Mei
"Was this where they put you when you awakened the Herrscher?" Kiana asked Mei, who was walking beside her.
Mei nodded but said nothing, she clearly didn't like the containment block at all.
Kiana and Mei walked side by side, their footsteps echoing in a hollow rhythm against the polished floor.
Kiana clutched a plastic bag to her chest, the crinkle of the wrapper loud in the quiet hallway. Inside were snacks.
Custard taiyaki from the cafeteria, a bag of chips, and a couple of sodas. She thought Wendy could use something like this after being locked up for three days.
"It feels like a prison," Kiana whispered.
Mei didn't answer immediately. She was looking straight ahead, her jaw set in a tight line.
"It is a prison. They just call it 'containment' to make it seem less sad."
They reached the end of the hall. A heavy, reinforced door slid open with a hissing sound, revealing the observation deck.
It wasn't a cell in the traditional sense. It was a clean white room, separated from them by a wall of reinforced glass. Inside, sitting on the edge of a narrow medical bed, was Wendy.
She looked tired.
She wore a hospital gown that was a touch too big for her, making her look younger, frailer than the terrifying Herrscher they had fought in the garden.
A metal cuff was clamped around her ankle, glowing with a pulsating yellow light. Most likely something just in case she ever decided to attack St Freya.
Wendy wasn't looking at the door. She was staring at her hands, her posture slumped, her hair falling over her face like a curtain. She looked like a ghost haunting her own life.
Mei's heart tightened. Wendy's current state reminded her of her own experience.
"Okay," Kiana muttered, taking a deep breath and forcing a smile onto her face. "She looks like she needs some cheering up. You ready, Mei?"
Mei looked at Wendy, then at Kiana. "I'm ready."
They stepped up to the glass. Kiana tapped on it lightly, the sound a little too loud in the silence.
"Hey, Wendy!" Kiana called out, holding up the bag. "Look! We brought snacks! The cafeteria finally made the good taiyaki again!"
Wendy didn't move. She didn't look up. She didn't acknowledge them at all.
"Wendy?" Mei asked softly.
Slowly, Wendy turned her head. Her eyes were dull, red-rimmed, and empty. She looked at them, then at the snacks, and then back at the wall.
"Go away," she whispered.
"Come on," Kiana tried again, her smile wavering. "We just want to talk. Being alone must be—"
"I said go away," Wendy interrupted, her voice rising with a sudden spike of anger. She turned fully toward them, her hands gripping the edge of the bed.
"Why are you here?" she demanded, her voice cracking. "To look at the monster? To see the girl who got your friend killed?"
Kiana flinched. "No! He's not—"
"He's gone!" Wendy shouted, standing up. The chain on her ankle rattled, a harsh, metallic sound. "Kenji is gone! Bronya is gone! Because of me! Because I was difficult! Because I just wouldn't listen!"
She paced the small room, her movements frantic, like a trapped animal.
"You tried to help me," she sobbed, tears spilling over. "You tried to save me, and I attacked you. I broke his arm. And then... then he..."
She stopped, her back to the glass, her shoulders shaking.
"He shouldn't have done it," she whispered, the words heavy with a crushing guilt. "He shouldn't have jumped in front of me. I'm just a broken toy. I'm just an asset."
"I wasn't worth it."
At her words, Mei felt a chill coil in her stomach, a familiar resonance with her own past insecurities.
She opened her mouth, searching for the right thing to say. Something that she would have wanted to hear back then.
"Wendy—"
BAM.
A sharp sound cracked through the tension.
Mei flinched, her head snapping to the side.
Kiana's hand was pressed flat against the reinforced glass. Her knuckles were white, her fingers splayed wide as if she were trying to push through the barrier by sheer force of will.
The plastic bag of snacks lay forgotten on the floor, spilled open.
Kiana's head was bowed, her bangs shadowing her eyes. Her shoulders trembled with frustration that radiated off her in waves.
"Shut up,"
Wendy blinked, startled out of her spiral. She looked up at the glass, confusion flickering through her grief.
"What...?"
"I said shut up!" Kiana yelled, her head snapping up.
