30 – The Precious Ones

Bonnie put Azalea's body on the floor of a building, quite far from the flora girl's forest.

"I can't imagine how she feels," Bonnie muttered. "It must hurt so much to lose all of that."

Slowly, Azalea opened her eyes. At first, she looked around, then straightened up. "Where is this!? I have to protect them!"

Bonnie pressed that woman's shoulder. "You are safe with us here, Az."

The flora girl's eyes widened. "You… You strangled me from behind…. I can see your metal hands…."

"Don't blame her, Azalea." I approached her. "I gave the orders."

Bonnie shook her head. "But I agree with Axel. We have to save you away from that place."

With an unbelievably stiff movement, Azalea lowered her head. The floors around them cracked, sending Bonnie and me taking a few steps back. Then, roots with fanged flowers emerged from the cracks, ready to attack us.

"I'm sorry I got in your way, Azalea." I'm still trying to bargain with her. "I just feel like you don't deserve to die in that condition. You can have a role…."

"Shut up!!!" She cut me off by shouting. "You have no idea how precious they are!!! They come from various plants in the big botanical garden!!! I raised them!!!"

"If you stay there, you won't change anything!!!" Bonnie was getting desperate. "You better stay alive and start everything from scratch!!!"

The flora girl started to cry. She stood up and turned around. "Don't follow me. I don't want to see you guys anymore."

"But…"

"Come on, Bonnie. We can't do anything if she doesn't want to be with us." I interrupted the armored girl, then spoke to Azalea again. "If you change your mind, you can come to our house in the east, in a residential area. There were only us there. So, you will easily find us."

Still crying, Azalea stepped away from us. Bonnie clenched her fists and smashed the wall into pieces.

"Stupid plant bitch." She hissed.

***

Our return journey was passed in silence. I feel it's inappropriate to speak to Bonnie, who must feel bad about the situation.

Maybe she was worried about Azalea. We have started to bond with that flora girl, after all.

"Why are we humans sometimes so stubborn?" The armored girl sighed. "She is just like my father. He doesn't want to leave our city, even though there are clearly a lot of monsters there. He said he wanted to fight with the others to defend the place. If not for my mother, I would die in that city."

"Well, maybe that's just how humans are. They want to keep what is most precious to them." I replied. "I'm sure your father thinks the city is a big part of him."

Bonnie took a deep breath. "Yeah, he and his father started everything from zero in that place. And then, they became one of the influential ones in this country."

Suddenly Bonnie wobbles, and she lands her E.E.S on the road.

"What happened, Bonnie?" I was surprised by that. So far, she's been fine.

She took off her helmet and vomited.

A guess popped up in my head. "Is it because of the fruit from the Azalea?"

"Doubt it…" She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. "I think it's because of the blood from that monster. Some of them can make you sick, you know?"

This isn't in Project Axiom either. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that, Bonnie. I shouldn't have asked you to shove your hand into that monster's neck."

"It's okay." She smiled at me. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to defeat that monster. And I think it will heal with a little rest. I am strong, even though my body is small…."

And she threw up again.

"I'll call Ciara…."

"No." She cut me off. "If she picks us up, then our house will not be protected by anyone. It is very dangerous."

That tiny girl stood up, took a deep breath, and put on her helmet again. "I can still do this."

"Are you sure?" I'm not sure because her face is so pale.

Not answering, Bonnie flew away again. But it didn't last long. She couldn't control her armor and crashed into the asphalt again. I immediately opened that girl's helmet and found that her breath was fading and her eyes were starting to close.

"Ciara." I contacted the super soldier while keeping my composure. "We have a situation. Bonnie is down. Take us using the bike. I'll send the coordinates in a moment."

"Roger that," Ciara answered.

"Mommy…." Bonnie had tears in her eyes and started to lose consciousness. "I'm sorry that I always trouble you. I'm not a good girl."

Please, hold on, Bonnie. Like Azalea, who doesn't want to lose her plants, I don't want to lose you either.