Successss!!
Oct. 20th, 2007 02:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keire_keThere is a reason I'm posting fics on LJ raw and unbetaed (usually). I'm hoping someone will tell me if something doesn't work. ~_____^
I ended up not using the ending I had written around chapter eight. It didn't fit. I'm hoping you like this one! Less action more cute. And lookit, I didn't kill anyone else!
The days following their escape from Galatea were tense. Goku’s heart trouble was increasing and still no solution was in sight. Hakkai eventually, after they narrowly avoided another cardiac arrest, resolved to keeping Goku anaesthetised at all times. If nothing else, it allowed the doctor to monitor him without being distracted from the research.
Sanzo wasn’t happy. With some degree of surprise the rest of the crew realised they weren’t either.
“We’re still not being followed?” Gojyo asked Sanzo, who was lounging in the pilot’s seat with Kouryuu in his lap. Gojyo took it upon himself to fetch meals for everyone who neglected to show up at the dining room table.
Sanzo couldn’t help but smirk at the question, even if the meal, or anything else for that matter, didn’t warrant a smile. “UEG has other problems now.”
“Like?”
“We left the facility wide open. Even after the scavengers were gone, there was enough left inside to pose some pretty interesting questions.”
“Like?”
Sanzo flipped a switch and a news channel came up on one of the screens. A pretty female speaker intoned, in a serious tone of voice, what must have been the news of the day: “… most of the data stored has been destroyed or stolen, however the few pieces that remain raise questions about the authorities’ involvement in the research conducted there. Many organisations have been calling for the arrest of anyone directly connected with the facility. No arrests have been made so far, but is has been confirmed that the research has been at least partly sponsored by the Parliament. The subjects of the experiment remain unknown, presumed dead, judging by the state of…”
Sanzo switched the news off. “Frankenstein’s Government, they’re calling it. Someone’s come up with a font and a logo already, one thing it’s missing is theme music and a song number with umbrellas.”
“Shit! What if they find Goku? Or Hakkai? If they’ve got their faces plastered on every screen in the galaxy-”
“Ha. They didn’t find any reliable pictures so far. It seems that the security feeds were not kept within the main facility. They have mysteriously disappeared as soon as news got around.” Sanzo paused. “Because the scavengers had time to pillage once we were out, the place has no more digital data than an ancient tomb.”
“Fuck.”
“That language helps your whoring along?”
“If it’s gonna get you laid, it must work.”
“What the hell are you on?”
“Oh, come on. You didn’t think I’d just ignore it.”
“Fuck you. And shut up.”
“If I were you, I would wait until the kid is a little more coherent though. Either that, or get Hakkai to give him the birds and the bees talk, because if he thought that was CPR, you’re screwed. Or not, rather.”
Sanzo gave Gojyo a long and pointed look. Finally he picked up Kouryuu and turned him to face the companion. “Get him,” he told the cat, pushing him in Gojyo’s direction. Gojyo made an undignified sound and left the bridge with a traditional cry of “this isn’t over yet!”
Kouryuu landed on the floor and looked at Sanzo, affronted. Then he looked to the door and meowed. When no one showed up, he jumped back onto Sanzo’s lap and curled into a ball of fluff, nuzzling Sanzo’s hand, and meowed again, this time mournfully.
“You and me both, furball.”
Hakkai only ate these past two days because Gojyo took it upon him to fetch the food from the kitchen into the infirmary. Other than patching up the crew, bathroom breaks and the occasional fainting spell – that is, falling asleep standing up – Hakkai spent the past forty hours going through the extensive medical files Goku managed to accumulate during his time at the facility. Gojyo helped, as did they all, but there was only so much they could do without solid medical knowledge and a good idea of what they were looking for. Which they didn’t have. Even Hakkai was in it blind.
Sanzo closed his eyes. They didn’t even know how much time they had, or how many near fatal episodes Goku could take, before they became fatal.
He hoped, just a touch unkindly, that it was a lot.
Sanzo woke up several hours later, cursing. Some kind soul fetched him a blanket while he was off in dreamlessland, so he was relatively warm, even if decidedly not comfortable. He knew falling asleep in a sitting position was not a good idea, but going back to his cabin didn’t seem that appealing. So Sanzo stayed, watching the dashboard of his ship flicker merrily before him. West was mostly in one piece and for that he was grateful. There were some repairs that needed doing, some of them not so minor, but the ship was whole and was flying and that mattered the world to the captain. He allowed himself a smile. “Good girl,” he muttered patting the side of the main screen before him.
He felt the loss of warmth when Kouryuu extracted himself from underneath the blanket and jumped onto the floor. He glared at the feline – he was warm, damn it! Kouryuu, uncaring of the minor discomfort, sauntered away from him and toward… Goku?
“What the hell?” Sanzo asked getting up. His back protested, but he told it to go and fuck itself.
Goku smiled at him. He was standing before the window, staring out into space, hugging himself. “Nuthin. The stars are so pretty from here.”
“What are you doing here? I thought Hakkai kept you doped?”
“I’m fine.”
It didn’t sound like the “fuck off” Sanzo would normally interpret the phrase as. Goku was staring out the window and there was awe in his voice, awe and profound joy. Sanzo’s breath almost caught.
“How the hell do you know?”
“I can breathe alright now. It was always kinda like being underwater, the air’s plenty but you can’t seem to draw a proper breath cause there’s a weight on your chest and now it’s gone.”
Kouryuu was purring and rubbing his head against Goku’s bare legs, happier to see the monkey, Sanzo noted with irritation, than he’d ever been to see him. Stupid cat. Goku bent and picked him up, hugging the animal to his chest.
“What happens now?” he asked quietly.
“I don’t know.” Sanzo shrugged. “So far there’s enough to keep the UEG occupied, every single human rights organisation is shoving paragraphs down their throats and everyone’s still expecting to discover something in the rubble. Mostly they are looking for who was involved.” It was hard to believe they were that lucky, but so far it seemed like they were indeed off the hook. With all the press hounding their every move it would be incautious of any official to be hiring bounty hunters, never mind sending government troops to do the job. It would be incautious of Sanzo to let his guard down, but he was, for once in his life, optimistic.
“I meant me. And Hakkai,” Goku added after the slightest pause.
Sanzo looked outside, at the vacuum. There was nothing but his reflection against the white-spotted darkness. “Can’t pay you much. I can barely afford the crew I’ve got, never mind a billion credit freakshow like you. Same goes for Hakkai. You’d probably be better off finding employment dirt-side, though I wouldn’t recommend going anywhere too close to centre planets. Everyone’s in need of a good doctor, and I suppose everyone’s got someone needs killing.”
Goku made a sound between a snort and a huh. “You’re a bastard, you know?”
Unexpectedly Sanzo found himself standing next to the monkey. It puzzled him, because geographically it seemed that he had moved, not Goku. “Well then, I suppose you’re gonna have to live with it,” Sanzo said. Kouryuu’s tail hit his chest and swung back to Goku.
“Everyone – in three, two, one…” thunderous applause filled the bridge, complete with catcalls and wolf-whistles. Sanzo glared at his bothersome crew, especially Gojyo, who was behind this display.
“The fuck do you want?”
“Breakfast would be nice,” Yaone said. “And if I may be so bold as to implore you to make some of that plasma coffee of yours? I fear my bloodstream is too thin.”
“Oooh.” That was a long joyous oh from Goku. “Food!” Kouryuu hissed, offended when Goku suddenly started bouncing up and down. He pushed away from Goku’s chest and landed on the floor, where he started washing himself.
“We’ll see what we’ve got left, but don’t get your hopes up, kid,” Jien told him. “It’ll probably be nothing but protein.”
“As long as it’s edible,” Sanzo muttered. He craved a cigarette.
“Sanzo?”
