Episode 37 - Can't Let Her Get Away

Arriving in Paris, France, Team Dark members of Luminary had to be on their toes all the time. The country was a complete war zone and the capital was in the heart of the confrontation.

Escort: Your Majesty, we found 4 IBI Agents in our territory.

They weren't prisoners, but were having a hostile reception anyway. The room was full of people looking at them with contempt.

A tall woman with African American skin color came to the group from a strategy session with other people and made a cocky smile looking at them as they all knelt in respect

Leo: Queen Beauetfort, I take it?

Beauetfort: What do you know, the Famous Luminary, finally at my doorstep.

Leo: You were expecting us?

Beauetfort: Portugal, Spain, Ukraine and Belarus. It was only a question of time.

She gestures with their hand and they stand up.

Beauetfort: The IBI has a lot of gal to send you to my country after Saisem drove you out.

Nana: So that's why there are no IBI bases here?

Beauetfort: Correct. We are La Résistance! People, with or without powers, from France who decided to stand up and fight after the IBI was utterly destroyed in Paris.

Leo: And why do you call yourself "Queen"?

Beauetfort: Because I will rule this country once we take it back. And now, when we are close to victory, you guys appear.

Luiz: To be fair, we were attacking other Saisem bases all over the world, so...

Beauetfort: Yes, I know. Even here your team's stories are told. Some even wanted you to reach our country to help in the war effort.

Leo: Our mission it's to specifically destroy the Red King's local castle and kill it's officer. We will not stand on your or in the people's way to retake what's yours.

She scratches her chin.

Beauetfort: Very well, then we will work together.

The people in the room make a war cry and the guards lower their weapons

The Queen takes them to a table with the map of Paris, showing the King's castle, the troops locations, etc.

Beauetfort: We will attack the Red King's castle tonight. My army has been fighting continuously to secure routes that will take us straight to our target. Since the IBI kindly offered the fours of you to be the main strike team, you will all go first and assassinate the Officer.

Luiz: Interesting... While we go in, your army will attack on each side of the castle.

Nana: No escapes, no chances, every Saisem soldier will either fight or surrender.

Luiz and Nana: Most Impressive!

Leo: What is this red area?

Beauetfort: Paris Descartes University. Saisem uses it's library as an information hub.

Leo: But why is it marked as Red?

Beauetfort: Empress Ran did... "Something" there yesterday.

Luiz: She was here?

Beauetfort: For a limited time. She went for the library and left.

Leo: Can we go there?

Beauetfort: It's in enemy territory, so I wouldn't recommend.

Leo: Still, if we return in time for your siege, there's no problem, right?

Beauetfort: Well, yeah? I thought you were staying for our party?

Nana: Party?

Beauetfort: Since tonight's supposed to be the last battle to reclaim France, we are having a grand "last feast".

Leo: Thanks, but we--

Luiz interrupted Leo by patting his shoulder.

Luiz: We will be most honored to stay for a while and then leave to the University.

Leo: We will?

Luiz: Yes. We haven't stopped for a rest since Spain.

Beauetfort: Well, feel yourselves at home.

The Queen goes to join the party, Nana and Sora leave the strategy room to find the bathroom and Luiz and Leo just take a seat to relax.

Leo: Well, I needed this.

Luiz: Why's the sudden interest in Ran?

Leo: Aren't you as well?

Luiz: Well...

The Queen comes to them and takes a seat.

Luiz: Great party, your Majesty.

Beauetfort: Thank you. I do hate how my generals call this their "last meal". Already assuming this can go wrong.

Leo: Well, they can.

Beauetfort sighed and took a sip of her drink.

Beauetfort: I guess you are right. Might as well make the most of it.

Leo: What do you mean?

Beauetfort: If it is our last day, might as well go fucking bananas, right? No regrets.

Leo thought about Sora, for some reason. He knew that each battle could be the last, but he never saw it that way.

Luiz: You'll be joining the battle?

Beauetfort: I'll be on the front lines myself. A true leader is the one who depends on their subordinates, but also shows they can depend on them.

Luiz: That's a great philosophy! Who said that?

Beauetfort: You did.

She takes another sip.

Luiz: I did?

