[Japan] The Land of the Living

[onlysayinghello]

Jack was standing in front of the grave, the fresh dirt still looking as if it'd barely had time to let the life around it to settle. His hand gestured to the man with the machinery to move forward and start digging. He hated to do it, disrupt the cemetery... abandon the ideals and traditions he knew had been put into place in this area. The small characters written along marble would soon be shaken by the earth getting torn up and pulled free.

All for man.

*** Twelve Hours Ago - Cardiff Wales UK ***

"Jack?"

Her voice cut across the hub with a bit more of a curious tone than one that begged an answer, but Jack still moved quickly across from his office to her station, "What's up Toshiko?"

"This... it's in our registry... marked to you, but... it's in Odessa. Just came up in the scans, and well... you're here."

Jack smiled, "Oh, it's fine." Standing back up he started to head back to his office, rubbing at the back of his neck trying to think of what was in Odessa... of course his mind went to the one thing he knew as a truth, and suddenly he wasn't quite sure if he should have been so... not curious about Adam's intentions for changing the world. There were rumors throughout history, but... Jack brushed it off.

"Jack? It just hopped." There was a pause and Jack wasn't sure what to actually expect the answer to be, but the term hopped... well it didn't exactly instill much faith in the landing spot.

"To?"

"Japan."

That really wasn't right at all. Jack moved back to the screen looking over the readings that were coming up, "Is the elevation reading on that right?" Jack didn't need to look to Tosh to know that she was nodding her head, and he didn't need anything else to tell him that he had to go do something. It was one thing to live forever... it was quite another to do it trapped... beneath the ground.

"Print all that out," Jack said as he headed to his office to make a few calls and head out. "I'm going to Japan."

*** Present Day - Japan ***

It wasn't that he expected it to be easy, but really as he watched the machinery dig and claw at the earth all Jack could think about what the things he'd known... the facts he'd replayed over in his head. All the events of the century that would change it all forever... Odessa had been one of them. New York another, but that one hadn't gone through and he thought for sure... that they were just rumors. But now, now Adam or at least something that Adam had owned up until recently was buried beneath him.

The tap on his shoulder drew him out of his thoughts, "Yeah?" He was just glad that the guy that was working in the cemetery spoke English, because he knew his Japanese was a bit rusty.

"We have hit concrete."

"So?"

"It is not normal to bury with concrete. Who do you believe is down there? I do not think this will dig through that."

Jack just stared at the man, staring him down until the guy knew that answer wasn't acceptable. The man bowed and headed off to make a call hopefully.

*** Two Hours Later - Japan ***

Buried alive. Dirt, concrete... whatever... whoever had done this Jack was certain wanted Adam where he couldn't hurt anyone ever again... or disrupt anything. But the thing about time was that you couldn't control it like this. No one was in the place to play God... no matter how right they felt it was going to be. No matter what they thought was the answer... this was no way to treat another human... willingly.

They had broken through the concrete and three men were down in the chasm passing what pieces they could hand up in buckets and along lines tied to pulleys at the top up to the surface again. Jack paced waiting for them to tell him anything other than the one thing he didn't want to hear... that it was empty. Death wasn't even a worry for him... but effort without results was.

The voice called out to him and Jack moved to the side of the hole dug into the ground and he saw the top of the casket. Taking one leap down he landed a bit shaky and knelt down to pry at the lid along with the other men. The concrete had seeped into the cracks, nearly sealing it up tight, but three men plus Jack managed to finally crack the casket open, and there he was... how healthy he was would only take a bit. The other men upon seeing just what Jack had asked them to dig up, moved with little haste to get the hell out of there. Grave robbing... it was more than offensive, it was probably illegal and against all their traditions.

Jack just didn't care. Someone had buried him... and he was going to at least save him from an abyss of forever. No one deserved that sort of eternity.

Comments

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"To kill all those people. They never did anything to you. There are other ways, Kensei, there have to be! Slaughter has never been the answer. Save the world, yes, but killing innocent people was never a part of that. A hero protects the innocent."

Anger, hold onto the anger. "You didn't have to kill him! He was wrong. He should have destroyed the virus and he shouldn't have locked you up, but you could have just seen to it he got arrested. The disgrace would have hurt him more!" He looks horrified by what he's just said. "He didn't kill you. You could have done exactly to him what he did to you, locked him away in jail. You let that woman live."

"I have won nothing, dragon." He thrusts the sword into Adam's hand. "As always, my life was forfeit for my betrayal. Take what you will." He knocks the katana from his hand, unsheathes the wakazashi and replaces the katana with it. "End it now, dragon. Cut out my heart again."

