This story was inspired by Jormungand
Yggdrasil
You ask how am I neither evil nor good
I stand at the boundary, between those two.
Keep me by your side, you always should
I was born every day, I will rise tomorrow too.
I go by many epithets, Ouroboros, Chimera, Leviathan,
A monarch of the death, they even call me Dullahan
I shake the world with my mighty fist and crafty wits
Exactly the type, the one that a powerful hates
The fruits are now ripe, and no more am I standing still
Affix the lands in unison—they call me Yggdrasil.
Chapter 1: This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race
It was when I was about thirteen or fourteen. I was the shortest, the youngest, and the weakest when I had met them—and her. I was hungry and wounded, wandering the streets of Serbia. I had abandoned my job as a mercenary after our unit started murdering families, including women and children, the old and the weak. It was about 36 hours of running away from my old unit after being shot once during the chase.
"Haa… haa… haa… ugh, damn it…" A boy with dark-navy, short hair and sharp eyes collapsed on to the ground with his back against a dumpster in a shady alley, breathing heavily and moaning from pain. He clenched his side with his hand. His uniform was already drenched in blood, and there were more oozing out between his fingers. Just when he was about to drift away unconscious—
"Aha, found him. Lucky~" Then, a woman stood over him, looking down. She was dressed formally, with heels and a business suit. He immediately pulled out a handgun and pointed up at her, only to be stopped in an instant by a stronger man who was by her side. Another man, a taller one with black, unruly hair and squinty eyes, had pulled out his gun also in a flash while simultaneously covering the girl with his body.
"Huh, so he still had some strength left, pretty impressive for a kiddo. Daichi, you can let him go now."
"Carefree as always, Ojou." The taller man, Kuroo, said as he grinned. He still had his gun pointed at the boy, however.
"Ojou, you almost got shot." The heavier built man said as he reluctantly moved his hands away from the boy, taking away his handgun.
"Nah, he knows better than to shoot a defenseless, pretty woman." She chuckled. "After all, a wounded animal's only defense is to intimidate with his fangs and claws without actually being able to use them."
The boy gritted his teeth. "What the hell do you want?"
"Kageyama Tobio, a used-to-be mercenary for the White Eagles, or the Avengers, until when they started relentlessly killing civilians and you just ended up running away with a bullet to your side. I can tell when I look at your eyes. You have the eyes of a tired soldier, stressed out by warfare and death." She said as she walked even closer to him with a smile on her face.
"Wh-Who the fuck are you?" He said, even more cautious and annoyed by the fact that a stranger knows his background—even the most recent ones that occurred in a warzone.
"Your savior, your new boss, and owner." She grinned and leaned forward. "In exchange for saving your life, I want you to join me. It's a pretty sweet deal considering I can help you leave this country, no harms done. Well, except for that one bullet to your side that was already there." She then held out her hand. "So, what do you say?"
Kageyama looked at her suspiciously. Of course, in this circumstance, anyone with a right mind would find this crackhead woman suspicious. They've only just met, but she's willing to take risks in saving him, who was being targeted by an entire unit of paramilitary. And not only that, she wanted him to work for her. What exactly does she do? On the contrary, does she even know what he's capable of? He studied her face carefully—but all he could make out of her expression was a carefree smile. How old was she? She doesn't look much older than him. She'd make a charming lady had he met her someplace else where it's not a warzone. He then glanced at the two men behind her, who were dressed like civilians, but had guns in their hands, ready to fire at him as soon as he caused a threat. In this case, his best interest was to blindly trust the weird lady in front of him.
"…I'll join you." He grabbed her hand ad she broke out into a wider smile, her eyes arching as well.
"I knew you'd be smart enough. You're quick to think things through. Daichi, Kuroo. Support him up." She said as she pulled out her phone and dialed a number. "Bokuto, we're ready. We're about five hundred feet east from the intersection in front of the bar. Bring everyone in the vans, we're leaving asap."
"Yes ma'am!"
Within a minute, three vans screeched into a stop in front of the alley, picked them up, and headed straight to the airport. They all boarded the plane and met up inside. The plane soon took off, away from the warzone.
"Oya?" A man with silver hair and black streaks that were gelled up said upon seeing the new face. "Ojou, who is this kiddo? He isn't doing so well."
"Everyone, from now on, he will be your new teammate. He'll be joining us as of today." She said as she sat down on one of the seats. "Suga, take care of his wounds."
"Got it."
"Hey, a new recruit? Nice to meet ya, I'm Noya. Nishinoya Yuu. Are you Japanese? What's your name?" A boy that looked rather young and bright to be a part of a mob with machine guns said.
"Kageyama Tobio."
"Ooooh, so he's the one you've been looking for huh, Ojou?" Noya's eyes sparkled and said.
"I told ya I'd find him." She grinned.
"I didn't get your name." Kageyama said, looking at the girl, still suspicious. Suga, a boy with a mole under his eye, was now tending to his wounds.
"Ah, how rude of me, my apologies." She said. "I'm Sera. Kurobana Sera."
"And just what are you."
"You see, I am an arms dealer. I simply sell and trade weapons, and I'm quite good at it if I must say so myself. Where there is a seed of warfare, you will see me there. Now, Tobio. You've been trained for war all your life but you hate wars. You hate weapons. But what can you do? This is your only way of survival. But you threw away your job merely 48 hours ago and now they're after your head. But do not worry, I'm here." She looked into his eyes.
"And how are you so confident that you can protect me from them?"
"Oh, trust me. They wouldn't dare attack us." Another boy with his hair shaved said. "Or else we'll have their heads. Right Ojou?"
"Ryuu, it sounds oddly villainous when you put it that way." She chuckled. "Now, Tobio. Although I asked you before to join me, I'm giving you an option to choose since you know more about my background now. It's not an easy task. It may be even more dangerous than your previous job. Either you work with us, become a part of our… family," she said, pouring a cup of juice, "or simply continue to run away. I'll at least let you off in China. You'll be able to hide nicely somewhere there. Don't worry, we're all nice people. Well, only to each other and people we like."
They all laughed.
"You'll learn more about the world when you follow me around. And of course, you'll be paid for your service, like everyone else here. It's not a bad pay either. So, what's your decision, young soldier? My world isn't much prettier than your previous one; but that's exactly why I consider you a good fit. Come with me, Kageyama Tobio. Will you walk alongside me?" After taking a gulp of the juice to show that it wasn't poisoned, she handed him the cup. Kageyama stared at the cup intently. He then took the cup, and gulped it down.
"I'll be in your care."
"Sera, 390 seconds ETA." A man with blond hair but black roots and cat-like eyes said. He was sitting in front of a desk with two other people, on their laptops, and headsets on their heads.
"Good. Kenma, put up one more satellite for a back-up communication."
"Okay." Kenma then started typing at an extremely fast speed.
The woman, with black hair, moderate height, pale skin, and a smile that seed to hide a thousand stories, rose out of a couch which was facing a huge window looking down the cityscapes of nighttime in Shanghai. She crossed her arms and looked far out into the distance, where the mountains blackened in contrast to bright city lights rested. After leaving Serbia, they reached Shanghai, where one of the many branches of Kurobana Sera's company was located. An arms dealer uses time efficiently; after setting afoot on Shanghai, the team prepared for another mission. Kageyama Tobio was left out of the mission to oversee instead of taking part, as it was impossible to synchronize with a whole team after just meeting them. He glanced over to the person who was in charge of everything.
She was definitely too young—but her swiftness and elegance in running her team weren't those of a novice. 'How much older could she possibly be? She doesn't look more than twenty, twenty-two, at most. Is she the only one running the business?' Questions kept on popping up in his head when he studied the girl closely. She turned around, and their eyes met. Slightly taken aback and embarrassed for staring so much, Tobio avoided her gaze, a pink blush creeping up on his cheeks.
"You seem to have a lot of questions, Tobio." She came and said, throwing an arm around his shoulders.
"N-Not really."
