“It is in my professional opinion that you are suffering from grief Vanguard Amadeus. I understand that you were recommended for my services from the President of Macroon himself.

Please keep in mind that while I am only human I have been at practice for nearly thirty years consoling people with similar experiences as your own.

To use Kubler-Ross’s model to describe the stages of grief and while they are all clear phases, I must emphasize that the grieving process is not linear. Much like our Arcology is shaped in a sphere with several connecting sections both tied and separate, so too is grief.

Many don’t comprehend the loss in its truest forms at first, this being the stage of denial. While you may think you’ve processed the loss of a significant other, you may find yourself unable to remove their seat at the table so to speak.

The next stage is the violent anger you feel when you are processing the loss. The fact that you’ll never see them again, never be with them. Remember that these are not a linear change and you may go back and forth between denying the loss and the fury that the loss itself brings you.

One must remember not to let this anger cloud your judgment—“

* A closed session with Harmony-Heart Corp Therapist Maggy Mot and Vanguard Amadeus - Five hours ago.

***

The squeal of servos accompanied both the impact of Sky into the metal plating of the hallway’s walls and the sound of Amadeus’ grief.

The towering Samurai’s voice was deep, dark, and almost guttural but underlying their voice was an almost electronic filter that pulsed as they spoke. “SKY-BLUE WIRE. THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS YOU WERE PROVEN TO BE WORTHY OF BECOMING A VANGUARD, A DEFENDER OF HUMANITY, A PROTECTOR OF THE WEAK.” Each word piercing the ear drums of everyone around, it was slightly muffled by the wall of plexiglass that blocked me off from the hallway they were in.

“BUT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THAT POWER? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE SINCE BECOMING A VANGUARD?” Accompanying the scream came the servos’ squeal as Amadeus’ arm pulled and a snapping sound of twisted metal as Sky’s arm was pulled off his body. “KILLING FOR PERSONAL PROFIT! MURDERER!”

Sky wasn’t just standing there taking it, he was twisting around and once his arm was free, he kicked off the wall and flew several meters back.

Throwing his knife forward at Amadeus, the mech suit’s arm was thrown up to catch the knife. The blade barely sinking into the hard metal exterior of the mech suit.

“Fucking jeez Amadeus, Moody today aren’tcha?” He said, his voice almost jovial but an underlying tenseness came from nerves, panic, or pain.

“IS EVERYTHING A JOKE TO YOU?” Amadeus screamed, pulling the knife out and yanked it, pulling Sky’s wire that was still attached to the knife. “WAS PROJECT NOVA A JOKE TO YOU TOO?” Sky was thrown forward by his remaining arm but kicked off the air to flip around.

Landing a dropkick to Amadeus’ helmet Sky produced another dagger and cut the wire that Amadeus was holding and jumped back.

“Is that what this is all about, Amadeus? Project Nova?” He sounded more exasperated than mad, ignoring the missing arm he had. “What do you think will happen? You kill me to get Jericho back? Listen to yourself, he’s gone.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A long box appeared in the air near Sky’s body and after kicking it open he withdrew another metallic arm, like the one Amadeus tore off of him mere moments ago.

“I think you skipped denial and went straight to anger and bargaining there bud. Because if you took the time to let it sink it. You’ll know I didn’t kill Jericho, the Antithesis did!” Sky’s lighter tone grew more grated as he wound on, in a crescendo of anger.

“Jericho was more concerned with the lives of endangered civilians than his own. And if you think that was my fault, you’re wrong. Project Nova was a great idea, you just needed to execute it correctly and then JERICHO WOULD’VE LIVED!” Sky screamed, jabbing a finger into Amadeus’ chest.

“IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU AND YOUR GRIEF” If Sky’s words reached Amadeus, the metal giant showed no reaction until a sudden blur as Amadeus grabbed Sky’s hand and twisted, trying to rip the arm off again.

Wiser now, Sky kicked back and drew knives, throwing them around Amadeus and pulling the wires like a puppeteer to wrap Amadeus in the monofilament strands.

Amadeus fell into a stance, pushing one of the knives away while the other wrapped around their left arm.

Sky’s wires cutting into the arm. “Let’s get you out of that tin suit—” Sky called out, cutting off when Amadeus raised their large flamethrower that had been stored up till now.

Sky cut the wires and jumped back as the burst of flame washed over the space Sky once occupied. The wave of fire didn’t stop and the torrent followed behind Sky as he kicked through the air to dodge the flame.

Halfway through the turn, the stream of liquid fire fell upon the security guards who were watching the interaction. Coriro was at the head. Half burned instantly, flailing then falling and the flames ate away at their forms.

Some retreated while others fired into Amadeus. Roody stood his ground. The sprays of bullets ricocheting about the hallway and embedding into the walls and the floor above.

At one point, Sky sprinted past the firing security guards and whipped his knives forward, one narrowly missing the Roody on its way to Amadeus while the other knife pierced through Roody’s head on a more discreet path to Amadeus’ weapon.

The first knife was deflected into a wall while the other stabbed deep into the chest of metal Mech.

This was the first real wound on Amadeus. He pulled the bloody knife out and crushed the blade in his metallic fist. Then Amadeus dropped his flamethrower and reached out to the side as boxes, like Sky’s, fell around the towering form.

As Sky tried to close in behind Amadeus, one of the boxes exploded in cords of light which wrapped around the flying Samurai and held him in place.

“Jericho’s Light Net?” was all he got out before Amadeus was on him, throwing his body against wall after wall, through some still standing security before throwing Sky over the metal giant’s shoulder and into the Antithesis’ protruding bone spikes.

“WHERE IS YOUR JOVIAL TONES NOW?”

Slam.

“YOUR NEGLIGENCE HAS FAILED TO SAVE THESE PEOPLE AS IT DID TO SAVE MINE!”

Slam.

‘SKY-BLUE WIRE, KORTHOS, I RIP YOUR MASK OFF AS YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO HIDE BEHIND IT NOW”

SLAM. This time as the limp body of Sky impacted. Amadeus grabbed the faceplate, now cracked from the repeated blows, and tore it off.

As the reflective screen fell away, it revealed a plain if not attractive face of a man in his twenties. His scruffy blonde hair soaked in sweat and blood and his skin almost glowed golden from a clear artificial conditioning.

His expression wasn’t terrified as one might expect but instead a worn almost haunted look. He was almost at peace but when his eyes flashed my way they grew brighter, more focused, more intense.

Amadeus reached down to Sky’s chest and ripped through the hoodie, revealing the metal cage that houses Sky’s chest. Sky’s eyes grew hot, anger burning there. “THIS WAS NEVER ABOUT JERICHO! YOU ONLY WANTED MY-” Sky’s voice was cut off by the cruel tearing as Amadeus pulled a blue pulsing gemlike device from the Samurai’s chest, where his heart should’ve been.

Then he was dropped to the ground, boxes of all shapes and sizes appearing around him in a futile rain. His green eyes flashed my way as his lips parted for a second.

I never learned to lip read, but I knew what he said. “Run”

Before Amadeus stomped his head in, the heavy foot of his mech suit obliterated Sky’s head and the boxes stopped appearing immediately.

Stepping back, Amadeus torched the body and all the boxes in a wave of heat, the fire lighting up the only figure still standing in the small ocean of flames.

In the reds, orange, and yellows of the flames’ light I noticed a blue reflecting on the plexiglass that separated me from the blaze. Glancing down I noticed the message on the tablet.

“RUN”