The sun was rising over the Copper Coast, along with the rising of the sun came the sounds of the waves hitting the shore, which would have given anyone the perfect image of a relaxing seaside resort. However, amidst the supposed pleasantry of the location, a trail of death and destruction littered the once serene area. Remains of innocent civilians and seaborn littered the coast, a reminder of the horrific fighting that took place yesterday.
People searched amongst the bodies, looking for their loved ones, and hoped they weren't one of the victims of yesterday's attack. Some unfortunately found those who they loved among the dead, their weeping being the only other sound heard amongst the waves. Many others couldn't find those who they held dear, their fates being out into the ocean, where the seaborn had dragged them to their end.
Some operators of Rhodes Island were currently bringing whatever bodies they find away from the sea. They don't want the tide to drag them out. Those who weren't retrieving the dead were currently operating as security for the resort alongside the local police. They were not sure that the seaborn would return, but they didn't want to take that chance. Among the operators providing security were Yua and Ch'en.
Yesterday's events had been hard on the pair. Even though the seaborn were defeated, they failed to save everyone. Looking around at the destruction, mother and daughter realised how many people they failed to save from the seaborns initial attack. For Yua, this was a sight she had seen all too often. In the future, Rhodes Island had failed many times to protect innocent people. Either they arrived too late or there were too many seaborn to be able to fight against. The white-haired lung hated this sight. She hated the seaborn. She hated the amount of death these monsters delivered time and time again.
Yua was angry, angry at the seaborn, but also angry at herself. The white-haired lung wished that she could wipe the seaborn from the face of Terra, Yua was nearly willing to do anything at this point. As long as it got rid of the seaborn; that was all that mattered to the lung at this very moment. Next to Yua, Ch'en could see her daughter was angry, the older lung could see the shaking of Yua's arms.
Ch'en imagined that this was a common sight for her future daughter. The blue-haired lung wanted to take away her daughter's anger and pain. She wanted to tell her that everything would be okay. But Ch'en knew that would be a lie. A few words would not be able to change anything. Deciding that all she could do was calm Yua down, Ch'en put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Ch'en couldn't tell her everything would be okay, but she could at least let her know that she wasn't alone.
Feeling the gesture, Yua took some deep breaths to bring her emotions back under control. Once she felt more clear-headed, Yua looked at her mother and said, " Thank you, mother." Seeing her daughter more lucid and not blinded by her rage anymore Ch'en simply smiled, she was glad that her action had the desired effect, "I think I'm starting to get the hang of this whole parenting thing." The blue-haired lung happily thought. Just then, the moment between mother and daughter was interrupted by several Rhodes Island operators moving past them. Both lungs could see that they were carrying a stretcher, a stretcher that had a corpse on it, the corpse of a dead ursus child.
The wounds on the child were nothing short of barbaric. The seaborn had been absolutely merciless. Seeing the ursus child in this condition reminded Yua of one of the most horrific incidents she ever encountered in the future. The lung was getting flashbacks of that incident, she began to sweat and her skin went cold. Yua began to breathe very rapidly. She was struggling for breath. For the first time in a while, Yua was beginning to have a panic attack. Ch'en turned to her daughter and saw what was happening, Yua began to fall to the floor, but Ch'en managed to catch her in time.
Looking closer at her daughter, the blue-haired lung could see that Yua was struggling to breathe, "It's okay, Yua! I'm here! Calm down! Nothing is going to hurt you! You're safe!" she was trying to tell her. It wasn't having any effect. Yua was still breathing rapidly, and she looked to be losing consciousness. "I need help! Somebody! Anybody! Help!" Ch'en screamed at the top of her lungs. Yua was getting worse, and Ch'en was fearing for her daughters life. Yua couldn't hear what her mother was saying. The white-haired lung was still having trouble breathing, and her vision was getting more and more blurry. Through her blurry vision, the lung could notice another individual had arrived next to Ch'en but she couldn't make out who it was. Yua then passed out with Ch'en screaming at the person next to her for help...
