Title: Visio Obscura

Author: KuroiCho

Genre: OC, drama

Rating: PG, will go up in the later parts

A/N: Hn. So. My Scryed OC-fic. I hope you won't prejudice the fic only because it's OC. I'm trying my best to create original characters. If you're interested about this, please review.

Thanks for everyone who reviewed!

internet weaver: It wasn't actually a misspell. The just cut it off too soon, for some reason. It's corrected now.

"Ryuhou-san, it's your turn to check the Natives."

The man felt a sudden coldness in his stomach. He had been avoiding the basement floor where the Natives were kept ever since the incident couple of days ago. He remembered the horrible feeling of something strange forcing its way into his head, the visions it made him see, hear, feel.. He felt a chill run over his spine.

Get a grip on yourself, Ryuhou. She's just a..a.. stupid little girl!

"Hai, I'll get going."

..370, 371, 372, 373..

Ryuhou kept counting the cells systematically. He stopped in front of one cell.

..374? His eyes widened. Not there. He screwed up his eyes and tried to get a clear view of the cell through the window. Hopeless, it really was empty!

Ryuhou turned on his heels and ran back the hallway, into the elevator and up to the highest level.

"Ryuhou-san! Please wait, the commander is busy right now!"

"I don't care. We've got a Native on the loose", Ryuhou snapped back at the commander Zigmarl's secretary. The woman tried desperately to stop him.

"No, you don't see. He's already meeting someone."

Ryuhou broke away from the woman and made his way to the door and jerked it open.

"Commander Zigmarl! We have an emergen-" His sentence was cut off when he noticed the figure standing in front of the commander's desk. She was wearing a HOLY uniform, the bony and slightly boyish figure clad in the purple cloth, dark hair falling down on her neck and back.. Ryuhou's eyes shot wide open.

"You!" he shouted. The girl and commander Zigmarl turned to face him.

"Ryuhou", Zigmarl said in a slightly warning tone, "you ought to know to wait if I'm in the middle of a meeting."

"Bu- But commander Zigmarl! I came here to report of a runaway Native! And she", he pointed at the girl standing immovably under his gaze, "is the subject of the report!"

There was a short silence after which Zigmarl spoke in a quiet and patient tone:

"Yes, she is. You see, Ryuhou, this young girl you captived a few days ago has shown some rather impressive Alter using. Her Alter type is the first one I've seen to act this way. Not to mention it is very useful when paralyzing struggling Natives."

The commander gave Ryuhou a long look.

"Long story short, I've decided to let her join the HOLY."

"What?" Ryuhou cried out. Zigmarl gave him another long look and waited until he seemed to have calmed down again.

"Now then, Ryuhou. Don't be rude. You should be happy to welcome a new face to join the group." The commander gave a nod to the girl who turned to face Ryuhou and bowed to him.

"Amae Shikan in your service. It's very nice to meet you."

Ryuhou stared at her and introduced himself but did not bow. Shikan straightened again and smiled at him. Zigmarl cleared his throat:

"Right, now you two can leave here and get back to your work."

The pair turned on their heels and exited through the door. Immediately after the door closed Shikan turned to Ryuhou and said:

"I'm sorry about the incident in the cells. But it was my natural instinct to attack, you know? We were enemies then. But now, when we're both in HOLY, I promise never to use my Alter on you -or other HOLY officers- anymore." She gave a slightly embarrassed smile. "The commander was extremely strict about that."

"I wonder why", Ryuhou commented dryly. Shikan shot him a piercing glance.

"Fine, act like a child if you want. I apologized already."

She walked away, leaving Ryuhou standing in an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to vent his frustration.

I hope not everyone are as rude as Ryuhou-san. She strolled down the corridors, telling herself over and over again that she was not lost. Not even if all the corridors looked like the same and she found herself again and again in the same hall.

"Aw, shit", she cursed, sighed deep and leaned against the wall. Not too long after that she heard steps drawing close. They stopped near her and she raised her head. She found herself looking up at a tall, violently orange-haired man with pink glasses covering his eyes. He stared at her for some time before grinning broadly.

"Sooooo.. Never seen you here before. You must be new."

Shikan nodded and pushed herself off the wall.

"Yeah, I'm Shikan Amau. Nice to meet you." She held out her hand but the man ignored this gesture.

"Shikine? Nice to meet ya. I'm Cougar. Hope you like it here."

"No, it's Shikan", Shikan corrected but Cougar just waved his hand, ignoring her. Again.

"Yeeesh, so if you're new here.. hey, have you met any people yet? The commander probably, since he's the one who appoints people into HOLY."

"Uh, yes. I've met him. I met Ryuhou-san as well, though he didn't seem that friendly."

Cougar's grin widened.

"Ah, our ol' Ryuhou-kun. He might be a bit of a joykill first but he's okay if you get to know him. He just takes his work very seriously."

"I know. I do take it seriously, too, but I'm not a--" She was cut off by a cool female voice echoing through the hallways.

"Alert. Section A2, please gather at the hall 2. Repeat, section A2, please gather..", the announcement informed. Shikan frowned.

"Alert? Does that mean..?"

"A Native User, most likely. But then again," Cougar turned to grin to Shikan, "It's for the section A2, so neither you or I need to worry about that." He looked at her and raised an eyebrow at her blank stare.

"What?"

"I.. I'm in section A2. The commander told me that."

Now Cougar's both eyebrows rose high.

"A2? A new officer?" he exclaimed. Shikan nodded. Cougar let out a sigh.

"Phew, you must've made a hell of a impression. But never mind that", he grinned and pushed up the glasses covering his eyes, "You better get going. It's an alert for you."

Shikan straightened up. "Hai! I'll get going. Thank you, Cougar-san, it was nice talking to you." She bowed and took off. Cougar stared after her, letting his glasses fall back and chuckled lightly.

"The area is shown right here", Ryuhou pointed at the image of an abandoned factory hung on the wall of the helicopter, "There are two Natives hiding in the area, a boy and a girl. The task is to captive them and bring them back to the headquarters. Stun them, if needed. Any questions?" He raised his eyes at the group in front of him. Nobody said a word.

"Okay, then. Do your best."

"Attention, we're landing soon", the pilot announced.

"Hai, wakarimasu", Ryuhou answered. He took another look at the group, section A2. His eyes swept over the newcomer, Shikan Amae. I can't understand why Commander decided to put her in this section. I guess I should forgive her. But I can't. He shot another glance at her. No. As long as I still remember those voices in my head, I won't forgive her.

Foot over foot. Try not to trip in the dark. Foot over foot.

They had searched in the abandoned factory for over 20 minutes, and they hadn't had a single glimpse of the two Natives. Shikan was starting to feel tired. Her feet started to hurt, and the darkness of the endless hallways was starting to depress her. She vaguely wondered if she had gotten lost. My first mission and I'm already this beaten. I need to get a grip on myself. She turned around a corner and stopped. For a moment she thought she had seen a glimpse of long, blond hair. She walked towards and now she was sure there was an extra pair of footsteps echoing in the hallway. She reached the next corner..

"Electric radiation." The whisper made the hairs in her neck to stand up. Altering? She reacted quickly, summoning her own alter as she stepped over the corner.

"Visio Obscura."

Ryuhou stepped dead on his tracks. Normal human wouldn't have felt a thing, but he felt a strange current drifting through the air. Altering? Have they caught someone? He turned around, towards the direction of the ripples, and took off in a run.

After some time Shikan took a closer look at the Native. It was a girl, blond hair long and ragged. She was rather incapable of attacking Shikan when she was captured under her Alter. Under the concentration she needed to keep her Alter gathered, Shikan started to feel slightly sorry for the girl. She's young.. She can't be older than 11 years old. Just a kid.. almost the same age as I was when.. Shikan felt a shiver go through her body. Am I really making her go through the same as I? Make her hear the voices in her head for the rest of her life.. Making her feel the same.. And just then, because of a second's disturbance in her concentration, Shikan felt her Alter fading and electricity making contact with her body.

Her breath caught in her throat. She felt her eyes watering. It hurt. It hurt so much..

"N-No.. stop it.. stop it!" ..stop it, stop it, stop it, I don't want to play.. any.. more..

Something, or someone, broke off the electricity. The pain disappeared.. Shikan opened her eyes and realized her cheeks were wet. She quickly wiped them with the sleeves of her uniform. She then looked up and saw Ryuhou standing in front of him, Zetsuei a little way from them, holding the little girl who was now unconscious. Shikan felt -undeniably- embarrassed. I couldn't take her on. I.. I had.. to be saved.. by him! Shit.

"I've caught her. We'd better take her into custody and get her to the helicopter", Ryuhou said and took a glance at Shikan, "And you, too."

"What do you mean?" Shikan asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, you don't look like you're capable of continuing," Ryuhou said without any apparent realizing that his words grated on Shikan. She felt her cheek's burning with discomfiture and anger.

"Y-Yes. I guess so."

When they got to the helicopter they found out the others had already caught the other Native. The way back was rather quiet. I wonder if it's always this silent, Shikan thought. She glanced up at Ryuhou who sat still on his seat and stared out of the window and she wondered if he too had heard the voices of her Alter.

"You.. did well."

Shikan closed the door of the cell and turned around. Ryuhou stared back at her.

"Say what?"

"You did well, considering it was your first mission. Even though you mustn't hesitate to attack Natives, regardless of their age, sex or other matters. Even a young girl like her", Ryuhou nodded towards the girl sleeping in the cell, "can control a massive amount of power."

Shikan nodded. So much power.. and she's so young. She could probably even kill a person if she wanted.. She felt herself twitch. Ryuhou was already walking away.

"By the way. Interesting name you got for your Alter. Visio Obscura", he said over his shoulder. Shikan showed no signs she had heard and followed him.