"Carry me, on wings I pray. Deliver me safely, to the water's bay"

Aside from Bakuretsu Hunters, Battle Angel Alita has GOT to be the best manga I have ever read. Naturally...after buying the last one, I was left with many questions about what happened afterward. Ah...but here is my chance...what starts out as Alita's chance to finally get to talk, REALLY talk with Ido might grow into something more...who knows? Or...if the story doesn't go anywhere and no one likes it I'll abandon it X_x...who knows. Reviews are always appreciated, arigatou!!


--Severance--

"Sometimes I just sit here and stare...and if I do it long enough, I start to believe I could float up there, you know?"

Hugo...

"Hehe.."

"What? What is it?"

"Just looking at you...at your face..."

Zapan, Hugo, Figure, Shumira, Lou, Professor Nova, Kaos, Ido...

*Doctor Ido!*

The sun, such an unfamiliar yet persistent presence, filtered in through the tattered curtains and stung her eyes. Though she knew not where she was, there was an enveloping feeling of comfort that came with the faint smoke in the air, the cluttered room, and the smell of eggs frying. Her eyes watered as fragments of the dream still wavered in front of her eyes, but she blinked away the tears and instead slipped from the soft cotton sheets her body was wrapped in.

"Hey, Alita! Breakfast is ready-whoa...sorry! Didn't mean to look."

Her brown eyes flickered in confusion as Figure turned away, and she thought she caught a hint of pink gracing the tough guy's cheeks. A look down informed her that she was standing in the nude, but what was more surprising was that...

She had flesh! There was no denying the absence of steel and gears, how smoothly her body ran when she flexed her fingertips before her unbelieving eyes. After a moment of shame, Figure's curiosity grew as to why Alita was refraining from replying to him and he turned and watched her as she slowly moved her arms outward in a circle. A soft laugh escaped her lips, she was no longer a mere machine with the brain of a girl, she was, in all respects, a living, breathing human. Untainted by inorganic materials. Her laughter grew as she began to spin, the wind from the partially ajar window raking its fingers through her hair as she danced on the tips of her toes, to the music of her very essence.

"Have you gone insane, octopus lips?" Figure asked, scratching his head, though a crooked smile graced his lips. It was so good to see her up, moving around, and smiling...that moment when she had spilled into his arms from the 'tree of life' he had been filled all at once by a tremendous amount of joy, and worry. Worry that those eyes would never again open, and his hope would prove to be false. Yet here she was, a week after that incredible moment, out of bed and dancing to a tune no one but she could hear. A part of him wanted to let loose and dance with her, join in this celebration of life, but another part, the more stubborn part, kept him rooted to his spot. Unable to do anything but watch.

"Yes! YES! I'm insane! FIGURE! I'm alive!!!" Tears rolled off Alita's pale cheeks as she finally collapsed, panting, onto the bed. Her eyes slid partially shut as she peered up at the caved in roof of the fishing hut, her eyelashes creating bars for her vision.

"You grew a beard..." she said thoughtfully, finally pulling herself up and lifting her eyes to smile up at him. Figure looked at her for a moment, confusion written on his face, before reached up and touched his cheek, and felt the rough stubble of a beard against his fingertips.

"Oh yeah...I did. Well, ya see...keeping up with my appearance...for a long time, well, it didn't really seem important to me, ya know? What's important is--"

"I kept the promise..." Alita completed the sentence softly, her eyes trailing down to look at the slender lengths of her fingers, which looked so weird after being used to the clunky sections of metal that had been her digits for so long. Digging her fingers into the cover, she twisted the cloth around, staying silent until she felt Figure's rough yet somehow gentle hand on the slope of her shoulder. She looked up to feel his lips against the tip of her nose.

"Yeah...you did. Now come on...breakfast is getting cold. We'll have time to talk all you want after that!" He let out a short laugh as he pulled back, smiling at her once more before turning and exiting the room.

A few strands of black hair fell before her eyes as she watched him go, and she nodded mutely. Time...when was I last able to say I had time?

Shaking her head to break herself from her self-imposed trance, she looked around for something to wear. It felt...freeing to be nude, but her initial shock at her life and her flesh had been what allowed her to prance around without clothes. If she continued to do so it would just be embarrassing, and that perhaps would be an understatement.

Thankfully Figure had been thoughtful enough to lay out some clothes for her. Draped over the back of an unstable looking chair was a pair of gray cargo shorts and a black tank top. All of her memories as Alita, Gally and Yoko seemed reluctant to restore themselves all at once, but hazy faces danced before her vision, taunting her with their secrets. It was not hard for her to remember the gist of her actions, but their specifics seemed lost to her, for the moment anyway.

One voice, one life, however, was more persistent then the rest...and haunted her with feelings of overwhelming guilt and worry.

"Doctor Ido...where is he?"