Author's notes:
Sorry for the wait, but... BANG, update!
You wouldn't believe how easy it is to keep yourself from writing. Here a few things that kept me:
Mists of Pandaria
Homework (yep, I actually do it)
Thinking about the story rather than writing it down.
9gag (oh how I hate you)
Being a lazy, unmotivated ass
Be it as it may, I finally have finished the chapter and, without talking too much, here it is.
Enjoy!
Chapter 12 – Spy / Survivor / Anger
From afar a figure, completely hidden under a brown leather cloak, eavesdropped on the figures sitting around the campfire. She had hidden herself in the crown of an oak and looked through the leafage to see what was going on at the campfire. Unfortunately she was not as close as she had liked to be because she did not want to be detected by the warriors around the fire and hence could not hear clearly what they said.
Out of the six warriors that were present she only knew the number two at that time, Vectra. 'She looks like she had a though fight not too long ago' she mused in regard to Vectra's distorted face. The pig tailed warrior seemed like she had met her before, but she was not absolutely sure.
'Still,' she mused again, 'quite a party they have assembled here.'
She was right: though she could not tell the actual ranks of the warriors, she was sure that, besides Vectra, there were two to three other Single Digits, the rest at least close to those ranks. The only one she could not judge properly was the warrior with straight blonde hair that had her bangs hang loose directly above her eyes and had two strands run over her collarbones to end at her unimpressive chest. Her Yoki was nearly not present, she had to be suppressing it quite well.
A few fragments of Vectra's talk reached her ears: "...went missing... awakened... still human... searching for her... kill her..."
The last two words made the unnoticed auditor's eyes widen a little. 'Are they talking about her?' she wondered.
The pig tailed warrior then had become stiff and asked something that sounded like she wanted to know the name of the person they looked for.
All that she could hear was: "Jacqueline..."
'I knew it! They wouldn't leave her alone so easily!' she thought, making a grim face.
"She is alive?" was the first sentence she could hear clearly since it was yelled by the pig tailed warrior who had suddenly shot up and gotten angry. The eavesdropper could clearly feel a short but noticeable rise of Yoki from her. It soon calmed, however, as the one with many braids seemingly calmed her.
She sat down again and from her hidden position she could still see a tear run down the warrior's face. Her Yoki as well as her body were shaking in anger. Whatever the reason, she seemed to have business with Jacqueline as well.
Suddenly one of the younger warriors, the one with long, wavy hair, directed her gaze directly towards her hiding place. Then her neutral expression turned into the faintest of smiles and suddenly the person spying on them could feel a heavy pressure on her head and heart.
"Shit" she hissed and began to move away quickly.
Suddenly fear had gotten her. 'The fuck was that?' she yelled inwardly while getting away as fast as possible. 'That was a warrior?'
The feeling she had gotten from that what seemed to just be a mere smile brought memories back to her...
###
In an instant everything was over. A force, up to that day never before felt by her, toppled her mind. A searing pain ran through all of her lower body. Her senses left her all at once shortly after.
Then, a little later, only her eyes were slightly opened. She saw a face in front of her. A face overrun with tears. It yelled: "Don't die! Not you, too!"
She had no power to respond in any way. Even moving her eyes was a hard task on her.
'Forget it' she thought. 'It's useless. I'm dying' she wanted to tell her.
But she couldn't.
###
She shook her head shortly after stopping, slightly out of breath. 'No need for memories of that day' she though to herself.
She scanned the area behind her to see if anyone was following her, but despite the girl with wavy hair no one seemed to have noticed her. Slightly relieved she sat down and leaned against a tree to take a little break.
'So they are going after her...' she mused while looking nowhere. 'The whole party? Even for her, that could be troublesome... Especially' she closed her eyes for a little before opening them again 'whit that girl around. Just what is she? Her Yoki... it clearly rivaled Jacqueline's!'
She considered her options: She could either go and warn Jacqueline about the warriors that were on her trail or she could try to take care of that matter herself. The first option, however, did not come into question since Jacqueline would have been able to sense them from tens of miles away. The second option was too risky. Going against six warriors of their caliber, with an unratable one and a possible monster amongst them was not a very bright idea.
'Well then,' she concluded, 'for now I'll watch.'
She then arose, facing the opposite direction of where the warriors she was going to watch for a little longer were. 'From a farther distance, that is.'