Mei actually took a step back. She had seen Kiana angry before, a little petulant, annoyed, fiery. But she had never seen her like this.
Kiana's blue eyes were swimming with unshed tears, burning with a fierce, desperate fury that seared everything it touched.
"Don't talk about them as if they're already dead," Kiana hissed, her voice cracking. "Don't you dare say that his actions weren't worth it."
She stepped closer to the glass, pressing her forehead against it, closing the distance as much as the prison would allow.
"You think you're the only one who's scared? You think you're the only one who's hurting?" Kiana's voice broke, a sob escaping her throat before she swallowed it down. "I'm terrified! He's gone, Bronya's gone, and I don't know if they're okay! I don't know if they're hurt! I hate this!"
She slammed her fist against the glass again, a dull thud.
"But Kenji didn't save you because you were some asset. He didn't save you because Schicksal told him to, or because of some mission… He saved you because he wanted to. He saw you, and he chose to save you."
Wendy flinched, shrinking away from Kiana's intense gaze
"He gave everything he had for that choice," Kiana whispered, tears finally spilling over her cheeks. "So if you give up now... if you sit there and decide you're trash..."
Kiana took a shaky breath, her voice hardening into steel. "Then you're throwing away the chance he gave you. You're making his efforts worthless. And I won't let you do that."
Wendy stared at her, wide-eyed and stunned. Unable to come up with any words, utterly shocked at Kiana's sheer conviction, until the dam finally broke.
Wendy let out a strangled sound. Her legs gave out, and she slid down the wall, curling into a ball on the floor. The defiance was gone. The anger was gone. There was only grief, pouring out of her in racking sobs that shook her small frame.
Kiana stayed where she was, her hand still pressed against the glass, her chest heaving. She didn't look away. She watched Wendy cry, her own tears falling silently.
Mei moved then. She didn't say a word. She simply stepped up beside Kiana and sat down on the cold floor, leaning her back against the glass wall.
Kiana looked down at her, sniffing loudly. After a moment, she wiped her face with her sleeve and sat down next to Mei.
They sat there in silence, separated from the sobbing girl by a few inches of glass. They waited. They let the storm break.
Minutes ticked by. The sobs slowly subsided into wet, hitching breaths. Wendy didn't move from her curled position, but the tension in her shoulders had lessened.
She looked exhausted, hollowed out, but the frantic, self-destructive energy was gone.
Kiana sniffs again, louder this time, the sound jarring in the quiet room. She shifts uncomfortably, her gaze drifting downward until it lands on the floor.
The bag of snacks she had dropped lay there, split open, its contents scattered across the white tiles.
"Ah, crap," she muttered. She scrambled to her knees, reaching for the bag. "I squished the taiyaki."
She holds up one of the fish-shaped cakes. It was flattened, the custard filling oozing out of the side in a messy, yellow glob. It looks pathetic.
Mei lets out a small, wet laugh, the sound surprising even herself. "It's definitely seen better days."
Kiana pouts, but then an idea pops into her head. She looks at the squished cake, then up at Wendy, who is watching them through the glass with puffy, confused eyes.
"Hey," Kiana said, holding the sad little pastry up to the glass. "It might look like roadkill, but it still tastes good. Promise."
Wendy blinked, staring at the flattened treat. A tiny, almost imperceptible twitch touched the corner of her mouth. It wasn't quite a smile, but it was close.
"I... I'm not hungry,"
"Liar," Kiana countered gently. "You haven't eaten anything since we found you, have you?"
Wendy looked away, her stomach giving a traitorous rumble that was echoed through the speakers. Her cheeks flushed a faint pink.
Mei reached into her own pocket and pulled out a wrapped chocolate bar she had brought. She stepped up to the small transfer slot built into the glass wall.
"Here," Mei said softly, sliding the chocolate through. "Start small. You need your strength."
Wendy hesitated. She looked at the chocolate sitting in the tray, then back at Mei and Kiana. Slowly, she reached out.
Her fingers trembled as she picked up the bar. She unwraps it with careful movements, breaking off a small piece and placing it in her mouth.
She closed her eyes as she chewed, a sigh escaping her lips.
"Thanks," she whispered.
Kiana beamed, still clutching the squished taiyaki. "See? Food fixes everything. Even squished food." She then quickly inserted the remaining snacks through the transfer slot.
'…Wendy?" Mei called out softly.
A sniffle. "What?" Wendy's voice was slightly muffled from chewing the chocolate.
"We're not asking you to be okay," Mei said gently. "We know it hurts. We know you're scared."
Wendy stopped her chewing and stared up at her, eyes starting to water again.
"But we're going to get him back," she promised. "We're going to get them both back. And when we do... when things calm down… I'd like to get to know you better," she said, a small smile touching her lips. "Not as a Valkyrie or a Herrscher. Just... as Wendy."
Beside her, Kiana nodded, leaning her head on Mei's shoulder. "Yeah," she mumbled, her voice thick. "Me too. We need a fourth player for video games, anyway. Bronya always cheats."
Wendy slowly lifted her head. Her eyes were swollen, her face blotchy, but she looked at them. Really looked at them. She looked at Kiana's tear-streaked face and Mei's gentle hand on the glass.
Mei didn't know what went through the girl's head at that moment, but it seemed to lift her spirits a lot.
They spent the rest of the visit talking about lighter topics. Hobbies and even Wendy's experience as a top tier Valkyrie before being put in a wheelchair.
Even after they finished their visit, they left with a weight lifted from their chest as Wendy waved them goodbye with a hesitant smile.
/ — /
The heavy, reinforced door hissed shut behind them, sealing the containment bay and its quiet grief away from the rest of the world.
Kiana let out a long breath, her shoulders sagging as the adrenaline finally left her system. The hallway was just as cold and sterile as before, but the oppressive weight in her chest felt a little lighter.
"We did it," she whispered, rubbing her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "She didn't tell us to get lost at the end."
"Yeah, it went better than I expected," Mei agreed, falling into step beside her. She reached out, taking Kiana's hand and giving it a firm squeeze. "You were really amazing back there, Kiana. I don't usually see you that fired up."
Kiana rubbed the back of her neck, her cheeks turning a faint pink. "Eh, I just... I got mad. I hate it when people talk like that. Like they don't matter… And Kenji wouldn't want her to think that."
"No, he wouldn't."
They walked in companionable silence for a moment, but Kiana's eyes seemed to linger on Mei for a long while. It looked like she was thinking of something.
"Something on your mind?"
Kiana was startled that she had been caught staring, but only hummed in response to her question. "I just realized that you changed a lot since we first met."
"I-is that bad—?"
"No! No. What I meant is that you were usually more… reserved? Like you used to be so shy when I made any moves to you, and now you're usually the one on the offensive! It's unfair!"
That made Mei think for a bit. Now that she really thought about it, she had changed a lot from back then. What could have caused such a change— 'Oh.'
She smirked at Kiana, "That's because you and Kenji have been a bad influence on me."
"What?! Nuh uh, I am a great influence! It's Kenji's fault then!" Mei chuckled at her denial.
"I think… When it was just us, our energy canceled each other out—your fiery personality and my… reserved tendencies. When Kenji came into the mix, I had to deal with two… Very active people instead of just one. I think a few things rubbed off on me."
"Huh… Never really thought about it like that." Kiana seemed satisfied with that answer, and the two finally reached the final corridor out of the Containment Bay when they stopped.
At the end of the hallway, standing by the elevator, was Himeko.
She wasn't wearing her usual casual clothes or her instructor uniform. She was in full combat gear, her armor gleaming under the fluorescent lights, her massive greatsword strapped to her back.
"Girls," Himeko said, a tired smile on her face. "I hope the visit went well. Because something else just came up."
Mei was immediately alarmed, "Himeko-sensei?"
"What's going on? Why do you have your battlesuit on?" Kiana asked.
"Theresa wants us in the briefing room."
"Did... did something happen?" Mei asked, a knot of dread forming in her stomach. "Is it about Kenji?"
Himeko nodded. "We found him and Bronya. Theresa got a lead. We know where Cocolia is keeping them. She wants to talk to you two and plan our next move."
Mei turned to Kiana, and the two immediately nodded and followed Himeko.