D-01-105 & Gebura

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.

"Aaaaaaargh!"

The name Moonlight Sonata comes from remarks made by the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab. In 1832, five years after Beethoven's death, Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. Within ten years, the name 'Moonlight Sonata' was being used in German and English publications. Later in the nineteenth century, the sonata was universally known by that name.

"The Red Mist is coming!"

The piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favorite even in his own day. Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata in his early thirties, after he had finished with some commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.

D-01-105 was not a single entity. On one hand, an old-fashioned piano had gold decals on the front and melted candles on top. At its feet, there were blackened and shrunken heads. On the other hand, the female pianist wore a veil that covered the upper part of her face. She wore a dark long-sleeved dress and a dark rose on her head. Holding a cane between her hands, she seated on a chair next to the piano, but not directly on the piano.

The reason? I was busy playing that instrument. The Inspector's notes next to the door pointed how everyone would benefit from increased Temperance and Justice while my performance lasted, so I wanted to give then every bit of strength possible.

After all, today's color was red. Red corridors, red rooms, red bodies. A trail of death followed the meltdown of my Sephirah, Gebura.

I am a coward. Unlike Izzy or Neal, I cannot put my fears aside. I wasn't courageous enough to stand up to that monster. I must be the worst Discipline captain in all of Lobotomy Corporation's history.

My performance was over, but I didn't leave my chair.

El Llanto de la Luna was D-01-105's name. She resembled someone I used to know. My friend's teacher, to be concrete. We both played the piano, but she was much better than me. After all, her teacher was quite strict and pushed her during the lessons. I wonder what became of her…

I didn't want to cry. I had suffered in that company for too long. I didn't want music to express only dramatic things. My fingers moved on their own.

Suite bergamasque, third movement, Clair de lune, by Claude Debussy. Yeah. I preferred that one. The lady behind me stood up and approached me. I didn't care what she was about to do. I just wanted to feel something nice before my Sephirah murdered me.

The music echoed through the facility, bringing relief to my dying teammates and the brave heroes combatting the Red Mist.

I missed this… The piano's resonance. The tremor in the air. The density of each beat. The value of each second.

El Llanto de la Luna waited for me to finish. She was a musician as well, so she knew better than interrupting someone's performance. I mean, she could do it, but it would be extremely rude… and I wasn't that bad at it.

I stood up from my seat and bowed to her apologetically. The abno wanted me to despair for the moon, not bask in the moonlight.

D-01-105 took seat and rested her fingers above the keys.

Guillaume Tell 'Overture', by Rossini.

An alien force kidnapped my body and made it move against my will. I felt… pumped. I rushed back to my department, grabbed my Mimicry EGO gear and lunged at the Red Mist. Unlike her usual squared shape, Gebura recovered a humanoid form. She had an armored body and a gray mask with a red glowing eye on her face. Crimson locks of hair fell behind her shoulders. She pushed Gregory-senior and Kickass-senior away with her Red Eyes and Penitence and blocked my attack.

The melody made me step on her body, backflip over her and perform a spinning attack.

"Qwerty?! How did you-"

Before my seniors could gawk at my incredible fighting prowess, I pursued the Red Mist and slammed my broad red sword against her torso. She punched me away and threw her weapons at me. I spun my sword to deflect it.

The Road of Gold opens.

Before I could rush once again, Gebura summoned Gold Rush and tackled me. We traversed at least six corridors. Had I not blocked her attack, I would have been turned to mist.

Then, she equipped a better gear. Mimicry and Da Capo. A sword like mine… and a black silent scythe. I blocked Mimicry with my own, but Da Capo sliced my chest. White damage drained my SP back to zero, yet I didn't panic. The performance wasn't over. El Llanto de la Luna wasn't going to allow me any rest.

I kicked the Red Mist on the chest, slid towards her and threw and upwards slice. On the air, I tried piercing her, but a mighty kick made me crash against a jar of green Enkephalin.

Oh, so we were at Safety.

I picked the broken jar and threw it at her. The Red Mist had no trouble cutting through the tank, but the liquid hid my approach from underneath. Slice. Slash. Slam. I moved in ways I didn't know were possible to me. It all just seemed so… fluent. It was just like playing the piano. I just had to relax and allow things to happen.

Was this my real power… or was I just a puppet to El Llanto de la Luna's hands?

Either way, thanks to that I was able to play my part… There was something I wanted show Gebura: the resolution of a coward.

Reinforcements arrived in time to help me scape her pressing attack.

Legato.

Da Capo flew across the room. If Greg didn't tackle their allies, all of them would have taken a one-way ticket to insanity-land. I picked them from the floor and threw them into the air.

Let's do this, partner.

Mimicry sliced me in two and Gebura jumped to another department. I could perfectly feel my torso saying farewell to my waist and landing onto the bloodied floor. I just picked my legs and reattached my lost limbs. The performance wasn't over.

"Y-You… what the fuck is going on? How are you able to keep the hunt going?"

I smiled to my gastric partner.

"Can't you listen it? This is a good part."

I rushed through the corridors, jumped and swiped a clean hit on Gebura's back. She rolled forward and turned towards me, ready to retaliate. We exchanged more blows. Whenever she tore a hole on my body or sliced a limb, I just dodged until putting the flesh back in its place so that I could continue dancing with her.

Some things simply couldn't cool down, no matter how long they were left in the cold.

"Let's heat things up, Gebura! The performance is yet far from over!"

This isn't enough.

I ducked and parried Mimicry's throw. The hit was so violent my arms felt like falling off.

I wasn't slacking off all this time. Let me show how to actually wield EGO.

Her mask started to break, revealing red cracks around the eye in the middle. More ALEPH gear: Smile, from the Mountain of Smiling Bodies, and sword that we had yet to unlock. It was long, rectangular and wore bandages around its edges.

Justitia.

She raised her sword to prepared a dangerous attack. I retreated and stopped the reinforcements from entering. A deadly noise was heard inside Training Main Room.

"Oh, no. The performance is almost over. It won't last until the end."

Without El Llanto de la Luna's aid, my resilience would cease to exist and death would be daringly closer to a reality. A slap on my shoulder snapped me back to my senses. Gregory-senior studied me.

"What do we do, Qwerty?"

"M-Me? I…"

Indecision was about to gobble me up, but I shook my head. If the performance was over, I just had to keep it going inside my head. Encore!

"I'll bait her attacks. Lend me your support and we'll chip her health away. Beware her sudden big attacks. If she looks like throwing something, duck for your lives."

I entered the room and met that color. The deadliest red.

"Ready for the second movement?"

My moves were more sluggish than before, but I managed to keep myself intact at the price of favoring my defense in detriment of my offense. I was quick on my feet and I had the rhythm figured out, but Gebura was too much for me to handle. A single error would mean my end.

Be eaten.

Her Smile hammer spread a mist that slowed me down while dealing Black damage. She readied a second strike. I jumped and hang from the golden rings that floated on the Main Room. After her attack was over, I dropped and made a vertical slice, swept her legs and spun over my heels to catch her with another slice. Her feet parried my attack and sent my sword flying. She tried punching a hole in my head, but she instead clashed against the Golden Rush glove Greg-senior pushed between us.

"Fire!"

Kickass and the other weaponized employees shot a barrage of bullets that stunned the Sephirah. A Gold Rush later, Gebura run through a magic circle and left the room.

"Too many dead bodies have unleashed The Mountain. Magical Girl is already on her way to beat it. Gebura joined the party at Discipline and is now destroying them both. The manager just sent Little Red to them as well."

