Sonata to Memento Mori
Chapter 11: Arzenal Falls
Arzenal Graveyard
Blaze, for the first time in a while, was joined at his parents' graves with Naomi at this side, the girl carrying some flowers with her as they stopped at the hill, a light breeze blowing by on the calm day.
"Huh, been a long time since I came up here with you." Naomi mused, setting the flowers down between the two grave stones, "It's already been ten years since that day…"
"Ten years and barely a thing's changed around this place…" Blaze sighed, looking back to the lines of the other graves, "Well, a few things…"
"Yeup… like you finally becoming a man." Naomi chuckled, Blaze rolling his eyes, but a tint of pink on his cheeks.
"Aside from that." Blaze muttered, sitting down at the tree, Naomi taking the spot next to him, "There's also the fact Salia Squad is grounded… Ange gets back a day later and things just roll… talk about boring. Seven frickin days of not doing a damn thing…"
"And we haven't been on a scouting mission in a while too…" Naomi muttered, puffing out a cheek, leaning on her knees.
"So we're also stuck on reserve… geez…" Blaze murmured, and then Naomi nodded.
"Yeup… but hey, there has been your little trips to the cells, what's that for?" Naomi hummed, Blaze clicking his tongue.
"Believe it or not, Hilda and I have actually found some common ground for things… sure there's still the normal bits of animosity, but we can actually hold a conversation now." Blaze stated, tugging on his braid a bit.
"Hehehe, well that's one step taken to being friends I guess." Naomi chuckled, "So… what about Salia? You two haven't really talked much since the Festa… since you… y'know…"
"Things have been… awkward… but… sometimes I'm not sure if I did the right thing… hell, I don't think it was the right thing… but… I just couldn't… not then, and not right now." Blaze murmured, leaning on his knees, and Salia put her arms around him as he looked up, "Should I have shot her down like that?"
"Give it some time and just let things smooth over, I'm sure Salia understands. And if not, then explain it to her completely. That's really what you've gotta do, right?" Naomi stated, Blaze nodding.
"I agree… even if it takes some time… just, for now, it's too early for that…" Blaze murmured, standing up and readjusting his scarf as he scanned the horizon, "I have this chill running down my spine… I don't know why, but I feel like something… bad is going to happen… and soon…"
"Hey, you okay? You've got this look on your face…" Naomi murmured, Blaze glancing at her and shaking his head.
"I'm fine… just a weird chill is all." Blaze brushed the feeling off, clearing his throat a bit, "Well, how about we head up to the mess hall since it's about lunch?"
"That sounds good, I need something to eat anyway." Naomi nodded, stretching her arms and following Blaze as they went to leave the graveyard, but as the two began to leave, a crackling in the sky drew their attention, the sound being the all too familiar noise of a singularity beginning to open.
"WHAT?!" Blaze gasped as, right before their eyes, they watched a massive singularity tear open right above the island, the roar of the alarms filling the air as they were soon followed by the roar of DRAGONs as Schooner classes poured through by the dozens until nothing short of a swarm was descending on Arzenal.
"Why is a singularity opening here?!" Naomi yelped, Blaze growling and pulling the girl inside.
"No time to worry about it, we need to get to the hangar!" Blaze snapped, Naomi nodding and picking up her pace as she followed after Blaze, both at a sprint. "Damn, what the hell is going on now?! A singularity right over Arzenal… something's off about this…"
"I'm gonna go gear up! I'll meet you at the runway!" Naomi ran off in the other direction, Blaze nodding as he picked up his pace, eventually reaching the hangar bay, all the para-mails already brought out and ready to be deployed, so Blaze made a straight beeline to the Barbatos, jumping into the cockpit without a moment to waste, grabbing the assault rifle stowed inside of it and joining the ground group as they fired at the DRAGONs trying to swoop down at them.
"Geez, the hell is going on?!" Blaze muttered, lowering his gun as the DRAGONs were down, at least the ones aiming for them, Blaze turning to Ersha, Chris, and Rosalie since they were nearby.
"It looks like we got most of them." Chris let out a relieved breath.
"Thanks to Eleanor Squad and Bettey Squad." Ersha stated, and Blaze then blinked when he swore he heard something.
"Singing? Is that… singing?" Blaze murmured, focusing a bit as the words came clearer… and then his eyes widened.
