Just a little Simoun piece, not quite drabblish, yet also not quite standalone...call it an insert. Inspired by episode 14 and brainstorming action at 2am in the morning. I do strange things whilst on sleep deprivation. Some spoilers ahead.
Disclaimer: I do not own Simoun. Too complicated to own. Too pretty to own. I own nothing. Understand?
Helix
There's nothing in there, though.
At least, nothing we can understand.
She had to see for herself. There couldn't be nothing in there. There just couldn't be. The Simoun were just machines, weren't they? There had to be something; a cog, an engine, some form of mechanism that gave away earthly origins. There just had to be.
Because, if the Simoun truly were the 'chariots of the gods', they would never have fallen in battle. No, a gift from the gods would be flawless, perfect, invincible. The Simoun could fall, have fallen, and would fall again, given more battles against insurmountable odds. No, they had to find out---she had to find out. What made those incredible flying machines tick? If she could only know, they could fix the flaws, make them stronger, more powerful.
And Simulacrum would survive. No, they would prosper. They would once again go unchallenged in the skies, and the Theocracy would be safe from the invading heathens. That was the whole point of this little exercise: to prove to herself that the Simoun really were just machines---complex, powerful machines, but still the creation of mortals, not gods. She had to see for herself...there was no way, after all, for her comrades to have perished whilst in these "holy chariots". No, Tempus Spatieum could not possibly have deserted them; they had been one of the best, the legendary Chor Dextra, they could not have failed.
No, the only reason must have been some kind of mechanical flaw. Simoun were only machines; they have been shot down before! This was proof of their mortality, something she had to see and confirm again with her own two eyes, here before a dismantled Simoun.
The mechanic was droning on about something or other, it did not matter. The secret of the Simoun had to be in there somewhere, all she had to do was look in, and find out for herself. She had to, and she would.
The only thing that's in there is a helix.
...no. A helix there was, yes...and something else...more?
No...there was...
Us. Them. Together.
Chor Dextra.
Comrades. Partners. Friends.
She began to tremble, consciously, unconsciously---she didn't know, couldn't know. Completely unaware, even as she gazed deep into the vision before her. A memory.
A nightmare.
Confident. Smiling. Laughing.
Chor Dextra. Together.
All 12 of us.
Ready to do anything.
Even...
She watched, frozen, helpless. Unable to scream out, or reach out to stop it from happening again. Stop the events, those damnable events that had led to...
She was crying, tears spilling uncontrollably with every spasm, and was unaware of all else around her...except for that horrid vision.
Emerald Rimaajon.
Their goal. Their dream.
They were to form the perfect pattern. The ultimate Rimaajon.
It was what they were meant to do.
Someone was calling out to her. Did she see something? Or course she did, was the man stupid? It didn't register fully on her though, it was merely a pinprick on the towering wall of emotion welling up within her, even as her vision marched inexorably on to its final, deadly climax.
12 sibyllae. 6 Simoun.
It was perfect. They were perfect.
They began the dance. Darting, weaving, the glittering trail shimmering across an azure sky.
It should have went well. It should have...
...but it didn't.
No...no...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Her mind shrieked in agony even as the resultant explosion tore through the vision, breaking her from that spell-like hold.
Dead. Dead. They were all dead. Her friends. She should have died too. But fate, cruel fate, saved her from being erased like the rest.
There wasn't even a body. Not a single one. It was like her precious comrades had never existed before. No trace of Chor Dextra remained, save for her. Only she remained. Only she remembered.
Each and every one of Chor Dextra.
It was all too much. Like a puppet with its strings cut, all her muscles went slack, unresponsive and unmoving. She couldn't see anything, hear anything, feel anything.
Only, over and over, the sight of 11 existences wiped from living memory.
Please don't remind me about how colossally bad this is. The idea was a lot better in my head, but it came out crappily. I just felt that Dominura must have seen something that affected her enough to make her react this violently, and since I haven't seen the rest of the series yet, the only concrete thing I know about Dominura was that she was the sole survivor of the now defunct Chor Dextra. Pfft. I just had to write something about that scene when I saw it. Stupid plot bunny. Well, good day, gotta go back to sleep before doing some serious studying. Yeah I'm procrastinating...bad bad me...