Annelise sat by herself, hugging her knees. Her hands and knees were covered in blood, and her face was streaked with tears and mascara. The hospital was rather empty, and only a few people remained in the echoing hallways.
She heard shuffling footsteps, and looked up to see a small child standing there, looking at her curiously. Her heart melted; the poor child had massive scars on her head. She had an adorable face but the absence of any hair made her seem alien.
"What's the matter? Are you hurt?" the child asked.
Annelise smiled weakly, putting her hand on the child's shoulder. "No, I'm alright. I just saved a life. My friend was shot" she said.
"Can I sit with you? You look lonely" the little girl said.
"Great. I'd love to have someone to talk to" Annelise said, her smile brightening.
"Why was your friend shot? Was she in a fight?" the little girl asked curiously.
"No. We're police officers from Tokyo, on Earth. And she just got caught up in a fight. She'll be okay" Annelise said, "What's your name? Why are you here?"
"My name is Aishu, and I'm here because I had something wrong with my brain... what's your name?" the girl asked.
"I'm Annelise. It's so nice to meet you, Aishu" Annelise said.
"It's nice to meet you, Annelise" Aishu smiled back at her.
The door Annelise sat across from opened, and the nurse popped her hair out. "Annelise, you can come in now" she said.
"D'you wanna meet my friend?" Annelise whispered to Aishu.
"Yes!" Aishu whispered back, grinning.
"Can I bring a friend?" Annelise asked the nurse.
The nurse smiled, "Of course"
Destiny kept her eyes closed, though she had just woken up. The pain was barely a dull throb now, but it was still there. She put her hand on the wound, and the pain flared up again. "Ah...!" she winced, biting her lip.
The pain receeded, and she relaxed. "I'm alive..." she thought happily. She heard one normal set of footsteps and one shuffling set, and a small gasp.
"That's your friend?" a young voice asked.
"Yes. Stupid idiot" Annelise's voice.
The little voice giggled, much closer to Destiny now. "Is she alive?" the voice asked.
"Yep, she's alive. But barely. She'll be okay later, though" Annelise said.
The person who the voice belonged to poked Destiny's shoulder.
Destiny opened her eyes, and turned her head.
The owner of the voice was a small girl who had had brain surgery. "Hello! I'm Aishu!" the little said happily.
"Hello...I'm Destiny" Destiny said, smiling slightly.
"I thought you were stupid idiot" Aishu giggled.
Destiny frowned slightly, though both Aishu and Annelise could see through the false attitude. "Don't make me hurt you, Aishu" Destiny said.
"So, d'you think you'll live, Destiny?" Annelise asked, walking over.
"Oh, I don't know. Your incompotence has cost me dearly" Destiny moaned in mock-agony.
"Shut up. I'm the only reason you're alive" Annelise said shortly, crossing her arms.
Destiny looked at her, and saw in her eyes that she was hurt. "I'm sorry, Annelise. I didn't mean it. I truely am grateful" Destiny said, taking Annelise's hands.
Annelise smiled, "I'm so glad you're alive"
"Without you, I wouldn't be"
*
Tanoshii sat by himself once again. The experience of Zola's death was rather traumatic for him. He sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by the large bloodstain that covered most of the floor. He felt so alone again. Zola had been his only friend; his only real reason for living lately.
He knew he'd never get out, and would never see Destiny again. But now that Zola was gone; that just confirmed it for him. She was the one who had told him that she'd get him to see Destiny again, and now that she was dead, there wasn't much point in hoping anymore.
"I just wish I could see your pretty face again, Des. And to tell you that I love you. And I'll miss you" he thought, falling over sideways and promptly falling asleep.
Sora and the girl who was supposedly Abunai recieved word from the only escaped soldier when he returned to Earth. "Where is everyone else?" Sora asked, when he showed up by himself.
"Y'see...Destiny took them all out. And the police caught the ones who were alive. I made it out, but I shot Destiny before that" he explained.
The girl smiled, "And you killed her, right?" she asked.
The soldier blushed, "Not...not exactly..."
"WHAT?!" she shrieked, looking completely livid, "You shot her but she didn't DIE?!"
"I...I truely am regretting it, Miss. And I promise I'll do better. Just give me a chance. I've never gotten anything else wrong" he said, trying to convince her not to kill him.
She sighed, rolling her eyes, "Fine. Go back to Mars. Don't let her get out of that hospital"
"Yes ma'am" he said, bowing politely before backing out.
"Oh, and Takashi?" she said, before he left.
"Yes?" he asked, looking back at her.
"Do it discreetly. Don't give yourself a chance to get caught" she said.
*
Destiny stayed with Aishu when Annelise had to leave for the day. She learned all about Aishu's condition, and was sad when she learned that it was permanent. Though she knew, Aishu didn't seem troubled about it at all.
"Oh no. I shouldn't be worried about something that will happen anyways. I mean; everyone is eventually going to die. I'll just leave a little sooner than the rest of them" Aishu said airily, after she told Destiny.
"Yeah, I guess you're right" Destiny nodded, "that's a good philosophy"
Aishu smiled, "My mom always says I have a positive outlook" she said.
Destiny smiled back at her, "You most certainly do"
The door to Aishu's room opened, and the nurse walked in. "Alright Destiny, time to get back. You need to rest" she said, motioning to the door.
"Okay. See you later, Aishu" Destiny grinned, before standing up carefully and following the nurse back to her room. "But why so early? I've been here for a few days and I've been able to stay longer before" Destiny said, as they walked.
"I know, dear. But even though you don't show it, we know you're in pain" the nurse began.
Destiny barely nodded. She knew it was true, but she didn't want to admit it. Every movement brought a new stab of pain to her side.
"So we're giving you an IV. Just pain killers" the nurse said, shrugging.
Destiny shuddered, "I hate IVs. And pain killers" she said, frowning.
Destiny fell asleep soon after. That's when Takashi, the soldier, made his move.
Without being noticed he made it to her room, and walked over to her quietly. He blinked heavily in surprise; without a gun she looked so innocent.
"I can't believe this...kid killed so many soldiers" he muttered. "Kid? She's not a kid, is she?" he thought, squinting at her.
She had very child-like features, her eyes were huge and amber coloured, but the rest of her face was small.
"Well, she looks like a kid" he said under his breath. Quickly he whipped out a small vial of clear liquid. "This'll put her in her place" he laughed quietly, switching the clear liquid that was pain killers for the poison.
He watched for a moment, to see if it had worked. The still steady drip reassured him, and he left the room.
Destiny remained asleep, oblivious mentally that she had been poisoned. Though physically, she knew what was happening.
Within thirty seconds of Takashi leaving the room, she frowned, both her hands balling into fists. She squirmed, covered in sweat. A normal person would have been dead already, but Destiny refused to give up. Her eyes snapped open, and she sat straight up, panting as though she'd just completed a marathon. "What's going on?!" she cried, barely able to support herself. She ripped the needle out of her right arm, ignoring the small ammount of blood.
Running to the bathroom, she looked in the mirror to find her pupils completely dialated and her skin drained of any colour. "Oh my gosh..." she sighed, leaning on the sink for support, "I must be allergic to that stuff or something..."
**
within the next two days, Destiny was released, and went back with Annelise to where she was supposed to have stayed. "Some vacation" she muttered, sitting out on the balcony.
Annelise giggled, sitting beside her. "Yeah. But you have to admit, apart from being shot and poisoned, it hasn't been that bad"
"Speak for yourself, okay? You don't know what I went through" Destiny said bitterly, staring coldly at Annelise.
Annelise shook her head sadly, "But you don't know what I went through... worrying about you. I was so afraid for the first night that you weren't going to make it..."
Destiny smiled weakly, "Well, I'm still alive. I'm not giving up that easily. When we get back to Tokyo tomorrow morning, we can blame Yasashimi. He made me go on a "vacation" in the first place" she said.
"You excited to get back to work then?" Annelise smirked.
"Yes! I need to find my partner, remember?" Destiny said, grinning. Annelise sighed heavily, and Destiny looked at her curiously, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing. It's just that...well...I've never been in a long term relationship, and I was just thinking about how intense yours is with Tanoshii" Annelise said.
