this point,” replied solemnly as the two turned to the room where he was still huddled over the bed. The sound of their army boots thumped softly along the tile flooring. Sousuke felt the hands of both of his comrades but did not react to them. “Come on, I think it’s time to get some rest.”

“Negative Major. I can’t leave her now; it’s my orders to protect her.”

“Your orders ended when the Codarl disintegrated into metal scraps,” she replied calmly.

“Look, man, I know this is tough,” Kurz tried his hardest to come up with words to say, “The captain’s going to run a test on that Keris thing. Perhaps we can find out what happened to Kaname. But you’ll never know if you don’t come along.”

“The Danaan is remaining docked, we’ll be back to vis-“

“Negative. I refuse to move from my guard position,” he stated point blank. Melissa’s eyebrow twitched from the immediate response she was given, “Are you refusing a direct order, Sergeant? Might I remind you that you’re still on the clock?”

“I know,” he replied monotonously, “I’m prepared to deal with the consequences of my decisions.”

Why did she have a feeling that he was going to say that? Unfortunately, Melissa knew that as much as she wanted to give him time to grieve over this situation, Kaname wasn’t dead yet. The best thing to do was to keep him productive while the girl recovered, “I figured you were going to say that,” she sighed as she gave a quick gesture to Kurz with a nod of her head. A strike against the back of Sousuke’s neck was made as she knocked him out cold. The blond caught him as he slumped forward. It was even easier than Melissa anticipated since the guy had deprived his body of sleep for days. “I at least give him credit for being the loyal boyfriend,” she stated casually going over to Kaname’s bed and took a moment to pay her respects to the comatose hero. When they were both ready to go, they exited with the unconscious soldier in tow and closed the hospital door behind them.

Hours passed by while the rain fluctuated in bouts of intensity against the window once more. The heart monitor keeping its vigilant watch over the girl before her eyelids twitched to life. She felt dazed and disoriented, and during this time she continued to keep her eyes closed until her brain was able to focus enough to awaken her vision a bit. Her lashes, which had locked themselves together for so long in sleep, untangled to allow the dim light to penetrate her pupils. Everything was blurry for a spell, but eventually things slowly came into focus as her vision cleared up. Within minutes her eyes had adjusted to the new environment, and she looked around to understand that she was in a hospital facility.

Never had confusion settled in so badly as this point. Her body felt numb all over, but she felt compelled to get something wiggling in order to check that her physical status was still in working condition. Moving her left arm a little, the feeling of soreness triggered her brain to cease functions for the time being. The sensation was alien to her. Several more attempts followed as she diligently worked to get the left arm moving. Something was missing in all of this. When the arm finally responded to her mental commands without too much pain, she brought it closer to her face and took her time inspecting it.

Flesh. Human flesh. Was this hers? Did this form belong to her? Kaname watched as she twisted her wrist from left to right. Each finger was also tested for movement and precision. Fine. This vessel was fine. It would recover. But why was she in it? To this she spoke into the air, “All vital signs appear normal.” But this wasn’t correct at all, “Body of Kaname Chidori is in working condition. Location of her operating system is currently unknown. Substitute operating system functioning for the vessel identified as Toy Box 3036, also known as…Keris.”


Author’s Notes:
Well, I hope this didn’t disappoint too many people in the long run. I tend to write endings for this series where I want the reader to draw their own conclusions. In ‘I Couldn’t Move On’ I wanted to leave it as a cliffhanger without any real intention of continuing onward with it. Guess that didn’t happen. LOL For this particular fic, this is the end. I will not progress it further and feel that I can do it no more justice (or harm). Of course, that could always change over time. Your opinions on the progression of this fic and how they combined together would certainly be appreciated.

Between ‘I Couldn’t Move On’ and ‘Ghosts Always Come Back’, I’m content with my contribution to this wonderful series that is the Full Metal Panic world. Thank you all for your support of the stories, and I hope this was still a good sequel to read, albeit a very serious one and a somewhat depressing ending. Feel free to contact me at: lsefchik[at]gmail.com if you (by some bizarre reason) would like to get in touch with me. My warmest regards, Elvy.