Chapter Two

"Augh!" another soldier fell, his empty gun clattering on the floor. Bullets and the sound of gunfire filled the air, and the smell of smoke blocked out everything else. Blood splattered onto Noel's face, and she jerked up. She looked at the dead soldier, finding him impaled by a blue sword with no handle. "What the..." she began, but shook it off. She found she was on the ground, and she jumped up, summoning Bolverk. She held both guns in the air, stepping forward cautiously. She dashed into a hallway, firing in both directions. No screams, no returning fire. She nodded, satisfied that it was clear, and ran toward the sound of fighting. She gasped as she saw a cyborg-like thing, flinging blue swords with deadly accuracy. She raised her guns, pointing them at it's head. "Freeze!" she barked. The thing stopped, and turned slowly around, staring at her with one red eye, coming from a visor. The visor clicked back into small white antennae on her head, revealing eerily familiar eyes. Noel's mouth and guns dropped. "No..." she said softly, dropping her guns. The thing -no, the girl- was her. "No!" she screamed, dropping to her knees as a sword pierced her chest.

"No!" Noel yelled, sitting up ram-rod straight.

"What?!" Ragna yelled, sitting up from where he was asleep, his hands on his sword. Noel's hands immediately going to her chest. When she didn't find any sort of blade, she let out a relieved sigh.

"I-It's nothing." Noel said, embarrassed. Then she saw Ragna's jacket still laying on her, and she blushed lightly. "D-do you want this b-back?" she asked, holding out his jacket.

"Yea. Thanks." Ragna said, a little embarrassed himself but doing his best not to show it. He scratched his head awkwardly. "Uh...so....what happened?" Ragna asked, referring to her little episode.

Noel shook her head. "That girl...in the Cauldron underneath Kagutsuchi...who was she?" she asked softly, in almost a whisper.

Ragna shook his head, standing up and grabbing his jacket. "Doesn't matter. All that matters is that I keep her from coming back." he said in a determined voice. He pulled his jacket on. "So are you ready? The forest is close." he said, his back turned to her. Noel stood up next to him, pulling her hair into her hat. Ragna stepped forward and slapped a red button on the side of the hull. He turned the wheel on the wall, and a steel door swung open, a strong gust of wind ripping through the hull. Noel put her arm up against the wind. Ragna threw himself out of the hull in a streamlined position. Noel blinked once, then followed him. She ran as fast as she could, then jumped out of the airship. She gripped her hat and followed him. She shut her eyes as she fell in the same position, a thick knot of nervousness in her stomach. A bright flash of red suddenly engulfed her, and the world around her went black, nothing but black. The darkness was so deep she couldn't tell if her eyes were open or not. She fell forward into the forbidding, endless space.

Alright! Chapter Two is done! Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been busy. I'm going to update much more frequently now though!