Guess what everyone…My laptop broke AGAIN! I had to buy a new one which took a while! Hope this one doesn't blow up one me! (Fingers crossed). Sorry this one took so long.

I don't own Vandread. If I did, I'd make a cool video game of it on the PS2!

Stat sheet: Mar Hilt-

Mar is a genetic accident that happened in Tarraku offspring factory. Something malfunctioned and made two children instead of one (Sei and Mar). Mar and his brother have the highest HQs in all of Tarraku's records making Mar a respected being. At an early age, Mar lost both his fathers in a battle leaving him and his brother orphaned. They then met a girl name Adeline who later died after going back to Mejere. Once Adeline left, Mar was determined to fly in space too so he created his very own version of a fighting machine that was later put into the Tarraku military and dubbed Vanguards. The rest was on a chapter that I never could put in to this story but maybe I will add it in as extra.

Chpt.11 Paradise

A massive fire was spread around a field. It seemed to be from the crash of a vanguard suit that was scattered everywhere. Pieces scattered all around one boy, who had accomplished the unthinkable.

"I…I did it!" Hikaru said in pleasure. He now held up high the limp body of his enemy Hibiki Tokai. "I've finally beaten my foe. I've accomplished my greatest achievement! All thanks to this." He meant the bracelet that now wrapped around his right wrist.

'Have you?' a familiar voice asked him emerging from the flames. 'What have you truly accomplished?'

"Its you," Hikaru grumbled, "You seem to always be around. What do you want?"

'Have you truly…accomplished something great?'

"Yes…I've obtained new raw power! A power that no foe can stand against."

'And look around you. Look at what it has caused. You may have defeated all of the nirvana but look at what your power has also accomplished.'

Hikaru felt a chill run down his spine as he notices he was surrounded by corpses of many he knew. A woman with wavy hair lay on the grass, limp like a doll.

"Laviene."

A man was leaning against a hunk of metal with a young girl beside him. Both as empty capsules as the bottle of liquor the man had in his hand.

"Lucas…Vile."

Then by his feet laid a girl about his age, containing no life anymore. Her hand was outstretched to him but now was cold and stiff. Her brown hair flew in the wind feeding the fire.

"H...Hinoki! How! How did this happen!"

'This will be the effect of your actions if you do not see the light.'

"Light! What do you mean! Hibiki's my enemy! I need to fight him! What reason would I not?"

"Hikaru…?" A small voice whispered in his ear.

He took his attention toward the body of Hibiki now a small boy. No older than two staring at him with fearful eyes.

"Hikaru mad? Why?"

Hikaru was shocked by this. A pain came into his mind; he knew he knew this boy from somewhere. He was his…friend? Could he truly be? He immediately sat the boy on the ground only to have another question hit him.

"Why hurt people?"

"…I did this?"

The boy nodded. "Why hurt me?"

"I-I didn't mean to."

"Did to! You hit me!"

Hikaru only remembered beating Hibiki to a pulp. He asked the boy what he dreaded.

"What's your name kid?"

"Hibiki, you're my friend Hikaru"

The words struck the Castilian pilot with tremendous power. How could this be? The young Hibiki continued.

"Angry Hikaru feeds Birdie!"

"Birdie? What bird?"

"Bird on back." Hibiki pointed to his jacket that seemed to burn off from the inside revealing Hikaru's tattoo. The drawing of wings seemed to look like a bird.

"Birdie is going to eat Hikaru if Hikaru's mean! Don't be mad Hikaru."

"Huh? Its just some tattoo tattoos cant ARRRGH!" A burning pain hit Hikaru hard as the wings burst out of his skin and flew up into the air above. Hikaru watched in fear as it morphed itself into a giant hawk and it looked hungry. Its blazing red eyes stared at him like some treat. He turned to see the young Hibiki but only found a circling wall of fire around him. Nowhere to run or hide, he could only wait for his doom. The hawk swooped down for his prey, mouth open and wings like daggers spread. Just before the final blow, Hikaru saw the image of a woman in a bed smiling at him.

"Be a good boy Hikaru, and always remember, I love you."

"M-mother?" Hikaru awoke from his horrid nightmare to see that he was in his room the whole time.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Someone yelled in his ear making him tip over and land on the left side. He now had a very good view of the wall and the face of the stranger as she poked her head to his view.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT!" He barked.

"I'm sorry." The pink haired girl apologized, "But I wanted to meet my new captain so bad!"

"Captain? You're my new recruit?"

The girl could only nod with a little blush. "Yeah and the other's are waiting for you outside the hall."

"Outside! Oh man! I over slept!" He immediately went to his dresser and picked up a pair of pants…luckily he still remembered that there was a girl in the room. "Uhh…could you… ya know."

"Oh! Of course." The girl immediately ran out of the room to see her teammates, a boy and another girl.

Hikaru arrived two minutes later already dressed up in his uniform. He acted the part of the captain talking in a stern voice. "Tell me your names."

The red haired man answered first. "Rave Wolf, graduated two weeks ago."