Destiny blushed madly, "What?"
"I mean; you're going through all this trouble to save him. You must really love him" Annelise said dreamily.
"Well...he's my friend...I...I don't really know how I feel. Part of me thinks I love him. But the other part... thinks we're just friends" Destiny said, still blushing.
They looked back towards the Earth which was visible during the evening. It seemed significantly magnified by the false atmosphere that had to be added to Mars when the builders realized that the atmosphere wasn't strong enough to support plant life or oceans after billions of years of being dormant.
"It looks so beautiful from here" Destiny said, smiling.
"Yeah, it does" Annelise agreed.
They watched the path of a shooting star, which appeared to be headed towards Earth. Destiny raised her eyebrows, but remained silent. The asteroid made contact, and instantly it seemed that a whole meteor shower was raining down on the planet.
"Oh my gosh! Someone could get hurt!" Annelise said, not understanding what it was about.
"This sucks!" Destiny said loudly, "The biggest invasion ever, and we're not even there to help!"
Annelise looked surprised, "This is an invasion?"
"Of course it is! Meteor showers don't just hail down onto the Earth like that!" Destiny said, throwing her arms up incredulously.
"Good point. Still, though...I'm worried" Annelise said, looking concerned.
*
The mysterious girl stared out the window, watching what appeared to be meteors raining down. "This is great. My plan is going flawlessly. Though I knew it would. Nothing I've ever thought up has backfired as of yet" she said.
"Really? Then, this has a very low chance of failing, doesn't it?" Sora asked curiously, joining her at the window.
"Of course" she said, "All we have to count on is that my sister is dead before the start of the attack"
"Why?" he asked.
"Because then she can't get in the way" she said sourly.
"Wait...who is your...?" Sora trailed off as he realized.
She just laughed, long and loud.
Sora went to check on Tanoshii minutes later, to find him banging his head repeatedly on the wall. "What are you doing, Tanoshii?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I...don't...know" Tanoshii said, banging his head with each word.
"Well stop it, okay? I have something important to tell you" Sora said, walking over to him.
Tanoshii stopped banging his head, looking over his shoulders at Sora. "What is is?" he asked, not particularly interested.
"We just sent a whole team of our best soldiers to Mars to kill Destiny" Sora began.
"And she's dead?" Tanoshii asked.
"Hold on. She took them all out but one, and he shot her"
"So now she's dead?"
"NOT YET!! So she was admitted to the hospital where the one soldier who had failed to kill her poisoned her. We haven't heard otherwise from him so..." Sora explained.
"She's dead?" Tanoshii asked flatly.
Sora nodded, "I thought you'd be a little more traumatized than that"
"Sora, believe me when I say this; I am traumatized. My heart is bleeding for her. This means my life is pointless. The only woman I ever loved is dead and I never got to tell her. You might as well kill me now" Tanoshii said emotionlessly. Though his voice and his face remained indifferent, tears ran down his cheeks.
"Fine, I'll kill you now" Sora shrugged, pulling out his laser. Though, he was stopped when the door opened and the girl ran in.
"Wait! Sora don't kill him yet! Destiny is still alive! We just got word that she returned to Tokyo! She's alive and we still need him!" she said, her eyes wide.
Both others could tell that she was holding back her rage.
"Thank goodness" Tanoshii said, falling backwards. He was unconcious before he hit the floor.
"What's wrong with him?" Sora asked, raising his eyebrows.
"He fainted" she said, pursing her lips.
Sora laughed, and they both left.
*
Annelise and Destiny went to work the next morning, and marched straight into Yasashimi's office.
"YASASHIMI!" Destiny yelled, throwing open the door.
"Migoto? You're alive?" he asked, smirking.
"Not funny. Anyhow, have there been any invasions lately? More specifically; were there any invasions last night?" she asked.
"Invasions? Nope" he said shortly.
"But...we saw what appeared to be a meteor shower raining down on the Earth last night, but we knew it was the invading army. Are you sure?" she asked, looking rather confused.
"Really? Well none in Japan so far, but this is serious. I'll get on the phone with this country's representatives in every other country, to see what's up. In the mean time, you have work to do" he said, ushurring the two out the door.
