You make a good point (and I willingly admit that I have no clue how to handle Fate at all when it comes to combat scenes; she's much harder for me to work on than Nanoha), but in that scenario what would stop Fate from rescuing Miyuki and Kyouya from danger and then going back to help Elise and Nanoha? Getting stuck with a bunch of Reflections?
Popping in for a quick response: The timing factor. Fate heads off to fight Reflections to rescue Miyuki/Kyouya, who are basically defenseless. Nanoha and Elise, who are active, are left to fight alone. Fate's too far off and too distant from the fight (if sufficiently distant, might not even notice--or is too hardwired from the past to think of Nanoha as not being on her own level, combat-wise) and/or too burdened with the immediate threat to the person she's rescuing to rush back and clear out the Reflections around Nanoha. So Elise acts just as the scene is now.
Popping in for a quick response: The timing factor. Fate heads off to fight Reflections to rescue Miyuki/Kyouya, who are basically defenseless. Nanoha and Elise, who are active, are left to fight alone. Fate's too far off and too distant from the fight (if sufficiently distant, might not even notice--or is too hardwired from the past to think of Nanoha as not being on her own level, combat-wise) and/or too burdened with the immediate threat to the person she's rescuing to rush back and clear out the Reflections around Nanoha. So Elise acts just as the scene is now.
Thanks for the quick response. I'll have to go back and rework the chapter a bit; combat scenes really aren't my area of comfort at all, so a lot of the time I just try to rush through them and end up making a lot of mistakes with how I handle the characters. Why I never thought of what you just mentioned, I have no idea.
Well, Nanya wanted me to write some Chrono/Amy and I managed to throw a little something together.
Spoiler for Finally:
“I’m done with all the paper work.” Amy huffed as she hefted a large stack of papers onto Chrono’s desk.
“Good work.” He said idly, flipping the page in the book he was leisurely reading.
“Well you look busy.” Amy noted sarcastically. “You could have helped me with this, you know.”
“I suppose I could have, but you’re my aide so I figured I could leave all the dull stuff to you.”
“Is that so?” Amy propped herself up against the desk. “I guess that’s why you keep me around, then?”
“Of course. What other reason could there be?” Chrono confirmed dryly.
“Ahhh…” Amy let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Chrono-kun has become so lazy.”
“After putting up with you for so many years, I think I’m entitled to take it easy.” He said, not taking his eyes from his book.
“Oh?” Amy smirked. “Who was it that begged me to be their aide as soon as we graduated from the academy?”
“… I didn’t beg.” He barely huffed as he snapped his book shut.
“You were so cute back then.” Amy continued to tease. “But just because you grew a little, your voice deepened and you rose a few ranks, you let it all get to your head.”
“Really?” Chrono stood up and walked to stand in front of her. “Sounds like you’re just bitter that I’m taller than you now.”
“You think?” Amy moved her weight off the desk and stood straight, but that still didn’t prevent Chrono from literally looking down on her. “You shouldn’t put too much emphasis on superficial things, you know.”
“And you should stop talking to me like I’m a kid.” He countered. “You’re only two years older than me.”
“Hm, but Chrono-kun is still a kid.” She smirked again, moving closer and lightly jabbing his chest with her finger. “I sure haven’t seen you do anything a man would.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. How about something bold, daring, assertive or spontaneous?”
“Like what?”
“Tsk tsk.” Amy clucked her tongue and wagged her finger. “If I told you that it would defeat the purpose.”
“Something bold, daring, assertive or spontaneous, huh?” Chrono repeated as he stepped forward.
“That’s right.”
“How about this then?” Firmly gripping her shoulders, Chrono reeled her in and crushed his lips onto hers. She immediately pushed back with equal force, their mouths seemingly fighting for superiority with the sound of the struggle filling the room.
“Well?” Chrono panted slightly when they parted.
Amy gingerly threaded her fingers behind his neck before smiling.
Well, Nanya wanted me to write some Chrono/Amy and I managed to throw a little something together.
Spoiler for Finally:
“I’m done with all the paper work.” Amy huffed as she hefted a large stack of papers onto Chrono’s desk.
“Good work.” He said idly, flipping the page in the book he was leisurely reading.
“Well you look busy.” Amy noted sarcastically. “You could have helped me with this, you know.”
“I suppose I could have, but you’re my aide so I figured I could leave all the dull stuff to you.”
“Is that so?” Amy propped herself up against the desk. “I guess that’s why you keep me around, then?”
“Of course. What other reason could there be?” Chrono confirmed dryly.
“Ahhh…” Amy let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Chrono-kun has become so lazy.”
“After putting up with you for so many years, I think I’m entitled to take it easy.” He said, not taking his eyes from his book.
“Oh?” Amy smirked. “Who was it that begged me to be their aide as soon as we graduated from the academy?”
“… I didn’t beg.” He barely huffed as he snapped his book shut.
“You were so cute back then.” Amy continued to tease. “But just because you grew a little, your voice deepened and you rose a few ranks, you let it all get to your head.”
“Really?” Chrono stood up and walked to stand in front of her. “Sounds like you’re just bitter that I’m taller than you now.”
“You think?” Amy moved her weight off the desk and stood straight, but that still didn’t prevent Chrono from literally looking down on her. “You shouldn’t put too much emphasis on superficial things, you know.”
“And you should stop talking to me like I’m a kid.” He countered. “You’re only two years older than me.”
