Editing BlazBlue:Calamity Trigger Part 2 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 4===

Ragna couldn't remember how he got there.

His body, which should have fallen into the cauldron and been swallowed by the Boundary, was now slumped against the cold wall in a corner of the research facility under Kagutsuchi.
His rough breathing continued, and his head was still dizzy. His whole body was exhausted to the point where he already felt distant, and his arms and legs hung powerlessly. How long had he been like that?

At the calling voice, Ragna raised his eyelids, which he seemed to have closed at some point. There, as he had expected, was the soldier girl with blonde hair, wearing the soldier's uniform, her face contorted as if she was about to cry at any moment.

"Yo." Her face was so pathetic that Ragna gave a light chuckle and called out to her.

Instantly, Noel's face became even more pathetic and distorted, and she began crying uncontrollably, as if she couldn't bear it any longer.

"I'm glad. You're alive... you're alive..." Looking at the seated Ragna from the side, Noel supported him with both hands, her shoulders shaking with sobs as her body seemed ready to lose its strength from relief.

The dripping tears warmed Ragna's cheeks. Neither cold nor lukewarm, the drops of human body temperature were somewhat ticklish.

"You... I didn't notice because you were wearing a hat earlier... your hair's long." His mind wasn't working, and only his thoughts came out of his mouth.

As expected, or rather, as it should be, Noel, who had been crying until then, looked up sternly and began scolding him.

"T-this isn't the time for that! H-how worried do you think I was? You fell into such a strange place, and if you fell in there, you'd never be able to come back again!? And yet... and yet..."

Again, tears welled up and wet Noel's white cheeks.

Perhaps it was unintentional. Noel made fists with her trembling hands and hit Ragna in the chest, as if to vent her unbearable sadness and anger.

"Idiot... idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot!!"

"Whoa, hey, that hurts, don't hit me!"

"But, but...!"

From there on, words no longer formed, and Noel slumped down, wiping away the overflowing tears with both hands, crying and screaming like a child. She did that for a while, wailing and sobbing at the top of her lungs. Then, suddenly, her tears subsided, and a slight weight leaned against Ragna's shoulder.

Ragna, who had been listening to "idiot" mixed with tears all this time, turned around and was utterly dumbfounded. No, it would be more accurate to say he was impressed.

Noel, who had been crying until just now, had completely relaxed her body and was leaning against his shoulder, fast asleep. Her long hair swayed and moved on her slender shoulders, following her breathing. Her eyes were swollen red from rubbing them so many times. Occasionally, mixed with her breathing, her thin chest bounced with sobbing breaths.

"She's crying even in her dreams? Seriously?" Ragna muttered, twisting his lips into a wry smile. "Still..."

Taking advantage of the fact that she was asleep, Ragna stared intently at Noel's face, which was leaning against him, and lowered his eyebrows.

"She really does look like her."

The two Prime Field Devices he had destroyed so far, and Nu from earlier, were of course similar, but this soldier girl was outstandingly similar to his sister, Saya.

That was why, when she showed such behavior... like a scene from a long time ago, he couldn't help but feel bewildered. He didn't know what kind of face he should make or how he should sit beside her.

As if interrupting such a drowsy time, the space in front of Ragna warped. The faint scent of a different fragrance and a pale, familiar face appeared by teleportation.

"You've worked hard. It was an unexpected conclusion that she would inherit the Azure."

A girl with crimson eyes, her black dress and golden hair dancing in the gently swirling wind. It was Rachel Alucard. However, her familiars, Nago and Gii, whom she always brought with her, were nowhere to be seen. She was unusually alone.

"You, rabbit!?"

Not expecting her to appear in such a place, Ragna tried to get up as if he had been bounced. But before he could completely separate his back from the wall, Rachel put her index finger to her lips and silenced the boorish man.

"Be quiet. She'll wake up."

"But..." At Rachel's words, which sounded like a reprimand, Ragna gasped and closed his mouth. He awkwardly glanced sideways, feeling embarrassed, but the face leaning against him remained unchanged, still fast asleep without any tension. He involuntarily let out a sigh, wondering why he was being so considerate.

Rachel, who had been watching the series of his gestures and changes in expression, raised her lips with a mix of astonishment under her pressed index finger.

"Honestly, you're an unpredictable man. You don't have a single bit of etiquette towards a lady."

"Shut up.I don't care about that. More importantly, what's going on this time? And what were you talking about just now, 'inheriting the Azure'?"

''(You're talking to me like I'm a child or an idiot.)'' Ragna cursed inwardly, glaring up at Rachel.

The Azure. Was it different from the "Azure Grimoire"? Then there was the word "inherit." He didn't understand the meaning at all.

"Oh, you were listening properly. I'm impressed."

But she knew he didn't understand the meaning. Ragna hunched over and lowered his head at the red eyes that seemed to read his mind.

