-Chapter 16, One final effort!

Sam took a moment to eye up the AST forces. Each member flinched as her gaze snapped to them, before moving onto the next, and the next, and the next. Her Heads-Up-Display fired with information. Ammo counters, shield strength, rank, last name. Everything her advanced data suite could pick up on the eight remaining combatants. Then, her eyes fell upon Nat and widened. He limped, clutching his right arm, toward her, leaving a trail of crimson and burgundy behind him like some hellish snail.

"Nat!" Sam shouted.

Nat looked up with a weary smile.

Sam flew down to him and threw her arms around his neck. He whimpered slightly, but returned the hug as best he could.

"For the record…" Nat's quip trailed off as Sam heaved into his chest. Her shoulders shook a little with each sob. Her wings drooped low. "I missed you too, darling."

Sam looked up at him and smiled. She lifted her visor, wiped her eyes once, then whispered, "Please tell me that's not all your blood, at least?"

Nat chuckled a little, then shook his head. "Thankfully not."

Kusakabe bit into the end of her thumb until a small, red trickle soaked into her gloves. "We need to retreat," repeated itself inside her head. She was no master tactician, but it wouldn't take a master tactician to realise the situation had gone from bad to FUBAR, as some of the girls would call it. She was about to get on the radio and relay her orders, taking advantage of the lull in the action, before she noticed Origami's vitals spiking. She glanced down at the new girl, before slowly hovering over to Tobiichi, bringing herself as close to Princess as she'd been since that day on the hillside. Then, she whispered, "What's wrong?"

But Origami was miles away, staring a hole into Sam's back. She never heard the question. Didn't see Kusakabe reach out to her. Didn't realise the danger she was about to put herself and every single one of her squadmates in.

Silently, she drew her sword.

Eventually, Sam pushed Nat out to arms' length and got a better look at him. His clothes were torn in various places. Blood seeped out of open wounds, but just as many had been knit closed by extreme temperature. And then there was his hair: jet black, as always, but now with a single streak of electric yellow. Sam almost broke down into tears. "I'm so glad you're okay," she blubbed.

"You're the one who's been dead the last week," Nat replied. He lifted Sam's chin until her eyes met his. "I'm glad you're okay, too."

Sam nodded.

As she did so, she glimpsed Shido running toward them with his hand outstretched. She looked to him as he yelled, "Sam, look out!"

Suddenly, the world froze in its tracks and Sam's gut turned with deja vu. She found that she could still move, even when no-one else could. And when she looked into Shido's face, she saw her own. And when she looked into Nat's, she saw Tohka's. And when she looked out beyond, she saw rolling hills and thick trees. Which meant, the only person missing-

SLAM

Sam wheeled round and caught Origami's blade in her left hand. It burned brightly as it bit into Sam's palm, but failed to penetrate her personal energy shield. Origami gasped and yanked on the hilt of the sword, but Sam only pulled her closer. They were now so close Sam could see the beads of sweat clinging to Origami's forehead.

"You did this to him, didn't you?" Her shed tears evaporated on her cheeks.

"And to think I had once felt remorse for killing you!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Origami snarled, "I promised myself that I would never kill a human, but no human could ever survive that! I watched you die, Samanya. What human gets back up and starts walking?"

"You want something to regret?" Sam shouted. "I'll give you something to regret!" She crushed the blade between her fingers and sent sparks leaping over the two of them, then drew her right hand back and punched Origami as hard as she could. Origami cried out in pain as she flew backwards. Sam chased after her, barrelling through her squadmates and their supporting fire, before kicking her again so hard she tore through one side of an office complex and out the other. Origami hurtled into the next street over, finally coming to a rest in a crater the size of a family car, whereas Sam touched down gently beside her. She kicked a lump of concrete off Origami, then snatched her up by the neck. She hoisted her up to eye level.

Origami kicked and scrabbled, pushing her heels into Sam's stomach, to no avail. The grip around her throat tightened. Slender, strong fingers left dark welts in her neck. Sam's chest heaved with anger. Her eyes were glassy.

"What's wrong, Tobiichi? No more people weaker than you to pick on?" Sam tilted her head. "No more innocent people to take your anger out on?"

With what little breath she could manage, Origami wheezed, "Hypocrite…"

"What?"

Without a moment to waste, Origami re-ignited her sword and drove it upwards towards Sam's chest. Sam caught it in her glare and the memories of that shot came rushing back. She shoved Origami back as her uppercut slice bounced off her chest and grazed her chin. With a shower of superheated metal fragments cascading over both of them, Sam's visor overloaded and sparked out. Origami was lucky not to go blind as she fell to the ground. Sam staggered back and pushed the useless perspex off her face.

