Disclaimer: I do Not own Noir. Noir belongs to Ryoe Tskumira and Beetrain, ect.( I Do own some black thread, but it's not the Black Thread of Fate. I also own Red thread, but unfortunately it's not the Red Thread of Fate either..uh..What the Hell am I talking about anyway? Sheesh..) This story is rated T for violence, disturbing situations, and slight shoujo-ai. This story is told in Kirika's POV.
Memory Fails Me
Chapter 5 – The Black Thread of Fate – ep.7
Somewhere in the Middle East -
(Opening flashback)-
I feel her standing over me. I open my eyes and see Mireille pointing her gun at me. She looks at me with a determined look on her face. Oh well... I expected this...
"Go on, Mireille. Do it." I tell her. And I close my eyes...
-------------------------------
Mireille and I had a job to take out a target named Varjun. It was decided that I would be the one to kill him. I made my way into his home and found him asleep in his bed. I aimed my gun at him and shot off two rounds. I thought he was dead and I turned around to leave. Suddenly, I felt a burning pain in my side and realized I had been shot. I spun around and fired the rest of my bullets into the man, finally killing him. Then I doubled over from the pain of my wound.
-------------------
Mireille and I are driving through the desert. I am sitting on a blanket that she had covered the passenger seat with. I could feel my blood seeping through the wound on my right side, and it trickled down onto my pants. I was in very bad pain. I couldn't remember if I had ever been shot before. I did have some faint scars on my body, but I couldn't remember how I got them. They didn't seem to be bullet scars though. I just wondered if I was going to die. It hurt so bad...
I can feel Mireille's eyes on me. I hear her tell me that we are supposed to get out and walk once we pass the river. I can hear the frustration in her voice as she asks me how I think I can make it after being shot like this. She tells me if we don't cross the Aramera by four, that our chopper is going to leave without us.
I open my eyes and gasp as I hear this. We are in big trouble, and it's all because of me. I still couldn't believe I had actually gotten shot. I thought that man was asleep. Somehow I had made a mistake in thinking I took him out. He was still able to shoot me...
Mireille goes on to remind me about being a professional and making a clean getaway. I know she is upset with me. But I can hear the tension in her voice, almost like she is worried about me. Or maybe she is just worried about herself...I don't know how to tell sometimes.
Suddenly, the Jeep hits a bump in the road..It makes me hurt even more. I can't help but whimper in pain...
I can feel Mireille turn to me. She starts to ask me if I'm okay.
I try reassure her as I shake my head. "No..I'm fine." I lie. I have never felt such pain that I can remember...
I feel my partner's eyes on me. Then I feel her turn away.
"Still, on the brighter side, If you would have been killed...at least I'd be free of you!" she tells me in a sing song voice.
I open my eyes and look up. "That's true." I admit. I think back to the moment that I got shot. I messed up. I wonder if Mireille really wishes I would have been killed. I suppose it would be a lot easier on her without me around. I am just a nuisance to her, I bet. Somehow this thought made me feel sad.
-------------------------------------
Mireille helped me up the stairs to the room we had been staying at. I suddenly realized that my ID card was not with me. I must have dropped it after I got shot. My ID card! It had my name on it..my fake name...but it was still mine anyway, wasn't it?
"Mireille...my ID card..." I begin feebly.
She stops and looks at me. "Huh?" she asks, sounding confused.
"I think I lost my student ID card when I got shot..." I start.
"What?" she asks firmly, as I see her turn to me in shock.
"I was carrying it with me...I just couldn't throw it away. It wasn't...It wasn't even real. It wasn't the real me or anything but..." I tell her, sadly.
I feel her look at me with a thoughtful and surprised expression. Then she begins to lead me to the room again.
"Just Be quiet. Now is not the time for this." She tells me.
I can hear the worry in her voice again. I'm sorry, Mireille...
--------------------------------
Mireille cleans my wound. She bandages and wraps me up. I lay back on the bed hoping the pain will subside. Even though I am injured, I still am worried about the loss of my ID card. Why? Why did I lose it? Why did it mean so much to me?
(When I came to...I was here.) I thought, picturing the bedroom in Japan in my head. I had woken up all alone without any memory of my past.
I remember standing in my school uniform, looking out the window of a empty classroom. I was supposed to be a student but...
(My name, my record's..all lies. Who am I? I Am Noir. Beyond that, I knew nothing.)
I remember finding and looking down at my Student ID card.
(But...even if it was a lie...it was in my hands. It was mine.)
It was the only thing I had really. The watch wasn't mine. It turned out to be part of Mireille's past. I guessed the Beretta handgun and the name Noir belonged to me. But I didn't understand those things. The ID card had my picture on it, and the name Yuumura, Kirika. It made me feel like maybe I wasn't really a monster. Maybe I was who the card said I was... a normal high school student. I wished...
----------------------------------------
I felt someone standing over me as I rested. I slowly opened my eyes. Mireille is standing near me with her gun pointed on me. I guess she decided I was too much trouble in this condition.. I did promise she could kill me, even though we hadn't found the answers we were seeking. I guess I would die not knowing my true identity. Maybe it was better this way. I had a feeling I didn't want to face the monster inside myself anyway...
"Go on, Mireille. Do It." I tell her firmly.
I see her narrow her eyes.
"Thank you for putting up with me until today." I tell her, softly. Then I close my eyes and wait for the end...
I can feel her hesitate. IF she is going to do it...she's needs to do it now. My heart is racing with fear...
"NOW...hurry." I plead.
I can feel her straighten up as if she is ready. I take a deep breath.
I hear the gun go off.
----------------------------------
I hear the gun go off...but I am not dead. The pillow next to my head has taken a bullet, but not me.
I look up at Mireille in confusion. She looks at me with a funny look on her face.
"Did you really think I'd let you take the easy way out? Not that I couldn't care less about you...or who you really are...but you're my key to finding the Soldats. So until I find out who they are, I'm not going to let you die! Once I've found them out though, I will kill you!" she informs me.
I think I've heard this threat a dozen times now. Mireille loves to remind me. It's okay... I am relieved to still be alive.
I close my eyes and give her a small smile. "I'd forgotten." I tell her softly.
---------------------------------
Mireille leaves to go get some more medical supplies and something for us to eat. She also is going to try to get a plane to come and get us out of this place. I am so weak from the blood loss. I just lay on the bed and try to sleep.
Suddenly, I hear a bunch of footsteps on the stairs outside the room. The door is kicked in. I can feel people rush in.
"We've got him!" a man yells.
I open my eyes and see I am surrounded by a dozen men with guns all pointed on me. This was not good. I'm too weak to take these men out like I usually could. I hoped Mireille would come back NOW.
"It's just a girl!" one of the men said, as he looks at me in disbelief.
"It's Her! Look at the wound!" another man clarifies to him.
"But she's just a kid!" he argues.
That's what they always say. Too bad I'm outnumbered and weak to prove them wrong this time.
----------------------------
The men surround me and two of them drag me by my elbows to a waiting truck. I can barely walk or even hold my head up. One of the men picks me up, and throws me as hard as he can into the back of the truck.
"GET IN THERE YOU!" he yells, as I land with a thud.
I can feel myself start to black out...
----------------------------------------
I am barely conscious and I feel a little delirious, as I open by eyes to find myself lying on the cold, hard floor of a dungeon like room. Three men are standing around me. But I am still too weak to try anything. I can barely keep my eyes open.
"This is the "Grim Reaper?" one of them asks.
"There is no doubt that she has something to do with Noir." a tall man wearing a hat and earring replies.
"This little girl?" another asks in disbelief.
"This girl has the scent of death about her." the earring man tells him.
I can hear another man walk up. "It's her!" he exclaims.
"What's that?" the earring man asks.
"I found it on the floor of the corridor."
I feel something small smack me against the face hard.
"It's your picture." a large man with glasses tells me.
"Mm?" I say as I turn my head and slowly look at it. It's my ID card! My name...
"Is that your real name? Or is it an alias? Why don't you answer? Are you a friend of Noir?" the man with the glasses demands.
I don't answer. I don't care. I just want my card. I begin to reach for it.
"Confess to all your sins! You'll roast in the fires of HELL anyway!" The earring man yells at me.
