Disclaimer (only one going up, but active for the whole story): I do not own Gears of War or The Familiar of Zero, plain and simple, so quit bothering me about the bloody obvious before you get some very loaded hot potatoes for lunch or dinner in the near future.
Gear of Zero
Chapter One
Summoning
He looked up into the clear blue sky high above him with lazily floating puffy white clouds. The green grass tickled him as he just stared up, the wind playing a couple of out of place flowers against him. Then a panicked man suddenly cast his shadow over him, looking down in absolute shock and surprise. His head turned as he called out, giving instructions to someone just out of view and then a pair of girls where in his view, one with pink hair, 'Kinda of cute,' and the other a blond that materialized in his view seconds later, 'Not bad, not bad.'
'Doesn't feel like the other side,' he thought, his body felt numb, in fact he didn't feel anything even as the man reached down, 'Huh, he's got a hansom look going for him, even if he is balding,' eyes seem to just star forward as he lay on the grass.
His vision changes from blue tinted to real as his helmet is gently removed, some red leaking out of it. The sight of the front of the helmet rings the bells of what he had been doing and suddenly he spasms. He had to get back, the battle was still ongoing! He was needed, he was needed!
"Let me up, let me up!" he shouts, coughing up blood that splatters against the cerise haired girl's face, "I need to get back, let me up!" he struggles to rise, he had to get up, back into the fight, back to his friends, they needed him, "Let me up! I need to get back to them!"
Others appear and force him back down, he coughs and spasms, trying to get himself back up. He notices them trying something, but he won't allow it! He has to get back; he has to get back up, back into the fight!
"Let go of me! I need to get back to them! LET. ME. GO!" he roars as manages to free one armored arm and manages to punch another, but then the first girl is on him, her lips pressed against his.
The world just stops, everything just stops. He had never been kissed before by a girl who was not his mother or sisters. He had to get back, but suddenly he felt so very tired, so very worn out. Then he felt his body heating back up, he manages to push the girl off him and struggles to his feet. He sways as his body burns and pain erupts, he collapses minutes later, having struggled to stand and walk, steam rising off him so much so that the air is disturbed and displaced by it as he rolls back and forth screaming.
"I NEED TO GET BACK! I NEED TO GET BACK TO THEM! BACK TO THE FIGHT! AHHHHHH!"
He rolls onto his back screaming, then spasms again his stomach rising, back off the ground as he screams his last word…
"DELTA!"
Then mercifully, he falls into blackness, his body limp as he loses conscious, the girl and the bald man again by his side as his eyes shut.
Three days later, in a large, but simply decorated office, three people sat, stood, or paced about the room. The office was largely decorated with usable items such as shelves, chairs, bookcases, and a couple of desks, one grander, but still rather of a simple fashion. The room gave the air of a person who was attached to the world around them, well-grounded so to speak. The three were gathered to study their most unusual and somewhat frightening situation to date as they waited word on the subject they were studying.
"It would seem that this is no ordinary summoning," an old man with long white hair and a thick white mustache and beard said as he rubbed at his beard thinking about the most recent summoning to occur.
"It would appear to be so Headmaster," a dark sea green haired beautiful woman said as she adjusted her glasses as she read through some of the articles found on the young man now in their medical ward.
"He's a soldier, no doubt, probably was in a battle that was extremely fierce, he was lucky to have been summoned when he was," the balding man from before said with some force, he was angry, understandably so, the young man looked to be hardly any older than his own charges at the school.
"Indeed Professor Colbert that is indeed the truth," the old man stood him, his black robes silently rustling as he walked to the large glass window behind his desk and looked over the school that he was headmaster of, his long wooden stave clutched in one old hand as he brought his smoking pipe up to his lips and took a deep breath before releasing the smoke, his eyes gazing to where the young man had appeared, the ground still turned from where he had struggled, "What have you Miss Longueville?" he turned as he asked the young woman his question.
"I'm not sure about his name, but a maid was able to make out Saito, saying that she could read the inscription and knew the language of his personal letter, a letter home that is yet complete," she held up the necklace that had been around his neck ending with little metal cogs with the metal chain threaded through, he had carried many –too many!- on his person leading them to believe it was some form of identification system, "As for the rest," she pushed one scroll away, its characteristics clashing with his own equipment, "The scroll and a few items appear to be taken from enemies, the scroll is in fact made from human skin," both men shivered and the old man decided to hold back on his lecherous ways for a while, "The rest seemed to have also been picked up, some before battle I guess, some during, others at other times, this," she held up what appeared to be a file of some sort, "States it's from the New Hope something or other and the language of the person writing it, one Doctor Samson Niles, shows he had no problem with people suffering and was quite clearly mad and belonged in a sanitarium as opposed to his colleagues who came to distrust him and their work and as one bluntly put it, 'I hope this place burns to the ground,' after writing their final entry and leaving, hopefully, I wouldn't be surprised if something else happened to her," neither man said anything, a mad researcher, never a good thing, "As for the rest, they appear to be military or news related, the military ones I'll have to go through, some are mere dispatches and other trivial things, but one clearly states, 'Private Second Class Saito Hi-Ra-Ga, I'll have to ask, is to report to First Sergeant Marcus M. Fenix of Delta," Colbert perked at that, "One Squad , D Company, Twentieth-Six Royal Tyran Infantry Regiment, Fourth Gears Division for duty and assignment as a Gear of the Coalition of Order Governments, signed Major Natsuhi Iwana, Commanding Officer of Forty-Ninth Fuso Imperial Guard, Camp Resilience, Crater City," she read off the orders of Saito's deployment.
"Interesting name, Crater City," Colbert Jean turned to the old headmaster, "Headmaster Osmond it sounds like he's a soldier in a royal army, but Coalition of Ordered Governments and Crater City?" the middle age professor looked like he didn't want to say it, but he did, "Something happened and their people sound scattered, divided even," he fiddled with his own blue with white trim robes as he held his own staff.
"That's about right," Longueville responded as she held up a piece of the news portion, "They're losing a war against monsters called the Locust and he was part of the counteroffensive, Operation HALLOW STORM, not real original, but when the enemy knows where you're coming from, not exactly needed either."
