Blazblue, and anything in it, or associated with it, is owned by Ark System Works. I don't own a thing.
Chapter 2: Noel Part. 1
"Ms. Vermillion, please report to Major Kisaragi's room for mission debriefing."
"Wha!" Noel was startled by the intercom in her personal quarters at the NOL HQ. It was a slow day, so she had not expected a call for her at all. She had been working on her newest poem all morning, but immediately pushed it aside for her duties. Noel ran so fast out of her room she almost forgot her Nox Nyctores, Bolverk. Noel grabbed them, and slammed her room's door before hightailing it to her superior's room.
"Please be something good. Please be something good. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!" Noel anxiously thought.
Noel calmed herself as she entered Jin's room, not wanting him to think she is worse than he already finds her to be. Jin looks up at her from his notes, sighing.
"Late…again, Noel." He said harshly.
"Er…excuse my tardiness, Major. Please, tell me what my mission is."
Jin stands up from his desk, picking up the file he was reading. He tossed it to Noel, catching in clumsily. As she looked inside, Jin spoke.
"We've had numerous reports from people all around Kagutsuchi that have been having strange, disturbing nightmares in their sleep. Most have been cases where people just wake up from the dream, thinking it was real. But some have ended tragically. Five people have been reported to have been murdered in their sleep. We don't know who or how this assailant is doing this, but we know he's going to do it again."
"And you're sending me to find and apprehend him, sir?" Noel asked.
Jin chuckled. "As if you could take this guy down. No, your job is only to either locate the assailant or find any information about him."
Noel's sprit sank. Not only was Jin berating her, again, but this mission seemed hopeless and, above all, boring. But…it was something to do, and something to get her out of her room doing nothing.
"Y - yes sir, Major Kisaragi, sir. I will begin immediately."
As Noel was just about to leave the office, Jin spoke one last time.
"By the way, this seems to be a very big situation, especially with the Intelligence Department. So, try to keep questions to a bare minimum. Got it?"
Nervously, Noel replied. "Yes, yes sir. I'll be off now."
She closed the door, and ran right out of the NOL office, taking the file with her. Jin shut his eyes, and sighed. "What a poor sap, she is…."
It had been five hours since Noel began her assignment, and she had gotten nowhere. She had been all over the city, trying to find out anything at all. Ronin-Gai: Nothing. Orient Town: Nothing. Kaka Village: To hard to get to, and Noel doubted Tao knew anything about the situation. Or about anything at all. She decided to rest at the Port, sitting down on a park bench looking over the file.
"Huh. Odd." Noel thought to herself, "Every victim said that he or she saw a metal man with green glowing eyes. Green eyes, huh? That's not all to strange…" Noel herself had green eyes, but never thought of it to much.
Then, out of nowhere, she heard an agonizing scream, coming from below her. She quickly looked down towards the lower parts of the docks, where a ring of people had formed. Frantically, she jumped from the bench and landed on the ground below, leaving the file behind. Noel pushed through the line of people, making her way to the middle.
"People, people! I am NOL lieutenant Noel Vermillion. What seems to be the prob-" Noel gasped before she finished. Sprawled out on the ground, was the small but familiar figure of Carl Clover, her former classmate from the academy. A few feet away, standing immobilized, was Nirvana, hunched over and unresponsive. Noel dropped to her knees and surveyed the situation…or as best as she could. Without thinking, she picked Carl's limb body up from up off the floor and ran up the stairs, more concerned about Carl rather than the confused people back at the docks.
As Noel ran, she couldn't help but cry. Tears ran down her cheeks as she talked to herself. "Don't worry Carl. We'll make it, you're going to be fine!"
Waiting. Noel just kept waiting. After arriving at the clinic in Orient Town, she decided to just wait for Ms. Faye-Ling's diagnosis. Linhua took the liberty of serving some tea for her.
"Here." Linhua said, "It's very good. It's right from Ms. Litchi's personal cabinet."
Noel nodded. "Thank you." She took a sip of the tea, and smiled meekly, "It's very good."
It was then that Ms. Litchi decided to make her appearance, dressed in her casual clothing. Her face was not very promising. Noel quickly stood up, almost dropping her glass onto the floor.
"Well, Ms. Litchi? What's wrong with Carl?" Noel asked.
Litchi sighed. "Thankfully, he wasn't hurt in any way physically. But…" She flicked her wrist that signaled for Noel to come with her. They walked into the other room where Noel could see three familiar faces. The first she went up to was Carl, who looked worse than ever. Litchi continued.
"Carl is the fifth case of this strange phenomenon in Orient Town alone. I'm glad you were able to get him here before it got worse. The first three patients woke up around an hour after they arrived here. But Tao here…" Litchi motioned to the cat-girl, who looked like she was napping like usual. But Noel noticed she was twitching and mumbling like a mad man.
"Tao has been here for three days. I've been trying my best to wake her up, but she just won't budge. I really can't tell if it's because she's down with the same thing Carl has, or if she's just power napping. Either way, it doesn't look good."
"What about him?" Noel motioned toward the figure in the third bed. It was nonother than Bang Shishigami, with his usual dopey grin on his face.
"Oh him. He came running into the clinic and ran so fast he knocked himself when he hit the wall over there." Litchi pointed at a head sized hole in the middle of one of the clinic's walls. Noel couldn't help but giggle a little. She looked back at Carl, her expression saddening. Litchi took notice, and spoke calmly.
"He will be alright. I will take care of him here, you on the other hand need to hurry home. It's getting late."
Noel looked outside. It was darkening, and under these circumstances, she knew she had to get home soon.
"Thank you so much. For everything, Ms. Litchi." Noel said. She bowed politely, and left the clinic promptly, leaving the good doctor with her familiars.
"Jeez…it sure did get dark fast." Noel made a short laugh. She was on her way back to the NOL building. Unfortunately, that meant reporting her mission progress to the Major: nothing. She sighed, but she knew that helping Carl was more important than finding this mystery perpetuator. As she walked by, she heard a noise nearby. Noel reacted quickly, pulling out her twin guns in response. But there was no one around. Just a…
"Trashcan?" Noel slowly plodded up to the metal tin can, gleaming under the moonlight. She reached for the lid with a quivering hand. But before she could do so, the lid popped open, and out flies a mechanical skull. It laughs at the stunned Noel, and explodes, releasing a greenish gas right at her face. Noel falls to the ground, coughing and gagging.
"Did…did that just happen?" Noel thinks to herself before ultimately collapsing. Before she gives in, she sees a figure in the moonlight. Tall…shining….with green eyes.
A/Ns: I definitely enjoyed righting this chapter. Noel is a great character, and using her in this story was pretty damn fun.
"I bet you did like using her. Kekeke!"
Ugh…whatever. Part 2 will be out soon!
