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I don't own the characters that I took from the original stories, I only claim ownership on the
Characters and storytelling that has been invented and added by myself.
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Autors Notes: Wow, this chapter took me way too long to finish. But fortunately this is going exactly into the direction I want this to go into. And everytime I write something new down, it seems like five new ideas appear in my head for some reason. If this continues I probably need to start making a notebook just for ideas. This is irrelevant, lets move on. If you enjoy please review, it means a lot to me.
Old friends, old enemies
The next day started at cockcrow, before even the first light fell into the small room. It took Alita a few minutes before she recalled all that had happened. Quickly she realized all the things around her. With her left she was holding his hand and her face was only inches away from his. She could feel the slight breeze of air every time he breathed. He looked so peaceful at that moment, she couldn't help herself off slightly moving her hand across his face, following down the scar all the way. Except for a small twitch he didn't show any reaction at all but his skin felt warm and familiar.
She must have laid there for quite a while until somebody knocked on the door. The door opened, giving sight on one of the young girls. Alita remembered her being called Elena by her father. In her hands, Elena held a tray that had two bowls of porridge on it. "My father said you might want something to eat." She stared at Alita with a mixture of fear and interest in her eyes. Telling the family her story might have taken most of the suspicion away, but the kids still seemed to be scared of what they didn't understand. It told a lot about them to still grant them shelter and help and Alita was eager for a chance to return the favor. The young woman took her chance, left the tray on the bed and quickly exited the room, before Alita was even able to thank her properly.
Alone again, she grabbed one of the bowls and tried a spoonful of the brown pulp. It tasted wonderfully sweet and fruity and before she really noticed, she had already emptied the bowl. It didn't take her long to empty the second bowl as well. He surely wouldn't mind, at least not while he was still asleep. Not knowing what to do next, Alita made her way outside, not without checking on her companion one last time. Once outside she found the entire family spread across the fields, each of them contributing their own small part. After a few minutes she managed to find Abraham between some huge sunflowers, clearing the ground of weeds. When he noticed her he would stop his work and turn towards her. "Did you enjoy your breakfast? I figured you might want something to eat." "I did a lot, thank you. Tell me, is there any way I can help you in return for your hospitality?" "Well we can always use help on the fields. Did you ever till a field before?" When Alita declined that, he told her to go look for Adélin and ask him to show her around.
She did just as he told her to, finding the young man behind the house between a few smaller shacks. He watched her as she came closer, his narrow eyes made obvious how annoyed he was. In the bright daylight, Alita firstly realized how tall he actually was. He surmounted her by at least two feet and since she was merely five feet tall, the height difference between them seemed even bigger. In his left hand he held a huge pitchfork that looked like a toothpick next to his arm. A trunk might have been the best possible comparison. Alita decided to try a friendly approach "Your father told me…" "I know what my father said. But I don't need you around here. So you can go and bother someone else how about that?" The way he treated her made her angry. She was not some child he could talk to like that. But before Alita was able to reply, the voice of the old man sounded from behind her: "Adélin! We talked about this! Quit it right now and do as you were told!" With these words the old man walked around the corner of the house again and gone he was. She turned back towards the giant. He didn't move at first, then grinned madly. Doing so he just looked evil. "There. You can go and clean the shacks. Also, let me give you a friendly advice: Get your friend and out of here immediately. If you don't I ensure you, you will wish you would have ran when you still had the chance." The petite cyborg considered beating the crap out of this outrageous human for a second, but decided not to. As long as the family granted them shelter she better didn't annoy them too much. She gave him a disgusted smile, showing she was not the slightest intimidated.
The day went by faster than she expected. She only cleaned the shacks for quite a short time before Lúcian fetched her and asked if she wanted to help him and his sisters storing big oak barrels down in the cellar. Alita gladly agreed, happy to get away from his unfriendly brother. Down in the cellar, she helped to move barrels and store foods and fruits inside them for the rest of the day. There wasn't much talking between the young people and the cyborg girl. Except for Lúcian who didn't seem to be able to stop talking the entire time no one was interested in starting a conversation.
When Alita came back into the chamber in the evening, time seemed to have paused inside the small room. Nothing in here moved for the slightest, not even he did. The girl blew out the candle and fell onto the bed. Within seconds she was asleep.
