AN: Hello there anyone who decides to read this! I am the author of this story and I thank you for clicking on it!

This is just a story I started as I was playing Gods Eater Burst (still playing it...heh heh) but I already decided on a different (possibly?) plot for it. I figured I'd post it on here, mostly for fun and as an attempt to improve my writing skill. So please R&R (This is only my second story here, so don't be too harsh, I am a noob!)

Kaede: ...Get to the story, I'm sure anyone reading this didn't want to read your little ramble there. *hair flip*

AN: Fine...but first! Disclaimer: I do not own Gods Eater Burst, nor its characters. I do however, own my OCs!

Kaede: You wish you did.

AN:...Whatever. Lets begin!

The world was painted a deep, blood-soaked red.

It was a near perfect replica of the eerie painting she had done weeks before; except the reality was far more terrifying than any one painting could capture. A beautiful, boundless sunset, her house on fire, great hulking beasts tearing through everything, killing anyone they saw; well, that is IF they had seen anyone. The entire family had managed to see the threat coming and escape thanks to one of her uncle's late night "explorations", and was currently in the process of running for their lives.

But the monsters seemed to grasp the situation rather quickly as the one closest to them turned and let out a howl, probably alerting its pack to the escaping prey. The monster turned towards them, and they finally got a full view of it as it began chasing them. A bipedal dinosaur-like creature; a tyrannosaurus without arms, and a long paddle-like tail covered in spikes. It was by far the most well-known and common of the creatures that had destroyed the world, of the Aragami; it was an Ogretail, and judging by the sounds that echoed from a short distance away, it was one of many. They kept running, but it was futile, the creature was far too fast. By the time they were half a mile away from the house, the first Ogretail had caught them.

"Sheu! Look out!" Her mother screamed, unfortunately Sheu turned around, and the last thing he got to see was the inner workings of the abomination's massive jaw before it took off his head in one bite.

"No!" Kaede screamed in horror, watching the blood fly everywhere as the monster munched pleasantly on its first victim, it was only her father's strength that kept her from running to where her brother's unmoving carcass lay.

"You can't! We have to keep moving!" He yelled before pushing her in front of him as a blast of heat came down and exploded with ridiculous force, sending them both flying; Kaede, farther away from the carnage, her father ending up right in the midst of the pack of Ogretails that had caught up to the action at last. He gave a small, barely audible whimper before they were on him, attacking like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Kaede stayed where she had landed, ears buzzing, sight fading in and out from the force of the impact with the earth. She got up after a few dazed minutes; the panic, however dulled, still urging her up; but she need not have worried, everyone was dead, and the Aragami gone. She looked around, eyes wide with shock, and the first tears were forming now, as she recognized first the two bloody stumps that must've been her father and brother, and then the ashen remains of her mother and uncle. Kaede collapsed to her knees, tears cascading down in rivers. After a moment of sobbing, a roar went through the night, and she looked up in terror; one Ogretail had remained behind to find scraps, and of course, her crying was like sending up a flare. The beast charged, and Kaede didn't scream; the way she saw it, if the beast killed her, she would join her family, so there was nothing to fear. It opened its mouth as it drew closer; her world went deafeningly silent, and she closed her eyes; simply awaiting the end, an escape from this god-forsaken world.

Kaede Shuhei awoke with a start, it wasn't often she had that dream anymore; it had been a few years since that horrible night after all. Kaede closed her eyes as she lay in bed tightly hugging her knees; she could still see the looks on their faces, could still see the monsters that had taken everything away from her, they were imprinted in her memories, like an old scar. Complaining with a groan, she heard the ever-growing noise that was her stupid alarm clock. Admittedly, she was glad it had woken her up today, right before the part of that dream she hated most, but it didn't stop her from over-aggressively slamming the snooze button, knocking the old thing off the device. She cursed under her breath, that stupid clock was always breaking. She leaned off of her bed to get the clock and proceeded to lose her balance; letting her face have a very nice chat with the floor. "Oww…" Kaede groaned, getting back up, it seemed like the world was out to get her this morning. If only she knew.

Kaede found the snooze button, and started to fix it back into place; only then did she see what time it was. With a yelp she realized she had woken up an hour late; she dropped the button and immediately bolted for the shower. She showered as quickly as she could, not bothering to wait for the water to warm up, she couldn't afford to be late for work again this week. Shana had been very specific about her punishment if she was. Kaede got out of the shower and threw on her favorite tie-dye blue shirt, and matching skirt, and bolted out the door. Her frantic running goaded a few laughs out of her neighbor who chuckled, "What are you late for today Kaede?"

