Disclaimer: I do not own the anime, characters, maybe settings and a lot of other stuff that may be mentioned.
Ayumi Kudou- S. Korea: And Aniki's breast originated in me da ze! Me: ... Don't claim me at all Yong Soo or my readers' either. If you do, I will no longer allow you to appear in the Omakes. S. Korea: Fine *pouts*
Viet woke up the the rising sun as small rays of light seeped through the window. Viet gave a loud yawn and slowly lifted herself upright. She glanced at the window then looked at the wooden stand that she had built for Haru right after she returned from obtaining the orb. The Vietnamese woman smiled. Haru was asleep as he was perched on the arm of the wooden stand. His face seemed to be at peace, especially with the cool weather that started to occur for the past few days.
Winter was approaching. It didn't snow in Vietnam but the weather started to cool down a little. A little. It was important to emphasize that because it was still... warm and humid during the winter even though almost everywhere else it was snowing or the weather still changed dramatically like twenty degrees lower than what it was during the summer or fall. The tropics tend to stay the same all year so it couldn't really feel like Christmas to tourists or people just migrating to the area when they came from a place where they wake up one morning and found five feet of snow surrounding their house. That's besides the point though.
Viet usually felt sentimental around this time of year as it reminded her of her Christmas-es with Francis, Michelle, and Monica. It was usually hectic when Francis was around but otherwise, it was quite nice, even though Viet wasn't Christian. She felt she was starting to become one though as she learned that God was real and created the Fire Bird and Water Dragon... Actually, he created four beings; the phoenix, dragon, turtle and tiger.
A few days before now, Haru had informed her of the true beginning of the earth which sounded unbelievable to her but after the past few months she had experienced, anything is believable. She figured that this was how they were important in much of Asian mythology as in most cultures, they represented North, South, East and West but in the case Viet knew it, Fire, water, earth and air.
She groaned, still trying to comprehend what was going on. It all went against what she had learned as she grew up and how the tiger betrayed them and how the turtle died and passed down its power was just... She didn't know. Everything seemed so mystical and illogical that it was all confusing. Even her feelings were making Viet anxious and confused. About a week ago, before she went to get the orb, which she now remembered to check under her pillow, she spoke to Lukas. Viet knew what she said about how they missed each other and such but she thought that it was just because they grew so close to each other like best friends would. Every time she thought about him, her heart beats fast but when she saw him, it was racing with excitement.
The Vietnamese sighed then she placed the ember-colored orb on her lap as she sat in bed. Haru slowly opened his eyes and blinked several times. He looked up nd saw the orb in Viet's lap, then he stared at her. Viet was staring at the orb, showing signs between confusion and nostalgia.
"Is something wrong child?" the falcon asked as he straightened out his back. Viet shook her head.
"I'm so confused right now. Nothing is logical whether it be the events that are happening right now or my feeligs toward... people." The hesitance Viet had before 'people' made Haru chuckled. He saw how oblivious Viet was for such a long time that whenever she mentioned about her feelings and people, the bird knew it was about Lukas specifically.
"I would not worry, child. It will all sort out one day like how we shall sort out our stomachs after you get ready." Viet giggled at Haru's statement and got out of bed, the orb in hand. Despite the orb being covered by Viet's hand, it reflected from the rising sun lights of orange and yellow and sometimes red against the walls and floor. Viet was mesmerized by the moving lights and she knew how that worked on a translucent object and some form of light. One of the first, spectacular, logical things that she had seen since she came back from Ha Long Bay.
Viet was now in a blue-walled bathroom with white, ceramic counters and bathtubs and toilets. She brushed her teeth and washed her face, refreshing her energy from the long, peaceful sleep she had in months. Haru took a gulp of water as the sink ran water as Viet was drying her face with a clean towel, before she turned it off. The Asian then got dressed into a thin, green, ao dai since the weather seemd beautiful today. Haru on the other hand, had different plans for Viet.
Haru flew swiftly and quietly down the house and into the kitchen onto another wooden stand. Apparently, Viet had ordered several to be made like the original that Viet had for Haru in almost each room of the house. Viet quickly followed and started to get out some xôi gà and started to scoop some into another bowl for Haru. Haru happily ate from the bowl as Viet got some chopsticks and used them to pick the sweet rice and savory meat into her mouth.
"Delicious food as always, little one," complimented Haru. Viet hummed in agreement as she continued to eat in pleasure.
Knock! Knock!
Knocking came from the door. Viet groaned, seeing how it was early in the morning and she was eating breakfast. She walked to her door and opened it, surprised by who she saw at the other side.
"Viet, come back and help me aru," was the first thing that came out of the mouth of the Chinese man. Viet narrowed her eyes and did not say anything for a while.
"Why? Why should I help you, you who does not understand that fighting only for dominance will get us no where. I believed that we fought to stop the differences between us but I guess I was wrong ever since a few weeks ago."
"I said nothing like that aru!"
"But you intend to do it! You implied that meaning or so that was what I got out of it! I can't kill for only your purpose Yao. I will fight for my people and my country. Do not think that you can win my heart back so easily with whatever argument you give me." The siblings were quiet and glared at each other. Haru was still in the kitchen but he was listening intently to the bickering.
"How do you know that I feel this way Viet? How do you know that I am guilty of such thinking aru?" Viet didn't answer. She couldn't exactly blow her cover even though she had a feeling that her brother knew about her 'secret'.
"Look, Yao, just leave me out of this war. I want to stay under the radar until I know I'm desperate for... something. Please, just go back home. You can do fine without me. Everyone knows I'm alive and so they won't worry as much as before. They can start thinking for themselves. All of them were once kids but now they are all grown up to make their own decisions. You have influence on them even if I'm not around, even if it's a little." Viet was about to shut the door but the Chinese said something that she didn't expect.
"Don't fall for that European, Viet. He isn't anything to me nor should he be anything to you. You are making a mistake to team up with who you call God and fighting for his purpose. The Seraphim will keep control of this world and bring an order to everything. Those Americans are lazy and quite young and naïve with their way of thinking and the Europeans are just as dumb and too seperated. I brought all of us together to fight. They killed your parents Viet!"
"Shut up!" Viet was trembling. Yao had always known. He knew since from the beginning when he first found her. He knew that she was the next guradian of the Fire Bird. She clenched her wrists, ready to throw a punch at Yao. "You knew all along, didn't you? You saw me and took me in, knowig what fate had in store for me. Why? Wouldn't it have been easier to kill me when you saw me? I wouldn't be opposing you right now, right? I grew up, thinking that you loved me and our siblings. I thought you were crazy for adopting so many kids but, we were happy. Was this all done just to destroy Europe? To wipe it off the map or make it become a part of Asia? Did we not fight to protect our roots and for our love? To stay together as a family? Answer me Yao... Answer me!" Tears were streaming down Viet's face, blurring her vision.
"Viet, I do love you and everyone else. I didn't want anyone to suffer anymore with the Europeans hurting us. We can make the whole world ours-"
"No! Don't you understand, Anh? The Seraphim are using you for their own needs. They'll get rid of us once they get one of our people out of the way. Whether it be th Europeans or us, they will strike and cause grief and pain. Anh, please don't do this," Viet begged. Yao's eyes became dark, no longer listening to his sister's pleas. He raised his hand high in the air and struck down to hit Viet's face.
A screech was heard. Viet saw Haru flying and attacking Yao with his talons. "Do not lie Yao! You have been alive for as long as I have and lost your younger sister to the Seraphim. Why do you team up with them? You knew she was against them," cried the bird. Yao's eyes became brown once more. He was shocked though. The bird remembered who he was and lived for about 200 years like he. How? Shouldn't this nemesis be dead? If he is still alive then he shouldn't be able to remember from the Seraphim's curse?
"I'll leave for now but do not expect me to show any mercy the next time we meet," threatened the Chinese.
"I wouldn't hope for it to happen," Viet said, her composure regained. Their eyes glared at each other once more and soon Yao walked off after he gave a quick tap to the door.
