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Rapture
By TheFinalOrder
Rated: T
Rated: T
It happened so suddenly. Within the span of one second, their escape had been cut off. Black and Red filled the skies as heat brushed against their skin. In that moment of glory, fear had stuck his metal heart. Realization that they were stuck in Sayoko's nightmare forever.
Chapter 1: Mission Failed
Not much can be said about how the world works, nor how time flows. It isn't because a lack of words that these explanations can't be achieved, but a lack of knowledge. To this day, this knowledge has been kept away from us, only allowing theories and speculation to be the key to the mysteries of time. It is for good reason that we are kept in the dark.
One of the many theories relating to time wound be that of the Multiverse. The theory, in its simplest form, would describe the differences in interactions between point A and point B. In point A, C and B would be friends. In point B, B and C would be friends.
From the smallest detail, to the catastrophe of the century. From a simple "Hi" to a violent kick to the head. The Multiverse is a collection of differences spanning eternity and lasting eternity.
For clarification, one Universe may have a child, by the ripe age of 16 fighting for the entire universe, to save his father and those he holds dear, with a happy ending at the end.
Another could be that of a shallow copy, fighting to save his Grand-Father in a bid for the world. A fight that'll not only answer the universes woes, but set The Lifemaker straight. A ending with that akin to bittersweet awaiting us.
Lastly, a world where the worst case scenario happened, but no answer could be found. A world where the hero couldn't rewind time, and was forced to stay within the confines of a world where the dead walk freely, spreading their cursed disease. This is their story of survival.
--
His screams pierced the silence that befell the aftermath of the battlefield. The form of mangled flesh that once resided on the blimp slowly dissipating into white petals, the wind softly picking up the remnants and carrying them blissfully away.
He tightly hugged the corpse of his best friend to his chest. Tears ran down his cheeks, his voice cracking with each time he cried her name. Curses of broken promises and unfilled wishes repeated each other as, like the body of flesh on the blimp, she too disappeared.
If Tõta had to be honest, it made his throat clench uncomfortably. Stealing a glance at Kuromaru, his best friend, he silently wondered if he would be acting the same in Santa's situation.
Of course he would.
But right now wasn't about him. It was about Santa.
As the last of Sayoko's petals left Santa's grasp, his cries died down. A chime that wasn't meant to be played woefully in the distance, almost like a final farewell from the woman herself.
Tõta walked to Santa, who held in his hand two petals. Giving them but a glance, he came to a realization of sorts.
Tõta placed a hand on Santa's shoulder, kneeling down.
"Tõta…" Santa squeaked out, his normally raspy voice cracking with each letter. Tõta didn't pay it much heed. Anybody would be shaken up by this event.
"Hold onto those, Santa." Tõta said. Santa only softly clenched his hand. Tõta didn't need a response to know Santa heard him. Looking to the side, he gave a questioning look to UQ No. 9, Kirië Sakurame. "Kirië, will that work?"
"Y-Yes, if her soul is still around, then I can still take her back." Kirië responded, taking steps towards Tõta.
"Good, Lets do this."
Kirië Sakurame, UQ Holder No. 9, has the ability to rewind time. Utilizing a save point system, not that unlike a video game, she can "Respawn" of any place of her choosing. Her soul and memories, alongside those of her companions, will remain intact, while all actions after the save point will be erased and physical conditions reset.
"Wait, Tõta! You want to take her back with us!? No, it's too dangerous!" Karin Yuuki, UQ Holder No. 4, yelled from her position on the blimp. Being the self made leader, which no one objected too, she often was the voice of reason within the group. That being said, it was obvious that she would be the first to deny a necromancer at a chance at life once again.
"But this is the only chance Santa can have at saying goodbye! Wouldn't you want to do the same if it was Yukihime!" Tõta yelled back. It wasn't any secret that Karin held some sort of love for Tõta's step-mother. The reason why, nobody knew, and it wasn't their business to pry. Using that against her seemed to do the trick though as Karin flinched and backed down.
"She's right though, Tõta!" Ikkuu Ameya, UQ Holder No. 10, backed Karin up. His appearance was that of a 26 year old, which gained him a lot of favors in trying to convince those who looked younger. That, however, didn't work in the case of immortals. Especially since everyone knew his mental age was 13. "If we bring her back, wouldn't that also bring her powers back too!?"
