A Rare Day Off

Chapter 10: To Forgive, Divine

Per usual: not my anime, not my characters, just my fanfiction.

No warnings except for suggestive situations and talk.

Please enjoy.

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Kuroko, Uiharu, and Saten all sat back; they didn't realize they had all been leaning forward until Misaka finished her story. Misaka looked wrung out.

Misaka sighed. "I'm going to take a bath to try to relax and give you all some privacy. Index can answer any questions you have, I give her permission." Misaka went into the bathroom and closed the door.

"Well," Saten said. "I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that."

"Gods and Misaka forgive me, but, at first, I thought she and the Ape were...together...and something had happened...you know..." Kuroko said, all red, "because she's so innocent about stuff like that..."

"You thought Misaka and Touma...and she was..." Index turned bright red.

"KUROKO!" cried Uiharu and Saten together, turning red.

"It was stupid and I was jealous because she was gone all night and would come back tired the next day! And her clothing would be all wrinkled and everything!"

"KUROKO!" cried Uiharu and Saten together again.

"Well, then she asked me what I would do if she had done something horrible to the city and I told her I would arrest her, of course, and she got sad. Then she never talked to me about anything again."

"Do you think she might have been reaching out to you and you scared her off?" asked Uiharu.

"I don't know, that was right before she disappeared, which was when she told us now, she was going to kill herself," Kuroko said sadly.

"I can't believe there is a force in the city that can produce a coverup of this magnitude," said Uiharu. "It boggles my mind."

"Misaka is very sincere in what she said," Index answers, "She is in horrible fear for all your lives simply by explaining herself to you all. Over ten thousand deaths covered up. The loss of that satellite thing covered up."

"Uiharu, how many people worked everyday on Tree Fall that would have to be contained to stop them from telling that the satellite is gone?" Kuroko asked.

Uiharu's eyes got huge. She nodded slowly. "Not just the scientists and techs, but the programmers, the other countries that track things in space...that's a lot of people to silence!"

Saten shivered, "I can see why Misaka was...and is terrified for us. Anyone that can silence not only that many people, but that many governments, could swat us like a bug and not think twice. Wouldn't even care."

"The thought that the mysterious "They" could have sent someone after us who even Misaka couldn't stop frightens me so much," Uiharu says. "Misaka said she still has nightmares about seeing him kill us. I've made up my mind. I will forgive her and hope she can forgive herself."

Index smiled brightly at Uiharu.

"You all know I love Sissy more than anything."

The others nodded.

"Last night she...confessed to me, in a way...it meant more to me than gold or diamonds."

"She confessed?!" Uiharu and Saten shouted.

"In a way. She said she loves me, but not in the same way I love her, and doesn't know if she can. But she also apologized then and now. I could tell her heart was broken last night about everything and I already had forgiven her then. Today changes nothing for me, except that my heart is broken that there was nothing we could have done to make her life easier during all the horrors she endured."