White is Classier than Black
Shu fought off the soldiers with ease. He kept yelling out his friends' names, summoning their voids. However, something strange happened after he used Souta's. Everyone could only stare in shock until their worst fears were confirmed. Shu had taken his cancer. Souta could only stare in fear, his whole body trembling when he finally realized what had happened. The friend that he had betrayed took his cancer. He betrayed Shu. Souta felt sick on the inside. He also felt guilty.
When Shu defeated all the enemies, he stood still and looked down at his new hand. He tightly clenched it into a fist and muttered something no one else could hear.
"I'm coming for you, Inori..."
He was unsure of what exactly had happened before she was captured. She was acting... strange. Her actions were erratic, unpredictable. It was as if she was a completely different person at certain times. Honestly, Shu couldn't remember much. He remembered her comforting words, her soft, sweet voice, her angelic singing. Then he blacked out. When Shu regained consciousness, Inori was gone. All that was left was one of her red hair clips placed in his hand.
Inori woke up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. She looked over at the box and realized that barely any of it was eaten. Slowly, she crawled over to it and took a bite of one of the rice balls. Inori sadly frowned and stared at her food, worried about Shu. I can't keep this up any longer... At this rate... At this rate, I'll end up killing Shu!
"Yes... That's right."
Inori heard an eerie voice in her head and walked over to one of the large windows to see a twisted, evil reflection of herself.
"It's because you're a monster... Your heart is a fake." Suddenly, the reflected distorted into another image, another girl. She looked almost identical to Inori. However, her hair was longer, and she wore different clothes. She smiled, "A monster has no heart."
The girl's eyes widened, and her smile grew even more twisted. She gazed into Inori's eyes with a crazed look. "Come back to me... Before you kill Shu. Okay?"
Inori slowly backed up in disbelief, her breathing becoming heavier. For once in her life, she was scared. She pressed her back up against a wall and stopped. "I'm... a monster?"
She fell down to her knees, slightly choking on her own words. "My heart... is a fake?"
Inori felt a sharp pain surge throughout her chest, making it suddenly feel tight. The sudden urge to cry, the feeling of hopelessness completely took her over body. She remembered one time when she was staying at Shu's house.
He was nervous and cautiously asked, "Hey, Inori?"
"Hm? What is it, Shu?"
W-Well... I was wondering... Why is your void?– Ah. On second thought, never mind."
"Why?" Inori remembered herself asking.
Shu finally responded, "It's just that it might have something to do with your soul..." He turned around and gently smiled, "But you are you."
Inori pushed herself up, her hallucinations now gone. She felt a sudden pang of hope take over the uneasy feeling she had before. I am me. She confidentially walked into another area of the building with new found determination, a new purpose. The ceiling was completely blown off. Inori looked up at the starry night sky, musing about what had just happened. She was more hopeful now, more okay with herself. However, she still felt a tinge of fear in her heart. She tried to forget about it the only way she could. Singing.
"Oh blooming wildflower... I beg you, please tell me... Why do people fight and hurt each other? Valiantly blooming wildflower..."
Inori could hear Shu's footsteps, aware of his presence now. When she finished the first stanza of the song, she turned around to find Shu in tears. However, she ignored it and continued walking down towards him.
"Listen, Shu..." She got closer and closer to him, and smiled. "Don't hate yourself anymore."
"You don't have to blame yourself." She soothingly said, pulling him into a light embrace. She hugged him tighter and leaned her head onto his shoulder. "Being with you, I've learned to feel many things. It's all thanks you..." She said, pulling her head back up.
"Even if everyone says you're a liar... Even if you hate yourself... I'll be by your side." Inori confessed. She could feel Shu's tears drip onto her shoulder, his head raised slightly higher now. He tightly shut his eyes, trying to stop the tears. Inori comforted him, gently caressing his cheek with her right hand. She pulled him in closer and let him cry onto her shoulder.
Inori could sense that an endlave had discovered them and was nearby. She finally let go of Shu.
Shu croaked, "Inori..."
"Let's go." Inori said, slightly smiling.
"Huh?"
"They're all looking for me, so I'll be the decoy. Use that time..."
"You can't do that!" Shu yelled, gripping onto her arms. "If it's worth sacrificing yourself, then I should!– "
Inori didn't say anything. Instead, she lightly tapped Shu's forehead with her finger, using Mana's powers to put him to sleep.
"I-Inori..." He forced out, slowly falling unconscious.
