I'm coming. Wait for me, Kira.
*
Curled on her sidein the fetal position, Kira fought to stay present as her mind threatened to buckle. All that was in her line of sight were her clenched hands and Elise's legs.
Unable to move, Kira could only listen as there was a pained grunt above her.
Elise dropped to her knees, the light in her eyes dimming. There was a gaping hole in her chest the size of a fist that didn’t belong there.
Kira barely had time to react before Elise toppled onto her side, her head bouncing off the deck.
A person wearing black, calf-high boots, the kind racers tended to favor because of the support they provided to their ankles, stepped over Elise's prone body.
She walked toward Kira and knelt beside her. The thunk of metal against metal told Kira she had set something down outside her line of sight.
The stranger reached over, rolling Kira onto her back.
Even through the madness courting Kira's thoughts, she recognized the individual. This was the waverunner from the semifinal race, the one who'd nearly knocked her off her board. The person who felt familiar and strange at the same time.
Her faceplate reflected Kira’s image. A sense of dread filled her as she watched the strange violet lines that formed her markings crawl up her neck and across her face.
The stranger reached up, removing her helmet and setting it to the side.
Familiar eyes met Kira's.
"Little sister, you've gotten yourself into quite the predicament this time," Elise said in a gentle voice.
This Elise was different than Kira remembered. Sorrow and the pain of time had chiseled lines into that once familiar face. Her eyes were haunted, and even when smiling, she seemed sad.
"E-Elise." Tears squeezed out of the corner of her eyes.
Elise stroked Kira's forehead. "Yes."
"You're really you," Kira managed to get out.
Elise's eyes glistened. "In the flesh, pippy bunny."
A broken sound came from Kira.
The third code.
It was really her.
"Wh-where have you been?"
Elise continued to brush her fingers across Kira's forehead, the movement soothing some of the agony currently splitting Kira apart.
"Here and there." Elise shook her head at Kira. "Don't ask. I won't explain."
Kira's back bowed at a new surge of agony.
Elise reached for the inhibitor cuff, ignoring Kira’s moan of warning. "I've never deserved you, my dearest."
The cuff unlocked under her fingers, falling away from Kira's wrist.
The barrier that had kept the weight of herkifrom crushing her as she recuperated on Ta Da'an disappeared.
Kira screamed as soul’s breath surged up from her core, burning a fiery path through herkichannels.
