“An End, A
Beginning”
Author’s Notes: This chapter fic started out in one direction and, as you will see,
ended in a completely different one. I
wrote it for the New Years Countdown at the LiveJournal
community, Gackt JOB Fics.
He hated riding the
subway. Gackt sighed. Why did he do this again? He couldn’t remember…
Oh yeah, he
thought, the ‘novelty’ of it.
It’d been some time since
he’d ridden in the cramped cars and had hoped that seeing as it was ten in the
morning on a work day he would’ve been able to beat the chaotic rush hour. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been so lucky.
He wouldn’t have had to even consider the subway had his one car not
been in for maintenance – and he wouldn’t even think of taking the corvette out
in the current winter weather. At the
same time, he hadn’t felt like calling up one of his body guards or band
members and figured that since the subway ran close to both his uptown studio
apartment, which he’d stayed in that night, and the recording studio, it
would be the most convenient of his options.
Now, trapped between the
sliding doors and the bodies behind him, his patience was quickly wearing
thin. He hated the feeling of being
trapped, especially when he was alone.
Most times it wasn’t bad, one of the reasons he’d thought 10:00am would
be tolerable, but now…
The speakers crackled to life
above his head and announced their approaching stop. Thank
god… Gackt thought, heaving a sigh.
The woman behind him sniffed and the little boy to his right mercifully
put his beeping handheld game into his back-pack. People throughout the car shuffled on their
feet, pushing closer to the exit, all but pinning Gackt up against the
doors. He winced and steadied the rising
anxiety in his gut as the train braked to a stop at the platform.
There was a breathless pause
before the doors slid open. Gackt all
but fell out onto the platform, tugged at the collar of his coat, and walked
briskly through the crowd that had gathered on the edge of the platform. He fingered the cell phone in his pocket and
briefly considered calling You to let him know that
he’d be at the studio in a few minutes.
He only made it a couple of
yards before the world collapsed around him.
He felt more than heard the
explosion behind him as the force of it propelled his body forward and nearly
head-first into one of the columns lining the platform. Gackt collapsed on the cement floor as
another series of explosions rocked the platform. Darkness enveloped him.
Wake up.
He blinked his eyes open and
found himself curled into a ball on his side, parts of the ceiling above lying
around his contorted body.
“Fuck,” he coughed as his
eardrums screamed at him. Struggling to stand,
he looked around him. People were
screaming, running…a man staggered away from one of the subway cars down the
platform, clutching at his bleeding face with scorched arms. The little boy who had been standing beside
him on his own car sat on the ground not far away, sobbing hysterically, his
leg lying twisted at an odd angle.
Gackt shook his head, noting
just how difficult it was for him to focus his eyes, and pulled himself to his
feet. His head spun and he rested a hand
against the column beside him. The
lights flickered and died.
And the screaming that
started then.
*****
You pulled his cell out of
his pocket, glanced briefly at the caller ID and flipped it open. “Where are you? You’re never late,” the frustration in his
voice gave way to concern as he spoke.
Lights…on.
I’m… station…explosions--.
You plugged his ear. He could barely hear the man on the other end
with all the background noise. “Wait,
wait. What?”
I’m in the subway station. The one fifteen minutes from the studio. There’s been…explosions
or something. The emergency lights just
came back on. I need to go.
The violinist stood up,
knocking his chair over backwards. The
others in the studio jumped and looked up at him. “What do you mean? What explosions? Why are you still there? Get out of there!”
I have to go, You. I need to help. People are hurt.
“But Gaku--”
I have to go.
“
*****
By the time he got there, it
was already chaos. A mob was gathered at
the entrance, emergency vehicles had blocked up the road. People covered in grime and blood were led either in stretchers or on foot out of the
station while emergency personnel and volunteers continued to dart back
down. Police lined the street and had
erected wooden lean-tos as a makeshift barrier to keep the crowds back.
How am I gonna…? You pulled out
his cell phone again and called Gackt. Of all the times I need you to answer, this would be it, you asshole…
*****
“How’s your leg?” Gackt asked the boy in the collapsed gurney
next to his. They both lay on their
backs, their legs propped up with jackets and towels and Gackt’s
shoes while they waited for a free ambulance to transport them to one of the
hospitals. The boy’s leg had been braced
and quickly wrapped, but it had to be set soon.
“It’s okay,” the boy
answered. He sounded brave in the way
that little boys do when they didn’t want to sound scared.
Gackt knew that tone of voice
very, very well. “Where’s your mom…or
dad?”
“They weren’t on the train
with me. They’re both at work…” he
trailed off and rubbed stubbornly at his eyes.
They both looked up as
another EMT walked in. “Okay, kiddo,” he
began, “We’re going get you to the doctors now.
Ready to take a ride in an ambulance?”
“I’ve never ridden in an
ambulance before,” he muttered.
“Hopefully you won’t have to
again,” the man answered him as he straightened the legs on the gurney the boy
lay on.
There was some song playing
from somewhere. Gackt smiled over at
them as they headed away. “Make sure you
call your parents – they’ll be worried about you.”
The boy smiled and
nodded. “I think you’re ringing,” he
said, pointing at Gackt’s hip.
“Thank you,” Gackt smiled and
after a quick search of his pockets, answered his cell. “Hello?”
Gaku, thank fuck. Where
the hell are you?
“Um…”
Gackt shifted to sit up. The remaining EMT who had stayed in the tent
to attend to other waiting patients saw him and hurried over to push him gently
back down. “Stay under the blankets,”
she gently reprimanded, “and try to stay still.”
He grimaced and stopped to
think…which was more difficult than he thought it should have been. He smiled then. “Are you here?”
Of course I’m here.
You can’t call me, tell me there’s been an explosion, and not expect me to
show up.
“He sounds angry,” he
muttered to the woman beside him, who smiled but soon after pulled away once
she was certain he wasn’t going to try to move again. To You, he said,
“Just ask where the stubborn guy with the concussion is. They’ll tell you.”
A concussion? Fucking hell, Gaku.
I’ll be there soon.
“Okay…” Gackt sighed.
He was still dizzy, and cold, and tired.
Maybe if he took a little nap…
“There you are…”
No nap, apparently. “That was quick,” Gackt muttered, almost
grudgingly.
“You weren’t kidding. Just about every EMT knew who I was asking
about,” You said, kneeling by Gackt’s collapsed
gurney. “What the hell did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Gackt
groaned.
The EMT on the other side of
the tent disagreed. She snorted and
called over, “He was one of the ones bleeding from the head and still running
in and out of the cars. He needs to see
a doctor. On top of the concussion, he’s
in shock and suffering hearing loss on the right side.”
“I don’t need to go to the
hospital…” the injured man whined, his eyes closed.
You shook his head. Not an
inch, Gaku. “Yes you do. She said you need a doctor.”
“The
clinic.”
“What?”
“The ERs in the hospitals
downtown are packed because of the explosion,” Gackt managed to slur out. He was falling asleep, he thought. Or he somehow had gotten drunk between the
explosion and now. “I’m all in one
piece. Take me to my brother’s clinic.”
“But--”
“That might be a good idea,”
another EMT cut in as he wheeled another man out of the tent. “If you can get him to a doctor outside of
the city quickly, that’d be the best.
His injuries don’t appear as serious as others in the same vicinity of
the explosions. He lucked out. If you keep him warm and go now, he should be
alright.”