Kaze ni toban el ragna Sadame to chigiri kawashite
Kaze ni yukan el ragna Todorokishi tsubasa
Hoshi ni toban el ragna Banri wo koete kanata e
Hoshi ni yukan el ranga Setsuna... Eikyuu wo
"That song… what the… that's the song mom taught me…" Blaze muttered, and everyone else around seemed to pick up on the singing as well, and Blaze growled a bit, rushing to the Barbatos and jumping into the machine, the cockpit closing as he started it up, though to his surprise, the main screen began glowing.
"Lumiere system… active…"
Blaze blinked as an electronic voice spoke, the name that was spoken appearing on the screen of the machine.
"Activation key confirmed… beginning pilot registry, confirmed." The voice spoke again, Blaze blinking as a slot opened, a blue light coming from it and seemingly scanning him, and Blaze blinked when he saw a glow from under his scarf, reaching under and pulling out his pendant, the item glowing brightly to his shock.
"What the hell…" Blaze muttered, shaking his head. "Mei, I'm heading out!"
"You can't launch now! There's too much going on! And why is your machine glowing?!" Mei shouted, Blaze raising a brow.
"What?!" Blaze replied, the cockpit opening, and to his surprise as he stood, the Barbatos was glowing, blue lines lighting up along it's frame as the body of the machine gave of a white glow.
"System scan completed. Initialization of configuration data complete… begin reconfiguration."
But, as the Barbatos' glow became bright, the mysterious singing continued as a ring began to fill the air, a flash of light following that made everyone turn to it as the air crackled, a blinding flash filling the air for a moment that almost felt like it lasted longer than it really did, and once the light faded, everyone in the hangar rushed to the edge, only for the eyes of all the pilots and mechanics present to widen in shock at the sight before them…
Half of Arzenal was blown away, left as noting but a swathe of the former area that it was, practically a gouge in the side of the island itself.
"What the fuck just happened…" Blaze gasped, his right hand curling into a tight fist.
"Blaze… you… may want to look at this…" Naomi murmured, having arrived just a moment before the blast, and now she was looking the other way, and Blaze turned as she point off to the Barbatos… only, the machine that was there looked different.
The most notable thing was that the machine was no longer black, but a gleaming white accented by blue and red highlights and the glowing blue lines running across it, the closed head unit gleaming with a gold v-fin that no longer had any damage to it, in fact, the entire machine no longer showed signs of the previously irreparable scars the armor had, and the armor itself was almost entirely different as the parts themselves seemed to have changed, the armor bearing a new sleekness to the it's frame, while the wing units were now straighter but also stronger looking, and between them a segmented section that seemed like some kind of tail.
"What in the…" Blaze muttered, "Tch, I'm not going to worry about it, Naomi, let's mount up!"
"Uh… right!" Naomi nodded, the two jumping to the machines, though Blaze had a look on as his machines cockpit closed, still showing that name on the screen… Lumiere.
"What the hell is Lumiere?" Blaze muttered.
"Lumiere is the name of my systems." The voice from before answered, Blaze double taking in the seat as he looked around, "If you're looking for someone, you will not find anything. I am an AI platform designed to regulate the G-Type OS of this machine."
"What?! I have no idea what the hell you mean, hell, why did the Barbatos change?" Blaze muttered.
"Barbatos? Is that the name this unit has been named as?"
"Uh, yes! Now if you'll stop talking I need to launch!" Blaze snapped, though he blinked when he saw Salia jump off of her Arquebus and get onto the Villkiss, and he grit his teeth as she took off with the rest of her unit in the machine, "Dammit Salia!"
Blaze hit the throttle and took off after the First Troop, Naomi tailing after him as he followed the five units up, and Blaze blinked when the AI brought up a radar.
"Detecting four signatures near the singularity." The AI spoke, Blaze looked up, blinking in surprise to see that, right at the singularity, were four Para-mails that the DRAGONs were keeping away from, the first fading from hold to red, a blue one, a green one, and then a fourth that was larger than the other three, and to Blaze's surprise looked oddly similar to the Barbatos, bearing a similar white color scheme but with the lines along it glowing red, it's eyes gleaming the same color.
"DRAGON type para-mails? What the hell is going on?!" Blaze gasped, then shaking his head, "I'll worry about it later. I need to get to Salia first."
"The more significant threat is the four unknown units." The AI responded, Blaze rolling his eyes as he maneuvered past some swooping Schooner classes.
