Alpha and Omega - Jackal's Story
Chapter 11
In collaboration with Subzero Dragon. Visit their profile to see the other side of this story. Important events that aren't mentioned here take part in the other side of the story.
My eyes flicker open and the white ceiling of the infirmary comes into view. It takes a few seconds before my eyes can fully adjust to the light but once they do, I look around the infirmary as I try to recall recent events. I remember that something happened to me earlier today but I can't quite remember any details. The only thing I can remember is the pain I felt in my eye. It would be difficult to forget that. It was as if a burning laser had passed through my eyeball, vaporising everything it touches as it moves. It was a burning pain but now, as I move my hand to touch my now closed eye, all I can feel is a slight numbness. It amazes me that the excruciating pain that I felt only hours beforehand now feels as though it has been numbed for surgery. Whatever happened in these antecedent hours, it had caused me to suffer a great deal; to the point where I have subconsciously eradicated the memory of it.
"Listen, today he will be released. He is ready to go back onto the battlefield." An unfamiliar, stern, feminine voice from the other side of the infirmary door stops me from focusing on the pain. Instead, I feel curiosity beginning to overwhelm me. I sit up and look around, noticing that I am the only "he", in fact, the only one in the infirmary.
"So, I am being released?" I ask myself and wonder what brought this about. After all, the last time I checked, I was unable to walk. I better see if I can before being released, but does that mean that I have to go back out into the wild and fight those monsters again? I move my legs so that they are swinging over the side of the bed and press my weight onto them. I make sure to do this slowly as, despite the fact that I have been well fed whilst cooped in this room, I have mostly been lying down so the sudden pressure on my legs could cause me to stumble. I lift myself off of the bed as I allow my entire weight to rest on my feet. I am a bit wobbly at first, like a new born deer, and brush aside a few stumbles before I am walking perfectly fine, indicated by pacing the floor, without fail, around the infirmary.
"See? He already looks to be doing better." In my fascination at my sudden recovery speed, I failed to notice the door opening and a few people walking into the infirmary, so I am very surprised when I hear the stern woman's voice and almost stumble over my feet again. Luckily, I manage to correct my footing and look to my observers. The tallest figure leads the pack of three that have come to visit me, or in fact, release me from the infirmary.
"Good morning, Jackal." The woman holds a judging look in her eyes as she speaks to me. I know that I have seen this woman before but I am not entirely sure when I have. The first thing I notice about the woman, other than her eyes whether you believe it or not, was the massive balloons that she is in possession of. Her clothing consists of a white Fenrir sniper uniform that reveals a large amount of cleavage and her similarly coloured trousers reveal part of her thighs. She may not be the most provocatively dressed in this branch but she definitely fills out her clothing. Behind her, I see two of the people that accompanied me on a mission to track down the golden Aragami that caused my injuries. They are the Old Types, Gina and Shun. Whilst Gina has, what appears to be a, mischievous smile on her face, Shun's face looks far from happy.
"You shouldn't keep a woman waiting, Jackal." The leader of the pack speaks with a much more stern tone.
"Oh, sorry. Good morning..." I still couldn't give a name tag to the person in front of me.
"Ms. Amamiya." She reminds me of her name. "Well Jackal, you are now free to leave the infirmary. You are ready to enter the field of battle once again." I can't go back out there to fight! There's got to be some way I can stay here and prolong my life! Ah ha!
"Aah! My legs! Aah!" I fall to the floor and feign an injury, I hope that they believe it and allow me to stay here in the branch a little while longer. I clench my eyes, clutch my leg and begin rolling around on my back just to add more effect. This continues for a few seconds before I open one of my eyes to see a smirk on Shun's face, a more mischievous almost sadistic smirk on Gina's and a displeased expression on Ms. Amamiya's.
"Well, I guess he can't come on the mission with us after all." Shun says with a flick of his hand. It looks like I've managed to convince him. Hopefully, he will try to convince the other two.
"Nonsense!" Ms. Amamiya's shout echoes through the room and I cover my ears to protect from such a loud noise, clenching my eyes shut and turning away from the group in the process. A few seconds later, I take my hands away from ears and unclench my eyes. Something which I hadn't done now as I voice whispers into my ear at very close range.
"Oh, you look so weak and helpless. Just like my prey is before the finishing blow." There was no denying that this sadistic voice belonged to Gina and it instantly got me up onto my feet.
"You know what, I think I've miraculously recovered." I speak as Gina also gets to her feet, having gotten onto her knees to whisper in my ear. She now stands less than 30 centimetres away from me.
"It's a miracle!" She says with a wide smile on her face, with no attempt at hiding her sarcasm.
"Hallelujah." Shun chipped in with a much less happy face.
"That was a disgraceful display, Jackal. You had given me a better impression of you on the first time we met." Tsubaki clearly wasn't amused by my attempt to stay in the infirmary.
After an hour long scolding of what it means to be a God Eater and protecting the citizens as well as fellow God Eaters, Shun, Gina and I are headed to the Tranquil Temple for an "easy" mission. Let me tell you how easy the mission is. It consists of killing two Fallen Kongou and two Gboro-Gboro. Easy, right?
"My first day back and I'm already being pitted against 4 medium sized Aragami." I give an exasperated sigh and slouch into the helicopter seat.
"You know, you haven't been very enthusiastic lately. You're not like you were in our last mission. Although," A smirk appears on Shun's face, "I suppose you did let yourself get beat up pretty bad last time. It shows how weak you are as a God Eater." I choose not to respond to Shun, mainly because I was too lethargic to do so but this brought Gina into the conversation.
"Well," As she speaks, I turn my head in her direction. "Maybe your little accident was for the better. You seem a lot more tolerable of Shun."
"Hey! You say that as if I have bad qualities!" He didn't take to kindly to her comment but I think over her words as the two start bickering. Have I really been more tolerable of Shun? Or is it just because I decided to ignore him? Either way, engaging in an argument is needless. It won't get us anywhere and will only make me exhausted before we even fight the Aragami. Having just gotten back onto my feet, I'm going to need all the energy I can muster up; meaning I have not time to waste energy. I look out the window and watch as the landscape moves ever so quickly. I breathe a fatigued sigh. I'm not looking forward to this mission. I may not even return alive. I almost didn't the last time.
15 minutes later and we've landed on the ground, scouring in and around the Tranquil Temple for any signs of Aragami lifeforms. It isn't too long before we come across the first monster to be slain.
"I'm picking up a Gboro-Gboro signal near your location." I hear Hibari though my earpiece and silently thank her. Since Hibari is keeping a lookout on ours, and the Aragami's, signals it should be easier to avoid being attacked by surprise.
"So, who's boss on this mission?" We never really established who it was before. Surely it cannot be me. I've just recovered from a trip to the infirmary. They can't expect me to lead.
"I'm the leader." The two of them speak in unison before realising they did causing them to cast each other a glare.
"You know, you should have decided this before we even left the Den." I give a weary sigh and hold my head in one of one my hands.
"The Aragami is moving!" Hibari's new information cuts the lovers quarrel between Shun and Gina.
"Can you predict where it is heading?" I ask, being the only one with any sense on the team. We walk by the place where it was first confirmed to be and see the corpse of another Gboro-Gboro.
"Well, that's one of our targets down. I guess we'll be able to get home quicker." I speak in a quiet voice in an attempt to convince myself that I'll be home soon and have survived another day.
"It seems to be retreating. I'm not picking up any other signatures in the area. It would be best to chase after it." Hibari informs us with a confused tone but we do decide to chase after the Gboro-Gboro. I, too, am confused. I was told that this mission would pit us against a total of four Aragami and yet, only one signature is being picked up. I find it perplexing but satisfying. It means that I will have four times the amount of time to myself than I would have if we did have to defeat the four Aragami.
"Hey, just a thought but, Gina, you use a sniper rifle, right?" Something had come to mind. We didn't have to run after the beast, we just need to make our presence known to it.
"Yeah, what of it?" Gina asks as she has no idea what I am planning. We continue chasing after the Aragami but I come to a stop, halting my team mates as we do so.
"Hey! We need to keep moving!" I ignore Shun's protests and continue speaking to Gina.
"Can't you just shoot the thing from here to grab its attention. It can't be more than 30 metres away."
"Yeah, good thinking Jackal!" Gina commends my thought process before taking aim at the beast that is slowly moving further away.
