EPISODE 21: FAIRYTALES/ DISNEY (?) [AU; PART 1]
Summary: A strange dream felt real for our characters that almost look like fairytales…it's weird, right?
A/N: This AU series is inspired by one of my Cross Ange DeviantArt drawings…
Disclaimer: I don't own Cross Ange or any of its characters and original plot, excluding the original characters I created for this story. This is a spin-off series of the main 'Cross Ange: Living Hell' story. So please read that before here.
Cross Ange and all its rights belong to King Records (Japan), Sentai Filmworks (USA), and Sunrise/ Bandai Namco Entertainment (Japan). This fanfiction is meant for entertainment only and not for profit. This story contains heavy language, blood and violence, and mild sexual themes not for audiences under 16-18 years old.
Ange could've sworn she was sleeping while standing on her feet instead of her bed after retiring the night with Momoka. The sensation of wearing different clothes and the soft wind blowing on her face made her blink her eyes until her vision cleared, faintly gasping in surprise to find her not in her bedroom in Arzenal but in a forest clearing like the ones she would sneak out of the Misurugi Palace before her banishment.
"Where the hell am I?" Ange grumbled in annoyance, looking for anyone or anything to believe this was a dream. She looked down to find herself wearing black and darker blue armour for her body over a long, grey shirt with long sleeves and black armpiece for her arms and back of her hands, slightly matching blue pants and the white boots of her pilot suit. A jagged, double-bladed sword with a ring at the pommel was laid beside her until she held it with both hands.
Whatever and wherever she is, this better not be another of Hilda and her entourage's stupid pranks to get back at her…despite the enormous scale for a prank.
"Whatever. I'll get out of here." Ange bitterly scoffed. But she just took a few steps forward when she stopped by the immediate bursts of dark smoke surrounding Ange's path, shocking her when the smoke dispersed and took form into monstrous beings drastically different from DRAGONs. Circling her are five demonic-looking beasts bigger than a human and resembling lion dance costumes with a similar colour scheme as a Brig with purple and red fur on its body and legs, white fur as the eyebrows and the body's stripes, glowing pink eyes, and fanged teeth releasing inhuman growls and roars towards her.
'What the hell are those things?' Ange angrily wondered but held and instantly swung her new sword towards one of these monsters that pounced at her only to explode and disappear into a brief explosion of fading black smoke from a single slice across and through its furred body. Keeping her surroundings in check for potential traps, Ange rolled her body to the side to jab the sword at both the second monster, who almost slashed its clawed paw at her and the third one that was the closest to her landing spot, only for both creatures to also disappear at the same time as the fourth that Ange expertly twirl her body and swing her arm and sword in an upward, tilted slice across its face. Rolling her body again from the final soon-to-be dead monster sprinting in her direction from the side, Ange used its few seconds from stopping to dash and jump onto the distracted monster's back, sadistically jabbing the blade from its scalp to under its chin for one second before Ange witness the monster's body under her exploded in a brief dim of light and smoke before she faintly landed on her feet.
Panting to catch her breath, Ange initially looked at the last spot of her final kill before her surroundings, slowly feeling more irritated by her current situation in a strange place. "Geez, this better be a dream to wake up now…" Ange grumbled aloud, although she heard a familiar voice screaming somewhere deeper in the forest, surprising her to look in the direction of the source in bewilderment just as a strange roar, unlike a DRAGON, rang the air.
"What the?" Was that scream, Momoka?
"Milady? Lady Angelise?" Realising she woke up in an unfamiliar forest, and nowhere near her princess, Momoka kept calling her with her fear slowly increasing for their safety and separation despite her lady's new aggressive and stubborn personality. When she climbed on her feet earlier, Momoka noticed her clothes had changed to wear a blue and short puffy-sleeved shirt with red teardrop symbols on her sleeves, a high white collar, a black cape, a long yellow skirt and golden high heels. Luckily, she is holding her trusted frying pan in her hands, ready to whack anyone dangerous as a weapon since her secret training in Haven by Kiyoshi and his friends. At least she has something to fight and protect while searching for Lady Angelise.
"Where the heck am I? This isn't like Haven…" Momoka heard a boy's voice wondering aloud a few meters at her side, startling her of the Haven mentioned by this person, curiously looked and slowly trod closer to where she could hear the voice's location until she hid behind one of the trees closer to another massive clearing where a lone boy was standing and looking around in confusion. A young man sharing her and Lady Angelise's age with short brunette hair having a strand sticking out, purple eyes when he turned around to search his surroundings and wears a thin purple vest exposing his body, white and baggy pants held up by an orange sash with a yellow sewn patch on the lower right of his pant leg, bare-footed, and a scimitar in his right hand.
'Oh, who is this?' Momoka wondered, spying on the boy walking around the clearing and looking at his surroundings in mixed confusion and concern. Even if he didn't mention Haven, Momoka was both relieved and curious about seeing another person other than her in this unusual place, although worried about seeing a boy not only because of her loyalty to Lady Angelise, ready to attack him if he dared speak ill of her mistress…but sad that it's not Kiyoshi.
Perhaps she can interrogate this boy if he is a kind human or a Norma hater like those outside Arzenal and Haven…
…Right after she almost left her hiding spot, Momoka noticed the tree bark she was hiding behind immediately glow a dim glow of yellow light forming into a pair of angry eyes and a demonically grinning, black-coloured mouth with jagged teeth and a long reptilian creature sprouting out as the tongue with a hiss like a snake, at the same time, the leaf-less branch immediately moved from its rigid position and readily reached to grab Momoka. Luckily, the fear of being captured by the monstrous tree and her defence training with Kiyoshi's group alarmed Momoka to slide and sprint away from the branches quickly but accidentally fell her body onto the ground with a terrified scream, attracting the boy she initially spied on.
Tusk wasn't expecting to hear a girl's scream when he was about to leave the clearing and possibly a dream since he must have fallen asleep at the Haven's underground lab, whirling around to see an innocent girl falling in the clearing from the forest with short purple-like black hair, dressed in a blue and yellow dress and holding a pink and white-coloured frying pan in her hands.
"Hey, are you okay?" Tusk hurriedly dashed and helped lift her to sit on the ground, but both heard an inhumane growl in front of them They looked up in shock and scrambled away from the hand-shaped branches that almost slammed and smashed them like ants.
"Woah!" Tusk cried as both sluggishly climbed onto their feet with their weapons in hand, but both gawked in horror at the strange monster that sprouted off its position from the ground and menacingly crawled towards them inside the clearing. Unlike the other trees, this demonically large animated, decaying-grey-coloured hollow tree bore glowing yellow eyes and grinning, jagged mouth with no flowers nor leaves on its crown, a green reptilian creature acting as its tongue, human-like clawed hands, and a moving pair of root-made legs. When the tree monster showed up, Tusk and Momoka witnessed five sphere-shaped shrubs around the clearing instantly pop out of the ground and bounce from their positions to stand between the shocked boy and girl and the tree.
Without a word from Tusk and the girl, the tree monster raised one of its branch arms and clawed hands before swiftly swinging it horizontally and against the five bouncing bush shrubs' heads, fast enough that the friction caused all the shrubs' leaves to immediately crackle and burst a small blaze of fire on the top as if the shrubs are like heads with fire as hair.
'What the hell?' Tusk mentally gasped in horror, holding out the scimitar in hand in case the girl behind him would stay put and not get hurt when the tree monster wailed a roar and pointed a branch finger at them, attracting the now flaming shrubs to bound at them for the first attack. When the closest shrub hopped higher and was about to descend on Tusk holding the blade over his head to block, a familiar glow of translucent green light materialised and blocked the fire bush not just above them but the other four now bouncing against the Mana forcefield in front of them, to Tusk's surprise.
"B-Be careful!" Tusk heard the girl's voice behind him and saw her raising her glowing green left hand off her frying pan, conjuring her Light of Mana as a shield in fear and determination, which flabbergasted Tusk.
He knows how the Mana humans outside the Haven would be mindlessly cruel and oblivious in their bliss to learn of the suffering outside their world while the Haven-Mana humans, although wanting to protect their Norma friends and daughters, would sometimes reclaim their pushy personalities, especially to their desires towards his best friend. But he didn't think a Mana human outside the Haven was willing to protect a boy instead of relying on him to use the Light of Mana since he is a Destruction-clan and Tyrant-blooded Ancient Human. Still, her sincere kindness and bravery made Tusk smile with a nod of appreciation.
