So I'm actually rather satisfied with the last chapter and how well it ties into this one, so story wise, I'm not changing a thing from the original, aside from story progression speed. Basically, when I originally wrote this particular piece of the stroy, it took place a few months ahead in the future, but the story only actually was shortened by about a chapter of fluff and filler by my taking it out...
So without any more delaying with irrelivent information, I give you all "Life Changes Pt.2!"
External Perspective
Zero now stood in his hidden home, fully dressed in his standard armor, theorizing with himself as to what exactly could be happening to him as he stared at his left arm and leg. The previous pressure in his joints and heaviness in his limbs had now subsided, giving way to a dull ache that was as persistant as Axton in his persuit of Maya's favor. Zero chuckled lightly to himself, reminescing in countless memories of his comrades committing stupid and usually pointless acts of valor, comroderie, and kindred spiritedness. As an immediate response to his slightly violent muscle movements in his laugh, the dull ache surged into a burning and shooting pain, coursing through every nerve on the left side of his body. He almost doubled over, his hand holding to his shoulder as he eased himself into the chair. A heavy sigh seft his throat as he sat, removeng his armor again. Soon, the armor was off, laying in a relatively neatly folded pile on the floor beside him, his hands over his face.
"Ugh... I cannot function in or outside of battle if this aching does not subside..." Zero said to himself, removing his hands from his face and clenching them into fists. When his left hand tightened, a surge of strength flowed into his body, returning his stamina. He looked down into his hand puzzled, looking at the bruising questioningly.
"These are not normal bruises... Then... What are they?" he asked, forcing himself up out of the chair. The energy that he now felt surpassed his ordinary, impressive level of strength, making him feel outstandingly lively. He walked with suspecion in each step, distrusting his body as he made his way to the bathroom in the side of the cave. Despite the lesser quality of habitation compared to the other places in Sanctuary, Zero's bathroom was very well-kept. It possessed a full sized shower and running water that tapped directly into the digistruct modules that created the waters of the floating city, granting the humble assassin an earlier taste of the fresh daily supply. He entered the shower, closing the door behind him as he continued toward the walk-in shower. He turned on the water, beginning to remove his underwear as he waited for the water to heat up. The poetic hit man further inspected the marks on his body, noticing similarities between them and the markings of a siren.
"The two are in close resemblence, but differ greatly in design... I wonder why..." he asked himself, rubbing the bruising on his shoulder. Strangely enough, the bruises no longer hurt, they simply throbbed, coursing an odd vitality that further confused him. He now entered the shower, reveling in the refreshing sensation of the warming waters cascading down his lean frame, relaxing his tense muscles. However, before the fine-tuned fighter could fully release his tension, a shallow knocking at his hidden door allerted him, causing him to return to his guard. He looked out from behind the curtain to the twenty-some-odd live streaming video images near him. (Just because he relaxes doesn't meen that he eve gets careless.) Zero looked from screen to screen, finding the several that overlooked the door and the few feet that surrounded it. The person knocking was none other than Angel, standing with patients at the entrence. Zero pressed a button, causing the door to open with a quiet, automated sound, allowing the kind girl to enter. When Angel walked past the threshhold of the door, Zero pressed another button on the control panel, causing the door to close and relock. Zero then psychcically contacted Angel...
"Angel, you're back early... Did everything go according to plan?" he asked telepathically, turning off the water.
"Well... Not exactly... I'll explain when everyone's at the briefing. For now, seing as we've got some free time... I thought that I'd hang out with you for a little while..." she replied, stepping toward the colosed door of the shower. She opened it gingerly, trying to alert Zero of her presence and not startle him. She pushed it open, stepping inside at the exact moment that Zero stepped out of the shower. Her eyes met his body, taking in the changes with great surprise. "...What... Are... Those...?" she asked, her face growing pale with fear and confusion.
"I'm unsure, though I believe they're similar to a siren's tattoos... With one exceptio-..." Zero began before his eyes rolled back in their sockets and he dropped to the floor, unconscious.
Character Perspective: Zero
I felt strange... Like my senses were being denied and by body was no longer under my control. There was nothing around me, only darkness. Soon, however, the darkness gave in to a light that seemed to raiate from my body, illuminating through my bruises. The light began to burn, seering my flesh and flaring through my suit to form red markings that were very similar to those of a siren. I looked around in the crimson after glow as the landscape appeared before me. I was standing in the middle of a mountain, covered in fresh snow and covered with strange, white rocks that possessed a glow radiating from them. I continued to look around, noticing a strange creature perched on one of the taller stones about one hundred meters away and fifty meters high. I reached for my rifle, but my digistruct module was gone, all that I possessed was my favored blade. I took it from my side, disappearing under stealth and walking silently toward it. I walked for several seconds, noticing in the corner of my eye a growing white haze. I turned to look, seeing a similar creature emerge from seemingly nowhere. It was noticably larger than the other, standing almost ten feet tall and partially slouched. Though it stood straight, it's head was about two feet ahead of the rest of its body and lowered to the same level as its shoulders. It possessed a thin frame and misshapen extremedies that seemed too long for its body. It lifted its long arms and constructed blades on each hand as it screached out and charged me. I again reached for my weapons, this time, I found my Law pistol. I unholstered it when it digistructed, readying myself for the impending fight. It lunged at me with it's heavy blade, puncturing my shield, I retaliated with a swift lash at its side, with negligable results. Its shield must have been sizable as it absorbed my strike with ease. It slashed me again, cutting a deep gash into my stomach... If my C0unter Strike didn't penetrate its shield now, I would die. I side-stepped its next attack, going into my Deception and tossing all of my explosive kunai into the creature, dashing into it after they errupted. The creature was knocked back just enough that my decoy exploded in its face. The creature was sent reeling, recovering slightly several feet away, its shield depleated. I attacked mercilously, cutting the creature in half with two swings, Killing Bl0w hitting with enough force to tear the now aparantly mechanical beast in two, healing me completely. I reached for my Infiltrator Rifle, zeroing in my sights on the flying one that was previously perched and fired straight into its oddly positioned head. The glowing, mechanical wings on the back of the monstrosity exploded, dropping the dead creature to the ground with a hollow thud. I looked over the landscape with my rifle, seeing two others, picking them off in similar fashion. I then heard another ear-splitting screach and turned to my left, seeing two more of the automatons side-stepping their way toward me. I pulled out my pistol again, immediately entering Deception and throwing my kunai into one's face, killing it with the explosions. I directed my attention to the one still lunging fruitlessly at my decoy, waiting several more seconds for my timer to tick down before dealing my strongest attack. Just before I could strike, a purple and blue explosion broke my shield, granting me my c0unter attack. I turned around to see one several meters away, launching what seemed to be morter attacks at my decoy. I began charging it, my timer growing very low, but with one more melee dash, I cut the creature down in two pieces, my decoy killing the other with shock damage. I turned around several times, watching the horizon for more of the flying ones, swapping my weapon out for my rifle again. Three more started soaring toward the area that I was in, charging some sort of energy ray and starting to attack me. I dispatched them rather quickly, my shield absorbing the blunt of the assault. Several seconds pass by as I reload my rifle,scanning for more enemies; none came. I noticed a cave of sorts leading into a dark, square-shaped hole and began to walk toward it, pulling out my Law again. I entered the hole, once again feeling the left side of my body begin to burn and glow.
I exited the hole to walk into a large chamber that was snowy inside. In the center of the chamber was an alter standing in front of the symbol of the Vault. I stepped forward toward the alter, feeling a welcome sensation in the back of my mind. Angel was yet again asking my permission to enter my mind, and by extension, my dreams. I let her in and was immediately blinded by a white light that quickly subsided. I opened my eyes to see Angel floating about two feet ahead of me, smiling softly.
"You're a hard man to get a hold of..." she teased, dropping to the ground and walking over to me, hugging me longingly. "...I was so worried... Please don't scare me like that again!..." she cried, burying her face in my chest, her grip tightening. I wrapped my hands around her shoulders, consoling her as best I could with my armor on. She pulled away after several seconds, her sobs stopping as she wiped her eyes. "...I... figured out why... you're getting these markings... And you're not a siren... You're an Eridian..." she said softly, her siren tattoos glowing a heavy white. "...You may even be the last of your kind in the galaxy..." she continued, wiping away another tear.
"How do you know these things, Angel?" I asked, slowly releasing my grip on her.
"When I entered your mind... Your memories... Your hidden ones... Opened up to me... Maybe it's because you were here fighting your subconscious when I showed up?" she answered with a puzzled expression, looking deep into my eyes. "...Anyway... The reason that you have these tattoos is because your species created the sirens thousands of years ago... They were trying to aid man's evolution by granting them traits much like their own... Eridians naturally possess powers stronger than that of a siren due to their heritage... I guess when your memories were locked away, so too were your powers..."
"Why were my powers locked away? By whom?" I asked, confused.
"I can't answer that... Those memories are still locked... Most of your memories should return to you when you and I wake up, along with your access to your powers outside of your dreams..." she said in a kind voice, taking my hand in hers.
"Why have they unlocked now? What's changed?" I asked, looking into her eyes. She stared directly into mine through my helmet, as though it wasn't even there.
"You're with me now, Zero... Your heart was what was keeping them locked away... And now that you've given it to me, a siren, they've unlocked! If we were just in proximity of one another without the connection we share, the process would have taken almost two years, by my calculations... But with the addition of love, the transaction has taken little more than a Pandoran day!" she replied, smiling up at me with child-like innocense. She then leaned forward into another tight hug with me, snuggling her face into my chest. "Mmmm!... And now that you've got all this energy flowing through you... You're like an aphrodeziac... I feel like a cat in heat right now... Mmm..." she said in a slightly husky voice, pulling away from my chest. Her eyes opened and revealed a lustful hunger the likes of which I'd never seen. She looked as though she really was in heat... And I was scared of what that would meen for the other sirens... Would the effects spread, or was this only going to effect her because she was the one that I'd chosen?
"Angel... Are these powers going to attract Maya and Lilith as well, or are the effects limited to just you?" I asked, pulling away aeveral inches.
"You gave me your heart, Zero... And I gave you mine... These effects could only be given to the siren that sparked the change by love... So you're safe from having an unwanted harem... Unless you wanted one... Pervert..." she replied, her eyes playful with lustful confidence. She then began to remove my helmet before I stopped her with my hands.
"Not here Angel... Not in a dream... If we are to make love, let it be in our true reality..." I said as I pulled her hands away, projecting a heart and pressing my face plate against her forehead.
She closed her eyes, smiling slightly as she replied. "Mm hmm!" she mumbled in affirmation, biting her lower lip softly. Our markings began to glow brightly, burning away the landscape that surrounded us and filling us with warmth. I momentarilly closed my eyes, opening them to realize that I was lying in the bed in our cave next to Angel as she snuggled up next to me, rubbing her pelvis against me in a needy, gyrating motion. I was weraing only a towel that Angel had used to cover me with before dragging me out of the bathroom. Angel then leaned over me, pinning me down on the bed between her legs. "Now make good on your promise... And I'll reward you at the end..." she purred, her tattoos still glowing brightly. I kissed her passionately, our eyes closing together.
End Chapter: Life Changes Pt.2