The UMA soldiers that are watching Raphael laying on the ground get out of the way as one of the JB members makes her way through.
“Raphael...” comes a voice from behind him. With tears blistering from his eyes, Raphael looks up to see a wounded Miyra staring back at him at the portal room's entrance. He stands up and looks at Miyra, tear's still falling from his eyes.
“You must be so sad...” says Miyra in a deep, sad tone. With a tear in her one black eye, she grabs Raphael by his shoulders and pulls him in for a hug.
Even though he is crying, Raphael looks over Miyra's shoulder and sees Henry appear along with Marinth and Yen. “Marinth!” says Miyra bluntly. “I need you to track where the last portal went and open another portal there. Anyone who does any kind of technical work here, please assist him. June could be behind enemy lines right now and we need to get to her before Sherah makes contact with Demu forces.”
Miyra pats Raphael on his right shoulder and whispers “Let's get something to eat while we wait....” into Raphael's ear and begins walking out of the room towards the stairwell.
Before getting to the stairway, Urt stops them. He is coughing repeatedly from the kick to the chest that he endured earlier. After coughing, he speaks to Raphael. “Did you stop her, little Guardian?” he asks, already knowing the answer.
“We all tried to stop her, Urt, even Henry and Chiot. She escaped, but we have Marinth working on cracking the portal interference and getting us a portal to where she went.”
Urt scoffs at Raphael, acting like he expected something like this to happen. “I told the UHG to not allow the little Guardian to be the leader here. If it was me who was in charge, that Sherah girl would have never escaped with the Key. This is your fault, Guardian!”
Miyra throws a cold glance at Urt as she and Raphael walk away, Raphael now crying even more deeply from the verbal wound that Urt had just dealt to him.
Leaving Urt behind to bask in his ill-obtained glory, Raphael and Miyra continue down the hallway and up the stairway to the first floor.
By the time they have reached the first floor, Raphael's emotions have changed from sadness to anger. He wants nothing more than to make the Demu that has possessed Sherah pay for it's sins. He also wishes that Marinth would hurry the hell up. He knows that the longer it takes to open up that portal, the more likely it is June is going to be hurt, or worse. He sighs and shivers in Miyra's arms as they walk into the cafeteria.
Miyra sits Raphael down at one of the metal tables near the entrance of the cafeteria and asks him “What do you want to eat? I'll go order it for you.”
Raphael doesn't even turn his head toward Miyra, but he does look up at her with his eyes. Miyra has one black eye and a claw mark on her cheek, probably both from trying to stop Sherah. He sighs out of his nostrils and says “Just get me whatever....” with a low, uncaring tone.
“Just sit tight, I'll be right back!” says Miyra before giving Raphael a pat on the back and walking over to the cafeteria line, which is none existent because of both the time of day and the current situation. Raphael hears her order something called 'Odon soup', but he couldn't care less, all he wants to do at this point is save June.
Raphael shivers in his seat as he holds his arm's across his chest. He knows that what just happened is wrong. That this entire situation is wrong. It is more fucked up than the HEC demon he killed a few days ago. Sherah isn't supposed to be doing something like this. As far as Raphael knows, she loves June as much as June loves her. “So this is what a Demu possession is really like....” thinks Raphael as he stares straight down at the metal table.
Miyra appears in front of Raphael with two bowls of soup. He glances up at her and notices that the claw mark that she had taken earlier is nearly gone without a single trace or scar where it used to be. Miyra lays a bowl of Odon soup on the table in front of Raphael and sits down next to him. She takes a sip of her soup and then looks over at Raphael with a smile.
Raphael can't believe that Miyra is acting so casual in the face of such an unbelievable situation. As he looks into her eyes, however, he starts to understand.
He can see terror in her eyes. She is just as scared as she should be. Her smile is just an attempt to try and make the situation seem less horrifying.
Raphael lets out another sigh before looking at his Odon soup. He lifts his hand up and grabs a hold of his spoon. Even though he is incredibly scared and anxious, he is still able to swallow a few spoonfuls of soup before saying “I don't have much of an appetite right now....” and placing his spoon down.
Raphael and Miyra sit in silence until Miyra finishes her soup. “Listen Raphael,” she says as she places her soup bowl down after a large slurp. “I know that this entire situation is horrifying to you, and trust me, I'm scared too, but there's nothing else we can do right now until Marinth finishes honing in on where the portal Sherah used came from. How 'bout we head to the armory and load up before we set out?”
Raphael's head shoots over to Miyra as she says 'armory'. In a stern voice, he says “If it means we get to June any faster, then let's go!”
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With the pain in her black eye receding, Miyra gets up from her seat. She extends her arm out to Raphael, which he takes. She pulls him up from his seat and they both leave the cafeteria, not even caring to dispose of their trash.
They arrive at the armory without saying a single word the entire way there. The armory is in an uproar from the recent events. Raphael counts about twenty to thirty soldiers inside the room, all of them arming themselves to the teeth in preparation for their departure after June and Sherah.
Miyra pushes past the first few soldiers, stating “Make way, the Guardian's coming through and he's already pissed off enough.” Miyra and Raphael push their way into the middle of armory, where in which her minigun is located.
