[Attention, this story was started before the release of Brave Witches. After viewing said series, I've decided to stick with my original interpretation of the 502nd members, so they may be different than how they are depicted in the anime. That being said, please enjoy!]
[Theme: Mika Nakashima - The Reason Why I Thought I'd Die]
Our End
502nd Joint Fighter Wing Airbase, Petersburg, Orussia
Sunlight filtered lazily against the curtains of the dark bedroom, and finding a gap in between the heavy fabric. It shone a bright line into the room, cutting a path over the face over a sleeping form. It lingered there until a single purple eye opened, squinting against the brightness, and the owner let out a yawn.
Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen pulled herself out of the way of the sunbeam striking her eyes and rolled over onto her side with a heavy sigh. She went to stretch her arms, but found she was being blocked by the sleeping form of her wingmate, the young Orussian girl Sanya Litvyak. Despite having her own quarters, Eila was not at all surprised by the girl's presence. The night witch had, as usual, forgone her personal quarters, instead making a beeline for Eila's quarters and collapsing there after night patrol. As was tradition.
"Oi, Sanya, you know you have your own room." Eila whispered to the girl quietly as she rubbed her own eyes sleepily, not actually wanting to wake her wingmate. When she didn't get a reply, she just sighed contentedly, "But you can stay ... but only for today!" A playful lie she loved to repeat. As if she would ever forbid Sanya from entering.
As Sanya replied only with her soft breathing, Eila found herself smiling. Though the bed could become quickly cramped, she preferred sleeping next to Sanya, as the smaller girl's warm body was such a comfort. Eila heaved herself out of bed and got her much-needed stretch, enjoying the feeling of her stiff joints being warmed back up. Finally standing up, she made her way over the cold wooden floors to take a peek at the outside world.
The world outside was an expanse of blinding white snow beneath the clear azure sky; another normal day in the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing's Orussian base. Eila and Sanya had been staying here temporarily to assist the "Brave Witches" with their operations while their own squadron, the 501st "Strike Witches", remained in limbo. Having achieved their previous objectives, the brass had decided to move the JFW elsewhere. Where "elsewhere" actually was, had not actually been decided, and so the members had been temporary assignments.
The door creaked, and Eila turned around. A fellow Suomi witch named Nikka Katajainen had entered the room, uninvited as usual. Before Nipa opened her mouth to deliver a greeting, Eila cut her off with a playful glare and pointed at Sanya, who was still sleeping. Bringing her finger back in Nipa's direction, she wagged it back and forth in disapproval.
Nipa closed her mouth, crossed her arms and pouted. She looked ridiculously childish, and Eila had to walk past her with a smirk so she could chuckle in the hallway.
"Ugh, what are you laughing at, Eila?" said Nipa after closing the door behind her, "You never let me say 'good morning' first, you always want to hear it from Sanya first."
It was true; Eila had developed a habit of not accepting any "good mornings" until she had one from Sanya. She had gone to extreme lengths to enforce this, ranging from simply covering her ears to one time actually jumping out an open window when her hands happened to be full. It wasn't an unusual event for her to lock herself in her room until Sanya woke up.
"Come on Nipa, it's nothing new," Eila replied with a devious smile, "Besides, why are you intruding on my domain so early? Have you come to pillage my land and steal my women?" She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered slightly, as she hadn't put on her uniform yet and was still in her underwear.
"No!" the Suomi witch sputtered, a blush forming on her face, being careful to avert her gaze from Eila's body, "I've just come to tell you that Major Sakamoto is in the area, and I thought you'd want to see her, her being your Major and all." She turned on her heel and walked away, hiding the red on her face. "Besides," she muttered to herself, "Why would I want Sanya?"
Eila smiled at Nipa's retreating back. The two had a long history together, meeting in the Suomi airforce and being friends long before she had ever met Sanya. Although she could be really odd sometimes, Eila was thankful for her friendship.
She quietly let herself back into the dark room, and after checking that her bedmate was still asleep, quickly got dressed into her usual light blue Suomi uniform. Having nothing else to do yet, she sat down on the bed and took in the sight of Sanya's sleeping form. After a brief moment of hesitation she reached out and began to very lightly stroke the younger girl's hair. Her pulse elevated slightly, and her cheeks grew warmer as her fingers brushed the soft strands. This kind of feeling certainly wasn't a new thing; she knew for sure that she was in love.
