"Open Your Heart"
May had just finished removing her anchor from the fuselage when she heard it along with all the others.
April had begun to collapse the prop in the back of their escape vehicle: a large modified dump truck used specifically for moving out waste from construction sites. It wasn't the fastest thing in the world, but the back was deep, easily able to be obscured by setting up fake debris around the sides, and one could drop right into it and be hidden from view. What more, what it couldn't do in terms of speed it made up for in terms of momentum when it got going. It would plow right through a motor barricade and take gunshots to the tires if need be. Even so, they'd have to pretty much floor it to make the window of time.
Johnny had entrusted the best of the crew there to make sure this end of the operation went smoothly. As soon as April and May had come in for a landing, the latter had spotted July pressed against the nearest ambush point waiting to disable anyone who wandered along. Augus had already taken care of breaking into the vehicle and hotwiring it, while Octy was perched on top of the cab and using the vantage point to scan the surrounding area. In spite of the darkness and snowfall, May knew that her eyes were keen enough to spot a sparrow flitting a quarter mile away; making her the best for this job while the remainder of the crew got ready to do the fly-by with the May Ship.
By now, May knew that everything was happening simultaneously. While Johnny gave that pale-faced Gear a good thrashing, the bounty hunter and the captain would be going up to Dizzy and either convincing her to come with them or in a potentially worse turn would make her come with them. May felt uneasy about the whole thing, only she wasn't sure to be more worried about what they would do to Dizzy or what she could do to them. And all of this while that ninja was putting bombs throughout the entire building, so that when they got her out they'd blow up the garage at the same time, creating the perfect cover.
However, the sound she and the others heard had clearly been part of a building collapsing. They hadn't done their line of work for so long and not been able to recognize it when it happened. As a result, all of the girls tensed at the same time and turned their heads in the same direction.
"What was that?" July sounded.
"That came from the garage…" April uneasily muttered.
May tensed up considerably, glancing at the time. Five minutes in. That bomb wasn't supposed to go off until they were already on their way out. Did one of them go off early? It wouldn't be the first time Novel had made a bad detonator.
"Octy, what do you see?" Augus spoke up from the cab.
The lookout answered by extending her already open spyglass another few inches, then turning it in the direction of the garage. In spite of the snow cover, she seemed to be scrutinizing it as if she could clearly see something beyond. May herself turned and looked; her mind secretly hoping she could spot something, but saw only falling flakes.
"Big cloud of dust…" She remarked after a moment.
This caused a wave of anxiety through everyone, not just May. After all, their captain was still out there. Yet the first mate tensed even more at the thought of what could have gone wrong.
"Wait…" She paused. "Now I see it. It looks like something gigantic did a diagonal slice right through the garage. Part of it slid right off and collapsed."
"Did you say 'slice'?" July spoke up.
Removing the spyglass, Octy gave a nod.
"Makes sense…" April mused aloud. "I didn't hear any sort of boom. Definitely not one big enough to bring it all down… But you can bet the cops and the army heard that. If we thought our time window was narrow before-Hey!"
The pilot was cut off and exclaimed as she saw May suddenly run to the edge of the truck, leap over the side, and begin to dash down the street toward the direction of the garage. The other members of the Jellyfish Air Pirates shared her shock.
"May! What are you doing?"
"Something happened!" She shouted over her shoulder. "Only Dizzy could have cut that building like that! I've got to make sure Johnny and her'll get out of there! Just make sure you get the truck there in time!"
"But…but May! "Don't run off! We don't know what happened! It might be dangerous!"
Yet her words were lost. May was already vanishing into the falling snow.
With his adrenaline rush rapidly fading, Chipp was feeling a greater amount of pain and trauma with each passing second. It was taking most of his trained focus to ignore it as he forced himself to limp back to the first column at long last. He quickly glanced over it and, fortunately, he saw the bomb was still there. Some of the ones he had doubled back to had been removed. With less than nine minutes left, he couldn't afford to go back to all of them. He could no longer be completely sure about the timing being synchronized thanks to that assailant, but he made his best guess as he ran some mental math and reset the timer.
This is going to have to do. Hopefully it'll still demolish the place. With any luck, whatever just "took a little off the top" did enough damage to where this can take care of the rest.
After committing, Chipp turned and began to limp for the quickest way out. Obviously that fight up above him had turned rather severe. That much had been true when the entire structure had given a violent rattle before a blow that sounded like it was cracking the entire city in two split the building. He realized when he was out of his league. As bad as Testament had been, he'd rather fight three of him at a time than what had just done that. His part in things was over and it was time to trust the others. He wasn't even in good enough shape to try and head off any of the authorities that came along.
It took a bit of limping and maneuvering, but he managed to make his way back to his entrance. It wasn't one of the main openings but rather a side vacancy left in place for a future window. He used that route on purpose due to the uneven terrain keeping him from leaving any tracks. Feeling thankful that his legs were mostly intact, he moved over to the location, hopped up some adjoining debris to reach the aperture, and then dove outside. It was a bit rough on the landing and jarred his arm, but he managed to roll and tuck his legs underneath him to touch down on the opposite side on some discarded cloth sacks.
In another moment he would have gotten up and run, when he froze yet again. Tsuyoshi had taught him as a ninja to not only exploit lack of awareness in opponents, but to be mindful of his own surroundings. And there was something here that immediately caught his eye.
Tracks in the snow leading into the building.
They weren't, as he might have expected, tracks of bars in the snow. His opponent had been wearing Japanese getas, which would have left those behind. If that had been what had come in, he would have dismissed them right then and there. However, these were tracks that were far flatter and deeper. They had no treads other than some horizontal ridges that indicated what they were made from rather than an attempt to increase surface area. Chipp wasn't any sort of master tracker, but he knew enough to realize that none of the footwear he had seen on the others so far matched that, and neither did they match the tracks of a standard police or army unit, who likely would have wore boots for the weather.
Then who was it?
As he asked himself this question, a new sight came out from the heavy snowfall, catching his eyes. He looked up, and found himself staring outside of the construction "gulley" in which the bulk of the heavy equipment and materials had been piled to a surrounding ridge that served as a staging area for further equipment, although it created a sort of escarpment about the building.
It was hard between his soreness and the heavy snow to make it out, but he just managed to spot a figure standing on the edge and looking at the building. He caught a tuft of blond hair, and a long white coat with blue trim. It soon clicked.
Ky.
However, the realization made him frown. The fight had clearly started, but he wasn't already there? In fact, considering the lack of a follow-up to the last attack, Chipp had begun to think whatever was going to be physical up there had come to a termination. And yet, here Ky stood. Not only that, but he wasn't immediately charging in either in spite of the fact things had to already be going bad. In spite of his tendency to be quiet and go carefully about these sorts of things, Chipp found himself nearly shouting out at him as to what he was waiting for.
Yet he didn't get the chance. Suddenly, he saw him squat and then leap toward the structure. Chipp actually blinked a bit. He cleared two floors with an easy bound, presumably going in through a side opening. The ninja couldn't tell for sure, seeing as his body went forward in such a way to be obscured by the line of sight of the building itself.
He stared a moment more, but then frowned and looked away, beginning to move once again. He was a better fighter than him and obviously had power to spare. If anything came up, he was sure he could deal with it. As he concluded, his part in this was over. It wasn't like he could catch him anyway to tell him one way or another.
Still, one thing seemed peculiar to him.
Was he wearing night-vision goggles or something? I could've swore they were glowing green…
Normally needing to ask someone where to locate a Gear was almost ludicrous for a person like Ky. With his specialty being in electricity magic, finding a Gear was child's play. Unfortunately, this close to Dizzy, all he was sensing was her overwhelming aura in all directions. He didn't like the sensation of that one bit, and not simply due to her power. With her this close, he couldn't sense anything else; not even another Gear. And he hadn't forgotten that while Testament may have been too wounded to fight, he was still conscious and his mere presence would be a detriment. At any moment he could show up again. Until now, Ky had been hoping that he would be preoccupied with Johnny while he and Sol dealt with Dizzy. Now that this wasn't a possibility…
There weren't many more floors to go up from Sol's position. Only two in all, and if she was going up she likely would keep on going until she reached the top. As a result, Ky kept right on until he saw snowflakes beginning to drift through the grating, and started to feel the coldness of the night whip around him in a passing gust. A bit further, and he saw through the mesh as the sky opened up again into a world of white bees…
Only to feel a sudden strong impulse, before a giant, greenish-gray scythe lashed right out for him.
Purely on instinct and magical sensory ability, he dove right forward. The only reason he didn't stupidly smash right into the bent grating was the scythe made contact with the front half of the elevator first, shearing it easily in two and ripping the grating straight off. Ironically, this served to let him roll right out into the already-snow-covered roof. Out of common practice, he quickly sprang up and extended the Thunderseal to the side, his power churning through it to make it blaze with energy.
The roof of the garage was one with gradual tiers rather than circular ramps. As a result, it actually was split halfway along into an upper and a lower platform. Standing on the ground leading to the lower one yet still exposed to the outside was Dizzy. In her current form, she was a sight to behold. Every bit the creature both glorious and wrathful that had appeared in Adelwolf. Her darker wing was reverting back into its previous shape, but both wings were wide and extended, like a bird ready to take flight. However, she had gone nowhere, and it was clear she didn't plan to go anywhere or she would have fled as soon as Ky appeared. Either she didn't know what to do from here or she was waiting on Testament. Yet here she hovered just above the snow and, through the curtains of white falling down, her red eyes gleamed. Ky was honestly amazed to see her looking so clean and fresh after her fight with Sol.
Then again, amazed was probably not the right word.
More like nervous.
The wings arched partially toward him.
"Stay away from me! I'm warning you! I'll hurt you until you can't move anymore if you don't!"
Ky hesitated. After a moment of thought, he figured that Dizzy wasn't experienced enough to take advantage of him being distracted, so he risked a look behind him.
The elevator had been half sheared, but not fully cut through. He realized this had been intentional all along. The slice would have left a deep cut across his chest, and likely some sort of magical wound would have resulted, but he realized he would have survived.
It seemed almost odd that Dizzy suddenly had more control. Maybe she had been working on it ever since Adelwolf. Or, in a more radical theory, perhaps fighting Sol, an individual who could force her to focus her power and bring out more of it, she had actually learned to control herself better. Perhaps Sol had more than one intention with his attack on her.
At any rate, the bottom line was that Ky couldn't afford to be incapacitated by her.
Focusing as calmly as he could, the man took in a deep breath and held up one of his hands.
"Settle down. I don't want to fight."
"I don't believe you." The Gear instantly shot back. "Your weapon is full of energy."
Ky grimaced. Yes, it was sparking. Lightning magic was notoriously hard to control, but Ky had mastered most of it. What he hadn't mastered he had managed to confine to moments such as this, where he could afford to let his control slip so long as it was keeping his sword primed for combat. Sadly, that wasn't a very useful thing to have at the moment. He had never expected to try negotiating with a Gear before, after all.
Inhaling deeply, Ky looked to his sword and concentrated. Slowly, the electricity cascading off of it dimmed and shrank back into the blade. Now if only he could control himself and not let it spark out again. He looked back up to her a moment later.
"Alright, I called it back."
"Throw your sword down."
In most situations, Ky would comply. However, this time he knew he couldn't afford to. Dizzy was nervous about him attacking. She knew as long as he had that weapon he might be able to inflict a critical blow on her. For that reason, she wouldn't risk trying to fly away or escape while he had it to strike her with. Putting it down would give her the opportunity to flee.
He tried to instead get to the matter at hand.
"Just stay calm and listen to me…"
"Put down the sword!" Dizzy shot back, her wings lengthening further and her red eyes blazing.
He nearly slipping on his control at that, but he managed to control it by holding his hand up higher. "Don't you remember me from the Cathedral? I told you then that I wanted to help you!"
Dizzy nearly retorted, looking ready to shout at him to put the Thunderseal down again, but then she paused. For a moment, the red light dimmed. Yet it lasted only a moment before it blazed brighter than before.
"You're lying. You said that, and then all of those men attacked me. And then I lost control, and all of those people died. I never felt so horrible…"
Her voice began to grow more incensed. Her hands tightened into fists. Ky swallowed as he saw a pair of faces begin to emerge from her wings. Both of them looked at him with nothing but contempt.
"You led more men here, didn't you?" She spoke bitterly. "You're going to force me to kill more people, aren't you?"
Hands emerged from the lighter wing while the scythe began to emerge from the other.
"I had nothing to do with that!" Ky shouted. "You have to-"
He cut himself off and dodged to one side; his senses alerting him just in time as he saw a goddess emerge from the wing and wave her hand. In response, ice erupted from the ground in sharp spikes where he stood. Although he managed to evade it thanks to the signal, he lost his focus on his blade, and again it blazed with lightning. Dizzy saw this, and her red eyes flared in alarm before the wraith emerged from the other wing.
