Chapter Text
Humming cheerily to herself, Ryouko strolled off the plane and towards the baggage claims area.
"We'll create history with a light
that is unknown to even the greatest of gods."
She couldn't wait for the concert! It had been years since Zwei Wing had suddenly gone on hiatus. With an official statement that had been suspiciously light on details, rumors and speculation had run rampant. The leading theory, and the one that Ryouko personally believed was closest to the truth, was that Kanade's worsening medical condition meant she could no longer perform.
There had been speculation that this latest concert was an attempt to debut Kanade's replacement, but then why would they call it a 'reunion concert'? Well either way, Ryouko would be there to witness it.
... Wasn't the movement of people around her slightly odd? Her fellow passengers weren't involved, walking and chatting normally, but there seemed to be a lot of airport staff just standing around doing nothing. Were they expecting trouble? She hoped it didn't have anything to do with her.
"Excuse me? Are you Miss Sakurai Ryouko?"
Ryouko sighed. It absolutely had everything to do with her.
As it turned out, the suddenly return of a fairly powerful alchemist after years abroad was a cause for concern. Ridiculous. Was all the effort she spent to get into the good graces of the Japanese government for nothing? She had even handed over the full details of her research on symphonic resonance, including step-by-step instructions on how to create a symphogear and evaluate candidates for compatibility.
Once they had confirmed her identity by checking her biosymphonic waveform, she had been moved to what was obviously an interrogation room, albeit one that was more comfortably furnished than most she had been in.
Her first interviewer wore a badge proclaiming him to be the head of airport security. He wanted to know why she had come back to Japan and was distinctly nonplussed when she showed him her concert ticket. He left after a few more cursory questions, grumbling about how he was 'too old for this shit'.
Her second interviewer identified herself as an official from the National Alchemy Association of Japan. She wanted to know what Ryouko had been up to outside of Japan for so long.
"Archaeology."
There was a pause. The woman stared at her. Ryouko stared back.
"Could you... elaborate?"
"All of my work is covered under non-disclosure agreements with the various regional alchemy guilds and associations in charge of the dig sites. You'd have to approach them if you want more details."
Her travel history was on her passport, for goodness sake, if the Japanese government really wanted to know what she had been up to, they could get in touch with their counterparts and ask. Ryouko certainly wasn't going to risk pissing off another country and getting barred from participating in future digs.
Unfortunately for her interviewer and whoever was behind this stunt, Ryouko was an upstanding citizen who had been very careful to stay on the right side of the law. Sure, they could always make up a reason to keep her confined, or just drag out the 'interview', but doing that would immediately push Ryouko to defect to another country. While she wasn't as dangerous as, say, the Living Doll Alchemist Carol Malus Dienheim, monarch of the Doll Kingdom and one of the few known masters of SoulSilver Alchemy, Ryouko was also a Named alchemist. Her title of 'Sea Song' wasn't just for show.
So after an hour of going absolutely nowhere, Ryouko was finally let out onto the streets of Tokyo. Honestly, this was why she didn't like coming back to civilisation; too many idiot bureaucrats throwing around their empty authority.
~~
As the day of the concert drew near, Ryouko was mildly perturbed by the sheer amount of security preparations being put into place in the area around the concert venue. Zwei Wing were a big deal locally and internationally, but they weren't that big a deal right? It was like someone expected a Named alchemist to attack or something.
... Wait a minute. Weren't those ritual anchors? Someone had gone to great lengths to disguise them as decorative sculptures, but their true purpose was easily apparent to any alchemist with experience with large-scale rituals. Ryouko frowned. She couldn't ignore this.
The evidence was unmistakable. The entire concert venue and the area around the stadium was being tuned for symphonic resonance. The Japanese government was planning to use the symphonic gain from the concert to do something. Maybe reactivate a relic? Ryouko wasn't sure. She would have to see the center of the ritual circle to find out, but it was right under the stadium and security there was too tight for her to slip through.
