This is just to tell my Vandread and RK readers that I'm still alive, but I'm still adjusting to my busier life. This one is not related to my running fic (How to Impress a Girl 101); this is just me running wild after some studying. ^^ This is one of the songs often made into fics in the more popular anime, so I used it on an anime where it hasn't been done, I think. Hope you like.
Dedicated to CardCaptor Hikari, who shocked me by being the first ranting reviewer I personally know and work with in school. ^^
"Only Hope", by Mandy Moore.
…………………………
"This is BAD," Jura commented.
"I agree………for once," Meia answered.
The two were looking at disbelief out their Dreads, in the middle of space, during a trial run.
For some reason, Vanguard refused to merge with Dread, to form Vandread Dita.
"Please tell me you two won't be doing that during a actual battle," Jura angrily communicated to both pilots.
"Dita didn't do anything!" that worthy redhead defended herself. "Uchuujin-san doesn't want to merge with me!"
"Jura, please tell that woman to get off my case," Hibiki appeared on Jura's screen, arms folded. "I refuse to hold hands with that woman one more time. I've had it up to here with her!" and he raised his left to a height way above his head.
"But……but………Dita just wants to be nice to Uchuujin-san," Dita sulked. "Don't you like the tuna casserole? The onigiri? The little doll I made?"
"It's no use trying to explain myself," Hibiki raised his nose, and pressed on the controls. "I'm heading back." He then sped to the Nirvana, disabling all communications to the girls.
"What happened between you two?" Jura asked again.
"Dita does not have a clue," she sighed.
Back on the main ship, the girls tried to analyze this course of events. In the strategy room, with wrinkled noses and serious faces, they were thinking about what went wrong with Dita's current strategies.
"But all Dita did was to do everything she did before!" she whined. "Dita has tried cleaning his room, cook lunch, even dinner, make cute pillows………what would make Uchuujin-san so mad at me?"
"I'll tell you what gets me so mad at that woman!" Hibiki declared to Duero and Bart, at the male quarters. "She won't leave me be! She tails me everywhere I go, she insists on calling me an alien, she thinks I'm her world!"
"And you are…." Bart said.
"I don't WANT to be her world!" Hibiki cried. "Okay, so the woman is nice and all, but can't she show it less obviously?! So I'm trying to keep contact with her to the absolute minimum, even if it means I don't merge with her. I'm THAT fed up!"
"Can't you show your admiration a little less ostentatiously, Dita?" Meia echoed in the strategy room. "You are probably irritating him already."
"I don't mean to, Leader!"
"Ever tried singing?" Barnette suggested. "I've heard you used to sing as a little girl."
"Well, yes, but, Uchuujin-san might not like it………."
"At least, it's not as in-your-face as your current styles!" Jura added.
"We can help you with that," Parfet offered. "There's a music file folder somewhere in the computer system, and I can set up the backup music for you."
"I'll help you practice," Ezra added. "We can do that at my room this afternoon!"
Dita smiled in gratitude.
It actually did not take long for her to find just the perfect song in the files. Soon she was practicing in the control room, hooked to a microphone and a headset.
There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But you sing to me over and over and over again
"But Hibiki doesn't sing at all!" Amarone protested at Dita's choice of song.
"It's a minor thing, Amarone; this is the nicest song in the whole computer system!"
"Why not 'Yes, Together' instead?"
Someone out of nowhere started singing: "Let's take a dream, yes, together, everytime, forever…….Let's take a smile, yes, together, every time, support you………..I dream of you, so please don't lose your shining heart………If we work it out, maybe we'll find it's truly love………….."
"Who's singing my theme song?!" another girl complained as she cleaned the top bowers of the Paeksis.
"It's not your theme song, it's mine!" another one shouted from the other end of the bowers. The voice she used warned of cat fight.
"That's why Dita isn't using that song," Dita made a silly smile at Amarone.
So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours I pray, to be only yours
I know now, you're my only hope
"Now, THAT part, is appropriate to you," Amarone nodded in approval.
"Thanks."
Sing to me the song of the stars
Of your galaxy dancing and laughing and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that you have for me over again
The afternoon wore her out. She practiced as if her life depended on it. By the time they were through, she was ready for a good night's rest.