As soon as it was free, it swung the feathers about it to one side, spreading them like a cloak, and generating five scythe blades in its wake. All five whirled straight for Ky, whistling like boomerangs. Quickly, the captain planted his feet, swung his blade up and around, and crossed it in front of him. In five quick, sharp, movements, he deflected four of the blades; not only intercepting them with blur-like movements but sending a jolt of his electricity into them, inducing a magnetic field across the metal and causing them to fly off wildly. As he brought up his blade to deflect the fifth and final one, however, his senses again triggered; this time telling him that there was movement coming from his flank. His peripheral vision shifted, and he saw the goddess was swinging her arm at him, sending out a sphere of darker blue ice for that side.
One projectile was hardly ensuring anything against an opponent like him, and Ky had a feeling that there was more to this attack as a result. With that in mind, rather than shift to block, he quickly focused his power. A much larger bolt of lightning snaked off of his sword in response, shot out, and made contact with the ice sphere. After a second of focus, it was instantly annihilated. Yet it seemed simply distracting him was all Dizzy had been going for as this gave the wraith the chance to reform the scythe, extend it as far as before, and lash out for Ky's legs. The captain snapped his attention back to this nearly too late, and relied on a more unconventional move to evade it: leaping to let the blade come under him.
Unfortunately, that was also what she wanted, as the goddess swung both of her arms downward. In response, Ky found a shadow falling over him as a large and thick sphere of ice materialized over his head and cast down. In midair, he realized he didn't have any good footing to block it, and it was too close for anything fancy. Only having one solution left, he quickly shifted the Thunderseal to both hands, channeled more power into the blade, and then swung it upward. The sword made contact a moment later and, to his surprise, he actually felt a strong amount of resistance oppose him. She was not only throwing the attack down on him, but she was holding it together. Gritting his teeth and putting some extra power in his limbs, he forced the blade up further, and after a second more the weapon powered through and cleaved the ice in half. His cast-off electricity shattered the remains.
As he came back down, forced back to his feet by the power, he quickly braced himself, knowing she'd try another attack soon. His assumption was right, although what happened still shocked him. In an instant, Dizzy had closed the distance to him, and the wraith had brought up his scythe again. Only it was no longer a scythe at this point but a great hand axe, and he had scarcely spotted it when it came down on him.
Quickly, Ky planted his feet and brought up his sword to block. To his surprise, the blow was so strong that his arms buckled, letting the blade go down far enough to actually slice the side of his forehead before he managed to stop it. He grit his teeth in agony. Not only did that blow manage to draw blood, but the weapon itself was like a club as well as a blade, knocking his skull as well. If that wasn't enough, he immediately felt a burning coldness where it had made contact. That thing had some sort of decay power in it, and he knew he was feeling his own flesh necrotizing. It was only by quickly focusing his lightning magic to the wound and coursing the energy through it he was able to halt the spell before it spread into his head. But even then, he found the axe was still bearing down on him. The wraith that wielded it seemed to glare at him murderously, both of its bony arms bearing down on the weapon. Dizzy herself merely stared at him with blazing red eyes, by comparison. It was just as Sol said. There were three personas there…
I don't think she even realizes that one wants to kill.
Stay defensive. If I go on the offense, she'll destroy me with one hit.
"I admit, I was with that group that attacked you before! But I never told them to attack you!" Ky shouted over the clashing of the blades and energy. "I was in the Cathedral with you! I put myself in the same danger as you! I wanted to talk to you! I wanted you to come out peacefully!"
Again, the red light dimmed in Dizzy's eyes. Her face softened a little, although the wraith continued to look just as bloodthirsty and force down just as hard as before. Yet after a few seconds, it hardened again.
"I don't believe you. I know who you are. Testament told me you're Ky Kiske. You're the greatest killer of my kind. To you, I'm just a monster. You want me destroyed."
The weapon began to push down harder. The blade again began to near his head.
Ky shuddered. The power was getting to be too much for him and Dizzy had more to spare. He couldn't afford to talk much longer. He'd have to get free, and do so in such a way that he wouldn't incite the Gear to attack further. Taking in a sharp inhale, he focused in his blade once again, concentrating his power.
