In the fraction of a second that Izetta realizes that the bombs went off, she puts her arms up to protect her head. But as the shockwave hits, she cries out as if a giant hammer had just slammed into her. Unable to keep her bearings, she plummets back down.

Then she smashes through a floor of the building she leapt from, causing her eyes to widen from the impact. She continues to crash through the floors, grunting heavily from the fresh waves of pain. Finally she slams into the ground, getting buried deep within it.

Her green light fizzles out as she groans and lets her arms flop. Through her laboured breathing, she can hear yelling, but her senses are still too fuzzy to make out anything clearly. As her vision starts to clear up, she can see Royal Guards surrounding her, trying to dig her out from the crater she created.

"White Agent! White Agent!" they keep calling out, "Please respond!"

Izetta gasps as her fingers clench. With an audible groan, she lifts a hand up. "I'm okay… just give me some space…"

The guards sigh in relief as they step back, hearing that the voice changer is still working. Izetta heaves as she plants her hand onto the ground, followed by her other hand. With a grunt, she pushes herself to sit up before gradually standing up. She turns around to scan the area, regathering her bearings. Then her eyes go wide.

"Is everybody okay?!" she screams as she spins around.

"Yes, thanks to you," a guard slightly bows. "You threw it so high up that we barely felt the blast. Are you sure you're okay though? The explosion hit you directly and you crashed through multiple floors."

Izetta visibly deflates. Then she looks down at her hands and slowly clenches a few times. As she is about to respond, she sees the tied-up terrorists at the corner of her eye. Many of them have their mouth agape, completely flabbergasted that the White Agent foiled their last resort and can even stand with no visible wounds. Even the scarred man is no longer smirking, for he now knows that their interrogation will begin soon.

Sucking in a deep breath, Izetta tries to calm her aching head from when she aggravated it by spun around. "…Yeah, I'm fine. What do we do next?" she asks as she brushes off the dirt on her.

"Actually, there's another mission for you. An APC is coming to pick you up now, along with some of us."

'What?!' alarms go off in Izetta's head. 'I don't want to let them know how I actually feel, but I'm running on fumes now. Can I even do another mission? No, I should be able to… I definitely don't want the terrorists to know that they can hurt me…' Taking a hard swallow, Izetta nods, "Understood. I'll leave them to you then."

If Izetta was thinking properly, she would have realised that announcing that she needed to be somewhere else was out of the ordinary. A real mission would come from commanders, using secure lines like the communications from her helmet instead of word of mouth. But the Royal Guards wanted to propagate the same message as her, that the White Agent can shrug off anything the terrorists throw at him. So they announced that he was going on another mission, in earshot of the terrorists.

The Armoured Personnel Carrier pulls up and a few Royal Guards go in, followed by Izetta. As she goes to the one unoccupied seat, she looks around to see soldiers, not part of the Royal Service, also seated. Taking her seat, Izetta straightens her back with a slow breath, warding off how heavy her eyelids feel.

The soldiers murmur among themselves, having seen the massive explosion in the sky as well. They chatter about how they didn't see any emergency vehicles nor wounded people, and how the explosion even happened in the sky. They make some references to the White Agent, but nobody comes towards him due to the Royal Guards that seated themselves around him, giving Izetta some space that she is silently thankful for.

The APC continues its relatively quiet journey for quite a while and Izetta has to get herself to perk up more and more. Then it comes to a stop, causing some heads to turn around and some others to peek out the one-way window.

Another APC is parked beside them. Two Royal Guards stand up, "White Agent, we are transferring here."

Izetta nods and follows them, with one in front and behind her. As they close the door of the vehicle they left, it speeds off. Izetta sneaks a peek at the leaving APC before hearing the door of the new APC open. One guard goes in first, but stops a few steps in and puts her hand up. Izetta stops to look at her as the other guard boards.

When the door behind them closes, the guard in front brings her hand down. "Sorry about that Lady Izetta, but we're completely in private now. Please go in."

"Huh?" Izetta blinks at how she was addressed. But she decides to comply and walks towards the back area. "What's happening?" she asks as her head turns to them, "What kind of mission is this?"

"Izetta!" Finé cries out as she sprints out of her seat and throws her arms around Izetta.

"F-Finé- Arg!" Izetta flinches as Finé's arms inadvertently brush against her wounds.

"Ah! Sorry!" Finé jumps and releases Izetta who buckles a little. "S-Sorry…" Finé mutters as her hands hover around Izetta, unsure of where to place them. "You're hurt yet I just grabbed you without thought…"

"F-Finé, wait!" Izetta straightens up despite her body's protests. "I-I'm okay, I was just… shocked. What are you doing here?"

"They told me you were hit by an explosion directly and crashed through several floors… I couldn't just sit around after hearing that, so I asked them to let me come along..."

"Yes," a guard confirms which makes Izetta turn to face her. "And we've confirmed our suspicions, Lady Izetta. Can you sit down and transform back so we can do some first aid?"

Izetta lowers her head as a hand goes to it. "…So everybody could tell that I was hurt?"

"Bianca immediately got this prepared when you decided to take the bombs yourself. Even if you were completely unharmed, we would have still set everything up to check on you. We only really caught some hints when we were closely watching you in the previous APC, so you don't have to worry about your image. But as Princess Finé just unintentionally showed, you are actually injured."

"Izetta, please," Finé pleads while gently tugging her hand towards the seats, "Let them help you."

"…Okay…" Izetta concedes as she walks to take a seat. Slowly placing her hand behind her neck, her normal clothes come back and she slumps forward. The guards quickly catch her and gently lay her back into the seat.

Finé's throat chokes up as her hands cover her mouth. Izetta's arms and legs are covered in small but visible bruises and her eyes are barely open. The guards give Izetta a quick look over before one takes a step away. "We can treat these on the move, I'll tell them to start driving home."

The vehicle starts off slow, gradually picking up speed in order not to jerk Izetta around. Meanwhile, the guards tend to Izetta's wounds. She winces as the ointment is applied and the areas are bandaged up, but she barely moves from her splayed out position.

Finé takes in an audible breath, her hands tensing as she sees the pain Izetta is in.

"Finé…" Izetta mumbles, "Don't worry… It's not that bad…"

Finé rubs the corners of her eyes. "Mmm. Just save your strength and rest. Don't push yourself anymore."

Izetta's breathing slows down as the guards are almost done. Then one speaks up, "Lady Izetta, please remove your shirt. There's likely to be bruising under there as well."

"Eh?!" Izetta's eyes pop open as her cheeks turns red. "H-Here…? N-Now…?"

The guards look at each other. Then they nod in understanding. "You don't want Princess Finé to see?"

"…Y-Yes…" Izetta mutters as her eyes look away and her face colours more.

"Oh…" Finé mouths as her cheeks tint a little. "Okay, I'll turn away. I promise I won't look, Izetta, so please let them treat you properly."

Izetta silently nods and sees from the side of her vision that Finé is turning away. Confirming that Finé is not looking, Izetta goes to take off her shirt but still grimaces from her sore arms. The guards help her, leaving her in her bra and shorts. They then attend to the bruises on her front and back, getting her to lean forward while one supports her.

The minutes that go by feel like hours for Finé. She hears Izetta wincing, but she cannot see how bad it is. Just as she is about to sneak a peek, she hears a long exhale from Izetta who rolls down her shirt.

"We're done here, Princess," a guard reports. "We'll leave you two here. Lady Izetta, please try not to move. When we get back, we'll carry you to do an X-ray to make sure that nothing's broken."

"Huh?" Izetta lifts her head. "It doesn't hurt that much, you don't need to bother…"

"Please," the guard slightly bows and the other follows. "You put yourself in harm's way to save so many of us. Many of us are still busy carrying out the rest of the mission, but we want to make it to you properly, for we lacked the foresight to carry out the operation smoothly even with your power. Let us do whatever we can for you."

"That's... nobody's fault…" Izetta denies quietly.

"Izetta…" Finé implores as she places a hand on Izetta's. "Don't hurt yourself even more, please…"

Izetta looks at Finé from the corner of her eye for a few seconds. Then she looks back at the guards. "I understand," she breathes out, "Thank you."

"No, thank you," the guards bow before going to the front of the APC, leaving just Finé and Izetta in the back area.

Finé shifts to sit right next to Izetta who has her arms limp and eyes droopy.

"Oh Izetta… you poor thing…" Finé frets as she tentatively puts an arm around her shoulder, not wanting to aggravate her wounds again.

"Finé, I'm okay…" Izetta resists as she adjusts herself to be more upright.

"You don't have to put on a front anymore," Finé rubs Izetta's shoulder. "You must be exhausted after all that."

Izetta takes a slow breath. "…I'm sorry," she barely clenches a hand, "I don't want you to see me like this… I'm supposed to be all-powerful, yet it hasn't even been a day and…"

Finé pecks the side of Izetta's forehead while her hand caresses her hair. "But you are already incredibly powerful. You did it, you protected everybody, Izetta. Just like you always do. I know you want to keep up your image to be a beacon of hope and deter any further threats, but you don't have to with me. You're my girlfriend. You're not invincible. You don't have to be."

Izetta's breath hitches. She remembers the last time she was caught in an explosion, the one in the lab, everybody around her died. And now, she had managed to save many lives from this massive explosion. She barely notices that tears have rolled down her face, until Finé wipes them away for her.

Finé gently brings Izetta's head to rest on her shoulder. "I don't think any lesser of you. What matters is that you're hurt now, so I just want to help you get better, so that we can be happy together again. Just like how you have always been there for me."

Izetta's hand rolls off her thigh and onto the seat. "…I'm still not getting stronger…"

Finé's other hand goes to wrap around Izetta, bringing her in closer. "Maybe, but you have to train your magic all by yourself. Nobody else has it, so nobody can teach or help you. It's understandable if your progress is slow. Everybody has their limits. You're only human."

"I don't want to… stop here… not when you've given me so much…"

"I know you're a very hard worker, but you don't have to feel pressurised to keep producing more results. You have nothing to prove, especially not to me. I will always support you in whatever way I can, even if I can't help you with magic. I will always love you, no matter what."

Izetta quavers as she closes her eyes and nestles more into Finé's shoulder. "Finé… I feel…" she pauses to take a deep breath, "…So tired…"

"Go ahead and sleep. You've done more than enough," Finé assures her as she loosens her hold on Izetta. "You can lie down on my lap."

Izetta's cheeks redden as she lowers herself. Snuggling into Finé's lap, she lets out a content sigh. "Thank you, Finé… for loving me…"

Finé puts an arm around Izetta's torso and strokes her head softly with the other. "Thank you for letting me love you," she soothes with a kiss to Izetta's head. "Now just take it easy and don't worry about anything."

With a smile, Izetta finally lets the warm darkness take her.

The APC comes to a stop at the medical wing near the palace. The Royal Guards go back to where Finé and the sleeping Izetta are. They place the stretcher on the ground and with a nod from Finé, gently lift Izetta to place her on it.

As the guards stand and bring the stretcher up, Izetta stirs ever so slightly. "…Uuughh…?" she mutters with half lidded eyes.

"Izetta," Finé whispers as she bends down, "The Royal Guards are bringing you to do the X-ray now. You don't have to do anything, so you can go back to sleep."

"Mmm…" Izetta drones as her eyes close, "Okay…"

With that, her head rolls back onto the stretcher. The guards promptly head to the X-ray room with Finé in tow, never too far from Izetta. They make quick progress, but do not run so as not to disturb Izetta too much.

The group enters the X-ray room where the team is already gathered and ready. They swiftly but delicately lift Izetta from the stretcher and place her on the machine. As they start inputting commands into the machine, a Royal Doctor approaches Finé.

"Princess, I must ask you to wait outside along with the two of them," she signals to the Royal Guards that are folding up the stretcher. "After the X-ray is done, we will be doing a full check-up on Lady Izetta as well."

"…Okay," Finé accepts. "But if Izetta asks for me, please call for me immediately. I'll be right outside."

Finé looks up from her phone for the umpteenth time to still see the closed doors of the room. The two Royal Guards were reporting the situation through their earpieces for a while, but now they just sit in silence near Finé.

With a sigh, Finé goes back to scrolling through the backlog of messages from when she left her office. She is able to reply to some of them, but marks most of them to be looked at when she is back at the office.

Then a new message comes in and the sender catches Finé's eye. 'The Texans… have they finally stopped resisting and paid us back…?'

She scrolls past the usual drivel of apologies for taking long to respond and how seriously they were deliberating it. Eylstadt had only asked for a full refund of the supplies that they sent to an ally, nothing more. But even then, Texas hemmed and hawed over the past few weeks. First they said that that they did not ask for it, then saying the situation was beyond them due to the microbots, then attempting to deflect the topic with a slew of other issues. If anything, Finé was glad for the opportunity to see how her father dealt with difficult opponents, even if she was slightly disappointed to hear that it is the norm.

She opens the attachment and her eyes show a brief shine. She double checks the transferred amount and it matches what was asked for. 'Finally, we can close this issue…' she cheers a little as she begins to type the obligatory thank you message.

Then the doors open. Finé's eyes shoot up to see the Royal Doctor motioning for her to come in. Without a second thought, she leaves the message unfinished, locks her phone and strides into the room.

"She's over there," the doctor gestures to a bed.

Finé turns to see Izetta laying peacefully on the bed with her bandages redone. Despite her eyes still being closed, Finé finds solace in seeing the slow rise and fall of Izetta's chest. Unconsciously picking up the pace, Finé goes to be beside Izetta.

"…How is she?" Finé quietly asks as the doctor comes up followed by the two Royal Guards.

"Nothing's broken. And I didn't find anything out of the ordinary apart from her bruises either." Turning to face the guards, she confirms, "She was caught in an explosion and crashed through multiple floors, right?"

"Yes, we were there," the guards affirm. "We heard the explosion, then several instances of things being smashed, and then we found her buried in the ground."

"Well…" the doctor flips through her pages again. "It certainly doesn't look like that. It looks like she just had a fall. Or multiple, but her injuries are very light for what she experienced. If I didn't know that she has magic, I wouldn't believe that it actually happened. All she needs is some rest and her bruises will heal in a day or two. A few days tops."

Finé covers her mouth as she chokes out tears. She was trying to remain calm in the APC so that Izetta would not worry about her and rest peacefully. Then she distracted herself with work so that she would not cause a scene outside and slow down the medical procedures. But now that she finally has confirmation that Izetta is okay, she lets it overwhelm her. "Thank goodness…" she sobs while shaking, "Thank goodness…"

Izetta's eyebrows twitch. Then she opens her eyes with a groan. Seeing Finé cry, Izetta lets out a gasp, "Finé!" she exclaims while trying to push herself up, "What's wrong?!"

"Nothing, nothing!" Finé placates her while wiping away her tears. She goes over to tenderly push Izetta back down onto the bed. "I'm just so relieved that you'll be okay. The doctor said that nothing's broken, so you just need to rest for a few days."

"O-Oh…" Izetta mouths as she relaxes back onto the bed.

"There is something I don't get though," the doctor pipes up. "As I went over, your injuries are quite light, only some bruising throughout. Yet you're so exhausted. While I don't expect anybody to be bounding about with those injuries, you were completely out even while we were examining you. Could you tell me if it hurts anywhere else? I want to make sure we aren't missing something."

Finé's eyes widen at the thought that Izetta could still be severely injured somehow.

Izetta takes a long breath. "Uh… My head hurts…"

The doctor goes over the papers again. She studies the sections related to the head with more scrutiny, including taking another look at the X-ray of it. Then she goes over to check Izetta's actual head, inspecting it from various angles.

"Strange…" she steps back, perplexed. "There is nothing wrong with your head. Maybe I need to ask another doctor to double check."

"Then it's probably…" Izetta speaks up, "Because my magic is really low… A ton of it was depleted… to absorb the impact…"

The doctor blinks a few times in realization. "Of course, we don't know how to check that, so I didn't think that it was the cause."

Finé slightly jumps. "What do you mean? Didn't people keep doing those tests to measure her magic all those years ago?"

"Well, yes, but all that was scrapped when the project was cancelled. The measurements, methods used, future considerations, everything. Nobody expected to be working with magic ever again."

Izetta reaches out to hold Finé's tense hand. "Finé…" she murmurs, "It's okay… I experienced this… multiple times over the years… I just need some time… for my magic to recover… Then I'll be much better…"

Finé relaxes and kneels down to hold Izetta's hand with both her hands. "Okay… If you're sure…"

Izetta nods. Then she looks to the doctor. "I just need to rest, right…? Do I have to be here…?"

"Well, as long as you're resting in bed, I guess it doesn't matter where. I don't want you moving about if you're this tired and your head hurts."

"Then… can I…" Izetta's cheeks turn red, "Go back to our room…? I promise I won't exert myself… I just prefer… to sleep there…"

"Oh Izetta…" Finé croons.

"Yeah, that's fine," the doctor agrees. "Your physical condition isn't bad, but a maid will come in to check in on you from time to time and the guards there are always ready to call us for emergencies."

"Then I'll bring you there now," Finé soothes as she puts her arms under Izetta.

"F- Finé?!" Izetta squeals.

Finé heaves, but fails to pick Izetta up. She tries again, but despite her best efforts, Izetta does not even get off the bed.

"Puh…" Finé huffs as she retracts her arms, "…You make it seem so easy when you carry me…"

Izetta's face has turned completely red as she looks away. "F-Finé…"

"Princess, please don't try to do that anymore," the doctor urges. "Lady Izetta does a lot of rigorous training, including lifting heavy weights even without magic. Furthermore, her muscles also make her much heavier than she looks, so for your delicate self to carry her in your arms, it would be nigh impossible. You not only risk hurting her, but yourself as well if you overexert."

"Ah… alright…" Finé concedes.

"Princess," a guard speaks up as the other goes around. "Please allow us."

Finé turns to see that they have the stretcher ready on the floor and are getting in position to lift Izetta onto it. "Y-Yes, please," she backs off.

"Thank you…" Izetta mumbles as they lift her off the bed.

The Royal Guards carrying the stretcher with Izetta on it enter the bedroom, followed by Finé and Lotte who has a big backpack. The guards set the stretcher on the floor and are about to lift Izetta onto the bed when she puts a hand up.

"Wait…" she mutters as she pushes herself to sit upright, "I want to… use the toilet… Can one of you pass me a new suit as well…? I need to change out the dirty one…"

"Izetta…" Finé kneels beside her. "Nobody will be calling you when you're this exhausted. You don't have to worry about being the White Agent now."

"Maybe…" Izetta breathes out. "But since I have time now, I want to prepare just in case… and then I can rest without anything on my mind…"

A guard is about to help Izetta up when Finé puts Izetta's arm over her shoulder. "Okay. I may not be able to carry you, but I can support you at least. You can lean on me if your legs can't take it."

"Mmm…" Izetta hums as her cheeks tint with colour.

The couple grunt as they stand up. Then they hobble towards the bathroom with the guards following behind closely. As they reach the door, Izetta reaches out to the wall inside to prop her up.

"Lady Izetta, here's your spare suit," a guard shows the stack in her hands. "I'll wait for you to do your business, and then I can come in to help you change."

"N-No," Izetta flushes, "Please just give it to me now. I'll be changing… everything… so I want to do it myself… A little bit of my magic has come back as well, so it won't be hard."

"…Understood," the guard hands her the stack. "Then you can just leave the dirty set on the floor. We'll clean up when you come out."

"Oh… thank you," Izetta nods as she closes the door.

Many long minutes go by. Finé is about to call out to Izetta to check on her when the door softly clicks and Izetta shuffles out. Finé immediately goes to put Izetta's arm over her shoulders again, helping her to walk towards the bed.

They sit down with an oomph and Lotte comes over. "Lady Izetta, can you drink this?" she holds up a bottle filled with a translucent isotonic concentration. "It'll replenish your body's salt levels and hopefully, help you to recover faster. Or if you don't feel well enough, I can hook up an IV drip for you instead."

Izetta reaches out with both hands, taking the bottle gratefully. "I can drink it, thank you." As she starts to down the solution, Finé goes to move a chair to sit by her side. Soon after, Izetta finishes the whole bottle.

Lotte takes the empty bottle from her. "There are bottles of water on the table if you're still thirsty," she gestures to the filled bedside table where the now empty backpack lies close by. "But don't drink too much of the isotonic ones, just one a day. I'll help you to reapply the bandages after you shower, so do call for me when you do so, or need supplies to be refilled, or anything else."

Lotte shows Finé and Izetta a switch plugged into the wall with two buttons. "If you press this button here, we will be notified that you need something and come over. But if you flip this lid and press this button underneath, it means that it's an emergency, immense pain for example. We won't ring the doorbell in this case and come right in to help you. If it's locked, we'll break the door down." Going over to the bedside table, Lotte wraps up, "I'll leave it here, so you can access it without having to get up."

Izetta looks down with her hands in her lap. "Thank you, all of you… for doing so much for me…"

Lotte picks up the bag and forms up with the guards that have bagged up the dirty clothes. "No, thank you," she reciprocates with a deep bow that the guards follow up with as well, "For everything you've done."

Izetta watches the three of them leave the room, closing the door behind them. Then she turns back to Finé and gives her a small smile.

"Then…" Izetta trails off as she turns to put her phone on the bedside table before lying down, "I'll be going to sleep…"

"Yeah…" Finé purrs as she helps to pull the blanket from under Izetta.

Izetta turns to grab the other pillow and hugs it tightly. Then she rolls back to face Finé who tucks her in. Watching Izetta close her eyes and nuzzle into the soft covers, Finé can't help but smile. "Is there anything else you want? Do you want me to hug you as well?"

Izetta gently shakes her head. "You've spent enough time on me already, Finé… You should go back to attending to Eylstadt…"

"Silly girl," Finé strokes her hair, "There's endless amounts of work to be done. But there's only one of you in the whole world. If there's anything I can do for you, just say the word. Work can wait."

"…Then…" Izetta's outstretched hand falls onto the bed. "…Can you hold my hand… as I fall asleep…?"

"Sure," Finé croons as her fingers intertwine into the gaps of Izetta's hand.

"Thank you…" Izetta's cheeks tint red. "I'll probably be out for a long while… so you don't have to stay…"

"Mmm," Finé whispers, "Sleep as long as you'd like. You did very well."

Izetta's fingers lightly rub against Finé's hand. "I love you, Finé…"

Finé plants a tender kiss on Izetta's forehead. "I love you too, my dear Izetta."

With that, Izetta's body goes slack, letting the last of her consciousness fade away peacefully.

A/N: Wow... 100k words... When I started this, I thought that maybe part I and II combined could hit 100k. With this being my first (uploaded) longfic as well, I never would have thought that it would hit 100k with just part I, and there's still a little more to go.

I don't know what to say, other than expressing my heartfelt thanks to everybody that has been on this journey with me. Whether it's a review, favourite, follow or even just the silent support of reading, thank you all so much. I hope you'll continue to be on this wild ride with me.