Author's note: Credits to RANDOMperson for pointing out the good things and bad things about my story. This is what I always struggle with; deductive reasoning. Besides, this is my first time writing a story with a bit of mystery. If any of you readers are struggling to understand the investigation on Drake, please, look back on my previous chapters, and speculate on the clues the characters have found so far. Trust me, it helps.

Oh, and remember the flash back of Drake and Alisa in chapter 12? Well, believe it or not, that flashback is a 'trailer' to another story I plan to write. I call it story, but it's more of a re-write. The next one is just the game's story. I know, I know. This has been done so many times, however give me a chance to explain myself! The reason I plan to do this, is because I want to show more of Drake's character to all of you. The next story is basically a spin-off that will support this fic. Once I reveal Drake's past, I'll put this story on hold, and start the re-write of the game. I've been hesitant on doing the novelization, but considered how I'm going so far on my story, I think I should do the novelization of the game.

Most writers here would start from the game's story, and let their OC's past be revealed along with the way, but I'm going to do the opposite. If any of you readers have questions, PM me. I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities, WITHOUT spoiling the story of course.

Anyways, let's get this story started!

Annette crouched at the ground, staring at the few black feathers. As she did, she began to hear footsteps from afar. The rookie stood up and turned her head to the direction of the sound. In the far off distance, she saw her blue hooded senior. Annette waved and called out to him.

"Soma! Over here!"

Soma slowed his pace as he approached Annette. She pointed to the black feathers lying on the ground. Soma crouched down, examining said items. He plucked one off the ground, eyeing daggers at it. He began looking at the feather through different angles, as he moved it in his hands.

"Annette, how did you figure out that these feathers are Lindow's?" he asked.

"I picked up one of the feathers, and pushed it against a metal plate I found on the ground. When I did, the feather started to give off smoke, as if it was burning. I figured that the feather may be made out of oracle cells, and the only person I know of who has those-"

"-is Lindow." said Soma, as he finished Annette's explanation. "Let's search the area."

Annette nodded, and the two split up. They began scouring through the streets, rummaging the pathways as they tried to find said owner of feathers. As Annette continued down the pathway, she spotted another black feather lying on the ground. It was placed in front of a wired fence, leading to an alleyway. She ran to it, and picked it up. Is this Lindow's or a crow's feather? Testing her question, she placed the feather to the wired fence. As if answering her, black smoke appeared as she watched it for a few seconds. She pulled the feather away from the fence and stared beyond the closed alleyway.

Annette backed away from the wired fence, all the while staring at it. She then stopped, having enough of a short distance between herself and the fence. She dug her heels in the ground, and in the next moment, she sprinted for the fence. Closing the distance between herself and the fence, she then leaped over it, and landed on the ground. Now inside the alleyway, Annette let her gaze wander, seeing the narrow road between the buildings.

She gazed ahead, and began to see a yellow light shining in the distance. The shining light glowed in the corner of the wall, revealing its dark hiding spot. As if calling to her, Annette ran to the light source. Coming closer to it, she turned around the corner, and as she did, Annette became shocked by what she saw.

"Oh my God! Lindow?!" gasped Annette.

There he was, sitting with closed eyes, while having his back slumped to the wall. Annette noticed the glowing yellow light was coming from Lindow's aragami hand. She approached the sleeping Corporal; as she did, the glow on his hand dimmed itself. Annette knelt down, and spotted something sticking out of Lindow's back neck. Nervousness crept up on her back, assuming the worst. She took a closer look; her stomach dropped as she saw it.

A single, lone, white, dart was injected in his back neck.

Annette placed her hand on Lindow's left hand; with her thumb she gently pushed on the back of his wrist, and felt his pulse. He's unconscious. She thought. I better call Soma, and have the medical team attend to him. Annette pulled out her phone, and began dialing.

Hibari continuously typed at the computer as she sat on a desk.

