Pyralis had been seeing the Moonrise through her sensor array as soon as they had neared the dead city, every little curve of its frame as clear as day to her. Even with a thousand years, she couldn’t have been prepared to see it with her own eyes again.
Gashes painted every inch of the Moonrise, doing little to cover up the Imperial black painted across half of its body. Pyralis could barely stomach the sight, the very image an insult to Elara’s memory. She confirmed for herself that the machine’s left arm had been torn off, unable to stop herself from remembering Elara’s bloodied body on their bedroom floor.
Pyralis swore that she would tear off every bit of black paint off the machine with her own hands as soon as she could. Elara was hers, not some Imperial dog.
She felt herself growl instinctually, a rumble pouring forward as she prepared herself to pounce at the abomination calling itself her lover. She channeled every last bit of anger to steel herself for the coming fight.
Pyralis barked as she fired off a blast of plasma at the Moonrise’s hand. It didn’t move in response, almost letting its sword be thrown aside. It had been a fast moving blast, sure, but Pyralis knew for sure that Elara could have reacted in time.
If she wanted to fight.
Pyr paused, wondering if this was necessary. Elara hadn’t attacked her yet. Maybe she could talk her out of it. Her hands shook, hesitating to activate the kinetic accelerators on the Sunset.
Except she knew that it couldn’t just be Elara in there. Something had killed Faust. Pyr would be stupid to think it wouldn’t kill her too.
Pyralis swallowed her doubt, gripping the controls tight. She would be remiss if she didn’t at least fight for Elara a little.
Liftoff. Pyralis kicked off the ground, feeling energy pulse through her legs as the Sunset activated its kinetics, shaking the ground beneath it. Usually she’d feel a rush of adrenaline as she soared in the mech, but all she could feel was an overwhelming sense of dread.
As if feeling her hesitation, the Moonrise abruptly flew forward, its undamaged thrusters roaring to life. Pyralis collided with the mech midair, feeling the front paws of the Sunset get gripped by the Moonrise’s hands.
It would have been romantic if momentum hadn’t existed. The Sunset continued sailing forward, spinning the two machines in the air. Pyralis felt her machine spin around until colliding with the Moonrise again. Something pressed at the back of the Sunset as she recovered, and Pyralis realized she had been locked into a hold with the Moonrise.
Pyralis felt a grin break onto her face for the first time since re-entering the ruined city, and gripped the Moonrise back. She wrapped her mech around the Moonrise, returning the embrace between the two mechs.
Out of context, it would look like the two machines were hugging.
At least before Pyralis ripped her claws downward through the Moonrise’s thrusters. An explosion erupted from the back of her opponent, and the two mechs hit the ground. A cloud of dust was thrown into the air from the impact, blinding the two pilots.
The two machines rolled around on the ground, tearing up the road as they ripped into each other with their bare limbs. The Moonrise seemed to realize its mistake of engaging the Sunset, trying to break free of the Sunset’s grip as it was being torn to shreds.
Pyr wouldn’t let go. Not when she was so close. She took care not to claw at the Moonrise’s cockpit, doing her best to do as much non-critical damage as possible. Elara still needed to feel safe.
As expected, the Moonrise swung at where the cockpit used to be on the Sunset. Pyralis felt a chill run up her spine, realizing that Elara had no way of knowing that it had been moved. She could have killed her.
Despite the cockpit being moved, the area still held critical systems. The Sunset shook for a moment before its hydraulics went offline, and Pyralis grabbed her communicator.
“Sunset down.”
Now to wait for Preon.
Preon overrode the connection from Pyralis’ implant as soon as she saw the Sunset go down from her remote drone. As if on cue, the Moonrise froze in place. She had been right. Elara was wearing her old arms, at least while piloting the Moonrise.
She smiled, feeling a little proud of herself for pulling one over Imperial engineers. They had purposefully used her system against Elara, and it was going to be the reason that Elara made it home safe.
Preon looked over to the side at a locked cabinet. Synapse would be proud. Maybe Cameron would be too. She just hoped this was enough for Pyralis to finally forgive her. It was selfish, sure, but she had grown to truly like the girl over her time here. That angry glare every time they were in the same room had begun to wear on her.
Pyralis stared at her display, seeing the Moonrise frozen in place. Preon had done her job, then. She sat, waiting for Anna or Layris to come finish the job.
The fact that the Moonrise had stopped after disabling the Sunset brought Pyralis some hope. Elara had to think she was dead now. It meant that Elara still cared for her. Loved her.
Was she crying? Pyralis reached up to her face, feeling tears trickle down her cheeks. She hadn’t realized how much that still meant to her. Elara wasn’t just alive, but she was still Elara.
Pyralis felt a little bit sick, feeling wrong for crying tears of joy after Elara had just killed Faust. After Elara had just tried to kill her. Did it matter? Elara still loved her. Did it matter that Aleria was dead? Frill? Wrought? Elara loved her.
Pyralis wondered if Elara had killed Anna, or Layris, would she still be feeling the same way? At what point would Pyr have saved any of her allies over Elara?
Before she could think any further, the Sunset began to rumble. She focused her attention on her display again, seeing as the Moonrise began to free itself of the grasp of the Sunset.
No. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t leave. Pyralis grabbed her communicator. “Anna! Layris! Anybody! She’s getting up!”
Layris buzzed in. “On my way. Just hold out for a bit. Are your sensor arrays still active?”
Pyralis nodded, before remembering that Layris couldn’t see her. “Yes. Okay.”
The Moonrise finally rose, Pyralis reaching out physically as if to hold it back from leaving. Please. Not like this. Not when she was so close.
To her surprise, it stopped. It reached back down towards the downed Sunset, rolling it over. Pyralis felt the cockpit turn as her machine was thrown onto its back, and watched as the Moonrise positioned itself over the stomach of her machine.
What in the world was she doi-
SCREEEEEEEECH
It began to grind on the Sunset. Pyralis almost threw up right then and there, watching as the Moonrise debased itself by humping her machine. This was wrong. Elara wouldn’t do this.
Her cockpit rocked as the Moonrise continued to slam into her machine. Pyralis felt the blood rush from her head as bile ripped its way up her gullet. She hurled onto her controls, stomach acid painting the metal. The liquid dripped onto the floor of the cockpit, Pyralis barely taking the time to wipe away the droplets still on her lips.
This was sick. Whatever was in there was doing this to torment her, to taunt her.
Unless it was Elara. Broken. Grief-stricken.
Despite her horror, Pyralis couldn’t tear her eyes away from the display. She felt her body begin to move to the rhythm of the shaking of her cockpit, as if she was on the other side of the Moonrise’s humping.
This was wrong. She shouldn’t be doing this.
She realized that the blood that had drained from her head had made its way somewhere else. Her cock pressed against the tight piloting suit as she continued to rock her body back and forth with the movement of her mech.
Pyralis’ hand snaked its way down between her legs against her better judgement, and she rubbed as best she could against her buried privates to get any sort of release. She could feel precum stain her undergarments as she moaned, still staring at the Moonrise.
Staring at Elara.
She could hear somebody talk over the communicator, but wasn’t able to make out the words. Pyr couldn’t think of anything but her. It had been so long since she had been with Elara. This was good enough. It wasn’t like she could do anything else, right? What did it matter if Pyralis spent this time with Elara?
The Moonrise reached down at the Sunset’s head, and Pyralis followed suit with her robotic arm. It was just like Elara’s. The Moonrise reached into the maw of the Sunset, and Pyralis mimicked it by shoving her fingers down into her own throat. She sucked on her own fingers for a moment, imagining the synthetic skin was Elara’s. In some sense, it was.
Her cock throbbed, and she finally closed her eyes for a moment. She could almost see Elara in the darkness that enveloped her vision. Before the funeral. Before the explosion. Her white hair. Her uniform, all tidy. The woman that she had fallen in love with.
Pyralis began to fuck her own throat with her fingers as the systems of the Sunset screamed at her. The alarms only grew in volume as the core of her machine was being torn from its insides. She coughed, and more tears began to leak from her eyes as she pleasured herself.
She didn’t care. As long as she could be with Elara. As long as Elara loved her.
The sounds of alarms were replaced with buzzing as Pyralis lost herself in the haze, and her eyes rolled back in their sockets. She sped up, feeling the pace of the Moonrise speed up alongside her.
Her arms went limp as an orgasm tore through her, letting out a moan that could only be described as whorish. She could hear the scream of metal as her cockpit went dark, and collapsed onto herself.
Layris stared at the Moonrise, still grinding against the Sunset. She felt anger grip her mind, watching the machine hump against the corpse below it.
Whatever was in there killed Wrought. This display only confirmed to her that it was Elara. She felt her hands squeeze her controls tighter as rage continued to build. How come she got to be so happy? After killing him?
She needed somebody to stop her. The Halcyon had been too damaged to get back into working order. Anna told her to stay in control.
Why hadn’t she told Elara that? To stop? Why was Wrought dead? Why didn’t she have to stay in control?
Layris continued watching the scene, watching as the Moonrise ripped out the core of the Sunset. Would Elara have done that?
She had already mourned her. “Commander Callisto”. She had been at her funeral. Cried for her. But she was alive. She couldn’t be satisfied with just stealing her best friend. Elara had to take her husband. She had to take everybody else.
But it wasn’t her, was it? It was the Imperials. The black painted all over her frame made that clear. She had no way of knowing if Elara was a victim too. She had to trust Anna. Trust Pyralis.
She choked back tears, wondering what Wrought would do in her position. The image of the Anvil appeared in front of her. It flickered, a reminder that it wasn’t real. It was a ghost of her own creation. Wrought wasn’t really here to fight by her side.
Layris sniffled, and shivered in her seat. Why did he have to leave her alone? Leave her to raise their child without him? How was she supposed to sleep without him next to her?
Would he have killed Elara, if it had been her that day? If she had died in his place?
The Vernonia walked up behind the Moonrise, the machine now frozen while holding the core of the Sunset over its head in triumph.
Layris swung her hammer.