8 FREAKING MONTHS! If that is not a long time, I don't know what is! And I must apologize to those who waited for the next chapter(no matter how few you are): Sorry(forehead slams on the ground)!
I had, besides written exams arriving in waves to break my will to live[Seriously, who thinks that 8 of those in two and a half weeks, or 12 days, was a good idea?!] a seemingly depleted battery for creativity. And when I found some grain of creativity and write it down, of course afterwards my brain thinks 'Nope, does not fit well in the plot at this point' and so it goes into storage even if it was maybe acceptable.
Half of an college block; that is the amount of paper I have used up, written on both sides, to write down all the casted away ideas.
Sometimes I hate my brain...
But enough of my rant; let's get it out of the way, shall we?
The 'Author answers or says something probably important'-section:
Sargent Crash: You have no idea what I have in storage for the coming arcs concerning characters. *insert the evil laugh of your choosing here*
END
And with that, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own 'To aru majutsu no index, only my OCs'!
Max sat in a convoy made out of trucks. Just a 'single grunt' of GREMLIN, like his superior would word it.
He was part of the regular troops send by GREMLIN to attack England in general and, most importantly, London. They were halfway towards London but even though they managed to get this far there was no time for them to rest. Keep pushing. That was the order they had in the moment.
During the whole time since he and the others fought at the beach they were in a constant struggle to fend off the boy that literally smashed half their forces apart. The other half, which he was a part of, tried to get away from the monster and, at the same time, go to London.
Their leader was already working on the destruction of the city. Assisting the fortress to achieve this objective was, in his opinion, not needed. It simply was illogical to do so. But even though he and some others may believed there was no need for them to be part of the attack, orders were orders.
A loud resonating boom filled the air, overshadowing the sound of the engines coming from the trucks for a short moment. Max and most of the others looked back and saw a truck behind them flying up before hitting the ground hard when it fell down.
A dark silhouette stood on the now upwards pointing side of the truck. A very familiar silhouette. The same that emerged from the mist back in Dover. Suddenly It blurred and approached them. fast.
Max reacted at once: He sprung up and screamed in the drivers ear, "DODGE RIGHT!". He was not going to get killed by this... something hidden behind the body of a teenage boy.
Credits for the driver: He immediately complied with turning the wheel hard right. And that not a second too late: a blur past them before hitting another truck in front. It was send flying and landed on another one, making both unable to proceed.
That was no human; No human should be able to completely annihilate half of an army by himself. 'But this is of no importance right now', his superior would say. Accepting their fate Max sighed and he and the others lined their rifles up, aiming at the esper.
'This is going to be a long day.', and with this of his they pressed down the triggers and the ratter of weapons accompanied by the regular booms of explosions began to fill the area.
*BOOM*
That was all Lessar heard before she was flung through the room, hitting a wall with her back first, pressing the air out of her lungs. She coughed heavily and tried to get the precious air back into her lungs again. Something metallic tasting laced her tongue and a ring resonated in her ears. Her whole body protested to the slightest movement.
Groaning Lessar lifted her head up and, now for the first time since the explosion caused her impromptu travel, drifted her gaze through the room. Her vision swam a little and she felt slightly sick, but was still able to deduce most things about her current surroundings.
It looked like a scene coming straight out of an action film: the ceiling was broken in at one point, flames lingering on the now exposed wood which had served as the framework of the building. The right wall was completely destroyed, laying in form of chunks all across the floor.
Lessar shook her head to get the last of the disorientation out of her awareness before jumping up. Suddenly, after scanning the room again, she realized something. Something that brought her mind into a slight panic: Lancis had been only two meters away from the wall ripped apart by the explosion. The same girl who she didn't saw right now!
"LANCIS?! LANCIS, WHERE ARE YOU? ANSWER ME, DAMNIT!", she screamed into the chaos that was once one of their hideouts. No answer came. Growing even more hectic she hobbled through what was left of the room, looking for her comrade, someone Lessar considered a friend. She was about to give up her hope that the other girl survived, but then she heard a groan. A groan coming out of an mouth of an familiar girl.
Lighting fast Lessar turned towards the origin of the noise and speeded as fast she could towards it. There she found her: One arm stuck out of a pile of debris. Even though there was the possibility that Lancis could have multiple broken bones Lessar was still relieved: Something broken could be mended, something killed not.
"Hey, Lancis! Are you okay?!", she asked her, slowly starting to move pieces of debris away to get Lancis out of the pile. The girl under the pile groaned again, her head now after some lifting visible. She coughed once, twice before opening her eyes and looking at Lessar. The other girl stopped to take a breather. Let it never be said that lifting 25kg pieces of debris was something easily accomplishable with a hurt back.
"What walked over me?"
"Around half of a floor if I would guess."
This time Lancis blinked once, twice before nodding with an expression as if this answer held the same amount of wisdom as the words of a sage coupled with the same magnitude of meaning as 42.
she suddenly, more like finally, realized something and looked in an rather pleading manner at Lessar.
Her eyes becoming, unknowingly to the girl herself, larger and teared slightly up, Lessar suspecting the dust in the air being the reason. Finally, add to that a slightly trembling under lip and you have a good picture of her expression.
She could have melted any lesser being, but Lessar was able to resist due to much, much practice. And the fact that a tactic like that, no matter how good applied, wouldn't work on a professional handler of the same.
"...could you please help me out of here?"
For Bayloupe it wasn't hard to find the esper with the title of number 7; She only needed to follow the trail of wrecked trucks leading towards London.
The leader of New Light had a bad feeling about the whole situation, mainly because her connection with Lancis got interrupted. Add to that the fact that a rather large column of smoke was rising up from where London should be.
Even though she was exhausted and her mana supply had a rather big chunk of it already used up, Bayloupe pushed herself too her outmost limit, running all the way towards London along the trail of wreckages.
While going her not so merry way she heard a loud groan from one of the trucks. It stopped her dead in her tracks. Walking closer to the upside down truck Bayloupe found the origin: A young man around her age, give or take a year.
He was stuck between a deformed door and the ground, but still conscious. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't have bothered herself for on single person. But this boy wore the same gear as the normal GREMLIN mercs.
Bayloupe took long strides towards the stuck male, purposely wiping her face of any emotion. Funny thing about interrogations: It was and is basically a power of wills; The one who shows any kind of weakness first will lose the battle.
Kneeling down she took his chin into one hand before lifting his head up, making eye contact. First confused then rather fearful, his eyes widened.
"Hey, what is your name?", she asked him in a deceptively calm voice. Something seemed to creep behind her like a slumbering monster. The male gulped before replying.
"Max Westermann, m'am."
"Thank you for your cooperation. Now, Listen here, Max; a very precious friend of mine got abducted by your so called leader: You will tell me everything you know and that now, immediately. Or you will start to lose parts of what is in your crotch area. Beginning with the left."
Max trembled in fear in front of this demon that had appeared before him and stood in front of a very important decision:
What was more important? This operation or his manhood? Not even a thing one needed to decide. So he opened his mouth and talked, trying to appease this demon in front of him. Inwardly he surrounded himself in self-pity.
'Why are all the persons I meet monsters or worse?'
Lessar and the now freed Lancis looked over the ruins this district of London had become. A seemingly endless field of destruction: Fire consuming everything, cries drifting through the air, corpses laying here and there, projectiles and beams hitting buildings and the ground, destroying anything in their area of impacts.
And once again they had the grim realization; The realization of what GREMLIN was able to do. And here they weren't even completely serious. Only half if not less of their resources got relocated into this operation.
Getting out of their trance both ran in different directions, about to help person who needed help, medical or other.
Then they saw something that could be described with many different words: honorable, brave, reckless, dumb, all together or simply... Gunha.
And the same boy, the number 7 of AC, the guts-obsessed idiot Kumiko has brought with her flew with flattering jacket towards the flying fortress above London. One may say with such an attack it would be impossible to succeed, but for Gunha the word 'impossible' didn't seem to exist.
Lucius got interrupted in the middle of his 'play' by an explosion on the left side of the room. He ceased the movements and both his and Kumiko's eyes immediately focused on the hole that was created by said explosion. At first they didn't perceive anything abnormal after the initial blast but then they heard a scream. A scream which got louder and louder with every second past. A very familiar one.
"KUUUUUUUMMMMMMIIIIIIIIKOOOOOOOOOO!"
Following the scream a Gunha came flying through the hole with an dynamic entry. Under normal circumstances she would be extremely embarrassed by her current state but not in this specific kind of situation: In this moment, she was more grateful and happy than anything. Mainly because he could free her from this damn throne.
The very moment he took her in his view his scream became a pile of sputters. Despite his 'normal' behavior and despite the impression others had of him Gunha was still a young man. So when he saw Kumiko in nothing but her undergarments plus having the perfect angle to look her right in the cleavage his mind turned a whole 180.
His fly switched from stable to unstable, Gunha now sailing with flailing arms uncontrolled through the room. It ended as abruptly as it began with his face being planted into the wall on the other side of said room where he began to slowly slide down the wall. Gunha stopped when he reached the floor and stayed there in form of a pile of limbs for a few seconds, face still connected with the wall.
Gunha finally jumped up and whirled around, facing Kumiko. He took her in a second time and a cross of confusion and embarrassment alike washed over his face.
"What is with that gutless state you are in?", he asked her with a completely incredulous expression on his face. Kumiko's reaction was to turn beet red and shout a response.
"S-SHUT UP! DON'T LOOK THAT WAY!"
Gunha's head snapped so fast into another direction it was a wonder he hadn't got a whiplash. In the meantime Kumiko had an emotional breakdown because of something else besides being seen in her undergarments by a familiar face. This also showed on her face when it morphed into one of horror.
'Oh god, I sounded like the railgun there!'
But the drama that would have followed both reactions was short-lived: A certain, now really angered alchemist squashed it before it could do so.
"The number 7; Nice to finally meet you in person.", the voice of him let to believe he meant the complete opposite to the spoken sentence. Drawing Gunha's attention to him he continued while he walked slowly towards him.
"I'm really sorry to inform you that you are not on the guest list of this ship. Please be so considerate and leave this place, or better, this world."
He snapped with his fingers once. The reaction was spontaneous: Parts of the destroyed wall flew up, formed into pitch black lances, swords or bolts and were sent flying towards Gunha with a hand motion, being only narrowly dodged by the intended target.
"You know,", Lucius began while a sword, hilt up, formed itself out of the a nearby piece of debris before he grabbed it. This sword too was matt black and seemed to absorb the light around it.
"Alchemy is such a useful tool. The mix of magic and science. Based on parting and reconfiguration; The limit only being ones imagination."
Gunha pressed his foot into the ground and shoot towards his opponent. But what happened next astonished both esper: Gunha was stopped midair midflight, floating there unable to move an inch. The alchemist simply smiled cheerfully as he continued his lazy walk towards Gunha.
"It appears even an esper of your caliber gets stopped by this kind of cage; Good to know."
Kumiko looked closely at the seemingly levitating Gunha. There was nothing that could be called a cage or anything that could restrict him. But even though her eyes couldn't perceive it, there needed to be something. Her mind speeded through all possibilities linked with what she saw of Lucius' ability.
'He spoke of reconfiguration. Maybe some type of atomic structure control? But this would still not be enough to stop a Level 7, would it? There has to be another component, one necessary for it to work. But what?'
"Now, let's proceed with a crescendo to come to the grand finale."
Lucius lifted the sword up before slashing at Gunha. The #7 couldn't dodge, gotten completely immobilized by whatever the alchemist did, the sword cutting his chest open. Gunha's and Kumiko's eyes widened as blood gushed out of the wound, forming a short arc in the air.
For the red head time seemed to slow down as the something holding Gunha up let him go, the #7 hitting the ground. But Kumiko didn't cry, shout out or grieved. She knew something Lucius didn't.
"GUNHA! STAND UP DAMNIT!"
But despite her expectations He didn't move. No flexing, no twitching, nothing. That was not how it was supposed to be. He was supposed to stand up like all the other times. Lucius huffed in amusement whilst turning around and began walking towards the hole in the wall.
"You know,...", the all so familiar voice behind him let the alchemist freeze in his tracks. 'This is not possible', was the only thought crossing Lucius mind. He slowly turned on his axis and saw something he thought to be impossible: The #7 was standing! And more so: There was no wound!
The clothes were cut, yes; Blood was smeared over the younger male's chest, yes; But there was no cut on this chest of his, not even a scratch!
"If it weren't for the current situation at hand, I would congratulate you for your gutsy ability."
Lucius' face was frozen in a look of shock and surprise, but quickly overtaken by one of anger.
"If you believe that your sudden... revival will change the outcome you are gravely mistaken. Fact is that you...,", he said in a slightly trembling voice, the espers not knowing if anger or panic or both has been the cause.
"...have no options that you could choose from in order to come out on top of this conflict."
The sword in the alchemist's hand changed its form, becoming a multitude of golf ball-sized ovals. He made a down motion with his raised hand having previously the hold on the former sword, causing the ovals to hail down on Gunha. They hit their mark, being faster than Gunha or Kumiko could see.
The force of the impacts was big enough to fling the target through the room, the projectiles imbedded into his body. Gunha crashed back-first into the wall again, changing the cupboard into a pile of debris.
Alcoholic liquids rinsed down his body as he walked out of the smoke screen which got created on impact, no holes on his whole body in sight.
"Looks like my guts are really not enough to beat you yet."
Gunha's voice could only be described as calm and serious; Something you think you would never be able to witness in your lifetime twice.
"What is your ability, scoundrel?! A human should not be able to do such things; esper, magician or not!"
The boy didn't answer, instead he jumped towards Lucius at such a tremendous speed that it caused a sonic boom. But again, as if the laws of physics were changing only for the alchemists favor, the #7 was stopped dead in his tracks by seemingly nothing; As if The laws of physics didn't apply anymore.
"It's futile."
Kumiko would have made a comment in the direction of 'That's such a cliché line' if not for her efforts to somehow free herself from the throne she was seated on. Sadly it was to no avail.
"You have a truly impressive healing ability, even more so when you take in consideration what I use to inflict damage.", the alchemist walked around the still levitating Gunha, looking at him like you would at an truly fascinating specimen. Which wasn't really far from the truth. in more ways than one.
"I wonder what would happen if your whole body was covered."
Action followed immediately the words: A black... something began coating Gunha who struggled and struggled to free himself, but couldn't do so. Whatever was holding him was simply to strong, to durable to get broken by him. More and more of his body got covered, until his form was simply a dark silhouette hanging midair.
She had no other possible option. Or, to be more precise, she couldn't think of any other option. No other way of action besides that what she was about to do. She focused her attention on the still completely impassive homunculus standing on the exact same spot she was standing the whole time.
"Free me! MARIE!"
What followed next was completely baffling and unexpected. Not the kind of baffling you had that caused you to think 'WTF!' and tempting you to make a retort, but close: The homunculus complied.
With a face that was still void of any emotions Marie walked towards her without any haste or slouching before touching a small glowing dot floating just 10 centimeters to the left of the throne. How Kumiko hadn't seen that before was quite weird.
