.hack//SIGN Fan Fiction ❯ Yasashii Yoake (Gentle Dawn) ❯ Reason ( Chapter 7 )

Yasashii Yoake (Gentle Dawn) By Sakura (aka L-sama no Miko)    7: Reason   She moved cautiously through one of the many forests of the Anu territory, her sword held fiercely in front of her. The scantily clad merc jumped when she heard a voice behind her, spinning around she thrust her huge sword before her, but quickly pulled it back when she recognized the blonde angel. “Don’t scare me like that!” complained Mimiru, “What are you doing here anyway?” “I’m meeting Bear,” she replied. “Where is he?” the girl asked, genuinely confused. “He hasn’t shown up yet.” “Oh.” “Tell me, is it true you two are fighting?” “What gives you that idea?” Mimiru lied, shouldering her weapon. “Let me guess, you fought with that demon cleric and it’s still bothering you, am I correct?” “Don’t act like you know it all,” spat the human girl. The angel couldn’t help but chuckle. “I don’t ‘know it all’,” she replied smiling. “Just most of it.” “You’re a real pain you know that?” “Why must you obsess over little Tsukasa so much?” “I don’t!” Mimiru defended, kicking the grass, “I’m not even worried about him!” “Oh is that so? Bear still worries about him, and quite a lot it seems to me.” “Now just what are you two talking about?” asked a blue and white painted man coming over to them. “Why Tsukasa of course,” replied the angel. “Mimiru just told me that she’s washing her hands of him.” “I didn’t say that!” Mimiru said, emphatically. “So why did you call me?” Bear asked his shorter partner. She looked away, embarrassed. “I-I wanted to ask you for some advice,” she stammered. “You’re not looking well,” B.T. said, concerned for her friend. “I hope you’re not pushing yourself too much.” “I guess I have been doing too much lately,” agreed Bear. “Listen, Mimiru, you have to make up your mind if you want to still deal with him or not. Don’t worry about what I may feel about it. I also decided to check around Helba again.” “Helba?” “You’re going that far?” the angel queried, shocked. “I still have leads I haven’t looked into,” he replied. Seeing the girl’s uneasiness, he laid a hand on her head, “I’ll let you know if I find anything. Why not stop thinking about it until then? Think you can be that patient?” “Whatever,” she grumbled, then ran off into the forest. “Mimiru!” Bear called, but the girl continued to run, ignoring him completely. “Don’t tell me I did something wrong,” he said dejectedly. “Of course not,” consoled B.T. “She’s just being the child she is.”   ********************************************************* *****   Mimiru warped back into Dun Loireag only to have her way blocked by a red haired and winged angel twin blade. “Hey!” she scolded the much younger adventurer, “No one can pass if you stand there like that!” “Oh sorry!” the angel apologized and moved to the side and continued to stare at her “What?!” the tanned merc asked annoyedly upon hearing the angel sigh. “Um… betsuni (Nothing)!” she said shyly. “Oh ok then.” Mimiru then turned back to the Chaos Gate and warped back out.   *************************************************************** *********   About twenty minutes later, Mimiru had reached the bottom of the dungeon. Instead of opening the chest that was there waiting for her, the human merc sighed then sat down. B.T. had been right, she was obsessing over the silver haired demon. Even now Tsukasa was still on her mind for she began to reflect back on their first meeting.    “Oh, I didn’t know there was anyone here,” she said noticing the lone robed boy standing before the dungeon’s final treasure chest. “My name’s Mimiru. What’s yours?” she asked, smiling broadly.       &nbs p;    The boy continued to stare at her, slightly annoyed. “You ok?” she asked approaching him, “You’re not hurt are you?” The priest huffed and began backing away. “It’s really rare to see a priest adventuring by himself,” she said, missing the boy’s glare as she leaned closer to his face. “That means you’re reeeeeaaaaaally strong. Well, are ya?” she asked again when he made no attempt to answer.       &nbs p;     The silver haired boy continued to glare at her as he reached into his robes. Pulling out an ocarina, he blew a few notes on it and golden rings appeared around him, warping him out of the dungeon.       &nbs p;     “Hmph!” she said, insulted. “That’s no way to say hello.” Noticing that he had left without claiming the treasure, her eyes lit up with glee. “At least he didn’t get the treasure!” she said, giggling.   “Why did I have to run into him?” she grumbled. She rose to her feet and began to walk away. Remembering she hadn’t checked the chest, she decided to do so and opened it eagerly. However, her face fell when she saw it only held a few healing items. “How cheap can you get,” she complained, closing the chest again, not bothering to claim the items.   ************************************************************* *******   Mimiru yawned as she returned to Dun Loireag. “Are you strong miss?’ a voice called as she walked from the glowing blue orb, “You sure look strong. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Turning back, she saw the same angel she had run into before still standing near the town’s Chaos Gate. “I’m looking for someone who’d go adventuring with me,” the angel child explained. “There’s a dungeon in the Carmina zone I’d like to get to, can you take me there?” she asked again running up to her. “You want to go to Helba by yourself?!” “If you come, there’ll be two,” the angel beamed. “The Carmina zone’s pretty tough,” warned the merc, praying the angel child would have the sense to listen. “Oh, I didn’t know.” “Have you even bothered to train with someone first?!” Mimiru sputtered, shocked to find an untrained novice in Dun Loireag. Every one knew that all mercenaries and adventurers had to start at the Anu territory if they wanted to live to see another day. It was common knowledge that the areas near and surrounding Mac Anu had the weakest monsters. “Um… no,” the redhead replied. Mimiru sighed, “Just how long have you been doing this, kid?” she asked, though she had the feeling she knew the answer. “About two weeks I think.” “TWO WEEKS?! It took me that long just to get the hang of using my sword!” complained the taller human. “B-But, can’t I get a team and try it?” pleaded the angel child. “Well,” the tanned merc began, scratching her head, “There have been some pretty gutsy adventurers who like to go to much more dangerous areas. They always think their lucky if they can come back with a lot of treasure and more experience. But I’m not one of them.” She turned away and began to walk. “Try someone else.” “Funuke! (Coward),” the angel child called after her, making Mimiru freeze in her tracks. “Guess I’ll quit being an adventurer then. It’s boring anyway.” “N-NANDA YO?!” shouted the merc. “Guess it’s true about mercenaries and adventurers being lazy bums who just have nothing better to do then waste their time wandering aimlessly.” “Hey! You’re an adventurer too!” “Yeah, but I have a goal.” “Oh?” “I really want to get to Carmina.” “But why? You’ve been doing this for only two weeks.” “I want to try. Isn’t that reason enough?!” Mimiru sighed, there was no way her conscience was going to let her leave this crazy angel child to risk her life going to Helba. “Why not,” she finally agreed, “I was in the mood to do something reckless anyway. Say, like clear out a high level dungeon?” The angel child squealed and jumped in the air. “Yay!!!” she cheered, happy to have finally gotten her way. “I’m Mimiru,” the merc said, introducing herself. “My name is A-20,” beamed the angel twin blade.   ************************************************************* *************   The two adventurers stood before the first set of doors within the dungeon. Mimiru wiped her brow, grateful to be out of the heat and away from the lava covered field. “We were lucky to survive this long,” she said, “only because we stayed away from those portals back there, but we won’t be able to avoid them from here on in.” Her much smaller partner stammered nervously, but steeled herself as the human girl pushed the doors open and slowly entered the rest of the dungeon. Little A-20 quickly dashed in after her. “So what’s fun about it?” the angel asked after walking alongside the human for a while. “About what?” “This. Adventuring.” “Guess that would depend on the adventurer,” Mimiru replied. “It must get boring, having to keep up with all these relationships with other adventurers.” Mimiru was about to deny that, but stopped when she heard the hum of a magic portal. Looking forward, she saw a bright yellow disk blocking their way forward down the long hall. Drawing her sword, she turned to her smaller partner, “Get ready. Let’s go!” She then ran toward the portal, activating it. As the spinning disk vanished, a Tetra Armor monster appeared before them. Giving a warcry, the human merc began to slash furiously at the much stronger monster. The angel child backed up, obviously scared out of her mind. “W-Wait a sec,” she tried. After a few moments of not doing any damage, Mimiru leapt back, landing at the twin blade’s side. “Don’t just stand there, do something!” she chided. “But, I-I can’t,” came the stammered reply. “Look, if you wuss out now, you’ll die here!” “I know.” “Then do something! Look, I’ll cover you, so stop hiding behind me.” They quickly dodged the monster’s mace arm as it came crashing down on them. “Go around then we’ll attack on both ends, got it?” “Y-Yeah I guess.” A-20 then nervously slunk past the Tetra Armor, grateful that it was distracted. However, it wasn’t for long and it noticed the tiny twin blade attempting to sneak past it. The monster swung its mace arm again, making an enormous hole in the wall where she had been. Mimiru gasped as the angel girl began to glow. “YOU NEED TO HEAL AFTER ONE HIT?!” she cried in utter shock. ‘Just how weak is she?!’ The Tetra Armor hit her again and the angel girl healed herself once more. “I don’t believe this,” Mimiru muttered. “Get out of there all ready!” “I-I can’t!” cried her petite partner. “I’ve only been doing this for a week!” “NANDA YO?!” The monster swiveled its one-eyed head at the merc’s shout, drawing its attention away from the severely wounded angel. Mimiru slashed at the monster again and this time managed to split it into two even halves right down the middle. She panted heavily as the monster fell backwards, dead. “I knew you were strong,” the angel beamed. “You’re strong enough for both of us so we’ll be fine.” “Look, it’s not that I’m worried about how weak you are, I’m just pissed that you lied to me.” “I didn’t lie,” A-20 countered. “Oh yeah, well you said you’ve been doing this for two weeks back at Dun Loireag and then you go to say you’ve been doing it for a week. I’d say that was a lie.” “Fine with me if that’s how you’re going to be,” huffed the smaller angel. Mimiru glared at her as she shoved her sword into the marble floor and leant on it. “Just what is sooooooo damned important that you had to drag us here?” she demanded. “Why are you asking?” “Look, either do something or quit!” “Must you use that tone of voice, Miss High and Mighty human?” The human girl growled in disgust. “I’ve had it with you!” she yelled. She then proceeded to pull out a Sprite Ocarina. “Y-You’re leaving?!” A-20 asked fearfully. “Buh-bye!” the merc spat as she blew into it and warped from the dungeon. The poor angel child could only stand there staring after her and whimper.   *********************************************************** ****************   Mimiru sat on the grass, letting the wind that blew constantly around Dun Loireag toss her hair gently as she tried desperately to make up her mind about what to do about the silver haired demon. She was so intent at staring off into space, that she failed to hear the footsteps approaching her from behind. She startled at the slight chuckle. Looking up she saw B.T. standing next to her. “Sorry,” apologized the angel, “but you reminded me of Tsukasa just now, sitting there like that.” “What are you doing here?” she asked, still angry with her. “Bear sent me,” she replied. “He said I should listen to your side of this.” The human merc was silent for a few seconds before speaking again, “So how long have you known the old man?” “Quite a while I guess.” “So you must know what he does in his spare time.” “Maybe,” came the angel’s mischievous reply. “So spill.” “I won’t.” “Why not?!” “Because he acts like he doesn’t want anyone to know. Sorry that I can’t tell you.”  “That’s okay,” the tanned girl replied, though obviously disappointed. “If you really want to know, why not ask the old man?” B.T. suggested, still in a puckish mood. “Look, if you’re not going to talk, then I’ll be heading back.” The blonde angel then turned to leave after receiving an affirmative grunt from the human. “I do have one question though,” Mimiru said, making B.T. pause. “Is it natural for the younger adventurers to always depend on others?” “The younger ones? Are you talking about yourself, Mimiru?” “Hey!” she sputtered, “I’m almost as old as you!” The angel chuckled again, but continued to head back to her home in Lios. The human girl continued to sit and stare at the endless blue sky. ‘Sometimes I even wonder why I bothered becoming a merc,’ she thought as the wind continued to blow.   ********************************************************** &nb sp; A while later found Mimiru at Mac Anu’s Chaos Gate. “Sometimes I wonder,” she muttered, repeating her earlier thoughts. But she had more important things to worry about. It wasn’t easy to get an audience with the leader of the Crimson Knights and Subaru was expecting her. It wouldn’t look good if she was late to a meeting that she requested. Sighing, she strode from the gate and headed into the watery city. “Did you wish to talk about Tsukasa?” the cobalt haired angel asked after greeting and making room for the human girl on the gondola. “Are you kidding?” she replied, “I’ve washed my hands of that guy.” “Oh, I see. Then have you come to tell me where he is?” “No, that’s not it.” “I must confess,” the angel said looking away in an attempt to hide the slight blush she felt was sure on her face. “I find myself thinking of him a lot lately. I’d like it if you’d tell me if you learn anything.” “Let me guess, you want to find him because, if you don’t the reputation of the Crimson Knights’ll be ruined.” “That was uncalled for. Our reputation has nothing to do with this.” “Oh?” “In actuality, you have it backwards. I do wish to find him, but our plan is to leave Tsukasa alone. As you can see, that contradicts what I myself am feeling right now.” “Wait a minute! You’re letting him do whatever he wants?!” “That is what the Crimson Knights are doing,” Subaru corrected. “Well, that’s weird. I mean you were all gung ho about catching him before. And now that you’ve got yourselves a new problem, you don’t even care about Tsukasa anymore.” “You’re wrong!” the cobalt haired angel insisted, “I do care about Tsukasa. Very much in fact.” She quickly hung her face, praying that the human wouldn’t be able to see her blushing. “So go look for him then. Not as a Crimson Knight, but as Subaru the adventurer.” “An adventurer,” she mumbled. ‘How long has it been since I’ve been able to go to a dungeon without having to worry about anything else?’ she pondered wistfully. “Who knows, maybe he’s out there somewhere waiting for you to find him. I mean, you shouldn’t abandon the connection between…” she trailed off, hanging her head in shame. Hadn’t that been what she had been planning to do? “What is it? Are you feeling ill?” Subaru asked, concerned for her human comrade. “I’d better go, it’s getting late,” she said, noticing that the sun had almost completely set, “I just wanted to ask you why you started adventuring. What does it mean to you?” “Forgive me if I sound rude, but I’m afraid it’s my own business and no one else’s.” “Hey, that’s ok, I understand. I shouldn’t have asked.” The tanned merc then leapt onto a nearby street. “I’ll contact you again.” “Mimiru?” Subaru called after her. “Look, Tsukasa may come across as an annoying and irritating jerk, but don’t you think but isn’t it just as bad to end things here thinking that? I think that’s what I’m trying to say. Well, jya ne!” She then dashed off into the city, leaving the angelic leader of the Crimson Knights to dwell on her own thoughts.   ********************************************************** *****   Mimiru ran through the Carmina dungeon as fast as she could, praying that she wasn’t too late. She stopped as she came upon the corridor where she’d left the angel twin blade A-20 and sighed. “She must have left after all,” she said, upon not seeing her anywhere. She was about to warp out, when she heard a faint sound. Rushing down the hall and into the next room, she saw a familiar pink clad redheaded angel lying on the floor. She gasped and ran to the fallen angel. “A-Are you alright?!” she stammered. The angel child held up her thumb and index finger. “I have this… much strength left,” she said weakly. “What about potions?” “Used… all,” came another weak reply. “Don’t you worry, big sis’ll fix you right up.” “B-But… I can’t… pay you back.” Mimiru just smiled kindly and began reading from a healing scroll. Within moments, the golden light from the spell had completely healed the smaller adventurer. “Thank the gods I found you,” the merc said, helping her partner up. “I thought you went home. You’re much too weak to go on by yourself.” “Yeah,” the angel agreed sheepishly, “I don’t think I’d even get this far next time the way I am now. Anyway, I just hate quitting right in the middle of things.” “That’s not really it is it?” Mimiru asked. “I want to show everyone I can do this.” “Oh? Who’s everyone?” “My classmates. They all went on to be adventurers so I wanted to show them I can do it too.” “Oh I get it now, you’re using your student name,” the tanned human said, remembering that schools in Lios assigned students to a certain class and seat while her own had assigned students according to what subjects they wanted to take. “Yup!” beamed the angel, “I’m on a quest for something. I don’t know where it is, but I know I can find it, even if I don’t know what it is yet.” “Well, let’s see if it’s here then,” Mimiru said, starting for the exit at the other side of the room. “You know,” A-20 began after a few minutes of walking down another long hallway, “Maybe I just wanted to prove to myself that I can do this. Oh yeah, how come you came back? I thought you hated me.” “Yeah, well,” the human merc replied sheepishly, ashamed at her previous outburst with the angel child. “I did some thinking and decided that I didn’t want to quit in the middle of something either.” The angel child let out a loud laugh. “Guess you and me are the same,” she said having completely perked up now that the two had patched things. “I always let myself get into things I shouldn’t then I wind up getting lost in them. Mama and Papa are always saying I’m the biggest fool around.” Mimiru laughed. “Why not trying thinking things through first?” “Don’t say that! But you’re right you know. I was thinking that when I started this whole adventuring mess. Guess it’s true after all.” They stopped at the sudden hum of a magic portal, and just as with before, it was blocking their only exit. “I’m not sure, but it looks like the last floor is up ahead,” the taller human said, staring determinedly at the glowing spinning disk. “T-The monsters a-are strong right?” A-20 asked, getting nervous again. “Of course they are. This is a high level dungeon after all. You can still quit,” her human partner said, teasing slightly. “It’s hard right?” “We could still die.” The angel child pondered her options for a few moments then turned to Mimiru. “I’m not going to quit!” “So you’re gonna give this another shot?” A-20 gave a firm nod. “Let’s go big sis!” she said eagerly. Giving a nod of her own, Mimiru stepped closer to the disk, the redheaded angel right at her side.  The disk burst open and an overweight knight in armor appeared. They quickly ran to the sides as the monster made a mad dash for them, swinging his fists. “You’re fast so use that to distract him!” ordered Mimiru. “Right!” The angel twin blade then began running circles around the tubby knight. Once the monster was completely engrossed on the pink clad angel, the human merc leapt at its back, her enormous sword at the ready. There was a huge clang of metal on metal and the human girl was thrown back slightly by the impact. “By the way,” she said, holding her sword before her, “There’s someone I need to talk to, but I can’t contact him. He’s so annoying! And a jerk!” She slashed at the monster again. “Maybe letting things solve themselves on their own is a good thing, but I still think it’s wrong.” A-20, confused as to what that had to do with their current situation paused. “Um, shouldn’t we be talking about this some other time?!” she shouted as she just barely managed to dodge the monster’s heavy fist headed for her head. However, Mimiru acted as if she hadn’t heard. “I really don’t care if a guy’s a jerk or not, but if he is then it’s easier to just hate his guts and walk away. But I’m I’m gonna say sayonara, then it’s not so bad if I do so after I stick it out for as long as I can right?” The tanned merc was knocked back several feet by the monster’s next punch. “Mimiru!” cried the angel child. She ran up to the human, where she lay slumped against the now dented wall. She knelt then began casting a healing spell. “You said you were out of healing items,” the now healed merc said. “Did I?” she replied slyly. The merc’s eyebrow twitched, but before she could say anything, the monster had lunged another punch at her smaller partner. Reacting quickly, she shoved the angel child, rolling them so that she’d take the blow instead of the twin blade. However, the blow never came, for Mimiru had slashed at the chubby knight at the last possible second, causing it to fall dead. “Anymore secrets you’d like to share?” the tanned girl asked as they stood before the stairs leading down to the next floor. “What do you mean?” “Like healing items?” “Nope. That was the last one, for real this time.” “Same here. You know, if there’s any monsters down there, we’re goners.” “Even so, I’d hate it if we’d have to give up.” “We did pretty good didn’t we?” “Yep!” Nodding to each other, the two female adventurers climbed down the stairs, each glad to have the other at their side in spite of their rather rocky start. Much to their relief, there were no more portals. In fact there was only one room and it held a Gott statue and treasure chest. Mimiru urged her smaller partner forward and smiling, the angel twin blade gingerly opened the chest. The human let out an overjoyed squeal as they peered inside. “Wow! That’s the first Golden Grunty I’ve ever seen!” crowed the merc. “Is it rare?” “You bet!” Mimiru said, picking up the gold statue. “It’s really awesome though. According to legend if you’re lucky to find one, you’ll get a bit stronger as soon as you do.” “That’s good, but don’t you think it’s really ugly?” asked a somewhat disappointed A-20. Mimiru only giggled, taking the statue with her as she led them back out of the dungeon. “You’re the one who did all the work,” A-20 said pushing the statue away after being offered it. “Yeah, but don’t you want to show off to your friends?” “No, you can have it.” “Oh come on,” cajoled Mimiru, “Let’s stop acting like little kids here. Keep it.” She then pushed the Golden Grunty back into the twin blade’s hands and started to leave. “Don’t be cruel!” whined the redhead. “You know,” the human replied, “Why don’t you stick with adventuring for a bit more? There’s so much going on in this great big world of ours so you can’t say it’s not interesting. It all depends on who’s doing the adventuring.” “Yeah,” A-20 said, smiling and beginning to understand the lure of being an adventurer. “I hope you find that jerk of yours,” she called as Mimiru began to leave again. “You bet I will,” the merc called back, waving, “I’ve got a feeling I’ll see him real soon.” The angel twin blade sighed. “This really is ugly,” she muttered, looking at the statue in her hands.   ************************************************************* **********   On one of the many message boards scattered throughout the world, hung a note written in somewhat sloppy handwriting. It read:   Hey, Bear and B.T! It’s Mimiru. Guess what, I saw a Golden Grunty for the first time today. Isn’t that cool?! Anyway, about you-know-who. I’d like to talk things over some more. Is that okay with you? If not, then you don’t have to send a reply or anything.            &nbs p;  ~TBC!!!~   Sakura: Whoo-hoo!! Got another chappy done!! To tell the truth, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to do this episode, but now that I did, I’m glad.   Haseo: I know I’ll regret asking, but why?   Sakura: Well, because like they say, you can’t be serious all the time. ^_^ Well I’m off to start the next part minna, see ya soon!!