The three then went silent, the pictures of the Gears on the march and the few of the Locust convinced them that it had to be a truly horrific war. Several smaller, cut out articles alluded to the surviving COG fortress cities of Redoubt, Fortress, Stronghold, Resistance, Guard, and a few others as well as rebuilt cities such as Saito's base at his home of Crater City near Redoubt Fortress. It would seem that a truly cataclysmic war was ongoing and Saito's words were somewhat now understood, he was screaming to return to his comrades and to fight.
"I can't even begin to imagine such a war," Colbert said at last after an hour or so of silence, "We've fight one another or the elves," they both missed Longueville shifting, "but something truly inhuman, true monsters, true beings of malice and hate, of pain and cruelty, have we really encountered anything alike?"
"Centuries ago, yes maybe," admitted Osmond, though clearly unsure himself, "But we've known peace for years and so no such threats have been seen in years, decades even, true we get something every so often, but nothing like this Locust War, thank the Founder for such a thing," Osmond was seconded by the other two in his office.
A knock at the door and Colbert asked who it was. A young woman's voice, barely older than his students, answered back it was the maid Siesta. Longueville said that Siesta was the translator she was working with and had to send for some items from her home village to help them understand some things. Colbert nodded and opened the door, carefully, checking for others as this was considered very much a secret at the moment.
"You may enter," he said at last and then recognized the young maid, she was a favorite of the staff and the school and he couldn't help, but notice some close appearance to the young man Saito in their medical war.
The door closed behind her as Colbert took up his original spot as the dark haired, blue eyed maid in a black and white traditional maid's uniform then began to speak of what she had learned.
Two days later…
Louise Francoise le Blanc de La Valliere sat on a stool next to her summoned familiar. It had been several days since she summoned him and since he went into a comatose state. She had been told he had a previous head injury, the rather large dent in his helmet giving mute testimony to this, and that her sealing the pact had in fact saved his life. The fact he had many great injuries and broken bones, his rib cage for one had several breaks and the rest were fractured, along with severe loss of blood and a critical case of head trauma, they were honestly surprised he was alive to begin with even more so that he could be cognitive at all.
The girl sighed, that day had started out well too. She had found herself with a larger bust, no longer a flat chest she had been slightly filling out, she was a large A-cup and was spilling into a small B-cup at long last. She had also managed to perform a bit of magic, the summoning spell aside, without blowing up a classroom, a new record. She had been doing so well that day, that when she summoned her familiar she was extremely excited she had gotten something good and then the smoke had cleared from the inevitable explosion…
A body of armor with a blue sheen to it, silver highlights. The armor was some kind of steel and it was well made, if bulky armor. One could see where sections were black and were likely that way by design or use. Then there was the red that flowed from the armor, staining the ground crimson with the flow of life force.
Screams and terror, pandemonium had erupted immediately thereafter with the site of a man bleeding to death before them. Their professor had reacted at once, rushing over the sprawled man, checking him for life. She could only step over, looking on mutely, seeing the person before her, who was likely to be her familiar bleeding to death before her. She soon found herself running over, landing on her knees looking the person up even as her professor said he was still alive.
She saw it all; holes littered his armor and his body beneath it, the blood stains that came from friend and foe alike. The dirt and scrapes of battle from where he had run, jump, dodged, taken cover, and so much more. She also saw the dents from debris and fragments as well as the sections where bullets had ricocheted off the armor or strays had struck after losing strength and power. The signs of battle lay about his body.
As she thought about it, she remembered when he had been healthy enough for a specialist to be called in to study his mind, to see what he had seen. The specialist was a woman who had seen some terrifying things, but when she forced herself out after only a short amount of time, she was physically shaking and sputtering as she tried to calm herself. It had taken hours for the woman to relax in order to speak, though she had to be helped around from some of the calming potions that had been used, but she recovered, swearing to never go in the young man's head again, but she told what she had seen.
Flashback
"The young man's name is indeed Saito Hiraga of the Twenty-Sixth Royal Tyran Infantry, also known as the Unvanquished," Madame Marie-Jean la Mons de Walle said as she leaned back, "He had the misfortune of being born at the end of a war called the Pendulum War, a war that was still winding down with only a ceasefire in effect before the sudden emergence of the terror known as the Locust."
Everyone shifted, the Queen of Tristain had come herself to hear this and with her was her daughter, Princess Henrietta, and she looked on impassively as she awaited the mind walker's report. Louise looked ready to simply bolt, but held her ground, thankfully her family had yet to catch wind of this event. The palace and the academy were too worried about possible repercussions to allow much to flow, all the students and staff who knew were told to remain silent until further informed.
"He grew up during the war, too young to fully understand, but old enough to know to recall the horrors," Madame de Walle continued, "He would later join the military, the Gears, a name likely drawn from their government, the Coalition of Order Governments or C-O-G for short, pronounced as COG, but also representing their place in their society, a belief of eight basic principles."
"What are those principles Madam de Walle?" the Queen asked, curious as to what they would be.
"They are a socialist principle it would seem, but the soldiers and people believed in democracy and freedom, but largely the Pendulum War had been over a fuel source that drove great machines and advances called Imulsion, but the principles themselves, they were core values of Order, Diligence, Purity, Labor, Honor, Loyalty, Faith, and Humility," she saw the royal advisors shift as the Queen and the young Princess seemed curious, "These were the guiding principles, but with them being founded in a government during a war and later having little value during the Locust War, this guiding light lost great value."
"So terrible," Princess Henrietta said softly, not knowing how a people lose their very identity found in their values.
"I shall remain vigilant and unyielding in my pursuit of the enemies of the Coalition. I will defend and maintain the order of life as it was proclaimed by the Allfathers of the Coalition in the Octus Canon. I will forsake the life I had before so I may perform my duty as long as I am needed. Steadfast, I shall hold my place in the machine and acknowledge my place in the Coalition. I am a Gear. "
Everyone looked at de Walle as she said those words and at the end realized that it was an oath. The words had to be what Saito and other Gears declared when they were made soldiers. It was quite different from what they expected, but still the same, though they were surprised by the name of the leaders, the Allfathers and likely a declaration of their government, Octus Canon.
