Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. I was busy with my stuff.
Anyways, I'm going back to college now, half-term holiday's over. (#sob#)
Hopefully I'll be able to write still, meh, I bet I can. I mean, my upload rate hasn't been too bad those last few weeks. Here's the last of the Team RAIL stuff you'll be seeing for a while. Next chapter, we'll FINALLY be getting to the next part of this mini arc.
Also, I got a PM asking me about Timeskips. To be honest, I'd prefer to not have to use them very often, as sometimes they can be just plain boring and lazy. I could have just used one for this chapter and gone straight into the next part, but no, as you have seen from my chapters I do my best to not be lazy. True there have been some time skips here and there, but they haven't impacted my writing too badly I believe.
Now then, lets get on with this, shall we?
Chapter 73 - Coming back
Finally, the gates to MICROSOFT were in sight.
That was the group of Spec Ops Agents' consensus thought as they neared their destination. They had been travelling non-stop since that second camping point, having managed to get past several nests of Abnormals, nearly gotten ambushed more times than they could count, combined with the things they learned on this Mission. It was one mission they would NOT be forgetting anytime soon.
There was the fact that this wasn't over to consider, as well. The revelations about the Momus cult, how they were dabbling in satanic rituals to summon those demonic beings from the underworld was something that was out of ones' nightmares. Not only that, but they went as far as empowering themselves to the point of mutation with the price of decreased intelligence, something pretty alarming to think about. It was like the forces of darkness were gaining a foothold in this world once more, and this time it was not something that the divine, the CPUs, would find easy to defeat.
Meanwhile, as they walked up to the gates, their strides strong and confident, their eyes firm, Nico glanced briefly towards where Lucy was. The redhead walked normally alongside them, her head held high and her posture a picturesque example of a Spec Ops Agent. However, Nico saw that it was more forced than normal, there was something bothering her deeply, and he had a suspicion as to what it was. It wasn't just the satanic cult that bothered her, but something else… something they had discovered along the way back to MICROSOFT.
(Flashback)
"Hey um, guys?"
Ivan called the other Agents to attention, getting looks from them while they were tree branch hopping through the forests towards MICROSOFT. They had just left the second camping point, and would likely return home by dark. That is, if Iva hadn't called them onto something else of interest.
Raven narrowed her eyes at the male, who shuffled nervously under her gaze as they all landed on separate tree branches. Though, Guts fell to the ground since there were no branches strong enough to take his weight while Isaac decided to drop down to keep him company. She stood tall and regarded her subordinate, irritation laced in her eyes since she wanted to get back to the Capital as soon as possible. "What is it, CYBORG?"
"My arm's been acting weirdly. It seems to be drawn to something to our east. It's been bugging me like crazy for a while now, sensors indicate that its some unknown energy disturbance. Its coming from, like I said, the east and is about 2 hours away if we go at normal speed. Time's cut in half if we go full sprint." Ivan reported, gesturing to his Bionic arm. What many people don't realise about that arm was that it had its own built in sensors, which are as accurate as the ones in Nico's Bracers. Thanks to it being connected to his brain through cybernetics, Ivan would be alerted to anything that would count as a source of distress detected by the arm.
It saved his skin more times than he'd like to count… especially with the problems he used to have with it.
Raven pondered this information while Lucy gave her a knowing look. 'This energy… now that I am looking for it, I can indeed sense a powerful energy source nearby. Its definitely divine in nature, that much is certain. Its no wonder that CYBORG's arm cannot identify it as divine energy isn't registered in its memory banks. However, I cannot detect its source, it's like the source is…'
Lucy eyed her superior knowingly, she already knew wat Raven would be doing with this information. She too could sense the divine energy nearby, now that she was paying attention. But unlike Raven, she had a better idea of what it might be. She just hoped that she was wrong and that it was simply some form of divine weapon they could seal away or take to an isolated location. 'Maybe we could even encounter one of our own kind again…' she thought to herself, hopefully.
