Author's note :
Hello again ! It's been a pretty long time since I've written about GuP. Well, I didn't have time to do so, my inspiration was killed by school, stress and brain exhaustion, but I'm on holidays now, so I'm in a better shape. I've watched the (damn awesome) movie. This helped me a lot, and I discovered in myself a true love for the Fallout series. Sovietkitty + Game she loves + GuP = Crossover fanfic ! Yay !
I'm glad to be back here. I should continue Depths as well. I started writing Chapter 2 until I ran out of ideas. But I wanna finish it no matter what. Girls und Portals was hard to write as well, so I might take a VEEEEEEEEERY long time to finish them all.
Anyway, enjoy~!
WARNING : Some chapters of this fic may be rated M due to : violence, sexual themes, murder and graphic wounds.
"War...
War never changes...
All of them... Nuclear dangers... At one moment or the other, they can tear off our lives in a split second. It only needs a dropping... the flight of the bomb... until its painful landing creating an apocalyptic detonation, a roar, a shockwave, such a powerful blast that it destroys everything it touches.
We are in the 21st century... and nuclear power has become widespread. Hostilities are growing only stronger, and everything seems to speed up.
Like nearly 75 years ago... the noose tightens, and the world prepares itself to a total war...
And even us, who are practicing Tankery, this art coming from years of barbaric and fierce fighting, we can only remember one thing...
War never changes."
PART 0 : WAR NEVER CHANGES
Miho went out of the Pz. IV. This was such a beautiful, sunny spring Wednesday. The training was, as usual, successful. After effort comes comfort : they were under a wonderful beech tree. Its leaves, green as the land, with shimmering, golden reflections, let the sunlight pass through, drawing various-shaped light spots on the tank's metallic armour.
The others didn't take much time to follow. Saori, Mako, Hana and Yukari. Each sat on a side of the tank. They simply enjoyed the soft, gentle breeze that was blowing in their hair. Mako was as sleepy as usual : lazy, she let herself daze off under the heat that emanated from the light reflecting on the grey paint. Mako was so cute when she was sleeping. Her small and thin body was laying down on the armour and wasn't going to move an inch. Miho smiled. What a wonderful team she was with her friends. Finally, she didn't regret moving to Oarai, even if at first she wanted at all costs to avoid the sport that made her as happy as before the terrible accident that almost costed Koume Akaboshi and all her team's life when their tank sunk into the deep, black waters, under a drenching rainstorm, making Kuromorimine lose the tournament because of the Nishizumi's heroic act. Everything seemed better now that she met these four girls with whom she wanted to spend all her life.
Yukari lifted her gaze and looked at the clouds through the beech's leaves. With her brain obsessed with the same topic, she thought she saw the shape of a Jagdtiger in the sky. Enthusiastic and excited, she started laughing loudly.
"What's up ?" Hana asked, smiling.
"Nothing. Just saw a well-drawn Jagdtiger in a cloud", the vivacious Yukari replied, not taking her eyes off the shape.
"You're getting worse", Mako mumbled.
"Oh, please, be a little more lively !" Saori told her while laying down, facing her. "You're always sleepin' ! You're going to get into a coma one day !"
"Don't care", Mako let out. "At least, I'll be resting all my life."
"You're funny", Miho said. "We should call you the Sleeping Beauty. You're sometimes like her."
"The Sleeper ! Just this", the ginger replied. "You could get the Biggest Sleeper Award."
"Stop it", Mako whispered.
"She's pretty and could sleep for hundred years", Hana said in her usual soft tone. "The Sleeping Beauty would fit more."
"Oh, seriously, stop that", Mako grumbled.
"We're just teasin' you!", Saori laughed.
Miho cherished these moments with her group of friends. They were everything, absolutely everything to her. She was feeling differently for them than she was for her sister, but was still loving them the same. She never knew how to really hate someone since she joined Oarai. Even Erika Itsumi, who behaved very badly towards her, could have a place in her heart. She loved everyone in her tankery club, even if she didn't have much in common with some of them.
