Work Text:
The sight of Hibiki at the FIS household wasn’t an unusual one; after Maria’s pseudo-adoption of the girl, she’d made it a point to visit at the very least once a week, often times more. There were occasions where she couldn’t for one reason or another – S.O.N.G. assignments wait for no Adaptor after all – but for the most part, she was consistent.
The one thing that was relatively rare, however, was Hibiki staying overnight. In an effort to avoid taking advantage of their kindness, intentionally or otherwise, she always tried to get home before night fell. Even with the knowledge of how much a S.O.N.G. paycheck gives out, it still felt… not quite right to her, despite Maria, Kirika and Shirabe’s insistence otherwise.
But tonight – despite her best efforts – she couldn’t. A nasty snowstorm had rolled in unannounced, and, evidently, the two disagreed on how severe it was.
“Maria-san, seriously, I’ll be fine. I think the snow’s starting to lighten up!” As Hibiki pulled on her winter hat, she began making her way towards the door, Maria hot on her heels.
“Lighten up— the forecast said it’s going to be snowing all night long!” There was a level of desperation in Maria’s voice as she spoke, pleading for Hibiki to listen. The nagging voice in the back of Hibiki’s head had the exact same tone – please, please stop and listen to her!
“Heiki, hecchara. I’ll be fine.” As Hibiki was reaching for her coat on the coatrack, she didn’t notice how the distance between herself and Maria had practically vanished. Her left hand found purchase on her coat and instinctively grabbed a fistful of it.
“Do not ‘heiki, hecchara’ me Tachibana Hibiki! You’ll freeze to death out there!” In the heat of the moment, Maria firmly grabbed onto Hibiki’s left arm. In that instant, it felt like the world froze. Knots began forming in Hibiki’s stomach, her arm unconsciously tensing in Maria’s grip.
And an instant later, Maria relinquished her grip, and the world began turning again. A thin bead of sweat slowly dripped down Hibiki’s forehead.
“Hibiki? Hibiki, I’m sorry for grabbing you like that, are you alright?” Maria’s concerned tone broke her out of her trance, and as Hibiki turned to answer her, she used the cover of hanging her jacket back up to wipe the sweat from her forehead.
“Ah, yeah, I’m fine! Sorry about that.” She tried to answer as naturally as she could, and while there was a brief look of suspicion on Maria’s face… she dropped it.
Now all that she had to do was let the Zababies know about the news.
The two were in the living room, Shirabe reading a book as Kirika sat next to her playing some game about Greek Gods from the late 2010s. As the two approached, Hibiki swore she heard something along the lines of ‘that Bone Serpent is a butt, dess!’.
“The snowstorm’s too heavy for me to get home, so… looks like I’m staying overnight!” Hibiki tried not to let her energy waver. The incident from earlier still sat in the back of her mind, and the longer it did, the more it unsettled her.
Why did I react like that?
Kirika lit up brighter than a Christmas tree – which, considering the real Christmas tree that was over in the corner, was a genuine feat.
“We can have a slumber party, dess!” Kirika’s energy more than made up for Shirabe’s more reserved response of ‘Cool’ and going back to her book.
The room went quiet for a second—
Groooooan…
“…dinner first, and then a slumber party, dess!” In Kirika’s excitement, her stomach gave out a loud rumble. Copping a small smile, Shirabe put a bookmark in her book, and began making her way to the kitchen.
“I guess that’s one way to look at it… Hibiki, would you mind helping Shirabe out in the kitchen tonight? I would, but I need to call Ogawa and talk about Tsubasa and I’s upcoming concerts...” Maria trailed off. She asked for Hibiki’s help a lot, not that she particularly minded.
“Huh? Oh, sure. No problem, Maria-san.” Shoving her worries to the back of her mind, Hibiki and Shirabe began making their way to the kitchen. As for Kirika, it wasn’t her turn to cook tonight, so she maintained her position on the couch yelling about ‘that dessing Bull!’.
The two got to work quickly, dividing the kitchen between them. The two had developed their own system of work, with Hibiki preparing ingredients for – as she liked to put it – Chef Shirabe. Apart from the sounds of work, the kitchen was relatively quiet.
The events of earlier still nagged at Hibiki’s mind, but they had no time to germinate as she became more and more absorbed with her work. Over the course of a rather comfortable hour, they’d become little more than an uncomfortable feeling in Hibiki’s gut.
“…okay, we’re about done. I’ll finish up here, you go get Maria and Kiri-chan.” Shirabe broke the silence as Hibiki brought over the last of the ingredients – chopped lettuce and tomatoes, alongside carrots cut into slices.
“Right away, chef! Looking forward to that salad!” Hibiki gave a mock salute, not missing the small smile on Shirabe’s face as the shorter girl rolled her eyes. With that, Hibiki began to make her way to the living room, now filled with the sounds of various kart engines.
