On schedule again for the update! And thanks for the review as always, Ushindeshi! Aile's got a mini chance to talk to Estelle here, but she'll have plenty of time to do that later!

End of Era

Chapter 16 – A Change of Heart

It was morning and the control room had already been filled with people. Aeolus and Thetis were the first ones to arrive, followed by Iris, Estelle, Oriel, and Ashe. They were all waiting for their next order from the commander with the old data as the basis.

The door behind them slid open and expecting to see the commander entering, the group turned around to see that it wasn't their commander. Storm faced his father with a defeated look as Aeolus faced the unexpected guest coming in with his son.

"A-Atlas, you fool!" Aeolus scolded his wife as she looked at him in annoyance, "Why are you here when you can't even go out there and fight?!" the man turned to Storm in anger, "Storm, why is your mother here with you?!"

Storm let out an irritated sigh, "I'm sorry, Father. Mother insisted that she's coming with you all and join in the fight. I can't change her mind when she's being this stubborn."

"Storm!"

"That's enough, Pretty Boy!" Atlas stepped closer to Aeolus with a glare directed at him, "I'm not weak and you know that yourself. I've had enough time to think and I'm going to join in this fight no matter what!"

"But!"

"Look," the brunette woman had tapped a finger on the green-haired man's chest, who winced in pain from the strength of her finger, "I don't need you to protect me all the time. But…" she removed her finger from his chest as she turned her face away from him, "Thanks… for your concern…"

"Y-Yes…" Aeolus had instinctively turned his face away as well, "Whatever…"

Ashe cleared her throat to regain the group's attention, "Now that the little family argument is settled, I guess we're missing two more people other than the commander herself, right?" the silver-haired Hunter looked over at Estelle and Oriel, "Don't tell me your dad overslept again…"

Estelle let out a sigh as she shrugged, "Sadly, that might be it. His door was locked when-"

"You know that I won't be oversleeping at times like this."

The door slid open to reveal the man in question, walking into the control room with their commander at his side, "I'm sorry for the wait, everyone."

The group had expected to sense the usual tension in the air as the Aile walked into the control room, but the expression she had on her face told them otherwise. As small as it was, Aile had a smile on her face, which she hadn't been with one for the past few years since the tragedy. Even with Aile back to her old self, they still had to treat her with respect as she was still the commander leading the Guardians.

Vent had joined the group of Mega Men as Aile went over to her commander's seat, typing a few things on her keyboard. A holographic screen with a map on it popped up in front of her as she stopped, but her back was facing the group behind her. A single red dot appeared on the map, slowly blinking, before the brunette commander turned back to the group with a serious look on her face.

"Thanks to Aeolus' and the operators' help yesterday, we've managed to track the location where Grey might be hiding," she moved over to the side to show the map to the others, "The red dot indicates the location where his hideout… or to be exact, where the real Grey's reading was detected before he went missing. Something must've happened to him that he became the different Grey we saw that day."

The silver-haired Hunter curled her hands into fists as she had a pained look on her face, "I knew it… Siarnaq told me the same thing years ago, but I was so insistent that he was only missing and that we had to find him…"

"Ashe…"

"It's okay," Ashe looked at her commander friend with a sad smile, "Moping around all day is so not like me, so I'm hoping that you have something to do about that."

"Yes," Aile gave her a confident smile before she turned to the rest with a serious look, "Everyone, we're going to attack Grey's hideout and uncover the remaining mysteries surrounding his disappearance years ago. And…" she glanced over to the younger Mega Men in the group with a slight worry, "This mission is going to be dangerous, because we're not fully aware of what our opponents can do."

Storm gave her a nod, "I'm ready. I've already been trained for such dangerous missions and tasks."

"Yes!" Iris pumped her fists to the air proudly, "Iris is ready too! Papa and the others are here too, so Iris isn't worried at all!"

Estelle saw that her mother was looking at her, though her eyes showed her worry instead of the usual cold and emotionless eyes she had always seen in her. She looked over to her little brother standing next to her, who had looked up at her and gave her an understanding nod. She returned his nod before she looked back at her mother confidently.

"I'm going too, even if you're going to do whatever it takes to try and stop me," she put her hand on Oriel's shoulder, holding him with a firm grasp, "I want to protect Oriel, and I want to do it using the strength I've been given even before you agree to it… No, I want to protect everyone. I'm a member of the Guardians and it's the job of the Guardians to protect everyone!"

Her fear had struck her once more as Aile saw her daughter, seeing the image of her late mother and Prairie in her. She didn't want to lose another life in the battle and not when she was supposed to be able to fight to prevent it. Yet, she could tell from Estelle's eyes that she was very determined to go and fight in the battlefield. She knew that she could trust her strength and judgment as she had both her and Vent's genes within her, but she couldn't shake off the fear and uneasiness in her heart.

The swirling conflicts within her heart came to a stop when her husband put a hand on her shoulder. He looked at her with a reassuring smile as his firm grasp on her shoulder slowly eased her mind, "You trust her just like you trust everyone from the beginning, right? Or are you hesitating now?"

Aile looked at Vent for a moment before she returned the smile as she held the hand sitting on her shoulder, "No, not when all of you are here," she took Vent's hand off her shoulder as she held it firmly in hers as she turned to the group, lowering her body to a bow, "I have to apologize, everyone, for the unpleasant treatment I've been giving all of you for the past few years. I won't expect you all to forgive me right away, but for these past actions I'm going to resign from my position as the commander of the Guardians once this mission is over."

The control room went silent from Aile's most recent statement. She expected them not to forgive her that she was given the silent treatment and she was ready for them to lash out at her once she stood up once more. Vent's grip on her hand tightened for a moment, though she could feel that it wasn't out of anger or hatred, even if she knew that he had to endure the most for her harsh treatments.

"If you're really sorry about what you did," Aile looked up to the silver-haired Hunter as she had a serious expression, which soon changed into her usual cheery attitude, "you'd consider treating all of us a big feast or something, right?"

"Ashe…?" she looked at her friend in confusion. She didn't understand why Ashe wasn't being angry with her and their constant argument about their clashing decisions.

"You didn't force me or Iris to stay when I wanted to find my wife," Thetis added with a smile on his face, "On top of that, you saved Iris' life when I couldn't do anything to help. She means the world to me and I'm forever indebted to you for saving her, regardless of the condition back then when you took her in."

"The same with me and Atlas, but I don't know about Siarnaq," Aeolus had added in as well, though with his expressionless face, "We've had some rough times in the past, but you didn't force us anything out of us. Even if you did, we would understand that it would only be for the best for many people suffering more than all of us did."

Atlas let out a laugh, "Well said, Pretty Boy!" she playfully smacked Aeolus' shoulder, which ended up being strong enough that the green-haired man held his shoulder in pain, "We don't do any paybacks because there's nothing worth having revenge for. It's not your fault, because it's obviously the fault of whoever it is that's in charge of making Grey into what he is now."

Aile nervously scanned the Chosen Ones in the room, feeling the positive vibe coming from them. She looked over to the younger group of Chosen Ones in front of her, particularly at Estelle as she looked at her mother with a pained look. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the expression on her daughter's face as she spoke up to her oldest child.

"You don't have to forgive me right away, Estelle. You're right when you think I haven't been a good mother to you… but please, don't be too hard on yourself about what happened years ago…"

The younger brunette stood in silence for a moment before she shook her head, "I… I don't hate you…" she saw her mother opening her eyes and looking back at her in surprise, "It's just… I don't want to be treated like a little kid anymore… I can take care of myself, you know…?"

"Yes…" Aile went over to her daughter's side, giving her a hug she hadn't been giving for years as a single tear slid down from her face, "I know, I'm sorry…"

"M-Mom…" Estelle's voice was muffled by Aile's shirt as she clung to her mother, "I'm sorry…"

The two shared the mother-daughter moment for a bit as they had another important thing to be done. Aile wiped her tears away before she faced the group confidently with her hand still resting on Estelle's shoulder, "Everyone, let's all head for Grey's hideout! The location is detected to be somewhere around area N, so that's the place where we should be heading for!"

Vent nodded in agreement before he turned to his wife with a smile, "Before that, don't you think that you're forgetting something else?"

"Ah, right," she gave him a nod before she dug her hands into her pocket, pulling out the Biometals in her possession, much to the group's surprise, "I'm not sure how much I can help after years of absence from the battlefield, but I'll do what I can to assist in battle."