"Sweet dreams, Shu..." She whispered, gently laying him down. She bent down and caressed his cheek, slowly moving her face closer to his. She softly kissed him on the lips. Inori removed her red hair clip and gently placed it in his hand, and she ran away, determined to use her power to save Shu.
She exited the building and exposed herself to the enemy. She was okay now. Inori accepted the truth. However, instead of giving up and wallowing herself in sadness in fear, she decided to use her new found powers to help Shu. All this time... Shu has been protecting me... Now it's my turn to protect him!
Inori loved him too much to let him suffer anymore. For his sake, she would fight. If the only way she could save him was to sacrifice herself, then so be it. She was prepared for the risk and accepted her fate.
Inori transformed, using Mana's power, into a completely different form. It tore her clothes, her hair turned wavy and wild, and sharp crystal blades extended out of her arms and her back. Tiny crystal shards appeared on her cheeks and a couple slightly outlined her eyes. She swiftly charge towards an endlave and sliced it down with ease.
"Haaah!" She ran towards another one, leaping into the air, slicing endlave behind it began to fire at Inori. However, she quickly dodged all the bullets and leaped into the air, effectively slicing the large robot's head off. She landed perfectly. However, the explosion from the endlave behind her, blasted her forward, causing Inori to scream in pain. With all her willpower, she managed to push herself back up. I'm fine with being a monster... Inori panted and took in quick shallow breaths. I'm fine with having fake emotions... She forced herself up. But I'll protect Shu! Because I am me! Inori charged forward, continuing to fight, not giving up for Shu's sake. Even if I'm just a fake... To me... I'm the only real one!
She recklessly charged ahead and eventually, destroyed every single endlave. There was only one enemy left: Gai. She sprinted towards him, screaming, determined to win. However, Gai summoned a void, a giant crystallized bow, and aimed straight for her chest. Inori flew back as the arrow impacted her chest. The arrow suddenly transformed into crystal wire and completely wrapped around Inori's body, leaving her immobile.
"Tch... You monster..." Inori heard Gai say before blacking out.
At least... Now... Shu is safe...
After the quick battle, everyone regrouped on the highest floor. Now that things weren't as chaotic, they could wind down a bit.
Haruka glared at Segai and spat at him, "Why didn't you warn us we were being followed beforehand?"
Surprisingly, Segai simply admitted the truth, "I was actually secretly hoping that Shu would show up, and everything went exactly as I planned it to." He turned towards Haruka and shrugged, "But, honestly. It's a win-win situation, you see? You shouldn't be complaining."
"I-I guess..." She frowned, nervously fixing her sleeve. Haruka turned around hustled away, her heels clicking all the way across the room. However, she unexpectedly bumped into Rowan and staggered back, thrown off guard. "A-Ah! Sorry, Rowan!"
"Ah– No! It's fine. Really! Um..." He nervously adjusted his glasses. "So how are you doing, Haruka?"
She pursed her lips and knitted her brows together, "I honestly don't know how you can stand working under that guy! He's so... irritating!"
"Segai? Irritating? Well... He's more intimidating than irritating, I would say."
The chestnut haired woman chuckled, "I guess you've got a point there." She then sighed, her lips turning into a slight frown. "But still... I don't understand what he wants from Shu..."
Rowan was slightly taken aback by her sudden statement. He stuttered, "W-Well... I guess it's best you keep your nose out of his business... He's... um... F-Forget I said anything! He just has... certain things he finds interesting. Let's just leave it at that."
"Hm?" Haruka curiously tilted her head, wanting to find out more. However, she quickly dropped the subject and assumed that she was better off not knowing. After all, her son was safe now. Deep down inside, she still felt guilty about what she had done to "protect" him. Yes. Maybe having his arm cut off was a bit... extreme, and she would probably never forgive herself for it. However, seeing her precious son alive and well made her overjoyed. Yes. She was worried. Any normal mother would be. However, she had this sudden tinge of hope that everything would turn out to be okay.
I hope I'm doing the right thing...
Tsugumi moved slightly closer to Daryl and smirked, "So, Daryl?" She playfully sang.
"Hm?"
"You were being awfully protective back there..."
Daryl was quick to retaliate, as usual. "W-What do you mean? That's absurd! Why would I!– "
Tsugumi giggled, deciding to push her teasing even further. "Do you really love me that much?"
His face quickly grew flushed, a light tint of red suddenly covering his whole entire face.
Jackpot! Tsugumi snickered and then quickly planted a kiss on his lips.
"Mmrrph!"
She stepped away from him and carefully examined his response. He was mouthing something incomprehensible, obviously at a loss of words. My teasing was successful once again! Gosh he's cute when he's embarrassed.
Tsugumi flashed him a smile. "Speechless? How cute." Then she quickly grabbed his hand and grinned. "Come on, Daryl! We gotta prepare for the final battle!"
"H-How?" He asked, still taken aback by the kiss. Daryl frowned. "This better not be a prank or anything like that."
"Well..." She sang, pulling him downstairs. "You need to choose an endlave, don't you? Think of it like Christmas, but better!"
Daryl was reluctant at first, but eventually gave in. She led Daryl down into the basement, which was, to his surprise, gigantic. When he walked in, he was greeted by multiple endlaves, one of them being... his precious Steiner. His face instantly brightened and grinned.
"My precious baby, Steiner!" He yelled, running towards the massive robot like a little kid. Daryl hugged its large mechanical leg, his arm only wrapping halfway around it. However, unlike Daryl, Tsugumi wasn't as happy. She awkwardly stood behind him and pouted. I wish he would hug me like that... and call me precious...
Tsugumi shook her head and tried to forget about her jealousy. No, Tsugumi! You shouldn't be jealous of a freaking robot! "Aya-nee wrecked it up a bit, so we fixed it up and tweaked it a little. We messed around a bit, and now it moves slightly faster, more smoother. Steiner was already pretty fast, so we thought... Why not make it faster?"
She paused and waited for Daryl to say something, sighing. "Well? What do you think?"
"I love it." He finally said.
Tsugumi frowned. I am so getting rid of this thing when all of this is over!
Daryl playfully ran to Tsugumi and pulled her into a tight hug. "YOU'RE THE BEST!"
He then let her go and firmly placed his hands on her shoulders and crashed his lips onto hers. Tsugumi was too shocked to even kiss back. Although she, secretly, enjoyed it. He stepped back and smirked. "By the way... That was payback for earlier today."
Daryl turned around and stated making his way back to his endlave, causing Tsugumi to pout. "Hey! W-Wait!"
"I'm going to stay here a bit longer. I want to examine it a bit if that's okay with you." Daryl's playfulness quickly vanished, and his grin was now replaced by his usual frown. Tsugumi sighed and walked out of the room. "Fine! Do what you want. No one will really mind. Just don't break it or anything."
"Later." Daryl waved, flashing a smile at the cat-eared girl. She smiled back before disappearing up the stairs. She seems kinda upset. Hmm. I can fix that later. First, I have to make sure that Steiner is in tip-top shape... I don't want anything to go unexpectedly wrong while I'm piloting it. Daryl was carefully inspecting the large robot when he felt someone punch him in the gut, almost causing him to fall forward. He jerked his head to the left to see Ayase glaring straight at him.
"That was for kissing her."
"Y-You saw that?"
Ayase nodded, her red eyes piercing through him. She sat up taller and huffed, "Oh, and... Don't feel all high and mighty just because you got your little play-thing back." She childishly remarked, "My endlave is newer and cooler-looking."
She pressed a nearby button, and an endlave rolled it. It was obsidian black with reddish-pink lines. It was somewhat bulkier than Daryl's Steiner but was just as strong.
Daryl made a snide remark, mischievously grinning. "Pfft. White is way classier than black. Plus! My precious Steiner is shinier."
"Black is... is more dangerous looking!"
"Dark colored endlaves are so generic though!"
"Did you just call my endlave... Generic?"
Little did they know that Tsugumi was secretly trying to hold back her laughter on the stairwell. She snickered. They're like little kids when they argue. At least they're getting along better now. Kind of. Tsugumi sat down and leaned against the wall, eager to hear them argue over the color of their endlaves even longer. However, she found herself thinking about Daryl instead. Again. I never knew he had such a playful side before though... Maybe I should force him to take me to an amusement park when all of this is over. Yeah... That would be nice. Tsugumi smiled and continued to listen to her friends bicker for a while longer.
Yahiro, Kanon, and Souta were cooped up in a small room, talking amongst themselves.
Souta sighed and stared down at his hands, still upset over what Shu had done. "I don't get it. I just don't get it."