"The words of a Gear, swearing his or her life to their government and people," de Walle shivered, "Some had not given up, like our young Familiar here," she indicated to where Saito slept on, "He was finally made a Gear and sent to join a mission to contact their government headquarters, the leader known as Chairman Prescott who had been forced to use a powerful and destructive weapon known as the Hammer of Dawn in a desperate bid to both buy time and to stop the Locust merely a year after the Locust emerged from beneath the very ground of their world, a world named Sera and unknowing of peace for nearly One-Hundred Years."
Shocks and gasps filled the room, a hundred years of war? It was simply hard to believe, especially given the weapons and armor found on Saito. How could one wage a war so long if they had such advances, what were the advances many now thought, what of their magic users?
"And thus the crux of the matter," de Walle looked uncomfortable, but she spoke on, giving her report, "He hails from a world not of magic, there is none that he knows of that is not simple trickery or some skill at understanding things," some shouts were quickly silenced, "They have advance machines and fought with their, but since the destruction wrought by the Locust and their own desperate attempts at survival, many such advances were lost or in ill keep, all except for those instruments of war."
"How long was this Locust War?" Henrietta asked, nervous and frightened, but she was willing to push forward for knowledge to better keep safe her people.
"Fifteen years, he was fighting in the last battle, having completed his mission a mere six months earlier when he chanced upon his future sergeant and saved one of his men from a Locust Sniper, an advanced marksman used by both sides is called a sniper," de Walle's explanation opened up even more questions, but she continued, "He was wounded himself after being caught in the open, he survived and a King Raven Helicopter, a flying machine that was supposed to retrieve his future squad leaders and two others in their small team after they had found a missing team known as Alpha Squad."
"That is one way to meet your long lost comrades," Osmond spoke up suddenly stroking his beard, "What exactly happened if I may inquire?"
The mind walker gave a bit of a tired sigh, but was thankful for the respite as she sipped her tea.
"The meeting…
The shot rang out as the sound of a head exploding and pieces falling to the concrete steps followed. The four Gears threw themselves into cover before a hail of fire surged out, but not at them…
"ARGGH!" they looked to see a new Gear tumble to the ground, blood flying about, but he was able to pull himself behind cover as he bled.
"DOM!" Marcus Fenix roared to his best friend and spiritual brother.
"On it Marcus!" Corporal Dominic Santiago shouted as the man threw a grenade into a group of five Locust Drones and they exploded before they realized the grenade was there, "Take that bitches!"
"Carmine! Weapon?" Lieutenant Minh Young Kim shouted to the Gear trying to get his rifle working again.
"Dammit! Still jammed!" he tried to fix it, but quickly dodged a blast from a captured Gnasher Shotgun sent his way by a Locust Grenadier.
"Here!" Marcus shouted as he handed his Lancer Mark II over to Private Anthony Carmine and took the younger Gear's weapon to try and field fix it.
"Thanks sir!" Carmine opened up and several Drones went down, even as the Grenadier reminded both men he was still there, but Fenix grabbed Carmine and both took cover from the blast in time, "Thanks again sir!"
"No problem, eat this you sonavobitch!" Marcus popped out of covered and fired the fixed Lancer in a long burst of fire that tore the Grenadier's head off and caused the next grenade he had prepared to fly back and explode among another pair of Grenadiers, killing them both and then a Drone staggered out, an arm missing, Carmine ending its life with a short burst of fire to the chest, "Good shooting Carmine."
"Thanks Fenix," the man responded for the third time, "but what about the wounded Gear? Is he from Alpha?"
"Don't the fuck know, but look," Fenix indicated where Dom and their Loot were trying to protect and save the wounded Gear's life, "We just need to be more concerned about these ass holes," Marcus suddenly popped completely out of cover, entering into a chainsaw duel with a higher ranked Drone, before winning the fight and cutting his foe in half from neck to crotch, "We win, he'll likely live, now let's go!"
"Right behind you sir!" Carmine responded and both men were quick to clear out the remaining Locust, Lt. Kim using the wounded Gear's Longshot to make life short for Drones and Grenadiers that popped their heads up into view.
When the all clear was sounded, Kim was already on the comlink to Control.
"Control this is Delta, we have a wounded Gear in need of immediate dust off, confirming ID now!"
"Copy that Delta, is he from Alpha, over?" Lieutenant Anya Stroud's voice came back over the comlink.
"Come on son, what's yer name?" Marcus kneeled next the bleeding Gear.
"Private Third Class Saito Hiraga of the Forty-Ninth Regiment, reconstituted sir," Saito managed before coughing up a copious amount of blood, "We're based out of Crater City near the fortified city of Redoubt, my hometown, built-" coughing up more blood he managed out some more, "We've lost all ability to contact anyone beyond the string of fortified cities sirs, I was a part of an effort to make contract by foot, but I became separated from my squad, sorry sirs," Saito looked a little ashamed that he had lost contact with his squad, but Marcus patted him on the shoulder.
"You did good, yer hear me, real good."
"Yeah man, you saved our lives, probably Carmine's most of all, don't let yourself get down, we're look for your missing buddies okay, you just live, alright," Dom smiled at the young, wounded kid who smiled some, but went back to coughing up a lot of blood, "He needs CASEVAC now Lieutenant."
"Agreed," Kim got by on the comlink, "KR-Two-Four were at the front entrance to the House of Sovereigns, we need an immediate CASEVAC for a friendly Gear claiming to be from another standing city stronghold, over."
"Come again Delta?" the pilot shared a look with his co-pilot that had the veteran Gears sharing a look of their own.
"Delta, Control, repeat that over?" Colonel Victor Hoffman's voice came over next, "It sounded like you made contact with a Gear from another COG held city."
"Confirm, that's the story, by a Third Class Private named Saito Hiraga," Kim reported, "Can't tell much more, he's bleeding badly and was separated from his squad, don't know how, seems like he simply lost contact with them."
