God Eater: Lighting's Requiem

Chapter 10: Hot Tail

Opening his eyes, Zero was momentarily blinded by the bright florescent light in his room that he did not turn off the night before. Not really liking the bright light, the God Eater placed his wrist over his eyes to block out the light, it done a good job but the damage on his sleep was already done. Choosing instead to wake rather than suffer trying to go back to the dream world, he raised himself to a sitting position and waited for a few more seconds to fully stand up.

Now somewhat functioning as a person and not a sleep deprived zombie, he went and grabbed the necessary things he need to take a bath; a pair a black combat pants with red linings, underwear, a white shirt, a pair of heavy duty boots, a soap, a tooth brush and lastly a drying towel. He then went to the showering area of the Rookie section of the Den.

He felt drained and weak, it always have been like this whenever he undergoes therapy, but he also feels more stable. The girl that he sees from time to time is not there, it’s like she has taken a vacation. But he has conflicted feelings about that, some parts of him feels relieved that she’s not there watching his every step. But there are also parts of him that feels guilty for chasing her out, for ‘abandoning’ her again. But he pushed that to the back of his head, he has been somewhat used to that feeling, though that does not mean he is completely immune to its effects.

After a good shower, he put on his cloths and set his destination to the Mess Hall. With a yawn, he pressed the button on the large lift of the Den that acts as the primary access point for travelling inside the Headquarters of the God Eaters. When the elevator came and the automated doors opened, he was greeted by a cold glare from a familiar senior.

Zero was then hit with nervousness as he met the glare, it always gave him an uneasy feeling whenever he would meet that blue eyes of his senior. It’s not like he isn’t used to the stares and glares of disdain he gets from the other God Eaters who only heard rumors of his ‘accidents’, no. The glare he receives from the man in blue hooded jacket and black cargo pants is something different.

Trying to not let the awkward atmosphere completely settle, the white haired junior tried to disperse it. “G-good morning Soma sir.” Came his greetings. The man Zero addressed as Soma returned the greeting by narrowing his eyes, but then he turned his eyes away from the young God Eater and found the wall more interesting. Receiving nothing as a reply, the white haired boy just decided to go inside the elevator and let the awkward situation he tried to evade end.

Because of the tense atmosphere in the lift, seconds became minutes for Zero, the silence too added more weight in the already heavy atmosphere. When the lift finally reached the floor where the God Eaters are heading, Zero let Soma exit first and decided to wait for little longer so that he can put some distance between them. Hungrier than he was before the elevator ride, the young God Eater went and hurried to the Mess Hall. After getting his rations, Zero went ahead and picked a table with a fair distance away from the tables where groups of other God Eaters are dinning on; being far from them allows him to evade most of their stares of disdain and judgement.

After all, he was the cause of one of their comrade’s demise; which is one of the things soldiers hate. Heaving a sigh, he tried to enjoy the taste of the absurdly huge corn cob he’s munching on, that’s when a familiar voice greeted him. “Hello Zero, mind if I join you in your table?” A woman with short black hair asked, her cloths exposing her bare back to the world. Having no problem with the proposal from the woman, the white haired boy answered. “No, not at all, Miss Sakuya.”

“Oh, c’mon Zero, how many times I would have to tell you that you should drop the formalities, it’s been six months when you first came here and we’ve work in a team for five, that would at least pushed the boundaries from stranger to friends.” Came complain of the older God Eater, she then sat down and started to eat her food, but it only prompted the white head to answer back. “My parents taught me that I should always respect others, and that in this country it should specially be observed.” Zero said, his eyes filled with seriousness that the woman was all too familiar with.

With such seriousness pointed at her, Sakuya, as Zero referred to her as, chose her words carefully as to not disrespect the words of the dead. “Well, did you know? If someone constantly refused a request from someone that cares for that person, in this country it is also considered rude?” Sakuya finished, she made sure that she didn’t show any disrespect to Zero but also conveyed her point and extend the arms of friendship to the young boy. She waited for a second to what his reaction would be and was a little afraid that she might have offended the young God Eater, but her fears was swept away as she heard his answer.

“I understand… Well, can I ask you if I can call you Sakuya?” The woman stared a for a second before laughing, it was a wonder how Lindow manage to break through Zero’s set of boundaries for formalities. Before a misunderstanding showed itself, Sakuya gain control of herself and explained. “Didn’t I already asked for you to just do that?” Came her words, it made the young white haired boy quite embarrassed and was slightly red because of it.

With another laugh, Sakuya urged Zero to eat his food that was starting to get cold, agreeing with the statement, the white head did so and munched away on his cob. As the two God Eater ate in relative silence another person came to their table and requested to join them, seeing who it was, Zero gladly said yes and scooched to make room for the girl. Sakuya noticing the new arrival, greeted her. “Hello Mikoto, how was your night?” She asked, the girl with chestnut colored hair then answered with a “It was fine.” From the answer of Mikoto, the older Old-Type God Eater noticed something which made her glad; there was a hint of emotion on the Esper’s voice.

When Sakuya met Mikoto for the first time, she was miserable, her words were as empty as a dry desert; devoid of emotions and feelings. It was like she was a machine running only in left over fumes that would then cease to function the next moment later. The older woman pitied the young girl; losing everything she cared about surely burned her spirit to ashes, Sakuya understands that, she have seen it too many times already. But from time to time in the short two months she have known the girl, her former self would surface though only for a little. And today was one of those days, so with a smile she continued to talk with the girl, wishing that for her own sake, the girl would allow others to help heal her wounds.

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Seeing the white haired boy early in the morning really made Soma’s mood sour, after being out in the field for a long time and not having enough sleep already made him more grumpier that usual, but today his displeasure only escalated. He doesn’t understand why but every time he would see the boy’s face, it irked him. It started after the death of Eric, the flamboyant idiot that he was. He always tried to approach and talk to Soma even with his reputation, even after being dismissed a million of times he just went back at it. The tan God Eater didn’t understand why and that annoyed him as much as it annoyed him when his Unit Captain started preaching or dragging him in things he would be happy to not do.

But after the idiot died saving the fresh meat of a broken God Eater, something felt off, like something was missing. And all he can do was put the blame to that white head of a berserker. As he was getting his food from the serving staff of the Mess Hall, he overheard some of the God Eaters that was already eating talking about something with his name on it, normally he would just ignore it, rumors about him that floated around has been a main stay in the Den and has been like that for a long time, but there was something else in there that caught his attention.

“Yo, you heard? The Berserker went at it again.” Whispered one of the male God Eaters that was on the table of five. “Oh, you mean the mission to take a look at the city? Yeah, I’ve heard.” Answered a girl. “Oh yeah? What happened?” Came the question of the other boy. “They said that the Berserker almost took out Emmers and Suzuki along with the Borg they were fighting.” The first girl answered confirming the details. “Man, that’s tough. That’s why I would never team up with that guy or even the Death God Soma.” Another boy said, joining the conversation. “I think the Berserker and the Death God should be on a separate unit, you know so they can’t bother anyone else. I’m sure they would more useful in that case.” Another girl voiced out.

At that point, Soma had enough. He shut everything out, his anger rising another meter. Sure he was mostly used to being called a Death God and being avoided, but hearing his name being clumped together with that white haired boy, it angers him. And so, he sent a very angry glare at the directions of the gossiping soldiers And made sure that his glare conveyed a message, ‘Don’t talk about me behind my back.’ It seems that they got the message and shivered in fear. Seeing the result, Soma then got his food and tried to find a place where he can be alone, away from those good for nothing people. As he was walking he got a glimpse of the yellow clad orange head that always tailed the white head.

He was heading to the same table he glared at and had an angry expression plastered on his face. Though he dismissed it and just continued on with his search of solitude. When he found a spot, he ate in silence, the flavor of the food not really helping him ease his emotions, but a new nuisance came to make his day worst. “Yo, looking more grumpier than usual aye? Say, you want come with me later today and relax? I know a good place.” Came the voice of the man that came and just invited himself and sat across the hooded God Eater without permission.

