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A vision of a raging inferno stretched before her. The burning makeshift huts of the infected, the corpses lying on the ground—both knights and civilians—, and in the midst of it, distorted by the flickering flames and heat, she could see the greyish figure of her fellow Zalak knight, the sound of cannonfire that always accompanied her echoing over the burning land. Next to her lay several other figures; squinting, she could make out the familiar look of the Armorless Union's goons' equipment. Some of them were on the ground, unmoving, while several others were surrounding the Knight. One of the figures gave some sort of signal, waving their hand, and in that same moment all of the Union assassins jumped on Ashlock at the same time, weapons in hand. The sight pulled Sona out of her stupor. She immediately gripped the blade next to her, bolting out in a fury towards the attackers, shouting, "You! Get away from-"
She was brought back to reality by a jolt of pain on her face, the feeling of cold metal having substituted the heat of the flames. She looked around her, bewildered, and realized she was laying on the floor of her room in Rhodes Island. She looked behind her towards her bed, seeing the sheets coiling around her leg. She was still gripping her sword.
Sona calmed down, letting out a sigh. She removed the sheets from her leg and sat down on the bed, leaving the sword rested against the wall as she had done before going to sleep. Right, she thought, This is my room. We're no longer in Kazimierz. She took a deep breath, raising her head towards the ceiling, then let it out. The new night clothes she bought from Rhodes' shop, a simple t-shirt and shorts in the characteristic dark blue of the RI uniforms—cheap, yet surprisingly comfortable—were stained with sweat. I just got them from cleaning and I have to send them back again, she thought.
A sudden knock in her door knocked her out of it. She immediatenly tensed up and grabbed her sword—as she had done dozens upon dozens of times before—, staring intensely at the door, trying to make out who could be out there this late at night.
"Operator Flametail, is everything alright?" a voice from the other side spoke. Sona identified the sound of the Doctor's voice, and calmed down with a sigh.
"Y-yeah! No problem!" she answered, trying not to raise her voice too loud. "Uh, come in, if you want!". She pressed a button up in the console next to her bed, unlocking the door—This really is convenient—and looked at the masked figure of the Doctor come in.
"I was walking through the corridor outside when I heard you shout, followed by the sound of a strike." The doctor looked around the room for a second. "I trust everything is fine?"
"Oh, yeah, haha, it's fine," answered Sona, nervously laughing. "Just had a bad dream and fell off the bed, that's all."
"I see. I'm glad it was nothing serious."
"What about you, Doc? Burning the midnight oil?"
"Ah, yes." answered the Doctor, letting their shoulders slump in exhaustion. "Plenty of overtime work today. But I just finished with this." They said, pointing their finger towards the little mailbox that was attached next to the door. "I came to bring you girls some documents you'll need here at Rhodes." They then took out a small book from one of their pockets. "Like our rulebook, here. Well, most of it is common sense, but you should all still give it a read when you can. Please tell the others that when they wake up, if it's not a bother."
"Oh, yeah, sure. I will." Sona thought it odd to see such a high-ranking individual taking care of such a meager task.
"Well, I'll be off then. Goodnight, Flametail." said the Doctor, stepping out the door.
"Yeah, you too Doctor. 'night."
The door closed, and Sona's room was once again submerged in silence. Not wanting to go back to sleep, she went to the small bathroom encased in one side of her room and cleaned her face in the sink. She took a look at herself in the mirror, noticing the bags under the eyes. I should try to get some sleep, she thought, We've got training tomorrow.
As she made her way back to her bed, someone else knocked on the door. "Hey, Sona, you there?" said the immediately recognizable voice.
Sona quickly went to the door, choosing to meet the new guest face to face. She was greeted by the always comforting face of her partner, Ashlock. "Hey, Ashley." said Sona, bewildered. "What's up? It's really late."
"Uh, what?" answered Ashlock, stepping inside the room. "That Doctor came to my room and woke me up. Said you wanted to see me?"
"Huh? I didn't say-" Sona stopped, seemingly having realized something. "Hah, yeah. That's why they are the master tactician here."
"Hm?"
"No, no, nothing." Sona took a look at Ashlock, seeing she was wearing the same clothes as her. Guess we think the same, she thought. "Uh... yeah. I guess I wanted to see you. Sorry for waking you up."
"It's fine, I'm used to it." Ashlock took a look at Sona, eyeing her up and down.
"Whoa! Checking me out?" said Sona with fake embarassment, hugging herself.
"Heh. Idiot." answered Ashlock, "You look kinda rattled. Are you alright?"
Sona knew she couldn't keep anything from her girlfriend. They had spent too much time together for that. "Yeah," she said, "I mean, it was nothing, though. Just a shitty dream."
"Hmmmmm" mumbled Ashlock. She walked towards the bed and sat on it. "Hey." she said, looking at Sona and patting the space next to her. "Come here."
Sona obeyed, moving towards her and sitting next to her. The moment she did, Ashlock gently grabbed her head and pulled it towards her shoulder, running her fingers through Sona's hair. Sona let herself be comforted like that, grabbing onto Ashlock's arm and pulling herself closer, smiling with her eyes closed. They stood like that for a while, enjoying each other's company in silence.
"You are not usually so forward, Ashley," said Sona, breaking the silence. "I like it, though."
"Hmpf" grumbled Ashlock in fake frustration, "Today's special."
"Oh? Lucky me~" said Sona, and fell silent again, enjoying the feeling of Ashlock's hand in her head. "Hey, Ashley," she said at last in a tiny voice, "We... We're safe here, right?"
Ashlock remained silent. She thought about everything the two had gone through; all the fights, the assassins, the fake blood-soaked glory of the competition field, the infected they had seen die and those that chose to do so sword in hand, the newspapers proclaiming their victories in the same breath they condemned them as infected, and all the events of the Major that had led them to ultimately join Rhodes Island. It was a strange feeling, knowing that, as she sat there quietly spending time with her lover, her friends were peacefully snoring in the rooms next to them, when just the last week they had been running ragged from place to place under the constant threat of death, catching what little sleep they could all huddled together with their arms and armor in hand, always sleeping with one eye open.
Ashlock thought about all of that when she answered Sona. "...Yeah. I... I think we are."
Sona could feel herself tearing up. "I'm... I'm glad... I'm glad I can spend time with you like this, Ashley."
"Mm. Me too, Sona." She made as if she had not noticed the redhead's tears, letting her wipe them with the back of her hand. "Hey, you know what hapenned to Iwona today?"
"Hm? What?"
"She waltzed into the training area and just up and challenged one of the... uh... Elite Operators they are called? to a fight. Blaze, I think they said her name was. "I ain't gonna take no orders from some weaklings! Come at me!" she said, apparently."
Sona chuckled. "Hah. Classic Iwona. So what happened?"
"She got her ass kicked. Spectacularly."
Sona let out a laugh. "Yeah, that's our Wild Mane alright."
Ashlock smiled, seeing Sona cheer up. "Heh, yeah. Still, seemed like that Blaze woman took a liking to her. She dragged her to the canteen afterwards and got plastered together. Caused quite a ruckus it seems. Even got scolded by someone."
"Really? Well, I'm glad she's already making friends." said Sona, chuckling.
"Yeah." Ashlock paused. "Honestly... I like that. You know, being able to duke it out with someone and then just hang out normally. Not fighting for your life every single time. That's... that's how it should be. We just came here, but, if this is a place like that... I feel I could come to like this place."
"Mmm. I was also pretty skeptical about this... I mean, hell, after everything going on in Kazimierz this place sounded like a dream, how could it be real?" Sona paused, "But then I saw all the infected here, even the girl at that medical checkup they had us get when we came here was one. Got prescribed proper treatment too, not that crap that passes for medicine in Kazimierz..." Sona pulled out from Ashlock's embrace, standing straight and looking at the Zalak with serious eyes, "Maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but... For now at least, I want to bet on them. See how far they can get, even if this is all a dream... Ashley, will you stay beside me?"
"You know I will, Sona. And you know everyone else will, too. Pinus Sylvestris only has one leader."
"Hehe, thanks." answered Sona, blushing at the directness of the girl, "But, well, we're all just operators here, I'm not your leader or anything... I... Maybe I'm being selfish, but I want you all with me out of your own volition."
Ashlock sighed, her arms crossed. "And you think we weren't already? You know we never cared about ranks or knightclubs or whatever. I trust you, and I want to be with you. I know you'll never get us into any shady crap. That's all."
Sona was taken aback with embarassment. "W-wow, you really are being bold today..." she said, trying to cover up her feelings.
"Hmpf. I told you, today's special." Ashlock tried to act tough, but she too was starting to feel the embarassment creep in. She took a moment to calm herself down, then asked "Feeling better, Sona?"
Sona relaxed, giving the girl a gentle smile. "Yeah. Thanks, Ashley. For everything."
Ashlock smiled. "I'm glad. Well, I'll be going back to my room then." She tried to stand up, but was stopped by Sona pulling on her shirt.
"Hey, Ashley..." she said flustered, looking down at the ground. "Can you stay the night with me?"
Ashlock looked at her. "Hey, and you said I was being bold. You in the mood?"
"Idiot" chuckled Sona, pinching at the gray Zalak's side and earning a yelp from her. "I just wanna be with you tonight."
"Sure, sure." answered Ashlock, pulling away Sona's pinching hand.
Sona grinned. She pulled up the sheets of the bed, getting inside and patting the space next to her for Ashlock to get in. The girl followed suit, getting in next to Sona and pulling the sheets over them. Feeling rather cramped, the limitations of Rhodes' single-person beds came to light in Sona's mind. "Uh... Well, I guess this bed wasn't made for two people, haha." she said.
"Come closer then." answered Ashlock, tightly hugging Sona and bringing her close.
"Oh my, how gallant~" said the redhead in a playful tone, returning the hug and burying her head in Ashlock's chest.
"Mmn."
It was an odd feeling to be sleeping like that. Sona's mind brought back all the times the Pinus girls had slept together in the past; All huddled together, fully armored, arms in hand, taking turns to stay guard, hoping they would not wake with a knife slitting their throats.
And in that little bed, the two girls slept like regular lovers. Wearing simple pyjamas, their armor in storage, their weapons sheathed in a corner of their rooms. They were completely defenseless and yet, in the tight embrace of her girlfriend's strong arms, Sona had never felt safer.