The warmth of a mother's embrace she had never felt flowed through Yumemiya Arika for the first, and probably last, time. The... thing that had held her mother's remains, and used them to power most of the invading army as well as the suppression field over the city of Windbloom was no more. And in the process of destroying that artefact, she had finally unlocked the true potential of the GEM passed down to her.
I should be feeling triumphant, she thought. So why am I crying?
She shook her head, causing her passenger, Master and Queen, Mashiro Blan de Windbloom, to hold on just a little tighter. Which was understandable - they were nearly a hundred meters up, hovering near the burning remains of the faux Royal palace.
"Come on, Arika! Let's get them! There's only that bastard Nagi left now!" Mashiro commanded with forced enthusiasm, blinking back her own hidden tears.
Suddenly a bright blue pillar of light shot up from the structure beneath them, and a piercing organ note sounded that expanded into a melody of destruction. The sky clouded over in mere moments, and the characteristic vortex of Nina's Harmonium attacks formed - right there in town.
"what!? Nina," Arika yelled in shock, "what are you trying to do?"
Was she insane, setting that thing off in a crowded city? She thought, although Mashiro must have picked it up through their link or something. Or maybe she was just that transparent, she didn't care at the moment.
"It's Nagi. It's that bastard making her do this, somehow. You know her, she wouldn't do this on her own," Mashiro tried to convince her.
"I thought I did. I thought I knew Tomoe-chan too. And Erstin-chan."
with little else in the way of options, the pair of them flew up to face the gigantic churning vortex of destruction. Midori was already there, and tried to convince them to move away, but as they explained, they just couldn't do that. Midori looked like she was going to argue, but held her peace.
"Nina! Why are you doing this?" Arika called out, trying to catch the attention of the presumably reluctant operator. "Can't we just be friends again? We don't have to fight. Just stop this senseless destruction!"
The giant Nina silhouette encased in the whirlwind didn't even look their way, and Arika started to feel her nerve slipping. Not another friend, not like this!
She felt her GEM reacting, summoning the enormous double-bladed crystal sword in accordance with her half formed thoughts. Power was humming all around them, from the Blue SKy Sapphire, the Ultimate Black Diamond, and the Harmonium.
"Nina! Don't make me do this! Please!" she pleaded. Nina still didn't seem to hear. Arika charged in brandishing her blade, but a bolt of black energy sped out to intercept them. As it struck, Arika felt a little queasy, but shook it off.
"So be it then, Nina," she said sadly, and felt Mashiro hugging her tighter, unable to speak her sympathy. The Blue Sky Element expanded to it's full size, and Arika gathered the energy fields around her for one last attack. This time her swing struck true, and cut the Vortex in half across the middle, causing it to abruptly fizzle out.
Arika dismissed her element. She didn't want to see it anymore. In fact, once she shed her robe she didn't ever want to activate it again. With tears streaming, Arika started towards the ground looking for a landing spot - which was when she noticed that she didn't recognize the city layout anymore.
In fact, she didn't recognize her surroundings at all, when she looked around. Where the ruined palace should have been was a roughly triangular latticework tower, which didn't belong in any city she'd ever visited before. And in the far distance she could see the telltale blue glitter of the ocean - and Windbloom, last she had checked, was still landlocked.
"Ehh, Mashiro-sama", she began, hesitantly. "Where are we?"
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(Posted Tue, 02 May 2006 21:24)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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