“Hm, but Chrono-kun is still a kid.” She smirked again, moving closer and lightly jabbing his chest with her finger. “I sure haven’t seen you do anything a man would.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. How about something bold, daring, assertive or spontaneous?”
“Like what?”
“Tsk tsk.” Amy clucked her tongue and wagged her finger. “If I told you that it would defeat the purpose.”
“Something bold, daring, assertive or spontaneous, huh?” Chrono repeated as he stepped forward.
“That’s right.”
“How about this then?” Firmly gripping her shoulders, Chrono reeled her in and crushed his lips onto hers. She immediately pushed back with equal force, their mouths seemingly fighting for superiority with the sound of the struggle filling the room.
“Well?” Chrono panted slightly when they parted.
Amy gingerly threaded her fingers behind his neck before smiling.
“Took you long enough.”
It's not much, but... *shrug*
Spoiler for Alternatively...:
Amy: Hey Chrono-kun! Chrono-kun!
Chrono: What?
Amy: Kiss me!
Chrono: ... Get back to work.
Amy: Nyoron~
*chuckles*. This is cute. You should definitely give this type of pair a shot in terms of writing up a fanfic.
Well this is kind of on topic, o I'll go ahead and post it:
Fanfiction is NOT "fair use", it is a "derivative work", meaning that it is 100% illegal and you can be sued over it without any trouble at all. Companies generally don't care, blah blah, free advertisement, blah blah, its been said before.
However, you can release fanfics as books if you take about the right steps.
First and foremost is the hardest way. Pitch yourself to the company who owns the copyrights and try to work for them.
The second way is a little harder and is what I did when I published Saved by the Bell, and the upcoming AlternativeS books. You can contact the company who own the rights in America (In Nanoha's case, its FUNimation), and ask them for permission to release a limited amount of vanity books for non-profit. FUNimation only has the rights to distribute Nanoha as the anime and can not give permission to release derivative works without requesting permission from Japan. They can, however, tell you other legally binding things to allow you to release.
In my case, it was not to release for mass sale and they would "turn a blind eye" and "have no intention to take legal action against it". By those terms I can print and release. I won't go into full legal aspects of it because I actually consulted a lawer (yes I know one :P ) before I made my books and he answered and handled a lot of it for me. In the end I was able to print it without any worry of legal actions.
Spoiler for SbtB the novel:
Interesting point there. Just curious but...how many pages was that novel when printed out? (Sorry for the double post, but since I'm writing my first Nanoha fanfic, it's been on my mind for quite a bit).
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous two, and to Dezo and RB for giving me lots of help and feedback with this last installment !
Spoiler for Fortune Knocks But Once:
Fortune Knocks But Once
Vice leapt out of the transport before it had fully landed, taking the impact with his knees. Even though he’d been only piloting those things for the last decade or so, he still remembered how to leap out of one. Even so, he winced as he felt the impact travel up his legs, but a few steps worked that out of his joints.
“I’ll be waiting at the base!” His friend shouted over the whir of the transport motor, and Vice waved and watched the helicopter turn and head back in the direction that they had come. Daphne was a smaller planet than Midchilda, and it took him a few moments to adjust to how much lighter he felt when walking on the alien soil. The landscape was gorgeous, and he recalled that Daphne used to have quite the tourism industry before an increase in pirate activity had nearly destroyed the shipping routes.
Desperate to sustain itself, Daphne had applied to join the TSAB Administered planets. Yet because of its remote location, very few officers stayed on planet long enough to establish secure posts and patrol routes without being incompetent at the job, quitting or turning dirty. And so the brass had created the current thorn in his side—the Daphne Border Post Project.
A project that gave young officers a chance to become promoted to higher ranks and gain real experience in the field, in exchange for ten years of their life; in the hopes that they would settle down here, Vice knew. And now he was here to knock some sense into a stubborn young woman he loved like a friend and rascally little sister…
Purposefully, he strode towards the lone figure sitting by the cliff edge.
“I’m taking you back.”
She turned her head back, raising an eyebrow. “We’ll both be arrested,” Subaru replied blithely, a wry smile on her lips. She rubbed at her face with a towel, taking a break from what looked to be a workout routine. Vice paused—Subaru must have heard the transport arriving, but she didn’t seem surprised that it was him. He recovered quickly.
“I don’t care,” growled Vice, crossing his arms. “Tea’s depressed and hiding it.”
Subaru winced but she crossed her legs, gesturing at a spot of bare rock beside her. “Sit, Vice-san. Water?”
He sat, but waved off the water. “I’m taking you back with me,” he repeated.
Uncapping her water, the blunette tipped the bottle back, drinking heavily. She finished and looked out over the valley their location overlooked. “It’s a crime to forcibly break a military contract, Vice-san,” she teased, but the mirth was only in her voice and not her eyes.
Vice rubbed his chin, feeling a faint stubble scrape against his fingers. Part of him wished that he had taken up on his friend’s offer and cleaned up at the base before heading out right away to track down Subaru. But he had hoped that he could make it back as soon as possible…teleports took time, navy ship transfers took time…and he hadn’t exactly told Teana that he was leaving…
“How have you adjusted to being on Daphne, Subaru?”
Confused at the sudden change of topic, Subaru chuckled sheepishly. “It’s alright…it’s a little odd, since most of the people here are older guys. Some people have their families here though, but most of them are little kids.” She laughed. “I feel starved for young adult company.”
Then come back to Midchilda. Instead, Vice said idly, “So, what kind of work have you been doing?”
He knew that Subaru wasn’t as dim as she pretended to be, but still, Subaru answered his question brightly, as if also hoping to put off the inevitable real issue. “The rest of the staff haven’t arrived yet, so I’m helping with just about anything that needs doing. I’ve been doing lots of mapping actually—although my writing is, as Tea put it before, ‘still utterly illegible’...”
“I see.” Vice threw a chunk of rock off the cliff, watching it land with a thump below. “They give you any vacation time?”
Subaru coughed. “I’m the assistant captain of my unit, and everyone knows that you have to be an absolute keener as assistant in order to—”
“Get promoted one day, yeah.” Vice sighed, running a hand through his hair. Quietly, he said, “You know that she’d wait ten years for our wedding just so that you can be her Maid of Honour.”
Subaru closed her eyes and turned away. “Don’t.”
“I’m sorry.” Despite that, Vice pressed on. “But Subaru, don’t you think that it was unfair of you to just leave her like that? Above all the other stuff, you’re her best friend.”
“I’m happy for you, Vice-san. I’m glad that you’re both happy together, and that you…that you love each other very much.” Her blue eyes stared keenly into his, unreadable only in his surprise to see an expression like that in such a young, normally cheerful girl’s face. “But I couldn’t have stood beside you at the altar and watch you two marry each other. I’m not robot enough to live through that, you see?”
Vice blurted out incredulously, “You’re not a robot, Subaru!”
“Thanks,” she smiled briefly at him. “I never forget it.”
“Well, you should,” he snapped, concerned and angry. “Do you consider your sister to be a robot?” He didn’t need to hear her answer; the look on her face was enough. “So don’t call yourself that again.”
Subaru grinned again, this one for real. “Thanks, Vice-san.” She bounced to her feet, limber and full of energy. “Want to go for a walk? This is a really beautiful planet.”
“Sure,” he sighed, climbing to his feet. “I thought you worked mostly on patrol routes?”
“I do, but we haven’t set up extensive patrol routes yet. We’ve only been here for three days, after all.” Subaru glanced sideways at him. “Speaking of, it was dangerous of you to come, Vice-san. Pirates on this border, remember? Imagine what it would have been like if I had to come and rescue you!”
“I wouldn’t have minded,” he said, amused. “We’re friends, after all.”
We both love the same girl.
“Besides, I took a military transport. I had to endure the smell of plastic and computers the whole trip.”
“You…” Subaru scratched her head, puzzled. “Out here? Don’t you need authorization to do that?”
“A friend owed me a favour,” Vice told her. More like now I owe Hayate-san…She’ll likely come up with something when I least expect it. He could already imagine her gleeful, mischievous brain working away to think of recompense. But underneath it all, he knew that she sympathized. “Which was better than my stowaway plans, trust me.”
Abruptly, Subaru stopped in the middle of the trail and turned, staring intently at Vice. “Vice-san, why did you come here?”
He stopped as well. “I told you before.”
“You should be with Tea,” Subaru said, frustratedly throwing her arms up. “She needs you right now!”
“She needs you too!” Vice countered, and he swallowed a lump in his throat before adding forcefully, “Maybe even more!”
“You’re her fiancée.”
He felt his irritation vanish in a burst, leaving him empty and sad. “She loves you too.”
Subaru blew a breath through her bangs, her eyes turned upward and watching her blue hair settle again. “Vice-san, let me tell you something, okay? This whole thing between Tea and you and I…” She shrugged, lifting her hands helplessly as her shoulders drooped in dejection.
“You are the ‘right place, right time’ guy, while I’m the ‘what if’ girl.”
“So you think that she does love you too.” Vice hadn’t meant for that to come out mildly accusing; he ducked his head in shame. But even though he had always known, or guessed, it was different hearing it said aloud. It was real now. Vice had always thought that he wasn’t the kind of guy who would confront this situation resentfully—he felt ashamed of himself.
“I think that now it doesn’t matter that she does, or did. We all made our choices, Vice-san, and she chose you.” Subaru studied him, then patted his shoulder. “It’s okay that you’re angry.”
“No, it’s not. I care about you too, you know.” Vice sighed and continued walking towards the downhill curve of the trail that they were on. They climbed down to drift towards the lakeside, and Vice felt the chill lake wind pull at his jacket as it rushed by them. Part of him missed the peace vast nature brought, bringing back memories of his childhood before his family had moved to Cranagan. Things seemed simpler here, as if it was easier to pretend that the chains of relationships didn’t exist, and that everything was perfectly alright. He breathed in deeply, trying to settle the rolling emotions in his chest.
“I know,” Subaru said, smiling briefly before facing away, watching the ripples flowing across the silvery lake, her expression falling back into melancholic contemplation.
“But what about you, Subaru?” He didn’t have to flesh that question out; Subaru knew what he was really asking.
“I’ve got two options: I can angst about her and keep hoping, hopelessly…or I can move on. Try to move on, at least.” She laughed, her first sign of real bitterness. “I think that three star-systems and ten years should be good enough, don’t you think?”
Vice exhaled, grinding his heel into the gravel. “You’ll have to talk to her someday.”
“Someday,” Subaru agreed. “Someday, when this has turned into a bittersweet memory…” She twiddled her thumbs, kicking one shoe idly. “And how about you, Vice-san?”
He grimaced, then smiled wearily. “I do have selfish reasons for asking you to come back. Even…even I need closure, too.” When he had fallen in love with Teana, he had admired her straight-forward intensity most out of all her qualities.
Subaru nodded, understanding. “So when’s the…” She choked slightly on the word, but rallied. “…wedding?”
“We haven’t set a date yet.”
“I see.”
They were silent.
“I had asked her, ‘If we were to get married tomorrow, would you be able to do it without having any regrets, without wondering what if’….” Vice sighed.
“What did she say?”
“She started crying.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s not you. It’s her.” Suddenly he slammed his fist into his thigh, exclaiming frustratedly, “No, you know what? Yes, it is you too. You shouldn’t have left like that, it’s something that both of you have to work out about each other, and you being three fricking star-systems away isn’t helping!”
Subaru looked tired, and she didn’t seem to have the energy to argue in her own defence anymore. So she asked him instead, “And what are you going to do, if she can’t work it out?”
“It’s cheesy, but I really just want her to be happy.” Scowling, Vice put a hand into his side pocket, closing his fist around the hard metal there. “If she’s happy marrying me, then that’s what I want. If she wants you then I’ll let her go, just like you did for me.”
The blunette’s lips twitched. “Are you then going to make a ten-year contract as far away as you can?”
Even though she was half-teasing, Vice answered her entirely seriously. “No, I wouldn’t…because then everything would be a treasured memory, instead of harsh, cold reality every day. You need reality to get over someone you love.”
“I’m still in the “immature young adult” phase, Vice-san.” A trace of humour threaded through her voice as Subaru said, “That’s all a little too grown-up for me at the moment.”
He couldn’t help laughing even as he said staunchly, “You’re growing.” They fell silent again. A bird chirped from one direction; another one answered before a whole flock burst out of the treeline and fluttered through the sky. Vice watched them, skipping rocks across the placid lake surface.
Part of him loved Teana because she believed that he was a good guy, even though he had failed before. Because she believed in him, Vice could fool himself into believing it too, whole-heartedly. He had grown too—but sometimes, in the still moments, he remembered pulling the trigger, and hearing a little girl’s scream…
But Teana loved him anyways. And he loved her too, stubborn faults and all. It should have been as simple as that.
He hurled a stone, watching it bounce over the water. “So you’ve really made your choice.”
“I have. I really hope that you and Tea are happy together, Vice-san. Because even if…even if…” She trailed off and sighed, broken. “I’m not the person for her anymore. I won’t be.” Even if she came to me, was unsaid.
“I hope so too,” he admitted, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. They looked at each other, sharing a secret, an understanding, connected together in the rich words of unspoken intentions. Staring down at his other hand, Vice turned a pair of gold rings around in his palm, shuffling them between his fingers like expensive poker chips. He lowered his head.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous two, and to Dezo and RB for giving me lots of help and feedback with this last installment !
Spoiler for Fortune Knocks But Once:
Fortune Knocks But Once
Vice leapt out of the transport before it had fully landed, taking the impact with his knees. Even though he’d been only piloting those things for the last decade or so, he still remembered how to leap out of one. Even so, he winced as he felt the impact travel up his legs, but a few steps worked that out of his joints.
“I’ll be waiting at the base!” His friend shouted over the whir of the transport motor, and Vice waved and watched the helicopter turn and head back in the direction that they had come. Daphne was a smaller planet than Midchilda, and it took him a few moments to adjust to how much lighter he felt when walking on the alien soil. The landscape was gorgeous, and he recalled that Daphne used to have quite the tourism industry before an increase in pirate activity had nearly destroyed the shipping routes.
Desperate to sustain itself, Daphne had applied to join the TSAB Administered planets. Yet because of its remote location, very few officers stayed on planet long enough to establish secure posts and patrol routes without being incompetent at the job, quitting or turning dirty. And so the brass had created the current thorn in his side—the Daphne Border Post Project.
A project that gave young officers a chance to become promoted to higher ranks and gain real experience in the field, in exchange for ten years of their life; in the hopes that they would settle down here, Vice knew. And now he was here to knock some sense into a stubborn young woman he loved like a friend and rascally little sister…
Purposefully, he strode towards the lone figure sitting by the cliff edge.
“I’m taking you back.”
She turned her head back, raising an eyebrow. “We’ll both be arrested,” Subaru replied blithely, a wry smile on her lips. She rubbed at her face with a towel, taking a break from what looked to be a workout routine. Vice paused—Subaru must have heard the transport arriving, but she didn’t seem surprised that it was him. He recovered quickly.
“I don’t care,” growled Vice, crossing his arms. “Tea’s depressed and hiding it.”
Subaru winced but she crossed her legs, gesturing at a spot of bare rock beside her. “Sit, Vice-san. Water?”
He sat, but waved off the water. “I’m taking you back with me,” he repeated.
Uncapping her water, the blunette tipped the bottle back, drinking heavily. She finished and looked out over the valley their location overlooked. “It’s a crime to forcibly break a military contract, Vice-san,” she teased, but the mirth was only in her voice and not her eyes.
Vice rubbed his chin, feeling a faint stubble scrape against his fingers. Part of him wished that he had taken up on his friend’s offer and cleaned up at the base before heading out right away to track down Subaru. But he had hoped that he could make it back as soon as possible…teleports took time, navy ship transfers took time…and he hadn’t exactly told Teana that he was leaving…
“How have you adjusted to being on Daphne, Subaru?”
Confused at the sudden change of topic, Subaru chuckled sheepishly. “It’s alright…it’s a little odd, since most of the people here are older guys. Some people have their families here though, but most of them are little kids.” She laughed. “I feel starved for young adult company.”
Then come back to Midchilda. Instead, Vice said idly, “So, what kind of work have you been doing?”
He knew that Subaru wasn’t as dim as she pretended to be, but still, Subaru answered his question brightly, as if also hoping to put off the inevitable real issue. “The rest of the staff haven’t arrived yet, so I’m helping with just about anything that needs doing. I’ve been doing lots of mapping actually—although my writing is, as Tea put it before, ‘still utterly illegible’...”
“I see.” Vice threw a chunk of rock off the cliff, watching it land with a thump below. “They give you any vacation time?”
Subaru coughed. “I’m the assistant captain of my unit, and everyone knows that you have to be an absolute keener as assistant in order to—”
“Get promoted one day, yeah.” Vice sighed, running a hand through his hair. Quietly, he said, “You know that she’d wait ten years for our wedding just so that you can be her Maid of Honour.”
Subaru closed her eyes and turned away. “Don’t.”
“I’m sorry.” Despite that, Vice pressed on. “But Subaru, don’t you think that it was unfair of you to just leave her like that? Above all the other stuff, you’re her best friend.”
“I’m happy for you, Vice-san. I’m glad that you’re both happy together, and that you…that you love each other very much.” Her blue eyes stared keenly into his, unreadable only in his surprise to see an expression like that in such a young, normally cheerful girl’s face. “But I couldn’t have stood beside you at the altar and watch you two marry each other. I’m not robot enough to live through that, you see?”
Vice blurted out incredulously, “You’re not a robot, Subaru!”
“Thanks,” she smiled briefly at him. “I never forget it.”
“Well, you should,” he snapped, concerned and angry. “Do you consider your sister to be a robot?” He didn’t need to hear her answer; the look on her face was enough. “So don’t call yourself that again.”
Subaru grinned again, this one for real. “Thanks, Vice-san.” She bounced to her feet, limber and full of energy. “Want to go for a walk? This is a really beautiful planet.”
“Sure,” he sighed, climbing to his feet. “I thought you worked mostly on patrol routes?”
“I do, but we haven’t set up extensive patrol routes yet. We’ve only been here for three days, after all.” Subaru glanced sideways at him. “Speaking of, it was dangerous of you to come, Vice-san. Pirates on this border, remember? Imagine what it would have been like if I had to come and rescue you!”
“I wouldn’t have minded,” he said, amused. “We’re friends, after all.”
We both love the same girl.
“Besides, I took a military transport. I had to endure the smell of plastic and computers the whole trip.”
“You…” Subaru scratched her head, puzzled. “Out here? Don’t you need authorization to do that?”
“A friend owed me a favour,” Vice told her. More like now I owe Hayate-san…She’ll likely come up with something when I least expect it. He could already imagine her gleeful, mischievous brain working away to think of recompense. But underneath it all, he knew that she sympathized. “Which was better than my stowaway plans, trust me.”
Abruptly, Subaru stopped in the middle of the trail and turned, staring intently at Vice. “Vice-san, why did you come here?”
He stopped as well. “I told you before.”
“You should be with Tea,” Subaru said, frustratedly throwing her arms up. “She needs you right now!”
“She needs you too!” Vice countered, and he swallowed a lump in his throat before adding forcefully, “Maybe even more!”
“You’re her fiancée.”
He felt his irritation vanish in a burst, leaving him empty and sad. “She loves you too.”
Subaru blew a breath through her bangs, her eyes turned upward and watching her blue hair settle again. “Vice-san, let me tell you something, okay? This whole thing between Tea and you and I…” She shrugged, lifting her hands helplessly as her shoulders drooped in dejection.
“You are the ‘right place, right time’ guy, while I’m the ‘what if’ girl.”
“So you think that she does love you too.” Vice hadn’t meant for that to come out mildly accusing; he ducked his head in shame. But even though he had always known, or guessed, it was different hearing it said aloud. It was real now. Vice had always thought that he wasn’t the kind of guy who would confront this situation resentfully—he felt ashamed of himself.
“I think that now it doesn’t matter that she does, or did. We all made our choices, Vice-san, and she chose you.” Subaru studied him, then patted his shoulder. “It’s okay that you’re angry.”
“No, it’s not. I care about you too, you know.” Vice sighed and continued walking towards the downhill curve of the trail that they were on. They climbed down to drift towards the lakeside, and Vice felt the chill lake wind pull at his jacket as it rushed by them. Part of him missed the peace vast nature brought, bringing back memories of his childhood before his family had moved to Cranagan. Things seemed simpler here, as if it was easier to pretend that the chains of relationships didn’t exist, and that everything was perfectly alright. He breathed in deeply, trying to settle the rolling emotions in his chest.
“I know,” Subaru said, smiling briefly before facing away, watching the ripples flowing across the silvery lake, her expression falling back into melancholic contemplation.
“But what about you, Subaru?” He didn’t have to flesh that question out; Subaru knew what he was really asking.
“I’ve got two options: I can angst about her and keep hoping, hopelessly…or I can move on. Try to move on, at least.” She laughed, her first sign of real bitterness. “I think that three star-systems and ten years should be good enough, don’t you think?”
Vice exhaled, grinding his heel into the gravel. “You’ll have to talk to her someday.”
“Someday,” Subaru agreed. “Someday, when this has turned into a bittersweet memory…” She twiddled her thumbs, kicking one shoe idly. “And how about you, Vice-san?”
He grimaced, then smiled wearily. “I do have selfish reasons for asking you to come back. Even…even I need closure, too.” When he had fallen in love with Teana, he had admired her straight-forward intensity most out of all her qualities.
Subaru nodded, understanding. “So when’s the…” She choked slightly on the word, but rallied. “…wedding?”
“We haven’t set a date yet.”
“I see.”
They were silent.
“I had asked her, ‘If we were to get married tomorrow, would you be able to do it without having any regrets, without wondering what if’….” Vice sighed.
“What did she say?”
“She started crying.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s not you. It’s her.” Suddenly he slammed his fist into his thigh, exclaiming frustratedly, “No, you know what? Yes, it is you too. You shouldn’t have left like that, it’s something that both of you have to work out about each other, and you being three fricking star-systems away isn’t helping!”
Subaru looked tired, and she didn’t seem to have the energy to argue in her own defence anymore. So she asked him instead, “And what are you going to do, if she can’t work it out?”
“It’s cheesy, but I really just want her to be happy.” Scowling, Vice put a hand into his side pocket, closing his fist around the hard metal there. “If she’s happy marrying me, then that’s what I want. If she wants you then I’ll let her go, just like you did for me.”
The blunette’s lips twitched. “Are you then going to make a ten-year contract as far away as you can?”
Even though she was half-teasing, Vice answered her entirely seriously. “No, I wouldn’t…because then everything would be a treasured memory, instead of harsh, cold reality every day. You need reality to get over someone you love.”
“I’m still in the “immature young adult” phase, Vice-san.” A trace of humour threaded through her voice as Subaru said, “That’s all a little too grown-up for me at the moment.”
He couldn’t help laughing even as he said staunchly, “You’re growing.” They fell silent again. A bird chirped from one direction; another one answered before a whole flock burst out of the treeline and fluttered through the sky. Vice watched them, skipping rocks across the placid lake surface.
Part of him loved Teana because she believed that he was a good guy, even though he had failed before. Because she believed in him, Vice could fool himself into believing it too, whole-heartedly. He had grown too—but sometimes, in the still moments, he remembered pulling the trigger, and hearing a little girl’s scream…
But Teana loved him anyways. And he loved her too, stubborn faults and all. It should have been as simple as that.
He hurled a stone, watching it bounce over the water. “So you’ve really made your choice.”
“I have. I really hope that you and Tea are happy together, Vice-san. Because even if…even if…” She trailed off and sighed, broken. “I’m not the person for her anymore. I won’t be.” Even if she came to me, was unsaid.
“I hope so too,” he admitted, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. They looked at each other, sharing a secret, an understanding, connected together in the rich words of unspoken intentions. Staring down at his other hand, Vice turned a pair of gold rings around in his palm, shuffling them between his fingers like expensive poker chips. He lowered his head.
“I hope so, too.”
...
That sound you hear? It's my heart breaking. Gaaah.
I know it's the logical conclusion, but God, it seems so unfair. ;-;
I think a "ten years later" would be too sappy, or just another nail in poor Subaru's coffin....
But I want more resolution for Teana, dammit! It's like, we already see Subaru and Vice have closure, but we haven't seen Teana get that same feeling of closure. She's still left hanging, while those two have made their decisions.
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow, in a house dropped on an ugly, old woman.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RadiantBeam
But I want more resolution for Teana, dammit! It's like, we already see Subaru and Vice have closure, but we haven't seen Teana get that same feeling of closure. She's still left hanging, while those two have made their decisions.
And what about Alto, and her hidden feelings for Vice? What about her closure!?!?!?!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous two, and to Dezo and RB for giving me lots of help and feedback with this last installment !
Spoiler for Fortune Knocks But Once:
Fortune Knocks But Once
Vice leapt out of the transport before it had fully landed, taking the impact with his knees. Even though he’d been only piloting those things for the last decade or so, he still remembered how to leap out of one. Even so, he winced as he felt the impact travel up his legs, but a few steps worked that out of his joints.
“I’ll be waiting at the base!” His friend shouted over the whir of the transport motor, and Vice waved and watched the helicopter turn and head back in the direction that they had come. Daphne was a smaller planet than Midchilda, and it took him a few moments to adjust to how much lighter he felt when walking on the alien soil. The landscape was gorgeous, and he recalled that Daphne used to have quite the tourism industry before an increase in pirate activity had nearly destroyed the shipping routes.
Desperate to sustain itself, Daphne had applied to join the TSAB Administered planets. Yet because of its remote location, very few officers stayed on planet long enough to establish secure posts and patrol routes without being incompetent at the job, quitting or turning dirty. And so the brass had created the current thorn in his side—the Daphne Border Post Project.
A project that gave young officers a chance to become promoted to higher ranks and gain real experience in the field, in exchange for ten years of their life; in the hopes that they would settle down here, Vice knew. And now he was here to knock some sense into a stubborn young woman he loved like a friend and rascally little sister…
Purposefully, he strode towards the lone figure sitting by the cliff edge.
“I’m taking you back.”
She turned her head back, raising an eyebrow. “We’ll both be arrested,” Subaru replied blithely, a wry smile on her lips. She rubbed at her face with a towel, taking a break from what looked to be a workout routine. Vice paused—Subaru must have heard the transport arriving, but she didn’t seem surprised that it was him. He recovered quickly.
“I don’t care,” growled Vice, crossing his arms. “Tea’s depressed and hiding it.”
Subaru winced but she crossed her legs, gesturing at a spot of bare rock beside her. “Sit, Vice-san. Water?”
