I don't own Vandread.
Chapter 12 Happy Birthday
Meia glared at her calendar. She hated the day that was staring at her. She hated it just as bad as Christmas. She had found out first hand on just how bad this day could be when the day's fate was held by Jura's hands. Yes, it was Meia's birthday, and she wasn't looking towards it. She was truly going to hate this day since she had to dodge the Surveillance Crew, Rain's nose and ears, and Jura. It was not going to be fun. Meia sighed as she looked back at the painting Alex had made for her before he died. She wished he was here and had a feeling that she knew what he would have given her. She smiled at the thought before opening her door to leave. She knew that one place she would be safe and had a plan on how to get to it, but the only problem would be dodging the said people.
This could be hard.
(-)
Barnette awoke to one of the greatest feelings again. Her eyes landed on Rain's sleeping form beside her. It had been a few months since they had gotten together and she still couldn't get use to Rain's strange ability to make her happy when they slept together. They had only slept in the same room twice, and each time was something she couldn't explain. A knock at the door had her whining as Rain fell to the floor while growling like a wild animal.
"Please kill them." Barnette whined.
"I would, but then you'd kill me." He groaned. Barnette instantly knew who was on the other side. She whined too as she threw the covers off and got decent. Rain shook his head as he watched her put only her bra and panties on. She motioned for him to open the door after he got his pants on. Rain opened the door and Jura flew by him to try and snatch up Barnette. "Nice of you to come in." Rain moaned.
"Barnette, do you know what day it is?!" Barnette shook her head. "It's the day." She whispered. Rain raised a brow while Barnette went wide eyed and started smiling.
"What day is it?" Rain asked as he shut the door to and started getting dressed.
"It's Meia's birthday!" Barnette cried as she started getting dressed.
Rain blinked a few times as the information was slowly digested in his head. He never thought about such a day. He knew what it meant after being with his adopted family, and came to like the day quite a lot. He smiled at the thought of seeing Meia happy again. "What do you have planned?" Rain inquired with a grin worthy of a Prank Master on April Fools Day. Barnette and Jura both had the same grin as they went into detail on what they had planned.
(-)
Meia walked through the many corridors of the Nirvana with stealth like skills. Years of evading these sorts of days had taught her well on evasion, sneaking in the shadows, and being able to hear every little thing in detail. She knew where everyone was just by the sounds of their breathing. She moved through the corridors like a cat, searching for its prey. In this case, it was the hanger, and her Dread.
So far so good. Meia thought with a grin.
"You do realize that I can still smell you, and hear you from three corridors down, right?" Rain asked with a smirk. Meia closed her eyes tightly as she plastered a fake grin on her face. "So, what are you sneaking around for?" Rain asked as he walked up to her.
"I'm not sneaking around." Rain stared at her blankly as she continued to smile. "I'm heading to the hanger to do some recon." Meia paused as she saw Rain cock his head to the left while giving her a strange expression. "You wouldn't by any chance happen to know what day it is, would you."
Rain blinked a few times before shaking his head. "Sorry, I don't really look at my calendar like most people. Why, is this some special day on Mejarru or something?" Meia narrowed her eyes on Rain. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Meia stormed off towards the Hanger while saying a few curse words that she knew in Japanese. Rain smirked as he pulled out a black com device. "She's heading towards the Hanger as you said she would."
"Rodger that. Rain, follow her as best you can. You need to keep an eye on her." Barnette replied. Rain smirked as he put the com device away and started following Meia.
(-)
"Okay, Rain's following her at the moment." Barnette informed her comrades. Jura nodded with a grin. Paiway nodded as Kit and Kero saluted her. Dita saluted with a strange expression on her face. Hibiki peered back around the door before nodding for her to continue. "Okay, here's the plan. Rain is going to be keeping tabs on Meia the whole day so we know where she is. I'll be taking care of the cake. Jura will be setting up the decorations with Dita. Hibiki's going to help take care keeping tabs on Meia."
"Wouldn't it be easer if we kept her occupied?" Hibiki asked as he looked back into the room. He glanced back out into hallway before bringing his head back in and whispering, "She's coming! Hide the plans!" while darting towards Dita. Dita instantly latched onto him like she always did. Barnette blinked a few times before hiding Rain's book. Jura began pestering Hibiki for his "Seeds" like she always did. Paiway pulled out her notebook and darted towards the closes potted plant to take fake notes while whispering, "Pai Check" as she wrote.
