What's up, beautiful people! Hope you're having a wonderful day/night! Welcome back to my little special!
I appreciate very much for yours reviews and other means of support. Looking back at the previous chapter, I realize that it was a really dark introduction. I don't regret it anymore. Honestly, I take it as a compliment that I'm growing better as a writer. So for that, I am very thankful.
Now this chapter doesn't include any…bad taste, so you can be rest assured that I won't do anything that'll disturb you. Only a few actions happen, but they're really good. You'll see what I mean as you read the chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I. DO. NOT. OWN. ANY. CARTOON. SHOWS. YEEEEEEET!
So with that out of the way, here's the special chapter.
SPECIAL CHAPTER 2: THE AFTERMATH
Flying above the clouds, the majestic and technologically advanced airship flew across open skies. The airship resembled the Secret Saturdays, however, it was colored black with green stripes. The Ultimatrix symbol was displayed at its top as a show of the young man in charge of the only team that fought against the norms of the empire.
At the moment, the team were having a meeting in one of their hangouts. While they had a meeting room, they decided to meet at a huge room with a flat screen TV, a pool table at the other side of the room, and a few other amazing things.
Everyone was gathered at the center of the room and sitting at big round couch with a round table at its center. Unbeknownst to them, this entire room was inspired from another universe in which a group of heroes called the Teen Titans usually sat around to watch TV, play games or to talk.
"I still think I could've handled it." Aria argued and crossed her arms under her chest.
"Do you mean before or after you almost got shot?" Lucy asked, and chuckled with a snort.
Aria shot a glare at her and looked away with a huff. Prior to her stubbornness, the group had been talking about other things relating to the Night Raid, the empire, and their current situation. One thing that had stuck the most was their interferences and how much it had affected the empire. Sadly, none of them believed they've made enough to liberate the people.
"Aria." Ben called the blonde. Upon getting her attention, he spoke. "Don't take it the hard way. I know you've been training hard so you can be a useful member to the team, but there is a reason we're a team. A team is formed to help one another, to ensure each person has the other's back, and to make sure everyone gets better."
"I guess you're right." Aria admitted, and bow her head.
"Of course, my master is right." Spear said proudly. Despite no sign of danger or a fight, she was still in her Asgardian form. "When master hast decreed a word, so shall thy servant doeth."
"Uh, Spear…" Lucy called. "I know you want to be all battle ready and stuff, but…the accent and old speaking is not cutting it out for us."
Spear's 'eyes' widened, and she turned over to Ben. "Does my form not please thee?" She asked.
"I…don't think I should be the one to tell you what to do." Ben responded honestly and stood up. "Anyway, I'm going to check up on Eunice. I kind of feel bad for leaving her to those two girls."
"I don't know, Ben…" Lucy sat back and crossed her legs on the table. "Eunice's the only one in our team with the surgical and medical know-hows to help them. You won't be able to do anything unless you change into Brainstorm or Grey Matter."
"Hmm, that's not a bad idea." The idea made Ben to smirk. "This meeting is concluded. You guys should do what you want. Just don't leave the ship unless it's important."
Lucy smirked. "Oh, just look at you being all responsible. Gwen would be so proud."
Ben chose to ignore her remark for other important matters. Ever since he came to that world, he has actually been changing while holding on to some parts of the hero he is. He wouldn't admit it, though, and so he left the room. Spear, Lucy and Aria were left to themselves.
"Okay, I guess that just leaves us." Lucy said and changed into her humanoid alien form. She changed into a sludge and leapt out of the seat. When she reformed, it was a few meters away and standing on the floor. "I'm going to see what I can do in this big ship. There's still many places I haven't seen in this big ship."
"Verily well, Lucy. But thou shalt not go near the holding unit." Spear informed her.
Lucy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You know, these days I don't even get to see how you really look like." And with that, she let the doors slide open, and walked out of the room before it closed.
"Does thou think the same way?" Spear asked Aria. "Be honest, blonde one."
"I…uh…" Aria looked around and saw a book on the table. She took it without haste and opened it. "Later! I have to get back to my reading!"
Spear sighed; she knew the blonde girl was lying. With the way things where, she chose to ignore Lucy's words, and stand up. "I shall be heading to my quarters. May we see each other again." She said.
"Yeah, sure." Aria replied without looking past her book.
_(LINE BREAK)_
The floor was really odd, at least to Air's own thinking. Looking down at her feet, the white tiles were beyond anything her naked feet had ever touched. The white cloth around her kept her warm despite exposing her knees and downwards. As for the purple-haired girl, she was soundly asleep even though she (Air) wasn't on the bed anymore.
'What is this place? Where's Fall and Luna?' Air thought with a sense of concern and worry. Thinking back, she shuddered when her mind flooded with the incident that happened sometime ago.
She fell on her knees, and began to pant. The whole experience were there, and she couldn't forget them. Seeing Fall's legs broken and Luna's eyes gorged out as she pleaded for help was too traumatizing. Only the gods knew what would've happened if she hadn't been saved by the woman with a god-like appearance.
'Who was she anyway? Is she…the goddess my parents once told me about? They told me about the goddess that watches over the most pure of hearts, but I never thought I'd see her in person.' She thought.
Just then she heard a voice, and it sounded like someone talking. Whoever it was, the person's footsteps were coming closer until Air saw who it was and watched with fear. The very being she was thinking about walked into the room with her blue glowing eyes staring down at her.
"You've awakened, little one." Spear said, a bit shocked. In her hand was her long-handle weapon, Mjolnir.
"Uh…Uh…" Air was lost at words.
No words could describe how much she felt to be standing before a majestic being with incredible power. So in instinct, she bowed before Spear, her palms and forehead touching the floor, as a show of respect.
"I'm sorry! Forgive me for my hesitance, goddess of purity!"
Spear's eyes widened, she was shocked at the sudden address. Before she could utter a word, Sheele began to wake up, as a moan escaped her mouth. Air's exclamation had woken her up, but the purple-haired girl had no idea what was happening.
"Um…what happened? Did I sleep off again?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.
"You didn't miss much." Lucy grinned, leaning on the side of the door. "Spear over here just got mistaken for a goddess, although I guess it's obvious when she wields the very weapon of a god."
'Spear? That's an odd name for the goddess.' Air thought.
"You!" Spear turned behind her and saw Lucy. Angrily, she shouted. "How dare thee follow thy movements without saying a word!"
"What can I say? It's what we spies do." She couldn't help but laugh from it.
Spear snarled, and looked away from her. Lucy was right about one thing though; it was her obsession with staying in her current form. Spear was a warrior even after her father was killed by the Three Beasts Warriors, and though she could always change back, she mostly remained in her god-like form.
However, the scene in front of her was troubling. Realizing her action, she powered down and went to the bowing girl.
"Lift your head. I'm no goddess." She said.
Air was confused, her eyes widening because of the voice. It sounded like the goddess earlier, but with less power behind it and more human. When she lifted her head, it surprised her to see that the 'goddess' she believed in was a young woman in winter clothes and long blonde hair.
"You're the goddess?" She asked.
"No, I'm not." Spear said, sounding a bit disappointed. She hated to put the little girl's hope down, but she went on. "My name is Spear. I'm the daughter of the former prime minister of the empire, and the current user of Mjolnir, the godly weapon you see in my hand."
Air's eyes travelled to the thing she mentioned, and she saw it. The weapon looked strange and unlike anything she has seen before. From her view, it looked like a hammer with a long handle, however, the small blue airy aura coming from it made her think otherwise.
"Then…where am I?" Air looked up to Spear for an answer.
"You're…" Spear was interrupted by Lucy. The blonde came over to them, at Air specially, with a huge smile on her face. "You're on the airship of the Emerald Heroes. Hi, my name is Lucy Mann. Nice to meet you." Lucy said.
To ease the girl a bit, she bent forward to reach her level, and shake her hand. Air was hesitant though, obviously as she just stared at Lucy's face. She looked nice, however, there was something familiar about her, especially about that smile.
Air's mind snapped; she remembered where she saw that attitude. The very image of Bach flashed in her mind, with that deceiving smile of his, scaring her. She screamed and slapped Lucy's hand from her, and backed away from her, terrified.
"Ow, that hurt…" Lucy frowned a bit. She looked back at Spear, confused. "What was that about?"
Hmm…" Spear thought about it, and placed her hand at her chin. "Looks like she might have PTSD. Aria told us that Bach operated in a close fashion as she did when she was evil. It'll appear your actions triggered the trauma."
"But we saved them. Everything should be fine." Lucy insisted. This was the first time she was experiencing such a feeling of loss.
"Should it be?" Spear asked, but it was rhetorical. "We barely made it in time to save them, and now two of them are receiving treatment because of our lateness. True, it could've been worse if we hadn't shown up at that time, but…the damage has been done, and it might take some time before it can be repaired."
Lucy looked down at the ground, sad by the information she was told. PTSD was an issue in her world, but she never encountered anyone with it, so she never really understood it at that moment. The reality was saddening, so she stood up and sighed.
Air watched the discussion with uncertainty. What was PTSD? Was it really as bad as Spear put it? These were the questions that were on her mind. She felt bad for rejecting Lucy's nice gesture, but trust was hard to have, especially with what she went through.
"Hey, are you okay?" Air heard a familiar voice say. Looking back in curiosity, she saw Sheele looking down at her with her hand out. "I don't know if you trust me, but…it would be bad if you keep staying on the floor, right?"
"Uh, yeah." Air reluctantly accepted her hand.
Sheele was able to get back on her on her feet. Lucy saw it as her chance to speak, but she wasn't as nonchalant as she was before. Placing her hands behind her head, she said. "If it helps you just a bit, Bach and those other bad guys are locked behind bars. They'll never be able to hurt you again."
"Yes, right." Air replied and smiled a bit. She was happy, but there was a thought lingering in her mind. "Wait, where's my friends? Where's Luna and Fall?" She finally remembered.
Lucy and Spear glanced at each other. Either Air had not been listening or she forgot; either way, the latter of the two girls had said they were receiving treatment. But seeing the worried look on her face, Spear decided to ease her mind.
"Your friends are safe." She said to her. "I don't know which of them is Fall or Luna, but they should be responding well to treatment. With the advanced technology contained on this ship, they'll be as good as new."
"Yeah!" Lucy exclaimed with a smirk and directed a thumbs up at her. "Your friends are going to be okay-dokey."
Air was uncertain, and so she looked away. These people were nice, but it wasn't easy to accept their assurance just yet. It was very obvious on their face; fortunately, Sheele placed a comforting hand on her, and caught her attention.
"Let's go get your clothes back, if you want." She said.
Air looked away; her mind flashed back to when it was ripped off. Something like that could be repaired, but she wasn't very sure she wants to step in those clothes again. She still needed to say something though.
"I…uh…"
"If you're worried about what happened, it's fine. We've added a few things to it so such an incident never happens again."
"Okay…"
"Alright!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly. She made a playful spin and marched to the door. "Let's get going! On to the laundry of this really massive ship!"
"Massive airship?" Air asked, confused.
Spear smirked a bit. "You heard her, so try to stay close to me. Sheele gets lost quite easily."
"It was just five times." Sheele told her.
"You mean minus the time you tried to find this place?" Spear raised an eyebrow.
Sheele didn't respond to her, but she didn't smile either. Air laughed a bit, and quickly shut her mouth. As funny as the both of them were, she was reminded of the last time she showed such happiness, and it scared her that she could go through it again. Maybe this was the PTSD they were talking about.
Sheele and Spear glanced at each other, aware of what happened. Rather than question it, they chose to ignore it and lead Air from the room like nothing happened. Throughout the walk, Lucy showed her the rooms they were passing by, mentioning that she didn't even know some of them.
Air was amazed by the size of the hallways and the metallic doors that opened and closed automatically. She may be from the countryside, but even she knew the Capital didn't have such technology. Who were these guys? She wondered.
They soon arrived at the laundry room, and it was a sight to behold. Beyond the metallic platform they stood on, Air watched with wide eyes as clothes of different fashions were hanging on different lines and sent moving to different machines. The speed they went were almost blinding, and yet it fascinated the pink-haired girl.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Lucy asked with a quirky smile.
Air looked back at her and nodded, a bit embarrassed at the expression she made. Lucy took her shyness well and went to a tablet that was on the railing. She pressed a button on it, and in a second a set of familiar pink clothes arrived right in front of them.
Air gazed at it, awestruck at her clothes. The pink design was the same, however, they looked entirely new and fresh. Being from a poor village, getting clean water wasn't always easy, and sometimes they didn't have soap to wash. So the fact that her clothes was clean beyond her own thoughts amazed her.
"Cool, right?" Lucy said, walking over to the clothes.
She unhooked the clothes from the line, and watched the wrapping protecting the clothes disappear. Air was surprised by it, but not enough for what Lucy had ready for her. She pressed one of the buttons on it, and to Air's own surprise the clothes teleported onto her.
She screamed a bit, and took a step back. After seeing nothing happened, she touched the collar and looked underneath her clothes. To her surprise, her underwear was there, and the white cloth she wore was nowhere to be seen.
"I probably should've given you a warning." Lucy said sheepishly. "My bad. Maybe next time?"
Sheele went over to Air and knelt next to her. Air made eye-contact with her, and heard what she had to say.
"I know how it feels to witness these advancements. I, too, was surprised once I was a full member of this team." With that, she changed the topic. "Lucy found your raincoat on the floor following the operation. As you can see, it looks slightly different from how it used to be."
"Uh, yeah." Air said.
"And…" Lucy chirped in. "It comes with a cool new features. I know it's crazy, but Sheele asked Eunice if she could add some features to it since she wants you to be safe and all that. Touch your clothes first."
Air did as told, and she did notice something. Moving her fingers across the material, she noticed that it was different than it used to be. It felt smoother and yet so firm, and also lighter at the same time. This was a new feeling for her.
"Eunice added some new fabric. Not only does it prevent any human from ripping it off easily, but…" Sheele cut Lucy off and pressed the top button on the raincoat. Immediately, a dome-like force-field covered her and Air.
"It also has a shield to protect you from any threat." Lucy finished.
The blonde then looked at Spear, and the girl nodded. With the mystical weapon still in her hand, she lifted it above her head and brought it down on Air. The pink-haired screamed, and closed her eyes out of fears. However, when she noticed nothing happened, she looked back at Spear and saw the weapon was obstructed by the shield.
"It's also able to block against any attack. Just…don't count of it taking on someone with the power to destroy an entire city. Spear over here wasn't even using 10% of her power just now." She pointed at her with her thumb.
The shield dissipated, and Sheele stood up. Air was at awe with her new clothes, to the point that she wondered if all of this were true. This whole experience was much more unbelievable than when Bach treated them around the Capital, which was just a fake to deceive them.
"What about Luna and Fall?" Air asked with concern for her friend. "Will they…have similar –"
"They do." Lucy cut her off. "But it's not like yours. We had to differentiate you guys so you guys don't seem too identical. I think Fall's own has been equipped to strengthen her muscles so she can fight better. We heard what happened when she tried to fight back. And Luna's allows her to go through anybody if the clothes believes the situation calls for it."
"Everything was taken into account from you and your friends' experiences." Spear explained to her. "I…won't talk on it, but you can be rest assured that the tragic won't ever happen again with these new clothes."
"But…if you don't want of this, we can ask Eunice to remove them and return them back to normalcy." Sheele added.
'Back to normalcy? You mean, back to that time where we were defenseless.' Air thought and glanced at her hand. 'I don't feel so sure, but…I know if we had this…No, if we really had these things back there then none of us would've had to go through what we did. I don't even want to think about what awaited us if –"
"Air, are you okay?" Sheele asked with concern. "You…suddenly became quiet." Air was a little surprised when she went on her knee, and placed a comforting hand on her. "You know, there's nothing wrong with saying your mind. We're all girls here that has seen and witness the cruelty of the empire."
"She's right, and we've experienced it." Sheele added. "Lucy is kind of new, so luckily for her she hasn't experienced the horrors. But you shouldn't be afraid to smile when the time comes. None of us are those disgusting men that meant you harm."
"Yeah, so lighten up!" Lucy smirked.
Air glanced at the three of them, and then to the ground. All of them sounded nice, however, she was still feeling reluctant to accept their words. Fortunately, she didn't have to say anything because the intercom turned on and a voice was heard.
"Guys! Why am I getting an alert that Item 261 has been removed?!" Eunice yelled through the intercom.
"W-What is that?!" Air yelped, and looked around her.
Sheele patted her softly on the head and sent an assuring smile. "It's okay. That's just Eunice talking from…a thing I keep forgetting."
Lucy shook her head with a silly smile, and looked upwards. "Yeah, we had to give the little girl back her clothes! I think she likes it!"
"You mean Air?! She's finally conscious?!" Eunice sounded happy, and paused for a moment. "Bring her to Room 33. Luna and Fall are waiting for her there."
"That's the lounge room! Spear and I were there a while ago!"
"Luna and Fall are okay?" Air was surprised to hear. In fact, the good news was so big that she ran out of the room, not even waiting for the others.
"Air, wait!" Sheele called out, but was ignored.
Seeing how anticipated the girl was, Spear quickly equipped her Asgardian form and flew straight for her. Lucy and Sheele were hit with a strong breeze, and were barely able to see Spear scoop the girl in her hand and fly her off.
"You know…" Lucy pushed her hair down. It was messed up because of Spear. "I hate it when she does things like that."
"I agree." Looking at Sheele, her purple hair was messier, and would need more fixing. Lucy was surprised, and even have to bite her tongue to avoid saying something rude.
_(LINE BREAK)_
Air clung on to Spear, the breeze hitting her face terrifying to her own nature. The god-like being was holding her with arm, and holding her close so she doesn't fall. But the flight was still new to her, and so she could only scream.
"Fear not, young one, I shalt not let thee fall!" Spear told her to comfort her. "Thou worries for her friends, does thou not?! Then we shalt be there very soon! I send my apologies for this maiden's rush!"
"I…Okay!" Air buried her face to her chest.
Spear was right about their speed, because they arrived at the very door to the room. Air was placed back on the ground, although she found a bit of a problem finding her footing. Meanwhile, Spear returned back to her normal form, and earned a look from the little girl.
"You're changing back?" She asked.
"Yeah. I…don't want to be mistaken for a goddess by your friends." She answered.
Air blushed in embarrassment, the memory of that time occurring in her mind. The scene changed, however, when the door opened and Luna and Fall saw their friend standing by the doorway.
"AIR!"
"LUNA! FALL!"
The three girls' excitement couldn't be contained, and so they ran to each other and met at the space between the door and the center of the room. Upon meeting each other, they hug, laughed, and cried in joy at their own reunion.
"You're okay!" Luna said to Air. "I thought that you –"
"No, I'm fine! I should be saying the same about you, Luna! I was so worried that you won't be able to see again, but your EYES! You have your eyes back! How?!" And then she turned to Fall. "And you have your legs back to normal! You're walking like you usually do!"
"I know right!" Luna smirked and jumped twice. "It feels like they weren't snapped before! This place is amazing! You should see the girl who helped us out! She's amazing!"
Eunice smiled from hearing the compliment. She was seating at the same place with Aria, though the latter wasn't looking at them. Whether it was intentional or not, she never put her book down to see the three girls, nor the time when it was just Luna and Fall.
"See, was that so bad?" Spear asked as she came inside the room. All three girls turned to face her. "You three just smiled, and we didn't do anything to you. I hope you can see now that you're safe here. No one is going to make you do something inhumane or go through some painful experience again."
"Yeah!" Air turned to her, and bow humbly. "Thank you so much! All of you, for helping my friends get better! We'll be sure to pay you back no matter the cause!"
"We will?" Fall asked, and yelped. She was nudged at the stomach by Luna.
"Yes, we will." She told her.
Eunice and Spear laughed; they found the whole thing funny. Their action surprised them though, fortunately, Spear was able to clear it up as she patted her on the head.
"You don't owe us anything, Air. None of you do. We're simply being the role models we wish this country will be one day." And with that, she began to speak up strongly. "My father was the former prime minister of the empire before he was fooled by the current prime minister to step down. He always believed in doing good to others, even when he was at death's door because of the empire's goons. That is why, I will hold on to those principles he upheld, his conviction to do the right thing, and finish what he could not, no matter how long it might take. We only ask you three to stay the same to others, and never let the empire corrupt you."
"Wow!" Luna was at awe.
"Amazing!" Fall exclaimed.
Air stood straight, pushing her hand off her, and smiled back. "Thank you very much, Nee-san."
"Nee-san?" Spear blushed a bit. "I-I'm an only child though."
"Well it's better than being called a goddess." That comment from Eunice caused Spear to blush.
"H-How did you hear about that?!" Spear was shocked and embarrassed.
"Aria told me." Eunice casually told her.
The reveal made Aria to shudder, even when she heard Spear call out her name. Leaving the girls by themselves, she went over to Aria and began yelling at her. The whole scene was comedic, but Air's mind was on something specific.
"So that's Aria?" Air asked, looking over at the girl being yelled at.
"What did you say?" Fall asked.
"That girl with the book covering her face." Air answered. "Sometime after I woke up, Spear mentioned Aria as someone that used to be evil. I think she might know Bach somehow."
Fall growled, and punched her fist into her hand. "If she comes anywhere close to us, I'll kick her ass."
The door suddenly opened, and Lucy and Sheele stepped in. Having been gone for a while to groom their hair back to the way it was, Lucy stepped into the room, angry at Spear for what she did.
"There you are! You know, this is the part you're supposed to say sorry!" Lucy shouted. "Brushing my hair is one thing, but do you know how stressful it is to do Sheele's hair?! The mess you made was a lot of work!"
"But you still arrived her, right?" Spear looked back at her.
"That's it huh?" Lucy smirked, and transformed. She became her humanoid alien self and clutched her fists. "I think it's high time I take you down a peck or two, right?!"
"Take me down? Ha! Don't make me laugh!" Spear responded by changing into her Asgardian form.
"We'll see when I get mud all over you!"
"Is that before or after I sent lightning your way?!"
Lucy took the initiative, and by that, she leapt straight for her. The same was for Sheele, whose weapon was by her side, ready to be brought onward to hit her. Air, Luna and Fall were completely baffled by the squeamish, and the fact that Lucy wasn't really human.
Sheele decided to intervene, however. As the both of them were about to approach each other in the air, the purple-haired woman was suddenly above the space between them and came down with Extase in her hand.
The shockwave caused by her weapon alone was powerful. It not only caused Spear and Lucy to be sent away from one another, but it caused a strong breeze that pushed Luna, Air and Fall a few feet away.
Eunice sighed, and pinched her nose. She should've intervened before Sheele did. Speaking of the young woman herself, the smokescreen caused by her move was beginning to dissipate. Meanwhile, Air, Luna and Fall rose back to their feet, just in time to see Sheele's silhouette.
