[orig fic] NEBULA - burst! four & five [incomplete]
❤ A popular, prize-winning scientist is reported to have committed suicide. While the world bemoans the loss, the underground organizations turn to each other to pinpoint the cause of the scientist's death. Especially since each prominent organization has commissioned her to develop a super-weapon before her death... [AU]
❤ PG-13 ~ PG-15 - Mystery, General, Action, Fantasy?
❤ ...more flashbacks / backstories orz There's 2 (or 3?) more backstories to go, then it's the last segment (plus epilogue) ^^;; I still haven't gotten around to putting timestamps *hides*
❤ Feedback/comments = better than ice cream. Trufax :D :D :D
☆ NEBULA - burst! four ☆
★ the dark horse ★
*
It is fascinating, to see that different people would react vastly different from each other when asked with a simple request.
-Describe me.-
*
Second Alice will not be able to say anything substantial now, because his memories have been broken and pierced together and shattered once again, over and over that it's a miracle if he even remembered his own gender.
*
Third Alice and Fourth Alice have already started on their eternal journey to the underworld, gruesome deaths at the hands of a remorseless, soulless Second.
*
Sixth Alice was chosen a month after his arrival to the program and now she is too, dead.
*
Seventh Alice will surely have a lot of things to say about him-most of them curses, a few of them true. Seventh is one of the few who has witnessed the side that he keeps well-hidden and actually survive. (Not that she survived because of her own merits, it's more like he's tired of not having a playmate and she makes the most interesting reactions.)
She will make corrosive comments about how he's more of a snake than any other poisonous modified reptile in his collection; she will make sardonic statements regarding how his adorable boyish appearance is a huge bag of bastardly deception.
*
Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Alice arrived at the same time to the program-but only Ninth survives until now. He had such high hopes for the Eighth Alice who displayed an almost unholy light in his eyes when subjected to the sight of fires incinerating enemy territories to the ground.
Ninth is too much of a simple, brash person to actually suspect anything behind the smiling face that is front of him. If asked, Ninth will probably complain about the allergies he gets from his monster pets. Maybe get sidetracked a bit at how a young brat like him should respect his elders, even if he entered the Alice Program much earlier. But no, it will be completely off, despite Ninth's unmistakable insight when he befriended the ice-cold Second years ago.
*
Contrary to the other Alices who have lived their lives within the mountainous borders of what was once (in an era separated by a gap of hundreds of years) called 'North America', he experienced living in other places before being chosen as an Alice.
Even though he was only five when the fifth war broke out, he didn't experience much difficulty living during those times. His family is influential and well-known after all-his father is still considered a valuable military resource for his contributions in the fifth and sixth wars.
He has experienced living in what was once just an eroded area surrounded by oceans poisoned with chemicals that came from the earth itself. The Hassen Kingdom has only been on its weak beginnings then, with nobody strong enough to lead the abandoned people into building a home that will protect them not only from the encroaching enemies, but also from nature's wrath.
He was there when his father brought him along for a diplomatic talk. His older sister kept on teasing him about being sent to Hassen Kingdom as a diplomatic prisoner from their country, the current superpower. He didn't think his father would bother disposing of him in that wasteland, not because he believed in familial love, but because he didn't think he had enough value as a diplomatic tool. It was true, back then.
As an envoy from the Association of Aster-Aersburg, as representatives from a nation that had a fervent and noble wish uniting everyone to avoid the breakout of a seventh world war, they had special treatment then-the only ones with masks and suits to protect their bodies from the psychic matter's unknown radiation that are rumored to kill a person after a week of chronic exposure.
From the displeased smile of his father, he knew, even from back then, that a seventh war was already inevitable, because the Hassen Kingdom was already lying about the newly-discovered psychic matter. While it was true that chronic exposure weakened a person greatly, they didn't mention anything about gathering the anomalies-the ones who instead grew much stronger and more resilient after being exposed to the new particles.
It was then where he met-though, rather than a meeting, it was more of a literal crossing of paths-a person with an empowering aura. Unlike all the other civilians who looked haggard and desperate, unlike all the other civilians who were scrambling for the food rations, *he* was smiling in absolute boredom. That person was obviously older than him by a few years and he was obviously lacking in training with his newfound (not even his family knew...) power-but in that moment when they passed each other, it definitely showed: the inequality between their capabilities that couldn't be bridged by any amount of time or training.
Despite the overwhelming difference in their power, he felt a similar tug between the two of them. As though their cores were the same after all. The feeling passed quickly, but it was something that he continued to remember even as years wore down plundered land and built upon rising kingdoms.
That man, still adorned by the indescernibly bored smile, grew to become the face of the elite Hassen Knights.
*
In a move that surprised everyone that had half a mind to pay attention to the way the tides of power shifted and transferred, the Association of Aster-Aersburg joined the flimsy cooperative alliance of United Alliance of Free States. He was ten when it happened-he was ten and in the middle of his violin lessons when he heard of the news. His father was one of the main proponents of the alliance and there was no doubt that the UAFS had no choice but to accept the strongest and largest superpower in their alliance.
He was ten when he learned that he would be sent to the Kingdom of Wonderland as part of an advanced, scientific research disguised as an international treaty.
*
He was ten when he first met Alice.
Alice who was the face of scientific revolution with her unparalleled genius and creativity when it came to designing new methodologies and new inventions. Alice who was so popular that an entire project was named after her, even if it wasn't even her main project. Alice who was working to cure the plague caused by the newly-discovered psychic matter.
He was ten when he first met Alice.
*
They reassured him that there would be no negative side-effects, that there would be no troubles at all. They reassured him that the method to study the usage of the same corrupt psychic matter to remove the infection was tried and tested before. They reassured him that the first batches of experimental subjects were all stabilized and definitely alive.
-Until now, he doesn't know on who is-or who are-that pitiful First Alice.
*
It is fascinating, to see that different people would react vastly different from each other when asked with a simple request.
-Describe me.-
He asks this of every single person he invites to his lavish home that bears no signs of being an ornate prison.
*
As a noble from the Association of Aster-Aersburg and as the current-strongest Alice in the arsenal, the Kingdom of Wonderland can't dispose of him. His father and his sister and his mother might all be enemies of this kingdom, but that makes him all the more worthy of being a prisoner.
As the only person in the kingdom who has been exposed to every type of psychic matter out there, he's a valuable soldier. This is why nobody bothers to point out his eccentricities, why nobody dares to get in his way, why nobody braves to stop him in his quest.
*
He prefers to have his playthings (victims) killed in his own home, where they can gasp and writhe at the sight of the family portraits that encompasses the ceilings and enriches the walls of every single room in his family house, see the smiling politician that is his father, see the gentle features of the professor that is his mother, see the vibrant sparkle in the eyes of his sister that is an influential actress, see the terribly well-adjusted and picture-perfect family that is his.
(Even if they're all enemies from another kingdom far away.)
Where they can strain to find the difference between 'before' and 'after' in his smiles and find that there's no difference at all between the man smiling in all of the portraits and the man slitting their throats with violin strings.
*
He laughs at the absurdity of it all-when he sees the distinguishable navy-blue uniform of the Knights of Hassen. He spits at the '5' in the middle of his attacker's forehead, but since he's laughing too hard, he only hits the other's nose. He laughs even more when the Knight doesn't even flinch or blink at the saliva hitting him on his face.
"According to our acquired intelligence," Synch recites mechanically, brandishing a sword that's really just a tuning fork that can alter sound waves. "The culprit behind Alice Lutwidge's death is definitely you, Leonardo Torres!"
His smile vanishes, a direct reaction to hearing his name be called out after spending years of only listening to its symphony while he's sleeping.
"I think it's your information network that's faulty," he muses, snapping his fingers together to call upon the majestic Gryphon and the stealthy Cheshire. "Andrei isn't completely there, if you know what I mean."
Synch shows how much the scientists that made him hated a sense of humor because he doesn't even twitch when their previous number one is insulted... quite deservingly so. Instead he takes out a chunk of evergreens that the Queen is fond of with one small arc of his sword; it's a good thing that he's already expecting Synch's power to be sound-related so he jumps without hesitation to a distance that won't be reached by the intense first strike.
Really, are all these groups dumb?
Alice Lutwidge is practically this kingdom's God. There's absolutely no way that they're involved with her death. On the other hand, the country she betrayed with an invention that was never meant to achieve anything... and then there's the person she betrayed by taking advantage of the love towards her...
He's sure of it: they are the only ones who had reasons to kill her, the only ones strong enough to have killed her.
After all, Alice Lutwidge is the original Alice.
*
Synch has certainly improved since the last time they clashed. But then again, that had been years ago and Synch has since then rose in the rankings as a Knight of Hassen. Now, all of his beloved pets are either deleted from this world or are gasping through their final minutes. It's been a long time since he fought with someone with that much age difference to him. He tends to forget that he's still just a child compared to the older corrupt politicians and the artificially-enhanced 'immortalized' soldiers.
With all seriousness, Synch straddles him, and places a mechanical hand around his neck.
Squeezes.
"I've always wanted to say something," he gasps helplessly, with focused half-lidded eyes of someone who's at the doorways of death. The older man nods; judging from the faint tremor of his lithe body and the glimmer of emotion in his robotic eyes, he obviously feels some spark of pity towards the child about to die.
And that's the only opening he needs.
Without the monster pets that have become his trademark, Synch thinks that he's defeated.
But he's wrong.
"I've always wanted to say," Fifth Alice says in a grandiose prelude, before he focuses his *real* power on the metal-alloy wrist holding him by his neck, "I'm not left-handed."
*
*
*
"This will cure you of your disease," Alice is cheerful, a burst of light in a room filled with morose adults and failed tests.
"...I'm not sick," he repeats slowly, because it's the truth. His father always tells him that there's something wrong with him, but it's not this disease, he's sure. He doesn't feel the weakness they're describing, doesn't feel the lose of control in his mental faculties. Linda always teases him about being an alien, but it's not this plague, he's sure. He doesn't feel any more powerful or any weaker than yesterday, or the day before.
Alice's smile is wide and Leonardo can't find a tint of lie there. His father and his mother and his sister all had the unpleasant tones of lying in their voices, but Alice doesn't have that. She wouldn't lie, would she? He's a member of the Torres family and she seems so nice. "Well, we'll see about that, won't we?"
"You're really soft with kids," a young man casually says as he walks up to Alice. His eyeglasses are shiny, almost eerily so. 'Thier', his identification card reads, hanging from about two meters away, written in small letters. How strange. Has his vision always been this good?
"Not really," Alice's voice is clouded by something that Leonardo can't pinpoint. It's as though she'd like to disagree with more choice phrases, but she's stopping herself. As though there's an instance where she's been anything but soft regarding kids. "So, what's your power, Leonardo?"
He will become an Alice if everything works out well. He's not sure whether he wants that or not-being an Alice means being a slave to the Queen with the awful laugh and even more awful eyes, but not being an Alice means being sent to participate as part of the Dragons with his sister.
He closes his eyes, focuses on generating the power brimming around his body ever since psychic matter became the only thing people can chatter about. He opens his eyes, a surge of pride in his chest when he sees a literal spark in front of him.
"It's electricity, Miss Alice."
*
[end]
☆ NEBULA - burst! five ☆
★ the little ghost ★
*
Despite the amount of details she pays to her appearance, she doesn't really care about the state of her apartment. It's not something she can call home, because her real home was destroyed ages ago, not by war, nor by soldiers, but by her own parents' ambitions.
She's working as part of the Dragons, a group that prides itself as leading an armed revolution intent to protect the United Alliance of Free States' goal of having a world without wars and ill intent. It's all bullshit, of course, because if anything, it's the Dragons that is at the root of all the world's troubles.
Linda has to admit that there's a certain charm in the idea-making a utopia where everyone can live past their differences, survive through the difficulties and trust to not turn their backs on each other-but the execution is flawed since the very beginning. In her mind, her father is the worst person to start an organization working for a paradise.
Luciano Torres is charismatic, true, but lying is the root of all charm and Luciano is the epitome of a lying bastard. She's not without her flaws, yes, but she has yet to find a man that is more twisted than Luciano-and she has met a lot of men. Sure they ended up dying, but that's the world for you.
She's been working as part of the Dragons for the past years of her life, but it's a good thing that she hasn't encountered her father or her brother ever since she joined. She's confident she can take her father head-on (with room for error due to his dirty tricks) but she's not really looking forward to receiving punishment and prison time for that. Plus, Ronaldo is attached to her father, so her father's death will cause Ronaldo to cry, and when Ronaldo cries tears of sadness, Cedric is there to make the culprits cry blood until they bleed to death.
Her brother is a different type of problem-he's definitely not as strong as Cedric, psychic power-wise, but people that are consumed with insanity cannot be measured that easily. News of Synch's death has reached their headquarters minutes after it happened and judging from the state of his alloy-strengthened armor, there's only one Alice capable of causing such damage. She's torn between feeling proud of her younger brother's strength and feeling fearful for her brother's grip on sanity.
He hasn't been a very stable person, even when they were young, after all.
*
Linda Torres-a world-renowned actress. Her songs have been the salvation of countless people plunged into despair; her presence has been the light through the hard times.
But Linda's life has always been enshrouded in darkness, trapped in heavy-curtained rooms because her body isn't strong enough to handle all the types of unidentified psychic matter, because she isn't like her brother who has an unparalleled talent when it comes to naturally controlling psychic matter.
She throws away all of her past belongings once she's accepted as part of the Dragons-throws away all but one.
She keeps the wall-sized family portrait, keeps it hidden in her bedroom.
It's the only thing left of her home.
*
*
*
Contrary to what anyone might think, to what Daisuke might say, she knew all along.
Knew all along when she received a single red rose in the middle of all the vibrant, extravagant bouquets from other patrons and admirers. Knew all along when she went to the address scribbled elegantly in the card that came with the red rose. Knew all along when she touched the red rose and felt its thorns-a flower that was popular in Middle Ancient History hundreds of years ago but completely extinct now.
"That's definitely a flashy way of getting my attention."
Only choice people knew about her interest in horticulture after all. Only choice people would expect her to immediately recognize a flower that shouldn't have existed in their era. Only choice people would have managed to slip something possessing sharp thorns to her room of thoroughly-inspected gifts.
"I'm glad that my gift has caught your attention, as simple as it might have been." Daisuke smiled then, in that careless way of his, in that disarming way of his. "It was a tough choice."
To anybody else, receiving a gift from the most sought-after bachelor Prince in the land is the highest compliment, worthy of a fainting spell or two. Yes, Linda felt faint then, but it was for an entirely different reason. She wasn't terribly close with Daisuke, but she could sense the bloodthirsty snake that curled around each and every smile he made.
"Oh? Care to tell me what your second option was?"
Knew all along that she would lose in their clash. Knew all along what was Daisuke's personality like. Knew all along how her intensive training wouldn't be enough to combat the true potential of something that was worthy of being a First Alice.
Daisuke's smile grew diamond-sharp.
"Oh, you know. It was either that or your mother's severed head."
Knew all along that she was losing each and every thread that connected her to her family. Knew all along that Daisuke never truly joked. Knew all along that her mother's head was sitting in a jar somewhere and her brother didn't know and their father didn't care.
"I wonder, how did you know I was one of the first-generation Alices?"
Knew all along.
"It's your lucky day today," Daisuke went on to a different topic then, as though he already got his answer just from twisting her head to the side painfully. "You get to be the first of our pawns!"
Knew all along that she would be taken away from the life she wanted to grasp in her hands the moment she let her brother go to the Alice Institute that failed to learn that creating people like Daisuke will never be a bright idea.
