Asch had remained frozen in shock and pure horror for a few moments when he saw PBPB’s condition. Out of all the many times he had the displeasure of seeing his comrades injured this was by far the most devastating. Not only due to her state, but also because he considered her a sister, even if she didn’t think much of him she was still very important to him.
As he watched Fxeni pick her up and lay her on one of the bed he saw that his expression was practically unreadable after the initial shock. Asch couldn’t even imagine what was going through his head between his own near death experiences, the death of some his men only a couple days back still fresh on his mind, and now the woman who he had been forming a complex relationship with since his return was most likely in critical condition. To say Fxeni’s mind was most likely in a typhoon of turmoil, rage, and grief was probably beyond the understatement of the millennium though Fxeni was doing his absolute damnedest not to show it.
Asch himself wanted to punch something to relieve some of the tension and stress that had been building up inside him, but he knew it was absolutely not the right time to do that so he decided to focus on some more pressing matters instead.
“I’m…..” Asch started before he gulped to find the right words. “I’m going to let Sakura know about Peebs condition.”
“Yeah….” Fxeni nodded “And…..try to get her to come to the medbay if you can.”
“Not like you needed to tell me that…..” Asch sighed “Gonna be easier said than done but I’ll do it even if I might be in worse shape by the end of it.”
Fxeni figured he was referring to Sakura’s considerably already low mood but he knew it was far more than that.
“I knew for a while that Sakura had been hiding things from people she wasn’t the absolute closest to, up til now we were only on nothing more than a profession level or friends due to having other mutual friends and I never been one to pry into things others don’t want to talk about but I had no idea it went this far.” Fxeni sighed.
“Sakura had already managed to tell some of us some of the things she’s been hiding, which is already a huge step, but in cases like these I guess she needs a little push for her own good.” Asch nodded “Zeta told me she’s like an onion, she has a lot of layers that have to be peeled eventually even if it’s exceedingly difficult to do so since onions make you cry due to the smell.”
“Everyone is kind of like that to be fair.” Fxeni stated “But some people have way more layers than others, and some of them are tougher to get at since people in general wear masks in order to hide things they aren’t comfortable about sharing with others to ‘protect’ themselves.”
“I…..sort of get that.” Asch replied, he had a feeling he was referring to how he blew up at Vixy about hiding Lou’s death and PB hiding his other issues. He admitted that his reaction was no better, but he still wasn’t really ready to confront that topic properly. “But still…..is it really worth all the pain that’s inflicted on the person hiding them and the people that care about them?”
“From an outside perspective maybe not, but unfortunately most societies encourage keeping up perceived appearances.” Fxeni sighed.
“From an outside perspective it still feels like that’s a lot more trouble than it’s worth and makes way more problems like this in the long run.” Asch said shaking his head as he started to walk away.
When Asch got back to Sakura and the engineers were he was somewhat blinded by the glowing Magi 00. While he could have simply adjusted his optical senses to the point it didn’t bother him he decided to put on the Ray Ban sunglasses he acquired not too long ago to make it easier on himself to do so. He noticed all the engineers had the same idea including Sakura herself who unsurprisingly was wearing shades of a similar style of PB and PBPB.
Asch walked up to Sakura as casually as he could so he wouldn’t startle her since he knew she was probably on edge.
“Wow that glow sure looks stunning but it also looks eerie as hell.” Asch whistled to break the ice.
Sakura turned back at him with slight surprise but luckily didn’t seemed too shocked he was here.
“Yeah…..are you here because you were curious?” Sakura asked tilting her head slightly.
“Well I can’t really deny I kind of was, but that’s not the main reason I’m here.” Asch shrugged “Peebs teleported herself to the medbay, she was already there when we arrived.”
“Guess that doesn’t surprise me all that much.” Sakura sighed “How is she?”
“…..No easy way to say it but she’s in just as a bad state if not worse than her suit here.” Asch replied turning slightly away from her. “Even down to the glowing.”
“She’s glowing too?” Sakura pondered “Maybe it’s due to the Magi Tech in her suit and her connection with ADA but I hope it’s not some sort of GN Particle poisoning.”
“GN Particle poisoning, you mean that’s a thing?!” Asch jumped.
“Yes, I did across that topic while I was looking up the specifics about putting a GN Drive in my own suit. Ordinarily it’s only a problem with older GN Drives and only in beam form, the emissions themselves don’t cause the poisoning. While it shouldn’t be a problem with the drives we’re using I don’t know about the finer intricacies of this along with all the other factors and variables involved with PBPB’s glowing.” Sakura replied shaking her head “Fxeni would probably be the person who would know the most about this, but this probably wouldn’t be the best time to ask him about it, especially since PBPB probably hasn’t been examined yet.”
“Yeah you’re right…..” Asch sighed “Fxeni’s….trying to keep his composure the best he can right now, but he’s obviously a mess and that thought probably crossed his mind already even though by all accounts that’s hopefully not the case.”
