Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Tassadar's Legacy: Chronicles: Dark Light ❯ Following Your Heart... ( Chapter 8 )

Akira sighed to herself softly. It'd been two weeks since the botched, 'Seduce Abyssal Angel' plan, and he still hadn't come back yet. That only remained part of her frustrations though. The other part wasn't her suit either, which she made a point of training in to get used to it. No what got to her is the training itself.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not get herself to move fast enough to dodge the paintballs that she had her holograms shooting at her. She couldn't even begin to understand how Angel moved that fast. Maybe it just had to do with experience? She knew she'd never had an opportunity to be shot at and she honestly didn't want to experience it either, but just in case was kind of necessary since she'd inadvertently marked herself as a target by unknowingly following his last reported locations.

She'd already had it cross her mind that it wasn't her fault since her boss chose her job locations, not her, but how could he know his reported locations either? Either it was a huge coincidence, or someone knew more about Angel than she did and that worried for her, especially since he'd been gone for such a long time she was worried about him. She didn't think anyone could hurt him, but someone had already used her to get to him. Who knows who else they would use?

Suddenly she stopped startled as a thought occurred to her that she'd never realized before; and promptly got splattered by a million paintballs. She quickly ordered the holograms to stop and waved her hand to make the paint and all traces of her training disappear along with her suit. Sitting in the middle of the room, she sat down in a meditative pose hoping that adopting just a few of Angel's mannerisms would help her out in her training, but so far to no success; though it did help her think.

Why would someone use her to get to Abyssal Angel to get to him? The possibilities were many and varied and intrigued her to no end. On the one hand, someone might have known that Angel had a soft spot and a bit of a rescue complex, but then she remembered all the people he'd shoved away from himself to keep them from getting hurt by his presence, even though it ended up hurting them somehow anyway.

So that only left the other most likely explanation. Unless someone knew Angel had a thing for Black haired blue eyed beauties with a huge amount of spunk, that meant that someone thought that she and Angel knew each other before. Now why would someone think that? Is it possible she knew Angel before the war? She wracked her brains trying to figure out who it could be to no avail. No one presented themselves in her mind as a possible explanation, especially considering Angel might have just altered his height or weight or muscles to make himself appear completely different, not to mention the voice synthesizer he used to speak.

She'd love to know what his real voice sounded like. One little sound could have her hitting public records with a vengeance, but she was familiar with the reaction that particular program had with voice synth. One second of recorded voice might give you one person, while the next second might give you another completely different profile. No, she was left to her own devices on this.

Sighing in frustration, she stood up and again made ready to start training again before another thought crossed her mind. She nearly smacked herself for not thinking of it earlier. Abyssal Angel's whole style of thinking was to think outside the box. The Builders only thought about altering this reality, making most of their battles seem more like magic duels than anything, but Angel thought more about altering reality to suit his purposes rather than using what was already there. So why not alter her own body to react to PSA rather than her muscles? Suddenly Angel's meditation practices made so much sense to her. What better way to train in using Replicate instead of her own body by simply attempting control of it without her body getting in the way? She had noticed she did have a tendency to make arm or hand gestures or move her body when she used Replicate.

Casting away her original training, she sat down and concentrated on moving her body without actually moving it. Doing so was difficult. More often than not she would simply move her arm on her own. After a number of tries, the best she could come up with was a mixture of both.

"Very impressive." Akira was so startled she jumped from her position to nearly a foot in the air and floated there. Startled, she noted that she wasn't the one keeping her afloat as Angel regarded her passively. Slowly, Angel made her spin in place, taking in her own suit. Much like his, except more streamlined and glossy, and sported purple highlights that accented her in just the right places, making her appear more sexy than foreboding, kind of like Cat Woman from the old Classic Batman movies she sometimes watched.

The only other major difference between her suit and his is that she didn't have black eye pieces covering her eyes. Angel pulled her close and made a point of looking at her eyes. Akira felt very self conscious as she stared into his eye pieces and imagined the green blue eyes there. "You do realize," he started breaking her from her day dreaming of his eyes, "that one picture of your eyes run through a data base will reveal you for who you are? Even if you used contacts, you can't hide eye shape, which is unique to everyone. If you're going to have a suit like that, you should hide your eyes."

Abyssal Angel's advice left Akira breathless. Here she'd been lamenting how he would find out who he is and now he'd laid her trump card at her feet. For hadn't she seen his eyes already? She might've imagined it, but it was a clue she couldn't let go of, and one she would use. She just couldn't decide if she would search up the eyes she'd been dreaming of nearly every night since their first date, or use it to black mail him into taking his suit off.

Biting her lip, she decided to try her luck and made her suit disappear and flexed her own control over Replicate onto him, making her drop him and pressing him back. Angel gasped startled. she figured he is much stronger than her in that regard, but surprise is on her side since she'd been practicing so much while he was gone. Pinning him back against the wall, she smiled in a predatory and triumphant way and said lightly, as if she had not a care in the world, "Now that I have you where I want you, I should thank you for handing your identity to me on a silver platter."

She leaned into him and he gasped as he stuttered out, "H-how do you mean?" She smiled then laid her cards out on the table, "During that night when we watched that movie and your hand brushed mine, your control slipped and I saw your eyes. I've been dreaming about them ever since. Why it didn't cross my mind to search up your eyes on the public records database I can't even fathom."

Angel gulped and said, "You're bluffing." Akira smiled and leaned her face close to his and said, "Even if I were, it doesn't matter. I can see your eyes right now." Angel realized with a start that his control had slipped a little and the opaque of his eye pieces had lessened enough just to be seen through the outside and he quickly made them opaque again.

"Akira..." He started. she shook her head and stepped back, releasing him. She sighed and said, "I thought I would black mail you into showing me your face, but I don't want that. It takes away what I want..." She turned away and wrapped her arms around herself, realizing she'd probably just given up her last chance to see who he really is. For this, he might even kick her out and leave her to the dogs. She shivered as she tried to keep back the sudden tears. She couldn't even dodge bullets. She didn't delude herself into thinking she'd stand a chance out there.

"What do you want?" Angel asked. She smiled slightly as her tears started to trail down her face and said quietly, "I didn't want to just see your face. I wanted you to open up to me. You keep yourself closed off from everyone. It's not healthy. I care about you. More than I thought I ever would or even could. After I lost my last boyfriend during first 'Meteor Fall Day', I made a promise to myself to never love again. I couldn't stand the pain of losing someone I loved so much, even if he was my first serious boyfriend..."

Akira knew she was shaking now and all she could do was keep her sobs silent, but she forced herself to continue, "But all that changed the day you stepped out of the shadows to defend me. I'd always been fascinated by the supposed dark hero who helped end the Clan War. I always felt a little skeptical that such a dark and evil person would go to such lengths to end a war, if the stories were to be believed. I'm glad to see I was proven right. You're such a good person and I just know you must be hurting so much inside, keeping yourself hidden from the world, using the excuse that you're evil to keep everyone away so you can't hurt them, and doing things the world won't take the responsibility to do themselves. It hurts you to kill so much, but you self sacrifice yourself so much just to keep us all from destroying ourselves. How could I not fall in love with someone so selfless?..."

Akira continued to cry quietly, even as she felt a soft gloved hand fall on her shoulder and turn her towards him, wrapping her in his arms and holding her. After a while her sobs turned to hiccups as her tears lessened. The only thing she could think to say was, "Why...?" Angel gave Akira a small squeeze and said softly, "You're not the only one who cares. I care more about you than I should too. I have for a very long time. You ask why? There are many answers to that question. Mostly... it's because I'm scared of what you'll do if I do take off my mask..."

Akira frowned in confusion and pulled back and said, "Me? Do something to you? You're the great Abyssal Angel. The most dangerous man in the whole Solar System! What could I possibly do to you that you wouldn't simply be able to dodge or simply overpower? I'm helpless compared to you..." She ended softly. Angel shook his head and said, "But I am helpless. Helpless to the great Akira Telman and the power she has over my heart. I'm very afraid that you'll try to break it..." Akira felt even more confused and asked, "Why would I do that to you? I just told you... I love you... so much..."

Angel bowed his head, then pushed her away, nearly breaking Akira's heart till he said, "Then do what you must. I won't stop you."