Author's Note - Surprise! I got my act together for a change. Also I really want to push ahead with this as I feel like I owe you one I missed from last month.

Well I suppose this chapter should come with a few warnings. Firstly it's quite a lengthy beast but you'll understand why when you read it. Secondly I should really warn those with a nervous disposition to read with care, there is a rather disturbing but necessary scene midway through.

So here it is, chapter six, enjoy.

Chapter Six - Try Again

The Lambent attacks had increased significantly as the days passed, with it the Polyps had learnt to adapt to the ever changing tactics of the humans attempting to keep them at bay. They had become stealthier at their approach and had stopped attacking en-masse. Now they had started to spread out amongst the buildings and catch their victims when they least expected it. The Stalk observation had paid off, they had learnt that the riper the Stalk the more the pod seemed translucent and the weaker it was to attack. Each time a pod looked ripe enough to drop its next load of Polyps the Gears would shoot it until it burst open, killing whatever was growing inside.

Living in the constant fear of attack had led to little sleep for those chosen to protect the inhabitants of the village. Burn and Wilks had devised a strategy to pair up the remaining Gears with a Stranded guard to spread the manpower further. Since the surge of attacks the relationship between Stranded and Gear had become an easier one. The more time they spent with one another the more they both realised they were all working together to protect the same thing.

Burn himself had opted to remain with an active interest in his security team, teaming up with Wilks to regularly assist walking the village. Wilks had just returned from taking out another fresh batch of pods, Burn stalking quietly beside him with a Gnasher slung over his shoulder.

The lack of sleep was something that Wilks had adjusted himself to now. His dreams frequently brought him horrific disfiguring nightmares anyway so he was relieved to avoid seeing it as much as possible. Although the long hours had brought a sudden drop in his personal appearance. His once clean shaved face was now sporting the beginnings of a beard, not that he particularly cared anymore but he welcomed anything that partly covered his scars.

Burn stopped in his steps to indicate there was movement in the shadows. The pair frequently worked in silence these days as they had worked out that Polyps had relatively good hearing. Plus neither had anything of interest to say that didn't involve throwing names around at each other.

Wilks held his hand up for Burn to remain in position as he crept towards the darkness with his back against the walls of the housing shacks. Something shifted slightly in the darkness making a scuttling sound. He lifted his Lancer and approached closer.

The creature was scrabbling at the door to the weaponry storage unit, trying to make a hole in the wood. Burn unhooked an Imulsion Lamp so they could get a closer look, the light flickered picking up the creature as it continued digging at the door. It was small with a rounded almost shell like back with two pincer like claws at the front and a set of teeth that could take your arm off. As the light caught the creature's attention it whirled round and hissed at them.

"No way," Wilks exclaimed taking a step back.

"Isn't that..." Burn started.

"... a Ticker? Yes." He took a step forward again to examine it, "But where are the explosives?"

The Ticker made a swipe for Wilks' Lancer with its claws, feeding the weapon into its mouth. Wilks pulled backwards as the Ticker wrestled with him for his gun pulling suddenly as it chomped down hard and swallowed it. Sending Wilks crashing to the floor on his knees. It let out a squeal of excitement before it scuttled away down the streets in the shadows.

Burn sent Wilks a look as he helped him to his feet.

"Well that was embarrassing," he grumbled as he dusted his knees down, "I just lost a really surreal game of Tug of War to a Ticker."

"We haven't seen the Locust around for months, where the hell did this one come from?" Burn wondered aloud as he searched the darkness for it.

"I don't understand though. It should have gone for the kill, I was disarmed and on the floor but it just fled,"

"It didn't look like any Ticker I've seen before,"

"It didn't really act like one either,"

"It's a Locust, so when we find it, do we kill it?" Burn asked him, it had been a long time since he hadn't known what to do about a possible threat to his village.

"I don't even know," Wilks grumbled, "but the bastard thing ate my gun and I'm getting it back if it's the last thing I do."

"Nice to have ambition," Burn commented dryly as he followed Wilks through the streets, "at least I have a clearer understanding as to why you COG were losing a war after twenty years."

