I don't own Vandread.
A/N
I would first like to congratulate all of you who figured out who Rain was before this Chapter. Secondly, this (-) means Flashback. So don't be to alarmed. With that, you may now carry on with the story.
Chapter 8 Promises
"So our new enemy comes from Earth, our ancestral home world." Blood mussed. Asaugi, Suki, Willow, and Blood were all watching the message pod that Rain had sent to them. The message had been somewhat disappointing, but at the same time, enlightening. It was disappointing in the fact that the enemy came from Earth, a world that even the cold hearted Blood was fond of. The only part that made them happy was when Rain told them they found Dale, but were slightly worried that he reported him being offline at the moment.
"I just can't believe it." Suki mumbled. "What would make them do something like this? Why would they come after us for our body parts? Don't they know that there time has come and gone?"
"They're just like us; they want to keep on living… no matter what they have to do." Willow commented. The others nodded in agreement. "It is in the human will to survive at all costs. We will always fight to survive with no care for another human."
"What about the human hearts' ability to reach out for others?" Asaugi questioned. "It may be in the human mind to continue living at any cost, but the will to bond with another human." Asaugi took a deep breath as she shut off the message.
"How's he doing?" Willow asked. Asaugi raised a brow before smiling.
"You mean Rain?" Willow nodded. Asaugi just smiled as she continued. "He's been doing as well as I first expected." She pressed a button on her panel. An image of Meia appeared on screen. "According to Meia, he's been a complete pain in the ass to the three Taraaku boys, Jura Basle Elden, and Barnette Orangello. He seems to be quite popular with a few of the girls though." Suki looked over at Meia with a smile on her face. "He seems to have developed a bond to, Dita Liebely, Misty Cornwell, Amarone, and Celtic. The last three are Bridge Bunnies onboard the ship."
"Well, let's just hope that nothing bad happens to him." Zoey stated as she walked in. Asaugi smiled as she walked over to her desk. Zoey just smiled as she took a seat on her desk. "I see you still enjoy reading my personal mail, you haven't changed."
"When it comes to my children, I intend to make sure they're all safe and well." Asaugi stated while glaring at her daughter. "You better have good news, or I'll kick your butt for sitting on my desk."
Zoey smiled as she tossed Blood a small disk. "That's what he sent us. I've already checked it over. The message cuts out like all the others he's sent us, so don't expect any new information."
"If he's playing with us again, I'll kill him." Willow muttered. The others just smiled as Blood pressed the play button.
(-)
"Why do you have dog ears and a tail?" Misty asked as she gave the brown triangles on the side of his head a gentle tug. Rain just stood there, stunned and breathing heavy. His face had turned to a ghost white while Misty continued to gentle pull on his ears again. "Rain, are you okay?" Misty finally asked with a large smile on her face. She gave his ears one more, gentle tug.
Rain's mind became a blur. He heard something that sounded like a gun being cocked. Acting on impulse, he slapped Misty's hands away. Misty gasped in pain from his quick strike to slap away her hands, watched him jump backwards, landing on Amarone's shoulders before pushing off of them, and running towards the door as fast as he could. For those that had watched what took place, they were left stunned and confused. Misty was more confused than anyone, while Meia, Ezra, and Magno all looked at the door sadly.
"What just happened now?" Misty finally asked.
Meia was about to answer when she saw Barnette cock her weapon. Meia went wide eyed as she ran to the door. Barnette grabbed her before she could get through it. Meia gasped when Barnette threw her against the wall. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Barnette yelled.
"I have to go help him!" She yelled as she tried to get out of Barnette's grasp. "Can't you see that he's scared now?! I have to go help him!"
"Help him? He's the enemy! He's a monster!" Meia continued to try and get out of Barnette's grasp. Barnette restated her pin hold on her. "You know something, don't you?" Meia stopped and looked into Barnette's rage filled eyes. "You knew, didn't you?" Meia looked away from her. Barnette slammed Meia into the wall to get her to look at her. "How long have you known?" She growled.
"Ever since we left the colony." She replied. Barnette slammed her back into the wall. "What do you care? He's a good pilot, good friend, and he's saved your butt several times! So why are you so angry with me? All I did was, keep a promise to his sister!" She yelled.
"That thing has a sister?!" Barnette screeched.
"Yeah, and a brother!" Barnette threw Meia to the ground. "You've met both of them." She gasped.
"I seriously doubt that!" Barnette yelled.
"Yes we have." Jura whispered. Barnette looked at her with confusion written on her face. Jura slowly looked over at Meia with sad eyes. "He's his brother, isn't he?" Meia nodded sadly. Barnette still looked confused. "He's Alex's brother, the small boy from Taraaku that he rescued. He's Taraaku's failed Epsilon Project." Barnette went wide eyed.
"Why didn't you tell us you knew?" Amarone asked.
"Zoey told me to keep him a secret." Meia whispered. Magno sighed heavily. "She asked me to keep him safe. She didn't want to hear that he had died too, because that would push their mother over the edge. She would be heart broken to hear that her youngest child was killed."
"Too bad." Barnette switched the safety off on her firearm. Meia's head shot up to look at Barnette with fire blazing in her eyes. "His kind are prone to insanity and kill anything that they deem a threat to them. He'll kill all of us if we don't kill him first." She stated.
Meia ran over to Barnette to pin her against the wall before she could leave. "I won't let you!" She growled.
"Get a hold of yourself, Meia! He's a threat, and will kill us all if we don't stop him!" She snapped.
"I made a promise to Zoey that I would keep him as safe as I could! I won't let you kill him!" Meia turned to Magno with sad eyes. "Where is he?" Meia let Barnette go as she continued to look at Magno with her sad eyes. "Please tell me where he is. There's still time to calm him down before his mind begins to run wild."
"He's… he's in his room." Celtic replied. "He locked the door and I don't think we'll be able to get in anytime soon." She added. Celtic looked back at Meia, but found her already gone. Rain…why did you hide this from us?
(-)
Meia continued to run towards his room. She could hear Barnette and a few others following her, yelling for her to stop, but she refused to listen. She knew she could save him. She was probably the only one who could at the moment. He wasn't connected to anyone else like he was to her. She stopped once she got to his room. She noted that his mind was already starting to break down. Long scratch marks were lining the walls, blood splatters were on the floor at his door, and she could hear his soft cries. He was scared and alone with people who probably wanted to kill him, and he seemed to believe it.
"You can't help him." Barnette stated. Meia shot her a filthy look as she pressed the button to open the door. She already knew the password to his room, so she had already broken it. "You think you can save him, don't you?"
"I'm the only one that's connected to him." Meia whispered.
"No, you were connected to Alex, not that monster!"
"He's not a monster!" Meia snapped back. Barnette backed up slightly as Meia continued. "He never once tried to kill you, sure he may have hit you a time or two, but that was because you started it, and he just finished it!" She snapped back.
"I won't disagree with you, Meia." Barnette hissed back with no respect for her name. "But he's a monster from Taraaku. I've seen how they fight, how they think, how they kill, and I've seen how they turn on everyone."
"He won't turn on us, so long as you don't get involved in this. I can take care of him. I know I can." Meia pressed the button, and the door hissed open.
(-)
"There's something you should know about." Zoey stated. Meia gave her a shy look. Zoey for the most part had been asking Meia personal questions about what they did together when they were alone, but this time she sounded very serious, something Meia didn't think she could do. "What I'm about to tell you is classified information."
"Why tell me?" Meia asked.
"It's something you should know about." She replied. Meia nodded for her to continue. "We've known about Alex's death since the beginning, and we've been planning for the worst case scenario where what we saw was correct."
"Wait, you knew?" Zoey nodded. "Then what was that interrogation for? If you knew, then why did you arrest me?"
"We did that because we hadn't told our soldiers yet." Meia blinked in confusion. "Our soldiers would have been devastated if he died like he did. We wanted to wait for him to return with you if our information was wrong. That way, we could avoid a confusion status with our people. You don't know how much they look up to him. If they heard that he died when he truly didn't, there would be a chance that they wouldn't want to work under him since he pulled the ultimate prank."
"But why are you now deciding to label him as KIA? That doesn't make any sense." Meia questioned.
"We're still going to label him as MIA until the convoy that was sent to retrieve him from his colony so he could get some time off, comes back with either his dead body or body parts." Meia looked down at the table with that. "Don't worry, there's still a chance that he survived since the team that was sent was only twenty minutes behind you." Meia looked up with stunned eyes. "The team that was sent to get him, turned around after finding the colony in ruins and seeing a white angle leave heading this way."
"Wing Zero…" Meia whispered to herself.
"They've been following you ever since, but wanted to watch him closely and help when needed." Zoey continued. "I'm sure you're wondering why they never made themselves known, aren't you." Meia nodded. "The team that was sent was a bunch of Pirates that work for us. The team leaders also happens to be a former military soldier that retired after he lost his left eye. His name is Raider Katon, the pilot for DeathScythe Hell. He retired around a year ago, just a few months after he was unfrozen. He, believe it or not, is the third best close range fighter pilot in the force. The reason he chose to not help you, was because he wanted to see how far you could get before he would have to jump in. He was also there when Alex was defeated. We got the message just one hour after it happened. He personally went out to search for him, but before we could get any information on whether or not he found him, the video cut out because they were attacked."
"So Alex could still be alive?" Meia questioned. Zoey looked down at the table. "You don't know yet, do you?"
