Chapter 17
"Move!" Charles shouted jumping over Elizabeth and Attia's shoulders slapping Gina's blade away just before it could pierce Amelia's body. She shoved Amelia aside roughly getting her out of harm's way locking up against Gina's weapon. In both her hands she held a pair of twin edged punching daggers that she used to push Gina back.
"Charles!" Arnette shouted in relief as she ran in from behind Gina to assist.
"Get back! You were ordered to your dorms!" Charles snapped back. Arnette stopped mid run looking on in confusion.
"She novalized we can do this together!" Arnette answered and Charles shoved once more sending Gina back a step.
"You were given a direct order from Chevalier to return and remain in your dorms. I can handle this on my own, return to your rooms." Charles responded coldly.
"What is wrong with you she needs help!" Amelia cried as Attia knelt down beside her putting an arm around her.
"We can subdue her Charles if we work together." Elizabeth said calmly holding her bloody arm.
"If you continue to disobey the orders of this facility then you are committing treason and I will execute you myself!" Charles screamed spreading her legs wide her daggers equally spread facing Gina.
"Are you insane? What is your problem Charles?" Arnette shouted. Gina accelerated forward charging at the small blonde Pandora. Charles reached a hand up pressing a button on her headphones before jumping into the air.
"Tempest Typhoon!" She called out splitting apart into multiple copies. Everyone stared in awe as her copies seemed to form copies of their own and rain down on Gina. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos Charles caused she landed a series of kicks against Gina that sent her flying to the ground.
"Don't hurt her she's still alive in there! We heard her!" Amelia begged, but Charles seemed to ignore her pleas. Arnette gripped her scythe desperate to help, but now feared the wrath that Charles threatened upon them. The small Pandora had seemed polite enough before, but now it was like she was a machine. All her previous personality that had socialized with them was gone and she was consumed by her duty as a Pandora.
"I'm ordered to eliminate the threat. I will follow Chevalier's orders. That is our purpose as Pandora." Charles spat walking calmly towards Gina. Her copies had vanished as she stalked the fallen E-Pandora.
"She's still in there! Don't murder her!" Amelia wailed fighting against Attia's hold. Attia looked on feeling the same way Arnette did about Charles. Outside of combat she was just a normal girl, but now, she was the perfect soldier. Loyal and utterly committed to Chevalier regardless of the order given.
Gina stood up again slashing hard at Charles who sidestepped the strike easily. She countered with a series of rapid stabs of her daggers that Gina backpedaled to avoid. Arnette backed herself up further as the two approached her still afraid to take any action. Charles twisted sending an elbow into Gina's temple staggering her. A knee followed into Gina's midsection. She fell to the ground on her back stunned from the hits. Charles jumped back and tapped into her stigmata forcing her body to split apart once more.
"Tempest Typhoon!" She screamed again leaping high above the fallen E-Pandora. Elizabeth's eyes snapped wide as lights flickered to life around Gina's face. The E-Pandora's mouth opened in a soundless scream as the lights converged.
"Charles, look out!" Elizabeth shouted as a beam of energy shot forward exploding into the ceiling and through Charles who was diving down towards Gina. Concrete fell around everyone from the blast as smoke and dust filled the hallway blocking everyone's vision. Everyone coughed as the dust began to settle, a few loose pieces of ceiling concrete falling to the ground.
"Elizabeth!" Chiffon yelled running around the corner with Varen right behind her. Elizabeth didn't seem to notice their arrival as she stared forward at the sight of Charles knelt down on one knee over Gina. The left side of her headphones were a mangled mess of electronics as well as a portion of uniform, but she was otherwise unscathed by Gina's release of energy.
"Oh no…" Elizabeth said covering her mouth as she saw one of Charles's blades pierced through Gina's face to the hilt. Arnette looked away grimacing as she too could now see through the cloud of smoke and dust. Attia looked down sadly strengthening her hold on Amelia.
"No! Why did you do it? She was still conscious! She was still alive and you killed her!" Amelia screamed tearing at Attia's hands. Attia struggled as Amelia's face twisted in anger. Chiffon ran over helping Attia hold the E-Pandora in place as she kicked and screamed. Charles slowly stood sliding her blade free from Gina and kept her head bowed.
"Oh god…" Varen trailed off still unsure as to what had all happened here.
"You're one of the strongest Pandora here and you murdered her! She was still alive and you didn't care! All your strength and you should have been able to stop her without killing her, but you didn't! Bring her back!" Amelia shrieked and Varen looked over towards them.
"Get her out of here, she doesn't need to see this Chif." Varen said softly and she nodded pulling Amelia along with Attia's help. Amelia cried uncontrollably into her shoulder as they got her around the corner. Arnette released her volt weapon and slowly walked past Charles who still stood with her head hanging down. She stopped beside Varen and touched his arm shaking her head sadly as she followed Chiffon and Attia.
"Come on let's get you taken care of." Varen said putting his arm around Elizabeth. Charles looked over meeting his eyes for a moment before she looked down once more. Elizabeth made no move to resist him as he helped her walk. A small group of Chevalier Pandora ran past them as they followed the same way the others had gone. Varen remained silent as they walked slowly along the halls. The warning sirens and lights had since turned off and aside from the noises slowly receding behind them where the combat took place it was silent. Emergency lighting was still the only lights in the facility, but it was enough to see where they were going.
"Don't let me go." Elizabeth said with a slight shakiness to her voice. Varen could feel her body trembling slightly as he continued to walk with his arm around her.
"Elizabeth…" He said unable to find any further words.
"She killed her Varen." Elizabeth said after much effort.
"Yeah." He answered still not sure what he should say. He hadn't seen anything that happened. The fact that he even arrived at the end was only because Chiffon insisted they go. They had already been settled in for the night when the sirens went off, and Chiffon seemed to know their friends were in danger.
"She…Gina, was novalized. She doesn't even have stigmata so how can that happen? Amelia…she recognized Amelia and talked Varen. She wasn't fully gone, and Charles…my god she killed her." Elizabeth choked. Varen had never seen Elizabeth like this. She was always the collected one who spoke with dignity and grace. A voice of reason and intelligence that meshed perfectly with her demeanor. Now, she felt fragile. Like she would break if he dared to squeeze her arm.
"I don't know Elizabeth let's just get you taken care of for now." He answered trying to distract her.
"She said it was a lie. The Mark 3 serum. She said it was all a lie." Elizabeth said and Varen swallowed hard.
"After your shoulder is looked at we can talk about this more. For now, you need to get that cut looked at and get some rest." He said still trying to steer her mind away from what happened.
"Why did she kill her Varen?" Elizabeth asked looking over at him. Her eyes felt like they bored into his very soul as if they were pleading for an answer.
"I don't know Elizabeth. Charles is one of the strongest Pandora in the world. Her reasoning is known only to herself." He answered as neutrally as possible.
"She threatened to kill us if we intervened. She was going to execute us if we disobeyed the orders to return to our rooms." She said and Varen looked over at her once more.
"She said that?" He asked and the blonde Pandora nodded her head slowly.
"She is not right in the head Varen. How could she be so normal before, but then treat us like that?" Varen sighed listening to her. Even without knowing the full story he trusted Elizabeth implicitly. She would never embellish her story to convince him. That meant that everything she was saying was true. Gina had somehow novalized. Arnette, Attia, Elizabeth, and Charles somehow became involved resulting in the death of Gina. To complicate it further, Gina seemed to have been able to suppress the affliction enough to communicate. That was all he was able to gather from what little she had said.
"I hear you Elizabeth, alright. I'm not disregarding what you said, but I need you to focus on the right now. Once your shoulder is bandaged up and you have some time to sit and rest we will revisit this. I trust you and I believe everything you just said, but please right now let's focus on you alright?" He said sternly forcing her to shift her mind elsewhere.
"Alright, thanks Varen. I went to find Attia and Arnette before everything happened. Andre said they were in the pool so he was still in our room. He ok?" She asked.
"I'm sure he's fine. He is probably worried that you haven't returned yet so let's get you back soon." He said smiling. She nodded as they made their way to the medical facility.
Almost an hour later Varen left her with Andre at their room before returning to his own where Chiffon was waiting sitting on the edge of the bed. She stood as he entered waiting for him as he took his shoes off. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her hugging her tight.
"Did Elizabeth say anything?" Chiffon asked and Varen nodded.
"Yeah, she told me everything, what about Amelia how is she doing?" Chiffon stepped back and shook her head sadly.
"She's not good. We were able to get her to Dr. O'hara, but she's a mess. One of her best friends novalized and was killed in front of her." Varen put a hand to his head taking a deep breath.
"She didn't have stigmata Chiffon, how can she novalize?" He asked.
"I don't know, but I think she told Amelia how before she died." She answered.
"Mark 3." He said and Chiffon nodded slowly.
"What do we do?" She asked sitting down on the bed again.
"Nothing. At least for now, nothing. Chevalier can't let something like this be left untouched so let's wait and see how they respond. If something is up here I expect they will take action right?" He asked.
"I hope so, yes."
"Those girls…they don't deserve that Chif. They just want to help us, and now one has died in that pursuit." He said sitting beside her.
"This…is a bit frightening I won't lie." Chiffon answered resting her head on his shoulder.
"I know; it scares me too."
"Now you know one of the risks we Pandora must face. Our own bodies can kill us just as quickly as a Nova. Draw too much on our stigmata and we can become one of them. Not enough and we won't have the strength to win." She said somberly.
"Yeah…" He muttered. She touched his face and turned it towards hers.
"Forever." She said and he closed his eyes nodding.
"Yeah, together forever." He answered holding her hand.