Shirley squeezed her eyes shut, and placed her arm over her eye's to keep the protruding sunlight coming from what she guessed was a window from hitting her face. But her eyes shot open as an unimaginable pain shot up through her chest and throughout her body from the sudden movement.

"What the hell" Shirley groaned in pain now fully awake.

After the pain subsided into a small throb she took the advantage to look at her surroundings. She was in a completely white room and she was in a hospital bed and had gown they would use for patients. 'I must be in the bases medical wing' she thought closing her eyes once again. 'Why am I here?'

Her eyes began to widen as the past events started to flow back into her memory. "What happened to Lucchini!?" she yelled aloud, hectically trying to pull herself off the bed. But ended up failing when the pain became so excruciating she couldn't move her limbs anymore.

"dammit" She groaned in pain as she clawed at her chest "why is it so hard to breathe" She gasped for air. She heard the machines next that was being used to keep her heart rate in check begun to burst out in alarm. But the sound got fainter and fainter until she blacked out.

"What happened?" The Major demanded looking at the younger Fuso witch.

"I-im not sure" Yoshika replied jumping at the slight harshness of her commanding officer. "But it looks like her body was put into a lot of stress" Miyafuji replied fiddling with the medical device keeping track of the orange haired witches heart.

"Might I ask again on what's taking her so long to recover?" The Major asked but in a much softer voice as she glanced at Lucchini who was hunched over the side of the hospital bed and holding on to the Shirley's hand. Her shoulders were shivering obviously showing that she was crying.

Yoshika looked down at her hands sadly. "Her wound was so severe that even my healing magic wasn't able to heal them completely. The Neuroi beam went straight threw her chest almost destroying her lungs and took a good chunk of her h-heart alongside it" Yoshika replied sniffling beginning to cry herself.

Sakamoto rested her hand on Yoshika's shoulders reassuringly "Hey I won't have any of that. Without you and your healing magic she wouldn't even be here right now with us. You did good Miyafuji." Yoshika simply nodded then looked back at the crippled witch sadly, and then to the black pig-tailed girl next to her. 'I wish I could have done more' She thought to herself before exiting the room along with the Major.

Eila reached her hand to open the door that was right before the orange haired witch but quickly pulled her hand away. She balled her hands into fists and looked down frowning and clenching her eyes shut.

"Eila?" Sanya asked worriedly from behind "are you alright?"

Eila gritted her teeth. 'This was all my fault, If only I did something…I knew something bad was going to happen but…but…'

"Eila?!" Sanya called out once again but with much more force, which surprised Eila since that was very uncharacteristic of the usually quiet Sanya.

"I'm sorry Sanya…Because of me… B-Because of me one of our friends got hurt… I-I could have done something. No I should hav-" Eila was cut off when she felt a warm softness press against her back.

"It's not your fault" Sanya whispered wrapping her arms around Eila's waist and burying her face in the back of her neck. "It's not your fault" Sanya repeated again.

"B-But I knew something bad was going to happen and I did nothing to stop it. I could have warned you all and this would have never happened!" Eila whimpered pressing her head against the door and grabbing ahold of one of Sanya's hands that were wrapped around her waist.

"That's true." Sanya said causing Eila to flinch. "It's true that you were able to tell with your ability that something was going to happen but… but you just didn't want to worry us right? You kept it a secret to keep us from being worried as you bared the burden alone. It's not your fault… even if you told us that something was going to happen we couldn't stop it, because it could have been anything at all and it was so sudden we didn't even realize what was happening." Sanya said her voice muffled slightly by Eila's hair.

"So please don't look so sad" Sanya said sniffing slightly like she was about to cry.

Eila's eyes widened as she heard the sniffling. 'I've just been worrying her this whole time… I'm so horrible.'

Eila suddenly spun around and pulling into a warm embrace even surprising Sanya.

"I'm sorry Sanya I won't be sad anymore. Just please… Don't cry" Eila whispered holding Sanya protectively against her chest.

Sanya simply nodded and buried her face into the crook of Eila's neck. "Promise?"

"Yeah. I promise" Eila replied back softly and rested her head on the Silver haired witch.

