Part 1:
An inevitable disaster approaches, but suddenly...
Chapter 8:
Broken Bonds reforged
Hibiki's POV:
Lydian
While the worry of Kana's location bothered her, Hibiki's main concern was Miku's sudden absence from school today. "You've never skipped school a day in your life Miku... Why now?" Hibiki asks aloud to herself.
Suddenly, a door could be heard opening with two people coming out from it. "Yo! Hibiki-chan!" Kanade called out, getting Hibiki's attention, "Whatcha doing up here by yourself?"
Hibiki looks down, "Not much. I've just had a lot on my mind lately..." Seeing Hibiki in distress, they decide to all sit down and talk on one of the nearby benches. "I thought I was determined enough. I wanted to use my Symphogear and its power to protect what I held most important to me, but it didn't work."
"How do you mean?" Asked Kanade.
"All it took was the tiniest flaw to unravel my dreams and leave me with nothing." She continues, "I need to become someone else... Someone stronger..."
"If it's what you truly care about, then can't that 'flaw' also become your strength?" Tsubasa asks, much to Hibiki's confusion.
"Yeah! You don't need to change who you are to protect what you care about." Kanade adds. "Besides, why be someone else when you could just be the best version of yourself?"
Hibiki smiles from Kanade and Tsubasa's words of encouragement. "Thanks. You know, my best friend once offered me those same words of encouragement here."
"Whatever you decide to do next, just be sure to stay true to yourself."
"True to myself?"
"Yeah. You don't need to change who you are, so just go on being yourself and I will support you. You're irreplaceable, you know."
"Is it really okay for me to keep being myself?"
"You shouldn't try to be someone you aren't!"
"But it didn't last." Hibiki continued, "I'm hopeless, aren't I?" Hibiki giggled. "By the way, Tsubasa, are you feeling better or does it still hurt?"
"It's nothing to worry about." Tsubasa answers, "As long as I'm careful, I should be fine." Hibiki is relieved to hear this. "The Superb Song causes extensive damage to the body. They are songs of destruction that erase both you and your enemy from existence. Thanks to Kana's healing, I got off pretty lightly."
This makes Hibiki think about Tsubasa's claim of Superb Songs, "It's not like that!" She retorts, "Two years ago, you and Kanade's songs were what gave me the strength to survive! Those songs aren't just for destruction! From first-hand experience, I know for a fact that those songs lift everyone's spirits!" This sudden inspiration from her lowerclassmen took Tsubasa by surprise. "So please cheer up! I love your songs!"
"To think, this started with us giving you encouragement." Kanade chuckles, "Now you're the one encouraging us." This compliment causes Hibiki to chuckle with Kanade. As they continue to chat amongst themselves, suddenly, the Noise evacuation sirens go off, as well as the three girls' phones.
"Tsubasa speaking." Tsubasa says into the phone as the other two join into the call, "Kanade and Tachibana are with me."
"We've got Noise." Genjuro says, "And plenty of them. It's probably related to what happened early this morning."
"Roger. We're heading there right away." Tsubasa answers.
"No." Genjuro replies, "Until I get the all-clear from the doctors, you're staying away from the front line."
Tsubasa tries to argue this point, but Hibiki puts her hand on Tsubasa's shoulder, "Leave this to Kanade and I, Tsubasa. You keep everyone here safe." Tsubasa turns to Kanade, who nods in agreement to Hibiki's request.
"We can handle this." Kanade adds, heading for the door, "Let's get going, Hibiki-chan." Once they were a safe distance away from Lydian, Kanade started to sing.
"Croitzal ronzell Gungnir zizzl"
Suburban Area 6
(Kimi to Iu Oto Kanade Tsukiru Made starts to play)
"I'll go on ahead and get the Noise away from the suburbs." Kanade says, bringing forth her spear, "You get anyone still in there to safety!"
"Understood, Kanade-san!" Hibiki replies, "Good luck out there!" Once she entered the suburban area, Hibiki could see gunfire in the air and several explosions. "Chris-chan is here too?" She ponders to herself before her thoughts instantly turn to a familiar scream from a nearby building. Hearing this, Hibiki immediately goes to investigate, which leads her to a building that was under construction. Hibiki goes down the flight of stairs in front of her before shouting out, "Hello? Is anyone there?" hoping to get a response from someone. Unfortunately, she was met by a roar and a tentacle.
Hibiki dodges the tentacle just in time and lands on her feet on the floor below. When she goes to look back at her assailant, she is met by the sight of a giant octopus-like Noise. Hibiki was going to start singing, but her mouth is quickly covered by a mysterious hand, the hand of her friend and roommate, Miku. When she quietly shushes Hibiki, she pulls out her phone, typing a message in it. The message read, "Keep quiet. It seems that it only reacts to loud sounds." She then writes another message that reads, "It chased me here, along with Kana and the lady from Flower." When she shows the message she gestures over to Kana, who was healing the Flower lady.
As happy as Hibiki was to see Kana was alive and well, the happiness was short-lived. "If I try to activate my Symphogear now, it'll put them all in danger... What should I do?" Hibiki says to herself worriedly.
This worry is met by another message from Miku, "Hibiki, listen. I'll lure the Noise away from you three. Just make sure to get her out of here!"
Concerned, Hibiki pulls out her phone and writes a message to Miku, "No Miku! I can't let you put yourself in danger!"
Smiling at Hibiki's concern, Miku writes another message, "Don't you remember? I used to sprint for the track team. Trust me. I'm counting on the two of you. I know it's dangerous. That's why I'm asking you to do this. Because the only one I can truly trust with my life is you, Hibiki."
Seeing this, Hibiki tries to write another message, but Miku stops her, showing her resolve to her plan. The moment is halted by a groan from the Flower lady, which causes some of the Noise's tentacles to move near her position. Seeing time was running out until the Noise attacked, Miku quickly gets closer to Hibiki so she could whisper to her, "I did something terrible to you. I can't even hope for your forgiveness for what I did." This makes Hibiki start to tear up, "But I still want to be by your side. I want to fight too."
"But Miku... You can't..." Hibiki begs, trying to not see Miku get herself hurt.
"I don't care." She retorts, "I can't sit by and let you shoulder this burden alone." Saying her piece, she stands up. "I won't hesitate any more!" She shouts, gaining the Noise's attention, getting it to chase her out of the building.
"What is she thinking?!" Kana asks in confusion, "She's going to get herself killed!"
Hibiki runs over Kana, "She's buying us time." she explains, "So lets get her to safety and save Miku!" Kana takes no time to agree with Hibiki's plan as they both start to sing.
"You are the ocean's grey waves"
(Alight begins to play)
They emerge from the building, Hibiki carrying the Flower lady in her arms. Just outside the building, a black car came to a stop, "Hibiki!/Kana!" Ogawa and Serena said, Serena happy to see her sister.
"Ogawa-san!/Serena!" The girls replied. While the sisters embraced in a hug, Hibiki gave Ogawa the unconscious woman in her arms, "Please keep her safe."
"What about you?" Ogawa asks, getting no response from the Gungnir wielder as she goes off the save her friend.
"Where were you? Why didn't you come back?" Serena asked her sister, overcome with joy to see she was alive.
"I-It's a long story." Kana sheepishly remarks, "But before I can explain it all, I need to help Hibiki save our friend from the Noise."
Serena gives a stern look to her younger sister, "Very well. Leave the Noise in the city to Kanade and I." Serena says with a sigh, "Go help Hibiki-chan."
"Thanks, sis!" Kana says, flying off after Hibiki.
Heading in the direction Miku ran off in, Hibiki thinks about what Miku told her before she ran off to distract the Noise. "I'm not the only one fighting. I wanted to use the power of my Symphogear to help people, but that was my conceit." Hibiki says to herself. "I'm not the only one giving it my all. Kana-chan, Tsubasa-san, Kanade-san, and Serena-san aren't the only ones giving everything either. Everyone else is too!" Saying this, she thinks back to the words Kanade said to her two years ago.
"Hey, don't die! Open your eyes! Don't give up on living!"
"You can't save someone with you power alone." Hibiki continues to herself, "That's why, that day, Kanade told me not to give up on living. Now I finally understand what she meant!" Suddenly Hibiki hears Miku scream again and she instantly heads in that direction. "That's right. I'm not just saving people because I survived. I'm saving people because Kanade gave me these feelings when she saved me two years ago!"
While Hibiki is chasing her in the air, Kana is heading towards Miku on the ground as fast as she can. Along the way, she is stopped by a sudden swarm of Noise closing in on her. "I won't let Miku's distraction be at the cost of her life." Kana says aloud, "So get out of my way!" Kana speeds up, driving her sword through as many Noise as she can as she continues on her path to save her friend, remembering the last conversation she had with her.
"Miku..." Kana whispered, "I want to apologize, for everything. Hibiki and I wanted to tell you about what we were really doing, but we couldn't otherwise we would've been in major trouble and then when you saw us transform I wanted to tell you everything but then I got careless and followed Chris-san back to-"
Miku puts a finger over Kana's mouth, "Kana, it's okay." She whispers, "I understand that you two weren't able to say anything."
Kana starts to tear up, "But... But I broke my promise. I lied to you when I promised that I would always tell you and Hibiki the truth. For two years, I acted like I was just some normal girl that lead a normal life. It was only a few months ago that Hibiki found out, but even then, hiding this from a great friend, from you, hurt a lot more." Miku looks to her friend, seeing the guilt that has been building up for years be released in a quiet, heartfelt cry. "In truth, the night I chased after Chris-san after the fight, befriending her wasn't my only reason. When I saw your shocked expression when you saw me and Hibiki in our Symphogears... I just couldn't bear to face you. I felt disgusted to even consider myself your friend."
"That's not true Kana!" Miku said, making sure to be as quiet as possible to not alert the Noise but still loud enough to get her point across. "Sure, you may have kept this life hidden from us for years, but that doesn't matter anymore. The time we all spent together is what does, has, and always will, matter." Kana takes a second to wipe the tears from her eyes, seeing her friend honestly forgive her.
Miku then looks to the Noise and gets an idea. "Kana, I want to help you both. I want to fight too." She says, "And I just might know a way to do that, but I need you to promise me you get the lady from Flower to safety."
"What are you-?" Kana tries to ask, before Hibiki enters the room, landing on the ground nearby.
"Just help the lady, I'll go talk with Hibiki." Miku continues. As much as Kana wanted to stop her, she nods in agreement, beginning to heal the Flower lady.
"Don't worry Miku. We're on our way!" Kana shouts, slashing through many more Noise before being forced to dodge more Noise dive bombing her. "How annoying..." Kana holds out her hand, beginning to charge a dragon shot, "I said, OUT OF MY WAY!" she shouts, sending several dragon shots in multiple directions through the horde of Noise, only for more to take their place.
"Need some help?" A voice shouts from behind Kana, followed by several spears falling unto the Noise. "Leave the rest of these to Serena and I, Kana-chan. You go help Hibiki-chan and her friend." Kanade says, landing next to Kana.
"Care to give me a boost?" Kana asks, getting a cocky grin from Kanade as she jumps into the air, Kana following right behind her.
"Batter up!" Kanade shouts, using her spear like a baseball bat, sending Kana flying towards Miku and Hibiki's location with unfathomable speed. "Aaaand it's outta the park! Now then, where were we?" Kanade continues, lightly stretching before charging back into the horde of Noise.
Meanwhile, Miku starts to get tired of running from the Noise and collapses. "Is this the end for me?" Miku says to herself, looking back at the approaching Noise, "Kana... Hibiki... I'm sorry..."
Just as the Noise prepares to kill Miku, a voice could faintly be heard coming in at alarming speeds, "I won't let you die!" Kana shouted, knocking the Noise into the air from the impact of her landing, sending it and, accidentally, Miku over the cliffside. "Gods! I'm coming Miku!" Once she gets her bearings, Kana jumps over the cliffside to finish off the Noise and save Miku. As she goes to slash through the Noise, she sees Hibiki approaching, causing her to activate her Augmentation boost for Hibiki so they could both finish off their foe.
Right as Hibiki lands a punch straight into the Noise's face, Kana slashes through it, causing it to explode from the duo's combination. However, on her decent, Kana barely misses her chance to grab Miku and save her. "Grab her Hibiki!" Kana shouts, her friend nodding in agreement.
Hibiki manages to grab Miku with just enough time to brace for impact with the ground, "Hang on tight!" She shouts, crashing onto the ground and tumbling down the hill at the bottom while Kana crashes into the lake, causing water erupt from it and fall for a moment like rain.
Soaked and dusty, Hibiki and Miku stand up, the former of which transforms out of their Symphogear, "Sorry about that," Hibiki says with a chuckle, "It was a bit hard to have a stylish landing there."
"Everything hurts... but at least I'm alive!" Miku replies, "Thanks! I knew you two would come to save me!"
"Thank you too." Hibiki says, "I knew you wouldn't give up until the very end. You're my friend after all!"
Instantly, Miku tackles her friend, tears streaming down her face. "It was terrifying! I wasn't upset that you both were hiding secrets from me. You especially do your best to always try and help others." Miku says through her tears, "But... But you tried to carry all of that pain and sadness by yourself! I just couldn't bear that! In all honesty, I didn't want to lose you. I was afraid of seeing you get hurt, so I acted selfishly. Even after realizing it, I still couldn't tell you my true feelings!"
"Miku..." Hibiki says, returning Miku's hug, "You've always been my..."
Just as Hibiki was about to finish her sentence, Kana burst from the lake onto the grass behind them, coughing up water. "Hah... hah... you guys okay?" Kana asks, getting water out of her ears and rubbing her eyes before seeing the two on the ground, "Am... am I interrupting something? My bad."
Suddenly, Hibiki bursts into laughter at her friends, who give her. "Sorry. It's... It's just Miku was saying all this heavy stuff while she looks like a mess, then you come out of the water like some swamp person."
Miku and Kana understandably are upset by this, "You're a mess as well Hibiki!" Miku retorts.
"No way!" Hibiki says in a panic, doing what she could to fix her hair, "Quick! Hand me a mirror!"
"I don't have one on me," Miku replies, "but how about this?" Miku pulls out her phone.
"Let me take the picture for you two." Kana offers. Miku agrees, handing Kana the phone to that the picture. "A little more to the left. Aaaaaaaand, perfect. Here goes!" Kana takes the picture.
"That's ridiculous!" Hibiki shouts, "We look cursed!"
"It's worse than I could've imagined..." Miku adds, before herself and Hibiki laugh at themselves. "Okay, now it's your turn, Kana." Miku gets the camera in position for a good picture of Kana's waterlogged self.
"You weren't kidding Hibiki..." Kana says in shock, "I look like a swamp monster!" Kana laughs at herself as her friends did to themselves. "Man... Things really went from dire to happy in a matter of minutes, didn't they?"
"I hear ya on that, Kana!" Hibiki happily replies. "I'm honestly just glad we are all back together not just as friends, but also as 'comrades in arms' as Tsubasa-san would put it." This causes Kana and Miku to chuckle, even if Miku didn't know Tsubasa as well as her friends did at that moment.
"It's just great to finally be able to join the fight alongside you two." Miku says.
"I agree Miku." Hibiki adds, "It takes a huge weight off my chest to finally not have to hide anything from you." Miku and Kana shared that sentiment, but deep down, Kana wishes she could tell her close friends who she truly was. "Come on, let's head back into town! the others are probably waiting for us."
After a long walk back into the suburban area, the three meet up with Genjuro and Ogawa, the latter of which was holding a bag. "Welcome back you three." Genjuro says upon seeing them approach.
"Here, the lady from Flower wanted me to give this back to you." Ogawa says, handing Miku her bag.
"Uh, Commander..." Hibiki shyly says, "She was at the scene when Kana and I were fighting... and saw a good amount of it..."
Miku is quick to interject, "That's not true! I got involved because I wanted to help!"
Genjuro sighs, "I'll read the details on your reports. Surely it was unavoidable. Besides, if you're saving people, there's nothing I can do to stop you." Hearing this, the group celebrates considering this as an unofficial welcoming of Miku to Section Two's team.
Just as they start to celebrate however, the pink car of Ryoko Sakurai drives by. "And the main heroine has arrived..." She announces as she steps out of her car, "A bit later than expected, but I'm here all the same! Now then, where to begin..." The group audibly sighs at Ryoko's entrance to the scene.
"Alright, you can leave the rest of this to the adults." Genjuro says, turning his attention back to the trio. "You three go and get some rest. You've earned it. Lilith-san?"
"Way ahead of you Commander." Lilith replies, "Miku-chan, since you're new to all of this, just be sure to hold on."
"O...kay?" Miku replies, confused as to the woman's request. "But before we go, I have to ask the Commander something." This confuses Genjuro, but he's more than happy to listen. "I got separated from a friend of mine in all the commotion. Her name is Chris Yukine."
This surprises Hibiki and Genjuro, but Kana was there for the whole arrangement, so she wasn't concerned. "Well, she's not on the list of casualties, so you should be able to contact her again soon. There's no need to worry."
"That's good to hear. Thank you." Miku says, running back to Hibiki and the others to go back with Lilith. "So...What's going to ha-?!" and just like that, the girls and Lilith disappear from the scene.
Lydian
When they reappear, the group are met to the sight of Miku and Hibiki's dorm at Lydian. While Hibiki and Kana are unfazed by the warp, Miku is mildly shaken from both the experience and the confusion of how it all happened, "Trust me, you'll get used to it after the first few times." Lilith reassures Miku.
"Yeah." Kana adds, "In a way, you have the same look on your face as Hibiki did for her first warp. Through, unlike her, you aren't screaming." Kana can't help but laugh remembering Hibiki's panic from months ago, much to Hibiki's embarrassment.
"Hey! It's scary when you don't say anything about it and just do it!" Hibiki retorts.
"Regardless," Lilith interjects before things can escalate further, "It's getting late and I'm sure you and Miku-chan are tired, Hibiki-chan. So we'll be on our way." The groups say good night to one another as Lilith and Kana vanish again.
Once they leave, Miku and Hibiki get ready for bed, but just before they fall asleep, Miku realizes something "Wait... Isn't Kana's dorm right next to ours?" she asks, "Why did they...?"
"Well... It's complicated." Hibiki answers, "Even just explaining it sounds absurd. It'll be better if I show you when we go the Sector Two." Still full of questions, Miku decides to accept this answer for now out of sheer exhaustion from the day's events.
Kana's POV:
Astral Plane
Kana and Lilith reappear back in the Astral Plane, where they are met by Serena, who is quick to hug her younger sister. "Thank goodness you came back safely!" She joyously says before realizing Kana's soaking wet and dusty, "What happened to you? You left for only a few hours after we saw each other."
"Well... It's complicated." Kana answers, "In short, I fell into a lake after becoming a missile for a few seconds." This goes to confuse both Lilith and Serena. "Perhaps I should start from the beginning." Kana goes on to tell the two about going after Chris, encountering into Finé, getting chased by Noise, etc. "...And that about covers everything."
"Good grief Kana..." Lilith says with a sigh, "You're just like Corrin, you know that." Kana smiles at the comment, taking it as a compliment.
Serena took a moment to think about that woman's name again, feeling something familiar about it, but not entirely sure why. "So... This 'Finé' is the one that was acting as Chris-chan's boss?" She asks.
"That seemed to be the case." Kana answers.
"Were you able to learn anything about her?" Lilith asks.
"Other than that she has all the relics Chris-san used to have, besides her Symphogear, she did say something about a weapon or something being almost complete." Kana said, "I know she said what it was, but it was hard to hear through the walls. Ka...something. I can't remember."
"I'm sure the name will come back to you eventually." Lilith replied, "For now, we should probably rest up for the night." The girls nodded, heading inside to their rooms, but Kana stopped, "Is everything alright, Kana?"
"Yeah..." She answered, "I just wanted to speak with you privately. If that's okay with you."
"...Very well." Lilith agreed, "I'll get some tea ready, you go get yourself cleaned up." After washing up the dirt, dust, and pond water from her body, Kana went back to the kitchen, where Lilith was waiting with two cups of tea. "What seems to be on your mind?"
Kana takes a sip of her tea before speaking, "It's just, lately, I've been feeling guilty about something." Lilith is confused by what guilt Kana could be dealing with. "I feel like we shouldn't keep hiding where we're truly from from Section Two anymore."
Lilith nearly spits out her tea after hearing this. She checks to make sure Serena isn't eavesdropping before she speaks, "Lady Kana, don't you think that'd be too risky?" She whispers, "Besides, what caused you to think about that?"
Kana is hesitant to answer, but she works up the courage, "When I was walking back into town with Hibiki and Miku, we were talking about how we no longer had any secrets to hide from one another. However, I just couldn't help but feel guilty about not being entirely truthful to them." Lilith's shock turns into a look of understanding. "Now that Miku is a part of Section Two, I feel like they all deserve to know the truth."
"I couldn't agree more Kana." Lilith says, "However, it may be best if we wait until we deal with Finé to say anything. It'd be better if we didn't risk the truth falling into the enemy's hands. Afterwards, the call is yours, just make sure you prepare for what comes after the truth comes out."
"I will." Kana answers, determined to be true to her friends, "I'm ready to be done with secrets. My allies deserve the truth." Her resolve strengthened, Kana finishes her tea and heads to bed.
Unknown to both of them, Serena did overhear their conversation. "'Secrets?'" She says to herself, "I know I shouldn't be spying on their private conversation. If my memories ever return, I imagine there's probably some things I would be hesitant to talk about publicly." For the moment, Serena respectfully chooses to brush off Kana and Lilith's conversation. Seeing no point in discussing it further, Serena goes to her room and sleeps.
Serena's POV:
Astral Plane
A while after everyone was asleep, Serena was woken up by a noise she heard coming from the kitchen, singing.
(Apple begins to play)
"Kana? Lilith?" Serena quietly called out, assuming one of the two just woke up in the middle of the night. Once Serena reached the kitchen, she wasn't met by either person, Nor by anyone who would naturally have access to the Astral Plane through Section Two's HQ. She was instead met to the sight of a young girl, singing a familiar tune. "Excuse me." Serena called out, trying to get the girl's attention, but the girl didn't move. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"How did you get in here?" the girl asks as she starts to turn to face Serena. When she sees her face, chills run down her spine, the girl she saw was none other than herself from six years ago. Suddenly the room changes from the Astral Plane's fortress to that of the facility from the day Kana saved her life. Fire and debris quickly filled the room and blood started to run down the younger Serena's face. "And who are you?" The older Serena was unable to move, pale from the horror unfolding before her. From behind the debris, Serena heard the voice of another young girl faintly shouting "Serena!" followed by the sound of debris falling towards her.
Serena wakes up in a cold sweat, screaming. Suddenly, the door flies open and Kana rushes into the room. "Serena! Is everything alright?!" She asks.
"I... I'm fine..." Serena answers, catching her breath and composing herself, "It was just a nightmare is all. Nothing to worry about."
"Okay..." Kana says, still concerned for her sister. "Was it about Finé? I could tell something was on your mind when I mentioned her earlier."
"Heh... Guess I should've expected one of you to catch that..." Serena answers, "It's just... something about the name 'Finé' seemed familiar. It's as if I knew her before I lost my memories."
"Who knows," Kana replies, "Maybe she does know something about you. You could ask her, but something tells me that'll be more difficult than just walking up to her and getting the answer you want."
"Yeah..." Serena solemnly adds, "For now, it may just be best to get some rest and find out what we can about her tomorrow."
Kana nods her head, "I agree. Well, if you're feeling better, I'll let you get some more rest. Goodnight!"
"Goodnight Kana!" Serena replies. Once Kana leaves, Serena goes back to sleep. "That other voice in the dream... just who was that?" She asks herself before falling asleep once more.
A/N: To be honest, I was unsure whether or not to add the last scene with Serena in or not, but I felt like it'd be better to not wait until part 2 to bring out her character arc.
Not much else to add here so with that said, See you all in the next chapter!