But that's where certainty ended.
Sanya spent a lot of time her, that wasn't to be doubted. Everyone knew of the special closeness, the special bond that the two shared. Bonds between witches were pretty common, especially between wingmates, as they worked together very closely and had to pull through some dangerous, often life and death, situations, which only strengthened the connections. It was no different between her and Sanya. It may be just her foresight, but she felt like they had a real connection on the battlefield, being able to wordlessly know what the other was going to do.
But it was a grey area. Eila wasn't sure if Sanya felt the same way about her, and she didn't know if it was worth the risk of confessing; doing so could end their friendship if Sanya didn't return the feelings.
Her greatest fear was that Sanya only stuck by her because they had been assigned wingmates when they met. Sanya was an extremely quiet one and was never one to socialize much. So it was no surprise she didn't often make efforts to connect to others as much. Eila didn't want their relationship to be just founded on convenience. And so, Eila spent those many months together desperately wishing they could be more.
Eila pouted, just as Nipa had minutes before, and swept a hand through her own light hair. Her heart was yearning for Sanya, so much that it was painful, but she didn't want to accidently scare Sanya off and ruin everything forever. If she could only speak her feelings! If the Night Witch felt the same way, the reward would be possibly the greatest happiness Eila could ever gain. But, on the other hand, the consequences of a one-sided love were enough to keep the Suomi's mouth shut.
But, maybe today would be the day that she would tell her? It was killing her inside, and there never seemed to be an appropriate moment to bring it up. Even if presented with such an opportunity, Eila would always back out, much to the disappointment of herself.
All of a sudden, Eila felt eyes on her. She snapped out of her reverie and quickly retracted her hand from Sanya's head, blushing in embarrassment. Two sleepy green eyes, not quite fully awake yet, gazed up at her.
"Good morning Eila ..." Sanya said in her soft voice, smiling sleepily.
"G-good morning Sanya." Eila managed to say over the pain of her aching, unfulfilled heart.
I suppose this will have to do.
[Distorted]
The pair made their way down to the base's dining hall after Sanya had gotten dressed. As per usual, the hall was already filled with the witches of the 502nd energizing for the day. The two had always been one of the later risers.
502nd's Combat Commander Aleksandra Pokryshkin was already seated at a table, along with Waltrud Krupinski, who had her head down and a bottle of alcohol in her hand. The former smiled warmly at the two as they entered, and made a quick motion with her hand, gesturing towards the kitchen.
Breakfast there was always relatively good, compared to the rations that the rest of the troops got. It was a blessing that brass knew that the witches involved deserved good supplies. The witches were the only people who could prevent Earth's total annihilation, and the best warriors deserved good things, it seemed.
Eila thanked Shimohara Sadako, the Fuso witch normally charged with cooking, as she was handed a plate of delicious looking pancakes and a drink. Sadako gave a small polite bow of her head with a smile as she handed the same to Sanya, who smiled drowsily, still not quite awake.
Making their way into the dining area, Eila quickly chose their favourite spot by at the table the window and sat down. Sanya wordlessly sat down on the bench beside her as usual, and the two started to dig in, no words being needed. After a time, Edytha Roßmann and Kanno Naoe plopped down in front of them and greeted them placidly, each sporting their own dish.
"So, I heard from a certain home invader that Major Sakamoto is coming around today?" asked Eila through a mouthful of food. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she smiled sheepishly as Sanya chided her for talking with her mouth full.
"I don't know what kind of invader you met, but they're right. Not sure why, but who knows? Maybe the 501st will finally get reassigned." came Edytha's light reply. The white haired witch rapped her instructor baton lightly against Kanno's hand, as the latter seemed to be inhaling her food, "Slow down. I don't want to have to beat the food out of you if you start choking. Again."
Kanno smiled sheepishly and half glared, "Yeah, but that was just one time." Her rate of inhalation seemed to drop as per Edytha's request, Eila noted. The conversation soon turned to the normal subjects, such as recent happenings, rumours, and the war itself.
