Hey guys, I'm back with another update! It's almost midnight here, but it's not as late as the previous one for an update!

The aftermath after the insubordination in the previous chapter will be revealed here along with more clues about Blood's history. It's not much, but the plan is going to be revealed really soon!

Same old disclaimer: Nope, I don't GE.

Spirit of the Sky

Chapter 18 – True Meaning

The drenched duo were flown back to the camp, arriving about the same time as the rest of Blood as they returned from the air force base. The sun was barely visible behind the thick clouds, giving off a grim vibe in the camp as the team walked through the muddy path of the camp. As much as they were glad they could return without losing anyone, the unhappy tone of the general on the radio made them keep their cheers to themselves.

Julius had excused himself as he had other responsibilities shortly after arriving in camp, leaving his team to face the annoyed general. The Blood members lined up nervously, with Hiro and Ciel being the ones standing in the front. Their eyes were avoiding the general as he stood in front of his tent while tapping his boot. The lit cigarette in his mouth got burnt quickly before he put off the cigarette by stepping on it.

"That… was an unnecessary expense to fix the damn jets, Kamui," The general grabbed Hiroʼs collar and gave him a glare. "The tiny amount of your paycheck is not even close to cover for our monetary losses and yet you have to fly your jet into the damn ocean?!"

Grem hit the brunette on the face, sending him to the ground without an effort to fight back. Ciel, who was standing right next to Hiro with her uniform as drenched as his, winced as he hit the ground with a loud thud. Her hands curled as she stood still while Gil and Romeo helped the brunette back to his feet.

"Just because weʼre currently winning this war, it doesnʼt mean that we donʼt have any monetary losses!" The general let out a loud grunt before he lit another cigarette, "For the next few months, your entire paycheck will be taken for the jet repairs. You will also be doing the weapon maintenance as your disciplinary punishment."

Just as Grem took a single step away, Romeoʼs voice rang in the quiet area, "If you want to take his share," he took a step forward, "then cut my pay too, to reduce the weight for him trying to save a comrade!"

"Are you serious?" Grem looked at him in amusement until Gil joined Romeoʼs side as well.

"Sure, moneyʼs important and all that, but what's money for if you donʼt have anyone on your side?" Gil folded his arms. "Go on, take my pay and see if I care!"

Hiro was left speechless as he was kneeling on the ground. His gaze went over to Nana before she stood up in front of him, "Everyone is right! Ciel… I mean… Corporal Alencon isnʼt just our vice captain! Sheʼs our friend too and friends donʼt abandon each other!"

The general had another look at the unchanging convictions the group had and sighed in annoyance before he turned to Ciel, "Do you want to join in this charade too, Corporal?"

Ciel didnʼt give him a response immediately and looked at her team. For the first time since she joined the military, she could feel emotions making a mess within her that she couldnʼt bring herself to think what was right by the rule. Had Hiro not done what he had done despite his fear of drowning and inability to swim, he went against the generalʼs order and risked his own life to save her.

She had always held on to the belief that every debt had to be paid, but at the same time, it was forbidden to go against a superiorʼs order. One way or the other, she had to choose between orders or her comrades.

"Can I have your answer, Corporal Alencon?" The general was looking more and more impatient from her silence, "When your superior is talking to you, you had better–"

"General Grem," Ciel gave him a salute. "According to the Third Act of the Military Manual, the aid of another cadet on the field is permitted in the case of emergency. Soldiers have no obligation to give up their rights to compensate for any combat-related material damages, with the only exception being the use of said military weapons or facilities for personal needs."

"It was a disobedience of superior orders!" The general glared at the vice captain. "Your teamʼs orders were to escort my jet and eliminate any kinds of threat in our way! I donʼt care if either one of you is shot down as long as weʼre finally winning this battle!"

"The governmentʼs orders were to survive the war with as few casualties as possible, General," Julius approached the group with a piece of paper in his hand, "Doctor Leah was the one to receive that said order and she asked me to inform you of your submission to the Presidential Palace to see our president himself."

Grem clicked his tongue in annoyance before lighting another cigarette, "Fine. Iʼll keep a close eye on you, Visconti, and Kamui for this incident."

The tension in the area dropped slightly as Grem left and while Hiro had already got back to his feet, his eyes were fixed on the ground.

"Dry yourselves up you two, and take a rest with the rest of the injured," Juliusʼ calm voice was heard in their ears before he directed his gaze at Hiro. "Meet me at the watchtower in the fortress tonight, Kamui. I need to have a word with you."

The brunette gave him a silent nod before looking up at his captain and saluted. "Yes… Sir…"

The blond gave him a nod in return before he turned to the others. "As for you three, Iʼd like you all to help in carrying the supplies for the injured. Theyʼre in the docks, so it's going to be a walk back and forth through the forest."

"Yes Sir!"

The group slowly dispersed to do what they were ordered to do. Hiro could see the frowns on Romeoʼs and Nanaʼs faces as they were leaving with Gil and Julius. He then glanced at Ciel, who was walking away to her own tent without a word. If she was upset about how his disobedience couldʼve caused two fallen soldiers and more loss to the war budget, he felt that he deserved some more punishment.

He was left hardly punished thanks to his teammates, especially Ciel and Julius, but it didnʼt feel right to him. Even if he couldnʼt say that he regretted his decision, he wasnʼt too happy that his actions only caused more trouble for others.

Hiro threw his towel aside and ran a hand on his hair. It was still damp, but the water wasnʼt dripping like it was before. His hands were still cold, especially when he recalled the time he jumped into the cold water despite his fear of the water and inability to swim. The thought of saving her then forced him through his worst fears.

"Private Kamui, have you finished changing?" Cielʼs stern voice was heard from outside Hiroʼs tent. "Iʼd like to have a word with you. Itʼs very important."

The brunette turned to the tent's entrance, seeing the shadow of the vice captain standing outside. Sighing, he expected her to be present to give him another earful for the actions he did as he knew that she wasn't too fond of rule breakers. He did save her life, but he disobeyed the general's order to go on with the mission and ignore her completely. He was pretty sure that was her reason for coming to his tent had something to do with it.

Hiro brushed his damp hair using his hand a little bit, just enough so that his growing bangs wouldn't get in the way. He opened the tent and walked out, remembering that he needed to be out soon to start his maintenance duty anyway. When he expected her emotionless look he saw for the past few days as he turned to her, he was surprised to see her with a slight frown instead.

"Is… is something wrong?" the brunette asked hesitantly.

Ciel looked around the area for a moment, seeing soldiers passing by to move camp supplies around, before turning back to face him, "Do you mind if we talk as you work on the weapon maintenance?"

Hiro looked at her with a raised brow. She was doing things that he never expected that she would do, starting from how she addressed him formally rather than using his given name as she usually would when they weren't in public. Other than that, she wasn't the type of person to suggest going somewhere quiet for a talk.

"Uh… okay?" the brunette responded with a shrug. "I could use some company while working on those weapons. I'm feeling a little tired anyway and it's better to work while talking to keep me awake the entire time."

He gave her a smile while expecting that she would scold him for almost sleeping on the job, but all he got was a silent nod before the vice captain walked away and headed for the storage tent. He wasn't sure what was running through her mind when she asked him for a talk, seeing as he couldn't read her face. She wasn't as emotionless as before, but he could notice a hint of confusion written on her face.

The brunette expected her to say or ask him something, but instead, she walked into the storage tent without another word. He followed her inside, seeing that they were the only ones there with a bunch of weapons strewn all over the ground. While he could imagine the soldiers using them being in a hurry for another job or just to have one of Nana's homemade meals, he had to admit that it was way too messy.

Rifle magazines were all over the place and the rifles were sliding out of their racks. Broken and intact spears were grouped together, making it harder to tell which ones were still usable. None of the maces were put correctly in their racks and a few of them were even put above the racks. Swords were lying around dangerously without their sheaths and with most of them being identical, it would be hard to find which sheath belonged to which sword.

Hiro sighed at the mess, seeing as though he was taught and lectured to take care of the weapons he used, apparently other soldiers weren't doing as they were told.

