Author's Note: As usual, thanks to all my readers and reviewers for their patience with me. To Clemencor, thank you for your high praise and for making my day as well! To rydia3791, I won't reveal too much and ruin the story but Yuu's family will play a small role later, and the Kota thing bothered me too so I "fixed" it myself as you see. XP To assault GE, I decided to use Yuu mostly because I wanted to make the fic as canonical as possible (and when I started the most I had was the Summer Wars and 2nd Break mangas) so hearing that it's become official thanks to GE2 made me really happy too. To God arcs, thanks and sorry the updates are so slow; I'll try to pick up the pace. To ghost1225, thanks for calling this story your favourite GEB fic; I'll do my best to live up to your expectations! To Yoh Narukami, thanks for leaving a review for all the chapters! To clarify, Yuu's back story in this fic is entirely my idea; I don't have access to any official material that might say what his canonical background is so I created one myself. Enjoy the new chapter, everyone!
Morning brings with it good news in the form of an email from Licca, informing her that her request is nearly done. Alisa only realises she may not be trying to hide her happiness well enough - or even not at all - when the first thing Hibari does when she walks up to the mission counter is comment on it. "Good morning, Alisa. You seem upbeat today. Did something happen?" the operator asks as she preemptively hands over the mission list for the day.
"Morning, Hibari. It's nothing much; Licca just sent me a message telling me she's nearly done with the thing I asked her to help with," the girl answers, feeling herself flush a little as she tries to better control her emotions to seemingly little avail. "Um, I'll go for... this one," she follows up quickly as she taps the mission that has caught her attention, eager to hurry the conversation onto another topic.
The older woman doesn't bother to hide her surprise when she turns the list around and realises exactly which mission the God Eater has picked. "Alisa, are you sure about this?" she asks worriedly. "I'm not questioning your abilities, but I don't think you should push yourself into doing something you might not be ready for yet."
"I'm sure," the Russian answers firmly. "Or rather, I have to be sure, Hibari. I can't improve if I just keep fighting the same Aragami over and over again; I need to challenge myself. It's the only way I'll ever be strong enough to protect the people important to me."
The operator's concern is evident in her gaze even as she nods stiffly. "Alright," she responds somewhat reluctantly, "I'll put your name down for this mission then. You should go eat your breakfast and find Yuu while I sort this out."
"Thank you," Alisa murmurs gratefully, choosing to leave it at just that instead of contesting Hibari's assumption - although not an unfounded one - that she'll be asking Yuu for help again. Surprisingly, she finds the guy in question entering the cafeteria just as she arrives, although the large yawn covering his features combined with her knowledge of what took happened yesterday gives her a good idea as to the reason behind his unusual lateness. "Good morning," she greets him as she walks up to him. "How bad was yesterday? Although I feel I should be asking you what time you finally got back instead."
"Oh hey, morning to you too," the guy responds, his voice a little rough from sleep - or lack thereof. "It wasn't too bad - we ran into a pack of Ogretails during the operation but it was an easy battle and nobody got hurt. As for the time, I honestly have no idea. All I know is that it was really dark when we finally returned and I was so tired I didn't bother to look at the clock before face-planting into my bed." He catches the sympathetic wince on her face as they line up to collect their breakfast. "It's not as bad as it sounds really, and if you're worried about whether to ask for my help with the mission you've picked for today because of something like this I'm going to be annoyed," he warns with a half-serious narrowing of his eyes.
The girl bites her lip at that, wondering if she was that obvious about it or whether he's just that good at reading her now. "Alright, I'll be relying on you as always," she concedes.
"Good," he chimes as they take their food-covered trays to an empty table and sit down. "How do you feel about your progress so far though? Think you're back to top form yet?"
"I'm almost... I'm almost there now..." she murmurs almost to herself, chewing and swallowing a spoonful of rice before making her request official. "So, um... Will you please accompany me on the 'Flame Shield' mission?"
"Yes," he answers immediately, seemingly giving his response less of his attention compared to his breakfast. "What's on the agenda this time?"
This... might be a little tricky, considering one of their prior conversations that she is only just remembering. "One more battle!" she tries to disguise it with enthusiasm. "This one's against one Borg Camlann. The battlefield is the Forgotten Carrier. It's just one, but we'll go with Freeze to be safe. Gotta stick to the basics!"
It's clear, however, that her attempt fails when he pauses in the middle of taking a sip from his drink which he sets back down on the table before giving her his full attention. "I'm sorry, I thought I just heard you say Borg Camlann," he notes, his voice and expression unreadable.
"Um... yes?" she confirms meekly, fighting the urge to squirm and wishing she could look away from his gaze but finding herself unable to.
He blinks. "When I suggested hunting one down as a bonding experience to improve our teamwork while you were still in the sick bay, you realise I was just joking right?"
"Well, yes, but I mean," she stammers out her reply, "I need to challenge myself and you've fought one before so I thought taking one on would be a good test of how far I've come. Is... is that okay?"
At her hesitation, he merely sighs deeply as he runs his left hand through his already disheveled hair. "Can't argue with that logic, I suppose," he answers with a hint of weariness in his voice. "Alright, Borg Camlann it is. Eat up; we're going to need the energy and the sooner we kill that thing the sooner we can come back and recuperate." She doesn't need to be prompted further and dutifully finishes the last of her food off before following him to deposit her empty tray and leaving the cafeteria.
Alisa tries not to think that it's a sign of things to come when Hibari greets them with a slight frown upon their arrival at the mission counter. "Morning, Yuu. And I'm sorry Alisa," the operator apologises when they walk up to her station. "No one is scheduled to go anywhere near the Forgotten Carrier so I couldn't secure any transportation for your mission."
There is a moment where all the girl feels is crushing despair before Yuu steps in to save the day. "Morning, Hibari. About the mission, it's okay; I'll be going with Alisa so could you just get a vehicle checked out for me? I'll drive us there myself," he offers without sparing his fellow God Eater a glance.
"Alright then," Hibari responds after contemplating the issue for a short while. "Booking you a vehicle won't take long, so you two can go ahead and pick up your God Arcs first. The paperwork should be sorted out by the time you reach the garage; someone there will pass you the keys when you arrive."
"Roger that. Thanks Hibari," Yuu acknowledges with a mock-salute before walking in the direction of the lifts, forcing Alisa out of her momentary stupor and into a short jog to catch up with him.
"You can drive?" she asks a little belatedly once she's matched his stride again. While it is relatively common for God Eaters to know how to commandeer a vehicle especially in case of emergencies, she'd never expected someone her age to already have their license.
As expected, the guy merely shrugs it off as they enter the lift car that has conveniently stopped at their floor. "I told you I was taking mechanical engineering classes before I got recruited as a God Eater, right? One of my classes covered vehicle repair and maintenance, and when Grandfather heard about it he pushed for me to get a test driver's license - something about the best way to know what's wrong with any machine is to use it yourself. When I became a God Eater I figured it was a good skill to keep so I took the test to upgrade it to a full-fledged license and here we are."
"I suppose I'll have to remember to thank your grandfather for that if I ever meet him," she comments half-teasingly, allowing herself a small giggle when he gives her an incredulous look and a shake of his head as if to say "not even going to go there".
Licca as always is ready to greet them with their God Arcs prepped and ready to go in their cases. "Morning, you guys. No need to switch out parts today, Yuu?" she asks as she slides the bulky boxes across her worktable to them.
"Nah, I need my Chill Blade today just like I did with yesterday's mission so you're spared the hassle this time," he answers with a chuckle as he grabs his case. "You can thank this one-" he jerks his thumb in Alisa's direction, "-for that. Don't even ask what she has in store for us today."
"Oh! I almost forgot!" the engineer makes an exaggerated show of having suddenly 'remembered' something - an act established for Yuu's sake, no doubt, even though she's doing a markedly poor job at hiding the fact that she's hiding something. "You go on ahead Yuu; I have to check with Alisa about something," she shoos the guy in question along with her hands. Clearly mystified but deciding not to question it, he merely shrugs his shoulders before wandering off towards the exit, leaving both girls alone. Before Alisa can chastise her about her lack of subtlety, however, Licca immediately gets down to business. "I take it you got my email this morning," she starts, waiting for the Russian to nod in acknowledgement before continuing. "I'm pretty much just putting the finishing touches on it so I should be done by the time you come back from your mission or around then. Now, about those finishing touches: I figured you might want to give it a new name, considering the significance of it all."
