Shirley's POV:
I was standing beside Miyafuji as she used her powers to heal up Blaze. She hasn't once opened her eyes since coming back to base and this worried me greatly. Though Blaze's injury is heavy on my chest, I promised Ember that I would protect Blaze whenever she's up in the air with me, and when Ember couldn't do it herself. I broke that promise and it had ended up with her on this medical bed unconscious with Miyafuji healing her up. She's been going on strong for a longtime now since we got back to base and only now her legs started to shake and threaten to give out from under her. She stumbled slightly, breathing heavily as Lynne caught her.
"Yoshika!" She had her eyes closed and took a deep breath before stepping up to Blaze again.
"Blaze..." She started to heal her again for a few seconds before she stumbled backwards.
"Miyafuji!" Catching her, she passed out for a second from exhaustion before she woke up again.
"Shirley, please! Let me go!"
"You're to worn out Miyafuji. You can't go on."
"But, Blaze!" Just then, the doctors returned with some haste and took the medical bed away into the operating room.
"The doctors are going to take care of her Miyafuji. You've used up to much magic to go on healing her." I reasoned with her when she slumped over in my arms. "Miyafuji!?"
"Yoshika, are you all right? Yoshika!?" Lynne was looked her over while I felt the rhythmic motion of her chest rising and falling.
"She's fine Lynne. She's just sleeping now..." With the help of Lynne, we got to her room and tucked under the covers. Leaving, I hung my head low before pressing my back up against the wall palm to my forehead. The guilt was eating away at me still when my thoughts drifted off to Ember who I haven't seen around yet either.
'What are you planning to do with her Minna..."
Ember's POV:
My head was pounding with a throbbing pain in my temples. The last thing I remember was the rough sand against my legs before I had a sharp blow to my head. Now, I feel what seems like a soft cushion under me while a metallic object clasped around me wrists. My vision was blurry when I first opened my eyes and I let them adjust. Looking down, I noted my hands were cuffed together when I heard the cocking of a gun. Looking up, I saw Minna at her desk, her red eyes staring at me with indecision and confusion, and Trude behind her glaring holes through me with one of her Mg42's in hand. Looking around I now know I'm in her office when her voice snapped my attention back to her.
"1st Lieutenant Vermillion," she said, her voice devoid of any emotion.
"Commander..."
"It has come to my attention that in out last encounter with the Neuroi... A series of events had occurred. Care to enlighten me on what happened with you?" I clenched my teeth remembering what happened a while ago.
"Well... There's nothing more I can say... You already know what happened out there Minna; what happened with me..."
"So it's true... You did transform into a Neuroi..." I heard her whisper. Shifting around slightly to try and get a little more comfortable, I froze as Trude raised her gun at me. "Lieutenant Barkhorn, lower your weapon!" Looking past the barrel of the Mg42, I could see her eyes had a sort of burning fury behind them.
"Commander, we can't take any of her actions lightly. She's one of them Minna. She's a Neuroi for peats sake!" She walked out from behind the desk, her gun trained on me the whole time and I looked away from her.
"Barkhorn, stand down!" Minna cried, a hint of desperation in her voice as she started to lose her composure.
"Minna, she's a Neuroi! We can't trust them! You of all people should know that all Neuroi should just be destroyed! They've killed millions of people, innocent people, and they are still going on destroying everything we love! They killed Kurt, they've killed numerous Witches, and they are a threat to humanity!" She was now standing in front of me and I still had my head lowered in thought. I knew what she said was all true and I can't stand the thought that I might be one of the enemy. It just sickens me knowing that I might just be a Neuroi so I lifted my head and placed it against the barrel of the gun.
"Take the shot Trude... End this nightmare I am in..." I said quietly. I didn't want to risk hurting others and I looked into her eyes. She had her teeth clenched and the gun started to shake. I could see her trigger finger tense up and was trembling before it lifted and she looked away in disgust.
"I just... I can't... I'm sorry Ember, I didn't mean to-... I'm not... I'm not in the right mind set at the moment..." she said in a hushed voice. She quickly left the room leaving only myself and Minna. We sat in silence for a second when she started to speak again.
