Even after Chief Freeman and the medical staff had taken D-Boy and D-Two back to the infirmary, Aki could still almost hear their agonized screams echoing in her ears. It was terrible, but after she'd managed to compose herself again, Aki followed the Chief back to the infirmary where D-Boy and D-Two had been taken back to rest again. Looking over the IVs and other medical support devices that had been attached to both twins, to help them recover from whatever else had happened to the pair of them, after this latest transformation that they had been forced to go through, Aki dragged over a chair so she could sit down on it.

Taking a deep breath, Aki began praying for their safety again.

Even as she did, Aki found herself remembering how the pair of them had come to Earth to begin with.

D-Boy and D-Two – or Takaya and Shinya, but the pair of them only used those names among themselves; D-Boy himself had said that to her – had fallen from the sky like a pair of shooting stars, after a battle with Tekkaman Dagger that had ended with the both of them being defeated, leaving the twins injured and unconscious at her and Noal's feet. She and Noal had quickly taken them back to the Arizona Headquarters, but she hadn't known what to make of them, back then.

She hadn't known just how precious the both of them would become, not just to her, but to all of the Space Knights.

As she headed back to her room, Aki sighed as she found herself wondering just when the twins would be able to wake up from whatever this "Blaster" transformation of theirs had done to them. The both of them were strong, she knew, after so much time watching them in battle against the Radam, but she also knew that they were both very mortal. It was times like this that only served to remind her of that fact.

Once she'd managed to make it back to her quarters in the OSDG's Alaska Headquarters, Aki made her way over to the comm. setup, bringing up the view from the monitoring cameras in the infirmary. She didn't honestly think either of the twins would have woken up so soon after their second transformation and their battle with Lance, but she still wanted to at least see the twins a last time, before she tried to get what sleep she could, in a situation like this.

The next morning, after Aki had gotten as much sleep as she could with the worry of what the twins were going through – and the memory of the Chief telling them that they might only live for six months after attaining Blaster Mode – Aki found herself wandering through the day in a bit of a haze. She couldn't stop thinking about what she was going to do, without the twins in her life.

Without D-Boy, who she'd fallen in love with, and D-Two, who'd become just as close as a younger brother to her.

Once she'd returned to her quarters again, Aki went over to the monitoring console so she could pull up the feed of the twins from the infirmary. The both of them seemed to be sleeping just as deeply as they had yesterday, and Aki couldn't help but find herself uncomfortably reminded of the times that D-Two had been knocked unconscious. When he'd cracked his skull against the inner hull of the Blue Earth, and especially after Spear had injured him so badly that he'd ended up sleeping for three days.

That, and the way the three of them had all met to begin with: D-Boy and D-Two had fallen out of the sky like shooting stars. Aki could remember thinking, back in those early days when she'd barely known anything more about the twins than how powerful they both were, that someone seemed to have heard all of her prayers for the people of Earth to be saved, and sent the twins down to be the heroes that everyone needed. Of course, that was before she learned that that had been basically what Kouzu Aiba had done.

Before she'd known the sad story of the Aiba family, and just what it had cost D-Boy and D-Two to become the heroes that they were.

Noal hadn't trusted either of them at first, and with D-Boy's standoffishness and D-Two's aggressive protectiveness, the three of them had clashed more often than not. Still, the four of them had eventually managed to come to see each other as true friends and comrades. But, even that hadn't come without a price.

Because, as the twins became closer to the Space Knights as comrades, they also revealed what had happened to them; what the Radam had done to them, to their family, and to the friends both of them had once had. Almost all of D-Boy and D-Two's family, and a few close friends that had managed to survive from the Argos, had been taken by the Radam and transformed into their loyal Tekkamen. Tekkaman Dagger had been the first to confront the twins, all those months ago.

Aki had managed to find a recording of the twins' confrontation with him on the Orbital Ring, matching his face in the Argos' crew manifest to a boy by the name of Fritz von Braun; she wondered, sometimes, what Fritz had been like as a human.

Still, the worst of them – the most powerful, the longest-lived, and the one who had inarguably done the most damage to the twins, the Space Knights, and the Earth as a whole – was D-Boy and D-Two's older brother: Tekkaman Spear. And the worst part of it was how gentle Spear could present himself as being, when he was out of his armor and could appear as just a normal person. He was soft-spoken, almost never raising his voice, and the soft smile he'd worn while confronting the twins was still haunting her darker nights.

Thoughts of the twins' older brother lead Aki almost naturally to thoughts of their younger brother: Tekkaman Wraith. Aki had first confronted the youngest of Radam's Tekkamen just outside a forest of Radam trees, when the Space Knights had been traveling in the Green Earth, but before they'd managed to reconnect with D-Boy and D-Two. She would have shot Tekkaman Wraith in the back of the head, if he hadn't been so quick to call out to Tekkaman Axe for help.

