Little Wing Clad 6
"… Pardonne… I Cannot"
My eyes creaked open and light fills my eyes. I am temporarily blinded from the light and blinked several times to adjust.
"Oui, Oui, Non. It was very kind of you to offer."
I reached out to grasps the white fabric that I'm seeing, but I only managed to brush my hands on it. It felt soft and silky.
"Perhaps next times, yes?" The fabric shifted counter clockwise.
I shifted my head upwards and was greeted by a pair of… breast?
I blinked my eyes several more times before I actually saw her properly.
"Oh! You 'ave awakened!"
"Where… Where am I…?" I asked
"One moment, if you please." She hushed me before calling over the 'Boss'.
Another figure fills up my view.
"What going on?" The gruff voice sounded familiar
"Our guest has woken up; perhaps you can get her up too?"
He nodded before shaking me violently, I felt like he would crush my bones before I wake up.
"I'm up! I'm up!" I yelled as I pushed him away. He went back to his seat after that, grumbling.
"Welcome to Little Wing." The lady replies cheerfully.
"Little Wing?" I repeated, trying to process the name.
"Yes, I am Chelsea, Enchante." She continued with flair.
"Nice to meet you" I greeted with a small bit of uncertainty.
"The pleasure is mine! How nice to meet someone who has not forgotten what manners are!" She went from graceful to excite.
"Monsieur Boss! Monsieur Boss! Our guest is awake." She called to the man again."
"Of course she's awake. Could you hang on a moment? I'm talking to somebody here." He replies rather angrily to Chelsea. What's with him?
It didn't sound like he was on the phone until he yelled 'Spoiled Brat!' to particularly no one. I turned to Chelsea for some enlightenment.
"Oh my… I suppose it is I who will explain…" She said with some disappointment. I nodded
She told me that we were in the offices of Little Wing on Clad 6 which was a resort company. Apparently Little Wing is a civilian security firm but there is more than that in my opinion. The Boss brought me here when he found me asleep at a relic site.
"Feelin' any better?" a rough voice belonging to the Boss asked me.
"Thank you for rescuing me." I replied with gratitude, "Yes, I do feel better now."
"You look like someone spit in your soup. Maybe I should fill you in on what's goin' on."
I nodded
"Hmm… Where to start?" He pondered for a minute before starting.
"Name's Kraz Muehler, and I run this mercenary outfit called Little Wing."
Told you there was something more than being a civilian security firm.
"It's more of a private security firm, but 'mercenary outfit' has a better ring to it."
This is the point where I got confused.
"You do both security and mercenary jobs?"
"We do private security for big shots with deeps pockets, run patrols around factories, that sorta thing. We were down at the relic site you were in to scout the place when all hell broke loose. So instead of a nice scouting mission, I ended up rescuing the idiots who got trapped inside."
That made me embarrassed,
"Sorry… I was one of them, right?"
"Hell yes you were. And the trouble was, you were carrying any ID."
I remember that I used to be a GUARDIAN; my ID might have been taken by them
"I couldn't exactly leave you how I found you, so here you are."
"What happened to the girl I was with?"
"Worried about her, are ya?"
I don't know… Something tells me that I was with a girl before I passed out.
The phone rang and Kraz listened to it for a moment.
"Well it's about time. Get yourself in here!"
I put two and two together, the girl I was with worked in this firm. What was her name? Emilia? I think so. She must have called Kraz to bring me back.
The doors of the office opened and a blonde girl came in while rubbing her temples.
"Give it a rest, boss. Today is not the day for this…" The girl replied, depressed.
She kind of sleepwalked towards us
"Don't you have any idea what I've been through?"
"Don't know, don't care. Save your whining for someone who does." Kraz replied angrily.
Ouch… That hurts.
"Can't you see we have company? Show some manners!"
The girl snapped out of her walk and apologized.
"Nice to meet—"
"Emilia?"
"Huh, how did you know—Wait a minute, you look familiar."
So her name was Emilia, thank god I remembered.
She thought about it for a while before it hit her.
"What are you doing here?"
"Nice to meet you too…" I muttered.
"I thought—I mean – Shouldn't you be dead?"
That stunned me for a moment for Kraz replied in my stead
"Luckily, that's not up to you to decide. I swear that the things that come out of that mouth of yours…" He grumbled with more anger.
"You might have told me… This is how I find out?" She turned sharply towards Kraz.
"What do you mean? I'm not okay? I'm supposed to be dead?" I tried to get an answer
"Uhm… Not that I'm not glad you're okay. But after I blacked out, I don't remember anything until waking up here."
I turned to Kraz, wondering if she meant the truth, he just shrugged and shook his head.
"I must've dreamed the whole thing. Phew, talk about a load off!" She ranted happily.
I tried to recall what happened before I passed out… Slowly I began remembering…
The Seabed Relic Site… When it became live… teaming up with Emilia… The Svaltia…
I am supposed to be dead
I took the deathblow for Emilia
I just sat there, remembering with shock. Emilia and Kraz were discussing something I couldn't hear.
"You!"
"Yes?" I replied instinctively.
"You freelance right?"
"Not exactly"
"Not anymore, you're with us now."
"What?"
"Whoa, where'd that come from?" Emilia commented but was silenced from Kraz's look
"We aren't a big company, but for someone with your experience, we'd sign you on with a full bonus package. I'll even throw in a partner. She's not much, but she's better than nothing."
"How unusually generous of you" Emilia retorted.
"That would be you, knucklehead."
Huh? My experience? Full bonus package? Partner? What's going on?
"Err… What's going on?"
"Me?" Emilia practically yelled
"What do you say? No entrance exam, free partner – that's more than a fair offer!" Kraz ignored her statement. I turned to her and gave her my assumption
"Yes, pretty much." She replied dejectedly.
I gave the offer some consideration. Freelancing has become pretty difficult ever since the SEED were wiped out. Not only that, without my ID, I cannot access anywhere with ease. But on the other hand, I need to join other jobs that aren't exactly in my preference. But honestly, if I can't even save a girl without dying, I've gotten weaker and need to train more. Maybe those jobs could help me.
"I accept… I guess."
"Then it's settled! Welcome aboard!" Kraz congratulated me happily.
"Don't mention it… But I'm not sure if I can provide much help that you need."
"Don't worry… I even went ahead and took the liberty of preparing some quarters for you. Don't just stand there, Emilia! Escort your new partner to the living quarters. You two play nice, you hear?"
Emillia had been listening to our conversation and was pretty flared for being excluded from it.
"Don't I get any say who my partner is?" She fumed
"If you'd rather work solo, I suppose that could be arranged." Kraz just gave her the take it or leave it choice.
"That's… not what I meant…" She answered sadly.
"Then save that complaints for when you're actually ready to do some work on your own, Understood?"
She threw a tantrum
"Okay! Fine! You win! I'll wait for you outside the living quarters." She flared and left
I hope this won't happen too much during my partnership with her.
"Ugh… That girl has more lip on her than brains. Orders aren't up for debates." Kraz grumbled
"Monsieur Boss is too hard on the girl. You catch more bees with honey than vinegar." Chelsea told Kraz from across the office.
"If she worked more like a bee, then maybe she'd deserve some honey." He replied
"I don't know much about her…but I think you should cut her a little slack."
"So I'm supposed to let her get away with murder? What do I look like, good ol' Uncle Chump?"
"Not that slack…"
"Wait you didn't think the two of us were related, did you? That's a good one!"
I honestly don't know what he just meant
"Let me go ahead and set the record straight right here and now. She and I aren't related in any way, shape or form. I'm her boss; she's my employee – end of story."
You are related in terms of stubbornness
"What a thing to say! You are the girl's guardian!" Chelsea countered
"I only took the two of you in to settle a bar tab."
So we aren't wanted here…?
"You were the only one who keeps coming until the bar went out of business. I am grateful for all you have done for us, truly."
"To summarize it, you and Emilia aren't related." I try to end the pointless conversation
"Yep, I'm only her legal guardian."
That's still being related, but I won't say it since he is furious.
"That the only reason I keep her lazy, back-talking carcass around."
"It's not her fault that she's new, no?" Chelsea had come over by now.
"Huh? She is a new mercenary?"
"I don't want to get into a whole thing about the girl's past and frankly, I don't care. You just keep Emilia out of trouble, that's your job. If you are able to get her to the point where she actually pulls her own weight around here, even better. How you do it is up to you, just don't let me down." With that he stormed off.
"What was that all about?"
"Monsieur Boss has a sharp tongue, but Emilia is a good girl." Chelsea explained.
"It sounds more bias than sharp."
"Just be nice to her, and I am happy. Emilia will be happy and we will all be happy."
I nod to her statement and she smiled
"Now, Emilia is waiting for you outside the living quarters. Do not keep a lady waiting."
"She can wait a while more." I trailed off and walked towards Kraz.
Kraz noticed me heading towards him.
"You look like you got a question burning a hole in your pocket. You want to know about Emilia?"
I just nod
"The hostess who ran this bar I used to go to told me she needed a guardian… and the rest is history."
"And you volunteer? Why?"
"Er… Well… I might have a tab that needed paying and she mighta threatened to turn me over to the GUARDIANS. I dunno where Emilia came from. The hostess found her lying in an alley one day. She was taking care of her, but she didn't know anything else other than her age and name…."
He continued on for a while, ranting about her bad points.
"…I'd kick her out if I could, but they'd take me to the cleaners if I toss her on the street without a foster family lined up. I was just hoping to get her to do enough work to at least feed herself. That's when you showed up. She gotta pull her own weight or she'll drag both of us down. I ain't expecting any miracles; just get her up and running, 'kay? Enough of me ranting, go check out yer own room, we can talk business after that. Chelsea has everything ready."
"Okay."
I exited the office and immediately was blocked by a man clad in dark armor. I recognized him as the mercenary I talked to at the Seabed Relic Site.
"You… We met at the Seabed Relic Site, didn't we? You remember?"
"Yeah, I believe I didn't ask for your name."
"Vasque, so you're with this crew too eh? Kraz saw me helping out with the rescue efforts at the site and asked me over."
"And you accepted?"
"When I heard there weren't background checks on anyone here, I was worried… but so far so good, eh? If I'm worried about anything, it's our fearless leader's attitude towards work. I'm sure he got his reasons, but still…"
"It's not our business as mercenaries; we do what we're told."
"Yeah… Tell you what. If we ever get put out on an assignment together, I'll watch your back if you watch mine."
"Right." We shook hands before splitting.
"Hey Vasque!" a female voice sounded, she gave me a one-over before continuing
"Haven't seen you around. We're recruiting again any way and I guess Kraz finally got his behind into gear."
I know Kraz is lazy and all… But not that lazy…
"Name's Kunoh. I'm with Little Wing, which makes me your superior now. We don't ask question about what you did before you joined us, but after you're in, you only go as far as you achieve. Don't think you got what it takes? Then take off."
I'll keep that in mind…
"Seeing how you didn't flinch just now, I'm guessing you do think you have what it takes. Don't worry, I'm on your side as long as you're on mine. Drop by anytime."
"Hey!" Emilia shouted from the living quarters
"Nice meeting you guys, but I got to go now." I told them before leaving.
"Yeah, nice meeting you too." Kunoh huffed.
"Nice to see you again." Vasque called.
"Sorry…" I apologized to Emilia.
"It's about time… Can we get this over with now? I need some shut eye."
She turned around and led me to my room. This whole living quarters is like a maze…
She gave me a brief tutorial before sleeping on my bed. She must really be tired…
I tried to wake her up but she just waved me off
I decide to change back into my old suit since my current suit is badly damaged…
There isn't much to do now so maybe I'll go do some jobs.
I turned around and was about to open the door when a voice echoed in my head
"Wait"
I turned around, looking for whoever is speaking to me.
"It should be safe to speak here."
Emilia stood up and breathed out. She started glowing and another being came into existence.
"I am Mika, an entity of pure consciousness. I have chosen this girl as my vessel."
Emilia then fell back onto the bed
"The form you see before you is a product of technology lost long ago."
Then why is it happening now? Mika read my thoughts and answered
"The people of your time call it the technology of the Ancients, which would make me an Ancient. In the distance past, my people lived in this system. We were the first."
"Is Emilia okay? What did you do to her?" I asked her
"She was exhausted, but now she sleeps. Do not worry, she will awaken soon. I am only borrowing her for a short time while she rest. Please listen to what I have to say as I do not have long."
I merely nodded since I can't do anything to help Emilia currently.
"I have studied Emilia's memories to learn about your time. Three years ago, a great calamity befell the Gurhal System—the attack of the SEED."
I nodded again, thinking about my part in the battle.
"That was not their first attack; they came in my time as well."
I was shocked on hearing that
"It was the height of our civilization. The SEED Invasion pushed us to the brink of ruin. The battle was long, but in the end we triumph like you did, banishing the SEED and their leader, Dark Falz. But victory came too late. The planets of our system were aready tainted by the SEED. Not even our bodies were spared. The taint of the SEED left nothing untouched."
That's why there are no more Ancients…
"It was only a matter of time before our system and all who lived here perished. So the Ancients risked everything on a grand venture that would span the ages: Project Renaissance."
I sat of the floor, absorbing everything she said. They might prove useful next time.
"First, we purified the Gurhal System of the Seed, restoring the planet to their former glory. Next we created a new race of men and loosed them on the pristine world. Finally, we Ancients shed our tainted flesh and became beings of thought. Our work done, we passed into sleep. We slept, and waited – waited for the day our children would rise as we had, so that we might steal their bodies for our own."
Steal our bodies for their own purpose? I was shivering deep down but I asked her to continue.
"As time passed, all went according to the plan. The civilization of the men we created grew and prospered. Their technology advanced, until finally they unlocked the secrets that would lead them to our place of slumber. These new races of men – called humans – are our children, and they have fallen into the trap laid so long ago by the Ancients."
"What do you mean…"
"I know you must find this hard to believe, but it is the truth. And so I ask for your help to stop this dreadful plan from happening."
"What about Emilia?"
"The one you call Emilia will not hear me. Her heart and mind are closed
"Then why do you want to stop the plan? It will grant you a new body, don't you want that?" I nervously asked.
"Though I am an Ancient, I have no desire to be reborn in this time. Our destruction was our fate and our time has passed."
"But why ask me? A stranger?"
"You and I are not the strangers you might think. Ask yourself: Why can we talk as we do? What bond do we share?"
I wasn't aware of those questions at that point. But when she voice her thought I started wondering too… Could I be an ancient? Could others see Mika like me? What does she mean by closed hearts and mind?
"When the automaton attacked you in the relic site, was it real?"
That sentence froze me… It felt too real… If she knew about it, it must be… it could be from Emilia's memory… but what about that voice that talked to me. You are not alone? It didn't feel like she was talking to me, but to Emilia. Even Vasque knows about me going to the relic site. Kraz found me unconscious with Emilia too… could it be I just lost conscious? I glanced at the blood-soak outfit that I wore during the attack… The Svaltia was strong enough to break through now only my shield but my armor too…
"Am I even alive…? That actually happened… right? Where did the Svaltia go to?"
It did… The Svaltia destroyed your flesh before its destruction. You have experienced true death. And it was Emilia's wish that activated my program and allowed me to reconstruct your broken body. Even now, we—she will awaken soon. You and I will speak again…" Mika quickly vanished after that.
Emilia… the reason I died once… the one who sees death more than most ordinary people… The vessel of Mika…
Emilia yawned as she woke up …
"Guess I dozed of there."
She noticed me staring at her
"Um… Why are you staring at me?"
I don't think she will react happily if I told her what happened to her, so I made a excuse quickly.
"I was watching you sleep" I shrugged and looked at the window.
"That's just creepy! Next time I fall asleep, wake me up!"
"Got it." I muttered
"Ewwww… …" She complained to herself…
She got up and left my room, motioning me to follow her.
"Let's see, I guess I should show you your ship next. You're all set up to use the transporter. It'll take you straight to the bridge. It right at the center, go on give it a try."
"How do I activate it?"
"Step into the middle and tap your left foot twice on your twice."
I did as she said and found myself at a ship that supposed to be mine.
"This is the ship you'll use for work. She's company property, so take good care of her." Emilia continued as she teleported up herself.
"How did you teleport up here?"
"We're partners, remember?"
Oh, I guess it makes sense for her to teleport up here too.
"People you add in your party will also be able to teleport up here once you register them onto your ID card. Over there's the terminal with all available missions. Chelsea can fill you in on the details later" She explained as she turned around and pointed at a globe in front of us.
"Basically, I use the ship to take myself to any location the mission calls for?"
"Pretty much."
"Do you know about the Ancients?"
"They've been dead for ages. Why?" Was her reply.
What she didn't know was that an ancient was residing in her.
"You've been staring at my forehead for some time now; do I have something stuck up there?"
"You have an Ancient living inside yourself. It talked to me, so I was curious about what you know about them."
"Wait! Wait, let me get this straight. There's an ancient living inside me?"
"I'm not sure, but I think so."
"Like a tumor? I'd probably noticed something like that. As if our adventure in the relic site wasn't enough, now you have to go making this up?"
"Am I being weird?" I asked softly
"Yes you are. If an Ancient talked to you, it must be a dream. And if that's all you want to talk about, we might as well be working. Here my partner card by the way. Don't forget I've been with the company longer than you, so that means I'm in charge."
"Yes ma'am"
"Hmm, no. Don't like the sound of that." She mused for a moment before continuing, "Forget I said anything. Just keep treating me the way you have and we'll get along fine, alright?"
I just nod
"Phew, talk about a full day. I'm tired already."
"Sorry."
"It's your first job with the company, right? Sorry it had to start out like this, with your hallucinations and all. No need to get in to that again since the main thing is that we are both safe."
I nod again before scanning through the list of mission we can take currently. Most of them are D-ranked mission. But I hardly know the average rating of the mission Little Wing gets."
"Uhm…" Emilia's voice attracted me to look at her.
"I'm not sure how to say this. But, if it wasn't for you, I'd probably still be trapped in that. But more than that, you believe me."
I believe you, yet you don't believe me.
"In my dream, that is." She added with a giggle.
How I wish I could tell her that that wasn't a dream, that what happened was real. But that would make her feel guilty of me dying because of her.
"Real or not, it still made you happy right?" I asked with a smile.
"Yeah… Now I think you've heard enough about me for one day. Next time you're in the hot seat." She yelled with joyful authority.
"We're partner now; we have to get to know each other." I replied
"Yeah! I can't wait for you to tell me about your life." She babbled excitedly before teleporting down to the Little Wing Headquarters.
I smiled to myself and look back at the sphere again. As much as I hate to, I can't tell too much about me being an Ex-GUADIAN, partnering with a copy CAST or about Mika. The former being that the GUARDIANS could throw me in prison if word comes out, the latter two would result in Emilia losing trust in me.
I frowned as I selected a mission to attempt. Not only was the was I unable to accept any mission, but the fact that the most interesting part of my life had to be excluded for safety purposes was saddening. Everybody likes to boast of their fame, beside I doubt she'll believe me if I trained myself to that level. She probably pressurizes me into slipping my tongue.
I think this was how Ethan Waber felt when the illuminus manipulated him into an attempt assassination against Obel Dallgun. He couldn't talk about his life in GUARDIAN to me until I proved my trust.
I sighed and called Chelsea, who answers almost immediately.
"Allo Aria, What can I do for you?"
"Is my registration completed yet?
"Give me a moment… It is now."
"So now I can accept missions?"
"Oui, Oui"
"Thanks"
"You are a full member of Little Wing. We are all counting on you! If Monsieur Boss has a special job for you, I will contact you tout de suite."
"Alright." Was the last word I said before heading back down to the Undersea Ruins.