Author Note:
Right, another flashback. This continues on from the previous one in chapter two, so if for some reason you skipped to this chapter I suggest you backtrack to it. This way you get confused while reading :D
Chapter Five: Secret Manoeuvres
*Flashback*
"SABER!" I shout out. Rushing forward I find him leaning against a wall.
"SABER, are you alright?" I ask, quickly checking for any wounds, finding a small cut on his forehead.
He coughs a little from the dust. "I'm fine." Brushing me off. "But I think we found what made the noise earlier."
Scanning the room I spot our attacker. A hideous being with twisted limbs and razor sharp claw like weapons, a scientists failed experiment. It spots us and surges towards us, intent on killing.
Pushing SABER out of the way I draw my blades, blocking the monsters attack. After securing a proper foot hold I push the creature back.
As it attempts to strike back, I swiftly jump out of the way landing next to SABER. He stands and draws his weapons, joining me in combat and together we rush forward to attack. It moves to strike, left arm high in the air. I instinctively bring a sword up to block it. As I hold it SABER then jumps in, swiftly cutting the limb off. The monster shrieks in pain, thrashing wildly at us. I leap over it and strike from behind while my partner attacks from the front, hacking and slashing, blood spraying everywhere.
Within moments it falls to the ground, devoid of life. Sheathing my weapons I turn to SABER, anger boiling up inside of me.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! Is this why we were sent? Because these guys in here were making crazy shit like this?!" I shriek in annoyance and rage. "Why the hell weren't we told about this, you almost got killed!'
"I DON'T KNOW DAMN IT!" His face hard and ridgid. Startled by SABER's sudden outburst I shut up. His expression softens a little.
"I don't know why we weren't told. Maybe GALAHAD's intel was false or outdated. All I know is that our orders were to destroy this building." He sighs, leaning against the wall.
"But even if that is the case, why were WE sent? This isn't our field, fuck we're not even supposed to be IN the city, let alone a corporate building's lab. You know as well as I do this mission was fucked from the very beginning." I snap.
"What are you implying ARCADIA?" He asks, frowning at me.
"Remember that mission we did two months back? When we came across those files?"
He nods. "Yeah, the ones with information on GALAHAD's projects and motives. That's when we found out that were created in a lab, that our so called childhood memories were fake. There was also the section detailing project CAPRI."
"Yes, the newest development of genetically enhanced soldiers, that go by the same pairing system as ours. A few days ago we met LEYTE and DULUTH, the prodigies of project CAPRI, while we're the prodigies of the original project EILBOTE. Out of all of the fifty subjects used in project EILBOTE we're the only ones left as the rest have died off in combat or deserted. Since finding those files we've been sent on more missions that have become increasingly harder and potentially deadlier." I pause to let SABER take it all in. "All the while we had knowledge on highly classified information that we shouldn't have."
"And with newer GE soldiers they won't need us anymore. LEYTE and DULUTH would most likely be our replacements should anything happen to us. They were planning on getting rid of us to begin with but then we found out our origins. Making us seen as a potential threat to the organisation or possibly deserting." He growls. "And when GALAHAD has no need for something they dispose it. It doesn't matter what or who it is. Even though we were the most successful subjects from project EILBOTE, we're still nothing more than disposable experiments to them."
We stand in silence, thinking things over. It was the only answer we had, we knew what GALAHAD was like. We knew it was a very real possibility they wanted us dead, being the older GE soldiers and knowing too much about the organisations movements.
If that is the case... then what do we do?
SABER pushes himself off the wall and walks to the exit. "If this is what GALAHAD wants then we should run.
"Ha, and turn into the deserters they feared we would become? Where would we run to SABER?" I ask dryly. "There's no where for us to go."
"Does it matter? As long as we can stay out of their sight we have a chance. If we stick together we could have a normal life. No more following orders and having to kill people over stupid disputes. We could be free."
A normal life? We always did wish we could have one. As well as our freedom. But we just never had the motivation to chase after it. Maybe this really is our chance.
