Chapter 8: Coma. Part IV.

At Kobayashi building, Yevgeni leaned back on his chair with a pencil between his mouth and nose, balancing it skillfully, deep in thought.

Joe Armand appeared in the room unnoticed, he laughed to himself seeing Yevgeni concentrating looking at his computer screen. Joe Armand closed the door as loud as he could making Yevgeni fall to the floor with a 'bang', Joe laughed as hard as he could seeing the face that Yevgeni had as he muttered bad words in Russian.

-"Dude, so classic!" Joe Armand said still laughing a little.

-"Not funny..."

-"So whazzap? I thought you would be longer at the meeting..." Joe Armand said sitting in the chair in front of Yevgeni's desk.

-"Something came up with the kid, Richard said to meet later..." Yevgeni said picking up his chair from the floor.

-"What kind of thing with the kid, he alright?" Joe Armand said with a hint of concern.

-"Da, but he had an encounter with the re-encarnation, so to speak, of Setsuna..." Yevgeni said checking if his head had any bumps on the window.

-"What?!" Joe Armand almost feel off the chair.

-"What you heard" Yevgeni said still looking for a bump on his head.

-"And why the hell are you so calm about it?!" Joe Armand said with obvious confusion.

-"Because it is not a 'Sephiroth' being pulled out, Setsuna found a host to live on..." Yevgeni said sitting back on his chair.

-"Oh...(he looked down at the floor) poor Richard..."

-"Da..." Agreed Yevgeni also looking down at the floor.


For a while you could see that sky turn with colors as the day died in Neo Tokyo, Aleksandr walked the streets with a small smile on his face. Alongside him walked Witold, it was not strange that the two would do that, sometimes they would discuss life, sports, politics, whatever came into mind,but today somehow the air had changed and neither said a word, they just walked.

They arrived at Harry's the usual settlement for them after a day's work or play. The sat at their usual table, waved 'hello' slightly at the bartender and just stared into the windowed wall of the place.

After a while it was Witold who broke the silence.

-"I didn't know that you had no clue as to why Charles was still around..." he said with a mix of curiosity and disbelief.

-"I suppose I thought that he just had unfinished business as the rest of the 'ghosts' that lurk the earth, but since I cannot see him or talk to him..." Aleksandr said absentmindedly.

-"Oh I see...do you still keep Nessa's ring then I gather..." Witold said with a hint of defeat.

-"I won't take it off...never" Aleksandr said with a faint genuine smile.

The waiter got them their usual, it was customary by now that the waiters got them their usual without even them asking for it. They thank him bowing slightly.

-"You worry about something...." Witold said smiling a little.

-"I'm sorry if it offended you that I asked about Charles at the meeting..." Aleksandr said looking at Witold now.

-"Not at all...you know I still get sort of touchy about it, he was my best friend alongside Richard, had been with me since the beginning of 'this'..." he said smiling slightly again.

-"He was our friend too..."

-"Yeah..." he said sipping his drink a little.

-"And you worry about Nessa" Aleksandr said sipping his drink.

-"Is that wrong?" Witold said lifting his eyebrow.

-"Should I think it is? (chuckles) the answer you won't find it by rummaging through my thoughts on the matter by the way" he said taking another sip from his drink. Witold smiled at his friend.

-"But you share my concern...that I can see..." Witold said with a smile, somewhat feeling triumphant.


Nessa sat on a tombstone on the cemetery in which Charles Daniel rests. She watched how the sky played with the colors, deep in thought it seems.

-"Lovely day isn't it?" Charles said suddenly appearing beside her, she smiled brightly looking at him.

-"Indeed..."

-"You needed to see me?"

-"I need to ask you something, but this is not a mere 'business meeting', I have come here to rest as well..." She said with a smile.

-"Shoot, what is on your mind?" He said sitting beside her on the grass.

-"You knew that Setsuna found a host?"

-"Aye..."

-"Somebody helped her?"

-"No"

-"So it is safe to say that it was a 'normal procedure'"

-"Aye"

She sighed in relief and smiled as she looked again toward the sky. Charles stared at her a little, smiling himself.

-"Are you happy the way you are, do you want to find a host? Have you felt you need to break free?" she said out of the blue. He laughed heartily.

-"No, not at all. I have my place in the world Nessa and it is with you guys, even though some of you cannot see me or hear me, my place is here..." He said smiling broadly.

-"Witold made it sound so sad today at the meeting..."

-"The man has issues..." he said laughing a little.

-"Still...sometimes I gather that even if our abilities gives us the pleasure of playing with death and life,I abuse them...or have abused them..."

-"You tried to save Setsuna as well, you couldn't,none of us could and she wouldn't have let you bind her anyway, there was no point, Richard cannot see or hear us dead people..."

-"You should have seen his face when I told him that this person was not really her, he was so devastated..." she said looking down at the grass.

-"Richard is a strong fellow, he has a kind heart and a great mind...he understands this better than you give him credit for"

-"He told me he felt relieved actually...but he was still devastated..."

-"She died a horrible death..."

-"So did you..." she said looking at him.

-"And we were all left in a coma..." Said Charles looking at the sky with a sad smile.


-End of Chapter-

Chapter 8: Coma. Part III.

