Another Place, Another Time

Chapter II

It was noon now, Hua was comfortably leaning against Jingwei, face buried in the soft fabric uncaring for the precariousness her position brings – that 300 meter fall. Trusting the immortal to prevent her fall and to keep an eye out for any signs of human activity; she willed the flying sword to keep on going forward until she wakes, she started napping.

Jingwei sighed internally at the Herrscher's antics, if it was anyone else who fell asleep leaning against her without a good reason – which was most of the time - she would have pushed them off and mortally wounded them without second thought. But this was Hua, who, despite being a Herrscher, a destroyer of humanity and commander of the Honkai, Jingwei had come to see as a sister, her closest friend alive, and the person who has accompanied her for the longest time.

After another hour or so of travelling, Jingwei caught sight of something in the distance, being a MANTIS, she has enhanced senses and immortality. As they approached the cleaved-in-half Tower of Babylon, it evoked a foreign sense of nostalgia in her, Jingwei still remember herself, being in her severely weakened state, sacrificing her memories to make up for the drastic amount of power that she had lost - now she look back at the memory, Jingwei felt like a joke, the humiliation and desperation that she had managed to stoop that low. "So much for being the Guardian of Shenzhou," she voiced out loud, bitterly, uncaring for who heard her.

As if sensing her distress, Hua jolted awake, and looked up. The sword, whereupon sensing its master's awakening, stopped moving and hung suspended in mid-air; to Jingwei, that was the tipping point, to see the remains of the tower clearly, destroyed by her own hands, along with the final memories she had of Lixue, of Fuxi and Nuwa. The guilt kept swarming and increasing around her, weighing her down as she felt an invisible force closing her windpipes.

She never dared to confront that memory, not that she never bothered to, far from it, but because that she knew, once she faces it, she's truly accepting that Lixue's dead, that Jingwei failed to save her, and that she died trying to stall Sirin.

Her thoughts, filled and burning with self-hatred, was interrupted by Hua, instead of the smug teasing Jingwei expected, it was instead a gentle voice, "It's okay, don't dwell on the past too much, especially if it brings you nothing but pain, what passed has now passed, live in the present, and don't dream of the future," Hua finished with a small smile, she never had to comfort someone, let alone the high and mighty Master Jingwei, so to make up for the possibly bad wording, she wrapped her arms around Jingwei as a final attempt to soothe her.

Jingwei sighed, clumsily trying to return the hug, she has no experience in the field of physical contact, much less comforting ones, as far as she could remember, the only times she ever initiated physical contact that wasn't to harm someone was when she was little, hugging her father. The mask that she had slowly built up over the years was threatening to crumble under the tranquil yet calming embrace. The immortal felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she refused to show any more signs of weakness, years of fighting tooth and nail with the Honkai, whether in her original era, or in the previous era, taught her that; with every scrap and rubble of the remainder of her mask, she shoved all of her regret, guilt and anger behind a new mask, sadness reverting back to indifference, as she slowly let go of Hua, muttering a quiet, almost inaudible, "Thank you."

Hua let go too, standing back up, willing the weapon case to carry on travelling, this time much faster, her expression returned back to the usual childish playfulness, "So...time?"

"3 hours at most," came the reply, the immortal gazing resolutely away from the Tower of Babylon, which was fading fast into the distance.

Hua hummed, before falling back against Jingwei, almost knocking them both off of the sword, "If I remember correctly, there was a city near the Tower, no?"

The other considered the Herrscher's words for a minute, "Be as it may, that does not mean humanity has set up civilisation there yet,"

'They haven't discovered it yet?' came the wordless reply.

"No...I did see a couple of scientists and archaeologists, it's very likely they're trying to investigate the source of the carnage. However, I did not see any valkyries."

'Humanity has discovered the Honkai already?'

They fell into an awkward silence, if Honkai has already begun within 30 years of humanity reawakening, then this era might not last as long as they anticipated.

"The city is up ahead, but I detect strong Honkai radiation. Hua?"

Hua gritted her teeth, the Honkai energy was overwhelming, but she sensed no other Herrschers in the vicinity other than herself. The energy was calling her, chanting her name, desperately trying to escape its influence, she buried her face even deeper into Jingwei's robes.

"Hua, we need to land, you using your powers will only make it worse," a touch of concern entered Jingwei's voice.

"At least, let's get into the city first, then I'll land," a muffled voice said in return.

"...fine"

Word count: 902