"T-These people are a bunch of oddballs." Luna commented.
"Yeah, but that…" Fall's attitude brightened. "was awesome! I want to train from that Nee-san over there!"
"What?!" Air and Luna were shocked.
Sheele stepped out of the smokescreen before it cleared. Looking down at the girls, she soon bow her heads to them and apologized. "I'm very sorry for that! I hope you three weren't harmed!"
"W-We're fine." Air was taken aback by the girl's generosity. For someone with such power display to apologize to them was totally unexpected.
"I'm fine too." Lucy said. Due to Sheele's shockwave, she had been sent to splat on the wall, although she was able to gather her body and return back to her human form. "And sorry about that. I got carried away."
"Me too." Spear responded apologetically. As she was back to her normal self, she stood up and bowed at the girls' direction. "I hope this misbehavior caused by Lucy and I did not leave any poor impression on us."
'These people are apologizing to us?' Air thought in surprise. 'With their power, we should be the ones begging them, and yet they're treating us like…we're not slaves. Are you not slaves anymore?'
Air wasn't certain about that question. Fortunately, the girls were able to forgive them, before Aria finally put down the book in her hands, and asked the one question on her mind.
"By the way, where's Ben?" She asked.
_(LINE BREAK)_
"I just want answers!" Ben shouted, slamming his hands on the table.
He was questioning one of the enthusiasts, mainly the one named Suka. As the man whom had ordered for Luna's legs to be snapped, he was in the interrogation room in the ship, seated on a metallic chair, and Ben standing across him.
"Look here, boy! I'm not going to say anything until YOU release me at once! Do you know what connections I have! If I were you, I'll get me out of here at once!" Suka retorted.
Ben growled; he was trying so hard to hold back his anger. Unknown to him, however, was the fact that he was being watched by Luna, Air and Fall, and the others except Aria. For some reason, the blonde decided not to go with them despite being the one that asked about Ben's whereabouts.
"Are you sure we should've brought them here?" Eunice asked with concern.
"Positive." Spear answered with certainty. "For the girls to walk on the path of recovery, they must see their traumatizers in a position of weakness. It's only from there that they can take some of the necessary steps to move on."
"What?! That defies any psychological treatment I've heard!"
Spear simply shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms under her chest. Whether Eunice liked it or not, the three girls were watching the whole thing. Air was frightened, and held on to Spear's dress for support. Meanwhile, Luna grabbed on to Sheele, and Fall just stared at the window, fidgeting as she tried to fight back her own fears.
"He can't see us, can he?" Luna looked up to Sheele for an answer.
"No, he cannot." Sheele assured her with a soft pat on the head. "Apparently, only us from this side can see what's going on inside."
Back at the interrogation, the scene wasn't going very well for Ben. Earlier he met Eunice, who didn't need his help with helping the girls. At the time he hadn't seen them, so he decided to find out any information from the disgusting men themselves.
"So what!" Suka yelled.
"So what?!" Ben's fingers tightened, his nail pushing against his palm. "You tortured innocent girls! They had a life, they had dreams, and they wanted a better future! And you just took it away from them like they were nothing but things for your sickened entertainment!"
"Well that is what slaves are for!" Suka retorted, and laughed. "Wait, do you really care about those three?! You see them once, you'll see many of them a hundred times! You talk about dreams and a better future?! Ha! What kind of fantasy do you live in, boy! And here I thought we could talk things out like logical men! In the empire, only the strong and the richest survive! If I didn't get my hand on that one with golden hair, some other man would do because, do you want to know why?! It's because we're the alpha gender! We take what we want, be them an animal, a female, or the very land we stand on! But seems you understand some of hat since you have quite a unique number of beautiful girls! Quite greedy, I'll admit!"
"I'm nothing like you! The people here are fighting to make sure monsters like you will never be able to hurt anyone ever again!"
"People?! Aw please!" Suka laughed, and stood up. "I'm not blind! Your whole team are just girls, and considering you're a young man, I'd bet you've had more than your own fill of them! Maybe that's why you decided to come over there and destroy Bach's business because, like us, ordinary girls don't do it for you anymore! Don't be shy; that's what all men are like!"
Ben's levelheadedness reached its limit. Without touching the Ultimatrix, he was engulfed in a green light, before it died down and his alien form was revealed. He stood as Fasttrack, except the blue furry alien wore a green and black strip racing clothes.
He proceeded to throw the table to the side, causing it to hit the wall. Before Suka could say a word, he used his enhanced speed to punch him in the stomach and proceed to both sides of his face. From there, he picked him up from his gown and threw him against the wall behind him.
"Ha…ha…" Suka panted, bruises on his face as he smirked. "I know you won't kill me. You would've from the start, so you can take your aggression on me, but…that gold-haired girl. The very girl you took from my own enjoyment! When I get out of here, I'm going to find her, and I'm going to continue from where I stop! I'll make her cry for mercy every second of every day until she begs me to kill her, but I won't grant her that wish!"
Luna tightened her fist, but it refused to stop shaking. She could hear her own heartbeat, and the scene only escalated. Eunice had enough of it, thus she took the intiative.
"That's enough of it! Spear, Sheele, take the girls out of –"
Suka continued. "And then I'll go for her friends and I'll see how they scream! I bet the one with blue hair cries the most! After all, if she thinks losing a pair of eyes was bad, wait until she gets a load of me!"
Luna shuddered and clung on to Sheele. Fall didn't need to know her friend's feelings; she could already feel it from where she was standing. Her eyes darted to the door, and before anyone knew it, she ran to it and opened it and rushed inside the interrogation room.
Since Suka was close to the door, Fall saw her chance to realize her revenge.
"You! You're walking?!" Suka shouted, shocked by the fact she was on her two feet.
