Disclaimer: I do not own Titanfall

Author's Notes: For those who've been with me from the beginning, you guys know how obscenely long this chapter was. I cut it down to help with your eyes. Enjoy this in its edited glory.

Reviews and Etc are greatly appreciated.

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"Dominic! It's my turn to use it now! Come on!"

A young boy with a freckled face brushed the light brown hair out of his face as he looked on at his older brother controlling a yellow-blue, freshly painted robotic exoskeleton with little to no difficulty. The young boy's face was filled with hungry excitement and anticipation at the chance that he was going to ride with the mech.

"Don't even trip Adri." Dominic said. "I barely used this thing for more than three minutes!"

The boy stamped his foot down, hair blowing, puffing. "That's plenty of time! You know what I could have done in three minutes? I could have checked the crops in the back yard, maintained the windmills, repaired the tools…"

Dominic sighed, shutting his blue eyes and shaking his head, making his brown hair sway. His brother was always like this, being the youngest one in the family. Despite his short stature and rather quick temper to point things, like this, out, the kid was a genius. He had figured how to disassemble and reassemble his crib at the lively age of three years old with the help of a rusty spoon. A year later, he would go on to fix that one malfunctioning crop duster drone that crashed because of bad weather along with improvements. He had added a lightweight highly-protective outer coating layer to the frame of the drone and reinforced it with a shipment of who-knows-what that his dad received from work.

In short, it was much better than before.

Genius or not, Adri, had a nasty temper at times. It didn't help his reputation… if he had one. With an attitude like that, he quickly shunned those who he didn't consider "geniuses" or on his level of intellect. The subjects that the school had taught Adri was simply not good enough. By the end of his first year, he had finished the entire building library and started to study mechatronics, the art of making mechanical human extensions or, what the two would like to call them, Titans.

They were the hottest thing on the current market. Dominic knew that Adri loved Titans. In their room, Adri's side of the bedroom was literally covered with Titan designs, mechanics, augments and such. Dominic knew basics of the engineering of Titans but he was nowhere close to Adri's level. Normally, Adri would make a big fuss when someone didn't know the advanced technical capabilities of a Titan but with Dominic, he didn't say a word.

Was it pity or the feeling of superiority that made Adri not nag at him? Dominic didn't have the slightest idea but he was grateful.

But, that didn't stop Adri from nagging at him when he wanted to ride the Titan and right now, he was literally fuming with impatience.

"Dominic Pierce, I am not going to repeat myself ag-"

"Hey Dom! Adrian!" A voice said. It belonged Dominic's friend, Hyun, who was a close family friend. He was an Asian boy of average height and an athletic build. Sports competitions or anything that required physical movement, Hyun would be there. Star athlete and a citizen of Earth, Hyun often spoke of his future with grandeur. Becoming the greatest sprinter or javelin hurler were a few of his ambitions. But Hyun had a favorite sport that many of the kids in the colony enjoyed to participate in.

Titan Rodeo-ing.

Although it sounded quite dangerous, which it was, the most anyone got from rodeo-ing the mechanical beast was a broken hand… and that was Hyun. He tried rodeo-ing two Titans at once… and it didn't end so well.

Of course, their parents, and the parents of all the other children, scolded them all, but despite the nagging it was incredibly fun. Dominic, too, had participated in the sport and experienced the exhilaration of being tossed from side to side while clinging onto the bucking mech for dear life. All the children of Colony H-24 loved it.

All the children but one.

And that was Adrian.

He called it a waste of time and parts for Titans. Often times, the Titans' would break a joint or a certain portion would break after much strain. Being only about ten to eleven feet tall, it didn't take too much to damage a Titan. Rather than Dominic's own parents, it was Adrian that would scold him. Dominic often sighed heavily during those times, much to his younger brother's aggravation. The boy was just too obsessed.

And it wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"… Did you grease all the joints? Maintenance is key, Adri." Hyun asked.

"What do you take me for, a lazy bum?" Adrian snapped. "OF COURSE I did."

Adrian turned and faced Dominic who was still on the Titan. "Well, your cretin of a friend is here-"

"Hey!" Hyun barked, glaring at Adri with a serious/playful death gaze.

"-And I would appreciate if you would get off now."

Oh. Right.

Dominic sighed. "Fine Adri, be careful. It's not like the old one we had."

Brushing the visor glass with a washcloth, Dominic jumped out from the seat and helped Adrian up into the cockpit.

"Hey." Adrian said, a wide grin spread on his face. "You know you are talking to me, right?"

Dominic chuckled as he rubbed the exterior of the Titan with a gloved hand. "Alright, go easy on the brakes this time. The last one…"

"Yeah yeah." Adrian said, brushing Dominic off. "IDRA MK-II, let's go!" Adrian exclaimed as he ran off into the fields past the shed.

