Gift

A sound of falling water fills every edge of the room. A warm and sweet scent follows the wind.

Recalling a question that was asked to her that evening, slowly began to affect her mind even more.

"Am I allowed to love?"

—----

A question that no one can answer beside herself. She know that she had no time to think about it.

Turning the water off, she walks out from the bathroom wearing her shirts. She goes to see her mother try to find some information regarding the recent events.

But she couldn't find her anywhere, not even Belania.

She walks out to her backyard and sits on the bench where she usually is when she's alone. Watching over the night sky and trying to think of her problems asking herself why her life turns upside down from her normally into chaos.

The girl cried trying to release her sadness. She finds it hard to believe any of these things are reasonable. Feeling angered by the fact her existence brings everyone in danger.

"Are you depressed?"

Suddenly a woman's voice talks to Asahi, confused as she looks around her but no one is there.

"Who's there?" She tried to call the voice once again.

"I am your shadow." Along with that voice, the cold wind wrapped into Asahi's skin. She felt uneasy by the sudden change, knowing the worst thing would happen in only a second.

A shadow figure suddenly appears in front of her, materializing from a darkness a purple dark light, it morphed to be a girl that looks the same as her.

The girl has white hair, red Irish with black scleras. Dressed with an ancient open belly armor with a feather in the collar and black feathered wings at her back. Shows a very scary appearance for a girl.

Asahi blinks her eyes repeatedly, hoping it's just a hallucination but the girl wouldn't disappear.

"W-who are you?!" Asahi asked with a terrifying tone.

"As I said before, I am your shadow." The girl smiles sinisterly toward her.

"This is the first time I ever appeared in front of you, no wonder you are too scared." The girl notices Asahi's fear.

"W-what do you want?" Asahi asked.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk with my other self in person." Calmly answers Asahi with no change in her expression.

"I'm here to tell you something important. You seemed really troubled by our power."

"O-our power?" Asahi is confused by the girl's words.

"Yes, the power of the worst ancient warrior ever lived, The Forgotten. We both have it inside our body." The girl casually reveals that she also has the power.

"What are you talking about?! We-"

"I am you, and you are me. Just say we are living inside the same body, but you have the control for now."

Asahi's body began to tremble at her words.

"You seemed confused. I understand that, but I only have limited time to talk. So I will say it quickly." She approaches Asahi,

Feared by the girl moving closer to her yet she couldn't move her body terrified by the girl's confusing interaction.

"Our power is meant for destruction. Since the very beginning until now, we are a destroyer. But I've seen hopes in your eyes that now our fate may be different. You may find a way to make this endless fight end."

She raises her hand to Asahi's chest,

"But our body won't stand against our raging power that wants to destroy. Each time we use this power will affect our body and mind and gradually eat our consciousness."

Asahi's body starts to glow a purple light as if she was about to transform into her astral armor.

"That's why I'm about to warn you. Start to worry about our skin rather than risking yourself for others." She stared at Asahi's eyes deeply.

Asahi's heart was beating so fast, she stated to lose her stand and began to fall but she managed to hold her feet. And stare back into the girl's eyes as if she is trying to fight the girl's dominance.

"That eye… An eye of will. You sure have the guts to stare back at me. But it won't change things, no matter how much your will to fight it, you'll lose. No matter how hard you resist, you will fall. No one's gonna help you. They will fear you-"

"You know this and that but you also couldn't do anything about it, you are indeed the same as me!" Asahi cuts her with anger.

The girl smiled and stepped away from her, making Asahi gain control of her body.

"What's the point in telling me that? Telling me to stay put without doing anything, then what? Watching people die? I would rather destroy myself than do that." Asahi argues with the girl's words.

The girl laughed as Asahi's confidence backfires on her.

"Let's see how long you can take with that."

The girl started to vanish, meaning that she had a little time to make out her last word.

"When the time comes, feel free to ask me for help. Oh by the way I am giving a small gift that may be useful for you later on." The girl break's her character from being terrifying to clumsy.

"A gift?" Asahi asked.

"Thank me later, also the girl that has the power of The Demon, she needs your help, be sure to help her out and no matter what, try not to kill her!" She completely vanished after saying that.

Asahi fell to her knees, trembling, and weakened by the sudden unthinkable meeting, yet she was still confused by the girl's words that didn't make any sense.

Being warned numerous times about the power she has, losing control over her body the second time and nearly hurting people, and being warned again by a mysterious being that calls itself A Shadow are enough to pop her anxiety and fear upon her life.

She went cold all over her body, like her soul body is covered in ice. Stressed and tired she fell to the ground losing her consciousness.

—-------

Asahi opens her eyes and slowly feels hurt in her eyes. Light that shines her eyes is brighter than she usually sees, and feels warm on her right hand. Only after she looked at her arm saw Belania sleeping while holding her hand.

Realizing she was hospitalized after losing consciousness last night, she sighed deeply and wondered what would happen to her next.

"Y-You're awake... Being dead for 10 hours surely gives you a nice sleep." Belania said after waking from her sleep.

"Don't think of ending up in this place. Did mom bring me here?" Asahi said with a joking tone.

"I did. Mom didn't come home last night. And I found you laying dead in the backyard, what are you thinking?"

Her tone drastically changes anxious.

"I…I don't know either." She hesitates to tell her sister about what happened.

"You are lucky enough to not die of cold. You are being odd for the rest of this week. This is the second time you've been knocked out for unknown reasons. The doctor says you're normal, nothing is wrong with you, but my eyes don't tell the same."

Feeling a strong sense of awkwardness for her sister's condition, her sharp eyes don't seem to accept the truth.

"I think I just need some rest for a while. I'm getting older, you know." Asahi tries to lower her sister's anxious by joking.

"Don't you 'old' me, you are-"

"Belania… Thank you." She deeply thanked her for saving her life.

"Don't mention it, we're sisters. It's a normal thing to do, but for the next two days you are not going anywhere. I already told mom and she agrees with that."

"48 hours with my beloved sister, why not?" Teasing Belania.

"Oh you will feel young again, trust me"

Laughed, both of them shared their sisterly for the first time in a while.

—------

At S.V facility,

"One more!" An dissatisfied tone voice shouting in the training room.

Followed by the sound of gunshots and screams, the girl fights the man with might. Bringing all she had to defeat the man, but the man is more powerful than her, easily evaded all her attacks and quickly counters her with a single blow.

"Enough for now. You are exhausted Sanna." The man ends the battle.

"Huhh… huhh… you are right. I'm on my limit." She catches her breathing, reaches the bench to finally have a rest.

"Gosh, you really don't feel tired aren't you Taka?" She complimented Takaya's durability.

"Nah, I'm tired." Casually throw a drink towards Sanna.

"(Catches the drink.) Thanks."

Takaya sits down on the bench,

"You did great Sanna. I'm surprised you are able to use your power for maintaining your AAguard and attack." He complimented Sanna for doing well in her training.

"No, I still can't do the transformation, unlike me, you and Asahi doing it so easily." She felt unsatisfied with her result.

"Actually I have a trick for that." He said.

"A trick?" She asked.

"Yeah, honestly I've been doing this for years, and finally got the idea how to do it."

"What do you do?"

"First thing is, try to imagine what you need and what you actually want. Try to think what form you need to be."

"In my case, when we're training earlier you shoot me, punch and kick doesn't really affect me because I imagined my power to strengthen my body more than my opponent. So I imagined my power to be exactly as I need it to be."

"The power materialized to be an astral armor that granted me some more durability, but in other ways I can't move around faster because of the weight of this armor, I call this form 'Power Shift'." He explained.

"So you sacrificed your speed to gain more durability…" She catches Takaya's explanation.

"Yeah, and I do the opposite if I need speed rather than durability. It changes the armor compositions and weight so that it becomes lighter so I can move faster. I call it 'Speed Shift'." He explains further more about himself.

"I get it, so if I want to get strong, I simply need you to imagine what I need." Sanna said.

"Unfortunately it's not going to happen for your case." Takaya said.

"What? But, Why?" Her voice tone becomes disappointed.

"You see, our power has a different nature. As an example, Ai's power is able to create any matter of materials such as turning water to be a hard steel sword. But when it came to its durability to withstand a fire, the sword began to evaporate until it disappeared."

"That's why she needs a more powerful material that is able to hold its shape. So she needs to know the material's and its composition then she can create the greater sword."

"So, it's because you can imagine those, It doesn't mean she had control over its creation. And make it stronger by simply imagining it. You must find a logical way to do it."

