From December to April
"Ready or not, Dizzy... here I come!" Saying so, April raised her
sword over her head and charged at her half-Gear crewmate and friend.
Dizzy said nothing as she jumped to the side, easily dodging April's
swing, and spun to face her. April, still carried by momentum, tried
to skid to a stop but ended up crashing into the wall. Dizzy sighed.
"Just charging willy-nilly won't get you anywhere, April," she said,
extending a hand to help her up. April grinned sheepishly and tossed
aside her sword - wooden, of course - before grabbing Dizzy's hand and
hoisting herself up.
"I really don't think I'm cut out for this, Dizzy. I don't see what
Johnny is thinking. I'm the pilot! I'm not cut out for this like July
or Augus." It had been one month since Johnny had insisted that April
began what he called "real combat training". Johnny had offered to be
her personal trainer (which May had become quite angry at, for some
reason), but Dizzy had offered instead, saying that Johnny would
probably be too much for the young pilot.
"He just wants to make sure everybody can take care of themselves,"
Dizzy said, brushing the dust off April's sleeve. "Just in case...
should worse come to worst..."
The hypothetical loomed over both girls' heads, and neither of them
said anything for a while. If the Jellyfish were suddenly attacked,
head on, person-to-person... Johnny and Dizzy could certainly take
care of themselves, and July and Augus, and probably May as well, but
what would happen to everybody else...?
April shook her head as if shaking the thoughts lose, then gave a
small laugh. "Well, that's true! But Johnny sure is rough on his crew
sometimes, y'know?" Dizzy nodded assent and laughed as well. "Boy, I'm
tired. And it's getting late. Whaddya say we get something to drink
and then call it a night?" said April. Dizzy nodded again
enthusiastically.
April led the way to the kitchen. It WAS late; from the windows in the
hallway, they could see the moon floating in a perfectly clear night
sky; below them, clouds blocked their view of the ground, and perhaps
more importantly, blocked the ground's view of them. At any rate, at
this time of night, Leap wouldn't be up, and so she certainly couldn't
complain if they raided the fridge a little...
A wide assortment of bottles, covered plates and pots, and various
ingredients greeted them as they opened the ship's industrial-sized
fridge. April pulled out a bottle, seemingly at random, and chugged
half of the contents. She wiped her lips and gave a contented sigh.
"Now THAT's what I really need... a nice, cold drink. Not a beating
with a wooden stick." She laughed at her own joke.
Dizzy was a little more reserved. "Do you even know what that is,
April?" Dizzy said, peering at the bottle curiously. But April
shrugged off her concern. "Tastes like orange juice. Not that it
matters, as long as it's cold and wet, I want it, at this point." So
saying, she took another swig on the bottle. Dizzy sighed and began
looking through the bottles for something else; eventually she settled
on a plastic bottle of unsweetened ice tea, something she was
particularly fond of.
She opened the bottle and began sipping slowly, pensively. Something
was weighing on her mind, but even she didn't really know what it was.
It had been six months since she had joined the crew of the Jellyfish,
and she had made fast friends with the crew in that amount of time.
Still, there were things she didn't understand. Why had she even
agreed to train April? Dizzy hated fighting more than anything else,
but for some reason when Johnny said that he'd train April personally,
something pushed her to volunteer herself instead.
It wasn't like her, and that bothered her. Before her time on the
Jellyfish, Dizzy had spent all of her life that she could remember in
the village, or in the forest. Both lifestyles were similar. Before
she lived with her foster father and mother, quietly, in peace, until
the other villagers drove her out. Even afterwards, with Testament and
the animals of the forest, she had grown accustomed to the calm
solitude of living nearly alone every day.
But now things were different. Now she was part of a crew, part of a
unit. Now things were seldom calm, nor quiet. Frenzied raids, rushing
escapes from the authorities, and that recent business with the red
witch hadn't given Dizzy the peace she was so used to. And Dizzy felt,
somehow, that it was changing her, fundamentally, as a person. It
might be for the better, but it was only natural to feel uneasy about
it.
"Hey... April..." Dizzy began. "Hurh? 'tsup, Dizzy?" Dizzy turned
towards April and was shocked to see April flushed, eyes unfocused.
Had she fallen sick suddenly? "Stop spinning around, Diz... hurm..."
continued April, before slumping over, dropping the bottle. Dizzy
panicked for a second, and then April began snoring quite heavily.
Dizzy picked up the bottle. In neat lettering on one side was the
words "Leap's Stock - Do Not Touch!!" Underneath that was "This means
you, May!" Dizzy peered into the bottle and sniffed its contents...
"Oh dear..." she said, at a loss for words. Orange juice... it had
orange juice, all right, but Leap's pre-mixed screwdrivers were
definitely not as benign. And April had chugged the whole bottle!
Well, at least she was asleep, and therefore not a danger to herself
or anybody else.
Dizzy replaced the mostly-empty bottle in the fridge, finished off her
remaining ice tea, then attempted to hoist April up, taking her arm
over her shoulders. "Hurh? Change course... aye aye..." was all April
said. Dreaming already?
