title:Althena
anime:Noir
author:Immo (pronounced eye-moe)
rating:uh... R? Rape of small child, a little slashy slashy of the femmey femmey.
specifically, Chloe and Kirika, hints on Kirika and Mireille.
I don't think there's enough Noir fanfics out there, so here's one right at'cha! ;P
R/R, give me feedback: comments, complaints, critizism, compliments (hopefully). And
please, no flames. I'm a delicate person LoL. This is all from Althena's POV. Go
psychotic Kind Mother! Go! :D Oh yeah. Especially dedicated to my friend Talia. All
the yuri slash in here is to make her squirm. :D Go LiA!
The sun baked the already dry and cracked earth. Gunfire ripped the silence in the air,
punctuated with occasional screams. The girl was oblivious to everything. She was probably the
only survivor of this village, born of the original Soldats blood and ideals. Her parents had
hidden her in the basement, far, far below, underneath a secret compartment, so when the soldiers
raided and burned, she was safe. She had food, and clean water. And a book...
She could remember the book by heart, each word engraved into her memory by her parents,
religiously reciting each word to her. But now, she can't seem to remember... couldn't seem to
remember.
Her name was Althena.
That was it. Even though her eyes were blank, filmed over by pain and hunger, there was
a flicker of an unnatural will to survive could be seen if you looked closely. That was why she
was clutching her doll and walking. She had run out of food days ago, and water... there was no
more water. Not since the morning. How could she be so thirsty now?
Noir...
Something she read in the book. A shadow fell over her, and she looked up into the
leering face of a man. He picked her up. It was no hard feat, she was light as a feather.
"Who are you?" She managed to get the words past her dry, chapped lips.
The man grinned, "Soldats."
And she learned what Soldats was. An organization that was so deeply integrated into the
world, a hidden society that gave power to the ones that headed it. But that was wrong. Wrong.
How did she know it was wrong. Something in the book...
Her thoughts were more urgent now as the man lay her on the bed. How had they gotten into
a house? Can't think about that, must concentrate. Something about the book. She studied the man.
Barely a man, his face had just started getting scratchy like papa, when she sat on his lap, her
papa's cheek brushing against hers as he read from the book.
The man kissed her roughly, her damaged lips cracked agan, bleeding.
She turned around to look at the nightstand beside her. He had left his gun there. The
man was oblivious as he fumbled with her dress, pushing it up, pulling her underwear down. She
might be able to reach the gun... she reached out, then pulled back when she felt an excrutiating
pain down there.
"You're dry, it hurts more." He grunted.
Was it her fault? She didn't know what he was talking about. She was just a girl named
Althena. She blinked with pain, each thrust more painful than the next, pain mixed with fear when
she saw blood leaking out of her. Was she going to die?
Noir...
The pain left when she thought of the book.
Noir was important. Noir stopped the pain. With that thought in mind, she reached out for
the pistol, touching it with trembling fingers, her tiny hands barely wrapped around the barrel
of the gun. She had it. That was all that mattered. And she knew how to use it, because she was
part of Soldats too. She was Soldats, the original form. Everyone else had died, so she had to
continue the legacy.
NOIR.
The word designates the name of destiny from a distant time.
The two Virgo reign over death.
May the Black hands over the green field
Please protect the newly born peace.
A single gunshot, and the man slumped against her, oozing blood from the tiny neat hole
in his temple, she pushed him off with what little strength she had left. Noir. The book. She
remembered. She had a mission. Climbing off the bed, she grimaced, the pain there... it hurt.
But she had to keep walking. Her life wasn't worth as much as that book, the ideals it held.
She knew her role in the book now, she was going to give birth to Noir. She would be the mother
of Noir. The Kind Mother. The Garden. The book. Rations were found in the house, the soldier had
put this place to use for his own good, and she benefitted from it.
'Not unlike a whore being paid for her services,' Althena thought wryly. Finally, she
was thinking clearly. With strength renewed from the food and water, she packed up what she
could, making only one stop in the village, to her house, back to the secret room, to pick up
the book that held those precious ideals of her family, friends, and villages. It was the origin
of the Soldats, the true meaning of Soldats. And the way would be shown her, to the green Garden,
where everything, everything would come to pass. And Noir would be born, and the corrupted,
rotting, ambitious part of Soldats cut off, so the body could live again, better off without that
limb. Her journey was fuelled by her hate, her survival was thanks to her hate. Her family had
loved her, and it had almost killed her to be stuck in the darkness, alone.
If you can kill people with love, Hatred could save them. And she hated. And she
survived, collapsing in the inner sanctum of the Garden.
The children came to her at night, one with the look of a hardened criminal, the other,
clinging to the criminal like a frightened child. Chloe had been hand-picked and named by
Althena herself to become the one half of Soldats that was needed. Chloe was only three when she
started her training, a year had passed since her first day here, and Chloe still lacked the
coldness, the detachment, and the efficiency of the assasins, the two that made up Noir.
"Chloe?" Althena raised an eyebrow. Only seventeen years old, ten years Chloe's elder,
she was her 'mother'. The purple-haired girl cringed behind the newcomer. Now Althena looked at
this new one.
"Where are your parents, child?" Althena asked, not unkindly. "It's late, shouldn't you
be going home?"
Althena, seldom surprised, *was* surprised when the russet-haired child walked forward,
shaking herself free from Chloe's grip, and wrapped her arms around Althena's waist burying her
face into the valley of the blonde's blossoming breasts. She took a deep breath, as if trying
to inhale as much of Althena's scent as possible, her eyes closed.
"I *am* home."
All the girl knew was that she was Noir. And Althena saw, that this girl was was very
much the same as Chloe and herself. All three of them did not have any parents anymore. Althena
could imagine this girl, sitting on the lap of a man, reading from the book. Now Althena, older
and wiser, knew that it was called Langon's Manuscript.
