Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Watashi no Kare wa Pilot (My Boyfriend is a Pilot) ❯ Busy Birthday ( Chapter 10 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Watashi no Kare wa Pilot (My Boyfriend is a Pilot)
Anime: Macross Frontier
Couple: Alto/Ranka
Summary: Ranka's life was as normal as could be on Frontier, until she met Saotome Alto.  Time passes and she falls in love, but will this be a blessing or the end of Frontier altogether?  AU.
Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure/Horror/Drama
Rating: R (does NOT apply to ALL chapters)
Warnings: sexual situations, violence, blood, gore, and language.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Macross Frontier, it belongs to Shôji Kawamori. This is purely fanmade for entertainment purposes only.

Music: All songs inserted with the exception of Aimo, the Nyan-Nyan commercial, and Sheryl's songs are written by me.

~...~ = singing

Chapter Ten: Busy Birthday
(Special “Blu-Ray” release!)
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Saotome Alto’s eyes opened to be greeted with a tile ceiling.  He stared at the tiles with anger.  He could easily recall what had transpired this time and his reason for being bed-ridden.  He looked to the IV attached to his arm with a sigh, noticing that Ranka was once again asleep at his side.  He lifted a hand and pet her hair softly.  It no longer mattered to him that she held a past he had to fight against, he simply adored her.  Even though the knowledge of her origin made him upset at first, he accepted it now.  With a small smile, his eyes closed, serene at her presence.

“I see you’ve woken up finally,” he was greeted by Ozma’s voice as said man entered the room.

He looked at him with sudden shock, “why are you here?”

“You have no idea where you are, do you?” the man replied with shock.  A shake of the head was his reply.  “You’re in the base.  Michael and I received your SOS signal, or rather Ranka’s, and we rescued you.  The explosion by you guys caused the rebels to start firing rapidly, thinking we’d provoked them.”  He frowned and looked down at Ranka with sadness.  “From what I could tell, you were stabbed by a Vajra.”  He handed the boy a cup of vanilla pudding as he sat up.

He was worried at the explanation.  The link to Ranka’s memory had been destroyed.  It was obvious that someone didn’t want her to remember what had transpired there eleven years ago.  “We’re going back.”  As the man moved to speak his mind, he scoffed.  “Didn’t you say that you wanted me to find out more about her past?”  His eyes held edge to them now.  “Well, we found a clue.”

Ozma was intrigued at this.  “Go on.”

He frowned and looked at his pudding, digging into the soft surface.  He pulled out some of it and ate it.  He didn’t know if he should attain her permission first before sharing information.  With the way the government had recently been handling their enemy, he couldn’t trust them.  But this was her brother.  If she was going to be hunted by the government, he would need Ozma’s help to shield her.  “She found her mother.”

The man’s eyes went wide at this.

“And she found out that she was born with the V-type infection.”  He lowered his eyes to her sleeping form, missing his superior’s worried orbs.  He took another spoon full of pudding.  “Her mother was ill.  She’d been in a frozen container inside that Macross for eleven years, hoping to meet Ranka again.  And when she did, her body gave out.”  He pet her head lightly, frowning.  “It must’ve terrified her to see that.”

Ozma cleared his throat, attracting the boy’s attention.  “The Vajra that attacked you vanished as soon as two fold signals were picked up.  Both were exactly where you guys were located.  So my question is: why were there two fold signals instead of one?”  He narrowed his eyes at the confused teen.  “Tell me the truth.  I deserve to know if my sister is in mortal danger.”

He held pained eyes at this.  He knew Ozma was only concerned for her but it made him realize that his stomach had been one of those two fold signals.  He met the man’s eyes.  “There might be a deeper connection between Ranka and the Vajra than even I realize.”  He looked at her with sad eyes.  “She seemed to communicate with the one that attacked us.”  Ozma seemed horrified at this.  He fisted his hands in the sheets.  “It is also possible that she’s passed it to me as well.”

Ozma was floored at this, “h—how?”

For a moment, he was hesitant to answer that question, but his mouth moved of its own accord, “kissing.”  He cringed in preparation for the punch yet it didn’t come.  He opened his eyes to find the baffled look on the man’s face.  “We’ve kissed.”  He looked down, slightly ashamed at the secret.  “And quite a bit.”  He received only a nod.  “And a few days ago, when we kissed, my stomach glowed.  It did it again when she communicated with that Vajra.  Rather, it has been frequently occurring.”  He met those worried eyes with honest ones.  “I’m trying to learn all I can about it.  The Vajra are our enemy.  If she is one of them, I’ve made my choice to follow.”

The elder man frowned.  He was far from fine with the boy kissing his sister; however, his final words spoke vibes of his own pure intentions.  “All we can do is hope it’s not that serious.”  He sighed and grabbed his coat, moving towards the door.  “When you recover, your plane will be ready for take-off.  Go find out more about her past.”  He left at that.

Alto understood his words.  All they could do was hope that the V-type infection could be cured.  He looked down at his sleeping girlfriend with sadness.  But that faded into understanding.  When she’d connected to the Vajra, he could see her memories through the same door.  He poked her cheek to wake her.

She groaned and waved a hand at the offending object.  “Five more minutes,” she forced, as if not aware of where she was.

“Ranka,” he spoke her name and poked her again.

Her eyes opened and she looked up at him.  Immediately, she shot up completely with shock, blushing, and she fixed herself for presentation.  It just left him shocked.  “I’m sorry.”  Her eyes took in his gentle smile and then they lowered to his injury.  “Are you okay?” she asked, concerned.

He nodded lightly, “yes.  Thanks to you.  But it felt weird though.”

She cocked her head to the side, losing that worried gaze, “ke?”

He let out a small chuckle at that.  He was still baffled.  Back there – in that one moment – both their stomachs had reacted to each other.  He’d shot up without pain—feeling more alive than ever before.  It had felt as though the injury had healed itself.  And then it died.  “Ranka, back then, did you feel anything strange?”

She shook her head immediately this time, “no.”

‘This time she didn’t notice.’  But then again, up until a certain point, he hadn’t become aware either.  He merely forced a smile and nodded.  “Your stomach was glowing again when you screamed.”

She nodded lightly in understanding.  “How do you feel?” she asked about his injuries once more.

“Sore,” he commented.  He sat up slightly so she could fluff his pillow, then proceeded to eat his pudding again.  He failed to see her eyes on him.  Then he lifted his gold orbs to find her blushing thickly.  He hadn’t noticed he was savoring the whole batch on the spoon until his tongue stopped at the tip.  He flushed and dropped it.  Without a doubt, he knew an erotic image had popped into her mind.  Clearing his throat, he pulled her out of the trance.  “What happened to the ship?”

With sad eyes, she looked away, “it blew up.”

He dropped his mouth and then fought for words to say.  “I’m sorry,” he settled for.  He didn’t know what else to say.  A frown came to his lips.  “I didn’t know.”  He looked away, “but I can understand your pain a little bit.  Losing a mother is hard but I’m sure just meeting her was worse.”  He sat up and pulled her close, ignoring the pain from his injury.  “I’m so sorry.”

She smiled lightly and pulled away, slightly pushing him back to rest.  “It’s okay.  The important part is that you’re okay.”

He smiled back.  He let his eyes slip closed when her lips touched his bravely to share a sign of affection.  Then they opened with a bright smile.  “Thank you for always taking care of me.”  As a blush coated her cheeks, he lifted a hand and stroked one gently.  “We did it.  We found a clue to your past.”

She nodded gently though a sad smile lit her lips.

He looked towards the sky outside from the small window and grew brave.  “Now,” he spoke as he sat up, ignoring her insistence that he remain relaxed, “what do you say we return to our mission of figuring out who Ranka Mei truly is?”  He had already resolved that he would not allow mere injuries to hold him back from helping her.  And as he sat up and moved to dress behind the curtain, this showed to her as well.  When her arms wrapped around his middle, he dropped his hospital gown without warning, choking, frozen in time.  “R—Ranka?”

She merely snuggled into the firm shoulders sadly.  “Just… for a little bit…” she whimpered, slightly begging as tears ran down her cheeks.

