Chapter 25: Finding a Dragon
The duel between Mars and Ares in the Colosseum of Planeptune had occurred several weeks ago, and there had been no sign of either of them, though the disappearance of Ares and his companion Enyo was of little to no concern for the populace of Gamindustri, at least most of them anyway. What interested everyone, from the poorest citizen to the Goddesses, was the disappearance of Mars, the 'Champion of Black Sister', and no one was more deeply involved with it than Uni, CPU Candidate of Lastation. It was no secret to the people of Gamindustri that Mars meant something of great importance to the raven haired CPU Candidate, if they fully comprehended the matter, however, was unknown.
At any rate, it was clear that after Mars disappeared, to which the general public still did not understand why, Uni was seen less and less to the point where people began to become worried for her health. The Lastationite Candidate always appeared sad and grief stricken, especially whenever she was alone where no one could see her, there the raven haired goddess would often cry and blame herself for Mars' disappearance, believing that she made him hate her. Sometimes Uni would walk out onto the balcony in the middle of the night and watch the stars for hours on end, just as Mars had done. It was painful for Noire, her older sister and senior Goddess of Black Regality, and Kei, Oracle of Lastation, to witness. Something had to be done to get Uni out of her depressing state. Mars had to be found, no matter what.
At least that was the plan, but executing it would undoubtedly be more difficult than how it actually sounded, especially since there had been no sightings of the young man ever since he departed from the Planeptune Colosseum. This was what was going on through Kei Jinguji's head as she signed away at the various amount of paperwork that littered her desk. It was rare to see Kei's desk completely littered with documents, folders, requests, business contracts and whatnot, considering that Noire preferred to take care of it herself, not to mention that the silver haired Oracle had been spending less and less time in the Basilicom due to her business company dream - which, incidentally, was not going completely well for her.
"Hmm… but where to start looking?" Kei asked herself as she hunched forward, writing her name swiftly on various pieces of paper that stared back up at her from the desk. It was indeed a tough question to answer, considering that there had been no sign of Mars for the past few weeks. The closest Kei had gotten to a sighting was when a member of the Planeptune Guild informed her superiors that someone with dragon wings had been flying over the southern mountain range, although it was debatable.
At any rate, sightings or not it was definitely going to be a tough job in finding the young man. After a few more hours of mumbling to herself over various strategies on finding Mars, as well as signing more and more paperwork without a single break, Kei grunted as she stood up, stretching her back out with a heavy sigh of relief. "Well, I better hand all of these over to Lady Noire for final processing and signing, she needs to deal with some of these anyway," Kei muttered to herself as she grabbed one of the paper-filled, dark grey trays on her desk and walked out of her office.
It did not take long for Kei to reach Noire's office, but what she saw inside startled her ever so slightly: Noire was not in the office, plus there were small piles of paperwork that dated back over the last few weeks that were left unsigned on her desk. The silverette raised an eyebrow at the untidiness that flowed from Noire's desk, littering the floor as well. Kei sighed and shook her head at the mess before her as she walked up to the desk and placed the overfilled tray down on the only clear spot that could be found. It look like Noire had not been in her office for a while, a day or two at best, maybe even longer than that. It surprised the silver haired Oracle at first, but after thinking it over for a few minutes she sighed, but instead out of displeasure it was out of relief.
Heh, I guess deep down Lady Noire really is a softy is she has chosen her sister over her reputation as a hard worker. It's actually rather endearing. Kei thought as she began to tidy up the office, setting the various amount of paperwork into separate trays so she could sign them later in her free time. After managing, with great effort, to tidy up at least most of the desk into a much more neater state the silver haired Oracle stared out towards the large, glass doors that led out towards the largest of the balconies that adorned the Lastation Basilicom, she noticed how late it was getting. Hmm, almost nearing one-thirty or almost two in the afternoon, I might see if there's anyone around to make some afternoon tea, either that or I'll have to see if Lady Noire wants to try cooking something up again. Without accidentally burning the food this time would be preferable. Actually, where would she and Lady Uni be? In either one of their rooms? Most likely. Better go and check, just in case.