"That's right, and I'm going to use them to kick your ass!" With that, she let out a battle cry and leapt up in the air.
Green lines began to make patterns on her raincoat. Fall could feel her strength growing more than she could've imagined. It felt so good and fitted well with her rage that upon coming down to the ground, the man screamed and scurried out of the way.
He was right to leave, because Fall caused a big crack on the floor. He panted heavily as he got back on his feet. This strength from her was beyond anything a girl her age should have.
"Y-You little bitch! Where the hell did that strength come from?!" He exclaimed.
Luna didn't say; she ran towards him and did a front kick. Due to the distance, her feet kick him right at the chest, the force of which caused him to cough up blood. If that weren't enough, she landed on her feet and did a sweep kick that knocked him to the ground.
Suka cried out when he felt the metal floor, and a reality dawned on him. As someone of the upper class, he was being beaten by a little girl, whom was also meant to be his slave. His pride got the better of him, and so he stood and swung a fist at her.
"Learn your place, you runt!" He cried out in anger.
Fall was fazed by his reaction both physically and mentally. When his fist came for her, she dodged it flawlessly, and did it again when he swung another punch. Suka was taken aback by it, but before he knew it, the girl did a backflip which allowed her to grab his hand with her legs and throw him across the room.
Amazingly, Fall didn't have to wait for him to hit the wall. She returned back to her feet and made a massive leapt with the new speed she now possessed, and did a roundhouse kick at Suka's stomach.
Soon enough, Suka hit the wall with a greater impact. The air in his lungs went right out of his, and the breaking of his bones could be heard inside and outside the room. He fell on the ground with a loud groan and was unconscious. Meanwhile, Fall landed on her floor and huffed with a nasty look on the enthusiast.
As Fasttrack, Ben could've stopped the beating since. But he was taken aback by the beating, and had waited to see how far the little girl would go. He knew who she was, and was very much aware of the grudge she likely held for him. Perhaps that is the reason he didn't intervene. A bit of him wanted to see the man get his just reward.
Anyway, Fall glanced over at him and glared. Fasttrack was a bit surprised by it, but showed only a bit of a reaction. Their eyes met for that brief moment, before she went back to the others who were shocked at what she did.
"Fall, you've become that strong…" Luna said, astonished by her friend's strength.
"S-So cool." Air was amazed. "I guess your new clothes really did give you some extra powers."
"Thanks…" Fall replied with a smirk. "Now how about we go get some food? I'm kind of starving."
"Then we shouldn't wait any longer." Sheele was the first to speak amongst her friends. "Come with me. I know the direction to the kitchen, at least. Eunice and Spear have been teaching me how to cook."
"Awesome!" And so with that, the three girls followed Sheele when she left.
"Why did you stop me?!" Eunice directed her question at Spear. From the looks on her face, she wasn't anywhere happy. "That girl could've killed him! Maybe I shouldn't have enhanced her clothes to be so…physical!"
"That would be a terrible idea!" Spear objected bluntly. "You agreed to have those things made so they can defend themselves! What if they met an Imperial Arms user?!"
"Those suits can't protect them against Imperial Arms users in a fight, and you know that!" Eunice fired back.
"Then what about Danger Beasts?!"
"Those suits are equipped with homing equipment that'll alert us if any of them are in danger! I only agreed with Sheele because I believed they should be able to either defend themselves or run away until some of us arrive!"
"That's not the right way to go!" And so, Spear went ahead to explain. "You saw them, right?! All three of them were scared and practically worried that the scum would get out and get them! But now that Fall has beaten his ass, not only has she shown them that they can defend themselves against men like him, but…they can finally feel at peace!"
Eunice couldn't deny that, but a part of her wasn't fine with the result. "I…I don't think this is the right way for them to feel safe. They're just kids."
"Kids? You seem to forget that I was a kid when I started fighting galactic warlords, psychopathic villains, and menacing creatures from a different dimension."
Both Eunice and Spear were met by Fasttrack. He went on to say his opinion. "I think I understand what Spear is saying. Eunice, you care a lot, but you need to understand that this world isn't like ours, and even if it was, we should acknowledge the talent we see here."
"But we're dropping them off in Tatsumi's village, so why bother?" Eunice said and then sighed. "I'll let it go for now. But Spear and Lucy better clean up the mess they made at the lounge or no favors for them for a month."
"WHAT?!" Both Lucy and Spear exclaimed. Unlike the latter, the blonde was carrying Suka away when she heard it.
"Wait, what did they do?"
Eunice was silent, and glanced at the two of them. "Ask them for yourselves. I have work to do." And with that, she left them.
"Uh, sure…" The Ultimatrix's symbol flashed once, and Ben returned back to normal. With his eyes still on Eunice, he asked the one question on his mind. "Is it just me or is Eunice becoming a bit more like Gwen?"
_(LINE BREAK)_
Ben was walking down the hallway with his mind on something else. Thinking back to the interrogation, he was glad that he didn't have to put away Suka. The guy was beaten up, and now Eunice had to attend to his wounds since they didn't need anyone to die on them, no matter what they did.
Sometimes Ben wondered if it was worth treating the bad guy's injuries. While he did feel sympathy for some villains, he knew men like Suka won't change even after being beaten up from a bit of karma. So thinking more into it, he realized something else, and decided to stop by the lounge.
"I haven't gotten to know those girls yet. I should probably introduce them and get to understand them." Ben said to himself.
The doors slide up, and Ben was able to see what was going on. Everyone apart from Lucy, Spear and Eunice were watching a TV show from the comfort of the round couch at the center of the room. Since the TV was a flatscreen, Sheele was hurdled together with Fall, Air and Luna, though Aria seemed to be focused on her book.
Meanwhile, Lucy just finished fixing the tiles that were damaged from the tension earlier. She let out a sigh of relief and wiped her forehead, and looked at the clean tiles.
"And that is how you do it. Kind of wish Spear could've done the cleaning though." With that said, she looked at the door and noticed her cousin. "Oh hey, Ben."
"Hey, Lucy." His voice not only got her attention, but the others in the room. Walking away from the doorway, he let the thing close behind him, and said. "Nice work fixing the damage. I didn't know you could do it."
"Hey, don't underestimate me." Lucy snickered.
Friendly relations was always nice, and that meant well between cousins. Looking past Lucy, he saw Air, Luna, Fall and Sheele staring at him. The moment seemed right, so he began making his way to the three little girls.
"I don't think we introduced each other well. Hi, I'm –"
Ben was cut off when Fall stood straight with a threatening glare on her. A threat had come to her notice, and it was none other than the brown haired teen in front of her. As such, her suit activated, and she got into a fighting stance against him.
"Take one step closer and I'll beat you up to a pulp!" Fall straight up told him.
"Uh, okay?" Ben was uncertain on how he should react. He looked over to Air to talk with her, but found her behavior a surprise too.
The pink-haired girl held on to Sheele's arm, with the same for Luna who was at the young woman's other side. Confused, Sheele decided to intervene from her spot.
"Fall, it's okay. Ben's a very good person. You don't have to worry about him doing anything wrong to you." She said to assure her.
"And how are you sure about that?!" Fall yelled without looking back at her. "No offense, but you heard what that guy said! All men are the same! Isn't that why he has a team that's only made up of girls?!"
This got the attention of Aria, and the shock of Sheele and Lucy. It was almost speechless, not because it sounded true, but because they knew it wasn't true. However, none of them spoke out, thus Ben tried to defend himself.
"That's…" Ben looked away, thinking back. Was there a time he tried to recruit a male? He wondered. "Look…" He faced her straight on. "My team being girls is just by coincidence. If you understand how things have been, you'll know that I never meant it to turn out that way! Sheele, Spear, Lucy, Eunice and Aria joined me at their own free will! They had a choice to decline!"
"But you just hesitated! And what about us?!" Fall went onwards. "We don't know what really happens here, but we know that YOU are a man, and no man can be trusted!"
"She's right…" Luna said. She gained the courage to stand from her place by Sheele, and added. "Men are wolves. We have to keep our guard up this time."
Everyone apart from the three girls were completely taken aback. The expression was on their face, and very obvious by their silence. Finally, it was Lucy that decided to speak back, knowing that they were wrong.
"Hey! You girls are nice to have and all, but don't go about dissing my cou-"
"Lucy, no." Ben interjected with his right hand up. Glancing at her, he gave her a serious face, and faced the girls, changing that expression. "Well…if you girls feel that way, then there's really nothing we can do here. We're taking you to a village of a friend I know. It's cold at these times, but Eunice mentioned your raincoats are equipped with heat generators to keep you warm."
"But we don't want to go!" Luna protested.
"Yeah, we like it here!" Fall agreed.
"But you three don't trust me, right?" Ben asked them, though it sounded rhetorical. When none of them answered, he continued. "Look, I'm not asking for you to trust me, nor am I going to make you guys do something you don't want to do. But you need to understand that this isn't a place where you can restart your life. Everyone here is fighting against the empire, and as much as I don't want it, we'll be facing a lot of danger, some of which might bring us close to death's door. We can't afford to endanger your lives."
"But what about Fall?!" Lucy said to change his mind. "You were amazed with what she did, right?! You said it yourself."
"Trust is something that has to be earned, and right now we don't have time for that." Ben said and headed her way. "Right now we have the Jaegers and the Wild Hunt to deal with. We should focus on how we can take both of them down and help Revolutionary Army finally bring an end to this mad world. I'm sorry, but can you and Sheele just get their things set? We'll be at the village in less than an hour."
"Sure…" Lucy bow her head, sadden. "We can do that."
"Thank you." And so, with that said, Ben left the room.
An unspoken silence befell the room. No one was uncertain about the reaction they should make, or the person that should break the silence. But after a minute, Sheele stood up and looked down at the girls.
"I'm…going to go with Lucy. We have to get your things ready." She said.
"Wait." Air grabbed on to Sheele's dress. Looking up at her, she was obviously feeling some guilt. "Did we do something wrong? Should we have trusted him if so we're –"
"No, it's fine." Sheele patted her head comfortably. "We talked about this sometime after we brought you girls here. Don't worry, the village we're dropping you, Luna and Fall off won't sell you to the empire. Ben – I mean, WE know someone that's close with the Village Head. You'll be safe. I promise."
With that said, Air allowed Sheele to go, and the three of them watched as Lucy and Sheele left the room. Luna sat back on the couch and sighed. Fall followed, but she wasn't as calm as anyone would've hoped.
"The nerve of that guy! Just because I stood up to him, he wants to kick us out!"
"I don't know, Fall. Maybe we were wrong about him. Sheele did say they discussed about letting us go to some village because we regain consciousness." Luna said, thinking otherwise.
"But he seemed impressed by Fall earlier." Air pointed out.
"I don't care! He probably wanted to do weird things to me!" Fall retorted and crossed her arms across her chest. "Remember what happened with Bach! We can't trust any man, no matter how nice they might seem!"
Air and Luna glanced at each other, uncertainty on their own response. While it was true that they dropped their guards that day and almost paid the price for it, Ben hadn't done anything to them despite the creatures they've seen him transform.
The air around them was only interrupted when Aria put her book down. Though she hadn't seen everything, she heard all that transpired, and decided to voice out the truth.
"Is that what you think? That all men can't be trusted?" She asked with a serious glare. "If you go on with that idea then you're only looking for a future of disappointment and loneliness."
"She's talking…" Air noted.
"And what would you know?!" Fall yelled at her. "You were a bad person, right?! You sure like to keep your mouth shut around us!"