"IDRA MK-II?" Hyun asked. "Where does that come from?"

"Well…" Dominic said, taking his gloves off and dusting them. "Long story short, when Adri was a baby, he had a little problem pronouncing his own name, getting the first, middle, and last letters mixed up. And thus, here we have IDRA MK-II."

"What happened to MK-I?"

Dominic rolled his eyes. "You know… The cornfield incident…"

"Ah." Hyun said, snapping his fingers. He then thought for a moment "We never actually recovered the Advanced Boost Core Drive from that, huh?"

"Recovered Titan equipment? Of course not!" Dominic said. "The Black Sparrows homed in on the fields literally two seconds after we left the wreckage… wait…"

"What?" Hyun asked.

"Your brother is a part of the Black Sparrows, right?" Dominic asked.

"Shin?" Hyun asked. "He's the brigade leader… why?"

"And on that night you told me that…."

"He came home late…" It took Hyun and Dominic three seconds to process the information before looking at each other and both simultaneously exclaiming out loud "OH!"

"Of course Shin had it…" Dominic said. "I should've guessed… Where do you think it is?"

"Probably the Black Sparrow HQ… oh who am I kidding, it's probably in his room, under the bed…"

"Hah." Dominic chuckled. "Let's go check on it tomorrow."

"Mhm." Hyun said, nodding.

"How's Shin doing?" Dominic asked.

"Well…" Hyun said, slightly shrugging. "He just came back from a raid on some military outpost I heard."

"Holy crap!" Dominic exclaimed. "A military outpost?! That's insane."

"I know. That's what I told him. But of course, he never listens. He just says that all the guns and stuff he took was necessary."

"Damn… Guns…" Dominic said.

"But say," Hyun said quickly, changing the subject, "how in the world did we manage to find that Titan Kit?"

"I dunno… Adri said that he found it in a dropped crate outside in the fields on night. We recovered the crate it came in. Along with a massive dent on the side, the letters I-M-C were emblazoned on it as well."

"IMC… IMC…" Hyun muttered to himself. "The… Um… Oh! The Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation! My dad works there!"

"Right." Dominic said, nodding. "But what the heck is a Core Engine developed by your dad's company doing out in this middle of nowhere amongst the Frontier Colonies?"

"Beats me…" Hyun said, shrugging. "I wonder if they lost it?..."

"Well, it's too late now…" Dominic said. "Unless we can somehow get Shin to fork it over to us."

"Probably not going to happen…" Hyun said. "That Titan kit isn't something that we can get from our interstellar trader. From what I compared from the kits we've used and that one, that one was incredibly more advanced… Could it be possible that the IMC is producing Core Drives for the military?"

"What?" Dominic said. "Don't be absurd. Titans used for modern warfare? You'll be a sitting duck, running around in that thing."

"Don't be such a thick head Dom." Hyun snapped. "I mean, not only Core Drives but hulls and chassis as well. We could be talking about an entire manufactured army here. Military grade armor and Core Drives… This is some serious things we might have stumbled ourselves into."

"Maybe… maybe not…" Dominic said. "But whatever happens, and Shin actually happens to have the core, he'll know what to do. He always does."

"Sigh, I hope you're right." Hyun said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Hyun said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Lately Shin has been arguing a lot with my parents, especially my father."

"About what?" Dominic asked.

"Can't say." Hyun said. "I don't even know myself but they are always arguing and things never get any better."

"Does it have to do anything with his raids towards the well-to-do colonies? He smuggles goods and supplies for all of us here. It's vital that he does. Our farm here alone isn't enough to feed everyone in the colony."

"Yeah, ever since we lost old man Breckon and his family down southward… and the entire portion of the colony there…"

Dominic nodded. "Those were tough times… We had to ration our supplies carefully and that still wasn't enough to sustain the remnants of the colony… It's a miracle the Black Sparrows get the supplies for us… We'd be dead without them…"

Hyun sat down on a broken-down tractor in the yard, sighing. "Yeah… but their efforts to keep us alive ignite retaliation against us. You know, the Nightsiblings from Colony E-5 and the Frost from Colony C-7. They're REALLY pissed at us, Colony H-24."

"Don't forget the Marauders from the Highlands."

Hyun shook his head as he threw a piece of scrap metal off the tractor and into the waste bin. "They don't even belong to a colony… They're just a bunch of Outlaws and Gunslingers that don't have any ties from a distinct Colony… Besides, they haven't bothered us in a long time."

Shrugging his shoulders, Dominic sat down next to Hyun and let out a low whistle. "Funny thing… how fast time goes by…"

"Yep." Hyun said, agreeing.

