Interlude 9: Ordinary lives (written by EvaUnit01 aka Gundam Kaiser)

"Rachel Kenton," the brunette with the microphone introduced herself, "reporting live from Tokyo."

The woman facing the camera was a Britannian with the beginnings of a decent suntan, dark brown hair verging on black that went down to her shoulders, and was dressed in more casual attire than might have typically been expected of a reporter.

But then, it wasn't typical for most reporters to be standing in the middle of an urban wasteland. Jeans, protective footwear, and a sensible jacket over a t-shirt were perfectly acceptable for such an environment.

"As you can see all around me," she began while gesturing to her surroundings, cameraman working in tandem with her, "much of the area is still stained with a reddish hue; leftovers from the terrorist Zero's psychological attack prior to the battle. Leading Britannian chemical scientists in the Area have been studying the scene extensively since the battle's conclusion, and have assured us that the scarlet residue is completely harmless to human life. One HAZMAT officer in particular was quoted as saying, it's about as dangerous as food coloring is."

In the background and just barely within the camera's frame of view, a guy stripped halfway out of his HAZMAT protective suit gave the camera a thumbs-up and a wave, as if calling out to his mother that he made it on TV.

Leading her cameraman through the disaster zone, she continued, "Currently, we're standing in the center of the area of effect from Zero's superweapon that he fired at the start of the battle. As you can see, entire buildings have been pulverized to dust, and the streets themselves are so torn up that nonspecialized vehicular transport through the carnage is all but impossible."

Despite the hazardous terrain, however, Rachel was nimble and agile enough to make traversing it look almost easy.

"Statistics regarding the battle are still coming in and are expected to be under analysis through the whole of next week, but a spokesman of the Viceroy's office has suggested that current conservative estimates for civilian casualties from Zero's superweapon alone are well into the tens of thousands, as a total that includes Britannians, Honoraries, and Elevens."

As Rachel leads her cameraman into a more intact portion of the city, she continues, "Since many of Tokyo's Britannian economic centers were in other districts less affected by the fighting, however, current projections are that most of the financial hardship in the coming weeks will be felt most keenly by Elevens and Honorary Britannians."

Narrowing her eyes, she adds, "For all his talk of being a savior for the downtrodden, it seems that in reality Zero has no significant care or regard of who his actions and megalomania will hit the hardest; yet another mark against the infamous false prophet."

Though Rachel's demeanor overall remains that of a professional journalist, her eyes and the tone of her voice suggest a more personal degree of concern and anger than is usually seen from Britannian news media. Honestly, she thought, even if the office has kept me tied up worse than that weird shibari stuff you're into, you could at least call me back and leave a message or something. Rei...!

"As for the terrorist himself," she continues with a shake of her head, "it has been observed that his stolen Knightmare prototype crashed during the battle. However, military intelligence is still surveying much of the area, and a statement as to whether the terrorist is presumed dead or on the run with the remnants of his organization is expected later this afternoo-"

As Rachel had been speaking, she was turning away from the camera to watch where she was going, and had abruptly stopped moving as she saw something.

Just as Rachel's cameraman was about to ask what had happened, the reporter's eyes grew wide with alarm, and she started running to the remains of a destroyed building.

"Rachel, what the-?!"

As she came to the rubble, she stopped and fell to her knees, picking something up. As the cameraman caught up with Rachel, the object in question came into view: a hand-sewn doll, now covered in dirt and ragged enough that it was only vaguely recognizable as depicting Princess Euphemia. That it had survived the recent battle at all could almost be considered a miracle.

"...wait, isn't that -"

"I made it for Tessa's birthday last year," she absently explained. "She never goes anywhere without it, because Princess Euphemia makes her feel safer."

However, as Rachel turned the doll over in her hands, she saw the back was caked with a dark red, long since having seeped in and dried.

As the woman's eyes widened and started looking around, what she found next was, unfortunately, caught on camera: mangled almost beyond recognition was the arm of a young child.

Trembling in disbelief, Rachel crawled over to what remained of her daughter's arm and found it long cold.

"Tessa...!"

Screaming up at the sky in grief, there was no trace of the former journalist - in her place was a heartbroken mother.

"...why?"

The cameraman was about to stop recording and send broadcast priority back to the studio, when he got an order in his radio earpiece to keep filming. Though uncomfortable with doing so, the cameraman ultimately couldn't risk his job, and so brought his friend's heartbreak and grief perfectly into focus for the viewing public.

"Princess Euphemia, why?! We trusted you, loved you! My daughter loved you, we all did! So why?!"

Staring into the camera lens as if somehow expecting an answer to come from it, Rachel screamed, "Why did you abandon us for the monster who caused all of this?! For a madman who tears our families apart at the seams - who laughs as he murders our children?!"

Later that night and in the coming days, this footage would be re-used and repurposed for propaganda purposes, with some cuts having the sound of Zero's diabolical laughter or even his visage edited into the background, juxtaposed against scenes of urban carnage and the screams of slaughtered innocents.

Slowly, like turning the pages of a comic, Rachel's sorrow began morphing into rage.

"You... you bastard! You cause all this bloodshed and destruction... so many people would still be alive, would still be happy if it weren't for you! And even though you cause all this suffering, you still have the balls to say you fight for justice?! DAMN YOU BACK TO THE HELL YOU CAME FROM, ZERO!"

At that point, someone in production finally cut the feed and brought it back to the studio.

That night, Rachel Kenton noticed a text from her husband, which her phone dated almost two days before. "...I don't understand," she murmured in confusion. "Why didn't this show up earlier?"

[私たちの娘を守ります] I'll protect our daughter.

...after several seconds of staring at the screen, she sobbed out a single, broken word. "...liar."

The next morning, Rachel quit the press corps and found another job with the military.