Disclaimer: Ultraman and all associated characters belong to Tsuburaya Productions. No infringement of any of the rights of the creators or distributors is intended. This fanfic may only be distributed with explicit permission from the author and without any monetary value exchanged.


Splintered Secrets

an Ultraman Moebius fanfic by Hoshikage

Chapter 2.


Mirai screamed, "Ryuu-san!"

Ryuu felt everything click into place in his head. George's panicky babblings over the radio - Mirai freaking out -

He felt an instant of calm understanding descend over him, not enough time to move, just enough time to have one single thought.

I'm going to die.

And then suddenly something slammed into him. He saw Mirai shove in front of him, saw a flash of light that looked startlingly like a shield burst into form in front of his body, but it was lost in an explosion of light and heat that flung Mirai backwards into him and sent them both tumbling to the pavement.

Ryuu forgot all about the crazy fireworks he'd thought he'd seen in an instant. "Mirai!" he cried, struggling to pull himself up. Mirai had crumpled on top of him and wasn't moving, was lying limp in dead weight across his chest, his eyes closed. Ryuu sat up and grabbed Mirai in his arms, shaking him desperately. "Mirai, wake up!"

"Ryuu!" Marina's voice cried. He looked up, and saw her supporting George, who was looking dazed, a hand pressed to his helmet. "Ryuu, you have to get him out of here!" Marina urged.

"But..." Ryuu protested, though he wasn't sure what he was trying to say.

"Hurry!" Marina said. "We've only got a couple of minutes before they fire again!" She let go of George and knelt down next to him. "Ryuu, he's alive. He's breathing. I can hear it. But you have to hurry."

Ryuu struggled to his feet, pulling Mirai with him, hauling his limp body over his shoulder. "But what about you two?"

George was looking steadier every second. "Don't worry about me, amigo," he said, pulling out his gun. "I saw the last one, and I bet Konomi's pinpointed another by now. We'll just take some of them out for you."

Ryuu swallowed. "Be careful," he said, though he'd never felt a need to before. And then he turned and ran.

This whole thing was crazy. Monsters, in some weird way, made sense - of course they'd destroy everything, that was what monsters did. But invisible guns mounted to buildings? Why the hell was all this happening?

But there was nothing he could do now except run - run, get Mirai safe - and then come back to help. Don't die before then, he thought forcefully behind him, in George and Marina's direction. Don't you dare die!

*
Captain Sakomizu was pacing. Teppei tried not to let the show of nerves get to him, tried to keep his attention on the readouts, looking for the tiny pattern of weakness in the cloaking mechanism of the guns. If he could just disrupt the cloaking somehow, so they wouldn't have to wait to fire...

"Gunspeeder 2, coming in!" Ryuu's voice sounded over the speakers. "I need medical personnel to the hangar - Mirai's hurt."

The Captain whirled and started for the door, then stopped. Teppei swallowed.

"Y-you - you could go, sir," he said hesitantly.

Captain Sakomizu paused, then turned back to his station. "No," he said quietly. "My place is here."

Teppei let out his breath and turned back to his computer. Definitely something going on there.

But he forgot about it in the next moment. "Hey, wait a minute..." he said, bending close to the screen. Had he seen what he thought he had?

In the next moment he gave an exultant yell. "Yes! I've got it! I know what to do!"

*
Ryuu got out of the Gunspeeder and helped the doctors haul Mirai out of the co-pilot's seat, no more than an additional pair of arms for a moment as they lifted him down onto the gurney to take him to the infirmary. Ryuu reluctantly stepped back, swallowing. Mirai was still limp, so still... and even though he knew there was nothing he could do here, Ryuu wanted for one wild moment to stay anyway.

Then he blinked. Had Mirai stirred?

Mirai's eyes fluttered open, and he groaned, moving to roll weakly onto his side. Quickly the doctors grabbed hold of him to keep him from rolling right off the gurney. Ryuu stared, his heart pounding in his ears with relief. He was waking up. He'd be okay.

Mirai blinked dazedly at his surroundings, and he twisted his head, looking around in a blurred, anxious manner. "Ryuu-san?" he moaned desperately, pulling against the hands holding him as he tried to get up. "Ryuu-san?"

Ryuu shoved forward, pushing one of the doctors summarily out of the way as he grabbed Mirai's shoulder. "Mirai! It's all right. I'm right here."

