August 3rd, 1945
St. Trond's base, Karlsland
"Minna, shouldn't you finally take a break? You've been signing paperwork for hours now."
Minna Dietlinde Wilcke looked up and shook her head, with a resigned smile. "I have to finish it quickly. I wouldn't mind a break, but of course even the Neuroi being defeated in Europe wouldn't permit that."
"The sheer amount they put on you is unreasonable," Gertrud Barkhorn (better known as Trude) sighed. "Well…I suppose I'd better make myself useful." She picked up a stack of paperwork and a pen, and began to work on it herself.
They were several stacks into the paperwork when Minna found herself squinting and having to reach for a lamp…and then that made her realize something else. "Trude…does it seem unusually dark?"
"Now that you mention it…" Trude began to realize as well. "But why? It was supposed to be sunny weather."
Minna suddenly gasped. "Wait…!" She closed her eyes, and then the ears and tail of a wolf appeared on her body. A blue glow began to surround her.
"Minna?" Trude asked, getting worried. She sighed and looked out the window, at the black clouds. Something was wrong…Black clouds? Trude thought with a start. Then she saw green lightning lace through the clouds at one point. "Oh no…"
Minna bolted up. "A Neuroi Super Hive is appearing over Karlsland! We have to get out of here immediately!"
"Abandon Karlsland? But-" Trude protested.
"There's nothing we can do, Trude," Minna insisted quietly but firmly. "I don't know why they appeared without us being able to sense something, but we need to leave. Karlsland has already fallen."
Trude's eyes hit the ground, despairing. "Damn…why are we powerless to do everything no matter what?"
"We will bepowerless if we don't move quickly!" Minna's voice suddenly became as cold and harsh as she could manage. Even so, her voice faltered slightly with the terror she was trying to mask. "Trude, please, we need to leave now!" Forgetting the paperwork entirely, she rushed out the door. Slowly beginning to move, Trude hurried after her.
In the winter of 1945, only several months after the destruction of the Neuroi Super Hive over Venezia, the Neuroi launched another massive attack on Earth. The new Neuroi was ruthless, destroying even the Neuroi before them. They leveled anything they came across, and it was as if nothing existed once they had left.
Although most of the witches escaped, Karlsland and Romagna fell to the Neuroi quickly. One by one, all the other nations in Europe-Hispania, Suomos, Hispania, Gallia, Venezia, and even Orussia-fell to the Neuroi. Liberion experienced its first Neuroi attack, and fell quickly. Britannia took on the Neuroi alone, but suffered day after day to the point of despair. The new Neuroi's goal, it seemed, was the utter eradication of the human race.
The Neuroi next set their eyes on the Fuso Empire, intent on destroying it. Though other Neuroi usually didn't attack Fuso because of the Fuso Sea Incident, the new Neuroi had the motive-and the power-to overrun Fuso. Hope, it seemed, was lost…
November 1, 1945
Yokosuka-Fuso Empire
"Yoshika-chan! Please grab on!"
Miyafuji Yoshika reached out desperately at the branch her best friend was holding up, battling against the surging river. Her other hand held the brown and white ball of fur tightly to her head, refusing to let it fall into the current. "A bit further out, Micchan!" she shouted over the rush of water. Micchan held it out further, and Yoshika's hand finally wrapped itself around the wood.
Kicking her feet with all her might, she struggled towards the shore, Micchan pulling on the branch as much as she could. Eventually, Yoshika's hand extended and deposited the puppy onto the rocks. "You're safe," she sighed with relief.
"Yoshika-chan! Your hand!" Suddenly, her other hand slipped from the branch and Yoshika screamed, flailing wildly before catching onto the rocks with her hands and struggling to pull herself onto the rocks. Micchan now was sighing as well.
"That was scary," Yoshika laughed, looking back at the waterfall behind them. "But at least we got the puppy out!" She petted it, giggling softly.
Suddenly, they heard a blaring noise which struck terror into their hearts. "Is that an alarm?" Micchan gasped, looking up.
"But the Neuroi shouldn't have-!" Yoshika had no idea what to say. They NEVER attack Fuso! What's going on? When did it get so clo- Micchan interrupted her thoughts, grasping her hand and pulling her away. Yoshika reached out and grabbed the puppy just before it was too far out of her reach.
The two girls split up down the road, and Yoshika hurried back to her home, the Miyafuji clinic. Her mother and grandmother were looking very worried, and seemed thankful to know that Yoshika was back safely. "They've sent orders for everyone to evacuate," Yoshika's mother explained, pointing at their essential things that were already packed up. "We need to hurry. We can't travel so far on f-"
But she was interrupted by the sound of a truck roaring up the road. To their surprise, it pulled up straight in front of them. In fact, by the looks of it, it was a military-owned truck, driven by-
"S-Sakamoto-san!" Yoshika gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"There's still some time before the Neuroi arrives. In the meantime, I was asked to help with the evacuation." Mio took one of their bags and deposited it in the truck. "Is this all you need?"
"All our essentials are here," Yoshika's grandmother confirmed, then turned to Yoshika. "Do you need anything, Yoshika?"
Yoshika tried thinking about it, then suddenly remembered the one thing she did need. Not that it would protect her life, but…"Uh…yes! I need to get one last thing!" She bolted back into the house without another word and rushed to her bedside, looking through all the books…Here! She pulled out a black book with red lining. The text was in some Romagnan which she couldn't read, yet she held it tightly to her chest as she raced out and jumped into the shotgun seat. Mio was surprised at how little time she took, but the engine roared to life and the truck spewed up gravel as it ran, headed for the shelter.
Above the Sea of Fuso
"Aw, geez, we have to travel so far. Why did Fuso ask for such a thing?"
"But Yoshika-chan…she'd definitely come if we asked…well…I-I mean, she…would if she could…"
"Well, that's definitely true, but not all Fusoans are like Miyafuji, you know. Eh? W-why are you giving me that look? I-I didn't mean to be rude!"
"Whatever, keep pretending you don't care if you want. You're pretty bad at lying now, by the way."
"W-what?! Hey! YOU were the one who was complaining about how we had to travel so far!"
Wing Commander Minna Dietlinde Wilcke looked back at her bickering subordinates with a resigned smile, somehow happy to see them like so. Just like the old days when…Her happy thoughts were instantly interrupted when they darted to Captain Gertrud Barkhorn, who began to lecture her partner, Flight Lieutenant Erica Hartmann.
Remembering the old days when Trude rather hot-headedly berated her comrades for their conduct, it felt strange seeing her so quiet and simply telling Erica what a soldier should do, rarely raising her voice and often giving up on the subject. Erica didn't look the same, either, eyes much more attentive and darting around rather than half closed with unnatural amounts of fatigue. The moment Trude's voice started to rise in the slightest, she recoiled and silenced herself, flying a bit further away.
Her eyes continued to the two in the rear, Flight Lieutenants Eila Illmatar Juutilainen and Sanya V. Litvyak, both of whom were much more silent than before. Sanya looked very frail, as if she would fade into the sky at any moment. The moment she tried to speak, her words caught in her throat and halted in jumbles. Eila gave a wan smile of amusement every now and then, but her snide remarks rang without much heart. In fact, her insulting tone had mostly left her voice, and she was much more defensive with her words.
Then Minna gazed down at the blue ocean beneath them, trying to see her own reflection. When at last she could spot it, she tried to remember what she had been like back in the days of the Strike Witches. It took her so long to remember that she was startled. Today, it felt as though she would break apart at any moment after every fight, when she originally was very clear-minded in battle a year ago. We've all changed so much…
Try as she might to put on her mask of seriousness and calm, Minna found it wouldn't return, leaving her with a look of uncertainty still. If we meet Mio and Miyafuji…what would they think? Would they still recognize us as the girls they fought the Neuroi alongside?
En route to the shelter
They had been driving for ten minutes, but Mio decided she could and spared a glance at the precious book Yoshika refused to let go of. She recognized it immediately and began to ask why she went back for it…but she already knew the answer. "That's the photo album you got in Romagna, isn't it?" she asked.
Yoshika nodded, sparing a moment to open it and immediately smiling with the old memories. Lynne, Sanya, Barkhorn, Shirley, Perrine, Hartmann, Eila, Lucchini, Minna…it felt as though she had only just seen them, and yet it had been about a year. "I don't know when I'll see them again with the war going on…" She turned a page with a wistful look. "So that's why I came back for it." Neither her mother nor her grandmother seemed to be paying attention to their conversation.
Mio forced a smile herself. "I feel strange without them too," she admitted with a chuckle. "But…" Her voice trailed off as the unspoken taboo passed between the two which neither wanted to admit.
"Of course they'd be fine!" Yoshika finally insisted, although she immediately knew she was trying to convince herself, not Mio. "Well-" Her voice trailed off when she heard a loud explosion, felling multiple trees not too far away. "Is the fighting getting close?" she worried, looking up.
Mio wasted no time in spinning the wheel and turning back down the road, looking back and seeing the Neuroi surging through the sky, turning away to battle the Witches already in the area. It looked similar to some sort of bomb with rotors at the end. "Guess we have to take a detour!" The truck roared down another road, away from the Neuroi.
"How long have they been fighting? I didn't hear the alarms until thirteen minutes ago," Yoshika asked, looking back at the Witches with worry.
