He tumbled along the hard durasteel surface. His bones jarred from each impact. A sharp pain in his left shoulder caused him to see white. When his vision returned, it was to find himself lying on the ground and Nyx descending from the sky like an arrow, her sword pointed straight at him.
This is just not my day, Alex thought as Nyx thrust her sword at his head.
1
Gabrielle pouted as she sat on Alex’s bed, waiting for the young man in question to return. As per the usual, she had snuck into his room later that night to get in bed with him.
She wished she didn’t have to sneak into his bed. They were getting married, so sleeping together should have been natural. However, Alex still thought she was just using him to keep from being married off. She didn’t think just telling him that she loved him would help. He’d probably just assume she was saying that for the sake of keeping up appearances.
Really, she loved him, but Alex was a very frustrating individual.
The biggest problem was that as long as he thought this way, there wasn’t much that she could do other than keep making her attempts to claim his heart.
Not that it mattered right then, since Alex was not in bed.
Gabrielle stared around at the empty room, wondering where Alex could have gone. She knew that Nyx had taken him somewhere to talk, but they should have been back by now. Had they simply gotten lost in conversation, or was what they had to talk about something serious? Perhaps they were in trouble?
Standing up, Gabrielle threw on some clothes and walked out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and to the entrance. She put her shoes on, and then exited the residence. After shutting the door behind her, she turned around and silently ran into the street.
She didn’t think Alex and her new friend were in trouble, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
“I know! I can use Mr. Sniff-Sniff Tracer!”
Mr. Sniff-Sniff Tracer only reached to about knee height. Composed of gleaming metal, with bright yellow eyes, flapping ears, and a happily wagging tail, the invention looked like a very small dog. It even barked like one.
She knelt before the inventions and patted its head. “I need you to find Alex. You already have his scent, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”
Bark!
A loud bark, which Gabrielle took as an affirmation of her command, emitted from the speaker system in its muzzle. Sniffing noises came next as the robotic creature lowered its metallic snout to the ground and tried to pick up Alex’s scent.
With another bark, the dog ran back the way Gabrielle came, up to the house.
“Huh? He’s somewhere inside of the house?”
Gabrielle quickly followed Mr. Sniff-Sniff Tracer into the house and back up the stairs. She burst into Alex’s room several seconds after the scent tracking robot went inside.
“Alex!”
Her bright, sparkling eyes quickly faded as she realized that Alex was not, in fact, present inside of the room. What’s more, Mr. Sniff-Sniff Tracer had not found Alex, but his clothes, and was currently nuzzling its nose against her future husband’s boxers.
Gabrielle’s cheeks swelled up as she shouted. “That isn’t Alex! That’s his underwear!”
2
Alex rolled across the ground, just barely evading Nyx, who plunged her sword into the durasteel bridge, slicing through it like she was wielding a high-intensity laser. She didn’t stop there. As her knees bent to absorb the shock of impact, she pulled several bands from her wrists. They transformed into tendrils with razor-sharp points that flew at him with the obvious intent to kill.
Scrambling to his feet, Alex did everything he could to dodge her attacks. He avoided the one coming at his head by sidestepping to the left. Two more appeared on either side, set to spear him through the torso, which he jumped over to avoid. As he landed back on the ground, he caught the one that attempted to impale him from the front, causing his feet to skid along the durasteel surface. Two more spears came at him from behind, and one tried to pierce him from above.
Alex counted to exactly three seconds, then threw himself backwards before the two spears at his back converged, avoiding certain death—or so he assumed.
He yelped loudly when pain flared like a sharp needle in his left leg. He looked down. The spear that had been coming in from above had impaled his leg all the through, biting into the bridge’s surface. Grimacing as blood ran along the spear, he realized that Nyx must have changed its trajectory during his maneuvering.
So she can control their movements as well? What kind of power is this?!
