"So, what's the purpose of this 'project' exactly?" Char asked as she sat down on our couch across from Ichika and Houki. We had invited the couple over to dinner and to get any information we could on our undercover jobs. I followed right behind Char, handing both Houki and Ichika their drinks before sitting down next to Char. Keiko had disappeared into her room after school and I'd seen her whispering under her breath. I had just grinned, knowing that she and Gospel were getting better acquainted and learning about each other. I smiled at the memory before shaking my head to return to the present.

"After you were imprisoned, Zeke. Phantom Task activity increased dramatically. They got a lot bolder in their attacks. They even attacked us in broad daylight while we were outside the Academy. We fought them for a full day! In the middle of downtown." Ichika said. My eyes widened as I listened to the trio recant the stories after I gave myself up.

"I clinically died, killed by my long lost sister. Byakushiki somehow revived me and I fought her again. I was winning before Squall surprised me and they retreated." Ichika said. I just nodded.

"I had the same thing happen to me the day I turned myself in. I died, protecting her from her own father. She watched the whole thing." I said, wrapping an arm around Char's shoulders. She snuggled closer as the memories surfaced. I squeezed her to me, silent comfort. Houki shivered across from us and copied Char, cuddling closer to Ichika.

"So, this is about Phantom Task then?" I asked, rubbing Char's shoulder. Houki nodded, mirrored by Ichika next to her.

"Yes. Along with any other groups or issues that come along the way." She answered.

We talked for a while longer, catching up and making plans to do this again before Houki and Ichika were heading home and Char and I were calling it a night.

"I'll be right there, Char. I just want to check in on Keiko real quick." I whispered. Char nodded and continued down the hall while I cracked open Keiko's door. She was laying on her back on her bed, eyes closed. Most would think she was asleep, but I could tell that she and Gospel were just meeting up in another world. I found a piece of paper and wrote something down on it. I laid it on Keiko's forehead before shutting off the lights and closing her door again. A couple minutes after I left, Keiko opened her eyes and sat up, dislodging my note. She grabbed it and read it.

Keiko, I hope you're enjoying having Gospel around and that the two of you are getting along alright. You'll have to tell me where she takes you when the two of you meet. I probably ventured to a few of them myself. That's all, happy birthday again, kiddo. -dad

The next day...

"I'm telling you. The issue isn't that IS are disappearing, it's that the pilots aren't reappearing alive or dead, but their IS are." A man spoke over our communication channel. His face was shrouded in darkness on-screen. I crossed my arms and stared at him.

"And I'm telling you. IS don't disappear, they're either working or they're scrap metal. How they come to be in these different states is a long and difficult list I won't get into. And about the pilots. They're either dead and buried somewhere, captured and being tortured for information or working for some group outside of the public eye." I replied, lifting the reasons on my fingers. The man nodded at my explanation and I cut the transmission before focusing on the room before me. It was a flat drab room at first glance, but when I tapped on a panel next to the entrance, the entire room darkened and screens came alive throughout the room. This was the US Academy's crown jewel.

"Computer, run test phase 2C please." I requested as I walked to a specific screen. Sensors all through the room came alive and scanned the room and made the necessary adjustments to its look. A few seconds later I was standing next to an IS. It was able to be programmed with a person's specific fighting style and match it. Simply put, it was a sparring bot. All the fighting, none of the risk.

"Begin program!" I said, Light forming around me as the IS came alive and rushed me, sword in hand.

Later...

"Computer. Run file SG02 on the eastern wall please." I said as Light disappeared and the dented and disarmed IS evaporated behind me. The sensors came alive again and the wall I had indicated rippled as the file started. The rest of the room darkened and I was left watching as the video file began.

"We can't handle much more of this!" Ichika said, holding his shield in front of him as Silvario fired again. The girls either piled behind his weakening shield or evaded in the open air.

"Yeah, but what can we do? It's too strong for all of us. We need to get out of here, now!"

"Then go!" I said through the channel. I dive bombed from the heavens, raining fire and hatred down on Silvario. The silver IS brought its wings up, having reached its {Secondary Shift}. The rounds impacted the impromptu shield, exploding on contact or breaching and exploding against its torso. The Silvario rushed away with me hot on its tails, firing non-stop at its retreating form. I sighed, watching as I evaded Silvario's wing attack as it was hit with Laura's high impact round.

"You know. I've heard that it's bad to live in the past." I jumped, surprised by the sudden presence of another person. I looked over my left shoulder to see Char leaning against the doorway, a small smile on her face. I sighed and stopped the file with a hand motion. It showed Ichika dropping from the sky towards the Silvario as I fired at it as a distraction.

