Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ False Echoes ❯ Do You Trust Me (Part II) ( Chapter 6 )

Witch Hunter Robin
False Echoes

Chapter VI - Do You Trust Me? (Pt. II)

Disclaimer: You know by now I don't own Witch Hunter Robin®, which belongs to Sunrise® and Sci-Fi® Channel. You know this already.

Nor do I own the song False Echoes; I just borrowed its title.

Storyline, Plot, Kenny Avery©, Roger Williams©, David Rica© and Kichiro Wantanabee© are mine.

Author Notes:

Kanno made a good point last chapter with a review of something I should have made a bit clearer.

When Kichiro said that SOLOMON and the STN are two different things, he didn't mean completely. He was talking about the SOLOMON Headquarters, which as we all know is tricky and evil. You see, they know David Rica is a traitor to then STN and indirectly to SOLOMON HQ, but the HQ is much higher up than the STN, so they really don't give a damn if he's a traitor or not.

It'll all become clear later.

Oh and drake220, I don't know what Amon's craft is. They never reveal it during the course of the show, so as far as I know no one except for the creator of WHR knows what his craft is.

----------------

The horrors of the next few seconds of Robin Sena's life were so bad that no words could describe them.

Robin's petite fingers squeezed the fire extinguisher in her hands, again and again, but to no avail. The burning flames that engulfed Michael were too big and too bright, and the fire extinguisher was empty from the sweet white foam that would save the life of her lover.

Then Jyou, the night guard who had been a friend of Michael's now dead father, raised his gun and fired it into the side of the extinguisher. There was a moment of pause in which nothing but the screams of Tai Lee's son could be heard, and then the extinguisher exploded with such a fury that it sent Robin falling backwards into the wall.

A great sea of pearly white foam shot everywhere, covering the burning hacker, his grief stricken lover, and the aged but still sharp guard who sat on his knees. The flames, once so bright and yellow, burning with malice as their evil orange tongues licked away the life of Michael Lee, had been destroyed the second the freezing foam had splattered them from the side.

Robin was against the wall now, her own body covered in the same snow-white blast of foamy bubbles that covered the two men beside her. She could not see, as the pearly essence blocked out her emerald orbs of sight, but her ears could hear the hoarse, raspy sound of Michael's breathing, coming in short and sourly.

"Robin-"

The hacker managed to allow the name of his lover to slip out of his mouth before he collapsed onto the floor, his body covered in burns and welts, his skin charred and barren; his clothes covered in soot and nearly burnt off. Robin did not move nor did she not try to wipe away the bitter-cold foam that pierced her skin like knives. She just sat against the wall, sobbing quietly under the icy sheet of bubbles.

"Michael."

----

By the time Miho Karasuma arrived at the parked red car, its twin doors still wide open from Sakaki's doing, Doujima had finished crying.

Doujima had gone from feeling horrible and crying a river of salty-sweet tears, to sitting in the front seat with a blank expression on her face. Doujima made no recognition as Karasuma approached the car slowly holding a gun in her hand. Of course the gun wasn't for Doujima. It was just a safety measure since Karasuma still didn't quite know what had happened.

"Miho." Doujima said offhanded in a dreamy voice without twisting her head.

"Yurika, are you alright?"

"No." Doujima responded in that same dreamy voice. "Sakaki. He's in danger. Won't you help him?"

Karasuma walked closer to the car to see that the blonde girl who had called her was sitting with a blank face, the pink cell phone that doubled as a key chain in her hand and silent tears rolling down her face. The red leather purse that Sakaki had given to her as a gift only weeks previous was hanging limply over her arm.

Karasuma reached into the car and helped Doujima out, who seamed to have lost all ability to move on her own. Once Doujima was standing on the cold, damp, black streets, the same streets that Sakaki had vanished down, she collapsed into Karasuma's arms and began to sob once more.

"He hates me." She cried quietly. Karasuma hushed the younger woman as she held her close, trying her best to both keep Doujima calm, and keep a grasp of the situation.

"Sakaki doesn't hate you. I've seen the way he looks at you."

"He hates me now!" Doujima snapped. "I couldn't kill his dad Miho. I couldn't do it. I remembered, I remembered Rica. . . "

"Shh." Miho said firmly but in gentle voice. "You're fine. We'll find Sakaki and everything will be fine."

