Jealously can bring the ugliness out of you. Even the sweetest person can turn into a monster when the green J comes into play.
The Jealously
*** Nami's Universe ***
Yuri had woken up early after having a hard time getting some shuteye. He was hoping that taking a breather in the Entrance lounge would help him fall asleep. That's when he heard sniffling sounds coming from down near the Mission desk.
Going down to see what it was he saw that it was Shawnna. Her back was turned to him as her shoulders shook.
"Shawnna? What's wrong?" She gasped, wiping her eyes before turning to him.
"Nothing. Shoo, go away..." She said, waving him off like you would a dog. But he paid no mind as he saw her tear stained cheeks.
"Are you crying?"
"No way, are you stupid? I'm not crying!" She said, acting tough while wiping her runny nose. "Hey... Help me with missions sometime, alright?"
"Why not now? It's not like I can sleep anyway."
"Really?! Well, you come along." She said grabbing onto his arm. "We've got a Fallen Zygote and a charged Vajratail on Aegis Island. We're just cleaning up the trash... it's got nothing to do with the Amaterasu nearby! I'm just offering to split the prize with you."
"Sure, this might actually give us a chance to hang out."
"A-alright! Let's go on a rampage!" Shawnna cheered, dragging him off.
Behind the corner around them, Soma saw it all. She had came up to enjoy a can of soda while no one was around when she saw those two talking together. In a rage her eyes squinted and her fist crushed her unopened soda can when she saw Shawnna wrap her arms around Yuri's. Her other hand clawed into the wall behind her as Shawnna dragged him out.
*** Aegis Island ***
Yuri made quick work of the Vajratail and Fallen Zygote and extracted their cores.
"A-alright we got'em. Let's get out of here now." Shawnna said with a stutter.
"Why? We just got here. You're not scared, are you?"
"N-no way, don't be stupid! I just hate this place, is all!"
But the shrieking of a Amaterasu got Shawnna's snarky attitude to come to a quiet.
"Heh." Yuri grinned as the Amaterasu jumped into the arena. With his God Arc ready for it, he took a bite. "Can we eat now?"
The Aragami roared in protest, while it was distracted Yuri shot Shawnna some Team bullets. "Okay, sending it."
"I guess there's no way around it."
The fight went on for a while, the battle was on their side. But Yuri was getting tired, the constant jumping up to strike the face area with his heavy God Arc was starting to wear him out. By the time Yuri broke off its horns, it was enraged.
It kept marching through the area, trying to trample them as it stomped through. Having enough, Yuri set up a Snare Trap.
"Just step on it already." Yuri said to it as it marched its way toward him. Taking advantage of its momentary paralyze once it marched into the trap, Shawnna took a bite from behind while Yuri broke off its face armor.
Getting even more pissed, it decided to start jumping on them. In anger it moved faster, which made it harder for Yuri to dodge. Finally hitting a target, it crushed Yuri under its leg tentacle.
"Dammit, it's over..." Yuri said as he was being crushed by the weight.
"This looks pretty hopeless." Shawnna said smacking the Amaterasu's tentacle off of Yuri. Going to his side, she Link-Aid with him. "Don't let your guard down."
She didn't give him much of her health, but enough for him to take one more blow if he had to.
"My bad, I'm slacking off." Yuri berated himself as he took a Recovery Ball and got back into the fight.
Realizing that it was pointless going after the tentacle armor with his blade like Shawnna, he continued to strike at the head. Still in a rage, the Amaterasu smacked Yuri hard with its tentacle, along with Shawnna. Making them temporarily dizzy.
"For real?" Yuri said in disbelief.
"Oh, boy..." While Shawnna was still wobbly, the Amaterasu shot fire balls at her. "Wha!"
"Shawnna!" Yuri exclaimed. Coming toward her, he dropped a Recovery Wall. "Here!"
They both recovered and went after the Amaterasu again until the final blow to the head made it come tumbling down.
"Move!" Yuri ordered as the colossal came falling down with a boom, creating its own dust cloud. Yuri and Shawnna watched as it tumble created a cool breeze. Coming back over to it, they began to devour its core. "That should be it for today, right?"
"Yeah, thanks. Hey, how many did you get?"
"A pretty good catch. I could make a lot of money selling these. I won't have to worry about restocking for a while."
"Me too! I guess we make a good business team, partner." Shawnna said, placing an arm around his shoulder and patting it. "Tell you what, you can come with me on missions like this anytime."
*** Yuri's Universe: Early Morning at the Den ***
That early morning mission turned out to be a golden ticket for Nami. Not only was she able to scavenge two Medic Kits, one Herb Case, and Cashmere. She got some really good items from the Aragami too.
Sure the Fallen Kongou gave them a run for their money. But the Fallen Chi-You went down without a sweat. Even the Susano'o didn't even put up much of a fight. Nami was pretty glad she decided to help Brendan out with his mission at the City of Mercy. He turned out to be a good guy.