"This had better work, otherwise we'll have to run a hell of a lot faster to catch it." Shun complains but ignoring him is almost second nature now. I continue to observe Gina as she gets the Aragami in her sights.
"All right you overgrown alligator, time to go do-"
"-Rrrrrrr!" The sudden roar of the Aragami interrupts Gina and causes Shun and I to look in its direction. The beast falls to the ground with a large hole that must have been one metre in diameter.
"Nice shot, Gina!" Shun commends his team mate but her reaction is what concerns me.
"Yeah, I didn't even hear you fire the bullet. Although, if your bullets can do that, I may want to look over their recipes." I speak with a smile.
"I didn't fire a bullet." She responds in a shocked tone. It surprises Shun and I.
"What?! So, how the hell did that beast suddenly have a massive hole in it?" The other male member of the team voices the question that lingers on my mind. I see that Gina has returned to looking through the sniper rifle.
"Whatever it is will be tasting my bullets!" She exclaims as she tries to identify our new target. A few seconds of silence later and she speaks up.
"Let's play a game."
"We don't have time for-"My complaint is cut short by Gina continuing.
"What Aragami that we know of is capable of inflicting deep wounds?" Her question is entirely too broad.
"Surely every Aragami has the capability-"
"How many of them have golden feathers and can lock our God Arcs with its ice attacks?" She almost seems to be singing now. The colour drops from my face as soon as I realise what she is talking about. The same beast that caused me to end up in the infirmary for days on end. The Garuda...
I turn towards where the Gboro-Gboro was slaughtered and see a familiar set of golden feathers encircling its prey.
"We've got to get out of here!" I demand, "There's no way the three of us can fight this beast by ourselves."
"This could be our only chance to take it down. Imagine the money we'd get for bringing back a core like that. We'll be rolling in the money for weeks!" Shun seems very excited and I can more than assume Gina is as well. I look towards her and see that she is still looking down the sight at the beast.
"As much as I hate to say it, Shun is right. We could really boost the Outer Aragami Wall's defences if you can bring back its core." Hibari's voice reminds us of her presence.
"But the three of us can't bring it down!" I refuse to give up on getting my point across, "In case you forgot, I almost died the last time we faced it!" I shout angrily to my team mates and Hibari, attempting to hide my own fear. I'm not sure how that went.
"I didn't forget. Don't worry, I plan to send more God Eaters your way. There is currently a team not too far from your location. Once they have finished, I'll give them your coordinates and they will help you all." Hibari explains her actions but I am still unsure about this while thing.
"How long will it take the other team to arrive?" I ask nervously. I hate to think about the time that we will have to hold out for when facing the monster.
"I'll send a helicopter right now to pick them up. Once on the helicopter, I predict it will take 15 minutes for them to arrive." Her answer doesn't fill me with much hope.
"So can we just wait until they arrive before we atta-"
"BOOM! RIGHT IN THE WING!" The ecstatic shout from Gina frightens me. She has already declared war on the monster that almost ended my life...
Seconds after Gina fired the shot, which missed the encircling monster might I add contrary to what Gina thought, the three of us soon find ourselves having to rapidly move away from our spots as the Garuda charges at us in a veil of ice. I fall to the side as I narrowly avoid it but feel a slight coldness breeze by me. I look at my side and can see that a small block of ice had fallen onto my clothing. It falls off after a quick shake of my clothing.
"I'll get you this time!" The enthusiastic shout from Shun as he sprints towards the monster with his God Arc in a ready-to-attack fashion distracts me from the ice that had fallen to the floor.
"The three of us shouldn't be fighting this thing!" There were four of us during our last encounter with the beast and that nearly ended in disaster. Now we are one God Eater down. This will not end well.
"Stop being a p***y and start helping us!" Gina shouts, annoyed, as she runs by me in an attempt to shoot the beast from close range.
"But there's no chance we will win!" I protest in anger and fear. I didn't want to put my life on the line again.
"We have even less chance if you don't help us!" Gina was able to direct how annoyed she was at me whilst keeping her sadistic gaze on the Aragami. I hate to say it but she is right. If I don't help them fight then it will be two versus one. That means that they could suffer even worse injuries than I did when there were four of us. With a heavy sigh and a silent whimper, I set about helping my team mates.
