This is something I wished more people and fans could have done, but this is a fanfic centered around XBLAZE, a Visual Novel Spin-Off/Prequel to the BlazBlue Series of fighting games.
So, for anyone who hasn't played or seen Let's Plays of XBLAZE - Code: Embryo and XBLAZE - Lost: Memories, please know there will be massive end game spoilers.
I hope you'll all enjoy this story.
Prologue
Shin Yokosaki City. A small port city that is centered in Japan. It appears to be a rather normal city in the year 2050 and if you spoke to someone about what makes this city unique and they tell you that it is for it's many harbor ports and it's bustling commercial district, they would be right.
However, it was also known for a great tragedy known as the Wadatsumi Incident, which resulted in the disappearances of 3000 people, which is publicly known to some degree. But there are two things the general public doesn't know about; the existence of unique and dangerous beings known as Drive Unions, humans with mysterious crystal like tumors that possess supernatural powers and the Gates of Sheol, a well containing limitless amounts of power, known as Seithr.
There is a group dedicated to the capture, treatment and in dire cases, the termination of Unions. This group is known the Mitsurugi Agency. However recently, the members of Sleipnir, the Mitsurugi Agency's elite soldiers, have some time ago defeated a dangerous Union know as Freaks. The battle was difficult for two of it's most prominent members; Touya Kagari, Sleipnir's strongest soldier and Mei Amanohokosaka, Sleipnir's commander. Even two of Ishana's most talented mages in training, Kuon Glamred Stroheim and Elise von Klagen, couldn't help out much in that battle.
The reason for this hard earned victory was due to the efforts of a mysterious girl known as Es, who was once part of this world before she disappeared with the Embryo to protect this world, erasing the memories of her loved ones in the process. With her help, they were able to defeat the evil Freaks, who happened to be the infamous serial killer Ripper in his reanimated corpse, permanently killing him by destroying the Union Crystal in his eye. At the same time, Kiri, a young man who's personality was given life in Ripper's body, after having been tragically manipulated and possessed by Freaks, was also saved and is currently undergoing treatment and rehabilitation at the Shin Yokosaki Hospital.
Sometime after this incident, Es revealed to Touya and Mei about who she was and filled in the blanks in their memories. In due time, Touya and Mei, along with everyone else that Es is close with, slowly but surely regained their memories of Es and with some help from Mei, Es has returned to Hakuo North Academy once again as 'Es Mitsurugi', this time as an actual student and has rejoined the Mitsurugi Agency in it's Sleipnir Unit. Around the same time, Mei has started up a new organization along with Touya and Es with the goal of draining the seithr out of the other Gates of Sheol in order to prevent another terrible tragedy like the Wadatsumi Incident from occurring. Having received report from another branch of the Mitsurugi Agency about a located Gate of Sheol in the Magister's City of Ishana and with Spring Break fast approaching, along with new Union threats in Shin Yokosaki City being close to zero, Mei believed this now to be a good time for her, Touya and Es to travel to Ishana to start their new mission.
However, for Es, she still had some things to do before she can take the next step in her life. When it comes to fighting Unions, dangerous mages, homicidal serial killers and deranged mad scientists, that was child's play for Es. But when it comes to matters of the heart however, that is a different story...
Hakuo North Academy [Year: 2051]
The school day has recently come to an end and it is time for the students to head home, go to their part time jobs or just hang out with their friends. At the front of the gate entrance is Es Mitsurugi, a second year student at the Academy as she is waiting for her friends, Touya, Hinata, Mei and Akira to meet up with her. Es is known for her short height, braided blonde hair complete with an Ahoge, large breasts, and vibrant amber eyes on top of her being polite, soft spoken and respectful to both the teachers and her fellow students. These cute physical traits and her humble personality have made Es a popular and recognizable student, to the point that some boys have tried to ask her out on dates a couple times ever sense her transfer. Es would always respectfully decline their offers, not that she enjoyed doing so. This is due to the fact her heart had already been won by another person.
