destinystrings | despite what you give, it's just never enough. (closed)

Who: Aoi Misato (

eyewillprotect) and Yuzuru Otonashi (

trainwrecking)
Where: 13th hour patrol in the city
Summary: Otonashi and Aoi go together on a late-night patrol to protect the city only to be caught in a burning building, dredging up painful memories for Aoi and awful deja vu for Otonashi.
Warnings: (Burning, death, talk of death, possibly mild swearing. Will edit as needed!)

It seemed like the obvious choice to patrol together tonight. Both Aoi Misato and Yuzuru Otonashi insisted on serving the city, often separately or through different methods, but with the same end result in mind.

Protect people, serve people. Help those who cannot help themselves. Save them, even if the monster threatening to overtake them is a daunting one.

There is a moment here, in the heat of the moment, where Otonashi kicks himself for feeling even an ounce of regret for pursuing this endeavor. By now, she must be gone, that nameless girl: that native woman, the owner of this home who had beckoned to them for help in the throes of her own inebriated fright. She had stood outside of this aged home, her hands held to her chest as though this could hold back her fear as she recounted the story of her missed curfew and the demon's invasion of her home--the only thing she had left of her family, she thought, but sometimes second guessed after the city's well-known memory wipe.

It had spoken to Otonashi. He empathized, and that empathy and resolve keeps him firing off rounds into the demon who continuously pushes back at both Aoi and Otonashi, slinging enough fire attacks their way to damage some of the house and all of its' fragmented memory.

"Aoi! I'm going to try for its eyes next, can you cover? I can't see any other weak point yet!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I'm fine." It's not entirely correct, but the pain in her eye is a small price to pay for the miracle she just performed. "We... we need to get out of here, quickly. This building won't last for much longer."

She's unhappy that in the end, they were not able to drive the demon from the house quickly enough. But she also recognizes that they must withdraw now if they are to have any chance of surviving.

He wants to contest her, but ultimately decides against it. It would solve nothing, he knows.

"That thing, is it still--?"

It's fitting. The beast looms over them, fire trickling from between its teeth, threatening to pour out again. Cold fear drains the color from Otonashi's face, and without another flit of hesitation, he grabs one of Aoi's hands to rush them away from the leering beast. She will understand, he thinks.

Why, though, does his body function so well? Minus the wobbling in his legs and his weak grip, he seems fine. His cough is rapidly returning the longer that they stay, but compared to that awful searing and his own flesh burning and transforming before his very eyes --

-- No. No, he can't consider that. Not now.

What he's forced to consider, however, is the slow crumbling towards the front of the house and the flames pouring from the doorway to the outside. That entrance may be too risky to use again.

"Damn it..."

"So very fragile..."

And understand she does. It's fortunate that he grabs her free hand, because the pain in her eye is getting worse and the pressure she applies is the only thing she can do about it. She runs along with him, doing her best to keep up even through the sharp stabbing sensation.

"...I can hold it up." She sounds somewhat distracted, her attention split between her eye and the brief mental calculations. She's fairly certain that if it's just for a moment, her telekinesis will be enough to get them out of there - but it will be close.

"We'll make it. Keep running!"

"Right, we'll try..."

Right, until the behemoth whirls back around and pounds a heavy paw to the ground, sending a shockwave sizable enough to crumble it and stagger both of them. The burning doorframe collapses, the front of the house beginning to follow.

That can't be. It just can't, it was right there--

The back entrance. That door looked skewed, but Otonashi recalls seeing it peripherally during that initial standoff with the monster. Back when things looked more hopeful, he thinks, but wasting time to wallow now will only seal their fate. Saying nothing at first, he steers them in the other direction and shoves Aoi forward -- carefully, calculated enough to press her shoulders and not her back where the soot stains from the support beam still clung.

"Go! I'm right behind you!" Otonashi calls, cut off by a raspy cough. He stays behind her as promised, keeping an eye on the crumbling house and the creature still following them. "Focus on the door!"

