A/N THere's gonna' be some epicness in this chappie! (I hope we got the German right...) Smoke makes Alice act a bit loopy. And we introduce a new character! I know there are a lot of people in Berlin(Germany n general) that speak english, but for the purpses of this FF, they don't. (BTW, I'm sorry if Medusa's a bit OOC. I don't write her often.)
The next day Alice awoke at 1:00 in the afternoon. 'Shit.' she thought. She shook Brandon awake. "We got four hours until the flight leaves. Pack your bags quickly and start studying your German!"
"Ich studiere die ganze Nacht." he said groggily, slowly getting up from the futon. Alice ignored him, busily packing her stuff and lost in her own thoughts. Brandon quickly showered, changed, and packed his bags. "Are you ready?" He asked, putting his suitcase near the front door.
"Yep." Alice replied.
"I guess we have to walk if we don't want to raise suspicions." he said, opening the front door. Alice grabbed her suitcase-and Brandon's sleeve-and started to run quickly to the airport, getting there in less than five minutes due to her super speed. "If you do that again without telling me, you'll burn out the soles of my shoes." he said, noticing the smoke drifting up from the bottom of his sneakers. Alice chuckled.
"Let's go catch our flight." he said, and began walking towards the terminal.
Alice followed him. "You smell like smoke~!"
"It's not me, it's my shoes." he said, dragging both of their suitcases behind him.
Alice giggled and grabbed her suitcase. "Mine."
"I know." he said, handing her the suitcase. He then pulled up his phone. "We have 3 hours until our flight." he said, putting the phone back into his pocket.
"What are we gonna' do for three hours?"
"I'm gonna study German after we get our bags on board." he said.
"OK." Alice said. She then thought of something quite disturbing. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Brandon, when you were talking about forcing Medusa to help us, where you thinking of something that happened in your universe?"
"Yea. She did experiments on me, so I want to return the favor." he said, a sadistic grin growing on his face.
Alice's expression contorted to one of worry and fear. "That was a horrible mistake." she said emotionlessly, her eyes glazed as if in some sort if trance. "When you get back home, you will find yourself in the middle of a horrible war..."
"War. By definition: guns, explosions, gore, death, torture, and more explosions. All of these I enjoy." he said, listing off the stereotypical classification of war.
Alice started muttering to herself about death, destruction and tragedy until it was reduced to the repeated whisperings of the German word for 'Die' distantly, her eyes even more glazed to the point where she had no pupil or eyeshine, just a mass of red in her eye.
"Alice." he said, snapping his fingers in front of her face. Needless to say, it didn't snap her out of the trance-like state. She continued to mutter, only faster. Much faster and non-stop. "Alice!" he said, raising his voice a little, and began shaking her shoulder.
"Sterben. Sterben. Sterben. Sterben. Sterben. Sterben. Sterben. Sterben. Sterben..." Alice repeated, moving limply each time Brandon shook her.
"Steuern Sie selbst!" he commanded, hoping her native language would puncture the trance-like state of mind.
"Sterben. Sterben. Sterben. Sterben. Sterben..." The ex-Kishin repeated faster, unnaffected by Brandon's attempt to snap her out of her trance.
"Wir warden niche Sterben." he reassured, trying to think of something to stop her.
Alice gasped, her eyes flashing white for a moment. She shook her head then smiled as if nothing had happened. "OK, let's board the flight now."
"What the hell was that?!" Brandon demanded, shocked by her sudden transformation.
"What was what?"
"You just kept repeating 'sterben' and your eyes glazed over. Then, your eyes flashed white, and then you were back to normal." he explained, somewhat creeped out.
"Hm? Well, have you heard of the Oracle of Delphi?" Alice asked. "Believe me, this question is completely relevant."
"No." he answered quickly, wanting her to explain why it is relevant.