“What?” Sanzo asked turning to Goku, but his question died when Goku’s hands pulled his head down to press their lips together. It was a quick and chaste kiss, but it managed to accomplish the impossible: stupefying the captain into silence and a blank stare. Goku grinned at Sanzo and ran after Kouryuu to the mess hall, to the crew’s delight.
It was a long while before Sanzo followed. When he did, there was a little smirk dancing about his mouth. The only reason it couldn’t be called a smile was because it was Sanzo who was wearing it.
“So, I take it you did it,” Sanzo said to Hakkai after they finished eating and the crew bounced, now with their hearts light, about their business. Meaning, Yaone and Kougaji locked the doors to their bunk from the inside, Lirin and Goku were playing hide and seek, while Jien and Gojyo played cards.
“I did, yes.” Hakkai looked around the infirmary, cleaning up some of the mess. Sanzo waited for an elaboration. “It turned out to be amazingly simple. Subliminal triggering. He- Goku’s been trained to start fighting at the sound of certain phrases and literally drop dead at others.”
Hakkai looked down, at the data pad he spent so much time over. “The drug was a failsafe, it was supposed to keep Goku incapacitated in case he ever escaped or was kidnapped. Also more psychological than physical.”
Sanzo spent a minute contemplating Hakkai’s words. “Drop dead?”
“I’m not sure what was it Homura said so…” The doctor handed Sanzo the data pad.
“This one,” the captain said without hesitation. The phrase was still ringing in his ears along with the disturbing visuals. Hakkai looked and smiled grimly.
“Literally then. According to the documentation, Goku should have died on the spot.”
“But he didn’t. I saw him breathe, he was conscious, even.”
Hakkai smiled one of the few smiles that annoyed Sanzo, but for different reasons that Hakkai’s smiles usually did. “Well then. Maybe he just really didn’t want to die. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some sleep.”
Sanzo stayed in the infirmary for a long time, staring at the wall. When he finally stepped out, he’d collided with the monkey, who was running from the madly giggling Lirin. Using the distraction the captain provided, Lirin smacked Goku’s arm, whirled in place and ran in the opposite direction, yelling “Tag, you’re it!” on top of her voice.
I’m in serious trouble, Sanzo thought, smacking the monkey and hoping to hell no one noticed his fingers linger on Goku’s neck, even though no one was there. The monkey grinned at him and he had to smirk back. “If you get yourselves killed, it’s not my problem.”
Goku turned, faster than a normal person should, and caught his hand. The grin changed into a little smile.
“Ain’t.”
EPILOGUE
It wasn’t anywhere near as symbolic as it probably should have been, but Sanzo recalled Duo’s homeworld was one of the urbanised central planets and that he hated it. Despite the technology he and Heero had around all the time, they were surprisingly fond of the plains and deserts the less civilised planets had to offer.
Their favourite hideout was an old cottage, probably dating as far back as the arrival of the first settlers on Hestia. It hadn’t been lived in for a long time, but the landing spot was clear and well kept, and its remote location kept the local population at bay. The grounds were private property, although whose exactly was lost in the annals of Hestia’s chronicles. Like most properties on the outer planets, it belonged to whoever maintained the fence. Now the job fell to Sanzo and his group.
The crew built a memorial on top of a hill, not far from the small building. Gojyo, of all people, proved to be an adept calligrapher and Jien had a knack for stonework; together they managed to carve Heero and Duo’s names into the hard rock the moon provided. Sanzo approved of the result, as much as he could approve of anything.
There was no service to speak of. They built a fire next to the marker and sat around it throughout the night, waiting for the dawn. No one really said anything, until the sky brightened and the sun detached from the horizon.
“I’d like to get back here in spring,” Yaone said. “Maybe plant a tree.”
“Heero’s cottage should be great when the snow falls,” Kougaji said. “If we do some repair work. The chimney needs rebuilding, but it shouldn’t be hard.” Lirin bounced gleefully at the thought of snow, and recounted the innumerable battles she’d had with her brother and friends back at their parent’s house. Goku listened intently, a little awed by the prospect of playing in what he theoretically knew as an impediment and a potential murder weapon.
Sanzo, listening to his crew’s chattering, rolled his eyes. “Maybe. If we’re still alive. Now get on board.”
I ended up not using the ending I had written around chapter eight. It didn't fit. I'm hoping you like this one! Less action more cute. And lookit, I didn't kill anyone else!
The days following their escape from Galatea were tense. Goku’s heart trouble was increasing and still no solution was in sight. Hakkai eventually, after they narrowly avoided another cardiac arrest, resolved to keeping Goku anaesthetised at all times. If nothing else, it allowed the doctor to monitor him without being distracted from the research.
Sanzo wasn’t happy. With some degree of surprise the rest of the crew realised they weren’t either.
“We’re still not being followed?” Gojyo asked Sanzo, who was lounging in the pilot’s seat with Kouryuu in his lap. Gojyo took it upon himself to fetch meals for everyone who neglected to show up at the dining room table.
Sanzo couldn’t help but smirk at the question, even if the meal, or anything else for that matter, didn’t warrant a smile. “UEG has other problems now.”
“Like?”
“We left the facility wide open. Even after the scavengers were gone, there was enough left inside to pose some pretty interesting questions.”
“Like?”
Sanzo flipped a switch and a news channel came up on one of the screens. A pretty female speaker intoned, in a serious tone of voice, what must have been the news of the day: “… most of the data stored has been destroyed or stolen, however the few pieces that remain raise questions about the authorities’ involvement in the research conducted there. Many organisations have been calling for the arrest of anyone directly connected with the facility. No arrests have been made so far, but is has been confirmed that the research has been at least partly sponsored by the Parliament. The subjects of the experiment remain unknown, presumed dead, judging by the state of…”
Sanzo switched the news off. “Frankenstein’s Government, they’re calling it. Someone’s come up with a font and a logo already, one thing it’s missing is theme music and a song number with umbrellas.”
“Shit! What if they find Goku? Or Hakkai? If they’ve got their faces plastered on every screen in the galaxy-”
“Ha. They didn’t find any reliable pictures so far. It seems that the security feeds were not kept within the main facility. They have mysteriously disappeared as soon as news got around.” Sanzo paused. “Because the scavengers had time to pillage once we were out, the place has no more digital data than an ancient tomb.”
“Fuck.”
“That language helps your whoring along?”
“If it’s gonna get you laid, it must work.”
“What the hell are you on?”
“Oh, come on. You didn’t think I’d just ignore it.”
“Fuck you. And shut up.”
“If I were you, I would wait until the kid is a little more coherent though. Either that, or get Hakkai to give him the birds and the bees talk, because if he thought that was CPR, you’re screwed. Or not, rather.”
Sanzo gave Gojyo a long and pointed look. Finally he picked up Kouryuu and turned him to face the companion. “Get him,” he told the cat, pushing him in Gojyo’s direction. Gojyo made an undignified sound and left the bridge with a traditional cry of “this isn’t over yet!”
Kouryuu landed on the floor and looked at Sanzo, affronted. Then he looked to the door and meowed. When no one showed up, he jumped back onto Sanzo’s lap and curled into a ball of fluff, nuzzling Sanzo’s hand, and meowed again, this time mournfully.
“You and me both, furball.”
Hakkai only ate these past two days because Gojyo took it upon him to fetch the food from the kitchen into the infirmary. Other than patching up the crew, bathroom breaks and the occasional fainting spell – that is, falling asleep standing up – Hakkai spent the past forty hours going through the extensive medical files Goku managed to accumulate during his time at the facility. Gojyo helped, as did they all, but there was only so much they could do without solid medical knowledge and a good idea of what they were looking for. Which they didn’t have. Even Hakkai was in it blind.
Sanzo closed his eyes. They didn’t even know how much time they had, or how many near fatal episodes Goku could take, before they became fatal.
He hoped, just a touch unkindly, that it was a lot.
Sanzo woke up several hours later, cursing. Some kind soul fetched him a blanket while he was off in dreamlessland, so he was relatively warm, even if decidedly not comfortable. He knew falling asleep in a sitting position was not a good idea, but going back to his cabin didn’t seem that appealing. So Sanzo stayed, watching the dashboard of his ship flicker merrily before him. West was mostly in one piece and for that he was grateful. There were some repairs that needed doing, some of them not so minor, but the ship was whole and was flying and that mattered the world to the captain. He allowed himself a smile. “Good girl,” he muttered patting the side of the main screen before him.
He felt the loss of warmth when Kouryuu extracted himself from underneath the blanket and jumped onto the floor. He glared at the feline – he was warm, damn it! Kouryuu, uncaring of the minor discomfort, sauntered away from him and toward… Goku?
“What the hell?” Sanzo asked getting up. His back protested, but he told it to go and fuck itself.
Goku smiled at him. He was standing before the window, staring out into space, hugging himself. “Nuthin. The stars are so pretty from here.”
“What are you doing here? I thought Hakkai kept you doped?”
“I’m fine.”
It didn’t sound like the “fuck off” Sanzo would normally interpret the phrase as. Goku was staring out the window and there was awe in his voice, awe and profound joy. Sanzo’s breath almost caught.
“How the hell do you know?”
“I can breathe alright now. It was always kinda like being underwater, the air’s plenty but you can’t seem to draw a proper breath cause there’s a weight on your chest and now it’s gone.”
Kouryuu was purring and rubbing his head against Goku’s bare legs, happier to see the monkey, Sanzo noted with irritation, than he’d ever been to see him. Stupid cat. Goku bent and picked him up, hugging the animal to his chest.
“What happens now?” he asked quietly.
“I don’t know.” Sanzo shrugged. “So far there’s enough to keep the UEG occupied, every single human rights organisation is shoving paragraphs down their throats and everyone’s still expecting to discover something in the rubble. Mostly they are looking for who was involved.” It was hard to believe they were that lucky, but so far it seemed like they were indeed off the hook. With all the press hounding their every move it would be incautious of any official to be hiring bounty hunters, never mind sending government troops to do the job. It would be incautious of Sanzo to let his guard down, but he was, for once in his life, optimistic.
“I meant me. And Hakkai,” Goku added after the slightest pause.
Sanzo looked outside, at the vacuum. There was nothing but his reflection against the white-spotted darkness. “Can’t pay you much. I can barely afford the crew I’ve got, never mind a billion credit freakshow like you. Same goes for Hakkai. You’d probably be better off finding employment dirt-side, though I wouldn’t recommend going anywhere too close to centre planets. Everyone’s in need of a good doctor, and I suppose everyone’s got someone needs killing.”
Goku made a sound between a snort and a huh. “You’re a bastard, you know?”
Unexpectedly Sanzo found himself standing next to the monkey. It puzzled him, because geographically it seemed that he had moved, not Goku. “Well then, I suppose you’re gonna have to live with it,” Sanzo said. Kouryuu’s tail hit his chest and swung back to Goku.
“Everyone – in three, two, one…” thunderous applause filled the bridge, complete with catcalls and wolf-whistles. Sanzo glared at his bothersome crew, especially Gojyo, who was behind this display.
“The fuck do you want?”
“Breakfast would be nice,” Yaone said. “And if I may be so bold as to implore you to make some of that plasma coffee of yours? I fear my bloodstream is too thin.”
“Oooh.” That was a long joyous oh from Goku. “Food!” Kouryuu hissed, offended when Goku suddenly started bouncing up and down. He pushed away from Goku’s chest and landed on the floor, where he started washing himself.
“We’ll see what we’ve got left, but don’t get your hopes up, kid,” Jien told him. “It’ll probably be nothing but protein.”
“As long as it’s edible,” Sanzo muttered. He craved a cigarette.
“Sanzo?”
“What?” Sanzo asked turning to Goku, but his question died when Goku’s hands pulled his head down to press their lips together. It was a quick and chaste kiss, but it managed to accomplish the impossible: stupefying the captain into silence and a blank stare. Goku grinned at Sanzo and ran after Kouryuu to the mess hall, to the crew’s delight.
