I wasn’t sure about still posting this one chapter of a fic I won’t ever continue but it’s part of a fond memory of the first roleplay I have participated in, so yeah. It’s a sequel thingy for my characters, since I made something really big and really bad happened to one of them and screwed them all over. The roleplay was based on the anime Gatekeepers, and our chars are referred to as Neo-Gatekeepers. If this fic is confusing, it’s because it really wasn’t meant to be read by people who didn’t participate in the roleplay, so I didn’t lead into the plot gently.

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Chapter 1 – The Search Goes On

In front of a average-sized traditional Japanese house, a girl suddenly dropped down from the sky to land elegantly on the pathway leading to the door. Her nonchalant expression made the stunt look like a perfectly normal thing to happen on a bright sunny day. Pale hands moved to comb back stray strands of long silver hair while she waited for the shimmering pair of wings behind to fade slowly into inexistence. Removing the white shawl half across her face, a face of inhuman beauty is revealed.

Hair curtained by long silver eyelashes, long narrow eyes of silver-pink is filled with the same dreaminess that touched her delicate and soft Asian features and faintly quirked up lips. Her porcelain-like skin enhanced her out-of-this-world beauty. So did the brilliant waterfall of straight platinum hair that traveled down her back. Chinese traditional clothing and robe made of pure white silk showed a petite but well-shaped body. Had the wings stayed, she could easily be mistaken as an angel.

Levitating a few inches above ground, the girl moved towards the door of the house to stop briefly to unlock the sturdy looking dark oak door with her soft soothing voice. “Voice recognition activating for Ximen Xielian. Now, open the door please.”

“Welcome back, Xielian.” As the entrance swung open, a pre-programmed voice greeted as the girl floated into the house, into a modernly designed living room. Warm lights lit up automatically as the door closed itself soundlessly. The calming tune of Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel flowed out from expensive looking speakers situated at the corners of the living room. In just a few moments, a homey feeling is added to the already comfortable house, showing how much care the owner devoted to creating atmosphere for the home.

A nostalgic look shadowed Xielian’s face as her thoughts revolved around the house’s owner. But it was quickly shook away as she advanced out of onto the corridor, then towards one of the bedrooms. Through the paper of the Japanese door, a soft light silhouetted a figure slumping over the desk of the room where she stopped at.

Sliding the door open quietly, the hovering girl entered the room of strong masculine design. With no surprise, she found the other occupant of the house, the owner of the room, dozing in front of his computer on the desk, with his hands still on the keyboard. Golden brown hair shielded that person’s face from his desk light and from view, but it could not hide his well-toned physiques and light snoring.

“Iadore.” Xielian floated near and shook the man’s shoulder gently, repeating the action until he is finally roused from his sleep after a while. Without opening his eyes, that person turned to face the girl with groggy good-looks that is spoiled by the identical shades of black under his eyes and the small knot between his eyebrows.

“Mmgh… Xielian…?” Iadore opened his bleary amber eyes only to squeeze them shut at the very next moment. A hand came up to rub drowsily at those closed eyes as he groaned sleepily, “What time now?”

“Nine in the morning.” Xielian moved to the wall opposite to Iadore and landed quietly. Leaning against the wall, she crossed her arms and settled into a comfortable standing position. “Any progress?”

The other person shook his head mildly as he stood up and stretched away the aches in his body caused by his uncomfortable sleeping posture. Mouth dropping open to yawn somewhat inelegantly, Iadore leaned back on his chair and settled for gazing into the air in his more and more usual morning fuzziness.

“You should rest well.” Xielian said, disapproving tone obvious in her soft voice. With her amazing perception, she could tell very quickly and easily that the golden brunette had not been sleeping much and had lost some weight. She knew about the man’s heavy sense of responsibility and equally heavy workload but she had not expect Iadore to ill-treat himself.

Said over-hardworking man glanced over and smiled wryly. “Only if the dream mistress visits me at night, or I won’t be able to sleep well at all.”

“Master and I haven’t been able to contact her either.” Xielian shifted minutely, her face finally showing a little more emotions.” And the bonds have not been re-established since they were broken.”

“Wonder if it is the amnesia, or that silver-hair bastard’s doing.” Gold flashed as the twin orbs were narrowed by its owner. The look of pure coldness chased away any sign of Iadore’s previous drowsiness, giving him the aura of a killer.

“No sign of him as well?”

“Yeah. Even Omega is easier to find.” Iadore twirled his chair around and scowled at his computer screen. Then he blinked. And frowned as he clicked on the new email that came in while he was sleeping and read its content rapidly.

“What’s that?” Xielian came nearer when she saw the brunette’s expression brighten suddenly. Her pink eyes held even more confusion when Iadore broke into a mega-watt grin turned to beam at her. “What is happening?”

“They have got information on Syiana! Seems like there is one recent case of gate usage of her wave type but it was omitted because the person involved is a Gatekeeper too and came into contact with Syiana’s gate previously.”

“Who?”

“Neoko Cortwell. The Gatekeeper of the Avalanche Gate.” As Iadore recited off his memory, his body is already in motion, shutting down the computer and grabbing the stuff needed for bathing. The grin on his face stayed put on his face, even as he dismissed himself to the bathroom.
Watching as the amber eyed man get ready to find out more about the precious clue, Xielian’s eyes dimmed as she looked at the door where Iadore disappeared out of. “Syiana, for Iadore’s sake…”