Chapter Text
Floating. Numb. A slow rouse to conscious thought from the cold, unfeeling dark.
The sculpted girl opened her eyes and looked out into the room on the other side of the glass. It was dark... impenetrably so. She couldn't see anything...
She stretched out a hand and pressed her palm against the glass. Why am I in here? No one was around to answer, though she couldn't ask anyway through the mask on her face.
I feel so sluggish... Her hands reached up to that mask and gripped on. She wasn't sure why, but something in her mind told her she needed to get it off. She struggled with it, cursing her weak, numb fingers, until she noticed someone had appeared in front of her, on the other side of the glass.
Don't worry. I'll get you out. The voice spoke directly in her mind. The shadowed figure disappeared, leaving the sculpted girl confused until the fluid began to slowly drain from the tube she was in. Once it was down to her chest level, the mask disengaged and removed itself from her face. She gasped in a breath, a zing of pain coming from her lungs as they filled with air unassisted for the first time.
Alive. I'm alive.
Her unsteady feet met the grate at the base of the pod as the fluid finished draining. I can't feel my legs... As the glass slid down into the floor, the sculpted girl's legs gave out and caused her to sink to the floor.
"There, there." The voice that spoke to her earlier did so once again. "Relax, Storm. You're essentially a newborn, so it'll take everything a moment to start working."
"Storm...?" Is that my name?
"Yes, Storm. That's you." The blue-eyed woman knelt down next to the sculpted girl and stroked her hair gently. "Relax... take your time to get on your feet. We have nothing but time, after all."
Storm was quiet for a moment, then lifted her own dark eyes to meet the woman's. "Then... who are you?"
Sorashido.
Homare had heard of the place in passing during her conversations with Hana, but seeing it from above as her plane descended to the tarmac... it was beautiful. It reminded her of Hagukumi, in a way. Though, based on what Hana had told her last night, the overhead view wasn't the only way the two towns were alike.
She reclined in her first-class seat, mind wandering to the call she'd gotten from Hana. She'd been performing at a tournament in Moscow when the call came, so it was several hours before she'd seen the voicemail—not until she'd gotten back to her hotel room, in fact. At first, she'd just assumed Hana wanted to talk... it wasn't too uncommon for that to be the case, after all. Hana was an inherently social creature, after all, and Homare was the only one who she still spoke to regularly (neither her nor Hana seemed to be able to contact Saaya these days). However, what she got when she opened the voicemail was a sensation that sent a surge of ice down her spine.
Homare, Ritz is back. Come to Sorashido, I need you.
That had been it, but that was all Homare needed to hear. She'd immediately packed up, headed to the airport, and hopped on the earliest first-class flight to Sorashido. And now, as she departed the flight and headed through customs almost on auto-pilot, her mind drifted away from the reason for her visit to the fact that she was seeing Hana again.
It had been almost a year since she'd seen the other's face... and the last time she had, it was streaked with tears. Hana had been a mess last time they'd parted... stinging from her recent split with Saaya and Emiru moving away to be closer to Traum's laboratory, and now losing Homare as the latter pursued her career as a professional figure skater... it'd be good to see the smaller girl again.
"Homare!"
The call snapped Homare back to her senses. She barely had time to turn around before a pink rocket slammed right into her midsection, causing her to stumble back a few steps. "Whoa—jeez, someone's excited." Homare stroked Hana's hair, relishing the familiarity of the magenta curls under her fingers. She hasn't changed at all... "Haven't grown any taller, huh~?"
"Geh—c'mon, Homare, that's how you wanna lead off our reunion?"
"Right, right~ Ya doma, dorogaya!" She kissed the top of Hana's head and hugged her back. "I missed you, too, you little menace."
"Dorogaya again? C'mon, say it for real sometime~" Hana chuckled and disengaged, taking a bit more of a somber countenance as she sighed. "No luck with Saaya. Her parents moved overseas, too, so I can't contact them. And Emiru—"
"Yeah. There's no point with Emiru unless Ruru comes back in time again, and that's unlikely." Homare shrugged. "Maybe if we're lucky, they'll sense the danger and come join us. C'mon, help me grab my bags, babe."
Hana squawked at that. "How can you just drop that so casually?!"
"D'ya want me to say it 'for real' or not, Hana~?" Homare winked and stuck her tongue out, then took Hana's hand and headed towards the baggage claim. There'd be time to discuss Ritz's return later... for now, it was just the two of them.
"Feeling better, Sora?" Ageha handed Sora the new pair of sneakers the rest of the team had bought to celebrate Sora's recovery. "PT wasn't too rough on you?"
Sora grinned and laced up her shoes, clearly full of energy (unsurprising, as she'd been stuck idle in the hospital or at home for the past few weeks). "Not at all! I was just stoked to get better and start training again! Helps I've got the best cheer squad on my side!" She wrapped an arm around Mashiro's shoulders, pulling her in and giving her a quick kiss before tugging her shoelaces tight and hopping up, rolling her left shoulder to test the waters. "Bit stiff, sure, but I don't feel any pain!"
"That's great! Ain't it great, Tsubasa~?" Ageha took the boy by the shoulders and shook him excitedly.
"Eugh—A-Ageha, please..." He groaned.
"A-Anyway!" Mashiro coughed. "Remember, everyone, what we promised Nono-san."
"Oh, yeah... she should be swingin' by soon, right?" Ageha tilted her head, using Tsubasa's head as an arm rest (much to his chagrin).
"Mm, Grandma and I called her up earlier. Apparently the Mirror Pad can connect with that phone-like device she has."
"Interesting." Tsubasa just ignored Ageha using him as an arm rest. "Maybe at its core, the similarities between the two are enough to establish some kind of wavelength."
"... Hey, guys!" Sora leaned in with a twinkle in her eyes. "Let's make our own promise, between the four of us."
"What kinda promise? Something exciting~?" Ageha mimicked Sora's lean, causing Tsubasa and Mashiro to exchange an exasperated glance. These two just feed off each other, honestly.
"Yeah!" Sora put her hand out, palm-down, in the center of their little circle. "Let's promise... that the next time Battamonda and that blue-eyed woman show up, we'll make them regret ever messing with us!"
"That's a pretty vague promise, So—"
"Yeah! I'm so in!" Ageha grinned wide, putting her hand in the circle on top of Sora's. After weathering the expectant excited-puppy stares from Ageha and Sora, Mashiro and Tsubasa soon followed suit.
"We're gonna take all of Hana's training to heart, no matter how rough." Sora's eyes continued to sparkle, though now with determination instead of excitement. "We're gonna get way stronger than any Ranborg, and then we're gonna send Battamonda and that woman running away for good! Got it, team?!"
"Yeah! We got this, team! C'mon, on three! One, two—"
"What are we doing on three?!"
"Just do, like, an oh! or something! One, two—"
A sharp knock at the door interrupted Ageha's count, and the brunette visibly deflated. Mashiro took the opportunity to disengage from the hype huddle to go answer the door.
They're right to be excited, though. And even though Sora's 'promise' is pretty vauge... I'll take it to heart. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure Sora doesn't get hurt again.
Anything. I'll do anything.