#alita fanfiction

[watchingbehindtheeyes]

Hi. Nova + Gelda anon here. I was thinking "before the attack on Zalem" but in the end, it's your choice.

Gelda+Nova short interaction request (that escalated oopsie)

So, I was thinking in what circumstances Nova and Gelda could interact before the attack. I decided to base the idea on the piece of info the official novelization gives us: that Nova was once on URM side and watched Alita's spar with Gelda. (more about it in this post)

The thing is, it evolved into a much longer story set in the United Republic of Mars, potentially multi-chapter if people show interest.

Here you go:

The man in the observation gallery

“Wrong!” 

Gelda’s voice echoed in the zero gravity sphere when a little girl — her apprentice — failed to make a defensive parry the right way. The teacher used the opening without hesitation and grabbed the girl. She could break her neck in one swift move — if she only wanted to.

“You cannot let your weapon slip like that. This would be enough to get you killed,” Gelda reprimanded the girl, and threw her away. It might have looked a bit violent, but on the battlefield nobody would be gentle. It might have also had something to do with the fact Gelda was slowly losing her patience, since nothing that day seemed to go well.

The apprentice was aware this was far from her best. She regained her balance — one of the first skills she had to learn as a future URM soldier — but looked away bashfully when her eyes met the teacher’s stern gaze.

“I am sorry, sensei,” she almost whispered. She expected some nasty remark in response, about how being sorry doesn’t help with anything. Instead, after a pause, she heard a sigh from Gelda, and looking back at her face, she saw her features shift into a more benign expression.

“You seem to have a problem with focus. What’s the matter?” Gelda asked, her voice warmer this time. 

“It’s just that…” She didn’t finish, and instead turned her eyes in a certain direction, as if she wanted to point out something.

Gelda caught the hint and looked in the same direction discreetly, without moving her head. 

It was the observation gallery.

Ah. Of course…

There was a man watching them. He wore a mask-like, chrome optics that prevented any attempt to read from his eyes, revealing only his faint smile. Gelda had the impression this smile became wider once their gazes met. The man stood in the gallery for a moment before walking away towards another sphere.

Gelda followed him with her eyes, then turned them at the girl.

“Sometimes scientists and engineers observe our training sessions in person, as their job is to provide us with the best weapon possible — which is, our berserker bodies,” Gelda explained. “They look for anything that could be improved.”

“He seems to observe me more often than the other apprentices. Does it mean there is something wrong with me, sensei?” The girl asked. The concern in her eyes managed to evoke a brief squeezing sensation in Gelda’s chest.

“No, of course not,” the woman denied.

“Then why does he do that?” The apprentice asked with yearning for an answer. 

“He doesn’t. You’re a careful person, trained to detect dangers. You instinctively notice him when he watches you, but as soon as he goes to other apprentices, you stop paying attention. This creates a false impression,” Gelda explained, careful to not sound dismissive in any way. She wanted this orphaned girl to know that someone adult takes her concerns seriously and wasn’t only making up responses to brush them off. “But I’ll check on that, just to be sure, alright?” she added and put her hand on the kid’s shoulder.

“Alright” The little girl nodded, the insecurity slowly fading away. A smile appeared on her small lips and the big amber eyes looked with hope at her sensei.

Gelda smiled back.

“Now, back to work,” Gelda pushed her away. “Attack!”

***

He is gone. As always.

Gelda stood in the hall, people were passing her by. 

Everytime she tried to catch the scientist after the training, he managed to disappear, leaving her only with the taunting memory of his smirk. Looking down on her — or them — from the gallery. At first, she shrugged it off. But over time, something was growing in her. An urge to meet him — no — to confront him. One day, upon seeing him, she even left earlier than her scheduled time and almost ran into the corridor  — but to no avail. Then, she gave up for a while. Gelda didn’t know if his behavior was some kind of a tease, an attempt to get her attention — so she preferred to make it seem like she didn’t care. She wasn’t in a mood to play any games — or at least that was what she was telling to herself.

That was how it had been. Situation has changed though, as Gelda gave a word to her apprentice. She couldn’t retreat this time… but maybe it was better that way, actually? She’d finally ask him what he finds so amusing during their training sessions. See how he behaves face to face, and not in the “safety” of the gallery.

Why would that last thing interest her? Well, Gelda didn’t have much entertainment anymore, and days have become monotonous lately. The Mars-Earth conflict fell into some stagnation period, missions for berserkers were quite rare. Her job consisted mostly of preparing the new generation of supersoldiers. She couldn’t complain about that, many would wish to be in such a stable position during those peculiar times. Still, an excuse to do something different than usual, to spice up the gray days was a welcome one. 

Trying to demystify an elusive, mysterious man could count as entertainment, the only one she could afford at the moment.

(...)

This is long chapter so I'm posting only part of it here. You can read the rest on AO3

I also feel bad because the request was made so long ago, I don't know if the person will ever see it :c

Also feels good to finally have some up-to-date example of my writing, for a person who talks much about fanfics I didn't publish much.

[watchingbehindtheeyes]

TF when you want to use ChirenxIdo ship tag, but the site only suggests those: