Disclaimer: I don't own Yggdra Union. That's all sting. All other characters and details of the scenario are mine however, unless otherwise noted.
The Future is Now
Chapter one
The Arc of Triumph was living up to its reputation – when Kylier arrived, Milanor and the Royal Army had been brought to a dead halt, trapped within range of Eudy's new toy, a device that focussed to power of both Verlaine ankhs into a ballistic cannonball when fired, creating a massive blast that cratered the solid stone ground.
Milanor and the Princess will never last at this rate, Kylier thought warily, watching the hopeless battle from afar. A thought struck her. If I could just take out those ankhs somehow, Milanor and the others could get through!
Problem was, there was only one way to do that, and it wouldn't be pretty. While separated from the Royal Army, Kylier had done a little snooping and found out something interesting about the Ankhs – despite their phenomenal power, they were incredibly fragile. One good whack and they'd shatter… releasing more than fifty times the power in every blast they were producing now.
And there were two of them.
…It wasn't even a decision. Milanor had given her life back once before. She'd happily lay it down for him. One thing, though, stopped her from diving in that second.
Should she tell him?
Could she tell him?
Kylier loved Milanor, it was that simple. The dumbass hadn't figured it out yet, but she loved him with all she had. Just the thought of leaving him like this was bringing tears to her eyes. But…
She could tell him. Die without that on her mind. She could still go through with it… she hoped. He couldn't reach her to physically stop her, and she'd just shout it as she took off, letting the rushing wind blot out her hearing. But…
God, he mightn't recognize it if it dropped out of the sky on griffon-back, but the little idiot knew what love was. He'd know how serious she was. That could put him off his game, and this was no just-for-fun raid on a rival bandit's stronghold. He needed to be at his peak if he was going to have a chance.
She wouldn't risk it. She couldn't take the chance of doing this for nothing.
"Alright!" she decided aloud. "My mind's made up! Milanor! Hang in there!"
"Huh?" Milanor spotted where she'd drifted over him. "Sheesh, Kylier, you don't need to tell me… H-huh…? What are those tears for?"
"I'm gonna clear the way for you!" Kylier announced, wheeling away. As she did, she heard Milanor's voice fading away behind her.
"Don't tell me you're… No! Don't do this, Kylier! Stop!"
Don't turn back, she demanded of herself. Don't even glance.
"Come on, Al! One more time!"
Her loyal griffon gave a squawk and followed her instructions to gain height. It took her a minute to get into position with enough spare altitude – more than she needed, but she only had one shot and couldn't come in too fast. She waited until the Ankh Cannon fired again, making sure she had a clear run.
"For Milanor…" she whispered. "I'm sorry, dear Al."
Al chirped, and like the brave, clever mount he was, fearlessly launched into a dive without needing instruction. Eudy looked up just as she entered the deep dead zone, too close to be accurately targeted.
"W-What's with her?! Look out, she's coming this way! No! She can't…"
Goddamnit! Why does this all have to be happening? "Milanor! Princess! Put an end to this for me!"
She brought her Bloody Rose around, throwing all her strength into striking the two Ankhs as hard as she could.
They shattered.
The last thing Kylier heard was Milanor calling her name.
How…? How had she passed out?
That's right. She hadn't. She'd given her life to destroy the Ankh Cannon, giving Milanor and the Royal Army a chance to penetrate Bronquia's defences. No regrets. Except… Except not telling Milanor how she really felt. Now…
Now, judgement. Valhalla, or Hel.
She opened her eyes.
The ceiling above her was smooth, grey, and appeared metallic. An inset held two glowing tubes that seemed to provide all of the light.
"Not what I was expecting…" she said aloud.
"You're awake."
Kylier looked over at the source of the voice. The man sitting beside her bed looked somewhat bizarre, but human – a bird's nest of cerulean blue hair, analytical black eyes, and apart from that… alarmingly normal, with decent-looking facial features and the healthy physique of a travelling scholar. His pose, her viewing angle, and the back of the chair he was sitting sideways on obscured her view of his clothes. His book she could see clearly, though she couldn't make out the title – the 'lettering' was made up of partial squares peppered with spots.
"Is that the Doomsday Book?" Kylier asked, hoping something would make sense soon.
"The… yes." The half-beat pause would have slipped by unnoticed, but after growing up with Milanor and his gang trying to blindside her at every turn, she noticed it.
That stung. Those memories would sting for a long time to come, she knew.
"Can you tell me how you died?" he asked. "There's been a slight paperwork mishap."
"I kamikaze'd an Ankh Cannon." Kylier said.
"I see… did that release a lot of energy?"
"Hopefully enough to blow a hole in two hundred tons of solid stone fortification."
He closed his eyes and started murmuring under his breath. Hearing numbers and mathematical terms, she realized with awe – and more confusion – he was solving complex physics equations in his head.
"That's… over a zeta-Newton of force…" he paused, then vehemently added a word. Kylier didn't recognize it, but the tone alone said he was cursing. He shut his book with a clear snap.
"Here's the score. You're alive." The man said. "The explosion was so powerful you were flung away at high speed."
"How far?" Kylier asked calmly, too incredulous to believe all this straight up.
He pulled something from his pocket, only a spike with a short square hook protruding above his hand. Kylier rolled her head over, gaze following the dancing ribbons of yellow light that connected briefly to a black panel in the wall.
An opening began to form – Kylier recognized a map of Midgard. It was a very good one, actually – incredibly detailed, with cloud patterns and everything.
As it opened further, she realized it looked progressively more warped around the edges, eventually turning out to be a globe.
The opening continued to expand. Black space started filling in, with points of light. Looking carefully, Kylier could make out familiar constellations in the backdrop, though they were somewhat skewed…
As though viewing the same stars from much, much further away to one side.
She was in space above her home.
"What the FUCK?" she wailed hysterically, leaping out of bed. Her body felt heaving and uncoordinated, but that didn't stop her lurching over to and pressing against the window.
"You were thrown away at such speed you survived exiting your atmosphere and moved through the space occupied by the outer wall of an unmanned satellite, coming to rest unconscious in an oxygenated maintenance cavity until we checked it out and found you. Right now you're in a guest suite on our star cruiser, the Novastar."
"So… I can go…"
"No. You're dead down there." he said. "We've inoculated you but you're already carrying microbes that could wipe out the global population in weeks. You can't go home."
"I'm… it's… this all…" Kylier didn't have words for the storm of emotions ripping through her at that moment.
"I'll leave you be for a while." he said. "It's normal for you to feel heavy, the gravity here is about four times what you're used to. Bathroom's through there. I'll be back in a while."
He left. For the first time in almost a decade, Kylier let go of her pride and bawled like a lost child.