Hello everyone and sorry for a slightly late update. Work is back to haunt me today, as expected, but I'm hoping that this is the end of bugging clients on holidays.

The plot is finally moving again, with the main focus being Ciel's development when faced with a choice of how she should live her life as a soldier. A bit extra to Hiro's past is added here too, but the main part of this chapter will be around Ciel and her (possibly) growing relationship with her teammates, especially with Hiro.

The same old disclaimer: No, I don't own GE.

Spirit of the Sky

Chapter 16 – Under the Sky of Uncertainty

It was a cloudy morning. The dark clouds were covering the sky, though it wasn't as dark as rain clouds. The dark color came from the smoke of fighter jets flying around the area, but they were too far up for someone to see which country the jets belonged to. Sounds of bombs in the distance accompanied the loud sounds of jets patrolling the area, making the war atmosphere feel more apparent than necessary.

Nana had just woken up for the day and was stretching her arms as she walked out of the tent, looking up at the darkening sky. The proud feeling of her accomplishment a few days previously made her sleep a lot better as she was more confident in herself, but the negative feeling in the air as she looked at the sky was enough to bring a frown back to her face.

While she was happy that she could become more useful to the army than just being the camp's cook, the event didn't cause her dislike of fighting to fade away. She continued staring at the sky while standing in front of the tent before she felt another presence beside her. She wanted to give the vice captain beside her a good and happy morning greeting, but the stoic expression on her face stopped her from doing so.

Instead of a greeting, a question popped up in her head as she turned her attention back to the sky.

"Why do wars exist anyway?" Nana asked in a sad tone. "It's only going to cause more deaths and more people to grieve, so why can't everyone just be friends and sit on the same table for a good meal together?"

Ciel gave her a quick but expressionless look as she shifted her attention to the clipboard in her hand, "I can confidently say that not all people have the same way of thinking as you do," The vice captain stopped to flip over a single piece of paper on the clipboard, "Regardless of what the leaders of the warring countries have in mind, it is not our concern as soldiers. We are here to follow the orders of what our leaders tell us to do, not to think about what other people are thinking."

The chef paused to stare at the vice captain, but she was completely ignored. She was confused with the vice captain's sudden change of attitude, which was made more apparent with her stoic face and her unquestioning obedience to orders. She was sure that if she asked the vice captain a few nights before, the answer would be different from the one she was getting currently.

"Orders, huh…" Nana let out a sigh before she looked up at the sky with a questioning look on her face, "Do you think that orders are actually meant for the sake of both sides in a war? Because I don't like how we're supposed to take another person's life just to win and survive the battle…"

Ciel looked up from the clipboard for a moment after the sad tone caught her ears. She looked at Nana as the chef was staring at the dark sky with an unusual frown on her face. She was personally certain that orders were made for the sake of both sides, until Nana mentioned about hurting other people for their own survival. She had never questioned about hurting someone else before when it was an order, but she couldn't help feeling a little uneasy when Nana mentioned it.

The question itself made her feel like Nana was trying to make her choose between the life of another human being who was also their enemy and the given order whose side was still left questionable to her. She was left in silence, unable to answer Nana's question, before she tried focusing herself back to the clipboard in hand.

Just as she was going to continue where she had left off on the clipboard, she was interrupted by a familiar loud voice greeting her and Nana.

"Good morning, ladies!" Hiro stood in front the two with a big grin on his face as he out his hands on his hips, "Did you all sleep well last night?"

The brunette's smile didn't fade even with how Nana was staring at him awkwardly. Ciel only gave him a quick look before turning her attention back to her work on the clipboard. Her face showed no notable expressions when she did as she was trying to focus on her work of the day.

"Did… did something good happen?" Nana asked as she tried to look a little more cheerful, though it became unusually hard after the topic of conversation she had with the vice captain.

Hiro gave her an excited nod, "Yes! It was something so good that I've been questioning it all morning if I'm still dreaming!"

