Happy (belated) New Year!

Sorry the chapter got a bit more delayed than usual as I ended up not working on it without a laptop during the holiday. My head was a mess back then, especially when I still had work to do during the holidays. While the scene here is based on my most favorite scene in the game, I decided to hold off writing it because I want it to turn up good. I needed to be in a good, or at least a better mood to write it. And honestly, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turns out in the end, even if it's longer than the usual chapters.

First disclaimer of 2021: No, I don't own GE. At least, now I can confidently say that I've played all three main titles.

Spirit of the Sky

Chapter 17 – Inferiority and Decisions

The sun was barely up with thick fog covering the area around the camp.

The weather was cold, but it didn't seem to bother the red-haired researcher as she walked through the quiet camp. The look of anxiety was clear on her face, which became worse as she stopped in front of a familiar tall man when he came out of his own tent along with a few soldiers guarding him. She could smell the smoke from the cigarette more and more as the man walked up to her and took out his cigarette from his mouth.

"I didn't order you to come all the way here, Doctor Leah," the man told her with a disinterested tone. "I need you to go back and play with your little scientific experiments until further orders."

As the man was about to walk away, Leah grabbed his arm. He glared down at her, but the scientist didn't flinch as she kept on looking at him with a pleading look, "General Grem, I will kindly ask you to reconsider your decision. There is no need for this arrangement!"

"Doctor," Grem sternly replied before he roughly slapped her hands off him. "How about we continue this unnecessary argument in the tent? I don't want the name of a high-ranked officer to be tarnished unnecessarily."

Leah didn't say a word and gave him a quiet nod. The general turned around to walk into his tent, with his guards on standby in front of the entrance. As she was approaching the tent, she could hear the sound of footsteps closing in before the silhouettes of four people in the same black uniform appeared from the thick fog. She stopped right in front of the tent and the four people did the same as well.

The Blood Unit.

Leah could see the looks of confusion on both Gil's and Nana's faces, but Julius and especially Romeo were aware of the reason for her presence. They only exchanged looks without saying a word before the scientist quietly made her way into the tent, being greeted by the strong smell of cigarettes as she entered. It was a familiar scent to her, but she had never got used to the strong smell even after years of working alongside him.

Grem was standing on the other side of his desk when the scientist came in, looking at her with a displeased look as the burning cigarette was back between his lips. Leah curled her hands as she took determined steps closer to the general, but the man looked like he already knew what she was going to say to him.

"You're not going to change my mind, Leah," Grem exhaled some smoke to his side. "Your dead sister's precious Blood members aren't needed anymore when we're already winning without too much of their contributions."

"But!" Leah couldn't hold back her voice, which was mixed with desperation. "They are still people; human beings like us! I cannot allow you to go as far as selling them off to the enemy side like they are some sort of items!"

The general took out his cigarette with a sigh before tapping it to let some ashes fall to the ground, "This is the only choice in hand to put a quick end to this war. If this battle keeps on, more and more money will have to be spent on logistics and feeding our troops. We're not exactly the richest country in the world anymore."

Leah stared at him in disgust. While she was very much aware that he wasn't completely wrong, she wasn't too fond of the way he responded. She knew that Susano'o Islands was no longer a rich country because of the ongoing wars for the past few years, but she couldn't understand why someone would consider money to be a much more important asset compared to human lives.

"If that's all the nonsense you're going to say, then you're dismissed," Grem left his position from the other side of the desk and walked to exit the tent, but stopped next to Leah. "Your sister is already dead and I'm not going to keep silly promises with the dead. Blood is nothing more than her pointless joint experiment with our current enemy and I don't want our country to be stained by the news of her illegal experiment."

Leah glared at him in return, while trying to hold herself back from slapping him, "Rachel has not officially passed away. She is still missing up to this day after she was taken right before the day of her major surgery. I believe that she is still alive, somewhere in this world."

"Hah!" Grem scoffed loudly before roughly tapping the side of her head with his finger. "Your brilliant mind is wasted on pointless dreams, just like your own sister's dreams of making her own superhumans as combat soldiers. Make yourself useful to me and contact the enemy camp for a meeting as I told you yesterday!"

Leah didn't say anything as the general walked past her, leaving her alone in the tent. She was left with no choice, as she couldn't ask for help when the general had the authority over the army. The feeling of helplessness made her go weak on the knees before she let herself fall to the ground with a single tear sliding off her face.

'Rachel… please come back to us… come back to me…'

Hiro stretched out his arms as he walked out from the dorm room he spent a night in with a big yawn. The fatigue and injuries he had from the battle before made sleeping feel like paradise, before he was woken up by the morning alarm. His drowsy eyes scanned the empty hallway of the air force base, seeing that he was the only one present in the dorm area.

The brunette made his way through the hallways and to the mess hall for breakfast, only finding it to be empty as well. He assumed that the soldiers of the air force had already left before he woke up as they were still in a war, leaving him to wonder why he and Ciel were the ones in charge of defending the base if a few members of the air force could be stationed there instead.

The thought of the vice captain reminded him that along with the non combatant officers in the base, he and Ciel were still present in the base. Looking for her in the base had become his first priority, even though the event on the previous day was still a little embarrassing for him to remember. At the very least, they both made it to the base alive.

Hiro's search came to a stop once he found himself outside the building with the dark sky being the first thing he saw. The sky had already been like that for a while, but it hadn't started raining at all. It almost seemed like the sky was representing a person's anxiety towards the battle all over the country, even though he caught the news that his homeland was winning the fight.

He let out a sigh under the depressing sky, but stopped on his way back inside when he caught a familiar black and silver color. When he took a closer look, the brunette saw the vice captain crouching down in the corner while being surrounded by sparrows. The small birds were pecking the ground, picking up the seeds they could grab as Ciel spread out another handful of seeds with a smile on her face.

For a quick moment, Hiro felt like he wasn't in the middle of a war. It might have been insignificant for many, but he felt a moment of peace when he saw her feeding the sparrows and it momentarily made him forget about the battles. Maybe it wasn't just the scene he was watching, but more like the pure and innocent smile the vice captain had as she cared for the small birds. Perhaps her smile had a positive effect on him as he could feel very relaxed while watching her.

The brunette approached her with a smile, which caused his presence to be known to the sparrows. Ciel noticed him as well when she saw most of the sparrows flying away as he got closer, but her smile faded as she slowly got up. Her hand rested on the area where she was shot before, though her face didn't show any signs of pain, before she looked at the bandage hidden under Hiro's long sleeves.

"How… how are your wounds?" Ciel asked hesitantly while avoiding direct eye contact with him.

Hiro's smile curved into a frown as well, holding his bandaged arm, "I'm… good… They don't hurt anymore, at least, but I'm not sure if they're going to leave behind any scars, if that's what you mean…"

"That's good enough," the vice captain responded with her usual stern tone, looking up at him with eyes lacking her previous emotions. "The rest of Blood should be arriving in a few minutes with General Grem. We should get ourselves ready for our next mission before they arrive."

Hiro watched her as she turned around to walk past him and into the building, seeing that she was back to her old serious and obedient self. She hadn't talked much about herself that he couldn't really tell what she was thinking, but he felt that she was trying to be someone whom others wanted her to be. If he assumed that she wanted to be herself, he could imagine how much those wishes might have burdened her.

"Vice Captain," the brunette called out, just as Ciel was about to enter the building.

She turned to him, expecting him to say something which counted as important to the mission, though he was pretty sure that they had different views on what was important for the mission. Even if he was going to be given an earful later, he had made his mind about letting her know what was more important for her.

"It's okay to be yourself, you know," Hiro gave her a small smile before looking back at the traces of seeds being left behind by the escaping sparrows. "I mean, animals are living things too. It's dumb to disallow people to care for animals when they could, especially when they're hurt. They can't talk like us people, but I know that they have feelings and they most likely can tell if someone cares about them."

Ciel's hand slid down before she could reach for the door's electric lock and sighed, "Are you expecting the same when you spared the lives of our enemies yesterday? Do you expect them to turn their backs from the country they serve just because you have helped them?"

"W-What? No, I…" Hiro looked at the vice captain in the eyes, noticing that whatever he had to say to her, she wasn't going to listen to his excuses. "Sorry…"

Ciel turned her attention back to the door and opened it, but stood still in front of the entrance, "We are in the middle of a war. Regardless of which side is winning, there is no place for emotions in battle. Even if you saved an enemy in battle, there is no guarantee that they will not attempt to stab you while you let your guard down. If you let your emotions get the better of you, then you will only get yourself killed."

