Lost Signal

Sometimes Vera wonders about her family. She’s not sure if she should feel upset or relieved that she can't remember them.

It’s not like she totally forgot them. Everything is just a blur. Then she only feels that pang of loss without understanding why. She was left alone and in pain from losing her left arm. She can’t quite remember what happened.

She vaguely remembers stumbling into some church. It was cold so she guessed it was snowing and someone treated her. They gave her food, water, and clothes. She couldn’t recall why she left the place that brings her warmth? What was her purpose for going out there? Why did she leave her?

Wait, who did she leave? 

Before she was able to answer her own question, she was brought back to the living realm and greeted by Bianca’s teasing smile.

“Good morning, sleepy head.”

Words of retorts were hanging on the tip of her mouth but she found herself not wanting to say back to that. Instead she turned her face away as she felt burning heat crawling her face. Yeah, she's getting sicker now.

Vera looked around and noticed that the landscape was different than the first time she was awake. She looked at Bianca with narrowed eyes.

“Did you…did you just carry me around while I was unconscious?”

“No, I threw you over my shoulders.”

Vera gaped at her words. Bianca tried to hold back her laugh and Vera realized that she was making fun of her.

“Fuck you, Bianca.” Vera grumbled, she didn’t want to know how Bianca carried her, the images of Bianca bridal carrying her or maybe piggybacking her made her face more heated up. At this point, she might die from overheating.

Vera threw away the blanket (which she still had no idea where Bianca got that from and didn't bother to ask) and leaned on the walls as she tried to stand up on her own. Bianca quickly got on her feet and without a word, Vera leaned on her as she pulled herself up with a grumpy look on her face.

“You know, I thought you would be the type of person who refuses help,” Bianca said as she put Vera’s arm around her shoulders.

Vera sighed. “I may be stubborn, but I'm not stupid. I just hate to owe someone.” Plus it’s better than having her pride brushed if she fell because her legs are still weak to stand.

Bianca hummed. “Well you don’t have to owe me anything, Red. Like I said, I'm not going to just leave you there.”

Vera scoffed in disbelief. “Oh really? No ulterior motives? What’s a Babylonian doing here all alone, by the way?”

“I’m not from Babylonia.”

“Huh?” Vera looked at her confusingly.

Bianca threw a side glance at her. “I would’ve thought you figured out that quickly.”

Vera quickly defended herself. “Yeah because you’re too good to be like Kurono deserters, or something. Not that I mean Babylonia is any good.”

“Didn't Babylonia leave most humans on earth to save themselves?” Bianca shrugged. “Leaving us to fend ourselves.”

Vera grinned at the memories. “Oh, I was there, you know, during ‘the’ great evacuation. They basically told us to just leave everyone to die.” Then Vera’s expression turned grim. “I tried to save the people, me and my comrades, but I'm the only one who survived the battle…”

If Vera noticed Bianca’s arm tightened her grip around her waists, she didn’t show it. She isn’t used to being comforted but Bianca without saying anything and just being this close surprisingly calms her.

“Then Kurono found me, apparently they were impressed and wasted no time stamping my files.” Vera huffed. “But it’s Kurono, we are still expandable resources for them.”

“I see…” Bianca lost in thoughts. “So that’s why you said ‘survival of the fittest’.”

Vera hummed, she couldn’t recall what she said before fell unconscious. Then she remembered their main topic. “So, if you aren’t from Babylonia then who turned you into a construct?”

But before Bianca could answer her, the ground shook and a corrupted sandworm called Vassago crawled up from the ground. It attracted lots of corrupted and they quickly took shelter behind some ruins. Or more precisely, Bianca dragged Vera with force.

“Shit, where’s my blade?!”

Bianca pulled out her bow and shot at the corrupted.

“I think I left it on the boat.”

“You what?!”

Bianca didn’t spare her any glances, too focused on defending them from the waves of corrupted but she looked guilty. “It’s not like you are in any conditions to fight!”

Vera wanted to argue that she’s not helpless. But Bianca looks so ethereal when shooting down all those corrupted so easily. Her lightning arrows make her look like Goddess of Thunder and Vera has to close her mouth to prevent herself from drooling embarrassingly.

Wait, why did she just stare at her like an idiot? Shit, maybe Bianca was right. She is really helpless, though not in the sense that she is unable to fight. No, she’ll prove it to this goddess that she is still perfectly capable of fighting.

Sure enough, more corrupteds swarmed them from other directions and before Bianca was able to react, Vera already lunged at them with her fist and teeth.

“Red, what the fuck?!”

Vera spat out chunks of metal and blood. Then she punched another corrupted through its head before turning away to Bianca, grinning with blood dripping from her mouth and winking at her.

“I’m not going to let my knight in shining armor steal all the spotlight, right?”

Bianca’s expression is comically funny and Vera wanted to laugh, but a corrupted decided to take revenge on their fallen comrades and punched Vera in the face. Her head feels like exploding from the pain, she scowled in annoyance before fighting back. She doesn’t look back at Bianca because she is only focused on killing the enemies in front of her.

It is until she heard a loud thud to the ground, then she turned around to see Bianca had already finished the Vassago. And it is at that moment a corrupted drive its blade into Vera’s left shoulder.

Vera gasped in pain but quickly threw over the corrupted and stomp on its head, crushing it completely. When the adrenaline ran out, she had no energy left and almost fell down on her back if it weren’t for Bianca holding her. 

