Gemini Star Fortress
Crew Cabin 701
16日 6月 YE 39
1300 Hours
There was nothing like losing oneself to the confines of death. What was worse, losing one's family in the process. For hours after being revived, the golden-eyed and tall Neko, Teien Eden, anxiously waited for word of her family. Any word at all.
The last thing she knew, she had been languidly laying on the bed of the YSS Kaiyō's medical lab getting a soul transfer while her daughter and wife waited for their own. Eden wondered, would their memories be more than hers when they came back? Would they come back in their ship, in a tube like Eden had arrived on Yamatai in, or at all?
But she had heard back about them. They had been found, listless and drifting, West of the Ketsurui Military Sector, where Eden now was. Above Hanako's World on Gemini Star Fortress, Eden had waited. For this moment. For the moment Kaiyō came back. Eden was far from where the ship would arrive. She had been asked not to associate with the crew until the appropriate time came, but her wife and daughter could not be kept from her. She had sent the request and it had been approved that she be able to have them come directly to her room. She sat on the edge of the bed in her temporary residence, watching the door. Waiting.
A few minutes passed, but there was a knock at the door. It sounded a little odd, like it was slightly hard but still restrained.
Eden shot up and stood straight as a rod as she quickly said, "Come in!"
The door creaked open, and two sets of footsteps emerged. Misaki looked the same as she always did, adorned in her duty uniform and hair all back behind her shoulders except for her usual strands wanting to lay across her shoulders. In front of her, with her mother's hands on her shoulders, was a much taller Kikyo than Eden would remember.
Kikyo was two thirds the size of Misaki and was starting to develop more like her mother. Unfortunately, due to Kikyo outgrowing her clothes on the ride over and not wasting any time to get here, she was wearing a cornflower blue-paneled uniform with no rank markings, or anything except for a Hinomaru on her right shoulder.
Both were teary eyed, but Misaki was the one to speak first, "As far as I know, the Soul Survivor Pod made it back, so we can see if we can get any scrap of information from as close to your death as possible. I've submitted a report to command about the period leading up to your death and the week we spent adrift."
She hesitated before sniffling and breathing as if to struggle to breathe, "D-Don't do it again..."
The Shosa's golden eyes moved from Saki to Kikyo, then back up again to Saki. Her black eyebrows went up in the middles and she parted her lips to speak.
"I..." Eden began, then shifted where she stood before ending up not saying anything at all. She lunged forward with her arms wide and pushed her face into Saki's shoulder while wrapping an arm around Kikyo. She breathed in Misaki's sweet lavender scent and rubbed her nose into the epaulettes of her wife's uniform before raising her head and kissing Saki's cream-colored cheek. She squeezed Kikyo's arm gently, looking down at the very young Neko with a sad smile on her face. She had to blink every few second to keep her eyes dry.
Misaki, equally straining on keeping her eyes dry spoke up tearily, "D-Don't hold it in, I-I have to cry too."
Kikyo had buried her face in Eden's side, already two steps ahead of both of them trying to muffle herself as best she could, though she still was quite audible.
A soft, albeit loud, sob escaped Eden as she looked away from Misaki. She held her cheek against her wife's shoulder as her hand held Kikyo and her other went to Saki's back, clinging to her. Eden turned her head back to Saki after a few more sobs had come from her. Cheeks now wet, she spoke out in quiet, hoarse words.
"What happened? Not to me... To you. Were you... Are you okay?" Eden forced a hopeful smile, but it looked unwelcome on her face as she looked into Misaki's shaded purple eyes.
"W-What is your last memory, from then?" Misaki broke through her sobs for a moment, gently stroking back Kikyo's hair as she let loose a weeks worth of pent-up sadness in form of muffled wails.
"We-we... We had just had lunch together. Secretly we had a laugh about needing a new cook and it was... It was the first time I had smiled all day when Kikyo said that. Then afterwards, we thought to ST and all three of us did. It was the first of this month, Saki." Eden stood up straight to brush Saki's now-wettened hair off of her shoulder and asked, "What happened to you?" Eden added desperately.
"It won't make sense unless I tell you why, we're fine." She wasn't going to tell Eden about her sleepless nights, how she stayed on the bridge for two hours after coming back through, and she wasn't at all going to tell her how Kikyo went to wait for her to return in the medbay.
Eden's eyes lowered down to Kikyo and she barely knelt down. She used to have to do it so much more when she wanted to get on her daughter's level. She had grown, but if it wa more than Eden was comfortable with, she didnt yet know.
"How are you feeling?" Eden asked. She had moved her hand off of Kikyo's shoulder and tilted her head as she looked into the eyes that looked just like Saki's. "Alright, I hope?"
Kikyo's sniffled as the did her best to keep herself from falling apart at the seams. Despite her best efforts, she was too naive for her own good. "Why didn't you ST home instead of here? I-I was waiting for you..."
She tightened her grip on Eden's clothing and tucked her head into what fabric she could. Above, Misaki twisted her face and bit her lip. Despite all her efforts to try and make this as painless as possible it all was for nothing as she leaned her head onto Eden's shoulder and commenced to bawling.
Eden sniffed in and held her top lip in her mouth for a moment before speaking. "I would have, Little one. I would have. It wasn't my choice. And if I hadn't ST'd in Yamatai, the ship may have not been found. Regardless of that though," Eden said, eyebrows going up and down convulsively as she tried hard not to cry more. "Regardless, I would have rather been with you." Eden then brought her hand up to the back of Kikyo's head and pulled her face close to Eden's own. "I would have rather been with you, I promise."
Kikyo leaned against her mother and nuzzled against Eden's neck affectionately. Misaki sucked wind and gained back her composure, "Either I am going to tell you what you don't remember or she will. I don't want to risk command skewing details because of SAINT or because we lost the ship. If they want to punish me for it, they'll have to take all of it away."
"'Lost the ship..'" Eden repeated, as if in a daze. "Tell me everything. But not now. Now we're going to," Eden said, breathing in and smiling once more, this time in a more cheery, if not still wet-cheeked, way. "We're going to the beach. Put on your volumetric clothing suited for the occassion and we'll go." Eden herself was wearing a rather plain sports T-shirt and running shorts with tennis shoes, looking as if she had this planned out.
Kikyo literally copied Eden, Misaki growing a little blushed as she changed her uniform to the exercise uniform with a white T-Shirt. "She learned how to use her volumetrics on the way over, she's still getting used to it though so sometimes it screws with her a bit."
Eden laughed gently, "I understand. You're doing great, Little one." She put her hand out to hold Kikyo's and they left the room. Eden was quiet for a long time until they were on a shuttle and even then, she didn't want to talk while others could hear, so she telepathically spoke instead.
"Have you still been drawing?" Eden asked Kikyo excitedly, though her voice was strained, a little too hopeful.
Kikyo nodded, responding telepathically, "I had to help for the week were adrift, but on the transport home I got some stuff together and made something. I didn't bring it with me though."
"I can't wait to see," Eden replied to her. "Would you like it if we tried drawing together sometime? I can draw with you." Truth be told, Eden wanted to do everything she could with Kikyo now that she had lost her once. "We can do some drawing. Anytime."
Kikyo smiled and leaned against Eden's arm, rubbing against her for a second while Misaki watched on. She knew something was up with Eden not talking, she hadn't said anything since they had left. She would bring it up later, doing it now would only upset the mood.
Eden looked hesitantly between Kikyo and Saki, then leaned back in her chair until they were on the ground of Hanako's World. They stepped out of the shuttle and Eden continued to hold Kikyo's hand as if it were her rope to safety while they made their way through the starport and then towards the nearest beach.
"How is," Eden began, then stopped herself. Leaving it at that, she turned to Saki and gave her a half smile.
Misaki raised an eyebrow, telepathically asking in a very concerned tone, "Honey, what's wrong? You're, not yourself."
"I was going to ask about your other..." Eden trailed off one more time, then continued. "How is Meissa?"
"She's fine, though you're not." Misaki added a beat later. "I'm the one that should be all shaken up, I watched my home blow itself apart, hell I watched the ship that was your grave detonate like a... well... we'll get to that later. Ever still, you're hiding something from me."
"You shot her?" Eden asked, almost biting her tongue. Her eyes glittered as she looked to Saki with a genuine smile. "You shot it?"
"I didn't, Meissa tried and she told me Hanna finished her off. She was... well... pissing everyone off. I'll tie that up when I tell you what happened. You might not believe it, but we all owe you a lot."
"It's nice to hear that I'll be told what happened," Eden sighed, swinging her arm slightly while holding Kikyo's hand. They could just now see the beach and the ground began to get sandier and crunched underneath their feet. "What I want to know is how you came out of it alive, huh? Both of you. You're very brave, you know." Eden had been looking at both Saki and Kikyo equally.
