Floating on the waves

[ASG: Cyanotype]

Joule opened her eyes slowly. The room around her was in disarray. She was still on stage but lots of things had fallen.

"Gunvolt?"

Her voice was quiet as she looked around for the person in question. She called his name again a little louder but it was only after a third call that she saw the person in question walk slowly over to her.

He emerged from backstage and made his way over to her.

"Joule, are you okay?"

"I'm exhausted." She admitted "Anyway, what about everyone else?"

He looked around quickly before nodding behind her.

"Arisa looks fine but it looks like she's still out cold. Your other friends were backstage when I woke up." GV explained "I'm not sure where Touma's group is though."

Joule rested her head back against the floor for a moment before continuing, her voice muffled slightly due to her head leaning against the floor.

"We did it? We're down safely?"

"As far as I can tell?" GV nodded "Yes, you and Arisa did it."

Gunvolt spent the next few minutes were spent checking on everyone.

He left Joule on the ground as she slipped back into sleep. He had paused to take of his jacket so she could use it as a pillow.

Backstage, her friends were starting to come around with the exception of the teleporter who was still drugged. Railgun was the first to wake up properly due to... zapping herself? That must have been painful, reflected GV.

She helped him check on everyone else before promising to keep an eye on Joule and Arisa as he looked around for others.

Touma's team was with Index near the top of the station. It was the room where the core of Ladylee's spell had apparently once been. Index had taken control of the system to allow the two singers to create the strongest miracle they could.

Kanzaki was the first of them he woke up so she could help him move the others. Though it turns out she was only strong enough to carry Index. Apparently Touma was just too heavy for her.

GV was fairly sure that was a lie due to her blushing but he accepted it and hauled the boy that was a few years older than him along.

Of course, his head hitting against the ground ended up waking him up and when it did, GV put him down so he could walk.

They made their way back to the backstage area were everyone else had been awoken by now.

Joule walked over to the man who had fallen off the seating area and shook him slightly. He groaned and Joule asked politely "Sir, may I ask what your name is."

He gave one and Joule wrote it down on a pad of paper she had with her. She waved over Uiharu who had the medical bag so she could check he was okay. While Uiharu checked him, Joule herself moved on to the next person in a precarious position.

The seating area was not designed as a safe place to stay during reentry but everyone seemed fine so far.

Once they had been checked, it was time to check who was left. They found security guards who were out cold but most of them hadn't done anything wrong so they just locked them in a supply closet.

When they got back to Ladylee's command room. The found her lying on her back and looking towards them. She didn't say anything as they approached. She just seemed to be shocked.

Joule used what little medical training she knew to check up on the possible immortal. She looked perfectly healthy, not a wound on her.

GV looked down at her and asked "Anything to say?"

The woman didn't respond.

They left her there, moving on to the console.

"They probably have already sent out rescue ships." GV noted as he navigated the faulty system. He swore as it blue screened and waited for it to reboot.

Joule nodded "We should still make them aware we're fine though."

GV nodded and as the computer booted again he flicked through the menus until it got to the SOS.

He tapped a few more keys and nodded "Radio message sent. I would send more but-" He was cut off when the system crashed again, GV just shook his head as it rebooted "I would send more but it actually doesn't have that much. Radio, a cable designed to go down the elevator and a laser communicator definitely not meant to be used in atmosphere."

Joule nodded as she listened to him talk. This time he was using the system to check for any problems they might need to deal with before the rescue ship arrived.

"Airtight doors sealed. No risk of flooding." He reported with a nod.

He tilted his head slightly to look at the woman on the floor again before shaking his head "Come on Joule. Let's get back to the others."

The ships arrived just after midnight. Joule was sleeping, her head against the headrest of her chair on the rescue ship.

Each ship could hold about two hundred people but seeing as the performance held something like five thousand guests it was still taking quite a few trips.

They had all made it into the same section of the ship and when the other passengers realised Arisa was with them, they quickly allowed them all to take a small room just for them.

Misaka watched her. She could see the butterfly form of the... woman called Lumen. She didn't really know what to think about her but Joule apparently knew her and trusted her. That was enough for Misaka.

It seemed that they'd hear about Joule's past come the morning. Misaka didn't really know what to think about that. Joule had been keeping it secret, probably because she didn't want to talk about it. She had given hints in the past that she might have been created artificially but Misaka didn't know how literal she had been at the time.

Her eyes moved over to GV who looked tired but was still awake like she was. Was he like that too? Was that how they knew each other?

She shook her head, she'd get her answers soon. She didn't need to worry.

Tomorrow though, tomorrow she'd get answers and she'd support Joule. Regardless of anything else.

End of chapter.

Only one more movie related chapter left.