Meia walked in a few seconds later and blinked a few times at the sight before walking over to get some coffee. Sighing, she took a seat at one of the closer tables to the people that were planning her birthday party. She made sure to keep her ears open to the people beside her. Rain walked in a few minutes after Meia did, but he had Misty latched to his back, much to Barnette's amusement. Meia smirked at the sight while her eyes, met with Barnette's, shaking head.
"So Rain, what are you doing tonight?" Misty asked seductively into his ear. Barnette almost pulled out her gun and shot Misty right there for that. Rain just smirked as he walked over to Barnette. "Are you going to be sleeping with Barnette again?" She whispered. Barnette and Rain blushed while Misty just laughed.
"No, I actually have plans." Rain said with a pout. Misty pouted too while Barnette looked at him in confusion. "I have plans with Barnette tonight. We have dinner plans."
"I almost forgot about that!" Barnette gasped as she walked over to him and placed a tender kiss on his lips. Misty smiled at the sight. Dita smiled too as she looked over at Hibiki with a love struck look in her eye. Hibiki raised a brow while trying not to hurl. Jura just glared at Barnette. "That's right, thanks for reminding me." She whispered.
Rain's tail wrapped around her waist while he whispered, "I like it," with a large grin. Jura gritted her teeth while watching the mushy scene before her. "So, what do you want for breakfast, my treat." Barnette kissed him as she followed him to the kitchen.
"What does she have that I don't have?!" Jura screeched.
"They fell in love. You just want one for the sake of having one. That's the reason he fell in love with her and not you." Misty stated calmly. Jura just growled as she pulled Hibiki and Dita behind her as she stormed towards the kitchen. Paiway followed her, writing in her notebook as she went.
Meia just stared at the scene for a few seconds before shaking her head. Is he helping them or does he just not know what day it is? Meia thought while sipping on her coffee.
(-)
Jura stormed into the room with Hibiki protesting the whole way and Dita was walking beside her. When they got into the room, they were a little stunned by the sight before them. Barnette was sitting on the kitchen counter, kissing Rain. Rain had his tail wrapped around her waist. One of his hands was caressing her left breast while his other hand was holding her cheek. Jura growled at the two, causing them to stop and grin at their friends. Rain shrugged and kissed Barnette again. Barnette returned the kiss and hopped off the counter while straightening out her clothes.
"So, you going to make breakfast or not?" Jura questioned.
"Actually, we got up earlier this morning and had breakfast back at my room." Rain stated while resting his head on Barnette's shoulder and wrapping his arms around her waist. Barnette leaned back on his head while placing a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, I think we need to think of a way to keep Meia from getting off the ship. I already had Parfait disable her machine so she can't get off. We still need to find someway to keep her occupied so she doesn't get away from us." Rain finished.
Misty walked in while shaking her head at the sight. "Rain, why did you have me do that, earlier!" Misty asked as she stormed over to him. Barnette narrowed her eyes on Misty before pulling her gun out and placing it under Rain's chin.
"I needed Meia to think I was trying to get away from you. If she figured out that I was tailing her, she'd probably hate me." Rain stated. Barnette put her gun away while snuggling up against him again. "Besides, I'm supposed to keep tabs on her so we know where she is at all times." He added.
"Why are you keeping tabs on her?" Misty inquired.
"It's Meia's birthday, and she has a nasty habit of dodging it." Barnette told her. "This year we intend to make sure she celebrates it, but the only problem, is that she's really good at dodging it. We figured Rain could keep tabs on her since he has heightened senses unlike us."
"Wouldn't it be easier to just occupy her?" Misty said flatly.
"It would, but we don't know how to right now." Hibiki replied. Misty looked at him with a blank stare before the door hissed open to reveal Pyoro with Kahlua tied on his back. "I think I got an idea now." Hibiki corrected.
(-)
"Are you sure it's okay with Pyoro though?" Ezra questioned. Dita was sitting in the Infirmary with the others while Hibiki and Rain kept Pyoro from protesting up front to Ezra.
"Oh yeah, he said it's okay." Dita lied with a large smile on her face. Ezra nodded slowly while shutting her screen off. Dita smiled and turned to the team with a large grin. "Alright, let's get her stuff ready."
"I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE PYORO-2 AWAY FROM ME!" Pyoro yelled from under the two men. Hibiki and Rain slowly got off the floating robot while Dita picked up the baby gear and Barnette picked up Kahlua. Pyoro tried to run/fly over to Kahlua to protect "his" child. Rain snatched the little robot up before it could move to intercept Barnette and threw it to the ground as hard a he could. Pyoro had swirls in his eyes from the impact, signaling that he had been "knocked out", or what ever you would consider it.
