Chapter eight, it isn't going to be spectacular, but ill give it my best shot.
Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread, because I got no money.
#8: Confessions of the Heart
Meia stared out the window of the ship entering the planet's atmosphere. It had been 3 weeks from the attack on the 'Forager'. Christmas was 3 days away, and the captain had given them all a bit of shore leave on the merchant planet Telcon. The planet had thousands of different shops on its single continent. They had conducted several raids on ships over the past weeks, had had captured a large sum of money, which they didn't really need, so they were going to blow as much as they saw fit while here. John was sitting beside her, joking with Jack. Meia had recently gotten an uncomfortable swoop in the pit of her stomach whenever she had locked eyes with him. She dismissed it as nothing and ignored it. Vinn and Jura were in a serious relationship now, which meant that he paid her a lot of attention, and was now going for mouth to mouth kisses on occasion, when they though no one was watching. They were discussing telling everyone about them during the Christmas festivities, but thanks to Paiway, it wasn't a secret. Hibiki was spending more time with Dita, and now even returning a smidgen of affection she was constantly shoveling on him. It seemed everyone was moving forward with the love lives as Christmas approached. Christmas was the time to spread love, but did so many people have to be doing it? Why was everyone around her lucky enough to have found a person to be with? Even though she had sworn against getting attached to anyone, she still couldn't help but feel sad that all of her friends were finding happiness and she was alone. Dita had Hibiki, Parfait had Duero, Jura had Vinn, Belvedere had Victor, and Celtic had Bart. Even Barnette seemed to be moving toward going at Jack. Why was she to be left out?
She swept these bitter thoughts out of her head as the ship touched down.
"We all meet back here in 4 hours, and I can assure you, who ever isn't, won't be envied by anyone alive." Gascogne said, casting a look at Jura, and then the rest. Jura then promptly dragged Vinn off and into the first clothing shop she came to.
"I feel sorry for Vinn when Gasco gets a hold of him for being late." Jack said with a sigh, "She is not a good sport when you're late." He made a cutting gesture across his throat. The group consisting of Meia, John, Jack, and Barnette spent the next 2 hours looking around from store to store for gifts for that special some someone aboard the 'Nirvana'. Everyone had been giving a large sum of money each, because they either had hit a rich person's ship, or a bank ship, because it had had a room filled from floor to ceiling in paper bills. They had all been giving around 10,000 in currency. They went to a jewelry shop and had accomplished their gift list all at once.
"Why do women like colorful stones and shiny metal?" John said, admiring a case filled with blades of varying lengths, all with jewel encrusted hilts.
"Dunno, but that would explain why they are all fighting over me." Jack replied, holding up a large ruby in his gauntlet and examining it. Everyone in the shop had a good laugh at that, and he just shrugged, put the gem back in the barrel with the others, and moved to another. John walked over and examined a case containing a full suit of armor made of gold, and jewels everywhere.
"Hey, Barnette," Jack called over, and she pried her eyes away from a ring with about 20 diamonds set into it in a spiral pattern with the largest in the center. "Come here I need your help." He said, and she hastened over hearing that, excitement coming over her features. "Which of these stones do you think looks best, I just keep wanting to grab purple, purple, purple, because I love the color." He said.
"Why do you like the color so much?" She asked, half hoping for another complement of her eyes. Jack's face got a touch of worry playing across it, and John looked over, also worried. He had hidden it for this long, was he going to blow it now?
"I… uh… I…" Jack stuttered trying to buy time as his mind raced. Something clicked and he said with an ashamed look on his face, finding an excuse, "I think it radiates a calm sense of power that I find appealing." He said in a way that sounded more like a question than a statement. John gave him a small nodded, which Meia noticed, and Jacks smile spread and his confidence came flooding back. "I'm going to fix up a little something for one of the girls back on the ship, and I am just no good at this kind of stuff."
"Oh." Barnette said a bit disappointedly. "The sapphires." She said, pointing at a barrel filled with blue stones.
