Ghosts Always Come Back

Chapter 5: Bang

The rain seemed to plague Sousuke no matter where he went. It was like the sky was crying for him even after he had long forgotten how to shed tears when he felt pain. All he could hear now was the pattering of these tiny droplets against the metal of his ARM Slave unit. The Arbalest refused to move despite the fact that Gauron was looming over him with the intent of making this the final draw. Certainly he didn’t expect this turn of events. Had he broken his own toy so badly that it refused to fight? Refused to move? It was a tactical error that he hadn’t calculated several months ago when he raped the girl senseless.

“Kashim. Get up,” his order resonated inside the cockpit of his opponent’s mech. But seconds ticked away like minutes, and the rain just kept coming down. Sousuke had completely failed Kaname. At this point, there was no further reason to continue fighting. Gauron only kept her alive to get to him. The game was over long ago in that basement room where he tortured her physically and mentally in every way imaginable. How could he face her anymore? The Arbalest remained down and motionless, unable to resist the foot of the Codarl. The Lambda Driver refused to operate under Sousuke’s command anyway, which was a vital role to being able to defend himself from Gauron’s onslaught let alone plan an effective offensive against the man.

“Get up!” he growled angrily, the foot crushing down on the unnerved heap of metal that was shutting down bit by bit in conjunction to the pilot’s own mental breakdown. This wasn’t fun at all. In fact, it was too damn easy. Perhaps he should have gone this route in the first place a long time ago. “I never knew you cared so much, Kashim.” The tone had now adjusted itself from anger to smug satisfaction, “Useless. You’re useless now. Allow me to conclude this disappointing finale with you then.” The Codarl repositioned its right hand several feet away from the base of the Arbalests cockpit. In typical fashion, the robotic hand gestured into that of a fake gun like when kids play cops and robbers. The sensation of the Lambda Driver coursed through the man’s veins as he prepared himself for the final blow. Giddiness could not best describe what he was feeling at this point. It was more like a mixture of elation and extreme disappointment wrapped up into the culmination that would strike from his pointer finger. “Goodbye…Kashim.”

Sousuke could feel a massive amount of pressure be pushed on him as the Codarl gathered the kinetic energy needed to pierce through the Arm Slave’s armor. A few seconds and a flash of light followed by the sounds of a massive explosion rocked the surrounding area. Pulses of shock waves decimated nearby flora as dust and debris clouded the skies in the process. On the Danaan, Tessa and her crew stood by on bated breath with their sensors at maximum sweep to see the strike slowly clear away. “…Sousuke.” Tears welled up in her eyes as it appeared that nothing was able to stop Gauron from doing the killer blow to their most valued officer. Emotions swelled up inside of her, and pretty soon the tears wouldn’t stop running down her cheeks.

“Captain” Mardukas tried to put a hand on her shoulder for comfort but she swatted it away violently, “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let him go in there!” She shouted these words as she bit back the urge to break down and cry right in front of her crew. “What have I done by putting him out on the field and sending a civilian to go save him?” It wasn’t possible. The mathematics of the operation had a higher success rate by taking this route. Where did she go wrong?
Suddenly the chirping noises of confirmed targets lit up the panels. One of the crewmen called out to Tessa to wake her up from her depression, “Captain! We have confirmed the units on the field. The Arbalest is still active and completely functional! The Danaan is picking up a third prototype Arm Slave unit.” It was even more shocking to the crewman to see that the ship was capable of identifying it when they hadn’t the foggiest idea what it was, “Somehow the prototype is classified as the Toy Box 3036 – Keris prototype unit.”

“No way! It’s one of ours!?” shouted another crewman on the deck. The secret was now out about the newest little addition to the Mithril mech family. “Captain Testarossa, is she ours?!”

“She made it!” was all the blond girl could say in reaction as she watched on the screen. The sleek build of the Keris had managed to slink in at the last second, and now it forced the Codarl into a standstill as it had a firm grapple on the mech finger that had fired the shot. The Arbalest was still lying on the ground, unscathed from the blast, but still dealing with the psychological stress from within.

“Hmpf! What’s this?” Gauron quirked with a sing-song tone in his voice. He attempted to yank away from the new machine that stood before him on the field, but the thing had a vice grip and wouldn’t release him. All status reports on the unknown object before him was turning up with no information. As the computer reported this warning, he merely grinned at the negative status report, “You’re one of Mithril’s new puppets, aren’t you? How interesting. How did that clever little captain sneak you past me?”

“Give up,” spoke the soft digitalized voice from within the Keris, “You chances of success are now zero point zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, eight nine percent. Failure to surrender will cause in your immediate destruction.”

“Immediate…destruction?” he mused while the Arm Slave unit responded back with an ‘affirmative’ to confirm his question. “Who’s piloting you?”

“That information is classified. As stated before: Please disarm the Codarl and commence your surrender.”

This machine was amusing! It was fully automatic and had such a cheeky attitude to go with its new technology. This had to be the last piece of the Black Technology that was laden within the depths of those Whispered wonder girls. The fact that absolutely no data could be pulled from it was a clear enough sign that this unit could surpass even the Lambda Driver capabilities. Was that possible? Making all of these assumptions was quickly driving his need to find out. Jerking his capture hand back, his left arm swung and clamped down on the Keris’ head, “…Gotcha.”

Again another blast echoed throughout the now decimated plains. More debris launched in all directions as Gauron tested the limits of his abilities to test this new fangled beast out. When the dust finally settled, the Keris had been blown backwards onto the Arbalest and now laid prone but without a single scratch to its name. Either the thing was not as advanced as he originally assumed, or there was actually a real pilot inside and they had lost their ability to gain control over the point-blank attack. By now the second jolt from Gauron’s Lambda Driver rocked Sousuke out of his funk as he realized there was another Arm Slave unit right on top of him. The Arbalest filed a status report that the unit was friendly and labeled as the Toy Box 3036 – Keris. Other than that, the databases were at a loss with any further information. Within seconds, another blast pushed him farther into the ground as Gauron proceeded to continue with full on energy strikes. Eventually the Codarl gave the new toy a swift kick to push the Keris off in order to obtain easier access to the coveted treasure underneath. But somehow the thing refused to budge, taking blow after blow but remaining solid against the onslaught, completely intent on protecting the Arbalest unit.

“Kashim,” more kicks ensued as he shouted over the intercom, “What’s this cute little shield you’ve got covering for you? It makes a great wall, but doesn’t fight back. It’s completely useless, just like you.”

A buzz from the intercom chimed in and Sousuke could hear a familiar voice shouting at him, “Sergeant Sagara!”

“…Mao?”

“That’s Major Mao to you, dumbass! What the fuck is going on with you! You’ve got back-up to cover your ass! Why don’t you fight back?!”

“He won’t die.”

“What?!”

“I said he won’t die!” Sousuke screamed back, “What good is my protection when it doesn’t work!? I’ve failed this mission, Major.”

“Don’t you spout that emo shit to me, Sousuke! This isn’t like you at all. Snap the fuck out of it or so help me god I’m gonna break you into six pieces when we drag your sorry carcass back on this boat. Do you have any idea who’s protecting you in that thing right now?”

The only logistical choice, since it wasn’t the Major would be, “Kurz?”

“NO, DUMBASS! GUESS AGA-!” the transmission was soon cut out into complete silence. The Danaan had been cut off from any further communication measures. Slamming her fist against the panel, Melissa swore in a manner that would make a truck driver blush, “What the hell just happened!” At this time she was already located in the bridge area and hovering over a communications panel. Tessa turned to her, “Keris, probably.”

“Captain, what is that thing?”

“It’ll be all right,” was all Tessa could say back to her major, “Have faith in her.”

“Did Keris cut the connection?”

There was no response to this. Tessa knew a great deal about the new Arm Slave’s capabilities, but if she delineated further to the other officers, she didn’t know if she would be able to handle the upcoming repercussions of using it. In the end it was Kaname’s decision to pilot it, and even though she knew of the dangers of losing one’s self within that monstrosity of a machine, it was a sacrifice that girl was willing to make. The recklessness of these decisions would most certainly haunt her, but for the sake of this whole operation, Keris had to help Sousuke.

After trying multiple times to reconnect the system, Sousuke finally decided it was moot to continue. He had to get up and fight again, but finding the inner strength was just too hard. The poor pilot in the Keris was probably wondering why they had to sit there and become a shield for someone as non-functioning as him. “This is the ARX-7 Arbalest hailing the Toy Box 3036 Keris. Please get out of the way you’ll only get damaged during this fight.” The jolting of kicks and punches continued from the Codarl as Gauron played endlessly with his new punching bag. The mech nudged and budged but wouldn’t remove itself entirely away from its given spot. Again Sousuke voiced the command but there didn’t seem to be much of a response. Was there even a pilot in this thing at all? Could they have been struck unconscious during the blasts? What exactly was going on with it?

Inside the Keris, all Kaname could see was numbers breezing past her and flashes of red inside her mind. The internal chambers of the Arm Slave unit weren’t constructed the same way as all of the others, and she was fighting this battle with her mind more than ever. “No! Stop it! Let me go!”

“You cannot fight me, Kaname,” the digital voice replied back to her, “You need me.”

Was this the voice of the Black Technology? Was her subconscious domain giving a personality to this mechanical thing? Because she was fighting so hard, the operations of the Keris were going silent only allowing the ability to defend against the outside world the best way it knew how. But this wasn’t like syncing up with the Danaan. The Danaan felt like an entity that was nurturing and calm. It was foreign and had Tessa’s personal signature written all over it. The captain had spent a great portion of her life with that ship; and her personality was trademarked right into it. Perhaps that’s why Kaname wasn’t scared when she dove in and took control of it. This entity was strange and lacked Tessa’s personal signature on it even though she was the one that was doing the initial testing with it. She even warned Kaname that the Keris was something entirely on its own, and had the ability to delve into things that even she couldn’t entirely comprehend. For some reason it appeared that Keris was anticipating her entry.

“Kaname, let go of your hostility.”

“You won’t take me! I have to save Sousuke! I can’t help him if you-“

“Sousuke will die if you don’t let me help you.”

As Kaname paused and went silent, the sensation of cold, clammy hands grabbed her ankles and yanked her further into the depths of her sub consciousness. The atmosphere around her turned gloomy and an image of her within the mind’s eye touched the dark wet waters. There she stood on a sea of nothingness with only herself and no one else. Her eyes skimmed the fake floor and looking past the glimmer of the wet surface, she could see chains of numbers and equations, systems and theories, answers and blueprints. This floor was the domain of the Black Technology she held within her. Every print, every letter and number that she saw flash along the floor was familiar to her.

“You finally relinquished yourself to the inevitable.”

Kaname turned sharply around to see the figure of a young boy stand before her. His features were lean and sharp, and he gave off an aura of smug intellect. “Who are-“

“I am Keris.”

“You are that…machine?”

“I am Gauron. I am Mithril. I am Kaname.”

Was this kid joking with her now? “I don’t understand.”

“What I am is not relevant to your problem at hand,” he finally stated, “What matters is what happens here and now before you.”

“What is this place? Have I finally crossed into this world of Black Technology?”

“You have, and here you shall stay as you finally become aware of yourself.”

“I don’t have time for riddles, Sousuke refuses to fight. He needs to fight to protect himself from Gauron. I wanted to help.”

“You can only help him by staying here,” the boy replied before pausing, “…and by killing me.”

At this point Kaname thought maybe she had gone into a coma and was simply dreaming all of this nonsense up. It was incredulous to think this was actually the realm of Black Technology! What kind of sci-fi fantasy crap was this story becoming?! “Y-you’re kidding me, right?” That question only elicited a cruel smirk from his lips. “I’m afraid not.”

“Okay…” her head bobbed up and down in a hap-hazard nod as she took another look at her surroundings. The place seemed like a vortex of nothingness. Everywhere her eyes rested was simply the floor of watery numbers that outstretched beyond her vision’s comprehension. This is the place she was damned to stay in forever just to help Sousuke? This couldn’t be.

“It’s very real, Kaname,” he finally interjected in between her thoughts, “Now is the time to show you.” His body phased into the black darkness and soon her surroundings lightened up as she found herself in the middle of a field, laying down on the flat of her back and looking up at the star ridden sky. Just above her, hovering like an angel of death was Gauron. Eyes widening, seeing his face again caused all forms of panic in her mind. It was at this moment that she realized she was still nude and practically presenting herself to him in the worst fashion she could imagine. Gauron brought his foot up to poise for another kick, causing her heart to race even faster as she tried to find some form of escape. As Kaname took a look at the tree next to her, it seemed awfully small. In fact, the ground, nearby mountains, everything around her seemed like it was smaller than it should have been. Or was she a giant in comparison to everything else?

She realized where she was just as his foot came down on her chest and attempted to kick her to the floor again. Surprisingly the kick didn’t hurt in the way it should have. Her chest felt a little heavy, maybe even slightly uncomfortable perhaps, but nothing like the pain she was supposed to feel when a giant man came down with his foot. “What…is this?” she winced as she braced for another attack. The look in his eyes was dead, as though he weren’t looking at her as a person, but an inanimate object of some sort. Bringing her hands down to find a way to roll over, her hands suddenly met the flesh of another human being. When her face turned to glance down it felt like all time had stopped, “Sousuke!” That prime second of realization cost her a kick to the ribs, and she felt over face first on top of his body. Face flushing bright pink, her nose practically nestled itself onto his abdomen as he, too, was in the nude. This had become beyond bizarre as one more kick to the back smashed her body against him.

“What’s the matter?” the boy’s voice echoed in her mind, “You want to help him. So help him.”

“Why can’t I see the Arbalest and the Codarl?” Kaname demanded through another kick, “Why are they like this?”

Eventually the abuse subsided and Gauron spoke, “Kashim, this is getting boring. Either do something or I’m taking us all out in one blow. Stop hiding behind this hunk of scrap metal.”

“Asshole!” Kaname cursed back to him, but the boy’s voice spoke again in her mind, “He won’t hear you, you’re not connected to the same frequency as him.”

“I wasn’t exactly hoping he would hear me say that,” she muttered back following the sensation of something grip down on her head and yank her up to her feet. Her body was launched into the air as Gauron flung her to the side like a piece of rubble that was becoming a nuisance to him. When she crashed to the ground the whole dispersing of weight felt weird to her. “You are not Kaname anymore. You are Keris. That is Codarl. That is the Arbalest.” Seeing Gauron suddenly advance on the MITHRIL soldier caused another wave of panic in her mind. Sousuke was still laying there prone to any attacks. She couldn’t understand why he refused to move, refused to fight. “Why, Sousuke?”

The boy showed up next to her as a little speck of white light on the ground, “Gauron’s careless. He broke his toy and now he’s angry that it won’t work. How childish.” A few seconds ticked by before Kaname got back to her feet, utilizing any method she could to gain control of the abnormal fluctuations of weight. When she was ready, she jolted forward and wrapped her arms around Gauron’s neck to stop him from getting any closer to the vulnerable guy. The vision of light smirking once again as it now spoke in a female robotic voice, “Cease and desist your actions, otherwise you will be taken down as directed. This is your final warning.”

The toy was now gripping him from behind trying to stop him from moving forward. “This thing is certainly persistent,” he chuckled before replying, “I don’t plan on stopping. So why don’t you keep that promise and try to kill me. Otherwise Kashim is mine.” The driver activated and shoved her off of him, breaking the grip Keris had to impede on Gauron’s attacks. It didn’t knock her off of her feet this time around, but she skidded back with the metal grooving large indentations within the mud.

“Digusting,” the boy’s voice continued to manipulate the projector, and pretty soon Kaname could feel her lips move in conjunction to his as the kid spoke, “You’ve already broken your toy. Now you have to try and break me.” She was the one fighting and yet he felt inclined to smack talk the terrorist! What was this kid trying to accomplish?

“Oh? It’s no fun dying with a soulless robot. Why not go back to your master instead. You have no idea how to fight.”

“I’m not a soulless robot you piece of shit,” she finally gleaned control of herself as she felt another part of her mind sink further into the depths. In exchange, a warm calming sensation coursed through her perceived body as she felt more confident in her actions than before. By now, Gauron turned leaving his desired prey on the ground as he noticed something inherently different this time around. Adrenaline tingled his senses and heightened his delight, “Now what do we have her-“ The sentence was never finished as an elbow jammed into his face, causing him to slowly tip backwards and eventually succumb to gravity’s cruel fate on the ground. Dust and debris fluttered up around them while the sensors watched from a distance to transmit the fight to their audience. At the very least they managed to get the visuals working again, but communication on the Danaan was totally silent.

“Holy shit!” Kurz exclaimed as he exchanged confused expressions with Melissa then back to Tessa, “I didn’t even see it move! Was that the Lambda Driver?!”

Something didn’t feel right at all. Did she pass that last barrier? Tessa’s fingers were practically tearing at the hair near the end of her ponytail as she never looked back at her other subordinates. Melissa took that to not being a good sign, “Kurz,” she then stated, “Suit up.”

Tessa snapped out of it and turned to the other woman, “Major!”

“Someone’s gotta clean up the mess,” she replied back to her captain, “If there’s anything left to salvage after this.”

Melissa’s words practically stabbed her in the heart as they had a brief stare down before she visibly relented. “Don’t engage the enemy.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Melissa had no choice but to comply, but she’d individually assess the situation once she was finally out there on the battlefield, “Come on, Sergeant Weber.”

“Whoa! Wait a min-…Oi!” his boss never stopped to wait up for him, instead he had to scramble to understand what Melissa planned on doing next. “If you wanted in on the action, you could have just said so.”

“You ready to go?”

There was no point in discussing this issue further, “When am I not?”

As the two suited up by the Danaan, Kaname kept a foot soundly on Gauron to pin him to the ground. The man simply smirked as he bided his time with the Keris, “Who are you, really?” Ignoring him completely, she kept her attention on Gauron as long as she could while trying to reach her militant bodyguard.

“Sousuke,” the female robotic voice crackled over his intercom, “Sousuke. Do you read me? Answer me.” Still a bit confused as to what was going on, and feeling the weight of his own failure, his answer was a bit sluggish at the best. “Yes, I read you. Please identi-“ Another shockwave rocked the area as Gauron set off his driver to attack the Keris again. Kaname found herself flung back onto Sousuke’s Arbalest as a wave of dizziness jolted her senses. “Sousuke, can’t you tell who this is at all? Who else do you think this could be?”

“Tessa?”

A robotic hand wailed on the Arbalest as Kaname tried her best to ignore the fact that he appeared naked to her under Keris’ operating system, “No you military freak! Guess again!” He didn’t feel one bit of the slap that was caused to his ARM Slave unit, but he could recognize the signature hit from a mile away. “Kaname!” He wasn’t the only one that recognized the slap, and pretty soon the sound of Gauron’s chuckling could be heard again over the intercoms. “Oh? That’s who it is? Kashim’s toy is trying to be a soldier? Girls are now fighting your battles for you?”

Before Kaname could react further, she felt herself be tugged away as the Arbalest commenced returning to its feet and pulling the Keris behind him. No words could express his anger at this moment. From Kaname’s point of view, however, this was not turning out like she had planned. “This isn’t working,” she said out loud, and soon the vision of both Gauron and Sousuke had vanished, returning to the vortex of numbers once again, and finding herself helpless before the disappointed boy who had shown back up again. “You broke your link with me. Your indecision is beginning to get tiring.”

During this time, the Keris shut down again and fell backwards into a lifeless hunk of metal. Sousuke shouted for her, but now he had to pay attention to what was in front of him.

“What can I do?” Kaname said, “I don’t want to be here forever, but I can’t just leave him like this.”

“I’ve already given you your instructions,” he sighed, “Kill me.”

“I’m not going to kill you, so get that out of your head!”

“Then you will not win. Instead I’ll let you watch them both die. I guess it’ll be more entertaining that way,” he shrugged without any feelings of remorse on the matter. With a quick gesture, a visual screen popped up with the two Slave units dueling things out. Sousuke obviously still on the losing sides of things since he could still not get the Lambda Driver working. The frustration and mixed feelings were beginning to take their toll on Kaname, who could only glare at the kid with utter contempt as he appeared un-phased by the whole scenario. “Oh dear, are you upset? Can’t blame you really, but you did bring this upon yourself you know. Did Tessa not warn you what I was capable of? Why did you decide to enter my chambers without being prepared to handle the consequences of it?” As he finished, a palm reached out and struck him across the face. For a moment he stopped speaking as he reached up to feel where she had hit him. By now she towered over him, “I didn’t strike a bargain to kill you so I could save him.”

“But I’m just a robot, aren’t I?” the sarcasm in his voice tried to make it appear like he was two steps ahead of her, “A visual image in the form of something that you can recognize.”

“Why won’t you tell me your name? If you are in fact Keris, why won’t you just tell me outright?”

“I’m Keris.”

“You lie.”

It seemed that she had him now and the shift back onto the battlefield took place as she now could see Gauron and Sousuke, yet again, from the Keris’ perspective. This whole back and forth scenario was getting old on her. This time the boy stood in front of her as she picked herself up from the ground from when the ARM Slave went dead a few moments ago. “Killing you…will sever Gauron’s link to his Codarl, won’t it?”

“You won’t know until you try,” the boy replied with a wry smirk. His lithe fingers took Kaname’s hand and placed it gingerly against his chest, “Here. Tear it out from here. You’ll know what to do with it once you have it.”

This felt a bit bizarre to her, but this was no longer the time to hesitate. As she saw Gauron and Sousuke facing off, she closed her eyes and pulled back. The boy relinquished himself to the act, and within that split second of time, he felt her hand bury into his chest and grab at his heart. All of his vital shut down as her fingers wrapped themselves around the pulsing organ. Wincing at the mere sense of what she was doing, she didn’t want him to die without ever acknowledging his sacrifice. Looking down, she softly said, “What is your real name?”

The question no longer needed to be swathed in riddles. The look of exhaustion was quickly engulfing him, but he managed to smile appreciatively at her and replied, “I think…he would have named me…Majid…when I was born.”

“Majid?” the name didn’t ring a bell to her. With tears down her cheeks, she thanked him and then ripped the life force from his chest. The boy dissolved into the wind, and when Kaname looked down at the ‘heart’ she had supposedly obtained from him, she found it to be a fluttering spark of light instead. Ridiculously symbolic, but it was better than seeing a bleeding heart oozing in her hand. The boy was right, as she continued to hold the thriving force in her hand, her vision delved deeper into the system as numbers floated out from the ground in her mind’s eye. Both Gauron and Sousuke were now having trouble operating their ARM Slave units as a tidal wave of interference caused both of them to turn their attention to the Keris who was emitting the waves.

Gathering her courage, the hand of the Keris came up to its face as it mimicked Kaname’s every move. Ingesting the life source, her body felt like it was lifting into a higher plane of existence as she could now feel through Keris’ metal. The dirt ground was soft underneath her feet, and the cool night air misted with the fresh scent of rain was the only serenity within the tension of this fight remaining. This was now the time to end everything. As her heart beat faster, she focused in on the Codarl and could sense the essence of its pilot. The man, the beast, the entire soul of the Slave and its Lambda Driver felt like a doll in her hands.

“What’s this, little toy?” Gauron bemused over the intercom as his Slave was powerless to continue. The exit latch refused to move; he was pretty much stuck while he watched the Keris perform this illustrious and fantastical display of pomp and circumstance in front of the them. But the smirk on his face was soon wiped off as he felt an odd constriction in his chest. The squeezing and tensing sensations soon spread throughout this entire body, and without even realizing it, he had become completely paralyzed from some unknown crushing weight. His grunts and struggling could be heard between the other two, and even the Danaan had their communication link mysteriously patched just in time to hear the last gasps from the terrorist.

“For years,” Kaname’s voice whispered over the intercom, “you’ve tried to obtain me. Control me. Find my secrets. Learn what I know. You are a fool. Is your desire to die so blind that you think you could ever touch what I am? I think it’s time to return the favor ten fold.” Again the Keris brought its fingers to touch its face. From within, Kaname’s own fingers glossed over her lips as she looked heartlessly upon her prey.

A breathy word escaped her mouth, “……..Bang!”

One word was all it took, as the Codarl jolted forward; liquid spurted from the joints and crevices that were closest to the cock pit. With the machine painted red already, no one could tell under the glistening moonlight that thick coagulating liquid was the blood of its pilot. It lurched forward in standstill as though it had just been stabbed in the heart. The only beating pulse that gave it the will to kill had been combusted from its internal cavity. Nothing but chunks of flesh and blood remained in the seat that harbored the most dangerous criminal in Mithril’s short history.

“Sousuke,” she whispered out over the intercom, echoes of her voice were now following in echoes, sending chills up his spine, “Finish this.” As the order was commanded, Sousuke’s Lambda Driver was performing at one-hundred percent functionality and the Arbalest was beginning to report piquing those numbers at an increasing rate. “Kaname, what are you doing?” A rush of warmth embraced him as he felt something unnatural trying to keep him calm and focused. His face flushed red as the erotic sensations of euphoria drugged his senses. “We’re a team, remember? This nightmare will never end if we don’t finish this as a team. Have faith in me, Sousuke.” As the Arbalest targeted the Codarl from point blank range, his mind seemed clearer than ever as all of his past battles with Gauron surfaced all at once. The Codarl had to be obliterated; wiped from the plane of existence. As the two of them willed its destruction in a weave of thoughts, a light emitted from the inoperable Slave unit followed by melted shrapnel scattering in every direction imaginable. For that brief time, Sousuke felt like a god with Kaname keeping his mind on the objective. Any feelings of despair, everything he had fought for seemed to come to this one moment. It was like the release of energy that was used to destroy Gauron had finally been freed; and as her presence exited his system he felt lighter than a feather.

That’s when she said, “Goodbye…..Sousuke….”

The rest was like a blur as the Keris collapsed and ejected its pilot outright from the cockpit. Sousuke clumsily rushed out of his own to go to her aid while Melissa and Kurz closed in to assist. Soliders scrambled along the Danaan to begin the process of retrieving the remaining ally units out on the battlefield. Navigators were reporting in that the Codarl had been completely wiped off the map. Left standing in the middle of this was Tessa at the helm, spaced out and unable to give out any commands. Kalinin and Mardukas were forced to step in and intervene since their captain was in a state beyond shock. There was no sign of Kaname out there as much as she tried to reach out with her mind. The girl had gone beyond the point of no return and even farther than Tessa knew was fathomable. Her creation had consumed Kaname mind and soul.

“Kaname!” he screamed at the top of his lungs as he picked up her limp, lifeless body and tried to wake her up, “Kaname! Please wake up!” His hysterical emotions had completely taken over as he feared the worse for her. Putting his ear to her mouth he couldn’t feel any sign of life and took the next course to try and resuscitate the only person he now cared about. His lips fervently tried to give her oxygen before moving over to push down on her ribcage several times. When the other two officers managed to get out of their units to assist, they could only pause at the scene. The warrior hovered over his fallen princess trying everything he could bring her back from the dead. The sniffling and crying was almost too much for the both of them to bear as they briefly glanced away so that they didn’t have to see their comrade in such a state. Proper help was on the way, and soon this whole mess would be cleaned in time for the Danaan to make its escape with all of her crewmen into the depths below.