"No, it won't."

Karasuma's eyes shot to the right where a man she had never seen stood. He wore an overlarge brown jacket and an ugly fedora hat. Doujima screamed and pushed away from Karasuma, but the redhead reached out and held the younger girl back firmly.

"Oh? What's this? I thought you didn't want to kill me?" Kichiro smirked and cackled in his horrible salty laugh.

"Fuck you!" Doujima screamed as she tried to wiggle free of Karasuma's grasp. Kichiro only began to laugh more and more in that salty, high pitched voice of his that made both girls sick to their very stomachs. Karasuma slipped her left arm around Doujima's waist, keeping her in place, and with her right she lifted the gun she had slipped into her pocket earlier and aimed it at Kichiro.

"Sakaki's mother was feisty like you." Kichiro chuckled in a salted manor. "And I killed her like the bitch she was."

Karasuma fired three shots from her gun towards the disgruntled dad, but Kichiro's craft powers kicked in and stopped the bullet before they had even come halfway between Karasuma and himself. Karasuma swore and Kichiro laughed even harder.

Doujima stopped struggling to free herself of Karasuma's grasp and went limp, hanging in the redhead's arm like the leather purse hung at her own shoulder. Slowly the blonde's hand reached down inside the purse and began to dig quietly for something.

Meanwhile, Karasuma fired three more shots, not thinking they could actually hit the enemy, but hoping to buy some more time for her and for Doujima to think of an idea to escape from this salty laughing foe.

"Baka!" Kichiro spat in his saltiest voice ever. "I am a Telekinetic Craft Master! Behold my entire splendor!"

Kichiro narrowed his dark eyes, clenching his yellow-toothed mouth into a thin smirk, as his full craft was unleashed. Karasuma held her ground at first, not sure what was happening and knowing it was impossible to escape with a limp Doujima clinging to her arm.

Suddenly Karasuma realized she wasn't the target as the red car beside her that belonged to Doujima shot into the air like a bottle rocket. Once the car was so high it was hanging above the street lamps it began to vibrate horrible and shake like a man having a horrid seizure. A moment later the car began to crush inside, bending and breaking. Tiny chucks of red hood and engine parts fell to the street below around Karasuma, but the rest of the car was crushing inwardly.

"You see? You see my splendor! And you think you can match this great power!?"

Suddenly Doujima was no longer limp. The blonde, who had been digging in her purse non-stop since she gave up struggling, took this chance to push Karasuma backwards and onto the ground as she ran forward, dropping her purse as she pulled a small metal letter opener out of it. Kichiro spotted her running over the cold and damp ground, flailing the letter opener above her head like a tiny sword and moving at full speed to stab Kichiro's exposed neck.

The craft master shook his head, sending the crumpled car flying into the pitch-black night sky as he shot his hand out. Doujima was now at his side, raising the letter opener for a stab into the disgruntled dad's jugular, but Kichiro's hand caught the blonde's wrist and he began to laugh.

Doujima struggled against his grip but quickly he shot his second hand upward around the girl's exposed neck and slammed her up against a wall. She dropped the letter opener but it froze in mid air and floated back up in the wake of Kichiro's craft. He spun around and threw Doujima down onto the pavement and she cried out in pain as she hit the stone.

"Sora tried to stab me." Kichiro said fondly, recalling his dead wife. "Several times. Of course she was just a human, not a witch. I stopped her always. And then I did this."

The letter opener shot down like a bullet and slashed across Doujima's pale cheek as it flew past her face and impaled itself into the stony ground behind her. Doujima screamed and shot her hands up to her face, clutching the now bleeding check. Kichiro laughed once again in his saltiest laugh ever.

"It'll scar if I did it right. It'll remind you. And if you see my son before I find him, it'll let him know too."

Kichiro laughed and then cast his eyes down to where Karasuma stood, slowly walking over towards the two.

"I shall let you live, Blondie, but only because I want my son to see your scarred face. Her, however, I do not need."

Kichiro narrowed his eyes and Karasuma instantly felt his craft covering her body like an invisible blanket of icy cold pain. She tried to move but could not; she knew it was going to be the end for her without Orbo.

