It was the middle of the night, and a storm was raging over her head.
Lightning was chasing lightning, and the rolling thunder never seemed to stop outside—it only changed in volume.
Rain was pouring down from the heavens for hours and the streets were more or less flooded ankle deep.
The canalization system here had always been shit, but that was especially noticeable when it was raining like this. It was completely overburdened, which meant that the streets and basements would be flooded.
It looked like the rain wanted to drown the sins of the world and wash away all the dirt at the same time.
The power had already gone out hours ago. The power supply in New Bangkok was pretty shitty, but the loans were undeniably cheap.
Since the power supply was so bad, Ala always had some candles and torches in storage to put up when another storm came upon them like the one already raging outside.
She would set up the candles and light them, usually only minutes before the power went out. Now it was dark outside and looked like the world would end here and now.
Sitting on the couch, she read a book in the light of one of the candles. An old bestseller. Illuminati by Dan Brown. She was just about to turn a page of the book, when she heard something that wasn't thunder. It was something else.
It sounded like something was soaring down to earth at an extreme high speed, followed by a crashing sound which was almost drowned out by a loud thunder. But aside from the thunder, if you listened a bit closer, you could hear the horrible sound of metal getting ripped apart, bent, and destroyed—of several minor explosions ripping the rest of whatever it was apart.
Curiosity piqued, she got up and looked out her window. She was living in an attic flat on top of one of the bigger buildings, with a huge balcony all around the flat and tons of windows. Not really something good when it came to storms, but since cyclones and hurricanes weren't that common, they could build such buildings as hers.
And she would be lying if she said that she hated it. It was awesome to be able to oversee the city in the light of the rising or setting sun.
The rest of the block was mostly empty or there were people who weren't really interested in her and vice versa. Best part was, the flat right underneath her was empty. So she could do whatever the fuck she wanted and be as loud as she wanted and nobody would complain. Bringing home whoever she wanted would work too, although she never did that. Although that was for totally different reasons than one might expect.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
Looking out of the window, searching for the source of the sound, she could see that something had crashed on the plains just outside the city. She couldn't make out what it was, but she could see that it was huge. And the slight red shimmer on the clouds above from the fire illuminated the scenery in an eerie reddish light.
There could be people in danger, hurt, dead, or needing help.
Running to her office, she suited up within ten minutes and was out of the flat moments later towards the red lights of the fire of the crash site, only a few weapons of her arsenal with her—only to defend herself in case someone would attack her.
She arrived there only moments after the militaries were there. It was dark, but she could see that it was a huge ship up on a snowy hill further up in the plains. Since it was winter, it was rather cold outside, but it was about to become spring, so the snow in the city already melted away.
Since New Asia was a whole planet, it was possible that it would snow in New Bangkok, unlike the city's idol, the one on the Earth in the tropical zone.
In any case, it being winter and stuff didn't prevent Ala from being wet to the bones the moment she was out in the rain. Oh well…
Looking around, she saw a strange figure walking away. Looking closer, thank God she had good eyes, she could see that there were two of them. One was walking and the other, the bigger one, was hanging over the smaller figure's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Obviously they were unconscious, as the other figure was dragging them along.
Since she wouldn't be able to get to the crash site as the military was already there without giving away her position, she decided to walk over to the figure obviously trying to get away from there.
Within minutes she was around the plains and able to meet up with them without the military noticing it.
When she stepped outside of her hiding to meet the soldier, she was met with the barrel of a machine gun pointed directly between her eyes.
"Give me a reason not to put a bullet through your head!" the smaller soldier snarled, obviously a woman.
Lifting her hands in appeasement, Ala kept her voice low and tone appeasing, "I can give you and your fellow teammate some shelter."
"And what reason do I have to trust you?"
That was a good question, actually.
"None," Ala answered honestly, which gave the other soldier pause, "But I am offering you shelter for you and your obviously injured comrade."
"And you would do that because…?"
Wow, it looks as though she was a pretty suspicious one. But Ala couldn't hold that against her since she knew how paranoid you could get during your military service. And they had also just survived the crash of a massive ship.
"Let's just say that my opinion has changed since I entered the military. And not for the better." She replied, not making a move and waiting for the other soldier to calm down and put a minimum of trust in her.
"Uh-huh, and you surely aren't going to rat us out because you wouldn't want the money you would get from selling out to the army because you're such an oh-so Good Samaritan?" she replied, the suspicion still evident in her voice.
