Update 04/05/17

Hey everyone,

I decided to revive this old project of mine with regular updates.

The already posted chapters have been rewritten

Because manga, movies and series are contradicting each other (and themselves as well) I try to make it work for all, the only thing is: Briareos will be black for he is African origin and except for the 2007 movie he's black everywhere (I don't like that movie but maybe because I'm simply no fan of Tereus)

For any questions or critics you can always ask me.

Thank you and have fun

Sharry

Prologue

"Are you ready? "

"Yes, of course. "

"Then let's go, Briareos. "

Slowly he stood up, so this was it? He couldn't believe it. He always thought he would die in action, with a bullet through his head or his chest, like he almost did back then. But on the other hand… beep, beep an incoming call. It was…

'Deunan…'

WWWhat was he supposed to do?

Answering?

This could be a stupid, troublemaking idea.

Not answering?

But maybe this was his last opportunity to talk to her, to hear her voice. A silent sigh went up his throat, but he did not let it pass. He could leave without saying her… saying her what? What could he say to her? Was he even able to talk to her without spilling everything out, what she was not supposed to know?

"Oh, Deunan. What are you doing here?"

"Oi, Hitomi. Is Briareos here?"

"No, he isn't, I am sorry. Deunan, are you drunk?"

"No! Am not!"

"Please, do not lie to me. We are friends, aren't we? So tell me, what's wrong?"

Hitomi gently pulled Deunan inside, closed the door, and took the bottle out of her hands.

"Hey! That's mi…"

"I am sorry, but I presume you drank enough. Come on, what's going on between you and Briareos?"

"I don' know! Damn it!" Loudly cursing Deunan dropped on the best chair nearby, suddenly close to tears.

"I don' know what's goin' on? He doesn' say anythin', doesn' even look at me. Leaves early in the morning, comes home late. Since he requested to change teams he's been freakin' crazy an' mean an' stupid an'…"

"Have you ever talked with him about it?" Carefully the young bioroid sat down beside her friend and put a hand on her arm, smiling at her warm and gentle.

"About what!?" Bad breath reeked out of Deunan's mouth as she barked back.

"About why he decided you to team up with this new ESWAT gu.."

"Oh that damn jerk Wataru, he is so dump, and slow, doesn' even know how to shoot a gun or how to use a landmate…."

"Aren't you a bit rough? Just because he is not as good as Briareos and is still…"

"And that badass Briareos should never ever look at me again. Why the heck did he do this? We're partners, or we should be, why did he leave me behind with such an idiotic kid. I'm his point man, isn't he supposed to follow me?" Her voice grew louder and louder until she almost ended up screaming at Hitomi, who was still able to smile friendly and listened without judging.

"What did he say when he told you, that he would team up with someone else the upcoming time?" The young soldier lowered her voice in a bad imitation of the cyborg's voice "You need to be able to fight well along with others, Deunan, you need to be able to protect yourself if they cannot. What would you do if I'm not around anymore? Maybe I cannot protect you forever."

She fell silent, recalling his cold and absolute tone, how he had turned around, not reacting to anything she had said, and went away that day. But she remembered what she had said, how she had insulted him, how she had screamed at him. It had been almost over a month ago now, but it had been the last time they really had spoken with each other.

At first she had been so mad at him, she hadn't even noticed his belongings were gone, one by one, but after she had calmed down, it had seemed to be impossible to talk to him, on missions she had never been teamed up with him, but with that good-for-nothing bioroid Wataru, who was still in training (she hated to admit that he was pretty skillful and even a better partner than some of the more experienced soldiers could have been, she hated him for not being Briareos), in her free time she had tried to find him ,but he had been vanished, she looked everywhere, at his favorite restaurant, his favorite training place, even at the hospital, because she did not know if he was injured from his last mission.

She asked everyone she knew if they knew where he lived, but most of them just shrugged their shoulders, grinned foolishly and said "Take a good look at your bed, honey." Yoshitune and Hitomi were kind to her but they also had no idea where he could be. He had left her, still living in the same town, in their possible Eden, and left her alone.

"Why did he do that? Why did he go, and leave me all alone? He said he would protect me, even if I didn't want him to. So why now, just out of the blue?"

She looked at her friend, sober now, who closed her eyes shortly before getting up.

"Deunan, you shouldn't ask me, but him."

"How ? He has vanished; it's like chasing a ghost, I see him at work, but only for half a second, then he's gone and we have to move out." She called after the young girl, who disappeared in the kitchen.

"He's never at the gym during his usual training times, he's actually never there it seems. I've even spent a night there waiting for him."

Deunan could hear the sound of water, a calming sound. Then Hitomi laughed, softly, and came back with two glasses of water.

"Deunan, in which century are you living? You do not have to go, chasing him through the city, trying to find him by accident. He is a cyborg, he always has a cellphone with him, so you can always call him, and if he still doesn't answer, you can track him down with his transmitter. Yoshitune would gladly help you, if that would stop your…" Her friend didn't even listen to her anymore but already dialing, then she stopped.

"He has been avoiding me, right? Maybe he just doesn't like me anymore."

Hitomi laughed again. "Deunan, that's nonsense, you should know that he loves you. So go ahead and call him, so you'll know."

The young soldier nodded and bit her lips, what would he say? Would he even answer her?

"Hello…"

"…"

He sighed. "Deunan…"

"Bri…Briareos."

Damn it, she sounded like she was on the nerve of crying and was drunk. He had to be cold, for her.

"What do you want? I'm kind of busy right now, got it?"

He heard her swallow, maybe he was a little too harsh, but he couldn't risk her to… "I wanted to ask you, if you're all right." She stumbled for a moment. "And I wanted to know, when… no if you will come home someday."

The cyborg buried his head in his right hand, it was a mistake, he knew it all along, but he wanted to hear her, so badly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I don't thi…"

"You hate me, don't you?" Her voice was loud, cracking, breaking and then silent, broken, sad. "You hate me for what I said, back then, don't you? I'm sorry Briareos, I am so sorry, you are right, I need to learn to watch my back I…"

"I don't hate you, Deunan, I never could, and I am not angry with you. It's all right, everything is fine."

"It's not! How can you say that? You're not here, we aren't partners anymore, you're gone, and you left me alone! Why? Why Briareos?"

He couldn't stand it, her voice pleading like that, hurting like that, he never wanted to hurt her, always wanted to protect her, but he couldn't, not anymore, not like this…

"Because I do, what's always best for you Deunan, you need a different partner, so you learn how to protect yourself for the case that I won't be around."

He could hear her stop breathing, in the background something, which sounded like glass, broke; he could see the icy shards flying like ice crystals, scratching Deunan's Skin. He could see the warm red fluid, only one or two drops, enough to make him freeze.

"It's because of our last mission, isn't it?"

"Deunan…"

"Isn't it? Briareos!"

"I have to go now, Deunan."

"What?! Wai…"

"Please, take care, and don't get yourself killed, okay?"

"Bria…"

He hung up.'How stupid!' He wanted to calm her down, to make her accept the new arrangement; he wanted her to feel safe without him. But he screwed up, big times.

"Are you ready?"

"I am." He stood up, went in that white cold room.

"Good, the sooner we get done, the better."

The door closed behind his back, there was no turning back, the die was cast.

"Don't worry; the pain will be sharp but brief."

He sighed, "Just bring it on, okay. Let's finish this mess."

Slowly the cyborg closed his eyes, being destined to never open them again.