"We haven't managed to regain a connection with him. So we don't know if they're alive or not." She answered. Meia leaned back in her chair as she looked up at the ceiling. "The reason I'm telling you this, is because you might be taking our youngest brother with you." Meia looked at her in confusion. "You said that he told you everything that happened, so that would mean he told you about the Taraaku boy." Meia nodded her head. "There's a chance that he may be going with you."
"Why? Wouldn't Asaugi hate that idea?"
"That's what I thought, but then she told me that she needed someone that could get you there safely." Meia shot her a look of confusion. "He's one of the best pilots we have now. He's name is Rain E. Switchfoot. I'm sure that you know what the E. stands for." Meia nodded with wide eyes. "He's the only one that can actually go with you. All the other people we had selected incase Alex didn't come back, refused to go anywhere near Taraaku and Mejarru."
"I understand their reasons, I guess." Meia mussed.
"Yeah," Zoey stopped and looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes landed on Meia's again. "There were only two people who could actually go, and you're looking at one of them." Meia blinked in confusion. "I however, can't go because it would cause problems for our people. Despite the fact that they all look up to Alex and mother, they would be devastated if I left them here. The people need a voice, and Alex was their voice. He was the only person that truly listened to them when someone needed to talk to him. He cared for his comrades, and as a reward, they respected him. If I were to leave and Alex did die, then the people would lose hope, and this station would probably crumble. That's why I can't leave."
"But what about your mother, Asaugi? Can't she keep their hopes up?" Zoey shook her head while gazing out of the large window to their left. Meia looked out the window to see the Infinite Justice coming back from recon.
"Despite the fact that she was the main person that helped end the war, she is not viewed the same as us. We don't know why, but we know she doesn't care what the others think about her." Zoey looked back at Meia. "Since I can't leave, that leaves the last choice." She looked back out at the red machine. "He'll probably be going with you unless mother finds another person to go with you, which is highly unlikely."
"Why can't she send someone else, like that Blood fellow or someone that's like her?"
"We've already probably lost one; our army can't afford to lose another one of them. If we sent any of them with you, and they didn't come, the same thing would probably happen. The people look up to us, and we have to be here to help them get through this new enemy."
"So you're being forced to send someone that people don't naturally like?" Meia asked with sadness in her voice. Zoey nodded sadly. "Alex told me… that he has other features that makes people think he's a monster. Is that why he's not liked?" Zoey once again nodded. "Bastards…"
"I wish people were more like you then." Meia looked back at Zoey with her regular expression. "Our people view him as a monster, but he really isn't. But… they're right to a certain extent."
"How can that be?" Meia snapped. "You said he wasn't one?"
"The reason I'm telling you this, is because I'm trying to give you the means to stop him if he goes insane." Meia now shot her a look of confusion. "On his right wrist, is something that looks like a PDA, but it's really a hallow gram generator to mask his appearance. It was given to him about two years ago, just after Alex left. Alex used to protect him from the idiots that chose to view him as a monster, rather than a human being."
"I see what this has to do with his features and all, but where do I fit in?"
Zoey looked down at Meia with a smile on her lips. "Alex would have married you when you both got here." Meia stared at her in shock. "If you're wondering how I know, it's because of what you said he drew. He didn't draw that as a means of getting you out of his head, or getting the image out of his head, he did it because he was truly in love with you."
"I still don't understand." Meia stammered. "How can that help me?"
"You have Alex's scent all over you. We may not be able to detect it, Rain sure as hell will. His senses are stronger than any ordinary human, and as such, he'll be able to smell him on you. You said it yourself that Alex was always with you. That's how he'll know that you were close. He will ask you about it a few times, but don't be alarmed."
"So because Alex's scent is on me, he'll be attracted to me?"
"Not in that way, but yes, he'll be attracted to you." Zoey stated. Meia nodded, understanding what that meant. "Here's where that scent thing may have to come into play. Rain is naturally afraid of anyone when he's seen in his true form as we've called it. When his "PDA" runs out of power, his features will be revealed, and if anyone were to see him and try to hurt him or make a strange gesture towards him, his mind would perceive it has an attack. This has happened once to him, but Alex was able to get him calmed down before anything bad happened. If anything bad happens to him, before you can calm him down, supposing you can, he'll go into an insanity mode where he thinks everyone is trying to kill him."
"Why would his mind think that?"
"When we brought him here, everyone was hateful towards him. If you add that to what he went under at the Taraaku science lab he was in, then it would make sense." Meia nodded sadly as her imagination went to work on what he might have gone through. "There is however a time limit to his insanity. If you can't stop within three minutes of the moment it happened, then the only way to calm him down is to tranq him. There was another moment where he went insane, but he was with me and I couldn't get him under control because no one told me he went insane. You have to stop it before the time limit, otherwise, the chances of him calming down is slim to none."
"But I haven't been around Alex for almost two months!" Meia stated. "How can his scent still be on me?"
