Crimson Eyes, Distant Echoes

[Komitoza]

**

...Ryukyu Base, Tohoku...

Shana stood leaned against the lower side of her Sabre, arms crossed and eyes staring out towards the safety hatch of the docking bay intently. Almost as if she could see through it, deep into the infested void of Tohoku. Many crewmen of Ryukyu zipped past and around her in rush to perform their duties. Yet she didn't register them at all. Sounds of service equipment, quick footsteps and loud ordering surrounded her. But the only thing she could hear were screams, cries, valedictory words of loyalty whispered halfway through the gargling of a bloody mouth or the agony of burning vocal cords.

In her mind, she was back where it all ended. Frantically walking in circles on the deck of her clans base of operations, the Kagutsuchi "Shirouma, listening to transmission after transmission of Nesho'en pilots sending their final message, their last regards, their deepest confessions, day after day as large battle regiments of Kusari naval and intelligence forces ambushed wing after wing of her precious Bloodhounds.

"Nesho'en-san...excuse me." An intruders voice resonated through her flashback. Shana didn't even realize she drifted off again. Her glassy distant eyes began to regain focus, she looked towards the man in full flight equipment standing before her. It took a few seconds for her to reply, almost like her voice needed time to charge up. "Oh, yes dear hatchling?" Her voice raspy like that of a tired chainsmoker. The young Dragon was concerned, though only a trained eye could discern his worries. "We are preparing the bays for launch. I apologize but you must clear the area before we de-pressurize."

"Ah, perfect. I was actually considering heading out myself." She nodded, pushing off of the ship she was leaning on to stand straight, accompanied by the creaking sound of her augmentations joints. Her right arm and leg were lost to debris along with the wrecked cruiser. Looking towards the cockpit of her Sabre, she'd wince at the noise on delay. Sentimental, Shana avoids repairing the earie sound so her faded mind could never forget as it constantly reminded her. Not long after, the weary hound took off together with the patrol.

...open space, Hokkaido...

Doubt. "One of my hounds? Hiroyuki was the first to go..." Panic. "The Shogunate? Perhaps? Wait...no, no." Determination. "It couldn't be my kin, they all saw me as their mother." Hysteria. "I wouldn't be alive right now. They know I'd try to consume them from the inside." Confusion. "But, who leaked the encryption? Doubt. "I..."

In the area between the Unyo and Kayo clouds, a faint red trail left by the engines of Shanas Sabre decorated the open space. It didn't seem to be locked onto autopilot, it moved forward with slow confused weaving. She didn't take off long ago, but her mind doesn't choose a time and place to let loose the fragmented memories. Emotions flood, come, and go far before they can be deciphered. And all she can do is let go. She doesn't even do it consciously anymore. Instincts take over piloting, her mental free to analyze and crack the blocked memories one piece at a time. A hound hunting on pure instinct though can only have one fate.

To one day mistake her predator for prey. To leave the world of the living and forever forsake closure, eternally tormenting her lingering soul.

*