With a hissing sound the energy forming the bindings dissipated, making Kumiko a free girl again. The same girl who looked at the artificial human with disbelieve. Lots and lots of disbelieve.
"Didn't think that would actually work.", Kumiko muttered while standing up and rushing towards Gunha. And even now she couldn't use her ability as if a plug was stuck in the figurative pipe that was the release for her personal reality.
"I was created to serve primarily you.", was the answer she got back, spoken in this infuriating emotionless way. A quick look from Kumiko in the direction of Lucius told her that he miraculously didn't notice what has happened.
In this moment she realized something:; For the first time in her life, or more the part of it she was conscious about, Kumiko was truly and utterly helpless. What could she do without her ability?
'Nothing', a voice whispered in the back of her mind.
'Nothing; you can't help your friend. You could never help anyone.'
'Shut up!'
Gunha was surrounded by darkness. He could see nothing, smell nothing, only able to feel something otherworldly but at the same time strangely familiar touching his skin. But at the moment he had a more pressing matter: Gunha couldn't breathe.
He struggled and struggled against the bindings, stemming all his guts against this prison of his. It wasn't enough. Whatever he was captured in, he couldn't break. Not even with all his current Guts.
Deprived of more and more oxygen, his consciousness more and more slipping. Then, his mind became as dark as the cocoon surrounding him. Then suddenly, there was light.
A completely white plane. That was the only way one could have described the Place. Nothing to see for what appeared to be a endless space.
"Where am I?"
And right in the middle of it stood a lonely Gunha, totally confused. He was by no means able to comprehend: The first second he was stuck in the middle of something completely black, the next he was standing here, in the middle of a white plane.
Striking a thinking pose Gunha closed his eyes and concentrated... and concentrated... and concentrated... and didn't come up with an answer.
"Well, aren't you an energetic one?"
Wait. Did he himself say that? Or someone else? These questions were floating through the #7's mind.
Or maybe he had a to him unknown split personality, a personification of his guts that is now finally talking to him. What possibilities could this unlock for him; to be able to learn from his own guts about getting more and/or bigger guts...
The same voice began chuckling.
"You are definitely an interesting one above anything else."
'So are you, oh guts of mine.'
"Turn around.", the amusement was literally oozing of at this point. And as the voice told him to do, Gunha turned around and faced... an average looking blond man in his mid-thirties. The face of Gunha was one of complete and utter confusion...again. Following that was one of awe.
"So this is how my guts look like..."
"I must disappoint you, but I'm not your 'guts' as you call it. It actually doesn't matter who I am, so don't strain your brain to figure out an answer."
"Then... why are you here? Maybe to tell me the way of the guts in a better, deeper way?"
The man huffed out in amusement and sat down on a chair... Wait a minute!
"Since when was there a chair?!"
"Since now."
"How?"
"It simply is."
"Really?"
"Really."
"How gutsy!"
Silence filled now the space, both males looking at each other; one smirking, the other simply grinning. After ten seconds the blonde huffed again before opening his mouth. All the while he began a wild gesticulation.
"You're in a real pinch, aren't you? I mean, it doesn't seem to go so smoothly for you. But that would also be the exact reason why you are even here."
"Wait... AM I DEAD?!", Gunha yelled from the top of his lungs. That would be simply an outrage; By far he had not enough accumulated guts in his lifetime. Gunha, too, began to gesticulate wildly.
"Of course not. But if I would explain what exactly this place is, you wouldn't understand what exactly I would talk about."
"Ah... could you still?", the only answer Gunha got was a sigh before the older one answered, accompanied with a flourish hand motion.
"Let's just call it the in-between before the afterlife."
Gunha started smiling like an idiot, completely content with this answer before he shoot the next question.
"And why are you here?"
"Good question!", the blonde clapped wildly before leaning back and tacking a sip from the up to now nonexistent mug in his right hand. After a very long one he sighed in content. Speaking up he began to spin a pencil in his left hand, appearing in the same manner like the chair and mug. His whole person was one of complete and utter nonchalance and Gunha stopped questioning from where all these items were coming from.
"I am here to help you a little. Your time as a human -which I can ensure you can and will run out, basically dying- has not come to an end at this point yet. You still need to accomplish something. What this something is, I will not tell you. But I can say with certainty, it is there.", all of this was said as if he talked about the weather.
"This stage did not go as well as planned, but it is still salvageable. The only reason why I am even consider helping you in the first place, mind you."
"Getting your help would not be really gutsy."
"Suck it up and listen: I'm gonna give you some... guts as you like to call it. Or more like a so small amount that it doesn't even matter to me. Barely enough to win this teeny weenie dispute."
"There is nothing teeny weenie about this: It's a matter of gut and gutless!"
Gunha was simply waved off.
"Whatever swims your boat; I call it as I see it. And now, do what you need to do. On a small side note: Please manage it in ten minutes max; Have some bets going."
And as suddenly as Gunha was transported into this place, he was pushed out again without the possibility of saying anything else.