Her body is weak… Her body is weak…
A moment later, the blade ignited in a brilliant flash, illuminated like a lightning bolt. Dizzy's red eyes widened before she cried out and recoiled. Luckily the wings seemed to function in the same way as the wraith's skull distorted in what seemed like agony and pulled off, allowing Ky to quickly snap back. He nearly called out again, only to see he wasn't clear yet. Dizzy and the wraith were blinded, but the goddess instantly popped out of the wing and swung her hands down. The roof around Ky burst as bigger icicles than before came out. He quickly sidestepped, but this time they were coming too fast for him to track. He didn't step far enough and a secondary icicle quickly sliced out and slashed the side of the foot, easily going through his boot and cutting a deep gash into it. He faltered a moment, before forcing his good leg to push him backward, narrowly missing a follow-up icicle. This one pierced the hem of his coat instead and tore as he went back.
The ice only continued to come after that, and now Ky was bleeding quite a bit from his one foot. More than that, while Dizzy was rubbing her eyes, the green-gray wraith was already looking up in new rage. Realizing he had no time to delay, he had to make another gamble. Fearing that this would ruin things even more, he charged his power and swung his blade out at her. Luckily for him she was still open, and as a cloud of electricity discharged from the blade, she didn't have time to sweep her wings in front of her before the charge impacted her.
She gave a mild cry of pain as a large crackle-zap went off across her chest, and her wings suddenly reverted and faltered. She herself sank to the ground, alighting with both feet. Inwardly, Ky praised God for his help. He had meant to strike her with a stunning blow like a taser, but having no frame of reference for power he quickly had to choose a voltage level that would merely stun and immobilize her rather than inflict pain, which would only invoke a much greater response. He seemed to have chosen right and got her when she was open.
However, anxiously, he realized that had likely been the only free shot he was going to get and when she recovered she'd attack more powerfully than ever. That meant he had to talk well while he could. Quickly he lowered the Thunderseal and cut off the energy.
"I don't want to kill you or hurt you. I'll admit, I did in the past, but not now. I didn't come here to fight you."
Dizzy only looked up to him with red-eyed blazing. Already, the wings were starting to "fluff". "You just attacked me and you say you don't want to hurt me?"
"I have a right to defend myself, the same as you!"
Ky wasn't sure what strange fancy had made him say that other than sheer nervousness, as Dizzy didn't seem to be able to talk and concentrate her power at the same time. However, he realized he had said the right thing. The wings actually paused in re-fluffing, and Dizzy's eyes dimmed yet again as her look blanked. That was something she hadn't heard before. It made her wonder if a human actually understood why she did what she had done in Adelwolf, as terrible as it had been. While Ky was feeling sweat starting to mount on his brow, he realized he had found a niche. She was listening to him now.
"I don't know what Testament told you, but you have to understand that Gears did a lot of bad things to humans. It wasn't necessarily their fault or their desire, but it happened anyway and most people think they did it on purpose."
Dizzy's face tightened a bit at that, although not the same as before. Her wings again flared, and the two faces emerged, but only their faces.
"I had never hurt anyone! I never tried to hurt anyone! I only wanted to live as all of you do! But you dragged me out of my home, locked me up in the forest, hit me, insulted me, tortured me…and all because of how I was born! You all wanted me to die just because of what I am! That's not fair!"
"No, no it isn't." Ky answered, trying to keep a calm and even tone. That was the best way to calm another down when their volume was starting to rise, after all. "It wasn't fair, and I'm as guilty as the rest of mankind in regards to that. But you have to understand, better than anyone, that when someone is scared for their lives they do a lot of irrational things, my lady."
Suddenly, the faces slipped back into the wings. Dizzy looked up and blinked. For the first time, the Gear looked honestly stunned.
"Wh…what…did you call me?"
Ky, on his part, was barely able to keep a straight face. He was truly surprised at what he had just said. He hadn't been thinking and it sort of just slipped out, but there was no mistaking it. He had used that title, and it was likely something the Gear had never heard in her entire life.
"I said…'my lady'."
"Your…lady?"
"It's a title a gentleman uses to show respect to a woman." He said, not knowing that he actually turned a shade pink on saying that aloud.
Now the Gear truly did look confused. She actually held one of her hands to her lips and stared at Ky with an expression that was equal parts astonishment and surprise.
"Then you…respect…me…?"