"For your info, my powers nature is actually the Light, as long as I know how to do it, the light can form as I wanted, but when I want it to shine brighter since my body and mind are still unable to hold its brightness I cannot ascend It's true potential to its highest peak. That's why I can only project my power into power and speed."

Sanna listening to that long explanation, realized that she still doesn't know anything about her power true nature.

"So I need to understand my power's nature, then I can imagine what I'm needed from its nature?" Sanna asked.

"That's right, that's what our training goals, rather than just making you stronger, gains your confidence in battle, why not try to understand your power's nature and figure out what it might actually use it for." He said.

"I really didn't catch that, you are truly amazing Taka." Amazed by Takaya's intuition.

"Not amazing enough if you still don't know it." He jokes to her.

"(Chukled) you are right."

Takaya stand up and walks to the training ground,

"So it's about time to actually start training to understand your power's nature better, You might already have knowledge of that recently from Asahi."

He recalls Asahi's explanation about Sanna's unconsciously use her power in some cases.

Sanna stands and walk closer to Takaya.

"Yeah, she said about it yesterday, but I couldn't understand more about it." She said.

He brings her a tablet and play a footage while she fights Asahi.

"Look at this footage, you precisely predicted her movements and evaded all of her attacks. But your eyes stared at Asahi's face instead of watching her movements. What did you actually feel at that time?" He asked.

"I… I'm actually listening to her swings, and body movements, somehow I found out my hearing is very sensitive to the sounds. By that my reactions may be faster than her attacks." Sanna explained her thoughts.

"That right, Your hearing to sounds are incredible. You used sounds as a main reason to defend yourself." He said.

"Main reason to defend…" She talks to herself.

"So by now we learned that your hearing is sensitive, which is making you react before the thing is actually done. Let's say that is your power's nature, it has to do with sound."

"Sound…."

"Now try to imagine your power, its color, its nature and its form, try to think of it as your armor. By that you will be able to form your First Shift transformation." He guided Sanna.

"First Shift?" Sanna asked.

"Yeah, a first form ever reached for the first time, I call it the First Shift. Let's say that form is an opening to reaching the next level of your power."

She closed her eyes and imagine her power. By forming an imaginary form of energy that surrounds her body.

Her hearing began more sensitive, she hears everything even in the furthest place around her. She imagined that sound as an energy that merges with hers and suddenly her body glows green shining light along, It becomes brighter and brighter.

A supersonic high pitch of sound blows Takaya's ear hurting his ears, he tries to hold his place. Letting Sanna finally manage to transform herself for own will.

The lights began to dissolve, morphing it to be an astral armor, unlike her previous base form, now her dress becomes green and white like it's more looking pure energy wrapping her. Her crown becomes silver and has green gems in the middle.

"It's different from yesterday, It's more brighter…" Sanna was surprised by her look.

"You finally made it. This is the most suitable form that you really want, and it has all of your feelings and needs." Takaya praised her with her first ever development.

"So this is what you call the First Shift?" Sanna's eyes began to surging with excitement.

"Actually, this is your Second Shift, Sanna."

Takaya corrects her.

Takaya sees her excited with the result. He know the only thing to do next,

"Well, because Asahi is still in recovery, the only one who can test you is me-" He transformed to his Power Shift form,

"I'll make sure you had the same experience when you usually fight her."

An intense atmosphere began to fill her, but after she trained with Takaya she learn to be confident and face the challenge upon her.

The battle begin with Takaya striking Sanna first, his speed are fast but not as fast Asahi, Sanna thinks of different choices to attack him instead evading him.

She win the speed after Takaya, and trying punch him in the body but as her hand lands on him she is blown away.

She tried to attempt a second blow with more faster and harder punch, this time she manage to hit him but also hurt her hand because of how strong Takaya's body.

"You sure hardened your entire body huh?" She was impressed by Takaya's ability.

"Little hint for you, when it comes to fight, try to find your opponent's weakness and work with it." He casually attacks her his fighting skills.

"Try not to waste your time watching your enemies' powers and skill too much and spend your power for it."

"Your enemy will try to dominate you with their power, making you feel hard to counter their attacks."

"So instead of enjoying their show, surprise them with your move and you only need once to do it."

Listening to that, Sanna, unable to keep up with Takaya's attacks, slipped on her step and nearly fell. Takaya stopped his attacks, stepping back and making distance with her.

