Summer is getting very…humid. Damn weather. Why do clouds appear for thunderstorms and just decide to make everything humid and disgusting? Anyways, on with the chapter!

intron

A naked humanoid form floated alone in a small pod that was filled with pink liquid. Occasionally, bubbles would rise up from the bottom due to air compressions. Sometimes, the liquid made waves and ripples due to vibrations made by the ship. Sometimes, the liquid slanted when the ship was moving through rocky waves. The lone human inside had her red eyes closed. Her long pink hair floated peacefully along with the water. Her mouth was closed firmly and her strawberry red lips became more apparent each second. She was not strapped down, not at all. She was freely floating in this pod. A few wires were connected to a rectangular object, of which, was placed onto her chest. That measured her heartbeat and allowed her to breathe.

Two females stood before the girl. One was a petite girl with cat ears who wheeled her disabled best friend in front of the small pod. Both were amazed at such a miracle and frightened with the decisions of their other teammates.

"I can't believe they actually let us take her." Ayase repeated once again.

"I agree. It was a miracle." Tsugumi sighed. "But, what are we going to do with her when she wakes up? Is she going to remember us? Is this actually Inori?"

"Only time will tell." Ayase replied. "I wonder how the meeting is going between the others."

"I don't know. Daryl seemed so nervous when he announced it. I wonder what got him so riled up." Tsugumi sighed and wheeled her friend away. "Let's just turn in for the night. It's getting late."

Both of them walked away from the room and closed the door behind them. Unbeknownst to both, the humanoid girl quivered her lips…only for a moment.

-GC-

Daryl sat silently at one side of small square table. Adjacent to him on both sides was Yahiro and Shu. Across from him was Jessica. She and he stared each other down. She was confident on her side with her arms folded over her chest as if boasting that she was not going to lose. Daryl was in the same position. They were so alike; they could have been noticed as siblings instead of two opponents.

Daryl narrowed his eyes and demanded, "Tell me. What do you see?"

She started from her right and went across the table. "I see that Shu's arm is black with green stripes. You have this funky gun with a hexagonal barrier surrounding you. And Yahiro has some weird-ass shears." Jessica sighed. "While I'm at it, Ayase's legs are replaced with robotic legs and Tsugumi has this magic wand orbiting her. When I look into a mirror, I see a pair of shades over my glasses."

"She's correct." Shu commented.

"This is bad. This means that the Apocalypse Virus is resurfacing at some extent. The fact that Jessica can see our Voids proves it." Yahiro contemplated. "Jessica, do the Voids connect in any way to the "advantage" you were talking about?"

"It does." She simply answered and stared right back to Daryl.

Daryl scoffed and quickly looked away. "I'm not uninstalling it. It's too dangerous anyways."

"With your weak heart, it's dangerous enough for you to use it again. The next time you use it, you're as good as dead." Jessica shot back.

Shu interjected in the midst of their arguing. "Excuse me…but what are you two talking about?"

Both suddenly grew silent. Daryl quickly turned away his head and sighed haughtily. Jessica only shook her head in disappointment while clicking her tongue like a mother frustrated with her child.

Jessica finally came out with an answer. "Daryl Yan has a Void Genome Emulator installed in his Endlave."

"Jessica! You little brat! Shut up!" Daryl yelled from across the table.

She suddenly chuckled. "This trip was so laughable for me! This whole time, that base was trying to develop weaponry and an invention similar to Japan's Void Genome when all along, it was right under their noses."

"Major General Yan, care to explain?" Yahiro asked.