The two sat on the rusted tractor as the wind subtly blew by, brushing against the field grass ever so softly. It was a peaceful sight. The sun high in the sky, the sky blue as can be and the grass lazily lolling in the wind.

"You're probably wondering why I came today." Hyun said, sitting up straight.

"Why?" Dominic said, "Is there something wrong?"

"Dom." Hyun said, looking at Dominic with a serious face. "I'm moving away from the Frontier."

Dominic literally jumped off from the tractor and met Hyun's eyes with excitement. "Oh-my-God! Congrats!"

Hyun's face remained mellow and looked at Dominic with a sad gaze. "Thanks…" He muttered.

Dominic raised an eyebrow, "Why? What's wrong? Shouldn't you be glad? I mean… Considering the condition of Colony H-24…"

Hyun sighed as he scratched his head, flicking a leaf off of his head. "You know why…"

Whenever Hyun sighed like that, Dominic immediately knew what it was aimed towards. "It's Sarah, huh?"

Hyun nodded with angst.

"And is that the reason why you are here? To say your good-byes?" Dominic asked, dusting his jeans and pocketing his hands.

Hyun partially shrugged. "More or less I guess… I'm gonna miss it…"

"What? Sarah?" Dominic asked.

"Her too." Hyun added. "Everything, Dominic. I'm gonna miss it all…"

Dominic peered over his shoulder and gazed at the afternoon sun. "The Sunrise."

"The Sunset."

"Titan-Rodeos every Saturday night by the market stands."

"And most of all…" Hyun said, standing up, next to Dominic. "Everyone."

Dominic glanced over at Hyun, who sighed loudly.

"Adrian, Isa, Aston, Iv, Niel…"

"What about me." Dominic said, giving Hyun a blank look.

"Oh, you…" Hyun said, chuckling, giving Dominic a playful punch on the arm. "Of course."

Dominic laughed too, rubbing his arm. He sighed. "When are you leaving?"

Hyun rubbed his chin. "Tonight."

"What?! Why so suddenly?"

"It was planned from waaaay before Dom…"

"And you didn't tell us until now?" Dominic retorted.

Hyun sighed as he rubbed his dusty face. "I didn't want you guys to know because I wanted to spend the last days in this Colony without you guys worrying about me leaving… I just… I just wanted to spend my remaining time with you guys as much as possible…"

Dominic thought for a moment. "Which reminds me, what are you going to do about Sarah?"

"That's why I'm here Dom…"

"Oh." Dominic said, feeling his stomach drop slightly. "That's why…"

"What are we going to do, Dom?" Hyun asked, voice slightly quivering. "You know Sarah…"

"We?!" Dominic exclaimed. "She's your girlfriend man! Not mine! What the heck am I supposed to do?!"

"Look, I don't know crap about dealing with girlfriends, heck, girls in general. That's why I came to you." Hyun said. "Do what you do best…"

"OH NO, YOU JUST DIDN'T IMPLY WHAT I THOUGHT YOU JUST DID." Dominic said.

"No… that's not what I meant… actually, after what happened with that girl from Colony A-3, y-"

"You're really testing your luck Hyun."

"I take that back… But really…" Hyun said. "You know about girls waaay more than I do, so c'mon, help me out on this!"

Dominic thought for a moment, running his hand through his hair. He groaned "Fine… Because it is your last day…"

"Woo-hoo!" Hyun said, bolting across the yard, rejoicing.

"But keep in mind Hyun."

Hyun stopped running around. "Keep what in mind?"

"If Sarah beats my ass on your behalf, I will literally search through all star systems and I WILL find you. And when I do, I'll return the favor then. Got it?"

Hyun's eye twitched slightly. "O-okay…" He said.

Dominic sighed. "And now… don't you have someplace to be?" He said, raising an eyebrow to Hyun. "FYI, you leave tonight?"

"Right." Hyun said, snapping his fingers. "I'll be on my way then."

"You go do that." Dominic said, rubbing his face.

"Don't forget to talk to Sarah, Dominic…" Hyun said, exiting the yard through the gates. "I'll see ya around then."

"Mhm…" Dominic said, sighing.

He fell back down onto the rusted vehicle and brought his hands to his face, stressed.

"It's Hyun isn't it?"

Dominic looked up and saw Adrian, still in the Titan, looking at the gate which Hyun left from earlier. "He's been acting strange lately…"

Dominic sat up and raised an eyebrow. "Why's that Adri?"

Adrian shrugged as he rubbed the controls on the Titan. "He lacks the regular confidence he usually imposes on us… But, I digress…"

"You think?" Dominic said, standing up and approaching the Titan. "I don't know… He just wanted me to deliver good bye to Sarah… and you know how she is…"

"The she-devil herself when it comes to things like that…" Adri said. "But she's one hell of a mechanic, I have to say…"

"Watch your mouth kid…" Dominic said, "Don't let mom catch you saying that."

