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fallen-stars-story · 4 years

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Random Drabble: Friends?

A random drabble about Haruka and Aria’s first time meeting each other and eventually becoming friends.

She laid back in the grass, letting the summer’s angry skin beat against the exposed skin of her face and arms and legs. She groaned. She was so freakin’ bored! It was the summer following her first year of school. The young girl hadn’t liked school but at least it was something to do!

Father Gabriel was off doing something which left her alone.

She had played with her dolls and action figures. She had attempted reading. Nothing could keep her attention for long.

With a frustrated groan she got up and wiped the dirt from her denim overalls and pulled the twigs and dirt from her unruly hair. She marched her way back into the main building and headed to the cafeteria. She got in line and got her tray of food before sitting at the first table she found. She picked at her food, not completely interested in actually eating it as much as moving it around on her plate.

But then, she overheard what may have been the best conversation she had ever heard. Father Gabriel strongly discouraged eavesdropping, but then again, Father Gabriel wasn’t there, so eavesdrop she did.

“The boy is apparently being...difficult.” The woman that Aria knew to be one of the nurses shook her head before taking another bite of her sandwich. “They should be back soon, but Father Gabriel called and warned the charge nurse that he’s difficult.”

“How old is he?” One of the teachers asked curiously.

“Seven.”

Aria beamed at that; a kid her age was coming!

She was the only child living there and it was boring. The adults got annoyed with her quickly. The teenagers had no interest in playing with her. But a seven year old! That was only a year older than her! Finally! Somebody to play with!

Leaving her mostly untouched tray on the table, she took off as fast as her little legs would carry her to the dormitories to change. She would be putting on her best clothing. Father Gabriel had taught her that first impressions mattered, right? She flung her dirty clothes into the corner of her room and changed into her favorite Power Rangers shirt and a pair of clean shorts in fire engine red. She traded her dirty sneakers for her church shoes.

Aria yanked a brush almost violently through her hair before tying it up into a ponytail as neatly as she could.

She was practically vibrating with excitement while she waited in the foyer. She had brought her best toys along with her; several Power Ranger action figures and a few Rescue Heroes.

After what felt like eons had passed, the main doors had opened. She saw Father Gabriel first and instinctively straightened her back and grinned. But then she saw the kid with the Father. I thought they said it was a boy? She wondered curiously as she studied him. His face was pretty with light green eyes and a frown. His hair was as dark as chocolate and fell straight, just past his chin.

Girl? Boy? Who cares! She gathered her toys in her arms and flew down the stairs, skidding to a stop in front of them.

“Hi! I’m Aria! What’s your name? Do you want to play? I have some pretty cool toys andー”

Father Gabriel cut her off with a hand on her head, ruffling her hair. “Aria, take a breath. This is Haruka. We have some things we have to do and he needs time to adjust.”

“But!” Her eyes went wide and she felt tears pooling in them. “I want to play!” She whined.

“Stop whining like a baby.” Haruka lips twisted into a scowl of disgust.

“Don’t call me a baby!” She roared, her cheeks puffing.

“Then don’t act like one.” His voice was flat, but his eyes had darkened.

“Aria! Haruka!” Father Gabriel scolded. “Aria, go to your room, now.” He demanded, his eyes hot on hers.

The tears spilled down her cheeks then.

Haruka snorted, his lips pulling into a smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Now you’re gonna’ cry? Figures. Baby.”

“Jerk!” She screamed before dropping all of her toys and lunging at him, using her entire body to knock him to the ground.

He fought back, grabbing her ponytail and yanking before jamming his knee into her stomach.

A full blown battle ensued. And by the time that the adults, an entire hoard of them, were able to separate the two, the entire foyer had been destroyed. The small table and vase of flowers on it broke to pieces when the boy had launched her small body like a projectile at them, the fancy velvet chairs by the window had broken to pieces when Aria had literally picked them up and thrown them at the boy.

Both children were bruised and bleeding by the time that they had made it to opposite sides of the medical ward.

Haruka had sat there silently, rage literally radiating off of him, as a nurse dressed his wounds while Aria sobbed so loudly that she could be heard through the entire ward.

For months, this had become a cycle for them. The girl would regularly try to engage with Haruka, as though nothing had ever happened between them, and he would reject her, sending her into a violent rage that always ended with whatever room they were in being obliterated.

Finally, a kid around her age was moving in, and he had to be a freakin’ jerk.

⚹⚹⚹

She was going to break Haruka, one way or another. He was the only kid her age here and she was bored! But any time she attempted to play with him or even just talk to him, he dismissed her as though she were some pesky gnat. It made her furious. And each time, they ended up fighting each other, having to be dragged apart and brought to opposite wings of the building for their own safety. And while the staff patted her on the head through her loud sobs, she could faintly hear his shouting about how he hated her and wished she’d just leave him alone. It always hurt her feelings.

She just wanted to play.

She found him sitting alone underneath one of the big trees out back, a book in his hands. What a loser! He was reading when he could have been doing something fun!

She climbed up high into another tree, careful to stay quiet. This was going to be a surprise attack. She had even dressed in all black, wanting to look the part of the ninja she was playing at. Once she was up high enough, she settled comfortably onto a thick branch. The pretend ninja carefully removed her bag from her back, resting it between her thighs on the branch.