[onlysayinghello.livejournal.com]

Not being sure about things wasn't always a safe bet. Being completely lost in and trapped in the middle of something that was just unfolding far too fast for everyone involved wasn't a safe thing either. Hearing things... parts of it made sense, parts of it actually read true with things he knew from the archives... Time Agents were nothing if they weren't thorough. All the records of Takezo, even of Hiro... but none of the time shifts tracked to an event like this... which pushed Jack's mind to know that there was always a choice. Even when things were written, and a part of the future he was from... there was still a choice to be made.

And now it seemed Hiro was giving the choice to Adam, and it wasn't a choice that anyone had a right to, and finally Jack broke, his hand reached into his jacket withdrawing his service pistol firing it into the air and then letting his hand hover at his side, "Enough! Look at the two of you! Arguing over who has the right to end another persons life? Arguing over something that didn't happen?"

Glancing to Hiro, to the young man who had just spoken such a truth that Jack was pretty sure he didn't even realize it himself, "Do you even listen to yourself? This fate you expected Adam to give your own father, you couldn't even give to him. How do you expect him to do something even you yourself couldn't do when pushed up against a wall. People make mistakes, they do the wrong thing... they let the girl go... they tell their friend to take a risk... we all make mistakes, it's what we do after... it's how we make up for it all... you say there are always other ways, but you can't even seem to see it that way for anyone else." He wasn't even sure if he had the right to speak, but at the time he didn't even care. One was asking for death and Jack was afraid Adam might be in the state of mind to grant it with ease.

Now Jack's stare leveled with Adam's for a moment, he didn't know the man that he was looking at now, the anger, the rage... the betrayal... there were parts of Adam that Jack knew he kept to himself, and seeing this in him... Jack knew why now, "Don't do it Adam... everyone has a choice to make... nothing is written in stone. I'm proof... I'm here, forever... I've lived it all over again... and I haven't even been born yet. I'm still here. No matter what anyone does... no matter what anyone is going to do... I am still here. One constant in it all. Make a choice, put down the sword Adam," then his eyes pleaded with him, hoping that he'd see the man he thought he knew for a moment, "Don't do this... please."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam jumped at the gunshot that cut off any further retorts he was planning to throw at Hiro. Eyes wide, he spun for a moment, staring at Jack. When the other man turned to him, he swallowed, but held Jack's eyes for a long moment, head tilting, listening to the words and the words under words. He latched on to the constant, whether that was how Jack meant it or not. There was an urge to thrust the wakazashi deep into Hiro's heart, to cut it out and claim it for his own, if that was the only way he could have it. But then he'd have to bother with healing him and he didn't have a syringe handy. It made him frown a bit in annoyance, and he shook his head slightly.

Lowering the wakazashi, he looked back at Hiro. "I told you before, carp. I'm not going to kill you." He scowled at the katana on the ground, scooping it up protectively, before straightening, both blades loosely in his hands.

He considered his next move, glancing between them, for a long moment, some of the fear receding in a wave of triumph that made his eyes glitter. He half felt like he'd fall any moment, the exhaustion of terror and waves of angst rolling over him, but he drew a deep breath, calling on years of training to stay upright.

Finally, almost casually, he reached out with one of the blades across the very small distance between he and Hiro and placed the point under Hiro's chin, forcing his head up to look at him. "If your life is forfeit for your latest betrayal, then I'm claiming it. I won't kill you. I won't break that promise, no matter how many you break to me. But your life is mine, now."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

Hiro jumps a bit when the gun goes off, but it's in him to run himself through on the wakazashi. He hates himself more than anything else right now. He's so weak! No son more worthless than he. No friend more false. Death would be welcome right now. When the blade lowers, his eyes are full of self-loathing. Again. His useless life continues. When the blade comes up under his chin, he considers slitting his throat on it, then thinks again. He's right. His life is Kensei's to with as it always has been.

"Moichimotsu. I hold nothing, including my own life." He leans just forward enough to have the blade cut into his throat. "When the time comes, dragon, do what you will. However, I may not be 'here'. If you need me, leave a message here. I will get it...eventually."

[onlysayinghello.livejournal.com]

However the hell this scene has unfolded it's left Jack with a few more things to settle in his own mind, and even more to try and sort through with Adam. The only thing that he's most concerned with at the moment is that the two of them... Hiro and Adam seemed to be in a state of almost indebtedness to each other, and it's something Jack doesn't feel comfortable with. To think that someone could feel their life belonged to someone else... Jack never wanted to think like that. The guilt of his own trespasses were enough, and to think that he could add to it all the errors of those that he knew onto his list as well... it put a weight on him he didn't want to carry. He wasn't responsible for them... or for their actions, and he couldn't understand how they could feel this sense of ownership so effortlessly, as if life was nothing at all to them.

