31_days fic: Part of Amnesty Day
A bit of hurt/comfort fic. I've got one or two other fics which I might post, but probably will hold off on for a bit since they're still incomplete...
Title: "Her Watch is Keeping"
Day/Theme: Oct 11. I feel about average
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion (part of an on-going project)
Character/Pairing: Maya Ibuki, Kozo Fuyutsuki/OFC
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Set roughly before the very end of Episode 21. "Cauntion": Contains moderate hurt/comfort, plus I also borrowed a few details from manga continuity (though I've started to get the feeling that in the Eva-verse.... there is no "WUN TWOO KANNON!11111"). This, I confess, is one bit that I thoroughly enjoyed writing (plus it's also a bit of a turning point in the relationship between a certain old professor and his newest protege) I also had fun writing a bit featuring Maya Ibuki, so I suspect she's going to start poking her cute perky face in more often (No, no, no, she's not going to fall for Sabia!).
The following morning Sabia had managed to bring some order out of the chaos which Section 2 had left in her office, when someone knocked on the door.
"It's open," she called out, trying to maneuver a stack of books onto a shelf.
The door opened and Ibuki poked her head in. "Sabia-chan, did you hear the news? They found the Vice-Commander: he's in the infirmary right now."
Sabia straightened up. The infirmary? she thought, a trickle of worry starting to creep through her veins. "Is he all right?" she asked.
"Well, I heard he's badly dehydrated and they're keeping him there for observation, but he's likely to pull through," Ibuki said.
"Dehydrated?! What happened to him?" Sabia said.
"I don't really know, other than he was kidnapped and whoever did it kept him shut up somewhere without any food or water for the past thirty-six hours," Ibuki said. "But if you want to see him, I think I can sneak you in."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it, but... I think I'd rather be more open about visiting him: Section 2 held me for questioning, and certain people have started to talk about he and I in a certain way," Sabia said.
"Oh, is that why you didn't ping me back in that IM yesterday? I was hoping you were just busy," Ibuki said.
"Well, I was busy: busy getting the third degree from the Section 2 agents," Sabia replied, with a smile.
"So who's talking about you and him being a couple? That creep Kajii?"
"He's been spreading rumors to that effect, I just didn't think anyone would take it that seriously."
Ibuki glanced into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind her. "Is it true, though? Are you and the Vice-Commander, you know, seeing each other?"
"We're just friends, though... Can you give me your word that you won't repeat this?"
"You got my word, Sabia."
"Well... I like him as more than a friend. I know, he's older than I am, old enough to be my father, but he's the kind of man with whom I wouldn't mind being either just a friend with benefits, or being his wife, if he were to ask me."
Ibuki beamed. "Hee, I think I knew you were just covering what you really think about him. Do you think he knows?"
"If he does, he's covering it well, but I suppose it's a matter of principle: It's not fitting for someone of his rank to be involved with a mere civilian employee, or at the very least to be open about it," she said.
"Well, in that case, I'd better see about getting you in to see him before you pine away and die of a broken heart," Ibuki said, her eyes dancing.
"You read too many romance novels on your breaks," Sabia teased back, grinning.
A half hour later, a nurse led Sabia along a corridor in Cranial Nerve. "He's resting right now; it's for the best if you try not to disturb him. He came through the ordeal well, but at his age, we have to take precautions: he has a slight risk of kidney failure, though he's shown no signs of it."
"I'll be quiet: I just have to see that he's all right," Sabia said.
The nurse paused in front of a door. "Your relationship with him...?" she asked.
"He and I are fairly good friends, but I'd be a liar if I didn't admit I've been sick with concern when I heard the rumors about his disappearance," Sabia said.
The nurse carefully pushed the door open, letting her enter. Sabia paused on the threshold, then stepped into the room, careful to keep her footsteps quiet.
He lay asleep on the lone bed within the room, one arm draped loosely over his chest, the other laying on the covers, an IV taped into the inside of his elbow, a pair of catheters leading to bags of fluid hanging from a metal stand: one containing clear fluid, probably a saline drip, the other containing an orange fluid she could not identify.
His usually pale face had an ashen cast to it, nearly the same shade as the off-white cotton gown that covered his chest, and his closed eyes looked sunken. Gauze wrappings covered his right wrist; some of the bandaging had slipped down, uncovering a painful-looking chafe surrounding a ligiture mark that a handcuff had probably caused. The privation he had endured had left him looking older and more frail than his years, but she knew her emotions probably exaggerated her perception. She wanted to lean down and kiss his forehead, but she kept herself in check. Down, girl, sit, stay, good puppy, she thought.
He opened his eyes slowly and shifted on his pillows, turning his face away and coughing. Catching his breath, he turned toward her.
"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to..." Sabia started to say.
He raised one hand for quiet. "It's all right, I was waking up anyway," he said. "These doctors are making it seem worse than it appears to be: my worst complaint is sleep deprivation and exhaustion from being shackled to a chair for the duration of my confinement."