Sighing again, as she found her thoughts turning toward poor Miyuki and all the suffering that that poor young girl had gone through just to be able to see the twins again, and to bring them information on just where and who the leader of the Radam invasion was, Aki forced those thoughts back down and away again. What had happened to Miyuki, both before and after she'd escaped from the Radam, was just too cruel. Both to Miyuki herself, and to the twins, who'd clearly been hoping to have at least one other member of their family back with them.

As she thought back on what the AEM had done to them, how far D-Two had proven himself willing to go to protect his brother, and how far D-Boy had gone to protect him in turn, Aki found herself feeling restless again. It was clear, even then, that the pair of them would do almost anything to stay together. In fact, the only thing they wouldn't do was join up with the Radam. They'd both sworn that they would die together first.

Aki didn't know if she would have been strong enough to declare that kind of thing, herself, but she could fully understand the sentiment.

Making her way to the infirmary, Aki saw Levin settling into a chair just beside D-Two's bed, just as she made her own way into the room where the twins were staying. Smiling softly, as Levin looked up at her, Aki found herself thinking back on how passionate Levin and D-Two were about their relationship. It was certainly a contrast to D-Boy's shyness and reticence about anything having to do with romance.

Then again, D-Two just seemed to be a more passionate person than D-Boy overall. All except for their tempers, which seemed to go in just the opposite direction to their normal temperaments: D-Boy's anger burned hot, seeming to pass quickly. At least when he wasn't constantly being reminded of what had made him angry to begin with, the way he always was with the Radam and all of their Tekkamen. D-Two, on the other hand, could smile even at the people he hated, though Aki could still remember the way he'd kicked Balzac when they'd met for the second time.

And, to hear Noal tell it, D-Two had even punched the man in the face, before all of them had become comrades in the wake of the Arizona Headquarters' destruction.

Balzac had probably deserved it, though, since he'd been so horrible to both twins when he'd arrived, though D-Boy had seemed to be the main focus of both his attention and his cruelty. In light of that, Aki could understand why D-Two had hated the man so much, though she sometimes wondered at how he'd been able to let go of his hatred to work so well with Balzac, now that the man was one of their comrades. She didn't know if D-Two was really the kind to hold grudges, but she hadn't been happy to see Balzac when the Space Knights had met up with him again.

Leaving the infirmary for lunch, Aki found Levin asking her if she would bring back some food for the both of them when she came back. Promising Levin that she would, knowing that Levin wasn't likely to leave D-Two's side for anything less than a full-scale Radam attack, Aki found herself thinking back on what D-Boy had told her, back when he'd been imprisoned by the ADF.

Back when he and D-Two had been forced apart, after being attacked and arrested by Balzac.

D-Boy had told her, once Noal and D-Two had left to protect them from the Radam monsters attacking the ADF headquarters, all the things that he thought of himself; all the things he worried about. He'd said that he felt like D-Two was the stronger out of the pair of them, that the younger twin he'd sworn to protect didn't need someone so weak dragging him down, and would in fact be better off if D-Two had left him in the cell where he'd been imprisoned.

That moment, more than anything else, had prodded Aki as close as she had gotten to outright confessing the feelings she'd had for D-Boy for so long.

Still, that hadn't helped with D-Boy's shyness, or the worry he'd felt about being one of the only two people who had any kind of chance of fighting the Radam. D-Boy had been scared, not wanting to hurt anyone else the way he and D-Two had been hurt when the Radam had stolen the rest of their family from them. He hadn't wanted anyone else to feel the same pain that he and D-Two were going through.

Still, D-Boy had come around, and the pair of them had become steadily closer ever since that day, though Aki honestly doubted that D-Boy would ever be as demonstrative as D-Two; the both of them were just different when it came to romance.

Sighing as she made her way back to the infirmary again, carrying the tray of food she'd brought for Levin, Aki found her thoughts turning back to those few times when D-Boy and D-Two had genuinely smiled. Not the thin baring of teeth D-Two offered to anyone he hated, and not the empty, brittle way his lips would stretch in those early days when D-Two hadn't yet opened his heart enough to actually smile. Aki had wondered about that at first, but when she'd found out what had happened to the twins…

She could only wonder at the kind of strength D-Two had, to care about anyone, after losing nearly everyone.

Settling back down on her chair next to D-Boy's bed, Aki glanced up at Levin, smiling slightly as she saw the redhead holding D-Two's right hand against her cheek. Turning her own attention back to D-Boy again, Aki found herself reaching down, almost stroking his hair while he was sleeping. Still, while she knew that D-Boy probably wouldn't have minded it, Aki still found that she didn't quite feel right doing that kind of thing.

She knew that D-Two would have been perfectly comfortable with that, and Aki could see Levin leaning down to kiss D-Two while he was sleeping, but Aki still didn't feel right about it; D-Boy and D-Two were such different people, after all.

Once she'd had to leave the infirmary behind, Aki found that Chief Freeman had called in a doctor, and Aki found herself more relieved than she had been since she'd first heard the twins screaming in pain as the both of them fell to the ground. She could only hope that the doctor that the Chief had called would be able to help. She could only hope that he'd be able to make it to them, considering how determined all of the Radam were to kill both twins for escaping them.

Not to mention how long they both continued to resist those horrible aliens and defeat them, no matter what it was going to end up costing them in the end.

Once she'd made it back to her quarters for the night, after having dinner in the infirmary with the twins and Levin, Aki stopped for a long moment to pray for their safety. Not just for the twins, and not just for the Space Knights, but for everyone on Earth that was being threatened by the Radam and all of their monsters. Climbing back into bed again, Aki settled herself down as best she could.

She was still worried about the twins, but Aki knew that she wouldn't be much good to anyone if she didn't take care of herself, first.

The next morning, Aki had breakfast and made her way back to the infirmary so see how the twins were doing. As she looked down at their still-slumbering forms, Aki found her thoughts almost naturally returning to the moment when she, Levin, and the rest of the Space Knights had found out the full story about the Aiba family. Before that, she'd only known that Tekkaman Spear was the twins' older brother, Tekkaman Wraith was their younger brother, and Miyuki was their younger sister.

Finding out what had happened, finding out just why and especially how D-Boy and D-Two had become Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis… It was horrible, and even more horrible because both of them had known for so long that they were going to have to kill the rest of their family to stop the Radam, and neither of them had said a word about it. Aki had known the twins were strong since the day she and Noal had met them, and she'd realized that they were sad not long after that, but she hadn't known why.

However, after finding out about what had happened to the Aiba family, Aki realized that D-Boy and D-Two had all the reasons in the world for their sadness; and also, that they were stronger than she'd ever known.

Taking D-Boy's right hand, as she settled into the chair next to his bed, Aki found herself thinking back to the way Miyuki and D-Two had both been so quick to offer themselves as a sacrifice, just to delay Spear and his forces while the Arizona Headquarters had been evacuating. D-Two was the only one to come out of that confrontation alive, of course, since Miyuki had already been dying after she'd been rejected as an incomplete Tekkaman by the Radam.

Sometimes, Aki wondered if D-Two wished he could have said more to Miyuki before she died, or if there had been nothing left unsaid between them at the end; she wouldn't ask, of course, since that would be a painful subject and Aki would never be so cruel to someone she cared about.

After the Arizona Headquarters had been destroyed, she and the rest of the Space Knights had spent five months searching for the twins. Aki had felt in her heart that the pair of them were alive, and while she was still glad to have been right, Aki couldn't help wishing that none of the other things troubling the twins had happened. Because, even if Tekkaman Spear hadn't recovered from the destruction caused by Miyuki's sacrifice, Tekkaman Lance had almost done more damage to the twins with his attack on the Alaska Headquarters than D-Boy and D-Two's insane older brother.

Him, Tekkaman Axe, and Tekkaman Wraith had all pushed the twins in their own ways, forcing the both of them to undergo the transformation into Blaster Mode; the same transformation that had left the both of them unconscious in the infirmary for so long.

Of course, with Tekkaman Axe and Tekkaman Lance dead, there were at least two fewer Radam Tekkamen that the twins would have to kill once they woke up. Still, Tekkaman Spear might still be alive, and Tekkaman Wraith hadn't been caught inside the net of Radam vines and trees that Tekkaman Axe had used to snare Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis before he died. And, while Tekkaman Wraith might have been just a little boy under his armor, Tekkaman Spear was older, stronger, more determined, and far more dangerous than any enemy the Space Knights had faced before.

Aki kept wondering what she could even do, to help the twins… And, how she could even say goodbye, when their last six months had ended. Yes, she'd love them both – D-Boy as her lover, and D-Two as a little brother – but beyond that, Aki didn't know what she would do. After their six months had ended, after the twins had breathed their last breaths and she was left with only a pair of urns and a vase of red spider lilies to remember them by, Aki didn't know what she would do with herself.

Aki supposed that, in the end, the twins were like a pair of shooting stars: they burned brightly, but faded nearly as quickly as they appeared. I'll love you until the very end, my shooting-star heroes, Aki promised them both, looking up into the night sky. There was an aurora out tonight, just like there had been that night when she and Levin had sat with D-Boy and D-Two; the night the pair of them had decided to gamble their lives on becoming Blaster Tekkamen.

Aki could only pray that the twins would wake up soon, so that was what she did.