Based on Kirika’s pouty face, it was immediately apparent what had happened.
“Kirika-chan, dinner’s ready!” Those brief words from Hibiki were all that was needed to break her out of her funk. It was some sort of miracle that she didn’t give herself whiplash with how she bolted up and over the table, chanting ‘dess’ the entire way, leaving Hibiki to turn the console off with a small shake of her head.
One down, one to go. I hope that phone call went alright…
Hibiki couldn’t help herself as she climbed the stairs towards Maria’s room. It was little surprise that Maria and Tsubasa were only going to get busier as life adjusted to a new normal. Luckily, with the amount of money S.O.N.G. paid out, they were able to be much more flexible with their schedules. Still didn’t make the actual lifestyle of an idol any easier though, based off the stories that Tsubasa had given over the years.
With a rapt knock at Maria’s door, Hibiki spoke.
“Maria! Dinner’s ready!” She paused a moment, waiting for a response.
“I’ll be right down; I just need to finish writing this email!” With a brief ‘okay’, Hibiki began making her way down the stairs, two steps at a time. It’d been a while since she’d had some of Shirabe’s cooking, and it was easily her second favorite! The first being Miku’s, of course.
By the time Hibiki reached the table, Shirabe had brought all of the dishes to the table and was barely able to keep Kirika from eating early by occasionally swatting her hand. Sliding into her seat, she was just able to catch the tail-end of their conversation.
“—don't eat until everyone’s here. Those’re the rules.” Shirabe glared at the blonde with an almost audible ‘jiiiiiii’.
“But I’m hungry, Shirabe!” Kirika whined as Shirabe swatted her hand once more, prompting her to start staring at her girlfriend with her best attempt at puppy dog eyes. It wasn’t long before she remembered that Shirabe was one of few people who were immune to the Kirika Special due to prolonged exposure.
To her credit, Kirika did eventually stop attempting to start eating – after the fifth or sixth hand swat – and started idly kicking her legs. Shirabe took her usual seat next to her, and after a few minutes of idle chatter, Maria appeared in the kitchen archway.
“Maria’s here, itadakimasu~!” Kirika went from zero to one hundred the moment Maria sat down, Shirabe only sighing and shaking her head as she offered a much softer ‘itadakimasu’ herself. For the briefest moments, Hibiki could see Maria’s eyes shift into Mom Mode, but instead, she merely sighed and began eating herself.
Hibiki couldn’t help herself from giggling at the whole affair as she brought a forkful of the salad to her mouth. The carrot buried inside gave the slightest resistance, her teeth digging in slightly, but eventually:
Crunch.
…suddenly, Hibiki felt incredibly dizzy. If that feeling from earlier was a wave, this was a whole tsunami. It was becoming harder to swallow, her hands becoming clammy, as her stomach lurched .
Her heart was beating rapidly— her everything felt like it’d been pumped with adrenaline. There was a sharp pain beginning to build up in her left arm, right below her elbow. Breathing was becoming more and more difficult as she began to take in breaths faster and faster and faster—
“—biki? Hibiki!” Someone’s voice cut through the haze in Hibiki’s mind, muffled and muddied, still barely comprehensible. “I’m going to take your hand. Is that alright?”
After Hibiki slowly nodded, a gentle grip took Hibiki’s right hand. The weight on Hibiki’s chest was oh-so-slightly relieved, but relieved nonetheless, as they began speaking again.
“Follow my breathing. Breathe in… One. Two. Three. Four. Hold for seven…”
In… Out… In… Out…
Slowly, and ever so gently, Hibiki felt herself being pulled into an embrace. After a few moments of adjustment, she could hear a faint sound to her right.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
And then…
“The apple dropped to the ground… The apple floated in the sky… ”
A soft humming filled Hibiki’s ears.
“The stars are born, and the songs are born… The Lulu Amelu smiled for eternity… the stars kiss the songs to sleep…”
It was steadily becoming easier to breathe.
“Where will they call home…? Where will they call home…?”
Hibiki could feel her heartbeat fall back into a steady rhythm.
“The apple floated in the sky… the apple dropped to the ground…” Maria’s song came to its conclusion. The room went silent for a few moments as Hibiki’s breathing became softer, quieter, only broken when Hibiki found the strength to speak.
“Apple…” Hibiki’s voice was hoarse.
“That’s right. How are you feeling, Hibiki?” Maria’s voice was soft; concerned, but gentle.
“Tired…” Hibiki interrupted herself with a yawn as she felt herself being gently coaxed upwards.
“I see. Let’s get you to bed, okay? You need rest after something like that.” Maria’s soft-but-firm tone offered no room for argument. Not that Hibiki was going to offer any, it was hard to keep her eyes open let alone speak. She heard Maria say— something to Kirika and Shirabe, but for the life of her, she couldn’t understand what it was.
In a haze, she found herself in the guest bedroom, borrowing some of Maria’s pajamas. They were unsurprisingly pink; they suited Maria to a tee. Soon enough, Hibiki found herself in bed.
“Sleep as long as you need, okay Hibiki?” Maria flicked the light switch off, plunging the room into darkness.
“Okay… thanks, mom…” Hibiki half mumbled as the warmth of the fresh-out-of-the-drier blanket coaxed her to sleep.
*
As far as Hibiki could see, there were more Hibiki’s, all clad in different outfits - some wearing her Gear, some wearing the Lydian uniform, and some in her pajamas - but all standing motionlessly, staring off into the distance. She couldn’t see over them, and there was no way around them. All she could do was push through. The ones who noticed her first turned around, their expressions clear.
Their eyes were wide.
But more importantly…
They were all missing their mouths.
They grabbed her. The Hibikis to her side jerked her forward, the ones to her back filling the gap she left behind. The unnatural silence permeating everything was deafening.
She was unceremoniously dumped at the front of the crowd. They slowly began huddling around her, barely giving her any room to breathe, forcing her forward towards the edge.
One step. Two steps. Three steps… and then, she saw it.
It was an arm.
The feeling of having teeth cleave through skin and muscle and bone —
The noise it made—
The blood—
The sensation of losing an arm. Her arm. Her arm. Her arm her arm her arm her arm her arm her arm her arm—
And as a scream began to well up in her throat, the Hibiki’s around her began screaming too.
*
The scream shook the entire house. Within seconds, Maria scrambled from her bed and out of the room, only to be met in the hallway by a confused looking Kirika and Shirabe.
“We heard that scream, is Hibiki—” Shirabe started, only to be cut off as a second scream radiated from Hibiki’s room. Maria immediately pushed past them, beelining straight for Hibiki’s room, Kirika and Shirabe hot on her heels.
“Hibiki? Hibiki, I’m coming in, are you alright—” Maria gently pushed the door open as she spoke. At first, it looked like Hibiki wasn’t even in the room anymore – but then a soft sob broke the relative silence, and it was only then that Maria saw her.
Hibiki was huddled in the corner, eyes puffy, drenched in sweat, and clutching onto her left arm like it was the last thing keeping her tethered to this world. Her chest heaved with every breath she took, but the thing that struck Maria the most was the downright manic look in her eyes.
She’d seen Hibiki – been right alongside Hibiki – in scenarios that would break lesser people, and yet she’d never seen her in a state like this. The Hibiki that she knew faced the worst of days with a determination burning in her eyes that rivaled the sun itself.
But… that Hibiki was gone right now.
“Oh, Hibiki…” Maria’s heart sank as she looked at her. Turning to Kirika and Shirabe, she gently nudged them out of the room. Kirika’s first reaction was to attempt to push back in, only to be stopped when Shirabe grabbed her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze and shaking her head.
No words were said, but the message was clear.
“We’ll be out in the living room.” Shirabe’s words were quiet as she and Kirika began their walk. With that settled, Maria turned her attention back to Hibiki. As she began her slow approach, she spoke softly, trying not to startle the already fragile girl.
“Hibiki? Hibiki, it’s me. It’s Maria.” Maria took a step forward, only to freeze as those unfitting, manic eyes turned into a glare.
“N-no, stay away! You— you can’t make me see that again!” Hibiki frantically grabbed at her sides, eventually finding purchase on a pillow, and threw it at Maria. It wasn’t at full strength, and with every step came another object thrown her way – another pillow, a book, a clock – and each time, Maria managed to dodge it. Eventually, as Hibiki’s ammunition dwindled, Maria was able to close the distance—
“GET AWAY!” Hibiki’s hoarse voice cried out as Maria met Hibiki’s closed fist, aimed directly for her stomach. The force of the blow surprised her, but she managed to stay upright as she held the arm that Hibiki had thrown forward.
Her left. The moment she began to gently hold Hibiki’s hand, all of the fight in her vanished like fire in a rainstorm. Slowly, Maria began to crouch down to her level, and tentatively reached out. Hibiki flinched, and so Maria stopped, brought Hibiki’s hand up to cup her face, and began speaking instead.
“Hibiki, please, listen to me.” Recognition flashed through Hibiki’s eyes as Maria spoke. “Whatever you saw – I’m not going to make you see it again, okay? You’re okay now.”
“M-Maria-s-san…?” Hibiki’s voice cracked.
“You’re okay. I promise.” Maria spoke softly as she slowly, gently drew her into an embrace. The shoulder of her night gown grew wet as she began rubbing circles into Hibiki’s back, with only one thought crossing her mind the entire time.
We’ll get you the help you need, Hibiki. I promise.