"KR-Two-Four coming in, we're get him Control, but it means Delta's walking," the pilot reported as he quickly brought the King Raven around, a basket already hanging out from underneath as the helo went into a stationary position about Delta.
"Control, Santiago here," Dom spoke up, "I got a Stranded contact out here not far in fact that I can talk to for a ground ride to the objective point, over."
"This is Chairman Prescott," the group of Gears nearly jumped at hearing the man's voice, "I want a search, if possible, for that missing squad of Gears and for you to bring in the wounded man now KR-Two-Four, Delta proceed on the ground, good luck."
"Delta copies," Kim replied.
"KR-Two-Four copies as well," the pilot reported even as his flight crew brought Saito up after Carmine and Dom had loaded him into the medical basket.
"And another thing," Hoffman was back on, "Fenix you're back to being a sergeant, don't make me regret it, understood," it wasn't a question and the group didn't bother to reply.
As Saito looked on, the doors to the King Raven were slammed closed as the crew chief began to dress his wounds. He was given a shot of pain killer and put on plasma at once, but the pilot and co-pilot would have to push it to get to Jacinto in time. For now, all Saito could do was look around as the world became rather distant and he felt himself relax.
"His squad turned up at a checkpoint a day later," de Walle concluded, "They were immediately taken to see their missing friend as well as report to this Chairman Prescott, but by this time a chain of events occurred by that one act of saving a comrades life it would seem, but I have little doubt from what I've seen of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, they would have completed it anyways."
"Quite fortunate for him," Osmond nodded as he began to stroke his beard again, "And for them, some hope in a time of despair, light shining through the darkness like the first rays of day after a cold winter's night."
"Very poetic Headmaster Osmond," de Walle nodded to the man, knowing he was kept for now, "but also very true, his contact allowed the COG to make ready for what they hoped would be the final big offensive that would bring to close the Locust War and allow for reconstruction, not just physically, but spiritually as well."
"If his squad turned up later," Princess Henrietta began her inquiry, "Why would his contact have mattered?"
"It would seem that running into Delta had an effect, a ripple like that of a stone thrown into a pool of water," de Walle explained, "The Locust suddenly became very scarce around his squad as they were forced to send more of their forces to suddenly fight a reinvigorated opponent and this allowed several squads to actually make the journey to Jacinto City unhindered and allowed others to link up with fighting Gear squads, desperately trying to turn back wave upon wave of Locust Horde," the woman leaned back as her mind saw the details before her, "It was one act that had a profound impact on the war, it was simply put, the 'game changer' as they put it, meaning they had finally found something to turn the tide favorably for once, if even only temporary."
"I see," Colbert Jean stated as he thought about it, "He lifted morale with a report of another held city and a fortress too no less. This would have allowed them to fight, believing they now had a chance, a new mind set, and a new hope for a tomorrow where they lived in peace."
"Exactly," de Walle smiled at the professor, it was the truth and he had grasped it, "They now knew they had more power and help could finally be brought to their side, the battle was no longer so desperate, but it was hardly over as they fought on."
"What happened afterwards, Madam de Walle?" the Queen asked, wishing to move the report along, though she agreed to discussing the meaning of Saito's appearance before his comrades, now was not the time, "What happened after he made contact?"
"Delta was in the middle of an ongoing operation called Lightmass Bombing Offensive, a super weapon they were using to strike at a series of tunnels, yes tunnels," de Walle could see the surprised looks on the faces before her, "The Locust came from underground, lived underground, and attacked from underground, the mission for Alpha Team had been to place a device to map these tunnels, I'm not fully sure of the basics of it though, but apparently it failed and they were only able to get an effective map thanks to Sergeant Fenix's father, who had actually been strangely mapping the Hollows as it was known."
"You mean men died even though they already had a map?" General Gramont asked, incredulous at the mere thought of wasting men when the map was already available.
"No, unfortunately they didn't know about the map, it was only chance that another corporal named Baird –and a rather talkative annoying person at that- who loved to tinker with things found a geobot, some sort of mapping device I guess, and was able to access its information and discover the that someone else had been mapping the tunnels," de Walle saw the general calmed, it made since if the man was not a part of the actual operation, "Yet the real answer as to why no one asked the man is simple," everyone leaned in to hear what the mind walker had to say, "The dead cannot share their secrets, the geobots were continuously working even though their master had died some years earlier, they are like golems in that regard, and brought the data back to Fenix estate, the Fenix Family was apparently wealthy and held in high regard, where years later it was collected by the son of the researcher and his comrades and allowed them to take the fight back to their enemy."
"Was this a successful operation?" the Queen asked, watching as de Walle sipped some more tea and massaged her throat, "Were they able to use this Lightmass Bomb to attack?"
"It was a successful, if costly operation," de Walle said at last, "BUT!" she indicated, "They hit only the Outer Hollows, but it was successful in eliminating or limiting some of the greater threats and destroyed the forward positions of the Locust en masse, buying valuable time to establish communications with their comrades who had been cut off from Jacinto and regain some lost territory as the Locust were forced to fallback and reestablish their lines."
"So the war went on then," General Gramont stated rather than asked.
"Correct, but the Locust had lost the initiative they've held for over a decade, especially since the fall of Ephyra, the COG capital," de Walle took another sip to soothe her throat, "Yet the Locust still had strength and tried many daring raids in the hopes of regaining that initiative, but ultimately failed when the COG launched their Operation HOLLOW STORM six months later, during the weeks between, young Saito recovered from his wounds and would be assigned to Delta-One Squad, Company D, Third Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Royal Tryan Infantry Regiment with First Sergeant Marcus Fenix commanding Delta-One," de Walle took another sip of her tea and Siesta was quick to pour some more when it was low, "Thank you dearie."
"It is no problem Madam de Walle," Siesta responded with a kind smile.
"You are that translator are you not?" de Walle asked and Siesta blushed, but nodded, "How do you know his native language so well?"
"My great grandfather fought in the early days of the Pendulum Wars, before the founding of the COG, but I have a copy of the manuscript that would become the founding ideals of the COG," Siesta blushed at the attention she was getting, "My father sent it to me as part of the ongoing research into Mister Saito."
"Explains that," General Gramont stated, "Any ideas about this war?"
"My great grandfather kept a personal writing on the subject of the periods prior," Siesta responded to the question with a look of sorrow, "There had been a millennia long war sometime before what was known as the Golden Age, the Age of Silence in which weapons were laid down and forgotten, though they had great advances, there was still issues between the concepts of freedom and security coupled with the need for resources to drive their way of life which unfortunately were becoming scarcer until they found Imulsion," Siesta stopped, clearly thinking before she continued, "Correction until they found a means to utilize Imulsion, they'd known about it for some years, but it was unstable and dangerous to work with until a researcher named Helen Cooper found a means to utilize it safely, but it turned out to only be found in certain areas and war broke out over, the Pendulum War as it broke down into a stalemate early on as everyone tried to regain the arts of war and the technology they had long neglected."
"And thus seventy-nine years of war between the world, eventually two powers emerged as the leading dominant powers," de Walle took over, something Siesta was secretly glad for, "The Coalition of Ordered Governments or COG, and the Union of Independent Republics, or U.I.R. for short, but despite the name, they were in many ways, far more aggressive and crueler of the two powers, including the elimination of a tribal people who were simply in the way while the UIR marched towards positions held by the COG."
"That's horrible!" Henrietta cried out as her hands flew to her mouth, her mother grunted her own response, Professor Colbert looked ready to snap his staff in two, Osmond shifted uncomfortably with an unreadable look, General Gramont looked on with harden eyes, and the reactions of others were equally horrified.
"It is, but not all the UIR would have condoned such barbaric acts, only the more powerful nations did so, abusing their responsibilities and pushing the survivors into the arms of the COG which would later cost them many battles as the survivors proved to be nigh unbeatable in battle, Private First Class Tai Kaliso was especially famous."
"What happened after he recovered though?" Louise finally asked, having remained silent for most of the discussion, "Where did he go there after?"
"Hmm…" de Walle looked sadden, "The Locust had found ways to sink cities into the land and their cities, due to their advancements, were staging in size compared to our own and thus was not an easy thing to do even for Locust, but they still found a way to sink them and it expedited Operation HOLLOW STORM before the COG could fully bring themselves to bear properly."
Lousie looked sadden and General Gramont patted her shoulder, he knew all too easily of what was meant. The Gears would launch their attack before final preparations were ready and suffer more losses than they could afford if something went wrong. In fact, he was willing to bet something had gone wrong.
"To understand what was happening," de Walle said, "One must be reminded that they had launched a desperate massive scorched earth policy with in a year of the war, the leader at the start dying suddenly from the strain of war and his replacement could not gather the following to launch a much needed counter offensive, and thus torched the world with the superweapon, Hammer of Dawn, hence young Saito's mission to reestablish communications by foot."
Everyone nodded, they really didn't want to recap everything, but they needed the reminder as they moved on in their discussion.
"The attack jumped off well enough," de Walle explained, "They had already been launching sizeable scaled attacks to regain lost ground and begin to reestablish ties with their cut off comrades, which they were successfully beginning to achieve, enough so as to have a much larger force than they had had in years."
Madam de Walle seemed to think for a moment, "But before the attack started, young recently promoted Private Second Class Saito Hiraga was reassigned from his own unit, the Forty-Ninth Fuso Imperial Guard Regiment, reconstituted, to the simply known Twenty-Sixth TRI where he joined freshly graduated Private Third Class Benjamin Carmine who was replacing his brother Private First Class Anthony Carmine who had been wounded in the middle of the Lightmass Offensive along with Lieutenant Kim who had also been wounded, neither were fully recovered by this time."
"So one soldier with training and field experience, but limited combat and one fresh from training," General Gramont summarized, "I feel sorry for Fenix as he had to know that they would have had very little chance of surviving."
"Lieutenant Stroud was overheard by young Saito referring to Private Carmine as greener than grass," de Walle reported, then with a wry smile, "Of course dropping his weapon and always talking with a near shout, only muffled by his helmet, and ending his sentences with sir probably didn't inspire much confidence in anyone."
There was some amusement in everyone at that, he sounded like an excitable young man to them.
"Carmine was quick to gain some respect, during some quick introduction maneuvers and was told to stop the sir as Fenix put, 'We're not that polite out here,' no doubt they weren't, vulgar language was a common as the air they breathed and Carmine was both energetic and quick to prove his worth, he also seemed very idealistic, speaking well of his heroic older brother and apparently very bouncy when they had to wait, though he also had a bit of a whine when something happened that didn't bode well, though in a fashion of youth, not childish in any form."
A sip of tea and a moment to catch her breath de Walle continued.
"During their shorten work up together, Carmine reported seeing something that he called a 'Monkey Dog,'" several people shot her incredulous looks and she shrugged, taking another sip and a deep breath, "It turned out to be a Wretch, a type of small Locust, and they weren't too sure if they got it or not, though they also found discarded weapons lying about enough to prompt Corporal Santiago to remark that someone would have to sweep the area for neglected supplies later, but it was here that Carmine in the folly of youth almost accidentally killed his own squad with a grenade, fortunately no one was wounded, but Fenix remarked that if that happened again, that Carmine was going to get some 'Unexpected Chainsaw Practice,' the threat clear, Carmine deflated some before both he and Saito were sent to a marshaling point while the two veterans went off to fight a Locust Raid."
"Talk about being a fresh from training!" General Gramont exclaimed, surprise on his face, he couldn't believe the COG was in such straits as to send such a poorly disciplined soldier like Benjamin Carmine to war, he wanted to add more, but allowed de Walle to continue what she was saying.
"Indeed," de Walle agreed, "Worse yet for the two young men, they were grabbed by some other Gears and taken to join the defense against the raid, where their sergeant and corporal found them hiding, trying to reload their weapons, though with the two was Tai Kaliso, and as Fenix put it, 'As tough as a Brumark,' a Locust beast of war as tall as a four story building and like most Locust beasts of war, oriented towards cruelty and raw power, but Mister Kaliso was a spiritual warrior, who sought both balance and understanding while maintaining his proud warrior ways of his destroyed people, the five joined together to help out the other Gears who were fighting, many veterans, including one whose head exploded covering Saito's face plate in blood and gore until he cleared it well enough to shoot back at his enemy and Fenix led his men, comrades, and friends on to victory, able to turn the Locust flank well enough that only a few Locust escaped alive."
"That… would… make my stomach… empty… its contents," the Queen admitted with a queasy look on her face and in her tone, the mere thought of a desperate fight was bad enough, but having your comrade's head explode and cover your face was bad enough, she was thankful that Saito had been wearing a helmet.
"It got worse didn't it," Miss Longueville asked, joining for the first herself as she looked not as green as her hair, but close to it as it stood.
"It did," de Walle looked through her memories of seeing Saito's own memories, "Young Saito was fighting for his family, a mother, father, four sisters and two recently born younger twin brothers, he was lucky to have a large family and was the oldest of the children, still underage when he joined, lying about his age, but he was ready to fight, but battles for them were few and far between and until he found Delta Squad that day he was wounded, he had never before encounter the Locust, let alone shot one before, but others were fighting for different reasons, such as Santiago who was looking for his missing wife, their family dead, he wanted to find her so desperately," de Walle's words struck several cords in the others, it was reminder that families were probably destroyed or torn apart by the preceding Pendulum Wars and even more so during the Locust Wars, "Fenix was out for revenge for the death of his father and some whispered that his mother had likely been an early victim, well before the war itself," again pain lanced through the hearts of the gathered, "And young Carmine, wanting to prove himself to his brothers, all veteran Gears, all decorated for one action or another, the young Squirt of a brother," here Louise felt herself feel a kindred touch as she wanted to prove herself to her sisters and parents, how things could be so similar to those whose lives are so far apart and different, "Kaliso simply fought, because he was a warrior and warriors fight, but he fought to help save his people, his new people, from death and destruction as well," General Gramont nodded, he would have been proud to have such a warrior in his ranks, "They all had their reasons and while Kaliso went back to his own squad, others arrived to join and reinforce Delta-One and while they headed to the jump off points to launch their attack at the Locust, Richard Prescott, Chairman and surviving leader of the COG gave a speech, a speech that inspired the people and the soldiers to hope…"
Here she cast a spell so they all could see that one memory, hear the words as they were spoken, and feel the emotions as they came over them, washing away doubt and fear in that very moment.
"Humans are no strangers to war. After all, we've been fighting for as long as we can remember. War is all we know. In the past, we fought for Imulsion. We fought for country. We fought for freedom. But all that changed after E-Day. For fifteen years, we've been fighting for our very survival against inhuman, genocidal monsters. But it is a fight we cannot continue. Humanity faces extinction, unless we end this war now. We had hoped the Lightmass Bombing would decimate the Locust Horde, but they survived… and have returned stronger than ever. They've brought with them a force that can sink entire cities. Even Jacinto, what we had long thought as our last beacon of hope through all these dark days no longer alone, is now at risk. Even our surviving cities only now learned of are endangered. Soon we'll have nothing left to defend, and that means we have only one option… Attack. Gears, what I ask of you now is not an easy thing, but it is necessary. If we are to survive… if we are to live long enough to see the seasons pass, our children grow, and experience a time of peace that we have never known… we must now take this fight to the Locust. We will go to where they live and where they breed… and we will destroy them! This is the day we take the battle to the heart of the enemy! This is the day that we correct the course of human history! This is the day we ensure our survival as a species! Soldiers of the COG, my fellow Gears, go forth and bring back the hope of humanity!"
When that was over, they could only sit for some time as they digested what they heard, seen, and felt as they witness the mobilization of the COG military. They saw Carmine getting into the spirit, energetically bouncing in his seat as he spoke. They saw the mild humor on Fenix's face as he shared a look with the annoyed Santiago. They felt Saito's chuckle and his own burning energy to go out and fight and actually do more than he had previously done.
The King Raven then landed and they saw the soldiers cheering and shouting, they were excited and confident. The sight of all their equipment gathered for war was amazing to them as they saw Packhorse vehicles, Assault Derrick Rigs, and Centaur tanks were gathered ready to advance as artillery was dug in and sighted. In the air, King Ravens helicopters and Petrel strike fighters formed up, a never ending sound of incoming death. Comlinks crackled to life with orders and jokes as everyone talked about what they were going to do once the fighting began. The speech, although over, continued to resound in everyone's mind as they got ready for the last, big push.
Confidence filled the Gears as they saw their largest force gathered and to many, it seemed that they had even more power gathered than they had had during any operation, including Aspho Fields, in the Pendulum War. They were going to win and they intended to win, they had the strength, the courage, and the conviction to go and fight and to win. They were ready as they could ever be, though it was clear that the veterans believed they could be even more ready and were probably right too, but this attack was needed now and they accepted it. They were going to go out and finally have the chance to win the battle that would allow them to put their weapons away once and for all.
The group was silent for what seemed like an eternity until de Walle spoke again.
"They had to battle their way all the way to Landown to launch their attack, but they were stronger than what the Locust had expected," the woman took a long drink of her tea before continuing, "Casualities were still heavy, but the Locust were being rapidly pushed back on all along the line of attack. Before they jumped off though, they met their Rig driver, Dizzy Wallins, a friendly conscript who was eager to end the war just as they, the volunteers, were."
"It goes without saying that Dizzy was an expert at handling his Derrick Rig, he affectionately called it Betty after his late wife, and he was a dependable man that spoke with a sort of backwoods accent and tone. Thanks to him, Delta-One was able to make it to its objective, though they had needed support from time to time from other forces, not even Mister Wallin could have dealt with all that they came across alone. He was a bit of joyful man, always trying to see the positive side of things, even if they weren't there, but never deluded by his attempts to remain optimistic. He was a good addition to their small band of friends and comrades."
"Their path saw them stopping several times, collecting Gears whose rigs were destroyed, immobilized, or boarded by the Locust. These additional Gears reinforced Delta-One until could reorganize their ranks, adding their weapons and supplies to Delta's own. During the Retaking of Landown itself, these added Gears, plus Mister Kaliso return to Delta, helped move the advance at a rapid pace that trumped all the previous defense plans the Locust had originally planned for."
"Nothing the Locust placed into Delta-One's way could stop them and the result was a breach in their line that was swiftly torn open by the rest of the Gears. The whole line seemed to collapse and the Locust threw even a Brumak at the Gears of Delta-One, the last of several that tried to bar their passage throughout the attack."
Taking another long drink from her tea and smiling at Siesta as she refilled her cup, de Walle took a moment to stare into it.
"The place that Company D needed to launch their attack from, enter their small two man pods called Grind Lifts, was a cemetery where many fallen from the Pendulum War were buried and the place had been badly abused by the Locust which further incensed the Gears."
Everyone shuddered, finding a desecrated graveyard was one thing, launching an attack from it another, but the Gears did so… and under heavy fire.
"The Locust launched one last desperate defense, throwing their own flying units, the Reavers, at the Gears as well as a large ground attack force, but the Gears began to successfully deploy their Rigs and board their Grind Lifts until only a handful of the Gears meant to attack were left along with the Gears assigned to defense… then Skorge, a Locust general appeared, destroying a tank and chasing off some Gears before attacking the last Rig yet to deploy its Gears… Betty."
Skorge had already started his fight with Tai, but Saito heard the ever terrifying screech of a Berserker!
Turning he saw no less than three barrel their way through Locust soldiers who were desperately trying to get out of the way. One was shot by the main gun of a Centaur, it exploded into gore and ichor over a dozen meter area. A second was killed by Petrel that dropped a bomb right on its head –literally! - and was crushed a little before the bomb exploded, but the last one was still coming.
Without really thinking about it, Saito jumped over the side just as the surviving Berserker passed next to Betty. He landed on the back of the charging female Locust and immediately it was trying to get rid of him, but he was also immediately trying to kill it. He grabbed one of his grenades, primed it, and stuck it in the open mouth of the Berserker and dropped free. He rolled as he hit the ground and got up and started running just as his grenade went off, the Berserker instantly killed by the suicidal move.
He didn't have time to savor his victory as he looked up to Betty. All of Betty's Grind Lifts were gone and he was now in the middle of a large group of Locust, though air strikes were opening avenues of retreat, he was supposed to be on the attack!
Then he spotted the Rig named Lil'l Marlene, and saw that despite being nearly blown to pieces, it still had four intact and active Grind Lifts waiting for Gears to board. He saw at least ten or so others around him and called out that they could get on the Grind Lifts. The others nodded, two other wrecked Rigs still had there's as well and they were also operational.
Unable to retreat and with their defensive circle failing, the Gears made a mad dash up boarding ladders of the wrecked Rigs and clambered into the Lifts. They didn't have to wait long for the Locust either to see what they were trying to do, but suddenly Betty roared to life and ran over a number of Locust Drones and crushed a Boomer and Grinder before they could do any harm. Dizzy's voice rang out as surviving Gears shot from the Rig's deck, covering their fellows.
"Good luck to ya all, yer gonna need it!" Dizzy yelled over his PA as he kept turning his Rig, handling it a lot like a sports car than a top heavy rolling death trap, "We're keep these grubs buziay!"
As Saito looked out, he saw Tai losing to the new Locust freak and being the only type of freak in his freak class, than that made him an automatic general freak as far as Saito was concerned and needed to be dealt with, but the restraining harness wouldn't budge!
"Come on you piece of shit! Let me go!" he shouted, looking out as several other Gears were herded off, despite air attacks to save them as Dizzy gathered up the last of the Gears and began to withdraw with the intact Rigs and tanks, "I said let me fucking go! I need to help the others!"
His struggles ceased when the female Gear across from him put her hands on his forearms. He stopped and looked at her and despite the helmet she wore; he knew she was as upset as he was. The Grind Lift doors closed just as Tai was finally defeated. Just moments before they Grind Lift started its drill, he heard faint crying from both himself and the woman across from him.
"We can't fail now," his voice choking and raw with emotion, "We have to win for their sake."
"Yes," the woman replied, "We can't fail; we must win if we're to save them!"
The Grind Lift activated and they were plunged down, they could still hear tank fire, gunship rockets, and aircraft bombs up until they hit the ground and started drilling all the way to the Inner Hollows.
"He couldn't go back and save his comrades, he couldn't only go forward and attack," de Walle explained, "He still hasn't forgiven himself, not so much for how fresh the wound is, but for the fact he later met Tai Kaliso one last time and that was when the man took his own life, from the horrific torture inflicted unto him."
"He saw that?" the Queen looked shocked, she remembered when a knight had taken his own life after he failed to stop a killer who murdered a woman in such a cold blooded matter, that the King had ordered the man found and killed outright!
She had not expected something that terrible would be cut into the young man. She worried for his mental health at seeing such a thing, knowing he was powerless to do something about it. Knowing he, though he hadn't actually, failed to save him. There was simply no means by that time for him to rescue Tai Kaliso; she would have to talk with Louise to ensure that thought made it across Saito's mind. He was not at fault for Tai Kaliso's death, he hadn't even known that would be the fate, that that would happen. It was not his fault in the slightest!
"Their attack went well, but they soon realized they had missed something, something important, as they found themselves assaulting forward staging grounds and not the enemy fortress they expected," de Walle continued, purposely ignoring the Queen's question for now, "Long did they battle, eventually breaking into a forward strongpoint. There Delta-One, long after reuniting, long after spending several days underground, and supporting pinned down Alpha-Two Squad, did they find the horrific truth of what was sinking cities…" the room went still as the mind walker looked at them all, but also seeing through them, she would need help when this was over, probably retirement already, "A giant worm appeared, guided by Skorge, leader of Locust Kratos and master of the Riftworm, he had it sink Ilima City, a city that was on the verge of being reclaimed when Operation HOLLOW STORM was announced and planned, the Gears closest responded quickly, saving many Stranded, those trapped far from Jacinto or wanting to abandon the COG for their own ways, it was terrible though none the less."
"Why would people not seek the protection of their leaders?" the Princess asked and in truth she wasn't the only one curious as to that, but those who were already experienced or leaders knew the truth.
"My young princess," de Walle looked very saddened as she turned her gaze to her nation's princess and heir to the throne, "The decision to use the Hammer of Dawn killed countless millions of people on a global scale, those who survived, trapped far from the safe havens, felt abandoned and disillusioned and there were no doubt other factors, as former enemies would never trust them easily since their war had only just ended, but there was also those felt betrayed, and no doubt those who harbored no love before the unilateral destruction of their homes, the killing of their friends, and loss of their very way of life, but from what more I've seen, many were simply ready to just die in some way, their cynical choices seemingly being shown as true through their own inaction as much as the COG's own action, if not more so in the former case."
"So they blamed the government for their own failings?" Louise shot up, anger flushing across her face, "They chose to do nothing, leaving the government with little choice, but to take an action that it was trying to avoid!"
"Correct Miss Valleire," de Walle answered the angry outburst, sort of cold fury on her own face, "Saito had asked Chairman Prescott about it, having dodged Stranded bullets and seen the destruction during his journey to Jacinto," the woman who was only in her late-30s looked like someone in their late-70s all of a sudden, "Chairman Prescott said he had tried and failed miserably to gather the support for a counteroffensive and had been forced to make the decision himself, he would not have anyone else join him in the choice and personally handled the whole affair, refusing to allow others to be involved, choosing a path he knew that would eventually tear him apart," de Walle looked exhausted, at first she had vilified Richard Prescott, but seeing the hard honesty he had given, it was no surprise that she now felt sympathetic, the man had his back to the wall and had no choice, but to think of the only means at his disposal and did his best to save as many as he could… but still far too many had died, the burden of leadership, it was hard on the just of heart, and light on the cruel of tyranny.
"Such a hard choice," the Queen spoke, "I do not doubt I could not make such a choice," she admitted it and freely, "I have not the strength to be measured of so, but I pray that I never have to or that my daughter and those who follow would never be placed into such a position."
"How far did you manage to see?" Osmond suddenly asked the mind walker and the woman gave a sigh, it was beyond her power to hold back anymore.
"At Tai Kaliso's death, I stopped, I could not see anymore, did not want to see anymore, not only was his death a self-inflicted violent end, but his body…" the woman suddenly held herself, her tea spilling as she began to shake violently, "His body was practically torn open, it was-"
"ENOUGH!" Osmond shouted, interrupting as he turned to a knight and a guard, "Take Madam de Walle for a gentle stroll through the gardens and make arrangements for her to see a specialist, my Queen I do believe it will take time or a something powerful before Madam de Walle is ready for another Mind Walk," Osmond looked to his queen who nodded and indicated she would retire to think on the matter, taking her daughter away to talk as Louise was approached by Professor Colbert to talk as well, Longueville and Siesta followed Osmond as the meeting quickly broke up.
End Flashback
Louise suddenly jumped when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder, pulling her back to the here and now, so she wouldn't remember de Walle's frightening report, her sudden break down, or how she had to be taken in the dead of night for assistance because she had a terrible nightmare nor remember Saito, with him seemingly staring off to space with blood leaking from his mouth and nose, from the cuts on his face, the one red eye he had, then his sudden force of panic and his attempt…
"SNAP OUT OF IT LOUISE!" her red headed Germanian rival shouted and with a slap Louise was back to the world of now from the one of memories.
"That hurt," she said as she held her stinging, throbbing cheek.
"Good," the taller, brown skin girl said as she sat down across from her, "I can't be having my rival lose herself to self-pity; it is not your fault, if anything you may have saved his life!"
Looking at the daughter of her family's chief rivals from Germania, Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst, and Louise gave a sigh. She must be looking very pathetic if she needed Kirche of all people to cheer her up. Then again, she saw Tabitha standing there and without one of her books out no less, that was scary just to think about it.
"Thanks," she mumbled, admitting it helped her feel better, "I guess I let my feelings get away from me, thank you Kirche, Tabitha, I appreciate it very much."
"It is sad, to lose your familiar, but to summon one so close to death," Tabitha stopped speaking as she looked at the sleeping male, "Though it would be nice if he stopped, he woke up about the time Kirche slapped you," she pointed out and they both looked on dumbfounded as the blue eyes opened and turned to look at them, the red one no longer red either.
Suddenly, both girls are pushed aside as a blond missile alighted next to Louise's familiar. It was Montmorency Margarita la Fère de Montmorency, another girl from their class and unlike Kirche the Ardent and Louise the Zero; she is better known as the Fragrance. She's a Line Level and is aligned with Water, so she was very good at healing and potions, though she still just a beginner. She fretted about Saito who took on annoyed look before yelling for the matron of the Medical Ward to come at once, reporting that Saito was awake.
Author's Note:
So here's a brand new idea from everyone's favorite Target- I mean Tomcat. Just had this bounce around in my head and from start to finish, I did it in only three weeks. Hopefully this means my muse, which had gone MIA, has returned. We'll all know more as things stroll on down the road, now won't we?
Okay, it is as it appears with a Gears of War crossover with The Familiar of Zero. How many of you could say you saw THAT one coming? Saito's no super soldier or hyperactive idiot in this one. He's a bloodied Gear who's seen both the good and the bad in humanity in a war against the worst of it and it being the non-human and cruel Locust doesn't help much don't it? He'll need to find his niche in a world that's at peace, fortunately, there are some things that need a soldier's touch, but there's better news, a war is coming to the continent.
So here's a glass of Root Beer giving a toast to yours truly the host that this meets with your approval.
Sincerely,
F-14 Tomcat Lover
"The Big Cat is on the Prowl, so Bee Eaters better start running."