Although Sanya didn't seem to say much, she just smiled and nodded along, answering quietly if any questions came her way. Eila noticed that she seemed to enjoy just being there, and radiated a quiet sort of happiness, and that made her happy. Even more so whenever Sanya caught her gaze and smiled softly at her. She could barely restrain herself from throwing her arms around Sanya, right then and there, and just holding her.
Nipa joined them at the table and soon began cracking jokes, often causing Kanno and Eila to choke on their food in laughter, while Edytha rolled her eyes good naturedly and stood by just in case she had to save someone's life again.
Just as the group were finishing up their meal, familiar laughter began to ring through the hall, announcing the arrival of a certain person. Both Eila and Sanya smiled at once. There's only one person who had a laugh that was intimidating, but strangely infectious at the same time. The other witches in the room were beginning to get a little unnerved; Mio's laugh was very unsettling to hear when you didn't know where she was.
Eila for some reason half expected the Major to jump down from the ceiling, or break through a window, but there she was; standing at the end of the hall smiling in their direction.
Although having lost the last of her magic, the Fuso witch looked as strong and confident as ever. Her signature eyepatch remained, although she no longer hid a magical eye under it. Though no longer fit for combat duty as a witch, the brass had elected to let her continue to work with the temporarily fragmented 501st, as her combined leadership with Minna and the unit cohesion the two brought had produced great results on the field.
She beckoned to them with a smile. Waving back, Eila gave a nod of temporary farewell to the other three witches, before picking up her now-empty plate and making her way to the other end of the hall with Sanya in tow. Stacking their plates and glasses on the counter for washing, they thanked Sadako once more before finally reuniting with their Major.
"There you are! We've got a few things to discuss, so come with me!" Mio exclaimed, slapping each of them on the back as she steered them towards the door of one of the side rooms with a hearty laugh. Eila and Sanya smiled at one another as they followed, eager for the news.
[Distorted]
"... and that's the situation. The 501st will move into that base within a few weeks, so be prepared," Mio ended cheerfully, "It'll be good to get back together." She smiled, uncharacteristically more happy than normal.
"Sounds good, Major!" Eila replied happily, giving a small fist pump before smirking slyly at Mio. "By the way, you're looking a little higher spirited than usual. Why's that?"
Mio opened her mouth, but was interrupted by Aleksandra calling into the room, "It's because she's going to get to share a bed with Commander Wilcke after such a loooong time apart." The Orussian Combat Commander giggled as she peered into the room with a mischievous expression. With a wink, she pointed a finger gun at Mio. "Gotcha."
Eila could tell this was true by the way the Major's kept opening and closing her mouth as she struggled to find a rebuttal, finally settling on a seemingly embarrassed smile. The Suomi felt a twinge of jealousy, seeing as it was no secret that the two Commanders had been together. If only she could finally confess to Sanya too.
"I wish I didn't have to do this to you, Commander Pokryshkin." Mio chuckled, making a show of reaching for the hilt of her katana as she turned towards the door. The Orussian commander smirked briefly, and then disappeared from view.
"Well, I'll be off to visit Bishop, Clostermann, and Miyafuji now," the Major said, changing the subject as she turned back to the two, "who, as you may recall, are stationed with the 507th at the moment. Busy day indeed!"
Turning to Sanya, she continued, "By the way; Yoshika has been asking to see you, Sanya. If you'd like, you and Eila may accompany me on my flight there and stay there for a week or so. Commander Rall says that it's been quiet around here regarding Neuroi activity, so I'm sure a temporary transfer wouldn't hurt."
Eila hadn't seen their other three squadmates for quite a while, and she supposed it would be nice to get to tease them again. Especially Perrine, as the Gallian often reacted strongly whenever she was the target, although she seemed to have become more easygoing the last time they had seen each other.
The fact that Yoshika had specifically requested to see Sanya kind of irked Eila in a way though. That girl was always getting in the way, and she seemed to be close to Sanya as well. Seeing the Orussian smile around Yoshika stirred something in Eila. For some reason, it didn't happen around the other 501st members, or even many other non 501st, but it seemed like Yoshika was always trying to be really good friends with the Orussian. And it made Eila, well, jealous.
But hey, as long as she was with Sanya, it should be a nice visit. The Suomi shrugged, and opened her mouth to accept the offer, but was surprised to hear another voice chime in.
"Of course I'd like to see her!" It was Sanya.
