Team work is the key... but what exactly is the lock?
The Bonds
A new dawn had risen, and Sakuya was watching the morning news on Entrance Floor's television. Apparently the people and unions of the Outer Ghettos were peacefully protesting Fenrir again, demanding for more jobs and more rations. Sakuya silently watched the news until she saw Aimee come onto the floor.
"Hey, this way, this way." Sakuya waved over to Aimee.
"Hey, Sakuya. What are you watching?"
"Fenrir Broadcasting System, apparently the Outer Ghetto are protesting against Fenrir again."
"Hm, has violence broken out?"
"No, the marches have disperse fairly peacefully."
"I find that hard to believe."
"What?"
"Either this station is censoring a lot of detail or the work of protesting has drastically changed."
"What do you mean?"
"Back in my day, outbreaks like this usually ended in violence depending on the party or the topic of protest." Aimee explained. "Sometimes it's the law enforcements that over react and break out into violence, varying from pepper spraying, gassing, and tasering to downright beating protestors or sicking dogs on them. Or it breaks out into violence varying from defacing and destroying public property to viciously beating down people or sexual assault outbreaks. Either way, something usually went down, a true peaceful protest has yet to be accomplished."
"Boy, your time was pretty rough."
"And yours is ironically peaceful." Aimee shot back.
"Alright, point taken." Sakuya said, both of them remained quiet until the news went off. "You know, I've been hearing about you and the other guys. You're exceeding expectations, they can't praise you enough!"
"Thank you for the compliment, but it was not my intentions to do this for praise."
"That's good, but, uh... try not to over do it, okay?" Sakuya said in serious concern. "You see... the best of God Eaters... tend to die young."
"Meaning I've got a long life ahead of me. Is that what you're saying?" Lindow commented, sneaking in on them from the level stairs. His small comment drastically lighten up the mood around the two as Sakuya began to lightly chuckle.
"Keeping executive's hours as usual?" Sakuya joked along.
"Sure, because I'm an executive. Alright, another day at work guys! It'll be the three of us today."
BARK!
"Heh ha, I'm sorry, I mean the four of us today." Lindow grinned down at Duke as he happily wagged in approval at being included. "I'll be taking the lead. Sakuya, you're the backup."
"Roger."
"And you two are the commandos." Lindow instructed to Aimee and Duke. "Show us what a Guardian can do."
Lindow would've went on but his cell phone began to ring, and the text that he received made him suddenly turn serious.
"Anything else?" Sakuya asked, trying to break Lindow out of his sudden funk.
"Well, uh... don't die, alright?" Lindow replied, putting his phone away. Where it remained out of sight and out of mind.
"Thanks for your very thorough orders, big boss." Sakuya said with a giggle, getting Lindow to grin again. Aimee didn't know why so many of them had to go on this mission, it was just two Cocoon Maidens and an Ogretail.
*** With another group ***
Yet again Kota was assign to take care of a Kongou for the day, and again it would be accompanied by Zygotes. The only difference this time was that it was in the Wailing Plains and Yummie and Ron would be joining him for the mission.
"Alright, let's go guys!" Kota cheered at his team.
"Yo-okay!" "Let's do this." Yummie and Ron agreed with them. Momo screeched in agreement as well, as Terra rose to his back legs and kneed before jumping off the Starting Point.
They all made their way to the right as two Zygotes popped from the ground. Kota shot the closes one down while Yummie threw a slicing ring at the other. By the time Ron got to them they were already dead, leaving Momo to devour the cores. Lucky for Ron, the Kongou was just up ahead and it saw the whole thing, so it came marching at them for a fight.
At last he got a turn in the match, but it didn't turn out to a good start as the Kongou came down with a body slam, knocking Yummie back from the force.
"Whoa!" Yummie cried out as she fell on her butt.
"Careful, this Aragami knows how to use its weight." Kota warned as he continued to fire as the Kongou as it was getting back up.
"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." Yummie replied back. Getting back on her feet and releasing a hard throw with her ring to destroy the Kongou's pummel armor while Ron attacked the face. Angered, the Kongou tried to hit them with its twirling tornado fists, but Ron jumped back in time.