Meanwhile, Nico hummed in thought as he sensed the energy as well. Thanks to him being a being of demonic energy in origin, Nico could sense divine energy just as well as the others. Though, he wanted to know what could be a cause for something like this, and if it could be considered as a danger to them at this time. Divine energy could be just as dangerous as their wielders if wielded with malicious intent after all. 'Even deities can have short tempers…' the teen thought to himself when he looked to Lucy and Raven.
Said girls seemed to have a silent conversation just with their eyes alone. This 'conversation' seemed to last almost for an eternity when it really lasted only 10 minutes, before they ended up coming to an unspoken agreement. "Alright, we'll check out this source of divine energy, then make our way back to MICROSOFT." Raven declared, getting nods of acceptance from the other Spec Ops.
With that, they all bounded off towards the source of the energy, their forms nothing but blurs of speed.
They indeed took an hour to get to the area where Ivan had reported the strange disturbance. Though, only Raven, Lucy and Nico could ascertain its true nature. Those that couldn't sense its true nature wondered what the heck it could be, while Guts had this mildly irritated look on his face which was softened by the look of understanding that Isaac gave him. He knew well how Guts felt about unknown energies, given his experience with it.
Something no man should ever have to witness.
They soon came to what looked like a clearing… or at least, what was left of it.
"Holy shit…" Ivan stated eyes wide behind his Goggles as he looked upon the sight. If he hadn't got his Goggles on, he'd be sure to feel his eyes bulging free from his sockets. His mouth had been hidden behind his Mask, but if it were free it would have dropped open. "You're all seeing this, right? I'm not the only one here, right?"
"It's not just you…"
Nico was the one who answered as the group all looked upon the sight of a violent ruining of a clearing. The entire clearing had been replaced with a massive crater, one that had cracks spreading along its edges. Some trees could be seen having fallen into the crater while roots, grass and other forms of nature were growing throughout. One could even see a small river flowing down into the crater, turning it from a place of pure devastation into a mix of such and a tropical paradise.
Raven, Lucy and Nico's eyes focused on the centre of the crater though while everyone else had been taken aback, even Guts, by the display of beauty. In the centre of the crater, they could see a faint aura rising into the atmosphere, faint flickers of it pulsating through the air as well as the nature.
"This is…"
"Yeah…"
Both Lucy and Raven glanced towards one another, nodding in unison. Both of them had stern, grave looks on their faces as they hopped off the ledge to begin sliding down the crater. They could tell EXACTLY what this energy was, both of them had experiences with it in their pasts. The past that should not be mentioned to anyone unless they are truly trustworthy. There was a reason why they didn't trust many people, well, more than one reason anyways. This energy, they could tell had already ensnared the others in its allure, blinding them and trapping them in an illusion of beauty and elegance. Only they were not affected by it, due to them being… what they were.
However, both looked surprised when they sensed someone else following them, and looked to see Nico beside them, sliding like he was a surfer riding a tidal wave. "Yo ladies, any idea on what's happening with the others?" he questioned, glancing behind him to the rest of their team, whom were standing back at the crater's ledge, frozen in a transfixed state.
"They've already been ensnared by the divine energy whatever that is," Raven began, gesturing to the aura emitting at the centre of the Crater. "is emitting. It's a defence mechanism, I've seen it applied several times. You know how CPUs have a repelling aura that keeps Monsters away from wherever they've been? Its like that, only this thing seems to recognise us as hostile entities."
Nico hummed in thought at this, while Lucy looked him up and down after getting over her shock that he was still here. "Speaking of which, do you think its your DPU powers that are helping you resist the energy here? Normal people can't resist it, so it has to be the case." She questioned him, getting another nod from the male.
"It seems that way. I felt something wash over me briefly, but then my energy reserves reacted. Next thing I know, you girls are moving while everyone else looks like they're hypnotised." Truly, a DPU was not something any normal spell could handle if that was indeed the case. It also helped that Biko had been keeping an eye on his mental state, and when he sensed the spell trying to take hold over him, dispelled it with a burst of demonic energy.
The trio slid down to the bottom of the crater, before beginning to walk over to where the source of the energy originated. Now that they got a closer look, it seemed to almost take the shape of a cocoon, with several long, black vines cupping the base of the cocoon which glowed in a brilliant white coloured light. There was a sense of majestic intensity in the air, produced just by looking at the cocoon-shaped object, like they were in the presence of the four Goddesses of Gamindustri in the same room. At least, if they were devoted followers of those Goddesses, to Agents like them it just felt oddly warm and comforting.
As they got closer though, that soon changed when the cocoon began to shine brightly. "Huh? What the…?" Nico began as he took a step back. For some reason, he got the feeling that he was being growled at, and it wasn't just him either. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he felt a presence wash over him like he was being doused with a bucket of water.
"Get back, its trying to erase us!" Lucy yelled as she covered herself with her powers. A bright greenish aura condensed around her, filling the area with the fresh smell of springtime. She felt the light try to breach past her aura to reach her, to burn her to a crisp in its embrace, but couldn't get through. Didn't stop it from trying though, in fact it just made the light try even harder to break through. She gritted her teeth and tried to pump more energy into her aura when she felt it beginning to fold, but only succeeded in slowing the process down. 'Tch, looks like things are getting too intense…' she thought while glancing over to Nico and Raven respectively.
Both of them were resisting the light in their own ways. The latter of the two had erected an icy cold aura around her like a protective hand of cold wrapped around her form to prevent the light from touching her body. It was accompanied by a mini vortex of snow and sleet, which proved much more effective than her aura in blocking the light from reaching her. These combined elements filled the air around her with a sense of winter, the fresh smell of pure snow cascading down from the heavens to blanket the world, purifying it of its sins. Honestly, she found it ironic that someone as cold as her had the least amount of trouble blocking warmth from entering her body.
As for Nico…
Worry exploded within her chest as she saw him putting up a barrier to protect him from the light. However, it looked like it was incredibly straining for him, his face was twisting into a horrid grimace, sweat rolling down his brow as his energy flared drastically. It grew increasingly volatile, thin streaks of it zapping their surroundings reminiscent of lightning strikes. That wasn't including the gash marks, some drawing streaks of blood, that began to appear over his body.
She remembered once hearing from Raven that Nico was unable to use his DPU powers for some reason, and that if he did use them he would suffer for it. That must be what was happening to him right now, but it was one thing to hear of it. It was a whole different story to see it in person.
This couldn't go on!
She had to stop this!
"Raven! You got any bright ideas?!" Lucy yelled to her leader while looking at her. Raven glanced in her direction, before switching to the struggling Nico when Lucy angled her head towards him. She quickly realised the danger that their companion was in when she saw his state, and frowned to herself. An idea appeared in her mind, but she didn't like it. For some reason, the very thought of this idea made something in her frozen heart feel very uncomfortable. It was something that felt like a fiery hotness inside her chest, not something she liked. The warmth she would usually feel when it concerned Nico was NOTHING like this.
Nevertheless, if it was to help the sole person that made her heart act this way, then…
"VERONICA, step close to him and extend your aura around him! Help keep his energy stable!" Raven ordered as she began stepping towards the cocoon. The Light seemed to sense this, like it was a living being, and it directed more energy towards her position, but her defences were able to hold. Lucy wasted no time in doing this, stepping several times so she was within a closer proximity to the struggling DPU before focusing on her power. Her aura soon began to expand, covering the two of them in its embrace like a mother protecting their child from the elements.
Now that he didn't have to maintain his energy as much, Nico heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he slouched, feeling IT begin to repair his damaged body. 'Ugh, damnit, I was so caught off guard I made a reckless decision…' he scolded himself, gritting his teeth as he struggled to remain on his two feet. Biko had warned him after the Berserker incident that his energy was too unstable to use, but when that light hit him he had reacted on instinct, pulling out as much energy as he could into a barrier to protect himself. Despite recovering significantly from that time, the 'shock' that he had put on his reserves had 'jolted' the energy within him, causing tremendous internal damage that IT had to repair to keep IT and him alive.
"While I love that you're alright Nicky-Dear, it would be nice if you could help me out with this."
"O-Oh, sorry!"
While Nico quickly began hauling ass back with Lucy, Raven continued to stride forward, sensing the light's energy getting stronger and stronger through every step. She could feel it hammering away at her defences. But to here they were like ants colliding with a brick wall. Not even worth noticing. At this point, she could sense fear and desperation in the strikes, like the light was afraid that she would end up destroying it if she got any closer. Now normally, Raven would have done something like that in the past. She would be certainly capable of doing it, and this light had bewitched her subordinates. There was nothing stopping her from doing it, nothing that it could do would protect it from her wrath.
But, instead Raven decided on a different approach.
She didn't know why she did it, and if one asked her she probably not give them an answer she didn't have. But, seeing how desperate the light was being, fighting on till the bitter end even knowing that it would be useless. The might of standing tall in front of their adversaries even while being scared to the bone. That, in Raven's eyes, was a commendable trait. A trait few possessed these days, making the thought of destroying such a powerful will particularly vexing.
It reminded her of the comradery that her family, her tribe, held with each other long ago. True, the strong survive and the weak die, however Raven despised disloyalty and cowardice more than anything else. Loyalty got people far in the field of battle, strength in numbers and all that. God comrades were hard to find these days, Raven was just lucky to have hers found after so many years of fighting alone.
"Calm yourself, youngling... we mean you no harm." Raven spoke, her breath barely above a whisper, like a faint and cold breeze yet more powerful than anything that could be said out loud. It echoed through the entire area, and had this presence about it that practically made EVERYTHING stop and listen to it. It was a voice filled with serenity, yet also filled with power and stature beyond anything a mortal man might dream of.
Her little sentence did the trick since, as if calming from a blood rage, the light stopped attacking them. The light receded into the cocoon, whose presence seemed to be filled with confusion and curiosity as they got the feeling they were being looked over. Each of the three lowered their energies, Nico grimacing and exhaling as his own receded thanks to its lack of stability.
Then, all three felt the presence within wash over them, briefly touching their minds with its essence, though nothing really changed for them. The presence seemed to be… judging them, like it was looking for something within them, starting with Raven first then ending with Nico. It took a 'special' interest in Nico though, as the presence seemed to connect itself more to Nico than the two girls.
'Uhhhh… what's going on, Biko? I feel like I'm being prodded with a stick or something…'
'I am unsure as of this moment, Nico. However, I do not detect any hostile intent. Instead, it feels more like a child trying to figure out some puzzle...'
With the knowledge that even Biko was clueless, which barely happened at all given his past track record, Nico didn't know what to expect when the presence seemed especially interested in him. Nico honestly felt kind of lost when it checked him out, and that was a bad way of phrasing it, and he didn't like the feeling one bit. He would rather like to know what the heck it was doing with him, and why the hell he was so calm about it. At least, it didn't seem like it was trying to hurt him like before. Now that he thought about it, Nico found its actions before too be like those of a scared child. It struck them out of a self-preservation instinct, something Nico recognised from his past adventures. So, what was it doing here? What was its purpose?
A faint image appeared in his mind, and while he couldn't confirm it completely, the image felt very familiar to him. Like he knew what the image was, but because of how obscure it was, Nico couldn't get a complete confirmation. The image passed though, and the presence seemed to be thriving with… joy? Happiness and relief? What the heck?
"Did you guys just…?"
"Yeah, we saw it too…"
Nico looked to the others, and they saw what Nico had seen in their minds. There seemed to be some form of interest in the male, and that image was something that was a major clue, both Raven and Lucy assumed. Though, neither of them felt too particularly happy about it though, it was like their feminine instincts (although Raven had no clue what those were) were telling them that someone was trying to make a move on him, and they didn't like that notion one bit.
In the next moment, the cocoon began to tremble, in what none of them could tell since the presence had retracted itself deep within. In no time, though, the cocoon disappeared in a flash of light, forcing them to cover their eyes.
"Ugh, so bright!"
Nico was the one who yelled that out as he felt the presence approaching him. He didn't know what it was, but he mentally prepared to deploy his Plasma Claws in case things got serious. However, nothing happened that indicated an attack, so when the light died down and the trio were able to uncover their eyes, they saw that the cocoon was gone. In its place, was something else entirely.
