Many painful dentist appointments, a not-so Merry Christmas, and a bunch of other miscellaneous crap later. I give you all a much deserved update
Disclaimer: I just own the damn OC's
Abel would stop by his shared dorm room with Andre to take an extra cold shower before going to see Elizabeth like he usually did, his aching legs finding some solace in the act even as his mind raced following his training with Arnett.
"Geez, why is it that every Pandora I meet tries to get some kind of a rise out of me?" Flashes of his embrace with Miyabi, Elizabeth, and even instructor Yu-Mi served to further agitate his already mindset as the rose-haired young man tried to calm himself down. "Satellizer tries to kill me, I get jumped by that bitch Ganessa, and then there's the one that never stops smiling!" Thinking of that enigmatic Pandora was enough to put the proverbial wet blanket on Abel's fired up libido and give him some much needed respite as he leaned his forehead against the wall of the shower.
"There's only been one Pandora who's genuinely been kind to me is Ticy-Senpai, she had zero reason to keeping looking out for me after we touched down..yet that's exactly what she chose to do." Abel would smile wistfully as he remembered their conversation on the helicopter ride to Beacon, the way she blushed we he had made a pass at her, as well as how she looked at him on that first day of class. Her expression was one of warmth and optimism, even with a box of donuts in hand for his hungry appetite. "Come to think of it, I've barely spoken to her since that day in the infirmary." He would sigh sadly as he recalled her heartfelt plea to escape the doctor's thumb and be his own man, only for him to refuse her out of fear for the mad scientist's repercussions,
"It's not that I don't appreciate Ticy trying to save my bacon. Hell, if anything I adore her for trying!" He would sigh in frustration as the cold water forced him into some form of semi-consciousness as he looked down at the fading burn marks on his legs, it was bad enough that his leg muscles burned like he had dared to run throughout the campus in his sleep, there were also the welts where his Stigmata were located. "I guess I should be grateful that I'm still able to walk after what Arnett-Senpai put me through, though yesterday was the first time that I was able to pull off a Double Accel, and without an interval to boot!" Abel would feel his chest swell with pride at the fact that he had taken the first of many steps in his growth as a Pandora, despite Parcé's many warnings and threats about going against her heavily calculated and measured plans.
A knock on the door would diffuse the elation he was feeling as he calmly turned the cold water off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist as he shook the water from his hair like a street cur before opening the door. "Geez Andre, if you're worried about me using all of the hot water then you can chillax." The rose-haired young man would flash a smug smile as he stepped outside of the bathroom to find out that it was not Elizabeth's loyal half demanding his attention, but the Slashing Trickster herself waiting on him. "A-Arnett Senpai, I figured you would be relaxing after today's training. I mean..we did work pretty hard-" His words would be interrupted as she tossed a handful of clothes at him.
"You worked hard, I didn't really do much besides kick your ass and push you to try harder. Half the instructors here do that and do it a lot harsher than I can." The red-haired woman would give a smirk as he looked at her with a baffled expression, almost as if she enjoyed teasing him in such a tawdry way. "Didn't anyone teach you that it's rude to keep a lady waiting?"
Abel would blush slightly before putting on a smirk of his own and giving her a saucy wink. "Oh, is there a lady here? Because you sure fooled me Senpai." The male Pandora would backpedal as the third-year flung a shoe in his direction as the door closed behind him, Abel doing his best before laughing quietly and slowly getting dressed despite the pain in his legs making itself more apparent. "Like the old saying goes: No pain no gain."
When you need a helping hand, just call on me.
Satellizer would be pacing her own dorm room as she debated whether to reach out to her adoptive family, this whole debacle over a long-lost brother was becoming more of an issue as she thought back on her various run-ins with the annoying scientist that accompanied him.
"If anyone has the answer to all of this, it would probably be Violet..but then again would she really be willing to talk about him after what happened that night?" A shudder of fear would ripple through her body as flashes of that night began to play out again, but she would banish them as quickly as they would come. "Even if she doesn't, I have to know the truth about him!"
Satellizer would look at the antique phone sitting on her nightstand while taking a calming breath, she had an affinity for finding and collecting the once-valued devices that she had made it into something of a hobby whenever she had free time off the campus.
The dial tone on the other end would feel like the tolling of a church bell, a signal that her normally isolated lifestyle would change and that may even result in her having to face her forgotten sibling.
"L Bridget residence, Violet speaking" Hearing her sister's voice on the other end brought with it a seldom remembered feeling of comfort for the blonde-haired Pandora, she was one of the few people in that place who cared for her well-being and wasn't afraid to show it despite Olivia's very blatant shows of contempt towards Satellizer and her own mother. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
"Hello Violet, I..I know it's been a while since we last spoke but-" Her voice would trail off as she found herself once again hesitating at the prospect of finally getting the answers she sought, it was as if she were standing at the door of a great truth and second guessing her very decision to open it. "What if I'm wrong about this? What if he isn't my brother and that strange woman is just trying to goad me into fighting her little experiment?"