"What is your name?" Althena tilted the girl's face upwards, and stared into the coffee-
brown depths of those eyes.
"I have no name."
"But we must have something to call you, no? I shall name you now, poor lost child."
Althena kissed first one side of the dark-eyed girl's face, then the other. She moved her face so
she was looking down at the young girl again, then smiled.
"Your name is: Yumura Kirika." Althena bent down, pressing her lips against this young
one's, briefly, softly, imparting the name onto the child.
"I am Noir." Kirika insisted.
Althena motioned Chloe forward, took both their hands, and placed them onto each other.
"You two are the True Noir. Never forget that."
Chloe smiled at the girl, and gripped her hand firmly. Then they parted, and Chloe began
the well-known, almost-prayer. Her hand, like a gun, over her heart, Chloe closed her eyes.
"Noir; a name of destiny that has been ordained in the past. Two women who reign over
death. The dark spirit, please guide the lost child." The prayer was also a prophecy, so it
seemed. The lost child had come home. "Lead the child back from the edge."
Kirika closed those soulless eyes, and mimicked Chloe's movements. "A name of destiny
that has been ordained in the past. Two women who reign over death," Now Chloe mixed her voice in
with Kirika's, in a beautiful harmony, the way it should be said, as two become one: Noir. "May
the Black Hands over the newborns please protect the peace."
Althena didn't insist on silence at the dinner table. After a prayer sent to The One Who
Provided, Chloe dug into her meal enthusiastically. She had been down to the village, she
confessed guiltily to Althena. That was how she found Kirika, when Chloe had been ambushed by
wild dogs.
"The Child came to my rescue," Chloe beamed at Kirika, who looked down at her plate, and
continued that slow thoughtful chewing. "Althena, could I stay up a bit longer?"
"Chloe, you have to get your rest. Tommorrow, you will continue your exercises. Alone."
Althena stated calmly.
"But Kirika-chan is here--"
"She has a test set out for her. She will deliver a letter to the Boquet family."
Althena's eyes hardened. Her influence in Soldats had greatly arisen since she stirred the embers
of Noir, claiming she will bring Noir to the use of Soldats. If only they knew... The Boquet
family had refused to give their child into her care, had refused calmly. One more chance, one
more refusal, and their family, including their precious daughter, would cease to exist forever.
Kirika was shown her room after she had a bath, and the girl climbed into bed obediently.
Althena tucked the girl in, with Chloe standing beside her. When the blonde turned to leave,
Chloe pulled on her robe, protesting.
"You didn't give her a kiss goodnight!" The innocence was laughable, but Althena only
smiled fondly at Chloe, before moving back and placing a kiss on Kirika's forehead. After tucking
Chloe in, and surrendering a hug and a kiss to the insistant girl, the teen hurried to her study.
Taking out her ink bottle, and a quill, she quickly started on the letter. The elegeant writing
spun out into words that pressed the point, and hid a threat, like a sheathed sword. When Althena
was done, she read it over, satisfied, and waited for the ink to dry. Then, she folded the paper,
and tucked it into an envelope. Dropping a bit of wax on it from her reading candle, she stamped
it with the seal of Soldats. Tommorrow morning, Kirika would be sent off to Italy. The way would
be made clear.
"Are you ready?" Althena asked the child. She nodded solemnly, dressed in over-sized
overalls, and a white t-shirt. One strap of the overall kept slipping off. The sky was a gray
blurr, not really sunrise, not really night.
"Sinners never regather after death, while the sin itself never fades away, Love too,
shall never disappear. The recluse has once again given in. Soldats' blood is absorbed by the
wilderness, and flows into the body. Both hands of Soldats are two Maidens. The hand of love
which can carry the sin. The hand of darkness which can be held out. Noir." Kirika said solemnly.
"Good." Althena nodded, again stunned by this girl. Chloe only remembered a little bit
of that. She bent down to fold up Kirika's pant legs for her. There was no time to hem them, one
of the villagers would come to pick her up soon.
"Where is Chloe?" Kirika's voice was soft.
"She isn't coming. She isn't ready for this."
The eyes flashed angrily. "Two are one. The Sword of Darkness which can be used by
Soldats. Both hands of Soldats. That is Noir."
Althena looked at the girl, bemused. Then she turned around, knowing that Chloe was
hiding behind one of the pillars. She had heard the girl stumbling about, her idea of quiet was
not quiet at all.
"Chloe, come out."
Chloe stepped out meekly.
"Would you like to go with your partner?"
The furious nod of her head told her there was no seperating these two. Althena could see
someone approaching, the head of the village, walking through the vineyard towards the trio.
"Go then." Chloe was already running towards the man eagerly, her eyes bright with
excitement. Her first task! With her partner! Kirika made her way, not too slow, but not too
fast.
"Child,"
Kirika stopped to turn around and look at Althena.
"Give them three days within the receiving of the letter. If they do not comply.."
Althena trailed off, knowing that Kirika would know what to do. The child was precocious, and
alien to her. But she was her child now, and Althena could grow to love her, and care for her as
she has for Chloe.
"Althena! Althena!" Chloe had run back, and flung herself into the woman's arm, trusting
that the blonde would catch her, and wasn't disappointed. She looked up, her eyes were shining.
"I'll be back soon!"
Kirika hugged Althena around her leg, so there was two children clinging to her, and the
blonde finally let herself laugh, and loved her children.
After that first mission, it had seemed as if Chloe had miraculously grown up. Althena
still couldn't believe how Chloe had blossomed into a young woman so quickly. The expectations
put on her weren't difficult anymore, and the killer in her emerged. There was still that child-
like glee, that energy that was poured into her work. And Althena, smiling secretively, believed
that Chloe might have a crush on Kirika. As if little blushing glances, and slightly touching
hands, hadn't hinted Althena to this! Poor Chloe though, the blonde sensed that Kirika had no
clue on the feelings and just loved her as a sister and a partner.
"Althena?" Chloe had taken to reading up on Landon's Manuscript, memorizing and eating up
every word, using her brain as much as she used her muscles when she trained. The girl was
twirling a dagger in her hands, and Althena gave a disapproving look. Chloe grinned sheepishly,
and tucked the weapon into her cloak.
"Now, what is it?" Althena came up behind the girl, placing a hand on Chloe's shoulder.
"When will Kirika come back?"
It had been a long time. But letters would come in today, the Soldats watching over her
will report soon.
There was a brief silence, before Chloe blurted out, "I love her."
Some things that Althena didn't even know about was revealed by a furiously blushing
Chloe. How the girl had, one night many years ago, snuck into the other girl's room. How Chloe
would kiss her, how Kirika held her, how they slept so innocently together, and how much Chloe
loved her.
"Have you told her?"
Chloe shook her head.
"Maybe you should. When she gets back."
Chloe nodded doubtfuly, then her eyes stared out the window, and she whooped with glee,
springing out of her chair. A lone figure was making her way towards them.. Althena followed the
purple-haired girl slowly, made her way to the front door to greet the brunette. Instead, she
found that it wasn't Kirika at all. It wasn't even a she. The village leader was there with a bag
of letters, and Chloe was tearing through them like she was a demon on fire.
"Chloe!" Althena was alarmed by the lack of control that Chloe was showing.
"No! She's in trouble, she should've been back by now!" Chloe paused to say, then
continued ripping through the letters. The villager bowed to Althena, before hurrying back to his
village, Chloe's wrath was apparent, and it was dangerous to all.
Althena let the young woman's grief and fear play out. Soon, she would stop. And she did.
At one letter.
"No."
Althena felt her heart stop at that one syllable. Something had happened to Kirika. What
did the letter say?
"No!"
The piece of paper was flung down, and Chloe ran past Althena, back into the house. She
knew no amount of calling would bring the girl to her side.
'Taken her... our better judgement... three... inner trees... different light and
water... Mireille Boquet--' She stopped reading the letter now. The trial called for three. So,
they were suspicious of her motives and were planning to throw a kink in her plans. No matter.
Kirika was alive, and so was Chloe, and that was all that mattered. These two were the Chosen
Two, blessed by the Kind Mother's hand.
"Chloe?" Althena searched the house, and finally found the girl in the chapel, sprawled
in front of the altar, forcing words out between wracking sobs, and attacking the steps to the
altar with a clenched fist.
"People--amongst people," Althena made out the words between the sobs and hiccups. "Love
amongst... Love," At this point, Chloe raised her head and howled to the heavens, her tear-filled
eyes filled with absolute hatred for the ones who would steal her other half away from her. "Sin
amongst sin... She is my sin! GIVE HER BACK TO ME!!"
She collapsed back on the steps, sobbing. Althena rushed to Chloe, gathering the girl up
into her arms.
"Poor Chloe," Althena whispered, as the hot tears burned through the fabric of her robe.
"Poor Chloe... my child, I love you so much."
"Althena!" Chloe clung tighter to the woman. "Althena!"
"My poor child," Althena squeezed her eyes shut, keeping her own rage tamped down, as
memories flooded her, the war within Soldats, the murder of her parents, the dark place that she
hid in, how she was so afraid in there, so afraid. How she starved and thirsted. How she was
raped. How she encountered so many deeds done by the hands of men to each other... and how she
put all these instances away as fuel for her smoldering rage.
"Love can kill people, Chloe." Althena kept her voice even. "Hatred can save them." Her
hate for Soldats, for people, for the things they stood for. To wipe them out with her hatred, to
cleanse the world with that pure fire and the two maidens that made up Noir. They shall be her
sword of darkness. And her, Althena. She will be the body who has cut off the diseased hands, and
attaching the new pair of hands on, the two maidens that will make up the hands of Soldats,
called Noir. She will be Soldats and bring back the lost origins of this organization.
Watching Kirika walk up towards her, she felt her heart open up again. There was a small
smile on Kirika's face, a flash of guarded recognition in her eyes. This was what should've
happened those years ago, too long, too long ago. Kirika should have walked up the path, instead
of the man who carried the letter.
Chloe held her little dessert fork, the most precious treasure she had in her possession,
and she looked up, seeing Kirika walking through the grapevines. Too long. It had been too long.
And she had found her way home. Chloe had barely gone inside the house since the day one of the
villagers reported that Kirika had found the way. The Grand Retour.
Kirika stopped several good feet away from the steps up to the house. And Althena gave a
smile, and descended slowly. Kirika still had that soft gentle smile on her face, and fell into
Althena's arms, breathing in the woman's scent. Remembering her, yet not remembering. Althena
felt the rage flare up, then tamped it down again. The Child would not remember everything that
had happened here, the happiness that they shared together, the three of them.
"Welcome back." Althena stroked the top of Kirika's head.
Her voice was emotionless, but it sent a thrill of joy running through Althena's very
being. "I'm home."
A tour of the household only brought her sorrow. Althena could see that Kirika wanted to
remember, but whatever they had done to her... it prevented her from remembering. Chloe had, at
first followed along, then got angry and left when Kirika didn't remember, or couldn't answer
questions from the past.
"Are you Althena?"
Althena smiled to hide her sorrow. It was too much not to be remembered by her child. But
she couldn't blame Kirika.
"Yes."
Questions were asked, and Althena would answer lightly, truthfully, but every question
weighed her down, made her sick with anger. How could they do this to Kirika?
