Bonds
Disclaimer: If I was the all supreme Savin, or had some hand in the creation of Oban, I would have made a side episode focused on the Scubb, Pluu-towed, who's live was ruined after a certain Earth gunner refused to buy a blue dress.
Author's Note: First off, I want to clear up some things about Nasyue and Jordan. Don't get your hopes up too high peoples, it took Jordan three years to realized he liked Eva, good luck getting him to notice the little cat-girl.
I have over a hundred reviews! That's over a hundred people! You don't know just how happy I am! I could squee with delight! SQUEEE! There's a lot of people who disserve a big special Thank you for helping me get this far.
Fushica: You always gave me such funny reviews! For making me smile, and being my chum on DA, I shall give you a box of Kross's wonderful doughnuts. Do with them as you please. :)
Star Fata: Always pushing me to do better! I love your reviews because they give me such insight, and give me the critiquing I need. One gallon of multi-flavored ice-cream for you!
Spellcaster Hikaru: Gave me some great ideas and helped my iron out some of my own mixed ideas. She was the one who suggesting bringing Spirit back. I give thee two pounds of fudge!
Virtual Dragon of Oban: Beta read a few of my chapters, and continues to help me bounce with ideas. I love your emails! –Hugs- I present you with one magical jump drive!
And to everyone else who is constantly reviewing: simmie, Lupe191919, greenyasha, PPP, thechinkenlittle, shinpachi-is-the-best, IchikoKitsuneKoumori and StrugglingAritst! I love you all! Plus my Chapter Thirteen Reviewers, Sekai Nerah, SekhmetDaCat, Natasha, Hopeless Romantic 15, Ithildin Lanthir, and Natalie! Everyone who reviewed gets a Jordan plush and an Aikka plush!
Chapter Fourteen: Needing to Focus
When Aikka slowly awoke, he could tell that the Nourasian sun was not long to embrace the horizon. The tinted glass perverted the roseate sky into a vibrant range of colors. At the time when the sun and the mountains beyond finally did meet, the palace servants would be quick to follow. When Aikka had first grown old enough to be permitted his own chambers, the way the servants would come in to wake him every morning aggravated him to some level of extremity. After a time, he had trained himself to wake up fifteen to thirty Earth minutes before the sun rose, thus giving him plenty of time to get completely dressed and ready his hair. This habit still held.
Aikka stared at the back of Eva's mess of red and black hair that hung just centimeters from his face. The rumors that would circulate should a palace servant walk in on them cuddled up like this were enough to make the Nourasian Prince shiver. The servants liked to gossip, and before he knew what was going on, the story would be blown completely out of proportion. His parents would be most unpleased with him if they were to hear that he bedded his fellow pilot the first night here. No doubt she would be sent home in shame, which was not something the Nourasian wanted. It was quite the contrary, he wanted his parents to like Eva. Maybe even like her enough for Aikka to be able to explain his feelings for the girl without their disappointment. Yes, this situation had to be remedied immediately.
Still, Aikka had to ask himself what he had been thinking. How could he allow himself to fall into a situation like this when the livelihood of their relationship (mostly the King and Queen's like or dislike of Eva) was so fragile? Sure, Eva had felt so nice in his arms, and her smell had been intoxicating, but to allow himself to actually fall for it? Well, the Prince was rather disappointed in himself.
Eva moaned quietly in her sleep, bringing Aikka back to the problem at hand. "Eva, Eva." He whispered softly in her ear.
Eva replied in an indecipherable moan, stirring just enough to shift her position on Aikka's lap. He smiled at her complete ridiculousness before moving his lips so the hovered directly by her ear, and whispering more urgently.
"Eva, you must awaken." Once again, an indecipherable noise came from deep inside her throat, much like that of a cat growling. In her struggle to ignore Aikka, she maneuvered her body completely around, and buried her face in his white shirt. Aikka sighed as she mumbled something akin to 'Go away'. He attempted to dislodge her, but like a leech, she clung desperately, refusing to let go.
Staring at the girl, Aikka realized there was only one thing left to do. Once again, his lips went to her ears, but instead of whispering this time, he planted a wet, sloppy kiss on her ear with a loud squelching sound. Eva instantly recoiled, as if she had been burned by acid. She wiped the slime from her ear with such an expression of disgust Aikka feared he should burst out laughing. The glare she gave him promised she would soon have her revenge.
"All right. I'm up. Now whadda ya want?" Aikka seemed rather pleased to have finally accomplished his original goal.
"I believe it would be best if we returned to out own rooms now. I fear what rumors might initiate should it be discovered we spent the night together." The evil gleam fled Eva's eyes, to be replaced by realization and urgency.
"I should probably get back to my room then." He nodded. She stood up, stretching as her bare feet touched the floor. Though sitting in Aikka's lap had been more than comfortable, her body was not pleased with the position her back had been in, and protested with a sore throb. She reached for Aikka's door when a strong hand around her waist caused her to turn around.
"Thank you for last night, Eva. I-I had never slept so well." She smiled at the blush that had started to form on the Nourasian's deep colored skin.
"It as nice. I felt protected, safe." She admitted. Words were no longer needed, and their lips met in a passionate kiss. They kissed each other a few times, before the sound of the door opening startled them.
(It would be so fun to stop here, but contrary to popular belief, I'm not that evil.)
Occasionally, when the previous day had been miserable for Aikka, or when the Prince was overly tired, Canaan would take the task of waking him up in the morning. It wasn't fair that one of the seemingly random undeserving servants had to deal wit the Prince's wrath when he was in a bad mood. Plus, if the first person Aikka saw in the morning was a familiar face, it always put him in a good mood. As for today, Canaan reasoned the Prince would be weary from his travels and therefore sleep in longer than usual. The mentor felt that he should be the one to wake is sleeping student, as a good deed. He also had a few things needed to discuss with the Prince, however, the scene he walked in on gave him all the answers he needed.
"My Prince, the time has come to awak-" He froze mid sentence as the door gave him a complete view of the couple. It did not take the two three seconds to separate, blushing profoundly at being discovered.
"My Prince, surely you did not-" Canaan began, horrified. The Prince was still in his own sleeping clothes, and the clothes of the Earthen girl, Eva, were surely not her day attire. The sheets of Aikka's bed were messy and rumpled , and how the two had been clinging to each other with lips touching… This lead Canaan to one assumption; an assumption he prayed to the Father God wasn't true.
"Canaan, we did no such thing." Though he seemed a bit startled, Aikka quickly stood up to defend the accused.
"Though I am not one to doubt your words, the two of you must understand how this looks." Canaan began slowly.
"Please listen to him. We were just talking last night, and I sort of fell asleep." Eva admitted. This was all her fault. If she had just been wise and stayed in her own bedroom…
"I see," Though Canaan was not entirely convinced, he knew the Prince well enough to see the truth in his words. "Still, I would advise that both of you are more careful in the times you choose to spend together. Sometimes their ramifications might be," He struggled for the correct word. "Unpleasant." With his lecture finished, Canaan shooed Eva off to her own room before the other servants were up and about, and urged the Prince to fully dress himself.
When Eva reached her room she quickly began changing. As she ran a brush through her short red and black hair she realized its grease content. There were no showers or baths in the Nourasian guest rooms, so regrettably, she hadn't bathed since the morning they had left. She ran her fingers through the clumpy hair and winced at the shiny grease that had gathered in them. There was no question about it. She needed a shower, and needed one soon. She was pondering whether or not to use the magical Nourasian mirror to ask for where she could bathe when a knock sounded on her door.
"Hello?" Her nose peeked through the gap, as if expecting there was some sort of danger on the other side.
"Eva," It was the girl's father. "We need to talk."
The way their voices rose, the conversation should have actually been categorized as a shout, but who was keeping track?
There was no way Eva was going to drop out now. She had worked too hard to get here. Plus, it was just getting good; this race was finally a chance to be challenged like she was on Oban and Alwas.
