Author Notes : Greetings. This fanfiction feature a romantic relationship between Cross and Celica. It is written on Celica's point of view, and with my own way of writing; I keep my habits from when I am writing in french, so the dialogues may seem odd at first, but I do not think it will be much of a trouble. In any case... Enjoy your reads ~
Thunderstruck
« Found somethin'?
— Part of it... Are there any indigens around?
— Our skell managed to repel the few one around. It is also part of the task, don't sleep on it. »
... Right... Our client tasked us with retrieving his belongings around here, but also to take care of the indigens around... It does not feel right. The indigens are merely surviving here, we should not blame them if we're the cause of their behaviours. Yes, here are the other items our client lost.
Thunder is rumbling... There are no more indigens around, they were all... I called for my teammates
« I have found everything we needed. We can go back. »
As soon as I informed them, they started shouting
« Alright! Tonight, we've got a free meal! I can't believe such a good BLADE agent could have messed up this bad, they even rose the reward when we accepted their job!
— That's some old rusty agent. The monsters weren't even though!
— And now they'll pay us twice what they primarily offered. »
Even their voice seemed stronger than the rain pouring around... I climbed into my skell, as I need to get back to N.L.A as soon as possible... It's dusk already...
Another lightning bolt... Suncath Ravine seems so hostile on a thunderstorm...
...!
« Watch out, I yelled, Boulders are falling ! »
Even without moving an inch, the boulders missed my teammates, crashing close to them... They all rushed to their skell in fear, as a mighty roar could be heard; appearing from behind the natural arches, an enormous flying creature with many leg-like appendages approached us. The interceptors cried, dashing into their skells
« Millepod! We can't take it, let's get out of here! »
The creature's loud roar echoed in the place, and a gigantic beam shone; scorching the land, and aimlessly destroying the place... Some other boulders! I must protect my teammates so they can flee!
« I can stagger it with my blade. I just need to reach for it. »
... The creature sank its fang into my skell's right arm, tearing it apart; I only need to land the hit from my remaining one...
The blade hit. But the creature did not stagger, and even though its chin has been wounded, it grabbed with its tail... I could see one of my teammates' Skell at range
« Celica! Jump over here! It's no use; you gave us enough time to get out, anyway! »
Evacuating the cockpit, I jumped toward my partner's skell.
The enormous indigen threw my broken skell at us, and growled once again... This creature... When we were fleeing with Rock before entering into New Los Angeles... We briefly saw it: we learned that the BLADE registered it as a potent threat, a Tyrant...
Another landslide now preventing us from easily run away. My partner called me
« I'll need to fly away from here. You'll be able to get out on land. Just run, and don't turn back. »
Without a second thought, I jumped on the ground, and the skell set off.
The creature went after us, and threw needles at us; we couldn't look behind. The only thing that caught back our attention was the creature's growl... A strong, yet shaky cry, as if in pain. A loud noise then was heard; the Millepod was brought down to the ground. A shrilly voice combined with the sound of the downpour
« How nice! And here I was wondering what to catch for dinner! »
Clinging atop the monster's head, a tall and slim woman... Her short and lightly pink hair... The way she clasps over her sword... Even this bright blue gem... Is she
« Celica! We have to run away, come with me before the Millepod eats this crazed woman.
— And what about her? She must be a blade agent-
— We can't rescue her! If she manages to run, it's all good, but we would die helping her! »
His skell caught me into its palm, and we flew away...
This woman... I don't recognise her voice, but her body... The necklace she had on her neck...
The interceptors I went with to clear this task invited me to the restaurant, but I refused. Something seems wrong. I asked Rock to wait a little bit before we could share our meal... Something is off, and I know it... Such informations are usually kept by this man, Maurice Chausson... Rock saw that I had something in mind and let me go.
« Is something the matter? asked the grey-suited director
— I want informations about the latest member of Colonel Elma's team.
— ... Oh? This team is no more, which means you're talking about her... Were you not close enough at the time to know about Cross' life ?
— I sure do know about my wife's life. I want to know what happened when she disappeared.
— We lost signal of her mimeosome while she was working for a Nopon Caravan in Sylvalum. Our sources confirmed she lastly went into the mountains. Her Skell was torn apart, and nothing could be found of her at the moment.
— "At the moment." Today, I worked with an interceptor squadron to retrieve someone's belongings. And we were attacked. I wouldn't have been able to survive if not for the help of someone who looked and acted exactly like Cross. »
He smirked lightly hearing these these words, and tried to avoid visual contact, he mumbled something I could hear
« She was in good spirit today, indeed...
— I heard you. My senses are sharp, mister. I want to know what you hide from me. I know my wife isn't dead. I can feel it.
— Then your intuition seem to be as keen as hers... If I tell you the truth, how will you act? The truth might be hard to swallow, and it covers a dangerous off the record topic, here at the BLADE.
— I learned so much from her. And my life was her's up that point. Please. Tell me. »
He calmly explained what was really happening. It was "for my sake as a mourning agent." According to his story, Cross was found in the middle of indigens some day after her disapearance. Her signal was off, but it seemed she was damaged, and a virus was growing into her mimeosome. Most of her circuits were corrupted, but the one which was the most damaged was the one to control her stability. She was partially cured into the maintenance center, but...
« We told her her personnality would vanish, and many glitches of her own body would eventually make her unstable. She was yet to become an eventual threat for our city, as the damages were irreversible. Thanks to Colonel Elma's support, she was offered contact into her exile. Important members of the BLADE have to keep an eye on her, and sometime meet her at her best.
— Mister. Does knowing about this information make me eligible to the task of seeing her?
— If I were not to allow you to do it, you would throw yourself into danger to do so. You already proven your recklessness. Before you do anything concerning this matter, you must wait for us to inform you on her position. I want you to remain discreet.
— Understood. Thanks mister. »
Was it really all there was to it? Only asking him was enough to learn all the truth? How unstable is she supposedly? Today, I learned she was alive. I want to learn the truth. And I want to see her. I wanted to talk about it to Rock, but I disguised it talking about the past. She and he were friend. We were living as a family, it is only natural wanting to see her back home...
The next morning, my skell was found at the western entrance of New Los Angeles. It was still scrapped, but something was there, into the broken arm. It was a branch of Lea Lily. A flower she used to give me whenever I had a tough day, as a joke, and also because I love their pure white colour.