Rise from the Dark

Scene from my first story and regular canon happen if they are not contradicted.

"Regular speech"

'Thought'

"Video call or voice chat"

Feldt

Feldt finally made her way to the observation room, having been looking for Tieria, but not finding him anywhere. 'It's the last place where he would be.' She opened the door to see Tieria looking out of the window, the Africa tower slowly growing in the distance. She took a step in and the purple haired man turned to face her, smiling, "Hey there Feldt. It's great to see that you are safe. How's Setsuna?"

Feldt responded with a smile, "He's asleep right now, but Anew is looking at him. I hope his shoulder is ok, but all we can do is wait. And it's great to see you again, after the last couple days."

"It was certainly an…interesting time. But at least we are all alive." Tieria's smile evened out.

Feldt bit her lip as she spoke, "Tieria, have you heard of the name Ribbons Almark?"

Tieria tilted his head, a look of recognition on his face, "Where did you hear that name?" Feldt scanned Tieria. 'Was this something he left out of the report?'

Taking a deep breath, Feldt continued, "When Setsuna and I ended up in Krugis, we met an innovator named Ribbons Almark who demanded we give up the 00 Raiser. He said he recommended Setsuna as a meister. How did you meet him?"

Tieria's shoulders slumped, "When Setsuna and I went to the party, I had a dance with him and he invited me back to private quarters." Feldt couldn't resist giggling at that and Tieria rolled his eyes, "It was not like that. Innovators do not really have those urges."

Feldt gave him a teasing grin, "You would know, wouldn't you?"

Tieria's eyes widened, "How did you…?"

"Tieria, when you told us about the innovators, I could tell you were trying to say you were one. Also the fact you had a hard time accepting the new OS four years ago made it kind of obvious there was more going on. I overheard your conversation with Neil about that." Back then, Feldt had wanted to see what Neil was up to, and was surprised to hear about Tieria wondering what it meant to be human. And with the revelation of the innovators, it all made sense why Tieria had been obsessed with maintaining Veda's orders to the letter. 'I'm guessing he didn't know about these other innovators back then, if they were active.'

Tieria sighed, "Sometimes I forget how clever you are." Feldt smiled at that, chuckling silently.

A frown made its way on Tieria's face, which Feldt gave a worried look at, "Are you ok?"

Tieria looked to the side, his voice weak, "He brought up Neil."

Worry and sympathy bloomed in Feldt's chest, and she placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, "What did he say?" Neil was always a sore spot for Tieria and to have their enemy bring it up meant trouble.

"He said that I let him too deep into my heart, that he had influenced me too much." Tieria paused for a second before continuing, "Ribbons had even offered me my Veda rights back." His voice wavered, "I won't lie and say I wasn't tempted. I still yearn to rejoin Veda." Tieria's voice then filled with determination, "But I knew Neil would never have agreed, not on those terms. He would have wanted me to follow my own path, not to just follow the whims of a group who create peace through oppression and lies."

"And Neil would be proud of you for that." Feldt brought Tieria in for a hug, which he reciprocated, "You did the right thing. I'm just happy you are still at our side. And I'm sure that he is looking down at us, silently cheering us on." Feldt pulled away from the hug, placing a finger over Tieria's heart, "He always knew you had a good heart, you just needed to pull your head out of your ass."

The purple-haired meister just nodded, "I had a bit of an attitude problem, yes. But I will continue fighting for humanity. To make a world where people like Neil are no longer created. It's the least I owe him for all he did for me." He then looked softly at Feldt, "Also for you and Setsuna, to make a future where you two can be happy. That's what I owe you for all that you have done for me."

"I was just doing what any good person should do. But thank you." Feldt flushed pink, "So I guess you know that Setsuna and I are getting married."

He smiled at her, "I heard it through the grapevine, yes. I am happy for the both of you." He then smirked at her, "Though I can't say I'm surprised. You should have seen how nervous Setsuna was when he asked me if you would want to marry him."

Feldt's eyes shined with curiosity, "Please do tell." 'I won't hold this over Setsuna. Not too much.'

Tieria gave her a mischievous look, "Well, it happened as we were driving to the party…"

Marlene

Marlene entered the medbay, spotting Anew as she was looking over data being sent from the scan of Setsuna, who was laying prone in one of the regeneration pods in a medical gown, breath steady as he slept. Marlene was finally off duty, Saji volunteering to take Feldt's old position. He would need training, but he would certainly be a good replacement. Setsuna's pilot suit hung in the room and Marlene could see the hole in the suit, and the blood the stained it brown. She approached Anew, who looked up at the blonde woman and stood up straighter, sounding curious, "Hello commander. I was just checking up on the data from the scans. What brings you here?"

Marlene nodded curtly, "I just wanted to check up on Setsuna. We need him for the 00 and I wanted to check his readiness. How bad is the injury?"

Anew nodded in response, looking at her screen, "It appears he was shot in the shoulder by a handgun of some kind. The bullet was already removed, but the wound doesn't appear to be closing naturally, like it should be."

Marlene looked at Setsuna worryingly before looking at the lavender-haired woman, "What do you mean his wound isn't closing?"

Anew took a deep breath, her tone even, "His wound matches a similar pattern that is affecting Mr. Aeon. It appears whatever shot him had a bullet with pseudo GN particles on it. It's the only reason I found traces of it in Setsuna's shoulder."

Marlene took a shuddering breath as the info hit her. 'GN particle poisoning. Why did it have to be that?' Setsuna was supposed to be there for her. Marlene knew she had less than a year left due to said particles, but Setsuna was supposed to be safe, supposed to be there at her daughter's side. 'They are even getting married!' This was the worst case scenario for her. Lasse's and her condition had no cure, and even if he had time, he would inevitable die in the next couple years. The one thing she feared was her daughter being left all alone, especially her, Setsuna and Ruido being dead. She kept the despair in her mind from reaching her face, hiding the fact that she was a storm of feelings internally.

Anew, seemingly unaware of her inner turmoil, spoke, "However, there is something strange about these readings." Anew pointed to her display, the action shaking Marlene out of her swirling emotions, "Unlike Mr. Aeon, the spread of particles in his body seems to be slowed, like something is stopping the spread."

Marlene's eyes widened, "Is it from the regeneration treatment?" Previously they had slowed down her degeneration, but the way it looked on the display showed the spread of it being contained to his shoulder.

Anew shook her head, "No. It appears to be naturally occurring. For what reason, I have no idea, but it's worth studying to find out what exactly is going. I will certainly need to see if this pattern continues." Her voice softened a little, "He still needs to be careful with his shoulder for a little while. I can bandage his wounds, but jostling his arm too much might reopen it. I will try to sew up his wound in the meantime. It's no regeneration treatment, but it should hold for now."

Marlene let out a light sigh of relief, though her worry still had not disappeared. 'Maybe this healing will keep him from dying from the particles. I can only hope that is the case.' This was certainly something to take note of, but Setsuna getting better was her only hope, for herself and for her daughter. 'Once Anew has more data, maybe she can see if anything could help Lasse and I. I would have to reveal my condition, but it might be worth it.' She looked over at Setsuna, a bittersweet smile coming to her face.

"Anew, do you mind if I have a few private words with Setsuna?" Her voice trembled slightly, but she caught herself.

Anew nodded, "Certainly. There's not much more I can do right now. I have to finish up the regen treatment before I can do anything about his shoulder. I'll leave you two." Anew walked out of the medbay, leaving Marlene to look at Setsuna in the pod, the green energy washing over him.

Now alone, Marlene placed a hand on the pod near Setsuna's head, frowning. A tear ran down her face as she spoke to the unconscious man, "Now I know why my daughter fell for you. You thought about protecting her from your enemies. You have comforted her since you came back. You fight for a free future from those who would control humanity. You are an honorable man. And now you suffer from what's happening to me." Marlene closed her eyes, almost praying, "You need to survive this. Not only for Feldt, or the crew, but also for me. I need to see you recover, to be there for her when I cannot."