"Exactly that amount of time," Mio replied, looking at the built-in clock in the truck. "I heard Witches from Orussia already decided to come and reinforce us hours ago due to sightings of Neuroi bound for Fuso, but they still haven't arrived. It's hard to believe that they'll come in time."
"We could always check!" Yoshika insisted. Mio sighed and gestured to the radio with one hand, unable to take both off the wheel. Yoshika picked up the set and held it to her lips and ears…and heard nothing but static. "Eh? It doesn't seem to be working."
"That's strange. It was working earlier today," Mio murmured, turning another corner. "We'll be getting close to the shelter soon enough, though. We might not need it."
Yoshika stole a few more glances back, but couldn't see the Neuroi. "I hope we can make it safely," she said. What she didn't mention, though, was her worry that she couldn't see it anymore. It shouldn't have been able to disappear so fast…
Above the Sea of Fuso
"Try one more time to connect to them, Sanya-san."
"…I…I can't pick up anything... it's very…there's lots of static…I'm sorry…" Sanya felt the lump in her throat which never went away for long anymore. She coughed, but when she wanted to try again, she saw them conversing with each other and her voice faded away again.
Minna sighed and shook her head. "This is bad if we can't communicate. Stick together, everyone." She surged forward, and Captain Barkhorn and Hartmann followed.
Eila also began to speed up, but then looked back and halted. "Sanya, come on!" she demanded, trying not to be too forceful. Without a word, Sanya accelerated to fly alongside Eila, who took her hand with a reassuring smile. Sanya tried to smile back, but it was a hollow one that showed no true happiness. She was aware of this and tried to smile with more enthusiasm, but she found she couldn't, and turned away in shame. As if she knew exactly what Sanya was thinking, Eila flew to her other side and grinned. "Hey, it'll be alright! You don't have to worry, we'll just defeat the Neuroi like before!"
"Y-yes…" Sanya tried not to meet Eila's eyes, but she knew it was futile already. Eila already knew how she felt truly.
Eila's grin was melting away quickly, too. She pushed against Sanya's cheek with her other hand so the two were truly looking at each other. "And…if something goes wrong…" With an effort, Eila brought back her reassuring smile. "I'll protect you, okay? We'll go back to Orussia safely, no matter what."
"Eila…" Sanya felt her spirits lift a little, and a true smile blossomed on her face. "We're going in, okay?"
"Yeah," Eila agreed, as she let go of Sanya's hand and reached for her machine gun, while Sanya lifted the Fleigerhammer, her powerful rocket launcher. The two, keeping close to one another in the face of despair, prepared to fight against the source of it.
Above Fuso Harbor
Erica found her stomach beginning to growl, and her hand jerked instinctively towards it. Her muscles suddenly tightened, and her arm forced itself back to its original postion. Gazing at Trude and Minna, who respectively wore those faces of one who had submitted to despair and one who woke every day full of terror, she winced from her hunger pangs and tried to ignore them. Compared to the source of their problems, she knew a little hunger was insignificant. I can't let them worry more…they have enough to worry about. They don't need to be concerned with an empty stomach.
Her eyes began to droop, and that began to bring alarm to her mind. Forcing them open once again, Erica pressed on, trying to keep up with Minna and Trude, who she was falling behind rapidly. Fatigue and hunger continued to rip at her body. Keep going…keep going…keep…ugh…Her Strikers' propellers began to falter, and Erica found herself beginning to sink lower and lower. Straining, she forced herself upward, already having lost the two ahead. "Can't…stop now…" Erica groaned through clenched teeth.
Sanya and Eila passed the trailing Erica, looking back with surprise. "H-Hartman-san…" Sanya reached back to offer a hand, words either completely unnecessary or not coming. If Eila thought something of it, she took no action other than an annoyed glance.
Erica reluctantly accepted the hand, knowing she was just putting strain on Sanya and Eila. What's wrong with me? she wondered with disgust and sadness. I've always been getting hungry and tired this fast. So why is this bothering me now? Shouldn't it have bothered me…I don't know, since Britannia?
A bit further ahead, Trude and Minna flew straight into the fight with the Neuroi. Some of the Witches already in battle noticed them and shouted out joyously that reinforcements had arrived. "No, don't thank us right now…focus on the Neuroi," Minna shouted over the ruckus. As if on cue, the Neuroi fired its beam weapons at the Witches, who scattered in panic. Minna instinctively raised her shield, but the beam crashed against it with more than enough force to shatter bones. The Wing Commander decided it was best to flee and left her shield to break, wincing from the shattering but avoiding the beam.
Trude's guns leveled at the Neuroi, her eyes cold with the simple intent to kill. Both guns blazed, piercing into the Neuroi's armor and breaking through. The Neuroi fired, but Trude flew just past the attack as though it were nothing and continued to fire, coming dangerously close to the hull.
Minna ruefully watched as Trude continued her absurdly reckless attack. She handles all of them like this now. The Neuroi's beams activated again, but Trude only flew in another direction. As she flew alongside the Neuroi, she flipped one machine gun so she held it by the barrel, then swung it down upon the hull and cracking it wide open. Trude, eyes seemingly empty of any emotion, took aim-
Except her bullets rang through empty air. The Neuroi had disappeared, without a trace. Minna even felt it disappear from her Spatial Understanding, and looked around in shock and fear. "Where did it go?" she wondered. A moment later, she felt the Neuroi appear high above them…but it was a completely different shape, looking more like a spear with a rotating ring around its midsection connected to the main body by three arms. Beam panels were located on the nose and the ring, but they were hardly intimidating compared to the fact that it was hurtling straight down as if it were a suicide bomber. "Up there!" Minna shouted, pointing upwards, but to her dismay, the lack of radio connection made her go unheard by the panicking Witches. Gritting her teeth, the Wing Commander pointed her gun at the Neuroi and began to fire, drawing their attention as her bullets punched uselessly tiny holes in the hull.
More bullets suddenly punctured the armor from a different angle, followed by multiple rockets crashing into it and blowing massive holes into the hull. Minna spared a glance and saw that Erica, Eila and Sanya, having noticed the Neuroi through Sanya's antenna, were joining the fight. Eila, holding onto her gun with one hand and Sanya, whom Erica was also holding onto, with the other hand, avoided each of the beams with little effort while the other two focused on shooting and occasionally raising shields if they needed to. Minna breathed a sigh of relief for a moment…which was very short lived.
Though Trude and the others had also begun to shoot at it as well, the Neuroi cast beams down upon them-and Minna knew right away they were aimed specifically at her. I can't use my shields anymore; the previous attack made that evident. But…Glancing around, Minna noticed how many Fuso Witches there were around her, and found her heartbeat quickening with terror. What if they get hit? Minna frantically flew upwards at the Neuroi, guiding its beams away from the group and shooting at it herself in what could be the most vulnerable position she let herself be in.
Suddenly, a stray bullet pierced through one of the wings on her Srikers. Minna cried out as she began to drop, and the Neuroi seized its chance while she couldn't fly properly and unleashed every one of its lasers upon her. Just before they struck, though, Eila swooped down, grabbed her and pulled clear of the beams. "And I thought you hated it when we were being suicidal!" Eila shouted, gunning at the ring and puncturing it multiple times, but not enough to cause damage. Minna did not reply as she tried to control her flight, wondering why she didn't think to notice where her comrades' bullets were headed.
Erica, blue winds sweeping around her, ascended at maximum speed and crashed through the Neuroi, leaving a giant hole in it. She looked back in triumph…and then dismay as the Neuroi's armor reformed in a matter of seconds. The Neuroi changed course and began to chase Erica down, who desperately tried to shake it off as she fired away. Trude, chasing after the Neuroi and also shooting wildly, smashed through the hull numerous times with her tactic of using her guns similar to hammers, but it was all to no avail. Rockets shattered the ring, but Sanya was forced to flee before she would get shot as well.
Then it happened. Trude, accelerating, continued to fire at close range at the Neuroi, then dart away while its beams were preparing…and then suddenly a beam shot up just behind her, forcing her to change course again. Eila, with a surprised yelp, flew just over her, but just as Sanya was aiming, Trude slammed into her, sending both of them tumbling around wildly in front of the Neuroi, already charging its beams. Sanya attempted to raise her shield just before the Neuroi could hit her, and Erica dove right in front of Trude to block, but Sanya didn't have time to raise it completely, and it shattered, blowing her backward. The Neuroi made one final surge, the tip of the "spear" pointing straight at Sanya.
Minna gasped and shouted out, making a last ditch effort to shoot the Neuroi and divert its attention. Erica also tried the same tactic, but neither of them could knock it off course. Sanya was completely helpless to stop the Neuroi, and nothing could be done.
Immediately underneath them
A crash resounded in the forest ahead. Yoshika jumped in surprise and tried to look ahead. "What was that?" she asked, immediately beginning to fear the Neuroi had arrived.
Mio shrugged and continued driving. "We'll find out soon enough; we can't afford to take any more detours," she replied grimly. Trees were felled, and the ground littered with bullets. Fragments of Neuroi armor fell every now and then. From the looks of it, the battle was right on top of them. They couldn't stall any longer, not even for-The thought never completed itself when they turned the corner.
A black, long and streamlined object with red highlights, fins, a hole at one end, and propellers still extended had buried itself halfway into the earth, battered and dented. Not too far away was a mirrored version of it. But this one was placed on a human leg, having been knocked below knee level in the crash. The leg was covered by black tights, slightly torn from going through the leaves. The owner of these was wearing a black skirt, white shirt, a black tie and another black garment covering the area from her chest to her waist. Black cat ears poked from her silver hair, and a cat tail protruded from under her skirt.
Both Yoshika and Mio shouted in surprise. Her shirt now had a black collar, and her hair tumbled somewhat untidily down to shoulder length. But neither of them could mistake that it was Sanya V. Litvyak. "S-Sanya-chan!" Yoshika cried, jumping off the truck and running to her side.
Mio followed her off the truck. From the looks of it, she was unconscious, and had suffered wounds from the battle. "She wasn't hit directly by beams, but her shield definitely was broken," Mio observed, noting how serious some of the wounds were. "And…" Her expression darkened when she noticed the large red stain of blood on Sanya's abdomen, and the strange rupture created there. "This wasn't a beam, per se, but I think it was something even worse."
"We should take her to the shelter as well!" Yoshika declared, standing up.
Mio gave her a startled look. "Miyafuji, we might not make it in time if-"
"We have to try!" Yoshika insisted, bending down again and lifting Sanya, her arms hooked underneath Sanya's. "Sakamoto-san, please help me with this!" She struggled along, letting one of the Orussian Strikers get dragged off as she went. Mio, beginning to argue some more, finally decided against trying to reason with her, and bent down to pick up one of the Strikers.
Yoshika's mother and grandmother, somewhat surprised by what was happening, helped her get Sanya into the back of the truck. "Please, can you treat her wounds?" Yoshika implored.
Both frowned doubtfully when they saw the one at Sanya's midriff. "We'll see what we can do," her mother finally promised. Yoshika smiled encouragingly and went to grab the other Striker, while the two attempted to heal Sanya as best as they could under the circumstances.
Finally, the truck roared back to life. Mio looked up warily at the battle going on, but she couldn't see anything clearly. The only thing she noticed was a Witch in blue rocketing around the Neuroi singlehandedly, firing with precise accuracy. "Only one? She can't possibly defeat it like that," she muttered doubtfully. While it didn't do anything for her conscience, she drove at full speed, knowing the enemy was occupied and couldn't follow them. I hope they can take this one down, she thought.
The aerial battle
Seconds became eternities for Eila the moment she saw the effects of Barkhorn's blunder. Suddenly forgetting the Neuroi right beside her, she hurried towards the falling Sanya with arms outstretched. But without so much as a warning, her future sense triggered and she instinctively swerved-and found the Fliegerhammer in her hands instead.
The sight of Sanya spiraling wildly to the ground, only just out of reach made Eila's eyes blur, and her body became rigid and immobile as she stared dumbfoundedly after the Orussian Witch. H-how did this happen?! I tried to catch her! Why did I…Then her stunned expression slowly transformed into one full of rage. At Barkhorn for being so stupid as to neglect where she was going, at the Neuroi for ruining all of their lives, at herself for not catching Sanya. And then Eila, suddenly having completely lost control of her anger, appeared right next to the Neuroi seemingly faster than light, poised only for killing blows.
No one expected her sudden change of tactics. Raising her machine gun, she let out a scream of pure rage as she pointed it at the Neuroi and began to fire with no end. Each one tore through the Neuroi's hull with deadly accuracy. With her abilities, Eila did not even begin to think about what would happen she would miss, only letting her instincts control her arm and never letting go of the trigger once. It was utter insanity combined with cold calculating.
The Neuroi, having noticed, changed course once again, all beams focused on Eila. She let herself move through the storm of red light towards the Neuroi again on her instincts, cursing the world with each shot. Ordinary bullets which were supposed to only scratch armor this hard were piercing through to several inches in. As she neared the hull, the Neuroi became more desperate and veered off to the left, only for Eila to whirl the Fliegerhammer into its side, knocking it several feet off course, and pulling the trigger point blank. The force of the explosion sent her body flying like a rag doll, but as if either she was unscathed from the blast or just couldn't feel it, she hurtled after the plane with heightened vigor.
More bullets flew, and one of the tail fins went flying off, spiraling dangerously towards Eila's face. Moving just a tiny bit to her right, the fin barely missed her vitals, instead grazing her cheek. Wincing but still unyielding to pain, Eila watched the Neuroi careening towards earth towards the Witches, who all began to instinctively put up their shields. They were completely unsure of anything else they could do in the chaos, for Eila swooped in between the fury and continued to shoot, bullets and beams wildly flying around until the tail fin regenerated and the Neuroi flew back upwards, with Eila in hot pursuit.
None of the other Witches moved, all completely taken aback by the furious Suomos Witch who was only a wild cloud of blue around the Neuroi. They had never seen anyone fight with such ferocity. Eila only saw red in her fury, and while she could hear Minna screaming out orders repeatedly, they were incomprehensible to her, and might as well have been "Attack" as much as "Retreat" to her. She did not see any other Witches nearby, and she probably would not have cared even if they were in the paths of her bullets. They were very lucky she was letting her future sight control her aim-otherwise if she had been shooting wildly, they would not have survived.
Up and down, left and right. The bullets came from seemingly every angle. The Neuroi found its movements increasingly restricted, swerving frantically from one stream only to find its path blocked by a series of bullets from another side. As the Neuroi became more and more erratic with its motions, Eila found her swinging arm, shaking from the rattling gun and tightly gripping it with much pain, beginning to fall behind. With fury she forced more magic to it, forcing the pain and fatigue out just a little.
Suddenly, the gun clicked, letting her know it was out of bullets. Without even giving a thought to the full bandolier strapped around her torso, she almost casually threw it aside and pulled out a submachine gun from behind her back, if "casually" can be applied to her current mood. These tinier bullets penetrated just as deep into the hole carved into the surface of the hull by the explosion.
The Neuroi quickly converted to its original form, covering all the damaged areas, and fired its beams in a new pattern at the Witch, but once again Eila dodged the entire barrage. Even with much less armor exposed, she pointed the gun and blew away the armor to reveal the exposed portions once again, firing into them with rockets. Giant voids were left in the armor, which weren't as surprising when one considered the blast radius of the Fliegerhammer's missiles…unless they had been watching a moment ago when a much calmer Sanya fired them herself.
The Neuroi desperately switched forms once again, knowing defense would not save it against this particular Witch, and attempted to teleport, but Eila already pointed the Fliegerhammer downward and let the missile fly, occupying the exact space of the plane the moment it appeared. The impact blew away the entirety of the ring and most of the armor. Eila's submachine gun flared again, dashing the rest of the armor at the nose long enough to give the Fliegerhammer enough time to reload and fire again, leaving the glowing red core exposed in midair.
With one final effort, Eila hurtled downward once again, the submachine gun thrown behind her, already out of ammo and useless. Aiming the Fliegerhammer, she prepared to fire all remaining rockets. Each one blasted through the regenerating armor with no mercy and ripped it to shreds before it could envelop the core again. Utterly desperate, the Neuroi, unable to move, tried to regenerate its beam panels for a final barrage, but Eila was rocketing at it head-on, too fast for the beams to focus correctly.
The hull was regenerating absurdly fast compared to before, but the Neuroi was weakening. It could do nothing as Eila raised both hands, gripping the Fliegerhammer with a death grip to hold it in place, and smashed it through the remaining armor, crushing it entirely and pulling the trigger, letting loose the last rocket. This final explosion shattered the crimson crystal, and slowly, the entire plane turned white, dissolving into snow-like shards, disappearing into the wind as if they never existed.
Eila's shoulders heaved up and down, sweat dripping down the back of her neck. Her fingers, which shook as they still attempted to grip the rocket launcher with the strength of unyielding iron, finally reached her with their screaming pain, and she had to let go, allowing it to tumble into the trees. Shrapnel from the pierced armor and the Fliegerhammer rockets pierced her clothes in multiple places, throwing massive pain into her already exhausted body as the wind swept by.
Every muscle in her body now loosened to the point where she could only drift downward, unable to move anything without a searing pain. Her eyes couldn't focus anymore, and she could no longer recognize any of the figures she passed on her way down as anything but blurs. Nothing could be heard except the ringing of gunfire echoing through her ears. The slightest touch would cause her muscles to scream in pain. She could taste blood, and her throat and tongue felt sore.
However, she squinted and tried to restore her vision as much as possible, legs moving gingerly to send her back to the place she last saw her falling friend and comrade. "I…I'll be there…do…don't worry, Sanya," she croaked hoarsely.
Moments later, Eila's eyes darted around, panicked. No matter where she looked, Sanya wasn't there. Only sickeningly luscious bushes, towering trees, and flat, unwelcoming dirt greeted her hazy vision. "I'm sure she landed here," she reassured herself breathlessly. "She shouldn't be far from me…"
Minna descended from above the trees as Eila zipped through the trees once more. "Eila, that's enough. You're almost completely out of magic now," she ordered.
"But I still have to find Sanya!" Eila protested, flying off and clearly letting it be known that this was an order she was not following.
"You won't ever find Sanya if you're going to act like that!" Minna tried to reason, flying after her. "Just leave it to me, Erica and T-"
"DON'T SPEAK TO ME ABOUT BARKHORN!" Eila screamed, pivoting to glare at Minna with every bit of rage she had, causing the Wing Commander to backtrack in surprise and maybe even fear. "She's the reason why Sanya is…" Her voice cracked slightly, and her Strikers' propellers began to slow to a halt. Eila suddenly found herself sinking to ground, unable to continue even her words.
Minna caught her and began to fly back to Fuso Harbor, carrying the exhausted Suomos Witch on her back. "I don't sense Sanya anywhere around here," she informed her, a bit ashamed about her rather tactless handing of this information. "We'd best get you back to base."
"B-but…Sanya…" Eila groaned, wanting to tear away from her Wing Commander. However, she didn't even have the strength to ascend an inch.
"Then I promise you I'll find her," Minna reassured her. "Just have a rest, okay?"
Eila found her eyelids becoming heavy, and finally had to close them. Then she finally fell into a deep sleep…
At the shelter that night
Yoshika's eyes were fluttering open and closed, trying to stay awake. Her knees hurt after kneeling for so long, and it was very dark out. Even the extremely comfortable bed she was resting her head and arms on was opposing her. All the same, she fought groggily against her sleepiness.
On the bed, upon fluffy pillows and under soft blankets, Sanya lay unconscious still. Her wounds were fully treated, but she hadn't woken up for hours. Both Mio and her mother had convinced her to leave the room, but Yoshika insisted on staying with Sanya just to make sure she was alright.
Yoshika began to wonder if she should lay down as well, and finally her heavy eyelids began to shut…and suddenly she saw Sanya's open, confused and exhausted. "Sanya-chan! You're awake!" Yoshika cried happily, bolting up and forgetting her fatigue.
Sanya blinked several times, the same blanket of confusion over her eyes. "Y…Yoshika-chan…?" she asked, beginning to pull herself upright but wincing in pain from her injury. "What are you…I mean…where am I? A-and…um…where's Eila…?" She rubbed her eyes, finally just laying down again.
"Eh? Eila-san?" Yoshika was surprised to hear this question, before remembering that the two usually were found in the same general area. "I don't know…sorry."
"And…the Neuroi…w-was it defeated? A-and…did everyone…" Sanya suddenly faltered and found she couldn't finish the last sentence.
"Did everyone what?" Yoshika asked, starting to worry about her. When did Sanya start stuttering like this? "Sanya-chan, is something wrong?"
Sanya finally swallowed hard, and blurted out the question she wanted to, but didn't have the courage to say. "Did everyone survive?"
"Well, um…I didn't hear if anyone died," Yoshika replied sheepishly. "But the Neuroi was destroyed. One Witch…I don't know who…tried to take it on all by herself!" Sanya looked to be somewhat relieved, but not entirely. "So what happened to you?" Yoshika asked, looking down at Sanya's bandaged midriff.
Sanya looked down at the bedsheets, as though she weren't entirely sure what happened. "Well…um…I don't know…I mean, we were shooting at the Neuroi…and then…I…I'm sorry, I don't know what happened…something rammed me, and then…I brought up my shield to block a beam…but it broke…after that, I think I saw the Neuroi coming at me…and then I don't know…."
Yoshika did not ask for any details after that. A question was nagging in her mind. Despite being just a bit taller than her, the Orussian Witch seemed very small in the bed. Her pale skin almost seemed transparent now, and she seemed even more reserved than before Yoshika had come to be her friend. At any moment, it seemed as though Sanya would fade from existence. What happened to her?
The silence was broken when Sanya found the courage to speak once again. "…um…you…you stopped writing to m-to us in August…"
"Eh…heh heh…" Yoshika scratched the back of her head guiltily. "Well, the Neuroi invaded then, right? I didn't hear where your new address was…since…" Her smile faded when she found herself unable to finish. The town Sanya and Eila had been staying in before the Neuroi invaded had been destroyed towards the beginning of the war. To bring that up would be spraying salt on open wounds.
"…o-oh…" Sanya's face reddened a little and she shrank under the blanket some more. "…sorry…I didn't have time to write…not when I…had to…"
She didn't finish, because Yoshika was asking another question already. "How has the fighting been?"
Sanya's eyes downcast immediately. "…we're…doing badly. We…we haven't been able to even hold our ground…for a month…even the five of us are powerless…"
"Five?"
"C…Commander Minna, Captain Barkhorn and Flight Lieutenant Hartmann…they're also with us…"
"Eh? They're all in Orussia?!"
"…well…they're in Fuso as well right now…we all decided to come…communication to the High Command has been…no, all radio communications haven't been working…we're not really sure what we can or should do." As she talked, Sanya seemed to be getting slowly absorbed by the bed.
"It sounds really bad…" But Yoshika knew that didn't begin to describe half of it.
Tears began to well up in Sanya's eyes as she descended further into her despair which she had been so quiet about before. "It feels like…at any second…everyone will-"
"But no one's died yet!" Yoshika protested, hoping to raise Sanya's mood again. "That's what matters, right?"