What finally lifted her heart, was when Althena found Kirika in the library, poring over
Langon's Manuscript.
"The Two Hands of Soldats are two Maidens." Althena broke into a smile. "The Dark Hand
which can be held out with motherly love while carrying the burden of sins. Noir."
Althena walked forward to encircle Kirika from behind with her arms.
"If one can kill people with love, Hatred can also save people." Althena added. "That's
how I believe."
"Yes." Unquestioning obedience.
"Thank goodness you've returned."
Althena looked at the picture in the book, knowing how much she loved this young girl
like a daughter, looking at the picture of the Kind Mother, with both hands on the two Maiden's
heads, the Maidens knows as Noir. Althena closed the book and put it back on the shelf, then
lead the unprotesting girl to her room, where she was tucked in, and given a kiss goodnight.
Althena talked softly about the ritual happening tommorrow, and got up to leave, when Kirika
called her back urgently.
"Ah, Althena!"
There was more emotion in that voice then in the whole time since she had arrived. She
turned to look at the girl, pausing to listen to what she had to say.
"Uh..." The brunette seemed to be at loss for words.
"What's wrong?" The blonde encouraged. Kirika looked embarassed, and stared down at her
coverlet.
"Good night."
Althena smiled. "Good night."
Althena made her way to Chloe's room, to find the girl, just sneaking in through the
window. She smiled in that apologetic, sheepish way that she was bound to do.
"You were eaves-dropping?"
"I wanted to listen to you two talking again. The both of you did that a lot, back in
the days when we were all together, when me and Kirika were small." Chloe
Chloe was dead, she knew it as soon as it had happened, her childish spirit had come to
say goodbye, blowing out the candle that symbolized herself. There were two left. But these two
did not fit into the plan at all.
And Kirika had her gun pointed to her. A second time. And it hurt to have your child
point the gun towards you, but she kept her calm resolve. She could still make this work.
"Go ahead and shoot." Althena said gently. "Or your friend will die. Yes, many lives
have been lost, by your own hands. Are you now saying that you will make their deaths
meaningless?"
People died to make Noir what it was, the training included spilt blood.
"You should know as well. You are Noir." Althena saw Kirika's hand quiver. 'Kill me,
Kirika. Or else I would have worked for nothing. Be Noir.'
"Born with sin, raised with sin..." Althena closed her eyes and forged onwards. "A
superior being who reigns over death. Your only way of life lies here."
She kept on talking. Saw Kirika hesitate and mull over her words...
"Now, pull the trigger. Kill me and live on as the true Noir."
Althena felt her moment of glory, when the brunette's finger pressed lightly on the
trigger, not enough to fire, just touching it. Then, the grip loosened, the arms slackened.
Althena's eyes narrowed, knowing that Kirika would not shoot and she looked at Mireille. That
girl. That was why her hate was now just a fire consuming only Althena, not the people who
needed the cleansing flames. Her gun fired.
And Kirika flung herself in front of her friend. Denounced all claims to Noir. And
accepted the name given to her by Althena, and the identity that Mireille gave her. She was, and
always will be an individual known as Yumura Kirika. And she charged at Althena, pushing her
over, to the flames below.
'I've got a hold!' Althena's mind cried out in triumph. She had not managed to fall yet.
She could yet pull herself, and the girl clinging on to her, upwards. But now the truth was
told. She lived a lie, she hated and hated and scorched only herself and the only ones she
loved. Chloe was dead. Kirika's wound, not treated quickly, would be a festering death wound.
And in Kirika's eyes, she saw the philosophy that had been given to her, the opposite of what
Althena had tried to instill into her young charges. 'Love certainly can kill people. However,
don't forget: Hatred, can never save people.'
Her hand slipped. And Althena fell, Kirika stayed up, held up by the Boquet's only
daughter. She admired Mireille. To be able to forgive the person who took away your family from
you must have taken a lot of strength. Althena let go of the fire that burned within her and
wished the two good luck in the future, blessing them for finding each other, loving, helping,
and never abandonning each other along the path. She wished that she could be forgiven, and one
day, she would go to that place where Chloe would be waiting for her, wherever death may take
her, and one day, she hoped not soon, she would see Kirika there with Mireille. And she could
learn what it was like to love without hate.
She could almost see, as if from a bird's eye view, the two girls weeping together,
clutching each other close.
"I thought I lost you," Merielle hugged the girl close. Kirika hissed in pain, and the
blonde loosened her grip. "Did I hurt you?"
"Don't hate me, I can't stand it if you hate me." The tears were from another pain,
poor child. Merielle looked at Kirika, incredulous. Then she rained kisses on her face, hugged
her tight again, the tears came down stronger now.
"I can't hate you. I never could. I don't think I ever would,"
Althena moved away from the scene, and she stood in the library, at her desk. Langon's
Manuscript lay open, and Althena reached out and tried to touch the book. She wasn't all that
disappointed when she couldn't.
'Hm. I forgot to blow out the candle here.' Althena leaned over, and with a puff of
ghostly air, the room plunged into darkness.
Notes: Well, hoped you like it, remember, an artist lives off the comments they get from their
readers. Well, they live off the money that the readers pay them for their best-selling book...
but I'm not at that stage yet. Soon, soon... let us all hope. Hamena.org has some of my work,
mostly Sailor Moon fanfics. (H&M slash. I like slash. Its fun.)
P.S. Merielle is hot, Kirika rules, Chloe (I call her fork girl) is just too funny, and
Althena is, once again, the psychotic Kind Mother that everyone loves and would want to have.
P.P.S Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is wicked cool! She is the only reason I watch BtVS,
and she should be YOUR only reason too. ;) Five by five, everyone? Five by five.
anime:Noir
author:Immo (pronounced eye-moe)
rating:uh... R? Rape of small child, a little slashy slashy of the femmey femmey.
specifically, Chloe and Kirika, hints on Kirika and Mireille.
I don't think there's enough Noir fanfics out there, so here's one right at'cha! ;P
R/R, give me feedback: comments, complaints, critizism, compliments (hopefully). And
please, no flames. I'm a delicate person LoL. This is all from Althena's POV. Go
psychotic Kind Mother! Go! :D Oh yeah. Especially dedicated to my friend Talia. All
the yuri slash in here is to make her squirm. :D Go LiA!
The sun baked the already dry and cracked earth. Gunfire ripped the silence in the air,
punctuated with occasional screams. The girl was oblivious to everything. She was probably the
only survivor of this village, born of the original Soldats blood and ideals. Her parents had
hidden her in the basement, far, far below, underneath a secret compartment, so when the soldiers
raided and burned, she was safe. She had food, and clean water. And a book...
She could remember the book by heart, each word engraved into her memory by her parents,
religiously reciting each word to her. But now, she can't seem to remember... couldn't seem to
remember.
Her name was Althena.
That was it. Even though her eyes were blank, filmed over by pain and hunger, there was
a flicker of an unnatural will to survive could be seen if you looked closely. That was why she
was clutching her doll and walking. She had run out of food days ago, and water... there was no
more water. Not since the morning. How could she be so thirsty now?
Noir...
Something she read in the book. A shadow fell over her, and she looked up into the
leering face of a man. He picked her up. It was no hard feat, she was light as a feather.
"Who are you?" She managed to get the words past her dry, chapped lips.
The man grinned, "Soldats."
And she learned what Soldats was. An organization that was so deeply integrated into the
world, a hidden society that gave power to the ones that headed it. But that was wrong. Wrong.
How did she know it was wrong. Something in the book...
Her thoughts were more urgent now as the man lay her on the bed. How had they gotten into
a house? Can't think about that, must concentrate. Something about the book. She studied the man.
Barely a man, his face had just started getting scratchy like papa, when she sat on his lap, her
papa's cheek brushing against hers as he read from the book.
The man kissed her roughly, her damaged lips cracked agan, bleeding.
She turned around to look at the nightstand beside her. He had left his gun there. The
man was oblivious as he fumbled with her dress, pushing it up, pulling her underwear down. She
might be able to reach the gun... she reached out, then pulled back when she felt an excrutiating
pain down there.
"You're dry, it hurts more." He grunted.
Was it her fault? She didn't know what he was talking about. She was just a girl named
Althena. She blinked with pain, each thrust more painful than the next, pain mixed with fear when
she saw blood leaking out of her. Was she going to die?
Noir...
The pain left when she thought of the book.
Noir was important. Noir stopped the pain. With that thought in mind, she reached out for
the pistol, touching it with trembling fingers, her tiny hands barely wrapped around the barrel
of the gun. She had it. That was all that mattered. And she knew how to use it, because she was
part of Soldats too. She was Soldats, the original form. Everyone else had died, so she had to
continue the legacy.
NOIR.
The word designates the name of destiny from a distant time.
The two Virgo reign over death.
May the Black hands over the green field
Please protect the newly born peace.
A single gunshot, and the man slumped against her, oozing blood from the tiny neat hole
in his temple, she pushed him off with what little strength she had left. Noir. The book. She
remembered. She had a mission. Climbing off the bed, she grimaced, the pain there... it hurt.
But she had to keep walking. Her life wasn't worth as much as that book, the ideals it held.
She knew her role in the book now, she was going to give birth to Noir. She would be the mother
of Noir. The Kind Mother. The Garden. The book. Rations were found in the house, the soldier had
put this place to use for his own good, and she benefitted from it.
'Not unlike a whore being paid for her services,' Althena thought wryly. Finally, she
was thinking clearly. With strength renewed from the food and water, she packed up what she
could, making only one stop in the village, to her house, back to the secret room, to pick up
the book that held those precious ideals of her family, friends, and villages. It was the origin
of the Soldats, the true meaning of Soldats. And the way would be shown her, to the green Garden,
where everything, everything would come to pass. And Noir would be born, and the corrupted,
rotting, ambitious part of Soldats cut off, so the body could live again, better off without that
limb. Her journey was fuelled by her hate, her survival was thanks to her hate. Her family had
loved her, and it had almost killed her to be stuck in the darkness, alone.
If you can kill people with love, Hatred could save them. And she hated. And she
survived, collapsing in the inner sanctum of the Garden.
The children came to her at night, one with the look of a hardened criminal, the other,
clinging to the criminal like a frightened child. Chloe had been hand-picked and named by
Althena herself to become the one half of Soldats that was needed. Chloe was only three when she
started her training, a year had passed since her first day here, and Chloe still lacked the
coldness, the detachment, and the efficiency of the assasins, the two that made up Noir.
"Chloe?" Althena raised an eyebrow. Only seventeen years old, ten years Chloe's elder,
she was her 'mother'. The purple-haired girl cringed behind the newcomer. Now Althena looked at
this new one.
"Where are your parents, child?" Althena asked, not unkindly. "It's late, shouldn't you
be going home?"
Althena, seldom surprised, *was* surprised when the russet-haired child walked forward,
shaking herself free from Chloe's grip, and wrapped her arms around Althena's waist burying her
face into the valley of the blonde's blossoming breasts. She took a deep breath, as if trying
to inhale as much of Althena's scent as possible, her eyes closed.
"I *am* home."
All the girl knew was that she was Noir. And Althena saw, that this girl was was very
much the same as Chloe and herself. All three of them did not have any parents anymore. Althena
could imagine this girl, sitting on the lap of a man, reading from the book. Now Althena, older
and wiser, knew that it was called Langon's Manuscript.
