Chapter 9: Fated Meeting
Well, looks like this quest isn't going the way it was planned.
Akai thought as he ducked under the arm of an offending soldier and snatched his pistol out of his hip holster. He leaped backwards and fired two rounds, each one going in a different eye socket. As the now dead man fell backwards, two more men ran at Akai with their knives drawn.
Akai immediately dashed forward and, flipping the gun's handle so that he held the barrel in his palm, and struck the first man on the temple with the butt. As the soldier stumbled backwards, blinking in a daze, Akai switched his attention to the other man. The second soldier closed in and tried to stab Akai in the chest. Akai grabbed the man's wrist as he performed the stabbing motion, and then shot him right in the grown man's left breast. The man collapsed, dead.
Akai quickly pointed the barrel at the stunned soldier and nailed him in between the eyes.
Histoire? What's going on here?
Nothing I can tell so far, Akai. Histoire's voice rang in Akai's head, reverberating as if it were an echo in a long hallway. All I know is that they're not about to make nice. Minimize the casualties, Akai. You can just accept another quest another time.
That's what I'm trying to do right now, you know. Akai said to her as he looked around me.
The battlefield was littered with the bloody bodies of soldiers he had killed. Some full of gunshots and some with their throats slit open with blood pouring out profusely. Akai could hear the dying groans of a man near his foot, and he moved away as he watched the man choking on his own blood.
"It's a mess here..." I muttered to myself disgustedly, and I began walking over and around the bodies whilst trying to avoid the steadily enlargening pools of blood littered around him. As he walked away from it, he began to feel a sense of foreboding while walking through the village.
The houses around him were billowing out thick, dark grey smoke through the windows and the doors. There were bits of burned and blown-up wood scattered throughout the street, and there was also smoking debris blockading parts of the street.
Did a war blow past here? Histoire, any idea what happened?
I can't really tell. I'm getting information as we speak. Let's see...these soldiers had arrived just today and had begun to terrorize the citizens for what seems like no reason. We know...absolutely nothing else. Histoire recited as if she were reading from a report, and Akai just smiled to myself when he imagined her reading from a stack of documents half as tall as she was. Hey, Akai. I can also see images in your mind.
Sorry, couldn't help it. Too irresistible to pass up.
Akai heard her groan exasperatedly over the mental connection, and couldn't help but smile wryly to himself in spite of the sitatuation at hand.
Suddenly, behind one of the destroyed, burning houses vaulted a soldier garbed in a different set of clothes. Unlike the standard green and brown camouflage Akai had been bloodying, this one was wearing what seemed to be a grey suit topped with a captain's hat. Everything was grey and black, save for his cuffs and parts of his coat which remained a striking crimson in the background of his other colors.
Akai clicked his tongue in irritation and dove to the side as the newfound attacker whipped out two pistols and aimed them at him. Gunshots sailed past the wall Akai had taken cover behind, and he just reached towards his pockets and pulled out the pistol he'd stolen earlier from one of the guards.
Akai quickly dashed back out into the open and pointed his pistol at the other soldier, whose eyes widened in surprise for a crucial moment. Akai quickly pulled the trigger and fired, and the shot nailed him in the chest. The young soldier's grey uniform darkened with scarlet, and he fell backwards to the ground. The guns clattered out of his grasp as he did, and they fell out of his reach.
Perfect!
Akai dashed forward, picking up one of the guns that the fallen enemy had just been using, and pointed it right in front of the middle-aged soldier's nose.
"What are you doing here? Why are you trying to kill me?" Akai pressed, trying to pierce his gaze into the man's.
The man didn't budge, but just stared at Akai with a mix of stubbornness, determination and fear. He remained silent.
Histoire?
Don't turn to me. Histoire responded, and Akai could hear what sounded like stress in her voice. I'd rather not have him killed, but it seems he has some motive to kill everyone. Dispose of him how you see fit, Akai. I'm still trying to figure things out over here on my end. Personally, I'd prefer if you refrain from needless killing. But I leave the choice to you.
Akai tossed the gun in his left hand upwards, flipped it before tucking it into his coat pocket, and then grabbed the man by the collar and lifting him up. Akai stared into the man's eyes from an even closer distance, and he could see the soldier's eyes beginning to waver.