"Tell me, when you were in the Neurified state, did you harm any Witches?"
"I didn't Commander."
"Did you have control of yourself when you were Neurified?"
"I... I had control over what I could do..." She got up from her seat and walked over to me, taking my hands and uncuffed them.
"Then there's no reason for me to hold you in custody 1st Lieutenant." I rubbed my wrists but Trude's words were still heavy in my mind. "But for disobeying direct orders, you will be subjected to some punishment. You will be bard from using your Striker for any practice or combat missions for a four day period starting today."
"Say... Minna... Do you think I am a monster?" I asked tentatively and she only frowned.
"What I think of you, Ember, is as another fellow Witch. I do admit I'm a little shaken up with what I heard with you... Turning into a Neuroi." She grabbed one of her arms and looked off to the side. "A small part of me fears and resents you for being a Neuroi, but once I looked pass the hatred, I see a friend of mine and a fellow Witch of the 501st; not a monster. Trude has some difficulty with the Neuroi was the cause of the loss of Karlsland and the injury of her sister as well. Some of the others might take some time getting used to this new discovery and... I'm sorry about your sister..." Hearing the door open behind me, I saw Mio at the door. Asked to leave the two alone in private, I quickly ran down to where the entrance to the operating room was. The light above the door was still on and I knew I couldn't enter. Sitting down on a bench, I began to wait when someone sat down next to me. Looking to my side I saw it was Shirley and I smiled lightly before looking back at my feet.
"Hey, how you holding up?" She asked and I staid silent. "I see... That bad..."
"It's my fault..." I mumbled.
"It's not your fault Ember. No one saw what would happen with Mio and Blaze."
"But I could've destroyed the Neuroi before it hurt her, Shirley..."
"Then what stopped you from destroying it?" Sitting up right, I only now remembered what the voice in my head said about this Neuroi.
"Well... You know about that voice from my dreams?" I asked and she nodded. "Same voice talked to me when I met that Neuroi... It didn't fire at us when we first met it and it only fired back once we started to shoot at him as well."
"Mmm" Was all she said and silence continued between us when I spoke up.
"Hey, do you see me as a monster?" She looked at me with surprise before her face softened up into a smile. She shook her head with a smile.
"I said it before Ember, I'm always going to be by your side. I don't care if others might shun you as being an enemy, a Neuroi, but I will always be by your side. No matter if it's the you who is right beside me, or it's a you with a black shell covering your skin, I will always be with you Ember." Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes just from happiness and I went in to hug her. With her excepting it greatly, I started to think if I should confess to her right here and now when I decided to do it.
'To hell with it all. If she will be by my side and show bravery to accept who I am, then I will be brave as well.'
"Say, Shirley, I have something I wanted to ask you."
"Say, Ember, I have something I wanted to ask you." We both said at the same time.
"Oh, please, you first Shirley." She looked off to the side, scratching her cheek a light blush on her cheeks.
"O-Oh! A-ll right then! I uuhh... I just wanted to ask you if... What I mean to say is do you... Oh to hell with it all!" She cupped my cheeks into her hands and pulled me into a kiss. My eyes widen initially from shock of the sudden action, but I soon started to close my eyes from bliss and press into the kiss. Breaking away from each other, we were blushing heavily each when I smiled.
"Charlotte..."
"I wanted to say I love you Ember. I've fallen for you since when I first met you." My emotions were starting to melt into a puddle of glee and happiness from what I heard and I embraced her tightly.
"I-I wanted to say that I love you too Shirley... I just was never confident to tell you as well..." Pulling away from the embrace she pecked my cheek, causing me to blush even more, and I leaned back in my seat, resting my head on her shoulder. "I too had fallen for you when I first joined the 501st. You were the first one to really reach out to me and you also the one I can connect with the most. I want to be with you for the rest of my life."
"I do too Embs." She petted my head slightly when the light to the operation room turned off. Standing up, I saw a doctor at the door.
"What's her conditions?"
"It's too soon to make any predictions. You may go in and see her." Quickly rushing past him, I saw her laying in a bed hooked up to this device and my heart broke slightly. Taking a chair, I sat at the top of the bed, watching over her as she slept. Shirley stood at the door way before saying she had to go make some food for everyone and left. Looking at my sister, her face was so peaceful and that only made things worse when I heard the door creak open again. Looking up, I saw it was both Lynne and Yoshika.
"Oh, hey you two." I gave a slight wave to them. "Aren't you up a bit early Yoshika?" She only ignored me and ran up to Blaze, beginning to heal her again. "No, wait Yoshika. You've all ready used to most of your magic today. Please, don't strain yourself any longer."
"No, Ember, I must do this. Blaze is your sister and I won't stop until we know she will recover completely. She risked her life to save Ms. Sakamoto and I want to make sure she will live through this." I remained silent for a while as Yoshika did her work on Blaze when the vital signs machine started to make a noise. At the same time, Blaze's body was tensing up and her face was contorted with pain.
"Yoshika, her pulse is dropping!" Gripping my sister's hand, I willed for her to survive. "I'll call the doctor!" Lynne said and ran out of the room leaving only Yoshika and myself with Blaze.
"Why...? I'm putting so much magic into it... If only Mom and grandma were here now..." She dropped her head nearly breaking out into tears and I looked up at her and grabbed her shoulder's getting her attention.
"Your mother and grandma might not be here, but you are here! No one else here can save her Yoshika, but yourself! Please, save my sister!" Tears were once again falling from my eyes as the thought of loosing my sister crossed my mind.
"Only me..." She looked at me before down at Blaze and all her expressions of doubt left her face, replaced with confidence. "That's right, I'm the only who can!" She closed her eyes as if focussing and Blaze's heart rate was slowing down further. "Calm down and concentrate..." A blue aura of her healing powers soon grew larger and brighter until it filled the whole room. Standing up, I held my hands together as if for some sort of pray when the light started to fade. Yoshika was starting to fall unconscious since she used a deal of her magic earlier. Reaching out, my hand turned black as the Neuroi armor wrapped itself around it and the moment I touched Yoshika's shoulder, I felt my own magic reserves start to drain. The light was soon back to it's former bright shine when I too passed out. When I came to again, I was back in my room and Shirley was sleeping at the end of the bed.
'D'aw~ She must have carried me back to my room and fell asleep while watching over me!' Looking at how vulnerable she was at the moment, I slowly moved around, making sure not to wake her up and gave a quick peck on her lips to wake her up.
"Morning sleepy head.~" I sang as she yawned, stretching her arms off to the side before sitting up.
"Well, that's one thing to wake up to." She chuckled before kissing me. "How did you sleep?" I stretched my arms behind my back.
"Good. Refreshed and no weird dreams this time... Though what about Blaze? Last thing I remember, I was transferring magic to Yoshika to heal Blaze-"
"Wait, you can transfer magic?" She cut me off.
"Well... I'm not sure how to control it yet but... I think I am able to transfer magic when I'm in my Neurified form..." Raising my right hand up, I looked at it wondering if I could control how it works when her voice returned to my head.
"Will the Neuroi form to come to the surface Ember. It's one small step in mastering your power." I scowled slightly as I started to have my mental conversation with "her."
"What do you think you can do to persuade me to do anything you tell me to after how that 'friendly' Neuroi put my sister into a fucking coma!"
"That was an accident Ember. The Neuroi that contacted you never meant to harm Blaze. She only reacted on instinct for being fired upon Ember."
"... That still doesn't mean I trust you."
"Yo, earth to Embs! What's with the weird facial expressions?" Shirley asked, poking my cheek. I gave her a slight annoyed look at first, but I guess I was making some faces in the mental conversation.
"Nothing..." I said. "By the way, did my sister wake up yet?" She only shook her head and I sighed. Getting out of my bed, I looked into the mirror I had and what I saw disturbed me. It was me... Or at least I thought it was someone that looked like me. My hair was rather messy and a white bandage was wrapped around my head, a small red spot seeping through. Slight bags were under my eyes and they only stood out with my pale white skin. With my stomach growling, I knew it was about time for some breakfast so Shirley and I went down to breakfast. She held my hand the whole way and when we entered, I saw her give a quick wink towards Eila.
I didn't pay much thought to their interaction as I took a plate of food. Sitting down across from Eila with Shirley, she only cracked a smirk but said nothing. The environment in the room was rather tense as I felt eyes on either staring or glancing in my direction. Finishing my food rather quickly, I walked down to the hanger to find that both my Jet Striker and regular Striker were in chains, completely locked up. On a spare table, under a piece of cloth, I could see a small bent black wing of my sister's Striker. Sitting down in front of my Strike, I looked at my hand, remembering what she said about my powers. Willing for the Neurification to happen, my right arm was encompassed with the black armor of a Neuroi. It took me by surprise at first but it also interested me. Looking at it, the Neurification went up to my shoulder but it also felt light though I also noted that my familiar features were also out. Moving and flexing my arm around, I had my full range of movement. In the palm of my hand there was also a red pad where a Neuroi usually shoots their laser out of. Standing up, I experimentally started to add more Neuroi pieces over my body until I had the full suit on. Hearing a squeak, I turn around to see Perrine standing at the entrance of the hanger holding her hands over her mouth. Her face seemed to pale the longer she looked at the "Neuroi" in the hanger. Pieces on my head started to move away and float in mid air while others folded back, exposing my face and head completely, calming her down slightly.
"It's all right Perrine. I'm not going to hurt you... Just trying this new power out..." She took a breath and tried to smile.
"G-Good... I-I wanted to say sorry for earlier..."
"Huh?"
"When you were trying to be by your sister on the beach... I thought you were one of them as well but... I can now see you're one of us; a fellow Witch." She quickly turned around and left and her words made me smile lightly.
'Maybe they can accept me with this power...' I thought when I heard two Striker engines. Dispelling the Neuroi shell and running outside, I looked up into the sky, hand over my eyes, and saw both Anne and Seris coming in. They landed quickly and didn't even bother about their Strikers as they quickly jumped out both embracing me.
"Ember! Are you all right!?" Anne whined.
"We came as quickly as we could when we heard the news! Oh, the nuggets are also worried about you!" The two hadn't dispelled their magical features and were quite literally squeezing the living daylight out of me.
"Seris! Anne!" I gasped out, "I can't... Breath!" The two of them let me go quickly apologizing when Seris gave me a concerned look.
"But Ember... The reports also stated that you... You know..." I nodded my head and raised my arm up across my chest, having it Neurified. The two gasped lightly but only smiled.
"Some of the nuggets were wondering if you were going to be their enemy now since you were a Neuroi but... You're different from them. You're not a monster like the Neuroi are, you're different." She patted my shoulder when Seris got me into a head lock.
"We both knew you wouldn't turn on both your friends right?" She slyly smiled and I sweat dropped calling uncle for her to release me when I questioned why they were both here. They said that they got special permission from their commander to come down here and they could bring all of their equipment since there was a slight Neuroi threat in the area. I was rather content having both of them not only as company, but also to bring up our fire power with the aid of two more Witches. We started to talk about how we've been before we all visited Blaze. To my disappointment, she was still in a coma when we visited her when Shirley suggested we all take a bath. I got an extra towel for out two guests and we all got changed before taking a dip into the hot water.
"God, Ember, I think your spoiling Anne and I." Seris moaned out in bliss. "You get this large bath house while back on our base, we only have showers..."
"Could be worse Seris," Anne commented. "You know some of our Witches down in Africa don't even get proper showers or baths? They have to take one in a barrel."
"Barrel baths? Hhhmm... Doesn't sound all to bad actually." Shirley said. I scooted closer to her when Trude, Eila, Sanya, Lucchini, and Erica came in, joining us. Everyone didn't seem so tense around me as they were earlier today. The entire base was nearly here in the tub with extra room to spare when both Yoshika and Lynne joined as well.
"Here we are!" Lynne announced as she walked in with Yoshika.
"Over here!" Lucchini swam out a bit and motioned them to join right next to Shirley and I.
"Hey, Miyafuji," Shirley turned towards Yoshika, "I heard you got confined to your room!" She wrapped and arm around her shoulder. "Good thing it was only that!" She pulled her into a head lock and her eyes went wide as her face was buried into her voluptuous chest. I felt slightly jealous of her but I couldn't tell if her eyes were going wide with shock or in bliss...
"Shirley got the imprisonment penalty five times!" Lucchini commented with a sly smile.
"Get real you idiot! It was four times! Four times!"
"And might I ask why you were imprisoned four times Shirley?" Anne asked.
"Well... They all were then they found me tinkering with my Striker Unit. Saying that, 'All my modifications to my Striker was illegal,' and such things like that. But those modifications were harmless!"
"Uncle Sam can get pretty annoyed when you mess with their equipment you know." Seris face palmed lightly when Erica spoke up.
"I got the penalty six times! Hahahaha!" Everyone broke into laughter when Yoshika all of a suddenly stood up.
"Everyone listen! Umm, I felt that the Neuroi was different from the others! We may not have to fight the Nueroi after all-"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Trude cut her off.
"But, back there, we understood each other... Ember, you said something about how they weren't your enemy back there right?" She looked at me with a pleading look but I only shook my head.
"I'm not sure if the words I heard were true but... A voice did say that that Neuroi didn't mean to hurt anyone..."
"Ember, that thing shot at us and injured your sister!" Trude yelled at me.
"Well, it shoot back at us after both Mio and Blaze opened fire upon it..." I said quietly.
"Miyafuji, do you know what the Neuroi have done up until now? They've done nothing but antagonize people. Are you on the side of the Neuroi?!"
"But this Neuroi was different from the others!"
"Have you fought them long enough to know the difference!?"
"Yoshika might not have the experience as you Trude, but I do!" I stood up as well. "This one was different than the others!"
"Says the one who turned into one!" Trude was starting to get pretty worked up when Erica started to laugh.
"I heard a human-shaped one appeared, but even so..."
"You mean the one at Kauhava Base?" Eila jumped in, "That's just a rumor."
"But what about the recent singing Neuroi?"
"That was a trap!" The atmosphere was tense again when Yoshika's expression changed to a one of shock
"Yoshika.~" Lucchini sung and her tone sent a shiver down my spine. "Cheer up! Wugyah!"
"Wooooaaahhh!"
"Double bomber!" She went on to grab onto her chest.
"S-Stop, Lucchini!"
"Have you grown?" I looked over as Eila asked while Sanya groped herself and only shook her head.
"Nope..."
"They aren't big enough..." Lucchini drooped her head slightly when her eyes sparked as she looked at Lynne, a glint in her eyes.
"W-What is it Lucchini?" And the chase began around with them going around the tub. Trude was face palming hard at what she was seeing while I just leaned back my head.
"Do this usually happen in the bath Ember?" Seris whispered to me and I only shook my head.
"It's rare for this many people to be in the bath at once so not reallyyyYYYYY!" I looked down to see Lucchini going for a frontal assault on me. Her grin only grew larger as she felt me up.
"My, my Ember! You keep on growing every time! At this rate, you should be just as large as Shirley!" She cheered before nestling into Shirley's chest. "Hhhmmmm~ Now this is what I'm talking about!"
"I wonder if it's fun..." Erica spoke her thoughts.
"It's just stupid..." Not before long, Erica jumped and latched onto Trude, and said person let out a yell of surprise. "W-What are you doing!?"
"You're pretty big, too, Trudey!"
"T-T-These things are useless in combat! They just get in the way!"
"'These things'?" Shirley questioned and everyone broke out into laughter. The bathtub shenanigans went on throughout the bathing season. Soon, everyone else had left the bath to get dressed when large black clouds loomed over the base, dropping bucket loads of rain. Seris and Anne went to the room they are going to be staying in while Eila, Shirley, and myself hung out in the sauna. I was sitting next to Shirley and Eila was across from us when she cracked a devious smirk.
"Say, you two are sitting rather close to each other don't you think?" Realizing what she meant, I scooted off to the side slightly causing her to laugh. "So I guess you did ask her Shirley!"
"W-What do you mean?" I stuttered, giving the two girls weird looks when Shirley scooted closer to me and pecked me on the cheek. My face instantly flared up to a shade of red that matched my hair color and I stared at her before at Eila. "S-Shirley! But, Eila-"
"It's fine Ember. Eila knows everything." I looked at said person and I scowled slightly.
"Shirley was the one that came to me Ember. She asked if it could work out between you two and I gave her advice about the relationship. Only today did I tell her to try and find out if you too had feeling to each other. I guess it worked out.~" I glared at her lightly before leaning back.
"That explains the directness of her asking," I chuckled lightly, "though going right up and kissing me? Little risky, but it worked out." We all shared a laugh when I thought of something. "I just realized... I never thanked Yoshika for her healing my sister." Getting up, I dressed and went to Yoshika's room noting the lock she had on her door. Knocking on it I took a deep breath before talking saying, "Hey, Yoshika? I'd like to say thank you for saving my sister back there. I really appreciate it."
Getting no response, I started to worry slightly so I knocked again. "Yoshika?" Getting no response again, I pressed my ear up against the door and focused on my hearing. I thought I could hear the faint whoosh of the wind which worried me. Knowing I couldn't just open the door with the lock on it, the only option I had was to break it down. Using my magic to enhance my strength, I broke the door handle and mechanism off and pushed in the door. Her room was vacant and her window was open with her bed sheets hanging out of it. "God, damn it Yoshika!" No one had investigated what the noise was yet so I sprinted down to the hanger to find her Striker unit was missing from their Launcher Unit. I looked around for options when I spotted my Striker Unit. I knew I had to fly after her, even if it meant getting court marshaled, I was going after Yoshika. Grabbing the chains, I started to pull with all my strength but got nowhere. My arms then Neurified and it must have amplified my strength for the chain links finally broke apart. Wasting no time, I just jumped into my Striker starting it up. Thankfully, the storm was covering up most of the noise of the Jet striker, but it was still noisy as hell. With the engines spooled up, I let go and quickly got airborne. Knowing Yoshika, she must have went back towards the location where we met the humanoid Neuroi before. The rain was soaking my clothes but I didn't care.
'Please, don't do anything stupid Yoshika!'
Shirley's POV:
It's been a while since Ember left both Eila and I and now Commander Minna had called for us to gather in the meeting room. Knowing Ember must be there all ready, I didn't bother to search for her. I started to worry when I didn't see her there among the rest of our squad. Even Seris and Anne were here, looking around quit worriedly. Taking my seat, Minna slapped her hand onto the desk.
"Miyafuji had escaped!"
"Escaped?" I questioned, getting an uneasy feeling.
"Vermillion is also missing as well. The chains to her P-80 are broken and said Striker is missing as well.
'What the hall are you doing Ember.' I thought, gritting my teeth.
"It'll be bad if headquarters catches wind of this. Let's get those two back here immediately!" She ordered when the phone began to ring. "Yes, 501st- Your Excellency!" My heart sank slightly. "But, that is... No, I understand..." She put the phone down heavily and looked up at all of us. "Headquarters has given us the order to shoot down Miyafuji and apprehend Vermillion..."
"Commander, we can't follow that order!" I slammed my fist down on the table.
"Lieutenant Yeager, we have our orders... Everyone, move out and locate Miyafuji and Vermillion..." I couldn't believe what Command had ordered us to do... But I trust Minna had something else in plan. The 510st is our large family and we just can't simply shoot down Miyafuji... "Do you two mind joining us in the search? I know you're our guest's but we're short some people." She addressed both Seris and Anne and the two of them nodded slowly. Getting up from our seats, we all ran down to the hanger and up into the stormy sky we all went.
Ember's POV:
I've been flying for some time now and I still haven't found Yoshika. The weather isn't helping either but I caught a break when the sky started to clear up into a bright blue sky. Then in the distance, I saw Yoshika hovering in position looking around.
"Yoshika!" I yelled out. She turned around and looked at me with surprise when out of the sky, the humanoid Neuroi fell. A wave of anger came over me as I Neurified my whole body and reached my hand out to shoot a laser when a voice spoke in my head.
"Wait, Ember, don't shoot!" It wasn't the same voice as before and the Neuroi stuck its hands out towards me. "I'm sorry about your sister! I didn't mean to hurt her!" Slowing down, I glared at her while Yoshika looked between us quite confused. "As you humans have names to address each other, you can call me Mechta. Please, it's not safe here, follow me." She instantly turned around and started to fly towards this large black cloud. It looked like a cone of some sort and both Yoshika and I followed closely.
'If she can talk, then why didn't she say something before hand...' I thought when we started to fly up into the black cloud.
"Wow, it's like a wall of clouds!" Yoshika gasped at the whole size when I remember where I saw this thing before.
"It's the Neuroi hive..." Into the hive we went and everything turned darker as the Neuroi showed us the way through before we entered this large dome shaped room. Hexagonal patterns made up the walls when we found Mechta hovering above the flat floor of the room, a core right next to her. "Wow, this is what it's like inside the hive?" I thought aloud when the walls began to glow different colors.
"W-What's this?" We hovered right next to Mechta near the floor of the hive when a large map of Europe appeared. Soon other panels started to appear with some images or what looked like a motion picture. It started with Earth and went onto what looked like Hawker Hurricanes flying up and shooting at the large black cloud of a Neuroi hive. A Neuroi soon fell from the clouds and went on to decimate the town bellow it. On went another video of when a Neuroi was fighting Mio.
"What are you trying to tell us?" Yoshika questioned Mechta when another video appeared of some people in lab coats around a... A Neuroi core! It then went to a short image of a lab and a metal object inside of it. It was obstructed by some wires and pipping but I thought it looked rather familiar. A video of when Yoshika and I were first meeting Mechta appeared followed up the last one. Looking at Mechta, I wondered why she hadn't said anything to us yet when I tried to communicate to it again.
"What are you trying to tell us?"
"There's a threat made by your people." She finally said before she looked off to the side and disappeared. Another screen appeared showing her outside of the hive looking down at Shirley, Lucchini, Trude, Erica, Seris, Anne, and Minna. Hairs on the back on my neck only started to stand up when I felt another Neuroi pressence in the area. Before I could sense only Mechta's for some reason, but now I feel a second one in the distance. I was getting antsy about this as the group of Witches dispersed in pairs when I saw a red glint of a metallic object. When it flew up and around I got a good look at it. It was the same metal object that I've saw in my dream months ago. My senses were starting to overload from dread and shock when pulled around and started to shoot at Mechta. My eyes darted towards a white plume originating from a wall and I heard the whiz of bullets fly past my ear. I couldn't react fast enough to pull up a strong enough shield to block the rain of bullets and shrapnel. I heard what ever shield I could muster in the split second I had shatter and I felt my left leg jerked backwards as something tore through metal and flesh. My head snapped off to the side and my vision in my left eye had completely vanished when I felt something pierce through my gut. Pain radiated throughout my body causing to lose control over my magic and I fell to the ground, screaming my head off in pain. I could feel a warm liquid seeping out between my shut left eye lids, blood pooling from my gut and I couldn't feel much in my left leg either. Yoshika quickly was at my side but what I saw through my right eye was anything but good. Lifting my head up, I could see the metal on my left Striker Leg was torn and bent in weird ways with blood splattered on the aluminum skin. In my gut, I saw a large white Neuroi fragment sticking out of me, covered completely in blood. I clenched my teeth together as another wave of pain came over me, my vision starting to fade slightly when Yoshika spoke up.
"Come on Ember, stay with me!" I felt spike in pain as the fragment moved slightly, and I let out another scream. "Please, bare with me as I pull this out." Clenching my teeth, I could feel it slowly leaving me before it was out of me completely. I let out a gasp of pain as my vision faded ever so slightly as I lost more blood when soothing sensation came over my body as Yoshika began to heal me. Though with her magic suppressing some of the pain, he amount I was still feeling kept my body rigid.
"W-What are you doing?" I weakly spoke out.
"I'm saving you Ember! Please, don't try to speak!" She urged me but a worried squeak came out as I coughed up some blood.
"D-Don't waste your energy on me... Get out of here..." I looked at one of the screens through my blurry vision to see the metal machine had transformed and was charging up what looked like a laser beam. Clenching my fist, I pushed through the pain and stood up ignoring Yoshika's protests for me to stop. "Run Yoshika, get out of here." I said with a bit more strength. With one hand, I held it over my still bleeding stomach wound and the other one up to form a shield in front of myself and Yoshika. She urged me again to stop moving when I saw the machine fire a laser off. "Get the fuck out of here Miyafuji!" I yelled with all my might as the laser beam started to carve its' way through the room. She looked at me, tears in her eyes and I was glad to see her start to fly away. Pumping what ever magical energy I could muster into the shield, I took on the force of the laser beam. The edges started to crack and break away the longer I held on and the more blood I lost, the less energy I had to hold up the shield.
"I'm sorry about this Shirley... I love you..." A single tear fell down my cheek as my arm fell slack at my side and I slipped into an eternal slumber.
Shirley's POV:
"It that thing a Neuroi too!?" I yelled out as I saw the beam obliterate the Neuroi and continue through the hive.
"It's strong!" I heard Erica say as Lucchini and I formed up with the commander.
"What the hell is it!? It took out the Neuroi with one hit!"
"That beam has some serious fire power."
"UGGGWAAAAHHH!" Lucchini yelled before taking off.
"Huh?" I looked where she was diving.
"Yoshika!"
"Oh, shit! Miyafuji!" I dove down caught her when I started looking around for Ember, but I didn't see her anywhere. Bringing Miyafuji back up to Minna, I was still looking around for Ember finding no signs of her anywhere.
"Are you okay, Yoshika?" Lucchini asked.
"Yeah..." Her eyes were dull and void of any life. It disturbed me seeing this in a girl who usually is so cheerful and happy all the time.
"Miyafuji, where's Ember?" I tried to keep my composer and a clear tone, but I couldn't help the shakiness in my voice. Only now did I notice the blood on her clothes and hands.
"Ember she... That metal thing... When it shot the laser, it... She's gone..." Miyafuji spoke out through sniffles.
"Gone...?" I questioned, my voice nearly a whisper.
'No, it can't be... She can't be gone! She's to strong to just die like that... She just can't be dead.' I thought gripping my head, staring at the ocean bellow as I began to weep silently. Looking up, everyone had some sort of shocked facial expression on with what Yoshika said when Lucchini began to cry into my chest.
"Shirely! Ember can't be gone right? She just can't!" I tried to comfort her by petting her head when I looked towards Trude. She was looking off to the side, a grim frown on her face.
"She was so strong to just die like that... How is she... Dead..." I then looked on over at Minna who had a distant stare and slight empty eyes.
"Not again..." She whispered out.
"Minna, just what the hell was that thing!?" I asked, flying up to her trying to snap her out of her daze
"I-I don't know..." She stuttered out when she gave a stern look at Miyafuji. "Sergeant Miyafuji, you will be detained for the crime of absence without leave. We will figure everything out when we return to base!"
"But Commander, that thing just killed Ember! We can't return to base like this-"
"I said return to base!" She yelled. No one else objected and the flight back to base was a silent and lonely one. I don't know what was keeping me going through out the flight to base. I just wanted to fall down somewhere and start to cry and morn over Ember... My lover... Both Anne and Seris didn't say anything either as they flew back to base. Seris had these ghostly empty eyes the whole way back and Anne was only shaking her head side to side occasionally as if she was trying to deny what she heard was correct.
'Oh god... How will Blaze react to this news?' I just thought and I bit my bottom lip trying to shake the thought when I tasted the coppery taste of blood. 'And her mother's in London...'
"Huh? Someone's there." Lucchini pointed out bringing me back to the present. Looking closer, I could see nine figures on the runway. Four in a quarter circle spread apart around a single figure in a black outfit. Getting closer, it was the last son of a bitch I wanted to see; Trevor Maloney. We all landed and he smirked.
"Good work, Commander Minna." I was getting an uneasy feeling about what's going on when I heard a noise above us. Looking up, I saw a metal object transform and land behind Maloney.
"That's the same one!" Erica mumbled.
"That's the thing that killed Ember!" I mumbled to myself, my fist shaking when the eight soldiers surrounded us and drew their weapon on us. Just what the hell is going on today? Please, I just want this nightmare of a day to be over with...
I'll just leave this chapter here for all of you readers to contemplate on the events of this chapter Heehee. Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much...