Catch-22
LONG TIME NO SEE. It took your co-author several months to get off her butt and edit this thing together, but at long last, the crazy soap opera continues. Please be careful to heed the following WARNING: this chapter contains brief but detailed descriptions of some horrific subject matter. If you are easily upset, please tread carefully or stay away.
This chapter was inspired by the cover illustration for manga volume 7.
Ch. 16. A Puzzle Piece, Misplaced
The first few days passed quietly for them.
Reever always left earlier than Komui in the mornings, kissed him on the cheek, showered, and left to check in as Supervisor. He even wore his own jacket this time around. By the second day his clothes were sitting in a bag near Komui’s closet, his toothbrush, razor, and shaving cream were all in the bathroom and he was essentially moved in.
For the most part, he managed his day-to-day life sober. He kept a bottle under the desk just in case, but most days he didn’t need to touch it. Work moved on in the department much as it always did. And Komui, in the meantime, was busy researching. He came in late and a little more tired every night, and did not seem interested in discussing the progress of the project he was working on, preferring instead to engage in their usual banter and hear about the day-to-day workings of the office in preparation for when he returned. Once or twice they found the time to get out together and visit Linali.
If Komui was honest with himself, he was having a great deal of trouble understanding why he’d been chosen to lead this research team. The scientist whose theories they were working with, Sofia Foster, was a headstrong old bat from R&D who was currently wasting his precious time by butting heads with him at every turn. She already had all the theoretical logistics worked out, she kept insisting, wanting the team to take her hypotheses straight into experimental trials rather than “waste” more time on research; Komui had spent several long evenings reading through the entirety of her notes, and was currently trying to work on a tactful way of telling her that there was no way in God’s green earth they were going to be running any experiments until they could figure out how to create a test environment that wouldn’t involve harming any actual children. Foster, however, seemed to be working under some illusion that being stuck in the Order laboratories being poked and prodded at and made to touch Innocence for a fortnight couldn’t possibly bother or upset infants in any way, and kept making vague references to the other researchers about things like ‘marking down potential subjects’ (he assumed they meant a list of names and information on appropriately-aged children, but he had yet to see one being passed around) and generally doing her best to go over Komui’s head. The more he balked during their meetings, the bolder she seemed to become; it was making him very grumpy, and he had an uneasy feeling that the rest of the team, all R&D veterans who knew Sofia far better than they knew their distant Supervisor, were going behind his back in ways he might not approve of.
And if he was entirely truthful with himself, the more certain Sofia got that she was right, the less certain he got that he was right. He felt a little better about his ability to do the Supervisor’s job these days, but there was still that nagging voice in the back of his head sometimes, reminding him just how good he really was at screwing up everything he laid his hands on, how irresponsible and negligent and unfit he really was to be doing all this, no matter how Reever praised him. Sounding uncomfortably, heartbreakingly like zhu ren. Which made it even harder to think straight. So the more Sofia pushed, the more he gave way. Just a little bit, here and there. To the level where he was aware, at one point, that she had begun quietly making preparations to run her goddamn experiments with the rest of the team without even running it by him at all. He intended to stop it before he saw any uncomfortable-looking 2-year-olds being escorted into the bowels of Headquarters; he just had to find a way to put his foot down.
Then Sofia proceeded to save him the trouble.
Supervisor Li, the golem-delivered memo came to him one afternoon in one section of their project’s exclusive lab floor, basement number 3 underneath the R&D section of the castle. The rest of the research team believes we have discussed theory enough and are impatient to move to the next phase of the project. In the interest of being able to begin as soon as possible, we have begun collecting samples for research so we will be prepared when you have finalized the test plan, which we request within the week. Samples are being held for storage on level basement 3, refrigerator chamber 34B. Approximately 30% have been chosen for reuse from previous phases of this project before most recent hiatus. Please verify the number and acceptability of the samples asap as re your test plan and allow us to get started. I am aware that dawdling and idle speculation are encouraged in the larger Science Department, but in the R&D division we prefer to produce fast results.
Respectfully,
Sofia Foster.
To say that Komui’s hackles were raised by the communique would have been a bit of an understatement. Dawdling? Did they think they could just rush in where angels — and Exorcists — feared to tread? Scare some children, take them from their families, and if they weren’t careful, make a false move and end up with a new Togaochi? And what the hell kind of ’samples’ were they collecting anyway? Mere tissue wouldn’t be enough, it was the infants themselves they needed to study, and if they were making off with shards of Innocence– He had half a mind to march back up to the Supervisor’s Office and tell Reever to write up an executive order shutting them down, and damn what the Head Generals would say afterwards. How dare they think–
These were his thoughts storming down the corridors, until he stuck his keys in the ponderous lock, and opened the door. At which point all thought ceased entirely.
Basement 3, refrigerator chamber 34B was a large, snow-white room. There was a very faint layer of white dusting the tops of the cabinets lining the sides, shelves stacked with petri dishes and chemical flasks and all manner of preserved organic tissue. The lights flickered a little overhead, bulbs cold blue and uncertain. His breath ghosted out before him in a white mist.
From one wall to the other, there were little bundles laying three and four to a slab on gurneys, filling the entire room. Little roundish lumps covered in blank beige cloth. So small. So terribly, terribly small.
Komui’s mind was as white as the plaster walls as he pulled the door closed behind him with a ponderous creak. He walked forward trancelike, slowly, inorexably, toward one of the gurneys, his gaze fixed on a single small shape straight ahead; not knowing what was pulling him, not knowing, in that moment, anything at all; only that he had no choice but to look.
As though moved by someone else, he saw his hand reach out to pull back the cloth. Stared down at it for a long, long while.
Such a sweet baby girl. There was a tiny, drooping pink ribbon tied in her meager hair, above the wide eyes and the rictus shrieking mouth and the unstitched hole where her lungs and her heart should have been. She looked recently worked-on, well-preserved with all the modern techniques of the Order.
Some part of Komui’s mind kindly informed him this while the rest busied itself with screaming.
In the same moment, Reever was behind his desk in the Supervisor’s office as he usually was, drafting the latest casualty report more impassively than he would have liked. His hand stopped mid-letter for no reason at all and he frowned down at the name he was currently on without understanding what the letters were trying to spell. He didn’t know why he had stopped, didn’t know why it suddenly felt too warm in his office or perhaps too cool. Sighing heavily, he reached below his desk and uncorked his whiskey and poured himself a glass. It was okay. He was just worried about Komui again, worried about things that Komui would never let come to pass. It was okay. He would wet his lips, get through the rest of the day, and wait in their room for Komui to come home. He would take the heavy lab coat from Komui’s shoulders and put it away for the night, hide away his burdens. Kiss him, hold him, tell him about the new apron Jerry was so proud of. Tell him how Tapp managed to lose Johnny under a pile of papers. They would laugh, have dinner. Sleep in each other’s arms until the morning came.
Everything would be okay.
The feeling passed by Reever’s second glass and he put the whiskey away, finished up his work. He left the office early, got dinner for two from Jerry, went back to their room.
He waited.
First he counted the tiles on the floor, then how many lines were in the grain of the wood on the desk. He showered twice, emptied his clothes onto the floor and sorted them by color. Put them back in their bag. He found some paper and played with long division. And when the sky was beginning to grow light again, Reever found the whiskey he had been hiding beneath the clothes in his bag and nursed it until he passed out, sitting against the wall.
When he woke again not long after, jolted awake by a nightmare he couldn’t quite remember, he found that he was still alone.
Komui had spent the night with the babies.
The sweet little girl had been crying, so he’d wrapped her back up in her swaddling clothes and rocked her until she went to sleep again. At some point he’d wandered out the storage room door and around the halls and maybe up some stairs, and he wasn’t sure exactly where he was right now, but he wasn’t really paying much attention anyway.
She was such a sad little girl. She’d been taken away from her mommy and it was all Komui’s fault, she’d whispered in his ear. It was his fault because he hadn’t cared enough to keep the mean lady away from her. His fault because he hadn’t tried hard enough.
In fact, all the baby-lumps in the storage room agreed that it was his fault.
They were still crying in his head. Loud and piercing, hungry baby cries. He’d gone down the rows and said hello to each child, petting their hair, closing their staring eyes, patting blue cold skin and leaving kisses on the mangled ones. But he hadn’t done anything except wake them up, and now they were all mad at him. They just wanted to be fed. They wanted their mommies and daddies. They wanted to be alive. The Order and Sofia and Komui had stolen them away from everything, just like they’d stolen Linali away from Komui.
But at least she was still alive, the little voices whispered.
The cute little baby girl reminded him of Linali. He patted her little back and she giggled and burped and told him what a sorry excuse for a human being he was. It was just like being a little boy at home in China, watching Mommy nurse Linali in the dusty dead house with the hole in the wall and Daddy screaming while the Akuma shot him and zhu ren holding him down against his bed and — Linali laughed just like that.
The sweet baby girl thought he was really far too monstrous to be a human being at all and perhaps he was really an Akuma and didn’t know it, and it went without saying that a babykiller like him was unfit to be a big brother. Hell, if they’d stayed in China, he probably would’ve stood aside and let some bandits or rapists strangle Linali at the first opportunity. He was just that useless and in fact should probably just die instead of letting all the sweet little children do the suffering for him.
He couldn’t help but agree.
With blood. There should be blood. If it wasn’t painful enough he wouldn’t learn his lesson.
She was really a very smart baby girl.
…and where had he put his scalpels? Were they in one of his labs?
He rocked the little girl quietly as he wandered further down the hall.
Reever left their room to find Komui almost as soon as he could stand. He washed his face to help wake himself up, clear his head. To get rid of the smell of alcohol a little, because he knew it bothered Komui. He changed his shirt, forgot to grab his Supervisor coat, and left their room in last night’s pants and a plain, rather rumpled white dress shirt. Almost agitatedly, he pushed up the sleeves as he hurried down the hall. He didn’t know why he felt such a pressing urgency deep in his chest or quite why everything about the day seemed wrong. It was probably just the night he’d had, being so wound up waiting for Komui. Komui had probably just had a long night himself and fell asleep in one of his labs. God knew it wasn’t like none of the rest of them had ever spent the night camped out in the library or Komui’s office or a laboratory. It happened. It was okay. He was sure Komui would be sore from sleeping in an awkward position and would just need a cup of coffee to get him back to normal. He considered, briefly, stopping to get the coffee from Jerry but he couldn’t stand to spare the time. He was too unsettled from being away from Komui so long. Reever just had to see him. Make sure everything was okay. Then they could both go get some coffee together.
Reever would carry him if he had to.
By the time he reached the hall that led to Komui’s labs, he was very ready to sigh out that breath of relief. He knew he would have to check each room until he found Komui, but he was used to that. It was okay. Everything was okay.
It was as he held out his hand to try the first door that he heard it.
“Da ge ge hao bu hao…”
It was a song, sung softly from the room next to the one he was standing outside of, the Chinese disjointed and barely coherent. Reever recognized it. It was a lullaby, one Linali had painstakingly taught him years ago, before he’d even known how to speak Chinese. It was her favorite. It was about rain and begging big brother to help her catch worms in the mud. She’d told him about how the song had inspired her to actually do it once, drag Komui out in the rain to dig for worms. Their mother had regretted teaching her the song when they came home and tracked mud everywhere, but their father had seemed strangely proud. Why was Komui–
Something was terribly, terribly wrong with the way Komui was singing, with the fact that he even was singing. For a moment, Reever couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.
That one hummed because he couldn’t see anymore. He smiled and hummed and smiled, even as the Innocence destroyed his eyes, hummed even after they were sure he had gone deaf.
It was the same kind of broken melody.
Reever’s hand moved before he wanted to, only because he knew he had to. He opened the door.
It was dark.
Pitch black.
Even the narrow beam of light from the open door didn’t seem able to cut into the darkness. Why weren’t the lights on…?
“Komui…?” he asked, stepping inside. He groped along the wall for the light switch. The door closed behind him as he left it, shut him in completely. For the first time in his life, he felt completely claustrophobic.
“…tian tian wo deng zhe ni…”
Reever stumbled along the wall, feeling desperately around for the light switch and missing it completely in his panic — and then he stepped in something wet, slipping to fall painfully onto his back. Wincing, he braced himself against the floor and tried to rise only to find his hand wet as well, slipping from beneath him. It took him three terrified attempts to get up, pulling himself upward along the wall. By chance, he hit the light switch somewhere along the way.
The lights came on, and the first thing Reever saw was his hands.
His hands.
His clothes.
The wall.
The floor.
Blood.
There was blood.
A lot of blood.
So much blood.
Coming from–
From–
Reever brought his bloody hands to his face, eyes wide. He clamped them over his ears.
There was so much… much…
There was no way a little girl’s body could hold that much blood. She was so still, her pretty eyes wide open and blank and staring at nothing at all. The blood smears on her cheeks had little streaks across them where her tears had washed them clean. That was a good girl. Cry it all away. Just cry until all the badness washed away. She was so still, maybe she was dead. Maybe she was happy now. Free.
Her lips moved.
A song, wheezed out as though it was the last of her breaths.
“da ge ge… hao bu hao…”
“KOMUI!“
The name tore itself from Reever’s throat, hoarse and raw and terrified. It wasn’t Linali it was Komui and oh, God, what had he done? Reever tried to scramble to Komui’s side, slipped again on the blood. Landed hard on his chest, almost had the wind knocked out of him. It didn’t matter. He hadn’t been able to remember to draw in his breath again anyway. Now his body was just forgetting to breathe without him. He crawled the rest of the way to Komui’s side.
“K-Komui,” he gasped out, trying to understand what Komui was doing, what had happened, what was happening, even through his now-blurring vision, through the air he couldn’t seem to get into his lungs. “Wh-what are you doing? Why… G-God! Don’t hurt yourself anymore, please, oh, God, just–” He closed his hand over the scalpel in Komui’s loose grasp, tried to tug it away. Komui was still bleeding, everywhere, there were so many cuts–
Komui’s lips stilled as Reever touched him, and he blinked once, sluggishly.
He was lying curled on his side on the floor, hair fanned out messily to drag in the small puddles of blood he’d left around the room; shirt folded up beside him neatly atop his shoes, lying next to a small beige cloth bundle. He’d slit one arm wrist to elbow, the other cut a little shallower; and there were a last few curving trails dragged across his bare chest where his energy had begun to give out. Very slowly, his white, blood-flecked face turned up toward Reever’s, dark eyes glassy and full of something that did not resemble reality in the slightest.
Faintly, instinctively, he smiled.
“Hi… Reever.” His voice was tiny, hoarse, weak. He paused for a moment, face slowly drifting into a sleepily confused expression. “Could you… rock the baby…? Won’t stop crying…”
“The baby?” Reever repeated in a voice that was half a sob, not understanding what Komui was saying or anything because he was staring into Komui’s eyes and the world was stopping and the blood and Komui was gone even though he had promised and–
Reever looked down. Saw the face peeking out from within the small bundle.
He made a choking sound, a sick, wet gasp for air that was him barely keeping from getting ill. He felt dizzy, felt as though someone had put their hand into his chest and wrenched out his heart.
She was so small.
But he couldn’t, couldn’t– Couldn’t… focus on that. He had to get help for Komui, had to think had to–
“Reever, this is your baby sister. Say hello.”
Reever shook, from his shoulders to his hands to his shallow breaths. He couldn’t. He really, really couldn’t. He had to get Komui help or Komui was going to die and go far, far away and they would never get to kiss in the rain or curl up to sleep together or share a meal or work or anything again. Reever had to save him, had to save the both of them.
“She likes you, Reever. Isn’t that cute, honey? She doesn’t cry when he holds her.”
She was so very little and so very still.
Reever shook his head, shook all the thoughts out, all the memories. He didn’t care if he never had them again. He couldn’t right now. He tightened his grip on Komui’s scalpel, pulled it out of his grasp. Then Reever stood, looking desperately around the room as though seeing it for the first time. The phone. Where was the goddamned phone?
He found it between piles of research notes, managed to dial the number for the medical wing. His hands left smears of blood on everything he touched.
“Hello?”
“G-g-” Reever couldn’t find his voice and bit down on his lip until the pain cleared his head even a little. “A medical team to Lab K-3, right now. Right now. It’s an emergency. He’s bleeding, a lot, and, just, now!” Reever knew he wasn’t making enough sense, knew he was being next to useless but he just, everything– He had told her enough. They would be coming now. He dropped the phone and went back to Komui’s side, feeling tears slip relentlessly down his cheeks.
He was trained for this. He was. He had to stem the bleeding somehow, but there were so many cuts where was he to even start? He realized he was still holding the scalpel.
And then he stopped thinking. About anything at all, anything except saving Komui. Saving them both.
Reever pulled his shirt off, managed to cut it into manageable strips and tried to staunch the worst of the bleeding.
“Stay with me,” he begged hoarsely. “Please, Komui. Or I’ll never, ever–” And then he stopped, because he didn’t know what to end that sentence with. Forgive you. Be okay again. Believe in anything again. Want to live again. He left it, looked down at what he was doing instead. Tried not to look at the baby.
“Reever, Marleen, say hello to your new baby sister.”
Komui’s eyes drifted closed.
- – -
It wasn’t ten minutes before a team of medics had burst into the laboratory, taken a shocked look at the blood splashed over the walls and floor, and then proceeded to get to work. A single medic pulled Reever away from Komui gently and they tended to and bandaged up the Supervisor with a flurry of barked orders and flailing limbs, one carefully winding gauze up his arm here, one unfolding a stretcher there, one preparing a blood transfusion. They worked with a grim intensity bespeaking just how well each knew and trusted the man lying bleeding to death on the laboratory floor. Komui was close with the medical staff.
“All right, he’s stable to move,” someone announced, and the group hefted Komui onto the stretcher carefully, one medic carrying the bag of blood as they headed for the door. Another stayed behind for just a moment to clap a hand on Reever’s shoulder, swallowing a little.
“You should get your clothes changed, yeah? Then come up and see him,” the man offered with a kind, awkward smile. “He’ll be okay.”
Reever only managed a distant half nod, mumbling something that might have been agreement. Then he waved his hand to dismiss them, waited for them to go. Waited for the door to close. Then he curled up with his head between his knees and let himself break down, let all the terror and horror and utter mortification finally get to him.
Komui was going to live, but nothing, nothing was okay anymore.
Somewhere along the line, he found himself holding the bundle of small, perfect limbs and small, perfect hands, and small, perfect lips, clutching her to his chest. He didn’t know what to do with her. He couldn’t even move, because he didn’t want to just leave her, but…
What did one do with the corpse of an infant?
He didn’t have an answer, and he strongly believed that no one with a shred of humanity should.
Eventually, though, he found himself at the cathedral. He tracked blood through the halls, had people’s gazes following him as he walked. He didn’t even notice, had forgotten he was covered in blood, wearing only his work pants, cradling a bloody little bundle that had a tiny arm protruding from the folds of the cloth. He didn’t care, about anything really. She looked like Gabby. His baby. Gabby had always liked pink ribbons. Marleen had always managed to get hers off, almost as soon as she was out of the womb. But Gabby, she loved her pink ribbons. She was so perfect. Perfect except for her strange lightness. She felt empty. Hollow. Like a doll. Babies were heavy and warm and dreamed their little baby dreams, their little tummies moving with each breath. Reever had memorized the sight, sitting up some nights with each of his sisters. The baby in his arms was all wrong, but still so perfect in the way only babies could be.
He stood there, gazing up at the large silver cross mounted to the wall without any real comprehension for a good long time. It had meant something, once. That cross. Now it was just… a decoration. He continued staring, wondering if it would come back to him. The feeling he’d used to get when he had stared up at such a massive, solid symbol of his faith.
There was nothing.
A hand fell on his shoulder and though it startled him, he was slow to respond. He turned his head as though it pained him greatly to do so.
“Reever, isn’t it?” a vaguely familiar woman’s voice asked. She was smiling at him, gently. He noticed the burn scar on her face.
“…General Cloud Nine,” he murmured, as though reciting a caption from a textbook. Then his eyes widened a little and he tightened his grip on the baby in his arms. He didn’t… didn’t want anyone to hurt her any more.
“What do you have there?” Cloud asked lightly, peering over.
“Oh, she’s precious. What a beautiful baby.”
She looked back up at him, offering him the same gentle smile from before. “She looks as though she had a bad dream before she left us, but I’m sure she’s dreaming better things now.” Cloud thought a moment before holding out her arms. “Would you like to give her to me, Reever? I’ll make sure she gets to where she needs to go. My students will take good care of her.”
Reever hesitated, frowning to himself. Cloud Nine was the kindest of the Generals. She could be trusted. He knew that.
“…you won’t hurt her?” he asked all the same. Because she looked so much like his baby. He couldn’t stand the idea of her hurting anymore.
“Never,” Cloud swore. Reluctantly, Reever transfered the bundle very carefully into Cloud’s arms. He lingered close to her a moment to stroke the baby’s cold cheek, to say goodbye. Then he backed away. He looked back up at the cross, trying to remember what he was supposed to do now.
“Reever!” Cloud called to catch his attention again. She was rocking the baby slightly. She was a good lady. She would make a great mother someday, if she wanted to be. She probably wouldn’t. “You should go get cleaned up, then go where you have to go. We all have somewhere we need to be, don’t we? You, the baby, even me. So… don’t keep them waiting!”
Oh. That was right. Reever nodded, turning away. He even remembered to thank her.
Reever didn’t really remember showering. He might have stepped into the shower with what was left of his clothes on, but that was okay. They needed washing too. He changed into… clothes, though if asked he probably wouldn’t even have been able to remember what color they were. He forgot shoes altogether, wandered to the medical wing.
“…Komui?” he asked the receptionist quietly. Begged, really.
The receptionist looked back up at him, very awkwardly.
“The… The Supervisor is in intensive care… I’m very sorry, Officer, but– only… family members–”
He seemed to stare at the look on Reever’s face for a moment and swallowed, shaking his head slightly.
“I… here… let me raise Exorcist Li, she… she should be here anyway. I’m sure she’ll take you in with her. In the meantime, why don’t you…” He looked slightly nervous as he gestured to some nearby chairs. “Just… Have a seat.”
“…I love him,” Reever whispered distantly, not really knowing why he was saying it. Only that he had to. Because he did. He shifted his gaze to the chairs and considered them for a long moment, then shook his head. He stepped away from the desk for the receptionist’s sake, but didn’t go sit down. He was too tired. Down to his very soul, he was tired. If he sat down, he wasn’t sure he would be able to get up again. He waited.
Linali had been on her way for the past half hour when her golem got the second call. She had been stopped by some of the lab boys who had heard some gossip and then Jerry had run out and had begged her for answers. She had just managed to get away, worried out of her mind. The first call had been vague, just that her brother was in surgery. The second call had been even more helpful, the receptionist mumbling something about how Reever Wenham was waiting by the front desk and that she should come now. Her legs were much better now but running was still difficult to keep up for more than short bursts, so she was doing the best she could but it wasn’t good enough. Her heart was hammering in her chest. She didn’t know how this could have happened. Never, not once in all the time they had been with the Order had Komui been this badly hurt. Not during any of the accidents the lab had suffered, not during any of Komui’s experiments gone awry. Linali was the one who got hurt, not Komui. And now, Linali swore to God that she would never get hurt again. She’d never imagined the sort of blind panic she might have been causing her brother all these years.
When she arrived at the infirmary, the first person she saw was Reever. He looked… terrible. Barely alive, listless. Her heart clenched. If he was that stricken–
“How is my brother?” she demanded worriedly, rushing over to the desk. She briefly touched Reever’s arm on the way over, then straightened in surprise when he looked at her, flinched, and immediately looked away.
The receptionist glanced between the two of them with an uncomfortable swallow, pulling a hastily-scribbled form off the top of one of his files.
“He, um… My last word is the Supervisor is stabilized… There was, um, a lot of bleeding, but…” The man coughed, eyes flicking to Linali’s face for a moment and then down to his paper again. “He’s in intensive care. Room 523. You can, uh… Go ahead,” he said with a glance back at Reever.
“Thanks. Um, it’s okay if my future brother-in-law comes too, right?” Linali was already walking off with Reever almost forcibly in tow, casting the receptionist a dark look that insinuated she didn’t need her Dark Boots to make it very clear to anyone standing in her way just how little she cared for official policies right then.
“Reever-ge ge?” she asked quietly as they made their way down the hall toward the 500-600 rooms. “What’s… what’s wrong? My brother’s stable, didn’t you hear? We’re the Li family, you know. I’ve come out of two comas now. He’s going to be fine. But… are you okay? Did something happen?”
Reever didn’t answer her, busy trying to look everywhere but toward the hand that was leading him by the wrist. Toward the scars he knew were there. Her hand was pushing his bracelet into his skin. He could feel it.
He missed them.
“…it’ll be okay, Reever. I promise,” Linali sighed, not knowing what else to say. She didn’t even know what had happened, and it seemed fairly inappropriate to try asking Reever anything more. She stopped outside room 523, took in a deep breath, and let them both in.
And all at once it was very, very clear.
Linali gasped, covered her mouth with her hands. The bandages up and down his arms were… unmistakable. The way they had strapped him to the bed, in case he woke up and– Linali swallowed, tears burning in her eyes. She didn’t understand.
But right then, she didn’t need to. All she needed to know was that her brother was okay, that they would get the chance to get through this. She found a chair for Reever and led him to it, sitting him down next to Komui’s bedside. Then she went looking for a chair of her own. She found an empty room a few doors down and took hers from there, brought it back. She put her chair on the other side of Komui’s bed. She leaned across him, caught one of Reever’s hands, and placed it over one of Komui’s own; then she sat down and curled her hands around her brother’s other hand. She tried to give Reever an encouraging smile.
“I’m sure he knows he’s not alone.”
Reever looked away without saying anything. He didn’t want to have to tell her. He didn’t want to be the reason she stopped believing too.
They stayed with him all day, all night. Linali left sometimes to get food, water, to offer Jerry an update and reassurance. Each time she brought something back for Reever, and each time he unfailingly left it untouched. He never once let go of Komui’s hand. They stayed until the sun was high in the sky again outside the window and at last Linali had to give in; she returned to her room for a few hours of sleep, murmuring to Reever that he should do the same and not expecting to be heeded at all. Doctors and nurses quietly came and went. Another day passed.
Komui woke with the morning sun in his eyes.
At first he didn’t feel much, think much, remember much of anything. His mind felt wrapped in a layer of cotton as he stirred faintly, closed eyelids squinting a little against the light. It reminded him of waking up in his room with Reever in the mornings, and for a moment, that vague thought in mind, he considered snuggling back up to the other man and going to sleep again.
…this wasn’t his bed.
His eyes popped open as he had the thought, surprisedly. Where…? He didn’t recognize… ….the medical wing?
Sluggishly, looking faintly confused, he glanced around.
“Ge ge?” a soft voice beside his head asked gently. Linali was midway through slowly eating a sandwich Jerry had made her for breakfast, which she quickly set aside when she saw her brother rouse.
“How are you feeling?” she whispered, reaching out to touch the side of his face.
“Linali…”
Her image was fuzzy without his glasses. He stared at her for a moment, tried to make out the details of her expression. She sounded… worried. For him?
Distantly he registered an unpleasant sort of throbbing in his arms. Down his chest.
“I’m…” He blinked, frowned a little. He was trying to move one hand but his arm seemed to be… attached. He glanced downward as best he could to see that it had been strapped to the side of the bed. And there was Reever lying against his leg, he noted for a fleeting moment, absently. Was he asleep?
A little cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as it occurred to him that he didn’t really remember yesterday.
There were bandages down his arms, straight up to the elbows and down past the wrists. Bandages tugging against his torso underneath the hospital gown.
…there had definitely been a scalpel at some point.
“…what did I do?”
There was a quiet horror in his voice as he glanced up toward his sister for a moment, wide-eyed, and then away again.
Linali winced a little and shook her head, lightly stroking his cheek.
“It doesn’t matter, ge ge,” she murmured, trying to offer him her best encouraging little sister smile. “You just… had a bad day. It’s okay. I… I’m here now, and…” She swallowed, trying to think of what to say but she really… really wasn’t as good at this as he was. Finally, she reached down and gave his hand a little squeeze.
“I’m so glad you’re awake, ge ge. This… It’s… I– I don’t have anywhere to call home without you, so– I…” She blinked at the tears in her eyes, kept trying to smile. “I’m so glad.”
Komui swallowed a little as he watched her and his hand jerked reflexively against the restraints again, wanting to reach up and touch her, to comfort… He squeezed her hand back as best he was able, weakly. Winced a little at the sudden pain shooting up his arm. Took a deep breath.
“I– … Don’t cry, Linali…” he said softly, feeling terribly helpless as he looked up at her and… didn’t know what to say, to do or… Didn’t even know exactly why he was here–
feed us, love us, please, they’d whispered in his head
–”It — it’s okay. It’ll be okay.”
Waveringly, he tried to smile back.
“I know, ge ge,” Linali sniffed. “I know. We’re always okay. Just… just don’t move too much, okay? You were hurt really badly. Let me just–” She reached over and slowly unfastened Komui’s restraints, much as he had done for her so long ago. He wouldn’t do this again. She was sure of it. He would never knowingly do anything to hurt her. Once he was free, she sat back down, gently holding his hand in both of her own. She looked down at his bandaged wrist, not really knowing what to think. Then a little, startled laugh left her lips as she turned one arm palm-side up.
“…look, ge ge. We match.”
She smiled over at him very briefly before her shoulders began to tremble. With a little sob, she leaned over to bury her face against his chest and quietly began to cry.
His own throat tight, Komui blinked fast and squeezed his eyes half-shut, reaching out through the pain slowly and stiffly to pet her hair with one hand. Watched her, what little he could see of her where she was lying; watched the little shock of dirty-blonde hair in the corner of his vision that was Reever.
God. What had he done.
He–… how could he have ever tried to… to… to kill himself. Do something like that to the people who cared about him… take away Linali’s big brother, Reever’s…
…and he didn’t even — it didn’t make sense, he didn’t know why–
such a sweet baby girl with her little pink ribbon and her screaming and crying
He shivered a little.
…it was possibly the most horrible thing he’d ever done to anyone, and he hated himself in that moment more than he could ever remember hating himself in all the rest of his life, lying in that hospital bed staring at the ceiling and listening to his sister’s quiet sobs.
He really was a useless human being.
It was the crying that woke Reever, jolted him into consciousness. A cold chill ran through his body at the sound and he tensed, pushing himself up before he was even fully awake.
“Linali…?” he asked in a hoarse, scratchy voice, rubbing his red eyes. “Did something happen–” He managed to open his eyes all the way, look at her, at Komui. His breath caught in his throat.
“K-Komui,” he wheezed out, eyes widening. “Y…you’re awake.”
Komui glanced down slowly, found Reever’s gaze on him. For a moment he just looked back, uncertain, throat tight, wounds throbbing under their bandages. The place in his chest — no, it was definitely a hole in his chest where his insides used to be, and it ached sharply of a sudden, as red and raw and bleeding as the rest of him.
“Hi… Reever,” he managed to say at last, and smiled shakily, a couple tears escaping the corners of his eyes as he lost his hold on them.
Linali sat up again now that Reever was awake, wiped helplessly at her tears. Smiled awkwardly at the both of them.
“I’ll… I’ll go get us some… food!” she stammered, trying to catch her breath. “And let everyone know the good news. You two… kiss and make up, okay? I’ll come back soon.”
“Linali, where are you–” Reever forced out, coughing lightly from a dry throat, but by the time he managed to speak she was already gone. There was nothing to do but turn back to Komui, stare without really knowing what to say. He had been so sure he would be more relieved when Komui finally woke up, but– The baby, the blood, the… Reever shivered a little, grip on Komui’s hand tightening.
“…are you in pain, Komui?” he managed quietly. “Do you… need anything?”
“Um… it hurts just… a little bit,” Komui murmured back after a moment, shaking his head faintly. “I’m okay.”
Stiffly, his thumb stroked the side of Reever’s hand, until it hurt too much to keep going. He couldn’t seem to find any words. He was just… He felt so guilty. Sad. Grateful.
“Throat… hurts a little,” he managed after a moment, afraid the other man would take his silence the wrong way. “I–…”
He swallowed. Made himself look Reever in the eyes, no matter how badly he couldn’t stand it.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Reever whispered, lowering his head to kiss the back of Komui’s hand. He brought his gaze back up, smiling despite the tears escaping the corners of his eyes. “I forgive you. We’re going to be okay, so… you don’t need to be sorry. Just… focus on getting better, okay? Because I’m going to need someone to help me with all that paperwork piling up in the office.”
And that, for some reason, was what finally did it. Komui sucked in as long a breath as he could manage as the tears started in earnest, and he laid there and cried weakly, chest shaking. Each sob hurt, felt like the lacerations in his chest were ripping open; the hurt just made him want to cry more. The hurt and Reever’s tears and his forgiveness and his sad little smile and Linali and the little baby girl and… and… just… everything.
The inside of his wrist throbbed with pain as he clutched reflexively at Reever’s hand.
“Shhh, it’s okay,” Reever soothed, though his own voice was a little unsteady. He scooted closer so he could stroke the side of Komui’s face, brush away the tears. “It’s okay, Komui. I love you, and I’m here. I’ll always be here. Don’t worry about anything, Komui. I’ll have it all taken care of.”
Komui was in no state to ponder what Reever’s last words might have meant. He pushed his face against Reever’s hand and laid there and cried a little while longer, wanting to… curl up in a ball, hide somewhere, wrap himself around Reever’s body and cling there. But he was too weary, hurt too much to move. So he just kept laying there, weak little sobs coming one after the other until his tears were dry, chest aching.
Reever held on to him, continued to whisper soft reassurances, promising him that everything would be fine, promising him coffee and days off and the name of Linali’s boyfriend and the world. Anything, anything to make him stop crying, make him stop looking so sad and guilty and defeated. He didn’t stop until he heard Linali knock on the door.
“Ge ge? Reever?” she called, poking her head in. “Um. The doctors caught on that you woke up so… they want us to clear out. C’mon, Reever. Jerry’s making a meat pie the size of ge ge’s room for you, and he’s expecting you to eat all of it.”
“But, I–” Reever protested, unwilling to leave Komui’s side for a moment. Not after what had happened.
“But nothing. You haven’t eaten in days, Reever. We don’t need you hospitalized too, now come along,” Linali scolded. “I’ll carry you if I have to.” Reever cast Komui a very abused, pitiful look.
Komui swallowed a little, and weakly nuzzled Reever’s hand.
“…You should eat,” he said softly, red-rimmed eyes gazing up with concern.
“…infidel. You’re all against me,” Reever pouted with a heavy sigh, but slowly he climbed to his feet. He leaned forward to give Komui a light kiss, hand lingering on his cheek a moment longer before he reluctantly tore himself away. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, Komui. Don’t miss me too much, okay?”
Komui nodded, slowly. He managed a shaky smile as he glanced from Reever to Linali and then back again.
“Take your time. I’ll… be here.”
“Take care of yourself, ge ge~!” Linali called out as cheerfully as she could manage, all but shoving Reever out of the infirmary room. The doctor and nurses standing outside gave Reever a wide berth as he passed, and waited for the pair of them to turn the corner before moving inside to tend to Komui.
- – -
Over the next few days, Komui continued to make a slow recovery and was restricted to his hospital bed. Linali made frequent but short visits, not wanting to impose on her brother’s rest or tire him out too much. Sometimes she snuck him snacks Jerry made for him, and she always had the latest gossip. What his old team was up to, how she was getting stronger. She even dropped a few hints about her boyfriend, who, she told him with some delight, was being very supportive about all of this. He hadn’t complained even once that she didn’t see him as often now that she was so preoccupied with her brother.
“Because I told him right at the beginning that you never date just one Li sibling. You have to date them both,” she whispered into Komui’s ear with a happy little giggle.
What she never talked about was where Reever had gone. In reality, she didn’t know. After feeding him that first day they’d left Komui’s room, he had gone off to get some sleep and the next day was nowhere to be found. She’d looked all over, but no one had seen him. So she didn’t know, and she didn’t mention it, because she didn’t think Komui needed to be worried about anything right now. And besides, she was sure Reever was fine. Drunk, probably, but he wouldn’t do anything stupid. It would be okay.
Reever was in fact quite sober, but Linali was right on the dot with the fine part. A little bit sleep deprived, a little bit hungry, but mostly fine. He had locked himself in the one place no one had thought to look and was poring over a floor full of papers. Records, schedules, other relevant documents. He’d pulled all of them from his office after leaving Linali, because he had made a promise to Komui. That he would make everything better. He wouldn’t go back until everything was the way he had promised, because he had to keep his promise or else… else… how could he ask Komui to keep the promises he had made?
By the end of the third day, Reever’s plan was done. Making it happen would take a little while longer, but Reever could be a patient man when he had to be.
The first step was to help Jerry in the kitchens.
Jerry, who had been worried out of his mind for the past week over Komui and Reever and Linali and everyone in general (to the extent that he’d managed to mix up Kanda’s soba with a Finder’s udon and almost brought an end to the Order), was more than happy to have him there.
Reever asked to take orders and help Jerry hand out finished meals, so that Jerry would be able to cook without coming to the window every few minutes. While Jerry rather enjoyed talking to the Finders and staff, especially the cute boys, he could hardly turn Reever down. And so, Reever took his temporary post and waited.
That night, just after dinner, the person he was looking for came in. His name was Dylan Hooper, an ex-Finder with an extensive background in field research. As a member of the Science Department he was currently studying the effects of raw Innocence on Akuma, what Innocence did when unrefined and unclaimed. He was due on a vital mission in two days and the Exorcist team being sent with him was composed of Kanda and Mari. Reever drugged his food before handing it to him. It wasn’t anything lethal, but it was what Jerry had been threatening to give Cross for a while now. Dylan would be out of commission for a few days.
But someone would have to go on his mission for him. Otherwise who knew when the next chance to study raw Innocence would come along?
Reever, being the devoted acting Supervisor he was, had obviously spent a great deal of time weighing who would be the best substitute for the job and came to the conclusion that only someone as experienced and devoted to research as Sofia Foster would do.
He wrote her dispatch notice, signed it, and sent it in.
Then he went onto the last part of his plan. He helped himself to the skeleton key that would unlock any of the living quarters in the Order and let himself into Kanda’s room, then proceeded to vandalize it. If he was lucky, the foul-tempered Exorcist would simply get irritated with the old hag and kill her himself… okay, sure, it wasn’t very likely. But failing that, he just hoped the disturbance would sour Kanda’s mood to the point that he wouldn’t be terribly inclined to protect a useless researcher from roving Akuma.
And after that, there was nothing left to do but wait some more.
That night, he went to the medical wing and stood outside Komui’s door, but didn’t go in. Everything wasn’t better yet, but they were nearly there. He listened to Komui sleep for a little while before leaving.
He drank that night, but it was only a single toast. White wine.
One bright morning, three more days later, Reever knocked on Komui’s door.
There were a couple books sitting on the side table next to Komui’s bed, but he wasn’t reading them. He was simply staring listlessly up at the ceiling from where he lay, propped up very slightly in the reclining bed. He was still a little pale, drawn, and tired-looking, though not nearly as much as he had been earlier in the week; there were dark smudges under his eyes, which widened slightly in surprise as he glanced down at Reever standing in the doorway. He paused for a moment, then smiled.
