Word Drama I

Tokyo Settlement
September 14, 2072 ATB

It was as though the great star Wormwood had fallen as proclaimed within the Christian Bible. The land was completely dark as the sun's rays failed to shine upon the city. The sky was covered in a gray-black cloud that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see while buildings and towers lay in ruin along the cracked and fragmented streets. The scents of fire, smoke, oil, iron, and other unidentifiable intermingled as though to make sure even the blind or deaf could not escape the dread that had taken hold of the entire nation. And in place of the loud booms that had occurred only a day earlier, the sounds of sirens, VTOL engines, and cries of people were now all that could be heard.

For Viletta Nu, the whole scene threatened to overwhelm and consume her, but she held it back by sheer force of will and by focusing on her present priority: aiding in rescuing any survivors that could be found. Alongside several rescue workers, ranging from Japanese to Britannians, Black Knight, and former Imperial Army, she had frantically dug through the debris, struggling to find any signs of life and bring them to safety. Her latest rescue had been a Japanese mother and her young child, a little girl no older than five, who had been trapped under the remains of their apartment building for over twenty-four hours. Viletta and her fellow rescue workers had managed to get both out, but much to her horror, she found that the child was not breathing.

The next thing Viletta realized, she was attempting cardiopulmonary resuscitation upon the girl. Through her military training alone, she continued to breathe into the child's mouth before pushing her hands as hard as she could upon the child's chest, being conscious enough not to cause injury but to keep up the rapid pace. She had lost all track of time at that point, as she was too frantically focused on trying to see the child draw air, but no matter how many times she pushed and breathed into her, the girl did not draw breath. And as Viletta continued on and on, she found herself silently praying to God, or anyone who was listening, repeating the same phrase over and over: "Don't let her die! Don't let her die!"

"That's enough! Viletta, you did enough!" she heard someone yell behind her, snapping her from her concentration. A moment later, she felt the strong arms of Yoshitaka Minami, one of the Black Knights that she had become "acquainted" with during the past few hours, wrap around her and forcibly drag her away from the girl's body.

"Let me go!" Viletta cried out, struggling in vain against the hold while two others came to take the girl's body. "I can still save her! I can save her, damn you!"

"It's too late! She's dead!" Minami yelled over her just as the two other men covered the girl's body with a blanket and slowly lifted her limp form onto a nearby stretcher.

It was an all too familiar occurrence she had witnessed many times in her career as a soldier for the Crown. Yet, seeing it here, those simple actions carried a grim, incontestable finality that finally served to halt Viletta's struggle as it instantly drained the strength from her limbs. At that, Minami finally let go of her, and Viletta found herself dropping to her knees, tears streaming down her face involuntarily as the stretcher and the two other workers disappeared from her sight. Replacing her respirator, she tried to stand up again, telling herself that there were still others out there who needed to be saved, others who were depending on her along with everyone else, but no matter how much she sent the commands to her legs, they refused to budge, as if they were weighted down. Instead, Viletta could only stare off into the distance, trying to comprehend the scope of the destruction that had occurred the day before, as her tears came down more and more vehemently.

How… how could this have happened…? her mind let out, as she saw a blanket cover another body. How could anyone have done this…? How could… I…?

"Was this… what… what I wanted…?" she murmured. No matter how much she tried to wrap her mind around it, it didn't make sense to her. She had been a Britannian soldier and a member of the Purist Faction. She had seen and even taken part in the extermination of many Elevens in the past. She hated them for being subhuman, for being inferior to Britannians, and for existing when the world did not need them. But above all else, she hated the Japanese for the fact they were just like Britannians in their desire for power and domination, yet continually feigned innocence and claimed to be "above such barbarisms."

Though even Viletta admitted that Britannia had been excessively cruel to Japan, even when compared to other Areas, she had believed they rightfully deserved such treatment. Since Marco Polo made that fated trip to the East and discovered Japan was rich in sakuradite, the Japanese acted upon the worldwide demand for it. Throughout history, Japan has incited bidding wars between nations for this resource, playing one against the other like two animals fighting over a piece of meat while using the strife and chaos for its own betterment. The nation had also been known to achieve economic dominance over its trading partners, usually to subvert them under Japan's will while continually distracting the prey with the sakuradite at the rope's end. The Japanese people had no qualms about any of it themselves, as they were xenophobic even by Britannian standards. Thus, when Japan attempted these practices again during the Oriental Incident, it was only by divine justice that Britannia chose not to submit itself to Japan's will and instead made the little country pay for its vindictiveness and continual self-obsession by conquering it in little over a month.

