Fading – Chapter 2
-Tsubasa Aconite-
Hello people! I am so happy at the positive reviews I got!
Because I'm so happy, I'm making this chapter extra long for the first three people who kindly reviewed this story. YOU'D BETTER READ IT! XD
Keep reading y'all! Coz I'm gonna keep on typing up a storm for you all!
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/HOLY HQ, underground prison/
A Dars unlocked the door to the Native Alter's cell, indicating that it was her turn. However, she was so caught up in her little catnap that she had to be shaken awake to finally bring her back to the harsh reality. It didn't take much effort; just let her yawn a couple of times, let her stretch, poke her a couple of times with their Alters to speed her up, and before they knew it, they were in that dark room with her sitting in the middle of the place in a wooden chair and facing a man who looked an awful lot like a judge to her.
The Dars unit was around her, preparing their Alters just in case she misbehaved. Oh well, for the time being, she wasn't in the mood to go and misbehave. In fact, she was rather hungry...
"NP3730, you were witnessed at the site and deliberately injured civilians, as well as members of our troops with your Alter..." the man didn't get to finish his sentence, as the prisoner pointed at his face and said,
"You've got broccoli stuck between your teeth."
The man's cheeks took on a shade of pink before he doubled over under the table to remove the darned vegetable. She sighed and sprawled herself out on the chair, "Alright, okay, so I did something wrong, and I'm here so I can apologize, right? Why don't we just get to the point? Since you guys didn't take me out right then and there, I owe my life to you guys, though I don't like the fact that I'm a prisoner... At any case, I'll join HOLY as compensation if that's quite alright with you. You guys got me fired from my previous job anyhow."
The man sitting at the high table seemed dumbfounded at her willingness. The woman simply looked up at the man and crossed one leg over the other, "Well? Do we have a deal or what? Hey, I may sound cheap, but everyone's gotta live somehow, right? I need the cash, you need the people. You pay me, I'll work."
Her questioner seemed to ponder for a minute before contacting someone via the communicator that was on the table. He spoke in a low voice so she couldn't hear him and at some points through his conversation, NP3730 could see the man looking surprised at what he was hearing, but concluded the chat with a simple, "Understood, sir."
She sat up a bit straighter, waiting for the man to say something. The 'judge' seemed to look uneasy, looking at her with a cross between amazement and disgust. His prisoner merely smiled innocently at him and he let out a sigh,
"NP3730, from this day forth..."
/Meanwhile/
"Cougar? Are you in there? Open up!" Asuka Tachibana said, knocking on the red-headed man's door repeatedly. Inside, the said man just woke up from his little nap, getting a bit of a headache from all the noise and somehow mistook them for his alarm clock, resulting in him rolling off his bed and landing on the floor with a rather painful 'thud'.
Asuka cringed at the sound, but before he could ask the man a second time and knock the door again, the door opened, revealing a groggy-looking Straight Cougar. However, even with the red-head looming over the smaller man, at the angle he was slouching and at the speed Asuka's hand was traveling, Cougar just couldn't avoid the little 'knock' on the nose, resulting in the poor, physically abused man to double over in pain, his eyes watering slightly.
"I'm so sorry! Are you alright, Cougar-san?" Asuka crouched, trying to see if he could help the poor guy in any way possible. Cougar held up a hand in front of Asuka's face and said,
"I'm fine, just fine! I need a bit of space, if you don't mind..." Asuka backed off, allowing Cougar to regain his composure, "Okay, why were you knocking at my door just now?"
"Didn't you hear what I said?"
"I was asleep."
"Oh. Well, anyway, Commander Zigmarl wants to see you in his office. He called for you around five minutes ago, so you'd better not keep him waiting any longer. That's all I got to say, see you later," the purple-haired young man said good-naturedly, waving at his companion briefly before walking off down the corridor.
Cougar waved back, being a good sport and felt kind of nervous, 'What did I do this time...? Surely nothing serious enough to get my ass whupped again by the Commander...' he shuddered at the thought, remembering the time where he took a certain Kiryu Mimori out for a ride without asking for permission...
'Can't be all that bad. Haven't done anything wrong for the past week anyway,' he thought to himself, taking out his shades and walking towards the Commander's office.
/At Commander Zigmarl's office/
"He's late, as usual," said the commander's female guest as she continued trying to make the skirt she was wearing appear longer. Heck, if she bent over, she could swear everyone around her would get a free look at her panties! She was wondering who the tailor was. If she knew, then whoever really was the tailor had better watch out...
The Commander smiled, his hands placed on his table as they waited (one patiently and the other impatiently) for Cougar to arrive. The door opened shortly, revealing the long-awaited man strolling into the office casually, and then standing up to his full height to greet the Commander, HOLY-style.
"Straight Cougar reporting, sir."
Commander Zigmarl nodded, "At ease. I called you here because we have a new recruit."
"Eh? Really? I must've missed the welcome party, then."
"We didn't have one. She didn't like the idea of being hailed about for such a trivial event. And so, I've decided to let her work with you, since she claims that she has known you for quite a long time."
Cougar was now feeling uneasy. For once, his stomach was doing scared flip-flops instead of his usual excited ones, "Uh... a woman, sir?"
The commander nodded, "She's seated right behind you."
The said woman stood up to her full height, the top of her head barely reaching Cougar's shoulder as she smirked at him, "Long time no see, Straight Cougar."
It was a nightmare come true, "Arabite!" he said as he looked at her from top to bottom in an attempt to see if he could have been mistaken in any way possible.
'Arabite's eyebrow twitched as she said, "It's Aconite! Tsubasa Aconite! Can't you even remember my name?" She held back the urge to practically maul the defenseless Alter user to oblivion at the sight of the painful bruise on his cheek and the bandage on his nose. She was wearing a really short skirt, to add to the list.
Cougar pulled an apologetic face, "Oh, sorry."
Their commander took all this as a sign that the two were getting along well and said, "Well, I see you two are getting along very well. Cougar, you may want to tour her around. That will be all, you two are dismissed."
With that said the two of them left the room with a rather awkward atmosphere between them. She said nothing, simply looking down at her feet and waiting for her companion to make a move, "...Well? Are we just going to stand around here all day?" she asked in a vain attempt to make her companion relax.
She can't blame him. She always did have a violent temper ever since they were kids, and Cougar, being her best friend would always be there to witness, or rather, FEEL the brunt end of her fury. Smiling, she placed a hand on his shoulder, where she could certainly feel him jerk away from the sudden contact.
"It's alright, relax, will you? It's not like I'm gonna bite you or eat you alive! As the Commander said, we're partners now. As your partner who has no sense of direction at all, I think a tour would be nice for starters," she smiled reassuringly at her 'long-lost' friend and it worked like a charm. The taller man relaxed under her grip and he replied by saying,
"That's good to hear... You never were the calm and collected type, but I never expected you to be here, working for people like HOLY!"
Aconite shrugged, "I was fired from my previous job because of my Alter. So, why don't I just work where I can use my Alter without having people criticize me? You did the same thing, didn't you? That was why you went to the city," she recalled, walking ahead of her guide and taking in the sights. Behind her, Cougar stopped in his tracks and looked down at his feet grimly.
His train of thoughts from earlier on came back to haunt him and for the second time, he shrugged it off again, deciding not to burden Aconite with the depressing news he had. His companion turned on her heel to look at him and said, "You're awfully quiet, aren't you? Surprised at how 10 years can change me? What happened to the firecracker Cougar I knew who wouldn't shut up unless I yell at him and beat some sense into him?" they both looked at each other with serious looks on their faces, but the little glaring competition was cut short when she giggled at the recollection.
Her laughter was contagious. Soon enough, the two of them were laughing at their childhood memories and somehow or rather, ended up at the cafeteria.
Aconite wiped a tear of joy that trickled out of the corner of her eye and said, when their laughter finally ceased, "Man... Those were some of the craziest days of our lives. Pity we didn't get to see each other very much. You were so active, always up and about that there's no telling when your energy will finally deplete."
Cougar countered this by saying, "And you on the other hand were so rebellious, when someone asks you to do something, you'd do exactly the opposite. Remember that certain day you were grounded and you went sneaking out of the house? You didn't come back for two days!"
She pouted, "Hey, at least I came back on the third day."
"Yeah, of course you did. You were just skin and bones by the time you knocked on the door," he recalled, chuckling.
Aconite looked around the cafeteria, feeling much better than how she first felt when set foot into the building. It may be an alien place to her, but when she's with Cougar, there's a homey feel to the place.
The table behind them had a very interesting occupant. Aconite stared as the person sitting at the table munched down slice after slice of watermelons and spitting out the seeds into a nearby wastepaper basket.
The tanned, flabby-bellied man noticed her looking at him and afraid that she may be psychic and had the ability to take away his watermelons via telekinesis, he swallowed the last of the red fruit and pulled the other slices closer to him protectively. That was when the unfamiliarity kicked in, "Hey, aren't you the new HOLY member everyone was talking about?" he asked, narrowing his already narrow eyes and making sure he got the right person.
Aconite was taken aback. People, talking about her? She smiled at the watermelon man and said, "That's me. I'm Tsubasa Aconite. What's yours?"
"Just call me Urizane. You want a slice?" he offered sweetly, but something in his tone didn't sound right to her...
"Before we know it, you'll be running around the HQ announcing that she stole your watermelon from right under your nose," Cougar said off-handedly, smirking at the glutton across of their table.
Urizane laughed, "You read my mind! It's good to know that someone with a fast Alter like you isn't so slow when it comes to brains!"
"Hey now, that was harsh!" Cougar exclaimed, pulling a hurt face.
"Whatever, I gotta finish my lunch soon then get back to work," as he said so, he began stuffing his face again.
Aconite grimaced at the mess he was making and turned to look at Cougar for an opinion. The orange-haired man shrugged, "You can say it..."
"...He's a total pig," Aconite said flatly, earning a nod from her companion. Just then, a raven-haired woman walked past Cougar from behind. For some reason, the minute Aconite saw the woman; she knew she wasn't going to like her one bit. Cougar noticed the frown and dislike on his friend's face, turned around, his eyes widened briefly and he faced Aconite,
"Uh, Aconite, I've got a little something to do. Can you find your own way back to your dorm?"
Aconite blinked a couple of times before saying, "...I think so. You know that I do have a horrible sense of direction. Can't you send me back?"
Cougar tapped his chin, "Well, uh... I guess not today. Anyway, I've got to go, alright?"
"...Okay then," Aconite eyed him suspiciously as he walked off.
The red-head heaved a sigh of relief when Aconite went and made her way back to the elevators. He could've sworn she frowned at the Alter scientist just now and whoever makes Aconite frown at them at first sight was bound to be in her line of fire. He looked around and found the person he was looking for. He walked up to her table and sat right across of her,
"Good afternoon, Miss Minori. Fancy meeting you here."
"It's Mimori," said his companion sternly, not liking the fact that he keeps on pronouncing her name wrongly.
Cougar laughed and shrugged the mistake off, "Right, sorry about that. So, how was your day? Hectic as usual?" he asked, flipping through the menu in front of him and realizing not long after that that he'd already eaten with Aconite.
"Nothing I can't handle, I'm sure," Mimori said calmly, waiting patiently for her food to come. After she finished her sentence, as usual, Cougar started rambling about random things and at one point was cut off by Scheris, who came by in a hurry,
"Cougar! It's an emergency! There's been an Alter breakout in a nearby Inner's town! I hear they've taken out one or two of the Dars unit!"
Cougar looked dumbfounded, "Why am I included?"
Scheris heaved an exasperated sigh, "We need to get there quick! Asuka's on the job, but he's outnumbered. Commander Zigmarl wants Ryuho, Urizane and Aconite on the spot and you're the only person who can send them there fast enough!"
"But..." he started.
"They're waiting at the car park," Scheris said quickly before turning on her heel and running off somewhere.
"...I'm sorry our meeting had to be cut short so rudely, Ms. Minori, (Mimori!) Sorry, my bad, but it seems that I've got something important to attend to. Till we meet again," he said amiably, slipping his shades on and went off to join the rest of the group at the car park.
-At the car park-
Aconite felt uneasy being stuck with these two Alter users. Urizane wasn't so bad, but he was getting watermelon juice and seeds flying all over the place, which wasn't actually a proper display of table manners. Then there was Ryuho; the very person who managed to defeat her Alter. Was it because his Alter wasn't the harmonizing type that he could beat hers?
Their eyes met for the briefest second and Aconite's heart skipped a beat. To her, earning a look in the eye by the person who defeated her was some sort of indication that she was worthy to be his opponent. In this case, she didn't like that look. It was almost as if she was being condemned.
'Cougar, you idiot... Where are you?' she thought to herself, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the car that was Cougar's.
As if on cue, the car she was leaning on broke to a billion pieces and reformed itself into some sort of neon pink racing car. Aconite was mildly surprised, but the thought of having the darned vehicle pink of all colors was giving her goose bumps; she never liked pink.
"Sorry I'm late," said the owner of the car, jogging over to his vehicle as the other three clambered in. Urizane refused to budge from the front seat, so Aconite was forced to sit in the back. With Ryuho.
The two crossed their arms and looked outside the window, finding the all too familiar scenes suddenly the most interesting things in the world rather than starting a conversation between them. The pink car sped out of the building at high speed and before they knew it, the Inner town was in sight. Not surprisingly, the fight was still on.
Aconite suddenly felt excited. She leant over to see the fight in full view, completely forgetting the state of her clothes and making Ryuho's cheeks as red as his eyes behind her, "Hey Cougar, step on it! I can't wait to beat some Alter ass!" she cried excitedly. Cougar had no problems obliging, although making his car go faster than it already was nearly made them run Asuka over.
The car skidded to a halt not very far from the battlefield, but Aconite was way ahead of them; she practically jumped out of the window to join in, "Hey bright-eyes! Need some help?" she called, referring to Asuka. The wounded Alter user looked at her uncertainly.
The Native Alters who were rebelling against them started attacking again; one of them, who wielded a huge cannon for an Alter, took aim at her running towards Asuka and fired.
She honestly didn't see the blow coming, but they didn't see her body glow, either. An explosion nearby made it almost clear that she was a goner to everyone within sight, and as the Native Alter laughed in glee at having defeated a HOLY member, holes appeared around the site of the explosion.
"Hey, it's not very nice to hit a lady when she isn't looking!" Aconite's unmistakable voice rang out from within the smokescreen. When the Native Alter opened fire again, something shot out of the cloud of dust and into the air.
It was like seeing an angel and a devil in the same body.
Aconite was airborne, her Alter attached to her back in the shape of wings; the right one snowy white, and the left one as black as the night. Two swords circled around her in a protective manner as she looked down at her opponents from high above, smirking at how helpless and clueless they looked.
"We aren't going down because of some HOLY bastards!" cried another female Native Alter, summoning an Alter that looked like a cross between an overgrown flower and a tank. It shot numerous thorns at the winged Alter user, which weren't even evaded. Her left wing emitted a deadly aura as she flapped it towards her assailant,
"BLACK WAVE!" she sent a powerful wave out of her Alter, in the shape of feathers that easily intercepted the thorns flying her way and with another wave of her white wing, she sent a similar attack pattern towards the cannon Alter, rendering both Native Alters useless in the blink of an eye.
However, she wasn't done yet. In the midst of battle, her blood was boiling. Their pitiful screams rang in her ears like music, "More..." she muttered to herself, taking hold of both her swords.
From below, Cougar saw what she was doing. His eyes widened before he broke his own car down to attach his Alter to his legs and dashed towards her at high speed just as she dove down to deliver the finishing blow to her opponents.
"SCREAM FOR ME!" she hollered gleefully, bringing her right arm down to slice her opponent in half. The sword never sliced her target. Instead, someone stepped on the blade, forcing it down into the ground. Surprised by the sudden interruption, it affected her flight and so, she was sent tumbling down, her Alter vanishing almost automatically as Cougar caught her before she went and broke her neck.
"Cougar, what was that for? I had them in my sights!" she screamed, trying in a vain attempt to wriggle free of Cougar's firm grip.
Her companion frowned at her as Ryuho and the others were finishing up behind them. She stopped retaliating the moment she saw the angry look in his eyes, "You knew what could have happened, didn't you?" Cougar said icily, it being the only way he could tame his friend.
Aconite looked down at her boots guiltily as Cougar put her down, "I could have killed them, I know..." she muttered, turning away from the red-head. Cougar sighed, removing his shades to rub his temples, "I'm sorry, alright? I couldn't help myself. It's been this way ever since I started being an assassin-for-hire. It was the only job I could find," she said slowly, feeling even guiltier by the minute. Even without having to look at him, she could feel Cougar's eyes burn into the back of her head.
She tensed up when she heard Cougar approaching her. She was expecting his usual 'knocking her on the head and call her an idiot' routine he used to do to her, but it never came. Instead, her face turned crimson when he gave her a one-armed hug from behind.
Somehow, the simple friendly gesture made her feel relaxed. The monster that's been eating her inside out, her Alter, seemed to have tamed down considerably. She brought her hands up to touch his arm, smiling to herself.
How she wished this could last forever. Her smile slowly faltered at the thought, how she wished he would feel the same way towards her the way she felt towards him. Her heart broke when she recalled how he looked at Kiryu Mimori that morning.
Cougar leant down and whispered in her ear, "Let's talk later. I'll meet you up in your room at 11," her heart skipped a beat when he said that but she felt a little disappointed when he released his grip on her. She turned to face him and saw him smiling at her cheerily, "You wanna join Ryuho and the slowpokes, or would you prefer me driving us back, the fast way?"
Aconite smiled devilishly, "Let's take it up to 300 km/h."
Cougar's car materialized behind him as he said, "Good! At least someone has the same interests I do! Hop on, it's gonna be a wild ride," he warned, slipping his shades back on.
Aconite clambered into the passenger seat and upon sitting down, her head spun. She pressed a hand to her forehead, which was warm and felt the whole world spin, 'No... Not again...'
"You know, I was really surprised at how powerful your Alter's grown. But I bet you were surprised out of your wits when you saw mine! Pretty impressive, huh? It took me forever to get to that stage and I was wondering where you trained yours..." he trailed off while he was driving, feeling rather uneasy at his companion's silence for once. He shot her a sideways glance and found her asleep, but her breathing was labored, as if she ran miles, and she was sweating like heck. Cougar reached over and touched her forehead, surprised at how hot it was against his skin and cursed under his breath before stepping on the gas,
"Aconite, stay with me! Hey!" he cried, hoping she would give some sort of response.
"...Cold..." it was all she muttered before she fell limp in her seat.
"Aconite!"
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(Gasps) What happened to the poor gal? Heheh, that's for me to know and you all to find out! Just for everyone's info, I finished this chap in a rush, (I caught the Cougar disease… ) so if there's anything wrong, like the storyline is a bit rushed one way or the other, do tell. I'll do whatever it is in my power to slow it down.
Chibi Cougar: I doubt that. Once you've caught the Cougar disease,
Chibi Cougar and me: Speed is power!
So, y'all just keep on reading and reviewing! I have more in store for you guys!
Ciao!
