And wherever you go, I will follow
They are at Argeon and they are in the middle of battle to regain the port. The fight has being going on for an hour at least and Kagura is beginning to feel the strain in her body. Her movements are becoming clumsy. She's tired.
Laugher sings to her left. Millianna is standing atop a small pile of enemy soldiers, their bodies bound by her smart ropes. She smiles to her and Kagura feels the strength she needs to keep battling filling her muscles, spurring her bones.
"I bet I can kick more buttes than you, Kagura-san!"
Kagura smirks.
"You are awfully cocky today, Millianna."
The cat girl smiles. Her lithe body evades an earth-magic attack before counterattacking the caster with her claws.
There are no words to describe a battlefield. Kagura has tried to look for them, but she has come empty handed every time. There are only feelings and sensations. There's sweat and fear and anger and focus. There's the dust, that settles like a fog over everything and blurs reality. Kagura is grateful for it. It's easier to kill the person in front of you when you can't see their face.
Another enemy falls. The sun hits her eyes and blinds her for a second. The dust clears and gives her a clear vision of what's happening in front of her.
The world falls silent.
The image is clear and so common here at the battlefield that Kagura shouldn't be surprised by it, and yet she doesn't understand. She doesn't understand what the tip of the sword, dripping with blood, means. It doesn't make sense that is entering through her chest and coming out through her back. Millianna's always cheerful face, now opened by surprise, contorted by shock, defiled with agony simply can't be real. Kagura's brain has a hard time processing it.
But the sword is real, and the wound is real, and Millianna's gasp of pain goes unheard in the middle of the battle.
Their eyes find each other and a single tear falls when Millianna blinks. She mouths something that Kagura doesn't understand.
And then the sword pulls out of her. Millianna loses Kagura's gaze. Her eyes stare at something Kagura can't see. The pain is just a forgotten memory that creases Millianna's brow. Now all of her face is taken by sorrow.
Millianna falls.
Why can't Kagura move? Why isn't her body fast enough?
Millianna doesn't meet her eyes again.
A blast of magic explodes to Kagura's left and the world is running again. The silence is gone and noise invades her numb brain. In a second, the fog goes and she's awake. There's a fire in her core, tears in her eyes and she's pushing forward, a scream tearing out of her throat. Someone gets in her way and meets their fate soon enough. Kagura can't think anymore. Her sword opens up a path of death bodies for her, cutting out whoever dares interpose her way, enemies and friends alike.
It takes her a thousand years to reach Millianna and when she does, she falls to her knees by her side. She realizes she's screaming.
"Millianna!" There are tears in her voice. Millianna doesn't answer. Kagura takes her hand, touches her face with frantic movements.
"Millianna, please! Answer me!"
Her caramel eyes are open, staring into nothing. Her lips are parted but no last breath comes out of them. There's a gap in her chest that Kagura doesn't want to look at and yet her eyes are drawn to it. Her fingers are touching it as if trying to convince themselves that it is real.
"Mill-mi..."
The battle keeps on around them. There's something utterly wrong about it. How could the world dare move on?
Millianna's eyes are still opened.
"No..."
She fists Millianna's shirt with her hands and her body tenses. Her hands get stained by her lover's blood. She buries her face in Millianna's soft chest and it gets stained too. Something is building up inside of her, her ribs vibrate with it and her throat rips itself with its strength.
Her scream is heard throughout the battle field. Tears splash on Millianna's pale cheek. Her body is still warm. Something about this is what finishes Kagura off.
"Kagura!"
The scream comes from far away. It's Beth, Kagura thinks. Beth is calling for her.
"Kagura, we need to retreat. They are crashing us!"
Kagura doesn't answer. She's unearthly still. The gravitational barrier takes form slowly but surely. By the time Beth realizes, it's too late. The magic is already settled and it prevents the Alvarez soldiers from going after the retreating Ishgar folk. It divides allies from foes. It won't last for long, but it will buy the retreating army some minutes.
All this would be great if Kagura hadn't stayed on the wrong side of it.
"Kagura, what are you doing?! Please come!" Beth's pleads go unheard for her.
Kagura closes Millianna's eyes. Love burns in her gaze. Her thumb caresses Millianna's cheek and when she leans to peek softly over her lips, it is with the greatest care. Their foreheads rest together for a while. Kagura draws power from it. Then, she stands and looks straight ahead.
They had taken everything away from her. She would see to return the favour appropriately.
Author's note: I was feeling angsty.