Wilks stopped abruptly and looked back at the Stranded Leader, he knew Burn had had it rough. Cam had told him that ninety percent of his injuries had come from the resultant aftermath of the Hammer Strikes. Thus such the outrage towards Coalition troops. In hindsight the fact that Burn had accepted them into his village gave him an idea as to how desperate Burn had become. Everyone needed each other to survive in their own little ways.

Deciding it best not to respond to Burn's comment Wilks continued forwards. He took the lamp from his companion and scanned the darkness at each turn. Every so often they would stop to listen out for signs of the creature.

"Can you even call it a Ticker if it doesn't tick anymore?" Wilks asked at one point, Burn sent him a look and sighed.

They discovered that the Ticker had looped around and returned to the weapons cache, scratching away at the door again.

"If you get that Déjà Vous feeling please don't offer it another weapon,"

"It clearly isn't out to attack us, but seems to keep going after the weapons. Why is that?"

The pair watched in almost stunned silence as the Ticker prised a chunk from the corner of the door with its teeth and chomped into it.

"Should I shoot it?" Burn sounded confused.

"Well, unless you want a Ticker for a pet we're going to have to do something. As I'm almost certain that once it's finished helping itself to your weapons it'll be heading back home to its Locust buddies who will be tipping their glasses at their new accumulation of guns."

"Tipping glasses? Why the hell are you giving personalities to Locust Sergeant?"

"A Locust once had me in a choke hold, looked me in the eye and called me stupid. Are you telling me that you think those creatures are nothing more than grunts?"

"I'd prefer not to think they were anything but mindless monsters,"

"They beat us because we underestimated their ability, because they were more than just mindless animals,"

Burn muttered under his breath as he slung his Gnasher from his shoulder and fired several times at the Ticker. It didn't even know what hit it. As he bent down to examine the damage, he dug his fist into the body cavity and retrieved Wilks' Lancer. He handed it back to him, dripping with Ticker guts. Wilks gave it a look as he delicately accepted it from him, flicking the dripping Locust remnant off the weapon.

"Us or them," Burn told him harshly, "Do not humanise those monsters in my presence again."

He stalked moodily away into the darkness cursing as he went.

Aidie leaned against the wall of Archer's house, she tapped her fingers impatiently over her crossed arms as she waited for him to return. Eventually the front door opened and Archer exited his home followed by three voluptuous women.

"Archie why do you have to go now?" one whined clinging to his elbow as she tied her nightdress up.

"It's so dark outside Archie, why don't you stay here and keep us warm?" chimed another.

"Keep us safe out there Arch, we're counting on you," responded the third.

"My darlings," Archer smoothly responded back, "you can all keep each other company until I return. Just think of me enduring a night of this mindless grunt work until I can be back warming your bed again."

He kissed them passionately each in turn and ushered them back into their hut. As he shut the door he turned to look at Aidie who stared back at him with eyebrows raised in fascination.

"Tell why I had to meet you here rather than start shift at our usual place?" She grumbled, "you just rubbing in your sexual prowess?"

"Jealous?" He wiggled his eyebrows in response.

"As if,"

"Yes we're all aware of the confusing relationship you have with your Sergeant,"

"Don't quite get the allure of three though, was one not enough for you Archer?" She responded, opting to ignore his comment.

Archer swaggered over to her and reclaimed his Shotgun. They headed towards the village perimeter to commence their next round of checks.

"They are more than just a booty call, Aidie, I love all three of those women," he gave her an honest answer as he scanned the perimeter for any damage.

"Why?" She asked, genuinely curious, "don't either of them mind the other?"

"They're sisters,"

"And I thought I had a complicated relationship,"

In the few days that Aidie and Archer had been working together the pair had learnt more about each other than in the two years they had lived as neighbours. Archer, it seemed, liked to talk, more importantly he liked to talk about his women.

"So are we stopping at many other houses to call on more fine ladies?"

"Believe it or not Marya, Marta and Melinie are the only three ladies in my life,"

"And they alliterate as well, how cute,"

Archer flinched slightly at her jibe, which made her realise that she'd stepped over the line. She never used to mind making snide remarks at him but since the Wilks and Tate debacle she had become more aware at how her responses affected people. Clearly Archer was devoted to his ladies.

"Have you any children?" she continued instead.

He thoughtfully chewed on his gums before choosing to answer, "Nope, no children."

"You never wanted any?" she asked.

"It's not that I didn't want any, the girls would have loved a baby to mother. It's just that I can't have children. The price I paid for working hard hours in Imulsion Mines left me infertile. Some good I am to the future of the human race,"

"I'm sorry Archer I didn't realise," once again she had put her foot in it, tact was never her strongest feature.

He turned to look at her and narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "so what's the deal with you and your Sergeant?"

"What about him?"

"Aside from the fact that he clearly doesn't look like your brother and yet you share the same name?" Archer watched her closely for any indication of her response.

"I...I don't know what you mean," she took a hesitant step away from him in a readying attempt to protect herself if the confrontation went sour quickly.

"Ah come on Blondie, we've known for ages that you aren't blood related to the Sergeant,"

"How?"

"Your short Islander friend talks when he drinks, he's a mean gossip,"

"Bloody Cam," she cursed.

Archer chuckled to himself, "So come on spill, what's the deal. Who is he to you?"

She walked beside him silently as he continued to stare back at her, unwittingly unfaltering in his steps. She weighed up her options, live in denial or admit to the truth. How important was it to keep Archer as an ally when everything else was crumbling around them. She knew what Wilks would pick.

"He was my Guardian," she answered eventually, "he saved my family a few years back and offered to protect and train me until I came of age. He and the squad are my family now."

Archer bent down and pulled out a tool from his pocket to solder the corrugated metal panelling together. She watched him as he reattached a few damaged strands of fixings, working his way up the panelling until it was completely reattached. As he straightened himself up he gave her a look.

"Still doesn't answer why there is an immense amount of tension around the pair of you,"

"Wow, since when have you been so interested in my life?"

"Since the day you made him take a bath in the middle of a Polyp attack, never seen anyone so attentive. My girls don't even convey that amount of concern about me and I'm an infertile Rustlung sufferer."

"It is hard to explain to someone who has no clue of the history Wilks and I share,"

"Enlighten me,"

She smiled, "I don't need to explain myself to you Archer. The relationship Wilks and I have is a complicated one. But it will never affect our ability as Gears."

"Good to hear I suppose," he shrugged and headed towards the main gate, unlocking the vast structure and pushing it open to reveal the dark wilderness to them, "I miss it sometimes."

"Miss what?" she stood beside him to take in the landscape around them.

"The freedom, the open gates, no fences. Makes me feel restricted staying here every day of my miserable life,"

"It's overrated," she commented, he sent her a look, "I mean look at it this way. If we all walked Sera as Nomads we would never know the importance of family and togetherness. No danger means no walls and no reason to stay together."

"You're one seriously damaged individual,"

"You learn to live with me,"

They stood watching the darkness for a while allowing Archer his moment of solitude. Both taking in the silence between them, two different people from different backgrounds sharing the moment of contemplation.

A scuffling sound somewhere in the darkness drew them from their silence. Archer frowned squinting out into the night at a chance to catch sight of the culprit..

"Did you just?..." she started.

"What the hell is it?" he continued.

Aidie unhooked her Longshot and lifted the sights to her eye. She squinted as she picked up a vague outline of a figure.

"It's coming towards us, but it's just too dark for me to see anything more,"

"Shall we investigate,"

Aidie shook her head, "It would leave the gate exposed, I'll go find the others and we can work out the best tactic."

As it turned out Cam and Miles weren't that far from them. Despite being off shift Miles had been baiting Polyps with an Imulsion incendiary snare, his Stranded partner had taken up conversation with Cam about a blueprint he had once seen for a prototype weapon. Cam caught sight of Aidie's approach and beckoned her to him.

"Everything okay kid?"

"Archer and I were at the North gate, we've seen something heading towards the village, possible human Cam,"

He nodded thoughtfully and glanced back at the others behind him.

"C'mon fellas we're needed at the gate," he ordered them.

Archer waited nervously, it had been a while since anything remotely threatening had approached their gates. Although he knew the village was well fortified, the fear of the unknown scared him the most. Cam organised for the four to assess the possible danger whilst Aidie stayed back to protect the gate. They jogged towards the figure with their guns at the ready positioning themselves in a 'V' in case of attack.

The closer they drew the more they could pick out what was approaching. It was human, barely, staggering forwards then sideways as if intoxicated. Every so often it would grasp out at something to steady itself. It wasn't until they were almost upon it that Cam realised it was badly injured.

"Cam?" The person mumbled almost incoherently as it coughed out blood splattering him in the face.

Realisation dawned on Cam like a kick in the gut as he took in the injuries and the blood. So much blood. Then he started to see through to the man under the injuries.

"Tate is that you?"

"I found you," As if this had been the final act Tate tumbled to the ground.

Confusion and mayhem ensued as the group rushed the injured man back to the village, shouting and roaring for medical assistance.

Aidie watched dumbfounded as she locked the gates after them and blindly followed them back to the infirmary. Just as she was about to enter through the doors Cam blocked her way, his shirt and hands were smeared in blood.

"Aidie, Yer need to get Wilks and Burn," he spoke slowly as he tried to steady the wobble in his voice.

"Cam?" She asked worriedly, "Who is it? What's happened?"

"Please get them for me Aidie, it's Tate,"

"Oh no!" Her stomach lurched and she was already taking steps backwards to find the others.

Wilks burst through the infirmary doors with Burn and Aidie on his heels.

"Cam?" He bellowed into the bustle of humans.

"Over here," Miles responded from the other side of the room and beckoned his Sergeant to the side.

"What the hell happened?" Wilks demanded with a fierceness in his voice that was rarely heard.

The crush of medical attention parted momentarily to reveal Cam working to attempt to stop the bleeding from somewhere. Wilks took a step forward to stand over his old friend, his heart sank. One of Tate's eyes hung out of its socket by its optic nerve. He had been sliced down the side of his face to his neck. His nipples had been hacked off and one of his feet was missing all its toes.

Horrified, Wilks stepped backwards and closed his eyes in revulsion, he felt sick. Burn was busy shouting at Tate.

"Who did this, where are the girls?"

He repeated it enough for Tate to hazily pull himself into consciousness, he turned his head towards Burn's voice his remaining eye crusted over in blood. He reached out with his hand to grab hold of someone for comfort, Wilks didn't hesitate to step forward. His hand slipped through the bloodied nubs of the missing index and middle finger of his old friend.

"Tate," he unsteadily heard himself speak, "I'm here."

"Olly?" His bloodied hand weakly tried to squeeze him back.

"I'm here buddy," Wilks edged closer to him.

"They cut me Olly," he mumbled as bloodied tears fell from his intact eye, "they cut me bad and made them watch. Then they killed them in front of me. They killed them all."

"The girls?" Burn growled nearby.

"My babies, they killed my babies and made me watch,"

Cam was busy cutting apart Tate's bloodied trousers to get to a further injury on his upper thigh and sucked in a heavy breath as he realised the cause. Wilks glanced quickly at him in query.

"The fucking bastards," he muttered as he pulled out a set of genitalia from Tate's pocket, "they fucking castrated him."

The room went silent aside from Tate's gentle weeping.

Wilks was exhausted by the time the medics had managed to sedate Tate enough for them to patch up the mess he had been left in. Miles had already left retching, hand over his mouth, when Cam had started to extract the destroyed eye. Wilks had remained resolutely by his side throughout, guilt fought back at the desire to flee as far away as possible from his old friend. Cam took a moment to take a swig of water and glanced over at Wilks sitting vigil beside an unconscious Tate.

"I'm gonna have to send yer out now Olly," he told him gently.

Wilks gazed back bleary eyed, "why?"

"I have to clear up the mess they've made of his..." Cam faltered and instead glanced at Tate's crotch, "He's lost enough dignity already. I can't let yer see this."

"I understand," Wilks slowly rose to his feet and plodded out of the door into the empty streets.

Miles was leaning against the wall with his head in his hands.

"Miles?" Wilks asked, realising the full impact of what they had just witnessed, "you okay?"

Miles let out a heavy sigh before rubbing his hands over his face, he looked back at Wilks and gave him a shake of the head.

"No I'm not okay," he sighed, "He's a fucking kid. He survived the Locust wars to what? To what means? To be ripped apart by who? How is that kid ever going to have a normal life again?"

"I don't know Miles, all we can do is hope for the best,"

"And then what?"

Wilks shook his head, for once he didn't have the answer. All he wanted to concentrate on was ensuring Tate's survival. He would decide this next move from there.

"Did you see Aidan at all?" Miles asked quietly after a while.

"No, why?"

"She left the infirmary after me, absolutely silent. Might be worth checking if she's okay,"

"I honestly doubt I'm the right person to do that,"

Miles turned to look at him, his red eyes and tired face said so much, "look I don't tend to comment much on whatever crap you get yourself in, I leave the bollocking to Cam. But she's one of us Olly. She spent more shifts with Tate than any of us. If it affected us then it's going to affect her, despite whatever complications you and her are going through, you're her Sergeant it's your duty."

Wilks nodded thoughtfully, he was too tired to argue.

He trod slowly through the village, his Lancer felt like a heavy weight on his back. The sound of civilians stirring in their precious little huts, ignorant of the horror around them. As he reached his own abode he pushed aside the sheets and fabric hung from the lines, making him dart and weave through them to his door. Before he even entered the room he could hear the soft muffled sounds of sobbing.

She never cried.

"Aidan?"

The crying stopped at the sound of his voice. He stepped further into the room and closed the door behind him, unhooking his Lancer and placing it against the wall. He approached her side of the room and discovered her on the floor squeezed between the bed and the shelf with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped protectively around them. Her hair hung in straggled waves against her face, damp from the tears. He sank to the bed to take it in, clasping his hands together, trying to work out the best way to approach her.

"You okay?" he asked as emotionless as possible.

She nodded briskly, as if to brush it away, keeping her face hidden from him as she drew her knees further to her.

"Aidan?" he quietly murmured.

"I'm fine," her voice faltered, proving the contrary.

"Talk to me, please,"

"I'm fine"

"Aidan, this is an order, you will talk to me I'm your Sergeant remember," his tone got a little sharper in frustration.

"Stop it Wilks, stop it," she snapped back instantly, looking up at him to reveal her tear stained face, "I'm not playing these games with you anymore."

He dropped to his knees in front of her in confusion, "I'm not playing any games Aide."

"Who would do that?" she stuttered slightly as she inhaled a breath, "they castrated him and then made him watch as they slaughtered his children Wilks. Even little Tyrus, the poor baby. Tate loved his children more than we'll ever understand. And they just ripped them from him."

She faltered as tears built in her eyes and escaped down her cheeks. He sat helplessly watching her, sharing her pain but unable to comfort her.

"What kind of monster would do that to a man?"

He swallowed, half shaking his head as he responded huskily, "I don't know."

Her eyes flicked to his, examining his tired face in scrutiny, "I don't understand why this doesn't affect you like everyone else. Did the COG extract all your emotion as well as your soul?"

"You know more than anyone that's not true,"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" hurt reflected inside her, "Why aren't you feeling the pain the rest of us are going through. He was one of us Wilks,"

"You don't think I know that?" he snapped sharply, causing her to lean back in shock, "he was my fucking best friend, we went through everything together. And I fucked up, I messed up when he needed me most and pushed him away, because I was too fucking proud to admit I was at fault. I will never be able to look at him again without realising that I could have prevented it."

She stared silently back at him, unable to respond.

"But I seem to be doing a lot of that recently," his eyes fixed on her as his voice softened slightly, "what the hell are we doing Aidie? If you've had enough just walk away now, I can't keep doing this. I can't keep playing this game with you. This is who I am, I won't be anything more. I won't keep pretending for the rest of my life."

She blinked, lips slightly parted as she exhaled heavily. A tear escaped from her lashes, travelling down her cheek and landing heavily on the floor between her feet. She gazed at it thoughtfully.

"Why do you keep pushing people away when you need them most?" she asked quietly.