The woman with blonde hair then went, "Anita Sorbet, I also graduated two weeks ago with honors on all performance."

The youngest pink haired snoop then went, "Sheena Lund, I also graduated last week…barely."

Hikaru smiled in pleasure, they didn't let you graduate in the autumn meaning they must have excellent skills. "I'm Hikaru Kashino, and we will begin your first mission today. Against the nirvana crew."

Yuki sat in the garden with his sketchpad at hand. A loud yawn bellowed from inside his mouth. He didn't get much sleep last night; he was trying to finish his art. It seemed that he was enjoying using Meia as a model more and more. He was loosing sleep on it but he didn't care. There was something he needed…to express. He suddenly began to drift off into a slumber but was immediately halted by a snapping twig. He opened one eye slightly to see a shadow close by. He pretended to fall over in a state of sleep. The figure creped nearer to him and a click of his weapon noted that he was carrying ammo. The figure stood over head and pointed his gun straight at Yuki's face but before he could pull the trigger, Yuki slammed a stick into the mouth of the gun making it explode. Blue and red ink covered his opponent's face.

"Nice try Lucas." Yuki laughed, "But you're still no match for me, especially with a paint ball gun."

Lucas grunted, "I'm the greatest gunner in Castile and yet I can't seem to shoot an idiot like you!"

"How bout we both have a battle round?" Yuki asked pulling out a paint gun and loading it "No cheap shots just you and me, here and now."

Lucas smirked, "Seems like fun. First one to shoot the head wins."

Both aimed their guns at one another with a keen smile on both of their faces. There was nothing that could stop them from this feud. Except for a holler.

"You idiots! WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING!" Hinoki shouted at the two. She was highly against her brother and a companion to fight each other, especially because it was her cleaning up their destruction. "I'm not your maid! I don't want to clean off the paint again!"

Yuki knew when he had lost, especially to his little yet ferociously strong little sister. "Were sorry Hinoki, we won't fight anymore." He quickly put his gun back in his pocket.

"That's better" She said in a snuff then laid her eyes upon Lucas, "AND AS FOR YOU!" She gave him a hard punch in the face, "Your coming back with me!" Hinoki grabs his shirt and begins to drag him back to his cell.

Yuki gave a joyful laugh as he sat back down but his laugh did not settle. He just kept on laughing. This attracted attention from another in the garden. She approached him watching the man laugh himself silly.

"What on earth is so funny?" She asked.

Yuki turned to see the ice haired beauty staring at him. Though many had thought that her hair reflected her heart (A cold icy prison) Yuki seemed to try and get close to this woman.

"Athena, good to see you." He happily said, "I just can't seem to stop laughing. It's just such a happy day. You have to brighten up on such a morning."

The girl gave him a cold stare, "When are you going to stop calling me that? My name's Meia, not Athena."

"Hmm? But I like the name Athena." Yuki whined but was given another pissed off stare. "But it is your name and all…alright. From now on I'll refer you as Meia."

Meia was relieved to hear him say her name…finally.

"What were you doing by the way? It seemed as if you were looking for me."

"I heard a blast from here. I supposed someone was getting into a fight."

"Well you caught me and Lucas red handed and Lucas with a redder hand than any of us." Yuki began to choke into laughter again.

"You're…different than the other men on this ship." Meia sighed.

"You're different yourself." He pointed out.

Watching from a nearby tree was the little snoop Paiway. "This should really go in my notebook…" She said to herself trying to resist, "But I gave up on checking on people."

"Hey idiot." Mar greeted unhappily as he emerged from behind. "Duero needs you so he sent me…what are you looking at?"

"Take a look for yourself." She pointed to the bushes.

"Hey, that's Meia and Yuki. Looks like their having a good time." Mar scratched his head as he went into thought, "Could this be a…what do you call it…a relationship?"

"Wow, how neat." Paiway took her attention back to Mar. She blushed a little as she watched him glued to edge of thebark watching the two people talk. This was her chance. She checked to see that nothing could get in the way of this and got closer to him. She got closer every turning second till she was behind his back. She outstretched her hands and…

"Your such a cutie, boyfriend!" She gleefully chirped.

"Gyaaaah!" Mar yelped as Paiway's hands wrapped around his neck. "You're trying to kill me! I knew you were evil."

"Come on boyfriend." She softly said, "I'm going to go on a date with you."

"EWW! No way!" Mar said repulsed by the pigtailed girl that was suddenly blocking off his oxygen supply.

"Oh, your always playing hard to get." Paiway whined. "Why can't we ever have some time alone?"

"What are you two doing?" Meiaasked. Paiway and Mar were so loud that Yuki and Meia saw the children peeping at them. "I thought you said you'd stop checking up on people?"

"I am." Paiway huffed, "I'm just trying to get my boyfriend to go out with me."

"Looks more like your chocking him." Yuki informed. Paiway looked at her lover whose face now was turning a shade of blue. She let her grasp go and Mar began to gasp for the air that was stolen from him.

"You moron!" Mar barked at his enemy, "You were going to kill me!"

"It's called a hug."

"No, it's called sucking out MY SOUL!" Mar squirmed out of her grasp and ran out, "Stay away from me you demon!" He yelped out.

Paiway chased the boy crying, "Come back boyfriend we still need to go out on a date!"

Yuki began to laugh again, "See, this will be a good day. I can feel it." He fell to the grass trying to catch his breath and laid his eyes on the stars. "The stars say I have a good fortune today, their images seem to point me to the north…what the?" Yuki realized what he was saying. He began to mumble to himself and write something on his sketchpad.

"Star's pointing to the north…image of the hawk…shape of the eel…NO!" He looked back at his sketchpad and saw began to connect the dots he had made making a strange shape. "I…I…" His eyes showed fear in them. But how when the stars gave him a good fortune?

Meia didn't like the image on his face. Yuki always had a smile but now he looked like a fearful rabbit. "Yuki?"

Yuki grabbed her shoulders and stared at her with pleading. "Meia! You have to bring me somewhere!"

She didn't understand there was no planet anywhere in sight.

"PLEASE! You have to! It's important that I go."

Meia paused for a moment before she gave him an answer. "…alright."

"Captain, a dread just left the Nirvana and is planning a course to the west." Coco informed.

"Who is it?"

"I-it's…Meia's dread."

"What's gotten into that girl?" Magno wondered, "Bart patch me through to Meia."

"Aye, aye!" The communication was soon connected revealing an image of Meia on the screen.

Magno was the first to talk. "Meia, what has gotten into you?"

"Nothing really, it's more of Yuki than anything. We have to check something out."

BC couldn't believe that Meia would break a rule, "Meia, you know you're not allowed to take out dreads or vanguards unless it's training or a battle. Get back here now."

"Let her go BC." Magno ordered.

"Captain…"

"She's a grown girl; she can take care of herself."

"…Understood."

The communication was broken as Meia left the vicinity. She couldn't believe she was doing this. She broke the rules just to go on a joyride with this man to a place that wasn't even on the map. Although, his face had changed from fear to determination. There was something that he needed to see. Something that must have been a big step in his life. Something that hurt him, Meia could tell…his eyes changed to hers, cold icy prisons. Did it truly hurt that much?

"What do you mean she left!" Hibiki barked, "I'm not even allowed to go in my partner without permission!"

"Meia is head of her team; she's capable of helping herself so she's allowed to bend the rules." BC informed the boy only to see him growl at her.

"It's not fair!" Hibiki moaned walking beside Dita in the halls. "I do my share of work and I'm not even allowed to fly my vanguard without permission. Ugh…I had nothing better to do today."

Dita's eyes lit up from that moment. "If you have nothing better to do…will you see my room?"

"WHA! No! I-I have stuff to do!"

"But you just said you didn't." Dita whined, "Please Mr. Alien. You promised."

"Well I just realized that I did!" Hibiki huffed.

"What is it?" Dita asked, "Maybe I could help."

Hibiki was stumped now. He had no good excuse. Even if he had something, she'd probably tag along. "Well…Uh…I-I have too…well…"

"Ah, a lover's quarrel," Lucas happily said emerging from a door, "Brings back some old memories of mine."

"It's not a quarrel!" Hibiki barked at the man with silver eyes.

"Whatever you say lovebird. It's just a matter of time till you give into her."

"I am not a bird!"

The boy was too dense for Lucas to get into. "Whatever, I just thought you'd want to know where Meia and Yuki were headed that's all."

"Yuki? Yuki doesn't have a ship."

"Who ever said that he was flying a ship?"

"…You mean that…"

Dita was too excited for words to handle, "WOW! There together? How romantic!"

Lucas nodded, "There just a pair of lovers off into the great beyond."

"And you're a drunken moron off to his cell." Hinoki growled grabbing his ear.

"Ow! Hinoki, that hurts!"

"Honestly, can't you just stay in your cell for once! It's becoming a big nuisance!"

"Hinoki, I never knew your brother was dating Meia." Dita said but she then regretted it soon enough.

"That can't be true, he's in the garden."

"Not anymore." Lucas corrected her, "He's now flying off with Meia on a beautiful cruise. Maybe they'll get hitched."

With that, Hinoki smacked him to the wall. She also had a dark aura enveloping her.

"My brother…dating! Oh this can't be good." Hinoki began to cry, "What if he gets married and I never see him again!"

"I think your overreacting." Hibiki said to the panicking girl which got him yelled at.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN! I'm NOT OVERREACTING!"

"Get your hands off me you doppelganger!"

"I am not a doppelganger! You are, just look at yourself. You dress like me too!"

"You said that I should wear it!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Now, now you two calm down." Lucas cried to the two who were now fighting. "I was just fooling around. Yuki isn't on a date. He's going to see the wolf graves."

Both stopped and said in harmony, "Wolf graves?"

"What's a wolf grave?" Dita asked.

