Laughing Skies

Location: Southern Sky Fields – Gaia Frontier Base

The first thing Elaine noticed when she stepped out of the hovercraft was the wind—it was soft, playful, dancing across the grass as if nature itself had missed her. She stretched her arms toward the pale afternoon sky, her fingers carving invisible arcs in the breeze. A giggle escaped her lips.

"I missed this," she said aloud, turning to the others.

Behind her, Cyg, Hikari, and Charlotte stepped off, their boots crunching against the dry dirt. This mission was technically minor—reconnaissance and Rift stabilization on a newly fluctuating leyline—but Gaia assigned several members of the Octagon due to its unpredictable pulse readings. Any Abyssal sign had to be checked thoroughly.

"You sound too excited for a potential Rift disaster," Charlotte remarked, peering through her scanner. Her silver eyes blinked in calculated sequence. "The readings aren't stable. It's like a storm trying to form without clouds."

Elaine just grinned. Wind tugged her blonde hair playfully, strands fluttering like ribbons around her face.

"Storms are nature's laughter, Charlotte."

"That's… incredibly incorrect," Cyg replied, adjusting his visor.

Elaine twirled on her heel, laugh erupting again. Even now, amid their long battles and rising tensions with Orion and the Abyss, Elaine was joy incarnate—sunlight in human form. But beneath that smile, behind the gusts of cheer, the wind hid something quieter. And today, that silence would begin to stir.

Flashback: A Village in Ruins – 7 Years Ago

The skies had not laughed that day.

A twister—unnatural, abrupt, Abyss-induced—had torn through her hometown of Verdra. Her father's orchard reduced to splinters, her mother's bakery swallowed in swirling destruction.

Elaine had run.

Not out of cowardice, but because her father had screamed for her to run. Her younger brother hadn't made it.

She had never cried for him.

Not once.

Because if she let the grief in, she was afraid the wind inside her would stop.

Present – Observation Tower

"Elaine, you're drifting again."

Thea's voice crackled through the comms. Thea, ever the commander, could read a silence like a general reads a battlefield.

"Sorry, sorry!" Elaine said, snapping back to attention as she flung herself up the metal stairwell of the observation tower. "Sky was just... teasing me."

"Be serious. Rift activity just jumped from Beta-2 to Beta-6. Get a visual read immediately."

At the top of the tower, the sky opened in every direction. The world below swayed under azure serenity, and yet, a faint ripple disturbed the clouds near the horizon.

Elaine's eyes narrowed.

A pulse.

The wind shifted unnaturally—then returned to calm.

"There it is again," she whispered. "Something's… bending the current."

Nightfall – Base Camp

The rest of the team set up camp under the stars. Charlotte tapped at her floating screen, mumbling equations. Cyg remained in silent contact with Gaia's HQ, giving periodic updates.

Elaine stood apart, arms open again, letting the cool breeze carry her thoughts.

"You're always out there like that," said a gentle voice.

Elaine turned. Hikari stood behind her, draped in her midnight cloak, hands tucked neatly in her sleeves.

"Looking at the wind?"

"No," Elaine replied, smiling faintly. "Listening to it."

Hikari walked beside her, gaze cast skyward.

"What does it say?"

Elaine hesitated.

"It's… restless tonight."

"Like you?"

Elaine chuckled.

"Maybe."

There was a long pause. Just the wind whispering between them, brushing their faces.

"I envy you, sometimes," Hikari said, voice soft. "You always seem so… light. Like nothing ever clings to you."

Elaine's smile faltered for the first time.

"It's not that it doesn't cling," she said. "I just… don't let it settle."

She closed her eyes. "If I stop smiling, I'm afraid I'll remember everything I've been running from. So I dance. I laugh. Because otherwise, the silence will win."

Hikari reached out and gently touched Elaine's hand.

"You don't have to run with us."

Elaine looked at her, surprised.

"You can stand still now. We're here. We'll hold you when the wind dies."

Elaine didn't reply. Her eyes glimmered—but they weren't tears.

Dawn – Skirmish Point Alpha

The ground cracked open near the field where Verdra once stood.

From it, a gust of corrupted wind erupted—black and silver, twirling like a cyclone of dying stars. A creature emerged from its core: a serpentine Abyss beast with wings that flared like shredded sails. Its scream shattered two nearby drones.

Cyg snapped into action immediately.

"Hostile airborne! Rank 3 Abyss! All units, engage."

Charlotte darted across the grass, activating her gear constructs. Hikari swung Sanguira, blood and mist gathering around her.

Elaine hovered in the wind.

For a moment, she froze.

Because the monster's howl reminded her of that day.

Of that tornado.

Of her brother's scream.

Her hands trembled.

"Elaine!" Cyg barked. "Take the skies now!"

"You can stand still now. We'll hold you…"

Hikari's voice echoed in her mind.

She smiled softly.

"No," she whispered. "I'll fly forward."

Elaine's Awakening

She soared upward, rapier Aetheris glowing in a luminous spiral.

The wind wrapped around her not as an escape—but as an extension of her soul. It recognized her resolve.

Divine Assimilation: Aetheris — Zephyr Crown

Her armor expanded into sleek turquoise plates, feather-light. Her rapier transformed into a shimmering double-bladed lance of flowing air. Wings of wind burst behind her.

She dove.

And the wind sang.

Each strike from Elaine sliced the wind serpent's body with sonic precision. It howled in fury, but the wind turned against it, rejecting the unnatural corruption that birthed it.

Elaine landed gently as the Abyss fell into dust.

Cyg lowered his weapon, watching her.

"That… was beautiful."

"That," Elaine said, cheeks flushed, "was me... finally listening."

Evening – Gaia HQ Rooftop

Elaine and Cyg stood side by side, watching the horizon.

"You were afraid of the wind?" he asked gently.

"No. I was afraid it would stop."

"It won't," he said.

She turned to him, curious.

"Why?"

Cyg hesitated for a heartbeat. Then:

"Because you are the wind now."

Elaine laughed, tears welling.

"That was... cheesy."

"I'm not programmed for charm," Cyg replied dryly.

She leaned against him, content.

"I liked it."