Darkness had claimed Kyra’s vision as she fell to her knees. She lost consciousness shortly after.
"Diablos, what is going on? Did I not have Thunder junctioned properly?" She asked with a hurried confusion.
There was no response. Not even an interest that he was going to respond. Kyra was getting worried.
"What is happening here? Please tell me." She pleaded.
"You got distracted and failed" he growled harshly. "I had hoped your recent dreams would have given you some peace"
"Yes, you’re right, but it doesn't explain why I couldn't use... wait," She paused to register what he said. "You...created those dreams?"
"I merely nudged your subconscious to focus your mind but it did not work. Let me make this absolutely clear, the girl is dead." He put stress on those last three words. It ripped Kyra’s heart hearing that come from him.
"You're lying....that can't be true!" She said, trying to plead her case. “Nikki isn’t dead...I just need to get back to Spira somehow. She could feel him slipping away from her mind, not taking any interest in her plight.
”You are a failure no longer worthy of me.” Diablos growled harshly again.
“No! Why are you doing this?”
Diablos retreated to the furthest reaches of her mind. She had felt something similar to this before. She felt as though she could no longer summon him, but could still use spells.
Her mind filled with a cloud as if to try to fill the space that Diablos had left.
"Another failure, eh? Guess that was the one that broke the camel's back. I wonder why you put up with me so long?" She asked. Memories of how he treated her after Aiko’s death slowly filled her mind.
It was similar, but this was different. Kyra knew that they hadn’t finished their mission in the Via Infinito. The fact that she was sent away was eating away at her. She wanted to get back. She needed to, but she was frustrated that she also couldn’t just leave this mission. She made a promise to protect Koemi. Kyra had a feeling that her unwillingness to mentally remain on task was the reason Diablos retreated. She wasn’t exactly sure since Guardian Forces always kept their intentions hidden. She decided not to think about it and resigned herself to rest.
Kyra woke up in a familiar looking inn room. She had spent many nights in the FH hotel in the past. A sharp pain entered her body as she tried to move. She realized that she had been poisoned by the Grand Mantis which had affected her wound and made her lose consciousness. She slowly sat up and inspected the wound on her shoulder. She noticed it was nicely bandaged. While the poison effect was gone, the pain was still present. She looked over at the side table and noticed there was a potion with a note under it. For when you wake up. it read.
She slowly leaned over and took the potion in her hand. She wasn’t sure who would have given it to her. She removed the seal and drank the potion. The pain in her shoulder went away just enough where she would move her arm again. It would be a bit before the wound healed completely.
She got up and noticed her sword was placed by the door with her boots. She picked up her sword and put on her boots. She decided to try to find her team in hopes of finding out what their next move was.
She walked down the hallway and could hear a room with radio static. It must have been Koemi as she was the only one who would fiddle with a radio when no one else was around. Kyra still wasn’t sure what to say to the girl, but decided to knock anyway.
“Hey, Koemi? Can we talk?” Kyra asked.
"HEY you're awake! Come in!” there was a cheerfulness in Koemi’s voice
Kyra opened the door to find Koemi cross legged on the bed. She was fiddling with the same radio as Kyra had found her fiddling with the other day. Kyra took a seat on the chair located near the desk. Koemi whacked the radio in an attempt to get it to work. It seemed to while to life with a cracking sound.
“AHA! Got you!” she said as she put the radio to her ear. She started to fiddle with the knobs in an attempt to find an active channel.
“Uh, any luck?”
"Hmmm well I only just got this to wake up..." she said with a quizzical look as she turned the knob a little more.
"It's better than dead air.” Kyra said. She was getting anxious watching her fiddle with the radio. Kyra knew she wasn’t here to watch Koemi fiddle with the radio, so she decided to ask the question on her mind, “What happened after I lost consciousness? Is everyone okay?"
Koemi looked at the radio and then sighed putting it down, seemingly getting nowhere with it. "Me and Swain kicked butt, thunder spells are my specialty, my Guardian Force makes them twice as powerful than normal. Everyone is okay, they are all just resting." Koemi paused and squinted at Kyra. "What did you try to do?"
"I tried to cast thunder on my blade to amplify the strike. The blade sparked, then fizzled. It caught me by surprise when I only hit with a normal attack." Kyra tried to explain what happened.
Koemi paused again with a confused look on her face "Uhh... Why would you do that?"
"It’s something I would do in the past to amplify the strike. It was something I learned in Spira....wait..." She realized what she just said.
Koemi tood a deep breath and spoke slowly "But, if you cast thunder on the blade it would only hurt the blade or damage it, but you didn't even do that it sparked and then poof," Koemi paused again, "I don't know what you did in Spira... But it's not possible."
"It must have been an instinct after fighting there for so long. Magic doesn't work that way here..." She said, trying to process her actions.
Koemi looked unconvinced "If you say so..."
"I learned two skills while in Spira. One was Crystallum Nix, the other was a shockwave strike. I used them when I was in a pinch. They just seemed to happen naturally. That could be why I thought I could use it..."
"Hmm..." Koemi paused, "Ok" She then closed her eyes as if concentrating. "Oh... Okay, wait you did what?! Jeez okay that's a lot to get my head around..." She snapped her eyes back open looking at Kyra. "What is Diablos doing?"
"He, uh..." Kyra paused. She hesitated telling her, but there was a chance that she already knew. "He retreated."
Koemi closes her eyes again. This was a technique they would use to cut off other senses in order to get a stronger connection when communicating with their Guardian Force.
Koemi looks at Kyra and sighs rubbing her forehead "I really didn't want to tell you till I was certain but it seems Mr. Know-It-All already told you about Nicola." She pouted.
Kyra's heart skipped a beat. "Kind of. He said I know someone you met as Nikki. I never knew a Nicola. Can you tell me about her?"
"Hmmm.. Well before I start don't get your hopes up. I'm still not certain it is your Nikki, okay? Even Guardian Forces can be wrong, he did just flick through your memories, it's like flicking through a book you don’t get all the details." Koemi was picking her words carefully.
"Right." Kyra was trying to wrap her head around what Koemi was about to tell her.
"Plus you do know he is known for his pranks, he gets bored."
"I do. Your Guardian Force is one of a kind. I have a picture of her though." Kyra sifted through her bag and pulled out the picture of her and Nikki in Nikki’s garden in Spira.
Koemi's eyes light up in delight, quickly going from the serious girl to her cheery self she eagerly takes the picture, her eyes go wide as she examines it turning it this way and that. She then beams the biggest grin and turns the picture toward Kyra and points at Nikki’s face. "Don't tell me she can actually smile?" she said with a grin.
"She can. So you have met her... How is that possible?" Kyra said remembering the time she spent in the garden and how she hated leaving her the way she did.
Koemi was grinning from ear to ear, "I have no idea, but it's definitely her, Nicola is Nikki and she has Shiva." She said with excitement in her voice, "We need Shiva to help with Diablos only she can convince him otherwise."
"Wait, what? She has a Guardian Force too? And what do you mean convince him? He said I'm a failure who is not worthy of him. I failed in that fight against those Grand Mantis. I acted on impulse..." She said trying to wrap her head around everything Koemi just said.
Koemi nodded, "There is a hierarchy of Guardian Forces, I learnt this in history, Zodiark is at the top, then it's Shiva and Ifrit, then below them everyone else..." She pauses for breath. "But... Ifrit doesn't care, so it falls to Shiva to make sure everyone is doing their job, apparently Diablos is breaking his contract with you."
"You’re making me regret not taking history. I focused on taking weapon maintenance and repair. They only told us not to rely on Guardian Forces. You taking history explains why you know more about them."
Suddenly Koemi face falls realisation hitting her, "Only... I don't know how much time has passed for her or where Nicola is, I met her a year ago."
"A year ago? That doesn't make sense. I saw her moments before I was forced back here. That was only a few days ago..."
Koemi pauses "I think.. it's time compression seeing you might have been a very long time ago for her."
"I see. Was there anyone else with her?" If she was alive, does that mean the others are too?
Koemi shook her head, "No, me and Tross found her badly wounded and patched her up, and I gave her Shiva."
"So she was alone..." Kyra looked down and had a sad look on her face. "I'm not sure how you found her, or what all of this means, but I'm glad she's alive. If she has Shiva, that means she should be safe, right?" Kyra knew that her being alone was not a good thing.
"Sure." she said with a smile.
"You mentioned she doesn't smile. What is she like now?"
Koemi paused. Koemi hesitated she looked like she didn't know what to say "I don't really know I haven't seen her in a long while... I remember I looked for her in the wasteland before I came back but I couldn't find her."
"Hmm, I hope we find her soon then." Kyra said. Knowing that Nikki was alone worried her. ”For her sake.”
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