HA, its me. I'm happy about this chapter. It came off as a lot more professional and passionate to me. After the reviews I got from my scuffed introduction it really got me going.

Expect this to be a rough estimate of my upload schedule during the quarantine. I still have to work since I'm labeled as essential, which eats up a lot of time. I'm also playing Warhammer total war 2 with a friend right after I get back from work. Coop campaign is so much fun, I can't stop. College is also up again. I spent 3 hours rushing to finish an essay right after I got this chapter done.

On a side note, one of my friends is being a beta reader for me which should make these cleaner. They are also my hype men to keep me going.

Ima leave Arknights stuff at the end to cry or cheer about.

Enjoy!

After an hour of trekking through hostile branches and thorns we reached a break in the tree line. My right hand quickly came up to signal a halt to my companions before we stepped out into the small clearing before us. I didn't want to leave the comfort of the forest with the possibility of Reunion around, even if the flora apparently had a deep hatred for my existence. I briefly noticed the fact that both Firewatch and Frostleaf seemed completely unaffected by the dense undergrowth with zero signs of ruffled clothing or cuts from branches. One of my hands absentmindedly reached at spots that thorns had managed to breach through my clothing as I studied the small log hut sitting in the center of the clearing.

The clearing was obviously man-made as could be deduced by the hut itself and the large stack of logs piled against the side of the home. Whoever did this, put some visible effort into evenly spreading their cutting. They had cleared about a dozen meters in every direction from the cabin, making it impossible to approach it without being spotted. Being spotted did not matter though. The cabin could only house one person at most and had to be a single room at max. I had high hopes that the resident would not be hostile and would be willing to give us any information. That would be wonderful. He might be an actual library on the surrounding area so that we could complete our little mission quicker and go home. Incredibly optimistic, I know. And not possible since I've just noticed the shattered window on our side of the log cabin, a lack of smoke from the chimney, alongside the slightly ajar door with a broken handle.

"Whatcha think Doc?" Frostleaf whispered from my left. I'm sure she was already aware of what had happened on her own already alongside Firewatch, but they still referred to my judgement even then. I personally found it odd, since I rely mostly on instinct and the combat experience I've gained so far to replace my lack of memories. Even then operators like Hoshiguma, who is an elite member of the Special Operations team of the L.G.D. with more than seven years of combat experience, still looked for my insight in these situations. I'm just glad Amiya has been here from the start to cover for me, until I became a somewhat competent leader. For being an amnesiac, I am doing alright. I hope so.

"Well. I think it's safe to say that Reunion paid a visit." I hope the common Reunion bloodlust didn't take over for the sake of this poor dude… and for us. "I'm going to assume that was a while ago because of the lack of smoke, and I doubt anyone would let their fire die out this far up North." Cold weather is nice and all but only for sleeping in my opinion. I chill easily and these close to freezing temperatures are not doing anything good for my current comfort levels. Pushing that to the side, we need to deal with this mystery cabin. With how little information was provided for this mission, I'll take anything just to get us pointed in a direction.

"We'll keep this simple." I began as I gave my orders to my two companions both who had been patiently waiting for me to finish thinking. "Frost, let's go take a peek inside while Firewatch watches from outside incase Reunion decides to return." If Reunion followed their usual pattern and if they were here, this very well could be a trap. Honestly, everything could be a trap. We could have been under watch this entire time and are promptly just fucked right now. Damn, Reunion and their hidden bullshit.

After an "Understood," from Firewatch and a "Sure thing Doctor." from Frostleaf we moved forward. A single step was all I heard from the sniper before she melded into the surrounding forest. Nothing interrupted our journey to the cabin as we crossed the treeless zone. My body was stiff, and chills ran throughout my body at the thought of a bolt coming through the shattered window or an ambush revealing itself from the woods. None of my fears manifested and we ended up against the wall of the cabin after a draining walk there. The shattered window was to my left with the cracked door to my right. Frostleaf stood opposite of me, crimson eyes flicking between mine and the door ready to breach at my signal. I pulled out the handgun from the holster strapped to my right side, courtesy of Liskarm coming to the popular decision I should be able to somewhat defend myself. I readied myself, barrel up and forward ready to fall in behind Frostleaf. A wave of my left hand gave her permission to enter. A halberd wasn't the greatest for the tight spacing of indoors fighting but it was all we had.

