The Shinigami's Angel

Chapter Eleven

Shinigami dashed through the sparsely wooded forest, breath beginning to get heavy. He didn't care that he was pushing himself too hard, or that it was pretty much for no purpose— his life wasn't even slightly threatened at the moment. But he still felt panicked, he had to get away from that gi— from Aile. She almost certainly wasn't chasing after him, but he didn't want to take the chance that she was.

A few minutes later, Shinigami collapsed to the forest floor on his face, completely burnt out. He groaned slightly, then managed to shift himself onto his back, sucking in shallow breaths as he squinted his eyes against the harsh sunlight.

'Shinigami-kun, are you all right? Why were you running like that?' Roll asked anxiously.

"Quiet… please… for a little." the boy gasped out, forcing his heartbeat back to a more temperate pace. Once he felt slightly better, he pulled himself into a sitting position and addressed the female Biometal.

"What were you asking… Roll, right?"

'Yes. I was wondering if you were all right. And why were you running so fast? Was there some danger we didn't know about?'

"No, nothing like that. It doesn't matter."

'Are you sure?'

"Yes, I'm fine. Don't pester me."

'I was just trying to help…'

'So, Shinigami,' Rock spoke up, hoping to divert from the situation upsetting his sister, 'who was that girl you were talking with? And why did you get so upset at her question.'

Shinigami was silent, and Rock was somewhat concerned he had made things worse. Then the boy started to speak.

"Well, her name's Aile, as I just found out. As far as I know, she is the only other person who has Biometal… besides these monsters, but that's a different story. She was the first person to come across me after I found Forte, and… well, really the only human I've talked to in a long time. We've ran into each other a few times in the past couple of weeks, and we defeated an enemy together. Besides that… I really don't know that much about her."

'And… why did you get angry when she asked if you'd join the "guardians"?' Roll asked diffidently.

Shinigami scowled lightly. "I'd prefer to keep my past to myself."

'That really isn't wise.' Shinigami blinked in surprised and turned to the red Biometal, who until now had kept silent. 'It looks like we'll be working together for a while. If we know next to nothing about each other, be won't be able to survive very long. We have to be able to trust each other… and that's impossible if you don't even know who the person is. So… it would be good for you to let us know about you. And of course, we will tell you our story as well.'

'Shinigami… could you please tell us?' Rock asked imploringly. The human sighed.

"Very well. I'll explain everything… once I get home."

With that, the Death God trudged wearily towards his makeshift home.


Aile's brow was furrowed in thought as she somberly transported back to the Guardian Headquarters. She shouldn't have approached him so earnestly… it probably just drove him away from her more. She wasn't even sure why she wanted him to join the Guardians so much. Of course, it would serve as a good excuse to know him better, but she had to admit she was concerned about him. He was certainly very powerful, but it's very easy for an amateur to get in over their head— she knew from experience.

Shinigami had only been fighting for, as far as she could tell, less than a month. Of course, in half that amount of time, she had taken out several strong enemies and saved the world from certain destruction, but then she at least had Guardian back up for the most part, and they'd be able to try and help save her if things got too bad. But Shinigami was doing this with no support whatsoever! Aile wasn't sure if she could work like that… not so much she liked the security of their backup, but she liked the fact she knew there were people waiting for her… people who cared about whether she lived to see the next sunrise.

Of course, Shinigami seemed abrasive, and… well, the sort of person who preferred to work alone, without anyone to "get in his way". He probably just didn't want anyone holding him down. But…

But that look he gave her. It didn't seem to be one of simple refusal. He looks angry at her suggestion, and… afraid. And hurt. Like the simple prospect of being around another soul for any length of time was completely horrible. Not just preposterous, but… disastrous.

The funny thing was… if Aile read him right… it wasn't his own safety he was so terrified about.

"Welcome back, Aile. How are you feeling?"

The girl's head snapped up, and she found herself in the command center standing before Prairie.

Oh… I guess I walked in here without paying attention…

"I'm… perfectly fine, Prairie." Aile grinned weakly to her superior.

"Are you sure? You seem pretty tired."

Aile shut her eyes for a second. It was true she felt weary, although travel-weary, not battle-weary. She had been on the move so much she had barely gotten a chance to sit down in the past five hours.

"Yes, Prairie, I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

"It's just…" Prairie looked to the side hesitantly. What she had to ask was important, but she didn't want to push Aile too far. That hadn't turned out well in the past… but she truly needed her help.

"Well… there's a Maverick attack going on. Pretty big one, and we think there might be a W-roid in their ranks as well. We've sent some forces out to confront it, but…"

"Got it." Aile grinned, flashing a thumbs-up towards her good friend. "I'll clean things up and be back here in a jiffy."

'Do people still say jiffy…?' Model H asked musingly.

"Oh, quiet, you." Aile stuck her tongue out at nothing as a replacement for the Biometal before she hopped on the TransServer and selected the preprogrammed coordinates, transporting to the place of the incident.


"…So, that's why."

'Oh… Shinigami-kun…' Roll murmured sympathetically.

