Brynhildr Aria

Chapter Nine: EJECTED

Chapter Nine: EJECTED

Niflheim, Seventh Level of Mother Ship Admirabilis

Seishirou, Kuina, Kosagi, and Elijah had made their narrow escape from Loki in the arena of the Battle Royale. Loki essentially gave up after Seishirou unleashed his vectors and threatened to dismember him, but the hordes of Hellhounds waiting in the wings felt no fear. That was the thing about robots. They didn't need to be born, raised, fed, or taken care of. They could be created en masse virtually forever, until the machinery stopped running.

The group escaped the Ninth Level, Helheim, and made their way up to Niflheim, the Seventh Level, which was a massive cemetery, a perpetual land of graves and tombstones. This was the truth. The truth the Kamui wanted to remain hidden. The Kamui, the Brynhildr, and the human collapsed, wracked by exhaustion.

Seishirou cradled Yuki in his arms like a small child, but really, it was more like carrying around a dead body. Her ice-cold skin, her unbeating heart, her unbreathing lungs, her eyes black and devoid of life...there wasn't much else to distinguish her from a corpse. Not to mention the gaping, bloody hole in her chest.

He laid her down on the ground and swallowed hard. Her spirit, consciousness, and memories were all inside him. He could feel her. She was scared. But no matter how frightened she was, he refused to let this ancient graveyard become her final resting place. He had failed so many in his long life...he wasn't about to fail her now.

The others knelt down beside Yuki's unmoving form. "Is Sister Takanashi...dead?" Kosagi asked, wiping away the remnants of her tears. "By standard definition, yes, she is dead," Seishirou replied. "But at the same time, she is not. Her injuries were too severe for me to heal on the spot. I wasn't sure when I'd get a chance to start the regeneration process, and if I let her die there...she'd be gone forever. I had no choice but to eject her and tuck her away until I could restore her body. But we've held back the Hellhounds quite a ways, so I should be able to regenerate her now."

Kuina glared at him. She had seen this happen to her sisters so many times. She had never heard of a soul being returned to its body after ejection. From what she knew, once you were ejected, that was it. Game over. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Yuki's entire being is trapped inside your consciousness. You've practically eaten her. You've got not more than a couple hours, tops. If you can't bring her back to her body before then...the S-Class Brynhildr we've all fought so hard to protect will become nothing more than more years added to your endless lifespan."

Seishirou growled. "You don't think I realize that? Believe me, I know how painful ejection is. Yuki is not going to be happy. She's going to be able to see every one of my memories, all the way up to now, and she's not going to like it. But this is the only choice. She gave her life for me...and I am not about to let anyone else die."

"Hey," Elijah grumbled. "You keep that girl alive. You hear me?"

Seishirou nodded. "I will." He held his hands over the wound in Yuki's chest and closed his eyes. His horns and wings shone a faint blue, and a pulse of healing light slowly worked its way into Yuki's flesh.

I awoke in a place I did not recognize. That in itself was nothing unusual, I had woke up in many strange and unfamiliar places before. But this...it felt...different somehow. It wasn't Earth. It wasn't another planet. It wasn't even the Admirabilis. My sharpened senses could feel it, but I couldn't put my finger on it. This place...it seemed to be an entirely separate plane of existence.

I crawled to my feet and looked down. The wound in my chest was gone. Like it had never been there to begin with. Every drop of blood was absent from my clothing, leaving nothing but pure white cotton. So...this is what happens to people who get ejected, I thought. I still struggled to swallow the fact that I was actually inside Seishirou's mind. I remembered what he told me about ejection. It was a terrible, awful thing, a fate worse than death. Was this nightmarish mindscape to become my eternal prison?