Here's the new chapter, but filled with the flashback from after the Maverick attack.
Ushindeshi: Yeaaahhh... sorry for slapping in more depression here XD (I think?)
End of Era
Chapter 4 – The Aftermath
A ball of floating light had come out of the Ciel System of the Guardian Base as it travelled through the nearly destroyed hallways. Pieces of mechaniloids were mixed up along with the bodies of the fallen Guardians and the metal pieces of the airship. The survivors of the attack didn't have the time to cry, as they had to clean up the mess and be ready for the next possible attack. They had lost many lives that they couldn't afford to let their guard down and lose more members. They weren't just friends and comrades; they were a part of the family.
The three Mega Men along were standing behind the commander's empty seat as a pop-up screen showing a man with long pale green hair. The man looked as worn out as the three as he slowly nodded before looking back for a short bit and back to face the three, "I see. I have to apologize to you three in Atlas' place."
"No, it's the Mavericks' fault for hi-jacking the communication system," Vent replied as he fixed Oriel's position on his arm, "You can't reach us for help and we can't reach you guys for help. You can tell her that, Aeolus."
Aeolus turned for a moment as he was listening to someone, "Maybe I should, though now's not the best time for it. She still needs to keep herself together after what happened to us."
Ashe walked in front of Vent, "I'll come and visit you two later, okay? I need to get in touch with Siarnaq and the other hunters as well."
"Please do," Aeolus gave her a nod, "Other than that, should we select a new commander to lead the Guardians? I'm not forcing you to rush it, but I think we need another person to bind us together and fight the Mavericks. They're getting stronger and stronger by now."
"Right…" Vent looked at the closed door, "Fleuve might be our successor, being our current vice commander, but…"
"We don't mind either way," Aeolus cut him off, "If we can't decide right now then I have to cut the connection. I have to take over Atlas' duties while she's still recovering."
"I'll do it," Aile suddenly spoke up, "I'll take over Prairie's place."
"Aile…?" Vent looked at her in disbelief.
"I'm going to take responsibilities to atone for my mistake," Aile looked at him with a serious look, "I will never let another life lost to the Mavericks. I'm putting my life on the line to protect them."
"Very well," Aeolus only gave her a nod, "That's one problem taken care of."
"Wait, I can't agree to this yet!" Vent approached Aile, "Aile, let's just let Fleuve take over, okay?"
"You'll take his place and I'll take Prairie's place," Aile looked at Vent coldly, "That's final."
"You're not in the right mind, Aile," Ashe spoke up, "I know that you felt guilty and everything, but leading a lot of people like this at once isn't something you can decide on your own."
"I have no objections to making Aile our new commander," the door slid open as the gang turned to see the older scientist walking into the control room, "The Guardians are currently in a state of chaos and I'm certainly not the person who is capable enough to handle a lot of people. I can only help with research-related matters."
"So, what's your first order, Commander Aile?" Ashe asked Aile, who was hardly showing any emotion.
"Operators," Aile called out to the operators behind them, but without looking at them, "Trace any signs of Maverick activities on the ground and in the sky. We'll have to destroy all of those Mavericks before they can destroy us."
"Yes, Ma'am!" the operators replied in unison before the sounds of rapid typing were heard in the room.
"Fleuve," Aile turned to Fleuve, "Examine the remains of the Mavericks and see if we can make any weapons to counter them. Make a lot of copies of them for every member in the airship and the land base."
"Certainly," Fleuve left the room for his examinations. There were only Vent, Ashe, and a sleeping Oriel left in the room, waiting for their orders.
"Vent, I'll leave you in charge of cleaning up the airship once Fleuve is done with his work," Aile turned to Ashe, "You'll be patrolling the city, Ashe."
"Wait, I'm not officially a member of Guardians," Ashe responded, "And shouldn't you leave the city patrols to the land base members?"
"You'll work alongside them. Talk to Aeolus about who you'll be taking along to patrol, as long as you're not bringing his son," Aile replied, making Ashe sigh.
"Storm's only 6, like a year younger than your own daughter," Ashe commented, "Sure he's got a bit of training from Atlas, but I'm not dumb enough to take an inexperienced kid with me," Ashe turned to the sleeping Oriel on Vent's arm and pointed at him, "But everyone being busy with everything, shouldn't there be someone to look after Oriel at least? And Estelle too."
"I have too much responsibilities to handle," Aile spoke up coldly as she headed for the commander's seat, "I'm leaving you in charge of Estelle and Oriel, Vent."
"Well, that wasn't-"
"Our kids aren't just something you can leave someone in charge of," Vent spoke up, cutting off Ashe's comment, "Didn't we promise each other that we'll always be there for them? So that they can truly experience having both parents around in their childhood and not to suffer like we did as kids?"
There was a short pause before Aile replied, "Teach them things about the world and about how the Mavericks will always be bad. Keep them away from harm and teach them so they can give helpful contributions to the Guardians."
"Weren't you listening to me?" Vent started raising his voice, "They're our children and they need us as their parents!" Vent was too caught up in his emotion that he didn't notice the movements in his arm, "Why do you treat them like… like…"
"Because their safety is far more important!" Aile spun around as she yelled angrily, tears slowly dropping from her face, "Don't you understand what happened to Prairie when I let my guard down? Can't you think what Estelle feels when she saw her godmother killed right in front of her?!"
"I know they're strong. I believe they can get through this if we're always there for them," Vent replied as he tried calming down, but he was still upset enough to reply his wife with a glare, "We're their parents and we have to believe what they're capable of."
"They're still kids! They can't do anything!" Aile replied with an angry yell.
"Then why don't we-" the sound of the door opening had stopped Vent from yelling in response, as he realized that it wasn't just the four of them there, "Es… telle…?" the sound of mumbling also made Vent notice the disturbed baby in his arm, "Sorry little buddy, did I wake you?"
"Vent, go after Estelle," Ashe suggested, "I'll try and talk some sense into her."
Vent looked at her, then at Aile, before giving Ashe a slight nod, "Thanks…"
Aile's anger slowly faded as Vent left, but she was back to her emotionless face, "That's not nice, you know. I never expect that I'll be repeating your own words back to you."
"Why are you still here?" Aile completely ignored her statement as she asked the silver-haired hunter, "You claimed that you weren't an official member of the Guardians, so why are you still here?"
"I'm trying to help a friend out from her despair," Ashe replied flatly, "I have other things to do, but I'll try to talk to this stupid friend of mine to her senses."
"If you're talking about Prairie, you can put all the blame on me. You really saw what happened there," Aile replied.
Ashe let out a sigh. She wasn't too fond of jogging her old memories of death and war with the recent event in the airship. It was hard on her too, but she was aware that none of them could expect another strong enemy to come out of the blue and kill Prairie. She was tired from all the fighting and she was definitely tired from suppressing her sadness and her painful past memories. She didn't want any pointless argument with someone she had called a friend for years.
"I should share the blame for her death too," Ashe spoke up in a whisper, "If I could sense someone else coming then I could've done something to prevent that tragedy."
"I'm at the position to shoot. Yet I didn't do it and let her get killed," Aile replied before she turned away from her, "I'm the only one to blame and I'll never let anything happen to anyone else."
"You had to protect Estelle that you couldn't reach your buster quick enough," Ashe replied with a serious look on her face, "But is this what you've decided? To discard everyone from your life just so you can protect them?"
"If they're too close to me, they'll end up like Prairie," Aile replied in a whisper, "They don't have to understand why I'm doing this. They only have to stay away from me to be safe. I'll even make them hate me if it means they are going to be safe. I have the power yet I can't save anyone…"
Ashe looked at her for a moment before turning away as well, "If Grey were here, things could've gone better. We could've reduced the number of casualties and Prairie could still be alive."
"It'll be the same," Aile shortly replied, "There's no point in talking about someone who's been missing for months."
"I'm not asking for your opinion," Ashe turned to see that Aile was still facing away from her, "I've wasted enough time trying to talk some sense into you. I'm going to find him and see if he can fight with us again, just like the old times."
Aile stood in her place as Ashe left the room. It was the best decision she could come up with so that the people around her could be safe. Her children would always be away from harm. The other Mega Men could put up a fight better than she could. The other Guardian members would be strong enough with the weapon Fleuve and his team developed. So why was she still feeling that something wasn't complete?
She had to be left alone so that people would be unharmed. Her mother died because she was there with her. Giro died because of Vent's and her charging through without proper thinking. Estelle almost got hurt when she was around. Prairie was killed because she didn't shoot the enemy when she could. She should be hated and be left alone, but the other side of her wanted to be with others and be forgiven for her mistakes.
'It's my own choice. This is my decision for them,' tears started rolling on her cheek, completely unaware of the floating ball of light on the back of her shoulder.
"It's never anyone's fault, Aile… Because it's… mine…"
Not sure if it's going to cause a bit of slowdown for this story's update or anything, but I'll let you guys know that I'll be focusing on an almost finished story in another fandom for a bit. Writing time should be much more available this week now that I've pretty much rushed my project last week, so I guess there shouldn't be much effect to the updates. And then again, that's what I think right now.