Fracture Bloom

It took a second at most for Kentaro to realise who this person was.

"K-k-kira!?" His voice barely escaped him, cracked, confused. 

She fell to a knee, stunned. 

"What... are you doing..?" he whispered. 

But neither of them heard. 

Serica pointed her blade directly at her, hand shaking, her voice breaking. 

"Go back. I won't miss next time." 

The air behind her hummed. 

Cradle had seen enough. 

"ALL UNITS ENGAGE! MAKE SURE TO NOT HIT KIRA!" The commander barked. 

Kentaro knew what was coming. 

But Serica? 

She had already begun preparing. 

A low whistle echoed through the plaza as a frozen shape spiraled into form. 

"This is thanks to you, Kentaro..." 

She whispered not loud enough for anyone to hear before she muttered. 

Glaciera veil. 

The mirrored shield bloomed behind her, slow, haunting, beautiful. Shards of ice spinning like petals. Her voice echoed faintly in the distortion. 

"I won't lose... not again...." 

The Cradle units charged. 

Serica stood alone. 

But her power stood with her, along with Kentaro backing her side. 

The explosion of frost hit like a detonation. Cradle operatives and Kira were thrown backward, ice climbing their limbs like living chains. Some were caught mid-stride, legs frozen in motion. Others' upper bodies encased in sudden frost. 

"Tch, this is bad," the squad leader growled. 

"The Alberline activated her Sublime." 

Cradle scrambled to regroup, but Kira wasn't listening. 

She didn't wait. 

Didn't process. 

Didn't breathe. 

She tore a rifle from a downed operative's hands, rage blooming behind her eyes like wildfire fed by oxygen. 

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she screamed. 

Her voice punched through the plaza like thunder, drowning out comms, orders, even reason. 

She opened fire, bullets slicing through mist and frost, muzzle flaring with every shot. 

Serica didn't flinch. 

Her face was still. 

"It seems your hatred's blinded you too far to turn back now," she whispered. 

Her mirror rose, shimmering, slow, almost gentle. 

The bullets hit the glass surface... And vanished. 

Cradle thought the attack had been blocked. So did Kentaro. 

But Serica's mirror shimmered, then snapped forward with a crystalline ring. 

It didn't absorb the bullets. 

It reflected them. 

The rounds burst back out, now amplified, accelerated, twice as fast. 

Kira barely reacted. 

Two grazed her, one tearing into her shoulder, another slicing across her thigh. 

Blood splattered the ground. But she didn't cry out. 

She didn't feel it. 

Her body moved. 

But her mind stayed locked on the girl in front of her. 

Before she could regroup, 

Serica was already there. 

Her mirror twisted midair, shattering into shards and reforming into a sword wreathed in a swirling frost aura, so cold it made Kentaro's breath fog from where he stood. 

Serica towered over Kira, blade raised. 

Kira stared up, lips trembling. 

The blade looked weightless, but she could feel its gravity pulling the moment toward her neck. 

"You....can't..." she whispered, teeth grinding. 

"Not like this. Not after everything I've done. Not after Akia..." 

The world slowed. 

All the drills. All the training. All the nights she'd whispered apologies to someone who wasn't there. 

And now, this girl, this creature of frost, was going to erase her too. 

"I'm sorry, Si-" 

BOOM. 

The impact came from nowhere. 

Dust exploded outward. 

Kira flinched, eyes squeezed shut. 

But she didn't feel the blade. 

She opened her eyes slowly, blinking through the haze. 

Serica wasn't above her. 

She was down the plaza, body crumpled, blood staining the ice beneath her. 

"SERICAA!!" 

The scream tore through the plaza like glass being ripped apart. 

Kentaro's voice. 

Kira turned, just in time to see him sprinting toward the fallen girl. 

She stood, the gun heavy in her hands, arms limp. 

Why didn't she kill me? 

What hit her. 

The smoke started to clear, revealing a glint of metal on the far rooftop. 

Another sniper? 

She snapped her scope up. 

But they were already gone. 

That wasn't cradle... 

Kentaro dropped beside Serica, grabbing her hand, tears blurring his vision. 

"Come on, come on, hey, stay with me, okay?" 

"You did well. You stopped them. You saved me." 

Serica grimacing blinked once, weakly. 

"I.... Didn't want to hurt her..." she murmured, eyes fluttering shut. 

"I just... didn't want to lose you..." 

The light of her Sublime flickered behind her, mirror shards falling like petals in the wind. 

Serica's breathing was shallow. 

Blood smeared the edge of her t-shirt, melting into the icy floor beneath her. 

"Serica...hey hey, stay awake, please, don't-" Kentaro's voice cracked. 

He knelt beside her, brushing her hair from her face, hand trembling as it hovered over the wound. 

"I'm here. You're okay. You saved me, remember? You saved everyone." 

She opened her eyes, just barely. The grey glow in her pupils was dim. 

"Kentaro..." she whispered. 

"I'm not... scared anymore." 

Then her eyes fluttered shut. 

"No, no, Serica! Stay with me!" 

He pressed her hand to his chest, like that could hold her in place. 

The pendant Tenka gave him flickered slightly in the light, unstable, but active. 

Behind them, Kira still stood frozen. The rifle in her hands lowered. 

Her blood dripped from her wounds, but she didn't feel any of it. 

"She-she was going to kill me." 

Her voice cracked like old glass. 

But Kentaro didn't look at her. 

He didn't have the time for guilt, for blame, for anything but. 

- 

Her. 

Serica's breathing slowed. Her pulse barely flickered beneath his fingers. 

"Come on... don't do this to me." 

He grabbed the pendant Tenka gave him, the teardrop, shaped escape key. 

And pressed it hard. 

Nothing. 

No glow. No pull. No response. 

"C'mon! Tenka, I need evac, NOW!" 

Static crackled through his earpiece. 

He smacked it. Shouted into it. Begged. 

"Tenka!! Please, SHE'S DYING!!" 

Still nothing. 

Behind him, 

Boots. Dozens 

The sound of cradle's full squadron closing in, echoing through the frozen plaza. 

Armor. Gunfire. Orders. 

"The Aberline's unstable!" 

"The boy's protecting it!" 

"Secure and EXTERMINATE!" 

Kentaro turned his head, heart slamming against his ribs. 

They weren't going to talk. 

They weren't going to wait. 

They were here to erase her. 

He dropped his head against Serica's chest, his voice cracking apart. 

"Please... not like this..." 

Still no reply. 

Then, 

His earpiece sparked. A voice, blurry, but there. 

"...Ken...." 

"KEN, DON'T LET GO OF HER!" 

It was Tenka. She sounded distressed; her breathing was shallow. 

"LISTEN, I M SORRY FOR THE LATE RESPONSE. THE COMM CU-" 

"Tenka?! It's not working! The pendant!" 

Kentaro's voice cut her off, his voice filled with fear and uncertainty. 

"It's delayed. System overload. You're surrounded by hostile energy spikes. It jammed." 

He looked up, laser sights now tracking toward them. 

"They're gonna shoot, Tenka, they're right here-" 

"THEN HOLDER HER TIGHTER, GODDMAN IT!" 

Kentaro threw his arms around Serica, pulling her close, curling around her like a shield. 

"I've got," he whispered. 

The cradle commander pointed forward. 

"FIRE!" 

Time slowed. 

Kentaro shut his eyes. 

And then... 

FLASH. 

Light a bomb of starlight. 

The pendant ignited in a burst of white-blue flame- 

And the world ripped out from under them. 

Cradle's bullet tore through space. 

Kentaro and Serica were gone. 

Only a crackling swirl of frost and light remained in their place. 

The entire cradle squad stood stunned. 

The commander's voice was the only sound left. 

"...Where did they go?" 

"They're gone..." Kira muttered as she stared at the now-empty hole where Kentaro and Serica lay. Her eyes were wide open. 

* 

The white light hit first, then the cold tiled floor beneath his knees. 

Kentaro collapsed forward, still clutching Serica in his arms. 

Her blood smeared across his jacket, her breathing shallow, her body limp, but warm. Still warm. 

The teleport had worked. 

"We made it." 

"MED TEAM!" a voice barked across the room. 

Doors burst open. 

Tenka stood still at the threshold, expression unreadable as white-suited medics rushed past her. When the medics took Serica from him, Kentaro didn't know how to react. "Was she going to make it?" he asked himself. 

His fingers were still curled when they were empty. 

"Vitals?" 

"Stable, but irregular bloom aftershock." 

"She needs sedatives. Her core's destabilized." 

"Her anchor's still active, it's helping." 

Kentaro was pushed to the side. Someone draped a coat over his shoulders, but he didn't feel it. 

His eyes never left her. 

She was whisked away behind two security doors. 

Tenka finally stepped forward. 

"Kentaro..." 

He turned, face pale, eyes bloodshot. His voice cracked. 

"She saved my life. I didn't save her." 

Tenka paused, her jaw tightening. 

Then, softly. 

"No. You did." 

But her eyes flicked toward the lingering frost around the room. And in that silence, Kentaro saw something terrifying in her face. 

Fear. 

Not of Serica 

Of what came next. 

* 

The footage played on a smooth glass screen, paused on the moment Serica raised her sword over Kira. 

Behind the desk, Director Reiden Vale steepled his fingers beneath his chin. He sat perfectly still, eyes narrowed behind circular lenses that glinted under low light. 

The room smelled of clean steel. No windows. No warmth. 

Across from him, Velza Cain stood with her arms crossed. 

"You were right." She spoke. "The boy made contact. Sync's forming." 

Reiden didn't look away from the screen. 

"And our sniper?" 

Velza tilted her head slightly. 

"Missed. But that's fine. The wound served its purpose. Their connection deepened." 

A Pause. 

Reiden finally leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. 

"Keep your eye on the girl. If the next Sync reaches maturation..." 

"We extract her?" 

He smiled faintly. 

"No. We let her think she's free." 

Velza narrowed her eyes. 

"Isn't that dangerous?" 

Reiden stood. 

He walked to the far end of the room, where another screen flickered on, showing security footage of Kentaro holding Serica in the Halcyon medbay. 

"Dangerous?" he murmured. 

"It's perfect." 

His reflection split across the screen. 

"Let them bond. Let him think he's saving her." 

He glanced back at Velza. 

"Then we'll show him what salvation costs."