Lucas sighed as he took a seat on the floor, "The wolf graves are where Yuki and his teammates buried their allies from the lone wolf resistance. I'm guessing there must be over fifty in there. Each one was a very close friend to him. It slowly kills him inside."

"Wait a minute here. You fought against Yuki. How do you know all about this?" Hibiki asked.

"Because…I used to be one of them." Jaws dropped by hearing this but Lucas didn't care. He took a drink from his beer and began to explain.

Meia and Yuki traveled for half an hour without anyone talking. The silence was getting to Meia. She had to say something but it seemed that Yuki was in his own world. This wasn't the Yuki she knew. It was a more serious Yuki that didn't care. He stared out the window as if he could see something that she could not see.

"Where are we going?" Meia asked. Not a single word came out of Yuki's mouth.

"I'd like to know where were headed. I am the driver." Yuki was still gone.

"Can't you hear what I'm saying?" Meia demanded.

"Turn 30 degrees south." Yuki ordered, "We also need to turn off the shields to your dread."

"What? Are you mad? We'll be killed if Castile…"

"DO IT!" Yuki growled at her, "It's the only way there. I need to see something!"

Meia sighed but she did as she was told. Once they were tuned off, a planet mysteriously appeared from the darkness of space. It was as if it was a magic trick. Yuki gave out a sigh that was unknown if it was relief.

"That's the planet. Please land there."

The dread made its decent on to the green grass on the planet. The two jumped out of the ship to see a beautiful grassy field with a town not to far away. They were immediately greeted by children running up to them. The children immediately jumped on Yuki once realizing who he was.

"Yuki," A girl cried, "You came back to see us."

A boy tugging at his jacket cried out, "I've been training really hard Yuki. I'm really close to joining the lone wolves."

"Do you have any stories to tell us?" Another girl asked him.

"Actually I need to see some people." Yuki explained.

"Aw, no fair," A small boy whined, "You just came back."

"I know but I have some important business to take care of."

"No you have to play with us first!" They all whined.

"Hey you kids leave our guests alone." A woman told them. The kids whined as they left the field. "I'm sorry, they get this way when company arrives…Oh my lord! Is that you Yuki?"

Yuki gave out a weak smile, "It's me alright. I'm sorry that I couldn't arrive here sooner Tabby."

"I'm just happy you're still alive. Most thought you had died during the explosion." She then adverted her attention to Meia, "And who's this? Is she you Athena?"

Yuki began to growl, "Shut it Tabby. That's none of your business."

"Ah, so you are Yuki's Athena. You're a pretty lucky girl." She then noticed Yuki turning red in the face so she swapped the conversation. "Well it's not the best thing to stay out here in the hot sun. Let me bring you two back to the base."

"WHAT NO WAY!" Hinoki bellowed as Lucas handed her a picture. It had an image of him and a bunch of resistance soldiers. Her brother was in the center of it all.

"That's me on the far right. It was taken one year before I went to the royals. Boy was that a fun experience."

"Why did you go to the evil side?" Dita asked.

"I didn't go by free will. They took me by force and gave me a tattoo, branding me as a traitor from what I once been."

Hibiki looked at the picture carefully and noticed something strange. "What's with this guy? He's wearing some weird uniform."

Lucas snatched the photo, "He's a priest. He was a very good friend of mine who asked me to help the resistance. You see, I was a mercenary, meaning that I would fight only for money."

"What does that have to do with my brother?"

"During the battle against Lordeth Clive, your brother was hiding out in the church where the priest was. Yuki asked for any volunteers that could help and I was on top of the list. The priest, my friend, David, asked me and I couldn't say no to him so I joined up. Sadly, it was a bloody battle that killed many people from each side. Yuki was traumatized by it. And to thank all of his soldiers we laid them to rest on another planet nicknamed Grave."

"I'm so happy that you came to visit Captain." Tabby said while pouring more tea in Yuki's cup.

"You can stop calling me that." He assured, "It seems that we have failed in our revolution."

"You mustn't give up master Yuki. You have given the children here much hope for a better tomorrow." She glared her green eyes at Meia. "And besides, you'd be letting your darling Athena down."

"Hey! I told you to knock it off!" But Tabby did not. She kept on going.

"Did he ask you out? Did he kiss you? Oh, did he sleep with you yet?"

"Don't annoy Meia." Yuki ordered, "It's rude. Meia, please forgive Tabby. She does not know when to end a joke!"

"I do too!" Tabby huffed and then decided to change the subject. "Meia, you look like you're hot in those clothes why don't you change into something more comfortable." She then handed her an outfit as if she was preparing for this. "There's a bathroom on your left."

"?" Meia was confused by this hospitality; she didn't understand why someone would give her their own clothes. It was strange.

"Go ahead Meia." Yuki said, "I'll wait for you here."

"And don't worry; I won't steal him away from you!"

"TABBY! Someday your goanna get it!"

Meia couldn't help but smile as she saw those two bicker. This was the Yuki she knew. But little did she know, as she went to change, the atmosphere changed as well. Yuki went into his bad mood again and Tabby became serious.

