Kogel slowly made his way back to the children, each step heavier than the last. The adrenaline that had fueled him through the battle was rapidly fading, leaving behind a deep, bone-weary exhaustion. His body ached with every movement, his burned arm throbbing painfully. He had pushed himself to the absolute limit, and now, the toll was becoming all too apparent.
Before he could reach the children, his vision blurred, and his legs buckled beneath him. He fell face-first into the grass, the world spinning around him as his body finally gave out.
"Dang it," he cursed inwardly, frustration mingling with the pain.
Only now did he fully realize how much he had pushed himself fighting that... machine, or whatever it was, it had nearly taken everything he had to bring it down.
Kassie, who had been watching him with concern, saw him collapse and immediately ran over.
"Sir! Sir! Are you okay?" she asked, her voice high-pitched and filled with worry.
She knelt beside him, her hands trembling as she tried to assess the situation.
Kogel’s vision darkened, his strength ebbing away. He tried to respond, to reassure the girl, but his voice failed him. His body refused to cooperate, and he felt his consciousness slipping. The fight had drained him more than he cared to admit.
The few children who had remained with Kassie, their eyes wide with fear and uncertainty, quickly rushed over to help. Together, they managed to lift Kogel off the ground, each of them struggling under the weight of the man who had just saved their lives. With some effort, they propped him up against a nearby tree, helping him sit up, as his head lolled to the side, his breaths became shallow and labored.
Kassie with her hands shaking, pulled out a bottle of water from her backpack, unscrewing the cap and carefully poured a small amount into Kogel’s mouth, hoping to revive him. The cool liquid seemed to help, if only a little, as Kogel swallowed with difficulty, his eyes fluttering open for a moment.
The children sat down beside him, the fear and panic that had gripped them earlier were replaced by a solemn determination to stay by his side until help arrived. They whispered words of encouragement, their voices hushed but earnest.
"Hang in there," Kassie murmured, her eyes glistening with tears she tried to hold back.
Time seemed to stretch on as they waited, the night growing colder around them. The moon shone brightly overhead, casting a pale light over the field. Despite the lingering fear, the children refused to leave Kogel’s side, their loyalty to the man who had saved them unwavering. Kogel’s thoughts drifted in and out as the pain in his body . But amidst the fog of exhaustion, he felt the warmth of the children’s hands, their quiet presence giving him a reason to fight against the encroaching darkness.
As the children began to calm down, their breaths steadying after the chaos, a new noise reached their ears, the sound of metal scraping against metal. They turned in horror to see that the pile of twisted, molten metal that had once been the beast was beginning to move. Slowly, almost painfully, the metal pieces started to pull themselves together, the creature's form beginning to reassemble, it groaned with a guttural, agonized sound, as it forced itself upright, its body still damaged and deformed.
The children gasped, the beast's remaining eye flickered with a dim, ominous glow as it looked at them, then at the unconscious man who had so nearly defeated it. For a tense moment, it seemed to consider whether to strike again, its gaze lingering on Kogel's prone form. But then, with a low, feral growl, it turned and fled, limping into the fields, disappearing into the darkness from which it had come.
The children watched in stunned silence as the rustling of the wheat slowly faded, leaving them in the eerie quiet of the night. They exchanged glances, their fear still palpable, but at least the immediate danger seemed to have passed. They breathed a collective sigh of relief, though the tension still lingered.
...
While Kogel and the beast fought, far from the battle, Rayne and Regna were still running, their breaths coming in ragged gasps as they pushed through the thick fields. The sounds of distant bangs, roars, and bursts of flame echoed in the night, each one making Rayne’s heart pound harder in her chest.
"Regna! What about the others?!" Rayne screamed, her voice filled with fear and desperation.
But Regna remained silent, her grip on Rayne's hand tightening as she kept running, her pace was frantic, driven by an instinct to survive, to escape the horrors behind them. Rayne’s legs were starting to give out.
"Wai- wait! Regna! I can’t run anymore!" Rayne gasped, struggling to keep up.
Regna finally slowed down, realizing how exhausted Rayne was. They both stopped, their chests heaving as they desperately tried to catch their breath. The night around them was still, the only sounds their labored breathing and the distant echoes of the battle they had left behind.
"Sorry, Rayne," Regna said, her voice tinged with guilt.
"I- I had to run. I didn’t know what else to do." She hesitated, her eyes reflecting a mix of fear and confusion.
"The others… I- I don’t even know…"
Rayne sighed deeply and sank to the ground, the weight of everything pressing down on her. Regna sat down beside her, the two of them finally allowing themselves a moment of respite. The adrenaline that had fueled their escape was fading, leaving behind a heavy, oppressive fear for their friends and what might have happened to them.
"Miss Heathrine is going to be so pissed at me," Regna tried to joke, her voice forced as she attempted to lighten the mood.
But Rayne couldn’t bring herself to laugh. Her thoughts were consumed by her parents, the worry they must be feeling, the fear of what might happen to her and her friends. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she let them flow freely down her cheeks.
"I miss my dad, and my mom," she whispered, her voice breaking with emotion.
Regna turned to look at Rayne, seeing the tears glistening on her friend’s face. She looked away, her expression hardening as she stared at the ground.
"My parents," she began, her voice low and filled with a bitterness that startled Rayne, "they probably wouldn’t care if I’m dead.".
Rayne looked at Regna in shock, the raw anger in her friend's voice catching her off guard. Regna’s face was contorted with rage, her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white. An overwhelming feeling of hatred seemed to radiate from her, so intense that it sent a shiver down Rayne’s spine. The sound of Regna grinding her teeth was audible in the stillness of the night, a testament to the fury that simmered just beneath the surface.
Rayne wiped her own tears away, pushing her fear aside for a moment as she reached out to Regna. Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around her friend, pulling her into a tight hug. Regna stiffened at first, surprised by the sudden contact, but slowly, she relaxed into the embrace, her anger giving way to a deep, exhausted sadness.
For a long while, they sat there in the darkness, holding onto each other, two scared and lost girls finding a small comfort in the shared silence. The night was long, and the danger far from over, but in that moment, they weren’t alone.
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...
After sitting in silence for what felt like an eternity, Rayne finally broke the quiet, her voice soft and tentative.
"Why? Why would they not care about you?" she asked, the question heavy with concern.
Regna remained silent for a moment, her gaze fixed on the ground. Her expression was emotionless, her eyes dull and distant as if she were trying to detach herself from the pain that the question had stirred up. It took her a few long, heavy seconds to find the words to respond.
"My family... as you probably already hear, we're indeed, from the North," she began, her voice flat, almost robotic, as if she were reciting facts rather than talking about her own life.
"My parents, especially my father, are ambassadors, sent by the North to negotiate peace between the two sides."
She paused, her shoulders slumping slightly as she continued.
"In my family, it’s considered a bad omen to give birth to a girl. My father... he ignored me for years, from the moment I was born. To him, I was a disappointment, a burden. And my mother... she never took care of me, not even once. It was the nannies and the maids who raised me, who did everything for me."
Her voice, which had been so steady, began to crack as she spoke, revealing the depth of the hurt she had kept buried for so long.
"I just... I just wish they had never brought me into this world if they hated me so much," she cried, the tears she had been holding back finally breaking free and streaming down her cheeks.
Rayne's heart ached for Regna. Without a second thought, she reached out and hugged her friend again, embracing her even tighter than before, trying to offer comfort through the warmth of her embrace. She could feel Regna’s body trembling, and she held on, wishing she could take away her pain.
"I... I don’t even know what to say," Rayne whispered, her own voice thick with emotion.
She wanted to help, to make things better, but she felt helpless in the face of such deep-rooted sorrow.
Regna continued, her words spilling out like a confession she had kept hidden for far too long.
"If I could, I would’ve run away... but I’m alone in this world. No one wanted to be friends with me because of my family, because of what they represent. But you... you’re different from the others."
Rayne pulled back slightly, just enough to look Regna in the eyes. There was a deep understanding in her gaze, a recognition of the pain they both carried.
"I’m not special, Regna," she replied softly.
"No one is. We’re all the same, it’s our hearts that matter."
She paused, searching for the right words to express what she felt.
"When I first arrived at the school, I thought I would be alone too. Because of my looks, because of how different I felt from everyone else. But you... you still chose to be my friend. You didn’t care about how I looked, who I am, or where I came from."
Rayne’s words seemed to reach Regna in a way nothing else had. She blinked through her tears, her expression softening as she listened. For the first time, she felt truly seen, not as an ambassador’s daughter, not as a disappointment or an outcast, but as herself, just Regna.
"I chose you because... I saw someone who was just like me," Regna admitted quietly.
"Someone who felt out of place, who didn’t fit the mold that everyone else seemed to fit into. But you were brave, Rayne. You didn’t let that stop you. You’re stronger than you think."
Rayne smiled through her own tears.
"We’re both stronger than we think," she replied.
"And now, we’re not alone anymore. We have each other."