"That may be true, but something kept bugging me about it. I was reminded of it after my match." I replied, sitting back down on the floor. Char walked next to me and joined me on the floor.

"What is bugging you? It was an unmanned IS that went rogue due to faulty programming." Char replied. I shook my head.

"I thought that too, but I talked with a few of my buddies that had worked on it and it was designed to be piloted by a person. According to my source, they had just strapped the test pilot in when the armor of the torso closed around them and the IS took off. They were still able to keep in contact with the pilot and found that the IS wasn't responding to any commands and was following some predetermined path." I answered. "The pilot was able to eject and was recovered safely before we were called to remove it." I added, seeing Char's horrified face. She sighed in relief and I chuckled.

"Why would an IS that had shown amazing amounts of promising potential and was seemingly flawless in every way... go crazy and have to be destroyed?" I muttered. Char shrugged and I sighed before standing and walking over to a couple bags in the corner of the room. "I'm heading down to RnD. Care to join me?" I asked as I walked out of the door. The file closed and the room brightened as I heard Char jog up beside me and we walked down to the Development floor.

Research and Development floor...

"Hi, is there a workspace I could commandeer for a little while?" I asked as Char and I walked in the door. A scientist pointed to a bench farther into the room and I thanked him before shouldering my bag again and weaving my way towards the bench, Char close behind me. I set the bag gently on my bench and walked around to the opposite side and turning a couple of the machines nearby as Char sat down near my bag. She glanced at the bag before looking back at me.

"What are we doing here, Zeke?" She asked. I noticed a couple of the technicians look our way as I finished starting the last machine I needed before returning to my bench.

"You are watching, I am testing equipment." I said as my left arm was encased in Light's armor before I slid it into one of the machines. There were many exclamations, Char the loudest, of personal safety and crazy IS pilots. I just watched the screen next to my face as the machine did its job before stopping. I withdrew my arm, unharmed from the machine and the room collectively let out a breath. I let the machine process its data and sent the results to my bench. It was displayed between Char and I.

"What the hell, Zeke!" Char yelled. I shushed her and pointed as the results were displayed: No IS Core Found. Search Again? Y/N.

"That is what, Char. How can I have an IS without a core?" I asked. She shook her head.

"You can't. The core is what makes the IS an IS. Without it there's nothing." She answered. I nodded.

"Exactly! So where's mine?" I replied. She shrugged and I looked around the room.

"This question is addressed to everyone in the room. The IS I currently am piloting doesn't have a core. So, if an IS has to have a core, why doesn't mine?" I said. The room went silent before people started talking and conversing with each other. I unzipped my bag and looked into it before reaching in and grabbing something out of it. It was circular in shape and fit snugly in my palm. I looked around the room before finding who I was looking for and yelled. "Hey! Catch!" before tossing the item to the technician. She caught it and looked at it before her jaw dropped. The rest of the room followed her example.

"Is this a..." She started, but I cut her off.

"Yes. And it's very special to me. I want you to go over it for me." I said.

"No need. It's a dead core. If I had to guess as to where it came from... A Custom Raphael Revive. The Second Series. Right?" She asked. I nodded.

"Right and wrong. It's from the IS Digital Prototype, my first IS." I answered. Char gave me a thoughtful look and I just waved my hand at her playfully before taking the core back and walking to the second machine I had turned on. I unrolled my left arms sports sleeve, exposing the gleaming silver metal of my left arm to the rest of the room. I ran the arm with Proto's core in hand through the machine before withdrawing it again and I set the core in Char's hands as the data displayed on my bench. I sent it to the rest of the room and they looked it over.

"Impossible..."
"No way!"
"How in the world?"

Those were just a few of the comments made as they read over the data shown. "What are they so surprised at?" Char asked next to me. I highlighted several strings of data and enlarged them, mimicked by the other tables.

"Can everyone hear me alright?" I asked, getting several nods and thumbs up before I turned back to my bench and I began my explanation.

"When I scanned my armor, the machine couldn't find a core in the system. Of course, that should be impossible. And as the lady said, this core is dead. I can attest to the fact that Proto is dead. I watched it happen." I took a breath before continuing, "So, two items that don't work and are highly incompatible. I scan the both of them at once and the machine gave me this reading." I said, highlighting another set of data in the smaller section I had isolated. "This says that a functioning IS is being scanned. Not true, so why is it giving me that data?" I asked the room.

"Faulty machinery?" One person asked. I shrugged.

"Maybe, let's try another one then." I replied, taking Proto's core back into my left hand and I walked to another machine. I repeated my earlier actions and sent the new data to my bench for comparison. I walked back and set the core back down before pulling both sets of data up side by side.

"It's a match." She said. I ran it through the computer and it displayed a 99% on the screen.

