My arm rippled beneath the bandages and restraints, drawing a glance from the pilot. She had just been transferred to this sector of Fenrir, and was now cleared to fly certain God-Eaters out for things beyond the capability of the others…..
I can feel the changes, my control on that part of me slipping, my oracle cells going haywire.
"Are there yet."
She doesn't reply, and I grow more anxious, now I can visibly see the black and gold edges of my spikes growing past the restrains, causing it to buckle if only just. Maybe this will be the last one; I might fall and never come back. If it can affect me this much now, I might finally let go, and never have seen all the scared looks they give me, never have to deal with the caustic whispers behind my back. I knew they did not want me, even if she thought she could change that she became just like them.
The helicopter trembles, shaking me from my hopes. I have barely a moment before an explosion knocks me from my seat, sending me sprawled across the floor. I can hear the beat of massive wings. Fliers. Dammit.
Before I take a chance at evacuating, a shift in the front draws my attention.
Without though to my apparent end, I rush forward, recklessly barging through the flames, uncaring of the searing heat against my back as I search for her.
Again the craft rocks to and fro, throwing things around. If I only I ha-
Something tears the craft in two, a glance behind me as the tail and a majority of it fall away, and I catch sight of the Alpha. It was staring back at me as it dived down.
…..
The restraints where down before it had even finished its descent.
"Tch, just don't get in over your head idiot."
5 minutes beforehand
Several dozen yards behind the crippled heli, a fully-armed gunship was trying to make pace and catch up to help its weakened sibling, firing off an angry trail of high caliber Aragami-based projectiles into the fliers. It had been on its way back from there sector, when a pilot had sent out an SOS signal.
When its own pilot found it to be a high priority signal, he had pushed the throttle to max, creating a near air trail behind them. Within the gunships hold, a team of god-eaters where holding on for dear life, having been thrown of their feet from the rapid acceleration.
Leona grabbed hold of the nearest rail, and clambered up the steps to the cockpit. What she saw when she arrived was one of horror. There had been ward of a new pilot coming in when Derrek had died in a return flight. Except Derrek only picked up one God-Eater-Percival, and he had been out the doors to the launch pads before anyone could even get there God-arc of the holders. The Jet Black, four engine beast of a Heli was the only one of its kind in the bay. And now it was unrecognizable wreck, somehow capable of flight despite missing a good portion of its side, having been gouged out by the alpha of the Aragami-Fliers. With terror etched into her eyes, she watched as it appeared again and rose high into the sky, and stopped once it had reached its peak, before coming down like an executioners blade.
The poor thing heli never stood a chance.
The beast tore the ship cleanly in half, and for a moment, it the pieces seemed to float in the air, before gravity mercilessly brought them down to its open arms. She turned, unable to see it collide with ground, that her childhood friend was gone in an instant. That she could never speak to him again, that she could never ask for his forgiveness. Leaving him behind like that had torn her apart, and once they had been pulled far beyond his reach, she had torn into the others, rage and grief taking hold as she swung her God-Arc, actually marking one of them across the sides. It had been non-fatal and they had wiped it off the books. But now that he was seemingly truly gone, she felt that a piece of her had died.
Something pierced its way through her haze, a familiar sound.
One that brought forth memories long since forgotten. She rose with swiftness, pressing herself behind the pilot's chair, staring over his shoulder at what she knew to be a glimmer of hope. There, initially covered by the wreck, she could see a large shape following the flier. Even from a distance, she could make out the Azure plates.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"ROOAAAARR/DIE"