Lives Apart...

Word of caution: "Not in any Strike Witches universes I've created"

Free to use or adopt. Just give me credit... BECAUSE THIS IS A ONE-SHOT.

Enjoy ;)

Le Cambe Karlsland war cemetery... June 22, 2023...

0915 hours... Weather: Snow...

The morning seemed cold. The snow wasn't that thick in the cemetery itself as it was always maintained by the dust cleaner bots around. However... one who was kneeling in front of two graves never cared.

She was hooded... and covered in snow clothes to protect her from the cold of the weather. A bit of maroon-colored hair was seen from within the hood while her brown eyes focused on the graves. She used her gloved hands to wipe off the snow from the two graves, and saw the names: Minna Dietlinde-Wilcke Fray and Erica Hartmann. Both of them died at 1946 while they were ambushed during a routine patrol while a wing was understaffed during the retaking of Karlsland...

"M-mom..." She muttered to herself just before she felt her eyes wet up. "Hi. It's... It's been so long. How long was it? 78 years? I... I really don't know. Hehe..." She chuckled, then continued. "Honestly, I've been a popsicle for some reason. And... It's only then I find out... You died. Why? W-Why did this have to happen to you... Auntie E... You too... You two were so close... but I'm glad you were there to protect my mom. Ohoh..." Afterwards, more tears begin to come out... "Damn it... Damn it, damn it, damn it...!" She started to look down, and eventually with her fist, she slammed the stony floor. With so much pain in her heart that she had done it repeatedly before she screamed out loudly.

Tyler was driving a BMW through the driveway of the cemetery. He was wearing his lucky derby hat as always. After all the years that passed him, his right cyborg eye was his only reminder of how half his humanity was stripped from him. He risked everything else just to get himself to that position. His beloved died. And now he knows his daughter is in the cemetery grieving. 'She better be around here.'

She was faintly hearing the sound of a car engine along with a car just driving in. While she looked at the graves, she heard the door from that was opened, then closed.

He was wearing a snow coat to make sure he stays warm. Even as a cyborg, he still feels the temperature of his environment. Walking towards his daughter while looking at the graves, he figured he needed to give her time. So he stopped by a little distant from her just to give her space. 'So that's my pumpkin right there, huh? It's been so long, Bree.'

But even Bree knew who was behind her. "Hey, dad." She already had this feeling that he'd come around at this time. "I thought you'd be here."

"Yeah. Hi pumpkin."

"Long time, huh?"

"Too long, Brianna."

"You remembered my name. Good." Brianna then stood up and turned to Tyler now looking at the graves himself from afar. "Look at me." And with that, he glanced at her eyes. "Where the hell were you when she died, huh?"

"Look..."

"Shut it! Dad... Just tell me, the damn truth."

Tyler thought Brianna would think he could lie. 'Looks like I gotta tell her straight.' "You wouldn't like it."

"Try me."

"She insisted I help out whoever was left at the outpost, honey. I couldn't just say no. We both had a duty towards each other and towards our own unit too. We chose to do the right thing but... I didn't expect she'd..."

"...That she'd die?! How the hell could you do this to her?!"

"Brianna... I'm sorry. But she wanted this. It's not like I didn't say no. I said no the first time but she insisted first. She had a plan and it was worth her life."

"Well, look at how THAT went!"

"BRIANNA! Damn it, there was nothing else I could have done. It's either her or those civilians. I couldn't afford to lose many lives over one, and she understands it too well. I had no choice but accept it."

"You were just weak, dad."

"Don't pin it on me."

"Don't pin it on you? Then I'll do something else then." Brianna then used her free hand to pull a Luger pistol from her holster before she pointed it at him. Unknown to her, he already drew his pistol... and a futuristic looking one.

"Damn it, put the gun down!"

"You should be doing the same."

"Why the hell are you doing that?!"

"I want her back! I WANT HER BACK!"

"PUMPKIN!" And as he called the nickname she always hated, she suddenly lets go of her Luger and instead runs to him. That surprised him as he lowered his handgun, just before he heard her sobbing. As she finally was near, he didn't make any other moves as she hugged him there and then. "Wait... Bree?"

Brianna kept weeping while her head was on his chest as she pounded her closed fist on him. "Please... Don't make it look like a nightmare to me. Please... Just end it. End it all. End it all for me. Take my life... I'm begging you."

And he was shocked to hear it. 'What is going on with her?!'

"I should not have been in that cryo chamber. It was so wrong and ill-timed... And I never even had a chance to say goodbye to her."

"Pumpkin..."

"Daddy." Brianna then gently pulled away and looked at him. "Don't let me suffer anymore. Let me see how it should really go and let me have my peace."

Tyler shook his head. "This isn't how..."

"Just do it, will you?" Brianna glared at him. "I'll never forgive myself for letting mom die like that. We're lives apart now. And I can't do anything about it."

He knew she was sincere with her feelings. She blames for her own disappearance whenever Minna needed assistance. If only she was there. It's been 78 years and Brianna couldn't forgive herself, and she wants to escape her own guilt. With no doubt, Tyler raised his weapon, aimed at the direction where his daughter was, and pulled the trigger. The gunshot rang out, and he knew what he had done.

However... Brianna slowly opened her eyes, having the feeling that round from his gun just passed her, an inch away from her ear. Then he glanced towards him. "Dad?"

"Pumpkin, you just lost it." Tyler then lowers his pistol. "My sweet girl... you just lost it. And I'm not having that." That was also the time they were hearing some sirens from a great distance. "No matter what you do now, Minna doesn't blame you. Your own mother, does not blame you... flesh and blood. She didn't consider you dead, and she knows you're alive. You were only frozen for your own good."

"Wait... what do you mean...?"

"I'm serious, Bree. You had to be frozen to avoid other conspiracies, but even if we finished the war, I found out the hard way they had plans for you, and bad ones. So I got you away from them. I did the hardest I could to hide you from your hunters."

"And they wanted what...? Me?"

"They want your blood. A Witch of True Virtue is made through two witches of opposite gender, and they're more powerful even than their parents."

"Wait, what?! You're telling me I'm..."

"You got potential, but you're also treated as a threat. I was the one who thawed you out."

"And how did you really live that long?"

"Cybernetic implants have been put all over my body to prolong my life. I did everything to not afford you be in the wrong hands, Bree. You're too valuable."

"Why?"

"Because you're the last Witch of True Virtue out here. The Neuroi may be gone, but they want you. I'm only their secondary objective. I've seen secrets, and they want me dead for it."

"Hold on, slow down."

"Hear those sirens? That's the sound of the authorities of this area. But they're not the police you think they are. They're employed... by some organization that had darker intentions that from the period you know. This is a completely world you have awoken into and you can't change that now."

Brianna took it to herself to make sure she takes this all in. This is so much to take in, but what remains is her trust with him. "Dad... Just tell me... after we're safe. If what you're telling me right now is true... then we have to leave."

"Sure. My car's over there." Tyler then ran to it and Brianna soon followed. He got in at the right side where the wheel was and Brianna was on the left. Immediately, he drove the BMW out of the area while he found another exit from the cemetery. Soon, he joined up other cars that were travelling normally while he was driving at a quicker pace. "Pumpkin... you better accept it that you're in the future. You're in the year 2023."

"I know."

"Then you know how the world's changed."

"I figured a lot of changed happened."

"Yup. I'll explain things later as we go but..." Tyler stopped talking while the road was in between buildings as he saw an advanced helicopter with missile pods on the sides. "Oh shit!" He stopped the car as the chopper was then facing the car itself. Soon, other cars were moving away in panic and civilians were running away from the danger. Tyler was staying still. For some reason, that helicopter is anticipating his movements. When Brianna was still confused, she tried to leave. "Wait!" And with his order, she stopped. "Leave now, it'll shoot us both."

"What the hell is going on?!"

He made another call as he gave her his advanced combat pistol. "Use this."

"What is it?"

"That can also be switched to full auto. Flick the switch right there to do just that." As he instructed, Brianna found the switch and flicked it from semi-auto to full auto. "See?"

"Whoa... a full auto machine pistol?"

"Right now, that chopper's gonna start shooting if we make a sudden move. It's a drone and most operators know what it does. And since they're anticipating what we know, we won't dare make a wrong move. But if we're not alone... we can do something else. Bree... I'm opening that window right there. I want you shoot that chopper down. The machine pistol you got there will do the trick." And with that, he used a door control to lower her side window for her.

With a nod, she puts the pistol out forward and attempts to aim. There was even a laser for it. "Accuracy, huh? Guess you'll have to step on it."

"Pleasure." Tyler's foot was down as the car sped forward. As he made a daring move to challenge the chopper, the helicopter started to fire its missiles at them, in which all of them were able to miss. "Now! Shoot it now!"

Brianna smirked at this. "No problem." And with that, she squeezed the trigger.

And after fifteen minutes of mayhem... a total of 22 cars and 3 attack helicopters were disabled thanks to her driving. They were able to slip away, but her adventures to find who want her, as she desires, were just the beginning...