"Ah, of course, blue, purple's mother, calm and comforting. Mix it with purples father, red, flashy and powerful, and you get the calming strength of purple. Thank you, sorry for interrupting whatever you were doing." He said, turning to the barrel of sapphires and beginning to dig through them. Barnette turned, crestfallen, and went back to staring at the ring. Meia walked over to John.
"What was that all about?" She asked in a whisper.
"Nothing, he was just asking about some rocks." John whispered back.
"Not that, that nod that you gave him when he said the stuff about why he liked the color. It sounded like he was asking you." She stated. Now it was john's turn to cast around of an excuse.
"Er…well… it… uh…" He stuttered, until he came up with a lie that he was sure would work. "Ok, but you have to promise not to tell anyone." He said, putting a defeated look on his face. He had learned to lie convincingly when in the army, it was all acting, and he was good. Meia nodded, and John elaborated. "Jack has had feelings for her for quite some time. He has done something's that he would have never done before. He wanted to get her opinion without her knowing that he was making whatever he is for her. He hasn't told me what it will be, but he always puts his all into whatever he does, so you can bet it will be spectacular, and knowing Jack it will probably explode." He finished with a chuckle. Meia seemed to except this explanation, and went back to looking at some nice gloves with gold embroidery. John was now looking at a case full of necklaces; some with glistening gems the size of his thumb hanging from them. One caught his eye, a plain golden chain with a small teardrop shaped emerald hanging from it. Nothing fancy but still eye catchingly beautiful. It was perfect, it resembled the person he wanted to give it to, for she wasn't the type to like having a big fuss made over her.
"Hey, you with the key," He called to the woman behind the counter. She hobbled over, and John pointed out the one with the small gem. "I'll take that one." He said. They marched over to the counter. "Give me that little silk bag, too."
"Ok, the necklace will be $10,200, and the bag $50. Your grand total will come to $10,260, tax included." John brought his neatly folded bills out of his pocket, counted out the money, and handed it to the clerk, and shoving the rest back in his pocket. She handed him the bag and he put it safely in a pocket on the inside of his vest.
"Who's that for, if you don't mind me asking?" Meia asked curiously.
"One of the dread pilots, a nice level headed girl, think she'll like it." He said happily.
"I'm sure she'll love it." Meia said with a forced smile, keeping the bitterness that had just risen up at hearing this, along with another feeling. What? Why am I feeling jealous? Meia though as she struggled to banish this new and unwelcome feeling, and went back to gazing at little sculptures of military vehicles and craft carved out of different gemstones. She was about to pick one out, and call the lady over when she saw Jack at the register, the lady placing an assortment of gems in a rather large bag.
"Give me one of those gold bars, wait, make that 2, and put them in that box over there." He said pointing at a handsome box that was about 1'X 1', but wasn't as decorated as the other boxes around it.
"Your grand total is $585,995." She said.
"Seems reasonable, but let's just make it an even $586,000." He said pulling out the wad of cash he had got from the ship, and then fishing around in his cloak. He pulled out a much larger wad of cash, and placed it on the counter with the rest. "That was my rainy day fund, but seeing as this is going to be my first Christmas, I can afford to go for a little extra." It took the clerk a full three minutes to count the money in front of her. When she finished, she handed him back about $20,000, and started opening the case holding the gold bars. He stashed the money back in his cloak, along with the sagging bag of gems, and then the box with the gold when she gave him that. Meia decided to ask John about Jack's extensive budget.
"Where did he get all of that money?" She asked him, after purchasing a little figurine.
"I had that stashed away from over the years, was going to open a business if I ever left Tarrak, but I figured, I'm not on Tarrak anymore, so I might as well have some fun." Jack said, hearing Meia, who was embarrassed by having him hear her ask his friend about him. They left the shop after Barnette had broken down and purchased the ring for herself and a little figurine for someone she wasn't going to name. They went and found a restaurant, and nearly exploded as he had something called a bacon cheeseburger. He then loudly declared his love to the food, and spent the next hour savoring every bite. They left the restaurant, than headed back to the ship, and waited with Gascogne, Bart and, Celtic, who was hefting several clothing preservation bags. They tough she had allot, until Vinn dragged Jura into the bay at the last second, Jura holding at least twice as many, Vinn also carrying some that nobody thought were his.
"Damn," Jack said pulling out his wad of cash, "He managed to get back in time, here's that $20 I bet you." He said, throwing some money at John. They all piled into the ship, and Gascogne pushed the ship up and out of the bay, and out of the atmosphere. Vinn had explained how he literally had to pull Jura out of the last shop, and she seemed mad, until Gasco told them all what she would have done if they had been late. Jura seemed happy toward him again, and the rest of the trip went by peacefully. The ship docked with the 'Nirvana', who was floating serenely in the heavens.
"I've got to get going if I'm gonna have my gift ready by the time were supposed to give them, I'll see you all later." He said and rushed off. That was two days ago, and no one had seen him since. But his door was locked, and John says he's in their, so he must be, right? I mean John knows him better than anyone. Barnette though as putt another pan of cake in the oven on Christmas Eve morning. She had been thinking about him allot, but didn't know why. She had been baking for about 3 hours now, and had had quite a bit of time to think. She had strange feelings about him, sort of like how she had felt toward Jura, but better, and stronger. She remembered that her feelings to Jura were feelings of love. "If your feelings of him are the same as the ones you have for Jura, only stronger, that mean's that you are in love with him." A voice strong, calm in the back of her head said. "That is what it meant when your stomach leapt at the sight of him, Your Heart skipping a beat when you locked eyes." It said. She was confused, and not too confident in herself at the moment, covered in batter and hearing voices in her head. She just kept cooking, and the voice kept talking. "It is why you have been thinking about him all of the time, and having trouble sleeping." It went on, when anther voice entered, a desperate voice that was her reasoning. "What makes you so sure, he hasn't even said hello for 2 days, why should I care about a stupid man." Yet another voice spoke up, sad and quiet, her self-confidence joined the argument. "He would never like someone like me, he could have anyone on this ship, and he'd never chose me. More voices joined in, and Barnette couldn't concentrate. All of the voices represented the feelings she had been having and suppressing over the past couple of days. She screamed, bringing her hands up to her ears. The world around started spinning, the voices arguing in her head seemed to grow, and were consuming her.
She woke up in the hospital, a worried looking Duero and Parfait staring down at her as she blinked in the light. She didn't remember anything about how she had got here, only a single voice strong and calm, telling her something important.
"You fears will either be confirmed, or dismissed" She didn't know what it meant, or who had said it.
"Are you ok?" The doctor's voice floated down to her. "Your brainwaves were pretty erratic for a while, but calmed a few seconds before you awoke."
"Yeah," she mumbled half-heartedly "Everything just sort of, caught up with me." She said rubbing her eyes and sitting up. She didn't know why she said that, but somehow knew it was the truth. "How'd I end up here?"
"Dita said she heard a scream, and went into the kitchen and found you on the floor. Hibiki and John carried you up here. That was about 2 hours ago."
"I had better get back to the kitchens." She said, and started to get up. The doctor put a hand on her shoulder.
"No, just lay here and get some rest." She started to protest, but decided not to and slumped down into the bed again. The doctor handed her a pill and a cup of water, which she took, and drifted back into a peaceful sleep.
"Will she be alright?" Parfait asked, with a worried tone.
"Yes, she seemed to just be over whelmed by stress. A few more hours sleep and she should be back to normal." The doctor said, reassuringly.
"Nothings been normal around here for along time." Parfait grinned as she and the doctor left hand in hand, to go and set up the snow machines for later that evening.
"Why are women so weird?" Hibiki asked, helping Dita with her cooking. She simply smiled, and shrugged her shoulders. "Your no exemption. In fact, you're the weirdest one I know." Dita leaned right up to his face, a sly smile spreading across her face an inch and a half away from his.
"Yes, But you know you like it, Mr. Alien." She said slowly and carefully. Hibiki's blushed and turned away with his usual damn it. Not because of her being so close, but because she was right. He didn't bother fighting. The tear in his sensibility had now taken over most of his brain, and it was only a matter time until he couldn't fight it at all. It turned out, that that time was going to be right now. Dita wrapped her arms around his neck, and she pressed herself against him. He decide, well the new part of him decided, that it was a good time to act upon his feelings, feelings that he had fought since they had first left and landed on Tarrak. He turned and wrapped his arms around her waist. She jumped a little when she felt this, and blushed furiously.
"I think your right." He said in a voice so smooth that their cheeks both lit up even more. He leaned his head in and she did as well, closing her eyes. They got closer and closer, only half an inch of air between their two sets of lips.
"Would you to cut that out and Start working?" Jura shouted from the other side of the counter, causing the two to jump up and practically fly apart.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Hibiki yelled over at her, both embarrassed and furious that she had ruined their moment. "Your one to talk, always attached to that army guy!"
"Theirs only a few hours left, and everything has to be perfect. Plus without Barnette, you have to work harder." Jura said, ignoring Hibiki's comment, though she was a pink tinge in her cheeks as she walked of to yell at someone else for slacking of. Dita and Hibiki went back to work without a word.
The small tables that were usually in the mess hall, had all taken out, and two giant ones moved in. Bench seats were put on both sides of each table. Tablecloths had been put over the tables, and on top of a huge spread of food, drink, and enough silverware and plates for the entire crew to eat at once. It seemed that the focus of this year's Christmas was to be the dinner. People began coming into the hall at about 10:30 to get the good seats. The feast started at 11:00, and anyone who was not there already, just had to fill in when they showed up.
Barnette woke at 11:45, and having no incentive to got to the feast, headed back to her room to change out of her apron. Still being tired even after her drug induced nap, and not wanting to go to bed, she just grabbed a small box from in one of her drawers, stuffed it in her pocket, and walked to the enviornmental area underneath the bridge. She sat in the cool grass, her back to a tree near the side walk, and watched the stars. At midnight she heard the uproar in the hall, as everyone was wished eachother a Merry Chirstmas to each other. She was half asleep, and didn't notice the crickets stop chirping, like when a threat was near, and the uneven clicking of metal against cement. She snapped awake as someone started talking to her, dark outline blurred, standing on the side walk infront of her.
"There you are, Your not an easy one to track down." It said, ad she recognised it was Jack. She felt the normal swoop in her stomach. "Let's go over into the light, I want to show you something." He said to her, holding out his hand. She took it, expecting the stong, cold grip of the guantlets that he always wore. What she grabbed was as cold as she expected, but was not the unyeilding metal, but bare flesh. He walked with her to a bench bathed in the light provided by a street lamp near by. She sat down, but he remained standing. His face was pale, drained of most of it's color, but he was smiling widely. She looked at his hand as he released hers, and saw that it was covered in dry blood.
"I've just finished my gifts for the person you helped me pick the stone out for. Been working on it non stop for three days, it had to be perfect, I even took my gauntles off so I wouldn't scratch it." He said as he dug both hands into his coat, and bringing out a box. It covered in a layer of gold, fancy patterns on the edges and corners. A large amethyst dominated the center and then gems were set in a spiraling patern, four stones in an arm, eight arms, two of each color stone, the stones getting smaller the furter out they went. Diamonds lined the sides and front of the box, in a neat row, equal space between them. It was one of the most beautful things Barnette had ever seen, and see could honestly say she envyed whoever was to recive it.
"It's wonderful." Barnette said, amazed.
"Good," he said, notacing that Barnette was not quite with it at the moment, and he decided to take advantage of the situation. "Do you thing Barnette will like it?" he asked his smile broadening as she gapped at the box.