The brunette's eyes went over to the vice captain, who then looked up with a sigh as she felt the stare he was giving her. He was looking at her excitedly for some reason, but she was too busy to think about what was going in his mind.

"Julius called us for a mission briefing," he broke the news with an excited smile, but the vice captain didn't have the same expression when she heard it. "When I said us, I mean Ciel and I are going on a mission together! Just the two of us!"

While the brunette had slowly got better in fighting after spending months in war, the vice captain wasn't too fond of his carefree attitude during battles. Fighting in war wasn't playing with toy swords and rifles as there were lives to protect and orders to follow. It wasn't a fun thing to do as it was a duty for them to follow as soldiers serving for their country. He didn't look like he was taking military duties seriously as he was supposed to be.

"Come on!" A hand on her wrist had stopped her train of thoughts as the brunette held her with a smile on his face, "The faster we get to Julius, the faster we can leave for our mission!"

Ciel didn't get the chance to say anything as Hiro was already dragging her away from her tent. When she looked back at Nana, the chef was waving at them while wishing them good luck on their mission. It was pretty obvious to her that the chef wasn't planning on talking some sense into the brunette as he dragged her away and headed for the captain's tent.

"An assignment as guards?" Hiro blinked in confusion as he stood in front of Julius. "I don't mind spending the day with Ciel by my side, but shouldn't there be more people to guard something as big as the whole air force base?"

The blond captain stepped to the side, revealing a map of the area on the board behind him. There were red lines across several areas, ending at pinned notes on the board. There were several other circle and cross markings on the sides of the lines, which were things Hiro wasn't sure what they were for. All he could think about was the fact that it was a strategy board, but he wasn't too interested in the topic that he recalled sleeping through the classes about military tactics.

Julius pointed at one of the lines, which was surrounded by a few cross markings, "This is the most hidden route to access the base. Small enemy camps should be in the area, so moving a large group of soldiers in the area will most likely cause too much noise to attract their attention. Other members of Blood, excluding myself, are to stay in camp to guard General Grem before his meeting tomorrow."

"Meeting? Who is he going to meet in the middle of war like this?" the brunette asked curiously, earning stares from the two team leaders in front of and right next to him.

Ciel cleared her throat, getting Hiro's attention, as she looked at him with a glare, "I believe the general's business is none of our concern. As soldiers, it is our duty to carry out our given orders without question."

It was Hiro's turn to stare at her in return, with a look of disbelief on his face. He understood that his question might have been because of his curiosity, but even as soldiers, he believed that they had the right to know what their mission was for. It was the first time he was given a mission without being told what the actual purpose was and he couldn't help but feel a bit curious.

"Y-Yes, that is quite the case for this mission," Julius responded, slightly stuttering. "The details of the mission is classified, so I'm also unaware of the reasons behind the mission's purpose. All you needed to do is to make sure the route is safe before continuing to guard the base itself. The last thing we need is an ambush when the General makes it to the base tomorrow morning."

Hiro still felt that something was off which caused him to hesitate. He looked at the vice captain standing next to him, who gave the captain a salute without further questions. The brunette sighed before he saluted as well and left the tent along with Ciel.

Just as the vice captain was going to walk back towards her tent, he quickly grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving just yet.

"Wait a minute, Ciel!" the brunette called her by name casually, which earned a glare from her as he saw other soldiers passing by the tent. "I-I mean… Vice Captain!"

Her glare at him had softened, but to him, she looked clearly annoyed.

"If you feel the need to be insistent on the affairs outside of our orders, then our conversation ends here," Ciel sternly told him before she forcefully removed his hand from her arm and turned to the direction of her tent.

The brunette took a step closer towards her, causing her to stop in her tracks as well. He let out a sigh, seeing as the vice captain's actions felt like he was talking with a different person. While he knew that she grew up believing that orders were everything, he felt that for some reason, she was taking it a little too far. She wouldn't just obey orders with very little information.