Daryl glanced at all three faces that were staring down at him. This was it. The cat's out of the bag. It was a good thing he kicked out Tsugumi and Ayase before this meeting. He didn't want to worry one and infuriate the other. In defeat, he explained, "Before Funeral Parlor's last stand, I was taken out of prison to be used as a test subject for this new GHQ prototype invention. It was essentially a Void Genome, but without the biological factors. It could only be used in an Endlave and Gespenst was the first Endlave that had this mechanism installed. Tsugumi and Ayase would remember it as the Endlave they fought during the siege. What they did was they cut open my chest, inserted a metal ring around the opening, threaded wires through to my heart, and connected those wires to the Void Genome Emulator. Thus, through this method, I was able to fully use my Void through an Endlave…"

"The only bad side effect to this little experiment was that it left his heart weaker than it was before." Jessica cut in when she noticed Daryl was trailing. "But it was such a good weapon, he couldn't let it go. He installed another version in his custom Endlave, Steiner 2.0, after many, many trials…using himself to test it. His heart became so weak that he collapses after only one use. I believe the last time he used it; it was during the first battle against Pallbearer. His heart stopped for a good ten seconds after I bailed him out."

"Major General Yan! Why would you keep such a thing a secret?" Shu exclaimed. "I know before that we were on opposite sides of the law before, but can't you trust your own team enough to let them know about this?"

Daryl shot back, "I didn't want you guys to worry too much. It might jeopardize our mission. Besides, I've been handling it well these past years."

"Losing you will jeopardize our mission! Without you, this team falls apart!" Shu exclaimed.

"And hearing from Jessica, your heart definitely can't hold on any longer. I also agree that you must let go of the Void Genome Emulator." Yahiro also agreed.

"Then, what? We'll just let our only advantage rot away?" Daryl exclaimed, "Only I can use it. Before installing that thing, GHQ injected this serum into my bloodstream. It contained amino acids compatible with the Void Genome Emulator. Therefore, no one else can use it besides me!"

Yahiro sighed, "You seem to forget that the Void Genome Emulator is derived from the Void Genome. There two other people here who are capable of using your weapon. Shu had the Void Genome injected into him. Twice. There's no doubt that whatever amino acid you have is running through his body still. And the other is the new Inori Yuzuriha."

"I'm also a possibility." Jessica piped in and pointed at both of her eyes.

All the boys looked at her, but then ignored her claim.

"So what do you want me to do? Do you want me to put it into Inori Yuzuriha. That was what she was made for." Daryl sarcastically scoffed; even ignoring Shu's ticked off reaction.

"So you want to rip open her chest and thread the Emulator into her heart? I wonder how that will work out." Jessica sarcastically replied back, complete with rolling her eyes.

"So our only option is me." Shu mumbled while looking down onto the table. But when his eyes hovered over his metal arm, he was hit by an idea. "The Void Genome Emulator is installed in your Endlave? Is that right?"

"Correct." Daryl confirmed.

Shu took out his arm and showed it to everyone. "Then put the Void Genome Emulator into this metal arm of mine. That way, it's connected to my bloodstream, but not directly to my heart. I think it's possible that the Emulator will still react with the amino acid that circulates inside my body from both doses of the Void Genome."

"Shu." Daryl began to grow serious. "You don't know what you're messing with. The side effects from it can be permanent. You could potentially lose your life."

"Daryl Yan… I've already made a promise to many close friends that I've lost eight years ago. I promised that I would take in all the sufferings I've caused because Lost Christmas was my fault. And I don't intend to break that promise." Shu reached out and softly patted Daryl on the shoulder. "Besides, you have someone important waiting for you in the future. You don't want to waste your life and let her down."

"W-What?" Daryl's face flushed red as he anxiously slapped away Shu's hand.

Yahiro sighed, "Honestly, Daryl. If you and Tsugumi didn't want us to know about your budding romance, you should have hidden it better."

Shu suddenly chuckled, "Don't worry. We're all guys, well, except for Jessica, but we know how not to make things awkward."

Daryl nodded, but glared at Jessica, who was strangely very straight-faced during this entire situation.

"What are you looking at me for? You know I'm the "brat" who annoys you every chance I get."

"I'm looking at you to threaten you. Don't you ever talk about this to Tsugumi. Understand?" Daryl demanded.

"Yeah. Yeah." She rolled her eyes.

"And since we're all bros here, don't say anything to her either. Okay?" Daryl winced as he forced a smile.