"Yeah yeah." Adrian said, brushing the hair out of his face. "I'll put away IDRA MK-II and I'll meet you up at her house, you good?"

Dominic nodded. "Be sure to clean IDRA before you leave… and lock up the shed too. I'll meet you there."

Adrian nodded, marching towards the concrete-walled shed with the Titan.

Sighing, Dominic walked to the exiting gates.

Time to reopen old wounds…

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Sarah.

She was a pretty attractive girl with shoulder length long dark brown hair that was usually tied up into a ponytail. She also had a knack for things that required tech-savvy brains and anything that involved something tech-y. When she younger, she was never actually allowed in her father's personal workshop, so she tinkered around with various mechanical pieces and such and not long after, she came to love the art of making anything tech-y. Her father and mother were both skilled mechanics in the colony and she took on the tools of trade from them. Sarah's mother passed away after working on a mechatronics contract project with a foreign employer that had gone wrong. That toughened Sarah up pretty hard. She was a tom-boy, a major one at that. She had more brawn than many of the boys in the colony. Her short temper yet undaunted spirit earned her a tremendous amount of respect from older and younger people alike. When Dominic met her for the first time, he found her irresistible. Of course, he was but a child back then, but he found a girl that was tough and knew how to work the tools of a mechanic damn attractive.

Of course, Sarah was annoyed with Dominic when she first met him. She preferred to work with her machines without an audience and Dominic hindered her from working with his gaze set upon her. But one day, when Sarah was working on a rather big-sized Titan, she made a bad judgment in her step and fell off the metal behemoth. Luckily for her, Dominic caught her just in time. She was initially reluctant of Dominic's help but that sparked their relationship.

In all the free time he had, Dominic would spend his time at Sarah's place, helping her with the mechs and learning a thing or two. Her parents' were both lenient enough and didn't say anything to him for spending time alone with her. And slowly, Sarah became accustomed to Dominic's regular visits and she gradually came to enjoy his company. Soon, the two were in a relationship.

But not all things last.

When personally asked by Shin, Hyun's brother, the leader of the Black Sparrows, to join in on a raid to Colony A-3, he immediately volunteered. Sarah, also hungry for some adventure, tagged along with them. The two were split into two different units however. One unit, Dominic's, was to scour for food and supplies while the unit Sarah was in was assigned to look for tech parts. Colony A-3 was a much bigger town than that of Colony H-24. It had more people and a bigger stash of supplies that kept this well-to-do Colony up to speed and alive. However, there were many homeless people scattered across the streets of the Colony as well. Usually people ousted from their occupations or just another wanderer that has settled down, Dominic came to face the harsh reality of a well-to-do Colony.

And then it happened.

While on a final supply run to scavenge some edible protein, meat in this case, Dominic encountered another thief who had stolen the package he was supposed to take. The thief made him run from one end of the colony to the other. Jumping over walls, running along the walls, it was a long and hard pursuit that lasted for hours on end. But Dominic didn't give up. He needed that package for the sake of his colony and knew his duty. And finally, he had the thief cornered. The thief gave a long hard fight against Dominic. The thief was skilled in several forms of combat and agile but Dominic was better versed in street fighting and simple brute strength. He eventually emerged victorious with a single blow that grounded his adversary. Just as he was about to leave, the thief begged him for the package to which he denied. But then the thief revealed their face and Dominic saw that it was… a girl. She had light golden hair a scar that ran down her left eye. She told him that her name was Yvette and she was a member of a raid group, similar to the Black Sparrows, that was stationed in Colony A-3. And she said that, despite the good front the Colony had, it was falling apart around there. Mobs were rising, the Marauders began their raids, supplies and rations were unfairly divided amongst the rich and the poor. Yvette's group worked hard to keep the poor alive by stealing from the rich. Dominic pitied her. He saw no other choice but to give the ration to her, out of her sake and her group's. She was overjoyed and gave him a kiss directly on the lips. All would have been fine and dandy if Dominic hadn't left his tracker on. In literal seconds after Yvette's kiss, a unit that was dispatched to look for Dominic appeared.

And Sarah was in that unit.

And she saw the kiss.

Long story short, that's how their relationship ended. Of course, after hours of bickering and reasoning, the couple found no other solution other than to break up. Being immature then, Dominic wished he could have done or said something better but it was already too late. Sarah had lost interest in him. Of course, in a way, the two made up and things were back to normal… as friends. Dominic constantly thought back and continuously wished that he could've done better.

And now, around the marketplace, Dominic could make out the distinct outline of a mechanic's workshop and home.

Well… here we are…

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