She took her hand off the pod and wiped away the tear trail. She took a breath and stepped away from the pod, feeling more in control than before. She let herself relax, hoping that things would be ok. There were certainly things to worry about, but for now, Setsuna would be safe and now they knew her daughter could pilot the 00 Raiser if Setsuna wasn't available. 'God help us for whatever the A-Laws and innovators have planned.'

Setsuna

Setsuna woke up groggily, blinking rapidly as he got used to the lights above him. 'How long has it been? The last thing I remember was Tieria putting me in the pod.' He looked up to see the healing pod around him gone, leaving him lying on the bed. And to his delight, he saw the sea-green eyes of his fiancé sitting next to him, happiness shining in them. He also heard the dulled sound of an alarm in the hallway. With a dry throat, he spoke to her, "What's going on?"

She smiled warmly at him, "Let me get you some water, then I'll explain." She got up and grabbed a nearby water bottle, handing it to Setsuna. He took it happily, taking a few sips, sitting on the edge of the bed. He then nodded at her to continue, "Long story short, there is a coup at the Africa tower by the Federation army. And apparently they have a second Memento Mori in orbit. Ms. Sumeragi thinks the innovators are willing to fire it to get rid of their enemies, at the cost of millions of lives."

Setsuna's expression filling with anger and determination, "Then we need to destroy it. And you know what we have to use." Feldt bit her lower lips as he looked into her eyes, and Setsuna knew she understood exactly what he meant by the recognition in her eyes. He moved his bad arm and winced in pain. 'Why didn't the regeneration fix this simple wound?'

Feldt nodded minutely, letting out a sigh, "I know. I am just worried about you. Your arm is still injured."

He looked at his shoulder, frowning for a second before nodding at Feldt, "Then you can pilot the 00."

Feldt'e eyes widened at that and Setsuna internally felt worry over her piloting, but knew they needed to act quickly and the redhead was uninjured, unlike him. 'Not exactly the most happy I can't be in the 00, but we need it right now.' He smiled at her and she looked him dead in the eyes, probing him for answers, "Are you sure? I know I said that when we came to the ship-"

Setsuna stood up, pulling her to him, wrapping his good arm around her and resting his forehead on hers, "I trust you with everything. I know you can do it." He chuckled, "I may not be as good as you in the 0 Raiser, but I can fake it. Haro is a big help."

Feldt smiled brightly at him, his words seemingly hitting her. Setsuna wasn't lying that he had absolute faith in her. When he trained with her. She had shown a lot of promise, the only thing she was missing was practical experience. But he knew they would do better with her piloting than him with his injured shoulder.

"I supposed I will have to be at my best, won't I?" Feldt gave him a determined nod, then looked down at the ground, "Setsuna, before we go, I learned that your wound is infected with GN particles. I don't know what that means fully, but Anew says it's-"

Setsuna gave her a soft kiss, trying to calm her worries, "Feldt, we can worry about that later. Right now millions of people are in danger and we need to save them." In the back of his mind, he kept the fact that his wound was worse than he expected. 'So the regeneration can't fix GN particles if they get in you?' He also remembered the strange image of red GN particles floating near the barrel of the gun Ali was using. 'When did he get that? Why would he have that? I wonder how a gun like that could even be made.'

Setsuna's resisted showing his reaction to the revelation. 'Ali and Ribbons must have planned to kill me and take the 00 with me dead. And if they didn't, then these particles would mess me up.' He shook his head, moving away from the thought. He would ask Anew more details after this crisis was over.

Setsuna looked at his suit that was hanging up and back at his fiancé, "Feldt, help me get into my pilot suit. We need to launch as soon as possible."

Feldt nodded, a determined look on her face, "Alright. Do you think Ms. Sumeragi and my mom will be ok with this?"

Setsuna's lips made a grim line, "They will have to be. We have no other options now that we are on Earth."

Feldt gave him a grin, "Let's do this then." Setsuna nodded in agreement and as Feldt helped him suit up, Setsuna hoped that they weren't too late.

Feldt

Feldt narrowed her eyes as she focused up. The 00 had just been launched and Feldt knew she was headed into a combat zone. Sumeragi had agreed that Setsuna and Feldt would use the trans-am raiser in order to destroy the second Memento Mori. 'I find it funny the big weapon of this suit is just a giant beam saber. It's too perfect for Setsuna.' As the ship disappeared behind them, descending back to the surface, she felt a shudder as the 0 Raiser joined up with the 00, her display showing the link was working properly. A channel opened up on her central display, Setsuna's face showing an even look, "Everything is all good. The raiser sword is operational."

Feldt nodded, "Understood." She gave him a confident grin, "Let's destroy that station." She began to push the 00 Raiser out of the atmosphere, aiming to get it to low Earth orbit.

He grinned back, "Looks like you are an angel in more than one way."

She blushed but smiled at that, "I suppose the 00 is my sword, isn't it?" Setsuna chuckled at that, but focused up, keeping an eye on the sensors. As the suit entered orbit, the Memento Mori loomed above them, the large, gunmetal grey structure looming over the world like a sword of Damocles. Feldt could feel her nerves creeping up, a bit nervous that they didn't have any backup.

Setsuna called out to her, "Should I start the process?" Feldt nodded, knowing he meant the trans-am raiser. He continued, "Understood." The wings of the 00 Raiser turned to face the station, lining up with the Memento Mori. She kept her eyes open, hoping no enemies would appear in the process. 'That would make things easier.'

Feldt had a strange feeling in the back of her head, telling her dodge and a split second later, two orange beams came shooting past the 00, her barely dodging them. A few more followed those, but now that she had time to react, she more easily dodged those, looking up to see the beige mobile armor they had identified as the Empruss. Feldt began to fire back as the enemy machine began to fly around them, both sides having troubles hitting the other, pink and orange blasts going across the battefield. 'This enemy pilot is good. They must be an innovator.' She winced looking back for a split second. 'Also I hope this piloting isn't too rough on Setsuna's injury.'

As the two exchanged fire, Feldt began to almost be able to predict where the enemy was shooting. This was unlike just simple training. It felt like superhuman reflexes, the enemy moves being a split second slower. 'What is going on? Why is this happening? Is this why Setsuna was able to fight Ali so well despite his arm being injured? Does the 00 have something to do with this?' The 00 Raiser had been a strange machine, pushing many boundaries that no one expected. First it pushed way beyond Celestial Being's theoretical limits, then it brought her and Setsuna to that strange pastel dimension and finally had even teleported. She would have to talk with Setsuna about this after this battle. She needed to understand why all of this was happening. 'Could it be…changing us?'

But back in the fight, Feldt narrowly dodged two large hooks that shot out of the shoulders of the Empruss, electricity travelling along the wire that attached the hooks to the machine. 'Thank god I dodged that!' And just as she dodged the attack, Setsuna chimed in, "The raiser sword is ready!" Feldt nodded and aimed the wings right up at the station, anger welling up in her. Ominously, the stations laser was glowing bright white, and Feldt could tell it was almost ready to fire. 'Just in time! We have to save all the people in the station and on the planet!' She had been told the projections if the elevator was destroyed was not good, so she would keep that from happening.

"Trans-am raiser!" A large pink beam shot out from between the wings, jetting towards the enemy station. The empress put up its GN field to try to block the blast, but the beam cut through it after a second, slicing a third of the machine off, as the rest of it was blown off, smoke coming off of it as it was sent flying. The beam continued forward, hitting near the top of the station, getting stuck in the super structure of the weapon.

Feldt began to force the 00 Raiser to move, pushing it further down to move the beam coming from the wings further into the station, hoping to stop it from firing. She could feel the station resisting her, trying to stop this. 'But it won't!' The large beam sliced through more and more of the station, explosions following in the wake of the destruction that was being caused. She could see the beam was beginning to wane as it reached near the laser dish, finally stopping right above it. More explosions began to erupt in the Memento Mori, the damage the trans-am raiser did being immense.

Feldt grinned confidently, "We did it!"

Setsuna's face told another story, "It's still firing!" Feldt's face turned to shock and horror as the laser dish released all the energy it was holding, a beam of pure white colliding with the elevator, blowing away the panels and structure of something that took humanity several decades to construct. 'No! There are still people up there!' A large smoke cloud surrounded the area of destruction, obscuring the two meister's view. Debris from the elevator began to fall to Earth, something that she didn't know if everyone down there was ready for.

Feldt immediately jumped into action, rapidly descending back to the surface. They needed to stop all the debris falling down onto the planet. Setsuna called out to her desperately, "Attack at 6 o'clock!" She dodged out of the way to see an orange blast shoot past them, hitting one of the panels falling to the planet.

Feldt angrily turned around to see the Empruss floating slowly behind them, clearly crippled being hit by the raiser sword. It was smoking and sparks jumped off it. It was clearly on its last legs and that was its last desperate attack to try to get the 00 Raiser. She called out angrily to it, "Stop getting in the way!" She sent two blasts from the swords blasters at it, both of them hitting center mass, right on the cockpit. The machine sparked for a second before coming apart in a cloud of red GN particles, leaving the 00 Raiser alone. Feldt's lips were a think line as the once again rushed back towards the planet, hoping someone was ready to deal with what was about to happen. 'Hopefully the Federation isn't stupid enough to keep fighting right now. We need all hands on deck to deal with this.'

Feldt and Setsuna sat in their room, all the debris from the tower finally destroyed. It was a horrifying event, but everyone had come together to fight off the falling debris, saving millions of lives. Many had sacrificed their lives on all sides. It had made Feldt to be proud to be human. Both Feldt and Setsuna were exhausted, physically and mentally. Destroying everything had taken hours, but now most of CB had gone back to the ship, the only exceptions being Allelujah and Marie, who had used the GN Archer during the whole tower event.

Setsuna had been looked at and bandaged up, and told to check up in the morning for a regeneration treatment. Setsuna laid his head on Feldt's lap, and she lazily ran her hands though his hair. He looked up at her, smiling, "You did a good job out there." Both of them were just wearing their uniform pants and black undershirt, which Feldt always enjoyed how it showed off how good a shape her fiancé was in.

Her expression shifted to a frown, "But I couldn't stop the Memento Mori from firing. I should have aimed lower. I could have hit the dish that fired the laser. All of this is-"

Setsuna put a finger on her lips, "No, it's not. You couldn't have known it would fire that fast. You did the best you could and sometimes things don't go the way you want. The only person who's fault it is, is the A-Laws." He smiled warmly at her, "I am proud of you."

"You are probably right." She responded with a bittersweet smile, "I certainly had a good teacher. Couldn't have done it without you. "

Setsuna blushed and looked away, which caused Feldt's heart to fill with warmth. He still was a bit awkward about compliments, which made her smile. She planted a kiss on his cheek, happy he was here right beside her. She looked off at the door, a thought from a few hours ago coming to her mind, "Hey Setsuna, could you weirdly predict Ali's attacks when you fought him recently?"

Setsuna sat up from her lap, looking at her in surprise, "What do you mean?" She could tell he was genuinely confused, so she sighed.

"When I was fighting the innovator, I just felt almost like a…sixth sense which helped me dodge some of the attacks. And it kind of reminded me of when we were fighting Ali. So maybe you felt something similar?" It wasn't like she was desperate to know, but it would be comforting to know that she wasn't alone in this.

Setsuna looked at her thoughtfully, "Hmmm…That does kind of sound like what happened with Ali. I could almost sense when the drones Ali used were shooting at me. I was surprised that I was doing so well despite being injured." He looked at his hands, "It felt…strange."

"I guess it kind of reminds me of the super soldiers and what they do? And they mentioned something about quantum brainwaves?" Feldt looked at him, pursing her lip, "Do you think any of this had to do with the 00? After what has happened in it so far, it doesn't seem too illogical?" Feldt began shaking nervously, the thought of them "changing" creating a knot in her stomach.

Setsuna put a hand on her knee, "Maybe we are changing. But you are I are still…well us. We can figure this out together." He brought her in for a quick kiss, smiling as he broke it, "I don't know what we are in for or maybe we are imagining this." His eyes filled with a bit of doubt and confusion, "For all we know what is happening to us is part of Aeolia's plan. He did give us the 00 and a lot of our success has been based on it. Maybe us changing is for the good of the future."

She laid his head on his shoulder, hiding her frown near his pulse point, "It's all so much and I just can't-"

Setsuna put a finger on her lips, "I think both of us need to get some rest. That was a stressful battle. We can talk about this when both of us have more energy."

Feldt nodded shyly, happiness blooming in her chest. 'I am so lucky I have him.' She rested her hand on top of the one that Setsuna was putting on her leg, intertwining their fingers, "Yeah, you are probably right. It has been a long day." As the two got into bed, he pulled her close, the redhead resting at his side, content smile on her face. She didn't know what would happen next, but her, Setsuna and the rest of Celestial Being would figure it out. 'And whatever is happening to us.'

She could hear Setsuna breathing steadily next to her and she kissed him on the forehead, happy he was in one piece. She blushed happily, knowing he would be her husband soon. 'It's me and him.'

Marlene

Marlene sat at her desk, unable to sleep. The image of the collapsing elevator was burned into her mind. She had grown up wanting to explore space and the orbital elevator had been an inspiring image that showed the future of humanity. And while that had certainly soured, leading to the modern her, it was something that had never left her mind. And now one of them were gone. 'All because people obsessed with control and power wanted to get rid of witnesses to their crimes.'

She balled her fist in anger. 'How could someone be willing to sacrifice millions of people to hide their dark history?! We certainly aren't innocent, but we didn't try to kill millions of people to keep our power.' She had hoped the A-Laws had even a sliver of humanity, but they showed no hesitation in destroying a structure that took humanity decades to construct. More than ever, she wanted to defeat the innovators, to make sure nothing like this ever happened.

She hoped all the people who died at least were in a better place, away from the oppressive control the current world had. It was the least they deserved. The blonde knew the Federation would claim it was done by the coup forces and terrorist, but she had to wonder how many people actually bought the idea. 'There must be something that people would find suspicious. Why would the coup blow up the elevator? Wouldn't they want it for the use of everyone after they overthrew the government?'

Marlene let out a sigh, knowing Veda would cover up everything. Word of mouth would only go so far. The best bet for Celestial Being was a faction of the Federation revolting against the government or at least the A-Laws. 'Maybe a few of the A-Laws thought they went too far.' Marlene shook her head at that. They couldn't rely on any of that. So as far as she could tell, it was up to Celestial Being to defeat the innovators. 'And Setsuna is injured too, which isn't helping.'

She would have to talk to Sumeragi about future plans and how they would even defeat the innovators. They still needed to find their base in order to land a finishing blow and no one had any idea where that was. The crew wasn't exactly in the best mood. Tieria had seemed frustrated with everything, Lyle was quietly raging at the event, especially the Federation and A-Laws. Allelujah had been hit by the double wammy of this event and Soma taking over. So to say that the crew was stressed was an understatement. And on top of all this, there was a wedding to plan. 'So much going on. But maybe a wedding would be a nice distraction after the horror of today.'

Author Note

And that's chapter 12! I hope you guys enjoyed Feldt piloting and the drama! I'll see you guys next week and please review, comment, etc.!