Hey guys! Sorry about the delay in posting this chapter, I was on spring break and my family insisted we 'hold off' on the technology, so I didn't get as much time as I wanted to write this chapter. Anyways, enjoy and leave a comment, question or review!
Kaname couldn't react. Her eyes widened to the point where she thought her head would explode. Messer was here? Alive? Flying in action? HOW? The man long thought dead was kneeling right in front of her, looking almost exactly as he did before he died. Her head was furious whirlwind of questions that couldn't be answered. Not yet.
"Messer-kun?" Kaname said his name again, her mind not yet grasping what was happening.
"Hello, Kaname-san. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Messer's husky and calm voice snapped her back to reality.
Kaname couldn't say anything for a moment. "H-How? I-I watched you die...We buried you..." The tears began to spill out of her eyes. "I thought you were gone forever..." Her voice begins to crack.
Messer looks down slightly, and Kaname swore she saw a mixture of shame and grief on his face before he responded.
What he did next, shocked her in every way possible. Her eyes bulged briefly and she squirmed a bit before melting into the kiss. They stayed like that for a minute before their lips parted, Kaname near breathless and flustered. Messer pulled her into a close embrace, her body pressed close against his, their eyes locked.
"I can't tell you everything, Kaname, but I need to tell you this: I've loved you from the moment we met. I could never express it, and it nearly cost me." He squeezes her. "I will not make that mistake again."
"Please tell me you can stay with us." Kaname begs softly, her mind already knowing the answer.
Messer gently shakes his head, not putting more distance between himself and her. "I can't. Not yet. I will help you anyway I can, but I'm not supposed to have met you here. I'll explain later, don't worry, I'll help you anyway I can, indirectly. But this much, I can tell you: Go three miles southeast. There is another shuttle, along with most of Delta Platoon. There is another person closing in on Mikumo's position."
Kaname was still a flustered mess, but she took in the information, and swore to remember it. "Before you go, I need to know, will you ever come back?" She was fighting back the tears that threatened to spill.
Messer pulls her close enough for their foreheads to touch. "I WILL come back, Kaname. So please, wait for me. Live for me."
Kaname pulls him into a kiss with more strength than either of them realized she had. She squeezed him tightly before separating. "You better come back in time for my birthday." She gives him a smile that made his heart melt.
"I'll be there, I promise."
"Don't make me a promise you can't keep." She teases lightly.
Messer smiles. "Have I ever?"
Kaname hugs him one last time before whispering in his ear. "Check your room. The key's under the mat."
Messer smiles as he puts on his helmet and walks back to his Siegfried. He turns to look at Kaname. "Is my old plane still here?"
She looks up, a bit surprised. "Yeah, why?"
"If the old seat still exists, take off the seat padding." He says as he climbs into the cockpit. He gives Kaname a salute before taking off. As he takes off, he smirks to himself.
Two months, huh?
He frowns as a ripple effect forms around his fighter. Two VF-30 Chronos's appear next to him, with at least ten more behind him, accompanied by a strange shuttle. Both of them, similar to his fighter, have unique insignias of their own. There is a rose-emblazoned fighter to his left, and and a white-winged fighter on his right.
"You just couldn't resist, could you?" A female voice rings from his comm. Her voice is light yet serious.
Messer looks at the holo screen on the left of his canopy. A young woman, most likely in her early twenties, with slightly narrowed purple eyes looks at him expectantly. A lock of brown hair is visible on the side of her face.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Messer nonchalantly replies.
"We're not as clueless as you'd like us to be, Messer." A soft voice notes. Her tone was strikingly similar to Reina's, yet that it was noticeably lighter.
Messer looks up slightly as a pair of Freyja-sized gold eyes focus on him. "I have no comments for that statement." The girl with gold eyes tilted her head to the side to look at the squadron behind them, revealing a sliver of silver hair. She looks back at Messer, her eyes slightly narrowed.
"Messer, you don't have to lie to us. I know we're still not on the best of terms, but seriously; we know you went after the Nightmares that were targeting Kaname Buccaneer." The younger pilot notes.
"You fail to mention that Reina Prowler was also present and in her current condition, she would've been injured worse." Messer replies, agitation evident.
