150: One Final Embrace

Nyssa, driven by nothing but pain and a sense of crisis, began pecking like mad. She punctured as many masks as she could while also pecking at the figure on top of her. Some of the masks landed on duck heads, but as they melted into her body, their lack of full coverage prevented her from losing control.

As she felt the warm energy flow within her though, the pain seemed to subside. New images, with every second, kept flashing.

She had left the giant incubation tube. She had learned to walk, hand in hand with a woman much taller than herself. She had been taken to a field of flowers. She had picked a flower and put it into the white-haired woman’s hair.

As each memory flashed through her mind, the faceless woman’s features became clearer and clearer. While she physically kept pecking like a mad-duck, the face she saw made her eyes widen.

It was the same person in front of her! Or... had been the same person in front of her?

Regardless, as Nyssa attacked, she decided to sort through the new bout of memories later. She ignored the scenes of attack, the fire burning, and being left alone in a wreckage. Not even two years old by then, she watched as Kaiser picked her up off the ground, cradling her before taking her with him.

The memories, from there, stopped.

Nyssa, pecking the pockets of the figure in front of her, managed to nudge out a machine. Though it looked complicated—and expensive—its gleaming silver parts posed no challenge for her super-duck beak. She pecked at it three times in quick succession, breaking it into pieces.

A second later, the barrier cracked.

Everyone, hearing the crack, and the sounds of battle leaking through the barrier, began slamming it with everything they could muster, and, under the combined might of everyone there, the barrier shattered within half a breath.

A flurry of attacks poured towards the center. Nyssa, getting bolted by someone’s stray fire blast, clenched her jaw, and felt her transformation rebound back into a human. Then, not to be outdone, a rock came flying. It missed its intended target and slammed into the side of her head.

Dazed, she tried to draw upon her energy. Faltering as she felt nothing responding to her call, she felt her consciousness begin to slip. Her vision began to darken, encroaching from the sides.

Ah... I didn’t keep enough in reserve...

Another wave of attacks appeared in the corner of her vision, and, with nothing left in the tank,  she resigned herself to her fate. Relaxing her body, she closed her eyes.

I’ll just let nature take its course...

In the last moment before her last vestige of consciousness disappeared though, she felt a warm body cover her, the wet feeling of tears pressing against her forehead as a pair of hands wrapped her head, protecting it as the wave of attacks came pouring in.

Mom?

---

The assault team surrounded the two unconscious figures on the ground. Roxanne, the primary leader of the team, waved off the less pertinent members, instructing them to enter the base to help with the clean up effort. “Try and recover as many records as we can.”

But, once they left, she, Slade, the other high-ranking guild members, and Class Zero all stood in a loose circle. Their feet sank into the grass as a cloud passed over the moon. The world seemed to darken as they looked at the two women.

Nyssa, having been protected, had a bleeding head wound, along with a couple of other blunt force injuries on her sides. The leader, though, had her entire cloak burned off. The skin underneath had been torn apart.

A silver liquid poured out of her body instead of blood. Attacks had taken chunks of flesh out of her body. One arm had been charred, and ribs lay exposed to the air. One section of the spine, even, had been blown to the side, and now lay in the grass.

Everyone standing there knew one thing for sure.

She’s... passing away.

As the moonlight faded, everyone stood there in somber silence. Roxanne, with the responsibility weighing on her shoulders, let out a long sigh and broke the silence. “Let’s separate the two, then cover the body. We should also bring Nyssa to a treatment center.”

Everyone moved in silence, Roxanne, with her summons, lifted the leader’s battered body onto a stretcher before covering it. Getting a glimpse of the intact face, she felt a pang hit her heart. A frown etched itself on her face as she stood there in silence.

“You okay?” Slade patted Roxanne on the shoulder.

“That... person looked a lot like Nyssa,” Roxanne murmured. “Eerily similar.”

“... Could it be her mother?” Slade asked after a second. He lowered his voice as others continued to do work around them. “May I see her face?”

Nodding, Roxanne flicked her finger, and the green rat pulled back the tarp to reveal a tear-streaked face. “I think... I think that’s why she hesitated, and that’s why she ended up protecting Nyssa in the end. We’ll have to wait for Nyssa to wake up though since it seems they had a conversation while in the barrier.”

“Makes sense,” Slade sighed before taking a step closer and crouching down. From the woman’s neck, he pulled off a silver moon pendant. “Let’s give this to Nyssa. It seems like there’s something there.”

“... Yeah, and its the first time she’s dealing with death too,” Roxanne whispered. Flicking her finger, she had the green rat cover the woman once more. “Do you think Kaiser knows anything?”

“... Who knows, we should ask him when we get back. He keeps too many secrets about his past,” Slade stashed the pendant into his pocket. “Come on though, let’s get Nyssa to the medical center before her wounds fester.”

“You’re right,” Roxanne snapped back to attention. One hand motion later, and a coiling green dragon appeared. The dragon, ready to fight, looked around in bewilderment after no enemies appeared in its vision.

Roxanne, waving the dragon down, whispered, “Take Nyssa back to the medical center. They’ll know what to do with her, then come back, and help with cleanup,” before pointing at Nyssa’s unconscious body. “Make sense?”

Getting a nod, she turned back to Slade as the dragon soared into the sky. As its long green body soared into the sky, the clouds in front of the moon parted as if allowing the moon to greet the girl flying in the sky one more time.

Celeste, a couple seconds later, came jogging over. Out of breath, she stopped in front of Slade and Roxanne, and motioned towards the flying dragon. “Is Nyssa going to be okay?”

Roxanne, staring off into the sky, murmured a quiet “she will be, don’t worry” as the moon reflected in her eyes, its silver beams falling gently onto the world.