Origami stumbled onto her feet, breathing hard, and stared at Sam with indignation. She massaged her neck, then pressed her radio. "Captain…I'll lead her away. Focus on...securing the Spirits."

"Origami, we're a team! Get back to the unit!"

"Ma'am…she's only after…me," She wheezed.

"How can you know that? Tobiichi, get back here!"

Origami lifted the headset off her head and hooked a finger around the band on her neck. She took a moment to get her breath back. Sam stood across from her, staring. Her fists clenched and opened and clenched and opened. In a rare moment of self-awareness, Origami said, "I've looked in the mirror before. I know what it looks like to have a grudge." With those words, she tore the transmitter off and threw her headset to the ground. The world burst from the green tint of her visor as the sun poked through the clouds wherever it could. It kissed her cheek. The sun was warm. For a moment, it stopped raining.

But, only for a moment.

"You'll pay for what you did to him, Origami!"

Origami jumped back as Sam's fist buried itself in the concrete, shattering it instantly. Sam looked up, drew her fist back once more, and tore into Origami with an all-out barrage. Tobiichi's defence was quickly picked apart, with Sam sneaking more and more punches past her guard. One uppercut here. A hook there. Origami fell to the ground, lit her thrusters, and screamed backwards up the road, the paint on her CR-unit being scraped away by the rough surface, to which Sam screamed after her. The two soared into the Tenguu skyline, aggressively banking and twisting through the air. Origami burned as hard as she could, but Sam outsped her in a straight line, a fact Origami learnt with a kick to the head and the side of another skyscraper. She dropped into a free-fall, evading Sam's follow-up assault by a hair, somersaulted, then pushed herself into a steep climb, shooting upwards. Sam turned and pursued, rocketing through the cloud bank.

"Origami!" Kusakabe shouted, fruitlessly, at her transmitter. The line was dead. She swore, profusely. No, she couldn't lose her nerve, yet. She still had girls on the ground. If anyone could handle themselves, it was the lone silver wolf herself, after all. "Remember your training, Ryouko." She tallied up ammo counters. She drew up melee training scores. She picked Shizuka up under the arm, then watched with intrigue as Shido almost did the same with his group: Checking on the Spirits. Cursing out the new girl for speeding off. Grasping the black-haired boy by the shoulders. The parallels were uncanny.

No matter. A different life, perhaps, but not this one. There was still work to be done.

"Girls! We are still on! Ayame, Eiko, hand off your ammo and use your swords."

The two corporals glanced at each other, but did as they were ordered: drawing their swords while passing out their ammo to the rest of the squad.

"Sato, on me! We'll secure the wounded."

The young lieutenant nodded and hovered close behind the captain.

"Ma'am, I can still fight!"

Kusakabe smiled at the girl clung to her. "I'm counting on it, Shizuka. You've got point."

Shizuka nodded, sternly, and freed herself from Kusakabe's grasp. Her jets spluttered for a moment, then stabilized and kept her steady. Her face was cast in a pale blue as she ignited her sword.

"And there she goes, again," Shido huffed, gazing toward where Sam had chased Origami through the building, then offered his shoulder to Nat.

He took it and slumped against the boy. "She's like that, huh?"

"Almost more trouble than she's worth."

To that, they both laughed, which Yoshino seemed puzzled by.

"You're hurt, yet you still laugh. How? Aren't you scared?" she inquired.

Shido smiled and shook his head. "Nah, I ain't scared."

"But why?"

"Because I have more faith than ever that we'll all get through this just fine!"

Yoshino gasped. A little more light than Shido had ever seen before splashed across her face.

"Speak for yourself! I'm terrified!" mewled Nat.

Yoshino whispered, "Then how-?"

Before she could finish, Nat balled his good hand into a fist. "Because it's not bad to be scared, Yoshino. It's bad to be scared and not do anything about it! If you recognise that you're scared, but choose to take whatever is scaring you head-on, with those you trust by your side, then you've already won!"

Those words resonated with Yoshino. They made her eyes sparkle.

Shido pitched in with his own words, saying, "He's right! Isn't that exactly what Yoshinon would say, too?" He took a breath and, in his best Yoshinon impression, shouted, "Never fear! Yoshinon is here!"

For the first time since they had met, Yoshino laughed.

That, alone, made all the struggle worth it.

"Shido!"

Suddenly, Shido felt a surge of heat overcome him. He clenched his eyes shut to the sounds of a struggle. In the nick of time, Tohka had buried her sword upright in the road, and now it was all she could do to keep her body weight pressed against the flat side, lest the AST member overpowered her, jets burning hard.

"Tohka!" Shido yelled.