"Thanks!" Looking back and mentally preparing for his first yet strange fight, Tusk ran around the Light of Mana and past the fire bushes, now distracted from trying to unsuccessfully ram their fiery bodies against the forcefield to fight the girl, before he raised and swung his arms and sword against the tree monster sluggishly raising one leg and the other but swiftly swinging its pair of arms and clawed hands at Tusk while whirling and jumping its body from the ground like an experienced acrobatic gymnast. For a tree monster, Tusk is baffled that his opponent can fight him as swiftly as anyone he could fight, surprisingly strong enough to stagger Tusk to walk backwards, nearly bumping towards the fiery shrubs continuously attacking but also flying backwards from the girl's frying pan, almost making him fall on his knees or body from the attack slashes.
Based on his stories and having known him for half his life, Tusk can either wish and dream of Rush showing up to back him up or want to fight at least anyone or any creature in this dream like a madman since the Haven couldn't interest him in mock fights for 'personal reasons', according to Rush when he visited his islands.
"Get away!" As the strange but experienced brunette fighter battles the terrifying tree monster but sees the young man struggling with the strong creature, Momoka keeps swatting the skillet to send the fireball shrubs bouncing away from her but making sure not to throw them toward the boy and the demonic tree.
However, Momoka watched as she unintentionally swatted one of the fiery bushes past and over the other boy's head and hit the tree monster's face like a bomb exploding upon contact. Immediately, Momoka and the boy, alongside the other four fire-made shrubs, ceased their fight and watched, in both humans' shock, the tree monster now howling an inhuman screech in agony from its now burning face after receiving the accidental misfire blinding its face while wildly shaking its clawed, branch hands arms but unsuccessfully swat the flames off its face for its fingers also start burning when it touched the fire and it smokes. That prompted Momoka with the idea to hopefully finish the dream's battle.
"Please duck!" Tusk heard the girl calling at him from behind and whirled around, reacting in time to duck from three of the four remaining fire shrubs now flying over his head and straight to the quickly burning tree monster continuously shrieking even when the girl surprisingly whacked the new fireballs at its blinded face and growingly burning legs with her frying pan. Tusk rolled his body closer to the girl, avoiding the final fireball's attempt to burn him before he swiftly swung and slashed his scimitar with a grunt at the last enemy, slicing it in half. Both halves flew towards its burning master, unleashing a final scream as Tusk and the girl watched and panted in surprise at the massive fire blazing from what was left of the tree monster. Its right arm and hand tried to reach the sky, but the fire was fast enough towards its clawed fingertips before the now crisp black branches and bark pieces fell onto the burnt ground.
Tusk and the girl watched a few minutes of the fire slowly dim and extinguish itself, leaving only charred tree bark and kindling as the last thing of the tree monster in this strangely real dream.
'…That was close.' Tusk mentally sighed in relief, reeling his surprise from earlier, but looked around to see that the dream was still present and the girl who helped and saved him was still shaken with her hands holding her frying pan. Although glad that he is still alive, despite being a dream, a part of Tusk is strangely sad…that he hasn't seen Ange as he had hoped ever since they last saw each other since the Schooner incident at the islands. At least she isn't here to beat him up for his 'accidents'.
"Are you alright, miss?" Tusk asked the girl once she had calmed down from the shock, seeing her brown eyes lit up in shock, but her mouth quivered with a shaky but happy smile.
"O-Oh, yes! I appreciate your concern, sir." The girl happily acknowledged. Tusk smiled a bit, chuckling at being called sir despite sharing the same ages. However, both heard another woman's voice panting and grunting from the same direction as the burned ground and grave of the tree monster, looking in time to see the arrival of a familiar blonde girl wearing different clothing and wielding a sword on her right hand.
"Momoka!" After minutes of running through the strange forest and killing the crazy lion dance monsters that kept materialising and trying to kill her like DRAGONS, Ange finally found the source of the scream she confirmed from in front of her was Momoka. However, she wasn't expecting to see her with another familiar face she couldn't believe he was here in this dream. "Tusk?" Ange gasped in surprise and confusion.
"Lady Angelise!" Momoka happily dashed to her mistress, seeing in relief that she was safe, yet she turned in curiosity at seeing her staring at the kind brunette boy, also happy to see her when he walked a bit closer to them. "Ange! I'm so glad to see you again…"
"Don't you think about it." Ange curtly threatened with a cold sneer, holding her sword in front of Tusk's face should he get closer, terrifying him with a squeak and hurriedly raising his hands, holding his scimitar. "Hey, hold on! I thought you would be happy to see me too! Is it because of those accidents!? I thought I apologised for those!" Tusk pleaded in fear.
