NOTE: I don't usually write stuff in the beginning, but I have to warn you this is my first Gears fic. Somethings may not be perfect, but I tried my best to make it as accurate as possible. Please let me know if there's anything out of place so I can fix it. Any constructive criticism helps. Thank you, and enjoy!

How long has been since everything went to Hell, since Emergence Day came and screwed up everything that we once knew? How long has it been since all the things we knew and loved were nothing but piles ashes and pieces of broken dreams today? It does not feel like seventeen years since then; it feels like it all happened yesterday. Nothing has changed over the years, and everything is still the same as it was back then when it all started. It did not feel like time had gone by. It feels like everything just...froze in time. We were all just encased in these sealed containers, waiting for them to be reopened so we could hear the ticking of the clocks, watch as the sun rose in the morning and fell at twilight, hear the sweet chimes of the bells ring when it struck a new hour. After seventeen years of waiting, it did not feel like that time was going to come. For many, it was half-true. Many were unable to see the light of day anymore, having been gunned down by Locusts, destroyed by the Hammer of Dawn attacks, Rust Lung, or some other means of death. At the same time, though, they may have heard those bells chiming in the far off distance, signaling that time was once again returning to the world despite their final moments of life. They may not have the chance to see tomorrow, but they had the chance to see the end of war. I suppose that old saying "Only the dead have seen the end of war." really rings true in the end.

As for me, that end was nowhere in sight. For seventeen years, I have been unable to find out when the end was nearing; at points it may have seemed like it, but then it just came right back to slap us in all our faces and laugh, tell that the end was even further than we thought. That has happened several times so far, and even as I think about it my face starts to sting. Even though I try so hard to listen for them, those bells do not sound any closer to us; time does not appear to be moving forward and tomorrow was nowhere near us. I was still fighting, still surviving, and still trying to keep what was left of humanity alive for as long as possible. Despite everything that has happened thus far, with the Locusts still fighting strong against the COG, there was still a chance; there was still hope. Their numbers were diminishing over time, and it seemed like we were actually making a dent in their ranks. However, with the Lambent coming into the picture and growing in numbers, it may not seem as though it was there. Still, even I could see that glimmer of hope in every one of my comrades' eyes, in imy/ieyes. It gave us the impression that there was still a chance for everyone. I include myself because there was no point in giving up hope; I had a reason of my own to keep going. It was not just for the sake of humanity or for my comrades, though they were pretty important to me, but also for someone whom I had lost so many years ago. It did not feel like I had a chance, but I could not give up when I had come so far. That reason was my sister.

I remember the last time I saw her face, back around the time that E-Day started. She was scared; Hell, even I was scared at the time. No one knew what was happening or why it came to be. Still, we had to tell ourselves that everything was going to be fine, that the war was just going to pass over and things would go back to normal. I wish I could tell her that right now if I knew where she was. For seventeen years, I have been doing a lot of searching while surviving throughout these long years. It was hard to say if she was alive or not, especially since she mistakenly taken away to help the population grow again. Unfortunately, the place in which she was sent to - Jilane, Tyrus - was overrun by the Locusts and she suddenly went missing. Since then, I have been trying to find her, only to come up with nothing but clues and lead ons. I have been told that she may have been with the Locusts in their hideout, but I would have liked to see her in Jilane than in the hornet's nest. However, instead of finding her there, she was nowhere in sight. Some thought she was killed when they - the Locusts - arrived; others thought she was captured by them. Either way, she was a goner, yet I refused to believe it. Although it may have been a high probability that she was killed either in Jilane or she was kidnapped, I did not want to think that she was a dead woman. I wanted to know that she was safe and that, once all of this was over, we could finally go back to the way things were as far-fetched as it was. Unfortunately, whether that person works for so many years to retrieve it or does not work a day in her life, it could end up as nothing but an empty hand.

Nowadays, I am so busy keeping my own skin attached that I forget what I am actually fighting for, often thinking that there was not much left of the world to keep alive. Even when I think of my sister, I wonder if it was really worth it in the end. After seventeen years, no word has come from her nor has she been sighted anywhere in Sera. I started wonder if the rumors were true, that she was long gone from this world. As a sister, I did not want to think about such horrible accusations; but as a soldier, it made me wonder. One cannot survive in this world after seventeen years, especially when she was completely defenseless and had no possible way to use a weapon to fight against them. Then again, I barely knew my way around a Lancer to begin with, yet here I was seventeen years later; still breathing and still fighting off horde after horde of Locusts and, as of recent, Lambents. If I could survive without knowing dick about how to even hold a gun and defend myself, then she could have survived just as long as I have without even wielding one. But again, as a Gear, I was thinking otherwise. I was actually believing what others were saying about her. Even though I loved my sister to death, I was starting to act more and more like a Gear than any so called loving sister would have acted in a situation like this. I suppose reality does not hit a person until the worst possible time, especially after seventeen years of not knowing anything at all about what really happened; I learned that little fact the hard way, a way that I would have much rather avoided.

I guess what I said before was true after all: Whether one person works so many years to get something she wants to find or does not pick their ass up from the couch, in the end it may just be nothing at all. It may already be gone before that person even had a chance to grab it, even though so many have told her that she was reaching for nothing but the air. At that point, the only thing a person can do…is break.