Alpha and Omega - Jackal's Story

Chapter 20

In collaboration with Subzero Dragon. Visit their profile to see the other side of this story.

I turned to Robin where a smile meets me. A reassuring smile. However, I turn back to face away from her. If I were to face her, then there's no doubt that I would spill. Robin's just that type of person. Trustworthy, reliable, kind, caring, all of those. So, it would just be a matter of when I would spill the beans about what happened. Honestly though, I don't want to relive it.

"I… It's nothing," I pause for a second to think about my next words, "Nothing to worry about."

"That was a very dramatic nothing." I hear her reply, almost sarcastically. Knowing Robin though, she just wants the best for me. Maybe I can tell her. It was just a nightmare after all, right?

"Just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare…" I turn around to see her response. Hopefully she will just leave if I flash her a smile. "I'm okay." I watch her response again. I can instantly tell that she's not buying it. What am I saying? Of course Robin won't buy it. She knows me inside and out. "You're lucky you are who you are." I mumble to myself about Robin. If it were anyone else, I don't think I could share what happened. "Oh, who am I kidding?" Clearly not her, "Truth is, I'm not okay." I flop onto the couch; my legs feeling weak because of everything. That nightmare terrified me. I was using my energy reserves to stay on my feet earlier as well as to reassure Robin that everything was okay. But that didn't work. Speaking of, I feel her put a hand on my shoulder and sit beside me.

"Want to talk about it?" She asks softly. I honestly don't know if I want to or not. I never imagined that I would need comforting like this. Before today, I would have thought that I'd be comforting her. Y'know, the first mission back being against a Garuda and, with her plan, we managed to defeat it.

"Yes…" I did, but I didn't know how to explain what it was. "No… I'm sorry, yes. Bear with me for a sec." I rest my head on my hands, trying to regain my composure as well as thinking about how to explain the nightmare. Was it honestly just a nightmare though? From what I can remember, I've never been interested in anything like rituals and cults. Nor have I heard about them or saw them being performed. So why would I suddenly dream about it? I guess I had better prepare Robin for such a weird nightmare. "It's kind of a strange one though." I look at her as I speak, not bothering to keep up the façade that she's already seen through. Also though, if I see any ounce of fear, I'm stopping. I don't want her to have a similar nightmare.

"I don't mind if you don't mind." She says so simply that I wonder if she's been in a similar situation. "I just thought it would be good to get it off your chest." She's right about that. I hand my head, not bearing to look at her. I can trust her, but sometimes, it's the closest of friends that can hurt you without knowing it. Even just a humoured smile may be enough for me to not trust her with this, despite the fact that I really should.

"In my dream," I begin with a sigh, "I was going to be sacrificed to a demon."

"That sounds terrible! At least it was only a dream." She speaks caringly, but my eyes widen at her words.

"I'm not sure it was just a dream, Robin. I don't remember anything about my past, so how can I be sure?"

"Demonic sacrifices aren't real," She begins reassuringly, "Even if you did get sacrificed to a demon, you wouldn't be here now, right?" She asks a logical question. I subconsciously rub my stomach. The pain of the demon shoving its claws through my stomach felt so real. However, I realise that there are no marks on my stomach of something like that ever happening. I let out a laugh and stop rubbing my stomach.

"Pretty dumb, huh? You're right. It's nonsense." I turn to Robin, "Sorry for waking you up for something like that."

"Jackal, I don't think it's dumb at all." She gives me a grin, "I kind of envy you actually." Her words surprise me greatly. I don't possibly understand how I can be envied.

"Why do you envy me? At least you have a past to remember…" I trail off. Her history isn't exactly glorious. Maybe that's why she hesitates.

"I think I told you about my past, right? About how my hometown was destroyed by Aragami?" It sounded more like a question that asked if I remembered her saying about her past. I nod to signal that I remember. "Sometimes I wonder if I would be better off forgetting about all of that. And yet I also feel like a traitor for thinking like that. I have plenty of fond memories of Ryukyu, don't get me wrong. It's just that I…" She trails off. It's clear to see that bringing up memories of the past is the cause for it. I do know what she is trying to say though, it'll be better to stop her from continuing.

"Don't say that." I shake my head, "Having some memories is better than having none at all." I envy her for having memories, even if they are bad. Who knows, I could have a family somewhere; a mother, father, siblings…

"Maybe you're right." She leans into the couch with a heavy sigh, "But I don't think I can let go just yet… it still hurts."