"You've… changed…" Hiro whispered as he let his shoulders relax for a quick moment. "I mean, I feel like you're different from the vice captain who had so much fun talking about stray animals around the base back then. I really thought that you could become a good friend from all the time we spent as a team."

The brunette looked at her standing in front of him. Ciel didn't move after he told her what was in his mind, which was something he didn't think about before saying it. Rather than feeling offended by her actions, which were starting to revert to their initial states, he felt a little disappointed in her. He felt upset with her sudden change, but he couldn't bring himself to hate her.

Hiro let out another sigh before going to the other direction, heading for his own tent to prepare for the mission without saying anything else. He didn't know that once he was out of sight, Ciel turned around with a slight frown on her face as she put her curled hand on her chest.

'Why do I feel offended by his words? Isn't following orders the right thing to do as a soldier?'

Hiro couldn't help but think back to the vice captain after the uncomfortable conversation they had earlier. He was sitting on his side of the tent he shared with Gil and Romeo as he recalled the past few days within their team. Ciel was getting easier and easier to talk to about other topics when the team wasn't on missions, but it only lasted until a few days earlier. What happened then wasn't something he knew, but seeing her reaction earlier, he was sure that he wouldn't get an answer if he asked her what happened.

He was deep in his thoughts that he was completely obvious to the events around him in the tent as he wasn't on his own.

"What the heck does that General Mustache want to do now?!" Gil's loud complaint from behind brought the brunette to reality. "Is his business so damn important that he wants all of Blood to be his bodyguard?"

Hiro turned around to see that the older cadet had just changed his clothes into his black Blood uniform and threw the clothes to his side of the tent. Romeo was also present and was looking over his notes, ignoring Gil's complaints completely as the blond's eyes were fixed on the contents of the notes.

"That's… strange…" the blond whispered to himself. "Tomorrow is the same day as…"

"Is something else happening tomorrow too?" Hiro asked curiously, but his question had caused Romeo to almost jump in surprise. "W-What is it? Why are you so surprised?"

Romeo looked at the brunette nervously before noticing the note he was holding. He quickly threw it under his messy sleeping bag before letting out a nervous laugh, "N-Nothing! Just uh… a few tactical notes for myself in the field!"

"What tactical notes?" Gil asked bluntly. "Julius obviously mentioned that you're not going to be involved in the frontline tomorrow. I think he finally realizes that it's better to keep people like you somewhere out of danger."

Hiro looked over at the blond, whom he expected to be annoyed by the older cadet's bluntness. Romeo, however, didn't respond with much reaction as he usually would. He only looked at Gil blankly before nodding, which caught the dark brunette by surprise as well. He did recall that Romeo was acting a little off since their mission together with Nana on the ship, which added more strangeness to the team.

"Kamui, are you in here?"

The familiar shadow of their team captain outside their tent, prompting Hiro to open the entrance, "Yeah, I am. Something's up?"

"Nothing too important, though I need to talk to you about something," Julius' eyes went over to Gil's and Romeo's curious looks for a moment before turning back to the brunette in front of him as he cleared his throat, "No, to be exact, I have a favor to ask of you."

A favor? From the great captain himself? It was something Hiro had never expected to hear.

"Can you look after Ciel and keep her safe? There are only two of you in the upcoming mission, after all," the captain's voice didn't sound as stern as usual as he asked him.

The unusual things in his team made Hiro even more confused. He wasn't sure what events happened that he missed out to cause his teammates to act unusually. The cases with the vice captain and the captain would be the strangest ones, which made him feel that something had happened between them when he wasn't around. Probably, the things he didn't want to happen which caused him to lessen his chances with the vice captain.

That thought in mind made him feel like he was being stabbed, as he was told to watch over and protect someone else's future bride. But even if he wasn't asked to, he was sure enough that he wouldn't let any sort of harm to come her way.

Hiro responded with a hesitant nod, lowering his head to hide his face from the captain, "I will… I promise that I'll protect her with my own life."

The brunette stood in the same position for a moment, expecting a response from the captain. He could see that Julius' feet started moving from his spot and felt a pat on his shoulder, "Stay alive, you two. We have to meet up in the base tomorrow for our next assignment as a team."

Hiro could feel a slight hint of pain and sadness in his voice. When he looked up, Julius had already walked away from the tent without another word to say. Gil soon joined the brunette by the tent's entrance, overhearing the conversation as he and Romeo weren't too far away from the entrance.

"I think he noticed that Ciel hasn't been herself for the past few days," he told the younger cadet. "I saw her coming out of General Mustache's tent a few nights ago and she kinda returned to be the same old puppet soldier she used to be. Something probably happened then, but I didn't stay out long enough to find out."

Hiro looked back at the slightly open entrance as Julius was already out of his sight, "I wonder what happened then…"

Hiro could feel that he and his teammates were getting closer as friends, but not to the point that they would reveal their own secrets. He wasn't the curious type to actually ask both Ciel and Romeo what caused their change of attitude, but he felt that everyone needed to know when one of their own had their own troubles. He could probably offer some help for them, even if he wasn't completely sure what he could do to help.

As the brunette made his way out of the camp for his mission, he couldn't shake off the look on the vice captain's face during their early encounter. He initially couldn't tell what she was thinking when she hadn't started opening up to them, but he could see something within her eyes that morning even when she didn't show it on her face. She looked lost and confused, the looks which he had never seen on her before.

He let out a sigh as the thoughts plaguing his mind could only endanger him and Ciel during their mission. There would be another time to worry about those issues later and that time was now. They had a mission to fulfill and he had a feeling that a fight or two would be waiting for them.

His walk came into a stop right outside the camp and the familiar pine forest soon came into his view. It was the meeting point as he was ordered to previously and he could see that he wasn't the first one to arrive.

Ciel was already present, along with a stray deer she was petting. The brunette decided to stop a few steps away from them, hearing the vice captain's voice as she frowned at the deer.

"I'm sorry, but I won't be able to feed you and your family anymore," she whispered as her hand gently rubbed the wild animal's head. "Please, take care of yourselves and stay away from unknown humans."

The deer stepped closer to her and rubbed its head to the vice captain's face, much to her surprise. Her frown soon turned into giggles as the deer started licking her as well. The sight made the brunette chuckle as he approached her, only for the deer to notice him and run away. He stopped in his tracks to see the confused vice captain, who was then surprised by his presence when she turned to him.

"Y-You have arrived…" Ciel avoided having direct eye contact with him, most likely from him seeing her with a stray animal when she was supposed to be ready for the mission. "Is everything ready on your side? We should get moving soon before it gets dark."

"W-Wait!" Hiro's voice stopped her from moving, but she only gave him a cold stare.

The look in her eyes made him feel like she knew what he was going to ask her. Maybe curiosity wasn't the best trait of his to show when she wasn't in the mood for a casual conversation. He quickly shook his head when she gave him a glare, pushing away his questions about the deer and about what happened between her and the general for a better time.

"S-Sorry, never mind that," he nervously told her before sighing. "Let's… let's just get moving already…"

As he expected, the vice captain nodded without a moment of hesitation before leading the way into the forest. He was sure that she thought of the mission not more than just any other missions or tasks assigned to her. To him, the mission could have been his rare chance to prove more of his abilities and to impress her, except that everything just faded away when she showed signs that she had reverted to her old self.

The quiet walk through the forest didn't make things better for them either, as Hiro's mind was still struggling to try and think of things he could do to help the vice captain's problems. His hand played around the hilt of his sword as he continued walking behind Ciel, trying to get himself to focus on the mission at hand. He kept telling himself that what he could do for her now would be to concentrate on the situation and protect her whenever troubles struck.

His shoulders tensed and he stopped walking when he heard the sound of clicking in front of him. Their surroundings were getting darker and darker as they found themselves in a forest with different kinds of vegetation. There were no pine trees around them as they were replaced by various kinds of other trees with leaves blocking most of the barely noticeable sunlight.

The brunette's attention was directed at the silver-haired sniper in front of him as she cautiously scanned the area through the scope of her sniper rifle. Her actions caused him to be more alert as he looked around while holding his sword, but he couldn't barely see anything in the darkness. He could hear the rustling sound of grass, but he wasn't sure if it was from the wind or the presence of other people nearby.

He looked back at Ciel, who had lowered her weapon, but kept her herself aware of her surroundings. He wasn't sure how she could aim in the dark when there was barely enough light to see what was in front of them. Moreover, he recalled that the mission was among one he was assigned to which had nothing to do with overcoming his fears of drowning.

"Hey," Hiro called out to the vice captain. "Why are we assigned to dark places like this anyway? It's not like I'm afraid of the dark if the general or anyone else is trying to make me forget about my fears."

Ciel gave him a quick glance before looking around the area with her sniper rifle ready at hand, "Have you forgotten already, Private? Orders are orders and anything outside orders are none of our concern."

"I know, I know," the brunette responded in an annoyed tone. "It's just… I kinda feel that we're being left in the dark from everything when we're out here risking our lives for the general. You know, a bit more info about why we're doing things like this or at least a bit of history lesson about our team's forming should be enough for me."

"We are not risking our lives for General Grem only," Ciel corrected him in a stern tone. "We are soldiers of Susano'o and we fight for the sake of our country. We are risking our lives for all of its people, be it the general himself, anyone in the military, or civilians."

Hiro tried looking at her, but he could only make out her figure in the darkness. He couldn't see her face, but from the way she spoke to him, he was sure that she wasn't too happy with his attitude. At the same time, he felt a little annoyed that she refused to listen to him for just a little bit and instead obeyed her orders without question. Did orders truly mean everything to her?

The brunette opened his mouth to argue, but he was silenced when he heard unusual rustling sound in the area. His hands were drenched in cold sweat, but he was ready to take out his sword just as the vice captain on his side was ready to shoot down any intruders. The rustling sound became louder and louder, which let them know that they were no longer on their own in the area.

"Enemies!" Ciel called out before scanning the area once more. "There should be a few frontline soldiers coming our way and a sniper behind them. Take care of the frontline soldiers first while avoiding shots from the sniper!"

Hiro couldn't see clearly in the darkness, but he could make out human figures around the area charging for them. The small rays of dim light were reflected on their swords gave away the sniper's location as there were two hiding behind trees, which prompted the brunette to charge at them instead while drawing the other soldiers towards him. His blade met with other sharp blades with loud clangs as the sounds of gunshots rang out in the area.

"I'll be the decoy!" the brunette told her before he blocked an incoming attack with his sword. "You should watch out for the snipers! There are two of them hiding behind the trees!"

The brunette could have sworn that he heard her gasp, but her voice was drowned by the two gunshots being fired. He wasn't sure where the shots were aimed, but he couldn't feel any sort of bullet impact on his body as he took down one of the soldiers in a quick brawl before pushing him towards one of the enemy snipers.

"That was an order!" Ciel told him sternly before releasing her own shot at the enemy as well. "Why are you being as disobedient as Private McLane?!"

Hiro turned to the direction where the vice captain's voice came from, "They have two snipers! If their allies got me surrounded then you would be the snipers' easy target! I'm not going to let that happen!"

"I know their attack patterns!" the brunette stopped for a quick moment as one of the soldiers in front of him fell to a gunshot from behind him. He turned around, seeing a trace of smoke from Ciel's sniper rifle being illuminated by the dim light, "They have highly-trained snipers equipped with night vision, but they aren't trained well for close combat. The other soldiers are trained to fight in various extreme conditions and fighting in the dark is not excluded from those conditions."

