Please (Do not) Give Me Wings - Part 1

The North Pole.

The continental sized tortoise mech trudged through a misty blue tundra as strong blizzards battered against its metallic legs, each the size of a large city. Snow had built up in every little crevice of the machine with the outer shell cloaked in a thick blanket of white snow. It was a mountain that walked through the ice with each heavy step breaking through the very ground itself.

*Shudder*

*Crack*

*Kathunk*

The storm veiled the machine under a thick miasma with only its ominous red eyes that loomed out in the distance. A black silhouette behind the white curtains.

***

*Ding*

An announcement echoed: “Now stopping at Tokyo. Tokyo.”

*Ding*

A group of friends casually walked out of a train and onto the station platform that sat elevated high above the ground. They were all school delinquents that wore a mismatched version of their uniforms with arms that stuck into their pant pockets and a face that showed no care in the world.

They all walked in the middle of the night as their silhouette moved against the backdrop of the bright vibrant city beyond. A metropolis of dancing lights and advertisements that covered almost every piece of empty space.

“Nothing ever happens in this city, right?”

“Ibaki accidentally cut off his arm again.”

“And? He’ll get a new one like always, the dumb moron.”

“Oh… Oh I forgot a meteor hit out in the boonies like a few days ago… it went Kabwaaam… crazy right?”

“But that's not here though…”

“The earthquakes?”

“I wouldn’t really call them earthquakes and they didn’t do anything.”

A quiet boy in their group with glasses looked up and spoke softly.

“A coup d'etat.”

“A cou… de what?”

“My dad who works for the government seems to think so. He says that it's overly suspicious. It is most likely that our government has been taken over. Take this with a grain of salt as even he thinks that it's 80 percent bull.”

“Of course it's bullshit! A coup? Pssh by what Russia? That old corpse of a nation? Aren’t they still at war even after all this time? I wouldn't count them as being capable of that.”

“I am not too sure but something doesn't feel right.”

The group of boys walked by a feminine man with short frizzy black hair and glowing blue eyes. They took no mind to the person except the boy with glasses as he followed the man as she cheerily skipped along.

‘Have I seen that person before?’

“Takeru! Move out or else we’re going to leave you behind again!”

“R…Right! Right! Sorry!”

***

“I’m home Mum, Dad… I know it's kind of late. Senpai dragged me to hang out with them. I know, I know I shouldn’t but–”

Takeru adjusted his glasses as he saw the oddities in his house. The lights were off with all the furniture and decorations thrown all over the place. It was late at night but he knew that his parents wouldn't be out this early.

“Mum? Dad? Are you already asleep?”

*Clack*

The low thud of footsteps was heard coming from across the hallway and seemingly emanating from the bedroom.

“Mum? Dad? Sorry to wake–”

*Boom*

A sudden spark of light erupted from the bedroom causing Takeru to swiftly hide behind a cabinet. He held on his mouth tightly with eyes that looked around frantically as he tried to swallow down his fear.

‘Mum! Dad! No! No! No! Please! No! No!’

*Clink*

*Crack*

Takeru accidentally knocked down a vase atop the cabinet as an ear shattering thud reverberated throughout the silent space. In response he held onto his mouth with a tighter grip hoping that whoever was out there did not hear it.

His fears soon came to life when from out of the shadows were red eyes that turned to face him. It was a soldier dressed in all black with optical night vision and a rifle that he slowly raised towards Takeru's face.

The soldier gestured Takeru to be silent as his finger was placed on his lips.

“Shhh.”

***

*Bang*

Tomo slammed her fist on the table as she held up a half empty bottle of rice wine.

“AHHHH! That hit the spot!”

Ana stood awkwardly in the middle of battle-hardened soldiers who drank without a care. She was concerned that they could act this happy even though they had to face battle tomorrow but what concerned her the most was how much they could drink.

Tomo in her drunken state nudged Ana with her shoulders.

“Come on!... A…one… ah two more drinks… What's your name again?”

“Ana.”

“ANA TWO MORE DRINKS! Come on! Don’t be a party pooper… DRINK! DRINK! DRINK LIKE YOUR LIFE… life is… ah… Just drink!”

Ana reluctantly grabbed the bottle from Tomo’s hand as she quickly downed the bottle in one gulp.

“AH!”

Ana exhaled in pain as the alcohol reached her throats and beyond.

“Oh god! It never gets better the more you drink it!”

“It never does. That's the best part.”

After a brief pause Tomo readjusted herself trying her best to get this sentence out sober.

“Ana… Ana you are family now. You may not think it but all of us here will walk through hell and back for you!”

“Thank you. I don’t think I deserve you all.”

“I have no military know-how so it wouldn’t be best for me to lead.”

“You are not saying?”

“Ana, I mean Major! You will lead us into battle and onto victory!”

Ana looked around her as the party room filled with various balloons of all colours and smiles of everyone that raised their arms to salute her.

“Lead us to Victory Major!”

***

*Static*

[Our Victory!]

*Static*

“Hah! Hah! Hah!”

Ana coarsely laughed with heavy breaths as she tightly clutched onto her right shoulder that sparked with electricity as the hand was no longer present. She was sitting inside her mech plugged in by the machine's tendrils that fused into the holes in her back.

Her white nanosuit now has bumps of black nano machines that moved around like living parasites embedding itself into Ana. It moved all around her body like a metallic worm that glowed red as it coursed through her neck and finally her face.

“W… Why Ana?”

Ana’s orange phoenix mech stood heavily battered within a desolate and burning landscape of broken skyscrapers and neon lights that still glowed amidst the hellscape.

“B…Buy out n… Buy our new… Soda… Soooo… Good… Good… Buy–”

Digital advertising billboards flickered in and out with the audio that no longer showed any audible sense.

“Why did you do it? Ana?”

Ana’s mech held a sword that was plunged deep into another mech below. The burning red feather sword pierced through the chassis.

Inside her cockpit Ana held onto her broken arm as her left eye bloomed wide open. She rocked herself back and forth in a hollow trace.

“It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!”

‘What is going on?’

‘I’m losing control?’

*Static*

[IT WAS ME!]

*Static*

The image of Tomo’s lifeless face that drooled with dripping blood flooded her mind. She can feel everything that's inside the destroyed mech below. Every pain of the broken metal pieces that connected to her as if it was real flesh.

Ana clutched onto the side of her face onto the bandages that covered her broken right eye. She began to hyperventilate, unable to breathe properly and did what she could only do in this situation.

Scream.

“AAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”