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Chuchu regretted not doing anything when they took them in. Nika being arrested on terrorism charges? That was unforgivable. But at the time, she had been to stunned, too frozen to speak. Sophie had just died, and seeing her in the same mobile suits that had attacked them at Plant Guetta… It brought back all of the terrifying memories that came attached.
But no matter the circumstances, she hadn’t done anything. So here she was, with the other members of Earth House, powerless. It was infuriating, but also, terrifying. What were they going to do to Nika? Why had they arrested her? And more than anything, why couldn’t Chuchu do anything to fix it?
Eventually, a few officers pulled each of them out of the holding room, one by one, for interrogation. Chuchu was the first to go, being led down a series of winding hallways into a small room bisected by a plane of glass. “State your name and profession, please”.
As much as Chuchu wanted to fight them, she knew that would only bring Nika more trouble, not less. “Chuatury Panlunch. Student”. Plus, if she cooperated, maybe she’d be able to figure out something about what the hell was going on.
“Your classmate, Nika Nanaura, was cooperating with the terrorists that attacked Plant Guetta. Did you know this?” Chuchu shook her head. It was unfathomable, Nika had been with them the whole time, and she was just as scared as everyone else.
“That’s not true! It’s not-“ The man shook his head, cutting her off.
“We’ve gotten an anonymous report who saw her communicating with the terrorists. That is not up for debate. We simply need to know if any of you are working with the terrorist”. Chuchu hated this guy already, acting like he knew everything, a typical Spacian asshole. Well, at least she had gotten a little more information about what happened. Someone saw her communicating with the terr- with Sophie and Norea? It felt a bit awkward thinking of them as just “the terrorists” now that they had names, and Sophie was…
“It’s not possible. She was with us the whole time. She wouldn’t have had time to-“
The man slammed his hand on the desk. “Are you working with her? I’m telling you the facts, so don’t try and deny anything, you got it?” It seemed impossible to reason with him, no matter what she said.
“Fine. What do you want?” Chuchu glowered at him.
“You know the Plant Guetta attack killed people, right?” The man started pacing the room. ”Vim Jeturk? Does that name ring a bell to you? And the punishment for treason is… Well, I’m sure you know. So if you value your life- and hers, you’ll talk”.
Chuchu saw red. Every word this man said was worse than the last, but threatening Nika’s life was far over the line. “Fuck you! I’m not telling you jack shit, I hope you find yourself out of an airlock, Spacian!” She slammed her fist against the glass divider, and she took a hint of pleasure at seeing him flinch, backing up a bit from the barrier. For all the posturing and arrogance he had, it was only fitting that he was this much of a coward. He was armed, protected by the barrier, and still scared of her?
He pressed a button on his radio. “She’s probably a rebel, possibly dangerous, throw her in with the other one”.
Well, shit.
More uniformed men came to drag her out of the interrogation room, blindfolding her this time as they led her through the mazelike corridors. And as they shoved her inside a dark room, she could hear the beep of the door locking behind her.
“…Chuchu?!” A voice, Nika’s voice, came from a corner of the cell.
“Nika!” she exclaimed, rushing over to where she sat, taking a seat on the floor beside her. “You’re okay? You’re not hurt, right? Those assholes didn’t do anything to you, did they?”
As she wrapped Nika in an embrace, though, Nika pushed her off, turning away from her. “Chuchu, you can’t- why are you here? It’s not safe, please!”
Chuchu frowned. “I don’t care, I needed to be here to protect you, so now I am! I don’t care if there are things you aren’t telling us, you’re not a terrorist, I know you aren’t! If they want to hurt you, they’ll have to get through me first!” She turned Nika’s head towards her, forcing her to look in her eyes. “Nika, I know you’re going through a lot of shit, and maybe there are things you can’t say. But that’s what I’m for, you know? To share your burden? To take away that hurt?”
Nika stopped trying to look away from her. “You’d… really do that for me?”
Chuchu grinned. “Of course! I love you, after all!” Wait. She didn’t mean to include that last part. She meant it, of course, but hopefully Nika would brush it off as just friendly.
Nika did not, in fact, brush it off. “You… Oh”.
Chuchu blushed. “I- um, I didn’t- well, I did mean…” She sighed. “It’s true, you know?”
Nika smiled, something Chuchu hadn’t seen in weeks, not since the attack, and Chuchu knew that things would turn out alright. And the next time the door opened again, whatever stood outside, they would face it together.