Chapter 48: Renewed Hope (Part 7)

"Alright, we're coming up on the drop point in just a moment here. You three ready?"

"Born ready, duh."

Zero replied in a far more tempered manner, simply nodding as TB announced, [Prepared for combat, master.]

"Alright, then let's hope we don't get dragged into another life or death scenario and find something worthwhile amid the wreckage here."

Alexander winced at his own words, figuring that they were tempting fate in a really bad way. Sure, Akashi had taken one of the last Shinseis they had and attached a bunch of rockets to it so they had the nuclear option but he wasn't exactly in the mood to end up in a scenario where it became necessary.

The engines of their rickety transport whined down, the rear hatch hitting compacted dirt with an audible thump as two of the colossal machines pounded outside, flanked by six smaller models while they took up the rear, Alexander glancing around and deciding that whoever among the Sakura had hidden this base had done a bang up job.

From the air it would just look like another patch of ground while a few trees swayed around them and from the ground a passing glance wouldn't reveal anything more incriminating than a gently rising slope of earth.

It was only closer examination that showed artificial seams and shapes dug into the soil, what was obviously a metal door embedded deep into the hill.

"Well…knock knock."

At a point of his armored finger one of the larger drones - a model the Bakunawa had labeled as a Tower class - approached the entrance, ripping a hole through the passage with little effort as they filed through, headlamps and other forms of illumination snapping to life as even emergency power seemed to have run out within the depths of the base, everything pitch black without even the slightest hints of running machinery.

"Damn, guess everyone left in one hell of a hurry."

[I'm not certain of that, master. Trace amounts of heat damaged stone, metal composites and organic matter remain in the air. That isn't consistent with human operations.]

"Okay…any chance it was caused by the people here trying to burn away evidence or something?"

One of the mechanical tendrils attached to his back pointed to a spot on a nearby wall, highlighting a large, black smudge that was a bit too focused to have been from a fire.

[That's consistent with laser damage of an output comparable to the Bunker class drones you have encountered in the past, master.]

Giving the six smaller drones around him a nasty glare Alexander huffed out a sigh, grumbling, "We're not even twenty steps into this place and there's already bad news? Fuck's sake, I should have just kept my mouth shut."

"Says you, I get to fight another bunch of my predecessors so soon after the first round? That's awesome~!"

Sending Purifier a disgusted look as she seemed positively ecstatic at the prospect of uncontained mayhem the Aloadae shook his head, sending a mental burst of communication their ally's way that roughly translated to 'be ready'.

He wasn't sure if they would ultimately need to blow the hell out of anything but at least they could be ready.

"Whatever, just keep it in your pants until we're out of here. All I want is to see if there's Wisdom Cubes like reported and if any other useful bits of tech are present. After that we're just gonna slate this thing for destruction and call it a day, I'm not taking any further risks with weird gates or portals popping up under our noses."

"Ooh, can I set it to explode?! I'm really good at blowing things up~!"

"I hadn't noticed."

Fighting back the urge to snap at Purifier to just shut the hell up he motioned for the Tower and Bunker class drones to form up, creating a cordon around them while Zero softly murmured, "You humor Purifier far more than we do. Your patience is astounding."

"I heard that!"

Tuning out the arguing pair the Aloadae instead turned his attention to the interior of the base as they began to descend through a series of abandoned hallways and elevator shafts, the whole thing becoming progressively eerier as the burnt out husks of cars, offices and labs were discovered. And the whole thing got even more uncomfortable as one of the drones yanked open another door, a cavalcade of dust and ash spilling out of it.

"Christ. Poor bastards."

Inside was all the gathered remains of the base personnel, a motley mix of flaking and fragile bones from every part of the body that had clearly been pushed together more for convenience's sake than any kind of respect for the dead or basic hygiene.

"Well, that pretty much clinches it…the original Sirens were definitely here. Unless one of your crowd decided to swing by and murder a bunch of people for some reason?"

Zero shook her head, replying, "Our forces never went this far inland."

"Wonderful."

Now well and truly rattled Alexander forced himself to keep a level head, marching deeper into the base with his head on a constant swivel, remembering all too well how quickly things had spiraled out of control in the last underground labyrinth they'd found themselves in.

"Oh, wow. Well it looks like that coding the rest of our sisters made is working out just fine. Something in this base just tried to hijack our senses but got rebuffed. There's definitely something fishy going on down here."

"What, the rest of the evidence wasn't enough for you?"

Purifier gave him an arched eyebrow, asking, "Wasn't it enough for you?"

"The fuck do you-what are we, three years old?"

The Siren merely stuck her tongue out and he had to turn away lest he let his nerves get the better of him and start swinging. He was already keyed to the nines because of this and didn't need to start dealing with more shit.

[Master, forty meters ahead rests a disturbance highly similar to the signature a mirror sea will release when in use.]

Oh, look. More shit.

"Okay…what do we do about that?"

[I was under the impression you had a solution, master.]

Huffing out a breath of resignation he turned to Purifier and Zero, who had also stopped.

"Thoughts, opinions? Ones that aren't fucking annoying?"

The more carefree of the pair innocently whistled while Zero tilted her head, asking, "You need ask? If there is some manner of plan or plot our progenitors are forming within the confines of a mirror sea then we need to ascertain what, precisely, it is."

"I was afraid you were going to say that."

Rolling his neck and squaring his shoulders Alexander stated, "Alright, then get ready. We're going in and I think I'd just be fooling no one if I said there isn't going to be a fight."

"Oh I like it when you dirty talk~!"

"Purifier goes in first."

To the Aloadae's great displeasure the psychotic Siren seemed to consider that a reward rather than punishment - because of course she would - as her rigging followed close behind, the rest of the drones in close formation.

It was less than a minute of travel down a long and unadorned hallway before their target was located, a swirling mass of something that his eyes kept sliding over no matter how hard he tried to focus on it, wisps and curls of mist lazily drifting through the air.

"That's it, huh?"

"Yup! Don't fall behind now, this is where stuff gets good!"

Without further ado Purifier strode forward into the swirling mass of a mirror sea-

-and vanished in the blink of an eye, Alexander grimacing at the sight.

"Be at ease, we shall stand at your side."

"Wow. Real comforting."

Zero merely seemed amused by his dry response, the man taking a deep breath and striding forward-

-and blinking as one vista was seamlessly exchanged for another, a moment of panic seizing him as he sank into a wet morass of liquid before TB used her rigging to prop him up, some kind of levitation field immediately lifting him free of what he realized was nothing more dangerous than water.

"Okay, that was fucking weird."

[You will have to practice the art of levitating on water at some point, master. Relying on technological crutches is a dangerous prospect.]

"Oh, sure, let me just magic myself into doing so. How the hell do all of you and the shipgirls do it so easily?"

Purifier shrugged from where she lazily floated back and forth across the waves.

"Must be a girl thing, I don't know."

"Great."

Finally giving a closer look to their surroundings the Aloadae frowned, unsure of what the hell he was supposed to be seeing. Inky and reflective waters slowly wavering beneath his feet, pinwheeling stars and nebula overhead while two mountains laid before them, peaks rising from seemingly nothing into the sky.

"Okay, mirror sea. Cool. Where are we and what are we supposed to be doing here?"

"How should I know? We weren't exactly expecting anything like this and…hey, do you hear that?"

Purifier's words trailed off as Curtis did indeed hear something other than the gentle cresting of waves against his armored feet, gazing around with a furrowed brow as TB abruptly announced, [Incoming enemy signals, prepare for combat!]

"Enemy signals? I don't-"

The Aloadae's eyes widened as what he had thought were mountains instead turned out to be ships. Perfectly functional and dangerous ships if the way one of them smoothly swung guns with a barrel size not too dissimilar to Nagato's their way, the other releasing darting planes into the area in a continuous stream…aircraft that were of Siren make and every bit as advanced as the ones Essex and Enterprise now fielded.

"Oh shit."

"Scatter!"

Zero's terse shout was ultimately unneeded, the group already headed different directions as there was a bright flash from the battleship-

-and one of the Tower drones was turned to a fast expanding cloud of scrap as what Alexander realized was a fucking railgun let loose a salvo, the percussive blast of force hitting a moment later and almost sending him into the water if TB hadn't adjusted the rigging's position and kept him afloat.

"Oh for fuck's sake now what do we do?!"

[Recommend elimination of the enemy, master.]

"Thanks, TB. Great advice."

Instinctively maneuvering himself to the remaining Tower drone and taking shelter behind it Alexander mentally asked, "Okay, how the hell are we supposed to get closer to those ships? Because I don't fancy tanking one of those shots head on!"

"Just blow stuff up and get closer~!"

Seriously considering sending a shot Purifier's way the man's words died in his throat as the insane Siren opened up with her rigging's guns, solid blasts of freaking plasma intercepting a few of the fast-approaching aircraft and causing them to burst into flaming shrapnel, armor composites superheated in the blink of an eye.

…He decided to let her take the heat, Zero adding to the barrage while his drones also cut loose. The Tower he was hiding behind in particular seemed eager to join the battle as its main gun opened up with a roar.

Except the Aloadae spotted the battleship's turrets yet again swiveling his way and promptly decided to clear the hell out, the Tower vanishing in a similar spray of destruction that had claimed its counterpart as the man gazed skyward, dully spotting four fighters bearing down on him.

"Oh to hell with this."

With two of the tendrils still providing stabilization the rest raised themselves upwards, Alexander relying on TB to properly control them as he raised his own weapons, taking careful aim at the darting aircraft. While his old suit may have been more agile this one was the definition of power and defense, the single laser shot weapon replaced with a dual barrel one with a faster rate of fire while the other arm held an upgraded version of the single shot Akashi had given him. Plenty to keep his attackers honest.

Time seemed to slow as he felt a strange sense of dilation in senses, targeting lines and vector predictions playing out inside his helmet as a slow breath left his lungs…and he pulled the triggers.

Kinetic munitions and invisible flashes of energy lashed out, TB adding to the fusilade as three of the planes were destroyed practically simultaneously while the last narrowly avoided the barrage, cannons flashing as Alexander braced himself behind a wall of shields TB manifested from her rigging-

-and the Aloadae grimaced as a few rounds smashed through the shields anyway, ramming into his armor with a screech of distressed metals and composites that rocked him back on his heels and were definitely going to leave bruises come tomorrow.

Then again, considering how his old equipment would have handled that kind of blow he was considering himself lucky.

…Maybe not that lucky, as dozens of aircraft begin to fill the shifting skies as a swell of frustration rose within his chest.

"For fuck's sake, can't we catch a break?! Isn't the mirror sea supposed to be malleable or some shit?!"

[This area is under the prior control of our progenitors, we are currently locked out of manipulating it. I hypothesize that due to your unique nature you may be able to perform alterations but that is uncertain."

"Change things? TB, I was a fucking dockworker. How does that translate into mentally shifting reality?!"

[Technically you have already done so when attempting to save Émile, master.]

Snarling in agitation at the perfectly reasonable but ultimately worthless response he yet again took aim at another strafing run of fighters, this time burning down all of them before they could fire but that was a losing battle if ever he'd seen one. The last of his drones were being summarily picked off and while Zero and Purifier were kicking ass he didn't think they'd handle a railgun salvo to the face any better than he would. Not to mention ammo and power could rapidly become a concern if he was having to blast stuff out of the sky every few seconds.

Glaring towards the two distant ships the Aloadae couldn't help but mentally growl, "Fucking hell, what I wouldn't give for a bridge I could just freaking RUN on. Better yet, just give me a goddamn crane! I was really good at climbing up that ladder-"

An ungodly noise echoed throughout the landscape, something resembling screeching metal and howling air as a mess of girders, beams and who knows what else rose from the shifting waters beneath his feet, hoisting him up into the air as he absolutely did not yelp like a frightened toddler.

"What the fuck?!"

[Excellent work, master! It seems my hypothesis was true!]

Tb's genuinely happy remark was at odds with his rampant panic, the Aloadae frantically trying to come to grips with the fact that he'd just summoned a literal crane from out of nowhere with nothing more powerful than a strong desire.

…For some reason he found that way more distressing than reversing time.

"Okay, whatever, it's fine, got a way to reach those damn things now-"

CRACK!

A barrage from the battleship tore out the base of his imagined foothold, TB latching onto the more stable parts with her rigging before swinging them away from the collapsing structure, Alexander frantically wishing he'd imagined a second one.

Which naturally appeared as he landed heavily on the top of it, armor bending and distorting the metal beams but ultimately holding strong.

"...Holy shit, that worked."

Allowing himself an entire second to regain his bearings before getting back to business Alexander shouted, "Purifier, Zero! Keep the planes off of me, I'm getting in close to those damn things!"

A wordless whoop of excitement from the more brash Siren coincided with a fusilade of what he thought was some kind of superheated metal ball bearings - their personnel riggings were a damn sight more powerful than the more 'mundane' tech on their ships - that traced fire across the sky and wiped out almost six aircraft in half as many seconds, Zero more calmly replying, "Understood, we shall provide assistance."

Letting his eyes drift half closed and gathering his thoughts Alexander remembered everything he could about the machinery he'd used to operate, how it had worked and felt as he manipulated incredible power from a comparatively tiny booth-

-and let it manifest where it would, the mirror sea surging and breaking apart as a spiderweb of cranes and other heavy equipment formed an improvised road for him to maneuver through, servos hissing as he took off running across the tangled highway.

It wasn't a clean journey.

The battleship fired liberally at the steel jungle, removing entire swathes of footholds with a single round while more and more fighters joined the fray, constantly harassing and strafing him even as he fired wildly into the chaotic sky, Purifier and Zero unable to keep all of their attackers at bay. Thankfully, that's where the armor and TB came into play. The little AI was fast on the draw and when her rigging wasn't sniping aircraft it was manifesting shields or pulling him along in bursts of speed that always got them closer to their goal. And when that failed the hunk of battlesuit was shockingly durable, tanking HE and AP rounds with only minor surface damage to show for it.

…He was going to be bruised to shit though. As tough as his new body might be that was still a lot of kinetic force being thrown around and he could only handle so much.

But he was close. And once he was inside the ship's interior he could go about tearing it apart without having to worry about high-caliber shells turning him to mist.

A final leap and close shave with a magnetically accelerated round - which vibrated his insides something fierce - and he landed on the deck of the battleship with a ferocious clang, grin splitting his lips as he prepared to sprint towards one of the entrances to the decks below.

And of course life decided to throw him a curveball.

[Master, that's-]

"Wait…isn't that Amagi?!"

No more than a short sprint away from him was a shipgirl, definitely of Sakura origin if the way her nine fox tails lazily swayed behind her. And, naturally, the swift succession of realizations as he dumbly stared culminated in the shipgirl's rigging manifesting in a blaze of light and firing off a barrage of shells that TB only partially blocked, Alexander being flattened by the hit and feeling his arm painfully wrench as his head rang from the force of the blow.

"What…what the fuck? How's a shipgirl-"

[Master, contemplate later, fight now!]

Both the AI's request and the reality of the situation hit home, the brain-locking shock at finding another one of the shipgirls alive wearing off in the face of life or death.

Rolling to his feet Alexander turned to ask what the hell the Sakura was doing opening fire on him-

-and instead grimaced, the woman's expression completely and utterly blank, body language lacking any form of aggression or tension as light violet eyes stared into his own with all the expression of a corpse…all while a metal collar that was an exact replica of the one Le Malin had told him about hung from her neck.

"TB, you have that program for breaking Siren control ready?"

[Only an Alpha version, master. It has not been tested-]

"Great, we're about to give it a trial by fire!"

Surging ahead and narrowly avoiding yet another barrage Alexander put one foot down, carefully leaned forwards so as to properly balance himself and shot ahead with what he knew would be surprising speed, considering how heavy the suit looked. He was going to need that swiftness because out of the corner of his eye he saw the turrets on the battleship - and go figure he was only NOW realizing that it wasn't of Siren make but of Sakura, merely enhanced with modern weaponry - swing his way, seemingly happy with taking chunks out of the vessel as long as they got to him in the process.

He got to within two strides of the blank-faced shipgirl, resigned himself to suffering one more barrage as he got close and still felt his world rock as something in his abdomen cracked open like a sunflower seed, the man barely feeling it as he moved closer regardless and reached out with a gauntlet, whatever was controlling the woman's body only reacting at the very end as it tried to move her away-

"Now!"

-and instead TB took over the more delicate part of the operation, engulfing Amagi's face with his arm, applying just the right amount of force as the Aloadae distantly noted her eye hadn't so much as blinked or shifted from its neutral expression.

It still didn't change even as they slammed her skull into the metal deck hard enough to leave a dent, the shipgirl limply flopping as the vessel abruptly halted in its course and actions, as if control had been suddenly cut.

"Really fucking hope I never have to do that again."

Shivering with disgust at the move he'd had to pull Alexander nonetheless tried to keep it together, tucking the unconscious woman under his battered arm and making a mental note to have fifteen different medics go over her head to make sure everything was alright afterwards.