Tabby's eyes went to a gloomy color. "You came to see him…haven't you?"

"I have to. I need to say I'm sorry."

"You did nothing wrong though. You can't beat yourself up just because of that."

"I'm responsible for every death on that field. They died from my orders; I watched them as their final moments ended." Yuki pressed his hand against his face. "I'm to blame and I have a commitment to them."

Tabby was stiff for a moment but suddenly a small smile came out of her face. "You think to hard you know that?"

Yuki's face now showed a big smile, somewhat empty but showed some happiness. "You should try thinking sometimes. You wouldn't be so dumb!"

Tabby was about to slam his face into a cake on the table if it wasn't for Meia emerging from the hall. Meia now had on a white summer dress with the cutest blue shoes. It was pretty different from what she was used to but it was fine.

"Wow Meia, you look pretty in that. All the boys will flock to you." Tabby giggled,"Aw, Yuki's face is turning red. What's the matter Yuki, You jealous or something? I thought you weren't her boyfriend."

Yuki turned around hiding his red face, "I'm not jealous. I just don't think Meia should be hanging around with guys from planet Grave. That's all. Their real snakes Meia. It's dangerous to be with them."

Meia felt a bit touched that Yuki would be this way about her.

"I can take care of myself Yuki. You don't have to worry."

She suddenly saw his face turn to an even brighter red. He was definitely embarrassed. "Yeah your right. That was pretty dumb of me."

Tabby knew that this was going no where so she spoke. "Hey, since you guys are here, why don't we go to the beach? It's really nice during this season."

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot how nice it is around this time." Yuki joyfully said, "You want to go Meia? Their beaches are pretty nice during this time."

"I'm not one that takes a swim."

"Then you don't need to." Yuki laughed grabbing her arm and pulling it out the door. "You can relax on the beach or play volleyball or just watch the clouds go by."

"I'd rather not."

"Stop being such a crab." Tabby began to push Meia out the door, "You should see it."

Meia was pushed all the way to a sandy beach where they soaked up the view. Meia didn't even touch the sand or water. She just sat herself on a rock beside Tabby while Yuki played that game where you try to get away from the waves as they flow on shore. He seemed to be enjoying it and for some strange reason, Meia enjoyed watching him have a good time.

"He's weird isn't he?" Tabby said to Meia. "He acts like a kid all the time, even when the worst happens. I wish I had his strength."

Yuki turned to them and waved his arm like a child only to be pushed over by a wave. Meia could only smile.

"Has he gone through much?" Meia asked.

Tabby face became gloomy. "Yeah…He watched his friends die. He saw others go through illness. He was blamed for many catastrophes on Castile. He was betrayed by a very good friend too."

"He was betrayed?"

Tabby nodded, "You can feel a strange pain when you're betrayed by someone close. It hurts a lot."

"Who betrayed him?"

Tabby became silent, "It…It was…"

"Hey guys!" Yuki greeted, "You just missed it! I saw a dolphin!"

"Liar." Tabby growled, "Dolphins weren't brought to these parts of the waters."

"Maybe it was a whale." He laughed rubbing the back of his head. "Well I have some business to take care of. Meia, you should go with Tabby."

"No."

"Huh, Tabby I can't…"

"No! Don't make an excuse. She should know…Don't push people away just because you feel guilty."

Yuki had a face that seemed to be drowning in an emotion that Meia never saw before on him. It was a mixture of fear and sadness. He sighed and softly said "Alright…come on Meia. I should explain why I came to the nirvana crew."

Night soon came upon the planet darkening everything. Meia noticed that Yuki as well seemed darker, not just from his image, but his heart. There was something he kept hidden from the world, but why?

Yuki came to an abrupt halt by a stone slab. "Were here." He put his hand on the slap and felt its cold remaining word written on it.

He then slowly drifted from it to let Meia see. The words written on it said: To our dearest soldiers that have died during the revolution may take refuge here. Let all the wolves sleep peacefully.

She couldn't believe that she didn't notice all the tombstones surrounding her. They were everywhere on this field, each had a metal of courage imbedded into it and flowers beside each one. She was in a graveyard.

Yuki turned his sad head to her. "You don't seem scared."

"I've visited my mother's grave many times. Graveyards don't scare me."

"Me either." He made his way to a giant statue of a wolf in the center. Around its neck was a medallion. He let his fingers go through its hard fur. "It's been a while…old friend." He sat himself beside the statue and motioned for Meia to take a seat. Meia sat beside another tombstone and listened to the story about to begin.

"I was living around the rule of Lordeth Madrilène, a very kind ruler that thought of others before herself. She brought our planet to the highest authority and made us well known…but others did not care for her ways."

"What happened?"

"She was murdered in the night. Her guards and daughter found her that morning with a knife in her back. Her daughter wasn't of age so they made LordClive into our new ruler…he was the reason Hinoki was taken away. He wanted new lapdogs and found that his new rules could bring them to him. He also thought that the green peixis could be used as a very interesting weapon. In three months, he had an entire army by his side and children in the streets without families. That's when I began the resistance."

