Chapter. 14

Lance rode his griffin to the sunken grid with a chopper right behind him. The griffin spun to drop Lance into the area, Lance landed on his feet in the middle of a herd of fallen ogretails.

Each of the ogretails watched Lance's movements as they closed in on him. Lance started walking as hie held out his right god arc for his tail to hold, while the ogretails follow him.

Turning a corner Lance spotted a polar ghoro-ghoro. The beast spotted Lance and roars. Lance holds up his right hand and all the aragami stand ready as the Ghoro-ghoro charges. Lance lowers his hand to point to the incoming aragami and all the ogretails fired spikes from their tails at the ghoro-ghoro.

From the spike rain the beast stopped its advance. Lance stepped on the ghoro-ghoro's lower lip and grabbed one of its upper tooth to open its mouth, Lance left god arc changed to gun mode and the Gods Eater shoved the arc down its throat. Lance fired several flame bombs into the aragami. He stopped when the top of the aragami's head was blown off.

Lance took the core and snapped his fingers, the ogretails swarmed on the dead aragami to devour it. Walking around the sunken grid Lance spotted Lindow and Torri fighting another polar ghoro-ghoro while Ren shot at some fallen ogretails.

The ghoro-ghoro flopped around to keep the Gods Eaters away, when it stopped Torri ran on its tail and stabbed both of her god arcs into its back. The aragami screamed out and Lindow fired into its mouth. The beast roared one more time then fell silent.

Ren saw the ghoro-ghoro die and was tackled by a ogretail. The ogretail glared down at Ren then stopped when it saw Lance walking towards it and ran off.

"Father!" Torri jumped off the ghoro-ghoro and ran to Lance. "Where were you?"

"Taking out the other aragami."

"By yourself? Father-"

"I can take care of myself Torri."

"I just want you to be safe father."

"Everyone got hurt because I played it safe Torri! Everyone almost died because I wasn't there for them! And right now their suffering, we don't have time to be careful!"

"I... I'm sorry father. I'm sorry." Torri stared to tear up as she hung her head.

Lance sighed as his body relaxed. The duel wielder connected his left arc to the one held by his tail and hugged her. "I'm sorry Torri. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I just felt so helpless when they fought the nova, even when I fought it." Lance moved back and held Torri's shoulders. "I don't like feeling helpless, but that's no excuse to take it out on you. I'm not no good at being a dad."

Torri looked up to Lance and smiled as she hugged him. "Your trying, and that's enough for me. I love you father. That's why I want a future with you in it."

"Thank you. I love you too Torri, and I'll be here for you, now and in your time. Can you call the chopper back?"

"Yes!" Torri took out her phone as Lance walked away.

Lance sat on a small uplift and looked to the sky. He hung his head to see the god arcs in his hands then let out a sigh as her looked back to the sky. "Hey leader. You okay?" Asked Lindow as he took a seat next to Lance.

"You tell me, I'm not sure."

"Well, it's the plain truth. Leading a unit is not for the faint of heart, am I right?" Lindow looked to the sky as well. "You wake up one day with a promotion and suddenly all those people, all those lives, are your responsibility."

"I never asked for it, but I can't just drop it all. Time's like this, when I feel so helpless, the weight of it all starts to be too much." Lance sighed as he noticed Torri on her phone. "I get scared that one day everyone will die and I could have stopped it."

Lindow snickered as he patted Lance's back. "But at the end of the day, kid, you're not meant to be a miracle worker. You're meant to do some good where you can."

Lance let out a dry laugh. "Have you seen my track record? Miracle worker is the norm for me."

Ren stood over the two and crossed his arms. "The you brought it on yourself Lance. When you do more then what's expected then more is expected of you."

Lindow turned and glared at Ren. "No one chooses to be extra ordinary, it happens. Besides, how do you get better if you only do the minimum?" Lindow turns back to face Lance. "Everyone seems to forget that captains already already got a handful with their own lives. Haha... Sooner or later, though, you'll find yourself with a hand free, that's when you reach out to help someone else. Part'o the job."

