Endless Sky ~New Beginning~

Chapter Twentysix

For a second OStar thought it was only a tail. But she could see that it continued under the pile of rubble she was going to push, maybe it was still attached to something.
"Roxxan?" OStar first tried, hoping to get a reply.
Nothing. That was unnerving.
The world seemed to shift once more, similar to waking up. It felt just like last time. Someone had passed her the baton, only this time, she was keeping it.
Taking a deep breath, OStar padded over to the end of the tail, sat down and grabbed it with her forepaws. "Please don't just slide out unattached to anything," she prayed before pulling. Luckily, the tail didn't slide out, it was indeed attached to something. The pile shifted when OStar pulled; something was clearly under it, just stuck. There was no way she would be able to simply yank it out.
"Don't worry Roxxan, I 've got you," OStar meowed, moving back over to start pulling away the scrap to uncover what was hopefully Roxxan's still-intact body. It didn't take long for her to find what looked like the robot's back and maybe shoulder, giving her a burst of strength. Each swipe revealed more and more, a thigh, leg, neck, and finally, a head.
Her whole body was together.
Roxxan was still, eyes closed, but overall, mostly undamaged.
The worst of the damage were maybe the dents, but no open wounds or wires sticking out. She looked practically asleep.
"How would I know? She doesn't have a heartbeat or need to breathe; how do I know she's even alive?" OStar thought to herself as she pulled Roxxan off the pile and laid her on the ground. She checked her over once again, looking for damages just in case she missed anything.
Turns out she had.
On the other side of Roxxan was a large gash, cutting through the metal as if it were paper, almost like the cut Mila gave to Mystic's side. OStar had no idea how deep it went, what it damaged, or how to fix it.
Maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought it was.
"Roxxan?" OStar mewed quietly, nudging the robot. No reaction.
"Roxxan, wake up, please," she tried again. Still nothing.
OStar sat down, wondering if she should call the others. She really wanted to make sure Roxxan was alive before she did that, to prove to them that all hope was not lost.
"Come on now, snap out of it," OStar fake hissed, trying to sound mad, but failing miserably.
Still no response. Either Roxxan was that knocked out... Or dead.
OStar felt some tears forming, but held them back, forcing out a laugh.
"C-Come on now, get up, Estella is waiting for you..."
Nothing.
She couldn't hold back the tears anymore. "Roxxan, please..."
OStar heard Pargenti suggest something, maybe it was worth a shot, even if it was looking hopeless already.
"Roxxan, I don't mean to snitch, but Avaro is making a mess in the kitchen. He's trying to cook something for Lucerne," she meowed, remembering how bad Avaro was at cooking. He nearly blew up the kitchen before, so Roxxan banned him from everything, even using the microwave required supervision, making sure he didn't start a fire.
...
"Wait,"
Was that the faintest flick of an ear? Or was OStar hallucinating it, seeing only what she hoped to see but not having it be true.
"I think he was going to put a can in the microwave," she continued, her hope slowly building.
"There!"
That time there was no mistaking it! Roxxan had flicked an ear.
She was alive!
"Hurry!" OStar jumped to her paws, "There's smoke! I think he caught something on fire!"
"Fucking dammit, Avaro," Roxxan finally mumbled, hissing, "I leave for two goddamn seconds and-" she stopped.
OStar watched her eyes flicker open, one having been smashed and no longer lighting up. "This isn't..."
"You're alive!" OStar exclaimed, jumping forward to hug her friend.
"Where's the mansion? Didn't someone say something about Avaro cooking? He knows not to fucking cook in my house!" Roxxan hissed, looking around the best she could with only one working eye.
"Mila's robot exploded, do you not remember?" OStar asked, hoping the robot hadn't developed some kind of amnesia.
"Yeah, I remember, I thought I had already gone back home though!" she answered, squirming and pushing OStar away. "Why am I back here?"
"That must've all been a dream, I just pulled you out of that pile," the white cat motioned to the scattered rubble that had buried Roxxan.
She stared at it for a long moment before looking back at OStar.
"I didn't make it out before it exploded, did I?"
She shook her head.
Roxxan sat down, frowning. "Damn. I was so close too. That explains the sudden darkness. It wasn't me escaping, it was me being getting knocked out. Shit," she huffed. Despite having survived an explosion, she didn't seem that pleased with herself.
"But you survived! Isn't that what matters?" OStar said, tilting her head.
"I mean, I guess. But I was hoping to make it out,"
"Why?"
"So no one would worry, that's why," Roxxan sighed, feeling disappointed in herself.
"I didn't want anyone thinking I might've died. Besides, even if I was blown apart. As long as the Fei Essence is still intact, I can be rebuilt," she continued to explain, poking at the gash in her side.
"Really...?" OStar blinked, having forgotten how Roxxan was powered.
"Yeah, Estella has my blueprints. I had it specifically made just in case I needed a repair of some kind," Roxxan yawned and got up to stretch, wincing. "Damn, I may be a robot, but I can still feel stiff and even in pain. I really need to relax after all that," she meowed before looking around for an exit.
"It's up there," OStar said, pointing up at the hole she had jumped through.
"What the fuck," Roxxan hissed before making a portal, except it fizzed away instantly.
"Need help...?" OStar offered, patting her locket.
The robot looked as if she was going to decline at first, but sighed and nodded in resignation. "Go ahead," she meowed.
OStar nodded and quickly opened a portal to the outside of the large hollow chunk, letting her friend through first before following. Nobody was nearby to spot the two, since everyone else was still looking for Roxxan's body.
"Wow, this place is a mess, a lot worse than my dream," Roxxan said, scanning the area. "I'm not cleaning this up," she then added shortly after.
"I don't think anyone is. Nobody really comes here anyways, this place is pretty much dead..." OStar meowed, feeling her chest tighten up in pain.
"Dead. My home is dead..."
"Where's Estella?" Roxxan suddenly demanded. "I need to see if she's all right."
"Ah, she's around here somewhere; everyone is still looking for your body-" OStar didn't even get to finish before Roxxan ran off, looking for her partner.
She didn't bother to follow, assuming it was best to leave them alone for now and focus on something else.
"What do I do about Mystic now...?" OStar questioned, feeling her ears flatten in sadness. "I can't leave her here; the others need to know what happened... What Mila did..."
She heard some commotion, maybe a scream of joy from Estella. Good, Roxxan found her. Everyone from the mansion had survived. For now.
"You know you have to tell them everything, your memories and all," Cat murmured in her ear, making OStar feel worse.
She hadn't even realized that Cat and Pargenti had gained the ability to speak outside dreams. She wasn't really sure if she liked that.
"At least I can warn you about things instead of waiting until you fall asleep," Cat hissed.
Yeah, OStar didn't like it. Her mind no longer felt like her own.
"What about the box?" Pargenti suddenly asked, changing the topic.
"Charlotte or Rual should have it, hopefully..." OStar answered silently, padding off to look for the rest of her friends. Her two parts stayed silent, maybe talking with each other.
It was quite unfair that her thoughts were constantly invaded yet she couldn't invade theirs.
Was that a laugh from Cat?
"I really do need to set some boundaries, they're like annoying kits," OStar thought with a silent huff.
Twitching her ears, it wasn't hard to pick up some voices and head toward them. Everyone seemed to have gathered. Good, it was easier to talk to them all at once.
All OStar wanted to do now was sleep, but she knew Mystic had to come first. Leaving a dead body to decay for another day just sounded horrible. Something had to be done now before anything else.
Padding around a large chunk, maybe the bottom jaw of the MechaDragon, she finally found her friends.
Estella was clinging onto Roxxan, sobbing in joy as her partner tried to tell her that she was fine. Avaro was laughing, tears still in his own eyes while Lucerne was beaming. Charlotte was with Rual, talking quietly with each other. The relief in their eyes was visible even from a distance. Everyone was glad that no one had died.
OStar felt horrible seeing how happy they looked now, not knowing that someone did die.
She wanted to wait and tell them later, but the more time that passed, the worse she felt. She knew that not doing anything for the prophet was disrespectful to the fallen.
Mystic did save her life after all.
Mila was moments away from killing OStar, or taking her away, or something equally horrible.
The least she could do was get Mystic a proper funeral of some sort. Spike and the others needed to know as well.
OStar suddenly remembered the two little kits, Patch and Rose.
Her heart ached for them. So young and already someone they'd known had died. Would they even understand that she was never going to come back?
OStar anticipated their tiny wails of sadness echoing in her mind, haunting her.
She was sure she would not have a good night's sleep anytime soon.
Sighing, OStar walked the rest of the way over to her friends, trying her best not to look too bothered by something. It didn't really work.
"Is everything okay, OStar? Roxxan told us that you found her!" Avaro exclaimed, beaming.
Despite their constant pranking and teasing, Roxxan and Avaro had a good bond, neither of them would want to see the other die. That was obvious by the way Avaro had reacted when the dragon was about to explode.
"Yeah..." OStar said, blinking slowly.
The smiles started to fade one by one as they realized something was wrong.
"What is it?" Lucerne asked, a hint of worry in his voice. Rual looked at OStar, his unspoken words clearly reflected in his eyes. The shifl was silent, but smart. Just by the way he looked at her, she knew he had already guessed what was wrong. Rual may not know who exactly died, but he may already have an idea. Especially after Mila's description of "purple lump" that seemed to have gone over everyone else's heads.
"Roxxan will be fine, I can fix her easily," Estella sniffed as she turned to OStar. "You don't have to worry..."
"It's... Not that,"
"Mila is dead, so you don't have to worry about that either. This place is also practically dead and empty, so you don't have to worry about the mess either," Avaro spoke up, glancing at Lucerne who also seemed to be getting the hint.
"It's something we don't know, isn't it?" Charlotte said in a quiet voice, making any remaining smiles vanish. The air thickened with fear and worry once more as each person realized the situation.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I didn't even know she was following! Or even how she knew I was here!" OStar started, trying to explain.
"Who? Mila?" Avaro asked getting confused.
"No, not her," she responded, hesitating.
"Just tell them already, Rual and Charlotte are already putting the pieces together! Maybe Lucerne too!" Cat yelled inside her mind.
She was right, Rual was looking away and waiting for OStar to say it, expecting it. His friend on the other hand, was frozen in horror, maybe already knowing who died as well. Lucerne stiff with fear.
"WHO, OSTAR? SPIT IT OUT!" Avaro snapped, the tension getting to his nerves. Lucerne grabbed onto his arm, trying to calm him down before he exploded. Estella clung onto Roxxan, looking betrayed as if everything was supposed to be over now, but it wasn't. Her partner's eyes filled with suspicion.
"TELL THEM!" Cat roared.
"MYSTIC'S DEAD!"