From it, she pulled out the first of several water balloons.

Tongue sticking out in concentration, she closed one eye as she took aim. Her eyes went wide and her arms shot into the air at her victory once the balloon hit its targetーHaruka’s head. He shot up, dropping his book, and looked around wildly for the culprit, snarling. He’d kill the idiot that did it, though he had a sneaking suspicion who it was.

He looked up and his clear green eyes locked with the golden ones of the girl who was grinning maniacally in a tree above him.

With inhuman speed he raced to the tree and then up it, more agile than Aria had anticipated.

She was panicking, trying to stuff her stuff back into her bag while looking for an escape route. While going up high had been a good idea for making her shot, she hadn’t thought about the fact that she could also potentially end up trapped there.

When he made it to her branch, she didn’t have time to even cry out before he shoved her off of it, sending her body hurdling down into the ground.

When he made it back to level ground, the two immediately proceeded to fight and wrestle with little thought. She had hurt her leg in the fall, but she wasn’t planning on letting that stop her from kicking his ass.

But kick his ass, she did not. It wasn’t long before he had her pinned to the ground, his forearm shoved down into her throat as he snarled at her.

“What is your problem, you freak?” He shouted at her. “Why can’t you leave me alone?”

His eyes were practically on fire as he glared at her. He quickly let go of one of her arms to shove his bangs back out of his face, though they were quick to fall right back into his way. She blinked back tears as she noticed that pretty boy had a small problem that he seemed totally unaware of; his bangs, a thick curtain had matted to his forehead with sweat, while the rest of his hair which had been about shoulder length at the time, curtained both of their heads. She noticed that it was now full of twigs and dirt, and also seemed to be blocking some of his vision.

She cocked her head to the side, ignoring how light-headed his choking was making her.

“Haruka?” She rasped out, a smile tugging at her lips. “Why don’t you tie your hair back? So it’s not in your way when you fight or play.” Her own hair had been pulled back into a ponytail in preparation for her attack, though it had fallen a little bit loose in their struggle.

“Because I’m not a stupid girl and ponytails are for girls, you moron.”

“Then why do you have long hair at all? Idiot.” She grinned at him when his eyes went comically wide.

In all honesty, it was just because he didn’t care overmuch for his hair. It was easier to just let it grow and do its own thing. He only put minimal energy into keeping his bangs somewhat trimmed, since that was the part of his hair that got into his face.

Against his will, a faint blush speckled his tanned cheeks. He hadn’t wanted to admit that he had tried countless times to tie it back because yes, it did get in his way regularly. He had sat in his room on more than one occasion, growing frustrated as he faced his mirror and attempted to tie it back. If he used an elastic, he usually couldn’t get it placed correctly on his head and it would be lopsided. He seemed to have better luck with ribbons, but he didn’t know how to properly tie them and they ended up so loose that the ponytail fell out within minutes.

“Let me up, stupid.” She shoved at him and lost in his thoughts, he backed off of her, resting his bottom against his heels.

She stood and walked behind him, ignoring the batting of his hands and his protests at her as she proceeded to pull an extra ribbon from her pocket. She had preferred elastic ties for her own hair, but had found a cool looking ribbon a while back, and kept it on her as a spare.

She grabbed his hair and pulled it into a low tail that rested at the nape of his neck, explaining step by step what she was doing as she did it. She thought that a higher tail would suit him better, but his hair wasn’t quite long enough for one yet.

The ribbon she used was a thin, white braided cord. And it was something that he had kept and used every day since.

#past!aria #drabbles #past!haruka #haruka #aria #oc #original #characters #character #story #writing

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fallen-stars-story · 4 years

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Haruka Tanaka with his hair down and reading glasses on!

#characters #haruka #fan service for ME #oc #original #character #story #writing #drawing #art #artwork

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fallen-stars-story · 4 years

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Chapter II

Here Nyla is briefly introduced and the first mission is written. I struggle with fight scenes, so feedback is greatly appreciated!! I also feel like I was using their names too much...anybody have advise on how to avoid this??

Walking through the long corridor that would lead to the training dojo that she regularly used, Aria felt the beginning of adrenaline spread like wildfire through her veins. She knew that she was the only one reacting so intensely to this month. Sure, Father Gabriel seemed to worry as well, if the new creases in between his eyebrows were any indication. Nyla seemed to suddenly be spending more time with Haruka. Nyla was the closest friend that both she and Haruka had, but now she had clung herself to Haruka almost as much as Aria herself did.

It was for the better, she knew. She was thankful for Nyla’s frequent presence right now.

When she found them, Aria couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. The sight of her two best friends training together was enough to, temporarily at least, calm her fraying nerves.

The pair had evidently decided on hand-to-hand combat today, and poor Nyla was getting her ass absolutely kicked. Aria had never met anybody, save for herself, who could keep up with Haruka. He was fast. He was deft. He was skilled. And she had found herself victim to his fist or his foot enough times to know that he was also strong.

The only thing that Nyla had any hope of matching him in was grace; her willowy body moved with Haruka’s harder one like water cascading down a fall.