"Well, that's settled then!" Ashe clapped her hands together in excitement, "Let's get going and storm Grey's hideout already!"

The group dissolved as all but Oriel headed for the transerver room, though as Estelle was heading out as well, Vent had grabbed her, "Hold it right there, young lady. I think you owe me an explanation."

"Urk," the young brunette froze in her place, knowing what her father had meant, "I… I'm innocent!"

Vent let out a sigh before he walked in front of her, shoving the strange rock to her face, much to her surprise, "Where did you find this and why did you use it?"

Estelle backed away as she looked at the rock, "I… I found it in the river in the city, but I never knew that it was a Biometal… Someone in my mind told me that they were going to lend me strength to fight that big Craft guy, so I said yes and…"

Vent took her hand and put the strange Biometal on her hand, much to her confusion. He gave her a stern look, which made her even more nervous about what kind of punishment waiting for her at the end, before he held her hand in both of his, "This is Model O, a Biometal whose origin is still unknown according to Fleuve. I honestly don't want you to hold on to it, but after hearing his side of explanation, I think you might be able to control it better than I am."

Estelle gently released her hand from her father's hold and looked at the Biometal on her hand, "I… can control it better…?"

He gave her a nod, "Both Fleuve and myself don't really understand why, but the Biometal is actually compatible with you. But even if it's compatible," the stern look came back to his face, "don't use it unless you really need some extra boost. I… I don't want you to…"

Estelle looked at her father in confusion as he stopped in the middle of his sentence, "You don't want me to…?"

Vent shook his head, "No, it's nothing," he turned to the door behind them, "Come on, everyone is waiting for us."

The young brunette watched as her father went out of the control room without another word. She could tell that he was worried, but she couldn't truly understand what he was worried about. Was her transformation using the Biometal causing some sort of harm that he wasn't telling her? All she could remember about her transformation was that she had lost control and…

'Prairie…' Estelle looked at the Biometal as realization struck her, 'Could she be the one protecting me before…?'

In the big room of golden walls and spikes, the group was surrounded by a circle of various mechaniloids. The army of mechaniloids arrived in almost like an instant, as the group was initially traveling through the area while looking for any clues for the hidden entrance leading to the old lab Grey had been using. While the entrance itself was found from a single push of a switch from Estelle, it wasn't without a trap to prevent any entries in.

The older Mega Men had taken the frontlines to fend off the short range attacks as the younger ones attacked with long-ranged moves. The experience from years of fighting had made the frontmost defenses to be sturdy enough that the younger Mega Men hardly took a hit from the mechaniloids. Even so, their experience came with the effects of age they were slowly feeling as their movements weren't as fast as they were years before.

Vent had just blocked a Galleon's saber with his own before throwing it to the side with some force on his saber, but he wasn't fast enough to reach when another one of the said Galleon was coming with another saber. He had braced himself for the attack, but a charged shot was enough to annihilate it completely before hitting him.

He let out a tired smile, knowing exactly who had got his back, "Thanks, Aile! Good to see that you're still as sharp as ever!"

The commander had to ignore his praises as she had quickly shot down a variety of Galleons before their buster shots could be fired. Aile lowered her buster slightly once they were down, taking a quick glance at Vent to reply, "This isn't the time for praises, Vent! Don't let your guard down or the kids are going to get hurt!"

Aeolus had finished his three-hit saber combo to clean up a bunch of mechaniloid coming his way before turning to the person next to him. Seeing that Atlas was still trembling helplessly as Storm and Iris were firing cyclones and ice dragons at the enemy made him sigh, "I told you not to be this foolish when all you can do is shaking in fear."

"I-I'm not!" the red-armored woman rejected angrily as she tried aiming her buster guns at the enemies, but her hands were trembling too much for her to aim properly, "I-I-I c-c-can s-still…!"

"Mother, please!" Storm had dashed out from the inner circle of fighters with his jets, landing in front of his mother, "Let Father and the others handle this and get into the inner ring!"

Atlas shook her head in protest, "N-No! I have to fight… I just… have to…"

The green-haired teen had released a few balls of electricity before he turned to his mother in irritation, "Mother, please listen to me and Father for once! Nobody is forcing you to fight if you can't, so please stay out of the battlefield and let us handle everything here!"

