Chapter 5:

They were back at the Church after seeing off Altair. They were in the garden, sitting on a bench and admiring the various breeds of flower, courtesy of Labrador.

"Mikage," Teito said, head hanging. "I know you came to take me back, but I can't! I have to find out about my past and the Ragg's kingdom. I'm sorry Mikage, but I can't go back with you."

The blonde replied with an understanding smile. "Can you stand, Teito?"

"I'm fine."

"I understand Teito... you can't possibly return to the army that killed your your dad." Mikage laughed weakly.

"Is that your answer?"

He winced as the voice spoke. "But Mikage... will you be alright?" asked Teito.

"... Teito, listen carefully to me, alright? Listen to me while my voice is still able to reach you." Mikage put his hands on Teito's shoulders, making sure Teito's eyes were on him. "First don't make the imperial army your enemy. Revenge produces nothing in the end. Even if you hate some one enough to kill them, you won't be saved from it. Always face forward. Walk down the path that has light."

"Second, you suck at accepting other people's kindness and opening yourself up... But you're my best friend along with Altair. I always pray for your happiness. I'll always be by your side. Don't forget that."

"M-Mikage...? Why are you suddenly saying such things?" Teito asked, he had a bad feeling about it. Mikage had said that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, but his words... they felt like he was saying goodbye.

Mikage gave a weak laugh, his hand was covering part of his face. "Haha... I can't go back to the army either. I have one last favor..." He didn't dare meet Teito's eyes as he said his next words. "Kill me Teito."

Teito's eyes widened. "Wh-What are you talking about? I can't kill you!"

"Guh.. then hurry up and run! I can't hold him back much longer..." Mikage clutched himself, trying to spare Teito enough time to escape even though the action only harmed him more. "Not me... someone else... is after you...

"Damn it..! There's no way I can sell you out! To me, you're just as important as my family!"

"Tell me why! I can't just leave you alone!" Teito shouted, worried at his friend.

Mikage shoved Teito away, his control gradually surrendering to the chief of staff's control. "What are you doing?" I'm scared Teito. "From now on," don't go. "I'm going on my own!" he said, pushing Teito away further. The last thing he was in control of now was his mind, but it wouldn't be for long. He struggled to finish what he had to say before Ayanami completely took over him.

"Because I," hate this. "Met you, I'm lonely without you. My heart always felt warm. I was truly happy." He closed his eyes, ready to say his goodbyes and to block out Teito's shocked face. He didn't want to see his best friend cry. "I'm leaving," don't let me die! "Before I hurt," my family. "You."

"It can't be! Did the army do something to you..!"

Mikage opened his eyes, but it wasn't Mikage anymore. "You can't escape," I love you, "Teito. You're coming back with me." Goodbye.

"We have now reached the 1st district. During this time we will be taking an hour break to stock up on our supplies, so passengers please step off the train until one hour later. Thank you, have a nice evening."

Altair awoke at the sound of the announcement, rubbing at her eyes to wipe the sleep away. It was noon, the sun shining brightly high above the horizon. It had been four days since she'd left the 7th district. Originally, she should have been back in the 1st district in two days time but technical difficulties had arose along the way.

She picked up her duffel bag that she had brought with her and stepped off the train. She never found her cap that she'd lost at the festival but it didn't matter much. She could always steal one from Luka's closet again, it's not like he wore them anyways. He was in his uniform 24/7 and it would look ridiculous if he wore his one of his caps. Plus it was against regulations. She checked on Luka's location and vitals again. He was still in the 1st district and his vitals were relatively normal. Guess he was on a break from training.

She wanted to hurry up and transfer information again, it'd been too long and she wanted to see what he had learned. With the Recorder's eyes, they both held all of the world's history but now that the eyes were split, the data that they collected could not be found in the other unless there was a transfer.

Altair ignored the people in the streets and headed towards Desya's workshop to grab his key cards so she could enter Hohburg Fortress and meet with Luka. She missed him and wanted to see how things were going with the Black Hawks. She didn't really know much about them except for rumors and whatnot but they couldn't be too bad if Luka and that person she'd met, Konatsu, were in there. Hopefully, the rumors about them being monsters who killed Barsburg soldiers that disobeyed them was wrong.

She entered the workshop/garage and gave a brief report of the job she'd done in the 7th district to Desya before grabbing the cards and leaving. The cards were extremely important to enter Hohburg fortress if you weren't part of the army, but Desya barely blinked when Altair grabbed them off his work desk. If it were anyone other than Altair he would have smacked them with his wrench and put them to work on cleaning up grease stains, a dirty job. He didn't want any of his workers to abuse its power. He scratched his balding head, chuckling to himself. Altair was abusing the cards power though. Instead of using them to do jobs, she used them to visit her brother almost constantly, now that she had been given permission to do so.

If he hadn't given it to her, she would've most likely just snuck into Hohburg again disguised as Luka. He remembered how restless she was months ago, not being able to see Luka and finally stole one of his military uniforms out of his closet. With a wig and a gray contact lense, Altair had looked almost exactly identical to Luka. From what he had heard from Altair, everything had been going well until Luka found out and sent her home threatening that if she ever did that again, he wouldn't come home anymore or try out her new inventions.

He watched Altair's rapidly retreating back, wishing her and her key cards luck. With Luka officially in the army, there would be less and less time for future visits from him. Desya didn't mind permanently handing over the key cards to Altair. If by seeing each other, the twins were happy then so be it. They didn't deserved to be separated from each other after all that'd happen. They were the only family they had left, their parents having died in an accident when they were barely ten. Even though Luka had been supposedly fine being away from Altair at the Academy, it wasn't good to keep them away from each other. Not seeing Luka for long periods of time had negative effects on Altair. She couldn't concentrate on her work or stop worrying that something bad had happened to him. That had changed though, after she had finished with her new invention. Desya didn't know much about it except that was supposed to monitor Luka's vitals and send the data to Altair's own armlet much different from the one she had. He thought it was a bit over the top but as long as it helped Altair calm down, it was fine. She was afraid of losing another person important to her. He just hoped her worry was unwarranted.

Another days training was finally over. Having taken a shower and changed into a new uniform, Luka walked down the hallways of Hohburg Fort to report to Ayanami's office about his progress. He was glad that the Black Hawks had a wing of their own, he couldn't stand those old men looking down on him or the Black Hawks. It didn't bother him much but it was annoying. Every time he was in the middle of deep thought, their raspy voices would pull him out of it. He hated it. It had happened earlier that day, when he was running through his dream about Eve in his mind again. She'd held her delicate hand out, urging for him to take it. He couldn't stop thinking about what would have happened if he had only grabbed onto that hand.

He knocked on the door before entering and took a step back in surprise at the person sitting on the chief of staff's sofa across from Hyuuga. Her hair wasn't in its usual ponytail and sat on her shoulder, maroon tendrils curling at the ends. She wore a pastel yellow shirt and a pair of dark blue overalls tucked into her shin high boots. As always, her blue-green eye went uncovered. She stood up as soon as she saw him.

He sighed. "Altair don't you have a job to do?"

The girl looked at her armlet briefly before grinning widely at him. "Nope, I finished my job already and Desya just sent a message saying I don't need to come in for a while."

"I see." He approached Ayanami, who was filling out papers. "Chief Ayanami, I apologize if my sister has caused you any trouble."

Ayanami merely waved a hand. "As long as she keeps Hyuuga from interrupting my work."

"Awww, Aya-tan you're so mean," Hyuuga replied. To Luka, "Don't worry about reporting your progress to Aya-tan, I already did that for you so just relax."

Konatsu who had been carrying Hyuuga's paperwork entered just as Hyuuga finished the sentence. He dropped the stack of papers in his hand at the shock of Hyuuga actually doing something of importance before recovering and catching the papers before they scattered.

Luka nodded before turning his attention to his sister. "Altair, go-"

"No," she cut in.

"Altair."

"No." She crossed her arms across her chest to reinforce her answer.

"Fine. You can stay today but now that you've got no jobs, don't be coming here everyday got it? I'll be busy and won't have time to entertain you."

Altair cocked her head to the side. "That's fine. You don't have to entertain me. I just want to see what you guys do, that's all."

"Altair-"

She shook her head and walked over to him. She put her hands on his cheeks and forced his face into a smile. "That's better. I hardly ever see you anymore and every time you see me, you frown. Smile. I really like it when you smile."

Luka couldn't help as the corners of his mouth twitched, amused. He smiled causing Hyuuga to gasp loudly. Luka patted her head. "If you want to see my smile so much, just look in a mirror."

"Wow, so Luka-pon can actually smile!"

"Luka-pon?" Altair asked, looking at her brother weirdly. Luka replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Luka-pon's such a stiff. He never smiles or shows any emotions! He's almost as bad as Aya-tan!" Hyuuga explained.

Altair smiled at the overenthusiastic Black Hawk member. So they weren't as bad as the rumors had made them out to be. Luka sighed again rubbing his temple as Altair wrapped her arms around him. "Stop sighing, you'll let all your good luck escape that way."

He flicked her in the forehead, smiling slightly. "With you here, it's hard to keep that from happening. Since you won't listen to what I say, I guess I'll introduce you to the Black Hawks." He motioned towards Konatsu and Hyuuga. "You've met Konatsu already. The guy in the sunglasses is Hyuuga. Konatsu is his Begleiter." He motioned towards Ayanami. "That's the chief of staff, Ayanami. I'm his Begleiter. There are three others: Kuroyuri, Haruse, and Katsuragi. Those three are currently carrying out their missions."

Altair nodded before bowing. "Nice to meet you, I'm Altair. I hope to get along with you guys while I'm here."

"Yay! A cutie!" enthused Hyuuga.

Ayanami who had barely paid any attention to them finished signing one last paper before looking up from his work and addressed the girl. "Don't expect to lounge around here doing nothing. The Black Hawks have no need for some one who can't pull their own weight." He studied the girl. She was his Begleiter's twin but they didn't look identical to each other. Yes, there were similarities here and there but one could see the small differences in height, the posture, and facial structures. The younger sister's facial expressions were more animated and full of life. The older brother was almost as stone faced as Ayanami himself, when he was not around his sister.

She was just as caring and kind as he'd seen through Mikage's eyes. Though she and Mikage had only just met, she had already become a person important to the deserter not to mention Teito Klein. Already, a plan was forming in his mind to use her against Teito but he quickly dismissed the thought as she was an innocent and had nothing to do with the matters concerning the capture of Teito.

"Of course, sir. I'd be glad to help out with paperwork or cleaning if you'll let me,"Altair saluted, causing Hyuuga and Luka to chuckle.

"That'll do."

Altair couldn't help but stare at him. Her eyes were drawn to him. She'd seen him when she'd delivered that one package but she never saw his eyes clearly. They were two orbs of violet, so cold and emotionless. Expressionless.

But it's so expressionless, isn't it?

"Altair?" She blinked and remembered that she had been staring at the chief of staff's face.

"Uh, your hair's pretty!" she blurted out. "It reminds me of snow." She turned her face quickly away, feeling her cheeks heat up. She didn't know what made her say that but she sure wished she hadn't. It was one thing to think it but another thing to say it.

A hand clapped onto her shoulder pulling her close. "Our little Al-chan has fallen for Aya-tan's looks, has she?" Hyuuga joked.

She shook her head furiously. "No. you're wrong about that!"

"Then why were you staring at him for so long?"

"Eh? Th-That's because he looked familiar that's all and I was trying to remember where I've seen him before!"

"Sure, sure, Al-chan!" Hyuuga said, giving her a knowing wink before doubling over from the punch Altair gave him.

Luka and Konatsu tried to stifle their laughter but failed miserably as Hyuuga groaned loudly, clutching his abdomen. "Uh, I'm sorry!"

"Chief Ayanami, please allow me to excuse myself and Altair. We haven't talked for a while," Luka said.

"You are dismissed," Ayanami said before turning to Konatsu. "Has Hyuuga kept up with his paperwork?"

The Begleiter paled. "I'm sorry Chief Ayanami, so far he's only finished about half of it."

"I see."

Luka and Altair ignored the howls of pain coming from the office as they headed to Luka's room. He had a room to himself and it was just as bare as his room back home. Altair sat on his bed while he took the contact lense out of his right eye. "What do you think about, Ayanami?" she asked.

He looked at her with slight surprise. "You haven't fallen for him like Hyuuga's said, have you?"

She shook her head. "I'm asking about what you think of him as your superior officer."

"He's emotionless and strong. He has my respect and admiration."

"He looks lonely." Luka laughed at that. "No, really. I want to give him a hug."

"Wha-...! You're not joking are you?" At her expression he gave her a weak smile. "Really? Aren't you scared of him? I am."

Altair rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. That's you. Well, anyways let's transfer data. I want to see what you've learned!"

"Right." Luka knelt down across from her pressing his forehead to hers just as they'd done as kids, and stared into her eyes. Teal eye met teal eye as silver eye met silver eye. There was a slight buzzing in their teal eyes as images flooded their mind. In a matter of seconds the transfer was over and they pulled away, both rubbing at their eyes.

From Altair's memories, he'd saw two familiar faces from the Academy. Mikage and Teito Klein, both of who were wanted by the army. At first he was apprehensive of them being with his sister but smiled as he saw Altair befriend them, promising that they'll be best friends forever.

Altair blinked several times. Trying to clear the image from her mind but she couldn't. Instead of the blue carpet of Luka's room, she saw white flowers covering the ground and nothing but darkness ahead.

Amazing...

They're flowers that lure the dead to purgatory. They relieve all the suffering associated with death.

Did you make them? To relieve suffering... You're kinder than you appear, aren't you?

No, if you reduce the fear of death, there will be more who want to die.

Mm... so you're just as you seem after all.

When you die, shall I have many of these bloom?

Don't say such ominous things. But they're pretty... just like snow.

"They're pretty... just like snow.." she mumbled.

"Altair?" The image disappeared, having Altair blink back to reality. The voices had stopped but not before saying one last thing.

"Luka. Do you know who Eve is?"

Your hair's pretty. It reminds me of snow.

But they're pretty... just like snow.

Ayanami was alone in his office now, pondering on what to do with Altair. Because of her association with Teito, she could be used to capture him. Because she was the sister of his Begleiter, he couldn't use her to capture Teito. Her words from earlier rang in his mind. It was almost like her words except they were talking about two different things. His mouth quirked into a smirk. They way she had looked at him earlier with no fear or misgiving, but of genuine joy at making his acquaintance. He wondered how she would look at him afterwards once she found out that he had killed one of her only friends. What would she do when she found out that they were hunting down Teito?

A/N: So what did you think? Altair has finally officially met Ayanami and the others(excluding Kuroyuri, Haruse, and Katsuragi of course). So what should Altair do next? Dig for information about the mysterious Eve or give Ayanami a hug? He really does seem lonely. :D