A new name, huh... The God Eater contemplates the issue for a moment before the memory of the unique shape on the Angel Shell she'd recovered comes back to her. "Tear Stone," she finds herself saying without even realising it. Once the words are out of her mouth, however, she can't think of anything more appropriate. "Call it Tear Stone," she affirms, then pauses as a thought hits her. "Wait, why do you need to name it now anyway?"
She could've sworn there was a suspicious gleam in Licca's eyes before it is replaced by one of surprise. "Even though what I create and work on are weapons, I'm still an artist, Alisa," the engineer answers with a wink and a smile. "Every engineer here and in every other Fenrir branch across the globe will tell you that they care about their work; what we do on a daily basis helps you guys fight and stay alive. That's more than enough reason to get a little sentimental about it."
Strange logic is hard to argue with, so the Russian concedes this round to her opponent. "Alright then," she responds, "anything else?"
"Nope, we're all good from here on out. You'd better go now; Yuu might think you've ditched him or something," Licca shoos her along just like she did with the aforementioned guy.
She finds said guy dutifully waiting next to the lift and tapping a vaguely familiar rhythm on his God Arc case which she eventually recognises as one of the songs on his music player. As if sensing her approach, he looks up and offers her a slightly amused grin. "All done with your little secret chat?" he asks, half-inquisitive and half-teasing.
"It wasn't that secret," she mumbles, jabbing the lift button with a little more force than necessary. "She just wanted to talk to me about some of my spare equipment she's doing some work on for me, that's all," she half-lies (she really does that a lot, doesn't she?) and thanks the powers that be when the arrival of the lift full of people negates the need for her to say any more.
When the lift stops at the garage floor, they are greeted by a gruff-looking green-haired man whose wrinkles only deepen when his eyes take in the sight of them. "Took you kids long enough to show up," he growls through the toothpick clenched between his teeth. "I was about to die of old age waiting for you."
Yuu's reaction, surprisingly - or maybe not, considering it's him after all - is to laugh. "You say that to everyone who's not ten minutes earlier than the given time, old man," the guy retorts mirthfully. "And we all know if you ever did die on the job you'd just keep haunting the base."
"Feh," the older man mutters as he crosses his arms in front of his chest, "you get more and more insolent everytime I see you. I'm having a word with your grandfather the next time I see him about this." It is only then that he seems to notice her presence. "And who would you happen to be, girl?" he asks, causing her to resist the urge to fidget under his scrutiny. "Not someone who'd call this uncouth ruffian a friend, I hope."
Luckily, her fellow God Eater comes to her rescue before she has to actually answer herself. "This is Alisa. Alisa, meet Sid," he introduces both of them to each other with a wave of his free hand. "He's the chief mechanic of the Far East Branch's ground vehicles garage - if it uses wheels to move, he's the reigning local authority on it. Oh, and as you may have guessed, he and my grandfather know each other from way back. You could even say this old coot here learned the ropes from Grandfather."
"Um... nice to meet you," she murmurs as she bows. Sid's next words, however, cut off anything else she might have said.
"Alisa? You're that Alisa?" the man asks, causing her to flinch. Having surrounded herself with those who didn't blame her for Lindow's death, she'd almost managed to forget that the majority of people in the base still hated her guts. Preparing herself for hateful glares and words, what actually comes out of the old man's mouth takes her by surprise.
"Listen to me, kid," Sid growls, the roughness of his voice belying the warmth of his words, "there's a limit to the whole beating yourself up over what happened gig. Like I told the brat here-" he jerks a thumb at Yuu, whose features twist into one of discomfort as he looks away, "-and keep telling him for that matter, people die everyday on this job. You can drown yourself in the what-ifs 'til the sun blows up but the fact is that sometimes there's nothing you can do about it but learn and move on. Take it from someone who's watched his fair share of friends, rivals and everyone in-between die on him - a life focused on nothing but your mistakes? That's no life at all."
