Disclaimer: I do not own Xenosaga or Wonder Bread or any Hostess products.
Author's Note: There is over-lap here between Bonds of the Soul, so you might want to skip over the familiar parts if you've already read it. These parts have now been conveniently bolded.
Also, I wrote some of this while very, very depressed and angry, so it might not be as cute, but I did try. I am still working on finishing this chapter. If I'm lucky, it'll be done by tonight and I can start a chapter with stuff you all don't already know. Which I am so excited about because I've learned that I hate writing about the same things as another author. It's just boring and frustrating. Anyway. Have fun!
"Where's the cookies?" Albedo whined as he rummaged through the kitchen for is post-training snack.
"I dunno. Move!" Rubedo shouted as he joined his brother atop a chair and pushed to get his greedy hands in the higher cabinets where all the goodies were kept supposedly out of their reach.
"Hey, watch it!" Albedo complained as he momentarily lost his balance.
"It's not here! I can't believe it! Damn those cooks! Moving things like it'll stop us or something!" Rubedo declared with a sense of angry irk. "Hey, wadda you got?" he questioned his younger brother as he hopped off his chair.
"A sandwich," he stated taking a big bit of Wonder Bread and peanut-buttery goodness.
"Gimme some."
"Make your own. The bread and stuff is on the counter."
"I hate peanut butter," Albedo complained not really meaning it, but it's comparison to the all-mighty delicious wonder of the sugar-saturated cookies made it seem like it was true.
Rubedo skipped up to the counter and excitedly dug a knife deep into the bowels of the nutty cream and layered it thickly atop one slice of bread, and then had a second thought. "Hey, do we have chocolate?" Albedo and Rubedo shared a short glance before thrusting the refrigerator open and tackling each other for various sandwich and non-sandwich related products. In the end they both had produced enormous and disgusting creations that made Nigredo cringe as they shoved them in their mouths and devoured them faster than he could blink three times.
"We should be going now," Nigredo stated calmly as he watched his brothers practically begin to choke.
"Yeah, you're right," Rubedo agreed bent over slightly and with a minor strain to his voice.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Albedo whined with pale hands cupped around his belly.
"Maybe you shouldn't have eaten so much that fast," Nigredo voiced with sensible logic as he began walking out the door.
"Shut-up, Nigredo!" the crabby boy demanded. Nigredo left it at that knowing if he pushed it any further nothing would be achieved except a small fight and a larger delay to their appointment.
As they entered the room of destination, Nigredo felt their father's reproach and was sure to make himself less noticeable by taking his position to the left and slightly behind his brothers and left Rubedo to give the initial excuse. When his efforts were met only with further anger, he backed him up by explaining the training incident earlier that day. This seemed to satisfy him and he continued with the business at hand after he had Rubedo introduce the three of them.
"Very good, Rubedo," he said quite happy with their obedient display, "Now, I shall introduce our guests. This man here is Mr. Smith. He's here on the behalf of the Miltian government with Ayame, who is here for treatment just like Sakura. Ayame's disability is different, however. Her hypersensitivity to the synchronicity of the U.M.N. waves has caused a problem with her neural visual senses. She's blind, in a sense, to certain inanimate objects. It's a particularly vexing case because sometimes she can see everything, sometimes nothing, and sometimes she can only see a few things. We haven't been able to determine precisely why this phenomenon occurs, but Nigredo, you will be participating in the research and treatment of her illness."
Nigredo blinked at Dr. Yuriev before taking a moment to observe the girl, Ayame who stood before the tall government agent in the suit. She had light blue hair, which would usually suggest that she might be a realian, but Nigredo knew that such was not the case. She had blue-green eyes and was dressed in a uniform similar to the female type URTVs' only a sunny yellow color. The other two girls wore the same outfit. Before her, Ayame clutched a small bag, which Nigredo assumed contained her things. The young girl was about eight or nine years old, terrified, and seemed to be much entertained by the ground by her feet.
"Next, you boys have already met Mrs. Juli Mizrahi and her daughter Sakura. Though we have been discouraged by the failure of the encephalon dives, we are hoping that this intensive form of treatment will finally do the trick. Rubedo, you shall be partnered with Sakura since you two already know each other, and your waveform seems to have the strongest effect on her."
Rubedo and Sakura shared a smile at hearing this before listening to Dr. Yuriev go on.
"This is Mrs. Hart. She is a teacher in downtown Miltia. Her daughter, Kicho is another unique case of UMN hypersensitivity. The UMN waves interfere with her sensual output, similar to the way that it does Sakura's. However, as Sakura can only be heard by URTVs, Kicho can only be seen by URTVs. She is invisible, but like Ayame's illness, her disability also differentiates between living organisms and objects. For example, if she picks up a toy and no one else is holding it, the object will disappear from the sight of normal humans. This is the same for walls or floors that she contacts with her bare skin when no other living person in touching it. So, you see boys, these illnesses have grown to be more serious than a mere handicap. No, they've become…"
"Downright freaky…" Rubedo finished the sentence.
"And a threat to public safety. If this trend continues and these illnesses continue to become more frequent and more complex, then you boys may find yourselves double majoring in both civil defense and public relations. Naturally, these recent developments have also caused the government to show a lot more interest in the URTVs. We can expect a respectable increase in government funding to assist in this new research. Oh yes, and Albedo, your wavelength should match up with Kicho's, so you are her partner."
Albedo met eyes with Kicho, the small child that was clinging onto Mrs. Hart's pink dress. She didn't shudder or show any sign of fear, but when she looked into Albedo's eyes, she jumped with surprise. Albedo smiled at her amiably and she eagerly returned it. She had a head full of brown curls, brown eyes, and tan skin. Her cheeks had a lively pink tint, and she seemed to radiate with youthful energy and innocence. She looked a bit smaller than Ayame, but Albedo figured that she was probably around the same age.
"Now, about your new mission…it's easy really. All you have to do is spend time with these girls. According to my hypothesis, exposure to the anti-U-DO wavelengths inside of you three should be beneficial to these children. However, the problem lies with the fact that this will interfere with your usual training. For this reason, your training in the U-DO simulator will be pushed back a month. That's the duration of the project, until you are notified of any changes. We will see where we stand within a month, then we can decide whether to continue the project or not. Should something happen to render any of you boys unfit to fulfill your mission, or if it is decided that you are not performing up to the preferred standard, Citrine shall take your place. However, I have faith that you boys will not let me down. As for the girls, they will be staying here Monday through Friday and will return home for the weekend. Now, I'll give you a few minutes to meet your partners and their parents. Try to be polite, I know that your contact with girls your age has been…limited."
With that Dimitri Yuriev began walking towards the door. He paused for a moment as a thoughtful expression crossed his face.
"Oh, and boys, you will be training, just in a different way. I've arranged for a tutor to teach you and the girls for up to six hours each day. Your first lesson begins…in about forty-five minutes. I want you and your new charges in room C8 by then. This time, please try to be prompt."
Nigredo closely examined the child before him with a greater intensity as his father finally left the room. She seemed interested in everything around her…except him.
"Hello," he said in a n effort to get her attention. Her eyes suddenly darted to meet his as if in surprise at his existence. She only offered a quick "hello" in response before her attention was suddenly caught by something above them.
"So…um, do you have any pets at home?" he asked trying his absolute best to pull her into a friendly conversation. She simply disregarded him and pointed up at her current focal point with an intense curiosity flashing in her eyes.
"What's on the floor above us?" she questioned.
"Should be…basic self defense training. Units 150 through 257 are in now," he answered happy to have a full exchange of words.
"Looks like fun."
"…excuse me?"
"Oh no, one fell down. I hope he isn't hurt," she stated with a sharp concern on her face. After a moment or two she then proceeded to stare at a near by wall. Nigredo, slightly annoyed but still full of patience, continued his brave attempts until he was distracted by a flash of bright green light where Albedo was with Kicho.
"Albedo, what did you do?" Nigredo asked.
"I didn't do anything, I just touched her hand."
"Take her hand again, see if it happens again." Albedo obediently approached Kicho again, but the child no longer wanted to touch him. She looked at him oddly, as though he had disappointed her somehow. Then he remembered what Mrs. Hart said about people fearing Kicho and realized what he reaction must have looked like to the little girl. Therefore, feeling a bit guilty, he gave her an apologetic look and took her hand again. There were no faint green lights, but Kicho came closer and gave him a hug that he wasn't expecting. Rubedo had been watching this and giggled. The other females also smiled, except for Ayame who wasn't paying attention.
"My, don't you make friends quickly," Nigredo teased with a grin.
"Oh, shut up! At least Kicho finds me more interesting than a wall."
"Hey, we can't see through walls. For all we know, that could be a very fascinating wall."
"That shit makes you feel better, eh?"
"Yes."
It was about that time that Dr. Yuriev reentered the room. He smiled with amusement at seeing Kicho and Albedo, but quickly turned back to business. As though sensing the return of reason to the room, Kicho stopped hugging Albedo and merely held his hand at his side. Ayame also stopped watching whatever it was that she found interesting and gave Dr. Yuriev her attention.
"I see that this went well. Mrs. Hart, Mrs. Mizrahi, I don't believe that I've shown either of you the whole of my institute, have I? Let's leave these children to play for the next twenty minutes before their class while I show you around."
"Of course, Dr. Yuriev. I've been looking forward to learning more about this institute and the training of the URTVs," Mrs. Mizrahi responded casually. However, Mrs. Hart did not seem so eager to leave. She looked to her daughter's shadow with a worried expression.
"Are you sure that we should leave them alone so soon? I mean, I'm sure that your boys are very responsible, Dr. Yuriev. It just feels wrong to walk away so early."
"The boys aren't babysitters, Mrs. Hart. They are the treatment. You shouldn't worry knowing that there are hundreds of children in this building, and all of the personnel are specially trained to handle any problems that should arise. There are guard realians stationed throughout the institute in order to protect the children from danger. I assure you, everything should be just fine." With this, Mrs. Hart reluctantly followed Dr. Yuriev and Mrs. Mizrahi out of the room, leaving the six children by themselves.
As all eyes turned to Rubedo for instructions, Ayame began making her first observations of the people around her. By the way the others turned to the red boy, she consciously assessed him to be the main figure in their group. She also noted to watch him more carefully to make sure that he didn't start pushing her around. She took a couple moments sizing up Albedo and Nigredo. Finding a mix of auras from Albedo, she decided he'd best be avoided for direct contact, at least for a while. Time would be needed before she could comfortably predict him. And then there was Nigredo. He was calm. He was generally predictable. He was oddly…stable-a bit too stable. She couldn't understand how that could be; everyone had their problems. Her conclusion was that she'd need to get to know him better.
"Well, do you girls know each other?" Rubedo asked, though Kicho and Ayame knew the question had not been meant for them. They watched as Sakura's lips moved, but couldn't hear any words. Neither girl paid it much attention, coming to a quick acceptance of each other's disabilities.
"No kidding!" he exclaimed in response to the unheard statement, "Let's see, I think that the first thing to do is switch partners, only for a little while. Here, let's play a game. Albedo, you'll be with Sakura. Nigredo, you're with Kicho. I'll be with Ayame. Everyone has to talk for about ten minutes. You have to talk, but it can be about anything. Okay? Pair up!"
Everyone scrambled to their partners in light confusion (except Ayame who just stood there expecting that she wouldn't be too hard to find and who was unwilling to follow his orders so directly), and took to their new assignment in their own ways: Albedo did his bare minimum efforts which included not talking unless spoken to and only answering questions with absolute vagueness, Sakura put in her best efforts with him asking this question and that but not getting much in response, Nigredo happily played along with Kicho's games and they gained each other's favor quite quickly, and Rubedo spent his time answering questions himself, but was never given an opportunity to ask any of his own. Overall, Rubedo was satisfied with the experience. He felt things had begun moving a long quite nicely, and for him and Albedo the rest of the day went smoothly….
Later that night…
"I NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM!" the small, blue-haired girl shouted in a venomous shriek.
"Too bad," her aggressor said calmly, but firmly.
"WHAT'S YOUR FING PROBLEM!"
"You can see through the stall walls."
"SO WHAT!"
"So…how do you think the other girls feel knowing you're watching them go? You'll wait till everyone else is done."
"WHAT! YOU THINK I'M GOING TO SIT AND WATCH THEM! F YOU!" she shouted with such an intense aura of absolute rage that it practically seared the other girls' ears. With a spark flying through her now deep, deadly green eyes, her leg took flying off from the ground and firmly planted itself in Citrine's skinny calve with a force that easily would leave the child-weapon's bone bruised. As the bossy-beyond-her-years girl fell to the floor in an agony usually reserved for training accidents, Ayame charged forward into the bathroom, quickly felt around for a stall door, closed it behind her, and relinquished her excess fluids to that ceramic wonder-bowl.
Meanwhile, outside all the girls were in a frenzy, and poor little Kicho sat frightened in the corner not knowing exactly what to do and worried that getting involved would only result in her getting stepped on. She was slightly relieved when one of the other girls went for help and the surprised when Ayame re-appeared with a completely un-affected look on her face. The chaos she had caused didn't bother her and in the midst of all the havoc she was a frightening visual to Kicho who never had to cope with this type of excitement.