It was a long while before Sanzo followed. When he did, there was a little smirk dancing about his mouth. The only reason it couldn’t be called a smile was because it was Sanzo who was wearing it.
“So, I take it you did it,” Sanzo said to Hakkai after they finished eating and the crew bounced, now with their hearts light, about their business. Meaning, Yaone and Kougaji locked the doors to their bunk from the inside, Lirin and Goku were playing hide and seek, while Jien and Gojyo played cards.
“I did, yes.” Hakkai looked around the infirmary, cleaning up some of the mess. Sanzo waited for an elaboration. “It turned out to be amazingly simple. Subliminal triggering. He- Goku’s been trained to start fighting at the sound of certain phrases and literally drop dead at others.”
Hakkai looked down, at the data pad he spent so much time over. “The drug was a failsafe, it was supposed to keep Goku incapacitated in case he ever escaped or was kidnapped. Also more psychological than physical.”
Sanzo spent a minute contemplating Hakkai’s words. “Drop dead?”
“I’m not sure what was it Homura said so…” The doctor handed Sanzo the data pad.
“This one,” the captain said without hesitation. The phrase was still ringing in his ears along with the disturbing visuals. Hakkai looked and smiled grimly.
“Literally then. According to the documentation, Goku should have died on the spot.”
“But he didn’t. I saw him breathe, he was conscious, even.”
Hakkai smiled one of the few smiles that annoyed Sanzo, but for different reasons that Hakkai’s smiles usually did. “Well then. Maybe he just really didn’t want to die. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some sleep.”
Sanzo stayed in the infirmary for a long time, staring at the wall. When he finally stepped out, he’d collided with the monkey, who was running from the madly giggling Lirin. Using the distraction the captain provided, Lirin smacked Goku’s arm, whirled in place and ran in the opposite direction, yelling “Tag, you’re it!” on top of her voice.
I’m in serious trouble, Sanzo thought, smacking the monkey and hoping to hell no one noticed his fingers linger on Goku’s neck, even though no one was there. The monkey grinned at him and he had to smirk back. “If you get yourselves killed, it’s not my problem.”
Goku turned, faster than a normal person should, and caught his hand. The grin changed into a little smile.
“Ain’t.”
EPILOGUE
It wasn’t anywhere near as symbolic as it probably should have been, but Sanzo recalled Duo’s homeworld was one of the urbanised central planets and that he hated it. Despite the technology he and Heero had around all the time, they were surprisingly fond of the plains and deserts the less civilised planets had to offer.
Their favourite hideout was an old cottage, probably dating as far back as the arrival of the first settlers on Hestia. It hadn’t been lived in for a long time, but the landing spot was clear and well kept, and its remote location kept the local population at bay. The grounds were private property, although whose exactly was lost in the annals of Hestia’s chronicles. Like most properties on the outer planets, it belonged to whoever maintained the fence. Now the job fell to Sanzo and his group.
The crew built a memorial on top of a hill, not far from the small building. Gojyo, of all people, proved to be an adept calligrapher and Jien had a knack for stonework; together they managed to carve Heero and Duo’s names into the hard rock the moon provided. Sanzo approved of the result, as much as he could approve of anything.
There was no service to speak of. They built a fire next to the marker and sat around it throughout the night, waiting for the dawn. No one really said anything, until the sky brightened and the sun detached from the horizon.
“I’d like to get back here in spring,” Yaone said. “Maybe plant a tree.”
“Heero’s cottage should be great when the snow falls,” Kougaji said. “If we do some repair work. The chimney needs rebuilding, but it shouldn’t be hard.” Lirin bounced gleefully at the thought of snow, and recounted the innumerable battles she’d had with her brother and friends back at their parent’s house. Goku listened intently, a little awed by the prospect of playing in what he theoretically knew as an impediment and a potential murder weapon.
Sanzo, listening to his crew’s chattering, rolled his eyes. “Maybe. If we’re still alive. Now get on board.”