The front desk was being searched due to further notice. Even though the front desk was being searched, Hibari still continued with her job, just in a different location.

With one hand still typing, she grabbed a slip of paper beside the keyboard. The receptionist let her eyes dart back and forth from the paper and the monitor. She then placed the paper back on the table, and placed her hand on the mouse.

Recent Aragami activity levels as of 700-1200 hours

City of Mercy: No change

Wailing Plains: No change

Forgotten Carrier: No change

Infernal Subways: No change

Aegis Island: No change

Sunken Grid: No change

Tranquil Temple: Pending

Clicking and moving it, she pulled out a few digital maps, as it showed itself on the screen. Hibari clicked on the map icon for the Tranquil Temple, and it opened. She clicked on a random spot on the map; as it did, a satellite image of the area was shown on the screen. She dragged the image, turning it around as she overlooked the area. Hibari then closed the satellite image, and clicked onto another area. She did the same, overlooking the area. No noticeable changes were spotted. She began searching the other areas and did it again, and again, and again. Still, she did not find anything out of the ordinary.

Hibari sighed heavily, as she became distressed by her search. There's got to be something within the Tranquil Temple. There's got to be. Interrupting her thoughts, a beeping sound came from her ear piece. She pressed a button on the earpiece, answering the call. "Hibari speaking."

"Hibari? It's Annette. Listen, we've got a problem." She replied worriedly.

Hibari noticed the tone of fear in the rookie's voice. The receptionist became worried as well. "Why? What's wrong?"

"We found Lindow and he's unconscious, but we need the medical team over to our location."

Hibari furrowed her eyebrows, assuming his condition. "He's wounded?"

"Worse." Replied Annette. "He's been drugged."

Hibari felt her jaw going slack. Her eyes widened as she heard his condition. With a serious voice, she then ordered Annette, "Send me the coordinates from your phone! I'll call the ambulance!"

"Understood!"

Hibari clicked on the map icon for the outer ghetto. Beeping sounds came from the computer; no doubt that the message was coming from Annette. As the map of the outer ghetto appeared, Hibari sees two red dots, blinking in the south part of the map.

She began typing at the keyboard once more, and called for an ambulance.

He stared at the screen of his phone, thinking back to when Soma suddenly hung up him. Kota became bewildered by Soma suddenly ending the call. As soon as I told him the clues, he suddenly hung up. The young God Eater shook his head, and stuffed his phone in his pocket. Maybe he came across something during his search. Thought Kota.

He grabbed a box of rations that sat in front of him, and carried it in his arms. The young God Eater then walked over to a nearby table, and placed the box on it. A mass of civilians from sector W52 gathered outside of the Far East Branch. Soldiers and God Eaters handed out rations to the civilians.

Kota took a few rations from the box, and began distributing it among the civilians as well. As he walked around the huge mass of people, he heard a woman's voice that called his name out in the distance.

"Kota!"

The scout's ears perked, as heard this familiar voice on a daily basis. He turned around to the voice, and saw two people running towards him.

"Mom?! And Nozomi!" smiled Kota.

"Big bro!" yelled Nozomi.

The two ran towards Kota; as they approached the young God Eater, they immediately hugged him. Kota gratefully returned the hug; he couldn't help but smile as he saw his family.

His mother pulled herself away from him, while Nozomi clung onto his waist. Kota patted his little sister's head.

"I'm so happy you're okay!" said Haruna, as she was relieved to see her son is safe.

"Mom, Nozomi, what are you two doing here?"

"We watched last night's news report. When we heard that both the God Eaters and soldiers were evacuating the civilians, we were worried." explained Haruna. "Are you okay, Kota?"

As soon as his mother mentioned about last night, Kota thought back to yesterday's attack. Being attacked by the fake, and the death of the fake. He tried to keep a calm face, as he didn't want his mother to become suspicious of him. She and Nozomi were already worrying about his safety on the front-lines. Telling them about Ricardo and the terrorist would only make it worse.

He answered coolly, "Yeah, I'm alright. Right now, I'm just helping out with the folks here. People are still shaken up due to last night, so, me and the other soldiers are trying to calm things down."

Haruna stared at Kota for a few seconds, as if eyeing him carefully. Kota immediately noticed that look in her eyes. Every time he tried to lie or evade any of his mother's burning questions, she always gave that stare. Ever since childhood, he still never got used to that stare of hers. He outwardly kept a calm face, but the longer she kept staring at him, the more nervous he became.

"Kota," she said.

Kota unconsciously clenched his free hand, forming it into a fist. He felt his leather glove tighten around the skin, as he dug his nails further and further in his palm. Just as he was about to lose his poker face, sirens coming from the Far East Branch resounded in the air.

Everyone turned their attention to the source. As they did, a white Van with the Fenrir logo on the side appeared. Its sirens blared and wailed, while flashing its lights to everyone's eyes. As the sirens continued blaring and wailing, the van's tires gave a screeching sound, as if overwhelming the noise; it then speeded away from the people leaving a trail of dust. The noise and lights gradually died down while the van sped away from the people. Everybody could still hear the blaring sirens off in the distance.

Everybody stared at where the van left. Kota stared for a bit as well. He then looked back to his mother and sister, who were staring as well. He noticed that he had a chance. He gently pushed Nozomi away from him, and responded to the despondent mother and sister.

"Listen, I have to a lot of things to do, so I need to get going."

Haruna, snapping out of her ghost-like trance, tried to stop Kota. "Huh? W-wait! Kota!"

Not letting her stop him, Kota ran away from his family, escaping to the crowd.

"Kota!" called his mother.

He weaved through the people, trying to blend in with the crowd. After crisscrossing through the mess of civilians for a few minutes, Kota stopped, and placed his hands on his knees. He dropped his head down and sighed heavily, feeling guilty of keeping secrets from his family.

"It's never easy taking care of a family in this day and age." Commented a voice.

Kota's ears perked, as heard another women's voice. He lifted his head; there, he saw Gina and Shun.

"Gina? And Shun… Why are you two here?"

"Oh, yeah, go and ask that question to two God Eaters, dealing with the civies." Said Shun, making the sarcasm in his voice obviously noticeable.

Gina stomped on his foot, and grinded her heel on his toe. "Ow!" he exclaimed.

"Don't be such a smart-ass." She scolded him. "But like Shun said: we're here just like you, dealing the people here and all that." Gina lifted her foot off Shun. He instinctively held his foot, and rubbed on his toe. Shun scowled at Gina, while said person didn't care about his glare.

Kota gave an unsure look. "Um, okay? About that van just now…"

"Oh, you mean the ambulance?" replied Shun. He placed his foot down on the ground.

"Yeah, did something happen?"

"Not that I'm aware of. From the looks of it, the ambulance was heading down to the south side of the outer ghetto. Maybe one of our unit members patrolling the outer wall got injured by the aragami."

"But that's impossible. If any aragami were coming over to the wall, alarms would've been ringing." Argued Kota.

"The south side of the outer ghetto was it?" echoed Gina. "Aren't Soma and Annette searching for Lindow over there?"

"What, are you trying to say those two found Lindow there?" asked Shun.

"..."

Kota and Gina stared at Shun with a surprised expression. Both gunners were silenced by Shun's comment. Shun studied their expressions, and suddenly felt awkward by the sudden silence.

"W-why are you two giving me that look? I just said something off the top of my head."

Gina started to connect the ideas and thought aloud, "If those two found Lindow, then could the ambulance-"

Interfering Gina's sentence, a phone suddenly started ringing loudly.

"Whoops, that's mine." Said Kota. He pulled out his phone, and read the screen.

ALISA AMEILLA

He clicked the answer button and brought the phone to his ear. "Hi Alisa, how are you feel-"

"Kota! Where in the world are you?!" interrupted Alisa, as she shouted on her phone.