Hiro could only stare at her in silence as she made her way into the building. He knew that she wasn't wrong, but he felt that there was some truth in his words as well. The way she said it was something that bothered him as she had returned to her initial unsociable self, without him knowing the reason for her sudden change of attitude. Asking her directly might have given him some clues about what happened in the general's tent to cause her change, but it was getting more and more impossible to ask.

She would most likely consider his question to be irrelevant, though he could justify it as clearing her head before an important job. Even if he did tell her that, her attitude wouldn't earn him the answer he needed.

The dark sky made it hard to tell if it was really in the middle of the day. The echoing gunshots in the distance and the sounds of bombing were the only signs to know what time of the day, as the battle would take place mostly during the day.

Hiro stood in the middle of the base's runway, staying right in front of six fighter jets ready for take off. He held his safety helmet on his side as he looked around the area, feeling the anxiety of his teammates. Their concerns were understandable as they would not only fly right above warzones, but they were also flying right around the enemy territory without a clear reason.

He let out a sigh, feeling that he wouldn't get an answer even if he asked. A clear reason to fight would be nice, except the captain himself wasn't aware of the general's intention and the big man himself wouldn't answer a mere private's question. He had to fight blindly, even if the next battle was in the field he was most confident with.

"You nervous?" Hiro almost jumped from the sudden tap on his shoulder, surprising the dark brunette behind him as well. "H-Hey! Do you really have to be that surprised?"

The brunette turned around to face the older cadet, whose presence had been known abruptly, "S-Sorry, Gil… I uh… I have a few things in mind, that's all…"

Gil stared at him for a moment before letting out a sigh, "Yeah, I think I know what you're thinking. We're fighting for General Mustache, but that guy won't even tell us what his meeting is about! Is it so damn important and classified that he's not saying anything?!"

Hiro didn't comment about Gil's loud questions, which had caught the attention of the officers around the area. While he could understand completely about the older cadet's concerns, it felt like Gil had other things in mind as most of his attention was directed at the lone blond cadet by one of the jets. Was Romeo the one Gil was most concerned about?

"Hey, did Romeo say anything weird to you two?" Nana's voice snapped Hiro from his thoughts as she looked at the two with a worried look. "I didn't have time to cook this morning so I gave him the rice ball I made, but he didn't eat it…"

Romeo wasn't eating something that Nana made? That could probably be a serious issue.

"Wait, doesn't that mean he hasn't eaten anything for breakfast?" Gil slightly raised his tone, which seemed to Nana that he was trying to scold her. "Give me that damn rice ball and I'll shove it to his mouth!"

Nana looked a little scared from the dark brunette's attitude and avoided his eyes as she played with her fingers, "A-Actually, I was afraid that it would be wasted that I… ate half of it…"

Hiro and Gil looked amused after hearing her confession, before the noirette pulled out the half-eaten rice ball from her bag. Before Hiro and Nana could react, Gil had grabbed the leftover food off her hands and stomped away towards the lone cadet. They were afraid that the dark brunette would actually shove the food like he said, but they could only see them talking for a moment before Romeo took the rice ball and started eating it without causing a scene.

The brunette was glad that he didn't have to be the one to stop their arguments again, though he was sure that their recent arguments were closer to a friendly banter. None of them actually showed it, but they argued and cared for each other as if they were actually brothers sharing similar interests. Gil was more open about it, but that was the first time he showed that he cared right in front of Romeo himself.

The sound of engines starting behind them drowned the footsteps coming for the two as Julius and Ciel walked up to them.

"The preparations are complete. We should board our respective jets and fly in the formation we are told in the briefing," Julius told the two of them flatly before looking over at Hiro, giving him a light pat on the shoulder and accompanied by a small smile. "We're counting on you, Kamui. I hope your flying skills can help us in this important mission."

The brunette returned the smile with a salute, "I won't let you down."

"Good," the captain nodded and let go of his shoulder, heading for his own assigned jet.

