The longest twenty three minutes of her life seemed as though they would never end.

She knew specifically that it was twenty three minutes because for what seemed like the hundredth time during those twenty three minutes, she looked down in anxiety at her wrist chronometer.

Twenty three minutes and thirty seven seconds ago the translucent wall viewer had gone off-line.

Twenty three minutes and forty two seconds ago her one and only lifeline to….him…was severed.

And soon the longest twenty four minutes of her life would begin…as she waited in abject terror and fear.

Not for her life….but for his…

"…Onii-sama."

A silent one word prayer from the depths of her trembling heart.

A little more than twenty four minutes before she had thought he was surely going to die. The attacking naval ships had already launched their bombardment against his position. The satellite and aerial drone feeds that she had been watching while holding her breath showed him holding a long rifle and shooting towards the enemy ships.

It had looked absurd even to her admiring eyes. Six mighty warships blasting away with their massive rail-gun discharges inbound.

And all that stood against them was a thirteen year old boy in a combat suit, holding a sniper rifle that was way too big for him to look like he could handle it properly.

"How can they let my Onii-sama die so uselessly?"

Her mind screamed that question to itself in the moment of her Onii-sama's greatest peril. She was futilely preparing herself for the loss of everything she now held most precious to her.

"There wasn't enough time for me to atone to you. How can I go on without you knowing Onii-sama?"

She bravely held her eyes open. She refused to ever lose one moment of her Onii-sama's existence again, even if it was his very last moment. His sacrifice…..for her…..would remain in her heart till her dying day.

And then a savior came on the scene at the last second. A woman in a combat suit suddenly appeared behind her Onii-sama. Her figure was well known to Miyuki, even hidden beneath a combat suit.

"HONAMI-CHAN!"

She had blurted this out in joy at that moment. Before her tear stained eyes a beautiful magic shield bloomed in the center of the image before her, radiating all the colors of the spectrum as it engulfed the figures of the woman and the boy in a protective dome of psions, just seconds before the rail-gun projectiles slammed into it.

The explosion of the rail gun shells against the shield was breathtaking and terrifying to behold, but then as the flame and smoke began to clear…..

"ONII-SAMA!"

There before the figure of the woman stood the boy, holding the rifle. Neither of them seemingly phased by the massive explosions against the shield.

The boy casually dropped the rifle, and then pointed his index finger at the approaching ships and curled his other fingers into the shape of a handgun.

"What…..what is Onii-sama….."

She then saw what only magicians can see. The dance of perceived "light" emanating from her Onii-sama's body.

Then Shiba Miyuki's world completely changed again for the second time on this dreadful and fateful day.

Where the six attacking vessels had been a second before on the screens, had turned into the brightness of the Sun on Earth.

At the sudden intense light Miyuki was forced to squint and block her view with her hand.

Through her fingers she saw a dome of pure light radiating out from what had been the center of the formation of enemy ships just seconds before. A blast wave of condensed atmosphere pushed out from the center of the yellow dome of energy in every direction. A radiating wave then pushed against the surrounding ocean as the East China Sea itself was fleeing from the great blast.

As the massive energy dome pushed outwards and changed to an orange hue, Miyuki saw pieces of the upper portions of the ships, surely many times heavier than cargo trucks, flying through the air as if they were an angry toddler's toys being tossed in a fit.

She never saw where those pieces of the warships fell, because the screen before her suddenly went to static and seconds later went completely dark.

"…Onii….SAMA?"

She hadn't had a chance to look back at the separate image of Honami and Tatsuya beside the one focused on the enemy vessels. She didn't know if Honami's shield was still up, protecting her Onii-sama from the blast wave. She didn't know if they were making it to safety before the tsunami wave hit the beaches they were just defending.

But she now knew one thing that would change her Onii-sama's and her own life forever.

"Onii-sama…is…is….."

She didn't even realized that she was now speaking out loud. She had, in the heat of the moment, forgotten that there was one other person in the room with her.

"…..a strategic class magician."

She turned around in surprise at the sudden voice of another person intruding on her world of anxious solitude; then the look she saw on the other person's face paralyzed her.

There was nothing there. Those eyes looked blankly ahead as if still watching the satellite feed that was no longer shown.

Shiba Miya was very apparently physically, mentally, and emotional exhausted.

Her eyes seemed like those of a corpse, in other words "dead". They reminded Miyuki of the same type of eyes she had once saw on her great uncle Eisaku, as the family filed past him laid out on his deathbed just minutes after he had breathed his last. They had tried to close his eyelids, but just the barest hint of his once jovial and smiling eyes could be seen beneath the half-closed lids.