He understood that this was a sign of sorrow for her mother’s death.  After all, one could only be so strong.  Now that the battle was over and there was a moment of peace, she could release that sorrow onto his shoulders.  And he carried it happily.  He merely stood there and allowed her to seek comfort in him.  He gripped her hands and turned until they were face-to-face, ignoring her small blush, and he wrapped his arms around her.  Regardless of his nudity, he knew this was not a moment to worry about such a thing.  Her comfort overruled his embarrassment and fear.  He smiled warmly; “I now understand where you get your looks from.”  As he pulled away, he saw a tint on her cheeks unrelated to the nudity factor.  “Ranshe Mei was a beautiful woman.  And it shows in her daughter.”

Her eyes were sparkling from the compliment.  “Thank you.”

He nodded lightly and held her head to his chest.  He ignored anyone who would dare interrupt them.  He was content.

Alto sighed as he looked out at the surrounding clouds.  He was a bit upset even though the sky felt serene.  After what had happened before, he couldn’t find the happiness in the sky.  His mind was on the infection possibly traveling through his veins, slowly killing him.  He had to find a cure.  But he was also worried about Ranka’s connection to the Vajra.  If she was the spy the government had claimed was on Frontier all along, then she was in mortal danger.  But what if he also shared that connection now?  In an instant, his attention was drawn towards the remnants of a large ship in the middle of the earth.  He smiled at that.  “Ranka, I think we found it.”

She looked over his shoulder at this.  In the distance was a large-scale ship.  Her eyes widened at the tag on the ship.  “XeroRA… that ship was destroyed.”  Her eyes went wide as a memory flooded in.

A blonde boy that looked older than her hovered over her form in a space pod with worry.  His eyes held sadness at the situation.  Outside, the destruction created smoke and flames that reached towards them.  He looked momentarily towards someone else in the distance, then he looked at her with pain.  “Don’t tell anyone what happened here,” he ordered her.  As her eyes lowered, she saw a strangely familiar harmonica around his neck.  “Live happy and free, Ranka.”  He jumped out of the pod and closed it, disconnecting it from the ship.  A few feet away, she watched as a Vajra appeared out of the shadows and wrapped its form around it, then crushed it.  All she saw was an explosion.

Her eyes were wide at the memory.  A scream tore from her throat, causing her stomach to glow again.  His followed as he turned to question her.  He ended up clenching his stomach in pain at the emotions she was sending him unconsciously.  Her eyes then found life again and they saw a ship in the distance.  The large-scale unit was enough to destroy them just on mere impact.  It was a familiar aircraft.  But what had her horrified was that it was coming from the location where Macross Global had been destroyed.  “Is that a mother ship?” she questioned as the glows faded.

His head lifted, beads of sweat on his forehead, and ignored both the pain and blood, swallowing it, but then he saw the ship and his eyes went wide.  “Those vermin,” he spoke, the malice in his heart obvious, “they were hiding here the whole time, breeding.”  He quickly maneuvered as a red blur suddenly rushed past them.  He moved through the Vajra as they attempted to attack.  It was difficult, as there were multiple third-stage and second-stage Vajra in the group, plus the mother ship.  As he passed by the mother ship to escape, cannons shot at him.  He moved quickly to avoid them, using the engines at full power to avoid anything he could.  The pressure was nearly eating his insides but he still pushed himself forward.  He couldn’t afford to drop his speed.  He heard her screaming and his stomach glowed, making him scowl with hatred, “you disgusting monsters.”

Her eyes were pained at the word he’d used to describe them.

“Hang on!” he screamed in warning before moving swiftly up and over the mother ship, tearing away from the zone successfully.  But it wasn’t over as the smaller Vajra raced after them.

In the distance, a purple-haired woman with thin glasses watched the unit avoid the Vajra, arms folded, an amused smile on her lips.  Her eyes turned as a purple Valkyrie landed behind her.  Inside, the blonde pilot stared up at the unit in the sky with longing in his ruby orbs.  “You are interested in her, aren’t you?”  At the momentary shock from him, that smile became a smirk.  “How odd.  An android is interested in a human girl.”  With a laugh, she turned towards the machine at her side; “I find it amusing that he too finds solace in a being he detests.  Not that he understands.  But I will make him see how futile it is.”

The blonde man lowered his eyes towards the woman, curious, “is she of use now, commander?”

She shook her head, smirking, “no, we must wait longer.”  Her eyes darted to him.  “For now, play your part.  That is my only order.”  At that, a nod followed and the ship took off into the sky.  She reached out and pressed her hand into the machine at her side.  As her body was slowly destroyed by the detonation, she smirked at the unit once more, “enjoy it while you can, for you shall soon understand.”  Then her form was swallowed up.

Alto outmaneuvered one last Vajra before he sighed in relief as they at last gained some open sky.  Then he watched as the mother ship prepared to fold.  As it vanished, he saw the large black hole forming in the middle of the planet, absorbing the forest, remnants, and base nearby.  His eyes widened in horror.  “Impossible.”  He turned his attention ahead and pushed them away from the area, aiming them up to leave the atmosphere.  His eyes narrowed in pain at the reality.  “The memories… they’re being eaten.”

–Ranka singing her love songs for him gracefully.  Her happy face and excitement to do loops with him in the sky.  Her beautiful sleeping face on his chest without a care in the world.  Her mother shaking his hand with a smile.  His admission earlier that morning.–

His eyes narrowed at the remembrance of all of this, angered, “these beasts…”

Her eyes closed in fear and she trembled in her seat.  “I knew it.”  She whimpered with shame.  “I’m the cause.”

He looked over his shoulder to confirm her state of mind then his eyes were on the sky, attempting to outrun the only threat left behind: the black hole.  “Those beings are most likely after something you possess,” he spoke, gripping the controls hard to stay sturdy.  “But they can have the whole universe and destroy everything… but I won’t give them you!”  He looked at her with those serious gold orbs that pierced her very soul.  “Do you understand me!?”

At his sincerity, she nodded.

Even through the commotion, Alto picked up the signal of another Valkyrie approaching them.  The tag and color immediately alerted him to his comrade’s presence.  A small sigh of relief came upon the knowledge.  “Michael,” he opened the communications, concerned, “do you have Ozma with you?  I saw the base get absorbed.”

{No.}  He shook his head sadly.  “The commander went back to Frontier after his discussion with you this morning,” he explained, then pointed to behind him on his friend’s screen, {but Sheryl stayed behind so now I’m stuck with her.}  At the admission of that, Alto looked upset, as if not wanting to hear the woman had come.  He tried to view the passenger but couldn’t access Alto’s controls due to the fold fault.  “What about Ranka-chan?” he asked with concern.

He looked to said girl; “I’ve got her.”  He then set his eyes on the black hole with agony.  “What the hell is going on lately!?” he asked anyone who had an answer.  He gulped as the hole neared him.  The pressure began to eat at his body.  He wasn’t sure if he could outrun it.  He forced his wings to rise them higher, prepared to enter the ozone layer and escape the planet.  He could feel the pressure weighing them down now.  He pushed the engines once more.  “The memories…” he spoke painfully in recollection of their time together on the planet, ‘…all of this… every last thing she loves is always being destroyed… why?’

Michael took notice of his change in speed immediately as the ship passed by them.  “Alto, don’t!  You can’t fly at that speed!” he screamed with concern.  He tried to match the speed just a little, as not to be left behind.  “Your insides will burst!  You’ll kill the both of you!”

He ignored his friend’s worried remarks and pushed the unit faster still.  The black hole was on their trail.  He couldn’t accept it.  He refused to die here.  The memories entered his mind again and he screamed, lifting the plane into the atmosphere with one harsh push, making it hit space harshly.  Their speed tripled outside of the gravity field.  His stomach glowed and pushed the ship forward once more.  Then, before he knew it, their ship entered a fold.

Michael was floored.  “They’re folding without a pack.”

Sheryl quickly moved, “follow them!  We can fold with them!”

He had to agree with that logical idea.  He quickly followed his friends and entered the fold just as it vanished.

All the planets were absorbed by the black hole, even the satellites and surrounding ships, leaving nothing behind but meteor rocks to prove planets had once been there.

A few kilometers from Frontier, a fold opened up wide and out came the VF-25F Messiah.  Quickly, it came to a drastic halt, making both inside slam forward and back into their chairs.  Alto gasped for air as he removed his helmet and coughed thickly.  In a matter of seconds, blood rushed onto his hand.  He looked at it with bitterness in his heart.  He looked over his shoulder to Ranka, whom had her eyes closed, petrified, it seemed.  “Ranka?”

Her face was pale as she pulled her own helmet off to regain air.  “Is it over?” she asked for confirmation.

He nodded and smiled lightly.  He had succeeded in saving her from certain doom again.  He was slowly learning how to hold his promises true.  He turned his attention towards Frontier with shock.  “We folded without a pack.  I wonder how.”  He looked down upon noticing a glint from a metal object in the cockpit.  His eyes found the microphone he’d given her in his glove box.  Pulling it out, he held it to his heart.  ‘A memory still exists.’  He looked over his shoulder at his girlfriend, putting the object away, “you okay?”

“It’s a bit hard to breathe,” she commented, “but yes.”

He smiled warmly, “I’m glad.”  He turned back on the communications but was given broken feedback.  There was no word from Frontier as of yet to acknowledge their fold nor could he contact his comrade.  “Michael?” he called into the static, putting his helmet back on, which she did as well.

Out of that same fold, the VF-25G appeared, passing by them before slowly coming to a halt.  It transformed into fighter mode and looked at him.  He immediately saw that irritated look on Michael’s face as it appeared on his screen.  {You idiot!} the other screamed.  He made hand motions with his Valkyrie just to show his agitation.  “You can’t fly at that speed!  You could’ve killed the both of you!”

Alto shook his head; “there was no other choice!  If I hadn’t gone at that speed, we would’ve been swallowed up!”  But, looking back, he had to wonder how he’d survived such pressure from the atmosphere.  Then a fold was detected, making his eyes snap towards Frontier.

There, escaping from said fold, was the mother ship they’d seen earlier.  However, instead of attacking Frontier, the Vajra turned their attention towards the two lonely ships in the distance, as if knowing he had what they were searching for.

“It couldn’t be.”  He didn’t have time to look at Ranka in recognition before a barrage of attacks came at him.  He avoided them swiftly and rushed them into the meteor rocks, leading them away from Frontier.  One shot nearly caught his wing, which made the damaged plane shake.  It was already almost destroyed by his hasty ascent into the fold.  He knew that he didn’t have much longer before the oxygen tank would run out.  But he refused to give up.  As a scream came from the back of the plane, he felt that hatred enter him again.  This time the glow that overtook him was different—a desire not only to protect but also to kill those who dared to frighten or touch what belonged to him.  “You fucking… beasts!”  He transformed the ship into its fighter mode and pulled out his gun, firing at them wildly.  “Die!”

One blast hit a second-stage Vajra and it shrieked before exploding in front of their shuttle.

Blood splashed upon the window by Ranka’s face.  Her eyes went wide at the sight.  The blood slowly slipped down the glass as the ship continued to move swiftly.  Now that she noticed it, she could feel the pain of both sides.  It wasn’t just about the connection anymore.  She felt their anger, hatred, bitterness, loneliness, and sorrow.  Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she spoke out sadly, “stop it, please.”

He failed to hear her.  He screamed insanely as he shot with no aim, killing all in his path, as many as he could.  His eyes only saw red now.  Blood splattered on the window and the ship as he forced his way through them.  “Die!” he shouted with malice.

She knew now why her heart had felt so heavy lately.  As she watched her boyfriend plow through the Vajra with such hatred and malice in his heart, no remorse whatsoever, she knew the truth.  ‘He hates me too.’  As he held his gun towards an innocent first-stage Vajra, his eyes were blood red, ignoring the frightened eyes that stared at him.  She spoke her mind at last, “don’t!!”

He froze at the sound of her voice, snapping out of his bloodlust, lowering the gun to look at her.  “What are you saying?” he asked, confused, not fully comprehending her request.  “They are the enemy, Ranka.”

“Just…” she whimpered, trembling in her seat, “…isn’t that enough?”

His eyes were wide at the question.  Finally, he noticed what he’d just been doing.  He had killed without any care towards the fact she was inside the cockpit with him.  Looking at the first-stage Vajra sadly, he dropped his weapon and allowed it to escape with the rest of its kind into the fold.  He let his bangs hide his eyes.  He could understand the request now.  He had shown her the disgusting side of himself.  Now, not only were the Vajra afraid of him, but she was too.  He clenched his teeth in agony.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Her eyes rose and tears fell down her cheeks as she nodded.

Ranka Lee’s eyes held anger as she stared at her brother.  Despite all that had happened, when Michael had mentioned ‘commander’ in the transmission on Galia 4, she’d heard and recognized Ozma as the one they were referring to.  And when they arrived at the base, she finally noticed his jumpsuit below the jacket and jeans he wore.  Her eyes watered with betrayal.  “You lied to me?” she asked lightly.  “You said you quit the S.M.S.”

Ozma’s eyes became pained.  “Ranka,” he tried to reason with her, “I kept the job merely as a precaution.”

“You lied!” she yelled suddenly.  Then she turned on Alto as well, whom jumped back, scared at her angered eyes.  He’d never seen her like this.  “And you knew?” she asked, hoping that it had only been him guessing.  However, a nod was her answer.  She lowered her eyes and shivered with building sobs.  Then her eyes shot up with anger.  In an instant, she slapped him across the face, “liar!” she exclaimed.  “How could you not tell me!?”

Lifting a shocked hand to his cheek, Alto frowned upon the abuse, “he ordered me not to.”

She slowly lowered her offending hand in shock at this.  Her eyes darted to Ozma, whom nodded in agreement.  Then she rubbed his cheek in apology, “sorry.”

Ozma sighed, “I’m sorry, Ranka.”  It was the first time he’d seen her become so relaxed with Alto that she would dare to slap him like she often threw objects at him for stupid or otherwise offensive remarks.  It just showed how deep their affection had become towards one another.  But he still doubted Alto as being fit for her.  But he did take the fall for this argument, as it was his fault and not Alto’s that his sister was upset.  With a frown, he turned away, “I didn’t want you to be upset.  If you knew that I was still in the S.M.S. and Alto had just joined, the double worry would bury your heart.”

She lowered her hand along her boyfriend’s chest, then it fell.  “Yes.”

Alto stared, at a loss for words upon her pained eyes.  He lifted a hand and gripped her shoulder with reassurance.

After finishing his report, Saotome Alto prepared to leave Battle Frontier.  His heart was in shambles.  He had shown his girlfriend his most disgusting side, the part of him he’d tried to hide for so long, and now she was afraid of him.  He wouldn’t blame her now if she wanted to break up.  But as his eyes lifted, he saw Ranka standing there in the distance, head bent down, and eyes hidden by bangs.  Her beautiful pink dress, hat, gold necklace above the fold quartz one, and purple high heels made his eyes widen.  It brought out both her cuteness and beauty all at once.  However, as her eyes lifted, he saw the sorrow there.  His own lowered in shame.  Before last night, he’d never taken her into the war front to truly witness his ‘training’ progress.  He approached her and frowned, “I’m sorry.  I never meant to scare you.”  He stared at her slumped form sadly.  “I was just protecting you.”

She shook her head and shed small tears; “it isn’t that.”

“Ranka,” he spoke, lifting his eyes to her face with worry.  He saw her quivering lips.  She was lying.  And he could understand why.  Immediately, he shot forward and pulled her into his arms.  Her hat fell upon the ground as he held her to his chest, letting her sob, his own eyes holding long overdue tears.  “I understand.  It’s normal for a person to feel sympathy to even their enemy, because life is important and precious.  To take it harms all of us at times, even me.”  He stroked her hair and breathed in her scent, releasing those small tears down his cheeks.  “I understand it all, Ranka.  You need not explain it to me.”

She sobbed harshly into his jacket, accepting his comfort and holding him through his pain as well.  No words were spoken between them.  There was simply no need.  She merely sobbed into his jacket without a reply.

Saotome Alto sat up in the hospital bed as Canaria Berstein walked in.  He was wearing a hospital gown to prove he’d recently done tests.  As he stood to show just how healthy he was, he held a pale complexion.  In the bowl at his bedside, blood remained from a coughing frenzy, showing the reason he’d arrived at the hospital.  “Is it what I feared?” he asked, a hand clenched in preparation.  He wanted to know what he was facing.  “Am I infected?”

She looked up from her documents with concerned orbs.  “Yes.”

His gold orbs held fear now.  It was confirmed.  His eyes lowered sadly at this.  “What will happen to me then?” he asked, more worried about Ranka than himself.  If something were to happen to him, what would Ranka do?  That was his concern.  “Am I going to die?” he finally asked the biggest question.

Her orbs held sadness.

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