And then the silent swish of an Orbo bullet being fired was heard from behind Kichiro. A second later, Kichiro screamed and jumped forward so much he almost landed in Doujima's lap. All eyes shot down the alleyway where a black car was parked, one of the doors open. And standing before that car was Amon.

Amon. Standing in all his glory, a shining green Orbo Cross across his chest and an Orbo gun in his hand as he stared down at Kichiro.

"Damn you!" Kichiro screamed out, shooting his craft forward at Amon, but the green liquid filled cross only began to glow an eerie jade shade of light and Amon didn't make an expression as he fired five more Orbo bullets into Kichiro, who slumped backward on the ground out colder than ice.

"Doujima." Amon commanded quickly and emotionlessly. "Call the Factory."

Doujima blinked as she looked up, still covering her bleeding cheek with one of her now bloody hands, and she nodded silently to Amon as she looked around to find her cell phone. Amon walked passed her and towards Karasuma, who gave him a weak smile.

"What happened?" Amon asked silently.

"Sakaki took off, looking for this guy." Karasuma explained as best as she could, still unsure of all the details herself. "He found Yurika and I. Amon, Arigato. And how did you get Orbo?"

"I left Orbo with Yuji Kobari a long time ago, incase I couldn't get any at the Flat." Amon explained quickly and then proceeded to return to his own line of questions. "Why does Sakaki want to find him?"

Karasuma sighed. "As far as I can tell, that's his father."

Amon's eyes went wide and he swore.

"What is it, Amon? What's wrong?" Karasuma asked.

"That man." Amon explained coldly. "That's Kichiro Wantanabee. He was David Rica's partner at SOLOMON."

----

"I'm sorry Miss, but the office is closed for the night."

"You're still here." Touko spat bitterly.

"Indeed I am." Nagira's redheaded secretary shot back, even more bitterness in her voice. "But I'm working late. The office is closed. Come back tomorrow."

The empty building that was Nagira Law Office was covered by the murky black shadow that came every day as the sun fell and the moon rose to take its majestic place. Touko and secretary were squaring off in a heated duel of words as Touko tried with all her might to find Nagira Syunji.

"Look, I have to see Nagira, it's really important-"

"I don't care." Hana snapped, now becoming impatient. "We're closed, besides, Mr. Nagira isn't even in right now and -"

"Touko, what are you doing here?"

The two arguing women both shut up and spun to the right were Nagira stood, a cigarette in his mouth and an odd expression hugging his tired face. Hana narrowed her eyes in fury, but Touko looked extremely relieved to see the tired pachinko addict.

"I need your help." Touko said very quickly before the secretary could interrupt the two of them.

"What's Amon done now?" Nagira laughed. "Yeah, sure, come up to my office. Hana would you open the door?" He added to the redhead.

"You vanish all day long, leaving at least three clients disappointed, and making one of them find a new lawyer. But you can drag your butt back here at unholy hours of the night and then deal with people you find on the street?!"

"Open the door." Nagira repeated, his tempter rising. Hana glared at him but did as he asked.

The brown haired man walked down the dark hall silently, Touko at his heels the entire time. They finally reached his office, which was a pigsty, with cluttered paper and manila folders everywhere. Nagira pulled over a chair, pushed a box of papers off it, and motioned for Touko to sit down.

"So what happened?" He asked at last.

"Nagira, I need you to investigate something for me. Something that happened in New York two and a half years ago." Touko said silently. Just thinking of that day two years ago made her fill with a never-ending sadness.

"Well, I'm a lawyer not a private eye. And New York isn't exactly part of Japan. But for you, Touko-chan, I'll do it." Touko smiled warmly as he said this, and he laughed a hearty laugh before adding: "And just what is it you want me to investigate?"

"You're investigating the disappearance of my daughter." Touko explained as calmly as she could.

----

The man was relatively young to have such power, but power he did have. Perhaps not as much power as some of his peers, some of the other members of the board, but he had more power than millions of people would ever dream of.

His office was square and dark; everything was a dark gray, brown, or black. Most of the office was empty save only a filing cabinet, a large metal desk, his leather swivel chair, and his computer on the wall. There were no windows in the man's room, only a large glass door at the front. Although it was glass, it was impossible to see through it. Only shadows could be seen through it.

And a shadow stood in the doorway now.

The door opened after a brief pause and Father Juliano Colegui entered the room, his aged stature was nothing less than legendary in SOLOMON. He carried with him an old black cane he used for walking and over his eyes were dark glasses.

"Father Juliano, this is a welcomed surprise."

Juliano said nothing. Behind him a second man entered the room, and the face of the young man working in the office fell into a sour grin.

"Father Juliano is here to ask you a few questions." The second man spoke solemnly; his face broke into an expression halfway between guilt and grief. The second man was even more known in SOLOMON than Father Juliano was, for the second man was the Head of SOLOMON, and in a way, the most powerful man on the face of the planet.

The young man behind the desk gave an innocent and all too fake smile up at the Head of SOLOMON and the aged priest who stood beside him.

"What did you do to David Rica?" Juliano asked at length.

The man behind the desk dropped the fake smile the second Rica's name was said. "I don't know what you mean. David Rica has been dead for three months."

"David Rica." Father Juliano cut him off. "Was spotted in London's Heathrow Airport half an hour ago."

The man's face fell and he shook his head from side to side in a desperate attempt to lie to the aged Colegui.

"I don't know anything about that."

"Do not lie." Juliano's voice was like ice.

"I'm not!" The young SOLOMON employee cried desperately. "I know nothing about Rica!"

The head of the Witch Hunting network sighed from behind Juliano. The young man had gotten this job because of who he was - the son of the Head of SOLOMON - his son. And now it looked like the boy was turning traitor.

"My son. I'm sorry. If you are to lie, to protect a traitor like David Rica, then SOLOMON can no longer employ you. I can no longer employ you. I am sorry, my son."

The Head of SOLOMON sighed and turned towards the glass door. He walked along the cold marble floors that were as black as his shoes and stopped just as his hand touched the icy knob.

"Father Juliano, my old friend, I must ask that you go to Japan. Find the man called Kichiro Wantanabee, he used to be Rica's partner, he may know what Rica is doing. Extract information from him, and then terminate him."

"Of course." Juliano said quietly.

"Father!" The young SOLOMON employee bellowed towards the Head of Witch Hunting. The man simply shook his head at his son.

"You are no longer a Hunter, my son. You know what that makes you. Juliano, deal with this Witch, won't you?"

And without another word the Head of SOLOMON vanished through the door, leaving his son, who had now been branded as a Witch, alone with the World's Greatest Witch Hunter. Father Juliano Colegui shook his head somberly as he turned to the boy.

"A Witch must always be hunted." Juliano spoke gently.

Then the young boy screamed in pain when Juliano unleashed his craft.

----

Robin was still covered by the white foam as all of these events unfolded elsewhere. She was covered in the foam, crying over Michael's foam covered body as he tried to survive. She did not know that at this very moment her partner, Amon, was on his way to find Karasuma, only to find Kichiro Wantanabee. She was not aware that the man, who raised her, Juliano Colegui, was on his way to question a young SOLOMON employee who had turned traitor and would soon be on his way to Japan.

All she was aware of was the fact Michael was dying and nothing could save him.

The fifteen-year-old Witch Hunter sobbed quietly on her knees beside Michael's body, which was covered in hot burns and icy cold bubbles. It was then, for the first time in her life, that Robin felt pain like this.

He was going to die. The man she had fallen in love with. He was going to die because of her.

She had murdered Michael Lee.

"Robin."

Robin's emerald eyes, which had been covered by her tiny pale hands, shot open as Michael spoke in a raspy voice, like a man who lived without the ability to breathe but tried so hard to continue life anyway.

"Michael." She sobbed quietly. "I didn't, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I thought-"

"Watch." Michael choked out in the raspy voice as sound came flying from his burnt lungs. "Watch."

Robin looked down without a clue what he meant. Watch? Watch what? Perhaps he meant the Night Watchman Jyou; perhaps he was trying to tell Jyou to kill Robin for what she had done to him. Of course, Robin should have known this was not the case at all, but in her state now she believed it. She didn't care if she was acting foolish or silly or childish, Michael was going to die and it was her fault.

"Waaaaatch."