"I got this! Get out of here!" she screamed from behind clenched teeth.

"Not so fast!" Another voice called.

Another AST member had flanked them and now came bearing down with sword drawn for a wide, flat swing.

"I got this one," Nat grunted, throwing himself off Shido and catching the attack with a tight guard. His right arm may be useless, but his left arm was still just as good.

Shido watched with awe as arcs of lightning forked between Nat and Tohka.

"Shido! There's one more!" Tohka screamed.

He glanced to his left, and there she was, rocketing toward them. Yoshino stared with dread. Tohka could barely spare the expense of looking. Nat had no idea at all.

"Looks like this is it. Time to go all in." With nothing else for it, Shido put his own body between Shizuka and Yoshino. He did not adopt a defensive stance. Could not fire back with his own power. He could simply stand and spread his arms as far as possible to protect Yoshino. Shizuka drew nearer and nearer, showing no signs of slowing for the boy in her way. Shido closed his eyes.

In what little time she had, Yoshino took in the world with her wide eyes. All these strangers risking their lives for...her. The angry purple haired lady with the big sword. The boy she had met in that dark place, who seemed barely able to stand. And then Shido, who couldn't punch lightning or spit ice or fly, still rushing to protect her, just like Yoshinon would.

"I'm scared. I'm so scared I want to cry," she thought. "But it's okay to be scared, right? That's what he said, and now he's protecting me while being scared. And maybe the angry lady is scared, too. And Shido! What would Yoshinon do?" she retreated further and further from the real world, closing herself off inside her own heart. A wall of ice that covered her every thought, every emotion, and every action. "What would Yoshinon do…" she whispered, and that's when it clicked. Yoshinon would protect her. Yoshinon would protect Shido, and the angry lady, and the funny boy, too! "As long as I can protect them, I'll be just like Yoshinon!"

Shido's gaze whipped round at those words.

"ZADKIEL!"

Yoshino shouted as loud as she could, pushing her voice to the heavens. She clenched her fists and threw her head back. Her eyes snapped open.

The spirit exploded with power as the ground tore open and geysers of ice ripped from the bowels of the earth. They rose in a loose formation at first, like jagged battlements on a castle, and as the AST began to peel off, solitary spires tore through the asphalt at their heels. Yoshino pushed them as high as she could, forcing the AST back, before eventually collapsing inside her gleaming ice fortress. She spent a second catching her breath and prayed with all her heart that she had helped.

"All right, Yoshino!" Nat cheered as the cool ice kissed his skin and a gentle mist collected around his ankles. Every way he looked, his own image met him. A perfect, three-hundred-and-sixty degree wall. The four of them exchanged shocked glances and even Tohka seemed in awe, in spite of her misgivings. Yoshino gazed upwards. Ice all around. She really had done it.

Shido grinned. "All right, guys, time to finish this!"

Kusakabe waved everyone back once the ice castle had stopped growing. "Shizuka, are you okay?" Shizuka had been caught by the ice's sudden expansion and thrown off her feet. Kusakabe could just see her a fair distance away, slowly pulling herself back upright. "Shizuka! Report!"

She turned to her commanding officer and, wincing, made an over-the-top show of pointing to her headset, and then giving a thumbs-down gesture. She then felt the side of her head. Warm. Wet.

Ryouko Kusakabe grimaced. What was taking Retrieval so damn long? They'd need some big guns dow-

"Kusakabe! Come in, Kusakabe!"

"About time, Central!" Kusakabe barked into her transmitter, "Where's my backup?"

"Backup? No, your orders are to return immediately! Some...thing is tearing its way through the whole base!"

"What? What thing?"

"It's…"

"What? What is it?"

"A giant rabbit!"

A scream, then the line was flooded with static. Kusakabe sighed. "Tobiichi, so help me, I will kill you."

"Come on, then! Let's just see if you can!" Origami yelled, standing on the edge of the skyscraper's roof. It might just have been the tallest building in the whole damn city, with a helipad and a small door beside it, leading down into floors and floors of offices and fancy suites.

Sam shot toward Origami, once more just missing and burying her fist into the concrete. Origami leapt backwards and took off flying, to which Sam quickly gave chase.

THUNK!

Origami bounced backwards, blinking wildly with surprise after colliding with...nothing? There was nothing but thin air in front of her for miles. She made to tap the space with her knuckles when she heard Sam fast approaching. Jetting quickly to the side, Sam's fist sailed over her head and seemingly disappeared. A moment later, it reappeared covered in shards of glass and broken circuitry, as if she had just punched a mirror. Sam stared with horror, mouth agape, and around the point of impact Origami could see a spiderweb of cracks dominate the far horizon.

