Song of the Heart: Redux
Author's Notes: Welcome to the first chapter of this Symphogear Fanfic, "Song of the Heart: Redux". Before we begin, I'd like to give thanks to the original author of this story, Aya1229, for giving me permission to adopt this story and continue it from where she left off. As stated in the original, this story is one that takes place before and during the second season of the series, Symphogear G. And as mentioned before in the original piece, THIS IS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE SEEN SENKI ZESSHOU SYMPHOGEAR. That is the only warning you'll get. Now then, let's get to it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Senki Zesshou Symphogear. It is owned by those who own it.
Acknowledgments: Again, I would like to offer my thanks to the author of the original piece, "Song of the Heart", Aya1229. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to adopt your work, and I hope that it lives up to the standards that you have in mind for it.
Sung parts are in Italics. This will only really be used for this chapter. In the future, I'll focus more on the actual action taking place in the moment.
'Insert phrase here'=thoughts
Prologue
(Hibiki POV)
I always knew that I would have to give everything up one day, whether it was my friends, family, or my life. After all, that's the cost of protecting those that I care about. That didn't make leaving them any easier though. Still, I did what my heart told me was necessary to protect them. Let me explain.
It all started during the lunar attack. Finé, even after having been defeated, just refused to give up on her plans. She even brought the part of the moon that Kadingir had blasted off hurtling towards the Earth. I made some silly speech where I asked her to tell her future body that she doesn't need power and asked her to help everyone hold hands in the future, as I would not be able to tell them that myself. I entrusted her with the future, as I needed to go protect the world of the present. I was fully expecting to die that day, and she realized that. Her response, her last song to me, has stuck with me to this day.
"Believe in the song of your heart," she said.
Those words, along with Miku's encouragement of course, gave me the strength to do what I needed to do. I needed to fly up and break the moon piece. And as I took off and sang what I thought would be my swan song, I truly thought I would do it alone. Soaring through the clouds, I began to sing.
Gatrandis Babel ziggurat edenal.
Emustolronzen Finé el Balal Zizzl.
Gatrandis Babel ziggurat Edenal.
Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl.
As I moved into position to sacrifice myself to stop the moon from falling, I thought I would be doing this alone. But was I ever proven wrong. When Chris-chan and Tsubasa-san joined me, it was a great surprise, although it probably shouldn't have been. Together, Tsubasa-san flanking me to my right, and Chris-chan to my left, we sang the strongest climax song we had performed and destroyed the falling part of the moon together, our attacks obliterating the falling rock.
It was after that though that things started to go…badly, I guess? See, the explosion knocked all three of us out. And while I was unconscious, I dreamed that I was floating through space alone, when a voice got my attention.
"You know, that stunt you just pulled reminds me an awful lot of someone," the voice said. It sounded so familiar; looking to my right, I saw someone I didn't think I would ever see again. Not since that day two years prior.
"It takes a lot of guts to sing your heart out, to empty yourself through your song when you know that you'll likely die," Kanade (or was it the ghost of Kanade?) spoke, floating up to me while wearing her ZweiWing concert dress.
"Kanade-san? What is this place? Why are you here? Thank you so much for saving me that time," I said, looking at her with an appreciative smile on my face. "It was thanks to you that I was able to meet and become friends with Chris-chan and Tsubasa-san. And it was that day that inspired me to apply to Lydian."
Kanade smile before replying. "Glad to see that my stupid idea allowed for you to not only live, but also to put my Gungnir to good use. Protecting others, helping others, despite my initial drive for vengeance against the Noise, is something that I felt was important once I obtained my Symphogear."
My eyes widened at this revelation. Kanade-san and I were more similar than I thought. "Err…Kanade-san, where is this?"
Kanade shook her head before grabbing my hand. "This place is your dreamscape. You're not dead, just unconscious. However, that's not why I'm here," she said, a sad smile slowly emerging onto her face. "Unfortunately, your fight isn't over yet."
My jaw dropped at this. My fight wasn't over? "How is that possible? We defeated Finé and stopped the falling moon! Why can't we just live a normal life?"
Kanade frowned, contemplating for a moment before she spoke. "While you may have defeated Finé and stopped her plan, there are those who would wish to finish her work. And they are willing to go much farther than Finé was."
I couldn't believe it. People who would go further than Finé? She destroyed the place I called home, almost killed Tsubasa-san and Chris-chan, put Miku and my other friends in danger, and almost caused the moon to fall on the world!
"These people…they are part of a group that wants to bring about the end of the world. And they're willing to go to any lengths to do so," Kanade spoke, a bitter tone to her voice.
"Kanade-san…why can't people understand each other? What could they do that could be worse than destroying the moon?" I asked with desperation in my voice.
Kanade again smiled sadly as a sphere of light the size of my body appeared next to her, before starting to show images of what was to come.
"What you are seeing now will happen if you can't protect those you care about, Hibiki-chan."
And they were some scary images. Tsubasa-san was fighting someone in a dark version of my Gungnir, before being attacked and overwhelmed by two other dark Symphogear users along with the spear-user. Chris-chan fighting off a swarm of noise on a ship but being clearly outnumbered. A floating continent rising out of the ocean before causing ships to crumple like soda cans. A monster fighting and nearly killing Chris-chan and Tsubasa-san. Noise attacking Miku and the other girls in my class while walking to Flower. Those images and others were haunting.
"There has to be something that I can do…Kanade-san, what can I do to prevent this? What should I do?" I asked, tears slowly falling from my eyes, before Kanade wrapped me into a hug.
"Well, what does your heart tell you? It hasn't led you wrong before, Hibiki-chan," she said, smiling at me kindly. I nodded, before closing my eyes and listening to the sound of my heartbeat. It didn't take long for me to reach my decision.
"I can't allow them to get hurt…I have to protect them…I have to protect all of them," I said, a resolute look in my eyes as I met Kanade's. "Even if it means having to stop it from happening by myself…I can't let anyone else get hurt. Not Miku, Not Tsubasa-san, not Chris-chan, Genjuro-shishou, or anyone else. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if they got hurt or were killed because of this!"
Kanade laughed heartily at this, before rustling my hair. "You're becoming more and more like me every day, Hibiki-chan," she said. What came next is something that I will never forget.
"You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age, Hibiki-chan. I think that there's a reason for that. If I would have been lucky enough to know you longer, I would have been happy to call you my sister. I would be happy to do so now."
As I registered the shock of this, Kanade pulled me closer and kissed my forehead gently, before she let go. My face felt heated at her next words.
"It's time for you to wake up, Hibiki-chan. I know that you'll follow your heart and keep living," she said, before disappearing, leaving many questions unanswered in my head. But before I could answer those, my eyes opened as I found myself falling.
'Falling…I've got to try to land safely,' I thought, looking around to get my bearings. I noticed Tsubasa-san and Chris-chan falling next to me, still unconscious. 'I've gotta catch them; at this rate, if we hit the ground…how can I protect them and the others from the upcoming threat if I don't catch them here?'
Flipping in the air so that I was falling feet-first while continuing to watch my two comrades, I used my gear to minimize impact, bouncing between a pair of buildings to slow myself down before landing softly.
"Gotta get there…gotta catch Tsubasa-san and Chris-chan," I said, not letting the exhaustion of the day's events get to me as I leapt back up, catching first Chris-chan, then Tsubasa-san and setting the unconscious duo down in a nearby alleyway one at a time. Looking around, the area seemed deserted enough, as I then activated the trackers on their Symphogear suits so that the commander could find them easily.
"Sorry for the bad landing you two…and sorry for what I'm about to do," I said, before looking downwards as I whispered. "Chris-chan, even though we didn't really become friends until recently, I still think of you as my friend. And you may not even think of me as such yourself yet, but I think of you as one. I'm sorry we won't get to become better friends." With that, I leaned down and kissed her forehead and gave her a brief hug, before turning to Tsubasa-san.
"Tsubasa-san…You're the one who helped me figure out what my armed gear was. You were a mentor to me, maybe even like the older sister I never had. You are a great friend, and I'm sorry that as your partner I couldn't live up to your expectations. Please forgive me for what I'm about to do," I whispered to her, kissing her forehead gently and hugging her briefly as well before standing up and turning away. As my symphogear dissolved back into my body, I looked back to them, knowing that I wouldn't see them for at least a few months.
"Thank you, you two…for everything…for being there with me…" I whispered, before running out of the alley determined to live by those words Finé told me in her final song.
"Believe in the song of your heart."
End Prologue
Author's Postscript: And that's the start of the story. My goal is to post new chapters as often as I can. See you next time.-ZBD15