*BOOM*
That was the only thing everyone could sense. They heard it's noise, they felt it's incomprehensible power, they saw it's blinding light, they smelled it and tasted it's raw being. It was utterly strange; How could you taste and smell an explosion itself? It was out of this world.
At the same time, the darkness which previously still surrounded Gunha was blown away; Like a thin piece of cloth in a hurricane it was ripped apart into thousand little pieces by the blinding wave of light that washed through the whole room. Anyone outside could watch as the white flowed out of the windows like a monsoon and forced everyone to cover their eyes.
After it subsided every single soul inside of the flying fortress stared at the origin which was Gunha in awe, shock an wonder. He was different: His eyes glowed in an warm blue and a shroud of pure power flowed over his skin like lighting in every color of the light spectrum. It was absolutely oppressive; Nothing Kumiko has sensed from him before was comparable but in one aspect: It still held the same warmth.
Gunha looked at his hands in wonder; Blood pounded through his veins, spiced to an ridiculous amount with adrenaline. He felt awesome, better than ever. And more importantly:
"My guts... ARE OVER 9000!"
Silence. At least until Kumiko broke it with a fond "Idiot.".
Not really realizing Kumiko's voice because of the pounding in his ears, Gunha brought his focus on the shellshocked Lucius Schwarzeiche. Clenching his fists once again he got into his signature fighting stance.
"That is not possible!"
The alchemist began to pace while shouting this exclamation, ruffling his hair in an agitated way, all the way mumbling something barely understandable.
"How?! How could he achieve that? HOW?!"
"With Guts; Lots and lots of guts.", and with that Gunha vanished into nothingness only to appear in front of the alchemist. As if in slow motion he pulled back his fist while he. Reality itself seemed to crack and shudder and bend and warp and twist under the immense power, the unperceivable gigantic energy gathering in his fist. More than anyone of them has ever perceived.
Then he let the fist lose.
Lessar and Lancis could only see the flying fortress as it suddenly ruptured into thousands upon thousands of pieces under the immense pressure they have felt building up. For a moment the earth, air and even reality itself shook in Great Britain. Incomprehensible, it was. What in god's name could do something like that?
As they watched both saw four silhouettes falling towards the ground. One of them pressed a foot against a near piece of debris, shooting itself towards another one and caught it bridal style. Most likely Gunha and Kumiko. They and another one corrected their fall, landing safely besides impacting debris crushing into the ruins that was ones a residential block of London.
They could only think about the same as everyone else of the defending forces that were able to: Run towards the crash site.
Kumiko looked down at Lucius who laid in front of her on the ground. Not really a nice sight, but one Kumiko grew accustomed to since long ago: His right side having a really nasty and big flesh wound, his face obscured with blood. Part of his ribs laid bare, a metal pipe had pierced his chest and the red liquid kept pouring out of the openings. If he wouldn't have protected himself with his alchemy in the moment's notice, Lucius would most likely not be whole anymore.
After she, Gunha and Marie had landed safely, they separated; Whilst Gunha and Kumiko went to the position Lucius has landed, Marie simply vanished in the field of ruins and debris. Gunha showed no signs of the power anymore; As if he depleted all of it in that last attack.
"Why?", he asked her with a now raspy voice. His eyes had something in them, something completely surprising for Kumiko: Betrayal. He believed whole heartily that she has betrayed him with the things she did.
"I'm not really angry for what you tried with me. I'm not a hypocrite, I won't take it personal. After all, I did deeds as cruel and brutal as you, if not more. You only were selfish with what you wanted for me. The only thing to be angry about is that you killed 'innocent' civilians.", Kumiko began softly. Her voice had something heavy, worn out because of what happened in the short time she wandered through this world. It was the same one people who have seen too much for one lifetime had.
"But what I did was for you, not for me! For you and mankind! I wanted nothing from it!", Lucius' voice became weaker with each spoken word. His resolve crumbled the more he listened to the redhead along with his strength.
"That was not a selfless act you did here.", her word only let the crumbling get faster and faster. She sighed softly at the sight of a man whose mental state became worse and worse before she began to spoke further.
"Let me tell you something: I don't believe in selflessness. All humans are selfish. There is no exception for this rule. Be it land, power, money, pity, sympathy, empathy, joy, a partner, a lover, a friend; Anything a human does is for a reason. He wants to gain something, even if this something is simply the gratitude given by others or the satisfaction one may get from. You wanted me as the savior for the human race out of your own reasons. What you did is the same as what I do for my brother: It's my own selfishness that brings me to do what I do in order to give my brother what I think is best for him. I don't even take his opinion on the matter. So I'm not really better than you in this regard. But what you are longing for makes the thing I long for impossible. That's the sole reason why I fought and will fight in the future, against you and possible others. Though to be precise, the wish to uphold the peace my brother has was the sole reason until you started to slaughter the innocent who don't know of the darkness shrouding this world."
Kumiko fell silent after the speech and looked at the alchemist. Her face was completely void of any kind of emotion. Seeing that Lucius hadn't much time and began to cough up blobs of blood she walked closer to him on unsteady feet and leaned down.
"I have a last question for you: Who gave you the information about me? Who told you I would be in Britain?", she asked him in a impassive sounding voice, barely a whisper. Kumiko needed this information more than she let on.