Miyuki had had nightmares remembering that moment for years.

But now she saw the same emptiness in her own mother's eyes. Had it not been for her mother's slightly labored breathing moving her chest up and down, Miyuki might have thought Miya was indeed dead.

A shiver ran down Miyuki's spine.

"Now you know…."

Sudden words from the semi-"dead" woman in the seat before her made Miyuki jump slightly.

Then her mother closed her eyelids and sighed as heavily as Miyuki had ever heard her do before. After what appeared to be her mother centering herself, she opened her eyes again and some "life" had return to them.

She still looked straight ahead at the translucent wall where moments before the image feeds had been broadcast, but now she looked slightly downward toward the military communication center below their level and beyond that translucent wall.

Miyuki followed her mother's line of sight. She could see the military communication personnel down below them scrambling around and furiously working on their terminals. Their room was soundproof, so none of the clearly heated and frantic words being exchanged could be heard. They were working hard to get reports from the field in, and some were trying to reestablish their own suddenly darkened views of the battlefield.

But occasionally, as she looked down at them working hard, several furtive and even some fearful looks would be sent toward them, or more specifically toward the room they were in. Miyuki knew from seeing this room from the outside that others couldn't look in on them from the communication center floor, but she still could feel their questioning eyes boring into her all the same.

"…..and now, they know as well."

Miyuki spun back towards her mother. The empty eyes before had returned. It was as if her mother could see all the evil and darkness of the world laid out before her; and it had made her go catatonic in response.

Miyuki stood there, pondering in silent fear her mother's words. Time seemed to be stretching on into eternity as Miyuki looked down in fear for her brother and Honami's safety, and the future…

"…they know now."

Miya spoke again, vacantly looking ahead at the wall as if everything but her breathing and her words had been shut down.

"I wonder who else also got to watch your brother's dramatic debut?"

Another uncharacteristic heavy sigh followed.

"That brother of yours surely knows how to introduce himself in flamboyant fashion."

She then closed her eyes and attempted to center her thoughts again.

"He simply didn't concern himself about all the trouble his rash actions would cause."

Miyuki felt a sudden urge to defend Tatsuya against their mother's relatively mild criticisms.

"Onii-sama had no choice but…"

Those dead eyes her mother had worn since Tatsuya had revived them from the brink of death less than two hours before now fell on Miyuki, whose powerful words suddenly lost all the energy behind them.

"Tatsuya."

All the weight of motherly rebuke came behind that one word, that one name statement. Power that the fragile looking woman before her surely seemed to not have left in her, suddenly poured forth from Miya and focused entirely on her fearful daughter. Miyuki could feel the full weight of her mother's judgment breaking her will to resist, forcing her through will power alone to obey and back down.

But then somewhere inside her heart, at this moment where any normal twelve year old would bend and obey, a tiny but strong voice screamed forth in rage.

"But he gave me my life back!"

And listening to that tiny but powerful voice, Miyuki mustered all her youthful courage and directed heated eyes back towards the cold gaze of her mother.

"This is the least Miyuki owes Onii-sama!"

She could see sudden realization behind those cold eyes looking back at her now with curiosity.

"He is now, and will always be…."

Resolve of the highest order flowed from the tiny little girl like it had never flowed before. In this moment the daughter of Shiba Miya took her first steps as a woman of strength; and she would never be the same little girl she was before again.

"…MY O-NII-SA-MA."

And before her very eyes the cold frost of her mother's intense rebuke melted away. The once dead look brightened and her eyes began to glow with warmth.

This had not been the terrifying response Miyuki had been bracing herself for.

"I….won?"

She had never won a "standoff" with her mother before, and on this highly contentious topic she certainly didn't expect a victory. She suddenly didn't know how to react.

Then she focused on her mother's response. She noticed the once hard lines of her mother's mouth suddenly turn slightly upward at the corners of her lips.

"She's…is she….hap….."

And as suddenly as it came, the joy faded. The hard lines of her mother's features returned, but she also turned her eyes away.

"Can you at least try to keep that down while we're with the family?"

Miyuki blinked again in mild confusion.

But this was indeed the first argument with her mother that she had ever….

"Won….I won! Against mother!"

A smile replaced the confusion. She realized she had to get her joy under control or her hard fought victory might be for nothing. Her mother seemed not to notice as she continued to speak.

"It will raise too many questions and we will already be under considerable scrutiny thanks to your 'Onii-sama's' actions today."

Her mother immediately returned to complaining about Tatsuya exposing himself to the world, but Miyuki was too happy to restart the argument again. She had, for her, won a much more important victory.

