The first thing Crimson was aware of was pain. A mind breaking, metal tearing pain in his chest. He gasped in air through his vents, the action causing a fresh surge of agony to flow through him.

What happened? The last thing he remembered was jumping, and that Krogan... had shot him. Well that explained the pain, but...

He gasped, body twitching erratically as pain surged through him again. That brought on a most peculiar sensation. It was like he was floating... floating in empty space.

Gritting his non-existent teeth he fought with his eye to bring it online. He was so tired, even mustering the will to try almost drained him. It was only the pain that kept him awake.

It was an uphill battle, but soon he managed bring his eye online. His vision flickered as he fought to keep it on, but he could see clearly enough... and what he did see almost caused him to forget his pain.

Blue clouds. Large clouds of blue mist were floating all around him. If he had to make a guess, he'd say it was the same stuff he had seen come out of Gipsy. And here he was, floating in it like a ship in a giant nebula.

Another wave of agony rushed through him. Fighting back a scream, he forced his head down, trying to see what the damage was. When he finally saw it, he nearly passed out from the shock.

His chest was torn open. The plates were shredded and burned, forming a hole large enough to fit a child in. His internal mechanisms were utterly destroyed. He couldn't recognize anything, all warped, blackened and burned from the carnage shot The...

He forced his eye away, unable to look any longer. He was dead. No one, not even a Jaeger could survive something like this. He was dead...

...then why wasn't he?

He was alive, awake, floating in a space filled with... something, but he was alive... somehow.

A roar suddenly echoed through the mist, causing him to stiffen with alarm. His hearing was dull and muted, but he knew that sound. He would never forget it. Another roar came, and, he if he could trust his hearing, it came from behind.

So two then... no, three... fou... five! They were coming from all around him.

True terror started to take root in his core. Here he was; injured, exhausted, couldn't move and helpless and there were Kaiju here. Lot of them.

The roars came again, this time all bunching together somewhere to his left... then behind... then continuing on to his right.

Though he was still terrified, he noticed something... odd about them. One roar was slightly ahead of the others and was higher pitched then the rest. The others were all deep primal roars of anger, falling slightly behind the first. It was almost like they were chasing it.

As Crimson considered it, something loomed out of the mist before him. He didn't have time to react as a large black shape with glowing yellow eyes burst from the clouds and collided with him head on. He scream in agony, body paralysed as he was sent flying through the mist from the force of the impact.

His mind was covered by a haze of agony, so he never noticed when the roars stopped, never noticed when strange unearthly limbs reached out and stopped his tumble. All he could know was pain.

Sometime later he finally came to his senses and wished he hadn't. Everything, from his head to his toes, if he had them, burned as if branded. Then he heard the whispers and felt the unearthly touch of something against his plating.

Fighting against his fear at what he might see, he forced his eye online.

There, floating before him was... a creature. It's form was twisted, yet somehow sharp at the same time. Two arms, two legs, a body and a head, in which burned one large blue eye.

Their gazes locked and he felt nothing but dread as the creature, a Kaiju mostly likely, examined him.

"...s ...wake." Words became audible through the whispers. "Y... ...im too hard... ... ron."

Another whisper said something back, but Crimson couldn't pick out the words.

"...ever mind..." the first whisper said. "Now...hat... ppened t... ou?"

The creature reached out a long, snake-like hand and poked at his insides. Crimson jerked, gasping in pain as it felt along a bunch of cables. Then the creature withdrew and the whispers started up again, faster this time.

Then, as if something had just been decided, the creature moved again. He tensed as it drew up by where his ears would have been.

"Looks like you'll be here a while," the creature growled.

Then something pushed him in the chest, sending him flying back into another cloud, thicker then the rest. There was a hard blow to the back of his head... then blackness.

-Linebreak-

Though Gipsy hated to use the comparison, the apartment was as silent as a tomb. A shiver went down her back struts.

Don't think about it, she told herself. This isn't a tomb... yet. No! Crimson will be alright... he will... right?

The couch beneath her creaked as she shifted, the only sound in the silent apartment. Beside her, Striker sat motionless, staring blankly off into space. Beside the door to the bedroom stood Cherno with his mighty arms crossed. Not a sound came from either of them.

Titanus was dead, his body little more then pulp after they'd gotten their hands on him.

Once they were sure the bastard was well and truly dead, they had finally calmed down enough to check on Crimson.

Gipsy had to suppress another shudder as she remembered. Crimson had been... gutted, for lack of a better term. The carnage shot had torn through his armor like soft lead, completely shredding his internal components. It was such a grizzly image. Years of fighting Kaiju and suffering similar injuries still didn't make it any easier to look at.

It tore at her to see him like this. He was still alive, but they all suspected that wouldn't last long.

With a lack of a better idea they'd rushed him back to the apartment, ignoring or destroying everything in their path, holding onto the one hope that could save their friend: That what happened to Gipsy would happen to him as well.

Though Gipsy was loathed to send him to... whatever that place was, it was their only chance. They had no hope of fixing his damages on their own. So now they were forced to put his life in the hands of things they didn't understand.

They had gotten him back to the apartment easily enough and laid him gently out on the one remaining bed. Then they waited, watching for anything that might happen.

And happen it did.

Though they had been to busy to notice it before, the ruptured cables and hoses in Crimson chest had slowly been dispelling the blue gas Crimson had been so fascinated about. Now that his body had settled the gas practically began gushing out, soon obscuring his whole body in a blue mist. When Cherno had reached out to feel Crimson through the mist, they found out the body had vanished. Now all they could do was wait and hope.

That had been eight hours ago, and hope was running out.

Gipsy sighed shakily before glancing up at Cherno. The Russian solemnly uncrossed his arms and opened the door with a soft touch of the controls and stared inside. Striker finally stirred, lifting his head and following the titan's gaze.

The bed was still empty.

They stared at it for a long second before the door slid shut again, leaving them in a silence that seemed even worse than before.

Nine hours: Nothing.

Cherno stared at the door, his clenched fists trembling. Then a low rumble started deep in his chassis, slowly turning into a mechanical roar of rage. Then he turned and stormed out of the apartment, heading off into Omega to do who knows what.

Gipsy watched him go but felt no inclination to follow. Cherno would have to take care of himself, wherever he was going, but she understand his anger. The rage she'd felt as they tore Titanus apart was something truly terrifying. Even a Kaiju would have been hesitant to face a Jaeger in that state. But her anger wasn't directed at the Krogan, but at herself. She'd insisted they let his happen to Crimson... and now he wasn't coming back.

She fought back sob as the guilt came crashing down on her. This was all her fault.

"I didn't think it would turn out like this."

Gipsy started as Striker spoke up quietly. She turned and looked over him. The look on his visor as he sat there slouched over was something she'd never seen before... on his face, anyway. This was also the first time she'd heard him go two whole sentences without swearing.

"I mean," he continued softly. "We're Jaegers. Giant metal monsters made to fight monsters and protect humanity. That was our purpose... and I would have gladly died for it... I did die for it."

He went silent, staring off into the distance. After a minute, Gipsy wondered if he was going to continue. When he did speak again, she was surprised to hear his voice clouded with emotion.

"But what is our purpose here? We fight, we kill, but for what?"

He turned his head to stare at her, visor glowing with a pleading expression. "Why are we doing this? Why are we risking our lives for some bitch who doesn't give a rat's ass about us?"

"I don't know," Gipsy answered quietly, shaking her head. "Nothing else to do, I guess."

"Nothing else to do!" Striker snarled, suddenly angry. "So we work for a bitch who'd have us die for her! For some fucking god forsaken shithole she wants to rule! What kind of a reason is that?!"

"Striker..."

"Crimson is dead!" he screamed, whirling on her. "He's gone, you understand that?! Dead! For what?!"

He turned away, chest heaving as he breathed heavily. Gipsy stared at him, back rigid with shock. She'd never seen him like this before. Mad, sure, but not like this. She had no idea how to deal with it. Before she could even begin to wonder how to respond, Striker let out a strangled sob and doubled over.

"I can't do this," he gasped out. "I can't do this."

"Uh..."

Normal Striker she could deal with. Angry and pissed off Striker she could deal with. Emotional Striker... she had no idea how to even begin.

"You know what it's like," he gasped out. "To lose someone... Yancy. I lost Chuck... he might as well have been a brother to me. To lose him was hard enough, but... to lose him through the drift... to feel him slip away. I can't... I can't do that again. We don't have pilots anymore... all we have are each other. A-and now he's gone."

He turned to look at her, visor pleading.

"Don't go," he sobbed. "Please don't go. Don't leave me along again... please."

With that, Gipsy's mind was made up.

She reached out, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and hugging him close, comforting him as best a war machine could.

"I won't," she promised softly. "And neither will Cherno. We're staying right here, you got that?"

Striker didn't reply, only leaned into her as sobs racked his frame.

-Linebreak-

Armor caved in under his blows, pulverizing the body underneath. Cherno Alpha punched again and the body of the Krogan went flying into his comrades gathered behind it.

As the group staggered he charged in, giving them no chance to recover as he tore them to pieces. Arms and legs were torn from their sockets, staining the ground with blood.

The mercs under Aria's control all stayed back. Even the bravest among them were too terrified to try and approach the raging war machine.

Cherno had been at it for hours. Once he had reached the front line his trail of destruction had begun. The Rising Maws fled before him and he chased them down like the cowards they were. Hundreds lay dead and he was only getting warmed up.

A Maw soldier ran at him, firing a scavenged shotgun. It bounced harmlessly off his plating and he lunged, wrapping the Krogan in a bear hug before crushing the life out of it. He threw the body at another group, relishing the sound of breaking bone under his fists as he charged into the fray, channelling his anger into every blow.

Crimson was gone.

A Maw went flying.

Gone.

Another fell, head smashed into pulp.

GONE!

With a roar his incinerator turbines roared to life, bathing the Krogan in a wave of liquid fire. They screamed in pain, even as his fist descended from on high.

They killed his friend and he would make them pay.

Now that I really think about it, Justiceseeker85 this chapter is for you! Thank you to the biggest fan of this story for keeping it alive in my head!

I'll admit, Commander Rose and life in general have been taking up a lot of my time. As of now I don't really have a timeline for this story and I have no idea about further updates. Hopefully I'll have enough time to get my ass in gear and resolve Crimson's dilemma.

But once again, thank you Justiceseeker, the number 1 fan!