Part 2: Y u no Ice'e?!

-LAC MISTASSINI, 03:12-

The night sky. The stars were dancing with the moon.

"Dude, we're ADD'ing more than hyper fan girls at a K-POP backstage exclusive pass!"

And Sokoto continued the banter with his new imaginary friend who just so happened to have a real voice, "Heheh, we do crazy things when we're alone."

The sprite popped up from his shoulder and got her voice across, "Unfortunately, I have won all our games. So, pay up!"

"Be thankful that I'm looking for a way out, otherwise I would've creamed you."

"Woulda, shoulda, coulda, pal-AIEEEE-OOF!" The sprite felt a shockwave push her off and into the dirt. She pulled her head out, "What?! Petty revenge for kicking your words?!"

"How do I go over there?"

The sprite looked where he was pointing, "Oh."

They were overlooking an opening into the Mistassini lake. The problem was that it surrounded them on three sides.

"This would be so much easier if we could go full on badass mode right now," he groaned.

"You got that shield thingy, don't you?" The sprite said, "It can come to you. Can you make yourself go to it?" She fizzled out.

He looked at his shield, then at the lake, "Yeah, but where to grapple onto?..."

Then all of a sudden, a chill shook his spine.

"You ok?" The sprite looked up at him, "You got the chills?"

"The aural kind...Someone's behind us..."

The sprite fizzled to his shoulder. He flung his shield at the aura. It was caught. He tried to recall it, but the grip on the shield was so strong, he ended up being grappled to it. He just held on tight as he prepared to kick whoever has him.

"Easy, blubber ball!" She caught his foot.

"Forte?!" He quickly got off and landed in front of her, "First you rave, then you rage, now what?!"

"I didn't do that for no reason," Forte said, "I just needed to get my frustrations out, that's all."

"Uh-huh, sure," he recalled his shield and flung it at Forte again. She slammed her halberd down and destroyed it.

"That's enough, Sokoto! Can we talk this over?" She regained her senses after the swing.

"With what you did to Autumn? Fucking why!" He got ready to fight, but she prepared her Freeze Lancer.

"Because your IS is stuck in lockout," she said, "and given what's behind me, you wouldn't have a choice, would you?"

There it was. Certain death staring him in the eyes. A thousand ice crystals ready to slice through his flesh, and he idiotically flung himself to an open clearing, near the edge of the water. He had no choice.

"Fine," he deactivated his bracelet and made his shield disappear, "What do you want?"

Forte just walked forward and held out her hand. The nanotechnolgically-empowered ice crystals rained down upon the water and collided with each other and the water particles, grinding against each other and solidifying to create an ice boat.

"Just talk," her aura changed to something a little warmer, "Besides, don't you wanna see Autumn again?"

He turned a confused look to the sprite, "Sil?"

"Don't ask me," the sprite responded, "I don't know her."

He shrugged and sat in the boat while Forte used her halberd as a row. He was uneasy about this assistance, as if he felt like was was owed an immense amount of money, while she hummed along with the gentle waves.

"So, how do you like Canada?" Forte asked.

Sokoto thought for a second and said, "Well, other than the fact that I was suddenly talking to a ghost figurine, ("HEY!" Silvia snapped.) it's been a hell of an adventure."

"I gather. You've been seducing women and men across the country! How do you do it?"

"I dunno! Canada ain't got a pilot for a long time now! And I'm just now getting over the fact that I've been piloting a woman's weapon!...was piloting..."

"So, you know."

"Know what?"

"Why I'm really here..."

"No, I don't."

Forte raised an eyebrow. She set the halberd down and sat in front of him. "Remember me saying Daryl's the last Meusel?"

"What about?"

"Well, she and I had a thing going for us. We started off as classmates, then friends, then lovers. She was conniving, cold blooded, ruthlessly cool. The perfect one for me. She was a member of Phantom Task, mentored by Squall herself."

"So, she grew attached to Squall?"

"Yeah. Even asked for a code name because Squall's sister married someone with a different last name before she x'd her. She gave her the name Rain Meusel."

"What happened after Phantom Task got disbanded?"

"She and I would scour the world together. Sometimes we bumped into her. Sometimes we called her up. Then one day, she stopped connecting with us. We found out that Autumn had been torturing her up until the moment you came into the spotlight. She started to talk to us again, and we were determined to find out everything about you since she's taken a liking to you."

"Then when Squall got shanked, Daryl just...vanished?"

"Yeah. Figured I would get you to help me get her back."

"Why me?"

"Through the constant banter, Daryl found that Squall put a part of herself in you. Therefore, she sees you as you and Squall."

"...Huh?"

"Not kidding. And she's looking to claim that piece for herself."

"Ok. Even if I were to believe all that, where do you fit in this crazy picture? And clarify the word "torture.""

"Well..." she crossed her thumbs, "I'm looking to fill the hole that Autumn left in us."

"What hole?"

"She tortured Squall, mentally and physically."

Sokoto looked at her puzzled, "She never told me that..."

"A lot of shit she doesn't say. But Autumn got to her, and kept her as a pet. All those scars she got on her body. It's all Autumn. It's only a matter of time before she does it to you."

"What?"

"Listen to me. She's been losing it the moment Phantom Task was over. She is stuck on this petty revenge with Squall. She nearly got her wish. Now that the opportunity has been stolen from her, she's coming after you."

"What about her hanging out with me? Her mission? Did she tell you I gotta go to London?"

"It's all an act. A false promise to lure you into a trap. She still has contacts there. As soon as you set foot in London, they will turn you into a slave. They can't stand the idea of a male taking the stride of women. They want you gone."

"So, you...with Autumn..."

"The same thing you want. Revenge."

He felt compelled, "But...that other male...he stabbed her..."

Forte grasped his cheek, "But who was closest to her and could've save the both of them?"

Sokoto never got a good look at before what happened before. But he could remember see ghastly faces throughout. And when he turned to face Squall's killer...Forte probably meant to say that as a trigger to make him consider her proposal. She probably had no idea how 100% right she was.

Silvia sat on the halberd's hilt. She saw his anger growing by the second. She did not want to say anything to ruin the moment or divert the drama anywhere else. She just waited.

"Alright..." Sokoto said after a deep breath, "What'd you have in mind?"

Then, Forte got in close and whispered in his ear, "Remember what I said about letting you in through the back?" She moved one of his hands to her...skirt... "I wasn't joking."

Sokoto definitely did not expect this. He got a taste of how insatiable women could be just a few days ago. This is that entire experience bottled up into one person! Forte went from murder crazy to personal crazy to lust crazy in what seemed like a few hours! How did she switch gears like that?!

Hold up. How DID she switch gears like that?...Something about her aural shifts was off putting for-oh fuck, here we go. It was test time, "What do you mean?"

She took his head in her chest, "Come away with me. Right now."

"Why?"

"Daryl's in need of a complete family. You're the only person who can bring her back. And I plan on making sure we can stay together as a real family, not a broken one." She looked him in the eyes, "We are not wanted by the world. We're just tools. We can be anyone. We can do anything." And they shared a kiss. A wet one. For a minute. And this whole time, Silvia went through four orders of XL popcorn and two XXL sodas.

When they finally released, Forte thought she had him right where she wanted him. Sokoto looked that way, with those eyes or wonder. Eyes that hid his true intentions. He asked the test question: "What about the others?"

"Forget the others. They don't mean anything to you. Just like you don't mean anything to them. Let's forget all this. Let's go. Right now."

And there it was. The answer that told him everything. Forte was just plain selfish, which to be honest was a better excuse than what those guys told him.

He pushed her chest away and just straight up told her, "No way."

Forte just stared blankly as he took her hands off him, "What?"

He took her hands in his and set them on her lap, and looked up to her eyes to appeal to her true emotions and draw them out, "Look. I know you're hurting, and I know you're looking for a way to cope with these...shankified winds of change. But you're not the only one. Autumn's coping with it too."

"But...she tortured...and abandoned her..."

"And she forgave her. Autumn just wanted to hear her say sorry, and that's exactly what happened. I was there at the very end. She accepted her blessing."

Forte was a little disturbed, but remained calm as she listened to his monologue.

He kept going, "And if what you said is true, then regardless of whether or not I jump ship now, I'll run into Daryl one way or another. So I can see about her issues myself. And with the chaos going worldwide, she's definitely going to be attracted enough to come to me. Or, after I'm finished here, I'll go to her."

Forte slowly withdrew her hands.

He just kept going, "Point is, I'm not going to leave them. Not when they're at their lowest. Phantom Task used to be terrorism for the sake of terrorism. That's weak. I'm gonna find a new purpose for it. And the first step is redemption. And fuck anyone that says they can't be redeemed. Squall made it through mere moments before she died. Madoka and Autumn were both on the right path before I went back on them...somehow. They're the only people I know. And I'm not gonna just turn my back on them for someone I know is coming my way anyway." He scooted back some, "I'm sorry... but I'm not going anywhere."

Forte just sat silent. She absorbed every word he said. She took in his true words, and her own feelings. Sokoto looked on with anticipation, as if expecting something to go wrong. As if he knew that she couldn't stand it. The thought of her perfect little world being ruined by someone who was also not right in the mind.

Silvia threw her popcorn and soda out. The sheer silence of the two pilots accompanied only by the gentle swishing of the lake made, after everything that was blown out of their mouths, made everything eerie. She jumped up and down waiting for someone to say something. Which is exactly what she got.

"Ok..." Forte said giving a sorrowful gaze at Sokoto, "I understand..."

But her aura didn't. The instant she finished saying that, she put her hand out and generated another Freeze Lancer. Silvia saw the giant portal behind Forte and fizzled to the shield bracelet and activated it. He saw the hand and reached into his pocket and threw the only Canceller for a hundred miles. It strapped itself onto her hand the same instant the ice crystals shot out from behind Forte. Sokoto put his shield up to defend himself, but some of the crystals destroyed the boat, propelling everyone upward. He used the collision of the crystals against his shield to gain considerable distance between himself and Forte. But it wasn't enough to get him on dry land. Everyone took a dip in the cold lake.

Silvia was the first to surface. She holographed herself encased in an ice pickle, chattering her teeth at light speed, "Aaammmmiiiiiirrreeeeeaaaaddddddddyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeetttttttttt?????????"

ALL DATA RECOVERED. MERGING DATA SETS: DELETING USER INFO TABANE, IMPORTING CONFIGURATIONS AND USER PREFERENCES.

"WHAT?!" She shattered the ice, "OH MY GOD, I'M SLOWER THAN A MAC!"

"UGH! Silvia!" Sokoto surfaced, "We gotta get over there!"

"Where?"

"There!" Sokoto pointed to the north, "I'm reading a really faint aura from thataway!"

Silvia fizzled to his shoulder, "You sure it's that way?"

"Yeah," Sokoto gasped, "If I'm feeling it out here, imagine what's it'll be like when I actually find it-HAAGGHHHHHH..."

"Hey, what's wrong?!" Silvia started to shiver too.

Sokoto got hit with the chills from the lake and from Forte. She came up and immediately went after him, "You! I have you a chance! I would've given you everything!"

"Oh, cripes..." he swam for his life.

"You could've had it all!" Forte screamed, "A woman with a rocking body who's not psycho! A life where you could've done whatever you wanted! Go wherever you wanted! Without chaining yourself to dead weight!"

"She's catching up!" Silvia freaked.

Not once in his life did Sokoto ever try swinging in cold waters. It felt like the lake was eating his body away bit by bit with each stroke he took. Still, he kept swimming and shouting, "You think I care about all that?! Man, you don't know what I want at all!"

"I know exactly what you want! I'm the only one who knows what you crave! Only I can satisfy your cravings, not those lazy bitches!"

"Use your shield thing already!" Silvia shouted at Sokoto, "You're close enough!"

"Are you kidding?! I'll drown!" Sokoto snapped.

Until he sensed Forte's aura getting more feral by the second, "But, no! You'd rather hold yourself back! You rather abandon your only flesh and blood, turning to those freaks of hell!"

Sokoto took a quick look at his surroundings and found two trees with a gap just wide enough to catch the shield. If he can throw it correctly. If. "Yep, shield," he said as he called his shield out once more and threw it at the trees. It missed.

"If you're not going to be our salvation," Forte screamed, "the least you could do is be our last meal!" She was an entire football field away from him, and she was closing the distance fast.

"Sokiiiii..." Silvia hid inside his hair.

"I know!" He got it back and tried again. This time, it hit one of the trees, "Fuck!" He screamed. He checked the distance again. She was mere yards away. He recalled his shield at took his time to aim. He fought through the frost bite and inhaled. He threw it one last time.

It skidded the water for a second, then dig itself within the gap between the trees. It was stuck facing the forest, so he could grapple to it safely.

"YES!" He and Silvia shouted too soon. Forte wrapped her hands around his neck and dunked his head in the water. He wasted his strength trying to aim the shield right. He had nothing left to fend her off. He struggled with all his might, to no avail. He closed his eyes, grabbed her forearms, and threw his feet back at her gut. She was so winded by the kick that she took a dip just to freeze her mind and shock her body back to normal. He clenched his left wrist and prepared to launch himself out of the fray. She saw the Canceller and slammed it twice with her fists and broke it. She ripped it off and tried to slam her halberd down at him. It was able to slice the water with little effort, but it couldn't catch Sokoto in time. Only the very top was able to nick him. He was able to grapple away from Forte. He was able to reclaim his shield, but he didn't see what was up ahead: a tree, from which he was protected from full impact that destroyed his shield, and a second tree which he slammed his back against, followed by several bushes, and plenty of dirt. By the time he stopped rolling and caught his breath, he felt weakened and frozen.

"Onii-chan!" Silvia screamed, "Hey! Onii-chan!"

"Run..." Sokoto panted, "Save...your...self..."

Silvia looked up to the moon. Forte was covering the view. She went into free fall to finish off the renegade.

Silvia screamed, "SOMEONE HELP!"

Right before Forte was able to end his life, someone kicked him out of the way and took the hit for him. But instead of blood, it was water. She disintegrated into water after she was hit.

"What-" Forte received a lance stab that sent her back in the water.

Sokoto rolled to a stop. Someone came to undress him and dry him off.

"Uh..." Silvia said, "Someone helped..."

"RRRRAAAAAAAAGH!" Forte became consumed with rage and lashed out at her opponent, who held her back with a stream of bullets firing from her lance, then stabbed and hammered her with three hits.

"Ugh..." Forte steadied herself, "I never would have guessed you'd still be a prick..."

"Aww," Tatenashi taunted, "Are you still mad I gave your first IS to Russia?"

"Actually, I'm very grateful," Forte charged her Freeze Lancer, "because you've allowed me to play with an even better toy!" She fired on the renegade, but Tatenashi got in the way and manipulated a makeshift barrier to protect him. But Forte snuck under the barrier and got in a good hit to Tatenashi's side.

"The Celsius's Tear?!" Tatenashi blurted, "Who did Bandai Namco stupefy to get an endorsement like that?!"

The clone finished drying Sokoto off. He came to his senses and saw Forte fighting Tatenashi. He tried to get up, but the icy sharp wound to his butt nearly immobilized him. The clone grabbed his shoulder and picked the ice off of him, making it a little more bearable. It then wrapped a backpack around him, containing everything he will need until he gets to his destination.

"Ngh...thanks..." Sokoto muttered.

The clone gave him a cutesy salute before disintegrating into water.

"Holy shit!" Sokoto exclaimed.

"We have to go, Onii-chan!" Silvia urged.

"Uh...right..." Sokoto darted off, leaving two utterly helpless psychopaths alone in the freezing cold.

-09:37-

"Ooooooniiiiiiiiii-chaaaaaaan..." Silvia groaned on Sokoto's shoulder, "I'm tiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrred..."

"How?" Sokoto muttered, "You're a sprite. You shouldn't be tired."

"Aaaagh..."

"I haven't seen or felt any asspulls lately..."

"Maybe because they're just as tired as I am..." Silvia checked on her status once more:

DATA MERGE COMPLETE. FINALIZING REGISTRY AND COMPATIBILITY.

"Hurry the hell up..." Silvia facepalmed.

"Hurry who?..." Sokoto said before sensing a stronger aura when he wished he hadn't, "And look at that. There's the island I'm looking for."

"Really?" Silvia jumped, "We're here?"

Nope. He could sense a particularly strong aura of despair and loneliness...on the island that's far behind the island to the left of them. Both of which were surrounded by water, a lot of it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Silvia fizzled to a tre and head butted it, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOO!"

"Say," Sokoto leaned his head on her, "Didn't you say you were tired?" And flicked her towards the nearest log.

She piled up a lot of dirt before sliding to a stop. She picked her head off the ground and stared at the giant thing smacking her in the face, "...LOG BOAT!"

That gave him an idea. He check the backpack for something to make it easier to force down the hill, when he found a hatchet. He spent half an hour cutting down the log until he could push it down and mount it like a gondola. He swiped the nearest branch and hopped on.

-10:20-

They rode comfortably on the log, with Sokoto using the hatchet as a steering device and the branch as a speed device.

Silvia had herself a dip in the water before flipping onto the log like a fish. She stretched herself out, "Ahhhhhh...much better..."

