Resolution

[Victoria]

The space port, along with the surrounding buildings and streets, was a smoking battleground. Buildings that had been located near the tarmac of the landing strip were all but obliterated, nothing except burnt husks of what once was. A massive crater ate up the cement and the soil, meters deep in a curvature that led to the apex of the explosion. Bodies were gone, dust in the wind, the invaders that had surrounded were never to be seen again. In the center, a smaller crater of crushed and cracked dirt and rock remained a smoking figure. The cause of the massive explosion of light, electricity, and power. It had all come to a climatic close. The mission had been completed, everything would be washed away, brought anew. There was nothing left of their enemy. The falling Myreen burnt like the three sun's of Namek, smoke billowing into the sky, it's beautiful metallic hull exploding into brilliant fragments that would never see the light of day again. Perhaps it would sink into the ocean...or become dust in the wind, like everything else.

Her explosive might had swept across the perimeter at such a scale that she had never done before. Within heart-pounding moments it lingered, and then sucked inwards like a vacuum, leaving behind the wasteland that was now exposed. Angry thunderheads roiled in the heavens, blotting out the expansive sky, and the warmth of the suns glaring down. Droplets ascended and sizzled on the heated crater. There she remained, smoke curling off her body, rainwater becoming steam as if slamming against an overheated engine. Victoria crumpled to her knees. Globes of water clung to her hair, vibrant like freshly chewed bubblegum once more. Cracked skin bled painfully, fighting to heal, but the reserves of her energy was so damn depleted. All of it was gone, save that which was her base strength. Victoria stared up at the brooding heavens.

“Come to wash me away?” the youth croaked, and fell forward. Her body hit the broken ground and her blue eyes fluttered to maintain their open state. She could see the hazy horizon past the brim of her pseudo grave. Was she dying, she wondered? There was a moment where she believed this, but, as she stared at her hand lying limping in her peripheral vision she knew it wasn't so. The peeled flesh, very much like chemical burns, was beginning to regrow. The most subtle of sighs, like the wind in the proverbial tree leaves, fell from her lips and she closed her eyes. It would be alright. He said he'd save her.

Victoria eventually sat up within the drizzle of the rain, palms and knees supporting her meager weight. The world was a blur to her, everything off kilter. There were no more aliens. Their ship was gone, and her mind was trying to recall the ethereal bliss she had submerged herself into. All she garnered now was a throbbing headache. Her stomach roiled and she vomited abruptly, bile combined with leaking rain water into the cracks her shattering power had developed.

“Where are they?”

Her blue weary eyes lifted and she looked to the left, the right, but she saw nothing. No buildings, no people, not even corpses. Her tired legs lifted her body. The girl couldn't remember being so tired, so out of sorts, not like this. She wondered if they were alright, if her team mates made it through the war. Their journey had been long, over a month, the days had meshed together. She had lost someone close. Perhaps it had been silly, spur of the moment love, but it was there. The pain from losing so much for the future, what could have been, made her heart as weary as her body. Yet here they were. This was Roy Munin's dream. A part that would say, hey, we did this. Earth did this.

Victoria made it a few steps before having to settle on her knees again. She would rest here a moment, or three, they were the winners. People would be singing in their homes, their pubs, and the streets. Namek had been saved and Earth was their saviors. Kai was smiling on them today; Roy was smiling on them. This made the hunter smile, too, a sweet thing it was. She gazed to the rainy sky and the corners of her lips tugged wider, her mind could finally be at peace. Now she could move on. All she had to do was find her friends. Life at Zone Five felt so bitter compared to the souls she had grown close to as of late. Sigfried and his grumpy disposition, Skoll with his silence and his stares, Hati, his antics and tomfoolery, and Jarka, innocent Jarka, many times Victoria wished she could have been just like that cook. Maybe, just maybe, she could live just like them now. Victoria liked the idea of teaching Jarka more about ki, as she had been taught, it was a beautiful train of thought.

A black shape circled, and her crystalline eyes flicked to the gray storm-clouds. She watched with vacant eyes, it's feathers glistened in the light rainfall. It reminded her of that damn bird she had nearly caught in the beginning....and then she remembered. None of those invaders had been real. Sigfried had fooled so many people, including her. She sighed and bowed her head as black became red. The college drop-out, now warrior, stood on the cusp of her crater. Victoria stood up and began to walk. Her leather armor had been rendered into shreds on her damaged body, as cracked and burnt as the scene before them. Thankfully she was still modest, mostly. Wind plucked at her long tresses, they drifted to the side prettily, and in the silence between the two the girl smiled softly.

“We did it,” she said, her voice rough from the battle. “Where's Jarka?” her gaze flicked from side to side assuming the aspiring warrior was trailing behind.

“Vic...”

“I can't believe that we did it, I wasn't sure,” she chuckled to herself, unable to hear him over her own elation. A hand lifted to her cheek where a crack was felt with a wince, but her smile was maintained. Fingers went to her cherry blossom hair instead and she threaded a hand gently through some of the length. “It's...it's amazing,” she turned suddenly as she spoke. “I wish he could see this. I know that he never knew about me, about...what I just did.” Victoria looked around the damaged land. It would take work to make it return to it's former state, grow again, be built again. “But I think Roy would have been proud. I wish he were here...we did it for him, well, I did. I may not be free like you guys, but I do what I need to for those I care about. Even if you made those invaders up, they were real here, and I killed them. I can move on knowing that...despite that lie, Roy would have wanted all of this.”

She turned again, her boots had been burnt away in the exposure, leaving her feet to become wet in the mud. “Did you know that the day he died he said he would save me?” she asked softly. Sigfried neither shook his head, nor did he nod, but his eyes were filled with something she couldn't place. “I think he did. I never expected someone to walk into my life like that. Yes, at first it was all just...just me acting, but then he surprised me. Me! I wanted to know more about him, but this was enough, and I will never forget him. Roy changed my life, he saved me.” Rain splattered against her face, mixing with lingering crystal tears, but she was crying out of happiness.

“Where's Jarka? You should have changed into an airplane or something,” she said in jest, wiping her wrist against her eyes. The warmth was there. Although her shaky disposition was unlike that of the warrior whom had left the Utterance of Kai, she was so much better than before. “And Skoll, and Hati,” she added, gaze almost child-like in appearance as she peeked around Sigfried.

Victoria hadn't seen much of them during the fight. To be honest; the hunter didn't want them to get hurt. She didn't think she'd survive at all. The power had been too much for her body to contain. Her brilliance had distracted so many of the invaders, but left plenty for her friends to pick at. Surely, she mused, they had won. They were probably waiting at the boarder of the blast zone. Perhaps Jarka would be kind enough to make pancakes again; the best pancakes in the world, she swore. The thought didn't bring back sad memories, but good ones this time. Pancakes were always good. Friends were good. Why was Sigfried so quiet?

“Sigfried,” Victoria took a hesitating step forward, and her warm eyes began to waver in uncertainty. “Where are they?” The pound of the rain beat with the heart in her chest.

Just say...just say it isn't so.