Mirai stopped struggling to rise, blinking up at him with an expression of relief, though his eyes still looked glazed and unfocused. "Ryuu-san... You're all right...?"

Ryuu had to swallow a lump in his throat. "I'm fine, you idiot. Though I'll kill you myself if you pull a stupid stunt like that again."

Mirai just smiled, that childlike, sweet smile he always had. Ryuu noticed that he didn't say a word about not doing it again before the smile faded and he looked alarmed again. "Marina-san... George-san?" he asked, making another abortive effort to rise.

Ryuu tightened his grip to hold Mirai still. "Don't worry. I'm going right back to help them and we'll kick ass and take names." He leaned down and lowered his voice. "You need to rest and let them take care of you. That's an order."

Mirai blinked up at him once more, somehow managing to look rebellious and dazed at the same time, which Ryuu found utterly ridiculous. He was only half-conscious, how could he possibly be so stubborn? He returned Mirai's gaze with a stern stare that finally overpowered Mirai's refusal; Mirai sighed and reluctantly relaxed, allowing himself to fall onto his back as he closed his eyes again. Ryuu backed off as the doctor pushed his way in again, and in the next moment the whole bevy of them were rushing off to the infirmary, leaving Ryuu alone in the hangar.

Ryuu took a deep breath, and then turned to climb right back into the Gunspeeder and rejoin the battle.

*
Mirai let the noise of their rush to the infirmary wash over him. He kept his eyes closed, because the one brief moment he'd opened them, the ceiling moving overhead had made him feel sick and dizzy. His body burned with dull pain, occasional flashes of sharper agony stabbing bright sparks across the darkness behind his eyelids. Only the certain knowledge that he was in no shape to fight had made him give in, Ryuu's order or no.

Shield or not, if he hadn't blocked the shots from hitting Ryuu with his own body, Ryuu would be dead now. He knew that, knew it in the way he hurt, despite all he could do to pour power into himself to heal. But he had to heal himself as much as possible before they reached the infirmary anyway...

He felt a sudden pinprick of pain in his neck, sharp and distinct from everything else he felt, and blinked his eyes open in startlement. One of the doctors standing above him looked down and smiled at him, and pulled his hand away, hiding a syringe in his pocket. Mirai's neck throbbed, and he raised a hand to touch the spot warily, but the doctor grasped his wrist firmly.

"Just try and relax," the doctor said, and the back of Mirai's neck crawled. The words were right, the tone was right, but something was wrong. He drew breath to cry out, tensed his muscles to fight -

And in the next moment the cry died in his throat, coming out as no more than a weak gasp. His muscles turned to jelly and his arm fell loose from the doctor's grasp. He couldn't move, and no matter how he struggled, nothing more than a faint wheeze came from his lungs. He strained even to breathe, railing in panic against his paralyzed body.

"Just relax," the doctor repeated.

No! Mirai fought, gasping, frantic, but his vision was darkening as his lungs heaved desperately for air. He heard other voices now, babbling in alarm, but then those faded too, leaving him nothing but gray blurs and the deafening pounding of his heart, the terrible pain and fear as he tried in desperation to call upon his power... and failed.

Why? What's happening to me?

The gray blurs dimmed toward black.

Can't... breathe...

The pounding in his ears grew fainter.

Ryuu...san...

Mirai sank inexorably toward the void, into nothingness.

Help...

*
Ryuu heard Teppei babbling his explanation on the entire flight back. When he approached the site again, he decided it was time to cut things short. "Teppei!" he snapped. "Short version: I activate the Meteor, get targeted and draw fire, and George takes out the guns all at once with the Meteor Shot. Yeah?"

Teppei paused. "Well, uh - yes," he said. "But I don't know if it'll work. George hit only three targets simultaneously before, and there are six this time--"

"What, no congratulations for taking out two already?" George grunted.

"If he can't get them all, I'll just have to take the rest out on a second pass," Ryuu said.

"But the timing!" Teppei almost wailed. "It has to be when the cloaking is weakest, just before they fire! The Meteor only lasts for one minute - there isn't time for a second attempt!"

"I have an idea," Marina said. "Trust me. We can do this."

"Damn straight," Ryuu said.

Konomi breathed, "Good luck, everyone."

The Captain chimed in. "One minute twenty-five seconds until the next shot. Everyone get into position!"

Ryuu...san...

Ryuu looked up, frowning. He could have sworn he'd heard a ghostly echo of Mirai's voice...