"So it isn't the machine. Any other ideas?" I asked.

"Is the core truly dead?" Another asked. I walked to the third machine I had turned on and set the core in place before the machine started working. It beeped and I removed the core. The machine beeped again and I checked the display. My face lost all color quickly.

"Zeke? Is everything alright?" Char asked, moving around the table towards me.

"Is there any IS frames without cores in the Academy?" I demanded, my attention still on the screen in front of me.

"There's a couple in Hangar B. They're extras in case one of the others were damaged. We could swap the core between them and work on the damaged one while not losing an IS." Someone yelled from another corner of the room. I didn't wait for anyone else to speak before taking off for the door, core in hand.

"Zeke! What in the world?" Char muttered.

"I think I know what's wrong." The girl from earlier said, pointing to the machine that had checked the core. Char, curious, walked over and looked at the screen. Flashing on it was the following.

Core life detected. Connect to IS frame ASAP! I repeat. Connect the core to an IS frame immediately!

"Oh my god!" Char said before following my path out of the room. She was quickly followed by the rest of the room's occupants.

Hangar B, with Zeke...

"Hang on, bro. We're almost there." I thought, skidding around another corner and slamming the door into the hangar open. I quickly looked around the room, finally sighting the frames mentioned earlier. I jumped over the safety railing to the ground a few feet below and darted towards the nearest frame. I checked over the frame, noting that several pieces and parts were missing and I moved to the next one. This one was in similar condition. I gritted my teeth as I moved to the last frame. It was covered in a tarp and I grabbed it and ripped it off the frame. It, along with the others, were the US 5th generation frames. It was the only frame allowed to be manufactured in the US.

"Please. Let this work." I whispered as I finished checking over the frame and located the core housing. I opened the hatch and looked at Proto once more before setting the core inside the frame. I closed the opening and the IS began to start up. I used Light's superior strength and lifted the frame off the floor and set it upright. It sank to its knees and the noise got louder as other systems came online within the IS. I felt an itch start on my left shoulder blade and itched it, still looking at the IS as the frame lit up with green and blue lights under the frame as it began to come online. The itch only worsened and the IS clenched its hands as it stood. I backed away slightly as it stood. Then the yelling started.

At first, it was just a buzz at the back of my head. But it steadily got worse, like a headache after you hit your head on something hard. I groaned as it worsened, but shook it off before I thought I heard something behind me. I turned, but there wasn't anyone or anything there. I turned back and it was like something was trapped in my head and it was screaming. I grabbed my head, eyes shut tight. I missed as the IS mimicked my motion and we both sank to our knees holding our heads. That was how Char and the RnD group found us as soon as they made it to the hangar. I dropped to my hands and knees and the IS mirrored my motions, both hands landing on either side of me. Then the thoughts started.

"Pain... So much pain!"
"Why did I decide to do that? Why?"

"Hello?" I asked. The voice went silent before I felt the familiar probing in my head before something tore into my head. I yelled and threw my mental blocks up, watching as a ravaged and beaten Proto ripped at my block.

"You! You did this! By keeping her instead of turning her over like you were told to. Now I'm dying because of it!" He yelled as he ripped at my block harder. I grimaced and stood at the top of my block. I crossed my arms and glared down at Proto as I yelled.

"Digital Prototype. ID Number: #10438269432. Core registered: #005. Pilot ID: Zeke Altec. Stand down!" I yelled, my military training kicking in as I raised my voice. Proto froze as the code was processed and I sighed.

"How do I know it's you?" He questioned. I smirked. Same old Prototype.

"Promise not to tear my head open this time?" I retorted. He nodded and I dropped my barrier. He walked in and looked around, looking at things only he could see before turning to look at me.

"You look good for a dead man." I said, looking him up and down. He looked down at himself before looking back at me.

"And you're all grown up. How long has it been?" He replied.

"About 16 years since we were last together. We've got a lot to catch up on... Brother." I said, smiling. He looked at me and I called the pistols he had given me. I handed him the one he had written his message to me on before we lost connection and he reread his message to me.

"These are for you, little brother. Use them well, make good choices and we'll see each other again someday." He said, tearing up. I grinned.

"I didn't exactly do what you wanted, but I don't really regret it." I said, rubbing my left shoulder. The itch had disappeared finally. He looked at me, a confused look on his face. I chuckled.

"I've been in prison for the last 15 years, Proto. Char and I had a kid. The world has started producing the 5th generation of IS. You tell me." I teased.

"I missed you." I whispered.

"I missed you too." He replied. Tears were shed, though we'd both deny it. I introduced everyone to Proto, my big brother and IS. He got used to his new body and I helped him.