DISCLAIMER: Mai Otome and its characters are Sunrise property.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:11/17/09-No original chapter notes.
Our Legacy ch46
Founder Base,
Irina had been sitting outside the door crying when Nao finally came out. Nao held out her hand to Irina and helped her off the floor.
"You and I both knew this could happen eventually. I don't want you to cry over this, Irina," Nao said pulling Irina close and kissing her tear stained eyes.
"I promised that I wouldn't fall for you and it happened anyway. I'm sorry about Youko, Nao, truly I am," Irina said as she leaned her forehead to Nao's.
"Kruger said these people went missing, not that they were dead. I'll hold out hope for them in that case. I'm sorry if I was an ass back there, but I couldn't hold it in anymore and I didn't want to hurt you, I did anyway," Nao replied as she stroked Irina's cheek and planted a small, soft kiss on her lips.
"My door and my bed are open to you, Nao. We've both lost too many friends and I'm not expecting you to react so calmly. I will help you hold on to that hope if you want me to," Irina said as she tried to hold back the last of her tears. Nao pulled their bodies as close and firm as possible registering every point of contact, inhaling Irina's scent and sighing into her ear.
"Just this once let me show you the difference between having my body and having my heart," Nao said as she kissed Irina's neck and lead her to their room.
Ahn went to retrieve their clothes from the transport when Yukino woke and wanted to shower. Ahn smiled as she heard the last words Nao said to Irina before she entered the room. Yukino thanked Ahn for retrieving her clothing and opened the suitcase unsure of what she was looking for. Yukino looked at the group shot taken at Garderobe that she kept in her suitcase and lightly brushed it with her fingers.
It was in that moment that Yukino realized something wasn't quite right. The photo originally held the parents of Garderobe's first born children only. Yukino pulled the photo closer and realized that the photo was now a group shot with Kaede and Shiori. In Shiori's arms was a little girl with blue hair and deep violet eyes.
"Ahn, look at this?" Yukino asked as she held out the photo hand shaking.
"How can this be happening, Yukino, with everything we've seen, how?" Ahn asked as she held the photo of the twelve and their parents, "Yukino, look closely at this and tell me who that tall blonde is in the back standing next to Kanna Yumemiya?"
"It can't be, Ahn. It can't possibly be…"
Yukino took the photo and headed out the door quickly. Even though the occupants of the room clearly weren't receiving company Yukino opened the door. Natsuki shot Yukino a nasty little glare for interrupting them just before Yukino waved the photo in her face.
"What's going on here? This is not my picture, Natsuki. It came from my luggage but it's not the picture I had in there," Yukino said trying to hold back the manic feelings rising in her chest.
Shizuru took the picture and looked it over. She knew which picture Yukino carried because she carried the same one. Shizuru though slightly shocked, smiled at the baby in Shiori's arms. Natsuki moved away from Shizuru and got up from the bed retrieving her night robe. They had all forgone modesty years ago and Natsuki had learned to better control her blushes because of it.
"Natsuki get the picture from my suitcase, please," Shizuru asked as she pulled the covers around her and sat up.
Ahn was standing in the doorway not speaking a word as Natsuki pulled her robe tight and got the suitcase from the closet. Natsuki opened the suitcase and felt for the silver frame she knew was at the bottom of the contents. Natsuki saw the exact same picture in that frame and removed the picture hastily.
There on the back of the photo was Shizuru's elegant handwriting. The writing said Viola Armitage and family celebrating her first birthday. Natsuki dropped the picture and frame to the floor and just stared at Shizuru in shock.
"First it's the shimmers, buildings, people and the Blessed Founder knows what else. Then there are the disappearances of the people we care about and for right now I'm including our daughters in that. Last, but most certainly not least, these pictures. What else is going to happen?" Natsuki said throwing her hands in the air as if begging for an answer.
Four months prior in Aries,
"Alright we all know the game plan for today. Once we get round this mountainside, we'll hit our respective grids and meet here tomorrow at the same time," Natsuki said over the transport radio.
"None of us are Corals anymore, Kruger. We all know the drill, must you keep reminding us?" Haruka replied in return.
"Our former Headmistress loves the sound of her voice over the comm. link. It's got such a lovely growl…Wow where the Hell did that come from? …Yeah I see it Youko… There's ah… some kind of facility up ahead, we're going in for a closer look. Hallard out," Chie's voice was moving between the comm. and her companions.
There was nothing but static as both Natsuki and Haruka tried to get Chie to answer them. Both women brought their transports to a halt and disembarked to watch Hallard. There was nothing in front of her transport but mountain. As if she had never even been there Chie's transport slowly disappeared into the side of the mountain.
"Chie, where the Hell are we now, look at the size of this place? The other transports are gone and this doesn't look like Aries," Youko said as she realized they were alone. The area surrounding the facility was lush and green. The facility appeared deserted and the surrounding flora was overgrown as if to emphasize the point.
"Can we get closer by transport?" Chie asked avoiding Youko's earlier comments.
"No, we can't, we'll have to go in on foot. You didn't answer me Hallard," Youko replied blood starting to boil.
"I can't answer a question I don't have answer for, Helene. Bring your Aswad blood back down to normal and give me a break. I'm in charge and I'm responsible for any screw ups…so please give me some latitude and spare me the attitude," Chie answered as she brought the transport to a halt.
Chie walked by Youko avoiding the nasty glare and headed into the next compartment and out the hatch. Aoi was directly behind her knowing exactly what that set jaw on Chie meant. Yukariko stood as Youko entered the compartment and asked why they stopped.
"We aren't in Aries anymore. You might want to grab a weapon or two just to be safe, I know I am," Youko said as she took one of the crossbows and an Aries military issue side arm. Even though there were only five bullets left in the nine-shot clip, Youko didn't care.
As Yukariko was putting on the other crossbow and its hip sling of arrows Chie came in. Chie didn't say a word as she went to her rack in the back bunks. Chie hopped up on her bunk and opened the overhead compartment. When Chie walked back out of the transport she looked like a cross between a gunslinger and a samurai. Chie had two hip holsters with her own personal arms from her days in the military. As an Otome she didn't need the military fire arms though she had found an affinity for them. The sword she had slung at her back had been a present from Aoi on a trip to Zipang. Chie handed Aoi a side arm and made sure she was comfortable with using it.
Aoi found guns distasteful and dangerous. She preferred the Otome's weapons, even Kruger's old cannon, it was Keiko's now. While on a diplomatic mission in Zipang, Aoi and Erstin learned about the beauty and honor of the sword. Aoi thought it suited Chie and requested one be made for her upcoming birthday. Fourteen years later it still had its high gloss and razor sharp edge, Chie had learned to use and care for it, thanks to Akira Okuzaki, prior to her marriage to Prince Takumi. It was another extension of her now and since the war had started, Chie went nowhere without it.
As they got closer to the building everyone realized how badly damaged it actually was. There was a large stone out front with a large bronze plaque.
NUGEN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, DISTRICT FIVE
This building and all of the innovations given birth here are
brought to you by Nugen's parent cooperation Searrs.
"Searrs…something to remember for when we get back to the Founder Base," Chie said looking warily at the plaque.
"Wonder what they were doing in here?" Youko pondered as she stepped up next to Chie.
"The answers are in there…ok ladies stay close together. I know this is an overstatement but something's wrong here," Chie said as she headed towards the destroyed glass doors.
Chie entered first and couldn't believe the beauty of the interior even though it had signs of recent activity. There had been some kind of fight here and the missing pieces of wall and floor were just the tip of the iceberg. There were no more doors anywhere in the facility, all had scorch marks and had been tore from their frames.
Chie kept hushing questions from Aoi and Youko while Yukariko kept her pace behind them covering their rear position. Twice there were sounds of movement and they stopped looking in all directions, including up. Seeing nothing and hearing no other movement they continued forward. The first corridor they entered seemed to be nothing more than offices and empty meeting rooms. Most of the offices were destroyed to the point where entering them would be too dangerous, in some the floors were completely caved in and in others the ceilings had been collapsed.
On a hunch, Youko pointed out a corridor that had a slope to its floor and looked capable of vehicle traffic. Chie wanted to avoid this corridor because it seemed large and endless; she knew Youko was thinking like she was. Where would the most traffic be in facilities such as this? Underground, of course. Chie turned them back to one of the other corridors first, looking for an office that could possibly still be intact. They hit pay dirt in a large conference room where there had been no signs of destruction and papers scattered everywhere.
Most of the paperwork seemed to be medical files due to the scattered images and patient histories. Youko pulled together a group of pictures and some pages that referred to disease cataloguing. Following suit, Aoi randomly pulled together as many papers as she could safely carry and protect herself, if necessary. Chie and Yukariko were in the hallway discussing the corridor and how they wanted to approach it.
"Hey, Chie, you might want to look at this," Youko said as she searched for a corresponding paper to the page she was referring to.
"What do you think you have?" Chie asked as she skimmed over the document for keywords.
"Without the following pages this is just a guess, but this refers to DNA reproduction using…there's a few missing pieces here. This refers to direct bloodlines of …something materializers. They go forward referring to these people as latent…it cuts off here," Youko said as she tried in vain to finish piecing the document together, but finding no more corresponding documentation.
"Could it be amongst the paperwork I have?" Aoi asked dropping the armful of folders on the table kicking up a large cloud of dust in the process.
"It could be and there are still the rest of these scattered papers on the floor. Hallard, let's grab what we can and go back to the transport for now," Youko said as she tried to pull more papers together with Aoi's help.
"Yukariko lend them a hand and let's try to get out of here in one trip. I'll cover our exit and we'll stick to the transport until we get a better overall picture from these pages," Chie said slipping back into the corridor so that Yukariko could help with the gathering.
An hour later, they were back in the transport sorting through documents somewhat blindly considering Youko was the only one with any real medical knowledge.
"There seems to be four different groupings here. The two largest are diseases and DNA reproduction, from the few pages I've actually skimmed over quickly they seem to have been using multiple hosts…oh my…why didn't I see this before. They were doing the exact same thing we did at Garderobe," Youko said as she started pulling together multiple pages and laying them out in lines.
"Most of the documents are actually charts on newborns…"
Zipang, Southeastern Provinces, Three months prior to Kruger's return,
Haruka led her small team through the devastated ruins of Zipang looking for any survivors of the recent war. Many of the small provinces were still in flames and showed no signs of life. Every time they would come upon an area in flames, Haruka would sigh and have the transport circle out and around.
Mai had been home off and on over the years, but never felt the desire to stay. Mai's life with Mikoto and their daughters had been her home and happiness. So long as they were together Mai didn't care where they called home. Mai knew that her brother, Takumi, and his wife, Akira, were amongst the last people to leave Zipang, but had yet to hear of their safety. Their five children had been sent away under guard and were amongst the Aswad. Just the thought of her nieces and nephews made Mai wonder how all of the children were fairing through the insanity of this world wide war and viral epidemic.
Sarah was in the driver's cabin with Haruka while Ahn, Yukino and Mai were sitting in the first compartment going over a map of Zipang. Mikoto was outside sitting atop the transport taking in the surrounding devastation.
"So far we've covered roughly one-third of Zipang and whatever isn't in flames has been knocked flat like some child's toy," Ahn said as she traced out their present course.
"I just can't believe how quickly everything has happened," Mai replied sitting back in her chair thinking of the former beauty of her birth nation, "All the talks were for nothing. Weapons don't talk back or think for themselves."
"Looking back now I think the Garderobe Council did more harm than good. Most Otome are far better trained than politicians and even some nation leaders. Serving as mere bodyguards seems like such a waste of their abilities. I personally know that many of you can function in other capacities, but most leaders take on Otome as a heightened symbol of their power and prestige as rulers," Yukino said as she removed her glasses and ran a hand through her hair. Of them all Yukino showed the least amount of aging while Mikoto though still somewhat youthful in appearance now had a head full of silver white hair.
"We train to serve many functions for our Master's, this is true, but you are right, most just want the name," Ahn said sitting back as well, too tired to try to plot a further course.
Suddenly there was a loud thumping from above. Mikoto was signaling for a stop and Haruka's voice boomed throughout the cabin as the transport slowed to a dead stop, "I'm gonna stick that staff of hers in a place I'm sure Mai's never kissed her."
Yukino leaned forward and rested her head on her hands trying and miserably failing to stifle her laughter. Ahn cocked an eyebrow at Mai, just as Mai put her head down and started to laugh also. Ahn just shook her head and started a backward count.
"Hurricane Haruka in 5…4…3…2…1."
"I'm not going to calm down Sarah, she does that just to drive me insane," Haruka said as she burst into the cabin and quickly out of the hatch. Sarah wasn't far behind and looked at the three women laughing at the table.
"Could one of you please help me out?" Sarah asked as she slipped out the hatch to catch up with Haruka.
"I'll go…Mikoto's been weird lately. I think sitting up there and seeing all of this devastation is getting to her," Mai said as she left with a determined stride and posture. Ahn and Yukino looked at the door then each other.
"Mai's going to yell." Yukino said.
"They are going to pout." Ahn replied.
"There's no yelling…" both women said in unison.
Ahn and Yukino followed them out of the hatch finally and stood with the others in awe of the large building. From the outside it looked like a large temple building. Inside they could hear yelling and screaming, there was the overpowering smell of burning, and an ungodly roam of rushing steam. Just as Haruka was about to say something there was a loud roaring hiss, Mikoto said something but it was unintelligible in the deafening roar. Sarah immediately ran into the transport and returned with four earpieces. Though she would go in and scout with them, Mikoto refused the earpiece.
"As always, Mai will speak for me, if necessary, on either end," Mikoto said as she and Mai looked at one another and headed towards the temple-like building.
"Yukino and I will man the comm. lines and bring the transport around. Be careful in there," Ahn said as she adjusted Sarah's earpiece and took her ever present old black hat and stole a kiss as well.
"Fifteen minutes tops, Haruka, then back out here. We'll be useless to these people if we are overcome by smoke inhalation," Sarah said as she started off towards the building also.
"Hey I'm not that dense, Gallagher. Give us a kiss for good luck," Haruka said to Yukino stroking her cheek with a light brush of her thumb.
Yukino felt the years melt away as Haruka lifted her momentarily off her feet in an embrace; their kissing saying more than they ever could.
"Go on you flirt, now is not the time for this," Yukino said slapping Haruka's shoulder and trying to steer her away.
"There's always time, Yukino. That one lesson two women burned into my brain many years ago," Haruka said as she followed the others catching up quickly with her long strides.
Ahn and Yukino entered the transport and secured the hatch. Within five minutes, they had the comm. operational and the transport was coming up to functional capabilities. There was a lot of whispered chatter at first then came another deafening roar.
"Hey, Yukino, keep that kiss on…" This was the last Ahn and Yukino heard from the others. As they brought the transport around the large temple was gone.
"Not again, please, not again," Yukino said as she fumbled to open the latch of her seat belt. Ahn put a steadying hand over her shaking hands and never said a word. What could she say, the building was gone and so were their beloved.
Inside the temple building, Mikoto had gone quiet and was looking around at the dead and dying people in the corridor they entered through. They found their way to an ante chamber with large double doors. On the other side they could clearly hear men and women screaming, the ungodly roar shook the entire room. Haruka looked at her companion's and motioned with five fingers. They all nodded yes, they would give her five minutes.
Just as Haruka opened one of the doors, Mikoto reached to grab her back, but it was too late and Haruka was on the other side. Haruka looked around at the chaos in the flames and noticed something large and purple, after a moment Haruka figured it was a Slave of some kind as she followed its form.
This was unlike any Slave she had ever seen but what else could it be? Running away from the gigantic sliding beast Haruka noticed some older women and some men, possibly escorts. As Haruka saw the multiple heads suddenly come down out of the smoke cloud she noticed a young woman holding a pole arm slowly advancing on the fleeing forms just in front of this great beast.
This beast had to be a Slave and the girl must be the Master. Haruka noticed she was wearing something similar to traditional Zipang dress. Haruka started to advance on the woman when one of the heads whipped around and blocked her path. In that moment, the young woman turned her way with dead eyes and whispered something Haruka couldn't make out. On instinct Haruka jumped back just as the heads started lunging towards her. Haruka barely got back into the ante chamber when there was another deafening roar, followed by a loud breaking crash of wood and then an almost eerie silence.
"What the Hell happened to you? Oh for Fumi's sake, Haruka, your hair it's completely white," Mai said reaching out to touch Haruka, who was still breathing heavy and bracing the doorway.
"I …she just ordered that thing to eat me," Haruka said knocking Mai's hand away.
"Who ordered what to eat you, Haruka?" Sarah asked. This was the first time she had ever seen Haruka Armitage actually look scared.
"It was some kind of Slave…and that girl looked exactly like Viola."