Alpha and Omega - Jackal's Story
Chapter 14
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.
I've been out here for only two hours and already I am bored. Stuck wandering around the Anti-Aragami Wall like a colony of ants trying to find food. What makes this, almost aimless, wandering even worse is that the temperature has dropped as we progress further into the night. What started out as a fairly mild night has quickly become almost as cold as the Tranquil Temple. The weather from there had probably travelled down to here. Now, I'll admit that whilst I am cold, as a God Eater I have a few perks to not being as severely affected as others to the weather, like all of the non-God Eaters on the other side of this wall.
I had long since removed the night vision binoculars from my head. Truth be told, I haven't really needed them. I'm not the only one who is up this late. There is an operator that I hadn't met yet that helps with the night shifts. The first time I had heard his voice was when I set foot outside of the Anti-Aragami Wall. He had introduced himself as Naoki Yato. He didn't really give a description of himself. I suppose he wouldn't have to. If he works as an operator, I'm sure that I'll get to meet him eventually.
"Just checking in, Jackal. How is everything looking?" Speak of the devil, he communicates with me jokingly just as I begin reflecting on the night. I re-equip the night vision goggles and take a look around. Using night vision, everything has a hue of green. Everything from the landscape to the thing moving in the distance - wait a minute. I focus my vision on the moving object.
"Naoki, is there anything on the radars?" I ask him with a hint of concern in my voice. The object appears to be quite small but there shouldn't be anything moving out here. I hadn't received a signal from the quadratic grid Licca gave me but that doesn't mean a lot. It is possible that the object is outside of the quadratic grid's range; Licca did telll me that it was only a small device and that the operator's devices have a greater range.
"Nothing is coming up on the grid. Did you see something?" He asks in slight confusion. I notice that his usual friendly, positive voice has become quite serious. It's the first time I've heard him be serious, fair enough that I only met him a while ago but to suddenly turn from a joking voice to serious voice in the space of a sentence is quite alarming. It means that he gets serious when he needs to be. It's a good quality to have but if the moving object is not an Aragami then what could it be. The thought is most likely running through both of our minds.
"It seems to be moving on the spot." I give more information to see if we can figure out what the object is. I dare not to move closer just in case it is an Aragami. If it is, I won't move closer until I've figured out what Aragami it is.
"Hey," I can hear his joking tone, "maybe you should take another walk around the wall. If you can't see what the object is, and my radar can't find it, it must be pretty far away. I can let you know if something changes."
"Yeah, I'll do that." He was right. There is no point being held up here with something that might not even be a threat when something more dangerous could be at the other end of the wall. Taking this into mind, I continue patrolling the wall. The next time I come around to this part, I will see if the object has moved.
"So, do you only work night shift?" I ask Naoki in an attempt to make conversation. It intrigues me as to why that would be the case. I've been in the Far East for a while now and haven't heard from him before today. Wouldn't it make more sense to rotate the operators? That way they will each get experience of working on night shift.
"Yeah, that is the case. I like it though." He speaks almost reminiscently.
"What's to like about it?" I ask with curiosity. From what I can see, it wouldn't be very exciting to work the night shift. You can only interact with the person on night shift and the few people that are still awake in the Den. I can't see what he could enjoy about that.
"I don't have to speak with a lot of people." He gives a chuckle after he says this and I almost stumble as to how I had guessed his reason. He likes the night shift simply because he doesn't need to communicate with others.
"Why do you like that?" It is confusing. Surely somebody with such a positive, uplifting voice would want to interact with people. It seems like a waste for him not to.
"I don't really like how things are during the day. There are too many people around and I get kind of nervous." As if to emphasise his point, he gives a nervous chuckle after discussing his reason. Is it possible that Naoki is just too shy to interact with others?
"What brought you to the Far East?" I change the conversation to avoid the topic that he probably doesn't like to talk about. I continue my walk around the Anti-Aragami Wall as we converse. I haven't noticed any other moving objects since the one I had questioned Naoki about. Speaking of, I'll be coming up to that spot within the next few minutes.
"I was transferred here quite recently, actually." I guess that is the reason why he is shy with around others. "I was told that I'd be working here as the night shift operator from Fenrir Headquarters. So it is my job to do the night shift." Well, at least he likes his job; even if it does mean he doesn't interact with many people which, to him, is another positive part of his job. "What about you? I've heard your name quite often but don't really know why." He enquires.
