Disclaimer: I do not own the God Eater franchise but I do have control over original characters and storylines.
AN: fair warning, this has nothing to do with the main story and works as a change of pace that's all. If you've played GER on PC, then you'd have noticed the other versions of the team with different coloured clothes, hence the inspiration for my chapter.
King for a day
After spending a long time reflecting on everything that happened, James awoke to start his day like normal. His mind was busy thinking of other things which was why his body went on full auto pilot for most of the morning. He did his training like usual, cleaned up and dressed in his regular clothes.
Once that was done, he headed to the lounge area and spend a little time reading up on a few articles as well as watching some Bugarally. He had no real interest in the show but Kota liked talking about it so he didn't want his friend to feel left out.
It was only when it came to the mission selection that his mind finally returned to the present. The reason being was that during the team selection, he saw three different coloured pictures of Alisa.
Curious, he took a step back then tapped the terminal thinking it was a simple glitch. But when he got to the terminal and checked again, he found nothing had changed.
"Hey Hibari", he called out "I think there might be something wrong with this terminal"
."Really? what's the problem", she asked while still keeping an eye on her work.
"It keeps showing three versions of Alisa", he replied "That doesn't make any sense".
"James are you kidding?" she asked stifling a chuckle "Of course there's three of her or did you forget?"
"You're joking right?" he asked her now "You're pulling my leg right? That's got to be it right?"
"James come on this isn't a real problem alright. Just go on your mission and stop being funny", she chided then returned to her work.
He shook his head, giving her a mean look then decided why not and select all three. The mission was a little trickier than normal where they'd have to fight a monkey, a fish, a tank and a scorpion but he didn't think it was a big deal. He was in the mood to let off some steam and these low level aragami were the perfect punching bags for him.
James tapped his foot impatiently against the ground waiting for the rest of his team arrive. He saw the elevator come up, saw it open and his jaw nearly fell to the floor.
He saw not one or two but three Alisa's walking out, each one dressed in a different coloured set of clothes. There was the Alisa in red, one in blue and one in yellow.
"Oh man", he rasped on seeing the trio "What's going on here?"
"What's wrong James?" asked the Alisa in red.
"Aww don't tell me you went overboard in training and now feel too tired", asked the one in yellow taking a step towards him while giving him a caring look "You know there are limits to how much you can do".
"If you're tired", said the one in blue meekly "The three of us could go on the mission ourselves".
"No, the two… we're ….Ack", said James rubbing his head for a second. He bent down, hiding his face for a while then looked up at the trio, staring at them for a while.
"Something is wrong", said the girl in blue looking more worried than before.
"Well if that's true and he's tired", said the one in yellow now only a few inches from James' face "Maybe a little kiss from your truly should wake him up".
As if that wasn't enough the Alisa in yellow trailed her index finger down James' face then slowly came closer and closer to him
"HEY NOW MELISSA LEAVE HIM ALONE", shouted Alisa pulling the one in yellow back. The duo looked at James who was now blushing furiously but his eyes were so wide open that anyone would have sworn he saw a ghost.
Somehow in the middle of all that just happened, James managed to pick up on the most important point in the sudden exchange.
"Melissa?" he asked and the girl in yellow smiled then said "Yep that's me, what don't tell me you forgot my name James".
"Yes that's it", he cried out startling the girl in blue a little "I must have hit my head on something really hard in the morning. Maybe that's why I'm having trouble remembering names".
"Could you guys tell me your names again please?" he asked the trio exchanged confused expressions. The girl in red shrugged a little, deciding that it was not a big deal in the end.
"I'm Alisa James", said the girl in red "You remember waking me up from a coma after the Welkin mission".
"I'm Melissa", said the girl in yellow "When we all got separated, you didn't head back home till you found me".
"And I'm Clarissa", said the girl in blue "We always talk about plans and discuss strategies before we go on a mission".
"That reminds me", said Alisa "Did you two have a talk today?"
"No", replied Clarissa shaking her head "After he finishes breakfast James normally comes to my room to discuss our plans for the day and what tactic we'll be using for the upcoming missions".
