Chapter 10! I am so very sorry! I mean to update this on Monday...Three days ago! AGH! I am so very, very, very sorry! I vowed that I would update after my exams...AHH! I'm a terrible, terrible person! How the bloody heck do I plan to be an accomplished author if I can't even meet my own deadlines?! AHH! I'm so very sorry! I usually meet deadlines on things...just not fafics...AHH! I'm so sorry!
Okay, emo-author moment over! Okay, in this one Alle meets his new family! For all of you that wanted the other meisters you'll be pleasantly surprised. Just to let you know, Tieria's age is sort of unknown, you'll figure out why later, but to give you a ballpark figure, 10-13. And Setsuna's 9. To get the right picture of the Setsuna in this fic, picture him as a cute little chibi in his civilian clothing (white top closed with a black belt and black pants and a red scarf) *squeals at the picture* And yes, he's chibified even at that age because I think he's short!
Just a warning, there are some mentions of rape and prostitutes in this but not in detail, it's just a brief mention near the end. You have been warned.
-Saph
The drive to his new home is certainly better than the drive to the orphanage. Amy and Neil keep up a constant stream of conversation, Amy acting hyperactive as all children should, and Neil trying to talk to Alle normally.
The three of them sit in the back seat, with Alle between the siblings, both seeming to play tug-of-war with him as the rope, competing for who loves him more. It is a very awkward position for Alle, but he can't say he hates it. He never had anyone say that they loved him before, the only time he ever felt anything close was when he was with Halle. He tries not to think about Halle, fearing he'll break down crying in front of these new people.
"Hey, Alle-nii-chan, what kind of family did you come from before you came to ours?" Amy asked.
Neil tenses and quickly reprimands her.
"Amy, he probably doesn't want to talk about that." Neil scolds her gently.
Neil knows that kids who are sent to orphanages most likely had a bad life before going there. Going to that depressing place isn't much better, in his opinion, but it's better than being abused, neglected, and whatever else they went through to get there.
After he gets Amy to stop trying to approach the subject he changes the subject. "By the way, we haven't really introduced ourselves, have we? Neil Dylandy, age 13. My friends call me Lockon Stratos, reason, let's just say you never want to play me in any kind of shooting game." The oldest states with a smirk.
Thirteen, so he is three years older than Halle and him.
"Hey! Hey! Don't forget me!" Amy squeals.
"Oh, right. The little squirt is Amy Dylandy, my biological sis." Neil sighs as though she is a big pain.
It strikes Alle as odd that he would add 'biological' to her intro but before he gets to ask what he means the car pulls to a stop. They have arrived at their home. As soon as the car is in the driveway Neil opens the door and drags Alle out with him.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Amy calls as she stumbles out of the car and runs to catch up with the two boys.
Neil is already at the door with Alle beside him.
"Neil!" Their father calls as he tosses the keys to his son.
Neil catches them and unlocks the front door, pulling Alle in with him.
As soon as they enter, Alle calms down. It is a normal house.
There are no beer bottles strewn around the floor, or broken glass and cigarette butts littering the place. The air is fresh, provided by the numerous plants on the windowsill, and smells faintly of lemon cleaning solution.
The window is open, letting in a cool breeze and rustling the leaves of the plants.
As soon as their shoes are off Neil takes Alle's hand and guides him to the basement. As they near the bottom the older boy turns and put a finger to his lips, signalling quiet.
Alle understands the sign, but doesn't know why they have to creep quietly through the door and the carpet area.
Neil slowly and cautiously approaches the couch further into the room. He sneaks up behind the person sitting on the couch and-
"GOT'CHA!" Neil screams triumphantly as he forces his hands down on the small figure seated on the couch.
Both of them went sprawling on the floor.
"Lockon! Damn it, Lockon!" A voice yells.
The loud voice comes from a small boy in Neil's hands, he is trying, and failing, to get out of the hold the older boy has on him.
The boy has black, wavy hair and red eyes. He looks younger than Alle, but that might just be because of his height, he's significantly shorter than Alle.
Neil laughs all the while as he pins the younger boy to the carpet. Alle can only watch, stunned, as the younger boy wrestles with Neil. The smaller one is yelling unprintable profanities at the older one. Alle is surprised at the little boys...colorful...language.
"Fools." A voice comments.
Alle looks for the source of the new voice.
A purple-haired person* is standing at the door of another room down a small hallway. He wears glasses and is clothed in a pink cardigan sweater overtop a yellow dress shirt. Is it a man or a woman? Alle wonders.
"Lockon, if you keep that up you'll squish him." The purple-haired person calls.
Neil and the shorty stop wrestling for a second and both look at the bespectacled individual.
"Sorry, Tieria. Did we wake you?" Neil asks, releasing the shorty.
"Stupid Lockon." The shrimp mutters as he rights himself.
"You've gotta watch your language, Setsuna. I don't think I've ever heard so many profanities in one breath!" Neil jokes, earning him a punch in the side.
Or rather, it would have been a punch if the boy called Setsuna had even made it to him.
Because of his small body, his range is limited, so all Neil has to do was hold out his arm against the other boy's forehead, his reach being longer than the raven-haired male. The sight is comical and Alle has to stifle his laughter behind his backpack.
The boy known as Tieria stands there and rolls his eyes before disappearing into the room he came out of and shuts the door. The quiet 'click' made when the door closes is enough to get the brawling boys attention. The younger one, Setsuna, tries to approach the room, most likely to talk to the purple-haired male, but he is held back by Neil.
"Lockon..." Setsuna starts.
"Don't bother, Setsuna. Tieria's just ticked because his lover isn't responding." Neil states.
The statement seems serious enough, also shown with the solemn face the Dylandy has, but as the unsuspecting Alle would find out later, it was not a serious comment. Alle wonders why a person around their age would have a lover.
Halle once told him that a lover was the person who someone made love to. Alle didn't understand him then, but Halle showed it to him. Halle waited until their father came home one night. Halle had gotten their father to believe that they weren't going to be home that night because of something to do with a school trip. Either way, because his father couldn't do 'that' to Alle, he brought home a woman. After the two adults had shut themselves in their father's room, Halle waited about fifteen minutes before opening the door a crack and showing Alle what they were doing that required so much moaning. Alle has been scarred for life from that incident. When he later asked Halle if he, Alle, could be considered their father's lover because their father did the same stuff to him Halle had gotten mad and told him never to even consider it. Every time that topic came up again, Halle would clench his fists and get really mad. Alle never understood it but he knew it had something to do with Halle wanting to protect him.
"Lover? What's that?" Setsuna asks before a loud 'bang' shakes the walls and the door Tieria had disappeared behind is thrown open.
A keyboard is thrown out of the door and finds its intended target, Neil's head.
"VEDA IS NOT MY LOVER!" A more-than-ticked Tieria shouts as the door closes with a loud 'bang'.
All of it is over in a flash, none of the others being able to say a word.
"Ow." Neil moans as he sits up, rubbing his head.
He is the only one saying that much. Setsuna kneels down and picks up the forgotten keyboard.
"Ah! Neil-niichan, is this a piece of Tieria-niisan's lover?" Little Setsuna asks.
Neil can't answer, being incapacitated by laughter. Before the Dylandy can advise otherwise the youngest has walked to the closed door. He knocks.
"Tieria-niisan, you left part of your lover behind." Setsuna states with the uncanny innocence only a child can speak with.
Neil falls into a fit of more laughter so only Alle notices when the youngest is grabbed and pulled into the room faster than anybody can blink.
"Ah! Um...i-is...h-he just..." Alle stutters, trying to get the older boy off the ground, trying to stop his laugh attack.
"Huh? Oh, Setsuna's been kidnapped?" Neil asks, still chuckling.
He waves it off and walks back to the couch.
"What? Aren't you going to help him? Won't the other one hurt him?" Alle asks, running after the older boy.
"No. Tieria won't hurt him." Neil states as he starts his gaming system. "And rule number one, if you want to live to see your next birthday: never go into Tieria's room without permission." Neil states and turns with a look of horror on his face.
"Why?" Alle asks.
Neil turns even paler, real fear on his face.
"H-he...when I went in there...he..." Neil shudders.
"What?" Alle asks. "Get a hold of yourself!" He yells, shaking the older by his shoulders.
"H-He...HE TOOK AWAY MY GAMING SYSYTEMS!!" Neil yells, finally breaking down.
"So? Just go and get them back." Alle doesn't see what the problem was.
"N-No. He used Veda...and he...he...he rewrote the programming on all my gaming systems!" Neil cries, beyond just having a mental breakdown.
Alle stops, conflicting between laughing and feeling sorry for the brunette. He decides to change the subject.
"Veda? The thing you said is Tieria's lover?" Alle asks.
Neil nods, now struggling between mourning for his past gaming things and laughing at the little inside joke. "What is Veda?" Alle asks. Neil looks up, tears in his eyes.
"Yeah, that's-" He rights himself before continuing. "It's not really Tieria's lover, it's not even human." He says.
Alle looks puzzled.
"Veda is a computer. A computer that Tieria spends pretty much all his time with. When he first came here, all he had was the programming for Veda. Mom and Dad gave him the means to use it, the computer, and the keyboard and such. He spends all his time with it, it being the closest thing to a family he ever had. Apparently, the programming was given to him by someone important to him. We're not sure what happened but we've figured out that much. One time, I walked in and took a look through it. There are pictures of Tieria as a child with two people that are either his parents, or the adults who raised him. I guess he spends all his time on it because it reminds him of them. All we know is that it is the most precious thing he has." Lockon has gone strangely serious.
Alle nods, he understands. The bear, Halle's manga, and the GUNDAM head are his special possessions. He can understand what Tieria feels, being so attached.
" Since he spends all his time shut in his room with it, we've all called it his lover, get it? A closed door, two entities alone in a room, with a bed." Neil laughs once more.
Alle still doesn't quite understand. He never had a computer, only being able to use one at school, and at the library, so his knowledge is limited.
"What do you mean it is his only family?" Alle asks. Neil looks up.
"He came from a broken family, or rather, hellhole would be more fitting. From what he's told us, and that's not a lot, his father was a drunkard that never came home, always drinking and sleeping around. His mom was a petty woman, too absorbed in her own image and status to care that she had a son. She never once spared a glance at him, the only time she had ever held him was probably when he was born, and that's not likely, her being so punctual that she'd probably gone into the hospital, had the baby, then left with her purse to go attend to other business." Neil's smile is no longer there.
"Didn't he have any other family?" Alle asked.
Neil shakes his head.
"Well, he did. He had a lot of cousins, but their families were the same, if not worse. He was only really close to two of his cousins, but not in that way. There was this one, Regene Regetta, he looked more like Tieria's twin than a cousin. Anyway, that guy, Regene, was a two-faced creep that would seem to be nice one second, then push the other to the ground."
"What about the other?" Alle asked.
"The other cousin was Ribbons Almark. He was worse than Regene. He liked to manipulate people, having a way to get whatever he wanted, either by charm, or force. He was capable of using either, which made him really scary. He would seem like a good kid, until you spoke to him. He had a disgusting voice, anyone that never saw his face would think he was constantly sneering with that voice of his."
"How do you know all this?" Alle asks, surely one couldn't get so close to an adopted person's real family.
"They've stopped by on many occasions. Apparently, in their family, Veda is like a priceless family heirloom. When the other's realized Tieria had it they came over and demanded it. Tieria didn't let them, and they got violent. It would have turned into a fight had mom and dad not asked them to leave. Tieria was different after that." Neil seems to have a far away look in his eyes, caught in the memory.
"Different? How?"
"He just became distant. I guess the event traumatized him or something, after that he spent more and more time alone with Veda, and he didn't really talk to us anymore."
Alle ponders the new knowledge. "Then, how old is Tieria?" Alle asks. The boy can't be too much older than him from the looks of it.
"We don't know. He never really told us, and he doesn't like to talk about himself, if he talks at all." Neil states.
"Is Setsuna adopted too?" Alle asks.
Neil turns to stare at him.
"Yeah, but we treat each other like family anyway. He doesn't like talking about his life before coming here so we don't push him. All that matters is that he's here and we can play together." Neil mutters.
"D-Does he have anything? Anything that he holds dear like Tieria and VEDA?" Alle asks.
"Yeah, that red scarf. Apparently, he used to have one sort of like it. He couldn't bring it with him when he came here, so mom and dad bought him a new one. It sort of holds the memories of both of his families."
Alle thinks for a while.
"Why all the questions?" Neil asks.
Alle flinches at the question.
"I-I have things like that too..." He mutters as he puts the backpack on the floor and rummages around.
"Forget it. You don't have to show me now, if you don't want to." Neil mutters. "Anyway," he starts, throwing a controller at Alle.
Alle catches it, wondering what he is supposed to do with it.
"Let's play." Neil grins and the screen instantly flashes the word 'SNIPE'.
"What's up, don't you know how to play?" Neil asks after he has beaten the Haptism for the 5th time in a row.
Alle shakes his head. The images flashing on the screen go by way too fast. He managed to see what looked like a gun before he was dead. Neil is fast, he has a trigger-finger that can shoot something 0.0001 seconds after it has appeared on the screen, and his precision is unmatched, every shot he takes either goes to the heart or the head.
"Another shooting game? At least give him a chance, Lockon." The calm voice of the purple-haired boy states from behind them.
Alle and Neil turn to the voice and see the bespectacled boy with the youngest. The youngest runs to the couch, trying to climb over it onto the other side and failing miserably because of his height. He gets one knee over the ledge and seems to hang there, the other leg dangling/kicking uselessly, trying to get himself over. Neil smiles and pulls him over with one arm, making him fall into the space between Neil and Alle.
"Huh? Unfair, Neil-nii! I wanna play, I wanna play!" The three on the couch barely have time to look, not like they have to, when the small form of Amy comes rushing to the couch.
She jumps on, landing on Neil's lap.
"Okay, okay!" Neil yells, holding the controller out of her small reach. "You can play as me, Amy, but you have to stop grabbing!" Neil calls.
Amy calms down a little and Neil sets the controller on her lap, his own hands going over her small ones, guiding her.
"Hey, Tieria, do you want to play?" Neil asks, looking up from the screen for a second.
The purple-haired man is gone, Neil hears the telltale 'click' of a closing door and turns back to his game. Nothing can get between Tieria and Veda. Neil thinks as he continues to game. Setsuna watches intently, occasionally giving advice to Alle as he stumbles on the controls, he really has no idea how to play. Soon Alle hands the controls to the raven-haired boy and watches as he plays Neil.
Needless to say, no one can beat Neil, or rather, Amy when guided by Neil. By the end of the night, he/she has a solid 78 straight wins, with Neil living up to his title 'the man that can snipe you from the other side of the stratosphere.' He managed to snipe Setsuna from the other side of the field.
As Alle watches the brunette dancing around in victory with the little girl clapping an unsteady beat, he can't help but feel happy. But his happiness is short-lived when he looks away. I wish Halle could be here. He thinks, hoping against hope that his older brother will be able to join them soon.
How long ago had he left for camp? It feels like a lifetime, but Alle knows that Halle still has 4 days before the week ends. Has it only been three days? It feels like so much longer than that.
It was only this morning that he had been building the Gundam, and now he is seeing the day off, gaming with people that walk the thin line between sanity and going-off-the-deep-end.
To be continued...
That was a long chapter. It was fun to type though, and yes, I included Veda, to an extent, and now all of the meisters are together! By the way, for all of you Lyle lovers, don't worry, I do plan to incorporate him into this fic, if you want, but he's at boarding school, as stated in episode 18 of season 2. I have a plan to put him in this fic if you all don't mind. I may dislike him, but he exists and we have to accept that. Well, you know the drill, review if you want another chapter. Review if you want Halle back (mostly directed at FinalEnd, inside joke)! By the way, I originally had a little blueprint of the basement area they all live in drawn out below. Took me about half an hour or more! But the site screws it all up as soon as I try to upload it. They're just preliminary ones...pretty crappy cause I pretty much just used the | and / and – and _ signs to make it...but it's a map all the same. Either way, if you really want to see it, if I get your email or whatnot somehow, I might be able to send it to you. If not, it's fine. Just know that this site blanks out email addresses. Trust me, I've tried.
-Saph