In the Dark
By Lalita
Disclaimer~ *sighs* Megami Kouhosei is not mine, much to my bitter disappointment.
Summary~ Ikhny is tormented endlessly by Hiead, until… *evil laugh* Read to find out!
Author Notes~ Well, here's chapter three! I'm hoping to re-edit these chapters as quickly as possible, so I can get on with the rest of the story. As always, please read and review!
Chapter Three~ What Life's About
Kizna Tolleyk had a bone to pick, and it wasn't a small bone either. She stormed away from Ikhny in a rage, almost blinded by fury and relief that her friend was alright. The look on her face was murderous; the people who passed by her in the corridor wisely edged away from her and closer to the wall. Well, killing someone was what she happened to be feeling like doing just then. And who could that someone be, other than Hiead Gner?
Kizna gnashed her teeth at the thought of him. " The arrogant bastard," she fumed. " Pushing people around, just because he thinks he can get away with it! Well, he's got another thing coming!"
To be honest, she had never thought it possible to hate someone. Loath, yes. Extremely dislike and detest, yes. But never hate. It had always been her firm belief that everyone had a good side to him or her. Take Azuma, for example. He was really gruff and occasionally mean to his candidates, but deep down, Kizna knew that many thought of him as something of a fatherly figure. " Okay... Perhaps that was going a bit far," she admitted, snorting slightly.
Or Zero. At times, he could be absolutely annoying and could make Kizna want to scream and pull her hair out in exasperation, but he had a sweet side to him. Personally, Kizna thought of him as a brother. The kind you hate but love at the same time.
But there were always exceptions, and Hiead Gner was one of them. Kizna shook her head, clearing her mind. This was not about Zero and good being in every person. This was about Hiead and kicking Hiead's ass.
It took her a few minutes to realize she had walked past Hiead's room, where she was certain he would be hiding out, and she cursed as she doubled back. " Not so brave now, are you?" Kizna murmured to his door. Here he was, cowering like the weakling he thought Ikhny was. Oh, it was all well and good when he was picking on someone smaller than him- now he had Kizna Tolleyk to deal with, and that was not a force to be reckoned with lightly.
Kizna was completely unaware that she had been standing in front of Hiead's door for a long period of time, her face steadily growing redder. If she were any angrier, puffs of smoke would be emitting from her ears. Her eyes narrowed flashed fire. " I am going to do some serious damage to him, damn his oh-so-precious position to the team!" she swore. Anyone and everyone knew the only reason he was still here was because he had his EX and admittedly exceptional skills to protect him. That, and the fact he had Ikhny under his thumb.
A growing sense of unease began to form in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to suppress it. " I am not afraid of anything, least of all Hiead Gner!" Kizna viciously thought, angry at both Hiead and herself. As if to prove her point, she began bashing the door and flinging insults, wielding her words as if they were a shield between herself and the demon behind the door. There was no point in checking to see if the door was locked; Kizna had gone through this enough to know that it always was.
" If only words could kill," Kizna thought dryly, a humorless smile forming on her face. For what seemed like eternity, she went on, ranting and raving like a madwoman, screaming for the coward to come out and fight. Normally, those words would be enough to goad him to come out, but the effect was lost today. Kizna assumed he was ignoring her, and the thought only served to enrage her further.
Okay, perhaps she was overreacting. Loosing her temper. Whatever you wanted to call it. But the jerk- and that was putting it nicely- constantly abused her best friend, hated her and constantly picked fights, was always making snide comments about her, and, in Kizna's opinion, had serious mental problems. In fact, she knew it. Once, Ikhny had broken down and confessed Hiead had repeated abnormality states during battle. The possibility alone was enough to evict a candidate or pilot off of the battlefield for good.
Of course, Hiead, being Hiead, got away with it, damn him. Kizna didn't see the big deal about him. After all, hadn't she and Zero been the ones to first advance to the Top Rank? Hadn't they been the ones to take over for the Number One Goddess? Why the officials ever made him a pilot... He was cold, ruthless, and downright dangerous- to himself and others. Kizna knew she could probably go on for days describing all the various flaws of Hiead Gner, but it just wasn't worth the effort.
" I swear, the next you hurt Ikhny, she won't be the only one in the infirmary, asshole!" Kizna shouted and gave the door one last, final kick for good measure. In the next instant, pain throbbed through her toe and she bit back a groan. " Damn him," she panted, clutching her foot in agony. " I didn't even get to fight him and I'm exhausted!"
Not a minute later, Zero came bounding up beside her, breathing hard. Kizna groaned aloud this time. Just great. Now she had to deal with a " Hiead is dangerous and I don't want you by him " lecture. Don't get her wrong, Zero's concern was kind of sweet, and on any other day Kizna would have appreciated it. Just not today. After all, they had a pretty good, close partnership and got along well together- unlike a certain two other people she could name. Like the one behind the door, probably gloating his head off, and the one bawling her eyes out.
" Kizna-" Zero started to say, but she cut him off.
" Drop it," Kizna snapped. She knew she sounded crabby, but she couldn't help it. Who could?
Zero took the hint and avoided the subject. They walked down the hallway in silence, Kizna biting the inside of her cheek and wincing every time she stepped on her sore toe. " So... Want to get some food?" Kizna asked, nonchalantly trying to make up for being so rude before.
Zero shrugged. " It doesn't matter to me," he said. Kizna withheld her smirk. The memory of getting food poisoning by a faulty meal was probably still fresh in his mind.
" I promise I'll find something better for us to eat," she added. Besides, not only was the food on GIS nauseating, just as it was on GOA, she had no intention of letting Zero get food poisoning again. She couldn't very well let him die of starvation or something else before he defeated VICTIM, now could she?
" Alright," Zero agreed. He winked. They walked in silence again, until they passed Clay, who had been recently promoted to the Head Observer. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that it took him a good few moments to recognize them, and when he did, he waved absently over his shoulder. Zero chuckled and waved at Clay's retreating back.
Kizna's shoulders drooped dejectedly. Between worrying over VICTIM and Ikhny, she felt like she was ten years older than she ought to be. Any day now, wrinkles would appear on her face and spots of gray would fleck her otherwise sugary pink hair. She sighed.
Zero's arm wrapped itself around her shoulder. " Hey," he said, smiling mildly. " I didn't think the idea of protecting me from the poisonous food here was so bad that you'd cry over it."
Kizna laughed and lightly punched Zero on the shoulder. " You're cute when you're sweet, you know that?"
Zero winked. " I try to be," he said.
" If that was supposed to be an attempt at modesty, you failed miserably," Kizna retorted. The two chuckled and Kizna almost forgot about all her worries. For once, she pretended to be a carefree teenager joking around with her friend. After all, that was what life was supposed to be about, right?
Right?