31text
-"Dialogue"-
("Inner thinking")
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Chapter 13: Synch and connect
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After a long yawn and some pleasurable stretching, Gray half woke up in bed and extended his arms to naturally hug … a pillow instead of a certain foreigner. After hearing some noise, he looked up and saw Aria all ready in her armor and finishing reading herself to head out.
"Morning." Aria mumbled while tossing a bunch of stuff in her backpack, surely more than enough essentials to last her the entire day if not more.
"Stay for a bit, Aria. I want to hold you a bit longer… and then do some more stuff to you." Gray softly sighed and stretched himself out a bit more, extending his arms to her in an inviting way. Last night he had put on far more energy and effort than normal. It had been great, but still it had felt ... off, detached and somewhat impersonal. "I was planning on making breakfast today." He charmingly smiled, rolling on the bed.
"That would be enough reason to make me run away." She chuckled looking around the room and then heading to the drawer of random crap. "You had the lockpicks here, right? I'm taking them. I don't think I'll need them, but … oh?" She stopped her words when something shiny caught her eyes. It was quite a pretty black ring with a yellowish gem. She grabbed the lockpicks and then she grabbed the ring to examine it under the light before she casually slipped it over her finger. It fit perfectly.
The moment she put the ring on, Gray heard the mechanical ticking of his clock as if it was right besides his ears and not inside his chest greatly increase in speed. His cheeks flushed and he felt his body temperature grow as though enveloped by a velvet soft warm blanket. Then it all burned. He could feel nothing but overwhelming pressure, yet it was crushing him not in pain but in deep extasis and felicity, and he couldn't even open his mouth to scream. This was strong, the strongest sensation he had ever felt or even imagined it could be felt; like being hit with the energy of a thousand volts; and that energy was overwhelming his existence, giving him strength he didn't knew it was possible to have. However, as overwhelming as it was the eternity it lasted was only as long as that of a foreigner's heartbeat. Finally, with his mouth open, almost gasping, Gray whipped around, staring at Aria's back's while his clock ached, readapting to a new beat.
Aria rose her hand and looked at how nice the ring, a black metal bangle with a yellow gem, looked shining with the light that came through the window. She turned around, showing it to him as the light made her multiple shades of blonde hair shine too. "Hey … I found this ring in your drawer of random crap and I'm taking it. I'll pay you for it if you want, but I'm keeping it." Her face expression was certainly serene, but her smile was slightly sad. "I've decided that when I go back to my world I'd actually like a small reminder of you or this world. Even if you most likely will forget me and all that crap." She waved her hand dismissively, but her eyes were locked on the ring.
Gray's jaw dropped as a sharp spike of horror shot up his spine. She just put on his connector? His hands trembled, unable to utter a word in his terror at how she would react when she found out what she put onto her finger.
"Well, I'll be going to the mansion. See ya later." Aria quickly grabbed and apple and rushed out before he could say anything, going out the window to climb down the wall like the overly paranoid person that couldn't trust not to be attacked while taking a normal corridor.
While trying to climb down the bed Gray tangled himself on the silky sheets and fell to the floor on his knees, shaking before covering his mouth. He could still not believe it. She just put on his connector and ended the hardest game in the history of Wonderland in a mere whimsical moment, but she had no idea that meant she could no longer return to her world. What was she going to do now? Try to blow up Wonderland once she remembered? Last time she crossed to the other side of the mirror the Jabberwocky came back! He nervously sweat, trying to figure out what to do and how to break this news to her as gently as possible, but that would be practically suicide!
"Is something the matter? Are you nauseous? Does your own poison causes you nausea?" - Aegis appeared besides Gray, once again looking like a small lizard. - "By the way, I inform you that your tatto went up with Aria once more, so I'll be posing as it today too and … the little demon train master is coming here. He'll arrive through the window in 1.37 minutes." - With that ,the A.I. crawled fast on Gray's neck and faked being his tattoo.
Gray remained frozen where he was, unmoving as he thought of all the awful things that were about to happen because he was so careless with his connector.
"Wu-What!?" - The young Nightmare came floating through the window, and had trouble standing up after apparently having vomited from the sheer horror of all the things the assassins has been creaming in his mind.- "What do you mean!?"
"M-My connector, she took it and put it on when I wasn't paying attention." -Gray shakily admitted.
"How could all that happen? What's going to happen… she… did you tell her?" - The young incubus was getting as horrified, worried and anxious as the assassin.