“What were you thinking?!”

Vera blinks. The overwhelming pain coursing through her left arm makes her remaining functioning visual module unfocused. But she still let out a chuckle at Bianca’s baffled expression.

“Bianca, you’re always worried about me all the time! Calm down, for fuck sake”

“You have a blade stuck through your shoulder, Red. You can’t expect me to calm down because of your clumsiness!”

“I can’t believe you just called me clumsy,” Vera whined. “It’s okay, I'm used to this. Just help me patch this up.”

Bianca said nothing as she helped Vera pull out the blade and patch the gaping wound. Vera’s tongue bleeding from how hard she bit it, mixing with the blood from the battle. Bianca gently brushed the blood from Vera’s lips with her thumb.

“You really can’t help yourself from getting hurt, aren’t you?”

Vera rolled her eyes playfully. “It’s not like you can get Death killed that easily.”

She froze when she slipped out. Bianca just looked at her with furrowed eyebrows but seeing the frozen look on Vera’s face told her not to push her further. She withdrew her finger from Vera and sucked the blood off her finger, enjoying the flushed look on Vera’s face.

“At least, you taste good.”

Vera’s mind short-circuited.

~~~

They took shelter at the next ruin building they found that night. It’s probably going to take half a day to get back to the nearest Kurono base in Vera’s state, but she noticed that she isn’t the only one in bad shape.

Even when her frame is overheating, her computing frame still works and she knows that Bianca’s mind has slight deviation, which doesn’t make sense because Bianca is completely fine!

But she can’t just ignore Bianca’s condition. It’s why she vouched for them to rest for the night in the ruins she spotted at first sight. Not that Bianca would object because Vera is completely not fine!

She wasted no time to check on Bianca the moment they settled down.

“I’m going to perform maintenance on you.”

If Bianca is surprised with Vera’s suddennes, she doesn’t show it. In fact she keeps her cool mask on her beautiful face.

“There is no need for that now. I’m fine,” Bianca softened her gaze. “You should go to rest.”

Vera clenched her jaw angrily.

“Bullshit. I know your mind has slight deviation,” Vera pierce her gaze at Bianca. “Why the hell would your frame be unstable? Did they turn you with premature technology?”

“It’s not your business,” Bianca threw back Vera’s words that were spoken to her a few days ago.

Vera won’t stand down. “It is my business now. Considering I'm stuck with you and have to depend on you for survival.”

She swallowed her grimace and kept on pushing.

“Look, I hate to owe people. I don’t want you to crash out when you go back on your own because you are too stubborn to let me check your frame.”

Bianca sighed and gripped Vera’s chin softly. Vera tried so hard not to melt under her soft gaze. “You are in no condition to perform maintenance on me, Red. I know how bad it’s going to affect you and I don't want that.”

“Of course I know that,” Vera rolled her eyes. “That’s why I'm just going to do some basic stabilization on your mind.”

Bianca still looked hesitant and Vera decided to cupped Bianca’s cheek (look at her eyes, don’t look at her full pretty lips that you desperately want to–).

“Please?”

One thing about Vera is that she’ll never beg. But that probably changed when she met Bianca.

There’s a look of resignation (and affection?) on Bianca’s face before she finally nodded.

“Five minutes. Don’t take too long.”

Vera grinned as she dropped her hand. “Don’t worry, I'll be as quick as possible.”

Bianca said nothing as she allowed the redhead’s mind to connect with hers. Truth is she really started to feel fatigue and she knew if she didn’t do anything about the mind deviation, then she might as well be a goner. But Red is definitely risking herself a lot to help Bianca, and she wished that nothing bad would happen to her. At least not as bad as what the redhead has been going through.

When Vera’s mind connected with Bianca, a searing pain coursed through her mind. Vera hissed in pain but she quickly began her work to stabilize Bianca’s mind. Except, somehow she fell down onto her knees on the snow. Her hands gripped tightly at the gun she was holding. Raw emotions running deep inside of her as she aimed the gun at the corrupted in front of her, its hand dragging a dismembered head.

“Bianca…my child…” 

Tears welled up in her eyes as she shot down her father. (what the hell is happening here?!)

Then she went on another trip down the memory lane.

She saw people calling Bianca names (The Witch, because she was a nun and she dared to sin by killing her own father, her corrupted father), alienated her, and drove her to exile from the conservation area because she killed another corrupted person (why didn’t she say anything?! why didn’t she fight back?!). Bianca thought that she deserved her treatment (but she sacrificed herself! no one would be able to do what she did in her position!) and she would’ve died if it weren't for some man offering her a purpose (Vera wanted to throw up when she realized who it was).

Vera heard someone calling her name frantically. And suddenly she felt like her head had been stabbed through. Her left eye throbbed painfully.

She screamed loudly. Her mind and body finally registered everything, and she is back to see Bianca in front of her cupping her face with her eyes full of fear.

“Vera! Vera! Shit! You’re bleeding!”

Her head lolled back to the wall as she watched Bianca wiping her bloody nose with her hand. 

“Bianca,” she gasped in pain. “My head hurts.”

In normal circumstances, Vera would never admit how hurt she is. But Bianca already saw her weakness these past days and right now her head is pounding wildly. No, pounding couldn’t explain the pain she just felt. She just wanted to close her eyes and fall asleep.

She vaguely heard Bianca calling her name again before she blacked out.