"Come, I have lots to tell you." She said and half-dragged him to stand in front of the windows. "What do you see, Tobio?"
"Lights."
"And where do lights come from?"
"Huh…?" He crooked his head sideways a bit. Where was she getting at?
"People in this city pay electricity bills to light up their buildings. Theoretically, resources and businesses in charge of resources are conglomerates—entities that are considered a unit and a group, but something that remain separate and distinct."
"I see." He answered. He had learned something new.
"But, here's the catch—what if I told you, there's a bigger monster behind that conglomerate? A monster so ferocious and big that even the government cannot handle?"
"A bigger… monster?"
"Yup. And what we're doing tonight—" she looked down at him, still having her arm thrown around him. Tobio looked up to face her as well. She was smiling. "Is raiding the monster."
Tobio felt a chill run down his back. It wasn't fear, but he was certainly intimidated. What made her so intimidating? Her audacity? Her determination?
"Now, Tobio. You seem like a smart kid. How will an arms dealer profit from raiding a monster that controls the electricity and water bills, assuming that the monster is monopolizing these things?" She asked. "After all, my main job is selling weapons, which has nothing to do with water or electricity."
"Well, it's certainly not related directly… but you want to cut the roots that get in the way of your business." His eyes glinted, looking straight into her eyes. "Maybe they're monopolizing your location of interest."
Her smile widened. "AMAAAZING, TOBIO! I KNEW YOU COULD FIGURE IT OUT!" She full-out embraced him, burying his head into her chest, rubbing her cheeks against the top of his head. Tobio was extremely uncomfortable—and embarrassed as well.
"Please let me go, um… Sera." He said. He didn't quite settle on how he was going to call his new boss, so he went with what he first remembered.
"I'm so touched that you finally called me by my name~" She gasped and squealed. Kenma, who was in the same room, cleared his throat a little bit. "Huhu~ see Tobio, it's all a butterfly effect." She said, loosening her arms and patting his head. "Those bills build up and affect bigger things, such as taxes, government funding, mortgage… the more they charge the government and civilians for utilities, the harder it is for my clients, who happen to be both the government and civilians, to become flexible with price. The monster eats away government's money little by little, taxes rise little by little. And guess who has to pay the sales tax? It's us. Usually, if we're doing business under the table, then this wouldn't matter… but this time we are. And the majority of the taxes we pay are going to end up feeding the monster. So conclusively, we're doing this so we profit the most in the end."
"I see."
"These are the things that we deal with, Tobio. Although… it's not our top priority." She said as she walked back to the couch with Tobio. "You're still young, Tobio. You're going to grow fast, and I want you to witness the world change."
"But you're still young too, Sera." He said. At that, Sera broke out into a fit of laughter.
"It's certainly different, hearing it from a little kid. I'd always hear old men in suits say that to me. You're right, I'm young in terms of age. But in terms of experience, I wouldn't quite say so." She grinned. Tobio gulped. She really meant what she said. "And don't be too disappointed later. I'm not exactly a saint either."
"ETA 30 seconds."
"Live footage streaming… now."
The monitor resting on the coffee table lit up. A recording of one of the team members started streaming.
Deep in those mountains—
"Ojou, we're at the warehouse. It seems like they're all here." A man with blond hair tucked back with a hairband was looking through a worn-down warehouse window with a night-vision binocular. It wasn't the only thing he had, however; he also had a chest holster and harness, each pocket filled with magazines, a knife strapped to his thighs, and a thin bulletproof vest. A well-groomed sideburn ran along his ear, and he had a built that a fight no man would easily dare.
He quietly said through the in-ear transmitter, waiting for an answer.
"Good. Now I'm leaving it up to you, Ukai-san. Do what you think fits."
"Roger. You heard the lady. Everyone form a ring around the warehouse. Eliminate everything on sight."
"Hey hey hey! I'm pumped!"
"Bokuto-san, not so loud. They'll hear us."
"Alright, everyone move in. Suga, punch it."
"Fire in the hole~"
With a click of a button, the surrounding areas of the warehouse ended up in flames.
"Let 'em have it."