Valchirie Dell'Orizzonte
by firepowerblade2
Chapther 4: Falling Tears
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or Senki Zessho Symphogear.
For just an instant, the command room was silent as the computers confirmation of Nehushtan came up on the screen.
"Impossible," Genjuro gasped in shock, the traitor they spent two years looking for had finally made their move, "Get there now! Get that armor, no matter what!"
"The Armor of Nehushtan…" Tsubasa registered in shock.
"Eh, so you know where this armor's from?" noted the unnamed girl.
"Because of my failure, it was stolen two years ago. I'll never forget," the sword girl explained, "And I'll never forget the life that disappeared because of me!" fulled by her regrets and desire to take back the armor, she lifted her sword as took a stance while the other girl prepared a white and purple device the unfolded into a staff… another relic!
The reason I lost Kanade… And the Gungnir Symphogear she left behind… Tsubasa thought as she focused on the enemy before her, But this cruelty feels good to me!
"Don't, Tsubasa-san!" Hibiki pleaded as she grabbed on to the taller girl, she couldn't bring herself to fight another human for no reason, and something inside of her was telling her this girl should stand by their side, "That's a person! Another human!"
"It's a battlefield! What's wrong with you?" Tsubasa and the silver haired girl scolded Hibiki at the same time. Surprised, they turned to each other.
"I think you and I are going to get along," Tsubasa stated to her foe.
"Then wanna have some fun?" responded said girl, sending one of her whips at the duo.
Tsubasa pushed Hibiki to the side and jumped out of the way, as the bluenet reached her apex, she sent a wave of blue energy at the Nehushtan wearer.
Blue Flash
The targeted girl swung her whip and deflected the attack to the side, staring at the descending girl with confidence before dogging a series of swings from Tsubasa's sword. She ended it by easily blocking the last two swings with one of her whips.
Almost caught off guard by the fact she couldn't break the chains Tsubasa dodged down to avoid a horizontal swing only to receive a kick that sent her flying back.
This is the potential of a completed relic? Tsubasa asked herself.
"Don't assume this is Nehushtan's power," the silver haired girl boasted, "I can do a lot more than this." after making this declaration she jumped into the air and swung another whip at Tsubasa.
"Tsubasa-san!" Hibiki yelled as the bluenet dodged the repeated swings.
"No one wants to deal with you now," claimed the silver haired girl, "you play with them." She pulled the staff that was stored behind her waist and sent out beams of green light.
The places that the light hit lit up and when it died down, in their place were four creatures that could loosely be described as a cross between soda bottle with the head and legs of a bird.
"She's controlling Noise!" Hibiki realized. As the Noise started to amble towards her, the blond had flashbacks to the terror she felt at the Zwei Wing concert. The fear she felt at that moment left her frozen in place. The Noise took this chance to spray her with slime that was too sticky to let her move.
"No… No way!" she gasped.
While that was going on the silver haired girl had blocked a charging strike from Tsubasa.
"Were you so busy with her, you forgot me?" the sword girl asked as she crossed weapons with her foe. She then tripped the girl and tried to kick her, only to get blocked as she regained he balance.
"Don't be so arrogant!" She declared, she proceeded to grab the blocked leg and used it to throw Tsubasa back several meters, stopping only when the silver haired girl had landed on her head.
"I don't care how popular you are," she said while keeping Tsubasa pined with her foot, "Not everyone's going to play with you."
"Since you seem to think you're the star, I'll tell you something," mocked the silver haired girl, "This whole time, my goal has been to kidnap her." she pointed out Hibiki with her thumb.
"Eh?" was all the blond could say in surprise.
"Your armor and you friend…" the silver haired girl continued her gloating, "Both are better suited to being stepping stones for fulfilling Prima's wish."
I swore I wouldn't let it happen again! Pointing her sword at the sky dozens of blades fell from the sky.
Thousand Falling Tears
Seeing the attack heading for her, the silver haired girl was forced to doge there by freeing Tsubasa.
As the two continued to clash, Hibiki remained helpless to intervene thanks to the Noise.
"That's right! My Armed Gear!" realized Hibiki, "If I'm going to take Kanade-san's place, I need an Armed Gear, too! If I had mine…"
But no mater how hard she tried, she was unable to call a weapon to her hand.
"Come out! Come out, Armed Gear!" she begged, eventually her mind came to the realization of why she couldn't use an Armed Gear, Is this what Ryoko-san meant that I would be unable to use Symphogears to their full potential?