"Well, I also transferred here a while ago with my friend Robin. We've had a rough time with some newer Aragami but it's all worked out in the end." I speak before bringing up something he said. "What have you heard about me?"
"Wha? Uh..." He stumbles for words as I call him out on how often he has heard about me. I am intrigued as to what has been said about me without my knowledge. "Let's just say... Karel doesn't have the best opinion of you." Karel, huh? I don't have the best opinion of him either. "But I don't know why!" He quickly, and nervously, adds in, what I believe, is an attempt not to offend me in some way.
"Don't worry about it, Naoki. I don't have the best opinion of him either." I voice my previous thoughts. It was clear that he didn't want to offend me so I had to make sure that he hadn't.
By the time morning comes around, I have learned quite a bit about Naoki, and he me. Also, I had discovered that the moving object was not an Aragami. It was just a plant. I felt relieved as I noticed this. I had to venture towards it and, at the dead of night, it was scary to do so. I'm not afraid to admit that. Right now though, I'm just glad that my first night is over. I walked into the God Arc Storage Warehouse and gave my Arc to Licca as well as the extra equipment before heading back to my room to get some much needed sleep.
"Ja-! -ke- p! -ow!" Somebody shouting and banging heavily on my door makes me wake up in a panic and I scramble over to the door. I fumble with the handle in worry as the person continues banging on my door. Her voice is more clear now, it is obvious that the woman wants me to wake up quickly.
"Jackal! Get your arse up, now!" I could tell from her voice that the woman was Gina. I didn't even need to open the door to recognise it. What could have made her in such a bad mood?
"What's up?" I ask after opening the door and coming across an angry looking Gina. I could have sworn that I can see a vein on her forehead.
"What's up?!" She repeats mockingly, "What's up is that all of my underwear is gone!"
"Er... what?" I ask, flustered as to why she would need to tell me this. "Why do I need to know?" I was confused as well as flustered. Clearly something was up with her.
"I found this outside of your door." She lifts her hand up and reveals a thick, purple piece of string.
"You found string outside of my door?" My question seems to infuriate her more as she pushes past me and begins wrecking my room. Throwing things out of drawers, lifting my bed up, all of it. "What are you doing?!" I ask in confusion as to why she is doing this.
"Why are you hiding them?" She asks still in a fit of rage.
"What?"
"Everyone's underwear! You're the thief!" She shouts to the heavens. I am baffled by her accusation. It is only a few more seconds before I hear a shake and suddenly, a whole barrage of girls show up at my door.
"You're the thief?!" They ask in surprise. I notice that the group consists of Kanon, Annette, Alisa, Robin and surprisingly, Ms. Amamiya. They barge past me and into my room. Well, all but one of them.
"I am not the thief!" I shout but my voice falls upon deaf ears. The girls won't take my answer and help Gina to rip up my room. All but one, the one who stands beside me. I knew I could trust her to believe me.
"You're not the thief, right?" Robin asks as if she is unsure, turning her head away from me in the process. Truthfully, it hurts me to hear that my best friend doubts me. I try not to let it show, but I'm not sure how successful I am.
"Robin," I place my hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at me, "I am not the thief." I tell her with conviction in my voice as I stare into her eyes. I know that one way to tell if somebody is lying is by the person avoiding eye contact. By staring into her eyes, I hope to prove that I am not lying. I have no time to look for the detail in her eyes as I try to find some kind of emotion in them. Unfortunately, I am no good at reading emotions via the eyes so I have no luck in doing so. A few, incriminating, seconds later, Robin nods her head confidently. Robin believes me. I smile at this and let go of her shoulders.
"I'm not the thief, guys." I speak calmly. I doubt I am heard though as they continue to rip up my room in an attempt to find their stolen underwear. Wait, if all of their underwear is gone, does that mean that they're not wearing any? I quickly shake my head of the thought. Thinking about that won't help my cause.
"I don't think he's the thief." Robin chips in with my back up.
"And why do you think that?" Surprisingly, Robin speaking up has managed to stop them from continuing to destroy my room. It is Ms. Amamiya that asks Robin the question with an almost critical look.
"I could see it in his eyes." Robin speaks, I'm glad that she is standing up for me. However, it appears that the others are not convinced.
"You're not just sticking up for him because he transferred with you?" Kanon asks with an equally critical gaze as the one from Ms. Amamiya. I am surprised by Kanon's claim. Hasn't Robin also been affected by this thief?
"No!" Robin shouts back, expectedly, "I could see it in his eyes! You haven't found anything have you? You've almost destroyed his room!" Robin had lost her patience. I do have to disagree with her with one thing. My room isn't almost destroyed, it is destroyed.
"Then what about this that I found outside of his room?" Gina lifts up the piece of string. Robin doesn't seem to have an answer for it.
"It could have been planted there." My suggestion seems to shut the other girls up. I guess they hadn't thought about that.
"Well, it seems you're not the thief after all." Ms. Amamiya speaks before heading towards the door. Does she think that I'm going to let her get away with destorying my room. I run to the door, blocking it. Ms. Amamiya doesn't look too pleased at my actions. Then again, I'm not pleased at hers either.
"Who's going to fix my room?" I give her a stare as I ask my question. It was obvious that I wasn't happy about the state of my room. Seeing as how I didn't cause the mess, I shouldn't need to clean it.
"*ahem* Girls," Ms Amamiya turns her head towards the girls, "clean up the room." They groan in response. You reap what you sew, I guess. Whilst I am happy that I don't have to clean it up. It is rather unfair to the girls that Tsubaki didn't have to clean it as well. She gives me a look as if to say 'that's all you're getting'. Well, I take what I can and move out of her way as she passes by me.
"Get cleaning girls!" I shout happily and they all move to clean up. "Oh, Robin, you don't have to. You didn't make the mess, after all." I flash her my signature smile as I speak. "You're free to leave." Of course, if she wanted to help clean up then she could. I doubt she would want to though, but what should I do now. I didn't get much sleeep thanks to this situation and it seems as though it will take a while for the girls to clean up my room, meaning I won't be able to sleep while they do so.
My answer comes with a couple of knocks on the door. I open it to see a person I haven't seen before. The man looked to be in his early twenties and had a slightly stocky frame. He wore an orange t-shirt covered by a brown jacket. His lower half consists of black trousers and boots.
"Hi, Jackal." He smiles at me. I instantly recognise the voice as the person that helps out with night shift. I wonder what he's up to this early. I didn't think he would be awake this early considering he works night shifts.
"Naoki?" I ask just to make sure. This is our first meeting after all.
"Yeah. Are you doing anything right now?" He asks as he tries to peer behind me and into my room. I'm sure he has noticed all of the females, especially the one with green hair that seems to be looking towards us in curiosity.
"Robin, did you want to leave?" I ask her, turning around to do so. She didn't have to stay in here after all, and I didn't want to make her wait until Naoki and I have finished conversing. She gives a nod of her head before leaving. We step side to allow her to.
"No, I'm not doing anything. These girls had wrecked my room so they have to clean it up." I motion behind me with my thumb. He seems to want to ask why but doesn't actually ask.
"Okay, well, do you want to grab something to eat?" He smiles as he asks this. I decide to take him up on his offer seeing as how I won't be able to sleep with the three girls, Gina, Kanon and Alisa, fixing my room and seeing as how I haven't had any food yet. I walk out of my room and close the door behind me.
"Cafeteria, right?" I begin heading to the lift. Naoki in tow.
"No, actually." I turn to look at him. If we can't eat in the cafeteria, where else will we go?
"Would you mind waiting for me on the roof?" He nervously asks. I give a nod to confirm. I head into the lift first with my destination being the roof. I'm not sure where Naoki plan on going or what he plans on doing but I'll wait for him, just as he asked.
"You were telling me about your amnesia?" Naoki reminds me of the topic we were discussing. I grab another sandwich out of the basket as I continue telling him my story. Truth be told, I don't tell him everything about my amnesia like the weird dreams I've been having as of late. I tell him just enough to satisfy his curiosity. Quite frankly though, I find him to be more curious. He appears at my door, somehow he knew that it was my room, and offered me to eat with him. What's more is that he told me to wait on the roof, which I did do for a while, before he appeared with a basket in hand and guided me to a spot on the roof that we won't be disturbed by the helicopters on it. Actually, the place we are currently sitting in is the place that I found Robin and asked her to eat with me. I guess it is entirely coincidental; after all, Naoki had no idea who Robin was. Even as she went by us to exit the room, I had noticed Naoki seemed to be nervous. When I brought it up, he quickly changed the subject. If he was that nervous around her, does that mean he is that nervous around everybody? I know that he doesn't like to communicate much, is that why he wanted us to eat up here; out of the way of everybody else?
