Chapter 10

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE GOD EATER FRANCHISE HOWEVER I DO OWN MY OC.

Name: Cedrick Esparza

Gender: Male

Hairstyle: Style 7 (Dark Brown)

Today started like any other. I completed my morning routine which includes dressing myself, eating and brushing my teeth. However, for a change, I decided to go up to the garden. It would be refreshing to go up to it and feel the morning sun on my skin and I won't have any early morning visitor- There's somebody already here. I can see the silhouette of a woman standing right in the middle of the path. When I walk closer to it, I see that the figure is mainly dressed in white. Just from the being dressed part I knew it was Ciel. What Nana wears can't really count as being dressed.

"Ciel, I didn't expect to see you up here so soon." I say with a smile on my face as she seems surprised to hear me. She turns in my direction with the surprise on her face.

"Vice Captain? What a coincidence. I need to speak with you." Ciel informs me of her intention to speak with me, probably regarding what she said last night. I am shocked that she didn't just barge into my room to speak with me, like she has done previously, but she must have noticed that it wasn't very polite to do that and therefore stopped.

"I've been hoping for an opportunity to speak with you about this for some time..." Getting a better look at the woman, it appears as though she was thinking about this all of last night as she has black bags under her eyes. They're only visible if you really concentrate on her face though.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" I ask in concern. This thing she wants to tell me must be bad if she was kept awake all night.

"Yes, plenty. Why do you ask?"
"Your eyes say otherwise. You've got black circles under them." She raised a hand to touch them but she quickly changes the subject as she speaks while moving her hand back to her side.

"Blood is incredible. They are not only elite warriors; they are versatile, capable and daring. To be honest, they are far more than I expected." Her sudden praises of our unit is slightly unexpected considering that she, herself, told me that we rely on our own individual abilities rather than the whole team's.

"They synchronise without effort and are constantly aware of not only their own tactical situation, but each of their allies'. They've come far. My point being" She turns her head away momentarily, "that the level of strategic capability that they have shown far outstrips my own, far outstrips each of us individually." I don't understand. Is Ciel saying that our ability to improvise is better than planning out a strategy?

"Vice Captain... I believe this to be the result of the relationships you have developed with us. To be honest, the way Blood interacts, I've begun to question all I've been taught as a soldier. Ah! Please, do not misunderstand, it is not a bad feeling. In fact it's... How can I put this?" She looks around, avoiding my eyes as she tries to find the right words. I must admit that her embarrassment is pretty cute.

"Erm... I... I don't know quite how to explain it. Hmm... I'm sorry for all this."

"Don't be." I let a large smile take over my face, of course, I won't tell her why I was smiling.

"Vice Captain," She regains her composure and faces me with a stoic face, "there is something I wish to ask of you. P-Please... Please be my friend!" Ciel's sudden request shocks me to the core as she bows her head. I didn't expect her to ask for my friendship but, then again, I already thought of her as a friend. Did she not think of me as one? Is this what she was contemplating over last night? She raises her head to speak again but maintains her bow, she looks almost like a dog. Cute.

"So... W-Will you?" Did she think that I would refuse her?

"Of course, Ciel! Although, I must admit that I already considered you to be a friend." I say with a hand scratching my head and another on my hip in an attempt to hide my embarrassment.

"Re-Really? You truly mean that?" She eases her posture out of her bow.

"I wouldn't lie about something like that." I stop scratching as I look her directly in the eyes. I know how hard it is to make friends. After all, I did live in an almost secluded section of Fenrir where contact with any other than my uncle was limited.

"Thank you... Vice Ca- Cedrick, thank you so much!" A small smile breaks out onto her usually stoic face and it makes me smile as well before the embarrassment of the situation catches up with her and she turns away.

"My apologies, I know this is... An uncommon way to go about it. I've always seen friendship from afar and wanted nothing more... A unit that doesn't rely on orders, but on each other. Ah... If I my be so bold, I have one small request to make." Her nervousness is cute.

"May I... Tell others that you are my friend?" She still looks away. I must admit that, although I didn't expect this conversation when I woke up this morning, the heart warming atmosphere of the situation has definitely woke me up. What a nice way to start the morning, knowing that the woman who was finding it hard to fit into the Blood Unit has found a friend in me is truly heart warming.

"Yes. Of course you may." A large smile crosses my face again as I speak.

"I am so glad. You know... You're the first friend I've ever had." My smile grows smaller, sad for the fact that there is another like me who didn't have any friends. Thankfully, I was able to make friends easily. It must have been so difficult on Ciel though.

"I cannot tell you how much this means to me. You make me feel strong and brave. Maybe even enough to grow close to the others as well." Again, it was heart warming to hear all of this and I begin to think that I want to feel this way forever. I gave a sincere smile as I spoke,

"Thanks for the compliment, Ciel. I hope you do grow close to the rest of the team. It would be great if we could all get along. Although, that's easier said than done. Romeo and Gilbert would still argue."

"Yeah, you're right. Anyway, I'd best prepare for our mission."

"Mission?" I repeat in surprise.

"Yeah, the two of us and Romeo are to exterminate a herd of small Aragami pretty soon. I suggest you get ready as well." Ciel informs me before walking out of the garden. A few seconds later, I also leave the garden and head back to my room with the intention of logging onto my terminal and upgrading my God Arc. Hopefully, I'll have the materials and the funds I need.

Logging onto the terminal, I find out that I do have the necessary materials and money needed for an upgrade. My new God Arc is now a Fiery Knife. It looks almost like an exact duplicate of the Knife only this one is red and specialises in Blaze attacks. As for the statistics, it appears that, while there has been a downgrade in slashing quality, there has been an upgrade in piercing quality; meaning that I should probably use more piercing attacks to damage Aragami now. After completing the improvements to my God Arc on the terminal, I headed to the God Arc Storage Area. I am already equipped with Restore Pills and O-Ampules so no other equipment is necessary apart from my God Arc. Speaking of which, I wonder if I can change my Blood Art as well. I'll need to ask about that in the future.

At last, it is mission time. Ciel, Romeo and I have just landed in the Wailing Plains where a large tornado remains stationary in the middle. It looks like we won't be able to get too close to the tornado. Alas, that is a problem for later. Right now, there is a herd of small Aragami consisting of Ogretails and Dreadpikes coming from ledges near the tornado.

"Romeo, go left. Ciel, go right." I shout and they split off, going their different ways while I take care of the three Aragami left for me. I may not be as experienced, but with an upgraded God Arc, I feel invincible.

I run towards the first Aragami which happens to be an Ogretail. The most dangerous Aragami in this small herd since the Dreadpikes only have close range attacks whilst Ogretails have both. I evade the monster's jaws with ease and pierce its neck, rending it incapacitated and finish it off with swing of my God Arc to its neck.

"Wooh!" I shout in excitement at how easy it was to kill the Ogretail before turning my attention to the closest Dreadpikes. I turn my God Arc into Gun Form and fire four Blaze bullets at the Aragami where it falls to the ground, unmoving.

"This is too easy." I revert my Arc back to Melee Form and sprint towards the remaining Dreadpike and pierce it a few times. Unfortunately, I don't get the final kill as a bullet from someone's Arc destroys the monster.

"You're getting too excited, Cedrick." Romeo speaks from beside me.

"Sorry about that." I apologise and scratch my head nervously. It would appear that I got too carried away. "That was my kill though." I tell him in a competitive manner. I see that he is about to retort when Ciel's voice comes through our earpieces.

"An unidentified Aragami has just appeared at my location. It looks to be a rather large one. I'm going to need help to defeat it."

"Okay, Ciel. We're on our way." I speak and give Romeo a nod of the head, to which he nods back, and we head off the same way that Ciel went when we split up.

It turns out that Ciel had almost defeated the monster single handedly and it only took a few bullets from Romeo and I to finish it off. After that, we had called to be picked up where we were told to head to Director Grem's Office. Upon arrival, the whole unit lined up opposite of Doctor Rachel and Doctor Leah. It feels like years since I last heard Doctor Rachel's calm, soothing voice.

"Pssst! Are those two really sisters? They don't look much like sisters... Just sayin'!" Romeo whispered loudly to me. He may as well have spoke in his usual volume because the two in question weren't really paying attention but when the doors slam open, all attention is drawn to the two figures that walk into the room. One of the two is Director Grem and the other one I don't know but he is rather slim and is wearing a lab coat.

"buying in bulk will ensure profit, Kujo! That's the end goal, not your petty research. Stop being a coward and grow a damn spine!" Director Grem speaks as he holds onto a cigar. He identifies the man as Kujo and, judging by his speech, Kujo is a researcher.

"Ah, well then. We'll continue this later." Grem speaks before taking another puff of his cigar with the smoke drifting in Nana's direction. I feel bad that she is standing at the end of the column when she coughs badly and covers her mouth.

"We're glad you could finally make time to join us, Director Grem." I look to Doctor Rachel as she speaks. Clearly she was very happy about being made to wait for him.

"What she means is 'thank you for coming'." Doctor Leah speaks as she lifts herself off of the couch and gives a slight bow. "We're sure you're busy."

"Very, Doctor, very. Pardon me if I forego more idiotic pleasantries. Why are we moving my fortress to the Far East? I gave no such order." At the Grem's words, I fail to hold back my surprise as my eyebrows raise.

"Ah, you likely haven't met." I return my eyes to Doctor Rachel. She introduces me to the Director with an air of disdain in her voice as she speaks of him. "This... gentlemen... is Director Grem: advisor to Fenrir HQ and Commander of Friar." The person in introduction doesn't take too kindly to his question being disregarded.

"You are beginning to try my patience, Rachel. Why don't you take after your sister a little more."

"hehehe... Do mind your manners before the Director, Rachel." Doctor Leah 'playfully scolds' her sister.

"Of course. We need to see Blood and God Arc Soldiers together in combat situations." Rachel explains her reasoning behind moving Friar to the Far East in a simple, matter of fact voice.

"There are more than enough Aragami here. There's no need to travel to that madhouse! I won't put my operation at risk on some whim." It seems that Grem isn't too fond of Rachel's plan judging by his annoyed voice.

"HQ does not simply grant approval to anyone who asks. They insisted on seeing the God Arc Soldiers in combat with various Aragami."

"Ah, I see... Even so." I'm not quite sure what happened but it would seem as though Rachel won in the little conversation. She certainly has a way with words.

"Miss Yuno makes her home at the Far East Branch. She does command much influence with Fenrir. It would be wise to grant her some aid." Leah provides extra motivation for the Director to move the fortress to the Far East. With a reluctant sigh, Grem agrees,

"Very well. I allow this frivolous exercise. However, I want assurances that neither Blood nor the God Arc Soldiers shall take casualties." Grem speaks, to my surprise, with a determined voice when speaking about casualties. He doesn't seem like the type of person to care about his warriors.

"None at all. I'd never dream of betraying your trust." Rachel gives him what he wants.

"Hm... Very well! Submit your proposal. I care not. Doctor Leah, would you remain for a while? The rest of you may go." No sooner had he said that I began walking towards the door. The man gave off a displeasing aura and I didn't want to be stuck in the same room as him for more than I had to be. The rest of the unit followed in my steps. I made sure to wait at the door though, so I could hold it open for Doctor Rachel to leave. It was a few seconds later but she did emerge through the door and gave a sweet, heart warming "thank you, Cedrick" before returning to her laboratory. Everyone else had already went their separate ways so I decided to head back to my room to rest for the night. After all, a well rested God Eater is much better at fighting than one that hasn't rested for as long.

Morning came quicker than I had hoped and thus, so did the missions. According to Ciel, seeing as how Friar has set course for the Far East and won't reach there for a long while, we will still need to do missions. This mission in particular pitted the two of us, as well as Nana and Romeo, against a Yaksha and a few small Aragami. To be honest, is sounds as though the smaller Aragami will be the tougher opponents since Yaksha's use their gun-like arm or attacks which are mostly all ranged. So as long as we can hit the beast up close, we should have no problem. Speaking of problems, Nana and I have just come across the smaller Aragami, two Ogretails which fall after a few cleverly timed stealth attacks.
"Romeo is incapacitated. Someone go and help him." Fran's voice suddenly came through the earpiece telling us of Romeo's condition. This greatly surprised the two of us since Romeo is the most experienced God Eater on the team. Does this mean that Ciel is also running into difficulty? In response to Fran, I spoke that the two of us were on our way.

Upon reaching Romeo and Ciel's destination, the two of us could see that Ciel was having trouble fighting off the Aragami by herself.

"Nana, help Ciel. I'll move Romeo to the side." I gave out a command and she followed orders. She immediately moved to help Ciel with an "aye-aye sir" whilst I proceeded to move Romeo's body out of the middle of the battlefield. He is definitely heavier than he looks but I manage to move him to the side and switch my Arc to Gun Form where I can fire at the Aragami and take O-Ampules to restore my Arc's Oracle Points. The beast soon comes tumbling to the ground and I take my eyes away from them to check over Romeo. Other than a few scratches, he seems okay and probably only fainted from exhaustion.

"Cedrick, Ciel, are you two finished with your mission?" Julius' Captain voice comes over our earpieces.

"Yes, we have just defeated the rogue Aragami but Romeo appears to have suffered an injury." Ciel answers in a stoic voice.

"No he hasn't. He collapsed due to, what I expect is, exhaustion. There are no injuries other than a few scratches." I speak and halt the worrying of the people listening.

"Ah, okay then. Cedrick, I want you to take Romeo to the infirmary aboard Friar. After that, you will meet Ciel and I in the Director's Office." I fail to hide my groan but receive no scolding from him, leading me to suspect that, he too, doesn't like the situation of being in Grem's Office again. Nevertheless, upon returning to Friar, I drop Romeo off at the infirmary after giving him a piggy-back all of the way here and head inside of Director Grem's office.

Inside of the Director's Office sits him with Kujo and Leah standing opposite in front of his desk. She doesn't stay for very long though as she leaves us before Julius speaks.

"Reporting in, Director Grem, I was informed you wish to speak with my team and I?" Julius spoke with his Captain's voice. It was a clever tactic to not speak with your emotions when addressing people of higher ranks. I may have to use this. With an exasperated sigh, Grem speaks in an exasperated tone,

"As per Dr. Rachel's request, I want your Blood Unit to take the lead in conducting the upcoming God Arc Soldier exercises. To elaborate, I/... Erm..." He appears to be lost for words and he quickly dumps responsibility onto Kujo, "elaborate for me." He speaks to him.

"Of course, Director. I understand that you, Captain Visconti, and you, Ms. Alencon, worked under Dr. Rachel and Dr. Leah." Kujo waits for an answer.

"Yes, that's true. They raised us, in fact. Both Ciel and I served as test pilots in earlier phases of the God Arc Soldier project." Julius' response seems to have enlightened Kujo's mood.

"Very good. Yes, very good indeed. Then I'll be brief. I need you to observe the Soldiers in combat and defend them... I-if necessary. We require 1 on 1 combat data, so your task is to clear the operations area. Please ensure that nearby Aragami will not be a threat." Kujo speaks to Julius and I have lost all train of thought with this conversation. Not that my train was on the tracks anyway, but still.

"Hey, Ciel." I lean over to whisper to Ciel, "Do you have any idea what's going on?" I asked her.

"I'll tell you soon. If I forget, it will more than likely be in our next mission's description." She tells me in a hushed voice, keeping her head facing forward.

"So we're to play the opening act?" Julius speak a locution; something to which I I have noticed he is quite fond of.

"Exactly. And you best not forget it, boy." Grem seemingly didn't think too highly of Julius. "The God Arc Soldiers are to be the stars of this show. Do I make myself understood?"

"Yes, sir." Julius speaks with a small bow.

"Excellent. You'll be briefed onsite, etcetera, etcetera. Mission requisites and such. Handle it, Kujo, I'm a busy man."

"Of course. Erm, Captain Visconti, I'll go into more detail at the mission briefing. I-if that's acceptable." Kujo speaks to Julius and I receive a nudge on my arm from Ciel as if to say 'I told you so'. Or at least, that's what I thought it meant.

"Very well. Thank you, Doctor. Until then." Julius spoke, dismissing us without further word. Once outside of the Office, Julius had spoke to us about getting rest because tomorrow would be an action packed day, but when is it not when you live the life of a God Eater...