Meanwhile Tsubasa and the silver haired girl had reached a stalemate in their battle.
"She has complete control of her armor, "Tsubasa noted, "her power is the real thing."
"Taking time to think, in the middle of a fight?" the other girl mocked, "Idiot!"
The bluenet dodged another attack by sumersulting backword several times. The silver haired girl the summoned several Noise and mentaly commanded them to attack. Tsubasa was able to slay several and even destroy a group with her Thousand Falling Tears. Following this she launched a Blue Flash that sliced thruogh several Noise before making contact with the silver haired girl, kicking up a dust cloude.
As the girl emerged from the dust, it became clear that the attack that had cleaved a powerful Noise and the land it stood earlyer that night had not even left a scrach on her. She sent her whips at Tsubasa, who in turn deflected them and got in close with her foe. The as the swords woman took a swing, the silver haired girl blocked it with her recalled chains, this led to the foes to try sevral atemps to hit the other. The clash contiued until Tsubasa manifestied three knives to throw as the other girl
"Too easy!" the silver haired girl exclamed as she knoked the knives out of the air. She rushed towords Tsubasa before swining back one of her chains. At its end was a white and black energy ball that was launched as she swung forewords.
Nirvana Gedon
Tsubasa tried to block the attack, but it was clear that it was futal.
"Tsubasa-san!" yelled out Hibiki, worreid for her comrad.
The attack exploded, sending the bluenet flying.
"What a failure," the other girl declared as Tsubasa layed on the ground.
"You're right… I am a failure," she agreed with the silver haired girl.
"Huh?"
"I"ve trained my body to become a sword," stated the swordswoman with regrets, "And on that day… I survived, anyway. I shamed myself as a failed sword. But that ends today," Tsubasa decared as she struggled th get to her feet, "If I can take back the Nehushtan, I can restore my honor."
"Yeah? Just try and take it off me- What?" the silver haired girl's gloating was cut short when she relized she couldn't move. Turning her head she saw that one of the knives she had deflected was impailed into her shadow.
Shadow Weave
"She's paralyzed me!" she stated before realizing WHY she went to such lengths, "No way. You can't…"
"I'll finish this while the Moon is out," Tsubasa said with a distublingly calm look on her face.
"You're going to sing your Superb Song?" the other girl asked in fear.
"Tsubasa-san!" Hibiki called out, sensing the bluenet was about to do something irreversible.
"I'll show you how a defender lives!" she declared, the bluenet had decided to show the blond just what type of world she was trying to join! "Never forget this!" The look she gave to Hibiki said 'I leave the rest to you.'
Inside a car headed to the battlefield were Genjuro drivng and Ryoko with a tablet watching the battle take place.
"Tsubasa-chan is going to sing…"
"I wont let you! I wont let you…" the silver haired girl yelled, although they were surrounded by many Noise none of them were in any position or had the speed to stop the coming attack.
"Gatrandis Babel ziggurat Edenal."
Tsubasa started walking to the silver haired girl.
"Emustolronzen Fine el Balal zizzl.
Gatrandis Babel ziggurat Edenal."
The silver haired girl pulled out her staff and sent out a beam to summon Noise in front of the blue haired girl's path, only to realize she was already several feet in front her. She continued getting closer until they were nearly kissing, this attack would not miss.
"Emustolronzen Fine el zizzl."
With the completion of the song and a stream of blood from her mouth, Tsubasa let out a wave of energy with her and the other girl at ground zero. The blast destroyed all the surrounding Noise and freed Hibiki. Meanwhile the silver haired girl was sent flying and when she landed, her armor was significantly damaged but still looked like she could fight.
Even before she could get up she could feel the Armor of Nehushtan's ability activate, root like growths started to form under her skin. Wanting to avoid the consequences the silver haired girl leapt into the city out of sight.
Back at the crater created by Tsubasa's Superb Song, Hibiki ran to the bluenet.
"Tsubasa-san! Tsubasa-sa-" she yelled out before tripping. As the blond got back up the car transporting Genjuro and Ryoko arrived.
"Are you okay, Tsubasa?" called out the commander as he got out.
"I am a defender that also protects humanity," stated Tsubasa, turning her head revealed that blood was flowing out of her eyes and mouth, "I am not a blade that will break here."
Seeing her in this state left Hibiki in shock and watching Tsubasa fall to the ground finally triggered the fact that the bluenet could die.
"Tsubasa-san!"
"Looks like Rei got herself into a real bind," Commented Reborn.
"Her first guardian didn't recognize her and almost kidnapped her, her potential Time guardian is in the hospital near death and all of the burden is now mostly on her shoulders," said Mammon, their illusions to observe the battle without being noticed, "That isn't a bind, it's a disaster! She hasn't trained at all, in all battles she was apart of she could only run away and thanks to Chris there is noway we can approach Section 2 peacefully! Not even your training can get her ready."
"I won't be the one training her," the hitman said.
"Wha? What do you mea…" they started to ask before realization dawned on them, "You have got to be kidding me, I know she's related to that muscle head but do you really expect her to grow that much with Genjuro's ridiculous training in just a few days?!"
"I do," Reborn confermed.
*sigh* "At least that explains why you kept her from interfering."
The hitman and illusionist turned to a girl who was gagged and hogtied with ropes infused with Glacier Flames to prevent any teleportation. Her face was contorted in fury at the hitman.
"She survived, barely," said the surgeon, "But until she recovers, she must remain completely still. It's a very unstable situation."
An hour later saw Tsubasa at a Hospital on campus, an operation to save her life having just been completed.
"Thank you," said Genjuro as he and his men bowed in gratitude. As he straitened up, he turned to his men and gave them orders, "We will learn where the armor went. Don't miss a single clue!" he then led them into the city to begin the search.
During all this Hibiki was sitting in a waiting room thinking on how things ended up the way they did.
"There's no need for you to feel bad," said Ogawa as he walked to a vending machine to get a drink, "Tsubasa-san did that of her own free will."
"Ogawa-san…" Hibiki whispered in response.
"I'm sure you know this, but Tsubasa-san was once in a musical partnership."
"Zwei Wing… Right?"
"Her partner was Amou Kanade-san," the brunet explained, "Wielder of the Gungnir Symphogear, Now embedded close to your heart."
"That day, two years ago… To minimize the damage dealt by the Noise attack, Kanade-san unleashed her Superb Song."
"Superb Song… That's what Ryoko-san mentioned could kill the user, right?" asked the blond.
"Yes, It destroyed the masive Noise army in an instant," he answered, "But it took Kanade-san's life."
"Was it to save me?" she inquired in a subdued tone. Ogawa took sip of his drink before speaking.
"Kanade-san sacrificed herself, Zwei Wing was disbanded. Tsubasa-san is now alone, fighting desperately to fill the hole left by Kanade-san. She never had any fun or fell in love, like girls her age should. She put aside her personality to live her life as a sword. And today, to fulfill her duty as a blade, she sang her song, prepared to die. It's kind of strange, isn't it? But that's the way she lives."
"That's so horrible," said Hibiki as she cried, the story bringing back memories of how she hid her own suffering behind a smile, "And I didn't know anything about her… But I said I wanted to fight with her, anyway. I said I could take Kanade-san's place…"
"I don't want you to be a replacement for Kanade-san," Ogawa stated, "No one wants that. Hey, Hibiki-san… Would you do something for me?"
Wiping away her tears, Hibiki turned to listen to the older man's request.
"Please don't hate Tsubasa-san." he said in a gentle voice, "Don't let her be all alone in the world." The sad girl didn't say anything as the weight of his words resonated in her heart.
"Sure," she finally answered.
Later that day Hibiki sat on a bench on the school roof, uncharacteristically quiet.
"A replacement for Kanade-san…" she said as her mind drifted to the meeting after the battle.
In the command room, Hibiki, Genjuro, Ryoko, Sakuya and Aoi sat discussing what they had learned from the conflict with the silver haired girl.
"What worries me is that the girl in the Armor of Nehushtan said she's after Hibki-kun." stated Genjuro.
"What that means is an open question…" contemplated Ryoko.
"No," interrupted the commander, "If they're aware of who she is, that means they're aware of Section 2."
"The traitor we've spent two years looking for has finally made their move?" asked Sakuya.
"What about the ones who shot Hibiki-san or the Prima person she spoke of?" Aoi brought up.
"My first memories," spoke Hibiki, caching everyone's attention, "is of a wounded old man handing me of to my adoptive father. He said that someone named Chris would find me and called me Prima, I was around six at the time."