Jack moved with a bit of frustration in his step, Jack places his hand on the blade, then another onto Hiro's shoulder, meeting his gaze as he pushes him away from the blade, "Hold nothing somewhere else... this struggle with whatever you have going on isn't going to end here. I won't let him kill you, and he seems pretty set already on not killing you, and I'll be damn well sure you're not doing yourself upon the blade either. I came to get him, and I'm taking him with me."

He forced the blade down, seeing in Adam's eyes just how thin he was stretched at the moment, the tension in the sword barely worth the effort exerted, "This here? Is done. We're leaving and," Jack glanced to the gravesite, "I'll make arrangements to repair this. It was never my intent to disrespect any of this, but I wasn't allowing him to stay there. No one deserves that, no one."

Jack let go of the blade finally and started to move away from the two of them, it wasn't his place, it wasn't his mess and even though he wanted to show them both just how fucked the world really is, and how this one small event was nothing... nothing at all in the grand scheme of things, he knew he couldn't. Instead he stopped and turned to face Adam, his eyes once more asking something he almost felt like he couldn't bear to hear the truth of, "Are you coming with me... or staying here?"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

In one second, between Jack's question and Adam's answer, Hiro vanishes. The machinery is gone and the hole is filled. The raw ground is the only clue that it ever existed. On the gravestone that stood over the grave, in red, is "Moichimotsu" written in kanji. Adam will recognize it as a promise.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I fucking hate when he does that," Adam muttered, mostly to himself, but loud enough for Jack to hear, glaring at the grave, but happy to be out of it. "It's just ... disturbing and creepy." His eyes flickered over the kanji, and he felt a pang he was too tired to process, but nodded a little to himself.

He scooped up the sheath, trying to avoid Jack's eyes until he could manage something close to normal, cleaning the blade he'd bloodied as best he could on his shirt before sliding it back in. It wasn't right. It wouldn't do. But he had no real choice for now and he couldn't bring himself to put it back bloody.

Glancing at Jack, he tried to make his lips form a smile they weren't going to do, eyes almost just as pleading. "I'm coming with you..." It ended almost as a question, with a "if you'll still have me" hanging in the air that he couldn't force down his pride enough to actually ask. His fingers clutched at the sword like a lifeline or a safety blanket as he took a few, now shaky, steps to catch up to Jack.

[onlysayinghello.livejournal.com]

Only slightly alarmed at the quick change that the lot seemed to take on in a moment Jack wondered if Hiro himself had to put it all back the way it was, or if there was another force at work as well. Of course the thought of him frozen in one moment for a while was a bit unsettling, even if it only took a second to him. He knew how time worked... and it wasn't right to simply use it in such a way. But who was he to say that really... all the travel he did in his day... and with the Doctor.

Jack saw a man, broken barely able to stand of his own merit and he saw himself for a moment. The moment he realized the Doctor had left him... the moment he realized his life was his forever... the moment that Jack realized he should live... all of it seemed like just the surface of something so much deeper that Adam was dealing with. Rather than stand there in slight defiance of what he had to witness, Jack moved to Adam placing a hand to his for a moment, "I didn't fly all the way out here to dig you up, and leave you behind. Right now neither of us are even capable of sorting through the mess that this made, and I for one haven't even the faintest clue where to even start." Jack paused, "I take that back, I know the way to start is for you to come home, away from here... away from this. The rest will come, in time... there's always going to be time for it Adam."

It was a slight tease, just enough to feign a smile from Jack, and just enough to be earnest enough to be the truth. They could fight over it for a hundred years and still have another hundred to make up for it all... one day... just one day, one choice was nothing for now.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

The thought of time stretching out in front of him, endless and purposeless made him pale just a bit, though as shaken as he already was from the day, it seemed unlikely that any new pallor would even show. Always, always, there had been a purpose. The incarceration 30 years ago he'd managed to see as a temporary setback, but somehow this seemed like so much more. If the virus had fallen, been released, someone would have said so. Hiro would not have said "he tried" to do it. He would have said exactly what Adam had done and how many people were now at risk.

Or Hiro would have gone back and stopped it.

But Peter would have destroyed the virus, which meant it was gone. No Plan B, not in this lifetime. Hiro's words had taken the edge off of his rampant desire to carve him into little pieces and bring him back just to do it again until he screamed how sorry he was and promised to never cross Adam again. How do you strike out at someone who placed their life in your hands? How was there any...there was no fight there either.

For years all he had done was fight to keep himself focused. Fight to keep himself sane. Fight to keep himself on track. Fight to keep the dream alive, and now it was gone, everything slipping away except the man in front of him. That Jack still wanted anything to do with him made his knees almost weak in gratitude.

He managed more of a smile that didn't twist back onto itself in something like a grimace, loosening the death grip he had on the sword enough to return the slight brush of fingers against Jack's. "Home...sounds good," he said, voice soft. It was an unfamiliar word, and not his, but it felt good on his lips.