She pulls a backpack of ammunition off of a nearby shelf and straps it to her back before grabbing her minigun off of it's shelf. She holds her minigun in the air with one hand while reaching behind her to the backpack and pulling out a line of rifle rounds. She clips her rifle rounds into her minigun and snaps the ammunition latch on top of it. She then looks at Raphael and says “What are you waiting for? Go grab some equipment!”
Adhering to Miyra's statement, Raphael walks over to a nearby gun rack and pulls off a hip holster belt with two 1270s and extra clips already holstered into it. He tightens the belt around his waist and checks both of the 1270s. After seeing that they are both fully-loaded, Raphael holsters both of them.
After equipping his guns, Raphael looks over to the back of the room and sees a sword rack. A single sword on the rack, a gold-encrusted longsword, peeks his interest. He moves over to the sword, takes it off the rack and equips the sword onto his back using the back straps that it comes with.
Believing that he needs nothing else for the rescue, Raphael moves back to Miyra, who is talking on her communication glasses. “Yes, that's right, he's preparing now...” Miyra's gaze drifts over to Raphael, who she has just noticed. “Actually, he just finished.... It will be up in less than five minutes? That's great...! Just give the rest of the soldiers a few more moments and we'll be right along.... Teruin? No I haven't seen her since this morning... yeah, he's right here... Hold on, I'll ask him....” Miyra moves her hand away from her glasses and shields the mouthpiece with her hand. She looks over at Raphael and asks “Hey Raphael, have you seen Teruin today?”
Raphael's thoughts move back to earlier in the day. Before Sherah went through the portal, Teruin made an attempt to stop her. After Sherah went into the portal room, he remembers seeing Teruin following in behind him as he went into the room. If memory dictates correctly, he also felt a foot on his back while he was diving for the portal.
A sudden realization hits Raphael. “Thank God, we still have a chance! Teruin was able to get into the portal with Sherah and June. She must be chasing after Sherah this very second!”
“Okay, thanks Raphael.” says Miyra before placing her hand back to her glasses leg. “Raphael thinks that Teruin's on the other side of the portal and going after Sherah... yes, I agree... alright, we'll be there in a second... thanks... bye.” Miyra shuts down the communication on her glasses with a press of a button. “Alright everyone!” she yells into the air. “Marinth is almost finished getting the portal up! He estimates that the portal will be open in less than five minutes, so make your final preparations and meet up at the portal room as soon as possible!”
Miyra is about to say something to Raphael, but he has already set out for the portal room. Miyra is able to trace his pathway and catch up with him as he leaves the armory. She pushes past a few soldiers and catches up with him. “Hey!” she says as she runs over to his side. She looks at his face and is amazed by the expression on his face.
His eyes are cold and focused and his face is stone-cold serious. He wants nothing more than to see June back with her protectors, that she knows. “Raphael, we still need to let the soldier's finish-”
Raphael shoots Miyra a cold stare. “The soldier's don't matter! The only thing that matter's now is getting to June before-” As he speaks, his eyes begin to fill with an emotion that he doesn't want anyone to see. That emotion is fear, and Miyra knows exactly why.
Raphael is scared. He is scared that he might lose the one important thing in his life that he is meant to protect. “Raph...” says Miyra before hugging him around his back. “don't worry...” she whispers into his ear. “we're going to get her back....”
A single tear falls from one of Raphael's eyes before he pushes Miyra away from him and continues on his way to the portal room. Miyra watches Raphael walk away, and then continues following behind him.
Raphael, Miyra, Urt and Quib all stand ready in the portal room. Behind them stand thirty UMA soldiers. The plan of action is that the JB will divide into two groups, one group led by Raphael and Miyra, and the other led by Urt and Quib. The soldiers will then follow them through the portal and split up into two groups of fifteen and follow their corresponding group leaders.
Earlier, when Raphael and Miyra arrived at the portal room, Yen told them that the area that Sherah had taken June to wasn't in the Demu realm. The place that June was taken to was what seemed to be an inconspicuous island on a nearly flooded world. Judging from where the world is, Sherah must be jumping in between portals until she eventually arrives behind enemy lines. Once she gets behind enemy lines, however, saving June will become extraordinarily difficult. The Demu know how important June is to ending the war, and they don't want that to happen. As far at the JB knows, Sherah could have already taken a portal off of the planet, but there is no way of telling for sure, so the best option is to follow her trail until the JB eventually is able to catch up with her.
“Are you ready, little one?” Urt asks Raphael as he grips his warhammer. “The fate of the universe depends on our actions today. Remember that if we lose, then it is your fault that the Key is lost.”
Quib slaps Urt on the back of his head, which takes every bit of length on her arm to achieve. “Urt! That's enough, he feels bad enough already!”
Raphael says nothing to Urt or Quib, his mind is to preoccupied with thinking of how to deal with Sherah when they catch up with her. He sighs and motions for Marinth to open the portal.
Marinth gives him a stern nod before turning back to the portal controls. “Portal is opening in three... two... one... zero!”
The portal generator begins turning ever so slowly, gaining speed at increasing intervals. After about a minute, the portal generator is rotating at full speed. The portal opens, showing a beautiful, mid-day forest filled with birch trees. A cold wind can be felt coming from the portal, signifying that the area on the other side must be deep in it's winter time.
“June... I'm coming for you!” thinks Raphael before he says “Let's go!” and marches through the portal with Miyra, Urt, Quib, and the rest of the soldier's following closely behind in a straight line.