The little light that bled in revealed that the cabin was indeed a single room. It was the definition of spartan. A mattress was shoved into the far-right corner with a few clothes neatly folded and piled nearby. On the opposite wall, of the one the mattress was pressed against, sat a pile of kindling underneath the chimney with a pot hung above by some rope nailed into the interior walls of the chimney. A shattered chair and flipped table rested in the middle of the room, done by whoever busted in. Personal possessions in the form of some papers, books, and a single photo were strewn around the room. A few commercial tools were in the room, brought in from whatever town or city the previous resident left. An axe was hung up next to the pot alongside a ladle. Silverware was thrown from its resting place on the table. All in all, a miniature hurricane ransacked the place, only leaving the bed and clothes unscathed for whatever reason. I quickly came to notice a broken bolt surrounded by shattered glass, confirming that the homewrecker was indeed a humanoid. A wandering thought on how the resident even obtained glass out here flashed through my mind before I pushed it away in favor of moving further in with Frostleaf.

Even with their only being a single broken window acting as the only source of natural light it was easy to see that nothing breathing was still here. Air escaped through my nose at the relief of not finding a murder, but I mourned for the ruined soul looking for some semblance of peace away from our torn world. Assuming it was Reunion that did this. Fuck those bastards. I have tried to look at the world through their clouded eyes, I have tried again and again and again. I have plenty of infected operators to help with that, but they lose all sympathy from me when they do shit like this. They lose all credibility in their actions and might as well be nothing but a load of warmongers. How they have gathered the numbers they achieved will forever baffle me. Being a non-infected in the presence of the greatest talent, minds, and personalities of this world makes it difficult to understand. I usually try to not think about if I can and focus on the physical problem. Amiya's better in that aspect anyways, her heart bleeds for the world while mine only does so for my operators. Not to say that I'm a heartless bastard, I still resonate with plenty of souls outside of Rhodes Island it's just... these operators are all I know.

The sound of Frostleaf checking behind the flipped table and turning back to say, "We're clear Doctor, whoever lived here or was here is long gone." brought me out of my simmering anger. It still lightly bubbled beneath the surface of my skin, but my mind favored focusing on the ransacked room. I contemplated bringing Firewatch but decided against it in favor of letting her maintain her overwatch while we examined the room. With the home being barren and everything mostly insight, there wasn't much to look at anyways. To sate a personal curiosity, I wandered over to the lone photo lying peacefully on the floor.

Seeing that my mind had wandered back into itself, Frostleaf turned from me to inspect the untouched clothing and mattress. I gently picked up the photo from the floor and moved into the light streaming in from the window. A large, well-built man with two small bear-like ears sticking out from his brown, messy, hair stood with his arms wrapped over the shoulders of two young boys. One of them was almost identical to what I assumed was his father. The same small bear-like ears, with the brown hair, all on a muscular body like his fathers. The other son looked as if he could have been adopted. His midnight hair supported two bat-like ears all on top of a lithe frame, opposite of the rest of the family. His mother's genes most likely, except she wasn't in the picture to confirm. Maybe she took it for them instead? I assume so, with the glowing smiles each one held towards the camera. There wasn't a hint of mourning in their faces. I noticed a small scar on the father's cheek and what looked like the beginning of infection forming on his neck, before I tucked the photo into one of my coat pockets and turned to watch the small fox-girl intently examining the hanging pot. I watched her tail swish back and forth as she focused before saying, "Anything interesting?"

Frostleaf pulled back from studying the inside of the pot, giving it another quick glance as if to confirm a thought before moving to join me at the window. Her halberd rested against the floor as she surveyed the room once more. "While you were moping in the corner, I actually looked at our loner's cabin."

Moping!? I wasn't moping at all! I was mourning for an unfortunate soul. I reiterated this by saying, "I wasn't moping, I don't mope." underneath my breath. I saw her Vulpo ears twitch and with the close proximity of the room, I knew she heard me anyways.

"That's right, I forgot Doctor. You were crying, my mistake." My coming retort was cut short at the realization that Frostleaf of all people was making jabs at me. While she was better than before, she is still one of the most secluded operators in Rhodes Island. Preferring to stay away from others with only her music as company. No one can really blame her, not with her background.

Based on Frostleaf's own words and her file, she joined the Columbian army before she even had a proper education. She stayed with her unit until they were later wiped out in one of the frequent skirmishes Columbia had with its neighbors. Knowing only war, she took her talents into mercenary work to survive off what little money she made killing for others. She stuck with mercenary work, knowing nothing else, before she was eventually picked up by Rhodes Island for her combat experience and talent. She would have stayed the heartless and cold soldier she introduced herself as, if it were not for the interference of 'tsit. Unfortunately, with Kal'tsit slashing half of the details in every file sent to me, getting exact times and dates is impossible but from what I understand, Frostleaf's first assignment was to be an active patient of Rhodes Island and recover. There she stayed, slowly discovering that there was more than war in the world as she recovered from her trauma, through her barriers being broken down by the operators and medical staff employed at the time. After a - from what I can decipher - very long time, she requested to be sent back into the field. She was allowed only one excursion instead of a full release by Kal'tsit. The only response to her first excursion back left on the archive file was, "She audibly wept on the field that day." The memories of her lost unit and time as a junior army soldier still haunt her, but she has found ways to cope through her newfound love for fashion and music. She still preferred solitude with her music and memories even if she has opened up somewhat.

I couldn't stop a warm smile from forming on my face at how far the snowy fox-girl had come from her broken shell. My pleased expression warped into confusion as a thunk rattled against my visor. A second later, my vision restored itself from reminiscing in memories to return to two annoyed red eyes staring into my helmet. "You were doing it again Doctor."

"What?" was my smart reply.

"You were thinking again." Frostleaf bluntly explained. "You often stop and stare off into space, even during missions." I do? "Everyone has noticed since it wasn't a common habit of the old doctor." At this point, Frostleaf had taken a step back after flicking my visor to snap me out my stupor.

"You can't blame me. I don't have much to think about in here anyways." I tapped the side of my helmet for emphasis. "You are right though, and we should get back to what we were doing."

"You mean, what I was doing." Frostleaf turned with her words back towards the rest of the room.

"I'm already guilty, you don't have to keep laying out my evidence against my uselessness." I pleaded as I stepped to stand beside Frostleaf to idly gaze about the room even if I didn't help to begin with. We stood for a second as Frostleaf took a moment to recollect her thoughts.

"Wait." I heard Frostleaf stop an inhale of breath as I spoke and before she could whirl on me to question my interruption I explained, "We forgot an elk."

"Ah, that's right. You should probably grab her, so I don't have to repeat."

I did a quick 180 and moved to peek my head outside past the door. I scanned the surrounding forest in my view, trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of my hidden companion. Realizing the futility of the action rather quickly, I instead held a hand out and motioned towards me. Hoping that Firewatch saw me, I retreated inside the hut to wait for her return.

"She coming?" Frostleaf asked as my upper body returned from leaning out. I shrugged in response.

"Maybe." I wasn't going to outright tell her I didn't know. She probably knew anyways.

"Maybe?"

"Maybe." She blankly stared at me for my response.

