A/N: This is going to be a bit of a darker Valkyria Chronicles fiction. Rated T, it may go up to M later. There will be character deaths so just giving you all a heads up beforehand. I don't own any part of Valkyria Chronicles.

Dark Greetings

"That's one hell of a plan you have there prince," commented a well-decorated, young commander as he tossed a stack of orders back down on the conference table. "Bold, ambitious, and completely underhanded," he took a sip of his drink, "I like it. Count me in."

"Glad to see you are on board Commander Doyle," answered the regal looking prince sitting at the head of the table. "It would have been a shame to lose a man of your caliber to a misunderstanding." Two armed Imperial shocktroopers walked out from behind their hidden places next to the fireplace and stood resolutely at their master's side.

Chuckling, Commander Doyle took another sip of his drink. "You're as cautious as they say Prince Raphael Von Reginrave. That's one of the things I like about this plan. There's just one question I have. Your brother Prince Maximilian underestimated Gallia's combat prowess when he attacked it five years ago. I think you might be focusing too much on the Federation and not enough on this proposed front."

"Gallia will fall Commander," answered Prince Raphael. "The cogs of their downfall have already been set into motion." He picked up a picture of a dashing looking Gallian tank commander from the stacks of files on the desk and held out a lighter. "It's only a matter of time now…" he finished as the picture began to burn.

"They've been eating my tomatoes mostly," stated Largo as he lead Welkin though his vegetable farm. "I just can't seem to get these pests to leave my babies alone."

Welkin knelt down and began to examine the crops closer. He tread his fingers through the vines and checked the skins of the tomatoes. After a little bit of searching he found some beetle egg clusters. "Looks like you have a simple case of tomato beetles. As their name suggests, they live and thrive on tomatoes which is why the rest of your vegetable patches have remained untouched."

"That's good and all boss, but how do I get rid of them?" asked Largo as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"We just need to get some river toads over here and they should take care of the problem without messing with your vegetables," answered Welkin as he continued to check the tomato vines. Then he got his nature gleam in his eyes again. "Did you know that their tongues can stretch over five feet in distance when they are fully grown?"

"Hm, boss? As much as I enjoy your knowledge of nature, do you think that we can head in for dinner before you dive into fact mode?" questioned Largo again as he pointed back towards his house with the back of his thumb.

Standing up, Welkin bushed the dirt off of his pants. "As much as I'd love too, I should probably be getting back. Alicia said she had something to give me this evening and I probably shouldn't keep her waiting."

Largo let out a low wolf-like whistle. "Hot damn boss. Well who am I to keep you away from a night of romance like that? Let's get you back double time."

"Thanks Largo I really…" Welkin's face got bright red all of a sudden. Over the years, Alicia had been able to pound into his head the subtleties of what some of his sentences could sound like. "Whoa, I didn't mean that! It's a present! A gift!"

"I can think of a few enjoyable gifts…" grinned Largo. Welkin said nothing else as he retreated back to Largo's house to gather his things while the ex-lancer followed letting out a heartily laugh the entire way.

"Goodnight Isara," said Alicia as she tucked her daughter into bed and kissed her on the forehead. "Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight mommy," replied Isara as she curled up under the warmth of the blankets. "Baking bread today was really fun."

Nodding with a smile, Alicia added, "It sure was. Tomorrow, daddy promised to take you hiking through the woods didn't he?"

"Yep!" giggled Isara.

"Well be sure to get a good night's rest then," smiled Alicia. "I'll see you in the morning." She then turned off the lights and headed downstairs.

"Isara's all tucked in?" asked Susie from the living room.

Slowly walking downstairs, Alicia rounded the corner into the living room. "Yes, and thank you again for helping me with the dinner rush at the bakery this evening. Things were getting pretty hectic."

"That's what friends are for, right?" smiled Susie. "And besides, it's fun to help out around the store. The work environment there is so fun."

Sitting down, Alicia continued, "I could hire you on full time you know. I've been looking for an assistant baker. And you would be working next door to that store clerk that you've been flirting with for the last few days."

Susie's face turned a deep crimson. "What? No! I haven't been…! It's not like…! How could you…?" She looked down at her lap. "Is it that obvious?" she finally managed to whisper.

Alicia let out a light chuckle. "It's pretty easy to see, but good for you Susie! You deserve to be happy and from what I hear, he likes you too. You just need to give it a little push, and if you don't then that means I'll just have to give you a little push. I wonder what kind of things he would want to know about you?"

"You wouldn't!" chided Susie despite her embarrassment. She tossed a throw pillow at her friend to emphasize her point.

"In position sir," reported a cloaked figure to his superior as the leader surveyed the target house. "The lights upstairs have all gone dark, but the shadows downstairs indicate two people talking."

The sun had set and the country side of Bruhl was covered in darkness. The houses here were scattered pretty far in between. The team could get their job done quickly and any noise they made wouldn't be heard by any neighbors. This was almost too easy. "We have our orders," commanded the leader. "Give the signal."

Moments later bushes shifted and shadows danced as eight dark figures encircled the target house.

"Good evening Welkin," greeted Eleanor from the kitchen when the former tank commander and Largo entered the farmhouse. "I've almost finished with dinner, you're welcome to join us."

"Thank you for the hospitality, but I should be getting back home. Alicia's waiting for me," replied Welkin as he picked up his backpack and slung it around his shoulder. "I'll have to accept your offer some other time if that's alright with you."

Eleanor shifted one of the living room curtains. "It's gotten dark outside. At least let Largo drive you back."

"Dinner's almost ready, I wouldn't want you two to let it get cold on my account," responded Welkin.

"Nonsense boss," chided Largo as he wrapped Welkin up in a headlock with one of his muscular arms. "I can get you there and be back in a jiffy. Come on!"

Arms flailing, Welkin could only manage to get out, "Whoa! Take it easy Largo!" Moments later, he found himself being dragged towards Largo's truck.

"Drive safely!" called out Eleanor from the doorway. Largo answered with a wave as he pulled the truck down the dirt road.

"I'm going to make some coffee, do you want some?" asked Alicia as she got up and started towards the kitchen.

Following her friend, Susie answered, "Actually, I should probably be getting back home."

"You could spend the night," offered Alicia. "You live on the other side of the village and it's gotten pretty dark out already. It will be just like all those sleepovers we had when we were teenagers."

Susie seemed to be split on the decision. "I don't know…" She looked at the pleading puppy dog eyes of her friend. "That's not fair! Fine, okay, I'll spend the night in the guest bedroom."

There was a knocking at the front door. "Now who could that be at such a late hour?" questioned Alicia as she picked up a towel to wipe her hands.

"I'll get it," offered Susie as she walked to the front of the house.

Alicia continued to work with the coffee fixings when a lone pistol shot rang throughout the house followed by the sound of someone hitting the floor. "Susie!" she shouted sharply just a split second before the sounds of the back and side doors bursting open and several windows shattering filled the house.

Alicia grabbed a pistol that she kept hidden under the kitchen counter. Welkin hated guns, but Alicia kept one hidden in every part of the house anyway. It was a habit that the previous war drilled into her, never be too far from a firearm.

Two scouts rushed the kitchen and Alicia took down one of them while the other one dove behind the upturned dining room table. There was only one thought running through her mind right now, 'Get to Isara!' Assault gunfire trailed behind Alicia as she raced up the stairs. Wood splintered and shattered as the bullets destroyed the staircase. Susie lay still in the front doorway.

Alicia burst into her daughter's room and gasped with a sharp intake of breath. Isara laid face down on the floor of her room with a hooded scout standing over her. The pistol in his hand was still smoking. "No! No! No!" yelled Alicia as she unloaded her entire pistol clip into the man that killed her daughter.

She sank to her knees as the enemy scout crumpled to the ground. Suddenly her chest erupted in pain and she lurched forward onto the bedroom floor. A small wrapped box tumbled out of her pocket. Her vision was going dark when a person who looked to be the leader of the group walked in. "Who are… you? Why… why… did you do… this…?" she struggled to get out. The enemy leader didn't respond. He merely looked Alicia in the eyes as he raised his gun and fired one last final shot.

"Sir!" called out another scout from the first floor. "The rest of the house is clear! He's not here!"

The leader let out a silent curse. "If we go back empty-handed, then we're dead men. I want two men inside the house and the rest of us will form up outside. We'll wait for him to return."

"Thanks again for the ride Largo," thanked Welkin. "I'll be sure to collect some river frogs to help out with your pest problem tomorrow during my nature hike with my daughter."

"Thanks buddy, I sure do appreciate that," answered Largo. "Be sure to give the little miss's my best regards."

A few minutes later, the two pulled up to front of the Gunther house. "Thanks again Largo," provided Welkin as he stepped out of the truck. However Largo was staring at the house instead of answering. "What's wrong?"

Largo turned off the truck and stepped out while pulling out a shotgun from under the driver's seat. "I don't know, but something's not right. Look there, several windows have been smashed in. We should probably…wait!"

Welkin had already torn into the house. "Alicia! Isara!" He paused momentarily at the front door when he saw Susie. "No…no… No!" he continued to rush upstairs. He came upon the body of his wife and daughter and fell to his knees, crying out in despair.

Not even four hours ago they had been laughing at the town bakery in the store kitchens together during the dinner rush. There was one part in particularly that stood out in his mind where he had dropped a large bag of flour and a white plume of the stuff had covered him like a ghost as it flew up from the floor impact. Isara had been giggling adorably as he chased her around the kitchen with Alicia scolding them happily to get back to work. Susie was smiling at their antics from the front as she took orders. All he could see were their bright and joyful faces. The blank, bloody ones staring back at him right now were foreign.

He picked up Alicia in a close embrace and didn't know whether to cry or shout out in anger. He held to cold body of his wife tightly as if he was trying to warm it back to life with his own anguish. Welkin just kept rocking back and forth, whispering, "No, no, no, no, no…"

Somehow in his anguish, he heard the cocking of a pistol and his instincts spun him around in time to knock the gun out of the hand of the intruding scout. He cried out in anger and pain as he continued to charge and drive the scout against the wall and picked up a flower vase before he proceeded to smash it against the man's head. As the pair fell to the ground, Welkin continued to beat the scout unconscious with his fists. He looked up to come face-to-face with the barrel of a rifle.

The explosion of gunfire leaving a gun barrel filled the house and the second scout crumbled to the ground with Largo standing at the top of the stairs with a smoking pistol. His shotgun was slung over his shoulder. "There might be more of them. We should get down to the town watch station and get some backup."

"No! I won't leave Alicia and Isara!" countered Welkin as he struggled against Largo's grip. A fist connected with his jaw.

"Snap out of it boss! They're dead! There's nothing you can do for them except remain alive! So get up and let's get moving! There could be more of them out there!" The sound of the front door being burst open echoed up the stairs. Dropping his pistol, Largo spun his shotgun around and caught a cloaked scout charging through the doorway square in the stomach. He dove to the side as assault rifle fire shot upstairs.

Welkin ducked inside the master bedroom for a split second and reemerged with an assault rifle. He may have disapproved of Alicia storing guns around the house, but that didn't mean that he didn't know where they were. With a loud anguishing battle cry he charged downstairs spraying bullets as he ran. Another scout fell as he rolled into the dining room.

Largo looked around the corner of the staircase and caught the attention of a scout that opened fire. "Argh!" cursed Largo as he took a bullet to the left shoulder. He could hear the scout racing up the stairs to finish him. He picked up a broken table leg and tossed it across the wall opposite of the stairs. The table leg bounced off the wall and back down the stairs. The distracted scout fired off a few rounds as the table leg flew at him. Largo jumped out from behind his cover and finished off the scout with a single burst from his shotgun.

The enemy leader watched as the last of his scouts came tumbling back downstairs. 'This was supposed to be a simple assassination mission!' he shouted at himself. 'I still have to finish it!'

He crept into the dining room when he heard a sound from the kitchen. Without hesitation, he let loose a barrage of bullets into the offending room. He dared to let out a smirk seconds before a counter fire of bullets flew through the overturned dining room table and took him out.

"We need to go!" demanded Largo as he stumbled downstairs gripping his bleeding shoulder. Welkin stood up from the dining table and helped his friend out of the house and into the truck. Speeding off, Welkin took one last look over his shoulder at his house as it continued to darken in the distance.

Two hours later, a group of Bruhl town watchmen returned with Welkin to the house as they looked the place over and carried Alicia, Isara, and Susie out to be buried. They also took the one scout Welkin knocked out into custody to get information on the attack. The seven remaining intruders where tossed into a hastily constructed mass grave next to the house. The watchmen promised to move them to the graveyard later when things calmed down.

As Welkin walked through the destruction that was his house, he noticed a small wrapped gift box lying on the floor in his daughter's room. Picking it up slowly, he opened it and pulled out a pocket watch. There was an engraving on the back that read, "When I'm with you, time stands still, Alicia."

Tears began to flow freely from Welkin's face. How could he have forgotten? This was the anniversary of the day he and Alicia had first met. This was why Alicia had told him to come home early. He should have been home. He could have protected his family. Largo's farm could have waited another day. He remained quiet, silently crying to himself as two town watchmen helped to carry him back to a truck that drove him back to town hospital.

As Welkin walked into Largo's hospital room, he heard Eleanor tell Largo, "Well at least now we know who targeted Welkin and his family."

"What?" demanded Welkin. He rushed up to Eleanor and shook her by the shoulders. "Who? Who was it?"

"Enough Welkin!" shouted Largo as he jumped out of bed and pushed the enraged nature lover away from his wife.

"The Empire," answered Eleanor as she straightened up her ruffed up clothes. "Prince Raphael has just declared war once again on both Gallia and the Federation. He probably was the one who sent an assassination squad to kill you. He probably wanted to kill Gallia's best tank commander before the war even started." She turned towards Largo. "I've been recalled from the reserves back to active duty. I'm to lead the militia forces once again."

Largo sighed heavily. "Hopefully, the third time we fight together will be the end of it. I'm getting too old for this."

"Raphael…" muttered Welkin as he gripped his pocket watch even tighter. "I'll kill him." Looking up at Eleanor, he declared, "Sign me up."