The Edge of Paradise
Author: The devil may pretend to care.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Candidate for Goddess
Note: I apologize for the extremely short prologue, it's not really my style, but this will be a full length chapter. And... I have something I want to do. I think I can actually pull off a crossover with making it interesting, and not complete BS. Most of you will probably not know the Anime I'm crossing over... so I'll be kind and do the character descriptions of the anime. (It was never finished either, so I can be creative with it) And no I have not read Returned to Void; I have not read any fanfictions in the Vandread section.
Act 1, Passage 1: Out of body experience
'What... happened?' Hibiki slowly opened his eyes to reveal a pocket of space and time that wasn't so strange to him. The tranquil blue that surrounded him pulsed with power, just like before. Sighing, Hibiki was fairly confused. He believed he had solved this problem when he confronted himself, but maybe it just wanted proof. "Listen, whoever you are... let me go, I faced myself, and now I'm not afraid, and I won't let something like you stop me!"
A very slow minute passed by, and as the pocket dimension didn't disappear, Hibiki raised an eyebrow. "What the?" Hibiki was suddenly stricken with silence as he saw the dimension didn't disappear. Worry swept over him, filling him with uncertainty. His breathing had started to become ragged and something inside of him knew that this was a bad thing. "Hey, come on... just let me go back, after all we have a party to go to now that we're finished... I don't want to be late."
"You don't get it?"
Hibiki's eyes widened suddenly at the sudden voice. It was a soothing angelic voice, but one that he had never heard before. He clamed down, but it was still troubling him. Hibiki slowly glanced over every part of the sphere surrounding him, but he still did not find any sign of anyone around him. The voice was certainly not coming from inside the sphere, "so you must be communicating outside!" Hibiki started to swim upwards to the top of the sphere, desperate to get out of it. "I'll get out of this thing!" He reached for the top, trying to break out, but was disappointed as his hand was blocked by a hard surface. "Shit..."
Hibiki slowly floated down to the center of the pocket dimension. He had a sinking suspicion that this wasn't like the other times where he could just leave. The voice was different than before, it was soothing, but at the same time a hence of disappointment was in it. "Hey, I've found the proof of my existence so I don't need to stay here anymore!" The frustration in his mind was mounting as he tried to figure out how to get out. Looking around, Hibiki saw that it was the exact same on all sides, no different than what would happen when he tried to get out. "Shit," Hibiki cursed, "what is this?"
"You have not finished anything."
Hibiki's mouth dropped agape at the seriousness that he was in. "W-What do you mean I haven't finished anything bastard! We destroyed all of Earth's motherships! That's something!" Hibiki's face turned sour as he grimaced at the voice that had spoken. "Just get me out of here!" He wasn't expecting anything but the sphere around him to disperse so he could find himself back in the cockpit of his vanguard. However whatever was keeping him here once again wasn't very cooperative.
"You still don't know who you are, how are you going to solve that?"
He was already starting to get tired of this. "Listen, I know who I am, I am Hibiki! Nothing you say will change that!" He said it strong and proud, assured at his knowledge about himself. He was so sure that he figured everything out; and being the stubborn character he was, nothing short of being showed it would get him to budge on that opinion. His eyes snaked around again, but still he could see no one. 'Shit, who the hell is messing with me?'
"An experience, that is what you need to find yourself." The voice spoke softly, "Who is your promised one?"
The question suddenly got Hibiki thinking. 'What the hell does it mean "promised one"? I don't know what that means.' He tilted his head to the side and thought for a moment. "Wait, by promised one, you wouldn't mean Dita do you?" His face flushed a tint of red as he spoke her name. He suddenly wondered why he would come to that conclusion, it went against what he had been taught growing up, that "women were the enemies" and that they could never get along.
"That child?" The voice questioned. "But what about the others you unite with?"
"What about them?"
"Do you know the real reason why you unite with them?"
Hibiki calmed down and narrowed his eyes. Throughout the entire adventure he had with them, they all united with each other. Each one had united with him because their thoughts flowed together with his, and became compatible. Also if they split apart it was because it was when their thoughts flowed away from each other. "It's because we had the same thought process, and we were fighting for the same thing, that's what I found out."
"That is partly true," the voice corrected. "However the real reason is unknown to you... how sad."
Hibiki's eyes widened and his teeth clenched. "What the hell do you know anyway, that is the reason!" He yelled out at the voice, hoping to drive it away. The thing was driving him crazy now, it was just droning on and on. "Why don't you show yourself to me?"
There was a long pause between responses. The voice seemed to be thinking for a moment. "If that is what you want." There was a soft sound behind Hibiki and he quickly turned to face it. A woman was floating above him. Her blue hair was very long and floated around beside her. She had the most entrancing crystal blue eyes that reflected nothing. Her skin was flawless and soft, and she was wearing a white suit that fit like a one piece bathing suit.
"W-Who are you?" Hibiki wasn't scared for some reason, her presence was soothing and he felt secure. However he was not only confused at the attractive woman, but also the fact that she seemed completely emotionless. "What are you going to do with me?" When she didn't respond, Hibiki's eyes twitched and he snarled. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"
"You'll meet me soon enough, for now... just wait until the time for your release."
It confused him a bit, but when the sphere around him started to pulse and fade a bit, Hibiki smirked as he realized that he just had to wait it out.
The Nirvana in the meantime was in complete silence. Everyone just didn't have the energy to celebrate their win. It seemed pointless without Hibiki. They all knew that if it wasn't for him, they would have never been able to defeat Earth and it just didn't seem right to celebrate without him. The three that it hit the hardest however, they haven't even been seen for a long while.
Dita was sitting in the main hanger where the Vanguard used to be. She was sitting against one of the poles holding the pillow that she had given to Hibiki tightly. Dry tear paths could be seen on her face, and her eyes were extremely red and puffy. She was an utter mess, as her hair was messed up, and she hadn't even attempted to pick herself back up. People were passing by the hanger in intervals, but after one look to her, they continued on, not wanting to disturb her.
"Mr. Alien... you didn't keep your promise," she said in a quiet voice. "You said that you would come to my room, but now you can't keep it can you?" She clenched the sides of the pillow and buried her head in it, letting tears roll down the fabric. "I... love you, Hibiki-kun."
"Dita..."
Her head shot up in an instant. She looked over towards the door to see that Meia was standing in the doorway. Her hair was also a mess, but not nearly as bad as Dita's. The eyepiece over her left eye was now gone, something that would definitely be shocking to anyone who would see her. "Go away leader..." Dita replied softly. Meia's eyes widened as she never would expect Dita to say that. "I want to be alone," she added bluntly.
"Dita, today is the day of Hibiki's funeral..."
"He's not dead... and you wouldn't even go look for him..." she said, burying her head back in the pillow. "I don't like this, I don't like it!" She held the pillow tightly and a smile came to her mouth as she thought of it as Hibiki. "I just... want to hold him."
"Dita..." Meia softly bit her lower lip. Tears were welling up in her eyes as well. Turning around, Meia closed her eyes softly. She didn't want to show anymore tears to anyone. "I'm sorry Dita... whatever happened, he's gone, we have to accept that." She said it, but truly she didn't believe it either. The thought that Hibiki was alive somewhere was something she wanted to live with. As long as he was alive somewhere it would be fine with her... because secretly... 'I... I love hi-'
"Meia!"
Meia's eyes widened as she looked over and dragged herself out of her thoughts. Barnette was running down the hallway nearly out of breath. "Meia, you have to help me!" She stopped right in front of her, breathing heavily. "D-Do you know where Jura is? I can't find her anywhere?"
"Jura?" Meia said to herself. She looked over and to the ground. 'I see, so Jura was affected just like Dita and I, could that mean that she?' She sighed and looked back over towards Barnette. "I'm sorry, but I don't know where Jura is, I can't help you."
"Aah," Barnette cried in disappointment, "you've got to be kidding, you don't know either?" She took a quick look towards Dita and her expression softened. "How is she taking it?" She felt like an idiot for asking, anyone with eyes could easily see how she was doing. Everything about her screamed out "pitiful" and it seemed that she would remain that way for a long time.
"She's not taking it very well at all; my guess is that she'll be like this for a good and long while." It was sad she knew, but she definitely couldn't blame her. "They loved each other, but yet this had to happen; now it seems that the void might never be filled."
"How sad..." Barnette replied softly. She clenched her hand and looked downward. 'Hibiki, how dare you make her sad like this, whenever I find you the first thing I'm going to do is beat you up for doing this to everyone.'
"Are you going to the funeral with Jura?" Meia asked, genuinely curious.
"No," was the short reply. "More than half of the crew is convinced that Hibiki is alive, I'm among them, and I know he is. So we are not going to attend his funeral until it's really his time." She slowly walked by Meia, ignoring the complete look of shock on her face. "I'm surprised you're not among them as well Meia... is it something that you're trying to forget? Because you know that's what the real reason behind a funeral is."
