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Splintered Secrets

an Ultraman Moebius fanfic by Hoshikage

Chapter 6.


Ryuu's eyes widened. For an instant he stared helplessly at the onrushing wave of light, his hands clenched frozen and rigid on the controls. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the GunBooster strain forward, and he suddenly knew in a flash of realization that the Captain was planning to use the bulkier ship to shield the other two. It made perfect sense. Ryuu trembled.

Not again.

Too many times he'd had to watch. He wasn't going to sit uselessly and watch another Captain disappear in flame and shrapnel.

"No," he whispered. "Not this time."

Ryuu twisted the controls savagely, sending the GunWinger slewing to the side in the air. His teeth cracked together as the wing crashed into the GunBooster with bone-jarring impact, and then the GunWinger's nose struck the GunLoader hard enough to slam him against the cockpit glass despite the restraining straps. Stars exploded in his vision and he tasted blood, his grasp on the controls loosening as his fingers went numb. The GunWinger bucked in the air, bouncing off the other craft. The GunLoader and GunBooster pitched crazily out of the beam's path, pushed just out of range by the impact - the GunWinger reeled in the air in the other direction, alarms screaming, screens flaring red, instruments exploding into smoke and sparks that rained down over Ryuu's helmet. He coughed and flung up an arm against the blinding onrush of light, abandoning even trying to pull the plane back into controlled flight from its careening path. There was no point.

There was no time.

There was only light, and far away a terrible shriek of anguish that had no words and yet somehow formed his name.

Mirai...

*
Moebius could transfer himself across short distances nearly instantaneously, when he truly had to. Like everything else, it had a cost; it took a great deal of power and it left him totally vulnerable. He had to transfer himself in pure energy, and if anything so minimal as a passing bird disrupted his energy form in the process of reforming, he would be horribly damaged, his form unable to reassemble itself.

But he didn't care.

Recklessly, heedless of the consequences, he threw himself into the shift the instant he saw Ryuu send the GunWinger crashing into the other planes to knock them out of the way, the instant he realized that its bouncing back wouldn't carry it out of the beam's path. But even though he reformed almost immediately, his hands outstretched, it was too late. The beam slammed through right ahead of him and the GunWinger plummeted from the air, streaming fire and smoke, landing in his outstretched hands in a burning ruin.

Moebius closed his hands around the wreckage and stared through the cracked, soot-coated glass of the cockpit, trembling. He could see Ryuu's form, limp in the pilot's seat, and Moebius started to reach, then stopped, staring at his own giant fingers.

He couldn't touch Ryuu. Not like this. His gentlest touch would crush a human.

Moebius hunched over the wrecked plane, shuddering. To be trapped like this, unable to do anything...

Urzan roared behind him. Moebius felt the heat on his back of another gathering of energy.

"So share my loss, my despair!"

He heard George, the Captain, Marina, all crying for Ryuu, calling to him.

"Savor the sour taste of your victory - I will take everything I can from you!"

His grief transmuted in a flash to a terrible storm of rage.

He understood, in a raw, new way, the anguish Ultraman Hikari had felt at his failure, the obsession with revenge that had driven him. Moebius called on the power Hikari had left him, blue lightning sparking around the brace he wore.

Just this once, he wanted revenge, too...

*
Marina hauled herself out of the cockpit where George had managed to bring the GunLoader to a shaky landing on a roof and stared in horror at Moebius where he knelt on the ground, his shoulders heaving as though with sobs, blue energy crackling around him. Gold crept across his shoulders as he called up his Brave form, but Marina felt a sinking lurching in her stomach as she watched. This was different... she could hear the energy, wailing low in her ears, screeching at the edges of even her sensitive hearing, and it made her shake, sent chills down her spine that she couldn't explain.

Urzan opened his mouth, blue energy boiling forth again at Moebius where he crouched, his back turned.

"Mirai!" George shouted.

Without turning, without even looking up, Moebius thrust a hand out behind him, a flower of light blooming around his hand and unfurling its petals into a rippling shield. The fiery energy sheared across its surface and deflected, pouring around Moebius to reduce the buildings on either side of him to smoldering ruins.

Marina watched, frozen and numb.

Moebius put the wreck of the GunWinger down in the street, and stood up. Only then did he turn, and George seemed to finally realize something was wrong as he flinched from the white-hot, glowing gaze, even though Moebius was ignoring them completely. Without a sound, without hesitation, he launched himself at Urzan, pummeling him with blow after blow, seeming to take no notice of the destruction as the giants plowed through the deserted streets.

Marina shook her head, cold dread holding her paralyzed. "No," she whispered. "No, don't do this..."

The Captain grabbed George and dragged him off toward the GunWinger. Marina knew they called to her to follow, but she was rooted to the spot, watching helplessly, as though she was only an unwilling observer in a nightmare. Moebius did not stop, didn't even call up his final attack to finish Urzan off. The light on his chest blinked red, but he seemed to take no notice, his fists glowing and leaving blackened marks every time he struck. Urzan tried to lash at him with his tail and Moebius merely grabbed it and pulled - and Marina felt her stomach heave as he tore it apart, leaving a stump spurting blue blood as he continued the move to strike Urzan with his own severed tail like a whip.

Marina fell to her knees. "Stop!" she cried desperately. She fumbled for her communicator. "Teppei, Konomi!" she begged. "Someone do something! Stop him!"

The red light on Moebius' chest began to blink faster, brighter. He ignored it, pounding savagely at Urzan. The blue alien fell, and still Moebius did not stop, only leaping on the fallen figure to continue attacking. Urzan's roars turned into gurgling cries. The wailing low in Marina's ears grew louder, keening, scraping across her hearing like nails on a chalkboard, and she doubled over, pressing her hands to her head, tears blurring her vision, glowing eyes blazing in her view like the incandescent fury of a burning star.

"Mirai-kun!" Marina screamed.

*
Konomi panted as she shoved open the door and ran out onto the roof of Phoenix Nest. In the distance, lit by the flames from the burning buildings, she could see Ultraman Moebius silhouetted against the dark sky. A tiny spark of red light blinked feverishly on his chest. Konomi fumbled the tiny oval container into its holder, pressing an arm against the stitch in her side as she raised the device in her other hand. It's not too late...

She pressed the trigger, and Miklas appeared in the center of a coiled spiral of green light. The tame monster blinked its huge round eyes at her, waiting for her to tell him what she wanted.

"Miklas, please," Konomi gasped. "Make Moebius stop!"

If Miklas was confused by the unusual order, he gave no sign of it. He only turned and bounded gamely toward the fight. Konomi let her legs give out from under her, sitting down roughly on the concrete of the roof. She watched, her heart in her mouth, as Miklas came near enough to intervene.

Please, stop him...

Moebius didn't even seem to notice that Miklas was there. He raised a fist to strike again, and it was only when Miklas grabbed it that he looked up. Miklas pulled, and Moebius staggered in surprise to his feet, caught off-guard. He tried to push past Miklas, but the monster reached out a paw and placed it on Moebius' chest, pushing him back. Moebius looked down, and suddenly seemed to realize his own danger as the rapidly blinking light on his chest sped up another notch. For an instant he was still, everything frozen. Miklas only blinked. Urzan lay on the ground, claws twitching feebly.

Moebius staggered, pressing a hand to his head. Konomi felt, more than saw, the terrible anger melt away. She blinked back tears of relief.

Miklas seemed to realize that his original order had been followed. He turned toward Urzan, hunching into a battle stance, but Moebius put out a hand and grasped his shoulder, pushing him gently aside. Miklas looked at Moebius and then obediently stood aside, allowing Moebius to kneel next to Urzan.

He stared at the alien for a moment, glowing eyes softer now, empty of the anger that had burned in them before. And then he raised his hand, a sword stretching from the brace he wore like a beam of sunlight punching through a cloud.

Konomi saw the sword come back down to strike the final blow and turned her head away. She didn't understand why, but somehow she knew this was different from destroying an ordinary monster, and she couldn't watch. But it's over, she told herself. It's finally over...

A flash of light and the boom of an explosion radiated over the city, and she opened her eyes again, turning her head back.

Moebius was on his feet again, but he was wavering. Miklas reached out and held him up, but then he was turning transparent, and Miklas' paws went straight through his form. Konomi gasped. Moebius faded from view, until there was nothing left but the dim glow of his eyes and the blinking light on his chest, and then that too melted into the darkness and was gone.

Miklas cocked his head, uttering a mournful, confused sound, and then he vanished as well in a spattering of green sparks.

Konomi picked herself up, moving to the railing to look out over the smoldering skyline. The moon drifted down toward the horizon through choking clouds of smoke. Konomi bit her lip. "Mirai-kun..."

*
Mirai stumbled across a street and onto cool grass, moving a few steps further into the park. He avoided a smashed tree, the trunk splintered and branches lying in a forlorn heap on the ground. He choked on a sob.

What have I done?

He'd lost himself, gone mindless with anger and grief, become as much of a senseless monster as Urzan had. And for the same reasons...

The wrecked buildings, the destroyed trees, all stood mute testament around him to the enormity of his failure. And in the end his blind rage had nearly killed him as he forgot even his own limitations. He'd pushed his battle form to the ragged edge of the time limit, and he'd nearly blacked out and succumbed to dissolution before he could collapse back into the safety of his human body.

But he'd had to stay that one last moment with Urzan, he'd had to apologize, even if the words wouldn't be heard. He'd had to, or he couldn't live with what he'd become, no matter how briefly...

Mirai stumbled again and tried to catch himself, but his legs buckled under him and he crumpled to the grass. He was exhausted, drained to nothing, only the faintest wisps of power remaining to him. He wanted to flee, to run somewhere and hide, anywhere he wouldn't have to see the accusing gazes that would await him if he tried to go back to Phoenix Nest. Another failure. I couldn't... couldn't save...

He had to stop the thought. A black tide of grief was rising up inside him again, and he couldn't face it, couldn't bear it. He tried to get up and follow his impulse to run away, but his legs just wouldn't hold him and he gave up, curling into a ball of misery right where he was.

He'd failed in every possible way. He would have to return to the World of Light as soon as he had regained the strength... have to admit his failure and his terrible shame to Ultra Father and ask that someone more worthy be sent to protect the Earth instead. Tears stung his eyes and he buried his face in his arm, trying to hold them back. He didn't want to leave... he had come to love this world. But how could he redeem himself after this?

He lay curled on the grass, his thoughts spiraling into despair at his loss and his guilt, until exhaustion took over and he slipped from despair into uneasy dreams.

*
Ryuu opened his eyes and saw Teppei hovering over him.

He blinked, momentarily confused. Teppei grinned at him. "You're awake! That's good. How many fingers?" he asked, holding up a hand with the thumb tucked in.

"Four," Ryuu said, just to get it over with. "What happened? Where's... Mirai?" He hesitated over the name, but it slipped out as the name he wanted, the name he preferred.

The Captain moved into view next to Teppei. "Moebius vanished," he said, and Ryuu could tell, he knew that there were things the Captain wasn't saying, hiding them behind a terse report of events. "He defeated Urzan, then disappeared into thin air."

"He should still be around here somewhere," Teppei said thoughtfully. "He probably just turned back into Mirai and got lost somewhere in all the wreckage."

Ryuu pushed himself up, ignoring the way Teppei promptly grabbed for his shoulders to try and stop him. He didn't hurt as much as he expected - a few stabs and stings from cuts and bruises, and his vision swam briefly, but he was surprised he could move at all. The GunWinger had been hit, hadn't it? He was actually rather surprised to be still alive, much less relatively unhurt...

Then as his vision came back into focus, he stared at the ruins around them. The evidence of the battle was all around in the buildings reduced to rubble, and Ryuu could barely believe what he was seeing. He knew the destruction hadn't been that bad when he'd gone down. What had happened?

"You shouldn't..." Teppei started, but Ryuu pushed his hands away.

"I'm fine," he snarled, shoving himself to his feet. His right leg twinged painfully, but he ignored it. "Let's find Mirai already."

The Captain's expression was unreadable, but he didn't argue, only rising to his feet. "George already went to look," he said, and pointed. "That way."

"Then let's split up," Ryuu said. He couldn't explain the urgency he felt, he just knew that he wanted to find Mirai now. He jerked his thumb down the street to his right. "I'll take this way."

"Wait," Teppei said, grabbing hold of his jacket. As Ryuu moved to pull away, he tightened his grip. "No, you listen to me," he said, forcefully enough that Ryuu was startled into obeying. "If you start to feel dizzy, sit down and don't move, and call one of us to come get you," Teppei said sternly. "You won't be any help to Mirai-kun if you keel over, got that?"

Ryuu glared at him, but for once Teppei didn't back down, only matching his glare with one of his own. Ryuu was surprised again. He hadn't seen Teppei this serious in... well, ever. Ryuu had gotten used to his enthusiastic monster babbling and forgot that he had another side to him, that he'd been training to be a doctor before joining GUYS.

Ryuu relaxed, stopped glaring. "Okay," he said softly, and Teppei nodded, satisfied, and let go of his jacket. Ryuu took his communicator out of his pocket, wincing at the new scratches that marred the flames painted on it. But as he checked it, it was obvious that it still worked, and that was what mattered for right now. He could repaint it again later.

He looked at the Captain, but said nothing. They only exchanged nods, and Ryuu turned to walk down the street in his chosen direction. He had to pick his way around wreckage that littered the street, and he was grateful that the district had been completely evacuated. He hated to think about what that crazy alien's rampage might have resulted in otherwise...

He frowned as he walked, realizing that he really had no clue what any of this had been about. Obviously Mirai knew though, from the way he'd been talking to Urzan. And Ryuu chafed at being left in the dark, at still not understanding why any of this had happened in the first place. But it was hardly the first time that Mirai had neglected to explain something, wasn't it?

Ryuu couldn't comprehend why Mirai had hidden the truth about himself from them for so long. What did it matter if they knew he was Ultraman? He was going to fight the monsters anyway, and so were they... wouldn't it have made more sense to tell them from the start? Why the secrecy? Would he have told them at all, if he hadn't had the choice taken from him? Or would he have just up and left one day when the monsters were all defeated, without a word of farewell?

And he'd lied about Captain Serizawa and Hikari too, he'd known and he'd lied to Ryuu's face about it...

Ryuu stomped through the empty street, kicking debris out of his way to vent his frustration. His simmering anger only burned hotter as he walked. He hadn't had time to care, before, when he was more concerned with trying to keep everyone alive, but now his feeling of betrayal at the lies made him scowl and hope he'd be the one to find Mirai first, because he deserved a good punch to the face.

Then let him spin one of his stupid excuses for that bruise to everyone...

He detoured around a collapsed section of wall and crossed to the other side of the street, glancing to the side where the pavement gave way to the grass of a park, and then he stopped, looking harder.

A blotch of white against the dark grass drew his eye, even in the dim light. Ryuu looked up, realizing that the sky was deep blue instead of black, thin gray light creeping from the horizon as dawn approached. He hesitated, uncertain, then decided a detour wouldn't take long and began to jog across the grass, wincing as his leg twinged pain up from his knee with each step.

As he moved closer, he realized the white he was seeing was a GUYS T-shirt, it was Mirai lying on the grass, and he slowed, the anger inside him warring with relief at finding him, apprehension at how he lay still. Unsure what to think, what to feel, Ryuu stopped, then walked forward another few slow steps.

Mirai stirred, and relief won out briefly. Ryuu moved forward again, then paused as Mirai whimpered, jerking his head. His eyes were closed, but even in the dim light Ryuu could see tears escaping from the corners of the closed lids. "Ryuu-san," Mirai moaned, lost in a nightmare, his fingers clutching at the air. "Ryuu-san... no..."

Ryuu swallowed. All of a sudden greeting Mirai with a punch really seemed like a stupid idea.

He clumsily sat on the grass, hissing as his leg spiked pain at him, and reached out to shake Mirai's shoulder. "Mirai - Mirai, wake up, you're dreaming."

Mirai's eyes snapped open instantly and he stared up at Ryuu, eyes wide and incredulous. "R-Ryuu...san?"

Ryuu raised an eyebrow. "Last I checked."

Mirai boiled up from the grass and Ryuu found himself suddenly engulfed in an exuberant hug. "Ryuu-san, you're all right!" Mirai babbled. "You're all right, I thought you were dead, I thought..." His words trailed off into stifled sobs as Ryuu froze for a moment, then awkwardly patted Mirai's back.

"I'm fine," he said. "Everything's fine. Let's go home, all right?"

"Home..." for some reason Mirai stiffened at that, and then suddenly pulled away, hastily rubbing at his eyes to wipe the tears away. "Ryuu-san, I... I have to go back," he blurted in a rush.

"Huh?" Ryuu frowned at him. "Back where?"

"To... to the World of Light," Mirai said, hanging his head. "Where I'm from."

"What?" Ryuu demanded. "Why?" When Mirai hesitated, his eyes narrowed. "Is this because we found out who you are or something?"

"N-no," Mirai said uncertainly, which didn't reassure Ryuu at all. But Mirai forged ahead, "I want to... to help Urzan's people. He said there wasn't much time..."

"What?" Ryuu demanded in disbelief. "There are more of them? And you want to help them? Mirai, he tried to kill you! Twice!"

Mirai clenched his hands into fists. "But I still don't want them to die!" he burst out.

"Die?" Ryuu was only getting angrier as he realized he'd apparently been left out of the loop even more than he'd thought. "What are you talking about? What's going on?"

Mirai shook his head. "I have to go. There's no time--"

"No!" Ryuu reached out and grabbed Mirai's arms below his shoulders. Mirai stared at him, eyes wide, as Ryuu shook him once, hard, and snapped, "No more secrets!"

"Ryuu-san..." Mirai whispered numbly, and then he visibly steeled himself. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice heavy with sorrow. "But I have to do this..."

And he disappeared, dissolving right through Ryuu's hands into a cascading, formless wash of light, a ribbon of sparkling stars that flowed up into the air and streaked away to the east, disappearing into the brilliant curve of the rising sun.

"Mirai!" Ryuu yelled, scrambling to his feet. He stared into the distance until the onrushing rays of the sun made him close his eyes, and he screamed his useless anger into the sky after the vanished form of light.

"Bastard!"


--To Be Continued--

Back to Splintered Secrets, chapter 5

On to Splintered Secrets, chapter 7

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