"I won….because of him!"

She clutched her hands together over her heart and fought not to smile too much.

"I won…..for him!"

She bit her lower lip to stop the joy from flowing out of her unchecked.

"And now mother will never stop me again from calling him….."

She looked up at the ceiling as if she could see the sky through all the layers of concrete, steel, and earth above them.

"…ONII-SAMA!"

All of this had taken place more than twenty five minutes before. The temporary joy Miyuki had felt was now replaced with fear and anxiety for Honami and Tatsuya's safety; and a growing dread.

"Why can't I…feel him?"

When he had saved her life before, after she had been shot earlier, she could FEEL him. He was inside of her and she was inside of him. It had been….

"….wonderful."

And it had been…

"…intimate."

She had felt as if her entire life, every hope and dream, every fear and terror, had been laid bare before him. He now knew everything about her, even the things she hid deep inside her. Things she didn't even want to admit to herself, at least not until today. Not until the moment…..

"…when we became one."

And as Tatsuya had read the "Book of Miyuki", Miyuki felt she too had finally read the "Book of Tatsuya".

She felt HIM!

She felt every part of him and she loved it!

She was now addicted to being one with Onii-sama, and at this moment she desperately craved more.

"If only there were some way we could always be connected! To always be one!"

If such a way existed she would live in a world of bliss forever. If such a way existed she would know he was alive and wouldn't have to suffer like she was now.

"Where are you Onii-sama?"

The only sound in the room that Miyuki could hear over her pounding and trembling heart was the sound of her mother's slightly labored breathing.

Since their earlier exchange Miya had once again fallen silently into her own thoughts. On occasion Miyuki would jump up and nervously pace the room to try to calm herself; but even then Miya didn't seem to notice her.

"He was inside you too mother."

Miyuki said this in her mind to the woman who was so loving and caring towards her; and so disinterested and empty towards someone as wonderful as her Onii-sama.

"After being one with him, how can you still be so cold? How can you not care about your own son's life?"

Miyuki couldn't understand her mother, she never really had.

Miyuki was cold to Tatsuya beforehand because she had been taught to be that way, by everyone in the family, especially by…..

"…you!"

Her silent admonishment towards the woman that had birthed both Tatsuya and herself held all the confusion and anger she could direct towards someone she desperately loved. She had always done as she was told where "Ani" had been concerned, but inside….

"….he fascinated me."

It was really the first time she had ever admitted how intriguing "Ani" had been to her, or how confusing all the adults' attitudes towards him had been to her, even back then…..

"…before."

Before had been less than two hours ago, but in Miyuki's heart it was like someone else's life entirely.

Everyone had worked to keep her "blind", to keep her ignorant; and as a result she acted ignorantly towards "Ani".

But now her eyes were opened at last. Now she knew that "Ani" was a false creation she was forced to see and that he was forced to wear, but now….

"The lie that was called 'Ani' is gone forever, now I can see the true him, the truth of my Onii-sama!"

She whispered ever so lightly then to herself.

"…Tatsuya."

A name that would from this day till her final breath be synonymous with the word "love".

And now that she knew exactly how wonderful Onii-sama truly was, because she had been "one" with him; it made their mother's continuing rejection of him all that more frustrating and mystifying.

"Having experienced with him exactly what I did, how can she not love him NOW?"

A deep abiding sadness resided beside her continuingly mounting fear.

Then a new thought suddenly flared inside her mind.

"What if….if it wasn't the same as I felt?"

Being seated on the floor with her knees wrapped in her arms, she pulled her knees even tighter into her body.

"What if…what I experienced was…only for me?"

Suddenly warring with her negative feelings was a sudden up-swell of joy.

"…just for me? From my Onii-sama!"

At that moment a knock on the door broke both she and her mother from their mutually internal thoughts.

Miyuki sprung to her feet and rushed to the door when she suddenly stopped herself. She could feel disapproving eyes on the back of her head. She turned meekly around to see her mother direct mild rebuke to her with a withering look.

Miyuki looked down in embarrassment at her momentary loss of ojou-sama decorum.

"May I…open the door mother?"

When no response came Miyuki's curiosity began to win over her training and she looked back up. Those same cold eyes still looked at her in disapproval, but a second later her mother turned away and nodded her consent.

Miyuki, in her desperation for news of Tatsuya, had to fight herself to not rush toward the door again. She turned the knob as slowly as she could. On the other side of this door could be relief, or ultimate desolation.

With her head down she spoke to the person at the door.

"Welcome, please…..enter."

"Um….ah, thank you."

The young woman was nervous, you could tell by her quivering voice. Miyuki could also tell that she was not a magician, and that she was somewhat afraid to be where she was now.

Miyuki looked up at the tepidly smiling young woman and recognized her. Her rank insignia indicated she was a Second Lieutenant, the lowest rank of officer. Miyuki knew enough even at her young age to realize someone more senior should be talking to them now and had sent her here instead to avoid them.

She was recognizable because Miyuki had spent the last twenty seven minutes occasionally watching the people on the communication floor to try pointlessly to distract herself. This young officer had been part of that scenery.

Miyuki fought down her desperate desire to scream "where is my Onii-sama?" at this frightened young woman and instead tried to smile reassuringly to her.

Several awkward seconds ensued as they both smiled at each other with strange looks in their eyes.

"How can we help you Lieutenant?"

Miya had apparently become tired of the stalemate and broke it with her own words. Luckily the officer quickly recovered her wits.

"My pardons ma'am. Captain Kazama has made contact and is returning to the base with your son. He asked for you to meet him at the Gate Charlie Guardhouse."

She bowed lightly as she said this.

"He's alive?"

The young woman turned again toward Miyuki with a curious look.

"Um….your brother?"

Miyuki was practically bursting with tension.

"YES! Um…ah, yes, is…..is my brother…a…alive?"

The Lieutenant now had a mortified expression on her face as she responded.

"Um…well. All the Captain said was that he was returning with your brother. He….um, didn't mention his health status."

Panic began to spread across Miyuki's visage to the mutual terror of the Lieutenant looking on.

"Miyuki."

Miya's words broke the mounting disaster.

"The Lieutenant can't provide us with information she doesn't know herself. I seriously doubt the Captain would ask her to bring us to the surface to hand me my dead son's body without preamble."

The officer, grateful for Miya's lifeline to her, nodded in affirmation.

"Even more so with his sister present."

But both adults in the room soon began to look at Miyuki strangely. Even Miyuki didn't understand why at first, but she suddenly realized that she was looking at her mother in a strange way herself.

This was because Miya herself had had a strange look as she said her previous words to Miyuki.

"Was she trying to reassure me…or…..herself?"

Miyuki was certain she saw something in her mother's eyes just now. Her words were strong as always but there was…fear…..in her eyes?

And just as soon as Miyuki saw it, like St. Elmo's Fire it was gone just as quickly.

"Help me up Miyuki."

At her mother's command Miyuki came to her side and allowed her mother to support herself on her shoulder as she stood.

"Whenever you are ready ma'am, if you will follow me I can lead you."

Miya nodded and spoke after the Lieutenant's statement.

"Very well, you may proceed."

The young officer held the door so that they could exist.

The sudden influx of excited and shouted words and commands washed over them as they stepped down the stairs towards the floor. Then just as quickly as that wave of sound hit them, it broke into near silence. The volume dropped as everyone's eyes turned towards them.

None of the looks were hostile, but there was a lot of curiosity in those gazes, and…

"…..fear."

Most people that look at Miyuki do so with nothing but admiration. This was the first time in her life she can ever remember people looking at her like she was dangerous.

She hated it instantly.

She heard a cough from behind her and noticed that the Lieutenant was directing an irritated gaze at her stupefied colleagues. However the way they looked at them wasn't really that much different than the look she had seen from the Lieutenant just moments ago.

And soon the eyes, most anyway, turned back to what they had been doing; and the noise returned to its previous volume.

"This way please."

The Lieutenant indicated with her arm toward the set of doors with armed guards on either side that they had passed through on their way to this room more than an hour before. The guards opened the doors for them as they passed. Two more guards were in the hallway as before, as was the singular set of elevator doors.

The officer placed her hand on a palm reader and a moment later the elevator doors opened. They boarded and prepared to leave. Again the officer placed her hand on a palm reader inside the elevator car, but this time she also inserted a security card into a reader. She then punched a series of buttons on a keypad that was the replacement for the normal set of floor buttons on a regular elevator.

Once the elevator car began moving, Miyuki noticed something odd. A few moments in she allowed her curiosity a voice.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant?"

Surprised to be called, the officer blinked a few times while replying.

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

Miyuki furrowed her brows before replying.

"We're not moving in the same direction as we were when we were brought down here, are we?"

The Lieutenant's eyes widened in surprise.

"How did you…"

Modern elevators have developed to the point that acceleration and movement are dampened for the riders. Only the most sensitive of people can detect the movements. Only initial movement and final movement could be felt by most. These were intentionally left unhampered so that riders didn't think they were in a stationary car.

Miya rescued the officer again in that moment.

"The Lieutenant most likely can't answer your question Miyuki because this is, after all, a secret military facility."

