As an Ace, one must always be prepared for victory.

Devil Arms: ReturnerS

Amidst the eternal waves of time
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise
Out of the Abyss peer the eyes of a shadow
Behold the Devil, it's wings a black sheath

Chapter 3: Zeal of the Ace

"Well...I think that's the last of it. Can you bandage her up, Alex?"

"Sure."

"You're incredible! Being able to remove all those fragments with only one arm..."

"Thank you...but I still find it rather annoying."

They had managed to get Subaru to the Aizawa household in about ten minutes, speeding through every yellow light possible. Shou had managed to remove all the fragments from Subaru's arm but the girl was still panting and sweating in pain.

"Hmm...perhaps whatever bit her had some kind of paralyzing properties?" Shou wondered out loud as Sakura wiped the sweat off Subaru's forehead. "Can you speak?"

"A...little..." Subaru breathed before wincing in pain as Alex finished wrapping the bandage around her arm.

"Then you should be fine after a little rest...probably," he added before turning to the crushed Typhoon Knuckle. "Ahh...the gift has been all but scrapped. How long is this gonna take to fix?"

"Can...you?"

"Of course. It's just going to take awhile...especially with only one arm and with only my off hand, but I'll make it a priority. Feel free to spend the night if you aren't able to walk in the next few hours. Hope the bed is comfortable enough for you."

"Where's Kasumi-san?" Sakura asked, looking around. "Did she not come back with you?"

"She's in a meeting right now," Shou replied as he took out some tools from under his desk. "Would you like a tune up as well, or did you already get one?"

"Please..." Subaru replied as Sakura took Mach Caliber from her and handed it to Shou.

"Be gentle," it said.

"Ha ha, very funny."

He placed it next to the typhoon Knuckle before turning back to Sakura.

"So what do you plan to do? Do you want to stay here too?"

"Is it okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, but you'll have to use the couch."

"That's fine."

"Then I'll excuse myself for the day," Alex said as he headed toward the exit.

"Okay, see ya, Mister Lolipedo!"

"Don't call me that!"

"What? You're not one? It just so happens that the one you like is a loli?"

"What's a loli?" Sakura asked looking at the two of them.

"If I tell you your mom would kill me so ask Ed instead," Shou said pushing her toward Subaru as he walked closer to Alex. "It's not so bad being one, Sempai was one too."

"I...really find that hard to believe," Alex said, his eyes focusing on Subaru. "And I am not one!"

"Where did you just look?" Shou asked, his sneer growing.

"At her height!"

"So it's Hikaru Genji then?"

"Where are you getting these ideas from Shou-san?" Alex asked, backing away from him.

"A very very informative teenage lifestyle," Shou said pushing his glasses up with a big smile. "Bye bye now."

Alex didn't like being made fun of but he knew he wasn't going to win a verbal fight with Shou so he just sighed and left, waving goodbye to the girls.

"Nice kid, he's certainly lightened up over the last two years," Shou said as he returned to his desk. "Still fun to bug him though. Now, time to get to work."

Shou's life had changed a lot in the last two years. He had been involved in a war from the future relating to a civilization outside his home planet, he married his childhood friend and watch the other give his life to save everyone else, and he had also became the fastest person in the history of the TSAB to receive a doctorate in medicine and engineering at the age of 20. A lot of hospitals had asked him to come work with them but he decided to open a small clinic instead, since his main passion was following his wife on archeological digs.

Speaking of which, the lady in question seems to have returned.

"I'm home!" Kasumi called out as she opened the door. "Hmm? Guests?"

She took note of the two extra pairs of shoes at the doorway as she came into the examination room.

"Geh...what happened to you?" she asked looking at Subaru's dazed state.

"Seems like she was attacked my some kind of new species," Shou said spinning his chair so that he faced her. "One that's openly hostile to...humans...?"

Shou said the last word slowly, folding his arms and thinking about it for a second before shrugging his shoulders and returning to his work on repairing Subaru's device.

"Good evening, Kasumi-san!" Sakura greeted Kasumi with a bow who smiled and nodded in return. "It's been a while."

"Yep, looks like you're doing okay."

"What happened to your eye?" she asked looking at Kasumi's eye patch as the latter quickly moved her hand over it.

"Umm...some of those ancient temples have a lot of traps," Kasumi lied.

"Nice save," Shou thought as he attempted to pry two sheets of metal from each other, something that was proving extremely difficult with only two fingers.

The two of them continued to talk as Shou worked on the device and Subaru worked the beast's venom out of her system, which included a lot of vomiting. So much in fact that Kasumi had to take Sakura out of the room after the fifth one.

