Vashti checked and double checked the tote bag she had slung over her shoulder. It was less for making sure that the gifts from everyone were there when she packed them (even though she still wasn't quite sure... she was half-asleep when she packed) and more of a way to stall actually going into the hospital. So there she stood in front of the door, unzipping, peeking in, and then re-zipping the thing until a doctor had passed by her, clearly frowning at this odd, taller-than-average woman suffering from anterograde amnesia.
Reluctantly it was getting to the point that Vashti could not delay the inevitable any longer. With a deep breath, she plowed through the wide double-doors… almost literally as she forgot that she was a metal maiden now, practically taking the doors off their hinges with her strength. Despite having terrified the front-desk staff, they were still very helpful in helping her find her objective- Sophie Arden's room. Quietly she walked the hospital's sterile white halls, trying her best not to stand out. Again, difficult given her height and Freedonian uniform; there weren't many Freedonians serving on the United Front yet aside from metal maidens like herself. Vashti shook her head, trying to pull herself from the pit of her own thoughts- Sophie and the others always told her to pay more attention, as she was prone to fits of reverie that distracted from her duties.
And then her train of thought lead her down that dark place that she tried to avoid. Events that she purposely tried to remember in patches- big black spots in her mind's eye that she could take solace in not quite remembering the exact details. She shook her head again, trying to focus on a more positive point of that day.
Sophie's injuries were bad… but not that bad… or at least that is what Vashti thought. If anything, it was her pride that took the biggest blow… though her Gear was still irreparably damaged- thankfully. Everyone had feared the worst when their captain had been pulled from the flaming wreckage, bloodied, but luckily not completely broken. Vashti's own Norn squad had been there as backup- able to rush to Oracle's aid once Sophie fell. It certainly was the fastest Vashti had ever moved in her life as she rushed to place herself between that… thing… and her fallen comrade.
She couldn't help but feel that it was still her fault, despite not being capable of changing a thing about what had happened. Sophie had refused a second heavy tank in Oracle when Vashti had stepped down to lead Norn squad, claiming that she could handle the brunt of combat. What made it worse was that Vashti had stepped down from Oracle for not the most… respectable of reasons.
Perhaps it was to be her chance to redeem herself.
The Maiden Wing of the hospital was a brand new addition as of late, and as such should have been buzzing with activity. Instead, Vashti's footsteps echoed down the vacant and cold hall. Halls and rooms from the looks of it… almost every door lay ajar, hospital beds empty but still slightly disheveled.
It was unnerving to say the least. Vashti would be lying if she said her normally lethargic pace didn't increase then and there. Despite the increased speed, it still felt like minutes flew by as she fell in a hypnotic trance from seeing the same things pass by constantly. Vashti screeched to a halt awkwardly in the hallway- She skipped by Sophie's room- the only room in the hall with a name placard.
That meant Sophie must have seen her zoom by through her open door.
With the utmost trepidation she knocked on the door, timidly standing half-in, half-out of sight.
"Sophie? I-it's me." Vashti called out, half hoping the heavy tank maiden was asleep.
"Well well, lazybones, it is about time you visited me again." Sophie's thick Bavarian accent did little to hide the energy of her youthful voice. At least she sounded like her old, chipper self.
Steeling her nerves, Vashti stepped into the room, smoothing out her sweater and adjusting her soft cover as she approached, suddenly worrying about her blustered appearance- as if Sophie had never seen her more slovenly side before...
"If it is not my favorite Freedonian," the pink-haired girl practically purred as Vashti took a seat next to her bed, "What did you bring me today?" The small woman had gingerly put the novela she was reading down, motor function of her right arm still not fully recovered. In her ruby red eyes, Vashti could see a glint of pain, but Sophie continued smiling through it. She tilted her head to regard Vashti's odd pause, silken pink hair swaying. Her iconic cat-paw hairpin glinting with its painstakingly polished sheen. Even when her skull was split and bleeding profusely, Sophie had refused to let the doctors or professor Portia to touch it for fear of it getting smudged.
"I- um-."
Sophie's bright smile vanished in an instant. With the swiftness of a metal maiden whose arm had not nearly been torn off by an explosion (which is to say, still much faster than a normal human), the veteran swooped up her paper-back novella and bopped Vashti over the head with it.
"Out with it!" Sophie had always hated when Vashti hesitated- or was it she just hated how slow Vashti spoke? "If you want the commander's attention you need to be decisive!"
"I took the position!" Vashti cried out, shying away from the book that was held aloft for another strike.
But it didn't come.
Through one cracked eye, Vashti spied that it would never.
Sophie had let the book slip from her once-sure grasp. Instead of the strong, confidant Sophie that everyone in S.V.S and Backwater knew… the Sophie that Vashti was expecting, she found only a young woman in tears.
"Sophie?" It was something completely alien to Vashti.
Sophie Arden. Queen Tiger. First of the Fated. Pride of her Fatherland…
Crying.
The small woman's arms had gone limp, her head tilted back so that her hair splayed wildly over the pillows that propped her up, mouth agape with fangs bared in a silent wail of anguish.
Vashti had no frame of reference- no understanding of what she could do at that very moment. Sophie's pain stabbed at Vashti's heart, but at the same time she was frozen in fear of this broken, fragile woman before her. This was a moment for only Sophie- for her former captain to come to grips with and accept for herself before Vashti could even approach to comfort her.
"L-lead them." Sophie choked between sobs. She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, trying fighting off the next bout of tears in the most literal way possible. "Keep them… them and the commander-" Her once charming features contorted into a pained mix of anguish and indignation. She couldn't finish her plea, but deep down, Vashti knew it- for it was the same wish every Maiden in Oracle held.
"I won't let you down, ma'am!" Vashti saluted. She never saluted, but in this moment -this very instant- the perpetual drowsiness had fled her voice. The lethargy that often plagued her movements blasted away by the display in front of her.
It was a damned order. No-one could live up to the achievements that Sophie Arden had accomplished while leading Oracle Squad. She had pushed the very limitations of herself, her unit, and everyone around her to the point where they themselves ascended with her…
And yet, she fell.
And if she fell...
Who was Vashti to even think that she could live up to that level of brilliance?