"I imagine you've been in his room several times, crying on his bed, wishing for him to come back to you?" Meia nodded sadly as she wiped a tear away from her cheek. "His scent will still be on you. You can stop him if such an event takes place, and if he is selected to go with you."
"Why would you send him if he's so dangerous?"
"He's the only one that can get you home and is willing to go." Zoey stated. "I don't want him to go because I'm afraid of that happening, but at the same time, I'm happy that he's going with you." Meia looked at her with confused eyes. "Rain never tries to make friends, because he's afraid that if anyone saw him like that, he would be hated, and then they would attack him. He would rather not make friends since he doesn't like being hurt."
"So we have no choice but to take him?" Zoey nodded. "Is there anything else I need to know about?"
"You have to make sure that no one interferes with him when you try to calm him down, otherwise, they might end up dead." She stated.
(-)
The door to Rain's room hissed open. Meia's eyes shot open as she saw something head her way. Meia quickly pushed Barnette out of the way as three throwing daggers dug into her sides. Meia gasped in pain while keeping her eyes on the terrified pilot in the corner of his room. Meia gritted her teeth as she refused to cry out in pain while she walked towards him. Rain was still crying as he dug his fingernails into his arms, drawing blood.
"Rain… its okay." Meia whispered as she walked into the room. Barnette slowly got up from Meia's push and noticed that Meia had a few daggers in her side. She gasped as she quickly stood up. "Barnette, don't even think about coming in here!" Meia stated firmly.
Barnette looked inside the room and snarled at the sight of Rain huddling in the corner like a beaten child. Barnette slowly picked up her gun while keeping an eye on Rain. Why can't she see that he's a threat?
"Rain, it's okay. No's going to hurt you, I promise." Meia held out her arms for him to take them. "Please come out, you've got a few people that care about you really worried." She stated.
"No. Bakamono won't go. Bakamono won't go." Rain cried while holding his head. Meia winced slightly at his choice of words, since she knew what it meant. She winced as she watched him cram his fingers back into shoulders, drawing blood with the pressure he placed on them.
"Rain, you're not a bakamono." Meia whispered. Rain stopped crying and looked at Meia with sad eyes. Meia smiled as he inched closer to her while sniffing slightly. "It's okay Rain. I promise nothing bad will happen to you."
Rain slowly made it into Meia's arms, calming down as she wrapped her arms around him. Rain's eyes latched with Barnette's cold ones as she lowered her firearm. Rain's eyes shot open with fear replacing his sad one. Rain instantly started struggling in Meia's arm as he tried to escape. Barnette raised her weapon, waiting for him to do something. Meia tried to contain the squirming wolf child, but to no avail. Meia instantly felt pain course through her body.
"Rain… please… calm… down." Meia staggered. Barnette was instantly in the room, shoving Meia to the side. "Barnette, no! Get out of here!" Meia yelled.
"Shut up, I'll end this here and now!" She yelled while turning to face Rain again. "This ends here, Rain!" She yelled. Barnette pointed the gun at his temple, ready to pull the trigger. Barnette instantly felt a sharp pain shot through her body and was forced to release the weapon. Barnette fell backwards as Rain gave her a long gash with what remained of his top left wrist blade.
"Barnette!" Meia gasped. Rain ran out of the room with the door barely being able to open in time. "Rain, stop!" She yelled while holding her side. She slowly got up and ran out of the room with Barnette following behind her. "If you had just listened to me, you wouldn't have been injured!" Meia snapped. "Seal him in! We can't let him get off this ship!" Meia ordered.
"Why do you care for him?!" Barnette yelled. Meia stopped as the doors hissed closed, sealing Rain in the hallway. "Why's he so important to you that you're willing to put us all in danger!? WHY?!"
"He's Alex's younger brother!" She yelled back. Barnette balanced herself against the wall while glaring at her. "You may not care about him because he's different, but he's really not! All you see is a monster, but everyone else won't view him that way!"
"No they won't!" Barnette yelled back. "They're going to hate him once they realize what he is! You can't stop them all!"
"No they won't because they don't care about that." Meia defended. Barnette shot her a dirty look.
"Meia, Barnette, are you okay?!" Dita asked. Meia and Barnette looked back to see Dita, Hibiki, Duerro, Jura, Gascgone, and Misty staring at them. "Where's Rain at?" Dita asked while helping Barnette stand up.
"The monsters' behind that door!" Barnette hissed.
"What monster?" Jura asked. Barnette shot her a strange look. "You're not talking about Rain are you?" She questioned. Barnette stared at her in shock. "He's not a monster, Barnette. He's just misunderstood." She snapped.
Barnette opened her mouth to say something, but a loud banging sound reached their ears, causing them to wonder what was going on. "Okaa-san! Nee-chan! Nii-san! Please help me!" Rain's cry could be heard from the other side of the door.