"She left before I could." Gray said, shaking rather badly in his shock as he finally stood up.
"And, w-what do we do? What are you going to do?" -Nightmare was now really afraid at some of the random things Gray was thinking, especially the ones that had her having a mental breakdown full with rage at the holders from the other side for the mirror. -"What if she remembers all at once!?"
" … I don't know."- Taking his hand over his neck right over Aegis Gray looked at whatever little belongings Aria had left in the room, admittedly his face was white from terror.
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Soon enough Aria got to the Hatter's mansion and immediately rallied some servants into preparing to connect the power lines of the facility to her mecha. Soon she would be able to power it enough for her to access all those precious files and finally learn what really had happened.
After having being noticed of her arrival and seeing the lovely young foreigner available, Blood went out to the gardens and stepped out to see her. He walked up to her with a cool expression on his face, wanting to ask her quite a few questions. For example, who it was that ended the game. Or rather, ended the game in a rather … ambiguous feeling. It was only partly ended after all. - "Good evening, Miss Aria. Care to join me for some tea?" The heat of the mafia asked with his normal charm.
"I'd rather prepare to connect the power lines, Blood." She said while checking the cables and climbing in and out of the cockpit, clearly eager to get this done. "As soon as this gets ready I'll turn things on. Don't know how long it will take to power it up enough fo me to get to those files, but once I do I'm sure I'll have very juicy information that you might like to hear too." She clapped once, holding her hands together in eagerness.
Blood smiled, admiring the ring on her hand. "That is a beautiful ring you have there. Is it Gray's?" The mafioso asked with a mischievous grin. He felt when the star of the game accepted a connector but he could still feel her game going on too, so that meant she hasn't 'accepted' it fully… or at all.
"Was." Aria clarified, raising her hand so the light could show the yellow gem in the ring better. "I found it abandoned in a drawer and I thought it would be a nice souvenir once I go back to my world." She responded, smiling and pulling some cables out of her mecha now that the servants had finished dragging the lines over.
"Yes, what a lovely souvenir it is." The hatter spoke with a small struggle to reign in his expression at such amusing situation. "You make it sound as though you are leaving soon."
"I am." She nodded, placing her hands over her hips. "I decided that right after knowing the contents of those files would be a nice moment to load myself up on supplies and go back home in a couple days at most. My vial is practically filled anyways." The foreigner shrugged while checking the cables and their compatibility. Gladly for her, Wonderland seemed to use the same standard type of lines somehow, probably copied from her world like many other stuff.
"Well, I must insist on having some tea with me as a final memento from myself to you. I would be delighted to host you one last time before you leave." Blood offered, "it would be quite a shame not to have a final few words with the young lady before she leaves."
After rolling her eyes she jumped down from the mecha's knee. "We can once I connect the power lines. It will take some time for charging, so we can use that time, but …" She sighed, turning around to look at Blood's deep gaze and answering it with experienced suspicion. "Huh? … What is it, Blood? You seem as if you want to say or ask something specific, don't you?"
"Not in particular other than insisting on your presence at my tea party." Blood smiled politely, ready to clap for the servants to prepare the tea party.
"Aha … ," She placed her hands over her hips again. "Just say it already, I would not mind playing the diplomacy and negotiation game but at the moment I rather set things straight and not waste time with such." However, she knew that making this be plain was also a diplomacy technique. She was well trained after all, although as she had implied, she was genuinely not in the mood to play subtlety games.
"You wouldn't rather talk over some tea?" The green eyed man asked, "I can have some prepared quite quickly." he clapped and a table was immediately prepared, the servants quickly disappearing from view to wait for the real start of the tea party to be signaled by the hatter.
"It would be better for me to get this done first." The merc crossed her arms. "But the fact that you aren't saying whatever it is directly prompts me to think its more than a mere tea party what you want. So what is it? A mission, information? Just say it." She urged.
"Well, I was only hoping to humor myself with your presence for a small while." He sighed, slightly disappointed but equally amused that she, perhaps correctly, did not trust him completely. "So please … join me." He said rather than asked her this time.
"I'll join you while this thing charges … and … well, since we are speaking and all, I think I'll take your offer of staying here in a couple days for a day or two." She crossed her arms again, sighing and looking away. Taking the chance to bring the topic on. "My vial is about to be filled, and my deal with Gray ends there."
"But won't you be with Gray during that time?" Blood asked with a curious twist of his lips at this new and very revealing information.
"I promised him a date before I go and I'm assuming my vial will get full in 2-3 days at most. But that's just it. My mecha will require around 2 days starting today for charging I think. I plan to have that date tomorrow and say goodbye, after that it wouldn't be a good idea to remain at the train station, so I was thinking on taking up your offer and come here to get what I need for my mecha, buy as much ammo as I can carry, from your organization of course, and then go back to my world." The mercenary explained, her gaze darkening and some weight setting over her shoulders. "He has been a great partner for missions I suppose, but once the deal is over, its over; and in our lines of work there is no loyalty or affiliation once a deal is done and there is never enough caution." She swallowed.
"If that is the case then I shall prepare a room for you. Free of charge of course." Blood offered immediately. "Do I have your word that you'll return then and have a tea party with me?" He asked with a purr to his voice.
She shrugged and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I don't plan to go anywhere until I get the charging started. We can start the tea party then. And I'm sure you'll insist on other tea party later, so don't think it as a promise." Aria offered back, quite unwilling to promise anything. More so when the notorious Hatter was insisting oh so much. "Ain't this a sort of routine already? Seriously For the past days I have just been here, fix my mecha, then Elliot comes to say you organized a tea party, and then it's meal time, then I go back to work on my mecha and either have dinner with you or head back to the station. Why the sudden insistence?"
"I'm a man who likes to get a lady's promise." Blood insisted, clearly not planning on leaving her alone until he had gotten her word either. This was after all a great chance for himself, connector or not her game was still going on and she still was an almost complete mystery. All this days she had been quite good at avoiding giving out, casually or on purpose, any significant information.
"I rarely promise anything unless it's a job. Take it or leave it." She answered with some clear suspicion, now letting him see she was being deliberately cautious.
"Well, humor me with this, other question then." The mafioso shrugged as if her negative wasn't but a small inconvenience. He was now changing his tactic to something that not only made him curious, but also something that was a very important situation too. "Do you have your train ticket ready?"
Aria blinked, taken aback for a moment unsure sure where he wanted to get but she then assumed it was as to her means to escape this world. "Yes, but that ticket would be a second option in comparison to the potion of hearts." That was true.
"I see … it's nice to have a back up plan." Blood twisted his lips once again, trying to hold back his laughter. If anything he could get some fun by watching this amusing situation regarding her game unfold.
"Would it perhaps be that you'd like to purchase it or something of the like? Or maybe you'd instead seek the vial and potion?" That was the main thing she could think of. Having either of those would give him a lot of power or opportunity.
"I believe it would serve better in your hands rather than mine." He answered surprised, even shocked that she had even mention, much less implied offering something so important that borderlines the rules themselves. "Now, will you join for tea? It isn't polite to make a man grovel."
"Ughhh just let me connect the power lines." She said with a huff. The mafioso was just nagging at this point and she would just go already if to make him stop.
She began pulling cables and connecting each one. And then she crawled into the cockpit. The energy immediately began passing on and she could see the systems lit up and start. Aria immediately began checking all statuses screens and operational signals. The reactor was in line, the OS's were starting and the backups were booting. One by one, every light was turning on and the batteries started to charge while the main systems prepared their startup and restore.
Everything was going well until a red light and a consistent 'beep' alerted her that something was overloading. She jumped down to check what exactly was overloading, and to her horror, it was the reactor. The analog mini nuclear reactor that normally powered the mecha besides the batteries and alternative energy sources.
"Fuck!" She managed to say as her eyes began shining into an array of different changing colored shades, knowing that she was going to die here. There was just a couple minutes at best before Soyakaze blew up and it was impossible to get far enough from either the explosion, the shock wave, or the fallout.
The merc tried to think on something. Anything! But then another beep called her attention. The systems were uploaded and she could access the files. She gulped. Given that this was the end she at least wanted to know how it had come to this, so she took a deep breath and activated her main synching mode, aligning her psyche with the mechas systems to explore the files as deeply as she could in the time she had left.
The moment her synching activated she stopped being a person and became the core program of a system that was composed of her body as much as all the devices in the vicinity, in her suit, and even including the components of the mecha and the cables of the power lines. Her mind was an array of commands that were controlling the internal and external components as much as processing the data stored in the hard drives of the mecha. Without an order, the files of a fight with a terrible draconic creature made out of stolen lives and corrupted darkness appeared integrated in her own records. The jabberwocky … and then ... then she was in Spades, making more than deals with the Bandersnatch, the original Jabberwock, and even with Wonderland itself. And after that, she was in the nightmare realm, reviving time and time again all the worst and most painful possibilities of her existence, but she wasn't entirely alone. There was something with her.