-GC-

Stupid Sprout…

Tsugumi paced herself mindlessly down the hallway back to her room. What did she just hear? What? Daryl's heart is wearing out? The more he fights, the less likely he's going to live? He's a dying man? There's just no way! The petite woman paused outside of her bedroom door. Ayase was peacefully sleeping inside. She should return to sleep like Ayase. But what good will those do? After hearing such news of Daryl's failing health, how could she just return to sleep like nothing happened?

And he never told her nor did he want to tell her…

She needed to walk. That's right. She needed time to think things through. Sometime later, she'll approach Daryl and then, bite his head off.

Tsugumi soon found herself wandering down one lone hallway after going down a flight of stairs. Strange. She never visited this part of the ship. Who had that long light on at the very end? She silently pressed in some numbers in the door keypad and the screen instantly popped up a video of their prisoner. Ryo was just sitting in the corner, hugging his knees to his chest, and staring at the floor. What was wrong with him? She pressed in the passcode and entered.

"Ryo. Is there anything wrong?" Tsugumi pulled up a chair and sat behind the indestructible glass that contained him.

He wore only underwear shorts and the standard GHQ prison outfit, which consisted of a white overcoat with an orange stripe that ran vertically down the middle. He side-glanced at the newcomer, but did not speak a word, at first.

"Do you want me to get you something to drink? Or maybe a book?"

"What are you doing here?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

Tsugumi sighed, "I'm trying to make you feel a little bit comfortable."

"I'm your enemy. Why would you do that?"

"Because you're a little kid." She ignored his pissed off snarl and continued. "And…I know how it feels to be lonely. You've lost both of your parents and you were forced to live alone for eight years. I'm like you, except I had no parents. And I've been living by myself for twelve years."

"What does your life story have to do with me?" Ryo deadpanned back, obviously not amused. "I get it. Your life is much more horrible than mine. Therefore, I shouldn't be complaining."

"No. I'm saying that I'm like you." Tsugumi simply replied. "Before I officially met Daryl, he tried to kill me many times. He tried to kill my best friends. He tried to kill my family in Funeral Parlor. But even so, I still forgave him for everything he's done…even when he did not deserve it."

"So...why did you forgive him?"

"Because he is a pitiful man," Tsugumi bit her lips as she recounted the story he told her once before. "You think because he killed your mother and father that your life is horrible. Your parents loved you till the very end. His mother left him alone in Japan. His father hated him so much that it drove Daryl into killing him, even when he didn't want to. He went through this whole war with no friends, and in the end, he finally found his only friend. And that person died the minute he found out. What's worse is that that girl Jessica you shot, she's his friend's daughter and every day, she serves as a memory of what Daryl had done to her father. And that's not even all of it!"

Ryo merely scoffed. "Why do you act so concerned for him? Do you like him?"

"That's-That's not part of my argument!" Tsugumi stammered, while fuming red in the face. "What I'm saying is that he had a horrible life similar to us, probably more horrible than you and I combined. But the thing is, I took things positively while he did not. I found a family and friends while he took it out against the world and became the lonely man he is today. And Ryo, you are starting to fall down that path."

"What do you want me to do? Just forget everything? Like it never happened?" He rolled his eyes and turned away. "Fat chance!"

"Quit being in Pallbearer." Tsugumi gazed at him with soft eyes. "If you continue being in Pallbearer, you'll be just like Daryl." She softly said.

Those words struck a prominent cord in his soul. She could sense it. She knew that this boy would never want to be the man he hated for so many years. He loathed the idea of it.

"While you're in Pallbearer, you'll want to make his life more miserable than it already is. You'll want to hurt all his loved ones. You'll want to kill him slowly and painfully. That's exactly what Daryl would do."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Ryo yelled back, clutching onto his head. "You're just manipulating me! Those are just lies!"

"Those aren't lies. Because…because he already tried to do the same to me." She calmly replied back, "That's why I'm saying you should quit Pallbearer before it's too late."

Ryo didn't answer her. He just continued holding onto his head and refused to look up at her.

"Ryo. I'm a hacker. I've already hacked into Pallbearer's system. And when I see you, you don't look like you actually like Pallbearer's plans." Tsugumi pleaded. "You're just a young child. You don't belong in there."