The silence that follows his speech is oppressive and only ends when the lift behind them opens up once more to disgorge its occupants. Heaving a sigh, Sid uncrosses his arms to wave them into the garage area. "But you're not here to get lectured by this old man. Come on, this way."
Both of them follow him dutifully, passing by all manner of ground vehicles until the man stops in front of a small jeep and turns to toss Yuu a set of keys. "Bring her back in one piece or I'll have your hide, kid - and don't think for a second your grandfather won't help me kick your ass if you get either the little miss here or yourself in too much of a scrap."
"You don't have to tell me that," the guy mutters with a roll of his eyes. "Well, we'd better get going." After bidding Sid goodbye, they quietly load their God Arc cases into the vehicle before getting in themselves. True to his word, Yuu seems at ease in the driver's seat as he starts the engine and maneuvers the jeep out of the garage.
"So," Alisa tries to start a conversation as the view outside changes from the Outer Ghetto to the barren wasteland beyond the Wall, "about what he said..."
An unreadable look crosses the guy's features although he does not turn to meet Alisa's questioning gaze. "Later," he answers neutrally, eyes trained on the road. "I know you have questions, but... later. We need our minds as clear as possible for the mission ahead - any answers I give you now will only distract both of us."
It's about the most evasive he's ever been with her, but the girl decides to let the matter rest for now. "Alright," she concedes, allowing the silence - something she's uncomfortable associating with their interactions - to persist until they arrive at their destination. Yuu parks the jeep in a small derelict structure within walking distance of their soon-to-be hunting grounds and they wordlessly unpack their God Arcs before Yuu speaks again.
"So what's the plan, Leader?" he asks without preamble. Having learned her lesson over the course of the past two days, the girl decides not to waste any energy contesting the leadership position he's thrust upon her and just goes with it.
"The weak points we need to focus on are the tail and especially the mouth," she starts, calling to mind everything she's read about the Aragami they're fighting today. "Another important thing to do is break its shield to make the overall battle easier. It's not by much, but the Freeze attribute of your blade makes you the better candidate for melee attacks against it so you need to go up close and attack the tail while I provide covering fire and shoot it in the mouth and its upper body with Freeze and Spark bullets as often as possible. Ready?" He nods. "Then let's go."
Finding the Borg Camlann is an easy task considering its size and they are able to sneak closer without alerting it to their presence. "Don't worry too much about anything showing up out of the blue to interrupt us," Yuu murmurs to her as they get into position. "Not that I believe in ghosts or anything, but everyone in the base agrees there's something about this place that makes even the Aragami reluctant to come here anymore. That doesn't mean we should let our guard down, of course."
"I understand," she responds, double-checking her bullets as she eyes their target. "Alright, on my count. One... two... three... go."
She takes careful aim as Yuu sprints out of cover and does a running jump, slashing away at the Borg Camlann's tail as he does so. As expected, the Aragami roars in pained fury as it turns around, only to get a faceful of Freeze bullets courtesy of Gatling Lore. She keeps up her projectile-based assault, timing her shots in such a way that the Aragami is kept from doing much while her partner continues his assault on its tail. Thanks to their strategy, they both manage to dodge its charges and tail swipes, all the while maintaining their offensive tactics until the tail's Oracle Cells finally become unbound.
Then the Borg Camlann gets enraged.
Facing her, the Aragami puts both halves of its partially damaged shield together, signalling its intention to charge right at her. Wasting no time, she puts as much strength as she can muster into her legs and leaps out of the way to avoid being turned into a red smear on the wall behind her. The Aragami slams right into said wall mere seconds after she is done rolling out of the way, only for her to hear an ominous sound of something breaking. Fear freezes her in place when she looks up to see a portion of the now damaged wall falling down right over her head before instincts kick in and she scrambles just out of the way as the chunk of concrete crashes into the spot she'd just been in a few seconds ago-
"ALISA! LOOK OUT!"
She turns to see the tail advancing towards her and there's only barely enough time to deploy Brimstone-
Pain, followed swiftly by oblivion.
Then, a flash.
The punkishly dressed guy runs up to him as the brooding one watches from a distance. "Hey, are you the rookie we've been hearing so much about?" he asks, not without a hint of arrogance in his voice. "I'm-"
-ke up, Al-
...What...?
He fumbles a little with the wiring, his small hands still unused to such delicate work, but Grandpa's hands guide his and the radio crackles to life. "Atta boy," Grandpa praises him warmly. "That's my grandson for you, alright. Okay, we'd better clean up and go or your grandmother's going to scold us."
-t again, not ag-
...Who...?
"Sorry to break it to you," Soma continues, his tone entirely too casual considering what just happened, "but this kind of thing happens on a daily basis here." The older boy points his blade at him. "What kind of place did you think it was gonna be?"
-ome on, plea-
Memories...?
"I wish we could be there with you now." The phone distorts Mother's voice, but he can still hear the concern in it, can almost imagine the regret and worry on her face. There is a rustle as the phone exchanges hands, then Father's voice reaches his ears. "I know you'll be a fine God Eater and you can take care of yourself, but we're your parents - we'll always worry. Just... promise us you'll stay safe, Yuu."
-tronger than th-
...Yuu...?
"-bove you!" Instincts spur his movements, his legs kicking his body away from the boy who looks up only to scream as the Ogretail descends upon him and oh god do something he's dying it's killing him movemovemoveDOSOMETHING-
Come back to me, Alisa.
She surfaces.
At first, opening her eyes does her no good - her vision swims and everything is just a blurry mess of colours - but after a few moments the world comes into focus and she finds Yuu looking down on her. The look of pure worry on his face gives way to relief and he offers her a tired smile.
"Sleep well?" he jokes, but the strain in his voice is a telltale sign that he is still a little shaken up about her condition.
"...Sorry. Guess I screwed up," she musters; she is vaguely aware that his hands are cradling her face but can't summon the energy to be embarrassed about it. The skin-to-skin contact tingles, but as she steadily regains her strength she realises the feeling is the result of the Link-Aid he is still administering.
"Nah, you were great. Not everyone has a contingency plan for debris falling on them in the middle of a tough battle," he chuckles lightly. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah, you can stop now," she tells him and he obliges, letting his hands fall away from her face so they are free to help her sit up. "What about the Borg Camlann?"
"Dead," he answers simply, and the sight of a thoroughly ravaged corpse just a short distance behind him verifies his statement. "I had to deal with it first before I could get to you and administer Link-Aid without worries."
"I see... sorry I wasn't much help at the end," she apologises regretfully.
At that, the guy shakes his head. "The first half of the fight against a Borg Camlann is usually the hardest, so I'd say you helped plenty." Silence descends upon them, punctuated by the sound of waves lapping at the carrier's hull, until Yuu speaks up again. "You saw them, didn't you?" he asks, his voice somber, and knowing it is pointless to deny any knowledge of what he's talking about she merely nods haltingly in response, unable to bring herself to look at his face. The guy merely sighs before getting to his feet. "Come on. You have questions and it's about time I gave you some answers. But not here."
At a loss, the girl accepts his proffered hand up and follows her companion as he climbs his way up to the highest point of the Forgotten Carrier which happens to also provide a dissonantly scenic view of the ocean. The guy sits down and pats the spot beside him in a silent request for her to do the same which she obeys, and for a while they do nothing but gaze out at the sight of the setting sun.
"His name was Eric."
Yuu's out-of-the-blue statement takes her by surprise, causing her to turn to look at him, but he continues staring out at the horizon. His faraway gaze, however, tell her he is seeing something else instead, and his grim countenance makes him look older than he is.
"Eric der Vogelweid," he continues. "I met up with him and Soma during one of my early missions when I was still a rookie. He'd run up to me to introduce himself when..." he trails off, his face twisting into a pained grimace. "It happened so quickly. One second he was talking, then Soma yelled out a warning and the next thing I knew..."
She knows - after all, she'd seen the memory herself.
"Self-preservation made me react and I managed to avoid getting attacked. He... wasn't so lucky. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is I let it happen. I froze. Simple rookie mistake. It wasn't my first time in the field but I'd screwed up in the worst way possible - my failure to act resulted in someone dying right in front of me." He pauses his story for a moment to close his eyes and let out a deep sigh before opening them again. "He had a sister, you know."
THAT gets her full attention.
"I'd seen her around the base before, but I didn't know she was related to him until I found her waiting at the entrance when we came back from the mission. She kept demanding to know where her big brother was and called me a liar to my face when I told her what happened. His father showed up a few days later to collect his things. When I met him, he..." he chuckles wearily, "...he offered me his deepest condolences. Said Eric's death was a great loss to us as well. The man had lost his only son and yet he was thinking about the comrades that son had left behind. As for his sister... do you know what she said to me and Soma?" he asks rhetorically before reciting a speech she thinks might've been burned into his memory through the sheer power of guilt. "You should all just die! Because none of you protected Eric! None of you were able to save Eric! All alone... he had to die all alone...!"
"Soma got blamed for it, by the way," he comments off-handedly, the way one would talk about yesterday's weather, but she can detect the strained tone in his voice. "You could say he's got a... track record of sorts - a number of God Eaters who'd gone on missions with him before never came back alive. It reached the point that a lot of people called him the Death God behind his back... not that they made the effort to hide it from him, and not like he didn't blame himself to an extent regardless." Yuu turns to her then, and the deep sadness she sees in his eyes - a stark contrast to the upwards turn of his lips - is heart-wrenching. "He blames himself for Lindow's death too, and people would've probably pinned it on his 'curse' as well if you hadn't been part of the equation."
"But that WAS my fault," Alisa points out in a pained whisper only for her companion to shake his head and reach out to grab her hand.
"I've seen your memories, remember? You can't hold yourself responsible for something you were brainwashed into doing. In fact, you fought it enough that you didn't shoot Lindow outright like you were supposed to," he corrects her gently.
"I still pulled the trigger and sealed Lindow's fate," she protests.
"I failed to act and condemned Eric to death," he responds quietly.
There really is nothing to say to that, and they both just stare silently each other as the weight of their kindred guilt hangs over them. Yuu is the first to move, breaking the eye contact and shaking himself as if to try and physically throw off that blood-soaked burden from his shoulders before looking at her again. "We'd better head back before it gets dark. You need to see Dr Anderson, and after that... I think it's time I showed you something," he finishes ambiguously as he stands and helps her up with the hand that is still holding hers. They make their way back to the jeep without exchanging a single word and the ride back is similarly quiet as they both lose themselves in their own worlds.
Sid seemingly takes notice of the kind of mood they return in as he says nothing and merely collects the keys from a silent Yuu before waving over one of his mechanics to look over the jeep. Alisa idly wonders if they're being that obvious when even Licca won't stop giving them worried looks the moment she spots them and throughout their quiet handing over of their God Arcs. "You guys okay? Nothing bad happened during the mission, did it?" the mechanic asks in a concerned whisper after Yuu moves on ahead without being told to leave them alone, although her worried looks fail to disappear even when the Russian answers in the negative. "If you say so..." she murmurs, unconvinced. "Anyway, your request is all done; I'll have it sent to your room so you don't have to deal with any prying eyes."
"Thank you again, Licca. I really appreciate it," Alisa manages to give a small smile which the mechanic responds with a wave before excusing herself to sort out both their God Arcs. Yuu is dutifully waiting at the lift and they silently make their way to the sick bay together to see Dr Anderson. During their checkup, they are forced to confess that another memory-sharing episode had occurred.
"I see," the blue-haired woman murmurs once they have finished recounting the event. "As I suspected, the transference is not limited to one party always being the... transmitter, if you will - not that I expected it to be so, but as a scientist it's always best if there is hard evidence to support one's theories. Still, this is a very unusual situation and we won't know more until there are more New-Types we can test to see if this memory-transference is unique to only the both of you." She sighs and closes her eyes in a gesture of mild frustration. "We really should give it a better name than that if we're to study it seriously," the doctor mutters almost to herself before she looks back at them. "Well, neither of you sustained any serious injuries so I'm releasing you from my care, but as your doctor I'm recommending-" by which she meant she was ordering "-that you don't engage in any more strenuous activities for the rest of the day. Alright, off you go then," she says as she shoos them out of the sick bay.
"So..." she starts uncertainly once they pass the nurse's station and are waiting for the lift to arrive, "you said you wanted to show me something."
Yuu nods stiffly although he does not turn to look at her. "Yeah. Follow me; it's not that long a journey and it shouldn't take too much time," he answers, gesturing for her to board the lift as he jabs the button which she realises corresponds with the facilities floor where the more recreational elements of their base are located. The mystery only deepens when upon reaching said floor he guides her past most of the facilities and heads in the direction of...
"...The restaurant?" she asks out loud as she stares at the worn signage of Ryouken, the only dedicated eatery in the base aside from the cafeteria. She'd never been here herself, having had no need to visit the place especially since she'd learned that it was mostly used by Fenrir's staff when they had cause to celebrate. Somehow she doubted she'd be celebrating anything anytime soon, if ever.
Yuu merely laughs - a refreshing sound to hear - at her obvious confusion. "Not quite," he responds as he waves her in. The girl is surprised once more when she is presented with an imposing door just past the entrance. Being the gentleman that he is, her guide holds the door open for her. "Welcome to Mayonaka no Houkou," he announces.
Mayonaka no Houkou turns out to be a bar with peeling wallpaper, and upon their entry the bartender immediately looks up to inspect them before apparently recognising either one or both of them and returning to his glass-cleaning duties. Her companion waves in greeting, a gesture the bartender acknowledges with a nod as they pass, but otherwise no words are exchanged and she begins wondering again why they are here until he stops in front of part of the wall for no apparent reason.
It takes a few seconds of staring. Then she understands.
The peeling wallpaper is not wallpaper at all - it's a mass of pictures. Photos of individuals and groups, some young and some old, some yellow with age and others crisp with newness.
She is looking at a memorial. One that seems to span the entire history of the Far East Branch.
"Lindow's is there," Yuu murmurs as he points, and it does not take long for her to locate his picture. Whoever had put the photo up - possibly Sakuya - had chosen one that showcased the carefree and casual side of the man. In it, he was grinning and giving the camera an enthusiastic thumbs up.
"And over there is Eric," he thankfully continues before she can start crying, pointing at a cluster of pictures to their right until she picks out the spiky red hair and sunglasses she'd seen in his memories.
She's not sure how long she does nothing but stand there and stare at the faces of all those who've given their lives in this war until the familiar feeling of Yuu's hand grasping hers jolts her back to reality and she turns towards him. "Never again," he murmurs with a worn smile as he squeezes her hand, and she understands.
"Never again," she repeats, mustering a smile of her own. This is their promise to each other and to themselves - that they will do their utmost best to never let another one of their comrades be memorialised on these walls.
It takes a few seconds, but Alisa eventually realises she really really needs to get out of this (she doesn't want to use the word 'intimate') situation immediately or... well, she isn't sure what would happen but she knows it probably isn't good. "S-so, um," she stammers, feeling herself flush as she lets go of his hand and breaks the eye contact first to stare somewhere to the left of her feet, "could you come with me for a bit? There's something I want to you to have as thanks for all the help you've given me these past few days."
Yuu predictably protests. "There's really no need for that-" he starts but the girl cuts him off.
"No, I want to," she affirms, summoning the courage to look at him again. "Please... let me do this."
He frowns at her before a sigh escapes his lips. "Alright, if you insist that much. Lead the way." The guy says nothing more as he follows her out of the bar, and the ensuing lift ride is equally quiet.
She stops just as they reach the common area just outside the corridor leading to her room. "Just... um, wait here please while I get it," she asks timidly, more than a little nervous with the idea of him coming into her room. Yuu seems to understand and merely nods before sitting down at an empty table. As promised, she finds the item she's looking for sitting on her bed with a scribbled note declaring "Good luck, girl!" in Licca's handwriting stuck on it. Shaking her head, the Russian removes the piece of paper and takes a deep breath to calm herself before walking out to meet him with the item in tow.