Ryouko sensed trouble on the horizon. Something of this scale would have taken time to set up, and the sheer amount of manpower and resources involved meant a leak was all but assured. Just in case, she decided to wear her work clothes to the concert. A shame that she wouldn't be able to wear her limited edition Zwei Wing 1st anniversary t-shirt, but she couldn't risk it getting damaged.
~~
The day of the concert finally came. Ryouko's hat and coat had drawn a few glances but none of the security had seemed to notice the subtle alchemical protections imbued into the garments. Her pendant had gone completely unnoticed. Ryouko felt conflicted. On one hand, she was glad to have encountered minimal trouble. On the other, if the alchemists scattered among the security people couldn't even recognise an inactive symphogear when they saw one, she doubted they would be of any use during an actual attack on the concert venue.
Then again, maybe her paranoia was just getting to her and there wouldn't be an attack. She was here to enjoy herself! Putting her worries aside, she strolled through the merchandise stalls that had been set up nearby. There was the usual stuff: glowsticks (red for Kanade and blue for Tsubasa), stickers, pens, badges, etc. But that wasn't all. Ryouko laughed aloud when she spotted a pile of small foot-long dakimakuras, each with their own miniature covers that had Kanade on one side and Tsubasa on the other.
Ryouko had to be careful with her purchases since she didn't have a permanent address, so in the end she just bought one red and one blue glowstick before settling down in her seat to wait for the concert to begin.
Finally, the lights went dark and the air filled with countless glowing feathers. A simple alchemical effect, but well executed. Ryouko cheered loudly, letting her voice mingle with the rest of the crowd.
As expected, they began with Gyakkou no Flugel. It had been their breakout hit, the song that represented Zwei Wing.
"Hey can you hear the notes? The passionate music playing-" Kanade sang.
"Set it free-" Tsubasa continued.
"Into the heavens!" Kanade finished.
Ryouko sang along with them, as did the rest of the crowd. At the back of her mind, she noted the symphonic gain rising as the emotions and intentions of everyone singing blended together into a singular whole.
"Hey can you hear the sound? The pulse of new life beginning-" Tsubasa sang.
"Let your love-" Kanade continued.
"Overflow from you!" Tsubasa finished.
Yes, she could hear it now, the song rising up from underneath- A song of mercy and life given freely. The atmosphere of the crowd changed as a subtle wave of healing washed over everyone present, refreshing and reinvigorating.
When Gyakkou no Flugel finally ended, the cheering of the crowd was even more deafening than before, as the song of the Nehushtan had more than replenished the energy they had expended.
"Hello everyone!" Kanade called out.
"Welcome, to our reunion!" Tsubasa added.
They spoke a bit more, hyping up the crowd further, before moving on to their next song, Orbital Beat.
Naturally, that was when everything went to hell. Ryouko felt her eyes widen as a powerful shockwave swept past them. That was an Aufwachen symphonic wave!
The doors to the concert arena burst open and a girl staggered inside. At first glance, she was wearing a set of symphogear armaments, but on closer inspection the armoured plates and alchemical mechanisms were actually growing out from her flesh. The girl slowly swept her gaze over the suddenly silent crowd until her eyes fell on Zwei Wing, who were still standing on the stage. Growling, she bared her teeth in a snarl and launched herself at them.
Various men and women leapt out from the crowd to intercept her. Some were dressed in security uniforms, while others were in plain clothes. None of them slowed the intruder down in the slightest. Alchemical sigils flashed and were unceremoniously torn apart, while the people behind them were bowled over or thrown aside.
Ryouko found herself at a loss for what to do. For all her apparent aggression, the intruder was definitely holding back. A symphogear user could definitely inflict a lot more damage if they wanted to. At the same time, most of the audience were still in their seats and many seemed to believe that the interruption was part of the performance, so trying to get people to evacuate probably wouldn't work. In the end, Ryouko decided to wait and see, one hand clutching her pendant while she hummed softly, aligning her biosymphonic waveform to the relic within so she could activate it in an instant if needed.
Meanwhile, the intruder had made her way down to the center of the stage and was circling Tsubasa and Kanade warily, although her attention was definitely focused on Kanade. Kanade in turn was slowly approaching the girl with a puzzled expression on her face while Tsubasa tried to hold her back.