Instead he turned his attention to the carrier that also no doubt held a shipgirl that was under a hefty case of mind control and bit back a curse as its engines had engaged, slowly but surely pulling it away from his position as another wave of planes lined up for a strafing run, his ability to tank hits largely negated by the fact that he had to keep Amagi safe since she was comparatively squishy.

"Okay, time to be stupid."

[Master, I can see what you're planning and-]

Ignoring the AI's apprehensive comments he focused on willing into existence the basis of his plan, deciding to ignore the very real possibility that it was going to backfire in truly spectacular fashion.

The ear splitting scrape of metal on metal abruptly dominated the battlefield, coinciding with the battleship's deck underneath his feet lurching and swaying in highly unusual fashion.

A wild laugh left Alexander's lips as the cacophony got worse, degree after degree of mighty war vessel being overturned in an increasingly steep incline as manifested cranes pushed it upwards, now falling towards the retreating carrier as TB swung them around the collapsing battleship so that they wouldn't be sandwiched between two titanic forces.

Infinitely worse than the cranes pushing it was the impact between the two vessels, the battleship crushing the carrier's engines with a roar of stressed and breaking materials as he swung down on the listing carrier, rigging slowing his descent enough so that Amagi wasn't damaged any more than she already was as the man finally caught sight of the remaining shipgirl he was facing off against, eyes widening at her identity.

None other than Shinano herself, one of the famous but reclusive oracles that served the Sakura Empire, someone who was often in the company of Amagi as they were purported to be close friends.

"Well what the fuck happened that landed them in this mess?"

Tabling that thought for another time he ran towards the silver fox, her expression just as slack as Amagi's was with another crude collar on her delicate neck as he carefully shielded the darker haired Sakura from aircraft strafing runs, grimacing as rounds cracked and split against his suit.

[Master, she-]

He glanced up, finding that whatever Siren was controlling Shinano had evidently decided to go on the offensive, an oversized sword deftly held in one hand as her body charged forward, tails waving behind her like some kind of war banner.

"Hey, if they didn't get the memo I'll take it."

Rather than dodge or block he left the battered and exposed gap in his armor open and vulnerable, the Siren controlling Shinano going for the obvious weak spot as the man prepared himself for the blow-

-and decided that being stabbed through the side, across a rib and out the other side was a sensation somewhat similar to having your teeth drilled without anesthetic, sharpened steel grating against bone and causing a pained hiss to leak through his clenched jaw.

But that was fine, since he could now reach out with his free hand and grab onto the back of Shinano's collar, holding it tight within his grasp.

"TB, now!"

There was a surge of some otherworldly power that felt like he was experiencing vertigo, a rush of completely foreign information…and then everything was exactly the same, except not?

He was still standing atop of the Sakura's battered carrier, still wounded and clad in battered armor…but the constant battle and exchange of weapons fire from where Zero and Purifier had been located was absent along with the surging aircraft.

"TB? What the hell is-"

[We are communicating with the controlling intelligence that was directing Amagi and Shinano's actions, master. This space is merely a meeting grounds for your benefit, a translation that you will more easily interact with.]

"Right then. So who are we-"

[Species 826 anomaly detected, negotiation modules initiated. This unit requests a parlay with species 826 anomaly.]

Alexander spun around with weapons primed, body tense and ready for anything. Except all he found was a small, unobtrusive Siren drone that was similar to the bunker class in design sans any weapons, single golden optic staring at him with unknowable intent while Shinano and Amagi stood behind it, expressions and body language still blank and mechanical as the Aloadae narrowed his eyes.

"You're one of the original Sirens, aren't you."

[If designation 'Original Siren' refers to this unit and others that first encountered species 826 then affirmative, this unit is an original Siren.]

Alexander glared at the machine, silently asking, "TB, what the hell am I supposed to do here?"

[Unknown. This is the first case of direct, non-agressive contact between our factions.]

"Wonderful. And non-aggressive is up for debate."

"Alright then, original Siren, what's the deal with this negotiation or whatever?"

[Species 826 anomaly has displayed capacity to destroy and disrupt attempts to breach spacial distortion of species 826 homeworld. Repeated attempts have proven costly, potential courses of negotiation and mutual satisfaction have been initiated.]

Alexander glanced over the head of the machine, to where Shinano and Amagi were still motionless and unresponsive aside from the slow and measured rise of their chests.

"Alright…then what the hell were you doing with those two? Why the mirror sea down here?"

