Blood managed to arrive back in Friar in one piece, they fortunately had not run into casualties during the journey back to the base. The girl had been asleep the entire time who was being watched over by Gil and Nana. Julius had brought the out cold girl to her room after earning the approval of their surrogate mother.

"She is stable, there is no need for her to remain in the sick bay." Rachel fave a small smile as she looked away from the computer to the extremely worried male. He had stood beside the passed out girl who was currently on the room's couch. She was occasionally grumbling in her sleep and twitching. Rachel couldn't help but giggle upon seeing how Julius would react to the smallest movement, which earned a quizzical look from him.

"I can see that you have grown quite fond of her, Julius." She remarked with a hand gesturing over to the sleeping girl. "Does she know that you-" Julius shook his head no before the girl could continue the rest of her sentence, "Well, do let her know soon. Take her to her quarters. She will be more comfortable there."

The blonde male had just finished submitting the reports to Fran who had asked about Brynn's condition. He reassured her and made his way to the elevator, when a couple of footsteps from behind had earned his attention.

"I did not expect them to recruit you here so soon. I suppose that you are no longer her assistant?" He made turn and had been met with a silver-haired girl whose face held no expression.

"Indeed. I will be working with Blood Unit as of today." Her voice mirrored her expression. She bowed slightly, "I look forward to working with you again."

Brynn's eyes opened, slowly adjusting to the light. She groaned as she felt her muscles become unresponsive at her attempt to move them. She felt like those that ended up stuck on their backs and struggled to get up. After a couple more attempts, she managed to sit herself up and scooted over the edge of the bed.

'Bath. I need a bath.' She thought to herself as she stretched her sore muscles.

She sluggishly got her things ready and limped over to the bathroom, which fortunately was vacant. She hummed to herself, stripping away her night clothes, which she didn't remember changing into, and allowed the cold water to soothe the overworked muscles. She took her time under the cold water as she pondered over what happened,

"Blood power, huh?" She muttered while putting on her new set of clothes and dried her platinum coloured locks. What happened yesterday began to rush through her head.

'He's going to tease me that I've gained weight again.' She huffed and proceeded to make her way towards the room.

She began to take note how empty and quiet the housing wing was. Usually, one would hear the clashing of pans in Nana's rooms as she tried making a sandwich (she envied the fact that the other's room had a kitchen while hers didn't have one.), soft pattering of feet coming from Julius' room or the flipping of book pages, guitar strums vibrating from the Gil's room and audio sounds coming from the blonde Italian's room.

'Wait, aren't both Julius and Romeo Italian?' The random thought crossed her mind the moment that she stepped into her own room. A blue note that was on her desk had caught her attention.

'That wasn't there earlier.' She mused and picked it up, reading it to herself, the handwriting was in cursive, neat and small.

Proceed to the laboratory. We will be anticipating your arrival. There are some things to be discussed. Her blood ran cold imagining the worst. She immediately rushed towards the lab knocking on the door softly the moment that she arrived.

"Come in."

She stepped inside the room and was met with all the members of Blood, Rachel and a silver-haired girl, "I apologize for taking so long." She bowed in apology.

"Do not fret, child." Came the scientist's whimsical voice. "You are just on time. Come." She gestured to the small circle that the group formed, she walked over and stood beside Gil who had turned his attention back to the captain, she did the same.

"I would like to commend all of you for the successful mission yesterday." She was asleep for the entire day? "Despite the appearance of a Psion, we all managed to cause it to retreat without any casualties." Julius paused to glance at Brynn. "Before all that, I would like to introduce all of you to our newest addition to Blood." He nodded towards the silver-haired girl who gave a slight bow.

"I am Ciel Alençon." Her blank expression had not changed as she spoke, "I was raised in Magnolia Compass and had been trained to handle various weapons and studied various military tactics and strategies." She bowed once again, "I hope to be able to assist all of you and work with all of you."

Brynn couldn't help but wonder why most of their members came from the Magnolia Compass place. She would ask one of them later. Her eyes met Ciel's which widened the moment that they did.

"Is there anything troubling you, Ciel?" Julius asked, causing the other to slightly flinch before she turned back to her nonchalant demeanor. She shook her head no thus Julius did not press any further. He turned back to the group.

"Proceeding to our main matter, as of this moment, the position of Vice Captain will be assigned to Brynn Amaryllis Mercu. Upon considering her stellar performance and her awakening of Blood Power, she is deemed worthy of earning the position." Happy squeals and congratulatory statements had showered the platinum-haired girl who had a bewildered look on her face.

"Uh… I will do my best to meet your expectations." She said to them with a small smile. Although it did not mask the nervousness that could be seen by the captain.

"You have us, Brynn, do not pressure yourself too much." He reassured her which caused her to ease up a bit. She gave him a sincere smile.

"This means one thing!" Came Romeo's voice, prompting all of them to look towards him, all had noticed the cheeky smile that he had. "Brynn will be cooking for us!" They all cheered and agreed with what he said.

"That's a great idea!" Nana pitched in with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Gil chuckled before he added, "For once, I have to agree with this idiot. Friar's food is good, but Brynn's cooking is really something else." Brynn blushed at this, she wasn't used to praises but it did make her happy.

She did not notice the way that Julius looked at Gil, however. The taller one noticed and cocked an eyebrow at his captain who looked back at the newly appointed vice captain.

"That would be nice if you could make that happen, Brynn. I have nothing negative to say about your cooking and baking."

The horrified look on Brynn's face had faded away and she nodded, "Very well." She clasped her hands together, "What should we be having later then?" She asked all of them which earned her multiple responses.

Romeo had pumped his fist and neared the girl, causing her to move backward, "Italian!"

'Figures.' She thought to herself.

Nana stomped in, making the space between her and Brynn disappear, "It has to be Japanese! She made Italian last time!" She opposed with her pink eyes burning daggers into Romeo's blue eyes. Brynn slid away, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.

"So? It doesn't mean that she can't make it again!" He countered, the two continued to bicker while all of them watched with amusement.

Brynn chuckled and made her way over to the door, she turned back towards the captain who had been looking at her escape, "I assume that we won't be heading out because of the red rain? If you don't mind, I'll head over to the kitchen to prepare." He nodded which she used as a reason to leave the room, bowing to Rachel before she left.

Julius turned to the others, watching as Gil managed to stop the two from bickering before he dismissed them all. The rest of the Blood members made their way outside to do whatever they want for the rest of the day. In the laboratory, only the Julius, Ciel, and Rachel remained.

"Julius, I would like to discuss things with Ciel. You may go." She gently told him and turned to the 16 year old. Julius nodded in response and excused himself. He made his way towards his room to rest and check his mail. It had been lighting up earlier but he didn't get the chance to check it. He was met with his slightly organized room and made his way to the terminal.

"Julius~" Came Brynn's excited voice through the door, "Can I come in?" The man couldn't help but cock an eyebrow knowing that the girl wouldn't see him.

"Come in." He said without looking up from his laptop. The door swung open to reveal the girl who had a wide smile on her face. His blood ran cold, he had a feeling that she was plotting something.

"Did Fran give you coffee again?" He asked as he continued to type. He felt the girl's presence beside him.

"Uh… Maybe." She hesitantly answered before changing the topic, "Can I borrow your laptop?" She asked quickly earning a quizzical look from the captain.

"For what reason, Brynn?" He asked, momentarily stopping from typing as he looked at the girl.

"Research purposes." The laptop had been grabbed from him and the girl was out of the room in a flash, "Thanks, Julius!" Before he could protest, the girl was out of his sight.

"I should have gotten my laptop back." He mumbled as he checked his mail, he began to wonder why he didn't get it back before they headed out for the other branch. He had to use the branch's terminal which wasn't as advanced as the one that they had in Friar.

"That girl." He mused as he read through the mail which came from the Far East Branch Director, one that he had met in a summit that happened a year ago.

From: Paylor Sakaki, Far East Branch

Subject: Blood Unit

Message: Requesting for support from Friar's Blood Unit. Multiple Psions are flocking around the branch's premises. The 2nd generation and 1st generation God Eaters are not capable of engaging with the Aragami as upgrades are still being conducted.

He quickly read through the rest of the email before sending it to his surrogate mother. He sighed, recalling the files that he was trying to access. Still unsuccessful in doing so.

"What if…" An idea ran through his head as he quickly looked up the Far East branch mission log. He scrolled through until he reached the documents that were of 3 years ago. Looking through the names that were included in each title.

One log, which was labelled as successful but was grayed, caught his attention. It only contained the date, location and name of the members. Instead of a name that was written on the topmost slot, the word 'deceased' was in the place. A frown finding its way to his lips as confusion continued to pester his thoughts.

The smell of delicious food wafted through out the air. Drawing the attention of the members of Blood who had gathered around the cafeteria. It had been 3 hours since they had their impromptu meeting and their stomachs had brought them to the dining area.

"I'm starving!" Nana whined as she took a seat beside Ciel. The silver-haired girl was busying herself with a tablet which had different notes and tabs open. "I haven't had Brynn's cooking in awhile." She added with a dreamy-look on her face. The same look that she would have whenever she would talk about her Oden sandwich.

Romeo sat across from her, "She always claims that she's too tired whenever I ask her." He stretched his body across the table to reach his black-haired comrade, he whispered into her ear, "But I bet you if Captain were to ask, I'm sure that it would be a different story." They both snickered at the statement but stopped the moment that Julius and Gil approached the table, taking their respective seats.

"She made lasagna for me and the other idiot," He was referring to Emil who had gone back to the Far East, "while you guys were out." Gil earned a couple of glares, a very subtle one from the team's captain. Ciel could only stare in wonder, was the vice captain's cooking really that good?

Dinners at Friar usually began at 8 in the evening, due to it only being 6 in the evening, they had the entire cafeteria to themselves. The kitchen door swung open with a kick, revealing the blonde girl who was balancing plates and dishes. She made her way to the table with a smile on her face as the smell intensified.

"Sorry that it took so long!" Brynn apologized as she set the dishes down around the table. Risotto, an arrangement of different sushi, Canelloni, and Roast Beef. A feast of different cuisines had filled their vision. She took her own seat between Gil and Julius before announcing, "Let's dig in!" The members of Blood began to fill their plates and ate like they haven't eaten in days.

"Dis is zo good, Brynn!" Nana praised with food stuffed inside her mouth. The others nodded in agreement.

"Maybe if we weren't born in this age, you could have had your own restaurant." Romeo chimed in after helping himself to another serving of pasta. "But then again, we probably wouldn't have been able to try your cooking for free."

Julius was the next to speak up, the sad look on his face had not gone unnoticed. "I haven't had food this good since I was a child." His smile was gentle but she could see the sorrow in his eyes. She gave him a quick look of worry before she placed a hand on his knee and squeezed it softly.

"Where did you learn how to cook like this, Vice Captain?" Ciel, who had been silent the entire time finally spoke up, "If I may ask." She added after she looked from her plate just to look at the girl in question.

Brynn bit her lower lip in thought, 'Where did I learn?' She thought as hard as she could but it was all to no avail, she turned back to Ciel who had been patiently waiting.

"I can't actually remember how and where I learned?" She began as all of Blood was looking at her curiously, "It just comes naturally when I'm in the kitchen. I saw some recipes in Norn as well." Her eyes lit up then she suddenly stood up and darted towards the kitchen. They all looked towards the kitchen door waiting for her to emerge.

She came out again after a couple of seconds with a tray in her hands. She set the tray down on the middle of the table, the smell of something sweet and fruity made itself known as they looked at the creamy white and yellow dessert.

"For dessert, Mango Fridge Cake. I found some graham crackers, didn't know that we still have that here." They all stared and began to take their share.

"How did you get your hands on mangoes, beef, and fish?" Gil asked after taking a bite, "I didn't know that mangoes were still available."

"Oh, that wasn't beef, that was Ogretail." Their eyes widened which earned her a hearty laugh, "I wish that I had a camera, you should have all seen your faces." She buckled over laughing as they all glared at her. She managed to catch her breath after a few seconds.

"Friar gets rations of farmed beef along with the chicken and fish. I asked if I could have some. Mangoes, you can get them in the Abandoned City. There are still some trees in the deeper parts." Her explanation reached their ears while they consumed the dessert.

"Abandoned City?" Nana inquired after swallowing the food, there was some cream on her lower lip, "I've never seen them before. When did you find time to-"

"Solo missions, remember?" The platinum haired one quickly responded, a grin playing on her face. She usually had an hour before extraction so she would go around alone and search for materials. Materials to upgrade her God Arc and some other things that may be of use to her. She would occasionally find fruit and other consumable things that she didn't know existed. Those things that she didn't need, were sold to the mercenaries and to the kitchen staff who would use the things that she found.

After their dinner, they migrated to Blood's common room which was rarely used. The cafeteria had began to accept other staff and it was getting quite crowded.

"Wait, I'll just give Fran some food and I'll be back." Brynn informed them before rushing out the door with a container of food in her hands. She ran towards the lobby and sighed in relief upon seeing that Fran's shift wasn't done yet.

"Yo, Fran!" She greeted with a grin on her face, she placed the container on the counter and pushed it towards the operator, "Thought that you might be hungry, so…" She trailed off, the grin still not fading from her face as the other smiled in appreciation.

"Thank you, Brynn. I heard that you've been promoted. Congratulations." She took the container and opened it, sniffing it before sighing in happiness, "You really hold on to your promises."

"Of course!" Brynn replied as she ran a hand through her platinum colored hair, "Well, I've got to go! I'll see you tomorrow, Fran!" She quickly turned on her heel waving her hand in the air.

Fran watched the retreating figure with a small smile on her face as she turned back to the computer screen. She was filing reports as missions weren't usually conducted at night and no one was allowed to go outside because of the Red Rain. A small electronic letter appeared on the screen which she opened to see that it had come from the girl from earlier.

From: Brynn Amaryllis Mercu

Subject: Rations

Message: Hope that you don't mind me getting your beer rations. You are underaged after all! Thank you~ ^_^

She sighed at this before continuing to type away, "I smell trouble brewing."