I am trying to grab my card. I am so weak...but I want my card...my identity...
As I grab hold of it, the tall man wearing an earring stomps down hard on my hand.
"IS that card so precious to you? You bastard's killed Varjun! You filthy assassins! You shameless demon! I'll make you pay for what you've done!" the man screamed at me as he began to kick and punch me. I cry out in pain. I don't know if I can survive much more of this...
------------------------------
"Is she dead?"
"Don't be a fool! I won't give her the release of death until the burning sand consumes her!"
"And what of her friend?"
"Her friend was spotted in town at 17:30. There's a squad on the way."
"Let me check..."
"What's wrong?"
"No one's answering!"
I hear the men's voices as I lie on the floor. I feel strange...I begin to remember some kind of familiar chant...
"Noir...nom...jadis..." I start to whisper.
I can feel a bit of strength flow back into my body as I remember more of this chant.
"Noir...It is the name of ...two death..., Noir...it is the name of an ancient fate..."
"Two maidens...that govern death..."
The 3 men surround me again. One of them bends down close to me.
"What is she saying? A prayer?" the man with the earring asks, as he leans down to hear me.
My hand begins to do a strange ritual like move. It also has my ID card in it.
"Their black hands protect ...the peace of the newly born." I say, as I slowly roll on to my knees. Then I am able to quickly slit the throat of the man who is bending down next to me with my ID card. It has a razor sharp edge and I feel my strength return as I cut him as hard as I can. The man falls back motionless.
I hear two shots and the men behind me fall down dead. I look up to see Mireille staring at me. She looks over at the man I just killed with my ID card, and his earring suddenly falls off. She looks over at me curiously.
I sit up and hold my wounded side with one hand, and my ID card in the other. Only I would know how to kill a man with such a simple thing as this. But I had my card back again. My ID. But I'm still not sure why it's so important to me, when it's not really true.
"In the end, a lie is always a lie. I thought I knew that from the beginning." I tell my partner softly.
I can hear her give a small gasp. I look up at her beautiful face.
"Mireille..." I whisper.
She looks at me softly. "Huh?" she whispers back.
"Who AM I?" I ask her desperately. I know she doesn't know... but I need to know so much...I want to be a real person...not a monster...not a thing.
Mireille just stares at me sadly.
---------------------------------
We are waiting for the plane that is coming to rescue us. It is pitch black in the desert as we wait. Mireille lets off a flare so the plane can see where we are.
After she sets it off, we both look up at the sky. It's so beautiful and bright. The lights remind me of Mireille. The black darkness reminds me of myself. How strange.
Mireille keeps looking up at the lights as she tells me this.
"The thread that binds you and I is the color black, of this I'm sure."
"Blacker than pitch, Blacker than night, Blacker than the darkness itself."
-------------------------------
We both watch the lights of the flare fall back down...as we see our plane in the distance. I keep thinking about what my partner just said. It's true...isn't it?
Mireille and I-
We ARE bound together. But She is the Light. I'm the Darkness.
I just hope my darkness doesn't extinguish her light.
-----------------
Chapter 6 – Intoccabile Act 2 – Episode 9
Author ramblings- I Hope this was enjoyable. This was a shared viewpoint on both stories and I'm not sure if it worked:) If you think the shared viewpoint worked okay let me know. I tried to make them different as I could. AS always, If you think I missed a Key element of story, missed an important hint, or am off on my characterization, Please Let me know. My sucky grammar and narrative skills I am still trying to improve..(sigh)
Thank you to Rune Traverse (GREAT Noir writer, btw), Sam7777, and Ray Venn Habuki -who all informed me how Kirika killed that man with the earring. I hope I described it okay here:) I couldn't figure out what she had done:) I'm a little dense!
That Kirika – always finding weird ways to kill!
Altena and Chloe made an appearance in this episode. I think this episode was the first appearance of my beloved Chl ay:) ( Sorry, I hate the way they pronounce Chloe's name in the English dub. I've known Chloe's in my life and they never pronounced their name- Chl ay! I couldn't write them though. They weren't in Kirika's Pov yet. Please review! Let me know if these are enjoyable. Thanks so much!