Back In The Game

It was incredibly windy today, even up in the League. It was quite unusual to her. Was someone screwing with weather patterns again?

She couldn’t even do half of her normal welcoming speech for the League because her hair kept flying into her face. Maybe it was time to cut it though, it was getting a bit long for her liking.

She had finished her training for the day, plopping down on her bed so she could take a rest. She had grown out her hair again, and it was all fluffed out underneath her.

His gaze softened slightly as he leaned against the door frame, arms crossing over his chest. “You don’t… it’s not our fault that happened Rebecca. It was an accident. No one could have predicted what happened.”

That Kai existed… And Tomoe…

“… Have you talked to X?” It felt a bit… awkward to bring him up, almost as if he was shifting the responsibility onto the other, but there was no denying that Rebecca was closer to him than she was to Zero. If there was anyone she would go to about something as troubling as this, it would be him.

“It f-feels like I sh-should have-”

She cut herself off, not really able to continue talking as she choked on a sob before shaking her head. She hadn’t talked to X yet, she had been chugging along just fine until now, and she knew that X would say it wasn’t her fault.

“I h-haven’t.”

Her voice cracked a bit painfully there and she coughed to recalibrate before continuing.

Zero held a hand up, giving the universal signal for Rebecca to slow down and stop. She was winding herself up and working herself into a frenzy and, in the same breath, she was digging herself into a hole that she didn’t belong him. An unnecessary one. And she needed to stop.

“You went after your sister after getting permission from X to do so. You followed the precautions that he told you to, precautions that saved your life. You fell into a trap, yes, one set by someone far stronger than even me and one that both myself and X probably would’ve fallen for. You kept your head and kept it together to be able to grab your brother’s body and run instead of actually doing something stupid like sticking around and trying to help.” 

Zero paused, giving a long moment to allow his words to sink in before continuing. “So tell me, what am I missing. What did you do that makes you stupid?” 

Rebecca pushed back her bangs, trying to keep tears out of her eyes.

“I... I guess I’m blaming myself. You got hurt, and Aerin d-died-”

She choked on her words, rubbing at her eyes to get rid of forming tears. She looked at the floor, her efforts to get rid of the tears in vain.

“I can s-still see what happened, I don’t know what to do-”

“You need to do more than just sleep. Actually take a rest, do something you enjoy. Like, uh- you like playing the violin, right?” Pushing Rebecca probably wasn’t the best idea, but she needed the time off. Aerin knew very well that overworking oneself will only end badly.

He’s done it.

The initial response to her question was a quiet sigh as he shook his head. “I won’t lie to you, I feel like a completely different person.” 

Even if she was attempting to change the subject, he wasn’t just going to ignore the fact that she was concerned. It was nice, honestly. He didn’t think she cared. 

“But that’s to be expected. Anyway, I’m making you take more breaks. Starting now.”

“I only know so many songs though.”

But training was enjoyable for her, she refrained from saying. She quietly listened to him though and turned around to look at him at that last part.

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

But then she looked a bit confused. Starting now? Wait, what?

“Eh? I, uh-”

She didn’t want to make excuses as to why she couldn’t. That would be rude. So she nodded instead.

So that was what was on her mind. At least he knew what her thought process was so he could judge it accurately. He sighed and shook his head. The grip he had on her wrist loosening before letting go completely. 

“You won’t get anywhere overworking yourself.”

It was a simple answer. The only one he could really think of for the time being. 

“I take breaks to sleep.”

That was enough, right? Not that she slept much these days, considering she had a nightmare every time she slept. Though it hadn’t stopped her from going right back to sleep after jolting up.

Her arm hung by her side now, and she didn’t seem to be making any more movements to walk away.

Did he need anything else? She absently wondered that to herself. She would have asked if Aerin was okay, but she knew X wouldn’t have let him out of the med bay if he wasn’t 100% repaired and rebuilt.

But then again... Maybe it wouldn’t hurt just to be sure.

So she was looking for Tomoe. Zero frowned a little at that - not at the reason, but at the memory of what they had all learned from the encounter. Kai, the name of the individual who wore X’s face, had Tomoe with him… and it was clear that it wasn’t again her will, either. There had been no way to perform any sort of viral scan, but Zero was more than willing to bet that she was infected now. Likely he had infected her… though that didn’t make it any better.

And with Doppler’s activity growing more erratic…

“Alright, so I’m guessing there’s something else you’re not telling then, because I’m not getting what you’re getting at. You got a signal from your missing sister, you told X about it, he gave you the okay to go after her. What part of that was stupid?” Zero arched a brow as he leaned against her door frame, brows arching as he waited for her reply.

“I was stupid enough to get captured, and you and Aerin got hurt. I-I know that’s a risk of being a Hunter but- I couldn’t do anything but run- I...”

It was clear that she blamed herself. Rebecca rubbed at her face a bit. No crying, not now. Not when she had been holding herself together just fine all this time.

His smile felt a bit forced now, though it wasn’t really any fault of Rebecca’s. It just felt like… a lot? A lot that he was now suddenly in charge of that he hadn’t even been aware of.

Xav had been sad and now he wasn’t and it was because of Zach. Which meant that he, one Zach Wily, son of an abusive father and parent to a brother that he had barely managed to raise without a police record, was supposed to keep someone else happy. Zach Wily, the military disgrace who had been discharged after suffering ‘violent emotional trauma’ from just a little thing like having his leg blown off and being pinned out in the field for days, bodies of his (dead) comrades lying next to him, and all he could do was-

“Can I braid your hair one day?”

The small and innocent question had Zach blinking as he snapped back to the here and now. “Uh… maybe.” Making promises that he knew he couldn’t keep was something he wasn’t a fan of, and he wasn’t sure he would ever be seeing Rebecca.

