Chapter 1 - Foreign Arrival

February/21st/2064

Fenrir Central America Branch Airspace - Yucatán

"¿Estas despierta?"

Words I simply do not understand pull me out from my slumber. I blink my surroundings into existence and notice the dark metallic frame of my transport. Soon enough the muffled sound of the helicopter's engine and blades starts sounding a bit clearer in my ears.

I reach up to my head with my hand and try to scratch around my ear only to be reminded that I'm wearing a headset. I opt for just scratching the area around the ear cup and sigh deeply. There's something about traveling in a helicopter that is just annoying. Maybe it has something to do with the noise or perhaps it's the fact that every now and then the thing tends to shake violently.

I try to adjust my position a bit, but the safety belts of my seat are doing what they were designed for a little too well, keeping me in place.

"¿No vas a contestar?" I hear right next to my ear, "mal educada…"

"Ya callate…" I hear another voice say.

"I do understand what that means," I reply bitterly.

I take a look to my right towards the cockpit and see both the pilot and the co-pilot who just called me "rude". The man in question turns his body slowly and with a smile removes his aviator glasses.

"Hehe, perdon, I thought you were ignoring me," the pilot replies with a thick accent.

"I was sleeping," I reply as a yawn escapes through my lips, making what sounds like a high pitched moan in the process.

A bit ashamed I cover my mouth and quickly cough, but it's too late, both the pilot and copilot are already sharing a laugh.

"Either way, I'm awake now, what do you want?" I ask.

"We arrive shortly, thought I make sure you were up," he says.

His English sounds weird and maybe a tad bit broken, but it's easy to understand. I nod in his direction and turn my head a little to peek out through the small circular window in one of the sides of the chopper.

Through the small opening I'm able to see a beautiful beach with slightly see through blue water. It's a beautiful sight, sadly it contrasts harshly with the several hotel buildings that seem to be damaged or downright destroyed along the shore.

"Are things any better down here?" I ask, as I keep examining the vast array of crumbled streets and destroyed buildings, "It looks almost the same as it looks back home…"

Aragami have been doing a great job at tearing down the whole world in the past few years. Big cities reduced to rubble, beautiful forests turned into gray wastelands. They are just good at decimating everything.

"México was better in the past," he replies with a serious tone, not even a second later he and his partner start laughing.

"Siempre ha sido una mierda, ahora aparte hay monstruos," the pilot laughs.

"What was that?" I ask, feeling rather curious.

"He just said that it was shitty before, but now we got monsters," the co-pilot explains.

I turn once more to stare out to the beautiful beach and breathe in slowly.

"It's kind of beautiful though."

"Las playas siempre le gustaron a los turistas," the pilot huffs.

"Uh…what?"

"He said that tourists always liked the beaches," the co-pilot chuckles.

I did hear from my parents that Mexican beaches used to be very popular touring spots in the past. Just taking a peek down at them makes me confirm the fact. The water is like beautiful see through crystal and the sand looks as soft as a marshmallows.

"Ok, starting approach," the pilot says.

As he says this I can finally take a gander at Fenrir's Central American branch it's similar to the America branch and Far East branch. HQ is surrounded by a think wall, several building can be seen within the wall. Housing, for lucky people, staff and VIPs mostly. Everything else is probably R&D and training grounds. Just like back in America you can see extensive slums spread out as soon as the walls end. The main difference here is that part of what the walls surround seems to be a beach. I guess even in times like this you need some safe recreation.

The trip here wasn't really long, it could've been done in less than five hours. Sadly a heli's fuel tank is way smaller than an airplane's so we had to rendezvous with several air refueling crafts in order to make it here.

I take one last peek out the window and then look down at my bracelet. I trace around its circular shape with my fingers and then sigh as painful memories of the paring process flood my mind.

"So, why did they send you here?" the copilot asks.

"What do you mean?"