It was around midnight before her symptoms let up and by that time Sakura was already sleeping on the couch and Kasumi returned to the room.

"You done dying yet?" she joked checking Subaru's temperature and placing a bowl of soup next on the nightstand next to the patient's bed.

"Please tell me you were not the one that made that," Shou said, swiveling around in his chair. "We don't need a repeat of the past five hours..."

Subaru looked nervously at the contents relaxing in the bowl as Kasumi kicked Shou's chair out from underneath him.

"Sakura made that," Kasumi said as she hoisted Shou back up from the back of his collar, not hiding her annoyance. "And I saw that!" she added turning to Subaru who had sighed in relief.

"Sorry," Subaru said, unable to hide her smile as she managed to sit up.

"Think you can eat?" Kasumi asked as she pulled a tray from a cupboard from the wall opposite of Subaru's bed.

"I'm starving," Subaru replied honestly.

"Considering you had expelled the toxins along with today's dinner...I wouldn't be surprised," Shou said pushing his glasses back onto his face.

"Sorry..." Subaru said as she brought a spoonful up to her mouth. Her body began to warm up considerably as she quickly had another.

"Am I missing something here?" Kasumi asked, looking at her husband.

"We had our chat over dinner," Shou said simply as he straightened his collar by running his finger along the front. Subaru thought Kasumi would inquire further but she simply nodded her head in understanding allowing him to return to tuning Subaru's device.

"Lucky, I had to wait for Yuuno-san to finish his first work before he could talk to me."

"Now then...it's time we got to the important bit," Kasumi said as she turned to Subaru who had just finished her late meal. "What were you doing in that alley? From what I gathered, you were already there before the beast had even arrived."

Subaru's heart sank as she removed the tray from her lap. There was no reason for her to hesitate, but she feels like they wouldn't believe her, especially since they had already accepted the fact that he was dead, but Kasumi had an uncanny ability to spot lies so there was no real point in lying either.

"I saw...I thought I saw him..." she answered in an uncharacteristic small voice.

Kasumi stared blankly at her for a moment before sighing and leaning back against Shou's table, being careful not to bump into any of his instruments. She then checked her watch for the date and sighed again.

"So...what? A ghost?" she asked.

"I don't think so...people were moving to the side to avoid bumping into him on the street."

Kasumi sighed again as she pressed the area between her eyebrows. She knows that there was no way in hell Subaru, for more reasons than one, would mistake her old boyfriend for someone else to the point of chasing him down a few blocks.

On the other hand, the man was long dead.

Shou seems to be thinking along the lines, as he was still attempting to screw in the same bolt for the last two minutes.

"Hey..." Kasumi muttered turning to Shou who looked back at her.

"Isn't that just a bit too far-fetched?" he replied. At first, Subaru thought he was talking about her story, but then he continued. "For all we know the whole thing could just be a red herring."

"What are you two...?" Subaru asked as Shou turned his chair around again.

"Remember what I told you was left on the walls at the site?" Shou asked. "Reconstruction. Rebirth. Return."

Subaru nodded her head, comprehension slowly dwelling upon her.

"I doubt a man walking around with a bloodied arm would go unnoticed, so it's may not be too much of a stretch to say he's been 'Reconstructed,' but if it was truly Senpai, then he would have let everyone know he was alive, which may be the 'Rebirth' part. He might not have all his memories. I daresay a brush with death and two years of solitude might drive a man to forget things. And 'Return' should be obvious..."

"But what would a man in pure black be writing about...him...for...?" Kasumi began before smacking herself and dragging her hand down her face. "Duh..."

"Wait...you're not saying he's the one that attacked you are you?" Subaru asked.

"It would depend on which one you are talking about," Shou said calmly.

"And don't forget what he's been wearing on his hands for god knows how long by now," Kasumi added.

Subaru understood what they meant.

There were two people that were left behind that day, both of which had extremely powerful Lost Logia know as the Devil Ärms, a device that granted its wielder power limited only by their physical strength and imagination. But a lot of people that knew him before Subaru did had noted that he had changed dramatically from their memories, leading them to think the Logia may have been manipulating his personality and emotions. It wouldn't be the first one to and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Who's to say that it cant resurrect the dead as well?

"Well, it's all conjecture anyway," Shou said as he placed his hand on Mach Caliber. "Think you can show me what went on in that fight?"

"Of course," the device chimed as it transferred the video data to his device which began displaying a video of Subaru's fight with the beast. The three of them watched as the creature react in pain to the physical attack but get up so quickly when hit with a powerful magic based one.

"Yeah, that definitely ain't a natural creature," Kasumi said as Shou paused the video, showing the wolf-like creature as a whole.

