Hello guys! It's been a long while since I posted any of my writing in this site because of my new busy schedule and gaming on weekends, but I decided to take up writing again. This one was originally a free write attempt after my previous unpublished (yet) crossover hit a brick wall from the writer's block. I took up the GE games while waiting for my old laptop to be fixed, added with some war movies being played in the local TV and voila! Here's the result!

Disclaimer: I don't own God Eater or the characters. Else the ship teases won't just end up being ship teases.

Spirit of the Sky

Chapter 1 – Black Cadets

The sky was clear, with the color blue partially covered by the white clouds. It was a sight the people of Susano'o Islands, a small country of thousands of islands, couldn't see for the past ten years. The small country was rich in natural resources, which had attracted many bigger countries to attack and invade the defenseless country in order to loot its resources. The lack of military power was the primary reason for the past invasions, but the new government had taken the chance of the temporary ceasefire to strengthen the country's defenses.

Harsh training and the lack of trust for the military's quality had reduced the number of people, particularly the younger ones, who registered to be a part of the army. The government had other plans, as they had planned on selecting a handful of specific people to be a part of a special combat unit. The people possessing special combat abilities would be enough to cover for the lower quantity of the army, as it would mean that fewer lives would be lost in the war.

Two had been found and trained. It would be a matter of time before the next batch of new cadets to join and there would be a chance to recruit four more specialists into the team.

A big yawn had escaped a brown-haired young man's mouth as he stood among various people wearing the same green military uniform he had. The sun was bright and hot, but what bothered him the most would be the commandant giving his speech on the podium. It was boring for him to stand in a crowd doing nothing but listen to the commandant's and the army's achievements. Listening to long speeches wasn't the one he expected when he decided to join the army in the first place.

"Ugh… are we going to stand out here until midnight?" The young man looked around and noticed that he wasn't the only one complaining.

Some of the new cadets were listening, but more of them were whispering to each other just to pass some time before they were introduced to their own units. Most of them joined with their friends, but the young man came on his own. It didn't matter to him, as the wars had changed his life, just like with many other lives in the country.

Just as another yawn was coming, he felt someone had pushed him from behind that he almost crashed into the person standing in front of him. He turned around, feeling upset about the sudden push, until the anger quickly turned into confusion when he saw a dark-haired young woman about his age with her face covered with cake frosting and a completely destroyed cake on a plate she was carrying.

The woman noticed his staring and gasped, "Oh! I'm so sorry! I got so hungry after missing my second lunch and I was going to find some space to eat some cake and…"

"I told you so, Nana!" The woman turned around from the voice of another young man with short blond hair. "Why don't you just stay where we were before and just eat the cake before it's ruined?"

"But I don't want the cake to fall over…" Nana gave him a frown as she licked the frosting off her face and the taste had brightened her face. "Hey, the cake is still good! Do you still want some, Romeo?"

Romeo gave her a stare as his vision went back and forth between Nana as she was cleaning her face and the leftovers of the cake on the plate, "I… think I'll let you have the rest…"

"Mmm… okay…" Nana returned to the young man she had crashed into before and offered the plate to him. "To say sorry about before, do you want some cake… uh…"

"It's Hiro," he said with a smile as he extended his hand and over the plate, "I… guess it's nice to meet you two?"

Seeing as the woman was still busy with the cake, Romeo had taken the hand shake in her stead, "Nice meeting you too, Bro. It's great to finally know someone else here who doesn't told us off immediately."

Hiro let out a laugh, "Nah, don't worry about it. It's pretty awesome to have fun people around to pass the time until the speech is−"

A round of applause had interrupted him and when they looked back at the podium, the commandant was about to step down. A young woman with silver hair saluted at him as he was leaving before she took over the podium.

"Before all of you are assigned to your rooms, I shall announce the unit numbers under which you will be serving. Please pay close attention to this announcement as I shall only read it one time."

Hiro was left frozen, staring at the woman as she announced the teams at the podium. It was Romeo who snapped him back to reality as he patted his shoulder, "Hey, you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" The brunette stole another quick glance at the woman before looking back at him, "I guess… we won't be seeing each other too often if we happen to end up being in different units, right?"

"Don't worry about it!" The blond proudly folded his arms. "I've worked for the office side for a while, so I know a lot about the secret passages for meetups!"

"Wait, do they have secret passages towards the kitchen area?" Nana grabbed him out of excitement. "Please tell me there's one in there!"

"W-Well…" Romeo was trying to avoid her sparkling gaze as he tried to release himself from her firm hold. "I think… maybe they have one?"

Hiro had patted the blond's shoulder this time and turned him around, but the brunette's gaze was still fixed at the podium, "Any paths to the area where the higher ups would be hanging out?"

"Why do you want to−"

"Romeo Leoni, Unit Ninety-Nine. Please proceed to the entry gate number Twenty-Seven for a medical checkup."

"Hey, your name is called!" Nana had slapped her blond friend on the arm, though with some extra strength that Romeo had a pained look, "Um… are you okay, Romeo?"

He held his pained arm before giving her and Hiro a confident thumbs-up, "Don't worry, I-I'm good!" Romeo glanced at the entry gates where the cadets were going through and turned back to the two. "I'll see you guys later, okay?"

Hiro and Nana bid their farewells as Romeo was leaving and continued waiting for their names to be called. Nana was the next one and was appointed to a different unit, leaving Hiro to get the news that he was transferred to yet a different unit as well. Perhaps their meeting was a bit short-lived, though they could probably still meet up during training sessions if they actually had time to hang out.

"Name?"

"Hiro. Hiro Kamui."

The brunette watched as the well-dressed officer on the desk in front of him was scribbling down on the forms. The frantic writing came to a stop and the officer started flipping through the papers on the clipboard before taking out his communicator. The officer took another closer look at Hiro before turning on the communicator.

"This is Private Yuzuki from gate Thirty-Three. Candidate number 557 has the results as described in the briefing."

There was a bit of static noise before the sound of a woman was heard from the other side of the communicator.

"Lead them to the unit they belong to. Gate Twenty-Seven and Ninety had reported in as well."

"Yes Ma'am," The officer turned off the communicator and went under the desk, which Hiro snuck a peek at out of curiosity.

The brunette could hear the whispers coming from behind him, talking about seeing people being taken to a separate building instead. The tones of the whispers turned into a worrisome one until the officer cleared his throat loudly and handed Hiro a set of black uniform with a design similar to the one he was wearing.

"Change into this uniform and head for Camp Zero. Your unit is waiting there, Cadet Kamui."

Hiro could feel unpleasant stares coming from behind him before he took the new uniform in a hurry. "Y-Yes, I'll dash over there in an instant!"

The brunette pushed through the line of cadets and out of the gate, looking around the area for the building he was told to go. The only problem he had would be the fact that he had no idea what the building even looked like and it never crossed his mind to ask the officer from before.

"Camp Zero is the solitary building north of here."

Hiro was startled by the unfamiliar voice and turned around to see a man leaning against a tree by the gate entrance. The shades from the leaves had covered most of his face that Hiro couldn't see the speaker clearly enough, but the similar green uniform he was wearing gave away the fact that the man was a part of the army. It was for that reason Hiro gave him a quick and silent salute before running towards the lone building to the north.

The young brunette stood in front of the lone building, which looked a lot older compared to the other buildings he had been. The green paint was mostly gone and replaced by rust all over the place, either from the old age or the changing weather. For someone who was looking forward to spending a long time in a military facility, Hiro was clearly disappointed.

"If the rust is actually there just for some sort of an artistic decor… I think I'll need to have a word with the architect who built this thing…"

The steps which were previously filled with excitement were gone as Hiro was dragging his feet before he had to put some extra effort to open the old door.

The smell of rust was strong inside the dimly-lit room filled with crates. His footsteps echoed in the empty room as he walked around to inspect the identical crates, until he noticed something moving among the crates. He approached one of the stacks cautiously, until one of them suddenly fell to the floor and startled him.

"Sorry! That was an accident!"

Blond hair popped out from the place where the crate had fallen from and Hiro recognized the familiar face. "Wait, Romeo?"

"Huh? Hey, it's you again!" Romeo jumped down from the stack, greeting the new friend he met just a few hours previously. "I thought that we were all going to be in separate teams!"

"What? Nana's here too?" Hiro looked around the room once more before Romeo pointed him at the right direction, where the young woman was munching away a couple of sandwiches. "Hey, come down and share some of those snacks with us, will ya?"

Nana responded to the call, surprised to see the new group meeting up again in a short span of time. "Hiro! You're here too!"

She quickly finished the sandwiches in her hands before taking her bag with her as she jumped down through the crates. Loud thuds echoed in the room as she jumped through the crates towards the two before jumping down to the group of two.

"We're all here, but I still don't know why we're specifically told to transfer to this unit," Romeo was looking around the room with his arms behind his head. "And this place looks kinda old. I wonder if they're going to give us some sort of special training because I think I heard the officers saying about us having 'special' results in the medical checkup−"

A loud creaking sound was heard in the room, startling the three as another door hidden by the lack of light slid open. The sound of clanking heels on the metal floor accompanied the young woman in the standard green uniform as she walked towards the group of three. The three golden medals hanging on the right and one on the left side of her chest shone brightly as they reflected the light coming from the lamp above her.

The woman gave the group a quick salute before slightly sweeping away the silver bangs covering her face as she held on to a clipboard.

"I believe there should be four of you, according to what I had been informed of," The woman's expression remained unchanged as the confused trio watched her looking over the clipboard in her hand. "I see. The last member would be able to join the rest of you on the next day due to the delayed transfer paperwork."

Hiro was watching her carefully as he knew he couldn't forget a face just easily, especially for people whom he found to be interesting. "You… you're the one who announced the teams before, right?"

The woman turned her gaze at him, though without a hint of anger, "Would that be the proper way to talk to your superior officer, Cadet?"

"Wha−"

Just as Hiro was about to respond, Romeo quickly pulled him back and covered his mouth, "I-I'm sorry, Corporal! I think he still doesn't know about the officers in charge around this area… or this building to be exact…"

"Ah, my apologies," The woman drew her legs together as she stood up straight. "I am Corporal Ciel Alencon, previously of Medical Unit Three and one of the instructors for shooting practice. As of today, I shall also serve as the vice captain of Unit Zero, the special combat unit all of you are to serve as well."

Nana was looking at her in awe, "Oh… look like you're about my age but you're already a corporal!"

"Nana!" Romeo slightly elbowed the dark-haired woman. "She's our vice captain, and from the infamous Alencon family too! Give her some respect!"

"Ah, yes!" Instead of giving her superior officer a hand salute as Romeo did, Nana bowed down at her, "I'm sorry! I'll try to be good and treat everyone with respect!"

Ciel didn't respond and turned to Hiro as he looked at her, looking completely stunned, "Is everything clear, Cadet Kamui?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" The brunette gave her a salute as he responded with a much louder voice and a big smile on his face, "Everything is as clear and bright as the sky!"

The door creaked once more as it slid open a young man a few years older than them entered the room as well. "Responding in a tone louder than necessary also means disrespect towards your senior officers, Cadet."

"Lieutenant Visconti, Sir!" Ciel gave the newcomer a salute as he stopped by her side.

"I'll take over from here. The general needs you to be in his office immediately," The young man took the clipboard as Ciel was leaving and turned towards the group of three. "I'd rather not hear any complaints either from the Vice Captain or other officers from different units about your bad behavior or anything relevant."

Hiro noticed the sharp glance he got and let out a sigh, "I'm sorry about that, Sir…"

The man ignored his half-hearted apology and looked back at the rest of them, "Along with Corporal Alencon, I, First Lieutenant Julius Visconti, shall be in charge of this special unit as your captain," He looked at the clipboard in his hand in a few seconds pause. "I believe that's everything I need to add for the time being. During your time training as cadets, this building shall become your dorm and all of you are required to wake up every morning at six to begin training. Dismissed."

Without any more words, Julius left once more through the door where he came from and closed it with another loud creaking sound.

"Wow, a really friendly and sociable captain…"

It was nighttime on the first day in the military facility.

The old building the three of them occupied had enough supplies for them to sleep, even if the old black cloth they tore apart for blankets was old and dusty. The quiet environment was pleasant enough for Nana to fall asleep almost immediately, leaving Romeo and Hiro still awake.

Nana had occupied the dark corner farthest from the door, curling in her blanket. Hiro had taken the spot near the crates across her, but under one of the lamps hanging on the ceiling. Romeo was lying next to him, but the young blond couldn't stop tossing and turning as he was trying to get a good position to sleep in.

"Man, the floor is hard and cold!" Romeo kicked his blanket off him as he sat up, tired from rolling around to try to sleep. "Can't they afford like a cheap bunk bed or something for us to sleep on?"

"Yeah…" Hiro gave him a response, but the brunette didn't pay too much attention to his friend as his eyes were glued to the sketchbook in front of him. "That's why I'm trying to get myself tired enough so I can ignore the metal floor when I sleep."

The blond lied down once more with a loud sigh before turning his head to look at Hiro, "At least you have something to do here. I can't draw and I don't have anything I can use to tire myself to sleep."

"We can talk about something if you want, but give me a few more seconds to finish this up," The sound of pencil strokes were heard as the brunette drew his head closer towards the sketchbook before he slammed it onto his lap. "And done!"

Romeo went over to the brunette's side out of curiosity, seeing as Hiro was hard to talk to the moment he had the sketchbook and the pencil in his hands. Hiro responded to the curiosity by showing Romeo his finished sketch and a proud thumbs up.

"Just a little something I drew to impress our pretty vice captain when I get the chance to show her," Hiro smiled widely as he looked back and forth between his sketch and Romeo's surprised look. "What do you think? Is it like the real person herself?"

"You… you've got the talent, man!" The blond took the sketchbook to admire Hiro's work before flipping through the other pages. "They look so awesome! All of them!"

The brunette let out an embarrassed laugh, feeling overwhelmed by the praises as Romeo looked over his other drawings. "Well… I guess I'm kinda used to it because I had to start earning for myself as a kid. It doesn't always earn me much, but I'm enjoying the life as a freelance artist."

"A freelance artist, huh…" Romeo was nodding as he spoke and returned the sketchbook, "If it's not earning you much, I'm guessing that you're joining the military for some extra cash?"

"Nah, not really," the brunette shrugged as he smiled. "I've always wanted some action in my life and the army happens to be recruiting, so I'll just go for it and here I am."

The blond leaned against the crate behind him. "Some action, huh? I guess I kinda expected it when I was still working in the intelligence division before, but I'm more into hanging out with friends part, just like how I see it when I eat at the cafeteria with the soldiers."

"There's still the part about losing people in battle and other lives lost, you know," Hiro's smile faded as he slid down under his own blanket. "Like, the wars years ago caused so many lives to be lost…" The brunette could feel that Romeo was looking at him and he rolled to the side to hide his face. "Lives like my parents'…"

There was a short pause as the blond looked at his friend in pity. "Sorry to bring that up, buddy. But you're not the only one like that in this country, you know."

"I know…" The brunette rolled to his back once more with a sigh. "I'm not the only orphan from the war. I know that a few people my age lost their parents from the past wars."

Romeo gave him a nod. "Some people in the same division as I used to be lost their relatives in battle. I lost mine from the bombing a couple of years ago and Nana…" The blond looked at his sleeping friend. "… well, her mom died in a fire when her family's restaurant burned down from a gas leak. She stayed with my family until the bombing killed my own… and my relatives decided to send us both to an orphanage instead of taking us in."

"Looks like you and Nana had some tough times too, huh…"

"Yeah, but she's pretty strong herself that she's always cheerful and smiling just to brighten pretty much every gloomy situation," A smile made its way to his face as he slid down into his blanket. "I guess I can say that I can survive this long without feeling desperate because of Nana and the people around me."

"I think I'll join in the fun of your contagious cheerfulness too, while we're in the same unit," Hiro raised a fist towards Romeo. "You cool with that?"

The blond gave him a surprised look for a moment before he responded with a smile and a fist bump. "I'm totally cool with that!"

"Great! And now I'll need you to be my wingman and gather some intel on our vice captain!"

Romeo let out a laugh, "Are you into her that you're already drawing her a sketch after knowing her for one day?"

"I like that icy cold glare of hers."

"Too bad buddy, she's already taken."

The proud smile on Hiro's face disappeared instantly, "T-Taken? Am I just too late or is she just that popular?"

"Her family is, that's what I've heard of," The blond slid his hands under his head as he was thinking. "The Alencon family was a famous military family with Corporal's parents being a world-known sniper and a tactician. She was the only Alencon left alive after the enemy bombed their mansion and shot down fleeing survivors. Not sure if that incident actually nullified her engagement−"

"Wait," Hiro grabbed Romeo's collar suddenly, surprising the blond. "She's already engaged?! To whom?!"

"Uh…" The blond was trying to avoid the brunette's gaze as he responded. "T-To the Visconti family, or to our captain to be exact…"

The grip on the blond's collar loosened and Romeo slid back to the floor with a painful thud, which Hiro had ignored completely.

His chance was so close yet so far, but it didn't look like he had no chance at all. Surely he was still just a rankless cadet for now, but he still had plenty of chances in the future to prove his worth.

"Lieutenant or not, I will become better than him! Definitely!"

Julius was standing in front of a door with the golden nameplate 'General Gregory de Gremslow' on it. He straightened his uniform shirt and brushed the dust off his clothes before bringing his hand up to knock on the solid wooden door.

"This is Lieutenant Visconti, Sir."

There was a pause for a moment before a voice came from the other side of the door.

"Come in."

The blond entered the office, revealing the older man sitting behind the desk on the other side of the room. He put the pen he was using to sign some documents on his desk and picked up an already-lit cigarette from the ashtray on his left. He leaned back on his seat with an uninterested look on his face as Julius approached him and gave him a salute.

"Please excuse the intrusion at this hour, General Grem," The blond started before dropping his hand back to the side. "Regarding Unit Zero, I would like to propose a request as their captain."

The general exhaled the smoke from his cigarette as the expression on his face remained unchanged. "What is it? If it's about the number of members, they're already the same amount as the late Doctor Rachel had predicted and I won't add any other members."

"There are no issues with the number of team members, Sir," Julius responded. "I would like to propose a proper dorm area for them to sleep in. Letting our finest cadets to sleep in the storage room would cause not only a decrease in their morale, but also a possibility in health issues in the long term."

Grem suddenly burst out laughing, which had confused the unit captain as he stood in front of the general. "They're special cadets! The chances of them contracting any sort of diseases is little to none! No, I shall not spend unnecessary budget for extra beds! We need all the money we can to invest on weapons and ammunition for the upcoming battle in a few months!"

There was a short pause before Julius gave him a light nod. "Understood, Sir. I apologize for my inconsiderate proposal. I shall excuse myself."

The blond took a few seconds of silence as he watched his superior turning his chair away from him and towards the portraits of the previous generals. A puff of smoke rose up from his seat and over a portrait of the only blond general. He looked at the former general's eyes, which had the same eye color as his, before he finally left the office.

He turned to his right, aware of the presence of another person as he got out. "Did you pass my message to him?"

"Yes," The other person was a younger girl with short blonde hair and gave him a salute. "Your request might delay his arrival to your unit, Sir, but he had no objections to the job."

"Thank you," Julius walked past the blonde girl. "I'll take care of his delayed transfer documents as I'll be the one responsible for the delay itself. Get some rest, Private Bourgogne."

"Yes Sir!"

Author's Note:

Before I end the chapter here, I have a few things I should note first:

One, the 'love triangle' part will be handled later on and the main pair will be MC (in this case, Hiro) with Ciel just like I mentioned in the summary. The part with Romeo and Nana is still tentative, but I'll see what I can do with them.

Second, the military ranks promotions will most likely not follow the actual rank promotions in real life. Or at least, not the exact copy of the actual thing.

Third, the returning characters from the original GE games would most likely not make an appearance in the story. Even if I eventually decide to put them into the story, they'll mostly be playing minor support roles.

I think that's everything for now and... hopefully I don't forget anything important. Anyways, please leave a review and tell me what you think about the story so far!