She remembered the time that she had first met him, stubbornly unaccepting his presence as a Nakai to blame him for her family's deaths. She grew jealous that a privileged weakling like him had the nanosuit that she had dreamed of when in reality, it was an excuse to grow stronger herself. When he had defeated her for the first time, she was thoroughly impressed with his resolve despite his past continuously weakening him from the heart. As time passed, their bond grew to the point where they relayed personal information to one another with the hopes of improving themselves.
But Natia was always stubborn. She loathed the fact that Ryo was better than her in every way despite having similar problems with each other. She was constantly threatening him, pessimistic in every way possible, and loathing him beyond normal. Not because she hated him, but because she was envious of his ability to grow stronger in such short periods. She noticed that not only did he try his best to be optimistic, but he saw only the positives inside herself.
"I don't think you're broken," Ryo's voice repeated in her ears as she remembered their invasion at the Hullbreaker Tunnels. "You're incredibly strong and talented. You fight with so much passion and you have goals too."
They made vows that announced that they were equals. He expressed that he never hated Natia for how much she inspired Ryo to grow. They fought together in battles until Natia realized that she was wrong for dreading his presence. Everything that he said irritated her, when in reality, his presence did nothing but help her move on from the past that she wanted to revisit. In reality, she just wanted as much attention like a childish girl still seeking her mother and father's presence, which was nonexistent for her.
From the start of the mission, Natia had awakened from a terrible dream revolving around the execution of her family. It was one out of many times that she had been alone in pain, left to suffer in it without the support of another person. She was silent, reserved, and had secured beliefs that no one could understand her. Her everlasting beliefs made her eventually conclude that she would die alone without anyone ever knowing who she was or what she wanted to be.
"Your time was never a waste," He said. "We all need to be saved once in a while."
But it all changed when Ryo came into her life, like an unexpected shooting star granting a wish that one harbored inside their heart. It bubbled up and appeared out of nowhere to coat Natia's heart in hope, believing that there was someone out there who listened to every word of hers without being judgmental. No one fulfilled that request more than Ryo himself and realizing it only made her regret the harsh treatment that she endowed upon him.
He cared about her family even more than she had for a moment, being genuinely concerned about her. He cared the most about her when no one else would. He would listen, involve himself in conversations, and offer advice even if he was broken on the inside for what he did in the past.
"You're not a waste of time!" He cried.
It wasn't until she decided to embark on a small journey in the Virgo District, eating, playing, and enjoying their company together. It was a sly moment that she hadn't experienced before, and a feeling that was incomprehensibly difficult to describe inside her heart. But she lived off of it. She thrived in it, yearned for it, and thirsted for it.
"Yakisoba, not yakiboba!"
"Hey, swallow! What are you doing? Stop laughing! Drink it! Drink it!"
"Shit, shit, brain freeze!"
"Hang on, hang on, let me get you some hot water!"
"You're gonna give me some of your food."
"Hey, no way! I was the one that was hungry!"
Because he was that hope. He was that person who would pave the way for her when no one could. And it took her this long to realize it.
She wanted to eat more yakisoba with him, and she wanted to indulge in ice-cold mochi desserts. Not only activities that she had already done prior, but she wanted to experiment and try new things with him.
She wanted to spend her time with the rest of Sunlight: Sumire, Naoto, Jinni, Claude, Nana, Akai, Sophie, and Chiaki. She wanted to embrace her father Rux Zanner for the care that he gave her in saving her from death and destruction.
She wanted to spend time with Saki Shizuka, talking about her growth or gossiping about how silly Ryo and her experiences with him were. She wanted to travel with Ryo all around Aries and Earth, exploring the world laughing, smiling, and goofing just as they did at the restaurant. She wanted to eat all kinds of confectionaries, culturally abundant foods, and snacks with him. She wanted to play with dogs and other animals, relishing in their adorableness and fluffy personality. She wanted to lean on his shoulder once again to relax, knowing that everything would be okay.
"I can prove to you that dying isn't worth it."
"I'm not going to let anything ever hurt you anymore, do you understand me? I'm not going to let anything hurt you anymore! If you get hurt, I get hurt."
Don't get hurt.
"Whatever happens to you, happens to me."
Happens to you?
"Whatever you do, I do."
You'll do it with me?
"Whatever pain you feel, I feel."
I feel it...
"And whenever you call my name, I'll be there. And if I call yours, I want you to be there for me."
Ryo...
"I'm here for you, and I don't give a shit if you say no! I want you to be happy!"
Their final promise of him pledging her safety with him was enough for her to confirm their companionship. And every time that he spoke to her, laughed with her, reassured her with their vows that everything would be okay, she wanted more. She wanted more for her heart. She wanted more for her soul. She wanted more.
And more.
And more.
And more.