Hiro exchanged looks with Nana, as the noirette was staring at Romeo worriedly. While he was concerned about his blond friend, he couldn't help but feel unwanted stares around him. When he looked back at the building, he could see a few male officers glaring at Nana's direction and some at Ciel. He didn't recall any of them doing anything bad, so he wasn't sure why they were glaring at the two women.

"Someone I know once told me before about military life," Nana looked back at the people who were looking at her with a frown. "Women like me and Ciel aren't too welcomed here, so I guess I can understand why they are glaring at us."

The brunette got the answer to his initial question, even before he asked it himself, but it wasn't enough reason to hate them for being there.

"But Ciel and I aren't like any other women!" Nana's eyes were gleaming with confidence as she clasped her hands together. "We're going to show them that we can fight well too!"

Her enthusiasm and positive energy brought a smile to the brunette's face, but she had sped off to her own jet before he could respond. He was left on his own in the runway as the others had boarded their own jets, ready to take off.

When Hiro was about to board his own jet, his eyes fell on the other lane in the runway. A bigger jet was on standby as the general was boarding the craft, before the door was closed as soon as he was inside. The big jet started moving slowly for a take off, followed by the smaller jets driven by his teammates.

Hiro took a deep breath before putting on his helmet and ran to the last jet. Whatever awaited him in the important and classified job, he would always do what he could to protect everyone.

Ciel could hear the sound of humming engines as she firmly held the controller of her jet. As the altitude of her jet stabilized, she quickly checked the gears she was wearing on her person, starting with the helmet and the oxygen mask. She couldn't risk being careless when she was far up in the sky, especially when she had an important mission to do.

Her radar was showing her position and the positions of her teammates' jets, which were starting to form a defensive formation around the general's own military jet. She was assigned to be the rear guard, staying behind the general's jet as Julius' was leading the whole formation from the front. Gil and Hiro were assigned to guard the left wing, while Romeo and Nana were assigned to defend the right wing.

Once the jets were lined up perfectly into position, a beeping noise was heard.

"This is Private Bourgogne from Camp Alpha to Blood Unit," the feminine voice of the operator was heard through the communication radio. "Blood Unit, please give me a situation report if you can hear me."

There was a beep in between before Julius' voice was heard, "This is Blood One reporting. The area in front of us is clear according to the radar. How is the situation in the rear guard area, Vice Captain?"

Ciel's eyes gazed at the green monitor of the radar, seeing that it hadn't detected anything unusual, "This is Blood Two. My radar hasn't detected any unusual activities or unknown jets in the area."

"Blood Left Alpha reporting next!" Hiro's enthusiastic tone was heard on the radio, which brought chuckles from the other three side guards. "The sky is looking grim, but everything on my end is A-OK! And I'll make sure you don't have to take any hits, Vice Captain!"

The vice captain was looking clearly annoyed, though she was the only one who could see her expression. She wished that the brunette would take the situation more seriously even when they weren't actively in combat with the enemy jets. Silence would be the best way for her to handle him as she couldn't afford to lose focus because of the things he might say to her.

"Blood Left Beta here," Gil's voice was heard next on the radio. "Nothing unusual here too."

"Blood Right Alpha is doing great! But I'm a little hungry…" Nana's voice was heard through the radio, sounding a little weaker before munching sounds were heard.

"Please don't eat while manning the jet, Private Kozuki," Julius scolded her through the radio, though her munching didn't stop until a moment later, bringing the captain's attention to the last member to report. "Blood Right Beta, are you there?"

The radio went quiet for a moment before Romeo's voice was heard, "Yeah… I'm good… Nothing strange here…"

His voice lacked the energy and enthusiasm he usually had, which the vice captain noticed quite easily. Even so, it wasn't the time for her to be concerned about his well-being when they were in the middle of something important. She had to focus on the mission regardless of the situation, as long as it ended up with a success on their end.

"Ahem!" The general's loud coughing surprised Ciel as he was heard on the radio as well, "This mission is very important for the future of our country. Don't mess it up or you're going to face consequences. And that means all of you."

His voice was as stern as always before he cut the connection, bringing the communication line back to the team and the operator.

"I will leave the communication open between the camp and the airborne units," Fran told the team through the radio. "Any incoming jets outside the range of your radars will be monitored on my end, so please be careful and return safely."

The radio connection went off with another beep, returning the vice captain back to the humming noise of the jet engines.