The brunette turned to her in disbelief as he never expected her to know the exact detail of their opponents' strengths and weaknesses. He was especially not expecting her to tell him everything when they were fighting those opponents, but he had to admit that her plan sounded more logical after she told him the details. The snipers could easily shot him down when he got closer and the vice captain would be left in a much more vulnerable state against a few close range attackers at once.

He nodded, even if he wasn't sure whether Ciel could see him clearly. He elbowed an incoming soldier as he lunged at the brunette and then grabbed his arms. He pushed the soldier against another one, knocking both of them to the ground. His sword was ready on his side to block a swing meant for him before twisting it to knock the sword off the enemy's hand. A quick slash to the wrist had prevented the soldier from trying to grab his sword back before he was kicked back on the chest.

The vague silhouettes of the soldiers he had knocked down were visible as they tried getting up again, but shots fired from the vice captain stopped their attempts from getting up. When the brunette turned his attention back to the trees, he saw the light being reflected off one of the sniper's scope as he was trying to switch trees for a hiding place. He quickly took a quick glance to the vice captain, measuring the position between her and the sniper he spotted.

"Ciel! At two o' clock from your position!" he quickly told her.

Ciel aimed as she was informed, noticing unusual movements through her scope, "I see him!"

The vice captain didn't think twice before firing her shot, effectively taking out one of the snipers. They once again looked around for the other sniper, only to be greeted by a few other soldiers coming into the area. Hiro readied his sword, but another sound of gunshot from a distance made him reflectively duck down to try and avoid a shot.

He could hear that the bullet hit something nearby, but he assumed that it was one of the trees as they were in the forest. Ignoring the bullet's trajectory, he charged at the incoming backup soldiers but got caught in the brawl of more people instead. He swung his sword around to attack, but he took a few cuts and bruises in the process before he was knocked down to the ground.

The moment he saw shadows of people looming over him, he rolled to the side and skillfully dodged a spiky mace before it landed on his face. He lunged forward to the mace wielder, stabbing his hand and made him drop the weapon before swinging the blade to the side and released the weapon from being stuck on the enemy soldier's hand. As he was trying to regain his balance from the powerful swing of his sword, his head was hit hard by a blunt object which was about to knock him off again, until Ciel's shot prevented the incident from happening.

The last enemy soldier fell, leaving them to find the last sniper once more. When Hiro looked over at the vice captain, he could vaguely see her shadow as she was trying to stand up straight with a hand above her hip. Before he got the chance to ask her what was going on, she quickly raised her sniper rifle once more and fired a shot, which almost scratched his cheek, landing on the sniper right behind him.

"It's… finished…" Ciel was panting as she was losing her footing, but Hiro caught her before she fell to the ground.

"C-Ciel! W-What's going on?! Did you get−" the brunette held her free hand, which was covered by her damp glove. When he looked at his hand, he could see traces of dark liquid on his hand, the kind which he had seen more often since he was brought into combat, "Y-You're bleeding! But when did you−"

"That's not important!" Ciel tried to sound strong, but she couldn't hide the pain she was experiencing as she clutched to her side. "There… there should be more backup to arrive…"

As if on cue, the sound of rustling was heard once more and they felt the presence of other people nearby in the area. Hiro almost held the vice captain's shoulder too tightly when he was trying to curl his hand while holding her and slowly relaxed his hands as he looked around. When he turned back to her, she was looking at him with a determined look.

"Go and get some help! I shall buy you some time!" Ciel told him sternly, "You are too injured to continue fighting!"

He could see in her eyes that she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, but it wasn't never his intention to leave her when she clearly needed help. He shook his head and got his sword ready, even with Ciel trying to stop him from raising his sword against the next wave of enemies.

"No! You have to get out of here, Private!" the vice captain's voice sounded more like she was desperate than being stern before she was interrupted by the stinging pain on her side. "T-That's… an order…!"

Her pained voice felt familiar to the brunette as the sight in front of him turned into a scene of an old house for a quick moment. A shadowy figure had raised a knife above their head, right in front of a flailing woman with brown hair. The scene went farther as he felt himself moving away, seeing the woman being stabbed before everything burned away.

History was about to repeat itself, but he wasn't going to let it happen. He wasn't going to run and lose another precious person in his life.

"I don't care!" Hiro responded loudly before he swung his sword at one of the attackers, knocking him out in a single slash. He stood in a firm stance with his bloody sword in front of him, "I'm not running away! I don't want to run away anymore!"

He swung his sword around vigorously, both blocking and attacking his opponents who charged at him, before stopping suddenly and pointing his sword at one of the attackers' neck.

"I want to protect everyone! I won't let anyone die when I can still stand up and fight!"

Hiro let out his fighting yell before charging at the remaining members of the enemy soldiers. While he took a few hits on his own, he could deal more damage to his opponents with his powerful sword swings. One by one the enemy soldiers fell with many cut wounds, until the brunette was the last one standing. His hands and uniform were stained with blood, which he came to realize as he dropped to his knees with warm tears sliding down from his cheeks.

"Mom… Dad… I'm sorry I couldn't protect you… I wish I wasn't too scared to stand up and protect you…"

The brunette stayed in the same position for a moment while being surrounded by his fallen enemies, before he felt a small but warm hand holding his shoulder.

The forest was quiet once more, as if it had no life living in it. The lack of light made the forest even more ominous, especially when the area was filled with the fallen soldiers.

Ciel was crouching down in front of Hiro as the brunette leaned against the tree while she took care of his wounds. Her unwanted movements as she was treating him made her wince in pain, reminding her of the shot wound she had outside the bulletproof vest she was wearing. She had hoped that the soldier in front of her didn't see her pained face as she didn't want him to see her weakened state, but the brunette kept his head low the entire time.

The vice captain tied the last part of the bandage with a sigh before she put the remainder of the white cloth back to her aid kit, "I have finished bandaging your wounds. They should be healed by tomorrow if you let them−"

"Sorry," Hiro's unexpected apology interrupted her as the brunette raised his head and looked over at her wound, which she noticed and attempted to cover. "I know that you're the experienced one, but I acted like I know everything in battle. If I listened to you then, maybe you wouldn't have to get shot in the end."

It was her fault, not his. If she didn't let her guard down, she could avoided being shot herself. She wanted to say it herself, but her words refused to come out from her mouth. But if she tried speaking, she would most likely end up blaming him instead, as she wasn't feeling like herself for the past few days.

Her decision on the matter would be not to say anything as she was trying to get up, but she felt a hand pulling her back. His hand was holding her wrist, forcing her to sit down in front of her as he took out the bandage from her own aid kit box. She assumed that he was trying to help, but his nervous smile told her that he had no idea how to treat a wound.

"It's… it's fine…" Ciel took the bandage from his hand as she tried bandaging her own wound, but she felt his eyes were still staring at her. "P-Please turn around."

"R-Right, sorry…" Hiro nervously turned away, without any notable hints of trying to peek.

The vice captain cleaned the wound and applied some medicine on it as a temporary measure as she didn't have the proper equipment to sew her open wound. She wrapped it with the bandage once she was done, though the pain was still there as she moved around. She had to remind herself to bring some more medical equipment as she carried fewer than required.

"I'm finished. Let's continue," Ciel stood up carefully, hiding her pained face as the stinging pain could still be felt on her side. "The base shouldn't be too far from here."

She was given some silent treatment from him and when she turned to him, he had his back turned to her as he slightly ducked down, "Get on my back then. I'm pretty confident that I can carry you that far."

"H-Huh?" She looked at him in surprise. She was most definitely not expecting his offer at all.

The vice captain wanted to decline as she was fine enough on her own, but the sudden movement nearby snapped her from the thought. One of the soldiers they had taken out started moving, followed by a few others as they started to regain consciousness.

"Great. They're awake now," Hiro glanced at the awakening soldiers before looking at her. "Come on! We have to hurry and get out of here! I only knocked them out cold thinking that we'll be leaving anyway!"

"You… what?!"

Another unexpected thing came from him. As she was trying to register how he could hold back during the fight before, she was already pulled away and forced onto his back as he sped away. She wasn't given the time to protest or say anything to his proposal as he ran through the forest while carrying her on his back. The next thing she realized, the dark forest around them had changed into a bright area leading to a lineup of aircraft in front of a big building.

"Phew! We're… finally here…!" Hiro had ducked down to catch his breath from running, but with her still clinging on his back.

Ciel looked around the area, seeing the present ally soldiers staring at them. Feeling uncomfortable with the stares they were given, the vice captain slid off Hiro's back and caused the brunette to notice the extra weight on his back being missing.

"O-Oh, right, I… kinda forget that I was carrying you on my back…" Hiro laughed nervously, even as she was staring at him.

The vice captain avoided his eyes as he laughed and her hand landed on the bullet wound she had, "I… I was only injured here, so I could still walk on my own… But t-thank you…"

When she mentioned it to him, the brunette looked even more nervous. Was he in a complete panic that he didn't realize it? She was sure that he was straining himself when he carried her all the way from the forest when he suffered more injuries than her.

"S-Sorry, I wasn't thinking things straight," Hiro responded nervously before letting out a sigh. "But anyway, I'm going to get some medical staff to help you with your wounds. It's better treated here when they have more equipment, right?"

"Ah−" Ciel was about to respond, but the brunette had already run away towards the big building.

She never actually understood him at all. She didn't know why he didn't kill those soldiers they encountered when they were clearly their enemies. Why was he so forgiving towards the enemy soldiers? Why was he so kind to everyone, whether they were allies or not? Those were the questions she had in her mind for the past few months, but she wasn't sure why she was thinking about the questions and about him.

Those thoughts in mind had earned her an earful from the general, as her actions didn't represent what she had been taught.

"You and the rest of Blood are soldiers and it is a soldier's duty to obey any orders given to them! Even if their order is go and die for the country! Stop thinking about anything else and only think about your orders and missions!"

Ciel instinctively held her arm as she winced from the general's words a few nights previously. Her movement and resources were far more restricted then, especially after she was caught using the supplies to help injured animals she found. She wasn't allowed to feed them anymore or tend their injuries as from the general's perspective, they were nothing compared to the soldiers who could fight for the country.

Confusion grew within her as she recalled Hiro's words when they had a talk before leaving for war.

"I want everyone, enemies or allies, to live and work together rather than fighting. Not just people, but animals also have the right to live a quality life. I want to fight for a future like that and I'll go through the path I know that's right, even if it's not included in the orders given to me."

She was slowly drifting away from the life determined by orders, but she was pulled back to that kind of life because she was a soldier and that was all a soldier should be doing. When she looked at the brunette, she could see him a soldier, but a different one compared to the kind of soldier she had been taught to be. If she wanted to choose the path of a soldier, which path should she choose?

Ciel looked up at the dark and cloudy sky above her with both of her hands on her chest.

"Father… Mother… Which path of a soldier is the correct path I should follow?"

Author's note:

Fun fact about this chapter that's... probably not actually fun: I feel pretty satisfied with how this chapter turns out that I don't feel that I need to edit too much. Also, I posted this a few minutes before 2 AM.

As for the next chapter... I'll try to get it done quick while I have less than a week of holiday before going back to the fluorescent hell. There's also the issue with trying to get my laptop's keyboard fixed, but I can still write with my phone.

So, coming up next! A mission for the entire team of Blood with very little background information revealed to its members and they are only told that the general is having an important meeting in the middle of a war. Stay tuned and hope that I'm inspired enough to breeze through the writing!