"Thanks for your help, Nami." Brendan said to her as he escorted her back to her Floor. "I wasn't really up for that mission, but it's my job. That Susano'o was sited along with a polar Kongou so it would've been kinda hard for me to do it alone. Not to mention that unaccounted for Fallen Chi-You that came into play. I owe you, big time."
"No problem, Brendan." Nami smiled at him as they entered the elevator. "It paid off really well. (Giggle) I don't think I'll have to worry about surviving in this universe for a while now."
"Heh, it's kind of funny. People are naturally attracted-... Gather around you." Brendan corrected himself. Rubbing his head as Nami stared at him with a tilted head, questionably. The elevator doors dinged as they open to the Veteran's Floor. "I'm the same. I've been here in the Far East Branch for a while now, but I finally feel like I have a place..."
"I'm glad to hear that, Brendan." Nami cheered at him with sparkling eyes filled with happiness for him. "There's no better feeling than finally finding your home."
"Hm, thanks." He said, scratching his nose with a blush.
"Thanks for walking me back, I can take it from here."
"Then I'll return to my room now. Take care, Nami." Brendan said, clicking the elevator button to his Floor.
"Call me again if you need any help." Nami smiled and waved at him as the elevator doors closed.
"What are you doing?" Came the growl of Soma who was leaning on his room's door.
"Ah, I-I'm sorry... did I wake you?"
"I said, what are you doing?" Soma repeated the question with slanted eyes. Nami was taken aback by his cold stare. She liked things that were cold but not like this.
"I-I was helping Brendan out with his mission." She began to stutter.
"Hmph, going on a mission alone with another guy." He starred with accusing eyes as he sneered. "Have you no respect for yourself?"
"What are you talking about? We're God Eaters, we work with whomever, whenever, no matter what the gender. If two or three people need my help and I comply what makes you think I won't with one? Don't make me out to be some harlot!"
"Hmph, what help can you be? You put too much thought into your swings."
"I don't like causing unnecessary pain, so I put calculation into each stroke of my blade. No matter how much it hurts me."
"You're always on the verge of dying because of it."
"That's because I put everyone else's health before my own!"
"And you're carelessly reckless in combat!"
"I-I... I do it to get the job done! I always give it my best shot!" She began tearing up at his criticism.
"Your best is worth crap if others have to keep watching your back! You're not an assault type, you shouldn't be in the front line if you can't even take a blow! You're not Yuri!" Her tears came out at his words. She cried as his cold eyes remained unmoving.
"Who are you to say what I can and can't be? I've taken out far more Aragami without having to be extracted. I may get knocked down, but my strong will always gets me back up on my feet again for another round each time! But you never take that into account, do you?" Her crying started to lead to sniffling too.
"..."
"I've had it with you. You've been nothing but cold and cruel to me since the moment I came here. I thought you were like my Soma, but I guess I was wrong!"
She turned to leave, heading back to the Entrance to cry it out while no one was around, but Soma grabbed her arm.
"Hey! We're not done here!"
"Oh yes we are!" She said yanking her arm from him. Meeting his eyes in return with eyes that did her Frost Lily title justice. Which was hard to do with her honey warm eyes. "I thought you were nice, but I was wrong!"
Soma didn't like the look in her eyes. Although he had just gotten done looking at her with the same eyes, he hated seeing her direct those hate filled eyes at him. Grabbing her, he carried her on his shoulder like a sack. She kicked his front and pounded into his back with her fists as he carried her back to her room.
"Let go! Let me go, let me go! I want my Soma!" She cried out.
"Well I'm the best you've got!" He growled back at her. Opening her door and slamming it shut before throwing her on her bed. She curled away from him as he caged her to the bed with his arms and body. "So you'd best get use to it! Cause until Doc finds a way to get you back, you're stuck with me!"
The room was silenced to Nami's tiny crying and gasp of air as she turned away from Soma. Soma looked down at her in disgust, mostly toward himself as he saw that his hurtful words brought her to this state. But also the fact that his actions were driven by such a ridiculous notion... jealousy. Why was he jealous that she went on a mission alone with Brendan? She was right, it was just a mission and natural for God Eaters to go out in a two-man group, why did he care so much?
But he didn't have time to answer that at the moment. He needed to get out of there. Her crying was causing a strange pain in his chest. Getting off the bed, he placed his hands in his pocket as he looked down at her.
"Get some sleep. We've got a mission together this afternoon at the Wailing Plains. And I don't need you slacking off."
He left the room with the sound of her sniffling and gasping ringing in his head. In a rage, he punched the wall to the right of her door. Looking to the floor, his hair covered half of his face.
"What the hell are you doing, Soma?" He said aloud to himself. At the moment, he felt like such a monster.