Not being a part of AC's information network anymore meant she had no idea which dangers were lurking nearby her brother. Or herself, if this incident did not spoke volumes that the possibility that these kind of events can and will happen was there.
"GREMLIN received the information in form of a tip from an anonymous benefactor three days ago. He gave us for identification only what appeared to be a codename: Latrihex.", Lucius answered between wheezes. His time grew shorter and shorter with each passing moment.
"I think this is where we part ways.", Kumiko stated. The man could not live on more than 5 minutes in his state and she had not the necessary skills or the will to save him. He killed hundreds of innocents and this was the price he needed to pay.
But fate seemed to want it a different way. Well, more like a single person than fate though the impact on the situation was still the same. At this very moment Laura Stuart entered the scene, followed by multiple knights and New Light minus Floris who was still out, and like always, always completely disrupted the natural order of the events.
Without sparing even one of the two espers a glance she walked straight in front of the downed Lucius. Checking him over she nodded to herself before gesturing to one of the knights to heal the alchemist who complied if not a little hesitant.
All the time Kumiko could not help but gape at her. All the fighting, all the happenings, anything that transpired was about to end, and this woman simply waltzed into it and turned this end of the whole invasion upside down, saving the enemy leader. After a few seconds she finally managed to say something.
"What do you think you're doing, Stuart?"
"Saving one really important well of information. What do you think I do?"
Kumiko bit her lip. Of course Stuart would aim for something like that. Any information about GREMLIN was well worth it, and coming from a high up it was even more so. Besides, being no agent of AC anymore, she decided to not kill if not necessary. This decision was loosely at best, yes, and not one she was proud of but she could not simply change her very nature that crystallized over the last 5 years of her live.
While the knight did his work Kumiko strolled towards the member of New Light, followed by an overly protective seeming Gunha. Stopping before Bayloupe she pulled her in a bear hug with all the strength she could muster. This whole event consumed much more energy from her then was showed.
"Thank god you pulled it off without any injuries.", Kumiko whispered, nearly breaking out in tears. The only thing that stopped her was her iron will not to cry in front of others. She seriously needed to deal with this new aptitude of emotions and that fast.
Finally releasing the older girl Kumiko stepped back and grinned at her.
"God? Since when did you start to believe in deities?", Bayloupe quirked an eyebrow at her, together with a seriously crooked smirk.
"Since never. Just happened to be the right thing to say at the moment. You know, surrounded by church members, the usual. But something different: Where is Floris?", Kumiko asked, concern lacing her voice. She damned her maternal instincts. The clouding expressions of the other three girls didn't help at all for that matter.
"She was... shot in the side by an anti-material rifle. Though her barriers took most of the brunt of the force. she didn't wake up till now and won't be up for at least a week, even with the usage of magic. The bullet was enchanted, hindering all magical efforts.", Bayloupe told her grimly. That was so not good.
"And... how many casualties?", Kumiko questioned her. She dreaded the answer, was literally terrified by the thought of it. But she needed to hear this.
"The counting is still not completed and we have only gone through around half the debris, but the current numbers, despite the evacuation, are... 1203 heavily wounded, 960 lightly and... 435 deaths."
The answer hit her like a wall. Her breathing hitched, she thought she would suffocate. Grabbing her head with her hands she staggered a little.
'Oh god! So many deaths! So many deaths, all because of me! It's my fault. My fault. If I, if I wouldn't have been here...', her thoughts stopped abruptly when a pair of hands grabbed both of her shoulders. A firm but still not hurting grip.
"Breathe, girl, breath. Come on, focus on me. Yeah, like that", Bayloupe's words ringed in her ears. Kumiko did as instructed but still looked with wide opened eyes at her, a terrified expression on her face.
Worry was now ever present in Bayloupe's mind: To see Kumiko break down like that, a person who was supposed to be a pillar of control, of reassure; Even though the older girl knew of Kumiko's new condition, she couldn't wrap her mind around the red head being almost if not petrified by despair, by terror. Angry? Yes. Enraged? Yes. But petrified?
"Listen here, Miko:", Bayloupe began with a slow and steady voice, trying and succeeding in calming the younger one somewhat down. She was using the red heads nickname, something she did not often, a testament for how serious this whole thing was for her.
"You did not kill a single one of them, you are not the cause of even one single citizen's death and you are not at fault. All of this...", Bayloupe waved with one arm over the field of destruction surrounding them: "... Was not because of you. They would have attacked with or without you being here. Instead you made it better; If not for you, many more would have lost their lives. Do you understand?"
Kumiko couldn't open her mouth, her throat felt restricted. But she managed to calm down and breath normally again. She simply nodded for an answer. Bayloupe smiled warmly in response before leading her away. She needed to somehow bring the flame head's thoughts into another direction.
"Let's get you some clothes since you didn't bring some yourself with you from AC, ne? Then a good night of rest together with your boyfriend and you can fly back to watch over your precious little brother."
Kumiko said nothing, didn't even react and simply let herself being dragged away by the other girl. She was too damn exhausted to retort at this point. But now that her episode was over and Kumiko could think straight again she remembered something noticed by her before and decided to voice it out.