"It'll be fine, guys. If that happens, we'll just start all over again." Tõta said, not backing down. Both Karin and Ikkū still looked very much against the idea of bringing back the necromancer who caused so much damage to the world. It was understandable. Even Tõta could agree, but this was for Santa, one of his friends. If he wouldn't do this for him, then who would do it for Tõta?
"But what about Kirië!? She's the one with the ability to reset everything! Your just ignoring her feelings!" Karin said, waving a hand at a troubled Kirië. No doubt she was thinking on whether or not to bring Sayako back with them. Her silence lasted but a mere 30 seconds before she gave a deep sigh and leaned on her waist.
"Fine, I'll do it!" Kirië announced, much to the shock of Karin and Ikkū, and the gratefulness of Santa (who really didn't know what was going on, but just gave a guess) and Tõta.
"Kirië!" Ikkū and Karin yelled in shock that the normally calm and collected girl who never took any risks would do such a thing. Tõta yelled in gratefulness that the girl who he believed hated him would do this for him.
"But!" Kirië put a finger up, signaling she had more to say. "If anything happens, you will be responsible for fixing it!"
"Yeah!" Tõta yelled as he grabbed onto Santa and proceeded to tell him what was about to happen. Karin gave Kirië an odd look, which Kirië didn't pay any mind too. She knew what Karin was thinking.
"Are you sure about this?" Ikkū asked Kirië. Looking up to him, Kirië egged him to continue. "If Sayoko ends up going on a rampage again, we might not get another chance like this. She would know all our weaknesses and strengths, and I'm pretty sure she could take us out no matter how many of us there are."
"I'm sure it's fine, Ikkū." Kirië shrugged. "If anything happens, I already have the emergency signal set up in the past. HQ will know immediately something is up." Kirië gave a frown at this though. "Although it does bug me at how incompetent we were today. Even you Karin," Karin flinched in shame. "Really, the only one who even did anything was him." Kirië motioned towards Santa.
The sad fact was, that was true. Even though the team had been hired to take care of a series of murders, not only did they fail at taking care of the murderer, but they had caused the destruction of the world and left it all to one child to end it for them. Truly, this was a horrible outcome, even if they could rewind time.
They all considered this for a second. Everyone in the team had failed this mission. Karin had been buried 1000m underground. Kuromaru had been possessed, not once, but twice. Ikkū had his body turned to scrap metal (which he clicked his tongue at. He knew he should have brought a better model). Tõta had his regenerative abilities shut down and forced to await rebirth before going back into combat. Even Kirië, who shouldn't have been there to begin with, was possessed, same as Kuromaru.
"Well, no use dwelling on the past!" Kirië said as she walked over to Tõta, who held out his hand. Grasping it, Kirië gave the others a look. One by one, the others grabbed hold of her, preparing for the jump through time. "Is everyone ready?"
"Yeah!" Tõta said eagerly.
"Whenever you are." Ikkū responded politely.
"Hmm." Karin hummed.
A slight nod was all Kuromaru gave.
A tightening of his fist was the response Santa gave..
"Alright!" Kirië softly said. Opening her mouth, she readied herself for the suicide pill. Relatively it was painless, but that feeling of death she had whenever she died was always unpleasant. Like death itself was cradling her before setting her back in life. Truly it was unpleasant.
Then it happened.
It started off as a low hum, a buzzing akin to an annoying bug, before a bright flash of light filled the air. Blinded by the light, Kirië held off chewing the capsule, curious as to what happened. Slowly, it faded into nothing.
Kirië blinked a few times, rubbing away the bright light that blinded her vision. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust, as the sun's light had already prepared her for even more light if needed.
"What the-!?" The voice of Tõta drew her attention. Looking at him, he seemed to be looking off to the side in shock. Or was it fear? Looking in the direction he was staring, she couldn't help her mouth from dropping at what she was shown.
Off in the distance, a few miles away off the shores of the capital, a giant cloud was forming. Black and red converged upward, blocking the sun in a glorious mirage of fire and flame. Heat could be felt even from atop the blimp, burning and drying the skin of the immortals that bore witness to the event.
