Chapter 20A: Alicia and Alma's Past - Confrontation
A few days have passed since the battle with that masked man. My wounds for the most part are fully healed. There was something I wanted to hear from my fiancé, so I asked if I could come see her. She agreed without any problem, but she did seem somewhat depressed over the phone.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about so badly?" She asks as I sit myself on her sofa and take the tea she offers me.
"That girl who has Gungnir-Mjölnir, you know her don't you, Alicia?" I cut straight to the point. "And not just her, that Reaper who was with that masked bastard."
"So it's about that? I figured as much." Alicia says with a sullen sigh. "All right Yuichi, I don't feel like talking for too long today, so which one do you want to hear about more? Alma or Carrisa?"
So she's only willing to tell me about one of them, I guess it's less about not wanting to talk, than it is being too painful for her to talk.
"Then tell me about Alma, the Reaper isn't the immediate threat right now. Plus, that Alma girl sent me this letter of challenge." I answer, the time stated is tonight, so I have very little time.
"You got one as well then?" Alicia responds. As well'? Meaning Alicia also got one. Does Alma plan on taking both of us on at once?
"Carrisa only fought against us because it turned out that way, but Alma bears a deep grudge." I supplement.
"Yeah, you're right. Alma hates Anomalies and Reapers with a passion." Alicia answers with a sad smile, I can tell this isn't going to be a pleasant story.
After a few moments of silence Alicia places her tea down onto the table, like she has made up her mind.
"Alma is a girl of Spanish descent, but I met her in Rome eight years ago. That day, I had an argument with my dad about something trivial. But I ran away from home in tears, and I found myself lost in the human world."
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Chapter 20B: Alicia and Alma's Past – Flashback (Perspective: Alicia) (Eight Years Ago)
"Where am I?" I ask, but no one answers. Everyone just keeps moving, like I'm invisible.
My body's shaking, but I won't cry. I'm a big girl now, I won't cry.
"Mum, Dad, Lilicia." I walk aimlessly, as water drops from my eyes.
"Are you crying?" A girl's voice asks. I turn to look at her, she's about the same age as me and is wearing a mischievous smile.
"I'm not crying!" I shout back "I'm an adult, adults don't cry!"
"You so are!"
"Am NOT!" The water gathering in my eyes flows out even more as I scream at the girl.
The girl walks up to me and grabs my hand, "Lets go play." She says with an innocent smile.
"Huh?" Before I can say no, she leads and drags me off down the streets and to a park.
She forces me onto one side of a sea-saw and takes the other end herself. As I go up and down, the water in my eyes slowly starts to clear, and is replaced with a smile.
We continue to play together in the park until the sun goes down.
"Ah, it's getting dark." She says in a disappointed voice as she stares up into the night sky.
"Alma~~!" A voice calls. We both look on, running up to Alma is a girl about sixteen years old with tanned skin just like Alma's and long, tied back, dark hair.
"Nee-sama!" Alma shouts back happily with a smile, but it quickly turns to a pout upon her eyes laying on someone else.
"We've been looking everywhere for you." Says a teenage boy running by the older girl's side. He has long crimson hair styled into dreadlocks and is dressed very roughly.
"Booo~~ Shuren isn't good enough to be Nee-sama's partner." Alma says with a defiant voice. But what does she mean 'partner'?
"You damn brat!" Shuren's face distorts in anger.
"ALMA! The fact of Shuren not being a suitable partner for me aside. I believe I taught you better than to insult people where it hurts." Alma's Nee-sama scolds.
"Uh, Nadia. You're not making me feel any better." Shuren says with an almost crying expression.
Seeing this scene I feel left out, I turn away as I prepare to walk out the park. But a familiar feeling enters my hand, and Alma drags me over.
"Nee-sama, Alicia's lost, can we take her home with us?" Alma asks pleadingly. What, am I suppose to be a stray dog!? I look onto the older girl who looks at me for a moment before saying.
"You're Alma's friend?" She asks, I give a light nod in response. "Then it's okay with me." She says decisively whilst giving me a thumbs up, she's really easy going.
"Taking a girl home you don't even know, you really are strange, Nadia." Shuren states with a sigh. "OWWW!" Alma kicks him in the shin.
"Alicia is my friend, butt out Shuren!" She says with an angry glare.
"You fucking brat! If you weren't Nadia's little sister then I would!" Shuren curses.
Alma's sister ignores them and turns to me.
"I'm Nadia Ivana, Alma's older sister. The guy over there with red hair is Shuren Azusa." She introduces with an innocent smile.
"I'm Alicia Pandemonium." I reply. Nadia-san's smile widens after my introduction.
"Then Alma, Alicia-chan, Let's go home." Nadia-san says as she takes our hands and leads us down the street.
"Your house is in the opposite direction, Nadia." Shuren says as he shakes his head from side to side.
"Ah, of course I knew that." She says as her face turns bright red. "I was just testing you, Shuren. Well done, you got an 'A plus'"
"Just testing me, of course." Shuren says sarcastically.
"Nee-sama complimented you, show some gratitude Shuren!" Alma shouts as she runs up to Shuren and...
"OWWWW!" Kicks him in the shin again.
"That does it!" Shuren chases after Alma, but he can't catch her. Watching him relentlessly chase after a girl half his size with little success only increases his pitifulness.
"Come on Alma knock it off, Shuren I'll cook us up a feast, so please calm down will you?" Nadia-san compromises, probably to save what little remained of Shuren's pride.
"Nadia's home made cooking?" Shuren says, his face is almost too happy. Is Nadia-san's cooking that good?
After making several more wrong turns, that Shuren pointed out. We finally arrived at a small but clean house.
"Here we are." Nadia-san says with a smile. "I think I've never made it back as quick as I have done today." Just how bad is her sense of direction?
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"It means we're improving, Nee-sama." Alma says in a congratulating tone. Shuren wears a face that seems to be saying 'it's because I led you here'.
We enter the house together. The interior is clean as well, but the size is nowhere near the size of my house.
"Alma, you're both all sweaty, go take a bath with Alicia-chan. It's going to take a while to prepare dinner." Nadia-san suggests.
"Yes, Nee-sama." Alma agrees as she grabs my hand and leads me upstairs. Do these siblings have some fetish for dragging people about?
We both undress and enter the bath together, the warm water eases my tired body.
"Take that!" Alma screams as she splashes me.
"I'll get you for that!" I splash back.
We cheerfully continue to play in the bath, rather than cleansing ourselves. Eventually, I get out before Alma, and walk downstairs, I overhear a voice.
"Nadia, you know that Alicia girl isn't human right?" Shuren asks. Do they know my true identity?
I press my ear against the wall, trying to catch what they say.
"She's a being similar to that of a Human Anomaly, this is different from Ark's case. If you keep her here, she will attract Anomalies to herself that will place you and Alma in danger. You should get rid of her before that happens, Nadia." The only voice that's coming through the walls is Shuren's. Nadia is remaining silent. 'Get rid of'? Are they planning on killing me!? My body tenses in fear, I want to go home.
"Why isn't Nee-sama saying anything back!?" An angry voice asks rhetorically, I turn to face its owner. Standing there, also listening in is Alma. "Alicia's my friend, get rid of her? I won't let them." Alma grabs my hand and we run out the house together.
The sky is pitch black and full of clouds, we continue running until we eventually find the park where the two of us played together.
We sit underneath the slide, the blistering cold air cuts through me like a knife.
"I can't believe them!? Even Nee-sama!" Alma screams out her feelings of anger. Her shoulders are shaking, I can't tell whether this is from anger or the cold.
"Alma..." I say as I place my hand on her.
"Alicia is my friend." Alma reconfirms, I nod back with a smile, that Alma returns.
It's at that moment, I feel something terrifying. Suddenly a black void appears and out walks a certain existence, that is...
"An Anomaly!" I shout, and it's not an ordinary one either. Looking at it's huge body that has body parts that don't match together, almost like several jigsaw puzzles have been mixed with each other and pieced together randomly. "A Chimera Anomaly?" A Soul Anomaly made up of several other Anomalies fused together. What is a monster that is rarer than rare even in the Underworld doing in the human world!? Alma shakes in fear, as she looks on in horror at the grotesque being that words cannot describe.
""""So...It was you who were calling me...Silver haired girl..."""" It says as it turns it's many heads and eyes towards me, all the heads speak creepily in sync. """"Your souls, are mine.""""
"It's after you?" Alma says in a horrified voice as she looks at me.
""""ITADAKIMASU!"""" The Chimera Anomaly screams as it opens it's many wide jaws.
"AHHHHHHH!" I scream in terror as I shield my eyes with my arms.
A flash of lightning lights up the night sky and suddenly hits the Chimera Anomaly's huge body """"GRAAAHHH!"""" It yelps painfully.
"Alma, Alicia-chan, are you okay?" Nadia-san's voice shouts out.
"Nee-sama!" Alma calls back as she sheds a magnitude of tears.
I then notice a golden weapon that has the head of a spear and a hammer on opposite ends.
Noticing my gaze, Nadia-san smiles. "This is Gungnir-Mjölnir, it's my Soul Slayer. Well, I guess you might not understand. Anyway, both of you get back, I'll handle this."
Obeying Nadia-san's orders Alma and I run away from the Chimera Anomaly and watch on from behind Nadia-san.
""""A Soul Slayer, such a problematic thing."""" The Chimera Anomaly states.
"It's my first time seeing an Anomaly capable of speaking." Nadia-san says as she spins her weapon around.
""""GRAHH!"""" Another lightning bolt strikes the Chimera Anomaly.
"You're one tough cookie." Nadia-san says as she grinds her teeth together.
""""I am made up of several million souls. It does not matter if you destroy one or two of them."""" The Chimera Anomaly replies confidently. Nadia-san's attacks, although they hurt it, they aren't causing it any major damage.
""""Now it's our turn!"""" The Chimera Anomaly announces.
Nadia-san tightens her grip on Gungnir-Mjölnir, bracing herself for an incoming attack. The Chimera Anomaly lunges forth using its tail that looks like a scorpions. Nadia-san quickly dodges to the side and it pierces the ground instead.
Just when I thought Nadia-san was safe, more scorpion tails start sprouting out of the first one, and even more came out of them, similar to a tree branch of scorpion tails.
"TCH!" Nadia-san grunts as she dodges the attacks with acrobatic movements. But the scorpion tails continue homing in on her with nimble movements.
Nadia-san spins her Soul Slayer around one hundred and eighty degrees to the spearhead. Lightning gathers around the spearhead and forms an extension to it. Creating a spearhead about five metres long made out of pure lightning.
""""GRAGHHH!"""" The Chimera growls in pain as Nadia-san severs its tails.
"Here I come," Nadia-san states as she runs towards the Chimera.
The Chimera Anomaly opens several of its mouths.
""""BRAHHH!"""" All the heads make an awful vomiting like sound as an immense number of creatures crawl out of its mouths. They all land and start slithering along the floor. Snakes? And there's got to be close to a thousand of them.
Nadia-san sweeps and cleaves up all the snakes within range of her lightning spear. The snakes when they get close enough pounce towards Nadia-san with unhinged jaws, trying to latch onto her neck, but none are able to do so. Just as I am able to feel that Nadia-san will be all right against the snakes...
"KYAAA!" I suddenly hear Alma's scream, I turn around to find that several snakes are attacking us instead. I was concentrating so much on Nadia-san's predicament I didn't pay any attention to any of my surroundings.
"ALMA! ALICIA-CHAN!" Nadia-san also noticing our danger is quick to react the spear's lightning blade disappears and she turns it round to the hammerhead segment.
BANG! - She slams it against the ground and lightning falls from the sky.
""""GRAHHH!"""" The snakes attacking us are instantly incinerated. We're safe, I relax my breathing from the relief, but then.
"GUHHH!" Nadia-san grunts. When I turn round I notice several threads wrapped around Nadia-san's limbs. And whilst she's unable to move. "ARGGGGHHHHH!" She screams as a snake bites her.
"NEE-SAMA!" Alma shouts in horror. I on the other hand cannot even open my mouth, the fear halts my voice.
As the snake falls off Nadia-san's arm, I notice something wrong with it. The upper half of her arm where she was bitten has petrified, it's turned to stone.
""""You let your guard down whilst you were protecting the brats."""" The Chimera mocks. """"You won't be able to fight the way you want in that state.""""
"Yeah, I Guess I can't beat you with ordinary moves." Nadia-san says with a face of regret as she looks at her petrified arm. She then turns to me and Alma, smiling as tears flow from her eyes. "Alma, grow up into the great woman that I wasn't able to, and tell Shuren...that I love him."
"Nee-sama? What are you saying?" Alma asks in a quivering voice.
""""Become part of me!"""" The Chimera Anomaly screams as it throws Nadia's body limply into the air via the threads, it then closes it's jaws around Nadia-san, swallowing her whole.
"NADIA-SAN!", "NEE-SAMA!" Alma and I scream at the scene.
Then, from within the Chimera Anomaly.
"BUT EVEN IN THIS STATE! I CAN STILL USE THIS! SOUL MARTYR!" Nadia-san's voice leaks out from within the Chimera. Several flashes of light shine through the gaps in the Chimera Anomaly's jaws.
""""DAMN! YOU!"""" The Anomaly curses as it spits out Nadia-san's limp unconscious body. """"You shattered your own soul into pieces and had them fuse with my own! You're planning on destroying me like a cancer!""""
COUGH COUGH! - All the heads spit out immense amounts of black blood.
""""CURSE YOU!"""" It yells one more time before it disappears into a dark void, I can no longer feel it's presence.
"NEE-SAMA!" Alma tearfully runs and cradles her older sister's body. "Nee-sama, you defeated that huge monster, please open your eyes. I can't thank you if you're sleeping." Alma's shock causes her to defy reality. Tears flow down my cheeks as I watch Alma continuously try to wake up her sister in vain. I know, Nadia-san will never open her eyes again, I'm sure Alma also realises this.
"Alma..." I quietly call to my friend. As I try to place my hand on her shoulder Alma slaps it away and looks at me with anger filled eyes.
"That thing, was after you! How could you do this to us!? To Nee-sama!?" She screams at me, my body stiffens, her previously pure eyes are now nothing but a haven of anger.
"I'm...sorry..." My eyes tear, "I didn..."
"Nee-sama's DEAD! Do you think a sorry can undo what you've done!? GET LOST YOU MONSTER!" Alma shouts, as she picks up a stone and throws it at me.
It hits me in the face, blood flows from the cut. But I feel no physical pain, my heart hurts too much to care. The eyes Alma is looking at me with right now, I'll never forget them.
"I'm sorry..." I say one more time as I walk away in tears, rain droplets shower onto my skin and roll down my face, almost as if my own tears are not enough to convey my feelings.
I turn one last time towards Alma, who has returned to cradling Nadia-san's body in tears. I turn my back again and walk out the park.
Eventually Sebastian found me crying and took me back home to the Underworld.
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Chapter 20C: Alicia and Alma's Past – Yuichi's Unheard Promise
"And that's what happened." Alicia says in a voice that seems to be trying to keep her negative emotions in check. "In order to save us, Nadia-san used a technique that transmigrates her soul into an eternal conductor for Gungnir-Mjölnir's lightning and fused her soul fragments with the Chimera."
"Alicia, I maybe a bit late in saying this, but none of that was your fault." I say, trying to comfort my fiancé, even just a little.
"It doesn't change the result, Yuichi." She replies solemnly. Before putting on a strong front that is very transparent. "Anyway, Yuichi. This is my problem, I must clear up my own mess, so leave Alma to me, she means busin...URGH!"
"Forgive me." I apologise as I withdraw my fist that I used to knock out Alicia. I catch her body in my arms before she falls to the floor and carry her to her bed.
"Protecting the feelings of the bride, is the grooms job." I state as I pull the blanket over Alicia's body.
There's no way someone as beautiful as I would let you carry such a burden alone.
"I promise you, Alicia. I shall end this in a way so that everyone cries tears of happiness."