kreshryl: Rest assured that more InahoXAsseylum will be in this fanfiction soon. :)
Eramis8: You are right about the whole "Slaine gave up and got himself captured" thing, the only question left is, what could his motives be? Glad to know that you enjoyed the Inaho and Yuki-nee interactions as well. :)
Riska Kuruta404: Yep, Slaine got captured by the UE forces shortly after Asseylum went with Inko and Inaho. Question is, what are his motives for being there? Yuki-nee just needs more love in this fanfiction. After all, she is the one who helped raise Inaho. :)
Vhosek: It's always nice to hear from my reviewers what they think of the fanfiction. Thanks for all the praise and I'm glad that you enjoy it so much! :)
Onjira1998: Thanks for the review! Don't worry if you don't have time to review, I understand that school can keep people busy. :)
Guest: Thanks!
Iysner (Guest): Thanks for the review! I really appreciate the support!
Chapter 10
"I'm betting it was poetry."
They all stopped eating after Calm said that, the notion of Inaho writing poetry being something that seemed foreign to them. Confusion hit Asseylum at the statement, causing her to glance at Inko, the steady commotion of the cafeteria in her ears. The black-haired girl whacked Calm lightly with the back of her hand on his shoulder, causing the boy to slightly jump.
"Have you even seen Inaho write poetry?" The question the other girl asked caused a slight silence to fall around their small table as they all thought back to their encounters with the red-eyed boy.
"Well… no… but…" The boy trailed off, causing a small laugh to emit from Inko.
"See! Although it's not entirely impossible, none of us have seen him writing any!"
"You're wrong." The statement caused them all to jump, besides Asseylum who could see Inaho standing behind Calm, a tray of food in his hands. "It wasn't poetry."
Calm's head whipped around to stare at his friend, the surprised look on his face causing a laugh to emit from Asseylum.
"When did you get there?" The question went unanswered as Inaho walked around the table and sat in the empty seat next to Asseylum, laying his tray down as he did so.
Asseylum tried to stifle the small laugh that came out of her mouth at Calm's question and Inaho's lack of an answer. Even though everyone else was curious as to what Inaho had written on the bookmark that he had given his sister, she didn't mind not knowing. It was the initial gesture that she found sweet. She turned towards the black-haired boy next to her, a bright smile on her face.
"Inaho! I-." She was caught off once she got a good look at him, surprise filling her for a brief moment. "You're… wearing an eye patch?"
The boy's hand wandered up towards where a black eye patch was covering his cybernetic implant, the item a stark difference from what she was used to seeing.
"It's what the doctors suggested." He seemed to pause for a moment before glancing over at her. "Does it seem strange to you?"
She automatically shook her head, feeling the surprise fade now that she knew the item was there.
"It's a good thing to get used to." He nodded at her statement, as if in agreement, before turning back towards Calm and Inko.
"That's in a few days, right?" Inko asked, her black hair moving as her head tilted slightly in thought. As Inaho nodded to confirm her suspicion, the girl clapped her hands together once as she seemed to think of something. "We should all throw a party once the surgery's done!"
The other occupants looked at Inko in confusion for a moment, Calm catching on faster than Asseylum, before the orange-haired boy nodded his head in agreement.
"Great idea! This way it can be a celebration of what you lost!" Calm looked over at their black-haired friend with a bright smile before he suddenly turned pensive. "But would it really be a celebration? After all..." he trailed off, deep in thought a moment later at he took a bite of an apple.
"Does that really matter?!" Inko exclaimed, her face in a slight pout before becoming a smile once more as she whipped out her tablet. "It's supposed to be a chance for Inaho to have fun!"
No one argued with that point but Asseylum felt slight worry fill her as she glanced over at the boy beside her.
"But… would he even be well enough to do that so soon after the ordeal?" She asked, watching as Inko's gaze traveled towards their mutual friend as well, worry in her own gaze now.
"Well…"
"There's no cause for worry." Inaho's voice cut into whatever Inko was going to say and the other occupants focused their gaze on the black-haired teen. "The procedure should be minor enough and the doctors say that recovery should be quick. The thing that will take getting used to the most is lack of vision."
Despite the way Inaho said the last statement, he didn't seem to be bothered by it that much. The group fell silent for a moment before Inko began to type something in on her tablet.
I guess he did have to get used to a lot so he must just consider this another thing that needs to be done…
"Well that's one thing we can help with." Calm said with a smirk as he glanced at the other boy, the motion calming Asseylum's nerves a bit. She took a breath before releasing it a moment later, a smile back on her face.
We can help him adjust.
She glanced over at the boy beside her to give him another smile, one that he returned, causing her heart to flutter slightly.
"Now Inaho, which colors do you want?" The question caused the two to glanced towards Inko, who was holding the tablet out to show various decorations in an array of colors. The black-haired boy gave the tablet a slightly confused glanced before glancing away.
"Does it matter which ones?" Inko's expression became one of slight annoyance at his answer and she pushed the tablet closer to the boy.
"Of course it does! It is your party!" When the boy didn't give an answer, Asseylum smiled over at Inko, moving the tablet so that she could see the colors as well, keeping the device closer to Inaho than to her.
"Why don't we all choose? That way we can all have a say in what the party looks like." She glanced through the colors, deciding on one that might be a good one. "What about orange?"
If she remembered correctly, Calm and Inko had once told her that Inaho preferred to use the downgraded version of the newest Kataphrakt.
Wasn't it orange?
Two out of three of the other occupants at the table nodded, bright smiles on their faces, causing her to glance over at Inaho when she didn't get a response from him. He still seemed to be fixated on something else, causing her to glance at her friends before back over at the boy.
"Inaho?" He still didn't seem to hear her, causing her some amount of concern. She laid her hand on his shoulder, her gaze trying to locate what he was so fixated on. "What's-?"
Her gaze caught on to what he was looking at when she saw a flash of sandy-blonde hair on the TV located in the middle of the cafeteria, causing her voice to cut off. Her heart skipped a beat and she found herself leaning forward in her seat in fear, staring intently at the screen. She didn't bother to read the caption under the live-video, her mind recognizing her first Terran friend easily.
Slaine?
Sure enough, her friend looked the same as she had last seen him, despite the bruises and cuts on the boy's appearance. His uniform as well seemed to be in disarray, causing confusion to enter her.
How…?
Her mind thought back to what Inko had told her while they were waiting for Inaho outside the recovery room.
"The war's over. The world will need time to heal from what happened." Asseylum hadn't taken into account what that could have meant. If the Terrans were alright, she had supposed that Vers had lost the war.
But…
She hadn't thought about what it would have done to those involved, too busy worrying over Inaho and trying to get life back to some sense of normalcy. Her thoughts were drawn to her half-sister, pink hair flashing in her mind.
If Slaine's been caught, then where is she?
Her vision was drawn back to the screen to notice that multiple guards seemed to be surrounding him, guarding him as they walked him towards an unknown destination.
What are they doing?
It became clear in her mind when all the guards surrounded her blonde friend, guns being raised slowly. She felt her breath hitch and she automatically stood up, her brain feeling as if everything was slowing down.
They're going to-!
Her gaze focused on the projection of her friend's face as the camera zoomed in as she took a step towards the device. Sure enough, he held himself bravely, with only a hint of fear and regret that only she seemed to be able to detect. She focused on his lips as they moved, reading what he said, knowing that it was meant for her.
"Look away."
The words had been said to her so many years ago when they were younger and she had witnessed a video of Terrans hunting on the tablet that she and Slaine had used to look up information on. It had been right whenever they were going to kill an animal that he had said those words, and since she hadn't due to being too paralyzed with fear, he had covered her eyes with his hands, shielding her from the violence.
No…
She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes as she took an involuntary step away from it all. She tried to avert her gaze but found that once again, she couldn't.
There's no one here now to shield me from it…
Through her blurry gaze she saw a figure turn in her direction, breaking her gaze away from the TV, as maroon eyes stared into her own. The blurry figure moved, the only clear thing being his eyes, and she found herself breaking eye contract and stepping farther away from the table.
It's not right…
Other people began to get up, this time instead though reacting very differently from the way she was, as they stared at the TV. Some of their hands were raised in the air while others were clapping and shaking their friends' hands.
They're cheering… Her mind didn't seem to be able to process the information, causing her to take more steps away from it all. They're celebrating the death of another human being…
She took one last fractured glance at the screen before turning around and escaping through the door. She did the one thing that she could in this situation: run. Despite moving away from the area, the shouting and celebrating still reached her ears, causing her to run faster. She dodged around a corner, not quite sure where she was running anymore, missing a figure by inches as she dashed away.
"Milady!" The surprised shout that came from the smaller figure caused her to realize that it was Eddelrittuo.
Despite knowing that it was her friend, she couldn't bring herself to stop, running right past her handmaiden and into the nearest space that she could find. The door hadn't opened fast enough for her, causing her to push on it as it swung open instead. The door swung closed behind her, the mechanism fixing itself at the unexpected function of the item, catching the hem of her dress in the process. The unexpected resistance caused her to lose her footing and fall to the ground, the fabric tearing as she did so. Through her blurry vision, she glanced back at the torn fabric, ripping the rest of it out of the door, before leaning against the wall. She couldn't bring herself to get back up and go somewhere else. Two sides of her warred inside her, one as a ruler and the other as a friend.
His actions caused this… Despite the harsh thought, the tears wouldn't stop and she wiped away at them angrily. But he was still my friend…
She flinched at that, trying to get the cheers out of her head, trying to think rationally about the whole situation. She couldn't get the image out of her head, and she placed her hands over her ears to try and block out the distant noise. A single thought managed to make its way into her head as the sound faded.
If it had been me, would they be cheering like that?
The chapter is finally here! Sorry once again for it taking so long! I won't try and excuse my tardiness this time; at least the chapter is out now. I hope you all had a great finish for the school year and are enjoying the start of summer! So, what did you all think? The chapter started out innocent enough, talking about parties and poetry, but then took a slightly darker tone. In case you all are curious, the mention of backstory between Slaine and Asseylum wasn't in the show, I just happened to include in there for this story. Hopefully the next chapter won't take this long to get out. :) Please let me know what you all thought!
Question of the chapter: Do you think Inaho could write poetry? (Note: I know that most of the questions have something relevant to the story, but I'm curious as to what you all think.)
-AnimeWolfGirl16