"Bayloupe, I think I need to stay here for the time being."
"Why is that?"
"I had kind of an overload and because of that my ability doesn't work in the moment. Would be too dangerous to return to Academy City in this state."
"WHAT?!", Kumiko ignored the outbursts, being already submerged in her own little world. There was one little question nagging her like a itching nose. One she could not get rid of. One she thought to be fairly important.
'Latrihex, Latrihex... what is that supposed to stand for, I wonder...'
The whole time she thought about it and was in her own little world, Bayloupe tried to get the younger girl to talk to her.
"HEY, Kumiko! That is not something you can say in an 'by the way'-way! OI! KUMIKO!"
Inside the windowless building Aleister Crowley ended the video he got from Britain.
That didn't go like planed but it was no serious hindrance, only an unimportant delay. He simply needed to switch to Pl-A132. 144 additional plans for the following scenarios were still on standby, ready to be chosen from if Pl-A132 would not work. In the end all will fall into its meant place.
"Are you sure this is a wise decision, Crowley?", a man asked the Superintend of Academy City, pulling him out of his thoughts. He focused on the man who spoke them with an soft sounding voice, a hint of madness hidden behind it. The only thing that could be seen was a silhouette and that said person wore a lab coat.
"I'm fairly sure. She needs to be dealt with. This is a crucial step to ensure the complete success of all my efforts until now. There is no other option."
"I understand. But... these results we got from her last Bio scan were... fairly interesting. If I am allowed I would like to conduct some tests on her before she will be disposed of.", the man asked, his silky voice filled with barely restrained anticipation.
All his efforts until now, all the answers he wanted, NO, he needed, were laying inside this body of hers. He couldn't let this chance simply slip by. He couldn't even begin to imagine the wonders coming with it.
Aleister looked at him for some seconds, appearing to be deeply in thought. But inside his mind he smiled a devious smile. Exactly what he wanted the other to ask him. Everything was still going after plan.
"Very well, do what you want so dearly. But remember to eliminate her when you are done."
"Of course.", the man grinned, filled with sick scientific curiosity. Finally the time to harvest the fruits of his half a century long work came.
"If you would excuse me, I have a lot to prepare."
Crowley smiled at him even when the other turned around and walked out of the room. A smile that seemed so out of the world, a unknown emotion hidden behind it.
"I look forward to see your coming reports, Kihara-kun."
Kumiko and Gunha stood side by side in the hotel room he had previously rented. Surprisingly the hotel survived the onslaught like through a wonder. A eerie silence surrounded them, so thick that you could slice it with a knife.
Gunha was nervous, insanely even. The silence bothered him to no end but he didn't dare to speak up. One look to the side showed him Kumiko's completely blank face and his guts told him: Right decision!
After another couple of seconds, which felt like hours to Gunha, Kumiko, who had the clothes to change they got in their arms, in Kumiko's case from Bayloupe and in Gunha's from a male of the Amakusa, spoke up without looking at him.
"Gunha."
It hold no hostility or fury in it. It was just a single word spoken in a neutral voice. But even though it held no menacing undertone Gunha's reaction was instantaneous: One second Gunha was still standing beside her, the next he was sitting seiza-style on the ground, facing her direction with a bowed head. On a conscious level he didn't know why he did it, he simply reacted. It was like the natural instinct of a male for self preservation.
"What is that?", Kumiko continued in the same manner. To emphasize her point she waved her arm through the room.
"A room.", Gunha replied. It was the most logical thing he could think of right now, but as it didn't seem to draw any reaction out of the redhead he began to panic: he knew that Kumiko was upset. That was something as clear as day to him. But why?! Why was she agitated?! Did he do something wrong and, if yes, what?!
"I clearly remember saying 'one room, two separate beds'.", Kumiko draw in his undivided attention. She said it in a deceptively calm voice as if talking about the weather. But Gunha's guts told him: Be cautious, there is a storm brooding.
" I said, and that I'm hundred percent sure of, 'One room, two separate beds', not 'one room, one king-sized bed'."
Gunha scanned the room again. And yes, there was a single king-sized bed. And yes, now that he tried to remember because of the pressure he currently was under, Kumiko did say that.
"So why is there one instead of two?", Kumiko questioned him. But look out, there was a catch: The question was no question: It was an order which, if not answered truthfully, would open the gates of hell.
Even though he knew that Kumiko still couldn't use her ability, somehow he and his guts still believed it. So Gunha obeyed, with his life on the line: He answered with the truth in a sheepish and at the same time apologetic manner.
"I kinda forgot to mention it. You know, when I booked it."
Time seemed to stand still when Gunha waited with now closed eyes for the unavoidable nightmare that was about to get unleashed. But besides a very long sigh nothing came. He opened his eyes slowly in a hesitant manner and lifted his head to see a more exhausted than angry Kumiko standing there, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Well, whatever. I'm too beat to care at the moment so you are forgiven this time."
BANZAI FOR HIS GUTS! HE WAS SAVE!