Alice face-palmed. "Even five-year-olds know who Delphi is." she muttered to herself. "The Oracle of Delphi was the first Looker. She lived in Greece. Like all Lookers, whenever she would predict the future she would go into a trance-like state. However, because of the rocks in the Temple-or was it a cave?-she worked in, her always-accurate predictions came out as riddles. FYI, the fumes the rocks produced when wet were basically drugs. Anyway, the Looker skill became a gene that could be passed down from Generations when she taught the ability to different people. So, basically, I just told you the future of your dimension."
"Well, that's not good." he said, analyzing the prediction.
"It may be bad, it may not be bad." Alice said. "It could mean the death of a powerful enemy or it could mean your own demise. I don't know for sure." she shrugged.
"It could be both of us." Brandon said, shrugging.
"Maybe."
Brandon quickly checked his phone. "Well, that wasted a good half hour." he said, putting the device back into his pocket. Alice chuckled. "Wanna get something to eat?" he proposed, his stomach growling due to the absence of breakfast.
The German smiled. "Food is always good."
"Let's see if we can find a Denny's or something." he said, and began to look over the small amount of stores in the terminal.
"'Denny's'? What's that?" Alice asked curiously.
"It's a breakfast diner." he explained.
"Oh." Alice replied.
"There's one." he said, pointing towards it.
"OK. Lets go!" Alice said, walking towards the resturant. They quickly arrived, and sat down at an open table. Brandon looked at one of the menus and instantly began salivating. "Um, Brandon, why are you drooling?"
"See for yourself." he said, handing her the menu.
Alice looked at the menu. "Hmmm, this all looks pretty good but not as good as pasta." she said before handing the menu back to Brandon.
"How are pancakes and bacon not as good as pasta?" he questioned, befuddled by Alice's choice of foods.
"Well, I've always favored pasta over anything else." Alice chuckled. "Even though I do love sweets~!"
"In that case, there's chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate syrup and whipped cream you can order." he said, checking back to the menu.
"Really?"
"You'd think I'd lie about that?" he asked, handing her the menu.
Alice took the menu and her mouth started watering. "Chocolate..."
"I'm guessing you like Swedes then." he said, noticing her salivating over chocolate.
"When we get to Germany, I should get you some German chocolate. It's so much better than American chocolate." Alice said, giving the menu back to Brandon.
"I'm guessing it's more bitter." he said, drawing back on his small knowledge of international chocolate.
"Eh, I wouldn't say it's bitter. It's not as sweet and it tastes smoother, I guess. It's kinda' hard to describe, but believe me it tastes a lot better." The ex-Kishin smiled.
"Sure, I'll try it." he said. The waiter then came over to take there order. She was probably about 30, was 5'9", had long blonde hair, and was chewing bubble gum.
"What can I get ya'?" she asked, a southern drawl immenint in her speech.
"Uh, I'll just get the chocolate chip pancakes." Alice said.
"And I'll have a stack of three pancakes with three peices of bacon, please." Brandon said, handing the waiter the menu.
"Comin' right up." she said, and walked away.
After she left, Alice turned to Brandon. "What kind of accent was that?"
"Southern. Probably from either Texas or Alabama." he responded, thinking of the people he knew who lived in those states.
Alice looked surprised. "I thought all Americans sounded the same..."
"No, there canbe a multitude of different accents within the same state." Brandon said, chuckling a little at Alice's inexperience with American culture.
"Really?"
"Really. And most states have distinctive accents too." he explained.
"...I am such an idiot." Alice chuckled good-naturedly.
"Well, you did say Kidd didn't let you go on missions, so you probably didn't get out too often." he said, lowering his voice so that other people wouldn't hear him.
"Eh, that's true," Alice replied. "I didn't really get to leave the mansion much while I was there..."
"As I was saying, there are many distinctive accents per state. For example, New Yorkers have either an Italian accent or a rural accent. A pennsylvanian accent is much different." he explained.
Alice listened intently. "Really? I didn't know that..."
"Yea. If we keep doing missions after we return from our little trip, there's a good chance we will visit another state, and you can hear their accents then." he said.