"Oh no you don't. Terra, now!" Ron instructed to his PAR who was going to give the Kongou a piece of its own medicine. Terra had charged up a lightning attack from its antlers and shot it right at the Kongou, letting out a wailing sound as the Kongiu was knocked back off its feet. Nervous, the Kongou ran off, but it didn't go far.
Kota had sent out a shot to its back, knocking it off its feet again. While down, Ron had moved to the front to destroy the face armor before delivering the final downward thrust to its skull to finish it off. Terra had moved in to extract the core while Momo had returned to wrap around Yummie.
"Alright! We nailed it this time too!" Kota fist pumped to the sky.
"That was an easy victory." Ron commented whacking off the blood from his blade.
"You said it." Yummie agreed when Momo started to shreak with excitement, drawing everybody's attention. "What is it? You want to show mommy something?"
Yummie cooed at her PAR before it pulled out waste from under it and flung it at the dead Kongou's face.
"Ew!" "Oh that is just vile!" Kota and Ron shouted in disgust. Their complaints went to deaf ears with Ymmuie as she continued to praise her PAR.
"That's how it's done, Spunky Monkey!"
*** Another Group ***
Two Kongous had been spotted in the Forgotten Carrier area. Kanon and Brendan were sent to exterminate them along with Azuma, Kamali, and their PARs. The group didn't even have to travel far, the first Kongou had met up with them in Sector B.
Each team member stayed on a respective side, PARs staying with their partner, as they unleashed their force upon the Kongou. With Anzi going through a power and size boost just by the sight of the Aragami, the Kongou didn't even last a minute for them. With Anzi staying behind to devour the core they ran ahead to finish off the last Kongou.
Which again, they didn't have to go far since the Kongou was waiting for them in the next section. Amon flew above the fighting ground and out of the way the whole time, waiting for the moment when he could be of help. Getting in a good sucker punch on Kamali, the Kongou had socked her off her feet and got in the first hit.
"Ah!" Kamali cried out as her back smacked down on the pavement.
Angered by its actions, Azuma went in for a dash slice on the Kongou and broke off its face armor while Kanon shot it off its feet. While on the ground, Kamali had gotten up and whipped off its pummel armor. Kanon had knocked back Brendan and Azuma with her cannon blast, but at least Brendan had gotten in the final blow.
"Didn't I tell you to stay out of my line of fire?!" Kanon growled at them as they got on their feet. Amon had hissed at her while coming to land on Azuma's shoulder, angered that she had harmed his partner without remorse.
"Stupid girl!" Kamali huffed at Kanon in one of her rare moments of being upset. "You must watch where you are firing before you pull the trigger."
"Ah!" Kanon screamed, ignoring what Kamali had just said as she fired her cannon at Anzi who had caught her by surprise when he caught up to the group and started extracting the last Kongou's core. Running on instinct, Kamali jumped in front of her PAR and blocked Kanon's shot with her shield. "!"
"Hey!" Azuma nearly growled at Kanon for even firing at Kamali.
"What did I just say?"
"I-I I'm sorry, your thing caught me off guard, my finger slipped."
"'His' name is Anzi."
"I-I'm sorry!"
"(Sigh) Look, it was an accident. Nobody was hurt, so let's let bygones be bygones." Brendan called in the middle, trying to keep the peace.
"Very well..." Kamali agreed, returning to her usual calming tone. "But only if she apologizes to Anzi."
"!" Kanon stared at the monstrous PAR in disbelief that Kamali would even ask her of this. But as she looked up at the beast that she thought should honestly be buried six feet under, she pushed back her thoughts and brought the words that needed to be brought out. "Sorry, Anzi..."
But Kanon was startled when the PAR let out a groan and gave her a smile as it placed a large hand to gently pat her head. For something so ugly, it was actually very sweet. She guessed she could call it an ugly cute.
"See... Anzi's not so bad, is he?"
*** Another Group ***
The day was coming to an end, and the last group had just gotten done taking care of some stray Zygotes in the Tranquil Temple. Karel and Shun had slightly kept their distance from Gina as she was experiencing a Sis-mance with Nonna.