"So, now all we have to do is find Meia and give her Kahlua." Dita stated while Barnette gave Hibiki, Kahlua, while she drug Rain off to the kitchen to help her with the cake. The others all shrugged as they went off to do their assorted tasks.
(-)
Meia sat in the cockpit of her Dread, flipping switches and pressing buttons, just to work off her aggression at the moment. Parfait had disabled her Dread under the reasons that she was doing a standard maintenance, much to Meia's disbelief. Meia had already yelled at her to put her machine back together, but Parfait said that she was still working on them. Meia groaned at how easily she had been set up, but she knew that she would get lucky somehow. She didn't know how, but she figured she would.
The door to the hanger hissed open. "NO!" Meia made herself heard and known as she continued doing her task at hand. Hibiki stormed up to Meia with Kahlua with a grin on his face. Meia glared at the little baby while trying to find someway to get out of this one. "I'm not going to look after Ezra's baby. Get Pyoro to do it!" She stated.
"To bad!" Hibiki groaned as he placed Kahlua in her lap, and ran for the door. Dita dropped the baby bag and followed after Hibiki with all speed, leaving a mad Meia behind. Once the duo was far enough away, Hibiki pulled a com device from his pocket and said, "Operation complete. Meia won't be able to get away from us now," as they stopped to rest around one of the many corners in the hallway.
"Rodger that." Barnette replied before she moaned a few times. Hibiki looked at the com device, knowing what she was doing on the other side. He sighed as she continued. "Just get away from her for now, and head back to base. We need to hurry up before she figures out where we are." Hibiki and Dita nodded while heading towards the kitchen.
(-)
Meia stared at the little crying thing in her arms with all the confusion she could muster. She looked for someone to give the thing to. No matter where she turned though, she never found a single person. The once crowded hallways were now empty and devoid of life it seemed. The little thing in her arms continued to cry its little heart out, obviously wanting something that she didn't know about.
"What do you want?" Meia whined as she walked into a dark hallway. The little baby continued to cry as they walked through the dark hallway, looking for someone to drop the little kid off to. "Please stop crying? Please just stop it. I wish you could speak English so I knew what you wanted." Meia whined as she stopped to look for someone to give her to. The ship instantly rocked hard, sending her and Kahlua into a dark room. Meia made sure to roll with her crash landing, making sure to not hurt Kahlua in the process. The door to the room hissed closed, and the next thing she knew, they were floating out in space.
(-)
"Meia's been successfully occupied for the moment." Barnette stated. Rain smiled as his hands slipped under Barnette's shirt, much to her enjoyment. "Not right now." Barnette pulled Rain's hands out from under her shirt. Rain sighed, and went back to pulling out ingredients for the cake. "We can do that later tonight. I promise." She told him.
"Oh alright, but you had better mean it this time. You said the same thing last night and all we did was cuddle." Rain groaned as he pulled his communicator out. "Hibiki, make damn sure she doesn't catch you, or I'll skin you alive."
"You're an idiot if you think she's going to catch me." Hibiki said.
"Whatever." Rain placed the device back in his pocket. "What about presents? What do you have planned to give her?" Barnette blinked a few times while Rain continued to stare at her blankly.
"I don't really know. Normally we just give anything we've stolen to them. Why do you ask? You got something special you wanna give her?" Rain nodded as he placed a hand in his pocket. Barnette looked down at it for a few seconds before looking up at him. "What do you have for her?"
"You'll see when I give it to her." He whispered while pulling his hand out. Barnette nodded, understanding that it was probably something he had cherished his whole life. "Let's hurry up so I can go wrap this up." The ship instantly rocked hard, sending Barnette and Rain to the ground hard. "Baby you rocked me." Rain muttered before cursing loudly. The alarms soon came online, blaring loudly for the pilots to get to work. "Can't these things ever give us a break? I mean just for once?!" Rain cursed as he and Barnette began running towards the hanger.
(-)
"Status report!" BC barked.
"Two Egg Carriers have appeared directly behind us!" Celtic announced. "They've launched about fifty Cube Types and a strange new machine! It looks like a whale of some sort!" A display of a strange white and blue whale like machine appeared on screen.
"All pilots, there's a new unit out there! Be careful. We don't know what it can do!" BC stated.
"Rain E. Switchfoot, Justice, Kicking off!" The hanger was instantly filled with sparks as the Infinite Justice launched from the hanger.
An emergency error appeared on screen, surprising a few people on the bridge. "What's the error about?!" BC questioned.
"It appears as though something has left the Nirvana! It looks like a Life Pod or something! Can't say for sure!" Amarone stated.
"Where's Meia?" Jura's face appeared on screen. "We can't find her anywhere!"
"Meia's signal isn't appearing on the Nirvana anymore!" Ezra cried.
"That Life Pod has two heat signatures in it! Meia's signal is coming from inside it!" Misty cried.
"We need to rescue the pod." BC whispered to herself. "All units, you need to rescue that Life Pod! Get it before the enemy does!"
(-)
"Son of a bitch this sucks!" Rain yelled as he got up front with Vandread Dita. "Jura, take control of the Dread teams while Hibiki and Dita take care of the new arrival. I'll go try to find that Life Pod." Jura nodded on screen while Hibiki flew the combination towards the new arrival. Rain blasted off to look for the pod.
"Dread teams one and three, stay back and defend the ship. The rest of you, take out the fighters to keep them from heading towards the pod. We need to give Rain as much time as we can so he can find that pod!" Jura ordered. A loud reply of "Rodger" rang out a few seconds later.
Come on Rain, you can do it. Jura thought.
(-)
Meia stared out through the small window in the Life Pod. She looked back at Kahlua with worried eyes. Kahlua looked very happy at the moment in her Mejarru Trooper Suit. Meia knew she would be safe in the suit, since she had used them several times in the past when she was out in space. Despite the fact that they smelled real bad after being in them for only one hour, but she figured that it was worth it.
"I guess you really don't care about the situation we're in at the moment?" Meia questioned with a heavy sigh. She looked around the room for a few seconds. "I know those controls are busted, but what the hell." She moaned as she started searching for a way to send a distress signal. Sure enough, the controls were busted. The only thing that managed to work was a temperature gauge that read fifty two degrees, and was slowly decreasing.
"This day just keeps getting better and better." She moaned. The Life Pod instantly rocked hard, sending Meia crashing to the ground next to a smiling Kahlua. "I'm glad you find this funny." She growled. Kahlua continued to smile and giggle from inside her suit. How do you do it? How can you just sit there and smile at me, when we're in danger? Meia looked back to see the pilots all fighting the enemy. Alex…
(-)
"Damn it!" Hibiki cursed as he fired two tubes of energy towards the new arrival. The new unit was able to turn invisible and hit them from behind. It seemed to move faster when it was invisible, and that became clear after several attempts to hit and get hit from behind. The creature turned invisible before the energy beams could crash into it. The two pilots cursed again as the unit crashed into them again. Hibiki let got of the controls, killing the machine's movement and functional abilities. Dita fell into terror as they continued to get rammed by the large unit.
"Mr. Alien, what are you doing?! We need to destroy this thing before it hurts the others!" Dita cried.
"Hibiki, what the hell are you doing?!" BC yelled.
"Easy," Hibiki snorted. The enemy continued to ram them all over. "When you can't push…" the enemy unit appeared and was on a direct course for them. "…pull!" He yelled as his hands snapped back onto the controls, causing the large combination to grab hold of the surprised unit. The back cannons flopped over onto their shoulders while lighting up. "Eat this!" Hibiki roared as the two cannons blasted the large monster. The strange unit curled up like burnt plastic before exploding.
"We did it!" Dita cried.
"Now let's go help the others." Hibiki suggested as he maneuvered the combination to head for the others.
(-)
Meia began to panic as she watched the Infinite Justice take some minor damage. Rain retaliated to that by throwing his beam boomerang into three Cube Types, slicing them in half. When the weapon began heading back, it sliced the Dita clone in half. Rain smirked as he caught the weapon and put it back in place before shooting three more Cube Types with his rifle. The Meia clone appeared from behind the Pod, trying to snatch it without having Rain know about it. Rain detached his Jet Pack, and let it shoot down the clone before it could react. Rain reattached the pack to his back while blasting another Cube.
This is no good. Rain can't hold out for much longer. There's too many of them! Meia thought while hugging Kahlua tightly to her chest. Kahlua had started crying after the enemy had managed to grab them, and hadn't stopped.
Another Carrier appeared off in the distance, much to Rain and Meia's disappointment. This sucks! I can't keep this up for much longer! "Jura, hurry your ass up! I can't keep fighting like this on my own!" He cried. The Justice took another hit to its chest, sending him sailing towards the pod again. Rain saw Meia shield Kahlua just incase he crashed into it.
"Rain, we're on our way, but we're having trouble getting to you." Jura replied. Rain could see her in the distance having trouble with another large group of the enemy units. "You're on your own until we can get over there!"
Damn it all! Rain cursed as he took another hit. If I could get them away from the area I could go all out without having to worry about hurting them!
"Rain, I'm on my way!" Barnette yelled. "Just hold out until I get there!" She cried. Rain could see her off in the distance, heading his way just as quickly as she could. Rain bit his lip, knowing it would take her a few minutes until she'd show up.
Rain cursed as he took another hit, sending him closer to the pod. He cursed again as he took another hit. He could still Barnette off in the distance, and she was probably still one minute away from them. Rain cursed again as another Dita clone appeared to snatch up the life pod. Meia jumped back as the purple eyes of the clone appeared in front of the window before the Justice appeared to kick it in the face, sending it flying away.
Just hang in there, Meia. I promise I won't let you die. Rain blasted the clone away while his pack went crashing into a nearby Carrier, temporarily killing the power to the Cube units before the last Carrier appeared. Rain growled as it let loose another wave of enemy units. Rain pulled out a beam saber to defend Meia and Kahlua. The enemy got within striking distance when a combination of missiles and energy beams, crashed into the enemy units, destroying them instantly.
Rain slumped back in his chair after realizing that the enemy was gone, and that Meia was safe. He looked back at the small window of the pod to see Meia smiling up at him with Kahlua in her arms and smiling up at him. Meia smiled at him while taking a seat with Kahlua in her arms.
"We got them, Rain. Good work." Barnette said as she brought the pod into the Delivery ship.
(-)
Meia opened the hatch to the pod to see a smiling Ezra and an angry Pyoro. Pyoro instantly snatched up Kahlua as she started crying loudly. Ezra was about to pick up Kahlua when Meia snatched her up and held her the way you always would. Kahlua instantly stopped crying while trying to grab Meia's nose or hair.
"This is how you hold a baby, Pyoro." She instructed as she cradled the little baby in her arms. Ezra just smiled as she followed Meia to a chair to take a seat beside her. "Thank you Ezra, for letting me take care of her. I think I learned a few things today." She whispered as she handed Kahlua over to her. Pyoro continued to yell about the name as they headed back home.
(-)
"She's on her way." Rain whispered as he, and the others that had spent the whole day planning her birthday, took up a hiding spot behind a tree. The others nodded, showing that they heard him. A few seconds later, Meia strolled in with a sigh. As soon as she was in sticking distance, the crew jumped out and shouted, "Happy Birthday!" at the top of their lungs. Meia jumped back in surprise, though Rain could see that she faked it.
"Don't scare me like that." She scolded. Rain's ears dropped down, showing that he was sorry for what he had done. Meia smiled and scooped Rain up into a hug while whispering, "I knew you were following me around since the beginning," into his ear.
Rain smirked and whispered, "I know you were," into her ear. Meia smirked at the reply while releasing him. "I think you're the guest of honor for two reasons today." Rain said while forcing her to walk towards her cake. Meia just rolled her eyes as everyone sang the birthday song. She blew out her candles after mentally making a wish.
As the party went on, everyone slowly began to pass out from either drinking to much Alcohol, over heating, or just getting to tired. For those that were still awake, they were either on the edge of passing out, or were totally drunk, making those that were still fully awake and note drunk, laugh loudly at some of their actions.
Meia slowly began to slip away, much to her enjoyment. She smiled as she got to the hallway and started to make her way to her room. "Hey…" Meia stopped and turned to see a worried Rain. Meia looked at the gift in his hand. It was a small jewelry box that was wrapped up with a purple ribbon. "Here, happy birthday." He whispered.
Meia took the item with a smile as she opened up the small box. Her eyes went wide as she looked down at the item. "How did you…"
"Gascgone gave it to mother during her meeting with her. She said that she couldn't bring herself to give it to you because she didn't know how you would react." He told her. Meia slowly pulled out Alex's old necklace he used to wear after he got it back. She stared at the item for a few second before falling to her knees crying. Rain appeared by her side in a second. Meia instantly latched onto him, crying into his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I figured you would like it more than I did. You knew a side to him that I never got a chance to see. I figured you would need it more than I do." He patted her back.
"Thank you." She whispered. "You don't know how much this means to me." She sniffed as she pulled back to smile at him. "What about you though. This is rightfully yours, isn't it?"