###
Nearly no one noticed Teresa's look into the woods and her smile that had followed directly after, due to Liara's behavior. She had calmed down a little and taken her seat again, yet her fists were still clenched and her face showed deep displeasure.
'Why? Why only her?' she was thinking. To her that wasn't fair: her friends had to die and she survived? She could not even think of a way for Vanessa and Neerie to die in the first place. Had it been Jacqueline's fault? After all she hadn't returned to the Organization. Liara was about to jump to conclusions as she heard her name spoken in the calmest of tones. Her view then rose to meet the cold, half-closed, silver eyes of Hitomi's stoic face.
"Come with me for a while" she demanded and arose.
Liara hesitated for a moment, not noticing Anna's worried gaze. She knew of Hitomi's affection for Jacqueline and was afraid that Liara might have angered the Organization's number 5.
As Hitomi stopped in her tracks and looked back, asking, if Liara hadn't heard her, the latter arose, too, and followed her into to trees, not left by Anna's gaze.
###
After they had walked for a few minutes, Hitomi stopped again, having Liara stop a few meters behind her.
"What is your connection to Jacqueline and the ones that were with her on their last mission?" the higher ranked warrior asked after a few moments of silence.
Her comrade closed her eyes to think for a moment. She also had heard that Hitomi and Jacqueline had been somewhat close. Whatever the case, Hitomi would most likely not be satisfied with any answer. On the other hand Liara was bright enough not to say everything that was on her mind just as it came to her. The Organization's number 5 was not known for her patience and calmness. Messing with her was out of the question, especially since she also was known for being as fast as Hysteria and for having a technique that might be even faster.
'I would not stand a chance' the short woman concluded.
With closed eyes she then posed a counter-question: "In what way does my connection to them concern you?"
Her superior, without hesitation this time, answered: "Two years ago Jacqueline went on a hunt for Luciela of the South, together with the Doublefingers, former number 1 and 2. The mission failed, the Doublefingers are confirmed dead and Jacqueline went missing. Everyone believed that she had awakened, even me. Now, however, it is considered possible, even likely, as Dae himself was told me to have said, that she is still human. Still, why didn't she return to the Organization? Why did she betray her comrades?"
After a short pause she added in a voice so quiet that Liara could barely hear it: "Why has she left me like this? If you have any information regarding her, tell me!"
So it was pretty much as Liara had heard and figured. Hitomi really liked Jacqueline and most likely felt betrayed by her. That didn't make things easier for Liara, though.
Trying to find a way to begin to explain she placed herself next to her fellow warrior and asked without looking at her: "So you feel betrayed by her, huh?"
"A little" she was answered.
Liara sighed. It was her turn then: "Neerie and Vanessa were close friends of mine. Together we wanted to become the Organization's top three, the most powerful unit they have ever had. They already were number 1 and 2 as we made that promise, though, so I did all I could to catch up."
'All I could' she mused, before she continued: "As I had made it to number 13 I met Jacqueline. She was number 6 at that time. Meeting her thought me how long my way still was. I admired her, more than just a little. She gave me something like a way-point on my way to becoming number 3. As I heard that her and my friends were going after Luciela I naively thought that nothing could go wrong since it were the three of them. Something died in me as I heard that my friends were dead and that Jacqueline had awakened but as time went by I became more and more able to accept it. I know of the dangers that lie deep within our bodies and what can happen if things go wrong. Even though it would have made things easier for me, there just was no one to blame."
She then closed her eyes again and made a few steps forward. Her voice had turned more honest as she continued: "If she really is still human she has to have her reasons for not returning. And she'll be able to tell me just what happened. My question is why she is alive while my friends-"
"You think she might be to blame?" Hitomi's still calm voice cut her off.
Though Hitomi's Yoki was sealed quite well Liara was able to tell that Hitomi's calmness was a mere facade. She had upset her and she had to calm her. However, she had forgotten to think about her own emotions first, as she exclaimed a little louder: "I am not saying that!"
The little spike in Hitomi's Yoki went past her notelessly.
"It is just hard to accept that they are dead. I want to know why and she is the only one capable of telling me" she explained gesturing wildly as she turned around to Hitomi and her emotions got the better of her.
"Couldn't she have saved them? Has she run away and abandoned them? Neerie and Vanessa were way stronger than her! There is no way for her to be the sole survivor without turning tail and betraying their comrades!"
"So you really think that she is responsible?" Hitomi asked in a deep voice, suddenly stopping to seal her Yoki and steadily letting it flow out of her body at a low percentage.
