I apologize if this story is shorter as expected. I know it should have been at least another chapter or two, but here is the final chapter of Abyss.

Special thanks go to del and Muki, for kicking my butt. What would I do without you two?

Something completely unrelated: check out ffnetauthors. proboards29. com - a place where readers can meet their fav ffnet authors outside of the limits of a review/story interaction. Spread the word, sign up, post!

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It took Melissa exactly fifty seconds to break the car's door lock, and another sixty to short-circuit the ignition. Thirty minutes later, she hadn't even covered half the distance to the hospital. 'Maybe I should try calling those good for nothing idiots again.'

Not that she had been successful the last time she tried. Neither Kurz nor Sousuke had answered her calls, and the de Danaan couldn't make contact, either. 'If they managed to get themselves killed, I'll kick their sorry butts to Kingdom come!'

As if on command, her cell phone phone rang. "This better be Kurz, and he better has a very good explanation!"

x

Dark. It was dark, and the darkness spun and swirled. His head pounded with every beat of his heart. Nausea made him gag, but he fought down the irritating sensation. Voices. People talked, somewhere, about something that he couldn't quite understand. 'Where am I?' Slowly, he pried his eyes open, but the neon light in the room only made his headache worse. Dark blobs danced before him, and the smell of gasoline hung heavily in the air. The soft humming of a generator filled the room, echoing from distant walls. 'A big room. A hall? Or a warehouse?' He tried to concentrate, but the longer he tried, the more fiercely his head pounded. 'Can't give up now... Must... must protect her...'

"I don't care shit if you think that the Mithril guy is a vegetable, Reizo. Kill him and then get rid of him the usual way."

The woman yelled like a drill instructor, and he pitied both Reizo and the Mithril guy.

'Mithril...' The name was strangely familiar. 'Am I Mithril? Does that mean they will kill me?' A sense of danger pulsed through him at the thought. 'I can't let them kill me... I... I must protect... Protect...' He fumbled for a name, any name, but his brain was an endless abyss that had swallowed all information, even his own identity. 'I can't die.'

"Y-yes, Nariko." The man sounded scared. "What about the old man?"

"Chidori? The boss said he wants him and the girl alive for now," the woman spat.

"What happened to 'kill her'?"

"Change of plan. Now, shut up and do your job."

"Chi...dori?" he blinked. For some weird reason, all of his instincts told him that Chidori had to be protected at all costs.

"Are you okay, young man?"

"Y-yes..." He straightened, stretching his aching body and joints enough to get back a sense of control. Next to him sat a middle aged man. Just like him, the man's hands were cuffed to a metal pipe that ran down from the ceiling and disappeared in the concrete floor. There were signs of stress and worry on the stranger's face, but the man seemed to pose no imminent danger.

"I knew something was fishy about that doctor," the man sighed.

"Sir?"

The man nodded. "They tricked me, kid."

'A trick?' He had no idea what the man talked about. But he was sure that he was missing something very important here. 'But what?' He tried to concentrate harder, but the merciless pounding of his head droned out all coherent thought. "Chidori... I have to protect... Chidori."

"Mithril sent a teenager to protect me?" the man smirked. "You've got to be kidding."

"What is a... Mithril?" Talking became difficult, and the room started to sway. "Who... are you?"

"My name is Chidori Shunya. The girl on the stretcher is my daughter Kaname," the man explained, his expression growing more concerned with every moment. "Are you sure you're okay? You look like you'll keel over any second."

"I'm... fine." Chaos reigned in his mind. Fragments of memories, destruction, smiling faces, torn bodies. War. Death and pain, joined together in a murderous dance. "Chidori... Kaname."

Blood everywhere. The blackness of the abyss beckoned him.

'My fault.'

But he couldn't remember what his fault was. There was only guilt, and a strange longing that made no sense at all.

'Kaname...'

The unmistakable click of an automatic gun being armed registered, and he tensed instinctively.

One of the guards walked over to them lazily, a pleased grin on his face. The guard's pupils were unnaturally diluted, and a part of the boy's mind supplied that the man must be under the influence of a drug. How he knew this remained a mystery, but he hadn't any time to wonder about what lurked in the back of his mind.

"Hey, Mithril... you heard the lady. Game over for you. But if you behave, you'll live a bit longer. Don't like it if they bleed in the boot. Heck of a mess to clean up, you know." The guard fumbled for something in his pockets and produced a key, then unlocked the handcuffs.

