"I didn't think that was possible," Balmung commented idly, using his newfound administrative powers to return the carpet back to its dry and cleanly state. "Then again, you're Kite. I guess if anyone's capable of vomiting in The World, it's you." His chest plate crunched when BlackRose planted her fist in it. His only expression of pain was a grunt and a glare, but she was focused on other things; namely, Kite, who was busy coughing up the rest of his breakfast.
She laced her fingers with the Twin Blade's, eyes aglitter with worry and no semblance of disgust. He stopped coughing at last, swallowing away the foul taste in his mouth. She exhaled sharply, and at the end of it she pressed her palm gently on the side of his throat with a slight frown.
"Calm down," she ordered, her voice cutting through the remnants of the surreal, forcefully yanking him from sleep's thick embrace. He accepted her command and the underlying alarm, steadying his breathing and loosening his clutch on the sheets. Her thumb traced the angular curves of one of his red tattoos; Kite hesitated, contemplating retrieving a glass of water or something in real life, but he decided against it, choosing to let the parchedness in his throat subside on its own. "What happened?"
Kite fingered the latches on his vest, before undoing the thick white collar around his neck and the buckles on his orange vest, tossing aside the obtrusive belt that was often slung around his shoulder and removing most articles of clothing on his torso aside from his white shirt. The shirt was rather loose and was oft susceptible to wrinkles; it was made of a sheer, flimsy material, and it was easy to see why he wore a vest above it.
thick, curved lines created with agonizing slowness
When he lifted his shirt, there was nothing, though he could see the outline very clearly in his mind's eye.
"Kite…? What is it?"
He looked up at BlackRose, and suddenly felt a burning sense of guilt for making her worry, even with the knowledge that he had every right to, really. "I…"
I had a nightmare.
"…Nothing," Kite said, eyes cast downward.
The Blademaster and the Heavy Blade exchanged a dubious glance, and he knew they didn't believe him.
Serendipity
Part 3 – Agony and Minor Turbulence
I said, baby
What are you doing?
Who are you fooling?
Nobody but me
I said, baby
Give me some time
To change your mind
Come back to me
Nobody But Me – Save Ferris
Nuke Usagimaru was not a happy camper. In fact, he was…grumpy. Yes, grumpy. Rhymes with Grunty. Kind of.
…So very grumpy.
"This field is not supposed to rain," the Long Arm interjected desperately, as if his complaints would stop the downpour. "And I don't think we were supposed to check this place out until…" Pause. "An hour and a half from now! Rachel…! Rachel, are you listening to me?" he whined, brushing a soggy strand of pink hair out of his eyes and trailing reluctantly along after the Blademaster. "No, of course you aren't," he rambled. "You never listen to me. You don't even like my jokes! My jokes! You know, Rach, we've been partners for a long time, but I don't think this is working out. I—"
"Would you shut up?" Rachel snapped, thrusting her sword hand backwards at random to try and stab him or something; he blocked automatically, apparently used to this process by now. "I just wanna check this place out! Get a feel of it, you know? And it won't hurt to check it out a little beforehand," she added almost as an afterthought.
Steps became sloshes as Delta: Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field appeared more of a bare marsh than grassland.
"This rain isn't natural," Nuke mumbled without thinking.
"Of course it isn't natural," she said shortly. "This is a game! You're a little cold now, but take off your headset and you're as dry as…something dry."
"That's not what I meant," he grumbled, more than a little annoyed at her brusque attitude. A devilish smile crossed his face suddenly, and he would have leaned on his spear had he been standing still. "So! What's this about that Balmung of the Azure Sky, huh? Shall I proceed with the cheesy angel jokes? How shall I compare thee to a winter's day? Well, thou art thrice as temperate and just as pale…" His voice adapted a singsong as he danced with his spear, twirling rather elegantly on the tip of his toes.
Rachel's ears reddened faintly. Nuke congratulated himself on a job well done. "I don't know what you're talking about!" she said, hastily dismissing the notion with a wave of her hand. "We're just friends…if that." The last two words were said somewhat sadly, which only further piqued Nuke's curiosity. "And would you stop mutilating Shakespeare?"
"Poetry lives to be mutilated," he said solemnly, fingers stroking an invisible beard. "As do monsters, come to think of it. And Grunties."
"Grunties?"
"Yes. Grunties. Good substitute for pork or steak or chicken, whatever suits your fancy. Grunty curry. Grunty cola. Grunty Ramen. Sounds good, huh? I could really go for some nice chewy Grunty."
"Nuke, that's sick!"
"Grunty sushi. Grunty stew. Grunty noodle soup. Grunty milk…wow, I wouldn't wanna try that. Mm, tasty squishy tender chewy salty yummy healthy—"
"—Nuke—"
"—delicious smelly original shiny—"
"—shiny?—"
"—gourmet cooked supple delish appetizing spicy zestful succulent—"
"—pay attention, I—"
"—Grunty."
A fist flew out from outside his field of vision and slammed onto the side of his head. "Ow!" Nuke whined, rubbing the throbbing spot on his temple. "That really hurt! If you keep this up, I'll get ugly or something." He made a face. "And heaven knows how horrible that'd be." He paused, blue eyes not quite alight with their usual mirth, and he looked at his loud American companion. She was ignoring him again, damn it. Probably because of that Azure Sky. Nuke never really appreciated the value of legends, preferring to rank among them rather than simply worship their glory.
From where he was standing, though, chances of that seemed awfully low.
He turned, finding her standing idly at some point that was not too close to where he was standing. He ran, skipped, and pranced to her side, doing his best to ignore the fact that he looked like a girl; his hair wasn't quite as vertical as it should have been… He grinned cheekily. "Are we done yet? So, what's the plan, oh fearless leader?" Nuke asked, making a mockery of a salute.
Rachel grinned. "'Fearless leader'… I like the sound of that!" She rubbed her hands together, shoulders quivering slightly from the cold. "Well, we should probably get around to looking for information…"
"Let's go!" Nuke chirped, propping the Gungnir on his shoulder.
Rachel chuckled, amused and somewhat surprised by his willingness. "It's good to have willing subordinates. I knew I could count on you, Nuke!"
"Did you, now?"
Briefly, he wondered if she was lying.
He felt so pitiful, crying in the alleyway where he had first met her. Well, no, not quite crying any longer—his eyes were dry, though some itchy streaks remained where his salty tears blazed a trail on his sheet-white cheeks. He felt so horrible, as if his insides had become his outsides; every meal he had had in his miserable existence sporadically jumped in his throat to say hello to the outside world. He refused to blink when he could help it, because quite simply his visage of perfection was burnt unto the backs of his eyelids.
He really, really wanted to stop living. To sit here and stare at the sky, with the clouds reeling and the sun never falling from its noonday perch…to sit there and perhaps rot a little, to never move or think again…yes, that would be grand. It would be a blessing. It would be Christmas in July. It would be the greatest thing that would ever have happened to him.
It occurred to him that the greatest thing ever to have happened to him was meeting Mia.
And then his urge to die increased dramatically.
"What're you doing here?" a foreign voice queried from somewhere above him. After all, it was rather strange to see someone just lying around like that, fingers twitching on occasion and eyes bloodshot with mourning. Elk didn't seem to have noticed until his eyes met the random player's. Neko-something. He didn't know that person and quite frankly he couldn't care less.
Elk answered as truthfully as he could. "Dying."
Because he was, in a sense, dying.
The whoever-it-was peered down at him curiously, debating whether or not to ask; apparently, Neko-something decided against it, shrugging helplessly and jogging away.