Aria let herself get comfortable leaning up against the door jam as she just watched, letting herself be a quiet spectator to the free show that she was getting.

Nyla’s thick caramel braid swung with her body as she brought her leg up in a smooth roundhouse. Unfortunately for her, Haruka was too fast, and he was able to drop into a crouch to both avoid letting her foot connect as well as being able to swing his leg at her grounded one, forcing her to fall backwards onto her bottom with an audible thud.

“Haruka, I’m never going to be able to beat you.” Nyla pinched the bridge of her nose when she realized how obvious her frustration was in the tone of her voice.

“Probably not.” He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head as he looked down at her.

“Don’t be mean.” Aria scolded him, shoving him in the chest with the flat of her hand before reaching her other down to help the nicer of her two friends up.

He scoffed. “Being realistic isn’t being mean.”

She was about to retort when the now-standing Nyla rested a gentle hand on her upper arm and gave a shake of her head. “Whether or not he’s right, don’t egg him on. I just got my ass kicked up one street and down the next. I don’t have the energy to break up the fight you’re going to start.” Nyla’s bangs clung to her forehead with beads of sweat and her chest heaved but the smile tugging at her full lips was warm and nearly bursting at the seams with adoration.

Nobody could argue with Nyla, not when she looked like that. “Fine.” Aria muttered, though she couldn’t help but slide her arm around the other’s waist to pull her close. When she looked back up at Haruka, she saw that while he continued to scowl, his eyes had softened a degree. Even somebody as stoic as Haruka struggled to resist her charms.

“Why don’t you guys take a break?” Aria suggested. “We can grab a snack and relax.”

Nyla shook her head and frowned. “We all need to study tonight.” At Aria and Haruka’s matching scowls, she only chuckled. “You have a paper due tomorrow for French literature, Haruka.” She turned her head to face Aria as she slung an arm over her shoulder. “And you have a test in U.S. History tomorrow.”

Aria frowned. She hated school and anything related to it. “What do you have to study? If we have to suffer, then so do you.” She hissed out before pouting, hoping that maybe she could guilt her friend out of forcing her to study.

Nyla shrugged her shoulders casually. “Nothing specific, I think I’m pretty caught up on everything. But it wouldn’t hurt for me to get ahead.”

She rolled her golden eyes and sighed. There was no arguing with Nyla. There never was.

Just as the group began to make their way from the training room to head to the library for the rest of the evening, they were met at the doorway by Father Gabriel.

“Father!” Aria squealed in delight and flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his middle. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“We went to lunch last weekend.” He remembered her with an affectionate smile before ruffling her unruly hair.

When Aria let go of him, he smoothed out his shirt before smiling at Nyla. “Good evening, Nyla.” When she returned his sentiment he continued, “And just how is my habu?” Gabriel asked, a smirk tugging at his lips. Habu was a type of Japanese venomous snake, Aria knew, and Gabriel had referred to him as such since they were children given that Haruka was about as loving and friendly as the snake.

“Gabriel.” Haruka sneered and crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at the Father. “What can we do for you, your highness?” His voice was flat as he spoke the question, but nobody managed to miss the sarcasm that he had sprinkled into it.

Father Gabriel sighed before running a hand through his wavy bangs. He reminded himself that reprimanding Haruka would have been a waste of time. The two had never seen eye to eye. “I have a mission for both you and Aria. I regret to say that Nyla won’t be joining you.” He smiled then, eyes the color of a lake under a summer’s sun glittered, “So if you two would join me, it would be greatly appreciated.”

Aria gave Nyla a quick kiss on the cheek before practically dancing as she walked back to Gabriel, joining him at his side. Haruka was more comfortable following the pair from behind, vaguely listening as he ran through the details of their mission.

“The doctrines have been sent to your phones already, but in short, there have been reports lately of people going to visit Tupper Lake and not returning. And those they found, well, the pictures will be in the doctrines, though I must warn you that they aren’t very pretty. The people who haven’t been killed there say that it seems like they lose all motivation when they go there and they feel sad. Some even weep uncontrollably, though they say that they don’t have the energy to even try to stop.”

“An Acedia spell?” Haruka asked, brow raised. Aria found her anticipation to begin bubbling over; she had never actually seen a demon’s emotional manipulation firsthand before, so now she would not only get to finally see one, but she’d get to destroy it as well. How exciting!

“That’s what it looks like. You two are to report to Tupper Lake at once.”

“You got it, sir.” Aria saluted him happily, laughing when he finally broke down and smiled at her.

Once he left, the pair walked back to the dormitories so that they could change and pack.

When they met in the lobby, Haruka wore his heavy uniform pants tucked into his boots, with his thigh-length jacket left open, his torso bare save for the harness that ran over his chest that held two guns. She knew that he would have guns tucked everywhere. They were his favorite weapon. Aria wore her uniform pants the same way, tucked into her tall boots. Her jacket was shorter, however, falling to land just below her ribs, also unbuttoned. Underneath she wore a sleeveless black turtleneck that was short enough to show off her abdomen. She kept her sword secured in its holster at her left hip. She pulled her thick hair up into as high a tail as it would go. The slayer used to style it similar to Haruka’s for missions, but her recent impulsive urge to hack it off had made that difficult, and she hadn’t been able to get the tail much higher than the nape of her neck.

Gabriel shook his head, watching the two from the balcony above them. Their uniforms were important, but those two had never been very good at wearing them correctly. For that matter, both of Haruka’s arms were heavily tattooed and he knew that despite his frequent warnings of punishments, Haruka would get more. He also suspected that Aria would follow him in that path eventually. He knew his protest was useless so he didn’t do much more than wave them off.

Aria stood across from her partner and reached her arms out when he reached out for her, so that their palms were flat against each other’s.

“Away we go and out of sight, we will be gone until we deem the time to be right, we will take with us God’s light and love, while we bring salvation with us from above, through this door is what we see, this is our will, so mote it be." The two spoke the words together softly with eyes closed as they imagined Tupper lake.

When she opened her eyes, the pair were standing in a wooded area that she knew was Tupper Lake.

“We should head towards the lake itself. That’s likely where travelers go.” Haruka decided, turning on his heel and walking away before she could even agree.

She rushed to follow and the two walked in silence towards the water. On missions, Aria knew that Haruka was even more difficult than he usually was. When she peeked a glance at him, his jaw was tense, she noted. He was a hard worker and was always very focused on the task at hand. Right now, she knew, he’d be thinking of nothing but slaying whatever demon they’d face. Right this second, he was nothing more than a soldier that had been drafted into battle.

The area was beautiful, she realized as they walked. She had always loved the beauty of nature. Maybe, one day, the two could come back here, she hoped. Just to vacation. No demons. No school. No work.

There were no other people around, though, that wasn’t strange given all the missing people. Others who had considered venturing to the lakeside would take caution now, until this was all cleared up.

When they reached the lake itself, Aria hurried towards it. But when she looked down into the water, she thought that the color looked wrong. It was the color that lake water usually was, but it appeared to be grayer somehow?

Haruka watched both of their reflections in the water, planning on only doing so for a moment. But he saw the way that Aria’s reflection darkened in the water.

Her limbs felt heavy and she just really wanted to lie down. The ground looked comfortable, she thought to herself as she took to it, curling up in the grass.

“What are you doing?” Haruka hissed out as he looked at his dozing partner in absolute bewilderment. “This isn’t the time for a fucking nap.”

Tears sprang at her eyes before she could stop them. Inexplicable sadness weighed heavy in her heart. She shrugged, not having even enough energy to be able to explain how full of despair she was right now.

Haruka’s eyes widened a fraction and he whipped his rifle from his back. “Aria, you have to get up.” He lightly kicked her. “It’s a spell!” He called out just as a rumbling noise came from the middle of the lake. His body whipped around as he aimed his rifle to the dead center of the water.

Aria’s cries turned into ragged sobs as she buried her face in the grass.

Through the scope of his weapon, the gunman could see the ugly bastard of a demon slowly rising from the water. As soon as it’s warped body was visible, Haruka began shooting. But the demon was faster as it dropped back down into the water. Dammit, he couldn’t see it underneath the water.

The gunman didn’t have the opportunity to prepare himself as the demon sprung once more from the water, suddenly at the lake’s edge right before him, lunging its body into Haruka’s and sending him flying back.

His body hit a nearby tree with a loud thud.

And Aria just laid there, hugging herself, wracked by overwhelming sorrow. She forced herself to roll onto her other side, and she watched as her partner’s body fell to the ground against the tree before he tucked himself and rolled, landing back on his feet. He kept his right hand on the rifle over his right shoulder and had grabbed one of his pistols with his left hand at some point.

The demon seemed to fade in and out of view as it charged towards her partner. “Tell me, human,” The demon spoke loudly, its voice high in pitch and so full of malicious evil that it made Aria’s vision darken, “why aren’t you sad like your friend over there?” When he spoke of Aria, her cries turned into wails as the agony seemed to get worse.

Haruka smirked then before he shrugged. He wasn’t exactly sure why the demon’s spell wasn’t working on him, but he didn’t particularly care. It gave him an advantage, which he was happy to take, even if he didn’t need it.

“Would you be sad if I hurt her?” She heard the thing ask Haruka right before swinging its arm towards him, claws sinking into his shoulder and down into his chest, tearing his flesh loudly.

Haruka started shooting, but couldn’t get his aim right when the demon cut him.

The demon disappeared then, and Haruka used the moment to realign his scope to his eye, ignoring the blood running down his body. The pain was intense but manageable.

“Shoot,” He heard it’s voice suddenly but couldn’t see the invisible bastard, “and I’ll kill the prettier one.” He appeared, squatting down over her.

Aria’s eyes widened and her sobs wracked her small form. She found that she didn’t even want to fight. Would death bring her an escape from this pain, she wondered. She didn’t have the motivation to try and run.

“Dammit, Aria.” Haruka yelled out harshly. He needed her to fight and the idiot had gotten herself trapped in a demon’s spell. With the rifle pinned to the demon, he carefully but quickly re-holstered his pistol. “Oh mighty God above in your white steeple, rid Aria of this demon’s evil,” He started as he began shooting. “Cleanse her pure soul from this dealing, with your ever divine healing,” The demon screamed and lunged away from Aria, trying fruitlessly to avoid the bullets. “and free her from wickedness brought by he, this is my will, so mote it be!” He finished as he charged towards the demon, following it into the water. He despised using white magic, much preferring his own skills and abilities, but he had had his back pressed against a wall. If Aria didn’t get herself killed by this demon, he was going to kill her, he decided.

Aria felt her soul lighten. She felt God’s warmth settle itself inside of her chest. Her tears slowed and she found the strength to push herself up on her arms. When she did, she saw Haruka, waist deep in the water following the swimming demon with his rifle. It was useless, she thought. He can’t properly aim into water. The demon had known that.

“Get your ass up!” He called. “And block yourself!” He yelled before gritting his teeth.

She blinked. Ah. The water had been contaminated with the demon’s acedia spell, and it had poisoned her when she had looked into it, she realized. Haruka had cleansed the spell from her soul, allowing her to wake up and now he was in the water but his soul wasn’t being poisoned, Aria realized curiously. He hadn’t done any cleansing for himself, so it should have consumed him.

But she would worry about that later. She stood, her legs still a little shaky. She had to hurry. Haruka couldn’t put all of his energy into the battle if he was exerting some of it towards keeping her soul clean. Aria uttered a quick protection spell and crossed herself. Then she grabbed her sword from its holster and ran into the water. She dove underneath once it got deep enough.

Haruka backed off, he couldn’t aim properly through the water’s surface to begin with, so he couldn’t guarantee that he wasn’t going to shoot Aria.

When the demon came surging out of the water into the air, its shriek piercing, Haruka saw Aria was sitting on its shoulders, strong thighs wrapped tightly around its throat before she brought her arms down over her head, aiming her blade to the center of its chest. With skilled aim, he took his shot.

The bullet hit its head and her sword’s blade plunged into its chest at the same instant. With one last, blood-curdling scream, the demon’s body disintegrated. Aria went plunging from the sky and crashed into the water. Haruka normally would have lunged and caught her before she hit the water, but he was pissed at her, and he knew that she could swim, so he let her fall.

When her head popped up, she inhaled a deep breath. Her bangs were slicked back. She shot him a big grin. “Easy, huh?”

“You’re lucky I was here to save your stupid ass.” He holstered his guns and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring daggers at her.

“Says the guy who can’t swim.” She tilted her head to the side innocently when she swore she could see smoke blowing from his ears. She swam back towards him, walking once the water was shallow enough.

The two likely would have kept up the banter, but Aria gasped when she saw the blood on his body. She hadn’t realized how deep the wounds had been. “Maybe I fell right under his spell,” She started as she gripped his good arm and literally dragged him back to the shore before throwing him onto the ground, where he landed like a petulant child on his behind. “but you managed to get yourself shredded to pieces.”

She slid her bag off of her shoulders and ignored his protests as she received her first aid kit. She pushed his jacket out of the way, leaving him bare from the waist up.

“I’m fine.” He muttered as she applied ointment to the wounds. He winced at her touch.

“Uh huh.” She stuck her tongue in concentration as she made quick work of wrapping his shoulder and torso with gauze. “There!” She said excitedly before leaning back to admire her handiwork. She wasn’t as skilled as Nyla when it came to this stuff, but she didn’t think she did too bad of a job.

Ignoring the pain that shot through him, he put his jacket back on before standing.

“Why didn’t your soul get poisoned?” She asked as she stood, resecuring her bag on her back.

He shrugged and winced at the motion. “It was emotional manipulation.”

Ah. She closed her eyes as she tried to remember her classes on this. A demon’s emotional manipulations spells, well, they manipulated emotions. Haruka was significantly more guarded when it came to his, so perhaps that was why it hadn’t worked on him? She knew, though it made her sad to see, how guarded he had kept his heart. He kept it guarded from everybody, including Aria. Including himself.

On the other hand, her own emotions were so volatile and always right at the surface of her heart. It made sense that she was wildly more susceptible to an emotional manipulation than Haruka was. She frowned. That was a problem she didn’t like. She knew that she had no real ability to control her emotions. That would make battling demons that much more difficult. While she had always welcomed challenges, this was definitely going to prove to be a feat, she was sure.

The two joined hands as they murmured the spell to return home.

They went to the medical ward first, so they could both be evaluated and properly treated. To boost her ego, one of the nurses commented on how fine of a job she did bandaging her partner.

He stayed silent as a nurse worked stitches into the portions of the wounds that were too deep to heal correctly on their own.

Aria was evaluated by the psychiatrist, just to make sure that the demon’s spell was completely worn off of her.

After that, the two reported to Gabriel’s office to fill out their reports and let him in on how the mission had gone. It hadn’t been a difficult one, but when Gabriel made a comment about Haruka not being manipulated, everything clicked for Aria.

“Wait, both of you knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?” She slammed her palms on Gabriel’s desk as she glared down at him.

Gabriel cocked his head to the side, a playful grin on his face. “When I knew that emotional manipulation was involved, I thought it might happen. But I couldn’t be sure until now.”

She turned to glare at the man who was supposed to be her partner. “You too?”

When he just shrugged with a smug look on his pretty face, she turned back to Gabriel.