"Takes someone with bravery to teach the ones that need to be taught. Remember, I used to be a trembling mess when I first got aboard, and by the end of my tour onboard I was the rock in which everyone stood on. I didn't like being the CO, because I needed mine."
With a sigh, Misaki changed the subject, "Which beach is this, I've been trapped in a uniform for weeks."
Eden smiled as Saki spoke, then when she asked which beach they were at she shrugged and let go of Kikyo's hand. "Race to the water!" Eden said, looking from Kikyo to Saki. Slowly, but surely, she was growing to be herself again.
Kikyo smiled and began running in a dead sprint, Misaki swallowing her concerns to follow. Both of them were fighting the gaining sand to get traction, with Kikyo stumbling slightly before getting her footing again.
Eden began running and when Kikyo began stumbling, Eden reached out her arms to catch her, but soon the girl had corrected herself and moved to a position where she could keep running. Eden slowed a bit to look at Saki and moved closer to her, grabbing Saki's hand and runnign with her to the water, following Kikyo.
Saki took the hand quickly, almost falling herself but stayed upright due to quick foot movements. She let herself be led rather than attempting to run at a high speed. Her mind drifted with the waves, going from topic to topic akin to a grain of sand being carried by the tides.
Eden watched Kikyo splash into the waves and Eden brought Saki back a moment and pulled her body to a stop. She wrapped her arms around Saki's torso, letting her hands run upwards towards her head and kissed Saki fully on the lips, letting her tongue slip into Saki's mouth and feel inside of her cheeks. She let go with her mouth, but continued to hold Saki close to her as she looked into her violet eyes.
Misake leaned her head to rest against Eden's, her violet eyes looking deep into her golden suns as if to make out the very fabric of her makeup. She still looked worried, motherly. Her curiosity still ate at her. She wanted to know.
Eden looked on and raised a hand to above her eyebrows as if saluting as she looked at Kikyo splashing in the water and crashing into the water. She looked back to Saki and saw the concern on the edges of her face.
"Let's sit down," Eden said and walked Saki away from the water and to a drier piece of empty sand. There were a few people on the beach today, but not many of them were near this particular spot.
"We're right here," Eden sent to Kikyo the telepathic message as the girl began swimming.
"Saki..." Eden said. "We need to talk. Not about what happened. I don't think I am ready to know what came of me. What happened to you. Kikyo. But what is going to happen is hard to swallow."
Eden's last sentence made Misaki fear what she was about to hear, but she knew she needed to hear it. Her face of concern grew stronger as she sat down, then moved herself to lean against Eden.
She was slightly trembling, fearing the worst.
Eden said what she knew immediately, "I've been asked to step down as a captain and work as an XO. You will still be on the next ship, I know that much." She moved her hand to hold Saki's. "Nobody is getting taken off the ship unless they ask for transfer, only additions will be made."
One of Misaki's eyes twitched, "You go through that hell of a universe and you get a rankless demotion, a slap on the face, and they don't even consult those who were there? I... I..." She stammered off on her words before just burying her face in Eden's shoulder, silently.
After a while she spoke up again, "Why? Who in their right mind takes the Kaiyo away from her Captain?"
"Star Army Command," Eden replied succinctly. "That's who." She lifted a hand and stroked Misaki's chocolate brown hair and rubbed her cheek into the crown of Saki's head. "That's all that was on my mind. When I met the new captain... I thought she had come to tell me..." Eden stammered. "I thought you were dead, forever gone."
Misaki gave a whine, her eyes beginning to glisten. "We thought you were gone too." The now-former XO held in her anger towards the fleet command, towards the admirals, towards even the Empress herself.
Everyone had lost so much faith, gaining it all back for only a moment before being effectively berated and denied. They had travelled between dimensions, and conquered the odds by coming back across the void on space.
Misaki had to deal with survivor's guilt, Kikyo had to deal with the loss of her mother, and they were greeted by shallow thanks.
Eden, again, held Saki's hand and soon, was pulling her up and walked towards the surf's edge where the sand was moist and hard but not where the water would touch them unless the tide changed. She started digging fervently and looked up to Saki, smiling and coaxing her to join in.
Misaki cocked her head to the side, "Why are we digging a hole?"
"To make a sand castle!" Eden said excitedly. "Do it with me! We need a big pile of sand to build around a nice hole. Do you want to make a sculpted castle or a drip castle?"
Misaki's face began to light up as she crouched down. She gently began digging into the sand before stopping and looking at her hands, "It's in my nails..."
"You have to keep going," Eden said as she moved her body to pull sand out of the now-large hole. Then, feeling like the first part was done, she sat down with one knee bent and her foot under her other leg's thigh, which was straight along the hole's edge.
Misaki sat down and watched for a moment, looking past her for a moment to the nearly empty beach then upwards at the sky.
"Do you think we could get a tan from this?"
Eden looked up to Saki and grinned. "Yes, and I'd like to see you with one, for certain."
Eden and Saki both were already turning a very light, almost indiscernible shade of pink and Eden spoke, saying, "You relax while I build this up." She took a bit of the wet sand from her pile and let it slowly, gently fall out of her hand and made a few bases for spires before building them up. "It's relaxing being on a vacation planet with you. I was bored out of my mind before you came. Now and before," Eden said, smiling wryly as her golden eyes looked at Saki. "I was nothing before you came into my life, Teien Misaki."
Misaki flopped on her back and removed her volumetrics. She stretched out in the sand and undid the black sports bra and placed it under her head. She closed her eyes and sighed once she heard Eden speak.
"Did I ever tell you about what happened to me during the war? When I got cornered?"
"N-no..." Eden said, dripping the sand onto a new spire base, but looking between that and Saki. "Will you tell me now?"
"Back when the Sharies were a relatively new class of ship, the one I was assigned on was in a mass fleet. I think it was around the Battle of Rabaal that this happened. I was off duty and helping with the damage control when suddenly we were boarded in mass. I freaked out and hid in a closet. Well, when I thought I was getting saved I found myself looking at a Nightmare."
Misaki moved her legs a little, running her toes through the damp sand as she took a short breath.
"Well, it didn't wait very long to... well... violate. I lost consciousness but I woke up some point later in pain and in a puddle of hemosynth and filth. Something about me felt wrong, so I didn't move. It wasn't until a few days later I was found. They took me to the Medbay and found that I was being used to birth. I lived in a containment unit for almost a month until they ripped me open trying to get out. I woke up in a tube, and without thinking accepted to have my memories returned. That included all of what I went through. I still have nightmares about it, but after that I became the shy and broken mess that you met when the Kaiyo launched. You might have thought you were nothing, but I was anything but nothing. I was broken."
The sand was dotted with teardrops that were soon absorbed into it as they disappeared. Eden was sniffling and crying and shaken. Her black hair hung around her face and she was looking at the bottom of the sand castle she had made, into its depths. Then, she closed her eyes and lept from her position, it seemed, in order to hug Saki. She held her as she quivered and sent all of the love she could in a telepathic message.
Misaki, tears flowing, nuzzled against Eden while stammering, "T-This reality is a hellscape. No one understands anyone anymore. I have been broken ever since then, Eden, I want to know if I've done something wrong."
The latter part of Saki's statement shook Eden to her core and confused her to her soul.
"There is nothing you have ever done that is wrong. You have been perfect from the moment I met you," Eden told Saki whole-heartedly.
"Then why does Command want to shove me down? Why does Command want to strip apart what cohesiveness was present on the Kaiyo and wedge in someone to take the reins of a crew so used to what was?"
Misaki tucked her legs to effectively rest in Eden's lap, hoping Kikyo wasn't watching and feeling ashamed of her mother. She was watching, but she didn't feel any shame. She instead began brushing back Misaki's hair.
How long had she been behind Eden?
Eden gave Kikyo a wan smile, looking up and at her as she rested a hand on Saki's leg and put another one on her hand.
"I don't know," Eden said simply. "I don't know if I want to find out, either."
Misaki grew very quiet and very red when she noticed Kikyo trying to comfort her. Kikyo spoke up, "It's okay, Mommy, we all have our hardships and breakdowns." This only made Misaki's eyes wetter, but for a different reason. She really was taking after the both of them.
Eden kissed Saki's hand as she pulled it up to her face and looked to Kikyo. "You're a wonderful Neko for saying that, Kikyo. One day you will have a ship named after you. The YSS Kikyo. And a medal besides the Tomoyoe's Kikyo. There will be a Teien Kikyo Medal. There will be a monument on this very world celebrated Teien Kikyo. And you know what," Eden said. "You will never get a Tomoyoe's Kikyo through it all. Teien Kikyo, the Neko who lived. I will make sure of that."
Eden smiled lovingly and looked at Saki warmly after she had peeled her golden eyes away from Kikyo's familial face.
