The succeeding days came as a blur for Brynn. It was nearly the same thing everyday; go on two to three missions, majority of them being with Julius who she had grown quite familiar and close to, lunch on her own or with any of the three Blood members, then would head out to train in the field or the simulator rooms, sometimes the gym which was rarely used.
Currently, she had just gotten back from a mission, a mission where she had to exterminate a Konguo on her own. She would have requested for a companion, but the three had gone out on a group mission without her. (She slept in.) She stretched her sore arms, that had been abused after having to slash through the ape-like aragami multiple times, wanting to head to the shower and take a nap in her room or in the garden. Fortunately, she had been granted the rest of the day as a free day.
"Hey! It's Brynn, you're back!" Romeo called out to her as she made her way down, about to proceed to the elevator which lead to the housing area. Although she was usually happy conversing with her fellow Blood from time to time, this definitely wasn't one of those times. She fought the urge to release a groan.
'Maybe if I pretend not to notice him.' Her plan had been foiled when she heard another voice join the fray.
"Brynn, you made it back! You should have joined us earlier!" It was Nana's turn to speak, for the first time other than in battle, the platinum-haired girl did not see a sandwich in her clutches. Her stomach rumbled at the thought. She gave them both a small and tired smile in response, hoping that they would notice.
They didn't.
She was forced to join their small circle as they discussed, "I was just telling Nana here that she shouldn't just rush in, isn't that right?" He was looking for Brynn to side with him. Although she understood Romeo's reasoning, Nana spoke up before she could give her answer.
"Sounds like chicken to me!" She began to make chicken sounds as she teasingly neared the blonde male.
'Mmmm… Chicken.' Brynn got briefly distracted by the thought of food. She had been shaken out of her food fantasy when Romeo shrieked and got pushed on to her. This resulted to her hitting whoever was behind her causing her to panic.
She spun around and bowed to the person who she bumped, "I'm so sorry." She apologized, when she looked up, her eyes met a petite brown haired girl who wore a simple white dress. Unfortunately for her, the girl she bumped into was accompanied by two authorities in Friar.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Came the enraged voice of the director, he glared indignantly at the trio before turning back to his guest with a gentle and apologetic look. "I apologize for their behavior, Ms. Yuno. These children are only good at slaying aragami or whatever they do." He insulted them harshly, Brynn glowered but bit her tongue.
"Now, now…" It was the redhead's turn to scold them, but in a gentle manner. "No horseplay in the lobby, we don't want to disturb our important guest." She gave a knowing look to Brynn who was now calm. They nodded in response and voiced their apologies. They left immediately, making their way to the elevator.
Nana stared at their blonde companion with a questioning look. The boy was staring dreamily at his own hand, she leaned over to Brynn who had been rubbing her sore arm, "I think that we lost Romeo."
"Don't you know who she is?! That's Yuno Ashihara!" He prattled, loud enough for the girl being talked about to hear. She turned towards them, making eye contact with Brynn. Not wanting to appear rude, Brynn returned with a small smile.
"I'll be heading out now." She announced in the midst of Romeo's babbling, after hearing him say that he wouldn't be taking a bath, it reminded her of her own need of a bath.
"Brynn! I was just kidding." He bawled, trying to reach out to the departing girl but she had moved her arm away just in time, she turned slightly and stuck her tongue out. Nana giggled at the childish behavior that was being displayed.
"Unlike you, I actually prefer keeping myself clean." She was standing in front of the elevator which lead to the housing area.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity!" He said in exasperation. Brynn no longer heard what he said as she entered the lift. She pressed the floor where Blood unit had been assigned to.
"Finally, a bath and sleep." She muttered as she exited the shower, she got dressed in the empty and clean room and began to walk towards her room, her towel and toiletries in hand. The moment that she was going to unlock the door and step in, a hand reached over the knob before she could. This caused her to jump a bit and yelp. She dropped her towel and punched whoever had surprised her in the gut.
Her eyes widened upon realizing who it was.
"Oh my gosh, Captain Bisco- I mean, Visconti! I'm so sorry!" She panicked as the male was hunched on the floor, the look of pain was evident on his face. He groaned, clutching the part where she hit him as she stared at him while he was standing up.
