NieR is Copyright Cavia and Square Enix, 2010. All original characters are property of the author. This is a work for entertainment and no profit will be made. A fiction by Sentionaut.

Tossing her keycard on the table, Halua dropped unceremoniously onto the couch, boneless and dead tired. The hotel Seb had booked for the band wasn't the swankiest place she'd ever crashed in, but it wasn't a dump either. Space was still pretty much a premium wherever you went in the city, and they'd been stuck on the twenty second floor. Thankfully, the elevator wasn't ancient, and had deposited her without too long a wait. Plus, the building was just down the block from the club, making for a short walk and no need to waste cash on hailing a cab.

Rolling onto her stomach, she stretched reaching for the decorative pillow on the other end of the couch. It might as well have been on another planet, for all the good her straining did, fingers falling far short of the prize.

Resigned, she wriggled and scooted, doing a fair impression of an inch worm as she finally snagged the blue and green stripped pillow. It kind of looked like a candy drop, she decided, mashing her face into the cold squishy surface. Sitting up to get it would have been quicker, but sounded like so much extra effort. Gasping, the noirette turned her head once breathing into the cloth proved too difficult. It had felt nice and cool for a moment, until the moisture from her breath clogged the material.

She lay there for a long while, willing sleep to come, though she probably needed to shower, or at least finish removing the garish makeup that Kainé insisted they both wear while performing. Halua had taken off most of it back in the club dressing room, but she was pretty sure her eyeliner was now smeared on the pillow she was clutching. Maybe if she remembered to jam it behind the couch in the morning before they checked out, the cleaning service wouldn't notice and tack a laundering charge onto their bill.

Of course, Seb was footing the whole thing, so she didn't really care, too much. Though she tried to keep the band reigned in the few times they'd had to stay places other than their apartment. Their manager had ways of making his displeasure known, if they got too out of hand.

The personal budgets that they were allotted was already pretty pitiful, and getting it cut any further would be its own form of torture. She would have to go back to working for a living, or worse. Sebastian wasn't just the band manager, he was also the legal guardian for Emil and Halua. At least for another few short months. Then Emil would turn twenty and would be able to take over as administrator of the family finances.

It was a daunting prospect to be sure. One that Halua wanted little part in. Legally, she could already be handling those matters, but truthfully, didn't feel up to the task. It was far better to leave Seb in charge. The last thing she wanted was to ruin both their futures. Maybe when the band really took off, after they had a solid album out, she'd allow herself unfettered access to the accounts.

She couldn't complain about how Seb chose to handle the estate. Neither of the siblings had to work, and they'd finished school early, courtesy of an excellent private education. As things stood, the band was as much a diversion, as it was a career choice. She preferred the atmosphere they'd created, to sitting around the family estate just outside the city limits. It was boring there, and she had no desire to go into pharmaceuticals like her father had, even though chemistry was one of her stronger subjects. Or had been, once upon a time. For now, she contented herself with keeping watch over her brother in her own way.

Eventually, she turned on the television and left it on some variety show. The voices coming from the screen helped fill the silence in the room, and she sat up, peeling off her tank top. Tossing the dark balled up cloth to the side of the couch, she played with the remote for a moment, deciding to take a shower after all, especially with how her shirt had smelled of smoke and body odor. If her clothes were that bad, she could only imagine how she must be.

Slipping off her jeans, one leg at a time, she kicked them across the floor, where they folded around the base of a fake potted plant. She didn't feel bad about tossing her stuff around, as her brother put her efforts in that department to shame. Even she found it hard to believe half the time, and she'd lived with Emil for years on end. Usually sharing a room to boot. Neither sibling had been back to their parent's house in a long time, by some unspoken agreement. The memories were still too strong, feelings too exposed, not yet overgrown by time.

In the small space of the bathroom, she discarded her underthings beneath the towel rack, bra and panties one of her few matching sets, one she'd dubbed her lucky pair, though that was wasted on tonight.