"You think I would forget every time I see and even think of your face?" Ange angrily reminded in embarrassment of every accident since meeting Tusk in his islands.
"Okay, that's fair…at least you think of me." Tusk nervously chuckled, and his mouth twitched to a slowly pleased smile. That made Ange blush in surprise but hardened in anger, furiously ready to jab her sword at Tusk's face.
"Why, you…" Tusk recoiled in fear for unknowingly angering Ange right after his light tease. "Okay, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make it bad timing!" Tusk cried.
Momoka watched in bewilderment. Lady Angelise may have adopted the aggressive, brutish fighter life in Arzenal for being a Norma. Still, she seemed a bit calm towards this Tusk person instead of immediately fighting or killing him compared to the Norma girls who tried to fight the two. "Lady Angelise? Who is this man?" Momoka curiously asked Lady Angelise, managing to stop her from nearly killing Tusk. The two looked at each other, her princess slowly dimming her murderous glare towards the boy's face.
But before he could introduce and answer Ange's maid's question, feeling his face slightly flushing red for what he would say and cheer Ange up, Tusk's face broke into a startled frown from a foreign noise and glimpsed at the side…
"Look out!" Tusk instinctively leapt and reached and wrapped his arms around both Ange and Momoka from whatever he spotted, hearing a gasp from both girls right before the explosion imploded at the last spot they stood if not for Tusk's reaction, and his eyes closed from the impact violently blew off and the wind changed his trajectory for Tusk to fall his body onto the ground with a familiar sensation cushioned his face although he heard Ange gasping in pain and shock which alarmed him to raise his head and noticed, in horror, he again planted his face on Ange's spread legs and crotch with Ange blushing in anger glaring at him from above.
"You had to land in there!?" Ange growled, releasing a terrified squeak before Tusk hastily climbed on his feet and backed away from Ange, who recklessly stood up, ready to kill him for his accident again. "S-Sorry!" Right after Tusk apologised, almost in tears, another foreign inhuman roar rang the air and alerted the two to look to the side and see what attacked them, only to gawk their shock at the cause.
'What the heck is that thing!?' Ange mentally demanded in bafflement. Like the creatures in this dream, Ange and Tusk see a demonic-looking monster as large as a Schooner DRAGON and resembling a genie in those fictional shows and books with blood-red skin, a type of turban headwear concealing its scalp and mouth and draping on its shoulders, glowing yellow and angry, pupil-less eyes, no shirt revealing its muscled body and arms, a type of purple sash around its waist connected to a large, living, darker crimson red snake as a tail instead of a pair of legs and hovering off the ground, and its giant right hand wields a sceptre staff with the head being a giant glass-like café resembling an hourglass with the lone prisoner trapped in the bottom.
"Momoka!" Ange realised in shock.
"I-I'm alright, milady!" Momoka's voice was muffled inside the giant glass cage head of the demon's staff. However, the genie-like monster raised his arm and hand, wielding the staff between the owner and Ange and Tusk, alarming them to hold their swords in hand after a glimpse of their surroundings shimmer a bright glow of pinkish light around and above everyone in a wide radius around the forest and clearing before dimming, showing a translucent pink forcefield with only two of the three humans and the monster entity anticipating for another fight.
"Be careful, Ange! That thing's different than a DRAGON!" Tusk informed Ange as both glared at the floating monster, yet Ange quickly responded in annoyance. "You think I didn't notice that!"
Fight: Ange (LV 7) and Tusk (LV 8) vs. Mad Genie [Kingdom Hearts II style]
Information: Save Momoka from the strange creature! (Music: Facing Despair; CROSS ANGE OST)
"Lady Angelise!" As Momoka kept banging her fists and frying pan on the unbreakable glass head, Ange and Tusk first stood their ground from the genie monster, also holding still for a few seconds of staring at each other with both human and Norma holding onto their swords until the approaching monster, that Tusk will think on the random name as Mad Genie, flew closer to Ange and Tusk and start the first attack by holding its staff with both hands, the cage head immediately glows and brims with dark orange flames but Momoka is luckily unaffected inside, and start swinging its weapon in wild directions with fiery trails of fire from each swing.