"Aegis … ," Aria murmured, her mind connecting to the support A.I. of her connective suit's systems.
The word reverberated in the tapestry of reality and echoed in the darkness of the foreigner's shadow. As she extended her hand upwards to the sky, opening her palm, her armor melted under her and became a flowing think inky darkness that merged with her shadow and that casted by the armored mecha, then it began crawling over the huge war machine and started to devoir it as if it was being compressed between the shadows; still, as the shadows overcame the mecha, they engorged amorphously. There was just too much material for them to absorb, so in a moment of spasms that mimicked the shaking body of the foreigner on the floor, the shadows began taking shape. The shape of a great winged reptilian creature. A black drake which scales were armored and which parts accommodate the components of the machine the creature was absorbing.
However, as the mecha's parts began disappearing to be annexed to the creature, the radiation levels began raising. The dragon looked down to what remained of the machine and then dropped over it, the dragon's belly opening to encase the nuclear reactor as the reptilian tail gained a concave fin to cover the spasming foreigner, washing over her to reform her armor.
From the jaws of Aegis in the form of the mighty Jabberwocky, a massive ray of energy was burped skyward. The clouds in the sky immediately began to agglomerate and darken, creating a downpour of rain over the entire country. Plants touched by the water began to suddenly spurt and grow bigger as every damaged item in Wonderland was immediately restored to its prime condition. The entirety of the country was not only being restored, but updated as well with powerful surges of energy that Diamond greedily drank up.
Blood stood still. He had seen her just freeze up and then the next moment the entirety of her eyes had begun changing colors somehow. Then he has seen the great machine move on its own for a moment before the shadows erupted all around. Unable to do anything he had just witnessed the scene but now he was feeling his body being hit by the immense energy pouring out from the dragon's belly. His breath quickened as his clock ticked harder, feeling himself getting dizzy. He braced himself by the nearby table, managing to hold himself upright while the servants cowered on the floor or turned to clocks from the sheer amount of life their clocks could not hold.
Every Role Holder in Diamond fell to their knees due to the initial blast of energy. Their clocks raced and their faces flushed as the energy took hold of their clocks and solidified inside of them, making them feel heavy. Rather than feeling empowered from such energy, they felt dizzy and uncoordinated as they struggled to take it all in at once, but take it they did.
In the castle the king and the prime minister rushed to see the strange rain, feeling the sensation of being filled with mana just like when the Jabberwock had been defeated, but this time more directly, so much that they struggled to remain standing.
At the cemetery, the dodo locked up at the sky, just basking in the much needed energy that was strengthening his own faint existence, wondering if this had anything to do with whatever the older incubus had mentioned when he visited in dreams recently. If this was the chance to get the power to not disappear … he would take it.
Meanwhile, somewhere on the road to the mansion the lizard's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he felt his legs get knocked out from under him. He hit the ground hard, feeling short of breath before he felt his limbs burn from the intensity of energy rushing through him. With an unsteady stagger he forced himself to get back up and began running, knowing this had to do with Aria somehow.
"I should inform you that my user just remembered and her Operative System is currently sorting out the data." - The little lizard A.I. casually informed the stumbling assassin.
"Damn." Gray dizzily kept running, knowing the consequences for himself if she ever saw him again but he needed to tell her himself. She may know the truth but she did not know the truth from his perspective, of his messed up memories and that he had struggled to comprehend who he was for quite some time. "I need to tell her." While his self preservation skills were warning him to steer clear of Aria, he kept running towards the direction of the blast, the direction of the mansion and the direction where she was.
"And she is also having a mayor breakdown and something akin to an epileptic attack too." Aegis added with a somewhat worried tone. "Most of me is dealing with eating and transforming the energy of a nuclear explosion into mana, so brace yourself to be overwhelmed by the mana input-output of your connector even more."
"Dammit." Gray hissed, stumbling over his feet as he tried to hurry to the Mansion.
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Blood laid on the ground in a haze, barely able to comprehend the massive influxes of energy piercing his body and feeling him with the sensation of power that passed through him towards his territory. He was in such close proximity to her that his body had taken a lot of the initial blast of whatever this power was. Dizzily, he tipped his head back with a bright flush on his face while trying to dispel the overwhelming surge of energy as he tried looking at the trembling foreigner.
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Another one out. Eventually I'll finish it.
