Chapter Eleven –
Race The Clock With Me!
Four Years Later
*my lamest chapter ever, but I needed to put this in quickly. I hate big time differences lol. Sorry ^^;*
The redhead twirled the gun skilfully around her fingers, letting the dangerous weapon get used to her grip. Quickly, the girl pointed it up, and began to shoot the red circled targets that were quickly appearing in the space ahead of her. With each pull of the trigger meant another perfect shot, and after a few gunshots, her lips curled upwards into a proud smile. She had succeeded in destroying all the targets in the shooting range. When the red light switched off, showing her session had ended; she reluctantly put the safety on the weapon, and then returned it to the holder around her slim waist. The gun rested happily in the velvet holder on her black belt that was wrapped around her dark jeans.
The red quickly turned around, about to leave, but as she put her hand on the door, a screen to her right turned on, taking her attention.
"That was some good work out there, Clementine," a gruff voice commented. On the screen was her Sergeant, wearing his red and black uniform. His chocolate hair stuck out on all ends. "Can't wait to see your skill's in action on the real field."
"Can't wait to use them on the field, Sir," she smirked. Her gold and pink eyes winked.
She spent a moment running her hand through her shoulder length hair, which felt too short for her liking. It was still hard to get used to such a length; Sedaytion Clementine had always had extremely long hair.
"Did you find out about the U.R.T.V's?" Sedaytion asked quietly. Her eyes gazed down, almost unwilling to see his expression; knowing it would be one of sorrow for her.
"No, sorry Sedaytion," he apologized. She heard him sigh roughly. "Struggling to, y'know? Their living proper lives right now and I can't check every hand of redheads, blackheads and albino's in the universe."
"I understand, Sir," Sedaytion said, trying to hold back that horrible tear that stuck around in her eye.
Without another word, Sedaytion left the room, just nodding ever so slightly. The cream door slid open, letting her into the empty hallway. Her mind was blank as she walked the ever-so familiar floor. She was stood on the ship called Shiva; part of the Vector Industries.
Just moments after … the incident … Helen had left Yuriev Institute, taking Sedaytion along with her. She had joined Vector, immediately being placed on one of their ships called Shiva as a Researcher. On the ship was an army section, and just a year after moving on it, Sedaytion joined and in three years she was a full member of the Army; a highly skilled member as well, and not just because of her Chip in her arm, which provided her with an array of powers. The chip was the only reason the ship allowed such a young girl onboard; they knew she would be able to take care of her own wellbeing. When Sedaytion turned seventeen, she was offered more surgical engineering by the Doctors on board the ship, but she denied.
'Silly people thinking I'm a normal experiment,' she would always laugh. 'They don't know why I was truly made like this.'
Sedaytion continued to walk the lonely floor, towards the elevator. She took a right; the glass doors instantly slid open to let her inside the elevator. She stepped in, shutting the door behind her. As she waited for the elevator to take her to her floor, her eyes glanced at her reflection in the tall mirror.
A small girl stared back. Sedaytion was barely 5"5; she hadn't grown much since she was a young teenager. She was short for a nineteen year old, but she didn't care. Her eyes were still the same mix of gold and pink. They seemed content, but something was missing from her; it was him. Ever since the incident something always looked wrong in her eyes, no matter how hard she could be laughing; no matter how wide her smile was, she never seemed complete in her emotions. Her hair had been cut down to her shoulders. It was straight, curling together slightly at the ends. Her bangs still brushed across her forehead.
She was wearing a pair of green shorts, with an orange, short sleeved top. Around her wrists were multicoloured bracelets, helping to cover the horrible blue dragon and the number 003. And tied neatly around her thin neck was the four leaf clover necklace. She wrapped her fingers around it, clinging onto it so tightly as if it were her life.
The elevator stopped, and she stepped out into the busy hallway. As she passed people she waved, smiled and gave the odd 'hello'. She walked to her room at a quick pace, trying to avoid eye contact with people, so that she wouldn't get tangled up into a conversation. She was quite popular at the Ship, despite her young age. She had spent a few years there; venturing out to meet and greet, which attracted people to her. People still knew nothing about the so called 'mysterious' girl; no one even knew anything about her powers, but they wanted to know.
