Disclaimer: I do not own Bandai Namco's character in the god arc world. I do however own original characters.
AN: seeing as Damien's going to be in jail for a little while, let's get a little side tracked here
Eater of worlds
"Let me get this straight", said Sakuya with her eye twitching angrily through a monitor with Lindow on the other side "A fallen Ouroboros has invaded one of the god arc soldier facilities and they've asked cradle to take care of it?"
"Yes dear", replied the husband with a low voice.
"Why can't they send some other units? Why not send blood to take care of it? That Damien kid you told me about seems capable".
"He's in jail for disobeying orders", he said hanging his head even further down
Sakuya gave out a visibly loud huff of annoyance then finally took a few breaths and calmed down. "Do you think you'll be able to get in tonight? You know he won't fall asleep unless you read him a story first".
"I promise to get there in time", said Lindow smiling at her then blowing a kiss "Take care now, love you".
"Love you too", she said and put down the call.
Lindow breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she understood how trying it was to be a god eater. He took a moment and wondered what kind of gift he should get her when he sees his wife tonight.
"Aww Lindow", said another female's voice making him wake up with a start "You're such a romantic you know that?"
"How long were you listening?" he asked with a half frozen posture.
"The whole conversation of course", she replied casually then continued going through the mission on the tablet.
"Would you two pipe down and let me concentrate?" said Soma glaring at the two of them.
"Hey look", said Alisa pointing to something ahead.
The facility where they made the god arc soldiers were one of many. However the one near the far east branch was their biggest manufacturer so it was imperative for Fenrir to reclaim the base before more aragami arrived and caused trouble.
When they got inside they found it was oddly reminiscent of aegis island. They were standing on a platform that led to a large area surrounded by moulds of god arc soldiers. Opposite to them they found a fallen ouroboros with its back facing them, quietly devouring some of the machines.
"Alright", declared Lindow slinging his god arc off his back "This may not be our regular type of mission but let's wrap this one up and head home quick".
Not wanting to take this opportunity to make a joke, Alisa and Soma nodded in agreement, leapt off the platform and made their way to the aragami.
Like all other fallen aragami, the fallen ouroboros looked physically similar to the regular type. But it's body was fully black with the limbs white and had purple specs of light floating all around it. From what they found from their previous encounters, all of its regular weaknesses were gone and the only place they could land any real damage was the face… which was never a good thing when facing an ouroboros.
Sakaki's otherwise regular day at that office continued on. He quietly looked through all the reports and made sure to read all the updates from the teams. He also made a point to allocate more resources to the Cradle unit as they were gaining more traction among the public which meant that they needed as much behind the scenes help as they could.
Hibari popped in to deliver more paperwork for him to do and the doctor sighed to himself. It had been a long time since he had the chance to look at the stars and he missed his old hobby to no end. With Tsubaki devoting all her time to helping Cradle as well as helping out Sakuya, it meant he'd have to deal with the lion's share of the work all on his own.
Once again resigning himself to the fact that he would spend another day in this room, doing paperwork.
It was then he noticed one of the many computers before him started flashing an alert message. Curious and no doubt bored at the moment, he pulled the keyboard close and started typing. Once he enlarged the screen and inspected the information further, his eyes widened in surprise.
Slowly but surely his lips curled into a smile as he realized the monotony of his day to day was finally at an end. With a hum to himself, he got off his chair and headed right out of the door.
Alisa ran from left to right to avoid the barrage of beams being shot in her direction. Lindow lined up the target while that happened then fired a barrage of bullets in its direction. The aragami floundered a little as the bullets hit it, allowing Soma to come in close and slice off one of the six arms.
In response, the ouroboros shoved two of its other arms into the ground. The trio realized what was going on and immediately ran around the field to avoid the multiple spikes shooting up from the ground.
"Soma", Lindow called out and the smartest of the team took out a flashbang from his jacket then flung it at the target. It caused a momentary lapse, allowing Alisa and Lindow to fire constantly at its face.
The ouroboros saw Soma coming towards him and undid the tentacles that formed its right hand to fire them at him. The veteran leapt up right in time to dodge the attack then ran up the length of the aragami's arm before jumping off to land a deep slash on its face.
The aragami now rose higher into the air, all its arms turned to tentacles which meant only one thing. The trio moved back to avoid the swing but to their surprise they saw the aragami suddenly shoot out some of the tentacles at them which caught them completely off guard. The trio were all knocked high into the air because of this, hitting the ground hard.
"This is Sakaki to the Cradle unit, come in Cradle".
"Now is not the time to hear your voice old man", snarled Soma slowly getting to his feet.
"You need to leave the mission area immediately", he declared.
"Why?" asked Lindow "We can handle the ouroboros".
"It's not about the aragami", stated the doctor while the team now had to continue conversing with him at the same time dodging the aragami.