"Look. I don't want to kill you. If you tell me your goal, I might even leave you unconscious." Akai offered, but the man just glowered. He snickered, turned the other way, spat a load of saliva, and then leered at Akai eye to eye.
"You're gonna have to do more than that to make me talk, boy." He spat, his raspy voice full of contempt and pride.
Akai just sighed and pulled him up, lifting him by the arm and suspending him completely in midair. The man looked completely stunned and surprised, but Akai continued to pressure him. Putting the other pistol in his other coat pocket, Akai grabbed the man's leg and began spinning him in place repeatedly. After a single, full minute spinning, Akai intentionally let go and watched the man hit the ground. He grabbed him by his slightly grey hair and lifted his face up. Akai just grinned in satisfaction as he saw the man's eyes rolling and moving about dizzily.
"So? Ready to spill? Not your puke, though. If you're planning on that, then I'm gonna move away." Akai joked, and the man just cursed silently as he tried to keep the world from spinning too much.
"Don't go and mock me, brat." He said, and then he gulped and looked downwards. Akai just sighed and patted him on the back.
"It's okay, let it out. No one's gonna laugh. Just let it out. Don't be embarrassed. Everyone barfs." Akai chided mockingly with a grin, and the man just cursed and pushed his hand away. He then proceeded to let out the contents of his lunch on the ground, and Akai backed away a bit.
"Yeesh. I know what I said, but restrain yourself a bit. At least try." Akai muttered, regretting his decision as he watched the man empty his vomit onto the ground. He felt a sense of disgust and nausea begin to well up within him, and he fought it back down.
He did not want to vomit.
Suddenly, he felt all of his senses warn him simultaneously. For a moment, time seemed to stop completely. Suddenly, the smell of the battlefield became richer and more vivid. He could practically taste the blood on his tongue, so powerful the scent was. His eyes suddenly registered everything in an instant, as if the world had stopped moving entirely.
Not even Histoire's voice could begin to speak to him mentally when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand and shiver, sending freezing waves down his back. His body screamed at him to lean backwards, and he tried his best to. As his body moved downwards, he felt a very sharp and light pain graze his cheek.
A micro-instant later, he felt a ringing in his right ear as the world exploded around him.
"What the hell is he doing?" IF muttered, sprinting at a frantic pace following the trail of bloody footsteps.
"Wait up, IF! You're too fast! You're like Usain Bolt!" Neptune wheezed, lagging several meters behind IF alongside the rest of the group save for Nisa who was easily holding her own next to IF.
"I don't like the sound of that explosion." Nisa muttered, and IF nodded silently.
They turned the corner, leaving Neptune and the others panting heavily behind them.
"I'll just...avoid this...by transforming..." Neptune let out between tired breaths before snapping her fingers.
Instantly, a column of light consumed the Planeptune CPU and replaced the small girl dressed in her casual clothes with a floating, much older and mature looking girl in her full HDD outfit.
Nepgear quickly followed suit, transforming as well.
"Hey, no fair! I can't do that!" Compa whined, her hands on her knees as she bent forward while trying to catch her breath.
Neptune, now in her form known as Purple Heart, turned to the nurse and gestured to the nearby wall. "Compa, you stay-"
Suddenly, the sound of energy crackling and the unsheathing of steel hit Neptune's ears. She stopped talking and, facing the turn, flew around the bend and immediately stopped.
IF and Nisa had their weapons drawn, IF her Qatars and Nisa her Prinny Gun, and were taking a combat stance across a mysterious figure clad in a dark red hooded robe. In one hand, he was holding what looked like a powerful, futuristic rifle.
"Who are you?! Why are you here?! Don't get in our way!" IF announced daringly, brandishing her weapons intimidatingly.
The man, however, just laughed. "Don't even try it. One shot, and you'll end up like your friend."
Those words caught their attention.
"Friend?" Neptune returned, and the man just snickered evilly.
"Yeah, that accursed teenage boy that was running around killing all of the soldiers assigned to protect me. My goodness, he was certainly a handful."
IF clenched her fists tightly and sprinted towards the man. "Lies!"
The man leaped backwards, evading IF's first slash, and then spun the gun in his hands and blocked the second slash with the butt of the rifle. IF clicked her tongue in irritation and thrust her weapon forward, but the man sidestepped it and landed a solid strike with the butt of the rifle to IF's stomach.
"You are too weak, girl! Naive! A thousand years before you can defeat-" Just before he could say anymore, IF grinned in pain and crouched.
"Kick of Justice!" With a loud cry, Nisa's signature move rocketed straight over IF's head and nailed the man right in the chest and sent him flying backwards. He flew back, his body skidding to a stop a good distance away. As he began to get up, Neptune and Nepgear quickly soared in.
"There's no way Akai would die that easily!" Nepgear cried out, and she fired a few beams from her Beam Launcher. They struck the man in quick succession, and then Nepgear closed in and slammed his chin with an upwards somersault kick that sent him into the air.
Above, Neptune quickly flew at sound-breaking speed and landed blow after punishing blow with her katana before sending him back into the ground with a massive explosion of Divine Energy. The two floated back to ground level, admiring the concrete that had been tossed around and dug up.
"Well, I guess that takes care of tha-"
Suddenly, for a split second, a high-pitched whine hit their ears. They never got the chance to cover them, though, since a massive explosion sent the two flying straight through a concrete building.
As the two passed through, knocking down every supporting column of asphalt and concrete, the building began to lean forward and collapse.
"Neptune! Nepgear!" IF called out, having barely managed to escape the powerful shot.
"That's probably the weapon that they used on Akai. If it can do that kind of damage...then maybe he really is..." Nisa trailed off, and IF just bit her lip in frustration.
"He can't die yet! That idiot!" IF said, grasping her Qatars. Nisa looked down, and she saw that her fingers were turning red.
The man walked out of the debris of turned up cement, his hood drawn back and torn. As IF stood up to face him, she got a good look at his face.
He was teenage, similar to IF in body age. His eyes were brown, the kind of brown you'd usually associate with dead leaves. His hair was stylishly spiky, and was a dull grey color. In his hands was the rifle, whirring and humming away like some sort of futuristic gadget set to kill instead of stun.
"You two will be next." He said before aiming the gun at the two of them.
He pulled the trigger with no delay.
...huh?
What...was I just...?
Akai slowly opened his eyes, and they were greeted by nothing but the color white.
"Wh...what the hell?" He muttered to himself, and he slowly stood up and looked around. He couldn't see the floor, as it was always white. Everything was white. It was disorienting, with no visible walls and floor. Nothing but white.
Where the hell am I?
Akai took a step forward, and the sound echoed repeatedly everywhere around him until it faded away. He took another hesitant, lighter step. The sound was still there, albeit a little softer now.
"You're an interesting one."
A feminine voice echoed from all around, and Akai twisted to look behind him.
Nothing but white.
"It's why I chose you."
"Who are you?!" Akai screamed out, his voice ringing loudly across the expanse of blank space and fading into the void. "Where are you?! Show yourself!"
"You are my chosen one. But with all your strength...you are not ready..." The voice began to grow faint, and Akai began frantically casting his gaze about, looking for something.
Anything.
"What are you talking about?!" Akai yelled out in confusion and bewilderment, but the voice seemed to ignore him as it faded into nothingness.
"What the hell?" He muttered as he sat back down, scratching the back of his head.
Where am I, anyway? Whose voice was that? No, wait. First priority is-
Suddenly, he felt his shoulder being tapped.
He turned around, only to come face to face with someone he didn't know.
It was a woman. Her hair was extremely long, trailing onto the floor behind her like a carpet, and it was gray like dulled steel. It shone so brightly it was as if nonexistent light were bathing it in a spotlight. She wore an extremely long dress that left a trail like her hair, only it shone with every color he could imagine within an instant. The effect was hypnotic, and Akai did his best not to become too mesmerized in the effect.
The woman's skin was fair and smooth, and she leaned down and touched Akai's cheek.
"You are my chosen one." She said, a smile on her face.
But it was not a happy smile.
It was a solemn, almost mourning one.