"Should I leave everything like this?" He darkly mumbled, "Should I just let Daryl get off scot-free? Should I never avenge my mother's death and just mourn for her every year like a coward? Should I just forgive him that easily?"

"Well…no… Jessica says she won't forgive Daryl, but she still tries to change him into a better person. That's what her father wanted for her to do." Tsugumi smiled. "What would your mother want you to do?"

He didn't respond.

"I'll leave you now. Just think about it. And get some sleep." Tsugumi softly said and began to leave. "Good night."

For once, after a few moments when she left, he finally uncovered his head and he sat back on the top of his bed. He merely stared at the wall in front of him, curious and confused.

"What a strange woman…"

-GC-

Shu awkwardly sat in the back of Daryl's personal workshop. When he came into the mansion, he was easily shocked at the sheer size of his living conditions. Seriously! He could easily sense the size. This place was a castle on top of a state! Just how in the hell did one guy manage to acquire so much land and money? After Daryl gave him a small tour of his mansion, (which was actually half-an-hour long because his mansion was that big), he immediately led the blind man into his basement where Daryl took off his mechanical hand and began working on it.

Shu silently watched the man take a smooth, round, circular contraption and install it into the palm of his mechanical hand. Sparks flew from the welding. Occasionally, he would a wrench or screwdriver and he'll make a few adjustments here and there. He ran wires up and down the mechanical arm. Sometimes, he moved the arm just to make sure some of the joints still worked.

In boredom, Shu finally walked over to the working man and peered at his handy work. "You are very good at this. I never knew you were such an engineer."

"I operate and maintain my own Endlave. It's a basic training that Endlave pilots need to know. Of course, I just took it up a notch." Daryl coolly replied while making more adjustments into Shu's arm, causing more sparks to fly out. He nonchalantly tossed over a mask to Shu. "I know your eyes are useless, but use this to protect your face."

Shu curiously stared at this large mask. "Why?"

"I need to put this new arm into you. Afterwards, I need to make the adjustments with your arm attached to you." Daryl said. "It's completely painless."

Not trying to argue back, Shu placed on the mask and he stuck out his nub of an arm. Daryl immediately inserted the new metal arm into the nub and quickly charged it up. Shu quickly felt it! That jolt of electricity shot into his arm, travelled through his spine, and hit his brain. It was a strange feeling, yet so soothing at the same time.

"Move it." Daryl instructed.

Shu did just that.

Daryl nodded and he flipped the contraption of his palm on. That thing felt the weirdest! It was an extra few pounds on the palm of his hands. The thing was glowing white. It could operate as a flashlight if Shu just pointed his palm at an area.

"This is the Void Genome Emulator." Daryl pointed to the round, glowing white, cylindrical object. "How it worked for me was that it drew blood from me and used the amino acids in that blood to project my Void."

Shu stared at this glowing light. He closed his palms and opened it afterwards. "Can it draw Voids from other people?"

"I don't know. I haven't tried. Why?"

"My Void depends on the Voids of other people." Shu replied.

"Try. Use your Void right now." Daryl suggested.

Shu nodded. He took his mechanical arm and placed it on his chest. But that was it. There was no reaching into his heart and grabbing out a new arm. There wasn't any weapon. He was only touching his chest.

"Hmm…That's strange." Daryl pondered. "Try taking out my Void."

Shu nodded and he slowly reached over to Daryl's chest. But then, he stopped. His fingers curled into a fist and he slowly pulled back. "I just remembered. When I first took out Voids, it left the person very weak because I literally pulled out their heart. And knowing your condition, I don't think we should risk it."

"Ouma Shu! I'll be fine! And my Void comes in handy!"

Shu shook his head. "No. We can't lose you. Your heart is already too weak for your normal job. Besides, there were certain guidelines I needed to follow when taking out someone's Void. First off, they need to be less than seventeen years old…"

Daryl stopped to think about it. "Would Jessica work? She's only one year off."

"I don't know. But we should stay within the guidelines just to be safe."

