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"Give me the camera battery." Itadori says.
He takes the battery and some chemicals from Gojo's field kit.
They both gasp and burst into happy giggles as the impromptu carbon dioxide scrubber starts doing its thing.
"We have air, baby!" Itadori cheers.
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The Gravedigger has got them. Whoever the sick bastard is, they have his people. They have Dr Satoru Gojo, top forensic anthropologist of the Jeffersonian Institute, and Dr Yuji Itadori, an entomologist, mineralogist and botanist who worked under Gojo. They have his people, his anthropologist and his entomologist. His team. His Bones.
And, above all else, FBI Special Agent Suguru Geto does not let anyone take his people and make it out alive.
He paces the length of the platform, turns, and does it again agitatedly. The timer had run out about 10 minutes ago. They were out of air.
Snap out of it, Geto, he thinks, they're damn shrinks. They've probably worked out some genius way to clean the oxygen or something.
Miss Nobara Kugisaki sits typing at a computer rapidly. Everyone is stood around her desk as she uses the text Itadori had sent her to work out their location. Nobara is Dr Gojo's grad student, working as his assistant until she can get her doctorate.
"I know where they are." She turns to Geto, showing him her screen.
"Let's go then. Go, go go!" Geto says, ushering them all out of the lab.
We're coming, Bones. I'm coming. Don't die. God, don't let him die.
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Gojo places the makeshift explosive between the windscreen and the dash of the car.
"The dashboard should shape the charge and blow out the windscreen. If we're less than 4 feet underground." Gojo says, still holding the trigger. He turns back to Itadori.
"And if we're more than 4 feet under?" he asks, wincing from the gash on his leg. Gojo had fixed it up to the best of his ability, which was rather limited, given they were underground and in a dark, dirty car. Being run over was no fun, Yuji decided, but given their circumstances, it could be worse.
"Then the concussion from the blast will turn our brains to jelly." Gojo replies darkly.
"Good, then we can run for Congress." Itadori mutters. Even at a time like this, trust Yuji Itadori, conspiracy theorist supreme, to doubt the government of America.
"We should get as far away from the blast as we can."
"I already am." Itadori offers his hand. "Care to join me?"
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Geto hits the siren in his SUV, speeding through the dusty, abandoned Virginian valley. He stops sharply, pulling off his seatbelt and throwing open the door. Nobara and Megumi climb out of the backseat.
Other FBI vehicles pull up. Vega and his assistant get out of their car - they're the ones who know the most about the Gravedigger, they should be able to help.
"Alright, there should be evidence of them being buried. Look for depressions, mounds, tire tracks, anything." he calls to the other agents, who nod and start looking.
Nobara scans the terrain, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Dust, dirt and a sense of urgency fill the air. She's tense, searching faster and more thoroughly, hoping desperately to find something, anything, any sign of her friends.
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"Dr Satoru Gojo… it's been a priviledge." Itadori whispers in the dark backseat, already shrinking back in anticipation.
Gojo responds by wrapping his arms around him tightly.
"You too, Dr Itadori." he mumbles, pulling back and pressing the trigger.
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Geto sees the explosion.
He sees the dust fly up like a mushroom cloud. He watches as the dirt sprays everywhere.
He's almost not in control of his body as he flies down the side of the hill, clouds of sand trailing behind him as a testament to the sheer speed he's reaching. Megumi follows him, running faster than anybody has ever seen him move. Nobara catches up quickly.
Geto drops to his knees, shovelling with his hands.
"Bones? Bones? Bones!" he yells hoarsely as he finds his hand, takes it and manages to wrench him out, laying him down on the coarse ground.
"Find… find Itadori." Gojo whispers.
Nobara and Megumi have eased Itadori out, quickly discovering the long gash on his leg.
"Come on, Yuji…" Megumi mutters as they both hover over him.
Itadori coughs out some debris, then reaches up to gently stroke Nobara's forehead. She's worried about him, he can tell. Nobara quickly grabs onto his arm, smiling down at him.
Megumi leans forward and kisses Yuji desperately, pouring all his anxiety and relief and pure love into the gesture. He then leans back and laughs wetly, wiping the dust from his mouth.
Geto looks down at Gojo.
"Bones, you did it." he breathes.
"You found us." he replies, confused.
"Only because you and Itadori managed to message us."
"You cracked the code."
"That was all Nobara."
"You dug me out of the ground with your bare hands!"
"Which you wouldn't have been alive for me to do if you hadn't got more oxygen!"
"That was Itadori, he made a carbon di-"
Geto cuts him off by reaching down and pulling him into a kiss. There's 3 years of pining in it, twelve hours of fear and panic, and 15 minutes of relief. He pulls back, breathing heavily.
"Bones, listen to me. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for shrinky magic, alright? It was all you."
Gojo stares at him for a second.
"I wouldn't have used my 'shrinky magic' if I wasn't thinking about you waiting for me above the ground."
"Not even for Itadori?"
"Okay, maybe for him. But there might've been more self-sacrificing."
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Later on, outside the operating theatre, they all wait for news on Yuji's state. Megumi is anxiously pacing, eventually being tugged down to sit by Nobara.
"He's stable." says a nurse carefully, like that's a fragile word and they shouldn't take it to heart.
"I shouldn't have let him go to find you, Gojo. This is all my fault."
"Don't blame yourself, Megumi. I couldn't have survived without him."
Eventually, Itadori comes around and they all pile into his little room. His leg is in a cast, and he looks exhausted. But he smiles up at Megumi like he always does, a sweet thing reserved just for him. It lights up his face, making his eyes sparkle.
Megumi convinces the nurse to let him stay the night. Nobara takes the bus back to Itadori's house, being his roommate.
Geto insists on driving Gojo home.
In the dark, under the lights of the city, a conversation plays out.
"I think I love you, Bones."
"Love is a chemical reaction in your brain. But I don't doubt that you do, Agent Geto."