She got to her room quickly, placing her finger on the recognition machine and stepped inside of her room. Her room was quite big, with five steps leading to a higher level. On the higher level were her bed and a set of drawers. The higher floor was made of glass, along with the stairs. For the bottom floor, there was light blue carpet, and the walls were the usual cream colour that matched the rest of the ship. Underneath the higher floor were many boxes, crammed with useless junk Sedaytion had decided to keep from her childhood. Sometimes she tried to get herself to look through the boxes to see what could be inside, but she always stopped herself from doing so. She was never good at going back in time. She had a tough childhood, an okay teenage life but with a … tragic ending she wished never to relive.
Against the wall was a glass desk with a silver computer on top. Near all the boxes was another glass table, with three stools around it. On the table was all her mail and papers she had to fill out. Along with that, there was a wardrobe and another pair of drawers. She liked her room quite a bit, though she couldn't care about the dull coloured walls. She wanted something different to that; something more interesting. Even though she liked the room, she defiantly preferred the one she had at the Institute, even though while she was there she hated it.
"You don't appreciate something until it's gone," Sedaytion mumbled to herself. "As they always say."
Sedaytion shut the door, and the computer began to beep the moment she did. A long sigh escaped her mouth as she walked to it to switch the screen on. She had an idea who the person would be, but she wasn't really bothered. Knowing someone was trying to talk to her, and not really wanting to talk herself, she turned her back to look at the mail that was set out on the table. There were at least a dozen brown envelopes resting happily there, waiting to be opened. But one stuck out the most, with a strange dragon-like seal on it.
Her hand hesitated above it.
"Sedaytion Jem Clementine, correct?" a deep, male voice asked.
She was so transfixed by the strange envelope, that she didn't even think about asking who the strange voice belonged to. Instead, she spoke. "Yes, Sir."
She lifted up the envelope, beginning to open it up.
"What room number might you be in?" he asked.
"Number 0057, Sir," Sedaytion answered.
"We'll be over to see you shortly," the man said.
Quickly tuning to reality, Sedaytion turned her head sharply to the screen. But it was too late – the person had already signed off, leaving the screen to just show her desktop and a picture of her as a teenager, with Rubedo, Nigredo and Albedo with her. Sedaytion frowned, wondering what had just happened. "Who the hell was that?"
She shrugged, not really caring. He was probably someone wanting to do a check up on her, or someone who wanted her to do some training. She let her eyes look back down at the note that was once hidden inside the envelope. Wrote in perfect handwriting, a style she knew so well, was
'Everything had failed so dramatically, but I know it's coming together the way I wanted it to. You can never run away, Jem.'
"Whatever!" Sedaytion said angrily, screwing the paper up in her hand. With a good aim, the paper ball was thrown into the trash can; never to be seen again. "Stupid Doctor's from the Institute. Ha, they think they're so clever."
She threw the envelope in the bin, to follow the paper. "Bastards."
Sedaytion yawned, stretching her arms above her head. The days work suddenly toppled onto the nineteen year old, as she realized how tired she really was. Since six in the morning she had been training; running around, shooting targets and building up her strength. When she was young, she never imagined her clumsy self to be part of the army, but things changed. She wanted to be a singer, but she never pursued that career; she wanted to be helpful. She wanted to be able to fight for people. But, even though she told herself that was the reason for why she joined the army, she couldn't believe it.
She had been told she was a weapon and weapons fight; they have to. What else can they be used for?
Sedaytion made her way up to her bed, lying on it without bothering to change her cloths. In moments she had fallen asleep, and the lights dimmed down for her. She lay there peacefully.
The knocking was what woke Sedaytion up. The increasingly loud, impatient knocking that was coming from her door. She sat up suddenly, bringing her legs under her and placing her hand on her gun. Her heart thudded, and she wondered who the stranger could be. There were no pauses between the knocking; perhaps signalling the person had been there for quite some time. Reluctantly, she pulled herself off her soft bed, and she began to walk down the door, keeping her eyes suspiciously on the door.
As she went over to the door, she saw it was half two in the morning. She cleared her throat. "I'm coming." She said loudly.
The knocking ceased at her words, and soon her finger was placed on the machine for the door to slid open. Sedaytion took a step back as the door opened, a little fearful of who could be standing there.