What they didn't know about her is that she is a highly skilled member of the Mitsurugi Agency's Sleipnir Combat Unit. Once upon a time, Es was an artificial life form created by Soichiro Unomaru for the sole purpose of containing the Embryo in his quest to ensure world peace by brainwashing everyone on Earth and taking away their free will. Es' time spent with her new found friends allowed her to develop her emotions and helped her break free of Unomaru's oppressive thumb. After Sechs, a former member of the Ten Sages, slayed Unomaru, Es inherited the Embryo from Hinata and with Touya's help, was able to defeat him. Es would than dissappear from the world along with erasing everyone's memories to ensure the Embryo would never threaten the world again and to spare everyone the heartbreak of never seeing her again.
It was thanks to the help of a special friend from a Parallel Timeline, that Es was able to return to her world and ultimately save her friends from Freaks. Becuase of what was needed to send Es back, she is now a normal human, no longer needing special treatment to keep herself alive, although she is no longer as strong as she was before. Not that this bothered her too much, of course. Even so, only her friends know about her actual job in the Mitsurugi Agency. Her cover story is that she works at a store with Touya and Mei.
"They're taking quite a while. I wonder if something came up?" Es noted, as the others usually didn't take so long to meet up at the School Gate, but after a minute or two, the rest of her friends started to walk up to where Es is waiting at. She took a good look of everyone as they were discussing something.
The girl with the long purple hair is Mei Amanohokosaka, the current Shrine Maiden of the Amanohokosaka Clan and is also Es' current commanding officer in Sleipnir. Aside from that, she is Es' best friend, primarily due to Mei always looking out for Es' well being, especially during their time under Unomaru's command and after the incident with Freaks, helping Es transfer back into school and all. She is the only one in their group of friends to be a first year, which is shown through the blue ribbon on her school uniform compared to the red ribbon second year students have. Mei is known for being a "tsundere" as some people have called her, much to her annoyance. Even so, despite trying too hard to be mature, which makes her come off as rude as a result unfortunately, she is without a doubt a good person who just wants to be close and open with everyone.
The girl with brown hair and green rimmed glasses is Hinata Himezuru, the youngest sibling between herself and her older sister, Yuki, who happens to be a doctor at Shin Yokosaki Hospital. During Es' time with the Himezuru family before she "disappeared" from the world, Hinata treated Es like a little sister and was pivotal in teaching Es what it means to be a family, even if they aren't related by blood. Needless to say that when Hinata regained her memories of Es, she tearfully pulled the Azure Maiden into an intense hug for a good five minutes, showing Es that it was not pleasant to have your back popped and to be suffocated at the same time.
Hinata mostly does the chores around the Himezuru Residence, cooking and cleaning included, as the de facto head of the household due to Yuki's long shift hours at her job, but Hinata doesn't mind it as she actually enjoys doing chores. Unlike the others, she can't fight (unless a ghost terrifies her, as Touya and Akira can attest to), but is a great pillar of support to everyone around her. Ever sense the Embryo Incident, Hinata is studying to become a nurse into order to help Yuki and her friends.
The boy with the orange hair is Akira Kamewari, a second year student at the Academy and is Touya's best friend. Usually light hearted, Akira is the pure definition of an average high school student, sense he enjoys playing video games, making jokes and hanging out with his friends. Akira was born as the son to a rich family, but sense they work overseas, he learned to take care of himself, although he receives a steady income of money from his parents to support himself. Akira has been good friends with Touya and Hinata sense childhood, thus the three of them know each other better than anyone else in the school, even to the point of Akira becoming best friends with Touya and developing romantic feelings for Hinata.
During the Embryo Incident, back when Es only followed orders, she had tried to kill Hinata along with Acht, one of the Ten Sages who went rogue and held Hinata captive at the time, to protect Touya from the former Ten Sage, but Akira, was turned into a Union, stopped Es from doing so in what would be their first battle. Near the end of their second battle, Touya made sure that Es and Akira didn't kill each other and even managed to talk Akira down, prompting him to tear out his own Drive Crystal, making him the first and so far only person to survive his status as a Union and is once again a normal human. As a result of this, Akira has decided to study hard and become a doctor in order to help out other people after being saved by Yuki and seeing her work, greatly respecting and looking up to her.