Ciel's gaze had been focused on the radar in case an enemy jet tried attacking from behind, but her radar hadn't been showing anything else around her other than Blood's fighter jets. She looked up from the green monitor, glancing left and right for any signs of unusual activity, but her vision was blocked by the thick clouds around her. The radar was there for that reason, but she couldn't shake off her habits as she was used to scanning areas through the scope of her rifle rather than relying on a monitor.

The flight through the warzone felt peaceful, though almost too peaceful. The vice captain hoped that they wouldn't need to encounter enemies while airborne, but the lack of activity as they were nearing the border was getting a little too suspicious. As much as she wanted to comment on that, she didn't feel like it was her place to say when they were still in the middle of an unfinished mission.

"Blood Unit, can you all hear me?" Julius' voice was heard on the radio once more, though it was drowned in heavy static. "... near the enemy border… careful…"

The radio disconnected abruptly and followed by heavy static, which made Ciel grow concerned, but the beeping sound of her radar caught her attention before she could try reconnecting. She saw three unknown red dots closing in to their formation from the front and the sides, which went undetected until the broken communication.

"Is that… stealth technology…?" the vice captain asked herself worriedly.

The formation she saw in the radar was slowly breaking away, with two of the enemy jets following the two ally jets on the sides. She looked ahead through the protective glass in front of her, seeing flashes of explosion from the front, giving her the hint that the team had started engaging the enemy. Her grip on the controller handle tightened as she was prepared to shoot down the enemy once they reached her shooting range.

A big shadow loomed over the vice captain's jet, which caught her attention. When she looked up, the shadow was already gone and left behind a trail of smoke leading up to one of the ally jets. The jet was facing sideways and stayed nearby for a quick moment, enabling Ciel to see the familiar brown hair of the jet's pilot before he sped away with an enemy jet following and shooting him down.

Ciel quickly tilted her own jet, lining up with the enemy jet and tried shooting it down with the machine gun equipped to her own jet. The small explosions hitting the jet's external frame told her enough that her shots hit it, but it wasn't enough to take it out.

As she was getting ready for another round of shots, she was stopped by Nana's fast moving jet coming right from below the enemy jet. She made a quick and sharp turn to avoid the crash, just in time for the second enemy jet to come out from the clouds below. The second one wasn't too lucky as it didn't have the time to maneuver and a crash between the two jets wasn't avoidable. The crash caused both jets to explode, with Hiro's and Nana's jet flying away to avoid the shockwave of the explosion.

Ciel was still trying to register what had happened just then, as she was still in disbelief that two members of her team managed to work well enough and took down two jets at the same time. None of their strategies were briefed in the base and with the radio signal being jammed, there was no way of communicating between them. But most of all, she had never read anything about the high risk strategy they used in any book.

No, she must have missed a strategy book or so. It was impossible to come up with such a plan spontaneously.

The vice captain shook her head, trying to get her focus back into the mission. Their mission was to stay in formation and guard the general's jet, so going out of the formation to fight wasn't a good option. She had to remind the two cadets about it once they landed, especially when fighting off enemy jets wasn't their first priority.

Ciel had her eyes back to the radar, which showed that the formation was back in place. What she didn't expect though, would be the drowned sound of explosion coming from the right side of the formation. Another jet was visible from the side, but her radar wasn't detecting anything at all.

"Damn it!"

Romeo's jet slightly shook as one of the shots hit, but not on the vital areas of the craft. His radar was blinking as the shot had damaged the navigation system, but the enemy jet was still purposely aiming for the blond's jet. The other jets were still in their formation, most likely unaware of the extra jet in the area as his radar couldn't detect its location as well. The cloudy area also made it impossible for him to aim properly and the radar wasn't showing its proper location.

The general's jet had suddenly increased its altitude without warning, avoiding the shots aimed in his and Romeo's direction. The radio suddenly buzzed, surprising Romeo, as the connection was back online even with lower sound quality.

"Private Leoni! Can you give us a status report?!" Fran's voice was heard on the radio. "There is another stealth jet from the enemy side around your area!"

Romeo was about to answer, but was interrupted by a shot hitting the protective glass on his side.

The blond was feeling panicked as he saw a small crack on the glass and the enemy jet facing his own jet. He was too nervous to think properly and only watched as the enemy switched weapons from a machine gun to a torpedo.

