A/N: Thanks for the 30+ reviews! I feel so loved! :D

Jord and I are going to co-write a fic (title WIP) soon, so please be on the lookout for any new additions from us! Jord is the one with the beautifully-written fic taking place in GOW3–A Grievous Redemption. Please go check it out! The fic we're working on is interesting to write because it really allows for us to explore character and feeling, and I can't wait to have the first chapters up! We're publishing under my account, so just look for something later. :D

Yes, I am aware the Fall of Landown happened 5A.E and not 6A.E which is what time arc our story takes place in, and as much as I'd love to keep it in chronological order I don't think a year matters much. Hopefully!

Also, I'm rewriting a few of the last chapters. They were done half-ass, I want to make them better.

This chapter had a LOT of trouble submitting and it messed up some of the formatting. If you see an error, please please please tell me!

--

COG Base, Jacinto

A tall, young-looking man stood by the doors leading towards the mess hall. A delicious scent of leftovers from dinner–some type of reprocessed corn, bacon, and eggs–wafted through the courtyard and drew Gears either getting on their patrols or getting off a late-night. The man barely noticed the smell, instead concentrating on looking for a familiar face in the crowd of pressed bodies.

From beside him, a shorter, stockier man with light blonde hair and blue eyes joined his searching of the crowd. "Well," the blonde said wryly. "It's not exactly like you can miss him."

"It's the Cole-friggin'-Train, Nick," the taller one said. He was noticeably less muscular than those around him, lean and built for long-distance running. His black hair was beginning to grow out of its' close cut, falling across stormy green eyes. "If you miss him you better go see the optometrist."

Nick snorted and began to turn away. "I'll save you some if it looks good," he said, and turned towards the mess to follow the throng of Gears and fight for a place in line like a pack of wolves. The taller man just shook his head and turned to looking across the courtyard.

Tanner caught his eye from halfway down the courtyard and picked up the pace. Tanner was about fifty, graying around the hair and getting some deep-set wrinkles, but he was a good soldier. They shared a nod when they came within talking distance. "I thought you were out on patrol near Landown, Nait," Tanner said curiously. "What brought you back?"

Family problems. "I got rotated out," Nait said, smiling a little. "Hoffman is giving Nick and I a few days R&R. Think they're sending us somewhere big later."

Tanner's face fell a bit. "Oh," he said, comprehending. Why else would Hoffman himself give Omicron a few days off? "Oh..."

"Yeah," Nait said, looking away. "Well, ain't nothing I can do about it."

"'Ain't' isn't a word, Redgrave," Tanner said a little crossly, and Nait grinned. Their short time as teacher and student had been memorable... for the teacher at least. "I was a language arts teacher, for God's sake. And I was a damn good one."

"Don't feel bad, Mister T," Nait said slyly. "It ain't like a teacher could get in my head, anyway. I even had a good friendship with the SRO."

The School Resource Officer wasn't a bad lady, and she'd gone to great lengths in pulling him out of class just to talk to him. She was genuinely likeable, and he had no idea if she was still alive. It bothered him that he'd never thought to check, but he knew in his heart she probably was. Hoping was for fools. Tanner must have been thinking the same thing, because he said, "I sure miss that lady. Always good to me, she was."

Nait didn't curse–it was a habit he'd forced himself into to find a better way to express his opinion. Tanner didn't curse in Nait's earshot because in so many ways they were still teacher and student. It was being mindful of this philosophy when Nait answered carefully, "She was a damn good woman."

Tanner grunted a bit, and nodded. They stood staring into the courtyard for a few moments, caught in quiet reflection of a life long past. But I still have Jaskia. I still have my sis. Nick is still with me. We're alive, we're fighting.

The only reason Hoffman would have called him back for a few days of R&R was to send him back to Landown. Nait wasn't dense, he knew that Mayor Leland had put in a huge super-important memo to Prescott demanding more Gears because the Mayor had brought him into his office and explained it point-blank to him. Nait admired Mayor Leland for his ability to make even a request–because really, it was a request unfortunately–sound like you could die if you didn't follow through with it.

Landown was near the borders of the Jacinto Plateau, and even though the grubs couldn't break through the subterrain it didn't stop them from raiding every unprotected supply truck running between the city and Ephyra. Hoffman wasn't a dense man, and he must've known as well as anybody the grubs would soon step it up. They were beginning to mobilize outside of the Plateau according to Scout, his sister.

He couldn't wait to get off of duty and finish his conversation with Cole so he could go see his sister and his girlfriend and hug them both to his chest and keep them there until he was shipped back out. Jaskia and Scout weren't afraid of anything, and he had a sudden vision of the Locusts breaking through the granite to meet an unexpected resistance in the form of two little women holding broomsticks and saucepans. He couldn't help but grin.

"You got a girlfriend since I left, Tanner?" Nait asked curiously, breaking the silence that had engulfed them.

Tanner shook his head. "I still have a few friends," he said carefully. "But why attach myself to another person when I'd only hurt them when I died?"

"You don't expect to survive the war..."

"I'm fifty-two, Nait," Tanner said wearily. "And my age is catching up to me. My joints hurt when I run, and I can't run as far. My fingers hurt when I reload, so I'm slower. Slow people don't win this war, Nait. I'm just waiting for my time, and I'll bring down as many as I can with me."

Nait frowned, unsettled by his old teacher's revelation. He didn't want to lie and say 'Of course you'll survive,' but what Tanner was saying was true. Hoffman didn't even fight any more except occasionally because of his age. Nait was suddenly panicking, wondering if Tanner would die tomorrow or the next day because of complications. He dry-swallowed once and said, "I'll figure something out. I'll get you into a post at Control, or... or something. You don't have to worry, okay? I'll take care of it."

Tanner pat him on the back and began to edge towards the mess. "I'm going to fight, Nait. Don't take that away from me. Aren't you coming in for breakfast?"

Nait shook his head, looking away so he didn't see the plan forming in his mind. He was going to get Tanner a post at Control or somewhere safer at least. "I'm waiting for Cole Train to wake up. He's coming on patrol with me and Nick."

"'Nick and I,'" Tanner corrected albeit sternly. "Now say it right."

Nait sighed theoretically. "I'm waiting for Cole Train because he's coming on a patrol with Nick and I."

"Good job. Remember to turn in your homework tomorrow or I will make you complete it during lunch," Tanner warned, and before Nait could say anything he turned around and stalked back into the mess hall. Nait watched him go, snorting to himself.

Yeah, Tanner would be a good Control operator. He could make people laugh with the old teacher-student act.

Nait waited as long as his stomach would allow, but Cole never showed up. True to his word, though, Nick had saved him a heaping pile of bacon and corn. The eggs had apparently disappeared before Nick had gotten there. Nait took a seat and began to wolf down the meal, sating the hunger that had tempted him outside. Nick was eating a bit slower, savoring the flavor of the bacon as he ate.

"Bacon," he said, closing his eyes. "We cannot live without you."

"Amen to that," Nait said, shoveling three pieces into his mouth. Nick opened one eye to watch and promptly closed it. Nait took the chance to nab two pieces of his own from his plate. Nick's hand shot out and grabbed Nait's wrist with his eyes still closed, and Nait dropped the bacon back on to his plate. "Don't lead me to temptation, I can find my own way," Nait muttered, quoting one of his friend's old sayings.

"Don't steal my bacon," Nick growled.

"Then swallow it already!" Nait said. "Don't keep tempting me... it's just right there... so good-looking... so delicious...."

"So crunchy," Nick added, taking a slow, exaggerated bite. The crunch made his stomach rumble.

Suddenly a hand appeared over his shoulder and snatched half the remainder of Nait's bacon off of his plate. Nait let out an outraged cry, turning his head up to face the blonde that was now crunching on it. His blue goggles glinted in the weak sunlight. He shrugged, mouth full, and held up a finger until he swallowed. "Ah, that's better," he said. "Yeah, that was good."

Nait was about to abandon his no-cursing policy, and his look must've said he was gonna bite Damon Baird's throat out to get the rest of the bacon because Nick placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "What the heck do you think you're playing at?" Nait growled, shrugging off Nick's hand. "Yo, man, that was mine!"

"Well, you guys were so intent on your conversation I was wondering if you'd forgotten about it." Baird smiled a sickly sweet smile, his teeth still coated in bacon grease.

Now taking Nait Redgrave's bacon was just wrong. Nait wasn't only angry–he was about to rip off the man's sneer and duck tape it to his butt. Maybe Tanner could tell something was happening from across the room, because suddenly he was there, a hand on his shoulder.

Baird seemed to be getting a great joy out of this torment.

"Calm down, son," Tanner said, patting Nait's shoulder. "Easy does it."

I'm about to march into certain death. I'm going to Landown to kill some friggin' grubs. And he just stole my friggin' bacon.

"Hey, he wasn't eating it," Baird said, still grinning. He had a full plate in his hand, teeming with bacon, egg, and corn. Baird tilted his head to the side a little. "You aren't really angry about this, are you? Calm down, I'm just playin'."

And with that, Baird took off half of his bacon and placed it on Nait's plate. He could feel his vein throbbing in his head, his heart pulsing. "Get out of my face, Baird."

"Now that's not nice," Baird said, a glint in his eye. "Sounds like you need to learn some manners, asshole."

"I'm dead serious, Baird, get out of my face before I brand those big blue goggles right into your–"

"Easy," Tanner scolded. "Baird, get out of here before Nait gets his bacon back the hard way."

"You should control that temper, then, huh Nait?" Baird asked. "Too bad I can't leave, because guess who has the flu?"

Nait's heart fell. Cole... don't leave me with this idiot... "Wonderful," he said dryly. "Is he alright?"

"Oh sure," Baird said, taking a seat next to Nait. He began to dig into his meal. Tanner's hand was a constant pressure on his shoulder, calming him down. No, you just didn't steal a hungry man's bacon. "Except he knew you'd be waiting for him. Funny, huh?"

No, not really. Augustus Cole and Nait Redgrave had been friends since their old thrashball days. It wasn't funny. It was logical. "Gee, I wonder why."

"He said you wanted him on a patrol today... near that hospital we were just at if he knew you right. So he sent me instead."

Nait glared at Baird, feeling Tanner's incomprehension beside him. "You're not fair."

"Have you known me to be?" Baird countered. "Look, just drop me off by the hospital and I'll leave you the hell alone. That good enough for your tiny brain?"

Nait could feel his muscles clenching again, and it was an effort to remain calm. You're just mad because he stole your bacon. Shut up.

"We'll drop you off," Nick said. "But you owe us."

Baird's smile would've curdled milk.

--

From a civilians's perspective, it would look like all the Gears did was patrol and fight to occasional Locust because basically that's all the city-squads did. Gears were actually responsible for a lot of things like ferrying supplies to outlaying cities, making sure the Stranded didn't get too rowdy, crowd control, and they were the only organized force in the world fighting the Locust. In the middle of Jacinto where their main base was, there really was nothing to do except patrolling. So maybe people began to lose their perspective.

They would regain that perspective very quickly. The job of the Gears was to protect, serve, and defend. Even from their safe haven.

Darrina listened to Baird's words with a fascination she'd never felt before and felt a change of heart coming towards her armored defenders.

She sat in a chair near the window, still pale and fragile-looking, and listened to Baird's words with her knees drawn up to her chest. Doctor Hayman had found her some new clothes in a donation bin that fit her just right, and she wore them now instead of that awful hospital gown. An IV needle was still connected to her arm, but she was taken off the blood thing. Hayman was really pleased with the machine's work and said the drugs were almost out of her system days before she would have thought.

But it also raised a question of what she'd do in the future. She was not going back to the Stranded camp again, and Hayman had invited her to stay with her until she had something set up. She didn't want to stay with Mister Henry and his kid Andrea, because for some crazy reason she was terrified of the family.

Hayman didn't say it, but Darrina knew she wouldn't be able to support her. She was always at the hospital, and Darrina hated hospitals. It looked like she would be back on the streets again, and it scared her a little bit. Baird never talked about it, but she could tell he was thinking about it, too. She just made herself listen to him and admire him, because he really, really was nice and he did believe in what he said.

Baird was so different than the other Stranded she'd ever met. He wasn't nice, he told her. He was actually mean to some other people, but that was because he didn't put up with nonsense. Then he told her a funny story about how he stole another guy's bacon when he was taking too long to get to it. It sounded so just and right that she even got a little angry at the man that Baird said looked like he was going to hit him.

"But nobody can hit you," Darrina protested.

"I got shot, didn't I?" Baird countered.

Darrina tried to keep Baird talking. She wanted to know everything about how life was like before the Locusts came, and she wanted to know if anybody knew they were coming before they did. When he asked what she meant, she explained that sometimes she knew what was going to happen before it happened, or sometimes she got a better insight into somebody before the grown-ups realized it.

"That's a good skill to have," Baird said. "You're using your five senses."

She frowned. "I thought there were more than five senses," she said.

Baird shook his head. "Smell, sight, hearing, touch, and taste," he said, touching each of his corresponding body parts. "If you learn how to use all of those just the right way, you get a sixth sense."

"A sixth sense?"

Baird nodded. "My old Sarge used to tell me that when you train yourself to use all of those senses at the same time you get so aware of the places around you that you get a sixth sense like you have. You can feel things before they happen, or you can make a good character judgement."

And then he grinned. "What do you think of me?" he asked.

"You're really fun," Darrina said. "And you're nice."

Baird shook his head. "I'm not nice."

"You are to me."

"But what about to the other people?"

"But..." she frowned, trying to remember what he'd said before. "Don't they take too long to decide... or something?"

Baird actually threw back his head and laughed. "Maybe I'm so mean because there's nobody nice anymore."

She shook her head in denial. "You're not mean!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

And on they went, until one of the doctors came in with a fruit pack for Darrina and a cheeseburger for Baird. She ate her fruit a little uncertainly, staring greedily at Baird's cheeseburger until he ripped off half and placed it on the fruit pack. She ate it graciously.

They ate in silence for a long time until they were done, and Baird took the fruitpack–the pineapple and pear uneaten–and threw it away. "You could've had some," she said. "I don't mind."

"Yeah, but I don't like pineapple. And pears taste funny."

"It tastes weird," she said in agreement, nodding. "Why did you get a cheeseburger? I thought all the cows are dying."

"They're not dying," Baird corrected her. "We're breeding them to get more, but it's hard. Most of us are planting fruit gardens wherever we can so we can eat while the cows mature."

"But how do we get the seeds?"

"There are seeds inside some fruits," he said. "Did you notice how the center was already cut out of your oranges and apples?" She nodded. "You take the seeds from them and replant."

"But I thought it'd take... well, a long time to grow fruit."

"The scientists are working on it," Baird said. He seemed to really enjoy talking to her. Darrina wondered how he'd gotten some of the scars on his arms. He'd only just taken off the arms of his armor when it got too hot. She was itching to check them out. "We're all trying as best we can."

That opened up a whole other range of questions, which Baird seemed glad to answer. How many crops were being planted in Jacinto? How many people lived here? What happened on Scorched Earth? Why did they do it? Who did it? How many people died?

Scorched Earth was something she had the biggest questions for. She could only vaguely remember what happened because she was only three. "I only remember... there was a lot of black clouds. I thought it was going to rain, and I wanted to go play but I wasn't allowed."

"Kids aren't even allowed to play in the rain now," Baird said, but he was frowning. "Were you in Jacinto when the Hammer strikes went off?"

"No," she said. "I don't remember where I was before."

"When did your parents die?"

"Two years ago," she answered, a it shyly. "The Locusts killed them."

"Yeah... they killed a lot of people."

That was all he'd really say about it, and so she had to move on to another line of questions.

Baird stayed for a long time, but then a really tall man with green eyes came to get him. He was dressed in full armor, and his helmet was held loosely in his hand. Darrina's eyes widened, looking at the menagerie of guns on his back. "Hey, kid," the man said, holding out his hand. "I'm Nait Redgrave."

"I'm Darrina Thel-Lehon," she said, gripping his hand. The glove he wore was familiar to her, having played with Baird's own glove the day before. "I'm sick."

"Yeah, I know," Nait said, patting her head. "But you're getting all better now, right?"

"Yeah," she said, grinning. "Baird's really nice."

Nait raised his eyebrows a bit, and an involuntary smile crossed his face. "Yeah... Baird's a real hoot."

"What's a hoot?" she asked curiously.

"Hey, I thought the patrol didn't end for another hour," Baird said, standing. He began to replace his armor, tightening the straps to form to his arms. "You guys calling it early?"

"No, you're finishing the patrol with me." Nait smiled sweetly. "Nick's already rostered off to go see his girlfriend. You are on the patrol with me, so..."

A shadow crossed over Baird's face, and he nodded stiffly. Darrina wondered why they didn't like each other, but she was automatically on Baird's side, whatever it was. He went in the bathroom and retrieved his Lancer and a his pistil, then turned to her. "Get better, Darrina," he said.

"Are you leaving?" she asked, a little saddened.

"Have to go finish this patrol," he said. "But hey, I'll be back tomorrow if you want–"

"No, don't come back tomorrow," she said quickly. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

He nodded a little. "Okay. I'll see you when I can, then."

She grinned, even though her heart sunk a bit. But I won't be here in two days... Because she knew her body, and knew it was recovering well and that in two days she'd be almost completely better. Her memory wasn't quite back yet, but she could remember everything that had happened in the past month and in her early childhood up until the time her parents died. Between the ages of five and seven, though, she had no idea.

They left, and Darrina was alone again. She stared morosely out the window, watching the different squads milling about the hospital. Really, nobody needed to patrol this area, she thought. Baird had said it was an easy job, reserved for Hoffman's favorites, and he was only able to come because he teamed up with one of the squads taking some rest from one of the surrounding cities.

Darrina sat in thought for a long time, she only sound in the room the steady 'drip-drip' of the IV fluid. When Hayman came in, she was still in the same chair staring out the window.

"You look tired," the doctor noted, taking Baird's vacated seat.

"A little," Darrina said. It was only three o'clock, but her body was telling her it was at least eleven.

"Well, you should go to sleep if you're tired," Hayman said. She rummaged in her white coat and brought out a red lollipop. She handed it to her. "Nait Redgrave's girlfriend gives one to him every day he patrols," she explained. "He saved this one for you."

Darrina took it gratefully, grinning. "Thanks."

Hayman stood to check her readings, and when she was satisfied she gave her two pills and a cup of water. After she left to check on other patients, Darrina fell asleep watching the Gears outside.