"I did it because I had no place to talk, but I can't stay back and allow Ben's name to be slandered. Sheele hesitated to say this, but the village we're taking you is a place Ben's friends were born and raised in. Almost like you, those three friends along with Ben went to the Capital to make it big in life and help their village."
"What do you mean by that?! You don't know us!" Fall shouted.
"Are you sure about that?" Aria raised a skeptic eyebrow. Sitting back, she crossed her right leg over the left. "Every countryside man or woman - be he or she an adult or child – have always thought highly of the Capital. They've dreamt of restarting their lives behind its walls, believing that the burden they faced back at their villages will wash away as they restart their lives there. But the truth is, they don't' find a better life. Instead, what awaits them is a life of hell where each day feels like the worse until finally…they either turn to a life of crime, prostitution, slavery or…death."
All three girls were shocked by the deep analysis, and more of it. While it was true that they and people of their village have been so optimistic about the Capital, they've seen through that gruesome day that it was all a lie, and yet somehow this blonde girl knew much of it.
"Who are you?" Air asked. She was scared to even ask, especially as they were alone with her.
"What am I?" Aria looked up the ceiling in thought. "I've been a lot of things, cute, sweet, and the most thoughtful noble girl in the Capital. But in reality…it was all a lie." With that, she looked back at them, and added. "My name is Aria Goodricke, a former noble in the Capital that was saved by young girl, not only from death but from my own mental thoughts of the world. You see, girls, I was the one who used to be Bach's mistress, and the one who thought him everything he needed to know to become the man you met that day."
Not a word was said, but the change in the air was very clear. With that new revelation dropped, it'd seem that girls have gotten involved with someone they probably shouldn't have known. Aria Goodricke, a quiet girl to them until that moment, was a monster worse than Bach, and it looks like more was to come for the three girls.
(CHAPTER END)
Uh oh, it looks like the girls are in for a big one! Now to the new readers, Aria isn't a bad person anymore, but the ending implies that it's from the girls' view that she is. If you may not know, she was the first person that Tatsumi killed in the first episode. Ben saved her from that fate, however, and ended up changing her to be a better person. She'll explain all that and more in the next chapter.
Just so everyone knows, the actual canon never mentions or implies a connection between Aria and Bach. This is just me trying to show how much Aria's family contributed to the shithole that is the empire. You can see more of that in the actual fanfic.
Anyway, good news! I've posted the first chapter of the Ben 10 fanfiction that I mentioned! Please go over to the fanfiction and give it your own personal read. Now that I've done it, I feel like the story should've just taken place at the time only Air was alive. Ben saves her before she takes the poison and the both of them fall in love and so on.
Yes, Luna and Fall would've been dead, but it would've still be a good story. I can't do that now, especially with another new fanfiction I've come up with. I'll get to that in a bit.
If anyone is surprised that Ben changed without touching the Ultimatrix, this is because he unlocks that feature when he first fights the Wild Hunt. I'll get to that chapter when I get the time, so I only ask that you be patient (Unless that chapter has dropped at the time you're reading this).
Now about the new story, here's some of the summary. Note that it might change, but the concept still remains.
"Following the end of Akame ga kill, a strange anomaly sends Akame to a world unfamiliar to hers. Lost and without any way to go back, she's saved by Emily, Gwen Tennyson's best friend, who claims to have known her back in her world. Reincarnation is revealed to be possible, and it turns out that Emily is actually Sheele reincarnated in that world. With the help of Ben and Rook, they set out to find Mine, Lubbock, Tatsumi, Leone, Bulat and Chelsea, all of whom have also reincarnated as various Ben 10 characters. But they are not alone as old enemies such as Honest, Esdeath, Seryu and Shura have been reincarnated as well, with bodies much stronger and better than their former lives.
Esdeath searches for the reincarnated version of Tatsumi, meanwhile Honest and Shura joins forces to take over the universe, and Seryu itches for the day she gets to have her revenge on the reincarnated version of Mine and finally destroy Night Raid.
Revelations would be made, lives would be reunited, and relationships will be shattered. No one ever expected things to turn out this way. It's a whole new Omniverse!"
So what do you think? Let me know your thoughts in the reviews. Other Akame ga kill characters will also be in the fanfiction as Ben 10 characters, however don't count on characters from the manga making an appearance. No Luna, Air or Fall will be in it, nor will the Wild Hunt be in it.
This new fanfiction takes place a few weeks after the anime. The pairing will be Akame X Ben since some annoying people keep spamming me with that suggestion. Just don't get the idea of throwing any new suggestion again. Tell me in a PM or keep it to yourself.
Now about Luna, Fall and Air (in this fanfic), you can see they're not trustful towards any male. I really can't blame them since they've gone through some pretty bad trauma. And now Aria has gotten herself involved. That can't go well.
The next/third/last chapter will explain everyone's backstory and explain how they are the way they are. Anything else will be in the next chapter since I don't want to spoil it.
Before I end this commentary, I'll like to add a few of the AGK characters that will be reincarnated as Ben 10 characters.
Honest – Adwaita (From Ultimate Alien and Omniverse)
Bulat – Cooper (From Original Series, Alien Force, Ultimate Alien and Omniverse)
Shura – Albedo (From Alien Force, Ultimate Alien and Omniverse)
Bols – Alan Albright (From Alien Force, Ultimate Alien and Omniverse)
Esdeath – Not Telling
Tatsumi – Not Telling
Chelsea – Lucy Mann (From Original Series and Omniverse)
Those are the characters I've decided to disclose at the moment. I decided not to say whom Esdeath ended up becoming in Ben 10 since I feel it should be a surprise. The same goes for Tatsumi, though I didn't add him on that list. If you're confused on who Emily is, I advise you check her name on the Ben 10 wiki.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know your thoughts in the reviews, and also favorite and follow if you haven't. See you next time. Bye!