"Ah, OK!" The ex-Kishin replied. The waiter then came up with their meals, lying the dishes in front of the two teens.
"Enjoy~" she said, walking away. Brandon immediately cut off a piece of his pancakes and ate it.
Alice also began eating, enjoying every bite. "I love chocolate..."
"I know. You said that already." Brandon said, taking another large bite from his pancakes.
"I'm going to ignore the fact you said that." Alice replied, taking another bite.
"So, you're just going to repeat information, thinking it is new every time?" the meister asked, taking a bite from a strip of bacon.
Alice gave him an annoyed look. "No. I'm not an idiot, y'know."
"I know, but your previous statement seemed to prove other wise." he said, finishing the bacon strip.
"You're confusing me." Alice said.
"You said you were going to ignore my previous statement, so I thought you were going to say 'I love chocolate' again. I decided to counter that with my statement, and you got annoyed by it, saying you weren't an idiot, but by deciding to ignore my statement, I thought otherwise." he explained.
"You're STILL confusing me." Alice replied.
"Forget it. " he sighed, taking another bite from his pancakes.
"OK." Alice said plainly.
Brandon quickly finished the rest of his food, leaving one piece of bacon. "You want it?" he asked, offering her the bacon slice.
"Sure." Alice said, finishing her pancakes.
"Here." he said, hand handed the piece to her.
Alice ate it quickly. "Well, how much time 'till the flight leaves?" she asked.
He pulled up his phone quickly. "We have two hours." he said, putting the phone away.
"OK." Alice replied.
"I need to practice my German some more, so I'm gonna find a seat." he said, looking for a bench to sit on. Alice left a piece of gold on the table for when the Waitress came back and pointed out an empty bench for Brandon. "Thanks." he said, walked over to the bench, and pulled up his then put in the earbuds and began watching the instructional program. The Waitress came back and Alice gave her the gold and a $30 tip before getting up and sitting next to Brandon. Brandon didn't notice her, since he was too involved with focusing on the video. Alice, having nothing else to do, decided to stare at her meister until he saw her. It was a good half hour before he saw something move in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look, and was surprised.
"Was zum Teufel? Wann bist du hierher gekomman?" he question, speaking in the language he was focused on.
Alice chuckled. "I've been here for almost fifty minutes."
"Wow, I'm oblivious, aren't I?" he asked, pausing the video with one hand and using the other to take out one of the ear buds.
"Yep." The weapon replied plainly.
"We still have another hour until the flight leaves, so I'm gonna practice for another half hour and then we will board the flight." he said, checking the time on his phone.
"OK." Alice said plainly. Brandon studied for about a half an hour, and then put his phone away.
"Now boarding: 5:00 direct flight to Berlin." the loudspeaker said, listing two other flights as well.
"That's us." the meister said, standing up. Alice also stood. The two walked quickly to the gate were their pIane was, and quickly boarded. They quickly reached their seats, where Brandon sat down and pulled out his phone again.
Alice yawned. "Why am I so tired today?" she groaned.
"Again, it's most likely caused by your insomnia." he said, putting one ear bud in his ear.
"Oh well..." Alice yawned. "Can't wait 'till we get to Germany, though." she smiled.
"Yea. Can't wait." Brandon said, turning on his music, and then quickly fell asleep. Alice soon followed; closing her eyes and falling asleep.
The flight to Germany was near perfect, with almost no turbulence except for when they flew through a small storm over England. Alice woke up then, so when the plane landed she shook Brandon awake.
"Hm?" he asked, lazily opening one eye. "Sind wir in Deutschland noch?"
"Yep." Alice replied. "Now get off your lazy ass and get off the plane."
"Alright, alright." he said, standing up. He then checked his phone. "It's 8:00am." he said, putting his phone away.
Alice stood up. "C'mon. Hurry up!"
"You know, I can't move if you don't move." he said, waiting behind her.
"Alright, alright." Alice said and the two got off the plane. They quickly walked through the terminal, got there bags, and left the airport.
"No place like home, eh Alice?" Brandon asked as they walked out the door.
"Nope~! Glad to be back in my own country!" she sang.
"It's pretty nice." he said, taking in the scenery. "But I personally like Venice or Rome more."
Alice smiled at him. "Just wait 'till you see the forests. They're beautiful."
"Shouldnt we find a hotel room first?" he asked, looking at the buildings near their area.
"Um, I guess." Alice replied.
"Do you know of any around here?" he asked, struggling to read the signs on the buildings. Alice grabbed her meister's arm and jogged toward a nearby Inn. When they got there, she began chatting with the Inn-keeper. She gave him money for a room and he handed her a room-key and a wanted poster. The ex-Kishin then led her meister to their room.
It was a small room, with two small beds, each accompanied by a small night-stand and a lamp on each night-stand. "Well, this is a nice little place." Brandon said, lying down on the bed. He was a bit too big for it, and his feet were mere centimeters from the foot of the bed. Alice chuckled, laying down the other bed. She was smaller than Brandon, so the bed was a perfect size for her. "A bit too small if you ask me." he mumbled, trying to get a little higher up on the bed.
Alice chuckled again before holding up the wanted poster, which was rolled up. "The Inn-keeper said something about a Kishin hunting people down." she slapped the rolled up wanted poster in her hand. "Wanna see what it looks like?"
"Kinda." he said, leaning up so that he fit on the small bed. Alice unrolled the wanted postar and looked at it.
It had a picture of a teenage boy on it. He was skinny with black hair that would be short for a girl but long for a boy. (Alice calls it 'skater-boy' hair.) He had dark red eyes and was wearing all black.
A caption underneath the photo read: 'Alec Wendigo; Wanted DEAD. Cash reward'
"Um, Brandon. Y'know when we were joking about if there were different versions of us here?" Alice asked turning the poster so Brandon could see it. "I think I found me..."
"What?" he asked, confused by her statement. He then looked at the poster. "Oh shit..." Alice nodded slowly, a bit shocked and a bit scared. "Wait, so there's a girl version of me running around Venice? Awesome." he said, remembering their entire earlier conversation.
"Just wow, Brandon." Alice dead-panned.
"Sorry, sorry." he said, focusing back on the subject at hand.
"Well, he's probably gonna' put a huge dent in our plans..." Alice replied.
"Why? Did you have a grudge against Medusa or something when you were a kishin?" he asked, realizing that might screw them over.
"No, but I did have a grudge against the academy because of what Stein did to my dad..." Alice said. "He'll most likely try to kill us."
"Well, looks like we have to fight you." he said, a small grin coming to his face. Alice just stared at him blankly. "What?" he asked, confused by her blank stare.
"Since we'd have to kill him, I'd technically be commiting suicide..." Alice replied.
"I'll do it if you don't want to." he offered, noticing her dismay.
"Nah. That's OK." The ex-Kishin replied.
"We should probably start looking for Medusa now that we have a place to stay." he said, standing up from the bed.
"Look for Medusa" Alice agreed. "And avoid Alec."
"Can you sense him using soul perception?" he asked, not knowing of any other way to track Alec.
"Not if he's hiding his soul." The German replied.
"Can you check, just in case he isn't?" he asked, wanting to know the enemy's location.
"OK." Alice said. She stretched her Soul Perception, covering all of Germany. "Can't find him." she replied.
"You should probably hide yours, just in case he saw yours on the flight in."
"I can't do that now that I'm human." Alice said. "Only Reapers, Kishins and Witches can do that." she explained.
"Well, shit." he said, realizing that they are at a disadvantage. "We should probably start looking anyways."
"OK, I guess so." Alice replied.
"Let's go." he said, and then began heading towards the door. Alice followed him out the door, still clutching the poster. "Where should we start?" he asked as they left the inn.
"I honestly don't know..." Alice replied.
"We should probably go to an area that has been having a lot of recent kidnappings. That's probably where Medusa is getting her 'experiments'." he said, thinking of a possible location.