Now or Never
By Seravy
Pairing: Shamal/Signum SHOUJO AI warning
Note: Based on the anime and the A's and StrikerS drama CDs
made a few changes based on Keroko and ghazghkull's comments. thank you both.
Down, down, deep into the earth in the dungeons of a mighty castle, trickles of bloody light from the setting sun snuck in through a barred opening in the wall, painting three red rectangles side by side across a thin puddle of pitch black water. The scant lighting barely lit this crude chunk of space built from stones, leaving its corners obscured in blackness. The fragile reflection in the puddle was quickly distorted by a small foot plunging into its shallow canvas.
"Knight of the Lake… what a bad joke!"
A child's voice echoed without restrain through this hollow belly of darkness, reverberating against the stone walls and mixing with the pained wails of neighbouring prisoners. Without innocence or mercy, the voice continued its rampage.
"Maybe I should just smash you into pieces right now and save the enemy the trouble of doing it later!"
A blonde woman in a halter-neck black dress stood with her head bowed, defenceless against every word that came from the short red-headed child before her.
"I'm sorry…" she said, her quiet voice thick with guilt. She was nearly beheaded today during what should have been a routine collection of linker core energy from a group of soldiers. Luckily, Graf Eisen had reached the soldier's skull before his sword reached her exposed neck.
Vita snorted ungracefully.
"Stop snivelling and just hide somewhere far away next time! Better yet, don't come at all!"
The fuse was lit, rapidly being eaten away. Apologies were meaningless to her; they were nothing but words to gain undeserving sympathy. Watching the blond take her insults silently only further irritated her already foul mood.
"You're so useless! Even your cartridges are second rate! I--"
"Apologize."
Another low female voice, calm and steady, stopped what would have been irreversible damage but it did nothing to douse the blinding hatred blazing in the eyes of the red-headed girl.
"Stay out of this, Signum!"
A tall figure emerged and shadowed the blond woman behind her.
"Apologize to Shamal, Vita."
The girl named Vita gritted her teeth. It was inevitable that Signum would interfere given how serious she took her "position" within the group but it did nothing to stoke the rebellion hissing wildly in her stomach. If there was something she hated more than incompetence, it was this meddling intruder and her need to lump them together with words like "comrades" and "team". All this self-righteousness was nothing but a ploy to force her cooperation, trapping her under "collective responsibility". Just today, by reporting their results as a collective number, this hypocrite covered for that blond idiot once again while acting like it was something done for them all.
"You can't make me. Your orders mean nothing outside of battles, oh-mighty-leader! So get off your high horse 'cause I know you're just as sick as I am of babysitting this weakling and paying for it later!"
Behind their leader, the blonde woman cringed. It had been her carelessness that had resulted in the least number of pages collected to date. Tentatively, she placed a hand on her protector, trying to inject a few irenic words. She was completely ignored, her hand shrugged off carelessly.
"I said apologize and I won't say it again," ordered Signum, her voice ringing with a power that she usually reserved for battle.
"Why should I?" growled Vita, clutching her device that hung around her neck threateningly.
"So you won't regret your words later once your head has cooled down."
The answer was frank and direct, ignoring the defiance and disrespect within that reflexive question. The grip around Graf Eisen tightened, turning Vita's knuckles into a ghostly white while the anger inside her peaked. Signum sensed her fellow knight's unyielding threat, immediately taking her own device into her right hand as the cold damp air settled heavily around them.
"Stop it, the two of you!" screamed Shamal, putting herself between the two battle-ready warriors, "This was all my fault, Vita-chan, so-so...Fight me instead!!"
"Don't think I won't," said Vita, her voice dangerously low, "Lucky for you I'm already bored."
It would be meaningless to pursue this any further, especially with Signum involved. Besides, even if she crushed them all, nothing would change except leaving herself with more work to be done. Vita trudged through the freezing water stewed in patches across their habitat, staking out a corner for herself. There wasn't much room to separate them but it was more than enough to let the rest of them know without a doubt that she was not a part of their group.
Shamal studied Signum worriedly who still stood with anger in her eyes. Thankfully, she had released Laevantine. Shamal took her chance and gently guided Signum into an opposite corner where a large wolf rested. As usual, Zafira chose silence over bothering himself with yet another one of their arguments. Wordlessly, he offered his thick coat of fur for warmth as the three of them huddled close. Even though she knew she'd be rejected as usual, Shamal wanted to ask Vita to join them but a look from their leader stopped her. She obeyed and reached into a crevice within the slimy moss covered walls where she stowed their empty cartridges. Again, Signum stopped her except this time, with a hand over hers, bringing it down back to her lap.
"Rest."
"But--"
"Rest."
Shamal hated herself for giving in so quickly but exhaustion was already lulling her to sleep while her body ached from their searing punishment. It was a pain so agonizing that the fear of it had only increased over time, especially in the hands of an impatient master.
As if sensing her thoughts, the hand around hers tightened before letting go and Shamal couldn't help but lean, just a little, to her left. The sides of their arms touched. Signum did not evade the contact and she hated herself even more. They all had suffered but she was the only one being comforted, taking advantage of someone who had dedicated herself to protecting them all. Through her leadership and unconquerable spirit, Signum had guided them through the worst, always fighting to make this a little easier.