Yua was sitting next to Ch'en in a Rhodes Island vehicle on their way to collect orphans from an ursus orphanage. Ch'en had explained that the children at this orphanage needed rescuing, the intelligence from the Ursus army had indicated that there had been seaborn activity in the area and these children needed evacuating as soon as possible. The children would then be handed over to the military for safeguarding, which is what Ch'en had briefed to Yua and the other operators with her. However, what Ch'en didn't tell them however is that they would be handed over to the military but not for protection. They would be conscripted as soldiers for the Ursus army.
Ch'en had deliberately left that part of the mission brief out, she knew that the rest of the operators including her daughter would be dead against it. Ch'en herself did find this idea absolutely abhorrent, the lung wanted to tell the generals who gave Rhodes Island this mission to go to hell. However, the Ursus army was currently doing the bulk of the fighting against the seaborn and they needed numbers and fast.
The original idea was to grab children from families and train them to fight but Ch'en, Amiya, and Kal'tsit protested this idea. The mission they were on now was the lesser of two evils, the Ursus government and Rhodes Island had built an effective partnership over these last few months in their combined efforts against the seaborn, as much as Ch'en began to truly despise the Ursus government the blue-haired lung knew that this relationship couldn't be ruined, if it was Rhodes Island would be left fighting the seaborn on their own.
Ch'en also couldn't call out the generals regarding this plan, Ch'en turned to Yua and saw the reason why. Yua herself practically became a child soldier at thirteen years old. Even though Ch'en didn't want her daughter to fight the situation was desperate, every able-bodied person was needed. It took a lot of convincing from others but the blue-haired lung eventually agreed to let Yua become an operator. If Ch'en did call out the generals she knew it would make her a massive hypocrite.
Ch'en didn't want children taken from their own families, so unfortunately, this was the next best idea. Speaking of Yua, for the past few months, the relationship between mother and daughter had soured a considerable amount. Ch'en did expect this with how much control she put on Yua's life, but it still hurt her regardless. The white-haired lung was forbidden from using her originium arts. She couldn't even practice them. Ch'en wasn't going to take the risk of Yua's originium arts potentially killing her.
Swire had spotted Yua a few weeks ago trying to practice them and immediately informed Ch'en. Upon finding out the blue-haired lung went absolutely ballistic at her daughter, by the end of her scolding Ch'en could see Yua shaking in fear. She didn't want to have to do that but it was the only way for Yua to understand that her arts were forbidden. Yua hadn't tried to use them since but she was defying her in other ways, especially when they were together in the field, "Please listen to my orders Yua, don't do anything reckless or stupid. Just follow my orders and we can get out of here." Ch'en thought to herself while looking at Yua.
The younger lung noticed her mother looking at her, she huffed and turned her head away from her. This reaction only caused Ch'en to sigh in disappointment, as unlikely as it was Ch'en did want their relationship to return to how it used to be. But it didn't look like it would happen for a long time, if ever.
Yua didn't want to look at her mother, over these last few months she began to resent Ch'en, or more precisely the restrictions Ch'en had put on her life. The lung couldn't do anything without her mother's approval or presence. Even when Ch'en wasn't there Yua constantly had eyes on her at all times, she couldn't do a single thing with her mother knowing about it.
Even for this mission Yua believed that she now had the ability to lead operators on her own, but Ch'en was with her once again, "Why are you here mother? Don't you trust me? Or you still think I'm not capable? You shouldn't be here, you should be back at Rhodes Island with Doctor Kal'tsit and Amiya coordinating everything, not on the front lines. I'm more than capable, mother." Yua thought bitterly. The white-haired lung truly believed her mother didn't trust her abilities. Yua however, didn't know the real reason Ch'en was always watching or having someone else watch her.
The vehicle came to a stop, and Ch'en ordered everyone outside. Once outside, everyone noticed that they were in a woodland. Once every operator had a quick look at their surroundings, they all looked towards Ch'en for direction. "Okay everybody listen up, through this woodland is the orphanage where we need to find those children There has been reports of seaborn activity in the area, so we have dropped the vehicle off here as too not alert them. I will lead us through this woodland. Any seaborn we are to encounter, we eliminate them immediately. But our mission here isn't to defeat all of them, fight the ones we have to, but finding the children and rescuing them is the priority. Once we have them, we make it back here. Any questions?" Ch'en asked the other operators. Seeing nobody was going to ask any Ch'en finished her brief by saying, "Okay, everyone, be careful, and follow my orders." Ch'en looked at Yua when she finished her statement.
Yua could tell that her mother directed that sentence towards her. This caused the white-haired lung to have a very annoyed look on her face, "Really mother? Was that necessary? Why are you still treating me like a child?" Yua pondered rather bitterly. The younger lung decided that she was going to show her mother that she was more than capable of fighting the enemy, any consequences she would deal with later.
Ch'en then began to lead her operators through the woodland. They were being careful and quiet so as not to alert any seaborn nearby. Ideally Ch'en didn't want to have to deal with the seaborn, but she instinctively knew that wasn't possible. The best that she could really hope for was to avoid the seaborn as best they could and only fight those who stopped herself and her team from achieving the objective.
Eventually after sometime carefully avoiding as many enemies as they could the team came to the edge of the woodland. They could see the orphanage, but also seaborn that had surrounded it. The blue-haired lung quietly ordered her team back in cover so she could think of a plan.
Yua, however, was having none of it. She was tired of her mother not trusting her fighting capability. Instead, she broke out of cover and charged at the seaborn. "Yua! What the hell are you doing?!" Ch'en shouted at her daughter when she saw her running towards the seaborn. Seeing that their presence was now compromised Ch'en ordered the other operators to head into the battle.
Yua found her first target on its own, and in one swift move, the white-haired lung decapitated it. Two more monstrosities ran at her, but using her speed, she avoided their charge. Yua stabbed one through the back and quickly removed her blade, she the waited for the other one to attack her. It did so with it claws outstretched, but the white-haired lung dodged the attack, and the enemies claws were embedded into the ground. Seeing her foe defenceless, Yua swung her sword and ended its life instantly.
Yua was feeling confident that she had defeated three seaborn, she felt ready to take on more. However, the lung didn't notice an enemy behind her. It slashed at Yua's back, and she was brought to the floor. The lungs overconfidence had caused Yua to let her guard down and get hit by the enemy. The seaborn was about to strike while Yua was down, but a shuriken ended up in the monsters chest, killing it.
Yua looked up and saw her bodyguard Shirayuki. She was about to thank her, but the ninjas eyes and body language told her that she was disappointed in what she just did, "You too Shirayuki? Do you not trust me anymore either? Does nobody believe I can look after myself?" the lung thought to herself while under her bodyguards gaze. This only got Yua more frustrated, she was tired of being treated like this, like a child. Despite the pain she was in Yua rose to her feet and picked up her weapon. The white-haired lung then charged at the nearest enemy she could find and headed back into the fight...
After the battle Ch'en looked around to assess the situation, "Okay, all the seaborn are defeated. Nobody has been killed, but Yua got herself hurt. Where is that daughter of mine?" Ch'en looked around to find Yua, she could see the younger lung heading towards the orphanage entrance. "Yua! Get back here! I want to talk with you now young lady!" the blue-haired lung shouted towards her daughter. Yua however ignored her mother, she could hear Ch'en's shouts behind her but didn't listen.
Yua was only interested in finding the ursus children. Yua got to the door of the orphanage and noticed it was slightly open, Ch'en was still shouting behind her, ordering her not to go inside. Yua still refused to listen, the lung opened the door and the sight she saw would end up haunting Yua for the rest of her life...
On the entrance floor lay the bodies of many ursus children, all of them brutally slain by the seaborn. The injuries were too horrific to describe, blood was painted all over the walls and the smell of iron was heavy in the air. Seeing and smelling everything, the white-haired lung ran outside and threw up, it was too much for her to handle. The lung didn't remember anything else, this had scarred her for life.
For months, Yua couldn't stop having nightmares. Every time she went to sleep, she remembered what she saw and smelt. The orphanage incident changed Yua. She truly understood that the seaborn needed to be stopped at all costs. No price was too big to pay, and the lung was more than willing to pay it...even if that price was her own life...