Of course, that was when the Noise appeared. With a deafening screech, numerous portals tore open directly in the middle of the crowd, disgorging a veritable tide of colorful, luminescent forms.
{yantelv ukonvasara tron}
With a flash, her symphogear activated, weaving the melody of Ukonvasara into a protective barrier that clung tightly to her body like a second skin. Armour replaced her clothing and a two-handed battleaxe appeared in her hands. She leapt forwards and swung it with a will, carving apart the Noise around her. When a brief lull presented itself, Ryouko risked a glance at the stage and noted with relief that Kanade and Tsubasa had already evacuated. The strange girl had disappeared too.
Meanwhile, screams started to ring out around her as the Noise made contact with unprotected humans, negating their biosymphonic waves and erasing them from existence. Chaos reigned as alchemists fought to protect themselves and everyone else tried to get out of the stadium at the same time, leading to a frantic press at the doors.
Grimacing, Ryouko sang a series of notes and flicked a transmutation beam at the walls, collapsing them into sand and giving the desperate crowd another route to escape. A few of the alchemists among the security staff quickly followed her example and soon the stadium was emptying rapidly. Good. With any luck, she wouldn't have to pay for the repairs.
{imyuteus ame no habakiri tron}
{balwisyall nescell gungnir tron}
Just when she thought the situation couldn't get more complicated, two more Aufwachen waves swept through the stadium. One she recognised immediately: Ame no Habakiri, the relic which had been used for the original prototype symphogear. The other was the same one from the girl that had shown up, except invoked by someone else. Strange, but she didn't have the luxury of doing more than simply registering the oddity. By now, the entire stadium was filled with Noise. She needed to close the portals.
"Attack the portals!" Ryouko shouted at the two new arrivals, one in orange and the other in blue. She carved her way through to the nearest one and swept her weapon through it, disrupting its harmonies and causing it to slam shut with a piercing wail.
"Who the hell are you?" one of them shouted back. That voice was... Kanade? There was no mistaking it. Ryouko would recognise that voice anywhere.
"We can talk later!" she shouted back, trying her best to ignore the fact that she was talking with Amou Kanade. That Zwei Wing were listening to her words and her song. That Zwei Wing were using equipment that she had made-!
Ryouko forced herself to focus. She could fangirl later, there were enemies to destroy.
It took awhile, but eventually the three of them closed all the portals and cleared out all the stragglers. By an unspoken agreement, the three of them met up in the middle of the stadium, which was the only place that wasn't horribly trashed because no portals had opened there. As a show of good faith, Ryouko let her transformation lapse first.
"I'm Sakurai Ryouko, original designer of the symphogear system," she told them.
"You're Sakurai Ryouko?" Tsubasa said doubtfully, "Commander Kazanari said she left Japan years ago. How convenient for you to show up here, just in time to help us."
"I came to watch your concert. I'm a huge fan," Ryouko explained. Suddenly, a thought struck her, "Since I'm here, can I have your autograph?"
"What?" Kanade asked.
"How do you know who we are?" Tsubasa asked at the same time.
Ryouko stared at them, confused, "Your faces aren't covered. Why wouldn't I recognise you?"
"Hey, if you're the one who made these, can you tell me what's going on with her?" Kanade asked. As she spoke, her transformation lapsed and her armour faded away, revealing the red dress she had been wearing.
Bizarrely, the spear she was holding didn't fade away with the armour, instead transforming into a girl, the same girl who had broken into the stadium earlier, except that now she was dressed in a medical gown instead of malformed symphogear armour.
"What?" Ryouko found herself saying.
"I know right?" Kanade added, "When I transformed, she sang and transformed with me."
"Kanade!" Tsubasa hissed, "Stop talking to the unknown symphogear user!"
"Unknown? I literally just introduced myself!" Ryouko protested as she crouched down beside the strange girl. "Hello? Can you understand me?"
"You smell like a god," the girl told her in a toneless voice, then frowned and tilted her head slightly, "But you're not a god. Do you know any gods?"