"Satellites picked up an object entering the atmosphere. At first it was believed to be a meteor but further inspection shows that the object was manmade. Now I know that only begs more questions but right now you three are dead smack in the objects trajectory so if you don't want to get vaporized upon impact, I suggest you get going".
"What do you guys think?" asked Lindow to the other two
"Not sure", said Soma "Old man's not the type to make jokes about this. I say we listen and head to the overlooking platform".
"If nothing happens after ten minutes then we resume the mission", declared Alisa as she lobbed off a flashbang towards the ouroboros, thus stunning it and giving them the time they need. The three of them quickly got to the platform and headed high up just as the aragami recovered and was now looking around for signs of the hunters.
"So it is", said Sakaki on the communicator. Lindow wanted to say something but Soma held his hand up to stop him. It was clear now that with whatever's going on, the doctor forgot to turn off his communicator.
"The object is actually slowing down", he said with delight "Should be seeing it any second now".
As if on queue, a portion of the facility was broken and an object flew through, ramming into the aragami and killing it instantly. Lindow, Alisa and Soma exchanged confused expressions and momentarily wondered if they should stay where they are.
"You realize that this is how all horror movies start", said Lindow at the back while Soma and Alisa moved forward, wading through the smoke that covered the field "We should just turn back now and head home, pretend we never saw the thing".
"Where's your sense of adventure?" asked Alisa
"Come on guys, what if it is an alien monster or something?"
"Then it'll probably go after the guy that's got a family waiting for him", replied Soma casually "That's how the formula usually goes".
Just then they heard something hissing followed by something metallic hitting the ground. Alisa and Soma stood their ground while Lindow walked up, his god arc ready. The second he sees something wrong, he's going to retaliate interstellar peace be damned.
The smoke had cleared enough that they could make out a silhouette ahead of them.
"AH", said the voice sounding like a girl "It feels good to be back home. I imagine that's more the case for you than me right?"
"Damn right", said another voice sounding like a guy "Any idea where we are?"
"It's a weird place… there are bodies all around us".
"What?" asked the boy sounding worried
"Don't worry the bodies don't have any penises", she said calmly
"WHAT?"
"I mean that they're not human bodies".
"Lead with that…. Oh man! How I missed the smell of actual air in my lungs. Hey computer, where are we?"
"Analysis indicates we are now on planet Terra, more commonly known as Earth", replied the computer with yet another familiar voice.
"Woohoo we made it", shouted the girl
"Yay", shouted the boy and the two continued leaping in the air shouting 'yay' like a pair of comic book characters till the boy went on one knee, possibly clutching his side.
"Careful now, your lungs have sustained five injuries so don't push it", chided the girl.
"Excuse me", said Alisa alerting the two in the smoke to her presence while also making Lindow take a step back "If you're injured then we can help".
"OHHH people", cried the girl out excitedly.
"Thank you but right now we need to go somewhere first", said the boy and got a nudge from the girl.
"Oh? Where are you guys going?"
"To the far east branch", replied the girl and the cradle units were honestly surprised by the answer "Wait you think it's still around? We have been gone for a while now".
"I doubt old man Sakaki would ever let anything happen to that place", said the boy matter of factly.
The trio who listened to the exchange were more than confused at this point. The two that were in smoke sounded so very familiar yet no matter what they did, none of the trio could recognize the source of the voice.
"It's me again", said Alisa "We can get you to the far east branch, but could you tell us your names?"
"Huh?" asked the boy suddenly raising his voice "They can't see us?"
"Of course not", remarked the girl "There's smoke remember?"
"How would I know that?"
"Oh right…" she said then giggled but got a shot to the head from the boy.
"Hold on a second miss", said the boy taking a step forward, revealing a large weapon in his hand.
The others took a few steps back as the boy swung his weapon out, dispelling the smoke around them in the process. When it was gone, Alisa, Lindow and Soma stared at the two before them, realizing why they sounded so familiar.
One had pale skin with white hair and yellow eyes. She was dressed in the same clothes they last saw her wear before being forced to say goodbye. She looked a little mature from before but still retained some of that innocence that made the group think of her as a sister.
"OH… my… god", said Shio her eyes opening just as wide as she pointed ahead of her.
The boy beside her wore on white pants with a black and red jacket and a black shirt underneath. His clothes were badly damaged and he sported multiple injuries from top to bottom. Most visible was the wrap of bandages that covered his eyes which answered a few questions as well.
"Hey wait a second", said James sniffing the air like a dog that caught a scent "Mango… shampoo".
"Alisa?" he asked "Is that you?"
The girl in question could not formulate an answer. The two veterans beside her were in the same spot as well. In everything they've seen and done so far, this had to top it off by a whole mile.
James had returned and beside him was Shio.