Flowers on an Iron Grave Marker: Gerbera Knows No Tears - A Question on the Battlefield

Rain was falling. From the gray sky, cold droplets fell without end. Iris Cromwell sat curled up inside Gerbera Tetra's cockpit, her arms wrapped around her knees. The only things surrounding her were the cold, mechanical warning tones and the low hum of the machine's drive systems. The ruins projected on her head-mounted display were dyed in that all-too-familiar gray. Yesterday, she had annihilated a survey team. Five field divers. Three pilots. Swallowed by the earth, their flesh and bones vanishing without a trace. Because she had cornered them. Because she had cut off their escape route. *(I am a weapon.)* How many times had she told herself that? The organic black scar ran from the nape of her neck down to her collarbone. When she traced it with her fingertip, it was terribly cold. The identification code etched into her left arm—ZVN-07-IRIS. That was everything she was. Not even a name. *(And yet.)* She closed her eyes. What floated up behind her eyelids were the words she had spoken for the first time yesterday, and that white flower. *"It's beautiful."* If she were a weapon, those words would never have come out. If she were a weapon, she wouldn't have reached out her hand to protect a flower. *(What am I?)_ She asked, but no answer came. Only the sound of rain echoed through the hollowed-out ruins. —An alarm. At the edge of her head-mounted display, a red warning indicator flashed. **[1 Unidentified Unit Detected. Bearing 0-8-5. Distance 12km. Has Breached Outer Perimeter "Ashen Corridor."]** Iris's violet-gray eyes narrowed sharply. Just one unit. Every survey team that had intruded before had always operated in groups. Entering alone was tantamount to suicide. This forbidden zone—the Graozam Forbidden Zone—was that dangerous a place. *(Who is it?)_ She slowly rose to her feet and gripped the control stick. The link harness terminal embedded in her cervical vertebrae clicked as it connected. In that instant, Gerbera Tetra's sensory organs linked directly to her nerves. The coldness of the air outside the machine, the weight of the rain, the eerie pulsation of the earth. All of it transmitted to her as if she were feeling it on her own skin. The organic patterns on the armor's surface shifted to deep crimson, their pulsation quickening. Combat readiness. Responding to the surge of her emotions, Gerbera Tetra transformed into something like a beast stalking its prey. "...Eliminate." It was a confirmation of her mission. And an order to herself. The crimson machine tore through the rain and leaped into the darkness of the ruins. --- Cain Rathford sat alone in the cockpit of his jet-black machine—the Schwarzfalke—quietly steadying his breathing. The machine was a high-speed mobile suit built with the Valtren Federation's most cutting-edge technology. Roughly eighteen meters in overall height. Its streamlined armor was so sleek it seemed to have been stripped of all excess, and high-mobility thrusters spread from its back like wings. Its name meant "Black Falcon." "...Visibility, clear." His deep green eyes traced the ruined landscape displayed on the head-mounted display. The former Republic of Zervia—a military nation that had been annihilated overnight eighteen years ago due to the rampage of Project Titan. Its entire territory had now become Graozam, a land with a will of its own. In this death zone spanning roughly 120,000 square kilometers, what awaited those who set foot inside was either predation by the land itself, or— "The red machine, huh." Cain murmured. The fragmentary combat records left behind by the previous survey team. What had been captured in them was a deep crimson mobile suit—Gerbera Tetra. Abnormal mobility. Firepower surpassing standard machines. And a cold ruthlessness that had completely annihilated the survey team. The mission he had been given was to confirm the existence of that machine, and if possible, destroy or capture it. *(I shouldn't have brought anyone with me.)_ He hadn't brought a single subordinate. Memories from five years ago flickered through his mind. The first squad he, a young pilot, had ever been entrusted with. A deep-zone survey mission in the forbidden zone. The land activation that occurred there. The earth's crust splitting open, something like a wall of flesh surging up, swallowing his subordinates one after another. He still believed it was his own error in judgment. He was the only one who survived that day. The scar running from his left cheek to his jaw was from his escape back then. *(I can't afford to lose any more.)_ He had become more fixated on his subordinates' survival rate than anyone else. That was precisely why he had come alone this time. "...Here it comes." The sensors caught a heat source approaching at high speed. Its reaction speed was faster than any enemy machine before. Unconsciously, he traced his finger over the old tattoo etched on his right forearm. It was a reminder, so to speak—the names of the subordinates he had lost inscribed there. "Schwarzfalke, combat ready." The machine's thrusters emitted a pale blue light. The red machine he had yet to see. What kind of person was its pilot? In Cain's heart, something beyond mere mission parameters had quietly begun to take root. The two machines clashed at the crumbling remains of an old Zervian military arsenal. Gerbera Tetra's beam rifle spat fire. The torrent of superheated energy vaporized the rain and melted through the ruins' steel frames in an instant. Schwarzfalke dodged the flash by a hair's breadth and closed the distance in one burst with its back thrusters. "Fast...!" A reaction speed far exceeding expectations. It read his movements and placed its attacks ahead of him. And everything was done with minimal motion. No waste. A cold, ruthless optimization, like a machine born solely to fight. *(But—)_ Schwarzfalke drew its beam saber. The jet-black blade howled as it slashed across Gerbera Tetra's left shoulder. The crimson armor scattered sparks and was melted through. "Got you." But Iris's counterattack was even faster. Ignoring the damage entirely, Gerbera Tetra, still off-balance, drove its right leg into Schwarzfalke's torso. **DOGGOOO!!!** The shockwave thundered through the ruins. Schwarzfalke was sent flying dozens of meters, barely managing to regain its stance. Warning alarms blared inside the cockpit, and the right leg's drive system began reporting abnormalities. "...Strong." Iris let out a small breath inside the cockpit. This one was clearly different from the intruders before. He was trying to read her movements. And rather than simply destroying, he was observing. It was a fighting style as if he were trying to probe her intentions. *(Why did he come alone?)_ The question flickered through her mind. Normally, survey teams intruded in groups, providing mutual support. Entering alone was, as she had thought earlier, nothing short of suicide. *(Did this pilot come here to die?)_ She couldn't believe that. The eyes he had shown during that exchange—though she couldn't directly see them—were not those of someone resigned to death. They were filled with the will to survive. The battle intensified further. Their beam weapons dyed the rain-hazed ruins in vermilion and blue, snapping massive steel frames like spun sugar. The surviving walls of the arsenal shattered from the heat, and rubble rained down like meteors. Iris reached out to cut the communications, so she wouldn't have to see the enemy's face. She had always done that before. She must not hear the enemy's voice. If she heard it, they would stop being "weapons" and become "people." —But her hand stopped. **[Forced Communication Line Connection]** A warning appeared on her head-mounted display. The opponent had physically forced his way into the line. "Can you hear me, pilot of the red machine?" A low, calm voice resonated directly through the cockpit. Iris froze, still poised to bring her beam saber down. A voice that, despite being an enemy, held no hostility. It was completely different from the voices she had heard until now—voices filled with fear, hatred, and killing intent. "I am Captain Cain Rathford, of the Valtren Federation Special Investigation Bureau, Schwarzer Hund division." Cain. The first enemy name she had ever learned. Iris's throat made a faint sound. *(Why give his name?)_ There was no meaning in giving your name to an enemy. Eliminate them, and it was over. "I want to ask you something." His voice was far too quiet. A strange sensation, as if the clamor of the battlefield alone existed somewhere far away. "Why do you fight?" —*Why do you fight.* Those words pierced deep into Iris's chest like a sharp arrow. *(Why do I fight?)_ It wasn't as if she had never thought about it herself. Eliminate intruders. That was the program embedded in her, and the only way she had survived this hell for eighteen years. But. *(Is that a reason?)_ Cain's question was quietly, but surely, shaking the very foundation of her existence. "...I..." A trembling voice escaped her own lips. "I have no choice." The first words she had ever returned to an enemy in eighteen years. They were so weak and trembling that even she was surprised. The hand gripping the control stick trembled faintly. Hearing that voice, Cain eased his attack. —*I have no choice.* That was the very image of a soldier trying to be faithful to orders, and of himself, bound by the sins of the past. *(I see. You're the same, aren't you.)_ A dark sympathy spread through Cain's chest. He remembered the faces of the subordinates he had lost. He, who couldn't protect them, hadn't even been useful as a weapon. "...Are you a weapon?" Cain's voice was gentle. "You're human. Would a weapon make such wasteful movements?" —*Wasteful movements.* Iris's movements stopped completely. His words had perfectly seen through the essence of her fighting style. That's right. My movements have waste in them. The reason I sometimes make reckless maneuvers that seem to hurt myself isn't just because of my combat instincts running wild. *(I... might have wanted to destroy myself.)_ Perhaps she had wanted to erase the weapon that she was in the midst of battle. "Why... would you say that?" Her voice was almost a sob. Even if she tried to feign expressionlessness, her voice was honest. The more she tried to suppress her emotions, the more the trembling wouldn't stop. "Because I was once like that too." For the first time, emotion seeped into Cain's voice. Bitterness. Regret. "I fought telling myself I had no choice. Killing my own will, because it was orders. ...As a result, I lost many subordinates." The scene from five years ago vividly resurfaced in his mind. The splitting earth. Machines being torn apart. Screams echoing through the comms. And his own powerlessness. "Watching you fight is like seeing my own past." Those words audibly shattered the frozen walls of Iris's heart. *(This person... knows me.)_ Even though they had never met. Even though they were enemies. Iris was startled by the sensation running down her cheeks. —Tears. A weapon has no need for tears. And yet, hot droplets were overflowing, unstoppable. "Why... are you saying this to me?" She asked, forcing the words out. "...From the moment I first encountered you, I felt it. That you are asking for help." Help. That word wasn't in her dictionary. *(Was I... asking for help?)_ No. She thought so. But his words struck too close to the truth, and she couldn't deny them. Twilight was approaching. The rain had let up to a drizzle before she knew it, and through a break in the clouds, a faint orange light began to illuminate the ruins. Both machines had sustained moderate damage. Gerbera Tetra's left shoulder armor was heavily damaged, scattering countless sparks. Schwarzfalke's right leg drive system was also screamin

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Episode 2

Name: Flowers on an Iron Grave Marker: Gerbera Knows No Tears
Author: Novelia

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