Hiya guys, how about a chapter?
The alarms began to blare and the sight of red lights flashing along the hangar wing alerted Hibiki as he looked up in confusion. There couldn't have been an attack right now. He had made sure the Nirvana had been grounded in an isolated region and that no one could find them even if they were tracked. It must have been those damn swords. Those artifacts. He rushed over to a lone intercom with Dita trailing behind him also confused by the alarm.
“All hands on deck! Rouge signal! Everyone to your positions NOW!” he called into the speaker. Dita could feel that his leadership skills were being put to the test. He turned to her and said, “You think you remember how to pilot the dread?”
She looked up at the magnificent piece of machinery and her memories of those days flying in space without a care in the world crept back into her mind. She turned to her lover and quickly said, “yes.”
The hangar bay door began to lower as Hibiki jumped into his Vanguard. Dita eyed it and could actively assume that he had been in more battles then he cared to admit. She raced down the bridge connecting the platform to her dread. Her hair whipping through the air that was being sucked out of the hangar by the vastness of space that was intruding in. The window shield to her dread opened and she jumped into it. The controls, the seat, everything was almost identical to her old one. She couldn't help but smile then frown. She wasn't going to make the same mistakes as she did the first time. She was going to fight with conviction. She was going to fight for a real reason and this time she was fighting for a legacy that belonged to her. She looked off and saw that Hibiki had already begun to stir his crafts boosters hinting that he was about to fly though into space. The intercom in her dread's cockpit hissed loudly before a voice said,
“Dita, you and I will head out first and secure the area. Meia and Jura will come out next to take care of any Rouges.”
“Rouges?”
“Yeah. Some kind of evolution link to the old Harvest. It seems like we never really got them all. Instead I think we might have provoked something far more sinister. I think we might have pushed fear to its next evolutionary link.”
Dita couldn't make out the meaning of his words. What did he mean by the evolutionary link? She shook it off. There was no reason at that point to try and deduce it. His Vanguard shot out into space and soon her own dread sped out from the hangar. The G-Force of the dread leaving the hangar caused her cheeks to push back. She had to get used to that again. As the dread pierced the darkness of space she almost felt herself panic. The weightlessness of herself inside her dread caused a sudden drop feeling in her stomach and she felt like as if she was suddenly stricken with claustrophobia. She tried to will herself to relax but her all she could feel was her heart beginning to pulse rapidly and her breathing became erratic.
“Dita, you alright?” Hibiki asked her through the intercom.
“I'm... alright.” she lied. She was breathing heavily. Her mind becoming light. Suddenly her dread began to spin out of control as several sharp thumps could be heard at the hull of her dread. She was being attacked. Her body froze in fear. Her eyes stared coldly out of the cockpit unable to figure out a way to get out of this situation. She was hyperventilating. Her hands became cold and she could feel sweat pouring from her forehead. She was going to die.
Hibiki reacted in an heartbeat as he searched for the source of the weapon fire. He spotted a small robotic drone gliding in the distance firing at Dita's dread. He sped towards it and skewered it with a single blow. He looked down and her dread was still spiraling downward.
“Dita! Pull up!.” he shouted. Dita couldn't hear him. The only sound she could hear was her erratic heartbeat that was begging to be launched from her chest. The feeling of being trapped swept her. Being inside that cockpit felt as if someone placed her into a box and tossed into an ocean in which she could only watch from the inside. She was breathing to heavily it was audible within the cockpit. She could hear her breathing and it sounded distressful. Then something clicked.
She took the controls and steadied herself.
“Hey, are you alright?” asked Hibiki.
“Yeah, I'm fine..” she responded. She took in a deep breath and exhaled. I knew I had to get used to it, she thought. Hibiki watched as her dread skillfully maneuver towards him.
“Good I thought I was going to have to save you yet again.” he said.
Dita smiled but as her eyes drifted from his Vanguard she caught sight of something flying towards them. It was aiming for Hibiki. Her eyes widened. Adrenaline spilled into her veins. She pushed forward on her controls and rammed his Vanguard.
What Dita thought was a small projectile coming towards them was actually a beam of radiated energy the size of the Nirvana itself. What happened next felt like time refused to flow. The beam was incredibly bright and when it hit all she saw was darkness. Hibiki was dumbstruck at the sight of what he was seeing. The blast completely overtook the blue dread and engulfed it with its destructive power and an incredibly furious bellow escaped his lips.
“DITA!”
Dita opened her eyes and all she could see was white. She looked around and realized she was standing in a white room. She took a step and she could hear the echo of her footstep radiate off the walls... if there were any. Then she heard another series of footsteps beside her own. She looked off into the distance and could see a figure approaching. As it came closer she couldn't help but let a gasp wisp from her lips.
It was herself. A much younger her.
She couldn't understand what was happening. How could she be facing herself? She must have been dead. The younger her walked up to her with a slight frown.
“How are you?” the younger her asked. Dita looked around to make sure the question was indeed directed to her. She pointed at herself and her clone merely nodded.
“Why am I here?” she asked. Her clone blinked and said, “Oh yeah. Well, we reached a dead end.”
“What do you mean a dead end?” Dita asked. Her clone looked down.
“This is where the line ends.”
“Are you telling me I'm supposed to die?” asked Dita. Her younger clone nodded her head, “Wait a minute, why am I facing you? I don't get why a younger me has to tell me this.”
“It's because you have a choice and that something in your life changed the way this event was supposed to take place.” said her clone.
“So what does that mean?”
“It means you were to die that day when Hibiki destroyed the Harvest fleet. Technically you are already dead.”
“I'm already dead?” said Dita.
“Yes but time doesn't work the same way in space and there are certain loopholes that can be taken. You evaded death the first time because the extreme temperature of the explosion and the existing gravitational force from all of those fleet ships actually replicated the beginning of time. The beginning of the universe and during that time there was no time. In simple terms it created a hole in time and considering all things in a timeless world does not exhibit any differences you managed to evade the time lapse of slipping into death. Confusing I know.”
“So time is trying to catch up with me?” asked Dita.
“Yeah, basically.”
“So right now is when I'm supposed to die?”
“Yeah.”
“Hold on you said I have a choice.”
“You do.”
“Then what is it?”
“Okay, this gets a little complicated so listen carefully. The beam that was supposed to kill you is from the very same people you tried to kill.”
“You mean the Harvest? They survived that blast too?” she asked.
“More or less they survived but also the destruction actually propelled time forward and made them evolve into something else. Hibiki calls them Rouge but they have another name.”
“I don't care about their other name just tell me how to get me back.” said Dita.
“Fine fine. You know you had more patience when you were young. Anyway, the blast you have just been faced with is not powerful enough to kill you. In reality the radiation from it will kill you in three days time. However, Hibiki has something that these newly revolutionized Harvest want and have been actively seeking him out. The artifacts he has, has the power to manipulate time and matter and he has them both in his Vanguard. He's close enough that you can draw enough life from them to sustain your own. But the evolutionary Harvest want it to sustain their own lives and dominate for their civilization.”
“So you're saying my life can only exist if Hibiki has those sword thingys?” asked Dita.
“That's right. But there's another catch. You will live a half-life. These swords are drawn to advanced lifeforms and as of now they are drawn between the Harvest and You. Since the Harvest is still alive it is drawing half the swords energy and you are drawing the other half. The swords are the Universe's time regulators and both the Harvest and You have used its power to evade death the first time. But now we have reached an ultimatum. Either the Harvest is destroyed you will live a life that some will consider cursed. It's like having a side effect in medicine. Despite you living you will encounter things that will make you want to give up and die. And be on the warning. Now that both swords are being drawn of strength they don't have long before they totally lose energy and the universe will be unstable resulting in the death of everything. In the end, only one side can live.”
“So, your telling me to either choose to die right now and let the Harvest used their newly found strength to destroy and conquer or go on to live and destroy them all the while having to deal with living only half of my existence.”
“You ma'am are correct.”
“I guess you already know my answer.” said Dita.
“I do.”
“Alright, let's get on with it.”
“Good luck.”
Hibiki could only stare at the wrecked dread floating aimlessly in space. The dread he had built, the dread Dita was in. Was she really dead?
The sound of electricity sparking and the low hum of a warning alarm resonated in Dita's ears. The cockpit was dark and Dita could feel the oxygen inside the cockpit depleting. She could feel the cold of space entering and grabbing at her skin. She felt a warm substance trickling from her nostrils and the left side of her face felt wet. Her body ached. She couldn't speak and call for help and something within her felt stupid for accepting to come back. She tried to move her arms but they felt numb. She took in a chilled breath. I can't die, she thought, I agreed not to. She heard several more sparks coming from the cockpit. She could feel something in her chest spilling. Was she bleeding on the inside? She coughed. Blood.
“Dita! Dita, answer me!” called Hibiki. At the corner of his eye he could see a distant fleet of some sort approaching. He grew anxious.
Dita could hear a faint static through the intercom and the sudden whisper of his voice. She was incredibly weak and she knew it must have been from only being able to stay alive with half her vitality. She wasn't going to give up. This wasn't the end. She opened an eye and could see the glass shield to the cockpit was cracked but despite that she could see another white beam approaching. She didn't understand. Was she supposed to die?
New plotline forming! Also check out my Neon Genesis fic if you like this.