"I'm sure she'll love it." She said back, not realizing what he said. The vioce in the back of her head said, "What did you say?" and Barnette felt herself say it, wondering how the voice in her head had been able to use her mouth, and worried that she might be going crazy.
"I said, do you think Barnette will like it." He repeated slowly as she looked up at him, tearing her gaze from the box. Her mind began to race. Who was Barnette? She was Barnette, but he couldn't be giving this her. Who was the other name Barnette. The voice sighed, and had her clarify.
"Who's Barnette?" she asked, wanting to know who he intended to give this gift to.
"She's one of the dread piolets, pretty girl with green hair, and eyes the most beautiful shade of purple. I had a talk with the doctor bout a week ago, about some problems I'd been having with my stomach, and he said that I was in love with this girl. Could you imagine that? A man falling inlove with a women. I didn't want to believe him, but a voice kept telling me he was right. The damn thing wouldn't shut up, so I humored it, and said I'd confess my love to her by giving her three great gifts on Christmas. What do you think, does Barnette like it?" he said. Barnette's mind reeled at this, only holding on to a few words, which the oddly calm voice repeated back to her. "In love with this girl, and did you catch the last part? Does Barnette like it?" The voice said, emphising the does. As Jack put the box back into his cloak, asnd continued to stare at her, his pale face shining in the light.
What happened next, came so fast, so unexpectedly, that jack didn't even have time to put his arms up. Barnette flew off the bench into him, arms wrapping tightly around his ribs, to which he flinched heavily, as she sqeezed as tight as she could, eyes filled with tears, afraid he might dissapear if she lousened her grip. When she finally let go, he began talking again, bringing the box back out and handing it to her.
"Open it, and tell me what you think." She was so happy that he felt the same way for her, that she had forgotten all about the box. She popped it open, and inside sat a shining silver hand gun.
"I tweaked it a bit, so that as long as your pointing at something, it will hit it." He said, as she looked at it, and saw slightly below it, several gold rings, each encrusted with a diferent gemstone. Seeing where she was looking, he added, "I had some stuff left over after I finished, so I made you a little extra." He reached into his cloack again, taking out a thick gold disk and a glass dome. He placed the disk on the bench seat, and then continuied digging, untill he pulled out a big blue stone. It was a giant round saphire, and with it a small bag. He turned the glass dome upside down, dropped the big saphire in, and then dumped a bunch of other smaller ones into the dome. He picked up the gold base placed it on the open end of the glass, and then flipped it over. To her astonishment, the orbs stoped falling when they hit the mid-point, and were floating inside. The smaler ord started orbiting the big one, some of the smaller ones getting smller ors orbiting around them.
"It's a model of what the sol system was like, when Earth was the human home world, the big one is sol, or the sun." He said as he gave it to her. She was mesmerised. "The third, is me admiting that I love you." He said quickly, as she was absorbed in the glas dome. She looked up at these words, and put the dome next to box.
"You know what?" she said as she stood up, and walked at him. "I think I like that one best of all." She reached out to embrace him, but he fliched worse than ever as her arm brushed his ribs on the left side. "What's wrong?" she said, worry in her voice, and on her face.
"Noth… nothing," he panted, more color draining from his face. "just got a little burned when something exploded while I was working. I'll meet you back here in a half hour, I'm going to go get patched up." He walked off, leaving Barnette standing there wondering what had happened. She hung her head, and noticed a pool of blood where he had been standing. How bad was this?
Jack headed for the mess hall, not the infermery. He peeked in the door, and located John, off in a corner, giving Meia a small box, which she exepted, her cheeks red. He had included a note that read what he had thought when he had bought the necklace.
"Nothing fancy but still eye catchingly beautiful." Jack would leave them alone, he was to far away anyway. He searched until he found Vinn, next to a side door. He left back out the door, and circled around to the side door, and poked his head in.
"Vinn, Vinn, come here!" He said quietly, yet firmly. Vinn looked up and saw his friends pale face, told Jura he'd be back in a minute, and hurried over.
"What in god's name happened to you?" He said worried, as Jack pulled him into a near by storage room.