"Private Leoni! Can you hear me?!" Julius had also joined in on the radio, sounding a little panicked. "You're in the range of fire! Get out of there!"

Romeo couldn't think anymore as he saw the torpedo being launched at him and pulled the controller handle, bringing his jet up higher. The projectile barely hit the lower side of his jet and passed through harmlessly, only to have another ally jet behind him on the direct line of impact. The sound of an explosion was heard and Romeo looked in horror as the torpedo hit the right wing of the jet behind him.

The sound of a blaring alarm was heard as Ciel pulled the controller handle, trying to maintain her jet's height. She looked at her right from the corner of her eye, seeing that the right wing of her jet was burning from the earlier impact.

"This… this Blood two…" the vice captain spoke through the radio while trying to maintain a calm tone. "The right wing has taken severe damage from the impact! What is the next order?"

The vice captain could feel that she was slowly losing altitude even with her effort to keep flying, but she knew that it would be close to impossible when one of the jet's wings was already burning.

The near-death experience would be a first to her, but she had already expected it when she knew that lives would be lost during wars. She expected to lose her life at some point during battle, though she didn't expect that day to come very soon. Either way, she didn't feel like losing her life would impact her team when they could manage by themselves without having online communications.

"Vice Captain!" Hiro's voice was heard on the radio next, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Hang in there! We're coming to help you!"

Ciel was ready to lose her life in battle, but hearing his voice suddenly made her feel afraid of what would happen to her next. She didn't feel like she had any emotional connections with him or any of her teammates, so she wondered why she was afraid of dying. For most of her life, she had been taught that she should have been more afraid of failing a mission due to incompetence rather than dying.

Her grip on the handle tightened, but she had no energy to keep her jet flying. The memories of her time with her teammates flashed in her mind, making it harder to accept her fate in the watery grave below her. They were the kind of people who made her feel alive as a person by just being themselves, as they opened the door to the colorful life outside the military life she had lived since childhood.

The image of the brunette's smile came to her mind, recalling the light but interesting conversation they had before the battle started. She felt that he was being genuine and trying to get to know her for herself rather than her position and name, which was a first for her. He was the first person to treat her like an equal, not someone who was so good and unreachable to anyone.

Yet, she pushed him away.

The guilt of her attitude became apparent to her as a single tear slid down from her face. She was a soldier who believed that emotions could only harm one's competence, until she realized that she could only fight when she had someone she wanted to protect. She wanted to fight so that her teammates, or her friends, could live another day. But at the same time, she went against the choice she had to keep her promise to her parents to become a competent soldier.

"Blood Unit! I have your next orders!" Julius' stern tone was heard on the radio. "Vice Captain, I need you to eject from your damaged jet. This should be safe enough as the sea is right below us, but you need to do it in a hurry before your jet explodes! Private Kamui and Kozuki will cover for your escape route and the rest will continue to guard the general, though with extra load as we're going to be low in manpower–"

"I will not allow it!" Grem said in a stern tone. "You will continue your mission to guard my jet and that will be the only thing you do! This is an order!"

He was right. She wasn't a priority in the mission, no matter how dire her situation was. They were soldiers on duty and it was their job to escort the general safely. Saving her wasn't in their job list.

"We can't leave a friend in trouble like this! Vice Captain Alencon is our friend too!" Nana sounded desperate as she was trying to plead the general to change his mind. "Please! We have to help her!"

No. They had to leave her alone. She didn't want her teammates… no, her friends… to get into trouble because of her. Even if she had to lose her life in the process, she had to be their leader and keep them out of trouble.

"This is Blood Two speaking," Ciel spoke up with her voice slightly shaking. "Our team's priority is to escort General Grem safely to our destination and that objective has not changed. No, it will not change regardless of the situation at hand."

"Vice Captain! You don't mean–"

"Yes…" the vice captain responded in a whisper as she tightened her grip once more. "Captain, I am proud to have served under you as your vice captain. However, this may be my final mission with the entire Blood Unit."

Ciel looked at her radar as it started beeping once more, detecting a couple of jets coming her way. With the situation she was in, she was sure that her fate was sealed.

"I will carry out my duty as a soldier to the very end. Please, finish this mission without me."

The vice captain's shaky hands pulled the cables connecting the radio, blocking any other responses from her teammates.

This would be her end and she didn't want anyone to hear her last moments.

'Father… Mother… This is the path I have chosen… To follow orders as a soldier… and to protect my friends…'

"Vice Captain! Respond! Please!" Julius sounded desperate, but the vice captain wasn't giving any responses.

"Blood Two has disconnected her radio," Fran spoke up next, trying to sound calmer. "Her jet is attracting the incoming enemy jets and driving them away from your location."

"Good," Grem added with a satisfied tone. "At least someone in Blood has been taught well for these kinds of situations."

Hiro went silent as his other teammates were arguing on the radio and trying to get in touch with the vice captain. Julius was silenced as well, knowing that even if he was the team captain, he had no authority over the general's orders. Even so, it didn't feel right to follow orders blindly when someone obviously needed help, as it was their job as soldiers to also help people in need.

Was that meeting so important than someone else's life? He was sure that it wasn't. And not while he could do something about it.

The brunette ignored the bickering over the radio and turned the handle of the controller, tilting his jet away from the formation. His sudden change of position caught the others' attention, as the argument came to a complete stop when Hiro drove his jet to the opposite way, heading for the trail of smoke left behind by the vice captain's jet.

"Blood Left Alpha! You are taking the wrong direction!" Fran warned him. "The meeting site is on the other side of the direction you're heading!"

"I know!" Hiro told her, slightly raising his tone. "I… I'm going to try and help her! And don't even think about stopping me from saving a dear friend!"

The radio went silent for a moment, leaving him to the humming noises of the jet's engine as he picked up the speed. The two extra enemy jets soon came to his sight and were detected by his radar, with his thumbs ready to press the buttons and shoot down the crafts in front of him. His hands were sweating from the tension while holding onto the hope that he could still make it before the vice captain's jet crashed.

The brunette quickly got into position and locked onto one of the jets, firing his first round of shots. His attacks hit the jet's tail, causing it to lose balance in the air, before his next round hit and destroyed its left wing. The damaged jet soon drowned in the sea of clouds, leaving him to aim at the last jet in front of him, though his attempt on taking the first one had made his presence known to the enemy.

Hiro closed the distance for a closer and more accurate shot to take it out quickly, but the enemy jet decided to fly higher and away from his firing range. With the last one already out of his radar range, the brunette focused his attention on the ally craft nearby, which he was sure to be the one Ciel was driving. He followed the location on his radar and pushed through the clouds, ending up a few hundred meters above the ocean he was deathly afraid of.

The sight of water made him regain his altitude, staying right below the sea of clouds he was flying through before. He looked at the radar, spotting Ciel's jet right in front of him, and saw a line of black smoke going down as the craft was quickly falling towards the ocean. The brunette quickly moved his jet closer to the area, seeing her jet falling into the water with a big splash, before the weight of the craft's materials caused it to drown.

Seeing water up close made him nervous once more with the thoughts of the cold water around choking him started haunting him. He couldn't swim and he didn't want to die from drowning, but if he didn't do something quick, someone else would die instead. The very reason he went all the way to chase her down was to save her life.

Hiro braced himself as he tilted his jet slightly for a closer inspection, seeing that Ciel's jet was slowly getting out of his sight. He was afraid of drowning and dying, but he couldn't think about it when someone's life was on the line. No, he had to forget about his fears and go down there.

His determination had pushed himself and his jet into the water, before he opened the protective glass above him. He took off his helmet and oxygen mask swiftly before running to the nose of his jet, looking down at the salty water below him. His breathing was shallow and fast as his mind went wild from seeing water very closely while his hands went cold from fear.

"I have to… I have to do it…!"

Hiro closed his eyes shut and curled his hands into fists. He had failed to save his family and he mustn't fail to save another life. Not when he was so close to saving it.

The brunette took a deep breath and braced himself before he jumped into the water.

'I have to save her! I have to save Ciel!'

It was cold, very cold.

Ciel opened her eyes, seeing the dim light on the other side of the water's surface as she was getting farther and farther away from it. Of course, her jet couldn't work when it had fallen into water as it wasn't made for aquatic combat. She had trapped herself in the watery prison with no hope of ever getting out until the end. Perhaps this ended up being her punishment after she violated orders by using supplies on others the officers deemed 'unworthy'.

The vice captain slowly removed her oxygen mask, cutting off her air reserve. Water had already filled the entire pilot seat and even if she put the oxygen mask on, she would have no chance of surviving once the oxygen ran out. Her choice of death was cold, but she had no right to choose when all she did was to follow orders for a successful mission.

She slowly closed her eyes once more, with one last hope in her mind.

'Please… let them live through a successful mission…'

Ciel let her consciousness fade away in the cold water, until a loud crack snapped her back to the cold reality.

When she opened her eyes once more, she saw the shadow of a person as he tried breaking through the protective glass, which was damaged from the water pressure. The glass shattered, much to her surprise, and a pair of hands forced her out of her seat as she was being dragged to the water surface. She was quickly losing air to breathe, but she took the time to try and see the person who had pulled her out from the grave she had chosen.

It was that familiar brown hair again, the one who had helped her from time to time.

'H-Hiro…?'

The two made it out to the surface and Ciel was able to breathe again. She scanned the area and saw a floating craft, which became her destination to swim to and stay. Her helper, however, lost his grip from her just as she reached the floating jet.

She didn't think twice and dived down, grabbing the brunette and pulled him up to the floating jet with her.

She felt lucky enough to be alive, especially after she saw flashing light from underwater and the water started moving rather violently. If she didn't get out of her jet sooner, she would very much be unable to survive the exploding craft.

Ciel didn't know how to feel after being saved from the brink of death, but a part of her felt relieved that she was given a second chance to live. She turned to look at her savior, who was slumped on the rocking surface of the jet, while panting from both exhaustion and panic attack.

Hiro turned his head to face her, giving her a weak smile, "This… this isn't the time… for you… to die… you know…"

The brunette let out a long and tired sigh as he tried calming himself down, or at least she assumed that way, while still lying down on the craft. The vice captain was left speechless, seeing that someone who was deathly afraid of water and drowning went all the way to save the life she was throwing away. Worse of all, she was sure that his actions were against the general's orders and Julius' inferior order couldn't come before the general's order.

It would mean that she technically made him violate an important order, making her an accomplice as well. She couldn't understand why she felt glad and relieved when she had, in a way, disobeyed an order. But if she did die, she wouldn't have another chance to pay for her own mistakes in the end. Perhaps, she owed him for giving her another chance at living, and probably, to live the way a true soldier should have been.

Ciel looked up at the sky as a small ray of light came through the clouds.

'Has orders… been the only purpose of a soldier…? To live is against his order, but I have a different reason to live as a soldier… I want to repay the kindness my friends have shown me… I want… to live as myself…'

The radio went silent as the remaining members of Blood were still in their positions in the formation.

Julius was curling his fist while watching his radar, which only showed the presence of the nearby ally jets. Although, the signals for both Hiro's and Ciel's jets weren't included in it.

The radio's beeping sound broke the silence in the captain's jet before the familiar voice of the operator was heard, "I have confirmed the locations of Blood Two and Blood Left Alpha. They are located on the surface of the ocean at eight o'clock from your position."

The captain sighed in relief and his lips curled into a smile, "Thank you for the report, Private. Please send a rescue team to their location and the rest of us will proceed with our mission."

"There are no responses from the meeting site since the last contact this morning," Fran added calmly. "General Grem, would it be fine if the unit returns to the camp until further notice? A fleet of enemy jets would be patrolling around that area soon."

Grem's groaning was heard on the radio before his response was heard, "Fine. There are things I need to take care of anyway about this incident."

"Yes Sir," Fran responded in a stern tone. "I shall pass the message to the base. Please return safely."

The communication ended with a beep, with Julius still having his satisfied smile.

"I knew it… You're not a disappointment at all, Hiro Kamui…"

Author's note:

I never expected this chapter to be this long, but I'm pretty confident with the end result anyway. The event is heavily based on the in-game mission to 'guard' the God Arc Soldiers and I can say that it's my most favorite scene in the game.

I'll try and keep the chapter updated as much as I can, so here's hoping that I won't have more work piled on me for the next few months. It's starting to be sickening and I'd rather write all day rather than to work all day and night without proper appreciation!