Yuki's face seemed enraged with the thought of what had happened. It was hard for him loosing people he so dearly loved but he went on talking.

"The resistance got help of Madrilène's daughter. She believedClive was at fault for her mother's death and helped us get through everything the royals fought us with. She had a kind spirit and cared for everyone on the planet. I knew that she would make a great leader. Finally, after three long years, our team learned the code to break down the Kingdom's defenses. We were going through the castle. It was called the berserk wolf slaughter because of how many died. Beside me is my friend Lut's grave. She was head squadron leader but suffered many stab wounds which took her life. Beside you are the graves of my squadron, they all died painfully but begged to keep going throughout it all."

Meia couldn't believe it. They were dozens of tombs laid out. Could they all be from his team?

"With so many sacrifices, we still defeated the empire. We killed LordethClive and began another era with the daughter of Madrilène."

"…But she was killed by lord Andréa, wasn't she." Meia said but Yuki shook his head.

"No…she was Lord Andrea."

"!"

"She was a very good friend of mine only to turn insane by power. I still cannot believe what she has done. She was fine for her first year, she even promised to return my sister, but something overcame her…she changed and so did the empire. It went into a crazed army." He tried to hold back tears but couldn't, "S-she…she killed half of our battalion and then blew up the rest three months ago! I-I…I…I should've known."

"It wasn't your fault. She betrayed you."

Yuki didn't listen, a piece of his heart still felt that it was. "You don't understand. I'm at fault for all those deaths."

This was beginning to sound familiar to Meia. She too understood this pain and knew how to comfort him. "I know it feels like you did something wrong but it's all a lie." He stopped quivering as she laid her hand on his shoulder, "When my mother died, I felt that it was my entire fault and I could have done something to prevent it. But now I know there was nothing I could've done for her. I wasn't to blame and I could finally get on with my life. You should understand that too. You are a kind person that understands a person's feelings and is willing to open up to someone. Don't think of it as something bad, it's a very special thing."

He suddenly broke down on her lap letting everything out that he couldn't before. He felt something lifted from his shoulders helping him feel joyful again. It felt wonderful.

"Thank you Meia."

The nirvana was quiet all through that day with the silent echoes of Dita begging Hibiki to see her room. It was getting pretty dull. Everyone had taken a bit of a break. All the crew on the bridge took a bit of a nap. It was too dull to do anything else.

"It's too silent around here." Magno said to BC.

"It's probably because Meia hasn't returned; she usually makes the others do drills around these times."

Suddenly, a face popped up on the screen. "This is Meia, reporting in."

"Well speak of the devil." Magno huffed, "What made you run off like that?"

"That was my fault commander." Yuki embarrassed laughed popping his face on view, "I needed to visit an old friend that's all. I needed to talk about a few things."

"Understood, just get back here you two."

"Roger, Meia rover and out." As Meia turned off the comm. Link she stared at Yuki for a moment. His face changed a bit. He was much happier aside for the wet tears still on his face. "Here," Meia handed him a tissue.

"What's this for?" Yuki asked.

"If you don't want anyone to know that you were crying, it would be best to dry your face."

"…Thanks." He gently lifted it from her hand and began to dry his eyes.

All seemed quiet for a minute until a large crash sounded and shook the ship. Both turned their heads to see that the nirvana was under attack by no other than Castile.

Immediately the Nirvana released their vanguards and dreads for battle. Some more excited than others. Especially Hibiki Tokai who wasn't the least bit hesitant to fight Hikaru again. Hikaru watched from a safe place the battle commencing. Beside him were the new berserker pilots all preparing for the feast of blood. Hikaru smirked as he placed the bracelet on his wrist.

"Time to find out if I have what it takes." He said to himself as he snapped it into place. A sudden burst of pain spread throughout his back making him howl. His other allies only gave of smirk of enjoyment. It was interesting to them to find out what he could do. His face now had blazing red eyes and his hair grew a bit longer. His face became paler that brought fear to many. A laugh came out of Hikaru's mouth. "Let's do this."

Hibiki burst from the fight and straight to Hikaru's red vanguard. He had a sleek grin on his face. "How you doing Hikaru, ready to battle me again?"

A bellowing laugh came out of Hikaru's mouth before he spoke, "You stand no chance against me anymore Hibiki. You should have called in sick." He showed off his new trinket on the screen, "This bracelet gives me new power that now courses throughout my body. I can already feel the power. It beckons me to kill you."

Hibiki still had his smirk on his face. "I still can't believe you'd use a booster. I thought you meant you'd get stronger without help from a tattoo or some jewelry."

"How dare you say that to the great Hikaru?" The Jura dread clone growled.

"Hold your fire Anita!" Hikaru growled. "All of you, go find another battle, this one is mine!"

