Okay this chapter I swear you'll finally find out the mysterious 1st unit Leader's name. Enjoy the read.
Chapter 7
On this night of a full moon Soma let loose. He didn't need a Chopper to drop him off. He didn't need any Ken Vision or Stamina Booster. He held none of his Aragami enhanced abilities back as he ran through the Sunken Grid forest. The trees pulsated with a glow lighting his way. Again, none of the Aragami messed with him. But neither did Shino take action on him for entering his territory.
He was a man on a mission, he would find her tonight. And if his theory was right she would be there, not Shino.
Picking up her scent, he quickened his speed. He was close, so close, almost there.
Breaking through the shrubbery, he found himself at a lake. The waters were calm as the moon reflected off it. And there she was, sitting on a large boulder. Sitting like a lady with her legs placed to her right side and her hands on her lap as she looked down at her reflection.
Soma saw that her eyes were not crimson red, but the warm brown he remembered. It was her... but she looked so sad.
"So you finally decided to show yourself." Soma said getting her attention. She wasn't startled, she felt him enter her domain. She gave him a sad smile as he approached her.
"Soma," her voice was a calm sadness but one could still hear her joy at seeing him again. He stopped approaching when they were five yards apart.
"Hey. Those things that Shino said, were they true?"
She sighed, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes. "Yes. Somewhere deep in the darkest part of my heart his words ring with truth."
Soma turned his head to hide the hurt on his face as she opened her eyes. "Hmph, I was afraid of that..." Getting himself together he turned to her again. "So what are you going to do now?"
The sad smile graced her face again as she calmly spoke. "I decided to stay here, protecting from the shadows. This is where I belong now."
"If you stay here the other Branches will send God Eaters to kill you at any chance they can get. Since you're now considered a threat." He clinched his fist at the last statement.
"This is for the good of everyone." She looked down as she said that, unable to make eye contact with him as she got a glance of the fire in his eyes.
"How do you know that?" He turned his head as he sneered. "Everyone thinks they're right."
Her smile was long gone now. "This is right."
Soma snapped as he faced back toward her. "They're going to destroy you!" He gasped as she got down from her boulder, forming a God Arc with her arm. She took a fighting stance, but it wasn't as aggressive as Shino's.
"Please, just forget about me Soma and be happy with your life. Okay?" Her eyes sparkled like water swaying with the moonlight's reflection. Tears were trying to escape.
This caused Soma to tear up as well. But he didn't want the dam to break, he didn't want to show her weakness. In an attempt to keep them from coming out he grunted and shouted at her. "What's your problem?! You just think you can do whatever you feel like, running off to play the damn martyr. And I'm sick of it!" Pointing his God Arc at her, he continued. "Go on, you just keep running! But I'll always be there to bring you back!"
"!" She gasped at how passionate he was as he got into a fighting stance. A tear escaped her eye at this. He would ignore her when she wanted him to be there, so why can't he leave her alone when she didn't want him to be there?
She charged at him with her normal grace but with a longer double edged sword this time.
...
"Lindow, please. You can't go through with this!" Sakuya pleaded with him as he entered the God Arc Hangar.
"This is the only way Sakuya. With this we'll finally be able to reach her."
"But... using her God Arc?! That's suicide, you have no idea if your body will accept her Oracle Cells." Sakuya said, tearing up.
"Hey, if she was able to grab my God Arc it should work the other way around." He said lightly.
"You don't know that. How could you possibly know that?!"
"Sakuya, I'm most likely the only one who can do this. I have to try."
"No! I won't sit here and possibly watch you destroy yourself! I've lost you once, I will not lose you again." She started to cry into her hands.
"Sakuya..."
"Please... don't make me experience that again... not when you've finally returned to me." She gasped as he pulled her into an embrace.
"You won't. I won't get lost again... not when I have you to return to." He said, wiping away a tear from her eye. "But, she once saved me from the darkness. Now it's my turn to save her. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand. But you won't be doing this alone. We'll all be there to help pull her out of the darkness with you."
"Thanks... I wouldn't have it any other way. My wife." He said, gently cupping her cheek as her eyes melted with enduring love. After a while they moved toward her God Arc.
"Now then let's- (gasp)." Sakuya stopped mid-sentence.
"What's wrong?" Lindow asked before his eyes widen with realization as he looked in the direction Sakuya was looking. The 1st unit Leader's God Arc was gone. "Sakuya, gather the others."
"Right!"
After a while they all gathered in the Entrance in panic.
"What do you mean her God Arc is gone?!" Kota shouted getting everyone's attention on the Floor.
"Exactly as it sounds." Lindow said in seriousness.
"But why?! Who could have possibly taken it?!" Alisa asked.
"Sakuya, where's Soma?" She lowered her head at Lindow's question.
"... He wasn't in his room, he's gone." All of their eyes widened.
"... You don't think that..." Kota couldn't even finish the sentence.
"... No... he... he couldn't." Alisa said in disbelief.
"Troublesome brat." Lindow said before addressing the others. "Hey, we're heading out."
"None of you move, stay on Standby!" said Tsubaki as she came down the stairs, giving them a bad case of deja vu.
"Not this again. Don't try and stop us Tsubaki." Alisa said.
"So are you prepared to point your gun at your former Leader?" Tsubaki asked.
"If that's what it takes to save her then yes." Sakuya said with determination.
"So you have no hesitation of killing her?"
"No, I don't think we'll have to go that far." Kota answered. "Somehow... I feel that every thing's going to be alright. That we're going to reach her, no matter what." They all nodded in agreement making Tsubaki grin.
"You've all grown so much since the last time this happened that... I can't help but have faith in you God Eaters."
"Perhaps you're going soft, Sis." Lindow joked.
"Hm, maybe I am." Then she got serious. "I have new orders for you. Capture the former 1st unit Leader while retrieving Soma! Although her sanity is in tack, she still is infected. Be careful when coming into contact with her," then she softened. "Bring them back alive. You all have to come back alive!" They nodded in confirmation. "Good, now move out!"
...
At one point their blades met in the center as they pushed against each other.
"What's with this blade? What happened to that 'Tortoise' blade?" Soma asked with gritted teeth.
"You're mistaken. That one is my son's blade, this one is mine." She answered pushing him back.
"Why do you call him that?!" Soma said landing a crushing blow that split the ground as he tried to hit her with the aftershock.
But she slid out of the way. "Because that's what he is."
Her voice was as gentle as ever, and it angered Soma that she directed it toward Shino. "Why can't you see that he's an infection plaguing your body!"
She sliced his cheek at that. "Don't talk about him that way." Her voice was soft but you could still detect the anger in it. "He's a living being that has been born into my body. Don't speak of Shino otherwise."
"He's an Aragami, dammit!" Soma sliced horizontally as she twirled out of the way.
"He's not just any Aragami." She said curling into herself, to suddenly open her eyes and thrust outward as needle sharp tar came from her body like a Cocoon Maiden. "He's my son."
Soma pulled out his shield in time but he was still pushed back.
"This is crazy! You're holding affection for an Aragami, a monster!"
"Aren't you being hypocritical? I mean we all held affection for Shio, even you, and she's an Aragami too." She said while shooting out black power spheres at Soma from her human-like hand as he dashed out of her range.
"That was different!"
"How? How was that any different?"
"Because Shio is real, Shino's a figment of your imagination you created most likely out of loneliness!" She caught him off guard by doing something unexpected from her... she slapped him.
As he was frozen in position she jumped back to a safe distance. "You can mock me all you want. But don't ever deny his existence." He saw her crying as he turned back toward her cupping his bruised cheek. "It's true, I was lonely. But what difference does that make? I've been alone since the beginning."
"... Hey, that's not true..."
"It is, and he was the only one who truly reached out to me for me. He's too warm a presence to ever be a figment of my imagination." She said embracing her heart as Shino did when talking about her. "He gave me something when I needed it most."
"And what would that be?"
She looked at him seriously as she slicing her arm down as it retook her long blade form. "A second chance." Then charged at him.
"Then, give me a second chance to make things right!" He block with his shield.
"Things are right, Soma."
"Like hell they are!" Soma said pushing her back.
"I gave you back your happiness. What else could you possibly want?"
"You..."
She gasp at this and began to cry. "How can you make one word sound so cruel?" She tried to upper cut him but he parried low. "Don't make me laugh. I don't believe in harems, Soma."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Just be happy with Shio and torment me no more."
"What?!" Soma smacked her blade out of the way, she jumped back getting out of that open position. "I don't like her like that you idiot!"
"Don't mock me, Soma. I've seen the way you interacted with her."
"Where the hell were you looking?! I treated her like a little sister, a fellow companion on the long road of finding ones self!"
"A road where I was extra baggage. Face it Soma, I'm unneeded. So just... just let me fade away. The Den will forget about me soon enough."
"That's bull." He growled. "Don't spew out that shit! The Den needs you, I need you!"
"You can handle things almost just fine. What do you need me for?"
Soma lowered his head for a second trying to will out the words he kept locked away for so long.
"I... I know I said things and did things that have hurt you that I didn't mean... It's just the way I am. I've never been good with expressing myself to others." Then he looked up at her. The array of emotions on his face was too much for her that she had to step back.
"But it was you who helped me open up to the world. It was you who stayed by my side when everyone else left! You risk your position for me! No body wanted to mess with the Death god who brought death to anyone who got too close as he suffered from his own loneliness! You saved my life, now it's my turn to save yours. I won't ever let you fade, so come back Amy! I'm dying inside, I need you for fucks sake!"
She gasped... this was the first time he, let alone anyone else, called her by her name. The mere thought of it brought her to tears.
"I'm slowly losing my mind since you've been gone. You were my better half, I need you to feel alive!"
The surprise of his words distracted her enough for him to break the distance between them. By the time she realized he was too close he had his God Arc behind her head to bring her into an open kiss. Her eyes widened in shock while his never broke contact with hers.
She didn't even have time to respond as his other hand punched into her stomach with the pummel of her God Arc. Forcing his way into her mind with the Resonance while their bodies were devoured by the tar.