I move to stand next to SABER. "Alright SABER. We'll run... As far away as possible." Smiling he nods, taking my hand in his, together we make our way out of the building. Once outside we smash our PDA's and earpieces so GALAHAD can't track us. Then quickly head west, running as fast as we could. Leaving everything we knew behind.
*Flashback End*
Yuzuki POV
'Damn I'm so tired. Why did I have to dream about that?'
Sitting in my maths class, I attempt to take notes, failing miserably. Tapping my pen on the table out of boredom I feel a nudge in my side.
"Hey you okay? You kinda spaced out back there." Iris whispers. Iris is a friend I recently made in class, while she can be a little strange at times she's an alright person. Remembering her question I lean slightly closer to her.
"I was just remembering my dream last night."
She raises an eyebrow. "A dream... like a happy dream or a nightmare?"
"It was just something from my memories."
"Your memories huh? Must be pretty serious for you to space out like that."
I shrug. "It's nothing important, don't worry about it. I'm perfectly fine."
I could tell she wasn't buying it but thankfully shook her head anyway and left it at that.
As class ended I walked with Iris to her locker, chatting about random things that popped into our heads as we walked. She opens her locker and puts her books away, grabbing her lunch in the process, then we head off to my locker. When I reach my locker a poster stuck on the door, Iris promptly snatching it and reading the contents while I grab my lunch.
"Hey Yuzuki."
"Yeah, what is it?" I ask.
"Who are you going to the Spring Ball with?"
I stop for moment and turn to her, cocking my head to the side.
"Spring Ball?" I ask confused as to what she meant. "What's that?"
"You don't know what a Spring Ball is?" She asks dumbfounded. I shake my head in response.
Iris, in all her orange haired glory, looked as if she was going to slap me. Is it really that bad that I don't know what a Spring Ball is? She quickly begins to explain it for.
"Basically it's a dance. Everyone finds a date, dress up in fancy clothes and dance. But you gotta get in early, don't wanna be stuck without a date, otherwise it's really embarrassing. I already have someone as well as my dress." She stops and observes me for a bit. "Speaking of dates, you don't have one do you?"
I frown at Iris, she quickly realises her question was really stupid considering just a few moments ago I had know idea what a Spring Ball even was.
"Okay, my bad, that was stupid... Let's start again. Is there anyone you're interested in? Someone you could ask on short notice? The ball is on Friday after all."
I think about it for a moment. I don't really know who I could ask. I don't know many guys here, hell I don't know many people in general. The only people I could think of possibly asking were Castiel and Nathaniel.
'But Nathaniel is Amber's sister and is really popular with the girls so there'd be a lot of competition. But Amber also has a creepy obsession over Castiel and I can't be bothered getting into another fight with her.
Sighing I look back at Iris. "The only people I could ask would be Nathaniel or Castiel. But Nathaniel's most likely already has a date so that just leaves Castiel. Although Castiel doesn't look like the type to go a Spring Ball."
"Damn, you're right. Well, there's no harm in asking right? So who are you going to ask?"
"Well I guess I'll have to ask Castiel. There's no way I'll be able to as Nathaniel this late."
Iris begins nodding, entering deep thought. "What type of dresses to you like?"
"I don't really wear dresses... but I guess something that's easy to move in. Nothing below the knee or too constricting, gets in the way."
Iris raises an eyebrow. "Gets in the way huh? What do you mean by that?" A sly smirk forms on her face.
I blush realising my comment could be taken in a VERY bad way. "I meant it's easier for me to move in. not anything dirty like you're thinking."
She starts to laugh at the serious yet flushed expression that settled on my face.
"Even so, me and you are going dress shopping tonight. No ifs, buts or maybes."
As soon as school was out, Iris had dragged me out to town. Throwing me into every dress store she could find. She said that since I'm not a fan of long dresses I should get a cocktail dress, whatever they are. Quickly flicking through the racks of dresses she passes me one dress after another, shoving into a change room to try them on.
'I think I understand why guys don't like shopping with girls. It's been over an hour and we haven't found anything.'
I shimming into the dresses, stepping out to show Iris, then being told to go back in and try another. Iris is really picky about her dresses.
"Here Yuzuki, try this one on." Iris passes me another dress as I'm getting out the previous one. It was a strapless dress that reached mid thigh in length. A white sash tired around the waist forming a massive bow at the back, accentuating my hour glass figure and little crystals were embroidered onto the chest part of the dress. I quickly slip into it a once again step out to show to Iris.
"Oh. My. God." She stands there and stares at me, I begin to blush, thinking that it must look horrible on me.
"I'll go try a different dress." I start to go back in when I'm suddenly tackled by Iris.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Iris shrieks. "That dress right there was TOTALLY made for you. You look drop dead sexy in it, Hurry up and get changed out of it so we can buy it. Then we can quickly go find you some shoes to wear with it." She then quickly dashes out of the change room with such speed it was almost on par with mine.
I change back into my clothes and pay for the dress, Iris quickly drags me to a shoe store and found a silver pair of heels to go with it. We finally leave to go home, Iris saying that she'll come with me tomorrow to ask Castiel to the ball. When I make it back I hang the dress up into the closet and leave to go make dinner.
Castiel POV
"Achoo." I suddenly sneeze out of nowhere, earning and odd look from my band mate Lysander.
"Um.. bless you?" He says, grinning a little.
"Shut up Lys." I growl at him, wondering where the hell that sneeze came from.
He chuckles at my grumpy response. "I think someone's talking about you."
I glare at him. "What?"
He smiles. "It's an old superstition. When you sneeze for no apparent reason they say it's because someone's talking about you."
'I sneezed because someone's talking about me? What the fuck?"
"So what have you done to have people talking about you?"
"I haven't done shit. It's probably dust or something." I snap.
Lysander starts looking at me intently. "Are you sure you haven't done anything?"
I set my guitar against the table and rub my left temple in annoyance. Resisting the urge to throw something at him.
"Yes I'm sure I haven't done anything. I may be an ass sometimes but I haven't done anything recently to earn gossip. Apart from you, Yuzuki and occasionally Pretty Boy and Amber, when I have to. I generally don't associate with anyone."
"Okay... so who's Yuzuki?" I blink at him.
'Oh shit, I haven't even told Lys about her yet.'
"She's the transfer student from Japan."
He looks confused for a brief moment but recognition sets in soon after.
"Oh, that girl with the white hair and the scar right?"
"Yeah, that's the one. She's the one I've been hanging out with lately when I'm not with you."
"I see... so you're interested in her?" He smirks at me. I fold my arms and look in the opposite direction.
"Now what gives you that idea? I've never once said anything that could be viewed as being, as you would say, 'interested'."
He moves to sit down in a nearby chair. "As you said, you've been spending time with her lately right? Well you never spend time with anyone apart from me and your dog Demon. And since she's a girl, the only logical explanation for this sudden social behaviour is because you have an interest in her."
'Argh, damn he's good. He knows me way to much.'
"Well since you haven't got a comeback I take it my hypothesis is correct. I'd like to meet this girl that has somehow managed to capture you're heart."
"What? Why would you want to meet her?" He's up to something.
"I'm simply just curious that's all." While his face is calm, a flicker of mischief dances though his heterochromia eyes.
I smirk at his mistake. "Funny that... your eyes tell a different story." I move closer to him. "Lysander. What are you really planning?"
"Well, since I've been caught out I suppose there's no point in holding back." He pauses for a moment. "Tell me Castiel, what are your plans for the Spring Ball?"
I furrow my eyebrows. "The same thing I do every year. Avoiding it."
Lys chuckles at me. "Not this year my friend... This year you're going to the Spring Ball."
Yuzuki POV
"Iris quit poking me damn it." She continues to poke me in the side, effectively annoying the crap out of me.