While everyone else in the room were rendered confused by the confession, Genjuro turned to the operators and gave them orders.
"Bring up any information you can on the name Yukine Chris."
"Y-yes sir," responded Sakuya. A moment later an article came up on the main monitor about a girl rescued rescued from a south American civil war only to disappear. Next came a picture of the same girl that tried to kidnap Hibiki, the first disappointing difference the blond noted was how the other girl was lacking her current 'assets.'
"So it is her…" confirmed the red head.
"Yukine Chris. Age sixteen," recited Sakuya, "One of the Gear-wielder candidates, who went missing two years ago."
"Oh my, that is quite the coincidence," Ryoko commented before seeing Genjuro's expression, "Or not?"
"I'm sorry Hibiki-kun, but it's likely that Kazanari Fudo, my father and the head of Kazanari clan, has most likely negatively affected yours and Chris-kun's lives."
"Genjuro-san?" Hibiki asked in confusion.
"Everyone," the commander called out, "I'm about to reveal information that could put you into Fudo's cross hairs, if you're scared then I won't blame you if you walk out but if I'm right then we will get enough political sway to oppose him." Despite his warnings no one moved to leave.
"Alright," he said, "lets first go over exactly who Kazanari Fudo is, he is the head of the Kazanari Clan that both Tsubasa and me belong to and the former head, he is a perfectionist who believes in protecting the nation over the lives of the people and has regularly executed his subordinates to have failed their assignments even if it was outside their ability to Handel."
"H-He sound horrible," exclaimed Hibiki, "I can't believe you and Tsubasa-san could be related to someone like that."
"You have no Idea," exclaimed Ryoko, "He was originally the one in charge of Section two before the second relic, Ichaival, went missing ten years ago, we were all grateful when it forced him into retirement. Despite all that and his age he still possesses strong political sway, if the Noise weren't such a universal threat then he would be prioritizing us then dealing with foreign affairs."
Hearing all that had Hibiki wondering how working for section two would have worked out if this Fudo guy had been in charge even if he hadn't been the one to interfere with her life.
"Now then, I believe that most of you have heard of the Nanimori Bombing Incident?" asked Genjuro.
It was Sakuya that responded, "That was when a group of terrorist attempted to take the Nanimori city hostage and detonate bombs allover it, it is said that Kazanari Fudo was the one to resolve it but…"
"But the truth was that the terrorist were chased to Nanimori not knowing that Fudo had arranged for bombs to be placed all over the city to destroy both the terrorist and two groups he had found out about several months before."
"Two groups?" asked Hibiki, the thought of 'two groups in Nanimori' had brought a feeling of deja vu before she finally remembered an important detail, "That's right, Nanimori was where the old man entrusted me to my father!" That statement had shocked everyone except for the commander.
"I suspected as much," commented Genjuro, "Anyways those groups were the actual ones to have defeated the terrorists and disarmed the bombs. Wanting to protect his reputation, Fudo hid the existence of the two groups and blamed the bombs on the terrorists."
"That is just disgusting," gasped Aoi, "But why haven't you revealed the names of the groups?"
"I want to avoid any direct investigations that could draw his attention to Hibiki," stated Genjuro, "I've asked my brother to send Ogawa Souji to investigate her past for any connections instead, what I can tell you is that the leaders of both groups had flames coming from their foreheads."
"That's why you had us cover up Tsubasa's attempt to fight Hibiki," stated Ryoko.
"Yes, however when using their flames they are always calm and don't stick to achieving a singular goal."
"It's all my fault," stated Hibiki in a depressed tone drawing everyone else's attention, "Two years ago… And now, this time. Because I was always so weak, Tsubasa-san… Even though I supposedly have all these amazing abilities and a power as strong as the Symphogear, I still wasn't good enough. Tsubasa-san was crying. All this time, she wasn't fighting because she was strong. She was crying the whole time, but was hiding it. Tears of frustration. And tears of resolve. She wept more than anyone, but to keep being strong, she… She was always alone..." The blonde was letting out all of her regrets caused by her ignorance towards the idol, but within that one thing didn't change…
"I have things I want to protect, too! So…"
"Hibiki?" a voice interrupted her memory, turning she saw that it was her best friend and roommate.
"Miku…"
"You've been spending more time alone lately, haven't you?" asked the dark haired girl.
"You think so? Not really," denied Hibiki, "I can't do anything by myself… I mean, I only came to this school because you said you were. Plus… The tuition here is, like, really cheap! So I thought I wouldn't cause any trouble for my mom and grandma!" Miku sat down and took the blonde's hand into her own, showing she knew something was wrong.
"I can't hike anything from you, can I?" the blonde asked.
"Because you're forcing yourself, Hibiki." her roommate revealed.
"But I'm sorry. Let me think for myself a bit more," the normally cheerful girl requested, "This is something I need to think about."
"Alright," agreed the other girl.
"Thank you, Miku." For a moment neither girl said anything until Miku got up.
"Hey, Hibiki…" she started, "No matter how much you worry or fret, even if the answer you find takes you a step forward, always stay who you are, Hibiki."
"Stay who I am?" questioned the blonde.
"That's right," confirmed Miku, "If, instead of changing, you can stay Hibiki, I'll support you. Because no one can replace you. I don't want to lose you."
"Can I… Can I really just stay myself?" Hibiki asked
"Hibiki sould be Hibiki." the other girl stated.
"I have things I want to protect, too! So…" Reflecting on her feelings from that time and Miku's advice, Hibiki got up and looked towards the hospital where Tsubasa was staying, she decided on what she should do.
"Thank you, Miku," said the blonde, "I think I can keep going forward, and still be myself."
Miku chuckled in satisfaction at Hibiki going back to her normal self.
"I know! Want to watch the Lyrid meteor shower?" she offered, "I took a video."
Although Miku claimed to have a video nothing came up on her phone.
"I don't see anything…" stated the blonde.
"Yeah. They said there wasn't enough light," apologized the dark haired girl.
"Why?!" asked the blonde before both girl burst out in laughter at the silliness of the situation.
"That's funny…" admitted Hibiki while wiping away some tears, "I can't stop crying. Next time, let's watch together."
"It's a promise," agreed Miku, "This time, it's a promise."
Hibiki turned to look at the campus with renewed confidence. I have things I want to protect, too. The only things I can protect are silly promises and a quiet, everyday life. Even so. In order to protect the things I want to protect, I want to stay myself and still get stronger.
"Coming in!" Hibiki announced at the entrance to the Kazanari's local Japanese style mansion. It was so loud that Genjuro didn't need a doorbell to know she was at the door. That made him more certain on who her relatives were.
"What's going on?" he asked in confusion.
"Teach me to fight, please!" the blonde requested.
"You want me to teach you?" Genjuro questioned, he was fairly sure he hadn't displayed any of his abilities to her.
"I just feel like you've trained in some awesome martial and that your the only one who can train me quickly," explained Hibiki.
"I'm a tough teacher," stated the red haired man.
His response brought a smile to the girl's face at his acceptance, "Right."
"By the way, do you ever watch action movies?" he suddenly asked.
"Eh?"
"I firmly believe that what I will teach you will allow you to replicate stunts found in such movies," explained the commander, "Also, another goal for us is to trigger your ignited state at will, from the fact that a tool exists to artificially trigger it implies that, in addition to being hard to control, it is also hard to enter. From what I can tell, it is related to the user's mental state."
"I have no Idea what your talking about, but I'll do it anyway," replied Hibiki,
The following week involved Hibiki copying martial arts moves from action movies, sparing with Genjuro in and out of her Symphogear and physical conditioning, sometimes in cosplay. Despite all that she kept going to classes and hanged out with her friends with a noticeable new drive.
One morning, Hibiki was walking to school with Miku when the former made a request of the latter.
"Hey, Miku! Show me that shooting star video again."
"Even though there's nothing on it?" asked the ebony haired girl, "You're weird."
"Then you're even weirder for hanging out with me!" the blonde jokingly countered.
Stopping, Miku hesitantly spoke, "H-Hey, Hibiki…"
"What?" responded said girl.
"It kind of hurt, not telling you I'd taken that video of the shooting stars," she confessed, "I never want to hide anything from you again." smiling as she got the wight of her guilt off her shoulders.
"S-Same here!" Hibiki reluctantly lied, "I wont hide anything from you."
Well, another chapter done, but I realized that hyper intuition can basically derails the entire plot of 'GX' by pointing out how Elfnein shouldn't be able to evade someone who can keep up with Chris. So I would like some help with the plot if anyone is interested.
By the way I decided to make Fine's flames Sun, Lightning and Glacier, that should make her battles more interesting.