Regna let out a shaky breath, her tears beginning to slow. She nodded, a small, genuine smile tugging at her lips. For the first time in a long while, she didn’t feel completely alone. She had a friend, someone who understood, who didn’t judge, who was willing to stand by her side.
"Thank you, Rayne," Regna whispered, her voice filled with gratitude.
"For being my friend... for seeing me."
The silence of the night beckoned them, and they slowly started to fall asleep. The night around them seemed to stretch on endlessly. Suddenly, the quiet was broken by the sound of footsteps approaching through the fields. The soft rustling of the wheat stalks parted by an unknown presence, jolted the two awake.
"I think someone is here to save us," Regna whispered, hope lighting up her voice as she quickly stood up.
"Regna, wait- " Rayne's warning barely left her lips when time seemed to slow to a crawl. Her heart pounded in her chest as she saw a shadow move through the darkness - no, not just a shadow, but a mechanical creature, lunging straight at Regna.
In that split second, everything in Rayne's world narrowed to a single, terrifying focus. Her entire body tensed, and before she could think, she acted on pure instinct. With a burst of adrenaline, she threw herself at Regna, pushing her friend out of the way with all her strength. Regna hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of her lungs. She looked up, dazed and confused, only to watch in horror as the creature sank its claws into Rayne, pinning her to the earth, and crushing her.
At that moment, the world was filled with the sound of Rayne's pained gasp in Regna's mind. Blood welled up around the creature's claws, staining the ground beneath them, seeping into the soil. The beast, weakened and battered, growled low in its throat, its metallic body creaking and groaning with the effort.
"Ra- Rayne?" Regna's voice trembled, her eyes wide with shock as she struggled to comprehend what had just happened, her whole body went cold, and tears welled up, blurring her vision as she stared at her friend lying helpless beneath the monster. A rush of emotions crashed through Regna’s mind, fear, horror, and above all, an overwhelming, searing rage. Her vision tunneled, and her hands clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms as they start to bleed. Her eyes, now bloodshot, fixed on the beast.
"You... you dare," she murmured, her voice low and filled with hatred.
The anger swelled, rising like a storm inside her.
"You... you're hurting her!" she screamed, her voice cracking with the intensity of her rage.
The beast, undeterred, roared back at Regna, its mechanical joints whirring as it prepared to lunge at her next. It saw her as a threat now, a target to eliminate. But something deep within Regna had snapped, and she was no longer just a frightened girl. With a guttural growl, the beast charged, metal claws outstretched. But Regna, driven by a primal rage, thrust her hand forward, her fingers curling into a tight fist.
In that instant, the beast's charge came to an abrupt halt, its body convulsing violently as if caught in an invisible vice. The metal twisted and screeched, bending inward as if an enormous pressure were crushing it from all sides. With a deafening crunch, the creature's mechanical form imploded, collapsing in on itself until it was nothing more than a compact, lifeless ball of mangled steel.
The field fell silent once more, the echo of the beast's destruction hanging in the air. Regna stood there, panting, her chest heaving as the red haze of fury slowly receded from her mind. She blinked, looking down at her trembling hands, hardly believing what she had just done.
But the reality of the situation came crashing back when she saw Rayne lying motionless on the ground, her body still and blood pooling beneath her.
"Rayne?" Regna whispered, her voice quivering with fear and desperation.
The adrenaline drained from her all at once, leaving her feeling hollow and cold. She rushed to her friend's side, dropping to her knees beside Rayne’s battered form.
"Rayne, Rayne- please!" she begged, her hands hovering over Rayne as if afraid to touch her, afraid of causing more pain. "Stay with me," she cried, her voice cracking as tears streamed down her face.
"Please- don't leave me!"
Rayne’s breaths were shallow, her eyes fluttering weakly, her eyes slowly lost the light in them, as she stared up into the sky. Regna’s pleas grew more frantic as she cradled her friend in her arms, rocking her gently, trying to will her to stay awake, to stay alive. But it was too late, Rayne's body went limp, and she was no longer breathing.
"Rayne!" Regna screamed, her voice filled with agony, her tears falling onto Rayne’s pale cheeks.
The voice of her despair echoed through the empty fields.
In that moment, Regna’s anger, her bitterness, her loneliness; none of it mattered. All that mattered was the friend she held in her arms, the one person who had seen her, who had cared for her. And now, in this dark, lonely field, Regna felt that she has lost the only light she had in her life.
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Miss Hearth / Heathrine [https://i.postimg.cc/6qs1YC88/A-manga-sketch-of-an-armored-4-legged-flaming-mechanical-beast-with-white-glowing-eyes-in-a-f-1.png]
Miss Hearth / Heathrine (Visual)