“Yeah….” Sakura nodded as she turned back on the suits “You…..go back to Fxeni I’m sure as much as he wants and needs some time alone it might be better if you were there with him for the time being, I’ll stay here and monitor the repairs of the suits. I know these guys are some of the best around, but I don’t know how well they know about Magi-Tech considering both the Magi 00 and Magmarock use it to different extents so I probably might be the best person to oversee that right now.”
Asch bit his lip since she put up a very “solid argument”….but he knew it wasn’t gonna be easy accomplish what he needed through “passive ways” so he prepared for the consequences of the more “direct approach”.
Asch slowly and gently but a seemingly reassuring hand on her shoulder which he noticed seemed to put her slightly at ease.
“I’m sorry….” Asch said softly.
Before Sakura could tell him he had no reason to apologize he quickly and smoothly spun her back around so she was facing him again. Before she could react he quickly hoisted her up on his shoulders and bolted from their current location to where the Med Bay was ignoring Sakura’s constant protests and swears while leaving all the Engineers stunned by Asch’s sudden actions.
“Um….should we be concerned about why Asch is carrying Sakura at such high speeds even though she clearly is against his actions?” Ariani asked.
“Eh I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, he’s probably taking her to the medbay. She seems like the type to overwork herself like Fxeni you know?” Cassy shrugged.
“I suppose that’s a very good point.” Ariani sighed as she got back to the work at hand.
Back with Asch and Sakura Asch was going as fast he could without risking injuring Sakura.
“Asch for the last time let me [tornado fang]ing go!” Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs as she was banging on his back in a futile attempt to let go to no avail. While Asch could feel the impact of her hits it wasn’t enough to make him drop her, though it did hurt a little. However he knew she wasn’t trying very hard in case the engineers could still hear them.
Sakura suddenly stopped her assault knowing she was getting nowhere fast…..so she prepared to use more desperate measures.
“Okay…..you asked for it.” Sakura muttered as she suddenly winded up a very strong kick to the chest. The sudden surprise impact was enough to make him recoil and loosen his grip on her allowing herself to get off him. Before he had a chance to recover Sakura proceeded to lift him up so she was holding his body over her head with both hands.
“SAKURAWAITWHATAREYOUGONNA-” Asch sputtered before Sakura launched him like a professional quarter back or Olympic javelin thrower.
Fxeni was appreciating being alone with his thoughts for the moment when his sixth sense and the ever approaching yell Asch was making informed him that now would probably be a very good time to duck.
As he did the projectile known as Asch came barreling through the medbay doors over Fxeni and the unconscious PBPB before being stopped by the wall on the other side of the room. When Fxeni looked up he could see that Asch’s impact made a considerable impression on the wall.
Asch slowly recovered from the impact of being used as a robot cannon ball while briefly wondering how he was still conscious and looking up at the not so fazed Fxeni and noticing that he himself was upside down.
“Welcome back.” Fxeni greeted in a manner far too casual for what had gone down.
“Yeah…...guess I’m back.” Asch replied in a similarly overly causal manner. “You know I think there’s one thing I can confirm about Sakura right now.”
“What’s that?” Fxeni questioned.
“I suspected it before but I think she has near Super Human strength.” Asch stated.
“Seems to be the case, where did she throw you from?” Fxeni asked.
“About half way from the hanger to here.” Asch replied.
“Huh, not bad.” Fxeni nodded.
As they finished their conversation Sakura arrived and gripped the trimming of the now ruined doors with a glare.
“So…..was there a particular reason why you took me away from some very important maintenance to take me to the medbay even though I don’t need to be here and I hate being carried when I don’t need to be?” Sakura said in an annoyed tone while getting a slight glance at PBPB’s condition, winching slightly before turning her ire back to Asch.
“Well even if you said your fine we just wanted to be sure you were okay.” Asch replied.
“Like I said I’m completely fine, anything wrong with me can be fixed with normal first aid and Borock-bot’s White Magic, you guys are the ones who need more attention and I don’t want to waste more resources than needed.” Sakura stated while pinching her nose.
“Are you sure?” Asch prodded.
“Yes, I’m sure.” Sakura nodded with her patience wearing thinner by the moment.
“Reeeeeeeeally sure?” Asch pressed further.
Sakura raised an eyebrow thinking about why Asch was so persistent of the topic when the realization started to slowly dawn on her and her expression slightly softened.
“Borock-bot….” Sakura uttered as she started to put the pieces together “He told you guys I never had a proper medical check-up didn’t he…..”
“Yup, now you put two and two together.” Asch nodded as he finally decided set himself right side up and sit cross legged from his position.
Sakura however turned completely sheepish with a mixture of embarrassment and shame finding it difficult to face them before sighing and resigning herself.
“Guess…..I couldn’t avoid this forever…..” Sakura said slowly “And…...I guess I’d only make more trouble if I don’t get this done won’t I….”
“Yeah….” Asch said gently “I get you’re scared and I understand why you’re so paranoid….even if it’s a little much, but you know it’s for your own good and everyone else in case there is something wrong. Sides…..it’d probably help you….learn some more things about yourself….and that’s something that’s been bothering you.”
“…….Alright…..” Sakura nodded as she took a seat on a bed and stared at the floor.