"Well come on, we need to find Castiel."
"Jeez, calm down will you? You're like a child."
She stops skipping around and waits for me to catch up. "Well can you blame me? This is a rare opportunity to see Castiel up close. Not that I'm going to try and steal him from you but the guy is pretty cute."
I shake my head at her. "You're unbelievable, how many guys do you like?"
She ponders for a moment before replying. "Well there's Nathaniel, Jade, Dajan, Lysander and his older brother Leigh, that Aussie guy Dakota as well as Castiel. But he's hard to get to so I don't think you're going to have any competition for him."
'So she pretty much has a thing for everyone except Ken.'
"Whatever, let's just go and this over with. The faster we find him the better." I hear Iris giggle in the background.
"You don't have to find him. Here he comes now... and with Lysander in tow too? Yay, my day just got better." I turn around and spot them walking over to us. I watch the other person with him who I assume is Lysander for Iris's previous comment. He has short, silver hair and heterochromia eyes, the left being green and the right is yellow. I notice that his outfit was designed in a Victorian fashion.
'Well that's different.'
They stop a few feet away and I felt Iris gently nudge me forward. "Um hey Castiel... who's your... who's friend?" I ask shyly, not at all enjoying the look I get from Lysander.
"Ah, this is Lysander." He raises a hand towards him. "Lysander, this is Yuzuki."
Lysander steps a little closer and bows slightly. "Greetings Yuzuki, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard quite a bit about you from Castiel." Upon hearing this Castiel groans and mutters something to Lysander.
I return his bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you too Lysander, although I haven't heard anything about you from Castiel."
Castiel's face turn slightly red from embarrassment, Lysander laughs a little. Once again I feel Iris nudge me again, earning a frown from me.
"So um... Castiel." He turns his attention to me. "I... was wondering if you'd... um." I stop mid sentence, my face heating up. "I was wondering if you'd... like to go with me to the Spring Ball."
I hear him gasp in relief, I look up to see a slight smirk on his face.
"Whew, that's a relief." I don't get it, what was a relief?
"I, uh, I actually came over here to ask if you wanted to go me but I guess you beat me to it. Either way, I accept your invitation." He chuckles a little, rubbing his arm awkwardly.
'He wanted to ask me? Really?
"So I'll pick you up from your place?" He asks. I go to reply but was cut off by Iris.
"Oh she's actually going to be at my house, so you and Lysander can come get us from there."
Castiel crosses his arms with a confused expression. "Lysander? Care to explain?"
"Iris may have asked me to ball about a week ago." He says rather calmly.
"Think of it as a double date. Oh we could have a sleep over afterwards, wouldn't that be fun?"
Lysander shakes his head. "I'm not to sure if that would be appropriate Iris."
"Aw why not? There's nothing wrong with a sleep over, we could all crash at my house. We've got plenty of room. Oh I should invite Melody and Jade, and..."
As Iris goes through the list of people she should invite to her 'sleep over after party', we silently sneak off during her ramble.
"Why do I get a feeling this is going to end well?" I groan.
Both Castiel and Lysander nod in agreement.
"I don't think she understands that teenagers having sleep over party is never a good idea."
Castiel chuckles. "If we aren't drunk then things should be okay."
"Hmm, that is true. At least then the chances of Castiel trying something..."
"Alright we get the idea Lysander." I quickly interrupt, not wanting to hear or know the rest of his sentence.
He raises his hands in defence. "I was just going to mention.."
"You don't need to finish it Lys." Castiel growls.
"But you do..."
The two start bickering, Lysander implying rather suggestive things about Castiel's motives. Castiel himself attempting to shut him up.
'Oh yeah. This dance is definitely going to be interesting."
Author Note:
Aw Castiel and Yuzuki going to the Spring Ball. A sleepover party afterwards, wonder what could happen there? ;)
I'd also like to say thanks for reading, I've enjoyed writing it so hope you guys out there had fun reading it.