All the man received was a deadly glare from Soma, others would have stayed quite and walked away at that point, but this man was a bit different, he stayed and even has a small smirk on his face. Getting nothing but glare, the raven haired man just answered his own question. “So it’s a no. Oh well. Maybe another time.” It would have been a relief for Soma if that was the end but no, the man just continued on talking. He didn’t listen to any of it but the noise slowly ate away from his already thin patience, having enough the dark skinned God Eater let out load growl. “I don’t have time for your crap Lindow!”

It was loud enough to let the whole Mess Hall hear, though instead of stopping, the man Soma referred to as Lindow again gave him a smirk. “Finally he spoke! Well, since I have your attention now I’ll tell you a message from your father: ‘The lighthouse flashes its lights, find time and admire it even for a moment.’” Came Lindow’s words. It was cryptic but for the white haired hooded boy its meaning are clear as the day. Though it made him scoff, he just returned and was looking forward for a rest but then another ‘assignment’ comes in.

Finish with his business with Soma, Lindow stood up from his seat as he finishes his food, before completely leaving the tan skinned male’s table, though he added some more words. “Oh, and remember my orders when you go out. And one last thing, come and hang around those guys once in a while, might help with your mood swings.” The man said with a chuckle as he motioned his head towards the table where most of the First Unit’s members are gathered.

Soma’s only answer was another scoff before he stood up from his seat and made his way towards the central elevator of the Den. As the lift made its travel up towards where most of the command and executive areas of the Den are, the hooded boy’s mind was making a promise to himself, he would finish this ‘sightseeing’ as soon as possible and rest, all of the missions that would be assigned to him be damned. When the elevator finally reached its destination, Soma’s mood took another dip, he would never get used to that man’s smug face, and with the door of that guy’s office just up ahead, he was certain that any Aragami that he meets would be nothing less than piles of decomposing Oracle cells after he’s done with them.

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“Ok lads and ladies, today our mission is search and destroy. We are to find and eliminate a Chi-You. Once again this is a Graduation test for you Mikoto, though there is another someone in the chopping board.” Lindow said as the wind whistled in chorus with his words, the sound of helicopter blades spinning also joining in. Even while still being 25 feet from the ground, all of the God Eaters aboard the chopper that carried the First Unit to their mission area were preparing to jump off. Hearing what their captain implied, Kota became tense, after all, his future promotions are at stake in this Mission.

“Kota, as what Big Sis told you, your future as a soldier are at stake here. This would be a test to see if you are worthy of recommendations later on in the future, seeing as your grades in written areas are a bit lacking.” Lindow continued, after a second he moved towards his other topic in his briefing. “And because we have two test running at the same time I brought Sakuya with me for help, so as you can see we are not in the standard 4 man team that are typically send out, I chose this approach as a safety net so that there are lower possibilities of failure and catastrophic incidents, though that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be vigilant.” The man finished.

It was then Sakuya’s turn to talk. “Alright, so here how we are going to work, Kota would be our scout, he would be the one trying to find the Aragami and make first contact, I would be with him as his support. Zero you are going with Mikoto who would be our leader for this mission, you are to back her up, while Lindow would be our reserved, he would be hanging at the back of our unit and go wherever you assign him to and add a massive tactical advantage, so Mikoto, make sure you use him well.” Came the instruction of the woman, With that all out of the way, they all jumped off the helicopter and assumed their roles.

Now in a large ruined power plant complex, Mikoto then ordered the scout to take an elevated position so that they can spot their prey with more ease, and so they did. As they were searching, Lindow opened his comms channel and made an announcement. “Ok, here’s some news, there’s a small group of Zygotes that are heading our way, HQ has requested their termination so we have another one on the list. As to how we will deal with all of our targets, that’s up to Mikoto.” Nodding after hearing the announcement, the Esper God Eater called out to her partner and they too climbed up a roof top of a building to look for the newly arriving monsters.

It didn’t took them long to spot a group of 4 flying egg shaped Aragamis coming from their left. Making a decision on how she will handle the situation, the chestnut haired girl started to give orders to her team. “Contact, Zygotes coming from the north. Engaging. Lindow please back up the scouts and intercept the Chi-You, we’ll lure it out by using the Zygotes detection.” Came the words of the girl, standing beside the leader of the group, Zero let a smile show as he saw that the girl he’s mentoring is now performing better than before, though he also noticed that she was shacking slightly.

Giving her his support, the white haired boy placed his free hand to her left shoulder to assure that he’s there behind her, ready to provide any needed assistance. Feeling what Zero was trying to convey, Mikoto steeled herself to finish the mission and become a full fledge member of the God Eaters. The two waited for the group of Aragami to reach a certain distance before the Esper took aim and fired. The Oracle Bullet then found its way to one of the Zygotes’ singular massive eye, having been fired from a Sniper Gun, the damage of the shot was enough to kill it in an instant, that left 3 of the group to take notice and start the process of luring the other target.

With a roar from their gapping mouths, the Aragamis declared their intentions to fight, and with that same roar, they have called for the other Aragami in the vicinity, it was not long before Mikoto and Zero was able to receive a transmission from the scouts. “T-target spotted! The Chi-You is coming to your position from, uh, t-the north-west!” Said the voice of Kota, there was also a slight hint of nervousness in his words. Giving her acknowledgement, the chestnut haired girl gave another order.

“Please intercept the target and engage it in combat, we will go and back you up after we finish these Zygotes.” That made the group of 3 jump down from their vantage point and proceed to run towards where they spotted the Monster. Mikoto followed the departure of the scout team from their rooftop with her eyes, once out of sight as the buildings hid them, she turned her gaze at her companion and nodded. Understanding the meaning, Zero transformed his God Arc to its gun mode. The transformation didn’t take a lot of time and after just one and a half seconds, the former massive blade is now a massive blue minigun.

He then proceeded to aim his weapon at the rapidly approaching Zygotes, now aligned with the targets, the white haired warrior opened fire. Multiple Oracle Bullets came flying towards the flying Monsters but only few of the bullets found its mark, the Aragamis started flying erratically for them to avoid getting hit. That bought Zero and Mikoto time before the Monsters can reach them. Even though he was not really connecting a lot of hit and missing a lot, Zero didn’t look displeased, instead it was the opposite. As the flying egg shaped ‘Violent gods’ continued to evade the attack of the male God Eater, one of them suddenly fell off the air and landed with a loud crash.

Soon after another one joined its kin, the last one then noticed that its comrades were taken down and that realization made it fly more erratically, it thought that the white head was actually managing to finally hit them with his attack, and so it tried to gaze at where the gun fire was coming from, there it spotted the white haired God Eater but not the other female one. Confused for a moment as to how the other one vanished without a trace, a Oracle shot grazed the Zygote’s back from the left, though even if it was just a graze, it still carried a lot of energy, feeling the damage inflicted, the Aragami paused for a moment and stopped its erratic flight, but that was a mistake that cost it its life.

A hail of shots then peppered it from where Zero was, the rain didn’t let up until the ‘Violent god’ was shredded in half horizontally. The moment that the carcass of the dead god hit the solid concrete ground, Mikoto moved and made her way down, while Zero provided overwatch for her. The Esper God Eater then wasted no time and activated her God Arc’s Predator Mode and let it munch on the corpses of the flying monsters, after less than a minute, she was done with her task. She then beckoned on her white haired mentor to move towards where the another sounds of battle sounded.

It didn’t took them long to get to the ensuing battle, it was happening in a ruined parking lot which looked worst for ware than it probably had been. There they found the single melee fighter slashing the Chi-You at every turn that he gets, while the long range Gunners support him. The moment that Zero laid eyes on the Aragami, he charged, transforming his weapon to its Blade Form before delivering a powerful swing on the avian’s right leg. Feeling the power of the swing, the Chi-You stumbled and almost fell face first on the battered concrete, only saved by its massive wing-arms.

That stumble gave Lindow a massive window which he didn’t let to pass by, he quickly moved in and strong wide slash on the Chi-You’s head; his God Arc’s chainsaw part whirling at its maximum. The attack made a nasty wound on the Aragami’s head which made it scream its loudest, seeing that the Monster is still on the floor, the red clad white head prepared to follow up his superior’s attack, but before he was able to, the Chi-You slammed its open palms at the ground which produced a strong shockwave that pushed the two fighters away.

As an act of retaliation, Mikoto ordered the long rangers to fire a volley at the now recovering ‘Violent god’, which she too joined. Oracle Bullets rained ranging from different colors and also different speeds. They did the same though, each bullet burrowed themselves into the flesh of the avian or if they hit a hard armored part; chipped at it. The pain overwhelmed the Chi-You which send it into its enrage state, it then used its turn to return the favor to rain down its own projectiles at the attacking God Eaters.

In a swift motion, the Aragami thrust its wing-arms alternately towards the Gunners, compressed balls of energy then shot out as it did, all speeding towards the Gunner God Eaters. This made them scatter to avoid being hit by the projectiles from the Monster, they succeeded and watched as the fired balls hit the are where they were and explode. Giving an order to scatter and continue firing, Mikoto then charged in and transformed her God Arc into its Blade Mode, once in range, she swung her God Arc and made a sizable slash on the armored legs of the Monster, though not really dealing damage due to the thickness of the protection of the Chi-You.

Even after noticing the aftermath of her strike she just pressed on and made a more powerful swing, this time upward diagonally, but after hitting her target, she used the left over force and momentum from the slash and let it carry her into the air where she made a spin while also in the process of changing the forms of the weapon. Upon reaching the peak of the jump where Mikoto found the Chi-You preparing to make a swing of itself with its wing-arms, though before the Aragami can follow through with its attack, the Esper God Eater fired her God Arc square into the face of the Monster.

That made it miss its attack and also start stumbling, the Gunners didn’t let the opportunity go and also opened fire on the Monster again, all the Oracle shots that was fired headed towards the head of the stumbling Chi-You which send it more disoriented than before, that made an opening for Zero to initiate his own attack, he run up to the back of the Aragami and swung his sword at the back of its knees. That send the Monster down to the ground with a loud hard thud, once grounded, it was Lindow’s turn. He quickly jump to the Aragami’s chest and started to hack at it with his God Arc that still has its motors running.

With one last roar of pain the ‘Violent god’ perished. Being the one to finish up the prey, it was Lindow who got the honors of retrieving the relatively intact Core of the Aragami. In turn the Core of his God Arc shone a golden light, seeing the reaction and glad with the find, he jumped off the dead body of the Monster and with a smile, turned to his subordinates and addressed them. “Good work everyone. That’s a one smooth operation. Well then, evaluation time!” Came the Leader’s words, he then turned to the one that he wanted to address first.

“Mikoto, you did a good job in directing the Unit to effectively deal with multiple targets. It was efficient and fast.” Then he turned to the yellow clad lad. “As for Kota, that was a good spotting, you were able to spot the Chi-You before Sakuya did. As much as I am concerned, you two passed, though for you lad, you would need another test to secure your future.” Lindow finished.

Both of the addressed Unit member nodded and said their thanks to the man, the whole team of God Eaters then started to secure the immediate vicinity that they’re in while waiting for their airlift to extract them when a transmission came to them. “First Unit, respond! This is an Emergency Transmission from HQ! I repeat, this is an Emergency Transmission from HQ, please respond!”

Alarmed by the tone of voice of the operator at the other end of the line, Sakuya hurriedly answered the call. “This is the First Unit, we copy. What’s the situation?” Came her words. “We received a distress call from Flight 2110 carrying three VIP personel that is enroute to Base, The distress call has a detailed message about their situation, they said that they are being swarmed by large numbers of Zygotes. Their reports also details that their active and passive defenses has been completely overwhelmed and is now taking damage from the assault. They are requesting for immediate support specifically the First Unit. We have send a helicopter to your way to airlift you to the mission area.” The hurried but still professional voice of the operator said.

It was then Lindow’s turn to speak. “Copy, Standing by for airlift.” After he said that, he once again addressed his Unit who have also heard the transmission and was looking at him, waiting for direction or orders. “Well, it seems like smooth sailing has ended, and as you guys heard; there’s some damsels in distress that need saving. New Rookie, be ready, this is the real deal.” The Unit leader said, focusing the last part to the Esper God Eater of the Unit.

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Author's Note: Really sorry for the very long Haitus, I had a really bade case of Writer's Block that I am still trying to fight. And this is the result of that fight. For me it feels lacking so I would like to apologize if you don't like how this chapter turned out. Anyhow, that's all I have to say, this is Zero signing out.