He sat, but waved off the water. “I’m taking you back with me,” he repeated.
Uncapping her water, the blunette tipped the bottle back, drinking heavily. She finished and looked out over the valley their location overlooked. “It’s a crime to forcibly break a military contract, Vice-san,” she teased, but the mirth was only in her voice and not her eyes.
Vice rubbed his chin, feeling a faint stubble scrape against his fingers. Part of him wished that he had taken up on his friend’s offer and cleaned up at the base before heading out right away to track down Subaru. But he had hoped that he could make it back as soon as possible…teleports took time, navy ship transfers took time…and he hadn’t exactly told Teana that he was leaving…
“How have you adjusted to being on Daphne, Subaru?”
Confused at the sudden change of topic, Subaru chuckled sheepishly. “It’s alright…it’s a little odd, since most of the people here are older guys. Some people have their families here though, but most of them are little kids.” She laughed. “I feel starved for young adult company.”
Then come back to Midchilda. Instead, Vice said idly, “So, what kind of work have you been doing?”
He knew that Subaru wasn’t as dim as she pretended to be, but still, Subaru answered his question brightly, as if also hoping to put off the inevitable real issue. “The rest of the staff haven’t arrived yet, so I’m helping with just about anything that needs doing. I’ve been doing lots of mapping actually—although my writing is, as Tea put it before, ‘still utterly illegible’...”
“I see.” Vice threw a chunk of rock off the cliff, watching it land with a thump below. “They give you any vacation time?”
Subaru coughed. “I’m the assistant captain of my unit, and everyone knows that you have to be an absolute keener as assistant in order to—”
“Get promoted one day, yeah.” Vice sighed, running a hand through his hair. Quietly, he said, “You know that she’d wait ten years for our wedding just so that you can be her Maid of Honour.”
Subaru closed her eyes and turned away. “Don’t.”
“I’m sorry.” Despite that, Vice pressed on. “But Subaru, don’t you think that it was unfair of you to just leave her like that? Above all the other stuff, you’re her best friend.”
“I’m happy for you, Vice-san. I’m glad that you’re both happy together, and that you…that you love each other very much.” Her blue eyes stared keenly into his, unreadable only in his surprise to see an expression like that in such a young, normally cheerful girl’s face. “But I couldn’t have stood beside you at the altar and watch you two marry each other. I’m not robot enough to live through that, you see?”
Vice blurted out incredulously, “You’re not a robot, Subaru!”
“Thanks,” she smiled briefly at him. “I never forget it.”
“Well, you should,” he snapped, concerned and angry. “Do you consider your sister to be a robot?” He didn’t need to hear her answer; the look on her face was enough. “So don’t call yourself that again.”
Subaru grinned again, this one for real. “Thanks, Vice-san.” She bounced to her feet, limber and full of energy. “Want to go for a walk? This is a really beautiful planet.”
“Sure,” he sighed, climbing to his feet. “I thought you worked mostly on patrol routes?”
“I do, but we haven’t set up extensive patrol routes yet. We’ve only been here for three days, after all.” Subaru glanced sideways at him. “Speaking of, it was dangerous of you to come, Vice-san. Pirates on this border, remember? Imagine what it would have been like if I had to come and rescue you!”
“I wouldn’t have minded,” he said, amused. “We’re friends, after all.”
We both love the same girl.
“Besides, I took a military transport. I had to endure the smell of plastic and computers the whole trip.”
“You…” Subaru scratched her head, puzzled. “Out here? Don’t you need authorization to do that?”
“A friend owed me a favour,” Vice told her. More like now I owe Hayate-san…She’ll likely come up with something when I least expect it. He could already imagine her gleeful, mischievous brain working away to think of recompense. But underneath it all, he knew that she sympathized. “Which was better than my stowaway plans, trust me.”
Abruptly, Subaru stopped in the middle of the trail and turned, staring intently at Vice. “Vice-san, why did you come here?”
He stopped as well. “I told you before.”
“You should be with Tea,” Subaru said, frustratedly throwing her arms up. “She needs you right now!”
“She needs you too!” Vice countered, and he swallowed a lump in his throat before adding forcefully, “Maybe even more!”
“You’re her fiancée.”
He felt his irritation vanish in a burst, leaving him empty and sad. “She loves you too.”
Subaru blew a breath through her bangs, her eyes turned upward and watching her blue hair settle again. “Vice-san, let me tell you something, okay? This whole thing between Tea and you and I…” She shrugged, lifting her hands helplessly as her shoulders drooped in dejection.
“You are the ‘right place, right time’ guy, while I’m the ‘what if’ girl.”
“So you think that she does love you too.” Vice hadn’t meant for that to come out mildly accusing; he ducked his head in shame. But even though he had always known, or guessed, it was different hearing it said aloud. It was real now. Vice had always thought that he wasn’t the kind of guy who would confront this situation resentfully—he felt ashamed of himself.
“I think that now it doesn’t matter that she does, or did. We all made our choices, Vice-san, and she chose you.” Subaru studied him, then patted his shoulder. “It’s okay that you’re angry.”
“No, it’s not. I care about you too, you know.” Vice sighed and continued walking towards the downhill curve of the trail that they were on. They climbed down to drift towards the lakeside, and Vice felt the chill lake wind pull at his jacket as it rushed by them. Part of him missed the peace vast nature brought, bringing back memories of his childhood before his family had moved to Cranagan. Things seemed simpler here, as if it was easier to pretend that the chains of relationships didn’t exist, and that everything was perfectly alright. He breathed in deeply, trying to settle the rolling emotions in his chest.
“I know,” Subaru said, smiling briefly before facing away, watching the ripples flowing across the silvery lake, her expression falling back into melancholic contemplation.
“But what about you, Subaru?” He didn’t have to flesh that question out; Subaru knew what he was really asking.
“I’ve got two options: I can angst about her and keep hoping, hopelessly…or I can move on. Try to move on, at least.” She laughed, her first sign of real bitterness. “I think that three star-systems and ten years should be good enough, don’t you think?”
Vice exhaled, grinding his heel into the gravel. “You’ll have to talk to her someday.”
“Someday,” Subaru agreed. “Someday, when this has turned into a bittersweet memory…” She twiddled her thumbs, kicking one shoe idly. “And how about you, Vice-san?”
He grimaced, then smiled wearily. “I do have selfish reasons for asking you to come back. Even…even I need closure, too.” When he had fallen in love with Teana, he had admired her straight-forward intensity most out of all her qualities.
Subaru nodded, understanding. “So when’s the…” She choked slightly on the word, but rallied. “…wedding?”
“We haven’t set a date yet.”
“I see.”
They were silent.
“I had asked her, ‘If we were to get married tomorrow, would you be able to do it without having any regrets, without wondering what if’….” Vice sighed.
“What did she say?”
“She started crying.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s not you. It’s her.” Suddenly he slammed his fist into his thigh, exclaiming frustratedly, “No, you know what? Yes, it is you too. You shouldn’t have left like that, it’s something that both of you have to work out about each other, and you being three fricking star-systems away isn’t helping!”
Subaru looked tired, and she didn’t seem to have the energy to argue in her own defence anymore. So she asked him instead, “And what are you going to do, if she can’t work it out?”
“It’s cheesy, but I really just want her to be happy.” Scowling, Vice put a hand into his side pocket, closing his fist around the hard metal there. “If she’s happy marrying me, then that’s what I want. If she wants you then I’ll let her go, just like you did for me.”
The blunette’s lips twitched. “Are you then going to make a ten-year contract as far away as you can?”
Even though she was half-teasing, Vice answered her entirely seriously. “No, I wouldn’t…because then everything would be a treasured memory, instead of harsh, cold reality every day. You need reality to get over someone you love.”
“I’m still in the “immature young adult” phase, Vice-san.” A trace of humour threaded through her voice as Subaru said, “That’s all a little too grown-up for me at the moment.”
He couldn’t help laughing even as he said staunchly, “You’re growing.” They fell silent again. A bird chirped from one direction; another one answered before a whole flock burst out of the treeline and fluttered through the sky. Vice watched them, skipping rocks across the placid lake surface.
Part of him loved Teana because she believed that he was a good guy, even though he had failed before. Because she believed in him, Vice could fool himself into believing it too, whole-heartedly. He had grown too—but sometimes, in the still moments, he remembered pulling the trigger, and hearing a little girl’s scream…
But Teana loved him anyways. And he loved her too, stubborn faults and all. It should have been as simple as that.
He hurled a stone, watching it bounce over the water. “So you’ve really made your choice.”
“I have. I really hope that you and Tea are happy together, Vice-san. Because even if…even if…” She trailed off and sighed, broken. “I’m not the person for her anymore. I won’t be.” Even if she came to me, was unsaid.
“I hope so too,” he admitted, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. They looked at each other, sharing a secret, an understanding, connected together in the rich words of unspoken intentions. Staring down at his other hand, Vice turned a pair of gold rings around in his palm, shuffling them between his fingers like expensive poker chips. He lowered his head.
“I hope so, too.”
Ok, I'll be honest and admit that I'm kinda confused about what happened So, what was the resolution exactly? Was there even a resolution? I need some one to explain it to me like I'm a 6 year old >_<
Ok, I'll be honest and admit that I'm kinda confused about what happened So, what was the resolution exactly? Was there even a resolution? I need some one to explain it to me like I'm a 6 year old >_<
The resolution is that Vice is planning to stay with Teana, Subaru is going to give her up and stay in deep space, and so far Teana herself has no real closure in the situation at all at this point.
Which is why I say DC should write a "ten years later" bit. *shot*
Location: Place of rocks and trees, and trees and rocks...and water.
Age: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by 00-Raiser
Ok, I'll be honest and admit that I'm kinda confused about what happened So, what was the resolution exactly? Was there even a resolution? I need some one to explain it to me like I'm a 6 year old >_<
*wince* Was I too cryptic and vague for my own good?
Quote:
Originally Posted by RadiantBeam
The resolution is that Vice is planning to stay with Teana, Subaru is going to give her up and stay in deep space, and so far Teana herself has no real closure in the situation at all at this point.
Which is why I say DC should write a "ten years later" bit. *shot*
*STAB* Boy, that pointed comment is really pointy ....
EDIT:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaijo
And what about Alto, and her hidden feelings for Vice? What about her closure!?!?!?!
@_@ Too many people!!!! Triangle up-graded to a square???
2010-03-04, 16:22
Author
I'll have to go back and rework the chapter a bit; combat scenes really aren't my area of comfort at all, so a lot of the time I just try to rush through them and end up making a lot of mistakes with how I handle the characters. Why I never thought of what you just mentioned, I have no idea. 
) part of the Teana x Subaru x Vice love triangle.
*quickly patches RB's heart up with scotch tape* Sorry! 