"The chosen do not live easily, Akai. You will face strife, pain, loss and even death. As I have spoken long ago, and as my scribe had once written and passed within the annals of history." She said, her voice tinged with sadness.
Akai stood up, and he felt his hands and legs shaking in place. "What do you-"
"The collision of powers...and an illusion of the reaper..." She leaned in and whispered these words in Akai's ears. They sent waves of chills rolling down his back, but he remained frozen in place. "This will come to pass as I have once spoken it..."
"What are you talking about?" Akai asked, wetting his lips and swallowing his saliva before asking.
"An unseen visitor will travel to hither...This has been fulfilled as we speak." She said again, and Akai surrendered to listening silently.
"Divinity fallen, buried and gone...The ultimate tragedy...and yet the ultimate farce..." The lady spoke, and she took a step back from Akai. He just stared at her, and looked at her face. But her eyes were hidden by her gray bangs, and she could not make out that face.
"Will revive in glory...at the hand of a god...Gamindustri will feel the shock and force of nature's upheaval..." She muttered, and she began to walk in a circle around the paralyzed boy. Only then did Akai realize he literally could not move his limbs as he wanted. He could breath, blink and speak, but most else was barred from him.
"The first and the last...an architect of nothing...it is far easier to destroy than to create...even you know this..." The lady muttered, and Akai just kept looking at her quietly.
"Shall begin an era of peace...and prosperity...the Golden Age of Gamindutri will cause ripples in the fabric of the world..." Akai's eyes widened as he looked at her.
The way she walked, the way she talked, her face...even without the eyes.
He tried to speak. "Is it possible?! Are you-"
"Through the heart and the mind...through love come full circle...the heart wants what the heart expects. Humans know this more than anyone. The CPUs cannot begin to understand love. Not as they are now..." Those words were now dyed with what sounded like regret, resentment, anger and grief rolled into a single package.
"United by one..." She took a final step, now in front of Akai again, and faced him. Her smile had returned, though now it was mixed with emotion. So many that Akai couldn't begin to describe the feeling it was giving him. "And divided by none...you are my chosen. You are the one who will make this happen." In my name, in the name of Gamindustri...and in yours."
"My name?" Akai responded questioningly.
"You will understand soon. I fear that understanding will be reached all too soon. After all, you can already guess who I am...and who I once was." She said, her voice becoming sadder.
He could see her eyes now, as she brushed her bangs back to look at him eye to eye.
Blood red eyes like a cat's.
Gaudy eyeliner that stood out from her otherwise divine and ethereal appearance.
No doubt...that was the face of Arfoire.
"Who...are you?" Akai asked, and suddenly he fell to the ground on his bottom. He looked down at his body, surprised to see his arms and legs were moving by their own volition once again.
"I have forsaken my old name in place of a new one...you will discover it soon enough." She replied curtly, offering the boy a hand. He took it, expecting her to pull him up.
As their hands met, he suddenly felt a fire blaze within his chest. He felt pain flare everywhere in his body, and his vision slowly turned red and hazy. He fell backwards onto the floor, and he gazed at the mysterious entity wearing Arfoire's face pleadingly.
The pain grew and grew, and Akai's eyes began to droop like he was on the verge of death.
Despite the pain in his chest, he tried to cry out.
"H-help me out a bit..." He croaked weakly, and the girl smiled and crouched down.
"You cannot handle the power as you are now, either. As such, I will tell you what you need."
I feel like I'm going to die, and she's going to go on about a hint? Akai thought, a degree of morbid amazement filling him up.
"Your power is a power that grows as you do. Yours is one linked with your heart, and the hearts linked to yours. You can do anything, so long as you and those close to you are bonded as closely as possible." She said, caressing his cheek like a child's. The pain immediately washed away as if it were never there.
"...you know, this is really weird when you have that face. It's associated with so much bad things in Gamindustri, save for the Ultradimension. At least you have an eggplant farm over there." Akai suddenly said, and the woman just looked at him with an expression of surprise as he stood back up.
Silence.
The woman suddenly burst into laughter, and she held her hand over her mouth as she tried to rein it in. Akai just looked at her strangely, and she recovered after a few seconds.