Liara got startled by that as she realized just what she had said. The sudden change in Hitomi's eyes that, though they weren't golden then, still had gotten something menacing about them, was sending icy showers down her back.
"What if she was? What if your assumptions were true?" Number 5 pressed.
Liara thought for a moment. She had maneuvered herself into a dead end, so there was no reason to hold back anymore. She clenched her fists hard and furiously yelled: "What am I supposed to tell you now? Isn't it clear? I'd want revenge of course! Wouldn't you want revenge for your dead friends, too, if you knew that someone was responsible for their deaths?"
"I wonder," Hitomi answered, again calmly speaking, "how many people would want to exact revenge on you, then."
Liara's breath faltered and her eyes widened.
"You see, Liara, the first time you met Jacqueline she was number 40 and you were number 23. Why would you alter your story, I wonder?"
Liara gulped.
"According to a very talkative warrior you were, well, envious of Jacqueline's ensuing promotion, to say the least."
Liara got more and more nervous. She knew what Hitomi was playing at.
"It appears that, in what ever way you managed to do that, got to the conclusion, that, in order to be promoted you just have to clear the ranks above you."
"R-rumors!" Liara shouted, "there's nothing true about it!"
"Do you know what that talkative warriors last words were?"
She made a pause to see Liara's face turn chalk-withe.
"She said: Be careful of Liara. I wasn't."
"N-no!" Liara stuttered. "It wasn't-"
"Tattletale Lisa, former number 7. Despite being mortally wounded she still did what she enjoyed most: telling stories of other warriors. The last one she ever told was about you."
At that Liara drew her blade and rushed towards Hitomi but the latter's image just vanished shortly after Liara's fast, horizontal swing. Before she knew she herself vanished, too, as she felt all the air in her lungs being rigorously pressed out, directly followed by several hits with trees all over her body that were accompanied by crackling and crashing noises.
It took her a while to catch her breath again. She still had no idea what had hit her and her whole body was in pain. As she slowly put herself up she saw broken trees and branches along a way of roughly fifty meters.
"You see, Liara," she got startled by Hitomi's voice from her right, but she was already gone the moment the frightened woman slashed in that direction, as the voice already continued from far behind her, "I don't care about what you did in the slightest."
"But," it sounded from close behind that time just before Liara missed again as Hitomi, roughly twenty meters away, walking towards her, exclaimed, "I won't let scum like you..."
She then appeared directly in front of a highly scared Liara, having her right hand firmly gripped around her still sheathed claymore's hilt, finishing her sentence yelling: "TALK SHIT ABOUT JACQUELINE!"
###
Eyes as calm as death himself changed their direction of view as their owner felt a strong wave of Yoki hitting her, to look into the direction it came from. The person that was hidden under a long cloak did not let her view slide to another direction, just as if she could see what was going on.
"I wonder," she softly said to herself, "why is she so angry?"
While monitoring the proceedings from afar, she also noticed how close her pursuers already had come. 'Whatever you want, Organization's warriors, keep away' she thought to herself.
"No," she whispered, "just you stay away, Hitomi."
A moment of absolute silence followed.
"I don't want to face you yet."
More minutes passed while she, taking a closer look at her pursuers, noticed, that they were not two anymore, but six. Before she could give that any thought, close to her she heard the rustling of some bushes as another cloaked figure appeared.
"Hello again" Jacqueline, acknowledging her friend, said, startling the other one.
"Oh, Jacqueline, didn't think t'meet y'here" the other one said while recovering from the little fright. "Y'know, people might get scared t'death if y'keep hidin' so well" she added with a little grin on her face.
"That is not my fault, Vanessa. If your senses were better you could still feel my presence, no matter how hard I tried."
"Meh," she was answered, "y're just awesome 'n stuff, that's all."
The both of them shared a moment of silence while Vanessa was also directing her view into the direction Hitomi's outburst had came from.
"I bet y'already know," she started after a while, "but the Old Man's Association's sent warriors after ya."
"You have won your bet" the taller woman blankly answered.
"Yeah yeah," the former Number 2 said sighing. "Hadn't planned runnin' into ya, were just lookin' for a safer place t'spy."
Jacqueline directed her view towards Vanessa then, effectively hiding her surprise about her needing a safe place to spy.
Vanessa, noticing but ignoring her comrades look, explained: "They've gotten quite da crew for ya. A Top 'n two o' three Singles. 'N two others, one I can't judge 'n the other's fright'ning." She paused for a little, before adding, a lot quieter: "Nearly's fright'ning's ya."
'That would make six as I have just felt them, then' Jacqueline thought. 'I only had felt two of them the day before yesterday. Seems like they're up to something serious.'
However, she pushed those thoughts aside for a while to properly react to Vanessa's statement: "What has happened two years ago is a part of me and, sad as it is, that will never change. It's deep down in everyone of us, sometimes hidden, sometimes openly shown at any possible occasion. However, no matter what happens, what has taken control of me I will never allow to do so again. Please trust me on that."
"I'm sorry" her friend apologized. "Shouldn't have said that. Y'saved ma bacon, I shouldn't complain."
At that Jacqueline's eyes closed halfway and her view lowered a bit, as she remembered: 'And you always forget to mention whose fault that situation was.'
Without really thinking about it, she began to talk...
###
Back then, as we went to hunt the Abyssal One of the South, Luciela, I knew of the dangers. I thought that I was prepared, but I wasn't.
As we had encountered her, things went as well as we could have expected it under these circumstances. But as the battle continued, the strain on my mind grew and grew. And grew. I struggled for control and somehow was able to maintain it. And then, as my own mind was so focused on keeping control of Luciela, as much as it was possible, it happened.
Neerie passed her limits and with that outburst my sanity went away. I lost control, completely. I barely can remember what happened, but I remember well what happened afterward.
I found your upper body lying on its back. I could barely sense your Yoki but I was desperate. Without even thinking of looking for your lower body to have you reattach it I bent over you and told you not to die. I was begging you to try to regenerate, but nothing happened.
And a thought came to my mind. I could control Yoki to alter someones movements, so why not manipulate it in a way to regenerate ones body? You are the living proof that it works. And you always misinterpret it as me saving your life. But the truth is that, if I just had been stronger, we all could have survived. You wouldn't have to be hurt so badly and I wouldn't have lost control. You, me and...
###
"Don't say her name again" Vanessa interrupted Jacqueline. "And don't keep talking such bullshit. It doesn't change anything!"
Though she had kept her stoic expression, the memories of that day had made her eyes teary like they always did. Vanessa was wrong. Jacqueline believed that everything what had went wrong on that day was no one else's but her fault. Though she did all to hide how devastated she was inside, how guilty she felt, she could not hide it in front of Vanessa, the only friend she had ever had since then.
"Yeah, she's dead," Vanessa lectured her friend, "but the two'f us're alive. That's more'n we coulda hoped for!"
With that Jacqueline sunk to her knees and began to sob every now and then. Vanessa kneeled down next to her, rested her hand on her friend's shoulder and playfully said: "You do never change, do you, crybaby?"
"Honestly," she whispered, continuing in her thoughts, 'if you had awakened, everyone would have been done for.'
###
Trees were rushing past her after she had felt Hitomi's Yoki burst. 'I knew it!' she kept repeatedly thinking, cursing herself for having Liara go with the Organization's number 5 on her own. She was boundlessly worried about her friend, being absolutely sure that she had said too much.
She knew that Liara was naive and childish but that she as well knew how to handle delicate situations. Most of the time, that was. She had angered the testy woman said to be on par with the Organizations number 1 in terms of speed and Anna feared said woman's reaction to whatever had happened.
As she reached a small clearing a wave of sound and wind made all her senses suddenly switching into slow motion. Facing her with her back stood Liara, Hitomi directly in front of her. Anna could see drops of blood, small pieces of skin and scraps of cloth hover around her friend. With widening eyes she saw Liara's blade glide out of her hand. Directly afterwards the pig tailed warrior's body went limb and she slowly slumped to her knees and then onto her left side. The moment the dull sound of Liara collapsing reached Anna's ears she snapped out of her shock-like state and screamed Liara's name.
She dashed over to her unconscious comrade and kneeled down next to her. The state her friend was in totally bowled her over. Carefully, completely ignoring the Organization's number 5, who watched her with calm and cold, then again silver eyes, she rolled Liara onto her back. Her whole body cluttered with small cuts and nearly every inch of her skin and uniform was blood red. Her eyes were half closed and didn't show the slightest reaction to seeing Number 7, Anna.
Hitomi released her blade's handle and stepped over Liara, inches past Anna, had not been able then to realize what had happened, and calmly began to walk away.
"Crying will not help her" she said without the slightest bit of emotion in her voice.