Because he was the first to do it for her. And she never wanted it to end.
Is this...
Is this what love is?
"I... don't want to die anymore, Ryo..." She said. "I... don't want to die without seeing you. "Because..." She feebly voiced out as the Jester's tendrils prepared to execute her. She voiced out as she closed her eyes, drowning in sorrow for the things that she wish she did, the life she wished she had. It was all going to disappear, along with him.
"I... love... you..."
Because I love you.
And she saw Ryo.
A deathly stabbing sound commenced, plunging through the skin as the execution had finished. But Natia could not sense death any longer. Nothing had penetrated through her to finish her off. She opened her eyelids and could not believe what she had witnessed.
It was Ryo and Jinrai in the flesh, advancing on the Jester before she had time to finish Natia off. Ryo impaled a neon electric-green shortsword through her pale stomach, which signaled the gushing blood sound through the skin. Jinrai's lightning-quick speed sliced through the tendrils in less than a half second, freeing Natia from the Jester's grasp.
The Jester gasped in astonishment at their impactful coordination, unaware that they had even arrived in the first place because of their ethereal speed.
"You're wide open," Ryo said with an unforgiving blazing relent for the physical and emotional damage she had dealt with Natia.
The Jester yelped, summoning more violet tendrils from her back to strike Ryo. They pierced through her skin and expanded outward, flailing and hoping to strike him. Ryo pulled his blade out and reunited with Jinrai, who grabbed Natia and set her behind them in the blink of an eye. Natia's white nanosuit reverted to black, and Ryo supported in healing her wounds by transferring some of his V2 suit to her.
"Who..." The Jester stammered, turning around after her stomach wound closed up with the power of the memory fragment. "Who the fuck are you?"
As soon as she connected her eyes with Ryo, something ruptured inside her soul. The amber memory fragment on her forehead pulsated with seething anger, and the blinking eye in the center of her chest widened and dilated. It was the same reaction as the time she had seen him before shooting his sister Sumire. Something inside her that night pulled her back and prevented her from shooting Ryo, her primary target.
Now, the fragment was holding back on its true power, hesitating at the sight of Ryo. Despite her monstrous transformation still present, her dramatic strength began waning with each second her eyes connected with Ryo's furious glare.
"You..." The Jester began, clutching onto her forehead in bewilderment at the sight of Ryo's presence. Figments of her imagination began appearing once more, showing Claire surrounding Ryo and treasuring his presence. "What are you doing to me...? Who are you...!?"
"Man, what an ugly psychotic bitch Claire's sister turned out to be," Jinrai joked, thinking about Claire. "Welp, I'll have to tell her that the next time I see her. Hey, asshole!" He called, pulling out the Jester's memory fragment extractor and dangling it by his index finger and thumb like a pendulum. "Looking for this?"
"What are you doing?" Ryo irritatingly asked him.
"Pissing her off, what do you think?" Jinrai replied, chuckling.
"That's... that's my extractor!" The Jester bellowed, letting her emotions take over. Her tendrils surrounded her body, rotating around her and piercing through the ground. "That's... my... EXTRACTOR!" She cried at the top of her lungs, piercing their ears with her loud volume.
"Holy shit, stop screaming," Jinrai irritatingly rubbed the inside of her right ear with his pinky finger before blowing the wax on the ground. "Annoying bitch."
Ryo pointed his shortsword at her, lifting his chin and dilating his eyes. "You're going to pay for what you did to my sister, and Natia," He swore with a bitter tone. "We're going to save you, even if it means beating the fuck out of you."
"Yep! Can't forget that part now, can we?" Jinrai hyped up.
Natia could not stop focusing on Ryo's aura, smiling at him with her mouth wide open. Her appearance was a drastic miracle that she believe she called upon with divine hope. The memories of her family were slowly settling in, replacing themselves with Ryo's figure standing in front of a white beach, waiting for her to follow. And she could see all of that now beside him. Her flushed cheeks began surfacing without her knowledge, and as soon as she realized it, she embraced them instead of hiding them, for Ryo's back was turned.
"Tough talk for a bunch of little thieves like you!" The Jester cried, expanding the mass of her tendrils tenfold. "You ruined my chance to kill that girl!"
"That girl... has a name," Ryo replied. "And her life isn't yours to take! No one's life is yours to take!"
"Shut up..." The Jester muttered. "SHUT UP!" She shouted once again, piercing the skies with her voice. The ground around the four of them rattled like an earthquake's demise.
"You ready?" Jinrai asked, shuffling himself close to Ryo.
"Ready." Ryo confidently replied.
The both of them turned toward each other and smacked their hands together, engulfing each other with an unknown cyan aura that resembled the swiftness of speed incarnate. The mentor was teaching the disciple, and now, both of them were about to show the true enemy just who they were as a team.