His eyelids became slightly heavier as his thoughts spiraled into a dark oblivion. Gods, he was so happy just two days ago. Why did someone, something have to waltz along and screw things up, just when they were going so perfectly? He had the hideout; he had The World; he had Mia… She was his world, his definition of happiness, and when presented with irrefutable proof that she in fact wasn't real… He hadn't cared a bit. He slowly, piece-by-piece began constructing the necessary courage to express the emotions locked inside him, to fill the rare and definable breed of silence that oft fell when they were simply basking in the comfort of being in the presence of one another…
He had taken her presence for granted, had selfishly abused the notion that she would never leave him and that he would always log on in the mornings to find her still sleeping on her bed having overexerted herself from yesterday's grand adventure. Telling him good morning, eating breakfast and telling him of what she'd heard whilst prowling the streets. She never asked him what he wanted to do or commented on what she wanted to do, because they did whatever they felt like doing, and that was that.
And now his hope had been cruelly exchanged for regret, because he hadn't been able to stutter—yes, he tended to stutter in her presence—those three little words. He was weak, too weak, too affected by her piercing golden eyes, too stupid to look past the surrealism…to tell her everything, including the manner in which she had saved him from his descent into insanity.
Now, he didn't know where she was. He didn't know if she was hurting or crying or if she missed him… Missed him. Elk. The stupid, insignificant and ever-nervous Wavemaster who was lying down in the alleyway they first met. He looked so…pathetic.
If it wasn't for her, he might have been…
Elk sat up, the muscles in his back protesting with disuse. BlackRose's Flash Mail rang in his ears.
"We're organizing a search party, or five. Please come to the hideout this afternoon. We're gonna need your help on this one… Be careful, and don't go beating yourself up about it! She wouldn't want you to."
BlackRose was too nice to him, even if he was a coward. Everyone's big sister. He almost chuckled at the thought.
"Things will get better. I promise."
He stood, working out the kinks in his knees. The Silent Bomber appeared in his hand, and his narrowed his eyes in newfound resolve.
No matter what it takes.
His staff glistened in reply.
Just as he Gated Out from the Chaos Gate, vanishing in a train of patterned ringlets, rain began to fall from the eternally midmorning Mac Anu skies; when he appeared in Net Slum, he had no idea, and he heard voices from within Mia's hideout, knowing none of them belonged to her. But that didn't mean silence would be more appeasing, and he walked through the doorway with a small smile.
"ELK!" BlackRose shrieked, leaping up with a jolt; apparently, she had been clinging onto Kite's arm, because the poor soul flopped unceremoniously off the chair and onto the floor. Sad world indeed. Balmung snickered from the corner at Kite's misfortune whilst she gave the Wavemaster the once-over. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" she asked pointedly, brushing off some invisible dirt from his sleeve. "Right then. People will be coming, so don't you walk around looking like a nervous wreck." He nodded—the only indication that he was still on the same realm of existence—and sat down on the bed, staff disintegrating in his leather-wrapped hands.
"You fit the description of 'nervous wreck' more aptly than he does," Balmung thought aloud, barely able to crisscross his arms in front of his chest before her fist made impact with his forearms. Silence. A slight crunching sound. The Azure Sky's teeth appeared rather ground-down from clenching, but he didn't retaliate (certainly out of no necessity to maintain the peace).
Kite twitched from his spot on the floor. No one seemed to notice, or care for that matter.
Nuke and Rachel (quite a pair, those two) filed in accordingly, the former adjusting his hair and grumbling vulgarities beneath his breath. The latter was busy squeezing large amounts of water from her ponytail…also grumbling vulgarities, though her vocabulary was spades more colorful than Nuke's. Elk flushed as Rachel's volume increased substantially.
"Damn!" she screeched, pulling the ribbon out of her hair and running her fingers through the long strands. "Did you see that!? It's rainin' cats and dogs out there! And Gating Out did me absolutely no good!" Her body suit was plastered to her tanned skin, soaked to a darker shade of yellow. She was not pleased with this new development, as evident by her jerky movements. She removed the brown leather strap slung around her shoulders and dropped her item sac on the floor, the disc-like cuffs on her wrists and ankles vanishing at her unspoken command.
"You're getting the floor wet," Balmung said testily, obviously not in the mood to play digital janitor. She blushed furiously, embarrassed at being reprimanded, and shuffled aside to allow Nuke further passageway. "Have you two found anything?"
"The many uses of Grunties," Nuke commented idly, hugging his knees and rocking back and forth. Rachel chuckled beneath her breath, but the rest, excluding Kite who was still lying on the floor for some reason, exchanged curious looks but said nothing. "Aside from that, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch." He looked at Elk, an eyebrow raised. "You alright, kid?" he asked in a surprisingly serious tone.
He nodded, slightly intimidated by his abrupt change of character. "Y-yeah. I… We'll find her. I know." He nodded hastily, a kind of whiplash-inducing nod. Rachel shot Nuke a look, but his eyes were closed again.
Strange guy, that, Balmung noted mutedly. He didn't voice his thoughts aloud, but his hackles rose if only slightly.
Kite had managed to clamber into his chair without anyone noticing, and he looked the epitome of collected leadership. As more and more people appeared in the hideout, he pressed his fingertips together, thoughts drifting without his consent.
Inebriated, he whispered, "You're beautiful…"
"Shit," he whispered to himself, eyes widening. Did I really say…? he wondered dumbly. His relationship with BlackRose was already treading on thin ice, but…
He looked at her as she discussed something quietly with Balmung and Orca; her wine-colored eyes were narrowed and her lips were moving slowly and deliberately, as if trying to pound some piece of information into someone's head—probably Balmung's, he thought. They'd never really gotten along, evident by the Azure Sky's ensuing glare and Orca's chuckle. She tended to be very selective about whom she trusted, a subconscious trait that quite inadvertently saved their lives on more than one occasion, and he always felt a small burst of pride whenever he was reminded that she trusted him with certain things.
…And she trusted certain other people with certain other things. That irked him. That irked him a lot.
He chastised himself, tugging at the flaps of his hat and pulling it further over his head. Now that was just forbidden territory. Who was he to deny her the company of others? No one. No. One. She'd kill him for sure. He was just being an idiot. An adolescent idiot. She was, after all, only his friend, his anchor to reality, the driving force behind his will. She was his constant in a world of change, a ray of life and light when the darkness of his burden threatened to wholly consume him; she was more than just one of his two-dimensional soldiers, she was…something…different…
…
"This sucks," he grunted, pressing his fingers to his forehead. The room suddenly fell silent at his standoffish statement, an ode to his authority.
And everyone nearly jumped through the roof when Nuke interrupted the silence, stating rather simply, "I agree."
Silence.
"So," Orca said simply, "when are we moving out?"
Kite snapped into focus, back going rigid and straight. He swallowed and nodded. "Now." Pause. "BlackRose, Balmung, and I will post inquiries on the message boards," he said, making it a point to ignore BlackRose's somewhat startled look, "and maybe talk to Lios and Helba."
He was secretly relieved she didn't comment. He also made it a point to ignore Ryoko's momentarily confused and hurt expression; he didn't have the time to—
Hypocrite.
He sighed and massaged his forehead. "Elk, Natsume, and Sanjuro will inspect Sigma: Unusual Destroyer's Drift. Gardenia. Marlo, and Orca to Sigma: Tested Quicksilver Neigh. Nuke and Rachel, Sigma: Expansive Fallow Twins. Mistral, Wiseman, and Piros, Lambda: Lightless Pagan Widow. Ryoko, Moonstone, and Kazu to Delta: Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field…"
Nuke and Rachel looked at one another. He didn't notice.
Some more silence.
"…What're you waiting for?" Balmung demanded waspishly, prompting a few pairs of feet to shuffle and a slight derisive snort from Orca. "Go! Don't return until you've searched those places inside out."
Author's Notes: Mm, crap chapter. Zero character development, zero plot. Sorry. ;-; Things will pick up next chapter, I promise.
Elk got screen time! Woo! And everyone gets prose! Woo! Let's party like it's 2010!
Next chapter: Kazu is not a .hacker and damn well knows it. Kazu wonders why he's there. Ryoko fawns over Kite. Moonstone fawns over his blindfold. Kazu, Ryoko, and Moonstone get into trouble. Moonstone is annoyed and smarter than everyone else. Balmung has a heart to heart with his coffee cup. Lios sings in the rain. Or something.