AN: Sorry this was published so late, but things happen, you know? Anyway, this one turned out pretty long, too.
AN2: If the title looks squished, it's because it would not fit in the chapter title.
CHAPTER NINE: BELOVED TOMBOYISH OLDER SISTER
-Blanc...now Lady White Heart to most...had been blasting her way through the air along the railroad tracks leading to Lastation. The blowing desert winds and sands flew around her in an aerodynamic flurry of different quartzes, as if Blanc were drilling a hole through the air itself. She wore a stoic frown as she blazed through the air, seemingly unbothered by the stinging sand grains flailing towards her as she tore her way down the thick, curved railroad tracks at the edge of the rocky, jagged red cliff face next to the tall, volatile dunes. Behind her, however, were the CPUs of Planeptune, Nepgear and Neptune...now Purple Sister and Purple Heart. Purple Heart frowned stoically, like Blanc, but her face was a bit more relaxed. Purple Sister winced as she held her left arm in front of her in order to block the stinging sand grains.
"Goodness, Blanc," Nepgear gasped as she flew forward, "How are you able to stay in HDD for this long? I'm already feeling a bit tired." Blanc continued to fly forward, not responding to the question.
"She's just worried about her sisters," Purple Heart replied in Blanc's stead, "Tiredness means nothing when your family is on the line. I thought you had experienced that before?" Nepgear frowned as she looked down at the waving, rocky railroad that trailed and winded against the side of the red, rocky cliff.
"Well...Yes...Neptune," Nepgear said quietly, "But...I was never...THIS strong." Purple Heart smiled as she flew closer to Nepgear, almost touching shoulders with her as she grinned at her sister.
"You still pulled through for me," Purple Heart pointed out, "You, the shy girl who had never even swung any of the swords you had made..." Nepgear blushed as she looked away from Purple Heart, sighing while shaking her head.
"I...I just did what was necessary," Nepgear stuttered, "You'd do the same for me, right Neptune?" Purple Heart smiled brightly as she playfully ran her right hand through Nepgear's hair, as if she were petting a puppy.
"Exactly," Purple Heart replied, "That's what Blanc is doing right now...exactly what she needs to." Blanc began to slow down, wincing as the grains started to actually hit her soft, yet tough face. Nepgear sighed as she and Purple Heart followed suit, slowing down while staying behind Blanc before they had all come to a complete stop. Blanc pointed downwards, towards a trail of glowing, neon red lights in the mess of flying sandy grains.
"There it is," Blanc gasped, "The train that supposedly left with my sisters." The train, by now, had all of its car doors ripped wide open, as if some beast that hated doors had attacked the train while it had been broken down. There were crates and scattered piles of sporting equipment, broken disks and Lowee hardware dotting around like they had been shot out of a cannon all at once...somehow in a curved direction. The junk was surrounded by footprints...perhaps hundreds...perhaps thousands...but all of which followed the junk piles off on their path away from the train. Although the footprints were rather faded from the sandstorm's fury, they all seemed to be...irregularly shaped. Some had sharp claws, other were blunt stumps...heck, many didn't even match the left and right foot's appearance. They lead off into the heart of the desert, winding and twisting between massive dunes and rock piles as if it were a once raging, but now utterly dead river.
Blanc briefly glanced back towards Nepgear and Purple Heart, pointing in the direction of the manmade debris flow.
"C'mon!" Blanc shouted urgently, "My sisters..." She clenched her eyes shut as she blasted through the air, sending sand particles blasting outwards in every direction, and forcing Planeptune's goddesses to shield their eyes with their forearms. Once the whipping, stinging grains had died down, Nepgear and Purple Heart burst off after the streaking white goddess, her form now barely visible within their sights.
"This doesn't look good..." Nepgear muttered as she looked down at the carelessly discarded goods in the sand, "I can't imagine whoever did this would be gentle with the twins..."
"Then we better get there quickly," Purple Heart huffed as she burst on ahead, waving to Nepgear to follow. Nepgear blinked extra hard as she tilted her head forward, and flew after the other two goddesses, her bright purple hair flailing behind her like an octopus riding on the outside of a jet. Purple Heart and Nepgear stopped after Blanc's image grew in their eyes, her whole body stopped, and her head tilted down towards the sight before them. Blanc quivered in the air as her arms tensed up, her fists clenching around her massive, ivory and sapphire colored axe before her.
"What...the...Hell?" Purple Heart whispered to herself. Nepgear whimpered slightly as she drifted over to her older sister, gently laying her hands around her waist as she stared into the charred, smoking oblivion that lay before them.