Hartmann sat at the table alone where everyone would usually be already having lunch at this time. She had a plate of potatoes in front of her, but instead of eating them she twirled them around with her fork with an unreadable expression.

She thought back to what happened yesterday. All she wanted was to get there fast enough to make sure Trude would be alright…. But the scene she came upon was not what she expected…

Yesterday

Hartmann's strikers whined and sputtered as she poured as much of her magical energy as she could.

'Faster, Faster, Faster, I have to go faster' Hartmann repeated in her mind. She had been going so fast she had left the others behind that had been trailing behind her.

Finally she had begun to see the outline of her friends from a distance- and a Neuroi!

She pushed her striker to the limit hearing it whine from the over-dose of magical energy pushing it to its limit. But as she got closer and closer to where the battle was taking place, her eyes began to widen and she came to a screeching stop.

It wasn't what she expected to see…

The usual carefree and outgoing Romangan girl that groped people casually like it was a way of life had such a dark expression that even made the Karsland soldier shiver. She was moving so fast, so precisely chipping away at the neuroi like it was nothing, something that would even give Hartmann, A Karsland Ace a hard time with such ease.

It was like a whole different person… But for some reason the expression on the girls face made her stomach knot.

Finally breaking her gaze away from the girl, obviously handling the situation with the Neuroi, Her eyes fell upon Barkhorn who was completely frozen and had a dumbfounded expression as she stared at the Romangan girl who was easily keeping the neuroi at bay. Relief washed over her seeing her comrade in one piece. 'But… Where's the other three?' she wondered spinning around, looking above her then to the sides, she caught glance of her squad now approaching them but not a trace of Sanya, Eila and Shirley.

The sputtering of striker units caught her attention and she looked below.

"Oh, there they ar-" She stopped in mid-sentence and her eyes begun to widen in horror as she scanned over the three witches.

All three of them were covered in blood. Sanya on the left of Shirley and Eila the right supporting her as she hung loosely like a rag doll. It didn't take long for Hartmann to realize the blood staining Eila and Sanya's uniform weren't their own but from the Liberion.

"W-What happened?!" Hartmann yelled out zooming toward the trio.

…Silence…

"Hey! What happened here?!" Hartmann asked again grabbing Eila's shoulder and shaking it slightly. The light brown haired witch looked up slowly with different emotions burning through her eyes. Anger. Sadness. Fear. Confusion.

Eila opened her mouth to say something but closed it. Looking away unable to speak.

The Karsland soldier eyes glazed over and she looked at Sanya. But as she done so she got a better look at Liberion witch and instantly regretting that she did. A gaping hole resided in the middle of the orange haired girls chest and blood gushing out from the hole profusely like a fountain. Blood dripped out each corner of her mouth and her eyes were clenched shut.

The smell of blood became more and more apparent the longer she stayed next to the Liberion causing a wave of nausea to overcome the Karsland witch. She was about to leave and assist the Romangan witch in her battle against the neuroi but stopped when Sanya began to speak up grabbing her attention.

"Lucchini… Lucchini was in trouble, and then…then-" Hartmann just nodded in understanding not wanting to force the silver-haired witch to re-state something that was obviously troubling. She could put the rest of the pieces together anyway from the small amount of information the girl gave her.

Hartmann was pulled from her thoughts as the door slowly creaked open and Barkhorn walked into the eating lounge.

"You're up surprisingly early Hartmann" Barkhorn mumbled walking over and sitting across from Hartmann. Barkhorn had just woken up not too long ago, surprised to see that she was the only one in the room.

"Actually I didn't go to sleep at all" Hartmann replied stabbing her potato with her fork.

Barkhorn frowned looking over the other Karsland soldier that was uncharacteristically hunched over with bags under her eyes.

"A Karlsland soldier should take better care of herself" Barkhorn stated.

"You don't have any room to talk either Trude." Hartmann retorted. Which was true Barkhorn looked worse for ware and also had bags under her eyes.

Barkhorn sighed, looking down, and fiddling with her thumbs slightly as if trying to decide whether or not to tell her something.

"Nightmare." Barkhorn mumbled barely audible.

"What?" Hartmann asked leaning forward slightly to hear her.

"I had a nightmare." Trude said this time looking up, but looked back down as their eyes met.