Kei left Noire's office and trudged down the hallways that led up to the resident section of the Basilicom, noticing how quiet it was compared to some days. Eventually the silver haired Oracle approached Mars' room, but something was off about it: the door was jarred open and the light was on. With a curious look Kei decided to poke her head in to see who was rummaging through the missing man's room, although when the blue eyed woman peered into the room she was surprised to see Uni standing in the middle of the room with her back to the door and an open drawer in front of her. The raven haired Candidate knelt down onto one knee as she searched through the lowest drawer of the small tabletop dresser, she was searching for something that the Oracle could not see. It appeared that not even Uni knew what she was looking for, however, she was also mumbling to herself as she rummaged through the drawer.
"What the hell has Mars got in this drawer? Just rubbish? Sure looks like it," the crimson eyed Candidate mumbled to herself as she searched through the lower drawer, both amazed and slightly concerned at the amount of junk that occupied the drawer. - it almost seemed as if Mars had deliberately placed it all there to protect something. "Hmm, there's definitely something under all this mess. Maybe something that can point me in his direction? I hope so."
The CPU Candidate continued to rummage through the lower drawer as she pulled out sheets of paper, small bags, and even a small ammo container, before she reached the bottom. It was then that Uni stopped searching for clues to Mars' whereabouts and simply stared at what she had found. "What's this? A journal or something?" Uni asked herself as she stared at the small, red leather-bound book in her right hand. The cover was worn with age, the pages looked as if they had suffered from mild burns and a few pages were stuck together due to what could be blood. It looked as if the Lastationite Candidate was hesitant to even open it to see what was written on the pages.
Kei watched as Uni continued to stare at the red leather journal, her body shaking in anticipation and uncertainty, it seemed as if the CPU Candidate was still uncertain if she wanted to read it or not. Eventually, after several minutes of mental debating, Uni sighed and opened the journal as she sat down on his bed. Soon afterwards, however, the CPU Candidate regretted reading it as her emotions started to get out of control. What she read was just too sad for her, and all it left was unanswered questions as to what Mars was referring to.
Entry One:
I don't know what year it is, I don't know what month it is, I don't know what day it is, or hour, or minute, or anything for that matter. All I can feel is pain. Pain. So much pain. Guilt for not being able to save the others. Physical pain from all of the torture that I was put through. How long has it been since I escaped the destruction of Project Mars? A few days? A week? A month? Time makes no sense to me anymore, and I doubt it ever will again.
I remember the first time I saw the light of day; it was wonderful. Same with the rise of the moon and the darkening of the sky, even the stars that shone brightly. A star. I want to be a star in the night sky, never having to worry about anything, never having to live with all of the shit that I went through. Heh, that would be impossible though - logic and all that crap. Still, would be nice to not worry about anything, especially with all the nightmares that I've been having. Memories. Nightmares about the memories. The torture, the screams, the dark cell, the violent abuse of the guards, all the blood and agony. I can't stand them. They make cry, they make me tremble, they make my scars twitch and itch with pain, they make me stay up all night. I can't stand it anymore! At this rate I'm gonna go mad!
At least I found this journal to write down whatever I'm thinking; heck, I'm surprised that I can even write or read for that matter, considering that my memory is more than shit. I'm going to go adventure across Gamindustri for now, there's a mission that I have to do: kill all remaining members of Project Mars. Justice needs to be delivered to those bastards, and I aim to do it. I don't care if I have to live with the sins of murdering those assholes, at least the voices of all those who were killed in the Project will be silenced. I need to do this. I have to. I must. I can't be near people, I can't be with anyone, I must never care what I once was, I must push aside all feelings that the Project never got rid off so I can kill the survivors. This is what I need to do.
After Uni had finished reading the first entry she quickly closed the journal and laid it down next to her, words could hardly describe what she was feeling at that moment. There were many question buzzing through her mind, yet there were no answers to be found, at least for now anyway. Eventually Uni sighed deeply and held her hands over her face, she did not know whether to cry or not. Mars' past, the nightmares that plagued him, the scars on his upper body, the reason why he was hostile towards people, everything about him, it all made sense to her now. "Why? Why didn't you tell me this, Mars?" Uni muttered sadly. "I could have help you, I could have done something."
Kei stared sadly at Uni, the silver haired Oracle felt helpless as she watched the CPU Candidate mumble to herself. Suddenly the workaholic heard the sounds of footsteps of someone approaching her, she looked over down the hallway to see Noire walking towards her with a small tray in her hands, a plate covered in biscuits and two cups of tea were on the black food tray. The two women locked eyes with each other for a short moment before they looked back at Uni, who was now staring sadly at the floor. The silver haired Oracle looked back at Noire and motioned for her to enter the room.