"I think I can see why this counts as a punishment," the brunette commented before he tried picking up the unsheathed swords, putting them out of the way. "Someone's gonna get hurt just trying to grab whatever weapon they need in here."

Hiro glanced back at the vice captain, who stood silently by the tent's entrance. While he wanted to strike up a conversation with her, he still had a job to do and he was most likely forced to finish it before dinner. It wasn't an easy and quick job, so he had to hold back on the conversation just so that he could have enough time to clean everything up.

The brunette tried ignoring her and continued by sorting the spears, before the vice captain joined him to check the spears' condition. Her action made him pause and stare at her for a moment, wondering why she helped him when the general specifically assigned only him on cleaning duty.

"Why–"

"Why did you disobey General Grem's orders? You could have died trying to save someone who would end up dying in the end," Ciel suddenly asked with her eyes still glued on the spears she was checking.

Hiro was silenced, not expecting the sudden question she was giving him. His silence prompted Ciel to stop looking at the spears and turned to him with a stern look.

"You were not supposed to disobey orders, especially in dire situations," the vice captain emphasized sternly. "Insubordination in situations such as that could result in unnecessary casualty, which is something we would like to avoid."

Unnecessary casualty? Did she mean that her death was actually necessary but his wasn't?

"Do his orders mean everything?" Hiro asked in a pained tone. "Do you really have to die when you are ordered to? Is that what the army wants?"

Ciel didn't respond and shifted her attention back to the polearm weapons. He looked at her and for a quick moment, he could tell that she couldn't give him an answer. He knew that as obedient as she was, she still wanted to live even if she was ordered to go and die. It was a human's instinct to survive.

Hiro let out a sigh, knowing that his question wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. Even so, he felt that it was already clear to her why he wanted to help her even if it meant going against the general's order. He was the one to take action, but he was sure that the other Blood members were thinking of the same thing. It wasn't hard to tell when the tones of their voices gave him everything he needed to know.

"Why did I disobey General Grem's orders?" he repeated her question and looked up with his eyes closed for a moment before looking at her in the eyes. "You're my friend and I don't want to lose any of my friends. I don't want to lose anyone else when I have the chance to save them."

Hiro saw that Ciel stopped cleaning the spear she was holding for a moment. Her face was hidden away from his view as she hung her head low, but her reaction more or less told him that she was surprised to hear his reason. He wasn't sure why she had to be surprised when a friend was trying to give a helping hand, even in a dangerous situation.

Or did that kind of reason unexpectedly upset her?

"Ciel–"

"That was…" the vice captain interrupted, slightly showing her surprised face as she looked up. "That was the first time someone did something for me… Someone other than my parents…"

Hiro looked at her in disbelief. He was already used to living with other orphans like him who helped each other. It was hard for him to believe there would be someone who survived without others helping them.

Was that the kind of life she had been through all this time?

"Also… you are the first person to consider me… a friend…" Ciel's voice softened into a whisper. "Even after all the harsh treatment I put you through…"

The brunette wasn't expecting her to remember all the conversation topics he brought up before the battle started for them. He did vaguely recall telling her that she was a good friend and a good person when they had the time to talk on the last day in the base, but her awkward stare then made him switch to another topic immediately. It was a really quick and short proposal from him that he almost forgot all about it, but apparently it had quite an impact on her end.

"For that kind thought you had," Ciel looked at him with a smile, which caught the brunette off guard, "I want to thank you."

Hiro was staring at her, feeling unsure on how he should be responding. He didn't call someone a friend for a word of thanks, so hearing it from her felt a little odd to him. He was happy to hear it and he especially got to see her smile again at him, shrugging off the possibility that he most likely had a dumb smile on his face.

The brunette laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "Y-Yeah, well… I-It's not something worth thanking for…"

"It is for me," the vice captain continued before shifting her focus on the spear she was holding as her smile faded. "I… never had a friend before. After my parents' passing, I was taken in by Doctor Leah's late sister, Doctor Rachel, and I was put in various military training. I wasn't allowed to feel my emotions freely as I was taught that emotions had no place in the battlefield."

Hiro only gave her a silent nod as he continued working as well. He recalled that Romeo told him the same thing when he asked the blond to reveal more of Ciel's past which he knew about. Her militaristic childhood made him want for her to experience more about life, which initially branded him as the least serious of the team. He only wanted her to enjoy what life had to offer, but he was most likely doing it at the wrong times.

"Orders are everything. Soldiers live to follow orders. Failure is never an option. Those were the main values of the lectures and training I had been given for most of my life," Ciel continued with a frown on her face. "Your presence in Blood made me rethink the true meaning of my own life and the lectures I had been living through for years. Perhaps, in a way, your actions broke those values I had been living with in my life."

Hiro let out a sigh, "Sorry."

"Please, don't be," the vice captain smiled once more. "The life I have since I was assigned to the team is much better compared to the life I had as a child. I am truly grateful for putting that light into my life and let me live to see more of this new kind of life."

Her words only worsened his own embarrassment, which he was trying to hide as he returned the smile, "Y-Yeah, sure… It's just that I can't help but feel that under that cold and strict behavior you have, you have a warm and kind heart. It really shows when you go against the rules yourself to help the injured wild animals you could find."

"Yes…" Ciel responded in a whisper. "As my way of thanking you for keeping it a secret all this time, I want to help you in any way I can. I will also help you in your duty in this storage tent because it is also my responsibility for putting you in this situation."

Responsibility? Why was she responsible for his situation?

The vice captain let out a quiet sigh and frowned, "My own incompetence almost led me to my death and you had to disobey an order to keep me alive, even when you yourself know that you cannot swim. I deserve this kind of punishment more than you do."

Hiro let out a smile and shook his head, "Nah, I don't think you really deserve it when the situation was like that. I don't really want to put a heavy burden on you, but I don't mind having you around if you really insist on doing the cleaning with me."

"Thank you, Hiro," Ciel gave him another smile before putting her attention on the sorted spears on his side and suddenly grabbed his hand. "Oh! You're bleeding!"

"Huh?" The brunette looked at the hand she was holding, which he found comfort with, until he saw a fresh scar on the back of his hand that he didn't recall having. "Oh, I guess I got it without realizing it when I'm sorting the spears. It's nothing bad though, just a small scar."

The vice captain's eyes turned to the spears he mentioned, which contained the broken and rusted ones, disallowing him from pulling his hand. "You need to clean and wrap it properly before working on those old and rusty spears. If you leave it open like that, it will get infected."

"O-Okay, but I don't have my water bottle with–"

"I have mine with me at all times," Ciel opened up one of her supplies pack, which was strapped around her waist, and pulled out a small water bottle. "This should be enough to clean a small wound and I have some spare bandage as well."

Hiro didn't respond and let the vice captain treat his minor wound, staring at her in disbelief. He knew that she was prepared for anything that could happen in battle, but he didn't expect that she would carry medical supplies outside of battle. Her skills and experiences as a medical soldier were nothing to scoff at from the very beginning, but her preparedness made him even more impressed with her.

The brunette thought to himself that her impressiveness with many things only added the charms he was already smitten with.

The two cadets were smiling at each other in the tent, with Ciel still holding Hiro's bandaged hand, before they went back to cleaning up the messy tent.

Romeo had been watching from outside the tent for a while, seeing that things were going quite smoothly between the two of them. He felt lucky that at least Hiro was brave enough to challenge death and saved their vice captain from her watery grave. If the worst possible scenario happened then, he wasn't sure how he would face his team.

It was definitely his own fault. There was no questioning that.

Romeo knew that Ciel's jet was behind him from the formation briefing, but he narrowly dodged the shot to save himself and sacrificed a competent ally as a result. If he took the shot then, the vice captain wouldn't have to go and sacrifice herself and Hiro wouldn't be in trouble for insubordination. If only he, the least competent of the team, got shot and died back then, his friends would probably be in a much better condition.

But he wanted to live. He still wanted to live and to be with them.

Yet, he couldn't give them a positive contribution so far. Compared to them, he was bad at fighting.

The blond felt the need to confront them and tell them the truth about what happened then, but he was afraid of what they would say. His teammates were in a bad position because of what he did and he would most likely end up being removed from the team. The worst case scenario for him would be for them to leave him behind for betraying them just because he selfishly wanted to live.

"Hey," Romeo looked up after hearing a familiar voice directed at him, seeing Gil already standing in front of him. "You okay?"

The blond let out a sigh. He wasn't in the mood for whatever argument the older cadet had for him, especially after what happened in the team.

"If you keep spacing out like that, you're going to get hurt and cause problems for the team. Stop overthinking things or you can skip the next assignment–"

"If you want me out of the team, then say it!"

Romeo was glaring at the dark brunette, who was looking a little surprised by his yelling. The blond knew that he wasn't in the right mind for an assignment soon, but he didn't need anyone, especially Gil, to point it out to him. He wasn't going to let anyone decide for him, even if he knew that he was being a dead weight for the team.

"Where the heck did that come from?!" Gil barked at him. "I'm just saying that to keep us out of trouble! One look away from the enemy out there and you're as good as dead!"

He was trying to remove the troublemaker of the team, wasn't he? Gil was trying to get rid of him because he didn't want to be responsible if something happened to him. That guy knew that he was nothing but useless in Blood and he wanted to throw him out like garbage. He just wanted to help the team in some way, but was that a wrong thing to do?

"I don't care! Nobody cares if I die trying to help you anyway!" Romeo gathered all the strength he could and pushed Gil out of his way before dashing through the camp, ignoring the two people emerging from the tent.

Hiro and Ciel came out of the tent, hearing the loud voices outside. Romeo had just pushed Gil out of the way forcefully before running off and almost running into Nana as well when she was approaching the group.

"What's going on?" the brunette questioned the older cadet. "Did something happen again between you and Romeo?"

Gil let out a sigh, "I don't think he's thinking straight when I told him to skip the next mission to cool his head off. He thought that I was trying to kick him out from the team."

"Well, he has been kinda off for the past few days," Hiro added with a shrug. "Let's give him some time to himself and he'll come back to us like nothing happened."

Nana nodded in agreement, though she looked a little hesitant, "Y-Yeah… he didn't say anything to me about his problems, so I guess… he's in the kind of trouble that he doesn't want anyone to be involved in…"

"Yes. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do at this point unless we know what kind of problem which occupies his mind," Ciel added before diverting her attention to the noirette present in the group. "Speaking of which, what brings you here? Shouldn't you be getting ready to cook for dinner?"

A smile quickly returned to the chef's face as she clasped her hands together, "Yes, but I came here to get you two for a chance to taste my newest soup recipe! A good bowl of soup is perfect to warm your bodies after swimming in the ocean today, right?"

Hiro let out a chuckle, "We didn't actually swim for fun, but yeah, a bowl of hot soup sounds nice right now."

"Yes, it is," the vice captain nodded in agreement before turning to Gil. "Gil, would you like to join us as well?"

The dark brunette looked a little surprised by her unexpected invitation. He turned to the direction where Romeo had run off to for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, I guess I'll join you guys for a bit. The others should be done with the rest of the supply unloading anyway."

The sky was getting darker and darker as the day was changing into night.

The four members of Blood sat around a small campfire as Nana was stirring the boiling pot hung above the fire. Hiro and Ciel were having their own share of the experimental soup with the look of enjoyment being present on their faces. Gil was also given the same bowl of soup without him being included for the taste test initially.

"This is pretty good!" Hiro commented before downing the rest of his bowl. "And you mentioned that you put in any leftover food you could grab to make the soup."

Nana responded with a nod, "Yes! It's hard to think about what to make after all that labor work and the cooking ingredients hadn't even been sorted out, so I just put everything in the pot!"

"I would normally be against it, but I have to admit that the flavors of various ingredients blend perfectly with the broth," Ciel put her empty bowl on the ground with a smile. "Thank you very much for the soup. The warmth is perfect in this rather cold temperature."

The noirette returned the smile, though with an excited one, "Hey Ciel, did something good happen? Your face looks a lot brighter than before. It's almost like… it's shining!"

Nana's excited comment turned the vice captain's smile into an embarrassed one, prompting the brunette sitting next to Ciel to laugh as he went for a second bowl of the soup. The relaxing moment between the four of them lasted only for a moment longer as Gil put his empty bowl aside with a loud sigh.

"I think I know why Romeo's been a little sensitive today," the dark brunette told the three. "I think that idiot is being hard on himself with what happened to Ciel during that last mission. I saw his jet moving shortly before she got shot down, so I'm guessing he blamed himself for not taking that hit for himself and let yours get hit instead."

Ciel's smile faded as she looked at Gil, with her hands resting on her lap as she shook her head, "I don't blame him at all. I can understand that it was his instincts as a human being wishing to survive which momentarily blinded his own judgment. But in the end, we didn't suffer any casualties in our team."

"Yeah, but…" Nana spoke up, frowning. "I know what kind of person Romeo is and I know he's going to blame himself if something happened to any of us. He's a kind person, but usually doesn't think about himself when he's trying to help. It's going to be really hard for him once he knows that he's doing the other way to save himself."

The smile returned to the vice captain, though a small one, as she looked at her, "Yes, but the incident which could have been a tragedy made me realize something important which I had been ignoring all this time."

"Oh? And that thing is…?" Gil was starting to get a little curious, but both he and Nana had an idea about what she was going to say.

Ciel took a quick look at Hiro, who was too busy eating his newly-scooped third bowl of the soup to pay attention to the conversation, before turning to the other two, "Someone reminded me of my own desires to keep on living, even as I was ready to give my life up so you all wouldn't have to disobey an order to keep me alive. That person risked his own life just to save me and I would forever be grateful to him. The very first person to consider me a friend, Hiro, had saved my life and radiated a bright light in my second chance of living."

Ciel's latest words made the brunette suddenly choke on his soup, as he didn't expect to hear her choice of words in her gratitude. His loud coughing worried the vice captain as she tried patting his back, but the gesture only worsened his coughing for a moment before Nana gave him a glass of water. The loud coughing ended with the brunette's long sigh before his attention shifted to the half empty bowl in his hands.

The vice captain was still looking at him in worry, but gave him a small smile when he shyly glanced at her.

"U-Um… should we leave the two of you for a bit?" Nana suggested with a big grin on her face. "I… well… I need to prepare our dinner and Gil needs to find Romeo, right?"

"Wait, what?" Gil asked in surprise. "Why do I have to be the one to find him? Just leave that guy on his own for a bit! I'll only make things worse for him anyway."

"I-It's fine, guys!" Hiro quickly interrupted. "We need to finish up with the cleaning anyway and Julius wants to see me afterwards."

The brunette quickly downed the rest of the soup before putting the bowl down. He stood up, followed by Ciel, who looked at him with a smile. He tried shrugging off the awkwardness between them as he left for the storage tent once more with the vice captain following him to help.

A sigh escaped Romeo's lips as he leaned against the dead tree behind him.

The blond was sitting on a small hill, looking at the fortress nearby as the sun was no longer visible. He closed his eyes as he felt the wind blowing on his face while his fingers were playing around a torn envelope he was holding.

It was the same envelope addressed to him from Lindow, which was starting to get wrinkled from being carried around so much.

Romeo took out a few pieces of paper from the envelope, which had detailed profiles of the team members he was so familiar with. His eyes scanned through the first profile, belonging to Gil, before his gaze landed on the field with the title 'Notable Skills'.

The dark brunette was noted to be proficient in engineering with agile hands suitable for handling rifles or maintaining weapons. His skills could be put into practical use, while the blond's knowledge on weapons were merely knowledge without him knowing how he could put it for practical use.

The blond flipped over to the next profile, belonging to Nana. Her skills were written to be above average human strength and excellent stamina, which was different to his non athletic body.

The next profile was from Hiro, who was initially thought to be as incompetent as he was. The brunette was listed to be a master of aerial and close combat, as well as being a leader of a pack.

The blond turned to the next profile, which was his own. He initially expected to see something good written about him in the list of skills, only to see the field being left blank. He wanted to believe that whoever wrote the profiles simply forgot to put in his skills, until the painful truth was thrown at him.

He had no talents in battle at all. He had nothing useful for combat.

Romeo decided to put back the profiles into the envelope, knowing that the skills of the captain and the vice captain would be out of his league. He was just a private, but his other team members bearing the same rank had more capabilities than him. Experience wasn't a factor as most of them started from the same starting point, but they had progressed more than he had.

The blond wondered if there was a reason for his presence in the team. Was there a meaning in his membership in the team other than being the useless one?

Romeo let out another sigh as the word 'useless' continued to haunt him. He wanted to be able to help out his friends, but he only ended up being helped. He wished that he had his own chance to shine like the rest of his teammates, seeing as knowing how to hack computers didn't earn him much credit.

After all, he couldn't consider himself physically fighting against someone.

The blond sighed in frustration, not realizing that he wasn't hanging out on his own anymore.

"Aren't you going to gather with the rest of the team, Romeo?"

Romeo looked up in surprise, seeing that the captain of the team was standing above him. He quickly stood up for a salute, only to hit himself with the envelope he was holding as he did so.

Julius only raised a brow in amusement before his gaze was directed at the camp, "The others should be getting ready for dinner soon, so you might want to return before they finished everything."

The blond only stared at the captain instead of moving. The faint smell of food made him hungry, but he was also curious about Julius' presence outside the camp. The stare finally caught the captain's attention and he looked back at the younger blond before his eyes fell on the wrinkled envelope he was holding.

"I've heard from the others. Are you having troubles fitting in with the team?" Julius asked calmly. "Gil was mostly worried about your lack of focus in the past few days."

Romeo didn't expect the captain himself to actually care about his problems, but he assumed that taking care of a team was a part of a team captain's duties. When Julius already knew that he was troubled like this, the blond didn't see any reason to keep things hidden. He wasn't sure if he should talk about his problems when he didn't know if the captain had issues on his own after the incident.

"Blood is an elite team, but we're still humans," Julius suddenly spoke up. "We may be a group of elite soldiers, but we still have weaknesses of our own as human beings. A prime example would be Hiro's fear of water and drowning. Gil is also not too good with heights, according to the report from his jet flight instructor."

The blond looked at him in confusion. Why was he telling him about the other members' weaknesses?

"Give yourself some time to develop and discover your own skill," the captain continued. "Even if you feel like you're not fit for front line combat, I believe there is another reason… another meaning for your presence in the team."

"Another reason… for my presence…?" Romeo repeated Julius' statement hesitantly.

The captain gave him a nod, "A team of elite soldiers. What is the true meaning of an elite? Who is considered to be a soldier? I believe those two questions can have different answers depending on how a person views those words."

Julius turned to him with a stern but comforting gaze.

"I may have a job well-suited for you. It's an infiltration mission to the campsite where General Grem was planning on going today," the captain looked away, gazing at the clouds in the sky. "This might be just my own hunch, but I believe there's something happening in that enemy camp that's related to our country."

An infiltration mission. Would he be up for it? Or would he fail like he usually would?

"Would you like to try and join the scouting team heading for that area?" Julius asked once more. "There are a few good combatants in the team, if you're worried about encountering the enemy soldiers. Perhaps you might find it to be the type of job you're most suited with."

Another chance. It was something he probably didn't deserve, but he wanted to know what kind of skill he could have to contribute to the team. He still had people he wanted to protect, but he had to find another way to keep them safe when he couldn't fight. If the fight involved getting information ahead of the enemy, he felt a little more confident.

"I'll give it a shot. I won't be a disappointment anymore!"

This was his chance to find the true meaning of his presence in the team. To find the meaning of an elite and a soldier which applied to himself.

Author's note:

Romeo's coming to save the day! ... Well, he would be at some point, because I kinda feel sorry for him and the situation he is in.

More of the plot reveal coming soon!