"I don't think so," Ryouko replied, "Why do you want to know?"
"I'm supposed to kill gods," the girl said.
Ryouko stared at her dumbfounded. What was wrong with this girl?
"Who are you? What's your name?" Kanade interrupted.
"I am Gungnir, the god-slaying spear," the girl told them.
What?
~~
"So let me get this straight," Ryouko said scathingly, "You found someone highly compatible with the Gungnir relic, and instead of recruiting her and making another Gungnir pendant for her, you kidnapped her and implanted a fragment of Gungnir inside her in some hare-brained scheme to create a human-relic hybrid."
"Doctor Vercingetorix's research-" the idiot in front of her began.
"John used Nephilim cells for his formula!" Ryouko shouted, "The Nephilim is unique among all known relics for its similarities to a living being! The girl could have turned into a statue! She could have died!"
"But-"
"And the worst part of it is that it was completely unnecessary," Ryouko continued, not letting the idiot spout more of their idiocy, "Because you already had a perfectly viable means of harnessing her potential! You could have just made her a symphogear- it's not like you can only have one from each relic at a time!"
The idiot stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Doctor Sakurai, I think you've made your point," the giant of a man standing next to the door rumbled out. He had walked into the conference at some point, but had opted not to interrupt her. "Doctor Yakushi, you are hereby stripped of your position. For the time being, you will be kept under house arrest until the Alchemy Association decides what to do with you."
"You can't do this to me!" the idiot screamed as he was dragged away.
"How did he even get to be the head of symphogear research and development?" Ryouko asked the giant man idly.
"The Alchemy Association recommended him," the giant sighed, before walking over and extending a hand, "I don't believe I've introduced myself. Commander Genjuro Kazanari of the Symphonic Operations National Group, or SONG for short."
"Sakurai Ryouko, archaeologist and former member of the symphogear project," Ryouko returned.
Genjuro laughed, "You don't need to play coy you know? Everyone here has heard of you."
Ryouko smiled wryly, "I left that behind years ago."
"I don't suppose I can convince you to stay? We're a little short-staffed right now," Genjuro ventured, "Besides, there's Miss Tachibana's condition to consider. From what you said earlier, you seem familiar with this Doctor, erm, Ver?"
"Doctor John Wayne Vercingetorix, inventor of Angel Blood," Ryouko replied, the syllables rolling off her tongue with ease born of long practice, "He was a bioalchemy researcher at Yale many years ago. We've collaborated before, well, before he decided to run off and become a mercenary after injecting himself with his own serum."
"As for Tachibana Hibiki, I've already taken a look at her. The Gungnir fragment has already completely fused with her body," Ryouko continued, "The good news is that her compatibility with it is high enough that she won't need any LiNKER. The bad news is that her biosymphonic waveform is, well, let's just say there is nothing 'bio' about it anymore. For all intents and purposes, she is Gungnir and Gungnir is her."
"So there is no hope of reversing the procedure?" Genjuro asked grimly.
"None that I know of," Ryouko replied, "John might know, but I doubt he would be willing to share, assuming you even managed to find him in the first place."
"I see," Genjuro replied, visibly sagging. He looked so distraught that Ryouko decided to throw him a bone.
"It should be possible for Hibiki to reintegrate into society," she told him, "I've run into John a few times after his career change. He's, uh, I hesitate to say 'normal', but he's certainly capable of acting like a regular person when he needs to."
As expected, Genjuro perked up.
"Is it possible for you to contact him?" he asked intently, "I could offer him a consultant position here."
Ryouko shook her head.
"John likes to stay off-grid," she explained, "The most I can promise is to pass on your offer if I run into him again."
"Then I'll be counting on you," Genjuro replied, "Will you be leaving soon?"
Ryouko shrugged.
"Not until I'm done treating Kanade. The LiNKER she's been using is absolute garbage- has no one here kept up with the literature?" she shook her head in disgust, "It'll probably take a few months, half a year tops."
"Very well," Genjuro replied, "I look forward to working with you, Doctor Sakurai, however briefly."