[ARC IX: PURE JUSTICE]

+++ Captain Adelyn von Wittenstein +++

Adelyn. You failed him again, didn't you?

Her voice.

To win, you just had to sacrifice him too, huh?

It was mocking her.

'Shut up!' she wanted to shout, as she ran toward his mech.

Tears streaked her face.

Other soldiers, who finally climbed out of their positions, shouted at her to be careful. But her mind already, no, even her ears blocked it. She ran. And ran. How could this be? How could her victory, that she worked so hard on…

No, no, no!

She nearly tripped.

The Peacemaker. It still didn't move in the distance. It was so rattled…so…weak, so damaged. That was the Wanderfalke anyway. It was just a tin can. A tank destroyer, it wasn't meant to be driven so close to the frontline.

Yet he, just to save her, when she was so hurt, bleeding, probably dying had she been hit a second time, he went close. He went close and personal with Injustice, just to keep his attention off her.

She couldn't accept it. She couldn't accept that maybe, it was her shot too that did him, that it was the shockwave from it that killed him.

I was too tunnel-visioned at killing Injustice. Why? Why? Why?!

"Hans!" she shrieked, as she finally reached his mech. "Hans! Please! Hans, please be alive!"

Crying, she climbed it, frantically pulling his locked hatch. Surprisingly, with her angelic manifestation in full effect, pulling it was like nothing.

Her halo lit up the rest for her. Below, his head bleeding, barely breathing, and completely unconscious, was Hans.

"Hans!"

She quickly entered his mech. Her index finger quickly found its way to his neck, checking his pulse. It was weak. It was so weak, but it was there. He wasn't…he wasn't dead yet.

But with that blood on his head, the wound practically gaping open, the possibility of severe brain trauma was out there, coupled of course with blood loss. Gritting her teeth, she unfastened him from his seat and carried him out.

I just…I just need to get him to a healer.

Jumping down his mech, with Hans in her arms, she ran and ran. Her vision was practically overrun by her tears, and she barely saw anything. Her ears drowned every noise, outside of her voice mocking her for nearly killing him.

She closed her eyes, almost to shut it, until she heard a weak voice calling out to her.

"...I can't believe I made you cry again, Adelyn. How…pathetic of me…"

A brief laughter, as she stopped and looked down at Hans. Then, he was unconscious again as he ceased laughing.

Hans…

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

…What an unfamiliar ceiling that was.

"...This has got to be the worst headache I've had," he complained, still looking up at the white ceiling.

He stared at it longer, as the throbbing pain on his head slowly dissipated.

Why was he here?

Weren't we fighting…?

Oh…

Why should he even ask that question? Of course, they must have all taken care of it already. There was no way he'd be lying on some fancy bed otherwise.

Adelyn? Alizée? Wait…my damned mech!

He was about to sit up when he felt something holding his right hand.

It was soft, so soft, it was almost so delicately fragile, that he didn't want to even think of squeezing it.

He turned his head to the right. Sleeping, letting out faint, soft breaths, was a woman with golden locks.

Adelyn.

…If she's out here, there's zero chance that my mech is gone…no?

He breathed out a sigh. Most important was that she was safe.

What the hell happened anyway? Did we win? Damn it, I'd be in great trouble again if Injustice escaped.

As he looked up at the ceiling, he suddenly felt his right hand being squeezed.

"Hans?"

"...Heh, you sound way too relieved, Adelyn." Hans tried to laugh, before turning to her.

She was now wide awake, her eyes staring at him with a slight tremble. It was red and puffy, and it was as if she wiped it too much before she fell asleep. How silly. Did she think he was going to die?

As if. I think I just bashed my head on something. No big deal, I've had worse…

"Hans!" she began tearing up.

"Why the crying face?" Hans asked, groaning.

"Don't joke at me right now! You almost died. They said you almost turned yourself into a vegetable!"

"You meant vegetative? Isn't that a bit extreme?"

