Summary: Love can always keep hope alive, even in the darkest of hours…
Genre(s): Romance/Angst/Drama
Character(s): Sanya L., Eila J.
Pairing(s): Sanya x Eila
Story Type: One-shot; AU
Disclaimer: I do not own Strike Witches
Author's Notes: This story is set in an alternate universe 1945.
* The Lost Witches *
It is October, 1945. The Neuroi have won the war by overwhelmingly defeating the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. All of Europe, Asia, and most of Liberion have fallen under Neuroi dominance.
* Strike Witches *
A lone, pale blonde girl slowly flew through the cloudy morning sky. She was flying blindly through the clouds with only a general sense of direction with the ice cold wind biting at her cheeks. Eila Ilmatar Juutilanien had learned that flying directly through the cloud cover interfered with most of the Neuroi's non-magical detection methods, and if she flew very slowly and kept her magical output to a minimum she did not register on their magical sensors either.
'I hope I don't run into another Neuroi patrol,' she thought as she spun a few times for fun through the clouds.
The long, slow flights often left Eila with plenty of time to think about everything that had happened; how the Neuroi had defeated the Strike Witches, and how she was now a fugitive, alone and desperately searching for her partner.
'Sanya...I'll find you,' Eila vowed in her head; she often repeated this mantra to give herself the will to go on.
Eila had been searching for Sanya throughout Orussia ever since that fateful day an entire year ago, when the course of the war and her life was changed forever. She knew where she needed to go, but Orussia was an enormous country, and she did not exactly have a roadmap. To top that off, she had to avoid detection by the increasingly aggressive Neuroi forces and so she was forced to fly slowly, and mostly at night; though occasionally during the day if the clouds were thick enough.
'Damn...the sun is setting,' Eila thought as she observed the glowing orb descending towards the horizon. 'Gotta do this quick...' she thought as she revved up her magical engines in preparation for a rapid descent.
Eila spun out of the cloud cover and shot straight for the ground. The wind whipped her hair around her face and the snow nearly blinded her. As she dove she spotted a snow-covered swath of forest and altered her course straight towards it. Just before she would have crashed into the ground, she slammed on her brakes, the force of the sudden stop leaving a faint crater in the ground. She slowly hovered down to the ground, using her spare energy to concentrate on every magical sensory spell she had available to be sure she had not been spotted by a Neuroi scout.
'If Sanya was here she wouldn't have to try as hard as I have to...' Eila thought somberly as she poured massive amounts of arcane will into her simple array of detection spells.
When she was satisfied that she had not been seen, she landed and disengaged from her Strikers, her naked feet aching the moment they touched the snow covered ground. The pale blonde began to shiver the second her Strikers' engines died down as the magical heat ceased to emanate from them, no longer protecting her against the frigid Orussian winter.
The Suomus girl quickly busied herself in gathering up firewood, her fingers and toes already feeling numb as she piled the wood up and lit them ablaze with a magical spark. Eila sighed as she basked in the warmth of the fire, though it did not fully protect her and she had to rub her hands together and against her arms, pouring a tiny bit of her low magical energy into preserving her core temperature. This barely kept her above freezing, yet, as she stared into the flame, the dully flickering light against the falling sun only brought back the pain of her memories. Eila hugged herself tightly as she hugged her knees to her chest, burying her face against the back of her legs as her emotions flared.
'Sanya...I know you're out there somewhere...' she thought sadly as the sun set, casting the entire area into night.
Eila struggled to keep her eyes open, the fatigue of her constant journey and scavenger survival methods combined with the cold overtaking her. Finally, her eyes closed and she fell into a restless sleep...
* Strike Witches *
...Eila was startled awake by the blare of the Neuroi alarm as a bolt of lightning streaked across the stormy night time sky, rain battering against her window.
'A Neuroi?' she thought frantically as she jumped out of bed and threw her uniform on, but when she looked around she did not see Sanya. She looked to the top bunk but did not find the shy girl there either. Then it hit her.
'She's on night patrol tonight..! And in this storm!' Eila's heart thumped in her chest as a tremor rocked the Strike Witches' base. 'I have to get to Sanya!'
Eila ran out of the room as another tremor shook the base. As she ran down the corridor towards the hangar the lights flickered then died as another tremor shook the building. She kept running blind until the red emergency lights sputtered to life, bathing the hallway in a blood red glow.
'This is really bad, we've never been attacked like this before!' she thought as she turned the corner and ran right into Sakamoto.
"Major! What's going on?" Eila asked frantically as yet another tremor rocked through the base, causing the two girls to stumble slightly and a few ceiling stones to fall to the ground with a crash.
"A massive Neuroi armada appeared out of nowhere. Our radars didn't pick them up, but there are at least twenty heavy beam types, probably more," Sakamoto hurriedly replied as she braced herself against a wall, her disciplined face faltering slightly as Eila saw panic flash through her eyes for just a second.
"Is Sanya still on patrol?" Eila demanded urgently.
"Yes, but we need to-" Sakamoto was unable to finish as Eila ran past her, heading towards the hangar.
"I have to find Sanya!" Eila yelled back as she ran by. Sakamoto quickly followed behind her through the winding corridors. Eila and Sakamoto met up with the rest of the Strike Witches as the corridors merged into the main hangar hallway.
"Everyone, this is an emergency situation, the Neuroi have come out of nowhere, and if this base should fall or the Neuroi prove too overwhelming..." Sakamoto addressed the panicked Witches in the hangar. "...You all know what to do," she finished as she ran up her Striker mount stairs and engaged her Strikers.
The assembled Witches all understood what Sakamoto meant, the back-up plan if anything should ever happen to the base.
"Yes Ma'am!" they all cried in unison as they engaged their Strikers as well.
'Sanya..!' Eila was the first to take off, her anxiety boosting her magical output and speed to levels that would put even Charlotte to shame.
Eila skated along the hangar flight path and came out into the roaring wind and rain of the storm. Her eyes widened in shock as she beheld the amassed Neuroi forces, more than thirty large ones with their beams focused on the Strike Witches' base, most of which was crumbling or in flames by then.
"Miyafuji, Lynne, with me." Eila heard Sakamoto barking out orders over the intercom even over the sound of gunfire and the thunderous storm. Eila was less interested in the battle and more so in finding Sanya.
'I can't find her anywhere in this storm!' she thought in frustration as she scanned the skies for any sign of the gray haired girl.
Eila spotted Perrine below her in the chaos of the battle and saw that a Neuroi was attempting to flank her. She dove from her position and unleashed a barrage of fire on the Neuroi, scoring a lucky core shot which caused the Neuroi to fracture and burst into a million glittering pieces. Perrine finished off the Neuroi she had originally been attacking and turned to Eila.
"Thank you...Eila-san..." she panted, the intensity of the battle clearly taking its toll on the young witch.
Eila simply nodded as she attempted to scan the sky again, observing then hearing the elations of her fellow Witches over her intercom as more Neuroi were shattered and destroyed. However, their elation quickly died as more of the enemy seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"Sanya!" Eila called out against the roar of the storm, but it was no use.
Eila weaved and dodged through Neuroi beam fire, shooting down several of them in her attempts to scout the area for her missing partner. Suddenly she noticed several large Neuroi clustering together in an oddly distinctive formation, and her fears were confirmed as Sakamoto shouted over the radio.
"Barkhorn! Hartmann! Concentrate on that Neuroi cluster, now!"
Sakamoto's urgent orders were too late, however, as the Neuroi came together in a tighter formation and did something the girls had never seen before. The Neuroi shot their beams out in front of their formation and the beams fused together into a single ball of energy. The energy pulsated and grew until an enormous singular beam shot from the concentration of energy, aimed directly at the base. A deafening explosion followed as the entire base erupted into flames, stone and mortar flying in all directions as a small mushroom cloud of dust and ash plumed into the air. Even as Neuroi beams went off around them, Barkhorn and Sakamoto stared blankly as their home went up in flames.
"No...no!" Perrine cried out as tears streaked down her cheeks. Sakamoto kept her hard expression despite the tears trailing down her own cheeks. She slowly pressed her finger to her earpiece.
"All Witches...you know what to do..." Sakamoto choked out as her arm went limp at her side.
"But...Major!" Charlotte interjected over the intercom.
"We can't just run!" Barkhorn yelled in frustration.
"That was an order!" Minna rebuked as she flew to Sakamoto's side, squeezing her arm as she watched the flames engulf the remains of their former home.
Barkhorn did not have the chance to argue as the Neuroi massed on the stunned Witches and she was forced to raise her shield. Barkhorn, Hartmann, Minna, and Sakamoto scattered out.
"We'll lay down cover fire, the rest of you retreat!" Sakamoto yelled over the intercom as she, Minna, and Barkhorn fired at the nearest Neuroi cluster.
Charlotte took one last look at the burning ruins of the former Strike Witches base, then grabbed the bawling Lucchini by the arm and put every ounce of arcane energy into her engines as she shot away from the battle field and off into the stormy night.
"Perrine-san, we have to go!" Lynette urged as she flew up to the still stunned Perrine and grabbed her by the arm. "Eila-san, come with us!" Lynette called out to the distant, yet still visible, girl over her intercom.
"I have to find Sanya!" was the crackled reply she received. Lynette had no choice but to pull Perrine with her as she flew off into the night.
"That's it, we have to go," Sakamoto said as her gun clicked uselessly.
She simply nodded at Minna, Barkhorn, and Hartmann as the three girls scattered out into the stormy night. Sakamoto grabbed Yoshika's arm and tore the young Witch away from her stunned state, bolting off into the night.
In the chaotic retreat, Eila had been left alone, but she did not care, all she cared about was finding Sanya. She took on the Neuroi by herself, but they kept massing on her until finally she ran out of ammo and she was forced to discard her gun.
'Sanya...Sanya...' she thought helplessly as the rain stung her face.
She weaved through the air and dodged Neuroi beams, but she could not keep it up, her magical energy was nearly drained. Eila looked around at the Neuroi that were slowly surrounding her then looked up at the storm clouds and threw her arms out in helpless desperation...
* Strike Witches *
..."Sanya!" Eila bolted awake only to be met by the frigid cold that was only slightly alleviated by the rising sun. "Not again..." Eila hugged herself tightly and let the tears flow despite the way it pinched her face with cold. She choked her tears back and dried her cheeks with her sleeve.
'I have to be strong...' she thought as she wiped her eyes. '...For Sanya.'
Eila pushed the nightmare out of her mind. She had kept having it ever since that horrible night, yet every time it affected her the same way. The fire had nearly died during the night, so Eila retrieved some more firewood from the plentiful surroundings and re-stoked the fire. She rubbed her stomach as it rumbled in protest to being empty, so she unslung the small backpack she kept with her at all times from her back. Her fugitive lifestyle forced her to scavenge any and all survival materials that she could. With great care, Eila opened the pack and pulled out a cloth bundle and unraveled it to find the remnants of a jack rabbit she had caught and cooked the day before. She tried to spear the meat on a stick but it had frozen solid in the middle of the night, so she was forced to hold it close to the fire until it thawed enough for her to skewer it.
'Sorry, Shirley,' Eila thought in an attempt to raise her spirits with humor as she roasted the rabbit over the fire. 'I could really go for some of Miyafuji's cooking right now,' she thought bitterly as she bit into the rapidly cooling piece of meat.
Once she had finished her meal, she looked up to the sky and reached out with her magical sensors. There was a decent enough cloud cover so that she could fly unseen and she did not detect any Neuroi nearby. She slung her pack back on and equipped her Strikers, which was rather difficult without the Striker's mount. The Striker's rotors whirred to life as exhaust choked out of the engines.
"Eila Ilmatar Juutilanien, taking off..." Eila mumbled to herself somberly as she revved the engines to prepare for a speedy ascent.
She shot off from the ground, leaving a plume of smoke behind as she pushed the groaning engines hard to make the ascent as quickly as possible; the longer she was exposed, the more likely she was to be seen by a Neuroi scout. Eila made it up to the cloud cover safely then quickly slowed down to a sputtering pace.
Eila had been traveling in a general direction ever since she came to Orussia. She was not exactly sure where she was going, though she knew where she needed to go. She cruised along in the clouds as she normally did, splitting her magical energy between powering her engine and keeping her core temperature up.
"I...hope I'm heading in the right direction-" Eila was suddenly cut off as her earpiece crackled to life for the first time in nearly a year. Her heart stopped as she listened to the transmission coming through. "S-Sanya..."
Eila's eyes filled with tears as she heard the rhythmic melody of Sanya's humming song fill her ear. She pressed her finger to the earpiece.
"Sanya? Sanya!" she yelled desperately but the singing continued uninterrupted.
'I have to locate the source!' she thought as she fell below the cloud cover to visually search the area in hopes of finding the pale girl nearby.
As soon as she fell from the clouds, another nearby object fell down from the clouds as well. The nostalgic melody in Eila's ear twisted and mutated into a terrible shriek.
"A...a Neuroi?" tears flowed down Eila's cheeks as her hopes were dashed. The clinging mist cleared from the nearby object, revealing it to truly be a Neuroi. The alien shrieked again as Eila's face twisted into anger.
"You...you bastard!" she screamed as she grabbed her gun and unleashed a volley at the creature.
"How dare you make a mockery of her!"...
* Strike Witches *
..."Sanya?" Eila called out to the shy girl as she leaned back at her small table, a tarot deck neatly stacked in the center. The pale girl in question sat up in Eila's bed.
"Hmm?" she responded passively.
"Do you ever...have a feeling that something really bad is about to happen?" Eila asked uneasily.
"What's wrong, Eila?" Sanya asked as concern filled her voice.
"I...don't know, I just have a feeling," Eila replied as she dealt out cards from the tarot deck and picked one up.
Eila looked down at her lap as a look of sadness washed over her features. She then looked back up at the card then turned it around so Sanya could see.
"I always get this same one," Eila said sadly.
Sanya stared at the card. It was the Shinigami card, the god of death and a great sense of foreboding was attached to that card.
"It doesn't have to mean anything, Eila," Sanya said in an attempt to comfort Eila. "You know your long term predictions are dubious at best," Sanya teased to get Eila to lighten up. A small smile flashed across Eila's face but soon died.
"What if it isn't long term? What if something happens soon..?" Eila got up from the table and went over to her bed, laying down next to Sanya and turning on her side.
Sanya laid back down and turned to face Eila, and gave her a small smile. Eila smiled in return and wrapped her arms around Sanya's waist and pulled her closer.
"Eila, if anything does happen, I'll wait for you at Haea, it's a small town just past the Ural mountains..." Sanya said gently as a light blush touched her cheeks due to her proximity to Eila.
"You promise?" Eila asked as a flush highlighted her cheeks as well.
"I promise," Sanya replied with a wider smile. Eila looked down in a long moment of silence before looking back up, her eyes shimmering with emotion.
"And I promise I'll always protect you," Eila vowed as she hugged Sanya affectionately...
* Strike Witches *
...Eila panted from exertion as the Neuroi split and shattered into a million shining fragments and fell to the forest below. Eila immediately revved her engines and shot forward like a bullet in the direction her gut told her to go; she no longer cared if Neuroi scouts spotted her, all she cared about was finding Sanya. The wind and snow stung at her eyes and whipped her hair around but she kept accelerating her engines until they threatened to rattle off her legs.
'I have to be close...I know it!' she blindly followed her gut feeling until finally the snow died down and the clouds parted, revealing the most glorious sight she had ever beheld. 'The Ural Mountains!'
After countless months of trekking through Orussia she had finally found the Ural Mountains. Eila pushed her engines as hard as she could, flames shooting out of the exhaust and the engines whining as though they were about to burst. She ascended the mountains, the high altitude air currents bending around her at her staggering speed. Eila's heart was in her throat as she sped up further and further to the top of the mountains, finally breaking through the layer of clouds crowning the peak just before diving over the peak and descending back through the clouds. However, when she finally broke back out of the clouds, her heart instantly sank.
"No!" she cried as she saw the smoke rising from the smoldering ruins of what used to be Haea.
Eila landed on the outskirts of the smoldering town in a stunned silence. She passively scanned the area and spotted something that caused her heart to stop. She abandoned her Strikers and rifle in the snow and ran to her discovery.
"It can't be..." she said in disbelief as she fell to her knees in the snow and let out a wail of despair as renewed tears poured from her eyes. "Sanya!" she cried out again as she let out every ounce of frustration and despair.
Eila picked up a stray piece from the charred Striker remains she had found in the snow, the model and paint scheme identifying them as Sanya's, and rubbed the piece against her cheek.
"You can't be dead...you can't be!" she yelled to the sky over and over.
Eila was in such a state of despair that her premonition did not trigger until it was nearly too late, giving her just enough time to roll to the side as a Neuroi beam streaked across the ground, leaving a jagged scar in the snow. Three Neuroi fell from the clouds and unleashed their beams at her and the remains of the town. Eila swallowed her despair, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she rushed back to her Strikers. Her premonition gave her just enough time to come to a skidding halt before a beam swept the ground in front of her, shredding her Strikers in the snow and creating an explosion that knocked her off her feet and back into the snow as the magical engines ignited.
Eila was helpless now, her Strikers and gun having been destroyed. Panting heavily with exertion, she turned and channeled her magical energy into speed as she sprinted for the nearby forest, dodging Neuroi beams the entire way. She rolled into the forest and kept running, the Neuroi seeming to give up as she ran deeper and deeper into the forest, the branches and brush scratching at her arms, legs, and face. She forced herself to stop running as the cold air burned her lungs and her legs screamed at her. She finally came to a panting stop and fell to the ground on all fours.
"What am I going to do now..?" Eila asked herself as her tears fell on to the ground. "Sanya...I'm so sorry...I couldn't protect you..."
Eila's earpiece crackled to life again causing her to gasp as she took in the sound coming across the line.
"This is..." she listened intently to the melody in her ear. "Sanya's piano!"
Eila's spirits soared as she listened to the distinctive style of Sanya's playing, almost as if it was calling out to her. She jumped to her feet as her heart began to pound in her chest again.
'It has to be close by!' she thought excitedly with renewed hope as she began to run again despite her body's protest.
Eila wandered aimlessly but determinedly until she found the direction where the signal grew stronger and the song became clearer. She ran and ran until she burst from the tree line into a small clearing.
On top of a small hill was a tiny cottage with smoke billowing slowly out from the chimney. Eila pushed herself to run up the hill and to the door but stopped just short of ramming the door down. Her heart thumped in her throat as she grabbed the knob and slowly turned it, pushing the creaking door open. Eila stepped into the warm, inviting cottage and stared in shocked silence at the girl for whom she had searched for so long.
Sanya was sitting at a grand piano, her eyes closed tightly, and her green magical antennae glowing brightly as her fingers slowly skipped across the keys. Eila could not bring herself to move, tears filling the corners of her eyes as she waited for Sanya to finish her song. The song came to a slow end and Sanya's antennae slowly vanished as she opened her eyes and met Eila's gaze.
"Eila..." she said softly with a smile. "I knew you'd come-" Sanya was cut off as Eila crossed the room before Sanya could even blink and embraced her with all her passion.
"I thought I'd lost you..." Eila whispered in her ear, her voice choked with tears, as she held Sanya tightly against her.
"I promised," Sanya replied simply as she tentatively wrapped her arms around Eila and hugged her back. Eila's shoulders felt lighter as she sobbed on to the pale girl's shoulder, almost as if the weight of her journey had finally been lifted. After a moment, Eila pulled back and stared into Sanya's eyes.
"I'll never leave you alone again," Eila vowed with a watery smile.
"I always knew you'd come for me," Sanya said as she laid her head against Eila's chest. Eila stroked Sanya's gray locks as she choked up again.
"I promised," Eila replied as her voice filled with emotion. Sanya lifted her head and gazed up into the Suomus girl's emotion-filled eyes. Sanya's eyes told Eila everything she needed to know as she leaned in and captured the shy girl's lips in a needy kiss. She pulled back with a heavy blush on her face and pressed her forehead against Sanya's as the tips of their noses touched. Eila was about to lean in for a second kiss but stopped when suddenly her ear was filled with garbled static.
"Thi-...Sakam-...All Witc-...Repor-..."
Eila's eyes widened and she clasped Sanya's hands in her own, interlacing their fingers, and causing Sanya to blush even more from the simple contact.
"Sanya, can you boost the signal?" Eila asked ecstatically.
Sanya nodded and closed her eyes as her magical antennae appeared and grew brighter and brighter. The transmission came again, this time far clearer.
"This is Mio Sakamoto with Yoshika Miyafuji reporting in from South Fuso, I am requesting any and all surviving Witches to report in."
Sanya opened her eyes and saw the elated expression on Eila's face and smiled. She then closed her eyes again and poured all of her magic into boosting the signal. Her antennae glowed so bright that they nearly turned white.
"I repeat, this is Mio Sakamoto requesting all surviving witches report in."
The line died down for a few moments which caused Eila to worry. However, her fears were dashed as the line crackled back to life.
"This is Charlotte Yeager and Francesca Lucchini reporting in from North Africa, it's so nice to hear your voice again, Major!" Charlotte's excited voice came across the line shortly followed by another.
"This is Gertrude Barkhorn, Erica Hartmann, and Minna Wilcke reporting in from East Karlsland, this is the first time we've heard any transmission from you in awhile, Major," Barkhorn reported, quickly followed by another transmission.
"This is Lynette Bishop and Perrine Clostermann-san, reporting in from West Gallia," Lynette's timid voice came across the line last.
"Sanya, you're acting as a broadcast tower, connecting all of our transmissions!" Eila said excitedly as she quickly pressed her own earpiece.
"This is Eila Juutilanien and Sanya Litvyak reporting in from Central Orussia!" Eila cried excitedly.
"Eila-san!" Yoshika and Lynette cried over the line in unison.
"It's so good to hear you all!" Eila replied.
"Everyone, make your ways to Asia Minor, we'll reunite there, but until then maintain radio silence, we can't afford to be caught," Sakamoto interjected the order but even she could not hide the joy in her voice, then the line went dead.
Sanya released her concentration, panting from the exertion of her magical output. Eila leaned in and gave Sanya another quick kiss before pulling her along by the hand towards the cottage door.
"C'mon, Sanya, let's go find the lost Witches."
END
Author's Commentary: This is my second Strike Witches story but since I am releasing it along with my first, please be merciful to me about any details or facts I got wrong, same with the speech patterns of the girls. I hope you all enjoyed reading and all feedback is welcome!