"If you'd rather that I left, I wasn't going to linger here for long," she said. "I heard about your rescue and -- well, what happened to you and I had to see that you were all right."
"I hope you haven't been hovering there all night. Your face is haggard."
"No, I've been here just a few minutes," she said. "I... didn't sleep too well, worrying about what had happened to you."
He managed a wan smile. "Don't worry much about me, I'm strong for my age."
"Of course I'm worried about you: I care about you deeply and as soon as I heard you'd been taken, I didn't know what to think had happened."
"Am I so valuable to you, Miss Valiant?" he asked with a wry smirk.
"You're one of the few people I feel really connected with here, and if anything happened to you... well, I could continue to work here, but it wouldn't feel the same."
He looked at her narrowly and hitched himself higher on his pillows. "Sabia, you know that anything beyond friendship between us is unlikely at best, inadvisable at worst."
"I know that, but I can't help feeling about you the way I do. So I just carry it with me, using that energy to keep working and giving it my 100 percent."
"And how long do you think that abundant heart of yours can keep on in this manner before it starts to grow faint within you?" he asked.
"I'll just have to find that out," she said.
He said nothing to that, but he looked at her "In the meantime... Sabia-san, I know I don't have to tell you to avoid Ryoji Kajii, but I would advise you to be more careful around him than usual," he said. "I think he knows things about you that he shouldn't."
She frowned, her mind quickly divining what he meant. "He did this to you," she said, her eye on his bandaged wrist.
"SEELE were the ones who ordered the kidnapping, but he carried it out," he said.
"I'd say he'd be going after the last person he should, but I know I can't keep hiding behind Enniel Prussot's protection," she said. "But rest assured, I don't trust Kajii any further than I can throw him."
"Contrary to the notion that the two of you have been carrying on behind my back?" he asked, with a smirk.
Sabia tried not to facepalm. "God, how many rumors are they spreading about us?" she said. "Kajii even teased Shinji about flirting with me, and this was in front of Major Katsuragi."
He chuckled gently but tersely. "Don't let it worry you: it's bound to happen in a place like this. Gossip is as much a part of human nature as curiosity and speculation."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
An angel in human form at my bedside, keeping watch, he thought, as he settled back on his pillows. Are not her kind referred to as the Watcher angels? Be careful that you don't let her get the better of her senses, it will not end well, particularly since her kin are the very creatures we are fending off.
But as he closed his eyes, another voice asked, You can posture all you want about rank and duty, but would it be wise to make the same mistake you made sixteen years ago, only now, to make that mistake with a young woman who's clearly interested in you?
Title: "Her Watch is Keeping"
Day/Theme: Oct 11. I feel about average
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion (part of an on-going project)
Character/Pairing: Maya Ibuki, Kozo Fuyutsuki/OFC
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Set roughly before the very end of Episode 21. "Cauntion": Contains moderate hurt/comfort, plus I also borrowed a few details from manga continuity (though I've started to get the feeling that in the Eva-verse.... there is no "WUN TWOO KANNON!11111"). This, I confess, is one bit that I thoroughly enjoyed writing (plus it's also a bit of a turning point in the relationship between a certain old professor and his newest protege) I also had fun writing a bit featuring Maya Ibuki, so I suspect she's going to start poking her cute perky face in more often (No, no, no, she's not going to fall for Sabia!).
The following morning Sabia had managed to bring some order out of the chaos which Section 2 had left in her office, when someone knocked on the door.
"It's open," she called out, trying to maneuver a stack of books onto a shelf.
The door opened and Ibuki poked her head in. "Sabia-chan, did you hear the news? They found the Vice-Commander: he's in the infirmary right now."
Sabia straightened up. The infirmary? she thought, a trickle of worry starting to creep through her veins. "Is he all right?" she asked.
"Well, I heard he's badly dehydrated and they're keeping him there for observation, but he's likely to pull through," Ibuki said.
"Dehydrated?! What happened to him?" Sabia said.
"I don't really know, other than he was kidnapped and whoever did it kept him shut up somewhere without any food or water for the past thirty-six hours," Ibuki said. "But if you want to see him, I think I can sneak you in."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it, but... I think I'd rather be more open about visiting him: Section 2 held me for questioning, and certain people have started to talk about he and I in a certain way," Sabia said.
"Oh, is that why you didn't ping me back in that IM yesterday? I was hoping you were just busy," Ibuki said.
"Well, I was busy: busy getting the third degree from the Section 2 agents," Sabia replied, with a smile.
"So who's talking about you and him being a couple? That creep Kajii?"
"He's been spreading rumors to that effect, I just didn't think anyone would take it that seriously."
Ibuki glanced into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind her. "Is it true, though? Are you and the Vice-Commander, you know, seeing each other?"
"We're just friends, though... Can you give me your word that you won't repeat this?"
"You got my word, Sabia."
"Well... I like him as more than a friend. I know, he's older than I am, old enough to be my father, but he's the kind of man with whom I wouldn't mind being either just a friend with benefits, or being his wife, if he were to ask me."
