Fan Fic: Contamination

[Sagasu]

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The three of them sat around the lounge room table, quietly, two figures nursing cups of coffee while the other merely studied them and the immediate area, since he had never been there before. Kangae had been granted entrance to the home of Ms. Jibun by the teacher herself. The Newman was taken aback at seeing his, at times, most hated teacher dressed in casual attire and with a smile on her face. She welcomed him in and led him into the parlor, outside the artificial night time sky was in full swing, brilliant stars and moons shone, providing soft light for those below. Though only an illusion of what the citizens left behind, it still gave the people a serene peace. Where he was seated at was comfortably furnished with ample supply of soft, beige couches and padded wicker chairs, from the ceiling hung plants to liven the place up a bit, but with the rather dull color scheme things still seemed somewhat plain. He had politely refused refreshments of any kind, and somehow managed to keep his balance when sitting on the fluff filled end of his FOnewm overcoat on an overly squishy cushion. His own appearance, while somewhat regal in the surprisingly fitting get up he was in, must have been disarrayed. Fine, dark red hair spilled out everywhere from over the head band, while his face must have portrayed a good deal of tiredness for he saw some trace of pity in his teacher's eyes. His shoulders sagged as he placed his head in his hands, like a tremendous weight in his chest, it dragged his spirit down. A slight tension filled the air, the third figure, someone he recognized from seeing her around the hunters academy a few times, examined him like one would an intruder in their home. In truth, he was, but upon invitation. So this is the survivor.. sure looks bad-ass enough. The Newman thought, faintly wistful. Large, black baggy clothes seemed to be her preference, her hair was dark like a raven's plume, and odd, unnatural orange eyes met his from time to time. Despite her openly discomforting aura, she had quite the tempting figure. Glancing back and forth between the two, he could tell that they were mother and daughter, though finally it struck him. The hunter in training had newman ears, though she wasn't quite of the smaller build most of them were. In truth, she still stood a good head taller than he. This opened a new interest in the family before him.. Was the father.. a Newman? Like himself?

"Since it looks like no one is in the mood for idle chat, I'll get to the point of bringing you here." Ms. Jibun said, placing down her mug on a small plate and then set this on the glass table they were seated around. Kangae looked up from his palms, but said nothing to acknowledge her statement.

"You two are the only survivors of those that were on campus, I hoped that you would both shed some light on the matter, and perhaps both of you did something in common to spare your lives." Nodding her head, the teacher's daughter was the first to respond.

"I'll go first.." She paused to look into his eyes for a period of time, as if trying to find some answer within them. Then the half-newman continued,

"I was with the crowd of students when the thing came through the roof. It looked like a giant, black spider, it stepped forward a few paces, and then spewed out this giant sphere of gelatin. The sphere split into smaller ones, with glowing red dots that swam around in their middle. And well, we ran, after that there was no point in running, since they were obviously much faster than any of us, a few of the students, myself included, turned around in an attempt to fight them." She took a breather for a beat, while the other two figures waited patiently for her to go on.

"Fire didn't work, and lighting seemed pointless, ice spells were slow, and easily avoided. My HUnewearl training meant I knew a few techniques, and since I had no weapon there was little choice to what I could do. We, as the defenders, were the first to be attacked. Thanks to some more extensive field testing you put me through, mother, I wasn't too paralyzed to try to stop the thing from hitting me. I managed to pull off I GIbarta spell and freeze it mid flight, this saved my life, I presume. The others hadn't been so fortunate, and were being devoured in the blink of an eye. The other blobs had leapt over us and were attacking the other students, who couldn't even put up a fight."

"And the night staff?" Asked her mother,

"Janitors and a few security guards, unprofessional and just as helpless." Her daughter stated matter-of-factly.

"I see, please continue Jennifer." Sighing, the younger female complied.

"I was forced to run, since now they were on my trail. Up ahead of me a saw another blob fall out of the spider, this one was odd. It had a yellow orb in it, and seemed to wander around aimlessly. Then it took off down the hall in the opposite direction from me. After that another one dropped down, also a yellow, deranged creature. This one targeted me, it leapt, and caught me." She shrugged,

"And after that I passed out, and woke up in the hospital." Jennifer paused, looking at her mothers impassive face, and then the Newman's troubled one. Her mother would have spoken, but was interrupted.

"I was.. a coward." Kangae spoke, his voice vibrating with choked emotion. Hair spilled over his eyes as a sweat drop streaked down the side his face. The HUnewearl shivered, something about his green eyes carried a depth, and the passion that developed as the words came from him startled her.

"I too, was attacked by one of the yellow eyed creatures. I ran as soon as I saw your attacks fail, I ran but still they came. defending myself didn't seem like an option, I just ran until I couldn't run any more. Then I tried to hide from it, into one of the bathrooms. A closed door wouldn't stop it, the thing just oozed underneath and crept up my leg, it dragged me down and it should have consumed me right then and there-"

"You were only acting as any would, Kangae." Ms. Jibun said sternly, as if it were supposed to make the situation any better. He eyed her for a moment, and she withdrew into silence.

"Schools and training halls are one thing, but this was completely different. I was helpless.. Not because I don't know my spells, or my drills.. I always fought the simulation battles by feel. And here, I couldn't feel anything, nothing but fear. I-" He choked for a moment, the pressure proving to overwhelming to speak. His shoulders slumped lower and he ran his fingers through his hair and let the palm rest on his forehead.

"I should have died a coward's death back there. I want, I need a second chance to walk down that hallway and perhaps save a few lives. But now its over, they're gone, and here we are, alive, and clueless."

"Don't be too sure of that." His teacher now stood, speaking in earnest, though her voice was grave.

"More of them are on their way, the public haven't been notified, but they expect me to help fight these things. The officials think that you two hold some key to this, and now I'm sure of it. Somehow those two yellow variations of the creatures saved your lives, instead of taking them away. Scientists, of course, wish to study you, but I and your parents wont have that. " Kangae now rose as well, his own voice blazing.

"They would actually let someone that hasn't completed their hunter training do something like this?" His teacher shrugged,

"It can be arranged, you would be working alongside some other hunters as well, you know. The officials don't give much of a care as long as the public doesn't hear that we've got children going up against these things." They conversed a little bit more, and a few things were decided. First of all, he couldn't go home, undoubtedly his parents would have protests against his choice to fight the creaturesl; He was to stay with Ms. Jibun, who insisted he should simply call her Martha since they were no longer in the classroom, and her daughter. Also, before they were going to see any battle field, she would make sure that they were ready. With that settled, he was given blankets and a pillow, then told to get some rest. With that his teacher left him, and before Jennifer could also disappear upstairs, he managed to get out one last question.

"You saw them too, didn't you?"

"I have no idea what your talking about.." She replied, shaking her head.

The orb, the huge nest of these things, you didn't see it?"

"No, now get some rest. Also, the bathroom is just down the hallway there, if I'm going to be stuck working with you, at least you could do me the favor of taking a shower."