Miyuki could also tell this young officer wasn't used to being around magicians because of her response. Then her mother spoke up beside her.

"You haven't taken many magicians on this three dimensional elevator before, have you Lieutenant?"

The young lady looked away somewhat confused and embarrassed.

"Um…..no ma'am, never in fact."

She felt the need to add on at this point to relieve some of her embarrassment.

"Captain Kazama and his command staff are the only magicians I know of who used this elevator before, and they have their own clearance to operate the elevator with no one else present."

Miyuki thought this would be the end of this discussion, but her normally taciturn mother surprised her.

"Most forms of modern magic, Lieutenant, deal with what is called phenomenon alteration."

The Lieutenant turned back to her with surprised interest. Miyuki also showed surprised interest at her mother's words, but for different reasons.

"One such phenomenon is movement."

It wasn't like her to be expository with strangers.

"As such some magicians are very sensitive to movements."

Especially a non-magician and a military officer at that.

"I see, no wonder the young lady could tell we were on a different path."

The officer exchanged an awkward smile with Miyuki. She then turned back to Miya with a grateful nod.

"Thank you for the explanation."

Miya nodded her acknowledgement back.

"Did mother do that just to relieve this lady's tensions and fears?"

Suddenly Miya looked down at her daughter's perplexed expression and cocked a knowing eyebrow at her. Miyuki turned away slightly from that look. She hated feeling that her mother was reading her mind, but she often felt that way.

"So kind to this stranger, but nothing for her own son?"

Miyuki fought to not look back up at her mother's face then, for fear of revealing even more intense thoughts to her.

The sideways movement of the elevator car ended, and soon Miyuki felt an upward surge. It was only then that she realized, since she had been too frightened during their initial trip down into the command bunker, that the bunker wasn't located under the actual buildings of the base; but was somewhere further away from the visible surface targets.

She was astounded by this sudden revelation, but quickly decided to keep her thoughts to herself in present company. It would only create more trouble if she revealed she knew their secret.

"Maybe I can discuss it with Onii-sama, when we're alone?"

She wouldn't even admit it to herself, but deep inside she hoped her Onii-sama would be impressed she figured such a thing out on her own. His approval of her was a newfound desire, or one that had been too well suppressed before for her to realize it.

"Please be safe Onii-sama."

She would know soon if her prayers had been answered.

The elevator car slowed, and once it came to a full stop the doors opened. The room they were in looked just like the bunker hallway they had just left.

The Lieutenant stepped out first and moved towards the wall on the right side. On the left Miyuki saw a staircase that led up to a very solid looking door. Above the door was a flashing yellow light.

Miyuki realized that had been the very first thing the Lieutenant had seen after she stepped through the elevator doors.

Then the normal looking wall panel opened suddenly after the young woman's palm had rested on it for a few seconds. Apparently a secret palm reader was embedded in the wall. Behind the panel was a small arsenal. Several automatic rifles and handguns, along with cartridges for their ammunition, where hidden there.

"I thought this area was secure Lieutenant?"

Miyuki could tell, from long experience, that her mother was trying to force down the sarcastic tone she had inadvertently added to her words.

Embarrassed again, the officer continued to gather weapons while responding.

"The yellow light over the door indicates the area is secure ma'am, but that caution should still be observed when exiting this room."

She shouldered a satchel which looked to be holding clips for the rifles, then she tucked a handgun in each pocket on either side of her uniform jacket. Before she shouldered a rifle she furrowed her eyebrows in thought while staring at another of the handguns. She then picked it up and offered it handle first to Miya.

"Do you know how to use one of these ma'am?"

Miyuki's own tension shot up at this event, but Miya lightly smiled back at her and then the officer.

"I do, but we won't need that."

Miya then lifted up the left sleeve of her blouse to show the Lieutenant her wrist CAD.

"My daughter and I are better armed than anything in that console could provide us with."

As if struck by sudden realization, Miyuki reached into her hidden pocket and retrieved her handheld CAD.

Seeing this, a twelve year old girl preparing for combat, slightly flustered the officer.

"Um….of course ma'am. Please follow me out and be very quiet."

She then tucked the third handgun into the waistband of her uniform skirt.

"Allow us to handle the sound issues Lieutenant."

Miya reached for her CAD, but Miyuki stopped her.

"No mother, please allow me."

With a few thumb strokes over her CAD panel, Miyuki began the activation sequence for sound deadening magic.

Miya only nodded approval. Both of them knew how weak Miya was in this state. It was true she was more powerful than any of the weapons in that console combined, but there was no need to push herself if not required.

Both magicians could feel the psion wave of Miyuki's magic sequence deploy from her Eidos around the three of them. The third party could sense nothing, and was confused.

"If you stay within two meters of me Lieutenant, no sound you make will escape the two meter radius."

Shock, then admiring clarity spread on the officer's face.

"Um…thank you. Please follow me."

The three then proceeded up the stairs with Miyuki subtly supporting some of her mother's weight.

At the doorway, the Lieutenant again used a palm reader to open the way. They proceeded into a darkened closet with cleaning equipment in it. Apparently this facility didn't use a HAR for manual labor. The door closed behind them and revealed by doing so that it was a hidden door. There was even equipment mounted to it to add to the convincing illusion.

The Lieutenant then looked out of what was a peephole in the only other doorway from this tiny room. After a second of looking, she sighed in relief and opened the door.

"Ah, Lieutenant, we've been expecting you ma'am."

A Sergeant and another man who Miyuki thought was wearing the rank emblem of a Corporal were waiting for them in a small reception room. They both saluted the Lieutenant who replied in kind. To her left Miyuki saw her first shots of sunlight since she had entered the bunker streaming through the windows of the room on her left side.

"Report Sergeant."

But both men just looked back at her strangely when she said this. Then they looked at each other with curious expressions. The Lieutenant got irritated by their reaction and spoke again.

"I said REPORT Sergeant!"

The atmosphere was getting somewhat tense.

"Miyuki."

She turned to look at her mother, who indicated with her eyes toward Miyuki's CAD.

"OH! Sorry."

Miyuki cancelled her sound barrier magic, and then bowed to the Lieutenant.

"I had not yet lowered my sound barrier Lieutenant. My apologies."

That time the two men heard her, and both of their eyes widened slightly.

"No need for apologies, thank you again."

Then the Lieutenant repeated herself a third time, calmly.

"Report Sergeant."

Both men saluted her once again.

"Forward units have secured a perimeter of two kilometers from this gate out from the base. The base itself is secure now. Damage control parties are working to contain any fires and structural damage. There are no present dangers of secondary explosions."

The Lieutenant nodded her understanding.

"And Captain Kazama's ETA?"

The Sergeant looked at his wrist chronometer.

"As of now ma'am, last reported ETA has them arriving in the next three minutes."

"Can we go outside?"

Miyuki hadn't even bothered to restrain herself in asking this.

"Onii-sama is coming! I must be there to greet him!"

These were the thoughts that dominated her mind.

Still with her mother's hand on her shoulder, Miyuki could feel a slight squeeze indicating reproach, but at this point she no longer cared.

"Well Sergeant, any objections?"

At the Lieutenant's question, the Sergeant looked pensive for a second, then replied.

"If they stay on the porch there should be no issues ma'am."

"Wait Sergeant."

Her mother's voice was soft, but she had the kind of natural authority about her that made people strain to listen to her.

"We have been told once before today that this base was secure when it was not."

Everyone's eyes drifted to the poor Corporal, who was clearly a "Left-Blood". To his credit the young man didn't flinch but stepped forward boldly.

"If I may ma'am?"

Having addressed the Lieutenant, he received an affirmative nod, then turned his confident eyes toward Miya.

"He's brave."

Miyuki couldn't help but admire him. He looked Miya in the eye as if she were just some normal woman.

"Ma'am, everyone in the base with this armband has been identified as having fought against the rebellious forces within the Self Defense Forces earlier today."

It was the first time Miyuki had noticed that both men were wearing a green armband on their left upper sleeves.

"We have captured the rebels and confined them. The base's security team now is exclusively made up of those with this armband. We will personally guarantee you and your daughter's safety."

Miyuki could tell that her mother didn't think much of the armband as an insurance policy; but instead of pointing that out she acquiesced to the brave young man.

"Very well Corporal, we are in your care."

Then the Lieutenant spoke again.

"If you wish to step outside ma'am, please follow us."

The Corporal and the Sergeant left the room in that order. Both wore side arms in holsters and both picked up rifles that had been in a rack near the door. The Lieutenant also had her rifle in a ready position as she stepped through the doorway.

Her mother made a point to step out ahead of Miyuki, her right hand holding her left forearm, which was a less obvious "ready position" than the other three had with their rifles, but none the less she was fully on guard.

Miyuki blinked hard as she stepped out onto the deck attached to the building. The sunlight caused her eyes to water profusely.

Then the sounds assaulted her. There were no sounds of combat, but military men shouted instructions to each other and heavy vehicles rolled by kicking up dust.