Somehow James was able to not focus on the biggest glaring issue in front of him and focus on the mission. He got into the copter with the girls following behind. While the sisters all talked about something or the other, James still tried to rationalize how there were three versions of Alisa accompanying him on today's mission. A happy go lucky and flirtatious type, a meek and calm type and the one with the grounding personality that seemed a little more level headed. Their personalities of course weren't the only things that were different. Alisa carried her usual long sword as a weapon, Melissa used a buster sword and Clarissa had a scythe.
Finally they got off at the mission area then spread out searching for their prey. Clarissa reported the monkey and fish coming towards her and James headed to her location. He got there in time and the two were able to quickly dispatch the enemy aragami.
Unleashing his charged spear in a downward slash, he cut the enemy monkey in half. The two of them exchanged casual smiles at each other but then heard on the communicator that Melissa and Alisa were now dealing with the tank.
The two headed in that location but were knocked aside by enemy fire from behind. They turned around to see the tank marching menacingly towards them.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Clarissa and he nodded in agreement.
"Melissa and Alisa, converge on point J in the mission area. We'll be coming there as well", he declared
"But you're dealing with the quadriga right?" asked Melissa
"Yeah, we'll work together and take them out", he said "It might get a little rough but I'm counting on you".
"Such a flirt", she teased. He turned to Clarissa who kept firing at the tank and forcing it come after them. They rounded a corner, saw Alisa and Melissa running towards them with the scorpion following behind.
At this moment, the four all had the same idea as evidenced by the smiles on their faces. They ran towards each other, getting dangerously close till it looked like they were about to collide. At the last possible moment however, James jumped over Alisa who went into a slide while Melissa jumped over Clarissa.
In the air, James switched to gun mode and fired at the scorpion. It did not surprise him that the aragami got its shield up and deflected the bullets. James did land on top of the shield then leapt forward, switching to his spear and land on top of its head. Without wasting much time he continually jabbed the aragami on the top of the head, landing multiple wounds which caused it to flail wildly about.
With a single swing of the blade, Melissa shattered the crown that was on top of the tank causing it to move back in pain. She flipped in mid air then landed on the ground and charged forward with Alisa beside her. While the tank was still standing on its hind legs, the two of them landed a pair of heavy blows on the underside of the tank.
The aragami was able to leap high in the sky then opened its missile pods to unleash a barrage of fire on the targets. The girls all quickly dodged the weapons but James thrust his spear out, hitting the tip of the missile causing it to explode.
"James", shouted all three of them worriedly.
With a swing of his spear, James cut through the flames surrounding him and watched the tank hit the ground, causing a shockwave. He leapt into the air landed on its back and attacked with multiple strikes to the tank. He got down then ran straight ahead just as the tank opened its chest allowing three missiles to stick out. James stuck his spear into the door then leapt back to avoid the missiles. The tank tried to close its most exposed part of the body but the spear prevented that from happening.
"Melissa now", he shouted back and the girl immediately understood. She ran towards the newly opened target jumped, landed on the spear then leapt forward again thrusting her blade into the aragami's exposed flesh. The sword went through and the let out another cry as it tried to shake Melissa off of her.
James took this chance to retrieve his spear then turn around just in time to block a tail swing from the scorpion. It instinctively brought its shield up which was what James wanted. He charged his spear and threw a couple of knives into the shield, creating a platform for him to jump higher up. In the air James released the charge in his spear allowing him to deliver a downward slash powerful enough to shatter the shield the scorpion had.
The scorpion was taken back for a moment which was all that James needed. He threw his spear at the target which pierced the aragami's chest. The scorpion did not react in time and paid for it as Clarissa ran up the creature, jumped off the spear then swung her scythe out, thus slicing its head clean off its shoulders.
"Wow that's great work Clarissa", said Alisa standing near her sister when she landed.
Melissa came up to them and their overlapping chatter made it hard to hear what they were talking about. James quietly stood over the downed aragami then took his spear out of the fallen foe.
"Well that was a fun mission", said Melissa looking at the rest of the team "We should head back fast, don't want to hold up these two".
