2023-12-08: Dear My Memory: Lullaby

• Log: 2023-12-08: Dear My Memory: Lullaby
• Cast: Ranka Lee
• Where: Bishop Class Mobile Fortress, Vajra Semi Queen's Chamber
• Date: U.C. 0097 12 08
• Summary: Ranka Lee doesn't understand what the Vajra want with her, in her attempt to show her, a lullaby is sung to her from a figure long forgotten.

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The glow of fold travel was unmistakable, streaming past Ranka's translucent cell as lines of light. She shivered with a cold sweat, as translucent globules of it floated about in the microgravity, grasping her arms and rubbing them from her position down upon her knees.

"... I want to go home..."

The way Sheryl looked the first time she hugged her.
That expression on Alto's face as he watched her sing.
A vulnerability that Brera displayed whenever she smiled at him.
The shyness that Ruri showed her before she began to sing.
Ozma's expression as she told him that she wanted to go.
A playful expression as Rin offered to come along with her.
Lucine, tending to her garden, the door always open.
Captain Yurika always a wild one yet still always driving her forward.
Lan and Yurikano, one subdued, the other so bright, both special.
Everyone - smiling,
Everyone - laughing,
Everyone - a part of her life.

"... home to where everyone is ..."

A sudden orange glow attracted her vision, where she looked up in trepidation. Those many eyes looking down upon her from above, a head reaching the top of a chamber. The orange glow came closer, revealing a tail twisted segment upon segment to reach layers upon layers of glowing oval organs, with feeler like stalks, twitching, all of them towards her.

Ranka didn't even have time to scream, as it touched the side of her cell. And in the space of a moment, all sense of her immediate reality collapsed.

She was floating, amidst the lines of fold travel, the bridge of distorted space time, she could see the vessels, right down to the smallest variable fighter traveling in their wake.

Everyone?

She was bared before the universe, vulnerable and infinite all at once, set aglow by mysteries she did not understand, instinct taking over as she nestled herself amidst the view. Experimentally, she reached out a hand, and despite how close a certain Variable Fighter was, and the Nadesico, they still seemed so far away.

And above, the Vajra Semi-Queen glowed, luminescent, crystals dotted all over its form set aglow.

Far beyond that she saw the world, Gallia IV, consumed by twin lights. Felt the fading presence of Yurikano as the detonation of a fairy tale power consumed part of the planet.

No! NO! She was... we were supposed to... I was going to... I promised-!

Shivering, the girl's form curled upon herself, into the fetal position, as tears fell. The universe felt colder, somehow, even as it's warmth and splendor was unveiled to her.

The Vajra Semi-Queen's eyes all focused upon her in confusion, not understanding her distress.

It's going to become a battle again... everyone... everyone is going to... ...please don't. Please... Alto...! Sheryl...!

It did not understand, it could not understand, it simply wanted to soothe her distress. The glow upon the Semi-Queen increased, brighter, and brighter.

And her view of the world changed, into Gallia IV's eternal dusk, it's sky over the curve of horizon. Fully formed, an infinite expanse. The world whole again within this place of memory. Above, an impossibly tall fey woman with long green hair, eternally waving behind her, each long within her white dress that covered the entirety of the sky.

A melody filled her mind, familiar notes, as kaleidoscopic images of the woman blurred and rotated around herself, orbiting with it's soothing light, a maternal voice.

Don't be afraid. We only want to introduce you to your people.

Folding her hands, the woman's voice joined the ethereal melody, and she began to sang the words Ranka has known as long as she can remember.

Skylarks soar like lapping waves over me.
Lulei luleia
You are the gentle child of all greenery.

Ranka stared with a sense of incomprehension, her mind did not recognize this woman, there was this faint sense of distant, lingering nostalgia. This idea perhaps, that she should, but it was faint.

This song! You know... Aimo?

Swept up within the tide of emotions, Ranka listened, entranced, contentment flooding her from the lullaby as it was sang. A sense of yearning from long forgotten memories forced her to latch onto this tide of maternal affection.

Not so far away, the Vajra Semi-Queen radiated that same contentment. Their gentle child would be coming home with them. And noone, nothing would stop them this time from bringing her to where she belongs.