Valchirie Dell'Orizzonte
by firepowerblade2
Chapther 3: Passing in the Night
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or Senki Zessho Symphogear.
One month a had passed sense Hibiki and Tsubasa had fought and Hibiki was unable to access the power that forced Tsubasa to stand down. Instead she ended up so overwhelmed by the Noise that she often had to run while Tsubasa did most of the fighting.
This night Hibiki was in her dorm with Miku working on her school report on the Noise despite looking like she could collapse at any moment. Meanwhile Miku was on her laptop looking up videos of shooting stars.
"Hibiki, if you fall asleep, you won't finish in time," warned Miku, she had noticed Hibiki was randomly running off randomly and was coming back exhausted. During all this her grades were… completely unchanged, Miku had to wonder if she should be proud of Hibiki for maintaining a passing grade or annoyed that she could do better.
"If you finish that report, they said they'd let you off the hook for make-up exams," the dark haired girl reminded. The blond simply put her head on the table. "So don't fall asleep."
"I'm not asleep… I'm awake," Hibiki countered, not convincing at all, "My eyes are just closed."
"Lately, you seem pretty tired," Miku worried.
"Sto bene… proprio bene," reassured Hibiki.
"You don't look just fine!" Miku had gotten quire good at speaking Italian in order to talk to the other girl freely.
Hibiki's mind drifted to of what happened after her fight with Tsubasa.
"What are you saying?!" Hibiki woke up to Tsubasa's upset voice, she sounded furious about whatever she was told. She found herself on an exam table in the medical wing.
"What's going on?" she asked, trying to get some context.
"You!" yelled Tsubasa as she started to stomp towards Hibiki only to be stoped by Genjuro.
"Calm down, Hibiki-kun hasn't done anything," he objected, "We don't even know what happened to her."
"E-Eh? You mean when I was shot?" guessed Hibiki.
"NO, we are talking about Kanade!" retorted Tsukasa.
"Tsubasa!" Scolded Genjuro. Rather then stay there, Tsubasa left the infirmary to cool her head.
"She really doesn't like me, huh?" asked a worried Hibiki.
"Please don't think badly of her, she spent these past two years without any outlet for her feelings," Genjuro apologized.
"What Happened?… I remember that I was shot… my thought turned to how I wanted to get rid of her weapons so we could talk… and then how I went crazy acting on those thoughts," recalled the blond.
Ryoko was the one who answered, "We observed two demonstrations of visible phonic gain," videos of Hibiki with the flames coming from her head and the darkness blocking the command room, "Your empowered state is the result of an internal change in your phonic gain in response to your mental state with the bullet acting as a catalyst and the other took the form of darkness covering all the exits of the control room, any attempts to break through resulted the energy acted like a portal and sent the attacker to the other side of the room. The energy that blocked us was G8."
"That's one of the types that I'm actively connected to," Hibiki noted.
"Yes and according to Tsubasa, that was the same energy that enveloped Kanade when she disapeared."
"What, then Kanade-san might still be alive?" hoped Hibiki.
"That would be highly unlikely," interrupted Genjuro, "You heard her sing a song different from the usual ones right?
"Yeah?" the girl acknowledged.
"That was the Superb Song," explained Ryoko, "It pushes the symphogear beyond its limits, without regard for the strain it places on its user. After releasing all that energy and her body practically falling apart from the stress, there is no way Kanade that she could have teleported herself let alone survived. And that is before the fact that she lacks the knowledge to even use such an ability."
"The ones who teleported her clearly know about us and have researched phonic gain for longer then us," pointed out Genjuro, "They have interfered in our affairs twice now and the only thing they have in common…"
… is me, thought Hibiki, Tsubasa-san was crying.
Meanwhile at a Japanese style compound ownd by Genjuro, Tsubasa was inside a dojo kneeling in front of a sheathed katana with several candles around her. She looked to be in meditation when she was remembering the day she lost Kanade.
"Kanade!"
Tsubasa held the dying Kanade in her arms, gazing with unseeing eyes and a trail of blood flowing from her mouth.
"Where are you, Tsubasa?" Kanade asked weakly, "Everything is dark, and I can't see you."
"Kanade!" repeated Tsubasa, trying to let the dying girl know she wasn't alone.
"Sorry…" smoky darkness was starting to slowly rise from the ground. "It looks like I won't be able to sing with you anymore."
"Why? Why are you saying that?" asked Tsubasa, too focused on her friend to notice what was happening around them at the moment, "That's cruel…"
"Then you're a crybaby."
"I don't care!" responded the bluenet, "I just want you to sing with me forever!"
"Did you know, Tsubasa…" expressed Kanade, "When you sing as hard as you can, you get really Hungry…" With thous final words a tear fell from her eye… and the darkness started to surround her body.
"Kanade!" Tsubasa yelled out in fear. When the darkness burned her hands on contact forcing her to let go of her friend's body. When the darkness dispersed nothing was left and despite not having a body, Kanade was reported as KIA… until two years later.
Kanade, I will find you no matter what, Tsubasa thought. She grabbed the Katana by the sheath and swiftly drew it, stoping just before the blade touched the flame of the candle in front of her. Everything… happened because I was weak. But this time I have the lead to find you.
Back at the dorm Hibiki received a call from Section 2 to come in for a meeting
"What is it?" asked Miku, "Did you get the AM/PM setting on your alarm clock wrong?"
"No, well…" the blond couldn't come up with an excuse.
"Something you have to do this late?" the black haired girl guessed.
The Gungnir user could only chuckle at that.
"If you want to go out, I can take care of the curfew for you…" offered her roommate.
"Okay, Sorry,"
Miku turned her laptop around to show Hibiki, "Just do something for this." on the screen was a video of shooting stars.
"Do you remember how we promised to go see the shooting stars together?" she asked, "We can't do that if you have a mountain of reports to go through."
"Yeah! I'll do something!" Hibiki accepted, "So, yeah… Sorry.
Miku pouted seeing that her friend was hiding something but wouldn't tell her, "Here, hold your arms over your head."
As Miku helped Hibiki change her clothes the blond reflected on her situation with Tsubasa.
"I can't keep going like this, can I?" she asked herself, getting Miku's attention, "I need to start getting it together. Way better than I have till now."
Latter under the school, Hibiki walked into the command center of Section 2.
"Sorry I'm late!" she apologized, "I'm sorry."
She saw Genjuro and Tsubasa siting on opposite couches and Ryoko standing.
"Now that we're all here, let's have a friendly meeting!" declared Ryoko. Up on the main screen, a map of the local area was pulled up and on it were red circles that expanded out words a sort distance.
"What do you think?" Genjuro asked Hibiki.
"There are lots of them!" Hibiki answered with a serous tone.
The red haired man laughed at the answer, recognizing that although it was correct, she didn't understand its significance, "That's absolutely right."
"Over the last month, these locations are where Noise have appeared," he explained, "What do you know about the Noise, Hibiki-kun?"
"Just what I've heard on TV and at school…" Hibiki said remembering her report, "They're emotionless, like machines. And they only attack humans. And the people they attack turn into ash. They can appear anyplace, and at any time, to start attacking people. They're considered a major disaster."
"That's more than I expected you to know," he commented.
"I was just writing an essay on them," the blond revealed.
"Well, it was thirteen years ago that the Noise was firs discussed at the UN…" spoke up Ryoko, "But they were sighted long before that. Since ancient times, all over the world."
"Many of the strange monsters in our world's myths and legends may be based on the Noise," finished Genjuro.
"The Noise don't appear ofthen," explaned the brunet, "The number of appearances lately is extremely unusual. Which means there must be some purpose behind them."
"Purpose?" questioned Hibiki, "Do you mean someone's controlling them?"
"The center of it all is right here, Lydian Music Academy's High School," revealed Tsubasa, speaking for the first time, "Right above us. Someone, or something, is after Sacrist D, the Durandal."
"Um, Durandal is…" asked the Gungnir girl.
"An almost complete relic," explained Aoi, "kept in the Abyss, a level lower than this, which we're researching under the Japanese government's supervision. That's Durandal."
Tsuba-san's Ame no Habakiri and the Gungnir fragments in your chest can't work unless their wielders sing to activate them," picked up Sakuya, "But once a complete relic is activated, it keeps outputting 100% of its power. And our research indicates that anyone, not only the activator, could use it."
"That is one of the few things that hasn't changed from the Original Sakurai Theory I came up with!" clamed Ryoko, "before you, we would have tried to bombard it with a lot of phonic gain."
"Thanks to the research Ryoko-kun has been doing the last month," spoke the red headed commander, "we now know that Tsubasa is incapable of activating it due to having only Alpha 3 and Beta 3 phonic gain."
"Even if Tsubasa could we'd need the Japanese government's permission to try activating it. Would they give it?" asked Aoi.
"No, there's a bigger problem," denied Sakuya, "Based on our treaty, America's made multiple requests for the Durandal. We must be very careful with it. Trying to activate it is out of the question. It'll be an international incident if we aren't careful."
"The US government can't be behind this, can they?" speculated the black haired operator.
"According to our investigation department, over the last few months, there have been tens of thousands of attempted hacks on the computers in our head quarters," explained the commander, "We aren't sure how they're getting access. It's too early to say if the American government is behind it. But we're having them follow up, of course. Normally, this is what we're good at. Well all the more reason to hide Hibiki-kun's existence."
"Commander Kazanari…" spoke up the man in a suite
"Oh, right. It's about time, isn't it?" realized Genjuro.
Turning to Tsubasa the man addressed the idol, "You have a meeting for your album tonight."
"Eh?" said Hibiki in confusion.
"On the surface, I am singer Kazanari Tsubasa's manager," the man revealed as he put on a pair of glasses. He then hand the blond that showed his name to be Ogawa Shinji.
"Whoa… I've never been given a business card before!" she said in slightly excited tone, "Thank you very much."
after Tsubasa and Shinji left, Hibiki turned to inquire more about the situation.
"There are threats other than the Noise around us, aren't there?"
"Mhm," agreed Genjuro
"I don't really want to think about anyone coming after this place," she admitted.
"It's fine," Ryoko reassured her, "'Cause, you know… This place was designed by the famous celebrity archaeologist Sakurai Ryoko to defend humanity. It has both cutting-edge and heretical technology, so it'll keep the bad guys out."
"Then I'm sure you'll take care of it," the young girl expressed her gratitude.
Tsubasa walked down the hall while listening to Ogawa list off her schedule for the afternoon from behind her.
"Next, there isn't much time until the concert at the end of the month. Please review the rehearsal schedule later. And about that discussion with the English recording studio…" he said before he was interrupted.
"I told you to refuse them," Tsubasa scolded him, "I am a blade. I sing only to fight."
"Tsubasa-san, are you upset?" the manager inquired.
"I'm not upset!" she objected… clearly upset, "A blade has no feelings that can be upset."
As Tsubasa continued walking she failed to hear Ogawa give his opinion.
"I think if you had no feelings, you wouldn't be able to sing…"
"Why do we… fight not just the noise, but other humans?" asked Hibiki.
She was taking a break with the control room's main staff before going back to her dorm for the night when the question entered her mind.
"Why don't people all over the world just stop fighting?" she once again asked not expecting an answer.
"I'm sure… it's because humanity is cursed," Ryoko whispered into the girl's ear before nipping it.
"Iiiiiiiiyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh," yelled the blond in surprise.
"Aw, you're so cute," commented Ryoko teasingly, "Maybe I'll make you mine before someone else gets to you…"
The girl simply blushed as Sakuya and Aoi chuckled at the interaction.
"But in all seriousness, your very existence has hinted at a way to world peace if we were to break the Curse of Balal," the researcher assured the younger girl.
Although that statement brought a smile to Hibiki's lip, it felt like Ryoko was getting impatient…
The next day finds Hibiki and Miku in class singing the school anthem along with their classmates. This kept on until Hibiki's eyes drifted to the window. She caught sight of Tsubasa walking down the hall of the building next door.
"Tachibana-san!" yelled out their teacher, the distraction had caused the younger blond to stop singing.
"Humanity is cursed!" declared Hibiki as she worked on her report, "O meglio, sono maledetto." this comment was followed up by a pair of cute girls feeding her.
"come on, stop being stupid…" scolded Miku, "The report is due after school, today."
"That's why I'm working on it up till the last minute," countered the blond.
"Well, this isn't an anime," said Yumi, "You aren't going to be able to get it done like this."
She, Kuriyo and Shiori got up.
"Eh, but aren't you here to help me?" asked Hibiki,
"We should probably stop distracting her," commented Shiori, "How about a game of badminton on the roof?"
"That's a good idea," agreed Kiriyo, "What about you, Hina?"
"I'll stay with Hibiki today," Miku answered, "I promised to help with her report."
"You're such good friends!" Yumi teased noting how Hibiki eyes lite up at Miku's statement, of course it went over the blond's head, "Okay, see you guys later." And with that the two were left alone.
"Thank you, Miku…" Hibiki said gratefully, "let's go see the shooting stars together."
"Yeah," said the black haired girl.
A few hours later, Miku was waiting outside the teachers office for Hibiki as she turned in her report. It was the night of the shooting stars and she was excited about their 'not date.'
"What did the teacher say?" she asked as Hibiki left the office.
"That my handwriting is horrible," the academically challenged girl answered, "Like hiero-something or other."
"That isn't what I meant. You were past the deadline. Did they take your report?" clarified Miku.
"They said they would, just this once!" the blond exclaimed in joy, "Yay, we did it!" they both raised their hands for a high five but…
"Tachibana! Don't yell in the hallway!" the teacher's voice interrupted their celebration.
"We can see the shooting stars!" Although slightly subdued Hibiki still kept her excitement.
"You wait here, Hibiki," said the calmer girl, "I'll get your bag from the classroom."
"Oh, it's fine!" the adapter yelled to her friend as she jogged to her destination.
"You worked really hard, so this is a reward."
"Miku is really fast…" Hibiki noted as she recalled how the other girl was a former athlete, "She used to be on the track team, after all."
all of a sudden she heard her phone ring, she knew who was calling and she was not looking forewords to it this time.
"Yes?" she answered.
Miku returned to the the hall in front of the office carrying two schoolbags, but could not find her friend.
"Hibiki" she asked, hoping said girl could hear her. A little while later, Miku had returned to the dorm and still couldn't find the other girl. Suddenly she heard her phone ring.
"Hibiki, you…" she started to complain.
"Sorry," said the voice over the line, "Something came up. I might not be able to see the shooting stars with you tonight.
"Another important thing?" she asked.
"Yeah," Hibiki answered.
"All right. That's fine, then," Miku accepted despite wanting to know more, "I'll leave the door unlocked, so don't get home too late."
"Thank you. I'm sorry." Finishing her phone call, Hibiki turned to face the Noise in the subway station behind her.
Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron
Taking a rather amateurish stance, she headed straight towards the Noise, successfully taking down several before receiving a warning from Genjuro.
"One of the signals is bigger then the rest," his voice spoke over the line, "Tsubasa will be there soon. Hang on until then. Don't do anything stupid.
"I know," the girl replied, spoting a Noise that looked like it had grapes for hair. "I'll just do what I can!"
After taking out some of the lesser Noise, the more unique one launched its 'grapes,' which were revealed that they were bombs as they went off, causeing the tunnel to collapse on to Hibiki, allowing it to escape to a higher floor. From under the rubble Hibiki started to let out her frustration.
"I wanted to see them…" her voice going from regret to anger, "I wanted to see the shooting stars!" With each hit she landed her anger simply kept on rising. "I wanted… to see the shooting stars with Miku!" as the last of the Noise were defeated and reduced to ash, she let out a cry filled with rage.
During all this the running Noise had regenerated its 'grapes' and continued its escape, just as the Gungnir user finally caught up.
"And you…" Hibiki said as she caused a large crack in the wall as she hit it, "You ruined my promise!" Her eyes held a dangerous light in them that didn't seem natural. "You made me lie… You took away my peaceful world. My calm everyday life." Her head was covered in a darkness different from that which took Kanade, it only showed her mouth and a pair of glowing red eyes. She was attacked by the Noise summoned by the 'grape-head' Noise only to tear the first one apart. "You took all of it away!"
Her fighting style gradually shifted from taking each enemy out in one hit that she could do even as an armature to inflicting as much pain as possible as she killed them, even her expression showed that she was taking pleasure from the act.
This continued until more bomb were sent at her. The resulting snapped her back to her natural mindset, completely unaware of the cruelty she had inflected.
"Wait," she yelled as she chased the Noise. The said Noise launched bombs at the ceiling momentarily blinding Hibiki. As she regained her sight, she saw that the Noise already headed to the surface through the resulting hole. As she was about to give chase she saw something that gave her pause.
"A shooting star?"
The shooting star in question was actually Tsubasa wearing her Ame no Habakiri. With a glimmer she had launched a Blue Flash, bisecting both the Noise and the earth it stood on. By the time the swords woman had landed, Hbiki had already reached the surface.
"I have something I want to protect, too!" the blond called out, trying to get the other girl to understand, "So…" the bluenet's only response was to raise her sword.
"So what? What are you going to do?" a third individual interrupted them.
Surprised, both girls turned to the intruder. For just an instant Hibiki thought the new girl was wearing another Symphogear, her outfit was mostly white leotard with blue jewels and showed her under boobs, her height was slightly increased by her platform shoes and the purple spikes lead to purple chains, one of which was griped in her left hand. Although a matching mask was covering her upper face, her silver hair invoked nostalgic feelings that she only ever felt with Miku and whenever she was moon gazing.
"Moonlight." The word escaped her lips as a whisper before she even realized it and for a moment a weight that had been on her shoulders for as long as she remenbered was lifted.
Those were the feeling that ran through Hibiki's mind, but for Tsubasa, she could only feel shock at what the girl was wearing.
"The Armor of Nehushutan…"
Well we have finally got to Chris. It gets a lot easier to write fanfics when it's not original scenes, anyways one of the guest reviewers was able to guess the positions for almost all the Symphogear users(as the boss who the others protect Hibiki is not considered a guardian), the only ones they didn't were Shirabe and her GREEN AND PHYSICALLY STRONGER PROTECTOR.
Also the surgery scene at the end of the prologue was not Hibiki's.
