There was no need for words to be said between them, for they had no time.
The mutual understanding, the feeling of the end, and knowing that there was no going back from this was all the two of them needed to know to feel that the honor of working with one another was shared between them.
Just as it was also the feeling of their final goodbyes.
Seth stared at the pieces retrieved from the crash site before him. He was still adjusting to his new role, still accepting the fact that every job from here on out wasn't going to be digital paperwork, mathematical equations and test formulas.
Now he was working with real people, and any time his services were required, well... It was never going to be for something good.
He was a Seeker now, and he had to do his job; but even as he stood there, staring at the scene evidence like it was going to become sentient and attack him, that didn't make him any more enthused to touch it.
That was all he had to do--just touch it, and find out as much as he could.
But something like this was unprecedented--it hadn't happened in years, hell, maybe even decades, and this was time sensitive. He couldn't chicken out now, not when this was exactly what he'd asked for. He'd wanted to help out more, to actually DO something, be a REAL Pilot.
He took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut tight and grabbed the scalded fragment of the flight suit helmet.
"Raiders attacking the wall of Solarta? Pfftch, that's the stupidest thing I ever heard. What are they even thinking?"
Addie scoffed as they exited debriefing, getting into their flight suits following the Commander's orders. Well, at least it felt like things were kind of going back to normal again, even despite this weird occurrence.
They reached up to pull at one of their lower eyelids as they stuck their tongue out at Hannibal and made a face at him across the locker room.
"I bet I'll get more'n you and we'll be back at home in no time, all thanks to my wonderful heroics!~" They teased before putting their helmet back on, systems booting up on the inner screen on the visor.
"And when we get back then you're gonna owe me."
"Yeah right, Algae, dream on. Pretty sure it's gonna be the other way around, so you better prepare yourself for the inevitable when we get back."
Adele feigned offense, placing a hand on their chest as though wounded. For Hannibal to say such a thing..! They snorted, and had to resist the urge to smack his ass on their way out to their dragons. Raiders were usually an easy fix; once the Valkyries were suited up and on the scene with, hello, DRAGONS, any wastelanders were usually pretty quick to evacuate the scene.
It was getting back to routine and normality, and while Adele was ever the firecracker of spontaneity, this was one rare circumstance where they felt like embracing the every day with open arms.
Grisham was finally back, the Commander was doing better, and there were gonna be fox babies, and the squad was getting back to basics. Sure, Raz and Mia were still on behavioral probation, but... They'd all gone through their rough patches, and they'd all pulled through. It'd be just like old times soon enough, and this mission was just the way to get back to it.
"No showing off, Somora."Addie rolled their eyes at Kostner as they climbed up the big ladder to slide into the saddle situated behind his shoulder blades, looking over and giving a wave to Hannah as the large golden dragon stepped out from the hangar bay. On command they took off into the sky, and exited the dome to find a...
... Much larger amount of perpetrators than Addie had initially been expecting. They had some trucks, too. Really old, ruddy, broken down ones, but still trucks all the same. They were spread out along the wall enclosing their beloved city, and Addie narrowed their eyes. What were they trying to do, break in? Not on Addie's watch!
Nishi, Mia and Raz were on the ground taking care of things up close and personal; at Yavul's command Addie and Hannibal split off to close in from both sides while Yavul took up the middle for all three to use aerial attacks. Everything was going smoothly and according to plan--like usual.
The Valkyries moved as one, acting and reacting with each other with perfection. It was a dance they'd all practiced together probably hundreds of times now in the year that Adele had been serving with them, and they couldn't be prouder.
This was their family now, yeah?
So they couldn't help the mad grin on their face as Hannah's winds boosted their flames and roasted some of those trucks, the raiders jumping and running for cover.
Making a hard right Kostner started to circle around again for another round, and Addie blinked.
Even with Yavul's blasts of electricity, there was a section of three parked trucks in the center of the lineup that hadn't moved, and neither had the raiders working there. They were up to something no good, that was for s--
--Like the stabbing of an ice pick, someone was pounding on the door inside of Adele's head, with enough force to make them jolt. It was hard enough, strong enough, that it caught them off guard--Adele Somora, who hid everything from everybody.
Kostner physically jolted in the air along with his Pilot, wings flapping madly to regain momentum to keep himself from falling--
"TRAITOR!!"
The word shrieked so loudly and suddenly inside of Adele's head their hands flew up to the sides of their helmet as if to cover their ears, the echoes of the word ringing inside their brain before they could cut it off. Fuck, shit--their teammates would've heard it, and Addie knew it as they heard someone think
What the fuck was that?!--"TRAITOR, MURDERER, TRAITOR! YOU LEFT US!"
Gods fuck it all their head hurt so fucking much, but that voice, that voice--
"ADELE!"Addie gasped as Kostner forced them back out of their own head despite the screaming pain, right as a blast of bright green light slammed right into them and knocked them back and off course.
Reeling in the air, intense heat burning so hot it felt freezing cold licking at their dragon's scales, Addie and Kostner fought hard to correct it and rise back into the air, just in time for another blast of that green energy to come flying right at them.
Throwing their hand out as a means of direction, Addie shot back with bright yellow flames.
The mental attack was coming too hard and fast amidst the confusion and intensity of battle for Adele to shield their teammates completely--the most they could do was try to lower the volume and absorb as much of the thought as they could so the other Valkyries could still focus. More blasts of green flames were coming at them, and Addie was quick to fire back--but they couldn't muster that much of their own flame on such short notice. Those green attacks were massive, and whoever was slinging them was beating them back.
At the same time, they were still under fire from those on the ground that Mia, Nishi and Raz hadn't taken out quite yet. Yavul and Hannibal still had their own work cut out for them--
The mental image flashed across their mind, as if they were the person on the ground firing; their gaze had moved from Kostner and Addie to Nishi.
"NO!"
A shot of green energy was barely intercepted in front of Nishi, the explosion knocking her back a little as Addie fended it off with another burst of their own flames. They barely had time to breathe and another blast of green was heading for Yavul.
Adele's powers weren't really so great for defense so to speak but if they were the only one with the powers that could beat this person back, then they could at the very least provide cover for the others..!
"GO, GO GO!!"
With a sweep of Kostner's massive wings the dragon took them to the center of the field as Addie fired back at every shot; the person of offense below was throwing out blasts like they were a pitching machine set to the highest speed; their targets were every one of Addie's teammates including themself, but in the frenzy of flames being lobbed back and forth, both orange and green alike, Adele didn't notice that Hannibal had yet to be targeted.
The knocking at their brain came again, making their head throb and their vision blur.
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, WHERE ARE YOU!? Adele was desperate as they tried to search based on the trajectory of the attacks to see who the user was--Raiders normally didn't have powers, especially not psyhic ones! They'd never heard of psychics existing outside of Aedolis. Normally they were all caught and drafted into Candidacy, so who--
Their gaze settled on a small figure in the middle of the trucks, golden hair flying about her face as she protected herself and those in her immediate area with another blast of green energy as Yavul attempted to strike the formation of raiders at their center. So that was how they were still there--
A tail?
Another blast hit Kostner in the shoulder as the dragon roared, the sound making everything go silent as all Adele Somora could hear was the ringing in their own ears, the screaming of MURDERER over and over in their head as it all made sense.
Down below, she sensed their moment of weakness and wasted no time in her onslaught of mental attacks. Breaking fully into her brother's mind, Aphy let herself right in and forced him to remember every single thing she was sure he'd done his damned best to forget.
With their mental defenses fully down, Adele couldn't react fast enough, couldn't shield their teammembers fast enough as every memory, every bit of history about themself that they had gone to so much effort to meticulously hide away was broadcasted out loud for every Valkyrie to see and remember with them.
The only drawback of being connected as they were, nobody could have seen it coming.
Adele was quickly submerged in the past as they were suffocated under Aphy's influence.
They remembered the pain shooting up their leg as they fell down the stairs trying to get something for their nini, bone breaking and leaving their head reeling as they lay at the bottom of the stairs. Their sister's panicked cries echoed in their head as she tried to call their mother but she never answered her phone. Addie had to drag themself to the hospital, alone--Aphy needed to stay and watch after nini.
"YOU STOP WATCHING THAT! IT'S FULL OF BULLSHIT, RAY!" The sharp sting of her hand against their face was enough to leave bruises that would last a week, like usual. They thought they'd had the volume down low enough that she wouldn't wake up, wouldn't hear the cheering of the crowds on the late night replay of the games, of the Valkyries winning.
