Honkai Impact: Road To Nagazora

Chapter 2: A Promise Made

"My my, isn't this quite the surprise." Said the girl Alex knew as Schicksal maid, Rita Rossweisse however she wasn't wearing her typical maid outfit, as instead she donned a white and neon green outfit with her scythe also being changed to go along with her current look as well.

Needless to say, Alex definitely wasn't thrilled to see her as he held out his sword in a battle stance.

"Calm down Mr. Mustang. I'm not here for a fight." Said Rita, though Alex still didn't ease up in the slightest.

"Gotta say, running into you now of all times is quite convenient. Even though every database had listed K-423 and you as M.I.A." Said the girl as she walked and circled around the boy, donning a playful smile on her face.

"Well, as you can clearly see, I'm perfectly fine. Now then, what do you want?" Asked the boy.

Rita stood in front of the boy, back facing him as she began to speak.

"If you may or may not know, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy have sent out a squad to go out and locate K-423. With Arc City being unexplored yet, and considering the facts that you live here and that you and the Herrscher both went M.I.A at relatively the same time, it got me wondering about something."

Rita's smiled then turned into a stern expression as she turned to face the boy with a cold look.

"Are you possibly holding the target within your grasp?"

When Rita said that, Alex tensed up but knew that he had to choose his words carefully.

"Well, you do make good points there Ms. Rossweise. Be that as it may, I apologize but I don't know where Kiana is. After Void's awakening, I felt that things were getting far out of hand decided to return back to my life as a mercenary." Said the boy obviously lying the best he could without being suspicious.

"Hm? So what you're saying is that my points are merely just coincidences?" Asked Rita.

"Seems like it. What reason would I have to lie to Schicksal? I got a reputation to uphold for my job." Said the boy.

Rita merely chuckled at this.

"What reason you say? You were rather close to K-423 were you not? Well, that's okay. I do prefer chasing my prey rather than being handed it." Said the girl as she walked and stood beside the boy.

"Worry not Mr. Mustang. Once we retrieve her, then you'll truly return back to your ordinary life. You may not agree, but we'll be actually doing you a favor. Till then." Said Rita as she walked off in the other direction with her mechanical dog following along.

Alex watched her walk away before heading back to his motorcycle.

As he got on it, he had a small feeling of dread.

'Of all people Schicksal could've sent, they sent her. Gotta be on the lookout even more.' He thought before driving back to his apartment room.

As he got back and unlocked the door, the boy entered, putting his coat on the rack and putting his sword away.

First thing he did was head to his room to see how Kiana was doing.

As he opened the door, he expected the girl to be asleep like she had been for the past four months.

This time when he opened the door, when he saw the girl sitting up wide awake, he couldn't even say anything as he was in complete shock.

Kiana looked around her surroundings confused as to where she was before she saw Alex.

"Alex? Where, am I?" She asked.

"K-Kiana!" Was all Alex could say as he exclaimed the girl's name, giving her a quick hug.

"The last thing I remember, was fighting the Class Monitor. How, long have I been out?" Asked the girl.

When she said that, Alex knew that he was in one hell of a long conversation, one that was gonna be extremely tough to get through.

"Kiana, um, I'll tell you everything that happened. Just know that, somethings thing are gonna be said that you won't like."

With that, Alex began to get into telling Kiana what had happened.

Telling her that she wasn't the real Kiana and was instead a clone that had the 2nd Herrscher's Core inside of her.

Telling her that Otto had reawakened the Herrscher within her causing a the world to go into peril.

Telling her that she had severely harmed Theresa, Bronya, and critically harmed Mei by taking her Herrscher Core.

Telling her that Fu Hua has been missing since that day, and then came the worst of all.

Telling her that Himeko had sacrificed herself to save Kiana from the Herrscher's control as she fell to the bottom, never to be seen again.

Once he had finished explaining all of that, Kiana had a shocked expression as she tried to take all of that in.

"S-So, Aunt Himeko is dead, a-and it's all my fault........"

Kiana trailed off, as the realization of all that she had done began to sink in, as she hugged Alex, clutching onto him for life as she began to sob and wail, letting all of her emotion out.

All Alex could do was just hug her back and let her cry it all out.

Admittedly, Alex was also close to letting some tears fall but held them in.

Eventually, Kiana's sobs had stopped as she then clutched her breath.

"W-Why? Why did, Aunt Himeko choose m-me over, her?" Asked Kiana.

"To be honest, even I don't. She clearly saw something in you that no one else has. I firmly believe that Himeko felt like you deserved a second chance to set things right." He said.

Kiana couldn't respond as she kept looking down, guilt completely overtaken her.

"Kiana. Please, look at me." He said.

The girl slowly looked at him as he wiped away the tears from her face as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Listen to me when I say this because I absolutely mean it. Just because you're a Herrscher, just because you're a clone, that doesn't matter. To me, you'll always be the one and only Kiana Kaslana no matter what. I will stay and be by your side. Together, we'll finish what Himeko started." He said.

"Y-You promise." Asked the girl in an almost desperate tone.

Alex simply smiled as he held out a pinky.

"I pinky promise." He said.

The girl managed to crack a small smile as she also held out her pinky, the two interlocking them as they solidified Alex's promise to stay by Kiana's side.

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Chapter 2: Complete