Dizzy walked towards the kitchen exit, dragging April along. The girl
was heavy. Then again, she was providing none of her own power, and so
it stood to reason that Dizzy would have a hard time pulling her along
while she was dragging her feet along the ground. This was hopeless.
Dizzy had Gear-enhanced power, true, but tapping in to that power
would mean tapping into her Gear nature... not something she did
lightly. She'd have to try it as a human woman.
"Whew..." Dizzy finally had dragged the unconscious April to the
kitchen entrance. Already she was tired. And April's room was two
decks up...
Something nagged at Dizzy. And then an idea hit her. Her own room was
on this deck... she could take April there and just wait until she
recovered enough to walk up on her own. That made perfect sense.
Right?
No time for contemplation. The biggest priority now was getting April
rested so she could sleep off the alcohol. Dizzy managed, after much
effort, to drag April four doors down to her own room. She struggled
with the door for a bit (a latch was DEFINITELY not as easy to handle
when somebody else is weighting down your shoulders), then finally
kicked it open. She headed inside and finally laid April down on her
bed. "Hurh... cotton and teddy bears," murmured April, senselessly.
Dizzy plopped down in a chair at bedside and gave a sigh of relief.
Well, that was quite a workout. Dizzy glanced over at the peacefully
sleeping April... mussed hair, shirt loose and up, dusty shorts... and
flushed.
Flushed? Whatever for? Dizzy wondered if she had really drank iced
tea, or if she had mistakenly drank one of Leap's "special mixes". But
no, as part of her Gear nature, alcohol didn't affect her much at
all... so why?
"I think it's obvious, don't you!?" said a voice, causing Dizzy to
start slightly. High-pitched and squeaky... for a second Dizzy thought
that May might have barged in, but the door to her room was still
closed and latched. "Hey! Over here! On your desk, stupid!"
Dizzy glanced over and started once again, this time because of what
she saw. There was somebody there. A small figure... somebody dressed
in dark green pirate clothes, with a cowl over its head, no more than
six inches tall. The figure was talking. "Hey! Yes, you, Dizzy. Do you
know who I am?"
Dizzy leaned in and peered at the figure. Underneath the dark green
cowl, there was only a skull. Dizzy found the figure suspiciously
familiar. "...Necro?"
"Well... sorta," said the little figure. "But don't get me wrong, I'm
not him. He's still stuck to your back, hahaha. In other words, you
guessed wrong! I'm not Necro. I'm your conscience!"
Dizzy blinked. "My... conscience?"
"Y'know, that voice in your head that keeps telling you 'What are you
doing! Why are you doing that! Blast 'em! Blast 'em away!' I tell you,
being your conscience has been really hard these past few months. What
a job!"
"...I find it hard to believe that's my conscience," replied Dizzy,
staring at the odd mini-Necro. "Why is my conscience wearing pirate
clothes?"
"Why are YOU wearing pirate clothes? Because they're darn comfortable!
I tell you, that leather-bondage-fetish thing you had going there for
awhile certainly was uncomfortable. Though Test certainly liked it,
heh heh heh."
Dizzy blushed again. The mini-Necro sure was talkative, but he didn't
seem to be too harmful. "Even if you ARE my conscience... what are you
doing here? You've never popped up before."
"I'm here because I'm tired, silly! Tired of you! You and your beating
around the bush!"
"I don't get it..."
Mini-Necro sighed and pointed a bony finger at the prone April. "It's
about her! Of course. Gear-enhanced intelligence my ass, you certainly
are slow."
"About April? What do you mean?"
"Why do you think you were flushing earlier? It certainly wasn't
alcohol, and no, it's not hot in here; it's just me." Mini-Necro
grinned and hopped off the desk, floating oddly until he landed on
Dizzy's shoulder. "I'll tell you why." With that, Necro leaned in and
whispered into Dizzy's ear. Dizzy flushed once again.
"Th-that's impossible!" she said, aghast. But the Mini-Necro just
chuckled.
"That's what you think, babe," he said. "Think about it. Why did you
get so anxious when Johnny said he'd 'personally train' April? Easy.
You wanted to do it yourself."
"Well, she IS a good friend, and Johnny sometimes can be overzealous
when teaching..."
"Oh come on, Dizzy!" Mini-Necro said, tsk tsking at her. "Be honest
with yourself. Look at her. Go on, look." He pushed on Dizzy's cheek
until she was once again looking April. "That mussed hair. That loose
shirt... oh, that bare stomach. You can just see the swell of her
breasts from this angle. Come on, admit it. You'd like to reach out,
take them in your hands, and squ..."
"Stop that!" said Dizzy, flustered. "I don't know what you mean!"
"Sure you do. And I'm here to set you straight! You're too naive,
Dizzy. You're a half-Gear. You're more powerful than any of the crew.
And so, you should take what's rightfully yours. I'm not here to
advise you. I'm TELLING you this: you should right now climb onto YOUR
bed and take April for your own."
"I can't possibly do that!" Dizzy protested. "I'm..."
"Stop bothering her!" said another, high-pitched voice. Once again
Dizzy briefly thought it was May, but it wasn't. Mini-Necro sighed.
"Ugh... not HER again."