The older pilot scoffs. "Look, I can't say that I know how you feel, but the mission comes first. You can't compromise the mission because your feelings get in the way-"
"What the hell is our mission? Assist Chaos in repelling Red Veil's assault? For the amount of intelligence that you pride yourself over, Captain Takamura, you seem to have failed to realize that we have already failed to do so. The Elysion is already crippled, and Walkure is being hunted like animals in a forest. Stop me if I'm wrong, but I just stopped two vital potential assets from being captured and tortured by what is easily known to us as the most aggressive and violent sub-faction of NUNS." Messer growls.
The two female pilots look at each other, both of them incredibly offset by the burst of fierce emotion from the otherwise calm pilot.
"Messer, we're-"
"Save it. We've got four VF-22's and twenty Nightmares inbound. I'll take care of the spec ops fighters." Messer snaps. He throttles forward, not even giving the other pilots time to say anything. He glares at the incoming group.
You've got a lot of nerve to go after my friends. I don't care if they don't see me that way. I've been gone too long; it's time to make up for my absence.
Somewhere in the forest
Mikumo stirs from the distant sound of gunfire and explosions. She opens her eyes, only to realize that it was most likely the middle of the night, because she couldn't see much. She tries to sit up, only to realize that Freyja was still resting on her. It wasn't that she couldn't move her protege, it was the fact that Freyja had her arms wrapped snugly around Mikumo's chest, using her breasts as a pillow. Mikumo blushed slightly as Freyja hugged her chest closer, squeezing her chest in the process. It came to the point where Mikumo couldn't help but squirm, and after a minute, a soft but audible sound escaped her lips. It apparently startled Freyja, because her head shot up and her arms tightened further around Mikumo's breasts. The latter tensed up, yelping audibly.
"Ah! I'm sorry, Mikumo-san!" Freyja blushes softly as her rune pulses a low pink, illuminating both of their faces.
"I-It's fine, Freyja. Can you ease up though?" Mikumo tilts her head off to the side.
"Yeah." Freyja lightly disengages from Mikumo. "How long have we been out?"
"I don't know. A few hours. Be quiet a moment." Mikumo's curt reply makes Freyja stop for a moment. She looks around and finds, or rather, hears why Mikumo shut her off.
In the distance behind them, five white lights switch on, accompanied by a series of voices.
"What're you talking about, I didn't see anything."
"Me neither. You sure you're not hallucinating?"
"I swear I saw something. This is a forest, unless you know any glow-in-the-dark purple plants, I'm pretty sure that was one of them."
"I heard something too. There's two of them out there. There has to be, the voices sounded different."
"Shut it, they might try to move. If we can hear them, they can probably hear us. Lets hurry and grab them. From the sounds of it, Team two got wiped out."
"We need to move."
Mikumo and Freyja look at each other, their hearts pounding. They quickly pack up the blanket and grab the bag of supplies. Right as they stand up against the tree, another light flashes them from the side.
"They're over here! Behind the tree! Get them!"
Mikumo and Freyja shoot each other looks before they dart off in the opposite direction of the lights, when a series of gunfire erupts from behind them. Several of the trees around them splinter, Freyja raising her arm to cover herself from the hail of wood chips. They jump over a fallen tree, barely avoiding the bullets whizzing over their heads.
"Hey! We need them alive!"
"Well, we need them in general, so go for the legs!"
"If you don't have a clear shot, don't shoot! If you end up killing one of them, you're next on the boss' list!"
"Fuck it!"
Mikumo and Freyja dive toward a large boulder, both of their hearts racing. They checked their left, which they came from, then they checked behind them, seeing the group still hot on their trail. Neither of them saw the men approaching from in front of them until they were blinded by the flashlights.
"Hold it right there!"
They try to run off to the left, but two men appear out of their blind spots. One of them punches Freyja in the stomach, sending her to the ground hard. Mikumo kicks the man who tries to grab her in the face, but gets thrown by the other. She lands next to Freyja, who is coiled up in pain. Mikumo looks up to see the men surrounding them in an arc. She wraps her arms protectively around Freyja, inching away from the group when she feels a metal piece jammed forcefully on the back of her head.
"Don't even try it."