"Well, thanks. Never mind that, just explain it to me quickly. But make it as easy to understand as possible. Right now, my head is pretty foggy, so if you talk about something difficult, I won't be able to understand it as well as usual."

"You're saying you understand a little bit normally, then?"

"I do a little bit, don't I!" Ragna raised his voice as if biting back, and Rachel showed him her index finger with a "shush" gesture. That made Ragna choke and pull back. He was extremely displeased with himself for doing so.

Rachel took a breath, looked at Noel with an unusually gentle gaze, and opened her mouth.

"Inheriting the Azure means, in other words, succeeding the Azure. This child was chosen as the true Successor of the Azure."

"This child... you mean her?" Ragna glanced at the girl who was leaning on his shoulder, sleeping peacefully and snoring.

"Yes, that's right. By this child helping you, after you fell into the cauldron, the world was able to escape from the eternally continuing loop." After this introduction, Rachel began to speak slowly, as if telling an old tale. "The world, you know, has repeated the same history... the same story over and over and over again."

It was a story. A story that Rachel, who had lived for a long time, had been watching with her red eyes.

It began a hundred years ago, always, from the point when a monster called the Black Beast appeared from the Boundary.

The Black Beast would eventually be defeated by six heroes, and the world would gradually heal its wounded civilization over a hundred years.

And now, on December 31, 2199, Ragna appeared in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, failed to destroy the underground cauldron, and by falling into the cauldron with the Prime Field Device... the world would be reset.

And again, on December 31, 2099, the Black Beast was born, the Six Heroes defeated it, humanity prospered again, and Ragna appeared in Kagutsuchi again.

Rachel didn't know how many times she had repeated that hundred years. But after seeing those hundred years many times, she had now witnessed the first time that Ragna didn't fall into the cauldron, welcoming the year 2200.

"Is that... something amazing?" Ragna asked. He understood vaguely, but he still didn't really understand. Rachel playfully shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, it depends. If you think it's amazing, it's amazing, and if you think it's normal, it's normal."

"That's why I told you to stop being so incomprehensible..."

He was getting more and more confused.

As Ragna grumbled and scratched his head, Rachel narrowed her eyes and gazed at him. Then she crouched down in front of the sleeping Noel and continued while looking at her carefree sleeping face.

"To put it simply about the Successor of the Azure... well, how should I put it, it's like a new possibility born in the world. Without this child, the world would still be repeating the loop. This child showed the possibility of a new world... the possibility of the Azure. That's why the world was able to move forward."

"I still don't understand."

"You're an idiot."

"Shut up. But..."

He couldn't argue back. But Ragna looked down at Noel and lowered his eyebrows in trouble. 

If this girl had given the world a future, then this girl had also given him a future at the same time. With these slender arms.

"I understand that she helped me a lot."

Despite being a soldier with a fine gun, she was a weak girl who suddenly became unable to move and cowered in fear in front of Nu.

And yet, when Ragna was about to fall into the cauldron, she somehow ran out and reached out her hand, knowing it was reckless.

She must have a cowardly personality. She must have been scared at that time. Her legs must have been trembling, and she must have felt like her heart was about to stop when she thought about what would happen if she fell.

But this soldier... Noel, reached out her hand.

Rachel let out a sigh at Ragna's words. But it was different from being exasperated or making fun of him; it felt like a warmer sigh.

"It's no use talking about anything more difficult than this. You wouldn't understand it right now. So, let's stop here. I'll explain again when we have another chance... to that child as well."

Rachel's face as she spoke was somewhat joyful. Ragna was impressed that she could make such a face. It was a rare and precious face that he didn't often see.

However, as Ragna blinked a few times, Rachel returned to her usual composed vampire princess expression, smoothed out her dress, and stood up. The swirling scent of roses made him forget that it was a cramped underground research lab.

"Stay there and rest for a while longer. I have some business to take care of. When I return, I'll send you up to the surface."

"You're being quite kind today." 

Until now, even if she knew that Ragna was going to raid the branch, she had never once helped him escape or infiltrate. Ragna said it jokingly, intending it as a little revenge for his everyday grievances.

Letting her two-tied golden hair flutter in the swirling wind, Rachel smiled gracefully within the rose-colored magic circle she had deployed. As if saying she would generously forgive Ragna's remark.

"Be grateful and crawl." With a cheerful tone, Rachel vanished with the sound of the wind blowing.

Only Ragna and Noel were left behind.

Noel's tears in her dream seemed to have stopped, and she was now just sleeping soundly and peacefully. She probably wouldn't wake up for a while.

Even if Rachel hadn't told him to, it seemed he would be forced to stay in this position for a while longer.

"...Well, not that I could move right away anyway." 

His whole body felt heavy with immense fatigue and deep wounds. Most of all, he was drained and didn't think he could stand.

He couldn't stay by Noel's side for too long because of the Azure Grimoire's insatiable hunger for life force, but...

A little longer should be alright.

Ragna gently repositioned Noel's head, which was about to slip off his shoulder, then let out a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling.