Author's note: Happy August 28th everyone! Today's the birthday of our stoic, but lovable buster blade user, Soma! This is my first time writing a fic revolving around him, so I hope I managed to make this heartwarming for all to read. If you want to point out any problems of how I wrote Soma here, be my guest. I try to get into his head as much as I can. Let's get this show on the road shall we?

All copyrights (except my avatar) belong to the original creators and producers. For those who want a visual on my character here is the profile, based on the game:

Name: Drake Galios

Gender: Male

Code name: 11th hour

Hairstyle: 5

Color: 15

Face: 6

Skin: 1

Top: Petunia Jacket

Bottom: Naval Slit

Voice: 4

Enjoy!

Soma quietly ate his tray of rations, as he sat at a table in the furthermost corner. His eyes were closed while he listened to the busy activity of the crowd.

His sensitive hearing then picked up a series of footsteps from behind, and noticed that they were coming towards him.

Soma focused his hearing on the footsteps and began to evaluate it. One…..two…three….four…..five; there were five pairs of feet approaching him. Through his ears, he interpreted the noise of each footstep that was made; two clacks, two soft taps, and one sole making a rough scruff on the tiled floor.

The man smiled to himself as he figured out who was approaching him.

Without turning around, he called out to them. "Hey Drake," he greeted. "And you've brought the whole gang too."

Drake and the others stopped in their tracks, caught off guard by his highly attentive behavior. Soma began to imagine the others' expressions. He calmly continued eating, paying little to no attention to their surprise.

"Whoa, what?" Kota replied in shock.

"Hold on," intervened Alisa. "How did you know we were behind you?"

"I can hear your footsteps." Soma answered.

Another look of shock came across Alisa's face. She looked behind her, as she glanced at the crowd of God Eaters and Fenrir employees, busily moving about and talking. "Over all this noise?" She turned back to Soma.

Lindow laughed at the appalled Alisa, somewhat half-expecting Soma's attentive listening. "That's Soma for ya. He can hear things that others can't."

Drake smiled at Lindow's comment and added, "The very reason why I usually don't try to sneak up on him."

Soma inwardly smiled at the defensive comment in amusement. The others took the empty seats, making the taciturn man become part of the group circle. As the others chatted with each other over their food, Soma silently overheard their conversation on the side. He overheard Kota and Lindow making japes to Alisa. In response, she ignored them and sipped her drink, being used to their childish side. However, Drake suddenly joined in on the jokes, almost making Alisa do a spit take. Sakuya couldn't help but laugh at the usual commotion, making Soma smile as well.

"Hey Soma," called Kota.

Said man turned his attention to Kota.

"There's a meteor shower that will happen tonight, and Doc's found a high safe spot at the Tranquil Temple. The clouds just cleared up too. You wanna come with?"

"Well…."

The others stared at him in expectation as he pondered at the invitation.

"Actually, I can't."

They became surprised at the rejection.

"Huh? Why not? Not only is the meteor shower out, but there's even a clear view of the moon. Don't you want to take a closer look?" questioned Kota.

Soma didn't say anything in response. As a short silence was between the group, Drake eyed the buster blade user. Soma then stood up from his chair, leaving his tray of half-finished rations behind. "I just can't. Look, I need to go. See you."

Alisa was about to stop Soma from leaving until she felt a hand on her shoulder pulling her down. She looked down seeing that it was Drake's.

The hooded man then left the room, leaving the others in confusion.

"Ah, hey!" called Alisa. "What was that all about?"

"You need to leave to him be for a little bit." Said Drake.

All eyes was turned to the bluenette.

"Huh? Why's that? Did something happen to Soma?" asked Sakuya.

Lindow answered her question. "Right now isn't a good time. Today, he's planning to pay a short visit to someone."

Kota repeated, "Visit someone? But Lindow, today is-"

"Soma's birthday," He finished. "I know. But that's exactly why he needs to be left alone for a bit. Did you forget that he also lost his mom during his birth?"

A heavy silence hung within the air as the others couldn't form an answer to Lindow's question.

Drake then finished where Lindow left off. "Not only that, but it's also a day of reminding him of what he is. Sakaki talked to me about Soma's behavior to his birthday every year; part of the reason why he suddenly invited us to go view the meteor shower with him. Unlike the rest of us, Soma wasn't born to be human in the first place. Being reminded of his birthday is practically a slap to his face of everything he lost."