This was. This was just too much. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t something that he could handle. Xav needed someone… different. Better. Stable.

“I, uh… I think I need to go.” Zach nodded as he straightened. “Just tell your dad that it was… nice meeting you.” Xav was still getting something ready upstairs, but Zach had no intention of sticking around long enough to find out what.

There was a faint clunking on the stairs in the background, and someone coming down the stairs.

Rebecca squinted up at Zach before wobbling and squeaking when her Dad patted her head from behind her. She hadn’t heard him approach, but she had been concentrating on listening to Zach.

“...?”

Xav crouched down and ruffled his daughter’s hair before speaking.

“Go on upstairs and play for a bit, okay? Be careful on the stairs.”

He stood up properly and gave Zach a small smile as Rebecca nodded and walked away, wobbling occasionally.

She’s still quite shaken by her experience with getting captured and nearly losing two of her family, but she did her best to power through it.

On the way to the boss room, she slowly gained her fighting confidence back, though not all the way. She was much quieter than she had ever been before the incident, and a bit shaky. She didn’t want to let it interfere with her duties though, and so she charged through them.

When Zero went in, she kept an eye out for any Mavericks who wanted to sneak up behind him, and blasted them to bits if any one of them tried getting close to the door.

He wasn’t one for pity and that wasn’t what he was about to offer her now. Instead Zero found himself just nodding as he watched the way Rebecca lowered her head as she looked away from him. The flinch hadn’t been missed either.

A slight hum was his response as one shoulder shrugged. “… what were you doing out there in the first place?” Rebecca wasn’t a hunter. Aside from being too young to qualify as one, she still was working on the skill necessary to even be able to be ranked as one. 

“Where you looking for something?” Zero didn’t want to risk leading Rebecca into any specific response, so his question was left at that.

“I got a signal from T-Tomoe. I asked Dad about it and he-”

She rubbed at her arm to give herself a bit of time to gather her thoughts.

“He told me I could look for her only if I used my signal if I needed backup. I logged the signal I got from her before I left. I-It should still be in the database.”

Okay, fuck what she wanted. This entire situation was unacceptable, and he needed to do something, anything. Once Rebecca had left the room, Aerin quickly stood and ran after her. Upon catching up to her, he took a tight hold of her (right) wrist and kept her in place. Or well, attempted to without possibly hurting her.

He was holding on rather tightly..

“I know I said you can walk away if you wanted, but fuck that noise. I’m not letting you continue to run from me. I’m your damn brother for god’s sake!”

He was infuriated. Whether it be with her or himself, he wasn’t entirely sure at this point. But this needed to stop. From the very beginning, she’d avoided him. Sure, they’ve had their talks here and there, but it was all very short lived. That wasn’t how siblings were supposed to be..

“I’m sorry for being an asshole, but you’ve gotta step up. Don’t think I’m saying all of this because I hate you or something like that, I’m telling you this because I care.” A sigh. “I know I’m not showing that very well..”

Her hands were shaking. She hadn’t expected Aerin to actually come after her and stop her. That had stopped her in her tracks though.

She didn’t understand. Didn’t he hate her? Why did he want to stop her?

“I thought I was stepping up by putting my all into training. That way this could never happen again. I’m not locking myself in my room like a crybaby again, so I’m not avoiding anything. I don’t understand why wanting to improve is considered ‘running away’ or a bad thing. Maybe I’m stupid, but I just don’t understand.”

She never wanted to see Aerin die like that again. Or her Papa being hurt like that again. Or that there had been nothing she could do to help at all.

She looked up at the ceiling, not looking at her brother at all.

“So now you’re running away from the problem? What kind of Maverick hunter does that?”

It was true, he was taunting her at this point. And it wasn’t right, but he wanted - needed to get this off of his chest. All he’d seen from Rebecca was either her attempting to be far too strict, or running when she’s scared. While he can understand fear, this was inexcusable. 

He turned to face Rebecca as she was walking out, his arms crossed.

“You can walk away all you want, but it isn’t gonna change the fact that you’re a coward.”

She had paused on the way to the door to quietly speak in response.

“Then consider me a coward. Think whatever you want. You have a right to do so.”

She didn’t understand what seemed to be so damn bad about wanting to improve herself to help others. She just didn’t have the mental energy to bother with this right now, and Aerin acting like that simply decreased her energy.

Something twisted in her stomach area, but she had said what she had come here to say. If Aerin wanted to taunt her, then fine. He could think whatever he wanted, and he had a right to hate her right now.

After all, she had gotten him killed by being stupid enough to get captured. Every nightmare she had since then dug that right into her processor to the point where it was embedded. Aerin’s and Zero’s blood splattered everywhere, across her face it was everywhere get it off she was so stupid-

Shadow smiled sadly as he watched her go. It was an unfair trick he was playing on her, as he had no intention of going after her.

As Rebecca took her time to get settled, the robot master waited to ensure that no one was watching before stepping back into one of his own shadow portals. It swallowed him up, taking him into the distorted realm that would lead him along the shortened path to the fortress that Kai (and Tomoe) lived in.

He wouldn’t find Rebecca… but she wouldn’t find him again, either.

It took a good fifteen minutes for Rebecca to stop being excited about getting tested by an actual ninja.

It took another fifteen minutes before she realized that he wasn’t coming to find her at all.

She jumped down from the shelf and peeked out from the closet, wondering what was going on.

The hallway was empty. There didn’t seem to be a single trace of Shadow anywhere.

It took her a good moment of staring before embarrassment burned in her cheeks, and then it turned into and anger before she stomped off to the VR room to blow off steam. He could have just told her to go away! He hadn’t needed to trick her!