A Love That Is Mine 6

Strike Witches-fanfic. Mio on the subject of the heart, the past, and of secrets.
Sixth part in a series of short stories.
(Mio/Yoshika)

Read A Love That Is Mine 6

Disclaimer: All things Strike Witches belong to Gonzo and a bunch of others, though I’m sure I’m not hurting anything by borrowing them for a bit.

This is the sixth part in the “A Love That Is Mine”-series. Also be aware that I am making absolutely everything about Mio up as I go along, if there is an official story out there (and there probably is) I have no clue about it.




A Love That Is Mine 6
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





I have loved you for years, long before I ever met you.

I know it is a strange thing to say, and I doubt you or even my oldest and closest friends would understand. It is none the less the simple truth.

Few of our peers have realized this, perhaps due to the fact that I am ultimately not our commanding officer, but I have been with the Striker project from the beginning. When I was recruited as a child we were a few years away from a working prototype, and every single scrap of data from that moment on and until the first completed unit was deployed in combat all came from me.

During these years I of course was in constant and close contact with the creator of the Striker, and while I would not say that he raised me, for in essence I was raised by a number of combat instructors, he was still my mentor and my best friend growing up. A strange thing for sure, he was a grown man and I but a little girl then, but all the same he was my best friend.

We spoke of many things, the professor and I, and I am sure he influenced the way I think more than I am aware of. My favourite part of our conversations back then were when he spoke of his daughter, and encouraged by me he spoke of her often.

It must have been the warmth and love with which he spoke that influenced me or the vivid way he would describe his child, but before too long I loved her as well even though we had never met. I was a child and it was a child’s love, and so romance did not play into it, but it did make you infinitely important to me even from that young age.

The professor left his legacy with me for safekeeping. He always intended for a pair of Strikers to come into your possession, not for combat as he like any parent of course wished that the war would be over before you would be old enough to don them, but he wanted to give you the gift of flight. I don’t think I shall tell you given what became of your unit, but there was a secret behind your Strikers and mine.

The Strikers I use are the first completed and perfected prototype, custom made in every little detail to my specifications, which is why they can be difficult for others to use. Yours were the ultimate version created from the base of my unit, made especially with you in mind and to be used by no one else. Everyone else wears units that while all of them just slightly different from one another, slightly tweaked to their users if you will, are still a basic mass-produced model. Were magic ability more common even those small differences would be erased in favour of a standard unit that could be produced in large numbers and would be easily interchangeable for their wearers, even though this would make them less effective and powerful. Never so however, for yours and mine.

While it saddens me that we will never know what the professor’s final, perfect unit built by his own hands was capable of, at least I know it could not have seen a better or more worthy end. A hive destroyed and a country freed... you have exceeded even my expectations of you already, and I always thought you were meant for great things.

I had guarded that unit for some time, waiting for the moment I would be able to hand them over to you, their rightful owner. The professor trusted me to find a way to do it, so once you were old enough to be recruited I managed to convince my superiors to allow me to go find you. I had decided on my way to Fuso that if I found that your ability was anything less than top level, I would leave you there and not risk your life by bringing you back to the frontline with me. Of course you proved that you were even stronger than I thought you might be, and your father’s last gift to you found its way into your hands in the middle of combat.

Where once my affection for you was a childish thing, in as much as I have ever had the chance for anything childlike, it began changing once you came into my life. You are a constant source of pride and joy for me, and you are the kind of person that is surprisingly easy to let inside one’s heart. So even for someone like me, who scarcely knew I had one.

Already by the end part of our journey from Fuso I was consternated to find that I experienced a strange little trill inside when in your company, and even worse was the handful of moments I felt my heart speed up ever so slightly because of you. For me, a person who regularly flies into combat with less internal turmoil, this was unheard of and quite bewildering. My fondness for you was ever growing, and I found I wanted you by my side as much as possible. Any excuse would do.

When we reached our destination you became a source of frustration for me as well.

For most part you were the same sweet, earnest and honest person who had begun making me feel just a little bit dizzy or off kilter when I looked into those eyes for a moment too long, but there was another side of you that had not revealed itself to me before your interaction with the rest of the squadron, and it was quickly becoming a source of annoyance.

This rampant teenage lusting after the female physique, regardless of person or place, made me want to pull out my hair at times, and whether I wanted to admit it or not by that time I had invested enough of my heart in you that this behaviour hurt. I was accustomed to this kind of conduct from several others of the younger members of our team and had long since ceased trying to stop them, but I had never thought you would join them.

True, in your case your actions tended to be a bit more innocent or accidental, allowing me to turn a partial blind eye to what you were up to, still the gist of it was clearly undeniable.

You were a young teen, barely more than a child. Although I at the time refused to acknowledge the true nature of my interest in you, I still felt very clearly the sense of inappropriateness in it while you were so young. I tried to distance myself from you after that, although I doubt that you noticed since you simply refused to let me.

How was I ever supposed to be able to refuse a request to train you, when it was one of my more nostalgic memories of my childhood; the hours spent in practice secretly making believe that I was teaching you each thing I learned.

I was a very solitary child and you were, in a way, my imaginary friend.

As an adult I am no longer so solitary; I have good and trusted friends of whom some have been with me for a long time. It never occurred to me that the one closest to me, the one I would consider my best friend and whose leadership I would have followed blindly into whatever danger, would in any way hold other feelings for me. I wish I had, perhaps I could have found a way to spare her pain.

The events that led her to reveal her otherwise so guarded heart to me made me realise not only the unspoken emotions directed at me, but also those I myself carried for you. It is entirely inappropriate and unacceptable of me, but there it is and it is true.

I love you, not the childish emotions of long ago, but as a woman for another.

You, however, are still a child in many things, and although I cannot seem to change my heart at least I can make sure to never act upon this revelation. One day when you are an adult I will tell you, and perhaps by then it too will be a thing of the past, something to merely share a smile over before moving on.

Until then I will be here, watching over you, guiding and protecting you. It is not because of your father although I would have done as much for any child of his, but rather out of my own wish to do so. Forgive me my selfishness, but keeping you safe as you grow strong enough for all the great things I know you have in store for you will give meaning to my life.

You are my treasure, my reason.

Ever since I found myself drawn into those sparkling eyes of yours I have had something personal to protect beyond the so important yet rather intangible fighting for the future of humanity, or even the safe return of friends and allies.

Something precious.

You gave me my heart when you claimed it for your own.