She cleared her throat, and then looked at him with a happier smile.
"I've forgotten how amusing you can be. Would you prefer this, then?"
She waved her hand, and her face changed. When Akai blinked, her face had been replaced with what looked a lot like Neptune's face when she activates HDD.
"Or...this?" She asked again, her voice taking on a playful tone as she waved her hand in front of her face again. This time, when Akai blinked again, her face had become too much like Noire's.
"You really have a way with...faces." Akai replied, unsure of what to say. The woman just laughed and waved her hand again. This time, her face had turned into one he didn't recognize. "I didn't quite get your hint, though."
The woman just smiled teasingly, as if she knew something that Akai didn't. Which she clearly did. "There's no helping you. Fine, I'll give you another hint."
She walked closer to Akai, and stopped when her face was almost touching his. "True power is held deep within a person. When people need it, they can draw on power they didn't think they had. Sometimes, it's their feelings holding them back. Other times, it's something else. Such as your case."
Akai tilted his head, unsure of what she meant. "What do you mean, my ca-"
"Why do you think those girls' little sisters were never able to achieve their true potential unless they came to terms with their feelings? True power is from within. No one is an exception. Not the Console Patron Units, not the Candidates, and certainly not even I. You also have something holding you back, don't you?"
Akai opened his mouth to speak, but she just held up a finger in front of his open lips. "Not until I'm done, Akai." She said, and she withdrew her finger and took a step back. "All power, especially those girls', is linked to their hearts. Nepgear, the best example, was unable to transform because she longed to always be protected by her big sister. But when the time came and she knew that it was her turn to save Neptune, she did it. See, Akai? Your powers are linked to your heart as well, Akai. However, it is also linked to those closest to you."
"Um...okay...?" Akai said, still a little unsure of what she meant. He kind of understood, but also didn't. The angelic-looking lady just sighed and smiled again, and she patted Akai on the chest.
"Well, you'll understand at some point. I have faith you will." She said, and then she raised her hand to the sky. As soon as her arm became still, the white around the pair suddenly began to melt and disappear. It was replaced by a deep blue dotted with twinkling white and yellow lights.
"Whoa!" Akai exclaimed, looking down to realize that he was standing on what looked like nothing. He felt his heart leap out his chest for a moment, and he took an instinctive step back. He felt the surface of the floor underneath, even it didn't look like anything was supporting him. "What the hell did you-"
The woman just smiled knowingly and drew closer to Akai once more. "This should be more than enough to tell you who, and what, I am. Well, I've already told and shown you too much, haven't I? If Histy still remembered me, she'd be furious."
Those words caught Akai's attention, and he opened his mouth to say something. "Wait, you know His-"
He was stopped by the woman pecking his lips with hers.
"That's your reward and your final hint. Hopefully, putting all those hints together will finally get through to your head, foolish man." She teased, but Akai wasn't really registering it. He was still recovering.
"Wh...you..." He stuttered, and the woman laughed loudly.
"You're so cute! If only I could have you all to myself for a little while longer. But I fear that the girls would hate for me to do that." She said, and she gestured to the left. Akai silently followed her arm with his eyes, and he felt his eyes widen.
In the air floated what looked like a display, and in it was a shocking sight.
On one half of display were Neptune and Nepgear battered and bruised, and their hair was coated in dust and debris. Their outfits were torn in various places, and the patches of skin showing as a result were scraped and bruised heavily. On the other side of the screen, IF and Nisa were trading blows with someone Akai had never seen before.
"What the hell is going on over there?!" Akai shouted, and he rushed forward to the display. He reached out as if to touch it and go inside, but his hand just passed through helplessly.
The woman walked next to the display and stared at Akai, her gaze firm and steady. "Calm yourself, they are still alive. Not for long, though, unless someone comes to help them. But only you can answer the question: who will help them?"
The two locked eyes, and Akai felt an emotion welling up within him similar to the burning pain.
Only now, it didn't hurt.
His fists began to clench, and he felt his eyebrows furrow together. "Send me back."
"As you wish." She said, and she tapped him on the forehead.
The next moment, he saw the world around him go black.