"It's impressive how you constantly make me question, how you became the tactician of Rhodes Island forces, while at the same time repeatedly justifying the decision to put you there." Good. That's how I want it to be. I want to approach the operators under my command more so as a friend compared to commander and subordinate and occasionally being a dumbass helps. Rhodes Island makes it easier by being a collection of unique personalities and interesting people. At the same time, I do enjoy my position. There's a layer of respect between me and everyone for what I do, that just feels good. I've struck a nice balance so far. I can just as easily walk up and ask to go get a drink as I can tell them to kill. It's a bit morbid now that I think about it, but that's exactly how it works.

The creaking of the door moving introduced Firewatch sliding into the compact hut. Before I acknowledged Firewatch I summed up my thoughts to Frostleaf by saying, "Good." I heard a sigh leave her as I turned to greet the silent sniper. "You enjoy your time in the woods?"

"No." Huh. I would've thought the dense forest we dropped in wou- "It is getting colder." Yep, never mind, that would do it. A quick glance out the lone window shows me the darkening sky. Damn, time is a real fickle thing. It doesn't help that I spent a majority of the day reviewing with each team on their missions. It made me feel like a father sending their children out to their first day of summer camp. I worried just as much too.

"You're up Frost." With all three members of our little excursion currently present, it was time to move forward.

"Don't expect anything special. The victim got to experience a first-hand scenario of breaking and entering before being beaten and dragged off to wherever." She motioned towards the scattered glass and flipped table. "It is rather obvious what happened if you look."

…

…

"How long are you gonna drag this on for?"

"Until you stop reacting to it." Her lips turned upwards into a slight foxy grin. Wait. No. It was straight up just a fox grin.

I did just as Frostleaf suggested and ignored her. "Right, so we learned nothing, and it's getting dark." Screw recon missions! Leave this garbage up to Penguin Logistics. I'm actually baffled how Texas and Exusiai learn anything about Reunion movements. Honestly, I should have just went with one of the assault teams. I would have been so much more useful pointing at things for Meteorite to blow up rather than running around in the woods looking for some masked troublemakers. In fact, we don't even know if Reunion is here at all. We are just assuming they ran in and beat the shit of this random guy and left. I thought this would be a lot simpler.

Find some mongrels causing havoc. Call Rhodes Island. Request Skadi to come nuke some unfortunate souls. That's actually a really good idea! The sound of my hands smacking violently against each other startled the two smaller girls. "Frost, get out our comms and contact home." With the six other missions being simple search and destroys, they should either be done or close to being so. Then we can see if we get some backup from whoever isn't tired or maybe the reserve teams if they weren't sent in.

"You're up, Doc." Frostleaf held out a standard set of black headphones to me.

Putting them on I called out to the one of the people I left permanently at the base, "Hello? Doberman you there?" She should, I left her in the control room to coordinate the teams and to back up Amiya while she plays as field commander.

"Doctor…" a familiar voice breathed through my headset. Oh fuck.

"Ah, Hey Specter. I'm assuming you completed your mission if you're here talking to me." Shit. Shit. Shit. Where did Doberman go!?

"Yes, Doctor. I freed their trouble souls of the burden they bared. You should have been there with me, to watch them find the true path to a peaceful enlightenment. Maybe you can join me for a few prayers instead, to ease their journey, when you return." I could hear her voice rise in feverish pitch as she spoke.

"That's great Specter, but, uh… where's Doberman? I need to speak with her."

"She's with the rest of the team. We unfortunately had some injuries, but I believe everyone will recover just fine. She also mentioned Hoshiguma returning." It would be those two powerhouses that would tear apart their targets in only a few hours. That would leave Liskarm's team, Meteorite's, Amiya's, and Nearl's to return.

"Can you go get her?"

"There's no need Doctor. I am here. I will listen to your words." AAAAAAAAAGGGGH. This isn't good. I would really like to speak to someone that is mostly sane, specifically a strict Perro with black hair and a whip for a weapon.

"Well, this is quite immediate, and I need to speak with her now. If you could kindly go get her for me I would be grateful." I had plenty of time, it's not like we're doing much out here anyways. I didn't want to tell her that though. Hopefully a sense of urgency would persuade her.

"Doctor, am I not good enough for you? You'd rather have that dog? If that's the case, I will show you the erro-" DAMAGE CONTROL. QUICK.

"No! No! No! No! No! You're fine, great even! In fact, I'll entrust you with this message for Doberman!"

Her personality did a complete U-turn as I cut her off. "Yes, of course Doctor! I'm sorry for doubting you."

"Thank you Specter. There's nothing to apologize for." I could hear a sigh of relief come over the headset as I waved away her apology. What is up with this woman. "Could you tell her, I need an extra pair of hands to help? Exusiai or Texas would be best but Red, Meteor, or Skadi would be a good second choice. We are about 10 miles North of where initially dropped but make sure to tell her, to prioritize their health and rest first. You get all that?"

"Yes, every word. I will guarantee that your will is done."

Before she could leave I told her, "Hey Specter. Don't forget that goes for you too. I don't need you falling out because of exhaustion."

"Of course, Doctor. You will be the first of prayers before I rest." Was all I got as a reply before the line went silent.

A wave of tension left my body once I confirmed she was gone. "Sounds like you had fun." Frostleaf joked from her new chair she rightened from where it had fallen.

"Sounds like I had multiple panic attacks." I looked out the windowless window, where Firewatch stood keeping lookout while I did my call, to see the rapidly darkening sky. "We'll call it for today. Walking around at night with flashlights seems like the perfect way to announce ourselves. And besides we may have some backup coming and I'd prefer to wait for them."

"Mmmmhhh." Frostleaf hummed in agreement, "Today's been intense, some rest sounds nice. I'm sure Firewatch agrees." We both looked to the operator sharply gazing out the window for any signs of unnatural movement. Hearing her name, she glanced at us to acknowledge that we were waiting for her opinion before returning to her watch.

"I am still fully functional, Doctor. But some sleep is always welcome."

"Good, we're all in agreement. We'll do 3 hour shifts to give each one of us a solid 6 hours of rest. Frostleaf go first and then you Firewatch and I'll go last." Neither protested. Frostleaf took with her, the chair to the window, while Firewatch fell back from it. "You take the mattress; I'll soften the floor with these clothes." I gathered the untouched clothing from beside the mattress and spread it out to make the floor sleep worthy.

"Doc-" Firewatch started, but I wasn't going to deal with that right now.

"No arguing." I made sure my tone ended the protest then and there. I appreciate the sentiment, but I would feel like shit for making anyone of my operators sleep on the floor when a bed was available. I'm not as fragile as some of them like to think. I confirmed that Firewatch had taken the mattress before laying down on my scattered clothing. Laying on my side facing away from Firewatch, my body slowed itself into a peaceful sleep, lured in by the oddly familiar and comforting sounds of the dark forest.

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…

"Doct- ter" A distant voice calling my name alongside the light shaking of my body pulled me from a deep sleep. Prying my eyes open to be briefly confused by my still attached helmet, I noticed Firewatch crouched above me, hands on my shoulder. A flashlight, with its intensity decreased to a dim glow, was pointed towards her.

"Firewatch?" My hands knocked against my visor as I tried to rub my eyes. "Is it my turn?"

"No." Her voice came out in a worried, hushed, whisper. My body kicked into gear at the tone of her voice. "Reunion is here."

After my failed 4 ;10 rolls for Chen. I did 2 ;10 rolls. 1 on the SilverAsh banner, 1 on the Lungmen Specialist Banner.

I'm happy to be a proud owner of a E2 Exusisa now, Potential 2 Hoshiguma, and have completed my Saint Squad by adding Nightingale to my Shining and Nearl duo.

More luck in two rolls then my entire wallet to Chen ;C.