"Your skull almost caved in!"

"Okay, now that actually sounds nasty…"

"Hans!"

Hans stopped replying, as she continued crying. She seemed…actually, truly serious now.

"Stop," she said. "Stop it. Stop…doing that. I can't anymore. I know it was my fault, but…I can't have you be so close to death like that ever again—"

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"Your fault? Injustice had my ass on his gunsights, I'd be dead meat if you didn't do that."

"I said stop joking around!"

"Okay, okay…"

"Just…"

As Hans sat up, Adelyn rushed in and buried her face on his chest. He felt her wet tears filtering through the fabric, as she practically hugged him like it was the last time she'd ever do it.

"I was…I was so scared that you would have been dead," she cried. "Alizée has been crying herself to bed every day that you didn't wake up. And I…I…I thought last night you would wake up…but you didn't…"

"Adelyn…" he softly patted the back of her head.

"I waited. And I waited for so long…but you just…"

"I know, I know…I'm sorry…"

"Stop saying sorry…that's my line…my…"

"I don't know what to say."

"..."

She stopped speaking by now. She just cried and cried, and cried even more. Hans for his part felt his heart cracking as he realized how much grief his little stunt must have caused by this point. Damn…even Alizée was badly affected.

Of course, she was.

So I guess I was comatose for a while.

"...Adelyn…how long have I been out?"

With a shaky voice…

"T-two months…" she whimpered. "I can't believe…I did this to you…"

Hans' eyes widened, horror finally reaching him too.

"Two months?!"

+++

"And that's…all that has happened since…"

Adelyn lowered her head as she finished explaining what had transpired since the day they won against Injustice.

It seemed that they had been mostly licking their wounds while keeping the demons at bay. That victory, while great, and something lauded by the IYC, Asfaleia, Nomos, and Ygeia, was still only barely half of the mission. The other calamities: Cowardice, Avarice, Hubris, and Hate, only made themselves more active since.

All of them were now actively targeting the 'Angel of Justice' and the 'Angel of Purity', alongside him, the side character who tagged with them, of course. At the very least, with newer tactics, greater manpower, new equipment, and more experience, the Ygeian Imperial Military, as the centerpiece, kept them at bay from Asfaleia, Nomos, and Ygeia.

It was the other principalities that now suffered, and at least approximately half of Asfaleia. Reprisals against the Holy Empire, conducted by the last four calamities, have only intensified. The casualties by now, across the east, must be near half a million.

That number made Hans look down in dread.

"That's why…since then, me and Alizée have been trying to consistently summon and train our ideal…" she said. "Even Alizée. I want her…should an emergency arise, to be able to survive."

"Goddess, this is no good…" Hans placed his hand under his chin. "So is my mech fine?"

"Yes. I did…well, I kept it maintained as best as I can," she closed her eyes, puffing her cheeks. "But I suck, okay, so y-you'll need to use your self-repair magic once you've recovered."

"That's good at least."

"...And," she stopped. "I need to tell you something."

"What? Didn't you say everything already?"

"I said everything about what we're fighting for, and everyone else. But no. Can we…talk? For the first time? About the two of us? I was a bit out of it earlier when you woke up, but maybe now…I'll be clearer."

She seemed like she was fidgeting with her fingers, averting Hans' gaze.

Shit, is she going to chastise my bad piloting behavior?

Hans gulped.

"I knew it'd come to this. But I'll have you know, it's necessary—"

"It's not about that either. Though, it is very connected."

"Oh."

Adelyn finally raised her head and looked directly at Hans' eyes.

"You almost truly died, Hans."

"You said that a lot of times already."

"Do you know what it meant to me?"

"I know it must have hurt you greatly."

Hans gritted his teeth, as he watched her place her hand, no, her fist on her chest. It was on her heart directly, as she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

Painfully.

Damn it. Being gone for two months must have taken its toll on her.

