"So let's just establish this and get it out of the way: What we're about to do is completely idiotic and something I'm sure anyone above us will not let us hear the end of later, yeah?"
"Yeup. But there isn't anyone else around. We gotta do what needs to be done."
"Can't argue that much."
Soleil hummed as he cracked his knuckles, his and Kiana's eyes on the storm brewing over the building they were now approaching, a trail of dead zombies behind them marking their path from the old school building. As they took a moment to stop, Soleil pulled out his phone, clicking his tongue when the screen still didn't change.
"Still not getting any signal. Guess we'll be cut off until it clears up a bit once we get Mei back to her senses."
"Meaning information about the outbreak also isn't going to be getting out soon. And anyone who might know is planning how to act," Kiana said, checking the last bit of ammo she had for her pistol. "Sooo… what is our plan for this anyway?"
"I thought you were handling the plan," Soleil brought his bat to his shoulder, Kiana staring at him blankly for a moment. "… you didn't have a plan in the first place, for any of this, at all. Didn't you?"
"Well, it's not like you can suddenly expect a Herrscher to appear y'know?" Kiana snapped, Soleil putting a hand to his head. "It's not like you were prepared either Rei-senpai! Who could've guessed this would've happened?!"
"I at least a few escape routes in mind. So it doesn't count," Soleil muttered, looking to the side.
"It totally does! You have no ground to mock me for not having a solid plan!"
"I believe I do!" Soleil snapped, he and Kiana silent for a moment before both started laughing. "I guess we're both idiots huh?"
"Hey, winging it's been working for us so far. We just need to make sure she doesn't run off this time," Kiana flinched shrugged as another crack of thunder broke the air. "We shouldn't waste time."
"Yeah defi-GUGH!" As if out of some kind of spite, along with another crack of thunder, a piece of rubble came flying through the air and smacked Soleil clean on the side of the head, the boy hissing as he bent down and put a hand to where he'd been hit, "Chertovski bol'no!"
"You speak Russian?" Kiana murmured.
"First language, English is my second," Soleil growled as he stood up. His eyes widened as another crack of thunder came with a flash of lightning.
And this time, now before them was Mei, her wing restored and crackling even brighter than before.
"Well look who came to us! Thanks for not wasting our time," Kiana chuckled as she put a hand to her hip. Mei huffed.
"Hmph. It's my time that isn't being wasted. I merely came to squash two insects."
Mei raised her arm, loosing a blast of lightning at both the others. The two targets dodged, and Mei smirked as Soleil shot through the bolts with his bat ready to strike. Mei met it head on, meeting his swing with a slash of her hand, a blade of lightning meeting the barrel of the bat as it ignited with flames, the clash bursting through the air as the ground cracked beneath the two.
"It won't be that easy this time!"
"Wasn't expecting it to be!" Soleil carried the swing through, whirling around as flames coursed along his bat. And with the next swing, the collision caused an explosion as Mei's lightning sword collided again, the two jumping back as they were hit with the shock wave. "Though there's a lot more we can do than just fight! How about I tell you a story? A story about a classmate of mine!"
"You be quiet!" Mei let off a fanning wave of blasts at Soleil, the boy flipping out of the way and vaulting off his hand.
As Soleil retreated, a gesture from his head got Kiana to move forward. Kiana fired what shots she could spare as she skirted around the edge, directing Mei's attention to her, Soleil dashing forward and swinging again, Mei's wing blocking the strike as she turned back to him.
"She didn't have things easy. Her mom died when she was little, so it was just her and her father for years… heh, that's a feeling I can relate too. All she wanted was for her dad to spend time with her, but he was always busy with work."
"SHUT UP!" Mei yelled as she swiped her wing, Soleil rolling away from more blasts of lightning. Mei blocked again when Kiana shot at her, the white-haired girl chuckling.