They stayed for some more time under the beech tree, and then they headed towards the ship. It was logically meant to leave soon to go to Yokohama to encounter once again, as each year. They were still waiting for the signal of the departure : it hadn't come. They waited for it since three days, a lot longer than usual. Sometimes, they talked to their tankery opponents while waiting. They were always nice to them. What amazed Miho was to see all the differences between the people they were confronting. It was far from Anzio's lively spirit or Chihatan's go-ahead type. It was a refined school, even if it wasn't like Selection University, from where was Alice Shimada. They had got closer and kept on touch. Their passion for Boko could only make them even closer. Alice had taken a long time to open up : as a very shy girl, she was trusting Miho, but she still had difficulty to open up at times. But often, they used Skype to communicate.
Alice was part of these people Miho had a different bond with. Not like her friends from Oarai or Maho, no. Not love, not sisterhood, something deeper. A profound connection, like soulmates. She was often thinking about her, wanting to approach her even more. She loved a lot the girl who was technically her rival. But these things weren't meaning anything to Miho, who cared more than anything about her relationships and the unity of her club. Knowing that everyone around her was feeling good filled her with happiness. Plus, knowing that Oarai was finally saved had finished gladdening her. She felt acomplished. No more obstacle could scare her, nothing could get in her way now !
Her phone vibrated. Alice. She quickly replied to her message, then came back to what she was doing. She was one of the last people she called : the others were Maho, and Yukari who needed advice on something. Although all the girls from tankery club had her number, they rarely contacted her : Aya texted her only once, and Nakajima told her once in a while about the Pz. IV's maintenance. Miho preferred real interaction to texts or calls.
They were walking in the streets as something caught their attention.
Barriers and arrow signs seemed to indicate a direction. Miho knew a place that was in the path shown. It was Vault 49.
It was build some years ago and no one particularly brought it up in conversations. It's wasn't noticeable : carved into the rock, going deep under the land, it remained unoccupied, but seemed to be kept : the staff came and went sometimes. There wasn't any visible door : only some sort of large, circular elevator, a huge platform that would certainly go down if there was a danger. Miho wondered what was inside. Would there be enough space to put all the inhabitants here ? There were seven or eight vaults in the prefecture, as far as she knew. One in Oarai, another near Tsukuba, a third not far from Kitaibaraki and two in Mito. Maybe three. She didn't remember and didn't know where could be the other vaults either. She thought however than not everyone could be saved by going in only eight vaults. In case it was the end of the world, there would certainly be an horrible amount of dead people, and some lucky ones would survive.
She went to one of the cops who seemed to wait by the path drawn by the barriers.
"Sir, why are you indicating the vault's direction ?"
"We are doing a simulation. Don't worry, miss. We just try to see where to place the barriers in case there would be nuclear attacks on Japan or China."
Miho still felt uneasy.
"But... If it's just a simulation, you're going to make everybody go into the vault ?"
"No, we just try to find out what is the best position for the barriers and the signs in case of atomic disaster."
"I see... Have a good day, sir."
Still not feeling good, she preferred to go and warn her friends, then did the same for all of the Tankery team. She ran to the school ship, where most of them were, and told them about what could be happening and what to do. She advised them to remain together and to move closer to the vault. She didn't like it. Maybe she was ending up as being paranoid because of all these apocalyptic stories that couldn't stop polluting the rumors, but she preferred to take caution. If she had to run to the vault, she could do it quickly. She wouldn't uselessly put herself and the rest of the club in danger.
Her phone vibrated again. Alice once again. But this time, Miho felt even more anxious.
"Head to the vault. Quick."
Alice appeared panicked : she had made a few typos in her text, which indicated she typed hastily. Miho replied immediately.
"Why ? Don't tell me this is real..."
The answer came almost instantly.
"Don't think. Get there. They're announcing bombing that are targeting Tokyo, Niigata and Kitakyushu. They bomb the spots they couldn't 70 years ago"
Another text from her.
"Your life depends on it. Don't worry about me. I'm in front of Vault 54's door."
Miho typed frantically on the screen of her cellphone.
"I'll continue to text you while I warn everyone."
When she was about to head to where the others remained, an alarm started to be heard. A long, deep sound, that was saying a lot about what was going to happen in the near future.
"Residents from Oarai have to evacuate to vault 49 immediately", a voice said in a speaker, echoing in all streets.