"What's wrong with him?" Misty asked.
"His mind is coming up with every bad scenario where he dies." Meia stated. Misty stared at her in shock before turning her gaze to the door where Rain's cry's could still be heard. "I don't know what he's saying, but if I were to guess; I'd say he's calling for Alex, Zoey, and Asaugi for help."
"What makes you say that?" Dita questioned.
"He's afraid of us and is looking for his family." Gascgone answered. Dita looked up at her with sad eyes.
"We need to get to him before he kills himself." Jura stated. Meia nodded, and slowly stood up to walk over to the keypad.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Maya screeched. Meia turned to look at the floating AI that still sounded rather pissy. Meia looked back at the door with sad eyes. Maya floated beside her, and Meia could almost feel her death glare that was penetrating her skull. "What… the… hell… is… going… on… here…?" Maya said slowly.
"Rain's gone postal." Barnette snapped. Barnette instantly had the little AI in her face. "He's gone insane and needs to be taken care of."
"If you plan on killing him, I'll make your life a living hell, you filthy slut." Maya threatened. Barnette gulped at the AI's threat while watching as she flew over to Meia. "Meia, how long has been like this?" She questioned.
"It's been about ten minutes." She answered.
"He's too unstable to deal with, we need to tranq him." She stated. She could feel Barnette's grin behind her. She had half a mind to have Hibiki concrete the idea of a living hell by having him slam a foot on hers, or steal all of her guns to hide them to make her mad.
"No." Meia stated as her hand brushed over the keypad. "I can bring him back. I promise." She whispered as she opened the door that was sealing Rain in.
The image brought tears to everyone but Barnette. A large blood splatter was up against the wall that had been dented in by Rain's head. The only reason they knew that was because his face was covered with it, while he continued to cry for his family. Long scratch marks lined the walls, his clothing, and the back door. Rain was huddling up against the wall, still crying out to his family, while what remained of his wrist blades were digging into his shoulders. Maya took one look and gasped. Meia herself did the same thing, but she had tears in her eyes at the sight of his bloody body.
"Meia, you need to be careful." Maya warned. Meia glanced back at the AI. "I assume Zoey talked to you about the risks after he's been unstable for more than three minutes?" Meia nodded. "If things begin to look bad, slowly move away from him so he won't…"
"He won't hurt me." She stated. Maya seemed skeptical about that as she looked over her wounds. "He won't kill me, because I smell like Alex to him. He won't kill me because of that." She stated while slowly walking up to Rain. Rain looked up at her with fear in his eyes as Meia leaned down beside him. "Rain, it's okay. You don't need to fight anymore. No ones going to hurt. I promise." She once again held out her arms to him. Rain continued to look at her with the same fear in his eyes, but he was slowly walking towards her. Meia smiled as he slowly got into her grasp. Once he was against her chest, she slowly wrapped her arms around him as if to cradle a baby. "It's okay now. Everything will be alright. You have my word." Meia whispered. Rain's eyes slowly lost their sense of fear as they were soon replaced with tired ones.
Meia blinked as she realized that his body was going limp. She decided to sit on the floor while he continued to fall asleep. "Meia… Nee-chan…" Meia blinked as she looked down at his sleeping form.
"Meia, is he okay?" Magno asked as she walked up to her. Meia nodded. "He certainly is a hard headed little fellow, isn't he?" Magno motioned towards the medium sized dent in the wall. Meia paled at the sight of the dent while checking his head for any major injuries.
"Let's take him to the Infirmary so I can check him over." Duerro suggested. Meia shook her head as she slowly stood up. "His injuries could be worse than what we can see without the proper medical equipment."
"He'll be okay." Meia whispered. Duerro nodded and slowly helped her pick up the sleeping pilot. "I… I need something to clean up his blood." She stammered.
"Don't worry, Meia." Dita said sadly as she and Misty ran off.
"Let's get him to his room. If he wakes up, I'm sure he'll feel safer in there." Meia told him. Duerro nodded again and slowly made his way to Rain's room. Meia passed Barnette on the way. "You have to find a reason to hate someone yourself, not because someone said so." She whispered. Barnette scrunched up her nose at that while Meia, Duerro, Rain, and Maya vanished into Rain's room.
"I think we should start cleaning up this hallway, don't 'cha think?" Gascgone suggested. Barnette agreed, and was about to go get something to help clean up when Gascgone grabbed her by the shoulder. "Except you. You'll be coming with me to the Infirmary to get that long cut of yours looked at." Barnette nodded slowly. Gascgone helped Barnette limp to the Infirmary at her own pace.
(-)
Duerro slowly put Rain on his bed. Duerro had already removed Rain of his shirt, showing how he made wrist blades work. Duerro had removed them so he could get a good look at his injuries. He was lucky that he stopped bleeding almost the minute his wounds opened up. Duerro was amazed that he was that advanced, watching as what wounds had yet to close, did close.
"He truly is amazing." Duerro whispered.
"That's what Zoey said to me." Meia replied as she winced in pain. Duerro walked over to her side with a First Aid Kit in hand. Meia looked down at her own injuries with a sigh. She slowly removed her flight suit so he could start bandaging her up. "They aren't that serious, but I guess that won't matter, will it?" Duerro shook his head as he continued to wrap up her torso.
"You're right, but they needed to be treated or they could get infected." Duerro commented. He finished wrapping up her chest so that her back injury would heal properly.
"I can't believe this happened while I was out cold." Maya whispered. "This is all Barnette's fault!" She yelled.
"No, it's Ryu's fault for trying to kill Rain." Meia stated. Maya flew up to Meia. "They ran into him at the colony, and Rain fought him to keep BC and Gascgone alive. He crushed his PDA or Hallow Gram Generator during the fight." Meia stated.
"Ryu? Wait, did he have Spark with him?" Maya asked.
"I don't know. All I know is that Rain fought him and got his thing crushed by him." Meia said while putting her flight suit back on. Maya sighed as she vanished to go figure out what happened. Duerro looked down at Rain one more time before deciding to leave. Once Duerro left, the door hissed open again to reveal Dita and Misty with a bucket of water and a wash cloth. "Thanks you two, but I think I can take it from here." Meia said with a small smile.
"No, you've been injured." Misty protested. "We'll clean him up as best we can. You need to rest now. We'll ask you for help if we need any." Meia nodded as she leaned back in his computer chair.
(-)
"So that's what happened." Maya gasped while floating over to Gascgone. "I never would have guessed that he would fight Ryu that badly. I guess I should have stayed with him to prevent something like that from happening." She mussed.
"It's okay." Gascgone said while looked at Barnette's bandaged torso and chest. She shook her head at the sight of her wounded friend. "Did you learn anything from that?" Gascgone moaned. Barnette grumbled something.
"Listen here, you goofy bitch!" Maya snapped. Barnette looked over at the AI with all the hate she could muster. "If I had a real body, I would have kicked your ass all the way from here, to hell, then back, then hell again and then back here before killing you. But since I can't do that, I'll just settle for making you apologize to Rain for what you did. If you don't, let's just say you won't be sleeping anytime soon." Barnette gulped at the threat, knowing full well that the AI could stay awake for almost a month with no problems. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal." Barnette gulped.
(-)
Misty, Dita, and Meia sat in Rain's room, waiting for him to wake up. Rain had been asleep for nearly three hours now, and wasn't showing any signs of waking anytime soon. Misty and Dita had done a good job on cleaning Rain's blood from his chest, arms, and face since that was the only place that Meia told them to get. The duo agreed, and covered him up with a thick blanket to make sure he didn't get sick from loosing so much blood.
"I wonder what's going to happen when he wakes up." Misty questioned.
"I don't know, but I hope he doesn't do that again." Meia sighed. "I don't think my body could take another episode like that again."
"I hope that he'll be okay, I don't know what Maya would do if he were to die." Dita sobbed. Meia had a mental picture of an enraged Zoey and Asaugi flash through her mind while Maya's blue sphere was floating beside them with Wing Zero under her control. Meia shook the thought free from her mind while looking down at Rain.
"I'm sure he'll be okay." Misty stated. "I can't see him dieing on us just yet." Meia nodded at that as Rain groaned loudly. Rain slowly sat up sat up while rubbing his eyes. "You okay?" Misty whispered. Rain's eyes shot open as he tried to get away from her. Meia, seeing Rain's panicky expression, quickly grabbed him into a hug, or tried to anyways. Misty beat her to it, and Rain slowly calmed down, noticing that Meia was in the room and watching her every move. "Please, don't ever pull a stunt like that again." Misty ordered.
"You gave us all a good scare, Rain." Dita stated. Rain looked over at Dita with wide eyes. Dita just smiled while Misty continued to calm him down. "Just please don't do anything like that again, please?" She begged.
"Why are you in here?" Rain asked.
"We wanted to make sure you were okay." Misty told him while letting him go. Rain blinked as he looked into her eyes. "Meia already told me everything about you, your brother, your sister, and even what things might have been like for you on the colony." She stated.
"Why?" He questioned. The three women blinked in confusion. Wasn't it obvious? "Why for me? Why would you protect something like me?"
"Why?" Meia questioned. Rain nodded. "I thought that would be obvious. You're Alex's younger brother, someone that was very important to me. I made a promise to your mother and sister to keep you as safe as I could. I intend to keep my promise to them." She stated firmly.
"You protected me, because you made a promise to Okaa-san and Nee-chan?" Rain questioned. Meia nodded while Dita and Misty looked at him in confusion.
"Rain, what does that mean?" Misty asked.
"Okaa-san mean's mother, Nee-chan means sister, and Nii-san means brother." Rain explained. Meia could tell that he was still really worried about being in front of them in his current state.
"What does bakamono mean?" Dita asked.
"Monster." Meia replied. The three teens turned to face Meia in confusion. "Alex taught me a little bit of Japanese, but I only know a few things. I guessed that's what bakamono meant."
"I see." Rain whispered.
"Come on, there's a few people that want us to take you to see them when you woke up. They're really worried about you." Meia stated while standing up. Rain stared at the floor, not wanting to move. "Misty, Dita, wait for us outside." The two women nodded and ran outside. Once the door closed, Meia sighed, and looked over at Rain with sad eyes. "I know you don't want to do this, but you have to."
"Why?"
"If an enemy attacks, you have to go out to help us. That means they'll see you. That means that you need to get over this fear. If you don't, the fear will control you the rest of your life."
"Not that. I mean, why did you help me? I know it wasn't because you promised or because you had to. Why did you do it?" Rain looked up at her with sad eyes.
"You're Alex's brother. I'd feel bad if I failed to protect you. I don't want to fail you like I did Alex. I wouldn't be able to bring myself to look at anyone after that." She answered. "Why do you ask?"
"I just wanted to know." He told her with a shrug. Meia raised a brow as his tail wrapped around his waist. "I guess it doesn't matter now does it." Meia nodded as he slowly released his tail.
"Since I answered one of your questions, that means you can answer mine." Rain stopped and stared at her in confusion. "Did you mean it? Did you mean it when you called me, Meia-nee-chan?"
"Yes, I meant it." Rain whispered.
"Thank you." Meia pulled him into a hug. "You don't know how much that actually means to me." Rain slowly returned the hug. "Ever since Alex told me about you, I wondered what you might have thought of me, but I guess I shouldn't have been to worried about it."
"Yeah, but, let's keep it our little secrete." Rain suggested. Meia smiled and nodded while pushing him towards the door. "I'm going. I'm going." He mumbled while walking out the door.
(-)
"I hope Rain's okay." Celtic muttered for the hundredth time. Amarone moaned in agreement for the hundredth time as well. The bridge had been ghostly silent, other than when Celtic would say that, and Amarone would moan her agreement.
"Don't worry, that kid 'ill bounce back from anything." Gascgone stated. "I was the one to hit him over the head with a steel pipe that day he was found, remember." Magno nodded in agreement while chuckling.
The door hissed opened with Misty and Dita walking out. The crew turned to the sound to see Misty smiling at something. Dita was doing the same thing, but she had her eyes closed from her smile. Meia soon walked out with Rain beside her, looking at the ground. The crew brightened up at the sight of Rain on the bridge.
"It's good to see you again, Rain." Amarone said with a smile. Rain raised his head to look her in the eye before dropping his gaze back to the floor. "It's okay. I don't blame you for what happened earlier; you were scared and wanted to hide. It's perfectly okay with me. Besides, you look cuter that way." She motioned his ears and tail. Rain blinked a few times before looking over at her with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, Maya already explained why you did that. It's okay." Celtic and Ezra said in unison. BC nodded her head in agreement while Magno just smiled.
Gascgone walked over to him with a large grin on her face. "Hey kiddo, I hope you feel better since you did do a number to that skull of yours when you banged it into the wall." She stated while sticking her hands in her pockets. Rain smiled, and then punched her on the head with a grin on his face. Meia was about to yell at him when Gascgone opened her mouth to speak. "I guess I deserve that for knocking you out nearly six years ago, huh?" Rain nodded with a grin on his face. "I guess what goes around, comes around." She moaned.
"Yeah, I guess it does." Rain agreed.
"Well, now that we got that out of the way, what are you going to do?" Magno asked. Rain looked at her with a confused expression. "I can't imagine that you would want to stay here, but I'm certain you're aware that you're almost a month away from your colony."
Rain nodded while thinking. "I'll stay, but so long as no one bugs me about this problem of mine. I don't want to have a repeat of today. My head hurts too much." He stated. Magno nodded with a grin, as did all the crew personal. "I guess I better get used to being seen like this, huh?" He moaned sadly. He looked at his tail with sad eyes.
"Don't worry; Alex had already explained most of the stuff about you. You aren't really that scary." Amarone stated while giving a light tug on his ears. Rain mumbled something about personal space, but Amarone, Celtic, and Dita continued to play with his ears. Meia, Gascgone, and Magno smiled at the sight.
Rain instantly jumped behind Meia while growling at the door. The Bridge Bunnies stared at him in confusion while Meia had a feeling that she knew who was behind the door. Rain continued to hide behind her as the door opened up to reveal Barnette with a sad look on her face. Gascgone raised a brow at her presence while she walked in. Meia narrowed her eyes Barnette while making sure she couldn't get to him. Barnette slowly pulled out her pistol, much to the crew's worry. Barnette took a deep breath and placed the weapon on the ground. Once the weapon was on the ground, she kicked it to the left, making sure to make it clear that she meant him no harm. Rain continued to growl at her while Meia made sure to cover him up as much as she could. Barnette continued by removing her weapon belt, and once again, she threw it across to her gun. Rain watched her throw the item, and then looked at the gun that was lying beside it. Rain slowly stopped his growling, as she slowly started to walk forwards towards him. She stopped about half way. Meia looked at her with confusion written in her eyes. Rain looked at Barnette with questioning eyes. Once he realized that she meant him no harm, he walked out from behind Meia, much to her surprise, and started to walk towards her. Rain stopped in front of her, staring into her eyes.
"Hey." Barnette said.
"Hey." Rain replied.
The two didn't say anything after that. They just stood there, waiting for the other to say something. The crew on the bridge held their breath as they wanted for the first one to make the first move. Rain sighed and opened his mouth to speak.
"I'm sorry." Barnette interrupted him. Rain closed his mouth while diverting his gaze from hers. "I know you must hate me after what I tried to do, but I only did it because of a bad memory with people like you. You aren't the first person I've dealt with."
Rain placed a hand on her gut. "I should be apologizing to you for hurting you." Rain whispered as his hand up her wound. Barnette bit her bottom lip, knowing he was right, but at the same time knowing she was right. "I'm sorry for hurting you so bad. I just lost control of myself when I shouldn't have. I'm sorry for hurting you." He removed his hand from her wound. "I'm really sorry for…"
"Stop it." Barnette ordered. Rain stopped and looked at her with sad eyes. "I've already told you that I was sorry for trying to kill you. All you did was try to get away from us. What I did was worse."
"No. I tried to kill you too, twice I might add." Rain stated. Barnette nodded knowing he was right. "How about this, we just forget this ever happened. How's that sound?"
Barnette smiled as he gently pulled her into a hug. She slowly wrapped her arm around his waist, returning the hug. "Good enough for me." She whispered. "If I killed you, I wouldn't have anyone to butt heads with." She said with a grin. Rain smiled and released her. Barnette walked down to where he gun was and slowly picked it up while putting her belt back on. Rain watched her leave with a smile.
"I wonder how long it'll be before they realize they like each other." Misty whispered to Meia.
"I don't know, but it better be soon." Meia moaned with a grin.
(-)
"So he's starting to like every one now?" Zoey questioned as she turned off the new message she received from Meia. "Still, I wonder how he broke his favorite little toy." She said with a smile.
"I'm not sure, but he wouldn't allow it to be broken so easily." Asaugi stated. "Still, I hope that no one tries anything to hurt him. If they do, I'll kill them for hurting him." Asaugi growled.
"Don't worry; I doubt they'll let that happen." Suki stated. "Besides, if they did try anything like that, I'm sure that they're aware that you'd kill them without a second thought."
"True." Willow laughed.
(-)
"I will kill you, you little pain in the ass." Rain growled. Meia growled as well. Maya blinked in confusion. Dita just stared at Maya's human form. Maya had Dita's hair, but was tied in a ponytail. She had a long trench coat with a plan shirt underneath it, and baggy jeans to match. She wore boots with her outfit while a sword that matched Alex's was strapped to her back. Rain had somehow managed to giver a lighter form of blue eyes, that made her seem a bit happier, something that Maya didn't seem to like. But after getting Meia's approval of the new look, she didn't really care.
"Take it easy." Maya moaned. "For all we know, that data disk could have been something else."
"Yeah, and besides, you just downloaded it." Barnette added. Though it had only been two days since the incident, things had quickly gone back to normal. Barnette was still picking fights with Rain, though she had more ammo to throw at him, but that also meant Rain had a bit more as well. Surprisingly enough, Barnette started to win most of the fights. Rain had started cooking in the kitchen for Meia, Dita, and Misty ever since the incident and Barnette was often seen snooping around just to see what he was making.
"I know that." He grumbled. Rain looked back at the computer screen as a bunch of green lights kicked on. A system check slowly came to life. Rain was smiling at the screen as it finally gave him the all clear to wake him up.
A black male appeared before them, wearing a fear beaten up duster, with a pair of holey jeans, cowboy boots, and a plain black shirt. His hair was messy as hell, and came down to the base of his neck. His eyes were a dark red, proving that someone could change certain parts of their body to a different color. Once he was finally aware that he was okay, he glared at Rain, which prompted Rain to glare back at him.
"Still idiot you're an boy wolf." Dale muttered. Dale went wide eyed as he then glared at Rain with all the hate he could muster. "Kill you I'll."
"Son of a bitch." The team muttered in unison, say for Dita of course.