Don didn't care if she wanted a challenge. There was not one thing that was worth risking her life, nothing!
Well, as Eva retorted, this race wasn't risking her life at all! It was a clean race like all the others, with no weapons. If he was suggesting that Spirit somehow made this race dangerous, than Don was horribly wrong.
"Eva, I know you were too little to remember, but Spirit has always been a very aggressive racer. You remember your mother's last race?" The father paused, as though no more explanation was needed.
"I remember it as well as you!" Anger poured from Eva's mouth. That scene: No matter how many years past, it would not fade away. "I just remember it differently…" The image of her mother waving Spirit on came to mind. "Back on Alwas, after I crashed the Arrow II in the race against Spirit I thought I had destroyed him. I felt as if I had avenged Mom, and that was all that was important." Don froze. He had no idea his daughter had felt such hate and anger against the other racer. For the last three years he'd tried his hardest to provide her the best, but it seemed he didn't know his Eva as well as he thought he did. Or, at least, he didn't know Molly. Eva took a deep breath before continuing. "Then Spirit hovered over me, and I fell unconscious realizing I had failed. It was when I was out that Spirit showed me a vision." Eva explained what she had seen; her mother's beautiful star-racer zooming along as a thread of sticky smoke leaked from her left reactor. The view came in closer, so Maya was visible through the pink cockpit glass. She shook her head sadly, and waved Spirit on. Just as the view passed, her star-racer burst into flames, hurtling toward the finish line before exploding into a thousand fiery pieces, like a thousand dreams and hopes, gone. "Spirit just ended up as the unlucky one to race Mom. It wasn't his fault." Eva ended solemnly.
Thoughts jumbled, Don stared at his shiny black shoes. All this time, he had never known. He had harbored such hate and resentment toward the Fihls, yet it had been misplaced all this time. "Eva…" He began. The young woman frowned at him.
"Save it, Dad. I'm racing no matter what!" He smiled at her attitude: so much like her mother's.
"Alright young lady! We have a race to prepare for!" He quickly adopted his serious race managing tone.
"But Da-ad!" Eva whined. "I still need breakfast!"
Jordan sat down in the stands rather uneasily. His heart was still doing flip-flops over Eva. No matter how he scolded himself there was no changing his feelings. It didn't help any that Eva was about to go up against Spirit again. Last time she had raced the Fihl it hadn't been pretty. Stan and Koji also seemed rather concerned. Jordan could tell that their worries extended beyond their current baby, the Reflection, and onto the girl pilot. Last time she had nearly killed herself and Jordan; who knew what would happen this time?
The Nourasian stands were carved from white stone into elegant organic shapes and decorated in graceful designs. As Jordan figured it, if the Nourasians built something that was going to be standing for a long while, then heck it was going to look good! The stands were massive, with two large ones positioned on either side of the track. The track too, looked like much careful planning had gone into its production. It looked like a great twisting snake, constantly overlapping and curling, and even going underground in some places. At the moment it was divided into two sections: one would be used for this race, and the other for the semi-final after it. As Jordan understood, for the actual final, the entire track would be used. Besides twists and turns, giants of trees and huge white rocks bordered and became part of the rack. At the very center of the attraction a colossal white pillar jutted from a natural lake surrounded by multicolored flowers and small trees that looked oriental. The pillar was topped by a strange orb that served as a sort of screen, showing a zoom in of all the contestants.
It had always felt weird for Jordan to be staring down at his ex-partner in her star-racer, waiting for the signal to go. It was as if he was suppose to be down there, right next to her in the turret, defending her from everything that came their way. Sadly enough, he actually missed the constant danger, the rush of adrenaline when he thought they were going to die. He would give almost anything to be down there, right now, back in the Arrow III, ready to face off against some alien, just like in the good old days.
In the good old days, she was his partner, and he was her gunner, with none of these ridiculous feelings of love. Aikka was just a friend and a rival, not a love interest, and Don Wei, well, he was just a grouchy manager. Yes, Jordan sighed. Those were the days.