Dizzy glanced in the direction of Mini-Necro's disgusted gaze. Over on
the corner of her bed, there was another small figure, this time
dressed in light blue pirate clothes, long hair, a female for sure...
"...Undine?"
"Don't listen to him! He's not your conscience. He's your id. Your
base instincts, your horrible desires."
Mini-Necro snorted. "And I suppose YOU'RE her conscience, then."
"Of course not. I'm here just to set her on course. The RIGHT course,"
Mini-Undine retorted. Dizzy sighed.
"I get the feeling I should've just gone to sleep," she said. "What is
this right course, then?"
"It's obvious, don't you think?" Mini-Undine said. "You know enough
about humans. Woo her. Be nice to her. Tell her she's pretty and smart
and wonderful."
"B-but... she's my friend! Why should I tell her those things?"
Mini-Undine looked momentarily perplexed. Mini-Necro smirked and said
something that sounded suspiciously like "Told ya so".
"Dizzy, honey, you have to stop lying to yourself," said Mini-Undine.
"You're friends with everybody on this ship, right?" Dizzy nodded.
"Now think about it. Think about how you feel about May, about Johnny,
about Janice, about Leap. Now think about how you feel about April.
Are you telling me that it's the same way?"
Dizzy was momentarily at a loss for words. "I..."
Mini-Undine continued. "Now don't listen to this freak over here.
There's nothing WRONG with those feelings. It's GOOD that you're
friends with April, but the truth is, you want something more. As long
as you don't seize it one-sided, like this jerk suggests, it's
perfectly natural."
"Hey, no need to be so mean to me," interjected Mini-Necro. "I have
feelings too." Dizzy and Mini-Undine both glanced sideways at Mini-
Necro. "What? What's so funny?"
"Anyway," said Mini-Undine. "Wait until she wakes up. Then tell her
how you feel! You'll never get anywhere moping around halfheartedly."
"Ok, now I have to stop you right there," said Mini-Necro. "Wooing?
What is this, the 21st century? You'll never get anywhere wooing. You
have to seize the day, or the girl, as the case may be." Necro prodded
Dizzy with his finger. "Can't you feel it as you look at her? The need
to be on top of her, feeling her? Look at those short pirate shorts!
Man, this place is heaven. Don't you want to find out if she's a
natural brunette?"
Dizzy blushed furiously at the last comment. Mini-Necro crowed,
triumphant. "See! You know precisely what I'm talking about. I know
you've thought about it. Maybe you didn't KNOW you were thinking about
it, but you were. I should know, I'm part of you."
"How rude," said Mini-Undine. "Just because you THINK about something
doesn't mean you ACT on it. We're not animals, here."
"Yeah, well, I think about strangling your prissy little neck every
day, but I don't act on it."
"Just listen to me, Dizzy," said Mini-Undine, pointedly ignoring Mini-
Necro. "I know what you can do. I know you're always reluctant to show
your true feelings, but in this case it really is important. But if
you don't want to say it right away, that's okay. Just work towards it
gradually. In the meantime, why don't you give her a gift? Something
that shows her how much you care about her."
"Booooooring," said Mini-Necro, now lying down on Dizzy's shoulder,
propping his head up with one bony arm. "I'll tell you what gift would
really make you both happy. Your tail, straight up her..."
"Necro!" said Mini-Undine. "If you don't have anything helpful to say,
don't say it at all."
"I think I'm being perfectly helpful here! I'm trying to get Dizzy
over her innate shyness, which on a scale from 1 to 10, is about a
negative 6."
"Look, Dizzy clearly isn't being helped by what you're saying. So why
don't you go back to whatever metaphysical place you came from?"
"Speak for yourself! You're so uptight, you'll have Dizzy cowing at
everything, never getting anywhere. Dizzy clearly is getting more help
from me than you."
"Ridiculous! Dizzy needs me now, and she..."
"Needs you like she needs Gear-hating! She..."
Dizzy took a deep breath. "What I need right now... is for both of you
to go away." And abruptly, both of them were gone. But two voices
speaking in unison sounded in her head.
"Whatever you do, do the right thing, Dizzy."
The right thing. What was it? Did humans ever go through life knowing
what the Right Thing to do was? Because she certainly hadn't. She had
been stumbling through life blindly all along... but at least now she
had direction.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow would be a new day, and tomorrow, Dizzy would make
some progress towards her feelings. She stood up from her chair, and
leaned over April.
"Good night, April." So saying, she closed her eyes and briefly kissed
April on her lips.
Her eyes popped open again as she felt the pressure being returned to
her own mouth, and hands on her back, carressing where her wings
joined her shoulders, where it always felt so sore, and it felt
wonderful. In front of her, she saw April's eyes, wide open, cheerful
and glittering.
"A-April!" Dizzy sputtered, breaking the kiss as she almost hopped
backwards. "I'm s-sorry! How long were you awake?"
April winked at her. "Ever since I dropped the bottle. I was wondering
how long I'd have to pretend to be drunk." Dizzy, flustered, could say
nothing, so April just drew her in gently and kissed her once again.
Back to Guilty Gear X Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction