Disclaimer: I do not own God Eater 2 or any of the God Eater franchise. I do, however, own the protagonist and her name.
This is a sequel to 'Wonder'.
WARNING. SPOILERS TO GOD EATER 2 AHEAD.
Julius Viscounti was a man who did not let his emotions get the better of him.
As the Captain of the Special Blood Forces unit, he could not afford to let the illogical part of humanity rule over any of the decisions he made. The lives of civilians and of those who served underneath him all depended on him to keep a level head under any kind of pressure.
But Julius could care less about his reputation of being the calm and collected leader of the unit that came to investigate the source of the 'Red Rain' as he raced off to the last place where the Vice-captain's armlet had given off a signal. His chest burned for air and his legs ached for him to stop, but Julius continued on.
He couldn't lose her too.
Not when they had already lost Romeo.
The thought of Romeo closing his eyes one final time in his arms made him press on even further.
Julius would later on explain to his superiors that the reason for his actions was to prevent further demoralization. Romeo's death had affected not only the personnel within the Blood Unit, but those he associated with in the Far East Fenrir Branch. Romeo had been a popular figure within both organizations and even weeks after he had been put to his final rest, his death was still felt strongly by everyone.
Especially his Vice-captain.
Whenever he could bring himself to look at her, the guilt of letting Romeo run out into the red rain to rescue an elderly couple he came to care for and die came crashing down on him all over again. Both his Vice-captain and Sergeant Major had been extremely close friends ever since the former's recruitment into Blood. One did not have to look too hard to find the Vice-captain, Romeo and their mutual friend Private Nana Kazuki laughing together over something.
But ever since Romeo's death, the light that usually lit up the Vice-captain's gold eyes had extinguished. Romeo's passing had broken something in all of them, but it had shattered his second-in-command to the point that Julius wondered if she would ever smile again.
He liked it when his Vice-captain smiled. Her smiles were vibrant and lit up whatever room she was in, something that he would never admit out loud. Whenever she smiled, Julius tended to pay extra attention to her. He didn't realize this until both Nana and Romeo had asked why he was starring at the Vice-captain.
It was then that he realized that maybe he saw his Vice-captain as something more than a Vice-captain.
As in romantically.
Such a thing was unbecoming for a Captain, but there was nothing he could do about it.
As Captain, Julius was suppose to retain a certain distance from those under his command. He was to be friendly, amiable, but distant. It was necessary, his mother figure and the founder of Blood, Dr. Rachel Claudius explained to him. No matter how good a commander he was, people would always die. There was simply no way around it in a post apocalyptic world where they were constantly at odds with the fallen gods.
Getting close to his men would lead to constant heart break should they ever lose in their fight against the gods. It was cold and there would be resentment aimed towards him for it, Rachel went on, but it was necessary in the long run for his sanity.
He couldn't be a good leader if he was insane, after all.
Julius had never doubted Rachel's advice.
At least not until Romeo died.
The Captain of the Special Blood Forces unit had not questioned his skills and abilities for a long time. But over the past few weeks, that was all he found himself doing.
Constantly sitting by Romeo's grave, always wondering if Romeo would have been alive had he had said no to the blond's recklessness and forced him to stay behind regardless of what happened to that elderly couple.
When the news had been broken to them, the two of them had wept for the boy they had come to think of as a grandson, stating that they were old souls and that they should have been the ones to die. They had already lived long lives while Romeo had barely reached adulthood. They were ancient by the standards of the New World; most people were lucky to survive to their thirties in an era where monsters roamed freely.
The bitterness within Julius couldn't help but agree with them; if it hadn't been for them, Romeo would still be with them today. Not that he said this to their faces as they had cared deeply for Romeo despite not knowing him for long.
"Captain! Captain Julius!"
Someone was calling his name. Unfortunately, years of automatically reacting whenever someone called out to him using his name forced him to slow down and face the caller.
