Chapter Text
The very earth seemed to shudder beneath her, as what she had assumed was the faint rumble of distant thunder grew into a sickening roar. The sound drowning out everything around her as Sara witnessed the distant peak of Mt. Yougou erupt into flames through her viewfinder’s telescopic lens.
Before she could so much as think, Sara could already feel herself in motion. A flood of elemental energy surging from her vision, pouring into the massive clockwork meka she had been testing only moments before. The enormous machine’s thundering steps echoed through an Inazuma City that had suddenly gone silent, its people gazing out into the distance in shock. She tore across the city streets, the cockpit reverberating with the sounds of whirring gears and straining servos as she made haste towards the billowing dark plume which now stained the sky above Inazuma’s most sacred site.
Each step Sara took up the mountain path felt heavier than the last. The higher she climbed, the greater the sense of dread grew in the pit of her stomach. Until, at last her meka crested the peak and the scene that unfolded before her, nearly stole her very breath.
Smoke choked the air, turning the once pristine grounds of the Grand Narukami Shrine into a raging inferno. Flames danced across the wreckage, a group of shrine maidens huddled together looking on helplessly, their faces etched with despair as they watched the growing destruction before them. Sara's gaze swept over the panicked crowd, searching for the familiar form of the Guuji, but there was no sign of her amongst them. That’s when she felt it, the unmistakable crackle of electro energy, pulsing through the air from the heart of the burning shrine.
“Guuji Yae!” The scream tore from Sara’s throat, amplified by the meka’s external speakers. Yet, her voice raw with desperation, echoed unanswered throughout the ruined shrine.
Heat radiated from both the raging fire outside and the steam engine within the meka. But Sara, driven by a fierce sense of duty, determinedly marched her mechanical steed deeper into the blaze.
The meka’s hulking form tore through the flaming remains of the torii gates, debris showering down around her. Each step forward through the smoldering ruins of the main hall sending a jolt of panic through Sara. Was she too late? Had she failed her Shogun once again? But then she spotted her, Sara’s gaze locking onto a lone figure standing defiant amongst the flames raging around her.
Yae Miko stood unyielding, one arm raised, the other clutched to her side, clearly injured. Her usually immaculate white robes now a tattered mess of singed fabric, stained with ash. Her unbound hair whipped around her, a wild mane that mirrored the storm of electro kitsune spirits surrounding her. Their crackling forms the only thing standing between the raging inferno before her and the smoldering Sacred Sakura behind her. Miko’s eyes met Sara’s, their familiar mischievous glint now gone, replaced with a cold fury.
“Guuji Yae, listen to me!” Sara’s voice crackled through the meka’s external comms as she kneeled before the kitsune. “You need to get out of this place, now! It’s too dangerous for you to stay here!”
A flicker of relief flitted across Yae Miko’s features as she took in the sight of the hulking meka before her. But it vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced by fierce determination.
“This is sacred ground, General,” her voice rang out, strained but unwavering. “We cannot just abandon Inazuma’s heart in its time of need.”
Yae Miko raised her gohei, a torrent of lightning arcing from its end, before lancing through a burning beam teetering precariously above the meka. The wood splintered with a deafening crack, sparks showering down around Sara.
"This,” Miko spat, her voice tinged with ice, “was deliberate. They wanted this shrine gone, just like…the Shogun."
Frustration laced Sara’s voice. “Guuji Yae,” she said through gritted teeth, “with all due respect, you need to evacuate. This situation is far too dangerous. The shrine’s survival is important, but it’s your safety that is paramount right now.”
Miko fixed her an unreadable expression, her gaze lingering on the flames surrounding her, before a fleeting glimpse of pain crossed her features. “Ei…the Raiden Shogun, entrusted me with the protection of this shrine,” she spoke, her voice low. “I cannot simply abandon it, especially now that…”
"Leave the shrine to me," Sara interrupted through her comms, an unfamiliar surge of protectiveness tightening in her chest.
“Inazuma needs you.”
The meka’s chest cavity hissed open, revealing Sara within. Weary, a silent plea in her eyes, with an arm extended towards the shrine maiden.
“I need you.”
She managed to force the words out, the tightening in her chest growing as she spoke them, yet she forced herself to continue, “I can’t do this all on my own. We’ve lost enough already. Our country needs you more than it needs what’s left of the shrine.”
Miko’s gaze darted between the meka, and the devastation surrounding the Sacred Sakura. Her jaw clenched and a tremor of something ran through her hand. A fleeting flicker of fear threatening to break through her façade. Then, with a shuddering breath, she dismissed the shimmering ring of electro kitsune.
"Very well," she conceded, her voice laced with a hint of weariness, “but first things first…” Her gaze turned towards the sill raging inferno growing ever closer to the Sacred Sakura, before climbing into the meka’s open cockpit beside Sara. “Please, help me put out this fire, General.”
Scanning the area, Sara spotted the pools of water reflecting the flames’ glow near the shrine’s entrance. With Miko now safely inside, the meka’s internal mechanisms groaned as Sara lurched it upright, out of its kneeling position and into action. It’s gears whirred to life, propelling them through the burning remains of the shrine. The ancient timbers letting out a mournful protest as the machine tore itself away from the heart of the blaze. Bursting through the entrance, Sara slammed the meka’s full weight into the shrine’s pond, sending a desperate spray across the burning buildings.
The inferno sputtered into embers, casting an eerie glow over the Sacred Sakura as it kept vigil over the wreckage of the once majestic Grand Narukami Shrine. Relief flooded through her as she loosened her grip on the meka’s controls, but a glance at Miko in the narrow cockpit beside her, sent Sara’s heart hammering once again. The kitsune was unconscious, a dark stain blooming across her robes from her injured arm.
Ignoring the exhaustion clawing at her, Sara slammed the meka’s controls forward, down the steep mountain path. Leaving behind the smoldering ashes of the shrine, each jolt and twist of the descent added to the worry filling Sara’s gut, as she forced the machine down in a frantic race to seek treatment for Miko in the safety of Inazuma City.