Five minutes ago, while Mikumo was singing
Kiseki o yobisamase tozasareta sora e
Mikumo felt a strange reaction from someone as she sang. She kept on singing, but it only intensified as she continued on.
Tobiaku musuu no kankaku no naka de
Hontou no jibun saemo nakushiteshimau
The rest of Walkure must've noticed something was off, because out of the corner of her eye, Mikumo noticed the slight change in their expressions as they looked at her and the raging aerial fight outside.
Mienai fuan no shuuchuu houka ni
Kachinokoru nowa yowasa mitomeru tsuyosa
It was both unfamiliar yet nostalgic, and as she sang, Mikumo tried to pinpoint the source of the reaction.
Moshimo boku janakattara
Moshimo kimi janakattara
For a minute or so the sensation faded, and right as Mikumo thought that was the last of it, it returned full circle.
Konna kimochi sae shirazu ni ita ne
Mikumo shuddered as she saw a massive flurry of explosions light up the sky, and she felt a reverberation from what she assumed was the deaths of multiple pilots.
Kirisake motto motto seigi no yami e
Hashire hashire hai ni naru made
Mikumo ignored the chatter flooding through the comm, although she made note of the other two voices that she didn't recognize.
Rikutsu o sutete kokoro de hoero hoero
Tachikare yagate yagate umareru hoshi ni
The amount of power stemming from her song was steadily increasing, according to the near inaudible back chatter from Kaname and Reina. Mikumo subconsciously retained that information as she continued to sing.
Kimi ga kimi ga ikekureru nara
Bokura no kagayaki wa muteki nimo nareru
It was also at this point that she turned to the rest of Walkure, her unsaid message clear enough to them.
Migi ni narae to daremo ga kyou o ikiteru
Mikumo was not expecting the backlash that came from one of the pilot's reactions. She tried focus in on where she thought the reaction was coming from.
Modokashisa ni riyuu mo nai mama
Shinda mitai ni iketeyuku nai mama
Somehow, amidst all of the chaos in the sky, Mikumo managed to focus in on a Kairos, high in the sky, that looked slightly different, and was being shot at by a Valkyrie she didn't recognize.
Akai chi o nagashi kiba o muke
As the Valkyrie fired away at Shiro's Kairos, she felt her heartbeat increase to the point she thought it would burst from her chest. As she saw parts detach and explode from Shiro's Kairos, she felt her heart stop for a moment as she saw the Valkyrie lunge at Shiro with its knife drawn.
Sore ga boku ga kimi ga ikiteru shoumei akashi
Mikumo's perception of time at this point was, at the very least, an enigma. She didn't know how much time had passed as she watched Shiro completely turn the tables on his attacker. She couldn't tell how close Shiro was to being taken out by his assailant, but she felt a feeling of relief wash over her. Unfortunately, that feeling dissipated as quickly as it came.
Kowashite motto motto boku o kanjite
Soko ni soko ni kimi wa imasu ka
Mikumo felt her blood run cold as she took in the sight of Shiro being relentlessly hammered by similar Valkyries. As a few of them managed to land a hit on Shiro's Kairos, knocking it off balance, she couldn't help but wonder what the other pilots close to Shiro were doing.
Senjou ni saku inochi yo moero moero
As if on cue, Arad, Messer and the other two pilots begin to take down a Valkyrie in quick succession.
Koroshite isso isso kuchihateru nara
Tagire tagire hametsu no hate ni
Mikumo, at this point, was effectively focused on two things: finishing her song, and watching Shiro's Kairos plummet towards the ocean.
Kiseki o yobisamase tozasareta sora e
She didn't realize that she had put more power into her words as she watched Shiro fall; she vaguely noticed the other two Chronos follow Hayate as he tried to reach Shiro before he hit the ocean. She didn't even realize she had yelled his name as the massive explosion of water appeared on a screen displayed on the orange canopy of the bridge. As she looked through the glass, she realized that Shiro had crashed much closer to the Elysion than she realized. He was still a bit ways off from it, but the impact zone was less than 15 meters from the edge of the Aether. As she watched Hayate and the other two Chronos' hover around the white washed ripples, she quickly analyzed the situation. Saying nothing, Mikumo switched to her chaos outfit before running out of the bridge, her destination unknown to all but herself.
"Mikumo?!" Kaname says, surprised by the violet-haired singer.
"Mikumo-san?! Where are you going?!" Freyja calls after Mikumo.
Mikumo ran faster than she thought she was capable of, because she made it to the Aether in less than five minutes. She quickly searched the equipment room before finding the suits they use for underwater operations. Mikumo mentally noted that although they rarely used them, she was definitely grateful that they had them. It only takes her a couple minutes to throw off her blouse and skirt, revealing her biker shorts underneath. She slips the suit on before grabbing her helmet and shoving it on. Running out onto the flight deck of the Aether, she makes it to the edge right as a Siegfried with a bat skull insignia hovers low in front of her.
"Mikumo, where are you running off to?" Arad's voice is calm, which Mikumo didn't expect.
"I think we both know where I'm off to, Captain." Mikumo answers blankly.
"You're going to jump off the edge regardless of what I say, aren't you?"
Mikumo smiles. "What else would you expect from me?"
Arad huffs. "Alright, I give. At least let me take you to the impact zone."
"You're not gonna trick me and take me back to the bridge, right? I already ran all the way from there to here, so I'd much rather not waste any more energy."
"Relax, I'm not going to. Here, hop on." Arad says as he extends his arm out towards Mikumo.
She jumps on to his hand and Arad turns to hover towards where the two Chronos and Hayate are hovering. Mirage, Chuck, and Messer join them as Arad nears.
"Captain, is Mikumo-" Chuck starts.
"Yeah, she'll be the one to get him." Arad says as he lowers his Siegfried as close to the water as possible. Right as Mikumo readies herself to jump, Arad adds, "After all, she's really into him."
Mikumo nearly trips off his hand as Delta Platoon bursts into laughter. She turns and glares at Arad through the cockpit, but he chuckles anyway. "By the way, Mikumo. If the cockpit hasn't been breached yet, which I hope it hasn't, make sure he's conscious before you try to get him out."
"Also, there are a few caves with moderately large air openings around this area, so if you can't get him to the surface, try there." Chuck adds.
"We've already called for the rest of Walkure to assist you when they get here." Mirage says as she and Hayate fly off back to the Aether.
"Alright, is there anything else I need to know?" Mikumo quickly asks.
"Watch out for the octopus, it likes to grab and squeeze people." Chuck says.
Mikumo looks at him with raised eyebrows before jumping off of Arad's hand and diving into the water.
Messer looks at Chuck. "Really? An octopus that likes to grab and squeeze people?"
"Hey, I was actually serious about that. There's been reports of a few around here that have been dragging some of the locals deep into the ocean. Of course, no one's died or drowned, you know, but I don't think Mikumo wants to get introduced to them, in any case."
"I guess you forgot about our anonymity, Messer." One of the female voices sound through the comm.
"I suppose it doesn't really matter now, Captain Takamura." The other female voice says.
Captain Takamura sighs. "Really? I thought you were the one who always follows the rules, Masaki."
"It doesn't matter, for one thing," Messer interrupts. "because you're both going to have to introduce yourselves to the Captain anyway. Unless you feel like running off without saying a word."
"You're getting a little hotheaded, Messer. Is it because you got to see the object of your affection?" Captain Takamura says levely.
"One, I'm only stating facts, and two-" Messer's voice becomes much more steely, sending shivers up her spine. "DON'T refer to Kaname as an 'object,' EVER."
"I told you not to go for low blows on Messer, Yui." Masaki emphasizes the last word, making the other flinch.
"K-Kiriko, I told you not to call me that, especially when we're on a mission." The older pilot stutters.
"The two of you can continue this, later. For now, we'll just have to wait for Walkure to arrive, or for Mikumo to return with whoever it is that crashed."
The two pilots exhale.
"Fine, but you're not off the hook, Messer. You're still acting a bit over the edge."
"OK. You can have your reunion with your lover when she gets here."
Messer clears his throat, again. "I'd prefer if you didn't call her that."
"Yeah, she'd prefer to be called whatever you call her in bed." Chuck mutters, which everyone, including Hayate and Mirage, hear.
Everyone bursts into laughter, sans Messer, Kiriko, and Yui.
Meanwhile, Mikumo, ignoring all the chatter above, swims down to the bottom of the ocean, which, she noted, wasn't as deep as she expected. It was easy to spot Shiro's Kairos sitting at the bottom of the ocean, as it was noticeably lighter, and wasn't actually at the bottom of the ocean, so to speak. Its nose was jammed into a rock, and its tail end was supported by a cave-like rock structure. She swam closer to inspect the status and damage on the Kairos. The left arm was completely gone, there were burn marks on the wings, and they were visibly bent. The legs were partially extended, as was the right arm. Mikumo also noted that the guns weren't drawn. She swam towards the cockpit of the Kairos, hoping to see if Shiro was okay. Unfortunately, because of the tint on both her helmet visor and the tint on the canopy of the Kairos, she was only able to make out Shiro's unmoving silhouette. The canopy didn't appear to be damaged, so she tried tapping on the metal to see if Shiro was conscious.
"Shiro? Can you hear me, Shiro?" She calls out to him.
A minute drags by before Shiro responds. *Cough* "Mikumo? What are you doing?"
Mikumo lets out a soft sigh of relief. "I was worried about you, so I came down here to get you."
"Are you alone?" Shiro asks, both disorientated and surprised at the effort Mikumo took to get to him.
"Yeah, I am. Are you injured?"
"I think I'm okay, save for a few bruises and a headache." Shiro says as his vision begins to clear.
"Ok, hang on. I'm going to see if I can get you out." Mikumo says, unaware of the movement behind her.
Shiro tenses as he sees the shape behind her extend itself towards her. "Mikumo, behind you. Move!"
Mikumo turns just in time to see a light orange octopus tentacle reach toward her. "What-"
It wraps a tentacle around her arm, causing her to flinch. She tries to pull away, but the octopus yanks her towards itself. It wraps another tentacle around her waist, squeezing her tightly enough to make her yelp. She kicks the octopus' body hard, causing its grip on her to relent. She pries herself free before swimming away from it. Before she can put enough distance between herself and the octopus, the latter wraps a tentacle around each of her legs, wrapping all the way to her knees. It tugs forcefully at her until she's right next to it again. Before she can act, it wraps a tentacle around her chest, and as her arms move to push it off, two more tentacles wrap around her arms, squeezing her arms between her tentacle-wrapped chest. It tightens around her, making a sound as it squeezes her. Mikumo's cries turn into screams of pain. Meanwhile, Shiro was securing his swords to his back and punching the canopy of his cockpit. Each blow made a crack, but the canopy was more durable than he imagined or wanted. After the top of the canopy was covered with spider web cracks, Shiro stands up as much as he can and takes a deep breath before he elbows the canopy with as much force as he could muster within the confines of his cockpit. It shatters, and Shiro kicks out of the cockpit, ignoring the flood of water rushing into the cockpit. He draws a sword as he swims toward the strangled Mikumo, who was still struggling. Her eyes turn toward him, and for a brief moment, they're filled with relief. It quickly ends when a tentacle reaches around her neck and squeezes. Mikumo's eyes bulge briefly as she lets out a pained scream, her voice hoarse. The octopus turns its head towards Shiro, its black eye staring off at him, and in turn, moving Mikumo away from him. He stabs its only free tentacle as it lashes out at him. The octopus tries to reel it back, taking Shiro with it. Not sparing a moment, Shiro stabs the octopus' head, and seeing as it was still twitching erratically, he draws his second sword and stabs it a second time before taking hold of both swords. He forces them apart, splicing the head. It goes limp, but its tentacles remain firmly attached to Mikumo, who by this point, was barely moving. Shiro begins slicing apart the tentacles around a now unconscious Mikumo. As he frees her, Shiro looks around to see if there was a place where a pocket of air might form. Seeing a cave-like rock formation, he stows his swords on his back and wraps an arm around Mikumo, swimming as fast as he can. He feels his chest tighten painfully, and with all of his energy, he kicks as hard as he can until he reaches the top. His head breaks the surface, and he coughs painfully. Looking around, he sees a rock platform. Mikumo still in his arm, he pulls himself onto the platform before gently pulling Mikumo onto the platform. He kneels before he pulls her helmet off and checks her breathing. Seeing as she was still breathing, he turns to scan the rest of her body. Her suit was ripped in multiple places, and as Shiro inspected, they were all where the octopus wrapped its tentacles around her. Her fair skin was exposed from the knee down to her feet, her upper arms were visible, and a significant amount of her breasts were exposed, the area level with her arms. Her neck was also exposed, a small bruise under her chin. Her light, rosy lips and long, flowing violet hair made for an absolutely beautiful combination; Shiro quickly realized he couldn't stop himself from staring at her, and he felt a little guilty on the inside for it, but restraint holding, he didn't lay a finger on her. He gently caressed her cheek after feeling the pulse from her neck. Her lips trembled slightly, and as Shiro leaned in closer, Mikumo sputtered, her body shaking briefly. Her crimson eyes fluttered open to see Shiro leaning towards her. She gazed at him for a minute, her eyes cloudy until she blinked a couple times and realized they were millimeters from touching each other's foreheads. She blushed deeply as she tried to pull away; she yelped as a sharp pain shot through her body. She felt Shiro hold her by her head and shoulders, and as she locked eyes with him, she suddenly found herself unable to tear her eyes away from him. They stared at each other as Shiro gently rested her against the wall. They stayed that way until they heard the sound of water moving. Shiro's hand instinctively reached for a sword, but instead of an octopus or a soldier, a helmet identical to Mikumo's, save for a red visor instead of violet, broke the surface of the water. Kaname turned towards them as she climbed onto the rock platform.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She says with a smirk.
"What do you mean by that?" Shiro and Mikumo respond in sync.
"I think you know what I mean." Kaname says, an eyebrow raised.
As they were speaking, three more helmets appeared, one pink, one green, and one orange. Makina, Reina, and Freyja all climb onto the platform and look at Shiro and Mikumo with mixed expressions.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Mikumo?" Reina says with a suggestive tone.
"I don't think he'd do anything to Mikumo." Makina says. Before Shiro can relax, she adds, "Not while we're close by, anyway." She winks at Shiro.
Shiro frowns as an eyebrow twitches.
"Are you guys okay?" Freyja asks, ignoring the rest of Walkure's suggestive conversations.
Shiro exhales softly as he starts to stand up. "Mikumo is injured, and I feel-" He lurches over and coughs up blood before falling to one knee.
The comical atmosphere dissipates as Shiro hacks more blood onto the cave floor.
"Shiro?!" Mikumo cries, the concern evident in her voice. She tries to get up and assist him, but Freyja gently pushes her down. Her look tells Mikumo not to move, much to the latter's dismay.
"You're already hurt, Mikumo-san. Please don't hurt yourself." She softly tells the violet-haired singer.
"Shiro, are you okay?!" Kaname asks as she runs over to him. She unhooks an object, presumably a medkit, from behind her as Shiro leans against the wall, clutching at his abdomen.
"Mikumo, is he injured?" Reina asks as Kaname hands her the kit. Kaname moves behind Shiro, trying to support him.
"I didn't see any injuries on him!" Mikumo says as Makina and Freyja move to help Kaname lower Shiro to the floor. Mikumo shifts herself over to Shiro, who had taken his swords off his back and rested them against the nearby cave wall.
"Don't fuss too much over this," Shiro says as he coughs again. "it's just a puncture wound."
"What do you mean, just a puncture wound?!" Freyja exclaims.
"Shiro, you could die from this!" Makina yells at him as he sits up, to everyone's surprise.
Shiro's expression is unreadable as he takes the medkit from Reina and takes out a roll of bandages and a couple alcohol pads. "Trust me, if something like this could kill me, I would be long dead."
Kaname's eyes narrow at Shiro. "I hope you're not just trying to act tough, Shiro."
Shiro slips off his jacket and pulls off his shirt with minor difficulty. He inspects his lower left abdomen; there is a small slit that was bleeding lightly. He wasn't paying attention to the girls as he cleaned the slit, but they were all staring at his upper body. To say it was forged steel would be an insult. His torso, while not visibly bulky, had to have durability equivalent to a tank's. The scars that littered his body wouldn't belong on any normal human's. There were two horizontal scars that ran just above his abs, which they noticed, were godly. From her angle, Freyja could see that the two scars ran almost halfway into his torso. On his pectorals, there were five different scars of different lengths, all at different angles, that crossed where his heart would be. In the center of his chest, there was intersection of what appeared to be animal claws, a tri-slash mark meeting another. From behind him, Mikumo took in the multitude of scars on his back; of the ten on his back, seven were diagonal, of differing lengths and angles, two formed an 'x' on his left, and the last was horizontal, almost in line with his spine. She also took in the two different scars on his neck, now clearly visible. One on his left ran basically halfway into his neck, and the one on his right ran a similar distance. It appeared that they would've met had one not been somewhat higher than the other. As he wrapped the bandages around his wound, he relaxed visibly, which raised a few questions in their mind.
Kaname is the first to recover. "Shiro, do you mind if I ask you something?"
He finishes tying the bandages before looking up. "No, what is it?"
She looks off to the side before looking back at him. "Those scars...how did you receive them?"
Shiro puts the supplies back into the medkit. "Most of these I received back on my home planet. These," He points to his neck and upper left chest. "are from when people tried to kill me." Seeing their reactions, he adds, "Not to be rude, but the stories should wait until things have settled down a bit."
Reina leans back. "So you weren't kidding when you said a wound like that wouldn't kill you."
Shiro closes the kit and hands it back to Kaname. "No, I was not. Give it a few days and this will heal over."
Makina eyebrows furrow slightly. "You could've at least told us you weren't in danger of dying, Shiro. We were worried about you."
"To be fair, I actually did; you all just didn't believe me." Shiro says as he puts his shirt back on. "That aside, I think you all should be more worried about Mikumo. She did just get strangled by an octopus."
The girls all look at Mikumo and inspect the damage to her suit.
"So Chuck-san really wasn't lying about the octopus?" Freyja asks, eyeing Mikumo's exposed skin.
"I guess so. I thought he was just really kinky." Reina says without a hint of humor.
Everyone stares at Reina for a moment. Shiro and Mikumo give Reina empty stares.
After a minute, Makina speaks first. "Y-you really think he's into that kind of thing?"
"Makina!" Kaname exclaims, her gaze flickering between her and Mikumo.
"What? I didn't suggest it." Makina says nonchalantly.
"For all we know, Shiro could've been into that and we wouldn't have known." Reina adds, giving Shiro a suggestive smile.
"GUYS." Kaname rubs her forehead.
"Okay, okay. Jeez, Kaname. You're so uptight. It's not like they know what we're talking about, anyway." Reina tilts her head.
"You don't know that, Reina. And besides, Mikumo's not exactly the most socially integrated person here, so I'd rather the first things she learn from us not involve fetishes." Freyja was sputtering softly and blushing intensely, her discomfort obvious.
"You're a little late for that, Kaname." Mikumo states blankly.
Kaname's eyes widen, along with Freyja's, Makina's and Reina's. Shiro simply turned his head towards the ceiling.
"What do you mean, Mikumo?" Kaname slowly asks.
"I mean I know what fetishes are, and some of the more common ones." Mikumo says, staring at the singers levelly.
"When did you learn about all that?" Makina asks, her tone exuding shock.
"You don't remember? You pulled me aside a month or so ago and showed me a website with videos of people enacting different kinds of sex." Mikumo says, her eyes flickering briefly as she recalls the memory.
"...I didn't expect you to remember that." Reina says after a moment.
"You guys..." Kaname frowns at the singer duo, her eyebrows twitching.
"I can vouch for Mikumo that they did show that kind of thing to her." Freyja says as she rubs the back of her neck.
"Oh, don't act like you didn't enjoy it, Fre-Fre!" Makina bursts at the Windermerean singer.
"Yeah, you actually watched it halfway through before stopping." Reina adds.
Freyja's rune flashes briefly as she sputters. "I-I didn't know what it was at the time, I actually thought they were making a movie or something!"
"Oh yeah, then why did you lean in when the guy with blue, spiky, hair jumped on the girl?" Reina smirks at Freyja.
"T-That-I didn't!" Freyja sputters, trying to convince both herself and her fellow singers.
"I don't want to be rude, but can this conversation wait? At least, until we get back to the Aether?" Shiro asks, the slightest hint of agitation in his voice.
"Why, Shiro?" Makina smiles at Shiro cheekily.
"Does this make you uncomfortable?" Reina adds with a similar expression.
"I'm sure it's making the rest of Delta Platoon and whoever listening in on your conversation uncomfortable." Shiro says flatly.
At that moment, Kaname checked to see who was currently on the channel and found that in addition to all of Delta Platoon, Messer and his two companions, and the bridge was listening to their conversation. All the singers, sans Mikumo felt their blood run cold, especially Freyja and Kaname, as Hayate and Messer were the first ones to speak.
"I think we all owe Shiro a solid for stopping this conversation when he did. I do not need any more of this awkward shit right now." Hayate says.
"I was hoping he would've stopped it earlier. At least I know Reina and Makina haven't changed a bit." Messer notes.
"Save it, you two." Arad interrupts. "Kaname, what's Mikumo's and Shiro's status?"
"Shiro's-" Kaname looks at Shiro. "Shiro's fine. Mikumo's sustained moderate injuries, but I think she can make it up."
"Good. We're organizing the rest of our forces, along with our new friends."
"Have we identified who they are?"
"Yes, but we'll debrief you all when you get back; there's somethings we shouldn't say over an insecure line."
"Roger that, we're on our way back."
As the line closed, Freyja looks between Shiro and Kaname.
"Umm, Kaname-san? I think we forgot to mention something."
Kaname turns to Freyja. "What is it?"
"Shiro-san doesn't have a helmet. How is he going to get back to the surface without drowning?" She says, concern in her big emerald eyes.
Shiro puts his jacket on. "Don't worry about me. The longest I've ever held my breath was for ten minutes. That should be long enough for me to get to the surface." He attaches his swords to his back, the action making a low humming sound.
"Well, if you start to drown, there's four of us, so we should be able to drag you up anyhow." Reina says.
"That doesn't sound pleasant." Mikumo says flatly.
"Are you well enough to swim, Mikumo?" Shiro asks.
Mikumo stretches her arms and back. "As long as I don't get strangled by an octopus on my way up, I think I'll be fine." She puts her helmet on.
"Shall we get going?" Shiro asks as he walks over to the edge.
"Yeah, let's go." Kaname agrees as she and the other singers walk over to the edge.
Shiro takes a deep breath as they all jump into the water. They dive down through the opening in the rock and begin to swim upwards. As they swam, they could see bits and pieces of twisted metal from the Elysion, and Mikumo turned to Shiro to see if he was fine; he didn't appear to be having any trouble at all. As they approached the surface, Kaname informed Arad and the others of their imminent arrival. Right before they broke the surface, multiple Siegfrieds began to hover close to the water. Freyja didn't even get a chance to break the surface, as a metal hand literally scooped her out of the water, much to Walkure's surprise. She yelped in surprise before recognizing the color of the arm holding her.
"You couldn't wait for me to get back, could you?" She grins at her boyfriend.
"No, not really. I didn't want to risk you being attacked by an octopus." Hayate's voice holds no humor.
"I told you, there's no way he'd be serious, Hayate." Mirage scolds.
"I swear I wasn't kidding about that, Mirage." Chuck pleads.
"Yeah, he really wasn't, Mirage-san." Freyja says to her friend.
"Wait, what?" Mirage asks incredulously.
"I severely doubt that." Messer adds.
Right as he said that, Shiro, Mikumo, Makina, and Reina all break the surface. Shiro exhales as he looks around at the Siegfrieds hovering around him.
"Hey, Shiro? Is there really an octopus that goes around strangling people?" Mirage asks Shiro.
"Not anymore, I assume." Shiro responds blankly.
"Anymore?" Messer asks.
"Correct. Unless there is more than one, there will no longer be any octopuses attacking people."
"See? I told you all there was an octopus that went around and strangled people!" Chuck proclaims as he lowers his hand enough for Reina to get on.
Mirage says nothing as she lets Makina climb onto her hand. Shiro looks intently at Messer's Siegfried as the hand lowers towards Kaname, who briefly looked at Arad before turning towards Messer with a smile. Shiro and Mikumo look at the two as Arad hovers close to them, hand extended.
"Here, hop on." Arad says in his usual tone.
Mikumo nods gratefully, but as she tries to kick up to grab a hold on his hand, a sharp pain races through her leg and she cries out as she falls into the water. The feeling of falling quickly dissipated as Shiro gently grabbed her and leaned her backwards. She turned her head to see Shiro holding her by shoulders; his face was calm, like usual, but there was a warm, unusual feeling coming from him. She felt her cheeks heat up, and she turned her head down instinctively.
"Oi, you two lovebirds get on. We have things to do." Arad teases the two.
"We-we're not like that." Mikumo stutters softly.
Shiro said nothing as he put his hands on Mikumo's waist and lifted her up onto Arad's hand. When she climbed on, Shiro grabbed the edge and pulled himself up quickly. Mikumo took off her helmet and rested it in a crevice between the hand and the arm. As they lifted off, Mikumo was suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness, and she almost fell off. Shiro quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. She blushed intensely, but she didn't look away this time. She turned towards him, the wind in her hair and a blush on her cheeks. Shiro felt his chest tighten, and it wasn't from his injuries. He didn't blush, but he didn't stop staring at her either. Mikumo looked as though she was going to say something, but instead, she simply closed her eyes and leaned against Shiro. She felt herself slip, but not before she felt Shiro caress her cheeks and pull her snugly against him. She smiled as she passed out. Shiro looked at the tinted canopy of Arad's Siegfried and wondered if the senior pilot had seen or heard any of the past few minutes. He quickly reasoned that if Arad did notice anything, he might've just let them have their moment; if he noticed, he'd definitely hear about it later.
Later, as Delta Platoon was landing on the Aether, Shiro tried to wake up Mikumo without forcing it, but seeing how tired she must have been from being strangled and from the previous battle, in addition to having discovered some new abilities, he simply picked her up and carried her towards the group. Kaname and the other singers look towards him with varied degrees of surprise. Their respective pilots come up from behind them as Arad walks up to them from behind them.
"She's out cold, isn't she?" Kaname asks, a hand on her hip.
"It would appear so. I suppose I could wake her if I were to be more forceful..." Shiro starts.
"You'd love to be forceful with Mikumo, wouldn't you Shiro?" Reina winks at Shiro, who frowns in response.
"Do you always have to be so suggestive, Reina?" Messer frowns at the green-haired singer.
"Do you always have to act like you have a stick up your ass?" Reina shoots back, the humor completely gone.
"Reina!" Kaname starts, but Makina cuts her off.
"Messer, unless you plan on ditching us and going to back to whoever you're with right now, it'd help you and us if you just acted a little more friendly. At least right now, given the fact that you have a lot of explaining to do right now." Makina's voice didn't have its usual bubbliness.
"We can explain all that later, but I think a little rest would be helpful to us all." A woman's voice comes from behind the singers and pilots.
She is basically Kaname's height, with brown hair in a ponytail that reached her elbows, and violet eyes. Strangely enough, her pilot suit is similar to the SMS' pilot suits, although hers has a thorned-wrapped rose on the shoulder instead of the SMS emblem. She didn't have a chest plate, but had shin and forearm guards. There was also a lack of the SMS emblem on her chest, which, everyone noticed, was fairly ample. Another women walks towards them from the two Chronos parked. She is an inch or so taller than Reina; her hair is silver, and she has gold eyes almost equivalent in size to Freyja's. She is not nearly as curvaceous as the other pilot, but she has modest curves of her own. She is also wearing a pilot suit similar to the other pilot. Shiro looked at Messer and noticed the difference between their suits; Messer's suit had a chest plate and neck guards similar to Chaos pilot suits, aside from that, their suits were relatively the same.
"Messer, who are they?" Kaname asks the resurrected Grim Reaper.
He motions to the taller woman. "This is Captain Yui Takamura, ISDF Alpha Squad Leader." He points out the other one. "She is Kiriko Masaki, ISDF Bravo Squad Leader. Both are pilots of the Alpha Company Elites, aka the ACEs."
"It's nice to meet you two." Kaname starts. "I would introduce ourselves, but I assume you already know who we are?"
"Yes, we know all of you by name, but I do not mean to be rude." Yui says.
"That's okay, I figured as much anyway." Kaname replies. "And besides, it just speeds things up. Normally, Arad and I would include everyone here in a debrief, but seeing as how pretty much everyone here is spent, I think Arad and I will be the one you ladies talk to. Aside from Captain Ernest, that is."
"If you all need a day or so to rest, that's fine with us. We have to check in with our commander anyways." Kiriko notes.
"Pardon me for saying this, but if you're going to leave temporarily, I would like to have a reassurance that you'll come back." Arad says. "Don't get me wrong, we're grateful for the assistance you and your forces lent just now, but I think you can see why we want this."
Yui and Kiriko look at each other and nod.
"Very well then, would the three of us," Yui motions to herself, Kiriko, and Messer. "be enough for you to trust us?"
"That will do. As for accommodations, you may have to share a room; you'll both have beds, of course, but that's just how it is." Arad explains.
"Actually, Captain, we still have the female and male dormitories. They'll still have to share, but I think we can accommodate them. It's just Walkure and Delta Platoon, anyway." Chuck puts in.
"Oh, I almost forgot we had those. You ladies don't mind sleeping with Walkure, right?" Arad asks the two female pilots.
They glance at each other and nod. "No, we wouldn't mind." They both say.
"Alright, that settles that; Messer, you already got a room here, so there's nothing for you to worry about." Arad then grins at the tall pilot. "Unless you want a room with Kaname."
Messer's jaw drops briefly before he clears his throat. He seemed to be in the process of calming down as Hayate and Freyja joke.
"You know he's debating it." Hayate chuckles.
"I don't think Kaname-san would be against it." Freyja giggles.
Kaname's cheeks turn red and Messer suddenly found the bridge incredibly interesting. Things got even more awkward when Reina and Kiriko joined in.
"Well, as long as she consents, it's technically not sexual harassment." Reina stoically notes.
"Don't guys always carry condoms in their wallets?" Kiriko asks in a similar tone.
"I-I don't even have my wallet on me." Messer says, trying to stop them.
"Well, Kaname's on birth control, just like the rest of us, so you've got the green light." Reina smirks, giving Messer the thumbs up.
Kaname's face was as red as her hair at this point. "G-guys, stop it; we get your point."
"I'm sure Messer's got a point, don't you Messer?" Makina grins at Messer, who by this point, was definitely blushing.
"Please, I think we should all get some sleep." Messer says, his voice pleading.
"Only if Kaname lets you." Mirage mutters with a grin.
At this point, everyone except for the couple in question, Shiro, and the still unconscious Mikumo burst out laughing for a solid three minutes. Shiro cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. It was at this point, they all realized two things: one-Mikumo was still out cold, and two-Shiro had been holding Mikumo ever since they all landed. Shiro didn't even look annoyed, but it was obvious he needed to say something.
"What's wrong, Shiro?" Arad asks.
"Aside from the fact that we've been standing here for longer than we need to have been, someone needs help me attend to Mikumo." Shiro states blankly.
"Wait, why?" Kaname asks, almost recovered from her blushing fit.
"Do you want me to be the one that changes Mikumo out of her clothes?"
Everyone looks at Mikumo, her suit tattered and torn in multiple places, when they all realized she wasn't wearing a bra. There was a possibility that she was wearing a revealing tube top underneath her suit, but the only person they knew who wore tube tops was Mirage, and she wasn't even wearing one.
"Heh, why'd you say something about that, Shiro? You could've gotten a free glimpse at Mikumo's naked body." Makina teases.
Shiro frowns. "I gave Mikumo my word that I wouldn't act in such a way towards her, and I intend to keep my word. Just because I'm presented with a rare opportunity that I assume no other man has had doesn't mean I will throw away my decency and act like an animal."
"What a gentleman." All the females say.
It was at this point all the males shot Shiro a dangerous look. For the first time in a while, Shiro felt incredibly uncomfortable. It remained like that before the air lost its tension and everyone relaxed.
"Now then, can we take care of our business and get some rest?" Arad asks.
The answer was unanimous. Yui, Kiriko, and Messer all agreed to debrief Captain Ernest and the essential leadership of Chaos' Ragna Division later in the afternoon, for the sake of everyone getting some rest. Freyja volunteered to help Shiro attend to Mikumo, much to Hayate's dismay. As they Shiro and Freyja went to one of the changing rooms, Freyja looked at Shiro out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey, Shiro. Can I ask you something?" Her face is solemn, which immediately put Shiro at attention.
"Yes, what is it?" Shiro looks at Freyja and notices her rune is a light purple. In his mind, he reasoned that her rune was representative of her emotions.
"I want to know a bit about your home planet."
Shiro nearly stopped for a moment. "What do you want to know?" His voice is level, but his expression betrays a twinge of pain.
"What's it like for you to have received such bad scars?" She asks as they reach the changing room.
Shiro takes a deep breath. "Before I answer, I'd like to know why you are asking me when we're basically alone. If you were so curious, you could've asked earlier. What makes you ask now?"
Freyja taps on the pad, opening the door. "I figured you'd be uncomfortable answering in front of a group, considering how much you are right now."
Shiro sighs as he gently lays Mikumo against the wall. "I'll be honest; it's a horrible place, a killing ground the size of a planet. It attracts people and gets them killed faster than they can realize something's wrong. On top of that..." He makes an expression that's a cross between a cringe and a glare. "Nevermind that." He looks around for something to lay Mikumo on.
He turns to see Freyja laying a sheet on the ground. She opens a locker and pulls out a black t-shirt with a Chaos logo on it, a mid length skirt, and a pair of low black heels. It looked too big for Freyja, but looked about right on Mikumo. She also pulled out a bra and a pair of panties that were definitely too big for her.
"I'm sorry for asking." Freyja's face was crestfallen. For some reason, Shiro didn't want her to be that way. A face and a few memories flashed before his eyes. He gently rubbed her head and she looked up at him, a light blush on her face.
"Don't worry about it, I don't expect you to do anything about it. I'll tell you all more when I feel a bit more comfortable talking about it, or if it becomes relevant." He looks at her, his smile gentle and honest.
She smiles back at him. "Ok!"
"Now then..." Shiro trails off as he glances between the pile of clothes and the unconscious Mikumo. His mouth curves downward slightly as he mentally debates on how to change Mikumo.
Freyja gently jabs at him. "Don't worry, I can take care of this myself. Just make sure no one comes in here."
Shiro lets out a breath of relief. "Thank you. I would do it myself, but it would take longer than needed."
"Why?" Freyja looks at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I'd have to blindfold myself." Shiro says flatly.
"Can you even do anything blindfolded?" She asks. She then makes a face that says, "Nevermind, you probably can."
Shiro smirks. "There's not much I'm not capable of as a human."
"I'm not sure you're even human." She giggles in her signature laugh.
"That's because I'm not really human." Shiro sighs under his breath.
"Eh, what'd you say?" Freyja looks up as she takes off the remains of Mikumo's tattered collar.
"Try to finish before she wakes up. The last thing she remembers before falling asleep was me holding her; I don't need her to think I'd undress her while she's sleeping."
At the same time, Kaname and the rest of Walkure took Yui and Kiriko to the girl's dormitory after the singers changed out of their suit and into their Chaos clothes. During that time, they made a call to their superiors to inform them of the current situation. Other than that, they didn't say anything else. Mirage took note of their conversations, although she made no sign of recording it. She volunteered to shower first while Kaname and the other singers found some clothes for Yui and Kiriko.
Kaname walked up to the two pilots, followed by Makina and Reina. Both singers of the duo are holding clothes of some sort. Makina walks over to Yui, and Reina walks over to Kiriko.
"Here, I hope this is okay." Makina says to Yui. She hands the pilot a light blue blouse that's slightly widened around the chest area, a pair of knee-length pants, a pair of loafers, and underwear that was definitely made for a curvaceous women.
Yui looks at her, slightly surprised. "This all looks about my size. How did you know the measurements?"
Makina smiles. "I didn't." She then winks at Yui. "They're my size."
Meanwhile, Kiriko and Reina watched the conversation as Reina hands Kiriko a pair of mid-thigh shorts, a t-shirt, a sweater, and some sneakers. "I don't think I have a bra that matches your bust size, and yours are probably too small for everyone else's. If it becomes uncomfortable, you might wanna ask Freyja for a bra."
Kiriko takes the clothes gratefully. "Thanks. I'm wearing a tube top, so I think I'll be fine anyways."
"We have a room ready to be slept in, I hope you two don't mind sharing. As the recent hours have been a mess of sorts, one of you might have to sleep in the same bed as someone else. The only beds that can accommodate two people are mine and Makina's."
Kiriko raises her hand. "I don't mind sharing a bed. Yui's a pain to sleep with, so she'll take the extra room."
Yui frowns at the smaller pilot. "You just don't like the fact that my chest is bigger than yours." She says this without any humor.
"That's because you have a tendency to roll onto me and suffocate me with those." Kiriko says.
Yui doesn't say anything, her lip curled slightly. "I can't help it. I don't like sleeping still." She mumbles.
Kaname and the other singers laugh. "Well, I don't really move around much in my sleep, Kiriko. Do you want to sleep with me?"
Kiriko smirks. "Sure, but I'm not making room for Messer."
"What's going on out here?" Mirage asks as she comes out wearing a pink nightgown and a towel around her neck.
"Nothing." Kaname quickly says, her cheeks a light pink.
"Well, I'd like to wrap up whatever it is you guys are doing, I could use some rest." Mirage says as Querele slides up next to her foot. She picks up the striped mercat and pets it.
"Yeah, I think we're done here." Kaname says as she looks in between all the singers and pilots. They all nod. "Okay then, let's clean up and get some rest."
Everyone agrees without question.
As the girls were finishing up their businesses, Messer and the rest of Delta Platoon, went back to the male dorm to rest. As they arrived at the dorm, Hayate looked at Messer out of the corner of his eye.
"So, Messer; you gonna sleep in your old room?" His tone has no emotion in it.
"I didn't realize it still belonged to me." Messer says in a lighter tone.
"Well, it certainly isn't Shiro's; he's sleeping on the Elysion right now." Arad says.
"Speaking of which, why is he sleeping on the Elysion? Aside from Messer's room, we have two extra rooms that aren't filled." Chuck asks as he walks behind the counter and fires up the stove.
"Also, Mikumo's sleeping on the Elysion, so naturally, Shiro has to be near her. She and Shiro are a special circumstance." Arad says as his stomach growls. "That reminds me, I'm starving."
"Me too. At this point, I think I'll even have raw jellyfish." Hayate adds.
Messer opened his mouth to decline, but his stomach spoke for him. The other three pilots look at him with humored expressions. He sighed softly. "Alright, I think I'll have some too."
The other three pilots laugh.
"Man, you really can't hide from us anymore, Messer." Chuck jokes as he pulls some jellyfish and spices from different cabinets and refrigerators.
"Really, lighten up, man." Hayate adds as he sits down in a chair.
Arad wraps an arm around Messer's neck and pulls him down, ignoring their height difference. "Messer, you remember what I've always been telling you? You know, before all that happened?"
Messer looks at his former superior. "Jellyfish always taste better the more they swim?"
Chuck and Hayate shoot grins at Arad, who can only look disappointed. "Well, yes, but the other thing."
"FOR FUCKS SAKE, MESSER, LIGHTEN UP A BIT." Chuck and Hayate both comically yell at the Grim Reaper.
"What's going on in here?" Kaname asks as she pokes her head in the door.
All the males freeze at the sight of the red-haired singer looking through the door. Her head is soon accompanied by Reina's and Makina's.
"Is this a bad time?" Kaname softly asks, trying not to laugh.
Arad and Messer quickly disengage, while Hayate and Chuck can only laugh their asses off. Chuck didn't laugh as hard, as he was focusing on cooking.
"Yeah, you guys can come in." Arad says.
Messer clears his throat while Hayate takes in a deep breath with a grin on his face. The three singers, plus the three pilots walk in. Yui and Kiriko are wearing the clothes that Makina and Reina, respectively, gave them. Mirage comes in last wearing a white short sleeved blouse, brown shorts and black flats.
"So, you guys didn't feel like sleeping yet?" Hayate asks, the grin almost gone.
"Well, everyone agreed that they were hungry, and it turns out Yui and Kiriko have never had jellyfish before." Kaname explains.
"We figured they should at least try it while we're eating here." Reina adds.
"All things considered, you ladies came at a convenient time; I'm making food right now." Chuck smiles at the group of women.
"I assume you wouldn't mind making a few extra portions?" Makina asks.
"No, not at all. Since we're all here, wanna see if we can call up Shiro and Mikumo? I know Freyja's with them as well." Chuck suggests.
"I don't see why not; other than the fact that whenever we get together like this and eat as much as I think we're about to, we usually go into mini food comas." Hayate rubs the back of his neck.
"How do you always find a reason to complain?" Messer looks down on his successor.
"First of all, I'm not actually complaining; I'm already going to sleep like a rock tonight, and second, I'd like to see you prove me wrong." Hayate smirks at Messer.
Messer opened his mouth, but quickly shut it. It was obvious he couldn't say anything that wasn't along the lines of 'you're just a slacker,' or 'big words from someone who can't fly well at all.'
As if reading his thoughts, Hayate continued. "Look, if you want proof that I've been pulling my weight in your absence, including my progress as a pilot, you can-"
"Hayate." Arad says, his voice level. "We can discuss this after we eat and get some rest."
Hayate exhales silently. "Understood."
Right as the mood seemed to be at its lowest, someone's cell rang. Oddly enough, the ring tone was a song, one sung by a certain Windermerean. It wasn't very loud, actually very soft in comparison to other ringtones; it just happened to be quiet enough for everyone to hear it. Everyone looked at Hayate as he opened his cell.
"Hello? Freyja? Nothing much; everyone's gathered at the Ragnyannyan right now. Chuck's cooking right now. Want some? I'll tell Chuck to make you some. I don't know if they'd want some. Did you ask them? Shiro's standing right next to you, isn't he? Just ask him."
A few seconds pass as Hayate gets up and looks out the window. "Okay then, that's a strange request, but I'll see what I can do. What about Mikumo? Is she okay right now? Oh, really? Ok then, I'll see you then." He smiles. "I love you too. Bye." He puts his cell phone back in his pocket and turns around to see everyone staring at him with a variety of expressions.
"What?" Hayate asks, looking in between the mixed expressions of amusement and surprise.
"Your ringtone is Freyja's song..." Messer starts.
"And yours isn't Kaname's?" Hayate asks, an eyebrow raised.
"No, it isn't." Messer says flatly.
"Alright, Messer, whatever helps you sleep at night." Hayate says dismissively as someone knocks on the door.
The door opens slightly as Freyja pokes her head inside. "Hello?"
Hayate raises a hand. "Hey Freyja."
Freyja smiles as she enters the restaurant, followed by Shiro and Mikumo. Mikumo is wearing the clothes Freyja found for her, while Shiro is wearing a gray t-shirt, black pants and black boots. He is carrying a case that looks to be the length of his arms. Yui and Kiriko turn and inspect him with raised eyebrows. Pretending not to notice, Shiro looks at Mikumo, who is staring blankly.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
She looks at him and nods. "Yeah, I think I'm well enough to walk around and eat a bit. Besides, I'm hungry."
"But you said you didn't want anything that had tentacles." Shiro says.
"Yeah, what about it?" Mikumo asks back, not getting it.
"If I understand Chuck's restaurant correctly, everything has tentacles." Shiro says flatly.
Mikumo's eyes widen slightly and she looks at Chuck, who is in the process of holding a living, twitching jellyfish. She pales slightly as she wobbles against Shiro.
Shiro sighs. "I think we should just go to the Elysion. At least nothing there will traumatize you more."
"Hold on, it's not like the only thing we serve here is jellyfish-related. We serve fish too." Chuck says quickly.
"Yeah, but that cheeky mercat keeps stealing the fish." Reina notes.
"Well, maybe Shiro can catch the mercat." Chuck says as he pulls out a fish from the refrigerator.
"You served food knowing that there was a possibility of it being stolen by the native wildlife?" Yui asks levely.
"Look, when you meet this mercat, you'll understand." Chuck says as he puts the fish on a cutting board. "Hey, Hayate. Give me a hand here."
Hayate gets up and goes behind the counter, pulling his hair back and putting plastic gloves on. "Didn't we have Ragnan spiders or whatever during our mission on Windermere?" He asks as Chuck hands him a knife.
"Don't talk about that." Mikumo says as she grips Shiro's arm.
"I don't mind cooking fish, it's just that damn mercat. It was fine the first couple times, but he's basically a regular now." Chuck says as he continues cooking the jellyfish.
"Yeah, this mercat is a lot more elusive than you'd expect." Makina adds.
"We'll see about that." Shiro says as he guides Mikumo to a table and sits her down.
About ten minutes later, Hayate and Chuck finished cooking all the food and had started setting the food out. Aside from Mikumo, who had fish, everyone else was having jellyfish, cooked in a different way. Reina had it raw, Arad, Kaname, and Messer had theirs fried, and everyone else had theirs pan seared, otherwise known as Chuck's usual style of cooking. As everyone started to dig in, a splashing sound emanated from the deck.
"Aw dammit. He's back again." Chuck muttered as he started to stand up.
"Do you mind if I kill it?" Shiro asked blankly.
"Yes, I do. Just scare it enough to where he won't just hop in here and steal the customer's' fish." Chuck says, rubbing his neck.
"Very well then, but I will still need to borrow that knife." Shiro says.
As if waiting for them to finish talking, the mercat jumped onto Freyja's table where she, Hayate and Mirage were sitting. It used Hayate's face as a springboard, knocking him back off his chair. It shot towards Kaname's table, where she, Arad, Messer, Yui and Kiriko were sitting. Messer reached out to grab the mercat, but it jumped onto his arm and leapt forward. Like Hayate's, Messer's face was used as a springboard to launch itself towards where Mikumo was sitting. It seemed for a moment, the mercat had won this round. Shiro, however, had other plans. He grabbed the mercat by the face while it was in mid-air, stopping it dead in its tracks. Shiro looked around the restaurant to inspect the mess one mercat had made. Hayate was having a sneezing fit as he sat up; Messer was on the ground, a large wet spot on his face. He then turned to look at the mercat, which was glaring at him as it struggled to free itself. It jerked itself free, but before it could get remotely close to the door, Shiro picked up a knife from the table and pinned its tail to the floor. It made a pained sound, and as Shiro walked towards it, it struggled further. Shiro knelt down and stared at the mercat, which by this point, was frozen in terror. Shiro grabbed it by the stomach before pulling the knife out of its tail and the floor. He then turned to Chuck.
"I assume this is your fish thief?" Shiro says, holding the limp mercat.
"Yeah, that'd be him." Chuck says, eyeing the mercat, which made eye contact with him.
"What would you like to do with it?" Shiro asks.
"Hmm, dunno. Never thought we'd actually catch him." Chuck says nonchalantly.
"Is he okay?" Makina asks, looking at the slit in its tail.
"It should be fine." Shiro says.
"The mercat isn't an object, Shiro." Reina scolds the stoic bodyguard.
"The gender is irrelevant. Now, if we can't decide what to do with the mercat, I will throw it back into the ocean." Shiro says.
There was a soft mewing sound coming from the floor, and as everyone looked down, they all saw a black mercat mewing at Shiro's feet. It was looking up at him, or rather, the mercat in his hands. Everyone looked at the mercat on the floor, then at the one in Shiro's hands and put two and two together. Without saying anything, Shiro picked up the other mercat, causing it to squirm about. The fish thieving mercat started snarling at Shiro as he went out the door that led to the deck. A minute passed as the sound of snarling and mewing stopped, followed by a series of splashing sounds. Shiro returned to the dining area and sat down next to Mikumo.
Chuck spoke first. "You turned them loose, didn't you?"
Shiro wiped the blood off his hands. "Of course I did. I'm not a monster."
The room was consequently filled with a series of pfts and chuckles. Shiro said nothing as he took a bite of his jellyfish. Mikumo simply looked at him with a smile on her face. After that, their meals were otherwise uneventful. Between the chatter, there wasn't anything of interest. Everyone finished their meals and went to their respective sleeping areas, except for Shiro and Mikumo, who had to walk back to the Elysion. Luckily, because of the attack on the Macross warship, there was always materials and whatnot moving about from and to the Elysion, so there was a 24/7 shuttle service. As Shiro and Mikumo walked to their rooms, the latter suddenly tugged at Shiro's arm.
"What's wrong, Mikumo?" Shiro asks.
Mikumo fidgeted slightly before she pulled back, twiddling her fingers. "Umm, I-I uh...Can you, er...Are you a heavy sleeper?"
Shiro raised an eyebrow slightly. "That depends. Why? Do you need something?"
Mikumo nodded. "If I knock on the wall between our rooms, will you come?"
Shiro smiled gently at her, putting a hand on her head. "Yes, Mikumo. Don't worry about it."
Mikumo smiled before turning towards the door to her room. "Thank you, Shiro."
With that, she went inside. Shiro turned and walked into his room, opening the case that held his swords. He walked over to the orange circuit line-covered box that was his armory; it opened silently as he neared it, revealing the racks that suspended his different sword pairs. He placed them back onto their respective racks, then placing his sidearms back where they belonged. He took off his boots and laid down on his bed, finding sleep in less than a few minutes. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought about Mikumo, and the power she didn't know she wielded; yet, for some reason, he knew about. He wondered why as sleep took over him.
The bridge of the Elysion
Ernest was about to leave when the door behind him opened. He turned to see Toland standing there, a bandage wrapped around his head and wrist. His expression was one of concern.
"Good morning, Mr. Stein. What brings you here?" Ernest asks calmly.
"I've received word from some of my most trusted colleagues; there's been activity from one of the NUNS sub-factions, and it's disturbing." Toland says, his expression unchanging.
"And it's important enough to bring it up right after all this." Ernest says, neither happy nor unhappy.
"A large massing of NUNS warships and carriers has been reported near Terasa." Toland says.
"This is over the new Valkyrie schematic, isn't it?" Ernest assumes.
"My colleagues and I think so. It seems they want to guarantee that they'll have the schematics for it. Their destination is most likely Al Shahal; fortunately we have an advantage over them."
"Which is?"
"They may know the location of my home, but they do not know where to look, or what to look for. I do." Toland says with a grim smile.
"Okay, aside from the resting period our men and women need, when will they most likely depart/reach Al Shahal?"
"The earliest they'll depart is four days from now, latest is twelve days. It's gonna take them at least two days to fold their entire fleet. Given the current status of the Elysion, avoiding a direct engagement is a top priority, I assume?"
"That, it is. Listen, we're going to have to wait for everyone to rest before we discuss this further, but rest assured we will pursue this. I have a gut feeling we're going to need this Valkyrie in the future."
"That would make two of us, Captain." Toland says as he turns around.
Alright guys, sorry about the long wait, as I mentioned in the previous chapter, I am proofing my story for any plot holes (haven't found any yet, if you've noticed something, please say something) and making sure I haven't been miswording or incorrectly describing anything. Anyways, enjoy this even longer chapter and remember that your feedback is always appreciated.