She sat on a nearby armchair, closed her eyes, placed her hands at the armrests, and transported herself back to the Vandread Dita. His hands over hers, his presence behind her, his confidence inspiring the same in her. He did not exactly sing, it was true. But in countless trials and battles, he had told her of his plans, both for himself and with her.
When she was calmer about him, and he was happy with a casserole, he would talk. Someday he would travel all of space, see what it was like in other planets and other galaxies. Maybe he could do it with her, on his favorite Vandread, the most balanced and powerful of the three available. If only she would not squeal so much about alien life forms, it would be perfect.
Meia found her fast asleep on the chair, with a happy smile on her face, half-murmuring for her favorite alien. She wrapped a blanket around her, and left her to her dreams.
So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours I pray, to be only yours
I know now, you're my only hope
"How's the practice coming along?" Jura greeted the next morning.
"It's coming along nicely," Parfet reported. "She'll be ready to perform tomorrow."
"TOMORROW?! Already?" The terror in Dita's eyes spoke volumes.
"Aw, come on, Dita, you've sung very well so far. You'll be ready for the Nirvana tomorrow, I promise. All the links are ready." Parfet reassured her with a pat on the back.
"What the heck is that woman doing nowadays?" Hibiki asked of Barnette at the weapons storage. "I haven't seen her for at least three days……..I've missed the onigiri," he admitted finally.
Barnette just gave him a mysterious grin. "You'll find out tomorrow." She leveled her face in front of his. "You'll suffer for all the torment you've given Dita Liebely…….."
Hibiki let out a gulp.
He did not get to sleep that night. He was fearful for his life, scared to see a gigantic alien doll, a humongous rice meal he would never finish, and the worst, a big, smoochy, romantic, and long, kiss.
The next evening, 150 young woman found comfortable places for themselves all throughout the Nirvana. The chief navigator had been warned not to tell Hibiki and was eagerly anticipating the live feed. Duero had been likewise informed by Parfet, and was waiting with Paiway in the medical ward. Boss and vice-captain were also ready for what the night might hold.
"I am NOT sitting here by myself in the center park!" Hibiki protested, held tightly by Gascogne from the waist. The strong weapons manager had, literally, carried him from the main deck to the park, amidst furious shouts and kicks.
"Stop complaining, Hibiki," Gascogne advised. "This will be over in a few minutes." She sat him firmly on the bench under the lamplight. She then walked away to a nice spot of her own.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Hibiki yelled to a deserted park.
That was when the lights of the main deck grew dim. The stars outside the Nirvana showed their brilliance, as a single spotlight appeared before the Vanguard pilot.
Under the light, showing her beauty even in her usual clothes, stood, the woman.
"D-D-D-Dita?"
The sound of a single piano began to play, and her voice resonated through the main deck.
It was not operatic, it was not dramatic. It was just, a young woman, singing with natural sweetness, singing from the heart, singing with love. As the violins and the orchestra entered for the second verse, all the vastness of space was lost to her. It was just her, and him, in one place, at one time.
I give you my destiny
I'm giving you all of me
I want your symphony
Singing in all that I amAt the top of my lungs
I'm giving it back
"Unbelievable………" the pilot could only sit there on the bench, amazed, surprised……..enchanted.
She came nearer, and sat beside him, and finished the final chorus. And Hibiki actually let her, with an uneasy smile.
So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours I pray, to be only yours
I know now, you're my only hope
The Nirvana let out a collective sigh.
"Awwww, that's so sweet!" Jura commended.
Ezra and Parfet rejoiced in their success, holding hands and beaming, but not talking, afraid to break the spell.
"Um, Uchuujin-san………" Dita hazarded beside him.
"Will you PLEASE stop calling me that?!" Hibiki said.
"………will you forgive me?"
"Forgive you for what?"
"Um, everything, I think………"
The enemy could only choose a perfect time such as this to stage an attack.
Soon sirens blared all throughout the Nirvana, and everyone assumed battle stations. Hibiki and Dita started running as well.
"You're welcome to merge with me later, woman," he called out.
"Really?!"
"Especially if you cook some of that casserole when we get back," he said as he popped into the Vanguard.
Dita beamed wide and nodded.
…………………
One-shot only, made in record time, while reviewing for a big test. ^^ Thanks for reading.