Something Lucy recognised though, if how her eyes shrunk to the size of pupils, shaking wildly while her mouth was frozen in the 'jaw drop' position were any indication. 'Th-That's…! It can't be…!'
In the place of the Cocoon, there was this strange crystal, floating in the air and bobbing up and down. It was an orb-shaped gem, with an ethereal aura of pure power wrapped around it like some sort of cloak. Its core seemed to glow brighter than the rest of it, as it slowly floated over to Nico's position like it was drawn to him.
The said teen stepped back with caution, his lone eye wide while shaking. He made sure to keep a tight lid on his apprehension, but it could still be seen in his eye. "Uhh… what exactly is going on?" The male wondered, but nobody answered him. Instead, the Crystal seemed to pulse when it was close enough to him, before touching his chest. The moment it did, Nico gasped when it somehow dispersed into particles, every one of them floating inside his Bracer. His right Bracer lit up seconds later, and showed a '?' over the screen, which meant an unknown item had been added to his Void Storage. An item that it failed to scan.
"What… what is…?"
(Flashback END!)
It didn't take long for the effects of the crystal's disappearance to show. The entire clearing had shimmered like a mirage, and when it became solid once more, it showed no signs of anything having impacted it. Like the whole thing was an illusion, there was nothing to say that the Crystal, or the divine energy, existed. Hell, none of the others could recall what happened either, they only remembered coming to investigate the Mines in Mojang Village, with nothing that concerned the Crystal's presence. Not even Ivan, who had detected the readings in the first place.
The only ones who had a clue about the crystal were Raven, Nico and Lucy.
That alone seemed weird enough, but the whole situation hit Lucy hard, especially judging by her present demeanour. She'd closed herself off from the rest of them, acting like her usual flirty, teasing self. However, both him and Raven could see through the act. Something about that crystal had rattled her deeply, but she was trying to hide it for some reason. Neither of them knew what it was, but both made a silent vow to find out what that was when they had the chance.
"So, that's your field report." The woman who gave them the briefing before, began as she looked at the submitted report that the Agents had compiled. They were all located at the briefing room where they were given an evaluation of their reports, findings and conduct. The woman stood over at the podium, while the rest of the Agents sat on the front row seats in a straight line.
The unanimous reply was as follows. "Yep."
"You went to the town, only to find it deserted."
"Yep."
"You engaged in an Abnormal ambush with Abnormals not specified on the mission briefing,"
"Yep."
"You found traces of the Overlord Momus Cult, who were devising some satanic rituals in one of the Mines."
"To be fair, we have submitted evidence of this already, it should have arrived before we did."
That was something Ivan said, with Aiden nodding in agreement. The duo had sent the Evidence off to the Spec Ops Branch of the Guild ahead of time, so they should be aware of the stuff they found.
When they said their piece, the woman groaned to herself, holding her forehead as she began to make her way out. "Very well. The Guild would like to extend its gratitude to you all for your contributions to Leanbox's prosperity. Your rewards shall be transferred into your accounts by the end of the day. We look forward to hiring you all once again in the future."
With that, the woman swiftly left the room, leaving the Agents alone to discuss amongst themselves.
And boy did they have things to discuss.
"Did you see how she was acting?" Ivan questioned, frowning to the others. He moved his seat, as did the rest of them, so they now sat in a circle.
Aiden nodded his head, as did the rest of them. Each of them had varying looks of contemplation and frowns on their features, their eyes clear and filled with suspicion. "Yeah, we saw. The briefing only lasted half an hour, but we were told to wait a full hour before we got started. Every ten minutes or so, the briefer woman would glance at her Phone with that same look in her eyes as when we first saw her." He explained.
Raven scowled behind her Mask. Out of all of them, herself, Nico, Ivan and Aiden had their facial features hidden. Nico had his Armour deployed still, with Ivan sporting his Mask and Goggles while Aiden had put on his Goggles. Still just by feeling their auras, one would be able to tell how displeased they were. "It was unprofessional. However, given who she is, she is likely just waiting on Count Mott's orders. Orders for what, I'm not certain, but from what I can tell, that guy has been pulling some strings."