"When will it not hurt?" I ask her, knowing everything that she's lost. "You lost your family, your home, and your boyfriend too. If it doesn't hurt, that's when you worry." I learned almost everything from the resonance we had back in the infirmary a while ago. I see Robin stare at me incredulously for a second or so before she continues.

"When I lost everything, I was absolutely crushed. I was so sure I wouldn't open up to anyone again. But when I'm with you, I feel like I can be the person I once was. That makes me happy. I have no idea what happened to you in the past. So, I want to help you become happier too. One step at a time." I'm not sure when, but sometime during her speech, I noticed I had a smile on my face. A real one.

"Thanks, Robin. I'll be counting on you." I tell her with a smile. After that, none of us talked for a while. A silence looming over us. It wasn't an awkward silence though. I close my eyes and lean back into the couch. I notice that Robin sits up as soon as I lean back and open an eye to see what she is doing. It is the middle of the night, after all. I wouldn't be surprised if she did want to leave. I go to speak, to tell her she can leave, but she speaks first.

"I have to tell you something." She speaks with a hint of nervousness. I sit up.

"What is it?" I ask. I'm not sure exactly what brought about this change of tempo. Maybe it has something to do with her past? She fidgets with a strand of her. She's definitely nervous, but I must say that she seems pretty cute while being so.

"We're friends, right?" She catches my eye and asks a strange question. Surely, she already knows the answer.

"Of course we are! Where'd that come from all of a sudden?"

"Do…" She begins nervously. She brings a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm her erratic breathing, and her shaking. "I really like you. Do you want to… be a couple?" She blurts, her face as red as a tomato. Did I just hear her right? She wants to be a couple? My heart begins beating faster and blood starts rushing to my head.

"Is that why you've been flighty lately?" I ask her. She doesn't respond though, instead looking down to the ground. She thinks I rejected her? I'll prove her wrong. "I thought you'd never ask. Let's do just that." Honestly, I thought I'd be the one to tell her my feelings, but I guess this is a nice surprise.

"I'm so glad! I never thought I'd be this happy again!" Her happiness is infectious. I too feel very happy.

"Maybe that's what we both want. A new history. What say we make that happen?" She doesn't respond with words. Instead, she cuddles into me and starts to giggle. I begin laughing as well. "Well, I guess that means yes, huh?" She hums in response, confirming my question.

We sit and cuddle each other for a while. No words are necessary as we enjoy each other's presence. However, all good things must come to an end. Despite my reluctance, I unhinge myself from her grip. She looks at me in surprise.

"As much as I hate to say it, if you're found in my room at this time of night, then all sorts of things might happen." I tell her logically, a small smile on my face.

"Huh?" I understand her confusion.

"Think about it. We still need to write reports for your missions. The higher ups will already suspect a lot of bias in our reports because we are friends. So, what do you think will happen if we're found out to be a couple? They'll begin to suspect even more bias."

"But we can go on missions with more than just us two." Robin attempts to reason.

"Yes, but only we have to write reports about your performance. The others only have to write a general report about the mission. And, there's still the fact that we need to have some sleep to make sure nothing unexpected happens in our missions." I explain to her, putting her health and safety first. No doubt she will be thinking the same thing for me.

"So, how should we act around each other? Hide our relationship?" She asks me, a bit of sadness in her voice.

"It's either that, or risk you having to ask someone else to produce reports instead of me." I reply to her, moving in for a quick cuddle to reassure her. "But that doesn't mean that we can't do this in private. All we need to do is hide our relationship until you no longer have to produce reports about your missions." I try to convince her.

"You realise that I can just get someone like Alisa to produce the reports. I don't want to hide our relationship. I want to do everything with you, because you never know when it will end." She says sadly, no doubt reflecting on the death of her previous boyfriend. I can't help but feel a little jealous, but I know that nothing much can happen about it. She'll always remember her first love. She reciprocates my hug.

"I think we should ask Alisa about that before we decide for her. She might not be able to do it, after all. But I'm all for the idea of asking someone we trust." She stands up quickly.

"Maybe I can ask her now. If she's awake, she's bound to say yes."

