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 4.


Ryuu stirred, and then rolled over with an effort, groaning. His body ached all over, as though someone had been pummeling him with a hammer. Slowly, he blinked his eyes open, and stared unseeingly at a concrete floor for a few seconds until his memory suddenly caught up with him and he shoved himself upright with a start.

Immediately, his muscles cramped and protested, but Ryuu barely paid attention. He looked around wildly, taking in the sight of the rest of the team sprawled limply around the room, as though they'd been casually dumped by a giant hand. The room was different. It had two doors like the last, but was smaller and had not so much as a stick of furniture.

Ryuu struggled upright, and then belatedly realized that his gun was missing. And as near as he could tell, the same held true for everyone else. He wobbled on his feet and swore. All of them caught by a booby-trap, and now they were weaponless and the doors were undoubtedly locked. What a pathetic excuse for a rescue this had turned into!

He stumbled over to the Captain and shook his shoulder. "Captain!" He was relieved when the Captain responded with a groan. "Captain..."

Captain Sakomizu rolled onto his back and blinked up at him. Hurting or not, he sure seemed to be recovering consciousness fast. "Ryuu. The others," he ordered immediately, and Ryuu nodded and got up.

Everyone else was already starting to rouse, so it was only a few minutes before they were all sitting on the concrete floor in a circle. As it turned out, only one door was locked - but it was the important one, because the other one led only to a bathroom. The door was solid, but with six of them, Ryuu thought they could probably break it down. Marina was giving it uneasy looks though, so he had the feeling that it wouldn't be that easy.

Bet it's wired for an electric shock or something, dammit. Or probably another dose of whatever it was that knocked us cold in the first place.

"Suggestions?" the Captain asked quietly.

Konomi bit her lip and shook her head helplessly. Ryuu racked his brain, but couldn't come up with anything either. He kept wanting to glance at his watch, even though he already knew that they'd been out cold for something like two hours. Two hours, in which anything could have happened to Mirai...

Dammit, focus!

Teppei cleared his throat. "Well, there's probably a trap on the door," he said, nodding at it. "But if we can find out where the wiring is, I might be able to do something about that. I've still got some odds and ends in my pockets."

Ryuu grinned. "Don't tell me your messy habits are going to pay off for once."

Teppei glared at him. "Well if you have any better ideas..." he huffed.

Ryuu quickly held up his hands in surrender. "No, no, go right ahead!"

The Captain stood up. "Well then, let's..." he started, then broke off as they all heard a scraping sound on the other side of the door.

Ryuu bolted to his feet as the door opened and a blue-skinned alien regarded them from the other side, leathery flesh stretched taut over bony spines and ridges all over its four limbs. A long, spiny tail waved idly behind the creature as it blinked six yellow eyes at them carelessly.

Ryuu surged forward, the rage inside him exploding into full force like dry tinder touched by flame. "You bastard! You're the one behind all this, aren't you?"

The alien held up one taloned paw. "Calm yourself, human. Do not do anything rash." Meaningfully, the creature poked one claw forward, and a shimmering field sprang up in the doorway, rippling fields of energy coruscating around the claw. Ryuu stopped in his tracks.

"Dammit," he muttered furiously.

The Captain stepped in front of Ryuu. "I notice that you did not disclaim responsibility, however."

The alien blinked again. "Perceptive. You did trespass, but technically I did provide cause."

Ryuu found the dance of words too much to bear. The false politeness stung in his raw nerves like salt in an open wound, and he snarled, "Where's Mirai?"

"Ryuu..." the Captain said warningly. The alien merely shrugged.

"He is near. I suppose he is important to you, then?"

Ryuu found himself unable to speak, the fury inside him throttling coherent speech. George beat him to a response this time.

"You know damn well he is!" he roared. "So where is he?"

The alien blinked. "I regret to inform you that my need is greater. I will not return him to you."

Konomi burst into tears. "Why?" she cried. Heedless of the force field, she got up and threw herself at the alien, and Teppei and Marina scrambled to grab hold and stop her. "Give him back!" Konomi sobbed furiously. "Why are you doing this?"

Teppei glared at the alien in his own turn. "You have no right!" he fumed. "No matter what need you have!"

Marina said, "You could at least let us see him! How do we know you're telling the truth and you haven't already killed him?"

"Marina!" George cried reprovingly, but Ryuu saw something spark in her eyes as she glared at him before returning her fierce gaze to the alien.

And oddly enough, her words seemed to be giving the creature pause. The six eyes narrowed, and it stood for a moment in silence before it spoke again. "Very well. I will prove I do not lie. One of you may return with me to see for yourself."

Thank you Marina-- "I'll go," Ryuu said instantly, starting to push forward, when the Captain grabbed his shoulder and stared into his eyes.

"I'll go," he said, and when Ryuu drew breath to protest, the Captain's gaze seemed to burn through him.

"You all are my responsibility," he said, and the protest died in Ryuu's throat.

It was the same thing Captain Serizawa would have said.

Ryuu nodded, numbly, his anger frozen by the intensity of his Captain's stare. He stood like a statue as the Captain turned and walked fearlessly right up to the force field, waiting until the alien deactivated it by pressing something outside the door before he strode through. Immediately the field sparkled back into existence again, and then the alien calmly closed the door. The lock clicked into place again. Not that it was necessary, what with the force field...

Ryuu stood silently, listening as the sound of footsteps receded down the hall. He stood still for a moment longer, still frozen into immobility even though his emotions were raging up again. He felt for an instant like he was about to explode from the pressure inside, but he just couldn't move...

"Amigo..." George said quietly.

The dam broke. Ryuu howled in thwarted fury, and slammed a fist into the wall. "Dammit. Dammit!" He pounded the wall in futile, terrible rage, unable to bear the helplessness, the inability to do something to save his friend. Why did this have to happen over again? Why was he always forced to stand aside and merely bear witness?

"Ryuu..." Konomi murmured faintly from behind him, sounding frightened.

The rage evaporated, and Ryuu fell to his knees, bowing his head over his throbbing hands. "Why?" he moaned.

He heard a rustling, and then suddenly Marina threw her arms around his shoulders in a hug. "Ryuu, it'll be okay," she said. "It will."

"How?" Ryuu asked dully.

Konomi knelt down beside him. "Well, we can still get out, can't we?" she said hopefully. "I mean, Teppei still has those parts, so we could try to get that force field down. And then we can go help the Captain."

"Absolutely!" George said, clapping Ryuu on the shoulder. "So quit moping, that won't help Mirai at all."

Ryuu looked up at Teppei. "Can... you really get us out of here?"

Teppei swallowed, then reached down and offered Ryuu a hand to help him up. Ryuu slowly reached up to take it, and Teppei hauled him to his feet with surprising strength, looking into Ryuu's face in determination. "We won't know until we try," Teppei said. "So let's get to work."

The others looked at each other. Ryuu slowly smiled.

"Roger!" everyone said in ragged chorus.

*
Captain Shingo Sakomizu was no stranger to bad situations. His rank was no mere nod to length of service or highly-placed connections. And ever since he had taken an incredibly unusual boy under his wing, a boy who at first had not even a name, Shingo had felt an inevitable sense that sooner or later, the axe would fall. Nothing could stay the same forever. He had done his best to answer the yearning he'd seen in those eyes, the pleading to keep everything the way it was, conceal an impossibly huge secret. He'd always known someday his best would no longer be enough.

He had only hoped that when the inevitable happened, that it would at least not tear the team asunder. He had never seriously considered the idea that the great secret might be shattered by Mirai's death. After all, he was Ultraman... a legend. Legends could not die.

But when he entered what was obviously the alien's domain and saw Mirai lying limp in bonds of crystal, his face gray and still, the only thing Shingo could think was that despite everything this alien had said, he had been wrong, or lying, and there was no more secret for Mirai was already dead.

He pushed his way past the alien and ran to stand by Mirai's side. He had to take a position on the other side of the table from the giant globe that flared and pulsed with light, and even then its heat was still uncomfortably warm on his skin, like a miniature sun. "Mirai!" he said, taking Mirai's face in his hands. The skin felt cold and clammy to his touch despite the nearby heat, the muscles slack and unmoving, but he saw with a pang of relief that Mirai still breathed, though it was shallow and weak. "Mirai!" he urged again, but Mirai did not respond, not even with a flicker of motion. He breathed, but that was all; he was deeply unconscious, and with every passing moment he seemed to fade even further.

Shingo looked at the pulsing, glowing bands of crystal, and then looked around frantically, trying to discern the purpose of all the equipment. Most of it made no sense to him, but he could tell that everything was somehow connected to the globe...

He looked at the globe again, and suddenly the swirls of light reminded him forcefully of red and silver skin, gold energy and glowing eyes. He stood up, staring into the maelstrom of energy. "No," he murmured. "It can't be..."

The alien came up to stand behind him. "So. I have proven my word."

Shingo whirled to glare at him. "Your word means nothing, I see," he spat. "He is dying as we speak."

The alien blinked. "A technicality."

"Let him go," Shingo demanded.

The alien blinked again. "I refuse."

"What could you possibly hope to gain from this?" Shingo demanded, gesturing at the globe. "Ultraman is--" He broke off, but it was too late.

The alien stepped back. "Ah. You know, as well. I had thought that was not allowed."

Shingo stared at him. "How long have you been..."

The alien shrugged. "Spying on you? Weeks, of course. One does not enter into such a risky endeavor unprepared."

Shingo stared at the alien in shock. Weeks? With nothing at all being detected?

He was distracted as the glowing crystals suddenly flickered, their light dimming for an instant before the pulsing began again. The globe flared simultaneously, drawing the alien's gaze, and Shingo suddenly had the feeling that the flickering meant something incredibly important. The wiring, he thought suddenly. If there had been a sudden disruption of power elsewhere in the building...

Stall. Keep him talking.

"You didn't answer my question," he said boldly, drawing the alien's gaze again. The yellow eyes with their strange zigzag pupils dilated as the unsettling gaze turned back to him.

"You are human. There is no need."

"That's a rather rude statement," Shingo replied.

"You would not understand. Your kind are self-absorbed and indifferent. Only your small planet is of concern to you."

"Have you ever actually tried to communicate before?"

The eyes blinked again. The alien paused.

Shingo felt he had gained the advantage by the slight crack in the alien's impassive facade. He pressed, "You are obviously a scientist. How can you base conclusions on a theory with no data supporting it?"

He spared a thought for the others as he stared intently at the alien eyes. He didn't dare look at Mirai again. He had to keep all his attention on the battle of wits before him.

Hurry, everyone...

*
Ryuu ran down the hallway, everyone else close on his heels. Teppei's little scanner had, unlikely though it seemed, provided the key to shorting out the force-field - but it had been fried in the process, so they were proceeding by guesswork and opening every single door they came across. Though that was just as well, probably, since the first door they'd forced open after breaking out of their prison had revealed their guns sitting neatly arranged on a table.

Ryuu had to admit that he felt a lot better now that he was armed again.

The last couple of doors had led only to unused rooms, but they were running out of doors and hallways now, so one of the remaining two had to be what they were looking for. Marina glanced between them and pointed without further hesitation to the closer one. Trusting her senses without question, Ryuu reached determinedly for the knob, glancing at his teammates to silently ask if they were ready. When a chorus of nods answered him, Ryuu took a deep breath and flung open the door.

They really hadn't planned much on what to do when they got wherever they were going. They hadn't had a clue what they would find, and somehow they had never thought to hash out beforehand what they should do. Ryuu didn't pay any attention to the room itself at all; all that registered were fleeting impressions, the huge globe filled with violently churning light, strange crystals and wire everywhere, the Captain and the alien, and almost before he fully realized that Mirai was there his feet were carrying him in that direction. And out of the corner of his eye he saw the others splitting up, saw Marina and George going after the alien and Teppei and Konomi after the machinery, as if they had all known exactly what to do after all, as if they'd always had a plan.

Okay, so maybe he owed them an apology for the way he'd treated them all when they first joined up...

Then the thought was shoved with absolute force from his mind as he stopped in his tracks. He stood frozen for an instant, staring at Mirai. However terrible the illusion had been in the infirmary, the reality was far worse.

Mirai's features were sunken, his skin gray and bloodless. He looked like a corpse, and somehow the fact that Ryuu could see him breathing only filled him with even greater horror. "Mirai," he gasped, somehow aware of a depth of suffering he could barely comprehend. "Mirai..." He whirled, turning on the alien in fury, raising his gun, ignoring the fact that it was totally redundant since Marina and George were already doing the same.

"What have you done to him?" Ryuu roared.

The alien replied in a flat tone, "I must have the Light."

Ryuu blinked. He had absolutely no idea what the alien was talking about. "Huh?"

"Ryuu!" The Captain's hand came down on his shoulder. "Not now. Marina and George can cover him, we need to get Mirai out of this--" He gestured to the crystal bands, and Ryuu immediately holstered his gun and went to try and pry one of the bands open. As he and the Captain both grabbed hold to yank at it, it suddenly flared with power, and Ryuu yanked his hands back with a yell as the flare of energy burned his hands. The Captain snatched his hands away with a hiss at the same moment.

Ryuu panted, but then felt a swell of fury rising up in him again. "No you don't," he snarled. "Hell no!" He pushed forward and grabbed the band again, tearing at it with all his strength, ignoring the searing pain in his hands where the energy lashed out at him. But all his anger, his determination, accomplished nothing. The band wouldn't yield, wouldn't break, and he finally staggered backwards, gasping, shaking with thwarted fury.

His hands curled into fists, despite a new surge of pain, and he pounded them on the edge of the table. "Dammit! Mirai..."

Then he stopped, stared. Impossibly, Mirai stirred. His head turned toward Ryuu, a tiny bit. His eyes flickered open, and he breathed a sound, not even enough to be a whisper. "Ryuu...san..."

Ryuu stared. Mirai was blinking at him vaguely, his eyes glazed with pain. But he somehow knew, he knew Ryuu was there. New energy galvanized him, snapped him out of his haze of frustration. "Mirai," Ryuu gasped. "Hang on. I'll have you free in a minute--" and recklessly he drew his gun and aimed it at one of the bands.

The alien shouted, "You will not! I must have the Light!"

Suddenly Ryuu saw something - a blur of blue out of the corner of his eye - and then something snapped against his wrist and the gun flew from his hand. He whirled, and saw the alien's long bony tail collapsing back in on itself, writhing through the air like a snake. George and Marina ducked away from it and both fired, and the shots tore into the alien's body, but he whirled and ran across the room, throwing Konomi aside from where she had been looking at the machinery. Blue ichor spattered on the floor as the alien seized two levers in its paws. George and Marina fired again, and Teppei hurled himself at the alien, but even though the shots hit home in the spiny back, the alien managed to shove the levers up to the top of their channels and then twisted at them as Teppei hit him. The levers broke off in the alien's grasp, the crystal shafts going from glowing to dull and blackened, spitting out smoke as Teppei's lunge sent both him and the alien crashing to the floor.

The crystals flared with light. George flung up a hand to shield his eyes. Ryuu whirled again in horror, a sick realization slamming into his stomach. The globe surged, the energies within it seething horribly, and Mirai shrieked.

Ryuu blindly ran for Mirai again, but before he could take two steps, he froze in place again. Mirai's back arched, and then suddenly light fountained from him, light that swirled into a twisting loop that Ryuu recognized instantly, just before a red and silver form burst up from Mirai's body, as though trying to escape it. Ryuu watched in numb shock as Ultraman Moebius formed in human-sized miniature in the air, and then shook his head in denial as the image began to shred apart before it could even fully appear. The legs dissolved into motes of light, sparks that were sucked greedily into the crystal and disappeared.

The disintegrating image flailed, but could not escape; it was riven apart faster and faster, the glowing eyes dimming as the chest with its glowing emblem ripped into the tiniest of glowing embers. Mirai's voice screamed on, endlessly, without pause even for breath, but now it wasn't ringing through Ryuu's ears, it was inside his mind, drowning thought. One red hand dissolved, but the other reached out for Ryuu in desperate pleading, and he knew that hand, he remembered it reaching out for him with the same desperation once before, only that time it had been Ryuu's life that was in danger--

And he couldn't do anything. He couldn't get the bands open--

All he could do was watch--

Again--


--To Be Continued--

Back to Splintered Secrets, chapter 3

On to Splintered Secrets, chapter 5

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