The sudden flashing of the orb directed Jordan back to the track. Soon now, the race would begin. His blood seemed to bubble with anticipation. Even before Oban, Jordan had been fascinated with star-racing. Sure, it took up a lot of resources and man-power that could otherwise be put to better use, but it was all worth it. He had such awe reserved for the pilots and their mind boggling maneuvers. It had always been a side-interest of his, and when Don had first accepted him as the gunner for the Earth Team, he couldn't hold back his excitement: the chance to be part of an actual racing team and protect Earth at the same time! Still, even the fan he was hadn't prepared him for all the complex terms (in some cases just crazy abbreviations and acronyms) or the pure thrill. Perhaps he should re-phrase that: pure terror. Sure, he was protected by all the star-racer's safety installments, and the skill of the pilot themselves(which at sometimes was what scared him most), but nothing made up for the fact that when they weren't being rammed, shot at, or sliced in two, he feared that they might hit a wall, or Eva would die from a heart attack or something, leaving him in a star-racer completely out of control. All that aside, it had been simply amazing. The only other time Jordan had been so changed by an event was the Crog War, but that was another tale in itself.
From her position in the Reflection, Eva could practically hear Don worrying back in the temporary control room Stan and Koji (with Jordan's help, of course) had set-up in the hanger. Don had asked the two mechanics to check over her star-racer maybe ten or twenty times now. He was constantly looking to the computer panel that monitored her condition. Just one slightly unusual beat enough to make his own heart jump.
"How are the tanks and the engines?" He asked Stan.
"Fine Sir." Stan did not even look up from his screen as he calculated, his irritated tone drifting about him.
"Did you check?" Don asked, anger rising.
"Sir, he checked just thirty seconds ago-" Koji began to protest.
"I don't care! He'll check it again!" Don spat.
"Cool it Dad!" Eva's face appeared on the screen. "I'm fine! Stop picking on Stan and Koji!" Her father complied a bit grudgingly, and Koji gave her his thanks. Though Stan was thankful too, and said as much, he couldn't help but feel that his manliness was being compromised by Eva sticking up for him.
Eva smiled at Aikka through the cockpit's glass. She wished her computer would allow her to open a link directly between the two of them, just like how she had talked to Jordan before their races. If she thanked Aikka for his comforting words the previous night while Don was listening, not doubt he'd get suspicious, which was not something she wanted when he was in one of his moods. And they said her temper had been inherited from her mother!
It didn't matter if Eva couldn't thank Aikka now, his words had still had the desired affect: her confidence was back, and she was ready for the race. And so, apparently, were her competitors. Spirit had already changed into his bird-like form, and was fluttering up and down, anxious to shoot forward. Even his partner seemed to quiver with excitement. Though the name escaped her, Eva had seen this sort of creature before. It reminded her vaguely of blue Jello with three grapefruits floating about inside. The Jello-monster was currently formed in a cubulair shape about two meters (figure a meter is about three and a half feet roughly) along the edges.
As a bright blue flash shown from the towering orb, Eva flew forward like a bird on the wind. A long lost adrenaline rush returned to her from the Lost and Found box of her experiences. This wasn't a pathetic Earth race on a perfectly round track with a clean course. No, this was something different. Weaving through the surroundings, evading enemies; this was a real race, the type Eva lived for.
With quick thoughts and reactions to match, the Reflection claimed first place. It wasn't long lived, however, as Spirit, still the wily flyer Eva remembered, slipped around her blind spot and snatched first place. Eva pushed on her gas pedal with such force that she nearly crashed into Spirit (who flew to the left just in the nick of time) and flew head on into a mass of roots that had come up into her path of travel before she realized it. Only her quick reflexes saved her as she squeezed through a small gap between the roots. Stan openly winced as the hard barked roots of generous size scraped off paint in long stretches.
But Eva wasn't worried about the Reflection now. She yanked up, clearing the final roots and releasing the brake to favor the gas. She was easily able to zoom up underneath Spirit, who hadn't seen her coming. She hovered right beneath him for a moment before jerking violently upward. The Fihl was forced to stop suddenly to avoid her, so as to not become a delicious Fihl pancake. (Yum.) There was no stopping Eva now as she cruised forward at max speed.