Beauetfort: In Italy, before Saisem incinerated the whole country. I took it to heart and that worked very well.

Luiz: You flatter me.

Luiz scratches his head a bit flustered.

Beauetfort: So, which one of you will sleep with me?

Leo: Excuse-me?

Beauetfort: If I'm going out today, I want my last time to be with a powerful warrior. Frankly, I would choose Sir Paris, but, alas, he's on the other side of the continent.

Luiz: It is a generous offer, but I have already pledged my life to another woman.

Beauetfort: Well, your loss. Take care on your trip to the university. See you all tonight.

She stood up as Nana and Sora came back to their side.

Nana: Making royal friendships?

Luiz: You could say that.

He looks at Leo and Sora.

Luiz: Maybe Regal would have been a better option, am i right?

Leo: Fuck you, Luiz.

Leo punches Luiz' shoulder as he laughs.

Sora: What about them?

Leo: It's best you don't know. Why did you two take so long in the bathroom?

Nana: Girl stuff, mostly discussing how our trip to the university will work.

Luiz: So?

Nana: It's a quick trip, right?

Luiz: Yes. Just to check what Ran wanted there.

Sora: Probably nothing good..

Luiz: For now, let's eat. We think about this when we get there.

Sora: Right, we need a rest. And this time it's not because of.... Well...

She clears her throat.

Nana and Luiz walked on ahead, Leo was ready to follow, but noticed Sora getting pale.

Leo: Sora, are you... Feeling sick again?

Sora: I shouldn't have brought that up....

She starts taking deep breaths.

Leo quickly grabbed and offered her a glass of water.

She takes it and slowly takes a sip.

Leo: I'm here.

Sora: I know, and I'm grateful you are.

Leo: You want to talk about it?

Sora: Let's say, after all the shit I've experienced in my life... It had a heavy mental toll... What you saw me go through back in Spain...

She sighs

Sora: Was a ptsd attack. And what Nana said was one of my trigger words... And I'm afraid I'll have another one.

Leo and Sora walk to a balcony, with view to the city for privacy.

Leo: Can you tell me about this ptsd of yours?

Sora: I don't think I can... I'm just... Scared to talk about it...

Leo: All right then.

Sora wanted to tell him, she really did, she just didn't know how.

Sora: It's not just that I'm afraid... I do want to tell you... I just... I...

She sighs in frustration.

Sora: Why am I so scared? You literally asked, it's not like I'm dumping my problems onto you!

She sighs again.

Sora: Sorry... I didn't mean to yell... I'll tell you what happened.

Sora looks out at the city and leans onto the railing.

Sora: When I was a child... I was in a car crash... My dad was killed in front of me by my trigger word.... And the trigger word caused the car crash... My mom helped me escape the turned over car and I hide.... Said Trigger word then crushed the car with my mom inside...

Leo looked at the visual in front of them and closed his eyes as his golden hair waved at the wind.

Leo: So that's what has been bothering you

She nodded

Sora: Every time I heard those two words... I go into some sort of shock and then relive those events... Every. Damn. Time.

Leo: It's a "feature" from your powers, right?

Sora: More like a side effect.

Leo: Thanks for sharing that with me.

Sora: Yea... You know, Before the 'home movie' started.... I felt so scared and alone, then I saw a soft light and felt a calming warmth... And after it ended... The same thing happened but the second time I knew where it was coming from.

Leo: From where?

She looked at him and smiled.

Sora: You.

Leo blushed a little.

Leo: Of course! Staying by your side there is something anyone should do!

"This type of reaction can work with Nana, but doesn't fly with you."

They look behind and Luiz is walking to their direction.

Luiz: Let's roll. You two can catch up later.

Sora: Already?

Luiz: If we want to go there and return on time for the siege. Yeah.

Sora: That's fair.

The group leaves for the university. Fortunately, as the enemy was preparing for a grand battle, they didn't find too much problem traveling through the rooftops. They sneak into the university's library and start to take a look around.

Sora: Let's see.... Hmm...

She checks books that would be useful to Ran.

The silence outside with the gloomy feeling didn't help them feel safe at all. The Library was especially empty.

Nana: Ugh, this silence smothering, suffocating...

Leo: Yes... Any noise would help right now.

