Hey guys! This is my first and ever Tegami Bachi fanfic! Now, I am a huge fan of Tegami Bachi after just learning about it and looking at all of the episodes in just a few days! I just wanna say that I fully support LagXZazie as much as you guys!
Zazie: *pukes* Hey can you say that? That's...that's just wrong, man!
Sylvette: That's right! Zazie can't love Lag because I love Lag even more!~ *glomps Lag*
Lag: *blushes* S-Sylvette...
Niche: *gets mad* Niche will not let anyone take advantage of Lag! Niche will KILL YOU!
Hope: 0.0 Anyways...here's the first chapter! Also, forgot to mention you guys, but Lag's gender will be switched! See ya!
Everyone: WAIT, WHAT?
"...Yodaku District, Southern Region 714...Coza Bel 3211..." spoke a young man with silvery white hair stuffed underneath his trademark cap. He was glancing at the paper he was holding and reading it carefully. He was standing on top of the edge of a cliff, looking up at the dark night sky full of skys that never goes out.
"...There's no mistake, it's definitely around here somewhere," he muttered to himself once more. "But even so, there seems to be a huge fire...and the place seems completely destroyed.
"Woof!" barked a dog's cry. "Woof! Woof! Woof!"
The young man noticed the cry and started walking towards his dog and asked, "What's wrong, Roda? Is it there?" As he started approaching his dog, he saw a strange looking post-sign. "That's a strange postal sign. Didn't the fire damage-"
He stopped walking once he saw his dog Roda near a body. A human body to be exact. The body happened to be an unconscious child wrapped in a long cloak and the child had short silvery hair. But most importantly, this child had a delivery label on her left arm while she was chained to the postal sign.
"This girl...is the letter?" wondered the young man outloud still staring at her. A strong gust of wind blew, lifting the young man and the small child's clothes up and made their hair fly in the air.
The scene changes and it shows a town with the bright sky covered with clouds.
"...I wonder...why the sky looks brighter than usual..."
Then, a child's hand and a grown hand touch it other and held together tightly, but full of care.
"Mom...this is Mom's hand...isn't it? Your hand...it's always so cold...
A young woman seems to be talking, but nothing comes out from her mouth.
"What? I...I can't hear you..."
The young woman seems to be sobbing with her mouth covered by her own hand.
"Mom? Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong? Please, don't cry!
A girl in a wheelchair is staring at the night sky. Her face is unclear because her back is turned.
"No...you're not...Mom..."
The girl turns around, tears overwellming with tears.
"Who...who are you?"
"Who are you? !" shouted the child quickly waking up and sitting up.
There was silence...until the young man from before said, "Oh, sorry! I'm Gauche Suede! 18 years old! I'm currently trying to open a can of soup that I bought at a marketplace in Yuusari! It's mostly just broth, but it comes in three flavors and it's easy to carry. And-" The dog from before, the one called 'Roda,' went up to its master. Gauche coughed before saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm not very good at talking! This here is my dingo, Roda."
He pointed to his white dog, who had a purplish, pinkish scarf around it. He continued, "In my line of work, 'Dingo' means partner and a friend, Lara Seeing."
The girl was startled, and hesitatly grabbed a long stick and hid behind the huge rock behind her. Gauchen and Roda noticed the girl shaking like a leaf while clutching the stick, and tears coming from her eyes.
"W-why do you know my name?" the little girl asked, scared and frightened. "A-are you one of those creeps who took my mom away to that light?"
"'That light?'" questioned Gauche confused. "Do you mean...that your mother was taken to the capital, Akatsuki?"
"G-give her back!" yelled the little girl called Lara. "Give Mom back! GIVE HER BACK!" While she was yelling, she began swinging her stick at the air and tears were flowing down her cheeks.
Gauche sat up and started opening the can of soup with a can opener. "I don't know what happened, Lara Seeing, but it seems that your heart still hasn't recovered. Please calm down and eat some soup. Also, I happen to know your name by the delivery form stuck on your left arm."
Lara glanced at her left arm and saw some kind of paper attached to her left arm. "Delivery form?" She dropped the stick and examined her left arm carefully.
"Contents: Person-Albisian. Age:7. Female. Fragile. Lara Seeing. I usually deliver letters, but this time, it's a person."
"Who...exactly are you?" asked the little girl curiously.
"Do you not know about the Bee Occupation? I'm a Bee, a member of the Amberground national postal service. We are also know as 'Letter Bees.'"
"Letter...Bee?"
"We travel from town through town around the countryside, and are fearless of any danger, and deliver precious letters to our citizens." Gauchen pointed to himself in the chest and shouted, "And that, precisely, is the job of a Letter Bee!...Well, that is what it says in the manual. anyways. Do you understand the situation you're in right now?"
Even though he was a complete stranger, and this was the first time she met him, Lara felt that she needed to answer him and nodded.
