Part 5: Loneliness
-OKURA HOTEL, NIIGATA PREFECTURE-
The next morning, the pursuit team was packing up. After they lost the renegade, the team members crashed at a hotel and waited for command central to issue their next orders. But they never came; all of it was drowned out by the hysteria the renegade caused. So, they ended up making a siesta out of the hotel, trying to vacation their worries away. And for the most part, it worked.
It would have completely worked had it not been for one constant, incessant blonde woman making a big deal out of losing the renegade again. The sheer weight of the failure never left her atmosphere, and her maid had to hear it all. For the entire week, she tried to comfort her mistress, even going so far as to offer her a bottle of wine to let it go. She downed two liters that night.
By week's end, Chelsea was sent back to her room, hammered. When she woke, the sun stung the wax out of her eyes and slowly forced them open. She can't remember how much she saw everyone else drink; she fainted from the mere sight of every single patron downing upwards of 10 shots, sometimes more!
"Oh, my head..." she rubbed her head as hard as she could to try and relieve the pressure. She squinted her eyes to block the sunlight. When she finally came too, she realized that she trashed her own room. Clothes everywhere, foul odors abound, and why's her crotch feel funny? And numb?
"What have I been doing last night?..." she mumbled as she went straight for her street clothes and washed her face. During that long soak, she was reminded of Lake Haruna, where the final standoff against the renegade ended in failure. Just before the screeching noise halted the fight, she caught one glimpse of the renegade's pupils.
She closed her eyes to take in the scene. "Those eyes..." Bright blue, widened, full of wonder, and ready to take on the world. Eyes that have not yet seen the horrors of the world.
"They are definitely not eyes of destruction..." she said as she mounted her uniform. It was just business attire, miniskirt, stockings, blazer, but she couldn't forget the maid headband. She smiled as she struggled to discern her appearance as wither an attendant or a cosplay dropout. But she didn't smile for long, as she heard her master talk very loudly on her cellphone, her voice piercing the shredded hotel door.
"Yes, I'm aware of the consequences of my return," Cecilia stated.
"What the-?" Chelsea snuck behind the wall, listening in on what sounds like a return trip. Why would she want to return to England?
"Well, just don't tell them that bit!" Cecilia shouted at her phone before hearing some more talking.
"So have I, which is exactly why I'm leaving," she said.
Chelsea took this to mean that she has had enough of the wild goose chase captivating Japan. Or, she would like to, were it not for a lingering suspicion that-
"Put out a resolution through Parliament, then," Cecilia commanded, "Recommend that Great Britain leave Japan the hell alone."
Nope, it's more than that. Chelsea was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this, even if it meant turning against her own friend.
"I'll see you in three days, then," Cecilia hung up, and dragged her luggage out of the hotel. Chelsea waited until her master is out of her sight to make her way down. She made it to the lobby before she realized that Cecilia was nowhere to be seen. She checked her radar. Cecilia was already halfway to Niigata Airport.
Someone recognized Chelsea as Cecilia's right-hand woman and asked, "Hey, what's happening? Where's she going?"
Chelsea looked towards the main entrance. "Milady is leaving Japan," she solemnly said.
An officer who took part in the capture mission screamed, "She's abandoning the mission?!" Suddenly, a few more women approached Chelsea.
"Seems like it-" someone else said.
"I know you're her maid and all," another grabbed Chelsea's hand and begged, "but can you tell her not to leave?! We need her help!"
Chelsea closed her eyes, inhaled, and confided in herself, "I shall try."
She called Crescendo and high-tailed it to Niigata Airport.
Ten minutes later, she recalled Crescendo and darted inside to the front desk. She immediately saw a blonde woman with hair drills and ran up to her.
She grabbed her shoulder, "May I have a word with-" and turned over a cosplayer, wig fallen to the dirty tile ground.
"Uhhhhhhhh..." he said, stunned. She left him alone to endure the seething contempt of the women.
She went to the front desk, "Excuse me. Do you know if Cecilia Alcott check in today?"
The receptionist checked her records online, and one line materialized on the overhead projector. "She just purchased a ticket to Incheon," she said, "She should be down Terminal 7. Why?"
"I've been given explicit orders to prevent her leave," Chelsea blurted out while shoving her ID in the receptionist's face, "Excuse me."
She bypassed security just when the sensors and seers told her it was okay for her to visit. The receptionist just held Chelsea's ID, staring at a maid who was running for someone else's life.
"I thought she wanted to leave?" she silently said.
"Brits..." her co-worker quipped.
Cecilia was walking out of the restroom to her seat in the waiting area. She looked around at all the people she will leave behind, and she wasn't impressed. She closed her eyes and decided in her heart that this was for the best. She opened her eyes and took two steps be-
"Stop!"
-before she saw her maid come all this way to see her off. She was surprised, but not in a good way. There was only one reason she could think off why her maid would come here, and she would not have any of it. They stared down each others' eyes for a good ten seconds before she broke the silence.
"What are you doing here?" Cecilia demanded.
"Wondering where are you going, is all," Chelsea responded.
"Home. That's where I'm going," Cecilia closed her eyes and sat down at her seat, "And I suggest you do the same."
"Wha...Now?" Chelsea walked towards her, "When the country needs you during a time of crisis?"
"HAH!" Cecilia glared at Chelsea, "The only thing this country needs from me is to kiss their eroding feet!"
Chelsea could not believe what she just heard. Di her own master, an ambassador of Great Britain to Japan, just say the beloved? Yes, she did. She shook her head and continued, "Weren't you the one who suggested we lure the renegade?"
"Yes, I was," Cecilia shot back, "And look how it turned out!"
"Milady, I know you're not just focused on the renegade!" Chelsea protested, "What you're doing...this is highly inappropriate!"
"What's inappropriate is our presence here in the first place!" Cecilia screamed, "I tell you now, if we just went along our merry way, we would never have had to deal with Chicken-Hair in the first place!"
Chelsea got mad. "You didn't come here because of the renegade," she growled.
"Stop telling me what I already know!" Cecilia leaned back into her seat and folded her arms, "Big waste of time, this tour."
"Tour..." Chelsea said rather loudly, "I thought you called this a honeymoon."
Cecilia twitched, "What?"
"I was there at the meeting back in Canterbury," Chelsea recalled, "I overheard your conversation with the Archbishop. She made word of Ichika planning to propose to Houki once the Kendo school stabilized itself, and you cringed at the very notion that someone other than you would have the gall to lay their hand on your dearly beloved."
Cecilia's fists started to tremble. She was struggling to keep herself from sweating, "Chelsea...stop what you're doing."
"Why should I, when I was the one who objected to this so-called "tour" of yours!" Chelsea still rambled on, to the point where she was in Cecilia's face, "But I went along because I cared about you, because I didn't want to see you get wasted on fermented wine and ogling whiplashes!"
"Chelsea..."
"What? Can't face facts? Can't handle what you're becoming? I may not have been as privileged as you are, but at least I know how to refrain from pining over Ponyboy."
Cecilia slapped Chelsea back several feet. She glared at her now former maid with cold, empty eyes, drones deployed, "What...did I just hear...COME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?"
"Are you deaf, too?" Chelsea rubber her bruised cheek before partially deploying Crescendo's arms and sabre, "Here. Let me cleanse your every orifice!"
Cecilia screamed and commanded her drones to open fire at Chelsea, who easily blocked all of her shots. She then motioned her drones to charge forth and attack. Chelsea could've forced the drones to fire on her, but too many of her nerves have snapped to allow for any tactical play. No, she decided that she has to make her master see the error of her ways, and the only way she knows how is to sidestep every single attack and let the collateral damage accumulate. Just a few seconds of easy moving did Cecilia call back her drones and summon her Blue Pierce. She fired on Chelsea and easily knocked her back with two shots, and on the third shot she crushed her defense and crashed her through a wall into the restroom.
Chelsea grunted and freed her off-hand, just in time to dodge a drone tackle. It stuck itself to the wall and blasted it to free itself. She quickly struck it down, but she was hit with a rifle butt and shot all the way into the lobby. She protected the rest of the people from the shrapnel, but struggled to maintain herself, as she only went partial deployment, while her master went full-on Mermaid's Tears. And yet, she still refused to rise to her level, only raising her sword once more.
Cecilia fired her drones on Chelsea, who is easily sidestepping their shots. She charged straight at her and attacked, using her rifle as a bludgeon. Slowly, she overwhelmed her with shots and strikes, finally landing a crushing hit on her stomach. She focused her fire on that area and hit with a three-pronged laser, throwing her out of the airport forcing her to fully deploy Crescendo to avoid injury.
Chelsea slammed into several cars before stabilizing herself in midair, for a second. Cecilia did not let up. She hovered in front of the lobby and sent her drones after her. Chelsea evaded every single shot, but could not protect herself from Cecilia's shots at all. She wasn't trying to. If she would allow anyone to harm her, it would be the only person who had forgotten about their friendship in an instant. It wasn't long before Chelsea crashed through the giant awning and crushed several occupied cars. She struggled to raise herself to her feet, but Cecilia stomped her back down and pinned her.
"I thought you've changed!" Chelsea screamed.
"I thought I knew you," Cecilia hissed as she fired point-blank range.
Back at the entrance, a small twin-tailed girl took notice of the mayhem.
"What is happening?" she said before her eyes caught a familiar figure in the sky.
"President Lingyin," her attendant said, "We really must be going-"
"And leave these people in the danger zone?" she protested, "No, I gotta do somethi-" Right before she could call her IS, her bracelet picked up their ongoing conversation during the heat of the moment.
"I know you wouldn't stop acting so dickishly stubborn!" Chelsea said as she traded blows with Cecilia, "I thought your parents' death would straighten you out!"
"What do you mean by that?" Cecilia shouted as she pushed Chelsea against a pillar. She fired a laser, but instead of hitting the Crescendo, it hit the support columns. Chelsea escaped before the giant awing came down.
Lingyin called her Shenlong and caught the roof just before it crashed, "Y'know what?!" she grunted under the weight and the off-center balance, "Why don't you drive the rental and I'll follow you?!"
"Yep, good idea," her attendant said as they both made haste.
Meanwhile, Chelsea was holding the drones at bay, but Cecilia was hot on her trail, still firing nonstop until one of her shots hit a car. That car flipped off the freeway and into a convenience store, exploding onto a very busy intersection. That little incident just cost them about ten lives. But it didn't matter to her. She was lost in blind rage. Chelsea led her down to that same intersection. The two stood each other off before Chelsea spoke up.
"My parents died too, but they were their attendants as well, born not only to serve, but to protect!" she turned around, "Look at all this! This isn't what I singed up for! Is this what you want the world to look like while on the hunt?"
"If you'd have taken the shot like a woman, this wouldn't have happened," Cecilia snapped, "Isn't your job to cover up for my mistakes?"
Chelsea raised her sword, "How am I supposed to cover up for this?"
"So, what of it?!" Cecilia unloaded a fully charged laser onto Chelsea, who held her sword out to block it. It deflected the blast in two and smashed through the street's buildings.
"I should be thankful I'm not privileged as you!" Chelsea swung her sword down and released a shock wave, stopping the laser completely and hitting her master smack dab in the face. The two drones snuck up from behind and blasted her.
Cecilia caught wind of what Chelsea said before her laser was silenced. She keeled back upright and prepared to blast off, "Privilege? You think this is a privilege?!" She activated her thrusters and flung herself at Chelsea. She fired nonstop on her way to her target.
But Chelsea somehow saw her and forced her sword onto her neck, taking a drone and slamming it in her face, "Privileges, all of them!" She kicked Cecilia away and charged right at her.
Cecilia had trouble with her drones after that last exchange. She re-positioned her drones onto Chelsea's back and ordered them to just keep firing. Chelsea stayed in her sights, continuously deflecting every single shot at her, regardless of the collateral damage. Cecilia rose high in the sky and unleashed her Gatling mode. Chelsea just IB'd straight through the flurry of bullets, but she knows she got hit with several of the drones' shots. She can't keep this up much longer, lest she lose her shielding. She waited until she was within striking range, and flew high past her. Cecilia backed up a bit to avoid impact, but she was caught in her drones' crossfire. She defended against the fire with her arms, but she couldn't see Chelsea hammering down her saber straight on her head. They both went down.
"To have people under your control!" Chelsea screamed as she struggled to maintain a hold on Cecilia, "To command a signature trademark of the future! To speak your mind and have the entire male gender bend their backs towards you and allow you to use them as a f****** staircase!"
They slammed right on top of a park fountain. Cecilia collapsed under the crushing strike of Chelsea's blade.
Chelsea picked up one of her drones that crashed with them, "HOW THE F*** DO YOU GET MORE PRIVILEGED THAN THAT?!" She again stuffed it in Cecilia's face and knocked her back several yards, through some trees, and smacked into a giant wooden wall.
Cecilia slammed her fist. She couldn't believe that her own subordinate would betray her like this, upstart a commotion like this. Even though she herself was the cause of it, she blamed Chelsea for their poor performance against the renegade. She glared at the lone fencer, standing atop the broken fountain. They shared the same glare, same tattered outfits. The only difference between them is their reputation, of which Chelsea has next to nothing to worry about.
"You think your duty is to yourself, and yourself alone," Chelsea ripped off her ruined blazer and wrapped it around her left bicep, "But I'll bet the renegade would have something different to say!"
"SHUT UUUUUUUP!" Cecilia screamed as she charged straight at Chelsea, rifle ready to bludgeon her to death. She struck at her former maid, who blocked it with ease, but could not maintain the same strength in holding on.
"What the hell is up with your self?" Chelsea grunted at she slowly knelt to the ground.
"Shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" Cecilia jumped and activated her thrusters. The sustained force of the rockets slowly crushed Chelsea, breaking the ground beneath her. Once the fountain was completely destroyed, so was Chelsea's shield energy, as her sword broke, the rifle butt came down on her head, smashing her Crescendo, and the park square, to pieces. Cecilia then flipped her rifle over and began charging her final shot.
"Hey, drill bit!" Lingyin suddenly shouted from behind.
Cecilia snapped back to her senses and surveyed the area. She was shocked at how much damage their little scuffle has caused. The park was trashed. The airport was trashed. People got hurt thanks to her temper tantrum. And as expected, the local authorities have arrived on the scene, guns pointed. She didn't know what to say. She meant to do everything. She only wanted it between her and Chelsea, and yet...then, it dawned on her.
Chelsea meant for this to happen. She knew Cecilia would be hot-headed when it came to anything concerning Ichika, or any male IS user. She knew she wouldn't let it go because it's the birthplace of the IS. Add to that her excuse for stopping her tour to see her "dearest beloved," and there you go. One piping hot mess for her to clean up should anything go wrong. And it was destined to go wrong.
The authorities put Cecilia under arrest and handcuffed her to a park bench. They asked her questions about how she lost control and went on a rampage, and knocked her own maid unconscious. When she mentioned how the renegade infected her mind and caused her to lose her senses, the policewoman immediately tore her ticket up, removed her handcuffs, and let her off with a warning. The rest of them took Chelsea to a local clinic. And Lingyin dragged Cecilia over there after the mess was cleaned up.
The doctor told them that the worst thing Chelsea suffered was a concussion. Otherwise, her injuries were minor, and she'll be checked out the next day. They decided to stay and try to talk things over. After sitting there for half an hour doing nothing...
Lingyin swerved her head between Chelsea and Cecilia. Neither one of them made eye contact. Cecilia just sat there twidling her fingers, and Chelsea cuddled her pillow, staring at the ceiling. "What is going on?!" Lingyin couldn't take it, "Th-this isn't at all how I wanted the reunion to go! Cecilia, I thought you weren't supposed to come here until next week!" Nothing. Cecilia just sat there staring at her fingers. "O...kay," Lingyin said, "Chelsea! Why's she acting like this?! I know this isn't something the renegade caused-"
"Will you shut up about the renegade?" Cecilia hissed.
"You didn't come here because of him," Chelsea murmured.
"What do you mean?" Lingyin asked.
"Huang...Don't...you...dare..." Cecilia tried to force them to stop the conversation, but Chelsea disregarded her master's rules about secrets.
"Ichika bought a ring with the money he earned from his dojo," she blurted, "and in one month's time, he'll propose to Houki."
The whole room generated a tense atmosphere. Cecilia and Lingyin had menacing thoughts about confronting-
"And therein lies the exact reason why I'm abandoning your self-righteous mission," Chelsea interrupted, "I recognize you have feelings for him. But those feelings have lost their authenticity long before the renegade appeared. They are feelings of competition. Those feelings will hurt whoever is nearest to you. There's something bigger than Ichika right now, that's what you don't understand."
"But..." Cecilia tried to speak up.
"Don't even," Chelsea stopped her. She wouldn't let her speak until she was able to move on with the mission. And judging by the look in Cecilia's eyes, she will not move on. Chelsea sighed.
"If you want to go back, go back," she said, "If you want to stay here, stay here." At which point, she got up and put her shoes on, "But you'll do it without me." She started for the door.
"Wait! Where are you going?!" Cecilia demanded.
"I've been with you all these years because I'm your friend, and you are my friend..." Chelsea reflected back on this past battle, "but I will not sit by and watch you destroy yourself whilst someone else is actually destroying something!"
Cecilia interpreted this as an abandonment, "So...you choose your own petty cause over our future?"
"IT WAS YOUR FUTURE, ASSWIPE!" Chelsea threw a bracelet at Cecilia's forehead.
It was full of charms and knickknacks all too familiar to her. She looked up and saw her maid already grabbing her bag, "Ch...Chelsea...why...?"
"Because I quit," Chelsea stormed out of the room, leaving two of the biggest names in IS alone, completely dumbfounded.
"Please tell me that did not just happen," Lingyin said after she managed to process the current events, "Cecilia, please tell me she did not just leave you!"
Cecilia closed her eyes, and inhaled, "Well, what can I say?" she sighed, "She's made her choice."
"No, no, no!" Lingyin protested, "That's not right!" She bolted out and ran after Chelsea, leaving Cecilia alone.
She stared at the bracelet she caught. She rubbed her fingers against every crease and trinket used to assemble this little gadget. And then the memories came back.
She remembered a time five years ago, where she was hard at studying for the IS Aptitude Test while Chelsea was sewing her school uniform. Cecilia decided to take a break and she how it was holding up. She noticed something made out of crystals and gems beside the sewing materials.
"What is that?" she asked.
"It's a friendship charm!" Chelsea held it up to show her.
"Why that of all things?" Cecilia asked, taking the bracelet and staring at every angle.
"Does it not suit you?" Chelsea wondered.
"It does," Cecilia marveled, "I was just wondering, it looks so unusual."
"It's pure crystal," Chelsea bragged a little, "Diamond is too hard to break."
Cecilia suddenly clasped Chelsea's hands together and looked her in the eyes with a cheerful smile,
"No matter what happens, maid to master, we're friends above all else!" she stated.
Chelsea hugged her master, "Thank you, milady!"
"I'll never get used to hearing that..." Cecilia sheepishly said.
But then came a time when she got used to hearing it, and slowly devolved her friendship into...this. She clenched the bracelet and looked out the window. She saw Lingyin and her group try to convince Chelsea to stay by their side, but she sharply withdrew her hand from Lingyin's. She walked off in the other direction, while the others just threw their hands up in annoyance and let her be. Lingyin got everyone back in the rental limo and headed off to try and find a way to IS Academy.
"Fine," Cecilia closed the curtains and left the room, "I'll rebuild the Alcott name by myself."
Caught in the middle of an interpersonal war, the President of China makes her entrance into this game. On the outside, morale is at an all time low. But something is brewing on the inside to force the major players to look deep within and find their true allegiance. However, love is not her allegiance, as she has come with an ulterior motive.
Both Phantom Task and the IS Representative Candidates are running out of time to stand by and sulk, as the renegade is on the move, following a trail to his next mission. And watching every step of the way is the only other person to share a personal connection with Sokoto.
The mission to rescue the Silverio Gospel, on the next Infinite Stratos...Virus.