4 - Countermeasure

[WARSAW]

In Warsaw, a rough storm was looming. On two fronts, actually. One being the scattered shades of dark and gray in the sky, and the other being the unbearable static that tormented Ausra’s mind. She was there, in the building where the rest of the Heisei was, but she felt cripplingly alone.

The Heisei quickly put together a makeshift headquarters - further away from Warsaw, in the outskirts of the city, there was an area with beautiful green plains. And in the middle there were sets of tents paired with radar equipment. The Heisei was there, everyone had their little tent. They were relatively small, green, and embodied the words ‘temporary measure’.

Ausra was in one of those tents.

Her hands weren’t shaking anymore, there were dozens of small bite marks on her fingers though. She didn’t go out, she didn’t really talk to anyone, she just sat there in silence. But it didn’t feel like silence for her, for her it was a deafeningly loud scream that screamed nothing at her. No matter how quiet it was, she held her ears shut.

“Just as we made our feelings clear..."

Her eyes were puffy and a little red. Her clothes were a little sweaty and wrinkled. Her hair was a little messy. She looked like she’d just been back from a fight. And she slowly chewed on her fingers, whenever she wasn’t holding her ears shut, that is.

Not much light penetrated the tent, and her food supplies there had already run out. She hadn’t eaten properly in two days, and hadn’t drank anything since morning. Even just light appeared unpleasant to her, as she felt like she didn't deserve to be seen at all, even by mere photons. On the white mattress laid out on the ground was where she spent all of her time. No drills, no training, no planning, no anything. Just her, the silence, her bitten down fingers and her thoughts, the last one hurting her the most.

“Why did he have to go...”

“Why didn’t he just stay? Why didn’t I convince him to stay for longer?!”

“Why didn’t I prevent him from leaving?!” Ausra yelled, slapping herself on the cheek, the feeling causing certain unpleasant memories to resurface in the form of silhouettes engraved in her mind. She felt slightly deaf for a few seconds in her right ear, and the slap felt like it burnt her hard.

“Why didn’t I help him?!” Ausra said, much quieter. The slap hurt her quite a bit. She started to slowly cry. And this was her cycle of life for the past three days. Thinking, talking to herself, punishing herself, and crying. From her perspective, Oskar’s disappearance was the most preventable thing ever. She just couldn’t prevent it. She couldn’t convince him not to go out that day.

“It’s all me...” she slowly broke down, tears streaming down her face. “I couldn’t help him...”

“Don’t you feel any shame? Why didn’t you give your dad his morning drink? He has a headache because of you, it’s because...”

“No...”

“You useless fucking brat, I damaged my hand carrying this beer. All because...”

“I could’ve done things differently...”

“I’m gone. All because...”

“Because...”

“I couldn’t help.”

“What do I even do now, I just wanna go back in time, I just wanna tell him not to go...” Ausra continued crying. “I wanna save him. I wanna help him, and, I wanna have that conversation with him. We were supposed to talk, right? We were gonna talk about things, we were gonna talk about so much...”

She slapped herself again, this time it even got a little squirm out of her. Her cheek reddened even more, and a white light sparked in front of her eyes. The pain didn’t set in at first, it slowly began burning her alive a few seconds later. Ausra just tucked her head into her arms and continued her cycle of dead behaviour.

And suddenly, she felt a presence looming over her.

“What is wrong?” Jian asked, almost towering over her. While Ausra was on the mattress barely holding herself, Jian stood tall and proud. And her face, in contrast to Ausra’s pure outburst of emotion, was calm, collected and beautiful.

“Your cheek is red, you look like you’ve been hit.” Jian noted, seeing her face.

“I’m sorry...” Ausra whimpered, continuing her crying. Those were the only words she could get out of her mouth, she felt like she was being judged.

“She was hit. She was slapped.” Jian thought, continuing to stare her down. “But nobody could have gotten into this tent. Nobody could have hit her. That means she did this to herself.”

“Is she crying because of the pain? That wouldn’t make sense. Her pain tolerance is very high. When I was slapped, I didn’t cry.”

“Or...”

“Right, she is depressed. She is sad that her close comrade is gone. I should speak to her.”