It was indeed a base gate. A very heavily armed base gate at that. Six tanks were parked on either side of the road beyond the gate. Their rail gun barrels pointed in various directions guarding the gate in 180 degree arch. The forward two tanks were aiming their weapons down the road itself, from which other military vehicles poured forth in both directions.

They were backed up by other tanks armed with missile launchers, and armed guards with green armbands manning heavy machine gun positions.

"All useless if the wrong magician shows up."

Miyuki heard her mother's muttered criticism of what she considered "lack" of "proper" defense.

Seeing all these men and weapons gathered before her, Miyuki had a hard time agreeing with her, even though inside she knew her mother was right.

"What was that ma'am?"

Standing next to her, the Lieutenant hadn't heard her words over the cacophony of noises, only the knowledge her lips had moved had reached her.

Her mother leaned in to speak to the officer.

"I said it's an impressive sight. We feel safer already."

The Lieutenant nodded understanding to the lie Miyuki's mother told her.

Across the horizon random plums of billowing smoke rose into the sky. At a certain altitude faster winds higher up were pushing the smoke away even faster than below. It was strangely beautiful against the bright blue August sky and the few wispy white clouds beyond. Then Miyuki shuddered as she remembered that under those smoke clouds lay countless dead.

Then something on the far horizon caught Miyuki's eyes.

"FAST!"

This was her only thought before four military aircraft swarmed past them at what seemed only a few hundred meters overhead.

By instinct Miyuki brought her hand CAD up as if to cast a magic against the new "enemy".

Then a sudden hand clasped her wrist before she could respond.

She turned to see her mother looking at her with a serious expression.

"They are ours."

She didn't hear these words as the sonic boom of the aircraft had drowned out all the other sounds. She had to read the lips to understand her mother.

Once the boom had dissipated, Miya pulled Miyuki closer to whisper to her ear.

"And you were too late, we'd already be dead if that was the enemy."

Miyuki was stunned silent in shame by Miya's words. Realizing such, Miya added on.

"We can work on that though, you will get better at reacting and recognizing."

Then she lightly stroked Miyuki's head and smiled ever so slightly down at her.

"There's the Captain now!"

The Sergeant pointed down the road to an open topped vehicle approaching the gate.

"ONII-SAMA!"

"MIYUKI!"

She was gone in a flash down the ramp. Caution thrown to the wind. Miya's shocked plea didn't reach her ears. The Corporal's attempt to block her path down the ramp was too slow as well.

She ran down the road as fast as she could. Faster even. Without realizing it, she was casting acceleration magic on herself without the use of a CAD.

"ONII-SAMA!"

The guards at the gate were stunned by the sudden blur of color flying past them down the road. On instinct they raised their rifles towards that movement.

Hot tears streamed back from her eyes and the force of wind pushed those tears back towards her ears.

She didn't see the machine gunners reflexively turn toward their weapons towards the unknown high speed object. She didn't hear Miya's and her guards' desperate pleas for her to stop. Even though she was looking square at them, she didn't see Lieutenant Sanada or Captain Kazama's eyes going round at her sudden high speed approach.

She was focused on the dark haired boy who had his back turned towards her as he sat facing the rear of the open topped military vehicle.

"ONII-SAMA!"

She didn't see that he was leaning over something on a stretcher on the back of that vehicle. Something covered completely by an olive-drab blanket.

"ONII-SAMA!"

She only saw him, she didn't even notice he was holding something under that cloth.

Then she stopped dead in her tracks, deceleration magic being applied unconsciously as acceleration had been done before.

The world for her seemed to be in slow motion. She saw his face turn towards her slowly. First his left ear appeared and then…..

"His…..eye!"

She had never felt mortification like this before.

"He…his….but he…"

Her mind was going blank at the sight before her. Only the corner of his left eye was visible yet, in her slow motion world.

"But…he….he can't."

That eye was red. Even this far away she could see the irritation around his eye. Even this far from him she could see the redness in the white of his left eye. Even this far away she could see the tell-tale streak left on his dirty left cheek.

"But…Onii-sama….has never…"

And then the iris in than eye turned toward the left corner of the socket to focus on her.

And then that eye showed instant recognition…..

…and instant fear.

"Onii…..sama…"

And with her world still in slow motion, suddenly Onii-sama moved even faster than real time. He sprung up from the moving vehicle while turning towards her. Then his eyes saw the rest of the world around her. The world that meant nothing to her in this moment clearly meant everything to him.

As he flew off the vehicle his right arm pushed forward.

"His right eye too?"

That eye was the same as the left was. Red-rimmed and with a streak running down the check. Bloodshot but full of….

"Rage….Onii-sama is….angry."