"I saw lots of lovely flowers in bloom today."
"Your shots were quite brilliant." Nonna complimented to Gina.
"You're too kind, your shots were far more superior. It was like your bullets were eating the Aragami alive, I liked it."
"Please, your shots were like that of a professional. It must have taken you years of training to get so good."
"There's no real training to it, I just love shooting my sniper rifle. I wake up each morning ecstatic to go after Aragami, the whole thing is so painfully exciting that I can't wait to fire."
"My God, if you weren't straight I'd kiss the brains out of you."
"What's stopping you?"
"Oh oh oh, where have you been all my life?"
"Enough of the flirting ladies, can we head back now?" Shun interrupted the two from their own little world as their team started to walk back to the Starting Point.
"This whole mission was a waste of my time." Karel commented as they walked back. "The reward was pitiful."
*** Later that night in Dr. Sakaki's Lab ***
"Hey, Doc."
"Soma, this is an odd surprise. Why the late visit?"
"I need you to do me a favor."
"Oh?"
"I need you to..." but then Soma began to mumble the last part, and move his head lower so his hood covered his face.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you."
"I said..." but he continued to mumble that last part but a little bit louder.
"You need to speak up, Soma."
"I need you to get me some music books." Soma burst out aloud, his cheeks were burning scarlet.
"My, my, my, Soma. Since when did you pick up such a cultured hobby?" Dr. Sakaki chuckled with a giant fox-grin.
"Shove it, Doc. Can you get it for me or not?" Soma said with embarrassment, crossing his arms making it look like he was pouted.
Dr. Sakaki decided to ease up on Soma. The poor kid must of had a hard time coming to him with this favor, he even waited until no one else was around to ask him. If the boy wanted to pick up a positive pass time who was he to stop him?
"Alright, Soma. I should be able to get you some lesson books for you by tomorrow. I'll even put them in an envelop so no one else has to know." Dr. Sakaki grinned as Soma's muscles eased up and relaxed at the last part. "So what kind of instrument books do you want?"
"... Violin..."
*** The next day ***
The day started out gray, leaving Soma to believe that it was going to rain later that day. But the day wouldn't make the Aragami stop, he had missions to get done. Apparently he was facing off against a crocodile-shark-like Aragami called Gboro-Gboro in the Sunken Grid today. He wouldn't mind if he was going against them alone, but he was stuck with the baggage of a team. Not only was he stuck with Aimee, he was stuck with Jack...
"I can handle this alone." Soma groaned out.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, mate." Jack said waving Soma's loner attitude off. Eli stayed wrapped around Jack's shoulder like a giant necklace as he pulled out his boomerang. "Right, let's get this show on the road."
"Grr," Soma growled out in annoyance at Jack's carefree attitude as he jumped off the Starting Point ahead of them.
"Don't be grumpy, Soma." Aimee cooed at him, rubbing the top of his head, hood and all, as Duke rubbed along his leg. "Working alone is so lonely."
"That's the point of being alone." Soma growled out in growing frustration as her hand continued rubbing his head and he couldn't find the will to compel himself to stop her. All he could do was cross his arms and slightly twitch in irritation.
"Trust me, it'll be fun." She assured to him with a light giggle. The sound was like wind chimes to Soma's ears, he almost got lost in it. That is until Aimee shouted at him with a laugh as she jumped off the Starting Point with Duke. "Come on, Slowpoke."
"Hmph, troublesome baggage." Soma grumbled out as he jump after the troublemakers.
Jack and Aimee had made a run for it to the left, Aimee easily catching up to Jack due to her lack of extra weight. Not one to be left behind, or leaving those two alone for that matter, Soma started picking up his pace tapping into his enhanced ability. The first thing they bumped into was an Ogre tail.
"Good day, mate." Jack grinned at it as he came down hard on it with his boomerang. The other Ogretail came running into the scene. While Eli slithered down Jack to extract the dead Ogretail's core Jack threw his boomerang at the on coming one. "Come to join the party?"