"Ryuu! Activate the Meteor on my signal!" Captain Sakomizu said, and Ryuu shook off the chill that had inexplicably run down his back.

"Roger!"

*
George stood in the street, with Marina's hands on his shoulders. He couldn't hear what she heard, and she couldn't see what he saw.

But that didn't matter.

She murmured directions, tracking the buzzing sound of the cloaking devices that only she could hear. He stared in the directions she gave him, until, if he stared hard enough, he could just barely make out the shimmer and blur of something against the stark building walls that should not be there. She listened, and he looked, and together they knew where he would aim the shots that would take their targets from his mind.

But all this preparation wouldn't be worth a damn if Ryuu wasn't hovering above to keep them from getting wiped out while they stood here, open and vulnerable.

George brought the gun up to his forehead, taking the time for a brief prayer.

"Ten seconds," Teppei's voice said over the communicator.

"Ready?" Marina asked.

"Nine."

"Targets locked, senorita."

"Eight."

"Just so you know..."

"Seven."

"...if we die, you've always secretly had a crush on me?"

"Six."

"Actually, no, idiot Spaniard."

"Five."

"Only technically."

"Four."

"George! Marina! Here we go! You two better not die, you hear?"

"Three."

"Yes, fearless leader. You were saying, senorita?"

"Two."

"Never mind. The hot-headed idiot up there ruined the moment."

"One."

"Story of my life." George lifted the gun and cleared everything from his mind but the targets. He heard the whoosh and roar of the Meteor activating overhead, felt it in a wash of tingling warmth over his skin as though another sun had just ignited in the sky and bathed them in its warmth.

"Fire!"

George thrust the gun up into the air and pulled the trigger.

*
Konomi watched on the screen as the blue-white shots arced up from the Meteor gun and split into six blazing comets, streaking unerringly across the sky toward six different buildings. The blips on the screen suddenly fritzed into visibility, and she saw a brief, almost undetectable wash of energy rippling through the air toward the ship that flitted in the sky, glowing with golden light as it darted around so rapidly that it looked almost like it was teleporting across short distances. Konomi clutched her hands in front of her mouth. Please, please let this work...

Just before the deadly beams would have struck, the ship disappeared from their flight path and reappeared safely out of harm's way. In the next moment, the Meteor shots plowed into the guns and they all exploded at once, bursting into blossoms of flame on the side of the buildings.

Konomi leaped out of her seat with a shriek of joy. "They did it! They did it!"

Teppei whooped, jumping up onto his chair and knocking one of his carefully-sorted piles of papers with back onto the floor in a snowfall of white sheets. The Captain sighed in relief, leaning back in his chair.

George snorted over the radio. "What, did you doubt me?"

*
Ryuu pulled off his helmet and clapped George on the shoulder with his free hand. "Good shooting."

"What, don't I get any credit?" Marina said, arms folded as she gave Ryuu a mock glare.

Ryuu waved a hand in defeat. "Okay okay, both of you." He turned to head down the hallway. "See you in the operations room. I want to go check on Mirai."

"If he's up, tell him we'll all be in to visit him later," Marina said. "Maybe then he'll stay put!"

Ryuu rolled his eyes. "We can but hope," he said, and strolled off down the hall.

He always felt good after a victory, but this was even better than usual - they hadn't even needed an assist from Ultraman! Sometimes Ryuu still worried that they were really unnecessary, that all the good they could do was useless in the face of Ultraman's greater strength. Sometimes, it was really nice to save the day just with the power of human hands alone.

He whistled cheerfully as he opened the door to the infirmary, but then in the doorway he abruptly stopped.

Mirai lay motionless in the bed in a hospital robe, his eyes closed. He didn't move except for the rise and fall of his chest, lying on his back in an unnatural stillness. Ryuu stared, disbelieving.

But - but he was awake. He was getting better. He looks terrible--

Mirai's face was pale and nearly lifeless, not a single twitch betraying any sign of returning consciousness. Ryuu turned and barreled out the door, and grabbed the first person in a white uniform he saw.

"What's wrong with him?" he demanded of the startled doctor.

"He lost consciousness again shortly after you left," the doctor explained. "In all other respects, we think he'll be all right - but I'm afraid there's no way of telling when he might wake up."

Ryuu let go of the doctor's arm, staring numbly. "That... can't be." He turned and ran back through the door. It can't be.