Luiz: You want some noise? Go to a computer and see what you can find.

Leo took a seat on a computer and managed to connect as there was no password.

Leo: What now?

Luiz: See if you can find anything there.

Leo: On it.

Sora felt less dizzy than before, the silence wasn't helping at all. But she tried to focus, she had business here, no time for silly daydreams.

Nana and Luiz started to look at some archives, breaking the locks and searching for anything they could find.

Nana: There's a lot of different Saisem projects here, most of them dropped.

Luiz: Keep looking. Even if there's a possibility of our efforts being fruitless, we still need to try.

Nana: It would be better if we knew what Ran did in the first place... Going here might not be the right decision...

Luiz: ...but it's a start.

Nana sighed.

Nana: A good start, I hope.

Leo: Sora, any luck?

Sora: The books about gods and Lovecraft gods are missing. You think she took them?

Nana: Wait, those types of books would be found usually on mythology, why they would be on religion.

Sora: I can check the mythology section.

Luiz: Sora, no. The mythology section is on the other side of the library. Stay with us.

Sora: Hey, I'll be fine. Besides, I need some time alone anyway.

Luiz: But...

Sora: Trust me. It will be alright.

Nana: Let her go, seaweed. What's the worst that can happen to her? The ghost of the library?

Luiz: 10 minutes.

Sora: Make it 20.

Luiz: No?

Sora: Come on, until I get there, check everything and come back.

Luiz: 15 minutes.

Sora: Thanks.

Luiz: If you don't come back in 15 minutes, I'll go fetch you myself.

Sora: Ok, dad. I'm not a kid anymore, you know.

Luiz: This is not a joke, Sora.

Sora: I'll be alright.

Sora walked over to Leo and laid her hand on his shoulder.

Sora: When all this is over... Let's have a talk. You and me.

Leo: Sure.

Sora gave Leo a soft kiss on his cheek, making him blush and went on ahead.

Nana: Seaweed! Focus!

Luiz: Right, right.

Sora walked through the library and felt like Luiz wasn't exaggerating, the section where she needed to be was really far away and that library being huge didn't help either. Even with the place being dead silent, she started to not be able to hear her friends.

Sora: I just got to keep on now.

The lack of ample light in the area didn't help. She pinched her forehead as she started to feel a headache forming at the back of her head.

Sora: Maybe I should have asked for someone to come with me...

Sora, arriving on her destination, finds a lone computer and all mythology shelves empty.

Sora: Well, this is... Disappointing. Well, now that i'm here, let's at least check this computer.

She turns it on and doesn't find anything aside from a single folder in the trash bin called "Project E".

Sora: Project E?

She looked around and noticed that the whole section was a mess, like if everything there was taken in a hurry.

Sora: Guess they forgot to delete trash bin contents. Or no one told them that just pressing delete doesn't truly erase something. Oh well.

She drags it out of the trash bin and clicks on it.

Sora: Seriously, how sloppy can she be to not delete it.

She opens the folder and finds tons and tons of information inside a pdf file. Images, texts, clues, evidence.

Sora: Project "Excellar"? That's the project that Ran stole from the IBI when she used Luiz as her disguise boyfriend and...

As she scrolled the PDF, she found information and information that horrified her.

Sora: Experiments with... People...?! The power of the gods? What is this?!

She was scared reading all of that. She didn't waste any other minute and passed the pdf to her cellphone and deleted the file permanently from the PC.

She stood up, ready to run back to her friends, but, suddenly, the world stopped.

An intense blood red colored fog took over the room where she was. A feeling. A chilly brush of air behind Sora's back, she felt suffocated.

And then, her whole body freezes.

Yata: Here... Fishy, fishy, fishy...

Sora holds her breath, not believing in her eyes as she sees that woman, the very same woman who decapitated her father and crushed her mother's body inside a car.

She doesn't dare to make any noise. Worse, she can't. The whole sensation of excitement for find something useful for her friends is gone, replaced by a cold, seeping dread spreading throughout her limbs.

Yata: Look at you, little fish. All grown up. Not thanks to me, of course.

Sora couldn't help but take a step back, desperately to keep distance from that woman.

Sora: Y-You think you scare me?!

She proceeded to try to scream for help, but nothing came out of it. Her legs could barely keep standing and her voice was weaker by the second.

Yata: Don't be so rude. I came all the way over here, just to play with you.

Sora expected the woman to lounge at her, show the monster that she is. Instead, all Yata gives her is a smile, twisted and gnarled. Almost as if time has crawled to a stop at the sight of it.

Yata: Come here. Swim back to the net you escaped from all those years ago.

Sora couldn't use her powers either. She was completely helpless, completely taken by her fear. But then she remembered that all she needed to do was alert her friends.

So, in a split-second decision, she grabbed the first solid thing she could find and threw it at Yata, who got hit as she was greatly underestimating her prey.

She runs. As fast as her legs can carry her. But Yata follows right after her, there would be no time to reach the rest of the team, and she still can't scream either.

She looks at an entrance, leading to the stairs. She doesn't think straight, her heart was racing, adrenaline as high as ever.

She goes upstairs. There will probably be people there, enemy or not she had to try.

She had to try something.

Sora gets on the university's roof, revealing the vast expanse of Paris' afternoon skyline, and looks back at Yata coming from behind her.

Yata: You can't swim forever, little fish!

Sora looks around, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. She either went back from where she came or jumped. Which wouldn't happen as she was god knows how tall was it to the ground.

She was cornered.

Yata: Don't be such a spoilsport, little fish.

Sora: Stop calling me that...

Yata: It's been years since we've seen each other, hasn't it?

Yata laughs, a horrid, grotesque, laugh.

Yata: What's wrong, little fish? You look like you've seen a ghost!

Sora: St-Stay away from me!

Yata: Of course, if you didn't run away all those years ago, I would be dead now. But I Wouldn't be kicked out from the Bounty Hunters and lived life in shame.

Sora: How did you find me...?

Yata: You and your friends have become such a nuisance to Saisem's life. All they did was direct me to finally finish that last job I never got to end.

Yata starts approaching Sora. Mocking her, teasing her, over and over as the poor little girl walks back without even noticing where she was going until her feet eventually hit the edge.

End of the line.

Trapped.

Alone.

Sora: So, this is how it ends, huh? Quietly and without fanfare. Surrounded not by a warm breeze but by a chilly air.

Yata approaches as Sora slowly tears up and looks up, sobbing.

Sora: No soft embrace of the ones I love, but the din of afternoon traffic below. Nothing but the cold, pungent smell of death. All underneath a dreary cloudy European sky...

Sora looked back at Yata, who was summoning her baseball bat made of diamond like minerals. The same one that killed her parents.

Sora: How fitting... Yet, amidst all of it... There's a single voice I want to hear. If only for the last time.

Sora picks up her phone and calls Leo. She smiled, despite being in tears, and Yata does nothing to prevent that. Even if she did call for help, nothing would change now, so Yata allows Sora this last wish.

Leo: Sora?

Sora: H-Hey... Am I interrupting?

Sora looked behind her and could see Leo, Luiz and Nana on the window on the other side of the small campus, still searching for the clues that she found.

Leo: Not really, we aren't having too much luck. You?

Sora: Leo, do you remember earlier when I told you about my trauma?

Leo: Um, yeah?

Sora: I never told anyone about it. Ever.

Leo: What do you--

Sora: I trusted you... Just like you trusted me with your insecurities as well...

She was crying very hard at that moment, barely being able to make out her words. She looked at Leo's face, finding her behavior weird, still thinking she was just on the other side of the Library. She looked at Luiz and Nana, feeling happy how her friend finally found happiness with someone.

Then looked at Leo again.

One last time.

Leo: All right, Sora, you're worrying me, what's happening?

Sora: Thanks, Leo.

Leo: Hold on, did I do something?

Sora: For everything.

Leo: Sora, what--

Sora: I'm so glad to have known you.

Leo: What are you trying to say?

Sora: That I'm in love with you.

Leo: What?!

A soft click and she closes her eyes.

Yata held tight her bat and, with a single swing, hit Sora right in the head, throwing her off the roof.

She feels a rush of air as her conscience fades and the world's dims around her.

The whole campus hears the sound of a body hitting the ground and a woman screaming for seeing that.