Aikka was having his own problems. It wasn't the track, he too had experience from Oban, plus he had raced on this very track many times before. He was simply astounded at the gelatinous creature. It snaked forward with such amazing speed! It could easily keep up with G'dar, and then some. As the strange blob crept dangerously close to his tail, a tendril of jelly reached out, as of the creature had suddenly gained an extra appendage. (Don't you wish you could do that?) Terrified by the touch of the oddity, G'dar screeched, and pumped his wings even faster. He had personal space, thank you very much! But even with this the Jello of Doom easily came up on their tail again, looking as if it would pass.
"Um Sakai, G'dar wakar!" The beetle's shell suddenly shown white with glowing blue markings that curled about like the beautiful embroidery on some of Aikka's dress shirts. At his new speed, G'dar flew up and over the cube, leaving it behind in the dust. G'dar passed Spirit, and slowed ever so slightly so he was in-line with the Reflection.
"Be cautious Eva. Something about that gelatinous creature does not bode well." Aikka told her over the head set.
"Got it!" Eva took his information and stored it away in her memory banks.
"Behind you!" Don shouted, his voice echoing in the cockpit. Spirit and the cube were gaining on them.
Eva pulled her star-racer into a jerky turn around a 90 degree curve in the track. Their opponents were gaining fast, and Eva couldn't think of a way to shake them. A mass of roots and foliage blocked the way ahead. Pulling into a barrel roll, Eva dove into the blockage, hoping to slow down those behind her. Though Spirit was dramatically hindered, the cube seemed to be going faster than before. It squished flat to fit underneath a low branch; it grew in size to climb over a tall root. It was shocking just how efficient the thing was. It passed them, and appeared to disappear into the foliage.
"Where'd it go?" Eva nearly shouted, glancing about with nervous intensity as she wove.
"I can't pick it up on the scanners!" Koji told her with an air of panic.
"Don't worry about that thing! Focus on what's in front of you!" Don ordered, claming everyone.
For once in her life, Eva obeyed, dodging the remaining roots and limbs before reaching clear track again. Further ahead the track dipped into an underground tunnel. Eva had two choices: try to weave through the thick growth of plants, or take a dark, open route. Eva chose the foliage: she was better at dodging what she could see. Aikka, however, who was right on her tail, had this track memorized. He knew every root and rock in that tunnel, and could easily navigate it. He urged G'dar below. Just as Aikka entered the tunnel, Spirit shot from the first environmental blockage like he was being chased. Leaves and braches had been caught in his long tendril-like feathers. He didn't even look downward at the tunnel as he plowed after Eva.
Up, left, down, right, left again, Aikka easily wove through. He had no light, and needed none, until G'dar flew headfirst into a strange bouncy object that wasn't supposed to be there. Aikka was thrown off his mount as the beetle reared backwards, screeching. Quickly recovering, Aikka got to his feet and uttered the spell for light. He gasped. The Jello of Doom had stretched itself out to make a complete barrier, sealing off the tunnel. It made a gurgling sound, as if to say, 'Good luck getting past me, Bub.' Aikka swore in Nourasian(a rather unprincely habit Canaan was not pleased with). If he went backwards out of the tunnel, the thing would just shoot out the mouth, and overcome Eva, and if Aikka waited, the race was over for him. Either way was bad for the prince.
"Eva." Aikka's voice sounded in her star-racer. He had chosen the lesser of two evils. "The cube has me trapped; this race is now up to you."
"I guess you should have listened to your own advice, Prince." Eva told him with a grin. She wasn't worried for his safety, this was a clean race after all.
"Flaunt all you like; a wall of gelatin is not something I can do anything about." He told her with a huff. She laughed, and was about to reply when Don shouted t her to focus on the race. She navigated through branches and back onto clear track. There! The finish line was within sight, positioned right by the lake. Eva engaged the hyper-drive and shot forward, crossing the finish line and taking a spot in the finals.