This horrifying message resonated in all of her body. Miho started sweating, furiously trembling, overwhelmed by stress. Her friends started to head towards the vault.
Vibration. Alice sent her another text.
"Find me in Kumamoto. You have Maho and your mom here, and mine was traveling here. We'll find our families together."
Miho replied.
"I'll find you there. Good luck."
After having texted Alice for the last time, Miho checked if everyone was following and started running. Running for her life. Maybe she would be no more in some minutes. She and her team absolutely had to get to the vault before it was too late. Before this terrible bomb hits Tokyo's grounds, a hundred of kilometers far from Oarai. Everywhere, in Japan, there was probably a moving, panicked crowd. Some would maybe be trampled to death, in the chaos, in the din of the screams of the scared people, some wouldn't be accepted in the vault, like in the USA, place from where went the idea of the atomic bomb... and the fallout shelters. And in 1945, it was them who dropped two of them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The one dropped on Tokyo was going to be the third. THREE. Miho could already do the three sign with her fingers to refer to this horrible thing.
She rushed to the elevator. She got surprised to see that the other girls, the ones who weren't practicing Tankery, weren't there. What she found weird was that they didn't obey. Why was the Tankery club the only one here ? Was there another vault under the school ? What was happening ? She tried not to panic. Everyone was speaking around her. Everyone. Absolutely everyone, deeply afraid, was asking questions here and here, without having any answer for the others who asked even more and more, more questions, more, more questions !
Hippo team was restless. Oryou looked worried. Saemonza was arguing with Caesar and Erwin wasn't looking reassured either. Mallard team kept their calm. If Sodoko remained disciplined and wasn't being scared, Pazomi and Gomoyo, even if they were terrified, could do the same.
On their side, Duck team were reuniting for the last time. Akebi was tremendously crying. Noriko wasn't stopping to tell her not to feel sorry about herself, Shinobu was unsure how to react and Taeko tried to comfort her without letting herself be overwhelmed by nervousness.
The Rabbit team, however, talked loudly, almost screaming. Only Saki, silent as usual, seemed to wait for death to come. Azusa tried to calm them down for avoiding panic.
Leopon team had a saddened look and they were barely heard talking.
And for Anteater team, they were giving glances to each other.
Only the Turtle team was missing. Where were the Student Council girls ? What were they doing ? Had they remained inside like the others ?
"Nishizumi-dono... I love you, with all my heart", Yukari whispered, hopeless.
"Miporin, what's happening?!" Saori cried in fear.
"Don't worry, we're going to be fine..." Miho reassured her, even with all this stress she was feeling.
"We're gonna die ! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" the ginger squealed while she was, like Akebi, crying uncontrollably.
Hana leaned towards her and took her in her arms in an attempt to calm her down. Mako wasn't reacting a lot, as if she somewhat gave up. She gave a sad glance to Saori, then went back into her thoughts. Miho decided to text her sister. This was maybe the last time she was actually communicating with her, after that.
"Onee-chan, I'm on the Vault 49 elevator. I'm safe. Are you okay ?"
"Yes, I am. I want to find you as soon as possible."
"I love you, sis. Good luck..."
"I love you too. Hang in there."
A tearing, deafening detonation, a terrifying deflagration, a titanic snap sounded behind her and was heard for miles around. A terrible, instant flash blinded everyone. The light changed in a split second. THREE!
When Miho turned back, shaken by the powerful explosion she just felt, she saw a gigantic burst of light rising. Another sun illuminated the entire sky, in orange tones, like the autumn glows. The cloud that was forming had vaguely the shape of a huge, blazing mushroom ascending to the heavens. It was going up to the skies, taking the direction of the Universe, while the ground started to move. The elevator was going down.
A violent, swift dust wave seemed to approach faster and faster. The shockwave's blast. Miho prayed that they wouldn't be all blown-off : hopefully, at the last second, the elevator was low enough to save them. They heard the air moving above them in such violence that every single one of their sensed would remember it forever.
While they were going into the darkness that led them to the vault, everything was devastated by that apocalyptic blast just above their heads...
What would they do, now that the world they've known so far was no more ?