The person who stood there was a tall man, looking quite displeased and slightly angry. He looked about her age, maybe a little bit older. His hair was slightly messy, and a jet black colour. He wore a neat black suit, which showed some importance. His green eyes suddenly turned to ones of shock when he looked at Sedaytion. For a split second he stared at her, almost as if he were staring at a ghost. Sedaytion raised an eyebrow, not feeling frightened of him, more confused.
"And you are?" she asked, breaking the silence.
He stumbled at his words slightly when he answered. "My name is Gainun Kukai."
Sedaytion had heard of the Kukai foundation before, so was he the leader? And what the hell was he doing there, standing in front of her?
His hands were clenched tightly, as if he was trying to hide something. His mouth was open, and he was trying to speak but nothing left; he looked too stunned. Sedaytion couldn't help but smirk slightly.
"Can I help you, Mr Kukai?" Sedaytion asked innocently. She thought the man looked like Nigredo, with his mysterious green eyes and jet black hair, but it couldn't be him, could it? He was called Gainun, not Nigredo, and he was wearing a suit and was the leader of the Kukai foundation. Could a U.R.T.V really get that successful in life?
"You have to come with me," he said.
Before she had a chance to respond, he had taken hold of her hand. With strength he dragged her out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Sedaytion tried to pull free from him but she was too weak compared to the man. She was freaked out by the person taking her away, but there was no one to get help from; the hall was empty. Without thinking, a sharp electrical current ran through her left fingers, going through Gainun's own skin.
Gainun suddenly let go, gasping in pain as he did so. Sedaytion quickly moved back away from him, holding her left hand up threateningly. Gainun shook his hand, trying to get the tingling feeling off. After a second of recovering he looked back at Sedaytion.
"I would prefer if you didn't do that," he said, rubbing away a prickling feeling in his skin.
"I'd prefer you would tell me what the hell you were doing!" Sedaytion countered. "Tell me what you want now."
"I want you to come with me," he calmly said. He looked at her red hair. After a moment he pointed to it. "I did prefer that longer."
"Pardon?" Sedaytion asked, lowering her hand slowly until it was back at her side. An expression of confusion and shock was rubbed on her face. Her fingers ran through her short hair slowly, and she watched Gainun.
Gainun smirked, placing his hands on his hips. He shook his head. "You're part of the army, yet you insist on using your powers instead of your gun."
"Bullets can kill," Sedaytion said. "I can make this as little pain as I desire."
Gainun nodded, putting his arms back down. He stood near her taking hold of her left wrist. She felt the urge to pull away, yet she didn't. "You're going to come with me now, yeah? And there won't be any trouble?"
Strangely, she found herself nodding as she felt almost … safe with the man.
Sedaytion kept her eyes on Gainun as he led them towards the elevator. Strange mixes of emotions were running through her veins; so many she didn't even have a clue how she was really feeling. She felt like she knew Gainun's soft touch; that she knew his voice and all his traits but she couldn't help but feel frightened, then confused about why she felt like she knew him. He wasn't Nigredo; he couldn't have been! She wasn't letting herself think that he could be, but the thought still loomed deep in her.
Sedaytion watched closely as Gainun pushed the button for them to go to the basement. Sedaytion smirked.
"That's just storage," she mumbled. "You planning to murder me then pack me away?"
"Don't assume such things," Gainun said, tightening his grip around her wrist in a none-threatening way.
They waited in silence to be taken six floors down. Being bored by silence, Sedaytion's mouth spoke before her mind let her.
"What's someone high-and-mighty want with me?" Sedaytion asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked up to Gainun, who she felt small compared to. "Seeing as though you're not planning on murdering me, I think you may want a picnic, yes? There's so much food down below; some tables and chairs too. Maybe there's even a little picnic table there."
"Where did you get the idea of a picnic?" he laughed. Sedaytion shrugged.
"I dunno," she smiled. She looked down at his hands that were still clenched. After a few moments she looked back up at Gainun. "Do you believe in having connections with people?"
"What do you mean?" he asked. Four floors were left. It seemed the elevator was going extremely slow.
"Do you believe that if you make a deep enough mark in someone," Sedaytion began. "That no matter what you'll see them again?"
"Yes," Gainun firmly answered. "Quite an emotional thing you'd ask."
"I guess," Sedaytion said, shrugging her shoulders. She sighed deeply.
"Do you?"
Sedaytion seemed quite taken back by his question, pausing for a few heart beats before finally bringing herself to answer. Once she started to speak, her eyes looked down to the floor. "Yeah, I think so. I hope so."
Sedaytion looked back up at Gainun, who was politely staring foreword at the door. A little flash in his eyes made her heart skip a beat. Her eyes widened and she knew it. It was true; it was him.
After a moment she laughed slightly, taking his attention. After another moment she was in fits of laughter, covering her eyes with her hand to stop them from watering. When she looked back up at Gainun with her red face, he looked confused at her outburst. She smirked.
"You've never been good at covering up," she laughed.
His lips curled into a small smile.
"It is you, isn't it?" she asked him. Her laughing had suddenly stopped, and her anxious face was straight and serious. Her hand went over her mouth. "You are Nigredo, aren't you?"
"Yes," he smiled, pleased she remembered.
Sedaytion breathed in deeply, gasping for air. Her eyes suddenly flooded with happy tears, and she embraced warm Gainun tightly. She wrapped her arms tightly around his body, as if to never let go. She heard him laugh slightly, which was like music to her ears. "You found me!"
"I never thought I'd see you again," she cried. The elevator suddenly came to a stop, the doors opened wide. She felt the cold air of the basement brush against her skin, yet she ignored it; spending a few more minutes in Gainun's arms. Never had she felt so safe. Even though Rubedo and Albedo were missing, at least she got one of her close friends back.
"I never thought I'd see you again either," a childish voice came to her ears that defiantly did not belong to Gainun.
The voice was o-so familiar; so sweet and so mischievous. Sedaytion quickly let go of Gainun to see the redhead standing at the elevator door. Sedaytion stood there, shell shocked. Rubedo was standing in front of her; the child version of him that she had remembered. For a second she thought she was in some dream, a dream she didn't want to wake up from. She felt Gainun's hands slide off her arms, but she ignored it. She just stared at Rubedo; her heart pounding faster then it ever had before.
"Well?" he asked, opening out his arms. "You gonna give me a hug or not?"
Sedaytion paused, letting herself get used to the situation. She had run it through her head a hundred dozen times, what it would be like to see them again, but she never imagined she would feel as happy as she was. She had never imaged feeling as great as she did. She never imaged the strength of Rubedo's hug to be as warm as it was. She hated hugging Rubedo when she was younger; mostly because it seemed weirdly strange, and because he always held tightly onto her with his strong arms, preventing her from breathing properly. But she was happy to be held by Rubedo; she was happy to know that nothing was going to split them up again.
When she pulled away from Rubedo, her eyes quickly glanced around the dark storage area, in hopes to find her white headed hero, but he was nowhere in sight. The storage area was eerily silent as Sedaytion took a few breathes to compose herself and see whether Albedo was there or not.
"Are you okay?" Rubedo asked her, looking into her eyes with his.
Sedaytion nodded, still slightly stunned about the situation.
"Are you going to tell Sedaytion why we are here, Jr?" Gainun asked. Sedaytion frowned.
"Jr?" she repeated.
"Yeah, my name's Jr now!" Jr said, with pride in his voice. "I changed my name, just like Gainun did."
"So, I have to call you different names?" Sedaytion asked.
Jr didn't answer the question; instead he followed Gainun's orders. "We're here to take you to the Kukai foundation, where you'll be with us!"
"Really?" Sedaytion asked, with excitement in her voice. She was going to live with her friends again. Amazing. "With Albedo too?"
The room went silent again. The silence was awkward, and the cold breeze against Sedaytion's bare skin seemed to get colder. She waited in silence, bringing her hand up to her Clover necklace. She wished she hadn't asked such a silly question; all this time she had been hoping Albedo would be there, but she knew he had died. He had tragically been killed by U-DO; the final day Sedaytion was at the Institute; the day that had changed her life and it was also the day something had died in her. Her life went in ruins since that day, and she had cruelly fooled herself into thinking Albedo was alive. Such a cruel mind she had.
"I'm sorry," she apologized quietly, lowering her head. She watched as a tear rolled down her nose. She felt bad for feeling so ungrateful; Rubedo and Nigredo were there, even if they were Jr and Gainun; her close friends were there, so that was good right? "I know … he's dead."
A firm hand was placed on her shoulder. She sniffed, looking at Gainun who stood at her side. There was a look of displeasure in his eyes when he spoke, even though his voice was happy. "Albedo is alive."
"He is?" Sedaytion asked, looking at Jr to be sure. He nodded, but his face looked just as unhappy as Gainun's did. "Can I see him?"
"He is part of U-TIC," Gainun informed. Sedaytion's eyes widened slightly. "I am … sure you know what that means."
"He's not going to kill me if he sees me," Sedaytion smirked. She knew all about U-TIC, and how they were not … the most co-operative with the government. She knew most of the people there were murders; cruel and crazy murders with nothing else to do with their lives, but Albedo surely wasn't truly part of that. "Have you spoken to him?"
"He's mentally unstable," Jr said. Sedaytion shook her head, keeping the smirk on her face. She was unwilling to believe it.
"Has he spoken about me?" she asked. "Does he remember me?"
"Very much so," Gainun answered. "He refers to you as his rouge calmant."
"Is it good things he says about me?" Sedaytion asked, getting more and more excited, opposing what Gainun and Jr were feeling.
"U-TIC wants to use you," Gainun suddenly said.
"Gainun, don't!" Jr sharply said, trying to silence him.
"The U-TIC want your powers, Sedaytion," he continued. "They know of your past, and we have reason to believe some people there were Doctors that worked on you when you were younger."
"You're voice is frightening me," Sedaytion said, moving so Gainun's hand was off her shoulder. He spoke like he was a lawyer, or a police officer. Was he truly his friend anymore or was he just trying to protect his 'so-special' Kukai Foundation?
Sedaytion frowned. "You're just here to protect your Foundation."
"No, to protect you," Jr said.
"No, no, no," Sedaytion said. "If U-TIC has hold of me, then your Foundation will probably get destroyed. I'm not stupid. You both know that."
Jr and Gainun stood in an awkward silence that made Sedaytion shuffle from one foot to another. She more then upset about the sudden twist of what happened.
"Sedaytion that doesn't matter!" Jr yelled. "We're here to help you. If U-TIC has hold of you, they'll probably kill you or turn you into a machine. Do you want that?"
Sedaytion looked at her hand. She opened her hand, showing her palm. Then she closed it, looking carefully at the Dragon on her wrist. It had an evil look to it; a dangerous and frightening look she had only just noticed.
"Does it matter?" she stubbornly asked. She stretched her hand again.
The day had been strange. Just twelve hours ago she had been training, working to the best of her ability without a care in the world. Then she was overwhelmed with joy at the sight of her two close friends and the thought of Albedo being alive, but then in a split second she was being shipped off, kept under close surveillance like a weapon. She had packed all she needed and more in silence, leaving a note for her dear carer, Helen and then the next thing she knew she was onboard the Durandel, sitting in a room with two guards. Both guards had weapons, and she felt so angry with Gainun and Jr for treating her like a child.
She had become part of the army to prove she could take care of herself, and her two closest friends had taken away the years of training in less then an hour; they had reduced her down to a helpless child that could go off on a fit at any moment. For all she knew those guards could've been there to protect Gainun and Jr from being attacked by Sedaytion herself. Because that's how much anger she had flowing around her veins and they knew that.
And not only was that all going on, but they wouldn't let her talk to Albedo.
The room she was in was small, with a single bed and a few draws. There were unpacked boxes of her things lining the cream walls. The door was in plain sight, being guarded by two guards, that acted more like dolls; she couldn't even hear them taking in breathes.
Sedaytion sprayed out on the emerald coloured sheets. Her arms went above her head, and a deep sigh escaped her lips. Was this to be her life?
"Never expected it to be like this," she mumbled to herself.
Sedaytion couldn't help but look at the guards, with the thought of killing them in her head. She thought about using her powers to get past them, not killing them but knocking them out, then she wondered about what she would do next. In moments she had an entire plan worked out in her head, a quick, easy escape plan. Take out the guards; take their weapons and mobiles, then sneak through the hallways to the Dock where there would surely be a smaller Space Craft for her to high jack.
But she couldn't bring herself to run away. Even though she hated Nigredo and Rubedo to some extent, she couldn't stand to lose them again. She couldn't. And beside; they were the only people who she could get an answer about Albedo's whereabouts from.