Pure shock and awe traveled through the group, all to entangled in the sight to say or do anything. For a second, it seemed like the world had stopped, it too taken aback by the explosion. The fire rose and climbed, forming the shape of a mushroom.
Then the silence came to an abrupt stop.
A loud clap, and boom followed the explosion. Gusts of wind, ferocious in its magnitude, shook the blimp and the passengers atop it. Each member of UQ Holder firmly fixated themselves into the ground.
Tõta reversed his grim on his sword, stabbing it into the ground to keep himself in place. Kuromaru was already ahead of him, his arms hugged tightly onto the lifelong companion. Karin did the same with her spear, but curved it so she may keep it stuck between the beams underneath. Santa didn't need to do anything, as he could will himself to be intangible or not. Ikkū used his magnetism to keep himself steady, but had some trouble keeping upright, but nonetheless seemed to be enjoying it. The only problem came from Kirië.
With a sudden screech, Kirië was thrown off the ship, not even given the chance to grab a hold of anything.
"Kirië!" Tõta yelled. Without thinking, he let go of the sword and flew in the direction Kirië had fallen. It didn't take long to fall over the side, nor did it take long to spot the short blonde. Maneuvering himself so he was positioned over her, Tõta prepared to go for a head long dive. With a deep into of air, he turned his body downwards.
While he did his best to keep his eyes on the target, it was difficult to do so. Trying to keep your eyes open while diving in high winds would be difficult for anyone, even for an immortal vampire. To compare it to a reasonable item, a fan would work.
Luckily, due to his unnatural talents, he was able to get close enough to Kirië to grab a hold of her. Holding out his hand, he grabbed her by the wrist (also causing her to let out an 'oof') and pulled her in close to his chest.
It took but a second for Kirië to realize what had happened.
"Tõta!?" Kirië yelled out, her voice being slightly drowned out by the wind. She looked up at his face from where her head lay. "What are you doing!?"
"What!? I'm trying to save you!" Tõta yelled back as he turned them so his back was facing the ground. It wouldn't save Kirië if he didn't do anything extra though. He would need to toss her at the last second so she could land softly on the ground.
"You incompetent! I would survive a fall like this, I'm immortal too, remember!" Kirië yelled at him. "If you hit the ground at this height, who knows what would happen to you! You might be killed before I die so you can't come back!"
"Oh? Uh… Yeah! I didn't know that!" Tõta laughed sheepishly, to which she slapped his head softly. "It was on instinct though. My body moved itself, sorry!"
A small blush formed on her cheeks at that. It wasn't everyday someone told her that they tried to save her on instinct. Anyone would feel flattered at that.
"Anyways, position me so I'll die first! I don't want to have to be the one to explain everything to everyone!" Kirië commanded. Looking past Tõta, she could see the ground drawing near. Unconsciously, she tightened her hold on Tõta and buried her face into his chest. She had never fallen to her death before, and if she were to be honest, it scared her. Death was never an easy thing for her.
Tõta took note of this too. Normally, he would have obeyed her, her commands being like a sort of absolute decision maker for him, but not this time. He could tell that Kirië was scared, and that was something you never see with this girl. Not even when she had died six times to warn him about an assassin, nor when they fought together with Fate did she seem afraid. Something inside him screamed that he must not let her die this time.
Tightening his arms around her, Tõta gave the surprised girl a smile.
"What are you doing you incompetent! Turn us so I'll die first!" Kirië yelled, banging on his chest. Tõta just continued to smile.
"I can't do that."
"Wah!? What the hell are you talking about!?"
"I can't let you die this time! Something is telling me that's a bad idea!"
"You incompetent!" Kirië yelled, his words irritating her while at the same time flattering her. "We don't have time for that! Just turn us now!"
"I told you no, didn't I!?" Tõta grinned. He looked behind him. They were almost to the ground. Almost time to put his plan into action.
"You stubborn fool!" Kirië yelled, beating his chest. Unsurprisingly, it didn't do anything to harm him. Tõta was unbelievably strong, so it would make sense that he could keep such a frail girl in his arms. They were nearing the ground, and she needed to die before they hit the ground. If only she had a way to commit su-
'I swear, his stupidity is rubbing off on me.' Kirië cursed herself. Sterling herself, she opened her mouth, preparing to put pressure on the capsule in her teeth.