But nothing had changed. Mirai was still lying there, unmoving. Ryuu almost reached out to shake him, but stopped himself, thinking better of it. "Mirai. Mirai, it's Ryuu. Wake up! Mirai!"

Nothing happened. Mirai lay as though already dead, only the soft movement of his breathing disrupting the terrible illusion.

Ryuu dropped heavily into a chair, staring blankly at his friend.

This can't be...

*
"You should go to the infirmary yourself, you know," George said, looking pointedly at Marina's burned hands.

She flushed, turning away. "I will, of course!" she protested. "I just wanted to let Ryuu go ahead. Mirai's his best friend, you know. Let him check on Mirai first."

"Ah, so I won't have to drag you then?"

Marina glared at him in annoyance. "Of course not! Though I might drag you. After all, you got that knock on the head and blacked out for a few seconds. Shouldn't you get checked to make sure you don't have a concussion?"

Both of them glared at each other like angry cats for the span of two seconds, and then Marina found her lips twitching into a smile. At the same time, a snicker escaped George, and the two of them laughed at once.

"All right then, senorita," George said with a bow. "Let's go together and face the music."

Marina smiled. There was once a time when she thought that she would never be able to work with George, much less count him as a friend.

Every once in a while, it was nice to be wrong.

"Yes," she agreed. "Let's go."

*
Consciousness returned in fits and starts, brief sparks of awareness, fading again before he could focus on anything. Gradually, the sparks lengthened into stretches of light and pain, but he still could grasp nothing, could only flounder in agony, trying and failing to comprehend what was happening to him.

And then, suddenly, everything was clear again.

Mirai snapped back to full consciousness with a start, gasping in a startled breath. The first thing he saw was blue, wrinkled skin and six yellow eyes, strange zigzag pupils widening as the creature looked down at him. Mirai tried to pull away instinctively, and found he couldn't move. He felt the muscles responding this time, he wasn't paralyzed, but as he craned his neck to look, he saw that he lay on a metal frame, thick shackles of some kind of softly glowing white crystal holding his arms stretched out tightly over his head.

He glared at the alien again. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want?"

The alien made an oddly respectful-looking gesture. "I am Urzan," it replied. "As for what I want, I must inform you that it is less want and more need. Not that you will be alive to appreciate the difference, I am afraid... Ultraman Moebius."

Mirai yanked at the bonds holding him, uselessly. Fear made his throat tight. "What..."

"I require the Light that you carry inside you." The alien nodded as Mirai's eyes widened. "In converting it to a form that will be useful to me, of course I must strip it from you first. I am afraid that you will die. For what it is worth, I do regret this."

Mirai could barely believe what he was hearing. This all made no sense - it was like some horrible nightmare, but he knew all too well that he wasn't dreaming. But there was no way he was going to sit here and let this alien summarily kill him. He had been chosen to protect the Earth, and his duty wasn't finished. He could not abandon his friends and die!

He glared at the alien, and gathered his power to transform. The shackles would never hold him in his fighting form.

"Ah," Urzan said as light flared around Mirai. "I would not do that..."

Mirai ignored him and drew in a breath to call his power into full manifestation. "Moebi--aaaahh!" His cry turned into a scream of agony as the power seemed to suddenly turn on him, engulfing his body in white-hot pain. His body convulsed, writhing in his bonds as he tried desperately to control the power and failed. It lashed at him, burning him from the inside out, and he lost himself, unaware of anything but the pain.

And then the energy suddenly drained away in a rush, leaving him sick and shaking, trembling violently with reaction. He gasped for breath, unable to do anything but lie limp, his heart racing and a terrible, cold weakness closing around his limbs.

Urzan seemed to be paying no attention to his reaction. "That will only speed up the process and make things far more unpleasant for you," he chided. "Please be reasonable. I have no desire for you to suffer unnecessarily."

Mirai tried to stop his shaking, and could not. He felt himself slipping toward unconsciousness again, and fought it briefly, but then a spasm of despair took hold of him as he realized that there was truly no escape.

I'm sorry, Father... Brothers... he thought, as he allowed himself to fade. I've failed...

But instead of an imagined reprimand from his Ultra family, it was Ryuu's voice that he thought he could hear yelling at him. He shied from it, allowing himself to sink deeper into the darkness, away from the pain and the despair.

Goodbye... Ryuu-san...


--To Be Continued--

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