Daryl sighed and he spun off in his chair, staring up mindlessly at the ceiling. None of them had siblings. All of them were over seventeen. Shu couldn't draw out his own Void for some reason. So…now what? Was this whole thing a failure…unless…

"Well…there is one person who's below seventeen."

-GC-

Daryl roughly typed in the pass code and pushed open the steel door. Inside, their kid prisoner was only lounging around on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. The boy looked over at the people who entered his cell.

"What do you want now?"

"We're going to use you for a minute." Daryl replied.

Ryo smirked, "Is it customary to use your prisoners as test subjects?"

"When Segai was in command, yes." Daryl snidely replied back. "You're a special case."

"Forget it! Whatever you want, I refuse!" Ryo stuck his tongue out at the pair and continued lounging on his bed.

Daryl only glared at him and shook his head in disgust. He walked over to another key pad and slid his card through the slit. He ushered Shu to enter into the glass cell and afterwards, he promptly sealed off the exit. Loudly.

Ryo quickly jumped from his bed. "Didn't I say no!"

"Ryo. This is only going to hurt a little bit." Shu advanced forward with his flowing palm ready to strike.

Ryo screamed back, "I said no-"

At that moment, Shu immediately looked into his eyes and he plunged his glowing hand into the chest of the boy. But this time, it worked! He felt his hand dig deeper into the boy's chest. Soon, glowing strands of white and blue shot up from the portal he made in the boys chest. They swirled around Shu's arm and body, literally turning this box prison into a light bulb. Finally, Shu felt something crystallize and he quickly yanked out whatever was in this boy's body. This was definitely a Void!

And in his hand was a white gun with purple streaks and multiple barrels. There was also an aiming device that popped up that would accurately hit the opponents. Shu stared at this weird device, tilting it here and there occasionally. Shu looked back at the thirteen year old boy. He was knocked out cold.

"Shu!" Daryl opened up the door. "You actually did it. But what does it do?"

"I don't know." Shu aimed it at a wall. Then, he fired it. Multiple bullets of huge sizes suddenly shot out and spiraled at the same target. It came from the left, right, above, and below. There was absolutely no way that those bullet rockets couldn't hit a target.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Even so, the glass wall still stood up. Indestructible!

"At least, you know those walls can't break." Shu meekly said and put the Void back into the boy.

"Wow… Didn't know such a kid had a powerful weapon…" Daryl stared on.

"He did have a grudge on you for eight years. I think this Void was meant to destroy you." Shu cheekily teased, much to Daryl's chagrin. "So, who should I test it on next?"

"Who's the next youngest?"

-GC-

"You want to reach in between my boobs to see if I have a weapon hidden underneath?"

They silently nodded.

"Fuck No." Jessica flatly said with a roll of her pink eyes. "Do you even know how ridiculous that sounds? Not to mention how perverted?"

"And my answer is: you don't have a choice." Daryl quickly grabbed his pseudo-little sister and pulled her arms back behind her.

"Hey! Hey! Two horny guys with no girlfriends! Don't make me use the whistle! I'll put you both in-"

Shu didn't even let her finish. He just pushed his hand into her chest and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. They looked cool…dashingly cool. But, in effect, Jessica was unconscious and slumped over in the arms of Daryl. She even had drool coming out of her mouth!

Shu put on the sunglasses. "So her Void allows her to regain her sight." He noticed a pair of buttons on the side and started pressing those. "Would you look at that? There's heat vision. There's night vision. It can zoom in and out by a few miles. There's X-ray and UV light vision too. And it can see through walls!"

Daryl glared at the unconscious Jessica. "And you call us perverts."

So…since the Voids are coming back, I decided to ex-nay on the reveal and just get to the point. Our two OC's voids are glasses and guided missiles. Moving along… Ha! So who thought of Iron Man when I described the new Void Genome Emulator? So if you have a hard time picturing Shu's Void hand, just think of the stabilizers/lazer guns on Iron Man's hand. Ever since they showed Daryl trying it out with Gespenst, all I could think of was "Iron Man" and his very, very, very, very much toned abs. Damn! Tsugumi is a lucky lady to have won his heart in episode 13!

So please review and I'll type up the 15th chapter!