"There's only two reasons for god eaters being sent to this branch," he pauses, "You either are volunteering cause you are crazy, or you got sent here against your will."

My eyes drop yet again to my bracelet.

"I volunteered…" I mumble.

"Huh, you are one of the crazy ones, huh?"

"I guess…"

"Hang on!" the pilot huffs.

The heli finally lands, albeit a bit harshly. I feel my whole body shake as we finally touchdown. I remove my headset and hear as the pilot and copilot press and switch off an array of things in the front of the helicopter. The noise of the helicopter starts to die down and breathing in deeply I unbuckle the belts keeping me secure.

"Welcome to México," the pilot says, "I hope for your safety, you transfer back; new god eaters don't last long here."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just like it sounds," the co-pilot butts in, "Aragami down here are especially aggressive. You better rub the green off of you quickly."

"How do you even know I'm new?" I question.

"I saw your god arc girl," he says with a smirk, "It's brand new, a new weird model at that."

Lacking the words to reply I turn my head over to a big metallic case towards the tail of the helicopter. I can feel it inside there, my weapon, my god arc.

"Either way, I need you to get out," he stresses, "We need to refuel and head back out."

"Yeah!" I squeak, "Yeah, yeah, sorry!"

The heli's cargo door opens slowly, letting the light of the scorching sun flood a bit of the inside. I stand up and walk towards the case containing my weapon. As I'm about to reach for it another man reaches for it.

"I got it from here," he says.

"I…uh…ok," I reply, dumbfounded.

With nothing else to do I step out through the open cargo door and cover my eyes as I look up to the sky. The sky is beautiful, cloudless; it even looks a bit odd, like a static blue color, unmoving.

"Keyla Boyd!" someone shouts.

Hearing my name startles me a little, but I quickly turn around and straighten my stance to a woman holding a tablet. She looks friendly; she wears a skirt suit, all black with a white blouse. Elegant, simple, practical. I can't help but notice the tone of her skin and her complexion, she is certainly not American. As she gets closer I try to remember what minimal Spanish I know.

"Ho-hola! Mi nombre es Keyla Boyd!" I say nervously.

"I know that, we've been waiting for you," she replies with a smile.

"Oh, you speak English…"

"That I do, over half of this facility does."

"But…you look…" I say and stop as soon as I realize my stupid wording.

"Mexican?" she asks, looking annoyed.

"I didn't mean to…I…uh…" I struggle as I shake both my head and hands.

"Sadly a common thing to happen with foreign god eater arrivals," she explains, "Do not worry though. My name is Linda Gutierrez, I'm Assistant Director of this branch, please accompany me."

The helipad is located on top of the HQ building, looking around I can see all of the buildings inside that walls and the reaches of the slums spreading outside the walls. Linda makes her way to a set of stairs and I follow quickly trying not to get left behind. I have many questions, but everything about this arrival makes me think it's going to have to wait.

In the distance I can see another chopper approaching, maybe more god eaters.

"We don't have a lot of time right now, I must assign you to a squad so you can get to your duties as quickly as possible," Linda explains as she opens a door leading to more stairs that go downwards.

A few seconds of walking lead us into a big room; it looks almost identical to the dispatch room back in the America Branch. Terminals surround the area we entered the room from and there are several couches and chairs for people to wait until they are dispatched. Close to the terminals you can find a large desk, behind it there's a man and a woman, both of them outfitted with headsets and intensely working on their respective terminals.

There are more people in the room, some of them I identify as god eaters thanks to their armlets. A group of them comes in behind us making a lot of noise. I can't help but to notice they are all wearing what looks like uniforms; black military fatigues with Fenrir's logo on the right arm. Outfitted with vests, knee and elbow pads on top of the fatigues.

"Screw recon work," I hear one shout.

"Oh shut up, it went well," another replies.

"I guess, well at least I'm not covered in aragami blood this time around."

"This is the dispatch room, this room you should be familiar with, almost all Fenrir Branches strive to have similar design, and so as far as I'm concerned this room is almost identical in all branches.

"Sorry, you said something about most of the people here speaking English?" I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me, "Why is that?"

"This branch is in its majority composed of outsourced America branch personnel," she says, "You will find staff and god eaters alike speak English for this reason. However, I do encourage you to learn Spanish. Not all of the staff or god eaters for that matter speak English."

The woman holds her tablet up and seems to be lost in a trance as her eyes dart around quickly and her fingers swipe in all directions.

"You are one of those prototype god eaters," she mumbles, "Yet, you have no combat experience?"

"I've only gone through training," I reply, "I asked to be sent here practically as I finished it."

"Odd…" she mutters, "The director wants you assigned to a very particular squad."

"Is there a problem with that?" I ask.

Her nose wrinkles a little as I ask my question and she sighs deeply.

"To my criteria, with your training results and god arc, I think your talent is going to be wasted, but the director wants you assigned to Kilo Squad."

The dispatch room grows silent and several people start staring in our direction. Amidst the silence I can make out a single person making my situation quite clear.

"Geez, with those guys?"

"What's wrong with Kilo Squad?" I ask.

"Nothing is fundamentally wrong with Kilo…" Linda says, "Fundamentally…"

I'm about to ask my next question when a loud crackle sounds off from the speakers in the room. They make a sound as if they were malfunctioning, generating a high pitched noise that makes me reach up to cover my ears.

"Echo Squad, dispatch is ready, head to the helipad," the speakers announce.

"We should get going, the director already informed one of your squad members about your arrival," Linda says, walking away without even waiting for me.

I look around nervously as I'm left behind and make a quick effort to catch up with Linda. She is rather fast for a person wearing heels. She enters an elevator on the far side of the room and I manage to make it in as the doors are closing.

"You are kind of slow on your feet," Linda states.

"I…uh…sorry," I say while scratching the back of my head.

"Do you have any questions so far?"

So many.

"America Branch doesn't have uniforms, why do you have them here?" I ask.

"Did you not ask for information before asking to be transferred here?" she asks, seemingly annoyed.

I feel myself make a face that easily spells out that I didn't as I shrug.

"God eaters in this branch are also in charge of policing both inside of the walls and outside in the slums," she explains, "I strongly suggest getting up to speed as soon as you can, Miss Boyd. I apologize for how straight forward my next sentence is going to sound, but I need to say it."

I feel a cold shiver run down my spine and find myself taking a step back only to meet one of the walls in the small elevator.

"This branch is not for green horns like you, I don't care if your god arc is top of the line or if your training results look great," she says, "If you are going to stay here and most importantly if you plan to stay alive you better surprise us all with your performance."

The shiver going down my spine seems to stretch for the longest time as all I can do is stare into Linda's steely eyes. Linda breaks eye contact with me as the elevator stops and a small chime sounds off to tell us we have arrived to our destination floor.

I feel like a dog with its tail between its legs as I follow her into a narrow corridor where I can see a figure standing on its tiptoes as it leans into an open door.

"That's her," Linda says, "She already knows that she is going to be the one receiving you. I have others matter to attend to, I apologize for the hassle. I hope to see you later, Miss Boyd."

I can only swallow my own spit as I hear her say that she hopes to see me later. Linda turns around to promptly start heading back the way she led me through. In a bit of a fit of panic I turn around to her.

"W-wait…I" I stutter, but she is already going in the elevator we rode a few seconds ago, "What's her name..."

Slowly I pivot my body again, there is this black haired girl poking her head into a room on the right, she wears the same uniform I have seen in all god eaters so far. Getting a bit closer I see a label on the wall that reads "Cocina/Kitchen". She seems to be in the middle of a heated discussion, I'm not able to make out her face, but her hair is beautiful, long and silky looking. A weird part inside has the sudden urge to touch it, but I'm nowhere near familiar with this girl to do that. We are total strangers.

Taking a deep breath I try to remember what little Spanish I know and ready myself.

"Uhm, ho-hola," I say.

"Come on, Pablo, this is not the time to cut me off," she says in perfect English.

Surprised I feel my eyebrow rise a little and feeling a bit more confident a take a few steps to get closer to her.

"Excuse me!" I yelp, my excitement of hearing another English speaker getting the better of me like before.

"I ain't cutting you off, I'm just sayin you gonna need to pay more," a voice replies, "I already got in trouble for giving you double rations, you gotta make it worth my while here."

"But I don't have more money Pablo!" the girl whines, "No te aproveches…"

I recoil a bit as I also hear her speak in Spanish.

"I'll give you half of my beer ration," the girl proposes.

I keep myself from saying anything as there's a silence between this girl and this Pablo person.

"Deal, now get out of here."

The girl jumps and twirls around victorious. In the middle of her twirl she stops and looks straight at me. She gasps in awe and then smiles, something about her slightly slanted eyes and smile, just feels warm and welcoming. She brings both of her hands together in front of her and I notice two bulky red armlets over her wrists, one on each wrist.

"Hello, hello!" she says with a smile, "I know who you are! Keyla, right?! You look so much prettier than the picture in your dossier!"

Still in awe I feel my eyes glued to her hands.

"Why do you have two?" I ask, being rude, and completely discarding her compliment.

I shake my head rapidly and slap both of my hands against my cheeks. In a fit of panic I salute her as if she was my superior.

"My name is Keyla Boyd, it's nice to meet you!" I scream.

I only see her smile and laugh a little as she covers her mouth. She looks so young; eying her out a little I'm able to tell I'm just a tad bit taller than her maybe an inch or two. Her skin is white and soft looking; her factions still look very juvenile. Small nose and jaw, then again maybe that's just her descent.

"I know that, but since we are doing introductions," she says as she strikes a bit of pose, "My name is Miku, Miku Arakawa. I'm your new squad mate and roomie!"

Embarrassed I put my hand down and shrug once more. Seconds later my eyes find their way into staring at Miku's hands again.

"Oh right!" she says as she turns her wrist to allow for me to ogle even harder at them. "I've gone through the pairing process twice. I have two god arcs, new people always stare."

"How does that work?" I ask, "Wouldn't the oracle cells from each god arc reject each other?"

"Short story even shorter," she giggles, "My god arcs were made from the same aragami, and they tell me it was a huge one. Not to mention they were also looking for guinea pigs…"

That last bit she says so devoid of energy and any tone at all that I'm left wondering a little. However she quickly claps her hands together to make me focus.

"Alrighty then," she sings, "Let's get you into your uniform and go look for our squad leader!"

"Where can we find him…uh, her?" I stumble with my words.

Miku suddenly grabs my hand and drags me down the corridor past a few doors before finally stopping in front of a door with her name on it. Her name is written on a small strip that seems to be held by a small metal slot. Under her name there's another slot, but it seems to be empty. I guess I will be putting my name in there.

I want to ask why people think badly of Kilo Squad but she speaks before I can even think of the words to ask her.

"He's a he," she chortles, "We can probably find him in his favorite bar."

The door to our room opens as Miku swipes a card over a reader on the right side of the door and she pulls me in.

"Excuse me?" I mumble.

I see her zoom into the room as she finally lets go of me and skipping like a little girl she makes her way to a small locker on the left of the room.

"Yeah, he probably is drunk somewhere," she replies, unfazed, "I received your uniform in the morning, I was so excited, I'm finally getting a roomie!"

Suddenly why Kilo Squad got the reactions it got in the dispatch room no longer surprise me.

She opens the locker on the right; it's empty besides a set of Fenrir fatigues that appear to be neatly folded. Miku grabs them and turns around. She makes a funny little dash towards me and presses the clothes against my chest.

"Come on, come on, we got to find him!"

I grab my fatigues and look around for another door inside the room. Sadly I do not find one.

"Uh, we don't have a bathroom?" I ask.

"Well…there's one in the hallway…" Miku mutters, "Oh! Ok, I'll leave you to it!"

She goes around me in the blink of an eye and with smile she steps out of the room to give me a little privacy.

As the door closes behind me I find myself in complete and utter silence. I can feel my heart beating through my ears and slowly I calm down by breathing in and out steadily. That girl is like an adrenaline rush.

I look around, more carefully this time. There are two lockers on the left, once again one of them has Miku's name written on it. To the right of the lockers is a bunk bed, the supports for the small mattresses seem to be coming out of the wall. They look comfy enough. Other than that not much sticks out of the room. There are two terminals next to the door, each parallel to each other, a small fridge next to them and a small table with two chairs in the middle of the room. I guess the one word to describe the room would be practical.

There's a small window that looks out to what seems to be a small courtyard. On the small window sill on the inside of the room there's a small pot with an orchid. It appears to just have started growing; the very small stem spouting from the dirt is already tied to a small stick that helps it keep straight. Flowers a rare sight these days, I feel an odd fascination towards the small pot.

I try to get back on task and undress, I start dressing myself with the fatigues. I'm surprised that I find them comfortable and that they actually feel nice on the skin. I was expecting them to itch or feel bad. I head to the door and press a small button on the side to open it.

"Good!" Miku says, "That was fast, now let's get our gear and head to the slums!"

"We need gear for the slums?" I ask.

"Oh wow…" Miku says uncomfortably, "You really are new…"

As we enter the checkpoint to go past the walls of Fenrir I still can't shake how uncomfortable I feel. Everyone keeps telling me I'm new, and they make really unnerving remarks about it. Adding to that uncomfortable feeling is a handgun currently strapped to my right leg. I can't help but to keep my hand anxiously hovering over it.

"You'll get used to it," Miku say, "I haven't used mine in the longest while! Well…last week I did…hey, but I didn't fire it!"

She goes silent for a solid two seconds.

"Well I did...but they were warning shots!"

"Are things really that bad here?" I ask.

"Things are bad everywhere, but here the police and army are sort of merged with Fenrir," she explains, "Unlike other branches there's a particular need for order here, and they asks us god eaters to help since we are the ones keeping people safe from aragami."

"Alright, you are clear," a guard says as he hands us back our IDs, "When you find Arturo tell him he still owes me money."

"Arturo?" I ask.

"He's our squad leader," Miku smiles, "I'll be sure to tell him."

Everything about this man so far just sounds great, so great.

A loud buzzer sounds off and a set of metal doors open to reveal a dirty street, filled with makeshift shacks, half destroyed buildings and people wondering about their business. On the other side of the doors there are three guards, all of them toting rifles and the same Fenrir uniform I am. However they don't seem to have armlets.

Thinking hard it really isn't that different from how things are back home. Anything outside of the Fenrir branches is pretty rundown.

"Alright…" Miku mutters as she presses her index finger against her lips, "I know three bars where he is a regular."

Lovely.

"Where do we start?" I ask.

Not uttering another word Miku starts heading to a small alley not far from the branch's entrance. She doesn't even wait for me. Since I got here I feel like I'm being left on purpose. Miku resembles a hound sniffing out its prey. She stops at a wooden door and softly pushes it open. I follow in behind her and as soon as I enter the smell of vomit and booze hits my nose with full force. I hold my breath and cover my nose to avoid contributing anymore to the vomit smell.

"Carlos!" Miku yells.

Inside, there are about seven tables; all of them have their chairs turned upside down except for one. On that particular table you can find a man resting his head on the table.

Perhaps my squad leader?

A little bit further inside you can spot an old man with tan skin tending to his bar, slowly wiping it with a piece of cloth.

"If it isn't my favorite Asian," The man behind the bar replies with a husky voice replies.

"Awesome Carlos, racist and broad," Miku jokes, "You've seen Arturo around?!"

"It's only a joke," Carlos says, "No, he hasn't been here today. He is probably over at Laura's."

Miku is about to turn around, but stops.

"You sure?" she asks.

"I'm willing to bet money," Carlos replies, "Speaking of, if you find him tell him he still owes me last week's tab."

"Doe he owe money to everyone?" I ask, trying to be funny.

Miku stops, crosses her arms and grabs her chin, appearing deep in thought.

"Really?!" I retort in disbelief.

"Well…not everyone…" she laughs, "Either way, Laura's is right around the corner, let's go!"

We exit Carlos' bar and take a right to go further down the alley. Not a minute of walking in that direction we find ourselves at Laura's.

"The sign outside the door literally says Laura's…" I mumble.

"Well, it is the owner's name," Miku adds.

Miku once again takes initiative and pushes the door open. The smell this time around is nowhere near bad. There is actually a strong scent of pine as if the place had been cleaned just recently with some kind of product. Compared to Carlos' this bar is a little nicer, the floor is clean, the tables are all cleaned up, but just like at Carlos' there is one man hunching over in alcoholic sleep, this time around however, on the bar. He is even snoring loudly.

"Laura! Is Arturo here?!" Miku shouts.

"Hey, Miku," A woman behind the bar calls out, "Yeah, he is here."

"How long has he been here?" Miku asks.

"Desde las cuatro de la mañana," Laura replies.

"Hah! That means since four in the morning!" I scream in excitement.

Laura stares at me with an annoyed look and suddenly I feel like dying. On the other hand Miku claps her hands together and smiles.

"Yes it does!" she says with excitement, "You'll get the hang of Spanish in no time!"

We get closer to the bar and I keep my distance from the snoring man as Miku approaches him.

"Hey Arturo!" Miku shouts right next to his ear, waking him up with no regard to his sleep whatsoever.

Arturo sits up and turns around with bloodshot eyes. He smacks his lips together, followed by a classy burp and covers his eyes, cowering way from the light emanating from the light bulbs of the establishment.

"¡Que chingados!" the man shouts, "¡¿Ni una puta vez me puedes dejar dormir?!"

"I wouldn't say passing out because you drank your ass off sleeping," Miku replies as she crosses her arms, "Solo levántate de una vez, esta es nuestra nueva compañera."

"¿Ya está aquí?, bienvenida al escua-"

"No habla español," Miku interrupts him, using her hands to mimic an opening and closing mouth.

With an annoyed look he presses his eyes shut and rubs his forehead.

"Mierda…ok, right, right," he mumbles.

Finally standing up from the rundown stool he was sitting on, he zips up his jacket and turns around to face us. Just now I'm finally able to see his face a bit better; his sharp jaw is covered with a short beard that goes from one ear to the other. He has brown, slightly narrow eyes and a very pretty nose for a man.

He coughs loudly to clear his throat, snapping me out of my over-analyzing gaze.

"I'm Arturo Troncoso," he introduces himself, "Welcome to Kilo Squad."

Crysina here!

I hope you enjoyed reading this first chapter of my new story!

God it's been a while, but I'm finally back with another story, as you can pretty much same as beofre I'm merely borrowing the universe to spin out my own story. This time around god eater, thankfully there isn't much you need to understand about god eater to enjoy my story if you never even heard about god eater. Aragami are monsters that can only be killed by god eaters using god arc, boom, done.

I'm excited to see new and old readers come to this story, the traffic for this section isn't as heavy as SAO's but that doesn't matter I just really wanted to try my hand at God Eater's universe since I like it a lot. On another note, I do not currently have a lot of chapters ready like with my other story, so until I do the update schedule for this story will be irregular and I cannot really give you a day in which I will be uploading new chapters. However, I hope to further along the line come up with scheduled uploading.

That is all for today! If you like what you read please leave a review, if you don't you can do so as well!

I will see you all soon!