"We should keep an eye out, in case something comes up." Lucy suggested, getting them to look at her before she continued. "Odds are, we haven't seen or heard the end of this. Politicians and politics will be all over this by the time the media gets a hold of this little event. Its just too much of a treat to hide, even for the Government. An entire village laid to waste by both Abnormals and Demonic beings alike." A frustrated snort escaped her lips, her eyes flashing with irritation as everyone saw how she tried to resist the urge to vomit. "Those Nobles will likely get involved."
On that they could agree. This was too large an incident to keep under the radar, at least for a while. Silver Steel was a powerful commodity, and military groups across the Nations used it to fashion weapons that can hurt Abnormals. Mojang Village had access to large quantities of it over the years, and their miners used to dig deeper and discover more deposits of the precious resource. Now that they have bit the dust however, there will likely be a huge uproar within the community. With the death of Mojang Village, a large blow had been dealt to humanity as a whole.
'It gets worse, Nico.'
Raising a brow at the input from his demon persona, Nico couldn't help but ask him to elaborate on his opinion. Usually it was well-founded anyways, and he liked having conversations with him. With everything that he'd gone through, Nico could happily admit that Biko was someone he trusted the most, even though he knew some people way longer. 'How do you reckon, Biko?'
'With so much destruction and death sweeping away the people, they will be gripped with fear and despair. They will be lost, looking to the CPU for the answers to their problems. That's the problem right there, however. Since, if our hunch is right and that the CPU really is in that kind of situation, then she will not be of much assistance. That will result in the Overlord Cult gaining more followers, just so they could feel safe.'
While that indeed ring true, Nico couldn't help but wonder one point. 'Hang on, but won't they know that the Overlord Cult is behind this? It would be easy to show that they were the culprits here, since we submitted a large amount of evidence against them when we got back.'
'True, but something still worries me about that… I do not understand why, but I got a distinctively negative impression from that woman. I cannot get an accurate answer as of yet, but my instincts tell me that some foul play will be dealt soon enough. It was a good thing then that we all unanimously decided to keep a copy of the evidence for ourselves, as while illegal, it could prove useful to us should any tampering should come about.'
Yeah, wasn't that the truth, Nico couldn't help but snort to himself. None of them in this room had good experiences with politicians, most of them even had been set up for missions that SHOULD have killed them, deliberately misinforming them of the mission's threat level so that they would come into it unprepared and unawares. When you were a Spec Ops, you were bound to make enemies, especially from those who fanatically supported the CPUs.
Nico himself had more than enough experiences with that kind of crap, especially when he fought the Coalition way back when…
Finally, the group had to separate.
Isaac and Guts had went their own ways first, saying that they had things to do. Though Guts did ask Nico and the others if they would be free to spar in the future. The man was a warrior, so fighting strong opponents always got his blood going. Nico would honestly like to have fought against him when he was at full power, the man seemed like someone who would face anything head on and use sheer recklessness to surprise his enemies. As for Isaac, well…
"Huh? Oh, my phones ringing. #takes out phone# Yello?"
"Honey… Where the HELL have you been?!"
"Wha?! Dear?!"
"You were supposed to be here A DAY AGO! We were going to have a nice dinner together, or did you forget?!"
"N-Now now honey, I can explain-!"
"Oh, you better! You get your fat ass over here ASAP or so help me I will track you down and publicly screw your brains out! And you know I would, remember that one time when-"
BEEP!
"So um… yeah… bye!"
DASH!
… Yeah, that was how it went.
Nico and the others had a few good laughs from that scene. Looked like Raven wouldn't have to give that guy frostbite in the manhood for cheating if THAT was his wife. The guy was whipped, for sure.
As some guys would say 'bitches be crazy!'
Once the four calmed down from their laughing fit (Even AIDEN laughed, that's how amusing they found it, plus RAVEN who actually CHUCKLED… the world is ending!) They all turned to Nico, who had just finished dismissing his Armour. "Well, that was a fun experience!" Ivan exclaimed cheerfully. "Besides the whole doom and gloom, plus pretty much every dramatic moment in the last few chapters, everything went pretty well."
"Yeah, I hear you there, Ivan." Nico replied, a small smile on his features as he raised his right hand. He formed a fist and threw it forward, but not hitting anyone. Ivan however, knew what he was aiming for and grinned, throwing his own fist into Nico's own. The two literally did a good old fashioned 'bro fist'. "Take care of yourself."
"Yeah, you betchya! Maybe we can do some 'singing' eh?"
"… no comment."
"Aww, don't leave ME out of the fun, boys!" Soon, their bromance moment was shattered when Lucy dropped in from behind, literally. She clung to Nico's neck from behind, pressing her chin into the crook of his neck. She had this massive grin on her face, her infamous 'I'mma rock your world' kind of grin. "If you want, I could have you singing a littl something else in a certain place…" she cooed softly, playfully biting on Nico's ear.
While the poor boy became a human toaster, Raven scowled as she made the temperature around the redhead girl plummet to minus 10 degrees. "If you do not get off him, I shall freeze you from the inside out, VERONICA." She stated coldly, with a furious edge to it that honestly made the three boys a little wary for their lives. Especially Nico who was right next to the target of her ire.
"Oooookay, well then!" Nico began, fanning himself to calm his mind down and force the… strange thoughts from corrupting his mind. "I'll be heading off now. Odds are, Compa, Neptune and IF will be hounding the entire city looking for me. They worry about me sometimes."
Raven aimed an irritated stare towards him, her anger from before still on her features. Since her Mask wasn't on right now, her facial features were clearly visible, something that honestly nearly took Nico's breath away. She looked way prettier without her Mask on, but when she did have it on she had this cold killer vibe going. He honestly… liked that about her. Fortunately for him, Raven calmed down and gave a reluctant sigh. "Those girls… they must care for you, don't they?" she remarked, making Nico nod in return with a soft, fond smile full of care and affection. "Make sure to be good to them… like you are for us…" she whispered, but Nico managed to hear her just fine.
"You bet I will." He stated firmly, holding a hand out. He expected her to take his hand and shake it, since she wasn't that big on affectionate gestures like hugs and all. Though, given her backstory Nico could understand that one. But, he got the shock of his life when she grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug of her own, her arms wrapped around his neck with her head by his ear.
'WHOA, WHAT?!' His face froze into an expression of shock, eyes wide and mouth hanging open as his form tensed. Behind their leader, Lucy could be seen gaping at the unusual action just as much as she was. Hell, even Aiden had his eyes wide by a small margin while Ivan's jaw literally fell to the floor. 'What the actual fuck?! What the hell is this, I thought Raven didn't like hugs!'
'Hmmm… It appears that this one has more to her than you know, Nico. Even if she has a cold hearted exterior, deep down she can appreciate some affection here and there…' Biko commented from within his mind, a thoughtful hum being a prequel to it.
Then, the voice belonging to IT resonated through his mind, a full bout of maniacal laughter echoing through it. 'HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, LOOKS LIKE SHE'S GOT YOU THERE, KING! YOU JUST GOT FROZEN SOLID!'
'Technically you're me, so you have this feeling too, goddamnit!'
'HMMMM…. FUCK, YOU'RE RIGHT!'
The hug was short, swift, but it delivered the message. Raven pulled back after a few seconds, stepping back from him and seeing her handiwork. She had to admit, that while she may not be a fan of hugs, or any affectionate gesture especially from men, she didn't mind it as much if it came from him. 'This warmth… this warmth spreading through my chest… it doesn't hurt like the rest of the times… Nico, only you can make me feel this way…' she thought to herself.
Schooling her features, Raven crossed her arms and spoke in her usual cold, impassive tone. "Take care, DEATHSTROKE, till we next meet together." She stated, before turning on her heels and walking back into the Guild for another Quest. Soon enough, the rest soon followed with Lucy, after recovering from her shock, blowing him a kiss.
All Nico could wonder was as follows: 'Well… that happened.'
Chapter end!
Oh, quick notice guys
One King Carlos, he's published his own first fanfiction, called Heir to DXD, a fate/ Highschool DXD crossover. Check it out, would you all? He's a good guy, and this is his first fanfiction, so BE NICE. For those who write fanfics, you know how difficult it is to write these things.