"Satella, is that you? My goodness, I haven't heard from you since Miss Noelle's passing." The Untouchable Queen would wince at the mention of her deceased mother was still a sore spot for her, even though Violet had been one of the few people who had attended the funeral that followed. "How have you been? Are your studies going well? Did any cute Limiters finally catch your eye?"
The last question was the one that caught her for a loop as flashes of Kazuya Aoi danced through her mind, he too had proven to be a very perplexing distraction to her once isolated routine at West Genetics.
Although for much different reasons.
"Y-yes I'm perfectly fine. My studies are progressing well enough and I'm not even going to dignify that last one with a response." Satellizer huffed in annoyance as her older sibling simply giggled in reply to what she'd heard. As much as she appreciated Violet's sisterly kindness in those bygone days, the situation at hand didn't require much in the way of girl talk. "Violet, I called because I needed to ask you something..about our brother."
The voice on the other end would go quiet for a moment, the happy giggling seemingly replaced by hesitation. "Louis..isn't here anymore, he got accepted as a Limiter and is currently enrolled at the U.K. branch of Genetics. And besides, after everything that happened between you two I didn't ever expect you to be concerned about his well-being."
"I'm not talking about Louis, I'm referring to our other sibling." Satellizer would take a shaky breath as she realized what had to be done, she would have to coax Violet into revealing the truth about Abel, the fact that she was still hesitating at admitting the truth. "Please Violet, I need you to tell me what happened to Abel!"
Violet would audibly gasp over the other end of the phone. Clearly, she had delivered quite the shock by mentioning their brother. "…I haven't heard from Abel since his last letter from Marrakesh two months ago, I debated sending an investigator to check in on him, but Father advised against it and wouldn't hear any argument for it." The older L. Bridget would go silent once again, even going as far as to physically set the phone down judging by the soft dropping noise she was now hearing.
"Dammit, Violet didn't take that too well. Maybe he was a lot closer to her despite his insistence on wanting to protect me…" The blonde-haired Pandora would frown as she readied herself to continue speaking, if the mere mention of Abel was enough to upset her usually even-tempered sibling then what would come next would no doubt shake her to the core. "Abel's not in Marrakesh anymore, he's arrived here in West Genetics. And..he's changed, I'm not sure what those people did to him, but he's not the little boy you once knew."
Silence would be the only reply she'd receive in exchange for this revelation, if Violet had heard any of this information, she was no doubt more than concerned about the young man and was likely hiring that investigator to pursue the issue.
"I guess I have no choice but to deal with him myself, if Violet starts making waves here then that crackpot of a scientist might run off with him!" She would hang up her phone in quiet resignation after two more minutes of silence, deciding to shower before heading to bed for the night. "Between this and the situation with Kazuya, I have a very bad feeling about the future."
Despite her apprehension, the mere thought of the kind-hearted Limiter would bring the flutter of butterflies to her stomach and a very uncharacteristic blush to her cheeks as she stripped down and headed into the bathroom to try and calm herself.
There's a reason the origin story usually comes first.
Abel would shudder as the night breeze hit his skin as he and Arnett slowly walked around West Genetics' surprisingly vast campus, however every step seemed to be accompanied by a dull and slowly mounting ache of pain. "Arnett-Senpai, not that I don't enjoy your company or anything but..is there any particular reason you wanted to walk with me?"
Arnett would roll her eyes at such a mundane question, swatting him in the back of the head lightly before chuckling. "You really can't just enjoy a good thing can you Little Frog?" The redhead could feel his inquisitive eyes on her and go to try and smack him again, only to smile as he quickly sidestepped her. "Seriously, I just want to know what would drive someone as normal as you to sign up to be someone's guinea pig. You'd have better luck as a Limiter."
Abel would go silent for a few more steps, debating on whether to reveal his connection to Satellizer and the L. Bridget family to Arnett. "There's..someone I want to protect, and the way I was before the experiments, that Abel never would've made it out of basic training." The rose-haired Pandora would clench and unclench his fist nervously as he slowly turned to face his Swiss-born Senpai, his eyes glistening with tears as he tried to keep a bright smile on his face. "So I chose to make myself into a lab rat all for the sake of someone who barely cared that I existed, and when I was ready to give up..that's when you and Attia-Senpai finally appeared."
The young man would look to Arnett for guidance, a comfort that had not been felt since he had been exiled to Marrakesh and had begun to let Parcé tinker with his very genetic makeup. Ticy Phenyl had tried to give him a sense of warmth and belonging, but he had abolished that connection himself out of fear for what the scientist would try and do with her if their connection deepened.
"That's bullshit." Arnett would glare at her de-facto protégé as she absorbed the knowledge of what she'd been told, almost incensed at his reasons for undergoing something that for all intents and purposes shouldn't have worked. "You risked your life for some bitch who probably had no idea who you were, and now not only are you unable to return to anything resembling a normal life, you could very well die on the battlefield if I don't drag your ass to something resembling a competent Pandora!" The red-haired woman would turn on her heel, quietly seething at both him and whatever woman drove him to such a moronic decision.
"Then why did you do it? What makes your reason for becoming a Pandora any better than mine Senpai?!" Abel could feel his body trembling with anger as the familiar rose-colored energy began to seep out of his body, the hum of power straining to be let loose against her. "Tell me, are you upholding some great family tradition just like most of the other third-years. Is this your sick way of trying to keep me under your heel!?" He would manifest his Volt Weapon wordlessly before rushing forward to attack her, his anger blinding him to the fact that Arnett was already preparing to counter him.
"You really are stupid, aren't you?" She would calmly duck underneath the blade of the young man's scythe, grabbing him by his neck and slamming him to the ground effortlessly before kneeling and looking him dead in the eyes. "I'm a commoner, just like I'm betting you are Little Frog. As for why I joined up, it was because of a promise I made to my dad." The slashing trickster would watch as the fight slowly drained from his eyes, but she still wasn't quite ready to let him free.
"I was a bit of a brat back in the day, I didn't think much of the Pandora at first either, but papa was over the moon at the thought of his little girl becoming one of Earth's great protectors against the Nova." Arnett would smirk suddenly before deciding to straddle the young man, watching as the blood rushed to his cheeks (and possibly other places) before pinning his arms above his head and continuing to speak. "My papa took a job delivering some things to San Francisco when I was fourteen, during the trip we ran into a couple of Pandora from the America branch..although judging by the way they were dressed you wouldn't have guessed it." The redhead would smirk as she felt something stirring beneath her, enjoying just how easily his cage was rattled.
Abel would try to struggle against her, wondering just what the hell she was trying to accomplish by keeping him in this position while telling him what basically equated to her life story. "This is way too open Senpai, what if someone sees us?" He would look up at her pleadingly, hoping against hope that she got the hint and stop messing with him. Only to receive a raised eyebrow of curiosity before relenting in his struggles and deciding to play along with whatever she was trying to accomplish. "So, you picked up a pair of Pandora's on the way to the Golden State, then what happened? They talk you into joining the good fight?"
Arnett would laugh uproariously at this statement, the young man below her trying to look anywhere but at her breasts as she laughed. "Oh Gods no, I called them every dirty name that I could think of until my dad and I dropped them off at a hotel." She would sigh and release one of his arms, tilting his chin until they were once again eye-to-eye. "But one day my papa took a job from some not-so scrupulous individuals, we were shot at, our truck run off the road and my father seemed set on making sure I survived even if it meant he and our truck plummeted over the guardrail and exploded."
Abel would gulp quietly, not knowing what else to say as she looked down at him with a serious expression. "Senpai..I'm so sorry, to have lost your father because of some lowly thugs." The rose-haired young man would look at her sympathetically, as if he had experienced something similar over the course of his own life. "I'm sure he's looking down at you from heaven, no doubt he's very proud of you."
"Oh, I know he is. I talk to him once a week." The redhead would smile quietly before pinning his hands back above his head and leaning forward to the point where her lips briefly brushed up against his. "What, I never said he died! Those two Pandora from before would eventually come back to save papa, not to mention how fast they dealt with the mook who shot at us." Arnett would spare him one last smile before releasing him from her grip and standing up, making sure to examine just what kind of effect she had on him before helping him up off the ground.
"I kind of understand what you're trying to get at Senpai, but..I stand by my decision for joining the professor's experiment." He would wince as her expression once again soured, no doubt she was wondering if he'd truly learned anything from her words. "But that doesn't mean it's my only reason for staying, I want to become strong..just like my Senpai!"
Arnett would smirk mischievously at this comment, almost as if she expected him to try and curry her favor. "And they call me a lapdog, seems like this little puppy has some brains in that head after all." She would gesture for him to follow her back to the third-year dorm with her, not even bothering to wait for him to catch up to her side. "By the way, you need to work on keeping a cooler head Little Frog. But it's nice to know just how much you appreciated my little performance back there, keep that up and I might start thinking you've got a crush on me."
Abel would turn away from her in order to hide the blush forming on his cheeks, but as the pair continued to walk alongside one another, the more he believed that the Slashing Trickster wasn't far off the mark.
Pleased to meet you, won't you guess my name?
After finally getting out of the shower and clearing her head of earlier doubts, Satellizer had made her way to Sister Margaret's office, if anyone would have the answer to Abel's current whereabouts in the academy then it would be her.
"You had no right to make such a deal without my knowledge!" She would scowl instinctively, not expecting to have had been beaten there, much less by that manipulative woman Ciel. "Abel Reinhardt is property of the Marrakesh Research Branch, as such all requisitions regarding him are to be put in writing and sent directly to me!" The Untouchable Queen would clench a fist in irritation, the fact that she was talking about her brother like he was some disposable hard drive would have been enough to piss her off as it was.
"How can you talk about him like he's some sort of tool, he's a human being with hopes and dreams!" The blonde-haired Pandora would raise a curious eyebrow as she tried to place who the second voice belonged to, although judging by their words it seemed that they were there to support her sibling in a way she had failed to. "Abel deserves to be given a chance to form bonds and grow as a person, you can't just treat him like some soulless machine!"
The professor would cackle in response to the second voice's words, it was as if she had heard the punchline to an excellent joke and couldn't be bothered to restrain her mirth. "Heh heh heh, you're not too far off in that regard dearie." While Satellizer couldn't tell exactly what the ambitious woman was doing, she could hear the distinct tapping of keystrokes and crept closer to the door in hopes of getting a good look at whatever was being shown. "The Stigmata residing inside of your precious Abel are very unique to him, built in such a way as to forego the need of a partner in order to form the Ereinbar Set thus allowing him to negate the effects of a Freezing area by sheer force of will alone."
The blonde-haired Pandora would do her best to read the display, a video of several Limiters focusing their Freezing abilities on him would cause her to grit her teeth at the pain etched on her brother's face. "He put himself through such terrible hardships, all for my sake." Her mind would flashback to the incident on the roof with Miyabi, he hadn't been trying to defend the Limiter Eater so much as he was trying to keep her from murdering the woman and causing them to be separated once again. "If I had just heard him out from the beginning…"
The display would begin to flash suddenly as a rose-colored aura began to leak from Abel's body, the Untouchable Queen would watch on in stunned silence as Abel stood up and shrugged off the combined effects of several Freezing fields.
"Absolutely marvelous isn't it, the power of Negation Field could be the key to finally evening the playing field between the Nova and all of humanity." The lavender-haired woman would shut off the display with a smug smirk, the room effectively having gone silent at his display of power. "Although as you've no doubt noticed it's not completely without its side effects, I still have yet to completely master a system to prevent leakage of his Stigmatic energy during use. A small defect, one that will be ironed out upon his safe return to my quarters." Parcé would make her exit with a confident stride, briefly locking eyes with a stunned Satellizer who quickly chased after her down the hallway.
"You monster! Just what the hell did you do to him!?" Satellizer would summon her Volt Weapon and point it at the scientist's neck coldly, after everything she had heard she was in no mood to be subtle about her intentions. "He was just a boy, a boy who wanted to protect me and you took advantage of him!"
"Hmph, so now you finally decide to open your eyes to the truth and accept him as your kin. How overjoyed he would've been to hear such words, granted he might not feel so happily about it given who holds his reins." The lavender-haired woman would ignore the cold bite of steel on her neck, choosing instead to bring up the logo of the Mably family and smile to herself. "Isn't it ironic: One great family expels their child after a valiant attempt to protect his precious sibling, only to be taken in by the daughter of a different noble house after he has sworn to fight against the very sister who caused him to be expelled in the first place. Quite the ungrateful cur if you ask me." The scientist would calmly walk away from her despite the threat of decapitation, knowing that she wasn't in any real danger of incurring the Queen's wrath.
"Stop! I said stop dammit!" Satellizer's vision would blur as tears threatened to spill, she knew that attacking a foreign representative would no doubt get her expelled from Genetics, and that's if she was fortunate enough to avoid a prison sentence. "Just tell me where he is, I need to apologize for what happened!" The blonde-haired woman would fall to her knees as the lavender-haired scientist continued to walk away, any hope she had for a peaceful reconciliation seemed to go with her.
This was a nightmare to get going, mostly because who was going to be greeting Abel once he got out of the shower: Do I go with Ticy, the first of the third years who inserted herself into Abel's life and is very much worried about his well-being?
Should i have gone with Elizabeth in order for her to reinforce the mindset of doing things the proper way like all good Pandora should?
Should i have gone with Creo or Attia just for the curve ball factor?
Obviously i chose none of these, i'm really digging writing Arnett and being able to tell her backstory while having further saucy interactions with the usually modest Abel really bring a smile to my face. Hopefully you all feel the same, because apparently i still have a poll running on my profile page pertaining to this story.
Thank you so much for putting up with my lack of a proper uploading schedule, 2018 was a nightmare for me and 2019 isn't exactly off to a roaring start either.
But i promise you that I haven't given up on this story, not one bit. I'll continue to write and plan, and slowly climb that mountain until we finally reach the end.
Until next time, may 2019 bring you great fortune and happy days.