"What is your name?" Althena tilted the girl's face upwards, and stared into the coffee-
brown depths of those eyes.
"I have no name."
"But we must have something to call you, no? I shall name you now, poor lost child."
Althena kissed first one side of the dark-eyed girl's face, then the other. She moved her face so
she was looking down at the young girl again, then smiled.
"Your name is: Yumura Kirika." Althena bent down, pressing her lips against this young
one's, briefly, softly, imparting the name onto the child.
"I am Noir." Kirika insisted.
Althena motioned Chloe forward, took both their hands, and placed them onto each other.
"You two are the True Noir. Never forget that."
Chloe smiled at the girl, and gripped her hand firmly. Then they parted, and Chloe began
the well-known, almost-prayer. Her hand, like a gun, over her heart, Chloe closed her eyes.
"Noir; a name of destiny that has been ordained in the past. Two women who reign over
death. The dark spirit, please guide the lost child." The prayer was also a prophecy, so it
seemed. The lost child had come home. "Lead the child back from the edge."
Kirika closed those soulless eyes, and mimicked Chloe's movements. "A name of destiny
that has been ordained in the past. Two women who reign over death," Now Chloe mixed her voice in
with Kirika's, in a beautiful harmony, the way it should be said, as two become one: Noir. "May
the Black Hands over the newborns please protect the peace."
Althena didn't insist on silence at the dinner table. After a prayer sent to The One Who
Provided, Chloe dug into her meal enthusiastically. She had been down to the village, she
confessed guiltily to Althena. That was how she found Kirika, when Chloe had been ambushed by
wild dogs.
"The Child came to my rescue," Chloe beamed at Kirika, who looked down at her plate, and
continued that slow thoughtful chewing. "Althena, could I stay up a bit longer?"
"Chloe, you have to get your rest. Tommorrow, you will continue your exercises. Alone."
Althena stated calmly.
"But Kirika-chan is here--"
"She has a test set out for her. She will deliver a letter to the Boquet family."
Althena's eyes hardened. Her influence in Soldats had greatly arisen since she stirred the embers
of Noir, claiming she will bring Noir to the use of Soldats. If only they knew... The Boquet
family had refused to give their child into her care, had refused calmly. One more chance, one
more refusal, and their family, including their precious daughter, would cease to exist forever.
Kirika was shown her room after she had a bath, and the girl climbed into bed obediently.
Althena tucked the girl in, with Chloe standing beside her. When the blonde turned to leave,
Chloe pulled on her robe, protesting.
"You didn't give her a kiss goodnight!" The innocence was laughable, but Althena only
smiled fondly at Chloe, before moving back and placing a kiss on Kirika's forehead. After tucking
Chloe in, and surrendering a hug and a kiss to the insistant girl, the teen hurried to her study.
Taking out her ink bottle, and a quill, she quickly started on the letter. The elegeant writing
spun out into words that pressed the point, and hid a threat, like a sheathed sword. When Althena
was done, she read it over, satisfied, and waited for the ink to dry. Then, she folded the paper,
and tucked it into an envelope. Dropping a bit of wax on it from her reading candle, she stamped
it with the seal of Soldats. Tommorrow morning, Kirika would be sent off to Italy. The way would
be made clear.
"Are you ready?" Althena asked the child. She nodded solemnly, dressed in over-sized
overalls, and a white t-shirt. One strap of the overall kept slipping off. The sky was a gray
blurr, not really sunrise, not really night.
"Sinners never regather after death, while the sin itself never fades away, Love too,
shall never disappear. The recluse has once again given in. Soldats' blood is absorbed by the
wilderness, and flows into the body. Both hands of Soldats are two Maidens. The hand of love
which can carry the sin. The hand of darkness which can be held out. Noir." Kirika said solemnly.
"Good." Althena nodded, again stunned by this girl. Chloe only remembered a little bit
of that. She bent down to fold up Kirika's pant legs for her. There was no time to hem them, one
of the villagers would come to pick her up soon.
"Where is Chloe?" Kirika's voice was soft.
"She isn't coming. She isn't ready for this."
The eyes flashed angrily. "Two are one. The Sword of Darkness which can be used by
Soldats. Both hands of Soldats. That is Noir."
Althena looked at the girl, bemused. Then she turned around, knowing that Chloe was
hiding behind one of the pillars. She had heard the girl stumbling about, her idea of quiet was
not quiet at all.
"Chloe, come out."
Chloe stepped out meekly.
"Would you like to go with your partner?"
The furious nod of her head told her there was no seperating these two. Althena could see
someone approaching, the head of the village, walking through the vineyard towards the trio.
"Go then." Chloe was already running towards the man eagerly, her eyes bright with
excitement. Her first task! With her partner! Kirika made her way, not too slow, but not too
fast.
"Child,"
Kirika stopped to turn around and look at Althena.
"Give them three days within the receiving of the letter. If they do not comply.."
Althena trailed off, knowing that Kirika would know what to do. The child was precocious, and
alien to her. But she was her child now, and Althena could grow to love her, and care for her as
she has for Chloe.
"Althena! Althena!" Chloe had run back, and flung herself into the woman's arm, trusting
that the blonde would catch her, and wasn't disappointed. She looked up, her eyes were shining.
"I'll be back soon!"
Kirika hugged Althena around her leg, so there was two children clinging to her, and the
blonde finally let herself laugh, and loved her children.
After that first mission, it had seemed as if Chloe had miraculously grown up. Althena
still couldn't believe how Chloe had blossomed into a young woman so quickly. The expectations
put on her weren't difficult anymore, and the killer in her emerged. There was still that child-
like glee, that energy that was poured into her work. And Althena, smiling secretively, believed
that Chloe might have a crush on Kirika. As if little blushing glances, and slightly touching
hands, hadn't hinted Althena to this! Poor Chloe though, the blonde sensed that Kirika had no
clue on the feelings and just loved her as a sister and a partner.
"Althena?" Chloe had taken to reading up on Landon's Manuscript, memorizing and eating up
every word, using her brain as much as she used her muscles when she trained. The girl was
twirling a dagger in her hands, and Althena gave a disapproving look. Chloe grinned sheepishly,
and tucked the weapon into her cloak.
"Now, what is it?" Althena came up behind the girl, placing a hand on Chloe's shoulder.
"When will Kirika come back?"
It had been a long time. But letters would come in today, the Soldats watching over her
will report soon.
There was a brief silence, before Chloe blurted out, "I love her."
Some things that Althena didn't even know about was revealed by a furiously blushing
Chloe. How the girl had, one night many years ago, snuck into the other girl's room. How Chloe
would kiss her, how Kirika held her, how they slept so innocently together, and how much Chloe
loved her.
"Have you told her?"
Chloe shook her head.
"Maybe you should. When she gets back."
Chloe nodded doubtfuly, then her eyes stared out the window, and she whooped with glee,
springing out of her chair. A lone figure was making her way towards them.. Althena followed the
purple-haired girl slowly, made her way to the front door to greet the brunette. Instead, she
found that it wasn't Kirika at all. It wasn't even a she. The village leader was there with a bag
of letters, and Chloe was tearing through them like she was a demon on fire.
"Chloe!" Althena was alarmed by the lack of control that Chloe was showing.
"No! She's in trouble, she should've been back by now!" Chloe paused to say, then
continued ripping through the letters. The villager bowed to Althena, before hurrying back to his
village, Chloe's wrath was apparent, and it was dangerous to all.
Althena let the young woman's grief and fear play out. Soon, she would stop. And she did.
At one letter.
"No."
Althena felt her heart stop at that one syllable. Something had happened to Kirika. What
did the letter say?
"No!"
The piece of paper was flung down, and Chloe ran past Althena, back into the house. She
knew no amount of calling would bring the girl to her side.
'Taken her... our better judgement... three... inner trees... different light and
water... Mireille Boquet--' She stopped reading the letter now. The trial called for three. So,
they were suspicious of her motives and were planning to throw a kink in her plans. No matter.
Kirika was alive, and so was Chloe, and that was all that mattered. These two were the Chosen
Two, blessed by the Kind Mother's hand.
"Chloe?" Althena searched the house, and finally found the girl in the chapel, sprawled
in front of the altar, forcing words out between wracking sobs, and attacking the steps to the
altar with a clenched fist.
"People--amongst people," Althena made out the words between the sobs and hiccups. "Love
amongst... Love," At this point, Chloe raised her head and howled to the heavens, her tear-filled
eyes filled with absolute hatred for the ones who would steal her other half away from her. "Sin
amongst sin... She is my sin! GIVE HER BACK TO ME!!"
She collapsed back on the steps, sobbing. Althena rushed to Chloe, gathering the girl up
into her arms.
"Poor Chloe," Althena whispered, as the hot tears burned through the fabric of her robe.
"Poor Chloe... my child, I love you so much."
"Althena!" Chloe clung tighter to the woman. "Althena!"
"My poor child," Althena squeezed her eyes shut, keeping her own rage tamped down, as
memories flooded her, the war within Soldats, the murder of her parents, the dark place that she
hid in, how she was so afraid in there, so afraid. How she starved and thirsted. How she was
raped. How she encountered so many deeds done by the hands of men to each other... and how she
put all these instances away as fuel for her smoldering rage.
"Love can kill people, Chloe." Althena kept her voice even. "Hatred can save them." Her
hate for Soldats, for people, for the things they stood for. To wipe them out with her hatred, to
cleanse the world with that pure fire and the two maidens that made up Noir. They shall be her
sword of darkness. And her, Althena. She will be the body who has cut off the diseased hands, and
attaching the new pair of hands on, the two maidens that will make up the hands of Soldats,
called Noir. She will be Soldats and bring back the lost origins of this organization.
Watching Kirika walk up towards her, she felt her heart open up again. There was a small
smile on Kirika's face, a flash of guarded recognition in her eyes. This was what should've
happened those years ago, too long, too long ago. Kirika should have walked up the path, instead
of the man who carried the letter.
Chloe held her little dessert fork, the most precious treasure she had in her possession,
and she looked up, seeing Kirika walking through the grapevines. Too long. It had been too long.
And she had found her way home. Chloe had barely gone inside the house since the day one of the
villagers reported that Kirika had found the way. The Grand Retour.
Kirika stopped several good feet away from the steps up to the house. And Althena gave a
smile, and descended slowly. Kirika still had that soft gentle smile on her face, and fell into
Althena's arms, breathing in the woman's scent. Remembering her, yet not remembering. Althena
felt the rage flare up, then tamped it down again. The Child would not remember everything that
had happened here, the happiness that they shared together, the three of them.
"Welcome back." Althena stroked the top of Kirika's head.
Her voice was emotionless, but it sent a thrill of joy running through Althena's very
being. "I'm home."
A tour of the household only brought her sorrow. Althena could see that Kirika wanted to
remember, but whatever they had done to her... it prevented her from remembering. Chloe had, at
first followed along, then got angry and left when Kirika didn't remember, or couldn't answer
questions from the past.
"Are you Althena?"
Althena smiled to hide her sorrow. It was too much not to be remembered by her child. But
she couldn't blame Kirika.
"Yes."
Questions were asked, and Althena would answer lightly, truthfully, but every question
weighed her down, made her sick with anger. How could they do this to Kirika?