He groaned when the spear-like tendril was pulled out of his thigh. Warm blood spurt from the wound, showing that she might have nicked a vein. Crimson ran down his leg, staining his suit.
Nyx came at him again, rushing forward, her center of gravity lowered as she moved in for the kill. He shunted aside the pain in his thigh. Spreading his feet shoulder-width apart, Alex readied himself for her next attack.
It was just as she reached what could have been considered the halfway point that something happened. Nyx stumbled. Alex didn’t allow his surprise at her sudden clumsiness to stop him from closing the distance. He rushed forward and snapped off a powerful reverse heel kick. His attack hit, but instead of hearing the sound of his boot hitting flesh, it was the sound of his boot slamming into metal.
His leg reverberated with painful intensity. Nyx skidded backwards for nearly five meters due to his enhanced strength. Alex looked up as something spun through the air. It was one of her armbands, currently transformed into a large metal shield. It flew over the side of the bridge, disappearing before a soft splash echoed up to them.
So she can also create defensive objects? Does this power of hers have no limitations? I still can’t figure out what kind of power it is either. It’s not energy conversion. It’s almost like she’s transforming the materials on an isotopic level. What sort of power allows for that?
Alex knew that he was in trouble. If he couldn’t figure out how her power worked, then he couldn’t come up with a counter, and if he couldn’t come up with a counter, he was as good as dead.
“Why don’t you use my power?” Voice Number One whispered seductively. “With my power, you could easily destroy this little girl.”
I refuse.
Alex buried the voice underneath layers of will power. He couldn’t use his powers against Nyx. His goal wasn’t to destroy her, but to defeat her without causing harm.
The last time he used his powers, he had lost control and nearly hurt Gabrielle. Neither this strange red power that came from Voice Number One, nor his angelisian aura would be used here.
Nyx stared at him with apathetic eyes as, slowly, she pulled another armband off her wrist. The armband morphed into a spear, which attacked him, flying forward like an extendable staff. He moved out of the way, but then Nyx grabbed more bands and transformed them as well. There were ten in total.
Alex could barely dodge the attacks as they came. The elongated strands of ebony attacked him from all directions, forcing Alex to throw himself headlong into a run straight for Nyx. If he could just get in close and force his way through her guard, then maybe he could turn this battle around.
It wasn’t to be. Alex soon discovered that Nyx was an amazing close-range fighter. Her lithe body possessed an agility and dexterity that he couldn’t match. He threw punches and kicks with reckless abandon, but none of his attacks could hit her.
What’s more, Alex soon learned that those bands were not the extent of what she could transform. He had assumed that she was using them because they held some kind of technology, perhaps a compound that used oscillation technology to change shape and density to mimic various levels of hardness. However, after kicking the armbands out of her hands, he realized that her entire body was capable of transforming into a weapon.
The fingernails of her left hand morphed into a set of long, sharp claws that nearly sliced his chest open. They could have, too, if he hadn’t moved back
in time. Even then, his crisis suit was still ripped apart, leaving four long slash marks along his chest and drawing a thin trail of blood.
She followed her attack up by turning her left boot into a ball and chain, which she raised into the air, and then swung down. Alex rolled out of the way, and the spiked ball crashed into the ground, denting and perforating the bridge floor.
“Ha… damn… this girl is…”
Now that he was at a distance, Nyx transformed her body back to normal, pulled out more armbands, five for each hand, and used them to attack.
The spear-like tendrils attacked him from every direction and angle. Sweat trickled down his brow as he moved in seemingly random and spastic motions. It was all he could do to avoid being skewered.
The tendrils stalled suddenly, halting as if an invisible force had stopped it. Nyx grimaced as the tendrils quivered.
It was only for a second, but Alex didn’t hesitate to rush forward. He reached Nyx in a few short seconds and tried for a straight jab at her face, which his pretty foe avoided by leaning backwards.
Before he knew what was happening, all of the air was knocked from his lungs as something slammed into his back with the fury of an entire fleet of warships.
