Several months later, Reyna woke up in her new residence. She refused to call it home, because her home would always be the Hollows where she grew up.

Reyna was no longer in the hotel on Azura, but rather a new COG city, named New Ephyra. The city wasn't much yet, but the invention of the DeeBees had helped the process significantly. The DeeBees were designed to assist in manual labor in order to lower the risk of endangering humans.

Reyna personally found the robots a bit creepy, but who was she to judge? She was the person who believed the Locust were in the right and should be here instead of the humans, and therefore had no right to say what counted as creepy or not.

She got out of her small apartment that the COG had provided and walked around the small city. Since money had all but ceased to exist during the Locust war, the main focus of the COG was to make sure everybody was provided for.

Reyna walked around and ducked behind a corner when she saw a group of Gears. She still wasn't completely used to the sight of soldiers like them, and especially wasn't comfortable around them. They were still, after all, the reason she no longer had a family.

She had hoped that none of them saw her and asked why she was out so early in the morning since the sun had barely even risen. Her hopes were shattered when she heard the clanking of metal boots on tile as a Gear approached her.

"Hello there," a male voice said, rounding the corner. Reyna looked at the soldier and gasped. He was much younger than any other soldier she had seen, looking to be around her age. He was in the full Gears armor minus the helmet and he stared at her.

He shook his head, seemingly breaking whatever thoughts he had and looked at Reyna. "What are you doing out so early?" he asked her. "The sun hasn't even been up for an hour."

Reyna looked at the man, lost for words. She swore she could hear her heart beating faster and louder than she had ever felt it and hoped he couldn't hear it as well. "Uh…" Reyna said, struggling to find words. "I needed some fresh air."

"Well you still shouldn't be out so early. I think I'm gonna have to write you up."

"Wait, don't," Reyna said as he handed her a piece of paper. She read the paper and smiled at it. What's your name?

"Reyna," she said shyly. She looked at the soldier's armor and saw the name Diaz on it. "What about you? Is Diaz your first name?"

"No, it's not," he said, laughing.

"Well than what is it?"

"You can call me Diaz if you want."

Reyna laughed a bit, something she hadn't done since the Locust and her mother were all killed. "Alright, Diaz," she did, smiling.

"You better head back inside. I'll walk you back to the living quarters of you want."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

They then walked towards the living quarters, with the soldier telling Reyna about life in the army.

"I'm not the biggest fan of violence," he explained to her. "But during war times, you do what you have to do. My older brother enlisted the second he turned eighteen, and he told me to do the same. I've only been in the army for about three years, so I got to see the sinking of Jacinto, and the fall of Vectes. I was part of the group that followed Hoffman to Anvil Gate."

Reyna smiled and nodded, barely knowing anything about the locations he had said. She obviously knew about Jacinto, seeing how it was now a crater that filled her home with sea water. But she had no clue what Vectes or Anvil Gate were. "What about you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Reyna asked.

"Well, I've told you most of my life story. But I barely know anything about you besides your name."

"Well, I'm seventeen."

"How come I've never seen you with the other civvies?"

"Probably because I never lived with you guys."

"You were Stranded?"

"No," Reyna said, not completely sure what Stranded were. From what she gathered, they were people who refused to join the COG. If they were down in the Hollows, Myrrah would have had anybody who disobeyed her executed.

"Then where did you live?"

"I lived on Azura. My mother lived there too. She was killed."

"I'm sorry. God, so many people were lost in that awful war. But wait, how did you live? I thought the Locust killed everyone."

"I managed to hide from them until you guys came," Reyna said, feeling it more like a mantra now.

"At least you lived. Well, here we are."

The soldier spoke the truth and they were on the front steps of the living quarters. "This was nice," he said. "We should talk again sometime. How about tonight at the dining rooms?"

"That sounds nice," Reyna said, smiling as she turned to enter the living quarters.

That night, Reyna dressed in some of her somewhat formal attire, a blue skirt and white shirt. Her hair was in its normal braid with the golden spike through the middle of it. She wore Myrrah's necklace as well, something that had never left her neck since the day it was given to her.

She walked down through the halls and towards the exit. Waiting for her was the soldier, minus his armor. It looked as though he had had to wear his helmet recently and quickly brushed his black hair, for there were still strands sticking up at odd ends. He smiled at her and remarked, "You look nice."

"So do you," Reyna said. "You look good out of armor."

"Thanks. Shall we get going?"

He held out her hand to her and Reyna grabbed it, smiling at him. If someone had told her in the past that she would have feelings for another human, she would have called them crazy. But this human made her feel safe and protected and happy.

And Reyna would be sure not to let this go.