What finally lifted her heart, was when Althena found Kirika in the library, poring over
Langon's Manuscript.
"The Two Hands of Soldats are two Maidens." Althena broke into a smile. "The Dark Hand
which can be held out with motherly love while carrying the burden of sins. Noir."
Althena walked forward to encircle Kirika from behind with her arms.
"If one can kill people with love, Hatred can also save people." Althena added. "That's
how I believe."
"Yes." Unquestioning obedience.
"Thank goodness you've returned."
Althena looked at the picture in the book, knowing how much she loved this young girl
like a daughter, looking at the picture of the Kind Mother, with both hands on the two Maiden's
heads, the Maidens knows as Noir. Althena closed the book and put it back on the shelf, then
lead the unprotesting girl to her room, where she was tucked in, and given a kiss goodnight.
Althena talked softly about the ritual happening tommorrow, and got up to leave, when Kirika
called her back urgently.
"Ah, Althena!"
There was more emotion in that voice then in the whole time since she had arrived. She
turned to look at the girl, pausing to listen to what she had to say.
"Uh..." The brunette seemed to be at loss for words.
"What's wrong?" The blonde encouraged. Kirika looked embarassed, and stared down at her
coverlet.
"Good night."
Althena smiled. "Good night."
Althena made her way to Chloe's room, to find the girl, just sneaking in through the
window. She smiled in that apologetic, sheepish way that she was bound to do.
"You were eaves-dropping?"
"I wanted to listen to you two talking again. The both of you did that a lot, back in
the days when we were all together, when me and Kirika were small." Chloe
Chloe was dead, she knew it as soon as it had happened, her childish spirit had come to
say goodbye, blowing out the candle that symbolized herself. There were two left. But these two
did not fit into the plan at all.
And Kirika had her gun pointed to her. A second time. And it hurt to have your child
point the gun towards you, but she kept her calm resolve. She could still make this work.
"Go ahead and shoot." Althena said gently. "Or your friend will die. Yes, many lives
have been lost, by your own hands. Are you now saying that you will make their deaths
meaningless?"
People died to make Noir what it was, the training included spilt blood.
"You should know as well. You are Noir." Althena saw Kirika's hand quiver. 'Kill me,
Kirika. Or else I would have worked for nothing. Be Noir.'
"Born with sin, raised with sin..." Althena closed her eyes and forged onwards. "A
superior being who reigns over death. Your only way of life lies here."
She kept on talking. Saw Kirika hesitate and mull over her words...
"Now, pull the trigger. Kill me and live on as the true Noir."
Althena felt her moment of glory, when the brunette's finger pressed lightly on the
trigger, not enough to fire, just touching it. Then, the grip loosened, the arms slackened.
Althena's eyes narrowed, knowing that Kirika would not shoot and she looked at Mireille. That
girl. That was why her hate was now just a fire consuming only Althena, not the people who
needed the cleansing flames. Her gun fired.
And Kirika flung herself in front of her friend. Denounced all claims to Noir. And
accepted the name given to her by Althena, and the identity that Mireille gave her. She was, and
always will be an individual known as Yumura Kirika. And she charged at Althena, pushing her
over, to the flames below.
'I've got a hold!' Althena's mind cried out in triumph. She had not managed to fall yet.
She could yet pull herself, and the girl clinging on to her, upwards. But now the truth was
told. She lived a lie, she hated and hated and scorched only herself and the only ones she
loved. Chloe was dead. Kirika's wound, not treated quickly, would be a festering death wound.
And in Kirika's eyes, she saw the philosophy that had been given to her, the opposite of what
Althena had tried to instill into her young charges. 'Love certainly can kill people. However,
don't forget: Hatred, can never save people.'
Her hand slipped. And Althena fell, Kirika stayed up, held up by the Boquet's only
daughter. She admired Mireille. To be able to forgive the person who took away your family from
you must have taken a lot of strength. Althena let go of the fire that burned within her and
wished the two good luck in the future, blessing them for finding each other, loving, helping,
and never abandonning each other along the path. She wished that she could be forgiven, and one
day, she would go to that place where Chloe would be waiting for her, wherever death may take
her, and one day, she hoped not soon, she would see Kirika there with Mireille. And she could
learn what it was like to love without hate.
She could almost see, as if from a bird's eye view, the two girls weeping together,
clutching each other close.
"I thought I lost you," Merielle hugged the girl close. Kirika hissed in pain, and the
blonde loosened her grip. "Did I hurt you?"
"Don't hate me, I can't stand it if you hate me." The tears were from another pain,
poor child. Merielle looked at Kirika, incredulous. Then she rained kisses on her face, hugged
her tight again, the tears came down stronger now.
"I can't hate you. I never could. I don't think I ever would,"
Althena moved away from the scene, and she stood in the library, at her desk. Langon's
Manuscript lay open, and Althena reached out and tried to touch the book. She wasn't all that
disappointed when she couldn't.
'Hm. I forgot to blow out the candle here.' Althena leaned over, and with a puff of
ghostly air, the room plunged into darkness.
Notes: Well, hoped you like it, remember, an artist lives off the comments they get from their
readers. Well, they live off the money that the readers pay them for their best-selling book...
but I'm not at that stage yet. Soon, soon... let us all hope. Hamena.org has some of my work,
mostly Sailor Moon fanfics. (H&M slash. I like slash. Its fun.)
P.S. Merielle is hot, Kirika rules, Chloe (I call her fork girl) is just too funny, and
Althena is, once again, the psychotic Kind Mother that everyone loves and would want to have.
P.P.S Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is wicked cool! She is the only reason I watch BtVS,
and she should be YOUR only reason too. ;) Five by five, everyone? Five by five.