Chapter 1: The Intelligent Alien

A room… what is this room? It's so dark, yet it feels as if something took place here… I can't quite put my finger on it, but…

"What is this… liquid?" Tracing my fingers along the bubbles but missing, I gasp as I examine the room around me. I am enveloped in a bluish liquid meant to preserve a subject in a capsule. Was I… one of those things?

Looking around, I see my body is developed, but I can't remember… what happened before that. Was I just born with intelligence inside me? I can't remember, but for nothing, I try banging against the glass…

Nothing. Nothing happens.

The liquid is warm, yet cold at the same time, like I'm a subject and specimen of a mad scientist.

But what can I do but look around with my eyes open? My head feels like it cracked open a new one. But still can't get out. My head hurts that much, like I had received a knock to my head…

Why does my body feel new, yet I have this knowledge in my head? It feels as though this is the first time I moved this body.

Yet it looks older than it feels. I feel my way around, but there is only a top and bottom to this capsule. I can't get out without the mad scientist's permission, whoever they may be… I have a feeling I'm about to find out.

Trying to get myself out by pulling a magical switch from heaven, it seems that didn't work…

The door opens. Slowly, but surely, a scientist comes in. She takes her time walking in, staring… no, examining me. She is wearing a lab coat and has long purple hair. Those violet eyes of hers… they seem so enchanting, but the question stands: why is she so beautiful…?

Or because… She was the first female I saw?

Bubbles pass. It seems some bodily function of mine activated.

"Ara? Look who woke up in the doggy tube…" She mocks me for passing bubbles. "And it seems you're getting excited… Am I that beautiful to you?" She smirks.

"Now if you could just let me out—"

"Sorry, I can't do that." Immediately rejected. "See, you are an experiment of mine. You are one of the aliens we found in one of the Hives." Hives? What hives? Like hives where a honey bee mates with his Queen Bee? Or are you saying that I was born from your hives…? "Sorry, but I'm not the one who cared for you." ….

"Anyhow, can you at least let me out so we can talk?"

"No, we can do it here." She examines my body language and speech, yet I can see that she is intrigued by my knowledge of language.

But that aside, I have some serious questions for her.

"Professor, if I can say something…"

"….."

Looks like she's giving me the green light.

"…I don't remember how I got here, or how I was born for that matter. My body feels incredibly new, like it's fresh. But I seem to have some knowledge of how to speak and move."

"Interesting. You are an intelligent Beta like the Primary Objective…" Beta? What is that? "…But it seems you got hit in the head a bit there. I'm going to keep you in there a little longer. Yashiro." A little bunny girl appears from behind the door. "Keep watch over him, will you?" It seems the professor will be examining our interaction.

"Yes…" She's… pretty cute. But I'm not sure… "….." W-What're you staring at me for? Please don't do that. It's bad enough that the professor stared at me. Don't label me as some foreign object, okay…?

"….."

That white hair, those cute silver eyes, that black dress… It seems she has a small figure. How old is she, fourteen or fifteen?

"I am fifteen." Wait, she read my mind…? "….." She stares at me silently, still like a statue. How can she act like that? What happened to her? I don't know much, if any, of this world, but somehow, the memory of pain is inside me. I can't get it off of my mind. The searing pain, people dying by the millions… I feel like I've felt it all. Like I've lost a family and many friends…

"….." She frowns sadly, as if she feels my pain. It seems she understands where I'm coming from. A world where you have no friends, nobody to depend on, is worse than having a world where there are many enemies. "What do you… see?" Hm? Is she asking me?

"W-What is it?"

"….." She's silent again. What a cute girl. Now I made her sadder and my voice is shaking.

What is this? Fear? Anticipation? Enjoyment? Whatever it is, it is driving me to say something.

"Say, anybody close to you? Somebody you love? Because this is my first time waking up, and I can see you are very lonely. I'm lonely too; mind keeping me company?" I feign a smile. Smiling like this doesn't seem to suit this dark atmosphere. But yet not heavy because… I feel we can be friends.

"Hmm, interesting. It seems this Beta has feelings…" …..

"….." She still looked sad… but she inched closer towards this container. What a pathetic guy I am. I can't even inch towards her. Am I even a man…? Heh, this sure is funny, because I have a feeling the next guy would be jealous that a girl is moving towards me because I could bait her with carrots, and she would want it really badly.

Plus we're only just getting to know each other. Hence, the jealousy the person next could feel.

But I'm no lolicon. I am a nice, compassionate guy who believes that everybody should work together to defeat their worst fears and enemies. My fear is not knowing the unknown.

Somehow, it feels like this happened before, when I first saw the professor. She seemed really strange, really foreign to me. I have dormant urges to kill her, but I am intelligent, and my sense as one of these "Beta" seems dormant at the moment as well. Perhaps, I can help them, and they can help me. Trade one for another.

Simple.