Ky turned a slight shade redder. "I do. That is…I respect all women. I try to, at least. That goes for whether they're human or-"
The captain was cut off by a sound of a cosmic tearing. Instantly, his red look turned pale. He knew what that sound was. The unmistakable noise of time-space magic, in particular the kind that he had heard Testament use before during warps. He realized he had taken too long. His initial warp had only gotten him out of the area, but left to his own devices he had to have summoned enough energy for another warp. Dizzy herself looked up in alarm, but not as much as Ky was showing. She recognized the sound even better than him. Both turned their heads to one side and watched as a blood-red trace was painted in the air before it opened like a curtain.
Giving a gasp, still smoldering and beaten from his encounter, the white-skinned Gear half-fell through the opening and collapsed to the ground.
Dizzy gasped and cupped her hands to her mouth. "Testament!" Forgetting Ky momentarily, she took off into the air and began to hover over to him. "What-"
In spite of being sprawled on the ground and looking unable to stand, the Gear let out a groan and managed to spit out audible words. "Him… He did it…"
The blue-haired Gear slowed on her approach. "Who? Who…"
One pale hand shot up and managed to point an accusing finger at Ky. The captain himself went rigid, feeling as if Death himself had just declared a judgement on him. Testament's head weakly rose enough to see one hate-filled eye aimed at him, and Dizzy spun back to him.
"Typical human…always setting traps, just like back in the Crusades… He and the humans from the Cathedral…are working together… They ambushed me…so they'd be free to slay you together… I can sense Frederick near… No doubt regretting attempting to fight you… He's with them. They're bringing more humans too, I'll bet."
The wings flared again. The wraith, on emerging, immediately began to brandish the long scythe as well. The skull mask it wore glared at Ky with absolute hatred and a desire to kill.
However, the goddess was different. Rather than give him the same cold, stern glare, she was cupping her own hands to her chest, and seemed torn, glancing between Testament and Ky with a slight hurt expression.
Ky took that as a sign of hope. She's divided…
"That's a lie." He responded. "No one's here except Sol, myself, and the others who agreed to help her."
Testament snarled. "You…helping a Gear. That's rich." He looked back to Dizzy. "I told you this man is a butcher of our race. Destroy him or he'll destroy you the first chance he gets. Then blow up the Tiergarten Reactor and we'll be gone. We have to move now. Everything in the plan has fallen apart… Human authorities will be here any moment. Their spammers have to be tracking us by now…"
Luckily, this didn't increase Dizzy's resolve. While the wraith lengthened his scythe and seemed ready to cut down Ky where he stood, the goddess only looked more anxious, especially at the mention of Tiergarten Reactor, before she focused on Dizzy. The look was determined, but it was not one that was pushing her to kill but rather to defy. Dizzy herself trembled a bit, looking between the two as well now and quivering slightly.
Emboldened, Ky went on. "You can't do that. You'll kill millions of innocent people, and I think you already know that."
"You're going to lecture us on who we should let live? The one who executed so many of us without an ounce of pity? You, the one who sees us as one of your genetic mistakes that needs to be blotted out of history?!" Testament managed to shout with sudden violence. At once, however, he winced and recoiled, the shouting costing him.
"I don't deny that, but mass killing of one species isn't an excuse to kill another!" Ky retorted. "Especially not in a time of war! Whether they were under the power of a Command Gear or not, Gears were trying to kill mankind! We had to fight or die!"
"And nothing has changed since then…" Testament hissed as he bowed his head in agony. "You still force us to kill you to survive…"
"Things only haven't changed because not enough people are willing to make them change. I am now, but you aren't." He looked back to the blue-haired woman. "You can call me a murderer, a butcher, and executioner, or whatever you want; because it's true. I did kill a great number of Gears and I made it a point of trying to kill every one that I could. But by the same token," He pointed his own finger down at Testament. "He killed a great number of humans and made it a point of trying to kill every one that he could. And that was after he was born human himself. If you refuse to listen to me based on my…my…"
He swallowed a bit, hating to admit this next part.
"My sins…then you can't listen to him either."
Testament's hand clenched into a fist. "Curse you, wretched human… You're actually trying to turn our own kind against one another…? Listen to him…! He'll say anything to use you! To save himself and his wretched race! His very faith believes us to be devils incarnate! Mistakes before God that should die!"
Dizzy didn't change. She only looked more conflicted than before. The two wings continued to hold their positions, though: one wishing to slice Ky apart and the other telling her to hold.
