Those Carrying Solitude (Soma/Invite)

[Shio]

Shio could hear it.

Hearing Aragami was hardly anything special, after her first few days here - they had followed soon enough, small hungers and bigger ones and the distant roar of greed that was Lindow. He wanted to eat so much, when he wasn't a God Eater....

But she didn't want to think about that now, because she could hear something else, and this hunger was familiar, one she knew almost as well as the need to devour that occasionally settled in her head, wanting more, wanting everything. But she had eaten only an hour ago, and the blood had dried on her hands - she felt a little bad for that, Alisa and Sakuya had told her she had to be clean around other people - and Nova was little more than a faint pang of hungry, a trace of sadness that she couldn't eat more. She could ignore that.

It was night, and the moon - it looked like a rice cake still, though she now knew it was all dry and crumbly and not tasty at all - was just rising. There were still people on the streets, but she ignored that, because she knew this hunger and the quieter whisper from the God Arc. Soma was here too! It had been so long, and she had made him eat her shape and it hurt a little to think of that, all those bad things that had happened, and then being alone. But it would be good now!

"Soma!" she called out, heedless of the people turning to look at the strange white-haired child that was darting through the streets with inhuman speed.

[godeater]

The moon shone overhead, bright and cold. The air felt cold, or maybe it was just him? He felt... strangely empty. His God Arc felt heavy in his hands.

Golden, sparkling lights fell from the sky, the air still heavy with the sheer power, the energy of Nova-- of Shio. Soma's gaze turned, gazing at where his only real friend had disappeared forever. Nova was gone, the world was saved from immediate destruction-- but Shio was gone. The grip on his God Arc tightened. There was nothing he could have done, but he still felt upset, angry. Upset and angry at his own inability to do anything to save her. He couldn't protect her from the Director and he couldn't protect her from Nova.

The others glanced towards him, their gazes full of concern. He turned away, his face a stoic mask. He had never been good at showing his feelings or being emotional; even though the members of this squad were the closest things he'd ever had to friends he still wasn't close enough to them. It was too difficult to get close to other people; it was dangerous. Soma simply found it easier to keep everyone at arm's length and to stay by himself. But still, Shio had somehow slipped through that barrier. Look it where that had ended for him.

Suddenly the ground began to shake. The others called out, startled. Energy began to spike through the area, reality itself seeming to react. The shaking grew worse. What was happening? Soma looked around, eyes wide and body tense. Tangible spikes of energy could be seen sparking through the air, twisting and crackling. The air itself felt thick, heavy, and hot. A general feeling of unease filled the air, as the shaking began to increase.

The building, already unstable from the fight, began to fall, to collapse in on itself. The leader shouted something out. Pieces of the building began to fall, crashing into the ground with dull thuds, cracks spiralling out from the impact. The air seemed to be getting thicker, the energy ever more chaotic. It was almost unbearable, increasing, increasing, and then.... a ripping sensation and everything was ripped open.

Soma glanced up as reality tore open, watching as a beam fell towards him seemingly in slow motion. Then someone had shoved him and he was falling through emptiness, his last look of his own world that of the moon, so cold and far away.

...

He opened his eyes and an entirely unknown sky greeted him. A half moon gazed down, silvery light uncaring and cold.

Wait, half moon?

Soma rose to his feet, looked around himself. His god arc, glimmering white was the only thing familiar to him. What the hell...?

"Soma!"

...Shio?

[/size][/justify]

[Shio]

Ignoring the hard ground beneath her feet - the streets in her own world had hardly been as smooth, without rubble or craters at all - Shio continued to run, only slowing down when she knew she was close. Turning a corner, she stopped entirely, brought to a halt more by the sheer feeling than any actual surprise. She knew Soma was here after all, as soon as she had felt the hunger of his Aragami, but feeling was just a little different from seeing him right there, with his God Arc... though it was white now, not black. Why was that? Well, that didn't really matter.

It had been so long!

Being alone again - except for Lindow, but he was all wrong now, with the same hunger as her and she knew that had to hurt the part of him that was sleeping now - had hurt, badly. Having friends and then losing them felt like it had left a hole in her core, one that wasn't really there but ached when she was by herself. But now Soma was here, and everything would be alright! She could feel that, and she was so happy to see him again, to know this time she wouldn't have to leave. Never again.

"Soma!" she said again, and then, heedless of his expression, or how surprised he seemed, she ran the last few metres and leaped forward to wrap her arms around him in a hug. After all this time alone...

It was so nice to have friends. With friends here, she could ignore the hunger, she could be like a human again... everything would go back to how it had been before. Before the moon, and the needwantdevour and giving up her shape.

It would all be fixed.

[godeater]

A feeling welled up at the sound of her voice. It was... strange. He didn't understand it. This feeling hurt. Not in a physical way, but it still hurt. Disbelief and confusion also lingered alongside it, pushing out any other emotions. It couldn't be Shio because... well he had just seen Shio fly away to the moon with Nova. He'd eaten her shape, as she put it. Soma swallowed hard. Was he hallucinating?

Suddenly a small figure was glimpsed as it darted through through the crowds. White hair, that tattered flag she seemed to think passed as clothing. Bare feet barely touching the ground as she all but flew towards him. His eyes widened. That couldn't be Shio. But then she flung herself towards him and he could see her, see that happy, familiar expression and the bright twinkle she always had in her eyes except for the bad times... and there could be no more denying it wasn't Shio.