"Glad you enjoyed it," Sokoto said, "It'll be another hour before we touch down."

"Neat-o!" Silvia sighed, "Hahhhhhhh..."

"Still wondering why those creeper guys haven't come in yet..."

Silvia manifested a blindfold, "If they shoot us down now, I'm gonna scream."

Sokoto cringed at the possibility. They've had so many in your face out of nowhere moments that they stopped getting surprised. But this was one surprise he wished wouldn't happen.

Silvia sighed before asking, "What do you really think of Forte?"

"Hmm? That came out of nowhere..."

"Yeah, but I'm just curious."

"Well... she can be charming when she wants to be. She's a sweet talker, damn near manipulating. Yeah, she's a dangerous one."

"And what she said about Autumn?"

"She told the truth, but not the whole truth. She's stuck on REVENGEANCE mode. She has to learn to let go."

"Think you'll let go of the person who killed Squall?"

"...I have no idea."

"Well...AAAHHHHH...wake me up when we get there..." and Silvia fell asleep.

Sokoto finally made his decision to expend his energy on getting his sisters out. But he never got around to wondering why only women should be able to pilot an IS. Why did Silvia accept him as her pilot? How could she communicate with him so freely? He racked his head trying to find an answer the entire trip. The closest thing he had to an answer had to do with the purity of spirit. He thought the body was just a body. Without a soul, it's just limbs and farts. The IS could read a person's unconscious thoughts, could it? Well, that was the only thing keeping him from sleeping on the log.

-11:27-

And just what he needed, too. They touched down on a hillside, hid among the bushes, and walked all the way up to a clearing. Where among the forestry and the dripping dew, they got the biggest shock of their lives.

"GAK...ugh..." Sokoto felt like he had a heart attack.

"What's wrong?" Silvia looked worried.

"Aw, fuck me...it's not just Madoka and Autumn and Cootie Woman..."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"I mean, if it's just those three, the aura should be a lot smaller...I got a tingle in my spine before I left Mastispazzini..."

"So, how are we gonna do this?"

"Dunno...I think all other sides are like this...so, let's just knock."

"What?!" Are you crazy?!"

"Yep," he called his shield out and threw it at the giant door. A loud clang sounded throughout the island.

"Who's there?!" A man called through the intercom.

"The renegade!" Sokoto stepped out into the clearing, "I've come for Autumn, Cecilia, and Madoka! Release them now!"

The environment stood still in a moment of silence. Then the man came back on and said, "Ok. Stand by." The metal door slowly creaked open. Sokoto couldn't see anything until it was completely open.

It was Madoka, fully deployed in the Black Knight. "Been a while," she said.

"Yeah," he responded, sensing her aura unchanged, "heard you walked out."

"In a way, yeah."

Silvia noticed something odd about Madoka's face, "What's with the mask?"

"Oh?" Madoka smirked, "Didn't he tell you?"

Sokoto pondered before realizing what that meant, "You didn't..."

"No," she deployed her Twin Lance, "I had help."

"Crap...not now..." Sokoto ran forward to prepare for her attack.

But Madoka fired her lance blasts at him sooner than he could properly react. His shield didn't last long, and by the time the blast subsided, it was obliterated, and he was blown back against the tree. Madoka then rushed him and brutally punched his stomach. He threw up some air as he dropped to his knees and clutched his stomach.

"What's the matter?" Madoka taunted, "I thought you could take it."

Sokoto hacked a bit, "...it's...quite a bit of pain..."

"A meager amount..." she picked him up by the hair, "compared to the pain I still feel." She slammed him against the dirt. He struggled all the way back on his feet. She put away her blades and knocked him down, "The pain of being left alone! The pain of being cast aside, being the unwanted child!" Each word she said made her hit harder, until she lost herself in her rage and pounded the ever loving shit out of him, till she picked him back up and spat in his face, "You know what it's like to lose your identity because you look like someone who's better than you?"

"A little bit..." he sputtered blood before being kicked down. He was still able to move, so he propped himself in all fours, just in time to see Madoka's deathly walk.

"No..." Silvia whispered, "It can't end like this..."

"Get behind me..." he said as he turned to face her.

She took her sword out once more, "It's a horrible pain..." she stood over him, "A pain you'll feel in just a second." She plunged her sword downward to his body.

Only for it to be stopped by a metal gauntlet.

She looked absolutely horrified.

"...A petty pain...if you ask me..."

...What was she last heard before she was blasted with energy in the face.