"What?"

"I know you well enough to know that it's your go to move. Why let yourself get hurt emotionally when you can push everyone away?" finally she looked up at him, meeting his gaze with determination, "It's what you did with me, wasn't it?"

This was the first time that they had properly confronted one another, to finally air their grievances since his foolish act. He was definitely not ready for it.

"You and Tate had a disagreement and he hurt you emotionally, I'm assuming he made you feel less of a man than he was. The only way to combat this pain was to go to the only person you could gain your control back, through me."

"It wasn't my intention,"

"Instead of talking to me about your hurt pride and maybe finding a way to address it, you make the situation worse and find a way to push me away too," she let out a sigh, "I'm still allowed to feel angry about this."

He watched her for a moment as her eyes flicked up to meet his. Wordlessly he sat back on the bunk to give himself space from the encounter, rubbing his hands over his face. He pressed the base of his palms into his eyes to stop the temptation of emotion rising to the forefront. He felt himself let out a long laboured breath.

"I can't keep doing this, it's killing me," he muttered, letting his hands drop to his lap.

"Keep pushing Olly, I dare you," she had unfurled herself to rise to the challenge now.

"You'd really do this now?" he snapped, "After everything that's happened? Just go ahead and destroy me, before I have any dignity left. It's what I did to you, right?"

She chewed on her lip as she contemplated her next move.

"I fucking do this every time, when I finally open myself up to people I do everything I can to fuck it all up," he leaned forward and placed his head in his hands, "fucking hell, Tate. I'm doing a great job of fucking up the only friends I ever had."

A rogue tear escaped from his eye as he felt his suppressed emotions bubble upwards. He cursed himself for allowing her to see him fall apart again. Deciding that the damage had already been done, he lifted his head to look back at her and finally face up to the truth he had been omitting from her.

"We've lived a lie, you and I, for almost two years now. We've remained steadfast in our deceit and have stayed strong because of it. As your Sergeant I have to keep a professional distance from you. And yet as your... I don't even have words to describe what we are to one another," He exhaled heavily to summon the courage to continue, "I have feelings for you, I have from the moment I first met you and I'm sure you've always been aware of it. But I struggle to suppress this mass of conflicting emotions. I slipped up that day, hearing that I was a failure over and over again, that the Wretch had become the reason I couldn't admit anything to you. Something inside me snapped. To feel less of a man whilst the woman I loved slept beside me each night and being unable to do anything about it. It killed me. I destroyed my friendship with Tate because of it. The biggest mistake in my life was hurting you when I had promised never to be that person. No one regrets it more than I do. Please Aide, I don't know what I would do if I lost you too."

She thoughtfully clicked her tongue as she made her decision and crawled towards him on all fours, coming to a stop between his knees where she planted herself on her haunches. Such icy blue eyes gazed back at him as she tilted her head slightly. He fought back the urge to reach out to touch her, to tease her straggled curls behind her ear. She picked up on his hesitation and leaned against his legs, taking his hand in hers and bringing it to her cheek. He swallowed nervously as he cupped his palm against her and lightly stroked his thumb over her freckled skin. Her eyes closed in response and he felt her body dip towards him.

"Olly," she breathed, opening her eyes and fixing him with an intense look, "If only you knew."

She stretched upwards, running a hand through his scruffily growing hair and down across the stubble of his beard. She stroked her fingers against it as she placed a gentle kiss on the side of his neck. He closed his eyes and let out a gasp as a tingling surge of desire swept through him. Her lips drifted to his jawline and his cheek before finally touching carefully against his own. There was a naivety in her gentleness, an innocence in her kisses that made him love her all the more.

He placed a careful hand against the small of her back to hold her close to him, in fear of letting go to the security of her nearness. She pulled away slightly, eyes widened with an innocent curiosity as they met his. A rogue tear escaped from his eye and she wiped it away with a gentle thumb.

"I need you Aidie," he breathed, "I can't do any of this without you."

Just as he pulled back she leaned upwards and planted a tender kiss just below his earlobe. Her lips brushed against his ear, sending a pleasurable tingle down his spine as she responded.

"I am yours, always."