She should have been celebrating the destruction at hand.

But she didn't. Instead, she cried out, only disgusted at the idea just a day ago. She was just like the people who had caused this devastation to occur. Just a day ago, she hated the Elevens and held staunch pride in being Britannian, the masters of the human race. Just a day ago, she had shot her former lover, a good man named Kaname Ohgi, for a multitude of reasons, but above them all, just for the fact that he was one of them.

Just a day ago, she was a monster. But today, she had learned the truth and only felt hatred for herself.

"We've got something!" Viletta almost didn't hear the voice yell out. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw several workers unearth the remains of a Sutherland, which had ended up having an entire wall collapse upon it. Though the Sutherland was in bad shape, the cockpit block had miraculously remained undamaged.

With newfound energy, Viletta rushed to the downed knightmare, where the workers were now trying to open up the block with a drill. Acting quickly, she moved them out of the way and uncovered the emergency release panel on the side of the cockpit. Viletta quickly slammed her fist against it, and a moment later, the cockpit hatch opened up, and the command chair extended outward with its pilot in tow.

"She's alive!" someone realized as the pilot, a young red-haired girl dressed in a standard blue Britannian pilot suit, began to cough and try to stand up.

"That's it…!" Viletta said as she placed a respirator over her mouth. From there, she and a few others lifted the pilot and moved her to a nearby stretcher. "What's your name? Your name…!"

"Fir…" the pilot murmured while her eyes fluttered dazedly. "First Lieutenant Charmelle Finlay… 1st Battalion, 122nd Armored… Service Number Seven-Eight-Two…"

"She'll be alright. Get her out of here," Viletta ordered the men beside her.

"Not so fast," someone called out, followed by the distinctive sound of an electron battery activating. Everyone turned to see as one of the workers, who was wearing the charred remains of a Black Knights uniform, drew the pistol out and took aim toward the still-dazed Sutherland pilot.

Reacting fast and to the amazement of those present, Viletta threw herself between Charmelle and the Black Knight soldier.

"Get out of the way, Britannian, or I'll shoot you along with her!" the Black Knight warned with venom, looking more ready to shoot than to listen to reason.

Viletta only glared back. "Killing her will not bring back those that have been lost, and more people will keep dying the longer you point that gun here," she growled. "So either shoot me now or put the gun down and get back to work."

"Tamaki!" Minami called out to the soldier as he rushed over. "Do as she says and put the gun down!"

"Why!?" Tamaki stated back to Minami. "This is the bitch that shot Ohgi, and who knows how many of ours the one behind her killed!" his finger twitched over the trigger. "I say we kill them right here and now!"

Viletta visibly grimaced at the memory of her shooting Ohgi as though somebody was rubbing salt into an open wound, but she remained where she stood. "I already told you, people, you can kill me at any time you wish. But please, spare this girl," she nearly begged. "She's as much of a victim as anyone else here!"

"To hell with that!" Tamaki roared and brought the gun up again. "It's because of you Britannians that things are like this!" he then aimed at Viletta's forehead. "So shut up and die already!"

Seeing that her time was up, Viletta decided just to let it come to pass and closed her eyes, waiting for the bullet to pierce her. Before that could happen, however, Minami closed the distance and grabbed the gun from Tamaki's hand. "What the hell, Minami!?"

"Ohgi wouldn't have wanted you to shoot," Minami stated. "Nor would Zero."

"But she's one of them!" Tamaki roared with fury.

So concentrated was he on his friend that Tamaki didn't see Viletta's eyes widen in shock from hearing those three words. The same three words she had used so much to describe the Japanese now turned on her with the same intensity. She had to fight hard to keep herself composed after that.

"There's been enough killing Tamaki," Minami replied, looking the other Black Knight straight in the eye. "Don't add onto it."

Growling in anger, Tamaki stormed away to parts unknown, not that anyone cared. When the moment passed, Viletta looked back to Minami and nodded a 'thank you' to him, and despite his disposition, he nodded back to her. "Get her to an aid station and hurry back! We've got more that need help!"

Replying only by action, the other workers began moving Charmelle to the nearest aid station. After they left, Minami took one last look at Viletta and moved away himself.

With a brief moment to herself, Viletta reached her arm down and brushed her hand against her pistol, the same one she had used on Ohgi. Her eyes narrowed as she felt its roughness before closing once again. There will be a day when proper justice will be done. But before that, I must live for now and help save anyone else who survived…