"Now I'll show my secret signature move, this is what my sister taught me about a year ago." He raises his hand up,

"This signature move is based on elemental energy that I manipulated into a ball of fire

it creates heat and blows each time it hits. By converting my power into elemental energy and imagine it as a ball of fire-" His hand glows and a ball of fire starts appearing in his hand,

"Then project it towards my target, and release it!" He releases the ball like a fired bullet.

"W-what?! Are you kidding me?!" She was surprised by the sudden attack that moved faster towards her, she even can't hear the movement like usual.

Stepping back even further to try to make more space, she thinks to do the same like she did before when fighting Asahi. Performing a shooting stance and materializing her power to be a flint old pistol then shoot it toward the Takaya's ball of fire.

While nearly both of the projectile touches, Takaya's ball of fire scattered forming a many little balls of fire and keeps it trail toward Sanna like a missile.

"W-what?!" She was even surprised by the sudden change of the ball.

Realizing she doesn't have a choice instead runs to evade it. She runs to any direction and tries to evade the ball by hitting her, but eventually hitting her, blows her away. Like a rain barrages the ground and explodes when it hits.

Sanna won't stand a chance and try to cover herself and hold still until it's done.

"I forgot to mention that it will scatter, forming little balls and will keep finding its way to you." Takaya explained the work of his move.

"I've seen this movement, Asahi did perform this movement while on training. She calls this move 'Deva' if I'm not wrong." Sanna recalls Asahi also did this move.

"Oh, She also learned that from my sister, actually we trained together." He reveals that Asahi was also trained by his sister.

"But it looks very different from yours." She noted their differences.

"Well if you talk about Asahi, she is very aggressive, she never thinks about finding her opponent's weaknesses, she will straight attack them, not even giving them a chance to strike her." He explains Asahi's ideal fight tactics.

"Yeah, She scattered the ball from the very beginning."

"Now you understand that mine and Asahi's battle tactics are very different. Even so, both of us were great fighters for the frontline." He said.

"I see… I never had any experience with hand to hand combat skills, right after joining the academy I trained myself with Asahi and she was really good at teaching but I couldn't keep up with her-"

"And you only can keep with her in a gunfight right?" He asked.

"How did you know that?" Sanna asked.

"Asahi considers you as her rival." Takaya undo his transformation and sat in front of Sanna.

"To be honest, Asahi considers me a rival too. Back then, we often trained together and both stood equal."

"I remembered that time we challenged to defeat my sister, we worked together but both of us ended up losing because my sister fired us Deva."

"That's why we're so motivated to learn Deva together and have a match for who's Deva are stronger. And ended equal once again."

Sanna couldn't react to the topic. She sees the two as a really great combination.

"But I personally have hope for you." He suddenly said that.

"Hope?" She asked

"Yeah. But let's talk about it in my office, just the two of us."

Both exits the room and walks to his office.

—-----

In the office, both sitting in the chair.

"Sanna, I need you to read this document." He brings the document.

"What is this actually?" She asked.

"This document contains your sister files. From the very beginning until she left XAG."

She reads the document, takes her full 15 minutes to read the document and finally closes the document.

"Arrest warrant." She said

"Indeed, but if you gets it, because you are also part of XAG, your data now has been reviewed and they may have suspicions towards you." He said.

Devastated, Sanna leaned her body to the chair, closing her eyes. Knowing she can't do anything about her sister.

"Sanna, I know this might not be the right time but I also have bad news." He stands up and brings a tablet to Sanna.

"Asahi might also be in danger, she targeted Asahi." Takaya said.

"Asahi? Why?" She was confused about Asahi.

"You were attacked by a Tyrant not long ago, that creature was created by SIN, a biological weapon that was designed to be controlled by human beings. And looks like they have achieved that goal and begun to test it."

"That event was not a coincidence. It was actually tasked to get Asahi but was interrupted by Saega. So you're lucky." he explains the truth behind the attack.

"What the connection with Asahi being targeted and my sister?" still confused.

"We got a intel about your sister's involvement for that matter and she was involved for the attack. We find her data inside a chip on Tyrant's body." Takaya shows her the data.

"Also Asahi's condition seems not in a good shape. Keep it quiet, but last night she found unconscious in her house and ended up hospitallized." Takaya tells about Asahi's condition.

"Wait, what? Hospital? Is it because of that day?" She shocked hear the news,

"No, the doctor say she is all right, I have a feeling she had a problem with her power." he said.

"Her power?"