"You've obviously seen 'good' in him, my lady." Ky went on, staying calm. "To the Gears, he's a hero. Just as I am an abomination to Gears and a hero to mankind. And he's done a great thing in keeping you safe and protecting you, because you are someone who deserves to be protected and delivered from that torture you went through."
Testament closed his eyes and grit his teeth. "Damn…you…" Ky had chosen his words well. The Gear couldn't contradict him without making himself the villain and supporting him. As a result, he bought what he wanted more than anything right now: Testament's silence.
"But where we differ is that I'm able to see past that now. I can see that Gears just wanted to survive and have a place in this world, the same as mankind. They want the dignity of being able to live and choose for themselves. I can see now, and live now, in an era where the Crusades are over. To him, they never stopped and they won't stop until every last human is dead. Do you share that vision?"
"She has no choice…!" Testament spat as he struggled to rise. "None of us do! This is what you forced on us! Every last one of your race!"
"Not every last one!" Ky shot back; his own volume rising. "I'm willing to accept a world where Gears and humans live side-by-side! Me! The 'great murderer'! And I'm not alone! Sol may not be stronger than you, but he could have killed you when you fought him and you were still holding back! You know that's true!"
Dizzy's eyes shimmered. As young and inexperienced as she was, she seemed to realize that was indeed the case. It made her uneasy, but it also proved Ky's point.
"There's more than that! The pirates with us see that you deserve a chance at life! Their first mate told us she saw sadness in your eyes back at the Cathedral!"
The Gear looked up with a start at that, her mouth hanging loose. The two visages again sank back to their heads into her wings.
"M…May?"
"That's right, Dizzy! I'm here!"
Now the Gear gasped in such alarm that the faces vanished completely, returning to wings. Ky himself reacted in an amount of surprise, still not able to sense incoming individuals, as he and both Gears with him looked to the side at the open unfinished stairwell. Gasping a bit, no doubt from having to drag her anchor the whole way and make more than a few physical leaps to scale the half-destroyed complex and get to their level, was May. Ky was only upset that she was even there for a moment, as he realized her being there could really help. She stopped at a distance, however, bending over and gasping as she balanced her anchor against herself and put her hands on her legs.
"Huff…huff…stupid stairs were missing half their steps…"
Dizzy could only stand there, nearly stammering at first. "May…what…what are you doing-"
Before she could finish, the pirate looked up, took off her hat, and waved it in her face a bit. "Phew…we can talk later! Let's just get out of here!"
Ky himself didn't interject yet, although he saw Testament tense up a bit at that. Instead, he stood and watched this play out a bit longer. After a few moments, Dizzy only looked more confused. "Get…out…? What do you mean…? I don't…"
The pirate groaned. "Do you need me to draw a diagram?" She stuck her thumb over her shoulder. "The May Ship is already on its way and we have to meet up with it! Then we'll blow the building and bust outta here in the confusion! We're on a time limit so let's get going!"
The Gear didn't move. She only looked more puzzled. However, there was something else in her eyes as she listened to this.
"You…you came here…for…for me? You want the bounty that badly?"
Now it was May's turn to blink. Her own face fell.
"Bounty? What are you talking about? I don't give a damn about the money, Dizzy! I came here to get you out! So did the captain and the rest of the crew!"
"She's lying…" Testament growled. "She's a pirate. She'll do anything for-"
"Shut up before I give you another whack, 'Dracula'!" May suddenly outburst.
Both Testament and Dizzy alike suddenly recoiled as the young woman glared at the former and grit her teeth like a vicious dog.
"Don't think that smack I gave you a while ago makes us even for England! Not by a longshot! You don't know anything about me! You don't know anything about anybody! All you do is sit around saying every human is bad! All of them want to kill you! All of them hate you! All of them are rotten! Well let me tell you something, asshole! The way I figure it, for all your talk about how humans keep judging Gears and condemning them, you're jumping to a whole lot of conclusions yourself! I'd say Dizzy'd be no better with you than us! Either way she gets paired with people who want her to kill everyone else, am I right?"
For a moment, the pale-faced man glared at May as she started to retort to him, getting his strength back to reply. Yet Ky was rather pleasantly surprised to see her conclusion made that glare evaporate. The Gear's eyes actually widened slightly, seeming to have never thought about that before. And now that he was thinking on it, he stopped straining for the moment. His face actually calmed and straightened a little. And in that pause, May was free to look back to Dizzy.