"No you don't," Aimee sassed out, passing Jack to getting the finishing punches on the Ogretail. "Mine."
"Alright, alright, it's all yours, love." Jack said, raising his hands in surrender while Duke went to eat out the core. "Well, there's always that Gboro thing to look forward to. Where do you think it is by the way?"
"Straight ahead," Soma simply answer as the Gboro came flopping its way toward them.
"Blimy, get a load of those teeth!" Jack hackled out.
"Is it hungry or just happy to see us?" Aimee joked around.
"Quit fooling around and don't get in my way." Soma ordered at them as the Gboro made a stop in front of them.
"Crikes, this croc's got guns." Jack pointed out as the Gboro got ready to fire its head cannon. But Aimee just ran in front of it, punching it in its face until she knocked it back thus stopping its attack. "Well check out the balls on you, Aimee."
"Suck it, Jack." Aimee shot back, while Duke lead up to sink his teeth into the Gboro's cannon. Aimee made a dash to its backside to attack its tail. "We need to take this guy down."
"Right, like hunting in the Down Under." Jack grinned as he started attacking the front with Soma.
Aimee saw that its moving was going to be a problem, noticing how the fins were more vulnerable than the rest of its body Aimee came down on it with a hard downward kick. The blow knocked the Gboro flat on its stomach.
"Rotten piece of meat." Soma growled at the Aragami as he came down on it with a crushing blow that destroyed its torso cannons. Aimee continued bombarding its fins until the Aragami went down. "Man, is that it."
"Well that was a good croc fight." Jack shot out while Soma extracted the core.
"So, Soma, did you have fun?"
"Be quiet, woman." Soma groaned out.
*** With another group ***
"Ambush!" Brendan called out as the team was surrounded by three Cocoon Maidens, spewing out the Tranquil Temple's ground.
Instantly coming to his partner's rescue, Anzi charged into a red rage as he came down upon the closest Cocoon Maiden in front of it. Brendan took care of the Cocoon Maiden in the back of them, while Azuma and Tatsumi handled the one on the side. The Cocoon Maidens went down easily with their team-up.
But just as the Cocoon Maidens went down their targets came charging out the main temple. Three Ogretails came running after them, mouths ready to take a bite. Kamali stopped them in their tracks, while the boys went ahead to slice them down.
"(Huff) Well that could've turned out bad." Tatsumi sighed out.
"But it didn't." Kamali pointed out as Anzi calmed back to normal after devouring the Cocoon Maidens' cores with Amon, and came up to Kamali to lift her onto his shoulder. "It's best to focus on the now than the what ifs in life."
"..."
"Let us go home." Kamali simply said to them as they got done extracting the Ogretail cores. Anzi turned around and headed back to the Starting Point, Kamali still on his shoulder.
"..." Azuma stared at the two as they went off before following after them when Amon landed on his shoulder.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you." Brendan called out to Azuma, making him stop in his tracks. "You seem to only go on missions with Kamali. Why is that?"
"..." Azuma simply turned his head to stare at Brendan in the eyes. "Because she reminds me that I'm human."
"?!" The two of them just raised a brow as Azuma just simply started to walk off again towards Kamali and the Starting Point.
"What do you think he means by that?" Brendan asked over to Tatsumi.
"Exactly how it sounds." Tatsumi simply answered, noticing something that Brendan was missing. Leaving it for Brendan to find out himself, Tatsumi started walking back too. Clicking on his communicator he connected to the front desk. "Hey, Hibari! We just got done..!"
*** Later that night ***
Soma was sitting in his room, grumbling on his couch with his violin and bow as he tried to make sense of his music book. Dr. Sakaki had dropped them off in front of his room in a big yellow envelope while he was out on a mission. And now he sat there trying to tune his strings and get through one bloody scale.
He felt ridiculous doing this, but it did have a natural fit with him. It felt like this instrument was made for his hands. He strung his first note, too hard, the sound screeched in his ears. Easing up on the bow, he got a sound that actually resembled a note. He strung another note, getting a deeper tone. Playing around a little, he decided to play random notes in a song with no scale, or rhythm for that matter.