"Kasumi…"

"Huh? What's that? Mist…?" She stares at me. "S-Sorry. M-My bad. I'm just nervous, that's all…"

"My name…"

"Hmm, Yashiro, Kasumi…" Piecing two together. "Yashiro Kasumi! I-Is that right?"

"Yes…" Not nodding at all, huh. Seems we're not friendly enough. "No…" Well, either way, it's alright. One stone at a time as they always say.

"Alright, hadabada…"

"Hada… bada?" She stares at me with every millimeter of steel. It seems she's taking this seriously.

"A-Ah! I-It's nothing! It's just… something I thought I would say whenever I'm thinking. Right?"

"Right…" Her lips move, but not wide. Seems she's the quiet type. Sound echoes in this dark wiry room. But…

Staring around the room, the color of my skin… It seems I've been here for quite an awful long time. My skin is pale white, and the reflection tells my eyes blue. A hint of mysterious color, along with long foxy black hair; the hair reaches down towards my lower back. Thankfully not my butt and all the reproductive organs are in place.

But I can see… I'm not getting anywhere fast. For now, I should talk to this silver girl. She feels so…

"Can I call you… Yashiro?"

"Kasumi…"

"K-Kasumi…?" First name already? Wonder why. "Alright, Kasumi, so… what's the outside world like?"

"The ocean…" What, an ocean? Why did she bring that up? "Somebody… gave me something that sounded like the ocean." Somebody? I can spot a little sad undertone to that word. That friend must have been very important… Let's see if I can explore that line.

"So… who was this friend of yours?"

"He was… a very important friend. He…" A "he"? Then it clearly must have been somebody important, but who…?

"Who was he…?" My urges tell me to be scared. But I ignore these urges and pursue my curiosity.

"Shirogane-san…" S-Shirogane…?! T-This feeling…!

"…!"

My vision is going berserk…!

Static. All I see is static. The only part of me that's moving… my arms and legs.

But… what is this sound I'm hearing? My primal instincts are activating. It sounds like… banging against the glass.

Am I the one… doing it? I can't believe it…! This can't be! Just when we were…!

"Get back, Yashiro!" The professor's face tightens, and she anticipates the worst. "I knew this would happen… Ever since the Primary Objective…" The Primary Objective? What is she talking about? Did it do something? Yashiro is scared and afraid, standing behind the professor.

"Raaah!" I've got to do something about this! I can't just…! Kuh, the glass is breaking…!

"…!" Yashiro is glaring at me powerfully! But… what is this sensation...! I feel like… I'm receiving therapy.

"Shirogane… Takeru…" I see the face… of a young man, with chestnut hair, brown eyes, an idiotic face of that of a true Eiyuu… that of a hero. I can feel… that he was a savior of people, no, of a world, a gift from the gods… He… saved me? "Shirogane!" But my body just can't calm down…!

"Yashiro, stronger…!" The professor is shouting. Why? Why is this happening…?

Shirogane… Takeru… Just who the hell is he? He feels so important… Could this be… my memories?

I see him smiling, laughing, and then saying bye to him at the end of the journey, even when he is crying and hasn't even witnessed the world being completely eradicated of the Beta yet… The Beta are…

"….." My gaze falls. My body lurches forward and falls into sleep.

"…good job, Yashiro. We have to assure he…" The professor says as I black out. Yashiro seems to say something, but I can't hear…

XXXXXXXXXX

Inside a Dream

"….."

A world full of black. Full of darkness. I can't see anything but chaotic swirls of darkness.

The interior of my mind… is this a dream?

This landscape… I feel like it isn't there, yet it is.

Just what is this?

"—Why did you invade Earth?! Why are you fighting humanity?!"

"Earth… acknowledged. Invade… no match. Fighting… no match. Humanity… no match." It seems the chestnut boy is confronting the alien with nothing but words and a giant fortress…

"Didn't you come here to attack Earth?!—Aren't you fighting with me right now?!"

"Attack… no match. Me… acknowledged. Fighting… tentatively acknowledged." It seems the alien is talking through Kasumi.

"―You've been attacking us since we got here! And what I did to you just now was an attack―Put those together and you have fighting!" This feels so familiar…

I wonder why?

"Fighting... tentatively acknowledged. Attack... no match."

"The higher existence has enacted preventative measures against great disaster from your existence. A part of your existence separated from your existence and moved at high speed and contacted the higher existence." Was I actually… one of them?

"―The higher existence "contacted" our existence at high speed too! That was an attack!"

"Attack... acknowledged. The higher existence needed to attack to prevent great disaster. Fighting was necessary to prevent great disaster." A-Are these… tears?

"―Prevent what great disaster!? ―You're the invaders! Don't "contact" us with parts of you!"

"Deny. Great disaster is to be prevented in advance. Invader… no match." Damn it! Just what the hell is this feeling?! I don't even know either of them!

"By invader I mean you! You've been killing us, humanity, on this planet! That's why a war between existences started!" Humanity…?

"Killing... no match. Humanity... acknowledged. War... no match."

"―Killing means taking away life. A war is fighting that goes on for a long time!"

"Killing... acknowledged. War... acknowledged. The claim that the higher existence performed killing on Earth is untrue." What the hell?! That alien is clearly trying to kill them now…!

"...what was your objective in coming to Earth?!" Do I really want to know?!

"The higher existence's objective is the retrieval of materials." That's… right…

"―What do you do with those materials!?" And yet the man is shouting… I wonder why…

"Send them back to the planet the higher existence came from." Yes, that's right…

….

"….."

Silence. There is only silence in this dream world now. The vision has faded. Darkness covers the entire world.

I can only see emptiness. Void of emotion, only of thought processes and logical thinking. Now I see…

"…Damn it."

It's like… I never wanted to be born. I have knowledge, intelligence, but I don't want to…

Damn it, what kind of alien am I…?

XXXXXXXXXX

"….." A slow awakening. But only this time, I am in a different glass container…

Yet again, this laboratory… Heh, what the hell am I thinking? This world isn't so black and white. There is pain, agony, strife… Humanity is powerful for standing up to the aliens, but I do not know how long this has happened…

"Kasumi…" What day is it? Morning? Afternoon? Night? Whatever it is, she seems tired.

Now I understand. She has been… watching over my upbringing ever since I was brought here. Now I see… why we're similar. We were both created for a purpose, but not either one of us would want it if we were… normal.

"….." Her eyes are open. She is watching me without having fallen asleep. How long has she been up…? "I was sleeping." She was?

"A-Are you alright…?" She seems exhausted. What could have happened…?

"I'm fine…" Was she watching for my reactions…?

"Yashiro, good job." The professor is coming back in. Just what the heck is going on here…? "You were having a panic attack back there. You okay?" She says mockingly with a smile.

"Y-You…" I hold in my anger.

"Ara… It seems you also have those emotions. Interesting." She smirks but her smile soon fades. "It seems you were having a hostile reaction to the name 'Takeru'… Do you understand why?" Her face tightens up. Now I have to answer honestly since this hinges on my life here…

"…I do. 'Shirogane Takeru' was the one who saved humanity from the Beta…" As to why I didn't react as harshly this time… It's probably because she hooked me up with some drugs.

"Good…" The professor feigns a smile. "Then, what do you think of the thought of 'seeing the outside world'…?"

"Seeing… the outside world?" What do I think of it…? Emotions emotions… I am scared, yet my Beta urges want me to get back out there and kill everybody in my way… In a way, that is rather primitive of me, yet…

My mind tells me to. It is simple that I want to kill off the humans because of my urges, but ignoring those urges, the humans don't seem as bad as they do. I do understand what that alien said, but…

Somewhere in my heart, I believe there is a good chance humanity can overcome itself. With time, they will be…

So, as a fellow citizen of this world, I shall…

"…Yes." I say with adamant resolution. "I want to see humanity prosper. Although…" I feel my heart. "…I still have the urges to kill you all. It's itching to come back out, and with that said… How will you deal with me?"

"….." The professor is looking at me, staring at me while trying to find a solution. "…Have Yashiro near you at all times. We will rehabilitate you. Can you live with that?"

"…Ma'am!" I saluted with all my heart while I was inside the glass container.

"Please don't bother with formalities. I don't like them, you know." Sighing, her fingers pressed some buttons, releasing me from the container.

The only thought that occurred to me…

It was cold.

Author's Note: I was actually thinking of making the OC a pretty weirdly funny guy, if you know what I mean, but in a world like Muv-Luv, I think a more neutral, semi-serious semi ironic-ish funny would fit this more, and I like the way it turned out. Though you guys could have probably thought better than I did.

And I also used the English script of Alternative (by the same guys who did the translation) to get an idea of how they interpreted the character voices. I hope I did at least an okay job of getting it right. I'm not really good with characters, after all, unless I read a script where they come from or something.

And even then, I'm not good with character voices at all.

And also how strong the Beta are when it comes their attacks with lasers, grappling hooks, fort strikes, and stuff, it seems like… They have so much more silicone than humans and other organisms have, though they probably needed the carbon to be able to survive the treck underwater, hence their evolvement or adaptability or whatever you'd like to call it.

And also… I'm not a very good writer when it comes to details and coming up with all kinds of stuff to say in a story. I can't fit in very many words, and you may find this story lacking if you're looking for a long read. It is essentially a short read, and I can't say I'm a very good writer either.

Hope you enjoyed it though. I'm not very good with logical stuff either.

I'm also trying to get Takeru back into the Honor Guard… I guess. I'm thinking of using the guilt on Meiya's death and Yuuhi talking to him as incentive, though that may not work…

And if you haven't figured out yet, Takeru stays in this.