As soon as the dreads left, it sealed Hibiki's fate. The fate that would end his life by the hands of a madman seeking raw power and a way to use it. The other's fates were sealed as well as they fought the new berserkers only to be throttled. Jura had an extremely difficult time fighting off Anita's attacks. Dita tried her best against Sheena's attacks but then found herself looking for her precious lover and crying out "MR. Alien!" Instead of fighting, Meia found herself running from her foe, Rave that was already on her tail. 'I know I should be fighting,' she then looked at Yuki with worry in his face, 'But I can't with him in here.'

A sudden transmission went to all Nirvana soldiers and to the ship as well. It showed a woman with a sweet smile on her face. "Hello all of the Nirvana," She began, "Allow me to introduce myself; I am lord Sakura, third greatest of all the royals." An evil smirk went on her face knowing how many shocked faces were looking at her.

"Greetings, I am the commander of this ship." Magno announced, "What brings your face here?"

"I'm asking for a settlement." Sakura cackled, "If you humbly give up peixis progma, I'll spare all of your lives."

"And if we don't?"

"Just look at your warriors. They seem to be having a pretty bad time." The screens showed that all weren't fairing so well. All the new Vanguard units and dreads were no match for the dozens of Castile units ganging up on them. And the old pirates were having a bad time. Especially Dita, Jura, Meia, and Hibiki. All were at their end.

"!"

"As you can see, you're going to die no matter what tactic you try. You should just give up."

"No way will we give up!" Misty growled with Mar hiding behind her, "We will stand up to any challenge you give us!"

"Yeah!" Seconded Mar, "We will never surrender to a bunch of idiots like you!"

"We will fight till the end!" Coco cried out.

Others were crying out to but were silenced by their commander as she said, "I'll give progma to you."

"WHAT!" Everyone cried out.

"Those kids out there shouldn't die for something like this. They have so much to live for. I wouldn't do it before but they have helped us through so much and I can't dirty my hands by letting them die."

Everyone was silent by this. Meia took this really hard.

"I can't believe this is happening." She gasped. "We…were giving up. This can't be true!"

Yuki looked at her with sadness and fear. He didn't like what was happening and with a deep sigh he turned on the comm. and said these final words. "Leader Yuki Dove of the lone wolf resistance force suggesting a new compromise."

Lord Sakura was quite surprised at hearing his voice, "So the dog comes back with his tail between his legs. Speak to me you mutt."

"If I give myself up…will that be enough?"

The Lord was silent for a moment but a smile was visible. An odd smile that showed darkness plotting. "Tell me…what would I gain?"

"You would gain the capture of one of Castile's greatest enemies, you'd gain someone who has experimented with peixis gel and has no side affects…you'd also get the blueprints to the missing parts of Castile weaponry." Yuki did not quiver or whined as he spoke. He said these things clearly as if he was on his ship.

"Ah, so you're the Doves' son eh? You grew up so well and yet you won't live to see another day. It's a trade."

Yuki gave out a slight grin by this. He managed to save peixis progmma and his friends. He was truly grateful…but Meia was not.

"WHY?" She whispered to him, "Why surrender! WHY!"

"Meia…"

"I still have no answer! WHY!"

"It's like you said…there was no way I could have saved my friends in that war and that I should put the past behind me. Now I have another problem I'm facing and this one I can stop. Why let others die when I can save them? Besides it wasn't like I was much help on the nirvana anyway."

"You were a great help!" Something liquid dripped on to Meia's hands, "You can't just leave. We need you here. Everyone cares for you!"

"And I care for them so I have to go."

"No!" She turned to him showing tears dripping from her face. She couldn't get rid of his face in her head. "You can't ju…" But she was cut off as Yuki pressed his lips against hers. She was shocked, why did he just do that?

"No more." He softly said as a tear came to his face, "I can't stand to know what I'm leaving. Just tell my sister goodbye."

Meia's look of surprise went back to her normal features and in her regular tone she was able to say, "Understood."

"Great, now take me to the enemy ship."

TheBeast was vastly huge and covered with guards at the entrance. Just seeing Yuki made them instantly cuff him and drag him away. Sakura looked at Meia with an evil snicker.

"He's a Castilian…" She began, "It was only natural for him to sacrifice himself. It's the way of our planet. Do what you can to save many." Meia looked at her with fury in her eyes but Sakura turned away and ordered for her leave.

"ALL CASTILIAN PILOTS, AN ORDER FROM LORD SAKURA." Their comm. sounded, "Return to the ship. A trade just went on commanding us to hold our fire."

"Oh man. We gave up?" Sheena whined, "But we were wining!"

"Do as you're told." Rave growled, "That goes for everyone." His eyes adverted to Hikaru's vanguard that was still pummeling Hibiki's. "Didn't you hear? There's a truce for now. We have to leave."

"NO," Snarled Hikaru, his eyes glared red with a new hatred in them that seemed to burn one's soul. "I have to beat him!"

"Beat him some other time!" Anita snapped, "This is not how a commanding officer should act."

"SHUT UP! ALL I WANT TO DO IS KILL HIM!"

"Damn, He really flipped his lid." Hibiki thought to himself from his cockpit. "Guess I have to keep him entertained and that suits me fine." Hibiki swung his sword towards Hikaru's robot arm but missed. "If you want a fight Hikaru, I'll give you one!"

Hikaru's fanged mouth turned into a toothy grin, "I'll only stop once you're dead!"

Both swung their swords violently. The blades kept clanging by the other until they were knocked out of their master's hands. They than started using bare fists thrashing with uppercuts and punches. The pilots were all bloodied and bruised but still kept fighting until they could take no more. The final blow was soon to be struck.

"You won't be waking up from this one Hibiki!" Hikaru cackled as he charged with a raw fist.

"You shouldn't be blaring off your mouth when your about to loose." Hibiki charged with his powerful fist right back.

'You two mustn't fight!' the voice cried to them.

"Leave me alone!" Hikaru growled to the spirit, "You'll just be in my way!"

'Please don't! It's wrong!'

"Sorry but I'm not in the mood for your rants!" Hibiki hollered.

The fists were aimed at the other's head.

'NO!'

They were getting closer.

'You mustn't fight! You're being deceived!'

They still blazed on.

'If you will not stop…'

They were inches apart now.

'I will stop you!'

The two warriors were surrounded by a green light that swallowed them to another place. The pilots seemed to have lost their vanguards and now were the ones about to punch each other's faces in. They still ran for the blow and…WHAM…they both hit something soft like a cheek. The fog uplifted from the fists revealing the blow hit none other than the little girl that followed them into their dreams. Her eyes were filled with tears from the pain and she began to hide her hits with her hands.

"Oh no." Hikaru immediately ran to the girl. "I-I didn't mean to hit you."

"You alright?" Hibiki asked the girl.

She began to apologies "I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"I've been pretending to be something I'm not."

"Huh?"

"I'm not your sister." The girl revealed her bruises on her face…there were cracks in them. As if her face was a mask. Her face suddenly shattered into a thousand pieces and now revealed a new face that had green eyes and aqua hair. She looked still pretty young and her face had a guilt look on it.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Why pretend to be my sister though!" Hibiki barked.

"You wouldn't have listened to what I had to say. I wanted to become someone you still remembered and all that I could see was that you remembered your sister…you had already forgotten me."

"?"

"I'm sorry for tricking you" She silently said. For some strange reason Hibiki wasn't that mad at her. All he could do is pat her on the head and say, "It's alright."

Her eyes brightened and she giggled a little. "Try and remember me okay?"

Hibiki nodded.

"Hikaru, you mustn't keep that bracelet on anymore."

Hikaru looked at it for a bit. "Why?"

"It kills me as much as it kills you. You must remember your past too."

"I already know my past."

"No…" She grabbed his hands and gave him a faint smile, "I've been hiding the truth from you for a very long time."

Her image changed again, this time she became the rightful age of 23 and her hair rolled everywhere on the floor. She gave Hikaru a kiss on the cheek making him blush a little.

"Andrea!" He gasped, "But…but…"

"It's all right…" She cooed, "I have to tell you something very important. The red peixis…its mph!" her mouth was covered by a figure's hand pulling her into a strange red mist.

"You were better at keeping your mouth shut!" It snapped at her pulling her head inside the red darkness.

"No!" Hikaru ran to her with an outstretched hand. His foot suddenly crystallized making him fall over. "Bring her back!" He tried his best to remove the things but to no avail.

Only her hand now remained in the green mist. Hibiki immediately grabbed it and tried to pull it back with him.

"You pathetic bitch," The figure snapped at Andréa, "You try to get help from the weakest link!"

"Let me go! I don't want to go back! Not to that place!" The man held a hand up glowing purple.

"I'm taking you back whether you want to or not!" He placed his hand upon her head sending out the aura throughout her body sending off the worst pain to her and Hibiki. She couldn't take anymore she let her grip go on the mist and drowned into the red darkness.

The woman awoken back in her prison. She felt extremely weak that she didn't even try standing. She noticed a man looking at her inside of the strange cell she was in. It was made of glass and the floor was covered in symbols (Her body as well). It looked like some life size snow globe she was trapped in.

She gave him a sinister look and as well to his accomplice beside him. "You can't keep me in here forever Amith." She weakly snarled. Her head now dripped with blood.

Amith gave her an evil smile, "Why can't I? I've already taken care of the resistance, you, and even the failures of pilots. You are hopeless to stop me." He motioned for his accomplice to walk with him as he left.

"I'm still Lordeth…" She cried, "And as I still breathe I will find a way to help my people!"

Amith could only laugh, "You can't even help yourself."

Once he had left she curled herself into a ball and wept a real tear. "My time's running out." She whispered, "You two are the only ones that can save me now."

FINALLY! I'm finished with this new chapter. I know it sucks but I was in a hurry to finish it because my real chapter was destroyed along with my OLD laptop. Confused? Good! It will all get better in the next chapter. Next chapter: Hikaru doesn't believe that it was only a dream he had and decides to talk to the new prisoner Yuki for advice. WHY? Next chapter will tell all!