Eila turned in surprise to her wingmate; she was shocked at the energy of Sanya's response, due to the fact that the Orussian always looked like she was about to fall asleep on her feet at any moment.
The Suomi hadn't see her this enthusiastic about anything in a long time. Worse still, Sanya's eyes were shining and she had a bright smile on her face. She felt a sinking feeling inside of her, and suddenly the happiness she had gained a few minutes earlier had faded away. How come Sanya was smiling so broadly?
Eila felt a stirring of doubt and jealousy within her. Was it because Sanya wanted to see Yoshika? Why was she so excited to go? Why isn't she that excited and showing that kind of smile when we're together?
"Won't it be nice, Eila?" Sanya asked, smiling and looking up at the aforementioned witch, "We haven't seen her or the others in months." She had taken ahold of Eila's hand, but her warm touch felt like a betrayal, and only furthered the Suomi's doubt. Eila just wanted to leave the room.
"Yeah, I suppose so." Eila grunted half heartedly, suddenly shifting mood. The sudden downfall of mood caused Mio to shoot her a curious look. She met the Major's stare evenly, who tilted her head quizzically as she examined the girl's expression.
Sanya didn't notice, already looking forward to seeing their squadmates again. By the time they had left the room to notify Commander Rall, Eila had already made up her mind. It was stupid, but her emotions got the best of her.
She was so selfish.
[Distorted]
Eila packed a few of her things just for show. It wasn't like she was actually going to go. Soon after confirming it with Commander Rall, she had told Sanya to go ahead, while she told the Commander of her intentions. Gundula had been completely caught off guard, and asked a few more times if Eila was sure, before conceding. Let Sanya go see her precious Yoshika by herself.
"How come I've never seen her that excited to see me?" she muttered to herself, roughly throwing random items into her duffle bag. A few pieces of uniform, her sidearm, and a few pieces of stationary haphazardly sailed into the bag. She paused for a moment on a stack of photos, tied together. She gazed at the one on the top; a photo of Sanya and her, holding hands happily together in front of some kind of fountain, somewhere in Romagna. Eila felt a twinge of regret, as she placed the stack into one of the side pockets.
"Are you ready to go, Eila?" Sanya asked, holding her own bag by the door. She was naturally neater, and packing her bag took a lot less time than Eila. She sounded cheerful, "Our Strikers and weapons should be loaded in the plane by now."
"Almost, I'll meet you down on the runway." Eila replied without turning around. In reality, only Sanya's equipment had been loaded; Eila's gear had been left in the hangar at her request. Sanya hesitated before closing the door behind her. As soon as the door hit the frame, and Sanya's footsteps had faded away, Eila turned her bag over and emptied it out.
"What am I even doing?" she thought bitterly to herself, balling up her fist and punching at her bed as she buried her face into her pillow, "Am I trying to make Sanya feel bad about this?"
She was jealous, gut wrenchingly jealous. She resented Sanya a little for this, but most of all, she hated herself for letting herself feel like this. But she just couldn't get over it and go. A few stray tears ran down her face, and she wiped them away half heartedly. It would be a while before she could get up.
[Distorted]
Sanya watched the snowflakes dance across the runway from the inside of the plane, and shivered. She couldn't wait for Eila to get there, so she could warm up in her embrace. She was happy to be able to get a chance to see Yoshika, Lynette, and Perrine again after the few months that the 501st had been apart. It would be so nice to catch up with all of them.
She scanned the runway again, beginning to worry. Where was Eila? Was there something wrong? Then again, Eila had been acting weird ever since Mio had announced their plans. On top of that, even Mio seemed to be acting oddly. Was there something that they weren't telling her?
Even now, the Major was staring out across the runway with a troubled expression on her face, arms crossed.B She muttered something about things "not being right", and that she should stop it before trouble happened, but never directly spoke of the situation to Sanya nor took any action.
A few 502nd witches were out on the runway, watching the plane from the plane from afar. Their Strikers were on, so seemed like it was time for training, Sanya noted. Giving them small wave, she was worried to see while some returned her goodbye, there was few who acted oddly. Edytha offered small wave, but her smile was a weak one. Kanno, who was clearly looking straight at Sanya, only gave a slight upward tilt of her chin, before she looked off to the side. The normally cheerful girl seemed to be troubled and stuck her hands deep in the pockets of her tunic.
Her arm went limp as Sanya followed Kanno's gaze and saw one of the witches began making her way towards them, and her heart sank when she saw that it was an armed and luggage-less Eila in her Strikers. The girl's head was lowered, and Sanya couldn't see her expression.
"Eila ... no need for your Strikers," Sanya began hopefully, "We're taking a plane with Major Sakamoto." She looked back at the Major to see if she would say something, but the Fuso witch didn't meet her gaze, seemingly staring almost challengingly at Eila as if she could change the Suomi's mind with a gaze alone. Mio shook her head slowly and laid a hand on the cargo door's controls, gaze never leaving Eila's downcast face.
"I'm not going." said Eila softly. The wind began to pick up, as if it didn't want them to hear what Eila had to say. The Suomi wouldn't even look at them.
Sanya turned back in shock, "Why not? I'm sure they'll want to see you!" She held out her hand and beckoned for her wingmate.
"J-just, go by yourself!" Eila said suddenly with surprising force. "G-go have fun with Yoshika." She added bitterly. She knew it wasn't necessary at all, but it had to be done. The jealous and despicable part of Eila wanted let Sanya know what kind of pain she felt. It took all of her willpower to not take hold of Sanya's hand and go with them.
Raising her eyes and staring straight ahead, she snapped a salute to her Major, turned around and flew off into the sky, away from the rest of the squadron. A slight click was heard as Mio pressed her hand down on the door controls.
Tears had just began to gather in Sanya's eyes as the closing cargo door of the plane cut off the sight of her beloved's retreating form and pain filled eyes.
Major Sakamoto sighed, reaching for the radio to let the pilot know they were ready to go.
[Distorted]
"Edytha."
"Yes, Commander?"
"See Eila over there? Follow her; make sure she doesn't go get herself killed or something. You too, Kanno. I don't like this."
"Understood." Replied the instructor solemnly as she and the scarved witch steered themselves away from the rest of the squadron and turned in the direction of the fleeing Eila.
[Distorted]
The plane rattled as it was buffeted by the winds, but its interior was relatively quiet. They had been flying for only a few minutes, but to Sanya, it had felt like forever. She still couldn't believe what had happened at the runway, and had tears running down her silent face. Why had Eila abandoned her? What had just happened? Had she done something wrong?
Mio comforted the girl, "She has a lot going through her mind right now, and it's okay to be apart for a while." She gave as close to a comforting pat on the head as a Major could to her subordinate. Her shoes made the steel ring as she returned to the opposite side of the plane. There was nothing else she could do.
Suddenly a knock at the plane's rear cargo door and the sound of Striker engines brought a hopeful expression to the Major's face. Only a witch could do that; despite having foresight as an ability, Eila was so predictable. As if the girl could bear to be away from her beloved Sanya for more than five minutes.
She let out a signature laugh, startling Sanya in the process, and strode briskly over to press the button to open the bay doors. Putting on a display of fake showmanship, she lifted her hand to the opening doors, as if revealing something.
The door had ground open fully, and Sanya peered hopefully out into the sky. There was nothing but wind howling into the hold, carrying cold flakes of snow. Suddenly, Nipa's head appeared from the side of the entry. She was holding onto the side of the plane while in flight. She surveyed the interior of the plane with a hard stare.
The smile had disappeared off of Mio's face, replaced with a look of confusion. This was definitely not the witch she had been expecting. More like the last one. "Katajainen? What are you doing here?"
Nipa shook her head solemnly, and said simply, "She's not here? What an idiot."
With that, the Suomi witch let go of the hold and banked around to begin her short flight back to the 502nd base, leaving Sanya feeling more abandoned and confused than ever.
[Distorted]
Eila flew at top speed through the cold air. She was sure that Shirley would be impressed at how fast she was going if she were here now. But she wasn't; no one was there with her, not even Sanya. She felt pathetic for letting herself feel like this. She unwillingly let herself cry, tears streaking down her face and turning into frozen trails. Eila didn't even slow down when the landscape started becoming unfamiliar; she was out of friendly territory.
