"We have to go back," squirmed Lola. "We have to go back, we can't leave him!"
She twisted in Gunvolt's arms as much as she was able, having been picked up again after the Azure Striker's near miss offf being impaled by blades of frost made by Zonda's power. Gunvolt held tight on the lone pod, knowing that Lola, as she is now, couldn't do anything against him, and that most of her energy was thoroughly depleted. Moving despite her condition combined with the fact that Zonda's mere presence harmed her made it no mystery as to why. Any more effort from her and she would start to break down her own body in pursuit of retrieving Copen.
They were still in the garden, but Gunvolt knew the way out. Or so he hoped. The garden had now the strange and curious ability of never being quite the same twice in each area, and since it had some time alone during their ardouis fight against the Dark Muse, being away from it had meant it had shifted into some unrecognizable landscape of crystals and mirrors by now. Once, it had been a cold and quiet landscape of steel, trails and spikes, a hallway filled with traps, but now it was hot, chaotic, a true garden of shifting landscapes full of creatures that sought their demise for the sake of Zonda.
"Gunvolt, stop! Why aren't you stopping? We can't leave him!" Lola shouted again. "I know you're not a coward! So go back!" she sounds more and more pleaful as he shows no signs of hearing her.
He did but Gunvolt powered on regardless, knowing that sometimes one had to be brave by leaving a hopeless fight, make no mistake, if he could he would wipe the blood of his body, stand up and run off to face against Zonda once more. But he won't, not as long as he's got to carry not only Lola to safety, but also the worrisome cold body of the silver-haired girl who was held captive here.
He remembers the girl from back when he found her at the Seraph and just recently learned she possess some sort of power that let Zonda use her to steal Joule and the power of Anthem away.
And even though she's not breathing, nor does he even feel a heartbeat at the moment. He refuses to just lay her down and drop her like she's any random corpse. No, not only is she someone precious to Copen but maybe, just maybe, she could be the key to reversing the method that powered Zonda.
If anyone else said that to him, he'd look at them funny and wonder why they're holding such hopes towards a corpse. But not this time, Gunvolt feels, no, knows he can't give up now. All he needs to do is leave this accursed place, tend his wounds and then return back, stronger than ever to save Joule, Mytyl, Lola, Xiao, Quinn and even Copen from Eden's twisted dream of a paradise.
And speaking of an exit, he finally finds what he was looking for: an exterior window. He peered out of it. It was high but not too worrisome, he's jumped from a higher place with a passenger after all, ironically the very same girl he's holding onto now. So doing the same jump shouldn't be hard.
A rattling down the end of the hallway they occupied made Gunvolt's choice seem even more tempting. Something was coming. Who knew what it was, but it sounded heavy and oddly hollow, a shuffling step that shook whatever chains that were draped over it. Gunvolt and Lola didn't have the time or the power to deal with it. There was nowhere to hide. So yes, he better jump now.
Covering both girls in his flash-field so neither would be hurt by broken glass, Gunvolt leapt.
The garden vanished.
It was there one moment, the fortress looming ominously like a shadow stretching for the twilight hours, and then there was a terrible crack as a violet mirror enveloped it. It vibrated and warped, gone in the next moment. There were no marks on the earth or even debris from the displacement effect that teleported the castle, the only trace that it had existed in this time and place was history.
Gunvolt stared at the ground, one hand running over the edge where the fortress once was. The dried dirt crumbled in his palm.
"You left him," said Lola, voice firm and filled with bitterness.
"We had to. Zonda had him," said Gunvolt. Forcing his tone to remain calm.
"You left him! Now we don't even know where he is because the garden up and fucking vanished!" Lola screamed, her voice and yellow lights she has for eyes filled to the brim with anger and hurt.
Then the pod becomes agitated, trying to whirled out of his grip, a dervish of fury, and shoved Gunvolt in the chest once he let go, trying to get some sort of rise out of him by poking him.
It was a challenge and part of Gunvolt wanted to scream, another wanted to cry, but that part of him was so tightly locked up, bound in the slopes of his resolve, that he could only watch Lola's fury. The dry ground started to smolder in burns as Lola paced angrily back and forth, shooting the remains of her ammo with the two remaining mini pods that managed to float behind her.
"Her song..." Gunvolt looks down, clenching his one free hand into a fist. Azure energy sparkles with mad intensity, demanding to be released. But he lets it vanish. "Is still inside of me."
"Song?" asked Lola with a doubtful tone, "Are you saying you can locate Zonda? Or do you think you can do that? And even if you can, tell me, what's stopping her from warping the garden again?"
Her whole body was shaking, he could feel the energy inside her heart (aka her core systems) beating double time with the anxiety and stress of everything, and her own fury. It wouldn't be long before her systems collapsed if she kept this up. Even though she herself knew that, it didn't stop her from glaring at Gunvolt when he didn't respond.
Gunvolt raised a hand placatingly, "My link to Joule hasn't vanished yet, so there is a chance."
Lola scoffed and Gunvolt had to remind himself not to take it personally, she was simply grieving "At the rate it moves around we will never reach it in time before it up and vanishes again."
It seemed she was waiting for Gunvolt to come up with a plan. But short of an average feeling of how far away Joule is, Gunvolt had nothing. Locate the garden and defeat Zonda, certainly, but how?
"We need to find a way to tie the fortress down, or at least make her want to meet us," he said.
"Sounds like a tall order." Lola responds, "But if that's the best you…" she sighs, then silence.
"Then we at least get this girl into a proper hospital, she's innocent in all this and then we figure out the rest one step at a time." Gunvolt says, and Lola flinches at the sight of the girl, again, silence.
She said nothing for a while, letting his words sink in, and then shoved at Gunvolt's chest. Being a damaged pod, she had not the strength to actually push Gunvolt around, but he moved with her shove so she wouldn't hurt herself somehow.
"Why won't you react? Are you happy that we lost? Can I really trust you?"
The barrage kept coming, each question punctuated by an angry push or shove at Gunvolt's chest.
"I had no other choice," said Gunvolt. "I couldn't reach him."
"Then why leave the garden? I ask again: can I really trust you? Copen would gladly die to save everyone – he's probably dead right now!"
Each question cut the girl deeper than any shove she gave him.
"And he died alone, with nobody who would give his body the respect it deserves. Zonda will probably throw it into a furnace or make some bizarre doll out of it."
Gunvolt snapped, well not really, he just lose some of his patience as he grabbed Lola with his hands to still her, his voice cracking as he spoke, "I'm sorry we couldn't save him, but had we stayed behind then we would have died with him. At least now, we can go back and rescue him if he's still alive in the meantime. I'm not going to pretend that I know him that well, but if there's one thing I know it's that if he were in our shoes he'd have done the same thing without giving up!"
Lola went motionless at the words, letting herself be held gently. Gunvolt was shaking ever so slightly now, and he turned his face down and away.
"I lost someone too today. But even so, I won't give up. Tbat I swear!"
He let go, walking towards the direction where Xiao parked their ride. Lola found that she couldn't do anything but follow, her resolve still in crumbles but still enough of the pieces are there that she knows he meant it. And right now, going with him and informing Nori about the situation…
Is the best she can do at the moment.
"I'm sorry, boss, please be well. I'll come save you soon."