Work Text:
A young gundam woman slid open a door, careful to make as little noise as possible. There was a bag slung over her shoulder. As she turned to slide the door closed behind her-
"Going somewhere?"
-She muffled a squeak as she whirled around, eye wide, to stare at the older gundam leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"U-uncle!" She regained her composure. "I was simply going for a walk."
"Really?" he said, doubt in his voice. "That pack of yours is too full for a walk, unless you're walking all the way to Lacroa." The musha stopped leaning on the wall and stepped close to her, his brown eyes concerned. "Are you going to try that spell again? Last time-"
Damn it, she should've put her pack away inside, but that would have woken up her friend who was sleeping in the bedroom next to hers. "-I figured out what went wrong. It will work!"
It had to. Or the last ten years she'd spent planning and researching would be moot.
He sighed. "I know there's no way I can stop you. All I ask is be safe. Your father would never forgive me if something happened to you."
The young woman dipped her head, knowing that there was a very good chance she'd never see him - or anyone else - ever again.
But it was a risk she was willing to take.
She blinked as her uncle raised his arms. "I know you're not all that fond of hugs, but can I hug you before you leave?" In case I never see you again-
She smiled quietly. "of course, Uncle."
He wraps his arms around her in a bear hug, squeezing her to his chest. She feels him press his mouth to the top of her helmet in a kiss. "Thank you for everything."
He let her go, but held on to her hands. His voice was rough with emotion. "I would have done it a thousand times over," he sniffed.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the sun rising. Noon was approaching. She had to leave now if she wanted to set up in time.
She pulled away. "I'm sorry," she said, only meeting her uncle's teary gaze briefly. "I have to go now."
He squeezed her hands, one last time, and didn't resist when she pulled them out of his grasp. "Goodbye. . . Please be safe. Take care of yourself!" he called, as she flew down the path.
She refused to look back.
A tear slid down her cheek at the thought of never seeing him or his family again, but she pushed on.
<◇>
She was galloping home, wind roaring in her ears. She gripped the reins tightly, making sure to give her mare proper slack, and simply held on - the mare knew the way as well as she herself did.
As they approached the house, her mare slowing from gallop to canter to trot, she noticed her father sitting on the edge of the porch, head in his hands.
"Dad?" she said, concern in her voice. "Is something wrong? Are you okay?"
He didn't look up when he replied. "She's gone. . . or going. I don't know. But she left to do another attempt and she says it'll work this time."
"What?! And you let her go?!" The musha woman dismounted, leaving her tired mare as she rushed to her father.
Her father shook his head. "There's no stopping her. She'll either succeed or continue her attempts until she dies. Stubborn. . . just like her father."
She growled, and ran past him into the house, stopping in her shared room with her sister friend, and immediately seeing the lack of most of her belongings. She bolted back outside and climbed on her horse, spurring the mare on in the direction she knew her friend had been doing her attempts.
"Where are you going?!" Her father called after her.
"Stopping her! Or getting her back! Whichever comes first!" she yelled back.
<◇>
She carefully studied the rune circle before her, making sure she hadn't missed anything or drawn something wrong.
She glanced up, confirming the sun was now directly overhead. The young knight was starting to overheat in her mostly darkly coloured armour.
No more reasons to put it off. She'd triple, double, and quadruple-checked both her supplies and the rune circle, and the limited time frame to initiate the spell was fast approaching.
The rune circle was intricate, with the centrepiece being a perfect half moon, to represent both the Steel Dragon and the Feather Dragon. There were sun rays around it, for the Superior Dragon, and then a circle of stars.
She'd figured out the reason why her last attempt had failed, and had redesigned the rune to compensate. It needed ten stars, one for each person chosen by the Gold Soul, all those centuries ago.
She kneeled by the centre of the rune, placing one hand in the middle of each half of the moon, and closed her eye.
"O mana, which dwells within all the universe, please heed the call of this humble knight. . ."
With effort, she opens both her eyes, the left one straining to do so. With it open alongside her normal eye, she can see the mana starting to pour into the rune, causing it to glow. She can feel the rune slowly drawing more and more of her energy from her as the chant went on.
She finished the last few words, trembling from nerves, lifting her head to look at the brightly glowing rune circle. Her soulstone was as well, and she could see the wispy stream of energy flowing from her to the rune. She resisted the urge to lift a hand and touch it - she'd learned the hard way that removing her hands from the rune before it finished would only lead to an explosion.
Her eye spotted a bright shape approaching her from the direction of the house, rapidly getting bigger. A pair of souls?
She heard hoofbeats.
Oh. Oh no.
Her eyes widened comically as she realized who it was.
"AKARI, NO!"
But it was too late, and both horse and rider crossed the edge of the rune circle just as it flashed pure white, filling her vision.
The rune had fully charged, and had now activated.
Something pulled on her soulstone hard, like a fisherman reeling in a fish, and she could only soundlessly gasp.
<◇>
She felt hollow as the light turned to pure black, when then melted away to the corners of her vision. She blinked numbly at the asphalt she was now kneeling on, back to keeping her left eye closed.
It worked. IT WORKED! But. . . had it done the other part, too?
She stumbled to her feet, wobbling as her body made itself known that it very much did not appreciate the unexpected extra energy cost. The black crawled in from the corners, and nausea had her suddenly lurching behind what she distantly recognized as a dumpster, expelling what remained of her early lunch.
The knight felt a hand on her back, and heard Akari's worried voice behind her. She blinked, feeling a deep exhaustion settle into her body. Her limbs felt uncoordinated when she tried to turn and face Akari, but all she ended up doing was falling backwards.
Thankfully, Akari caught her in her arms, pulling the knight into a more comfortable position as she settled them both on the ground. Akari's mare nosed at them.
She was finding it increasingly hard to keep her eye open. She was just so tired. Akari and her mare coming along had taken more energy than she had accounted for with just herself. She could sleep for a little while, right?
The young woman closed her eye, surrendering to the blackness as she fainted. The last thing she heard was Akari calling her name.
"Pluma? Pluma!"