Nessa entered the empty meeting room. She looked at the clock on the wall and her wristwatch to make sure the times were right, a gesture she had picked up during her numerous time zones changes over the years.

She grabbed a chair and moved it toward the windowed wall to look at the city skyline. After some minutes the door opened, revealing Aleksandr walking tiredly inside the room, Nessa smiled and playfully greeted him.

-"You look like hell..." she smiled as she waved him 'hello'.

-"Oh...(he blushed slightly) bad nap, how are you?" he said putting his coat over a chair.

-"I'm doing o.k. today..." she said looking again at the skyline before her.

-"Mind if I sit down with you and wait?" He said pulling a chair beside her and sitting down.

-"Not at all, you may sit" she said smiling still.

-"Ever had a feeling that you just want to grab the world, shake it and just rearrange it how you want it to be?" he asked staring into the skyline.

-"All the time..." she said with a smile looking at him.

The door opened to reveal Yevgeni, he waved 'hello' to Nessa and Aleksandr and left his things on the table and sighed.

-"Long day at the office, how was that assignment Nessa?" Yevgeni asked smiling a little.

-"A breeze, nothing like a good troubleshooting to boost the spirit" she said with a little laugh.

-"You could make that the catchphrase of the week" Yevgeni said stretching a little.

Richard entered the room seeming altered, Nessa and Aleksandr stood up seeing this and Yevgeni almost his under the table as a response.

-"What's wrong??" Nessa said alarmed, walking toward him.

-"The child, is he here yet?" Richard said disregarding her question.

-"He should be on his way, he got out of school a bit ago, what is wrong?" she said concerned, Aleksandr went toward Richard's side.

-"Where is the rest?" Richard asked suddenly looking at the room.

-"Joe was on a meeting, he said he'll catch a debriefing from you later on, Witold was on his way" Yevgeni said cautiously.

-"O.k. (Richard said sitting down on a nearby chair, all eyes on him, worried, uncertain) Sorry Nessa dear, maybe I'm just freaking out on some exageration, even more so that Intel cannot indentify the finding...the kid may have encountered Setsuna's spirit" He said passing a hand through his hair. The rest of the room fell silent.

Witold entered the room alongside Alexei, the child went toward Nessa and hugged her, she hugged him back.

-"Well, now that we are here...I need some answers Alexei, tell me what happened, tell us in detail..." Richard said putting on his 'business mode'. Alexei started his tale, dramatizing it on the way, the room was silent, intendly listening to what he was saying.

-"The relief I got is that I didn't see it black, and that it didn't notice me..." Alexei said ending his tale .

-"Is that possible Nessa, for a soul after it dies to just appear as it was?" Richard asked Nessa with a hint of concern.

-"Some religions call it re-encarnation, the soul finds a host after it dies and lives within the host until it dies and so on, that is the PG version anyway..." Nessa said sitting down beside Richard.

-"And when it finds the host, what does it do exactly?"

-"Nothing, the soul doesn't carry memories of its past life, some personality traits remain sure enough, but no memories, that is why Alexei could see that it was Setsuna, in a sense." Nessa said receiving the child again in her arms.

-"So that means no one is pulling a Sephiroth with Setsuna?" Yevgeni asked with a significant sign of relief.

-"No, it doesn't appear to be that way" Nessa said calmly.

-"What about Charles?" Aleksandr asked suddenly.

-"What about him?" Witold asked somewhat defensively.

-"He remains a 'ghost' how come he hasn't found a host like Setsuna did?"

-"Some find it sooner than others, some do not find it at all...Charles says as a joke that his job is not done, ergo he stays..." Nessa said with a small smile.

-"Truth is that he is bound to Nessa in some way...that I do not know" Witold said, somewhat bitterly.

-"In a sense...you could say that." Nessa said somewhat becoming sad. Aleksandr took notice and smiled at her to cheer her up. Witold looked away.

-"So...she does not...remember us..." Richard said slowly.

-"No Richard, it is as she was born right now, only that Alexei can see who it is inside..." Nessa said, grabbing Richard's hand in a comforting manner.

-"Gomen ne, Richard-papa" said Alexei, hugging Richard suddenly.

-"It is fine Alexei, I thank you...(Richard said smiling a little) guys I need you to be on the lookout, somehow I feel this is the beginning of something...be on your guard the whole time. You guys do not mind if we meet later for the real reason of the meeting right?" they responded in an unified 'No' and left the room, except for Nessa, who stayed behind still sitting on the chair.

-"You thought that she would be back?" She said suddenly.

-"No...I'm actually relieved that she is another person, with no memories of the past life..." He said smiling sadly.

-"Well the only way that I know of that she could 'remember' is through hypnosis or something or the sort...but it is a slim chance that the girl that she is now would do that..." Nessa said nonchalantly.

-"Brian Weiss sort of thing?" Richard chuckled.

-"Yes... (Nessa said getting up from her chair, walking toward the door not before giving a small kiss to Richard on his cheek) you know, if by one of those life chances people cannot explain sometimes you do meet this girl, please ask her out on a date...maybe it means that this is your second chance..." she said waving 'bye' and leaving the room.

Richard smiled a little while he stayed glued to the chair in the meeting room.

-"Maybe it is..." He said still smiling.