The common area is thankfully still devoid of other people when she returns - she doesn't think she could go through with this if she had an audience, after all, and Yuu's look of surprise when he notices her return is doing a number on her confidence levels as it is. "Before you say anything," she starts, preemptively cutting off anything he might have to say, "please let me finish talking first." At that, he obediently closes his mouth and nods.
"For humouring me all this time..." she starts after a shaky breath, finding herself lapsing into formal speech in her nervousness. "Thank you so much... Will you accept this as my token of gratitude?" she asks as she holds out the item in her hands. "I want you to have this Tear Stone. Tear Stone was actually made to pair with the shield that I'm using right now. I used it back when I was in Russia, but right before I left, stuff happened and it broke... So I had Licca fix it for me," she explains as looks down at the piece of equipment that has been given a new life and a new purpose along with it. "You protected me from a lot of things, Tear Stone," she murmurs quietly before holding it out to the person who has been protecting her from everything life has thrown at her in the past few days and looking him in the eyes. "That's why I want you to use this!" the girl finishes before feeling self-conscious all over again. "...Would that be okay?" she asks shyly.
Yuu is almost reverent in his carefulness as he accepts her gift. "Of course; I'll use it," he answers solemnly but warms his statement with one of his usual smiles.
Relief floods her body at his words. "Thank you! I hope you take good care of it," she responds, feeling somewhat ridiculously happy as she watches him inspect the shield.
"I will, I promise. The workmanship on this is spectacular - I mean, the original maker has to be commended, but I have to give credit to Licca too. I can't find any sign it was seriously damaged before," he comments admiringly before pausing. "Oh, there's an inscription here..."
Wait, what?
"It's written in English too... 'Its affection will dry all tears'..." he reads out loud before giving her a curious glance. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
...She's going to kill Licca for this.
"It's... um... an old Russian proverb. Thing. Part of it anyway. I don't remember how it goes anymore," she babbles, hoping he doesn't ask any further.
"Oh," he murmurs in a contemplative manner before giving her one of his trademark grins. "Well, whatever it is, I like it."
...Okay, so maybe she won't kill Licca. Although she IS going to have a few choice words about the issue, make no mistake about that.
"So," he continues, drawing her out of her musings on how she should punish the meddling mechanic for this stunt, "think you're ready to be put back on the regular rotation, considering all the training you've done in these past three days?"
Alisa frowns. "I think so, but I don't think our superiors feel the same way," she admits a little bleakly. "I wish they'd let me go into battle right away. But I guess it's not easy to win back lost trust. No..." she corrects herself with a shake of her head, "I will win it back, no matter how long it takes."
"That's the spirit," he responds with a warm smile before glancing at the clock in the common area. "I think we'd better rest up for the rest of the day, especially since it's the good doctors orders."
"Yes, we should," she agrees, "but... I just wanted to say one last thing before you go."
The inquisitive look he throws her morphs into one of surprise when she bows deeply to him. "Thank you very much," she says clearly and in the most formal tone she can muster, "and forgive me for taking up your valuable time, but I think I've regained my battle instincts. Now I will make sure I can carry out difficult missions... I'll be training diligently. Again, thank you very much."
"Hey hey, no need for formalities - we're way past that, even if you ARE going for the whole official feel," he sheepishly waves off her bow, "but you're welcome. Just remember that I'll always have your back. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight then," she responds, watching him disappear down the corridor with her gift to him securely tucked in his arms before heading for her own room. And if she falls asleep that night with a smile on her face... well, there's no one to tell on her.
And that wraps up the Training Mini-arc. This was a seriously difficult chapter to write mainly because of all the small parts that had to be fit into it in such a way that it didn't seem awkward or out of place. I really really hope I achieved that, considering how many revisions I made to several key scenes in my attempt to ensure the flow of events was as natural as possible. Hope you guys enjoyed the read, and as always please look forward to the next chapter (which will hopefully not take so long). Oh, and for those of you who're curious: Ryouken means 'hunting dog' and Mayonaka no Houkou means 'Midnight Howl'.