Far East Branch Headquarters - Lobby
"Hey Soma! How was your day?"
"Same as always."
The girl on the screen frowned slightly at his snippy tone. What was going on with him? "Hey, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." He turned away from the screen. There was no way he was going to let a girl see him cry.
"…Did somebody say something?"
He tensed but didn't respond.
"You shouldn't listen to them, you know. Who needs them anyway? You've got me!"
The little girl smiled brightly, trying to comfort her friend. Although he usually avoided the topic, she knew the types of things they'd say. Her treatment was no different. Humans had a tendency to shun things that they couldn't understand. They avoided the unknown and rejected those that were different… and who was more different than them?
"It's none of your business, anyway."
She flinched at his harsh tone but took no offense. She knew that this was simply his way. It was how he handled his hurt. It was easier for him to lash out at others than to show them his pain.
Wish a scornful laugh, Soma shrugged as he watched his friend. "Maybe you should go too. What do you need with a monster like me?"
She gasped. They had called him a monster? How could they?! Her eyes held a mix of emotions that Soma couldn't quite identify. First, she seemed surprised. Then she seemed hurt. Then angry.
"You're not a monster, Soma. You're-"
"What?!"
The girl jumped as he snapped at her. Soma often took his frustration out on her, but never quite like his. He was so bitter… so upset. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her eyes drifted downward, and she fell silent. What could she say to him? She didn't think of him as a monster. To her, he was good person born into a bad situation. A caring soul that took the time to think of her when most others didn't. He was temperamental, but sweet. He was irritable, but kind. He was simply… Soma.
At the sight of her dejected look, Soma felt his anger subside. It was slowly replaced with remorse her lips trembled. Perhaps he had gone too far this time. She usually took his frustrated outbursts in stride and brushed them off with a smile, but today she hung her head in silence.
"Hey… I didn't -"
"I want to show you something." The little girl startled him with her interruption. She slowly lifted her head and their eyes met through the screen. Her joyful demeanor was gone, replaced with a far darker expression. He could hear the seriousness in her tone, and he felt his hairs stand on end. His friend had always been the picture of benevolence. To see her like was… unnerving.
"But you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?"
Overcome with curiosity, Soma's forgot his unease and slowly nodded his head.
"I won't. I promise."
He watched with fascination as she turned away from him, her back facing the screen. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around the edge of her shirt and pulled it over her head…
"Hey, Soma!"
The veteran woke with a start, startled by the loud, and very close voice practically shouting at him. Standing a few feet away was his companion for the day, pompous and obnoxious as always.
"What, are you sleeping on the job? Come on, we've got a mission, let's go!"
Soma shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He had in fact fallen asleep while waiting for his squad members to show up. His sleep had been restless, plagued by haunting thoughts of their new arrival. The image of her collapsed helplessly on the floor wouldn't leave his mind. Her face had been contorted in pain, her hand reaching out towards him like a lifeline. The sight had frightened him and let him in a state of restlessness. His thoughts were once again interrupted by a hand waving in front of his face.
"Um, hello? You alright?"
"I'm fine. Back off." Soma waved his hand away and straightened his jacket. Standing before him, intrusive as ever, was Eric der Vogelweid. He was a teenage boy, only slightly younger than him in age. He stood slightly shorter than him with bright red hair and eyes to match. His crimson vest hung open, revealing the various tattoos painted across his torso. The only thing that dwarfed his flamboyant attire and mannerisms was his enormous ego. But despite his irritating quirks, Eric was a decent ally, loyal and protective of his comrades on the battlefield.
"Geeze, what's wrong with you this morning? You don't want to leave a bad impression on the newbie, do you? Veterans, like us, should strive to… come to think of it, where is she anyway?"
At his question, Soma looked around the lobby. She was nowhere to be found. The three of them were supposed to be going on a mission today, but she was absent. For a moment, he felt a pang of worry as the image of her, gasping for breath, reentered his mind. When they parted ways, she had seemed alright. What if she was in worse shape than she let on? He made a mental note discreetly check on her later. For now, he had a squad… teammate to lead. Putting on his usual air of indifference, he gave a curt reply.
"Leave her. She'll catch up." Eric watched him make his way towards the exit and took one last look around the lobby. When he didn't see her anywhere, he shrugged and hurried to catch up.
Far East Branch Headquarters - Director's Office
"Are you certain about this, Paylor?" Director Schicksal inquired, walking over to the desk and observing the computer monitor.
"Yes, quite. I've cross-referenced the dates and times between the departure, the expected arrival time, and the incident." Dr. Sakaki typed rapid keystrokes, loading various images and graphs onto the different screens. Turning his attention to the one on the left, he continued, pointing to a labeled map.
"As you can see, the scheduled departure of the flight was here and their destination, according to official report, was here." He slowly dragged his hand along the screen towards the landmass housing the Russian Fenrir branch. "However, our New Type was discovered here, a fair distance away from her intended course. 6,668 kilometers, to be exact."
Furrowing his brow, the Director crossed his arms. His eyes drifted across the map, comparing the considerable distance between the two points. "Are you suggesting that they changed course?"
"A very likely possibility. Wherever they were headed, it was in the wrong direction."
The Director's eyes slowly drifted towards his now irreparably stained couch at the mention of the New Type. Wrinkling his nose in disapproval, he returned his attention to his friend and replied.
"The reports indicate that she was located near the end of 2068. If we assume the dates recorded to be accurate…"
"Then it means that our new recruit spent a considerable amount of time alone outside of the Aragami wall. Approximately 22 months to be exact." Paylor ran his fingers across the keyboard, bringing up another screen. "Now, here is my concern." A collection of satellite images appeared on the screen. The images displayed a vast frozen area with debris and damaged structures littering the landscape.
Director Schicksal raised his eyebrows at the images as they appeared one by one.
"The temperatures in this area reach well below freezing, even during the e day..." Another image appeared, displaying herds of Fallen Ogretails wandering the in the snow. "And with nothing to control their numbers, the Aragami population is relatively high."
Johannes nodded his head, following his friend's line of questioning. "Every person aboard that aircraft perished during the crash. The fact that she survived at all is rather questionable."
"Indeed it is. Stranger still, she had no access to resources. Any supplies onboard the transport, assuming they were salvageable, would only last her roughly 14 days when her size and average caloric intake are taken into account. Even were this not the case, it isn't likely that she would survive more than 48 hours in such an environment. The exposure alone cuts that time in half."
The Director fell silent as his mind ran through various possibilities. Most, if not all of them, were biological impossibilities. Only one hypothesis provided a valid explanation.
"What about her bias factor? It's possible that she may owe her survival to her Oracle Cells."
"Yes, it is certainly the most logical explanation." Sakaki closed his eyes and tapped his chin in contemplation. "But perhaps… Johannes, I have a theory."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed. However, I would need to run a few tests. Can you arrange it?"
"Consider it done."
Director Schicksal was eager to find some answers, the scientist in him driving his curiosity. The conflicting reports raised suspicion enough, and the New Type's raised even more. They had received a data file detailing her basic information and general health, but a good portion of the older data was missing. Any information predating her recovery were simply nonexistent, including her bias factor. Either the information had been buried, or it had been destroyed. The latter option wasn't too farfetched. Those who would see Reaper eliminated would have no qualms with erasing any evidence of her existence.
Suddenly, a thought came to his mind.
"Paylor. Do we know the location of the crash site?"
"Not yet. I have only a generalized area at the moment. Given some time, I can triangulate some coordinates and determine an area narrow enough to conduct a search. Assuming, of course, that anything remains."
"Locate the aircraft as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I will arrange for your data collection."
"Thank you, Johannes. I look forward to it."
Sunken Grid
As the hours passed by, the sun slowly rose high into the sky. Below, a pair of God Eaters rampaged through the Sunken Grid, dispatching Cocoon Maidens and Ogretails in their wake. The Aragami let out an ear-piercing shriek as Soma's blade came down on its head with a sickening crack. Blood erupted from the open wound as he tore his blade from the carcass and the core along with it. Behind him, a bullet pierced the skull of another Ogretail, sending it crashing to the ground.
"I'm getting bored. Are there any foes that can provide an actual challenge?" Eric complained, lowering his God Arc and stretching his arms.
"Do you ever stop talking?" Soma groaned in frustration at his rambling teammate.
"I'm just saying that it would be more interesting -"
Soma gripped his weapon and turned around when he realized that teammate had actually fallen silent. Behind him, Eric was waving frantically and approaching someone in the distance. From his position, he could clearly see her violet hair and large scythe. She had finally decided to join them.
"Hey! What's up? I assume you're the new star rookie everyone's been going on about."
Reaper stopped in her tracks, staring blankly at the strange man accosting her. Her eye slowly moved up and down his form, examining his strange markings and unusual attire. From his posturing, she could tell that he was a tad full of himself. Not a good mindset to have on a battlefield. He also liked to hear himself talk, yet another dangerous trait.
Shaking his head, Soma returned to his task. He had contemplated intervening but ultimately deemed it unnecessary. She seemed to have recovered well enough from her affliction the previous night and if her display in the training room were any indication of her actual skill, the two of them should be perfectly fine. He extracted a core from one of the Cocoon Maidens, only half-listening to their - or more accurately his - conversation.
"I'm Eric. That's right, Eric der Vogelweid. I suggest you do your best to emulate me."
Behind him, Soma froze. He could sense an Aragami approaching and looked around, trying to locate it. Reaper responded in a similar manner, her attention shifting away from Eric and his boasting. As her eye scanned the area, she saw no sign of the approaching threat. Looking behind her, she saw nothing. There was nothing behind Eric or to her right, and to her left was a body of water polluted water. That could only mean…
"I've been out defending humankind for a while, and I think I know -"
From behind him, Soma charged, God Arc raised. "Eric, look out!"
"Whoa!"
His warning came too late. By the time Eric had turned around, the Ogretail had leapt from above and brought him to the ground. He let out a petrified scream as he gazed into the Aragami's gaping maw. In a moment, he was silenced forever. Eric's blood splattered in every direction as the creature bit into his upper half, head, torso and all, spraying the walls, the ground, and the New Type standing in front them who simply watched with a blank stare.
Soma could do nothing but watch in horror as his greatest fears became reality; his comrade devoured before his eyes… and his teammate had done absolutely nothing to stop it. She simply watched as Eric was eaten alive. Even the blood now drenching her clothing did nothing to alter her expression. What the hell was wrong with her?
"Don't just stand there, fight!" He shouted, reaching her and raising his blade at the Ogretail.
At his command, Reaper sprang into action doing probably the last thing that Soma would have expected in their current situation. In one whirling motion, her foot connected with the side of the Ogretail's face in a rapid roundhouse kick. As the stunned creature toppled to the ground, she lifted her scythe and brought it down, severing the creature's head in one swift strike. As her clothes were sprayed with a new wave of blood, Soma slowly lowered his weapon and stared incredulously at the display. It took a few moments before Hamasaki's words finally resurfaced in his mind.
Right… She only followed orders. He was right to be concerned about her in such a state. It was exactly the scenario that he wanted to avoid.
Sighing, he lifted his blade and rested it on his shoulder. "Well, there ya go. Welcome to this godforsaken place."
Turning, the new type observed him, giving no reaction to his snappy tone. She did nothing, but he could tell that she was evaluating him, watching his every move. They had met thrice before, once in the training room, once in the hallway, and once from her confines. And respectively, he had seen her in a violent state, and a vulnerable one. Now, he saw her in her neutral state, staring blankly at him like a machine awaiting input.
"I hate being the guy to break it to you, but death is not so rare out here."
Again, she offered nothing, only staring, watching him. Her indifference was starting piss him off. She was standing not ten paces away from her fallen comrade, soaked in his blood and her reaction was…nothing. Growing irritated and determined to get a reaction out of her, Soma lifted his blade and swung it, the edge stopping merely an inch from the tip of her nose.
"Surprised? Afraid? Well, what did you think it was gonna be?"
His mask cracked for a brief moment as he watched her reaction: nothing. With a blade mere inches from her face, she only observed his movements. She made no motion to move out of the way or block him. He had to admit, he was slightly impressed by her mettle. Of course, it was very likely that she did nothing simply because she couldn't. She would do anything her superior officer demanded of her… Growing disturbed, Soma tried to ease the tension. He smirked at her and withdrew his blade.
"Forget it. The time for mourning has come and gone. We've got a mission. Let's go. Here's a key to staying alive. Never give a breath of quarter and stay the hell away from me."
Nodding, Reaper turned her attention to the fallen Aragami and extracted its core. Satisfied, he turned and walked away. The New Type trailed behind, following his order to keep her distance from him. After a few steps, she paused and turned around. Her eye scanned over the grisly scene one last time.
A few feet away from the carcass was the remaining pile of flesh that used to be Eric. She had suspected that his arrogance would eventually be his downfall, but she hadn't expected it to happen so quickly. Soma stopped walking when he sensed that she was no longer moving and turned around.
"What gives?"
Soma's voice caught her attention and she turned to face him. For the first time since her arrival, she communicated, signing a message to him.
I'm sorry.
He observed her carefully. Her face was still but, in her eye for a fleeting moment, he could see a hint of remorse. After a moment of silence, Soma heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head.
"…It's not your fault. Come on."
He turned and walked away once more in search of the next target. Behind him, Reaper stared after him for a few moments before following behind him. Soma didn't realize it, but in answering her question, he had done something that no one in the Far East Branch, short of her companion, had done before. He understood her.