"So," said Kota. "Today's a bad time?"

"Only for now." Said Drake.

"For now?" questioned Alisa.

"Because I'm going to go talk to him. Leave open spaces for the meteor shower tonight, okay?"

"Drake…."

The leader finished the last of his food and stood up from his chair. As he took the tray and placed any remaining garbage in the trash bin, he piled it with the other trays. "I'll see you guys tonight." With that, the leader left the cafeteria room.

Soma sat in his room and rested his head on the couch. He listlessly gazed at the ceiling while hearing the faint hum of the terminal. He turned his head to an object beside him. He turned the object, revealing a picture frame. Three familiar faces were taken in the photograph, as they stood in front of a Fenrir flag in an office. There stood Johannes, Sakaki, and Aisha. Soma wondered to himself why sentimentally kept the photo as is, especially since it held the face of his insufferable father, and Sakaki, whom he resented. As far as he knew, the photograph was the only one he found that held Aisha.

The only thing he could remember about his mother were her last words before passing on.

You will bring joy into this world. Protect everyone from the Aragami.

Soma bit his lip and clenched on his clothes. "…..the hell am I doing?" He angrily whispered to himself.

Without noticing, his speaker door buzzed. Soma jumped a little from the noise.

"How long are you going to keep yourself there?"

Soma relaxed as he heard Drake. "Just leave me alone." He replied bitterly.

"I thought you were going to pay a visit to your mom's grave."

Soma became silenced as he was disarmed by Drake's words.

"I'm not stupid, you know. I know that today's your birthday."

The buster blade user clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Then you should know why I'm here. This is what I am after all, and I ruined the lives of others."

"I wouldn't say so. If you hadn't been born, we all would've died. And besides, we wouldn't be here right now talking."

"…."

"It doesn't matter what you are. In this dying world, life is quite precious."

"Still….."

Drake sighed and decided to shake Soma up a bit. It was a bit of a taboo to speak her name, but he had little choice. "About Shio."

Soma bit his tongue as heard the familiar name. He didn't know if he should stop Drake or ignore him.

"She taught me something very important when she was still here. No matter how messed up a life is, a life is still a life. So who cares? We're a bunch of ragtag misfits, totally different from others. And If anybody else comes up with some smart comment-"

The door hissed and Drake stepped into the room, finding Soma on the couch. The two locked their gazes at each other.

"Then I'll take anyone down who hurts my friends." He proudly smiled.

Soma looked away and grunted. He ruffled his blonde hair and clicked his tongue.

"And besides-" Drake looked towards the door.

Soma gave a questioning look and followed Drake's gaze. His breath hitched, as he spotted a familiar shifty-eyed face.

"Somebody else would do the same thing, especially for you."

"…." Soma frowned at Sakaki as the doctor came into his room.

"Do you want to go to the Tranquil Temple with me and the others? I've got most of my equipment for all of you to use."

"….."

"I know that everything that I've done back at the project, and to you, was the most horrible thing I've done. If I had a chance to recover what you lost, I'd take it, but I can't. What I've done is unforgivable, but the least I can do is redeem myself and repair those losses. So, do you wanna see the meteor shower with me?"

"..."

Sakaki became nervous at the given silence. "Soma?"

He sighed and ruffled his blonde hair, feeling defeated by their invitation. "Okay." He answered.

Drake and Sakaki smiled widely at his answer.

"But on two conditions." He demanded.

The two listened carefully, almost hesitant to know.

"You let me borrow some equipment that'll get me a good view of the moon and….."

"And?" questioned Sakaki.

"After we finish… come with me to visit my mom's grave. I wanna pay my respects." He blushed.

Sakaki smiled and nodded. "Sure."

A small grin tugged at Soma's lips. "Let's see that meteor shower, eh?"

"Yeah. And Soma?"

"Hm?"

"Happy birthday."

Soma smiled gently at the doctor. "Thanks, Sakaki."

Author's note: Thanks for reading this short story till the end here everyone! For those who are waiting for the next chapter of Truth Behind His Past, please just be patient for just a little longer. Until next time everyone!