Disclaimer: See previous chapters
Chap. 18
"She's still alive?!"
Cain and Elijah were in a dorm room where Koemai had just discovered from them that Aria was still alive. His eyes went wide for a second before he looked at Cain again who was currently making tea nearby.
"Okay, let's start by saying, WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?!"
Cain didn't turn as he answered, "At the time, I really thought she was dead. But I didn't want to believe that." He paused for a moment, "You remember how I was."
Koemai's eyes lowered, "Yeah. I couldn't even talk to you."
Cain stopped from his activity again and sighed aloud, "I'm sorry about that. Anyway, I managed to find her body in a hospital only to discover that she was in a coma. I brought her to this hospital in the hopes that she might recover with better medicine, but that hasn't happened yet."
"Okay, I get that." Koemai replied. "But that still doesn't explain why you didn't tell me."
"When I found her, you had taken a mission on Mars. At first, I was going to tell you, but…I don't know." Another sigh, "I guess I didn't want to get my hopes too high up."
"Oh, I see."
"You do?" Elijah said suddenly. "I sure as hell don't."
Cain shifted uncomfortably. The movement was slight, but Koemai noticed it. Grabbing Elijah's shoulder, he led the young Raven outside where he could answer.
"Two things. One, Cain is too stubborn and always tries to handle things himself. And two, he doesn't like encouragement. If he got his hopes too high and if she had died, them he would have been depressed all over again."
Elijah's face wrinkled in confusion, "But…he's always depressed."
Koemai laughed, "True. But with him, there's normal depressed and there's depressed depressed. Trust me, there's a difference."
Shaking his head, Elijah retorted, "Isn't there a happy for him? Something good?"
"Her." Koemai sighed and continued, "Before her, he was pretty much the same he is now. Even when he met her for the first time, he still was as dull as heck. But I could tell, even when he couldn't." His eyes began to drift off into the sky in memory, "Even he didn't know that he was in love with her. I had to give him some pointers and all and next thing you know, they had gotten married. It was the first time I've ever seen him smile."
Elijah gasped, "He…smiles? He can do that?"
Koemai laughed aloud, "That's exactly what I said."
Elijah moved away, shaking his head, "Oh I have to meet this lady. I mean, when she wakes up and all. If she…" He stopped for a moment, "So…how did she get that way?"
The elder Raven sighed again, sadly this time, "It happened a couple of mouths after they returned from Mars…"
Flashback, Reactor Facility
Two dropships flew over the grassy plain that surrounded the facility. The hanger doors opened and two sets of objects descended out and landed on the ground. Four mechanical figures. Armored Cores. One white, two red and one black.
"Here's the mission." Cain announced from Glaive. "We each have to go inside the plant through four different routes. Once done, we deactivate the reactors inside and get out of there."
From Darkhand, Koemai smirked, "That's all? Sounds like cakewalk."
Cain retorted, "Don't get cocky. The pay in this indicates that it won't be easy."
"Oh come on." Diana commented from Cloak. Looking over at the fourth AC, "Aria, could you tell you husband not to be such a stiff?"
From within Firewave, Aria gave a light smile, "I would like to, but he's actually right for a change."
"Cute. Real cute." Cain growled.
Her smile grew, "Yeah, and that's why you love me."
Sighing, Cain resigned to her, "Sadly, yeah. But we should still be careful."
"Fine, fine." Koemai said finally.
"We didn't think too much about it. It was just another mission. It didn't even seem as dangerous as the ones we've been on before. Everything went fine, until our escape…"
Flashback, forty-five minutes later…
The white AC Glaive stalked out of the facility and headed for the rendezvous point. Judging by the markings on armor, he had been through quite a bit of trouble inside, but nothing he couldn't handle. Reaching the point, he found the red AC Darkhand awaiting him.
"Hey Cain. Looks like I got out first. You know what that means. You're paying for dinner."
Cain let the remark pass, "Where are the others?"
"They haven't gotten out yet. But don't worry. You know how women are."
Just then, the jets of a hover-vehicle could be heard and both turned to see Cloak approach them.
"Hey guys. Kept you waiting long?"
"I got out first." Koemai gloated to her.
The woman grinned within and cheered, "Great. So all we have to do is wait for Aria and you two can pay for…"
KABOOM!!!!!!!!!
"What the hell?!"
The three turned to the facility to see a massive explosion erupt from atop of it. Koemai quickly checked his mapping sensor to determine the situation.
"One of the reactors went off. In section…34."
'Section 34? Oh no!' "Aria!"
Glaive OB quickly ignited and the AC shot straight at the facility, with the other two right behind him. But he only made it halfway when…
KABOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This explosion was far different. Rather than one section exploding, the entire facility erupted in flames. Fire raged across the landscape before them all, more particularly a horrified Cain.
"No! ARIA!!!!!!!!!"
"The systems in the facility were faulty. When we shut them down, it caused a chain reaction that set them to explode. He went absolutely berserk. He even went inside through the fire to find her."
"Whoa."
Koemai gave a half-hearted laugh, "It was insane. He doesn't do insane. When he came out, his AC was almost totaled and he was covered with burns. But he didn't care. He just wanted to find her. He returned there to search, but only found her AC, also totaled. The cockpit was empty. He guessed that she escaped somehow but the AC was deep in the facility. Even if she had escaped, she would have never escaped the fire. At least, that's what I started to think."
"Guess that didn't happen." Elijah muttered.
"Guess not. It's a miracle to tell you the truth. His search wasn't in vain. But he spent nearly a year searching. During which he was absolutely miserable. He didn't eat often and his AC remained shattered. What money he had, he used to search for her. I tried to help him out, but…" He let the sentence hang and switched off the subject, "Anyway, that's the story, up until now."
"I never knew he could be like that." Elijah whispered. Throughout his time with Cain, he had never known his teacher to even think of doing anything so reckless. He was always cautious about things, especially on missions. This…was definitely different.
"Well, love makes you do things like that." Koemai answered. "And he loved…loves her very much." Koemai soon shook his head, "Enough of this sappy crap. We have a mission."
Elijah gasped, "We do? Why didn't you tell us?
"Slipped my mind?" was the humorous response.
"Charles had it set up for just the three of us. We are to assist Crest in defending one of their strongholds."
Cain stood in his usual corner, arms folded, "I'm surprised you accepted it. You hate defense missions."
Koemai shrugged, "True, but this isn't so bad when they're backing you up."
"Who's the opposition?" Elijah questioned.
Cain gave him a brief glance, noting his student's caution in this. Meanwhile, Koemai answered him, "Unknown. But whoever they are, they mean business if they want three Ravens guarding them." Grinning, "And who better than the Hands of God?"
"I have a bad feeling about this." Cain muttered.
"You have a bad feeling about everything." Elijah shot back.
Cain blinked at the remark while Koemai roared with laughter, "Hahahaha! Well, when the kid is right, the kid is right. I'll tell you what, when we get back, I'll buy you a drink."
"No thanks."
"Good, because I wasn't going to anyway."
Cain lowered his head at the remark while Koemai looked at the two, "So are we in?"
"Of course we are." Koemai said simply, still grinning, "Vengeance…"
Cain saw where this was going, "Justice…"
"And salvation." Elijah finished with a grin.