"Oh. What sort of nightmare?" Erica asked leaning back again and shoving a potato in her mouth seemingly regaining her appetite after talking to Barkhorn.

"It…It was sort of replay of what happened yesterday but it was…Different." Barkhorn whispered still looking down.

Now fully paying attention Hartmann placed her fork to the side "What was the differences in your dream?" she asked her eyes resting on Trude.

"Instead of Shirley's chest being pierced… It was yours." Barkhorn said looking up with tears beginning to form at the corners of her eye's.

Hartmann's eye's widened. The only time she had ever seen Barkhorn cry was after Chris got hurt and was in a coma. But other than that her Karsland friend made sure to keep her emotions in check and not revealing any sort of pain or trouble she might have. Hartmann was confused, she wasn't sure what to do. She's been hurt so many times in battle even getting pierced by a neuroi beam herself, but she had never once shed a tear. But now she was crying because of a simple dream.

"Trude, are you crying?" Hartmann asked worriedly seeming like the right thing to do.

Barkhorn's eye's widened as if she had just realized this herself. "I-I am not!" She yelled out, fiercely rubbing at her eye's.

Hartmann sighed then got up from her chair walking toward Barkhorn.

"H-Hartmann. What are you doing-?" She asked slightly panicking now 'Dammit I let my emotions show. She'll surely taunt me about it' She thought to herself as the short blonde haired witch got closer and closer.

But instead of taunting her. Hartmann grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the door.

"H-Hartmann?! Where are we going?!" Trude asked blushing slightly as Hartmann held onto her hand tightly but loosely enough to slip out of her grasp if she wanted to.

"Bath" Hartmann replied not looking back and continuing to walk forward pulling Barkhorn with her.

"B-But I don't need to-" Barkhorn began to stutter.

"Bath!" Hartmann said again sternly not going to take no for an answer.

Shirley's opened her eyes slowly, pain throbbing profusely through her chest even after keeping still for a long time. She flinched and groaned in pain as the pain got more and more apparent as she began to awaken.

A certain someone jumped up from her slumber after she heard the groan coming from the other witch.

"Shirley! Are you alright?!" she asked worriedly but also relieved that the Liberion witch had finally awoken.

Shirley looked up and squinted the room was considerably dark. "Lucchini" Shirley smiled despite the pain and reached her hand out. The younger girl quickly clasped it within her own, surprising Shirley of how well she could see in the dark.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. It just hurts a little." Shirley replied weakly squeezing the younger girls hand slightly.

"I'll get Yoshika she should be able to help" Lucchini said laying down Shirley's hand gently and sprinting out the room so fast that Shirley didn't have enough time to get a word in.

Before she knew it the lights were flickered on in the room and Lucchini was back in the room followed by Minna and Yoshika.

Yoshika smiled at Shirley happily. "I'm so glad your finally awake!" She said sounding relieved.

Shirley gave Yoshika a small smile, because talking was too difficult at the moment with the pain.

"Alright. Yoshika, would you please look over her wounds and see how there healing?"

"O-of course!" Yoshika replied walking toward Shirley.

Yoshika pulled down the hospital gown a little below Shirley's chest revealing the bandages. Lucchini watched seriously also hoping that she was healing properly, although the sight of the younger girl staring at her chest caused a cute blush appear on Shirley's face.

"I'm going to take the bandages off now." Yoshika said seriously making sure it was alright.

Shirley nodded slightly then looked away. She didn't like feeling so vulnerable.

Yoshika began removing the bandages slowly making sure not to irritate her wound any further. Her bare flesh was revealed little by little until there was nothing covering her bare chest.

"I-It's gone" Lucchini said walking a little closer to get a better look at her chest. It was true, there was no more physical damage that was apparent on her skin except a small scar that ran from her collar bone through her cleavage.

"Yes but… The internal damage is still there. It will take time to heal." Minna said as she scribbled something onto the clipboard she was holding.

"I'll make sure your back on your feet in no time. So please rely on me a little" Yoshika said smiling.

"A-alright-" Shirley began but flinched slightly when Yoshika began to run her index down the scar. It didn't hurt or anything but it most definitely surprised her.