[Subject 10754 has the unique property of resonating and reacting with spatial anomalies that would otherwise be impossible to alter or isolate. This original Siren was attempting to leverage that ability.]

Having an extremely uncomfortable idea of what might have gone down the man slowly asked, "And what about the Vichya and Libre? The other ones you control?"

[This original Siren is under no obligation to answer species 826 anomaly's inquiry to other sites. An overture of peace and facet of information has been presented, will negotiations now commence?]

The Aloadae stared at the patiently waiting machine, mind awhirl with a thousand different thoughts and questions. Peace? A ceasefire? Hell, it didn't even have to be one of those options, just a simple exchange of information was worth its weight in gold.

"A shame this thing is such a fucking liar."

[Agreed, master. Destruction of this particular Siren is achievable, with our superior processing power.]

Instead of replying with words the man rammed the barrel of his gun through its optical sensor, glass and machinery crunching as it was shattered before he lifted it into the air, snarling, "You must think I'm a fucking idiot, don't you?"

[Acts of aggression are counterintuitive to-]

"You must have pulled this shit a lot, haven't you? Trick people just like your namesake with songs and offers of great things to come…but I know what happened in the future you piece of shit. No warning, no conversation, no mercy. Just you and the rest of your kind destroying humanity for reasons we never knew."

[Acts of aggression-]

"You gave your hand away when you didn't tell me anything else after I asked about Shinano, answers I could have gotten anyway if I destroyed you."

His finger rested on the gun's trigger, a derisive sneer on his features.

"Good riddance."

To be gifted - or cursed, depending on the circumstances and who was asked - with the talent of foresight was a burden Shinano had long accepted, rationalizing that if it wasn't her then it would be someone else. What had been difficult was attempting to parse meaning and worthwhile direction from the various and oftentimes overwhelming deluge of memories and scenarios from futures and pasts that weren't her own.

While an image of a destroyed, ravaged and burning Sakura Empire may be truly dangerous and concerning indeed what relevance did it have to her current reality, if the circumstances and players were different? Often she could only offer a best guess as to what the future may hold, a broad approximation of what was to transpire and leave it at that.

…Never before had she so fervently wished that she had taken a more risky and aggressive stance on her visions, acted as if though they were literal in every sense of the word. Then the death of her homeland and enslavement of both her dear friend and self might have been avoided.

Was she wrong, to have hesitated at sharing what she saw? Of yet another war and plot that brought threat to their empire? Of a feverish dream where a dragon was born of death and sacrifice, bruised and bloodied by beings from beyond time and space but standing firm as it sought to free them all of enslavement and eternal damnation beneath the heel of a nebulous foe?

It had been excessive and strange even by her standards. And not until that cruel, cold steel had clasped around her throat and forced her into a living hell had she truly realized the folly of her decisions. She could not even bear the burden by herself, forced to watch dear Amagi suffer right alongside her, consigned to hearing a dull, inexorable voice ask her the same question over and over again.

…

And then light. Hope.

Distant sounds of battle and conflict, flashes of energy and rumble of explosions that were but music to her ears after such a long and deadening period of nothing but lapping waves and cresting water.

The sense of violation as her body acted against her control, sending creations and machines not her own against an unknown foe, her cold and steadily beating heart nonetheless throbbing with the chance of help-

-and then she had seen it, riding atop of Amagi's upturned vessel, her old friend securely held in a damaged arm as tracer rounds and energy scatter flashed all around.

The Dragon.

Not wreathed in fire or wings but instead battered metal, simple instruments of war in place of teeth and claws…but the actions - the aura - were as she imagined it to be. Focused, vengeful, violent…powerful.

Had she been able to bow her head in thanks for a gift undeserved she would have, the unremarkable machine that had held her captive for so long destroyed in spectacular fashion as in the blink of an eye she was whole once again.

Limbs twitching and spasming as her brain tried to remember how to control them. Ears cramping as noise assailed her with uncontrollable force. Lungs and throat quivering and shuddering as they were no longer held to an unchanging tempo…she was alive.

"Hey, Shinano! Oh, wait, you're actually really important…uhh, Shinano-sama? Look, either way are you in there?!"

As she stared up into the concealed and dirtied helm of her savior all the mighty and wise oracle of the Sakura Empire could do was smile in pure, uncomplicated joy before her vision went dark, sleep she had so desperately craved for so long finally granted.

With not a single dream to be found.