"No. He would have given this to you. I know that because I got to see what he'd give people during holidays or birthdays." Rain told her as he helped her stand up. "I hope you like it more than what I did."
"Rain, thank you for this, you don't know how much this actually means to me." She cried. Rain nodded as she smiled at him. Meia closed her eyes as a smile appeared on her face. Once she opened her eyes, she left Rain to himself as she headed towards her room.
Rain smiled at her one more time before turning around to head back to the party. He made it past one intersection in the hallway before he was grabbed and thrown against the wall and kissed roughly on the lips. Rain spun around and kissed her back. Barnette grinned as she rubbed her hands over his back. Rain pulled back with a sad smile.
"What wrong?"
Rain looked down at his hands that once held that gift. "She loved it." He whispered. Barnette realized what he meant after that. "I gave her Nii-san's old necklace he gave Rei when he asked her to marry him. I think she needed it more than I did." A single tear slide down his cheek as he looked at Barnette with a sad smile.
"Rain…"
"Barnette, I just wanna be alone tonight. I hope you don't mind." He whispered as he let her go. Barnette watched him walk down the corridor with a slow sad pace. She watched him jus walk away. Barnette shook her head as she ran after him. She quickly pulled him into a hug, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks with stunned eyes.
"You don't have to be alone anymore." She whispered. Rain closed his eyes tightly as he sank to his knees. "I won't ever leave you. I told you that when we started dating, and I meant it. I will never leave your side." Rain opened his eyes, knowing that she was right. "Come on, let's go back to your room so we can sleep. I'll keep my promise this time." She whispered. Rain smirked as he stood up.
Rain and Barnette were soon back at his room, kissing as they entered. Rain pinned her to the bed while kissing her roughly. Once they finished, they started lightly kissing as Rain pulled her pants off again. Barnette removed his coat, as he removed her vest.
"Rain, it's okay to cry in front of me. I promise to not make fun of you." Barnette whispered as she took off her shirt. Rain held her naked body close to his while she whispered, "You don't have to suffer from the loneliness anymore, not so long as you're with me," into his ear.
"I'm sorry for being this way, Koibito." Rain whispered as he rubbed her back with his hands. Barnette moaned in bliss as his tail slide between her legs. "I'm sorry for forgetting that. I just don't normally feel this way. I wish he was here though. I could really use his help." He kissed her again as they lay down on the bed. Rain was on top of her, smiling as he looked down.
"I'm sure he's here, just not visible to us." She replied while giving him a tender kiss. Their hands interlocked as they smiled at each other.
(-)
"So, how long until the fleet is assembled?" Suki questioned. Suki, Zoey, and Asaugi were having a meeting about their plan of attack on the Harvester forces. The leaders had agreed to help the two planets, believing that it would allow them a chance to renew their offer to the Taraaku people. For those that were willing to help and change the past they had created over the planet, they could nothing but smile at the chance to right all the wrongs they had done over the world. For those that didn't want to go, they were forced to, but there were only a few of them. At the moment, they were waiting for the fleet to arrive before they would depart to leave.
"They'll be here in three more hours, Suki. We can wait that long." Asaugi told her.
"Yes I understand, but I still think that we should leave now and leave a team behind to guide them there. If we don't leave now, we may arrive too late. If that happens, your son could die." Suki protested.
"I would normally agree with you, but the last piece of mail we received from Meia has confirmed that he now has a reason to live. He has found his purpose on that ship. He won't die now, now that he has a reason to keep on living." Asaugi stated.
"What mother says is true." Zoey added. Suki turned to face Zoey with protesting eyes. "Even if we left now, we would still arrive at the same time. The object is to get there as fast as we can while keeping our crew as rested as they can. Rain can hold out long enough for us to arrive. With him now having someone worth fighting for, he won't die so easily."
"But still…"
"Enough!" Asaugi growled. "Rain can handle himself. What happened before was nothing more than his instincts to protect everyone. Probably something I shouldn't have taught him, but none the less. That sacrifice helped him find something he never thought he'd achieve."
The three women fell silent as they looked out the large window. "Commander!" A voice screamed. "We've got an unknown ship heading this way! Whatever it is, it's the biggest ship I've ever seen!"
The three women ran to the window to see a Harvest Flag Ship heading their way. Their eyes instantly shot open as they found cold steel pressed against their throats. "What's this, an elite commander like your self caught off guard? My, you've become so rusty, haven't you?" A dark voice hissed. Asaugi looked to see the weapon as a blood soaked scythe. "I'll take great pleasure in killing you."