Brynn walked towards the common room with cans in her arms and a wide malicious smile on her lips. She kicked the door open and skipped inside, distributing the beer to everyone, except for Ciel who was underaged.

She walked towards and handed him a bottle, he politely declined, "Oh come on, it's just today." He cocked an eyebrow at her, still unconvinced as he leaned against the couch. "I'll give you back your laptop." That convinced him and he hesitantly got the can from the girl. She sat beside him and opened her own can taking a sip.

Julius did the same, the bitterness of the liquid travelled through his mouth and down his throat. He stopped himself from making a face as he stared at the can. Despite being 20 years of age, he didn't drink. It's not that he didn't want to, he just never found the time and didn't find any reason to do so.

"I thought that they didn't issue beer rations to minors?" Romeo questioned while holding a beer can in each hand, he hadn't opened it yet and was debating on giving it to Gil who was calmly drinking his. He had two since Nana shoved one to him as she preferred eating.

Brynn's face twisted to one that had been offended, she glared at the male who was speaking to her, "Just because I'm small, it doesn't mean that I'm a minor." She huffed, although, her statement wasn't exactly true. After all, she was the tallest female in the group.

"I've been sleeping for 3 years… So that means… I'm already 18." She mused, she was already an adult. She felt like it was some cheat as she skipped 3 years of being a minor.

"You could be 17." Gil piped in from the corner before taking a sip from his can, "Birthday?" This caused the girl to pause.

"It has already passed." She took a sip from her can. "August 12." It was already November, so that did make her previous words true.

"So this celebration could serve as your birthday, promotion and Ciel's arrival." Nana suggested with food stuffed in her mouth. Brynn chuckled as she took a graham cracker from the pile and bit into it. She turned to her side and saw that Julius had a blank look on his face and his can was empty.

"Did you chug that down, Captain?" She asked in a concerned manner, Julius blinked a bit before nodding slowly. Wincing as a sharp pain went through his head.

"Wasn't… I supposed to?" He slurred, his eyes were a bit blurry and everything was spinning. He could make out the disapproving look on Brynn's face while she shook her head no. "Forgive me, I had no idea."

Brynn looked towards the other members who were still busy enjoying, "I'll take Julius back to the room, he may have drank his too quickly." The ochre haired man groaned as he leaned against the girl. Brynn assisted him by wrapping one of his arms behind her neck and she wrapped her arm around his waist. She was short so she couldn't reach higher than that with their position. Gil was about to walk over but she stopped him, "Gil, it's fine. Stay and have fun. I'll be back." He nodded before leaning back to his spot and taking his beer can in his hands once again.

The other members of Blood watched as the two figures retreated out the door, they were in silence. Only the music blaring from the speakers could be heard.

"I ship."

The two managed to arrive at the Captain's room in one piece, without vomit or anyone falling over. Brynn opened the door and set the tall man into his bed without much difficulty.

"I can't believe… you convinced me to drink." He slurred as he sank into his blanket. The newly appointed vice captain chuckled softly in response. But couldn't help but wonder why he was already hung over. She was looking forward to see a hyperactive Julius.

That didn't happen however. She was disappointed.

"Well, you never say no anyways." She teased before sitting down beside him, the bed sinking a bit under her weight. "We need to work on your tolerance." This elicited another groan from the male who had his eyes tightly shut.

"It's your fault…" She chuckled again.

"My fault that?"

"I can't say no." She couldn't help but wonder what he was trying to say. She wanted to ask but noticed that the other was struggling to stay awake. She assumed that he was asleep so she slowly stood up, a hand grabbed hers.

"Wait…" Came Julius' soft and groggy voice. "Stay a bit longer. Let's talk." Brynn hesitated but shifted back to where she was previously sitting.

"Are you sure, Julius? You may say things that you'll regret." She joked as she ran a hand through his hair. She quickly drew her hand back, 'Why the fuck did I do that?'

"I won't remember anyways." Julius replied.

'Hmm… True.'

"When I first saw you awake… I was thrilled to see that weren't bedridden." She lifted an eyebrow at what he was saying. "I was waiting for you to wake up." Her breath hitched her throat as her eyes widened. "I confided in you, even though you were unconscious. You were the only person that I could actually talk to." He chuckled weakly as his voice trailed off.

Brynn smiled at the sleeping figure, his face was peaceful and he obviously wouldn't be waking up after a while. She placed her hand on his.

The chopper's blades spun noisily in the air as her eyes opened, hers were met with grey colored ones that held worry and panic.

"So you're awake. Rest a bit more, we're nearing our destination." It was Julius, she complied and closed her eyes.

"So you saved me…" She was in shock after the memory faded away. "Thank you…" She squeezed his hand before making her way out. She closed the lights and peeked at the captain's sleeping figure before walking out.

"I owe you my life."