“You must’ve been busy.”
“I suppose I was,” Reever answered neutrally, smiling back a little sheepishly. A sort of tension left him as he stepped into the room and he almost looked younger, more like the slightly frazzled but mostly carefree assistant of Komui’s he had been all those years ago. “I’m really ready for all this to be over, though. Get my job back and everything. Let you have yours.” He closed the door behind him and sat down at Komui’s bedside, glad that Komui looked so much better. It was still a little hard not to see the blood in the space of time it took him to blink, but… seeing Komui better was helping.
“I’ve been saving the paperwork for you,” he added a little teasingly, finding Komui’s hand with his own.
Komui’s lips twitched in another small smile, and he briefly squeezed Reever’s hand. Thankfully, it hurt less to do so now. “I’m sure I’ll be back to not signing any of it in no time,” he replied lightly. Rather literally so, too — he refrained from adding that with his mutilated wrists he doubted he would be much good for writing for a while. Reever looked too happy and relieved to bother him with too much reality.
“Funny. I seem to have the same job no matter what my title is,” Reever mused at that. He scooted closer to give Komui a proper kiss, light and quick as it was. Reever was still rather afraid of somehow breaking him.
“Um, Komui,” Reever began slowly after a moment had passed, smiling awkwardly. It felt strange, withholding information from him this way, but it really was for the best. There wasn’t much Reever could do about the war, but besides that — nothing else should bother Komui now, or ever again. He had been through enough.
“I did want to let you know… The project is over now. All of it. Once you’re out of here, you get nothing but bed rest for two weeks with both Linali and me waiting on you, and after that you can get right back to coming up with new and innovative ways to skip work.”
The project–
Komui stared at Reever a little, nothing past the first two sentences really having registered in his mind. Was it… cold in here…?
–all the little bodies lying there so still like they’d never been alive, like sweet little baby dolls–
Slowly, his expression smoothed out into a blank, and he tilted his head slightly to one side.
“The project… over?”
“The Head Generals shut it down. It’s over. You never have to go back again,” Reever answered softly with a nod. “I… promised, didn’t I?”
Komui nodded slowly, absently. His gaze drifted downward a little, looking not quite all there as he stared at his hands for a moment; and then he sat up slightly, a little wobbly, pulling his legs up closer to his chest underneath the bedsheets.
–so cold, the metal is hard and her little hand like ice–
“That’s… good,” he managed.
“I’m sorry there wasn’t anything I could do before,” Reever murmured, dropping his gaze rather guiltily as Komui withdrew. “But I made sure… General Cloud took the baby. She’s good with children, you know? She said that the baby is having better dreams now. I’d… like to believe her. Believe with me, Komui. Please? In the good things.”
Komui nodded again where he was sitting, trying to focus on Reever’s words, trying not to see the — the– He– He needed some distraction–
His hand flailed a little, slipping out of Reever’s, clutching stiffly at the sleeve of the other man’s shirt. He took a deep breath and thought about what Reever was saying, looked up at the patterns the sunlight was making on the ceiling; tried to resist the urge to curl up in a ball and just laid back in the bed again, affectedly. He swallowed once, breathing a little shaky.
Better dreams.
He hoped they were all having better dreams. Far away from here.
“…I believe her,” he said quietly, and did, because he… needed to.
Reever closed his eyes and nodded, leaning even closer to gently gather Komui into his arms.
“My ma used to tell me that children get their own Heaven,” he whispered quietly into Komui’s ear, shifting to sit on the edge of the bed to better hold him. “She would say that the death of a child would be a tragedy to everyone but the child. That we’re sad because of all the memories we’ll never have with them, but the children never care, because they’ll be doing different, better things. She told us all this stuff once, when one of Marleen’s friends passed away. I used to think about it all the time when… I first heard that my home was attacked.” Reever let out a long sigh, turning his head to look out the window, at the clouds and the sun and the light.
“I dream about them sometimes, playing in the sun, under the stars, by the sea. The dreams are harder to wake up from than the ones with the fire and the Akuma because I don’t want them to ever end, but… they’re easier to live with,” he murmured, then gave a little pause to catch his breath. “Try to imagine the babies sleeping somewhere warm and bright, dreaming only what babies can dream, okay, Komui? And then wake up to me.”
There was a small sniff from where Komui lay, pressed against Reever’s chest, clinging. He tried to picture what Reever was saying. It was… it was hard. They weren’t peaceful and warm and sleeping — they were just– dead and cold and mangled and so tiny and– and–
But their souls were… were gone from here now. Wherever souls went to. Wherever children’s souls went to.
Playing with Marleen and Gabby, perhaps.
“Your… your mother was a wise woman,” he managed after a while, lying there against Reever’s chest, a hand clutching weakly in the fabric of the other man’s shirt, down at his waist. It hurt too much to raise his arms and hug.
“Of course she was,” Reever sighed with a little smile, petting the back of Komui’s head. “She was a mother. Aren’t they all? Makes me kind of wish I was a woman. I want to have a kid someday who turns thirty, looks back, and realizes that I knew best all along. But I seem to be lacking a couple key qualifications to become a mother myself. A uterus, for example…” He laughed a quiet little laugh at that, then pressed a light kiss against Komui’s brow.
“And thank you for scarring me for life with that image,” Komui replied, a bit of wry humor entering his tired voice.
“That’s my job~” Reever half-sang, unable to help a grin. “Remind me sometime to tell you all about me in nothing but a bathrobe and slippers, pregnant, and wandering around the Order eating a tub of ice cream and pickles the next time you have a bad day, okay?”
“I think I’ll pass,” Komui murmured dryly, nuzzling Reever’s chest a little.
“But Komui~” Reever protested just as there was a knock on the door.
“Ge ge! Reever~! I hear you two in there!” Linali called brightly, a smile in her voice. “Are you two decent? I have really good news~!”
“Do you?” Komui’s smile widened reflexively, listening to his sister’s cute, excited tone. “Come on in.” He sat up a little where he was curled up against Reever, turned so he could see Linali’s face.
At that, Linali bounced in, looking happier than she had in a good, long while. Clapping her hands together excitedly, she beamed at the both of them, barely able to contain herself.
“I just came by from Mission Ops, ge ge~! They had the most wonderful news! General Cross sent word that he’s done with his mission in Japan and he’s coming back straightaway! I heard it was because he was worried about you, because he asked about your condition!” And while Linali wondered exactly how Cross had known that Komui was in the infirmary, the details didn’t really seem to matter. She had been worried Cross really was going to die in Japan, with all the Akuma that were around. She was terribly relieved that he would be coming home, and so willingly for once! The Head Generals would be pleased, and it seemed like it was all thanks to her brother.
Reever, meanwhile, had quietly stopped breathing.