"Good girl! Now, your delivery form has the appropriate postage stamp. Therefore, I now consider you a package to be delivered! However, it is not neccassary for me to find out the contents of the letter, so I don't need to know anything about you, nor am I curious. So it's fine if you don't want to talk about it. If you understand, let's be on our way, Lara Seeing."
Then again, Lara was unsure whenever to really trust this man or not. After all, her mother was nowhere to be found, and she was left alone with a Letter Bee and his dog. Then, she felt a shadow loom over her and felt herself being picked up by the underarms and lifted up into Gauche's arms.
"Wha-? Put me down! I can walk by myself!" cried Lara throwing her arms and kicking her legs around.
"Don't worry. I'm only doing my job," the older man explained while walking away with the small girl in his arms.
"Let me go! Where are you even taking me?"
"The address is 'Yodaka District, Southern Region 624137-22, 109 Cambel Litus.' And it's addressed to a Mrs. Sabrina Mary."
"Savrina? The old lady who lived in our neighborhood? My aunt?"
"And the person who sent the letter was none other than 'Anne Seeing.'"
Lara was literally shocked and didn't believe Gauche's words right from the start. Her mother, sent her away to her aunt. Sure her aunt wasn't mean or cruel, but why? Lara didn't do anything wrong, yet why was she being sent like this? Especially being sent by a strange guy and his dog who could be working under the guys who kidnapped her mother!
"No...Mom?" she whispered. "Why...? That's...not true...! Mother wouldn't...do that...! It's all because of them-"
"Lara Seeing, stop!" yelled Gauche, "As I said earlier, Letter Bees are not supposed to look in the contents of letters! That's a story to be told until after we reach your destination-"
"It's those bad guys..." muttered Lara, stopping Gauche. "...That came from the light...Mother would never...throw me away..." As Lara was mumbling, Gauche noticed that his Letter Bee uniform was getting soak by the girl's tears and that Lara was clutching onto his uniform while sobbing quietly.
Gauche did nothing to comfort the girl but looked out into the field as the wind started blowing softly past the three of them.
Later...
"Can you put me down now?" asked Lara polietly trying to make herself as cute as possible to convince the older man.
"Will you walk without giving me trouble?"
"Yup!" Afterwards, Gauche carefully placed Lara down on the her feet. Then, he opened a map and started reading outloud.
"Let's see...we're now heading towards Cambel, the southernmost city in Yodaka. But the difficult part is the reach of the darkness or the Gaichuu."
"Gai...chuu...?"
"They're extremely ferocious and dangerous creatures tha inhabit the areas of darkness between towns. They react to people's hearts, instinctualy attacking them. And they have a body covered in armor harder than steel that can even cause bullets to ricochet off."
"Is that one of them?" asked Lara innocently pointing behind Gauche. Gauche turned around and saw a larg gigantic bug on top of a cliff, staring down at them with its large purple pinkish eyes.
"Yes! That's the one! Gaichuu!"
"What?" screamed Lara shocked that they even encountered one so quickly. The Gaichuu then leaped off the cliff and was about to land down on top of those two if Gauche hasn't grabbed Lara and jumped out of the way. After Lara, Gauche, and Roda were safe, Gauche placed Lara down.
"It's huge!" shouted Lara more shocked at its size.
"That's called a 'Daikiri Gaichuu,'" explained Gauche. "I'm surprised it's grown this huge."
Then, Roda charged towards the Daikiri with full speed ahead. The Daikiri stomped one claw on top of her, but Roda dodged just in time.
"Hey!" said Lara turning to Gauche. "Your dog's in danger!"
"Don't worry," ensured Gauche. "It's a combo attack where Roda acts as the decoy to distract it, while I aim for the openings for its joint points."
"The hurry up and do it, or else she'll be a goner!"
"This is all part of my job, so please stay quiet for a moment. If my concentration slips, the bullet loses its power."
"But you said earlier that bullets have no effect on Gaichuu!"
"Don't worry. This is a special anti-Gaichuu gun. A shindanjuu." Gauche lifted up his shindanjuu and the black stone on it began glowing.
'The stone's glowing,' thought Lara in astonishment. Then, she noticed the Daikiri approaching them closer and closer. "It's coming this way!" shouted Lara.
"Shindan loaded," muttered Gauche preparing his shindanjuu. "Kurobari!" Gauche fired his shindanjuu, which releashed a black ray and hit the Gaichuu's neck, making the armor dissable itself and defeating the bug inside.
After the fight was over, Lara just stood there, in shock of what happened, then noticed some white stars falling from the night sky slowly and softly, like they were clouds falling from the sky to the ground. They were beautiful, and even as pure as the color of snow. Roda and Gauche were also staring up the stars as well, also astonished by the sight of them as if they've never seen stars before.
Later...
"I'm tellin' you! I heard it!" cried a certain female voice. Lara, Gauche, and Roda were now eating dinner which happened to be soup and the trio were gathered around in a campfire. "I'm certain I heard the Gaichuu cry!"
"Scholars already proven that Gaichuu have no heart!" argued Gauche. "And just eat the rest of the soup, please, Lara Seeing!"
Lara looked at her can of soup and started tasting it, only to find it disgusting and gross than anything else. She thought with a digusted look on her face, 'Blech! It tastes awful!'
Gauche noticed Lara's "I'm gonna puke" face and shouted, "Hey! Don't complain and just started eating it! Otherwise, you won't grow well!"
Lara glanced at Gauche with an angry and pouting look on her face, which Gauche thought it was adorable. "Yeah, right! Yell all you want, I'm not scared of you!" Lara noticed Gauche's dingo also with a digusted look on her face and quickly grabbed the poor dog. "See? Even Roda thinks so too!"
"Roda, too?" asked Gauche shocked. "Jeez...I just shot a shindan, so can you at least give me a bit of consideration, Lara Seeing?"
"Eh? And what's with that weird gun from before?"
"Normal guns won't work against the hard armor covering the Gaichuu," Gauche started explaining. "Therefore, each Letter Bee carries various weapons to oppose the Gaichuu." He showed his own anti-Gaichuu weapon to Lara. "This is called the shindanjuu." Next, he showed her a golden bullet. "And this is the bullet it shoots."
Lara took it and examined it carefully. "What's this? It's empty inside."
"Correct. It's empty, but it's not a physical bullet. The bullets shot out of this gun are fragments of my heart, Lara Seeing."
"Fragments...of your own heart?"
"The only way to defeat the Gaichuu is to resonate 'heart' from within their armor. Do you know about this black stone set in my shindanjuu?" Gauche gave Lara his shindanjuu he used to defeat the Gaichuu.
"This thing...it was glowing eariler," said Lara.
"It was said that the spiritual energy of the land resided within the bodies of tiny insects in the past. Those so-called insects were trapped in resin because they possessed this energy. The stones that underwent this change into amber are called Spirit Amber, which this black stone is another one of them." Lara gave him back the bullet and gun and then he continued, "I can use my own heart as a weapon through the power of the stone in my gun. However, using your heart weakens it." He then opened his bag and got out an apple. "Just as food would decrease-"
"Hey! That's an apple!" cried Lara pointing to the food. "How come you get only an apple?"
"Like I said, when you shoot your shindan, your heart gets tired, so-" Gauche never got to finish his sentence, because the poor hungry girl snatched the apple started gobbing the it like crazy. "Heyy!"
While Lara was eating, she asked, "What could happen?"
"W-what do you mean?" asked Gauche still shocked over what happened when the gluttonious girl ate the apple completely.
"Like, if your heart was eaten up,just like this apple..."
Gauche was startled at the questione, but decided to answer it anyways. "If one ends up shooting their entire heart, then the body will be all that's left. Gauche Suede would surely disappear."
Lara looked at Gauche, then at the gun he uses for defeating Gaichuus. "Hey, about this spirit amber thing, are there other colors, like pure red?"
"Red, you say? Well, there are various types of colors depending on the insect, but I'm not sure about red." Then, he relaized he was speaking too much and said, "I'm talking too much, and I can't discuss this with an outsider." He stood up. "I guess I must really be tired. Let's call it a day and get some rest."
After Gauche went to put out of the campfire, Lara looked at his shindajuu with a look of determination in her eyes. She thought, 'If only I had a weapon like this...then I could have protected Mom!' Then, like her prayers have come true, the black spirit amber on Gauche's shindajuu started glowing white rapidly. Roda barked for Gauche and her master looked up and saw what was going on.
"Lara!" he shouted getting up quickly. "Shit! A shindan's been loaded! The amber's power is starting to rise!" Then, the older Letter Bee realized that things were going to get worse if she kept this up. "Lara! Let go of the gun!" But even with Gauche's cried, Lara kept screaming and even the gun fired on its own. Then, Gauche ordered his dingo, "Roda! Get the gun!"
After Roda got the gun in her teeth, a ray sliced the skin in Gauche's right cheek, stinging it really badly.
Scene changed to a house that was caught on fire, then a woman being encountered by some strange looking men. Next shows Lara, who asks, "Wait, who are you? And where are you taking Mom?"
These...are Lara's memories...
"Where are you taking Mother?" demanded Lara standing in front of the strange people's way. Then, one man shoved Lara out of the way, making her injured when she hit the ground on her back.
One of the men ordered, "Set fire on the house."
"Yes sir!" shouted some of the men rushing to do the job.
Fragments...of Lara's memories from..her heart...
"Stop it!" cried Lara with tears running down her cheeks while staring at the burning house full of flames. Next shows Lara's mother near the fireplace inside the house which hasn't been burned...yet.
I see...the memory of her mother...they've lived alone for a long time...and her mother raised her all by herself...
"No..." muttered Lara struggling to get up from the damages she took from the strange men. "Please... don't take her away..." The carriage carrying the men and Lara's mother began driving away. "No...don't take Mother away...!"
"Mother..." muttered Gauche with tears in his eyes.
"WOOF!" barked Roda. When Gauche realized that his dingo has been barking at him for quite some time, he noticed Lara, who was unconscious.
"Oh no...Lara!" He grabbed his shindajuu and fired it, creating some light surrounding the area.
Several hours later...
"Ngh..." mumbled Lara before slowly opening her eyes. Her first sight was Gauche, who was missing his trademark cap and his Letter Bee jacket. Then, Lara realized she was covered up by Gauche's jacket for a more use of a blanket. She heard rain pouring down hard outside. She assumed they were inside some cave, due to the background and the sound of rain outside.
Gauche noticed the girl finally awakening and ordered, "Don't move, Lara. It's safe here. Please rest a bit longer."
"What happened...?"
"Though I don't know the cause, the power of the spirit amber suddenly increased and the shindanjuu fired on its own. It's said that there is still undiscovered spirit amber underground Amberground. Perhaps it resonated through another amber vein in these mountains. After all, there are many ways to use a shindan. I shot you with one. A shindan that recovers the heart. However, I'm not skilled with that one. And I'm not sure if it worked." He stopped his sentence right away, after sensing that Lara was fast asleep and not even listening to a word he said.
Lara snuggled deeply in the jacket Gauche gave her and held it tightly, like she might lose it. She began snoring, but it wasnt a usual loud snore you normally hear from people. It was actually a soft and quiet snore that was almost never heard. The fact is, she looked like an innocent child and she could be one, unless she took care of her complaints. Anyways, Gauche thought she looked cute even when she was mad and she almost resembled his sister.
"Goodnight, Lara," whispered Gauche. "You used too much heart today." He thought back, 'So her mother...that's what it feels like?' He took out a picture of a girl from his shirt and thought more about how he got in touched with her memories.
Roda got worried and walked towards Gauche with a concerned look on her face. Gauche noticed and ruffled her fur. "I'm okay Roda. Thanks." Then, both he and his dingo sensed large numbers of Gaichuu approaching and got up. "Since we sent out that heart firework, hundreds of Gaichuu probably appeared. I'll be working partime, but..." Gauche put on his trademark cap and had his gun at ready.
"That is the job of a Letter Bee."
Scene changes to the same town from before.
"Here...again...?"
Then, the town was brightly covered in light and everything seems normal.
"And a town covered in twilight.."
In town, there shows many people gathering around, chatting happily and shopping.
"And so much people too..."
Next shows Gauche buying something in some supermarket. He appears to be buying some cans of soup.
"Gauche? And that disgusting soup too!"
Gauche and some other female Letter Bee were shopping in the marketplace. Gauche ordered, "20 cans, please!"
"Gauche, you're buying too much, you know?" asked the Letter Bee besides him. "Besides, the cans on the right look tasty."
"Aria!" cried Gauche. "I thought the ones on the left look more tastier."
"Hmph! Then I guess I'll have to buy those then. And this is just to celebrate your promotion, okay?"
"T-thanks, Aria Link!"
"Next time, we'll celebrate properly!" After Aria handed Gauche the bag full of soup cans, she said, "I'll get lonely, but you've been working so hard..." Tears appeared at Aria's eyes. "So...congratulations!
Next scene shows the same girl that Lara saw before. It seems that she and Gauche are brothers and sisters, since they look so much alike. Either that or they're cousins.
"Promotion?" questioned the girl surprised.
"That's right, Sylvette!" exclaimed Gauche puting on his tie. "After I finish my next delivery, I'll be promoted and sent away from Yuusari to the captial Akatsuki! I know that we'll be separated for a while, but it's alright. Because as soon as I can, I'll send for you! I won't let you worry about being poor anymore! Because your big brother will become Head Bee in Akatsuki! After I become Head Bee, I'll definitely find a way to cure your legs! I'll work hard and earn tons of money! Our parents are here anymore but-"
He paused his sentence, because Sylvette was nowhere to be found. "Sylvette...?" He finally found her in her room, staring at the night cry with tears silently flowing down her cheeks. He reahced out his hand to her and she grabbed it softly.
"Syl...vette..."
Lara's eyes opened slowly the second time that day. She looked at her hand, like she was expecting someone to hold it like what she saw in that last scene. The little girl looked around her and saw that Gauche and Roda were nowhere to be found.
"Gauche? Roda?" called out Lara, standing up quickly and grabbing the jacket that she used for a blanket. She walked around a bit and finally found both of them at the cave entrance, unconscious and injured. "Gauchen! Roda!" Then, Lara stopped and looked outside at the sky. It was filled of pure white stars falling from the sky once again. But more importantly, she noticed lots of defeated Gaichuu with their armor shattered and scattered all over the place. She was surprised at the number of broken armor laying about in the battlefield. There were that many Gaichuu and Roda and Gauche fought them off anyways?
Wait, now was not the time to freak out over how many Gaichuu there were! After all, both Gauche and Roda are really badly injured, and exhausted! Lara had to drag the two of them back inside the cave carefully so that she wouldn't wake them up. Then, she opened up Gauche's bag and started looking for some medical aid kit. Yes, she was skilled in first aid since her mother taught her, and she knew looking into someone else's bag is wrong, but this was a serious crisis. Lara then removed Gauche's shirt, blushing at the sight of his abbs, then carefull started bandaging the parts that were injured. After that, it was Roda's turn to be cured.
Once Lara was done, she had used up almost all the first aid equipment neccassary. She thought, 'Wow, they have really low first aid equipment. I wonder if they even bought more before heading on this journey.' She covered Gauche and his dingo with Gauche's jacket. And if that wasn't enough, she also used her own cloak to cover them up more. This was her way of saying thanks, after all, they were the ones who saved her.
The next day...
"Ne, what's a Head Bee?" questioned Lara curiously.
"...What...?"
"Head Bee! I said, Head Bee! What is it?"
"...I see. You saw something after I shot you with that shindan yesterday. Head Bee is the one who holds the highest rank amongst the Letter Bees."
"So, they're like the captain of the Letter Bees or something?"
"Captain? Well, perhaps. They say there is no letter they can't deliver. Right now, there's only one Head Bee with that title. Other than important government deliveries, the Head only works in the capital, so I haven't even seen him yet. He's the one we Letter Bees aim for."
Lara started walking around and thinking really hard. Gauche asked her, "You didn't see anything else, did you?" Lara jumped on top of a rock, then turned to him with a grin on her face. "W-what's with that face?"
"That Sylvette girl is so KAWAII!~" sang Lara with glitters sparkling in her eyes with a more wide grin in her face. "I wish I could be as cute as her!~ How old is she?"
"She's 7 years old, the same age as you...wait, you even saw my little sister?"
Lara didn't answer that question as she leaped off the rock and started running down the road a bit. Then, she turned around and asked, "Gauche, you loooovvveee Aria, right?~ Did you go out with her?~" Without waiting for Gauche's reply, she continue running down the road. "Have you kissed her yet? Well? Have ya?~" Roda finally managed to catch up with Lara. "Did you rub her boobies?~"
Again, without waiting for his answer, Lara and Roda took off together, leaving Gauche in the dust. "...Jeez, this is why children are so hard to handle."
Both his dingo and Lara stopped moving, and Lara turned to Gauche, smiling down at him. "Don't worry, Gauche!~ You'll become Head Bee one day!~"
Gauche stopped at his tracks. He couldn't believe what he just heard. The annoying girl that whines about soup is actually encouraging him for once? And here he thought she was just going to keep teasing him about Aria or Sylvette!
Lara continued encouraging him, "The woman who runs the bread shop used to say it all the time: 'It's the jerks who'll get promoted!'"
The again, maybe she was just teasing him all this time.
During their travels to Lara's location, they encountered many events, like facing Gaichuu. During dinner, Lara and Roda would complain about the pukey soup and immediantly spit it out, shocking and upsetting Gauche. After dinner, Lara would go to sleep like any obediant little girl would and Gauche would watch over her until he fell asleep.
One time, Roda and Lara were trying to endure eating the soup, but it still tastes as nasty as ever. "It's still pukey..." Lara muttered.
"Please bear with it. I don't have any other food," pleaded Gauche sipping the soup like it was nothing.
'You had that apple before. How can you call that nothing?' thought Lara. "But me and Roda can't stand this disgusting soup!"
Gauche sighed and stood up. "I suppose it can't be helped then." Next thing you know, Lara and Gauche were both hiding behind a rock, spying on a strange white lizard creature crawling in the area.
"Gauche-"
"Shh!" hissed Gauche putting two fingers to his lips, signaling Lara to keep quiet.
"Hey, what would happen if you used a shindan?"
"Sometimes, you have to train the body to train the mind," explained Gauche quietly. "Don't worry, though! For I-" Gauche leaped from his hiding spot and towards the white creature. "-Will finally catch one today!" Unfortunely, the white creature slipped away before Gauchen could catch it and the Letter Bee fell down facedown.
Epic fail.
When Gauche opened his palms, he realized that he didn't catch the white creature. Lara, being the elegant lady she is, didn't even bother helping out Gauche with the Operation: Capture white creature. Instead, both of them had to eat digusting soup that night, with Gauche loving it, and Lara suffering from it.
A few minutes later, Roda came back with the white creature in her mouth. The same white creature they tried to catch to be exact. One second after they saw Roda and the strange lizard, Gauche and Lara cheered and quickly began cooking it.
Later, after they finished their feast of lizard, Lara grabbed her cloak before saying, "Goodnight," to both Gauche and Roda.
While the young girl was trying to find a good spot to sleep in, Gauche called to her," Lara Seeing." She turned to him and he continued, 'It'll be quite cold tonight. I'm not used to the cold, so would you like to sleep together with us tonight?"
Lara was surprised at his request, then heat flooded her cheeks. She hid her blushing face and said, "I...I don't really mind."
As soon as Lara sat next to Gauche and Roda, the trio looked up at the sparkling stars up in the dark night sky. "The stars are much brighter than I thought," admitted Gauche. "If we make haste, we might be able to reach Cambel Litus by tommorow."
"Really? Tommorow?" asked Lara excited.
"Yes." Lara grew silent, and the tried to snuggle herself with her cloak as a blanket. Gauchr asked another question, "Do you have anyone you would like to write a letter to, Lara?"
"No, never."
"Then, at least, one day, please try writing one."
"Why? I don't need to write a letter."
"Even a single word is fine. As long as there is someone wh will shead a single tear when they recieve it."
"Even...a single word?"
"People who live far away, letters are like the 'heart' of the people who write to them."
"WOOF! WOOF!" barked Roda at the edge of a cliff. Lara stood up and saw small fluffly white flowers falling slowly and softly down to the ground.
"It's the fluff from the chippa flowers that bloom of the white flowers in Jose's white desert. It means we will soon exit the mountain pass," explained Gauche.
But Lara wasn;t paying attention to the flowers anymore. She was more concerned about her mother, and the light that took her away. "The light...is so far away. ...What is a letter anyways?"
Gauche noticed the girl's tone so serious and Lara continued, "What about Mother? If... if you can send letters, send one to Mom!" Lara turned to him with tears wellming in her eyes. "Once we get to Cambel, I'll never see Mother again! After this, you'll be working in Akatsuki, right? Then take me to the capital! Take me with you to Akatsuki, Gauche! If I go to Akatsuki, I can find out who those bad guys who took Mother are! And I could even find Mother!"
"Lara...Unless you're called from into service by the government and obtain a crossing permit, those from Yodaka cannot cross the bridge to the Yussari Area," explained Guaren calmly. "What's more, only a few selected of the upper-class are able to obtain crossing permits into Akatsuki."
"But, you don't have one, Gauche?"
"You did slightly touched my memories from that shindan, right? Maybe that's why you're sprouting nonsense. But you probably wouldn't understand it just by that." Gauche pulled out a crossing pass and continued, " You couldn't possibly understand the burden of carrying this capital crossing permit. Even I must accumulate more work in order to send my entire family to Akatsuki. My sister has to stay in Yuusari for a bit longer."
Lara, confused and furious and Gauche's response, asked angrily, "Then why did those bad guys take Motherto Akatsuki?"
"That, I don't know. However, if she did in fact cross the bridge, it might not be as bad as it seems."
"But-"
"As I already explained, Lara Seeing, your circumstances are none of my concern. I cannot act as a close friend and become your strength."
As Gauche started walking away, Lara spoke up, "So...you're saying we can't be friends?"
"Getting you to Cambel, a letter, and unscathed, is the enterity of my job," replied Gauche stopping for a moment to answer her question. More tears appeared in Lara's eyes and started flowing down her cheeks She couldn't believe the older Letter Bee had told her that harshly and calmly. Didn't he understand how she felt and the situation they were in?
"I...I hate you so much! In fact, I hate all you Letter Bees!" screamed Lara wiping her tears away with her sleeve.
Gauche silently stared at her and finally said, "I don't mind if you don't like me. That is not a part of my job. Right, now please go to sleep. Tommorow, we will aim for Cambel at last. For now, rest your body and heart."
Lara sniffed her nose and dragged her cloak away with her while wiping her tears away. Gauche felt sorry for the girl, but getting friendly or not was not part of his job. Gauche closed his eyes and let the darkness take him.
Later...
Gauche woke up suddenly, forehead filled with sweat. He had an awfully strange dream, where he thought his sister Sylvette was crying and sitting in her usual wheelchair, but it happened to be Lara who was crying instead. Come to think of it, Sylvette and Lara do look a bit alike.
Wait, what was he saying? Anyways, where was Roda and Lara anyways? Gauche noticed that his shindanjuu was gone as well. "Shit! She took my gun as well!"
"That cold-hearted bastard, Gauche!" Lara angrily muttered marching with Gauche's gun in her hands. "My job this, my job that! I was stupid to trust a guy like that!" She managed to steal Gauche's gun after he fell asleep and sneak away. Roda, who was worried about the girl, had to follow Lara for her safety, since the dingo cared so much for the girl. But not as much as her master, Gauche. Why didn't she just go back to Gauche and wake him up to chase Lara? Perhaps she has an affection for the girl as well.
"I'll go crazy with this weird gun and bust right through the bridge!" Lara again muttered. "The burden of the crossing pass? Yeah, right! I'll make it to Akatsuki without that pass!" She turned to Roda and ordered, "Don't follow me, Roda!"
After Roda stopped moving, she sniffed the air and sensed something wrong. While the dingo was looking around, Lara stopped on her tracks. "Huh? I think we passed this place when we came. Or maybe I should have taken the compass and map too-"
BOOM! "Aaaaggghhhh!" screamed Lara as she was falling down a deep hole that was somehow created in the sand beneath her feet. Roda came to the edge and barked, worried. Luckily, Lara managed to grab hold on the sand, thus stopping her fall. Lara started coughing and then turned her head around and saw-
"A GAICHUU!" she screamed clutching tightly onto the sand. Then, the Gaichuu started pressing its large claws onto the ground, making the sand surround it collaspe and flow right towards it. Lara started to climb up really fast, but the current and speed of the sand was too much and her grip on the sand started to loosen and she felt herself falling down and the Gaichuu aimed a spear at her, preparing to impale her with it.
Then, something swooped her up and held tightly to her. Lara opened her eyes and saw Gauche holding one hand around her waist and the other holding onto his scarf, which Roda was hanging onto with her teeth. The spear struck Gauche's left side, creating a large bloody cut.
Lara gasped at the wound Gauche now recieved. "Gauche! Roda!"
"Stay calm, Lara!" commanded Gauche. "That's the Gaichuu, Buckers! They shoot a spear from their lower jaw! However, it takes some time for them to shoot it again. Now, Lara! Steady the gun!"
"Huh?" questioned Lara with wide confused eyes.
"I'll pull the trigger! Please steady the gun."
"O-okay." Lara got out the gun and aimed it carefully towards the Bucker. The stone of the black spirit amber started illuminating once more and it's power increased.
'What is this? The spirit amber's power is increasing again!' thought Gauche looking at the glowing spirit amber in astonishment. "Loaded! Kurobari!" A black ray came from the shindanjuu and hit the Bucker on its back.
"Did it work?" questioned Lara unsure due to the smoke that formed after the attack. After the smoke cleared, the Gaichuu was still standing and endured the attack like it was nothing. It managed to retrieved its spear back too.
"It didn't work? But why?"
"From this distance, it's pretty difficult to shoot a shindan into the gaps of its joints," explained Gauche. "But if we barge in carelessly, we'll die." As he was explaining, the wound that he received started to stain his uniform and he started gripping his scarf tightly. "However, we don't have many options. It's do or die." He turned to Lara and instructed, "We'll jump the moment the Bucker shoots its spear from its jaw."
"But there's no way, Gauche!" cried Lara. "You're bleeding too much, and you can't even hold the gun properly!"
'Don't worry."
"But-"
"I'll be fine. Whatever happens, you will be delivered to Cambel. Lara, inside you, you are a letter. And inside this letter, holds all your feelings and wishes and hearts and dreams." As Gauche was talking, Lara's eyes blimmed with tears once more. "By risking my life, I'll defiently deliver you to Cambel! Because that's a job of a Letter Bee!"
The Bucker rose up and looked prepared to strike its spear. "Here it comes!" Gauche turned to Lara once again. "Lara, if you want to be strong, then be brave and hold the gun steady!"
Lara nodded, agreeing even when her eyes are filled with tears. The Gaichuu fired its weapon, which on that moment, Gauche let go of the scarf and both of them safely slid down the sand.
"Shindan loaded!" Suddenly, there was a red light surrounding both Gauche and Lara, surprising both of them. 'What? This light,' thought Gauche shocked. He looked at Lara and saw that her right eye was glowing red with an insect inside. 'Impossible! She has a red spirit amber as an artifical eye? So the shindan's power was increasing because it was resonating with Lara's eye?'
BAM! The Bucker began to strike its spear towards the two again, but this time, separating them. "Lara!" shouted Gauche as he landed on the hard ground. "Shoot! Just shoot!"
Lara opened her eyes and pulled the trigger. BANG! The shindanjuu shot out a red ray and struck the Bucker on the inside of its jaw, making it into a shattered piece of armor and defeating it. As the armored bug was shattering, a loud illunminated the area.
A young woman spoke in a gentle voice, "Lara...your left eye is a protective charm so that it may let you live...Because your life is a gift to me. It even gave me the joy of being a mother. I just wanted to stay like this...together...forever..."
Next scene shows Gauche and a crying Sylvette. Sylvette turned to her brother and begged, "I don't need a mom or dad or money or anything...I don't even care if I don't walk anymore...so please don't go! Stay...by my side...brother..."
Gauche's eyes fluttered open a few times before he was finally awake. He realized that he was being carried by his letter he was supposed to deliver and that Roda was right besides her. He didn't understand why Lara was carrying him. He thought she despised him, hated him right from the very start.
"What...are you doing?" whispered Gauche weakly.
Huffing and panting for breath, Lara answered, "I'm a letter. I'm heart. I'm hope...so..."
"Lara..." mumbled Gauche before closing his eyes. Before he drifted to sleep, he said, "You...resonated with my heart..."
DING! DONG! DING! Gauche opened his eyes and found himself staring at a white ceiling. He felt a cool hand touch his and thought it was Sylvette, until he turned his head and saw a sleeping Lara touching his hand. "Lara?"
"Looks like you've finally woken up," spoke an unfamiliar voice. Gauche stood up and saw a lady glaring at him.
"Um...where are we?" he asked polietly.
"The port town of Cambel."
Gauche was shocked. Cambel Litus? Then that means-
"This kid walked miles carrying your almost dead body," continued the lady. "So you should be thanking-"
"Um! Excuse me!" interrupted Gauche. "Are you perhaps Mrs. Sabrina Mary?"
"That's right."
"I see!" He pulled something from his bag and it looked like some kind of important paper. "Then, please stamp or sign this delivery slip first!"
BANG! "GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" Next thing you know, Gauche and Roda were being thrown out of the house like rag dolls. Everyone who was nearby watched the whole scene unfold.
Mrs. Mary continued ranting, "This is why I hate cityfolk! How about thanking Lara, who's been nursing you back to health these past three days? What the hell do you mean sign first? !"
"A-aunt Mary! Please!" begged Lara trying to stop her aunt.
"Hush, Lara!" Mrs. Mary turned backj to Gauche and his dingo. 'Hurry up and go back to Yuusari or Akatsuki or wherever you came from!" With that, Mrs. Mary slammed the door shut and everyone who seen everything quickly left. Gauche managed to catch the slip in time however.
Later, while Gauche was walking through town, he noticed some of the townspeople staring at him and whispering things like, "Look, it's him!" or "That's the government employee from Yuusari!"
For the past few hours, Gauche and Roda has been trying to get food and water from the townspeople but they either said they run out or they told him to get lost. After a while, the Letter Bee and his dingo finally stopped and looked out to see the town from high.
"It seems we aren't welcomed here, Roda," Gauche told Roda.
"That's because this is an illegal port that harbors pirate ships from the open seas," said a familiar voice. Gauche turned to see Lara holding a large bag which seems to be full of food and water. "They're afraid of an outsider learning too much and spreading rumors. Here's some food and water. My aunt told me to take it to you. It's way better than that pukey soup you always had. But aunt just doesn't understand how difficult your job is."
"I see," said Gauche understanding. "I'm sure that she'll take care of my friend."
"Friend...?" Gauched walked towards Lara, bent down, and hugged her tightly as if she was his second sister, since he already has one.
"The delivery's complete, Lara. You were very brave, and you survived a lot of hardships. Together, we overcome and made it through that journey. You're not a letter anymore...you've grown to be strong, Lara Seeing."
Big fat tears appeared at Lara's face. 'So...we're friends now?"
"Yes..."
"Really? Friends?"
"Yes! And Roda too!" Then, at that moment, Lara started crying out loud and then muffled her cries deep in Gauche's uniform, while he comforted her and ruffled her head gently. It was like a brother and sister reunion, like they've never seen each other for a long time, like years. For Lara, she thought of Gauche as a big brother who's been taking care of her, while Gauche himself thought Lara as a second sister.
After Lara calmed down, she began ruffling Roda's fur and said, 'Take care, Roda." She turned to Gauche and explained, "My red eye is a stone with a mysterious power that Mother told me to keep safe. It was to cure a disease when I was born. But she said not to tell anyone about this. But she did tell me to tell it to people whom I trust at the bottom at my heart."
"...Thank you, Lara. Spirit amber is both powerful and valuable. Be careful that you don't get targeted. Also, when I get to Akatsuki, I'll try to locate your mother. I might find some clues to where she may have gone." As Gauche turned to leave, he spoke again," We have determined a new route. Not long will some Letter Bee come and visit this town and get their letter. Farewell, Lara Seeing."
"F-farewell...Gauche..."sputtered Lara, tears running down her cheeks again. "Um...I was thinking...that one day...One day, I wanna be a Letter Bee like you, Gauche!"
Five years later...
12-year old Lara Seeing was staring at the mountains with the breeze flowing past her. She was wearing a long white coat with blue pants and a blue scarf wrapped around her neck. Since her silvery hair had grown to medium long, she decided to tied it up and stuff it under her blue trademark cap silimiar to Letter Bees.
"Finally...I'll get closer...Mother! And Gauche! Just wait! I'll be a Letter Bee! Because I'm heading towards the light!"
Hope: Whew! And this took two days to finish!
Lara: *cries* I can't believe I'm a girl! I don't even want to be one!
Hope: Still! You look really cute when you are one, Lara-chan!~
Sylvette: Yeah! You do look cute, Lag-I mean, Lara-chan!~ Now I really want to take you shopping for more dresses!~
Hope: Hey Connor! Zazie! What do you think?
Connor: *blushes* I think Lag looks cute as a girl!
Hope: Lara, Connor. Lara.
Zazie: *blushes but turns his head around so that no one can see* Um...You look great...
Hope: Good! Cause soon, Lara-chan will have some romance coming up and she'll have the boy she wants!
Zazie: WHAT? WHO, WHEN, HOW, WHY?
Everyone: 0.0
Zazie:Eh...I mean...who gets to do the disclaimer?
Sylvette: I guess I will? Mage of Hope doesn't own Tegami Bachi or any of the characters.
Hope: But I do have the ability to change people's genders!~ So then, next time! Also, to all readers! Please give me some ideas you think best for this story! Romance, humor, drama, or any other ideas! Thanks, I appreciate it! R&R!