And then a spray of psions emanated from her Onii-sama. A wave of psion light.

"So…..beautiful."

She felt pity for the normal humans watching this, who couldn't see how beautiful her Onii-sama's magic truly was. They weren't even seeing half the real show.

But the show they got was impressive enough.

Tatsuya's feet hadn't even hit the ground before Miyuki turned at a sudden noise behind her. Two large tires, truck tires, rolled past her on their own to either side if her body. She stared down blankly at a military vehicle's bumper that had suddenly hit the ground less than half a meter away from her.

In her confusion she couldn't form words in her mind. She was stunned and perplexed by the sudden appearance of the bumper behind her, and what looked like pieces of a large vehicle crumbling before her eyes behind that bumper. She locked eyes briefly with the equally stunned driver who still was sitting in his seat, which no longer was connected to anything else, holding a steering wheel in a similar condition in front of him.

Then she felt her body being enveloped in a sea of warmth. Two powerful and all-encompassing arms warped her up and lifted her into a cocoon of safety. She went limp and relaxed back into the embrace as she was effortlessly lifted off the ground.

Together they bounded up into the air, over the crumbled pieces of the truck.

Only then did her eyes focus upward. Only then did she see…..him.

Just inches from her face was his. The determination, the strength, the beauty that was all things Onii-sama to her.

"My….Onii-sama. You're safe!"

Then, before his feet even touched the dirt, he turned his face down to look at her. His eyes radiating concern and love, but the redness still persisting. His cheeks suddenly flushed under her gaze.

"My poor Onii-sama."

She reached up and touched his left cheek with her right hand. He turned away as his feet softly landed on the ground.

"…Miyuki."

He turned away shyly under her warm gaze. She never realized even then that she had spoken out loud and not in the safety of her mind. And if she had she wouldn't have cared, at least in that "magic" moment.

Standing there in the middle of the road, cradled in her brother's arms, nothing else existed for Miyuki. Her hand had drifted down to touch both his left cheek and his neck at the same time.

"Are…..are you, alright, Miyuki?"

His eyes turned back to look at her with fear on his face. Fear for her and her safety.

"Oh…..Onii-sama, in your arms, how can I not be perfectly alright?"

She was in a trance, here in the one place in all the world she wanted to be the most.

"Never let me go, Onii-sama."

Her words struck at his heart, his very reason for existence, and yet the way she was looking at him…

He turned away embarrassed but then refocused his eyes at her with sincerity.

"Never Miyuki. Never."

And then while holding her upper body he slowly lowered her bottom half to the ground. Then he wrapped his arms tightly around her and she responded in kind.

She was enraptured in joy in this moment. Her Onii-sama was in her arms, and she would never let him go either.

Then she felt him squeeze too hard, and then she felt him begin to tremble.

"Onii….sama?"

"What were you thinking?"

She could hear the desperation in his voice. She had only heard that voice once from him, when he had brought her back to life just hours before.

He pushed her out to shoulder length and looked into her eyes with terror.

"Running out in front of all these soldiers and vehicles! You could have been KILLED!"

Her dream world had been shattered by his furious words. She suddenly looked around her. She was stunned to see so many faces looking back at her. Almost all those faces were soldiers, but none had weapons. Their weapons lay in pieces on the ground before them. Machine guns, rifles, hand guns, shoulder mounted missiles; all rendered into basic components.

Then she saw the tanks. Their weapon systems had fallen down to the ground in chunks or hung lifelessly from their apertures. She saw a military truck in pieces where she knew moments before she had been standing. Soldiers were helping the driver out of the vehicle components. He was still holding the steering wheel in shock.

And the stunned faces…

Some looked down at their weapons on the ground in disbelief, but most were looking at them. No, not them, but him. Her beloved Onii-sama. Those eyes, showed fear and terror.

"They're afraid…of…..Onii-sama."

And he didn't seem to care in the least. All his mind, all his fear, was concentrated on her.

She had to relieve him.

"But Onii-sama! Even if I were killed, you would…"

"NO!"

He stunned her into silence with his desperate fury.

"You can't rely on THAT! You can't rely on ME! What if I fail you? What if I can't bring you back?"

She was stunned by his emotional outburst.

"But…Onii-sama could never….."

She reached up to touch his cheek to comfort him, but he caught her wrist before she could do so.

"I'm too weak! Too weak to protect Miyuki! I'm not good enough!"

"But, you are good enough! You are all I need! You brought me back to life!"

"I was the one that let them close enough to shot you in the first place!"

She couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing. Stoic, silent, confident Onii-sama was having a….

"….breakdown?"