Kota cringed at her loud voice, and moved his phone slightly away from his ear. "Ow! You don't need to scream in my ear you know! What's all the ruckus?"

"Where are you right now?" she asked hastily.

"Huh? I-I'm in front of the den. Why?"

"Look, just get to the front desk. I'll explain things there, so get going!"

"A-alright, alright! I'll see you there."

Kota could hear Alisa hanging up on him, hearing only the beeps from his earpiece. He ended the call, and placed his phone back in his pocket. Gina observed his worried face. "I could hear Alisa's screaming voice all the way over here."

"Well, who wouldn't? She's always yelling because of Dra-OW!" Gina punched his shoulder before he finished.

"Anyways, if you have something urgent to do, get going."

"But…"

Shun rubbed his shoulder, trying to dull the pain he got from Gina. He then walked up to Kota and playfully punched him in the chest.

"Ouch! Hey, what was-"

"Just go already. We'll take care of things here."

"…"

Shun glared at Kota, and growled at him. "If you don't, I'll call your mother and sister here."

"Ah! Uh, I'll see you guys later!" Not stalling any more time, Kota immediately left Shun and Gina.

"You're not the type of guy to voluntarily help others. What's going on Shun?" asked Gina, as she eyed him carefully.

Shun turned his attention to the sniper. He scratched his head, showing a bashful look. "Why do you wanna know?" he snapped back.

"Why are you answering my question, with a question?" countered Gina.

"…" Shun sighed, defeated by Gina's persistence. "I owe Drake. That guy helped me out on so many things, both on the battlefield and off. As much as I hate to say it, the others in the first unit may be the only ones who can find him. In fact, help the guy."

"What makes you say that?"

"Seeing Ricardo made me think what kind of person Drake dealt with. Considered how Drake reacted to him of almost killing Alisa."

"…."

"Drake's a cool guy, but…."

"You feel it too? Him being so distant?"

"Yeah." He answered grimly. "He must've dealt something traumatizing, before he joined. Besides, you know I'm not good when it comes this emotional stuff."

"I suppose he pointed that out for you?" smiled Gina.

Shun just grunted at Gina. "C'mon, we still got rations to hand out. At least I'll get more money after this."

"You and Karel are so alike."

"Shut up." Growled Shun.

Kota came in front of a door with a card reader beside it. The plate on it read, 'Garage'. He took out the master-key card, and slid it in front of the card reader. No one was allowed to enter the front door, as it held vital evidence. If anybody from outside needed to enter inside the den, people would needed to enter through the garage or any other back door.

Kota entered inside, and closed the door behind him, locking it. Stairs appeared in front him; he made his way downstairs, heading to the garage. He opened another door, and was now inside the garage. He sees the many buggies and off-roadsters he saw from last night.

Kota was about to walk over to the elevator, until he saw a familiar dune buggy. He spotted a bullet hole on the vehicle. Kota couldn't help but think back to last night. The sudden appearance of the terrorist and the sudden death of the terrorist. He shook his head, trying to get the gruesome memory off his head. Kota briskly walked to the elevator, making his way to the entrance.

As the elevator dinged for the entrance, the doors slid aside. Kota stepped out, and trudged heavily to the lower level of the main floor. He later stopped on the stairs. There, he saw Soma, Hibari, Licca and Alisa. All were standing in front of the front desk. He studied everybody's faces. He didn't need someone to tell him to know the kind of mood they were all showing.

All wore a face filled with anxiety, accompanied with a heavy silence.

Kota tried to break the uneasy silence by asking Alisa. "H-hey, Alisa." His throat felt dry as he tried to speak.

Alisa turned to the voice. "Kota! There you are."

He stepped down the stairs and approached the group. "Uh, so what's happening?"

"…"

"Guys?"

"…We found Lindow." Answered Soma.

Kota's face lit up. "Really?!" he smiled. Soma gave a cold look to him. Kota read his eyes and gradually lost his smile.