"We're only here for you." She spoke more calmly. "Come with us. The May Ship isn't licensed, and after this blast no one will know where you want. We'll make a clean getaway and fake your death. You can go anywhere in the world. You'll be free, Dizzy."
These words too seemed to sink into the Gear. At first, she looked bewildered, her mind not seeming to be able to comprehend that May had come here for her, or that this was what was going on. But when she mentioned the last parts…the ability to fake her death…to make a clean escape…to actually wake up tomorrow with no one hunting her or trying to track her down… That possibility was what made her wings actually fold at her sides. Her face was tight with emotion, as if she wanted to smile or relax at the thought but didn't dare.
She blinked.
"I…I…I don't…understand."
No one said anything. Even the falling snow didn't seem to be crunching as much from contact. The Gear looked more intently at May.
"I told you if you ever came near me again, I'd kill you. I leveled most of Adelwolf. I killed people…innocent people. I'm a Gear. I'm a destroyer and a weapon of death. I'm the devil to everyone on the face of the Earth. I deceived you and I even hurt you."
She turned her head.
"And…you want to…help me?" Pause. "Why?"
She turned her head about to Ky as well.
"Why…have all of you done this? Even that bounty hunter downstairs…was this his doing? Was he in on it? All of this…for me?"
She shook her head; her red eyes drifting to the ground and staring at it.
"I…don't understand. This doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense at all."
"It doesn't have to."
Dizzy immediately looked up to Ky as soon as he said that. He was standing taller now and speaking more calmly.
"You don't need an excuse to help people. It's simply the right thing to do. It doesn't matter what you call yourself. Human…Gear…devil…angel… As horrible as what happened in Adelwolf was, it was an accident. In the end you're still innocent. If this world isn't just enough to protect that innocence, then we are."
"You missed something in all that. You're also my friend." May added. "That is…if you want to be. The offer's open right here. So come on."
She smiled and held out her hand to her.
"Let's blow off this boring ballet and raid the galley, eh?"
The Gear went still. She didn't cringe anymore, but she did look at the hand. She didn't shift her gaze. Ky held and waited, glancing only at Testament. He himself was frowning. His disapproval was clear. And yet he said nothing. He seemed to have realized that this had to be her choice in the end; that she was to the point where he couldn't force her to go one way or another. Or perhaps he just wanted to let her choose for herself, to prove he wasn't like the humans he hated.
Ky wasn't sure how long he stood there waiting. It felt like an eternity, although he knew it couldn't have even been a minute. Not with as little time as they had.
"Friend…" Dizzy finally echoed.
As she stood there, her lips quivered. The wings recoiled further as her mouth slowly began to turn. Ky had no idea when was the last time the Gear had smiled, but the odds were it was so long ago she no longer remembered exactly what it was like. But as it slowly came over her face, he couldn't deny it. He had never seen such a beautiful smile before. Never before had he seen something that looked so innocent and pure. It continued to spread until tears rolled out of the red eyes and began to stain the cheeks. The Gear's hands went up and clasped over her chest. She slowly looked up and met May's gaze.
"Is this what it feels like…to have friends?"
May didn't answer. She only smiled back.
Dizzy made a noise. Was that the first time she had ever tried to laugh?
"It's…very warm."
At long last, she took a step forward. She began to raise her hand to take May's.
That was right before her rib cage suddenly erupted from within, opening into a gaping, bloody wound right over her heart.
Ky had seen many horrors back in the Crusades, but the suddenness of what had happened, the unrealness of it all, made him go as still as a statue. His eyes widened and his mind went blank. It didn't accept what suddenly happened in front of it, expecting it to go away at any moment. That, however, was nothing compared to the horror that painted May's face as a considerable amount of Dizzy's own blood splattered over her face and chest. The Gear herself kept her smile only a moment before it faded, her look turning into one of shock. However, it had no time for agony. She didn't even have the chance to look down to herself and see fragments of her own bones poking out.
As her limbs fell to her sides, her red eyes looked down momentarily, the only sign acknowledging the now freely-bleeding hole in her chest. Yet she looked back up again soon after, staring right into the girl's eyes across from her.
May's lip began to quiver as the realization fully sank into Ky that this was actually happening.
"May…" The Gear exhaled.
Then the light in her eyes dimmed and she collapsed.
Tears gushing forth, the pirate abandoned her anchor and ran for her.
"No!"
To be continued...