Short chapter today, focusing more on the emotional development (well, kinda).

Also, thank you for the review as always, Ushindeshi!

End of Era

Chapter 10 – Guilt

The four Mega Men had headed back to the Guardian Base, going to the medic wing to get their injuries taken care of. The injuries weren't fatal enough for any of them to require staying longer than a few minutes, leading to Ashe heading back to the Hunter's Camp immediately after handing over the previous recording to Vent. Storm and Estelle headed out next, each going back to get some training after an almost one-sided battle. Vent was the last to leave, with Aile walking over to him to confront him.

"Yet you broke another promise," she told her husband coldly, "I saw Estelle and Storm leaving the medic wing a while ago."

"Sorry, but it can't be helped," he had walked past her to the direction of the elevator, but stopped a few meters behind her, "Aile, I think we need to talk again. Should the control room be good for it?"

Aile only gave him a silent nod, slowly following behind him as they both headed up to the control room in silence. The brunette commander went over to her commander seat in silence, completely ignoring the devices Vent had pulled out.

"Here," Vent had put the recording devices on Aile's desk, next to the monitor, "Ashe and I found this. It's a clue to Grey's whereabouts and I want you to hear it."

"I don't need to," Aile turned her seat around to face Vent as her face remained unreadable, "I've mentioned it several times already that finding him isn't our priority. Mavericks come first and so is the safety of the kids like Storm and Estelle. They're not supposed to be fighting-"

"I know!" Vent had raised his voice, which was a rare thing for him to do so, "I know… but I have my own rights to decide about them, especially after I see them fight myself."

"They're not strong-"

"They are, Aile, they are stronger that we thought them to be!" the vice commander curled his hands into fists, holding back his anger, "I know it's hard for me to admit it, but… we're not as strong as we used to be years ago. Us humanoids don't have machines as muscles and our muscles are aging day by day. I can't keep up with Estelle's or Storm's speed and Ashe's shots aren't as accurate as they used to be. That cost us our injuries from that fight."

"As long as we're still alive, we can still fight," her reply was simple and firm, "There's no need to argue with that. If you can't fight, then the only explanation would be that you're not trained enough."

"Not when I have two active kids to look after because their mother wouldn't take up the responsibility to play her role," Vent's tone was sarcastic as he looked at Aile with a look of both anger and disappointment, "I honestly don't want to say that, but that's just the way it is."

There was a short pause before Aile continued with her side of the argument, "There are other people in the base you can ask other than their mother. Their mother is too busy trying to maintain peace and make sure that they're safe from any harm. It's their father who put them in the face of danger before they were ready."

Vent let out a sigh, not wanting to continue the argument, and turned his back to her, "You forgot your promise then, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. It's not like I'm breaking my own promise to you, but rather test them to see if they're ready to be a part of the world once they've grown up. Both you and I are aware of that, because we both grow up as orphans taken in by Boss."

Vent's statement had silenced the brunette commander. Her face was hidden from her bangs as she lowered her head while maintaining her position in the commander's chair.

The vice commander turned his head around, looking at Aile with a sad expression on his face, "You know, I want to say better things to you. I know that I'm hurting so much in the inside for saying bad things in front of you just like that. It's been too long that we've been together but I haven't seen you smile for years," he turned his face away from her once more, "You've changed, I've changed, but even with this situation, I'll still love you and I always will…"

There was silence in the room before Vent made his way out of the control room without another word.

A single tear made it out from the commander's eyes. The operators weren't present in the room, making her on her own in the control room to let her pent-up emotions pour out. She knew that she was being distant, blaming herself for the tragedy a few years prior. She deserved to be blamed and hated, but part of her only wanted to go back to that time so that she wouldn't be so miserable bearing the guilt.

Only her daughter hated her, but in the young brunette's eyes she could see that she only wanted her mother to come back. She didn't truly hate her as she only longed for a female figure guiding her in the form of a mother. She could clearly tell herself, as looking at Estelle felt like she was looking at herself when she lost her mother to the mavericks. Her heart was lonely and it was her own fault that her daughter had to be in the position she used to be in.

And then there was that promise that she and Vent made, a few days after Estelle was born.

"It's a promise. We're going to raise her as her parents and we'll always be by her side."

She broke her promise first and yet she had forced Vent to keep his promise to her. Even if it was for the sake of their children, it was unfair of her to force something and someone to Vent and Vent alone. What had she done for them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hardly anything parenthood to her children and that was all because she was stuck in her own guilt and sorrow.

It was too late to turn everything back in time. The guilt was getting unbearable to her as she had treated everyone like dirt, yet they still had her back. She didn't deserve it at all. She wasn't fit for Vent's love or her friends' warmth at all.

There was nothing she could do to repent, until she turned her chair around and noticed the recording devices Vent had left on her desk. She wiped her flowing warm tears away before she slid the devices closer to her side to play each of them.

She took a moment of silence as her mind raced to the time when Prairie was still around. The recordings had brought out a distant memory which she never got to ask when she first found out. Putting the recording devices aside, she typed on the monitor a few times, bringing up the view she recalled having seen many years before.

It was an old archive, but it was locked behind a password which the brunette commander never knew. Her gaze went back to the recording devices once more, remembering the static voices before and after Grey's reports as the silence of the room had enabled her to listen to the recording more clearly. She closed her eyes as she focused on her hearing while listening into the recordings once more.

A mechaniloid. The term slowly popped out in her mind as she listened into the second recording. She had concluded that Grey had found the old lab that someone had asked him to find, but the missing Hunter had also found some data which had taken his interest. A bit of silence would make the listeners think that the recording was over, but the static noise came after a few seconds of silence.

She transferred the recording data into her computer, analyzing the static noise with the bits of knowledge she had gained for being the commander for years. Once it was clear enough for hearing, she played the rest of the recording in a hurry before anyone had come back to the control room.

"… This… this is…! A giant mechaniloid?! But why is it here?!"

There were vague sounds of footsteps, sounding more like clanging metals.

"It's got gold armor all over its body and it looks like… a knight?"

'A gold-armored mechaniloid…?' the brunette commander thought as the description clicked on her mind, 'I think… I've seen something like that before…'

"Prairie, it looks like the mechaniloids were just-" Aile had stepped into the control room to file in her report, only to see that the commander on duty was busy on her computer, "Prairie?"

The brunette took a few steps forward towards the commander's chair, trying to see what the pink-clad commander was paying attention to. From the popup monitor, all she could see was a knight with golden armor with some data next to the image, though the letters were too small for her to read.

"Is that a new type of security system?" it was one thing that she could come up with, but her suddenly speaking had surprised the commander.

"A-Aile!" Prairie quickly turned back to the monitor as she removed the popup, "I-I'm sorry, how did your mission go?"

"It's okay, the mechaniloids were just malfunctioning," Aile had given her short report, "I'm not sure what happened, but the store manager told me that he got that new model just a few months ago."

"I… see…" Prairie responded while glancing over to her monitor, even though one of her subordinate was standing there in front of her, "Okay, that should be enough mission for you today. You should get back to Oriel before he starts crying again."

The brunette let out a laugh, "Sorry if Oriel is bothering your work today, Prairie. I think I should tell Vent to keep an eye on him at all times when he's a bit… clingy…"

"No, it's fine," the pink-clad commander let out a smile, "Having younger kids like Estelle and Oriel around in the base makes the atmosphere here more lively. Oh, and speaking of liveliness…" she directed her gaze to her room, prompting Aile to do so as well, "Estelle was being very energetic today that she had been running around the base until she felt asleep in my room."

"She's got her hyperactive trait from Vent, I'd bet," she commented as she walked over to the commander's room, "Okay, I'll pick her up and put her to bed in her room. Sorry if it's a bother to you."

"It's fine, really," the commander spoke up, pausing as she was waiting for Aile to come out with the sleeping Estelle in her arms, "She might be a candidate for the next commander, if I have to say. She seems to like hanging around the control room."

"Maybe, but we'll see that in a few years," instead of heading out for the door, the brunette had approached the commander instead, "Oh yeah, what was it that you were looking before? Was that a new model of mechaniloid?"

"E-Eh?" the commander stole another quick glance at her monitor, making sure that it wasn't showing anything that she didn't anyone to see, "A-Ah, it's nothing. It was just… an old archive I found in the Guardian Base's database. Yes, that's just it!"

Aile looked suspiciously at the commander's nervous look, though the extra weight in her arms forced her to ignore what she had seen. Her first daughter was getting a bit more heavier for her to carry around and she would really like to get her to her bed quickly before she got sore arms, "Okay then…"

The brunette left the room, but her mind was still racing back to the knight image she had seen before and the unexpected look she saw on the commander's face before she noticed the brunette in the room.

'Prairie looked so terrified… What was that thing anyway…?'