Disclaimer: see the first chapter. I'll not do it again for the rest chapters. It hurts me that I have to remind everyone that Train and Xiao Li would never be mine.. T.T
Author's note: Yeah! Here's the second chapter. I didn't expect to finish it this soon. Maybe it'll take longer to finish the third chapter. Oh, and if you think my chapters're too short, don't be shy to tell me! I'll try to make it longer (though now I think it's enough, I did at least 3-4 pages of MS Word for each chapter).
Thank you so much for Neko Sayuri-san and Megandari-san for reviewing the first chapter. It really pushes me to do the next chapter. I love you both! huggles
Well, I shan't blabber more, here's the second chapter.
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"Elena!" Jenos yelled suddenly, distracting anyone from Xiao Li's speaking. He grabbed Elena as the girl fell down.
"We shall talk about this later. Jenos, bring her back to her room." Sephiria dismissed everyone.
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"Jenos?" Elena called as soon as she regained consciousness.
"Dammit, Elena. Why don't you just say that you're not feeling well?" Jenos snapped at her, causing her to flinch a little.
"Jeez, J, I'm just having gastritis attack. How am I supposed to know that the gastritis would attack in the middle of a procession and that it would knock me out of consciousness?" she snapped back. Jenos fell silent. "Well, it's kinda my fault that I over slept this morning and didn't have breakfast." Elena mumbled under her breath.
Jenos sighed and ruffled her silky silver hair. "You know, you should pay attention more at your health. At least, don't forget to have your meal time. Your stomach surely can't bear to skip meal, especially with your unhealthy dependence of coffee." He sniggered.
Elena laughed a bit. Yes, she was totally fell in love with the caffeinate liquid, especially coffee. She could bear not having meal in a whole day, but she couldn't bear not having at least two glasses of coffee in a day. If Jenos was there, he would forbid her strictly from that favorite drink of hers, and substitute it with tea. Elena would sulk a bit but drank the tea nonetheless. She's totally aware of the damage that was caused by caffeinate liquids, but what to do, if you're addicted to them?
'Knock knock' someone knocked the door, and Jenos invited whoever it was to came in.
"Sorry if I disturb anything. Is Elena-san okay?" Xiao Li came into the room.
"I'm fine. Thank you. Jenos, would you mind leaving us alone?" Elena locked her gaze at the Chinese boy as she asked Jenos to leave. Jenos, knowing that there was something between those two, left the room quietly.
"It's been a long time, isn't it?" Elena smiled to the boy.
"Yes it is. You haven't changed a bit, El. You're still the same cold Elena, still the same childish Elena, still the same girl that I love." Xiao smiled.
"Don't lie. You never feel anything. Nobody feels anything once they entered as a number." Elena smiled coldly, her wavy hair falling on her pale face.
"Ah. I thought you would fall to that sentence." Xiao Li closed his eyes, a little bit taken aback by Elena's cold reply. It was half true, his sweet sentence that was said before. He found out that Elena hasn't changed a bit. But he was kinda in a trance when he said the last part out loud.
"Well, you haven't answered my question: Will you be my partner?" Elena shrugged it off casually, as if her long lost crush never said anything.
"Yes, I will." Xiao Li smiled his trade mark sweet smile.
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Time passed. Xiao Li and Elena surely have done well in every mission. Every people in Chronos never complained. How could they, when the infinity has finally used her abilities for the giant organization? Sure, The Numbers can handle that well. But The Infinity's presence brought totally new amount of power to Chronos.
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Lin Xiao Li was looking for his dearest partner. After asking here and there, Jenos finally told him that the roof would be the best place to find Elena during her off time.
"El," Xiao Li called as he reached the roof of the Chronos HQ, "I want to talk about something." His partner was there, alone, accompanied by her own-designed weapon, enjoying the night time.
"I thought you'll never call me with that nick name again, Xiao." Elena turned her head as she put her harp like weapon, Lyra, down carefully. Lyra was her most precious thing, after all. "No one call me that way. Even Jenos doesn't." she smiled.
"Well, we shall have a good relationship, shan't we? We're partners after all." Xiao Li shrugged his shoulders.
"And you don't come to tell me that." It was more like a statement than a question.
"You and your empath ability. No wonder Chronos keeps you." Xiao Li approached the long-haired partner and sat down beside her.
"And your reason to come here is?" Elena successfully ignored his statement away. It really annoyed her when someone said that her empath ability was the reason for Chronos to keep her.
Xiao Li sighed. He knew that Elena was cold. But he wasn't ready to get the cold demeanor directed to him. During his relationship when they're younger, Elena showed more of her childish side to him.
"It's about my plan, to make a way for Chronos to attack The Apostles of The Star." He finally said as he stared at the harp shaped weapon that was being hugged lovingly by its owner.
"I will NOT let anybody put Train in danger. Not even you, Xiao Li." Elena snapped as she stood up immediately as soon as Xiao Li brought up the topic. She turned her back and walk towards the door, clearly showing her intention to shrug the topic off.
"Well, it's not like he'll definitely join the Sweeper's Alliance, right?" Xiao Li smiled.
"He will. He definitely will, because the target is Creed." Elena whispered as she left the magician alone on the roof.
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Xiao Li left the roof after thinking about his partner's behavior. He dicided to talk about it to his captain, Sephiria Arks. So, there he was, standing in front of Sephiri'as door.
"What brought you here, Number ten?" Sephiria asked as she felt someone's presence in her place. She was having her usual meditation time that evening.
"Ara, I haven't even knocked your door, Sephiria-san." Xiao Li smiled a sweet smile as he entered the chamber slowly.
"Do you have any problem with Lady Elena?" Sephiria asked him without even looking at him.
"No, actually, there isn't. But Elena-san never agreed to the Sweeper's Alliance plan. I wonder if my strategy isn't good enough for her." Xiao Li shook his head, even though Sephiria can't see him.
"To me, to Chronos, your plan is good. But you mustn't forget that Train Heartnet was Elena's ex-partner. She probably hasn't gets over it, but to her, protecting important people for her is the first priority." Sephiria sipped her tea. Her mind wandered to a particular rock-headed girl.
Even Sephiria was clueless about Elena's reason choosing Xiao Li as her new partner. He's totally different from the previous Number Thirteen. No matter from what aspect people see it. Many thought that she'd chose Number Six or Number Seven to be her new partner. They're the closest Numbers to her, after all.
But of course, maybe Number Ten was a better choice than the two Numbers that was mentioned before. Number Six never stayed in the HQ, he mostly wandered by himself. If Elena chose him, she'd definitely wandering with him. That wasn't a good thing for sure. While Number Seven… Well, if she chose him, people would doubt the pair so much. Jenos really spoiled Elena too much. Thankfully, her coldness had successfully prevented her to be a spoiled girl.
"Sephiria-san?" Xiao Li called her, snapping her back to the real world from her cloudy thought. "How do you think, maybe I should change the plan?" Xiao Li repeated his previous question that was ignored by the deep-in-thought Number's Captain.
There was a short silence between them. Xiao Li waited patiently as Sephiria tried to find a way to convince Elena. Xiao Li's Sweeper's Alliance plan was the best plan that Chronos had to attacked Apostles of The Stars, but with Train highly expected to join in the Alliance, without being thought through, the plan was totally unapproved by Ms. Harz.
"No, you don't need to do that. I'll try to convince her. Could you call her to come here, please, Number Ten?" Sephiria finally broke the silence as she finally decided to have a long business talk with her comrade. Oh yes, it'd be an extremely intense business talk.
"Sure." Xiao Li bowed respectfully to his captain and left the room. Now, would Elena come obediently? It's far past her bedtime. Xiao Li's totally aware about Elena's childish opinion about sleeping hour. If they're off for a mission past midnight, the mission wouldn't be longer than an hour. Elena would finish it as quick as possible, in order to catch her sleeping hour.
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Yeah! That's the second chapter! Wooot.. It took me quite long, ne? I'd like to hear from everyone who read this fic! Soooo, click the 'go' button down there, and leave some comments, please.
Oh, and if anyone got any idea for this story's title, I also like to know. Love ya!
-Aria+