Ibuki beamed. "Hee, I think I knew you were just covering what you really think about him. Do you think he knows?"
"If he does, he's covering it well, but I suppose it's a matter of principle: It's not fitting for someone of his rank to be involved with a mere civilian employee, or at the very least to be open about it," she said.
"Well, in that case, I'd better see about getting you in to see him before you pine away and die of a broken heart," Ibuki said, her eyes dancing.
"You read too many romance novels on your breaks," Sabia teased back, grinning.
A half hour later, a nurse led Sabia along a corridor in Cranial Nerve. "He's resting right now; it's for the best if you try not to disturb him. He came through the ordeal well, but at his age, we have to take precautions: he has a slight risk of kidney failure, though he's shown no signs of it."
"I'll be quiet: I just have to see that he's all right," Sabia said.
The nurse paused in front of a door. "Your relationship with him...?" she asked.
"He and I are fairly good friends, but I'd be a liar if I didn't admit I've been sick with concern when I heard the rumors about his disappearance," Sabia said.
The nurse carefully pushed the door open, letting her enter. Sabia paused on the threshold, then stepped into the room, careful to keep her footsteps quiet.
He lay asleep on the lone bed within the room, one arm draped loosely over his chest, the other laying on the covers, an IV taped into the inside of his elbow, a pair of catheters leading to bags of fluid hanging from a metal stand: one containing clear fluid, probably a saline drip, the other containing an orange fluid she could not identify.
His usually pale face had an ashen cast to it, nearly the same shade as the off-white cotton gown that covered his chest, and his closed eyes looked sunken. Gauze wrappings covered his right wrist; some of the bandaging had slipped down, uncovering a painful-looking chafe surrounding a ligiture mark that a handcuff had probably caused. The privation he had endured had left him looking older and more frail than his years, but she knew her emotions probably exaggerated her perception. She wanted to lean down and kiss his forehead, but she kept herself in check. Down, girl, sit, stay, good puppy, she thought.
He opened his eyes slowly and shifted on his pillows, turning his face away and coughing. Catching his breath, he turned toward her.
"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to..." Sabia started to say.
He raised one hand for quiet. "It's all right, I was waking up anyway," he said. "These doctors are making it seem worse than it appears to be: my worst complaint is sleep deprivation and exhaustion from being shackled to a chair for the duration of my confinement."
"If you'd rather that I left, I wasn't going to linger here for long," she said. "I heard about your rescue and -- well, what happened to you and I had to see that you were all right."
"I hope you haven't been hovering there all night. Your face is haggard."
"No, I've been here just a few minutes," she said. "I... didn't sleep too well, worrying about what had happened to you."
He managed a wan smile. "Don't worry much about me, I'm strong for my age."
"Of course I'm worried about you: I care about you deeply and as soon as I heard you'd been taken, I didn't know what to think had happened."
"Am I so valuable to you, Miss Valiant?" he asked with a wry smirk.
"You're one of the few people I feel really connected with here, and if anything happened to you... well, I could continue to work here, but it wouldn't feel the same."
He looked at her narrowly and hitched himself higher on his pillows. "Sabia, you know that anything beyond friendship between us is unlikely at best, inadvisable at worst."
"I know that, but I can't help feeling about you the way I do. So I just carry it with me, using that energy to keep working and giving it my 100 percent."
"And how long do you think that abundant heart of yours can keep on in this manner before it starts to grow faint within you?" he asked.
"I'll just have to find that out," she said.
He said nothing to that, but he looked at her "In the meantime... Sabia-san, I know I don't have to tell you to avoid Ryoji Kajii, but I would advise you to be more careful around him than usual," he said. "I think he knows things about you that he shouldn't."
She frowned, her mind quickly divining what he meant. "He did this to you," she said, her eye on his bandaged wrist.
"SEELE were the ones who ordered the kidnapping, but he carried it out," he said.
"I'd say he'd be going after the last person he should, but I know I can't keep hiding behind Enniel Prussot's protection," she said. "But rest assured, I don't trust Kajii any further than I can throw him."
"Contrary to the notion that the two of you have been carrying on behind my back?" he asked, with a smirk.
Sabia tried not to facepalm. "God, how many rumors are they spreading about us?" she said. "Kajii even teased Shinji about flirting with me, and this was in front of Major Katsuragi."
He chuckled gently but tersely. "Don't let it worry you: it's bound to happen in a place like this. Gossip is as much a part of human nature as curiosity and speculation."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
An angel in human form at my bedside, keeping watch, he thought, as he settled back on his pillows. Are not her kind referred to as the Watcher angels? Be careful that you don't let her get the better of her senses, it will not end well, particularly since her kin are the very creatures we are fending off.
But as he closed his eyes, another voice asked, You can posture all you want about rank and duty, but would it be wise to make the same mistake you made sixteen years ago, only now, to make that mistake with a young woman who's clearly interested in you?