Marc's buddies are still heartily enjoying my generosity. I break the bad news to them and Hobbes. It effectively puts a damper to their drinking spree.
"He was such a good lad," Hobbes whispered.
I rather doubt that. But dead people do not need sarcasm. I keep my peace.
"If the cops approach you," I detail, "Tell them everything you know. Do not hide anything."
They all quietly agree.
"Mr. Darren?" one of the kids asks me.
"Yes?"
"You said you knew Triela? And Hilshire?"
"Yes."
"You'll do something about them, right?"
They all look to me as if I'm the right hand of Justice.
"Yes. I will."
But I'm only human.
Gunslinger
Girl
Crossover
Inspired
by The Oddity's fan fiction "Showdown" and Colonel
Marksman/G.D. Wallez's fan fiction "Innocence". Happens at
around the same time.
Not linked to my usual GSG fanon.
Life
Goes On/The End
I
drop by Auntie Carla and Uncle Francisco's homely apartment.
They're delighted to see me again. Auntie looks much better now.
She happily serves me tea and biscuits.
"How is your novel coming along, Sheo dear?"
"I'm almost finished, Auntie."
I'm not lying to her. Cid: The Novel is pretty much done. As Sheo, I claimed to be an itinerant novelist. Surprisingly, I actually got down to writing the damn thing.
Cid
Osborn stared out the window of Calipse University High School
Classroom 3-D, at the azure sky that stretched into forever. He
sighed.
I
might as well make money the legal way, too. I can't kill people or
fight psycho psychic horned girls or train cyborgs or pilot giant
robots until I'm a hundred and twenty. And Sheo Darren is a good
name.
Until Marc fucked it up for me. Thanks a lot, buddy, for curtailing a good potential life.
I reluctantly tell Auntie and Uncle about the murder. Better to force the issue now. They take it pretty well. For a moment I had been afraid for Auntie Carla's weak body.
"The poor boy," she murmurs at last after a long silence of horror.
"I had prayed he wouldn't come to a bad end," Uncle Francisco allows.
Maybe he wouldn't if he didn't try to chase after every new skirt he ran across. O at least not piss off the ones who have guns in their skirts.
"Well, what's done is done," is what I say at last.
"Will you go to his funeral?" Auntie asks me.
"I would, but I can't. I have a very important person waiting for me to come back."
"Is it a girl?"
"Yes."
"That's good."
Just
eleven years old and a cyborg, but yes, Elena is a girl.
"Sensei!" Her welcoming hug caves my ribs in. "Welcome back!"
"Oof! That hurts!" I complain good-naturedly.
"It's not my fault if you grew soft during your vacation," Elena scolds. "I can already feel fat on you."
"That means my vacation worked. So, have you been a good girl?"
"Yes!"
Ami Mizuno smiles at us. "Elena was very well-behaved."
"Miss Ami taught me how to patch up wounds!" Elena boasts.
"I'd like to meet the poor, brave soul who volunteered to be your guinea pig," I joke.
"That would be me." Giuseppe shimmers into view not five feet from me. "Welcome home, Sensei."
"Giuseppe! You young rascal!" I chuckle. "Didn't I tell you not to use the ECS when off duty?"
"Yes, Sensei. But since you always seemed partial to practical jokes–"
I hugged him. "Welcome home, my boy. We've missed you."
Giuseppe
sports a nifty tan and proud eyes. A tour in Helmajistan as an AS
pilot did him good.
"When did you come back?" I ask over drinks served by Ami. "I thought you would be away for much longer."
"Miss Memphis gave me a short break. I came back here to visit Elena. You were away."
"Not anymore. Enlighten me on the details of your tour."
Giuseppe trained in piloting the venerable Rk-64 Savage AS before switching to the 3rd generation Shadow. He inevitably got engaged in real combat and acquitted himself well. "Miss Memphis says she's willing to fight alongside me now," he finishes.
"That's high praise, coming from Canon," I tell him. "You ought to be proud. She's one of the best in the business."
"Better than you, Sensei?" Elena ribs me.
"Of course," I heartily admit, "Or at least in Arm Slaves. Otherwise, I wouldn't have sent Giuseppe to her."
We laugh.
"There's one more thing I want to talk to you about, Sensei," Giuseppe poses.
"Well, spill it, then."
He blushes. "Um… it's… man-to-man talk."
"Oh." I blink. "Oh. Okay. Maybe later."
Ami giggles. Elena frowns. "What was that all about?" my feisty younger ward demands.
"Man talk," I say with exaggerated seriousness.
Elena swats me. "You boys!"
After
we're all comfy, I give them the condensation of my eventful
vacation.
"That is bad news," Ami notes in the understated tone she uses when she's worried. "Mr. Silver will not like this."
"You said it," I agree. "Mr. Silver will skin me alive. Then he'll send me to his sister for further torture. But what really worries me is what he's going to do to Giuseppe and Elena."
That startles my wards. We haven't really tackled the possibility of Amalgam considering us dangerous. And they don't know about the powerful remote-detonated bombs in their bodies. The fail-safe I insisted upon Ami's mechanical body team. Otherwise, Amalgam would never have trusted us, thinking me another Gauron and my kids as copies of those psycho Chinese twins.
The trigger word is "Jessica Miranda". My darling sister, long dead, now the possible cause of death for two other children.
Forgive me, Giuseppe, Elena. For you to continue living means you have to be able to die. And forgive your Kuya, dearest Jessica, for taking your beautiful name in vain…
"What will we do?" Giuseppe asks after the long silence on all our parts.
"I'm going to tell Mr. Silver the truth," I said. "He's a very understanding man. I will explain everything. It's my fault."
"It's not!" Elena protests. I ruffle her hair to calm her down.
"It is, Elena-chan. I got myself into this mess. I dragged you all with me. It's up to me to fix things."
"We'll never turn against Amalgam, Sensei," Giuseppe declares, "If only to protect you from being blamed!"
I looked up to my brave student staring at me with such dedication and trust, and found myself severely wanting.
"We'll see what happens next," I murmur. "We'll see…"
"So,
Giuseppe-kun," I ask after Elena has been tucked into bed and Ami
gone back to her quarters, "What's this manly matter you want to
discuss?"
He blushes. "Promise you won't laugh."
"Okay. I promise."
"Serious, Sensei?"
"Heart attack serious."
Giuseppe sighs. "Okay. Sensei… I've been having strange… dreams… about a girl…"
A
minute later, I am laughing my head off.
Promises are made to be broken.
"You
have an interesting way of spending a vacation, Rolito," Mr. Silver
comments.
"Yes, sir." I bow my head slightly in sincere shame while remaining in parade dress stance. "My intense apologies, sir."
"Can the Italian police connect you with Amalgam?"
"I don't believe so, sir. I did not leave any clues that might have established a connection between my alias and Amalgam. They will wonder who Sheo Darren really is, but that is all."
"And Section Two?"
"Section Two might become suspicious since I mentioned to several key witnesses that I knew the cyborg involved. Also, I ended up talking to the handler."
"Oh?"
"Yes. However, I believe that I've sufficiently disarmed their suspicions with regards to my person." You ought to have been there, Leonard. You would have enjoyed how I ran circles around Hilshire. "I also believe that they will keep quiet since it is one of their cyborgs involved. They would not want to reveal their cyborgs' existence. I believe they would exert pressure on all parties involved to simply forget the matter."
"And if someone presses to know just what is going on?"
"Accidents happen, sir. Section Two will do our dirty work for us. We don't have to lift a finger."
"Will Sheo Darren appear at court if they ever call him?" Mr. Silver asks.
"If you would allow him, sir."
He looked me over with interest. "Explain."
"I owe a number of people a promise to make things easier on them," I elaborate. "I intend to keep that promise."
"It strikes me that they owe you far more," Mr. Silver notes. Or that you owe me, he leaves unsaid.
"That is so, sir, but I am still obligated to them on a personal matter."
"And if I order you to cease communication with those people? Or even kill them?"
Don't hesitate now, Rolito.
I never planned to.
"I will fulfill your orders to the letter, sir," I firmly answer.
"And afterwards?"
"I will not move against you, sir, even if the organization orders me to do so."
"Because you are indebted to me?"
"Because I know you will win, sir."
He smiles faintly. "You flatter me, Rolito."
"If you believe so, sir."
"Humble and loyal as always." Mr. Silver gestures. "I see little harm in this adventure. You do not have to worry about it." His smile broadens somewhat. "You might be interested to know that no one else knows about your recent notoriety. It pleases me that one of my own men can cause such a ruckus without the rest of Amalgam knowing about it. And with that same man purportedly being on vacation, too."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
"By the way, Rolito?"
"Yes, sir?"
"I am counting on you to deliver your promise to me when the time to face down the rest of Amalgam arrives."
"Yes, sir."
Me and Giuseppe and Elena and Ami and Canon are there, Leonard.
Sheo
Darren will have to disappear for a while. Sorry, Auntie Carla, Uncle
Francisco, Hobbes. I won't be seeing you for a very long time.
Maybe never again.
But I will send you a copy of my novel. That, I can do.
And
life goes on.
Finis/Katapusan/Owari