"What are you doing--Aphy!? Where did you get that?!" The panic flooded their chest as they saw Aphy with a little pin on her hoodie as they walked home from school, with the symbol of the Hellions on it. A classmate had given it to her; Addie forced her to hand it over, and grit their teeth as they threw it into the garbage can at home. "If mom ever saw that on you you know what she'd do--" They tried to explain to get her to stop crying in their shared bedroom, keeping their voice down as they heard her get home from work; there was a slam and a scream, and in a panic Addie grabbed their sister and stuffed her into the closet, holding their finger in front of their lips telling her to be silent as they quickly shut the doors and cut off her muffled "No--". The sound of pounding footsteps was unmistakable as the bedroom door was thrown open. A hand was in their hair as they were shoved down to the floor; Nini was screaming hoarsely downstairs in mangled Common to get her daughter to stop; "YOU THOUGHT I WOULDN'T NOTICE? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT DOING IN THE GARBAGE YOU TRAITOROUS LITTLE SHIT--"
"Ray, why do you like the Pilots so much? Mom says they're bad. They killed dad." "Aphy, mom is... She's not okay. She can't reason anymore, she doesn't know what's reality. When dad died she went crazy. The Pilots wouldn't kill someone without reason--" "But they killed dad!" "And what if dad was a bad person, doing bad things and hurting people?" "... Yeah, but Ray..." "I know, Aphy. But the Pilots are here to protect us. And I wanna be one--I wanna protect you, and nini, and people like you. Aedolis is my home, wouldn't it be so cool if I could save it from bad guys too?" "I guess..."
The rough shove in the middle of their back sent them flying out of the front door to fall face-first on the cracked and delapidated sidewalk as their mother's screams echoed in their ears; Nini was babbling in a panic, and Aphy was sobbing and struggling as their mother held her back. Adele's arms were still burning, singed and scorched and reeking of fiery human flesh as they slowly pushed themself up, their bag nearly hitting them in the face as it was thrown at them.
"DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK TO THIS HOUSEHOLD AGAIN, YOU FUCKING PSYCHIC!"Traitor.
Adele never meant to leave her and Nini. They never thought they'd actually get any powers; never thought they'd actually get to be a Pilot. But once you're found, there's no going back. If they could have brought Aphy and Nini with them, they would have. They didn't deserve what happened to them; and they were low enough in the caste system that nobody cared.
Nobody cared when they went missing, when Adele went back on a whim and found that their aunt had been found dead in their deserted home. Left behind in her wheelchair, unable to call for help, deserted by her own daughter. Mom and sis were nowhere to be found; no one knew where they had gone. Nobody would tell.
Adele was a Pilot. A traitor.
And nobody trusts a traitor, not even their own family.
Aphy let up on the memories, tears streaking down her face.
"Oi, Aphy--" "DO IT."
She brought her gaze up to the other dragon in the sky, that Hannibal. The news had been plastered all over with him--with them.
If Ray thought he could just replace his family then he was sorely fucking mistaken.
She let Ray see her line of sight; felt the panic in his chest as she threw another ball of plasma, the biggest yet--and it was heading right for Hannah.
With a scream, Kostner's wings beat furiously as they shot up through the air, aligning nearly perfectly in front of Hannibal and Tiberius to physically shield them from the blast. With the emotions and energy coursing so violently through them, Adele was able to pour all of it into summoning up enough flames to head off the plasma, and from that point on it felt like everything was in slow motion.
They'd barely been able to intercept the shot; the heat of the blast was strong and nearly knocked Adele off their dragon, they didn't know how much of this they could keep up, that last one had taken so much energy--
Through the clouds of flames and smoke, Adele's eye was caught by the movement of something odd that parted the fire. A long harpoon, and as their eyes widened, the miliseconds ticking by like hours, sparks flew up from around the metal ridges, and Adele and Kostner both realized at the same time, as every Valkyrie saw through Adele's eyes, just what kind of a harpoon that was.
It had been a grim class in Candidacy they had all learned about.
Weapons for killing dragons.
And it was moving so fast, there was no way to dodge it--and if they did, it would hit Hannibal and Tiberius instead.
Only the mutual thought of appreciation passed between dragon and rider as they both came to the same conclusion, and Addie could think only one more thing.
"I love you."
Just before the pointed blade pierced their leg, Adele cut the mental tie with every Valkyrie, effectively isolating themself. They shouldn't feel this, shouldn't have to endure it. It was bad enough they would have to hear it.
The blade pierced the fabric of their uniform, sunk into their upper thigh, and kept traveling, the electricity arcing as it sensed the metal in Kostner and jumped. The harpoon kept sinking in until it went clean through Adele and lodged itself in Kostner's back, pinning the two of them together as the electricity exploded.
Both dragon and rider screamed, the sound loud enough and piercing enough to send chills down every person's spine as all those present could only stand and watch as a dragon was slain before their very eyes.
The electricity ran through Adele's body, the tech in their helmet frying and exploding, the reactor core in Kostner's chest working faster and faster until it overloaded, exploding from the inside. The shrill, blood-curlding screams were cut off abruptly in the midst of the multiple explosions. Blood, guts, scales and metal flying and getting lost in the thick clouds of smoke that obscurred the sky, the waves from said explosions throwing Hannibal and Tiberius back.
Every dragon had been shrieking and screaming in pain as every one of them felt it--felt the harpoon in Kostner's back, felt the electricity, felt the explosion, before the singular thought echoed throughout every single paired Pilot's head:
DRAGON KOSTNER IS DEAD.
And in the dead and still silence that followed, the clouds of smoke hiding everything while every living creature waited with bated breath, a sudden mass came hurdling from the clouds, falling to the earth: the separated, mangled, and burnt pieces of Kostner's body. Parts of the torso, his head, wings, a limb. It all slowly came crashing down from several thousand feet in the air, impacting the ground hard enough to make a small crater and send a shockwave through the earth like a small quake.
The moment the harpoon had been fired, Aphy had taken off running, fending off any attacks with her own plasma. She was panting and sweating hard from the exertion; the plan had worked flawlessly, and she could hear her commrades surrounding her, exclaiming with glee and hope: "It worked!"
They were jumping the gun, but those screams were pretty final, in her own mind. She had no doubt that it worked. And when the dragon and its rider hit the ground, she was there, ready and waiting for them as she ran right up to the corpse, burning in a mix of orange and green flames as the leftover plasma residue started eating away at whatever it landed on like acid.
With a grunt of effort she pulled her sharpened machete from its sheath on her back, stepping up to her brother's body, still pinned to the back of his dragon by the harpoon in his leg.
"That's what happens to traitors, Ray."
Kostner's massive body was quickly eaten up by more of those green flames, refusing to go out even as the raiders made their escape under Aphy's cover fire. By the time any Pilots were able to reach the crash scene, there was hardly anything left but the smell of burning dragon flesh as it melted from bones, cracking and disintegrating under its own weight.
The shock of going through those emotions, that pain, trying to sift through distant and blurry memories for any inkling of information had left Seth reeling. He'd spent a good hour in the bathroom throwing up afterward, head swimming with the overwhelming burden of Pilot Ray "Adele" Somora's emotions, all implanted in the fragment remaining of their flight suit helmet. And even then, he couldn't be sure he came up with anything conclusive, other than their family was crazy--or rather, the result of some unfortunate business the government decided was best to sweep under the rug.
He rubbed at his palid face with shaky hands, broken out in a cold sweat as he tried desperately to splash himself with water, and get back to feeling like himself.
He'd felt it--felt the electric shock, the feeling of Kostner's chest exploding that Adele felt through dragon and rider's linked minds.
He'd felt everything.
He found himself nervously tapping the manilla folder of files on his desk surface, trying and failing to swallow the thick lump of anxiety that was knotting up his throat. Forces were spread thin; this was big. Real big. The death of a dragon was... Rare. Especially since the war. All security and investigative forces had been bumped up to a 20 out of 10, which meant he was the unfortunate soul tasked with facing Valkyrie Commander Yavul Hyakinthos with the unfortunate conclusion of the investigation of the crash site.
Yavul was a guy who had dealt with way too much bullshit in the past year alone. Seth didn't know much about him, but he'd heard what had been going on with the Valkyries, maybe took a look at his Pilot profile before summoning him; a guy with really only his boyfriend? Grisham and his own squad for company, when all the rest of his family was pretty much dead. He had a reputation.
And Seth knew this news would not be good for him.
He sat up straight when he heard the knock on his door, swallowing down his nerves and hoping he hid his slightly trembling hands well enough. This all happened so fast, and he'd never thought he'd be in this position--this position to tell a grieving Commander that--
"Pilot Royal Hyakinthos, please have a seat." At least his voice didn't sound shaky.
He couldn't look at him for long before he dropped his gaze to the files he held in his hand before he set them fully on the desk, opening it and sitting back in his chair.
"As mentioned in my summoning message to you, the investigation has come to a conclusion. Based on our searching, forensic, data and... Psychic... Analysis, it is with much regret that I must inform you that the results are... Inconclusive." He took a breath, looking up at the Commander.
"There was too much damage to the evidence, too much went up in flames, si--. Pilot Cardinal Somora's status cannot be decided with 100% certainty. However, there was enough DNA found among the ashes of the crash site that it has been determined that Pilot Somora was... Was killed in action. Their body seems to have been burned in the residual plasma flames of the attacker, who we have determined to be their own sister. All searches for Pilot Cardinal Somora are being recalled."
Seth glanced down at the papers again, letting out a slow breath.
"Even if they survived the crash, which is a very slim possibility, we would have no way of tracking where they might have gone, if they could have gone anywhere to begin with. As I'm sure you know, Pilots who survive the deaths of their dragons are... Are rare."
"I'm sorry for your loss. A private funeral service will be under way soon, and I will be sending you a secure message with the details as they are revealed to me."
Valkyries may feel free to post one-shot reaction replies down below if they wish!