Mithril, not that he cared much if that was his name or not, reacted without thinking. The guard hadn't even time to scream when a precise kick crashed his windpipe. Dying, the man pulled the trigger, and bullets sped towards their targets.

x

"Shit! Urzu 2, did you hear that?"

"Hard to miss it," Melissa muttered under her breath, then added loud enough for the microphone to pic up her voice, "Urzu 6, back door. Rescue Urzu 7 and Shepherd. I'll take care of the rest. We meet in five minutes at the car. Urzu 2 over and out."

"Roger that."

Melissa cast a quick glance on her watch, then slipped off into the darkness of the night's darkest hour.

x

A knock at the door made Telessa Testarossa looked up from her paperwork. Had she missed an appointment? But that was hardly possible – her adjutant would have given her an advanced warning.

"Come in."

Commander Kalinin entered, and she could tell from his expression that he didn't like the news he had to bring. "Commander...?"

"Captain, we just received a report from Urzu 2. It seems that Urzu 2 was able to establish contact with Urzu 6. They were supposed to meet ten minutes ago."

"Continue."

"Urzu 6 got hold up in a traffic control, but he was at the hospital in time to witness Angel, Shepherd and Urzu 7 being kidnapped. He followed the kidnappers to their hideout and requested reinforcements."

Tessa heaved a small sigh of relief. As long as Kurz Weber was around, Sousuke and Kaname were safe. "Did you send out a team?"

"Yes, but..." Kalinin paused briefly. "I'm afraid they will be too late."

"What!"

"Just a few minutes ago, the police received a report about gun shots and heavy explosions in the complex where the hostages are being held."

x

"Urzu 6, you idiot! What part about 'no hand grenades' you didn't understand?" Melissa shouted, ducking flying debris when the generator's gasoline tank burst in a bright flash. Instants later, chaos ruled in the warehouse. Flames leaked from crates and package material, and within moments, the highly flammable material stored became a roaring inferno. Toxic smoke filled the air. The enemy was on the run, hostages and orders forgotten in the desperate need for survival. On the other end of the hall, Weber's gun bellowed over the crackling of the flames several times.

"Enemy disabled," Weber reported, his voice sounding flat and distorted through the radio. "Shepherd is with me. Urzu 7 is looking for Angel in your direction."

"Can't you help them?"

"Negative. The fire blocks my way. I can't reach them from here. Urzu 6, over."

Unfortunately, that meant that she would be the one who had to go through Mr. Thundercracker's little camp fire and rescue Urzu 7 and his Angel from being toasted. "You're so dead, Weber."

x

The rising sun cast the hospital room in bright red. Mithril absentmindedly rubbed the spot on his arm where they had injected him the antidote for a poison he didn't remember being poisoned with. 'No, not Mithril. They said my name is Sousuke, didn't they?' Next to him, a tall blond man kept a keen eye on everything. The man – 'Kurz, or was it Kurt?' – kept a watchful eye on him and a sleeping young woman. She looked peaceful, as she lay there in her hospital bed. Dark, long hair cascaded around her head. "She's beautiful."

"Yes," the blond man said. "Very beautiful. You're one lucky guy, Sousuke."

Why he was supposed to be lucky, Sousuke had no idea. Not that it really mattered. Right now, all he wanted to do was stand here, next to the hospital bed with the strange girl and look at her. It made him feel... calm. "What's her name?"

"Kaname. But we have to leave now."

"I don't want to. Can't I stay a bit longer?" Sousuke pleaded. How could he leave the girl - 'Kaname' - how could he leave her? How could he even think about leaving her, when everything in him screamed to be close to her and protect her?

"We'll come back soon."

"Promise?"

The blond sighed. "Promise. Now, come with me nice and peaceful, before Kalinin makes me do laundry duty for the rest of the year."

Sousuke gave Kaname a wistful look, then he bowed down and kissed her gently on the forehead.

x

Fire. There was fire all around her. The heat singed her skin, made it hard to breath, like a solid wall that threatened to suffocate her. She wanted to scream, but her throat was parched from the toxic smoke that ate the oxygen in the room. Desperate, she crawled towards the exit, but the way was completely blocked by burning debris. That moment, she knew was going to die...

Kaname woke with a scream. Her eyes snapped open and she bolted upwards, but the pain in her body stopped her in mid movement.

"Kaname?"

"Daddy?" She turned toward the voice, and her father greeted her with a warm smile.

"You remember me?"

"Sure, I remember you. Why shouldn't..." Kaname frowned. "Did something happen?"

Her father tilted his head slightly, like he had done when she was still very young and she had asked one of the 'inappropriate' questions. "Well... Yes. Actually a lot happened."

Unfortunately for Kaname, she had to wait until after the doctors had thoroughly examined her the next day to find out.

For ten full minutes, Kaname listened to the story her father told. Her eyes grew wide as she heard about gangsters and kidnappers, and how a false nurse had injected her with a drug that had influenced her memory. She was relieved to hear that a blood sample revealed the truth in time to apply the antidote. When he mentioned the blonde foreigner and the female fury, who had both fought against all odds to rescue them and won, she couldn't help but smile. But when he described the young man who risked his life to safe her from the fire, Kaname felt an odd mixture of warmth and worry well up inside her. "What happened to Sousuke?"

"Sousuke? That's his name?" Her father was amused for a reason she couldn't quite grasp. "He forgot to introduce himself."

"Well, that's Sousuke for you. When there's a fight, he forgets his manners... Is he okay?"

Her father chuckled. "I think so. The young man seemed to be quite bent on protecting you."

"Protecting me?"

"That's all he ever talked about."

"Uh... er," Kaname felt heat rising in her cheeks. "Well, you see..."

"Don't worry. I know about Mithril." He sobered. "You like him, don't you?"

Kaname's blush deepened. "Dad!"

x

Tessa Testarossa stared at the pages of the report, still not sure if she should believe what was written there. Of course, it wasn't unusual to have a Whispered kidnapped by the enemy. It also wasn't unusual that the kidnappers drugged their victims. But this...

"So they took advantage of Miss Chidori's mishap and gave her a memory altering drug. That's why she forgot everything?"

"Yes, ma'am. It's the same drug that was used onSeargant Sagara, too," Kalining explained."Anyway, the plan was to have her transferred to a hospital specialising in brain injuries. They could've run their tests without anyone interfering, and Mr. Chidori would've kept Mithril out of the picture. Unfortunately for them, their plan was crossed by a group that wants to eliminate all Whispered." Kalinin shifted from one foot to the other. "They would've almost succeeded, if not for Sergeant Sagara and his quick thinking."

"He saved her again, didn't he?" Tessa said with a sigh, feeling a twinge of jealousy of the other girl.

"Affirmative. If not for his timid appearance, Miss Chidori would have received the final dosage. As it is, Sergeant Sagara was injected with more than enough of the drug to wipe his memory clean for good."

"It's a good thing, then, that Mithril Intelligence found the antidote when they raided the group's headquarters." Tessa reflected. "The memory altering effect is still reversible. The doctor said he will be fit for duty within twenty-four hours."

"Yes. He's expected back on his mission in Tokyo by the end of the week." Kalinin's lips curled into a thin smile. "And Mr. Chidori apparently was impressed with Mithril's performance. Sergeant Sagara doesn't have to die, after all."

"So, it all ended good, didn't it?"

The Commander's eyes suddenly sparkled with amusement. "Well, I'd say that the Sergeant still has the most difficult part ahead, Ma'am."

x

"C'mon, Sousuke. You're a coward." Kurz Weber grinned maliciously and handed his team mate the flowers that Sergeant Clueless had so conveniently forgotten to buy. They had arrived in Tokyo three days ago, but so far, Sousuke had always skirted around visiting Kaname.

"But what if..."

"I told you a million times she'll forgive you. Now, shoo!" Kurz opened the door to Kaname's hospital room and shoved his young friend through the opening. Before the bird had a chance to flee the coop, he smacked the door shut again. Swiftly, he removed a surveillance device from his jacket, pressed it to the wood and listened intently.

A shy greeting, then meaningless conversation, vicious name calling, the smack of a paper fan, and Sousuke's pained yelp told Weber hat everything was going according to plan. For a while, he could hear the two talking about school, then there was silence. 'Don't mess up now, Sousuke.'

Finally, his curiosity got the better of him and he opened the door just enough to spy. With an amused grin, he closed it again. 'Clueless, huh?'

The End--