A sudden surge of electricity went through Viet's body and she shivered, feeling this before. She nervously turned her head left and right as if frantic and nervous that something was chasing her and could appear from any direction. Viet hurriedly grabbed the door knob to close it but instead, it shocked her body, makind her fall to the floor.
"Little one, are you all right?" asked Haru who landed on the ground trying to see signs of life on Viet's face. The Vietnamese woman slowly opened her eyes and hidden memories started coming back to her. Tears swelled her eyes and she began to sob while laying on the ground, her hands covering her face. "What is wrong, child?" Haru asked again, this time with deep concern in his voice.
Viet quickly dried her eyes and tried to get up. Her hands were unable to grip the floor underneath her from the shock but she managed to lean on the wall with her back.
She softly said, "When I was just a child, about a year after Yao took me in as his sister, I did something he didn't like. I don't remember what it was but it happened. Yao... He locked me in my room. I was able to break down doors at that age. What was it? I was six then I think. Anyway, he locked me up and I had been able to knock down my door before but for some reason, this time I couldn't do it. Each time I touched the door, a jolt of electricity ran through my body making me weaker after each touch. What hell... I was trapped in there for two days without food or water. I cried, scared I was abandoned again and left to die like how the Europeans had left my village in ashes.
"Yao came back though and apologized. I forgave and forgot but always remembered to behave. As I grew up, I didn't understand why I was always so polite and well-mannered but I guess I forgot. Deep inside I was afraid... It doesn't seem we'll get out of here easily." Haru snuggled into Viet's chest, trying to comfort her. How could this man, the older brother of Viet's ancestor do this to such a child?
"You will be protected, little one. I will protect you Viet," Haru said softly.
"Can you Haru? So much has happened... So much of this doesn't make sense. It's as if nothing makes sense to me anymore. There is no logic to Yao's behavior or how I feel about Lukas. There is no logic in the stories you tell me or the magic I see or the auras I feel... Everything seems like a dream." Viet began to tremble.
"Can you just accept all this then Viet? Will you accept all this and become one with the Fire Bird and end all this. If this is a dream than this is a dream that will never end until its story is complete. You must stay strong, little one and fight."
"How can I just accept this Haru? When something is not explained to me, I become confused or suspicious of something or someone. All of this is confusing and conspicuous and... and... and..." Haru knew she was in trouble and only knew one thing that can completely convince her of her purpose. Haru felt mean to do such things but for her sake and for the sake of the world.
"Forgive me little one for doing such things," Haru said suddenly. Viet was even more confused and a headache started to form. Her eyes widened when she saw flames circling around Haru. The flames turned into a red and orange tornado, increasing in size one second after another and became hotter as the flames became bigger.
The flames dispersed then disappeared, revealing an eagle-like creature that was larger than the first floor of Viet's house, causing her ceiling to be destroyed. Haru lowered his head and shook the small pieces of wood in his feathers off.
"Haru?" Viet asked shakily as her limbs weakly trembled. She quickly stood up on instinct as she stared at the cream and maroon-colored feathered raptor with a large beak that could swallow her whole and talons that were made out of metal (where did that come from? Seriously, I was bored). Haru was large enough to hold four, fully grown humans on his back.
"Child, you see these things and yet a part of you does not accept the unusual parts of life. You must see and believe otherwise you will regret it," Haru said in a deeper and down-to-earth voice.
Viet closed her eyes and shook her head, her hands grasping onto her hair. "No, no. I just can't Haru. Not now..."
"Then you will have to face the consequences until you listen!" Haru screeched. This time he was not afraid to break the house apart as he lifted his head up and expanded his wings. Debris of wood and furniture tumbled from the sky. Viet immediately braced herself and placed her hands over her head while creating a fire dome around her to burn what ever might fall on her.
Clouds of dust were everywhere and the sun was shining though a large dome of purple electricity that was around the house. This was the forcefield that stopped Viet from exiting her home. But now...
Half of the house was destroyed as Haru flapped his wings and sent strong waves of fire and wind against the house, making it break and burn.