"Is it... really you?"

Her arms wrapped around his body. So fragile and frail. Tiny, yet hiding a hidden strength. Soma hesitated, his hood falling back as the two fell back a step, from the impact. How could you deny a tangible presence? Silvery hair glistened in the light, hiding the god eater's expression.

He hesitated before grapping his arms around the smaller frame. How could this be? There was no way what he had just seen could be an illusion. It was impossible to deny it. Yet here Shio was, hugging onto him, close, in contact. Soma looked down at Shio. This whole situation was just... not impossible but it was happening and it was real. Should he be confused or just plain grateful? He never had been very good at the whole dealing with emotions thing. It was much easier to just lock them all away and ignore them and just push everyone away...

But he couldn't do that to Shio. Not to her, not ever. She was the closest friend he had, and to be frank, he viewed her more of a little sister than anything else although he'd never say such a thing out loud. "You're... not on the moon?" He asked softly, trying to make sense of the situation. Tried to be calm and rational like always. Although the slight hitch in his voice showed his real feelings.

[/size][/justify]

[Shio]

He seemed so surprised! Well, that made sense. The moon had been so far away, and she had been there for so long... and Nova had been quiet after it, all of its power sent deep, deep down, changing the dry dust and rock into something vibrant and green and growing.

There had been no way to go back. She didn't know how to make Nova fly again, and... she had lost her shape, then. She didn't know how to change, and she didn't really want to. Nova was scary. Using that power again... would it have helped at all?

Well, it didn't matter now! She was here, and she made sure to hug him tight, to prove it. "I came back, Soma! I... I was gone for so long... I couldn't come back! But then... I came here!" And who was she to wonder why she was back here, or how she had gotten here in the first place? The important thing, for Shio, was that she was no longer stuck, no longer alone. That she had found both Soma and Lindow so quickly just made her happier.

Asking too many questions could wait, for just a little.

"The others aren't here yet, but we can find them, right? Leader and Alisa and Kota and Sakuya! If you're here... then they're here too!"

[godeater]

He simply stared at her for awhile. She didn't look any different from when he'd seen her before... the incident. Although, instead of her dress that they'd all worked so hard to create, she was now clothed once more in the tattered flag. How had that happened? The idea of time travel did not occur to Soma-- that was impossible. Well, so he thought at the moment. But in the coming weeks and months, he was to learn that in this place, anything was possible. Somewhat of a frightening concept, when you thought about it.

She had gone to the moon. He had watched her, Nova's glowing form fading into the darkness of space leaving behind naught but glimmering particles of energy. Yet now, just moments after he had given up hope of ever seeing Shio again, here she was in front of him. To be quite frank, the sudden change was a little bit dizzying. How could such a thing have happened in such a short period of time? Not that he was complaining. It was great, wonderful to see her here, safe and sound, but it was also simply... very confusing and a little shocking. What exactly had happened to send the two of them to this strange place?

"Shio... You were on the moon, right?" He spoke softly. She'd called it a rice cake. The thought flitted through his mind, along with a faint echo of pain, caused from the memory of just how very hard she'd tried to keep them all happy, even when sacrificing herself. "How did you end up here? Do you know?" Shio's vocabulary wasn't exactly the best or most extensive yet. Even if she did know, or have some inkling, she might not be able to tell him. Still, it never hurt to ask. Maybe the strange same phenomena that had just happened to him had also occurred to her. Had Nova somehow caused it? But that didn't make quite make sense, how could Nova do this?

He paused at the mention of the others. The squad... what happened to them? It had all occurred so quickly that he didn't even know if the others were okay, once everything had started shaking. Someone had pushed him into this place... "I don't know." He spoke, quietly. "I haven't seen any sign of them yet... But if the two of us are here, then it's reasonable to assume that they'll either arrive here soon also, or are already here." Hopefully they could reunite soon. Maybe then they'd be able to figure out just what was going on...

[Shio]

On the moon? Of course she had been! What a strange question to ask. He had been right there when she had needed to leave, when she had asked him to eat her shape, because otherwise Nova wouldn't have left. It had too many roots, and she had her roots too, in a way - roots to Soma and Leader and the rest of the team. Even if she couldn't see them, they were there. It had hurt to pull those up, to leave like that....

Even the memories stung. That was all over with, it was done and finished and she never had to worry about it again - but it still hurt. It had still happened.

Shio didn't like that. It would have been easier to forget, right? To forget that she was the reason Soma's God Arc was different now, white and its voice changed, its hunger changed because of her. But forgetting... that was a little too much like sleeping, or giving into the hunger, the whisper to just reach out and devour. She didn't want to do that.

"I was... I was there! The moon was dry, and crumbly and hard... but I made it better! It's nice now, Soma... you should see it!" Oh, what if the moon could be seen from here, all green and growing? She tiled her head back and squinted upward, but... it looked like before, round and silvery and entirely untouched by Nova's power. Which meant... it was a different moon, maybe? Or maybe it just looked white from so far away right now, but up close it was as it should have been. "Um... I don't... know how I came here. I was on the moon... and then I was here!" It was difficult to even describe how she had gotten back, mostly because Shio hadn't exactly been paying attention at first.

Just a sudden... change. It was strange, and just a little frightening, but... Soma was here, so it would be fine.

"Well... you're here, with me - we can find them!" And together, the Aragami beginning to appear wouldn't be any problem at all. They could both eat their fill, too.