Hello world of fanfiction! This is the first fanfic I have ever published online. So I don't really know what to write here... maybe I should explain some things about the fic itself?
It takes place a year before the events of Shatter me, so Warner is eighteen turning nineteen (since it's December now and Warner's birthday is in April (so he's technically turning twenty after Ignite me)). I'm using this time difference to excuse some elements I have later on. Though it's nothing major, just that the weather is a little more fitting for the seasons. (Juliette and Co will be added later on. Though I have no clue if I can keep the fic alive that long honestly. Lets hope for the best)
Um... what else? Some characters might be OOC, tell me if they are and you think it's ruining stuff. Example I already know of and won't change: Warner and Delalieu aren't as strict/tense around each other as they are in the books. I want them to interact more with each other :3
The OC belongs to me. Um... Don't steal her(?)
That's all I think...
To the fic! (￣▽￣)ゞ
Day 1
Warner was ready to withdraw from his day at work. Maybe, if the rest of the base didn't try thinking for themselves, he could even have some time over to read in his latest addition to his library; Les Miserables - It was quite the challenge with over one thousand five hundred pages, but it was sort of relaxing reading such a slow paced story with so many detailed descriptions of characters and surroundings. Though he doubted school children would think the same, so by this point he was reading it more for his own entertainment rather than to see if it fitted for the educational department.
If he had remembered correctly he had left it in his office. A quick retrieval and this was going to be a peaceful afternoon .
Or that's what he had been thinking when he had walked passed the many guards in his corridor, used the card for his door and walked through his bedroom to reach the office door.
But not more than five steps into the room he had to come to an abrupt halt and reach for his gun. Pointing it at the stranger across the room.
"What are you doing in here?"
A pair of eyes perked up at the sudden question. Surrounded by short light brown lashes.
Gray.
Gray eyes
"Reading", she had said. It was a girl. She couldn't be older than twelve. She returned her gaze to the book in her lap, something Warner had not noticed before. It was from his bookcase.
A girl was sitting in his office and reading a book from his bookcase.
"How did you get in here?", he asked, not lowering the gun.
"Walked", she said.
"What?"
"What what?"
"Did you just say walked?"
"Yes", she answered plainly, still not lifting her gaze from the book before her.
"You can't just walk in here."
She looked at him again.
"Well, that's exactly what I did", she remarked. She didn't sound sarcastic.
"No, that's impossible."
"What do you mean impossible?"
He wanted to groan.
"The whole outside area is covered by watchtowers and guards, the corridor is rimmed with soldiers, they should have stopped you", he says,"the door should be locked", he gesticulated towards the door he came from.
She shrugged. Seeming to have forgotten the gun pointed at her.
"That didn't stop me."
"What does that mean!"
"That I walked in here. With my own two legs. You're looking at me as if I just flew in through the window by flapping my ears."
"Because that's exactly how likely that you'd get in here by just walking!"
He wasn't doing this as he should. He was letting the conversation of track and he knew it.
He took a deep breath before trying again.
"Who are you?"
She seemed legitimately happy that he finally asked.
"I'm Alice. Nice to meet you", she said.
Warner stared at her for a few seconds.
"What are you doing here?"
"Reading", she repeated and then returned to her book, deeming the conversation over.
"So you're not here to kill me?", he asked. It didn't seem like you could try prying out the answers from this one.
She looked up again. Now puzzled.
"Why would I do that? It's not like you've done anything to me", she said, then as she recalled something,"Well, expect pointing a gun at me...", she pondered to herself.
He groaned.
Looked up to the ceiling.
Lowered the gun ever so slightly as his frustration grew.
"What do you want?"
"Want?"
His gaze returned to her posture on the floor.
"Yes, want. You wouldn't just come here to read, would you? So what was it that you wanted to do when you walked in here?"
"Oh", she said.
She bent over and rested her chin on her knuckle, which rested on her knee. Thinking.
"Well, I don't know..."
"You don't know...?"
"...yes?"
Warner's patience crumbled at that.
He put the gun back into its holster, deeming Alice harmless enough to trust that he could handle her with his bare hands, marched up to his desk and grabbed up his phone, pushed a few buttons and before his lieutenant could even greet him with the usual meek yes sir this,yes sir that; barked as collected as possible that,"Delalieu, situate yourself in my quarters immediately. It's a crisis!", not waiting for a response he threw down the receiver so that Delalieu had another heart attack on the other end of the line.
A scoff was heard from the bookcase.
"What?", Warner snapped.
"I've never been qualified as a crisis before..", Alice commented, her eyes directed to the book once more.
"I've never had someone just walking into my office."
"Must be lonely.."
"Yes, very", he chided, tapping his index finger against the desk.
It took 3 minutes and 47 seconds for the Lieutenant to get to Warner's office. He didn't bother knocking as the door was wide open from Warner's earlier entrance. He had his gun raised and was panting from probably having to dash like a madman through the whole building.
"Sir. H-how can I be off service?", he asked as soon as he entered.
Perhaps he imagined his superior to be standing by the table with maps and strategies preparing for an attack or uprising from the civilians. Or polishing his guns and automatic weapons. Or drawing face paint on his cheekbones with mud mixed with blood.
Or sitting relaxed in his chair with a smug smile about to tell him that it was all an exercise.
Anything but what he saw before him.
It was Aaron striding back and forth across the room with a young girl slung over his shoulder.
They seemed to be arguing over something.
Even if it was quite one sided.
"Put me down..!", the girl huffed.
"Request declined", Warner responded, curtly.
"I need to go to the bathroom", she whined.
"I can not progress your request"
"Down"
"I can't..."
"Sir?"
Warner looked up with a slightly awoken expression.
"Ah.. Delalieu..!"
Alice also looked to the doorway. Her face erupting in a childishly delighted smile.
"Hi there!", she chimed, forgetting her previous sulky mood. She even gave him a little wave which he raised his hand to answer before changing his mind.
Delalieu was an older man somewhere between sixty and seventy, dressed in the black Lieutenant uniform, with wet grey eyes, dark brown hair with plenty of grey streaks, even if he had started to bald some at the top, and a bushy mustache over the mouth. Shaped in both confusion and curiosity.
"Sir…. is this the crisis..?", he asked realizing that the girl was the only anomaly in the room. Trying to sound polite.
"Yes, Delalieu this is the crisis. Any questions?", Warner answered matter of factly. Heaving Alice further up the shoulder.
"Well..", Delalieu started, so flabbergasted by the scene that he didn't really know what to ask first.
"Um, why- when… um, why is she in your office, sir, and not the… guest facilities, sir?"
A careful question.
"I'm glad we're on the same page. Because that's what I would like to know, too Lieutenant", Warner said with a collected smile.
"Eh…"
There was a pause.
"I'm afraid I don't understand, sir…"
"Well, neither do I Lieutenant!", Warner said raising his voice ever so slightly.
"Is this how you try informing everyone? You must be annoying to work with", Alice commented as the conversation didn't really seem to go anywhere. And she was still dangling over Warner's shoulder.
Warner seemed to also remember the position of the girl, as if her weight had been unnoticeable.
Ignoring her comment he put her back down onto the ground, but as she took a step towards the door, probably the bathroom, he took a grip of her wrist and looked to Delalieu.
"What I want to know is how this girl", he shook Alice a little to emphasize, bringing out an ow,"Got into my office without anyone stopping her", Warner continued without pause. Getting angrier by the second as he kept thinking over how this even happened.
"She w-what!?", Delalieu whispered.
"Yes, Delalieu, she claims she simply walked in here. And would you ever so kindly explain to me how she would be able to do that?"
"Oh oh!", Alice suddenly chimed jumping on the spot drawing both males' attention,"I just realized something! You must be in like the biggest lock down right now, because you just had another someone walking into your office!", she pointed at Delalieu.
She looked like she thought she'd won the first prize.
"That's not the same thing. I summoned him here", Warner said and made an eye movement only compared to rolling his eyes.
Delalieu hid a small laugh in a cough. He had never seen his young superior in such a mood before.
"Have anything to say Lieutenant?"
This brought the Lieutenant right back into his meek state.
"I-I don't know how this happened, sir. The corridors are patrolled, there has been no reports of any absence. Ever, sir. The corridor outside your quarter has been guarded just like everywhere else in the building", Delalieu blurred looking at Alice seeming as intrigued as his leader.
"Then how come she was here when I walked in? Just sitting by my bookcase not giving a care about guards in the world. How?!"
"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't know, sir", Delalieu whispered. Looking like he expected a gun to his face.
Warner groaned. Again.
Alice just kept quiet.
How was it? (゜゜;)(。。;)
I know OCs aren't that popular in this fandom, but hear me out! She won't change anything. She's like Kenji, a supportive character if she was in the main universe. I promise: She's not taking Juliette's place!
As you maybe noticed: this is going to be a light-hearted fic. Lots of smiling and frustrated Warner. Haha :) My beta readers say that they want to see more, so I hope you guys like it too :)
I already have a lot of chapters ready to be published actually, so if this receives well there will be more to come very soon! Tell me if you want to see more in the reviews! And writing advice is also welcomed since I'm not a native speaker of English (/≧◇≦＼) Sometimes I write "they wants" and things like that.
Thanks for reading!