Naga/Hammie (Kyuranger) AU: Exist In This Moment

 

This fic is an AU, set in the "Operation: Cloudbreak" universe. It's actually an upcoming story.

"I do not want a "forever", "tomorrow", "later"... I exist in this moment; that's enough..." ~From the Chinese song "Fire Of The Heart" by Julia Peng ft. F.I.R.

= = = = = =

It was that habit again.

Naga had been noticing something about Hammie ever since they were introduced to each other as comrades and one of the recruited agents meant to become what Commander Shou Ronpou called as "Cloudbreakers". He was just traveling, trying to find out the truth about the war 80 years ago that killed his father.

And yet, here he was--watching a young woman zone out once in a while.

But he had to admit, even if Hammie was like that, he couldn't deny the fact that she intrigued him in more ways than one. She looked happy, and she acted like one, too.

And yet, he noticed something else that was entirely different. Was he supposed to see that?

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you suppose to stay here, too?"

That voice distracted Naga from his thoughts and soon faced the source of that voice. His heart lept--which surprised him a lot--at the sight of Hammie looking at him innocently.

He shook his head and finally decided to approach her. "I just saw you here and I couldn't help watching you."

Oh, dear. What in the world did he just say at that moment?

"W-what? Why is that?"

He could've smiled when Hammie stammered. But more things soon entered his mind that he didn't bother himself doing that. "You... would always look away whenever the discussion was about living."

And there it was again. Her eyes would give off that depressed look.

"What does living even mean when you can't get pass through that one barrier?" Hammie uttered after moments of silence that lingered.

Naga frowned at that. Now he was the one who couldn't understand her. "I- I don't think I get what you mean."

But instead of answering, Hammie closed her eyes and placed her head on the table. He knew she wasn't sleeping and wasn't planning on going to sleep there.

"Hammie--"

"I have to live--at least, live longer than what was planned for me," she soon said in a cracked voice.

Could it be that... she was crying?

As stealthily as he could, Naga sat beside Hammie and was about to console. But his hand froze in mid-air. It was only a few inches closer to Hammie's head. One more move and he would be able to do what he was planning to do.

A few more seconds later and he decided to lower his hand and carefully placed it on Hammie's head. Gently, he caressed her hair which, without a doubt, had surprised her if he would base it on the way she stiffened. But he continued to do so. He wasn't good at consoling others but for some reason, this young woman was starting to make him do things that he won't usually do.

To Naga's surprise, Hammie's hand soon held his that was caressing her hair. She was just holding it from there.

"Will I still exist in some way even when I'm gone?" Hammie asked softly, but her voice was still cracked.

Now he knew that she was crying. Or at least, trying to prevent herself from crying. Why was she saying things like this now?

It wasn't like their mission would actually kill them. Or was it?

She just wanted to exist...

Naga had no idea what to say to counter that. Or perhaps he just wasn't aware of her predicament for now.

Before he could even think of what to do next, he found his body had moved on its own accord. He found himself pulling Hammie close to him and did his best to console him. In which, later on, he realized that he had failed when she cried hard. Silently, but hard.

Okay, what did he do this time for her to be like this?

"Hammie, are you okay?" Naga asked, worry was obviously in his tone.

But she didn't say anything at all. She just cried.

He had no clue as to why Hammie was into the idea of existence. But Naga knew that it was something important for her. Besides, she wouldn't cry like this if the idea was just... that. An idea.

For him, he might not know this yet, but being with her like that as he tried his best to console her... It was already enough.

Her existence alone would soon change his life as he knew it. He just had to make Hammie believe in that. But maybe he could do that some other time.

At the moment, this was what mattered to him. He would stay with her and make sure that she would be okay.

= = = = = =

I think I made the right thing, huh? By saying at the start that this is more of an AU kind of fic instead of being set in the Kyuranger universe. If you know what I mean. This one-shot was something I thought of while trying of ways to start one of my pending stories. If you read the character profiles I posted for "Operation: Cloudbreak (Kyuranger Version)", then you'll see there that this fic is actually set in that different universe and plot; thus, the AU.

I hope I made any sense here. Don't worry, I tried making this a stand-alone, an independent one-shot so that even if I start writing the story already, reading this won't affect the original one. Anyway, I'll write another Naga/Hammie fic which is Kyuranger-based if you didn't like this one. But that'll take some time. For now, this was the idea that came to mind when I thought of writing a Naga/Hammie fanfic.