I spent so much time on this. i hope you like it! i got a lot of help from multiple people! I thank them very much!
These events take place before Delta Episode.
I would love to hear your opinions! Have fun reading!
Song that fits good to the fanfic: Secret by The Birthday Massacre
Since the day their mission had failed Courtney saw no trace of him. Since the day it all went downhill. Since the day where not only the sky burned, but their goals and visions of a better world as well. They too, had gone up in flames, nothing left but the pale ashes of disappointment.
No signs of him. No speeches. Not a single word. Nothing.
He had locked himself into his chambers. And every day she would pass by and lay her hand on the door and repeat his name again and again.
So she did today.
"Leader Maxie..." she called like usual. "Please answer me... Please..."
"Courtney."
Finally she heard his voice, but it sounded odd to her. Hoarse from lack of use.
"Leader Maxie!"
"Why do you both... keep coming back?" His voice was faint and powerless. Nothing like the great mentor and orator she knew. She had never heard him like this before and it caused her a stinging pain like a needle prick. "Why won't you... give up?"
"How could we... give up on you?" she replied desperately. "You are our leader. You always know a way... You never give up..."
The fear she had felt the last few days, flared up again in all its intensity. It almost cut off her breath. The anxiety of her, about to lose the grip on the last string keeping her from falling down into the dark abyss... it was devastating.
"I have failed in the worst possible way. Our goal was to progress humanity, to secure it... The world I promised to you all... The hope I have given you. Everything. I have burned it all to the ground. I almost killed all life on this planet in my ignorance... and this is a sin that I can never repent..." he said softly. He trailed off, as he often did when his thoughts got ahead of his tongue.
Her eyes prickled at his words, but she held back the tears. Her hand on the door closed into a fist. She breathed in sharply and then continued, her voice cracking.
"But what... what about our Team? Our goals? A better world... you promised it to us... "
Again, silence. Courtney swallowed once, the sound seeming to echo in the hallway, her throat tightening as she willed herself to breathe. She swallowed again in an attempt to keep herself collected, calm, to be the voice of reason he needed.
"Team Magma... is at its ending point. There's no hope anymore..."
The last string that barely held her heart together for the last few days, snapped. She felt it shattering into a thousand pieces. She fell down into the abyss of painful darkness.
Finally, tears broke out of her eyes while she covered her mouth to hold back the sobs. She wanted to say so many things. Say how much Team Magma meant to her... how much HE meant to her. That the world that he promised her had been her last hope. How much she loved and adored him and how hurt and broken she was now.
But her lips were as sealed as the door.
She ran down the corridor to her room, sight blinded by tears.
"Courtney!" she heard Tabitha's worried voice. "Cou-"
"Leave me... alone" she whimpered.
her sobs finally broke through when she arrived back to her quarters. In all her life, in all of the disappointment and pain she ever experienced, she had never felt this broken and lost. This world was the one that caused her all these bad experiences. She had given it a new chance and it crushed her in return.
No. She wiped her cheeks angrily, gritted her teeth. It all was the fault of that little brat. Yes! Of course! Leader Maxie had only failed because of that cursed girl! She had always caused problems, in her annoying way. Back then, Courtney hadn't taken the threat seriously, rather found interest in analysing the stubbornness that the girl displayed throughout her encounters. This had been a mistake.
Suddenly she knew what to do. She would try anything, anything to fix this. She wouldn't give up. She wouldn't...
She would finish Project AZOTH on her own.
She stood up, took a deep breath and then tried to make up a list.
First, she would clean her face. And then... then she would call in some grunts to help her.
She wanted to start and was about to head into the bathroom, when her sight fell on her open PC. The background picture of Maxie, so content and happy, caused her even greater pain.
To hear how broken this failure made him... that hurt her most of all.
Courtney crossed the room and quickly opened the program. She breathed in deeply as she tried to calm herself. She stared at the blank white page, the cursor blinking at her, waiting, and the idea of a final letter came into her mind. All the things she couldn't say.
Maybe she could write them down instead.
In the twilight of a tragic morning, a group of uniformed grunts silently followed their purple haired admin. She had called them specifically and ordered them to not ask her questions. They had no idea what the mission was about - the less they knew the better - but they trusted her, were loyal to her and their leader. The red hood hid the face of the young woman in a shadow, hiding teary eyes and gritted teeth in anger and despair. Despair was what this was all about. A broken soul that was crying out inwardly, pleading for anything to happen. A broken soul lost in a sea of confusion, tired of the world she inhabited.
She left without a single word to anyone, her companions falling in step behind her as they left their base.
The sky was grey, the streets foggy, masking the yellow light of dawn.
Left behind was nothing but the opened text program on her PC, holding a single document, a letter.
"Dear Leader Maxie,
When I talked to you through your closed door, there were so many things I wanted to say. But as much as I wanted so speak, I couldn't do it. The pain to get my lips to form my words was too much to bear.
So I'm writing them down instead.
When it all began... I was twenty-one. I was walking across the market place. I was tired. Tired in a way I can't really explain to you. My life circumstances had been terrible and I was stuck in a deep, dark and hopeless hole. The world, at least to me, was so cruel, masking itself in false beauty.
Hypocritical and rotten. Like an apple. Rotting from the inside out.
On this fateful day I happened to witness one of your speeches on the screen above the square. Back then you were still looking for your first members.
Do you remember?
It was in April.
I watched you speak, your passion almost unfettered, and listened to how beautifully you wove together your words of a better tomorrow. Their beauty was real to me, unlike all the false pretense I knew from experience.
Yes, you were the one who changed my view on the world and gave me hope.
My last hope.
So I joined Team Magma. And it became many things to me, most of all a family. The family I never had and always wished for. I felt accepted, respected... most of all I felt at home.
I had finally found my place in this world and my goal to fight for. Fight for you, for my family, for my home.
And above of all these great things, there was you. To get to know you was the best experience of my life. I admire you. So much. You are the opposite of everything I had ever known. You are noble and wise. You are proud and strong, but you don't fool me. I still can see the weak sides you so rarely show. And yes, you are so full of passion. You are someone who thinks of the greater good and strives for the better tomorrow. I love the way your eyes sparkle when you talk with that passion, that drive. I love the way you silently drink your coffee when you think deeply. I love to see you happy.
And I love you. More than you will ever realise.
I was so happy in Team Magma. Happy with you. From the bottom of my heart. And this is a happiness I don't want to lose at any costs.
Because losing it would mean to lose myself. To lose you.
This can't happen. I won't fail. I know all of this is the fault of that cursed little brat. I know you would have won without it's interference.
I will succeed for you.
I will try anything. I will delete this mistake. I will...
I will complete project AZOTH. "