Chapter 36

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)

God Arc: Burning Maiden (Short Blade), Apega Blaze (Sniper Rifle), Kurogane Tower (Shield)

Blood Art: ?

Two days pass without too much happening. There is one thing that has become concerning though. Something is up with Romeo. Two days ago, Nana had informed me that Romeo had been acting strangely. Yesterday, during another mission against a Borg Camlann, Gilbert told me about the talk he had with Romeo. He was concerned that Romeo didn't seem to be taking the topic seriously. Even today, against a Vajra, Romeo seemed to be so out of it that Nana, Gilbert and I had to occasionally block attacks that were headed for him. So you can imagine my surprise at his happy-go-lucky attitude as we walk back through the Den after the mission.

"That mission was a piece of cake, chocolate to be precise! Nothing can stop Blood! We rock!" It appears that Romeo was the only one who thought so as the rest of us didn't utter a response; something which Romeo found strange. "Hey, uh, what's with the awkward silence, guys?" We stopped walking as Romeo asks this. He looks to each of us and we ll turn away from his gaze. We knew that something was distracting Romeo out on the battlefield, we just need to find a way to bring it up with him.

"Um..." Nana speaks up nervously, "You've been all super weird lately, Romeo." I guess Nana has started the topic.

"I agree with Nana. Something's distracting you. It is evident on the battlefield." I speak my piece to reinforce Nana's claim.

"Psh! What?! That's ridiculous!" He attempts to brush off our claims. It would appear that Romeo doesn't want to talk about what is on his mind. "Even without Julius in the field," Julius was told to return to Friar and had left me in charge of the group, hence why all complaints about Romeo not being up to standard on the battlefield came to me. "we haven't taken a single casualty! Blood's too busy rocking! C'mon team, you know what I'm talking about!" Clearly, Romeo is trying too hard to dismiss the subject which makes it all the more obvious that he is hiding something. "Our Vice Captain's picked up the slack. Kicking arse and leading the charge!" He tries to change the subject but we wouldn't have it, especially Gilbert.

"Romeo," He speaks to get his attention, "tell us what the hell went down in that last mission. You were like a disaster waiting to happen." Gilbert comments on the amount of times we had to shield Romeo from harm.

"Whatever! Don't be so serious, Gilly Gil!" He attempts to write off his concerns by joking about them but it does little to deter us. "We're doing awesome! Sometimes you just gotta get out in the field and wing it, ya dig?"

"That's not the way missions work, Romeo. Everybody on the mission needs to be up to it before we leave here. You clearly weren't." I comment on Romeo's lack of awareness during the mission. It looks as though his jokes about it aren't doing anything to help him.

"You were sloppy out there, and your mistakes nearly got you and the rest of us hurt." Gilbert adds to my comment, "If you can't be bothered to try, then quit." I can't say that I agree with Gilbert's last remark but Romeo did almost get himself injured.

"How dare you." Romeo speaks in disbelief, most likely at Gilbert's last comment. He hunches over as he speaks. "Gil... Take that back!" Romeo shouts and I can hear the anger in his voice.

"What?" Gilbert seems just as surprised as me about the anger he holds in his voice. It is even more surprising to see Romeo express his anger through throwing a fist towards Gilbert's face. Gilbert flies to the floor with a pained grunt.

"What the hell was that for?" He shouts in anger and surprise. Nana and I are too shocked to speak. During their little fights it hasn't gotten to the point to hitting the other person; hence why it takes us by surprise to see this occur.

"You don't get it! You can't know what it's like!" The happiness from his voice had disappeared and was replaced with anger, annoyance and pain. "Of course I don't compare! I can't measure up at all! Only I know how awful this feels! I'm going crazy here just trying to find one thing I can do! One way I can really help!" Romeo finally releases what is on his mind. It seems as though he thinks that he doesn't belong in Blood. "I don't have tons of combat experience like you and Ciel do... I can't just shrug off attacks like Nana can..." He speaks emotionally before turning around to point at me with anger replacing the sorrow in his voice, "and you're no better! You woke your Blood Power like it was nothing. The Captain trusts you, respects you. And what am I? I just want to be useful! To hold my head up high, and stop dragging the team down to my I go, whatever I do, I'm... useless. I don't belong anywhere..." I was right, he did feel like he didn't belong in Blood.

"Romeo..." I reach a hand out to grab him on the shoulder but he quickly shrugs it off as he turns and runs in the opposite direction with a grunt.

"Romeo!" I shout after him in an attempt to get him to stop. Running after him would be useless. He was already so far ahead that I wouldn't have been able to catch him.

"Nana," I turn to her and see her hands in front of her mouth in shock, "email Julius and tell him about what happened." I give her the commands and she heads off straight away. "Gilbert, get Ciel and your Arc and meet me on the roof." I inform him and he heads off. I grab my Arc and head to the roof.

About ten minutes later, I reach the rooftop, just in time to see red clouds forming in the distance.

"Oh no." I speak with worry. Romeo has run off and it looks like the Red Rain will be falling soon. I wait on top of the roof for another few minutes before seeing the rest of Blood, barring Julius, on walk onto the roof without their Arcs.

"Where are your Arcs?!" I ask them as soon as I realise.

"They've been sealed away. All God Eaters are to remain inside the Den. There has been an alert for a Red Nimbus." Ciel's the one who answers me and I give a dissatisfied, "Fuck" in response. Reluctantly, I walk into the Den with the three of them. It would seem that we can't go and find him. I can only hope that Romeo can somehow find cover. The last time the Red Rain appeared, I used a God Arc Soldier to rescue Ciel. Now though, I don't have anything like that. I could use a helicopter but that is a lot more dangerous than a God Arc Soldier since I don't know how to operate it. I piloted the God Arc Soldier due to luck. I would need a lot more of it to operate a helicopter.