A Love that is Mine 6
This is the sixth part in the "A Love That Is Mine"-series. Also be
aware that I am making absolutely everything about Mio up as I go along,
if there is an official story out there (and there probably is) I have
no clue about it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have loved you for years, long before I ever met you.
I know it is a strange thing to say, and I doubt you or even my oldest
and closest friends would understand. It is none the less the simple
truth.
Few of our peers have realized this, perhaps due to the fact that I am
ultimately not our commanding officer, but I have been with the Striker
project from the beginning. When I was recruited as a child we were a
few years away from a working prototype, and every single scrap of data
from that moment on and until the first completed unit was deployed in
combat all came from me.
During these years I of course was in constant and close contact with
the creator of the Striker, and while I would not say that he raised me,
for in essence I was raised by a number of combat instructors, he was
still my mentor and my best friend growing up. A strange thing for sure,
he was a grown man and I but a little girl then, but all the same he was
my best friend.
We spoke of many things, the professor and I, and I am sure he
influenced the way I think more than I am aware of. My favourite part of
our conversations back then were when he spoke of his daughter, and
encouraged by me he spoke of her often.
It must have been the warmth and love with which he spoke that
influenced me or the vivid way he would describe his child, but before
too long I loved her as well even though we had never met. I was a child
and it was a child's love, and so romance did not play into it, but it
did make you infinitely important to me even from that young age.
The professor left his legacy with me for safekeeping. He always
intended for a pair of Strikers to come into your possession, not for
combat as he like any parent of course wished that the war would be over
before you would be old enough to don them, but he wanted to give you
the gift of flight. I don't think I shall tell you given what became of
your unit, but there was a secret behind your Strikers and mine.
The Strikers I use are the first completed and perfected prototype,
custom made in every little detail to my specifications, which is why
they can be difficult for others to use. Yours were the ultimate version
created from the base of my unit, made especially with you in mind and
to be used by no one else. Everyone else wears units that while all of
them just slightly different from one another, slightly tweaked to their
users if you will, are still a basic mass-produced model. Were magic
ability more common even those small differences would be erased in
favour of a standard unit that could be produced in large numbers and
would be easily interchangeable for their wearers, even though this
would make them less effective and powerful. Never so however, for yours
and mine.
While it saddens me that we will never know what the professor's final,
perfect unit built by his own hands was capable of, at least I know it
could not have seen a better or more worthy end. A hive destroyed and a
country freed... you have exceeded even my expectations of you already,
and I always thought you were meant for great things.
I had guarded that unit for some time, waiting for the moment I would be
able to hand them over to you, their rightful owner. The professor
trusted me to find a way to do it, so once you were old enough to be
recruited I managed to convince my superiors to allow me to go find you.
I had decided on my way to Fuso that if I found that your ability was
anything less than top level, I would leave you there and not risk your
life by bringing you back to the frontline with me. Of course you proved
that you were even stronger than I thought you might be, and your
father's last gift to you found its way into your hands in the middle of
combat.
Where once my affection for you was a childish thing, in as much as I
have ever had the chance for anything childlike, it began changing once
you came into my life. You are a constant source of pride and joy for
me, and you are the kind of person that is surprisingly easy to let
inside one's heart. So even for someone like me, who scarcely knew I had
one.
Already by the end part of our journey from Fuso I was consternated to
find that I experienced a strange little trill inside when in your
company, and even worse was the handful of moments I felt my heart speed
up ever so slightly because of you. For me, a person who regularly flies
into combat with less internal turmoil, this was unheard of and quite
bewildering. My fondness for you was ever growing, and I found I wanted
you by my side as much as possible. Any excuse would do.
When we reached our destination you became a source of frustration for
me as well.
For most part you were the same sweet, earnest and honest person who had
begun making me feel just a little bit dizzy or off kilter when I looked
into those eyes for a moment too long, but there was another side of you
that had not revealed itself to me before your interaction with the rest
of the squadron, and it was quickly becoming a source of annoyance.
This rampant teenage lusting after the female physique, regardless of
person or place, made me want to pull out my hair at times, and whether
I wanted to admit it or not by that time I had invested enough of my
heart in you that this behaviour hurt. I was accustomed to this kind of
conduct from several others of the younger members of our team and had
long since ceased trying to stop them, but I had never thought you would
join them.
True, in your case your actions tended to be a bit more innocent or
accidental, allowing me to turn a partial blind eye to what you were up
to, still the gist of it was clearly undeniable.
You were a young teen, barely more than a child. Although I at the time
refused to acknowledge the true nature of my interest in you, I still
felt very clearly the sense of inappropriateness in it while you were so
young. I tried to distance myself from you after that, although I doubt
that you noticed since you simply refused to let me.
How was I ever supposed to be able to refuse a request to train you,
when it was one of my more nostalgic memories of my childhood; the hours
spent in practice secretly making believe that I was teaching you each
thing I learned.
I was a very solitary child and you were, in a way, my imaginary friend.
As an adult I am no longer so solitary; I have good and trusted friends
of whom some have been with me for a long time. It never occurred to me
that the one closest to me, the one I would consider my best friend and
whose leadership I would have followed blindly into whatever danger,
would in any way hold other feelings for me. I wish I had, perhaps I
could have found a way to spare her pain.
The events that led her to reveal her otherwise so guarded heart to me
made me realise not only the unspoken emotions directed at me, but also
those I myself carried for you. It is entirely inappropriate and
unacceptable of me, but there it is and it is true.
I love you, not the childish emotions of long ago, but as a woman for
another.
You, however, are still a child in many things, and although I cannot
seem to change my heart at least I can make sure to never act upon this
revelation. One day when you are an adult I will tell you, and perhaps
by then it too will be a thing of the past, something to merely share a
smile over before moving on.
Until then I will be here, watching over you, guiding and protecting
you. It is not because of your father although I would have done as much
for any child of his, but rather out of my own wish to do so. Forgive me
my selfishness, but keeping you safe as you grow strong enough for all
the great things I know you have in store for you will give meaning to
my life.
You are my treasure, my reason.
Ever since I found myself drawn into those sparkling eyes of yours I
have had something personal to protect beyond the so important yet
rather intangible fighting for the future of humanity, or even the safe
return of friends and allies.
Something precious.
You gave me my heart when you claimed it for your own.
Back to Strike Witches Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction