Whee! REVIEWS! More and more and more...O.o And to think, I've never gotten more than 5 on any story other than this one...
Clueless97: And I second that! Balmung x Kite r0xx0rs! Hehe... Angel of Darkness: Awww...Here, I'll give you my Infection. ::smile:: Hehe...Fun game, good game. And...::pounces:: CHOCOLATE! W00t! ::Loves you forever::
Kitty Riku and SW: Hehe...Yep, yep, evil cat girl of doom! But poor little Balmung has several tricks up his feathery sleeves...::Hugs plushie gratefully:: Whee! He'll be one of my muses now! ::Sets him on top of the computer::
B.G. Pendragon: Yay! It works! I try so very hard for grammatical correctness and rely on my spellcheck far too much...And thankees!
Azusasan: ::tosses in another tin for good measure while she chomps more cookies:: Hee...But yeah...That chappie was rather short --.-- It was a good stopping point though, so I just used it to leave a partial cliffy there. ::is evil::
Turntable Aurora: Yay! They're actually IC! T'was one of my bigger fears, that Balmung would seem like Kite and Kite would seem like Elk... But that's good to hear! ::smile::
Cool--kitsune: Aww...Your memory card erased? ::hugs and pats:: And thankee again! ::happiness:: I like fluff...And Balmung coolness...
Rakku: Thanks! Yeah, there are very few Balmung/Kite stories out there. Felt the need to add to it, and here's the result!
Shady gurl: Haha, yep yep...Blackrose, the overly possessive young girl with a crush on Kite. Poor Kite. Poor Blackrose, for that matter.
One-Winged Angel: Yay for you! Exams finally over! Hehe...Evil things, they are...
WhiteBunny: Ahhh...Not very soon, but soon enough. Like now. :D
Anyways...I decided to get off my lazy bum and write some more. In the math class, we've been going over almost 2 chapters a day, and I'm dying sloooowly...Sorry for the shortness of the last chapter, that one was written in a hurry...Plus, nice cliffy spot. Hee...And I told you I wouldn't be writing much this month...::sweatdrop:: So, in apology, I have written a nicely long chapter. With a very, very sugary fluffy part. The moment you've all been waiting for --
= Entering new areas, or time change, or POV change
underline = System Message
italics = Thought
Warnings for this chappie: A bit of spoiler for the next part in the main game storyline -- Up to the first 'white room' as I like to call it. White rooms freak me out... I shan't say more, lest there be unknowing peeps wandering about...Oh, and there's an itty bitty curse word just a few lines down. And another even further down.
Rage was the emotion that consumed Kite as he saw the silver scarab slowly disintegrate into the mere bits of data it was. Losing its shape, its form, the small flashes of color drifted outwards and faded away from Mia's hand/paw. Pure and utter rage.
"That was mine! A gift!" Kite practically yelled at the girl. He drew out his blades without hesitation. "DAMN YOU MIA!"
He attacked furiously, blindly, at the purple figure before him -- None of his attacks hit. Mia deftly leaped backwards and countered the furious swipes with calm movements of her blade, speaking through the chaos with remarkable serenity.
"A gift, you say? From a lover, or from Balmung? Or from both rolled into on-"she began, practically dripping with smugness, before being interrupted quite rudely by Kite and another slash of twin blades.
"Shut up! Shut UP!" The thought is nice, he mentally noted, Lover...One who loves thee...
Elk, who had been standing quietly behind Mia as all this time, stepped forward. He seemed to observe the situation frantically, watching the strikes inch closer and closer to Mia...And jumped in, staff held in front of his body as his only shield. Perhaps not his only, as a bright ball of flame ignited beside him as he spoke, coldly with the previous timidity evaporated. "Stop it, Kite. I will be forced to kill you, if you lay a hand on Mia."
The green haired boy stopped suddenly, shaking a little. But the thoughts flashing through his head were quickly removing that sudden flash of anger and instead replacing it with more gentle thoughts...Much to his disappointment. Even with his thoughts floating to some haven in his mind, he still shot Mia an unforgiving look, which she seemed to ignore.
"What did you want with me here, anyway?"
The man playing Balmung sat quietly at the computer desk, thinking. So...It was gone. But not quite, not quite...
In his hand, he held a disc. A full CD, all 700 megabytes filled -- That beetle was a complex program indeed. He looked, part nervous, at another CD he had at his desk; the sensory program, an attachment he could add to any of his created objects to give the bonus of feeling along with audio and visual feeds.
Oh, so the great Balmung wishes for some intimacy with the poor boy.
He could already hear Helba's strange voice, whispering that in his ear when he least expected it, the mysterious hacker was apt to turn up at annoying moments. Already, with all her snide comments and accusing words, she had become his conscience somewhat. The hacker somehow knew everything that happened -- What hacker didn't? -- and his friendship with Kite was the last thing he wished for her to investigate.
He popped the CD he held into the drive, and started copying the data...Making a new object, another gift. The same in every way, actually the same beetle...Just reincarnated. And a bit more...Special, he supposed. Special in its own way.
Balmung of Azure Sky smiled, just a bit. Hopefully the boy would like his present...
"We wish for your help in investigating this area." Mia said curtly, acting as if the entire beetle incident had never happened. "As you can see, it is infected...And we believe that it has something to do with you, as you are one of the few that can hack into such an area as this."
Elk seemed to fade away again, just an attendant to the cat-woman once more. But she did say something as she stepped back, looking Kite in the eye. "...Umm...You do know something of this, don't you? Aren't you and the bracelet the cause of all this?"
Mia seemed to make a 'shhh' sound, smiling gently, as if to an innocent and unknowing child, at the young blue-clad boy, before facing Kite once more. "Although you dislike me, and I have need for your services, I shall still give you a choice. You may help or not -- We'll be waiting should you agree. Your answer, for now?"
Kite didn't need to think about his reply, already sure of what he was going to do, but he still did. He would get back to this Mia and Elk later, when he wasn't in such a volatile mood. He needed to see Balmung, if anything...To both apologize for the destruction of his gift and to calm himself down. Why go to Balmung for calmness, hmm? A part of him seemed to say smugly, but he ignored it.
"No." was what he said. Simple and pure, with an air of detachment hanging about the word. Elk seemed to sigh a bit, while Mia simply nodded, smiling smugly even though her request had been declined.
"Then we shall see you," she began, golden strands of words beginning to surround herself and the wavemaster beside her, "later."
With that, they were gone, leaving Kite to himself in the infected land, small strands of code twirling idly in the air around him, like fireflies. Fireflies...Wonder if it was made that way?
Within another few seconds, Mia and Elk's online status showed to be offline, but Balmung's suddenly flickered to life. That was good, that was good. He snapped out of his thoughts violently, and looked across the portal-less plains and sighed. How was he going to explain this to Balmung? And BlackRose...Dear lord, she would freak and warn him about not trusting mysterious cat-women. Which he knew he shouldn't have.
New Message
He smiled slightly, hopefully, as he logged off.
DC: Balmung
Subject: Meet me again
Same as last time. (delta) Discreet, Solitary, Melody.
Well, that makes it a bit simpler...I wonder why he's called me? Or probably...
He winced at the thought. Well yes, the beetle was his spy, so he'd know what happened to it...
He doesn't sound too happy...Then again, he never sounds really happy.
Another thing that would have to change.
New Message
Again!? Another one...
He returned to his inbox, and was mildly surprised as it was BlackRose who had mailed him. Hrm. The two people he feared seeing most.
DC: BlackRose
Subject: I've got a new lead
While you've been off with that guy, I've been researching those leads that were on the forums towards that girl. Well, a few led to a dead end...I found out one of the keywords had been changed, too. Got the real ones off her, after a while.
Darn you Kite, why don't you help once in a while?
Anyways, it's (pheta) (AN: I think...) Cursed, Despaired, Paradise. It's Protected though...Any idea on how to get through?
"Well, yes, I've got a very good idea on how to get through. But..."
I'm seeing Balmung first. And I'm going to ask him to come along. I know you don't like it, but he's a great help -- We're just at level 20 or so...He's at like level 100! Anyways, I'm ...
He typed the final words of the message, and sent his reply back. Hopefully she wouldn't get too mad...Knowing her, she'd still explode though.
Kite logged back in, and returned to the Mac Anu portal, keying in the words to the place where his
beloved
friend was awaiting him, all while wondering how badly it would turn out...Or how well.
Unlike the last time he had visited the place, the blademaster he sought was already there, where the portal let out, smiling as Kite regained his orientations. The older man seemed...Amused, if anything.
"So...How did the rest of the meeting with Mia go?" he asked mildly, seeming to take some pleasure in watching the twin blade squirm.
"Well...She asked me to help with the area, and they wanted to know about the bracelet. And about the infection of the areas. I declined..." he said, trailing off. And now, the moment of truth...What of the present he was given.
It seemed the man could read his mind. "Don't worry about the scarab..." he said with a smile, reaching into an imaginary pocket. "It's the same one, only a bit special..."
And it seemed a bit more special at that. In essence, it was exactly the same -- Perfectly formed, still active in Balmung's hands, silver shell covering iridescent pearl wings. But it had a sort of white aura around it, and there was something on its shell...But a blink, and it was gone. Even as the man approached, the small blackish marking he had seen didn't re- appear. Must have been a stray data byte.
"...For you." The man said softly...So softly, in fact, that Kite had to strain to hear the words. They were both smiling, both equally un-aware of the other's slight embarrassment, Kite's head bowed to look at the scarab and Balmung's staring into the air just above the twin blade's head.
He's...Awfully...Close....The younger thought, his own heartbeat steadily growing louder in his ears.
"Th...Thank you..." he managed, cradling the sparkle of silver in his hands. It felt warm to touch, unlike the other, warm and re-assuring. Feeling very self-conscious, Kite carefully avoided eye contact with the man as he placed the beetle on his shoulder, where it quickly became a similar necklace as the old -- Except, that it felt like a soft breeze gently pet his hair, a sweet song was drifting him to relaxation...For a moment, and it was gone again. And the boy felt better now, looking up to Balmung to smile. "...Thank you..." he said again, sounding not quite so jittery and more content than anything.
Ah...Damn...He's too cute...
He just smiled gently back, watching his movements. He seemed relaxed more, thanks to that gift...But he seemed a bit jittery too, although aware of his ability to relax in the blademaster's presence. Like he had admitted to himself feelings, yet was still scared of them, scared of how strange and how badly things could go.
Same here...Same here...
"But..." Kite began, stepping back to clear his head so he could actually think...
But that feeling's good. But not right now...Not right now...unfortunately.
"BlackRose just mailed me. She said that there's another lead on that girl in white, except the area's protected. I could get in...But...Do you want to come?" he said, flushing a bit red on the last part as he reached up to tug his hair out of anxiety. When did that ever arrive?
"Of course, of course..." Balmung replied, the kind smile suddenly replaced with the normal, arrogant smirk. "We should go ahead and go though. Go ahead and add us -- I just have to take care of some stuff in the city first. Meet you at the portal."
And with that, the man was gone. Only a moment later, the green-haired boy left as well, leaving a small mark in the foresty floor, soon covered by the blowing winds and drifting leaves.
I wish...
Kite entered the windy root town cautiously. He could already spot BlackRose -- he had just called her over, after all -- and wasn't in the mood for a fight. So he tread cautiously over to her.
"I'm ready to go. And thank you...For all the help." He said, laughing nervously.
The heavyblade just gave the boy a firm clap on the back, and smiled in a small pose. "Don't worry! Always count on BlackRose, the almighty heavyblade! Hahaha..."
-.-'' I don't see what's so funny...
(AN: I don't either, quite frankly...My mind does weird things like that and laughs. And while I'm laughing, I'm clueless. Wierdness...)
Balmung seemed to appear out of nowhere, poking his head out from behind the two, a mischievous grin appearing as well. "Ready to go?"
BlackRose instantly lost her good cheer, turning to Kite with an expression of definite distaste without any signs of holding back. "You invited...him...again..."
Kite shrugged hopelessly, but the descendant of Fianna took control, pointing towards the portal. "Well, go ahead. Do your hacking magic..." he drawled, adding a tone of disapproval to the word 'hack'.
In response, the boy nodded and approached the lazily rotating circle of magic
Again...
and entered the keywords slowly. The words, 'Protected Area' flashed on the screen several times, before everything faded to black and he was faced with the strange console once more.
Away from Kite's own reality, his party members looked at the boy's avatar, which had suddenly froze in place. It was discomforting, like when someone was lagging seriously, but they didn't make any move. When the figure suddenly flickered, and disappeared with a crackling sound, Balmung twitched, unconsciously reaching outward a few inches before his mind clamped down on the reaction and stilled it. He was safe, he was safe and he would continue to be safe.
Kite keyed in the last of the commands to the strange four pointed sign, and felt that same tugging sensation, and the same view of before -- Being forcefully tugged into the gate, a feeling of floating and of loneliness. Except...He wasn't quite so alone anymore, not with the steady and gently comforting hum and glow of his gift. Everything proceeded as with the first, and he leaped out to find himself in a dark, obviously infected land.
The twin blade turned, and was met by the startled and surprised expressions of Balmung and BlackRose. Apparently, they had went through a similar experience with the gate.
"Woah...That was weird..." the only girl in the party stated, shaking her head in an attempt to re-arrange everything back to their proper place.
Balmung of Azure Sky said nothing, only shifted as he adjusted to the sudden re-orientation of his surroundings.
"Well, let's go!" cried an enthusiastic heavyblade, and they began searching this place, dodging bits of code, surviving through the relentless data surges, and trekking onward towards the dungeon.
It was nearly an hour later, as the party reached the bottom floor of the living dungeon. It was rather spooky, truth be told...Without the random flecks of infection, the place looked freaky enough. But the virus seemed to have an effect on the biological part of this area as well, the walls and flooring a sickly green tinge, the walls looking rather pasty.
"Well...The Gott Statue should be in the room ahead..." Kite began, pointing to the only room left on their map un-explored. BlackRose cut in with her own opinion on it, however. "Yeah, but it's probably just another data bug, with what these infected areas have been throwing at us. Sheesh..."
Balmung was towards the back, looking inquisitive. "Only one way to find out..."
He started alone towards the blackness of the room ahead, soon joined by the twin blade he
adored
practically raised through newbiehood. BlackRose joined further on, reluctantly.
At first, Kite thought he had somehow gotten stuck in the transition between rooms. White surrounded him, white was below him, and white was around him. His eyes suddenly widened as he looked ahead. He turned slightly, only to see BlackRose doing the same. Balmung, however, wasn't so naïve. He, instead, stepped forward a few more steps, looking around in bewilderment. "...It's...One of her rooms..."
WHEEEE! A whole 7 pages on word! O.O ::drops dead::
And I'm sorry if there are any wierd mistakes, like a thought that isn't italicsized or a random missing dot. Darn ff.net...Taking away all the nice symbols.