As we fight, I can feel the fear making my legs tremble and my arms shaking furiously. This greatly affects my aim and I am very thankful that Shun is the only other Melee type God Eater on the team. He seems nimble on his feet so I don't need to be cautious of his whereabouts when attacking. Although, that doesn't stop him from complaining about it time and time again. It is another five minutes before we make any sort of noticeable dent to the beast. We managed to remove its wing bonds which have locked it into using one attribute; Freeze. There is more than just the three of us now. Hibari managed to send in three more people from the Defence Unit; Tatsumi, Brendan and Kanon. It's a good job we have a medic on the field. One of us may need her abilities. So now, there are six of us and I guess it is true what they say, "safety in numbers". I can feel myself beginning to calm down because of this. I think we can actually defeat this Garuda.
"It looks like it is charging another Gliding Freeze attack!" Tatsumi shouts as the bird Aragami gets into a common pose for this battle. Tatsumi hasn't even been here for a whole 5 minutes and yet, he can tell when the Aragami is taking its position for an attack. I guess that's the type of thing an experienced veteran like him can do.
"Everyone, split up!" Tatsumi commanded. It's great to finally have someone on the team that can take charge. I turn at a 90o angle and start running. I understand Tatsumi's thinking. If we are split up then there is less chance for us all to be hit by the Garuda's Freeze attack. I turn my head to see who the Aragami has targeted. Thankfully, it wasn't me but the person who it was, Shun, is out of commission. He appears to be knocked out and the beast is trying to take advantage of that. I run in its direction. Thankfully, Shun didn't run too far away from me and I manage to get there before Shun has suffered any serious injury. I swipe my scythe between the beast and Shun to grab its attention before I decide to make a few swipes at its exposed neck. Surprisingly my swipes manage to draw blood. I would begin to feel a bit happy about this had it not been for the Garuda's instant reply.
"Gah!" I shout as it sharply pierces my right shoulder. I can feel my blood begin to stain my clothing but that is the least of my worries at the minute. It seems that the beast has decided that I am now its focus and it effortlessly brushes off the bullets from the other God Eaters that are trying to help me. My grip on my Arc begins to weaken due to the sweat my hands are producing as I stare into the eyes of the beast as it expands its wings, boasting its large wingspan.
The next few seconds pass over as if they were one. I find myself being dragged into the air by the beast that has a hard grip on my shoulders. My fear levels increase and I almost drop my Arc completely. Had it not been my last hope to survive then I would have definitely dropped it. The God Eater's on the floor were quickly getting smaller and smaller. Is this what Robin felt like? I ask myself as I am reminded that she was in a similar situation. Speaking of which, where is she? No! I can't think about her whereabouts right now! I need to focus on making this beast let go! I take a better grip of my God Arc and angle it, with great difficulty, towards the beast's neck where I had targeted earlier. Seeing as how its feet are occupied with me and its wing as occupied with flying, it has no defence. I begin slashing at the beast's neck and can feel it penetrate the Aragami's skin. After one more, deep, slash the hold on my shoulders is released and I begin plummeting towards the ground. All I can do is look down as the ground gets gradually closer. I look around for any sign that I can survive this fall but cannot find any. I am unsure as to how my friends below me can help me now and, even looking around and noticing four more God Eaters catching up with the group, I see that there is nothing they can do at all. It's a shame really, if my life wasn't in danger, I ould have really enjoyed this freefall. It makes me feel very light and the wind against my hair feels great. Almost all of my fears have disappeared. I dare to say that I would enjoy this. Nevertheless, if I am to die here, I better make sure that it at least looks like I didn't just give up. I drag my God Arc under me with a great struggle and attempt to deploy my shield. I hope that this would help ease my impact against the ground but I realise that this is not an option. My God Arc is stuck! I notice that towards the tip of my scythe, the Aragami remains impaled against it! A blue liquid had been falling down by scythe from it and had frozen my Arc's mechanisms. It was lucky that I had moved my Arc when I had otherwise the freezing liquid would have dropped onto my head, freezing it. I can only continue to look down at the pained expression of the Aragami as I continue my plummet to the ground. I am going to die on my first outing since I was released from the infirmary. I am descending to my death. This is exactly why I didn't want to become a God Eater!