Kaede laughed a little bit, they had a point, she was late A LOT; whether it was hanging out, work or anything else, at some point she had been late to it. That couldn't happen today. Kaede ran through the streets with ease, her long black hair whipping around in her wake, she had known the area for years and it made getting to work much easier, which was vital, especially on days like today. She ran past so many broken down houses, wrecked buildings, and homeless people; she thought to herself that it was honestly sad how far humanity had fallen when the Aragami appeared. She shook her head; no time to contemplate life's mysteries, she was already running late! After a few more minutes of running she could see it; the restaurant she worked at, Shana's Joint. Kaede sighed relief, but knew she was cutting it close; she barreled through the door, only to end up face to face with a smirking older woman with blonde hair that was tied up in it's usual ponytail.

"Why hello Kaede. You almost made it." Shana said, the evil smile growing with each word.

"What?! No w-way!" Kaede panted, but a look at the clock confirmed it; two minutes. Two minutes. Kaede hung her head, and then looked up at Shana pleadingly, "Please, I'm sorry, please don't make me wear the outfit, its just…gah!"

"Nope sorry, you know the rules. I can't let you break the rules, or I'd have to let everyone else break 'em too." Shana laughed as she turned around and threw her the maid outfit. "Have fun, maybe this time you'll learn your lesson about showing up late."

"You just enjoy this don't you?" Kaede asked indignantly as she headed towards the employee bathroom to change. Kaede sighed, this was such a… Shana-like thing to do, she loved to tease people, Kaede had a LOT of experience with her antics. She had known Shana from when she first came to the Ghetto, which was part of why she hadn't been fired even after being late all of the time. Shana had been like a second mother for Kaede, no; more like a best friend, taking care of Kaede over the years.

"Oh, you know I do dear~" Shana said in a sing-song voice as she went to the kitchen to get the food ready for the customers. Kaede grumbled a few curses under her breath when she came out of the bathroom in the dumb outfit. The outfit could be cute and work for an actual uniform, considering she was a waitress, but the top was way too tight, and the black and white skirt only covered a quarter-way down Kaede's thighs, and all together it made her feel far too exposed. With a sigh, Kaede opened the doors to the restaurant, and turned the ancient OPEN sign on; it's faded neon barely visible 20 meters away. After about an hour, one of the regular customers came in, already complaining about how cold it was outside, but then he caught a glimpse of Kaede and he erupted in laughter, "Hahaha! Shana, that's perfect!" he laughed boisterously, loud enough that everyone in the restaurant could hear, "Kaede, I must say I like the outfit, it suits you."

Kaede felt the red creeping in her cheeks as she viciously stared him daggers, "W-what, would…you like to order." She said through clenched teeth, entire body trembling with fury.

"Well you know, the usual." The man said, coolly avoiding her stare. The day went on like that, with old customers laughing and joking about her "uniform" and new customers trying their best to chat with her; Kaede hated the attention. Right after her last break of the day, she heard the phone ring, then, as if she had some psychic sense, Shana appeared and picked it up, giving the usual greeting. What caused Kaede to stop was the change in Shana's expression; a look of deep-seeded worry had crossed her usually playful and mischievous features.

"Kaede…come here, the calls for you." She said, just barely above a whisper. Kaede raised her eyebrows; someone had called while she was at work? Actually, who would call her at all, all of the people she ever talked to were here, in the restaurant.

"Hello?" Kaede asked quietly as Shana handed her the phone.

"Hello, is this Ms. Shuhei?" and unknown, almost robotically monotone voice responded.

"Yes, that would be me, who is this?" Kaede asked, still running through her head to see if anyway could have known that she worked here.

"Ahh good, I am calling on behalf of Fenrir," the voice began, but the color in Kaede's face had already started to disappear, is this why Shana's expression changed so fast? "We had difficulty getting a hold of you, considering you left no trace of yourself, except for your work records. Anyway, onto business…Congratulations! You have been chosen as a candidate to become a Gods Eater, you will report to the recreational park in one hour to be picked up and carried to the Den for your aptitude test." The voice concluded, clearly believing that it had delivered good news.

"Y-yes, I u-understand." Kaede stammered out while the last remaining color in her face drained away. She turned around, looking for Shana to give some advice, but the older woman was nowhere in sight. Kaede looked towards the front and found her shooing customers out, hastily apologizing for the sudden closure.

She came back in and looked at Kaede, "So…what did they want?" Shana asked, clearly fearing the answer.

"They said that I had been chosen to be a Gods Eater." Kaede answered with finality, she knew the stories, Gods Eaters were humanity's last line of defense, and everyone technically owed them their lives, but no one ever seemed to think about how many of them die everyday.

Shana pounded the wall in anger, and Kaede knew why; her husband had also been selected to become a Gods Eater three years ago, and he had been happy at first, ready to defend humanity. He had lasted 2 months. Shana had been crushed by it, his death left her broken for months; she didn't want to do anything, she felt like half of her purpose had left along with him. Kaede remembered having to take care of her because she refused to do anything for herself; all Shana kept saying was that there was no point in living. Fenrir had come to Shana's house, with their cookie-cutter apology, and a few of his belongings and that was it. They then left; no explanation as to what happened, or how he died, nothing. Shana looked at Kaede fiercely, a few tears building in her eyes, "No. I'm not losing another person to that glorified company of bastards. Come on Kaede, we'll find you a place to hide until they give up searching." She said holding out her hand, looking around the restaurant for hiding places.

"I can't do that Shana," Kaede whispered quietly, "I can't let you get punished if I get caught." They both knew what happened to anyone that disobeyed Fenrir, or anyone that helped someone do that. They were expelled from the Ghetto, expelled from Fenrir's protection. It had happened before, and people had gone screaming that they didn't need protectors that acted like tyrants, but the standing record for surviving outside of Fenrir's protection was a mere 7 hours.

"I don't care what they'll do to me, don't go Kaede, we both know what happens to Gods Eaters." Shana begged shaking her head, "You're the only family I've got left, I can't lose you too."

"You wont lose me, I'll come and visit all the time, I'll play it as safe as I can." Kaede promised, her voice beginning to crack. She could never let someone else be punished because she was a coward, especially not Shana.

Shana looked her in the eyes and sighed, she knew Kaede well enough; there was nothing that would change her mind. "Then you better make sure I hear from you, every time those slave-drivers give you a break, or a day off, ya hear me?" she said, trying to smile.

Kaede leaned in and hugged Shana, her warmth smothering out the terrible feeling in her gut, "I promise."

1 Hour Later

Kaede arrived at the rendezvous point exactly 3 minutes late; she had changed back into her tie dye shirt and blue skirt, and was already in full lockdown. She did not trust a thing that anyone from Fenrir said, they had proven to either be liars or mistaken twice in her life. She had the same attitude towards them that she had for the jerks in the Ghetto; ignore and dismiss. She was a little surprised however, to see there were multiple helicopters there to pick her up, were the skies that dangerous? In her helicopter were two men, one older, rather gruff man and the younger, more cheerful looking man, who had smiled at her when she had arrived. Kaede got in the helicopter quickly, but she had already put up her guard, she knew better then to be immediately trusting of anyone, even if they were the only ones defending what was left of humanity. She knew that with all of their snooping, they probably already knew about her past, so she slipped on the mask she had perfected over the years; the meaningless smile, the aversion of her blue eyes, their usual light replaced with near apathy, all used to avoid the questions and stares that people gave orphans, even in this age that was so full of destruction.

"Trust no one…"

"They lie to you; they hate you, all because you are different."

"Only I understand you; you are not different, you are perfect."

"Trust no one, no one but me."

Kaede shook herself free of the memory, of that raspy voice, but her actions did not go unnoticed, the younger man looked at her with eyes full of concern, while the old man wrote something down on a clipboard in his hands. The young man stepped forward, as if to comfort her, and Kaede realized her face must be showing the sadness that memory brought. She corrected her expression quickly and smiled at him, he sighed, this kind of behavior must be common around Fenrir. Kaede fully intended to stay awake throughout the ride, but of course, with getting up so early for her today, Kaede had not gotten her usual amount of sleep that night, and so she promptly passed out a few minutes after takeoff. She dreamed about the world, and the sorry state it was in. It had started about 20 years ago, a few years before Kaede had been born. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Aragami had appeared, indestructible beasts with infinite appetites, and they began consuming everything; bullets did not even rouse their attention, nuclear strikes simply warmed their metallic bodies, there was nothing humanity could do to even slow their rampage, much less stop it. The scientists claimed that the Aragami were the latest link in the chain of evolution, and that just as we had wiped out the weaker species, the Aragami were doing the same; but the more faith-based saw them as Gods, come down to consume all that is wrong with the world, and named them as such. Humanity was all but eradicated; forced to live in tiny, habitable sections of a lost world, waiting for the Gods to find and destroy them. Then at last, hope appeared. A light shone through the darkness, man found its great weapon to fight against fate. The God Arc, a weapon made of the same material as the Aragami, was created and the Fenrir Company took it's new place, as protectors of a dying race. As the God Arc was born, so it's wielders were born; the Gods Eaters.

When she awoke, she was already at the Fenrir headquarters and they were leading her through the lobby and into a large, open room with a strange machine sitting in the center of it. Kaede wondered why the room looked like it could be a bomb shelter, and then a few other, more pressing questions came to mind, especially wondering why would they bring her to a place like this, what exactly did this aptitude test involve?

"Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long." The voice startled her from her thoughts, a look of bewilderment arising on her face, questioning where had the voice come from when a room, high above this floor, lit up, showing three shadowy figures through the tinted glass.

"Welcome to Humankind's last fortress, Fenrir. We will now test your compatibility as one of the anti-aragami punitive force, the Gods Eaters." Kaede was getting very worried and apparently it showed, because the voice responded, "Please try to relax. You'll get better results that way." Kaede sighed and took a deep breath; well, there was nothing she could do about it now, she was here, and considering how well the room was locked; she was not leaving without taking this test.

"If you're ready, stand in front of that machine over there, in the center of room." The voice, Kaede noticed, seemed a little nervous. Would this test be that dangerous?

Slowly putting her hand into the slot on the machine, Kaede was in for quite the surprise. The machine suddenly slammed down, clamping onto her hand and she nearly screamed in shock as what felt like thousands of random needles and blades assaulted her wrist, ripping away at her skin and replacing it with something else. When the process completed, the machine relinquished its grasp on her arm, and she noticed something that had not been there before: a bright red armlet around her wrist. She picked up the blade that had been sitting in the machine, seemingly the only consolation for her pain, and was shocked to find it was too heavy for her; in fact, it was extremely light for its size. She put it back in the case, feeling that she shouldn't take it with her.

"Congratulations, you are now the first of the Far East branch's New-Type Gods Eaters." The voice continued, sounding very pleased, "This concludes the aptitude test. Now that we know you're a match, you'll be going for a medical check-up next. Now then, I'd like you to wait in the room beyond that door. Don't hesitate to let anyone know if you start to feel…unwell." the man in the window concluded.

The metal doors opened, clearly indicating Kaede's dismissal, and she promptly exited the room. She walked into the room, her mind still reeling from what had happened today; this morning she had woken up afraid that she would be late to work, and now she was a Gods Eater. One of the few deemed strong enough to shoulder the fight for all of humanity, the last line of defense between human and Aragami…and the scapegoats if anything goes wrong. As she began to divulge deeper into that worrying thought, another being made its presence known: "Hey, you want some gum?" the boy asked quickly as he began rummaging his pocket, ""Oh, I'm all out. It seems I took the last piece. Sorry 'bout that. I am Kota Fujiki, so you were a match too?" he finished, looking at Kaede curiously.

"Yea, I just finished." She said shortly, glaring at him a bit, he was a young boy, wearing a yellow beanie over his red-brown hair, but Kaede couldn't care less, she was busy trying to resurrect the train of thought she had been riding when he had interrupted and infiltrated her 'bubble'.

"That makes two of us." He said, a grin crossing his face; he looked her up and down quickly, Kaede eyed him suspiciously for a moment before he continued, "You must be my age or maybe a bit older. Oh well, I'm still you're senior by a nanosecond, nice to meet you!" he said, holding out his hand. For someone that was supposed to be a new Gods Eater he seemed to be pretty relaxed about it. Kaede had to wonder what could make someone so happy and relaxed in this place.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Kaede Shuhei." Kaede responded curtly after a pause, looking down at his outstretched hand which she then proceeded to completely ignore.

"Hey hey, no need for that; we rookies should stick together!" Kota said shifting slightly closer to her, not even slightly discouraged by her irritation, or the fact she had declined the handshake. She knew his type, he was exactly like Sheu; always positive, almost annoyingly so, and the silly grin that never left his face. She steadied herself, he was just another person to deal with, and he was not her brother. He keep staring at her, most likely gathering his own opinion of her, but she turned away suddenly, the apathetic mask back in place; he leaned in, and put a hand on her shoulder, truthfully, Kota was probably just worried he had somehow made this girl he had just met hate him. To Kaede, it was completely unnecessary, and she turned with a violent glare on her face, now growing seriously irritated that he wouldn't take the hint that she wanted to be left alone.

"Take the hint. I'm in NO mood for this." Kaede whispered with a deadly chill in her voice. Kota visibly flinched while trying to keep his smile and happy demeanour alive, thus making a VERY specific face… one that made Kaede break out in laughter. Kota looked at Kaede with complete confusion etched across his face. He could have never guessed that was the exact same face her brother used to make to make her laugh, and Kaede was too busy laughing to be shocked it still worked. She had never been able to keep any level of seriousness around Sheu, and it seemed as though it would be the same way around Kota. Either way; Kota took this as a good sign, and started to laugh freely, figuring that her 'cold and silent attitude' before had simply been her way of messing with him. They were so busy laughing, that neither of them noticed the sounds of someone walking towards them until they heard her speak.

"Stand up." A woman, around her mid-thirties sounded, her clipboard occupying her, but her attention was somewhat focused on them, if the commanding tone would suffice as evidence.

"Wha-?" Kota said, not registering the command.

"I said stand up!" She barked, clearly growing impatient with the two of them already, "I'm on a tight schedule, so I'll be keeping this short. My name is Tsubaki Amamiya, and I am your advisor. This is your schedule – after the medical checkup, you'll complete a full curriculum of basic physical training, basic combat training, as well as a weaponry and armor clinic." She paused, looking the two of them over slowly, "We are the ones who have protecting you up until now. But from this day forward, you'll be doing the protecting. If you don't want to die over something stupid, then answer my every order with a 'yes'. Understood?" she finished, waiting for a response. When none came she ordered again, "Answer me!"

"Yes ma'am!" They stammered out, not wanting to anger this woman any further.

"All right, let's begin the medical checkups. We'll start with you." She said, pointing to Kaede, "Report to Dr. Paylor Sakaki's room for your checkup; you," she continued, pointing next at Kota, "may explore the facilities until it is time for your checkup. Dismissed!" she finished, walking away from the two rookies.

"Well, I guess I better get going," Kaede said to no one in particular with a sigh, "don't want to get my head chewed off on day one." She walked away from Kota quickly, hoping to re-establish the fact that she did not joke around THAT often. She went to the lift and after a short wait, got inside and pressed the research and laboratories button, considering it seemed the most likely place for a doctor's office to be. She got out on the correct floor, and searched around for a few moments, catching a few snickers from the more experienced Gods Eater watching the lost newbie. She gritted her teeth, keeping control over her annoyance and embarrassment; they had better not give her an excuse to start a fight. She searched for a little while, before almost ramming into a pink haired girl carrying a tray of what looked like medical supplies.

"Sorry about that," Kaede quickly apologized, "I should've been more careful."

"It's fine, I don't remember your face; are you new?" the girl questioned.

"Well yes actually; I'm the new Gods Eater." Kaede responded, already half-ignoring the girl, wanting to resume her search for the illustrious office.

"Well I'm Kanon Daiba one of the medics around here, nice to meet you…?"

"Kaede Shuhei."

"…Are you looking for Dr. Sakaki's office?" Kanon continued after a short pause.

"Yes, do you know where I can find it?" Kaede said, wanting to slap herself for overlooking something so simple; of course some of the people that worked in this area would know where the Doctor's office is.

"Sure," the medic smiled knowingly," It's just down this hallway, the second door to your left."

"Thank you!" Kaede responded politely before rushing off.

Opening the door to the Sakaki's office, Kaede was surprised to see two older men were inside the room, one of them sitting down at what appeared to be a hyper-sophisticated computer. The blonde man was regal in appearance, and his blue eyes trained to where she was standing.