However, Ange and Tusk jumped and split away, with the former now dealing with its snake tail and leg constantly chomping its fanged jaws only to be counterattacked and deflected by Ange's sword. Tusk hurriedly gave a few sword slashes and strikes at the genie monster's arms and body right after it finished swinging its now extinguished and solid staff. (Mad Genie: 420 HP to 300 HP)
After another strike from the swordsman and woman, the Mad Genie flew backwards with another attack by raising its staff, the cage head emitted a glow of yellow light than orange earlier and shot three beams of lightning that formed into a tornado each and sent them circling the clearing in different directions, forcing Ange and Tusk to roll and leap themselves side to side although one of the three lightning cyclones unknowingly hit Tusk, releasing a brief scream of pain but not electrocuted only to be sent flying and hit his back against a tree bark for another gasp. (Tusk: 100 HP to 75 HP)
"Why, you!" Ange angrily yelled, witnessing Tusk's flight from the attack but thankfully strong enough to get back on his fight and run to resume fighting the genie monster's top half by jumping off the ground whenever he can (Mad Genie: 300 HP to 225 HP) before she dashed at its snake tail that violently and continuously wiggled and opened its mouth to try and bite her multiple times. But since the Schooner incident, Ange knows how to speedily deflect each bite and slice anything she can on the giant, scaly skin. (Mad Genie: 225 HP to 187 HP).
"Milady!" Momoka screamed in shock as the unfortunate spectator of the dangerous battle between Lady Angelise and Sir Tusk against the monster holding her captive in its staff, unfazed and not feeling pain whenever the giant brutish monster used its sceptre that imprisoned her to conjure magic and attempted to harm the two experienced swordfighters. (Mad Genie: 187 HP to 151 HP) "Leave Lady Angelise alone!" Momoka kept banging her fists against the unbreakable glass after crying her shock at her mistress sent flying and crashing her body onto the ground with a painful gasp by the genie monster's snake tail whacking its head aside. (Ange: 100 HP to 69 HP).
Unfortunately, other than her failed attempts to crack the glass head, Momoka sensed that the next magic attack might be dangerous when she cried from feeling the staff holding her raised over the monster's head, sending her falling on her side against the glass. She looked around in horror as her glass prison started glowing a darker brown light and fire for another magic.
"Ange!" Tusk helped pull Ange back to her feet after witnessing her receiving the snake head's attack; both noticed the Mad Genie raising its sceptre brimming with dark brown fire for another attack, alarming them to brace themselves when the enemy swiftly swung and jabbed its staff into the ground and in front of it, creating massive craters onto the entire battlefield. Yet, Ange and Tusk are safe from whatever nearly hit them…
But that relief was short-lived when the two felt the ground under their feet shake and instantly rise into the air alongside the other broken patches of the ground, losing their balance to fall onto the debris they held onto and Ange and Tusk screamed their shock of being sent flying like they are inside a massive tornado with some of the other broken boulder-shaped ground also soaring around the Mad Genie in different directions. There were times when some of the boulders would fly and almost hit Ange and Tusk, who successfully dodged and ducked instead of flying off their spots and receiving such damage.
The Mad Genie continuously attempted to attack the two by holding onto the staff still implanted on the ground, with Momoka trapped, and conjured a giant sphere of fire like the Sun, unleashing countless fireballs that also flew inside the boulder tornado but expertly followed after the two who hurriedly raise their swords and block each fireball that extinguished when hitting the blades, sluggishly climbing on their knees or feet without falling off.
"That's it!" Ange groaned her growing fury, wanting to kill this damned monster and wake up from this hellish nightmare, and swiftly jumped off her boulder when she noticed she was flying closer to the distracted Mad Genie. "Ange!" Tusk's shocked call was ignored when Ange's soaring body dashed straight to the Mad Genie's staff and the glass head, where Momoka kneeled in disbelief…right before Ange boldly raised and swung a curved slash at Momoka's cage. The impact both released her maid and traumatised the now weapon-less genie demon, both its human and snake halves released a screech as its human half slouched and its snake tail drooped inches off the ground, both unable to move after destroying its staff, yet the wild tornado right continues with Tusk still riding on the boulder. (Mad Genie: 151 HP to 100 HP)
"Milady!" Momoka cheered her only to briefly cry her shock at being held like a bride by her mistress, feeling her face flushed in astonishment and awe…unsure if she should be embarrassed or happy that her princess was also acting like a knight in this dream.
Not realising Momoka's blushing face when she held her in her arms, Ange quickly looked back at the defeated giant monster and noticed that Tusk's boulder was also flying straight towards them after the other flying boulders wildly crashed into different parts of the clearing but bouncing off from the forcefield…. now Ange sees how he will finish the dealing blow.
"Tusk, now!" Tusk heard Ange calling for him, looking in front to see him flying straight to the monster and Ange holding Momoka in her arms, ready to jump away. Tusk realised something; his shock transitioned into confidence and determination by quickly holding his sword with both hands and recklessly jumping backwards in time for the boulder he rode on to ram straight to the Mad Genie's stomach like a ball, releasing a second screech in agony (Mad Genie: 100 HP to 50 HP) …
…before Tusk's falling body also reached straight to the enemy and wildly spun vertically before swinging his sword with a scream, slashing from the Mad Genie's head to the heart that instantly glowed white from the inside as the final blow! * Victory *
Tusk, Momoka, and Ange landed on the ground, with the latter placing her maid on her feet and watched as the genie monster and its snake tail howled anguishedly from its defeat, wildly flying side to side while gripping its head with both hands, dropping its broken staff that disappeared in a burst of black smoke as its chest and back burst an increasing glow of white light in the heart until the three fighters braced themselves from almost flying out of the ground when the monster exploded in a massive burst of light and fire. Closing their eyes when the explosion happened, Ange, Tusk, and Momoka silently waited a minute until it was safe to slowly open their eyes and see that the monster had finally disappeared for good.
"Are you girls alright?" Tusk asked and leisurely turned to inspect if Ange and Momoka were safe and unscathed from that hectic battle.
"Yes, we are. Thank you, Sir Tusk." Momoka responded after checking for her and her mistress's wounds; there were none before she warmly smiled at Tusk. 'Sir Tusk?' Tusk couldn't hide the nervous smile twitching on his face for being called Sir Tusk, unaware of Ange staring at him from in front with a stoic frown…
"Momoka, be careful with him. He'll fall on top of you, and who knows what he'll do next." Ange's cold warning surprised Momoka and dismayed Tusk with a dramatic gasp. "A-Ange! How many times do I have to tell you I'm not…" Ange was ready to swing her sword at Tusk when he stepped a few feet closer to her and Momoka in case he accidentally fell onto them as he would to her…
… Ange's body wildly lunged forward and bounced on her bed with a gasp, and her barely covered body strangely sweated a bit. Luckily, she sees that she found herself back in her room in Arzanel. The sky outside the barred window showed a glimpse of blue light in the darkened sky to know that it would soon be dawn, right before the morning alarm would blare the entire island. "Good, it's just a dream," Ange whispered to herself, looking at Momoka sleeping peacefully on her bed across hers with her uniform folded on top of the sheets, leaving her sleeping in her underwear underneath the sheets…
…Ange could tell she must get Momoka sleeping clothes today.
"…A dirty-minded pervert!" Tusk unknowingly woke up and raised his swordless hand, trying to get Ange to listen to him. Instead, he accidentally slapped someone in the face after hearing a boy's voice groaning in pain. He was shocked to realise that he was now in a familiar living room filled with pillows, sheets, and mattresses on the floor instead of the forest in his dream, and the person he mistakenly slapped was kneeling on top of him. "K…Ki…Kiyoshi?" Tusk dreaded, looking around the living room to see that he, the boy and their friends were initially sleeping during their sleepover, but all were woken up in mixed surprise by the wake-up call by one of them.
"Why you slap me, man?" Kiyoshi mockingly whimpered in surprise, a hand gently grasping his right cheek before backing away, allowing Tusk to sit up and start apologising to his best friend in sadness and puzzlement, with their best friends watching in amusement or concern.
"You must've had a terrible night," Raven noted once Tusk finished apologising to Kiyoshi, both looked at the others, with Tusk expressing bewilderment.
"Luckily, not as bad as when those annoying women sneak into Commander Rush's room but almost got killed by his temper." Robin pondered with a hand holding one of Siren's since her other arm had a pillow. The last part made Tusk wince in fear, sadness, and worry…no matter how many times for the thirteen years of Rush's life in the Haven, those women still had no problem invading his privacy alongside Ammo's blackmailing for secrets during the two years.
"You fell asleep in the underground lab last night, remember? And Rush had to carry you out before he gave you to us, only for his fangirls to start going jealous." Kiyoshi recalled, although Tusk could feel his body shudder in fear, imagining the harsh curses he must've received when he was asleep and carried by Rush.
"Why did Commander Rush hold Tusk like that?"
"He thinks he's so special to have Rush carrying him."
"How dare he make us watch Rush holding him!?"
"I wish he lift me in his arms!"
"Even if that punk wasn't a girl, I'll kill him for taking OUR spot!"
"I was so mad at what they complained about because Rush helps you as his friend. I threatened those old skanks to leave you alone, or we'll do what Rush ordered us to do if they try to kill you." Siren tiredly complains in anger for the annoying scene everyone had to tolerate relating to Rush, rubbing the sleep off her weary eyes with the pillow on her arm. But knowing Siren, the boys grimace their apprehension for assuming she is serious.
"Yeah, and those women are both pissed and scared about that." Trigger cheekily smiled with a snort, posing like a typical snobbish girl with crossed arms. "One even complained: How heartless and clueless can Rush get!? We're HIS women!" Again, Tusk sadly looked down in sorrow, and the others noticed that they felt the same for their leader and friend.
"Maybe if they calmed down and noticed, they would've understood what they're doing is hurting him all his life," Raven remarked with a soft scowl.
"Yeah…I wouldn't be surprised if that's why he's focusing on getting close to the enemy more than our spy instead of getting taken by a bunch of old ladies." Trigger lightly teased, wanting to make Tusk feel better, but his words shocked his best friends, now gawking their horror and anger at him.
"Trigger! Why did you say that!?" Siren gasped and hugged her pillow with both hands, releasing the one holding Robin's when he also warily asked. "There's no way Rush would stoop low to do THAT!"
"S-Sorry, guys! I thought that as a worst-case scenario…since we never seen Rush smile and act like a real person before the bastard visited the Haven." Trigger apologised and waved his hands in a surrender pose, not expecting to be yelled at by his friends, although he saw what he again added prompt the others flinching with surprised gasps. Realising what he meant, everyone's shoulders slumped in sadness and defeat, with Kiyoshi, Raven, and Robin faintly glowering in anger for understanding that last part.
"You're right…" Raven agreed with a choked grunt, fists hardening in his palms. "Unlike how we saw people wanting him to be either serious or for themselves, only HE of all people treat Rush as himself rather than a soldier…" Curious, all eyes turned towards Tusk, who looked up in surprise.
"Tusk? You know Rush more than everyone whenever he visits you on the islands every day…he wouldn't think of betraying us, would he?" Kiyoshi asked, his voice bearing the hope he and his friends wished to have for their Mana-human leader. Tusk wished he could express the same, but what he knew made him sadder than normal when he slowly lowered his head and barely avoided eye contact.
"…Rush never sees him as an enemy as we do, and he never sees us as allies but as just people he could kill, as he wished if we still go after him," Tusk confessed with G. H. O. S. T blinking their eyes with a gasp although their faces drooped in sorrow. It pains them, but they sadly agree with that answer right before Tusk further reveals what made them downhearted. "But I'm worried that everyone in the Haven and the Mana world will continue seeing him less human…he never says it, but I know he'll see us just like the Tyrants in the old history," Tusk mentioning his late ancestry's kind and fathoming further of his explanation horrified G. H. O. S. T. Kiyoshi and Trigger loudly gasping their dismay, Raven's stoicism broke for the first time by snarling his teeth when hearing the Tyrants, Robin looked away in distraught and Siren's grip on her pillow slightly tightened, gritting her teeth in sadness but trying not to cry.
'…We're sorry, Commander Rush…. we didn't mean to make you feel like a burden.' Siren wished they could go to Rush's office and apologise to them, but she knows and is sad that they couldn't; they don't want Rush to immediately kill them for presuming they will torture him like the other obnoxious women wanting him as a sex plaything for their lust almost all his life.
Sadly, G. H. O. S. T and Tusk can see through the years of living and growing their numbers in the Haven that everyone from Mana-human initially on the enemy's lands, Norma, and some of their people conceived by the late Tyrants and Destruction clan Ancient Humans openly think of Rush as just the Human Killer he willingly made himself to be…but they are only afraid of him rather than loyalty.
A/N: Ange, Momoka, and Tusk's role in the Fairytale/ Disney AU =
- Ange: Mulan
- Momoka: Snow White
- Tusk: Aladdin
When I make the other characters in the future FT/ Disney AU chapters, there will be changes from when I first drew them.