"Kirië! Stop!"
Kirië was suddenly interrupted by a tug on her collar. Choking a little, she felt her and Tõta float into the air. Looking up at her savior, it turned out to be no other than Ikkū. Barely catching them, he had to glide close to the ground so as to not give them backlash against the force of gravity. This avoided their untimely demise.
Flying near the ground, Ikkū slowly halted his movement. Looking around for somewhere to land, he spotted a clock tower in the distance. Firing up his boosters, he flew towards it. In no time, they were there, and he set down both if the occupants onto the tower.
Ikkū grabbed onto Kirië shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye.
"Kirië! Where was your last save point!?" Ikkū commanded.
"What?" Kirië responded dumbly, shaken by the suddenness of the question. "Why do you want to know?"
"Just answer the question. If I'm wrong about this, then this'll be a nice little joke we can laugh at when we're old." Ikkū said, figuratively of course. The only one who could possibly age in this group was Ikkū himself, and that was if he transferred to a new body.
"T-The last save point was at HQ. Why do you want to know?" At Ikkū's distressed look, Kirië couldn't help but develop a deep feeling if fear. She had only ever seen Ikkū truly upset or fearful a handful of times. One of those times being in the failed loop of in which Fate slaughtered everyone in the party. Even then, it was just a face of distaste. "H-H-Hey, Ikkū, what's wrong? Why w-w-w-won't you let me die? Is something wrong?"
"Yeah! What's going on Ikkū!?" Tõta said loudly, the sense of foreboding absent with him. His optimism always broke through, even in a situation like this. Sometimes Kirië had to curse that about him, even when it was one of his good points. "is something wrong with HQ?"
Ikkū didn't respond, but instead focused his eyes into the distance. Miles away from the island of Academy City, sat a small resort that held a number of individuals, all if that of monsters and Immortals. A sort of get away for those who society hated. An Inn. A home to the Numbers of UQ Holder. And the HQ of UQ Holder.
A few minutes ago, that's what would be HQ. Now, it was a pile of rubble that couldn't even be called an Island.
Ikkū stared for but a moment, before turning to Kirië. It was a sad sight. She seemed to have already guessed what had happened, but was still holding onto some hope that she was wrong. Her tanned skin a deep white, with sweat making its way on her face. Her hands, which were held in a form of prayer, tightly held Each other tightly.
It wouldn't be good to keep the suspense hanging.
"HQ has been destroyed."
One of the many theories relating to time wound be that of the Multiverse. The theory, in its simplest form, would describe the differences in interactions between point A and point B. In point A, C and B would be friends. In point B, B and C would be friends.
From the smallest detail, to the catastrophe of the century. From a simple "Hi" to a violent kick to the head. The Multiverse is a collection of differences spanning eternity and lasting eternity.
For clarification, one Universe may have a child, by the ripe age of 16 fighting for the entire universe, to save his father and those he holds dear, with a happy ending at the end.
Another could be that of a shallow copy, fighting to save his Grand-Father in a bid for the world. A fight that'll not only answer the universes woes, but set The Lifemaker straight. A ending with that akin to bittersweet awaiting us.
Lastly, a world where the worst case scenario happened, but no answer could be found. A world where the hero couldn't rewind time, and was forced to stay within the confines of a world where the dead walk freely, spreading their cursed disease. This is their story of survival.
--
His screams pierced the silence that befell the aftermath of the battlefield. The form of mangled flesh that once resided on the blimp slowly dissipating into white petals, the wind softly picking up the remnants and carrying them blissfully away.
He tightly hugged the corpse of his best friend to his chest. Tears ran down his cheeks, his voice cracking with each time he cried her name. Curses of broken promises and unfilled wishes repeated each other as, like the body of flesh on the blimp, she too disappeared.
If Tõta had to be honest, it made his throat clench uncomfortably. Stealing a glance at Kuromaru, his best friend, he silently wondered if he would be acting the same in Santa's situation.
Of course he would.
But right now wasn't about him. It was about Santa.
As the last of Sayoko's petals left Santa's grasp, his cries died down. A chime that wasn't meant to be played woefully in the distance, almost like a final farewell from the woman herself.
Tõta walked to Santa, who held in his hand two petals. Giving them but a glance, he came to a realization of sorts.
Tõta placed a hand on Santa's shoulder, kneeling down.
"Tõta…" Santa squeaked out, his normally raspy voice cracking with each letter. Tõta didn't pay it much heed. Anybody would be shaken up by this event.
"Hold onto those, Santa." Tõta said. Santa only softly clenched his hand. Tõta didn't need a response to know Santa heard him. Looking to the side, he gave a questioning look to UQ No. 9, Kirië Sakurame. "Kirië, will that work?"
"Y-Yes, if her soul is still around, then I can still take her back." Kirië responded, taking steps towards Tõta.
"Good, Lets do this."
Kirië Sakurame, UQ Holder No. 9, has the ability to rewind time. Utilizing a save point system, not that unlike a video game, she can "Respawn" of any place of her choosing. Her soul and memories, alongside those of her companions, will remain intact, while all actions after the save point will be erased and physical conditions reset.
"Wait, Tõta! You want to take her back with us!? No, it's too dangerous!" Karin Yuuki, UQ Holder No. 4, yelled from her position on the blimp. Being the self made leader, which no one objected too, she often was the voice of reason within the group. That being said, it was obvious that she would be the first to deny a necromancer at a chance at life once again.
"But this is the only chance Santa can have at saying goodbye! Wouldn't you want to do the same if it was Yukihime!" Tõta yelled back. It wasn't any secret that Karin held some sort of love for Tõta's step-mother. The reason why, nobody knew, and it wasn't their business to pry. Using that against her seemed to do the trick though as Karin flinched and backed down.
"She's right though, Tõta!" Ikkuu Ameya, UQ Holder No. 10, backed Karin up. His appearance was that of a 26 year old, which gained him a lot of favors in trying to convince those who looked younger. That, however, didn't work in the case of immortals. Especially since everyone knew his mental age was 13. "If we bring her back, wouldn't that also bring her powers back too!?"
"It'll be fine, guys. If that happens, we'll just start all over again." Tõta said, not backing down. Both Karin and Ikkū still looked very much against the idea of bringing back the necromancer who caused so much damage to the world. It was understandable. Even Tõta could agree, but this was for Santa, one of his friends. If he wouldn't do this for him, then who would do it for Tõta?
"But what about Kirië!? She's the one with the ability to reset everything! Your just ignoring her feelings!" Karin said, waving a hand at a troubled Kirië. No doubt she was thinking on whether or not to bring Sayako back with them. Her silence lasted but a mere 30 seconds before she gave a deep sigh and leaned on her waist.
"Fine, I'll do it!" Kirië announced, much to the shock of Karin and Ikkū, and the gratefulness of Santa (who really didn't know what was going on, but just gave a guess) and Tõta.
"Kirië!" Ikkū and Karin yelled in shock that the normally calm and collected girl who never took any risks would do such a thing. Tõta yelled in gratefulness that the girl who he believed hated him would do this for him.
"But!" Kirië put a finger up, signaling she had more to say. "If anything happens, you will be responsible for fixing it!"
"Yeah!" Tõta yelled as he grabbed onto Santa and proceeded to tell him what was about to happen. Karin gave Kirië an odd look, which Kirië didn't pay any mind too. She knew what Karin was thinking.
"Are you sure about this?" Ikkū asked Kirië. Looking up to him, Kirië egged him to continue. "If Sayoko ends up going on a rampage again, we might not get another chance like this. She would know all our weaknesses and strengths, and I'm pretty sure she could take us out no matter how many of us there are."
"I'm sure it's fine, Ikkū." Kirië shrugged. "If anything happens, I already have the emergency signal set up in the past. HQ will know immediately something is up." Kirië gave a frown at this though. "Although it does bug me at how incompetent we were today. Even you Karin," Karin flinched in shame. "Really, the only one who even did anything was him." Kirië motioned towards Santa.
The sad fact was, that was true. Even though the team had been hired to take care of a series of murders, not only did they fail at taking care of the murderer, but they had caused the destruction of the world and left it all to one child to end it for them. Truly, this was a horrible outcome, even if they could rewind time.
They all considered this for a second. Everyone in the team had failed this mission. Karin had been buried 1000m underground. Kuromaru had been possessed, not once, but twice. Ikkū had his body turned to scrap metal (which he clicked his tongue at. He knew he should have brought a better model). Tõta had his regenerative abilities shut down and forced to await rebirth before going back into combat. Even Kirië, who shouldn't have been there to begin with, was possessed, same as Kuromaru.
"Well, no use dwelling on the past!" Kirië said as she walked over to Tõta, who held out his hand. Grasping it, Kirië gave the others a look. One by one, the others grabbed hold of her, preparing for the jump through time. "Is everyone ready?"
"Yeah!" Tõta said eagerly.
"Whenever you are." Ikkū responded politely.
"Hmm." Karin hummed.
A slight nod was all Kuromaru gave.
A tightening of his fist was the response Santa gave..
"Alright!" Kirië softly said. Opening her mouth, she readied herself for the suicide pill. Relatively it was painless, but that feeling of death she had whenever she died was always unpleasant. Like death itself was cradling her before setting her back in life. Truly it was unpleasant.
Then it happened.
It started off as a low hum, a buzzing akin to an annoying bug, before a bright flash of light filled the air. Blinded by the light, Kirië held off chewing the capsule, curious as to what happened. Slowly, it faded into nothing.
Kirië blinked a few times, rubbing away the bright light that blinded her vision. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust, as the sun's light had already prepared her for even more light if needed.
"What the-!?" The voice of Tõta drew her attention. Looking at him, he seemed to be looking off to the side in shock. Or was it fear? Looking in the direction he was staring, she couldn't help her mouth from dropping at what she was shown.
Off in the distance, a few miles away off the shores of the capital, a giant cloud was forming. Black and red converged upward, blocking the sun in a glorious mirage of fire and flame. Heat could be felt even from atop the blimp, burning and drying the skin of the immortals that bore witness to the event.
Pure shock and awe traveled through the group, all to entangled in the sight to say or do anything. For a second, it seemed like the world had stopped, it too taken aback by the explosion. The fire rose and climbed, forming the shape of a mushroom.
Then the silence came to an abrupt stop.
A loud clap, and boom followed the explosion. Gusts of wind, ferocious in its magnitude, shook the blimp and the passengers atop it. Each member of UQ Holder firmly fixated themselves into the ground.
Tõta reversed his grim on his sword, stabbing it into the ground to keep himself in place. Kuromaru was already ahead of him, his arms hugged tightly onto the lifelong companion. Karin did the same with her spear, but curved it so she may keep it stuck between the beams underneath. Santa didn't need to do anything, as he could will himself to be intangible or not. Ikkū used his magnetism to keep himself steady, but had some trouble keeping upright, but nonetheless seemed to be enjoying it. The only problem came from Kirië.
With a sudden screech, Kirië was thrown off the ship, not even given the chance to grab a hold of anything.
"Kirië!" Tõta yelled. Without thinking, he let go of the sword and flew in the direction Kirië had fallen. It didn't take long to fall over the side, nor did it take long to spot the short blonde. Maneuvering himself so he was positioned over her, Tõta prepared to go for a head long dive. With a deep into of air, he turned his body downwards.
While he did his best to keep his eyes on the target, it was difficult to do so. Trying to keep your eyes open while diving in high winds would be difficult for anyone, even for an immortal vampire. To compare it to a reasonable item, a fan would work.
Luckily, due to his unnatural talents, he was able to get close enough to Kirië to grab a hold of her. Holding out his hand, he grabbed her by the wrist (also causing her to let out an 'oof') and pulled her in close to his chest.
It took but a second for Kirië to realize what had happened.
"Tõta!?" Kirië yelled out, her voice being slightly drowned out by the wind. She looked up at his face from where her head lay. "What are you doing!?"
"What!? I'm trying to save you!" Tõta yelled back as he turned them so his back was facing the ground. It wouldn't save Kirië if he didn't do anything extra though. He would need to toss her at the last second so she could land softly on the ground.
"You incompetent! I would survive a fall like this, I'm immortal too, remember!" Kirië yelled at him. "If you hit the ground at this height, who knows what would happen to you! You might be killed before I die so you can't come back!"
"Oh? Uh… Yeah! I didn't know that!" Tõta laughed sheepishly, to which she slapped his head softly. "It was on instinct though. My body moved itself, sorry!"