"But if she's asleep, you should wait until morning." I tell her, but she has none of it.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jackal." She gives me a hug before running out of the room, no doubt about where she is going, and the time she is going at. I look at the digital clock in my room. It reads 02:15. Honestly, despite all of the good news today, I doubt I'll be able to get back to sleep because of that, but I should still try…

I was right. I couldn't get to sleep. The whole idea of being sacrificed to a demon, no matter how ridiculous the idea, is terrifying. It wasn't real, but it sure as hell felt like it was. However, I know that I have Robin to support me. I even accidentally bit her thinking it was something else. She understood why though. Then there's this whole thing with Robin. We're a couple now… I feel too excited to sleep for that, but Sakaki's words from a while ago echo in my mind. Does Robin know anything about my past that she isn't telling me?

"She couldn't possibly…" I speak aloud as I lie on my bed, comfortable under the blanket although I would prefer the warmth of Robin. I trust her with my life, I doubt that she knows anything. Take Lucia for example. Robin seemed just as surprised as me to see her. I should ask Soma about her. Hopefully he can tell me something. She kept shouting 'Azrail', whatever that is. Maybe it's some sort of greeting in her branch. That's assuming that she's the representative of the Singaporean Branch. Whatever it is, I'll probably run into her soon. I can ask her then.

I sit up from my bed and complete my morning routines. The clock reads 07:30. I wonder if Robin was able to sleep last night. Robin… I feel butterflies in my stomach. I really hope that Robin succeeded in convincing Alisa to take over as the person who needs to compile more specific reports on Robin. Then, we can openly be a couple. Although, I don't have any idea how to act like a couple. Well, I guess Robin and I can learn together. With this in mind, I walk out of my room to start the new work day.

Surprisingly, as I finish eating my breakfast, I continue to see no signs of Robin. I thought that she, like me, wouldn't be able to sleep.

"She must have tired herself out." I whisper to myself, trying to guess why she isn't here. I guess she needs a good rest after yesterday's mission. Her first mission back was against a difficult opponent. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that she's still asleep because of that.

"Jackal." I raise my head at the sound of my Captain's irritated voice. She shares the same look as her voice expresses. "Just the person I wanted to see."

"Alisa? Is something up?" I ask as I clear away my plates. I turn around and audibly gulp at what I see. Alisa has her arms folded across her chest with a stern look on her face. I don't think I've ever saw her look scarier.

"Grab your Arc. We're going hunting." She commands, and I almost run out of the cafeteria to retrieve them.

"So, what's this all about, Alisa?" I ask her from inside of the helicopter. It is only the two of us on this mission, it seems like, as only us two occupy the helicopter, apart from the pilot. She must have some sort of business with me to drag me out on a mission by ourselves.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused?" She replies sternly, but I have no idea what she is talking about. As far as I know, I haven't caused any trouble.

"Huh?" I express my confusion. She sighs heavily, keeping her stern look as she speaks.

"I managed to squeeze some answers out of Lucia. It would have been a lot easier to do had you not smashed her against a wall! What were you thinking?!" Oh, so her attitude was about that.

"Come on, Alisa. If some stranger suddenly grabbed onto you from behind and wouldn't get off, what would you do? You'd try and get the off, right?" I realise as I say it that that sounded a lot creepier than I actually thought, but she knows what happened yesterday, so hopefully she doesn't take it the wrong way.

"Lucia isn't a stranger!"

"She is to me." I reply with the same calmness I've had since this discussion; almost none, but enough to not shout. "Think about it, I only met her yesterday. Of course, she's a stranger."

"That's not what Lucia tells me." Alisa responds, crossing her arms across her chest and shutting up. She chooses to end this discussion at the wrong moment, so I try to press it.

"What did she tell you? Something about me?" It takes a few more attempts of pressing the same question in different ways before she finally gives in.

"I guess you have a right to know." She says with a sigh, "Lucia is a representative of the Singaporean Branch." She confirms what I already had I mind. "She tells me that, while you're not a part of that branch, you did visit there quite often and you two got acquainted." So, according to the girl herself, Lucia and I were acquaintances at the Singapore Branch? It sounds like I'm going to have to talk to Lucia more to get the answers I want.

"Did she say anything else about me?" I ask Alisa, just to confirm that what she has told me was everything Lucia told her.

"Lost your interest in Robin already?" Alisa smiles devilishly. I know that she is joking, but it still sends a pang though my heart.

"I'm guessing Robin already asked you then?" Wait a minute, if Robin did ask Alisa last night, then she was awake when Robin asked; so why is Alisa awake now? Did she not sleep last night? I lean forward in my chair and take a closer look at Alisa's face; she moves backwards, not knowing what I was doing. However, when she did so, she dropped her stern look, and her face relaxes into one of exhaustion. I knew it.

"Captain," She visibly grimaces as I speak her rank, "you haven't been getting any sleep, have you?" Having been found out, Alisa no longer reclines in her seat to get away from my scrutinising gaze. She knows that the jig is up, and drops her stern face, showing how her eyes droop as though they haven't rested in days. "Do you have that much work to do?" I begin to feel guilty about Robin asking her if she can produce reports on Robin instead of me; and she knows it.

"Oh, no. no, no." She tries to deny, but her fatigued face is all I need to see to know that she's lying. "I get enough sleep."

"No, you don't." I say simply. I know that Alisa doesn't want this topic to continue, but maybe there's a way that she can sleep and complete the mission… "So, what Aragami are we against this time?"

"Just a couple of Kongou. It should be an easy mission." She answers me, sounding relieved that I had dropped the topic about her lack of sleep; but I haven't. I smile,

"Good. Then you can go to sleep in here while I take care of them."

"What? You can't do that? You're still a rookie." She tries to reason.

"Alisa," I address her with her name instead of rank, she grimaced earlier when I used her rank, so she mustn't be used to me using it for her. "let's not forget that I had to singlehandedly hold off a multiple-cored Ouroboros for a while before backup arrived." I remind her of my abilities, "And honestly, with you in this condition," I gesture to her, "I'll have to be more vigilant of making sure you don't get hurt than my own safety." I give my own reasons that compete against hers.

"I guess I would be in the way…" She gives in. "But I won't go to sleep while you're out there fighting against two Aragami. I can just provide your backup." Reluctantly, I accept that that's the best I'm going to get out of her and accept her terms.

The mission went flawlessly. Alisa gave me backup from a distance while I melee attacked each Kongou individually. We completed the mission easily, and headed back to the Den. As I walk through the Den, I see Robin walk into the cafeteria. I catch the smile on her face just before she walks through the door. I decide to follow her into the cafeteria; not to eat, but to tell her about Alisa, and what Alisa told me.

"Robin," I speak as I sit across from her on the table. She smiles at me and goes to greet me, but I continue speaking, "I don't think Alisa will be able to do those reports." Robin's smile deflates, knowing instantly what reports I'm talking about.

"Why?" She knows what this means. If Alisa can't do the reports, we'll either have to find someone else to do them, or I'll have to continue doing them, hiding our relationship in the meantime.

"Alisa was awake when you went to see her, right?" I wait for her to nod her head before I continue, "We've just been on a mission and it looks as though she hasn't gotten any sleep in days. Clearly, she's already very busy; we can't force this onto her too." I tell her with a sad smile. It leaves as her face drops to a sad one. She knows that the only other people in our unit that we can ask is Kota and Soma. The latter of the which is out of the question and the former doesn't seem as though they're capable of producing a report. "I can try asking Kota, but I wouldn't be too hopeful." I tell her, to which she seems to brighten up a bit. Yet, she doesn't speak. She must be too busy thinking to herself. For both of our sakes, I hope that Kota can do these reports. I leave Robin to her breakfast, so I can try to find Kota. My best bet would be to ask Hibari if he's on a mission yet.

After asking Hibari, and finding out that Kota should still be in the Den, I head to Kota's room. It's quite late in the morning, so he should be awake. I knock on his door a few times,

"Kota? You in there?" I ask, raising my voice slightly so he can hear it from the other side of the door. It doesn't take long before he opens it.

"Hey, Jackal, what's up?" He greets me in his usual, friendly way. I smile at this.

"Hey, would you mind doing me a favour?" His face turns into one of intrigue and confusion. "This will probably be easier to talk about inside." I comment. It takes a few seconds before Kota realises what I want.

"Oh. Sure, man." He moves out of the way of the door and I step inside. He moves over to his couch while I close the door behind me. I take notice of his room before walking over to the couch he's on. I instantly notice that he was watching something on the TV. He notices me glancing at it.

"You watch Bugarally?" He asks me in excitement. I have a feeling that I'm going to be here a while, but at least I'll have a chance to know my teammate better…