“Aria, darling, you practically wear your heart on your sleeve. You did pay attention in Magic and Alchemy, didn’t you? You should have known this was coming too.”

She exploded into a slew of curses at the two men. Now she was just pissed because, yes, she should have known. She felt like an idiot. She had been taught what emotional manipulation was and how it worked. But she was still angry with them for not thinking to warn her either way. She stormed out of the Cardinal’s office, intending on going to the garage. She could take out her frustration on the stupid exhaust she needed to finish.

When Haruka appeared behind her and grabbed her arm, she turned and swung, intending to punch him in his stupid, smug face.

He caught her fist in his palm before glaring down at her. “Remember,” He held her fist, despite her trying to pull it back. “eight o’clock sharp.”

Damn him.

When she met him in the training dojo, she was still furious with him. He didn’t have the opportunity to greet her before she was swinging. She was too angry to practice anything but hand to hand right now.

He didn’t seem to mind, as he artfully dodged her attacks and returned with a few of his own. Unlike the night before, he had to put up a real sweat to keep up with her. Hand to hand combat, especially when she was angry, was her strong suit. She was the best fighter he had ever met. It wasn’t just how strong she was, which surprisingly, despite her tiny frame, she was incredibly strong. Every hit that did land was guaranteed to bruise. She was skilled, though the angry woman usually fought with little more than just brutal rage.

It didn’t help that his left arm was basically useless from its earlier injury. He noted that even in her absolute fury, she was careful to avoid his left side.

But he was a skilled fighter as well, focusing more on technique than rage. He was an extremely versatile fighter, though he specialized in aikido and krav maga. Aria on the other hand, specialized in virtually every type of martial arts that there was.

Today, when their session ended, he was sitting on the floor with her, pressing into his aching ribs with his good hand.

Aria’s breaths were heaving as she glowered at him.

“Still didn’t get it all out?” He asked, mild surprise evident in his voice.

“I’m still mad at you.” She crossed her protesting arms over her chest, intentionally looking away from him.

“Yeah, I could tell.”

Her head whipped towards him at that, her lips pulling into a frown. “I didn’t hurt you too badly, did I?” The worry was evident in her eyes.

A chuckle as rare as a corpse flower escaped his throat before he could even try to stop it. “Yeah, as if.” It was partially a lie, as she had done a fine job of hurting him, but she hadn’t hurt him enough that she needed to fret.

She tried her hardest to suppress her laugh, but she couldn’t, and it wracked from her chest. “You’re such an asshole, Haru.”

“Yeah, what else is new?” He smiled at her, another rarity.

“Why are you in such a good mood?” She asked because while she was certainly thrilled to see it, it was a strange enough occurrence that she couldn’t help but question it.

He shrugged. “It’s fun making you mad. Not that that’s particularly hard to do.” He paused, his lips forming a straight line. “Though I’d like to point out I didn’t do it on purpose today. I thought you knew.”

It was her turn to shrug. “I should’ve known. I guess I was just being a bone head.”

“You said it, not me.”

With a laugh she pulled herself up, stretching out her soring muscles. She reached her hand down, surprised that he actually took it, and helped him up. She caught his winces this time. “You know, you’re also a real freakin’ bone head.” She said with a shake of her head.

#chapters #original story #original #oc

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fallen-stars-story · 4 years

Photo

here’s a shitty drawing i did while procrastinating on actually writing

#artwork #doodles #aria #haruka #cover idea

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fallen-stars-story · 4 years

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Aria [help me come up with a middle name???] Gaumont

Birthday: June 20 Zodiac Sign: Gemini Personality: moody, loud, fun, adaptable, out-going, charismatic, quick to anger, quick to basically any emotion actually, wild, determined, hard-working, passionate, protective, caring, arrogant, stubborn Nationality: ???-American Occupation: slayer, student, mechanic Gender: female Height: 5’4” Weight: 100 lbs Hair: bottle green, straightish and generally messy, falls about chin length, bangs do whatever the frick they want and fall into her eyes constantly (doesn’t pin them back because ????), pulls it back into a stub at the nape of her neck when she’s working in the garage Eye color: amber Weapon: a marquis sword Family: ???, Father Gabriel’s adopted daughter Song: The Gunman by Orden Ogan Eye sight: 20/20 Likes: cars/trucks, tools, her toolbox, hanging out with Haruka, annoying Haruka, messing with Haruka’s stuff, loud music, the Church, being around her friends and loved ones, slaying demons, Haruka wearing his glasses (he’s so stinkin’ cute!!!!!), parties, healthy food, summer, rain Dislikes: quiet, sitting still, boring people, waking up early, going to bed early, rude people

#characters

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fallen-stars-story · 4 years

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Haruka Itsuki Tanaka

Birthday: September 3 Zodiac Sign: Virgo Personality: cold, stoic, arrogant, perfectionist, stubborn, critical, protective of those he cares for, hard-working, loyal, analytical, honest (blunt AF), meticulous, reserved Nationality: Japanese Occupation: slayer, student Gender: male Height: 6’3” Weight: 205 lbs Hair: dark brown, long (going to his waist) with bangs covering the right side of his face (he pins the bangs on the left side back), straight, usually in a ponytail (high tail for missions, low tail all other times) Eye color: kelly green Weapon: many, many, MANY guns Family: ??? Song: Disposable Heroes by Metallica Eye sight: far-sighted, uses reading glasses Likes: food, reading, quiet, meditating, smoking, tattoos, tea, junk food/sweets, having his hair braided or played with (he will die before admitting this), training, guns, shooting guns, spring time, snow Dislikes: loud music, Father Gabriel, mess, chaos, the Church, hot weather, the fact that he needs glasses to read, waking up early, coffee, stupid people, asking for help, being the center of attention, parties or any social gathering, crowds, honestly too many to list...he’s our resident grumpy boy

#characters

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fallen-stars-story · 4 years

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Nyla May DiCamillo

Birthday: February 27 Zodiac Sign: Pisces Personality: sweet, kind, shy, soft-spoken, protective, empathetic, generous, loyal, emotional, no-nonsense, gentle, studious Nationality: Italian-American Occupation: slayer, student, nursing assistant Gender: female Height: 5′8” Weight: 140 lbs Hair: lilac, long (reaches her chest), thick and wavy, usually worn in some sort of neat braid, straight bangs Eye color: sea green Weapon: an axe Family: comes from a large family with four sisters and two brothers, she’s the eldest Song: ??? Eye sight: wears glasses constantly Likes: her friends and family, helping, healing, listening, reading, soft clothes, the night sky, flowers, gardens, spring, winter, dancing (she spent most of her life doing ballet), school Dislikes: rude people, seeing people hurt, hurting others, the war, demons, fighting

#characters

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fallen-stars-story · 4 years

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Chapter 1 Snippet

Here’s my rough draft for an introduction/first chapter. Thoughts are greatly appreciated!!!

There was nothing in the world quite like working on cars or trucks. Especially when they were your own, your baby.

Most people see car repairs and upgrades and maintenance as dirty work, something that is expensive and physically strenuous. Nothing more than a hassle or an inconvenience.

But not Aria, no, never Aria.

There was something satisfying about taking something that was broken and fixing it, or taking something that wasn’t broken and just making it better. But it was more than that. There was just almost a magic to the smell of grease and oil, the sound of blaring work music and impact guns and the gentle clicking of a ratchet, and the focus required to accomplish anything. It didn’t matter what strife had settled itself deep into Aria’s bones, the garage would always serve her as a sanctuary.

Until the wrench slipped and she cracked the skin of her knuckles open on a stupid-motherfucking-piece-of-shit bracket.

But nothing could be perfect, could it? Such was life. Aria was happy to take the callouses and cuts and scrapes and burns if it meant clearing her mind in the same way that meditation might for some.

She wasn’t able to dwell on it too long, however, as she felt the distinct feeling of somebody right behind her. When she turned, the snarl on her lips danced its way into a smile. Haruka, the best friend that she had had for a majority of her life, stood thereーcrouched there, rather, as she had only lifted her truck up high enough for herself to stand under comfortablyーwith a dirty rag and a roll of electrical tape in his hands. He stayed silent as he roughly grabbed her hand and wrapped the rag around it and taped it into place. Her friend loathed using the rag and tape to patch wounds; it was unsanitary and it was a total mystery to him how she didn’t get more infections, but he knew her well enough to know that she’d simply scoff at the idea of using antibiotics and proper bandages. The band-aids will just come loose and get in my fucking way.

“Thanks.” She beamed up at him.

“Almost done for tonight? I’m hungry.” His voice was flat and quick, not unlike the hiss of a snake.

She raised a brow. “When aren’t you hungry?” She couldn’t hide the teasing in her tone. When she received no more than a vicious glare from his kelly green eyes, she sighed and pulled another rag from her back pocket to idly wipe the grease and oil and other miscellaneous fluids from her hands. “The exhaust is ready to go in. Hold it up while I get all the hangers and clamps on?”

He wordlessly walked over to one of the lift posts and held the button to raise the truck further. Running a still-dirty hand through her bangs, she rolled her eyes. Aria walked to her other love, her toolbox, and grabbed the step ladder hung up on the side and brought it over.

Damn Haruka and his stupidly extreme tallness.

Haruka may not have shared her love of automobiles and mechanics, well, that wasn’t exactly right; he damn near hated it. What Aria viewed as her peace, Haruka could only see as complete chaos. Sure, cars were convenient to use, but they were a hassle to own. Fuel, maintenance, repairs, breakdowns, insurance, et cetera, et cetera. He had never understood her passion for it, but there was no denying that he was an excellent helper. He was quick and after many years of watching her work her way around the shop, he knew what most of the tools were and how to use them.

Aria had already assembled the exhaust into one piece so he picked it up neatly off of the ground and slid the dual tailpipes over the rear axle before settling the pipe he couldn’t name to save his life up against the catalytic converter. He held it there while she tightened the clamp into place to hold it there before moving to attach the hangers to the frame, humming along to her God forsaken death metal the entire time.

It only took a few minutes for her to get everything into place and she was nearly vibrating with excitement as she raced to pick up her tools and lower the truck. She was dying to hear the way it sounded.

It should, if all of her research had been correct, be loud as all get up.

Haruka found himself also interested in it, though it was for entirely different reasons; when she had purchased the truck, she had initially deleted most of the exhaust system. But after a very expensive ticket, she relented into putting a new exhaust on. Being Aria, however, it couldn’t just be a stock system. It had to be over the top.

Once the truck was on the ground she hurried into the driver’s seat to start it. She poked her head from the cab, bottle green hair falling messily in front of her eyes, as she grinned widely at the other. “What do you think?” She tossed out over the roar of her truck.

It was definitely quieter but still significantly more obnoxious than a normal car. He shrugged.

She rolled her eyes once more before shutting the truck down. “Fine, crabby pants.” She stuck her tongue out at him before hopping out. “Let me clean up quick, then we’ll go and feed you.”

Despite being messy and chaotic in general, the young mechanic took time to clean and put her tools away. She liked her toolbox being organized. The box and everything it contained was extraordinarily expensive and she had already learned the hard way that the cost alone was enough to make losing tools a total tragedy.

Except for her ten millimeter sockets, as she had long since accepted that those would always go missing.

Once her toolbox was locked and wiped down, she headed straight to the large foot-operated sink to scrub the grainy soap onto her hands and up her arms. She checked her reflection briefly in the mirror to make sure that her face was clean as well. Thickly lashed eyes the color of pale honey proudly lit up to find that she was actually pretty presentable. She knew that she was a messy worker, so this was all around a job well done.

When she returned, she found Haruka to be standing there, arms crossed tightly over his chest and a scowl adorning what would be a really pretty face otherwise. She hadn’t expected any less.

“Let’s go. In the mood for anything in particular?”

When she had asked, it had been out of a place of general politeness. Haruka never wanted anything in particular. His appetite was peculiar and frankly, downright frightening.

They had gone to a nearby buffetーwhich they had gotten to by driving in her truck, windows rolled down so she could enjoy the sound of her fancy exhaustーas it was always their go-to restaurant.

With Aria’s help, Haruka was able to load up an unreasonable amount of plates with absolute mountains of varying foods, much to the surprised looks of anybody standing nearby.

Aria picked neatly at the salad she had put together while the other literally inhaled enough food to feed a family of ten.

Nothing new there.

She remembered her earlier conversation with Father Gabriel vividly and it had left her unsettled. Haruka was strong. They all were. But Haruka was especially gifted. He should be able to handle himself with ease. And in the event that he couldn’t, nothing would force Aria from his side.

“Father has a feeling that this year is going to be harder. It’s almost...ya’ know...that time.” She blurted out suddenly.

When he did no more than roll his eyes, she snarled. “This is serious, Haruka. If Father Gabriel is right, we need to be prepared. We only have a few days.”

He set his fork down and carefully wiped at his lips with a napkin. “I know that. I’m prepared.”

She frowned then. Of all his nastier traits, arrogance was the true star. It was what she feared would lead to something bad happening to him. She knew that it was a hypocritical fear, as his arrogance could only be paralleled by her own, but Haruka was her best friend. She couldn’t risk anything bad happening to him.

He sighed heavily and glared at her. “Demons will come forth from Gehinnom and for the next thirty-one days the target will be on my back. I’ll shoot the demons, maybe let you hack a few apart. What makes that different from the last few years of this?”

She rested her fists in her lap, flexing them open and closed, open and closed. “Father Gabriel thinks it’ll be worse.” Her voice was a low hiss as it pushed through her gritted teeth as she repeated herself.

He shrugged and leaned back into the booth then. “And Father Gabriel knows all.”

His sarcasm didn’t go unnoticed. In fact, all it managed to do was further anger Aria. She took a deep breath. Middle of a restaurant, she reminded herself. Getting arrested for throttling him through a wall in public wouldn’t help.

Neither spoke as they glowered at each other, seemingly unaware of the nervous woman who had approached with the intentions of clearing their table of empty dishes.

“Let’s go.” She ground out before sliding from the booth suddenly. Without a second glance towards him, she stalked out of the restaurant from the truck.

It wasn’t long before Haruka joined her, a lit cigarette already hanging from his lips. Her eyes rounded in surprise when she peeked up at him; for the first time in ages, he was smirking as he watched her.

“What?” She barked out, slamming the driver’s door shut as she scooted herself into her seat.

He turned his head from his own seat to look at her. Before saying anything, he took his time rolling the window back down and ashing his cigarette. When he faced her once more, finally, he found her face had flushed red with anger.

She was too easy.

“You’re afraid.” He said suddenly.

“Am not!” She shouted back, eyes blazing now.

“You’ve never lied before. Don’t start.”

“What if I am?” Her knuckles wrapped so tightly over the steering wheel that they went white with the strain. She didn’t like the way her voice was beginning to tremble and crack.

As quickly as his playful mood had come, it was replaced with something softer. “That’s dumb.” He murmured before looking out the window and away from her.

Her chest heaved with the exhale of a deep breath that she hadn’t realized that she had been holding. With a steadier hand, she turned the key in the ignition and started the truck up. “If you don’t get killed by a demon, I am definitely going to end up slicing you to bits.” She muttered as she started driving.

From the corner of her eye she saw him give a small shake of his head, deep hair swaying with the movement. “I would love to see you try.”

#chapters

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