The man at the computer looked at her from underneath his quarter-moon spectacles, "Hmm... you got here 726 seconds sooner than I had expected. Good to see you, New-Type! I'm Paylor Sakaki, and I'm in charge of Aragami technology R&D," Dr. Sakaki said. Well, that explained quite a bit.

"Well, we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on. Welcome aboard," the doctor said, still smiling pleasantly. Kaede eyed the man warily, he doesn't seem too bad...just a little…eccentric?

"Now then, as you can see, I'm still pretty busy getting prepared. Johannes, why don't you get your business out of the way first?"

"Dr. Sakaki," the other man, Johannes, spoke in a slightly annoyed voice, "I think it's high time you learned to separate business from private matters." He turned to Kaede, "Thank you for taking part in the Aptitude Test. My name is Johannes von Schicksal. I'm in charge of the Fenrir Branch of this region. Congratulations again on passing the test. I expect great things from you."

Dr. Sakaki spoke up in between his typing, "He's a former techie too, you know. The New-Types' medical checkups interest you to no end, right, Johannes?"

Johannes turned his head towards Sakaki, "I decided to retire as a techie because we have you. Keep that in mind."

"Did you really ever retire though?" Sakaki asked in a teasing tone. Johannes regarded Sakaki with a look of carefully controlled anger before turning his attention back to the young girl standing in front of them, "Hmm. Now then, this is where the real fun starts. Let me explain the Fenrir Corporation's objectives once more. Your direct duties are very simple. They are to keep the Aragami in this region at bay, and to gather materials which are then converted into resources needed to maintain this advanced base, as well as complete the impending "Aegis Project."

Kaede looked at Dr. Sakaki when she heard him sigh, "Look at these numbers!"

"The Aegis Project," the black-haired girl's attention went back to Johannes, "is, simply put, a plan to create a utopia impregnable against Aragami attacks, located far out to sea, close to the former Sea of Japan trench."

"Ahh," the doctor made an intrigued sound.

"Once the project is complete, humankind will be able to avoid extinction, at least for a while."

"Amazing! So this is what a New-Type is like!"

"Paylor," Johannes said with irritation lacing his voice, "You're disrupting my lecture."

"Oh, sorry about that," the doctor apologized, "I was just so taken aback by these stats... I got carried away."

Kaede tilted her head in confusion at that response. Were New-Types not like regular God Eaters? What was so special about her being a New-Type anyway?

"At any rate, the future of humankind is at stake. So give it your best effort."

Kaede looked back the blond man and nodded her head quickly. Johannes announced, "All right, I'll be taking my leave now. I'm leaving it all to you, Paylor. Send me the data when you're done."

"Alright," Dr. Sakaki said happily as Johannes left, "if you could just lie down on that bed over there, we can begin your medical checkup."

Kaede simply stood where she was and stared at the doctor incredulously; was he serious?

"Oh don't worry," Sakaki said with a slightly irritated flick of the hand, as if the same issue came up often, "There's nothing to worry about, if you don't want to lie down, you really don't have to. The medical checkup is just me checking the amount of Oracle Cells in your body. In the aptitude test, we put Oracle Cells inside of you so you can have the ability to wield a God Arc and fight Aragami; these are the same cells that make up Aragami, and are the only things that hurt them. They consume any cells they can, leaving more Oracle Cells in their place. The armlet is what prevents you from losing control of the Oracle Cells in your body and turning into an Aragami. Unfortunately, there are always a few Oracle Cells that do not follow instructions from the armlet, so we give you a quick burst of Oracle Cells to kill of any these rouge cells. These cells will use blood, skin and muscle cells to get the job done though, leaving the Gods Eater very tired. So basically, I'm trying to prevent you from sleeping on the floor."

Kaede still looked at the doctor suspiciously, but what he was saying, while disturbing, made sense. Kaede then looked down at her body, and that sickening feeling of being similar to the Aragami returned, and made her feel like a stranger in her own skin.

"Don't look away from this. This is you."

She shook her head again, why were these memories rushing back? She had wanted to forget them a long time ago. Thankfully Sakaki was too busy typing to notice, so she simply lay down on the bed, however grudgingly, eyes locked on Dr. Sakaki the entire time.

"Here we go!" he laughed excitedly as he began manically hitting buttons on his keyboard.