Break it off if you have to. Please hurry...

In the meantime, the redhead digs through what remains of his singed clothing, finally coming up with his small pocket knife. Going back for the gun would be a fool's errand, he knows, and if this is all he has left to defend them both with for now, so be it.

She almost tries, desperately, to hold up the rubble nevertheless, but she lacks the focus. Gritting her teeth, she allows herself to be pushed along, running for the next exit as best as she can. She can see a door ahead and tries to pull together her concentration enough to wrench it from its hinges, but it's no use; the smoke in her lungs, the pain of her eye, the searing in her back, the crashing of the beast behind... It's too much. Her attention is divided, and she can't bring together the energy necessary.

It's not until she's neared the door that she stops, planting her feet. She needs to cut some of the distractions, and this is unfortunately the only way how. "Keep running! I'll be right after you!"

She reaches both arms out, using them as a method of focus. It takes slightly longer than before, but the blue glow returns and the door is forcefully pushed open, snapping only one hinge in the process.

Now she just needs to escape the beast...

Snap.

Otonashi doesn't turn when he hears the hinge straining and the door swinging open. His focus remains on the creature still closing in, still threatening to end both of them.

The longer they stayed, the easier this goal would become to accomplish.

It's when the creature moves to swipe again, this time at Aoi, that Otonashi finally moves in. No amount of fire, crumbling, nor the beast's howls can deter him as he plunges that small knife into the side of the creature's head.

He's sure that he can feel a burning, another searing at his eye. He moves his hand to stop it, only for that pain to manifest there as well.

Burning. Fire. Debris. Of course that monster is retaliating, the flames pouring from its mouth, the ceiling crumbling and flecking at Otonashi's bare back in the throes of the collapse.

He pulls away, abandoning the pocket knife, stumbling into a soot-stained curtain hanging in an empty bedroom doorway and latching onto it for support. It tears, almost causing him to fall, but thankfully--mercifully--adrenaline and, frankly, luck, keeps him steady. With one rough beating of the curtain, he tangles himself in it and rushes back for Aoi while the creature occupies itself with digging out that knife. Decency and coverage wasn't necessarily on his radar, but since it's an unintentional aside, he takes it.

This is it.

"Not without you. Come on," he finally answers, raspy and quiet.

Steadfast, he clutches her hand in his good one and rushes to the door, not intent on stopping until he can feel the cool breeze of the autumn night again.

"Yuzuru-!" She nearly screams his name, but the smoke in her lungs make that difficult; instead, she is reduced to coughing harshly, trying to recover enough to keep an eye on her dear friend as he goes after the demon on his own.

It's just as well; had she been even slightly healthier at the moment, she may have just run after him herself to join in the assault. As it is, she remains in place, once again forced to use her spear as a support up until Otonashi comes running and grabs her hand. She stumbles slightly as she begins running again, out into the cool of the open air, still smelling of smoke and soot but to nowhere near the levels of the building from whence they came.

Patting out some of the flames in that makeshift cloak with his burnt hand--and very careful to keep it out of her view--he stumbles and nearly pulls both of them down in the process. Behind them, the back half of the building still stands for now, but the front is a smoldering mess of debris, ash, and all of someone's memories.

"W-we need to..." He coughs openly, berating himself for not catching it. The fit continues for a minute or so before he can speak up again.

"You, to a hospital..."

Even as the monster slowly begins pulling itself from the dissolving home, the question he couldn't dare to ask lingers. It weighs on him, threatening to tear through the coughing, through the fighting, through the brisk night's air which must--must--pain them both to breathe.

Why did he survive?

It's lucky for him that she's so distracted - had she noticed his own wounds, she would of course be fretting over him. But as it is, she continues to stumble somewhat, trying not to dissolve into heaving coughs herself.

"'m... fine," she manages, if just barely. "I just... need rest."

despite what you give, it's just never enough. (closed)

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maaaybe this is the last tl;dr I'll be contributing for this, h-ha I'm sorry

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