Foreword: Once again, here's another snippet on the alternate storyline with Elliot and Madoka. Since you guys like the last story featuring these two characters as the most unlikeliest pairing. Enjoy!

The only easy day was yesterday

The door to the small condo swung open as Elliot stepped in, heaving two bags laden with groceries while he propped the door open with his body. He called out into the empty house, his voice carried well into the small domicile.

"I'm home! Mads, where are you?"

"In here."

The clear, feminine voice emanated from the kitchen piqued Elliot's curiosity. That was not the place he was expecting his lover to be in. Madoka was not the homely kind of girl and whatever food she ate either came in takeaways or was something he whipped up or purchased.

Sauntering to the kitchen, he could clearly make out the scent of garlic and oil. Madoka's silhouette came into his view, her back profile resembled that of her famed sister and genetic progenitor. The sound of a voice talking in the background drifted into his ears, his keen hearing able to discern what was a cooking video playing out of Madoka's cellphone.

The bags of groceries were gently set on the counter as he approached the girl. Wrapping his hands around her slim waist, the hybrid brought his head beside his lover's and whispered, "Hey sweetheart, what're you doing?"

Madoka didn't respond to his intimate gesture, opting to continue with her cooking.

"Just trying out cooking for the first time. Since you've told me to get a new hobby I decided to try cooking."

Elliot blinked in surprise, not expecting the answer from his sister's doppelganger.

"Huh, didn't expect you'd pick something so…. domestic. I thought you'd go for collecting knives or sport shooting for a hobby."

He could hear Madoka snorted sarcastically, stirring the sautéing garlic in the pan without turning around to face him.

"Like you're one to talk. How can we even do that while we're laying low and constantly on the move? This is about the longest time we've ever been staying in one spot."

The woman fetched a bowl of minced meat marinating in soy sauce and added it into the pan. Loud sizzling and the smell of meat browning in oil filled the small kitchen. Elliot could felt his stomach clawing in hunger upon taking in the scent.

"Man that smells good… What're you making?"

The wooden spatula was pointed towards the right, towards a collection of ingredients set in containers of different sizes and prepared in different stages. Bread, onion, lettuce, mayo, tomato and barbecue sauce. From the list of ingredients sitting on the countertop, Elliot quickly deduced what Madoka was preparing.

"We're going to have hamburgers tonight? Not exactly what I'd consider making at home but not bad. Just hope they'll turn out well, considering it's your first time in the kitchen."

Madoka stiffened in his arms, body rigid with what he could guessed was annoyance. Her hands continued moving the browning meat in the pan, evidence of her ability to maintain excellent composure hailing from her days as an ex-Phantom Task operative.

The woman wriggled herself out from his embrace, getting out in record time without resorting to direct violence. She craned her head towards him, her face a mask of irate impatience.

"If you got nothing useful to add or even planning to help, get out. I can't hear all of the instructions when you're talking nonsense by my ear."

Elliot smirked, not at all intimidated by the display of annoyance by Madoka. His hands came up to wrap around his lover, arms settling just under her decent bust.

"Got to see if you've still got the edge. Can't let you go rusty from going domestic."

Madoka must've been fed up with his ribbing. The spatula she had been using was set down on the nearby countertop and she turned down the stove. Quick as lightning she wrenched his arms away and turned around to push him out of the kitchen.

"That's it, get out you bastard! I don't want you to ruin my first experience in cooking. Now sit down and wait while I make a delicious dinner for both of us!"

The woman shoved the hybrid out of the kitchen and towards the living room. Her strength shone through as Madoka pushed him down onto the sofa, plopping down on the cushions as the seat creaked under his sudden weight. Elliot decided that he'd better ceased with his teasing lest he wanted Madoka to fed him a pan full of hot oil. Or whatever she does when she's more than annoyed.

Relaxing into the soft couch, Elliot watched Madoka hurrying back into the kitchen. The sight of a seasoned assassin acting like a peeved housewife was an amusing image that he couldn't contain the urge to chuckle at the irony.

'Heh, Madoka cooking…. I wonder what would come out of it? Still, it's nice not to be the one busy in the kitchen for once.'

The hybrid sighed blissfully as he leaned back on the chair, massaging his stomach as he recalled the taste of Madoka's first results at cooking. It had been more than surprising to taste her handiwork.

"Wow…that was excellent. I'd say that was a very successful start to a new hobby."

Madoka looked positively smug, which would've been annoying had she not leaned forward to the table and steeple her hands with a proud smile.

"Glad I meet your very demanding standards. Cooking ain't so difficult when there's a good teacher guiding you along."

Elliot chuckled, his voice carried hints of amusement.

"Try making Japanese cuisine. The first time I did that was a disaster. Ichika had to take over mid-way before we missed dinnertime."

Madoka laughed, her clear smoky voice rolled in fitful laughter as she imagined the idea of the ever capable hybrid failed at something so mundane.

"Ah, I guess even the perfect Leo had his own flaws too. Now I got something to hold over you next time you bother me in the kitchen."

Elliot crossed his arms, looking at Madoka with mock indignation.

"Excuse me. You've just managed to make an excellent burger without burning the patty or making a mess of the kitchen. You've still got a long way to go before you can claim to be an excellent cook."

The woman took on a determined look, a sense of challenge flashed in her muddy red irises. Her look was evocative of Chifuyu's visage in the arena that Elliot did a double take, almost not believing the eerie similarity between his elder sister and his lover.

Even until today, he still hadn't got used to moments where both Madoka and Chifuyu looked identical to each other when they were determined to achieve something. It was like looking at a pair of twins had it not been for Madoka's prickly attitude a big contrast to Chifuyu's stoicism.

"Is that a challenge Elliot?"

"It is what you think it is. Care to accept, my love?"

Madoka's eyes blazed with determination, a confident smirk quirked her lips. Her fighting spirit flared to life in front of him, the exact thing that made her so beautiful in his eyes.

"Oh I accept. It's time I have something where I can win against you."

Elliot was about to come up with a smart remark when a sense of anxiety barged into his mind. Only one thing could be the cause of this unexplained emotional change and the hybrid knew what would came next.

'Pilot, I have perceived unidentified individuals converging upon your very domicile at this moment through eyes you established previously. They possessed numerous weaponry and are dressed for battle.'

Elliot went stiff, alert and poised to act. He processed the news to figure out what his next steps were, all the while deducing where they had went wrong to get them compromised.

The news wasn't surprising to the hybrid. His fugitive status as an IS-human hybrid and a wanted man from Phantom Task meant a life where every waking moment was spent looking over his shoulder. It wasn't the first time where either the numerous world governments had sent black ops units or PMCs for the sole purpose of maiming him for capture. That was if Phantom Task didn't decided to use their numerous means to achieve the same thing as the governments.

It was this reason why Madoka and he were constantly on the move, never settling down for more than a few weeks if not months at most at a location. They lived out of hotels or rental properties, moving out before Phantom Task or any governments sniffed them out. It helped that such a nomadic lifestyle helped them track down Phantom Task and destroy their global infrastructure, greatly weakening the secret cabal that had wronged them.

"Elliot, what's wrong?"

Pivoting to his lover, his face hardened into cautious alertness. The woman's eyes widened before they returned to their natural state, mirroring the same state of mind as the hybrid.

"We got guests coming to visit us. Time to break out the fine china and lay out the red carpet for them."

Madoka understood what he meant with the innocuous statement. The woman sprang up from the couch and darted out from the living room, heading into the bedroom where they kept the 'fine china'.

Elliot did the same as her, materializing a large S&W 500 Magnum revolver and opening the cylinder to check his ammo. Seeing that it was fully loaded, he closed the cylinder with foreboding intent before he went over to the main door and locked it shut. The locks were thrown on before Elliot rushed back towards the main living area and upended the dining room table.

At this moment, Madoka came rushing back. A black bulletproof vest adorned her body and a HK G36 assault rifle slung over her shoulder. On her back was a small backpack filled with essentials and she carried a similar backpack in her arms.

The ex-pilot threw the backpack to him, which he handily slung on before taking position right at the corner of the narrow entranceway. Madoka took up his rear, the sound of her cocking the rifle's bolt cut through the building tension of an impending firefight.

The two lovers glanced towards each other, a little ritual before they got themselves into a life and death fight.

"What's the plan, Elliot? We take them all out or we run?"

In response, Elliot lifted up his revolver and cocked the hammer. His voice was steely with resolve as he replied "We fight then run. Let's make them bleed before we disappear."

Madoka hefted the rifle to high ready, her face hardened into the grim smirk that he remembered when they first met.

"Alright. If they're Phantom Task, I don't see why we should let any one of them return."

At that point, Elliot could hear many sets of boots pattering outside the door and getting increasingly louder as seconds passed. Each second counted down to a life or death fight, to the same song and dance that they had gone through too many times.

Both of the seasoned pilots knew the risks of living on the run as wandering vigilantes, not knowing when their time was up. It was the price they paid for their own respective choices, shaped by the circumstances that called for their deaths. So far they had survived whatever the powers that be could threw at them but the two pilots dreaded to know the time when their luck would run out.

Every fight, every raid they lived through, there would be one where there's a bullet with their name on it. When you danced with Death so many times, inevitably one day Death would came up on top. Even with his condition and vast combat experience, Elliot knew that there would be a day where even Hecate wouldn't be able to save him.

Still, Elliot would consider death as a release from the burden he carried. If he was going to the other side, he knew that he wouldn't be going alone. His partner Hecate would follow closely behind, just as they vowed to each other.

The footsteps got to their loudest right in front of their door. Then silence, a heavy pause that preluded a massive fight that was about to come. Both pilots gripped their weapons tightly, mentally preparing themselves for what was about to come.

Elliot trained his magnum at the door, ready to shoot any attackers that were about to storm through the door. His vision morphed into thermal mode to counter whatever diversionary devices the intruders would use, his sight awash in a sea of blues, greens and yellows.

Only one side would get out of this alive.

Author's note: With how many people finding Elliot x Madoka ship very appealing, I'd imagine you guys will like another story featuring these two. Surprised as I was, I find that writing these two quite a surprising and enjoyable experience. After some time, I have an idea of writing an alternate canon where Elliot and Madoka really ended up as a thing. Let me know if you guys would want me to write a story like that and what you guys want to see in it.

Keep in mind however, that if I get a lot of calls for putting forward such a story, I wouldn't be able to start writing until I've finished the canon story. The start of that story is going to be somewhere quite far ahead of the OG story, so it would be confusing to write both story in tandem when one is dependent on the other for history and lore.

That's all for today. Hope you guys would enjoy this story while still waiting patiently for a new update on the main story. Thanks for sticking around and I'll see you guys next time. OtherJAckK out!