"Some kind of armored plating," Shou commented. "Perhaps a war-hound?"

"So, what? Yet another ancient empire coming back to rear its ugly head against the TSAB?" Kasumi asked.

"Ancient Belka had many empires after all. At least we got a general time period."

"Because that completely narrows it down a lot right?"

As the two of them continued throwing theories at each other, Subaru turned to look at the image of the beast on the screen, its blood red eyes reminding her of another.

The next morning, Subaru and Sakura were getting ready to leave and return back to Subaru's apartment. Shou was the only one seeing them off as Kasumi's snores can still be heard from the master bedroom.

"Sorry, she's still hasn't reset her internal clock yet," he explained.

"What about you?" Sakura asked.

"I've been sleeping at odd hours since I was a teenager," Shou said thinking about the past. "Good times, good times...course that also meant three hours of sleep but..anyway, I finished the maintenance of Mach Caliber but the repairs are going to take a few more days. Might be faster if I feel like my arm's healed up enough. Anyway, you can take your device back but you'll only have your Revolver Knuckle."

"Feels missing," Mach Caliber chimed.

"I swear it's been getting mouthy around me," Shou mumbled under his breath.

Subaru thanked him as she returned Mach Caliber to its usual place. Shou and Kasumi hadn't said anything about him being alive or not after that first bit of the discussion they had last night. Whether it was out of concern for her or they just didn't believe it she didn't know nor did she feel like asking them about it.

Out of all his friends and family, only she, Sakura and his mother still believed that he was still alive. Everyone had long since given up. Though she remembered what his father had said, that it was sometimes better to be pessimistic, though Shou had called it realistic, as you aren't necessarily sad if you were disappointed.

"Well we'll be seeing you," Subaru said as she opened the door to leave, only to meet eyes with a very familiar blue haired woman wearing a strange green uniform, with an unfamiliar bespectacled man behind her.

"Hi," the woman said with a small wave and a large grin, as she watched the two girls' expressions change from shock to confused to fear.

"Ah," Shou said as he thumped his cast on his palm. "I knew I forgot to mention something last night."

"J-jailbreak?" Sakura asked as she stared at her mother, who had her hand on her mouth and was barely containing her laughter.

"No," the man behind Aoi spoke up. "Your mother's struck a deal with some higher ranking officials and will be part of the Bureau's military forces instead of being in prison."

"Who are you?" Subaru asked, looking at him.

"My name is Nathaniel Duel," he replied. "I have been assigned as Mrs. Kimura Aoi's assistant. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"Oh," Sakura's eyes lit up in realization. "You're Amia-san's friend, Nathan-san, aren't you?"

"I don't know if...'friend' is the right word," Nathan replied, the corner of his mouth twitching. "We were classmates at the academy...and she often failed to respect my...privacy."

The way he talked about her wasn't one of hate, but of how one would talk about an embarrassing sibling. He likes her but would sometimes wish she would just go away.

"So the thing about the dress..." Sakura began and Nathan cleared his throat, indicating that he does not wish to talk about it.

"Can we come in?" he asked Shou, who looked like he was really interested in what the dress was about.

"Sure," he replied. "Come in, come in. What are you two going to do?"

He asked the question to Subaru and Sakura. The two girls looked at each other for a second before Sakura spoke.

"Can we stay for a bit longer?" she asked.

"Sure," Shou replied. "How about some breakfast as well?"

"Oh, let me help with that," Subaru said as Shou shut the door behind them.

"Why are you here?" Sakura asked her mother who was happily sipping some of Shou's freshly brewed coffee. "Did you have business with Shou-san?"

"Yeah," she replied as she swirled her cup in her hands. "I also have something to ask of Subaru as well." She added as Subaru looked up from the kitchen counter where she was beating some eggs.

"Hmm? With me?" she asked before a worried look flashed across her face. "Um...did I do something wrong?"

"Not at all. Just wanted to thank you for taking care of my daughter for the last two years."

"Oh, it was no problem at all."

Since Shichiro, Sakura's father and Aoi's husband, chose to return to Earth to help rebuild their city, it would be hard for Sakura to live there during all the reconstruction so they asked Subaru to take care of her on Mid-Childa in the meantime. With help from certain influential friends, Subaru managed to get Sakura enrolled in St. Hilde Academy of Magic and in the same class as one of Sakura's new friends, Marika Lowell.

"How are you doing at school?" Aoi asked her daughter.

"Um, I think I'm doing fine," Sakura replied, sitting straight up.

"She's currently at the top of her class and fifth in her entire year academic wise and top in athletics," Nathan said looking up from his data pad. "And no I didn't have to check the school's database. Marika was happy to talk about you without my asking when I visited."

"It also seems you want to join the armed forces," Aoi said, setting down her cup.

"Is it okay?" Sakura asked looking at her mother.

"Of course," Aoi replied with a smile. "You're free to make your own choices. So long as you understand the consequences and dangers of doing so."

"I do..."

Aoi smiled as she rested her back on her chair. She knew her husband would definitely be against it. That would make the entire family soldiers after all.

"Well, she's no longer a child anymore," she muttered to herself.

"Mrs Aoi," Nathan whispered into her ear. "We need to hurry. We still need to oversee the construction after all."

"I know, I know," she replied dismissively. "Have you thought about the offer you received yesterday, Shou-kun?"

Sakura and Subaru turned toward Shou, who had his back toward them as he was pouring pancake batter into a frying pan.

"Yeah, I thought about it," Shou replied. "Overall, I'm wary about it."

"What are you talking about, Okaa-san?" Sakura asked.

"As according to the terms of my early release," Aoi began picking up her cup. "I'll be in charge of my own special task force that, with the support of quite a few admirals, will be given autonomy from the normal armed forces. Though we have no official directive, our goal is the safety and protection of the people. We can choose to be peacekeepers, a military force, or a rescue squad at any time and on any planet. Officially, we're the 501st Battalion, operating under the command of Admiral Lindy Haralown. Still don't have any ideas for a codename though."

"Then," Subaru began turning toward Shou. "What are you worried about?"

"Nothing about the idea itself," Shou replied turning off the stove and placing a large stack of pancakes on the table. "No offense to those present, but I have absolutely zero trust in the TSAB."

There was a serious tone in Shou's voice, directly contrasting his personality for the past day.

"Cooperation within a collective cannot be achieved if the right hand is unaware than a left hand exists," Shou said. "The TSAB has too many secrets for its own well being, filled with corruption and lies, half of the incidents they suffered were the direct result of one or more secret groups' actions. As far as I'm concerned, the Bureau is nothing more than a nest filled with rats using others to achieve their own objectives. The bad far outweighs the good in my eyes."

Subaru understood where he was coming from. The last two incidents were caused by members within the Bureau. The Mariage Incident was from a member of the Enforcers, and the Neo-Belkan War was the result of a group of high ranking generals and admirals attempting to sieze control of another power lost logia by force.

"And that is why this task force is being created," Aoi said. "As I said, this task force is for the people, not the government. A pure incorruptible task force with the highest level of clearance able to act without the need for orders and yellow tape. One that would be strong and efficient enough to handle any kind of incident and resolve it quickly before there are any casualties, civilian or otherwise. And that's why we need you."

"An impressive sales pitch," Shou admitted sitting down at the table. "But I still remain unconvinced."

"Really?" Aoi asked. "Ayumi-chan seemed so much more enthusiastic about the whole thing."

"What?" Shou's eyebrows shot up at the mention of his cousin. "What does she have to do with this?"

"We need skilled people after all," Nathan replied. "And since she has already finished her pilot training, we were able to secure her placement into the task force. Of course it's not her piloting skill we are after."

Shou pressed the area between his brow and frowned. Ayumi was a well accomplished hacker, being able to understand everything there is to know about any kind of system within days. She had even managed to get through the Neo-Belkan system aboard the Stargazer and copy over most of the data unnoticed, or perhaps it was because the ship's captain simply didn't care. He also happened to know that Ayumi's grades at pilot's school were not 100% honest.

Seeing his resolve waver, Aoi decided to give him one more push.

"We were also thinking of asking Kasumi-chan to join as well," she said, a smile forming across her face.

"Fine...I'll talk it over with her," Shou replied.

"No need, let's just do it," A voice came from the hallway.

Kasumi was standing there, looking like she had just gotten out of bed. Her pajamas were half unbuttoned as if she had thought about changing before coming down but deciding against it halfway through, her hair was uncombed and she was yawning pretty badly.

Shou gave a long sigh before sitting upright, his back resting against the chair before saying, "You are burning the omelet, Subaru Nakajima."

Everyone turned to look at Subaru, who had froze in the middle of frying the eggs and she looked down at the frying pan just in time for the eggs to catch on fire.

"Uwaaaaah!" she screamed backing away from the stove, still holding the pan.

"Don't burn down the house!" Kasumi shouted rushing into the kitchen.

"The lid!" Sakura cried out. "Use the lid!"

After that as Aoi and Nathan prepared to leave, Subaru came up to them.

"What is it?" Aoi asked.

"Um...about the task force..." Subaru began.

"Oh? I thought joining the Gulf Special Rescue Unit was a goal of yours? Do you seek something else now that you've achieved that, Miss Silver Ace?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that..."

"I know, but that's how other people will see it. Besides, only people that have continually prove themselves will be able to join the 501st."

With that the two of them left leaving Subaru at the doorway.

"I..." she muttered as Mach Caliber started beeping.

"You have new message partner," it said.

"Huh?"

"Really ma'am," Nathan said as he opened the door of the car for her. "Did you have to do it in such a roundabout way?"

"That girl needs to change her perspective a little," Aoi said as she put away her device. "Someone who blames themselves for being unable to save another shouldn't belong in a rescue squad. It's a miracle she made it this far without making a critical mistake."

"Do you blame her for failing to save your son?" Nathan asked as he began driving to their next location.

"Of course not," Aoi replied indifferently as she propped up her head on her arm. "I just can't forgive her for believing that I do. I'm not that small of a woman. So what's the status on that secret project Lindy...Admiral Harlaown had going?"

"It's about 95% finished. It should be finished by the end of next month. We're heading there now so you can get a feel for the crew and its weapons."

"Really now...just how much faith are they placing on me?" Aoi asked as she opened the file.

"Are you holding up okay?" Teana asked the person on the other side of her video call.

"Yes," Amia Lee replied. "We managed to find a cheap apartment that's close to her school. It's a little cramped but we're making due."

"And how is your fa...how is Lieutenant Oswald Lee doing?"

"I...don't know..."

"You haven't gone to see him?"

"He refuses to see me..."

Two months ago, Amia's father, attacked a civilian transport while off duty but was stopped by Teana before he killed anyone. He was determined to be mentally unstable and diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He was admitted to a mental institute for treatment.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's not your fault, Teana. I'm just glad that you stopped him before it got too serious. Oh, my break's almost over."

"Okay, I'll call you again," Teana said as the call ended. She sighed as she pulled something out of her pocket. A pair of metal tags bearing the name "O. Lee." She thought about the words their owner left to her before he vanished. "In the end, I couldn't completely stop it, huh?"

"Oi, Tea!"

Her thoughts were interrupted as Ed came up to her.

"What's wrong?" she asked putting the dog tags away.

"It seems Subaru got herself in a bit of trouble," he replied showing her a file.

She quickly scanned through the file as her eyes opened wide in shock.

"She was attacked by an unidentified animal?"

"Looks like it. From her report, it seems that it just appeared in front of her while she was tailing someone suspicious and after she had lost him."

"Someone suspicious?" Teana repeated.

"Yeah, you're not going to believe this. Although she didn't say it in her file, apparently it was Yuu-san she saw," Ed said.

"Kuro? Here?"

"I know right? But there's no way she would lie about something like that. First some crazy guy attacks an old Belkan dig site, then a monster shows up, and now it seems Yuu-san has come back from the dead."

Teana stared at the file and pulled up the security recording of the man that attacked Shou and Kasumi's dig site. As she burned the images into her brain, she couldn't help but think of the cryptic message that was left behind.

"What in the world is going on here?"

Author's note

Fast update because stat tracker shows that I hit 100 visitors =D. Seriously, it seems I even got some new readers (or rereaders) based on the fact that I got an influx of traffic on LegendS for crying out loud. If you're new, leave a review. Cause really...why the hell would you read 40 some odd chapters and NOT say what a good job I'm doing to keep you interested for that long?

It seems a lot (read 3 =/) of you want Vivio in this just because Sakura learned some martial arts...

Honestly, I don't know if that's a good idea as I have little understanding of Vivid and...let's bit mince words here...it's painful for me to read the manga. I don't know why, but something about it screams "lame" to me. I admit it's not as bad as Force, but I'm not enjoying it as much I thought I would be. Maybe the whole, the memories of a powerful king was retained in the mind of a young prepubescent girl...or maybe it's the adult mode thing? Or perhaps I prefer the whole "militaristic" magic they've been going for rather than typical magical girl.

I never really tried to hide it, but I really do not enjoy the yuri under/overtones in this series and this just takes the cake. Nevertheless, I HAVE toyed with the idea, and if I find a good way to handle it, it will show up, just don't expect it anytime soon. The only way I can think of that makes sense right now is having a mass reunion of Riot Force 6, something that I am not keen on doing simply because I am not sure I can accurately portray everyone correctly. But bath scenes are nice...ohhh yesss...bath scenes...

But who knows. Maybe I'll throw it in as a recreational/breather chapter. After all, one can't have an entire series of non-stop action.