Michael lifted his arm which had been both burnt and frozen over the last few minutes and tried his best to point. Jyou shot forward to stop him, but Robin stopped the guard before he could. Michael was using his last few moments of life to tell her something, she had to know what it was.

Robin's eyes traveled along where Michael tried to point to, and she noticed where they were for the first time. They were just below the portrait of Michael Campbell, Rosalind, and Rick Richards. Robin's eyes shot down to the broken case where the ghostly figure had stolen the rapier earlier, and then she remembered.

Inside that case was a bracelet, a rapier sword, and a pocket watch.

Robin did not understand why Michael wanted the watch, but she now knew what he meant and she quickly shot up and ran to the case. Her emerald eyes found the pocket watch lying in the case of broken glass beside the untouched bracelet. Quickly she grabbed the watch that was over one hundred years old and ran back down to Michael's side, the hallow echo of her feet could be heard all around them as she ran over the marble floors, trying not to trip over her black skirts.

"Me." Michael gasped as his words and his life began to waver.

Robin understood now and she reached down and placed the old pocket watch in Michael's torched hand as tears fell down her face. What did he want with this watch now, in his last moments on earth? Robin did not understand. She let go of the small watch, bringing her hand back up to her lap and staring down at the man she loved as he took his final breathes.

And then a flash of light as bright as the sun illuminated the entire building for a few short seconds, causing Jyou, the aged guard and the young Robin to close their eyes.

When Robin's eyes opened again she gasped.

Michael was still lying on the ground, but the burns and the extinguisher fluid was gone. His hair was cut in a different style and he wore a old blue suit that looked exactly like the one Michael Campbell had wore in the portrait above them.

"Well, what do you want first?" Michael asked as he turned his now perfectly-healed head to Robin. "The good news or the bad news?"

Robin stared in amazement as Michael's sky blue eyes stared into her bottle green ones with the same loving look they had carried for her since she had awoken to find him at her side after Sakaki had shot her four months ago.

"Well, I think you can guess the good news." Michael laughed as he looked down at the odd, out-dated British suit he now wore.

And then a hallow, evil voice shouted from somewhere in the shadows. "CAMPBELL!"

Michael sighed. "And now I think you know the bad news, too."

----------------

*Now listening to Alan Jackson's Where I Come From*

*Not to be confused with Kenny Chesney's Back Where I Come From which I listened to yesterday*

Well there you have it!

See, I didn't kill Michael! Not really anyway…

And also, I have very smart readers. I have noticed this. Kanno, KB, Manny, Sano-san, MM, SD, Savvy-san, T-L, and all the rest of you guys noticed things and then in turn point them out to me.

So before you notice two little things in this chapter, let me explain.

1) I know, I know, the STN-J guys are on vacation. How did Amon get the Orbo if I already said Zaizen made them hand in the Orbo, and even if he didn't hand it in, wasn't that the bad batch of Orbo Zaizen made?

Yes. Zaizen took away the Orbo. But if you all remember from Fire and Rain, Yuji Kobari-sama over at Harry's Place has a secret Orbo Stash. I never explained that, but you see Amon left a large supply of Orbo at Harry's in case of emergencies. So you see Amon had stopped off at Harry's before coming to the alley, hence, the reason he was late. ^^

2) Kichiro Wantanabee was David Rica's partner? But what about that Joe Saunders guy back in Fire and Rain?

You see, Joseph Saunders was sent with Rica by SOLOMON in F&R because he is a top notch Reviewer. Rica is the head of the STN-A New Orleans branch. They only sent Rica along because that guy Juliano killed in this one pulled some strings because he was plotting against his father, the Head of SOLOMON. Although this does not, of course, explain why Saunders was also a zombie, but the reason for that is Rica made him one before they came to Tokyo.

Heh. I just wanted to clear those things up before one of you readers saw those "mistakes.", because you guys are smart as a tack and I know one of you would find it.

Also, I'm sorry that lately, like since the end of Fire and Rain, there has been a lot more profanity in this fanfic. I didn't mean for it to be that way, but that's what I get for watching The Sopranos, so much. ><

Also, another big thanks to my Beta Readers, you guys are great. ^^

And now I vanish to finally work on C&D and of course on Chapter Seven.

Ja Ne

~ Golden-sama