"Viet, you do not believe in what you have experienced yet you use it to protect yourself. Little one, please do not make me do this." Viet stood there, silent and still trying to comprehend what was happening to her right now. Feeling the situation as it was right now, Haru flew a higher by a few meters than dived down towards Viet with the edge of his wings dancing with flames.
Why? Why is this happening to me? Haru, aren't you my friend, my guide. Where are you trying to guide me now? I feel like none of this is true... but... My feelings for Lukas, they confuse me but they are true, right? Isn't my love for my family true? I went through a lot of unbelieveable things with all of them. Is Monica and Michelle true? Of course they are. They took care of me when not many other people would accept me back then. That felt real. I never understood why but I accepted it. I still wondered about it though. Before I always saw logic to the things I did except when it came to my friends and family. Why? Why do I just accept how they treat me despite my cold attitude towards them? I isolated myself from others to an extent because I could never understand. My heart though... Each time I am with them, when I speak with them, play with them, when I do anything with them, my heart just accepts. It never pushes away the feelings that I have which are illogical to my brain... Maybe I should just accept it because I know its true. I know its all real even though it doesn't make sense. Maybe this feeling that races my heart, I should only think so much and realize what its trying to tell me. With each thump I can hear what my heart says but maybe I think too much to try to understand what it wants me to say and hear... I should just accept.
Haru flew past Viet creating a large gust, throwing her against the part of the house that was still intact. Instead of hitting it and causing more of the house to collapse, Viet used her hands to press them against the wall and bounced off of it and landing on her feet. She looked up, seeing Haru fly in circles. "Looks like this was going to happen, whether Yao was here or not," the Vietnamese woman said to herself.
The gigantic bird smiled or smiled as much as he could with his beak. "It seems that you understand now, little one," he said to Viet. She smiled and nodded. He gave a loud screech of approval this time. "Now we shall get to the point of why I am doing this. You need to become stronger Viet, especially if you want to get out of this prison. To do this, I will have to test you and we will have to see if the Fire Bird accpets you as the Guardian. If my master does, then the orb shall become a part of you. Are you ready, little one?"
Viet took out her spear which was resting against the wall of the living room which half of it was destroyed. She looked up at Haru again and grinned once more. "I am as ready as I can ever be Haru!" She quickly swung her spear towards Haru which made a long wave of fire, aiming for Haru. The bird expertly dodged it but was fired at more with balls and waves of fire that came from Viet's fists, spear and kicks (firebenders ftw!).
Haru was dived down, close to the ground, flying quickly towards Viet. Viet ran towards him and jumped when he was about two meters aways and blew fire against his back. Haru screeched at the heat against his back but he healed from his burns almost immediately and flew skywards. Viet 'lit' her spear on fire and threw it at Haru as hard as she could throw it as well as it give it a boost with her own fire.
Unfortunately Haru caught the spear with his metal claws and flapped his wings to be higher in the sky. Viet grounded her teeth together, trying to think of another way to reach Haru. An idea popped into her head and put her plan to work. The Asian clenched her fists and brought her arms to her sides and her legs were straight and stood next to each other. Fire was ignited from her fists and feet, rocketing her towards the sky. Viet shifted her body, testing to see if she could turn to aim for Haru. After a minute she was able to get a hold of flying and increased her speed once she knew she was aiming for the bird. Haru flew higher, barely touching the peak of the dome but Viet was able to launch herself and grab onto her spear.
She swung her body forward and the top of her feet was on the spear and hanging her body upside down. Now what? Haru was flying in circles at a fast speed, trying to make Viet fall but she had a strong grip. Flames started to appear around Haru but he was not the one doing it. He flew faster but he could not get out of the flames. He dropped the spear making Viet fall but she was able to make the landing softer as a large bed of fire caught her and disappeared allowing her to fall gently onto the ground and catching herself with her feet.
The fire around Haru started to make a ring of fire and Haru tried to move upward and downward but was trapped in the middle of the vortex. The ring of fire gradually transformed into a tornado of fire as it spun around and trapped Haru inside of it. Haru would not risk going through the fire even though he could become a part of fire himself. If he went through the flames, he could lose parts of him to the whirling flames and might not live while if he did not transform, he could get severely burned.
