Trinity Blood Fan Fiction / Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Darker Angels ❯ Installations And Insanity ( Chapter 21 )

 

 

Tres had processed the fact that it had been a very odd sort of day. Partially because it had been spent with no mission in particular and partially because an hour, twenty three minutes and forty six seconds of it had been spent in bed. He wasn't certain why he had needed to watch over Takara as she rested but it had been as though someone had programmed it into him. Even stranger was the fact it seemed to be a familiar activity to him though it had never happened previously according to his memory banks.

 

He was perplexed by a myriad of thoughts and that was not his usual state of being. Those thoughts circled around themselves and came back to one person. Perhaps it was the inexplicable study and contemplation of the double crescent shaped scars marking the juncture of her shoulder and neck as she slept that had him thinking in a circular way. Or that looking at those scars had made him feel, strange. He had emotions, certainly, but for the most part they were so low key they were practically nonexistent. Hadn't his creators informed him that he could and probably would have flashes of memory and feelings tied to a particular place or person due to the small part of his brain that was human? For some reason looking at those scars gave him a sense of . . . satisfaction. He wasn't certain that was the appropriate term for it but it was there all the same and unusually strong.

 

He was still contemplating what it all meant as Gun was installing the last of the chips into his head.

 

“There. All finished, Tres. It may take you a bit to get everything lined out and processing in a way you're comfortable with but it shouldn't take too long. It's only minor changes. The only major one is the semblance of life chip I just installed. It might take a bit more getting used to.”

 

Tres blinked and then frowned. He didn't blink. That was strange. Even stranger was feeling himself sort of breathe. He gave Gun a puzzled look.

 

“It simulates human breathing, warmth, etc. Your outer casing should start warming up soon to mimic human skin.”

 

Tres frowned a bit deeper. “I'm not sure I like this.”

 

“It's just different. Something you aren't used to. It seems to be working well though. Your speech isn't as stilted and you look like you're getting some color in your face already. That's a good sign. It should make Taka happy too,” Gun said with a smile.

 

“Why would my appearing to be more human please her when she isn't human herself?” Tres asked very seriously.

 

“She's . . . interested in you. Take that however you will. As for her not being human, you know she isn't, though she can certainly pass for one if she wants to.”

 

“She's what you are.”

 

“More or less. We all vary from creation to creation except for Hunt and I since we're twins. The Created aren't really one or another of any particular species. We're a combination of all different kinds of people and circumstances. I think there are only maybe a couple dozen or so of us in the world.”

 

Tres processed this for a moment before asking, “Do you know where . . . it isn't my place to ask.”

 

“Ask away. I'll tell you if I know.”

 

“Where did she get the scars?”

 

“You mean the ones here,” Gun said, indicating the space where the shoulder and neck joined.

 

Tres nodded. Gun took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I'm glad you asked me instead of her. It's still a little bit of a sensitive subject as far as she's concerned. You know what a mate is, I presume.” Tres nodded again. “Hers just happened to be a shapeshifter and they tend to mark who belongs to them, who they belong to by biting.”

 

“Then she has a mate,” Tres said. He felt odd, like one of his wires had come loose and was sparking uncomfortably in his chest cavity.

 

“No. Not anymore,” Gun said, shaking his head. “He died in the last rounds of the wars. We almost never got her back. I think she intended to go with him through grief. She wasn't as bad as Abel was though. Then again, she wasn't really allowed to let her own life fade due to neglect. Okay, enough of that.”

 

Tres wanted to ask more questions but knew it wasn't appropriate since Gun had deemed the subject dropped.

 

“So, how are you feeling? Getting more used to the way the new chips work?”

 

“Yes. I think so. It feels odd though.”

 

“You'll be okay. Like I said, they're only minor changes. Not like I put an emotions chip in you or anything too drastic.”

 

“It wouldn't be necessary. I can and do have emotions. They just aren't forefront in my mind as they are in Terran and Methuselah.”

 

Gun smiled at him. “Now that is interesting to know,” he said. He turned to the pile of clothing on the chair. “Okay, Hunt dug these out for you to wear tonight. Imagine that, my brother having bondage bar gear. Novel concept.”

 

“Sarcasm.”

 

“Just another service we offer. Very good. Go see if those fit, I think you're a little more muscular in the thighs than Hunt is but he has longer legs. Might have to do a few minor alterations before you leave.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Not a problem.”

 

 

 

Takara thought she probably should have known the rest of the day would be strange when she woke to find Tres propped up on one elbow watching her while she slept. That she had been able to sleep with someone watching her was odd since she usually didn't trust anyone in the room with her while she was asleep aside from her family.

 

Things had gotten even more bizarre at the initial meeting of the Vatican operatives and the Methuselah negotiating party. Not through any actions on any of their parts but for the simple fact they bore witness to one of her mother's most supreme annoyances; two very possessive husbands who had deemed she'd been away from home for too long.

 

She reasoned an interesting time wasn't far behind when one of her fathers had materialized from the shadows looking like he did when, as her mother had so poetically put it, he was throttling numbers into submission. Tres shot her a questioning look, doubtlessly wondering if he needed to pull the guns, she shook her head and grinned as she pointed her father in the direction of the library before he could ask. Tres turned to her with a bemused expression on his face but before she could explain her other father came into view.

 

“Where's . . . never mind, I can guess where they are,” he said, heading in the direction he had heard the enraged, “Gods damn it, Seiichiro, put me down this instant.” “If I laugh about it she'll kill me again,” he said over his shoulder.

 

“She's been threatening to kill both of us for a thousand years,” Seiichiro Tatsumi said, striding toward them with his wife tossed over one shoulder.

 

“We need her back by tomorrow night, Dad,” Takara said.

 

“Stop fraternizing with the enemy,” Blaze said.

 

“Don't worry,” Watari said. “We'll have her back by then.”

 

“Maybe,” Tatsumi growled then disappeared with Blaze mumbling second death threats to him.

 

“I'd better go too before she decides to really kill him,” he said, leaning to kiss his daughter on the cheek. “Later, baby.” He disappeared as quickly as his husband and wife had.

 

“What just happened here?” Tres asked, frowning slightly.

 

Takara sighed. “That would be my fathers deciding my mother has been away from them for too long.”

 

“I see,” Tres said, still frowning and rubbing his forehead.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Yes. I'm still adjusting to the new chips Gunther installed.”

 

“Do you need him to remove them?”

 

“No. I'm fine. It's just taking a little longer to adjust than I'd hoped it would, Princess.”

 

She let his use of her title slide because it hadn't sounded as though he had intended to use it as a title, more like a nickname or term of endearment. Any further contemplation of it was stopped by Gun coming out of the library smiling.

 

“You know, I never get tired of seeing him do that to her,” he said musingly. “Must be fabulous to still be that in love after a thousand years.”

 

“Yeah. I'd imagine so.”

 

“Speaking of love connections, or lack thereof, would you go and stop my brother from making a total fool of himself? Well, moreso than usual anyway.”

 

“Do I even want to know?”

 

“He's hitting on the Duchess and the general feel from her is she's going to start hitting back. In the bad way.”