“I have lost a comrade too. Numerous comrades, actually.” Jian said. She tried to mimic a soothing tone, but it didn’t really work. Ausra looked up at her, her tears still dwelling in her eyes.

“There was this one boy who was very excited to finally get the opportunity to join the Heisei. I watched him get brutalized by a chainsaw.” Jian said. “There was a girl too. She walked into a trap I failed to eliminate in time. I watched her die.”

“W-what...?” Ausra was too confused, so she murmured those words so silently they were quieter than the silence itself. Her eyes opened up a little from the inability to comprehend what Jian was even talking about.

Jian acknowledged that too.

“What should I tell her? She is not saying anything, nor is concerned. Was Oskar Weber more than a comrade to her, is that what explains her sorrow?”

“Was he your friend?” Jian asked.

“K-kinda...” Ausra said, snuggling her face back into her arms. “We...we just got close...we just became more than friends..." She broke down as another wave of sobs struck her.

“More than friends?” Jian asked. “What was he?”

“He was someone...special...” Ausra said through her sobs.

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At that point, Jian had realized that having this conversation would only serve to Ausra’s detriment. She would probably hate Jian for not understanding her. And getting someone that admires you to hate you is something Jian was not interested in partaking in.

“A special person? Is this the feeling someone experiences when they lose someone who they think is special to them?”

“Have I ever felt this way before?”

“I punish myself for failure. That is true. But I do not recall falling into such a state-”

She remembered when she almost thought Ichigo was blasted away to his demise.

“No, that is not precisely the same condition as her. Some of the immediate reactions may be similar, but I cannot make a concrete conclusion yet. And besides...what is a special person? What identifies someone as a special person?”

“I have my comrades, I have my enemies, I have the man that I take orders from. That is all there is, correct? What causes a special person?”

“And most importantly...”

“What do I do here?”

She watched Ausra keep on crying and crying. She didn’t know whether or not she had to get close or to leave the tent. She didn’t know what to say at this point, and she didn’t know what would happen to her in, say, a few minutes or even seconds. She just stood there, and she felt scared.

They heard a mighty pair of soul presences enter the outpost. Outside, a shadowy dragon descended.

“Sakuto Hitori and Ichika Hanasaki have arrived.” Jian awkwardly said, quickly leaving the tent. She was scared to see that face of Ausra’s again for some reason. Ausra didn’t look up at all after hearing that statement, she was likely ashamed. She heard the conversations flourish outside, but she didn’t muster up the courage to go there and look those people in the eyes.

She remained trapped in that cycle.

Until someone rushed over to her. Ichika entered the tent, and was very disheartened to see her closest friend in that state. Ausra, recognizing Ichika’s presence, slowly looked up. She looked genuinely sad.

“You poor thing...” Ichika said. She slowly sat down next to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulder.

“Ichika, get out.” Ausra said. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”

“Just shut up, will you?” Ichika said, making a seemingly rough sentence sound surprisingly comforting. “It’s your turn to be helped.”

“It’s what I didn’t have time to learn from him...” Ausra said. She stopped shedding tears, at least.

“Hey, remember when I felt sad, you used to help me like this?” Ichika asked, trying to activate her comforting scheme. “It’s your turn to be helped-”

“I was the reason he joined, wasn’t I?” Ausra asked. While Ichika tried to reply with something, she was instantly interrupted. “Even if he might never admit it, I was that reason...I got him killed...”

“Ausra, what you’re saying right now...”

“What, is it depressing? Is it disappointing?” Ausra raised her voice. “Is it pathetic?!”

“It’s familiar.” Ichika said.

“...huh?”

“I felt this same way when Sakuto died. But guess what, he came back.” Ichika said. “I had a really bad habit of blaming myself for everything and hating myself for it.”

“Right...focus, Ichika. You can get her out of this state, just like she helped you back then.”

“Yeah, I remember it better than anyone.” Ausra said. “You hated yourself, you cut yourself, you knocked yourself out with sleeping pills, you cried all the time and you wanted to give up on everything. And I had to deal with it. My bad...I probably sound like a bitch right now, I’m sorry...”

“It’s okay.” Ichika said, keeping her voice as soothing as possible. “But I learnt to love myself. And the more I loved myself, the better things got...well, as better as they could get. I didn’t blame myself for everything. And when I did make a mistake...”