"Hans…that day, when I retrieved you from your mech, bloodied, dying, and unconscious, I realized something. You stopped fearing death, haven't you?"

Hans' eyes widened.

"...What do you mean?"

Her eyes turned moist again as she opened it.

"You've always been…this way since I first met you," she shook her head. "But…but at least back then, I could tell that you still fought to see another day tomorrow. I didn't see that last time. Multiple times. From, Nomos, to Asfaleia…you just, the way you acted…"

"..."

"It's so weird because you seem like you fear dying. But not death itself. You face it without being fazed, what fazes you now, probably is the pain, no? But the way you fight sometimes, the way you…do it, it's as if, the outcome…"

"Adelyn, I assure you. I'm just doing it for our survival."

"...Why?"

"What do you mean, why? The same reason you risk your life for me. We're comrades, remember? Allies always do their utmost, even if death might happen, if it means saving their comrades."

"There's a difference between doing the impossible, fearfully, and gritting your teeth to keep your friends safe. You don't do that anymore. Every time a battle goes sideways, you just seem like…you're ready to throw your life away and charge forward, without even an ounce of hesitation. I can't stand it anymore!"

"..."

"You were a few hundred meters close to Injustice. You knew he wasn't a normal demon. He's a demon from our world, using our technology, yet you charged in there, intending to die!"

As he looked at her tearful eyes, Hans had no words to deny it. Truthfully, he has done this so many times already. He died doing that…he couldn't even count how many times already, just…throwing his life away and charging forward into certain death.

After all, should he fail, and if his allies were dying or worse already, at the very least, he could right it by dying.

So she does notice that?

"...I'm sorry."

"I don't want sorries from my savior, please," Adelyn shook her head. "I want this to just stop. I want you to fight with me, without needing to do that anymore. But I don't know how to do that…I don't…know how to even convince you. You seem like you just fight, and fight, and fight to the death, for what?"

"...For Alizée's future? For you?"

"I can understand the first one. But for me? Hans…am I so worthy, that you'll fight like that, to throw away your life, just for me? What am I even to you?"

Her voice cracked, as she curled her fist.

"...I'm done. I'm done. I'm so done. This charade, I'm so done with it."

"Look, I don't understand you."

"I don't know if this will get you to wake up. I'm stupid…maybe it'll make it even worse. And I'm probably only doing this for selfish reasons because I had to watch you almost die, that I feel like…I can't bear to miss this. I can't even have the tact now to wait until you feel better, because what if you died after all? Then I would have never said it…"

"..."

"It's so scary Hans, the thought of it, feels like it stabs me. I'm weak, and I can't hold it anymore. So I'm sorry…"

She's been really troubled by all this, huh?

"Adelyn, you know…I'm still a bit confused so—"

"I love you."

"...What?"

"I love you!"

She just said what?

"S-so…from now on, don't you dare try to throw your life away! If you don't care about your life, then know, from now on, even if you haven't accepted me yet, that I will not accept you dying."

Tearfully, she gripped his hands and pulled Hans close to her. The two stared eye-to-eye, with Adelyn slightly blushing while keeping her tearful 'composure' stable.

"And if you still choose to throw your life away so foolishly, I don't want it to ever be because of your 'duty' to your 'commanding officer'. You'll only be doing it, for a woman hopelessly in love with you!"

Hans stared at her in shock. He just woke up to deal with this!

Yet the way she looked at him now. Damn it indeed. She was truly the prettiest woman out there to Hans. But this was now illegal pretty. He wondered what evil spirit must have possessed her to say these words to him in his current state while looking like a tearful goddess.

He shook off those thoughts, because most of all right now, what truly mattered was that…

She looks so hurt.

"...So…my most precious knight, hero, and the only guy I now love and admire…you won't desert me to the afterlife won't you?" she tried to force a painful smile, her face glowing from the rays of the morning sun. She repeated her question. "...Won't you?"

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