Es has sense regretted endangering Hinata's life back than, so when Akira's memories came back, Es deeply apologized to him in regards to her thoughtless actions that night. However, instead of being angry as Es was expecting, Akira, after seeing how much she really cared about Hinata and that she truly regretted her actions, playfully punched her in the arm and said they were cool, calling it even and forgiving Es. With that, they are on good terms once again, with Es even supporting Akira's feelings for Hinata and wished him the best in his studies.
The boy with brown hair is without a doubt the most important person in Es' life, Touya Kagari, who also happens to be Yuki and Hinata's adopted brother. Touya was originally thought to have been nothing more than an average high school student, but his whole life changed when it was discovered that he had the Original Grimoire, a powerful artifact. At least that is what it appeared to be; after Es told Mei and Touya about her past, they explained something new to her that she never knew before. Touya is actually a physical manifestation of the Original Grimoire, taking the original Touya's physical form after his tragic death. Despite all this, he was still Touya to Es regardless of his origins.
Touya is the main reason why Es now lives for herself, to not blindly follow orders her whole life until she died. He, along with the others, taught her how to feel emotions, to bond with other people and most importantly, taught her the value of her own life and to value the lives of others. Touya never saw Es as a weapon or a tool, he ultimately saw her for who she truly is; a girl with her own emotions and thoughts, regardless if she was human or not. It's that pure kindness, a selfless desire to protect others and accepting people for who they are regardless of their origins that made the Azure Maiden fall in love with him.
"Sigh..." Es let out blissfully, before regaining herself and shaking her head as they were slowly coming up. Es noticed that she's been off in her own world a little bit lately. Even when she realized her feelings for Touya, she always remained calm and composed when in his presence, but sometime after Kuon and Elise's last visit when they were searching for Ringo Akagi, who is actually Zwei of the Ten Sages, Es began experiencing these strange and uncontrolled moments of being in complete bliss, just by looking at him. Initially, it only happend about once a month, but ever sense Winter Vaction on December 20th last year, it started to become more frequent, with this recent emotional lapse being the sixth time it happened in the month of February. Perhaps it was the result of her becoming fully human physically or maybe she was going through something else mentally. Needless to say, this troubled her as she didn't want to look weird or come off as "creepy" in front of Touya, regardless if they were alone and ESPECIALLY if they are with the others.
Out of all the emotions Es learned about, she never once asked anyone, not even Yuki, what it is like to fall in love with another person. She knew what it is like to have something you love. Es recalled the times when she first tried Pudding, both during the Embryo Incident and the Freaks Incident. It's sweet flavor and fluffy texture made her happy, with it becoming her favorite food. However, that was something she enjoyed though and it is not a person she could interact with as Es knew better than to play with her food or to even speak to an inanimate object. This did however, allow her to contextualize her happiness with Pudding and understand other emotions better as she asked the others what they meant, including joy, sadness and anger.
To be romantically in love with someone was something alien to her. Es knew that humans reproduce and create families by forming intimate relationships if the anime she watched on a Sunday Cartoon Block was proof enough. She recalled in a season finale episode of a Super Hero Show she watched that the female lead confessed her feelings to the male lead and they put their lips together, forming what people call a "kiss". Despite this, Es never bothered or even considered asking anyone about this at all. Maybe if she had talked to someone, like Mei or Yuki, perhaps Es would've understood this emotion a lot sooner. She remembered at the end of the Embryo Incident, specifically when she parted ways with Touya, when she finally understood what love meant...
White Void in the Boundary [One year ago]
After Touya had successfully slain Sechs, he reappeared in the White Void within the Boundary, where Es, now empowered by the Embryo as evidenced by her amber eyes now a bright blue, awaited.
"Welcome back, Touya." Es greeted him as he arrived.
"Thanks, Es." Touya replied back as he was greatful for her aid. Although he would have to live with taking Sechs' life for the rest of his life, he remained firm in living with this one sin he committed in order to protect the ones he cares about.
"The current Sechs has returned to the Boundary. The distortions of the past have been erased and the future can now unfold." Es stated. Thanks to sending Touya to an earlier point in time and due to the side effects of Sechs' Legacy Weapon, Sword of Destruction: Kusanagi, which causes his existence in every timeline to be affected. As a result, Sechs' plan to return the world to Seithr has been foiled when Touya destroyed Sechs' Drive Crystal when he was at his weakest in the 'first' timeline, which in turn caused Sechs in every timeline, including his current self in the present, to perish.
"So... was I able to protect it...?" Touya asked back, wondering if they succeeded or not.
"Yes, you managed to protect everything... as I knew you would..." Es said, showing her full faith and trust in Touya. Although Es was saddened that she made Touya take a life as she did with the Unions many times, she was also happy that she was able to help protect everyone she held dear too, including him. After a moment of silence passed...
"All right... let's go home, Es." Touya said in relief as he was ready to return to his friends and family where he, Es and everyone else can now live in peace. However, Es remained silent, as if she was hesitant. Ever sense obtaining the Embryo from Hinata and after using it's powers, Es knew she can't go back with Touya.
"What's the matter?" Touya asked out of concern to his friend.
"Touya... I cannot return." Es said as her heart sank, knowing this hurt her very much to say this.
"What are you talking about?! We have to get out of this place!" Touya exclaimed, not understanding what Es meant, as those words hurt him in a way he never felt before.
"No. If I return, it will create a new distortion phenomenon." Es regrettably said, as she knew Touya wouldn't want her to be left behind in this empty void.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Touya shouted, as he felt something heavy in his own heart start to take root.
"It was something I learned by coming into contact with the Azure..." Es said, as she recalled when she came in contact with the Master Unit, a glowing ball of blue light. That was how Es knew about Sechs' twisted plot as well as the true nature of the Embryo's powers.
"The Embryo... is a threat to the world, and cannot exist within it. Should it return to reality, it'd cause more distortions." Es said, knowing the dangers that this power has.
"And there is no way for me to know if the resulting phenomenon will be good or bad. But... it has no place in the real world." Es sadly stated. She and everyone else have been through multiple timelines with different outcomes with only Sechs knowing about it due to the Kusanagi. How many timelines they went through, she didn't know, but Es knew that if the future is to unfold and not be stuck in a potential time loop again, the Embryo needs to dissappear, even if it meant... she'd needed to dissappear with it too...
"What... how can that..." Touya let out weakly, as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was Es really...?
"So what this means is... goodbye..." Es said with deep sorrow. If there was one thing she regretted outside of taking the lives of Unions, was that she was leaving everyone behind to protect them. Mei, Kuon, Elise, Hinata, Yuki, Akira... and Touya... her beloved friends, the people who became her family.
"Es, wait! You can't leave me now...!" Touya yelled, feeling his heart break from hearing this. He didn't want her to leave. He needed her, just as much as she needed him. But why did he feel this way? And why now of all times?
"Touya..." Es said, deeply wishing she could stay with everyone, including him. She than thought about everything she could have done with everyone, even if, due to being an artificial being, her life span would not be as long as the others. She viewed herself going to school with everyone and having a good time. She even viewed herself and Touya being on bad terms like the time when Es endangered Hinata's life. But even so, she wanted to experience what life had to offer... with him.
"I was hoping we could stay together... forever..." Touya said as he tried to fight back tears, even as some began to escape from his eyes. It was then Touya realized that after spending so much time with Es, getting to know her, teaching her so many new things, supporting her when she needed it, and seeing how much she changed for the better, becoming so much more than what Unomaru had intended for her, he had fallen in love with her.
It was than Es understood herself, why she felt so different around Touya. She too realized that because Touya stood by her side, showing her kindness, giving her support and accepting her not as a tool, but as another living person, that Es developed great affection for Touya. She finally knew what it meant to entrust her heart to another person... to love.
Walking up to Touya, Es stood on her tip-toes, closed her eyes and pressed her lips with Touya's. Touya's eyes opened slightly in surprise for a moment before he relaxed, closing his eyes and returning Es' gesture, the two embracing each other with their arms. Even though they didn't say those three words to each other, they allowed the warmth and feelings of thier first kiss to let the other know how much they meant to one another, hoping this one moment would last for eternity...
"Es..." Touya said as they parted and let go of their embrace, with Es staring back at him with the most serene smile as tears began to form in her eyes as well.
"Everything will be all right... When you wake up... you'll have forgotten all about me." Es said as her voice began to crack in sadness, as she decided to erase the memory of herself from him and everyone else, so they wouldn't be saddened by her disappearance and spend so much time trying to free her from this fate that they would forgo their own lives. As long as everyone lived their lives, even when Touya found someone else to love one day, she was content with that. Es knew that, even for a short while, she had truly lived and was ready to watch over them from the Boundary.
"No, I don't want that! Es! Wait!" Touya said as everything around became filled with static. He didn't want to forget her. He didn't want to lose his memories of her. He knew he couldn't stop it, but even so he wanted to hope that she wouldn't go through with this.
"Goodbye... dearest one." Es said with a smile on her face, her tears finally dropping as she vanished into the White Void, leaving behind a blue light that enveloped everything, including Touya.
"ESSSSSSSS!" Touya shouted for her one final time as he was sent back to the real world. After that, Es created the The World of Tsukuyomi to seal the gate, closing it off from the real world and with that, fell into a deep slumber, with only her memories of Touya and her friends filling her dreams.
Hakuo North Academy [Present]
Es closed her eyes, deep in thought as she remembered that memory, which is laced with both happiness and sorrow. After that, she would later go through difficult trials to get where she is now. From witnessing Touya, Mei, Kuon and Elise's death at the hands of Freaks, to throwing away her own memories to escape the heartbreak of a tragedy she couldn't stop while in the Boundary, becoming the entity known as "Nobody" in the process, with all of it culminating in being brought back to her own world thanks to her friend she made in the Phantom Field, a pink haired girl she only knew as "Me". It was thanks to her that she was able to save everyone from Freaks, even though Es lost her memories initially. Es can only hope things were going well for her friend from another Possibility, a world whose timeline branched off from her own world's timeline at some point, most likely with the Wadatsumi Incident being the branching point.
At that point, Es began to think that sense everyone's memories were coming back over the school year, she wondered if Touya began to remember that exact moment too.
"Es-chan?" Said a soft feminine voice, echoing in Es' ears. However, she didn't listen.
'I wonder...?' Es thought.
"Yo, Es?" Said a calm boy voice, which again echoed in Es' ears. But again, she wasn't paying attention.
'... if Touya...' Es continued to wonder.
"Hey, Es!" Shouted another female voice, which came in loud and somewhat clear in Es' ears. Despite that, Es want to finish her thought.
'...remembers it by now too...' Es finished her thoughts, wondering if Touya has recalled that memory too.
"Es! Is something wrong!? Can you hear us!?" Shouted the voice of another boy. This time, Es heard it very loud and clear as she eyes snapped open, coming out of her deep thinking. It was then Es noticed that Touya, Hinata, Akira and Mei were standing in front of her trying to get her attention as she was deep in thought and couldn't hear them.
"W-what?" Es stuttered as she was caught off guard by her friends startling her.
"Erm... I-I'm sorry for shouting like that Es. Are you okay?" Touya apologized for raising his voice at her. He only did so because Es tuned everyone else out and it worried him.
"Oh, that's okay. I'm sorry I didn't notice you and the others. I was just... thinking about something..." Es mentioned. Technically, she wasn't wrong as she was thinking about what happened a year ago, but she didn't feel the need to mention it, especially with Mei, Hinata and Akira there.
"Oh geez Es, you had me worried for a moment when you didn't respond to us." Mei criticized Es for being out of focus, but Es knew Mei meant well.
"Well, we all have moments when we're deep in thought, right?" Hinata replied, as she understood that this kind of thing happens to the best of everyone.
"Y-yes, it does Hinata. But Mei made a point that I should have replied back when you came up to me. I apologize for worrying all of you." Es apologized as she bowed for worrying everyone.
"Hey, there's no need to feel bad Es. It's like Hinata said, it happens to everyone." Akira said, as there were instances he zones out himself sometimes.
"By the way, if you don't mind me asking? Normally you usually arrive here around 4:00 after we do after-school clubs and activities, but it is 4:35 right now." Es questioned the others for their unusual tardiness.
"Well about that, let's just say that certain SOMEONE misplaced his phone on campus during the lunch period." Mei mentioned as she glared at Akira for doing something so childish as forgetting to pick up his phone after showing them some music videos on it.
"H-hey, I said I was sorry. It slipped my mind." Akira said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. After spending the next 30 minutes looking for his misplaced phone, they found it on his desk. Most likely a random student found his phone and placed it on his desk so he can find it. Akira felt bad though as now he didn't know who to thank for the kind gesture and also because he dragged his friends all around campus to find it. Regardless, Akira doesn't use his phone just for fun stuff, he needed it to call his friends and family. Additionally, some of his notes to help in his studies as a doctor were on that phone and he needed to hammer that info into his head if he wanted to take the Medical College Admission Test someday.
"Well, at least we found it. Hopefully when we see the person who brought your phone to the desk, you can thank them then." Hinata replied, not aware of the fact that they don't know who brought the phone back to Akira's desk. Well, it's the thought that counts at least.
"Anyway, now that we're all here, let's head on down to the market and pick up what we need for dinner tonight." Touya said as everyone agreed, including Mei, as Hinata invited her over to dinner. Yuki was also coming home tonight as it was one of the few precious moments she gets some time off from working at the Hospital.
As they headed to the marketplace, Es knew she needed to talk to someone about these concerning emotional slip ups. On top of that, she and Touya had the WHOLE school year to talk about their relationship and they have not made even a single step in regards to that. Whenever Es tried to talk about it to Touya or when Touya wanted to talk to her, either a new Union shows up or some other inconvenient moment interferes with it and they just drop it, although Es wished that she or Touya at least said something.
As it was Friday night, Es knew that as usual, she will be spending the weekend at Mei's place once again. Due to Mei living by herself at her home, with only the caretaking staff coming around now and than, Es decided that while she'll be living at Touya and Hinata's place from Monday to Friday, she'll spend the Weekend at Mei's place to give her some company now and than. It was an arrangement Es made as she wanted to repay Mei for always looking out for her and to make sure thr Shrine Maiden didn't feel lonely. Whenever they spent time together during the weekend, they would watch or talk about anime, read manga, play a few video games Mei owned and listen to the Official Soundtracks of anime, games or movies. They even engage with Kuon and Elise over Mei's video chat on her laptop. Essentially, it allowed Es and Mei to have some girl time of their own and give Mei a chance to enjoy her hobbies with someone without fear of rejection (although the rest of Touya's group are okay with Mei's "secret" hobbies).
It's not just fun and games when they spend time together as the two girls would still hang out with Touya and the others during the weekend. Outside of that and the occasional Union that pops up, Es and Mei also engage in some personal training where they have friendly sparring, talk about how to get their new organization up and running, walk around the city block enjoying the peace and tranquility, relaxing together at the Outdoor Bath around Mei's home, practice something they're still trying to learn (Swimming for Es and Cooking for Mei) and even visit the makeshift grave that Es made for Mei's mother, Sui Amanohokosaka, and Touya's mother, Ryoko Kagari, a gesture that touched Mei and Touya hearts deeply.
The two girls would even talk to each other about personal issues they don't feel comfortable sharing with the others as Mei is a good confidant to Es and vice versa. That's not to say they don't trust the others, in fact, Es and Mei are more than willing to talk to Hinata about certain things, just not everything.
Es decided that when it is time to go over to Mei's house tonight, she would ask the Shrine Maiden for her advice about her current situation than. At least, Es hopes Mei will help out at least...
To be continued...
Well, here I thought this would become a one shot, but I guess a multi part story was inevitable I guess. Well, hopefully all of you enjoyed this first part. This is pretty much what I think could have happened after the events of XBLAZE Lost Memories as a third game never got made. Hopefully, this could help as a sort of continuation until Arc System Works makes an official third title.
Regardless, this will have a good amount of Es X Touya moments. I really love this pairing so much and I hope you'll all like the rest of the story when it comes out.