Angela's warning made me relax a bit, allowing my fatigue to catch up to me. I coughed blood. The wounds I took during El Llanto de la Luna's performance were slowly sinking into my body, reminding me I was meant to be dead. My bones snapped back to their place and my dead tissue was replaced once the regeneration factor reached the maximum output and sent a healing wave across the room.

"You rock, Qwerty! When did you learn to move like that?"

"I'm happy to call them my apprentice! Their merits are my merits!"

To have my two favorite seniors compliment me at the same time made me feel levitating. I landed on the ground and wore a serious expression. I could not falter yet.

"It's not over yet. Gebura's performance is yet to reach its finale. Keep your focus until the end! Time for the third movement!"

Ekpmephtil died, proving even these heroes were capable of perishing. I didn't want to suffer such a loss, so I was ready to burn all the way until the flame of my life was extinguished. It's not bravery. I am a coward. I feel so much fear I freeze up. However, music seems to heat me up, allowing me to channel all my fears into hidden power.

Qwerty, the coward.

Gebura once said that cowards were not needed in her team. I would prove her wrong.

Let's put an end to this. The apocalypse is here…

The speakers alerted us once again.

"Everyone, be careful. Gebura's sword has transformed into a dangerous weapon that inflicts random types damage, including Pale. She selects a target and chases after it until its dead or she becomes too fatigued." Angela announced.

The mark above my head gave me a hint about where she was headed to.

I pushed aside my seniors and rushed towards Control. I sent the elevator down to stall for time. An explosion. The Red Mist appeared before me in a blink.

Be torn apart before my eyes.

Death.

I didn't think it twice and rolled towards the elevator shaft, dropping all the way to Information. I stabbed the wall to slow down and avoid death by gravity. The pull of my joints was harder than I could stand and I tripped, falling backwards onto the elevator with a heavy thud.

No more music echoed inside my head.

I'm not as capable as I used to be…

The elevator below started to ascend. I moved my tired bones to jump outside the shaft and avoid death by ceiling. There, my seniors and me found Gebura kneeling down, trying to recover her strength from a flurry of slices that destroyed the hallway.

The only reasonable thing to do was mercilessly beating her. A white portal appeared behind us.

The Road of the King opens.

"Dodge!"

Gebura threw Gold Rush through the portal and chased after it. Half of our forces were incapacitated with just that attack. Gregory got a large wound across their torso and Kikas' was turned off. The whole hallway was painted red. All it took was that small slip-up.

It just isn't enough.

Information team told me through the speakers that Gebura was at Control's Main Room, so I rushed there with whoever could still fight and beat her up some more. Each time I struck with my weapon, I begged her to give up. Insanity slowly caught up to me.

Then cycle of chasing each other down continued for a while… until one of the two could no longer move.

My arm felt cold. I wondered where my leg went. My eye… did it get sliced or was I just blinded by the blood and the mist?

I cursed my own powerlessness. My boss… she was hyper aggressive towards abnormalities and tried to inflict as much pain as possible onto them. Why? What did she earn from risking her employee's lives? What was she trying to achieve?

Coughing a mouthful of blood, I heard the Red Mist battle with the last remaining employees. Zero warped erratically to confuse her, while Lin and Martin continued to move around shooting bullets. Neal and Izzy didn't have good gear yet, so they just stuck to picking up the dying employees and bringing them to safety. I was too close to the fray for them to rescue me.

"What is it you're trying to protect… Gebura?"

After my voiced reached her, a death mark appeared above my head. She was going to send me to the afterlife after all.

"Hm, hm, hmhm, hmmmmmmmm… hm, hm, hm, hmhm, hmmmmmmmmm…"

A humming voiced reached the area. The battle slowed down until nothing but the hums could be heard. Gebura held her head with one hand and buried her sword onto the floor. The fighters took that momentary chance and gave one final push.

Ah… I'm breaking… I won't drop my sword, even if I turn to dust… Even after all this, I can't do a single thing with this power…

As my consciousness faded, I heard some employees murmur their worries.

"What was that just now?"