Kaede felt fine for about the first half second, and then the lights went out. She hadn't passed out she realized as all of her other senses checked in to confirm this; no, she simply couldn't see. She cursed loudly, the sudden blindness sending her into a full panic. "Dammit!" Sakaki cursed, and his already impossibly fast typing speed increased, "Why the hell are her Oracle Cell levels so high?!" This didn't do anything to help Kaede calm down, but all she could do was scream as a sharp jolt of pain hit her with so much force, it felt as though someone took a 2-ton sledge hammer to her head; she rolled off the bed, still howling at the top of her lungs. Then the pain began spreading throughout her entire body; it felt as though she was slowly dissolving, like something was eating away at each of her organs. Dr. Sakaki abandoned his keyboard at this point, and grabbed a microphone. "This is Dr. Sakaki, we need medics and restraints to my office, NOW!" he yelled in a panicked voice.

Within a few minutes, medics arrived on the scene and debated for a few moments exactly how to restraint her, which only made Kaede panic even more, trashing and lashing out at anyone who came near. Then Kaede heard Kanon's voice whispering to her as something clicked around her wrists, "Calm down, calm down Kaede…it's going to be alright …I promise." Kaede could hear her words, but they seemed to come from far away, the headache stopping her from focusing properly, she bucked again and again, but the restraints held. Kaede felt something else stirring, within the chaos of her mind, a feeling that just couldn't belong to her; a hunger, a hunger for so much more than just food. A hunger that attacked the back of her mind, a painful whisper, almost as if it was saying that were it not sated, she would die. Kaede struggled against the restraints she had been locked in for a few moments, but Kanon helped her calm down, or maybe it was the Oracle Cells that were eating away at her, either way; Kaede felt her body losing strength, and she passed out.

Far-East Branch, 7:13 PM, Medical Bay

"Ugh," Kaede groaned, head still throbbing when she woke up, but it was a nice touch to realize she could see again. She looked around at the full stocked hospital-like room, and saw a sign above the door that read "Medical Bay". She sat up, and almost immediately regretted it, her head was still hurt, and all she had done was make herself dizzy. The door opened, and Kanon came in, looking slightly disheveled and tired but she smiled when she noticed that Kaede was awake.

"Welcome back to the world of the living." she joked as she set down the overladen tray she had carried in.

"What happened to me in there?"

Kanon paused; she seemed strangely hesitant to go on, had it been that bad? Luckily, she was saved by the appearance of Dr. Sakaki. "Well to put it frankly; you had, and have, too many Oracle Cells in your body, and on top of that, your armlet malfunctioned. To be honest, if I hadn't used a larger dose of Oracle Cells when you passed out, you'd probably be dead. But we couldn't just lose the first New Type we'd found."

"Of course…"

"Anyway, it's good to see you are feeling better. Your armlet has been modified, and you should be cleared to begin your training shortly." The doctor finished, looking some things over on his clipboard before walking out of the room.

"So, how is she?" Johannes inquired of Dr. Sakaki, a slight frown on his face as he contemplated his options after the near-fiasco with the New-Type.

"Well…she should be fine, she is healing rather well, but her Oracle Cell count still bothers me." Sakaki said looking to Johannes, to see if his old friend would elaborate on why there had been so many.

Johannes let out a sigh of relief, his features betraying the determined look in his eyes; the signs of his exhaustion were etched all over him, it made Sakaki rather glad he didn't have his job. How difficult it must be to throw soldiers this young into such a seemingly endless fight, even his own son was a Gods Eater after all.

"Are there any complications?" he asked after a moment.

Sakaki frowned at this, a rare sight on his face; as a scientist, he hated not knowing, or understanding something, "There were a few Oracle Cell clusters that we couldn't do anything about without almost guaranteed lethal damage."

"What do you mean?"

"They were settled in her brain." The doctor said with finality.

"So, is she going to…?" Johannes said carefully; worry crossing his face again, it was just problem after problem with this job it seemed.

"…Can't say at this point. I don't understand how they got there, or why they haven't attacked her yet considering they weren't given to her by us, but I've never seen a case of benign Oracle Cells, so the outlook may not be good."

"…Alright, watch her carefully; if she shows any signs of transformation, then…"

There was no need to finish the sentence. "Of course. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Johannes nodded and left; noting the fact that Sakaki had sobered up and started working, did not bode well for the New-Type's odds at all.

AN: So that's chapter 1 for you!

Kaede:...I'm already hospitalized?

AN: That may or may not be punishment for earlier...See you next time! (Hopefully)