"Y-Yoshika!" Lucchini stammered and glared at her probably disliking the unnecessary touching of the other witch.

"I-I'm sorry! I just wanted to make sure the skin healed completely!" Yoshika said trying to justify her action. But it didn't seem to help since Lucchini continued to glare at her. Yoshika laughed uncomfortably.

"Ahem" Minna cleared her voice. Letting everyone know she was still in the room. "May we commence the daily healing session?" Minna offered obviously seeing the pain in Shirley's face every know and then.

"O-Of course! My bad!" Yoshika said raising her hands above Shirley's chest. Yoshika's familiar Ears and tail extended out from her body and the whole room was cascaded in a glowing blue light as Yoshika used her healing magic.

Shirley looked over and gave Minna a thankful smile, Minna simply smiled back then wrote something else on her clipboard.

She turned her attention toward Lucchini who was looking away with a face that a child would make when they don't get what they want and her arms crossed.

Ten minutes passed by with comfortable silence until the light from Yoshika's magic slowly started to dissipate and her tail and ears disappeared.

"How do you feel?" Minna asked

"A lot better actually, I can barely feel the pain anymore" Shirley said raising her arm up and down with ease unlike before when it would cause severe pain whenever she lifted her arm at all.

Lucchini smiled from cheek to as she was overcome with happiness, she frolicked over to the bed and gave Shirley a cheeky grin. Shirley smiled back as she began to pull her robe over herself again.

"You should try sitting upright Shirley" Minna suggested trying to see how extensive the healing had helped.

Shirley nodded her head, and began to pull herself up without much trouble. Lucchini extended her hand to help stable herself. Shirley smiled and accepted the offer grabbing ahold of the younger girls hand.

"Thanks!" Shirley said smiling up at the Romangan girl sincerely grateful for her concern.

"No problem!~" Lucchini replied grinning widely looking into the older girls eye's.

They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like a lifetime neither of them releasing their grip on the others hand. 'Shirley has such pretty blue eye's' this thought surprised Lucchini herself and she started to blush slightly confused of why she would think that now. She's known that the older girl was quite attractive but she had never had random thoughts of her appearance. But she felt like she wanted to stare into them forever. Lucchini was very confused.

Noticing the pink tint now residing in the younger girls face she cocked her head.

"Lucchini? Are you alright, your face is red?" Shirley asked worriedly.

"I-I'm fine!" Lucchini said looking away and removing her hand from the older girls grasp regrettably.

This has been the first time Shirley had ever seen the girl actually flustered. 'Oh no did my robe slip when I got up?' Shirley looked down hesitantly but to her surprise everything was in place like it should be.

"Uummmm" Yoshika hummed uncomfortably not knowing what to do. Minna glanced between the Romangan and Liberion witch that had suddenly started to act strangely, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together.

"Well…" Minna said breaking the silence "Since you can sit upright without assistance why not try standing?" She suggested.

Shirley nodded thankful for the break in the uncomfortable silence. Shirley took a deep breath and begun to slowly stand up. A small yet painful shock went through her body causing her to stumble forward. Fortunately Yoshika was there to catch her-

"Shirley!" Lucchini called out pushing Yoshika out of the way and catching her in her arms. Lucchini's head rested on her shoulders and her arms wrapped around her abdomen keeping her upright as Shirley leaned against her for support.

"A-Are you alright?!" Lucchini asked worriedly and blushing slightly at the sudden body contact.

"Y-Yeah" Shirley replied. She rested her head on top of the Romangan's. "Thank you" She whispered so it was only audible to Lucchini's ears.

"Whyyyy!?" Yoshika called out from the floor pouting.

So what do you guys think? I know this took some time to come out but it's much long then the first and second chapter so I hope it was worth the wait :'D Next chapter I'm going to introduce an oc into the story that will 'replace' Shirley until she's recovered and able to go back into battle again. I've actually been planning to make a fanfic about this oc but I don't think I would have time to do it so I decided to stick her in here. She'll end up being paired up with Perrine later on in the story because right now she's forever alone and I love Perrine x'D But anywayssss this chapter mostly consisted of the other witches and how they reacted or felt about the incident. I'll let what happens with Hartmann and Barkhorn in the bath up to your imaginations XD Until next time guys see yah!