Komui stared at her for half a second and then — forced himself to smile again, as sincerely as he could manage.
She didn’t know. She would never, ever know. He could hardly even bear the thought.
“That’s… that’s good. I’m glad he’s coming home safe,” he said, and found it not as hard as it ought to have been.
“You know, there’s probably… a lot of related paperwork in that. I should go… shift it to the top of the pile. Rush it for him,” Reever finally managed, sounding surprisingly normal. Because he knew very well that the quality of the rest of his day depended on how he played these next few moments. “Linali, will you keep your brother company while I go do that? I’ll come back in time for dinner.”
“Huh? Oh, sure!” Linali nodded, blissfully oblivious. “That’s really nice of you, Reever-ge ge.”
Reever’s smile was decidedly strained at that point so he nodded and quickly turned away.
Komui watched him go blankly, feeling about twice as depressed as he had before. He took a deep breath.
“…So did you have a good day?” he asked quietly, forcing himself to smile again as he looked back at his sister. He’d… he’d be all right if they just didn’t talk about Cross. ….zhu ren. Cr–
Anything but Cross.
“Other than going to Mission Ops, it wasn’t really that interesting,” Linali shrugged, still smiling. She thought Reever looked a bit uncomfortable leaving, but wrote it off as something to do with having to leave Komui in favor of the office. “I saw my boyfriend a little while ago, though!” She paused a brief moment to consider dropping another hint to Komui, but there was always the risk that Komui’s genius would kick in and he would figure it out, and then her boyfriend would wind up crucified as soon as Komui checked out of the medical wing. But she would have to tell him eventually. She hated keeping secrets from her brother, even ones like this.
“He’s going on a mission soon,” she finally added. “That’s why I was in Mission Ops. He won’t be back for a whole week, so we made plans to have dinner… Is– that okay? I know Reever-ge ge said he would be back, so you shouldn’t be lonely, but if you want me to stay I can call him back on his golem and tell him I have to cancel. He’ll understand.”
Komui pouted at her terribly, but didn’t bother asking for a name. He knew better. “No, go have fun with your… boyfriend,” he said with a mournful sigh. “Your poor big brother will just waste away here on his own~” He was still pouting as he reached up to melodramatically wipe away a nonexistent tear. After a moment, he sighed quietly again, shaking his head a little.
“If he’s not going to be here, you shouldn’t miss the chance.”
“Is that–” Linali took a moment to gasp in disbelief. She leaned over and felt Komui’s head with the back of her hand. She peered up at his IV, at the water he had been given, checked his sheets. “Do I detect… you giving me permission to go on a date, ge ge? Are… are you going to let me stay up past my bedtime next? Does… does this mean I don’t get tucked in or bedtime stories anymore?” Then she smiled a positively radiant smile and wrapped Komui in a great, big hug, though she was careful not to squeeze.
“You still get tucked in. I want to tuck you in.” Komui sounded a bit scandalized as he folded his arms around her waist in return, just a little; it still hurt to move them around much.
“And. Yes. Don’t ask again or the answer will be different,” he said, pouting in a very disgruntled fashion.
“Maybe if you stay this encouraging I’ll feel safe enough to tell you his name without fearing for his life,” Linali teased good-naturedly, still absolutely beaming with delight. She was proud of her brother for loosening his grip on her, because she knew there was no way it could be easy for him; and on top of that she was honestly, utterly glad to know he supported her. It was almost a relief. It had been a little hard sometimes, because she really did adore her boyfriend but it was her brother’s happiness she worried about first and foremost. And that would always, always be the case. It wasn’t completely fair, but it was at least a little fair. Komui had done nothing his entire life but work and give and work and give to ensure her happiness. It was the least she could do in return, and as luck would have it, she had found a boyfriend sensitive enough to understand.
“I told you, I’m not going to kill him! I just want him to know that I will not tolerate any funny business or mistreating you,” Komui sniffed. “The rocket launchers would just be to help illustrate my point.”
“Rocket launchers?” Linali laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. She gave Komui a little peck on the cheek. “What if you give him a heart attack, ge ge? I like him just the way he is. That being alive.”
“He’d most likely still be alive after the heart attack,” Komui insisted, still pouting. He still looked comically unhappy as he leaned his head over a little to return the kiss with a brief press of lips against her forehead.
“He works too hard as an Exorcist to die of heart failure, ge ge,” Linali sighed with a little giggle, shaking her head. “Give the poor thing a break. Besides, you don’t have to worry about ‘funny business’ because he nearly falls over himself when I kiss him on the cheek. He’s really cute!”
“He’s an Exorcist?” Komui pulled back slightly to stare at her for a second. Well, that narrowed it down a lot. Now all he had to do was install his surveillance equipment in every male Exorcist’s room… perhaps he could start monitoring their golems…
“A good one, too,” Linali smiled, then paused mischievously. She took a deep breath, then added, “…his Innocence is parasitic.”
“ARE YOU GOING OUT WITH ALLEN!?!!??!?” A wide-eyed Komui sprang up from the bed instantly, grimaced in pain, and proceeded to collapse dizzily back into it. “Er… that is…” He gritted his teeth and laid back against the pillow reluctantly, breathing a little hard. “Well, are you?”
“Well, I’m not going to tell you,” Linali managed to say with some humor, once her breath stopped catching in her throat with worry. “Where’s the fun in that, ge ge? Now please don’t get too excited, okay? I don’t want you to tear anything open again. Are you all right? Does anything hurt a lot? Should I go get a doctor?”
“I’m okay,” Komui said with a slightly strained smile. “Don’t worry. Just… wasn’t thinking.” He managed an approximation of his previous pout. “But it is not nice to tease your poor ge ge like that.”
“Tease him like how?” Linali asked innocently, smiling something that was half a grimace. She rested her hand on his shoulder apologetically.
“Like being mean and telling him everything about your boyfriend except his name.” The pout turned more heartfelt as the pain shooting through his chest gradually began to subside again. He didn’t want to lift up his arms and start it all over, though, so he settled for leaning his head to the side against Linali’s hand, with a faint answering smile.
“That’s just incentive for you to get better soon and track him down yourself,” Linali teased, petting Komui’s hair.
The two of them talked happily about absolutely nothing at all for a few hours more, until it was time for Linali’s date. Reever still hadn’t returned to the room, and the idea of leaving her brother by himself made Linali extremely reluctant to go; she very nearly called her boyfriend twice to cancel before she was all but banished from Komui’s bedside.
“I’ll have someone page him in case he forgot,” Linali finally sighed, looking conflicted as she lingered in the doorway. “Call me if he’s not back by eight, okay? I’ll come home early.”
“Sure,” Komui promised with a smile, intending to do absolutely nothing of the sort.
Reever never came back; but only Linali had really expected him to.