“This isn’t a mistake.” Ausra said. “This isn’t like any other mistake. You can’t come back from being dead.”

“Ausra, what I want to tell you is that-”

“That people do? Why, because somehow, Sakuto did?!” Ausra asked. “You just...got lucky. If you didn’t get lucky, you would’ve probably killed yourself by now...”

“I have to spill my theory now...” Ichika thought.

“I wanted to tell you that Oskar isn’t dead.” Ichika said. “At least, that’s what I think.”

“What?” Ausra was shocked. “No, don’t do that. Don’t give me false hope for nothing, it’s only gonna be worse.”

“Whoever kidnapped Dima initially probably had some form of memory manipulation-like soul expression.” Ichika said. “Explains the amnesia, and what I suspect was a set-up to capture Oskar. They killed Dima because he was useless, but Oskar is a strong soulful. They’ll probably keep him alive and...”

“Shut up...” Ausra said. “Don’t say it out loud.”

“Right.” Ichika said. “But that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost.”

“How do you imagine recovering him from that state?” Ausra asked. “It’s...worse than death...holy fuck...” She broke down again.

“I don’t know.” Ichika said. “I’m sorry, but...I don’t know it yet.”

“Right...”

“But I wouldn’t be here listening to your crybaby rants if there wasn’t any hope, right?” Ichika playfully asked. “Death isn’t reversable, but amnesia-like stuff, well...”

“As long as we find a countermeasure.” Ausra said. “I get it. Something is better than nothing, I guess...”

“You’re right.” Ichika sighed. “As long as we find a countermeasure-”

She gasped.

“Sakuto! Get over here!” She yelled out. Within seconds, Sakuto ran towards their tent.

“What? What the hell happened?!” He asked, without even assessing the situation. He thought something awful had happened, but what really took place was an eureka moment.

“Your soul interpretation.” Ichika began. “Your perfect counter. It’s...a genuine perfect counter, right? It can theoretically counter everything, right?!”

“Yeah?” Sakuto asked, confused. “You called me to ask about my ability? For fuck sake, I thought something happened...”

“Assuming Oskar is still alive and is reduced to a zombie soldier...” Ichika continued. “You’re going to fight the bitch that did that to him, right? That bitch used her soul expression to do it, right?!”

“Mhm...” Sakuto nodded. The rest of the Heisei gathered around the tent.

“All you have to do is to adapt to her soul expression, acquire the perfect counter to it, store the adaptation, and use it against Oskar.” Ichika said, delighted. “It should counter her soul expression and nullify it, right?!”

Sakuto gasped.

“Ichika...” Sakuto spoke slowly, unable to believe what he was saying in the first place. “You’re saying that...rescue is possible?”

“We don’t know the specifics of the soul expression.” Jian said, entering the tent for the second time. She purposely avoided eye contact with Ausra. “The plan sounds good in hindsight, but we don’t know whether the changes are on a biological level.”

“Just trust what the lad himself said.” Zawadski said, stretching. “Any and all phenomena. Any and all countermeasures.”

“But that’s not the point.” Yuuka said. “We are set to go to war with the stronghold regardless. It will be a total war.”

“And that implies what exactly?” Sakuto asked.

“It implies that our friend, who is probably a mindless killing machine now, will not be so cooperative. We cannot even guarantee that he will be successfully captured, while the evil bitch and her other soldiers are dead.”

“We can guarantee it.” Ichigo said, bringing a confident voice to the discussion. “We are the only force capable of destroying it.”

“And what makes you so sure?”

“Because we are the fucking Heisei, baby!” Zawadski cheered. “Come on! We beat Otto Richter’s teeth in, we’ll manage it with this stronghold too. Just give it some time.”

“It’s going to be a much more challenging fight than with Otto Richter.” Ichigo said. “But I agree. We’ll pull through.”

“Whaddya think, Sakyuto?” Yuuka nudged Sakuto, whose soul presence was alarmingly high.

“I’m gonna get my friend back.” He said. “I’m gonna save him.”

“And...”

“I’ll reduce that fucking stronghold to dust if I have to.”