Okay, the last few chapters have been cute fluff, but now for a more serious one.
"Happy Birthday Kait!" Oscar, Reyna and Diaz all exclaimed. Kait smiled as she blew out the single candle on her small birthday cake. She knew her family had spent weeks gathering the ingredients to make it, even raiding a COG Settlement, and she was happy for it.
As they all ate a piece of the small cake, each of her family members handed her a present. "Here you go Kait," Oscar said, handing his niece a small box wrapped in faded white paper.
Kait opened it up and saw a bottle of pink hair dye and smiled. She had been talking about dyeing the end of her hair but didn't actually think she would be able to. "Got it when we went to go raid Settlement 1," Oscar said as Kait hugged him.
"Thank you Uncle," Kait said, smiling. Reyna glared at Oscar jokingly while Diaz shook his head.
Reyna then handed her daughter a large box wrapped in gray paper and Kait eagerly opened it. She pulled out a brown leather jacket and smiled as she put it on. She hugged Reyna and said, "Perfect fit! Thanks Mom!"
Reyna hugged her now sixteen year old daughter back and watched as Diaz handed her the final present, a medium sized box wrapped in faded blue paper. "Here you go Kitty Kat," Diaz said, smiling.
Kait opened the present and saw a burgundy beanie. She immediately took it out of the box and put it on, adjusting her bangs so she could see. "I love it!" Kait exclaimed, hugging her father. "Thank you Dad!"
As she hugged her father, Kait pulled away and asked, "You know what I wanted most of all for my birthday, though?"
"What Kitty Kat?"
"To go with you guys tomorrow."
"Kaitie, not this again!" Reyna groaned, looking her daughter in the eyes. "Look, we already agreed you aren't ready for your first raid yet. Maybe if it was an abandoned COG village, but not what the main group is doing. It's too dangerous."
What Reyna was talking about exactly was a plan the Outsiders had conducted. They had raised several abandoned COG facilities in the past, but were getting desperate for new technology. It had been both Reyna and Diaz's idea to raid one of the new COG Settlements, Settlement 2. Kait had been begging to go on this raid, but both her parents refused because of how dangerous the mission was.
"Mom, I'm sixteen!" Kait exclaimed. "I know how to shoot a gun! You know I've been taking lessons!"
"For only a month! One month of training won't make you able to defend yourself from waves of trained soldiers and even robots programmed to stop you!"
"Your mother's right Kitty Kat," Diaz said. "I would let you go if you had a bit more training. Next time, alright? I promise you can go on our next raid whenever we need it, as long as it isn't too dangerous. Okay?"
"Fine," Kait said, giving up. She knew that when both of her parents sided together, she would always loose. There were times when she and her dad would agree and team up on Reyna, but those were few and far between.
"Okay, now that that's settled, let's eat some more cake!" Oscar exclaimed, making everybody laugh.
The next day, a group of Outsiders, including Oscar and Diaz, were standing outside of a large cart with two horses attached to pull it. Reyna kissed her husband passionately and said, "Please be careful."
"We will Reyna," he said, hugging her. "I promise."
He then looked at Kait and said, "I'm sorry you can't go Kitty Kat."
"It's alright," Kait said as she hugged her father. "But please, be safe Dad."
"I will. I promise I'll come back perfectly safe. Okay?"
"Okay."
He then climbed onto the front of the cart, grabbing the reins. Oscar sat next to him as a literal shotgun with an old Retro Lancer in his arms, ready to protect the cart.
Diaz looked at his wife and daughter one last time before yelling, "Hyah!" He whipped the reins and the horses started running away from the village.
Reyna and Kait stayed outside, watching the cart until it a no longer visible. "Do you think they'll be alright Mom?" Kait asked.
"I hope so Sweetie," Reyna said, putting an arm around her daughter. "I hope so."
Four days later, Kait was standing on the main road, staring at where the cart had left.
"Mom, it's been four days," Kait said, still looking at the road. "They should have been back by now."
"Now Kaitie, you know that Settlement 2 is at least a day away," Reyna said, trying not to sound nervous. By the way Kait was looking at her, she was failing.
"Then they should have been back by now! If it took them a day to get there and a day to get back, then they should have been back by yesterday at the latest! Where are they?"
"I don't know. But I'm sure they're fine. Your father and uncle used to be Gears, remember? I'm sure they're alright."
Reyna was actually lying between her teeth, similar to what Myrrah had done to her. Reyna knew her daughter deserved the truth, but how could she say she thought they might be dead?
Just as they turned to walk back into the village, the sound of hooves on dirt could be heard. They both turned around and saw the cart, this time being driven by Oscar.
"Uncle!" Kait yelled, running towards the cart.
"Woah!" Oscar shouted, making the horses stop as he pulled the reins back.
Reyna ran to the cart as well and stopped with a gasp. There was only one other person on the cart besides Oscar, a teenager that Reyna had never seen before.
"Uncle, where's Dad?" Kait asked, concerned.
Oscar said nothing but had a somber expression on his face, something neither of them had ever seen. "Oscar, where is everybody?" Reyna asked, afraid she already knew the answer.
"It was an ambush," Oscar said. "It was like they knew we were coming. Nobody else made it out. I'm sorry."
Kait gasped and Reyna asked the question she was dreading. "Diaz?"
"Dead."
Kait sobbed and leaned into her mother's chest, crying. Reyna held back tears as well and heard Kait say quietly, "Daddy."
Reyna then looked back at the teenager and asked, "Who is this?"
"His name's Gary Carmine," Oscar said, his voice laced with sadness and pain. "His dad was killed during the ambush. He was a Gear."
"How dare you show your face here you traitor!" Kait shouted as she lunged away from her mother and towards Carmine, her face red with tears running down her cheeks.
"Wait a minute!" the teenager exclaimed, voice sounding full of sadness like Oscar's. "I have no more loyalty to the COG. They killed my dad too. But I did bring these."
He then gestured to the cart. Reyna and Kait looked in and saw guns neither of them had ever seen. There were several assorted guns, including Hammerbursts that Reyna quickly recognized.
The most, though, was a gun neither of them had ever seen. It was yellow with exhaust vents on the sides with a drill bit in the front rather than a normal frontsight. Reyna picked it up and saw even the aim was different, shaping similar to a human body. "What is this?" she asked, examining the gun.
"It's called a Dropshot," Carmine explained. "My dad invented it. He was the CEO of Carmine Construction Co. It's supposed to be shot into the ground to drill down with an explosion, but it can be a pretty deadly normal gun. The COG used these things to hide away some of the Locust remains."
Reyna looked at the teenager and saw a sadness in his eyes that proved he was telling the truth, that he really had lost someone close to him. "Alright, you can stay," Reyna said.
Gary nodded and walked towards one of the horses, patting it gently. "Come on buddy," he said, undoing the harnesses on the horse.
Once Gary was out of hearing range, the family of three hugged together and all sobbed, mourning the loss of a great man.
A brother, husband, and father.
Grr, I don't like writing sad stuff! But, I knew this was coming. In Gears of War 4, they heavily imply that Kait's dad died somehow, and I believe this is how. They continue to bring up an issue from Settlement 2 that rubbed both the COG and the Outsiders the wrong way. The COG lost a Delta Squad family member, the 4th Carmine brother that has yet to be seen. This also explains why there is a fourth Carmine in the opening to the campaign who lives with the Outsiders. And the Outsiders lost not only their leader, but several other people too, which also says why JD and Del claim that the Outsiders don't have many people who can fight; they all died at Settlement 2.