"What the hell?" Origami's tired mind failed to make heads or tails of what Sam had just hit, and, seemingly uninterested in answering Origami's question, Sam took the moment to bring her leg up over Origami's head, then kick her the considerable distance back to the curb.

Tohka swung once, twice, three times. She twisted Sandalphon with care and precision that should have been impossible for such a hunk of iron and, despite throwing her weight behind each and every swing, her footwork never slipped once. Like a ballerina she shifted her weight, turned her hips, and danced on her feet. With each swing, pink energy leapt forth, just as sharp as her blade. Once upon a time, she could have exerted herself like this without breaking a sweat. Now, however, her throat felt tight and her legs ached. Still, she retained her composure as she struck another AST member clean out of the sky, who practically landed at her feet. Tohka looked down at the girl, then, blinded by rage, slowly raised her sword high above her head.

"Princess!"

Tohka's ears pricked up and she turned her gaze. Another AST member stood before her, square on, in the middle of the road, with one side of her face running with blood. She had long, black hair that fell between the two arms protruding from her back. Each "arm" had an elbow and a gimballed thruster that glowed a soft blue. Shizuka stared back at Tohka, then stamped down with her foot. A small, grey cylinder spun into the air. Shizuka snatched it, grit her teeth, and ignited two beam swords. They crackled the same colour as her engines.

Tohka's guard had dropped for a heartbeat.

Shizuka was upon her.

She had but enough time for her eyes to widen before Shizuka's upward slice sent her cartwheeling. Tohka bounced down the road, scrambled to her feet, but again Shizuka was there! This time, Tohka blocked with her sword pointed downwards, hilt above her head, flat edge pressed to her shoulder. She leveraged Sandalphon up and around her head, but Shizuka was already gone. She had shot up and over Tohka before slashing her in the back. Tohka yelped and stumbled forwards, savagely swinging Sandalphon back in Shizuka's direction. She dropped under the attack onto her back, then kicked as hard as she could, burying both her boots into Tohka's stomach.

Tohka doubled over, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets as she wretched. Her grip on Sandalphon slackened. Her head spun. "Gonna be sick..."

Shizuka sprung up, pirouetted, then landed on her feet, although not without a groan of complaint from her thrusters. She steeled herself for more as Princess recovered.

Again and again they clashed, throwing their bodies against each other. Tohka's astral dress was incomplete, with barely more than the gauntlets and spaulders interrupting her casual dress. In this state, any errant slice could be her undoing.

Still, Shizuka was hardly better off. A lone Anti-Spirit versus a very pissed off Princess of Destruction, using a standard-issue manoeuvring rig as impulse drives to push her attacks. It wouldn't be long before something gave way.

FWEEEEEeeeee-fwoot-fwoot-fwoooooo-

Her engines had failed and now Shizuka hung in mid-air, her slice falling a hair's breadth short. Whatever came next, she would be powerless to stop.

Tohka dropped Sandalphon low, widened her stance, planted her feet, and swung with every ounce of energy and anger and aggression she had. All those pent-up feelings about Shido, all those conflicted feelings about Yoshino, all those self-doubts that confronted her for the first time since she'd been born into this world through disaster and destruction and death.

Sandalphon collided with Shizuka, then ripped itself out of Tohka's hands.

The building behind them never stood a chance.

Shizuka ripped through it; careening through its supports and collapsing it in moments. The building fell in on itself, crying out with a chorus of screaming metal and exploding glass. Tohka shielded her eyes from the rubble. Glass nicked her arms and cheeks. The pain throbbed numbly. Then, she picked her way over the remains, and although it was difficult to find her footing, she felt far too exhausted to fly. Lethargy set in with each passing second as both adrenaline, and the Reiryoku that fuelled her magic, ebbed and flowed.

Emerging from the debris, Tohka spied Shizuka laying prone, buried beneath what remained of a second building, arm outstretched. Her suit was little more than scrap metal, and anything beyond her waist was obscured by the rubble. Her blood pooled all around.

"Get...get back…" Shizuka whispered.

Unable to hear her, Tohka cautiously approached, until she was close enough to see Shizuka's reaching hand trembling.

"No...run…" It was all she could do to mumble. Every last drop of energy she had was spent keeping that hand out. Her face dripped with blood and sweat and tears.

All was quiet for a moment, save for Shizuka's shallow breath, until Tohka took her hand and their gazes met.

"I'm sorry…" Shizuka fell unconscious.

A noise made Tohka look up. What was left of the building suddenly teetered toward them, ripping itself from its mooring. Shizuka's territory had faded along with her consciousness, and now nothing kept the unquenchable force of gravity from staking its claim.

Six storeys of stone fell, blocking out the sun.