It had a natural feel to Soma. And he wouldn't lie, it kinda made him feel good.
"See, I told you you were a natural."
"!" His eyes shot wide open at the sudden intrusion and turned toward the offender leaning on his door frame.
"Get out of my room!" He barked at Aimee only causing her to giggle.
"Why? The show was starting to get good." She ducked as a bow came flying at her like a spear. "Alright, alright, I'm going."
"Hmph," Soma grunted out as she disappeared behind the door. Tossing the bow back into his room before the door closed. "Annoying, brat."
*** The next day ***
Aimee was waiting at the City of Mercy's Starting Point with Sakuya, Kota, and Soma for Lindow to start their mission. He was running a little late, as the sun was starting to rise higher. Soma had started busying himself with maintaining his God Arc when Lindow finally showed up.
"Hey, it's another great day to work! Return to base safe and sound. That's all."
"Huh? That's it?" His lack of instructions was not sitting well with Kota.
"You won't last long if you keep questioning him like that." Sakuya lectured to Kota.
"What a drag..." Soma groaned out in annoyance.
'But it's blindingly following leaders that has lead mankind to dark times continuously, Sakuya.' Aimee thought to herself, remaining silent out of respect for Sakuya and Lindow. They had an innocence about them, they didn't need to know the dark things she had seen. But then again, it's forgetting the past that makes it repeat itself...
"Good to see that except for one of us our souls are one."
"!" Aimee was shot out of her thoughts when she noticed that Lindow was addressing that statement at her and the others started to stare. His words stung... she had always felt a little different than the others in many ways. To have it thrown at her aloud... struck hard at her heart. "..."
"Tst," Soma silently growled out as he saw the sad look come over her face. That was an uncalled for point out from Lindow, even if it was a joke. That look in her eyes made something inside of him boil, she was suppose to always have a smile on her face not that damn frown.
"Haha! I'm just kidding." Lindow finally said, noticing how his joke had struck a nerve in Aimee... and Soma. "And don't look so sad."
"..." She tried to smile at Lindow as she looked back up again, but the smile didn't really reach her face. Duke rubbed his mussel on her hand in comfort.
"This is the first four person mission these members have performed together. Just do what you always do."
"Huh? Wait, what about you, Lindow?" Kota asked.
"Well, you see I've been asked on a secret date right after this. So it's just going to be the four of you today." Lindow answered, pulling out his phone to check a text. "If I don't get there in time my date will get mad and leave. Talk about impatient."
His words were normal enough, but Aimee couldn't help but notice the worried look on Sakuya's and Soma's face at his words.
"I'm taking off now guys. My orders are the usual: Don't die, make sure you come back alive."
"They're your own orders." Soma shot back at Lindow. "Better make sure you follow them yourself."
"Try not to stay out too late, Lindow, okay?" Sakuya said to Lindow with hidden concern. Lindow gave her a wave before walking off. With Sakuya in command she took charge of the team. "All right, let's go!"
Following her orders, they all jumped down from the Starting Point to take care of the three Zygotes and Kongou in the area...
*** Later that day ***
The mission was done, with little to no trouble, the First Unit had made it back to the Den. Entering the Entrance as they exited the Mission Elevator. They were greeted by the surprise of Lindow waiting for them in the lounge area. Happy to see him, Sakuya was the first to walk up to him.
"So you managed to make it back before us." She started to smile at him. "Good work today."
"Yeah, I managed to wrap things up earlier than expected. How'd you guys do?"
"As per your command- the same as usual." Soma answered as the others finally made their way beside Sakuya.
"Right," Sakuya agreed. "We fulfilled our mission, and didn't lose anyone."
"You should've seen us! Brilliant teamwork- we were so tight!" Kota added in with excitement.
"I don't recall you being of much use." Soma snarkly shot back at Kota.
"What the...?!" Kota gasped out before lowering his upper half in shame, Sakuya lightly giggled at his antics.
"Is that right? Then I guess it won't hurt to go on more dates in the future." Lindow commented lightly.
"Huh? Aren't you suppose to hook me up with girls first?" Kota somewhat whined.