Alex hit the ground face first, skidding along before coming to a stop. He slowly clambered to his feet and glanced around, holding a hand to his nose, the skin of which had peeled right off.
He’d ended up on the other side of the bridge. Grimacing, he turned around and leaned against the railing. A glance down revealed the long drop to the waters below.
He looked back up to see Nyx coming in hot. He ducked under her attempted slash, which would have sliced his head clean off. Then he launched himself forward, body-checking the pretty assassin.
Because his crisis suit was still functioning, Alex’s maneuver sent Nyx flying backwards like a rocket. While soaring through the air, she flipped around with an acrobat’s grace. Her feet touched down on one of several steel girders, knees bending as she used the kinetic energy from his push to launch herself at him again.
As she flew through the air, the armbands that she held between her fingers shifted into a liquid consistency, then shot forward, curving toward him.
Alex dodged them, but he soon realized that they weren’t there to actually hurt him, but rather, the ebony strands were there to hem him in, to trap him. They latched onto the railing on all sides, keeping him from moving.
Alex made one last desperate move, an attempt to at least mitigating his injury to something that wouldn’t have him bleeding out in seconds. He waited until Nyx thrust her blade out to stab him, sidestepping to the left and taking a single step forward.
Searing hot pain lanced up his side. He looked down to see Nyx’s sword piercing his shoulder. He stared at it, blinking, as if not quite comprehending what had happened to him. As blood welled up in his lungs, some of which leaked down his mouth, he looked up.
Nyx was staring back at him. Her face was expressionless, eyes more soulless than a doll’s—and yet, there was water gathering in her eyes, tears of liquid silver that slowly ran down her pale cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Alex smiled, even as more blood dribbled down his mouth. “It… it’s okay.”
Nyx yanked her sword from his shoulder. After she flicked the blood off, it transformed back into an armband, which she attached to her wrist.
More blood poured from his wound. He pressed a hand to it as if to stem the bleeding. However, that was like trying to turn off a broken faucet.
Nyx took a step back as he crumbled to the ground, his body feeling heavy. The pretty assassin continued to stare at him as his vision grew dim.
“ALEX!” a shout penetrated the haze of his mind.
Nyx’s head snapped up. Alex thought he saw her eyes widen, but he couldn’t be sure as, barely a second later, she soared into the air with a mighty flap of her wings and disappeared from sight.
“Alex! Alex!”
Another face filled his vision, the face of Gabrielle, the beautiful princess who lived with him. Her teary green eyes stared at him, and her lips twisted into a look of open-mouthed horror.
“Hey… Gabby…”
“W-what happened to you? You’re hurt! You’re bleeding!”
“Yeah…”
“H-hold a second! I’ll get you to the hospital.” Gabrielle lifted him into her arms. He almost felt like a bride. The thought should have been humiliating, but all he could think about was how funny it was.
He was beginning to feel sleepy. He really should get some rest. Yes, sleep sounded really nice right now.
The last thing Alex saw were tears spilling down Gabrielle’s face.
3
Alex woke up slowly, groggily, as if he’d been stuck in a vacuum and his mind had slowed due to oxygen deprivation.
He was lying on a hospital bed. The scent of antiseptics penetrated his nose, sharp and acidic. A white ceiling greeted him. The hum of machinery echoed around him, and the cords attached to his arms told him that his vitals were being monitored.
As his body kick-started awake, Alex became conscious of how sore he was. While he didn’t feel any pain, his chest ached, and his limbs felt heavy. Even so, it was more like the dull remnants of something that had already happened, a phantom pain from previous wounds.
They must have me on some kind of anesthesia.
Gentle murmurs and the feel of something grabbing his hand caused Alex to look down. Gabrielle was sitting on a chair by his bed, sleeping peacefully with her head resting against the sheets. Her face was turned toward him, so he could see the thin line that had become her lips. She was clutching his hand like a lifeline.
Her eyes were rimmed with red, signs that she had been crying. Guilt slammed into his gut with the force of dreadnaught, but he quelled it quickly. While he didn’t enjoy seeing the people that he cared about hurt, he couldn’t be blamed for what happened with Nyx.
Nyx… she had been crying when she stabbed him. Alex wondered if that meant that she truly hadn’t wanted to kill him, just as she said. Considering how brutal their fight had been, the swift and furious assault unleashed upon him, it was hard to believe that she felt remorse for what she’d done, but still…
… she had been crying.
Alex reached over with his free hand and tenderly ran his fingers through Gabrielle’s silver locks of hair. He marveled at the softness of each strand, which his fingers glided through like water. The alien princess murmured something incomprehensible. Then she nuzzled into his hand, the actions reminiscent of a cat seeking attention from its owner.
A soft groan escaped Gabrielle’s parted lips. The girl stirred, eyes fluttering open. Alex smiled as she sat up, blinking several times as her head turned this way and that, studying her surroundings.
Their eyes met.
“Morning, Gabby.”
“Alex…?” she mumbled, her face tearing up seconds later. Startled, Alex was about to ask if she was okay, but then she lunged at him. “Alex!”
If he hadn’t been expecting it, Alex would have probably had the wind knocked out of him. Gabrielle slammed into him like a freighter traveling at the speed of light. Strong yet delicate arms wrapped tightly around him in a hug that made his body groan in complaint. He was still injured, after all, and her hug was making his ribs creak ominously.
He ignored the feeling and focused on returning the hug as best he could. The warmth of her body calmed him. Her natural scent pervaded his nose, making him sigh as he relaxed, burying his face into her hair. It made him slightly ashamed, but he wished this moment could last forever.
“I’m so glad… I’m so glad you’re alright,” Gabrielle whispered against his tear-stained chest. He could feel the wetness from her tears expanding as his hospital gown soaked up the waterworks like a sponge. “I was so worried about you. I—they said that you almost didn’t make it.”
Alex had never seen Gabrielle so distraught before.
Then again, he’d never been stabbed before either, so maybe that explained things. Either way, this was the first time he’d seen this side of Gabrielle, and he quickly decided that he didn’t enjoy seeing her like this. It was worse than how she’d been after their tiff when he learned that she had run away from home.
“I’m sorry for worrying you, but it’s okay. I’m alright now.”
He placed a hand on her head and rubbed it. She didn’t seem to notice as she continued bawling into his chest.
I wonder if it’s wrong that a small part of me feels happy about this?
He felt an undeniable undercurrent of shame at knowing that Gabrielle’s tears were because of him. At the same time, he also felt pleased because she was crying for him. It was a strange dichotomy.
Even though she was using him for her own purposes, even though her only reason for being with him was to avoid getting married off, she still cried for him. She still cared about him.
Maybe it was wrong to feel good about that, but he couldn’t help it. The feeling spread through his body quicker than his nerves being jolted after sticking his finger into an outlet. It was also infinitely more pleasant, even if the good feelings came with guilt.
“I thought I had lost you…”
“Heh, what are you talking about? There’s no way you could lose me. I promised to protect you from all those marriage candidates, didn’t I? How am I supposed to do that if I up and die on you?”
“I guess you have a point.”
After her tears dried up, Gabrielle straightened in her seat, gingerly wiping her eyes of any errant liquid. She then presented him with a tremulous smile. Alex could tell that one wrong move would cause the waterworks to start all over again.
“So, uh, I don’t really know how to ask this delicately, but what happened after I got stabbed?”
Gabrielle flinched at the blasé way he mentioned getting stabbed, as if having something sharp and pointy shoved through his shoulder meant nothing to him.
“After I found you lying on that bridge, you passed out from losing too much blood. I managed to help you by forcing you to eat some angelisian blood pills, which helps to promote red blood cell regeneration. They worked, but all that did was make you bleed more.”
A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol 4 Page 13