"Trying to forget..."
Meia put a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. "I see, I'm such an idiot..." She knew exactly what was going on. 'I don't want to love him, because if I end up being with him it will make Dita sad. That's why I want to forget him, Barnette, you figured me out just like that?'
"Looks like I won't be attending Hibiki's funeral either... eh Dita?" She looked over towards Dita and found that she was softly snoring. "So you cried yourself to sleep huh?" Sparing one last softened look towards the girl, Meia walked off, going back towards her room. "I'll wait until we meet again Hibiki... then I'll find out if you're really my promised one."
Meanwhile, Hibiki could tell that the barrier had faded. His vanguard was slowly starting to reappear around him. It was strange, but at least he would be back home. The whole out of body experience he had was a strange one, but it was all over now. "Heh, that was weird, but nothing I couldn't handle!" He boasted while his eyes were closed.
When his eyes opened however, all around him was empty space. Looking around he saw a strange planet. It was beautiful, and it was glowing with a tranquil blue tint. Most of the planet was blue Ocean; however there were land masses that were colored brown and green. The atmosphere was covered in clouds, and it seemed to have an unusually high concentration of them. But it was still a most beautiful planet, and it reflected that beauty.
As he looked around the planet he also saw a huge floating fortress. The thing was larger than a battleship by far and the words G.O.A. were embossed on the side in white. Hibiki blinked a few times before sighing, starting to boost towards it. He didn't know where he was, but at least there were intelligent life. "I guess I'll just find out where I am from them," Hibiki concluded. He sped closer and closer towards the huge fortress, and by the time he got there, an alarm was picked up in his cockpit. "W-What?"
Before his eyes, many upon many gray mechs were flying out from the sides of the fortress. His mouth went agape at the sheer number of them that exited the thing. In the front of the fortress, five very big mechs flew out. Each one was unique, and they were at least twice the size of his vanguard.
The first one that came into view was pure white. Like the rest it was shaped in a feminine form. It had a blue tinted visor surrounding its face, and its shoulders were protected by the same kind of blue material.
Another one had white as a base color also. The details around its body were blue, not a light blue like the previous one, but a darker more solid blue color. It also had a feminine frame, and its face was more angular, giving what seemed like more age.
Another one was more red than white. The base color was gray, but most of it was covered up with red armor. Two wings extended from the back of it and went down the entire length of its body. On the right hand was a large sword that instead of fitting into its hand, it just went down the arm and out into space, like an extension of the arm.
One had white as a base color as well. This one had orange looking armor that surrounded its body. Its face was like the first one, less angular and it had a helmet on that covered its head in a visor of clear material. It had two wings as well that extended from the back of its body to about the middle of its body. The wings weren't like the others wing's though. They were cut into rhombuses and looked as though they could break apart.
The final one was white like the first. It had more light green in it, covering the face and shoulders. The most unique thing about it was the large crest that covered its head, almost like a brachiosaur's crest. (If you are familiar with dinosaurs)
Hibiki saw them come towards him and he swallowed nervously as they all stopped right in front of him. They formed a semi circle around him and he felt so small and helpless. "H-Hey guys," he said through the COM link, and hoped to anyone who was listening that they would understand him.
"What the hell?" said a voice, "I thought we had a victim to kill?"
"Quiet Rio," another voice said immediately. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
The question caught Hibiki off guard for a moment. He sighed and looked back at the first mech and then started. "Well, my name Is Hibiki, and I come from a planet called Taraaku." There was an awkward silence and Hibiki was starting to wonder if they weren't just going to start attacking him out of the blue.
"Taraaku? Where's that."
The fact that none of them seemed to know anything about his home world made him a bit nervous. Could that mean that he landed somewhere far away from where he was supposed to be? Maybe it was too far for him ever to get home, and maybe he would never see her again... 'Gah, why am I thinking about her again!'
"Enough Rio..." Hibiki's eyes widened after the voice had spoken. He identified it as the same one that had spoken to him back in the pocket dimension. "Y-You're!" There were four confused sounds from the other drivers but the first one did not make any sounds at all.
"Correct... I am who you think I am; let's talk about it back at the station..."
Hibiki could tell something strange was happening, and he didn't like it. As they flew back towards the station, Hibiki looked over at the mechs that had picked him up. They were larger than he was, and their form was completely different. All Hibiki knew was that whatever they where, all of them seemed very powerful. "I'll have to worry about that later..."
End Act 1, passage 1
Note: Another chapter down. I'm going to work on my Naruto fiction next, so until the next update.