The Blood Captain was surprised to find just not one person running after him, but three people. Julius immediately recognized the person leading the trio; a red haired boy in a white Fenrir uniform with a yellow bandana wrapped around his head.
The red head's name was Kota Fujiki, the first friend that Romeo had made when they arrived at the Far East Branch and someone who was also well acquainted with the Vice-captain. The two (Kota and Romeo) instantly hit it off when they discovered that they had a lot in common. Not only did they have common interests (idols in particular), but similar personalities. He had come to Romeo's funeral grim and stone faced; his expression stating that he had already gone through the process of losing a close friend and attending their funeral afterwards.
God Eaters who had years of experience on the field also had experience in attending the funerals and eulogies of friends and allies who fell in their battle against the gods.
Julius also recognized the silver haired girl who was following him: Alisa Amiella. The well-endowed female was a member of the traveling Fenrir branch that went by the name of Cradle. The Blood Unit had been tasked with retrieving her during one mission and he noticed her staring at his Vice-captain with such a startling intensity that he asked her what he was staring at to snap her out of her reverie.
The third and final member of the trio was a dark skinned man with white hair and blue eyes that matched the colour of the sky. Julius had personally never met him, but he knew who the man was: Soma Schicksal. The legacy of the failed Managarm project that eventually resulted in the creation of God Arcs as well as the son of the infamous Johannes von Schicksal, the former director of the Far East Branch and the founder of the infamous Ark Project that would have resulted in the deaths of millions of people had it succeeded.
"Thank goodness we caught up with you!" Kota grinned, but the grin on his face seemed forced. "You ran out of there so fast that we barely had time to grab our God Arcs!"
"Why are you here?" The question came out blunter than Julius intended, but time was of the essence. Every second that passed lessened the chances of him finding the Blood Unit's second-in-command alive.
"We heard that the Vice-captain was missing!" Alisa spoke once she caught her breath. "We came to help you look for her!"
"The rest of your unit wanted to follow you when they heard that your second-in-command was missing." Soma Schicksal interjected. "We were only able to stop them from running out after you when this guy here," his hand curled into a fist save for his thumb that he jabbed in the direction of Kota, "said that we would go in their place."
Schicksal's sky blue eyes glared at him in an accusatory manner, silently scolding the Blood Captain for knowing better than to rush out the door like he did earlier.
And Julius should have known better. He should have checked himself and taken the time to gather the other members of the Blood Forces; not run out of the door like a man obsessed.
The thing was that he just didn't care. The life of his Vice-captain hung in the balance and he would be damned if he let his calm leadership like persona cost her her life.
"Fine. You may follow me, but do not expect me to stop if any of you fall behind."
Julius turned away from them and ran without looking back.
They found the Vice-captain just as a Marduk sent her pitching forward towards the ground face first.
Julius blood boiled when he saw the Marduk; it was the very same Marduk that had knocked him out during the last Red Rain incident and the one that the Vice-captain had scarred across the face when her dormant Power of Blood activated for the first time.
And the one who had killed Romeo.
"MYRA!" His Vice-captain's name violently burst out from his lips.
According to Schicksal later on, Julius had entered a state of temporary insanity at the sight of the Aragami crushing the Vice-captain underfoot and recklessly charged at it screaming incoherently. The Blood Captain would have to take his word for it as there was a blank memory gap (not to mention his throat hurt) between that particular memory and the memory of the Marduk running off but not before it howled and glared at him with its gold, hate-ridden eye.
Julius took note of the promise of vengeance in the Marduk's single eye, but that was not at the forefront of his mind. As soon as the Aragami turned and bounded away, he instantly rushed to his Vice-captain's side.
The Vice-captain's eyes were open, but the man had a feeling that they weren't really seeing. Her eyes were glazed over, in the same fashion as Romeo's prior to-
'No!'
Despite the rising panic and fear inside him Julius gently gathered Myra in his arms, careful not to hurt her even further as he brought her closer to him.
He froze when he felt something warm trickle down his arms. Julius did not delude himself into thinking that it was anything else other than blood. He remembered that Romeo had been drenched in red as well; so much red...
"Ca...p...tain?"
Julius looked down immediately and found himself staring into Myra's glazed over golden eyes that were staring at him dazedly, as if she couldn't quite believe he was there.
"I... are you real? Or a figment of my imagination come to scold me for being stupid and acting in a way that's unbecoming for a Vice-captain?"
Despite the seriousness of the situation, the Blood Captain let out a bark of laughter. She really thought that he was just a part of her overactive imagination?
Myra's lips tilted downwards slightly into a frown. "Must be. The real Captain wouldn't laugh out loud like that. At least, not in front of everyone else."
Her words made him sober up. What kind of captain did she seem him as? Julius was almost... afraid to hear the answer.
"No." Julius spoke clearly, but softly. "I'm here. I'm really here, Myra."
Myra blinked in his arms, incredulity spreading all over her face as she looked at him. Really looked at him. After a few agonizing seconds of waiting, she finally spoke.
"It really is you." She said, her tone saying that she still couldn't believe it. "What are you doing here?"
The Blood Captain winced. What kind of person did she think he was to come to the conclusion that he wouldn't rush out the door the moment he found out his Vice-captain was missing? Any of his men in fact?
Or was it his fault? For acting so distant and never really connecting with them because his adoptive mother told him it was a bad idea to get close to them as they would eventually leave his side through dying on the field?
"Wait... did you just call me by my name?"
Julius inwardly sighed. Even in a situation as precarious as hers, Myra never failed to go off on a tangent. Just as he was about to rebuke her for not realizing the seriousness of the situation, he spoke.
"Hey Captain?" Myra's face had morphed from puzzled amusement to melancholy.
"Yes?" The Captain in question asked.
"Is... is it my fault... Romeo is dead?"
What?
The entire time he had been blaming himself for letting Romeo run out into the Red Rain that faithful day, Myra had been blaming herself for failing to kill the Marduk she had scarred? Julius nearly laughed at the dark amusement that crept into his thoughts.
She had been a rookie back then, a recruit who had been on the field for only two months and she had gone up against one of the Invasive Species of Aragami, a breed of Aragami that even veterans who had been been in the field for years struggled with. Not to mention that the activation of her Blood Arts for the first time had left her completely drained with barely enough strength to hold herself up, much less stand.
Did she honestly expect to take down the Marduk fresh from recruitment?
"No. It's not your fault." Julius felt anger bubbling at her words. Her fault? Her fault? If it was anyone's fault, it was his.
"But if I killed that Aragami that first time, then Romeo would... still... be with us..." The Vice-captain struggled to get out the last words of the sentence and coughed.
Crimson liquid spilled out of her lips and drenched the front of her Blood Uniform again in that accursed red. Blood trickled down the sides of her lips as she struggled to regain her breath.
"Myra!"
No, no, nononononononono...
The word repeated itself over and over again in his head. This couldn't be happening. This could not be happening. Romeo was already gone and there was nothing he could do about it, but...
He couldn't...
He couldn't... lose her as well.
"Heh..." Myra was smiling up at him.
Why?
Why were they always smiling before they left his side?
"Myra, don't you dare die on me! We need you! I need you!"
Myra just kept on smiling, her gaze softening. She raised her hand and gripped his tightly.
"Sorry Captain. It looks like... I'm going to... have to resign as your... Vice Captain. I hope you... can find a better one. And tell the others..."
Myra's eyes slowly began to close and the grip on his hand slackened.
"...that I'm sorry."
"Myra?" Julius gripped her shoulder and shook it but Myra's eyes remained closed as her breathing began to slow. "Myra! MYRA!"
Julius' anguished scream pierced the air just as it did that day when Romeo died.
It's not over yet.
That's all I'll tell you. Sorry it took so long to finish. The third part will come... well, I don't know. Maybe two weeks or so? I have one last exam to study for.