Crew Cabin 701
16日 6月 YE 39
1300 Hours
There was nothing like losing oneself to the confines of death. What was worse, losing one's family in the process. For hours after being revived, the golden-eyed and tall Neko, Teien Eden, anxiously waited for word of her family. Any word at all.
The last thing she knew, she had been languidly laying on the bed of the YSS Kaiyō's medical lab getting a soul transfer while her daughter and wife waited for their own. Eden wondered, would their memories be more than hers when they came back? Would they come back in their ship, in a tube like Eden had arrived on Yamatai in, or at all?
But she had heard back about them. They had been found, listless and drifting, West of the Ketsurui Military Sector, where Eden now was. Above Hanako's World on Gemini Star Fortress, Eden had waited. For this moment. For the moment Kaiyō came back. Eden was far from where the ship would arrive. She had been asked not to associate with the crew until the appropriate time came, but her wife and daughter could not be kept from her. She had sent the request and it had been approved that she be able to have them come directly to her room. She sat on the edge of the bed in her temporary residence, watching the door. Waiting.
A few minutes passed, but there was a knock at the door. It sounded a little odd, like it was slightly hard but still restrained.
Eden shot up and stood straight as a rod as she quickly said, "Come in!"
The door creaked open, and two sets of footsteps emerged. Misaki looked the same as she always did, adorned in her duty uniform and hair all back behind her shoulders except for her usual strands wanting to lay across her shoulders. In front of her, with her mother's hands on her shoulders, was a much taller Kikyo than Eden would remember.
Kikyo was two thirds the size of Misaki and was starting to develop more like her mother. Unfortunately, due to Kikyo outgrowing her clothes on the ride over and not wasting any time to get here, she was wearing a cornflower blue-paneled uniform with no rank markings, or anything except for a Hinomaru on her right shoulder.
Both were teary eyed, but Misaki was the one to speak first, "As far as I know, the Soul Survivor Pod made it back, so we can see if we can get any scrap of information from as close to your death as possible. I've submitted a report to command about the period leading up to your death and the week we spent adrift."
She hesitated before sniffling and breathing as if to struggle to breathe, "D-Don't do it again..."
The Shosa's golden eyes moved from Saki to Kikyo, then back up again to Saki. Her black eyebrows went up in the middles and she parted her lips to speak.
"I..." Eden began, then shifted where she stood before ending up not saying anything at all. She lunged forward with her arms wide and pushed her face into Saki's shoulder while wrapping an arm around Kikyo. She breathed in Misaki's sweet lavender scent and rubbed her nose into the epaulettes of her wife's uniform before raising her head and kissing Saki's cream-colored cheek. She squeezed Kikyo's arm gently, looking down at the very young Neko with a sad smile on her face. She had to blink every few second to keep her eyes dry.
Misaki, equally straining on keeping her eyes dry spoke up tearily, "D-Don't hold it in, I-I have to cry too."
Kikyo had buried her face in Eden's side, already two steps ahead of both of them trying to muffle herself as best she could, though she still was quite audible.
A soft, albeit loud, sob escaped Eden as she looked away from Misaki. She held her cheek against her wife's shoulder as her hand held Kikyo and her other went to Saki's back, clinging to her. Eden turned her head back to Saki after a few more sobs had come from her. Cheeks now wet, she spoke out in quiet, hoarse words.
"What happened? Not to me... To you. Were you... Are you okay?" Eden forced a hopeful smile, but it looked unwelcome on her face as she looked into Misaki's shaded purple eyes.
"W-What is your last memory, from then?" Misaki broke through her sobs for a moment, gently stroking back Kikyo's hair as she let loose a weeks worth of pent-up sadness in form of muffled wails.
"We-we... We had just had lunch together. Secretly we had a laugh about needing a new cook and it was... It was the first time I had smiled all day when Kikyo said that. Then afterwards, we thought to ST and all three of us did. It was the first of this month, Saki." Eden stood up straight to brush Saki's now-wettened hair off of her shoulder and asked, "What happened to you?" Eden added desperately.
"It won't make sense unless I tell you why, we're fine." She wasn't going to tell Eden about her sleepless nights, how she stayed on the bridge for two hours after coming back through, and she wasn't at all going to tell her how Kikyo went to wait for her to return in the medbay.
Eden's eyes lowered down to Kikyo and she barely knelt down. She used to have to do it so much more when she wanted to get on her daughter's level. She had grown, but if it wa more than Eden was comfortable with, she didnt yet know.