Hugo's face was right next to hers. It had been her first kiss and he was the only one she would want to share this moment with. He smiled slightly, his arm still wrapped around her. He held her tight, making her feel safe and warm. The dark leather jacket he was wearing was perfectly fitting him, only complimenting his dark hair and his shapely face. Alita felt the rain on her head and shoulders but it didn't bother her at all. There was no place that she would rather be in. His love was her bastion of calm. No matter what tore the world apart, as long as she was with him, her world was perfect. She looked him right into the eyes when they turned ice blue. He opened his mouth, but it wasn't him talking. It was the man she hated most. Nova. "Oh little flea. Did you really think you could run away from me? No distance is going to keep you safe. And no matter what you do, you will never be able to protect those you love. I will take it all from you and after that I will take you apart piece by piece until only your heart remains as a trophy." Then he laughed. This mad man laughed his maniac laugh, wearing the face of the person she loved. That was until his skin started to melt. Inside her arms, he slowly disintegrated, muscles, skin, leaving only a metallic skeleton behind. She watched helplessly as the last parts of his face disappeared. It left nothing but a blank robotic grimace, laughing at her, taunting her attempts to avoid what was going to happen. He looked down on himself, looking at the blade that emerged from his chest. It was her own blade, slightly glowing, held by her own hand. Alita pulled away from him, watching him as he slowly sank to his knees, his glowing blue eyes fading darker and darker. Dark blood ran out of his chest, across the blade, mixing up with the clean rainwater. His manic laugh was only barely drowned by the sound of the rain and tears blurred her vision as he died in front of here once more.
Alita started up from her sleep. She was still inside the farmhouse, nothing of that could have been real. Or could it? Everything seemed normal, but something had changed. The room was only enlightened by the small amount of light that fell into the window. She sat up and looked around the room. Everything was just the way it had been but the bed next to her was empty. Her companion had to be awake! That meant he must have recovered by now. Surprising it only took him two days. Her shoes made dull sounds on the hard ground as she left the bed, exiting through the half-open door into the hallway. She felt a slight breeze on her face, coming from the left ajar main door. A small screech resounded through the hallway as she opened the main door just enough to slip through. The cold air hit her like a train, causing the cyborg girl to shiver a little bit. No clouds covered the sky but still there was barely any light emitting from the slice of moon that was visible tonight. In the distance the large plants were moving with the wind, even the small grass seemed to take part in this weird kind of dance, waving from side to side. Along the fields and the trees all around her she noticed the metal construct in the distance, the bridge that they had come from. Finally, only a few meters away she saw a dark shape moving along one of the rocky paths.
He wore his black jacket and some camouflaged combat trousers. Military boots finished off his outfit making him look like the casual wannabe hunter warrior back in the city. The thoughts of that almost made her feel a little nostalgic. It might have been only about a month since she last saw any of them, but still she would love to hear of some of them again. Especially McTeague, the old dog handler, had always been one of her favorites. The girl quit thinking about the past, biting herself on the tongue and continued after her companion.
"Since when are you out here?" He flicked a little bit when she spoke up, but when he turned around he smiled mildly. "Not too long. Maybe a few minutes." A short pause occurred as none of the two said anything. "What about you? Can't sleep?" She noticed he still held his arm close to his chest, keeping it in a quiet position. The girl shook her head. "Just a nightmare, nothing to worry about. How comes you are awake already? The old woman that took care of your wounds told me you would sleep at least for a few more days." "Can't really answer that question to be completely honest with you. I just woke up and I felt good. Well, except for this." He lifted his arm a little bit just to grimace and lower it again. "Ouch. Stupid idea." Alita couldn't help herself off laughing, but stopped immediately when he looked at her grimly. "Not. Funny. At. All." "Hey it could have gone worse right?" Alita grinned. "You could have lost your entire body for example. Instead you got bitten." "True I guess. Also means I owe you. Really, I'm thankful that you actually helped me. Not really the way I wanted to go out. But there's something else I would like to share with you. We have been travelling together for quite a while now and as far as I'm concerned you saved my life. And during all that time you didn't even know my name." His name. This conversation just got interesting. She recalled when they first met, he insisted on keeping his name for himself. Multiple times the young girl had been wondering what his name might be, or even more interesting, why he was so keen on keeping it a secret. In fact even Ido had been pretty surprised since no one seemed to have known the name of her now-companion. And Ido knew a lot of things and even more people around scrap iron city. For just a second she recoiled a little bit thinking about her father and friend that had to be all alone in that god-forsaken place. Could Nova have done anything to him? In her dream he told her he would take those she loved from her, but that had been nothing but a nightmare right? "Ally? U alright?" He stared right into her eyes, looking a little bit concerned. She nodded, shoving those thoughts away from her. She had to concentrate on what happened right now and here. Otherwise she might drift off again, just like back in the days, only short time after she had lost Hugo to the madness of Scrap Iron City. STOP! This was not the time to mourn. The cyborg girl closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. "If you want to tell me your name, I'd love to hear it." He nodded, leaned a little bit towards her and said a single word:
"Shenyen."
A shiver ran down her spine when she realized she had heard that name before.