Disclaimer – I do not own Akuma no Riddle. This was written for the sixth SciFriday challenge over on Wattpad. The story had to be between two to four Wattpad pages or 1,600 to 3,200 words. We also had to use a picture of Europa for inspiration. Space-Opera AU.
Scars of Europa
Two cold blue eyes stared down at the ice white surface of Europa. A puff of cold air came out of the viewers mouth as she stared down at the moon of Jupiter from the training room. The conditions were set to an environment that allowed the window to frost over and she traced some of the brown lines marring the pure surface. The figure turned her head when instructions came over the intercom for her. "Azuma Tokaku... the ship is preparing to dock."
The blue haired assassin grabbed a rung and pulled herself so that gravity forced her towards the door at the other end. The momentum of her movement allowed her to flip slightly so that she landed on her feet. Her hand flipped open the communication device to see if she had received any more information on her mission. An odd question played across the screen and she snapped the communication device shut with annoyance. A nearly inaudible sound of irritation out of the corner of her mouth. "Why can't my handler be to the point? I just need to find the alien that has infiltrated the colony and destory it before it becomes a threat to the human race."
Why does my handler have to be so annoying. Can't he just give me the information so I can find the alien that has infiltrated the colony and poses a threat to the human race?"
She paused to see the ship docking with the station that orbited Europa and stared at the place she was headed in an emotionless manner. A glance at the moon made her wonder why anybody from Earth would have decided to form a colony there. Her head snapped back to looking straight ahead and she headed to the corridor that would link the spaceship to the station orbiting Europa. She waited for the corridor to open with a whooshing sound. "This way Miss Akuma... the shuttle that will take you to Europa is this way."
She passed by more corridors and noted the people who went about their lives out day to day on the station as if it were normal to live in space. Her cold blue eyes drifted and for once she showed emotion. The person who she followed stopped short. "Oh my. I guess this would seem strange to you as you've never been outside of Earth's orbit before this."
"Not really..." The female assassin continued to follow until they arrived at the docking station where the shuttle was docked. This docking station was much smaller then the ship that she came to Europa on docked at. The hatch to the shuttle was open and she slipped in and took the seat she was asked to take. She buckled herself into the seat before checking to see if the straps were secure. The mental checklist started going off in her mind when a voice snapped her attention away.
"Um... hello."
Tokaku stared at the girl who stood in the open hatch as her cold blue eyes went wide. "Hello."
Her head turned as she watched the girl move to her own seat in the transfer shuttle while Tokaku's mouth moved in an attempt to take in and figure out the girl. She gave off an aura that said there was nothing dangerous about her, and yet there was something strange about her.
The girl moved with clumsy steps as she walked to her own seat. She then fumbled with her seat belt until she was able to fasten it shut. One hand absentmindedly reached up to brush back one of her red pigtails while the other hand reached down to fidget with her skirt. A nervous smile spread across her face as she refused to form eye contact with Tokaku. A nervous laugh escaped her lips and she turned to look at Tokaru only for her eyes to close shut as a wide smile spread across her face. "I'm looking forward to coming back to Europa... I was actually born here."
"I see." Tokaku took in the female carefully and noted that the girl seemed concerned about her appearance for some strange reason. This seemed odd to Tokaku as she had noted that the girl's appearance had nothing that wasn't desirable. She had a cute complexion with pale skin, not to mention the girls attitude was sweet – something most people wouldn't be turned off of. The girl continued to fidget with her skirt in an attempt to pull it down. Tokaku can't the glimpse then of a nasty brown scare that marred the pale skin.
She turned her head and leaned into the palm of her hand and allowed the fingers of that hand to curl up. Her attempt to fain disinterest failed and the other girls voice came clear as a bell – in fact, the girl's voice could very well be described as bell like. "My name is Ichinose Haru. What is yours?" The blue haired assassin choose to ignore the girl as she waited for the shuttle to take off. "Um... I'm kind of hoping to be friends. I mean... I'm really looking forward to making friends with people. Are you moving to Europa permanently?"
"Who knows..." The announcement that the shuttle would be taking off came and things quieted down then. The slight jolt from the shuttle starting up caused her companion to babble in a nervous manner again about random things Tokaku couldn't care about. The noise was not ideal, so she turned to look at the girl catching sight of two bright pink eyes. There was a strange innocence about these eyes. For some strange reason Akuma felt a feeling – the feeling of annoyance. She turned her head away. "You should be quiet. If you're not then the entry into Europe's atmosphere will cause your teeth to be knocked into the back of your head."
"Oh..." The other female's mouth snapped shut just before the thrust of the ship caused them to hurtle down, only to slow near the surface to glide into the docking station on Europa. Tokaku stood up and headed outside where she would fetch her scarce amount of luggage. A hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Wait! I don't know your name yet?"