Suddenly, the flames enclosed the bird and he began to panic. Viet was enclosing the fire tornado into a symmetrical, lond cylinder of spinning flames that was only as big as Haru in width. Once that was complete, Viet closed her eyes and made an explosion fire, throwing Haru against the purple, electrical dome, making him screech and become unconcious. He was falling towards the floor.
Viet didn't mean to hurt him and so she ran towards the falling bird hoping to be able to catch like how she was able to break her fall. Instead Haru was able to transform back into his falcon form and VIet caught him in her arms.
"I'm so sorry Haru. I didn't mean to do that much damage to you. Are you okay?" She was speaking quickly and with much concern. Haru chuckled and Viet could see that his wounds were healing by themselves quickly.
"I am fine little one. You did well and have quite an imagination when it comes to fighting. I apologize for destorying your home though," Haru said. The falcon shook his body and shuffled his feathers to stretch his body and make sure nothing was seriously injured which nothing was.
"That's fine. I don't know if my boss will understand how my house was destroyed but he'll let me stay at his place. I tend to go there if I'm lazy to go all the way home."
"That is good to hear. Ah, little one do you hear that?" Haru turned his head to where he heard the rubble from the destroyed home moving. Viet also looked, curious what or who was under the pile of rubble. What emerged from the pile was a floating ember-colored orb with flames dancing inside of it. It was glowing a bright orange and pale yellow and the light danced against the rubble. Viet was wide-eyed as her golden orbs reflected the sight in front of her. It flew in front of the woman and when Haru flew from her arms, it entered her body.
The sensation Viet felt was undescribable. She could feel the energy in her body increased and the power seemed uncontrollable. Once it was a part of her, Viet was shaking with excitement and anxiousness.
"You have proven yourself, child. I am proud of you. Now, are you ready to fight against the Seraphim with full power."
Viet nodded. "Definitely." She lifted her hands in front of her and allowed the energy flow to them. There was a tingling at the tips of her fingers and she allowed it to release the energy that was waiting to come out.
A bluish-white spark from one fingertip touched another and soon the electricity was moving in random directions of Viet's hands. It was a careful release of energy but now Viet was positive that she could release her power as much as she wanted.
It was as if lightning was coming from her hands as it destroyed the rest of her house and attacked the purple dome of electricity, destroying it.
"Wonder what kind of upgrade Lukas has?" Viet asked, not really asking anyone in particular.
"It is ice if you really want to know, child and something else if he succeeds in mastering that."
"I can' wait to see it then!" Viet said a little bit too excitedly.
"Your views about how you feel about him seem to change, little one," Haru commented. Viet blushed a deep red and she waved her hands in front of her face.
"Ah, it's... it's nothing like that!" Haru stared at her, knowing that that wasn't true.
Viet sighed, seeing how obvious her emotions were. "Maybe... Maybe I like him a little more than what I used to now that I know how I feel..."
"Like?" Haru questioned her word choice. Viet blushed even more.
"Fine! I love him! Happy?" She turned her back towards Haru and he chuckled. She started marching away from her house and towards town, trying to hide her face from Haru. The bird couldn't wait when they would meet Lukas and Hydra again.
Omake
Me: Wow... I have to say, I think I made Viet-chan very OC in this chapter. I mean, I made her a bookworm and she broke down and then she became awesome again and then went into a side where she admits that she loves Nor-kun.
Vietnam: I'm only acting this! Got that!
Me: I don't think many people will believe that Viet-chan. Anyway, I don't know what's with my mind. I tend to be a mean person when I think of stories and usually someone of my characters will have a depressing kind of life. My other story Marigolds in Winter is a proof of that. I'm also trying to speed things up in this because I don't want this to be too long. So next chapter, expect official fighting with the Seraphim or at least the start of it. On another note, I'm happy romance has taken place in a somewhat indirect way.
Vietnam: *sighs* Please review, comment, ask questions and the such since Admin likes to read and answer them so much.
Me: Until next chapter!