Kanon gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay, Souta. Don't worry about it too much. I know it's been rough... with Shu and all, but... I have a feeling that everything will turn out all right, okay? And besides! I'm sure there's a cure for the cancer out there somewhere! Someone just has to find it."
He shook his head. "Thanks, Kanon, but... Yeah, I'm upset with Shu taking my cancer and all, but... I just don't get why he bothered to help us! We betrayed him! So why?"
Yahiro turned his head away, shamefully looking down. "I-I... I don't know..."
Kanon lightly touched Yahiro's arm. "Well think of it this way, guys. At least this means that we're all still friends, right?"
She sighed. "Look. I'm still upset... over..." Kanon's voice cracked, trying to force her old friend's name out. "Hare... But... In times like this... We have to trust and believe in Shu, right? We can't just sit and mope around. We have to support him because we're... We're still his friends. He decided to trust us even after all that we've done, so the least we can do is trust in him."
The boys sat there in silence, contemplating what she had just said. She ruffled her hair and sighed, trying to pull herself together. "Hare... believed in him, so we should too..." Kanon croaked, trying to hold back her tears. She looked down at the ground and twiddled her thumbs. "Well... That's all I have to say..."
"I think I should to talk to him. Apologize." Souta suddenly spoke. His lips curled into a faint smile. "You're right, Kanon. I can't sit here and mope around forever. I think... I have to make things right between us... before it's too late."
Kanon smiled and nodded, giving him her approval. However, she turned her head to look at Yahiro and frowned. "What's wrong, Yahiro? Are you still upset over, Shu?"
He shook his head. "No... I'm not upset over Shu anymore. I can't change what I've done, and it's too late to regret it now." He sternly replied. "But I'm just... suspicious. That's all."
"Suspicious?" Souta curiously asked, tilting his head to get a better look at Yahiro.
"Yeah. About those three GHQ guys. Especially that Daryl guy."
"Hmm..." Souta rubbed his chin, trying to remember everything he could about them. "Well... To be honest, Daryl seems like a pretty decent guy." His voice trailed off. "When he's around Tsugumi..."
Yahiro glared down at the ground. "Still. I don't trust him. I'm okay with that Rowan guy though. He seems normal. A bit too normal, but he seems harmless. That clown guy on the other hand. Everything about him seems suspicious."
Kanon pursed her lips. "He seems more bored than anything else, really. He spends most of his time on that old cellphone of his. That jester charm is really cute though!" She exclaimed. "I actually kinda want one... Oh... And while we're on the topic of Daryl... He's actually kinda cute!" She grinned.
"When he's with Tsugumi..." She added, sulking. Her face then instantly brightened. "Hey! You don't think that they're– "
"Do you think so, Kanon?" Souta asked. "They're always together and teasing each other!"
Yahiro sat there in silence, scowling the whole time. They're really not taking this seriously enough! We're approaching the possible end of the world, and they're gossiping about someone's relationship? He looked at his watch and sighed.
"We have a few minutes until Shu's briefing, so we should get going."
The trio got up and silently left the room, Yahiro still somewhat uneasy with their new comrades. I'll just have to confront that guy later on. What Shu has to say is more important for now...
Souta snapped Yahiro back into reality when he inquired, "Hey. Speaking of Shu... Where's Inori?"
The stern brunette sighed. "I have a feeling that we're about to find out..."
They really are too upbeat, considering that there's an impending apocalypse tomorrow.
Aah! I'm so, so sorry for the long wait, but it's finally here! THE FINAL BATTLE IS NEAR. DUN DUN DUNNN! Flashback with Inori. Ah. Fight scenes. My worst enemy. There's just something about them. They just never... click for me. Should write more of them in my free time. I got a short writer's block while writing this, so I made an AMV to temporarily get my mind off of it. That made me curious. When you have a writer's block, how do you deal with it? Just wondering.
Anyways. I hope Yahiro, Souta, and Kanon were close to being in character. Especially Yahiro. Gosh. And Kanon to some extent. She was never really that memorable, to be honest. Other than that scene where she was crying over Hare. That broke my heart.
Next Chapter: Shu explains the situation and announces Inori's capture. Dargumi fluff. Yahiro confronting Daryl because he's a suspicious meanie. And preparations.
By the way... I'm just going to leave this here... DARYL/STEINER. *shot*
oh. And for those who remember: In the A/N, it said that I won't be writing anything for a while. I lied. I plan on writing an AU Zelink story after I finish this one, so... for those who are in the LoZ fandom, just wanted to give you a heads up.