Chapter 13: Improvement

Naimee awoke.

It was a beautiful feeling to control herself again.

She smiled the smile that Albatross never smiled.

Under the lifeless streetlamps of Kerning City outside the Internet Cafe, Tess stopped beside the postrate form on the ground. "Albatross!" She cried out.

"Wrong answer." Naimee's voice was cold. "My name is Naimee Koredaar." She stood up.

Tess stopped cold.

"Twenty-four months ago, I went MIA from the 18th Corps. Four months ago, you prayed for my safety. Four months ago, you found me - perhaps not in a very safe condition, but alive. Barely a week later, you betrayed me, betrayed your prayers, betrayed yourself. Do you believe in the GMs, Major?"

"...Yes..." Tess stuttered.

"Then you better hope they don't throw you into Bannination for breaking your oath. I can kill you right now, but I have a certain friend to catch up with so I'll spare your life for now." Naimee began jogging away.

"Stop!" Tess shouted, unleashing a beam of ice to halt Naimee.

Naimee let the ice wash over her body, then tensed all her muscles in a sudden motion. The ice shattered and fell to the pavement. She resumed moving.

"At least I did learn some useful tricks. Oh, and if you tell anyone about what happened tonight, Ant gets one in the head. Deal?" Her form was already fading into the shadows.

And Naimee was gone, leaving a stunned Tess standing in the middle of Internet Cafe Square.

Halire heard the footsteps chasing him and turned around, Golden Crow at the ready.

"Halire." The person's voice called out. Her voice was familiar, too familiar.

In the darkened alley, he lowered his weapon. "It can't be..."

"Yes it can be."

Untold weight seemed to drop off of his shoulders. "Naimee..."

"Yes, it's me," Naimee replied. "I'm back at last, four months later than I should - but I'm back now."

The distance between them seemed to close swifter than the arrow flies as they embraced. For the first time in what had seemed to be eternity plus a few decades for good measure, they were in one another's presence again. It was an unlikely scene, in the unlit alley of Kerning City in front of a backdrop of graffiti-stained brick walls, but it was.

"You owe me an explanation," he whispered into her ear.

"Fine with me. It's a long story - I'll tell you when I have the proper time." She had missed him dearly. "You missed me," it wasn't a question.

"Yes," Halire answered.

"As a friend, or... more than that?" Naimee probed tentatively.

"I'd have to admit... more than just a friend."

She leaned her head on his shoulder as a response. "You're the only person I have left now. It's nice that you do think of us as closer than fellow operatives..."

"No, you still have... um..." he trailed off as he realized she was correct; she had no one else left.

"Father left for the country of W.o.W.... and the others, th-they all..."

"...passed on." Halire finished the sentence for her as she began sobbing, wetting his shoulder. It was the weakest point of the Grosjager. Association with other members of the underworld was limited, since only those who shared the Grosjager's ideals of justice could be befriended. Association with the common people was obviously out of the question because of the obvious dangers. The community was very tight-knit, at the expense of quantity.

He pulled her inside a dirty doorway suddenly. "What is this place?" Naimee asked.

"Toxin shop," Halire answered, and she understood to mean an antidote shop as well.

"That poison... it doesn't do any permenant damage, does it?" She said, feeling down where the arrowtip had pricked her nervously.

"I don't think so, but I'm not taking any risks."

Even though he had not passed on yet, Naimee's words were still true. For the first time in many weeks, Claw ran his fingers over the twinkling gleam of his throwing stars. He managed to walk around the hut once without needing to stop and rest partway, and he took that as a sign that his condition was finally improving...

Naimee sat on the edge of the bed. "Biamorsra? Never heard of that toxin before."

"You don't know how to apply the antidote?" Halire asked. She shook her head. "I suppose I can do this for you then," he grinned. He popped the seal on the tiny bottle and motioned towards her abdomen, where the entry point of the poisoned arrowhead was.

She complied and lifted the material of her piettra to expose her stomach and the prick, a "wound" that looked smaller than a pinhole, that had been the start of all this.

"You know, feel free to lift that piettra higher if you like," Halire commented with amusement.

"Maybe another day," she smiled seductively at him.

"Only a maybe?" he answered with mock disappointment in his voice.

"You know, I can kick really hard if provoked," she said cheerfully.

"I get the message." Halire went to work. "This will hurt... I have to cut out the infected flesh next to the wound or the toxin will spread again." He took out a small knife and held the edge to the candle on the bedside table for a short time to sterilize it.

"...infected... and it spreads?" she whispered, fear beginning to creep into her voice.

"It's a biological toxin," he answered.

"You really hated... Albatross, didn't you?"

"Yes I did."

"Albatross" took a few days of sick leave because of the "injuries" she had supposedly suffered while driving vandals away. Naimee still had to maintain the guise of Albatross, for over the next few days, she met Halire several times in secret, making plans for the neutralization of the target she had been assigned months ago, Ruk.

"The greatest problem," she said, "is that I don't have a proper weapon to do the job."

"You mean you can't get another Red Viper?" Halire laughed at the silliness of it.

"It's wonderful for spraying a crowded room with arrows, but not so good for sniping," she explained. "And I still prefer the crossbow as the chosen instrument of justice."

"You have any plans to smuggle one in, than?" he asked.

"In fact, I have..."