Sanya, somewhat caught off guard by Yoshika's cutting in, was left a stuttering wreck, and then finally gave up and settled back, the bed pulling her in just a bit more. She gave Yoshika a faint smile, though the melancholy did not leave one bit. "…you haven't changed much…thank goodness."
"Eh? But I grew a bit taller!" Yoshika immediately replied, not understanding.
Sanya would've gone on, when she suddenly looked at the clock and let out a small gasp. "Oh…oh my…I-I've been keeping you up…sorry, Yoshika-chan…you should probably go rest…"
"What? N-no! I'm not tired at all!" Yoshika insisted, although she was beginning to really feel tired almost immediately, and her head and eyes were getting seemingly heavier by the second. She slowly lowered her head onto the bed and closed her eyes…and her mind began to drift away.
But not completely, while a ghost of a girl lay clinging her hand dearly as if it were the one thing keeping her from disappearing into the black night.
Fuso Harbor
Minna took one last look back at Eila, who laid on a rather firm bed, completely unconscious yet sleeping with a dismal expression, hair splayed wildly across the pillows and limbs curling closer towards her body in a fetal position. The Wing Commander watched with a fleeting hope that Eila would sleep peacefully even in her current mental state, then exited the room, quietly shutting the door.
Outside, Trude and Erica were standing in the hallway waiting for her. "So how is she?" Erica asked, keeping her voice down yet very clearly worried.
"Her magic energy is completely depleted. She won't be able to fight for the next few days," Minna informed them dejectedly, shaking her head. "And…did either of you find Sanya?"
"I didn't see her," Erica sighed. "Trude, you?" Trude did not meet either of their gaze, but simply shook her head without words, the other two taken slightly aback by her estrangement. Erica began to slowly bend down to meet her gaze, but suddenly shuddered and returned to standing straight up.
"I see." Minna's own words rang hollow to her from the coldness of them and how she truly felt. It was very apparent Erica knew more about her current thoughts than she was letting on. "W-well then…" Minna's voice cracked slightly but shockingly. This was the first time someone under her command had gone missing, not counting the time Miyafuji went AWOL, and even then she did so under her own volition, without them understanding anything about her. What she was dealing with now was different entirely. Sanya was clearly hurt, and they were unable to do anything.
"We're running out of magic so we can't search anymore tonight…" Erica lamented.
"T-That's right. And the Neuroi might attack again at any moment, so we can't use up all of it so that we're unable to fight it off," Minna added. The painful words finally had to be said, so she forced them up, sounding unusually high-pitched and quick. "So we can't spend any more time searching for Sanya."
"We can't even spare a moment to know if she's dead or not…" Erica dropped to the ground, back flopping against the wall dully. "Haven't we gone through enough already?" Her voice rising in frustration, Erica continued to complain. "We've seen city after city destroyed, we've seen soldier after soldier shot down, and now we can't keep even one comrade alive? What is wrong with us?"
"The Neuroi have no scruples. These ones wouldn't spare even one Witch," Minna attempted to calm down Erica with words she didn't quite believe herself.
"I know that!" Erica screamed with that seemingly fatigued voice which comes from impatience, causing Minna to jump back a little from this new outburst. "We knew that from the start! So why didn't we protect Sanya better? Or you? Or Eila?" It was worth noting she didn't bother to mention herself. "If we can't save even one Witch, how are we supposed to defeat the Neuroi?"
"It's pointless to protect someone from today's terrors only so they can be lost to tomorrow's." Minna and Erica almost found their blood freezing from these words that came from Trude, and they could only stare with wide eyes as she disappeared down the hallway, not sparing a glance backward. They were so stunned that they couldn't even continue speaking about the subject and disappeared from the hallway, turning in different directions without a word back to one another.
What is with me and rewrites? I did some in ALL THREE STORIES.
After watching the 2012 Strike Witches movie, I remembered the reasons why I loved the seriesso much, and instantly got back to work on this story. It seems to have mostly replaced Bleach in my interests, and not because of the fanservice. It's rather odd, but Strike Witches is an unusually heartwarming story. Those girls risk their lives day to day for the sake of the world and each other. And above all else, it emphasizes caring for your comrades.
I'm sad to say, though, that this story assumes the movie never took place. Several things may be completely ripped off from the movie, and other things are just the movie with some extra polish. (For me, the final fight was just so short it was heartbreaking. You won't see that here.)
This story is a bit more depressing as far as I'm concerned than either of my other stories. The original Strike Witches was a touching story, but it didn't have such a sad story as this, when here, no one knows what to do and everyone is demoralized to the point where they have "broken" already…
Also, bad news for some people out there that have different tastes from mine: Lynne, Perrine, and Lucchini will most certainly not be physically appearing in this fanfic. (I don't really care for them, but other people...)
*thinking* wtf why does my writing give me feels? T_T
