Altitude 2,000 Feet — Freefall
Kazuki fell.
The wind roared in his ears, a deafening scream that drowned out his own thoughts.
Above him, the burning wreckage of the Helix Fortress descended like a meteor. Massive chunks of rock and steel broke off, trailing smoke and purple fire.
[WARNING: TERMINAL VELOCITY REACHED.]
[THRUSTERS: OFFLINE. IMPACT IMMINENT.]
Kazuki didn't care about the impact. He scanned the sky frantically.
"Aeva!" he screamed into the comms. "Aeva, report!"
Static. Then, a crackle.
"Kazuki!" Aeva's voice was filled with panic. "I blew the reactor hatch! I'm in freefall! My chute is jammed!"
Kazuki's HUD flashed. He saw a tiny thermal signature falling three hundred yards to his left. A small figure tumbling helplessly against the backdrop of the grey ocean.
"I see you!" Kazuki tucked his arms in.
He entered a dive.
Without the thrusters, he was just a bullet. He angled his body, using the aerodynamics of the suit to pick up speed, diving faster than gravity.
The ocean was rushing up. A flat, grey slab of concrete hardness.
1,000 feet.
500 feet.
He caught up to her.
Kazuki slammed into Aeva mid-air, wrapping his armored arms around her.
"Gotcha!"
"The chute!" Aeva screamed. "Pull the manual release!"
Kazuki reached for the cord on her back.
200 feet.
He yanked it.
FWUMP.
The emergency parachute blossomed orange against the sky.
The sudden deceleration jerked them violently upward.
But it was too late to stop gently. They were swinging wildly, and the massive shadow of the falling castle was right above them.
SPLASH.
They hit the water hard.
The coldness of Tokyo Bay enveloped them instantly. The saltwater stung Kazuki's eyes, and the heavy suit dragged him down.
He kicked, engaging the emergency buoyancy bladders in the armor.
They bobbed to the surface, gasping for air.
"Swim!" Kazuki yelled, spitting out saltwater. "Swim away! The wave is coming!"
They paddled frantically, putting distance between themselves and the impact zone.
Ten seconds later, the Helix Fortress landed.
It didn't splash. It crashed.
Millions of tons of rock and alien metal slammed into the bay.
BOOM.
The sound was felt in the chest before it was heard. A wall of water, fifty feet high, erupted from the impact site.
Steam hissed as the hot engines boiled the ocean.
"Brace!" Kazuki grabbed Aeva and turned his back to the wave.
The swell hit them, lifting them up like toys and tossing them fifty yards further out.
Kazuki held onto Aeva with an iron grip.
They rode the wave, spinning in the foam and debris, until the water finally settled.
Tokyo Bay — The Surface
Silence returned.
The massive waves turned into gentle ripples.
Kazuki and Aeva floated in the middle of the bay, clinging to a piece of driftwood from the wreckage.
The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon. A pale, golden light illuminated the smoke rising from the water.
Where the fortress had been, there was nothing. Just a boiling patch of bubbles and oil.
The Cursed King's castle was gone. The Anchor was destroyed.
Aeva pulled her wet hair out of her face. She looked at the empty spot in the water. She waited.
"Renji?" she whispered.
Kazuki looked at the water. His HUD was scanning.
[SCANNING FOR LIFE SIGNS...]
[RESULTS: NEGATIVE.]
Kazuki closed his eyes.
"He didn't make it, Aeva. The Throne Room... it collapsed before the crash. He was right in the middle of it."
Aeva didn't cry immediately. She stared at the horizon, her face pale.
"He got his wish," she said softly. "He always said he didn't want to die in a bed. He wanted to go out loud."
She punched the water, a sudden burst of anger.
"Stupid, stubborn old man." Then she broke down, sobbing into her hands.
Kazuki floated beside her, feeling the weight of the data chip in his pocket. The legacy Renji had left him.
He felt hollow. The victory felt like ash.
He looked at his reflection in the water. The suit was battered, scorched, and scratched. The blue light of the Core was dim, pulsing slowly like a dying heartbeat.
"Look," Kazuki said, pointing toward the shore.
On the coastline of Neo-Tokyo, sirens were wailing. Emergency vehicles were gathering at the docks.
And in the sky, news helicopters were circling.
Cameras were pointed at them.
"We can't be here," Aeva wiped her eyes, her survival instincts kicking back in. "The Helix might be gone, but the government will want to dissect that suit. And they'll imprison me for terrorism."
"Where do we go?" Kazuki asked. "The Arcade is burned. The Ruins are flooded."
Aeva looked at him. She reached out and tapped the chest of his suit.
"We disappear, Kazuki. Just like Renji taught us."
She kicked away from the driftwood.
"Swim to the overflow tunnels. We go underground until the heat dies down."
Kazuki looked back at the watery grave of the fortress one last time.
"Goodbye, Renji," he whispered. "Rest in peace."
He turned and swam after Aeva, disappearing beneath the dark surface of the water just as the helicopters arrived.
[To Be Continued…]