'…I understand your fears, Shinigami, but… well, you have us now! You'll be able to protect everyone now!'

Shinigami gave Rock an even stare. "You weren't listening. I don't want to get close to people; I don't want to protect them. I don't want to have any bonds. I want to live only for myself and revenge. Caring about others would only get in the way."

Shinigami smirked inwardly. Funny how convictions seem so much stronger when voiced, instead of contemplating them yourself, isn't it?

'But that's… such a lonely way to live.' Rock finished sadly.

Shinigami let out a sad, quiet sigh, then fixed Rock with a smirk. "Like you said, I have you guys now. How can I be lonely with four voices in my head?"

Roll giggled. 'That sounded funny, Shinigami-kun.'

Shinigami rolled his eyes and was about to respond, when a noise in the distance caught his ears.

"What's that?"

'It sounded like an explosion…' Blues mentioned.

'Ah! Shinigami-kun, there's smoke coming from over there!' Roll cried. Shinigami shot up and glanced around, wishing the girl was able to specify where "there" was. Suddenly he saw a cloud of smoke billowing up from an area far away.

'What are you waiting for, Shinigami? Let's go. There's bound to be some action over there.' Forte spoke suddenly.

Shinigami wanted to protest how by the time they got there things would probably be finished, but he knew it would be good to let Forte do some fighting soon; it was pretty obvious the longer he was forced to be around the other Biometal the worse his mood got. In fact, Forte had been sullenly mute for most of the time since they left with the three…

"Fine, let's go. Forte, Rock On!"


"Our three new Biometal have been found." a calm voice observed.

"Heh. Good. By the same person who found the first one, I hope?" the response came from a voice quite the opposite of the first speaker's, being emotional and male.

A slight smile formed on the woman's face. "Yes."

A dark chuckle ripped from the man's lips as he leaned forwards, watching the machinery's quick, jerky movements.

"It was quite fortuitous, finding the secrets of Biometal…"

The female glanced hesitantly at the prone male body lying in a heap off to the side, never to wake again. Of course, he was not operative when they found him… just like the others…

"But, he seems to be handling them well… unlike we had anticipated…"

"Oh, don't worry. He's strained as it is… and once he faces this one as well, it will be enough. He will bend to our will… and our plan will be set in motion."


Author's notes: Fifty reveiws and 3600 hits, yay! -grins happily- Sank yuu~

Sorry if this chapter was bit shorter than normal. Now that I've done planning, it looks like there will be a greater difference in chapter length, some of them will be shorter and some will be longer. (Gee, aren't I great at stating the obvious?) Oh yes, sorry about Roll calling Shinigami "Shinigami-kun", but I pictured her doing that, it just seemed natural to me. -sweatdrop-

Anyway, I'm updating today in particular because this is my one-year anniversary on FanFiction! Yay!

So, guess it's time for review responses~ (For some reason, I don't ramble much any more… weird. Guess I'm growing up or something… I dunno. Or I figure I should do that or respond to people's reviews, and that's probably better. Onward!)

Frankcarlo mills: Yup, by Forte I mean Bass. I use mostly the Japanese names (Forte, Rock On, etc) but a few English ones as well.

Sorry, but I'm using the Japanese names, because those are the ones I think of them as. If you don't like it, then sorry. ^^" (I used to have Megaman as "Rockman", but then I changed it… I still refer to him as "Rock" though, since he still is.)

Um, thanks? ^^"

Thanks for the suggestions. ^^ Although, I think the Japanese names are pretty well-known if less-used (am I correct? Or do most of you only know the English names? If so, I could change it, or… something. ^^") I will take your second suggestion though, and thank you very much. I didn't want to have to call them by their full names all the time (especially when they're merged) but I wasn't sure if I should since there's already a Model F. When they're merged they'll be with the titles. ^^

AccessBlade: Glad you liked it! ^^ And I hope this chapter answered your question. ^^ Heehee, perfectly alright~ Thank you very much for reviewing!

ZX-Kid: Thanks, glad it was~ It was the type of thing where I wasn't sure if people would find it humorous or just weird. I'm happy it was the former. ^^" And yup, it was. ^^" Aile doesn't know him that well yet…

MrChoco: Glad you like it! Hope this was fast enough for you~ Oooh, awesome idea! I swear, you guys have better ideas than I do… hope I can incorporate that into the story. ^^

SubZeroChimera: Glad you liked it! ^^ Am looking forwards to more Happy Anniversary~ (Not to mention that Happy Birthday update… XD)

Cyphrus Cross: It's perfectly fine. Thank you for reviewing! ^^ And yeah, well, he hasn't exactly had a good history with them, has he? ^^" They'll get along better as time goes on, though. Yeah, I know… poor them. ^^"

Niilan: Glad you did! ^^

Shaded Twilight: …You write the best reviews ever. Really. Whenever I read then it really lifts my spirits and encourages me~ ^^ Anyway, thank you so, so very much for the encouragement and the advice! I'll try my best to follow it~ (Although, the reading a book thing made me realize my favorite book is missing…)