"Huh?" Lindow said in confusion, before actually getting what Kota was saying... as if he meant it to mean something else than what Kota thought. "Right, like you could handle a girl."
"!" Sakuya had flinched at his joke as if she got what it meant. Then suddenly the announcements came on, saying that the 7th Unit had successfully detached the core of an Ouroboros. For some reason that news made the Den shoot back to life with excitement.
"What's an Ouroboros?" Kota asked what Aimee could not. "Is it powerful?"
"It'll pop up if you search the Terminal." Soma answered, annoyed at Kota's lack of research on things that he was going to face on the job. "Do your homework for once."
"Well, I don't think we're quite ready to take it on just yet." Sakuya nervously pointed out.
"What?! Not even with a team like ours?" Kota said with a whine.
"One or two casualties, definitely." Soma said to Kota with a grin.
"Hey, come on." Lindow jumped in, trying to cheer the fresh blood up in the Den. "If we can survive somehow we'll get it eventually... Don't worry about that now, just focus on staying alive."
"You know that line's getting really old..."
"Right, and I'll say it to you til I'm blue in the face. You'd probably head to your own death if I wasn't watching."
"Damn you...shut up!"
Although... Lindow has been noticing the changes in Soma nowadays. He's not as angry as he use to be, he's opening up more, he's even interacting with people better than before. Ever since Aimee got here, he's been changing for the better. It's only been a couple of weeks and already the girl was having a major impact on the Den... she was being rather quiet today.
"Whoa, yes sir." Lindow joked around at Soma as he noticed a vein start to pop out on his forehead. Laughing as he got on his feet. "Okay, I've got another date coming up so I'm going for a hardy meal."
Soma and Sakuya watched Lindow walk off in concern. Soon Sakuya and Kota were next to head off. But Soma had to stop Aimee as she was about to leave... she had been far too quiet since Lindow had made that joke. She hasn't said a word all day and it didn't sit well with Soma.
"Hey..." Soma called out to Aimee, grabbing her by the wrist.
"?" She stared at where their skin made contact then looked up at him.
"There's a Gboro causing trouble in the Wailing Plains..." Soma explained, having a hard time keeping eye contact with her. "You wanna come...?"
"... I'd like that." She final spoke for the first time that day, giving him a small but warm smile.
*** Later at the Wailing Plains ***
The two of them were resting after the thrill of the fight. Aimee and Soma had worked their way to the left and around the circle. Taking care of the three Cocoon Maidens spread around the three directions before taking out the Gboro. Now Soma leaned against the building in Section H, arms crossed and hood covering him from the showers as he watched Aimee dance in the rain with the joy of a child.
"(Giggle) This is great, it's just what I needed!" Aimee happily laughed, twirling around with her arms out, looking to the sky as the rain kissed her skin. "How did you know I would like this?"
"I had a feeling..."
"(Giggle) Well thank you." She said, stopping in her track to face him with her hands behind her back and smiled at him. "You've really made my day."
"Tst, whatever." Soma huffed out, turning his eyes away as the genuine happiness in her eyes burned into his soul. How could she be so happy about such a little thing?
She laughed at his shy antics, causing him to blush in frustration and embarrassment. She turned around, giving him his privacy, her shoulders shook as she giggled into her hand. Soma stared at her back, her hair glittered with rain droplets as it hung down her back like a waterfall.
"..." Such an appealing shine it had, how soft it looked. Before Soma knew it, he was cupping a lock of her raven hair between his fingers. He didn't know what compelled him to do it, but he had the urge to do it deep in his heart. It felt... soft. And sorta warm, which was strange in this cold rainy place.
"!" Aimee stopped in her laughter, frozen in place as she felt Soma's sturdy fingers. Ever so slowly she turned her head to look at him, slightly turning to the side. His little action, this feeling it gave... it felt like something... she had felt before... "Soma...?"
"..." Soma didn't have any words that could explain his actions to her. Unable to say anything, he gently let her lock slip from his fingers. Putting his hands in his pockets as he starts to head back, he could feel her eyes on the back of his head and it made him blush. His fingers... still tingled with her warmth.