At that moment Anna realized that she was crying and that her friend did not emit the slightest trace of Yoki anymore. In the state she was it took a while until it dawned on her what that meant.
Without letting her gaze leave Liara she slowly arose and the abrasive noise of her claymore being drawn by her killed the silence around them. She slowly turned around and began to walk towards Hitomi, who had stopped in her tracks.
"Put that away" she said admonishingly and turned around.
A few meters away from Hitomi Anna also stopped. All she asked was: "Why?"
Though she should be a raging beast right now – or at least that was what she thought she should be – she was just as calm as TNT right before exploding. Hitomi also could see that and it somehow reminded her of herself just a few minutes before. She, however, though she was angered so easily, could always control her anger to a degree that she would not lose her reason through it. Anna did not seem that way to her. Still it didn't matter much to Hitomi because she was confident that, no matter what Anna did, she could stop her.
So she openly told Anna the truth: "Because she verbally defiled the one most important to me, that is."
At that Anna snapped. Instantly releasing thirty percent of her Yoki, hence turning her eyes golden and deforming her face in an unsightly way she blindly rushed towards an opponent she knew she had no chance of defeating. But – as Hitomi had suspected – she had lost her ability to make rational decisions.
All she managed was mindlessly slashing through the steadily vanishing afterimages of Hitomi, not even close to realizing that she was open on all sides.
"Over something like that?" she yelled at Hitomi, raising her Yoki again.
"You know," the vanishing images of Hitomi calmly said to her, "you should not be doing that right know."
Before Anna knew it, her blade was blocked and violently smashed out of her hand, followed by a painful kick into her stomach that sent her flying to where Liara lay. Anna was on all fours and her forehead rested on the ground as she tried to regain her breath. Her Yoki was still released but the pain had brought some of her senses back.
Her breath and heart stopped for a moment as her own blade was rammed into the ground right next to her head.
"Why'd you have to kill her?" she whimpered with ground teeth and a face overrun by tears.
That made Hitomi blink two times. "Since when were you under the impression that she was dead?" she asked disbelievingly.
With that Anna's crying stopped immediately.
"Don't tell me you only have checked on her Yoki and therefore declared her dead?" the higher ranked warrior asked with a raised eyebrow.
Forgetting the pain in her stomach Anna hastily crawled over to her friend that she had presumed dead just to see her chest lifting and lowering like nothing happened.
"Don't scare me like that, stupid" she puled and began to cry again while having a smile wider than the Grand Canyon on her face.
"Really," Hitomi began to sarcastically mock her, "of course, if the Yoki is gone she is dead, we don't have things like breath or a heartbeat, of course not!"
She sighed, turned around and, before walking away, told Anna: "If you want her to stay alive you better take care of her. If you want to get beaten up by me you can come anytime later."
Just after Hitomi had finished her sentence Vectra, Teresa and Irene, who also were worried (well, despite Teresa, she just didn't want to stay at the campfire on her own since she found that to be boring) arrived at the scene as well.
"Ah, good that you are here. I think we should leave" Hitomi said to her superior.
"Don't tell me that she is..." dead, Vectra wanted to say, as Hitomi sharply interrupted her: "Don't insult me." She then started walking away. Shortly after Vectra followed. 'Seems like I have to keep an eye on her' she thought. 'Especially... when we meet her.'
###
Not too far away said person was, together with her friend Vanessa, still watching the scene.
Here you are to imagine two cloaked figures standing atop a hill. The heaven is orange since it is dusk and dramatic music is playing.
"This is not an Anime, author."
To you it is still Mr. author.
"How about no?"
Author's notes:
That's it, folks.
After taking so long to put my thoughts to paper (well, not literally) I think that I will drastically shorten the chapters from now on. That has the benefit that motivating myself to actually write my thoughts down will be easier, since three to four pages is far less than around ten. In addition to that it will be easier naming my chapters (Though I might just go with numbers, don't know yet.)
This will, however, not change the amount of things left to tell at all, it will only come in easier digestible portions.
About the chapter, well, I brought Vanessa back – that was not planned from the start, but the shortly before she "died". Teresa had her second appearance and, everyone who understood what Jacqueline's dream is about (see chapters 3 or 11 if you don't remember) knows that she will have to meet our black haired heroine. I am looking forward to it!
About next chapter, I can't say too much yet since I have two or three things to sort out. But expect it to be a faster update than this one.
kstefan88