"How many cups of coffee did you have this morning?" He asked jokingly despite the pain that he was feeling. He couldn't help but find the irony in being able to slay aragami without breaking a sweat, but get brought down by a girl who was 4 inches smaller than him.
Brynn sighed in relief at the fact that he wasn't that hurt. He was but the point was he didn't pass out, right? She then looked back to what happened this morning.
"Hey, can I have 3 cups of coffee?" A zombiefied caramel-eyed girl made her way over to the counter. Eyebags made themselves at home under her orbs. Her hair was unruly and had a comb sticking out, a bunch of other things.
The woman behind the cashier wouldn't usually allow 3 servings of coffee to one person, but judging by the way the girl looked, she needed it.
Badly.
"Uh, I don't think that you need to know." She heard the male grumbling something that went along the lines of 'I should have them limit her caffeine intake' which she ignored. The captain managed to stand properly and summon a small smile.
"I was intending to ask you if you were capable of doing a mission with me. It seems that you are in need to do something about your 'sugar rush'." He didn't notice the horrified look on the girl's face as he turn around, making his way towards the elevator, "I'll be waiting for you downstairs, it's just a small clearing mission." Before she could protest, the man had already entered the elevator and made his way down. She groaned in annoyance.
"I'm gonna make him treat me chicken." She sighed and deposited her stuff in her room before she followed.
They arrived at their destination, the City of Mercy, which ironically wasn't merciful at all.
"They couldn't think of better names." She muttered under her breath as she suppressed a yawn. She dropped Auricle and began stretching, her limbs were still sore from earlier. Julius was too busy talking on his comm to reply to her.
"Blood Beta coming in, can you read me? We have arrived at the location." Fran's voice came in loud and clear, Brynn could hear her in her own comm as well.
"Your targets for this mission will be a lone Kongou and several Zygotes. I will send the coordinates to your map, they are spread around the area but I suggest going as a team with one backing the other up." A red faded box appeared on Julius' eyepiece. "Currently, only Zygotes are present, however, research squad has found the Kongou on its way. ETA 4 minutes."
Brynn loaded her new bullets as she listened, she chose the blaze and spark elements knowing that it would be effective to both the ape and the flying egg. She chirped to herself as she patted her Agrent, "This will be the perfect time to test them." She then stood beside Julius who had just finished loading his as well.
He looked over at the female before he informed her, "You will be taking the lead, I'll serve as your support." Brynn gave an excited grin.
"Roger that, Captain." She concurred with a tease and jumped off the cliff, Julius following close behind her as they made their way to where most of the Zygotes had gathered. They were in the most spacious place in the entire city, she aimed at the cluster of flying eggs.
"I'll be having you for lunch!" She bellowed as she pushed the trigger, a barrage of red and violet bullets raining down on them. The Zygotes screeched in both pain and anger as the bullets exploded on impact, red liquid splattering on the ground below them. Some had fallen, those that had been directly hit by the bullets, the others charged.
Her gun stopped but she took note of the bullets coming from behind her, she quickly switched to her scythe and sprinted as fast as she could, slashing through the Zygotes in midair. Blood was getting everywhere with each slash as they decreased in number.
"Brynn!" She heard her companion's cry, she spun and just as she did, she was hit by a big ball of air that came at her, hitting her which caused her to fall to the ground.
"Damnit." She cursed as her God Arc had been knocked to the side, a few meters away from her. She looked and saw that the ape was rolling towards her, she scampered to get up, ignoring the strain that was pulling her down. She ran, narrowly missing the Kongou which continued to target her. She managed to pick up her God Arc and brought out her shield just in time for an attack.
"You smell Kongou blood on me." She taunted, she did just kill one of its kind earlier. As if the aragami had understood her, it roared and continued to charge again. She dodged just in time, dashed to its tail and slashed through it, managing to unbound the tail. It roared aggressively and attempted to belly flop on her. She avoided it by stepping backwards.
She dashed far away and switched to her gun, she aimed and began to fire, seeing that her OP levels were now refilled. She was distracted, and before she knew it, she had been attacked by another flying egg from behind her. She groaned in annoyance and aimed at it instead, with Julius dealing melee attacks to the gigantic ape.
"Brynn! Health readings are extremely low, fall back and heal!" The blonde ignored the operator's voice and began charging towards the Kongou, whose face and windpipes were extremely damaged and beyond recognition, she slashed rapidly, dodging its attempts to attack.
She nearly got hit by another ball of wind when her companion had pulled her away just in time, "Be careful." He reminded before continuing to attack, Brynn switched to her gun to support the Captain. Within a couple of more minutes, the Kongou had been brought down.
Dead.
Julius was concentrated on the Ape-like Aragami as his predator began eating away happily. Its own core glowed bright blue before turning back to the usual orange color, he examined the materials that had been extracted.
"Great work, Brynn." He turned his head to face her after she did not respond, his eyes widened upon seeing how worn out the girl was, he rushed to her.
"Are you alright?" He asked, voice full of concern as he examined for any major injuries. All he could see was a few cuts and scratches her and there, bruises, but nothing that brought him too much worry. He then realized, checking their health levels.
"It's the poison…" He realized upon seeing how low the girl's health was and the small purple image which was beside her name.
"I'm fine." She weakly said, she was partially telling the truth, she couldn't feel pain but she felt how drained and tired she was. She attempted to stand up, only resulting with her staggering, causing her back to hit the wall. "Damnit." She cursed under her breath.
The male bent down in order to swing her arm over his shoulder, "We need to head to the extraction point. We'll patch you up there." He firmly said as they began to walk towards where they came. "I believe that I still have some detox pills." He couldn't check as both his hands were occupied. His left arm was carrying his God Arc while the right was wrapped around the female's waist.
Upon realizing how slow they were walking, Julius stopped and looked at the physically drained girl, "It will be easier if you climb on my back. Just hold on to your God Arc, alright?" He then ducked under her arm so that it landed on his shoulder, waiting for her other arm to wrap around his shoulders.
Brynn was usually adamant when it came to things like this, but she knew not to disagree with the captain as it would make things worse. She wrapped her arms around the male's shoulders and buried her head into the sun-kissed hair. She breathed in, taking in his scent which somehow wasn't anything near gross or showing signs that he had broken a sweat. It was refined, matching the princely aura that he gave off.
'Wait, princely aura?' She cursed herself, her head began to hurt so she tightly closed her eyes instead of arguing with herself even more.
"I'm sorry for being such a burden, Julius." She whispered in embarrassment. Further burying her face into his collar which caused an accidental blush on the other's face.
Julius thanked the heavens that she couldn't see how flustered he was, "Don't worry about it, however,I believe that we need to have you checked when we return to Friar. Are you feeling any pain?"
The girl paused for a while, thinking deeply, when she realized that she was just feeling numb and tired, but not once did she feel pain. She hasn't in a long while.
"No…" Her voice trailed off. The male lowly hummed in thought, just as he thought.
Julius was glad that being a God Eater granted them an increase in strength, however, he could feel the girl's weight taking toll on his back. They were almost near the extraction point, "Brynn, you've gain weight. It must be from all the free meals you're getting." He got smacked on the head.
He wasn't expecting that.
"You jerk! You don't tell girl's that they're gaining weight." She muttered the last part in annoyance, that was extremely rude of him to say. She wanted to chew his head off, she had the chance to at the moment but he would drop her if she did.
"My apologies, was there anything with what I said?" She just hit him on the head but he still managed to remain composed.
Brynn sighed, besides the captain being formal and an intelligent human being, he was pretty clueless from time to time. She wouldn't be surprised if he thought that some bizarre tree existed or something along those lines.
They remained silent, Brynn had drifted off to sleep by the time that they arrived. Julius gently laid her down on the ground as and set their weapons beside each other, where they could reach just in case. He shuffled through his various healing items in search of the pill that he needed. He sighed in relief when he managed to find one and a couple of restore pills. He kneeled beside the sleeping girl and lifted her head up, "Here you go, Brynn." Her lips parted, allowing him to slip in the pills. She gently roused from her sleep after swallowing them.
"Ugh, that tastes disgusting." She groaned as she rubbed her eyes, she began to feel the strain disappear as she stretched her arms, "But it's effective." She nodded in approval. Julius sighed in relief.
"Don't strain yourself, Brynn." He warned the girl as she tried to stand up, she ended up falling again, her legs still wobbly after being carried for a few moments, she landed on something soft, which happened to be her unit captain.
Her back was against his lap, she looked up and saw how worry had marred his usually relaxed face, "I'm so sorry, Julius…" She was ashamed, she let her guard down multiple times and had to be pulled away by him multiple times, she had to be carried.
Julius shifted so that their position was more comfortable, he sighed slightly, "I should be the one apologizing, as unit captain, I should have noticed your strain earlier. I asked you to accompany me on this mission. And the mission wouldn't have been a success without you." Before the girl could argue, Julius pressed on his receiver.
"Requesting for immediate pick-up, mission has been accomplished successfully."
"Your pick-up is on the way, it's coming from Friar so estimated time will be 30 minutes." The operator's voice disappeared, he looked down to see that the girl had fallen asleep. He chuckled lightly, before grabbing the book that was stuffed inside one of his pouches, he began reading.
Brynn's eyes opened but squinted immediately as bright lights filled her vision. She tried to adjust to them, thanks to being used to Stun Grenades, it didn't take long.
"My, my, I never expected you to be back here so soon." She turned to the side and her eyes met with bright blue ones. "You have caused Julius extreme worry. It's been awhile since he's been so concerned. He requested that I run tests on you." The woman clad in black added.
"Test?" She looked at her quizzically, "But why?" She sat up, her body was no longer too drained to function. She noticed that a large portion of her forearms had been wrapped in bandage. She turned back to the woman who was looking at a tabloid.
"The part of your brain which is supposed to be reacting to pain isn't functioning properly." She reached over and pinched the girl's side. "Do you feel anything?" She asked, a sweet smile playing on her lips. Brynn's eyes widened.
She felt the action but that was it, "I… I didn't…" After all the missions that she had gone to, she never came to realize that. The doctor's soft giggles snapped her out of her thoughts.
"This is both a blessing and a curse." She announced with a sly smile playing on her face. "You are free to have your dinner." She turned and rolled over towards the door, "I am certain that Julius will be ecstatic to see you. Also, do assist in welcoming your new brother tomorrow." She then left, leaving the girl even more confused.
Brynn stood up, fixing the bed sheets and disarrayed pillows. She trudged towards the cafeteria where she saw Nana and Romeo eating. Romeo had noticed her arrival and rapidly waved her arms in the air. His noise had no longer annoyed or irritated the others in the area. The platinum-haired girl gave a small smile and walked towards them. Willingly this time.
"How you doing? We heard what happened." Nana was the first to question the girl.
"Doc Rachel told us about your medical report too." Romeo added with pity somewhat shimmering in his eyes. "Whatever had caused you to lose one of you senses must have been an intense event or something."
Pity. She hated it. She hated being pitied.
"Poor child, destined to die the moment that she's been born."
"Didn't she come from an elite family? How devastating that she's fated to be one of them."
"The moment that she steps into the battlefield, she's dead."
Brynn inwardly cringed at the sudden flow of energy, "I'm alright." She gave a small reassuring smile at the two, she then perked up upon realizing what she was there for, "Ah, have you two seen captain?" A cheeky grin appeared on Romeo's face.
"Getting all chummy now, aren't we?" He teased. In response, Brynn rolled her eyes and skillfully sneaked the knife on the table into her hand. She threateningly tossed it in the air and caught in repeatedly. This caused Romeo to swallow the lump in his throat and to shy away, his black-haired companion giggled.
"Hey now, Brynn…" He raised his hands defensively in the air as the girl glared daggers at him, "I treated you your first lunch, remember?" He squeaked the moment that Brynn placed the knife down, near him. She turned towards Nana.
"He said that he would be resting in his room, I think?" The female blonde nodded in response and began to proceed to the kitchen, her teammates looking at her with curiosity.
"Wonder if they'll allow me to use the kitchen."
A/N - Forgive me if Julius seems OOC? I'm working on it. Hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter!