Dying dreams.
A Mai-Otome fan-fic by Radon
Disclaimer: Mai-Otome and all related characters are property of Sunrise I do not own any part of it… at all.
All original characters appearing in the story belong to me though.
Like it? Review please. Don't like it? Review and let me know what's wrong.
Summary: An AU story of the Mai-Otome world that splits of at episode 15 of the anime. It is recommended that you've seen atleast up to this point as the story will contain some spoilers from earlier episodes. Rated T for minor language and mentioning of adult themes.
Chapter 2
Rising up.
I don't know, but I don't think dreams die. Sometimes they can come back, maybe they change a bit while their gone. But… I don't really know much about dreams.
In the middle of nowhere, or rather in the desert several hours of travel from Windcity, the capital of Windbloom a rather odd scene was taking place.
The young red haired girl slowly opened her eyes and gazed onto a small cooking pot set above an equally small fire.
A strange metallic voice sounded suddenly. ''Good your awake, I hope you like Coolak soup 'cause I hadn't expected a companion so I didn't pack much in the way of food. Those little buggers are really hard to…. Hey can you hear me?''
The girl hadn't made a single sound or move since she had opened her eyes, she just sat there staring out into space. This was made even more unusual by the fact that the one talking to her seemed to be clad entirely in dark blue and green armor, strange contraptions were strapped, or rather, attached to its wrists and a helmet covered its head entirely. The helmet was shaped roughly like a motorcycle helmet complete with a dark visor, an earblade was attached to the right side, pointing backwards.
The cyborg, its appearance left little to imagine about its nature, got up from its kneeling position and walked over to the girl, its feet making audible clanking sounds as it did so. Helmet and all it appeared several inches shorter then an adult man, which is somewhat on the small side as far as cyborgs go. It lowered itself down on its knees again, bringing its face on equal height with that of the girl who was sitting with her back against a rock.
''Hey I'm not going to hurt you alright?'' Its visor suddenly slid up several inches revealing a pair of blue eyes. ''My name is Blaise what's yours?''
Still no reaction, Blaise's waved its hand in front of the girl's face which had no effect either.
''What am I going to do now? I was hoping she would want to go back to the city once she woke up but if she stays like this I can't bring her back and I certainly can't leave her here.''
The helmet's visor slid back down, covering its eyes. A low humming sound suddenly came from the Blaise's body as the visor lit up in a soft green light.
''No nanomachine activity detected, trace amounts of GEM and REM radiation, no source on her though. Normal readings considering where I found her, she's clean.''
Blaise got up and walked back to the fire, picked up the small pot and a spoon and walked back to the girl. It took a spoonful of the vaguely brown liquid and allowed it to cool for a few seconds, then opened the girl's mouth with its other hand an poured the contents of the spoon in and closed her mouth again, the girl swallowed.
After the cyborg had finished feeding the girl it quickly cleaned up camp, putting the fire out by simply crushing it with its foot and disposing of the leftover food. Once it was finished Blaise picked up the girl again, wrapping its dark cloak, which the girl had been sitting on around her as it did so.
The cyborg moved across the desert sands at high speed even while carrying the still unresponsive girl. They moved deeper into the desert, leaving Windbloom behind them and heading further into the wasteland.
''You know I'll probably get into a lot of trouble for bringing you back so you'd better thank me for this once your back to normal.''
Blaise said, attempting again to get a response out of the girl it was carrying. Yet the girl remained silent, she had closed her eyes again, whether this was because she was asleep or because she wanted to shield the from the harsh winds Blaise did not know.
By the time night had fallen the two had made it to a rocky area of the desert, Blaise leapt down a cliff, landing in front of the entrance to a rather large cave. From the shadows of the cave a man holding a rifle emerged.
''Ah Blaise your back and you've brought something with you? Anyway the leader has been waiting for your report for almost half a day, so she's not in the best of moods, you'd better hurry.''
''Thanks Gast I will.''
With that Blaise entered the cave and made its way through the tunnels until it reached the large central cave.
''Let's see here, she's probably in the meeting room right now, I'd better go and report before…''
''My my, this is the first time you've been late Blaise-chan, the leader is quite angry with you so you'd better have a good excuse.''
A voice with the same metallic, inhuman sound suddenly came from Blaise's right, it turned around, spotting its origin.
''Lumen-san, Dyne-san what are…?''
''And you've even brought a gift, really you shouldn't have.''
The taller cyborg reached over and pushed the cloak that was covering the girl in Blaise's arms aside, revealing her face, the girl's eyes were still closed.
''Hmm..? Blaise-chan you know what we are supposed to do with outsiders that come to close to the village yes?''
''of course I know but this girl wasn't anywhere near the village when I found her. Anyway the leader is waiting for me, see you later Lumen-san, Dyne-san.''
And with that Blaise bolted away from the two cyborgs.
''My my such youthful enthusiasm. Hmmm… say Dyne did that girl look familiar to you?''
''Not really.'' The large cyborg answered.
''I guess it must be my imagination then, still I wonder where Blaise found such a cutie.''
It took only a few moments for Blaise to reach the meeting room, the cyborg hesitated only a moment before entering the room. Aswad's leader, a young serious looking woman was standing before the only window in the room, looking outside. Not far from her stood a cyborg, it's back leaning against the wall.
''You're late Blaise, I was about to send someone out to look for you.'' The woman spoke.
Blaise was quick to answer. ''Forgive me leader, I was delayed somewhat on my way back, however I managed to complete my mission… ehh to an extent.''
''What do you mean by that?''
''I managed to get close enough to the ceremony building to get a detailed scan on the new Meister and her GEM. Unfortunately the girl decided that she'd rather be with her boyfriend then become an Otome so she ran of halfway through the ceremony.''
There was a short silence.
''It was rather amusing to watch really.''
''So it was a waste of time.'' The leader said after another short silence.
''Not entirely, something interesting happened the day before the ceremony, I couldn't get close enough for an accurate scan but I did get some interesting readings. From what I saw Schwarz deployed some kind of new Slave in the middle of the city. It was dispatched quickly enough, I also picked up three robe signals, at least one of them was a Meister, however judging from the magnitude and stability of the signal I'd say it was a few steps above an older Slave.''
''So Schwarz is up to something.'' This came from the cyborg who had been silent up until that point.
''Maybe, though with only one Slave it was more likely to have been a test then anything else.'' The woman replied. ''Blaise we just received an invitation from Artai's Grand Duke, me and Rad are going to see what he wants from us so we will be away for a few days. In the mean time you will be responsible for that girl you've brought in, we will discuss this matter more closely once we have returned understood?'' The woman turned around as she said this, looking strait into Blaise's visor once she faced the other way.
''Yes leader, understood. Have a safe trip.'' Blaise turned around and walked out of the room just as she was about to leave the room however the leader's voice sounded behind her.
''By the way Gal said he wanted to see you tomorrow morning for maintenance, he also said something about an upgrade.''
Blaise just nodded and left the room.
''Well this is my room its a bit small but I guess it's to late to find an empty one right now so we'll make do. Dinner is going to have to wait a while though, all the food is gone by now.''
The room the two where now in was little more then a cave, or exactly like a cave in fact. It had a window and against the wall opposite to it stood a bed, a sturdy looking chair was next to the window and a small cabinet was just beside the entrance, which was little more then a door shaped hole in the rock wall with curtains covering it.
''If you don't mind I'm going to sleep now, I've been running all day and I'm beat, you could probably use some rest as well.''
Blaise put the girl down on the bed and covered her with some blankets after the girl was tucked in the cyborg walked over to the window and covered them with some curtains. Now that the moonlight no longer illuminated the room only a faint green glow could be seen, the source of it moved a little before settling down and fading away in the darkness.
Blaise was awakened by a sudden cry, the cyborg jumped out of its chair and faced the source of the noise. The girl that it had brought wit hit the day before was sitting upright, staring strait into the cyborg's visor with a scared and confused look in her blue eyes.
''Where am I? Who…who are you? Why am I… here?''
A/N:
Coolak: A bird/fluffball thing that lives in the desert. Seen in the first episode of Mai-Otome, it feeds on scorpions and is prey to jabars and apparently cyborgs.
No Coolaks where harmed in the creation of this fan-fic.