She fingered the safety off of her MG42 and began firing at random trees as she flew over them. Her frustration built until she began full on spraying bullets at random, not caring what they hit. There was nobody out here anyway. She was alone in the Orussian air.
Alone?
She started in surprise when the Neuroi rocketed out from over the horizon. A large cloud of tiny drones buzzed angrily around a large mothership as they made their way towards her. Eila recognized the model; they were a type that were disgustingly easy to take down alone, but proved to be a challenge in large numbers.
Eila smiled darkly; they would be a nice distraction for now. They would be the victims of her frustration. Neuroi She rocketed towards the Neuroi, who screeched as it detected her presence, all drones swooping around to face her.
Her MG42 began to kick in her grasp as she began raining .792 rounds upon the swarm of drones, who responded in kind by buzzing her with angry red lasers. Drone after drone exploded violently into silver sparks, no longer threats to her. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as the units were obliterated under the hail of MG42 fire.
However, Eila had miscalculated. There were far more than she expected, and she didn't have the comfort of a wingmate to watch her back. Her foresight helped some, but as the Neuroi slowly began to shrink in numbers, their speed and lethality seemingly increased as Eila tired. The smile began to fade from her face as she had more and more close calls, finally disappearing when she took a hit from a unit that had flanked her.
"Perkele!" Eila swore, reverting back to Suomi, "Why are there so many of you little shits?" She banked away from the swarm, returning fire as she struggled to check her equipment.
Thankfully, the lasers that the drones carried were not as heavy hitting as normal Neuroi, but they still hurt. She was covered in bloody cuts from shrapnel as it was, some burns on her tunic and skin, and now her left Striker was smoking from the hit. The piece of machinery sputtered and spakred as it struggled to keep her aloft, even cutting off periodically and restarting.
"This ain't good. So not good." She cursed to herself, trying to dodge the lasers with only one reliable Striker. She had made a huge mistake. Gunning herself away from the Neuroi, she was just about to raise her hand to her radio to call for help when her fading foresight weakly warned her of an incoming attack. Eila desperately trained to roll out of the way, but it was too late. She took another hit, this time to her other Striker, shutting it down completely. The impact caused her lose grip of her gun, cursing as she did so. The weapon dropped out of sight, burying itself in the snow far below and leaving her defenseless.
Normally she would have been able to retreat, but this time there was no one to cover her, and her magic was diminishing fast due to her excessive manoeuvres. Panic swept through her as she felt her energy fade, cutting off the flow of magic to the deployment zones in her legs. Her left Striker shut down for good this time as it lost connection to her, and she began to fall to the earth at an extreme speed.
Split seconds before hitting the snow, she used her magic to activate her shield and absorb the impact, but that didn't stop her from feeling the brunt force of the unforgiving ground as she cratered it with her momentum, choking out a cry of pain.
Eila lay in the snow in broken Strikers with a broken spirit, blood beginning to soak the snow around her. It seemed colder than usual today. She struggled shakily to get up, but her body screamed against her and she collapsed back down in defeat.
She felt herself crying again but was too fatigued to even wipe her eyes; her magic was completely spent. "Man, I sure fucked up … "she sputtered, laughing humorlessly to herself despite the situation. She imagined that Sanya was there, warming her up with her embrace and chiding her in her gentle voice. "I'm so stupid …"
The Neuroi were descending. Eila closed her eyes with a sad smile and wished with all of her heart that she could've seen Sanya one last time, under better circumstances, and told her what she really felt. A thousand regrets pounded through mind, kicking her as she was down. All those things she could have said, all the times she could've let Sanya know.
"Sanya ..." she whispered as the image of her beloved's gentle smile arose in her mind, "I was supposed to follow you anywhere …" The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was the sound of gunfire, and the boom of Striker engines.
[Distorted – End of Chapter One – Our End]
First of all, I'd like welcome you to my first fic in a long time. Last time I officially wrote a fanfiction was around January of 2009. So I'm a little rusty. Okay, maybe a lot.
I think I've improved, because my most successful and longest story on my other account had 8 500+/- words in 8 chapters, and this chapter alone had 2 700+/- words.
Please enjoy and tell me what you think!
[EDIT: CHAPTER ONE QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATE, 4/10/2014]
[EDIT: CHAPTER ONE QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATE 2, 10/21/2019] (Lol)