Mikumo looks behind her out of the corner of her eye to see a menacing figure pointing a pistol to her head with one hand. She scoffs, standing up with Freyja in her arms. She ignores the look that Freyja gives her, along with the man steadying his pistol with his other arm. She turns partially toward the man, ensuring that if anyone decided to fire, the rounds wouldn't collateral the two of them.
"You need us alive, do you not? What good would it serve your boss to kill either of us?" Mikumo narrows her eyes at the man holding her at gunpoint.
The man laughs, his voice coarse and hard. He then aims his pistol down and fires. The bullet shaves Mikumo's left knee and impacts just below her right knee. Mikumo cries out as her leg gives out from the pain and strain from holding Freyja up. She tries to steady herself as the man walks around her and wraps his arm around Freyja's neck. The Windermerean singer cries out and tries to free herself, but the man strikes her in the back of her head. Freyja lets out a pained sound as she struggles to stay conscious.
"Let me make some things clear. First, we only need you, she's only a secondary priority." He growls as he puts the barrel under her chin. Freyja yelps as her eyes grow wide. "Second, I've been informed that you possess remarkable healing abilities, so I can treat you however I damn well please, so you'd better behave."
Mikumo glares at the man intensely, and in response, the man strikes her head sideways, knocking her out.
"Alright, let's go. We've received reports of a shuttle that doesn't belong to us sitting two miles North of here. I want four of you guarding her." He motions to the unconscious Mikumo. "Two of you hold on to her." He shoves Freyja into the arms of a man, who places a firm hand on her shoulder. He gives her a steely gaze. The other man doesn't make eye contact with her. She stumbles as she tries to stand up, and the man grabs her. He sighs before picking Freyja up and putting her over his shoulder. Freyja groaned in pain, as the bruise on her stomach wasn't going to go away anytime soon. The mercenaries, with Mikumo and Freyja hostage, then move toward Delta Platoon, who are unaware of the impending assault.
A half mile from shuttle two's site
Chuck yawns as he squints around him. "Man, I can't see anything out here. How're we gonna know if Shiro or someone else is coming to us?"
Hayate looks at the flashlight attached to his rifle, tempted to turn it on for some peace of mind. "First off, keep it down a bit. Second, when Shiro gets close, hopefully with some, if not all of Walkure, he'll ring us up. He's not an idiot, we just have to trust him."
Chuck looks at him, his azure hair slightly visible with the glint of moonlight coming through the trees. "You sure put a lot of trust in him. You think he's being completely honest with us so far?"
"I have to. There's no one else who's capable of rescuing Walkure, given the sorry state we're in right now." Hayate eyebrows narrow slightly. "Realistically, he's probably not telling us everything, but as far as I can tell, he hasn't lied to us."
"I suppose that's true. It's just, I can't help but wonder if this all would've happened with or without Shiro coming here." Chuck says as he stands up, stretching his back.
"If Shiro hadn't come here when he did, wouldn't we have already lost Walkure, either from them being kidnapped or being blown to bits?"
Chuck stops to think for a moment. "Yeah, you've got a point there. A lot's happened recently, huh?"
"Yeah." Hayate tenses. He cocks his head towards the sound. Chuck notices the movement and readies his rifle. "Hayate, go and alert the Captain. Sounds like a group."
"The Captain said not to split up. In any case, we shouldn't fight them head-on. Come on, let's go." Hayate turns.
Chuck looks back for a moment before turning to follow Hayate.
Meanwhile, half a mile from Mikumo and Freyja's initial position
Shiro, after twenty minutes of continuous sprinting, decided to rest briefly. He taps his earpiece to check for any signs of communication from Delta Platoon and/or the Elysion. After a minute, he closes the channel and stretches his neck. He looks around in the dark for any sign of activity. Shiro's eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, and unlike most other people, he was easily capable of seeing well in the dark. He finds a clearing and sits down. He takes off both of his swords, examining both of their blades. Each blade had pulsing blue circuit like lines running the length of the blade. For some reason, they were pulsing a deeper blue than they normally would. He traces a finger across the length of blade, the light almost following his finger. He places them back on his back, the right sword going first. He frowns as he reflects on the information he 'extracted' from the mercenary leader.
Twenty-five minutes ago
"Alright, tell me what you know." Shiro's unemotional yet inhumanely cold voice snaps.
"O-okay, we were hired by a splinter faction of NUNS, th-they call themselves "Red Veil," and they wanted us to grab Walkure for them." The man's voice is shaky.
"Why?"
"They didn't tell us. They only told us that the group leader, Mikumo Guynemer took priority over the rest. That, and they paid us a lot of money. Enough to buy a new Macross-class warship. That doesn't even include the down payment we got."
Shiro's lips curve down ever so slightly. "Sounds like they really wanted the job done."
"No kidding. They even hired different mercenary groups and said that whoever got the job done the fastest would receive a bonus. But they didn't tell us about you."
"Have any of the other groups found anyone?"
"I don't know how it went, but one of the squads flying Nightmares found the redhead and the Zentradi girl, but we lost contact with them right as you showed up. As for the others, they probably found them by now, this forest is small when you have as many Valkyries as we do."
"How many Valkyries do you have deployed?"
"I don't remember the exact amount, but we have 40 or so. More are waiting in the atmosphere."
"How many ships did you bring with you?"
"Haven't I told you enough? Even if I did tell you, you and the rest of the group here are totally screwed. There's no one coming for you. No one's going to save you, and your ship is shot!"
"I don't care. Tell me everything I ask of you, and I'll let you die peacefully."
"Wait! What if I don't have anything useful to tell you?" He yelps as Shiro reaches for one of his swords. "I swear, I don't know anything else!"
Shiro narrows his eyes. "Then why do you act as though you need to live? Unless you are hiding something from me?"
"Look, kid, I just don't wanna die yet! I-I got things I wanna do!"
"Like what? Profiting off the demise of what is easily the most important singer group of the universe right now?"
"What? What're you, a fan?"
"No, unlike you, I understand the benefit that Walkure has provided this universe. Unless you intend to give me any more relevant information, it seems you have outlived your usefulness." Shiro calmly states as he draws one of his swords.
"O-OK! I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE! DON'T KILL ME YET!" The man cries out, attempting to delay his death.
"You're bluffing. I can sense it in your voice." Shiro says as he raises his arm.
"NO! WAIT-" The man's voice stops abruptly as Shiro bisects him.
Shiro turns as he holsters his sword.
There's a pretty good chance that Delta Platoon is going to be discovered soon. I need to head back...hopefully I'll find some members of Walkure along the way...
As he walks away, he hears incredibly faint sounds of gunfire deeper in the woods. He sprints towards the sound, hoping to reach the group before it was too late.
Present time
Shiro, after a few minutes of resting, gets up. As he turns toward the direction in which he ran, a buzz in his ear stops him. He quickly taps his earpiece.
"This is the Elysion to any Delta Platoon members. Does anyone copy?" Shiro recognized the female voice as the green-haired girl from the bridge crew. Her voice is raised, most likely due to all of the background commotion.
"Elysion, this is Delta Five. Send it." Shiro responds, somewhat relieved by the communication from the Elysion.
"We need to know what's going on down there, Delta Five."
"Both shuttles were shot down upon reaching the forest. I am not with Delta Platoon right now, but I can confirm that all members have been accounted for. All members of Walkure, except for Makina Nakajima are currently MIA. We have mercenaries deploying VF-171s and foot soldiers in the forest. Intel from one of the mercenaries suggests origin of attacking force is a sub-faction of NUNS."
"Copy that, Delta Five. Can you give us an approximate number of hostiles, both on ground and in the air?"
"According to the same mercenary, there are most likely thirty to forty-five foot soldiers. I can confirm fifteen are KIA. I estimate that there are fifteen to twenty more in the forest. There is a significant chance that they are closing in on, or are aware of Delta Platoon's current position."
"Understood."
"What is the current status of the Elysion? I don't think Delta Platoon can survive a head-on assault from the enemy."
"The Elysion's engines are completely destroyed; our reactor has gone critical and most of our offensive capabilities have been destroyed. The Aether and the Herrara are relatively undamaged, so we're still able to deploy our platoons, but our long-ranged sensors have picked up a sizable fleet entering Ragna's atmosphere. Among the carriers and cruisers is a Macross-class warship."
Shiro tenses. "Can you send reinforcements to the forest?"
"We'd need your coordinates, and we'd have to divert a platoon to escort your supplies." She replies. In the background, Shiro heard faint battle chatter.
"Hostiles incoming! T-point barrier power at 5%!"
"Beam turrets 1-9 don't have power! Beam turrets 10-20 are destroyed!"
"Redirect power from any nonessential systems to all operational defensive batteries and shield system!"
"We did! There's no more power we can draw away from! Life support systems are barely functional!"
"Can the Aether and Herrara launch fighters?! Distance to nearest hostile squadron is 8500 meters and closing!"
"Aether still powering up! Herrara launching Alpha and Beta Platoons! Charlie Platoon Platoon readying up! Echo, Foxtrot, Gamma Platoon are all based on the Aether!"
"Status on reinforcements from the local airbase?!"
The girl on comm with Shiro gets distant as she yells back. "We got a response! Two squadrons are on their way right now! The base is launching twenty more! ETA fifteen minutes!"
"Sorry, Delta Five. I don't think we can spare anything right now."
Shiro silently curses. "Understood. Have you tried to contact the others?"
"They didn't respond. There is a possibility that they may be unable to receive our signals, or something else."
"What's stopping you from sending Delta Platoon their Siegfrieds right now?"
"If the airspace is currently filled with hostile Nightmares, they'd probably be shot down." An explosion in the background interrupts her. "I have to get back to my other duties, Delta Five. I'm sorry we can't help you anymore, but until the airspace clears up a bit and we get some breathing room, we can't risk resources being wasted needlessly."
"Understood, Elysion. I will move to protect Delta Platoon and Walkure. Delta Five, out."
With that, he starts to run the direction he came from. As he runs, he takes note of the distant explosions in the sky. There are streaks from Valkyries dogfighting in the skies above the forest, which somewhat confused Shiro.
I thought the Elysion couldn't send us reinforcements or supplies...Unless it's not the Elysion's fighters, which means a third party is present. If that's the case, then who-
His thoughts are interrupted as instincts take over. He barely manages to dodge a dark blue Valkyrie crashing into the ground directly in front of him. It didn't look like a Nightmare, nor did it remotely resemble a Siegfried. It had large hexagonal wings on its back, and it had a gunpod in its hand, although said hand and arm were blown clean off. As Shiro ducks behind a tree, he identifies the Valkyrie that lands near him as a Siegfried. Shiro did a double take when he saw the insignia on its back, because it was incredibly similar to the insignia on Hayate's Siegfried. The Siegfried turned its arm-mounted gunpod and unleashed a barrage at the dark blue Valkyrie's torso. Shiro climbs the tree he was hiding behind to get a better view of both the aerial battle and the Siegfried in front of him. The Siegfried must've somehow been alerted to Shiro's presence, because it switched to Battroid mode and turned its head in Shiro's general direction. After scanning the trees, it stops directly at Shiro. Shiro stares back at the Siegfried, the two staring each other off. Somehow, it felt as if neither of them had the upper hand as they locked gazes. After a minute or so, the Siegfried pointed in the direction that Shiro was going, then made a four sign with its fingers before switching back to Gerwalk mode and blasting off back into the sky. Shiro gazed at the Siegfried until he couldn't make it out clearly amongst the flurry of fighters engaging each other.
That Siegfried...Is that...What did it mean by 'four?' Four miles? Four minutes? I need to hurry.
He puts aside his thoughts and jumps down the tree. He runs over to the downed Valkyrie and climbs on the torso. He checks the cockpit to see if the Valkyrie was still usable. The pilot is confirmed dead, as his body is nothing more than a bloody red pulp. The sight doesn't faze Shiro, and as he scans the instruments, he exhales softly. The cockpit is completely shredded, which doesn't surprise Shiro in the least. He jumps down and begins a steady sprint towards shuttle two's crash site.
After six minutes of sprinting, he hears a pair of female voices, both of which are close, yet at the same time, distant. He slows down somewhat, trying to identify the voices. He recognizes one of them as Kaname's, the other is very soft. He turns his head towards their voices and spots a head of red hair closer to him than he expected. He turns toward Kaname and begins moving closer to her. When Shiro got within 3 or so meters of Kaname, her head turned and her eyes widened. Shiro saw her dash behind a pile of fallen trees, and he saw a tuft of light green that didn't match the woods follow Kaname. As he nears the pile, he hears heavy breathing and a soft groan. He looks around for any potential threats, and seeing that there were none, he mantles the pile of logs just in time to see Kaname throw herself at him. The action only moved Shiro back a foot or so, as Shiro caught Kaname with ease. Kaname looked surprised for a second before her eyes flickered recognition.
"S-Shiro?" Her voice is incredulous, as if she didn't expect him.
"Yes, Kaname, it's me." Shiro calmly responds as he gently releases Kaname.
"How did you-nevermind. Do you know how the others are?"
"I do not know the current status of Mikumo or Freyja. Before I left the rest of Delta Platoon to search for you all, Makina managed to find us, so she is with them right now."
"Oh. Were you on your way back to them?"
"Yes; I believe they are in danger of a potential assault from the remaining foot soldiers in the forest." Shiro says as his eyes narrow slightly.
"What? How close are they?" Kaname's eyes widen.
"I do not know, but I came across a Siegfried that appears to be from a third party. It gave me a sort of signal pertaining to this direction."
Kaname freezes, an action Shiro duelly notes. "Wh- a Siegfried?" She pauses. "Nevermind that, we need to get back to the others."
"Allow me to stop you there, Kaname." Shiro calmly says. "Do not take this the wrong way, but if you went with me to the battle, you would most likely slow me down and hold me back to an extent."
Kaname looks at him, her eyes both surprised and not. "What do you suggest we do, then?"
"I said you shouldn't follow me to battle, I did not say you shouldn't follow me at a distance."
"Oh, okay. I assume I should bring Reina?"
Shiro turns to the pile of logs and sees a barely conscious Reina leaning back.
"Took you long enough to notice me." She looks at him and gives him a weak smile.
Shiro frowns, something neither of the girls expected. "I can hardly hear your heartbeat." He walks over to Reina scanning her body. "You've lost too much blood, you shouldn't be moving."
"Well, it wasn't easy to treat this with what you gave us." Reina teases lightly.
Shiro scans her legs, both of which have bandages that have been bled through. "It doesn't matter if you're being serious or not, it's still my fault you've been placed in this situation." He takes out a roll of gauze and a few bandage pads from his jacket. He also takes out a strange packet.
Reina puts a hand on Shiro's. "Don't waste it on me. It's not that bad."
Shiro ignores her. "If it isn't a serious wound, then I should be able to do this without causing you pain." He gently touches her thigh. Reina lets out a soft cry as her eyes bulge.
A sound makes Shiro's head snap towards the direction from which it came. He looks at Kaname, who had her head turned in the same direction.
"Kaname, use this on Reina." He tosses Kaname the packet. "It's a fast-acting clotting agent. Remove her bandages quickly and lightly cover her wound. Don't wait for it to absorb her blood; wrap it up quickly. Also, make sure you hold her down. It will most likely be painful for her." Shiro pulls one of his swords off his back, the action basically silent. He positions himself directly between the direction of the sound and the two girls, taking up a stance.
Kaname nods. She kneels next to Reina and begins on her thigh. As she removes the bandages, Reina tenses in pain, desperately trying to hold back whatever noise would come out of her mouth. Kaname tears a small slit in the packet.
"Okay, Reina. I'm going to put it on on the count of three." Kaname says as she pulls off the last of the bandages, revealing the open wound. "1...2...3." As she put the clotting agent on Reina, the latter let out a cry of pain, gasping and sweating profusely. Kaname worked quickly, as the whole ordeal only took twelve minutes, but for the green-haired singer, it felt like an hour.
"I'm finished, Reina. It's over." Kaname looks at Reina, who is breathing heavily.
"Hah, it still hurts a lot, but I'm not bleeding anymore, right?"
"Yeah, you're not bleeding anymore. You still can't push yourself, though."
"I don't intend to. Not when we have Shiro." She smiles weakly at the poised bodyguard. "I think I actually might have the liberty to take a nap now."
"Don't hold your breath. We're about to move out."
"I don't think we can keep up with him."
"You don't have to." Shiro says as he stands up normally. "I only need you two to follow me at a close enough distance so you're within easy reach of me."
"Well, if that's the case, should we get going?" Kaname asks.
"Wait for one more minute. I do not think we should risk her wounds reopening." Shiro says as he holsters his sword. "Besides, even if we decided to move as fast as possible, I doubt we would reach the group to properly prepare for an attack."
"Speaking of which, did you manage to contact the Elysion? Find out what's going on?" Kaname asks.
"I'll give you a general rundown of the situation. I think I should explain everything I know when everyone else is present."
"How are you going to find Mikumo and Freyja? We don't even know where they are."
"I have a strong feeling that they'll find us. That, or they've been captured by the enemy."
"How do you know that they're together?" Reina adds.
"If they've been captured, how are you going to bring them back? Unless you're prioritizing them over us?" Kaname softly questions.
"For one thing, it is my job to do so. Also, judging by the way I've found you two and Makina, I'm almost certain that Mikumo and Freyja are together. You don't have to worry about this, though. I'll bring them both back."
"How can you be so sure?" The two singers ask in unison.
Shiro turns around and gives a small smile. "I've saved you all from a desperate situation once. Why wouldn't I be able to do it again?"
"We got lucky?" Reina asks.
Shiro turns back around to face the direction they were going. "Luck had nothing to do with it. Are you two ready?"
Kaname picks up Reina to ride on her back. "Go. We'll follow as close as we can."
Shiro turns to look at the two out of the corner of his eye. "Don't lose sight of me. There's no time to waste."
He turns and starts sprinting. Kaname tries to keep up with him, but inevitably, she falls behind. As they run, they start to hear sounds of shouting and gunfire echo through the trees. After about ten minutes, Shiro stops and holds his fist up. Kaname stops, her breathing heavy. Shiro turns around to look at Kaname.
"You need to rest."
"I'm ok for now, let's keep going."
"That wasn't a question, Kaname. You don't need to lie to me about your condition. I can tell you're exhausted, and I would prefer you rest now rather than give out during the battle."
Kaname exhales. "Okay." She gently lets Reina down next to a tree before sitting next to her and leaning back.
"You haven't gotten much sleep, have you?" Shiro asks as he scans the environment in front of them.
"No, I haven't. Not with all this going on." Kaname remarks, looking around as the sounds of gunfire echo ever louder through the trees.
"I believe we are close to the fight." Shiro says as he focuses on a grey object in the distance. "I can see the shuttle from here." As he focuses on the area around the shuttle, he can make out small, quick flashes of orange on multiple sides.
"Then let's go." Kaname says, standing up.
Shiro looks at her, skeptical. "This is your last warning. If you cannot keep up, I am not responsible for keeping your pace."
"I'm well aware, Shiro. Even if you left us behind, if the enemy retreated, there's a good chance they'd come across us, so if that has to be the case, I think it's best if we're a little closer."
"Then let's go." Kaname picks up Reina again, and Shiro draws both of his swords. As they both start running, Kaname looks on, impressed.
Perceptive, focused, calm, and terribly efficient. Quite the man to hire for the Star Singer, if I do say so myself.
Kaname chuckles to herself as she jogs at her own pace. Reina's head perks up slightly at the sound of Kaname's laugh.
"What's so funny, Kaname?" Reina sounds less groggy and pained.
"Shiro is." Kaname replies.
"How so?"
"He's simply amazing, it's like how we first met Mikumo. That in itself raises a few questions, doesn't it?"
"You think he might be a living weapon like Mikumo?"
"I wouldn't be surprised."
"Well, that makes for two overpowered people on our side."
"Hmph. I feel like they're going to be the next duo in our group."
"You mean like Hayate and Freyja?"
"Who knows? I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens when Mikumo sings around Shiro." Kaname says as Shiro gives her a signal to split away and hide.
"I have something to look forward to now, other than getting out of the forest with everyone."
"I guess you'll have to leave that to Shiro."
As they took up a hiding position behind a large tree, Shiro continued to sprint towards the battle. As he closed in, he felt something was off when he heard the gunfire stop abruptly. Before he could wonder what had happened, he received his answer.
Well, this chapter was a bit shorter than the last few, but the next chapter will be out soon, hopefully. I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you all later!