"Well go on then, Lady Uni is waiting for someone to comfort her," Kei informed the raven haired CPU with a whispering tone, giving her a small smile.
"R-Right, okay then. I'm not sure what I can really do to snap Uni back into reality," Noire replied with a similar hushed tone. "I honestly don't know what to do. I doubt these biscuits and tea will do any good."
"Maybe not, but you are trying your best. Just talk to Lady Uni and get her to tell you what's really bothering her - there is a lot more going on in her head than you realise." The Oracle of Lastation motioned with her head for Noire to go into the room to talk to Uni once more, receiving an exasperated sigh, but she quickly complied and entered the room with the tray still in her hands.
Once the Lastationite Goddess had stepped into the room and walked up to her younger sister, who looked up at her with a sad expression upon her face. "Oh, Noire, I thought you left to start signing all the paperwork that was in your office," Uni said before she laid eyes on the tray of food and tea. "Is that… for me? I-I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling hungry or thirsty right now."
"You have to start eating something eventually, you've been saying that you aren't hungry for the last day or two," Noire sighed as she placed the tray down on the small dresser. Once done the raven haired CPU looked back to the bed and noticed the red, leather-bound journal that Uni had found earlier. "Hey, what's that? Can I read it?"
The CPU Candidate swiftly looked at the journal and shook her head before grabbing hold of it. "N-No, it's f-for the best that you don't. I-I'm sorry, Noire, I really am."
The senior goddess sat down close next to Uni and gazed at her, sighing once more. "Uni, please just tell me what's going on inside that head of yours. I want to help, but you aren't given me any specific details about what is going on."
However, it only made the CPU Candidate shake her head as she held back her emotions. "No, I can't tell you, I just can't. You wouldn't understand."
Noire raised an eyebrow, wondering what her younger sister was trying to keep from her. Eventually, after much thinking as to what course to take in order to make the saddened goddess more open about her thoughts, Noire decided to touch upon a matter that she remembered Mars bringing up during the first day they cosplayed together. It was a topic that made Noire question the very relationship she had with her sister, if they even had one that is - the topic that Mars raised with the raven haired goddess but into question everything that she practically believed in to aspire achievement and success. The prideful CPU took a deep breath before she decided to speak her mind.
"Uni, listen, I know that you have done your best to live up to my expectations of what a CPU of Gamindustri should be, to be better than me in all aspects of what makes a CPU great, to get out of my shadow. I know that my expectations are high, extremely high, and you've done a magnificent job at reaching them, even if some haven't been met," Noire began to explain; her voice was almost quiet, her gaze was upon the floor, her hands were gripping her elegant dress tightly. "Wh-What I'm trying to say is, I-I'm proud of you, Uni, I always have been. I know that I've been harsh, stubben and even a complete idiot with how I tried to make you exceed me in every way, but there's no need for that now. In some ways, you already have left my shadow. You are your own person, don't let what other people think of you as well as their expectation weigh you down."
"Noire... " Uni muttered as she stared at her older sister, amazed with the fact that she was proud of her. The CPU Candidate had never heard Noire say that to her before, it almost sounded too good to be true. But it was true, the small yet prideful smile on the senior CPU's face said it all.
Noire chuckled as she lifted her legs up until her knees were resting under her chin and her arms were wrapped around the legs; whether at Uni or to herself was unknown, it could have been either, or both. What she said next surprised the Candidate. "You know, even though I don't look like it nor do I act like it, I'm k-kind of... envious towards you, i-in a way. You're able to make friends a lot more easier than I ever could; heck, I doubt I could even… W-W-Well, anyway, ignoring wh-what I was going to say, I want you to see me not as merely someone to imitate, but as an actual sister. So please, Uni, just tell me what's making you act like this. When you're depressed it affects more than just you alone, it affects us all."
Uni choked on her own words as tears began to flow down her face, eventually she swiftly lunged towards Noire and wrapped her arms around her, resting her head underneath the senior CPU's breasts. Noire was surprised at first, but after stuttering for a short moment to herself she eventually wrapped her arms around the CPU Candidate to comfort her, doing her best to ignore Uni's wet tears that were soaking into the dress. The raven haired Candidate then spoke her mind. "It's… it's all my fault that Mars disappeared. I called him a monster, I made him hate me. It's all my fault! I should've just accepted him instead of driving him away! I hate myself for that, because… because… I… I love him."
"What?! You're in love with Mars?!" Noire exclaimed loudly, shocked that her younger sister even felt that way towards the young man. However, her sudden outburst shook Uni as she leaned back away from Noire, believing that she disapproved of her love towards Mars. It was something that Noire recognised, and she quickly did her best to get rid of that fear. "I-I-I'm not say that I disapprove or anything, I was just a bit shocked was all.
"So… you're okay with it?" the highly nervous Candidate asked. When Noire nodded Uni could not help but beam a small yet satisfied smile, although the Lastationite Candidate did notice that there was a small hint of sadness and regret in Noire's expression, but she decided to not ask her about it, guessing that it was something personal.
At any rate, Noire seemed to be fine with the concept of her younger sister being in love, with a dragon no less. Still, it made the senior CPU feel something tingle inside her heart, making her mind race as she stood up and made way for the door; it was something that the raven haired goddess had not felt before, yet it was too difficult for her to properly describe in her thoughts. Before Noire left Mars' room she turned back and looked at her younger sister. "Uni, there's no need to mope around in Mars' room, just leave it be for now. Mars would never hate you, so he will come back some day."
Uni sighed as she got off the missing man's bed, grabbed the tray and leave the room. "All right then, Noire. I hope you're right."
"Since when have I ever been wrong?" the senior CPU retorted pridefully with a smirk. Once the CPU Candidate had left the room, passing by Kei without a single word, Noire returned to the hallway and sighed in a defeated tone. "How the hell am I supposed to get Uni out of her depression? It seems impossible at this rate."
Kei shrugged. "I don't know about you, but that talk you had with Lady Uni seems to have helped her out a bit. You said that you were proud of her for becoming someone that isn't in your shadow any more, I believe that made her day."
"You think?" Norie asked, to which the silver haired Oracle nodded firmly with a small smile. "Still, getting Uni out of her depression will take more than my honest opinion. Hmm… Mars… That's it! We'll just have to find Mars."
The Oracle of Lastation raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms and leaned up against the wall. "It won't be as simple as that, Lady Noire. We have all been searching for Mars; for weeks on end we have been looking for, but to no avail. Trust me, I know he is still out there, but it's just impossible to locate him."
"Well do you have any clues?" Noire asked, eager for any sort of information.
"I think I do," Kei replied. She cleared her throat before going onto further detail. "Yesterday, I think it must have been around mid-day or mid-afternoon, someone from the Guild mentioned that they saw someone similar in looks to Mars around the south-east of Lastation City, most likely around the southern base of the Brown Mountains. I'd check there if I were you. Heh, you must really miss him if you're going out there now."
The raven haired CPU stared at Kei for a brief moment before processing what she said to her, then Noire's cheeks flushed bright red as she waved her arms around in protest. "Wh-Wh-What?! O-Of course I don't m-m-miss Mars! Th-That would be preposterous! I-It isn't as if I li… wh-whatever!"
"Yeah, yeah, if you say so," the silver haired woman chuckled, much to Noire's chagrin. "Oh, if you are going to go out there then take this."
The raven haired CPU was then given a black flip-up phone with the Lastation logo on the front, although she seemed a little confused as to why her Oracle gave it to her. "So why did you give me this? To keep you updated? Or the other way round?"
"Both. Besides, it is starting to get near late afternoon and it will definitely take you longer than you think to find Mars, even with the small piece of information that I gave you," Kei replied before she started to walk down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll take care of afternoon tea and keep Lady Uni occupied until you return. Good luck, you are going to need it."
Noire nodded as she began to walk down the hallway towards the elevator, a determined look was upon her face as she stashed the phone away in her dress. What the CPU of Lastation was set on achieving sounded impossible, but she was determined to do it. It's time to find a dragon. Noire thought as she descended to the ground floor.
Finding Mars was much, much harder than Noire had imagined. True, the original searches over the last few weeks were utterly tough and frustrating, but the Lastationite Goddess had almost forgotten what it felt like to be looking for an elusive dragon. It was infuriating. The direction in which Kei had suggested to her revealed nothing more than an abandoned camp in the middle of a small forest glade. However, there were some tracks that led up into the Brown Mountains, so the determined CPU of Lastation followed them through the wilderness and into the dangerous mountain range. For normal people it would have been a nightmare to travel through the mountain passes, especially when night was falling over the land. For Noire, however, it was a simple matter thanks to her Hard Drive Divinity. Still, the Lastastionite CPU needed to be careful, the rocky surface was rather dangerous.
Black Heart soared slowly through the mid-afternoon sky, doing her best to stay close to the rocky surface without crashing into it. It had been a few hours - at least two hours - since she started the search and yet there were no signs of the young man anywhere, it was as if he had truly vanished. "Tch. Typical. Where the hell is he?" Black Heart muttered in annoyance as she flew over a rocky ridge and landed onto the mountain path. "Idiot, making everyone worry and depressed, even m-me."
After resting on a large yet flat rock for a few minutes to decide her next course of action, the silver haired goddess decided to walk along the path to see if there were any caves around the place; the Brown Mountains, especially in the southern regions, were filled with all manner of caves that were used by all sorts of creatures, but usually they were used by Ancient Dragons. It was with this knowledge that Black Heart chose to tread carefully whenever she encountered a cave. The silver haired goddess did find several caves, but almost all of them were abandoned and only a small few were occupied by creatures that were easily taken care of. However, after almost an hour of searching, Black Heart still had not found any trace of Mars. The evening had also fully given way to the darkness of the night, making it harder to see properly.
Soon enough, however, Black Heart came across another cave, this one had worn out burn markings around the area. The bright blue eyed CPU gazed inside to only see darkness. Undeterred from the menacing burn marks on the rocky surface, the CPU of Lastation entered the cave, doing her best to keep close to the wall - she did not want to get lost or be accidentally injured. After a short while of slowly travelling through the cave, with only a minor incident involving a loose piece of rock and the hard ground, Black Heart emerged into a large cavern that was lit up with a small campfire and a thin trail of smoke. There were scorch marks all over the place, loose pieces of rock were littering the ground in various areas and the back of the cavern was blocked by huge boulders that had fallen down from the ceiling. In the centre of the cavern near the boulders was the campfire, the thin smoke and a single figure who was sitting down on the ground, his back facing the CPU.
Who is that? Black Heart thought as she approached whoever was sitting by the campfire. However, it seemed that the stranger figure knew she was there.
"No need to be shy, Noire, I could smell you coming from a mile away. Sort of," the said in an almost quiet voice, yet it echoed throughout the small cavern. The voice belonged to that of a young man, a person that Black Heart recognised. Once he stood up and turned around to face her did the CPU finally confirmed her thoughts.
"Mars?" Black Heart asked, mouth jarred open in shock, her eyes wide, her hands trembling. If Neptune, Vert and Blanc were around they would have said that she truly did miss him, which the CPU of Lastation actually did. After all, Mars was the only person who knew about her cosplay hobby and had even gotten involved with it; he was close to her, although she would have never admitted it.
The young man nodded, although his face was expressionless. His hair was all messy, he appeared to be sleep fatigued, he was wearing a dirty black shirt and the same pair of jeans from the fight, no dragon scales could be seen. "Yeah, it's me. Let me guess, you're here to take me back, aren't you? When Black Heart nodded as she slowly approached him, Mars sighed and shook his head. "No, I can't go back, not now. Besides, Uni thinks I'm a monster. She hates me."
"You're wrong!" Black Heart shouted at Mars sternly as she stood in front of him, her arms crossed underneath her luscious C-cup breasts. Since she was standing close to Mars the young man could not help but glance down every few seconds to have a quick look at her boobs - if there was one thing that Mars could give the lonely CPU credit for it was her extremely good looks. "Uni would never hate you, she never could! She cares a lot for you, Mars, so don't you dare say that she hates you! It's the exact opposite!"
"You… you're serious? She doesn't hate me because I'm a dragon?" Mars asked, bewildered with what Black Heart was telling her. "Are you sure about that?"
"Of course I'm sure about it, I had a little chat with her before I left," Black Heart replied with a victorious grin. Once she saw the relief in Mars' expression, the silver haired goddess could not help but smile ever so slightly. "You really like Uni, don't you? Do you, oh, I don't know, love her?"
Mars looked at Black Heart as if she was crazy, but after short moment of stuttering and staring at the ground, the young man relented and gave in. "Y-Yeah, I do. I… love Uni. Are you, er, okay with that?"
"Do I have a choice?" the Lastationite Goddess replied with a shrug, but from the tone of her voice and the faint yet visible small smile on her face it appeared that she was fine with Mars being in love with her younger sister. However, she did have a question to ask concerning the matter. "So, why do you love Uni?"
"W-Well, um… I just love everything about Uni. From her cute looks, the way she smiled at me, those crimson eyes of hers, her personality, her determination; everything really," Mars replied as soon as he got his words together. "I guess you could that she's just beautiful in many ways."
"Beautiful in many ways, eh? Well, Uni gets her looks after me you know, since I'm her older sister. So does that make me beautiful as well?" Black Heart jokingly asked as she posed with one hand on her hip and the other behind her head. She was only playing around with the young man, trying to get some sort of reaction out of him; the Lastationite CPU decided that making him embarrassed to the point of a mental breakdown was just one step towards revenge.
However, the tables turned against Black Heart when Mars responded. "Well, I guess so. I mean, you a pretty g-good looking, so… yeah, you are beautiful in your own way."
"You… you mean it?" Black Heart asked, dumbfounded that she even received a compliment from Mars, let alone an honest one. When the young man nodded while rubbing the back of his head as he gazed away with embarrassment, the CPU of Lastation blushed brightly and stuttered nervously before speaking again. "Th-Th-Thanks, Mars. No one has ever said anything like that to me face to face before."
This surprised Mars, he thought that at least a few people, even strangers, would have told her how good looking she was. "You sure about that? Not even your friends?" When he asked that, however, Black Heart swiftly went from embarrassed to depressed. Mars noticed it and quickly realised what was wrong. "Ah, right, I almost forgot that you don't have any friends."
"Do you have to word it like that?!" Black Heart glared viciously at Mars, her fists gripped tightly and all sense of civility seemed to be gone. Soon enough, though, the haughty goddess calmed down ever so slightly as the young man's words echoed through her mind. "No friends… ugh."
Mars felt a little bad for making Black Heart suddenly depressed, so he decided to make it right by asking something that he had been thinking about for a long while. "So, um, Noire… do you want to… er… be f-friends with me?"
The questions that Mars asked was one that Black Heart had never expected to hear from anyone, let alone the very person who she initially despised when they first met face to face in the Basilicom medic bay. It made her blush even brighter due to the sincerity of Mars' question, he was being fully honest after all, the CPU could tell. Eventually, after a few minutes of awkward silence and embarrassed glances at one another, Black Heart got over her embarrassment and stared at Mars with a overly excited expression as one of the brightest smiles that the young man had ever seen start to spread across her face.
"S-Sure, we can be f-friends," the Lastationite Goddess stuttered. Nevertheless, she seemed genuinely pleased. "You know, you're the first person to ever compliment me honestly without any lewd motives as well as the first person in my entire life to ask me to be their friend, it actually makes me kind of… happy."
"Really? I'm actually surprised. Then again, with how you usually treat people, I shouldn't be too surprised about it," Mars responded, glad that the final obstacle between him and the prideful CPU was finally dismembered. However, his comment made Black Heart growl with a firm glare.
"Shut up, idiot! I'm not that bad!" she retorted sternly.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Mars sighed as he shook his head, feeling as if nothing had really changed. Yet, after giving it a bit more thought, he realised that something was different between him and the CPU in front of him, it felt as if there was some sort of close bond between them, just like he felt with Uni. "Anyway, it nice to be f-f-friends with you, Noire. At least now you can back answer to Neptune whenever she brings the topic of 'loner' up."
"Heh. Yeah, I can now. Guess it isn't that bad now. Hmm, a friend… a friend.." Black Heart muttered to herself, the bright and cheerful smile growing ever more happy. She giggled before staring back at Mars, when she suddenly her cheeks blushed bright red. The silver haired goddess then approached Mars and, in one swift move, embraced the young man in a tight yet affectionate hug.
"Um, you alright there, Noire?" the young man asked in a bewildered tone. It was something that Mars had not expected her to do, so he was understandably shocked with the sudden embrace. What made his mind race was that Black Heart's breasts were pressing up against his chest, and the scruffy haired man swore that he could feel nipples poking through the HDD uniform - Black Heart must have been feeling a bit chilly Mars reasoned to himself.
"Never better," was the bright blue eyed CPU's happy response as she continued to hug the life out of Mars. Eventually she relented and drew back, the delighted expression never leaving her face. "This is awesome! Okay, since we're friends now we've got to get back into cosplaying, I have a new outfit that I've been dying to try out for a while. Guess what it is? A high school uniform that I personally tailored to my liking! I'm going to be looking like a president of the school council or something; you can be my lacky once you have found your own high school outfit."
"Gee, thanks, I'm sooooo excited," Mars responded with a highly sarcastic tone, but the tone of the comment flew right over Black Heart's head as she withdrew from the hug and stood triumphantly. "Heh, you must be pretty excited to finally have an official friend, aren't you?"
"Wh-What? I-I'm not that overly excited to have a friend, not at all!" the silver haired goddess replied swiftly with a stammering voice. It was clear that she was lying.
"Whatever," Mars sighed in defeat, no longer caring about the fact that Black Heart was being what people called a tsundere again. But it was something that he had gotten used to with Uni, so having to deal with Black Heart being one seemed like an easy feat, although she was a lot more difficult to handle. After a few minutes of being berated by an annoyed goddess, the young, brown haired dragon sighed and straightened his posture. "Alright then, Noire, I think I'm ready to head back home, back to the Basilicom."
Black Heart stopped berating the young man and appeared a little surprise, which was soon covered up by a smug and victorious look. "Heh, I knew that you would turn round thanks to my brilliant effort. Glad to see that you are seeing reason this time."
"Again, whatever. Let's just get going already, I've got to talk to Uni," Mars responded with an exasperated sigh. Nevertheless, the young man was silently happy to go back to the Basilicom, especially since he knew what to finally do about his feelings towards Uni. I'm feeling kinda nervous, but this is for the better. It's time to tell Uni how I feel.
As the afternoon wore on Uni sat on her bed, her rifle in hand and several rifle mods were lying all over the black coloured bed quilt as the CPU Candidate removed pieces of her gun and added others onto it, yet she was silent and moody the entire time. It just was not as fun as it used to be. Even though what Noire had said to the raven haired Candidate had just about almost ended the many years of self doubt, the feeling of being useless, the agony of trying to step out of her older sister's shadow and the depressing feeling that Noire just was not proud of her, there was still something that was making Uni feel anger and remorse. It was that the Lastationite Candidate still believed that she was to blame for Mars' disappearance. Uni always wished that she could go back in time and stop herself from saying what she said to him on that fateful day.
Uni sighed as she fastened a brand new, black coloured rifle barrel onto her favourite weapon, a saddened look was visible upon her face. As soon as the raven haired Candidate was sure that the new barrel was firmly fastened onto the rifle she placed it down onto the bed, then she sighed once more as her arms laid before her, resting them over her lap. "It just isn't as fun as it used to be," the Candidate mumbled to herself as he laid down on her bed. "Where is Noire anyway? It's been awhile since I saw her. I hope she's okay."
After a couple of minutes of laying on her bead, Uni rolled over and looked at the window, the time was around mid to late afternoon. After sighing sadly again, the Candidate rolled over back to where she was before and laid her arms out on either side, closing her eyes as she attempted to relax, or at least try to. Uni was busy worrying about a certain someone again, and she could not help it. What am I going to do with myself? I have to do something to get me out of this state, otherwise Noire would just get annoyed and fed up with me again. The raven haired Candidate of Lastation thought to herself. But what can I do? Ugh, I'm useless!
"Uni?" a voice asked from the doorway; it was quiet and full of anxiety.
"Uh… what is it? Can't you see I'm trying to rest here?" Uni responded rudely with an overly annoyed groan.
"Uni, it's me, Mars," the voice spoke again, this time the CPU Candidate recognised it, along with the name.
"M-M-Mars? Is it… really you?" the raven haired Candidate asked as she stood up on the ground and stared with a bewildered look at the young man who was standing in her doorway. It was like something out of a dream. Standing further behind Mars were Kei and Noire, both of them seemed to be more than pleased. However, the silver haired Oracle looked over at Noire, tapped her on the shoulder and whispered something to her, after the senior CPU nodded she and Kei walked away to leave Uni and Mars by themselves.
Mars silently thanked Noire and Kei as they disappeared down the hallway, what he wanted to say to Uni was embarrassing for him. However, he was not fully expecting nor prepared for Uni's sudden burst of affection towards him. The Candidate of Lastation had been walking slowly in shock towards Mars for a few seconds before eh turned his head away to nod a 'thank you' to Noire and Kei, but when he looked back he was hit full force by Uni who forcibly grabbed him into a tight and affectionate hug. The young man fell backwards onto the ground with a loud thud with Uni on top of him, her arms still wrapped around his chest and her head resting up against his upper chest. The Candidate of Lastation was crying her eyes out.
"I'm so sorry, Mars, I'm so sorry!" Uni exclaimed, no longer caring how she looked at that moment or the embarrassment that echoed through her mind.
Mars managed to drag himself across the hard ground with Uni until he was resting up against the doorway, Uni was still hugging him as the young man slowly wrapped his arms around the crying CPU Candidate. "No, I'm… sorry, Uni. I shouldn't have run away like that, I should have just stayed and tried to talk it out with you and the others," Mars responded in a quiet yet audible voice. "Heh, it's always the same for me. I always run away from my problems in the end."
"B-But I-" Uni tried to say before Mars cut her off.
"Uni, I know what you are going to say, but hear me out first," the young man said sternly. "I know that you called me a monster, but I gave it some thought and I decided that I can't really blame you, anyone would have said the same thing if they saw someone they knew just turn into a dragon. Heck, I would have done the same thing. What I'm trying to say is that I don't hate you for calling me a monster, in many ways I am one."
Suddenly Uni jerked her head up from Mars' chest and stared firmly at the young man, tears were still flowing from her eyes and down her face. "No! You aren't a monster! I know that because… because I… I-l-lo… er…" The Lastationite CPU Candidate's face turned bright red as she looked at the compromising position she was in while laying all over Mars; her eyes were dizzy and her words merely became a stuttering mess as her hands began to twitch without control.
To save Uni from this predicament Mars had to take control, although what he would say could very well just add more fuel onto the fire. The young man decided to ask an important question. "U-Uni, would you… um… l-like to go out s-sometime with m-m-me?"
Uni stopped crying and stared at Mars for a short while, dumbfounded at what he was asking. "You mean… like a d-d-date?" she asked nervously.
"Um… I guess that's what you could call it," Mars responded as he gazed away from the CPU Candidate he was still holding close to him. "So… is that a no then?"
What Uni said next shocked Mars. The raven haired Candidate of Lastation stared into the young man's eyes, quivering with embarrassment as she gripped Mars' shoulders. "I-It's a y-y-yes, idiot. Yes, I'll go on a d-date with you," Uni said in a nervous tone, yet afterwards she was smiling brightly with pure happiness. It seemed that Mars had struck the right notes. "Hey, um, c-can we have the date today, like right now? I-I-I've never been on one os I just want to… um..."
Mars sighed and affectionately patted the Candidate on the head. "Sure thing, we can do it now. I've never been on one either, but I did watch this one anime where there was a date, so maybe I've got some sort of idea." The both of them got back onto their feet and glanced at each other nervously for a short moment before Mars broke the ice with, surprisingly, a kind hearted chuckle. As the young patted Uni for a moment he noticed that she took glances at his chest, as if she was visualising the scars that he hid underneath his shirt, it also appeared that Uni wanted to ask something but was deciding not to. At any rate, Mars stopped his gentle pat and stood back to look at his soon-to-be date. "Hey, it's alright, I'm just as nervous as you are. Come on, let's get going before it gets dark. Let's have a great date together."
A/N: Evening readers! It's been a while since I updated, well, anything really, and I am really sorry about that. While I did put up a notice on my profile, I'm afraid that I have final essays and even an upcoming exam in a few days that I need to pass, even if it's just a bare pass. While I have been studying for it I have also been slowly updating this story, so I apologise to other readers who have read my other fanfics and want me to continue with them - I swear I will, but aside from the word load I've also been having a Subject 13: Mars craze going on, been planning future chapters and everything. Anyway, next chapter will include the long awaited date involving Mars and Uni, I've been waiting to do something like this for a while with those two! It's not like anything can go wrong... right? Also that scene between Mars and Noire, it's definitely interesting; now that Noire has her first official friend I think Mars is in for a rough ride with all that cosplay stuff and jealous fan boys - poor guy. Regardless, thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a good day if you can.