A small blush formed on her cheeks at that. It wasn't everyday someone told her that they tried to save her on instinct. Anyone would feel flattered at that.
"Anyways, position me so I'll die first! I don't want to have to be the one to explain everything to everyone!" Kirië commanded. Looking past Tõta, she could see the ground drawing near. Unconsciously, she tightened her hold on Tõta and buried her face into his chest. She had never fallen to her death before, and if she were to be honest, it scared her. Death was never an easy thing for her.
Tõta took note of this too. Normally, he would have obeyed her, her commands being like a sort of absolute decision maker for him, but not this time. He could tell that Kirië was scared, and that was something you never see with this girl. Not even when she had died six times to warn him about an assassin, nor when they fought together with Fate did she seem afraid. Something inside him screamed that he must not let her die this time.
Tightening his arms around her, Tõta gave the surprised girl a smile.
"What are you doing you incompetent! Turn us so I'll die first!" Kirië yelled, banging on his chest. Tõta just continued to smile.
"I can't do that."
"Wah!? What the hell are you talking about!?"
"I can't let you die this time! Something is telling me that's a bad idea!"
"You incompetent!" Kirië yelled, his words irritating her while at the same time flattering her. "We don't have time for that! Just turn us now!"
"I told you no, didn't I!?" Tõta grinned. He looked behind him. They were almost to the ground. Almost time to put his plan into action.
"You stubborn fool!" Kirië yelled, beating his chest. Unsurprisingly, it didn't do anything to harm him. Tõta was unbelievably strong, so it would make sense that he could keep such a frail girl in his arms. They were nearing the ground, and she needed to die before they hit the ground. If only she had a way to commit su-
'I swear, his stupidity is rubbing off on me.' Kirië cursed herself. Sterling herself, she opened her mouth, preparing to put pressure on the capsule in her teeth.
"Kirië! Stop!"
Kirië was suddenly interrupted by a tug on her collar. Choking a little, she felt her and Tõta float into the air. Looking up at her savior, it turned out to be no other than Ikkū. Barely catching them, he had to glide close to the ground so as to not give them backlash against the force of gravity. This avoided their untimely demise.
Flying near the ground, Ikkū slowly halted his movement. Looking around for somewhere to land, he spotted a clock tower in the distance. Firing up his boosters, he flew towards it. In no time, they were there, and he set down both if the occupants onto the tower.
Ikkū grabbed onto Kirië shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye.
"Kirië! Where was your last save point!?" Ikkū commanded.
"What?" Kirië responded dumbly, shaken by the suddenness of the question. "Why do you want to know?"
"Just answer the question. If I'm wrong about this, then this'll be a nice little joke we can laugh at when we're old." Ikkū said, figuratively of course. The only one who could possibly age in this group was Ikkū himself, and that was if he transferred to a new body.
"T-The last save point was at HQ. Why do you want to know?" At Ikkū's distressed look, Kirië couldn't help but develop a deep feeling if fear. She had only ever seen Ikkū truly upset or fearful a handful of times. One of those times being in the failed loop of in which Fate slaughtered everyone in the party. Even then, it was just a face of distaste. "H-H-Hey, Ikkū, what's wrong? Why w-w-w-won't you let me die? Is something wrong?"
"Yeah! What's going on Ikkū!?" Tõta said loudly, the sense of foreboding absent with him. His optimism always broke through, even in a situation like this. Sometimes Kirië had to curse that about him, even when it was one of his good points. "is something wrong with HQ?"
Ikkū didn't respond, but instead focused his eyes into the distance. Miles away from the island of Academy City, sat a small resort that held a number of individuals, all if that of monsters and Immortals. A sort of get away for those who society hated. An Inn. A home to the Numbers of UQ Holder. And the HQ of UQ Holder.
A few minutes ago, that's what would be HQ. Now, it was a pile of rubble that couldn't even be called an Island.
Ikkū stared for but a moment, before turning to Kirië. It was a sad sight. She seemed to have already guessed what had happened, but was still holding onto some hope that she was wrong. Her tanned skin a deep white, with sweat making its way on her face. Her hands, which were held in a form of prayer, tightly held Each other tightly.
It wouldn't be good to keep the suspense hanging.
"HQ has been destroyed."