Fighting off another yawn, Halua took a moment to check herself out in the mirror while the shower heated up. The edges of the reflection were already beginning to fog over. She teased at her bangs, quirking her lips at the dark color that still took getting used to. It was such a drastic image shift, even though her brother had elected to join in on the change. Of course, Emil being Emil, only dyed swatches of hair, lending his golden locks a bizarre series of highlights, not quite as dark as her own.

Dropping her gaze, she turned this way and that, thrusting out her chest, though no matter the angle, she was left with sadly little real estate. Like her sibling, she barely qualified as five feet tall, eking by on a paltry 156 centimeters. Kainé towered over them, in comparison, and crushed Halua's bust by a likewise overpowering endowment. Regardless, the noirette made it work. She was proportionate for her height, and wouldn't be having back problems in her future. Naturally, the singer held the sibling's height against them too, so it was hard to catch a break any way Halua sliced it.

Stepping gingerly into the almost scalding water, she hissed in pleasure, as the aches of the day were summarily burned away. Her pale skin glowed an angry red not a minute later, though that too was all part of the ritual. Hands resting on the cold tile beneath the shower head, she let the water cascade down on her head, beating a tattoo along the back of her neck, and torturing the top curve of her backside. It was almost as good as a long soak in a hot bath, but the western style shower had its perks too. A nice change of pace from the high tub in their apartment.

A good while later, once she was sufficiently roasted and scoured clean, Halua wandered back into the living room. Or what she'd taken as such, as the hotel room was arranged with the bed near enough that there wasn't a strict distinction between spaces. One long towel wrapped around her torso, she vigorously dried her hair with another, glad that she didn't have to deal with the length of tresses that Kainé sported. It was hard to tell with the elaborate ways the singer chose to bind her hair, but the bassist knew just how much of it there really was.

Lately, Kainé had taken to tying it up a different way for each show, some braids and tails more looping and sprawling than others. Tonight was a fair example of the platinum haired woman's penchant for experimentation. Kainé had put so much waxy product in the front and sides of her hair, that it all stood out in spikes and bunches, each a hand span or more in length. It was one of the few times that Halua was grateful for only coming up to the singer's chest. There was zero chance of getting impaled, or catching a rogue spike in the eye. A very real fear, given the half bottle of hairspray she'd seen in the dressing room trashcan.

In the midst of her routine, a series of knocks on the door caught her attention. It sounded like her brother, from the quick staccato hits. Glancing at the round clock above the couch, she guessed it was late enough that he might have returned, though it wasn't like he didn't have his own key card. The knock sounded again before she'd gotten halfway to the door. "Yeah, yeah, just a minute."

Making doubly sure of the knot holding her towel closed, she stood on her tip toes to peer out the peephole. All she could see was an unfamiliar mess of silvery hair. "Who is it?" She called through the door.

"Help me out, just open the door," came the muffled reply, but it was enough to tell just who was speaking. There was no mistaking her brother's pleading voice.

"Hang on, the lock's a pain in the ass," Halua said, straining to flick the bolt. She'd had her shoes on before, and the platform heels had really helped out, adding almost four inches to her height.

Unlatching the door, she was unprepared for her brother to come tumbling in, as he'd clearly been using it as a prop. Staggering into the room, he tripped on his feet and ended up sprawling on the carpet face first. His payload was less strategic in flight, and Halua found herself with an arm full of strange man, the owner of the silvery hair, no less.

The only consolation was that the guy was still conscious, so she wasn't hit with his full weight. But, Emil had been supporting most of that, and the sudden transfer was too much for her towel to withstand. It was ripped away only to twist around her legs and pull her backwards with the incredibly tall, and likewise heavy, stranger atop her exposed body. They landed in a tangle of limbs and she took what felt like an elbow to the stomach for her trouble. "The hell is this? Emil, I'm so going to kill you!"

"Sorry 'lua, he was really heavy. Guess I slipped. It was hard getting him down the hall from the elevator," Emil's apology sounded sincere, but muted as he'd gotten caught in the avalanche of limbs.

"Just get up and help get him off me, and close the damn door while you're at it. I'm not giving anyone else a free show here," Halua was livid, and if the shower hadn't left her looking like a boiled lobster, the faint embarrassment would have done the job just as well. "Hey, you, watch what you're touching," she hissed as the man pinning her shifted his weight and his hands as well, groaning really close to her ear.

"I was just trying to do Kainé a favor," her brother explained, extracting himself and kicking the door closed as he did his best to roll the weight off his sister. His very naked, and very angry sister. "I'm really sorry, I'll make it up to you, promise," flustered, Emil was torn between kowtowing and pulling both himself and his baggage further away from the impending explosion of justified anger.

Far from mollified, Halua snatched up her towel and pulled it tight as she regained her feet. "I'm getting dressed, but you better start explaining, though I can already guess if it has to do with our amazon," she huffed, already calming down, and shifting the mental blame to Kainé where it probably belonged anyway. Not that she would let her brother off the hook. She liked it when people owed her favors that she could collect on when it suited her best.

Emil swallowed nervously, managing to drag out a semblance of a smile. Sometimes that helped soften his sister's mood, but it could just as easily backfire. It was worth a shot, he decided. She didn't usually care about flaunting her body, and was just upset about having someone literally dumped on her. Emil only caught the edge of the weight, and his sister might even have a few bruises to thank him for in a little while. Both of them had sensitive skin and were prone to showcasing even the smallest injury.

"Well, you know how she's been going on about that one girl?"

Pulling on a pair of soft shorts that barely covered the top of her thighs, Halua dug around her bag for the loose t-shirt that she liked to sleep in. "Yeah, the one that's been following us," she nodded, pulling the shirt over her head when she found it. "Not that I'm complaining about gaining a loyal fan base. We could use all the support we can get."

"This guy is that girl's brother, Nier," Emil said by way of late introduction. The topic of their conversation stirred a little at hearing his name. He was sprawled out where the diminutive youth had managed to drag him.

"Okay, I get that. He's here why," Halua arched a brow, getting a sinking feeling in her gut at where her brother's story was going.

"Because it was the only way I could think of to keep him busy while Kainé entertained his sister. It took a lot less convincing that I first thought, though," Emil had the grace to look away and feel a bit embarrassed at the condition he'd put the girl's brother in. In all honesty, he'd figured with the guy's build, he would be able to hold his liquor. But, to the club's credit, the bartender was very liberal when making mixed drinks. As usual, no one batted an eye when Emil offered to pick up the tab a few times. Being a quarter foreign on his mother's side had its perks, small but useful.

"You drunk him under the table and just decided to bring him back here? You could have called to at least give me fair warning, you know," Emil's sister paced back and forth, finally dropping her rear onto the couch. She'd already staked it out, mostly because of crap like this that her brother pulled. He had his preferences, and she didn't bat an eye provided that he did the same. They were close, and she didn't deny that their tastes ran the same in a great many things. "I told you I was turning in early, Emil."

The young man winced, knowing he'd flubbed it with Halua. Normally he would have called ahead, just out of courtesy, but Nier had been really heavy, and he hadn't been expecting to have to drag a giant down a whole city block. If it hadn't been so late, he might have gotten all kinds of weird stares. "He wasn't supposed to pass out," Emil groused, frowning.

"What did you expect, when your go to plan consists of feeding people drinks until they follow you home? It's nothing but asking for trouble. Just toss a few blankets on him and we'll get it all sorted out in the morning. I don't think he's getting up any time soon, and I sure as hell am not helping you drag him any further. I might accidentally end up dropping him on his head for elbowing me. Still hurts, you know," she rubbed absently at her midsection where Nier had made the most contact.

"Halua."

"Be quiet and get him a pillow too. We're not sadists, like some people I could name off the top of my head. Kainé better keep a lid on it. These walls aren't the thickest, and I'd like to get a few decent hours of sleep. Tomorrow's another busy day, after all."

"Yes, 'lua," Emil acquiesced and went to fetch the requested items, bringing extra for his sister as well before flopping on the bed by himself. What a waste of money, he thought, rolling over to reach for the light switch. Another cold lonely night in the big city.

On the floor, the lanky guest stirred when the moonlight streaming through the curtains eventually fell across his face.