The entire area, which had once been the not-so-thriving mutant bandit village, was now a charnel house that had been sent through a creamatorium. a thick, caking layer of pitch black ash had been spread over everything, from the now leveled huts to the charred, crumbling skeletal limbs that stuck out from the ash piles, as if reaching for help that will now never come. a cloud of black ash flew forth from the ruins with the wind, brushing and roughly caressing the scarred desert landscape, leaving behind black sprinkles in a long, dark trail. Aside from the charred skeletons, there seemed to be no evidence of life anywhere anymore.
"Gods..." Blanc choked out quietly, her voice breaking. She rapidly looked around the macabre scene, scanning everything she could see for less than a second. Her whole body quivered and shook as her hands tensed up. A small whimper escaped her lips as her eyes began to moisten.
"Rom! Ram!" Blanc screamed in a desperate, booming voice that felt like it shook the Earth, "Please! Where are you?!" Blanc shot straight for the ground, scattering black ash around with a loud BOOM! She tilted her head around frantically, clenching her teeth and fighting off her tears.
"Rom! Ram!" Blanc shouted again, "Please...It's me...your sister Blanc!" Nepgear and Purple Heart glanced at each other, and nodded at each other. They flew to two separate ends of the ruins, and began to look over every bump and cranny of the devastation.
"Rom! Ram!" Nepgear called out, "It's okay...we're here for you."
"Rom! Ram!" Purple Heart shouted, "Your sister is worried about you."
Blanc stumbled towards the center of the town, towards the amazingly still slightly intact, but highly burnt kitchen structure, its pots and skillets now filled with ashes instead of meat. She leaned against the structure, and stared at the ground, letting several tears drip from her eyes into the ashes.
"Rom...Ram..." Blanc sobbed, "I'm sorry...I'm very...very...sorry..." As she slumped to the ground, Blanc saw something in one of the pots laying sideways in the ashen dust. She reached for the pot, her eyes hazy and her heart thumping like a piston. In one swift motion, she grabbed the object and brought it to her.
It squished and sprayed a dark red liquid when she grabbed it. Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped.
It was a severed human arm. A bloody, mangled, mostly raw human arm.
"No..." Blanc whispered, "They didn't...They FUCKING didn't!" Blanc shot up, and started kicking over and sifting through the cookery, causing a cacophonous choir of clattering as the pots, pans, and skillets. Arms, legs, hands...all sorts of mangled, fresh, bloody limbs flew forth from the cookery, painted dark, lifeless red splatters on top of the dusty black ash. Many of the crimson, amazingly raw and bloody limbs were bound together with crumbly, rusty barbed wire, jabbed through each limb at the top and bottom...these clearly did not belong to the mutants.
"Oh gods...no..." Blanc cried, her tears flowing forth like a heavy monsoon rain, "No...No! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO!" Blanc crashed upon the ground, pounding it with her right fist as she screeched a high pitched, angry yet sorrowful howl like an injured wolf. She clenched her eyes shut as she bawled her eyes and heart out upon the charred, glassy sand beneath her. Purple heart rushed over, kicking up a cloud of ash that seemingly scattered into nothing. She stopped when she saw the severed, bloody limbs, and turned ever so slightly green as she flinched. Purple heart stepped closer to the bloody mess, then knelt down and pointed at the scattered, bloody gibs.
"Blanc, these are adult limbs," Purple Heart said, swallowing nervously, "None of these are from your sisters."
"How the fuck do you know they didn't already eat them?!" Blanc snapped as she glared at Purple Heart, "There's no way their limbs would be here if they were eaten!"
"Please, let's not jump to the worst assumption," Purple Heart replied as she raised her hands defensively, "Let's just focus on finding your sisters."
"Or...whatever's left of them." Blanc sobbed as she pitifully crawled towards the pots and pans, her eyes red and soaked completely through. Purple Heart knelt down and placed her right hand on Blanc's shoulder.
"Blanc, they're still alive." Purple Heart cooed, "They're both tough little cookies who fight monsters all the time. A village of mutants couldn't kill them." Blanc paused, and slowly turned to Purple Heart. She huffed and sniffled as she looked into the tall, womanly purple goddess' beautiful amethyst eyes, her warm, reassuring smile beaming with a warmth that could keep everyone alive through an Antarctic winter. Blanc said nothing as she crawled towards Purple Heart, and extended her arms towards her. Purple Heart took Blanc into her arms, embracing her softly as she carefully directed Blanc's head below her chest. The two embraced as Blanc quietly sobbed into Purple Heart's stomach, shivering as if she were dying from the cold.
"I...I can't believe I'm crying like a fucking baby," Blanc sobbed quietly, "I...I should be stronger than this. I should be stronger for Rom and Ram."
"Everybody cries at some point, Blanc," Purple Heart whispered, "It's just what we do when we're hurt. Even though we're goddesses, we are still humans at heart."
"Don't remind me." Blanc sniffed, "I cried even more back then. I...I thought earning my divinity would make me stronger than this."
"Just...take a minute." Purple Heart insisted, "You're clearly too upset to think straight right now." Blanc pushed herself away from Purple Heart, her eyes sizzling with defiant rage.
"Fuck that!" Blanc yelled, "Every second we don't spend getting closer to my sisters is every second their kidnapper can do...ugh!"
"Do we even know where they went?" Purple Heart asked, "or if they're still hiding around here somewhere?"
"Blanc! Sis!" Nepgear shouted as she came over a far, charred dune and looked down at them, "I found a survivor!" Blanc and Purple Heart turned their heads towards the dune as their eyes widened. Blanc darted off in the direction of Nepgear, kicking up a black cloud of ash around Purple Heart before she could even stand up. Purple Heart coughed and wheezed as she gave chase to the speedy, blurring ivory goddess, trying her best to keep ash particles out of her eyes.
"Rom?! Ram?!" Blanc shouted as she ascended the gentle, fragile slope of the smooth, scarred dune, kicking up a small sandstorm as she stopped at the apex. Nepgear frowned and shook her head.
"No, I haven't found either of them," Nepgear sighed, "But he thinks he knows where they are." Nepgear pointed down the hill towards the survivor; he was the train conductor who had been driving the train that was robbed. Ashes littered his gruff, hairy visage as he scuffled his way up the hill, coughing as he tried to wave the floating particles of deep charred remains away from his face.
"Goodness! Lady White Heart!" The conductor wheezed, "I didn't think I'd live long enough to ever see your adorable image ever again!" Blanc nodded.
"It's...good to know that at least you survived," Blanc said quietly as she stepped closer to the conductor, "But where are my sisters? Are they alive?"
"Oh, I saw your cute little twin sisters alive and well," The conductor wheezed, "They were fighting the big cheese in charge of this place, but they ran off towards their buggy vehicles with some elf-eared chick in a hooded sweatshirt with mouse ears." Nepgear's eyes widened as she faced the train conductor.
"Goodness...I think I know who you are talking about," Nepgear said, "I've run into her a whole bunch of times trying to save my sister. She worked for ASIC, and tried to kill me and my friends several times." Blanc's eyes widened as she pounded her fists together.
"I think I know who you were talking about," Blanc growled, "She tried to pull a stunt like this while I was still in a coma...AND she tried to destroy the whole damn city with an army of ancient robots! I should've known she'd be back!"
"And it's a good thing they fled the village when they did," The conductor gasped, "Right after they left, with half of the village chasing them, those...two...things came. Metallic angels of death, they were...they just insulted their leader and began to set everything on fire. Everybody screamed and died...I was lucky that I managed to get away in time to hide!" Blanc turned to the edge of the village, scowling as she clenched her fists. Purple Heart stopped just short of the group, panting for breath.
"If those bastards are trying to do what I think they're trying to do," Blanc growled, "Then they aren't, cause I'm going to kick their asses and get my sisters back. Safely. Unburnt."
"Goodness, what about this man?" Nepgear asked as she gestured to the conductor, "Are we really going to just leave him in the desert?"
"You can take him back." Blanc said.
"Actually, I think I should take him back," Purple Heart stated, "My sister would be more helpful, since she knows more about this kidnapper than I ever would." Nepgear blushed as she looked away.
"But...you're stronger, sis." Nepgear whispered as she placed a hand over her heart. The conductor shook his head.
"Don't worry about me, ladies," The man laughed, "I'm a strong train conductor who can take care of himself. I just need to get back to the train and see if I can cool it down, as it broke down from overheating. You gals just worry about saving your sisters."
"Are you sure?" Nepgear asked, but Blanc burst off in the direction of the buggy tracks that snaked deeper into the desert, appearing as a speck in the distance in mere seconds as the sands whirled and whipped around her.
"Hey! Wait for us!" Purple Heart shouted as she flew off after Blanc, vanishing into the distance like a torpedo through a cloud. Nepgear turned to the conductor, who just smiled and pointed in the direction of the speeding goddesses.
"What are you waiting for, lass?" The conductor asked. Nepgear hesitated, but nodded and dashed off after the other goddesses, bracing her arms over her eyes to protect herself from the artificial sandstorm.
...
CFW Magic and CFW Judge flew briskly across the windy, sunny desert, following the windy, wavy trail of tire tracks. The tracks were quickly disappearing as the wind whipped the sand around them, sending the grains flying all around in magnificent, rapid bursts.
"I'm BORED!" Judge shouted, "When do we kill something else now?!" Magic responded with a cold, unsympathizing glare that pierced Judge's restless, fiery soul. The roar of engines over the horizon, however, broke her concentration. The mutants who had failed to stop Linda were retreating back to their home...their spirits were broken, but they nevertheless sounded and looked like an angry hurricane of sand and smoke, swirling towards their devastated home in hope of some reprieve.
Magic smirked as she pointed to them.
"There, Judge," She whispered, "There is your stress relief."
...