"I know! But right now I plan to stop my friend from doing something stupid!" Blaze snapped, boosting ahead of the pack and after Salia split off and sped towards the singularity, "Well then I guess we're going towards the four para-mails then! Salia hold up will you?!"
Up ahead, Salia glanced back as she saw the Barbatos coming after her, and she let out a small hiss.
"Don't try to stop me Blaze!" Salia snapped, letting out a frustrated growl when Villkiss wouldn't speed up, "Can't you fly faster?!"
Salia then turned when she heard a Schooner's screech as one came careening towards her, only to be shot out of the air by Blaze before it got close to the Villkiss, the Barbatos pulling up to match pace.
"Salia go back now! Without a royal ring the Villkiss won't respond to you like it does Ange!" Blaze snapped, Salia's hands tightening on her controls, "Salia please just stop with this!"
"First Jill, now you… why… why does everyone always say I can't do this?! I'm better than Ange, so why does everyone always choose her?!" Salia snapped, Blaze letting out a breath as he grimaced.
"Salia I'm trying to stop you from doing something reckless… please go back!" Blaze requested again, but Salia simply shot a glare his way, but, nothing else was said between the two as more Schooners dove at them, but all three were shot out of the air, Blaze glancing back, chuckling at the familiar sight of Hilda's Glaive streaking towards the two.
"Synching to radio channels…" Lumiere spoke up, the radio crackling as it matched up, and Blaze blinked as the chatter came though.
"Dammit, my chest, I can't breath!" Ange was the first one to be heard, Blaze raising a brow.
"It's cramped. Deal with it." Hilda's voice came through next, and Blaze chuckled.
"Well look who showed up late to the party." Blaze mused, the Glaive pulling up to the other side of the Villkiss, and Blaze caught Hilda shooting him a look for his earlier comment, Ange latching to the red head's back.
"Salia, give me back my machine!" Ange snapped, Salia growling again, "I'll take care of it."
"It's my Villkiss!" Salia snapped, Blaze sighing in exasperation, though he blinked when the white DRAGON Para-mail blasted off, aiming right for him as it drew it's rifle, Blaze diving out of the way as a red beam passed him, the opposing machine blasting down as Blaze changed his machine to Assault Mode, which revealed that the Barbatos, drawing his sword as the white and red machine opened a forearm blade, the two weapons colliding as Blaze reared to a stop over the water.
"So… you're the one piloting it." A voice then came through, to Blaze's surprise, said voice belonging to a young man, at least from what Blaze could tell.
"Who the hell are you?!" Blaze snapped, pushing his foe back and flying up, the other machine veering back and up to dodge the incoming bullets, the two stopping and hovering with firearms aimed at one another.
"I won't bother telling someone who's not going to see the end of this battle who I am!" The opposing pilot responded, blasting forward, Blaze responding to the slash with his own, the two clashing swords as they streaked about and avoided gun fire.
"Computer… or, Lumiere, whatever your name is, what's the status on the Villkiss?!" Blaze kept his focus on the fight, but, was at least hoping that he could get some kind of warning or knowledge on what else was happening.
"Unit VIllkiss currently engaging enemy para-mail in Assault mode. Pilot of the unit changed mid descent." Lumiere responded, Blaze letting out a small sigh.
"Good, Ange is piloting it, which means Salia should be safe… alright then… I guess you're back to your old power, aren't you Barbatos? Heh, I need to make these guys pay for blowing half of my home away, so show me what you've got!" Blaze cracked his neck before streaking back into the clash with his new opponent, and off with the main troop, they almost all stopped to watch the two clashes going on between the Barbatos, Villkiss, and mystery machines in the air.
"Damn!" Vivian awed, and Naomi was stunned by the sight of such a fight, a thing anyone on Arzenal had only seen done in a simulation before that was now actually happening before their eyes.
"So this is a real para-mail on para-mail battle…" Naomi murmured, her eyes following the four machines clashing again before the DRAGON types moves back, Blaze panting in the Barbatos' cockpit as he kept his gun aimed.
"Damn… that guy is tough…" Blaze muttered, looking at his screen as Lumiere made a chiming noise.
