Editing City Series:Volume6a Chapter8 (section)

===Part 1===

The wind had died down in the cockpit, but Hazel was still curled up and holding her knees in the seat.

Her vision had not been taken from her. There was still a white line down the center of the window in front of her and she could see the blue sky through that.

Things were rushing by outside even more quickly than before.

“Were you born to take the Messiah anywhere she might need to go?” she asked while watching the sky outside.

She already knew the answer to that.

After a short pause, she lowered her gaze to look away from the sky and think.

…''You actually want to return home, don’t you? To the planet or asteroid belt of the meteor used to make the spirit stone you use for fuel.

She smiled bitterly.

“Do what you want to do, Sylphide. Because I’m not the Messiah.”

The Sylphide’s engine roared as if to say it did not care. It was still accelerating.

She squeezed her knees between her arms to curl up in an even smaller ball.

She realized her gaze had strayed a bit to the left. Her seat’s position had slipped. The rotating stand below the seat had turned a bit to the left before fixing itself in place.

She knew why. Sylphide had angled the seat to protect her from the previous bisection and blowing wind.

She laughed quietly in a resigned sort of way.

“Are you sure you want me of all people to be the reason you’ve never been able to run away?”

She let go of her legs, undid her four-point belt, and left the seat. The communicator in front of her remained silent with the needles still on the right frequency.

She started to switch it on, but then she noticed the photo of a young Marsch was still stuck in the gap between the control panel and the window, but the bracelet hanging on the switch was gone.

…''Did it fall?

Feeling like she would be to blame if it was lost, Hazel frantically looked around for it.

She spotted it on the floor, right on top of the seam created during the evolution and repairs.

She rushed over and picked it up.

It was lighter than expected. She started to put it on her wrist but stopped. She held it in her hand and turned toward the control panel to put it back where it had been, but that was when she noticed something unpleasant.

“!?”

It was an arm. Someone’s entire left arm, from shoulder to fingertips, had fallen below the navigator’s seat she had been in. The seat itself had blocked it from view before, but now it was hard to miss.

“Is that Dog’s left arm?”

A black cloth was wrapped around it as if to tie off the shoulder. It was soaked with blood, but it was undeniably a piece of his black coat.

…''Did he throw it in here?

She found her own question sounded oddly carefree given the circumstances, but then she noticed something.

The severed arm was lifeless now, but it held a piece of paper tightly in its hand.

“Now I know it didn’t fall in here on its own.”

The edge of the paper was sticking out and it said “For Hazel Mirildorf”.

That was puzzling enough, but then she heard a metallic sound.

It was a painful sound of metal being torn away.

She frowned and looked around.

“What is this sound?”