Crown of Thorns

Chapter Two: Escondig

Escondig – A lover's apology

I recommend reading it. It's short so don't worry. It's in poetry format but I think it was meant to be a song of sorts. I found out some interesting stuff when I looked up what Trovatore meant…

I kinda lied… Y'know how I implied this was only going to be two chapters? Yeah… The reason it took so long was because I was tearing my hair out by trying to fit everything in one more chapter while still feeling satisfied. Soooo, this will have one more chapter. DON'T KILL ME! –hides-

I'm pleased that someone took an interest in Rin's name. Yes, her name means ice and it's rather ironic that she was injured so gravely with an ice katana, eh? Haha. So…we left off with Rin in critical condition and being transported onto a chopper… I wonder what I shall make her fate?

I wonder if anyone has figured out the central theme in both My Dearest and Crown of Thorns. I'll give you a cookie if you can figure it out. Also, I've been dying to use this section from "The Everlasting Guilty Crown" ever since I finished Room for Three.


Was what you tried to protect with your hands

Someone that you loved?

Staring at your hands awash in red

You finally recognize your sins

And the stupid things you've done as mistakes

And you learn that you tears are ever-spilling

-Egoist, The Everlasting Guilty Crown


Soma input a security code into the door lock. The heavy metallic door opened with a low hiss and he stepped inside the sterile area. His new white Fenrir coat felt foreign to him, but he might as well get used to it. It lacked his trademark hood and he was sorely tempted to tell the uniform department to add one in.

In a large cocoon-like pod in the center of the room, a girl was sleeping peacefully. Or at least it seemed that way. Her mouth was covered by a breathing apparatus, seeing as the pod itself was filled with healing fluids. Her chest and forehead had a wire connected inside the machine to monitor her status. Her wrist, which normally would have featured a large red armlet, was swapped out for a smaller white version—specially made for medical circumstances like hers. Unlike the red bracelet that was designed for monthly doses of Bias, the white one was suited for continuous doses that would normally cause abnormalities.

Her name was Amagi Rin—the previous 1st Unit Leader at the Far Eastern Branch.

The pods were usually used for heavily injured God Eaters whose services were desperately needed by their branch. In other words, they were a means to repair indispensible tools. Soma had heard rumors of God Eaters that have wanted to off themselves but were placed in the pods to prevent that. They were sent back into the field shortly after. In Rin's case, she wasn't only here because she was a valuable tool for Fenrir's use. Soma nearly spat at the thought. No, she was here for an entirely different reason. The people at the Den didn't just want her presence back. They needed it. And it wasn't for her help either. They needed the light she naturally shed on the dark world overrun by the gods. It seemed like such a childish and naïve thought to Soma at first, but shortly after her leave he noticed the change in the Den.

Licca busied herself more than usual with creating new God Arcs and set special materials aside if she had extra. The cafeteria no longer stocked up on her favorite tofu dish. Similarly, there were far too many of Dr. Sakaki's juices in storage. A certain seat on the couch in the lounge was always reserved. Maybe Rin didn't know just how much her disappearance affected the Far Eastern Branch, but at the very least Soma hoped that she would wake up and see what she had been missing.

Unfortunately, however, she was going back and forth between stable and in critical condition. A doctor came inside the room with an electronic chart. He regarded Soma with a slight bow and then turned towards the girl's vitals.

"Physically, she's doing well compared to yesterday," The doctor began. Soma no longer needed to ask for any changes in her condition. It was a given whenever he or anyone else within the 1st Unit came to visit the redheaded girl. "Her internal organs are slowly repairing themselves, although she may have some pain later on in the future. She may have to lay off many of the heavy missions unless she can handle the stress on her body. Externally she'll have minor scarring, but given the severity of her original state she got off lucky." She doctor cleaned his glasses before putting them back on. He gave Soma a somewhat confident smile. "The poison we found in her system still worries us, seeing as we still find traces of it flowing in her blood, but at this rate she'll be moved to the regular sickbay within a month or so."

"Any bad news?" Soma asked curtly.

The doctor's smile vanished immediately, but he kept the professional look on his face. "Her brain signals are still dormant. In a way she's in a comatose state, but we don't know why. She hasn't sustained heavy cranial trauma. It was just around the amount her medical records are used to. Perhaps it has something to do with the foreign substance in her blood? We recently found a correlation between the poison and oracle cell activity. Apparently it inhibits a God Eater's ability to repair and create other oracle cells. It is also slowly changing the chemical and biological structure of her systems. In a way, it's converting her back into a normal human being…!" as if sensing Soma's accusing glare he offered him a well-practiced reassuring smile. "Although we are quite intrigued by this phenomenon, many of us scientists are indebted to her. Rest assured. Her recovery will take upmost priority over our research." Even Soma could feel the sincerity of the doctor's tone and he relaxed immediately.

"I see… Thanks doc," the buster blader nodded and the doctor left the room. Soma pulled up a chair and studied the slumbering girl in the cocoon of glass. It had been a week since she had been extracted from the field in critical condition. "Hey. Still taking your time, eh?" he began.

Each day, without fail, he'd visit her for at least an hour—filling her in on things she's missed during their time of lost communication. Most of it was simply aimless conversation. Others were somber stories of lost comrades. He didn't like sharing them, but sometimes when he was out of what little good that was left to say he had to resort to the bad. Soma's smooth words filled the lonely white room.

"That damned Kota wanted to sneak over to your branch on your birthday. Then again, I guess I can't blame him. I had the same thought, too." He chuckled. There was no response. Soma's blue eyes softened and he put a gloved hand on the glass. "Hey. You're supposed to be doing all the talking. Not me."

Once again she remained silent.

"Do you think we'll ever stop being God Eaters?"

"If you turned back into a normal human…" Soma trailed off.

Would she leave?

It would be her opportunity to leave the life of dancing with death at every turn. It would be her chance to live the life she never could. She had already repaid her 'debt' to them by going off alone (Much to everyone's chagrin). He recalled their conversation in his room a couple months ago. Despite the dedication the girl had towards the branch and protecting mankind, it was no secret that she longed for normalcy. It showed in her frequent visits to the archives of the old world and even in her half-hearted jokes about what existed in a time before the Aragami.

Soma pulled out a black tie out from his jacket pocket and traced absent circles on the rough surface. It was found on her person when she was recovered and he took it before it was brought to her other belongings in her room. Even now, her items from her previous branch her being brought here by chopper. He couldn't imagine the heat Tsubaki was getting right now.

"Can I…have this? I promise I'll give it back."

As he slowly touched the tie in his hand, the sleeve of his jacket shifted and revealed a nostalgic black ribbon securely tied around his tanned wrist. He was rarely seen without it since the day she left.

Soma rested his forehead against the cold glass surface and let out a shuddering sigh while closing his dangerously stinging eyes. "I've held up my end of the bargain so far. Now it's your turn, idiot." There was a small movement within the pod and Soma immediately sat up. It was small but he could see her fingers flexing ever so slightly. Her brows were furrowed slightly before relaxing again. Soma breathed a small sigh of relief. Although it worried Soma slightly, it was a sign that she was still responsive. She was still fighting. For now, that was enough…


Tsubaki tapped her nail on the wooden desk impatiently as she glared into the blue holographic screens—or more at the multiple people on the other side. Their angry postures were practically synonymous to a cornered kitten compared to what she's seen in her lifetime.

"This is blasphemy! We demand the return of the New-type Amagi Rin!"

"It is against policy to reclaim God Eaters, Amamiya. You may just lose your position as branch director if you do not explain yourself properly." Another voice began sternly. The angry glint in his eyes matched the sheen on his balding head, Tsubaki mused to herself silently. The retired sniper took a deep breath and folded her fingers together on the desk and cleared her throat.

"With all due respect, branch directors, we have had reason to believe unjust treatment of the New-type God Eater Amagi Rin. There have been reports of mistreatment within most of your branches as well, so we could not help but keep an eye on a…valuable asset of ours. As such, we have sent notifications of her deteriorating health and warnings to each branch she was sent to. However no replies or responses to rectify the problem have risen." Although her face was like stone and almost impassive, she couldn't hide the venom in her words. "The Far Eastern Branch had taken measures and decided to extract her from the field." At last she smiled somewhat mischievously, "And of course, I approved of all extraction activities. The only policies that have been stepped over were your inability to respond to our messages. It is no different from a company being liquidated of its products, is it not?" Although Tsubaki would never compare the redhead to a mere product, the fact that many of the other branch directors have had personal experience with company liquidation would make the sting all the sweeter.

One of the younger directors (Although still older than her) coughed and cleared his throat. "A-Although you may have stated your attentions to Fenrir policy, there are still things that stand out." Already Tsubaki cursed in her mind. "You said you knew of her deteriorating health and yet that type of information is considered classified. Not only that, but you had access to other classified information such as the location and time of her mission." She had hoped they wouldn't catch on to that fact and swore to remember that one particular man's face for sniper practice later in the week. "Are we to presume that you declare yourself guilty to these illegalities?"

The Northern Branch, where Rin was just recently extracted from, pushed his falling glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Well, Director Amamiya. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The sniper fell tortuously silent.

"Very well then. We shall schedule the return of—"

The door to her office opened up and a familiar fox-like face entered the room with a dramatic flourish. "Director Amamiya, may I have a moment?"

"What is it, Dr. Sakaki?" Tsubaki asked, as if she was angry at his intrusion. In reality, she was pleased (albeit annoyed) at his coincidental appearance. At the mention of the starseer's name, there were a couple of murmurs across the speakers.

"There are some things I must discuss with you right away regarding that project," he spoke just loud enough for Tsubaki to hear clearly, but soft enough that the Branch Directors on the holographic screen had to crane their ears closer to their speakers to catch parts of the conversation. From the corner of her eyes she could see the anger dissipate from most of the other Directors. Instead, Dr. Sakaki's words piqued their interest. She wasn't surprised considering many of these Directors were still scientists doing research when they weren't bombarded by paperwork.

"Understood. Forgive me, gentlemen, but I must see to a rather important and time-sensitive matter. We shall continue our discussion tomorrow." And before any argument could be raised she cut the connection. When she was sure the microphone and camera were off she held her head in her hands and rubbed her temples soothingly. "I never thought I would say this, but you saved me Doctor."

"Don't mention it," he grinned and started cleaning his glasses. "I heard that you were taking a lot of heat and decided to drop by. Although there really are a few things we needed to discuss."

Tsubaki nodded and lifted her head. "The Lunar Seed Project, is that right?" When the doctor nodded the sniper sighed. "The appearance of the Singularity and Shio, the Aragami girl holding it… She transported Nova to the moon and caused vegetation to grow on its surface. And now that Fenrir has a stable enough income, we can actually charter an exploration team. If we're lucky, we may be able to reproduce a controlled devouring apocalypse to rejuvenate the Earth by studying the moon's surface. Any forms of life found will be brought back for…testing." She summarized with a grimace at the end.

Dr. Sakaki shook his head as the smile disappeared from his lips. "On paper, Amagi was brought to other branches in order to train New-types for the mission. She was also offered a chance to join the Lunar Seed Project, and in doing so get Shio before the other branches do. In reality, it was the perfect pincer tactic to kill her off quietly while still giving experience to other God Eaters." He sat down on one of the cushioned chairs and crossed his arms over his chest. Tsubaki pulled out a heavy file from her drawer and stared at the contents. They consisted of many names of young God Eaters whose names were dyed in the red letters KIA. Her eyes softened.

"I had a chance to stop her reassignment. It would be looked down upon and investigated, but I could have rejected the orders from the other branches. But too many God Eaters have died due to carelessness and lack of compassion for our lives. I pushed the responsibility onto her shoulders…"

Tsubaki sat down on the couch next to the slouching brunette in the empty lounge. It was far past sleeping hours. Normally she would be scolded and ordered to her room, but Tsubaki remained strangely quiet against this breach in policy.

Rin straightened up and propped her arms up on the cushions before staring up into the metal ceiling. "Reassignment, huh… I never thought it actually happened around here." And then she craned her head to direct a lopsided grin in Tsubaki's direction. "Not gonna scold me about being out here?"

The noir haired woman shook her head and crossed her leg casually. "For all I know, no one is in the lobby."

The redhead's brown eyes widened in surprise before she sputtered and laughed. Her arms flew to her aching sides and mirthful tears started to form at the corners of her eyes. "Haha, I'm sorry! I just…haha!" Tsubaki smiled a bit at the New-Type's odd behavior.

"Have your laugh now, but if you don't quiet down than I'll have no choice but to send you back to your room."

"Send me back?" Rin managed to control her breath, although the wide grin was still on her lips. She looked down into her empty lap. "Sounds rather nice…"

Tsubaki noted her true meaning and the mirth disappeared from her eyes. "Amagi—"

"Ah, it sounds exciting! Going to new places, I mean!" Rin stretched as she boldly cut the sniper off. The redhead exchanged an apologetic look to her superior and continued seriously. "It's not in me to be the type that runs away without a fight, even if I have the option to. I didn't run from Nova and I'm not going to run from this."

"You've heard the rumors of the other branches from Dr. Sakaki, am I right?" Tsubaki warned. "Once you're out there we won't be able to do anything to help you even if we wanted to. It'll be out of our jurisdiction, unless you can manage to dig up solid proof of misconduct in the branches. You'll be on your own and there's no guarantee you'll return alive. Are you absolutely sure?"

"Don't worry," Rin said. She took something out from her pocket: a rough black tie. Her fingers gently touched the cloth and a soft, determined smile appeared on her features. "I don't plan on dying just yet."

Tsubaki picked up a particular sheet with a brunette man with eyes, so full of life and wonder, similar to Rin's. He was an active member of the Far Eastern branch several years before the redhead. The sniper remembered that God Eater rather fondly. He was the type to give medical treatment to someone else before himself, even if he was injured more. Not only that, he was quite skilled in combat as an old-type Sniper gunner. Maybe his eyes weren't as sharp as hers, but it was better than the average. Because of that he was often sent on stealth missions or eradication teams when Tsubaki had her hands full with her own mission quota. Despite all the bloodshed, however, he was kind and gentle. Other God Eaters used to joke that he would probably be better off working a desk job rather than the front lines. At the age of 21 he still had a bit of a baby face.

The brunette would sometimes stash seldomly served dessert for when he went back home to visit his little sister. Sometimes, Tsubaki would even find a little dessert in her mail box from him (sometimes she still wondered why her of all people). On the sheet his name was crossed out in ominous black marker, but Tsubaki would never forget him; especially now.

Amagi Kazuo—Rin's older brother. He, too, had been reassigned to another branch temporarily. Not even a month had passed since his reassignment before he was declared KIA all because of a few misplaced zeros and a Sariel's laser straight to the heart. And what did a shivering, crying Rin get when the news came to the ten year old girl? A pat on the head and a few extra rations to help last the merciless winter alone.

Six years later, that same crying girl stood before Tsubaki as the Far Eastern Branch's first New-Type God Eater. Her eyes were hard and lonely—a far cry from the lively woman that she knew today. It was a time everyone remembered, yet no one dared to bring it up. Rin was quiet and solitary. She did nothing outside the necessary. After missions she would either retire to her room or maybe hang around the meal halls alone. Being the first New-Type at the branch, naturally people came up to her now and then and asked her questions, but her answers were short and offered nothing that was part of her inner self.

Through persistence alone, Kota managed to dig deeper into the frozen shell of that girl that she started to thaw. Tsubaki saw Rin's brother live again in her brown eyes. She saw the kind determination Kazuo once kindled. The transformation intrigued Tsubaki as she maintained a professional distance. Upon the first time the Den heard the girl laugh everyone thought someone new came in, and rumors spread about a mysterious ghost of a lost girl play hide-and-seek. Rin laughed even harder upon hearing that and soon everyone got used to her new, possibly true façade. Yet, at the times Tsubaki passed by the meal halls the same time Rin enjoyed them she saw the small cracked smile Rin made when she got a rare serving of dessert.

Throughout the entire time Tsubaki has known Rin she never uttered a word of Kazuo or hinted that she knew him. Likewise, the redhead never asked. The scars ran too deep and the pain finally seemed to subside for now. Rin, who lost everything, finally built her way back up. Many people looked at God Eaters in fear when their own lives didn't hang in the balance. It came as no surprise seeing as they shared similar traits to the Aragami that threatened mankind. But from what Tsubaki saw, Rin looked content—sated, even, despite the circumstances. By trading her humanity, she found something that ironically made her feel human again: a family.

Only to lose it all again.

"Some people forget that even if we have cells similar to the beasts that we hunt, we were human once, too. We can still think and feel. We still know pain and compassion. Maybe they're too frightened to admit that a part of us is still human." Tsubaki put the files back in the drawer and sat down. "Rin knew…I gave her information on the branches she would visit, such as survival rate and overall health of the God Eaters. Some branches barely make it to the minimum for health inspections to just to cut costs. I personally told her about the challenges ahead and yet…"

"Amagi knew what she was getting herself into and what the outcome could be. Even I warned her. But she's too noble, too pure a soul, to turn the chance down."

"Chance?" Tsubaki repeated.

"The chance for a happy ending, even at the cost of her own."


Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into a month. Just as the doctor predicted, the red headed god eater was eventually moved to the normal sickbay when her condition finally stabilized. Visitors were now free to visit their returned leader. Of course, she was still limited to only a few people per visit, but it suited everyone just fine.

Unfortunately, Rin still had not regained consciousness. The doctors tried everything from drugs to smelling salts. Alisa even tried resonating with her but she still refused to wake. The Russian felt a faint spark of connection, but it was too far to reach. They all despaired when she even mentioned it was getting fainter and fainter each passing day. It made no sense… Physically she was recovering perfectly. Her organs, though they've seen better days, were healing with little problems. Her skin, after experiencing heavy medical treatment that was usually reserved for special cases, was almost void of any scarring save for the deep ones she sustained over her year as a God Eater and the new ones that tore her back (But even those were now small faint blemishes). Soma explained the situation: that her body was slowly turning back into a human. The group ate up the news with mixed emotions.

Lindow and Sakuya were glad for her despite the inner sadness they both felt if she would be forced to live in the Ghetto (albeit one of the nicer sections). It was no secret that they both considered her something like a daughter to them. Alisa and Kota tried hard to hide how truly worried and frightened they were about Rin turning back into a normal human—Kota more so. Although he knew how dangerous it was to live as a God Eater, living in the Ghetto as a human was almost as dangerous. Not only did people have to worry about the monsters just beyond the barrier, they had to worry about the people around them as well. Not everyone had enough rations for mouths to feed, and not everyone had their morals in order.

As for Soma…he still didn't know what to feel about his situation. There wasn't any cliché ache in his chest, nor was he distracted beyond reason. He just didn't know how to act around those that asked; especially when they recalled their. Was what he wanted the good for everyone? For Rin? Or maybe only himself? Conflicted: that was probably the best word for it.

"Soma! It's time for your God Arc's check up!" Licca called from the intercom in his room. Soma sighed and pulled on his white Fenrir coat over his blue button down shirt.

"Might as well get this over with…"


"Looks like he's in good condition. You've been more careful, haven't you, Soma?" Licca smiled at him as she oiled the large white blade. She often referred to God Arcs by gender instead of objectifying them; especially after the Ren affair. "He's in much better shape than before when you used to take the brunt of all the damage recklessly." Some gave a sound like a grunt as he stood leaning against the wall in his usual pose. The mechanic shrugged her shoulders helplessly before continuing her task. The core was slightly cracked, but that was from a while ago and it couldn't be properly fixed until the new shipment of supplies came in later in the week. It wasn't too banged up so Soma was in the green as long as he wasn't being too gutsy a fighter. "Your upgrade was scheduled for next month, but I might make a rush order for next week or so since it needs some work done anyway."

After thanking her, his eyes shifted to the other workbench beside her. On it under a bright light was a broken hilt with white shards in an array that made it look like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. The normally glowing gold core in the hilt was a dull gray. Licca followed his gaze and nodded solemnly. "Yes, that's her God Arc: a Trovatore. I've only made two in all my years working here—but I still think the one I made for Rin was the most beautiful. It's a shame it's like this now…"

"Trovatore, huh... She was almost obsessed with upgrading and maintaining her Rigoletto." Soma pushed off the wall and walked towards the unmanned bench. "So what's going to be the verdict with this one?"

The mechanic's eyes became melancholy. "It's too busted up to reassign, let alone salvage for parts. The Aragami cells that comprised it are pretty much dead, so it's practically a normal metal blade. Or at least what's left of one. It'll probably be disposed of." A beeper on Licca's trusty belt went off, and when she went to check her eyes widened. "I'm sorry! I have to see to an early shipment! I'll be right back. If you want I can send you a message when your weapon maintenance is done, okay?" She hurried out of the holding room, leaving Soma alone with the God Arcs. He walked up to the bench with the broken blade and frowned. It was so damaged; even more so up close.

Soma eyed the white shards on the workbench. Surely they couldn't still be harmful if the cells that comprised it were dead. Instead of waiting for Licca, Soma picked up one of the larger shards. He didn't know what compelled him to do such a stupid thing. After all, it was still possible to get contaminated despite the dead cells. It shimmered in mysterious way in his hand. Despite being broken beyond repair, Rin's god arc was still beautiful as ever. A bit of trivial and unimportant knowledge from one of Dr. Sakaki's lectures came to mind. Trovatore: performers—no, composers of lyrical poetry. They usually dealt with the arts of chivalry and courtly love.

Chivalry… Soma scoffed as he remembered how Rin once talked about having some kind of hero complex before she left. He remembered that night particularly. He remembered the way her hands shook and how her mind fought with how she should act. He remembered the way her lips trembled against his and how her breath ghosted against his neck…

"Gh…" Soma winced as he released the white shard from his hand as if it was on fire. His index finger and thumb dripped with a small amount of blood. Upon hearing Licca return, he quickly (and carefully) picked the shard back up and pocketed it before excusing himself. Better take the murder weapon away from the scene than leave it for prints, right? He shook his head at the morbid analogy and hurried to his room while ignoring the occasional greeting down the halls.


Something was off. He could feel it upon waking up. His senses were starting to pick up another presence in the room, but for some reason some things was conflicting with him. For one: the door couldn't be opened without his permission, and even if it could he would have woken up right away from the hiss of the door. Two: the presence felt oddly…familiar—hence his body's reaction to be relaxed instead of tense and alert. In fact, he was perfectly content with falling back asleep now, even with the unknown presence in the room. Which brings him to his third and final conflict: the only people he was comfortable with in his room were Rin and…

Soma's eyes snapped open and he turned his head to the source of his concerns. What surprised him was a platinum blonde, nearly white-haired, girl wearing a pure white dress sitting at the edge of his bed. Shio? No… He blinked and rubbed his eyes of the sleep that still remained in his system. The short white hair he thought he saw was long instead, and the dress was simpler than the winged one the Aragami-girl wore—almost resembling a familiar nightie Rin wore on their camping trip. On her right wrist was a dark crimson bracelet—marking her as a God Eater. It was strange though. He never saw this girl in his life. The girl reacted to his shocked reaction with a calm blink of her bright azure eyes. "Good morning."

And of course, like the gentleman Soma was, he replied: "What the hell?"

She made a placating gesture with her small hand. "Rest at ease. I'm not here to cause you any harm. My name is Jun." Soma kept his suspicious and irritated eyes on her. Did she honestly expect just that would ease him? Jun merely sighed tiredly. "If I was truly going to do something horrible, then I wouldn't have waited here until you woke up."

"And you couldn't wait outside like a normal person?" Soma growled and sat up warily. "Look, I don't know what you're up to, but if you need help chalk it up to the Director or something." Even with words meant to gain trust he was never one to give it away so easily.

"I need your help. Please…" Jun spoke as a hesitant and meek tone seeped into her calm and collected voice. "You're the only one that can help me." Her gaze lowered into her lap as she folded her hands. For some reason, the image of Rin sleeping while bathed in the light of the full moon flashed into his vision.

He scratched the back of his head and then groaned in mild frustration. He turned his body and got up off the bed. Jun watched his movements with a curious and hopeful tilt of her head. If this was going to get serious, he preferred not to be on the same bed as her. Even if she wasn't coming on to him, her dress looked thin as it hugged her small form, and combined with her smooth shapely legs it left nearly nothing to imagination.

Don't get him wrong. He was still quite faithful to the slumbering redhead God Eater in the sick bay and nothing would change that. But despite how their looks were so different, he couldn't help but get a similar reaction to when he saw Rin during the camping trip. That was exactly why he was so uncomfortable with another woman in his room.

The old Soma would have harshly kicked her out, but he resisted the urge to do so. The current Soma was still struggling with what to do. The God Eater didn't show his back to her to be safe, but a small part of him instinctively felt inclined to believe her. He leaned his back against the broken screen in his room and crossed his arms. "I'll listen to your request, but don't expect me to trust you just yet."

Jun exhaled a breath of relief before recollecting herself. "It's about Amagi Rin and her condition." Soma flinched slightly at the name and hoped she didn't notice the gesture. "There are things the doctor did not know and therefore could not tell you about her comatose state."

"And how would you know this? You don't look like the research type." He scrutinized. She ignored his means of interrogation this time.

"If her transformation from God Eater to human is completed, she won't remember anything from the time she arrived at the Far Eastern Branch." To these words, Soma kicked off the wall and walked in front of the platinum blonde girl. His dark blue eyes burned into hers with hatred and clenched his fists.

"What did you say?"

Jun studied his reaction briefly before answering. "Aragami cells leave an imprint on not only the body but also on the brain. Every survival instinct, every bit of bloodshed, even the emotions the host feels are embedded in those cells. If all of the cells disappear, then every memory they contained will be lost as well."

"You didn't answer me earlier. How do you know all this?" Soma growled in suspicion. Jun smiled and shook her head.

"First things first: we need to get to Amagi Rin to monitor her condition. I'm afraid I cannot give any concrete evidence to my answer unless I can see her for myself."

Soma narrowed his eyes at her urgent need to see the slumbering God Eater. It could be a trap set up by the other branches. Perhaps she was a sleeper agent sent in to kill her? After all, if she woke up then she could testify against unjust treatment of God Eaters within the branches. Even though her ward was open for visiting, people still needed to get checked in and out. Could she just be using him for clearance into the room? If that was the case… Soma was ready to send out an alert signal from a switch on his Aragami bracelet. If she was going to pull anything suspicious then he was more than willing to turn her in at the slightest gesture.

"That's a nice ribbon you have there." She commented idly once they left his room and walked down the hall. Soma grunted and hid his surprise. The black ribbon Rin gave him was well hidden beneath his sleeve. Or maybe she just saw glimpse of it earlier? "It makes a pair with that tie you gave her, huh."

Soma stopped walking and stared at Jun, who kept walking in front of her. She also halted in her step a few feet away and turned around to face him. A small, almost pained smile was on her face and it reminded Soma of the look on Rin's face before she left. "I only want to help Amagi Rin. Afterwards, I am completely fine with leaving this branch. I'll trust her in your hands one last time."

"…Why are you here? Tell it to me straight."

"Maybe you'll be able to figure it out once we're done here." She smiled mysteriously and continued down the hall and towards the elevator. Shortly after, they arrived at the sick bay and Soma reluctantly put in his code and allowed themselves in.

"As I thought…" Jun frowned as she sat down in the chair beside the comatose God Eater. Rin's face was still paler than normal—so much so that it made Jun look tanner than Soma originally thought. The blonde took the redheads hand in hers and closed her eyes. "At this rate she won't be a God Eater for very long. She's just barely managing to hold onto whatever is left."

"So, she's been trying to hold onto her oracle cells? While in a coma?" Soma asked skeptically.

Jun nodded. "Yes. That's precisely the main reason why she still slumbers. All of her remaining energy is going into fighting against the effects of the poison that's eating away at her God Eater abilities. In a way, going into a coma is like putting a computer into safe mode." She put Rin's hand back down on her chest and moved a couple of hairs from her face to the side. It had grown a bit longer since the day she left. "There are two ways to wake her up: either wait it out until her body completely turns back into a human…or give her a lethal dose of the bias factor to salvage her status as a God Eater."

To this, Soma couldn't hide his shock. "What? That'll kill her! Or worse, turn her into an Aragami!"

"Perhaps," Jun nodded with an eerie nonchalance, "But if it works, the sudden higher dose of bias factor will counteract the poison devouring what is left of her oracle cells. The doctors had been trying to delay their corrosion by injecting her with continuous small doses of bias, however the poison strain is starting to become resistant. Therefore—" The buster blader grabbed the girl roughly by her shoulder and forced her to turn to him. His lips were curled into an angry snarl and his blue eyes glinted dangerously.

"You—are you even human? That's insane! Even scientists wouldn't think to use heavy samples of bias in one subject anymore since they know it'll fail!" The girl flinched at the iron grip on her shoulder but other than that she didn't shy away from his aggression. This only further agitated him, but the beep of the machines nearby forced him to calm down enough to release her. "You told me to trust you, but at this rate I'm rather tempted to call this in. Well? Start talking."

She finally scoffed, just a bit, at his threat and tilted her head to the side in a mocking fashion. "I dare you. I'm the only one that knows the exact dose that has the least chance to kill her. Even Dr. Sakaki doesn't know a thing about it and by the time he figures out the dosage it'll be too late. She'll be on a one-way trip to the Ghetto. And besides," her blue eyes suddenly turned serious as she gestured to the slumbering God Eater. "Do you honestly think she wants it to end like this? Do you think she wants to lose her memories? Didn't you promise you wouldn't forget her? It would tear her up if she was the one who forgot you and the promise you made with each other."

"Promise me. Promise you'll remember me…"

When Jun saw Soma's conflicted body stiffen she sighed. "…I can wake her up temporarily if you really want to hear it from her point of view."

"…How did you know? About that promise."

The white haired girl smiled wryly. "You wanted to know how I know her right? Maybe this will help you figure it out." She placed both hands on Rin's red bracelet. Black tendrils suddenly extended from her bracelet into the slot of Rin's. Slowly but surely, color began to flow back into Rin's complexion. However at the same time, the platinum blonde's healthy skin started to turn a sickly pallor. The machines in the room began to beep at an erratic rate before the black strands disappeared and the blonde let out a shuddering breath. The machines slowly went back to their normal pace. The platinum blonde stood up from her seat next to the bed and took out a sample of Bias Factor from her dress pocket. "Wait a bit and she'll wake up. I'll leave you two alone." She said after putting it in his gloved hands. With swaying steps she left the sick bay.

He didn't stop her. He just stared at what she left in his hands silently until he heard a quiet waking moan. The buster blader stepped forward, hesitant to come too close to the bed. A flutter of movement halted his action and he stared carefully at the sleeping face on the bed. Black lashes lifted slowly, revealing familiar brown eyes. Soma felt himself breathe in sharply and felt his lips part in shock. The redhead shifted slowly and she yawned sleepily before offering Soma a tired oblivious smile.

"Good morning."

Soma blinked in surprise as a swirl of emotions began to stir within him: confusion as to how she managed to wake up, anger because of her stupidly cute wake-up greeting despite the worry she caused on everyone, but most of all unrelenting relief because she was alright. He slowly walked to the other side of the bed and hesitantly placed his tanned hand on her cheek. Rin closed her eyes and weakly brought her small hand to overlap his. He helped her sit up since her muscles were still weak from disuse during her coma. When he felt the familiar warmth she used to secrete he gave her a pained smile. "You idiot. Is that really the first thing you have to say to me when you wake up?"

Rin giggled as she reopened her brown eyes to look into his blue ones. "Just shut up and kiss me already." And without another moment's hesitation his lips descended onto hers. He was careful. It was as if he could break her any moment. If this was the past, the idea of her being as fragile as fine china would never pass his mind. Now, however, he knew he was touching a human—such a fragile existence in his bloodstained hands. Rin must have felt his hesitation because she pulled away and held his face in two trembling hands. "You're not going to hurt me and you never will, dummy."

The buster blader decided to believe in her words, if not to convince himself otherwise. "Do you remember anything from before you passed out?"

"I…think," Rin frowned in deep thought. "I remember getting attacked by a New-type Aragami and then…our Unit leader turned on me. Our sniper died and—" her eyes widened in realization. "That girl! The one that was with me! Did you see anyone else on the mission?" When the buster blader shook his head in apology Rin despaired. There was a low chance that she was recovered from the field then and a nonexistent chance that she survived.

Rin looked down into her small hands and slowly flexed them. Somehow something felt…off about her body. She tried calling out to the oracle cells in her body, but the voices she normally heard were nonexistent. The redhead thought it was odd at first that she felt nothing from Soma when he touched her. She learned to control her resonance to an extent where she could at least refrain from looking into people's memories and settle for diluted emotions. From Soma, she felt absolutely nothing.

"…I can't use resonance anymore, huh… But there are more important matters at hand for now and we don't have much time left." Rin turned back to Soma. "I remember hearing a voice right before I woke up. It told me that if my condition continued I would lose both my God Eater status and my memories, and the only treatment for this is to use Bias to counteract the poison." When Soma nodded to her short recap she sighed disappointedly. "Is this really such a hard decision?"

"It's not that simple, Rin. It's your life at stake here!" Soma countered. "If you die, then that's it—game over. But you can go back. You can get away from all this fighting. Didn't you wonder if there would ever be a time where you would stop being a God Eater?" he bit his inner cheek. Soma felt his heart hammering painfully in his chest as he forcefully said his next words. "Well now's your chance."

Rin narrowed her eyes but tried desperately not to get too riled up. If she got too angry she would use up whatever strange boost of energy that woke her up. She couldn't fall back asleep until they resolved this problem. Her hands gently grabbed his and slowly she pushed the syringe full of the golden Bias Factor closer to his chest. She entrusted her means of salvation of demise to him.

"I'll admit. I honestly thought about becoming human again when things got too tough. But not like this… If becoming human means losing my family again then to hell with it! I'm sick of losing… I can't do it again." A feeling similar to when she'd use resonance engulfed her, but the emotions that took over her were the ones she had locked away so long ago—back when Kazuo died and when she first learned of her reassignment. As she fought through the tears, she grabbed Soma's sleeve tight. "I would rather lose everything else than you and everyone else again. Please, Soma."

The buster blader sighed and he gripped the fabric of his pants tightly. His gaze shifted from his lap to her determined brown eyes before he shook his head and chuckled. "I just can't win against you, can I?" A smile broke out on Rin's face. Soma had noticed that she had begun to sway and eased her back down. "Want me to wait until you fall back asleep?"

Rin shook her head. "No. Do it while I'm awake."

He leaned over to her bracelet and unplugged the IV that periodically gave her regular doses before lining up the syringe with the injection port. "It'll hurt." He warned. Soma had no real personal experience with bias injections since his body naturally supplied him with his dosages, but he's heard enough to tell. Rin chuckled at his concern.

"I've been shocked by Vajra's, nearly impaled by Borg Camlann, almost burned alive, and choked on rice. I can handle a needle."

"Stupid—"he growled and wanted to remind her that she was more or less a human now and not a God Eater as she was at those instances, but when he partly realized that she was trying to convince the both of them he sighed and released the safety on the syringe [1]. "Take a deep breath." When she did so, he pressed the button at the opposite end of the device. A hissing sound came out and her entire body tensed up from the intrusive sensation. As the golden liquid slowly exited the syringe she continued to cringe. Rin grit her teeth and already sweat began to form at her brow. When all of the Bias Factor entered the bracelet he quickly discarded the syringe and held onto her hand. Immediately her fingers closed in-between his and clamped down tight. Soma winced, already feeling that her strength was returning to her and even more so. That wasn't reassuring at all.

In all honesty, this much concentration of the Bias Factor would kill two people and "modify" a third.

Through the haze of pain, Rin managed to reopen her eyes just enough and forced a grim smile onto her face. "If things go south call it in. I won't force or ask you to end it. Just…" Soma nodded and gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. Her brown eyes were then curtained once more behind her eyelids as she continued to fight off the Bias Factor from completely taking over. It was a taxing job. In the back of her mind she amusedly wondered if childbirth was this painful. Her entire body felt like it was burning up and it felt like an overwhelming pressure was fighting to escape; especially at her neck. Breathing became difficult and she found herself clawing at the skin there with her free hand.

Unbeknownst to her, a small yellow crystal broke through the skin just below her throat and between her collarbones. It was too small to really notice from afar, but small trickles of blood trailed down from the broken skin where it came forth from. Soma's eyes widened and he used his other hand to try pinning her down on the bed so that she would stop tearing at her red streaked throat. Rin screamed in a frighteningly animalistic manner at his means to hold her down. The buster blader could have sworn her canines were starting to look more like fangs and her nails were starting to look sharper. The small yellow gem glinted, as if it was pulsing with life. Was she already undergoing a transformation?

His eyes flitted to the emergency call button on the side of the bed. It would have been easy to just push it and request back up. If she turned into an Aragami inside the base he couldn't imagine how many casualties would take place. Not only that, she would be killed on sight. Despite her undying will to live, Soma doubted she wanted to harm anyone in the process—regardless of how much she deserved to survive this ordeal.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to hold the girl down as she continued to thrash beneath him. The machines nearby were blaring and some even shorted out due to all of Rin's biological activity. Rin's red hair was beginning to lighten and her brown eyes were beginning to turn a startling, hungry gold. Soma cursed and shut his eyes tightly, for once praying for a miracle.

"It's alright."

Soma's blue eyes snapped open at the voice and he looked around the room for the source of the familiar voice. When no such body existed in the room he noticed that, like the Jun earlier, thin tendrils were escaping the red Aragami bracelet on his wrist. Except instead of black, they were pure white. The thin strands of lifelike light connected to Rin's. For a moment she screamed again in dissent, but her thrashing began to quiet down. The yellow gem below her throat was slowly turning into a bright azure. Soma blinked in confusion before focusing on the white tendrils that were calming Rin down. Her hair was turning back to its deep red and her eyes back to brown. Just what had happened?

A faint giggle echoed through the room before the voice continued speaking. "Aw, Soma forgot Shio?"

"Shio?" Soma repeated in shock. She was supposed to be back on the moon where she took Nova. Nevertheless, he had to chuckle despite the situation where they were finally able to communicate with each other. "No, I didn't forget. You've dragged me around too many times for me to forget you."

"Really? But we had fun, didn't we?" Shio's voice spoke with mirth in the room. She paused for a moment before answering his silent question. "I said we would never be apart, remember? No matter what."

Soma gaped for a moment before smirking and eventually gave way to a short laugh. "You two are always dragging me along your own pace. You owe me, you know that?"

He could imagine her grinning wide at this while leaning forward. "Okay!" she paused and her voice started out mellower. "This is as much as I can do for you two. So please… Don't come looking for me—just for a bit longer." The vitals on the machines still linked to Rin quieted and finally settled to a normal rate. She was still sleeping, but Soma was no longer worried that she would fall into another coma. He loosened his hold on her wrists and carefully got off the bed. There was no more danger for the time being, although he would have to take her to Dr. Sakaki to see to that newly formed crystal.

"It's not your fault things turned out like this, Shio." He sighed as he scolded her lightly. He could tell from her tone that Shio was more informed than he thought, but judging from her usual childlike mindset there was no doubt in his mind that she was blaming herself for how things turned out. "So, what now?"

"I've managed to stop the transformation for now, so she'll be just like Lindow!"

"Great… She had a bottomless stomach to begin with." Soma shook his head and then looked down at his red bracelet. "Thank you, Shio."

"I did a good job, huh?"

"Yeah," The buster blader stroked the redheads hair and smiled gently. "You both did."


[1] Think of the syringe with the Void Genome in guilty crown that Shu used to get his powers back, haha.

A/N: I couldn't help but listen to the guitar version of Bios during the injection scene, hehe. I wasn't planning Shio's sudden reappearance but she came to my rescue! ANYWAYS, I'm positive that the next chapter won't take two months like this one did! I'm so sorry about that!