"Melissa", cried out her sister
As much as he wanted to ask what Melissa meant, this was not the time. All he wanted to do was go back to the branch, head to his room and get a little sleep. He was feeling unusually tired today. Of course when he blinked his eyes, he found that he was no longer in the mission field as before. Instead he was now sitting at the edge of the helipad with Clarissa beside him. The two were watching the sun set apparently.
As if that wasn't enough, he noticed the two of them linked hands causing his mind to stop. He continued to wonder what the hell was going on and if his body was really on autopilot all over again.
"It does feel nice to kick back and relax after a fun mission", said Clarissa sounding a little more relaxed and less nervous from how she was before. She turned to James with a smile on her face asking him "I can't wait for dinner tonight".
'Dinner?' he thought causing him to sweat. Luckily Alisa picked up on that then said "Relax James, I know that you're no expert in the kitchen which is why I'm cooking. We're going to try something from Russia so I hope you're ready for a taste of my culture".
Her smile of course faded when she saw the boy beside her not react like she had hoped for. "James is something wrong?"
"Huh? No nothing's wrong at all", he said in a non-commital voice "Sorry".
"Was it something I said?" she asked now in a meek voice "You know we could make something else for dinner".
"No, no dinner plans sounds great", he said with a nervous chuckle "Sorry, Clarissa; it's just… I'm feeling a little tired that's all".
"Then feel free", she said putting her arms around his neck and pulling him down so that his head rested on her lap "To use my lap as a pillow".
This of course caught James off guard, causing him to blush furiously but turn his face away so that she did not see him.
"There we go", said Clarissa in a calm and soothing voice while she stroked his hair "You feeling better now?"
"Uh, something like that", he replied with a slightly raised tone in his voice.
"AGH I CAN'T TAKE IT", shouted a voice from behind causing James' head to shoot back to vertical position. The two turned around saw Alisa was the one with an impatient look on her face while Melissa was the one trying to calm her down. This reversal of roles certainly caught James off guard but it was what she said next that had him reeling.
"We all promised that the only form of contact would be hand holding", she declared "This was not what we agreed on".
"Oh come on", objected Clarissa "James was clearly not feeling well so I was offering to help him".
She turned to James who nervously nodded in agreement. This was the truth but it did little to change Alisa's mind.
"That was not informed to any of us. As such I am cancelling tonight's dinner get together", she declared now marching towards James.
The teen who was a pedestrian for the moment was now brought into the argument when Alisa suddenly grabbed him by one arm and proceeded to drag him away but Clarissa grabbed him by the other arm, thus preventing him from moving any further.
All of a sudden now he was caught in a tug of war.
"Let him go we're still on a date", cried the girl in blue
"You violated the rules so this date's cancelled", shouted Alisa
"And while the two of them are so obviously pre occupied", said Melissa smiling as she walked towards James "I think I'll go right ahead and steal you from under their noses".
With a sudden scream, James shot up from the bed. He was panting hard and was completely covered in sweat as he looked about trying to get his bearings. It was only now did he realize that everything that just happened to him was a dream.
He took a moment then tightly covered his eyes before opening them to see that his position didn't change. He was dreaming and finally woke up, which caused him to settle down a little.
On one side he was glad that craziness was a dream but on the other side there were a lot of other implications that he did not wish to address at the moment.
Seeing as he did not want to risk falling asleep again and return to that dream, he hopped out of the bed then left the room.
On his way he noticed the familiar back of his friends causing him to move a little closer and speak to them. However when he drew closer, he accidentally overheard their conversation.
"You know I honestly like how that shade of red in your clothes compliments your hair colour", said Sakuya with a smile.
"Thanks but to be honest", she said twirling a few strands of her hair "I'm thinking it's time to try and change my wardrobe a little. You know maybe something in blue".
"GOD NO", shouted James behind them causing the duo to stop and turn to him with surprised expressions.
"NO, NO, NO DON'T EVER CHANGE YOU HEAR ME. YOU'RE PERFECTLY FINE THE WAY YOU ARE", he shouted and before either of them could react he suddenly turned around and ran in the opposite direction.