Just finished my gifts, little floating things that or orbit around each other, you mind patching me up?" He asked holding out a Med. Kit. Vinn took it and got to work. Jack taking off the cloak, the shirt underneath was soaked in blood on his left side. Jack pulled the shirt of, all of the skin on the left side of his torso was missing. "I couldn't have gone to the doctor." Jack said, as Vinn started. " He's a smart guy, would have seen right through my little, I got burned in an explosion excuse."
"Who'd you use it on?" Vinn asked, keeping up conversation.
"Barnette, she was out of it, and I went on talking about her, but as if I was taking to someone else, use her name and everything, took her a couple minuets to realize she was the only Barnette. She grabbed me around the ribs, and noticed that it hurt." Jack said, recalling what had happened. It took Vinn 15 minutes to fully prepare and bandage the wound.
"Here you go. Glad I could help." Vinn said, as Jack put his blood soaked shirt back on. He then dug in his cloak and pulled out a small syringe, full of a glowing green liquid. He uncapped it, and injected it into the vein of his left arm. He noticed the look that he was getting and explained.
"It's a supplement that accelerates blood cell growth about 20 times faster than normal, until back to safe levels" Vinn nodded, and left the room. "Say hi to squawky for me!" Jack called after him, and slid his cloak back on. Jack walked to the door, and shut and locked it. He turned, waved his gauntleted right hand across the room, palm out. He turned his hand palm up, and swept his fingers upward. All of his blood in the room, rose of the floor and floated in the air. He brought his gauntlets together, and the blood all combined into a ball. He snapped his fingers, and the ball burst into brilliant purple flames. Shrinking until all of the blood was gone. He opened the door and walked out, it looked as though he had never been in there.
The mess hall was still celebrating at full capacity, the captain in he Santa outfit, reindeer with eyes that didn't point in the same direction bobbing in front of her, as she threw out arm loads of small packages from a big sack. Hibiki and Dita were sitting next to each other, and she handed Hibiki a little box.
"Merry Christmas, Mr." She never got a chance finish her sentence, because Hibiki chose that moment to deliver his gift. He darted his head forward, and gave her a small kiss on the lips. Dita turned red and sat there grinning, stupefied by his actions.
"Now you can't say I didn't get you anything." He said satisfied, and turned back to his plate of juicy turkey. Meia was in complete shock; having found the little necklace that John had given her. She found it almost as unexpected as the new surge of feeling that rose in her, or what she did next. She gave him a big hug, unable to stop herself. Everyone around her was surprised ass well, they had never seen Meia acting like this before.
Jack made his way back to the meeting place, where Barnette was already waiting for him.
"Sorry, took a little longer than I expected" he said, giving a small smile. She was relived to see his face had a bit more color in it now.
"You left before I could give you your present." She said, holding out a small box. He took it and popped it open, reviling a small, amethyst carved in the shape of the angel of death, holding little scythe. "You said you love the color purple, and from what I heard you were like in combat aboard the ships we raided, that image came to mind." She said.
"Well, that is what they made me to be." He replied, putting a large helping of disgust on the word they. Barnette just stared at him, confused. He gave a long sigh, and went on. "I have decided, with persuasion from John, to tell you who and what I really am. But first, I have to showyou what make's me what I really am." He said, and walked over to the pool of blood he had left during his last visit. She followed and stood next to him. He swept his arm in the same way he had in the storeroom. The blood floated up, and he pulled it into a ball. "This was the first thing I had to show, and this," He snapped his fingers, "is the second." The ball erupted into dark purple flames, and slowly burned out.
After a minute, Barnette asked,
"What was that?"
"The reason I'm here." Jack replied darkly.
Well, here you go. I'm on summer break, and am writing these things as fast as i can, because i don't have anyof this written down. I just type it as i think it, expept with a few parts i already have hammered out. i try to update atleast once a day, but i had 3 chapters done that i did during the waiting period to beable to submit work. hope you enjoy reading this.