"Suzuka-sama, my aide will guide you to the Princess' quarters," Kasami Erika gestured to a short-haired nekovalkyrja in grey-panels whom bowed on cue. Yukari waved back to Tom and then was on her way out.
The Chujo turned back to Tom and then addressed his demand: "Of course, Freeman-sama. I can have a nurse summoned to distribute the treats."
ON:
It was, in a way, more nerve-wracking to visit Kotori after so many days than it was to see Melisson. At least Melisson was contained.
Yukari wasn't afraid as much as she was ... awed. She was going to be talking to a Neko who had done things no other member of the race ever had accomplished. Through powers she might or might not fully understand. Yukari had the duty of informing Kotori about what happened, and try to show concern and caring to the Taisa when she was surrounded by utterly loyal servants who could not, likely, engage her emotionally.
Perhaps she should have asked Nyton to accompany her after all.
The aide Kasami had assigned to guiding her stopped at a door that was open, and Yukari dipped her head and stepped into a room that was far removed from the others.
Kotori's room turned out being everybit as spartan as Yukari's. The only big difference was the locale, which placed the Ketsurui princess closer to intensive care facilities. The nekovalkyrja in question was lying in bed, her hair neatly arranged over the pillow her head was resting on, with covers tucked up to below her armpits.
When Yukari made her entry, Kotori turned small, tired eyes her way and greeted her with a weak: "Ohayô."
"Ohayô," Yukari replied, bowing a little. She smiled when she came up, and she put the two bowls of fruit from Tom on the desk next to Kotori's bed. "You are well?" she asked in Yamataian.
Kotori gave a meek wince. "I feel terrible. Did anyone get the chance to look up the plaque number of the truck that ran me over?"
"We destroyed it instead," Yukari replied with a wink, going over to a chair in the corner of the room and quietly dragging it over to Kotori's bedside.
Kotori returned a little sigh, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, they were amber slits that gave Yukari a sidelong look. More serious, she said: "Yukari... thank you for saving my life."
Yukari tilted her head to the side and blinked. "I believe that is what I should say to you, Kotori. Melisson was going to destroy my mind, but for you."
Kotori closed her eyes, and smiled. "When we were put in a corner, I entrusted everything to you. I asked you to lead our people in and get Melisson before I would give out. The Black Knights and you, you all came through for me."
"So, thank you. Thank you for saving my life."
The NH-29H's eyes stuck to Kotori's face. She replied, softly but serious, "We all did it. All of your crew, we did not lose faith in you. If not for all of us, including you, each of us would have fallen." She smiled. "You are welcome, though."
Kotori's eyes opened again. She shifted her head to the right to look at Yukari more directly. "That modesty is so like you," she smiled slightly. "I know. But I was thanking you. You took a lot of blame for the demise of... my mother's firstborn. Thanks to you, at least her death wasn't in vain. You made it count for something, and saved me. It would have mattered to her; it matters to me. I need you to know I - we - are grateful."
" ... " Yukari looked down. "It is nothing," she started, then took a deep breath. "I did not want to let her die for nothing. I owed it to her. And you. And to everyone. ... " She looked up. "You gave life to Saito-san after she died. You gained control of several of Mefpralphra's minds. You saved our souls from eternal torture, Koto-san! What I did, it is not the same. You have done things ... things no one understands. Do you?"
"I just tried... to do whatever I could," Kotori softly answered. "I was damming a tidal wave with my own body, somehow succeeded, and managed to find the strength somewhere to try and help too. I just... kept trying, Yukari."
"Your will always has been powerful," Yukari said. "Now we have proof of it. And you will need it, for what is to come." It was hard to put into words, and she lowered her eyes again.
"Just start small," Kotori adviced, before prompting: "Where are we?"
"The GSS Mokuren," Yukari said. "Commanded by Kasami Erika-Chujo. She is the highest ranked officer who remains in the fleet of 3,174 YE 24-era vessels. We have left the Blue Rift and are refitting in the Claw Nebula."
"You defeated the Infection Queen?"
"Yes," Yukari said. "Melisson is a prisoner, and the Infection Queen, Mefpralphra, is dead."
"Prisoner?" Kotori blinked in confusion. Not ready to tackle that matter yet, she instead asked: "How did we escape?" Yukari was getting the impression that Kotori wasn't remembering much beyond predicting that flurry of attack Mefpralphra aimed at Yukari that she had miraculously avoided near-unscathed.
"After Mefpralphra was killed, Melisson informed us the bubble around her ship was collapsing, sending ships into the void. We fled to another part of the ship, as best we could, but were confronted and delayed. Hinoto, with Hoshi, cleared a path for our escape. ... But Mara-san gave her life to ensure we survived. She stayed behind and fought her way, alone, to force the ship to self-destruct."
Grief flashed inside Kotori's amber eyes and be closed them, containing it, her sorrow, and her tears. Willing herself to be stoic, she took a bracing breath and asked: "Our crew... how does it fare? How many did not make it back alive?"
"Seventeen are dead," Yukari said. She named them, her voice catching on Kaida and Sanri and Junko. "Seventeen are wounded." She named them, as well.
"I see," Kotori awkwardly replied, her previous successes as Miharu's captain leaving her unprepared for this much. After a pause she admitted: "I- I figured as a strategist I should be glad we managed so much, with so few, and lost even fewer. But I can't."
Yukari made sure she held Kotori's gaze, as much as Kotori would give it to her. "We lost family members. Souls we cared for who will never return. The crew each is taking it differently, I think. It has not touched all of us, yet. They died for us ... that is where my focus lies."
Kotori broke eye contact with Yukari to instead look up at the ceiling. She agreed with Yukari - she couldn't rationalize it, and nothing they had accomplished truly felt it had been worth the hollow ache of loss she felt in her chest.
"Tom is fine?" Kotori asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yes," she said, her gaze sweeping down toward Kotori's feet. "He was lightly injured. Nyton, as well."
"What about the survivors of the Second Draconian Fleet?" Kotori asked. "How have they been coping?"
"They are adapting to the jump in time and technology. They mostly are NH-17. Little fazes them." She paused. "They take strength from you, I think."
"Me?" Kotori asked, turning an incredulous look toward Yukari - whom had just tackled on the unpleasant prospect of outlining what was perhaps the most controversial part of having rescued survivors from the Second Draconian Fleet.
" ... " Yukari felt very small as she formed the words in her mind. "Mefpralphra, the Umbral, had control of the minds of many in the fleet. Somehow ... that control has become yours. This fleet and its personnel are yours to command."
"They are my servants instead of hers," Kotori added to Yukari's phrase, her eyes widening a bit. Yukari, though, was struck with the impression that her revelation had not been entirely unexpected to her Taisa. As if... Kotori had suspected, but hoped otherwise.
"Yes," Yukari said. "Their loyalty is yours and yours alone. Somehow, it extends to others on the crew, but not all of us, and not at the same level."
The look Kotori sent Yukari was a mix of worry and tentative relief. "So, none of our crew was affected by this?"
Could Yukari even really tell?
"I ... I cannot say for certain." The thought made Yukari even more uneasy. "I believe the crew remains of their own free will only because we were not under total control of Mefpralphra."
Kotori let out a long, exasperated breath. Her mother had made a big deal of her original being modified to be a bootleg NH-23 Nodal Empress Nekovalkyrja; Yukari had entertained her own boogeyman fancies the command the sealed original could have had exerted.
But, with things as they stood... what her Signaler body had accomplished was even worse. Putting it as very ironic seemed a bit of an understatement.
I do not think Kotori would approve of my tattoo proposal, so maybe I am safe. It was hard for Yukari to not be a little selfish.
Kotori's expression vied between being grim, tired, bitter and relieved. Finally, she asked: "What would you have of me?"
"Eh?" Yukari asked. "I do not understand."
"You chose, between Yui and I," Kotori reminded Yukari. "Now that we are at this point, I want to know what you expect of me."
"Expect ... of you? How?" Yukari thought she was following, but she did not want to face it. Not if it was what she thought.
Kotori turned a glare on the ceiling. Her hands fisted into her bedcovers. "Give me something to go on in this madness."
It was what she thought, and now Yukari was faced with it. She hugged herself, bending over in her chair and bringing her eyes back to Kotori's feet. She did not say anything for several moments.
She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, through her nose. Then she brought herself up in her seat and looked at Kotori. Her eyes glowed a faint green in the flat light of the room.
"They should be freed, somehow," she said. "They are not yours to command. They deserve freedom, after so much time was taken from them."
"Of course," Kotori almost chuckled in bitter amusement. Leave it to Yukari to give her the principled thing to do, the thing Kotori would have naturally turned to if she at all had access to it. Given how all she had accomplished was to replace whom the freed survivors would swear allegiance to from Melisson to the lesser evil - herself - there was no waving a magic wand and setting things aright.
Kotori's bag of tricks was empty.
Oh well, I'm the one that asked for your opinion, Kotori thought, finally smirking to herself before she said aloud: "We both know it is not so simple. In all fairness it should be, but that is not so. I'll have to think about it."
"I know," Yukari said quietly. " ... Melisson, I saved as a possible bargaining chip. I believe it might help us with Yui-sama, and SAINT." Melisson could vanish any time, but Yukari counted on the demon's ethics to bind her for long enough to satisfy the intelligence agency. "It is possible, as well, that the fleet's loyalty to you could be used in the same fashion. They could be freed after their fate is negotiated, which would give you time to discover a method for freeing them."
Kotori lolled her head from side to side, her way of shaking her head while resting it atop the pillow. That was just too many words and too many big problems to consider all at once. "I- No. Yukari, look... I can't handle this right now," she told her Executive Officer, her eyelids feeling heavy. "We should have, in the coming few days, enough time to consider it... okay?"
Yukari hesitated, then nodded. "It is a lot to consider at one time."
Kotori rewarded that with a faint smile and got her arms under the bedcovers before tucking them up to her chin. "We'll talk later, alright?"
"Mm," Yukari said, standing up and holding her hands before her lap. She bowed slowly. " ... It is good to see you well, Koto-san."
Yukari waited a moment for an answer and got none. It seemed like Kotori had already drifted off into slumber.
She smiled. Kotori looked peaceful, which was not an expression or state of being the Signaler Neko had experienced for a long time. Quietly, she got out from around the chair, leaving the bowls of fruit, then left to return to her room.