"So why are you so curious about my amnesia?" I ask him with a mildly confused expression. When we first sat down to eat, he had brought up my life and my family. I told him that I suffer from amnesia and that only seemed to make him more curious.
"How could I not be? Having amnesia makes a person that much more mysterious. Even the person doesn't know what their past contains. And, who knows, maybe by talking about it you might remember something." He did have a point. Maybe I could remember something if I talk about it more. The problem though, is finding who I can talk about it with. Robin would definitely be the first I'd turn to but I think she is the only person I would talk to confidently about it. I've known her for a while now and I know she wouldn't refuse me if I needed to talk with her about something weighing on my mind. However, if Robin isn't around, I don't think I'd want to talk to anybody about it.
"I suppose you're right." I give a sigh. Just because I agreed with him it didn't mean that I would talk to him about it. I haven't even known him for a day. I'm not going to spill my guts to him just because he suggested the idea.
"Naoki, quick question." I speak seriously, gaining his attention and I notice he no longer has a smile on his face. Maybe I was too serious about this, "How come you don't have trouble talking to me?" I observed his reaction. At first, it seemed as though he didn't hear the question but then he suddenly became flustered. "Actually, you don't need to tell me right now." I quickly add in. If he were to stay flustered then it wouldn't be very good when we were on night shift. He would probably try to avoid me unless it was absolutely necessary. I don't really want to admit it, but talking to him made the night go rather quickly. I would prefer tonight to go like that as well.
I hadn't realised how long Naoki and I had been talking on the roof. It seemed to be no longer than an hour, but the sun had set a while ago, signalling that our shift would be starting soon. Now, an hour later, I have set off on the regular Anti-Aragami Wall walks; constantly checking that no Aragami would be near.
Four hours of no activity other than talking with Naoki pass before something alarming appears. Or should I say, two alarming things.
"Two Aragami have just appeared on my radar." Naoki announces with a serious voice and I can hear a regular beat in the background. It's clear that he means business. I look on my radar to see if they are on mine. They aren't which means that they're still a bit far away from me.
"Where are they?" I ask him as I prepare my Arc for a battle. If the Aragami are too far away, I may need to use my Arc's Gun Form to hit them.
"They look to be heading for the Western side of the wall. You're at the North Eastern side. Get over there as quick as you can and embrace for combat." Hearing this new side of Naoki is quite funny. I had him pegged to be the nervous type when an Aragami shows up. Nevertheless, I sprint over to the Western side of the wall.
By the time I get there, I am already panting hard. It was easy to tell that my body was tired. All I could hope for is that the Aragami either change course and head away from here, or they are small Aragami that can be beat easily. I look over the plains in front of me to locate the beasts. It takes another minute before I can locate them with the night vision goggles. Seconds later, a few pings can be heard from my God Arc. I deduce these to be the quadratic grid. The two Aragami, Zygotes I notice, had gotten too close. Now they will need to die.
"I'm heading over to them." I tell Naoki my intentions as I head in their direction.
Once I have gained some distance on them, I aim my Arc towards the closest Zygote before unleashing a barrage of bullets. They manage to kill the Zygote without any trouble. However, the sound of its dying screams had definitely attracted the attention of the other Zygote. I was forced to switch back to Melee Form to block it as it came speeding towards me. The momentum from it had caused me to fall onto my back. Luckily, I wasn't injured. I quickly got up to avoid the Zygote's poison cloud attack and stayed back until it dissipated. Once it had, I rushed straight towards it and slash it three times before having to dodge a gust of air blown in my direction.
"You're doing well. Another few hits should kill it." Naoki encourages me and I charge back towards it. I jump to hit more of the levitating beast and manage three slashes whilst in mid-air to kill it. Without another thought, I devour the cores of the defeated Zygotes before returning to the wall, thanking Naoki for his praising of my abilities.
The night continued without any more Aragami wandering too close. Finishing my shift, I put my Arc away before heading to my room. I noticed that everything seemed to have been cleaned up but I couldn't relish it. I went straight into my bed before I headed to sleep. I fell asleep almost instantly after my head hit the pillow.
For the second day in a row, loud knocking awakes me from my sleep.
"Jackal?" Accompanied by a soft voice. I looked at my digital clock and found it to read 14:20. About six hours before I was supposed to wake up.
"Jackal?" more knocks follow. I woke up six hours earlier than I was supposed to because of this person. The person who desperately wants my attention that they don't care about how I have to work night shifts. Angrily, I stomped towards the door and flew it open, not caring if it came off of its hinges.
"What?!" I shout angrily and hatefully as I fling the door open. Only now do I regret it. Standing on the other side of the door is Robin. She looked scared to see me open the door and speak with such hatred in my voice. "Robin?! I... I..."
"No, it's okay, Jackal." She speaks with a smile on her face. I could tell it wasn't a real smile. It was one that tried to cover up the pain she was pain felt from me shouting at her. "It's fine. It can wait." She speaks, looking down to the floor. She shakes, whether from nervousness, worry or fear I have no idea.
"Robin-" I attempt to apologise for my actions. Surely she would have understood if I told her why I was angry.
"I'll speak with you some other time." She quickly interrupts before walking away. I would follow her but I'm not sure what she would say. Truthfully, I fear that I would say something that I shouldn't as well. I should probably give her time to calm down. My eyes follow her as she retreats into her room. It confuses me why she would want to see me. Surely it must have been important if she needed to interrupt my sleep. She knows I need to sleep through the day seeing as how I'm on night shift., so why did she disturb me? I head back to my bed.
For the next two hours, I attempt to sleep but the thought of a depressed Robin continues to haunt me. I don't think I have given her enough time to recover but I should apologise as soon as possible. Tomorrow would probably be the best time possible. What should I do now though? There are still four hours left before I need to get ready for night shift and I haven't been able to get back to sleep.
Eventually, I had decided to wander around the Den as I thought to myself.
"Oh, Jackal?" I hear Karel's voice and turn to my right to find him in the infirmary bed. I hadn't even noticed that, as I was thinking, I had wandered into the Infirmary. I walk towards the empty seat beside Karel's bed.
"Hello, Karel. How have you been?" I ask him. Truthfully, I didn't really care but I could fake at least a little concern.
"I'll be out of here tomorrow. That's what matters." An awkward silence envelops us. I had no idea what to talk about. I hadn't planned on visiting Karel in the Infirmary, I just happened to come across it whilst lost in thought.
"How's the night shift coming along?" he breaks the silence.
"Well, I've been out there twice and only had to deal with two Zygotes. I guess it has been going well. What have you been doing while you've been in here?" I ask him. I was genuinely curious as to how he was passing the time. I know that, due to his personality, he wouldn't have had many visitors which is how I spent my time in the Infirmary, but what about him?
"I've been doing things. Don't worry. I've still been making money so it's not a big waste of time being in here. I will be back on night shift tomorrow though." He informs me, almost with a glare. I was intrigued as to how he was still making money and so I ask him how.
"The hospital I own has been doing well." He speaks with pride. It amazes me how easy he can speak of owning a hospital.
"You own a hospital? Why?" He didn't seem to be the type to care about other people. But if that was the case, why would he own a hospital?
"To make money, of course." I should have expected that answer.
I don't realise how long I spend by Karel's bedside but he does remind me that I will need to get ready for it in half an hour. I was pleasantly surprised by how much time I spent with him. I'm quite thankful that I did though. I seem to have gotten a better impression of him. Regardless, I do need to get ready for the night shift and so, I go to collect my Arc.
"I heard from Karel that you and him had a long talk?" Naoki asks and I could imagine the smile on his face as he did so. I don't know how he heard from Karel. I guess Naoki had visited him before doing the night shift. It would make sense I suppose, Naoki has worked with Karel during the night shift. Also, it was during the night shift that Karel got injured so it would only make sense to be concerned for him.
"Yeah, we were just talking about life and-" An object moving in the distance makes me cut my sentence short. I look through the night vision goggles to see the object.
"What's wrong, Jackal?" If Naoki had to ask this, it means that the object hasn't appeared on his radar. I don't answer him straight away as I continue to stare at the object through the night vision goggles. When I say 'object' I really mean to say 'monster'. The thing was clearly an Aragami. One that I hadn't seen before. Despite the fact that the monster was still a long distance away, it was clear to see that it was an Aragami. The Aragami has many tentacles and had to be the size of a mountain. There's be no way that I can defeat it on my own.
"Naoki, I'm going to need back up."