"I don't even know who you are. And as I said, I am not really on good terms with the military, so I wouldn't do a damn thing to help them anyhow." Ala replied and this time the soldier let the weapon sink after some moments.
Ala continued, "In any case. I suppose we better get moving, or the military stalking around the crash site are going to find us. I am sure they found out that you went MIA by now."
This time, the soldier nodded after another short moment of contemplation and stuffed away the SMG.
"You mind if I help you with your fellow soldier?" Ala asked, taking up a more comfortable posture but not moving any other way. Although she felt like replying with snark herself or let loose some sarcastic comments, she decided against it. She didn't know how the soldier would react. And to be honest, Ala could really do without having a third eye socket in her forehead.
"That sorry excuse of a soldier is my twin brother." the woman snarled, hoisting the body higher up and starting to move.
"Okay, I'm sorry. Mind if I help you carry your brother?" Ala rephrased, but it was only answered with a snort.
"Just do what you fucking want. I don't give a flying fuck."
Ala blinked, a bit taken aback, but chalked the woman's demeanor up to being tired, beaten up, being in a foreign place, the worry about her brother, and the possible pain she was in.
Walking over to the woman, carefully watching her posture, she helped the woman carry her unconscious brother. The white and blue armored soldier noticed that the man's right arm was probably broken since she felt it moving under her grip when she rested it over her shoulder to help carry the weight.
While walking back, Ala then spoke up again. "I am Ala by the way. My full name is Alaska," she added quickly when she noticed the woman stiffening up and the aura turning hostile. She might be mistaken, but she had the intention that the woman was reaching for the holstered SMG again.
She hurried to explain in order to avoid being shot for real, "It's my birth name. No kidding. This isn't a code name. My code name was Elbon No. 6." The figure relaxed a bit, the hostile aura subduing a bit but not disappearing.
The female soldier was obviously still eyeing her cautiously, keeping an eye on her if she was up to do something funny.
"My name's South Dakota. Just call me South." She replied.
Ala felt a bit angry that the woman didn't tell her real name, but she first needed her trust before she would tell Ala her real name.
Deep in thought while guiding them through the city, she almost missed the next thing South said, "This guy here is North."
"So your agent names are like the Dakota states?"
There was a curt nod from South at that.
"Okay, South. My apartment is right over there, let's get you guys out of the rain." She nodded over to the five story house she lived in and South nodded again.
When they were up in the apartment, Ala and South laid the still unconscious North on the kitchen table. It was the best place to examine and treat the guy's wounds. His armor already looked pretty beaten up and bruised, and she didn't want to know how the body underneath looked.
After the big guy was lying securely on the table, the owner of the apartment shortly explained to South the layout of the place and gave her some of her clothes, since they were approximately the same height and weight. Whilst South went to shower, not without flipping Ala off when she told her not to use all the hot water, the black-haired woman also slipped out of her suit, dried herself up, and put on some more comfortable clothes.
Since she knew how suspicious towards her and protective towards her brother South seemed, she decided to wait in regards to North's treatment until the other woman was out of the shower. The only thing she did was to take off the soldier's helmet and check his vital signs regularly. Checking for the pulse on his throat, holding a hand to his nose to check for breathing, lying an ear on his chest to listen to see if his lungs were full with some kind of liquid, like blood.
Luckily, no worrisome sounds were to be heard.
Since he was stable so far, Ala didn't do much more than that, aside from gathering all the medical supplies she would need to patch the guy up with. Bandages, disinfectant, strips, some medicaments for after the treatment. She would have to dissolve those in water and somehow instill them to North.
When the woman came into the kitchen, freshly showered and looking more tired than before as the adrenaline from before seemed to wear off, they started taking off North's gear. When he was lying there in his undersuit, Ala started examining the man starting with his head. He had a laceration over his left eye, which Ala disinfected and closed with some sticky strips. Sewing and stripping was the same, so she preferred the strips as this meant no more injuries to his body like when getting sewn.
Unfortunately, she had no cure for the massive bump on his left temple, right underneath the laceration. This injury would have to heal with time. She suspected him having at least a middle to heavy concussion. She told that to South, also saying that they both would have to check on him regularly.
However, Ala would take over the first days so South could rest since she was so beaten up—though only if she was okay with that arrangement.
"Whatever…" she grumbled, crossing her arms and staring at her brother like she wanted to make him wake up just like that.
Ala sighed.
Seriously, this girl was quite a special case to get along with. And she had the feeling that South didn't like or trust her. That she hated her guts for some reason.
Anyways…time to focus back on the task at hand, Alaska.
Going down over the body, she could see that his body was covered in bruises. Actually, there were more black spots and bruises visible than his pale skin. No wonder, considering the crash they went through. He must have gotten thrown around like a doll in the ship. Considering the wounds, she didn't suspect he would have been able to get somewhere safe on his own.
Now coming to his arm, she shortly twisted said broken bone so the bones would snap back into the right position. Luckily it was a simple fracture, no splintering or something else. After putting it in splints, she relocated the shoulder back into the socket again with an audible crack
If South winced, she didn't show it outwardly.
Unfortunately, she wasn't able to fix his arm on his chest since she noticed that some of his ribs were broken too. Some even multiple times. So extra pressure on the chest would be out of the question.
She wasn't able to avoid seeing the fresh scars of bullet holes on his torso, but decided to not ask about it yet.
After finishing the check of the upper part of his body, she wandered downwards to his abdomen. She shortly examined it, noticing with relief that the abdomen was smooth and soft. No internal bleeding—what a relief!
Then she wandered down over his legs. The hip and the bones there looked okay, only pretty bruised, but okay.
Then his legs.
She soon noticed that the right lower leg was broken too.
The left one was okay. Luckily.
Something must have fallen on him during the crash, she thought.
"More like someone." Ala blinked in surprise at South's statement, as she hadn't been aware of saying that one statement out loud.
But considering the face South had made just then, she did.
South obviously hadn't thought that Ala would notice it, since her face, which looked rather soft, turned hard immediately when she noticed the black-haired woman's glance.
But given the fact that she got out of this hell almost uninjured made it pretty clear that North had shielded his sister against the falling and the debris rolling around with his own body, despite the fact that he could have died doing so.
Aside from the injuries she found, there was only the beforehand mentioned bruises. Nothing bad, luckily.
He just seemed deeply unconscious since he had obviously hurt his head rather badly and his body was staying in standby-mode to heal all of the minor and major wounds it had received.
If they had been really unlucky, the sudden changes of air pressure could have also caused a lack of oxygen that would now cause some troubles too. But given the fact that South was standing beside her and looked pretty okay, she doubted that was the problem. She more had the feeling that it was the bump on his temple that causing the unconsciousness.
Patching up the bigger and deeper injuries with patches and bandages, she then gave him one last examining glance before giving her okay.
Anyways, after she was done, she cleaned her hands in the sink and turned around to South.
"Two streets down is a 24/7-market, also offering clothes. You mind going out and getting some clothes for your brother and yourself?" she asked, her gaze not being met by the female soldier's eyes.
She only snorted at that, "And how do you suppose I am going to do that? We don't have any money."
"I'll give you some." Ala answered deliberately, not being able to hide rolling her eyes, giving the woman another pause.
She walked over to the drawer and pulled out a box with money in it. Taking out some money, she gave it to the soldier.
"I guess that's more than enough. Just buy what you think is best for him and you. I guess some shirts, jogging trousers, and jeans are best?" she tried to be conversional with the woman to break the ice and make her feel comfortable here, but this tactic was answered by a snort.
"No I planned on buying him a fucking bikini!" she shot back and left the room, and shortly after the building itself after putting on a pair of Ala's bigger shoes and slamming the door shut.
Wow, the remaining woman thought to herself, what a sunny character…
Sighing, she turned back around to the half-naked man and this time, she took her time to check out his facial features. He looked handsome, and, taking the whole body into consideration, pretty well-built and well-shaped. She didn't doubt that he was pretty fit as well. Well, with being a soldier you needed a rudimentary fitness to survive basics and the military career afterwards
Looking back at his face, she noticed the pale blond hair. It was such a pale platinum blond that it almost looked white. Right underneath the right eye, she could see a small scar. Obviously a cut from earlier days, which had healed up completely.
About thirty minutes later South returned with a bag of clothes, not bothering to give her back the rest of the money.
Ala didn't care. Not that she did have a lot of money, but she didn't want to start a fight over the money when both of them looked so badly off.
While shortly taking a shower, she let South clean and dress her brother. She thought it was better like that to avoid a fight should she try to do so.
After South and Ala were done with their tasks, they moved North to Ala's bedroom and into her bed so he could sleep.
There was a guest bed in the office, where South could sleep during her stay. Before the young soldier could move in, the owner of the apartment moved some of the stuff to the living room such as her armor and her laptop, as well as a safe with her weapons in it.
She put it down in the kitchen. Luckily it had wheels, which you could unlock when knowing the right code—a different one from the lock, mind you!
After South retreated into her room, it soon became silent and dark again. About an hour ago, the power did return as the thunderstorm subdued completely, leaving only a light night rain coming down on the world of New Asia.
From this moment on, the owner of the apartment would check regularly on the injured man who was still unconscious. She couldn't say if or when he would wake up, but she wanted to make sure that she was doing her best to help him recover.
She checked his temperature, changed the bandages of the smaller injuries, and checked on his overall physical state.
The concussion he probably had only made the situation worse.
All the while, she would talk with him, telling him who she was, explaining where he was, and how he had ended up here. That his sister was doing okay and that they would wait for him to wake up.
Some days later, Ala woke up from a deep sleep.
North still hadn't woken up but was showing minor signs of coming back around slowly.
When she realized that she had fallen asleep and nobody had checked on North during that time, she shot up from the couch. Immediately her vision began to blur and black spots appeared before her eyes. She needed some seconds for her body to acclimate.
When feeling better, she then got up and checked on the young man lying there and sleeping still.
Something, however, felt off.
She then went over to the closed office door and knocked. When she didn't receive an answer after knocking the third time she opened the door, only to find the room empty.
Hmm… Strange… Where could South be?
Okay, they never had been on good terms. She had been hostile and angry towards Ala, cynical and sarcastic and for some reason really hated her guts—beyond just the signs of the overall mistrust she showed towards the black-haired woman.
Anyway, aside from that, South never just disappeared. No matter how much she hated her, she was around to check on her brother.
Walking into the kitchen to get some water, she saw that one of the cabinets was open.
With slight dread pooling in her stomach she opened the door, only to find her suspicions confirmed. The box was open and the money was gone.
Fucking bitch!
Ala had always tried to be understanding towards South, but that bitch was plain mean! Those were the savings she had put aside for when she was thinking of maybe moving to a better place or returning to Earth after some time passed!
With an angry growl, she hurled the empty tin box back into the cabinet with a loud clattering sound and sank into a chair.
Rubbing her hands over her face, she breathed in and out deeply. Okay, she still had some money left in another place to pay the daily things she had to buy, but the money in the box had been something like her rainy day fund.
Anyway, there was no advantage in sitting there and moaning over the loss of money.
Getting up with a deep sigh, she decided to check on the still sleeping North. She hoped that he maybe was a bit friendlier than his sister.
So far, this whole rescuing thing was more or less only a loss for her. In both a personal and financial way.
Maybe the guy would be able to make up a bit for that by being at least friendly and appreciating her help.
A 'Thank you' would be more than enough, for God's sake!
Opening the door, she could see from the window that the last rays of the sun were just disappearing. It was about to become night.
Checking the man over and changing the bandages where it was needed, she then again sat down beside the bed on a chair and kept him company like she had been doing these last few days.
She felt bad for leaving the guy alone when he was unconscious. She was convinced that it helped being around people while they were recovering, no matter if they were conscious or not. She guessed the guy might need it even more given his state and the fact that he was far away from everything he had probably ever known.
Now especially with even his sister gone—who would have been the only person he knew here.
Besides South having disappeared, she felt a strange restlessness coming from the man. It was strange actually. She couldn't put a finger on it, but it felt like the man himself was deeply unconscious, but something connected with his mind was restless. Almost like a second mind.
She knew that, aside from a few exceptions, it was impossible that this explanation made any sense.
But her instinct told her otherwise.
Since she didn't feel anything hostile coming from the entity, she decided to leave it at that. Maybe North knew something more about this 'second mind sharing the same body with him' that he could share with her upon waking up.
She couldn't put a finger on what it was, it was just her instinct telling her that. Her instinct was always pretty good, but she was rather shitty in putting her feelings into words.
After having talked with the young man for the last days, she didn't know anymore what to tell him aside from the bad news about his sister having left. She didn't want to tell him that when he needed positive things to focus on in order to heal faster.
So what to do?
She then suddenly remembered that she often was told a fairytale when she or her younger sister had a nightmare or were afraid of the dark.
Breathing in deeply, she then began, "I know it sounds kinda strange, but I feel like you might want to hear something nice from time to time. Let me tell you a fairytale from my childhood that my mom often used to tell me…" with that, she started telling the unconscious man the story.
Indeed, she soon after felt like the man, or perhaps more accurately the entity sharing the body with him, was starting to calm down.