Chapter Text
Ariel had always thought the snow could do with being a little warmer. Despite being born and raised in the ever-frozen Siberia, she would always hate the frozen conditions of this place’s environment. It would be easier to blame the cold after all. To blame all the atrocities of the past to the cold that even froze the human heart. However, she would also remember her day of walking along the arctic shoals hunting for a legendary beast rumoured to exist somewhere in these seas. When she was on these “expeditions” as she called them, Renata would follow along by her side, smiling at her enthusiasm, Zero would follow along too with a barely concealed disinterest providing commentaries on local fauna and flora all the while enthusiastic Vera would follow along, taking on whatever Zero was saying with her innocent wide eyes. They were happier times.
“-riel, Ariel,” suddenly she was back at the present, sitting inside a little room in a fishing village near Siberia Harbour. Across her was Vera, staring at her intently.
“Sorry, I got lost in memories,” she said awkwardly.
She looked at Vera, her eyes while still looking energetic, gone were innocence and instead, it was filled with an edge and a dull pain hidden within. Vera who was barely an eight last time she had seen was now mature beyond her recognition. Due to Dragonblood inside them, Vera still looked like she had just escaped her teen years but they both knew it was far too long.
“Look at you, you still haven’t changed one bit after twenty years,” Vera started.
“And you have changed a lot. Look at you all grown up and mature. I can hardly see the child who always clinging to me, calling ‘Big Sis Ariel’,” Ariel said with a hint of nostalgia and bitterness.
“Don’t be so glum. I am still Vera, your little sis,” Vera said with a bright smile.
“...I know,” Ariel eventually said.
“I am sorry,” Ariel said. Her head hung low and stray tears fell onto her clenched hands.
“...What are you saying? It's not your fault, it's that bastard, Herzog’s fault,” Vera immediately rushed forward to grab her shoulders.
“No, I should have known. Of all people, I should have known that bastard would do something like that. Even though I promised to protect you all. I am sorry. I am so sorry,” Ariel said as the tears continued to fall without end. She embraced Vera and started to sob uncontrollably while murmuring apologies.
“It's okay, Big Sis. I know you did your best,” Vera comforted her.
“The best isn’t enough,” Ariel just said sardonically.
After a while, they both calmed down.
“Thank you,” Ariel thanked Vera.
“It’s okay, I understand. I was unreconcilable before too. It was only after so much time that I was able to accept what had happened,” Vera melancholically smiled.
“How are you? Are you living well?” Ariel asked.
“Yes. Things are good. This village maybe small but all the people here are nice. They immediately accepted me and cared for me,” Vera assured her.
“Still...why don’t you follow me back? There is a place for people like us. A secret society for Hybrids,” Ariel asked.
“I can’t. Not now. Nico still needs me,” Vera refused.
“Old man Nico from the Lighthouse? He is still alive?” Ariel asked in surprise. She kept seeing the remnants of the past today.
“He is. Not only is he alive, he also becomes even more stubborn. I have to keep my eyes on him because he keeps sneaking off to fish in his old boat,” Vera said with fond exasperation.
“That’s great,” Ariel smiled, “to be fair, that was a great boat”.
“You know about Славная доблесть?” Vera asked, shocked.
“Who do you think built it for him?” Ariel asked back with a smug look.
“That was you? No wonder it is still going strong even after all those storms and crashings and attacks. You really don’t do things halfway,” Vera accepted it quickly.
“I have to. You should have seen his original idea. Some woods and ropes. He wanted to fish with a raft in water infested with Dragon-blood mutated beasts,” Ariel shook her head in exasperation at the old man Nico’s antic.
“Yes, that sounded like him. Always the stubborn old man who put his ambition before him,” Vera agreed with a fond smile.
“Where is he?” Ariel asked.
“He is out procuring essentials in the city,” Vera said.
“I see,” Ariel nodded. She then gathered herself and stood up.
“I have to.... go,” she said slowly and looked at Vera in front of her with reluctance.
“It’s okay, I understand,” Vera showed a gentle smile. Ariel smiled back.
“Here,” Ariel held out a jade disc the size of a coin, in the middle of it, a symbol glowing in the translucent colour like a glass.
“This is a communication token, with this, you can contact me no matter the place or time,” she showed a confident smile, “it may be a while, but I am still your big sis Ariel”.
Vera grabbed the token, “Thank you, big sis Ariel”.
Ariel hugged her, “Goodbye, Vera”.
“Goodbye”.
Ariel looked back at the village and activated the teleportation. She had tagged Caesar and the rest of the team before so she could find them quite easily. They are in a Shinjuku.
“Having fun?” she appeared behind them.
She batted off the sword strike with ease.
“Trigger happy much?” She asked Johann Chu with a smug smirk.
“I see that you have recovered, Newbie,” Caesar said, “I would be more delighted if you didn’t run away randomly like that”.
“Aye, aye, Lead,” Ariel smiled and replied.
Chisei Gen walked over, “I am sorry for our previous transgression”.
“It’s okay. Just...don’t try that again,” Ariel warned.
“Ariel! come try this Mochi. It’s so good,” Luminous saw her and immediately called out to her with one hand while another held a box of Mochi.
“Coming,” Ariel shouted and walked away from the tense situation. Luminous and Ariel enjoyed the nightlife of Shinjuku, that is, eating all the great food that the city offered. It was quite a great experience.
An hour and a half into their culinary odyssey, they got a call from Caesar asking them to reconverge. Thus, Ariel and Luminous reluctantly parted ways from their great food road and reconvened with Caesar.
“Newbie, Luminous,” Caesar greeted them in front of what seemed to be a manga cafe.
“What happened, Senior Caesar?” Ariel asked.
“Oh, I would like you to meet Makoto Asou,” Caesar gestured toward a young woman who was standing meekly behind him. She seemed nervous, which was fair, “Miss Asou asked us for help because some gangsters are bothering her and the other shop owners”.
“Ye-Yes, it's him!” Makoto Asou gestured toward a young man who was sitting by the cafe’s windows and reading manga.
Actually, the thug was Noda Shou, Mr. Shou wanted to collect protection fees from the shops in Shinjuku, but they refused. As such, he increased the price everyday as a way of pressuring them. As for him sitting down and reading manga calmly? Well, he had a crush on Miss Asou. Yet, he was about to get whooped by this group of big bosses. What a tragic state of affairs.
Ariel followed behind as Caesar and Chisei Gen led the way to the thug.
“Hello, there,” Caesar greeted with a smile.
“What do you want?” Noda Shou replied coldly.
“Well, I have nothing I want. My life is already arguably perfect, but I heard that you are harassing the shops around here, I want you to stop,” Caesar said coolly.
“What if I don’t?” Noda Shou replied testingly.
“Well, in the US of A, there’s a saying called “fuck around, found out”. You are now fucking around, continue and you will find out,” Caesar said with a smirk. Ariel had to admit, she didn’t expect such crude words to come out from this always prim and proper senior of hers. She closed her mouth.
Luminous sneakily approached toward Ariel and said, “Senior Caesar once had to stake out at a dock. He expanded his vocabulary a bit after coming out of it”.
Ariel nodded but not really understanding what he wanted to say.
“I can say the same to you,” Noda Shou snarled.
“Well, I tried,” Caesar said and shot him with a non-lethal round. Suddenly, they were surrounded by a bunch of Yakuza.
“Newbie,” Caesar yelled as Ariel shot up to attention, “make sure to not kill them”.
“Got it,” Ariel yelled back.
Ariel looked lazily at about 50 Yakuza mobs. Meanwhile, Chisei Gen, Johann Chu and Luminous watched in interest at what she would do. Ariel donned a smug smirk as she used an EX-skill.
[Stratosphere]
It’s an EX-skill where the user reformed the localized area centred around her with conditions of the Stratosphere the size of the skill correlated with how much power she would put into the skill. Ariel put enough power that the zone would engulf all the mobs. Predictably, they began to drop off like flies. The end result wasn’t pretty by any means. She quickly called off the EX-skill and cast another EX-skill.
[Curaja]
A blinding white light enveloped them and healed them of any ailments except, of course, their unconsciousness.
The rest of the team watched Ariel handling the mobs calmly except Makoto Asou and Luminous both of whom instead trying not to vomit with varying degrees of success.
“Well done, Newbie, though we could do with less brutality,” Caesar commended her. Chisei Gen, though was standing as stiff as a stone.
“Just a parlour trick, not my fault if they can’t handle it,” Ariel just shrugged.
“Thank you for your help, Hydra will handle the rest and make sure these thugs won’t disturb the shops around here again,” Chisei Gen said with a wary smile. A Hydra agent ran forward quickly and whispered something in his ear. Chisei Gen’s expression changed to relief.
“I just got the news that they found a base of the Devil Clan. The High Patriarch decided that the Hydra and Cassell College Aces should destroy this base together as a bonding experience,” Chisei Gen said to the group.
Caesar looked around and after finding that they all accepted, he replied, “Fine by us”.
“Great,” Chisei Gen smiled, “then, let’s depart. We don’t have much time,” he said and walked away.
Ariel, Luminous, Caesar, and Johann Chu followed along, toward the mysterious halls of Paradisio.