Tokaku turned back to look at the red haired girl and her pig tails. The girl still couldn't look the blue haired assassin in the eyes. A sudden yank caused the nervous girl to let go and Tokaku headed away, grabbing her bag. Glancing back she saw that this Ichinose Haru was following her. A thought crossed her mind as she looked forward. "Why didn't she get her own luggage. Doesn't matter... I need to find the target. If she is here to stop me... no... her aura's wrong. She's not an assassin. Still..."
A sudden sense of danger caused Tokaku to turn her head. She saw a flash up on the roof and realized a sniper was aiming at her. "Wait... they're not aiming at me..."
The blue haired assassin's head turned to measure the trajectory and saw that the sniper was aiming at the girl who had been following her. She quickly moved forward and pushed the girl out of the way, just as a resounding crack of a rifle could be heard. She could feel the bullet having grazed her left shoulder. The other girl was underneath her and blinking. "What... what just..."
Tokaku didn't speak but instead stood up and grabbed the girls hand. She tugged the girl down the alley way among the stark white buildings that seemed to be patched together. She hurried down the alley way and saw that another person had appeared at the other end. She watched as the person raised two guns from the side and took aim at the girl she had some how found herself trying to protect.
She spun on the ball of her right foot and pushed the other girl down just in time to feel quite a few bullets pierce her back. One hand reached up upon realizing that one of the bullets had pierced a lung. The girl blinked a couple of times while shouts were heard. "Why did you save me? I mean..." The red head girl sat up and wrapped her arms around Tokaku's neck. "It's going to be all right"
"All right? I am loosing a lot of blood. That was quite a few shots I took for her. Why did I take shots for her?"
Tokaku's communication device went off and she found herself pulling it out and flipping it open as her vision began to blur. Her cold blue eyes widened as she read the message. "Your target is Ichinose Haru."
Her mouth opened as her vision blurred more and the device dropped from her hands with a clatter. She could feel this Haru pulling her up against the wall as her body became cold. The city's temperature was regulated, so this sudden child wasn't from the coldness of Europa itself. "If she is the alien... then is she going to eat me? I am a prime meal for the taking, am I not? She is supposed to be a threat to human society... is she not?"
Two cold teal eyes dulled from pain and the coming death closed then. Haru's voice was now barely audible. Tokaku's life flashed through her mind as she remembered a shrine from her childhood deep in the woods. The woods of her family home were now far away, much farther then Haru's voice. Another thought crossed her mind. "Wait... why is her voice clear to me? I thought I wasn't able to hear it anymore."
Tokaku's eyes snapped open and her mouth opened to take a deep breath. Her hands reached up to touch her body where the bullets had come in. She then realized she was breathing normally. "I was sure that..."
"That your lung was punctured? It likely was. I've had to deal with that myself a couple of times." Hana continued to smile at her. She held Tokaku's device in her hands.
"Why? Why did you save me? You have my communication device, so you should know that I've been sent to kill you."
"You saved me." The girl continued to smile. "Plus... I still don't know your name. It would be sad if you died without anyone here knowing your name."
Tokaku stared at the girl, wondering how the girls mind could be addled. The blue haired assassin took a deep breath. "You're an alien of course."
Hana blinked a couple of times. "Yes. Yes, I am." The girl was now able to look her in the eye without any nervousness."
"Aren't you supposed to be a threat to the human race?"
The red haired girl tilted her head. "I guess that's why everyone is after me."
"You guess."
"Well... that's the way it has been all of Hana's life."
The smile was off settling. "Healing can't be your only power. They would be see you not as a threat, but a needed ally if that were the case."
Hana's facial features fell. She then looked at the ground. "Truth be told... my power is... it's hive mind."
"You mean that if someone were to kill you, your entire race would die off?" Tokaku shook her head. "That can't be it."
"Kind of like that. We don't control our own species though..." The girl looked at the ground. "I'm sorry for bringing you into this. I just wanted a friend."
"Wait..." The blue haired assassin closed her eyes. "She manipulated me into saving her..."
"I didn't want you to get hurt. It just... happened."
Tokaku let out a deep breath. "Don't worry about it."
"But you're supposed to kill me. That would be the best for everyone if I was gone. I mean... everyone around me dies. I don't want you to die."
"Why was I sent on this mission?" Tokaku's eyes caught sight again of the brown scars that marred Hana's pale skin. The scars that marred the other girls skin reminded Tokaku of the view she had seen when she first saw Europa. "Is our meeting coincidence, is it planned out by someone whose trying to manipulate things, or is it fate?"