"I'm going to take a shower. Don't come in the bathroom under any circumstances as long as I'm in there or you will regret it.", Kumiko continued whilst giving off a little menacing intent and made a scissor like motion with her hand while going into the bathroom, letting Gunha gulp and tremble a little. No male could be okay after hearing this kind of threat spoken with such intent. He decided there was no point in simply standing and so he decided to sat down on the right side of the bed.
The door closed behind Kumiko and after a couple of minutes the sound of a shower could be heard. Gunha couldn't help but drive off in his thoughts. He stopped it as fast as it came and tried his best not to think about it. Such thoughts were gutless things.
After for Gunha 15 very long minutes Kumiko came out of the bathroom in dark grey pajamas, consisting out of a t-shirt and sweatpants. She had a towel around her neck while the hairpin and -tie was out of her still a little wet hair, letting it fall down freely.
She moved with sluggish movements to the left and still unoccupied side of the bed and let herself fall face down, throwing away the towel in the process. After some seconds past Kumiko turned her head towards Gunha, the exhaustion now written all over her face, also laying in her voice.
"Gunha, as long as you stay on your side of the bed we are ok.", and with that groggily spoken words Kumiko drifted off in her dreams. The black haired boy looked at her deep sleeping form before making himself ready in the bath, changed into his sleeping wear and then he too laid down but on the far end of right side. Never wake up a sleeping lion, worse a lioness. After he dozed for a few minutes he finally drifted off in his sleep.
*Next morning*
Gunha was a very special individual who wasn't really the 'norm'. That was something he himself realized rather early in his life.
He had a very, very unique and creative mind and even though his logic was simple and completely foreign to most, it was still somewhat sound. But even he could not understand why he was in this current situation.
Gunha was the typical morning person: The moment his eyes opened he was a bundle of endless energy.
But right now this energy was constricted, not because he couldn't use it: No, it was restricted because if he would dare to use it Gunha would face something worse than hell: A slender arm and leg were slung over him while the body they were attached to was pressed lightly into his left side.
He turned his head to the side and ended up face to face with Kumiko. A slight blush began crawling over his face, even though he didn't know for sure why. Most males would be envious of him not that he knew something about it.
Now that he was laying there, and because he could do nothing else, Gunha began trying to find something that would be a reason for the situation at hand, he realized that in the span of the last days the moments where hell was too close for comfort has exponentially increased. He heard a soft groan coming from the her mouth, letting him breath sharply in: Now was the moment of truth: Would he survive or getting chewed out?
...
Kumiko was by all means no morning person.
She had a constantly low blood pressure. That was one of the reasons why she was your typical heat-seeker. While under normal circumstances her ability kept her body under the right temperature, at the moment it didn't. The reason was the ability overload Kumiko temporally suffered from.
So she headed in her sleep automatically to the biggest heat source nearby to warm up, who was, in that case, Gunha. And in this position she found herself the moment she woke up and opened her eyes: Hugging the side of Gunha like a little child would hug it's life-sized teddy bear or dakimura.
Though her eyes were half-closed at the beginning they opened considerably once she realized were exactly she was. Under normal circumstances she would have realized that in this specific night she had no nightmares. But out of luck or bad luck, completely related to the point of view, she could not think of this specific detail: Redness crawled over her face, mirroring Gunha's in an amplified form, and panic began to fill her eyes.
She jumped away with a cry of embarrassment. Too bad Kumiko didn't take the size of the bed into account and landed on the floor with the back of her head first.
After some seconds Kumiko's head resurfaced and peeked over the edge of the bed at Gunha. The next ten seconds the air was filled with an awkward, if not the most awkward atmosphere, in which nobody, neither Gunha or Kumiko, gave off any sound besides the sound of breathing. Finally Kumiko opened her mouth followed by words.
"We will not tell anyone what has transpired here. Ever."
He could only nod as answer. But one thing was still bugging him. Something that didn't want to let go.
"Sooo... what did Lesley think 'bonding with guts' means?"
Somewhere in Academy City someone stood on a balcony, leaning against the wall separating said balcony from the dorm room. Giving of an tired sigh, he leaned his head back and locked up into the starry sky. His intervention in London was maybe not something he should have done, orders or not.
"Sorry, Miko-chan, for putting you through so much trouble."
Damn, this chapter is literally oozing with hints. Big, red and yellow clouds, I tell you! But well, at some point everyone has this in their stories. And I enjoy foreshadowing, so bear with me. With that, this Arc also came to an end.
Personally I think this fight was too short and ended too abruptly, but concerning the latter I saw no other way to implement the important things/hints/info for the story without making Gunha go 'Hellsing/Alucard'-style in the end. The ending itself was pretty rushed.
The shipping was rather strong in this chapter and I couldn't help it: once the ideas were in my head they didn't want to leave! I also tried to bring in the idea that no matter what an idiot Gunha is, he is still a boy in his middle/late teens. Something I don't know if it was lore-friendly, but meh; My story.
And now, after reading through the whole thing again, I realize: I have watched too many animes where females threaten the testicles of males...
Please feel free to write a comment or review or whatever floats your boat!
And with that, I'm out(with hopefully recharged creativity)!Bye!