The woman shook her head in protest as she lowered her head, "No! Stop telling me what to do when you don't know what you're doing!"

"I know what I'm doing!"

"No, you-" Atlas had raised her head as she tried voicing her protest once more, only to see that Storm was looking at her in annoyance, with a few bombs in the air right above him.

Fear had struck her even more, with the images of the Galleons from years before flashing in her mind. One of their sabers had struck her, but she couldn't feel the pain of being struck. The faces of people came after, with the looks of despair on their faces, as familiar voices echoed in her head. The voices which had suppressed her courage and confidence in the battlefield for years. The voices which had given her the view that she wasn't capable of protecting others, even if that someone was her own flesh and blood.

"The baby couldn't survive."

Her second child, Storm's supposed sibling. She had let them die because she couldn't protect them. She didn't listen to her husband and she had let him down when they lost their unborn child. If she could turn the time back, she would've done so and prevented her from being so stubborn and stayed in the base instead. She regretted the decision to charge in like her reckless youthful days and she didn't want to lose anyone anymore because of it.

Storm was still her child and she wasn't going to let him be taken away from her as well. She would never forgive herself had she done the same mistake as she did years before.

Her body was moving on her own as she stepped to the front and knocked Storm quickly back into the inner ring. The bombs were closing in on her as she did so, but she quickly used her buster guns to knock them back towards the mechaniloids, creating small explosions in many places they landed to take care a bit of the enemy. She wasn't done with just that, however.

Atlas could feel that her body was starting to remember her battle stances from the past as she looked at the approaching mechaniloids with newly-found confidence in her eyes. She let out a yell as a show of her fighting spirit before she punched the air with her buster guns, shooting out her own bombs at the enemy. The explosions caused by her bombs had slightly pushed the enemy's frontlines before she followed her attack by slamming both of her buster guns to the ground.

Tall towers of flames appeared in front of her before it moved towards the mechaniloid army and burned down everything in its path. The attack had left a narrow pathway in the middle of the mechaniloid army before she went to her knees as she panted in exhaustion. While her body was tired from using that much strength in a short time after years of absence, she was smiling tiredly as she was proud with the result.

"Looks like someone's back in action!" the silver-haired Hunter exclaimed in excitement behind her, before she saw the pathway she had created towards the lab's entrance, "Someone's gotta go in there and someone's gotta stay to keep these guys away from our main attackers, so what's the plan now?"

"I'd say," Thetis' sentence was interrupted as he broke an ice cube he created to send its broken pieces at the enemy, "send the children ahead first while we keep these mechaniloids at bay!"

Vent gave him a nod, which he couldn't properly see, before he slashed the mechaniloids in front of him quickly, "Come on, let's make a way for them!"

The older Mega Men's attention shifted to the narrow pathway as it was slowly being blocked once more by the mechaniloid army. Vent and Aeolus had initiated the opening as they took out the frontmost mechaniloids with their sabers, allowing the younger three to get into the pathway. Thetis had frozen Aile's and Ashe's buster shots, turning them into ice spikes raining on each side of the pathway. Atlas ended the attacks with two walls of flame on each side of the pathway, blocking the mechaniloids from touching the three.

Once the three had made it into the lab, a shadow which Thetis, Aeolus, and Atlas noticed had entered along with them before the pathway was crowded with more mechaniloids. Their first task was done and they were left to take care of the guarding mechaniloid army before they could get into the lab to follow the three younger Mega Men.

Aile was stealing worried glances at the covered lab entrance as they continued fighting, which Vent had noticed, "What's wrong?"

Aile quickly shook her head, trying to get her attention back to the enemies in front of her, "N-No, I'm just… a bit worried about them…"

"Don't worry, they'll be fine," the two turned to the blue-haired man behind them as he turned his head to them with a confident smile, "We saw a shadow following them. Siarnaq must've followed us out here and gone in with them just now."

"Yes," Atlas nodded in agreement, "He's a fine soldier, all right. He won't let us down, even when his life is at stake."

Now Estelle is officially the holder of Model O and the kids are finally trusted enough to strike into battle against powerful enemies! Prepare for some youngster action next chapter!