"Point being, there's ain't no time for brooding in this job. Haha! Your team, their still alive. Isn't that enough for now?"

Lance nods. "Yeah. I guess it is."

"Got it, thank you." Torri hung up and shouted to her male teammates. "Our ride will be here soon everyone!"

"Thanks Torri!" Lance jumped down from the ledge.

Lindow fallowed him down. "I, uh... I guess I probably coulda taught you this stuff before. I know I left without giving you the big speech... how an officer is supposed to make decisions, survive, lead the team, that sorta thing."

"Would've helped, but I've done okay so far."

"Anyway, I figured I'd pop in and give you a little touch of advice, huh? Make your life a little easier."

"Thank you boss." Lance nods and give a big smile as he started to feel better.

"Hey you the boss now." Lindow scratched the back of his head. "On that note, it's about time for the chopper to get here. I'm starving! And what's does a guy have to do to get a cold brew?"

"I got some in my room."

"Nice!"

...

Lance entered the sickbay with Torri to find Soma was awake, sitting on his bed with a laptop in hand. "Hey Soma!"

"Ah... I didn't expect you so soon."

"I work fast. Still, how are you holding up?"

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"Soma stop right there. This is not you're fault, the nova was your father's creation so stop thinking your to blame each time something tied to it acts up."

"But I was to one who charged at it and put everyone at risk!"

"You didn't know."

"Just stop. It was foolish. Worse then foolish, idiocy. Pure idiocy! I should have kept my head."

"Soma..."

The two stared at each other. The air was getting too tense for Torri. "Hey you two, cheer up! We're alive, right? That's what counts!"

Soma looked away, back to his laptop. "I'm not the Gods Eater you are... Everyone knows. I don't delude myself, but still..."

"Soma. Don't be me, be you. We shouldn't try to be others, but ourselves. I'm not as infallible as people think I am. I didn't have a clear head when I saw the nova either."

"Thank you." Soma let out a sigh. "The nova...It's my responsibility. At least I thought it was. The sins of the father carry to the son."

"It's not fair that you have to clean up his mess."

"When the nova got loose... I saw it arrayed before me again. That sin dragged out for all to see. Or maybe... A chance toto bury it forever." Soma stopped typing and hung his head. "Looks like that choice has been made for , hasn't it?"

"No. You can still bury it. More openly now, but still bury it."

"I'm sorry. I've taken too much of your time with my self-loathing."

"Anytime Soma."

"One more thing. That girl, the one that looks like..." Soma was having trouble saying the name. "She's been sighted around the den a few times. Doctor Sakaki and i brainstormed a few theories and came up with a solid reason as to why she's here, as to who she is. The best guess we have... is that she was born from an artificial nova fragment."

"Similar to how I was born?" Asked Torri.

"Close. When it fought, with us or with other aragami, weak pieces of the nova may have shattered, some of its oracle seeping into the 's ability to activate and ignite oracle cells may have drawn the pieces together and, in a way, formed that girl."

"Interesting." Lance raised his hand to his chin. "So it's not Shio's return?"

"She's so fragile. Like glass or snow. No core... no heart."

"Then why Shio?"

"It is only a small piece of theory, but... I think I understand why she appeared. It's the moon. she appears like the tide, all surrounding the wax and wane of the moon." Soma looked back to his laptop. "Once, they were all the same. All part of one aragami. The nova that resides there, and the one loose here... and the girl."

"All were the same being."

"Let me say this once, and we'll leave it at that. That girl, whatever she, it may be... it's not Shio. Just a rogue element that the nova absorbed. Some fragment of a fragment that makes it appear like her. But it's not Shio."

"Okay, then when we find the nova it disappear when we kill it."

"Thank you for coming to see me. I'll be ready to enter the field again tomorrow. Farewell."

Lance gives a bow and walks out of the sickbay.

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