"The problem is, he's been drugged. A white dart was injected in the back of his neck."

"What?!" gasped Kota. "Then the ambulance…"

"Hibari alarmed some of the medical team members to head to his location. Sakuya, Kanon, and a few of the doctors are bringing him back as we speak." Explained Alisa. She thought back to when the alarm resounded. Seeing the horrific expression materialized on Sakuya's face as she heard Lindow's condition from Hibari, and how she just suddenly bolted out of Sakaki's laboratory.

"Is he going to be alright?"

"….." Silence filled the room once more.

Right, stupid question….

Licca spoke up, breaking the stillness. "Soma says that he was found unconscious. So we don't know."

Another moment of quietness filled the room. Kota overlooked the group, as the air became heavy. He tried to lighten it up a bit by changing the subject. "Uh…S-Soma! Weren't you there with Annette? How did you get here all of a sudden?"

"I was called by Hibari for an urgent matter. I didn't want to but, Annette told me to leave Lindow with her and the others. I bumped into Brendan on my way back, so he gave me a ride on the buggy."

"Oh. I see. But an urgent matter? What's this all about Hibari?"

Everybody in the room turned their attention to the red-haired receptionist. "The research unit has been looking into the location for Drake. However, there's an area that needs to be looked at."

Everyone in the room paid full attention to Hibari, expecting her next response. "The Tranquil Temple."

The others exchanged looks, bewildered by the location. Alisa spoke up, and asked, "Are you saying Drake may be there?"

"Yes. Aragami activity has decreased in that area, but the cause of this is unknown. This is the reason I called the remaining first unit here. However…"

Licca finished her sentence. "Due to the location of Lindow, Sakuya is busy attending his condition."

"That's correct, and what's more, most of the other God Eaters are quite busy with the civilians, and last night's damage."

"Hibari." Said Alisa, as she called out her name. "Kota, Soma and I will search the Tranquil Temple."

"Alisa!" gasped Hibari. "But, even so, a three-person search team won't be enough-"

"I'm in." said Kota.

"Same here." nodded Soma.

Licca and Hibari became dumbfounded by their sudden agreement. "H-hey! Are you guys serious?!" exclaimed Licca. "I know and all that you're worried about Drake but-"

"We can't just stand around here and do nothing." Interjected Soma.

"Yeah; besides, our ol' pal is waiting for us!" grinned Kota.

"You guys…"

"Don't run away from living, right?" quoted Alisa.

Everybody then turned their attention to the new-type sniper. She gazed straight in their eyes, never looking away. "That's what he always says to everyone. Don't run away from living."

The others couldn't help but gawk at Alisa, as she quoted Drake's famous words. Soma and Kota smiled, remembering how Drake always said that. How everyone should come back home, come back home alive no matter what. Alisa smiled back at them as she saw the boys' smiles.

Licca and Hibari watched the three; they both shrugged their shoulders at each other, defeated by their tenacity.

"Before you guys leave, I need to check your God Arcs. Just to make sure it's in top shape and all."

"I'll file the mission for all of you. I will inform you once everything is ready."

"Thank you, both of you." Alisa gave a breath of relief.

Licca quietly observed Alisa. Even though these three are willing to bring him back, one thing still hasn't changed: Drake's lost armlet control. Alisa, you need to be careful once you see him…. Not wanting to make their determination waver, Licca kept her grim thoughts to herself.

End of Chapter 14: A Fake Hope

Author's note: Well, for now, I'm setting up the reveal for Drake's past with this chapter here. School and a cold slowed me down from updating this. But hey, thanks for all of your continued support everyone! It really gives me great confidence to see everyone wanting to see more of my creations. So, kudos to all of you! :D

By the way, I noticed that not a lot of people appreciate Shun's character. He can be annoying sure, but he's pretty reliable in my opinion. I thought I'd make him at least tolerable in this chapter here.

Anyways, get ready for the next chapter everyone! Until next time!