She remembered the first time they were summoned. It was strange for even though they knew Wolkenritter's purpose, they were not a team, feigning obedience to avoid the consequences that they knew awaited defiance. Once out of sight, Vita challenged Signum's leadership while Zafira refused to act as none of them were his master though it was doubtful that such a person had ever existed at all. Herself? She didn't want to fight, acting like a scared little girl once she realized what exactly their duties entitled. In the end, for survival, Signum battled Vita for her cooperation. Through rational words, she and Zafira joined her. In time, she had gained all of their respect though it would be a fact that Vita shall never admit.
"Vita didn't mean it."
The soft whisper surprised Shamal.
"I know," she whispered back, "She's a kind child or she wouldn't have saved me."
In this never-ending and cruel cycle, all of them had learned to cope in different ways, struggling with the irony of possessing human emotions. Zafira constricted himself to baser animal instincts. Signum chose to follow the path of knighthood rigorously and emotionlessly. It was probably the hardest for Vita; underneath it all, she was just a child and the cruelty around them was raising her to feel nothing but hatred and despair. Perhaps anger was the only way to preserve that bud of kindness and hope resting within the red-headed knight. Shamal knew this to be true for if it hadn't been for Vita today, she would have 'died'.
Death may not apply to them but they still felt pain. And should any one of them be fatally injured, few masters chose to use pages from the uncompleted Book of Darkness to restore the destroyed portions of the Guardian Knight system unless absolutely necessary. Vita had seen Shamal perish many times with masters who refused to repair her. After all, support magic does not directly deliver collected pages and her time will end until the Book's next reincarnation.
"Vita-chan's right though… I'm weak…I'm not a knight like the rest of you are. "
A Belka knight is a warrior in the purest sense, raging through obstacles without fear, dedicating their bodies and minds to the art of war. She was the exact opposite of this ideal, offensively and defensively weak, indecisive and emotional. Shamal couldn't help but wish to be stronger, a real contributor instead of a liability once enemies locate her hidden position on the battlefield. Even their cartridges would be more powerful if her level of magic was higher…
"A knight is distinguished by his spirit, not his sword."
Shamal turned and studied the side profile of their leader's face, her futile thoughts immediately halted. As she had noted a long time ago, Signum's eyes were a beautiful sky blue, always brilliantly looking forward without fear or hesitation.
"There are many things that a weapon cannot do. You are not a knight only because you don't believe yourself to be one."
It took her moments before the words assembled their meaning and warmth gently wrapped itself around her heart, battling the dead coldness that was raising goosebumps from her skin. Once again, she had proven herself weak, needing someone else to sooth her doubts but still… it was nice to be reminded from time to time… to know that she was valued. Instead of being stronger, she now wished that she could take this wonderful feeling, wrap it with sunshine and morning dew, and share it with Signum. Unfortunately, sunshine was scarce in this place and morning dew albeit plentiful wasn't exactly fresh or even remotely clean. Gradually, her mind began to drift away towards silence.
"And… you have something that the rest of us don't."
Shamal didn't really understand what that meant but she was too tired to ask as sleep came to take her consciousness away. She nuzzled a little closer to the body next to hers, laying her head against a strong shoulder; she'll just pretend that it was an 'accident' the next morning as she sometimes did when this all became too much. It would be unimaginable to go through this alone.
The cryptic words that Signum spoke that night continued to whisper to her in her private thoughts but she didn't learn of its meaning until a much later time, when death became inevitable and rebirth stretched its wings once again.
A group of men had learned of the Book of Darkness and managed to locate their master. Waterfalls of soldiers rushed in endlessly, cascading the castle with nothing but single-minded vengeful Belka warriors. Wolkenritter held out until they were battling on a field of the slaughtered.
With spears mutilating their bodies, Vita and Zafira soon disappeared into the storm of battle cries and bloodshed while their master panicked underneath her crumbling barrier. She couldn't hear what he was screaming about, not with Signum laying across her lap, a sword through her chest and heart, bathing her in blood. She was concentrating on healing the wound, her pale green magic shimmering faintly with the last bit of her energy. It was then that Signum took her hand and said:
We try to tame our humanity while you embrace it despite the pain.
Thank you for always welcoming us back with a smile.
Seeing herself reflected in those brilliant blue eyes with a soul wrenching gentleness that she had never seen before, Shamal got her answer. As her barrier shattered and sharpened edges and offensive spells engulfed her body, something changed in her that day. Insignificant and powerless, the subtle transformation within her made no difference except setting aside a small portion of her heart for a jumble of hopeful and hopeless thoughts. Many times, she found the words on the tip of her tongue only to be swallowed back down into the pit of her stomach. She wanted to tell Signum that she only smiled because it was all she could do, that she only did it so she wouldn't become the tool that their masters saw them to be... and because, even though fate was cruel to them, they all mean a lot to her...especially her. Her only wish was that she would at least have a chance to tell Signum how she felt the day they find eternal peace.
END
To me, Shamal and Signum always had this… married-couple-for-a-long-time feel to them so I thought I'd give them a try. And in case you were wondering about Vita's character... it was mostly based on the A's Drama CDs and she wasn't exactly very friendly and nice in those flashback tracks.