"...Welcome to Nebula, Linda."
She knew all along.
*
[end]
[Posts]: part one (burst!zero - burst!three) + part two (burst!four - burst!five)
❤ PG-13 ~ PG-15 - Mystery, General, Action, Fantasy?
❤ ...more flashbacks / backstories orz There's 2 (or 3?) more backstories to go, then it's the last segment (plus epilogue) ^^;; I still haven't gotten around to putting timestamps *hides*
❤ Feedback/comments = better than ice cream. Trufax :D :D :D
☆ NEBULA - burst! four ☆
★ the dark horse ★
*
It is fascinating, to see that different people would react vastly different from each other when asked with a simple request.
-Describe me.-
*
Second Alice will not be able to say anything substantial now, because his memories have been broken and pierced together and shattered once again, over and over that it's a miracle if he even remembered his own gender.
*
Third Alice and Fourth Alice have already started on their eternal journey to the underworld, gruesome deaths at the hands of a remorseless, soulless Second.
*
Sixth Alice was chosen a month after his arrival to the program and now she is too, dead.
*
Seventh Alice will surely have a lot of things to say about him-most of them curses, a few of them true. Seventh is one of the few who has witnessed the side that he keeps well-hidden and actually survive. (Not that she survived because of her own merits, it's more like he's tired of not having a playmate and she makes the most interesting reactions.)
She will make corrosive comments about how he's more of a snake than any other poisonous modified reptile in his collection; she will make sardonic statements regarding how his adorable boyish appearance is a huge bag of bastardly deception.
*
Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Alice arrived at the same time to the program-but only Ninth survives until now. He had such high hopes for the Eighth Alice who displayed an almost unholy light in his eyes when subjected to the sight of fires incinerating enemy territories to the ground.
Ninth is too much of a simple, brash person to actually suspect anything behind the smiling face that is front of him. If asked, Ninth will probably complain about the allergies he gets from his monster pets. Maybe get sidetracked a bit at how a young brat like him should respect his elders, even if he entered the Alice Program much earlier. But no, it will be completely off, despite Ninth's unmistakable insight when he befriended the ice-cold Second years ago.
*
Contrary to the other Alices who have lived their lives within the mountainous borders of what was once (in an era separated by a gap of hundreds of years) called 'North America', he experienced living in other places before being chosen as an Alice.
Even though he was only five when the fifth war broke out, he didn't experience much difficulty living during those times. His family is influential and well-known after all-his father is still considered a valuable military resource for his contributions in the fifth and sixth wars.
He has experienced living in what was once just an eroded area surrounded by oceans poisoned with chemicals that came from the earth itself. The Hassen Kingdom has only been on its weak beginnings then, with nobody strong enough to lead the abandoned people into building a home that will protect them not only from the encroaching enemies, but also from nature's wrath.
He was there when his father brought him along for a diplomatic talk. His older sister kept on teasing him about being sent to Hassen Kingdom as a diplomatic prisoner from their country, the current superpower. He didn't think his father would bother disposing of him in that wasteland, not because he believed in familial love, but because he didn't think he had enough value as a diplomatic tool. It was true, back then.
As an envoy from the Association of Aster-Aersburg, as representatives from a nation that had a fervent and noble wish uniting everyone to avoid the breakout of a seventh world war, they had special treatment then-the only ones with masks and suits to protect their bodies from the psychic matter's unknown radiation that are rumored to kill a person after a week of chronic exposure.
From the displeased smile of his father, he knew, even from back then, that a seventh war was already inevitable, because the Hassen Kingdom was already lying about the newly-discovered psychic matter. While it was true that chronic exposure weakened a person greatly, they didn't mention anything about gathering the anomalies-the ones who instead grew much stronger and more resilient after being exposed to the new particles.
It was then where he met-though, rather than a meeting, it was more of a literal crossing of paths-a person with an empowering aura. Unlike all the other civilians who looked haggard and desperate, unlike all the other civilians who were scrambling for the food rations, *he* was smiling in absolute boredom. That person was obviously older than him by a few years and he was obviously lacking in training with his newfound (not even his family knew...) power-but in that moment when they passed each other, it definitely showed: the inequality between their capabilities that couldn't be bridged by any amount of time or training.
Despite the overwhelming difference in their power, he felt a similar tug between the two of them. As though their cores were the same after all. The feeling passed quickly, but it was something that he continued to remember even as years wore down plundered land and built upon rising kingdoms.
That man, still adorned by the indescernibly bored smile, grew to become the face of the elite Hassen Knights.
*
In a move that surprised everyone that had half a mind to pay attention to the way the tides of power shifted and transferred, the Association of Aster-Aersburg joined the flimsy cooperative alliance of United Alliance of Free States. He was ten when it happened-he was ten and in the middle of his violin lessons when he heard of the news. His father was one of the main proponents of the alliance and there was no doubt that the UAFS had no choice but to accept the strongest and largest superpower in their alliance.
He was ten when he learned that he would be sent to the Kingdom of Wonderland as part of an advanced, scientific research disguised as an international treaty.
*
He was ten when he first met Alice.
Alice who was the face of scientific revolution with her unparalleled genius and creativity when it came to designing new methodologies and new inventions. Alice who was so popular that an entire project was named after her, even if it wasn't even her main project. Alice who was working to cure the plague caused by the newly-discovered psychic matter.
He was ten when he first met Alice.
*
They reassured him that there would be no negative side-effects, that there would be no troubles at all. They reassured him that the method to study the usage of the same corrupt psychic matter to remove the infection was tried and tested before. They reassured him that the first batches of experimental subjects were all stabilized and definitely alive.
-Until now, he doesn't know on who is-or who are-that pitiful First Alice.
*
It is fascinating, to see that different people would react vastly different from each other when asked with a simple request.
-Describe me.-
He asks this of every single person he invites to his lavish home that bears no signs of being an ornate prison.
*
As a noble from the Association of Aster-Aersburg and as the current-strongest Alice in the arsenal, the Kingdom of Wonderland can't dispose of him. His father and his sister and his mother might all be enemies of this kingdom, but that makes him all the more worthy of being a prisoner.
As the only person in the kingdom who has been exposed to every type of psychic matter out there, he's a valuable soldier. This is why nobody bothers to point out his eccentricities, why nobody dares to get in his way, why nobody braves to stop him in his quest.
*
He prefers to have his playthings (victims) killed in his own home, where they can gasp and writhe at the sight of the family portraits that encompasses the ceilings and enriches the walls of every single room in his family house, see the smiling politician that is his father, see the gentle features of the professor that is his mother, see the vibrant sparkle in the eyes of his sister that is an influential actress, see the terribly well-adjusted and picture-perfect family that is his.
(Even if they're all enemies from another kingdom far away.)
Where they can strain to find the difference between 'before' and 'after' in his smiles and find that there's no difference at all between the man smiling in all of the portraits and the man slitting their throats with violin strings.
*
He laughs at the absurdity of it all-when he sees the distinguishable navy-blue uniform of the Knights of Hassen. He spits at the '5' in the middle of his attacker's forehead, but since he's laughing too hard, he only hits the other's nose. He laughs even more when the Knight doesn't even flinch or blink at the saliva hitting him on his face.
"According to our acquired intelligence," Synch recites mechanically, brandishing a sword that's really just a tuning fork that can alter sound waves. "The culprit behind Alice Lutwidge's death is definitely you, Leonardo Torres!"
His smile vanishes, a direct reaction to hearing his name be called out after spending years of only listening to its symphony while he's sleeping.
"I think it's your information network that's faulty," he muses, snapping his fingers together to call upon the majestic Gryphon and the stealthy Cheshire. "Andrei isn't completely there, if you know what I mean."
Synch shows how much the scientists that made him hated a sense of humor because he doesn't even twitch when their previous number one is insulted... quite deservingly so. Instead he takes out a chunk of evergreens that the Queen is fond of with one small arc of his sword; it's a good thing that he's already expecting Synch's power to be sound-related so he jumps without hesitation to a distance that won't be reached by the intense first strike.
Really, are all these groups dumb?
Alice Lutwidge is practically this kingdom's God. There's absolutely no way that they're involved with her death. On the other hand, the country she betrayed with an invention that was never meant to achieve anything... and then there's the person she betrayed by taking advantage of the love towards her...
He's sure of it: they are the only ones who had reasons to kill her, the only ones strong enough to have killed her.
After all, Alice Lutwidge is the original Alice.
*
Synch has certainly improved since the last time they clashed. But then again, that had been years ago and Synch has since then rose in the rankings as a Knight of Hassen. Now, all of his beloved pets are either deleted from this world or are gasping through their final minutes. It's been a long time since he fought with someone with that much age difference to him. He tends to forget that he's still just a child compared to the older corrupt politicians and the artificially-enhanced 'immortalized' soldiers.
With all seriousness, Synch straddles him, and places a mechanical hand around his neck.
Squeezes.
"I've always wanted to say something," he gasps helplessly, with focused half-lidded eyes of someone who's at the doorways of death. The older man nods; judging from the faint tremor of his lithe body and the glimmer of emotion in his robotic eyes, he obviously feels some spark of pity towards the child about to die.
And that's the only opening he needs.
Without the monster pets that have become his trademark, Synch thinks that he's defeated.
But he's wrong.
"I've always wanted to say," Fifth Alice says in a grandiose prelude, before he focuses his *real* power on the metal-alloy wrist holding him by his neck, "I'm not left-handed."
*
*
*
"This will cure you of your disease," Alice is cheerful, a burst of light in a room filled with morose adults and failed tests.
"...I'm not sick," he repeats slowly, because it's the truth. His father always tells him that there's something wrong with him, but it's not this disease, he's sure. He doesn't feel the weakness they're describing, doesn't feel the lose of control in his mental faculties. Linda always teases him about being an alien, but it's not this plague, he's sure. He doesn't feel any more powerful or any weaker than yesterday, or the day before.
Alice's smile is wide and Leonardo can't find a tint of lie there. His father and his mother and his sister all had the unpleasant tones of lying in their voices, but Alice doesn't have that. She wouldn't lie, would she? He's a member of the Torres family and she seems so nice. "Well, we'll see about that, won't we?"
"You're really soft with kids," a young man casually says as he walks up to Alice. His eyeglasses are shiny, almost eerily so. 'Thier', his identification card reads, hanging from about two meters away, written in small letters. How strange. Has his vision always been this good?
"Not really," Alice's voice is clouded by something that Leonardo can't pinpoint. It's as though she'd like to disagree with more choice phrases, but she's stopping herself. As though there's an instance where she's been anything but soft regarding kids. "So, what's your power, Leonardo?"
He will become an Alice if everything works out well. He's not sure whether he wants that or not-being an Alice means being a slave to the Queen with the awful laugh and even more awful eyes, but not being an Alice means being sent to participate as part of the Dragons with his sister.
He closes his eyes, focuses on generating the power brimming around his body ever since psychic matter became the only thing people can chatter about. He opens his eyes, a surge of pride in his chest when he sees a literal spark in front of him.
"It's electricity, Miss Alice."
*
[end]
☆ NEBULA - burst! five ☆
★ the little ghost ★
*
Despite the amount of details she pays to her appearance, she doesn't really care about the state of her apartment. It's not something she can call home, because her real home was destroyed ages ago, not by war, nor by soldiers, but by her own parents' ambitions.
She's working as part of the Dragons, a group that prides itself as leading an armed revolution intent to protect the United Alliance of Free States' goal of having a world without wars and ill intent. It's all bullshit, of course, because if anything, it's the Dragons that is at the root of all the world's troubles.
Linda has to admit that there's a certain charm in the idea-making a utopia where everyone can live past their differences, survive through the difficulties and trust to not turn their backs on each other-but the execution is flawed since the very beginning. In her mind, her father is the worst person to start an organization working for a paradise.
Luciano Torres is charismatic, true, but lying is the root of all charm and Luciano is the epitome of a lying bastard. She's not without her flaws, yes, but she has yet to find a man that is more twisted than Luciano-and she has met a lot of men. Sure they ended up dying, but that's the world for you.
She's been working as part of the Dragons for the past years of her life, but it's a good thing that she hasn't encountered her father or her brother ever since she joined. She's confident she can take her father head-on (with room for error due to his dirty tricks) but she's not really looking forward to receiving punishment and prison time for that. Plus, Ronaldo is attached to her father, so her father's death will cause Ronaldo to cry, and when Ronaldo cries tears of sadness, Cedric is there to make the culprits cry blood until they bleed to death.
Her brother is a different type of problem-he's definitely not as strong as Cedric, psychic power-wise, but people that are consumed with insanity cannot be measured that easily. News of Synch's death has reached their headquarters minutes after it happened and judging from the state of his alloy-strengthened armor, there's only one Alice capable of causing such damage. She's torn between feeling proud of her younger brother's strength and feeling fearful for her brother's grip on sanity.
He hasn't been a very stable person, even when they were young, after all.
*
Linda Torres-a world-renowned actress. Her songs have been the salvation of countless people plunged into despair; her presence has been the light through the hard times.
But Linda's life has always been enshrouded in darkness, trapped in heavy-curtained rooms because her body isn't strong enough to handle all the types of unidentified psychic matter, because she isn't like her brother who has an unparalleled talent when it comes to naturally controlling psychic matter.
She throws away all of her past belongings once she's accepted as part of the Dragons-throws away all but one.
She keeps the wall-sized family portrait, keeps it hidden in her bedroom.
It's the only thing left of her home.
*
*
*
Contrary to what anyone might think, to what Daisuke might say, she knew all along.
Knew all along when she received a single red rose in the middle of all the vibrant, extravagant bouquets from other patrons and admirers. Knew all along when she went to the address scribbled elegantly in the card that came with the red rose. Knew all along when she touched the red rose and felt its thorns-a flower that was popular in Middle Ancient History hundreds of years ago but completely extinct now.
"That's definitely a flashy way of getting my attention."
Only choice people knew about her interest in horticulture after all. Only choice people would expect her to immediately recognize a flower that shouldn't have existed in their era. Only choice people would have managed to slip something possessing sharp thorns to her room of thoroughly-inspected gifts.
"I'm glad that my gift has caught your attention, as simple as it might have been." Daisuke smiled then, in that careless way of his, in that disarming way of his. "It was a tough choice."
To anybody else, receiving a gift from the most sought-after bachelor Prince in the land is the highest compliment, worthy of a fainting spell or two. Yes, Linda felt faint then, but it was for an entirely different reason. She wasn't terribly close with Daisuke, but she could sense the bloodthirsty snake that curled around each and every smile he made.
"Oh? Care to tell me what your second option was?"
Knew all along that she would lose in their clash. Knew all along what was Daisuke's personality like. Knew all along how her intensive training wouldn't be enough to combat the true potential of something that was worthy of being a First Alice.
Daisuke's smile grew diamond-sharp.
"Oh, you know. It was either that or your mother's severed head."
Knew all along that she was losing each and every thread that connected her to her family. Knew all along that Daisuke never truly joked. Knew all along that her mother's head was sitting in a jar somewhere and her brother didn't know and their father didn't care.
"I wonder, how did you know I was one of the first-generation Alices?"
Knew all along.
"It's your lucky day today," Daisuke went on to a different topic then, as though he already got his answer just from twisting her head to the side painfully. "You get to be the first of our pawns!"
Knew all along that she would be taken away from the life she wanted to grasp in her hands the moment she let her brother go to the Alice Institute that failed to learn that creating people like Daisuke will never be a bright idea.
"...Welcome to Nebula, Linda."
She knew all along.
*
[end]
[Posts]: part one (burst!zero - burst!three) + part two (burst!four - burst!five)