Chapter Text
"... Shin?"
Shin's blood froze in his veins.
That voice.
Even in the middle of the sounds of battle, in the middle of hundreds of voices yelling their last words, it still resonated clearly in his mind, reminding him of a silver bell.
That sweet voice from his memories.
"Did I reach you, Shin?"
No.
No.
No .
Anyone, literally anyone but her .
"I fought until the end. Did I reach you, Shin?"
He could hear in the background his comrades' reactions, Kurena clicking her tongue, Anju’s horrified gasp, Theo hitting his controls and Raiden cursing. But he couldn't register them. His whole attention was in that nostalgic voice, calling for him.
Yes, the Republic had fallen. They knew that much.
But somehow, deep down inside them, they still had the hope to find her alive.
That hope was now crushed in the worst way possible.
"SHIN!"
His vision went red .
He launched his Reginleif forward, cutting anything and anyone who stood in his way. In the background, he could hear a guttural scream, trying and failing to stifle that sweet, clear, cursed voice.
He couldn't register that scream as his.
Nor the cries of his comrades or his commanding officer, calling him back.
It didn't matter to him.
The only thing that mattered was the fact she called for him.
In the end, out of everyone, she called his name.
He had to answer the call.
He had to put her to rest.
Here we go again…
At the end, they had to draw back, his comrades forcefully taking him with them, while she fled the battlefield, covered by countless other Legion units.
The new Special Unit, codename: Bloody Reina.
A name too cold for someone as warm as she once was…
"Shin?"
Ernst.
"S-Shinei?"
Frederica.
But he could not afford more distractions.
"I have to find her. I have to end her. I have to put her to rest”
"I’m coming, Major..."
Frederica gulped loudly.
She had seen that expression before.
It was the same face her knight had the day of his death.