"Readings indicate the opposing machine has a performance level on par with this unit. The two of you are evenly matched." Lumiere stated, Blaze rubbing the back of his head, and then he looked to the red machine as he heard the singing again, the machine turning gold right in front of his eyes, it's shoulders opening to reveal some kind of weapon hidden within, "WARNING. WARNING. Detecting Space Time Convergence Cannon signature. WARNING. WARNING."
"Space time what now?!" Blaze yelped, then he glanced over at the Villkiss when Ange began singing as well, the song that was rather familiar to hear from her sometimes…
Hajimari no hikari
Kirali... kirali
Owari no hikari
Lulala lila
Kaesan el ragna
Suna dokei wo
Toki wa afuren
Lulala lila
Blaze's eyes widened when the Villkiss also began to gleam golden, revealing it had the same weapon built it into as Ange and the mystery pilot continued their songs, the weapons charging as the lyrics continued, Lumiere blaring a warning sign as the weapons then fired, Blaze shutting his eyes as a flash filled the air, and, when he opened his eyes, to his surprise, he found that he was there in an odd space with lights flickering around him, Lumiere silent, and Blaze's eyes widened when the white DRAGON-type appeared.
"So a false human knew the true Song… heh, ain't that a surprise?" The pilot of the other machine scoffed, their cockpit opening, and Blaze's eyes widened as the pilot stood up to be seen, the pilot seeming to be the same age as Blaze, a young man of a tall height for his seeming age, with messy red hair that had a long portion tied into a ponytail that reached his rear, wavering about like a breeze was blowing, and had slender, rather pretty looks for a boy, with a pale face marked by burning red eyes. And to Blaze's confusion, he could see a tail that looked oddly similar to a Galleon class DRAGON wavering by, and small horns atop his head that were also similar to the horns on a Galleon class. He was wearing a black and red longcoat over a white shirt, with tied up boots that have black slacks tucked into them, as Blaze saw when he planted himself on the upper edge of his cockpit.
"Who the hell are you?" Blaze muttered, opening his own cockpit and standing up, the horned young man scoffing, and then Blaze noted that hanging around the young man's neck was a red version of the pendant he himself had, though before anything could be said, an alarm went off in the other young man's machine, and he stepped back into his cockpit.
"That's going to have to be saved for another time, originator…" The horned young man spoke with something near venom coming off of his tongue, sitting down and letting the cockpit close.
"Hey hold on! What the hell… who are you?!" Blaze snapped, the space around him returning to normal as the other machine pulled back, Blaze looking to his left and seeing the Villkiss, Ange also standing just outside of her machine, both having the same somewhat confused expressions on as they watched the Singularity close, the DRAGONs and the mysterious Para-mails vanishing with it.
"Truth?" Ange muttered.
"Something weird is going on…" Blaze muttered, growling a bit and clenching his fist. "What the fuck man?"
That Night/Blaze and Naomi's room
Blaze was seated on the couch of the room, staring out the window as moonlight filtered into the room, which was luckily untouched despite the intense fighting that had happened, and Blaze had his pendant in his hands, and as he looked at it, he laid down, looking closer at the triple pointed shape of the item, turning it to see the dragon mark again, and he sighed as he let his arm fall to cover his eyes.
"What the hell is going on right now? First Barbatos changes form and then some sort of AI or something activates, and then those DRAGON para-mails, and then that pilot…" Blaze sighed, uncovering an eye as his fell back to his thoughts, "I've known the truth about things for a long time, more than I should probably… the truth about this world, the truth about DRAGONs as well… and the bastard responsible for this bullshit world we live in… Embryo… but still… the jarring thing is I know the truth but I've kept on fighting… pretty sure the DRAGONs see me as some kind of butcher… I bet it's why that guy looked at me with disdain… then again… I can pose my own arguments as to this kind of thing as well…"
"You're showing abnormal mental patterns."
Blaze blinked, making sure what he'd heard may have been just in his head, but the glow coming from his pendant said otherwise, and he yelped, almost dropping the item, catching it by the chord.
"Did… did I just hear that AI come from this?" Blaze muttered.
"I can communicate via this key as well as through my direct systems. You are showing abnormal mental patterns, pilot." The AI spoke up, Blaze's eye twitching as he looked at the pendant with a laser stare.
"It's finally happened hasn't it? I've finally gone insane…" Blaze murmured.
"You are showing to have perfect mental health. I do not understand why you would perceive you have gone insane."
"Oh shut up!" Blaze muttered, clamping his hand over the pendant and flopping down on his bed, "Half of Arzenal has been blown away, and who knows how many people died today?! I'm not exactly in the best mood right now."
Blaze then blinked when he heard a beeping, a small red light coming from nearby, Blaze then reaching under a few things from where the light was, pulling out an old communicator device.
"This hasn't been used in years… who'd be… Tusk?" Blaze muttered, clicking the receiver on the device and bringing it to his ear, "Tusk?"
"Hey. Been a while." Tusk's voice came through, and Blaze chuckled as he sat down.
"The hell are you doing giving me a call on this old thing?" Blaze mused, noting that Tusk was silent, "Let me guess, it's bad, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I planted a bug in the Misurugi mansion so I could listen in on their communications… and they have a dangerous idea forming… destroy the world and rebuild it." Tusk relayed, Blaze's eyes widening, and then his growled, his right hand tightening.
"Let me guess, Embryo." Blaze murmured, getting a small affirmative, "Great, just fucking great… Arzenal was attacked today Tusk… we still have plenty of man power, but we nearly lost two whole squads and half of the damn island was blown away…"
"WHAT?! What the hell happened?!" Tusk gasped.
"The DRAGONs came in with para-mail units of their own… and once was similar to Barbatos… I don't know what the hell is going on, but things have gone insane… I have a bad feeling that things aren't over yet either… if Embryo and his cronies really are planning on a reformation, they'll be coming for Arzenal first."
"I know. I'm on my way to Arzenal right now. I should be there by the morning or midday… I hope I can make it in time." Tusk muttered, Blaze gleaning a small grin.
"Well then get your ass here as fast as you can, we need all the man power we can get right now." Blaze mused.
"Right. Well, guess I'll see you once I get there."
"Same to you." Blaze nodded, hanging up and setting the device down, rolling over and setting his head on a pillow, though as he began to fall asleep, he cracked an eye open as the door opened up, Naomi stepping into the room, the girl outright collapsing onto the bed next to Blaze.
"Today just… my god…" Naomi murmured, Blaze already pulling her closed as she shuffled to him, "If I had any doubts none of this was real… I think those are all gone now…"
"We just have to pick up and carry on… for the people we lost today, it's all we can do." Blaze murmured, Naomi nodding, but still looking downtrodden.
"I just… have this feeling that we're not done with this fight yet." Naomi muttered, Blaze nodding to that.
"I feel the same. I feel like we're in no way done with this fighting." Blaze stated, "I can't tell her the truth no matter how much I want to… I'm sorry Naomi…"
"Well, fighting is the thing we know best… but… after today…" Naomi sighed, falling silent when Blaze kissed her, and she hummed as she put her arms around him, "Haha… god Blaze… don't interrupt a girl like that…"
"I didn't really have any better idea… I just don't want to focus on what happened right now…" Blaze murmured, and his face got red when Naomi chuckled and moved him to his back, the girl getting up and straddling his waist.
"I have an idea for how we can both relax. You on board?" Naomi chuckled, already shedding her jacket.
"Uh… yes?" Blaze murmured, Naomi laughing at his reaction.
"God you're such a dork sometimes. if you want to be honest about it then just say it Blaze." Naomi chuckled, Blaze looking to the side.
"Kinda hard to do that when you're still getting over old trauma about it… even if we have had sex a few times now." Blaze murmured.
"A few times? Haha! Just be honest in saying we've done it every night since the Festa." Naomi chuckled, laying down on Blaze's chest, poking a finger into his cheek as he puffed the other one out.
"Whatever…" Blaze murmured, opening his hand and looking at his pendant again, "I'll keep fighting for everyone I care about… truth about things or no, keeping them safe is what matters most… even if it means tearing down this bullshit world to do it…"
A/N
And now we draw closer to the climax of this arc and the move into the next one! Hehehe, still going strong with this! Also, I settled on Japanese AND English VAs for Blaze, to give you guys an idea for his voice depending on which you prefer, really should've done this earlier…
Japanese: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Kirito from SAO, don't give me looks)
English: Yuri Lowenthel (Suzaku from Code Geass, all that needs to be said)
Blaze: I have a bad feeling about this… and what's with the options there?!
Don't argue!
Next Chapter Preview:
Jill: Norma, give these humans hell.
Blaze: This is the moment of truth, the moment to live, the moment to fight… this is war!
Next Chapter: Last Stand at Arzenal