"But for a while, it wasn't all bad!" Soleil continued to speak even as Mei let out a burst of energy all around her to try and drive him and Kiana away. "She at least thought she had friends at school, people she could talk to and be happy with!" Soleil ducked when Mei slashed with her wing, shooting up and sure to be right in her face. "But that all went crashing down!"
"I said, SHUT UP!" Mei swiped her arm, Soleil dodging just in time as a claw of lightning cam all too close to raking across his chest. When Mei went to blast him, the bolt was stopped as more bullets was zapped to dust by Mei's lightning aura, the Herrscher turning just in time to be met by Kiana's foot slamming into her sternum.
"Just die already you maggots!" Mei lashed back, Kiana smoothly rolling back and cartwheeling out of her range,
"Gonna have to try harder than that!" Soleil leaped back in, bat meeting lighting once more as he tried to push through Mei's guard. "So, she wondered and wondered, why did everyone turn on her? Why was the world suddenly so cruel?"
"DIE ALREADY!" Mei threw another blow at Soleil, lightning arcing across her arm. But, rather than a clean connection, even when it caused pain to arc up his arm, Soleil caught the first, the lightning clashing with the flames coursing from his palm. "Damn you!"
"Like I said, going to have to try harder!" Soleil grit his teeth, speaking through the jolts of pain. "I know what it feels like Mei, I've been there! But you can still come back from this! So shut up and listen to me! If you need someone to help you, then let me and Kiana be that for you!"
Soleil forced Mei's arm to the side, gripping his bat with both hands, blue flames rippling across it, forcing it past Mei's grip and blowing the Herrscher away in a wave of heat, sending her reeling back and into the wall of the building. Soleil panted as he wavered a bit, his left arm numb and crackling with electrical sparks. His Stigmata mark was glowing enough to be visible under his shirt, his eyes bearing a red glint of their own to them now.
"Do you think that managed to do it?" Kiana asked, Soleil shaking his head.
"I don't think so. The air still feels heavy," Soleil wiped his mouth of a bit of blood on his chin, and he was proven right as the smoke cleared. While she looked like she'd taken the damage, Mei hadn't lost the marks of being a Herrscher, and now just look supremely maddened. "Called it."
"Darn, what is it going to take to snap her out of it?" Kiana muttered, aiming her pistol. But, surprisingly, when Mei moved forward, she lurched. Her wing started to flicker out, and her eyes flashed back and forth between their natural color and the Herrscher's red.
"N-No! She can't be… she's trying to take control again?!" Mei then screamed as a pulse of energy shot from her body, Soleil catching Kiana as they flew back, planting his bat into the ground to bring them to a stop. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! Just stay quiet you useless girl! Don't you dare try and come out now!"
"She's actually fighting back!" Kiana said, putting a hand near her mouth. "Mei! You hear me right?! Keep fighting! If you can win back control, then you can…"
"SHUT UP!" Mei roared and fired a bolt of lightning at the two, Soleil and Kiana dodging it. Mei growled as she put a hand to her face, and with a flare of her wing, the Herrscher flew up, to the roof of the building.
And as she did, zombies began to shuffle out from the trees and the building.
"She must be trying to get closer to the storm!" Soleil said, he and Kiana already running for it as rain began to pour down. "If I'm right, the storm above us is concentrated Honkai Energy formed because of her Herrscher Core!"
"I get it! If she's closer to that storm, then she can get power faster!" Kiana turned, shooting at and kicking away zombies as they rushed into the building. "But that also has to mean the Herrscher's control is slipping if she feels a need to head there!"
"Which means there's a chance to break through!" Soleil gathered fire in his hand, forming a ball he lobbed at the incoming zombies as Kiana shouldered through the remains of the school's front door, dashing after her now that something was stalling the zombies for a bit. "I just need to get close. I think if I hit her again the way I did before, I can snap her out of it this time!"
"Will do!"
"Just know I'm here," the "other" spoke in Soleil's mind as he and Kiana ascended. "You might not be able to win as you are… but don't worry too much. Knowing you, you may pull through anyway… though who knows how?"
"Just shut up and watch me."