"How are you feeling?" Eden asked. She had moved her hand off of Kikyo's shoulder and tilted her head as she looked into the eyes that looked just like Saki's. "Alright, I hope?"
Kikyo's sniffled as the did her best to keep herself from falling apart at the seams. Despite her best efforts, she was too naive for her own good. "Why didn't you ST home instead of here? I-I was waiting for you..."
She tightened her grip on Eden's clothing and tucked her head into what fabric she could. Above, Misaki twisted her face and bit her lip. Despite all her efforts to try and make this as painless as possible it all was for nothing as she leaned her head onto Eden's shoulder and commenced to bawling.
Eden sniffed in and held her top lip in her mouth for a moment before speaking. "I would have, Little one. I would have. It wasn't my choice. And if I hadn't ST'd in Yamatai, the ship may have not been found. Regardless of that though," Eden said, eyebrows going up and down convulsively as she tried hard not to cry more. "Regardless, I would have rather been with you." Eden then brought her hand up to the back of Kikyo's head and pulled her face close to Eden's own. "I would have rather been with you, I promise."
Kikyo leaned against her mother and nuzzled against Eden's neck affectionately. Misaki sucked wind and gained back her composure, "Either I am going to tell you what you don't remember or she will. I don't want to risk command skewing details because of SAINT or because we lost the ship. If they want to punish me for it, they'll have to take all of it away."
"'Lost the ship..'" Eden repeated, as if in a daze. "Tell me everything. But not now. Now we're going to," Eden said, breathing in and smiling once more, this time in a more cheery, if not still wet-cheeked, way. "We're going to the beach. Put on your volumetric clothing suited for the occassion and we'll go." Eden herself was wearing a rather plain sports T-shirt and running shorts with tennis shoes, looking as if she had this planned out.
Kikyo literally copied Eden, Misaki growing a little blushed as she changed her uniform to the exercise uniform with a white T-Shirt. "She learned how to use her volumetrics on the way over, she's still getting used to it though so sometimes it screws with her a bit."
Eden laughed gently, "I understand. You're doing great, Little one." She put her hand out to hold Kikyo's and they left the room. Eden was quiet for a long time until they were on a shuttle and even then, she didn't want to talk while others could hear, so she telepathically spoke instead.
"Have you still been drawing?" Eden asked Kikyo excitedly, though her voice was strained, a little too hopeful.
Kikyo nodded, responding telepathically, "I had to help for the week were adrift, but on the transport home I got some stuff together and made something. I didn't bring it with me though."
"I can't wait to see," Eden replied to her. "Would you like it if we tried drawing together sometime? I can draw with you." Truth be told, Eden wanted to do everything she could with Kikyo now that she had lost her once. "We can do some drawing. Anytime."
Kikyo smiled and leaned against Eden's arm, rubbing against her for a second while Misaki watched on. She knew something was up with Eden not talking, she hadn't said anything since they had left. She would bring it up later, doing it now would only upset the mood.
Eden looked hesitantly between Kikyo and Saki, then leaned back in her chair until they were on the ground of Hanako's World. They stepped out of the shuttle and Eden continued to hold Kikyo's hand as if it were her rope to safety while they made their way through the starport and then towards the nearest beach.
"How is," Eden began, then stopped herself. Leaving it at that, she turned to Saki and gave her a half smile.
Misaki raised an eyebrow, telepathically asking in a very concerned tone, "Honey, what's wrong? You're, not yourself."
"I was going to ask about your other..." Eden trailed off one more time, then continued. "How is Meissa?"
"She's fine, though you're not." Misaki added a beat later. "I'm the one that should be all shaken up, I watched my home blow itself apart, hell I watched the ship that was your grave detonate like a... well... we'll get to that later. Ever still, you're hiding something from me."
"You shot her?" Eden asked, almost biting her tongue. Her eyes glittered as she looked to Saki with a genuine smile. "You shot it?"
"I didn't, Meissa tried and she told me Hanna finished her off. She was... well... pissing everyone off. I'll tie that up when I tell you what happened. You might not believe it, but we all owe you a lot."
"It's nice to hear that I'll be told what happened," Eden sighed, swinging her arm slightly while holding Kikyo's hand. They could just now see the beach and the ground began to get sandier and crunched underneath their feet. "What I want to know is how you came out of it alive, huh? Both of you. You're very brave, you know." Eden had been looking at both Saki and Kikyo equally.
"Takes someone with bravery to teach the ones that need to be taught. Remember, I used to be a trembling mess when I first got aboard, and by the end of my tour onboard I was the rock in which everyone stood on. I didn't like being the CO, because I needed mine."
With a sigh, Misaki changed the subject, "Which beach is this, I've been trapped in a uniform for weeks."
Eden smiled as Saki spoke, then when she asked which beach they were at she shrugged and let go of Kikyo's hand. "Race to the water!" Eden said, looking from Kikyo to Saki. Slowly, but surely, she was growing to be herself again.
Kikyo smiled and began running in a dead sprint, Misaki swallowing her concerns to follow. Both of them were fighting the gaining sand to get traction, with Kikyo stumbling slightly before getting her footing again.
Eden began running and when Kikyo began stumbling, Eden reached out her arms to catch her, but soon the girl had corrected herself and moved to a position where she could keep running. Eden slowed a bit to look at Saki and moved closer to her, grabbing Saki's hand and runnign with her to the water, following Kikyo.
Saki took the hand quickly, almost falling herself but stayed upright due to quick foot movements. She let herself be led rather than attempting to run at a high speed. Her mind drifted with the waves, going from topic to topic akin to a grain of sand being carried by the tides.
Eden watched Kikyo splash into the waves and Eden brought Saki back a moment and pulled her body to a stop. She wrapped her arms around Saki's torso, letting her hands run upwards towards her head and kissed Saki fully on the lips, letting her tongue slip into Saki's mouth and feel inside of her cheeks. She let go with her mouth, but continued to hold Saki close to her as she looked into her violet eyes.
Misake leaned her head to rest against Eden's, her violet eyes looking deep into her golden suns as if to make out the very fabric of her makeup. She still looked worried, motherly. Her curiosity still ate at her. She wanted to know.
Eden looked on and raised a hand to above her eyebrows as if saluting as she looked at Kikyo splashing in the water and crashing into the water. She looked back to Saki and saw the concern on the edges of her face.
"Let's sit down," Eden said and walked Saki away from the water and to a drier piece of empty sand. There were a few people on the beach today, but not many of them were near this particular spot.
"We're right here," Eden sent to Kikyo the telepathic message as the girl began swimming.
"Saki..." Eden said. "We need to talk. Not about what happened. I don't think I am ready to know what came of me. What happened to you. Kikyo. But what is going to happen is hard to swallow."
Eden's last sentence made Misaki fear what she was about to hear, but she knew she needed to hear it. Her face of concern grew stronger as she sat down, then moved herself to lean against Eden.
She was slightly trembling, fearing the worst.
Eden said what she knew immediately, "I've been asked to step down as a captain and work as an XO. You will still be on the next ship, I know that much." She moved her hand to hold Saki's. "Nobody is getting taken off the ship unless they ask for transfer, only additions will be made."
One of Misaki's eyes twitched, "You go through that hell of a universe and you get a rankless demotion, a slap on the face, and they don't even consult those who were there? I... I..." She stammered off on her words before just burying her face in Eden's shoulder, silently.
After a while she spoke up again, "Why? Who in their right mind takes the Kaiyo away from her Captain?"
"Star Army Command," Eden replied succinctly. "That's who." She lifted a hand and stroked Misaki's chocolate brown hair and rubbed her cheek into the crown of Saki's head. "That's all that was on my mind. When I met the new captain... I thought she had come to tell me..." Eden stammered. "I thought you were dead, forever gone."
Misaki gave a whine, her eyes beginning to glisten. "We thought you were gone too." The now-former XO held in her anger towards the fleet command, towards the admirals, towards even the Empress herself.
Everyone had lost so much faith, gaining it all back for only a moment before being effectively berated and denied. They had travelled between dimensions, and conquered the odds by coming back across the void on space.
Misaki had to deal with survivor's guilt, Kikyo had to deal with the loss of her mother, and they were greeted by shallow thanks.
Eden, again, held Saki's hand and soon, was pulling her up and walked towards the surf's edge where the sand was moist and hard but not where the water would touch them unless the tide changed. She started digging fervently and looked up to Saki, smiling and coaxing her to join in.
Misaki cocked her head to the side, "Why are we digging a hole?"
"To make a sand castle!" Eden said excitedly. "Do it with me! We need a big pile of sand to build around a nice hole. Do you want to make a sculpted castle or a drip castle?"
Misaki's face began to light up as she crouched down. She gently began digging into the sand before stopping and looking at her hands, "It's in my nails..."
"You have to keep going," Eden said as she moved her body to pull sand out of the now-large hole. Then, feeling like the first part was done, she sat down with one knee bent and her foot under her other leg's thigh, which was straight along the hole's edge.
Misaki sat down and watched for a moment, looking past her for a moment to the nearly empty beach then upwards at the sky.
"Do you think we could get a tan from this?"
Eden looked up to Saki and grinned. "Yes, and I'd like to see you with one, for certain."
Eden and Saki both were already turning a very light, almost indiscernible shade of pink and Eden spoke, saying, "You relax while I build this up." She took a bit of the wet sand from her pile and let it slowly, gently fall out of her hand and made a few bases for spires before building them up. "It's relaxing being on a vacation planet with you. I was bored out of my mind before you came. Now and before," Eden said, smiling wryly as her golden eyes looked at Saki. "I was nothing before you came into my life, Teien Misaki."
Misaki flopped on her back and removed her volumetrics. She stretched out in the sand and undid the black sports bra and placed it under her head. She closed her eyes and sighed once she heard Eden speak.
"Did I ever tell you about what happened to me during the war? When I got cornered?"
"N-no..." Eden said, dripping the sand onto a new spire base, but looking between that and Saki. "Will you tell me now?"
"Back when the Sharies were a relatively new class of ship, the one I was assigned on was in a mass fleet. I think it was around the Battle of Rabaal that this happened. I was off duty and helping with the damage control when suddenly we were boarded in mass. I freaked out and hid in a closet. Well, when I thought I was getting saved I found myself looking at a Nightmare."
Misaki moved her legs a little, running her toes through the damp sand as she took a short breath.
"Well, it didn't wait very long to... well... violate. I lost consciousness but I woke up some point later in pain and in a puddle of hemosynth and filth. Something about me felt wrong, so I didn't move. It wasn't until a few days later I was found. They took me to the Medbay and found that I was being used to birth. I lived in a containment unit for almost a month until they ripped me open trying to get out. I woke up in a tube, and without thinking accepted to have my memories returned. That included all of what I went through. I still have nightmares about it, but after that I became the shy and broken mess that you met when the Kaiyo launched. You might have thought you were nothing, but I was anything but nothing. I was broken."
The sand was dotted with teardrops that were soon absorbed into it as they disappeared. Eden was sniffling and crying and shaken. Her black hair hung around her face and she was looking at the bottom of the sand castle she had made, into its depths. Then, she closed her eyes and lept from her position, it seemed, in order to hug Saki. She held her as she quivered and sent all of the love she could in a telepathic message.
Misaki, tears flowing, nuzzled against Eden while stammering, "T-This reality is a hellscape. No one understands anyone anymore. I have been broken ever since then, Eden, I want to know if I've done something wrong."
The latter part of Saki's statement shook Eden to her core and confused her to her soul.
"There is nothing you have ever done that is wrong. You have been perfect from the moment I met you," Eden told Saki whole-heartedly.
"Then why does Command want to shove me down? Why does Command want to strip apart what cohesiveness was present on the Kaiyo and wedge in someone to take the reins of a crew so used to what was?"
Misaki tucked her legs to effectively rest in Eden's lap, hoping Kikyo wasn't watching and feeling ashamed of her mother. She was watching, but she didn't feel any shame. She instead began brushing back Misaki's hair.
How long had she been behind Eden?
Eden gave Kikyo a wan smile, looking up and at her as she rested a hand on Saki's leg and put another one on her hand.
"I don't know," Eden said simply. "I don't know if I want to find out, either."
Misaki grew very quiet and very red when she noticed Kikyo trying to comfort her. Kikyo spoke up, "It's okay, Mommy, we all have our hardships and breakdowns." This only made Misaki's eyes wetter, but for a different reason. She really was taking after the both of them.
Eden kissed Saki's hand as she pulled it up to her face and looked to Kikyo. "You're a wonderful Neko for saying that, Kikyo. One day you will have a ship named after you. The YSS Kikyo. And a medal besides the Tomoyoe's Kikyo. There will be a Teien Kikyo Medal. There will be a monument on this very world celebrated Teien Kikyo. And you know what," Eden said. "You will never get a Tomoyoe's Kikyo through it all. Teien Kikyo, the Neko who lived. I will make sure of that."
Eden smiled lovingly and looked at Saki warmly after she had peeled her golden eyes away from Kikyo's familial face.
